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Literary Review
What the statistics hide
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While numeric data show narrowing male-female gaps in education levels, employment opportunities and life expectancies, the real picture, as it emerges in The Violence of Development, is something else, says ANURADHA KHATI RAJIVAN.
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THIS book provokes a reader to think. Regardless of whether you agree fully, partly, or not at all with the authors. The 11 papers capture a diverse set of experiences of women in the process of development in India. Yet, there is a common thread neatly captured in the introductory chapter — economic, social, cultural and political processes interacting in ways that are leading to a devaluing of women. In spite of seeming progress in women's situations as reflected by statistics on education, life expectancies and participation in paid employment, the overall conclusion for the majority is bleak and, what is worse, getting bleaker. Even though sex-disaggregated numeric data on education levels, work force participating and life expectancies show narrowing male-female gaps, they hide more than they show.
The book goes beyond statistics to explore processes at work during development in India: the types of paid work open to women, contemporary versions of technology use that convert female infanticide to foeticide, the overwhelming burden of birth control on women, rampant spread of dowry among new communities, the kind of operation of women's reservation in PRIs, a wide range in types of and reasons for violence, codification of customary laws going against women's rights, and so on. Independence has not brought freedoms for a majority of women. Patriarchy continues to inhibit women's canvases even today as it did during the colonial period, though in new ways. Moreover, there is growing recognition that multiple identities — for example, the sharpening religious and caste identities — have confounded women's identities as women. This has not only interfered with women helping others in times of strife and violence, it has even begun to result in their joining strife and contributing to violence. These developments have made feminists in India rethink.
The book is divided into four parts. Part one captures several paradoxes of women's situation in the process of development. There are some interesting insights like employment and education not automatically translating into empowerment, some inherent violence of development arising out of gender blind, even gender biased, development strategies; the trend in the relatively egalitarian southern India, especially among Dalits, of imitating negative practices like dowry from the upper castes and the northern Gangetic India, rather than vice versa. Unlike the political visibility of Dalit struggle where the oppressors are "others", sex-based discrimination is practiced even by one's own families in one's own homes and is relatively politically invisible. "Self-made" men do not find a contradiction in considering dowry as a source of modern capital for quick upward class mobility. As a consumerist spirit spreads but livelihoods become less certain with economic liberalisation, a modern male's sense of worth depends on visible "achievements", one among them being dowry even when there was none in his father's time. This change is called nagarigam (cultured behaviour) and is explained as "an expression of male modernity in south India... . Which depends very materially on female servility for its success."
Part two deals with violence, both in the private and public arenas, and how this has influenced the women's movement. In the private, informal arena of the family and community, much of the violence is well known: sexual abuse at home, chastising a woman for inability to adjust, murder, hanging the body elsewhere, severe battering, sexual abuse of girls, rape as a punishment and violence during pregnancy. Victims are usually located in marital, not natal homes, with no support. Sometimes, even a father in known to strike a deal with the son-in-law after his daughter is dead: "It was a win-win situation all around if one overlooks the minor detail of the tragic loss of life of a young girl." Causes of violence range from the trivial to the bizarre: not doing house work properly, dressing fashionably, jealously of husband, husband's alcoholism, dowry demands, husband's mistress, laughing, combing hair. As just about anything can serve as an excuse to severely beat up a woman, she is often clueless about how to avoid it. Paradoxically, it is only violence against the woman which is considered a private family matter. "... When there is a fight between two brothers, it is not considered a strictly family matter... if a woman were to assault her husband, this would also not be considered just a family matter."
Moving from the domestic to the broader canvas of sectarian and caste identities, the authors show how communal politics and identities have confounded and divided the women's movement in India: the ideas and images of "Hindu" women, the insecurity felt by non-Hindu feminist-activists after Babri Masjid demolition, religious leaders propagating their views about how women should behave, dress and look and what is culturally "Indian" for women. It is interesting to note that few have publicly expressed or enforced how men should dress or behave.
The authors underline the necessity of reassessing the traditional view that women are the victims of male aggression. Once activists accept a more complex picture including women's complicity in the violence arising out of their other overlapping identities — as mothers, Dalits, Hindus, Muslims, political parties — feminism itself gets transformed. Examples of female bootleggers working with their husbands while women's groups battle against alcoholism, the role of women in instigating widow immolation, or dowry in the name of religion or custom, even supporting rape of women from "other" communities during riots egged on by fundamentalists from both sides, has forced activists to re-evaluate their earlier position of working for "women as a whole". This recognition is a precondition for moving forward through changes in the mode of resistance to violence.
Part three has interesting papers on the widening opportunities for women's democratic participation in the formal spaces of the Panchayati Raj. While Constitutional provisions have ensured one-third reservation, lack of a genuine political commitment to decentralised decision making has been a common cause for limited effectiveness. This is combined with a strong resistance to accepting women in non-traditional, dominant roles. But for the one-third constitutional reservation for women, there would have been little opportunity for their participation as elected representatives. Neither women nor scheduled castes have shown percentages significantly over their quotas. Thus, formal equality has little meaning among widely unequal participants and, in fact, it is only through unequal treatment that some of the initial imbalance is countered. Where state governments have supported women's participation through grass-roots mobilisation, most have been cases of token or limited support — so long as there is no real challenge to established power structures, masculine and caste. Examples range from lesser forms of violence like pulling hair, physically preventing mobility, denying permission to take part in meetings, stripping, stalling panchayat proceedings where women are heads, refusing to pass resolutions, to even rape and murder (including of male relatives of scheduled caste women panchayat members by people from a dominant caste "to teach her a lesson"). The resistance is from both within their own families and from the traditionally dominant communities. The most well known is the famous case of sathin Bhanwari Devi's rape by dominant Gujar men after she tried to prevent child marriage as required by her official duties. When the case went to court, the lower court held that, "... rape could not have taken place because older men were incapable of rape and the accused... were `respectable' men," thus demoralising women's agency. Rajasthan's feminist-oriented sathins, recruited under a government scheme proved to be successful change agents. Yet, their very success in ruralising feminism led to shrinking state support.
In contrast to this, the insight from the example of state supported Mahila Samakhya on social mobilisation, the one paper with a decidedly positive note, shows a possible way forward: promoting collectives or sanghas among poor women and facilitating their grassroots democratic participation. Without directly saying so, the account also shows how women's struggle in many ways is similar to Dalit struggle — against exclusion and denial of public space, lack of control over their bodies and time — the one difference being that women face discrimination from their own families also. As seen in other parts of the country, wherever women's Self Help Groups (SHGs) have resisted the temptation of government functionaries to hurriedly put together a list of women to show progress in official, one-time loans, groups have built mutual solidarity and developed into vibrant local institutions (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Manipur, etc.). Where the dos and don'ts of group facilitation are scrupulously followed, SHGs have gone well beyond savings and credit, providing a large pool of women leaders with a different set of priorities reflecting the concerns of the members. In fact, in Tamil Nadu it was women from these informal groups that proved to be the better formal panchayat office bearers, provided the quorum in many Gram Sabhas, and even dragged their reluctant husbands to participate. However, without such a strong grounding through capacity and awareness building first, the so-called SHGs have disappeared soon after credit disbursement.
The power of patriarchies in the formal (state, official, contractual) domain and the informal (caste, community, family) domain, which jointly interlock to deprive women of choice and opportunities is analysed by Anandhi. In many ways the informal domains are stronger than the formal ones: even when officially women hold positions in their Panchayats, their agency is hampered by not allowing them to function independently and fully, or a formal position is thrust upon unwilling proxies, remote controlled by co-caste or upper-caste men. The authors also recognise the phenomenon of numerous token women in reserved seats where their orientation and concerns tend to be procedural and personal: signatures, peon, vehicle, office and self-interest. No one is surprised to see husbands attending meetings and taking decisions. These women are found to be acceptable to the established power structures, both within and outside the home.
An important point made is that the process of development does not challenge women alone. Violence is shown to be closely connected with social, economic and micro political considerations. A disaggregated view of gender issues becomes inevitable.
Though some of the authors briefly acknowledge the spreading phenomenon of women's SHGs, including many with scheduled caste members, which have achieved remarkable acceptance and legitimacy in their villages, they have focussed on the formal PRIs as representing widening democracy. However, the linkages between the informal women's groups and women's participation in PRIs should not be lost sight of. In states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Manipur, women's SHGs have, in fact, provided a rich source of oriented and confident women, who have already negotiated the tight rope of balance of power within their families and have worked with other women. They are likely to have a far better shot at exercising their voice in the formal political arena. Ranganayaki's case in TN and the MS experience in Karnataka demonstrate that pessimism is not inevitable. A systematic exploration of linkages between affinity-based women's groups (facilitated through non-sectarian social mobilisation and orientation on gender) and PRIs has not been attempted. This exploration in a future research paper could provide valuable insights.
Part four contains a tightly written and persuasively argued paper that brings a historical perspective to the divisive politics of identities — nationhood in colonial times, class, and the persistent identities of caste and religion — that have fragmented and subordinated "women's constituency". During the British period, Saraladevi's insight as she tried to get a separate congress going for women is interesting. Though no one had any qualms against using women for protests and to face the police during the freedom struggle, "The Congress, she said, `assigned to women the position of law breakers only and not law makers'." Women were used to further Gandhiji's aims, but the Congress had to be forced to address women's demands. Even communist groups, claiming to challenge exploitation, forgot about questioning gender roles and ended up with patriarchal leanings. As Samita Sen reminds the reader, "To the now famous question of a peasant woman, `Why should my comrade beat me at home?' (talking about her husband), the party had no answer."
With over five decades of post independence development behind us, new problems have replaced old and new versions of old problems have surfaced. There is a negligible numeric presence of women in Assemblies and the Parliament and nothing beyond the reserved quotas in local bodies. In spite of theoretical constitutional equality for all, separate personal laws ensure that men and women are not equal. Male guardianship prevails and "marriedness" for women translates into subordination in ways it does not for men. Such paradoxes in the formal and informal arenas combine to exclude women from an equal footing with men in free India. The paper helps in understanding how informal and formal institutions have, over time, inhibited the appropriation of rights for women, which even today, continue to severely limit their capabilities and opportunities. Rather than concluding on a pessimistic note, the paper uses this as a justification "To rebuilt the fragmented women's constituency." But quite rightly, the author recognises that rather than a nationalised women's movement, the beginnings of a solution may lie in networking between the numerous autonomous groups and women's associations struggling at local and regional levels. She leaves open the question of how to mobilise these groups to equip them to face the challenges.
It is easy to come away with a pessimistic outlook for women in India. Nevertheless, there are several pointers for engineering social change for a more egalitarian order: redefining "political" to include more than just formal public spaces by adding informal social spaces of caste, religion and family; explicitly recognising the diversity of identities among women and pulling together common concerns; social mobilisation of deprived women to form grassroots collectives with horizontal and vertical linkages; re-orienting women and men, including the elected representatives, specially those from the deprived sections of society, exposing them to egalitarian and feminist ideas; training and capacity building not just in procedures, but also in self-confidence building; building links between elected representatives, women's groups, feminists and continuing support for women's participation in local body elections; re-orienting lower bureaucracy through quality training on gender issues; recognising the existence and violent potential of backlash against change and developing coping strategies. To what extent these pointers will be operationalised on a wide enough scale to make a difference is an open question in the informal arena, on the one hand, and in the formal world of contracts and government.
The 1974 quote by Lotika Sarkar and Vina Mazumdar used by the editor to begin her introduction is no less true today than it was more than 28 years ago: "Equality of opportunities cannot be achieved in the face of tremendous disabilities and obstacles which the social system imposes... The application of the theoretical principle of equality in the context of unequal situations only intensifies inequalities, because equality in such situations merely means privileges for those who have them already and not for those who need them."
Overall, a depressing book, with a ray of hope provided by the empowering processes unleashed through building organised women's groups.
The Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India, edited by Karin Kapadia, Kali for Women, 2002.
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