To Be or Not to Be: Problems in Locating Women in Public Policy

Author(s): Devaki Jain

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 42, No. 8 (Feb. 24 - Mar. 2, 2007), pp. 691-696
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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To
Problems

in

Be
Locating

or

Not
Women

to

Be
in

Public

Policy

This paper discusses some of the problems womenface in gendering public policy.
Thepaper elaborates on how women's collective identity can be forceful
politically when backed by knowledge and gives examples of this from Karnataka.
New developmentsin decentralisationof governance have opened possibilities for
women'sagency at the local level. Paradoxically, developmentsat the global level have
thepossibility of underminingthis process. The author argues that we can only
thereforeconfront this not by integrating into the existing developmentparadigm
and attemptingsmall changes at the local level but by evolving a different development
paradigmthat will ensure justice.for the majority of the poor and women.
DEVAKI JAIN

face three problems in incorporating their con~W~Tomen

cerns in public policy. Firstly, how can we have
"woman"as an exclusive category given the heterogeneity among women. Women belong to all the classes, castes,
religions, political ideologies and cultures in society. Thus to
projectan identityof "woman"as defined by feminine experience
to representa collective point of view or opinion is a challenge.
Yet acase can andhas been made for taking "woman"as a specific
category (as an imaginary) on the basis of the fact that across
these conventional divides various forms of discrimination
converge. Indeed it was this recognition, namely, the experience
of discrimination against women across all social groups, that
led the pioneers on women's rights, the founding mothers of the
UN's conventions, to craft the Convention on the Elimination
of All Formsof Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The
universality of discrimination against women gives them an
identity across differences. But discrimination alone cannot
overcome the other problems of gendering mentioned below
[Morrisson and Jutting 2005].
The second question arises from the flawed nature of inherited
knowledge. Women studies have demonstrated how knowledge
of society and knowledge about women are constructed by
patriarchalbiases - that all knowledge is gendered [Jain 2004,
1986]. A very typical example relates to women's work. What
kind of work is called work, how work is valued, the measures
used to determine the value of their work are all determined by
the perception of women's work by society, official agencies
and men. As a result, women's work is undercounted, underestimated and often is invisible. There are dichotomies such as
public and private space [Jain 2000] and hierarchies [Jain 2001]
embedded in language and practice. For example, the large
space occupied by the majority of women workers is called
"informal",implying its secondary status to the so called formal
sector. The non-monetised sector is either accorded a lower value
or no value compared to the monetised [Goldschmidt-Clermont
1981] - an approach totally invalid for a largely subsistence
economy where the non-monetised sector is substantial. Thus if
a policy arises out of such inherited"flawed" knowledge, women
advocates would not want to participate in it. They would not

liketo engenderit. Theywouldliketo deconstructit orchallenge

it or reject it.
Integration as Surrender
Thusintegratinginto an existingframeworkhas problems.If
the formulationof publicpolicy thatarisesout of the accepted
theoriesand frameworksand out of given dataand analysisis
unacceptableto, say, a group,like women,ordalits[Guru2002],
then theirintegratinginto that set-up, sitting at committeesor
Insofaras we startfroma premise
negotiatingtablesis surrender.
thatis inaccurateandflawed, it can lead to undesirableresults.
Butthis stayingawayalso hasits negativeeffects, i e, exclusion.
This is one of the dilemmas.In the languageof the feminists
thisis oftenposedas:"Dowe wanta pieceof thepoisonedcake?"
[Jain 1999] or anotherway of raisingthe same question,"Do
we want to swim in the polluted stream?".Hence ideas like
integrating,gendering,mainstreaming,used now in current
discussionsfor inclusionof womenin policy-makingefforts,do
not achieve desiredresults.
The thirdproblemarises out of women's unhappinessover
constructing"boxes",to containphenomenawithinstrictboundaries.To women,such boundariesare invalidespeciallywhere
boundariesare fluid. They do not easily accept attemptsat
imputinga false identityand derivingjudgmentson thatbasis.
If one definestheboundaryof identityas women'swaysof doing
thingsit is rejectedas "essentialism".If one suggeststhatwage
workfor womenempowersthem,it is called"instrumentalism".
Thereis a tendencyamongstthe women advocatesthemselves
to questionevery notionor concept which attemptsan arrival
at a boundaryfor identity fixing. I call this the nethi nethi
syndrome,borrowingfrom the Upanishads.It is definitionby
negation.
But such an overcriticalviewing of identitythatnegatesany
boundingimpedes the participationof women in policy as a
politicalpresencedrawnfrom a collective identity.An identity
tag (basedon some markings,bodily or throughthe experience
of subordinationand exclusion),is crucialfor claimingrights
andspecialattention[Jain2002]. Sucha clearidentitytag,which

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691

is moreeasily availableto, say, dalits,or to blacksin Africaor

in whitenations,is difficultto forge for the woman- identity
due to her presencein all these othercategorieswith all their
separatepolitics.Genderingpublic policy is intimatelyrelated
to our answersto these questions.
In Women, Development, and the UN - A Sixty-Year Quest
for Equality and Justice, [Jain 2005b] I have reviewed the

historicalstruggleof womento be understoodandincludedand

givenspaceandcitizenhoodon anequalbasisin theinternational
arenaof justice.I foundthatwheneverwomendid achievesome
"success"by breakingthroughthe male bastionsof knowledge
andpower,it was throughstrategisingon collective identityas
woman,as well as by inclusionof even one womanin a drafting
committee.I call this strategisingspace a "placeof one's own"
[Woolf1977]or "thewomen'stent".lWhile the place of one's
own is neededto develop self-confidence,to face the bigger
world,it alsomadethe"outside"see the"tent"as a separateentity.
This perceptionperpetuatesthe women for women by women
to womensyndrome,a syndromewhichis excludingwomennot
onlyfromrecastingandreordering
development,butalsodenying
the course of developmentto reflect the lived experienceof
women.Policyissuesarenotonlyaboutwomen'sissues.Women
needa say in all issuesas partnersin thedevelopmentof society.
Thusthe place of one's own can be a powerhouseor a ghetto,
or both.

scene of the women's movement. There is now a widespread

consciousness of the necessity of engaging in gendered analysis
that recognises both difference and inequality and their implications for development design. The other trajectoryreveals that
the situation on the ground for many women, especially those
living in poverty and in conflict-ridden situations, seems to have
worsened, despite the fact that it has been addressed specifically
by both the state and development thought.
The question that arises then is, why does this disjunctionexist
after decades of what appears to be a vibrant and ostensibly
effective partnershipbetween policy-makers and the women's
movement? How much of the oppositional trajectories can be
attributedto the external atmospherics of global power politics
and its attendanteconomics? How much can be attributedto other
factors, such as the style of functioning and priorities of the
women's movement or its experience of the gendered institutional
architecture of governance?

Interventions in Policy

Two examples from Karnataka of gendering policy will be

discussed to illustratethese problems - the problem of differences
between women need not be a hindrance; one can address the
common experience of discrimination and inequality by women
as a group. We can build adequate knowledge of the social
embeddedness of gender roles, then intervene in policy by studying the impact of gender insensitive formulations and identifying
An Organised Voice
areas where interventions are possible.
The60-yearreviewreferredto abovedoespointto someuseful
The first is drawn from an attempt made in Karnataka to
directionsforwomen'sparticipation
in socialchange.First,there integrate women's interest into a state five-year plan (1983).4
is value and usefulness in bondingacross differenceson the
Before we discuss the actual study it is pertinent to recall the
identityof woman, and strategisingin meaningfulways for tremendous advances made in understanding women's work.
inclusionin publicaffairs.Henceanorganisedvoice represented Without this background knowledge one would not have been
by the women's tent is a crucialbrick in this effort. Such an able to evaluate any policy or programme.
inclusionis necessary,forinstance,if wehavetostemmilitarisation. The field of women's work became one of the major research
Thenwomen's tent can also be a peace tent.
domains both nationally and internationally. It was one of the
Secondlywe needknowledgethatdelineatesconcealeddetails most creative pursuits, influencing international organisations
regardingdifferenceswithinhouseholdsand families,between like the ILO. This focus helped to underline the ground realities
the sexes, andin the variousprocessesof reproduction,
produc- in the developing countries. The women's movement then began
tion,exchange.Wemaycallthismappingthesocialandeconomic to address the core issue of survival security for the principal
locationof womenin the above landscapes.Knowingcan be a defender of the family, namely the woman. This generated
first step.
discussion on issues such as measurementandinclusion of invisible
Thirdlypowercan be claimedthroughsome semblanceof a unpaid work, rural women's work, discrimination in wages, job
collectiveidentity,a USPorflag.Therehasbeenmuchdiscussion security and revaluing what was called the "informal" sector.
on this issue [Longino1993] of buildinga maintainableunity,
This new research about women as workers entered the
a unitedstand.This continues to be a quest. However,it is development discourse. They looked at practices of national data
suggestedherethatit is increasinglybeing arguedthatpartici- collecting agencies that list women engaged in domestic work
pationin leadership,in formalpolitics,2can providethe turning as unemployed, concern and analysis about unequal wages,
point.Bondingacrossdifferenceon the identityof woman,and discriminationagainst women in the workplace, women's double
strategisingfor inclusionas a collective voice can redressall burden of work for wages and work at home, the role that the
aspectsof genderderiveddiscrimination,whetherit is the de- tasks women perform to make possible other members' involvemeaninggaze, the mindset; the stereotypicalperceptionsof ment in marketable production or service, and the absence of
women'srolesandcapabilities,or the embeddeddiscriminatory social security for women who perform unpaid labour at home.
practices- all thesearelinkedelementsof genderrelations.The From a more narrow and focused approach on women's status
recentconferencein New York called Beijing +103 revealed vis-a-vis men, this research broadened the scope of investigation
againthecontinuingdisjunctionbetweentherealityontheground to look at the broader implications of global and national ecoandthesenseof progresscreatedby the "visibility"[Jain2005a] nomic, political, and social changes and their impact on women's
level achievedby genderedanalysis.
lives in their entirety.
Thisdisjunction
canbe seenintwooppositetrajectories
The study was initiated in the 1980s by the Institute of Social
relating
to womenanddevelopment.Thefirsttrajectoryis theemergence Studies Trust (ISST) partly because of the impetus of the overall

of a strongpoliticalpresencein the nationaland international "ideology"thatwas developedin international

fora,of bringing
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womenintodevelopment;andpartlydueto ourinterestin finding

ways to enable women to move out of poverty.It should be
recalledthatit was aroundthe 1970s and 1980s thatwomen's
studiesandwomen'sadvocacywere emergingas majorplayers
inthestruggleforwomen'sequality.Therewasnowarecognition
thatthe "household"neededto be brokenopen - as it was not
as believed, a "benign"shelterfor all its inhabitants.5
Disparate Impacts

but looked afterthe traysin which the silkwormswere nursed

or nurtured.The silkwormsare usually kept in trays called
in shelves inside the home and have to be fed
"chandrikes"
mulberryleaveseverythreehoursjust like a child, andthe offal
hasto be removedas frequentlyso thattheydo not get diseased.
Womenin the strongsericultureareascomplainedthatnot only
were theirhousescompletelycrampedwith silkworms,leaving
hardlyanyplaceforthekitchenortheirchildren,butthesilkworm
wasmoredemandingthanthechildas it hadacompulsivedemand
for leaves everythreehours.Thusthey were awakemost of the
nightandmostof themhadchronicillnessesdueto thesuffocating
atmospherein the hut and the unremittinglabourof cocoon
rearing.
Despitetheirbeingthemainrearersof worms,thewomenwere
not at all broughtinto the project.They were not given training
on betterrearing,on what were the special characteristicsof
feedingandhealthforthenew wormsthatwereintroduced,they
did not receiveinformationaboutthe new fodder;theywerenot
shown how to upgradethe qualityof the yar they spenttime
on.Thuswomen'scontribution
to theprocessof silkmanufacture
was unrecognised,withconsequencesfor policy. It appearsthat
the old EsterBoserup9story of the 1970s where she bemoans
thenon-recognition
of womenas farmerscontinues[Jain2003a].

Individualswithinhouseholdshad highly disparatelocations

in power, apartfrom inequalitiesin occupations,health and
education.This disparityamongstindividualsseemedto be the
more enlargedthe lower one went down in the asset/income
scale. Inspiredby the internationalefforts at documentingthe
disparateimpactof developmentbetweenmen and women,the
study focused on examining the reach of the anti-poverty
on women.Whatemergedwas thatthe household
programmes
was not benignanddefinitelynot a level playingfield for men
andwomen.Inthepoorhouseholdswomenhada differentsource
of incomefrommen.Thestudycameupwiththeideathatwomen
withinpovertyhouseholdsshouldbe independentlyidentified
andreachedoutto withanti-povertyprogrammessuchas IRDP.
We foundsettinga targetfor women withinsuch programmes
develwas flawed on manycounts, not least by inappropriate
Classical Invisibility
opmentoffers and false reportingby functionaries.
Thiswas furthercorroborated
duringthe processof preparing As a resultof lobbyingbothin Washingtonandin Karnataka
StatePlanningBoardcalled District with the government,a task force on sericulturewas set up by
a reportfor the Karnataka
with the principalsecretary,agriLevel Planning for Social Development.6 For the report district the governmentof Karnataka
level studieswerecommissioned- one froma backwarddistrict, culture,as its chair.All the relevantagencies were aroundthe
Gulbarga,and one advanced,DakshinaKannada.Achievinga tableandthe meetingwas to show thatthereneedsto be greater
targetof coveringcouplesof reproductiveage withcontraceptive inclusionof womenas workersin the sericulturedevelopment
Itwasfoundthatthisclassicalinvisibilityof women
services was irrelevantin Dakshina Kannada(a district on programmes.
Kamataka'swest coast, knownfor advancementin social indi- workers,especiallywhentheproductiveworkis withinthehome,
cators)wherethe fertilityrate had alreadyreachedtwo births haddeprivedthemof beingengagedin thetrainingforimproved
per woman in the reproductiveage group (the replacement rearingpracticesas well as marketing.
Therewas no hostel accommodationfor women at the Serilevel fertility),andin some villages less thantwo, butthe fund
astategovernment
institution.
A proposal
allocatedto the districtcontinuedto be allocatedonly for that cultureTraining
Institute,
purpose,andwhenits irrelevancewas broughtoutnothingcould was made by the task force to build a women's hostel using
be doneto shiftthefundsfromcontraceptionto moreadvanced anothergovernmentschemecalled"Hostelsforworkingwomen".
healthcare.7
However,the taskforce neithersustaineditself nordid it make
in the lives and concernsof womenin
Planneddevelopmentappeared,as it does even now, as blind for any transformation
rubberstampingof schemes.An even more significantlesson the sericultureproject.
A similarexperienceis recordedof the matchingstudythat
was thatthe methodologybeing used did not reachpoor men
either.The processwas completelyflawedfor men andwomen ISSTtook up with the 'tasar'10industryin Maharashtra.
Again
amongstthe poor or deprived.It transpiresthat the method womenweremajorworkers,butunrecognised,andnothingwas
adoptedfor stimulatingdevelopmentwas critical,even super- done.The reportfundedby the Swiss developmentcorporation
sededthetaskof gendering
orintegrating
womenintodevelopment. triedto changethis perceptionbutit hadno impact.The studies
1
in Karnataka
The secondis a projectundertaken
by the World undertaken
by ISSTin variouspartsof Indiaandin Karnataka
Bank8to improvethe qualityof the cocoons in the sericulture presentedinformationon women'sproductiveroles,andargued
industry.The projectdid not use the availableknowledgeabout thatthe projectswere losing out on success by not recognising
women's work.
this. Whilethis resultedin genderedanalysis,it did not change
Sericulturewas one of the dominantland-basedactivitiesin the project.
Some new opportunitiesare emerging in India, and more
Karnatakaand the perceptionof the policy designerswas that
womenwere not an issue in this project.It was perceivedthat stronglyin Karnataka.
Thesemayhelpus incorporate
thelessons
womenwere basicallyusing thrownaway cocoons which had learntfromhistory,mentionedearlierin this essay.To reiterate:
holes in themto makegarlands.They were seen as not engaged we hadtalkedof (i) the usefulnessandvalueof bondingacross
inthebasicchainof productionandthesaleof cocoons.Anactual differenceon theidentityof woman,andstrategising
forinclusion,
investigationthat sought to breakdown tasks in the chain of (ii) the need for knowledgeaboutwomen's variousproductive
productionrevealed that while mulberrywas grown by the andotherrolesandtheirlocationwithinthe household,families
farmers,the men,it was womenwho not only pickedthe leaves andcommunity,(iii) powerclaimedthrougha collectiveidentity.
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693

An aspect of the Kamataka landscape of governance and

development, which offers some niches, some conduits for
affirming these views is the long-standing and politically well
supporteddecentralisedmanagement of development, especially
the economic and social justice agendas.
Forexample, as far back as in 1994, Karnataka's State Planning
Board (earliercalled Economic Planning Council (EPC)) set up
two subgroups, one for district level planning for employment,
and the other for district level planning for social development.
The main task of the subgroups was to provide effective social
and economic security to the poor and improve the quality of
administering these services, all at the district and subdistrict
level of accountability. Interestingly, in 2005, the Planning
Commission has set up an expert group to draw up guidelines
for the states on what they call grassroot planning for development, and the thrustis to reduce if not eliminate the state dictated
schemes, the pre-packageddevelopment bundles that are handed
out, and leave planning to local communities to design the use
of untied funds.

Consolidating

Multiple Schemes

to establish parallelbodies which were scuttling devolution

intendedby the 73rd amendment.Existingparallelbodies are
tobenowreconstituted
underthechairmanship
of the'adhyaksha'
of the zilla parishad.Besides, World Bank or externalaided
projectsare to be implementedthroughPRIs only.
Right from the beginning, when the RamakrishnaHegde
governmentin Karataka, in collaborationwith AbdulNazeer
Saab,the ministerfor ruraldevelopment,broughtin legislation
to set up elected local councils, the legislationalso included
reservationfor women. Womeneleptedto councils have been
invitedto meetingsheldby women'sorganisationsandattempts
aremadeto give thema collectiveidentityandgive thema sense
of knowledgebasedconfidence.As thepanchayatirajmovement
grew andbroadenedwith the introductionof the 73rdand74th
amendmentsby the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the
SingammaSreenivasan(SS) Foundation,for example,got even
more deeply engagedin strengtheningthose women who had
been elected to serve on these councils.
Uniting across Party Lines

One of the first initiativesthat they took was to bringthem

underoneorganisation,
namely"anassociationof electedwomen
While this may look bafflingsince the reprerepresentatives".
sentativescomefromdifferentparties,in Kamatakait was found
that women were willing to join an associationof themselves
acrosspartylines. They seemedto need thatcollectivestrength
in orderto generatethe self-confidenceto bringtheirvoice into
the meetings.The women's collectives and collectivitiesalso
have an additionalfeature,namely,they areunitedacrossclass,
wherepoorandnon-poorwomenengagein issueswhichimpact
womenlike domesticviolence,or water,or reproductivehealth,
especiallyin urbanslums and ruralareas.
Usingthecollectivesespeciallyatthelevelof gramapanchayats,
thefoundationthenbuiltthreeotherprogrammes
on thesegroups.
The foundationthen initiatedsimilar projectsin three other
southernstates,Kerala,AndhraPradeshand Tamil Nadu,and
is now coordinatinga networkof agenciesin these four states,
all of whichareengagedin creatingcollectivitiesof theseelected
womenandenablingthemto strengthentheirtechnicalskills as
well as their political presence in the local self-government
institutions.
Ratherthan"train"themthey have been formedinto groups
and these groupsengage with themselvesto create their own
instead
space,debateamongthemselvesanddeviseprogrammes
of being in mixed councils.Women'scapabilityfor collective
actionandtheircapabilityto formcollectivitiesaretransforming
many programmes,processesand outcomes.
Currently,many women's organisationsare partneringwith
stategovernmentsto strengthenthe capabilityof womenelected
to theselocal self-government
institutionsto participatein if not
leaddevelopmentin theirareas.Forexample,the SS Foundation
has madea novel endeavourto enableelectedwomenrepresentatives (EWRs)to constructbudgets,such that the interestof
womenand othersubordinatedgroupsis safeguarded.It is not
to raiseawarenessaboutbudgetsamongstlocal
justa programme
womenpoliticiansbut to enablewomento directthe economy
froma space availableto them.This helps themto understand,
participateand transformlocal budgets.
The designof the effectiveparticipationhas beenenabledby
trationhave also been removed.Departmentsare directednot collaborationwith Janaagraha,
an urbanNGO whichuses three

The subgroup working with secretaries to government of each

sector and some CEOs, or chief secretaries of districts as they
were called at the time, was able to rationalise the 75 schemes
into 15 bundles, and suggested that instead of having 15 schemes
coming out of 15 departments even these could be bundled into
a social development service as one sector, and the fund could
be used for "provisioning of social development services to the
poor",with the functionariesattachedto the service coming under
one nomenclature called social development services providers.
Thus the departmentalboundaries would be liquidated, and the
multiple schemes would be consolidated withoutlosing the overall
intention.
One of the suggestions made by the subgroup,thatthere should
be social mapping of the state, to show variations in human
development indices between districts in order to identify gaps
in performance and to spot inter-district variations, was not
implemented. However, this compliance came later. During
1995-97 Karataka developed a human development report that
put together district level indicators and indices12- a first in state
level human development reports in India.
In neither of the illustrations from Karnatakagiven above did
this opportunity for intervention yield a clear "tool" to tell us
what to do and how to intervene. However there is now, as I
write this article, an opportunity to engage with political power
due to the clearer, more firm legally and politically ordained
devolution of economic planning power and funds to the locally
elected bodies in Karnataka.
Significant changes have been brought about in the state in
the fiscal year 2005-06 (embodied in the state budget). State
sector schemes pertaining to the 29 subjects in Schedule XI of
the 73rd amendment have been merged in the district sector
schemes to be implemented by the panchayat institutions. From
April 1, 2005 about Rs 3,500 crore have been thus devolved to
panchayat institutions at grama, taluka and zilla levels. The
departments have been asked to amend and issue afresh all
government orders, notifications, circulars, etc, in accordance
with these charges.
Most importantly some of the negative features in adminis-

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corneredstakeholders'meetings,namelythe civil servantwho

is thecommissionerof themunicipality,thewardcommitteeand
the electedcorporators,
to have a transparent
processof underand
revenue
collection
and expenditures
standing
influencing
andmonitoringoutcomes.This methodhas been tried in two
municipalities- Mysoreand Tumkur.The municipalitieshave
changedtheirbudgetallocationsas a resultof collectivelobbying
by the elected women corporatorsacross partylines. Similar
experiencehas been found in two otherpocketsof Karnataka
- Bijapur and Bellary.

lookedlike disadvantaged
positionsseemedall rightfor several
decades.But it was clearlynot enough.Therewas deep, wideandinvisiblediscrimination.
Thewomen's
spread,unimaginable,
movementrespondedto this by makinginequalityvisible. But
thatdid not take care of the ignoranceand non-recognitionof
women's value as citizens, workersand providers.Theircontributionto society is equal to if not even richerin value than
men's.So the movementgeneratednew knowledgeto show the
role of womenin development- againwiththe expectationthat
revealingtruthwould lead to women's equalitywith men. But
that strategystill disabledthem because they had no voice in
the determinationof theirlives and theirroadmaps.Thus, the
notionof equalparticipation,
of equalpower,of leadershipwas
workedinto the notionsof ways to redressinequality.

Anotherprojectthat they were exposed to was to use their

kitchen gardensfor growing medicinalplants. This has now
caughtthe imaginationof thegramapanchayatsandat leastfour
districtswillbeengagedin a movementforenvironment
security,
healthsecurityand livelihoodsecuritythroughthe growingof
medicinalplants.
Old Method Continues
The outcomeof these exercises is that in the Mysore City
women'sissues were not only included,but alloWhatwe haveseen is thatwhile knowledgehas increasedand
Corporation,
cationsto certainwomen'sschemeswereincreasedin thebudget been funnelledinto the policy spaces,the adviceof womenhas
for 2005-06.
not been taken,theirleadershipin directingpublic policy has
not happened,to a correspondingextent. The old method of
"integrating"through women only packages, mainly social
Dramatic Shifts
developmentpackageschemes for women, continues.
the
of
situation
and
character
the
various
actors
in
The revelatoryaspectof this storycan be summarisedin the
Today,
governancehave shiftedquite dramaticallyand in significant importanceof space not only in funds but at the level of the
ways. The stateis recedingfromits earlierrole as beingrespon- intellect,for the excludedto claimtheirrights.Decentralisation
sible to the citizensfor theirwell-being,especiallyprovisioning with a quotaof one-thirdseats for women has opened a new
of basic securities.Civil society includingthe women's move- gatewayinIndiaandespeciallyin Karnataka.
Butit is notenough.
mentis becomingstrongeron theonehandbutalsoparadoxically The first need is to reconsiderthe paradigmof development
more fragmented.The internationalconfigurationof power is itself,theidentification
of theenginesof growth.Insteadof seeing
changing,withtheUN's influencerecedingandthe otherworld the poor as a targetgroup who need special ladderswithin a
organisationslike the WorldBank and othermultilateralslike frameworkof economicdevelopment,enablingthemto become
theWTOoccupyingcentrestage.Themarketeconomy,signified economicandpoliticalagentscoulditself becomethe engineof
by the corporates,is playinga largerrole in nationaland inter- growth.Thus,froma "trickledown"orsocialsafetynetapproach,
nationalgovernancethanbefore,includingthe provisioningof it wouldbe useful to look at what can be called the "bubbling
publicgoods.Thereis also a returnto conservativepolitics,and up"theoryof growth.This alternativetheoryarguesthatputting
variousforms of fundamentalism,
across the globe.
incomes and political power in the hands of the poor could
Simultaneouslythere are the usual paradoxesin women's generatethedemandandthevoicethatwoulddirectdevelopment.
domain.There is an increasein the political participationof The purchasingpowerand the choices of the poor coulddirect
womenin governance,especiallyat the local level. Thereis an the economyto a pro-pooror povertyreducingeconomy.The
increasein thecapabilitiesandpowerof thewomen'smovement, review of the past seems to suggest some dramaticreversalof
inknowledgeandorganisational
capacitiesintheinformaleconomy the currenttheoriesof where the engine of growthlies if the
as workersandtradersand to contestviolence againstwomen. interestis in povertyeradication[Jain2003b].
There is a shift in the natureof employmentopportunities. MahatmaGandhiin fact had designed such a theoryand a
Thereis increasingabsorptionof female labourinto the new proposalfor its practice.To some extent it could even be said
for earningincome like in exportprocessingand thatsuch a theoryis close to, thoughnot the same as, Keynes'
opportunities
a declinein theopportunities
formen.Thisarises theoryof stimulatingan economy by generatingeffective desimultaneously
becauseof the natureof the growthpoles and the natureof the mand.Here the furtherdetailingis: whose effective demand?
organisationof productionand trade.Womenare on the move, Whosepurchasingpower?Gandhi'stalisman,his testforaction,
sellingeithertheirbodiesor theirtime to earnincomefor their was this:"Wheneveryou arein doubt,or whenthe self becomes
families.TheUN reporton womenanddevelopmentfortheyear too muchwith you, applythe following test: recallthe face of
200413shows how the largestgroupor proportionof workers the poorestand the weakestman/womanwhomyou may have
uncoveredby any protectionare women and womenmigrants. seen and ask yourselfif the step you contemplateis going to
The demandfor womenas workersin the flesh tradehas made be of any use to him" [Jain 1996].
the flow of womenacrossbordersjump by leaps and bounds.
A majorfaultline thatrunsthroughnarrationsof historyand
The valueof the flesh tradeis now greaterthanthe valueof the theirknowledgebase,whetherit is political,economicor social
tradein narcotics.
history,is the failureto takenote of, to understandandrespect
At the verybeginning,women'squestwas for equalityor for and absorb, women's ideational and intellectual skills and
overpowering,if not eradicating,inequality.The strategyof outputsin theareaof theoreticalandanalyticalknowledge.While
of poverty,
levellingthe playingfield by bringingin laws, introducingthe someof the valuesemergingfromthe understanding
powerof rights,andfindingways to move womenout of what inequality, discrimination, conflict resolution, deepening
Economicand PoliticalWeekly February24, 2007695

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participation, method, politics that this interaction or

partnershipgenerated has been applied or followed up on belatedly, recognition of the intellectual and leadership powers of
women has remained in the ghettos. The minds of men have
not changed.
And for that to happen, it seems that it is necessary to recast
the development framework, to come out with a treatise, a
theoreticallystand-alone development model which satisfies the
external world changes and yet women's quest. The movement
did some of this twenty years ago, at Nairobi, through DAWN,
the thirdworld network.14But anothersuch framework is needed
now and it can be done if women put their minds together.
Women's brilliant struggles need to be treated as a body of
knowledge, chiselled into theory, into an intellectual challenge
to what "is", i e, the currently dominant ideas for national and
international advancement. The importance of an intellectual
theoretical construct out of the ground experience, which can
claim space in the world of theoretical discourse, must not be
minimised. A new Das Kapital or Wealth of Nations is the only
bomb that can explode the patriarchalmindset and exclusion of
the real agency of women in public policy. [13
Email: lcjain@vsnl.com

Notes
1 In many internationalconferences women organised a separate"tent"
where many activities were carriedout with an autonomynot available
in the general conference schedules.
2 UN Economic and Social Council (2000): 'Assessment of the
Implementation of the System-wide Medium-Term Plan for the
Advancementof Women 1996-2001'; Reportof the Secretary-General,
Commissionon the Statusof Women, Forty-fourthsession, February28March2, 2000; Reportof the FourthWorldConferenceon Women,held
inBeijingfromSeptember4 to 15,1995; includingtheAgenda,theBeijing
Declarationand the Platformfor Action (Extract)in The UnitedNations
and the Advancementof Women,pp 649-735.
3 Commissionon the Status of Women, Forty-NinthSession, New York,
February28-March 11, 2005.
4 IntegratingWomen'sInterests into State Five-Year Plan, submittedto
the ministryof social welfare, governmentof India in September1984,
used in an articleby K S Krishnaswamyand Shashi Rajagopal,'Women
inEmployment:A MicroStudyin Karnataka',basedon theISSTBangalore
Report,Jain and Banerjee (1985).
5 'The Household Trap: Report on a Field Survey of Female Activity
Patterns',pp 215-46, Jain and Banerjee (1985); Folbre (1994).
6 DistrictLevelPlanningfor Social Development,DevakiJain,Chairperson
of Subcommittee,KarnatakaState Planning Board (1994), government
of Karataka.
7 Reportfrom Dakshina Kannadaby Shalini Rajaneesh, IAS.
8 Assessmentof Women'sRoles: The KarnatakaSericultureDevelopment
Project,ISST, 1982, TaskForce on Sericulture,for a WorldBankfunded
project,governmentof Karnataka.
9 Boserup 1999; oral communication:Maithreyi Krishnaraj'sstudy of
Womenin Agriculture- a MillenniumStudyfor the governmentof India,
which she hadtitled WomenFarmersofIndia on publicationwas retitled
Womenin Agricultureby the publisher in 2004!
10 InterstateTasarProject, reporton a field survey in Chandrapurdistrict
of Maharashtra,ISST, 1982.
11 Impactof SericulturePilot Project in Karnataka:An Evaluation,ISST,
1989.
12 HumanDevelopmentinKarnataka1999,PlanningDepartment,government
of Karnataka,1999.
13 Departmentof EconomicandSocial Affairs,DAW (2004): WorldSurvey
on the Role of Women in Development - Women and International
Migration, UN, New York, 2005.
14 TheBangaloreReport:A ProcessforNairobiatDevelopmentAlternatives
with Women for a New Era, ISST, New Delhi, 1984.

696

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