CHAPTER II .. WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION AND …

1 CHAPTER II .. WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION AND MODELS OF WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT CONTENTS " .3 . Introduction Aspects WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION Socio-economic Aspects of WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION Ideological Aspects of WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION Misconceptions Regarding Women Misconceptions on WOMEN'S Work Political Aspects of WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION Models and Approaches to WOMEN'S Development Women in Development Model (WID) Equity Approach Poverty Alleviation and Basic Needs approach Efficiency Approach Limitations ofWID Model Women and Development Model (WAD) Limitations of WAD Model Gender and Development Model (GAD) Development from Gender Perspective Empowerment Approach Grassroot Participation and Identification ofNeeds Compensation for Institutional Failures Conclusion 23 Introduction This CHAPTER analyses WOMEN'S status in society.

2 And attempts to study the impact of development process on their situation. It addresses two issues namely, aspects of women MARGINALISATION and models and approaches to WOMEN'S development In the first section, socio-economic, ideological and political factors that cause WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION have been discussed. In the second section, different -models namely, Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD), and Gender and Development (GAD) and associated development has been analysed. Aspects ofWomen's MARGINALISATION WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION in society is an outcome of several factors. Tlieyi I i. can be identified broadly in to three namely, socio-economic, ideological and: political. Within feminist theory different schools analyse the relationship betw~en these aspects differently.

3 For analytical purpose these factors will be discussed separately in this section. Socio-economic aspects of WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION Feminists argue that the gender division of labour in contemporary society has confined woman to the position of house wife which chains her to unpaid household work, dependency on man, lower social status and gender discriminations. They conclude that the burden of household activities along with other socio-economic factors have generally hampered her income-generating capacity. Women are also placed at a disadvantageous position in the income earning activities they venture into, because of sex discrimination. The liberal feminists believe that the sex specific attitudes on women and the. division of labour in the society is mainly based on the informal customs which violate.

4 The liberal political values (Jagger 1983:75-76; Welby 1992:68; Kanter 1977) Channeling of women into preparation for the lower-paying and more feminin ' i occupations since childhood lead them to poverty and dependence, which make most women unequal to most men. It becomes a vicious circle, as poverty makes it difficult' 24 or impossible for them to exercise their formal or legal rights in society. The situation, according to liberal feminists, is worse for those women who do unpaid housework. Their dependency on husbands make it extremely difficult for them to exercise their autonomy. Traditional Marxists conceive that dialectical relations in the capitalist mode of production has forced women to two forms of oppressions. Firstly, the women wage I I , ~ labourers are exploited and subjected to alienation as a part of the working dass.

5 Second, women who are excluded from wage labour are suffering from a special fo~ ', .I of oppression, that is rooted within the specific sexual division oflabour (Jagger 1983). It also consists of woman's unpaid procreation of next generation for the work-~orCf, which itself leads to her dependency on men. So, women became the o~ginhl I proletariat in the first form of class oppression. The origin of monogamous family I system has resulted in the concentration of wealth into male hand and it has increasCd the dependency ofwomen(Engles 1985:82). Marxist feminists maintain that women are in the oppressed class and the relation between men and women are class relations (Bensten 1970;Rowbotham 1973 ). It is mainly because women as a group have a distinct relation to production.

6 And property in almost all historical societies. The socio-sexual division of labour of private and public domains, they argue, has been the basis of division of labour, setting men to work and women to homes to provide free labour for caring and raring of children. They believe that women therefore, are brought into paid work only when boom conditions in the society increase the need for labour (Beechy 1977). For radical feminists, the concept of patriarchy has been the main factor for the sexual division of labour in the society. It defines women in a way specific to their sex, as beings whose special function is to gratifY male sexual needs and to bear and rCC!l" children (Jagger 1983, Burris 1970). Rich (1976) and Firestone (1977) have analysed the psychic, sexual and ideological structures that differentiate the sexes, setting tip an.

7 I antagonistic relation of dominance and subjugation between them. The domination of men according to radical feminists has been the root of WOMEN'S oppression in society and their exploitation in the family. 25 Gender, in socialist feminists' view, is related to the system of organising social reproduction and it has been an important element in maintaining male dominance in the society (Jagger 1983). The sexual division of labour in the family has been structured by this male dominance and is manifested in the exploitation of women. The concept of sex effective production has been used by socialist feminists being vested to point out how women are attributed to their mothering role, resting them to work outside the family. Further, such male-biased gender relations in society also determine.

8 ,I the wages of WOMEN'S labour. There has been doubt about the validity of socio-economic factors put foreword by above theories to understand the MARGINALISATION of rural women in Second World countries. It basically rests on the understanding th~t the capitalist expansion in developing countries has affected women differently frorri that of Western communities. The theory of feminisation of subsistence agricultu;~ ;i points out that during the colo~al periods, the commercialisation of small holding agriculture and other activities involving men, imposed upon women the double burden of household and farm work, as women were forced into subsistence agriculture and other economic activities in addition to their household work. When prices for conunercial crops dropped men migrated for wage labour and women had to get involved in petty trade or wage labour to cover the family expenses, leaving them with a triple burden (Boserup 1990:23).

9 A number of studies have noted that development of a system of wage labour made women more dependent on men, undermining traditional systems where women had a certain amount of control over production and reproduction.(Moore 1988:33): Ideological Aspects of WOMEN'S MARGINALISATION Every society holds certain values and beliefs regarding women which have a link with the disadvantageous situation of women. These ideological factors seem to be the outcome of beliefs shared by a particular society or values implanted from other societies. Those ideological factors will be examined in terms of misconceptions regarding the work of men and women. 26 Misconceptions Regarding Women Even though there is no significant biologically visible difference between men and women, various misconceptions about women prevail in society will have assigned them weaker positions.

10 One such symbolisation which has attracted a great deal of attention is the concept of pollution. "examples of societies which view women as polluting either in general or at particular time, has been found all over the wo~;ld .. during menstruation and child birth, pollution spreads outwards from the women and necessitates physical separation from all locations and objects used by both sexes. ' As a result women are isolated during child birth and menstruation, away from the main residential and gardening areas (Moore 1988: 14-15). Women are viewed as a part of private, domestic world that is disassociate? ' from politics and public purposes (March and Taqqu 1986: 11 ). The private and domestic dichotomy has been constructed on the basis of existing values about culture and nature.