to support women’s work by providing a range of inputs, with especial focus on training for skill...
TRANSCRIPT
To support women’s work by providing a range of inputs, with especial focus on training for skill upgradation, and marketing linkages, in 8 sectors in which there is a high proportion of women workers: Dairy, agriculture, small animal husbandry,
fisheries, handlooms, handicrafts, khadi and village industries, sericulture.
Later, two more sectors, social forestry and waste land development, were added.
Mobilising into groups to better address patriarchal constraints
Training, credit, marketing linkages – integrated package of inputs – to enhance productivity of women’s work and self employment
Higher incomes /economic empowerment will open up a pathway to overall empowerment
Covering a large number of women and drawing more public resources towards them would change their role and status within the sector - move up the value chain, increase women’s overall contribution to sectoral output
Largely echoes the analysis in Shramshakti, National Commission for Self Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector
Percentage Share of STEP
6.94.5
2.1 1.8
6.5
10.99.8
20.2
13.211.310.3
8.6 9
1210.5
11.8
15.5
6.48
0
5
10
15
20
25
Year
Per
cent
age
from
Tot
al W
omen
's
Wel
fare
Pro
gram
me
Series1
Over 55 percent of the total budget allocated to projects in 5 states (UP, Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka, and West Bengal)
In the period 1986-90, 44 percent went to dairy projects: share went up to 70-80 %.
1994-5: by Planning CommissionConcluded that ‘the programme has
not made much dent on making the economic activities of the women more viable in view of the rising inflation’
ISST 2006 Impact at level of sector only
perceptible in dairyingPoorest women excluded – self
employment too riskyTraining focus technical, not holisticNon-involvement of men can be
problematicAdministrative issues – delays, etc
Examples:• A project leads to higher income or earning
potential: but does it address impact on unpaid work and care; what would change?
• Adult women find work, adding to household income and their own eco empowerment – but are there inadvertent outcomes – eg irregular girls attendance in school; reduced milk consumption of children?
• Women receive training for new forms of income generating activity: but cannot question/ change seclusion norms: eg carpet weaving for own use, not for market
Training of adult women in growing medicinal plants for sale does not translate into actual production for the market: project did not factor in the fact of land ownership by men
Challenge: Seeking sustainable change, progress towards gender equality and ‘empowerment’ – but trajectories of change not pre-determined