The way patriarchy affects the lives of rural women in India is no accident and in some cases not even intentional. While the oppressor revels in this, it is important to note that it is an unshakable and apathetic system that maintains patriarchal hierarchies. Gender identities shape not only family norms, but also economic and political life. For rural women, this system was characterized by policies that aimed at the economic and social upliftment of the rural masses but completely ignored gender issues.
The rural social fabric has been intricately interwoven by post-independence reforms. There is evidence that the reforms aimed at economic, political and social mobility of the rural masses largely discriminated against women. A study of the ISI points out the different effects of technological changes on the division of labor. India’s agrarian reforms have led to gender dislocations; Negligence and oversight have cost women more than economic stability.
Mechanized Extinction: Green Revolution and Defeminization
When the Green Revolution in 1965 was intended to lead to greater agricultural production and greater prosperity in peasant households, women faced a different challenge. Surinder S. Jodhka, in his Book“The Indian Village” explores this gender question. Essentially, he states that “state policies of land reform, the way in which agriculture is mechanized, the structures and processes of commercialization of agricultural production, labor migration and wage rates for workers all have a gendered dimension. They all tend to exclude women or to include them on terms that are unfair to them.”
Gender identities shape not only family norms, but also economic and political life. For rural women, this system was characterized by policies that aimed at the economic and social upliftment of the rural masses but completely ignored gender issues.
As farming methods became mechanized during the Green Revolution, women were among the first and most common to leave the farms. The nature of women’s work was more substitutional than that of men. Women were largely occupied with weeding, which was quickly taken over by machinery. Compensatory employment did not come about. Meanwhile, the men secured their labor largely by learning to operate these machines. This led to the process of “defeminization of farm labor.”
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Interestingly, an important trend toward the feminization of farm labor was actually emerging. This occurred in places where men moved to urban centers in search of work while their wives devoted themselves to cultivating small plots of land. Jodh points out that this case actually brought about some positive changes as it placed women at the forefront of interacting with the social world. However, the burden of families without adequate economic resources also fell on women’s shoulders.
Currently we see that women are employed in agriculture. We see that agriculture employs a large number of female workers and that their employment rates have declined. Women were displaced after liberalization, leading to a decline in their income participation from 32.8% in 1993-94 to 26.1% in 2009-10.
A caste-based analysis of Data The study of rural women and their migration patterns shows that women from Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes have suffered a greater blow of intersectionality as 59% and 41% were employed as short-term casual laborers in agriculture, construction and brick making, respectively. While 75% of upper caste women were involved in long-term migration.
Land ownership as an instrument of caste purity in rural India
Another key feature of rural life is land ownership. It defines a person’s economic and social status. Land was also the central tenet of rural policy. Scholastic accounts show that land reforms aimed at dismantling the oppressive zamindari system and providing security for landless workers completely ignored gender.
Bina Aggarwal argued that the overarching emphasis on class over gender and caste created a void that led to the concentration of farmland and agricultural land in the hands of male patriarchs. Even those feminist movements had reservations about advocating for private property for women as it contradicted socialist principles. However, a similar fear did not arise as private property passed into the hands of men.
Land rights are crucial to women’s rights. Any rejection paves the way for economic and even sexual exploitation of women. Studies have also shown that land rights were also a tool for gaining sexual control over women.
In 1979, the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Reform Development proposed that gender-discriminatory laws relating to “inheritance rights, property rights and property control” should be repealed. Likewise, a policy statement in the Sixth Five-Year Plan considered granting joint titles to spouses, but implementation remained unsatisfactory. The National Perspective Plan 1988 helped build consensus on women’s and land rights. However, the process remained extremely unsatisfactory.
Land rights remain a controversial issue today. Patriarchal ideas exacerbated the political gaps and pushed women to the margins. Data shows that daughters are provided with smaller and lower quality properties. Acquiring land from the state and the market becomes arduous in an already unjust patriarchal environment. As a result, we see landless women clinging to patriarchal heads for social security.
A patrilineal descent has emerged that questions women’s individual identities. Patrilineal descent does more than simply erase lineage from women’s lives. Recognizing this means recognizing the patriarchal superstructures that deprive women of their rights.
File Photo: by Novita Singh for FII
Land rights are crucial to women’s rights. Any rejection paves the way for economic and even sexual exploitation of women. Studies have also shown that land rights were also a tool for gaining sexual control over women. For example, in communities where land was allocated to women, there was a preference for premarital virginity and chastity. It has also served to uphold Brahminical ideas of caste purity and to deny land rights to women who married into a lower caste.
While land remains contested, women’s mobility in rural politics has also been an issue. The domineering nature of the male patriarchs paved the way for the culture of “Pradhan Pati”. As seen in the popular web series Panchayat, proxy leadership has been a significant barrier to true women’s leadership in rural India.
Recently, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) initiated a campaign to abolish proxy representation. The aim is to create transparency through education and punishment. The effects still need to be monitored.
Dr. Ambedkar reflected on the ills of establishing a rural republic in his address to the Bombay Legislative Council on the Village Panchayats Act. Dr. Ambedkar, who advocated for special status for the “oppressed classes,” rightly predicted that the establishment of rural government agencies would be exploitative and unjust without taking caste and gender into account.
Today we see the manifestations of these oppressive patriarchal systems in the form of highly controversial dictates of the Khap Panchayats. One example that recently gained public attention was the ban on smartphones for women in rural Rajasthan. One can only rejoice in the consolation that the orders were withdrawn after the backlash. It shows the value of public disagreement. However, when it comes to uprooting patriarchy, the rural road to patriarchy passes through socio-economic, political and policy gaps. An egalitarian society requires an analysis of gender issues.