Feminist Thought and Practice

What are the major challenges faced by the Women’s movement in the third world in contemporary India?

Introduction:

Looking at the panorama of conscious political action by women in India today, One is a aware of great vitality as well as enormous variety of postions, strategies,policies,ideologies and mass base. One is compelled that what goes by the name of Women’s movement in India is, in reality made up of variety of different strands.

The India’s Women’s movement has hundreds of organisations but no single one can be called a representative of it. Equally there are no accepted prototypes. There is no way we can enumerate number of organizations which form a part of Women’s movement. Several may belong in the register of public charities/trusts, others may be listed with Welfare boards or Mahila mandals, some recorded as Trade unions, Cooperatives, Media organizations or even one as hundreds of unofficial, unregistered groups in the courts. However a variety of organization listed were support groups, agitation groups , grassroot groups, wings of political parties, professional women’s groups, and research and documentation centres.

Trade unions, mass organisations, and women’s wing of political parties have existed since the emergence of the multiparty system in India, most of the women’s groups new or old,service or agitation, however, had to opt for an organizational structure which best suited their politics. But these women’s group seriously tried to work out alternative organizational structure based on the principles of decentralization and collective participation.

By looking at the broader perspective we find that these women’s group have consistently drawn attention to various of women’s oppression during the past several years and have become a catalyst of social change. But at the same time during achieving all this goals they have faced many unmentioned challenges on which we will throw light under the following topics.

The various challenges are as follows:

The Structural and Organizational challenges:

Feminist like Nandita Gandhi and Nandiata Shah have enumerated many structural and organizational problems which are as follows ( as Leninists model into consideration) :

The Parallel Structures :

Leftist trade unions have taken Lenin’s suggestion for the political involvement of women very seriously. For instance, The Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) and its women’s wing The All India Coordination Committee of Working Women (AICCWW)have spared no pains in urging men and women at all meetings to take up women’s issues and encourage their participation.

But they have often found that although women participate in demonstrations, they are hardly ever interested in involving themselves in union work. The Construction Workers Union formed in 1979 in Madras like AICCWW, that women’s were inactive because of their domestic responsibilities and lack of organizational experience. Women were losing jobs because they were unskilled and were deprived of basic necessities such as crèches and maternity benefits. Thereby the parallel structures of the union with women office bearers and the women’s wing; both separated and integrated women’s and general issues.

The Body and its parts:

Another problem is the tension which invariably develops between the party and the ‘wing’. For example, the Textile Labourers Association (TLA) and Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) split. Though both have their roots in Gandhian philosophy, but one has remained static whereas other had developed an independent status, its own style of functioning and politics.

Considering Equality:

Leadership, whether it is middle or working class has its own problems and tensions within a democratic framework. When concentrated in one person’s hand, leadership gives him total control of information and decision making. Also leadership places a formidable burden on the leader which requires total dedication and time. However women are rarely supported by their families and therefore have very little free time, which makes it difficult to make a commitment. For example, the Rural Women’s liberation Movement (RWLM), tried to form a collective leadership of eight women to distribute the tasks and responsibilities of a leader. But after few months it was found that it was not always possible for the women leaders to come their villages, meet, share tasks and formulate plans.

Grappling with ‘Space’:

In the institutions like the family or at workplace, women have always been at receiving end of violence and injustice. They needed what was then popularly called ‘space’ where they could relate to each other equally, develop their skills, share responsibilities and work out their theory and practice. The women then turned towards an antithesis: the concept of decentralized organizational structure. They formed collective groups and declared themselves ‘autonomous’ and undertook a variety of activities such as support functioning, publishing magazines, etc. However for them the struggle has not being easy :

Women’s group felt persistent pressure from different sources to conform, adjust, and fall into step.

Media never grasped the collective intent on projecting the latest newsworthy topic, they would select women from the new groups and turn them into leaders and celebrities.

Unregistered groups have no standing with the law courts. Women and Man who would come to these groups for support and help were often confused about their functioning.

Insidious pressure from within the groups towards the formalization of structure and functioning.

Subtle Hierarchies:

It is easy to banish leaders and an administrative hierarchy but more difficult to maintain a non-hierarchical structure, because of the presence of certain subtle, invisible forms of hierarchy. This problem of hierarchy most sharply comes up in dividing a salary structure. Flavia Agnes, founder member of Women’s Centre, Bombay, says that the group battled with this problem for three years. It was not easy to decide how each worker should be paid. The idea of a need based salary structure was rejected because the women perceived their basic needs according to their class and education. The concept of seniority in the terms of the number of years spend in the organization had its own problems; it could mean a disparity which need not be compensated with people’s skills, where differential income for different inputs were not accepted all round.

Problem of Allocation of Work

All organizations require a division of work in order to be able to function. The professed aim of the collective groups is to break these divisions and share work equally and share work equally among members. However, what is also clear is that the tasks are assigned to those who have some experience, leaving the less interesting tasks for others and thereby reinforcing hierarchy. Shared responsibilities leads to pressure on the members of the group to undertake tasks they may not be comfortable with. In many groups women are often apprehensive of task rotation that they disappear when they know their turn is coming round.

Collective decision making, especially in large groups tend to either become painfully long or ineffective. Women who are willing to make a regular commitment and take on specific responsibility would be involved in the decision making process. For decision making to be truly collective and equal, not only common background of skills, political experience and time and prerequisite, but also respect and value for each other’s views which overcomes the various differences between women and encourage each other to be fully involved in the group and its processes.

However, many women’s groups accept the inevitability of the organizational chaos, emotional traumas, disillusionment and splits which come with the desire to change and restructure on the basis of experience.

In spite of all the problems and dilemmas, women’s collective organizations have had an impact in as much as they have initiated a democratization process in mass and other organizations.

Challenge of Funding for the Organisation

Nandita Gandhi and Nandita Shah in their article named organization and autonomy have stated a very important problem of funds faced by the women’s group most of the time. Some amount is necessary for any group or organization to function. Donations are the best way for raising money for the organizations. However, very few organizations have been able to depend on them over a period of time. For instance, the Women’s Centre of Bombay has not ventured to repeat its massive 1983 effort of organizing a film premiere which enabled them to raise almost Rs 2,50,000. They found that a group of two fulltime activist and six volunteers had to suspend all their work to concentrate on fund raising for over 2-3 months.