Role of Women in Sericulture and Community Development: A Study from a South Indian Village
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of women in promoting sericulture activities in the village and how their participation has led to community development is discussed, based on an empirical work undertaken in Kotha Indlu village, Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh in South India.
Abstract: In any discourse on sociology and anthropology, one fact that clearly emerges is that women can generally be trusted to perform their duties with utmost care and attention. This is more so in the case of agriculture and allied activities. No wonder women are playing a very important role in the sericulture industry. Their qualities like maternal instincts and loving care of those under their charge prove to be very helpful in the successful breeding of silk worms. The sericulture industry has opened up phenomenal employment avenues and helped women to become important players in the decision-making process—whether in the household or in the community at large. The active involvement of women is very essential for the success of the any community development initiative. This has been proved on many occasions all over the world—more so in the developing countries. For instance, the success of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Andhra Pradesh and other states of India is all due to the active role played by women. The thrust of this article is on the role of women in promotion of sericulture activities in the village, and how their participation has led to community development. Given the above backdrop, the present article is based on an empirical work undertaken in Kotha Indlu village, Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh in South India. Sericulture is an important means for generating employment, income enhancement crop enterprises, and is a most appropriate household activity. In all these activities, women have shown their mettle and performed their tasks most skillfully. In the village under study, women are playing an important role in silk rearing and processing activities. This article will endeavor to show how “sericulture,” an agro-based activity, has brought about overall development of individual households, the village, and the community at large.
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Dissertation•
09 Jun 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the change process in women's social position in Nepalese rural communities and find traditional elements that support women's wellbeing and social change in communities, yet are not always recognized in development discourses and practices.
Abstract: | 5 Abstract Bridges over the Mountain Ranges – Ethnography on the Complexities of Transition in Women’s Social Position in Nepalese Rural Communities While one can cite a wide range of local and international development co-operation promoting social change in the social position of women in Nepal, one also sees changes arising from local communities themselves. Local and international concepts of change do not always coincide; indeed they sometimes clash. The need for change and development in women’s social position is a given in development discourses, yet the definitions of change and development are complex, incorporating as they do colonial and imperial power structures intertwined with local hierarchies and inequalities. Alongside these considerations, one finds traditional elements that support women’s wellbeing and social change in communities, yet are not always recognised in development discourses and practices. In this ethnographic inquiry in the field of social work, I analyse the change process(es) in the women’s social position in Nepalese rural communities. I view social change as a complex transition towards multiple goals with varying rhythms. My analysis lies at the intersections of the international and local, and conceptual and practical knowledge bases. The study seeks to contribute to the discussion on international social work, with particular emphasis on decolonising and feminist approaches. My main research question is: How can one promote ethically sustainable social change processes with the women in globally and locally marginalised communities? I also ask how is the women’s social position in Nepalese rural communities shaped at the intersection of traditions and transition; how do the global and local driving forces reshape the women’s social position; and how are the women’s perspectives and environments that promote the transition in their social position related to the international paradigms of development and social change. My analytical focus is on the activism and perspectives of the women participating in the research in their particular environment and their links with communal and societal structures and international politics. My primary research material consists of the data collected in six months of ethnographic fieldwork (from 2012 to 2013) and in return visits to Nepal totaling an additional month (in 2014, 2015 & 2016) working with two women’s communities in rural Nepal. The research encounters took place in the communities’ daily contexts and the registered organisations that local women had established. The data include group,
17 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2015
17 citations
Cites background from "Role of Women in Sericulture and Co..."
...In south India it is reported that women play significant roles in sericulture industry in which sericulture helps women to be very active in the community development process (Kasi, 2013)....
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6 citations
TL;DR: In a development forum, there is a great need to look at the ground realities of organizations, especially in the context of the post-globalization scenario as discussed by the authors, and thus comes the notion of community.
Abstract: In a development forum, there is a great need to look at the ground realities of organizations, especially in the context of the post-globalization scenario. Thereby comes the notion of ‘community’...
4 citations
Cites background from "Role of Women in Sericulture and Co..."
...…explanation, see the works of Amudha and Banu (2009), Banerjee and Ghosh (2012), Chirayath and Chirayath (2010), Desouza (2012), Geetha and Indira (2010), Guenther (2015), Guenther and Kasi (2015), Kasi (2013b), Mukherjee and Kundu (2012), Panda (2009), Sengupta (2013) and Sen and Majumdar (2015)....
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...In India, nearly 76.3 percent of the population lives in rural areas and 68.8 percent of it constitutes the agricultural population (Kasi, 2011a, 2013a; Sandhya Rani, 1988)....
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...…important, for more detailed discussion and analysis, see Banerjee and Ghosh (2012), Geetha and Indira (2011), Grown et al. (2003), Jakimow (2012), Kasi (2013), Kay (2002/2003), Krishna (2003), Moyle et al. (2006), Patnaik (2013), Sarin (2001), Subramaniam (2012), Swain (2006) and Torri and…...
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...India has a net sown area of over 140 million hectares, of which only 41.2 million hectares are under irrigation (Kasi, 2009a, 2011a, 2013b)....
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...Farmers are encouraged to involve other farm sector activities such as animal husbandry, poultry rearing, fishing, social forestry, sericulture, among others (Ghosh, 1988; Kasi, 2013)....
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TL;DR: The gender division of labour varies from one society and culture to another and within each culture external circumstances influence the level of activity (Nigest, 2004); women are the backbone for development of rural and national economies as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Women are the backbone for development of rural and national economies. Gender division of labour varies from one society and culture to another and within each culture external circumstances influence the level of activity (Nigest, 2004). They account for more than half of the agricultural work force by participating in different activities either directly or indirectly. They comprise 43 per cent of the world`s agricultural labour force. Women of course form an integral part of the farming household. They bear most of the responsibilities for households, food security and contribute to household well being through their income generating activities (Etenesh, 2005).
3 citations
Cites background from "Role of Women in Sericulture and Co..."
...Kasi (2013) rightly opined, “Sericulture is a labour-intensive agro-based activity and is also an industry”....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1988
179 citations
"Role of Women in Sericulture and Co..." refers background in this paper
...This also has a bearing on their decision-making power vis-à-vis men (Dankleman & Davidson, 1988; Inbanathan & Vijayalakshmi, 1997)....
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Book•
01 Oct 2009
TL;DR: Chitepo et al. as discussed by the authors presented a series of women, environment and natural resources (WEN) cases where women have something to say about women's empowerment and empowerment.
Abstract: Dedication Authors' Preface Foreword by The Hon. Mrs Victoria Chitepo Introduction: Women have something to say Part I Women, Environment and Natural Resources 1. why Women? 2. Land: Women at the Centre of the Food Crisis Case Studies: Women and soybeans in Togo, West Africa The Pinabetal Women's Organization, Mexico The Vacaria Project, Brazil Tribal women in Iran Golgotta Settlement, Ethiopia 3. The Invisible Water Managers Case Studies: The women's dam, Burkina Faso Water for health in Kenya Water for Rochina, Brazil Canal hurts Colombian women 4. Women and Forests: Fuel, Food and Fooder Case Studies: The story of Gadkharkh village, India The Ghorepani Project, Nepal Women in forestry, Kenya 5. Women's Energy Crisis Case Studies: Africa : a Woman from Ghana The life of Ione Halley, Guyana Mombamba Women's Group, Kenya 6. Human Settlements: Women's Environment of Poverty Case Studies: A child of Delhi The women of Bhopal Invisible Women: Purdah in Pakistan Squatter Upgrading, Lusaka, Zambia Women's Construction Collective, Jamaica Baldia Soakpit Project, Karachi, Pakistan Urban agriculture, Lusaka, Zambia Part II Women and Environmental Conservation 7. Women Working for Conservation Interviews: Vandana Shiva, India Maria Jos Guazzelli, Brazil Shimwaayi Muntemba, Zambia 8. Training Women Case Studies: Training and technology in Senegal Instraw Pakistani women visit India 9. Planning the Family: A Woman's Choice? Case Study: Planned parenthood and women's development 10. Women Organize Themselves Case Studies: Green Belt Movement, Kenya Acdo Democr tica Feminina Gaticha, Brazil Women Promote Appropriate Technology, Guyana ORAP, Zimbabwe 11. The International Response Case Study: Luangwa Project, Zambia 12. Working Together for the Future References Abbreviations Resource Organizations Contributors Index
167 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that seasonal casual labour migration in India has conventionally been understood as the result of extreme poverty whereby villagers are forced to become migrants for the dry six months to subsist or merely survive.
Abstract: Seasonal casual labour migration in India has conventionally been understood as the result of extreme poverty whereby villagers are forced to become migrants for the dry six months to subsist or merely survive. This article draws on fieldwork in a village in Jharkhand and a brick kiln in West Bengal to argue that migrants do not understand their movement in economic terms alone. Many see the brick kilns as a temporary space of freedom to escape problems back home, explore a new country, gain independence from parents or live out prohibited amorous relationships. It is suggested that Jharkhandi activists and policy-makers’ construction of such migration as a ‘problem’ is as much about their vision of how the new tribal state ought to be as about exploitation. Migration to the kilns is seen by them as a threat to the purity and regulation of the social and sexual tribal citizen. This moralising perspective creates a climate that paradoxically encourages many young people to flee to the brick kilns where they can live ‘freely’. In this way, the new puritanism at home helps to reproduce the conditions for capitalist exploitation and the extraction of surplus value.
113 citations
Additional excerpts
...…Ishwaran, 1966; Iversen & Raghavendra, 2006; Karanth, 2004; Keshodkar, 2010; Khandelwal, 1997; Krishna, 1978; Lamb, 1999; Mencher, 1966; Pandian, 2009; Parry, 1991; Pinney, 1999; Saavala, 2001; Sahay, 2004; Shah, 2006; Sharma, 2010; Srinivas, 1984; Thaiss, 1978; Thapan, 2004; Tharamangalam, 1989)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how women use and perceive information technology in five villages in rural Tamil Nadu, India and analyse the outcomes from structured in-depth interviews with 17 women.
Abstract: In this article we explore how women use and perceive information technology in five villages in rural Tamil Nadu, India. We analyse the outcomes from structured in-depth interviews with 17 women I...
110 citations
"Role of Women in Sericulture and Co..." refers background in this paper
...It was the first program of its kind that specifically focused on improving the quality of life of rural women (Acharya, 2003; Arya, 2007; Best & Maier, 2007; Jakimow & Kilby, 2006; Panda, 2007; Raju, 2005; D. P. Singh, 2005)....
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...Sericulture is an extremely labor intensive industry and occupies a pivotal position from the point of providing employment and additional income to weaker sections (Best & Maier, 2007; Bhatta & Rao, 2003; Geetha & Indira, 2011; Vijayanthi, 2002)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the identity of the new Indian woman in the rapidly altering cultural and social imaginary of India is constructed, shaped and redefined in the everyday experiences of women as they both contest and submit to the images and constructs that impinge on their senses, emotions, and material and social conditions.
Abstract: This article argues that the identity of the ‘new’ Indian woman in the rapidly altering cultural and social imaginary of India is constructed, shaped and redefined in the everyday experiences of women as they both contest and submit to the images and constructs that impinge on their senses, emotions, and material and social conditions. In this context, the article examines samples of advertisements, fashion photography and selected textual material from the Indian women’s magazine Femina to understand how body images serve to construct embodiment and womanhood through the medium of visual representation and textual discourse. The focus in the magazine is on the desirability of woman’s body, not only as a glamorous, well-groomed product, but also as a commercialised product for consumption in an international marketplace, thus affirming that India has arrived in the world of beauty and glamour, and legitimising the recolonisation of Indian woman’s embodiment in the global economy.
82 citations
Additional excerpts
...…Ishwaran, 1966; Iversen & Raghavendra, 2006; Karanth, 2004; Keshodkar, 2010; Khandelwal, 1997; Krishna, 1978; Lamb, 1999; Mencher, 1966; Pandian, 2009; Parry, 1991; Pinney, 1999; Saavala, 2001; Sahay, 2004; Shah, 2006; Sharma, 2010; Srinivas, 1984; Thaiss, 1978; Thapan, 2004; Tharamangalam, 1989)....
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