SOCIAL WORK REVIEW

Special Issue on
WOMEN AND MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Editor-in-Chief
Prof. (Dr.) M. N. Parmar

Special Issue Editor

Prof. (Dr.) Bhavna Mehta

UGC-DSA Programme (Phase III)

Faculty of Social Work
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Vadodara- 390002, Gujarat, INDIA.
2015
 PREFACE

The current issue of Social Work Review is the outcome of the International
Conference on Women and Millennium Development Goals : A Social Work Response
organized by Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
in 2014 in collaboration with Gender Resource Centre, Department of Women and
Child Development, Government of Gujarat, Womens Studies Research Centre,
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, College of Social Work, University
of South Carolina, USA and with the support of Office of the Project Administration,
Tribal Sub Plan, Chhota Udaipur, Gujarat and Indian Council of Social Science
Research.

The publication of the select twenty-nine papers presented during this historic
conference is an effort to bring out the achievements made during the period and
agenda unfinished, requiring attention in the sustainable development goals to be
attained by 2030 thereby also directing schools of social work, social work educators,
practitioners, women activists and research scholars to chart out their plan of actions.

I am very happy that Prof. (Dr.) Bhavna Mehta, the Conference Convener has
made painstaking efforts to give shape to papers submitted by undertaking assiduous
task of editing it and bringing out this special issue on Women and Millennium
Development Goals. I am sure that the issue will make an interesting reading for all
those committed to bringing about a change in lives of women and making the world
better place to live for all.

Prof. (Dr.) M. N. Parmar

Dean & Editor-in-Chief
 EDITORIAL

During the year 2014, the countdown for the achievement of Millennium
Development Goals by 2015 had begun. United Nations and various other
stakeholders concerned with the poverty eradication and sustainable development
were holding deliberations, consultations, meetings world over to review the progress
made, renew commitments, determinations and intensify efforts to meet the goals
set as well as to chart the way forward. While achievements were celebrated and
acknowledged, concerns were raised about the unevenness, gaps in achievements
and unmet special challenges were identified. In parallel with intensification of efforts
to accelerate achievement of MDGs, strong post 2015 agenda based on redefined
development paradigm in the form of Sustainable Development Goals was prepared.
The revised coherent approach based on new single framework is though
universal in nature and applicable to all countries, takes into account different national
circumstances and respects each countrys national policies and priorities. The post
2015 agenda charted during the special event convened by the President of the UN
General assembly promote peace and security, democratic governance, the rule of
law, gender equality and human rights for all. Thus, Women as a core group were not
only identified as an important area of the MDG achievements with two goals
specifically (goal number 3 and 5) addressing them and as important players in
realizing other stated six goals but also as an intrinsic concern in Sustainable
Development Goals. Agenda of gender equality and womens empowerment not
only make women beneficiaries of goals setting but also active partners, participants
in the process of accomplishment of MDG as well as SDG.
Embedded in the main philosophy of the social work profession is to strive for
social justice and equality in society. Women being one of the most marginalized
sections across globe form important areas of social work concerns. The profession
is concerned about womens issues, their participation, development and
empowerment. Thus, any effort to achieve SDGs based on any framework must be
perceived as meeting social work agenda as well.
It is against this background that the theme of this Special Issue of Social
Work Review is conceived and thought appropriate as the period of Millennium
Development Goals has ended and the agenda for development is replaced by the
Sustainable Development Goals with an objective to produce development goals
that are universal and balances the three dimensions: social, economic and
environment. This Social Work Review issue is based on the International Conference
on Women and Millennium Development Goals: A Social Work Response organized
by the Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in early
2014. Around 173 papers were presented during the two day conference and total
111 full papers were received. Selecting the first set of full papers for the purpose of
publication from all of the papers received was a herculean task. The team of reviewers
selected twenty-nine papers for the first special issue to be bought out as the
publication outcome of the conference. These papers cover most of the areas related
to women and development poverty, education, violence, health, food security and
livelihood, initiatives towards womens empowerment and alike. Together these
papers highlight current situation of women across the globe, issues of particular
groups of women, efforts made so far to help, develop or empowerment of women
and gaps identified needing attention in the sustainable development agenda set to
be achieved by 2030.
Editing the papers submitted was the most, mammoths, tedious, time consuming
and back breaking task. While utmost care is taken to make selected papers reading
easy giving uniformity, I seek apology in advance for any errors that could have been
omitted by me as an Editor of the issue. Before papers were finally accepted for
publication, an undertaking has been sought from respective authors about its
originality and submission for publication to us. Thus, these papers are edited and
published with an assurance from authors that they have not plagiarized the content
of their respective papers and that it is not published or given for publication anywhere
else. Views expressed by authors in their papers belong to them.
I thank Prof. (Dr.) M.N. Parmar, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work, The
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and Editor in Chief of this journal for
encouraging and at times pushing me to complete editing of this issue, which some
time seemed impossible to me. I sincerely thank team of reviewers for their valuable
time, input, cooperation and assistance. My heartfelt gratitude to all authors for their
patience and bearing the inordinate delay in publication of their papers. I owe an
apology to them. I thank Mr. Jatin Somani, Manager, University Press and his team
for their support in bringing out this special issue of Social Work Review.
I wish all readers a happy reading!!!

Prof. (Dr.) Bhavna Mehta

Special Issue Editor
 Social Work Review

Volume 51 No. 1 January-December 2015

CONTENTS
Preface
Editorial
1. A Critical Analysis Exclusionary Practices, Treacherous
Junctures in our Road to Equity and Justice
- Nol Busch-Armendariz 1-9
2. Gender and the Millennium Development Goals
- Vibhuti Patel 10-17
3. Is Life Getting Better For Young Women?
- Sue McGinty, Allison Rossetto, Anthony McMahon,
Abraham Francis 18-29
4. Education Transforming Individuals
- Indira Bhatt, Prema Mysore, Vijay Gupta 30-43
5. Ethical Issues in Maternal Mortality and
Lessons to Learn from the State of Kerala
- Veena Joshi, R. Baxi 44-55
6. Women and HIV and AIDS: Gendered Dimensions
of Care: Confronting the Crisis - Anita Machado 56-69
7. Hidden Hunger Among the Rathwa Tribal
Adolescents, Chota Udepur District of Gujarat,
Western India- a Cross Sectional Study
- Vanisha Nambiar, Kuhu Roy, Nishita Desai 70-83
8. Assessing the Potentials of Community
Participation in Reducing Child Mortality
- Chhaya Patel, Divya Vasava 84-91
9. Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP
in Empowering Women in Manipur Valley
- Melody Kshetrimayum 92-106
10. Health Seeking Practices of Women: a Key
issue to be Addressed for Women Empowerment
and Health Care Sustainability - Uma Iyer, Nitya Elayath 107-111
11. Millennium Development Goals and Uplifftment of
Indigenous Women: a Global Cry For Action Rather
Than Promises - M. N. Parmar, Snehal Raut 112-123
12. Integrated Approach to Maternal and Child
Health, Nutrition and Water and Sanitation
among Tribal Women in Banswara, Rajasthan
-Bella Uttekar, Kanchan Lakhwani, Vasant Uttekar 124-133
13. Educational Inclusion For The Tribal Female
Children of Rural India: Teaching The
Unreached - Katherine Butt 134-144
14. A Kaleidoscopic View of Tribal Women of Gujarat, India
(Dangi Womens Views on Gender Equality and Community
Participation: A Study of Women Living in Ahwa Taluka of
Dang District, Gujarat, India)
- Bhavna Mehta, Jayalaxmi Mahanty 145-149
rd
15. Womens Quota, the 73 Amendment and Womens
Political Participation, Potentials and Challenges
for Intervention in the Context of MDG 3 - Nagmani Rao 150-161
16. Gender Mainstreaming - A Sine Qua Non For
Sustainable Development - Dinesh Kapadia 162-171
17. Millennium Development Goals Achievements
& The Challenges For Women Empowerment
Before the Local Government Institutions: Problems
and Prospects in the Context of Maharashtra
State, India - Neelima Deshmukh 172-189
18. Self Help Group A Medium of Empowerment
-Sunita Nambiyar 190-199
19. An Innovative Experiment of Sewa Bank for
Poverty Alleviation through Micro Credit - Kavita Sindhav 200-207
20. Role of Media in Combating Violence against
Women in India - Rameshwari Pandya, Atanu Mohapara 208-221
21. Promoting Gender Equality and Empowerment
of Women - Christina Parmar, Jagdish Solanki 222-232
22. Perception of Personal Safety and Security in the
Context of the Rise in Crime against Women: a Study
among Social Work Girl Students in Mumbai
- Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah 233-252
23. Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in
Urban Areas: a Sociological Evaluation in Tirupati
City - T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu 253-268
24. Gendered Approach to Understanding and Responding
to Climate Change Impacts on Food and Livelihood
Security: A View from Uttarakhand - A. Malathi 269-283
25. Womens Participation in International
Migration, Governance and Development -Pratham Parekh 284-299
26. Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining
Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral Societies
across the Globe - Dhruvi Bharwad, Bhoomi Shroff 300-313
27. Elected Dalit Women Representation in Gram
Panchayath - With Special Reference to Kolar District,
Karnataka - Nagesha HV, Sathish Kumar KM 314-325
28. Challenges of Women Participation: Community
Development Programs in Rural Milieu Sri Lanka
- Aruni Samarakoon, Chandima Jayasena 326-334
29. Gender Equality and Social Work: Some Reflections
- Rekha Mistry 335-345
Printed at : The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda Press, Vadodara - 1.
MSUP-PI-135-3346-500-4-17
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS EXCLUSIONARY PRACTICES,
TREACHEROUS JUNCTURES IN OUR ROAD TO EQUITY
AND JUSTICE
Keynote Address
Namaste. Good morning, guests and
distinguished panelists. I am so pleased to
be speaking with you this morning at the
International Conference on Women and
Millennium Development Goals: A Social
work Response.
I am grateful for this invitation from
Dean and Head Dr. Parmar, the faculty of
social work at Maharajara Sayajirao
University of Baroda, and particularly my
host Dr. Bhavna Mehta. This is a wonderful
occasion for my first visit to India. Thank
you for your warmth and wonderful
hospitality.
I would like to spend my time first by
giving you some information about me that
is not included in bio sketch, a short narrative
of my personal story and entry to social
work. Like other social workers, I know that
the use of self in most any context is
important. Then, Ill talk generally about the
status of women, more specifically about
violence against women, and call to action
for social workers. I hope contextualize my
comments around the eight original
Millennium Development Goals. I am so
glad to see the distinguished list of expert
panelists who will lead discussions
throughout the conference about the
Millennium Development Goals to enrich
* Associate Dean for Research & Professor, Director of the Centre for Social Work Research, The University
of Texas at Austin, USA. Email: nbusch@austin.utexas.edu
Nol Busch-Armendariz*
our collective learning.
Perhaps one day scientists will
announce that they have pinpointed the gene
or bundle of genes associated with the social
work profession. Undoubtedly, many of us
social workers possess this gene and it may
partially explain our drive into the
profession. We certainly know that we are
not driven because it brings us vast fortunate
or great fame. Rather it is something most
of feel deep inside. Indeed it is a calling, a
vocation, a profound motivation toward the
work of social and economic justice.
This is at least partly how I came to
this profession, it is in my essence. For me,
I believe in my DNA and my environment. I
was born to social workers. My maternal
grandmother was born about the same time
that the professional of social work emerged
in the US, and she was although not educated
as a social worker she practiced social work
her entire life through case management and
community development. I was with her and
my family in her last days on this earth, she
died last year at the age of 96.
My mother is a retired social work
academic and although she is 72 years
young, and I do mean young, she
energetically spends her days working in
the field withresettled refugees in North
2 Nol Busch-Armendariz
Carolina and supervising students who do
the same. In so many ways I am a clone of
her. My father, who is here with me, is a
retired dean in education. He is statistician
by trainingsome might say a left brained
guyanalyticaland precise. He is, and also
deeply spiritual,a man who today gives of
himself and his time to cultivate our Mother
earth through his gardening and teaching
others how to do cultivate the ground to be
fruitful, he makes trips to El Salvador and
Northern Ireland to engage in community
and peace building, cooks nourishing for
others, and makes time for people who often
need a witness to their struggles.
My oldest sister is also a social work
academic teaching at a large public
university in NC. She is one of the best case
managers I have ever knowI actually
followed her into professionquite frankly
I have followed her much of my life
including taking lessons from her about how
to be a wonderfully grounded human being.
She also still makes time to work directly
with clients.
My entire family, my other sister,
brother, in-laws and nieces and nephews,
husband and son are fine human beings all
of whom are deeply rooted in their
communities and toward justice in their own
ways. So, you can see that it is easy to aspire
to do social work in my family, in fact it is a
privilege. I have learned grace, humility, and
gratitude from family. They are part of my
context.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
The Institute on Domestic Violence &
Sexual Assault (IDVSA)
My professional context is embedded
in the field of criminal justice and
interpersonal violence. For more than two
decades I have worked on domestic violence,
sexual assault, and more recently human
trafficking. I have been a social scientist for
about 15 years and today my fulltime
position is teaching social work and
conducting research. I maintain my social
work licenseand work directly with clients,
mostly women, involved the criminal justice
system which I will talk about a little bit later.
In my role as a researcher, I am involved
with other social workers and other
practitioners who interact with clients such
as police officers and investigators,lawyers
and judges, nurses and physicians, and
others. So because of these experiences and
the ongoing challenges with the Millennium
Development Goals of 2015, I have been
asked to focus on the continued challenge
of the status of women, specifically violence
against women, its impact as a persistent
concernfor the US, India and most every
country in the world.
IDVSA is the only interdisciplinary
academic institution of its kinds in the
United States. We are a collaboration of the
Schools of Social Work, Law, Nursing, and
the Bureau for Business Research with more
than 150 community practitioner affiliates.
IDVSA researchers, like social work
scientists, investigate social problems in the
context of systems and structures of human
 A Critical Analysis Exclusionary Practices, ... to Equity and Justice
being live. This includes the individual bio
psychosocial context, family, communities,
and social structures such as schools and
court systems. We also consider a historical
analysis that helps us understand how things
got where they are, and what moves us
forward. As we know social work a complex,
social science discipline grounded in
ethnical values and principles.
When I was practicing social work,
research really made no difference in my
daily life for two primary reasons. First, it
didnt usually answer the questions that I
needed answered to do better work with my
clients, or second, the research was written
so that I didnt understand it. IDVSA is built
on the premise that research should be driven
by the fieldpractitioners drive our research
agenda in that they tell us what questions
they need answers to. Second, we make it
practical and translatable to their everyday
lives. That usually looks like the
development of a toolkit for practitioners or
typologies of traffickers for law enforcement
so that they can investigate the crime more
effectively.
A Brief Look at the Status of Women
Worldwide
Since we under took the Millennium
Goals we have gained seats in the single and
lower national houses of parliamentssome
countries with significant gains between the
years 2000 2013. Mostly we see upwards
trends across the worldincreases in North
African, West Asia, Caucus and Central Asia,
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
3
South East Asia, Caribbean and Central
America. Good movement toward women
sitting aside and among men to make
important policy decisions. We should note
that these are comparisons to ourselves that
is, it is proportional to the number of women
representative in previous years, it is not in
comparison the population of all women or
to men holding seats. So, our work is not
done, we should continue to elect women to
decision making positions.
Women, productive, contributions and
property
What about productivity, work, and
property? According to the United Nations
women produce half the worlds food and
work 2/3 of the worlds working hours. Yet
women earn only 10% of the worlds income
and own less and 1% of the worlds
property.
Lowest Paid Workers
In the US, over a lifetime, the average
woman earns about $380,000 less than the
average working man.
Percentage of Women Earned Income to
Men
The starkest reality is among
whomour lowest are paid workers63% of
all minimum wage workers are women as
compared to 37% of men. These figures call
the question if we are really on the road to
parity, and if we are reaching the millennium
goals and targets around indicators of
4 Nol Busch-Armendariz
economic stability?
Sexual Harassment
When women are in the work place
in positions of authority, sexual harassment
is a much morefamiliar.
Turning to health. According to the
World Health Organization, worldwide
women live to be about 80, four years longer
than men. But, life expectancy varies by
continentin African regions lifespan is cut
short, the expectancy is only 58 years. Better
news for women in India, as life expectancy
increased by five years for women, up now
to 69.5 years. Still, it isa decade less than
the worlds average.
Heart Disease
Cardiovascular disease is the number
one killer of women worldwide; breast
cancer for women age 20 59. Women have
increased risk around issues of maternal
health and reproduction, HIV/AIDS, cervical
cancer; and depression and suicidity; young
girls are challenge by sexual abuse, early
pregnancy, substance abuse, adequate
nutrition; older women experience increase
challenges with mobility and disabilities.
The Millennium Development Goals
identifies and takeson some of the issues
here. In the document, Keeping the Promise:
The Way Forward and A Call for Action,
dated 2010, the report says there is a mixed
story of successes, uneven progress,
challenges, and opportunities. A look at
these current statistics indicates thatwere
not there yet, we have not achieved parity.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
In essence, women are not equal with men.
There is not justice for all women. However,
there seems to be a collective resolveto push
forward as women dothis conference is a
testament to that action. But, before I shift
too much about the call to action, lets look
at violence against women as another major
concern.
Specific look at Violence Against Women
(VAWA)
I am going to focus the rest of my
remarks on violence against women for
several reasons. The World Health
Organization 2005 report on Violence
Against Women andMillennium
Development Goals says, violence is
intimately associated with complex social
conditions such as poverty, lack of
education, gender inequity, child mortality,
HIV/AIDSalthough violence against
women was not highlighted in either the
target or the indicator.
Women in Prison
As I said, I started in this field more
than 20 years ago as an MSW student
working with incarcerated battered women
who had killed their husbands or boyfriends.
Many of them had been charged, convicted;
plead guilty or sentenced to their crimes
without the judge or jury understanding a
history of violence that contributed to their
crime. Often their attorney did not
understand their history of abuse. We did not
advocate that killing was the way out of a
violence and abusive relationship; rather
these women deserved to have their cases
 A Critical Analysis Exclusionary Practices, ... to Equity and Justice
reviewed and their abuse understood; that
justice had been served after 15, 18, and 20
years in prison;and they were not a danger
to society. In the US women who commit
homicide particularly intimate partner
homicide are given exponentially longer
sentences than men who commit homicide
even if there are compelling mitigating
circumstances such as extreme history of
prior abuse. This was my start in the field of
violence against women. I should note here
that most women who experience abuse and
violence by their intimate partners do not
commit homicide or even fight back.
Map of Violence Against Women in the
World
Violence against women is a major
global problemaccording to the World
Health Organization 1 in 5 womenwill
experience some form of violence during her
lifetime. This violence, a violence that is
preventable and avoidable, challengesthe
lives of women. Its impact should be
underestimated. WHO purports that intimate
partner violence is not only a threat to
individual women and their children, but
countries social and economic development
and the world in which we live.
Hands of Trafficking
Another form of violence against
women that is threatening our women and
world is human trafficking. I have been
focusing on research around human
trafficking or modern day slavery for the last
eight years. Over the past decade trafficking
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
5
in persons has become re-emerged in
international policy exchanges a major
criminal, social justice, and human rights
issue. People are trafficked for two primary
reasonsfor the purposes of sex
exploitation and or forced labor. Areas of
particular concern include bonded labor,
involuntary domestic servitude, forced child
labor, child sex trafficking, and child
soldiers. Subjugated victims in the sex
industry are often forced into activities such
as prostitution, peep shows, and or other
forms of pornography. Labor trafficking may
involve exploitation through domestic
servitude or forced labor in industries such
as tourism, fine jewelry, agriculture,
manufacturing, service industry (restaurants,
hotels, etc.), and construction.
In 2010, the U.S. Department of State
estimated that 12.3 million adults and
children were victims of forced and bonded
labor and forced prostitution worldwide.
According to the U.S. Department of States
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) of all victims
worldwide approximately 22% were
identified in African countries, in 26%
Europe, 16% in the Western Hemisphere the
Americas; 18% in East Asia and Pacific, 8%
in Near East, and nearly 10% in South and
Central Asia. The TIP in 2011 reports 6,017
prosecutions of which 90% were for sex-
trafficking crimes and 3,619 convictions of
which 94% were for sex-trafficking crimes
worldwide.
Victims are often rendered completely
helpless for a variety of reasons, but
traffickers maintain control over victims by
6 Nol Busch-Armendariz
using physical and sexual violence, isolation
and entrapment, drug addiction,
psychological and emotional abuse, and
threats to other family members well-being.
The psychological coercion cannot be
understated. Victims have been rescued after
years of enslavement without chains because
of the fear and threats of retaliation from
their traffickers, against them or their family
members, if they escape. Because female
victims (adult and children) and male
perpetrators are the foundation of the sex-
trafficking trade, gender-focused strategies
to combat sex trafficking are necessary.
Impact of VAWA on Health
Interpersonal violence impacts the
lives of women and their health in all sorts
of ways. Women who are victimized by
interpersonal violence are twice as likely to
experience depression, almost twice as likely
to have alcohol disorders, be at risk for
sexual and reproductive health issues
including HIV and AIDS, and morality.
What if We Dont?
So at the very heart of this discussion
is if what if violence against women is not
at the very heart of this discussion?
CASE STUDIES in US and India
A Case Study in the US
We have been tackling the issue of
violence against women for over fifty years
in the US. The Violence Against Women Act
(VAWA) was reauthorized by the U.S.
Congress in 2013 and included the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Trafficking in Person Protection Act
(TVPA). As a nation we have allocated
millions of dollars of funding for prevention
efforts, support services to victims, training
for the criminal justice system, and
intervention for offenders. But in her blog
theOffice of Violence Against Women
Acting Director Bea Hanson wrote, the
week that VAWA was reauthorized, at least
15 women and 4 men were killed by intimate
partners. A 9-year-old boy was killed by a
hatchet by his father, who had previously
served time in jail for domestic violence and
fought for custody after his release. A 17-
year-old boy was arrested for stabbing his
16-year-old girlfriend to death. And a 22-
year-old pregnant woman was shot in the
head and her body burnedher boyfriend
has been arrested. Reducing violence
against women is a challenge for every
nation.
A Case study in India
I am not an expert on violence against
women in India or South Asia. My esteemed
colleagues who invited me to this conference
certainly are and can share more about India.
I will share with you the news that we are
receiving about violence against women and
girls with hopes to start a conversation. Just
last week a well-respected news
organization, National Public Radio reported
that atrocious instances of gang rape over
the past year or so have shaken India, but
the one last week in West Bengal has
particular sinister twist. An all-male village
tribunal, said to be upset that a 20 year old
 A Critical Analysis Exclusionary Practices, ... to Equity and Justice
tribal woman had fallen in love with a man
outside the community, is alleged to have
ordered she be gang-raped as punishment.
The young woman is being treated in a
hospital after telling authorities that she was
sexually assaulted by no fewer than 12 men.
This is despite that India has strengthened
its rape laws.
So, can most Americans and Indians
agree that all forms of violence against
women and girls are socially undesirable, if
not tragic?The reauthorization of VAWA in
the US and the strengthening of rape laws
in India would provide a belief that our
policy makers are at least attending to the
protection of our citizenry.
The Millennium Declaration
explicitly recognizes assurance of equal
rights and opportunities to and in a WHO
2005 report MDG #3 included a target to
reduce lifetime rates of violence against
women by 50% worldwide. It is a lofty goal.
And, still interpersonal violence seems to be
anatural course of living life for many
womenmany women in this room, for it
is not about women out there somewhere, it
is about the women that we know, our
mothers, sisters, daughters, neighbors. It is
about us.
Social Work Call to Action
First, I think we name it. The points
in which we get stuck allow us to use
multiple theoretical lenses to contextualize
our cultural acceptance of violence against
women because surely no theoretical lens
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
7
helps us understand that this violence is
appropriate. So, as a good feminist social
worker I am certainly obligated to consider
that the answer is tied up in an analysis of
patriarchy.
Epistemology is fundamental to
feminism. Cultural norming processes that
influence the way knowledge emerges, is
developed, and shaped about women is at
play here. Information about women, the role
of women, the abilities of women continues
to be shaped by a dominant paradigm. That
paradigm controls knowledge production
through the reproduction of patriarchy,
economic privilege, andmarket economies.
Consequently the nature, tenor, and texture
of diverse voices, voices that talk about
violence against women, are influenced, if
not shaped, by the dominance.
The critical analysis of the power and
privilege dynamics moves us toward
environments of equity and respect, but it is
not the end point of the journey. A critical
analysis of power identifies the problem but
does little to move us to a solution. As it
turns out, acknowledging the structural
dynamics of power and privilege and its
associated exclusionary practices is not the
most treacherous juncture in the rode to
equity and justice. The difficulty lies in
radically attending to our active and passive
participation in acts of social and
institutional exclusion. Little time is spent
preparing ourselves, colleagues, and
institutions for the process of inclusion that
requires recognizing the socially acceptable
8 Nol Busch-Armendariz
patterns of micro-aggressions about women
and the status of women.
Professional Ideology
Second, I think we use our
professional ideology to understand the
issue. According to International Association
of Schools of Social Work and International
Federal of Social Work, ethical awareness
is a fundamental part of the professional
practice of social workers, social workers
ability and commitment to act ethically is
an essential aspect of the quality of the
service offered to those who use social work
services.
Professional Framework
We understand problem from the
complex structure of the ecological model
and work to make changes at each of those
levels.
The purpose of the work of IASSW
and IFSW on ethics is to promote ethical
debate ..in member countries, as well as
in the schools of social work and among
social work students. Some ethical
challenges and problems facing social
workers are specific to particular countries;
others are commontheaim [is] to
encourage social workers across the world
to reflect on the challenges and dilemmas
that face them and make ethically informed
decisions about how to act in each particular
case.
Strengths Base
We are strengthens based. The primary
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
mission of the social work profession is to
enhance human well-being and help meet the
basic human needs of all people, with
particular attention to the needs and
empowerment of people who are vulnerable
and oppressed.
Activism
We focus on action. Social workers promote
social justice and social change with and on
behalf of clients. The mission of the social
work profession is rooted in a set of core
values. These core values, embraced by
social workers throughout the professions
history, are the foundation of social works
unique purpose and perspective: service,
social justice, dignity and worth of the
person, importance of human relationships,
integrity, and competence.
Men
A Final Note about the Role of Men and
for Boys
If there is one mistake that we made
in the violence against women field in the
US it was to leave out the discussion of men
and boys. We left it out in a couple of ways.
First, we know from research that a certain
segment of men perpetrate the vast majority
of violence against women. It is not all men.
This is not about hating men. It is about
solving the problem of men who are
controlling, dominating, abusive and
physical in their intimate relationships. We
have learned that men must be a part the
solutionin fact some advocates like
Jackson Katz would argue that violence
 A Critical Analysis Exclusionary Practices, ... to Equity and Justice
against women is a mens issue, not a
womans issue. Katzs advocates for a
paradigm shift because the way we framed
the issues of violence against women
marginalizes those most responsible for it.
We should askquestions that point to
abusive men? Question that challenge hitting
your girlfriend, hiring women and girls for
sex, engaging in extramarital affairs,
restricting access to financial security, and
other decision-making processes from
womenunacceptable in our society. Violence
that happens to women by men, is a mens
issue.
How can we turn our questions to the
behaviors that are wreaking havoc on our
families, communities, societies, and how
can we tell the truth about them? These are
not someone elses sons, brothers, fathers.
These men belong to us. And, as social
workers what do we believe about the
capacity change? Is change conceivable?
This brings me to what I consider to
be our second big mistake about violence
against women in the US. What I learned as
a practitioner working with survivors is that
many womenwanted us to figure out how to
fix their husbands, brothers, and sons.
Women needed respite, and wanted us to
develop interventions that were family-
centered for two primary reasons. The
relationships that women have with their
men are complex. It is too simple to suggest
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
9
that leaving a relationship is the right thing
to do. Second, leaving never meant the abuse
ended for that women or the next.
Conclusion
I will leave you with two final
thoughts. First, with my greatest joymy
son, Daniel and husband Larry. I waited late
until much later in life to get married. Larry
and I met when we were 40 and got married
at 41. I was 44 when Daniel was born. He is
now four. Being his mother is my greatest
joy. I think a lot about how to raise him to
be a compassionate, respective, deeply
egalitarian. So, sometimes the concern that
relates back to two ideashow to I relate
my work onviolence against women in a
deeply personal levelit is an issue that
belongs to all of usit is issue that has to
starts in my home, my community, the place
where I work and it is not an issue that
belongs to women.
Second, I agree with the UN report
that conducts that violence against women
intersections with every aspects of the
human experienceeducation, race, class,
sexual orientation. Given its prevalence, it
is the very fabric of our lives. And thus, I
believe violence against women is and
should stand as its own Millennium Goal,
as the WHO report states, women will never
be equal in their public lives until they are
equal in at home. Until everyone is free,
no one is truly free.
GENDER AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
The Millennium Development Goals
are a derivative of the Millennium
Declaration of September 2000, which spells
out the following values: freedom, equality,
solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and
shared responsibility. They are a clarion call
of 189 governments, on behalf of their
citizens, to free our fellow men, women and
children from the abject and dehumanizing
conditions of extreme poverty, to which
more than a billion of them are currently
subjected. We are committed to making the
right to development a reality for everyone
and to freeing the entire human race from
want. (Patel, 2006). These measures,
collectively known as the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), have become
a prime focus of development work
throughout the globe- a gold standard to
which programs aspire, and by which they
measure their work. They are as follows:
I Eradication of Poverty and Hunger,
II Achievement of Universal Primary
Education,
III Promotion of Gender Equality and
Empowerment,
IV Reduction of Child Mortality,
V Improvement of Maternal Health,
VI Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, T.B.,
VII Ensure Environmental Sustainability
VIII Develop a Global Partnership for
Development
* Director, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policy, Professor and Head, Post Graduate
Department of Economics, SNDT Womens University, INDIA Email-vibhuti.np@gmail.com
Vibhuti Patel*
As articulated in the Millennium
Declaration, the MDGs are benchmarks of
development progress based on such
fundamental values as freedom, equity and
human rights and peace and security. MDGs
can be achieved if all actors work together-
heads of the nation states, civil society
organizations, international financial
institutions, global trade bodies and the UN
system- and do their part. Poor countries
have pledged to govern better, and invest in
their people through health care and
education. Rich countries must stick to their
pledge to support the poor countries through
aid, debt relief, and fairer and just trade. Only
if there is commitment on the part of the rich
as well as poor countries to fulfil these
promises all the MDGs could be achieved.
Gender concerns in MDGs
All goals are expected to mainstream
gender and MDG 3 has a special focus on
gender and challenges discrimination
against women by Focusing on school
education, ensuring that more women
become literate, Guaranteeing more voice
and representation in public policy and
decision making-political participation,
providing improved job prospects- 36 %
WPR, gender equality and the empowerment
of women Win-win approach, Food and
nutrition security, Women subsistence
farmers, Women as users, managers and
 Gender and the Millennium Development Goals
storers of natural resources-Climate change.
The MDGs explicitly acknowledge
that gender what a given society believes
about the appropriate roles and activities of
men and women, and the behaviours that
result from these beliefs can have a major
impact on development, helping to promote
it in some cases while seriously retarding it
in others. MDG number 3 (out of 8) is
specifically about gender, calling for an end
to disparities between boys and girls at all
levels of education. There is general
agreement that education is vital to
development, and ensuring that girls as well
as boys have full opportunities for schooling
will help improve lives in countless ways.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to conclude
as a casual reader of the MDGs might
. Not surprisingly, then, the rules that
regulate the behaviours and values of men
that the relevance of gender to development
is confined to the educational sphere. Men
and women, both, participate in nearly every
aspect of life in communities throughout the
world and women in a given society that
is, its gender system have the potential to
impact nearly every aspect of life. Therefore,
while only one of the MDGs is specifically
about gender, addressing gender is of critical
importance to every MDG.
Critique of the Indicators
The United Nations has suggested
four indicators to measure Goal 3:
the ratio of girls to boys in primary,
secondary and tertiary education,
the ratio of literate females to males
among 15-24 year olds,
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
11
the share of women in wage employment
in the nonagricultural sector, and
the proportion of seats held by women in
national parliaments.
The first two are indicators of
capabilities, the third is an indicator of
opportunity, and the fourth is an indicator
of agency. Although they represent all three
domains of gender equality, they are not
without their drawbacks. In addition, there
may be other indicators that are better suited
to tracking progress toward the MDG gender
targets.
Capability Indicators
There are both substantive and
technical concerns with the two capability
indicators. The ratio of girls to boys in school
reflects the input side of education, that is,
how many girls and boys are enrolled in
school, which is where most policy efforts
have been directed. Getting girls and boys
to school is clearly an important first step.
Yet, the more important issue is school
completion and student learning outcomes.
The completion of 5 to 6 years of schools is
necessary for mastery of basic competencies,
such as literacy and numeracy. School
enrolment ratios, whether on a gross or net
basis, are poorly correlated with the rate of
primary school completion; moreover,
enrolment ratios are consistent with many
different patterns of drop-out and retention.
Finally, gender differences are brought into
sharper contrast in the comparison of
enrolment rates against completion rates.
12 Vibhuti Patel
Beyond the substantive issue of what
should be the focus of the MDG goal, there
are other concerns with the proposed
capability indicators. The ratio of girls to
boys in school simply depicts the number of
girls relative to boys in school. Enrolment
rates, by contrast, give a picture of the
number of students, boys or girls, enrolled
in a given level of education relative to the
population of the age group which should
be enrolled at that level. Net enrolment rates,
which take into consideration the appropriate
age for each grade, are a good indicator of
access to education, but they are not
available for many countries. Gross
enrolment rates are more widely available,
but they include repeat students in the
calculation and so will be higher than net
enrolment rates. There are also concerns
about the literacy indicator. This indicator
was chosen to reflect the performance of the
national education system, as well as the
quality of the human resources within a
country in relation to their potential for
growth, contribution to development, and
quality of life. Yet, the quality of the literacy
data is suspect. Some countries collect
literacy information using sophisticated and
comprehensive techniques while others are
not able to even provide the most basic
information. In addition, because literacy is
not a simple concept with a single
universally accepted meaning, different
countries measure literacy differently. The
UNESCO definition (A person is literate if
s/he has completed five or more years of
schooling) has been widely criticized partly
because it assumes that people can be easily
categorized as literate or illiterate or
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
because adults with five or more years of
schooling may still be functionally illiterate,
while those with less than four years of
schooling may have acquired literacy skills
by non-formal means. Despite these
limitations, this indicator is the best that
exists across countries and over time.
Opportunity Indicators
The choice of indicator in the MDGs
to measure progress in economic opportunity
is the female share of non-agricultural wage
employment. As noted in UNIFEMs
Progress of the Worlds Women 2000, this
is an indicator of the extent to which women
have equal access to paid jobs in areas of
expanding employment. As stated in the
report, Wage employment in industry and
services usually puts some money directly
into the hands of women themselves, unlike
employment as an unpaid family worker on
a family farm. Moreover, the pay is likely to
be higher than the average pay for self-
employment. The drawback of using this
indicator is that it could be interpreted to
also mean equality in income. A second
drawback is that an increase in womens
share of paid employment adds to womens
total workload such that what women may
gain in terms of cash they lose in terms of
time (UNIFEM 2000). Third, as Anker
(2002) notes, this indicator only measures
the presence or absence of work, and not the
decency of work itself or the
disadvantages women face in access to
employment (measured by unemployment
rates), in returns to their labor (earnings or
 Gender and the Millennium Development Goals
wages), in the types of jobs they hold
(occupational segregation), and in security
of employment (social protection). Finally,
in grouping together all non-agricultural
employment, the indicator cant distinguish
between work which is formal or informal,
full time or part time, and permanent or
seasonal. There is ample evidence that
womens participation in informal
employment is as high as 80 percent in some
countries such as India, Uganda, Indonesia,
among others (Charmes 2000), and that
women are more likely to predominate in
part-time and seasonal jobs.
The ILO has proposed a series of
indicators for equality in access to and fair
treatment in employment as part of the ILOs
decent work initiative (Anker 2002). These
indicators include gender-disaggregated
unemployment rates, the female to male
wages or earnings ratio (divided by years of
school which controls for human capital),
and occupational segregation by sex (the
percent of non-agricultural employment in
male-dominated and female-dominated
occupations and the index of dissimilarity),
among others.
These indicators show a sobering
picture of womens status in employment.
For instance, in 1997 female unemployment
rates were higher than male unemployment
rates in all regions of the world for which
data were available, although the gap
narrowed in some regions (United Nations
2000). Similarly, in no country for which
data are available do women earn as much
as men. For instance, in the manufacturing
sector in 13 out of 39 countries, women
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
13
earned up to 20 percent less than men; in
the other countries, the pay differential was
even greater (ibid). Approximately half of
all workers in the world are in gender-
dominated occupations where at least 80
percent of workers are of the same sex, a
form of labor market rigidity that reduces
employment opportunity and impairs
economic efficiency (Anker 2002).
Occupational segregation is also associated
with lower wage rates for women, as typical
womens occupations tend to have lower
pay, lower status and fewer possibilities for
advancement than do male occupations.
Because of multiple data and other
problems, it is difficult to recommend one
global indicator to measure progress toward
eliminating gender inequalities in access to
assets and employment. Unemployment
rates, for instance, are an important indicator
of labor market performance in
industrialized countries, but are of much
more limited significance in low-income
economies where the majority of the
population engages in some form of
economic activity usually informal
employment or self-employment.
Occupational segregation indicators may not
cover informal employment, and in some
countries, they may not be correlated with
other indicators of labor market
disadvantage. And finally, data on the gender
earnings gap in both paid and self-
employment are currently not available
for many countries. Of these three indicators,
the gender earnings gap is probably the best
marker of gender equality in the labor
market.
14 Vibhuti Patel
Agency Indicators
The United Nations has recommended
that progress toward womens empowerment
be tracked by the female share of seats in
national parliaments. Currently, this is the
only indicator that can be tracked on a global
scale. It is an imperfect proxy for tracking
aggregate levels of female empowerment
because it says nothing about whether
women have power in parliament to make
decisions or whether or not they are sensitive
to gender issues and can promote a gender
equality legislative agenda. It has also been
observed that greater progress has been made
in municipal and local level elections than
in national elections, so it would therefore
be very useful to track progress that women
are making at the local level. The
International Union of Local Authorities has
scattered data on municipal level institutions
but aims to construct a global database on
women in local government. At the
individual level, indicators could include
control over fertility and sexuality. Again,
however, there is a paucity of such
information for most countries. One barrier
that stands in the way of women being able
to use their capabilities, exploit
opportunities, and exercise agency is
violence. Worldwide, it has been estimated
that violence against women is as serious a
cause of death and incapacity among women
of reproductive age as cancer, and is a greater
cause of ill-health than traffic accidents and
malaria combined. Therefore, another
indicator of womens agency, albeit in a
negative way, is the prevalence of physical
violence in the past year experienced by
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
women aged 15-49 at the hands of an
intimate partner.
Measuring the true prevalence of
gender-based violence presents several
challenges. To accurately measure true
prevalence of physical violence, the
questions used to gather data must
disaggregate specific acts of physical
violence such as kicking, beating, hitting and
slapping, information which can be hard to
obtain because of its sensitive nature.
Statistics available through the police,
hospitals, womens centers, and other formal
institutions often underestimate the levels of
violence because of under-reporting. The
WHOs World Report on Violence and
Health, which presents data from 48
population-based surveys conducted in 35
developed and developing countries, and
WHOs recent multi-country study on
womens health and domestic violence lay
a strong foundation for larger-scale data
collection initiatives. Thus, although
prevalence rates are a good indicator, they
cant be used to track progress toward the
goal since data are not currently available
for a large number of countries.
General limitations of all indicators
Beyond the specific issues associated
with each indicator described above, there
are a number of more general issues. First,
the paucity of data on some indicators
automatically restricts their use, despite the
fact that there may be more valid indicators
than the ones for which there is more data.
Second, good ratios are not good enough
because they say nothing about the absolute
 Gender and the Millennium Development Goals 15

levels achieved. Third, national averages political power and exercise of rights, and
mask regional variation. Finally, few increased self-esteem.
indicators exist that measure quality of
Women can be empowered through
progress toward the goal instead of just
development interventions. Some of the
quantity of progress. The dearth of data and
clearest evidence comes from evaluations of
lack of standardization across countries limit
well-designed micro credit programs
a complete and accurate measurement of
(Hashemi, Schuler, and Riley 1996). In
gender equality and empowerment. There
addition to gaining greater respect and
are data gaps across all domains
legitimacy in the broader community
capabilities, opportunity, and agency but
particularly from male members because
gaps are particularly prevalent in the domain
of their access to credit, the opportunity to
of opportunity. For example, most of Sub-
have control over decisions about loan size,
Saharan Africa and South Asia are missing
use of the loan, and so forth has been found
data on the share of women in wage
to be empowering for women. Women
employment in the non-agricultural sector.
borrowers have also gained experience and
As noted earlier, even fewer have
confidence as leaders of their Trust Banks
information on womens relative earnings.
(in the Philippines) and have gone on to be
Lack of time-series data is an additional
elected within their barangays in the
hindrance. Finally, data are often missing for
Philippines and Mayor in Honduras
countries that experienced violent conflict
(Cheston 2002). A significant barrier to
during the decade.
womens empowerment is gender-based
violence. As mentioned earlier, the
Meeting the Goal of Empowering Women
prevalence of violence against women can
Meeting the three targets will lay the serve as an indicator of the level of
foundation for womens empowerment empowerment of women in any given
because gaining power in society is country. The lack of data currently makes
dependent upon having capability, this difficult to operationalise in the MDG
opportunity and influence over key decisions context, but it does not reduce the urgency
that affect life outcomes. However, to address this problem.
achieving the goal of womens
At the country level, most initiatives
empowerment is not only about the content
to address violence have been legislative.
of interventions but about the process. The
Although the legislation varies, it typically
process of empowerment varies from culture
includes a combination of protective or
to culture, but there are several types of
restraining orders and penalties for
changes that are considered to be central
offenders. As with property rights, a
across cultures. Some of these changes
formidable challenge are often the
include increased participation in decision-
enforcement of existing laws. Procedural
making, more equitable status of women in
barriers and traditional attitudes of law
the family and community, increased

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

16 Vibhuti Patel
enforcement and judicial officials undermine
the effectiveness of existing anti-violence
laws. Training programs for judicial and law
enforcement personnel often go a long way
to change such attitudes. Beyond training
programs, the establishment of female-
staffed police stations has been effective in
making them more accessible to women. For
the women who have experienced violence,
a range of medical, psychological, legal,
educational, and other support services is
necessary.
Finally, to prevent violence,
improving womens education levels and
economic opportunities has been found to
be a protective factor (Duvvury 2002; Panda
2002). The interventions noted above to
improve womens economic opportunities
thus become even more important.
Ultimately, however, the threshold of
acceptability of violence against women
needs to be shifted upwards. To do that
requires a massive media and public
education campaign.
Conclusion
Overall, the Convention to Eliminate
All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) provides a useful international
mechanism to hold countries accountable for
meeting Goal #3. All nation states that have
ratified the convention are obligated to take
all necessary measures at the national level
to implement the provisions within it,
including providing legal protection against
discrimination of women. In order to monitor
progress made by nation states in advancing
the agenda of CEDAW, each nation state is
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
required to report to the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against
Women on specific measures that they have
taken to advance the Conventions agenda.
Each country is required to report within one
year of acceding to the Convention and at
least every four years thereafter, including
whenever the Committee so requests. The
Committee annually reports to the UN
General Assembly and makes
recommendations to nation states based on
an evaluation of the country reports. A recent
study of the impact of CEDAW has shown
that it provides a powerful instrument at the
national and international level for defining
norms for constitutional guarantees of
womens rights, for interpreting laws,
mandating proactive, pro-women policies,
and for dismantling discrimination overall
(McPhedran et al. 2000). For CEDAW to be
used effectively requires action at many
levels and by many actors. Among the many
factors identified by the study as being key
to the effective utilization of CEDAW were
the following: widespread awareness and
knowledge of CEDAW; constructive
dialogue between government
representatives, CEDAW Committee
members, and NGOs; governments
recognizing how policy goals can be adapted
to implement their stated commitment to
CEDAW; and the systematic use of gender-
specific indicators to assess the impact of
governmental policies, laws, and budgets.
The CEDAW mechanism be used to monitor
progress toward the MDGs and to hold
nations accountable.
It is important that the women
 Gender and the Millennium Development Goals 17

organizations advocating for sexual and
reproductive rights develop ways to achieve
progress on a range of issues within the
framework established by the MDGs. They
should ensure that a rights based approach
be applied to development , both within the
UN system and at the country level, that
prioritizes equity, profound social changes,
and sustainability, rather than simply the
achievement of narrow quantitative targets.
The MDG campaign offers an
opportunity to attend to the unfinished
business of development by fulfilling the
promises made by world leaders to reduce
poverty, end hunger, improve health and
eliminate illiteracy. Gender inequality fuels
many of these ubiquitous challenges and is
exacerbated by them. Conversely, gender
equality and the empowerment of women
can secure the future of women themselves,
their households, and the communities in
which they live. Relative to the past, current
international development rhetoric places
gender inequality high among the list of
development priorities. Having an
independent MDG goal on gender equality
is a reflection of this new emphasis. The
Millennium Development Goals are a
derivative of the Millennium Declaration of
September 2000, which spells out the
following values: freedom, equality,
solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and
shared responsibility. They are a clarion call
of 189 governments, on behalf of their
citizens. World leaders who are currently
doing performance appraisal must address
the gender gap in the MDGS.

References
Anker, R., I. Chernyshev, P. Egger, F. Mehran, and J. Ritter. (2002). Measuring Decent Work with
Statistical Indicators. Policy Integration Paper No. 1. Geneva: ILO.
Charmes, J. (2000). Informal Sector, Poverty and Gender: A Review of Empirical Evidence.
Background Paper for the World Development Report (2001). Washington, D.C. World Bank.
Cheston, S., and L. Kuhn. (2002). Empowering Women through Microfinance. New York: UNIFEM.
Commission on Human Rights. (2003). Preliminary Study on the impact of international economic
and financial issues on the enjoyment of human rights submitted to working group on the right to
development, February 3-14, Geneva.
Duvvury, N., and K. Allendorf. (2001). Domestic Violence in India: The Roles of Education and
Employment. Paper presented at the Sixth Womens Policy Research Conference, The Status of
Women: Facing the Facts, Forging the Future, June 8-9, Washington, DC.
Patel. V and M. Karne (co edited) (2006). Macro Economic Policies and the Millennium Development
Goals, Gyan Publications, New Delhi.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

IS LIFE GETTING BETTER FOR YOUNG WOMEN?
Is life getting better for young women?
The real difficulty is that people have
no idea of what education truly is. We assess
the value of education in the same manner
as we assess the value of land or of shares
in the stock-exchange market. We want to
provide only such education as would enable
the student to earn more. We hardly give any
thought to the improvement of the character
of the educated. The girls, we say, do not
have to earn; so why should they be
educated? As long as such ideas persist there
is no hope of our ever knowing the true value
of education.
M. K. Gandhi cited in (National
Council for Teacher Education, Undated)
Introduction
The United Nations Millennium
Campaign started in 2000.147 heads of State
and 189 member states of the United
Nations, through the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), agreed, inter
alia, to deliver universal education and
eliminate gender disparity.
Two of the eight MDGs are focussed
on education, particularly the education of
* Professor, School of Indigenous Australian Studies, James Cook University, Australia
** PhD Candidate, School of Business, James Cook University, Australia
*** Director, Centacare, North Queensland, Australia
**** Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work, James Cook University, Australia Email: Sue.McGinty@jcu.edu.au
Sue McGinty*
Allison Rossetto**
Anthony McMahon***
Abraham Francis****
girls. MDG 2 targets universal primary
education by 2015 while MDG 3 seeks to
eliminate gender disparity in primary
education by 2005 and all other levels of
education by 2015. The attention on girls
follows increasing evidence that educating
girls has multiple flow-on effects including
improved maternal health and a reduction
in infant mortalities, limiting the spread of
HIV/AIDS, empowering women and
reducing poverty (Archer, 2005). As the
saying goes If you educate a man, you
educate an individual, but if you educate a
woman, you educate the nation (United
Nations Economic and Social Council, 28/
02/2006)).
The goal to eliminate disparity in
primary education by 2005, only five years
after the MDGs were set, recognised that
educating girls underpins the achievement
of all seven other MDG targets. Helping girls
onto the first rung of the development ladder,
by facilitating access to education, is a
necessary first step in the fight to overcome
the challenges of sustainable development
as outlined in the MDGs.
In September 2013, the Secretary
General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, noted that
it was less than 1,000 days to the 2015 target
 Is Life Getting Better For Young Women?
date for achieving the MDGs (United
Nations, 2013b). Thirteen years after its
inception and less than two years before the
Campaign ends, it is now time to ask Is life
getting better for young women?
To answer this question, this paper
examines the educational data for India and
Australia with particular attention on the
states of Gujarat and Queensland. Our focus
on young women in the states of Gujarat and
Queensland reflects, respectively, the
location of the conference in which this
paper is being presented and the authors
home state. Beyond that, these localities
represent two states in different stages of
development and where government policies
relating to young women1 and education are
likely to differ to reflect both shared and
disparate social values.
The states of Gujarat and Queensland
are not similar. Gujarat is on the north-west
coast of India, Queensland is on the north-
east coast of Australia. Queensland has an
area nearly nine times larger than Gujarat
but Gujarat has a population thirteen times
larger than Queenslands. However, Gujarat
is considered to be one of Indias richest
states (Morris, 2012)and is considered the
entrepreneurial hub of India (Mehta & Joshi,
2002) while Queenslands economy is
growing at twice the rate of the rest of
Australia (Queensland economy powering
ahead of the rest of Australia by:Paul
Syvret,The Courier-Mail, October 11,
2013).But all is not perfect. Over the past
1 In the context of this paper Young women refers
to girls and young women to the age of 24
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
19
two decades, Gujarats average growth rate
of GDP has been higher than the national
average (UNICEF India, downloaded 2013)
yet, as a state it ranks poorly on indicators
of mortality and life expectancy as well as
education, (Arora, 2012;Parikh, 1996).In a
similar vein, while free education was
introduced in Queensland in 1870 and
women voted for the first time in the 1907
state election, a recent Queensland report
says despite cash being funnelled into
Queenslands education system, the states
schools are behind national and international
standards (Queensland schools given fail
mark as Newman Government promises
overhaul by:Tanya Chilcott, The Courier-
Mail, December 23, 2013)
Our analysis uses secondary
education data and past research findings to
examine how the lives of young women have
changed since the declaration of the MDGs.
We concentrate first on achievements to date
on MDGs 2 and 3 that target education for
all, at least to the primary level, and
eradication of gender disparity in all levels
of education. We then seek to understand the
strategies that have underpinned such
changes before finally identifying what still
needs to be done.
To understand the current status of
girls education in Gujarat and Queensland
our analysis is guided initially by the relevant
indicators associated with MDGs 2 and 3
outlined in Table 1 below. As performance
against MDG indicators is generally reported
at the national level results for India and
Australia are also considered.
20 Sue McGinty, Ms Allison Rossetto, Dr Anthony McMahon, Dr Abraham Francis
Target 2.A: Ensure that, by
2015, children everywhere,
boys and girls alike, will be
able to complete a full
course of primary schooling
2.1 Net enrolment ratio in primary
education
2.2 Proportion of pupils starting grade 1
who reach last grade of primary
2.3 Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds,
women and men
Target 3.A: Eliminate
gender disparity in primary
and secondary education,
preferably by 2005, and in
all levels of education no
later than 2015
3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary,
secondary and tertiary education
Source:(United Nations, 2013c, 2013d)
Enrolment rates
While advances in universal
education have been made, in 2013 over 57
million children globally continued to be out
of school (United Nations, 2013). This is an
achievement, as this number is less than the
over 100 million children not in school in
2005, 59 per cent of whom were girls
(Archer, 2005).
In India and Australia the story
appears to be better than the global average.
In India enrolment of girls in school
increased from 75.9 per cent in 2000 to 93.5
per cent in 2004 and further to 98.5 per cent
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
in 2010 (World Bank, Undated-b). At the
same time the enrolment of boys also
improved. By 2008 gender parity was
reached for enrolments.
Gujarat seems to be on a similar
trajectory. According to the Education
Department of the Government of Gujarat
(Education Department Government of
Gujarat, 2013) the ratio of girls to boys
admitted to 1st standard in 2003-04 was
90:100 while in 2012-203 this was 97:1002.
In net enrolment terms3 (age 6 to 14) Gujarat
performs better than India for both boys and
girls (Boys 97.49 per cent: 89.98 per cent
and girls 93.96 per cent and 83.48 per cent
respectively (Mahatma Gandhi Labour
Institute, 2004).
In Australia and Queensland primary
enrolments and school participation rates for
6 year olds respectively have been
consistently high (above 95per cent) for both
boys and girls for the last two decades
(World Bank, Undated-a)(Australian Bureau
of Statistics, 2012b)
Retention rates
Enrolment rates and parity at
enrolment age, however, fail to show the full
picture. Once boys and girls are enrolled in
school do they continue? Does parity endure
as children progress through the years of
education?
2 Note: this ratio may reflect the ratio of girls to boys
in the population
3 Net enrolment refers to the proportion of children
of a particular age group attending grades
specified for that age group.
 Is Life Getting Better For Young Women?
At a national level, MDG data for the
proportion of students starting grade 1 who
reach the last grade of primary is only
available for India to 2009. No MDG data is
available on this indicator for Australia. In
India in 2009 more than 97 per cent of both
girls and boys completed their primary
education. This is up from around 63 per cent
of girls and 82 per cent of boys in
1995(United Nations, 2013a). In Australia
the participation rate of students in the final
year of primary education remains close to
100 per cent with the number of male
studentsaround 2 percentage points higher
than female students. This remains the case
through junior secondary school but reverses
by years 11 and 12 when the number of
female students exceeds the number of male
students(Australian Bureau of Statistics,
2012b).
State level data is more scant. Gujarat
has made significant advances over the last
decade to reduce the number of drop-outs in
primary education. Drop-out rates have
declined substantially from averages of
around 18 per cent and 34 per cent for
Standards 1 to 5 and Standards 1 to 7
respectively in 2003-04 to as low as 2 per
cent and 7.5 per cent respectively in 2011-
12. Drop-out rates for girls have declined in
line with drop-out rates for boys. However,
there are significant regional disparities
across the state with the dry regions
experiencing the highest dropout rates
resulting in only 60.45 per cent of girls and
83.24 per cent of boys attending elementary
school(Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute,
2004).
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
21
For Queensland, school participation
rates for age 12 (the average age students
graduate from primary education) remain
high (102 per cent4) suggesting that few
students drop out at primary school levels.As
Queensland students progress through
secondary school a majority remain enrolled
to the age of 15 (year 10). But, in 2006, by
16 years of age close to 20 per cent of boys
had dropped out although this had been
reduced to 12.5 per cent by 2012.In contrast,
in 2006, around 12.5 per cent of girls
dropped out of school at age 16 and this had
been reduced to around 8 per cent in 2012
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012b).
Literacy rates
Literacy rates recognise that attending
and staying at school do not, by themselves,
demonstrate learning and retention. Literacy
rates, or the percentage of the population
aged 15-24 years who can both read and
write with understanding a short simple
statement on everyday life, has improved
dramatically in India. Literacy rates of
younger people aged 15 to 24 have increased
from 61.9 per cent of the population in 1991
to 81.1 per cent in 2006 (World Bank,
Undated-b)and, according to the census, to
as high as 83 per cent in 2011(Census
Organisation of India, 2011). Literacy is
highest amongst younger Indians (in 2011
the overall literacy rate 74 per cent while
youth literacy rate is 83 per cent) and has
increased most significantly amongst
4 Rate exceeds 100% as it includes students who
reside outside of Queensland who are enrolled in
Queensland schools. (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2012b)
22 Sue McGinty, Ms Allison Rossetto, Dr Anthony McMahon, Dr Abraham Francis
women. That said women still fall some way
behind men with 84 women to every 100
men between the ages of 15 to 24 literate in
2006 up from 67:100 in 1991 and 80:100 in
2001 (United Nations, Undated-b).
Literacy rates in Gujarat have also
seen an upward trend reaching 78.03 per cent
in the 2011 population census(Census
Organisation of India, 2011). While female
literacy has improved it has done so at a
slower rate than male literacy and thus
remains significantly behind that of males
(63.31 per cent and 85.75 per cent
respectively). This was up from 2001 when
the overall literacy rate in Gujarat stood at
69.14 per cent (60.40 per cent and 78.49 per
cent respectively for females and males).
According to the 2004 MDG report for
Gujarat, tribal women in the state have the
lowest levels of literacy and geographical
disparities are apparent (Mahatma Gandhi
Labour Institute, 2004). In the dry region in
the north, for example, female literacy rates
are as low as 41.3 per cent (in contrast to
males of the same region at 69.9 per cent)
(Census Organisation of India, 2011).
Indigenous children in remote areas of
Australia have among the lowest literacy
rates in Australia. Lack of school attendance
is the main reason (http://
www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/
what-is-indigenous-literacy.html Accessed
20/01/2014).
In Queensland recent data on adult
literacy rates collected as part of the
Programme for the International Assessment
of Adult Competencies (PIACC) found that
only 56.0 per cent of adults between the ages
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
of 15 74 achieved Level 3 or above literacy
levels5. Level 3 literacy is generally regarded
as the minimum required for individuals to
meet the complex demands of everyday life
and work in the emerging knowledge-based
economy (Australian Bureau of Statistics,
2008, p5). This was slightly above the
overall average for Australia (53.6 per cent).
Literacy levels for women in Queensland
were slightly above those of men with 56.7
per cent and 55.3 per cent achieving Level 3
or above respectively (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2013b).
Literacy levels in Australia have not
changed much over the past two decades. In
2006, 53 per cent of Australians achieved
level 3 or above in prose literacy which was
only a slight improvement on 1996 at
approximately 51 per cent (Australian
Bureau of Statistics, 2008).
Gender disparity
Gender parity has also improved
considerably in India over the past two
decades at all levels of education (primary,
secondary and tertiary). Primary education
reached parity between girls and boys in
2007, up from 74 girls to every 100 boys in
1990, and has remained so since. As
schooling continues, however, fewer girls
remain. In 2010, 92 girls for every 100 boys
attended secondary school and 73 girls for
every 100 boys received tertiary education
(United Nations, Undated-b).
5 Literacy was measured on a scale of 1 to 4 with
increasing levels of complexity. For definitions see
ABS (2013) Programme for the International
Assessment of Adult Competencies, Australia,
2011-2012, 4228.0
 Is Life Getting Better For Young Women?
From Gujarat data it is possible to
calculate the ratio of girls to boys enrolled
in Standard 1. Over the past decade the ratio
has varied from 92 to 98 girls per 100 boys.
Note: this may be more of a reflection of
female representation in the population as
much as parity in enrolment. When
considering the dropout rates from Standard
1 to 5 and Standard 1 to 7 (reported above),
girls have had consistently higher dropout
rates over the past decade suggesting
decreasing parity in secondary and tertiary
education (Education Department
Government of Gujarat, 2013).
In contrast, in Australia, girls and boys
are on par for receiving primary and
secondary education but by tertiary level
girls far outstrip boys (135 girls to every 100
boys in 2010). This has been the case for
the last two decades (United Nations,
Undated-a).
In Queensland policy initiatives aimed
at removing female disadvantage in
education in the 1970s / 80swere slow to be
introduced when compared to other states
in the country. This is attributed to the
conservative political agenda of the state
government at the time which saw womens
place in the home, combined with the
particular social, cultural and ideological
values of key and powerful groups within
the community. SeeLingard, Henry, and
Taylor (1987) for a chronological review of
the struggle for girls education in
Queensland.Using ABS data on full-time and
part-time student numbers in Queensland
government and non-government schools it
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
23
is possible to calculate the ratio of female to
males (2006 to 2012). Note: this does not
take into account the ratio of girls to boys in
the population. Parity between boys and girls
at enrolment age (age 6) has been consistent
over that time (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2012b).
Is life better?
The galvanising effect of the MDGs
on girls education has contributed, at least
in part, to significant advances in primary
school enrolment and retention, particularly
in India and Gujarat. But, is this sufficient
to improve the lives of young women?
Critics of the MDG indicators relating
to education argue that they are reductionist
and inadequate and that to achieve the goals
of universal education and gender parity then
education in its broader sense needs to be
considered. This includes early childhood,
lower secondary and youth education, as
well as adult literacy and quality which were
all addressed under the Education for All
Framework at the World Education Form in
Dakar months prior to the declaration of the
MDGs (Archer, 2005). Rather than reducing
the focus of education to primary education,
Archer argues, we need to educate the
decision makers those who decide whether
their children should attend school; and
focus on all areas of disadvantage that
prohibit children from attending school
disability, homelessness, poverty, children
of migrant labourers, orphans and those from
linguistic and ethnic minority backgrounds
not just gender.
24 Sue McGinty, Ms Allison Rossetto, Dr Anthony McMahon, Dr Abraham Francis
In Australia experience has shown that
increased participation of girls in education
over the past three decades has resulted in
increased participation by women in the
workforce but failed to translate into
equality. While young women have, in
general terms, been better educated than
young men since the mid-1990s (OECD,
2011 cited in (Adema, 2013) in labour
markets, for example, they continue to suffer
from disadvantage including lower
participation than their male counterparts in
paid work, higher participation in part time
work, pay inequity, limited career
advancement opportunities and limited
prospects of reaching the top of the career
ladder as well as lower retirement
income(Adema, 2013). In addition, as
expectations for women to co-contribute to
family income have increased, women, in
the most part, continue to carry the majority
of the burden of household and other unpaid
duties. In the 2012-13 Multipurpose
Household Survey (MPHS) conducted
across Australia, women are over
represented (60 per cent) as a share of those
who wanted a job or preferred to work more
hours with the need to care for children,
particularly due to the high costs of
childcare, being reported as the main reason
for not looking for work or more hours
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013a).
Gender equity in the Australian
workforce made advances in the 1970s with
the introduction of fair pay legislation and a
strongly centralised Australian award
system to eliminate the most overt forms of
wage discrimination against women
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
(Whitehouse, 2003, p116).While significant
advances were made to address pay inequity
limited progress has been made
since(Whitehouse, 2003). Demonstrating
persisting pay inequities in the Australian
labour market, in 2010 the median salary for
women with postgraduate qualifications was
$70 000 compared with $85 000 for their
male counterparts(Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2012a). Income inequality is
closely related to disparity in higher
education choices where women are
generally underrepresented in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics,
sectors which generally attract higher
starting salaries, yet are over represented in
fields such as health and education (ABS
2012a;Adema, 2013). Similar findings are
shared across OECD countries. Adema
(2013) notes that educational performance
(or underperformance) by women in
particular subject areas is unlikely to be the
contributing factor to differing educational
choices but that such choices are more likely
to be driven by attitudes and interest towards
particular subjects that are likely to be
formed early in life and influenced by
traditional perceptions of gender roles and
wide acceptance of the cultural values
associated with particular fields of study
(p. 8).
In India and Gujarat the challenges are
different. Like Australia, at the national level
India has put in place legislation and social
policies to reduce gender inequality such as
marriage acts (1955), acts for the
prevention of trafficking of women (1959)
and education for womens equality in the
 Is Life Getting Better For Young Women?
1986 National Policy on Education
(NPE)(Ross, Shah, & Wang, 2011). Since
the commitments made in the NPE, India,
together with international development
agencies, has continued to put in place
policies to narrow the gender gap in
education (for a review see Ross et al, 2011).
Enrolment rates for girls have increased
substantially and dropout rates through
primary education have decreased.Staying
in school for girls, however, is limited by
factors such as domestic responsibilities
including cooking, collecting firewood and
water and taking care of younger siblings or
the need to work, particularly in poorer
families, For girls the effects of cultural
practices such as payments of dowry by a
brides family, hypergamous marriage and a
patrilineal kinship system also contribute to
lower retention of rates past grade 5(Ross et
al., 2011). The practice of girls moving to
the family of the husband after marriage
means that any investment in the education
of daughters is perceived as lost to the
family.
In Gujarat specifically low education
attainment results for both boys and girls in
the state, relative to other states in India, are
considered to be the result of macro
conditions such as poverty, environmental
degradation and high levels of seasonal
migration together with low priority given
to education by parents and children and
poor quality of education that is not very
relevant to the poor(Mahatma Gandhi
Labour Institute, 2004). Trust in the
education system is an issue. Parents and
students need to believe that an education
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
25
will increase access to economic
opportunities rather than relying on networks
to find employment (The saying in Australia
its not what you know but who you know
suggests a similar past).
While significant advances have been
made since the declaration of the MDGs in
the enrolment of girls in primary school, girls
remain underrepresented in secondary and
tertiary education and womens literacy rates
continue to be substantially below that of
men.
What still needs to be done?
The concerns of the MDGs about
women and girls are a core concern for social
workers.The International Federation of
Social Workers (IFSW) has stated
the social work professions core
commitment to human rights must involve a
commitment to protecting and preserving the
basic rights of all women and girls. Women
of all ages and at all stages of the life cycle
deserve protection from discrimination in all
forms, including the elimination of all forms
of gender-specific discrimination and
violence
(International Federation of Social
Workers, 2014, s.51)
This definition moves the debate
beyond the MDGs concern for education
and equity to wider social and cultural
constraints on women and girls.Obviously
governments in India and Australia, Gujarat
and Queensland have put in place
26 Sue McGinty, Ms Allison Rossetto, Dr Anthony McMahon, Dr Abraham Francis
educational policies for girls that are bearing
fruit.Life is getting better, at least in that
respect.But what, then, when girls are
educated?Are their circumstances better, are
they able to use the education they have
received, have their life choices really
changed?
The work of social workers has a dual
perspective: the person in their
environment.In this the profession argues
that the person can only be understood and
assisted as they are interacting within their
social environment.For the educated young
woman, there are a number of circumstances
that can limit or pervert the potential she has
because of the particular environment in
which she lives.The IFSW is clear that about
the professions obligations and asks social
workers to work on these limiting
issues:This special commitment to women
of all ages is necessary because in all
national and cultural contexts women and
girls do not have equal access to the tangible
and intangible benefits of being members of
human society (International Federation of
Social Workers, 2014, s1.2).
Obviously, there have been some good
changes but there is a way to go.Reports
from both our countries show that girls,
including educated girls, still face
considerable, unfair barriers to full
participation in employment, political and
economic life.In India, for example, the 12th
Five Year Plan (2012-2017) gives the
highest priority to ending gender based
inequities, discrimination and violence faced
by girls and women (Planning Commission
Government of India, 2013, p214).In
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Australia, similarly, the Office for Women
in the Department of Prime Minister and
Cabinet prioritises economic security, safety,
reducing violence against women and
enhancing womens organisations to
improve womens equal place in society
(Office for Women, 2014).
For a social work response, besides
education, the IFSW lists five other critical
concerns (International Federation of Social
Workers, 2014, s4.1)to guide social workers:
1. Poverty:Among the worlds 1 billion
people living in poverty, women remain in
the majority (INSTRAW, 2005). Womens
poverty results from structural factors related
to national debt burdens, inadequate
government spending on programs targeted
to women, and paid employment that is often
limited to the lowest-paying and most
unstable jobs that provide the least (if
anything) in employment-related benefits
(UNIFEM, 2005).
2. The economy:Although women do
the majority of the worlds work, women do
not share equally in income, earnings, and
wealth. Discrimination against women in
earnings, employment, access to credit and
capital accumulation mechanisms, and
employment-related public and private
social benefit systems (UNIFEM, 2005) also
affects the economic well-being of their
children and other household members.
3. Health:All aspects of health and
health care, including mental health along
with physical, social, and sexual and
reproductive health, are vital to human and
social well-being. Gender disparities in
 Is Life Getting Better For Young Women? 27

health and access to health care persist infanticide or abandonment, childhood

worldwide.
4. Violence:Many women and girls
from all social, cultural, and income groups
are subject to specific forms of physical,
sexual, and psychological violence because
of their gender. This gender-specific violence
includes emotional, physical, and verbal
assault; rape and mass rape; sexual
harassment; sexual exploitation and slavery;
forced pregnancy; forced or selective
abortion; and forced sterilization.
5. Discrimination for being a
girl:Discrimination against women can
begin early in life. Prenatal selection, female
sexual exploitation, genital mutilation, and
limited access to adequate nutrition and
health care all affect the number of girls in
some parts of the world who survive into
adulthood (Working Group on Girls, 2006).
These critical concerns are systemic
issues that show that gender is
interconnected with and interwoven in all
aspects of contemporary societies.This is not
new; it has been known for many years.What
it does show is that improvement in female
education as planned for in the MDGs can
be held back if the social contexts of girls
lives are not also improved.Both India and
Australia require further action here.

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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

EDUCATION TRANSFORMING INDIVIDUALS
Introduction
Beginning of the 21st century marks
the pinnacle of information technology and
its resulting communication revolution.
They play a key role in the evolution of
humanity giving people the power to connect
and share viewpoints, ideas and knowledge
at an unprecedented speed with the whole
world. People are becoming increasingly
aware of this emerging interconnectedness
with each other, the planet, and the entire
universe. How they think and live, or what
they eat and do to survive or thrive, are
directly related to the human footprint on
the planet. Resultant global chaos needs
urgent attention to bring order. By using the
overlapping academic parameters of Theory,
Practice, Experience and Research, we have
designed a roadmap in this paper. We
specifically address strategies to fill gaps and
suggest an implementation plan in the
context of social work education and
practice.
The organization of our paper is
shown in Figure-1. Each arm extending from
the circle in the figure corresponds to a
section in our paper. There are seven
sections. In Section-1 we explain
* Rocky Mountain Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda, Boulder, Colorado, USA
** CPA, Independent Consultant and Wellness Practitioner, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
YANTRA Foundation, Banglore, India
*** Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA Email : guptav@ciresmail.colorado.edu
Indira Bhatt*
Prema Mysore **
Vijay Gupta***
Civilizational Collapse due to water
shortages and food economy that Lester
Brown1 has articulated. We focus on India
on the issue of water shortages, and contrast
it with the central role that water
management played in the traditional Indian
system of agriculture. In Section-2 we turn
to the role of Women in Agriculture. This
context is global, but by way of illustration,
we focus on Indian women as the hidden
face of agriculture. We address important
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in
this section, and briefly introduce the
pioneering work of Dr. Vandana Shiva, an
international force of change, on the
sustainable agriculture front.
Section-3 continues with a focus the
impact of our Food Choices on a diverse set
of major issues including personal to
planetary wellness. In Section 4, we
illustrate that many if not all problems of
modern society can be traced to the
Limitations of the Modern Science based on
the unproven 17th century assumption that
nature is only material and without
consciousness. This assumption has led to
an even-growing consumerism and great
imbalance in personal lives with disastrous
effects on the planet: Global warming,
 Education Transforming Individuals 31

Figure-1 A Schematic Diagram Showing the Organization of the Paper

massive water shortages, destruction of rain
forests and ill effects of chemical and
genetically modified agriculture on human
health and serious water pollution, and the
list goes on. In Section 5, explains the
Science of Mind, which gives practices to
transform and reprogram the deeply
embedded subconscious thought patterns,
attitudes, and behavior. The findings in this
section consist of the latest advances in
Epigenetics: the new science of self-
empowerment. An implementation of these
advances is explained within the framework
of Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY).
Section 6 gives agriculture and food
Sustainability Programs from two American
Universities that can be widely adopted as
academic models. Section 7 gives two

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

32 Indira Bhatt, Prema Mysore, Vijay K Gupta
existing educational curricula and practices
based in UK and USA. We propose a
Roadmap to Implement for Faculty of Social
Work (FSW) housed in the Maharaja
Sayajirao University (MSU), Vadodara,
India.
1. Civilizational Collapse
Early Sumerian civilization declined
and collapsed due to shrinking food supplies,
rising salt levels in the soilthe result of a
flaw in their irrigation system1. For the
Mayans, soil erosion exacerbated by a series
of intense droughts apparently undermined
their food supply and their civilization. For
other early civilizations that collapsed, it was
often soil erosion and the resulting shrinkage
in harvests that led to their decline. Does
our modern civilization face a similar fate?
Lester Brown states, our food shortages
could also bring down our early twenty-first
century global civilization. Our continuing
failure to reverse the environmental trends
that are undermining the world food
economy forces me to conclude that if we
continue with business as usual such a
collapse is not only possible but likely. In
an update to his book in 2013, he cited
Indias dangerous food bubble due to
unsustainable use of groundwater resources
for agriculture.
India developed a sustainable system
of agriculture in the ancient period.
Vrikshayaurveda (the science of plant life)
that developed in India is attributed to sage
Surpala. Sadhale2 dates it around 1,000 AD,
but references to ancient agriculture predate
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
it to the Vedic period. A key component of
the ancient Indian agricultural production
was its relationship with skillful and wise
water-management practices, because entire
rainfall is mostly concentrated in the few
monsoon months. Water management
necessitated a certain degree of cooperation
and collective spirit in the Indian
countryside, and until the imposition of
colonial rule, it precluded any widespread
development of private property in India.
Regional rulers, or local representatives of
the state were generally obliged to allocate
a certain percentage of the agricultural taxes
on building and managing water-storage,
water-harvesting and/or water-diverting
structures which facilitated a second crop,
and provided water for drinking and other
purposes in the long dry season.
Quoting Brown from Indias
dangerous food bubble1a: India is now the
worlds third-largest grain producer after
China and the United States. The adoptions
of higher-yielding crop varieties and the
spread of irrigation have led to this
remarkable tripling of output since the early
1960s. In recent years about 27 million wells
have been drilled, chasing water tables
downward in every Indian state.
Unfortunately, a growing share of the water
that irrigates three-fifths of Indias grain
harvest is coming from wells that are starting
to go dry. This sets the stage for a major
disruption in food supplies for Indias
growing population.
What made India get off the track
from its ancient agriculture system and move
 Education Transforming Individuals
into a highly unsustainable water
management system and other practices
involving chemical agriculture? This is a key
question that needs a careful examination
and analysis in the light of ancient Indian
agriculture history and the adverse impact
of colonization on these practices.
2. Women in Agriculture
Connection of women and agriculture
is age-old in ancient civilizations. According
to Swaminathan 3 , the well-known
agricultural scientist, some historians
believe that it was women who first
domesticated crop plants and thereby
initiated the art and science of farming.
While men went out hunting in search of
food, women started gathering seeds from
the native flora and began cultivating those
of interest from the point of view of food,
feed, fodder, fiber and fuel.
Indeed, four decades of research
demonstrates the varied and crucial
responsibilities that women hold in
agriculture and the value of their
contributions, both economic and social.
Rural women produce half of the worlds
food and, in developing countries, between
60 percent and 80 percent of food crops4.
Women also are more likely than men to
spend their income on the wellbeing of their
families, including more nutritious foods,
school fees for children and health care.
When credit is provided directly to a woman,
it can increase household consumption and
childrens schooling. Loan repayment rates
are higher for women than for men5. Women
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
33
also are integral to alleviating hunger and
malnutrition because they are primarily
responsible for ensuring that food for their
families is reliably available, accessible and
nutritionally balanced 6. On an average,
agriculture provides 64 percent of
employment and represents 34 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP) in the poorest
countries7. Therefore, by focusing attention
on women in farming, several MDGs (1,3,4,
7, 8) can be addressed.
If women farmers across the
developing world had the same access to
labor, fertilizer, extension services, and seeds
as male farmers, yields would increase by
as much as 20-30 percent per household, and
reduce hunger for 100-150 million people8
(MDG 1). Equal access to production
resources for men and women would raise
total agricultural output in developing
countries by 2.54 percent, contributing to
food security and economic growth9.
Recent estimates show that only 5
percent of foreign aid that is directed to the
agricultural sector focuses on gender
equality4. Overall; the labor burden of rural
women exceeds that of men and includes a
higher proportion of unpaid household
responsibilities related to preparing food,
collecting fuel and water4. Women and girls
spend a significant amount of time carrying
water. According to Stanford researchers, a
decrease of even 15 minutes in walking time
to fetch water is associated with significant
reductions in child mortality (MDG 4).
In developing countries economic
growth originating in the agricultural sector
34 Indira Bhatt, Prema Mysore, Vijay K Gupta
is at least twice as effective in reducing
poverty as growth originating elsewhere. To
solve the problems of poverty and hunger,
the agriculture sector in these countries
particularly smallholder agriculture in which
women are the driving force needs to be
more efficient4 (MDG 1).
The World Trade Organization has
had a negative impact on women in
agriculture 12. On an average, a woman
spends 14 hours a day working in and outside
the home. During harvesting season she
spends about 16 hours a day. According to
the Sustainable Development Department of
the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO)8a:
In the Indian Himalayas a pair of
bulls works 1,064 hours, a man 1,212 hours,
and a woman 3,485 hours in a year on a
one-hectare farm, a figure, which illustrates
womens significant contribution to
agricultural production.
The question arises why womens role
in the economy is not recognized and has
been given such an inferior position? Indian
women represent the hidden face of
agriculture. In rural India, the percentage of
women who depend on agriculture for their
livelihood is as high as 84%. Women also
heavily participate in ancillary agricultural
activities. Despite their dominance of the
labor force women in India still face extreme
disadvantage in terms of pay, land rights, and
representation in local farmers
organizations. Furthermore their lack of
empowerment often results in negative
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
externalities such as lower educational
attainment for their children and poor
familial health.
2.1 Women and Sustainable Agriculture
Dr. Vandana Shiva is an international
force of change on the sustainable
agriculture front. She founded Navdanya in
India13, which means nine seeds, and it
symbolizes protection of biological and
cultural diversity. This women-centered
network of seed keepers and organic
producers has spread across 17 states in
India. Navdanya has helped set up 111
community seed banks across the country,
trained over 5,00,000 farmers in seed
sovereignty, food sovereignty and
sustainable agriculture over the past two
decades, and helped setup the largest direct
marketing, fair trade organic network in the
country. Navdanya is actively involved in the
rejuvenation of indigenous knowledge and
culture. It has created awareness on the
hazards of genetic engineering, defended
peoples knowledge from biopiracy and food
rights in the face of globalization and climate
change. Navdanya has also set up a learning
center, Bija Vidyapeeth - School of the Seed
/ Earth University, on its biodiversity
conservation and organic farm in Doon
Valley, Uttarakhand, North India.
3. Food Choices
Worldwide popularity of convenient
junk/fast food lacking in nutrition is an
American corporate, profit-driven, endeavor
 Education Transforming Individuals
that began about 50 years ago. It is
responsible for the rise of obesity, diabetes,
and related serious ailments all over the
world. Rise of obesity in the US is wide
spread, and the consumption of prescription
drugs has been rising14.
The food habits in India have changed
due to the western influence and the usage
of fast foods is also on the rise. Varieties of
instant/ready-to-eat foods available in
catering industries as well as at homes are
becoming a part of every day life15. There
has been a major shift in food habits in the
metropolitan cities. According to a survey
undertaken in 2011 by the Associated
Chambers of Commerce and Industry of
India, about 86% of households prefer to
have instant food due to steep rise in dual
income level and standard of living,
convenience, and influence of western
countries. The survey on Ready to Eat Food
in Metropolitan Cities is based on responses
from 3,000 representative households with
children or without children, nuclear family
and bachelors mainly because many
consumers in metros lead time-pressured
lifestyles and have less time available for
formal meals. As a result demand remains
high for products which can be eaten on the
go. It is also estimated that this food
processing industry will show the annual
growth of 40-60% in next five years15.
According to research done by World
watch Institutes Nourishing the Planet
project 16 , global meat production and
consumption have increased rapidly in
recent decades, with harmful effects on the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
35
environment and public health as well as on
the economy. Worldwide meat production
has tripled over the last four decades and
increased 20 percent in just the last 10 years.
Meanwhile, industrial countries are
consuming growing amounts of meat, nearly
double the quantity in developing countries.
Much of the vigorous growth in meat
production is due to the rise of industrial
animal agriculture, or factory farming, which
pollute the environment through the heavy
use of inputs such as pesticides, herbicides,
and fertilizers used for feed production.
Large-scale meat production also has serious
implications for the worlds climate. Animal
waste releases methane and nitrous oxide,
greenhouse gases that are 25 and 300 times
more potent than carbon dioxide,
respectively. In India, a country long
associated with vegetarianism, and where
slaughtering cows is forbidden, the
overall meat consumption has grown by 14
percent from 2010 to 2012. Arable land is
scarce, and it is directly impacting the rate
of decline in available growing land because
the animals are gobbling up this
irreplaceable resource due to meat diet of
humans.
The prevalence of obesity is rising
globally and in India. Chopra et al. 17
published a survey article with a focus on
overweight, obesity and related diseases in
Asian Indian women. This review highlights
the Asian Indian body composition with
regards to obesity and provides a collated
perspective of gender-specific prevalence of
the co-morbidities. Recent data show that
women have a higher prevalence of
36 Indira Bhatt, Prema Mysore, Vijay K Gupta
overweight and obesity as compared with
men in India and that obesity is increasing
in the youth. Importantly, prevalence of
abdominal obesity has been consistently
higher in women than in men. South India
(rural Andhra Pradesh, 2006) reports the
lowest prevalence (6.0%) of type-2 diabetes
mellitus in women, where as the highest
(14.0%) is reported in the urban areas.
Although the clustering of cardiovascular
disease risk factors was generally high, it
increased further in post-menopausal
women. There are a number of factors that
predispose Indian women to obesity;
sedentary behavior, imbalanced diets,
sequential and additive postpartum weight
gain and further decrease in physical activity
during this period and cultural issues. In
view of these data, preventive measures
should be specifically targeted to Indian
women.
Researchers and health professionals
have long been aware of the consequences
associated with eating fast food, but until
now, no one realized how quickly the
damage begins. A new study, published in
the Canadian Journal of Cardiology,
indicates that damage to the arteries occurs
almost immediately after just one thats
right, one junk food-type meal. Based on
the science, moderation with junk food
doesnt really exist. What is even more
shocking is the fact that corporate marketing
of junk food is especially targeting
children18. So what is nutrition, and why do
we care?
Food is really little more than a
median for soil-based nutrients. Drawing
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
from the earth, nutrients inherent to fertile
soil transform into plant matter. Now
biologically usable by animal and human
alike, this nutrient-infused plant has
transformed compounds from the soil into
digestible sustenance for its consumer19.
Plants grown in nutrient-rich soil serve as a
vessel by which nutrition is transferred to
whomever, or whatever, eats them. This
being the case, it is also true that very few
nutrients exist in plants that have been grown
in over-farmed soil. Those crops are simply
void of nutrients that have been extracted
by numerous plants grown on the same lot
of land previously, each one of lower
nutritional value than the one before.
The benefits of basing your diet on
nutrient-rich, plant-based whole foods will
dramatically reduce your risk of disease, turn
off your hunger signal and cravings, boost
your overall health and allow you to mentally
and physically outperform those who are on
junk/fast foods. It will help preserve the
environment, and ensure that theres
sufficient arable land in which to grow
nutrient-rich food. Will increased demand
for meat lead to more competition among
farmers and food companies for valuable
natural resources such as water and land and,
rather than solving Indias food problems,
will further exacerbate it? This is one of most
pressing issue that India and the world face
because it is directly tied to civilizational
collapse explained in Section-1.
4. Limitations of Modern Science
Abraham Lincoln said in 1864 during
the American Civil War, As a result of the
 Education Transforming Individuals
war, corporations have been enthroned and
an era of corruption in high places will
follow. What followed is a direct testimony
to the visionary prediction that Lincoln
made. Western multinational corporations
called the Empire run the world20. The
corporate empire was built on the modern
technology and the singular profit motive.
Modern science, and consequently modern
technology, is based on the unproven 17th
century assumption that nature is only
material and without consciousness 21 .
Understanding consciousness and how it
functions in humans as well in other
manifestations of nature remain largely
elusive to the modern science. Many aware
scientists, activists and environmentalists are
using modern technology to assess and
continuously report the state of the planet16.
The food and water shortages, health and
health care crises, extensive deforestation,
environmental disasters, growing disparity
between rich and poor, and exploitation of
the weak and vulnerable, specially women
is evident. Brown1 describes the widespread
efforts that are being made to reverse many
of these trends through developing solutions.
Although these efforts are commendable, a
balanced approach that also transforms the
human consciousness is urgently needed to
expedite the progress. We elaborate on this
statement in Section 5. In this section, our
focus is to briefly explain how corporate
sector is creating major disruptions to the
environment and human health through
modern technologies that they operate and
control. We restrict our focus to agriculture
and food safety in what follows.
The chemical and biotechnological
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
37
corporations have taken control of global
agriculture. For example, green revolution
in Indian agriculture in the 1960s introduced
pesticides and other chemicals in it.
Although it greatly increased the crop yields
in the short run, the effects of chemical
pesticides and fertilizers on human health
have been rather grim22. The unfortunate
Bhopal gas explosion of a pesticide plant in
1984 inspired Vandana Shiva to give up her
career in Physics to become an activist and
an organic farmer. The cultivation of the
genetically modified crops has drawn
worldwide attention including India due to
its adverse effects on the environmental and
the human health. We suggest Jeffrey Smith,
who established the Institute for Responsible
Technology23, for his excellent contributions
and information on these topics.
Dr. Shiv Chopra, a Canadian
microbiologist and an activist of Indian
origin, has widely written giving insightful
details about the corruption in the
government concerning food safety24. Time
and again, he voiced opposition to the
governments attempt to allow dangerous
drugs, agricultural practices, and
carcinogenic pesticides to enter the food
supply, and upheld the policies of the Food
and Drug Act and its regulations.
Multinational corporations that make drugs
and chemicals for agricultural and food
inputs influence and manipulate the
government regulatory agencies in-charge of
food and drug safety and get approvals. Most
importantly, this book contains a blueprint
for the establishment of food safety and
security throughout the world.
38 Indira Bhatt, Prema Mysore, Vijay K Gupta
5. The Science of Mind
Inquiry into mind, its origin and how
it functions have a long tradition in
psychology, neurosciences, philosophy,
religion, as well as the ancient science of
yoga. Yogiraj Vethathiri (1911-2006), a
contemporary philosopher, who developed
the Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY)
system25, gave a deep philosophical and
scientific understanding of mind26. We take
some highlights from his works to explain
what mind is, and its relevance to
Epigenetics: The New Science of Self-
empowerment27. Building on this scientific
foundation, we explain how the deeply
embedded subconscious thought patterns
and attitudes towards women could be
tackled, which require a monumental shift
in the human psyche.
The fundamental concept of life force
is necessary to understand mind. It is also
known by other names in the literature, such
as Kundalini energy in the yoga literature25,
Qi in Chinese holistic healing 28 , and
Bioelectricity in Acupressure29. Vethathiri25,26
defined life force current in a living system
as a group of very minute life-force
particles circulating throughout the physical
body of a living system. Circulation of the
life-force particles may be formally
compared to the flow of electrons in a wire
that explains why life force is called
bioelectricity. Life-force particles generate
Bio-electromagnetic (BioEM) field just like
the flow of electricity in a physical object
generates electromagnetic (EM) field. Our
statement supports the hypothesis of a close
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
connection between life force and BioEM.
Indeed, Waechter27 based on an extensive
and an independent review of the literature
hypothesized that Qi or the life-force, is
either the same or closely related to the
modern concept of BioEM energy.
Vethathiri25 postulated that BioEM energy
is transformed for carrying out involuntary
functions like breathing, digesting food etc.,
as well as voluntary functions involving all
the five senses, and mind. These insights
imply that BioEM is directly related to mind,
which is needed in our explanation given
below that brain frequencies correspond to
mind frequencies.
The electrical nature of brain is well
known to the modern science 27 . It is
supported through an Electroencephalogram
(EEG), an instrument that records the
electromagnetic activity of the brain through
attaching electrodes to a persons head.
Therefore, EEG measurements are
interpreted as the frequencies that
correspond to different states of brain. There
are four ranges of frequencies that pertain
to the activity of the human brain as a wave30:
Beta (12-35 cycles per second (Hz), Alpha
(8-12 Hz), Theta (8-4 Hz) and Delta (4-0.5
Hz). How do these frequencies correspond
to that of human mind? Mind is not material
and therefore is not the same as the brain.
How are the two connected? It is a big
challenge to the modern science.
To understand how mind and brain are
connected, we consider the life-force
particles that circulate throughout the
physical body of a living system including
 Education Transforming Individuals
the brain. Therefore, we assert that the
BioEM field that is produced by the life
force particles is common to both mind and
brain. According to Dhamodharan31, it is
impossible to separate the waves of the mind
and the brain. Indeed, EEG frequencies are
commonly used to interpret states of mind.
For example, Beta wave frequency
corresponds to day-to-day activity like
talking, reading, playing etc. Alpha
corresponds to a state of calmness that one
experiences in meditation, taking a walk
through wilderness etc. Theta corresponds
to deep meditation and relaxation. In Delta
frequency, a person loses body and material
consciousness and experiences what Indian
sages described as non-dual nature of reality.
In summary, as one reduces mental
frequency, one transitions from material
consciousness towards pure consciousness.
The latest advances in epigenetics
show that the subconscious mind is a
repository of stimulus-response
information that is derived from learned
experiences and from instincts. This
information in children is acquired till the
age of 6 when they are in Delta and Theta
frequencies. After that they begin to function
in Alpha and then in Beta that is the domain
of the conscious mind. Therefore, to
reprogram the stored information in the
subconscious mind that is not conducive for
human behavior, it is necessary to bring the
mind to Theta and Delta frequencies, and
then reprogram the stored information
through affirmations.
Lipton and Bhaerman30 list a dozen
belief-change modalities, and any one of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
39
them can be used to reprogram the stored
information in the subconscious mind. To
this list we add the SKY system that is most
suitable for the modern age. It includes two
stages of meditation that are directly relevant
to reprogramming the subconscious mind:
Thuriya and Thuriyateetha25. On the basis
of EEG measurements on himself,
Dhamodharan31 observed Theta frequency in
Thuriya and Delta frequency in
Thuriyateetha. Once a practitioner goes into
these states during meditation, affirmations
need to be given for reprogramming the
subconscious mind. It is a two-step process.
6. Sustainability Models
There is a great need for people of the
world to get off corporate convenience food
and start producing clean food. This would
involve initiating grass-root farming projects
including student farms in the university
settings. The Sustainability Agriculture
Institute (ASI) at the University of California
at Davis 32 in 2011 established a new
undergraduate major in sustainable
agriculture and food systems. ASI provides
a hub that links initiatives and education in
sustainable agriculture and food systems
across all divisions of the college of
agriculture and environmental sciences,
across the university of California, and
across the State of California.
Various disciplinary academic
departments and programs at the university
can play a role in the farm project, as figure-
2 shows.
40 Indira Bhatt, Prema Mysore, Vijay K Gupta

Figure-2 A Schematic Depiction of the University of New Mexicos Flagship Student Farm

7. Roadmap to Implementation understand and find solutions for the most

We have selected two very unique
academic programs from UK and USA to
guide us in designing a roadmap to an
implementation plan that covers different
issues described in above sections. First is
the Schumacher College that, through an
innovative approach to learning, with experts
from around the world, has helped thousands
of organizations and individuals to
pressing ecological and social concerns of
modern life34. We draw attention to the short
courses that are offered at the college. Three
topics are taken for illustration: (i) Eating
Ecologically - Healthy, Local and
Sustainable Food. This course explores the
nutritional benefits of consuming a wide
range of plant foods and how a diverse and
healthy diet can be produced locally,
organically and sustainably using

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Education Transforming Individuals
permaculture principles. (ii) Schumacher
Certificate in Ecological Leadership and
Facilitation Transformative Change in a
Volatile World. An eight-month learning
program that explores a new model of
leadership and facilitation, especially
designed to meet the challenges and
adventures of an increasingly volatile and
complex future. (iii) Economics of
Happiness: The new science of happiness.
The limitations of gross domestic product
(GDP) as a measure of societal wellbeing
are now widely recognized. Drawing heavily
on recent insights in fields as diverse as
psychology, biology and anthropology, this
course will explore some of the more
interesting alternative measures of wellbeing
that have emerged in recent years, including
the Happy Planet Index.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
41
Naropa University is a Buddhist-
inspired, student-centered liberal arts
university in Boulder, Colorado. A
recognized leader in contemplative
education, Naropas undergraduate and
graduate programs emphasize professional
and personal growth, intellectual
development, and contemplative practice35.
A national conference on Integrating
yoga in Modern Education is being
organized in Vadodara, March 21-23, 201436.
FSW-MSU is a co-sponsoring organization.
We have taken a schematic diagram from the
conference web site to illustrate how the
conceptual ideas that the two universities,
Schumacher College and the Naropa
University emulate, can be joined together
to structure a paradigm shift in education.
42 Indira Bhatt, Prema Mysore, Vijay K Gupta

For the purpose of illustration, we In conclusion, we quote Mahatma

present a conceptual roadmap for an on- Gandhi: The difference between what we
going seminar courseentitled do and what we are capable of doing would
Transformation for the Modern Agethat suffice to solve most of the worlds
can be offered in any university and college problems.
in India including MSU. A holistic
framework includes four components: Acknowledgements
Theory, Practice, Experience and Research.
The course would involve local faculty, guest We are grateful to several colleagues
speakers, documentaries, book reviews in India and the USA for their cooperation
followed by discussions and instruction in in this project. Dr. Ramanathj Pandey,
meditation, introspection, physical Oriental Institute, MSU, Vadodara, and the
exercises, plant-based healthy diet, and rest Conference Coordinator of ISIS 204,
that is pertinent to personality introduced the first author, a graduate of
transformation. Reforming the existing FSW, to Dean Parmar, FSW, which
education system would transform the generated an invitation to this conference.
consciousness of both men and women, and We are grateful to Dr. Jagdish Kohli for his
motivate women to take leadership role in outstanding help with the graphics in the last
creatively addressing contemporary section of this paper. Ms. Jill Owen kindly
challenges. This course is designed to gave input on references and Patricia
introduce students to global challenges and Eichorn gave professional editing help.
to approaches for implementing solutions.
Seagers book37 is a valuable resource for
Once this pilot project is successful, it can
invaluable data on the women of the world.
be taken to other Indian colleges and also
introduced internationally.
References
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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

ETHICAL ISSUES IN MATERNAL MORTALITY AND
LESSONS TO LEARN FROM THE STATE OF KERALA
Introduction
Few researchers have tried to look at
ethics in Maternal Mortality (MM) studies.
This paper tried to explore if ethical
principles are followed while handling
maternal health and mortality from
published literature. Introduction starts with
brief overview of public health ethics.
Public Health
Maternal Mortality is a Public Health
(PH) issue. PH research is mainly
observational. It is believed that public-
health policies must be aimed to produce
the highest benefit of the greatest number.
The role of public health was previously
limited to control of communicable diseases
but today, the scope of PH is much more
expanded. It is now primarily related to
epidemiology, social, economical and
political matters as well as interdisciplinary
multiple features related to health such as
risks, health effects and prevention
Public Health Ethics
Ethical analysis involves the use of a
certain set of inflexible and evaluative
categories, such as rights, duties, virtue,
justice, responsibility, freedom, respect,
dignity, and well being. These categories
comprise the basic moral vocabulary of our
* Independent Consultant. Email: vdjoshi007@hotmail.com
** Professor, Department of Preventive &Social Medicine, Government Medical College, Vadodara, Gujarat,
India.
Veena Joshi*
R. Baxi**
society. Four pillars of Ethics in healthcare
setting are discussed globally and also by
Indian Medical Research Council. These are
Do no harm or non maleficence,
maximum good or beneficence, respect
autonomy and promote justice. PH is not
officially linked to any specific ethical
theory or school of thought, but its
community orientation has many parallels
to the philosophy of communitarism. Unlike
the duties of clinicians to patients,
professional standards for ethical practice
are not well defined in public health. In
general, code of ethics is based on
transparency, equity and honesty as well as
other norms that are unanimously accepted
in professional and ethical codes. One of the
most significant proposals of ethical code is
the American Public Health Associations
public-health code of ethics. In Europe, after
conducting 96 focus group discussions, the
project proposed a preliminary framework
for public health ethics within Europe that
reflects the greater respect for values such
as solidarity and integrity that are more
highly valued in Europe. In absence of such
framework in India, we have to depend on
the American Public Health Associations
public- health code of ethics. Principles of
ethical practice of public health by PH
leadership society (2002) states key
principles of the ethical practice of PH i.e.
what we do collectively to assure the
 Ethical Issues in Maternal Mortality and Lessons to Learn from the State of Kerala
conditions for people to be healthy. The code
states 11 values and beliefs underlying the
code and 12 Principles of Ethical Practice
of PH.
Maternal Mortality (MM)
The International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994
had recommended reduction in maternal
mortality by at least 75 percent of the 1990
levels by the year 2015. The Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) of the United
Nations has set the target of achieving 109
per lakh of live births by 2015. (Special
Bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India,
2007-2009, SRS). The latest Maternal
Mortality Ratio (MMR) for India is 178
while for Empowered Action Group (EAG)
and Assam it is much higher at 257. (TOI,
Ahmadabad, 29 Dec. 2013). India has taken
considerable efforts by trying out several
schemes, 5-tier monitoring & review
mechanism, imparting trainings for various
groups and providing cash incentives for
institutional deliveries. Despite this wide
range of methods, MMR still remains a
challenge especially in eight EAG states,
Assam and other states in India. The state of
Kerala stands out among all other states in
India by reducing MMR to 81 per one lakh
live births per year (TOI, Ahmadabad, 29
Dec. 2013). Some authors like Maine D and
Gulmezogue disagree with current safe-
motherhood strategies and have raised
concerns that interventions are poorly
implemented or lack an evidence base
strategies to reduce maternal mortality.
While few researchers criticized that some
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
45
programs are based on evidence derived
from retrospective or observational studies
where the quality of evidence is low9. Since
safe motherhood strategies require complex
public health approaches, the programs have
to be more at population level. Various
factors related to MM are well discussed in
the past10- 22 are mentioned below and these
need to be linked to ethics. The main risk
factors of maternal death are sepsis,
infection, haemorrhage, eclampsia, ruptured
uterus, and anemia. There are risk factors
associated with health system failures such
as medical equipment failure, lack of
personnel at the time of visit, neglect from
hospital staff, untrained staff, lack of
healthcare systems in rural area etc. There
is also neglect from patient side such as late
referral, lack of antenatal visit and non-
compliance. The other predictors are
previous complications, previous C-section,
lack of treatment, socio-demographic
factors, first pregnancy, pregnancy of high
birth order, environmental factors, being
unmarried, illiteracy, low socio economic
status (SES) and traditional faiths, beliefs /
customs also appeared as correlates of
maternal mortality. Mortality is more in
urban slums, villages, rural areas and in low
SES group as compared to urban area and
above low SES group. Safety of the pregnant
woman depends mainly on delivery by
trained /professional personnel, particularly
through institutional facilities. Ensuring
antenatal care of prospective mothers at
health centers and recommended doses of
iron folic table (IFT) are important factors
that help improve maternal health and reduce
life risk during pregnancy. It is important to
46 Veena Joshi, R. Baxi
understand if ethical principles were
followed while providing services to women.
There is an argument that access to health
services is essential if high rates of maternal
death are to be reduced. Nevertheless,
researchers have agreed that a focus on only
access and clinical service to women may
not be the most comprehensive perspective
from which to understand the problem of
maternal mortality since it largely ignores
the social, cultural, economic and political
determinants of health. Some studies have
noted the relation between maternal
mortality and socioeconomic factors, such
as income per capita, gross domestic product
and educational level. However, little effort
has been spent on understanding and
researching the influence of social culture,
unethical, illegal behavior and political
conditions and human right issues on health.
Based on all the actualities described above,
the goal of this study was to review cultural,
social and human rights issues contributing
to Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in India,
to map these issues with principles of ethical
code of conduct and recognize and identify
the lessons that several states in India can
learn from The State of Kerala.
Method
To measure the amount of social and
scientific interest in the causes of maternal
death, we identified papers published
between 1995 and 2013 that mentioned
WHO-defined causes of maternal mortality.
The decision to start from 1995 was because
to understand the situation of maternal
deaths since five years from MDG
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
announcement until recent. The framework
used here is four pillars of Ethics in
healthcare setting together with Principles
of Ethical Practice of Public Health as
defined by Public Health Legislative society
(2002). This code of ethics states key
principles of the ethical practice of Public
Health. (See Appendix B). We searched
several databases that covered the social and
behavioral sciences, clinical medicine and
life sciences: Medline, Science Citation
Index, and, Ethics journals such as Indian
Journal of Medical Ethics, Public Health
Ethics and Sociological Abstracts. To
identify the key- words, a thesaurus (such
as MeSH) was consulted in all the databases.
we used the search equation maternal
mortality AND [search term] with the
following search terms: Maternal Mortality,
Maternal Mortality Ratio, Maternal Health,
obstructed labor, unsafe abortion, anemia,
social, cultural factors, human rights issues
and Millennium Developmental Goals.
Duplicate papers in the databases were
deleted. An extensive search was conducted
with MMR studies in several states in India
for the years 1995 to 2013 with electronic
searching, talks, videos, newspaper reports
and talking to researchers. We excluded
papers that dealt mainly with clinical issues
such as obstetric interventions during and
after delivery, the application of medical
technologies, clinical trials of medicines,
maternal health not associated with maternal
mortality, and pregnancy-related diseases
(e.g. diabetes, high blood pressure, pre-
eclampsia) and infant mortality. After
screening 212 abstracts, we prepared a
checklist and analyzed full text papers to be
 Ethical Issues in Maternal Mortality and Lessons to Learn from the State of Kerala
included in systematic review. We conducted
a systematic review of cultural (beliefs,
gender equity, literacy/ knowledge, caste),
and human rights issues (protection against
violence and abuse) contributing to MMR
using standard methodology for systematic
reviews. We then tried to map these with
ethics (Autonomy, Beneficence, Non
malfeasance and Justice) in healthcare and
with code of ethics. We prepared a protocol
and a checklist for information extraction
that identified key characteristics like study
design, sample size, method &
representation of geographic area of the
study (Template in APPENDIX A). The
Check list looked at Study design, Social /
cultural aspects, any ethical issues, political
/ Human rights issue, access to healthcare,
other healthcare issues, Government
support, perinatal care, care at delivery,
family planning and access to trained staff
or traditional birth attendant, and educational
level of women. 21 studies had mentioned
social, cultural, human rights issues.
Comprehensive systematic review was
conducted with these studies to understand
ethical issues with MM.
Results
Review was conducted with results
from various states in India like Assam, West
Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradhesh,
Chhattisgrah, Gujrath, Rajastan, Delhi,
Jarkhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
A.P., and U.P. 94% studies discussed socio-
cultural issues others had mentioned human
rights and political issues.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
47
Study design: - Scientific flaw
To a large extent the study design
determines the scientific value and
informativeness of a medical study.
Corrections of errors in study design are
impossible to correct afterwards. Review of
a report written by Khanna, aimed at MDG
5, mentioned Government of India decided
to monitor MMR (5.1) and proportion of
births attended by skilled birth attendants
(5.2) and denied to monitor other MDG
indicators such as contraceptive prevalence
rate (5.3), adolescent birth rate (5.4),
antenatal coverage (5.5), unmet need for
family planning (5.6) due to strategic and
technical reasons. Since 5.3/5.4/5.5/5.6 are
important indicators of MM, neglecting
these indicators shows flaw in study design.
TOI Dec. 2013 reported, Chiranjivi Yojana
(claims to bring down infant and maternal
mortality rate in Gujarat) as Unsuccessful
due to the methodology employed in the
study. Review of several published studies
show that the major emphasis for reducing
MM was on institutional deliveries.
Millennium Development Goals, India
Country Report, 2011 had mentioned that the
gap for institutional deliveries between rural
- urban has only slightly narrowed down with
rural coverage of 43.4% against urban
coverage of 75.8%. The States, which show
marginal decrease in coverage estimates of
2007-08 from the 2005-06 estimates, the
decline for Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh is
quite significant and not explainable. This
shows lack of transparency. Further it states
that unlike in other States, for which the
marginal decreases may be attributed to
sampling error - again flaw in study design!
48 Veena Joshi, R. Baxi

Issues at institutional delivery the nutritional status of mothers and babies,

said Amit Sengupta, public health activist
Even at institutional delivery, studies
with Jan Swasthya Abhiyan. (From Live
have shown that the patient was shifted to
Mint and Wallstreet Journal, 07 May 2013).
five different hospitals due to unavailability
However nutritional status was not looked
of services and finally delay in surgical
at. According to Dutta, early age of marriage
interventions have caused death of the
among women, early age of pregnancy, high
mother. The same study further mentioned
birth rates, and less spacing between two
that the system was not geared to prioritize
deliveries are some social factors which
emergency. A study on Maternal mortality
cause increase in maternal mortality ratio.
the need for comprehensive approach, the
These issues were over looked in many MM
author has given examples of two cases when
studies in India. National Family Health
admitted to the tertiary institution on time,
Survey 3 (NFHS3) was carried out in 29
how the mere presence of a skilled birth
states for 15 to 49 years of age of women.
attendant cannot be of very much help with
NHFS3 reports more than half deliveries still
inadequate and non-functioning support
take place at home and skilled health
systems. The environment was unsuitable for
personnel assisted only about one in seven
the skilled attendant to work in, including
deliveries. 41% women had no
unavailability of adequate supplies,
education.56% women were given free IFA
equipment, infrastructure as well as efficient
but only 23% of them consumed. According
and effective system of communication and
to the NFHS-3 almost 50% of girls are given
referral system. The author further warned
away in marriage before age 18.
pushing women to deliver in institutions in
scenario with inadequate facilities and
Cultural / Social
holding out her hope that this will improve
quality care during delivery is nothing short Verbal autopsy findings from
of unethical. Giri Institute of Development Rajasthan, Bihar, U.P., Jharkhand, Madhya
Studies (GIDS) used regression model to Pradesh and Orissa revealed that very often,
show that, the socioeconomic and women and their families do not recognize
demographic factors have a stronger the life-threatening signs of pregnancy-
statistically significant association with the related complications as well as the
maternal mortality ratio than institutional seriousness of the condition. They do not
deliveries. Deliveries in health facilities will have faith that their medical problems can
not necessarily translate into increased be managed through formal healthcare28. The
survival chances of mothers unless women same study found shockingly low female and
receive full antenatal care services and overall literacy rates, absence of necessary
delays in reaching health facility are avoided. knowledge and power to decide when to seek
help; the unavailability of means of
Nutritional status and MM
transportation to a health Centre. Adolescent
The larger problem with MM is with

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Ethical Issues in Maternal Mortality and Lessons to Learn from the State of Kerala
girls and young married women have little
power to influence decision-making within
their families or vis--vis the wider world.
Husbands played the major role in deciding
to seek care. Proximity, referral, affordability
and quality of care were main factors
limiting womans choice in decision-making.
Often, family members did not think that
woman was sick enough. Many believed in
traditional care and were scare of formal
care. Study carried out in Jharkhand reported
no woman had received antenatal care, only
10 women received tetanus toxoid. Women
generally get help from traditional
practitioner till it was too late. Studies have
shown inverse relationship between MM and
woman literacy (Kateja 2007) Women often
experience gender inequality which can be
one of the cause of MM. Women often suffer
from this inequality in direct or indirect
ways. This violence perpetrated upon
women by the society is known as structural
violence as addressed by Govind Kelkar.
According to him, the subordinate role of a
woman in the family is duplicated in the
society as a whole. The family structure
legitimizes the subordination of women in
policy making and organization of the
economy. In India, caste and tribe are major
social determinants of access to education,
resources health facilities, vaccines etc.
Illiterate women tend to experience
significantly lower interpersonal quality of
care in health facilities resulting in morbidity
and mortality. As per the international law,
the government of India bears a legal
obligation to ensure that women do not die
or suffer complications as a result of
preventable pregnancy-related causes. When
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
49
author talked to few Gynecologists, it was
revealed that in many cases, women were
dictated by their husbands decision, they
were not given a choice, they were beaten
and even some times they were not allowed
to get the necessary treatment. Doctors
advice on family planning was neglected due
to religious belief that a child is a gods gift.
Doctors also confirmed there were no
awareness campaigns for women. A study
in Madhya Pradesh showed that giving cash
incentives for institutional deliveries was
unethical. The same study stated patients
suffered from verbal and physical abuse.
There was lack of accountability and lack
of effective referral 33 . Another study
revealed that patients at government
hospitals were unhappy because Rajasthan
Government allows doctors to do private
practice at home. This affects treatment at
Government hospitals34. After reviewing
studies from most of the states in India, it
would be interesting to find out the situation
in Kerala 35,36. Review of literature on Kerala
demonstrated that this small state shows
excellent maternal health statistics, boasting
the low maternal mortality rate of 81 per
every 100,000 births (Bhowmick 2012).
Only after independence, Kerala began to
take steps to improve its society and
healthcare. In 1982-1986, the maternal
mortality ratio in Kerala was 247 per
100,000 (Kumar and Devi 2010). The
improvement of literacy [female literacy rate
of 87.9 percent and a male literacy rate of
94.2 percent (Kumar and Devi 2010)],
education, easy access to healthcare even in
rural areas, and the status of women helped
to further improve the conditions of maternal
50 Veena Joshi, R. Baxi
mortality in Kerala today. Those who are not
able to afford private healthcare, they are
covered by the government healthcare
programs. The government spends a
significant amount on public health
programs, like maternal health initiatives.
Educational level has helped people accept
new methods of treatment (Kutty 2000). The
male- female population ratios are becoming
more equal. In recent years, the number of
females has exceeded the number of males.
The population ratios are very symbolic of
the elevated societal position of women in
Kerala today. The longer life expectancy
indicates that women are living healthier
lives and are living with better conditions
than in the past. The decrease in female
infant mortality is also significant because
it shows a change in traditional beliefs of
favoring sons over daughters, which is a
change in societal mindset. Due to these
factors gender inequality is less prominent.
All these factors show that the situation of
women in Kerala is a very positive one and
women in Kerala are definitely empowered.
The private sector dominates the healthcare
industry in Kerala with greater numbers of
private healthcare facilities and more
advanced and expensive technology. This
combination of government and private
healthcare is beneficial for Kerala because
it provides greater coverage for the
population. Kerala has better health
indicators such as Death Rate, Infant
Mortality Rate (IMR) and Expectation of
Life at Birth than most States in India.
NRHM of Kerala is determined to provide
accessible, affordable and accountable
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
quality health services to the poorest
households in the remotest rural regions.
Kerala had a comprehensive health plan
(CHP) to look at health issues in a holistic
perspective taking into account the local
relevance and requirements of each ward/
block/district. The Institutional Delivery
Rate is presently 99.80 %. Primary Health
Care Service Delivery remains the backbone
of health service delivery in the state.
Managements strategy for male and female
sterilization and IUD insertion is effective.
Regular health awareness camps are
conducted in tribal areas to bring about a
behavior change in wrong tribal customs and
practices with regard to health. There is
undue influence on family planning.
Government came up with policies based on
inputs from community members. A study
carried out in Wayanad district, Kerala to
identify social determinants of maternal
deaths and maternal near misses in
incidence of delays had got an approval from
ethics committee. In this state, 100% births
and deaths are registered and Future report
is based on review of confidential report of
maternal deaths.
Discussion
The most striking finding of this study
is that women (especially in low SES) in
most states of India do not get due
recognition and respect. Inviting pregnant
women to the institution with the hope of
providing clinical service and not offering
the required service increases the risk more
than the benefit. These violets The Belmont
 Ethical Issues in Maternal Mortality and Lessons to Learn from the State of Kerala
principal that benefits should be more than
the risks. Women in Kerala seem to be
empowered. High literacy rates (especially
among women), low fertility rate, emphasis
on family planning, 100% institutional
deliveries, easy accessibility to heath
services especially in rural areas, monitoring
and auditing projects and data driven action
are the key factors of reduction in MMR.
Also, since 100% births and deaths are
reported, the state can come up with true
MMR figure. Several studies have reported
that India lacks an accurate system of
reporting maternal deaths 16,38. In the absence
of the correct number in the numerator and
denominator, it would be difficult to report
true MMR number for each state. Few
studies have reported scientific flaw such as
sampling error, use of improper study design
in the conduct of studies. This would have
jeopardized the final outcomes. NFHS3 has
reported there is lot to do to reduce MM
numbers. It is also observed that important
variables such as social (education,
occupation, income) and demographic (age,
race, caste) wise distribution of MM are not
reported in NFHS3 results. Mrs. Khanna has
well described ethical issues with
community based monitoring health
programs and needs attention. It was noticed
that little thought has been given on
prevention and data driven action such
as target specific well structured awareness
campaigns (especially for illiterate women),
community mobilization and interventions.
They were carried out only in some parts.
Nowhere there is mention of getting
approval from ethics committee even though
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
51
the study was conducted with pregnant
women (vulnerable population), and some
times interventions were carried out. Some
studies were conducted using verbal autopsy
when the respondents were asked to sign
consent forms. It is not mentioned if these
were ethics committee approved consent
forms. It was noticed that public health ethics
approach in MM studies was highly under
represented. It was observed that the
fundamental cause of maternal death was not
always observed. Rights of the individuals
were not always respected. Policies were not
designed based on input from community
members. Though some efforts were taken
by the government to make available
healthcare facility, resources and conditions
necessary for health care were not accessible
and when accessible, many times they were
not fully functional.
At times institutions and the staff did
not act in timely manner to provide health
services. Review of studies uncovered that
do no harm, autonomy, justice and
beneficence were not always followed. To
see better results of a program, it is not only
stakeholders responsibility to follow ethical
principles but it is responsibility of every
individual including patient herself to ensure
better heath outcomes. Based on the above
fact, it is absolutely necessary for every
Public health research project whether
conducted by NGO, Government, non
government institutions, and /or in
collaboration with Indian or with
International agency to get an approval from
a well qualified independent body such as
ethics committee.
52 Veena Joshi, R. Baxi

Conclusion to get better results and health outcomes and

therefore there is need for scientific and
There is lot to learn from the state of ethics committee to review the scientific
Kerala by other states in India to bring down credibility of the project, and to monitor and
MMR. Ethics principles are very important protect participants of the study.

Year of Geograp Study Sampl EC Social/ Healthlaw Other

study hicarea design esize permission, Cultural
conduct ICFtaken

2013 Jharkhand VA 403 No, Unaware Political

of instability
ICF Yes Family leadingtoin
Planni efficient
ng(FP) implementation
of policies.

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 Ethical Issues in Maternal Mortality and Lessons to Learn from the State of Kerala 55

APPENDIX A: Sample of systematic analysis table

Appendix B: Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health, Version 2.2

1. Public health should address principally the fundamental causes of disease and requirements
for health, aiming to prevent adverse health outcomes.
2. Public health should achieve community health in a way that respects the rights of individuals
in the community.
3. Public health policies, programs, and priorities should be developed and evaluated through
processes that ensure an opportunity for input from community members.
4. Public health should advocate and work for the empowerment of disenfranchised community
members, aiming to ensure that the basic resources and conditions necessary for health are
accessible to all.
5. Public health should seek the information needed to implement effective policies and programs
that protect and promote health.
5. Public health institutions should provide communities with the information they have that is
needed for decisions on policies or programs and should obtain the communitys consent for
their implementation.
6. Public health institutions should act in a timely manner on the information they have within
the resources and the mandate given to them by the public.
7. Public health programs and policies should incorporate a variety of approaches that anticipate
and respect diverse values, beliefs, and cultures in the community.
8. Public health programs and policies should be implemented in a manner that most enhances
the physical and social environment.
9. Public health institutions should protect the confidentiality of information that can bring harm
to an individual or community if made public. Exceptions must be justified on the basis of the
high likelihood of significant harm to the individual or others.
10. Public health institutions should ensure the professional competence of their employees.
11. Public health institutions and their employees should engage in collaborations and affiliations
in ways that build the publics trust and the institution.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

WOMEN AND HIV AND AIDS:
GENDERED DIMENSIONS OF CARE: CONFRONTING THE
CRISIS
If it can be said, as it can, that by the
year 2020, the number of deaths from AIDS
in Africa will approximate the number of
deaths, military and civilian combined, in
both world wars of the 20th century, then it
should also be said that a pronounced
majority of those deaths will be women and
girls. The toll on women and girls is beyond
human imagining; it presents Africa and the
world with a practical and moral challenge
which places gender at the centre of the
human condition. The Practice of ignoring
a gender analysis has turned out to be lethal.
. . .For the African continent, it means
economic and social survival. For the
women and girls of Africa, its a matter of
life or death.
Stephen Lewis, U.N. Secretary
- Generals Special Envoy on
HIV/AIDS in Africa, July 2002.
AIDS is affecting women and girls in
increasing numbers: globally, women
comprise almost 50 percent of women living
with HIV. Nearly 25 years into the epidemic,
gender inequality and the low status of
women remain two of the principal drivers
of HIV. Yet current AIDS responses do not,
on the whole, tackle the social, cultural and
economic factors that put women at risk of
HIV that unduly burden them with the
epidemics consequences. Women and girls
* Assistant Professor, College of Social Work Nirmala Niketan Mumbai, India
Anita Machado*
have less access to education and HIV
information and equality in marriage and
sexual relations, and remain the primary
caretakers of family and community
members suffering from AIDS-related
illnesses. The emerging concern is to address
the factors that continue to put women at
risk. (UN AIDS, 2006)
The current paper seeks to address the
issue of HIV/AIDS from the gender
perspective. The paper assumes to
understand the key factors contributing to
the extreme vulnerability of women and girls
drawing inference from the doctoral research
study entitled The Effects of Family
Functioning and Care giving on the Quality
of life of the Persons living with HIV and
AIDS
was envisaged to comprehensively
understand the protective role of the family
and how the holistic support system
enhances the quality of life of the Person
living with HIV and AIDS and the spousal
care giver.
Gender construct: Factors that enhance
the Vulnerability of Women
- Gender Construct is important in
understanding what is happening in the
Global HIV
 Women And HIV And AIDS: Gendered Dimensions of Care: Confronting the Crisis
Pandemic (Dowsett, 2003). Women
living with HIV and AIDS experience
difficulties in their psychosocial adjustment
to the illness and they perform multiple
social roles, including mother, partner, and
caregiver to infected partners. The
importance of their care giving roles and the
potential threat these roles can pose to
womens adjustment to their illness, are
evident in the fact that many infected women
risk their own health to take care of the
familial needs. According to McIntyre
(2005), mothers who are diagnosed with
HIV positive status carry a triple burden of
being HIV infected, mother of children who
may or may not be positive themselves, and
care givers to their infected spouses
(McIntyre, 2005). It is therefore essential to
understand the prevailing Gender divide to
contextualize this presentation.
As elicited earlier Worldwide, women
are contracting HIV at a higher rate, are
becoming sicker earlier and are dying faster
than men from AIDS related diseases and
health complications. Due to physiological,
social, political and economic reasons,
woman are now considered to be the
population that is most at risk for infection.
What are these factors that increase the
vulnerability of Women?
HIV/AIDS and Poverty is closely
intertwined in cause and effect. The IFAD
report published in the year 2001 points out
that in rural areas in developing countries,
HIV exposure originates with male
migration and female prostitution. Since
these result largely from rural poverty,
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
57
poverty is therefore a facilitating factor.
Countries with the highest HIV/AIDS
incidence, which are mainly in southern
Africa, have a history of massive male
migration to work in mines. Poverty pushes
some women into risky behaviour or
dangerous situations. With no other options
in sight, they may resort to sex Work to feed
their families. Women and girls are
susceptible to the growing trade of
trafficking. Poverty in some Asian countries
forces families to send young village girls
to cities to become sex workers to support
their families.
When the girls become infected, they
frequently return to their villages to die. The
report also emphasized that the influx of
labourers on large infrastructure projects
such as dams, railways or roads, can also
increase incidence in the villages that house
the workers.
One also needs to understand that
gender disparities go far deeper than
sexual relations. Women in many regions do
not own property or have access to financial
resources and are dependent on men
husbands, fathers, brothers and sonsfor
support. Without resources, women are
susceptible to abuses of power. (UNAIDS,
UNFPA & UNIFEM, 2004)
Perusal of various reports and
Research findings clearly reflects the crisis
of gender inequality, with women being
vulnerable than men to exercise control over
their bodies and lives. It must also be
understood that universally, cultural
58 Anita Machado
expectations have encouraged men to have
multiple partners, while women are expected
to abstain or be faithful. Research findings
have also indicated that monogamous
married women are also vulnerable and they
are confronted with many risks. It is not
uncommon for a double standard morality
to exist, whereby certain sexual activities are
acceptable for men but denied to women. It
is therefore no surprise that many women
become exposed to HIV within marriage,
and it is even accepted by many women that
marriage in fact increases their possibility
of infection (Urdang, 2006). There is also a
prevailing culture of silence around sexual
and reproductive health. Simply by fulfilling
their expected gender roles, men and women
are likely to increase their risk of HIV
infection.
Gender inequalities in status and
power are fundamental when considering
STD infection in women because most
women acquire these diseases during their
relationship with men (Hoffman & Baker,
2003). Power and status differentials in
male- female relationship can manifest on a
continuum, from women giving up some
power in their relationship regarding safer
sex practices to women who do not have any
decision making power regarding safer sex,
but also experience victimization in their
sexual relationship with male partners.
Violence and the threat can also limit
womens ability to protect them- selves from
HIV and AIDS. They risk violence if they
insist on protection. They may stay in violent
relationships because they have nowhere
else to go. They may give in to male demands
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
for unprotected sexual relations, even when
they know the eventual risks associated with
unprotected sexual relationship. Violence in
the form of coerced sex or rape may also
result in especially as coerced sex may lead
to the vulnerability of becoming Positive.
Studies among adolescents from several
countries have found that an important
proportion of them report that their first
intercourse was forced, and this is
particularly the case for women. Sexual
minorities such as homosexual men also
encounter sexual coercion in many
countries, and are similarly at risk of HIV
infection.. Research studies have also
indicated that Women more than men are at
risk of rape and sexual assault in conflict
situations, and consequently are at high risk
of HIV infection.
Tens of thousands of women were
raped in the Balkan conflict. In Rwanda,
three per cent of all women were raped
during the genocide. The proportion of
women testing positive among those who
were raped was 17 percent , as compared to
11 percent among women who were not.
(World Health Organization, 2003)
Gendered Dimensions of care:
Women are traditionally looked upon
as carers of the home, the children, and of
the elderly or the sick family members. As
noted by Wilson (1992) care giving is
considered to be an important and necessary
activity for the healthy functioning.
Historically, the role of care giving has been
overwhelmingly ascribed to women on the
basis of their presumed natural ability (cited
 Women And HIV And AIDS: Gendered Dimensions of Care: Confronting the Crisis
in Campbell, 1999). When combined with
the workload that women take on as well
in caring for AIDS patients, AIDS orphans
and their own families the situation
becomes untenable(UNAIDS, UNFPA &
UNIFEM,2004). Maintaining a balance
between leading a normal life and accepting
the realities of HIV infection and illness is a
major challenge for women and their
families.
The woman assumes multiple roles,
being a daughter, a sibling, a sexual or
marital partner, a mother, a child bearer and
child rearer, a carer in nuclear and extended
families and a bread winner. Reversing this
key role through HIV can upset not only pre-
existing patterns of a relationship but also
the ability of the family unit to function and
survive economically and socially (Miller
and Eleonar, 1993). Maintaining a balance
between leading a normal life and accepting
the realities of HIV infection and illness is a
major challenge for women and their
families. HIV infections with its
asymptomatic phases alternating with illness
may necessitate various role reversals for
women and families.
As stated by Mulligan (2006), the
impact of HIV and AIDS for many women
needs to be understood as extending beyond
the disease itself. Women provide most of
the care and emotional support to the family
member who is infected, and should a
woman find herself positive, she is
nevertheless expected to be the primary care
giver in the family. For women the effect of
HIV and AIDS go well beyond the suffering
and death of the infected individual, she
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
59
faces triple jeopardy as a positive individual,
a mother and a care giver (Mulligan, 2006).
Many different types of family
situations exist in the context of the HIV
disease. Some families have only one
member who is infected; other families may
have multiple members. There are also
families comprising of a married couple
while others are single parents. Some single
parent families are headed by women, while
certain others are headed by men. As noted
by Wilson (1992) to understand the care-
giving role in families with HIV, it is
important to recognize the specific ways in
which women have come to perceive their
identity as women. Clearly, the implication
of this situation for women in families with
HIV disease is far reaching. Particularly
when they themselves are ill, women who
are care givers enter an arena full of
demands, suppressed needs, and conflicting
priorities. It can be overwhelming. Such
pressures make women vulnerable and often
destabilize their lives (Wilson, 1992, cited
in Campbell, 1999).
Having briefly understood the
Gendered Dimensions of caregiving, the
succeeding section provides an overview on
the major findings of the Research study
entitled The Effects of Family Functioning
and Care giving on the Quality of life of the
Persons living with HIV and AIDS. The
empirical context for the study is the
dimensional analysis of the Quality of life
of Persons living with HIV and AIDS and to
elucidate the contribution of the family
functioning and care giving dimensions in
enhancing the quality of life of the PLHIV.
60 Anita Machado
The respondents for the study included both
the care receiver and the spousal caregiver.
The research design for the study is both
descriptive and explanatory in nature. The
respondents for the study were selected
based on Non probability sample of Persons
living with HIV and AIDS and their spousal
care givers living in the districts of Thane
and Mumbai. The sample was restricted to
100 care receivers and 100 care givers. The
major highlights in the findings in the
context of Gendered dimensions of care
giving is presented below
Highlights of the Research study on
Gendered Dimensions of Care : Major
findings and Discussions
Family care in HIV and AIDS is
increasingly discussed, investigated, and
implemented however, little empirical
research has been conducted to assess the
outcomes of family functioning and care
giving dimensions within the context of HIV
and AIDS. The care giver for the present
study has been conceptualized as the spousal
partner who takes care of the positive
patient. Most of the care givers were
themselves positive. However, it was evident
from the data that it was the women who
took up the major responsibility of taking
care of the patient. The care givers faced
multiple problems during the care giving
process. The care givers continually adjusted
their lives to meet the physical and emotional
requirements of the care giving situations.
The care giver was also responsible
for making important decisions associated
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
with managing the household and planning
for the future. Additionally, the care giver
reported encountering stress during the
process of care giving. There were several
factors that influenced care giving and the
stress associated with it. The factors include:
the intensity of the care provided, types of
care tasks performed, gender of the care
giver, the personal characteristics of the care
giver, the support they get from others and
competing obligations of the care giver.
The care giver plays an important role
providing social, emotional and instrumental
support for the members infected with HIV.
Care giving can also have an impact on the
care givers, as they may endanger many
stressors and may be emotionally distressed
when overloaded with the demands of care
giving. The stigmatizing nature of the illness
can also alienate them, and they may face
the dual burden of coping with the
debilitating illness and clandestinely
avoiding the disclosure of the positive status.
The impact of the illness is more on the
spousal care giver. A majority of women who
shoulder the responsibility of taking care in
the household, do so with very little material
or moral support. The physical and
emotional stress resulting from the persisting
needs of the positive patient when they are
struggling to meet the day-today needs,
inevitably forces women to neglect their own
healthcare.
Multiple care giving roles
The care givers positive status, to an
extent, poses a threat since they shoulder the
 Women And HIV And AIDS: Gendered Dimensions of Care: Confronting the Crisis
entire range of responsibilities which
adversely affect their health. The duration
of taking care of the spouse by the caregiver
will have a significant impact on the
caregivers health. Large numbers of
respondents have been taking care of their
spouse for two years to five years (49
percent). The care provided ranged from
physical care, nutritional and dietary care,
medical care, emotional support, financial
care and managing the responsibilities at
home. The illness involves a display of
continual health management processes that
includes accompanying the patient to the
hospital, meeting the doctor, taking care of
the medication, managing the finances and
managing the responsibilities that the care
receiver is unable to perform. The findings
of this research study is similar to the study
conducted by Mehta & Gupta (2006) which
focused on the dimensions of care and how
women play a central role as primary care
givers, the concept of care covered a wide
range of services and activities including
physical, clinical, psychosocial, emotional,
spiritual, financial, and practical care. The
study pointed out that the woman had to
shoulder the entire responsibility of looking
after the spouse though, in many cases, the
caregiver is also positive (Mehta & Gupta,
2006).
Direct and active involvement of the
family in the health management process
promotes positive coping strategies.
However it was observed that, in the present
study, nearly 51 percent of the respondents
did not have any source of support. The
caregiver also had to perform multiple roles
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
61
besides taking care of the spouse. Some of
the additional responsibilities included
taking care of senior citizens, taking care of
other members who were sick in the family
especially HIV positive children. Families
with multiple positive statuses had to face
severe problems. The study by Mehta and
Gupta has also observed that caring for all
other members and pursuing household
chores posed a tremendous burden especially
because extended family members do not co-
operate, and they are stigmatized and
discriminated against them. These findings
were similar to the study conducted by
Krishna et al. (2005). Family members had
to take up multiple roles, and these changes
were perceived as burdensome. The situation
of women was adverse, especially in sero-
concordant families. The wife rendered care
and support to their infected spouses,
compromising their health and emotional
needs (Krishna et al., 2005). These
observations were similar to the present
study clearly showing the adverse impact of
the illness on women.
Care giver burden
The different areas assessed under
care giving burden include disrupted
schedule because of care giving, lack of
family support and social isolation, negative
emotions associated with the illness, and,
health as well as financial problems
encountered in the care giving process.
Financial problems were a major area of
burden for the caregivers. The study also
pointed out that a disrupted schedule because
of care giving was an area of concern among
62 Anita Machado
the caregivers. Due to the increased need for
functional assistance, the caregiver
encountered problems since there is
disruption in other activities, the most
prevalent disruptions included difficulties in
managing the daily activities and lack of
involvement in an active social life like time
for relaxation and visiting friends. Lack of
family support was also another area of
burden. The mean percentage score was high
for the negative emotions domain. There
were many negative feelings associated with
the illness such as anger, anxiety, blame,
embarrassment, shame, rejection, stigma,
loneliness and withdrawal. Feelings of
distress and depression associated with care
giving also negatively affect the caregivers
physical health. The physical and the
psychological health of the caregiver are also
negatively affected by providing care.
Providing care for a chronically sick person
can have harmful physical, mental, and
emotional consequences for the caregiver.
Previous studies such as those by
Molemoeng (2006), Moore & Henry (2005),
and Simpson (2006) support these findings.
The study by Mehta & Gupta (2006) and
DCruz, 2002 indicates that the women
caregivers had to shoulder the entire family
responsibility despite their positive status,
and caring for the other members and
pursuing household chores often had a
tremendous burden on the caregivers. These
findings are in line with the observations
made by the present study. In a study
conducted by Patricia (2006) to examine the
role of coping on caregiver burden among a
heterogeneous group of caregivers of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
persons living with HIV . Caregiver burden
positively associated with increased stress.
Caregiver burden was not associated with
gender, race, or living with the patient.
(Patricia, 2006)
The self-esteem of the caregivers can
make the process of care giving a positive
experience. Caregivers had a sense of
responsibility and obligation to help their
spouse and may find many joys and rewards
from care giving. Couple could be drawn
closer together through the expression of
love, and the fulfillment of their commitment
to care for their partner. The mean score for
the self-esteem of the caregivers clearly
showed that the self-esteem was high for the
caregivers. The findings of the research were
in tune to the findings of research study by
Carlisle which emphasized on focusing on
the illness positively (Carlisle, 2000).
Low priority to Health Care
Generally, women who are positive
have less access to health care than man.
Low priority is given to womens health
needs (Tallis, 2000). Living with HIV and
AIDS has multiple implications for a
caregivers functional health. It was
observed in the present study that the
primary care givers who were HIV positive,
suffer poorer health and physical
functioning, more pain, and poorer role
functioning and lower quality of life. In the
current study, the areas of neglected health
because of the care giving roles indicated
that they do not follow a strict dietary
pattern. Some respondents expressed that
 Women And HIV And AIDS: Gendered Dimensions of Care: Confronting the Crisis
they do not report about their symptoms and
illness to others. The study also pointed out
that due to their multiple responsibilities
caregivers also defaulted on their medication
and did not keep their appointments with the
doctor.
Access continues to be limited due to
the time and energy women need to spend
on caring responsibilities, lack of money for
transportation and power imbalances in the
household.
Access to treatment can ameliorate
the drain on womens caring roles,
(Urdang, 2006).
According to a study conducted by
Karus et al. (1999), which measured the
psychosocial adjustment to illness, subscales
on illness-related psychological distress,
problematic health care orientation and
problematic extended family relationship
had consistently high scores across the
domains which showed that HIV infected
women face difficulty in adjusting to their
illness in these areas. The study also
observed that women with HIV and AIDS
tend to have less favorable scores on the
health care orientation subscale. Though
there are new treatment regimens women
have less accessibility and also do not
comply with the treatment requirements.
Fears Associated with the Disclosure of
the Positive status due to Stigma and
Discrimination
It was pointed out in the current study
that the diagnosis of the illness was a
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
63
traumatic experience for the family. The
initial reactions that families were going
through also varied. Majority of them
expressed that they were shocked and
disappointed, some families empathized but
they were embarrassed to disclose their
status to anyone in the family. The other
reactions included shock, crying spells,
feelings of betrayal and six percent of the
respondents expressed that they wanted to
commit suicide since it was a shocking and
stressful experience they were going
through. The burden of managing multiple
responsibilities was also heavy on women
as in most cases she might not have
supportive assistance. According to the
present study it was observed that 52.54
percent of the care givers had supportive
assistance, the major source of support being
their spouses and children.
According to Mulligan (2006) stigma
attached to HIV infection, particularly for
women due to beliefs about acceptable
behavior, roles and position in the family and
society can deter HIV infected women from
involving close relatives in their care. Such
fears can inhibit mothers telling even older
children about the status. Families may also
fear the effect of being associated with the
infected women. HIV fears may also sever
the ties of the family from their vital natural
network of neighbors, friends, and other
support networks. Thus, disclosure of the
positive status is always seen as a threat.
When a woman reveals her positive status it
is probable that her husband deserts her, and,
as a result, the positive status is not
disclosed. (Mulligan, 2006).
64 Anita Machado
Some of the major areas of stigma and
discrimination experienced by women as
pointed out in the present study were that
women were blamed and condemned by
family members on account of the illness.
Women were also subjected to physical
abuse because of the illness and some were
ridiculed because of the positive status.
Women also expressed the denial of health
care and were forced to terminate their
pregnancies.
The research study by Schrimshaw
(2003) provided evidence that the
importance of unsupportive social
interactions from family were found to have
a direct negative effect on depressive
symptoms. The impact was more when there
were unsupportive relationships from
families because women frequently depend
on their family members for practical
financial assistance. In another study
conducted by Jones et al. (2003) indicates
that stressful life events negatively impacted
HIV positive African American womens
perceptions of their health status.
Family stress may be particularly
detrimental for the quality of life of women
living with HIV and in turn their families. A
majority of the women in this study report
witnessing family violence.
Less control over Sexual relationships and
Sexual Behavior of Male partners
It was observed in the present study
that 15.25 percent of women were coerced
to abort the fetus on account of their positive
status which could be detrimental to their
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
health. Many studies have supported these
findings. According to Tallis (2000) women
have less control over a sexual relationship
and the sexual behavior of male partners. In
the United States and Europe, a reduction in
fertility has been shown in HIV positive
women. In African studies, HIV infection has
been linked to an increase in spontaneous
abortion and still birth (McIntyre, 2005). A
progressive reduction in fertility was seen
in Uganda from the time of HIV infection to
AIDS. A study of women in the European
region found that while incidence of
pregnancy decreased with HIV, the number
of induced abortion was high before HIV
diagnosis and significantly increased
thereafter particularly among single women,
women aged 15-25 years and women with
multiple partners. (Bentham et al., n.d cited
in Bruyn, 2003).
HIV positive women who wish to
terminate a pregnancy often lack safe options
to do so. In many countries where HIV
prevalence is high in women of reproductive
age, majority of them do not have access to
safe abortion. Research studies in
Zimbabwe, found that HIV positive women
may be ready to end child bearing, but often
cannot put that decision into practice because
they lack control over contraception and
access to abortion, among other reasons,
include medical cost. (Bruyn, 2003).
The participation of women in
decision-making is an important area of
investigation in the present study. Womens
involvement in decision-making,
specifically participation and representation
 Women And HIV And AIDS: Gendered Dimensions of Care: Confronting the Crisis
in crucial decisions at home clearly reflected
the prominent role they play in the families.
The research study clearly proves that HIV
positive women have a crucial role to play
in the family and they take all major
decisions related to the family and finances.
The ability to take decisions on reproductive
decisions is comparatively lesser than other
areas of decision-making. According to
Aniekwu (2002) the risk of HIV infection
during unprotected vaginal intercourse is
two to four times higher for women than
men. Women have a higher risk of HIV
infection than men. This vulnerability is
often reinforced by social constraints on the
womens ability to protect them and insist
on safe sex, pressures to engage in sexual
activities may result from relationship,
situational, cultural and role expectations
that dictate when sex occurs and whether
safe sex recommendations are followed
(Aniekwu, 2002).
Concluding Remarks
The findings of this study
comprehensively portrays the care giving
dynamics giving an insight into the
challenges faced by Women caregivers. The
emerging need is to realign and provide a
holistic family approach to HIV treatment
and care. The findings of this research and
the suggestions emerging from this study
clearly highlights the interventions required
at the level of primary care and the need to
strengthen policy formulation on family
care.
Suggestions and Recommendations
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
65
Based on the insights gained from the
Research study .The following suggestions
and Recommendations are put forth
1. The programs and policies
formulated for HIV and AIDS must be
gender sensitive and must address gender
equality, human rights and vulnerability. The
nongovernmental organizations should
foster partnerships with human rights
institutions, legal services, lawyers
collectives, family court and unions to
protect and promote the human rights of the
PLHIVs and affected families.
Treatment seeking behavior is less
among women. Care giving
responsibilities, in addition to the
stigma and discrimination associated
with AIDS prevent women from
seeking early treatment. Hence
constant follow up is required to
ensure that women do not default their
medication.
The health sector could
collaborate with the
nongovernmental organisations
to address the nutritional needs
of the PLHIVs and provide
adequate food supplements.
It is essential to strengthen the
HIV positive womens network
at the district level.
Maharashtra state AIDS control
society in collaboration with
nongovernmental organisations can
establish short stay homes and hospice
centers to provide care and support to
66 Anita Machado
infected women who are abandoned
by their family members.
Women need to be encouraged
to be recruited in community
based organisations working on
HIV and AIDS issues.
Special socio economic and
supportive services need to be
provided to destitute women who
have been deserted by their family
members on account of their illness.
Home care programme must be
strengthened. There is a need
for a more inclusive care
agenda to help households and
the communities to provide
care and support for those who
are sick and dying from AIDS.
It is recommended that
interdisciplinary approaches to
HIV and AIDS care must be the
standard of care. Mental health
sessions and sessions on
positive living need to be
organised for the PLHIVs, the
care givers and children on a
monthly basis.
Efforts must be initiated to improve
the HIV status disclosure decision
making skills, for effective disclosure
may also benefit PLHIVs in reducing
disclosure related stress.
Adequate assistance should be
provided to help clients deal with
disrupted or conflicted relationships
within the family and with the
extended family members can be
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
minimized
The policy should be formulated on
important issues such as social
protection, employment practices and
policies, provision of public health
infrastructure, adequate nutrition and
housing.
The government also needs to provide
special income generation packages
for the PLHIVs and their families,
since some preferred to be self
employed. For eligible persons,
business development, developing
small enterprises and vocational skills
should be provided after conducting
aptitude or qualification tests.
Special policies and programs need to
be formulated for parents who are
positive and are not in a position to
work. Such services should cover
health care, educational services for
children, nutritional supplements,
housing support, legal services and
health insurance cover.
It is recommended that Maharashtra
State AIDS control society needs to
establish free legal aid cell in order to
provide legal support to the PLHIVs
and their families.
During the study it was observed that
childless couple who are forced to
curtail family formation on account
of HIV diagnosis expressed deep
concern to have children to gratify
their need for parenthood. A review
of the adoption and foster care
policies is essential.
 Women And HIV And AIDS: Gendered Dimensions of Care: Confronting the Crisis 67

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Moore, A.R. and Henry, D. (2005). Experiences of older informal caregivers to people with HIV/
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dcruz.html.
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 Women And HIV And AIDS: Gendered Dimensions of Care: Confronting the Crisis 69

Mehta, A.K. and Gupta, S. (2006). The impact of HIV/AIDS on women care givers in situations of
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UNIFEM.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

HIDDEN HUNGER AMONG THE RATHWA TRIBAL
ADOLESCENTS, CHOTA UDEPUR DISTRICT OF GUJARAT,
WESTERN INDIA- A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY
Introduction
The Indian Constitution assigns
special status to the Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Traditionally referred to as adivasis,
vanbasis, tribes, or tribals, STs constitute
about 8% of the Indian population. There
are 573 Scheduled Tribes living in different
parts of the country, having their own
languages different from the one mostly
spoken in the State where they live. There
are more than 270 such languages in India
(1). Approximately 8 million persons
comprising 15 percent of Gujarats
population is tribal. Tribal population is
mainly concentrated in rural areas in
dispersed, hard to reach settlements (2) and
they are particularly vulnerable to
undernutrition, because of their geographical
isolation, socio-economic disadvantage and
inadequate health facilities (3).
With 1/3rd children in the developing
world being either underweight or stunted
and more than 30% of the developing
worlds population micronutrient deficient,
malnutrition remains the worlds most
serious health problem. Deficiencies of key
vitamins and minerals continue to be
pervasive and they overlap considerably with
* Associate Professor Department of Foods and Nutrition, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara. Gujarat. India
Email : vanishanambiar@gmail.com
Vanisha Nambiar*
Kuhu Roy**
Nishita Desai***
problem of general under nutrition (4). In
growing children, malnutrition affects
intelligence and physical capacity. These in
turn reduces productivity, slows economic
growth and aggravates poverty. The
economic cost of malnutrition is very high
(5).
Higher prevalence of under nutrition
in tribal population is due to poverty and
consequent under nutrition; lack of
awareness about access to and utilization of
the available nutrition supplementation
programmes; social barriers preventing the
utilization of available nutrition
supplementation programme and services;
poor environmental sanitation and lack of
safe drinking water, leading to increased
morbidity from water-borne infections;
environmental conditions that favour vector-
borne diseases; lack of access to health care
facilities resulting in increased severity and
/or duration of illnesses (6).
Of the many major tribes of Gujarat,
the Rathwa Bhils is a distinct tribe dwelling
in the Chhota Udepur, Naswadi, Jetpur and
Sankheda region of Gujarat. However, no
 Hidden Hunger among the Rathwa Tribal ... Western India A Cross Sectional Study
data on the nutritional status of the
adolescent school going children belonging
to this tribe are available. The present study
aimed to evaluate the nutritional status of
the Rathwa tribal adolescents registered
under the Government run schools of Chota
Udepur, Gujarat, Western India.
Methods and materials
Selection of study area and sample size
The Chhota Udepur taluka, which was
one of the blocks of rural Vadodara district
in Gujarat state, Western India (having a total
of 2348 Government run schools), was
purposively selected for the study
considering the prevalence of the Rathwa
tribe in that area. Five schools out of the 216
in the Chhota Udepur block namely
Khadakwada, Rangpur, Kacchel, Moti
Sadhli and Gunata, representing the Rathwa
tribals were selected using purposive
sampling technique.
All adolescents enrolled in higher
primary section (6th and 7th standard) from
the 5 schools were enrolled for the study
(n=280) but due to gross attendance
shortage, the final enrollment figure was 150
students. Exclusion criteria included the
students who could not be contacted in three
consecutive visits. The prospective cross
sectional study was conducted in two phases.
Data on anthropometric indices,
clinical signs and symptoms of micronutrient
deficiencies, food frequency patterns and
biochemical estimations for hemoglobin
were carried out to assess the nutritional
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
71
status of the school going adolescents.
The indicator used for assessing long
term energy deficit was height for age (7,8).
Weight and height were measured at visits
to the Government schools by the
investigators. Weight was measured to the
nearest 0.5 kgs and the platform balance
scale was checked periodically for accuracy
with known weights. Height was measured
to the nearest 0.1 cm using a measuring tape
was fixed vertically on a smooth wall in the
school; perpendicular to the ground (9)
growth reference standards for children were
used to assess the BMI for age of the subjects
under study.
All the adolescents were individually
examined for the presence of clinical signs
and symptoms of various micronutrient
deficiencies, namely, vitamin A deficiency,
vitamin C deficiency, B complex deficiency
and iron deficiency anemia by the
investigators. For iron deficiency- clinical
signs assessed were swollen and red tongue,
brittle nails, pale skin colour, angular
stomatitis, fatigue and pallor signs. For
Vitamin A deficiency, conjunctival xerosis,
Bitots spot, corneal ulceration,
xeropthalmic fundus, night blindness,
corneal xerosis, corneal scar, eye infection
was assessed. For vitamin C deficiency,
bleeding and swollen gums were recorded.
Clinical signs for B-complex deficiency
included cheilosis, glositis, angular
stomatitis, dermatitis and odema. For iodine
deficiency the goiter stage if evident, was
noted down.
A pretested food frequency
72 Vanisha Nambiar, Kuhu Roy, Nishita Desai
questionnaire comprising a list of food items
rich in iron, vitamin A and vitamin C selected
from the Nutritive value of Indian foods (10)
was used.
To assess the breakfast patterns and
type of the diet consumed by the subjects
under study (n=150), a pretested
questionnaire was used.
To measure iron deficiency anemia,
hemoglobin levels were estimated for the
children by the gold standard
Cyanmethaemoglobin method (11). Out of
the 150 children, only 60 children submitted
the signed consent form and gave blood
sample for the study of complete blood count
and red cell morphology. Following
parameters were assessed: WBC: White
Blood Cell Count, RBC: Red Blood Cell
Count, HGB: Hemoglobin Concentration,
HCT: Hematocrit (%), MCV: Mean
Corpuscular Volume (fL), MCH: Mean
Corpuscular Hemoglobin (pg), MCHC:
Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin
Concentration (g/dL), PLT: Platelet Count.
The MEK-6410J/MEK-6410K and
MEK-6420J/MEK6420K is a fully
automated Hematology analyzer designed
for simultaneous 18-parameter
measurement. Once the sample was
aspirated through the sampling nozzle, all
other operations were performed
automatically. Two ml of whole blood was
collected in a sample container which
contained anticoagulant. Then sample was
gently shaken up and down more than 30
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
times before measurement. The sample was
automatically diluted and measured. WBC
was differentiated into 3 parameters,
lymphocyte, monocyte and granulocyte.
WBC, RBC and PLT were measured by
electrical resistance detection method. The
remaining blood was automatically cleaned
by the analyzer from the sampling nozzle so
it was safe and there was no risk of touching
blood during measurement. Results and data
were displayed on a color TFT LCD screen
which has 240 x 320 pixel resolution.
Statistical analysis: Z-scores were
calculated for the anthropometric measures
using the WHO AnthroPlus software (12).
Statistical analyses were conducted using
SPSS version 13. Mean and standard
deviation was used to describe the group.
Correlation was used to quantify the
association between two variables and Chi
square test was used to calculate the
approximate p values and the level of
significance (p< 0.05 Significant; p< 0.01-
highly significant, p<0.001- very highly
significant)
Ethics consideration: The study was
approved (F.C.Sc./FND/ME/29) by the
Medical Ethics Committee of the
Department of Foods and Nutrition, Faculty
of Family and Community Sciences, The M
S University of Baroda. Necessary
permissions were obtained from the District
education board. Written permissions were
obtained from the school authorities and
consent forms were signed from the students
enrolled for the study.
 Hidden Hunger among the Rathwa Tribal ... Western India A Cross Sectional Study
Results and Discussion
Socio-demographic profile of the
students: The results of the socio economic
assessment revealed that all the subjects
were Hindus (100%, n=150), the average
family size was 5-10 members. Majority of
the mothers (82%) and fathers (53%) were
illiterate. Agriculture is the major occupation
of the people of Chhota Udepur and the
Rathwas depend on the forest for agricultural
land, wild animals for prey, and wood for
fuel and house building. A majority of
students mothers (50.7%) and fathers
(72.7%) earned their living through
agricultural activities.
Date of birth: None of the students
enrolled could tell their date of birth. When
the attendance and date of birth records were
checked it was found that a majority of the
births were unregistered (72.7%), with more
girls births (54.12%) as unregistered than
the boys (65.9%). Informal conversations
revealed that the teachers made a
presumption of the average age of the child,
and assigned them a birth date of 1st June,
since; 1st June marks the beginning of a fresh
academic year in school across India! Of the
150 subjects, 109 students had a birth date
of 1st June, but with different years for each,
ranging from 1992-1999.
Assessment of the nutritional status
by anthropometry: Based on the BMI for
age, only 30% of the students were
categorized as normal (boys 32.1% vs. girls
27.8%); whereas 25.3% of the students
suffered from thinness (girls 27.8% vs. boys
23.1%) and 44.7% suffered from severe
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
73
thinness (boys 44.9% vs. girls 44.4%). These
differences however, were non-significant.
Similarly, based on the height for age
parameters, chronic malnutrition was
recorded. Only 48% had a normal height for
age, 25.3% were stunted (girls 26.4% vs.
boys 24.4%), and 26.7% were severely
stunted (girls 29.2% vs. boys 24.4%),
wherein the differences between the gender
were non significant indicating that
malnutrition was equally prevalent among
Rathwa boys and girls.
Clinical signs and symptoms of Iron
deficiency and vitamin A deficiency:
Symptoms of anemia such as pale nails
(43.3% -boys, 46.8% vs girls 39.7%), pale
conjunctiva (18.7%); pale palm and pale
tongue, which was found to be more in girls
(32.9% and 8.2%) than the boys (28.6% and
5.2%) were recorded. About 14% reported
breathlessness which was accompanied by
fatigue; prevalence of Spoon shaped nails
(koilynchia) was observed in one subject.
In depth inquiry revealed that 26.7%
adolescents reported to suffer from night
blindness which was more in girls (31.5%)
as compared to boys (22.1%). The
prevalence of Bitots spot, corneal xerosis
and corneal scar was found to be higher
among boys (26%, 1.3%, and 3.9%) than
girls (16.4%, 0%, and 1.4%) among school
children indicating vitamin A deficiency to
be a public health problem.Clinical signs of
vitamin B complex such as angular
stomatitis (girls 6.8% vs boys 1.3%);
glossitis (boys 11.7% vs girls 4.1%);
dermatitis (9.6% vs 5.2%) were also
74 Vanisha Nambiar, Kuhu Roy, Nishita Desai
reported. Diarrhea was found to be higher
among girls (12.3%) than boys (11.7%).
About 10.7% of the students had swollen and
bleeding gums indicative of vitamin C
deficiency (scurvy) which was reported
equally by boys and girls.
Food frequency consumption of
essential foods rich in micronutrients:
Cereals and pulses About 79.3%
students were vegetarians followed by 16%
of the students consuming non-vegetarian
items. Almost all the students (99.3%)
reported consumption of corn or corn based
food every day as compared to pearl millet
(Bajri). Rice flakes were consumed usually
in breakfast or evening snack with maximum
consumption on a weekly basis by 52% of
the students. However, pulses and lentils,
which are the protein sources for
vegetarians, were not consumed daily by any
subject and consumed just once a week by
38% and 58% reported that they had never
eaten any form of lentil.
Fruits and vegetables There were very
Table 1: Prevalence of signs and symptoms of vitamin B complex deficiency in
subjects under study (n=150)
Deficiency Total
symptoms % (n=150)
Vitamin B complex deficiency
Angular stomatitis 4 (6)
Glossitis 8 (12)
Dermatitis 7.3 (11)
Diarrhoea 12 (18)
NS = Not significant
Figures in parenthesis indicate number of subjects
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
few students who consumed fruits rich in
essential micronutrients on a daily basis.
Mango was the only fruit which recorded
the highest consumption on a daily basis by
48.6% of the students during season of
availability. However, other vitamin A and
C rich fruits were consumed only by 4.7-
9.3% children. Wednesday is the only day
in the week where a local market (haat) is
set up and the children can consume fruits.
The consumption of green leafy vegetables
was almost negligible. This data supports the
fact that several children were suffering from
micronutrient malnutrition as validated by
the data on the presence of clinical signs and
symptoms of IDA, VAD and vitamins C and
B-complex deficiencies. Roots and tubers
especially onions, were consumed on a daily
basis as they are available at a reasonable
price and due to seasonal availability.
Breakfast pattern: A majority of the
students (91.3%) reported regular breakfast
consumption. Corn being the staple food of
the region, was included in the breakfast and
46% reported taking tea in combination with
Boys % Girls % Chi
(n=77) (n=73) square
1.3 (1) 6.8 (5) 3.1 NS
11.7 (9) 4.1 (3) 2.7 NS
5.2 (4) 9.6 (7) 1.1 NS
11.7 (9) 12.3 (9) 0.3 NS
 Hidden Hunger among the Rathwa Tribal ... Western India A Cross Sectional Study
corn cereal and pulse or vegetable in their
breakfast (makai rotla/rotli/bhaat/vaghareli
khichdi with udad/tuver dal or with ringan
bataka/dungri bataka/dudhi bataka); About
26.7% students reported consumption of tea
with cereal (makai rotla/rotli) or cereal and
vegetable (makai rotla/rotli/bhaat with
ringan bataka/dungri bataka/dudhi bataka).
About 14% of the students reported
consuming only corn cereal with vegetable
(makai rotla/rotli with ringan bataka/dungri
bataka); while 4.7% reported corn cereal
(makai rotla/rotli) and 8.7% consumed only
raavri (corn gruel) or tea in the morning.
Though vegetable consumption was
recorded, they were either roots and tubers
or brinjal and had no significant contribution
to micronutrients.
Haematological indices of the
students under the study as assessed by F-
620 and red cell morphology: Haemoglobin
estimation revealed a majority of the subjects
(65%) were anemic (65.5% boys, 64.5%
girls). Out of these 55% were mildly anemic,
10% moderately anemic and none had severe
anaemia. The difference was found to be
non-significant between both the groups.
The mean RBC count of the subjects
was within the normal range (5.28) with
normal mean RBC count for boys (5.42) and
girls (5.16). The mean MCV of the subjects
(68.61 fl) was well below the normal range
(79-101 fl), with much lower MCV value
for boys (67.11 fl) than girls (70 fl). The
mean MCH value (21.7 pg) was well below
the reference value (26-36 pg). The mean
haemoglobin was 11.39 g/dl indicative of
iron deficiency in both the genders (boys
11.42 g/dl and girls 11.35 g/dl). The mean
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
75
WBC count of the subjects was 11030/
cumm, slightly above the normal reference
values (4000-11000/ cumm). The mean
platelet count of the subjects was within the
reference value (370133/ cumm), but the
mean value for girls (403741) was above the
reference value (1.5-4.0 lacs/cumm)
Table 5 reveals that lesser mothers
were illiterate (82%) of the subjects
diagnosed with anemia were than non
anemic subjects (85.7%). The result was
found to be not significant. Maximum
prevalence of severe thinness (61.5%) was
found in children who had haemoglobin
below 12g / dl. A significant difference was
found between severity of thinness and
hemoglobin status of the subject. Severe
stunting was more prevalent in anemic
subjects (25.6%), whereas, more students
with normal height for age were found in
the non anemic category. However, the
difference was not significant. The
prevalence of ocular signs and symptoms of
IDA was higher in subjects diagnosed with
anaemia, but it was not significant. The
prevalence of ocular signs and symptoms of
VAD (night blindness and Bitots spot) was
higher in non-anemic subjects than their
anemic counter parts. However, the result
was not significant.
More anemic subjects were non
vegetarians (15.4%) and non-anemic
subjects were vegetarians (85.7%). This may
be likely due to insufficient and infrequent
consumption of heme rich non vegetarian
items by the subjects.
76 Vanisha Nambiar, Kuhu Roy, Nishita Desai

Table 2: Frequency of consumption of essential foods rich in various micro

nutrients by the subjects under study (n=150)

Food groups Daily % Once a Monthly/ Never %

week % occasionally %
Cereals
Corn 99.3 (149) 0.7 (1) 0 (0) 0 (0)
Bajri 6.7 (10) 32 (48) 0.7 (1) 60.7 (91)
Rice flakes 2 (3) 52 (78) 4.7 (7) 41.3 (62)
Pulses and legumes
Lentil 0 (0) 38 (57) 4 (6) 58 (87)
Fruits
Lemon 4.7 (7) 64 (96) 4 (6) 27.3 (41)
Guava 9.4 (14) 73.4 (110) 2.1 (3) 15.3 (23)
Orange 4.7 (7) 29.4 (44) 0.7 (1) 65.3 (98)
Amla 14.7 (22) 36 (54) 3.4 (5) 46 (69)
Mango 48.6 (73) 46 (69) 1.4 (2) 4 (6)
Papaya 5.3 (8) 70 (105) 6.7 (10) 18 (27)
Green leafy vegetables
Spinach 4 (6) 55.3 (83) 0.7 (1) 40 (60)
Shepu 0.7 (1) 29.3 (44) 0.7 (1) 69.3 (104)
Fenugreek 4 (6) 82 (123) 1.3 (2) 12.7 (19)
Colocasia 0.7 (1) 11.3 (17) 0 (0) 88 (132)
Mint 0 (0) 14.7 (22) 0.7 (1) 84.7 (127)
Drumstick leaves 4 (6) 58.6 (88) 2 (3) 35.4 (53)
Roots and tubers and other vegetables
Tomato ripe 37.4 (56) 55.3 (83) 3.4 (5) 4 (6)
Onion 100 (150) 0 (0) 0 (0) (0)
Carrot 6 (9) 58.7 (88) 2.7 (4) 32.7 (49)
Pumpkin 2.7 (4) 56 (84) 8.6 (13) 32.7 (49)
Meat and Poultry
Meat 0 (0) 5.4 (8) 3.3 (5) 91.3 (137)
Fish 2 (3) 1.3 (2) 0 (0) 96.7 (145)
Chicken 0 (0) 13.3 (20) 2.7 (4) 84 (126)
Egg 0 (0) 2. (3) 2.7 (4) 95.3 (143)
Note: Figures in parenthesis indicate number of subjects

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Hidden Hunger among the Rathwa Tribal ... Western India A Cross Sectional Study 77

Discussion survival or it maybe too costly for parents

Poor registration of date of birth for
73% children enrolled for the study highlight
several reasons such as, birth registration not
considered relevant by the society at large
or by families struggling with day-to-day
or due to lack of awareness of the need of
birth and death registration among the public
and the district officials. The possible reason
for lesser number of girls having their births
registered could be gender bias (13,14). In
such a situation, the approximate age of the

Table 3: Mean (Mean SD) haematological values of the subjects under study
(n=60)

Total Girls Boys

(n=60) (n=31) (n=29)

Hb ( 12g/dl) 11.4 1.3 11.4 1.2 11.4 1.5

RBC Count (M: 4.6- 5.3 0.6 5.2 0.5 5.4 0.7
6.5 f 3.9-5.6)
PCV (34-54%) 36 4.0 35.9 3 36.3 4.9
MCV (79-101 fl) 68.6 6.7 70 7.2 67.1 5.8
MCH (26-36 pg) 21.7 2.5 22.2 2.8 21.1 2
MCHC (31-37 g/dl) 31.6 1.3 31.6 1.3 31.6 1.4
Total WBC (4000- 11030 3019 11235 3033.3 10810
11000/ cumm) 3043.4
Platelet count (1.5- 370133 81561 403741 69645.3 334206
4.0 lacs/cumm) 78949.9

Table 4: Red cell morphology of subjects screened for anaemia (n=60)

Red cell morphology Types Subjects %
Normal Normocytic normochoromic 53.3 (32)
Abnormal Microcytic hypochromic 43.3 (26)
Microcytic hypochromic severe 1.7 (1)
Microcytic normochromic 1.7 (1)
Figures in parenthesis indicate number of subjects
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
78 Vanisha Nambiar, Kuhu Roy, Nishita Desai

Table 5: Correlation between essential parameters in subjects screened for

biochemical estimations (n=60)
Variables Total % Anemic Non anemic Chi-
(n=60) subjects % subjects % square
(n=39) (n=21)

Mothers educational status

Illiterate 83.9 (50) 82.1 (32) 85.7 (18) 4.23 NS
th
< 7 Standard 6.1 (3) 2.6 (1) 9.5 (2)
7-9th Standard 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
10-12th Standard 3.7 (2) 2.6 (1) 4.8 (1)
Dead 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
Dont know 6.4 (5) 12.8 (5) 0 (0)
BMI for age
Severe thinness 42.7 (29) 61.5 (24) 23.8 (5) 8.09*
Thinness 30.4 (16) 17.9 (7) 42.9 (9)
Normal 26.9 (15) 20.5 (8) 33.3 (7)
Height for age
Severe stunting 22.3 (14) 25.6 (10) 19 (4) 0.33 NS
Stunting 37 (22) 35.9 (14) 38.1 (8)
Normal 40.7 (24) 38.5 (15) 42.9 (9)
Signs and symptoms of IDA
Pale nails 49.5 (30) 51.3 (20) 47.6 (10) .073 NS
Pale conjunctiva 19.9 (13) 25.6 (10) 14.3 (3) 1.03 NS
Pale tongue 11.2 (7) 12.8 (5) 9.5 (2) 0.14 NS
Pale palm 34.8 (22) 41 (16) 28.6 (6) 0.91 NS
Breathlessness 19.8 (12) 20.5 (8) 19 (4) 0.01 NS
Koilynchia 1.3 (1) 2.6 (1) 0 (0) 0.54 NS
Signs and symptoms of VAD
Night blindness 39.4 (23) 35.9 (14) 42.9 (9) 0.28 NS
Bitots spot 22.2 (13) 20.5 (8) 23.8 (5) 0.08 NS
Conjunctival xerosis 1.3 (1) 2.6 (1) 0 (0) 0.54 NS
Corneal xerosis 1.3 (1) 2.6 (1) 0 (0) 0.54 NS
Type of diet
Vegetarian 82.6 (49) 79.5 (31) 85.7 (18) 0.42 NS
Non-vegetarian 12.5 (8) 15.4 (6) 9.5 (2)
Ovo-vegetarian 4.9 (3) 5.1 (2) 4.8 (1)
p<0.05 = significant, NS = not significant.
Figures in parenthesis indicate number of subjects

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Hidden Hunger among the Rathwa Tribal ... Western India A Cross Sectional Study
child can be determined by the school
authorities by making use of a local events
calendar when parents bring their child for
enrolment. Determining the correct age of
the child is of utmost importance to make
correct judgments about the nutritional
status of the child.
The India State Hunger Index (ISHI),
has categorized 12 of the 17 states in the
alarming rates of hunger category, and
unfortunately, Gujarat state is one of them.
The report further stated that ISHI scores
were closely aligned with poverty, but there
was little association with state level
economic growth. High levels of hunger
were seen in states that were performing well
from an economic perspective (15). A study
from Karnataka on tribal children also
reported high prevalence of mild (41.5%)
and severe (6.7%) stunting (16). In depth
study of the clinical signs and symptoms
reveal the presence of VAD as well as
anemia, which may be of iron deficiency or
vitamin B complex deficiency in nature. The
prevalence of Bitots spot was much higher
in comparison to the figures reported by
NNMB (17) where, 0.1% children in Gujarat
had Bitots spot. A study (18) had reported
the prevalence of ocular signs of IDA in
tribal areas of Rajasthan where, 95.1% of
the children had clinical anemia, pale
conjuctiva (77.6%), flat and pale nails
(24.3%), atrophic lingual papillae (12.4%)
and koilynchia (44.3%). Though 99.3%
students reported consumption of corn or
corn based food everyday, which is the staple
crop of Chhota Udepur and this area can
boast of at least 20 varieties of corn.
However, the amount of vitamin A/ beta
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
79
carotene content in this corn and its
bioavailability needs to be assessed since the
prevalence of the clinical signs and
symptoms of VAD are exceeding the
tolerable limits concluding it to be a public
health problem.
High prevalence of IDA reported in
the study could be due to poor dietary intake
of iron, poor bioavailability of iron coupled
with high intake of inhibitors and poor intake
of enhancers, infections and parasitic
infestation and also the high requirements
of iron during adolescence (19). High
prevalence of anemia was also reported from
Rajasthan (18) where (60.2 %) of the
children were moderately anemic (7-10 g/
dl/), 32.9 per cent were severely anemic (<7
g/dl) and 0.6 per cent mildly anemic (10-
11.5 g/dl). In another tribal area of Orissa
almost all children of age group 5-14 years
were anemic, amongst them 59.4% were
moderately anemic and 5. 4% were severely
anemic (20). Thus, the problem of hidden
hunger must be rampant in tribal areas. But
lower prevalence of anemia was reported
from tribal regions of Maharashtra where
32.47% children aged 5-15 years were
categorized as anemic (21).
The hematocrit values of 20%
subjects in the present study were below
reference values; majority (91.7%) subjects
had a below normal MCH, this can mean
the subjects have iron-deficiency anemia
(65% anemia was recorded in the present
study). The MCHC values of 75% of the
subjects were normal in the present study,
whereas, 23.3% had below normal MCHC
suggesting microcytic anemia. These results
80 Vanisha Nambiar, Kuhu Roy, Nishita Desai

are further validated by the presence of
microcytic hypochromic cells in 43.6% of
the subjects. The mean corpuscular volume,
or mean cell volume (MCV), is a measure
of the average red blood cell volume (i.e.
size) that is reported as part of a standard
complete blood count. It is the MCV
measurement that allows classification as
either a microcytic anemia (MCV below
normal range) or macrocytic anemia (MCV
above normal range). It was shocking to find
only 10% of the subjects having normal
MCV. A majority of the subjects (90%) had
MCV in below normal range indicative of
microcytic anemia. Thus there is a need to
further investigate on high prevalence of low
MCV values.
Results of the red cell morphology
reveal that more than half of the subjects
(53.3%) of the subjects had normocytic and
norochromic red cell morphology, whereas,
1.7% of the subjects had microcytic
normochromic anaemia. Microcytic-
hypochromic anemia was seen in 43.3% of
References
the subjects; this type of anemia results from
a variety of conditions that are caused by
disorders of iron metabolism, porphyrin and
heme synthesis, or globin synthesis.
The study suggests that measures to
combat macro as well as micronutrient
malnutrition (vitamin A deficiency, anemia
as well as vitamin B-complex deficiency)
need to be initiated immediately as acute
malnutrition may hamper both growth as
well as development in these tribal
adolescents. Further indepth studies on the
dietary patterns along with school based
interventions for prevention of malnutrition
are required.
Acknowledgements
The investigators extend sincere gratitude
to the Government authorities of MDM Dept
for their cooperation and to UGC DSA,
Department of Foods and Nutrition, Faculty
of Family and community Sciences, The M
S University of Baroda, Gujarat for their
support.

1. India Education Report, 2002. Tribal education in India.

2. USAID (2009) Thinking innovatively for tribal welfare in health and nutrition in Gujarat.
3. Rao K, Balakrishna N, Laxmaiah A, Venkaiah K and GNV Brahmam (2006). Diet and
nutritional status of adolescent tribal population in nine States of India Asia Pac J Clin Nutr
15 (1):64-71
4. Kotecha, P.V. (2008) Micronutrient malnutrition in India: Let us say no to it. Indian J
community Med; 33:9-10
5. Mason, J.B (2003) Atleast one third of poor countries diseases burden is due to malnutrition:
diseases control priorities project: working paper no.1, March 2003.
6. http://www.icmr.nic.in/annual/nutr.htm. NNMB (National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau) 1999.
Diet and nutrition survey on tribal population. Available at: http://www.icmr.nic.in/annual/
nutr.htm
7. WHO (1995). Physical status: The use and Interpretation of Anthropometry. WHO Expert
Committee Report. WHO technical report series 854

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8. Cogill B (2003) Anthropometric Indicators measurement guide (revised edition). Food and
nutrition technical assistance project, academy for educational development, Washington,
D.C.
9. WHO (2007) Growth reference data for children aged 5-19 years. Available at: http://
www.who.int/growthref/en.
10. NIN (2004) Nutritive value of Indian Foods
11. To measure iron deficiency anemia, hemoglobin levels were estimated for the children by the
gold standard Cyanmethaemoglobin method
12. Z-scores were calculated for the anthropometric measures using the WHO AnthroPlus software,
2006
13. Community Development foundation (2004). Birth Registration: A background note.
14. Registrar General, India (1999) for birth registration. Registrar General,India, Registrar
Generals Report on Working of the Registration of Births & Deaths Act,1969,(for the year
1996), New Delhi, 1999b. http://www. agrarianstudies. org/ UserFiles/File/
S8_Okabe_and_Surjit_Village_level_Birth_Records.pdf
15. Welthungerhilfe (2008) The India State Hunger Index: Comparisons of Hunger across States.
Available at http:www.ifpri.org/pubs/cp/ishi08.pdf
16. Prabhakar S and Gangadhar M (2009). Nutritional Status of Jenukuruba Tribal Children in
Mysore District, Karnataka. Anthropologist, 11(1): 49-51.
17. NNMB (2002) Diet and nutritional status of rural population. Indian Council of Medical
Research, National Institute of Nutrition. No. 21. Available at: http://nnmbindia.org/
NNMBREPORT2001-web.pdf.
18. Vyas S. and Choudhry M (2005) Prevalence of anaemia in tribal school children. Journal of
Human Ecology; 17 (4): 289-291.
19. World Bank (2003). Adolescent nutrition. http://web.worldbank.org/ WBSITE/ EXTERNAL/
TOPICS/EXTHEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/EXTPHAAG/0,content MDK:
20587649~menuPK:1314796~pagePK:64229817~piPK:64229743~theSitePK:672263,00.html
20. Sahu T, Sahani N, Patnaik L (2007) Childhood anemia - A study in tribal area of Mohana
block in Orissa Indian journal of community medicine. Vol: 32:(1): pp 43-45
21. Awate RV, Ketkar YA, Sowmiya PA (1997). Prevalence of nutricional deficiency disorders
among rural primary school children (5-15 yrs). Journal of Indian Medical Asoociation, 95
(7): 410-415.
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: BMI for age of the students under study
(n=150)

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

82 Vanisha Nambiar, Kuhu Roy, Nishita Desai

Figure 2: Height for age of the students under study

(n=150)

Figure 3: Prevalence of ocular signs of iron deficiency anaemia in subjects under study

(n=150)

Figure 4: Prevalence of ocular signs of vitamin A deficiency in subjects under study

(n=150)

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

Hidden Hunger among the Rathwa Tribal ... Western India A Cross Sectional Study 83

Figure 5: Prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) in subjects under study

(n=60)

Figure 6: Haematological indices in subjects screened for anaemia

(n=60)

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

ASSESSING THE POTENTIALS OF COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION IN REDUCING CHILD MORTALITY
(1) Child Health and Child Mortality
The depiction of India as an emerging
power is based on the macro indication of
grass domestic produce, growth rate,
increase in rural income and FDI. However,
these economic indicators differ with several
other social indicators such as: Maternal
mortality rate and associated child mortality
rate. Massive mis-match between these two
economic and social indicators of
development are noticed. India has recorded
212/1000 (SRS-2007-09), Maternal
mortality rate and 44/1000 (SRS-2011)
infant mortality rate while in Gujarat MMR
is 148/1000 (SRS-2007-09) and IMR at 41/
1000 (SRS-2011) According to the figures
of India: Malnutrition Report available on
website. The growths of 48% of children in
India under the age of five are stunned and
43% children are underweight. One in four
infant is born with low birth weight. The
adverse effect of poor child health is resulted
in increased risk of mortality-particularly
from infectious diseases. There is a positive
and significant co-relation between maternal
health status and child health status. The
anti-natal care and the post natal care of
pregnant and lactating mother is directly
linked with the child health and its care. It is
an important factor in the survival of the
child. Children die due to pre-maturity of
birth, birth injuries and congenital
malformation.
* Professor, Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat. India
Email ; patel.chhaya-sw@msubaroda.ac.in
** Research Fellow, UGC-DSA Programme, Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of
Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat. India Email ; divya.vasava@gmail.com
Chhaya Patel*
Divya Vasava**
Infant mortality is defined as the
infant death (less than one year) per thousand
live births.India is among the countries
where child mortality rate is alarmingly high.
The problem has caught attention of policy
makers and researchers for several decades.
The data collected and published by the
Office of the Registrar General and Census
Commissioner, India, show that although
mortality rate among infant and under 5
children is declining over the years, there
are some states where mortality rates are
very high. This shows that despite progress
in health sector in the recent decades in India,
precious young lives continue to be lost due
to early childhood diseases, inadequate
newborn care and childbirth-related causes.
The mortality status of children in India
reflects the threats in child health.
Social, cultural, economic and
environmental factors are also found to
affect infant mortality especially during the
post neonatal period. Post neonatal deaths
are therefore mainly due to various causes,
such as communicable diseases, both of the
digestive systems, such as diarrhea and
enteritis, and of the respiratory system, such
as bronchitis and pneumonia, as well as
faulty feeding practices, and poor hygiene.
In the developing world 39% of
children under age 5 are chronically
malnourished, about 54% of deaths
 Assessing the Potentials of Community Participation in Reducing Child Mortality
occurring among children of the age group
are associated with malnutrition (UNICEF
2000). According to World Health
Organization (WHO-1995) children who are
underweight or stunted are at a greater risk
for childhood morbidity and mortality, poor
physical and mental development, inferior
school performance and reduced adult size
and capacity for work.
Causes of Childhood Mortality
Under-nutrition contributes to 53% of
all child death
SRS based U5MR in India for the year
2010, stands at 59 and it varies from 66 in
rural areas to 38 in urban areas. The under
five mortality rate is higher for females than
males as in 2010, U5MR stood at 64 for
females whereas it is 55 for males. Infant
mortality has declined for males from 78 in
1990 to 46 in 2010 and for females the
decline was from 81 to 49 during this period.
The per year decline in IMR was 1.6 points
for both males and females and the
percentage decline in female IMR is 39.5%
and the percentage decline in male IMR is
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
85
41.02% during the last two decades
Countries with the highest numbers of
neonatal and U5 child deaths
WHO Estimates of neonatal deaths
for the year 2000, forthcoming. WHO/
UNICEF/UNFPA estimates of maternal
mortality for the year 2000 Black, Morris,
Bryce. Lancet 2003.
India is home for 200 Million food
insecure people, which is one of the largest
numbers of hungry people in the world.
(FAO 2008). The incidence of child mal-
nutrition in India is greater than income
poverty and its pace of reduction is slow. As
per the report of the world Health
Organization and UNICEF-2009, India ranks
1st in Neo natal deaths and deaths among
under five.
The Millennium Development Goals
has goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality targeting
to reduce the under five mortality rate by
two thirds between 1990 and 2015. Infant
Mortality rate is one of the indicators to
measure the progress of achievement of this
target. Given to reduce U5MR to 42 per
thousand live births by 2015, India tends to
reach near to 52 by that year missing the
target by 10 percentage points. With the
historical rate of decline, the States of Delhi,
Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal & Kerala are likely to
achieve their respective MDG target by
2015.
86 Chhaya Patel, Divya Vasava

Ranking for Ranking for

numbers of (numbers of under-5
neonatal deaths child deaths)

India 1 2.5 million 1 6.6 million

China 2 neonatal 3 U 5 child
Pakistan 3 deaths 4 deaths
Nigeria 4 2
Bangladesh 5 Approx 7 Approx
Ethiopia 6 66% 6 61%
Dem.Rep.Congo 7 of global 5 of global
Indonesia 8 total 10 total
Afghanistan 9 8
Tanzania 10 9
Demographic, socio-economic and health profile of Gujarat states compared to
India figures (RHS Bulletin, March 2012, M/o Health & FW, GOI)

Indicator Gujarat India

Total population (in 6.03 121.01
Crore) (census-2011)
Decadal Growth (%) 19.17 17.64
(census-2011)
Infant Mortality Rate 41 44
(SRS 2011)
Maternal Mortality 148 212
Rate (SRS 2011
Total fertility rate 2.4 2.4
Crude Birth Rate (SRS- 21.3 21.8
2011)
Crude death rate(SRS 6.7 7.1
2011)
Natural growth rate 14.6 14.7

In spite of the recent progress in health indicators, the situation is not adequate to
sector, as exhibited by the statistical ensure a bright future to the children of India.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Assessing the Potentials of Community Participation in Reducing Child Mortality 87

Under Five mortality rate: Status of achieving Millennium Development Goals in

India

This is a multifaceted problem which is empowering process in which the people

directly linked to a large extent to mothers
health conditions and the safe delivery
conditions and also the socio economic
conditions of the family along with the
countrys health care system. Over the time,
the nation has implemented a number of
child centric programmes, much remains to
be done to guarantee better health conditions
to the children
(2) Community
In social work profession, the term
community participation is used with a
special connotation. It simply means peoples
participation as a collective-be at group or
community. The Oxford English Dictionary
defines participation as to have a share in
or take part in. It is an educational and
identify their common needs or concerns,
plan a collective action and assume
responsibilities to manage control and assess
collective action and its results. It essentially
involves getting people together for a
common concern and goal. For the purpose
of this paper community participation is
viewed in reference to achieving Millenium
Development Goal of reducing child
mortality. This paper seaks to revisit and
reassess the potential and prospects of
community participation as an effective
mechanism to reduce child mortality
(3) Changing Character of Community
The concept of community has been
viewed and reviewed by experts time and
again. What is the nature and character of

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

88 Chhaya Patel, Divya Vasava
community today is the question here. Is it
homogeneous, composite, cohesive as it was
traditionally believed or has globalization
brought about major changes in its character
and composition. If we assume globalization
has brought changes in economy, culture,
society and polity then how any community
can-be it rural, urban, tribal, regional,
national or caste, ethnic, linguistics or
religion remained unaffected or immuned
from these macro changes.
The community today is to be viewed
in context of market economy first. Members
of any community are primarily engaged in
per suit of individual economic self
interest.priorites have shifted, ways of life
have changed, more nuclear families are
seen, more and more women are engaging
themselves in work and income generating
activities. Processes of nuclearization of
family, collectively and community are
happening rapidly. The spirit of collectivity
is increasingly reduced.
The advent of the LPG (Liberaliza-
tion, Privatization and Globa-lisation)
process has created newer communities and
therefore a need to redefine community and
its composition. Migrant communities are on
the rise and stable communities are fading.
These changes are then to adopt newer
culture, life style, work ethics, work
condition and social norms. This has hugely
impacted inter personal relation among the
members of the same community. The
perennial need for money is changing their
relationship with their own community.
Hence it is likely that communitys hold on
it member is changing too.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
In India, the unevenness in the
availability of work, work condition and
disparity and uncertainty of income have
affected around 25% of the people who live
below poverty line.
(4) Examing prospects of community
participation in Child care and
Mortality
Child care is the responsibility of the
family but mainly of the mother in the family
and then the community comes in the
picture. In order to bridge the gaps in
reducing child mortality through child health
care, the role of community is to be
examined.
There are three classical assumptions
inherent in the process of community
participation they are
People as a community know,
feel and accept responsibility for themselves
and their development
People develop their own
resources to meet their needs-personal,
material, financial etc
People are capable of focusing
on their own problems, mobilize resources
and plan actions according to community
priorities.
In social work discipline, it is
traditionally believed that the enabling
process of helping individuals and groups/
communities can be best attained by the
involvement of the concern community. The
community can promote care and
development of one and all concerned. We
 Assessing the Potentials of Community Participation in Reducing Child Mortality
further believed that the people and
communities have an inherent capacity to
organize themselves to ensure that their basic
needs are met, problems are solved and
opportunities for advancement are created
(Midgleyt: 1995). That is to say the cause
of child health care can be promoted within
the context of a given community.
If we see historically, we find that the
variety of social intervention always
emphasized on community participation as
an effective strategy. Social work saw big
potential and promise in it
(Gangrade.G.1984). In many social
interventions it is found that community
participation nearly ensures success of any
programme. (Gangrade1984). The extent of
participation spreads through the entire
process of formulation, implementation and
evaluation of any significant issue like
reducing child mortality.
The questions this paper sets out to
raise and answer is. Is there any change in
the nature and character of the community
or it has remained unchanged? As stated it
is changed.
(5) Changes in Nature of Community
Participation
The attempt here is to view
community participation in efforts for
reducing child mortality. How can
community participation be considered as a
means of helping people accomplish better
child health care and associated maternal
health care. Thus in a comprehensive sense,
community participation is an end, a means
and a process.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
89
Human communities in 21st century
are no more change proof societies. The
ethics and values are impacted. The market
forces of production and consumption have
acquired primary dominance over social,
cultural, economical and political aspects of
life. Never before the global and local market
forces have been so pervasive as now. An
individual and community are on radar of
the market.
The 1st casuality of this change is time.
People do not have time from work and job.
Demands of work have changed. Time for
family is becoming scare and less. So too is
the case with regards to time. One has on
hand for community. Evidence collects from
fieldwork done on continuous basis show:
Simply collecting community
people for a meeting is becoming more
difficult than it used to be. Distances have
increased not only child care and family care
but self-care too is found to have become
somewhat more neglected and
compromised.
Even if a few people are
collected for a meeting on repeated
persuasion for a discussion on issues like
child health care, mortality rate etc, they do
not have relaxed time as their other pressing
day to day chores-like cattle care, cooking;
purchasing daily supplies, fetching water,
farm work etc. make them edgy to leave.
Inter personal relations in the
family, neighborhood and community are
also impacting process of collective
deliberations, discussions and actions.
90 Chhaya Patel, Divya Vasava
A way out in the changing community
profile for eliciting community
participation
In the changed circumstances what
alternative strategy for eliciting community
participation can be thought about or
visualized by the community worker-
development worker. Can Community of the
pregnant mothers, lactating mothers, their
husband, mothers-in law, father in law, and
their relatives be the target group for active
participation in reducing child mortality?
Where can you meet them?
How can you meet them
What do you discuss with them
individually or collectively?
Hospitals, Anganwadi centres,
Primary health care centres and Mahila
Mandals are the contact points, where the
mothers and their relatives who accompany
them for check-ups and social gathering for
celebration
Join them by participation in the
ongoing process and discuss the health
issues, more so child care, child mortality
and maternal mortality focusing on why
child care is important.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
To provide a healthy growth and
development of the child,
(1) This is possible with proper formal
anti-natal care, proper nutritional/diet
be given to the mother, proper
immunization to the mother, proper
rest during pregnancy.
(2) Adopting of family planning and birth
spacing methods freely available at
health centres and hospitals. Seek
guidance from local health experts.
(3) Encouraging them to follow legal
norms of age at marriage of 18thyears
and more. For positive impact of child
health
(4) The family members, the relatives, the
neighbors with whom you are in close
contact, can help you to attain good
health care by contacting trained
health workers and doctors. Health
care of the child and mother is of
utmost important to reduce child
mortality.
This is an alternative strategy, which
can be adopted and suitably to the existing
situations in the communities, to attend the
issue of reducing child mortality.
 Assessing the Potentials of Community Participation in Reducing Child Mortality 91

References

Gangrade, K.D. (1984). Development and people-A Participatory Approach, Indian Journal of
Social Work, 45(2)

IIPS and Macro International (2007). National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005-06: India,
Volume 1 (Mumbai:IIPS)
Kumar, A.K.Shiva (2007). Why Are Revels of Child Malnutrition Not Improving? Economic and
Political Weekly, 42(15) 1337-45
Miagley, James. (1995). Social Development. The Development Perspective I Social Welfare US.
Sage Publications.

Poel, Ellenvan de, Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Caroline Jehu-Appiah, Jeantta vega and Niko
Speybroeck (2007). Malnutrition and The Disproportional Burden on the poor: The case
of Ghana, International Journal for Equity in Health, 6:21
Radhakrishna, R. and Ravi C. (2004). Malnutrition in India: Trends and Determinants Economic
and political Weekly, 39(7) : 671-76
Smith, L.C. and Haddad, I. (2009). Explaining Child Malnutrition in Developing Countries. A
Cross-Country Analysis, Research Report III, International Food Policy Research Institute,
Washington DC.

UNICEF (2000). The State of WorldsChildren,2000" United Nations Childrens Fund, New York,
World Bank (2009). World Bank Report on Malnutrition in India (Washington DC: The World
Bank)

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

WOMEN TOWARDS ACHIEVING 3RD MDG: ROLE OF
MARUP IN EMPOWERING WOMEN IN MANIPUR VALLEY
1. Introduction
The interest in studying women and
their empowerment started in later half of
1970s when it was increasingly discussed
and promoted by Third World feminists and
womens organisations (Kumar and
Varghese 2005). A more recent initiative was
taken up by the United Nations by including
gender equality and empower women as one
of the eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). This goal is often considered as
an essential goal to the achievement of all
the other seven Millennium Development
Goals. Women being vulnerable, powerless
and subordinate in the contemporary social
context seek suitable interventions to
empower them. Women in most of the
countries lack support for fundamental
functions of a human life as they face greater
obstacles and discrimination. They are the
key agency who can bring about changes and
development but are less well nourished than
men, less healthy, more vulnerable to
physical violence, sexual abuse, are less
literate and have fewer opportunities
(Nussbaum 2000). According to Human
Development Report 1997 of United Nations
Development Programme, there is no
country that treats its women as well as its
men, according to a complex measure that
includes life expectancy, wealth and
education (Nussbaum 2000:2). Other cases
include gender discrimination, domestic
violence, exploitation, dowry and female
* Ph D Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. Email : melody.ksh2001@gmail.com
Melody Kshetrimayum*
foeticides which provide evidences that
women are subordinate to men.
There are several ways to empower
women but it is important to understand that
one way with which women are convenient
and confident of themselves to seek their
own empowerment through it. Women,
across countries of the world, organise
various informal associations that
accumulated funds from their small savings
to meet their economic needs. These
associations are mainly organised among kin
relatives, friends and neighbours. More
commonly known as the rotating savings and
credit associations (ROSCA), these informal
associations flourish even today when more
sustainable and viable institutions are
present and surprisingly more predominant
(in terms of its outreach) than the formal
ones in some regions. It is also practiced in
remote areas where there is inaccessibility
of the formal credit institutions.
The rotating savings and credit
associations are found in four continents,
namely Africa, Asia, the Americas and the
Europe. Since such associations were not
documented, their existence could only be
traced back till then when social scientists
started studying them. The existence of
similar associations were documented as
early as 1794 in Sierra Leone, West Africa
but rotating credit associations were
certainly in use by 1880s in the same region
 Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP ... Women in Manipur Valley
(Ardener 1964). It existed in 1843 among
the Yorubas (Nigeria) which was called esu.
It seems that women dominated these
associations (Low 1995) and in India, these
associations are said to be found only among
women (Ardener 1964). Groups of five to
fifteen women living near each other pay
small sums monthly and the allocations of
the fund are given to those who are in
immediate need. One of these associations,
known as kameti was started in Madras and
then extended in Travancore and Cochin and
other regions of the country and today, it is
found in Northern and Southern parts of the
country in the form of chit funds (ibid).
However, such associations are also
practiced in the north eastern region of India
as a part of culture to help each other. Many
such indigenous community based
institutions operate successfully to meet their
financial requirements. Sonchays, got, nam
ghar and puja ghar practiced by Assamese,
mahari associations practiced by Garos, sum
lom practiced by Kuki, khabak or ngasotnao
practiced by Tangkhul Naga and singlup
practiced by Meiteis of Manipur are some
of the indigenous institutions that are
prevalent in the region.
It is the intent of this paper to
understand one such institution called marup
which is organised among the Meiteis (major
ethnic group of Manipur) to meet their credit
needs. The paper aims to establish a
comprehensive understanding of the
phenomenon of marup and its outcome on
the position of Meitei women in Manipur.
The paper is part of a larger qualitative study
undertaken for the purpose of gaining
information on womens role in
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
93
disseminating the phenomenon of marup
(which is an informal credit institution of
the Meiteis) in Meitei society. Seventeen in-
depth interviews were conducted with the
participants to gain comprehensive insights
and capture field reality from them and only
the data relevant to this paper are presented.
Observation of the researcher also provided
a clear picture of the functioning of marup
and the process of interaction among
members. The interviews were conducted in
New Checkon area of Imphal East district.
In Manipur, people are deprived of
basic facilities including drinking water,
electricity, communication, banking system,
opportunities, and other material and non-
material resources. In short, people are
deprived of development. While poverty
declined in most of the states in the country
in the last decade, Manipur is one of the five
states where poverty rate increased by 9.2
percentages between 2004-05 and 2009-10
and 12.5 lakh of the total population are still
below poverty line in 2009-10 (Dey 2012).
The main credit delivery methodologies of
Manipur include microfinance, banking and
informal credit institutions. There were
seventy seven scheduled commercial banks
as on 31st March, 2007 and average
population per bank offices of the state was
38.1 thousand (Economic Survey 2007-08).
The number of banks increased to eighty one
in the year 2009 (Economic Survey 2010-
2011). However, a large section of
households is still not covered by banks and
most of them engaged in the traditional
cooperative savings and credit institution,
marup.
94 Melody Kshetrimayum
2. Conceptualising Women
Empowerment
Conceptually, empowerment is a
process interrelated with and contingent to
the context where women belong to, marup
which is the organisational strategy, social
capital, incentives and the outcome. The
contextual factors consisting of social,
economic, institutional, and cultural aspects
influence formation of marup. For instance,
socio-economic problems like poverty
induce the formation of groups to get access
to credit needs and cultural beliefs to be part
of traditional practices induced women to
participate in marups. The organisation of
marup is also influenced by social capital
which is rooted in social network and social
relations of women. However, the
functioning of marup is in turn induced by
an incentive to give rise to the collective
action. Incentive could be monetary and/or
non-monetary. During the collective
activities undertaken by women, they
interact with each other to function their
group effectively. The informal interaction
between women as members of marup
during organisation and functioning of
marup create the outcomes. The outcomes
explain the capability of those women in
decision making over financial issues and
strategic life choices. In the process of
empowerment, women exercise choices
through marup in relation to their context.
As an outcome of the process, womens
control over financial issues and exercise
strategic life choices is affected. This again
influence back to the context. This cyclical
relationship of context, marup, social capital
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
and the outcome is the process of women
empowerment.
Thus, women empowerment is
defined as a continuous process in which
women becomes capable to make decision
in terms of their financial issues and strategic
life choices, where these capabilities were
previously denied to them, as an outcome
of interaction between women as members
of marup and this process is interrelated with
and contingent to the context where women
belong to. Here, financial issues refer to
issues relating to their income, savings,
investment and sustainability of their income
generating activities. And strategic life
choices refer to choices relating to a)
movement from one place to another and
security, b) affiliation with others,
engagement in social interactions and social
support, c) participation in paid work and
other projects which is the capability to
participate in paid work and organise or
participate in a social event or associations,
and d) engagement in recreational like
practicing arts and playing games.
3. Understanding Marup and Women
Empowerment in Manipur Valley
Marup is an organisational strategy
for the Meiteis to meet their economic and
social needs. The phenomenon of organising
and functioning of marups is influenced by
the contextual factors consisting of socio-
economic conditions, cultural condition and
institutional condition. Due to the interaction
between women as marup members, their
capability is affected as the outcome. The
 Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP ... Women in Manipur Valley
following sections discuss the
interrelationship between context, social
capital, marup and the outcome.
3.1 The Marup- Structure and
Functioning
Etymologically meant friend in
Meiteilon (language of the Meiteis), marup
is a self generated informal credit institution
that is organised by groups of people in
Manipur to gain access to credit, accumulate
savings and help each other at times of crisis.
Marup is embedded in the Meitei culture and
it is not just a means for financing economic
activities but rather is interwoven into each
individuals life in Meitei society. It is a form
of cooperation that governs their behaviour
and brings about economic and social
stability. It is formed by a group of people
(consisting of both men and women but
mostly women) who make regular
contributions that is given, in whole or part,
to each member in rotation. A marup is
initiated by an organiser who guides the
functioning of marup by making resolutions
relating to punctuality, arrangements of
marup draws, interest, records, conflict and
compensation. The organiser is also
responsible for tackling the issues which
affects the efficient organisation of the
group. Meetings are organised every month
(or fortnightly) and the pay-outs are given
to the members sequentially who win the
lottery (or bidding). This particular marup
rotation, known as cash marup comes to an
end after all its members receive the amount
of money equal to his or her contribution
altogether made in all the rotations. There
are many more marup types including social
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
95
event marups and asset marups that are
organised to meet the expenses for rituals
and for purchasing household assets.
Marup is the collective efforts of
relatives, friends and neighbours who save
and accumulate assets together to meet their
familial and societal needs. It also means
sharing of responsibilities and supporting
each other to organise social events, rituals
and ceremonies that binds them in one
community. It is enhanced by cooperation,
sharing and mutual support among close and
distant relatives, friends and neighbours as
marup members. This personal relationship
and the commitment to help each other at
times of hardship days cultivated trust
among them. Marup is also an institution
which generates social capital that improves
the efficacy of the society by providing
economic benefits, enhancing social values
and interactions between them and
accentuating self-management in their
neighbourhood.
3.2 The Context
The context of the study is the factors
or the circumstances that influenced the
widespread phenomenon of marup in both
rural and urban communities and affects the
participation of Meitei women in marups.
The practice of marup among Meiteis is
influenced by a number of contextual factors
including social, economical and cultural
aspects of the social system. This section
attempts at understanding those factors that
influenced Meitei women to participate in
marups and prefer it over formal credit
institutions.
96 Melody Kshetrimayum
Socio-economic factors
Poverty is one persistent problem in
Manipur that the people adjust and adapt to
the vulnerability and lack of resources. The
accessibility and the use of resources are
limited. The condition is worsened by
frequent adverse economic conditions like
economic blockades and strikes. People are
so familiar with the word deprivation that
it is becoming a part of their culture.
Deprivation induces them to deal with
different livelihood strategies. A diversity of
livelihood strategies has been adapted by
people in such a way that they are able to
live with deprivation without knowing that
they are deprived. Poverty is one factor that
induces people in Manipur to gather together
and generate their own mechanism to
overcome their problems. Hijam Ibem
shared:
We live in and with poverty. In my
family, there is always deficiency of one
thing or the other, when we are struggling to
buy one extra kg of rice for tomorrow, our
children will ask money for tuition fee and
when we give them, the singlup collector
would come for monthly contribution and
then one more marriage invitation for which
we have to give potyeng (gift-giving). There
is no end of deficiency. Poor people like us
become poorer day by day. In this condition,
marup reduce some of our suffering. It
fulfills our basic needs. I join marups
because I can utilise the money at times of
emergencies, I can request the group and get
financial help.
Poverty and unemployment are the
main reasons that women engaged in marup.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
People are unable to afford basic necessities
due to financial deprivation and
unemployment. Low income households
despite their struggle are unable to initiate
economic activities or sustain their
livelihood due to lack of capital. Meeting
needs of family and society is constantly
obstructed due to persistent poverty. While
attempting to fulfill familial and societal
needs, women engage in marup through
which they could get access to credit needs.
By contributing small savings, they receive
the lump sum which are used as capital for
initiating economic activities or used during
emergencies of the family. The small scale
businesses that they started with help from
marup reduces their deprivation. Knowing
that marup would ensure a basic level for
economic stability, women engage in marups
and induced their familial and social
networks too to meet their economic needs
through marup.
Cultural factor
Cultural factor encompass values and
beliefs that influence behaviour of the people
in a community. Women participate in marup
due to the influence of cultural values and
beliefs of Meitei society. As mentioned,
marup is embedded in the Meitei culture
which is a form of cooperation that governs
their behaviour and brings about economic
and social stability. Due to the social values
and beliefs that are attached in organisation
and functioning of marups, women
influenced each other to participate in
marups. Cooperation, trust and reciprocity
being the basis of marup formation, women
 Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP ... Women in Manipur Valley
come together to help each other to reduce
deprivation and organise social and religious
events through marup. H. Pravila, 41 said:
We had seen our parents and
grandparents practicing marup and now, we
also depend on marups for savings and
accumulation of assets. Among neighbours,
among friends and among kins, we see
marups binds people together. When a
member organise utsav, other members
would assist them in arranging and preparing
for the function. Its not just about want of
money, but also the tradition of practicing
marup for get together among people, we
engage in this practice. Once we join a
marup, its assured that we will support and
trust each other to fight adversities.
The younger generations had
observed elders of their families receiving
social and economic security from marup
and alleviating their deprivation. Marup
members cooperated and reciprocated to
support each other at times of adversities.
The mutual commitment shared by the elders
to achieve their goals collectively through
marup encouraged the younger generations
to organise and operate marups in a similar
way. By observing the social and economic
benefits that marup provided, they have firm
belief on the assurance and the feeling of
togetherness provided by marup.
The norms of trust, cooperation and
reciprocity shared between women in the
leikai are propagated in marup and vice
versa. These values help in disseminating the
practice of marup among women. As a
traditional society, Meiteis are held together
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
97
by mutual support, cooperation and
reciprocity. The social relationship shared
between them in society keeps traditional
practices changeless. Since marup is a
traditional institution and is still practiced
as a part of culture in addition to meeting
their material needs, it carries cultural
values. The cultural values and beliefs
attached to marup help them to engage in
various types of marups and consequently
contribute to the development of marup as a
family of social and economic institutions.
Different kinds of marup are organised to
meet social needs of leikai and economic
needs of their families. The cultural values
and social base of the Meitei society that
binds them together as leikais influences
women to engage in traditional practice of
marup.
Inaccessibility to formal credit institutions
Formal credit institutions such as
banks and microfinance institutions that
constitute as the most integral part of
financial transactions are less in number
against the population of Manipur.
According to Economic Survey 2007-08,
there were seventy seven commercial banks
of Manipur (as on 31st March, 2007) in
which a bank covers an average population
of 38.1 thousand. In the following years, four
more banks were added. A large section of
the population is not aware of the banking
facilities provided by financial institutions
as there is absence of these institutions even
in urban areas and obviously in remote areas.
The goal of banks to achieve financial
inclusion of the poor does not reach a large
98 Melody Kshetrimayum
section of population. There are no banks
and post office branches in New Checkon
area and the surrounding neighbourhoods
which compel people to make effort on their
own to get access to credit. Sorokhaibam
Suba Devi, 30 said:
There are no banks and post office
branches in New Checkon. And if we go to
bank which is located in bazaar, bank staffs
will ask hundred questions and hundred
documents, and finally a small amount of
money which we got a time limit to return.
So people find a way to make money or save
money without being troubled. If one wants
to start a business, one needs capital. From
where do we get that amount? No one lets
us borrow for free. Either we have to
exchange with gold and return with a high
interest. And once, we do, we will never be
able to get the gold back as the interest
charged will double the amount taken within
a short time. We have to stick to our long-
established marup, as it gives money
immediately without documents and request
to others.
The bank procedure which is a time
consuming process also restrain women
from getting access to the benefits provided
by banks. Even when women make effort to
reach nearest banks, they are not provided
financial services as they lack tangible
collateral assets. Since banks look for credit
worthy individual or groups, women often
find difficulties in availing and repaying
loans due to lack of documents and
collaterals. Besides, women do not
understand the range of financial services
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
provided by banks that includes savings and
deposit services, credit and insurance
services and payment and transfer services.
Less number of banks and difficulties in
getting access to credit needs from banks
induced women to join marup which is
convenient and easier means to meet their
credit needs. As compared to banks, marup
is easily accessible and could avail the lump
sum upon request to other members during
emergencies. Besides, marups are governed
by collective action rules and social norms
rather than remuneration interests.
Thus, organisation of marup takes
place when contextual factors including low
socio-economic condition, cultural belief to
be part of traditional practices and lack of
formal institutions induced women who have
common interest to organise marups to fulfill
their needs. Economic necessity is the main
reason that women start operating marup to
carry out economic activities and organise
rituals. Economic necessity acts as incentive
for women to operate their marups
collectively. And the phenomenon of
organising and functioning of marup is
enhanced by social capital embedded in
Meitei society in the form of trust,
cooperation and reciprocity.
3.3 Women becoming Capable as the
Outcome
Decision on financial issues
Financial issues refer to issues relating
to womens income, savings, investment and
sustainability of their income generating
 Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP ... Women in Manipur Valley
activities. The household decision making
capability of financial issues of women is
analysed in this section.
Lack of money and other economic
necessities of family led women to engage
in marup and start operating it as both a
savings and mutual aid institution. Women
who have the common interest to fulfill their
economic necessities operate marups
collectively. Women belong to one or several
marups at a time and the main attraction of
marup (cash marup) is economic. When
most women contribute money from the
income they earned through small scale
businesses, housewives are known to skimp
to keep aside small amount of money from
their daily household expenses to contribute
for marup (as savings). Many women who
felt the need to generate income have been
using money received from marup as capital
for starting their own businesses or for
investing in their family businesses. The
availability of credit through marup helped
women to become skilled entrepreneurs and
achieve economic independence. In addition,
the relationship and the values they shared
as members of marup helped them in
exploring varied forms of economic
activities collectively. For instance,
Konthoujam Tina Devi told:
Due to lack of money to fulfill family
needs, I and my friends were always looking
for something which could give us a capital
to start our joint business. We joined one
marup which started that time in our leikai.
I, along with four other members of our
leikai marup collectively accumulated Rs.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
99
1 lakh and started lending money to
groceries, vendors and individuals with an
interest of eight percent. We started this
business two years ago and now we managed
to accumulate more than one and half lakhs.
We have expanded this lending business
even in the market too. We collectively
decide the repayment schedule, interest,
investment, book keeping and our respective
responsibilities. We five women share our
respective payments from the interest
collected. This business has helped us in
establishing a source of regular income and
acquiring knowledge of financial
transactions. Our husbands do not bother us
about the money we keep to ourselves.
Salam Vandana Devi, 24 is an
entrepreneur who started her embroidery and
stitching enterprise in her own house with
the help of marup.
As my parents could not provide the
capital or the requirements, I joined a marup
three years back to accumulate money. I
purchased five sewing machines
immediately after I received my share from
that marup. I am managing six girls who are
skilled in embroidery and tailoring. All the
girls who are assisting me are my friends
from my neighbourhood and this makes it
easier for me to cooperate with them.
Cooperation and trust between us helped us
to acquire entrepreneurial, handiwork and
financial transaction skills from each other.
While the five girls are occupied with the
handwork, one girl travels to take contracts
and deliver to neighbours and the markets. I
and my friends opened a joint bank account
100 Melody Kshetrimayum
in which we deposit Rs. 5000 every month
and we take their payment from the
remaining income.
Marup provides the opportunities to
enhance their livelihood and explore varied
forms of economic activities which they
carry out for collective benefits. The lump
sum amount provides funds for capital and
investment in their businesses. The above
illustrations of two separate private
enterprises that are supervised and managed
by three women started with help of marup
and their fellow marup members. These
enterprises have helped women to increase
their income and learn financial literacy
which in turn helped them in making
appropriate decisions related to their
personal finances. They decide on savings,
income, expansion of enterprises and
investments. Besides improving the
livelihood strategies, marup also aids to the
quality of life by providing resources. It
helps them to get self-employed and become
economically independent by engaging in
various income generating activities
collectively as well as individually. Women
start owning financial resources and means
of production and no longer depend on mens
income for household expenses, personal
assets (ornaments) and carrying out their
businesses. Marup promotes womens
economic independence and helped women
become capable to deal with financial issues
related to their income, savings and other
transactions. However, the economic
independence they achieved with the help
of marup does not necessarily allow them
to decide on matters of credit utilisation. For
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
some women, economic independence
simply means engaging in economic
activities. As Hijam Ibem mentioned:
Most of the time, my husband decides
where and how to use the money as he is the
head of the family. He had been doing this
since we got married. He would give me the
money and advice me where to use it. After
all he is working for us, so its okay. My
husband wants to deal with the financial
issues as he thinks I cant handle it. Though
we discuss regularly, he is the one who
decides our expenses. Even when he thinks
that its of no use to join marups, he is happy
to take the lump sum amount when I win.
Then he arranges everything by himself from
going to the bank for saving, paying off debt
and paying fees for children to investing in
our business.
Although women contributed for
marup and handles businesses single-
handedly, they are not the decision maker
of financial issues of their family and
business. They do not have control over their
income, savings and investment as husbands
decide over financial issues as head of their
families. Women achieved economic
independence through their abilities but lack
capability as decision makers of their own
income, savings and other financial
transactions. As many women felt that their
husbands are head of families and work for
the development of their families, it is
acceptable for them to let their husbands
decide on financial matters.
Strategic life choices
Strategic life choices refers to choices
 Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP ... Women in Manipur Valley 101
of women relating to their bodily integrity
regarding movement from one place to
another, affiliation with others, engagement
in social interactions and social support and
participation in paid work and other projects
and engagement in recreational activities.
Movement from one place to another
Meitei womens mobility is often
limited within the leikai and till the
workplace for working women. The beliefs
and values attached to the conduct of a
woman in Meitei society does not allow
them to move around like men. Following
their participation in marup, they move
freely to more leikais and market for the
purpose to attend marup and engage in
economic activities.
Hijam Prema Devi said:
One marup starts and another ends but
we continue to engage in different marups
to fulfill our needs [.]. Participation in
marups has given me opportunity to visit the
locality (where marup takes place) and for
this visits, I dont need to bother about
uncompleted household work. My family
doesnt mind as they know I am going for
marup. And during marup meetings, I get to
know of many friends from other leikai who
were earlier unfamiliar to me. At the end of
meetings, we spent lot of leisure time talking
about life, children, husband and our
problems.
The marup members attendance is
mandatory to receive the rotary amount and
usually members who do not attend the
meeting or contribute before the lottery are
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
not allowed to participate in the lottery of
that meeting but are asked to pay fine. Such
mandate makes women to join the meeting
on time. The marup culture established
based on disciplinary procedures like
punctuality and compulsory attendance need
womens active participation as marup
members. Women fulfill these
responsibilities for individual and collective
benefits. While doing so, they move from
one place to another more frequently and
regularly that is from their household to the
leikai where marup meetings take place and
meet people from different leikais. This
movement is not questioned by other
members of their families as they are aware
of marup culture and its norms. However a
more extensive movement is seen among
women who undertake economic activities
to make profit in the market. Completing the
tasks of making profit and developing more
economic opportunities requires regular
movements from one place to another. Their
movement is not limited to one area or two
but extended in the market where more
economic opportunities are available and
they make effort to further extend the
business with sound investment.
Affiliation with others
Affiliation with others means
engagement in social interactions, being able
to be a part of social networks, and to give
and receive social support. As marup is
formed by group of women who share same
values and beliefs, women influence each
others mutual behaviour to support,
cooperate and reciprocate while striving to
attain their goals. They encouraged each
102 Melody Kshetrimayum
other to participate in marups. Organisation
of marup helps women to affiliate to one
another and to the group and build a better
social network. H. Sana Devi said:
As members of marup, we all engage
in carrying out the procedures of a marup
meeting. Only one or two people cant carry
out all the procedures alone. We all are
saving together, carrying out the procedures,
having refreshments and contributing for
other members when they cant contribute
on time. We also talk on family, children,
their problems, women related health
problems, relatives and so on.
Participation in a marup itself is to be
a part of an extended social network of
friends and neighbours who trust and
cooperate with each other. During
organisation of marup, women work
together to save, carry out marup procedures
and make resolutions. In marup, women
interact on money transaction and book
keeping (of marup), work related, family,
health and personal issues. During
interactions, women first give emphasis on
marup related issues such as ways of
performing the lottery, excluding those
names who did not contribute on time and
giving a member to take away the lump sum
without lottery for meeting urgent need.
When interpersonal conflict arises due to
different opinions, women solve it by
cooperating and adjusting to one anothers
requirements. Women sometimes contribute
money for their friends when they are absent
or cannot contribute due to unavoidable
circumstances and the favour is return by
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
these friends at times when they face
problem. When the winner is announced and
refreshment is served by the winner, the
group start relaxing and sharing familial and
personal issues. They express amusements
and entertain one another and at the same
time, share problems when in distress.
Marup also provides the opportunity to
increase support, guide and secure one
another when needed. By interacting during
marup organisation, they establish
cooperation, reciprocity and mutual support
between them to solve problem and strive
to attain their goals together.
Participation in paid work and other
projects
Paid work refers to any economic
activities through which women can earn
income and other projects include activities
that enhance womens skills to undertake
economic activities. Due to lack of financial
assistance and non-availability of capital,
women could not carry out economic
activities which could provide them
economic independence. With participation
in marup through small savings, women
received lump sum amount and this helped
them engage in self employment activities.
Such economic activities include lending
business, tailoring, charcoal, groceries, road
side hotel and other petty business such as
poultry farming, pickle and incense stick
making which could be carried out at home.
As mentioned above, Konthoujam Tina and
Salam Vandana are some of the women who
engage in paid work to fulfill their needs.
Although marup may not have
 Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP ... Women in Manipur Valley 103
significant contribution towards other
projects, women receive information about
such projects through the social network
formed during marup organisation. H. Sana
Devi illustrated:
Last month, one of my friends
informed me about a workshop to be held at
the local club for women. One NGO had
organised it for women to learn blouse
cutting-making and mosquito net making.
We, in group of four went and gave
interview. Three of us got selected as we had
shown interest and could do something on
our own after the workshop. It was a one
month workshop. Three teachers had come
to supervise us about cutting and stitching.
Its really nice that we acquired this skill.
We are planning to join a marup to get capital
and buy some sewing machines and start a
dressmaking business.
The extended social network formed
during organisation of marup help women
to get information about projects to enhance
their economic skills. Women feel confident
when participated in groups in such projects.
Social network of marup friends help them
participate in projects that enhance their
skills and provide opportunities to undertake
economic activities.
Engagement in recreational activities
Spending time together with friends
in recreational activities provides pleasure
that is an important capability for a healthier
mind and happier life. Meeting more people
with common interests and developing new
relationship with them improve interpersonal
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
skills. Marup gives women the opportunities
to enjoy organised recreational activities
such as practicing arts and participation in
excursions. Such activities are intrinsic
aspects of womens well being as it provides
relaxation and pleasure. K. Bheiga Devi told:
We gather eleven women from three
leikais. Our group of thirteen women started
rehearsing under a good teacher near the
palace compound. She gave us two more
girls who could really sing well. Our marup
serves us two purposes, both money and
hobby. We started singing during holi,
janmasthami, durga puja, rathjatra and
during religious functions in many leikais.
We collected a huge sum of amount during
festivals and religious gatherings. The
collected amount is kept with me and one
member withdraws Rs. 1500 who wins the
lottery. All procedures of marup are followed
and we also contribute Rs. 50 every month
as marup members.
Marup organises women to engage in
recreational activities either to raise fund for
them or simply for pleasure. While
organising art activities, they collect funds
from the viewers or the organisations where
they performed their activities. The marup
members may or may not contribute to the
saving of marup. The fund collected is used
for group outings, pilgrimage and sometimes
distributed among members. Among married
women, practicing arts and organising social
gatherings in the leikai are some of the
recreational activities they engage in through
marup. Recreational activities promote
active social involvement which reduces
104 Melody Kshetrimayum
depression. Since aging and deprivation
causes depression among women, they take
pleasure in recreational activities with
friends and neighbours to reduce depression.
Many women join marup for practicing arts
with friends which require them to travel
from place to place during festivals, social
and cultural functions. This type of marup
also organises social gatherings such as
feasts where all leikai members are invited.
Social gatherings are often accompanied by
entertainment by girls and boys and marup
members. Marup, on one hand facilitates
organised recreational activities, on the other
hand, it help people feel togetherness and
feel connected to community life. Through
marup, recreational activities provide social
cohesion by allowing women to connect and
network with people. It gathers like- minded
people who enjoy practicing arts, outdoor
activities and being a part of socially active
group. Involvement in recreational activities
not only provides physical rest from daily
routine but also contribute to womens
quality of life. It provides physical and
psychological benefits by reducing
depression and stress due to deprivation, and
economic and domestic responsibilities.
Thus, the contextual factors including
the social, economic, cultural and
institutional condition collectively
influenced women to participate in marup.
Contextual factors such as low socio-
economic condition makes women deprived
of their basic needs and deprivation
influenced them to seek for a means to
reduce it. Women having low socio-
economic condition gather and organise
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
marup to meet their needs which is more
convenient for them. Organisation of marup
is also influenced by cultural factor such as
womens belief to be part of traditional
institutions. Since marup is embedded in the
Meitei culture and a form of cooperation that
governs their behaviour, it is every Meitei
womans belief to be part of marup to
organise rituals, to be part of their leikai and
to meet their social and economic needs
collectively. Institutional factor is another
important contextual factor that influenced
organisation of marup. Inaccessibility to
formal credit institutions and its services
induced women to look for other means to
meet their credit needs. Thus, marup is also
organised due to absence of financial
services provided by formal credit
institutions like banks. In the process of
organising marup, they share values of trust,
cooperation and reciprocity that enhanced
the functioning of the group. Womens
economic necessity acted as incentive to start
their marups functioning. Womens
capability is affected as an outcome of their
participation in marups.
Women increased their income,
savings and enhanced their livelihood
through the financial assistance by marup
but their capability as decision makers on
financial issues could be argued in two ways.
Women as individuals still depend on their
husbands for decisions relating to financial
issues while women as groups are capable
to decide themselves. In the family, husband
is the head and makes important decisions
and womans incapability of making
financial decisions can be explained by her
 Women Towards Achieving 3rd MDG: Role of MARUP ... Women in Manipur Valley 105
submissiveness to the husband. While
women view money as financial security,
their husbands view it as power through
which they can exercise their control over
their families. This concept of gaining
controlling authority by men makes women
disengage in decision making relating to
financial issues though they contribute to the
household income. The traditional notion
that requires Meitei women to obey and be
submissive to their husbands in the family
does not allow them to take decisions on
financial issues. Thus, the patriarchal social
structure of Meitei society does not support
womens capability as decision makers of
financial issues within the family. On the
other hand, women who carried out
enterprises in groups were capable to decide
on financial matters. Women handle the
financial transactions themselves and tackle
the issues by sharing their experiences and
knowledge. Mens controlling authority is
limited within the family and is not extended
to womens affiliations to marup and marup
members. Besides, existing favourable
conditions for Meitei women to participate
in women collectives and take decisions with
their associates encouraged them to decide
on financial issues with their colleagues and
prevent their husbands from controlling their
decisions outside the household.
Women both as individuals and
groups become capable to decide on strategic
life choices through marup. This can be
explained by womens affiliation to marup
and the absence of complete subordination
of women in Meitei society. Due to
affiliation to marups, women increased their
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
mobility in order to meet the requirements
of marup procedures and to extend their
economic opportunities. Womens increased
movement is not resisted by family members
since their movement is associated with
marup. And their contribution to household
income maintains cordial relationship with
their spouses thereby reducing chances of
domestic violence. Women interact with
more people supporting and cooperating
each other and extend their social network
of friends and neighbours. This extended
network helps them explore economic
opportunities and joint economic ventures.
Women also engage in paid works and
projects during the process of accessing
economic opportunities. Apart from
accessing economic and social needs
through marup, women also engage in
recreational activities by participating in
marups. And women gained all these
capabilities as the social structure of Meitei
society does not impose complete
subordination of women thereby allowing
to change and exercise choices.
4. Conclusion
Marup which is an eminent
manifestation of Meitei culture acts as a
medium for women to get economically and
socially empowered. Although not
recognised as a viable institution to be linked
to formal institutions, marup continue to
remain as the most convenient means of
savings and credit institution for Meitei
women and their community as a whole. It
alleviates the challenges of deprivation faced
by Meitei women. It contributes to the
106 Melody Kshetrimayum

process of empowering women by indigenous institutions practiced in various

influencing them in gaining capabilities to
decide on financial issues and strategic life
choices. And these capabilities gained are
enhanced by common values and beliefs
shared among marup members.
Undoubtedly, marup has the potential to
become a viable tool for women
empowerment and their financial inclusion.
Since women as groups are more capable as
decision makers on financial issues, women
could be encouraged to organise into groups
to engage in economic activities. At the local
level, it can be of particular interest to
investigate on how informal credit
associations like marup can act as catalyst
of development in a state like Manipur where
there is no systematic means of earning and
where there is lack of infrastructure.
To conclude, rotating savings and
credit associations and many other similar
parts of the world could play an instrumental
role in achieving the third MDG. Indigeneity,
female dominance (in terms of membership)
and presence of social capital are some of
the women-friendly nature of these
associations that could act as tool for
empowering women. However, empowering
women through informal associations
depend on the diversity of local social,
economic, cultural and political aspects.
Also the presence of incentives like
economic necessity and social pressure is
needed to enhance the collective action of
women to work out their common interests.
Since economic empowerment is often
considered as the key to social and political
empowerment, it is important to employ such
informal credit associations that are more
widely distributed, has variety of forms and
functions, and more durable to withstand
adversities than the formal credit
institutions.

References
Ardener, Shirley. 1964. The Comparative Study of Rotating Credit Associations, The Journal of the
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol.94. No.2. 201-229.
Dey, Supratim. 2012. Poverty Increases in four NE states: Planning Commission, Business Standard.
Economic Survey 2007-2008. Government of Manipur.
Economic Survey 2010-2011. Government of Manipur.
Kumar, Hajira and, Varghese, Jaimon. 2005. Womens Empowerment- Issues, Challenges and
Strategies, Regency Publications: New Delhi.
Low, Alaine. 1995. A Bibliographical Survey of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations, Oxfam
GB: Oxford.
Nussbaum, Martha. C. 2000. Women and Human Development- The Capabilities Approach,
Cambridge University Press: United Kingdom.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

HEALTH SEEKING PRACTICES OF WOMEN: A KEY ISSUE
TO BE ADDRESSED FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND
HEALTH CARE SUSTAINABILITY
Introduction
In an age where obesity,
cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are
rampant across all populations, a group that
is vulnerable to all these conditions:
menopausal women, undeniably needs
special focus. Women have been found to
suffer from higher comparative prevalence
of obesity and cardio-metabolic disorders as
compared to men (1, 2) . The repeated
hormonal variations at various stages of
reproductive life, for e.g. puberty, pregnancy
and finally menopause, leads to changes in
body composition, redistribution and
expansion of adipose tissue, especially the
metabolically active abdominal fat
deposition, all of which partly explains the
higher occurrence of obesity in women(3).
This is accompanied by a number of other
clinical-biochemical changes that are
reflective of the metabolic disturbances
underneath and can become the reason for
development of adverse cardio-vascular
outcomes (4).
Given that the health situation of
menopausal women in India is highly
compromised due to high prevalence of
multiple risk factors and aberrations in
metabolism, it is reasonable to plan
intervention strategies in order to target the
situation(5). However, certain other factors
* Department of Foods and Nutrition, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The Maharaja Sayajirao
University of Baroda, Fatehgunj, Vadodara-390002 Email : umamsufn@hotmail.com
Uma Iyer*
Nitya Elayath*
that come into play while administering
health services to women in India, that are
beyond the purview of health services,
include reasons that are social in nature. A
considerable proportion of women in India
shy away from seeking health services for
reasons ranging from economic constraints
to lax attitude towards their health to
sidelining their health to accommodate the
familys well being (6).
For this reason, it was felt essential
to study the health seeking practices of the
women to see whether women if despite
being informed that they are suffering from
certain risk factors proven to predispose
them to adverse health events, seek medical
help or not.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
For the study 186 women (44 women
in the age group of 30-40 years, 66 women
in the age group of 40-50 years and 76
women in the age group of 50-70 years) were
enrolled from the free-living population
during the time span of October 2009 to
April 2010 from each four zones of Vadodara
city namely, north zone, south zone, east
zone and west zone.
The information about the enrolment
in the study was passed on employing the
snowballing technique, wherein one or
108 Uma Iyer, Nitya Elayath
couple of individuals in each zone of the city
was informed about the enrolment of
subjects for the study. The potential subjects
were notified that the incentives for
participation in the study included a free
health check-up at their households and
provision of the health report following the
health check up. It was made clear to all the
subjects that they would not incur any cost
for participating in the study. All the
consenting individuals were asked to read
and sign a consent form, those who were not
able to read, were explained clearly, the
objectives of the study, the information
required to be provided by the subject upon
enrolment. When the required number of
subjects from a particular zone was achieved
(roughly 50), the enrolment was stopped.
Once the subjects were enrolled after
obtaining the written consent, an
appointment was scheduled for one or two
hours as per their convenient time and during
this allotted time period, the collection of
information pertaining to socio-economic
status, medical obstetric history, dietary
habits and intake, lifestyle habits, physical
activity, anthropometric measurements and
blood pressure measurements were
conducted at the subjects place of residence.
The parameters that were studied
included reported data (information on
socio-economic status, medical obstetric
history, dietary habits and intake, lifestyle
habits and physical activity), physical
parameters (height, weight, waist
circumference and hip circumference) and
biophysical parameters (blood pressure and
bone mineral density).
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
During the exploratory research, the
women who had elevated levels of risk
factors, were informed of their high risk
situation and were asked to see a doctor for
further diagnosis and treatment, if any.
After a period of two years, of the 186
subjects studied in the exploratory research
phase, 107 could be followed up, for
studying the longitudinal outcomes of the
health check-up conducted as a part of the
formative research. Of the total 186, only
107 could be contacted, because 27 had
permanently moved, 42 were temporarily
unavailable because of either being out of
station or having changed their contact
details, 7 were not willing to share any
details and 3 unfortunately, had expired.
The 107 subjects were followed up to
observe what action pertaining to health was
taken immediately after they obtained the
results from health check-up, and track the
anthropometric changes undergone by them
over a period of 2 years. The follow-up also
tracked if the women had taken any health-
seeking action after the health check-up till
2 years. In follow-up, the subjects whose
contact details were valid after 2 years were
called on for an appointment at a time
convenient to them and at the scheduled
appointment the reported data and the
physical and biophysical measurements were
collected.
The parameters that were studied
included reported data (information on the
action taken after the subjects got the results
of the health check-up), physical parameters
(height, weight, waist circumference and hip
 Health Seeking Practices of Women: A Key Issue ... Care Sustainability
circumference) and biophysical parameters
(blood pressure).
Results And Discussion
The results indicated that the mean
weight of the subjects during the time of the
initial health checkup was 64.47kg, which
had mildly increased to 64.50kg after a
period of 2years (Figure 1). The mean waist
circumference of the subjects had also
increased slightly from 95.54cm at baseline
to 95.97cm at the end of 2 years (Figure 1).
The mean blood pressure of the subjects had
reduced from 130mmHg to 127mmHg SBP,
which was still in the pre-hypertensive
category. The DBP had reduced from
82mmHg to 79mmHg (Figure 1). A fact to
be considered here is that a considerable
number of people were freshly diagnosed as
hypertensives in the initial health checkup
and in the subjects who were followed up
had started on anti-hypertensive medication.
Regarding the health seeking
practices of the subjects, it was observed that
indeed the women had shockingly low health
seeking practices, as reflected by the fact that
very few of them actually took some action
when they discovered they need health
consultation (Table 1). Of the 107 subjects
that were followed up, only a mere 3.04%
had seen a doctor and more than half
(57.7%) of the subjects had not taken any
action after getting the results of the health
check up. The remaining 39.9% reported that
they did not consult a doctor because the
results were normal. This takes attention to
the fact that the health seeking practices of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
109
women in India is abysmally low, awareness
needs to be created among them so that they
realize that health consultation if sought
early, will revert most of the adverse health
conditions they are predisposed to.
A number of studies have reported
that menopausal women in India do not have
avail the health services available and most
of them remain untreated (7) . Despite
availability of evidence based medicine, a
large proportion of women goes untreated
or relies on unproven alternative therapies.
Salient Observations
Following observations and
conclusions can be made from this small but
significant study:
1. The longitudinal data on body
composition did not reflect any
significant changes in the body
composition measures, namely
Weight and WC.
2. The longitudinal effect on blood
pressure of the subjects was that the
there was a mean reduction in the
blood pressure values over a period
of 2 years, this could implicate
initiation of hypertension therapy,
which indicates that women sought
medical help.
3. Thus from this small but significant
study, the main finding is that despite
being informed that they need medical
consultation and despite adequate
health facilities being available,
110 Uma Iyer, Nitya Elayath

middle aged menopausal women
refrain from seeking health
consultation.
Conclusions & Recommendations
From the results summarized above,
it can be concluded that women tend to
refrain from seeking health care even in the
face of presence of innumerable risk factors.
This is a cause of concern because this lax
attitude can hinder and affect the outreach
of health services.
The health seeking practices of Indian
women has a long way to go and need
improvement through counselling and
electronic media in order to prevent
clustering of risk factors and early
prevention of cardio-metabolic events, also
to improve the outreach of health programs.

Figure 1 Longitudinal Trends in Body Composition and Blood Pressure in

the Subjects (N=107)

TABLE 1: LONGITUDINAL OUTCOMES OF A HEALTH CHECK UP IN THE

SUBJECTS (N=107)

O UTCOME %

DID NOT TAKE ACTION 57.7

CONS ULTED A DOCT OR 3

NORMAL 39.9

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Health Seeking Practices of Women: A Key Issue ... Care Sustainability 111

References
1. Mankad R and Best PJM. (2008). Cardiovascular disease in older women: a challenge in
diagnosis and treatment. Womens Health,4(5): 449-464.
2. Davis S.R., Castelo-Branco C., Chedraui P., Lumsden M.A., Nappi R.E., Shah D. et al. (2012).
Understanding weight gain at menopause. Climacteric: Vol 15, 419-429.
3. Prez-Lpez FR, Larrad-Mur L, Kallen A, Chedraui P and Taylor HS. (2010). Gender
Differences in Cardiovascular Disease: Hormonal and Biochemical Influences. Reprod Sci.,
17(6): 511531.
4. Gaur, P. and Iyer, U. (2013). Non-Invasive Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases in
Pre and Postmenopausal Women of Vadodara: A Pilot Study. IJABPT. 4(3): 73-80.
5. Puentes-Markides C. (1992). Women and access to health care.SocSci Med., 35(4): 619-26.
6. Sengupta A.(2003). The emergence of the menopause in India.Climacteric, 6(2):92-5.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND
UPLIFFTMENT OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN: A GLOBAL CRY
FOR ACTION RATHER THAN PROMISES
Introduction
Understanding the term indigenous
Considering the diversity of
indigenous peoples, an official definition of
indigenous has not been adopted by any
UN-system body. Instead the system has
developed a modern understanding of this
term based on the following:
1) Self- identification as indigenous
peoples at the individual level and
accepted by the community as their
member.
2) Historical continuity with pre-
colonial and/or pre-settler societies.
3) Strong link to territories and
surrounding natural resources
4) Distinct social, economic or political
systems
5) Distinct language, culture and beliefs
6) Form non-dominant groups of society
7) Resolve to maintain and reproduce
their ancestral environments and
systems as distinctive peoples and
communities
8) According to the UN the most fruitful
* Dean & Head, Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India
** Anand Institute of Social Work, Anand, Gujarat, India. Email: mnparmar12@rediffmail.com,
snehalrajyaguru17@gmail.com
M. N. Parmar*
Snehal Raut**
approach is to identify, rather than
define indigenous peoples. This is
based on the fundamental criterion of
self-identification as underlined in a
number of human rights documents.
The term indigenous has prevailed
as a generic term for many years. In some
countries, there may be preference for other
terms including tribes, first peoples/nations,
aboriginals, ethnic groups, adivasi, and
janajati. Occupational and geographical
terms like hunter-gatherers, nomads,
peasants, hill people, etc., also exist and for
all practical purposes can be used
interchangeably with indigenous peoples.
In many cases, the notion of being termed
indigenous has negative connotations and
some people may choose not to reveal or
define their origin. Others must respect such
choices, while at the same time working
against the discrimination of indigenous
peoples.
It is estimated that there are more than
370 million indigenous people spread across
70 countries worldwide. Practicing unique
traditions, they retain social, cultural,
economic and political characteristics that
are distinct from those of the dominant
societies in which they live. Spread across
 Millennium Development Goals and Uplifftment ...Than Promises
the world from the Arctic to the South
Pacific, they are the descendants - according
to a common definition - of those who
inhabited a country or a geographical region
at the time when people of different cultures
or ethnic origins arrived. The new arrivals
later became dominant through conquest,
occupation, settlement or other means.
Among the indigenous peoples are
those of the Americas (for example, the
Lakota in the USA, the Mayas in Guatemala
or the Aymaras in Bolivia), the Inuit and
Aleutians of the circumpolar region, the
Saami of northern Europe, the Aborigines
and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia and
the Maori of New Zealand. These and most
other indigenous peoples have retained
distinct characteristics which are clearly
different from those of other segments of the
national populations.
Indigenous peoples have historically
faced social exclusion and
marginalization. They are disproportionately
represented among the poor and extremely
poor, their levels of access to adequate health
and education services are well below
national averages, and they are especially
vulnerable to the consequences of
environmental degradation.
Indigenous peoples have the right to
maintain and develop their political,
economic and social systems or institutions,
to be secure in the enjoyment of their own
means of subsistence and development, and
to engage freely in all their traditional and
other economic activities. (UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Art.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
113
2001). Since Indigenous peoples inhabit
some of the worlds most challenging, most
vulnerable but also most biodiversity-rich
environments, it is now widely
acknowledged that indigenous peoples play
a crucial role in the sustainable management
of these lands and waters, and the natural
resources and species that share these
habitats with indigenous communities. But
when discussing, planning and
implementing sustainable development and
environmental conservation project, a most
important voice often tends to remain
unheard: the voice of indigenous women.
Being ignored, remaining invisible in
development planning is what indigenous
women have in common with many non-
indigenous women.
Indigenous women have always been
part of their peoples struggles, whether
nationally or at international forum. There
is a legacy of extraordinary women, who
came to the UN since the very first year of
the Working Group on Indigenous
Populations, in 1982 in Geneva,
Switzerland. Today, at the UN Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues indigenous
women participate in great numbers and
have a strong voice.
The interface between indigenous
womens movement and the international
womens movement varies through the
years. Not always were they close, most of
all due to particularities in the situation of
indigenous women who live in communities
in struggle. However, in recent years the two
movements are getting closer. For instance,
114 M N Parmar, Snehal Raut
indigenous women are now raising stronger
voices in claiming the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action.
Despite their enormous assets and
contribution to society, indigenous women
still suffer from multiple discrimination,
both as women and as indigenous
individuals. They are subjected to extreme
poverty, trafficking, illiteracy, lack of access
to ancestral lands, non-existent or poor
health care and to violence in the private and
the public sphere. This violence is
exacerbated when indigenous communities
find themselves in the midst of conflict and
women become the target of violence with
political motives, when going about their
daily work, fetching wood or water for the
family.
Why indigenous womens voices are not
heard?
But when discussing, planning and
implementing sustainable development and
environmental conservation project, a most
important voice often tends to remain
unheard: the voice of indigenous women.
Being ignored, remaining invisible in
development planning is what indigenous
women have in common with many non-
indigenous women.
Indigenous women, however, are
facing even greater challenges in asserting
their right to equal participation. Being both
indigenous and women, they are doubly
discriminated. They are discriminated by the
wider society but often also within their own
societies. For example, in education poor
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
indigenous families often give priority to
boys. Thus, many women remain uneducated
and they may not be able to speak the
countrys official language. When there are
community consultations in connection with
development planning and projects these
women are often excluded. It does not occur
to those responsible for conducting the
consultations to take extra efforts, like using
indigenous languages and a time-schedule
respecting womens work-loads, to ensure
that indigenous women are fully involved.
Why it is important to listen to indigenous
womens voices?
Ignoring indigenous women in the
planning and execution of sustainable
development initiatives not only means that
the rights of these women are violated. It
also means that valuable, sometimes even
critical contributions and thus opportunities
for better planning and implementation are
lost. This is the case because men and
women
Have different needs and different
priorities in connection with resource
use and management
Have different access to and control
over natural resources, in accordance
with the customary laws and practices
of the respective communities
Are using the environment in different
ways: they may use different
resources found there or they may use
the same resources differently
Have different knowledge of the
environment and natural resources
 Millennium Development Goals and Uplifftment ...Than Promises
suffer in different ways from
environmental degradation as a result
of unsustainable resource exploita-
tions and destructive infrastructure
and other development projects.
The Millennium Declaration, signed
by 147 Heads of State and Government, has
provided an opportunity for a renewed focus
on indigenous peoples in the international
development debate. As the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
stated during is fourth session, Indigenous
peoples have the right to benefit from the
Millennium Development Goals and from
other goals and aspirations contained in the
Millennium Declaration to the same extent
as all others. Indigenous and tribal peoples
are lagging behind other parts of the
population in the achievement of the goals
in most, if not all, the countries in which
they live, and indigenous and tribal women
commonly face additional gender-based
disadvantages and discrimination.
Modernization is the imposition of
the dominant political, economic and socio-
cultural systems on indigenous peoples. It
has dire consequences for indigenous
peoples since it is based on massive resource
exploitation, market-driven production and
unfair trade and competition without regard
to cultural diversities, local economies and
the sustainable resource management
systems of indigenous peoples. Moderniza-
tion often results in systematic and large-
scale displacement of indigenous peoples,
the destruction of their resources and
livelihoods, and the weakening of their
socio-cultural systems. As a result of the loss
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
115
of access to resources indigenous women
become economically more dependent on
men, which further weaken their status in
society. At the same time, the burden to take
care of and provide for the children
continues to rest on their shoulders. Their
role in ensuring food security is seriously
threatened, while increased resource
scarcity, environmental hazards and disasters
make their reproductive health conditions
even more vulnerable. As indigenous women
are forced to seek other sources of
livelihood, they become more vulnerable to
sexual and other forms of violence.
Most of the MDG reports shows
poverty of explanation about the situation
of indigenous women (in the context of
MDGs 3 and 5) and is rarely mentioned
anywhere. The only report that made any
more than a passing reference to indigenous
peoples in the context of these Goals was
the report by Vietnam, which discussed the
social challenges in achieving gender parity
for indigenous women.
MDGs and UNPFII
The Forum recommends that
agencies and bodies of the United Nations
and other inter-governmental organiza-tions
rethink the concept of development, with the
full participation of indigenous peoples in
development processes, taking into account
the rights of indigenous peoples and the
practices of their traditional knowledge. (E/
C.19/2003/22, Report on the Second Session
of the UNPFII, Para. 26)
The United Nations Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) has devoted
116 M N Parmar, Snehal Raut
a great deal of attention to the Millennium
Development Goals. Its fourth session
(2005) addressed MDG 1 (eradicate extreme
poverty and hunger) and MDG 2 (achieve
universal primary education) within the
context of indigenous peoples issues and its
fifth session (2006) was devoted to the
special theme The Millennium
Development Goals and indigenous peoples:
Redefining the Goals.
The adoption of the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples by the General Assembly in
September 2007, in particular, Articles 41
and 42, provides a crucial opportunity and
call to action for states and the UN system
to integrate indigenous visions of
development into their work towards the
achievement of the MDGs.
Indigenous peoples have historically
faced social exclusion and marginalization.
They are disproportionately represented
among the poor and extremely poor, their
levels of access to adequate health and
education services are well below national
averages, and they are especially vulnerable
to the consequences of environmental
degradation. If the Millennium
Development Goals are to be met, states
need to give priority attention to the situation
of indigenous peoples.
Although there is little data on
indigenous peoples and the Millennium
Development Goals, a few figures illustrate
the situation faced by indigenous peoples
around the world. According to United
Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Issues, Indigenous peoples number about
300 to 370 million. While they constitute
approximately 5% of the worlds population,
indigenous peoples make up 15% of the
worlds poor. Furthermore, indigenous
peoples make up about one third of the
worlds 900 million extremely poor rural
people. Indigenous peoples face huge
disparities in terms of access to and quality
of education and health. In Guatemala, for
example, 53.5% of indigenous young people
aged 15-19 have not completed primary
education, as compared to 32.2% of non-
indigenous youth. In Bolivia, the infant
mortality rate among the indigenous
population is close to 75/1000, as compared
to 50/1000 for the non-indigenous
population.
During the fifth session of the United
Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues, many indigenous peoples, through
their organizations, made statements about
the urgent need to redefine the Millennium
Development Goals. While the Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues appreciates that
it is not possible to redefine the Goals, it
also recognizes that there is a clear need to
redefine approaches to the implementation
of the Goals so as to include the perspectives,
concerns, experiences and world views of
indigenous peoples. Statements also
confirmed that there was a need for
indigenous peoples to provide their own
definitions of poverty and development and
that there should be full and effective
participation of indigenous peoples in the
implementation of the Goals.
 Millennium Development Goals and Uplifftment ...Than Promises
Achieving gender equality and the
empowerment of women, including
indigenous women, is an important part of
achieving the MDGs. Owing to the cross-
cutting nature of gender equality, it is also
critical that gender perspectives be fully
integrated into the implementation and
monitoring of all the other objectives
associated with the United Nations
Millennium Declaration and the Millennium
Development Goals.
There is a genuine need of Identifying
priorities with regards to the development
needs of communities, in particular those of
the weaker sections, i.e. children, women
and in particular widows, single mothers etc.
Identifying and proposing management
solutions for resources that are critical for a
communitys sustainable livelihood.
Conserving the diversity of native
domesticated plant varieties that are
necessary for maintaining resilience in
agriculture and ensuring food security for
the community also enhancing the
knowledge on agricultural and seed
conservation, medicinal plants and healing
practices that can be integrated in
community health programmes. Monitoring
and documenting the resources that are under
stress and the causes thereof, i.e. over-
exploitation, habitat destruction, climate
change etc.
Proposing viable alternative land use
practices or income sources to reduce
pressure on endangered species or resources
that are critical for local livelihoods.
Mobilizing the existing knowledge and skills
for sustainable community development,
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
117
including for monitoring and enforcement
of resource use and management rules.
Designing appropriate social services to
meet the needs of indigenous communities
in general, and indigenous women and
children in particular.
If the Millennium Development Goals
are to be reached by 2015, they must be
underpinned by a human rights-based
approach to development that emphasizes
universality, equality, participation and
accountability. Working with indigenous
peoples on the MDGs also requires a
culturally sensitive approach, based on
respect for and inclusion of indigenous
peoples world-views, perspectives,
experiences, and concepts of development.
For achieving MDGs related to Indigenous
women, stresses on the involvement of
indigenous women in planning, executing,
co-ordinating and also evaluating the
projects related to their upliftment. The
importance of a rights-based approach and
cultural sensitivity has been repeatedly
emphasized by the UNPFII, particularly in
the reports of its fourth and fifth sessions,
which include a series of recommendations
on this issue to states, the UN System and
indigenous peoples organizations.
The Permanent Forum has adopted
more than 100 recommendations directly
referring to the situation of indigenous
women. The recommendations of the
UNPFII regarding indigenous women have
reflected its broad thematic mandate,
addressing a wide range of issues, including
education, culture, health, human rights,
118 M N Parmar, Snehal Raut
environment and development, conflict and
political participation. Recommendations on
these and other topics have been addressed
to States, UN agencies and bodies,
indigenous peoples and civil society.
During its eighth session, the
Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues prepared an Analysis on
progress in the implementation of the
recommendations of the Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues regarding
indigenous women, which is available in
all official UN languages.
The International Indigenous
Womens Forum (FIMI) also prepared
an Analysis and follow-up of the UN
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
recommendations related to Indigenous
Women, which is available
in English and Spanish.
During its fourth session a Task Force
on Indigenous Women (TFIW) was initiated
on 11 June 2004 following a decision of
the Inter-Agency Network on Women and
Gender Equality (IANGWE) at its February
2004 session and the recommendations of
the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues (UNPFII) at its Third (2004) Session
regarding indigenous women. The TFIW
was formed with the purpose to integrate and
strengthen gender mainstreaming as regards
indigenous womens roles and the special
concerns of indigenous women as an
emerging key issue in the work of the United
Nations system. Therefore, the duration of
the TFIW was from 2004 to 2006.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
During the fifth session of the United
Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues, many indigenous peoples, through
their organizations, made statements about
the urgent need to redefine the Millennium
Development Goals. While the Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues appreciates that
it is not possible to redefine the Goals, it
also recognizes that there is a clear need to
redefine approaches to the implementation
of the Goals so as to include the perspectives,
concerns, experiences and world views of
indigenous peoples. Statements also
confirmed that there was a need for
indigenous peoples to provide their own
definitions of poverty and development and
that there should be full and effective
participation of indigenous peoples in the
implementation of the Goals.
Achieving gender equality and the
empowerment of women, including
indigenous women, is an important part of
achieving the MDGs. Owing to the cross-
cutting nature of gender equality, it is also
critical that gender perspectives be fully
integrated into the implementation and
monitoring of all the other objectives
associated with the United Nations
Millennium Declaration and the Millennium
Development Goals.
The MDG report by Guyana makes
little direct mention of indigenous peoples,
Amerindians. There is also no indication
of consultations with indigenous peoples
organizations in the making of the report or
in the development projects that are
described. It is recognized, however, that the
 Millennium Development Goals and Uplifftment ...Than Promises
hinterland regions lag behind the national
averages on almost every target, and that
they therefore pose special challenges to
national development. It is also recognized
that Amerindians are the majority in these
areas. Therefore it would be beneficial for
future reporting in
Guyana to provide further disaggre-
gation of data on this target group and more
detailed reporting on Amerindian-focused
policies.
Kenya: Commentary on MDG
Country Report:
In conclusion, the MDG report for
Kenya offers no direct description of the
situation of indigenous communities. It does,
however, sometimes disaggregate the data
at the provincial level, making it possible to
highlight the areas where indigenous peoples
are concentrated. The report also at times
indicates that ASAL areas and pastoralist
communities are particularly marginalized,
though there is little or no elaboration. While
the report is especially thorough in providing
a wide scope of the challenges in meeting
each MDG, and presenting the proposed
interventions to address the challenges, it
would have been desirable to include the role
of indigenous peoples especially in the
sections on environmental sustainability and
sustainable development.
In conclusion, the MDG report by
Myanmar overall lacks sufficient data to gain
a full picture of its progress to the goals, and
the country reports that the results of its
recent comprehensive survey will be useful
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
119
in future reporting. From the current report,
though, it appears that indigenous peoples
are not directly addressed in the context of
the development goals. There is also no
indication of participation from indigenous
peoples organizations in the report or related
development programmes and projects. The
report does recognize that the regions that
lag behind developmentally are in the border
region, and at times there is recognition of
specific areas in those regions, though no
mention is made as to the ethnic groups in
those areas who are indigenous peoples. The
report would benefit from greater
disaggregation of data by ethnic state and in
reporting on how indigenous peoples or
national races are consulted in the
development process, and in reporting on
Goals which seem disproportionately to
affect them, such as the spread of malaria.
Nepal: Commentary on MDG Country
Report:
In conclusion, the MDG report for
Nepal includes some mention of indigenous
peoples throughout the sections. The role of
indigenous peoples in ensuring Goal 7,
environmental stability, is particularly
emphasized. Elsewhere, the data is
disaggregated in a way that provides a
picture of the situation of indigenous
peoples.
Recognizing the ethnic disparities
statistically is a crucial first step in then
developing targeted policies, so it is a
positive step that Nepal has presented some
indication of this in the MDG report. There
is no indication, however, of participation
120 M N Parmar, Snehal Raut
from indigenous peoples organizations in
the report.
South Africa: Commentary On Mdg Country
Report
South Africas MDG report contains
no mention of indigenous peoples and the
data is not disaggregated at the regional or
provincial levels to allow for inferences to
be made. There is also no disaggregation of
the data by ethnic group at the national level,
which may allow for a better picture of the
situation.
There is no indication of participation
from indigenous peoples organizations in
the preparation of the report.
In conclusion, the MDG report by the
Russian Federation includes some mention
of indigenous or small-numbered peoples
when the data is examined by the regions
where indigenous peoples live. The report
is especially strong in its recognition that
indigenous communities experience lower
living standards. However, it would be
beneficial if indigenous peoples were
consistently highlighted throughout the
report, as the snapshot provided by the report
remains unclear as to their situation and their
inclusion in the development process.
Beyond an acknowledgement of the poverty,
for example, it is unclear if the education
systems reflect indigenous cultures or if the
conservation systems described involve
management by indigenous peoples. It is also
not completely evident if indigenous peoples
were consulted in the preparation of the
report.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
MDG Report By Vietnam
The MDG report by Vietnam
establishes widely that across all
development indicators, there is a disparity
between rich and poor, and that the poorest
are disproportionately in the remote, rural,
and isolated areas where indigenous peoples
or ethnic minorities live. The report is
therefore strong in its disaggregation of data
by region and ethnic group in a way that
allows for inclusion of the situation of
indigenous peoples in the reporting.
Indigenous peoples are especially discussed
in the context of the countrys own set of
development indicators, the VDGs. The
report would benefit from reporting on how
indigenous peoples or national races are
consulted in the development process that
is described. There is no indication of
participation from indigenous peoples
organizations in the preparation of the report.
Special findings reveals that Twenty
percent of the MDG reports reviewed
sufficiently include indigenous peoples by
consistently reporting on their situation
(Nepal and Vietnam). Another 50% address
indigenous issues to varying degrees
(Guyana, Myanmar, Russian Federation,
Suriname, Thailand), while the remaining
30% do not include any mention of
indigenous peoples (Kenya, South Africa,
and Zimbabwe).
2. None of the country reports under
review indicate that they were prepared with
consultation from indigenous peoples
organizations.
 Millennium Development Goals and Uplifftment ...Than Promises
3. None of the MDG reports provide
disaggregated data for indigenous peoples
in a consistent manner, for every goal.
Recommendations
The following are a few key
recommendations to better integrate
indigenous peoples issues into MDG
programmes and policies:
Indigenous women are important part
of a communitys social capital that can
contribute to the designing and
implementation of sustainable development
initiatives. With their gender-specific
knowledge, skills, social relations and
networks they can make contributions which
are critical in designing viable, practical
solutions to the challenges of sustainable
development.
Identify priorities with regards to the
development needs of communities,
in particular those of the weaker
sections, i.e. children, women and in
particular widows, single mothers etc.
Identify and propose management
solutions for resources that are critical
for a communitys sustainable
livelihood.
Conserve the diversity of native
domesticated plant varieties that are
necessary for maintaining resilience
in agriculture and ensuring food
security for the community
Enhance the knowledge on
agricultural and seed conservation,
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
121
medicinal plants and healing practices
that can be integrated in community
health programmes
Monitor and document the resources
that are under stress and the causes
thereof, i.e. over-exploitation, habitat
destruction, climate change etc.
Propose viable alternative land use
practices or income sources to reduce
pressure on endangered species or
resources.
Mobilize existing knowledge and
skills for sustainable community
development, including for
monitoring and enforcement of
resource use and management rules.
Design appropriate social services to
meet the needs of indigenous
communities in general, and
indigenous women and children in
particular.
The human rights-based approach is
needed for the development and
should be operationalized by states,
the UN system and other
intergovernmental organizations. The
recognition of indigenous peoples as
distinct peoples and the respect for
their individual and collective human
rights is crucial for achieving a just
and sustainable solution to the
widespread poverty that affects them.
Policies must be put in place to
ensure that indigenous peoples
have universal access to
122 M N Parmar, Snehal Raut

quality, culturally-sensitive monitoring and reporting,

social services. Some areas of including the production of
particular concern are inter- national MDG reports, as well
cultural/bilingual education as in the implementation,
and culturally sensitive monitoring and evaluation of
maternal and child healthcare. MDG-related programmes and
policies that will directly or
MDG-related programmes and indirectly affect them.
policies should be culturally
sensitive and include the active Improved disaggregation of
participation and free, prior and data is indispensable to
informed consent of indigenous properly monitor progress
peoples so as to avoid loss of towards MDG achievement in
land and natural resources for countries with indigenous
indigenous peoples and the populations, and should be a
accelerated assimilation and key priority for Governments
erosion of their cultures. For and the UN System. Several
example, United Nations initiatives are currently
Country Teams in Bolivia and underway to improve data
Kenya have established disaggregation at both national
indigenous peoples advisory and regional level. ECLAC,
committees to guide for example, has played a key
programming on indigenous role in improving data on
peoples issues. indigenous peoples in Latin
America and UNPFII has
States and the UN System must organized a series of regional
make greater efforts to include meetings on indicators of well-
indigenous peoples in MDG being for indigenous peoples.

References

Mander, J. and Tauli-Corpuz, V. (Eds.). (2006). From Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples Resistance
to Globalization, Sierra Club and International Forum on Globalization
Guyana Population and Housing Census (2002). Chapter 2.1.1. Available from the Guyana Bureau
of Statistics website: www.statisticsguyana.gov.gy.
http://awid.org/Get-Involved/Events/Events-Around-the-World/Conference14 retrieved on dated 8/
1/14.

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 Millennium Development Goals and Uplifftment ...Than Promises 123

http://undesadspd.org/IndigenousPeoples/CrossThematicIssues/IndigenousWomen.aspx retrieved
on dated 8/1/14
http://www.iwgia.org/iwgia_files_publications_files/0581_Voices_of_I_final.pdf retrieved on dated
8/1/14.
http://www.snapundp.org/elibrary/Publications/MDGsAndIndigenousPeoples.pdf retrieved on dated
8/1/14
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/5session_factsheet1.pdf retrieved on dated 8/1/14.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/mdgs. retrieved on dated 8/1/14
IFAD (2007). Statistics and key facts about indigenous peoples. IFAD (2007), Statistics and key
facts about indigenous peoples ECLAC (2005), Millennium Development Goals: A Latin
American and Caribbean Perspective.
Heartely, B. (2008). MDG Reports and Indigenous People, A Desk Review, No-3, United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
UNDP (2012). Millennium Development Goals and Indigenous People, End of Poverty, Rio+20
Earth Summit.
UNPFII (undated). The National MDG Reports.
The Rights of Indigenous Peoples, (A/RES/61/295) esp. Article 19.
UNPFII (2005). Report on the Fourth Session (E/C.19/2005/9).
UNPFII (2005). Report on the fourth session, E/C.19/2005/9.2)
UNPFII (2006). Report on the fifth session, E/C.19/2006/11

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

INTEGRATED APPROACH TO MATERNAL AND CHILD
HEALTH, NUTRITION AND WATER AND SANITATION
AMONG TRIBAL WOMEN IN BANSWARA, RAJASTHAN
Introduction
Health and nutrition profile in India
is alarming.Each year, 27 million
pregnancies occur in the country, yet
considerable proportions of women do not
access government health services for
antenatal care. Only 16 percent pregnant
women schedule three or more visits for
antenatal care.Thirty percent children are
born with low birth weight, a condition that
contributes to malnutrition later in life
(World Bank).
Banswara is one of the predominant
tribal districts of southern Rajasthanwith
population of 1,798 thousands inhabited by
Bhils, Bhilmeenas, Damor, Charpotas and
Ninamas tribes. Thearea is predominately
having ST (72 percent) and SC (4 percent)
population. The sex ratio is 979 females per
1000 males andfemale literacy rate is only
44 percent as compared to 72 percent among
males. The tribal belt of Banswara is lacking
basic amenities and infrastructure with only
31 percent households having access to
electricity, and still low having access to
toilet facilities (7 percent), piped drinking
water (9 percent), pucca house (12 percent)
* Research Director, Center for Operations Research & Training, Vadodara, India.
Email : bputtekar@cortindia.in
** Research Executive Center for Operations Research & Training, Vadodara, India.
*** Computer Programmer, Center for Operations Research & Training, Vadodara, India.
Bella Uttekar*
Kanchan Lakhwani**
Vasant Uttekar***
and LPG for cooking with 6 percent.
Similarly, around 14 percent have television.
Eighty seven percent of households belong
to low SLI and only 42 percent of households
have BPL cards.
A study of marriage and fertility
pattern reveals that in Banswara, 35 percent
of girls marry before 18 years, and 48 percent
of these married girls have 3 or more
children. There are no rail transport facilities
and poor road condition in Banswara. Most
(92 percent) of the villages have been
officially electrified but power supply is
irregular and unreliable. The basic services
are non-existent in the region (DLHS-3,
2007-08; Provisional census data, 2011).
The present paper is based on the
study conducted in three districts of
Rajasthan for Save the Children India.
Objective of the Study
The aim of the paper is to assess the
impact of the integrated approach of health,
nutrition and water and sanitation on
maternal health in the tribal area of
Banswara, Rajasthan.
 Integrated approach to maternal and ... among Tribal women in Banswara, Rajasthan
Methodology
A quantitative cross-sectional
household study using structured interviews
was conducted with 300 mothers of children
aged 0-24 months across 30 villages of
Ghatol block of Banswara, Rajasthan.
Qualitative techniques werealso used to
collect requisite information from key
stakeholders, government officials, members
of PRIs, and frontline workers on
intervention on health, nutrition and
WATSAN component.
Intervention by Save the Children
The intervention focused on
integrating health, nutrition and water and
sanitation. In health and nutrition focus was
on mother and children. Registration of
pregnancy, regular checkup during
pregnancy, ANC and PNC care, and
importance of institutional delivery were
emphasized. In child care, campaigns and
rallies on exclusive breast feeding were
organized. Awareness about supplementary
foods, hygiene of children and nutrition to
be given to children was spread through
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
125
various mediums. Growth monitoring was
one of the important components of health,
which was taken care off.
Under the intervention, activities
related to water and sanitation were
undertaken as they are linked with health.
Community and child friendly toilets were
constructed, awareness about importance of
village and home cleanliness, keep toilet
clean were spread along with motivating
people to use toilet. Emphasis was given on
hand wash practices and people were
encouraged to inculcate hand wash practices
showing them demonstration and benefits of
hand wash. People also learnt to throw
garbage in dustbin and to keep surrounding
clean. Water purification and its
management was emphasized. Residents
were given dandidarlota (handle glass) for
taking out water from pot; and oriented to
boilwater, keep water in safe place, put
chlorine tablet in water, etc. Hand pump
mechanics were trained to repair hand pumps
in Banswara. Certain activities related to
waste water management like kitchen garden
and making soak pits were undertaken.
BCC/IEC activities were carried out
by frontline workers. Posters were given to
I visit community regularly to immunize children. But,
in one of the home, the childs grandmother was not
allowing me to immunize her 3 years old
granddaughter. She even scolded me and asked me
to leave the home and not to return again. I didnt
lose hope and tried again to explain the grandmother
the importance of immunization. After my several
attempts for two months at last she was convinced
and the girl got immunized.
126 Bella Uttekar, Kanchan Lakhwani, Vasant Uttekar
anganwadi; campaign and rally were
conducted on hand wash and breast feeding,
drama and street play, wall painting were
organized on topic of health and nutrition,
various days like hand washing day,
immunization day, MCHN day were
celebrated. Various competitions were held
like healthy baby competition. Due to BCC
activities, awareness has increased, people
started taking treatment from hospital and
minimized traditional practices, institution
deliveries have increased, motherswere
focusing more on childs health, the practice
of pre lactalfeeding to child soon after birth
reduced. CHV played a vital role in creating
awareness and due to her efforts people
started availing services. Also Women
Support Groups and Men Support Groups
(150 each) were formed across 30 villages
and they worked toward spreading
awareness regarding health, nutrition and
water and sanitation. In their words,
As a member of WSG, we encourage
women to go for health checkups, and to breast
feed children, immunize them, inform them about
nutrition of both mother and child. We also
provide seeds to the lactating mothers and
encourage them to grow kitchen garden so that
they get vegetables to eat.
FGD with WSG
If transportation is to be arranged to
take a pregnant woman to hospital for delivery
we arrange that. We also look after bank
transactions of SHGs and matters related to
water and sanitation.
FGD with MSG
Model village and model anganwadi
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
were created and visits were planned to learn
and apply the same. The Intervention proved
helpful in facilitating linkages between
Village Health and Sanitation Committee
(under Development Committees (VDC)),
which were responsible for operation and
maintenance of water and sanitation
infrastructure and the
communities.Intervention demonstrated
models of integrated approach towards water
and sanitation, solid and liquid waste
management, health, and nutrition; along
with mobilizing community through support
groups and community health volunteers for
hygiene promotion.
Key Findings
Characteristics of respondents:Majority of
respondents were in age group of 2029
years, and 98 percent respondents were
Hindus. As Banswara being a tribal district,
82 percent were schedule tribe. Majority (64
percent) respondents had no education and
only 22 percent had completed middle and
secondary (6-10 years). Forty percent
women were involved in agriculture,
housewives (30 percent), manual labour (23
percent), skilled work and domestic help (7
percent).
Majority of the families included in
the study had their own house, mostly
kaccha (83 percent). Most (93 percent) used
wood for cooking food and 71 percent
households reported to be below poverty
line. Eighty seven percent of women were
from low standard of living (SLI).
 Integrated approach to maternal and ... among Tribal women in Banswara, Rajasthan 127

about antenatal care, went for 3 or more ANC

(72 percent) and women received
information on specific pregnancy
complication like vaginal
bleeding,convulsions and prolonged labour
(74-79 percent). Most (94 percent) women
registered themselves and 90 percent women
weregiven two injections of Tetanus during
last pregnancy, received any iron folic acid
tablets or syrup (97 percent), and took IFA
tablets or syrup for at least 90 days (87
percent) during the pregnancy (Table 1).
Water and sanitation facilities Nearly 89 percent women received
complementary nutrition from
Availability of water is essential to
Anganwadicentre and most of the women
improve sanitation, safe hygiene practices
were contacted by the health worker during
and better health standards of people. Hand
the last three months of pregnancy, little
pumps were the major source of water for
more than half met at home.
95 percent of the respondents. Nearly 97
Table 1: Antenatal car e received by the respondent
percent of the respondents treated drinking Banswara
water to make it safer to drink. Almost half Baseline Endline
Total number of respondents 330 300
of the respondents kept drinking water on Percent received first received ANC for index 87.3
platform made of kaccha materials and 29 pregnancy by 3r d months of pregnancy
Percent of women receive 3 or more antenatal care 63.5 72.0
percent make permanent platform and kept Percentage of women received selected
on it. services during ANC *
Weight measured 61.9 92.7
Blood pressure measured 61.9 86.3
Proper sanitation promotes health by Urine test done 63.8 91.0
preventing contact with wastes. After Blood test done 50.5 91.0

intervention,21 percent had toilet facility in Abdomen checked-up 48.3 82.0

Delivery advice given 35.6 77.3
their house, which included flush to pit Delivery date calculated 40.3 57.7
latrine and flush to septic tank. Nearly 84 Nutrition advice given 35.6 71.3
Percentage of women told where to go if had any 97.3
percent of the respondents used toilet pregnancy complications
facilities and it is encouraging to know that Percentage of father present during (any of) your 88.3
antenatal visits
95 percent women used soap for hand
washing. Most of women received advice on
breastfeeding, keeping cleanliness, ways of
Maternal Health:Pregnancy history, keeping baby warm, family planning and
antenatal, natal and post care birth preparedness. Most (95 percent)
Women in the intervention area knew women went for institutional delivery, and

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

128 Bella Uttekar, Kanchan Lakhwani, Vasant Uttekar

stayed in hospital after delivery for 56.8
hours, on average. The major reasons for
home delivery were far distance of facility,
lack of transport and costs too much.This
shows that CHVs had visited and motivated
pregnant women for antenatal care and for
institutional delivery. Eighty two percent
women received the postpartum health
checkups in first two months after discharge.
Benefits availed from Anganwadi by
Pregnant and Lactating Mothers
Further, women were also enquired
about their visit to any health facility and
services availed during that visits. Enhanced
quality of services and increased contact
with front line workers could be the reason
for increased utilization of health services.
Table 2: Use of services pr ovided to mothers by Anganwadicentre
Baseline Endline
Total number of respondents
330 300
Percentage of women benefited from Anganwadi centre 59.7 84.0*
Number of women benefited from Anganwadicentreduring 197 253
pregnancy

Percentage of women received following benefits during

Pregnant and lactating mothers are pregnancy
expected to receive supplementary food, Complementary food 84.3 95.7
health check-up and health and nutrition
Health check-ups 78.2 92.5
education from an AWC. Table 2 indicates
Health and nutrition education 44.2 92.9*
that 84 percent women received some
services from an AWC during pregnancy Percentage of women who received benefits from
Anganwadi centre when child was breast feeding
46.1 81.7*

which was 59 percent before intervention.

Number of women benefited from Anganwadi centre during 152 245
lactation
Pregnant mothers in the intervention
Percentage of women received following benefits during
areas received complementary food (96 lactat ion
percent), health and nutrition education and Complementary food 83.6 88.2
health check-ups (93 percent each). Eighty
Health check-ups 90.1 89.0
two percent lactating mothers received
Health and nutrition education 40.8 89.4
benefits from AWCs in the endline compared
to 46 percent in the baseline survey, which **p<0.01 percent *p< 0.05 percent

is statistically highly significant. These

services included receiving of
complementary food (88 percent), followed
by health and nutrition education (90 Child Health: Child feeding Practices
percent) and health checkups (89 percent). Breast feeding is an important aspect
The analysis shows that and as it is known that children need to be
Anganwadicontact pregnant and lactating breast fed immediately or within an hour of
tribal mothers who get counseling related to birth, as breast milk acts as a natural immune
health and nutrition, which was more for children and is good for growth. Most
emphasized after the intervention. (99 percent) of women had ever breastfeed
their last child and 89 percent breastfeed

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Integrated approach to maternal and ... among Tribal women in Banswara, Rajasthan 129

immediately/within one hour and 10 percent There was statistically significant

had given pre lacteal feeding in first three
days after delivery which included majorly
milk and water (55 and 51 percent resp.). At
the time of survey, 69 percent of babies
between 0-5.9 months were exclusively
breastfeed.
Minimum dietary diversity
A sufficient diverse diet with adequate
intake of essential nutrients is a key in
ensuring the development of the child. The
WHO minimum dietary diversity indicator
is based on children six months old and
above consuming food from at least 4 food
groups thereby ensuring mixed and balanced
diet. Essentially children should be
consuming a mix of foods a) grains, roots
and tubers, b) legumes and nuts, c) dairy
products (milk, yogurt, cheese), d) flesh
foods (meat, fish, poultry and liver/organ
meats), e) eggs, f) vitamin-A rich fruits and
vegetables, and g) other fruits and
vegetables.
improvement in babies aged 6-24 months
receiving minimum dietary diversity (54
percent), having minimum feeding
frequency (46 percent) and in children
receiving minimum acceptable diet (34
percent), which was almost nonexistent
before intervention.
Nutritional status of the children
The analysis of nutritional status
shows that children in Banswara were
malnourished. There were improvements in
weight-for-height and weight-for age, but
height for age did not show improvement.
Immunization
Encouragingly,62 percent of children
were fully vaccinated compared to only 20
percent before intervention, 33 percent were
partly vaccinated and 5 percent have
received no vaccination(Figure 2).

Table 3: Nutrition Indicators and Revised Intervention Targets

Key Indicators Banswara
Baseline Endline
Number of surviving children aged 6-8.9 months 42 52
Children 6-8.9 months receiving solid/semi-solid food 35.7 40.4
Number of surviving children aged 6-23 .9 months 250 168
6-2 3.9 month children receiving the minimum dietary diversity 2.8 53.6
Minimum feeding frequency in children 6-23.9 months 38.1 45.9
Minimum acceptable diet 6-23.9 months 1.6 34.5
** p < 0.01 percent *p < 0.05 percent

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

130 Bella Uttekar, Kanchan Lakhwani, Vasant Uttekar

Table 4: Nutritional status of the children

Baseline study Banswara
Sample MalnourishedSeverely MalnourishedSeverely
Measure size (<-2 SD) Malnourished(<-2 SD) Malnourished
(<-3SD) (<-3SD)
Weight for Age 937 39.3 17.2 39.5 17.1
Height for Age 846 33.9 15.8 46.8 25.8
Weight for Height 883 35.1 17.7 17.9 7.1

Discussions in village level community

groups:-
Regarding topics discussed in village
level community groups, 94 percent said that
they discussed about sanitation, hygiene and
health (90 percent), and water management
78 percent).

Basic indicators by Background

Characteristics
Table 5 clearly states that by and large
(more than 90 percent) all the households
had accessed to improved source of drinking
water. However, within the age group, older
25+ years and over had more access to
source of drinking water. Similar is the
pattern about households that treat water to
make it safe, and wash hands with soaps/
ash before eating was high among 25-34
years age group. difference however was found to be marginal
between hindu and muslim.
When compared by education,
religion and caste, hardly any difference is Table further reads that SCdo
seen. So women had better access to drinking relatively better in terms of access to
water and treat water to make it safe. The improve source of drinking water, treating

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Integrated approach to maternal and ... among Tribal women in Banswara, Rajasthan 131

Table 5: Respondents having access to improve drinking water, treating water to make it safer,
sanitary latrine in their premises and hand wash practices by background characteristics
Households Households Households Washing Total N
with access that treat their having a hands with
to improved water to make sanitary soap or ash
sources of it safer from latrine and water
drinking biological within the before
water contamination premises eating

Total 98.3 96.7 21.0 79.0 300

Age
15-24 98.4 94.4 25.0 88.2 124
25-34 98.1 98.7 19.1 82.8 157
35+ 100.0 94.1 11.8 74.2 17
Education
Illiterate 97.7 96.4 14.5 77.4 221
Primary (1-5) 100.0 95.2 14.3 76.2 21
Middle (6-7) 100.0 100.0 21.4 92.9 14
Secondary (8-10) 100.0 96.9 53.1 81.3 32
Higher secondary 100.0 100.0 72.7 90.9 11
or more (11+)
Religion
Hindu 98.3 96.9 20.3 78.6 295
Muslim 100.0 66.7 100.0 100.0 3
Caste
SC 100.0 100.0 19.0 100.0 21
ST 98.0 96.4 19.4 76.5 247
OBC 100.0 100.0 16.7 79.2 24
None of them 100.0 83.3 100.0 100.0 6
BPL Status
APL 100.0 98.8 23.8 82.5 80
BPL 100.0 96.2 19.7 78.4 213

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

132 Bella Uttekar, Kanchan Lakhwani, Vasant Uttekar

water and washing hands with soap before
eating. This clearly could be attributed to
the project interventions amongst the SC.
Interestingly enough the BPL are
fairly better in terms of accessibility to
improved water, washing hands before
eating, which may be because of thrust of
the programme to the BPL.
Table 6 illustrates that about 77
percent women received at least 3 ANC, 74
percent were advised about birth
preparations and 95 percent deliveries were
institutional. Difference by age in terms of
the receiving of 3 ANC, birth preparedness
and the proportion of institutional delivery
was marginal. Education wise middle class
were little better than others.
Interestingly enough, the coverage of
women who had received 3 ANC among was
67 percent among Muslims as compared to
76 percent among Hindus. The pattern

Recently delivered Pregnant women Percentage of Number

women received at advised on birth institutional of
least 3 ANCs preparedness in last 3 deliveries respon-
months of pregnancy dents

Total 76.7 74.2 94.7 300

Age
15-24 76.6 75.4 95.2 134
25-34 76.4 74.7 94.9 157
35+ 82.4 70.6 88.2 70
Education
Illiterate 74.1 71.9 94.6 231
Primary (1-5) 81.0 68.4 90.5 21
Middle (6-7) 85.7 78.6 100.00 40
Secondary (8-10) 78.1 89.7 96.9 32
Higher secondary 90.2 90.9 99.9 11
or more (11+)
Religion
Hindu 76.6 74.5 94.6 295
Muslim 66.7 33.3 100 3
Caste
SC 81.0 81.0 95.2 21
ST 76.0 74.3 94.3 247
OBC 79.2 77.3 95.8 24
None of them 83.3 60.0 100.00 6
BPL Status
APL 83.8 84.2 95.0 80
BPL 73.2 71.6 94.4 213

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Integrated approach to maternal and ... among Tribal women in Banswara, Rajasthan 133

however was reversed in the case of pregnant phase and also it sustainability. More so the
women going for institutional delivery. integrated approach is more needed in such
tribal district with less or hardly any
Caste wise there was hardly any
accessibility to the basic facilities.
difference in the women receiving 3 ANCs,
advise on birth preparedness and women
Based on the finding the reco-
going for institutional delivery.
mmendations are
Further, the APL had slight edge,
o Community needs to be strengthened
though marginal, in terms of the receipt of 3
by creating forums and groups and
ANC, birth preparedness and institutional
empowering people to take active part in the
delivery.
intervention, be accountable to the results,
and govern the progress. This would ensure
Discussion
that the efforts are sustainable and it can be
The intervention has worked due to replicated for the rest of the areas.
overall integration not only in terms of
o An integrated approach need to be
integrating components of health, nutrition,
adopted to create overall impact and improve
water and sanitation but also in terms of
maternal and child health. Working on only
integration of reactivation of the government
one of the aspects i.e. health may not have
institutions like Anganwadicentres and
the optimum effect, there is need to integrate
laying down structures wherever needed.
health, nutrition and WATSAN to improve
Involvement of religious and influencing
the overall wellbeing of mother and child.
persons in village, community itself along
with stakeholders at various levels, had given o To multiply the effect, intervening
impetus to the intervention and increased it agencies needs to remain in the intervention
value at both at community level along with area for a long duration. To summarize, this
reminding government their responsibility is the stage when government, stakeholders
towards people. and community at large have started
realizing the importance of WATSAN and
Linking advocacy at government,
health and nutrition backed up with the push
community and individual level along with
from MDG goals. This opportunity needs to
providing services and follow ups increases
be fully utilized.
the chances of behavior change at little faster
References
Office of Registrar General, India. (2011). Population Census
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS). (2010). District Level Household and Facility
Survey (DLHS-3), 2007-08: India. Mumbai: IIPS.
World Health Organization and UNICEF. (2006). Meeting the MDG drinking water and sanitation
target, the urban and rural challenge of the decade.
WHO (undated). www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/en/

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

EDUCATIONAL INCLUSION FOR THE TRIBAL FEMALE
CHILDREN OF RURAL INDIA: TEACHING THE
UNREACHED
The Context of our Programme
A new paradigm; local solutions and
empowerment of tribal community
members as educators.
The OECD (2011) recognises that,
across nations, there is compelling data to
ensure teacher training is integrated into both
teachers careers and school and systems
settings. The most recent international PISA
and TALIS9 surveys underline this, as does
the effectiveness of allowing non
traditional entries into the teaching
profession whilst broadening selection
criteria. Given the acute shortage of teachers
prepared, or able, to work in remote Adivasi
villages we considered a non-traditional
approach of training up local community
members to teach in informal classroom
settings. R2T brought teaching professionals
from the high performing state sector UK
schools to work, in the field, with local NGO
staff over the last five years. Our
methodology is based on this on-going and
reflective collaboration, and anchored in our
belief that the local adivasi community has
the capacity to provide quality primary
education, when given the appropriate
scaffold from basic teacher training and
appropriate resources to support learning.
The Adivasi community often referred
to as Scheduled Tribes or the Denotified and
Nomadic Tribes of India consists of
* Director of Education, Reach to Teach. Email:john@reach-to-tech.org
Katherine Butt*
approximately 60 million people. The term
translates literally as adi or, earliest time
and vasi or resident of and refers
commonly to aboriginal peoples. Currently
533 tribes are recognises by government and
mostly inhabit rural, forested areas. Some
of these tribes are nomadic in habitat. At the
time of colonial rule many Adivasi were
criminalised by 1871 their land tenure and
basic freedoms were forfeit, with further
extension to the Criminal Tribes Act in 1921.
Post Indian independence the practical
situation for this community provided little
improvement, other than the official criminal
status removed under the Denotified Tribes
Act. The contemporary situation for tribal
peoples emerges from this historical context.
Being politically and physically isolated,
they remain a vulnerable group, with high
illiteracy with scant knowledge of the law.
Additionally Adivasi communities have been
targeted by moneylenders and carry a legacy
of debt. There are significant barriers for
Adivasi children wishing to attend school:
poverty rates are 20 years behind the average
population, with high infant mortality and
malnutrition 10 their own lack of literacy in
official state languages, little acceptance of
tribal languages or cultures and an
unwillingness of teachers to attend remote
schools. Fragmentation of community,
heritage and language has severely
challenged these peoples (Devy 2006 and
Gupta 2007).
 Educational inclusion for the tribal female children ... : teaching the unreached
In partnership with Bhasha, we
surveyed villages in the Pavijetpur,
Chhotaudepur, Naswadi and Kanwant
talukas. Data revealed a number of remote
tribal communities where there was a
significant proportion of children, girls in
particular, either dropped out of school, had
never attended or were highly irregular in
their attendance. Consequently we
developed a strategy to provide Special
Training Centres (STCs) within these
remote villages to cater for the specific needs
of these children, providing basic skills
training and developing the dispositions of
communities toward the value of primary
education. The overall objective was to
create a dynamic where these children might
attend mainstream state schools successfully.
Our model works to compliment the
Indian Right to Education Act providing
informal Special Training Centres
envisioned by the Act with a view to
mainstreaming drop out or non-attending
Adivasi children into state education. In
order to achieve this we secured basic
literacy and numeracy skills, addressed
wider pupil dispositions and attitudes
towards education and undertook significant
advocacy and relationship building with
stakeholders such as parents and state
education officials. By engaging local
Adivasi as para teachers with an existing
stake and voice within these villages they
were able to cajole, persuade and inspire
their neighbours, friends and families to send
their girls (and boys) to the Special Training
Centre set up in the village. Our professional
education team trained these local
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
135
community para teachers so that they could
more effectively run education provision at
the STC for a two-year period before
mainstreaming takes place. The
mainstreaming process required a
transformation in pupil skills and
disposition, but also the very active support
of stakeholders. As such we are not seeking
to replace the developing state education
system, but to support access to it.
Our Adivasi teacher/mentors were
typically Grade 10-12 students; they had
rarely accessed higher education and very
few had any formal qualifications as primary
teachers. Following an initial two week
intensive induction course, we trained these
Adivasi community teachers for one full
day every week, on-going, with our team of
UK and Indian teacher trainers. Training
took place at the Adivasi Academy located
in the town of Tedgadh.
At the same time we supported and
funded the tribal communities to construct
their own STC building on village common
land. These structures were low cost, using
natural materials from the local environment
and, unlike the formal classrooms found in
state schools, the design was open plan and
styled largely on a traditional tribal house.
For the Adivasi children, it is familiar,
comfortable and fit for purpose as a centre
of learning. Similarly the education
resources provided were commonly sourced
from simple, accessible local materials.
From the start the STC is constructed
and owned by the community and staffed by
community members who resided in the
136 John Towers
village. It was truly a community resource.
The community teachers know the
children, are familiar with the families and
the key local issues. Trust is vital. We found
that by recruiting directly from these
marginalised rural communities we
discovered young people who aspired to
teach, had significant moral values and
interest in doing so and who retained
postings. Teacher retention was strong with
less than 15% turnover in staff across the
programme. In order to further encourage
the attendance of girls we made an
adaptation to our initial objective of
supporting 6-11 yr olds. We noticed that
within the tribal communities young girls
were often required to look after their
younger siblings (2-5 years old) and that this
responsibility often prevented school
attendance. The solution seemed simple: we
opened up access and provision for 2-5 year
olds. In addition girls (and boys) were often
expected to support the family with animal
husbandry and manual tasks. Considering
this we designed the programme to start at
around 9 am and to finish by around 1 or 2
pm, allowing space to co-exist for children
to undertake such work.
Curriculum and Resource Development
With local NGO colleagues we
developed a bespoke curricular and training
package, which better reflected the needs of
tribal children compared to standardised
national curricular and textbooks. Its key
features included:
Initial comparison and consideration of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
the Gujarat State curricular requirements,
international curricular and the specific
needs reported by the tribal community
Access, in first 2 years, to mother tongue
learning11
Emphasis on using and applying skills,
particularly linked to pragmatic everyday
life in an Adivasi village
Emphasis on pupil centred pedagogy
characterised by a high proportion of
active learning and pupil participation
Development of age appropriate core
skills in primary maths, language and
science, as defined by State curricular
standards
Significant space for local Adivasi
learning and traditions to broaden and
enrich provision
Provision of exemplar resources and not
complete textbooks: in this way we sort
to encourage space for the local para
teachers to develop and implement their
own planning and practice
Explicit within operational planning was
the recruitment of 50% female children
on the roll of all Special Training Centres
Our approach to lesson planning and
resourcing included:
Clear and deliverable learning objectives
together with assessment prompts and
pupil activities
A four part lesson design with a
starter/warm up activity, main interactive
teaching session followed by opportunity
 Educational inclusion for the tribal female children ... : teaching the unreached
for direct pupil application of learning
objectives via group, paired or individual
study and then a plenary session to revise
and build upon the lesson
Teacher pedagogical prompts in the text
and use of visual symbols to promote
high pupil participation in activities
Prompts for para teachers to undertake
formative assessment throughout lessons
Use of local, sustainable, everyday
resources to support learning, rather than
a reliance on externally sourced and
expensive items
Links to Gujarat state textbooks and
grade levels to ensure pupils have
exposure to, and are prepared for typical
coverage in state sector
All our materials were produced in
English and Gujarati. The local Adivasi
teaching staff would take a Gujarati lesson
plan and deliver it in local tribal dialects such
as Rathwa and Bhil where required. Usually
the children required inputs in tribal dialect
with the state language introduced alongside
and gradually as they attend the programme.
We avoided over-reliance on
textbooks with the STCs, instead we
challenged and supported teachers to try and
plan lessons themselves, referencing state/
national age related standards, but
constructed to better meet the needs of local
Adivasi children. During weekly interactive
training seminars we provided model
lesson structures containing specific
strategies and resources to enable teachers
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
137
to then construct their own series of lessons.
This did not always come easily to these
young para-teachers as their own educational
experience was often based on an early 20th
Century model of industrial didactical
teaching. Above all we encouraged a
localised context and a pupil friendly
consideration of the needs and interests of
Adivasi girls. The local tribal para-teachers
were well placed to bring there indigenous
knowledge and heritage to appeal to these
localised interests, for example relating
Adivasi creation myths to climate study
within the Gujarati State Environment
Science curriculum.
Assessment and Evaluation
Our approach to school setting
inspection was based upon international best
practice (such as UK Ofsted12) but adapted
to local requirements. The programme para-
teachers were not used to being inspected
and graded, so we ensured our evaluation
framework was delivered as a constructive
tool for professional development and not
as a punitive judgement. We used a set of
observable teaching and learning behaviours
to assess teaching and learning and to
provide structured formative feedback to
para-teachers. This approach met the
recommendations set out by CfBT global
research findings 13 regarding effective
education evaluation.
We broke down concepts, skills and
knowledge within the State curricula into
discrete and more easily measurable steps
to support assessment; for example we
created a resource to define small steps
138 John Towers
relating to Gujarati State standards 1-4
against reading, speaking and listening and
writing. Linked directly to this work, we
developed tracking and data handling
systems so help local para-teachers better
understand the academic progress of their
pupils and plan their next steps in learning.
Our education team, based from the
town of Tedgadh, used 4 wheel drives and
long walks to reach tribal villages, the
nearest an hour or so, the furthest requiring
an overnight camp to visit. We conducted
formal evaluations of all STCs at least
quarterly and worked with Bhasha and
community self-help groups to ensure these
remote STCs received a support visit every
week.
Impact of the Model
Nearly 5,000 young tribal children
attended R2T STCs with 50% on pupil roll
girls. By providing quality teacher training,
learning resources and a constructive
appraisal system we helped accelerated pupil
progress; in the 2012-2013 years cohort we
saw 944 pupils reach age related standards
in maths and literacy at Standards 1, 2 and
3. Our education team applied rigorous
standards to judge and moderate pupil and
teacher performance. Our testing of pupils
shows that nearly all pupils make expected
progress each year (i.e. at least one defined
standard level each academic year in maths
and literacy) with over a quarter moving two
grade boundaries.
We worked with local young tribal
adults and provided them with an
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
apprenticeship model as para-teachers,
receiving a wage and on-going training.
These para-teachers reported that their
standing within the community was
transformed, as they were seen to be adding
value to the tribal community as a whole. At
the end of the first quarter this year, using
the R2T Evaluation Framework14 we judged
63% of para-teachers performance to be
good, 12% satisfactory and 24% in need
of further development.
The qualitative data was compelling
and in particular what the children and
stakeholders had to say. Here we have found
the grass roots approach had transformed
the attitudes and aspirations of children,
parents and community members. The
programme children were happy. In May
2012 structured interviews, carried out
independently by Bhasha, found that 85%
of the 100 children interviewed felt very
strongly that they were happy and safe,
receiving good teaching and care and
learning a lot, that STCs were reliable
and that they were fully supported by their
parents.
Some comments from the Adivasi
communities in 2013:
I will now be a Doctor or a local
craftsman. I get to school at 5 mins to eight
sharp!
- Parimala Rathwa (9 years old)
Even in the math lesson get to do
games. I want to learn more things for my
future. I will be a scientist and develop my
village
 Educational inclusion for the tribal female children ... : teaching the unreached 139

Fig 1 snapshot of outcome indicators

- Sapanapen Rathwa (5 years old) lenders, so the mathematics lessons are

After graduating I was going to have
to leave and go to the city, but then I heard
of Reach to Teach in the villages and I knew
I would have to come. Teachers are getting
more and more status in the villages, the
parents are now praying for us because we
teach their children well. Because the R2T
Teachers are getting good training, our
knowledge of health and cleanliness is
improving life in our village relationships
between teachers and children have got
better; so have relationships between
teachers and parents.
- Kanbi Bhal Bhil (R2T Para Teacher)
helping us out of this difficulty
- Rathwa Chharyyabhai Rayalabhia
(R2T Para Teacher)
They (R2T students) were more
ready for school and they are able to read
and write letters, other children were just
able to recognize them. It was easier to teach
the children who had come from the Centres,
they settled much faster. The children very
much know how to use resources to aid their
learning.
Mr Dahdal Patel, Teacher, Shihada
State Primary School )

There is a problem with debt in our Case Study: Arsingbhai Para Teacher at
village; we want to be free from the money Padvani Khal Special Training Centre

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

140 John Towers
Arsingbhai has been a para teacher
at Padvani Khal Special Training Centre
(STC) for almost four years. He was one of
the very few local people able to attended
school to the 10th standard. Padvani Khal is
a rural village; around 3km from the nearest
government school and about a 45 minute
drive from the town of Kawant in Vadodara
District. The STC has been running for four
years is well attended with over 30 children
on roll, between 4 and 12 years old, with
51% girls. Arsingbhai teaches the younger
children, whilst his partner teacher,
Kesubhai, teaches the older children.
Arsingbhai regularly attends the weekly
training sessions, provided by R2T at the
nearby training hub is an active and
reflective participant.
Early on we identified a good
potential from Arvindbhai and after our
initial training we were able to regularly
observe him teaching and provide coaching.
Using our framework we agreed on some
keys areas for professional development,
these included;
To make more effective use of
teaching resources
To divide the class into groups
to provide age appropriate
teaching
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Provide opportunities for
children to work independently
and to apply their learning
This feedback was provided verbally
following the time the visit with practical
suggestions of how to address these areas.
We also made sure the teacher training
sessions we provided covered these areas.
Arsingbhai responded well to these
interventions, quickly applying the new
strategies acquired from our training and
feedback sessions; I like how everything
involves much more active learning, I like
the new way of teaching. The children are
now taught in distinct groups and the Centre
has an ample range of learning resources
that are clearly displayed and accessible to
the children, creating an interesting and
lively learning environment. He has now
developed a more relaxed and easy manner
with the younger children, understanding the
importance of building strong relationships
with the children, regularly praising them,
ensuring they feel happy and secure in their
learning
Over 50 children from Padvani Khal
have successfully transferred to the local
government school, literate and numerate,
with some progressing to high school, due
to the academic and pastoral intervention
from the STC.
Advocating the Model and its Limitations
The Indian Right to Education Act
2009 15 was a milestone in the journey
towards achieving the goal of universal,
equitable and quality education in India.
 Educational inclusion for the tribal female children ... : teaching the unreached
However, while the Act is a step in the right
direction, there are still several key issues
to address during its implementation period
in particular the resourcing of its mandates,
teacher shortages, quality and inclusion.
NGOs have a defined role to play and by
working collaboratively with district
government we have found a role in
addressing barriers to learning and helping
to create a systemic change in the behaviour
and attitudes toward education in rural
communities. The Act notes the need for
better access for traditionally excluded
groups including girls in general. In the
Baroda District we have been fortunate to
engage with a reforming executive who are
keen to implement the RTE Act and to work
constructively with NGOs.
As we progressed with this model our
level of intervention decreased as the
students mainstreamed into state provision
(see Figure 2 overleaf). This was
advantageous as it freed our education team
to scale our work in new areas whilst
encouraging local ownership.
By sharing objectives and pupil data
with Mr Rakesh Shankar, District
Development Officer, District Panchayat,
and his team we were able to prepare Adivasi
pupils and their nearby state schools for
mainstreaming. This activity included:
Briefings for local state school Cluster
Resource Co-ordinators, School
Management Committees and
teachers
Logistical arrangements for transfer
and data sharing
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
141
Hand holding arrangements for
transfer to ensure students had a
smooth transition to mainstream
schools
Monitoring arrangements to check
pupil attendance and achievement
post transfer and to encourage
progress via additional mentoring
support
Both internal and external evaluations
demonstrated that programme outcomes
were limited due to variety of factors. The
following issues were notable:
Migration, due to families seeking
seasonal labour work, was high in the
area and the drop out was
approximately 20%. With no hostel
facility to hold these students in their
home community we lost opportunity
to mainstream this group
The State sector schools, although
prepared for transfer, often had
limited resources and functionality
The School Management Committees
were not functioning in many State
schools and so were unable to assist
programme objectives
The programme was external to State
schools, therefore at risk of being
perceived as intrusive or competitive
by state schools or administrators
The programme did not fully involve
State administrators such as Cluster
Resource Co-ordinators so their
142
Photo Girls attending Padvani Khal Special Training Centre 2012
knowledge, inputs and collaboration
was very restricted
The programme provided child
friendly pedagogy delivered by local
staff highly sensitised to the needs of
tribal children and girls. When these
girls transferred to State sector there
was a risk that the classroom process
would be very different and not as
well matched to their needs
Consequent to this evaluation we
adapted our planning. Firstly we decided to
continue the programme to a phase two for
a further twelve months in fifty-four of the
programme villages where we would:
Provide additional support to help
2080 children who attended the
phase one project on 2012/2013.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
John Towers
These children had mainstreamed
into State primary schools and so we
would work with Bhasha to;
Provide additional early morning
support classes, in the village STCs,
to assist with this transition and help
retain children within mainstream
settings
Eighty of programme para-teachers
would extend their remit and provide
activities to support the strengthening
of the interface between community
and government schools, for example
working with local School
Management Committees
Secondly we applied upon the
following strategy for our new programmes
in 2013-2014:
 Educational inclusion for the tribal female children ... : teaching the unreached 143

Fig 2 illustration of mainstream process

Work with a local/regional NGOs Continue to focus on enrolment of

who have a developed strong 50% girls across programmes but
relationships with disadvantaged rural extend from tribal groups to include
communities and have capacity to rural Scheduled Caste, Migrant and
undertake education based Other Backward Class Groups
collaborations with R2T
The outcomes of our phase 2
Continue to focus of teacher handholding programme, in terms of pupils
professional development, attendance and achievement will be
collaborating with government and published on our website by the end of
higher education bodies February 2014 (www.reach-to-teach.org).
Collaboration directly with State
education functionaries from onset to
help develop sustainability and impact
Continue to provide informal Special
Training Programmes in remote areas
where required, but link these directly
alongside or even within State schools

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

144 John Towers

References
ASER, Annual Status of Education Report (2011). Available at: http://images2.asercentre.org/
aserreports/ASER_2011/aser_2011_report_8.2.12.pdf
Banerjee, A. V. and Duflo, E. (2011). Poor Economic: a Radical rethinking of the way to fight
global poverty. Public Affairs, U.S.
Behrman, J.R., (1996). The Impact of Health and Nutrition on Education The World Bank Research
Observer, vol. 11. Oxford University Press, No. 1 (February 1996), pp. 2337.
Bryman, A. (2004). Social Research Methods. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Devy, G. N. (2006). A Nomad Called Thief. Orient Longman Private Limited. New Delhi
Filmer, D., (2005). Gender and wealth disparities in schooling: evidence from 44 countries.
International Journal of Educational Research 43, 351369.
Filmer, D., Pritchett, L. (1999). The effect of household wealth on educational attainment: evidence
from 35 countries. Population and Development Review 25 (1), 85120.
Gupta, R. (2007). Tribal contemporary issues: appraisal and intervention, Concept Publishing
Company . New Delhi
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), participatory learning and action
general report (2007). Available at: http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/14540IIED.pdf?
Lewin, K. M. (2003). Expanding access to secondary education: Can India catch up? International
Journal of Educational Development 31 (2011) 382393)
Reach to Teach Charity, Available at: http://reach-to-teach.org
Rose, P. (2009). NGO provision of basic education: alternative or complementary service delivery
to support access to the excluded?, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education,
Vol. 39, 219233

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

A KALEIDOSCOPIC VIEW OF TRIBAL WOMEN OF
GUJARAT, INDIA
(Dangi Womens Views on Gender Equality and Community Participation:
A Study of Women Living in Ahwa Taluka of Dang District, Gujarat, India)
Introduction
The living status of women is a
significant reflection of the level of social
justice in the society. Womens status is often
described in terms of their level of income,
employment, education, health and fertility
as well as the roles they play within the
family, the community and society. In tribal
communities, the role of women is
substantial and crucial. They constitute
about half the total population but in tribal
society women are more important than in
other social groups, because they work
harder and the family economy and
management depends on them. Even after
industrialization and the resultant
commercialization swamping the tribal
economy, women continue to play a
significant role. Collection of minor forest
produce is done mostly by women and
children. Many do seasonal migration and
work as labourers in industries, households
and construction, contributing to their family
income. Despite exploitations, meagre
income, problems and challenges in getting
a sustainable livelihood and a decent life due
to environmental degradation and the
interference of outsiders; tribal as a
community in general and tribal women in
particular are quite contented and happy go
lucky by nature. Money, power, worry for
* Professor, Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
Email :bhavnamehta19@gmail.com
** Assist.Professor, Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat,
India Email : jaya8001@gmail.com
Bhavna Mehta*
Jayalaxmi Mahanty**
future seems to have not yet replaced their
spirit of community living, caring and
sharing attitude and love towards nature.
However the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP)
strategy is being implemented since 1972,
for achieving rapid socio economic
development of tribal people. The object of
the strategy is to provide for a budget
component (8% for Central Ministries/
Departments and in proportion to tribal
population of States/UTs in State Budget)
to be spent on programmes and schemes for
the tribal. The goal of holistic empowerment
of tribal women whether social, economic
or political, cannot, however, be achieved
in isolation and would require proactive
participation of other stakeholders such as
State Governments, civil society groups and
grassroots level organisations. It also
necessitates reform of existing legislations,
wherever required, as well as the
sensitization of law enforcement agencies
and the judicial system. It would also entail
a radical transformation in the mindsets and
societal perceptions within the family, the
community and the nation as a whole. An
integrated approach which focuses on the
holistic empowerment and development of
tribal women is therefore, necessary to
ensure that the constitutional vision of
equality is fully realized.
146 Bhavna Mehta, Jayalaxmi Mahanty
This paper is based on the empirical
study undertaken in the Dang region of
Gujarat highlights the Dangi womens
awareness regarding their rights as citizens,
their views on gender equality, issues faced
in the community and their perception of the
role they could play to resolve the same. The
paper comprehend the participation of
women and their activism as potential groups
in the tribal community.
Objectives of the Study were :
1) To study the socio-economic profile
of tribal women in the study area.
2) To know their perception on gender
equality & gendered roles.
3) To know their awareness with regard
to government schemes.
4) To learn of their level of
empowerment and their activism in
their community.
Universe
The universe of the study was 311
villages among tribal hamlets of Dang
district where Kanooni Sahay Kendra works.
Sample design:
The sample consist of 568 women.
The sampling method used were purposive
sampling method.
RESULTS
Socio-economic characteristics
The sample consisted of 568 women.
Of the total population almost half of the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
respondents (48.77%) were illiterate, as the
entire family is engaged in farming to sustain
itself.
Out of the total, more than half of the
population, 62.9% of the women were
engaged in farming (subsistence farming)
which is the main occupation of the people
in that area. One third of the
population,34.5% of them were also engaged
in labour work- in sugarcane factories, or
work in fields owned by other people or of
their own.
There were almost 15% of families
whose daily income was not even 100 rupees
and there almost 7% of families whose
yearly income is less than 36000 rupees.
Almost 60% of the respondents could not
respond to the question because most of
them were in unorganized sector, they only
get their income after harvest (seasonal
farming). Another reason which may be
interpreted is womens unawareness
regarding their husbands business and
income because of lack of participation and
involvement in such matters.
Views on gender equality & gendered
roles.
With respect to Education of the
sexes, more than half,70.59% of the women
agree that boys have a right to study more,
than girls. This clearly illustrates that the
male in the family is considered the bread
winner, the sole pillar of the elderly parents
in their old age and hence his education is
of utmost importance. A small number are
of the view- that both, girl child and the male
 A Kaleidoscopic View of Tribal Women of Gujarat, India
child should have equal right to education
and they even thought educating women
means educating the family.
The high costs of providing education
and the need for children to work contribute
to the high dropout rates in higher levels of
education. This is particularly true for girls
as poor families with limited resources
would rather invest money in their sons
education rather than in their daughters
education for reasons discussed earlier.
While education at the lower level is free,
there are other costs, including books and
learning materials, which impose a
significant financial burden on low-income
tribal families1
With respect to, Consent for marriage
and selection of partner in marriage. 84%
of women think that it is necessary to take
consent for marriage in case of both, the girl
as well as the boy. This depicts that decision
of both is equally considered at the time of
marriage.
View regarding Domestic violence
against women were:
30% of women felt that they should
never be beaten for any reasons. But almost
17-25% women still responded that
domestic violence is okay in the following
cases- the woman doesnt take proper care
of the house or children or if the husband
has a doubt on her character or if she doesnt
cook properly or if she doesnt respect elders
etc.
Views regarding disbursement of
property between female & female child
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
147
Majority of respondents believed in
giving equal rights to both male child and
girl child when it came to distribution of
property as they said that both are equally
their children and they have equal rights on
the property. But almost 38% respondents
disagreed with the fact that girl child and
male child do not have equal right to the
property.
Awareness of women regarding
government schemes for them & adolescent
girls:
Most women are only aware about
widow pension scheme (37.50%) and
sakhimandal scheme (42.43%). As a matter
of fact, womens awareness towards other
schemes provided for them is very less.
Moreover, almost 32% women were
completely unaware regarding all the
schemes.
Majority of women (38.20%) were
completely unaware about schemes for
adolescent girls. This implies that awareness
among women regarding these is very less.
Nevertheless, there were a few women who
were aware about schemes like Free
education, Economical and financial
government help.
Level of empowerment for community
participation
Role to resolve:
1. Issue of anganwadis not providing
services
43% of the women agree that they can
148 Bhavna Mehta, Jayalaxmi Mahanty
take steps to resolve the issue of anganwadis
not providing proper services by either
reasoning with the aanganwaadi worker
itself or coming together against the
problem.
But, 33% disagree that women can
take steps to resolve such an issue as they
feel that an individual alone cannot go
against it and if they want to do something
regarding the problem, they cant as no one
would listen to them or support them.
2. Issue of alcoholism
Half the population agreed that they
would take steps to resolve the issue of
alcoholism, the remaining half disagreed
with the same. Many of the women
themselves consumed alcohol. And those
who did not consume could not do anything
to stop the problem as
an individual alone could not do
anything about it
their families and relatives wouldnt
support them and
nobody would listen to them.
There were a few women who agreed
to go against the problem by either filing a
police complaint or writing an application
and coming together against the problem.
3. Issue of water scarcity
50% of the respondents think that they
can resolve the pertinent issue of water
scarcity. This means that they have some
power in their village and their decisions are
considered and looked into.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
There were a few villages where there
was no problem of scarcity of water which
is again a positive thing for people living in
such areas. Nevertheless, there were a few
women who felt that they cannot do anything
about the problem of scarcity of water as
they think that no one would listen to them
or consider their complaint, or may be due
to lack of knowledge as to what is to be done
to solve such problems. Other reasons given
by them for not being able to do anything
about this problem is that they do not get
support from their family members or
relatives.
4. Participation in Panchayats and
Gram panchayats
The above table explains that almost
80% women were aware about Gram
Panchayat Meetings taking place in their
villages. 68% women are a part of Gram
Panchayat meetings which is a good number
considerably. But only 44% women attend
the Gram Panchayat meetings regularly.
There were a few women who were
completely unaware about the Gram
Panchayat system in their villages. A lot of
awareness regarding the same is required for
the same.
Conclusion and Discussion:
Tribal women play a major role in the
co-management of their natural, social,
economic resources and agricultural
development including crop production,
livestock production, horticulture and post
harvest operations but they remain backward
due to traditional values, illiteracy,
 A Kaleidoscopic View of Tribal Women of Gujarat, India 149

superstitions, and dominant roles in decision
making, social evils and many other cultural
factors.
The participatory role of tribals in
improving their living conditions by fully
exploring natural endowments and
alternative uses must find an appropriate
place in the strategic approach. The social
dynamics of tribal welfare and development
is such that effective strategies to protect
tribals and their livelihood imply negotiating
some kind of social consensus about criteria
concerning tribal development and values of
the society that evolves from such
programmes. This also implies a broad social
consensus about the basic rights and
opportunities that tribals should enjoy and
the responsibilities that should be taken by
different individual and social groups.
One reason for such paradox is that
the tribal women of the region (for that
matter of any other region) are not a
homogenous group although they are known
by the generic category tribal women. It
is important to remember that tribal women
are diverse ethnically, linguistically,
geographically and also historically. Often
progress made by the middle class tribal
women is that the majority of them are found
in the rural areas where they are
disadvantaged in terms of education,
occupation, etc. one may also note that
women in tribal societies could be
considered doubly disadvantaged, in the first
instance as tribal people and in the second,
as women.

References
Chaudhary, S.N. (Ed.) (2015). Tribal Women: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Jaipur: Rawat
Publication.
Furer- Haimendorf, C. (1989). Tribes of India the Struggle for Survival. New Delhi: Oxford University.
Mathur,P.R.G.(1977). Accountration and Integration in Tribal Life. New Delhi: Inter India Publishers.
Menon, G. (1988). Tribal Women : Victims of Development Process, Social Action, June (2): 18-21.
Mishra, S., Behera, D. & Babu, B. (2012). Socialisation and gender bias at the household level
among school-attending girls in a tribal community of the Kalahandi district of Eastern India.
Anthropological Notebook 18(2): 45-53.
Das , S.K., An analysis of Constraints in Women Empowerment in tTribal area: Evidences from
Assam. Asian Journal of Research in Social Science & Humanities Vol.2 Issue 4: 61-74.
Sisodia,Y. & Dalapati,T. (Ed.) (2015). Development and Discontent in Triabl India. Jaipur: Rawat
Publications.
Vyas, N. & Mehta, P.(1994). Changing Land Relations in Tribal India, Jaipur: Rawat Publications.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

WOMENS QUOTA, THE 73RD AMENDMENT AND WOMENS
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES FOR INTERVENTION IN
THE CONTEXT OF MDG 3
Patriarchy, Womens Agency and
Empowerment
Patriarchy refers to the systemic
societal structures that institutionalize male
physical social and economic power over
women. (Reeves and Baden, 2000) This
results in womens subordination by macro
and localized structures which privilege men
and exclude or constrain women in their
choices and opportunities. The roots of
patriarchy are located in womens
reproductive role and their presumed
vulnerability to sexual violence which are
interwoven with the processes of capitalist
exploitation. As sexual objects women are
seen as prey and men as perpetrators of as
well as protectors against such violence. The
main sites of patriarchal oppression are
played out within the household (the
patrilocal and patriarchal monogamous
family system), in paid work (unequal wages
and the undervaluation of unpaid household
work which is a predominantly womens
domain), culture (religious practices,
traditions and norms that subordinate
womens roles and social position), the state
(which reflects and legitimizes patriarchal
patterns as the norm) and the control of
womens sexuality and mobility seen as a
measure to reduce their vulnerability to
sexual violence. The experience of gender
inequality however is not universally
* Associate Professor, Karve Institute of Social Service, Pune, INDIA
Nagmani Rao*
common as they are cross cut by other
inequalities such as class, caste, ethnicity and
race. These intersections are significant
determinants in the opportunities they offer
to negotiate spaces and also the limits they
impose in the boundaries of such spaces.
Agency is being able to use
endowments to take advantage of
opportunities to achieve desired outcomes
the ability of people to advance the goals that
they value (World Bank - Gender and
Development-Womens Agency and
Participation). The use of agency has an
intrinsic value by creating the ability to make
choices and exercise control over ones life
as a consistent aspect of feeling a sense of
well being and an instrumental value through
its impacts beyond the person. The
opportunity to experience this sense of
agency comes through the process of
empowerment or, in the absence of real
empowerment through a negotiation of
spaces.
Empowerment is believed to be the
ability to make choices as well as being able
to shape these choices. Thus empowerment
does not merely mean women breaking
hitherto held male bastions and making a
mark but rather, transforming the nature of
power relations wherein women themselves
become active agents of change. (Welby,
1990)
 Womens Quota, the 73rd Amendment And Womens Political Participation
Potentials and Challenges for Intervention in the Context of Mdg 3
In the context of women,
empowerment has been looked at in different
ways. Oakley has used empowerment within
the framework of development studies as
encompassing five dimensions: economic
improvement, individual empowerment,
capacity building, democratization and
participation. Oxfam has looked at
empowerment as essentially concerned
with analyzing and addressing the dynamics
of oppression and thereby rejects the notion
that mere participation in donor driven
projects leads to empowerment. (Oakley,
2001 as cited by Mosedale, Sarah, 2003, pg.
12). UNIFEM has referred to economic
empowerment as having control over the
means of production over a sustainable, long
term basis such that this access and control
leads to material benefits. The UN Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action (1985)
recognized that the barriers to empowerment
of women and girls to enjoy all human
rights and fundamental freedoms lay in the
multiple subordinations of race, age,
ethnicity, culture, religion, etc., along with
their gender position.
Batliwala defines power as control
over material assets, intellectual resources
and ideology and empowerment as the
process of challenging existing power
relations and gaining greater control over the
sources of power (Batliwala, 1994, as cited
by Mosedale, Sarah, 2003, Pg 14). Nelly
Stromquist has looked at empowerment in a
socio-political context encompassing
cognitive, psychological, economic and
political components. This means that
women develop consciousness about the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
151
causes of their subordination, break out of
this by making choices that might be
contrary to socio-cultural expectations. In
this process they develop greater self esteem
and confidence and build their capacities to
move from a state of dependence to one of
relative independence. This helps them to
form a political vision of change which they
seek to bring about through mobilization and
collective action.
Kabeer has referred to empowerment
as a process by which those who have
been denied the ability to make strategic life
choices acquire such ability through the use
of three inter-related elements:
- Resources : material, human, social
- Agency : ability to define ones goals
and act upon them through
bargaining/negotiation/manipulation/
subversion/resistance
- Achievement: which helps to build
strength, confidence and self esteem
(Kabeer, 1999 as cited by Mosedale,
Sarah, 2003, Pg 15).
Vijalakshmi and Chandrashekhars
study of womens power in PRIs in
Karnataka highlight four determinants of
power:
Positional Power as a result of
officially held positions that create
greater accesses to the political sphere
Social Power which is derived from
ones position within social structures
thereby influencing ones inclusion or
exclusion from resources that add to
the sphere of power
152 Nagmani Rao
Discursive Power exercised by a
reproduction of power relations in the
political sphere, defined by prevailing
values and norms
Human Capital expressed through
individual attributes such as expertise,
knowledge, etc., that enhance
capability for exercise of power.
(Vijaylakshmi & Chandrashekhar,
2002)
Kumud Sharma has referred to
empowerment from a grassroots perspective
as one that encompassed a range of activities
from individual self-assertion to collective
resistancesthat challenge basic power
relations.In case of subordinated groups,
she says, that empowerment begins when
they not only recognize the systemic forces
which oppress them, but act to change
existing power relationships (Sharma, 1991,
as quoted in Hust, 2004)
The concern for womens
participation in leadership and governance
has been defined as one of the key
parameters in the realization of Millennium
Development Goal 3, Promoting Gender
Equality and Womens Empowerment. The
Millennium Declaration was categorical in
stating that if women were empowered
enough to be in the mainstream of decision
making it would lead to the achievement of
all the MDG targets.
The UN Millennium Project
suggested that gender equality encompasses
three main aspects:
Capabilities (including basic human
abilities in education, health and nutrition);
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Access to Resources and
opportunities (including access to economic
assets, such as land and infrastructure;
resources, such as income and employment;
and political opportunities such as
representation in political bodies);
Security (including reduced vulnerability to
violence and conflict).
In the 1970s 3 rd World feminists
talked of empowerment in the context of
struggle for social justice and womens
equality through transformation in the
economic, social and political structures at
the national and international levels, which
would then have local impacts. To be able
to effect the politics of transformation
women need to engage actively and in larger
numbers with processes and institutions that
influence and shape change. This means an
active engagement with and taking on
leadership in governance and formal
institutions of power.
The discussion above brings out that
while there are variations in the notions of
power and empowerment, the common
thread running through all these is that they
are sensitive to the contexts in which these
have to be seen and therefore premise that
to move from a state of powerlessness one
has to become aware of the structural forces
that subordinate and oppress women and the
process of empowerment therefore involves
engaging, resisting and changing unequal
power equations. This comes through a
conscious participation in political
processes.
 Womens Quota, the 73rd Amendment And Womens Political Participation
Potentials and Challenges for Intervention in the Context of Mdg 3
As we inch towards the end of the
Millennium Development Goals what is the
reality of womens participation in political
leadership and how have these translated into
gendered impacts? This is discussed in the
following two sections.
Women, Political Participation and the
Debate about Quotas
Women constitute almost half of the
worlds population. Yet, they have remained
subordinated in almost all aspects of
development. Although there has been a
trend of increasing political participation and
influence of women in several countries,
there is a clear under-representation of
women in political governance. As on
October 2013, women occupied a mere one
fifth of all seats in national legislatures
across the world. Although these showed
regional variations, with the Nordic
countries displaying the highest level of
representation and the Arabic and Pacific
regions the least, in most countries womens
representation was substantially below the
UNDP recommended 30% that would
constitute the minimal critical mass
required for women to make meaningful
impacts through their politics of presence
(as enumerated by Anne Philip).
Internationally the negative impacts
of half of humankind remaining
subordinated and backward has been
recognized as an impediment to national and
world development. Amongst the early
instruments to address such inequality,
CEDAW (1979) recognized the need for
removal of all forms of discrimination
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
153
against women. The Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action took this vision forward
with a specific focus on enhancing womens
visibility in the political sphere. This was
further ratified in the Cairo Conference. The
endorsement for womens agency in the
Beijing +20, gave a further impetus to
establish the imperative of promoting
womens participation in public policy
formulation and legislating processes.
One of the key measures to enhance
womens presence and visibility in politics
has been the mechanism of quotas. Quotas
are a form of affirmative action to create
spaces and opportunities for excluded
groups. In terms of quotas in electoral
politics three kinds of mechanisms have been
implemented in different countries
Specific reserved constituencies (usually
through a rotational process); legislated
quotas; voluntary nominated quotas by
parties. It is presumed that when women
are represented in sufficient numbers in the
seats of power, a more gendered direction
would take place in development.
India, thus far, has not shown a very
promising picture on the gender front. The
Gender Development Index of the United
Nations Development Program equals 0.545
in 1998 and a marginally improved 0.591 in
2004, which puts India at positions 108 and
96 in a worldwide comparison of 136 and
143 countries in 1998 and 2004, respectively.
The Human Development Report 2006
placed India at 128th out of 178 countries. In
the sub-continent, India also shows the
lowest level of womens representation in
political positions at the higher levels.
154
Country Women in Upper
Single/ House Ranking
Lower House
Pakistan 20.7 16.3
Bangladesh 19.7
India 11 10.6
Source:IPU as cited in McCannan, 2013
Gender inequality does not
exclusively depend on economic conditions,
but are conditioned by a complex set of
interacting factors. These include the extent
to which the political and institutional
system -
a) Recognizes the need for gender
mainstreaming
b) Supports the interests of women in the
policy decision-making process, and
c) Installs and operates (informal)
support and enforcement mechanisms
for gender mainstreaming.
It is here that the significance of
quotas for political representation becomes
contextualized. In 2000 the United Nations
Security Council passed a resolution on
Women, Peace and Security and, during the
debate, the then UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan stated that peace is inextricably
linked to equality between women and men
maintaining and promoting peace and
security requires equal participation in
decision-making.
Women appeared to fare better when
either legislated or voluntary quotas were
used. In 2012, electoral quotas were used in
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Nagmani Rao
IPU 22 countries holding elections. With
legislated quotas, women took 24 per cent
of seats and with voluntary quotas they
67 gained 22 per cent. Where no quotas were
72 used, women took just 12 per cent of seats.
110 Despite these empirical evidences the
issue of quotas for electoral representation
has been a site of much debate. Arguments
that favour the provision for quotas state
that:
These provisions are in consonance
with the well thought out international
discourse and resolutions that
recommend quotas to remove
discrimination and exclusion and
serve to bring greater gender equality.
The notion of an inclusive society
implies equal citizenship, which in
turn implies equal opportunities to
women to have their voices
articulated. Thus, quotas would help
set right historical wrongs that
excluded half the world from full
participation in democracy.
Quotas help to bring in pluralism and
diversity, which are healthy for
democracy and contribute to bring in
a more representative public policy.
If women have proved their
managerial and decision making
capabilities at the household level
they can become equally capable of
doing so at the macro level.
The course of gender equality would
be fast tracked through the quota
 Womens Quota, the 73rd Amendment And Womens Political Participation
Potentials and Challenges for Intervention in the Context of Mdg 3
system. Though a still slow process,
quotas have helped to enhance
proportion of womens representation
from 11.7% in 1997 to about 21% by
2013.
As of October 2013 womens representation
in political leadership showed the following
picture:
Region % of Womens
Representation
Nordic 42
Asia 18.5
Arab States 15.9
Pacific States 15.9
Source: IPU- Women in National Parliaments, October
2013, as cited in McCannan, 2013.
When elected women representatives
learn to stand their own ground and
give a gendered tilt to political
processes, particularly in the rural
context they would serve as inspiring
role models for other women to
emulate.
There have however also been voices
that have dismissed the quota for women.
These arguments say that quotas:
Operate against the principle of merit
thereby depriving men who are more
capable yet left out of the electoral
race.
Go against the spirit of equality as
women, rather than being elected on
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
155
their own merit are elected because
of their gender. They may therefore
suffer political stigma for being mere
quota entrants.
Would foment social divisiveness.
Could encourage proxy ruling and
manipulation when elected women
are those who are low on knowledge,
information and economic assets
would be dependent on others who are
better equipped to handle power.
It is fallacious to assume that only
women can effectively represent
womens concerns. Also, women do
not constitute a homogenous category
where commonalities cut across class,
caste and ethnic interests. They may
therefore get further entrenched in
existing power politics.
The 73rd Amendment and Thereafter
The passing of the 73rd Constitutional
Amendment in 1993 brought in the
guarantee of regular elections and fixed
terms for elected members and a rotational
reservation system.
The mandatory reservation of seats for
women had substantial repercussions on
local governance and rural service provision.
Studies for West Bengal, Rajasthan, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu
show that the womens reservation policy
has:
a) Led to shifts in rural service provision
to public goods that reflect womens
156 Nagmani Rao
preferences (Chattopadhyay and
Duflo 2004; Beaman et al. 2006) and
b) Stimulated the attendance and/or
participation of women in Gram
Sabha (village assembly) meetings
(Chattopadhyay and Duflo 2004).
However, these findings have
remained contested in the policy debate,
especially in light of the persistent and
pronounced gender bias in human
development and human well-being, that is,
longevity, education, and the control over
resources.
Hust, while talking about the potential of
empowerment raised through the process of
political representation by Elected Women
Representatives (EWRs) also warns that
these are not easily achievable. These have
been borne out by a number of field studies
including that carried out by this author in
two districts in Maharashtra. Discussing the
linkage between political representation and
empowerment in the context of EWRs, Hust
distinguishes four successive stages of
empowerment. In the first stage one needs
to examine how many and who move into
positions of power. The second stage would
analyze the extent to which EWRs are
exercising the power and how they have
equipped themselves to do so and if this
engagement leads to bring in new (gendered)
issues in new ways. At the third stage she
asks that the impact of womens political
engagement as leaders be examined by
assessing the expansion of their knowledge
and interest in politics and the status and
visibility they have attained at home and in
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
the public domain. Has this led to them
becoming more confident, conscious and
gender sensitive? The last stage is the
examination of the wider impacts they make
by empowering other women and changing
the perspectives of men toward greater
gender sensitivity.
Several field studies (Ramesh and Ali 2001,
Hust, 2004, Rao and Adagale, 2011,
Deshpande and DSouza, for example) have
brought out that the effectiveness of EWRs
is impacted by a combination of factors such
as their education, attitudes and ambition and
family encouragement and support systems
and the environment in their work situation.
Women who are members of SHGs or have
been active in womens mobilization through
party or non party initiatives are more likely
to be better equipped and more confident and
articulate if they have received exposures
through these associations. An academic
associated with a dalit OBC party reiterates
that this particularly true of those women
who are associated with the Phule Ambedkar
movements. Some NGOs have also
experienced that when SHG initiatives go
beyond mere credit activities they can lead
to greater politicization of members.
Field experiences also highlight numerous
obstructions and challenges women face,
particularly when they are new entrants.
Some of these are highlighted here:
1) The burden of household
responsibilities and cultural
restrictions obstruct their physical
mobility and the amount of time they
can spend in catering to their
 Womens Quota, the 73rd Amendment And Womens Political Participation
Potentials and Challenges for Intervention in the Context of Mdg 3
constituents. Thus the husband/father/
son or other male family members
either openly operate on their behalf
or the EWRs take decisions only in
consultation with them. For example,
officials and elected representatives
from Kolhapur ZP indicated this to be
the case in relation to the ZP
President. In one of the villages in
Nandurbar district both mother and
son are panchayat members; the son
is the Sarpanch. The son is quite
knowledgeable and active and the
mother candidly said that since her
son is managing all affairs she doesnt
see the need to attend all meetings as
he tells her what to do!
2) Women are unable to attend all
necessary trainings to pick up the
ropes of their functions. When they
are illiterate or have limited education
this further enhances their dependence
on men and increases their
vulnerability to being misled or
manipulated. Many village level
EWRs admitted the practical
constraints they faced to go for
trainings and how they merely mark
their attendance on record.
3) Women are largely confined to such
committees as women and child,
social welfare, education, health and
sanitation with very low or no
representation in committees for
public works, finance thus reinforcing
the stereotypical image of womens
functions.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
157
4) EWRs presence at meetings is often
in the form of tokenism as they either
dont speak up or are not given
sufficient opportunities to express
their views and the decisions taken by
men prevail more often.
5) The single term rotation system puts
potentially capable women at a
disadvantage in terms of motivation
as by the time they learn some things
and develop their confidence to
handle responsibilities the term has
ended and there is no guarantee that
they would get renewed opportunities
to contest elections again. In this
context many women talked of
alternatives such as two terms before
rotating seats or having a panel system
wherein men and women would
contest as a joint panel from all wards.
Party based reservations did not find
much favour as women felt that the
patriarchal party system would then
field women in weak constituencies.
6) The motion of No Confidence or the
threat to use it has been used as a
potential instrument by powerful
vested interests to obstruct or oust
inconvenient elected
representatives. These can be quite de-
motivating and in case of women
reinforce the feeling that power
politics is a dirty game. (A woman
member of a Dalit-OBC party in
Maharashtra however said that this
notion exists more amongst the
privileged classes and castes who
158 Nagmani Rao
have led rather sheltered lives while
the toiling classes have much greater
grit and determination to resist
opposing forces.) At the same time a
study on no-confidence motions in
Osmanabad district of Maharashtra by
the rural campus of Tata Institute of
Social Sciences was quite revealing
and showed that in case of such
motions against EWRs these were
moved or manipulated by male ERs.
7) EWRs who are from subordinated
classes or castes and show a sense of
purpose are also sometimes seen as a
threat by the established elite. In the
absence of family or organizational
support such women face a lonely
battle with seemingly little success.
Yet these are the women who also
bring to the fore how the reservation
quota also creates the opportunity to
challenge norms and resist cooption.
[See box below for case story from
Kolhapur district.]
8) EWRs are able to function in a more
effective and assertive way when the
womens front within parties is strong
so as to be able to form a caucus of
support and mutual consultation and
also show solidarity against
patriarchal mindsets.
9) Training which addresses their needs
and also reaches out to male
counterparts to develop greater gender
sensitivity has been found to be useful
when carried out in a participatory
way. This has been borne out by
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Aalochanas experience as well as the
Mahila Raj Satta Andolan in
Maharashtra and the capability
developed through training in states
like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc.
When such trainings are regular they
also offer an opportunity to develop
networks amongst EWRs.
Caught in the Crossfire of Caste Politics:
A Woman Sarpanch Fights Back
Vidya Chandrakant Suryavanshi is a
36 year old graduate woman Sarpanch. She
was elected in a village in Hatkalangale
taluka of Kolhapur district in 2006. Being a
Sarpanch she implemented Nirmal Gram
Yojana (total sanitation programme) and
school developmental activities successfully.
The village has a minor irrigation tank where
Gram Panchayat (GP) can auction fishery
rights. During her tenure she could gain an
enormous income of almost 3.69 lakh for the
Gram panchayat through this auction. The
present Sarpanch could make a historical
record by availing this extra income of the
GP. Besides, GP also got 1st prize of Nirmal
Gram and was honoured by the President,
Pratibhatai Patil. She had also negotiated
with the Ghodawat group of Industries from
this region to financially support building
of the school wall.
Over a period of time, the established
leadership felt threatened by her
achievements and the progress of GP that
she had achieved and the assertiveness that
she had shown by not succumbing to their
controls. She perceives that as a dalit woman
leader, her being under the spotlight did not
 Womens Quota, the 73rd Amendment And Womens Political Participation
Potentials and Challenges for Intervention in the Context of Mdg 3
go well with the established leadership from
the Maratha community. She suffered mental
harassment when a section began obstructing
her from discharging her functions in the GP.
In one such incident they compelled her to
sign on the cheque in which the work was
not verified and assessment was pending.
This resulted in splitting the panchayat body
into 2 factions and the rival group kept
targeting her for this. On 15th August, this
faction prohibited her from hoisting the flag
and carried out a smear campaign against
her. Under the influence of this, some people
from her own community were involved in
the group that attacked her and members of
her faction outside the village and disrupted
her meeting. The police complaint was
registered from both the sides under the
Atrocities Act in which the Maratha GP
members from both the groups were accused
and Dalits were the complainants. But no
immediate arrests were made. This led to a
great deal of tension in the village and an
MLA intervened with the suggestion to come
to a mutual settlement and withdraw the
complaint. During the incidence a Dalit
political organization showed her support
and asked her not to withdraw. Nevertheless
under pressure to keep the village
environment peaceful and a sense of physical
threat Vidyatai ultimately agreed to resolve
the conflict outside the court and withdrew
her complaint on 19th August 2010.
But as both the parties did not sign on
the final mutual agreement-cum-
compromise sheet and also the mental
harassment of Sarpanch continued the case
has now been reopened in the district
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
159
magistrates court. There are two different
Maratha clans in the GP leadership contest -
Bidkar and Patil. The former is a newly
emerging leadership in the village and the
latter is considered to be an established
traditional leadership. It is observed that both
leadership factions play clan politics via
Dalits. She is also under pressure from a
section of the district bureaucracy to step
back so that the situation doesnt get further
out of hand.
As a result of this experience and the
social boycott that shes had to undergo in
the village she has now taken a decision to
withdraw from political contests for all time.
Her parting shot to the research team was -
one should be involved in politics, but carry
this out beyond the village, At the village it
is better, rather there is necessity to develop
the village and staying out of local politics
is the only way to achieve this!
The Need for Social Work Engagement
with Political Processes
Social Work professionals and women
engaged in non party formations within the
womens movement often seem to reflect the
middle class perspective of steering clear of
electoral politics. However the philosophy
of social work reflects the values of equality,
justice and human rights. As agents of
change our aim is to empower the
underprivileged and support and facilitate
their efforts to bring about transformation
in their own lives and in the structures that
affect them. Maharashtra, along with many
other states has brought in changes in the
state panchayati raj acts following the 110th
160 Nagmani Rao

Constitutional Amendment that enhanced Evidence based documentation of

the reservation for women in local self
government bodies to 50%. Given the fact
that as social workers we work with client
groups who live in communities, the
provisions of the reservations quota have
opened the doors for expanding the scope
of our interventions beyond the remedial to
the developmental approach within a rights
based perspective which seeks to empower
women and sensitize society about what
women can do when given the necessary
support and opportunity. As practitioners, as
trainers and as researchers we can engage
ourselves at various levels. Some of the
possible ways that such engagements can be
developed are proposed for further
discussion:
Placements of students with
Panchayats or organizations that form
a bridge between communities,
panchayati raj institutions and the
bureaucracy.
field processes and unique case
studies of success stories and
struggles of womens political
engagement.
Being part of networks that are
actively lobbying for the extension of
the womens quota to state and
national level elected bodies.
Training to elected representatives
(men and women) and functionaries
and bureaucrats to shape attitudes
towards gender sensitive attitudes and
behaviours.
Pushing for such measures as gender
mapping and gender audits of PRI
budgets through community
mobilization.
Encouraging and preparing women to
become active participants in gram
sabhas.

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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

GENDER MAINSTREAMING A SINE QUA NON FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
It is said that women hold up half
the sky. We could persuasively argue that
they hold up more than that. Yet virtually in
every country in every period of history; in
every culture and tradition; in every region,
religion, caste, class, race, creed, ethnicity;
in the diversity of our shared past and varied
present, women have always been
disadvantaged compared to men in almost
all spheres of life. They have been
discriminated against systematically in their
access to food, work, education, health care
and opportunities to participate in
development, to lead, think, dream and to
realize their dreams. They are, and have
remained through millennia, truly the
worlds largest minority. Harsh Mander,
Ash in the Belly Indias Unfinished Battle
against Hunger Penguin Books, (Page
no.-43.)
Harsh Mander a retired bureaucrat
and a well-meaning activists assertion is not
a sweeping statement made with an iota of
personal sentiments. He has vividly narrated
certain real cases of pitiable plight of socially
harassed women struggling hard to feed her
and her offsprings stomach. Gender
discrimination is a universal phenomenon
and despite Indias glorious past in which a
woman was equated with a Goddess and she
used to enjoy certain rights to participate in
academic and scholarly activities; her status
* Director, Gender Resource Centre, Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Gujarat.
INDIA. Email : dineshkapadiaphd@gmail.com
Dinesh Kapadia*
was gradually reduced to nothing more than
a chattel required to be at back and call of
her husband and in-laws.
Post independence scenario-
The framers of the Indian constitution
were fully aware of this stark reality and that
is why they have conscientiously
incorporated certain provisions in the
constitution to ensure protection of social
and economic rights of women. No nation
can make sustainable development by
excluding its almost half of the population.
Women constitute almost 48% of
Indias population; as shown in the above
graph. The importance of women as a
valuable human resource was recognized by
the Constitution of India, which not only
accorded equality to women but also
empowered the state to adopt measures of
positive discrimination in their favour.
A number of Articles enshrined in the
Constitution specially reiterated the
commitment towards the socio-economic
development of women and upholding their
political rights and participation in decision
making. The Article 15(3) of the constitution
empowers the state to make special
provisions for women and children.
India has witnessed the worlds largest
experiment in grassroots local democracy,
triggered by the 73rd and 74th Amendments
 Gender Mainstreaming a Sine Qua Non for Sustainable Development
to the Indian Constitution, which created a
three tier of governance Panchayati Raj
Institution (Village Councils) and urban
local bodies. These are elected bodies and
cannot be dissolved by administrative order.
Since 1995, regular rounds of elections have
been held; and as one-third of seats
(proposed to be increased to 50 per cent) are
reserved for women and as a result of this
revolutionary constitutional provision a
sizeable number of elected women
representatives are found in the PRIs and
local self-governments.
India has also ratified various
international conventions and human rights
instruments committing to secure equal
rights of women. Key among them is the
ratification of the Convention on
Elimination of All forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) in 1993. The
Mexico Plan of Action (1975), the Nairobi
Forward looking Strategies (1985); the
Beijing Declaration as well as the Platform
for Action (1995) and the Outcome
Document adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly Session on gender
Equality and Development & Peace for the
21 st century, titled Further actions and
initiatives to implement the Beijing
Declaration and the Platform for Action
have been unreservedly endorsed by India
for appropriate follow up. The Beijing
Platform for Action lays down critical areas
of concern for women. The commitments
made in the international conventions are as
far as possible reflected in the Plan
documents and the National Policy for the
Empowerment of Women.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
163
India has endorsed the eight
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
established in the Millennium Declaration
at the General Assembly of the United
Nations in the year 2000. These include
Promote gender equality and empower
women and Improve maternal health.
Though only these two are explicitly gender
specific, gender equality is at the core of
achievement of other 6 MD Goals- Eradicate
extreme poverty and hunger, Achieve
Universal Primary Education, Reduce Child
mortality, Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and
other diseases, Ensure environmental
sustainability and Develop a global
partnership for development.
As part of fulfilling obligations under
the constitutional provisions and
international conventions; a number of
schemes have been floated and a plethora of
laws have been enacted to ensure sustainable
development through gender equity in India
after independence and some of the schemes
focus on welfare of women and children. A
sizeable quantum of fund is poured into these
schemes so that their benefits percolate down
to the socially and economically backward
women.
There cannot be gain said that the
central government and the state
governments have been endeavoring for
upliftment of the downtrodden people and
also mainstreaming gender equity and
equality in the development process through
various schemes and projects.
In the context of the above
background; an attempt is made in the
164 Dinesh Kapadia
present paper to study economic
empowerment of rural women through
Mission Mangalam scheme at the zero
ground level in the selected areas of Gujarat.
The present paper provides a glimpse
of success of mission mangalam scheme and
its projects in the area which are part of the
universe of the study.
Methodology
Primary data collection
o Qualitative:- Focus Group discussion
(FGD)
o Personal interview
o The researcher and his team met as
many as 50 women, and their family
members and Taluka Development
Officer and the local manager
mission mangalam with a view to
getting first-hand information on its
implementation in Bayad block of
Arravalli (S.K.) district.
Secondary data collection
o Census reports
o SRS bulletin (Sample Registration
Statistics System)
o Materials published by N.M.E.W.
(Ministry of Woman and Child
Development, Govt. of India). & UN-
WOMEN., Newspapers & Books.
Purposive Sampling
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Purpose of the Study
This study will throw light on
economic empowerment of rural women
through mission mangalam scheme and
some success stories associated with it. The
study will enable academicians, sociologists
to ponder over better implementation of the
Govt. programmes/scemes on women to
create a gender just society.
MISSION MANGALAM; An initiative of
Gujarat
On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee
Year celebration of Gujarat State, an
ambitious campaign by the name
MISSION MANGALAM was
launched in the year 2010.The
objective is to organize the poor into
Self Help Groups/ other organizations
of the poor, link them with banks build
capacities in them and lead them
towards sustainable livelihoods.
To implement this Mission a company
was formed in April 2010 by the name
Gujarat Livelihood Promotion
Company Limited (GLPC) and a
budgetary provision of Rs. 95 Crores
was made for 2010-11 for Mission
Mangalam. The manpower for the
GLPC was approved on 4th
September, 2010. Mission Mangalam
is launched on the pattern of NRLM.
Under NRLM, every State is required
to form its own State Livelihood
Mission and a dedicated structure to
implement the mission at the state
level. Mission Mangalam would be
 Gender Mainstreaming a Sine Qua Non for Sustainable Development
the State Livelihood Mission for
Gujarat and GLPC would be its
implementing agency.
Mission Mangalam would adopt
certain innovative state specific
initiatives within the broader
framework of NRLM.
Institutional structure
Two-tier structure
Mission Mangalam Advisory Council
Gujarat Livelihood Promotion
Company GLPC has its offices at
State level, District level, Taluka level
and Cluster level. The State level
office would have broadly 11 verticals
reporting to the Managing Director.
Social Mobilization and Institution
Building
Skill Training, Placement and
Capacity Building
Microfinance & Financial Inclusion
MIS and IT system Management
Livelihood Promotion Agriculture &
Agro based sector
Livelihood Promotion Animal
Husbandry and Dairy Sector
Livelihood Promotion Cottage
Industries Service Sector
Livelihood Promotion Horticulture
Marketing Interventions
H.R & Administration
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
165
Accounting and Internal Financial
Management
The district level office of GLPC
would be integrated with the DRDAs.
District Development Officer would be the
Chairperson of the District level Steering
committee of Mission Mangalam / GLPC.
The manpower structure at the district level
would be as below
District Livelihood Manager
Expert in Social Mobilization and
Institutional Building
Expert in Micro Finance and
Financial Inclusion
Expert in Agriculture & Dairy Sector
Expert in Cottage Industries Services
sector.
Taluka Development Officer would be
the Chairperson of Taluka level Steering
Committee of Mission Mangalam / GLPC.
The manpower structure of GLPC at Taluka
level would be as under
Taluka Livelihood Manager
Assistant Taluka L i v e l i h o o d
Manager (Institution Building &
Microfinance)
Assistant Taluka Livelihood Manager
(Livelihood Interventions)
Salient objectives
Empower the Poor by organizing them
into SHGs/ Federations/other Collectives
250,000 Sakhi Mandals /SHGs to be
formed / strengthened, covering
166 Dinesh Kapadia
30 Lakh households, of which
majority would be from within the
BPL category.
Follow a saturation approach by
ensuring inclusion of at least one
member of every rural BPL
Household into SHGs.
20,000 Producer Groups to be formed
covering 10 Lakh poor households to
provide access to Agriculture,
Livestock and Non-Farm Business
and support services for income
enhancement
Reviving the existing co-operatives /
industrial co-operatives by market
driven approach through infusion of
microfinance, skill up gradation,
technology up gradation and market
commitments.
Form over 1,000 Cluster Federations
followed by Taluka, District and State
Federations of Sakhi Mandals /
Producer Groups to create
empowerment.
Empower the poor through ensuring
access to Financial Services
Access to Banking - through no-frills
accounts, in the name of the
woman of the household
Payment Services - NREGS wages,
pensions and other social security
schemes
Remittances - from migrant family
members
Savings - once the above cash-flows
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
stabilize and immediate consumption
needs are taken care of
Insurance on a group basis, for health
and life, crop, livestock and assets
Micro Credit - for consumption needs,
contingency needs and swapping of
costlier loans from non-formal
banking sources
Livelihood Credit - for income-
generation activity, dove-tailing it
with existing subsidy schemes of
central and state governments.
Thus, it can be asserted that both the
central Government and State Governments
leave no stone unturned to bring about Socio-
economic transformation through various
measures.
However, periodical studies on
implementation and its impact on the socio-
economic conditions of the people in general
and women in particular are necessary to
enable the policy makers and role players of
its implementation to make such schemes
really purposeful. The present study is an
exercise in this direction.
Gujarat has approximately 2.14 lakh
Sakhi Mandals with savings worth
Rs. 256.76 crores linkages built with
Mission Mangalam for sustained
economic development of members.
A provision of 45 crore has been made
towards 5% interest assistance on the
bank loan of 1122 crores (November
2013).
 Gender Mainstreaming a Sine Qua Non for Sustainable Development
The case studies depicting self reliant
and confident women Inroads in a male
bastion: -
Case Study - I
Running a flour mill in a rural area is
indubitably a male bastion. However, the
researcher and his team were pleasantly
surprised to meet Meena Shah, the owner of
Mahalaxmi flour mill in a tiny village
Ramos.
Originally hailing from Maharashtra;
Meena came to this village after tying a
nuptial knot to a Gujarati man, about twenty
years ago and she has become both a de facto
and a de jure Gujarati woman. She formed
SHG under the banner of Jay Ambe Sakhi
mandal and persuaded other women of her
village to make efforts to earn their
livelihood through small business. She opted
to run a flour mill from last 15 years after
obtaining a small amount of loan through a
bank. Today, She herself operates the mill,
confidently deals with her clientele and earns
approximately RS 10,000 a month and not
only financially supports her family but also
pays attention to her childrens education
with the result that her daughter is pursuing
a post-graduation-(B.Ed.) and her son is an
under graduate student. Meena commands
respect of both men and women of her
village and she is a source inspiration to all
rural women.Meena Shahs is a classic
example of woman empowerment through
livelihood linkages.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
167
Case Study - II
Rekha Rasikbhai Valand is the
founder member of the sakhi mandal named
as jay yogeswar in Ambaliyara village,
where she has been residing since her
marriage in April 1988.At the time of her
marriage she had cleared her S.S.C. exam,
but her husband, despite being a primary
school dropout, inspired her to pursue further
study and she completed H.SC. She
encouraged her two sons to pursue their
study in Diploma in Engineering and
graduation in Science (B.Sc.), respectively.
Not only has that she also inspired her
daughter in law to study in Business
Administration (B.B.A.)
The researcher and his team found
during interactions with the family members
of Rekha that her active participation in the
Mission Maglam Scheme linked 16 Sakhi
mandals from 2012 onwards, transformed
her socio-economic status; nevertheless, she
was associated with the SHG scheme and as
part of her domain as an A.W.W.-ICDS and
She had founded some Sakhimandals in the
year 2008.Every member of a SHG regularly
contributes 100-200 Rupees per Month as
part of saving and in turn they can avail a
small loan with a nominal interest thereon.
The rural women meet their minor social and
other encumbrances, out of the loan amount
from SHG, which keeps their family out of
the clutches of money lenders.
Rekha approaches a bank manager
with oodles of confidence in connection with
saving accounts of the members of the SHG
led by her and she regularly maintains
168 Dinesh Kapadia

Graph:2

Graph:3

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Gender Mainstreaming a Sine Qua Non for Sustainable Development
accounts of all the SHGs.Thus, she has been
associated with Sakhimandals for the last
about 5 years and this activity has not only
made herself economically self-reliant but
also has enhanced her confidence. She
triumphantly said to the researcher,
I had not seen a bank before I was
30 and I was virtually afraid of bank officials.
However, after my association with SHGs,
I have to frequently visit a bank and I
consider it my right to approach the Branch
Manager in case of a grievance; as he keeps
our own money, as part of his official duty.
Rekha has herself availed a loan
facility as a member of SHG and she earns
extra money through animal husbandry
and today she possesses two buffaloes, two
cow and two calves. Happiness in Rekhas
family is palpable and it is beyond all doubts
attributable to her successful participation
in SHGs linked with Mission Mangalam.
Jay Yogeshwar- SHG in Bayad,
consists of 10 members and each member
regularly deposits RS 100-200 every month,
towards saving. This sakhimandal has
received a loan from the local branch of
Dena Bank. The SHG members with whom
the researcher and his team mates interacted;
were found to be full of confidence.
Case Study - III
A Success story of Khergam:- Block
Chikali, Dist.- Navsari
The village named Khergam is one of
the famous market areas of the Chikali Block
of Navsari District. Majority of the
population of this village consists of
Dhodiya- scheduled caste. Like other
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
169
villages, Khergam also conducts Gramsabha
for discussing about the wellbeing and other
issues of the village. Among many topics
discussed in the meeting, one topic for
discussion was about the employment and
livelihood schemes and its benefits for the
rural folk. During such discussions, Sakhi
mandal Scheme was emphasized with a
motto of spreading awareness among rural
BPL Women. Having been inspired with the
benefits of the Schemes launched by the
Government, Saraswatiben, a resident of
Khergam village motivated other local
women residing near her house and formed
a group which was collectively named as
Om Parmatma Sakhi Mandal. The group
opened a saving account in Bank of Baroda
in the same village and started their internal
saving of Rs. 50 from each member.
They also qualified for the Revolving
fund of Rs. 5000/- and by this amount along
with the savings, they started internal
lendings. After looking into the progress and
financial situation of the group,
Saraswatiben thought of starting an
economic activity which resulted into
formation of Om Parmatama Dairy center.
The group started with the collection of 60
liters milk. Gradually the collection of milk
rose to 350-400 liters per day which was sent
to a local cooperative dairy. The dairy used
to provide cattle fodder to the group on
monthly credit basis which was then
deducted from the monthly income through
milk delivered to the dairy. The profit
amount is equally divided among the
members of the group providing them a
decent livelihood platform. These women
have now become economically empowered
170 Dinesh Kapadia
because of sustainable income and they
support their families too.
Case Study - IV
Lily Farming - A Success story
In the age of Science and Technology,
even today, Agriculture is the major source
of income. The profession of agriculture/
farming can become a profitable income
generation activity by adopting new
techniques instead of following the old trend
of farming. Floriculture can bring a
tremendous change in profit of the income.
The term farming has changed due to the
innovative thoughts of the people.
The floriculture has changed the life
of the eleven (11) members of Radhaswamy
Sakhi Mandal living in Tarmaliya village of
Pardi Taluka. The members thought of
cultivating lily garden in the unused land of
their Leader of the group, Smt. Tinkal ben
Patel by taking the benefit of the Cash credit
of Rs. 1 lakh which they received after
joining the SHG group. All the women
members jointly did the farming like
removing weeds, sprinkling pesticides/
medicines, plough, watering etc.
The idea of lily flower farming came
in due to the tremendous demand of the
flower. They purchased 2000 saplings of lily
plants from their savings of Rs. 1500/- and
now harvesting is also completed. As the
leader has the knowledge of Horticulture.
This lily cultivation has profitable income
due to its demand and price in the market.
The lily flowers are sold for Rs. 65/- per
bunch which provides them a lot of profit.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Case Study - V
A Saga of success- Lakshmi Mahila
SHG of Dhumli Village
Lakshmi Sakhi Mandal, one of the
pioneer women SHGs has contributed
greatly to the erstwhile State sponsored
Sakhi Mandal Scheme.
Lakshmi Sakhi Mandal comprises of
12 members all of whom belong to backward
communities. Adversity brought them
together and these strong willed women
started a shop at the Gramhaat located at the
Tourist spot of Dhumli Village. The capital
for the shop was raised by utilizing the
groups monthly savings which begun with a
per member contribution of Rs.100/-each.
The shop sells items such as artifacts made
of China Clay (Chinai mitti), handicraft
items, cutlery, etc. These items are sourced
from nearby towns viz. Rajkot, Surendra-
nagar & Junagadh. While a few members
work at the shop, the others remain
associated with daily wage work and agri-
culture activities. The GramHaat shop which
otherwise started as a leisure time activity for
the members has now become an important
source of sustainable income for supporting
their families. One of the Members, Ms.
Rekhaben says excitedly, As Tourism
grows, our Gramhaat will also progress. The
Members of Lakshmi Mahila SHG have now
become pillars for growth and sustainability
for the rest of their family members. In
Bhanwad Taluka, more than 4400 women are
included in SHG who have saved Rs. 80
lakhs and have done the internal landing of
around Rs. 50 Lakhs and have proved to be a
supporting hand for their family.
(Source- www.nrlm.gov.in, www.aajeevika.in)
 Gender Mainstreaming a Sine Qua Non for Sustainable Development 171

concluded that the livelihood related

Major Findings and Observations
There is a modicum of transformation
in the lifestyle of rural women and
elevation in the socio-economic status
of rural women who are members of
S.H.G.s under Mission Mangalam
N.R.L.M. is indeed visible.
Rural women have become
economically self-reliant at least to
some extent and they are able to
provide support to their family.
It has provided them an exposure to
the World outside their family;
resulting into awareness on their basic
rights and importance of providing
education to their children; both boys
and girls.
The rural women have of late started
understanding significance of small
saving and availability of loan for
earning livelihood.
The Governments policy to provide
subsidy on interest of a loan under
Mission Mangalam has encouraged
the rural women to be part of S.H.G.s
and to earn livelihood on their own,
nevertheless, it is difficult and
somewhat cumbersome to obtain a
loan from a bank whose prime
concern is recovery. It can be
Reference
Case Studies - III to V, Source- www.nrlm.gov.in, www.aajeevika.in
GOI (1991). Census of India Report. New Delhi.
GOI. (2001). Census of India Report. New Delhi.
GOI. (2011). Census of India Report. New Delhi.
Mander H.(2012). Ash in the Belly : Indias Unfinished Battle against Hunger. New Delhi: Penguin
Books.
Schemes by the Centre and the State
have definitely resulted into economic
empowerment of the rural women; at
least to some extent despite certain
bottlenecks in implementation at
ground level and reported decline in
number of S.H.G.s in some parts of
the country.
Limitation of the present study
The researcher could not widen the
universe of the study due to time constrain
and therefore a need is felt for an depth study
covering as many districts of Gujarat as
possible to get a clear picture of acceptability
and fruitfulness of Mission Mangalam
scheme in Gujarat. However, a few case
studies shown above are the concrete
examples of growing awareness on women
empowerment in the rural areas of Gujarat.
Acknowledgement
The researcher ought to acknowledge
valuable support and timely help in
undertaking this study within a short time,
by the following colleagues working at
G.R.C. / S.R.C.W. - Gujarat, under NMEW.
Ms Bijal Bangdiwala Research Officer
Mr Gaurav Thakker Asst. State Coordinator
Ms Himali Joshi Asst. State Coordinator
Ms Mita Patel Gender Resource Officer

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS ACHIEVEMENTS &
THE CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
BEFORE THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS:
PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS IN THE CONTEXT OF
MAHARASHTRA STATE, INDIA
Neelima Deshmukh*

Introduction Governance & NPM tenets apart from

various gender sensitisation programmes to
In order to achieve the Millennium
advocate gender equality are the basic
Development Goals for all practical
parameters of the empowerment selected for
purposes various tailor made programmes
meeting the ensured Millennium
have been designed, introduced &
Development Goals and results have been
implemented to achieve the welfare
very encouraging and visible contributing
objectives for women empowerment and
substantially to the cause of MDG.
gender sensitisation in Indian society. India
being one of the signatories to this treaty it Although engendering development is
has started focussed efforts in that direction. now a days much spoken topic for everyone.
yet there seems to be a less than adequate
As per the objectives & goals of
understanding of the basic concepts and the
millennium development are concerned,
issues involved in this crucial development
poverty alleviation, education for all, gender
dialogue .It is now widely accepted fact that
issues & women empowerment programmes
in India despite many spectacular advances
have been given the priority. So far as
in different sectors there remains an
Maharashtra govt. is concerned it has tried
undeniable gap between men and women
its best to address the issues of capacity
regarding their political, economic, and the
building of women in real sense, which
social conditions. referring to Indian
include their financial capacity building
conditions Dreze and Sen wrote : Inequality
through the huge successful network of self
between men and women is one of the
help groups, political capacity building by
crucial disparities in many societies and this
their inclusion in the decision making
is particularly so in India *1 Further Martha
process through the constitutional
Nussbaums classics- Women and Human
amendment representation / 50% reservation
Development: The Capabilities Approach -
to women in local governments, various
which starts with the startling Statement :
facilities & introduction of right to education
women in much of the world lack support
act, efforts to stop dropout rate of girl
for the fundamental functions of human life
students and quality education to women,
Referring to India Nussbaum observes
streamlining and simplifying the rules &
even when they (Women) live in
regulations of the administration taking it to
constitutional democracy such as India,
the doors of the citizen through e -
where they are equal in theory, they are
* Director, Centre for Womens Studies & Development & Head, PG. Deptt. of Public Administration & Local
Govt., RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur, India
 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects
second class citizens in reality.*2 In this
context the following comment from
UNDPs landmark Human Development
Report 1997 is worth quotation: A Creative
commitment to gender equality will
strengthen every area of action to reduce the
poverty because women can bring new
energy , new insights and the new basis for
the organisation *3
To enable the inclusion of women in
development process, women oriented
policies were needed with the ambition to
enhance womens efficiency and
consequently advance the economic
development. This required improvements
in the access to the education, training,
property, and credit to be able to improve
and facilitate the possibility of the
employment. Women were supposed to be
integrated in often in the activities those were
specific for women and they were viewed
only as a passive recipients. The WID
approach increased womens income ,
improved their health, strengthened their
resources in short term but the sustainability
faltered as because it disregarded unequal
relations between men and women. The
focus on the women in development thereby
tended to be blind to the roles and
responsibilities of men regarding womens
position in society. This confirmed to liberal
feminist position as it was less concerned
about empowerment or bringing about the
radical changes in the position of women in
society.
II) Gender As a Development Issue :
Another approach emerged from the grass
roots of organisations and feminists from the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
173
developing countries which uses more
holistic perspectives and recognises the
importance of social, economic, and political
factors in womens lives. A complimentary
stream of thought and movement much
broader in scope and more radical in spirits
emerged in 1990 known as DAWN :
Development Alternatives with women for
New Era. Third World Womens Pers-
pectives became little blue bible of the
womens movement for the years to come.
DAWNs analysis focussed on the ways that
the growth oriented macro economics, neo
colonial international relations, militarism
connect and perpetuate the marginalisation
of women in the developing world. This
platform injected womens movement with
macro economics and perspective and
initiated the conceptual change from women
in Development to Gender and
Development.
III) Policy Planning and
Mainstreaming
Gender concerns need to be integrated
with the overall development policies of
public authorities at all levels of the
governance. Attempts are now being made
to reposition the entire governance system
in each country to have practical reflections
of gender concerns in the overall governing
system of different nations. The
Governments in particular and other
prominent major organisations like The
World Bank, UNDP, etc are seeking to
advance the equity and equality through
mainstreaming of gender in development ,
planning, budgeting, project planning and
implementation Gender mainstreaming
174 Neelima Deshmukh
requires that the gender be brought in to the
centre of discussions about development and
not marginalised as womens issue*4 thus
gender mainstreaming makes the gender
central to all aspects of Development
planning and practices. Broadly it refers to
the application of the gender perspectives
to all legal, social norms and standards, to
all policy development research, Planning,
advocacy, development, implementation and
monitoring as mandatory for all the
participatory institutions and agencies.
Womens empowerment through gender
mainstreaming is expected to bring about
overall societal development by addressing
the gender inequalities in all aspects of the
development across all sectors and
programmes especially in decision making
structures at all government levels. Policies
and programmes are seldom gender neutral,
in fact as Elson(1999) contends: gender
neutral policies are often gender blind.*5
Since gender based differences and
discrimination are built into entire
socioeconomic political fabric of almost all
the societies and a gender neutral policy is
bound to reach and benefit the men more
than women unless concerted efforts are
made to correct gender based discrimination
to implement those policies.. Therefore the
government needs to think about both gender
and sex while making policies and allocating
the budgets to implement them. In respect
of sex the government needs to have ensure
that programmes and policies are available
and adequately financed to address the
different biological needs of women, men
including child bearing for women. In
respect of gender the government needs to
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
have the vision of the types of roles,
responsibilities, relationships, that it wants
to see in the country for men and women,
girls and boys, and design fund and
implement policies and programmes to move
towards the goals. Therefore more emphasis
be placed on introducing and implementing
the gender responsive budgeting at all
levels, particularly in the local government
institutions which practically ensures the
benefits are reaching to those for whom they
are meant. The budget is the most important
policy instrument of the government because
no other policy will work without money.
As such the government budget can be a
powerful tool in transforming our
country which should be precisely
designed to address the needs of the
women in particular.
IV) Millennium Development Goals : A
path to the Developed Nation
At the millennium summit 2000 the 189
member states of united nations made
commitment to the Millennium Declaration
to achieve 8 goals now termed as Millennium
Development Goals(MDGs) ranging from
elimination of poverty & hunger
to elimination of HIV /AIDS ,Malaria etc
which includes goal3 as a commitment to
promote Gender equality and women
empowerment at large.
In order to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals for all practical
purposes various tailor made programmes
have been designed, introduced &
implemented to achieve the welfare
objectives for women empowerment and
gender sensitisation in Indian society. India
 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects 175

Table 1: Eight Goals of MDG with their 12 time bound targets relevant to India

Source: Millennium Development Goals India Country Report 2011 : Economic Survey of
Maharashtra 2012-13)

being one of the signatories to this treaty it commitments to the Primary

has started focussed efforts in that direction. Education.
Further to ensure that MDG3 is met by time 2) Guarantee sexual and reproductive
bound year 2015the task force has identified health and Rights.
seven strategic priorities which are
3) Invest in Infrastructure to reduce
interdependent and minimum necessary to
women & Girls time burden and
empower the women and alter the historical
Druchteries.
legacy of female disadvantage that exists in
most societies of the world. 4) Guarantee women & Girls property
and inheritance Rights.
A) Desired Strategic Priorities:
5) Eliminate gender inequality in
1) Strengthen the opportunities for the employment by decreasing womens
post primary education for the girls reliance on informal employment,
while simultaneously meeting closing the gender gaps in earnings,

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

176 Neelima Deshmukh
and reducing occupational
segregation.
6) Increase Womens Share of seats at
national, state, local level respectively
in Parliament, State Assembly, and
local government bodies like
Municipal Corporation, and
Panchayati Raj Institutions which are
the institutions of Governance at
Urban & Rural areas.
7) Combat Violence against the girls &
women.
As per the objectives & goals of millennium
development are concerned, poverty
alleviation, education for all, gender issues
& women empowerment programmes have
been given the priority. So far as
Maharashtra govt. is concerned it has tried
its best to address the issues of capacity
building of women in real sense, which
include their financial capacity building
through the huge successful network of self
help groups, political capacity building by
their inclusion in the decision making
process through the constitutional
amendment representation / 50% reservation
to women in local governments, various
facilities & introduction of right to education
act, efforts to stop dropout rate of girl
students and quality education to women,
streamlining and simplifying the rules &
regulations of the administration taking it to
the doors of the citizen through e -
Governance & NPM tenets apart from
various gender sensitisation programmes to
advocate gender equality are the basic
parameters of the empowerment selected for
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
meeting the ensured Millennium
Development Goals and results have been
very encouraging and visible contributing
substantially to the cause of MDG.
V) OVERVIEW OF THE
MAHARASHTRA STATE
Maharashtra is the second largest state in
India both in terms of population and
geographical area (3.08 lakh sq. km.). The
State has a population of around 11 crore
(Census 2011) which is 9.3 per cent of the
total population of India. The State is highly
urbanised with 45 per cent people residing
in urban areas.Maharashtra occupies the
western and central part of the country and
has a long coastline stretching nearly 720
kilometers along the Arabian Sea.
The State has 35 districts which are divided
into six revenue divisions viz. Konkan, Pune,
Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur
for administrative purposes. The State has a
long tradition of having statutory bodies for
planning at the district. For local self-
governance in rural areas, there are 33 Zilla
Parishads, 351 Panchayat Samitis and
27,906 Gram Panchayats. The urban areas
are governed through 23 Municipal
Corporations, 221 Municipal Councils, 5
Nagar Panchayats and 7 Cantonment Boards.
Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and the
financial capital of India, houses the
headquarters of most of the major corporate
& financial institutions. Indias main stock
exchanges & capital market and commodity
exchanges are located in Mumbai.
 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects 177

Table 2: Maharashtra State Demographic Details

Source : RGI

The gross state domestic product (GSDP) at
current prices for 2010-11 is estimated at
10,68,327 crore and contributes about 14.9
per cent of the GDP. The GSDP has been
growing at a rapid pace over the last few
years. Presently industrial and services
sector both together contribute about 87 per
cent of the States domestic product. The
agriculture & allied activities sector
contributes 13 per cent to the States income.
Maharashtra is the most industrialized state.
The State is pioneer in Small Scale
Industries. The State continues to attract
industrial investments from both, domestic
as well as foreign institutions. It has become
a leading automobile production hub and a
major IT growth centre. It boasts of the
largest number of special export promotion
zones.
Progress on Human Development Index is
often depicted as a benchmark of a states
progress of key development indicators. As
per India Human Development Report, 2011
Human Development Index of India is 0.467
and State ranks 3rd in the country with
Human Development Index of 0.572.*1
Among major states, Kerala ranks first in
Human Development Index (HDI) followed
by Punjab and Maharashtra.
The State is well known for its
administrative acumen and innovative ideas
which is first State to implement womans
policy and engendering the budget by
establishing separate Woman & Child
Development Department. It is pioneer in
implementing its Employment Guarantee
Scheme which is replicated by the
Government of India. Maharashtra is not just
a geographical expression but an entity built
on collective efforts of its people. Natural
as well as cultural diversities have helped in
the development of a unique Marathi culture.

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178 Neelima Deshmukh

Table 3: Depicts the Human Development index of Maharashtra states and India.

Health Income Education HDI Health Income Education HDI

State Index Index Index 1999- Index Index Index 2007-
2000 1999- 1999- 2000 2008 2007- 2007- 08
2000 2000 2008 08
India Health Income Education 0.387 Health0. Income Education
0.497 0.223 0.442 563 0.271 00.568 0.467
Maharashtra 0.601 0.297 0.606 0.501 0.650 0.351 0.715 0.57

Source: IHDR 2011 :Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2012-13

A) State Human Development Report considering taluka as a unit for human

- The State published its first Human
Development Report - Maharashtra
(MHDR) in 2002 using following
indicators:
Longevity in terms of Infant Mortality
Rate (IMR).
Knowledge in terms of Literacy Rate
and Mean Years of Schooling.
Economic attainment in terms of Per
Capita District Domestic Product.
HDIs were computed for each of the districts
using index of deprivation method. The State
HDI was 0.58. Gadchiroli had the lowest
HDI (0.21).
B) Maharashtra Human Development
Mission
- To improve the HDI of 12 most
backward districts identified in
MHDR, the Government has
constituted Maharashtra Human
Development Mission in June, 2006.
- The GOM has decided to broaden the
base of human development by
development and 125 talukas have
been identified for this purpose. For
the implementation of the human
development programmes in these
talukas, GoM has budgeted 425 crore
(375 crore under General Plan and 50
crore under SCSP) for 2011-12, of
which expenditure of 255 crore was
incurred. For the year 2012-13, GoM
has budgeted 359 crore( 354 crore
under General Plan and 5 crore under
SCSP) of which, upto January, 2013,
expenditure of 68 crore has been
incurred.
- Action plan for the implementation of
various schemes is designed taking
into consideration the individuality of
the talukas. These programmes will
be implemented in the selected talukas
by Maharashtra Human Development
Commissionerate. Physical progress
(upto January, 2013) of various
schemes implemented is as follows:
Special classes are conducted for
students who have failed in Std X and

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 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects
Std XII. During 2012-13, out of
47,015 students enrolled, 31,045
students appeared for the examination
and 6,912 students cleared the
examination.
Solar lights, furniture and books were
provided to newly commenced 2,472
libraries in the secondary schools of
the villages.
About 625 buses were provided for
rural girls to travel from villages to
school. Around 70,347 girls from
4,935 villages were ferried across
1,928 schools.
Of the 3,435 approved laboratories to
be setup in the Secondary / Higher
Secondary Government / aided
schools, apparatus were provided to
3,322 laboratories.
Established 113 Bal Bhavan science
centres at taluka level.
Coverage of Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidyalaya was increased to Std. X and
approval to construct 31 such schools
has been granted.
Organised 12,084 camps through 615
primary health centres and 7,92,642
beneficiaries viz., pregnant women,
mothers and 0-6 month infants were
provided the health check-up and
medication during 2012-13.
About 79,057 SC/ ST / BPL women
were provided post-natal leave wages
during 2012- 13.
During 2012-13, around 16,407 rural
youths have been trained in business
skills to enable self employment and
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
179
training of 11,752 youths is in
progress.
During 2012-13, required equipments
have been provided to 17,137
beneficiaries to implement kitchen
garden scheme via Self-Help Groups
C) Millennium Development Goals :
Targets and Achievements
-The Millennium Declaration adopted eight
development goals, the targets of which have
to be achieved by 2015. The eight Millenium
Development Goals (MDG) with their 12
time bound targets relevant to India are given
in Table 2 and for the state of Maharashtra
in Table 3.
D) Human Development in the XII
FYP : Focus on Social sector
-The XII FYP lays special emphasis on the
development of social sectors in view of their
impact on human development and quality
of life, especially of the under privileged
sections. It is proposed to attract resources
from the private sector to ensure that targets,
in physical and financial terms, are met by
the end of the XII FYP period.
Social sector plays a significant role in a
developing and emerging economy.
Inclusive growth and faster development of
social sector will accelerate removal of
disparities. Substantial progress has been
made by the State in the development of this
sector. Investments in education play a key
role in meeting the social development
objectives that support inclusive growth.
Good governance and qualitative services
through public participation will provide
best results in the social sector development.
180 Neelima Deshmukh

1) Livelihood sources: of December, 2011, 7.89 lakh women from

The State Government has announced
Mahila Aarthik Vikas Mahamandal
(MAVIM) as an apex body for various
development schemes promoted by the
Central and State Government. It acts as a
liasoning between SHGs, financial
institutions, voluntary organizations and the
concerned Government departments.
For economic empowerment, it is necessary
for a woman to have access to and control
over productive resources and to ensure
some degree of financial autonomy.
Congregation of women plays a dominant
role in women empowerment. SHG is a good
medium to congregate women. By the end
12,243 villages were participating in 61,072
SHGs. The total savings of these women was
about 176 crore and the total internal loan
was 493 crore. Loan received from various
banks to SHGs was 384 crore. Tejaswini,
Maharashtra Rural Women Empowerment
Programme is being implemented in the
State since July, 2007 with the help of
International Fund on Agricultural
Development for social, political and
economic empowerment of poor women.
The scheme up to 31st December, 2011 also
aimed at womens individual and collective
progress through SHGs. Since inception
27,813 SHGs have been formed with
3,68,822 members.

Table 4: Number of women SHGs and members therein (as on 31st December, 2011)

Source : MAVIM, GoM SGSY Swarnajayanty Gram Swarojgar Yojana SCSP- Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan
TSP- Tribal Sub-Plan RSY Ramai Mahila Sakshamikaran Yojana MSN Mahila Swavalamban Nidhi.

2) Education: for social and economic transformation. Use

of technologies in the delivery of education
Education is the key parameter for services and promotion of technological
inclusive growth and is the key instrument

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 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects 181

interventions in this sector is likely to have
a significant impact not only on the quality
of education services but also on its
accessibility to the rural poor, in particular
the disadvantaged sections of the society.
Access to quality basic education will reduce
the social and regional disparities, so as to
achieve balanced growth and development.
Right of children to free and compulsory
Education (RTE) Act, 2009 will facilitate
children to demand eight years of quality
elementary education. During 2010-11, the
expenditure incurred by State on education
was 2.9 per cent of GSDP.
The enrolment figures in schools, for
girls are comparatively lower than those for
that of boys indicating that many girls do
not get enrolled in schools. Thirty four
percent of girls drop out before they
complete Class 5. One of the major reasons
why so many girls do not attend school is
because of their workload, both within and
outside the household. Daughters are often
kept at home to help the family because the
social and economic value of educating girls
is not recognized. It is a little known fact
that among the worlds exploited child
workers, girls outnumber boys. Without
access to education, girls are denied the
knowledge and skills needed to advance their
status.
2.1 School Education
Elementary education, consisting of
primary and upper primary is the foundation
of the pyramid in the education system and
is well established in the State through the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The
programme of Universalisation of Primary
Education requires that the facilities should

Table 5: Educational Institutions and enrolment therein

(Teachers and enrolment in 000)

Source: Directorate of Primary Education, As per 8th All India Education Survey Economic Survey of
Maharashtra 2011-12

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

182 Neelima Deshmukh
be available within walking distance of 1.5
km. from the residence of the students. To
implement this policy, grants are being
disbursed to the Zilla Parishads. Table 5
gives details of schools and enrolment
therein for 2010-11 and 2011-12.
2.2 Girls Education:
Education of girls has been a high
priority of the Government. Gender
disparities persist in enrolment of girls,
especially in rural areas and among
disadvantaged groups. The disparity is more
acute in the enrolment of SC and ST,
especially at upper primary level. The
decision of the State Government to provide
free education to girls up to Class XII, has
proved to be a boon for the promotion of
girls education.
The need to encourage all girls to enrol in
school and to retain them in the school
system is imperative as education not only
improves the worth and self esteem of the
girl child but also enables her to become an
economically productive woman and delays
her marriage age. Some of the schemes that
are being implemented for the promotion of
girls education are :
National Programme for Education of
Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL)
: The Government of India launched
NPEGEL to promote girls education.
NPEGEL provides additional
resources in Educationally Backward
Blocks (EBB) where the level of rural
female literacy is less than the
national average & the gender gap is
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
above the national average, in blocks
of districts having at least 5 per cent
SC/ST population & where SC/ST
female literacy is below 10 per cent
and in selected urban slums. It gives
emphasis on improving access to
quality education to upper primary
level girls from SC, ST, OBC,
minority & BPL families residing in
EBBs through innovative
programmes like vocational training,
life skill development, early
childhood care and education, etc.
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya
(KGBV) : This scheme was launched
in 2004 for setting up residential
schools at upper primary level with
an objective to ensure access and
quality education for out of school
girls belonging to SC, ST, OBC and
minority families from EBBs. In 10
districts of State 43 KGBVs are
operational with capacity of 100 girls
each.
Attendance Allowance Scheme: In
order to reduce the drop out rate of
the girls studying, in Primary Schools,
the State Government introduced
Attendance Allowance Scheme in
January, 1992. Under this scheme `
One per day and maximum ` 220 is
paid to the parents of the girl studying
in standards I to IV with attendance
more than 75 per cent of working days
in an academic year. It covers all girls
from Tribal Sub Plan Area, and those
belonging to SC, ST & BPL families
in other areas.
 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects 183

Ahilyabai Holkar Scheme: This Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan: Since

scheme is being implemented in the
State since 1996-97 to provide free
travel concession to girl students.
Under this scheme, girls from the rural
areas studying in standards V to X are
provided free travel in buses run by
Maharashtra State Road Transport
Corporation to attend school, if school
facility is not available in their village.
inception (2001-02) Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan has made considerable
progress in universalization of
elementary education (UEE) by
providing elementary education to
children in the age group 6-14 years.
It aims to bridge all gender and social
category gaps at primary stage with
focus on elementary education of
satisfactory quality.

Table 6 : schools under coverage of SSA and enrolment Details of beneficiaries under
schemes mentioned above .Schemes implemented for girls education ( in lakh)

Table 7 : Performance of the scheme for last five years

Source : DISE-2010-11

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184 Neelima Deshmukh
Inclusive Education of Disabled
programme is being implemented in the State
to ensure quality education to Children With
Special Needs (CWSN) in normal set up
with normal peer group, to integrate them
socially and to progress emotionally. This
programme includes identification and
medical assessment of CWSN, providing
rehabilitation & educational support services
like Braille book, spectacles, hearing aids
& appliances, speech trainer, etc. During
2011-12, up to February 2012, in all 3.86
lakh children were benefitted and total
expenditure of ` 59.55 crores was incurred.
3) Participation in Political Decision
Making :
Although Indian women played a
major role in the freedom movement, it did
not translate into continued participation of
women in public life in the post-
independence era. The Central Government
has decided to provide one-third reservation
for women in local self institutions.
However, the State Government has
extended this reservation up to 50 per cent
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
in local self institutions. Fifty per cent
reservation for women is also applicable for
the posts of Chairman of Zilla Parishads,
Sabhapati of Taluka Panchayats and
Sarpanch of Grampanchayats in the State.
Analysis of trends of womens participation
to contest elections to the State Legislatures
indicate that there is a gender discrimination
which is responsible for poor representation
of women in India. Womens role in decision
making is one of the most important
questions for consideration in the movement
for their empowerment. The 73 rd and 74 th
Amendments(1992) to the Indian
Constitution have served as a major
breakthrough towards ensuring womens
equal access and increased participation in
political power structures. This Amendment
provided for reservation of one third of seats
for women at level of local governance in
rural-urban areas. There is also a one-third
reservation for women for posts of
chairpersons of these local bodies. This
amendment has initiated a powerful strategy
of affirmative action for providing the
structural framework for womens
participation in political decision-making
 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects
and provided an opportunity to bring women
to be forefront and centre of city
development and develop new grass-root
level leadership. There are about 1 million
elected women representatives in
Panchayats and Municipal Bodies in India.
After 1993, womens participation in local
governments increased quite radically, with
the enactment of the legislation providing
33 percent reservation of seats for women
in local bodies. The legislation and its
implementation have added another level in
political participation. Reservation of seats
for women in Panchayats/Municipal bodies
have shown that it has tremendous
implications, not merely in terms of the
number of women entering the public arena
and holding public office, but also in terms
of the social, economic and political impact
that these reservations have had for the total
system. It is for these reasons that women
are increasingly demanding political roles
for themselves. They recognise that
constitutional guarantees do not ensure
effective participation and that these cannot
ensure political equality. Hence the need to
gain entry into political institutions and in
the functioning of the state, and to share
control over the power the state exercises.
This alone would lead to a situation where
women are able to reverse the existing
situation, which has consistently been
against their interests, and bring about the
necessary changes in policy and the social
structure so as to ensure a more equitable
and humane order. This is of great
significance, since this grass-root level
participation has considerably broadened the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
185
base of womens participation in politics at
city level. Limits and constraints
that prevent women from participating
equally with men in formal and informal
forums. Involvement of women in the
political arena and in decision-making roles
is an important tool for empowerment as well
as monitoring standards of political
performance at local level. However, in the
present political process of entry into
decision making political institutions, there
is growing influence of money and muscle
power, backroom dealings, communalisation
and criminalisation. In many respects
women and men elected representatives face
similar problems on election to office. Above
all there is a need to understand just how to
be a good local politician. The role of
political representatives at local level is
demanding and all new recruits need time
to gain experience and to understand the
rules, regulations and procedures governing
the administrative bureaucracy with which
they now have to work often quite closely
in the urban service delivery system.
3.1 Some of the major constraints that
prevent women from effective
participation at local level are as
follows:
1. Lack of orientation / training in urban
development issues and municipal
administration. India Report
2. No proper knowledge / orientation
about municipal acts and rules and
regulations.
3. No prior experience about dealing
186 Neelima Deshmukh

with multidimensional urban local governance :

development issues / civic issues and
its complexities. Reservation for women in local
government is not just a question of getting
4. Lack of knowledge about technical in- a certain number in; it also develops their
puts related to urban service delivery capacities to play their rightful roles in the
system. development process and makes an
important difference as the local
5. Lack of support from senior male/ governments deals mostly with the quality
female colleagues in the party/ of life for citizens. Municipal responsibilities
municipal body. relate both to womens practical needs and
6. Less co-operation from municipal their strategic needs. The better we meet
officials understanding about various womens strategic needs, the better they are
facets of the budget, such as allocation able to contribute to good city governance.
of budget at ward level (at central / Good Local Governance, in turn, enables a
ward level). better response to womens practical needs.
Most local governments have initiated
7. Lack of party support and poor orientation / training programmes to
organisational structure. encourage women to participate in local
governance by organising city-specific
8. Lack of money and resources to
induction or theme-based training
sustain the electoral campaigns
programmes, wherein intensive training is
(inspite of code of conduct by election
given in various subject areas, such as,
commission).
municipal acts and its implementation, laws
9. Discrimination in decision making at of meetings, municipal budgeting, budgeting
party level. at ward level, municipal taxation,
mobilisation of resources, urban service
10. Specific notions towards politics and delivery systems (solid waste management,
political atmosphere. water supply, sewerage, health care services,
11. Fear and insecurity. traffic and transportation), poverty
alleviation schemes, community
12. Lack of confidence in public management, environment management,
speaking. shelter programmes, new reforms in
13. Criminalisation of politics and use of municipal administration, functioning of
money power. ward committees, motivation techniques,
communication skills, women and
14. Family responsibilities.
development, handling the media etc
3.2 Local government initiatives to participation in elected bodies should not be
encourage women to participate in undervalued. . A very active role for women

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 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects
in local governance is envisaged as
compared to governance at the state and
national levels in India. These provisions
have provided great opportunities and
challenges to women in India. The challenge
now is to transform this large presence of
women at local government level supported
by the real delegation of power and
responsibilities. Womens role in decision
making is one of the most important question
for consideration in the movement for their
empowerment. The Ministry of Urban
Development, Government of India and
Urban Development Department of State
Governments organise a number of training
programmes, workshops, seminars for
women elected representatives at local level
through various training institutions. Many
municipal bodies have initiated a series of
in-house training in municipal
administration and urban development, in
collaboration with premier training
institutions in India. State governments
through their State Training Centres organise
capacity building programmes for women
elected members from municipal bodies in
their States. Special training / orientation
programmes are organised by Ministry of
Urban Development and Poverty
Alleviation, Government of India under the
UNICEF assistance and governments funds
in the area of poverty alleviation schemes
and its implementation in urban areas (e.g.
SJSRY, NSDP, etc.) important questions for
their movement in the employment.
Suggestions:
1) Community involvement and
Awareness Generation:
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
187
This will one of the important
components of the scheme. Unless the
outdated beliefs and customs, which go
against girl child, are changed it would be
difficult to achieve improvement in the
nutritional status of the girl child. This would
be achieved by involving the panchayats in
improving the awareness levels of the
community. Also the community will be
involved in the supervision of the
programme. Sensitization programmes for
the parents and the panchayat members
would be taken up.
2) Research and creation of database:
Growth monitoring charts similar to
the ones used for child growth monitoring
would be developed for adolescent girls.
ICMR would be requested to take up this
assignment. Besides a database about
adolescents and the problems confronting
them would be developed.
3) Role of Panchayats and Municipal
Corporation:
PRIs would be involved in
supervising the implementation of the
programme. PRIs are expected to provide
funds for activities of the Balika Mandals.
Additional Honararia to the AWC: Because
of the increased workload the AWW and the
AWH would be provided an additional
honoraria of Rs 300 and Rs 150 p.m.
respectively.
4) Gender Responsive Budgets and
Gender Budgets: A Must for MDG
3
Efforts to analyse the national and
local budgets have been growing since last
188 Neelima Deshmukh
few decades and refers to the method of
looking at the budget formulation process
budgetary policies and budget outlays from
the gender lens.* 6 Gender budget with
regards to government does not refer to
separate budget for women rather it is an
analytical tool which scrutinises the
government budget to reveal its gender
differentiated impact and advocate for the
greater priorities for the programmes and
schemes to address the gender based
disadvantages faced by the women. Further
the gender budgeting is concerned not only
with the public expenditure but also with the
gender differentiated impact of revenue
mobilisation by the govt. In fact it is an
approach not confined to Govt. Budgets
alone but also includes analysing various
socio economic policies from the gender
perspectives.
In 2004, Ministry of Women & Child
Development (MWCD) recognised Gender
Budgeting as a tool for women
empowerment and as a way of addressing
the observed inequality. The MCWD
adopted and Departments to submit a report
of Budgeting for Gender Equity as a mission
statement, framed the strategic framework
of the activities to implement this mission
which is disseminated to all Ministries &
Departments of Government of India.
Ministry of Finance mandated all ministries
to establish Gender Budgeting Cells by
January 2005, asked 18 Ministries and
Departments to submit the report
highlighting the budgetary allocations for
women. Out of which as expected Ministry
of Women and Child Development reports
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
the highest proportion of its total expenditure
in GB Statement followed by Department
of Health and Family Welfare and
Department of School Education and
Literacy at the centre but at the local
government institutions level of various
districts, DPDC plans does not reflect its
inclusion at the appropriate levels and extent
which is the present need of the hour. The
urban and rural District Agencies such as
Panchayati Raj Institutions, Municipal
Corporations can play very effective and
successful role in capacity building of
women through their SHG networks, BPL,
APL beneficiaries in particular while
enhancing their livelihood opportunities
through Pro Poor welfare schemes.
Conclusion :
The objective for the XII th Plan
should be to holistically empower the girl
child in all aspects so that she can become
an equal partner with boys on the road to
development and progress. This requires
addressing the various constraints /persisting
problems facing the girl child. Towards this
end, the strategy and action laid out in the
National Plan of Action for Children,2005
will be given priority and attention with
focus on her survival, protection and
wellbeing. Special importance will be
accorded to ensuring all girl children the
right to life and liberty, and to upholding
their dignity and security in family and
society, with utmost attention to their right
to equality and social justice.
Maharashtra Government needs to focus
its attention on the challenges like :
 Millennium Development Goals Achievements ... Problems and Prospects 189

1) Pro women policy designs 8) Moral support and motivation to carry

2) Formulation and implementation of on the business of the House, rather
Gender Budgeting than proxy performance and
conducive working environment for
3) Appropriate vigorous training
women at large.
programmes to be conducted
seriously followed by refresher Special measures are required for this
courses. purpose to protect the girl childs prospects
of survival and security, from conception to
4) More gender sensitisation
birth, in her early years, and throughout the
programmes at the officials-non
period of her childhood. Both child
official level
development and primary health services
5) Using sex-disaggregated data for must be on alert to address these challenges,
policy and programme formulation. and the community must be motivated to
Collection of gender segregated data play a protective role. The focus should be
at the local govt. institutional level. on four Es- equality, education, enabling
6) Massive computerisation environment and empowerment so that she
programmes for the specialised is provided with equal opportunity for
training. survival and development, protected against
7) Wide coverage to the livelihood neglect and abuse, and offered the enabling
programmes specially for women who means to develop to their full potential, and
are APL and above lead a productive and healthy life.

References:
Anand, S. Sen, A. (1995). Gender inequity in human development: theories and measurement,
Occasional paper 19, paper prepared for the Human Development Report, UNDP , New York
: Cambridge University Press.
Das, S. et al (2006). Gender Budgeting study of West Bengal, Development and Planning Department
Government of West Bengal, 1.
Elson, D. (1999). Gender Budgeting Initiative, background papers, Commonwealth Secretariat, 3.
Ester, B.(1970). Womans Role in Economic Development, London : Earth scan.
Friedrich E. S. (FES). (1992). Women in Politics: Forms and Processes.
Jean D., Sen, A. (1996). India : Economic Development and Social Opportunity. Delhi : Oxford
University Press.
GOI (undated). Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-
2012)- A Report. New Delhi.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

SELF HELP GROUP A MEDIUM OF EMPOWERMENT
The Self Help Group is considered as
a viable organization of the rural poor
particularly women, who are the
marginalized groups of our society due to
socio-economic constraints in the rural areas.
SHG works for delivering micro credit, in
order to undertake entrepreneurial activities.
It is undoubtedly necessary vehicle for the
purpose of improving economic status of
women, protecting their relevance to and
significance in the society and above all,
effectively implementing the employment
support practices of the government.
Self-help groups are generally
facilitated by NGOs, and increasingly advise
and train members in a variety of on- and
off-farm income-generating activities.
Indeed, in a number of recent projects,
NGOs were substituted by trained
facilitators and animators drawn from self-
help groups. Through promoting self-help
groups, IFAD-funded projects have
contributed to improving the overall status
of women in terms of income,
empowerment, welfare, etc.
In the Rural Womens Development
and Empowerment Project, for example, 90
per cent of the beneficiaries reported
increased access to and control over
resources such as land, dwellings and
livestock. Under the Livelihood
Improvement Project in Himalayas, women
self-help group members in Uttarakhand
* Professor, Faculty of Social Work, The M. S. University of Baroda, Gujarat, India
Email : sunitanambiyar@gmail.com
Sunita Nambiyar*
were even elected as gram pradhans (heads
of the local government at the village or
small town level) in 170 out of
669 panchayats 2 in villages. In those
operations, the country programme
evaluation also found unequivocal advances
in the self-confidence and assertiveness of
self-help group members. In the Tamil Nadu
Womens Development Project, 50 per cent
of women self-help group members reported
that, for the first time in their lives, they had
visited new places and travelled long
distances, while 90 per cent had interacted
with institutions such as banks, NGOs and
project agencies. The impact study on the
Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh Project reveal
that access to finance through group savings
and lending to members had allowed women
to become increasingly involved in
economic activities such as the collection
and sale on local markets of non-timber
forest products. However, the study also
noted that greater effectiveness would have
been achieved if the project had stressed
value-addition and promoted market
linkages.
The Study
This paper brings out a study
conducted to know about the different
aspects of Self Help Groups attending the
Saras Mela, 2013 at Vadodara. The weeklong
event was organized by Gujarat Livelihood
Promotion Company Limited inviting people
 Self Help Group A Medium of Empowerment
from different parts of India. There were
different people who put up their stalls like
working for a Self Help Group,
businessman, NGOs, etc.
Students of Faculty of Social Work,
M.S. University of Baroda carried two days
survey where the participants of the event
were interviewed to know about their
functioning and their struggle before
achieving the success in present.
Significance Of The Study
The study was conducted to analyze
about the Self Help Groups in the Saras
Mela, 2013. The study focused on the
development of the Self Help Group
members after joining their respective group
and to find the changes in the members in
terms of monetary gains, skill development,
and social aspects. Also, success story of
different groups have also been recorded as
their story could be an inspiration for others
and a path for success and growth.
Universe
The universe of the research is all the
stalls that were present in the Saras Mela,
2013 organized by the Gujarat Livelihood
Promotion Company Ltd. There were 250
stalls (approx.) from different states of India.
This was a National Event filled with
enthusiasm and excitement for the
participants and the viewers.
Sample
The sample of the study is 64 stalls
present in the SarasMela, 2013.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
191
Data Collection
Interview Session
A small session with the members of
Self Help Group was conducted to interact
and discuss the different aspects related to
the survey conducted by the students of FSW
and also to know about their growth in their
career.
Questionnaires
Questionnaires were filled by the
respondents present in the SarasMela, 2013.
The questionnaire covered various aspects
related to their life, earning, family, etc...
Objective of the study:
To study and analyze the development
of the Self Help Group members and to study
whether they have been improved financially
and able to live in a better manner after
joining their respective groups. Also, the
study covered an important aspect to know
about the SHG members social interaction
with the society and communities.
Challenges
Apart from weak market linkages in
the context of income-generating activities,
there are also a few other concerns in relation
to womens empowerment. First, is the
capacity building of self-help groups, which
are in need of support in accounting,
financial management, and organisational
development. The second concern is about
the gender focus in rural financial services.
Despite the focus in project design, there
192 Sunita Nambiyar
were gaps during implementation. In
Maharashtra Rural Credit Project, women
tended to be small borrowers and were able
to capture only 32 per cent of the bank credit
that was provided. Therefore gender focus
in designing and implementing rural
microfinance services should be enhanced.
The third challenge is about how to link self-
help groups to agricultural activities, which
are of key importance for the livelihoods of
small farm holders in India, but at the
moment self-help groups have not taken
much agricultural activities, as the decisions
on agriculture are mainly taken by men.
Structure
A Self-Help Group may be registered
or unregistered. It typically comprises a
group of micro entrepreneurs having
homogenous social and economic
backgrounds, all voluntarily coming together
to save regular small sums of money,
mutually agreeing to contribute to a common
fund and to meet their emergency needs on
the basis of mutual help. They pool their
resources to become financially stable,
taking loans from the money collected by
that group and by making everybody in that
group self-employed. The group members
use collective wisdom and peer pressure to
ensure proper use of credit and timely
repayment. This system eliminates the need
for collateral and is closely related to that
of solidarity lending, widely used by micro
finance institutions. To make the book-
keeping simple enough to be handled by the
members, flat interest rates are used for most
loan calculations.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Goals
Self-help groups are started by non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) that
generally have broad anti-poverty agendas.
Self-help groups are seen as instruments for
a variety of goals including empowering
women, developing leadership abilities
among poor people, increasing school
enrolments, and improving nutrition and the
use of birth control. Financial intermediation
is generally seen more as an entry point to
these other goals, rather than as a primary
objective. This can hinder their development
as sources of village capital, as well as their
efforts to aggregate locally controlled pools
of capital through federation, as was
historically accomplished by credit unions.
GUJARAT LIVELIHOOD PROMOTION
COMPANY (GLPC)
Introduction
Gujarat Livelihood Promotion
Company (GLPC) is the executive arm of
Mission Mangalam, the implementation
agency for NRLM. It has been registered
under The Companies Act, 1956. GLPC
works through strategic partnership between
large industries and SakhiMandals / Self
Help Groups / Producer Groups / Service
Groups / Collectives of the poor, through
decentralized Micro Enterprise Ventures.
The promoting companies / entrepreneurs
redesign the process where intensive tasks
as job-works are undertaken by Self Help
Groups in their respective homes or villages
as self-employment activities. Main
 Self Help Group A Medium of Empowerment
objectives of GLPC are
Empowering the Poor by organizing
them into SHGs/Federations/other
Collectives.
Empower the poor through ensuring
access to Financial Services.
Augmenting existing livelihoods and
enhancing incomes
Explore livelihood opportunities
through newer ventures in rural
service sector
Developing Inclusive Value Chains
Vision And Mission
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are found
to have not only positively impacted the
social capital and economic empowerment
of the members but also generated positive
social externalities. The vision of the Gujarat
Livelihood Promotion Company could be
stated as:
Create a socio-economically
developed Gujarat through inclusive
growth strategies for empowering the
underprivileged members of vulnerable
communities/groups, resulting in them
leading a dignified life.
The mission of the company could be
stated as:
We strive to serve the
underprivileged women as well as
members of vulnerable communities/
groups in the state by organizing and
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
193
capacitating their Groups and creating
sustainable livelihoods. We ensure
convergence of prevalent development
programmes and schemes as well as forge
partnerships with other non-government
organizations and corporate houses for
inclusive growth and the empowerment
of the members of the groups served. In
order to provide quality member-services,
we strive to remain financially sound and
secure. We will work towards establishing
ourselves as a unique organization with
deep abiding human values and
maintaining the same.
Action Plan
In Golden Jubilee Year of Gujarat,
Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat launched
Mission Mangalam as an umbrella program
to improve the Human Development Index
(HDI) of the poor residing in the state of
Gujarat. Gujarat Livelihood Promotion
Company Ltd. is set-up under the aegis of
Rural Development Department, Govt. of
Gujarat with a mandate to implement
Mission Mangalam.Annual Action Plan is
the business plan of GLPC detailing the
targets for various activities of the company
like formation of collectives of poor,
supporting them with credit linkages,
capacity building with external stake-
holders, providing livelihood linkages in
farm & non-farm sectors and enhancing their
income through market linkages.
The key points of the GLPC Annual
Action Plan 2012 13 are as follows
For strengthening the poor, a target to
194 Sunita Nambiyar

Form approx. 40,000 New SHGs of
which 15,000 BPL SHGs and 25,000
non-BPL SHGs
Form and register Block Level &
District Level SHG Federations in 50
Blocks and 6 Districts
Producer Groups / Producer
Companies and Service Groups /
Service Companies in 50 Blocks
Target for training and developing a
strong community based cadre of
Financial Empowerment through
5,000 Community Resource Persons
(CRPs)
1,200 Book Keepers for A/cs of SHGs
6,000 Agri-Horti Para Workers
2,000 AH Para Workers
1,200 Laghu UdyogMitras
250 Rozgar Mitras
private training & placement agencies
and corporate houses for providing
jobs to 1,00,000 beneficiaries across
226 Talukas in Gujarat.
Organize approx. 400 RojgarMelas
for providing placement to trained and
skilled beneficiaries into jobs in
organized sector.
Target to place approx. 25 candidates
per Rojgarmela and approx. 450
candidates per taluka during the year
Interest Subsidy of 5% to 1,50,000
SHGs amounting to Rs. 4500 Lakhs
Promotion of Stamp Duty Exemption
for loans upto Rs. 2 Lakhs
Financial Discipline, Financial
Literacy Trainings and Utilization of
Microcredit for approx. 18,00,000
members of SHGs

Target to Provide training to Capacity Building of Bank Branch

Managers through sensitization
Approx. 20,00,000 SHG Members workshop and training on SHG
Credit, ACC, KCC, etc.
Approx. 4,00,000 SHG Leaders
Approx. 45,000 to be trained, credit
linked and provided marketing
support for Self Employment through
Rural Self Employment Training
Institutes (RSETIs)
Skill Training & Placement
Special focus on partnership with

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Self Help Group A Medium of Empowerment 195

DATA ANALYSIS
Table 1: State wise distribution of stalls survey at SarasMela, 2013

States No Of Stalls Percentage %

Andhra Pradesh 2 3.1

Bihar 3 4.7
Chhattisgarh 3 4.6
Delhi 1 1.5
Gujarat 13 20.3
Goa 4 6.2
Haryana 1 1.5
Jammu & Kashmir 3 4.6
Maharashtra 2 3.1
Madhya Pradesh 6 9.3
Odisha 6 9.3
Punjab 5 7.8
Rajasthan 3 4.7
Tamil Nadu 4 6.25
Uttrakhand 5 7.8
Uttar Pradesh 3 4.7
Total 64 100

20.3% of the respondents rooted from respondents came from the states of Goa and
Gujarat state, 7.8% of the respondents Tamil Nadu and 4.6% of the respondents
belong to Punjab, Uttrakhand, 6.5% of the belong to the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
196 Sunita Nambiyar

Table 2

MARITAL STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS

Marital Status Number of respondents Percentage%

Married 49 76.56%
Unmarried 14 21.8%
Separated 1 1.6%
Total 64 100%

A total of 76.56% of the respondent a majority of the respondent received help

were married while 21.875% were from their spouse.
unmarried. It can be seen from the trend that

Table 3
Representing the Nature of Enterprises that are carried out by the stalls surveyed
Nature Number Percentage %
Weaving 13 20.3%
Pottery 5 7.8%
Handicraft 17 26.5%
Embroidery 9 14.0%
Others 20 31.2%
Total 64 100%

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Self Help Group A Medium of Empowerment 197

26.5% of the respondents carried out Groups, 14.06% respondents were involved
the Handicraft activities in their Self Help in embroidery activities, 7.8% respondents
Groups, 20.3% of the respondents carried were engaged in pottery with their groups.
out weaving activities at their Self Help
Table 4

Change in the financial status of the respondents

Financial Condition Number Of Respondents Percentage%

Very Much Improved 19 29.6%
Improved 33 51.5%
Slightly Improved 9 14.0%
Not At All 3 4.6%
Total 64 100%
29.6875% Respondents financial condition has improved dramatically. And
51.5625% Respondents financial condition improved to a certain extent. While 4.6875%
Respondents financial condition has notimproved. Overall, from the above table, it can be
concluded that engaging in the Self Help Group activities has improved the conditions of
95% of the respondents to a certain extent.

Table 5: Reason for joining the Self Help Group

Reason for Joining Number of respondent Percentage %
Economic 43 67.2%
Social 17 26.5%
Both 2 3.1%
Other 2 3.1%
Total 64 100%
67.1% of the total respondents have joined their respective Self Help Groups for
development of their own economy, i.e. to earn their bread and butter whereas 26.5% of the
respondents joined their SHG for development of the society. This shows that there are few
people in the society who are still extending their support towards the society.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

198 Sunita Nambiyar

Table 6: Representation of respondents received professional training.

Training Received Number of Respondents Percentage%
Yes 42 65.6%
No 22 34.3%
Total 64 100%
Out of total respondents, 65.65% respondents have received training from different
institutes for the growth of the Self Help Groups and its members. The trained members
train the rest of the members of the group so that their skills are also developed.
Bank Number of Percentage%
Transactions Respondents
Yes 46 71.8%
No 10 15.6%
Sometime 8 12.5%
Total 64 100%
Out of the total respondents, 71.8% respondents stated that they were independent and did
not require someone elses help to carry out their bank transactions. Only 15.625%
respondents accepted that they were dependent on others for their bank transactions.
Table 8: Purchase Of Productive Assets
Purchase of Number of Percentage %
Productive assets Respondents
Yes 24 37.5%
No 39 60.9%
N/A 1 1.6%
Total 64 100%
From the above table, it can be observed that 60.9% of the respondents have been
unable to purchase any productive assets for themselves since they have joined the Self
Help Groups whereas only 37.5% of respondents are capable of buying a productive asset
for themselves. The productive assets include Land, houses, etc...

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Self Help Group A Medium of Empowerment 199

Conclusion not improved after joining the SHG, rest of

The study brings out the development
of the Self Help Group members before and
after joining of their respective groups. It
was observed that majority of the stalls were
put up by the Gujarat based Self Help Groups
from different districts in the states of
Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and
Uttarakhand. Majority of the Self Help
Groups produced Handicrafts in their SHGs
followed by Weaving, Embroidery and
Pottery. The SHGs present in the Saras Mela
had members varying from 1 to 92. Out of
the members surveyed, most of them were
married and are staying in joint family and
have one or more children in their family.
On the Financial aspect, most of them belong
to BPL category and have joined the SHGs
to improve their financial conditions. Very
few members have joined the SHGs for
social and economic reasons. Among the
people studied, there were about less than
6% members whose financial conditions has
the members financial conditions have
improved after joining their respective
groups. It was observed that dependence for
daily expenses of the members was reduced.
Majority of the members have opened their
respective savings account for themselves
and have sufficient saving after joining of
their respective SHGs. Apart from Savings,
some of the members have been able to
purchase productive assets like house, lands,
etc from the income generated by them. This
shows the development after joining their
respective SHGs have been fruitful to the
members. Even they are able to carry out
their all the bank transactions without any
assistance of others. Observing their social
status, many of the people are able to
socialize and have started to attend various
social gathering events in their respective
villages and communities. Hence, the SHGs
have played a significant role in
development of the members especially,
women.

References
Dattatreya, B. NSDM. Vistar.nic.in/organization/extrusion.management/cm-nsdm.asp.
Skill Development Initiative Scheme (SDIS) www.dgct.nic.in/content/innerpage.
Suguna, B. (2006). Empowerment of Rural Women Through SHGs. New Delhi: Discovery Publishing
House.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

AN Kavita Sindhav
200 INNOVATIVE EXPERIMENT OF SEWA BANK FOR
POVERTY ALLEVIATION THROUGH MICRO CREDIT
Introduction
The Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) have been the most fruitful global
anti-poverty push in history. Significant
progress has been made in meeting many of
the targets - including halving the number
of people living in extreme poverty and the
proportion of people without sustainable
access to improved sources of drinking
water. The proportion of urban slum dwellers
declined significantly. Remarkable gains
have been made in the fight against malaria
and tuberculosis. There have been visible
improvements in all health areas as well as
primary education .In more than a decade of
experience in working towards the MDGs,
we have learned that focused global
development efforts can make a difference.
Through accelerated action, the world can
achieve the MDG sand generate momentum
for an ambitious and inspiringpost-2015
development framework. Now is the time to
step up our efforts to build a more just,
secure and sustainable future for all.
Women are a central part of every
family and economy. All round progressand
harmonious growth of a country would be
possible only when women are considered
as equal partners in progress with men.
Empowerment of women is essential to
harness the women labour in the main stream
of economic development. Women
empowerment is a holistic concept. It is
* Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. Email :
kavita.sindhav@gmail.comSocial Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Kavita Sindhav*
multidimensional in its approach and covers
economic, political, social, cultural and
familial aspects. Of all these facts of women
development, economic development is of
utmost significance in order to achieve a
lasting and sustainable development of
society. Provision of microfinance through
self-help groups is an important means for
attaining poverty alleviation. According to
the accepted definition, micro finance is the
provision of thrift, credit and other financial
services and products of very small amounts
mainly to the poor in rural, semi-urban and
urban areas for enabling them to raise their
income level and improve living standards.
The micro finance industry, which
began in 1976 with the establishment of
Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, is now a
worldwide movement comprising thousands
of specialist banks, credit unions, co-
operatives, village credit societies, NGOs
and charities spanning across both the rich
and the poor countries. Their common
purpose is to extend the outreach of banking
services especially business credit to those
who do not qualify for normal bank loans.
Micro credits are granted at commercial
interest rates, though at much lower rates
than those charged by the informal money
lenders. Micro finance has several other
developmental objectives like mobilization
of savings. It has also been used as an inducer
in different community development
activities, as an entry point in the
 An Innovative Experiment of Sewa Bank for Poverty Alleviation through Micro Credit 201
community-organizing programme and as an
ingredient in a larger education or training
exercise. All these programmes aim at the
empowerment of poor people especially
women and eradication of poverty. Self Help
Groups are the voluntary organizations,
which disburse micro credit to the members
and facilitate them to enter into
entrepreneurial activities. Formation of Self
Help Groups of women in India has been
recognized as an effective strategy for the
empowerment of women in rural as well as
urban areas. Since the overall empowerment
of women is crucially dependent on
economic empowerment, women through
these Self Help Groups are enabled to
involve in a range of areas such as health,
sanitation, nutrition, agriculture, forestry,
etc., besides income generation activities
availing micro credit .NABARD has defined
micro-finance as provision of thrift, credit
and other financial services and products of
very small amount to the poor in rural, semi-
urban and urban areas for enabling them to
raise their income levels, and to improve
living standards. The terms micro finance
and micro credit have been used
interchangeably in the thesis.This paper
attempts to make out a case of poverty
focused initiative of SEWA (Self Employed
Womens Association) Bank through its
microfinance initiatives.
SwashrayiMahila SEWA Sahakari
Bank is SEWA members largest
cooperative, the first of its kind in India. The
bank is owned by the self-employed women
who are shareholders, and policies are made
by their own elected board of women
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
workers. The Bank is run by qualified
managers, accountable to the board.SEWA
began as a trade union in 1972 to address
the needs of self employed women who
works in job such as head-loading. As a
union, they have united against labour and
wage injustice from textile mills. However,
women were still suffering from financial
exploitation from informal credit lending
sources, as a result they established SEWA
Bank in 1973 as a savings and loan Centre
for poor, self-employed women. SEWA
Bank is divided into eight departments:
Savings, Credit, Shares, Recovery, Training,
Research, Computer Service and Rural
Service. SEWA Bank is considered the
formal financial institution that is one branch
of the organization.
A structure has evolved that gives
SEWA great flexibility to grow and respond
tomembers needs. Apart from the formal
election and governance arrangements there
are three main ways in which members are
engaged:
aunion, with both urban union and
rural branches, that helps members in
their collective struggle for fair
treatment and access to justice, to
markets, and to services;
cooperatives, that help members
produce and market the fruits of their
labor and build their assets; and
member services, that are financed
partly by user charges, but also in part
by donors, and by government
departments that have been
202 Kavita Sindhav
unsuccessful in providing the services
for which they are responsible by
statute.
SEWA members evoke the image of
a banyan tree in describing these activities
and theirinteractions. SEWA is the central
trunk that draws its strength from the grass
roots. The trunkputs out branches that cater
to the needs of poor women in one trade or
another, or in providing aservice that is much
needed. Each branch then lets down roots
that connect it to the soil, nurturingand
sustaining the branch, and at the same time
strengthening the whole tree.
A list of some organizations in the
SEWA family and their founding dates is
illustrative:
SEWA Cooperative Bank
Anasuya (newsletter)
SEWA National Association
Artisans Cooperative
Video SEWA
First Child Care Cooperative
Vegetable and Fruit Vendors.
Cooperative
SEWA Academy
Health Care Cooperative
Salt Farmers Cooperative
Vimo SEWA (SEWA Insurance)
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
SEWA Cooperative Federation
Gujarat Mahila Housing Trust
Midwives Cooperative
Kutch Craft Association
SEWA Gram MahilaHaat (local
marketing)
By far the largest cooperative is SEWA
Bank. Access to assets, and their
accumulationand preservation, are central to
the goal of self-reliance for poor women,
who are almost alwaysin debt, and are easy
prey for unscrupulous money lenders and
traders. The need was so obviousto SEWA
members that they launched SEWA Bank in
1974, only two years after SEWA itselfwas
founded. In the years since, SEWA Bank has
been a major source of SEWAs strength
andachievements, and an innovator in the
field of micro-credit
SEWA Bank: Access to Micro-Credit
Criteria
SEWA Bank has introduced the habit
of regular saving to tens of thousands of poor
women. They still have debts, but they are
able to see progress in paying them down.
They pay significant interest rates to SEWA
Bank (currently over 20 percent a year while
the rate of inflation is around 5 percent), but
no longer feel powerless and exploited by
the money lender. And they can seize
opportunities when they arise to improve
their lives through microenterprise by setting
up a shop-in-a-cart, by embarking on a share-
cropping scheme with a local land owner,
 An Innovative Experiment of Sewa Bank for Poverty Alleviation through Micro Credit 203

by buying a mill to grind grain for the price) of what they sell. They can also
neighborhood, by investing in machinery borrow for purposes that economists have
that will improve the quality (and raise the traditionally regarded as .unproductive such

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

204 Kavita Sindhav
as weddings. SEWA Banks attitude toward
such loan requests has become more
permissive over time, in recognition that if
members are to be self-reliant, they must also
be allowed to make their own choices. The
bank is also aware that if it denies a loan for
such a culturally important purpose, the
member will probably borrow the money
elsewhere on less favorable terms.
SEWA has pioneered the provision of
insurance to poor women, drawing on both
SEWA Bank and the government insurance
companies. Typically the woman saves Rs.
1000 (about $22)and puts it in a fixed
deposit. The annual interest pays the
premium and assures uninterrupted
coverage, which includes maternity benefits
as well as payments in the event of various
calamities, such as illness, death, and loss
of property. SEWA is now planning an
insurance cooperative, drawing on the
example of SEWA Bank.
SEWA Banks integrated approach
distinguishes it from other micro-credit
efforts. Access to markets, information,
technical know-how, and social support
services is as important as money if the poor
are to share in economic growth. SEWA
Bank works closely with SEWA, the trade
union and with other economic organizations
of the SEWA movement such as the
Womens Cooperative Federation and the
Rural District Associations.
Banking with the poor and illiterate
requires special procedures and mechanisms
suited to their culture, their needs and their
economy. This requires adopting procedures
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
and designing schemes suitable to them, like
collecting daily savings from their places of
business or houses or providing saving
boxes. It requires special loan procedures
which take into account their economy. It
requires saving and credit schemes which
allow for small amounts of savings, and
adapts to their crises situations. A major
factor which leads the self-employed into the
cycle of poverty, is the lack of assets in their
name. For women the situation is even
worse; when a family does acquire an asset,
it is rarely in the name of the woman. Asset
creation with the ownership of women has
been the priority of SEWA Bank. This
includes transfers of agricultural land and
houses in the womans name, and acquiring
implements, tools, shops, handicrafts,
livestock in their own name. In addition,
SEWA Bank promotes womens own capital,
bank accounts, shares and savings
certificates.
Sanjivani Scheme of SEWA Bank:
Ahmedabad was known as the
Manchester of India. But with the
establishment of small power loom factories
in 1980, the cotton textile mills started
closing down. Closure of mills created
unemployment among mill workers and their
economic conditions deteriorated. A whole
generation of workers families have been
driven into poverty. In fact, more than one
lakh erstwhile mill workers have been
affected, not to mention the ancillary
industries with workers dependent on the
textile industry. Textile mill workers who
once had legal protection and work security,
 An Innovative Experiment of Sewa Bank for Poverty Alleviation through Micro Credit 205
have now been forced to make a living in
the unorganized sector, for the first time in
their lives. Their incomes have fallen and
their work has become very insecure.
In 1997 SEWA Bank started a scheme
by which the women family members of
millworkers began revitalizing and
strengthening their families by taking loans
for new ventures. SEWA Bank also offered
trainings for increasing their capacities and
insurance to protect them against risk. A list
of affected mill workers and their families
was prepared, and the Bank resolved to help
one member from each family obtain a loan
for self-employment. The Bank is also
providing technical and other services
linkages, assistance to access raw materials,
and market information to loaners. Further,
social security services are being provided
to loanees and their families. In this way,
SEWA Bank hopes to assist families of
unemployed millworkers obtain stable work
and enhanced incomes.
AmrutJharna mobile financial literacy
programme
Many women cannot join in the
financial literacy training for various
reasons, including lack of time. Also, there
are still several areas where women are not
linked to SEWA Bank. Thus, SEWA Bank
takes financial literacy training to the women
through a mobile van fitted with audiovisual
equipment and teaching aids. The topics
covered by AmrutJharna this year were:
1. How to do saving
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
2. How to obtain a credit and credit plus
services from the financial institutions
3. How to get insurance facilities
4. Financial and business planning,
implementation and management
When a woman joins SEWA Bank,
she also begins the process of capitalisation
in her life. At SEWA Bank, capitalization is
understood as the process of formation of
capital towards sustainability and growth, at
the level of the individual as well as at the
level of the household.Usually when she
joins SEWA Bank, it is her first exposure to
(formal) banking. She is usually already in
a debt trap and hence has to first redeem her
debts before building up her capital base
through savings and then loans.Women
workers, especially those in the informal
sector-have been largely bypassed by the
formal banking institutions. However, they
are economically active, and have distinct
expenditure patterns, depending upon their
trade or work, their family situation and their
socio -economic conditions.
Conclusion
Initiatives of SEWA Bank in poverty
alleviationclearly supporta role for
microfinance in achieving the
MillenniumDevelopment Goals, a key
challenge in measuring the impact
ofmicrofinance is obtaining reliable data.
Sometimes clients arerecipients of more than
one product, which are provided by
morethan one microfinance institution
(MFIs). For MFIs, it becomeshard to obtain
206 Kavita Sindhav

measures on the exact impact of their
services andproducts on their clients lives.
The SEWA Bank has thus contributed
directly in achieving, to some extent, the
larger SEWA goals of organizing and
creating visibility for self-employed women,
enabling them to get a higher income and to
have control over their own income. A large
number of members now have their own
hand-carts, sewing machines, looms and
andtools of carpentry to work with. Many
of them have upgraded their skills and
developedmore business. For example,
vegetable vendors who used to sell their
products with baskets on their heads and now
have their own little street-corner shops with
a municipal license.The SEWA Bank is
innovative in many ways
organizationally, institutionally and
financially. It is most important contribution
has perhaps been to encourage the women
to participate fully in all phases of banking,
lending and saving activities. The SEWA
Bank has targeted its efforts of banking not
just towards the symptoms of
homelessness or poverty and their
alleviation, but on the structural causes,
including long-term capacity-building of the
poor women and their institutions.

References
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Consequences, Environment and Urbanization, Vol 7 No 1.
Amin, S., Rai, A. S., & Topa, G. (2003). Does microcredit reach the poor and vulnerable? Banking
with the Unbankables: A Study in Kalahandi District, Orissa
Blaxall, J. (2004). India's Self Employed Women's Association )SEWA) - Empowerment through
Mobilization of Poor WomeN on a Large Scale. Geneva: World Bank.
Government of India (2011). Eleventh Five Year Plan. New Delhi.
Government of India (1974). Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, New
Delhi : Ministry of Education and Social Welfare.
Haskar, N. (1988 ). Draft Perspective Plan for Women, Mainstream, 26(38), (July2).
Nanda, Y.C. (2000). Role of Banks in Rural Development in the New Millennium, Mumbai :
NABARD.
Nanda, Y.C. (1999). Linking Banks and Self Help Groups in India and the role of NGOs: Lessons
learned and future perspectives, National Bank News Review, 15(3), (Jul-Sept), 63-68
Sahai. (1985). Women in a Changing Society, New Delhi: Mittal Publications.
Narayana, U.(1996). Women Empowerment through Reservations. New Delhi : Discovery Publishing
House.
UNDP (2000). Human Development Report 2000, New York : Oxford

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SEWA Bank. (2012). Annual Report : Ahmedabad : SEWA

World Bank. (1991). Gender and poverty in India. A World Bank Country Study. Washington, DC:
The World Bank.
Yelue and Sahool, (2002). A study on SHGs and Tribal Women Empowerment in Maharashtra,
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.4, pp.14-18.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

Review-20(200-207)-f
ROLE OF MEDIA IN COMBATING VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN IN INDIA
Rameshwari Pandya*
Atanu Mohapara**

Introduction harmful traditional practices (including

Violence against women is the most
pervasive form of human rights abuse in the
world today. It includes assault, battery, rape,
sexual slavery, mutilation, and murder,
witchcraft, sexual abuse of children at home
and school, and many other invisible and
invidious forms of violence. It is not tied to
poverty or economic upheaval alone or not
related to the social displacement of peoples.
Instead, it cuts across social and economic
situations and is deeply embedded in
cultures around the world so much so that
millions of women consider it a way of life.
The 1993 UN Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women,
defines violence against women as any act
that results in, or is likely to result in,
physical, sexual or psychological harm or
suffering to women, including threats of
such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations
of liberty, whether occurring in public or in
private life. It includes: domestic violence,
sexual violence, emotional and
psychological abuse, forced prostitution,
trafficking for forced labour or prostitution,
sexual exploitation, sexual harassment,
honour killings and infanticide) and other
discriminatory practices based on gender.
(IFJ Guidelines: 2008)
The World Health Organisation lists
the following as additional categories
examples of sexual violence against women:
Rape within marriage, in dating
relationships and by strangers
Systemic rape during armed conflict
(including kidnapping of young girls
for impregnation)
Unwanted sexual advances or
harassment, including demanding sex
in return for favours
Forced marriage or cohabitation,
including the marriage of children
Denial of the right to use
contraception or to adopt other
measures to protect against sexually
transmitted disease
Violent acts against the sexual (or
bodily integrity) of women, including

* Head of Department, Dept. Extension & Communication, Faculty of Family & Community Sciences,The
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat. India
** Assistant Professor, Dept. Extension & Communication, Faculty of Family & Community Sciences,The
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat. India
 Role of Media in Combating Violence against Women in India
female genital mutilation, obligatory
inspections for virginity and forced
abortion
Forced prostitution and trafficking of
people for the purpose of sexual
exploitation
Over the past decade, national and
international groups have turned a spotlight
on the hidden brutality of violence against
women. They have called on the
international community to value a womans
right to be free from violence as a human
right. This focus on violence against women
has spurred the development of strategies
and programs to address the problem. Still
the efforts to build a gender-sensitive
community are in an embryonic stage.
Nevertheless, the idea of a world free of
discrimination and violence against women
has become part of public discourse and
action. Violence against women in India is
an issue rooted in societal norms and
economic dependence. Discriminatory
practices are underlined by laws favoring
men. Inadequate policing and judicial
practices deny female victims proper
protection and justice. Although female
participation in public life is increasing and
laws have been amended, India still has a
long way to go to make Indian women equal
citizens in their own country.
True that, the gender gap in education
in India is closing, many more women are
now in the labour force than ever before. And
political quotas and reservations have
increased the percentage of women in
elected offices. Nevertheless, the age-old
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
209
patriarchal system which regards women as
inferior to men and its toxic interaction with
the new global culture of consumerism and
its relentless sexualisation of womens
bodies is a reality today.
According to the national survey, the
statistics on violence against women in India
are stark. Nationally, 8% of married women
have been subject to sexual violence, such
as forced sex, 31% of married women have
been physically abused in a way defined as
less severe, such as slapping or punching,
while 10% have suffered severe domestic
violence, such as burning or attack with a
weapon. (Ghosh: 2013) Hence, most of the
violence against Indian women is in the form
of domestic violence, dowry deaths, acid
attacks, honor killings, rape, abduction, and
cruelty by husbands and in-laws. One of the
key challenges is dowry a practice of the
brides family giving gifts of cash and kind
to the groom and his family. In some cases
the grooms family mistreats the bride if such
demands are not met. To protect women
against this threat the Indian government had
enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act and the
Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act and cruelty under Sec 498A of
the Indian Penal Code. In 2012, according
to the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), dowry deaths or murders of
women by the groom or in-laws because of
unmet high dowry expectations constituted
3.4% of all crimes against women. In other
words, last year in India on average 22
women were killed per day because their
families could not meet dowry demands. The
NCRB statistics indicate that an Indian
210 Rameshwari Pandya, Atanu Mohapara
woman is most unsafe in her marital home
with 43.6% of all crimes against women
being cruelty inflicted by her husband and
relatives. These numbers do not include
incidences of marital rape, as India does not
recognize marital rape as an offence. Of the
24,923 rape incidences in India in 2012, 98%
of the offenders were known to the victim,
which is higher than the global average of
approximately 90%. This may also mean that
children boys and girls in India grow up
in a situation where they see violence against
women as the norm. (John, Ahmad &
Schneider: 2013)
Media has immense power to
influence the masses and communication
and technological advancement has further
increased its importance. The role of media
has become very important in shaping
present days society. Media is the part of the
life, all around, from the shows one watches
on television, music on the radio, the books,
magazines and newspapers. It educates
people about the current issues and
influences the public opinion. The common
people rely on media to know about
happenings in the society. Media is often
considered as the fourth pillar of the society
and democratic medium of information.
Media has the power to pressurize and
criticize the drawbacks of democracy. It is
instrumental in bringing about unity among
the masses and is backbone of the nation.
The reach of media to common people has
increased and undoubtedly media has
attained the role of a very powerful organ in
virtually all spheres of life. Thus role of mass
media can be understood from its 6 M
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
functions, where it is considered like a mirror
to the society which monitors the ongoing
social, economic and political process and
plays an important role as a mediator in all
the issues. Subsequently it motivates the
people when required and mobilizes the
masses for a positive cause and lastly acts
as a mystifier.
It is true that we live in the 21st
century, but even to this date, social malice
and malpractices are still very much
prevalent which are reminiscent of the past.
One of such social atrocities is Violence
Against Women (VAW). It is an accepted
fact that this is a malevolent that world we
live in, and despite liberalization and
modernization of woman in the West and
urban locales within our country, women at
large still face social brutality, torture,
limited opportunities in the public sphere,
etc. Every institution such as Legislative,
executive, judiciary and media has got their
respective role to play in combating the
violence against women in any society. We
will examine the role of news media in
combating the violence against women in
India.
Media and violence against women
(VAW): A critical view
The role of media is crucial to the
issue of violence against women, both in
terms of how media cover the issue, and how
media may be used as a tool to help activists
and governments raise awareness and
implement programs on this issue. Media
should also project the means to combat
 Role of Media in Combating Violence against Women in India
violence. The visual media, be it television
or cinema, is a very powerful vehicle for
communicating ideas and images. In their
paper, S.K Srivastava and Sweta Agarwal
(2004) explain how the images of women
are being projected as pitiable, tortured
beings tormented by malevolent atrocities
by the visual media, in a country like India
where women are traditionally given high
esteem and worshipped as archetype deities.
It must be said that most of the violence and
crimes perpetrated on women goes
unreported in India, like elsewhere around
the world. Such crimes, which do make it to
the news bulletin, depict just a fraction of
the reality and are extremely small in
numbers compared to crimes perpetrated on
men. (Srivastava & Agarwal: 2004)
Many experts criticize the news
dissemination on VAW issues with a view
of hard news sell and so does violence, which
is considered primarily as a hard news-value.
In todays globalizing world, information
(such as news) is heavily commoditized, far
exceeding the thresholds set in the earlier
half of the last century. News business is
rapidly driven by hard news-values, such as
the nature, cause and the brutality of violence
(but certainly not limited to these). Further
media also draws criticism on the ground that
it implicitly ranks the importance of the
public issues according to the amount of
press coverage devoted to an issue. Lack of
appropriate media coverage of an issue leads
to the implication that the topic is not
important. Public awareness is significantly
lessened if a story is not reported. Violence
against women is a global pandemic and the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
211
consequences of media ignorance and bias
are horrific. In India, the amount of coverage
in mainstream media is inversely
proportional to the actual prevalence of the
kinds of violence and gives a false
impression. Most disturbing is the
disproportionate coverage of sensationalized
violence. Invariably, rape stories get far more
coverage than domestic violence stories. In
all likelihood, this is because rape stories
usually focus on one individual woman. If
she is attractive, she is a very marketable
victim. It is no accident that rape is a frequent
theme in pornography. The sexual
brutalization of women is a highly
marketable business and a profitable story
for the news media (Purnima: 2011).
While criticizing the media, Pratyoush
Onta stated in his report The mainstream
media is very much politicized and it picks
up women issues according to the political
interest of patron political parties. Due to
the lack of resources and trained work force,
the media is not capable to produce widely
impressive materials. Some of the women
issues like trafficking, prostitution and rape
come in the media just to create sensation.
Hence, much of the criticism that media
often draws in violence against women and
girls remains under reported, or badly
reported, in the news. Very often media fails
to take account of or give prominence to the
systemic sexual violence occurring as a
result of armed conflict, often from both
sides. (Sarup: 2005) Additionally, the 2005
Global Media Monitoring Project reveals
that domestic and sexual violence are the
least reported subjects among those where
212 Rameshwari Pandya, Atanu Mohapara
women are portrayed as a victim. While
realizing the need of the proper reporting of
the issues on violence against women,
International Federation of Journalist has
issued some guidelines for the same (IFJ
Guidelines: 2008).
1. Identify violence against women
accurately through the internationally
accepted definition in the 1993 UN
Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence Against Women.
2. Use accurate, non-judgmental
language. For instance, rape or sexual
assault is not in any way to be
associated with normal sexual
activity; and trafficking in women is
not to be confused with prostitution.
Good journalists will strike a balance
when deciding how much graphic
detail to include. Too much may be
sensationalist and can be gratuitous;
too little can weaken the victims case.
At all times, the language of reporting
should avoid suggestions that the
survivors may be to blame, or were
otherwise responsible for the attack
or acts of violence against them.
3. People who suffer in such an ordeal
will not wish to be described as a
victim unless they use the word
themselves. The use of labels can be
harmful. A term that more accurately
describes the reality of a person who
has suffered in this way is survivor.
4. Sensitive reporting means ensuring
that contact for media interview
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
meets the needs of the survivor. A
female interviewer should be on hand
and the setting must always be secure
and private, recognising that there
may be a social stigma attached.
Media must do everything they can
to avoid exposing the interviewee to
further abuse. This includes avoiding
actions that may undermine their
quality of life or their standing in the
community.
5. Treat the survivor with respect. For
journalists this means respecting
privacy, providing detailed and
complete information about the topics
to be covered in any interview, as well
as how it will be reported. Survivors
have the right to refuse to answer any
questions or not to divulge more than
they are comfortable with. Journalists
should make themselves available for
later contact; providing contact details
to interviewee will ensure they are
able to keep in contact if they wish or
need to do so.
6. Use statistics and social background
information to place the incident
within the context of violence in the
community, or conflict. Readers and
the media audience need to be
informed of the bigger picture. The
opinion of experts on violence against
women such as the DART centre will
always increase the depth of
understanding by providing relevant
and useful information. This will also
ensure that media never give the
 Role of Media in Combating Violence against Women in India
impression that violence against
women has an inexplicable tragedy
that cannot be solved.
7. Tell the whole story: sometimes
media identify specific incidents and
focus on the tragic aspects of it, but
reporters do well to understand that
abuse might be part of a long-standing
social problem, armed conflict, or part
of a community history.
8. Maintain confidentiality: as part of
their duty of care media and
journalists have an ethical
responsibility not to publish or
broadcast names or identify places
that in any way might further
compromise the safety and security of
survivors or witnesses. This is
particularly important when those
responsible for violence are the
police, or troops in a conflict, or
agents of the state or government, or
people connected with other large and
powerful organisations.
9. Use local resources: Media who take
contact with experts, women groups
and organisations on the ground about
proper interviewing techniques,
questions and places will always do
good work and avoid situations such
as where it is unacceptable for male
camera workers or reporters to enter
a secluded place which can cause
embarrassment or hostility. There is
always virtue in reporters educating
themselves on the specific cultural
contexts and respect them.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
213
10. Provide Useful Information: reports
that include details of sources and the
contact details of local support
organizations and services will
provide vital and helpful information
for survivors/witnesses and their
families and others who may be
affected.
Media Interference in VAW Beginning
of new era
It is true that media has ignored many
such incidents in the past in giving space in
the media discourse. Hence, news coverage
often receives criticism on the issue of
violence against women because of
sensational, exploitative, and lacking in
serious analysis of the prevalence. However,
media coverage and depictions of sexual
assault and domestic violence have begun
to change, particularly in the last two
decades media intervention has remarkably
increased. Many a times, it has been seen
that due to the interference of the media,
certain cases have got pushed into the
limelight which in turn attracts the attention
of the masses. Media employs several tactics
(debates, discussions, talk shows, etc) to help
bring these critical issues into the public
sphere thus helping people to get their rights.
This has often led to aggrieved parties
getting much needed justice. Medias
growing role in highlighting violence against
women and stressed the need for creating
awareness among the victim women about
their rights, mobilizing the people and
creating pressure in legislative and judiciary
can be better understood from the following
incidents happened recently.
214 Rameshwari Pandya, Atanu Mohapara
The murder of Delhi model Jessica
Lal by Manu Sharma is perhaps one of the
most prominent cases of media interference
resulting in justice. The incident took place
on April 29, 1999 when model Jessica Lal
was shot dead in a party hosted by socialite
Bina Ramani, in her restaurant Tamarind
Court. Lal was working as celebrity barmaid
in Ramanis restaurant. The main accused
was Siddharth Vashisht, better known as
Manu Sharma, the son of Venod Sharma, a
prominent Congress leader in Haryana.
The final verdict, which was passed
on the Jessica Lal murder case, was a shining
example of media interference. NDTV
channel received thousands of text messages
from various people urging that immediate
action be taken against Sharma and the other
accused. People were losing faith in the
Indian judiciary and the media had thrown
light on this very fact. The media, along with
Sabrina Lal (Jessicas sister) successfully
organized a candle light vigil in front of India
Gate in New Delhi. Various support groups
were formed to support the cause of
miscarriage of justice, as termed by the
media. On 9th September, 2006;
newsmagazine Tehelka organized a sting
operation on the witnesses of the case in
which they revealed that Venod Sharma had
bribed them hefty amounts of money in order
to stay mum about the truth in court. This
sting operation was aired by news channel
STAR News. Manu Sharma was finally
pronounced guilty of killing Jessica Lal and
he was given life sentence on 20th
December, 2006. The efforts of the media
helped the case to be reopened and justice
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
was finally delivered. (Vipul Tripathi: 2010)
This case study proves that media
interference dramatically changed the course
of the case. Media acted as a regulator and
mobilized the society to help the deceased
Jessica Lal get much needed justice. Fiery
headlines like No One Killed Jessica,
Miscarriage of justice, Jessica Lal- 11
year-long battle for justice from various
newspapers and journals provoked the
masses into starting public protests and
standing for others rights. Such was the
magnitude of the fight for justice by the
masses that this case was made into a topic
of a Hindi film No One Killed Jessica by
Raj Kumar Gupta in 2011. Never before had
India witnessed public protests of such a
magnitude. The formation of public opinion
regarding this case can be credited entirely
to the media. (NDTV.com:2010)
The rape and murder case of
Priyadarshini Mattoo and its subsequent
lengthy trial came into the limelight soon
after the Jessica Lal murder case.
Priyadarshini Mattoo was a 23-year old law
student, living in Delhi. She was found raped
and murdered at her New Delhi residence
on 23rd January, 1996. The prime accused in
this case was Santosh Kumar Singh,
Mattoos senior in her college. Singh had
been harassing and stalking Mattoo, both in
person and over the phone for about two
years prior to killing her in the most
gruesome way. It is also said that Mattoo
had filed a police complaint against Singh
and was provided with a personal security
officer, after Mattoo stated in her complaint
 Role of Media in Combating Violence against Women in India
that Singh was stalking her for quite some
days. However, this did not have any desired
effect as Singh belonged to an influential
family; his father J.P. Singh was the then
Inspector General of Police of the Union
Territory of Pondicherry (Nandi: 2011).
The final verdict of this case met with
severe public outcry and heavy criticisms
from the media. The case had occurred right
after the acquittals in the Jessica Lal murder
case, which had sparked off massive wave
of public protests in the country and heavy
criticisms from the media. In the same way,
the acquittal of Santosh Singh had caught
the collective attention of the media as well
as of the public. This was followed by
widespread mass protests and media arose
to this occasion. Chaman Lal Matoo,
Priyadarshinis father, was giving frequent
interviews to the media, demanding justice
for his deceased daughter. Media picked up
on the fact that despite so many clinching
evidences, Singh had managed to walk out
of jail, as a free man, without being proven
guilty of a single charge. In the course of a
few years after his acquittal, Singh had even
got married, fathered a child and had started
his career as a lawyer in Delhi. Media used
its powerful tool of investigative journalism
to find out the lapses in the murder case and
very soon it was bringing into the publics
notice, how justice was denied to
Priyadarshini Mattoo. This created a massive
wave of uproar in the masses who were
demanding that the case be reopened (Nandi:
2011). On 29th February, 2000 the CBI
ultimately submitted an appeal against the
verdict of the District Court in the Delhi
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
215
High Court. This was considered a milestone
achievement by the Indian media. Intense
media coverage by various news channels
and newspapers was creating a strong
pressure on the CBI and the judiciary.
Finally, on 17th October, 2006, the Delhi
High Court pronounced Santosh Kumar
Singh guilty under sections 376 (rape) and
302 (murder) under the Indian Penal Code
and was awarded death sentence. This only
proves the efficiency, power and social
responsibility of media in a democracy.
(Garg: 2010)
Shivani Bhatnagar, principal
correspondent with The Indian Express was
killed by two men in her east Delhi flat
Navkunj Apartment on January 23, 1999.
Her murder on January 23, 1999 became a
scandal that reached into the top levels of
Indian politics. Indian Police Service officer
Ravi Kant Sharma was charged with the
murder. Investigations revealed that Sharma
had hatched a plan to eliminate Shivani when
she started pressuring him to marry her.
Despite the case being a relatively high-
profile one, involving as it does the murder
of a woman journalist of a national daily,
who also happened to be the wife of a senior
journalist, investigations initially remained
tardy. With the regular media intervention
and debate for three and a half years after
Shivanis murder, Delhi Police made the first
arrest in the case. Sharma had spent nearly
10 years in jail, before he was acquitted by
the high court on October 12, last year.
(Rajalakshmi: 2002)
The above three successful cases in
216 Rameshwari Pandya, Atanu Mohapara
media intervention paved the way for more
media activism in the subsequent years.
There have been many instances where
medias effective intervention has yielded
immediate result and strengthened the
democratic system in India. Mainstream
media catapulted with social media in the
early decade of new millennium has
witnessed a more progressive role of media
in combating violence against media.
A young and aggressive poetess
Madhumita Shukla was murdered in her
apartment in Lucknow. Madhumita was six
months pregnant, when she was shot dead
in her Paper Mill Colony home in Lucknow
in May 2003. Madhumitta was alleged to
have relations with former UP minister
Amarmani Tripathi. The reason for
Madhumittas murder apparently has been
because Amarmanis legal wife did not
approve her husbands illicit relationship.
Then Minister Amarmani Tripathi, with
whom she was having an affair, was alleged
to have engineered the murder and is now
cooling his heels in jail. Immediate after
the murder, entire news media was active
and continuously tried to debate and
investigate the matter. Widespread coverage
in media could help the case for a speedy
trial (Indian Express: 2013).
Bhanwari Devi murder case attracted
widespread media attention nationally and
internationally. On September 1, 2011,
Bhanwari Devi, a health worker in Jodhpur,
disappeared. After thorough investigations,
it was established she was murdered.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Mahipal Maderna, a minister in the
Rajasthan government and senior Congress
politician was implicated. It is believed
Bhanwari was blackmailing him with a video
CD that showed the two of them in a sexual
position. Maderna lost his ministerial job due
to the scandal. The CBI had told the
Rajasthan high court that Maderna and
another Congress MLA, Malkhan Singh,
organised the murder, and paid Bhanwaris
husband as well. The two senior politicians
got a person killed and then had the body
burnt, Bhanwaris life and lifestyle have
drawn media attention. (Indian Express:
2013)
Geetika Sharma, a former air hostess
with MDLR, committed suicide on 5 August
2012 and in her suicide note she accused
Kanda of harassment. Allegations have been
made that before her suicide Kanda sent a
letter to Emirates saying that she had been a
poor employee and had defaulted on a loan,
and her family said that he had sent her
threatening e-mails using several identities
(Mail Today). Kanda has denied the
allegations and stated that he had encouraged
Sharma by sponsoring her on an MBA
course. He also said She was also made the
chairman of the trust which managed an
international school at Sirsa. Sharma wrote
two suicide notes. Sharma had alleged that
Gopal Goyal was having an illicit
relationship with another woman Ankita
with whom he has a child. On 7 August 2012
India TV published the suicide note that
Geetika wrote before she committed suicide.
Following the incident Kanda resigned from
the post of home minister in Haryana. Delhi
 Role of Media in Combating Violence against Women in India
Police, later booked Kanda for abetting
Sharmas suicide. (Maitreyee: 2013)
The young woman who was raped had
been one of the few from her village who
had made it into college, she had promising
professional career ahead of her and she was
the citizen of a country with a long track
record of democracy and increasing numbers
of women elected into office. None of this
was sufficient to protect her from a sexual
assault the sheer ugly brutality of which has
brought thousands of horrified and grieving
protestors onto the streets across the country.
Named Nirbhaya (without fear) by some
of the press who, in an unusual show of
sensitivity have not revealed her real name,
the woman was returning home from the
cinema with a male friend at 9 oclock in
the evening. They boarded a bus in the belief
that it would take them closer to home.
Instead her companion was beaten badly and
she was subjected to an extended period of
rape and violence that left her brutalized and
unconscious. Their naked bodies were
thrown out of the moving bus to be found
by passersby. Nirbhaya recovered
sufficiently to give a statement to the police
but died on the 29th December. She was
named fearless because of the fight she put
up against her attackers (she left teeth marks
on at least one of their bodies), because of
her determination that her attackers be
brought to justice and because of her struggle
to live, despite horrific injuries to her internal
organs (Hundal: 2013). This was the first
such brutal incident which gets widespread
attention where media catapulted with social
media helped to enact the new law on
violence against women in India.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
217
On 22 Aug 2013, a 23-year-old female
photojournalist was gang-raped by five men
while on assignment in Mumbai. The
journalist, who has not been identified, was
said to be working as an intern for an English
magazine. She was admitted in the hospital
with multiple injuries and survived. Media
took no time to give a proper coverage and
next day all the five culprits were arrested.
The high profile arrest of Asaram
Bapu and his son is another example of
media intervention where a minor girl was
sexually harassed. Even in most recently on
7th of February 2014, the health minister Mr.
Sabir Khan of J & K government has
resigned due to aggressive media
intervention in a sexual harassment case in
the state. Among all the above cases, the
most important one which gives a real credit
is the latest sexual harassment case of
subordinate journalist of Tehelka Magazine.
Media even did not spare to criticize Tarun
Tejpal who was accused of the same charges
and finally he was booked by the cops. This
was the first case after the enforcement of
new law on violence against women.
Despite the growing consumerism and
privatization of news media, the constant
vigil and interference of media has to a large
extent proved its role as the fourth pillar of
the society. In all the above medias
successful stories often also receive criticism
because, all the cases either are of high
profile in nature or metro based. There are
many incidents where media has neglected
reporting of many such cases have been
under reported, particularly in small towns
218 Rameshwari Pandya, Atanu Mohapara
or in the rural areas. Hence, the need for a
responsible regional media and extensive
reporting by the mainstream media is
required for giving space to violence against
women. Only hard news story is not enough
for bringing change rather a progressive
media activism is needed for speedy trial and
justice.
Conclusion
In last one decade, many incidents of
violence have come to lime light for demand
of justice where media has been an
instrumental to it. In most of the crimes
media has played a vital supportive role, it
is a catalyst and has started the trend of
bringing the culprits to justice. Incidents like
gang rape of a women journalist in Mumbai,
Delhi gang rape, Bhanwari Devi case,
Jalgaon rape case or the Jessica lal case,
media has acted more promptly even against
the political will. Besides, there have been
continuous media initiatives for women
empowerment and their safety. One such
example is of Zee Business channels which
air a program in the evening on two
weekdays Tuesday and Thursday called
Money Matters for women. The core idea
of the program is to provide financial advice
to women audiences. The program is a 30
minute call in show with a different financial
expert every day. In 2009 the North East
Television Group (Registered as Positive
Television Private Limited) announced the
launch of Focus TV which was placed as
Indias only news channel targeting only
women audiences.
The manifold increase of the social
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
media use in India again has poised theart
to the mainstream news media which was
evident in Janlok Pal and Nirbhaya case
where social media has played an effective
role in contributing for a big protest. The
monopoly of the news media has been
restricted due to the use of social media
which would certainly result the effective,
timely and accurate reporting of the violence
against women in years ahead. Hence, it
would be unfair to call media is trapped in
the consumerism and sensationalizing the
VAW issue. It is true that there lot more to
be done for the effectiveness coverage of
violence against women. Some of the
suggestion based on this research finding
where media can further strengthens its role
as follows:
1. In order to mitigate the violence
whatever are the forms, media should
come forward fostering a social
change. It can be instrumental by
taking the women, government,
organizations working for rights and
the general public for a productive
debate. Media must stay away from
stereotyping the issues.
2. The medias role should not be just
limited to expose and garner
awareness against violence against
women rather than critical of the
issue. It should abstain from cheap
publication or show off in order to
enhance the readership or television
rating point (TRP). It should be
maximum sensitive in this connection.
It can exhort the women to the
defensive mode by resorting to
various martial arts.
 Role of Media in Combating Violence against Women in India
3. Most of the issues pertaining to
women are not getting space in
newspapers or time in television
because of faulty gate-keeping in the
media organizations. As media houses
are market-driven and lay stress on
advertisements, they ignore the
socially interest stories. In addition,
they do not treat the violence against
women as newsworthy, rather to
make hype among the media
consumers. Media organizations
should allocate a beat on women like
other beats like business, national
news, politics and sports. The
concerned journalists must be adept
with the skills to report on womens
issues and take stock of situations
pertaining to rules and regulations and
their amendments as well.
4. It is often criticized that media merely
cover the violence against women. It
does not cover in-depth and there are
generally no follow up stories. Media
just cover the violence against
celebrities and business personalities
and does not consider the same
happen to common women.
Therefore, its coverage are limited to
class and yet to be mass. Thus, media
must be mass-oriented in order to
attain social harmony leading to social
development of a nation. And the
mainstream news media must
effectively develop greater
coordination with regional media for
extensive coverage on the issue.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
219
7. Several communication experts argue
for citizen journalism for the
replacement of mainstream
journalism which is stoic to the issues
of women in India. They claim for
community media which can be
bolstered by conscious citizens to act
as a watchdog of the rights of women
in order to curtail the violence
significantly against women in the
India society.
8. Media had been exhibiting a great
deal of violence, but the problem
arose because the morals and ethics
of a particular incident were under-
emphasized and the acts of violence
were over-emphasized, which needs
to be changed. Hence, mainstream
media should encourage stories from
social media users.
9. Finally the networks of NGOs,
advocating for womens cause, should
try to include media in their network,
they should not see media as their
adversary.The womens advocacy
NGOs, networks alliances should
maintain transparency in their
organizational structure, financial
source and activities. They should feel
free to provide information about their
organizations and activities. It is not
enough to inform people that VAW is
increasing in our society, it is also
imperative to let them know that there
are ways to diminish the VAW and
what actions can be taken to deal with
particular case of VAW.
220 Rameshwari Pandya, Atanu Mohapara

We are now looking ahead to the post-
MDG era and discussions are taking place
in various forums as to what the priority
goals should be for the next phase. There
are many new and burning issues require
attention such as climate change and
growing global inequalities and the list will
go on. The growing violence against women
is and old issue which requires more
attention. Making zero tolerance on violence
against women a central platform in post-
MDG agenda would have, at the very least,
a powerful symbolic impact. If the worlds
leaders who came together in 2015 to discuss
the post-MDG agenda committed
themselves collectively, loudly and clearly
to a policy of zero tolerance and put in place
the enforcement mechanisms that
demonstrated the seriousness of their
commitment, would certainly be a great
achievement of MDG. More emphasis
should be given on coordination among the
activists, Government and media. Besides,
a new guidelines and principles may be
deliberated upon for a more progressive and
effective media intervention on issues
related to violence against women.

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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENT
OF WOMEN
Christina Parmar*
Jagdish Solanki**

Introduction dates for achieving those targets. To

accelerate progress, the G8 Finance
The Millennium Development Ministers agreed in June 2005 to provide
Goals (MDGs) are eight international enough funds to the World Bank,
development goals that were established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
following the Millennium Summit of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to
the United Nations in 2000, following the cancel $40 to $55 billion in debt owed by
adoption of the United Nations Millennium members of the Heavily Indebted Poor
Declaration. All 189 United Nations member Countries (HIPC) to allow them to redirect
states at the time (there are 193 currently) resources to programs for improving health
and at least 23 international and education and for alleviating poverty.
organizations committed to help achieve the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Criticisms accompanied the MDGs,
the goals follow: focusing on lack of analysis and justification
behind the chosen objectives, the difficulty
1. To eradicate extreme poverty and or lack of measurements for some goals and
hunger uneven progress, among others. Although
2. To achieve universal primary developed countries aid for achieving the
education MDGs rose during the challenge period,
3. To promote gender more than half went for debt relief, with
equality and empowering women much of the remained going towards natural
4. To reduce child mortality rates disaster relief and military aid which do not
further development.
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and As of 2013 progress towards the goals
other diseases was uneven. Some countries achieved many
7. To ensure environmental goals, while others were not on track to
sustainability realize any. A UN conference in September
2010 reviewed progress and concluded with
8. To develop a global partnership for the adoption of a global plan to achieve the
development[1] eight goals by their target date. New
Each goal has specific targets and commitments targeted womens and

* Faculty Member, Shree J.M.Patel Institute of Social Work, Anand. Email : chris20msw@gmail.com
** Professor, Faculty of Social Work, Baroda, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara. Gujarat.
India
 Promoting Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
childrens health and new initiatives in the
worldwide battle against poverty, hunger and
disease.
MDG 3: Promoting Gender Equality and
Empowerment of Women Where do we
stand? Violence against Women, Women
in War/Conflict Situations.
The third Millennium Development
Goal (MDG), on gender equality and
womens empowerment. It explores the
concept of womens empowerment and
highlights ways in which the indicators
associated with this Goal on education,
employment, and political participation
can contribute to it.
Promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment is goal number three
of the Millennium Development Goal. While
most of the Millennium Development Goals
face a deadline of 2015, the gender parity
target was set to be achieved a full ten years
earlier - an acknowledgement that equal
access to education is the foundation for all
other development goals. Recent statistics
show that for every 100 boys out of school,
there are still 117 girls in the same situation.
Despite the enlightenment of emancipation
of women from restrictions and protections
and their entry into equality with their men
counterparts, women are still regarded as the
inferior sex, relegated by culture and
traditions as the centre of home and family
life. The paper reveals that irrespective of
the Millennium Development goal of gender
parity and women empowerment, statistics
reveal that there still exist much of gender
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
223
inequality in the African societies placing
the male folks at advantage over the women
folks exacerbated by culture, religion and
believes which undercuts womens rights
politically, economically and socially. It is
therefore our view that until equal numbers
of girls and boys are in school, it will be
impossible to build the knowledge necessary
to eradicate poverty and hunger, combat
disease and ensure environmental
sustainability. To this we recommend the
deliberate formulation of practicable policies
to enhance the position of the women in our
societies. Such as the government genuinely
empower the position and situation of
women in our societies like economic
opportunities, political empowerment,
educational encouragement and health/well-
being opportunities.
Eliminate gender disparity in primary
and secondary education, While most of the
Millennium Development Goals face a
deadline of 2015, the gender parity target
was set to be achieved a full ten years earlier
- an acknowledgement that equal access to
education is the foundation for all other
development goals. Yet recent statistics show
that for every 100 boys out of school, there
are still 117 girls in the same situation. Until
equal numbers of girls and boys are in
school, it will be impossible to build the
knowledge necessary to eradicate poverty
and hunger, combat disease and ensure
environmental sustainability. And millions
of children and women will continue to die
needlessly, placing the rest of the
development agenda at risk.
224 Christina Parmar, Jagdish Solanki
Eliminate gender disparity at all levels
of education by 2015 and empower
women.Advancing the rights of women and
children advances humanity.Two-thirds of
the worlds 799 million illiterate adults ages
15 and over are women.Many children in
developing countries start life without
adequate means of nutrition, learning, and
protection. Women and girls are particularly
challenged.Some 67 countries have primary
school attendance and enrolment rates for
girls less than 85 per cent. Globally, there
are just 96 girls for every 100 boys in
primary school, with disparities at the
secondary level even more acute. Yet
uneducated girls are more at risk than boys
to become marginalized. They are more
vulnerable to exploitation. They are more
likely than educated girls to contract HIV/
AIDS, which spreads twice as quickly
among uneducated girls than among girls
that have even some schooling. Nearly a
third of all adults living with HIV/AIDS are
under the age of 25, and almost two thirds
of these people are women.
As unschooled adults, these girls will
be less likely to have a say socially and
politically and to be able to support
themselves. Womens rights and access to
land, credit and education are limited not
only due to legal discrimination, but because
more subtle barriers such as their work load,
mobility and low bargaining position in the
household and community prevent them
from taking advantage of their legal rights.
These problems affect their children:
Women earn only one tenth of the worlds
income and own less than one per cent of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
property, so households without a male head
are at special risk of impoverishment. These
women will also be less likely to immunize
their children and know how to help them
survive.Gender bias undercuts womens
rights in other areas. Practices such as early
marriage or poor health services result in
high rates of maternal mortality. Some
529,000 women died giving birth last year,
99 per cent of them in developing countries.
For each birth-related death, 30 other women
were injured or disabled. Having a missing
or disabled mother severely undercuts a
childs chances of survival and health as
well.
The world has recognized the
importance of gender equality. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC), the most widely ratified human rights
treaty in history, sets forth provisions that
include civil rights and freedoms, family
environment, basic health and welfare,
education, leisure and cultural activities and
special protection measures for all children.
The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN
General Assembly and acceded to by 180
States, sets down rights for women, of
freedom from discrimination and equality
under the law. Realizing the rights and
equality of women is also the key to the
survival and development of children and to
building healthy families, communities and
nations.
Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in
primary and secondary education preferably
 Promoting Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
by 2005, and at all levels by 2015
Ratios of girls to boys in primary,
secondary and tertiary education
Share of women in wage employment
in the non-agricultural sector
Proportion of seats held by women in
national parliament
Target by 2005:
Eliminate gender disparity in primary
and secondary education.
While most of the Millennium
Development Goals face a deadline of 2015,
the gender parity target was set to be
achieved a full ten years earlier - an
acknowledgement that equal access to
education is the foundation for all other
development goals. Yet recent statistics show
that for every 100 boys out of school, there
are still 117 girls in the same situation. Until
equal numbers of girls and boys are in
school, it will be impossible to build the
knowledge necessary to eradicate poverty
and hunger, combat disease and ensure
environmental sustainability. And millions
of children and women will continue to die
needlessly, placing the rest of the
development agenda at risk.
Target by 2015:
Eliminate gender disparity at all levels
of education by 2015 and empower women.
Advancing the rights of women and
children advances humanity.
Many children in developing
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
225
countries start life without adequate means
of nutrition, learning, and protection.
Women and girls are particularly challenged.
Some 67 countries have primary
school attendance and enrolment rates for
girls less than 85 per cent. Globally, there
are just 96 girls for every 100 boys in
primary school, with disparities at the
secondary level even more acute. Yet
uneducated girls are more at risk than boys
to become marginalized. They are more
vulnerable to exploitation. They are more
likely than educated girls to contract HIV/
AIDS, which spreads twice as quickly
among uneducated girls than among girls
that have even some schooling. Nearly a
third of all adults living with HIV/AIDS are
under the age of 25, and almost two thirds
of these people are women.
As unschooled adults, these girls will
be less likely to have a say socially and
politically and to be able to support
themselves. Womens rights and access to
land, credit and education are limited not
only due to legal discrimination, but because
more subtle barriers such as their work load,
mobility and low bargaining position in the
household and community prevent them
from taking advantage of their legal rights.
These problems affect their children: Women
earn only one tenth of the worlds income
and own less than one per cent of property,
so households without a male head are at
special risk of impoverishment. These
women will also be less likely to immunize
their children and know how to help them
survive.
226 Christina Parmar, Jagdish Solanki
Gender bias undercuts womens rights
in other areas. Practices such as early
marriage or poor health services result in
high rates of maternal mortality. Some
529,000 women died giving birth last year,
99 per cent of them in developing countries.
For each birth-related death, 30 other women
were injured or disabled. Having a missing
or disabled mother severely undercuts a
childs chances of survival and health as
well.
The world has recognized the
importance of gender equality. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC), the most widely ratified human rights
treaty in history, sets forth provisions that
include civil rights and freedoms, family
environment, basic health and welfare,
education, leisure and cultural activities and
special protection measures for all children.
The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN
General Assembly and acceded to by 180
States, sets down rights for women, of
freedom from discrimination and equality
under the law. Realizing the rights and
equality of women is also the key to the
survival and development of children and
to building healthy families, communities
and nations.
UNICEF responds by:
Getting girls into quality school
environments helping them stay
there. Some 121 million children are not in
school, most of them girls. If a family can
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
afford school fees for only one child, it will
likely be a boy who attends. If someone
needs to fetch water or do housework instead
of going to school, a girl will likely be
chosen. If someone needs to stay home to
care for younger siblings or sick or infirm
household members, this will most likely be
a girl: girls will also most likely be
withdrawn from school early in adolescence
as the age of marriage approaches.
Yet study after study shows that
educating girls is the single most effective
policy to raise overall economic
productivity, lower infant and maternal
mortality, educate the next generation,
improve nutrition and promote health. Girls
with at least six years of school education
are more likely to be able to protect
themselves from HIV/AIDS and other
diseases. Educated mothers immunize their
children 50 per cent more often than mothers
who are not educated, and their children have
a 40 per cent higher survival rate. Moreover,
mothers who have had some education are
more than twice as likely to send their own
children to school as are mothers with no
education.
Getting girls into school and ensuring
that they learn and thrive in quality, child-
friendly learning environments are key
UNICEF priorities, fulfilling Millennium
Goal 2 of universal primary education as
well as this Goal. As lead agency for the
United Nations Girls Education Initiative
(UNGEI) UNICEF is coordinating efforts of
a broad range of partners at global, regional,
and national levels to meet the goals of
gender parity and equality in education.
 Promoting Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
By working with these partners, by
raising awareness via our field offices in 158
countries and territories and through
international media campaigns, by funding
and supplies procurement, by assisting
governments with policy and problem
solving when invited to, and by helping
communities to mobilize around these
issues, UNICEF is working to ensure girls
right to education is realized.
Helping women and girls avoid
HIV/AIDS. In some countries in sub-
Saharan Africa, HIV prevalence among
teenage girls is five times higher than among
teenage boys. The danger of infection is
highest among the poorest and least
powerful, particularly children who live
among violence, suffer sexual exploitation
or have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
Through government advocacy and
community outreach, UNICEF helps young
women (and men) have access to the
information and services they need to
prevent and reduce their risk of HIV
infection. At policy levels, these include
drives to influence social norms regarding
sexual behaviour as it relates to the stopping
the epidemic, and introducing supportive
legislation and policies. Other risk
prevention activities include widening
access to youth-friendly, gender-sensitive
health services that provide voluntary,
confidential HIV testing and counselling and
provide condoms and treatment for sexually
transmitted infections.
Broad partnerships are vital to
conquering the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
227
UNICEF is key to strengthening partnerships
with UNAIDS, multinational agencies,
academic and research institutions, non-
governmental organizations and the private
sector. UNICEF also leads UN efforts in
monitoring and reporting situation analyses,
behavioural assessments, and programme
results.
Improving maternal health.
UNICEF efforts in girls education give a
boost to this area as well. If a girl is educated
six years or more, as an adult her prenatal
care, postnatal care and childbirth survival
rates will dramatically and consistently
improve.
The single biggest factor in a healthy
birth, however, is the presence of skilled
assistance, particularly in emergency
obstetrics. UNICEF helps key partners work
with governments and policy makers to
ensure that emergency obstetric care is a
priority in national health plans, and assist
governments with training and logistics.
Maternal care is also an important
goal in community health. Along with
vaccination campaigns for children,
UNICEF procures and distributes tetanus
vaccines, micronutrient supplements and
insecticide-treated bed nets (to fight malaria)
for expectant women. Work within
communities includes help coordinating
health care services for maximum
effectiveness maternal care with newborn
care, for example.
Giving girls a good start in early
childhood. A childs earliest years are
228 Christina Parmar, Jagdish Solanki
critical. Skills such as language acquisition,
social competence, coping, the ability to
think critically and the capacity to learn, all
develop in the first years of life. Without
adequate nutrition, nurturing, health care and
psychosocial stimulation, a childs potential
for a competent and productive life is
sapped.
Because of entrenched gender bias in
many regions, young girls fare less well than
boys in many aspects of early childhood,
including receiving a worse diet and health
care. In fact, there are an estimated 60-100
million fewer women alive today than there
would be in a world without gender
discrimination and without social norms that
favour sons.
To ensure that all young children get
the best start in life, UNICEF advocates and
helps governments and communities form
policies and programmes in health, nutrition,
water and environmental sanitation, psycho-
social care and early learning, child
protection and womens rights. Emphasis is
on strengthening the capacities of families
and other caregivers as most health care
takes place at home in developing
countries mobilizing community health
and child learning services, and coordinating
and integrating maternal health interventions
with those focused on early childhood.
Promoting child protection. The UN
Millennium Declaration stressed protection
of the vulnerable, and for good reason: Tens
of millions of children across the globe are
victims of exploitation, abuse and violence
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
each year. They are abducted from their
homes and schools and recruited into armed
conflicts, exploited sexually, or trafficked
and forced to work in abominable
conditions. Girls in particular are
vulnerable, particularly when not in school.
They also suffer from abuses that may have
their societys mandate, but severely curtail
their rights: they are victims of violence in
the home, they arent allowed to attend
school, or are forced into early marriage, or
to undergo genital mutilation.
Increasing access to water and
sanitation. Out of 100 people in developing
countries, 17 will not have safe drinking
water (43 in sub-Saharan Africa) and 42 will
not have adequate sanitation facilities. For
families without, the burden of finding and
hauling safe water usually falls to girls,
which often means they arent able to attend
school. Too often, too, they are prevented
from attending school because of unhygienic
latrines or a complete lack of facilities for
girls.
India and the Gender Gap
The World Economic Forums annual
Gender Gap Report(2007) affirmed that
there are just six countries - Iran,
Bahrain,Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and
Yemen - performing worseagainst economic
parameters, with women constituting amere
3 per cent of legislators, senior officials and
managers and making up 90 per cent of
informal workers in the economy. Against
other major indicators, there is also immense
cause for concern: India has the largest
 Promoting Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
number of maternal deaths in the world and
shocking rates of female malnutrition, and a
woman in India has lesser chance of survival
than in all but 2 of 128 countries. The oft-
discussed imbalance in the sex ratio can be
attributed - not only to female infanticide,
as is often assumed - but to sustained neglect
from infancy of female health, nutrition and
wellbeing. A girl child is up to 3 times more
likely to be malnourished than her brother
(UN), and is also significantly more likely
to drop out of school before completing a
full eight years of education. As well as
passive neglect, violence against women and
girl children is on the rise: the number of
rapes per day has increased by nearly 700
per cent since 1971, and thousands of dowry
deaths occur each year (National Crime
Records Bureau).
Progress
Despite significant progress in
achieving gender parity in primary schools,
UNICEF projections for 2005 continue to
indicate a global gender parity index (GPI)
of 0.96, meaning that there are still only 96
girls for every 100 boys in primary school,
with significant variations between and
within regions and countries. Gender
inequalities in primary school are greatest
in Western and Central Africa, South Asia,
the Middle East and North Africa.
Meanwhile, at secondary level, of 75
countries surveyed, only 22 are considered
on course to meet the 2005 gender parity
goal, while 21 will need to make additional
efforts and 25 are far from the goal. At
secondary level, the gender gap is most
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
229
pronounced in South Asia (44% of boys of
secondary school age in secondary school
compared with only 36% of girls) and in the
Middle East and North Africa (54% of boys
compared with 43% of girls).
Global Progress
In 1990, the United Nations
Economic and Social Council endorsed the
implementation of measures to reach a target
of 30% women in national legislatures by
1995. Nearly 20 years later, women occupy
only 18% of parliamentary seats around the
world, and at the current rate of progress it
has been estimated that gender parity in
parliaments will not be achieved until the
turn of the twenty-second century
(Norris:2004). More countries are therefore
deciding to implement a fast track route
to tackling structural discrimination and
increasing female participation. During the
last 15 years, nearly 50 countries have
introduced legal quotas for women, which
guarantee a minimum representation of
women in their highest decision making
bodies. Percentage of women representatives
in Parliament:
Nordic countries - 41.4%
Americas - 21.8%
Europe (excluding Nordic countries)
- 19.1%
Asia - 17.4%
Sub-Saharan Africa - 17.2%
Pacific - 13.4%
Arab states - 9.6%
In the high performing Nordic
230 Christina Parmar, Jagdish Solanki

countries, no constitutional clause or law intending to make any genuine difference

demands a high representation of women; within the existing power dynamics. This is
rather, womens groups have exerted particularly the case in countries where the
sustained pressure on the major political chosen quota type does not match with the
parties to voluntarily ensure increases in the electoral system - as in Uganda, for example,
number and calibre of female candidates when a womans seat is merely attached to
being fielded through party lists. However, that of an existing male members. Such
this was not introduced until women were policies rarely induce lasting change once
already present in the Parliament, and the quota is removed, since women fail to
already holding between 20 and 30% of the gain their own power base and networks . In
seats. Elsewhere, there have been numerous contrast, Taiwan has introduced an
problems with implementation and outwardly complicated but well-functioning
enforcement of party quotas. In France, for system of reservation. In addition to a
example, many political parties have stipulated number of seats reserved
preferred to pay fines rather than put their specifically for women, there is also a policy
women candidates up for election. In of reserving every fifth seat in a district for
October 2003, Rwanda came closer than any the best performing female candidate. It is
other country to achieving parity between therefore in the interests of the parties to
men and women in a national legislature, nominate women of the highest possible
with reservation of seats securing 48.8% calibre so as to guarantee winning the
women in the Lower House and 34.6% in womans seat. Moreover, the women are
the Upper House. Neighbouring countries directly elected and are therefore treated as
such as Pakistan and Afghanistan have laws legitimate political actors. Currently, women
that currently give women a higher ministers remain concentrated in social areas
representation than India (about 25%) in (14%) rather than legal (9.4%), economic
their national parliaments. However, many (4.1%), political (3.4%) and executive
countries have implemented only symbolic (3.9%), and there are just 13 female heads
policy under external pressure from interest of state across the globe (International
groups and the international community, Womens Democracy Centre, June 2008).
desiring to appear modern without
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Baranyi,S. and Powell, K.(2005). Fragile States, Gender Equality and Aid Effectiveness:A Review
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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

PERCEPTION OF PERSONAL SAFETY AND SECURITY IN
THE CONTEXT OF THE RISE IN CRIME AGAINST WOMEN:
A STUDY AMONG SOCIAL WORK GIRL STUDENTS IN
MUMBAI.
Introduction
It is impossible to think about the
welfare of the world unless the condition of
women is improved
-Swami Vivekananda
The welfare of the world is in danger
as the condition of women is disheartening.
Gender-based violence and womens safety
is increasingly recognized as a key health,
development and human rights issue.
Women are at risk of violence both in public
and private spheres, in and around the home,
in neighbourhoods and at city level. Women
experience a higher degree of insecurity
which can restrict their access and use
of the city. Many women and girls face
domestic violence not only in their homes
and in relationships, but also in public spaces
due to poor choices in urban design and poor
management of those spaces. In practical
terms this can relate to factors such as
inadequate street lighting, unsafe
underpasses, ineffective community policing
and lack of rehabilitation programmes for
those involved in antisocial use of public
spaces. During times of conflict or social
unrest, those factors can further exacerbate
the risk of gender-based violence.
Many different approaches and
* Assistant Professor, College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai, India. Email: neeloferr@yahoo.com
** Assistant Professor, College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai, India.
Neeloferr Lokhandwalla*
Renu Sharma Shah**
strategies are used with varying degrees of
success. A significant number of womens
groups, NGOs, institutions and governments
from around the world are working to ensure
womens safety and to build safer
communities and cities for all.
Womens safety involves strategies,
practices and policies which aim to reduce
gender-based violence (or violence against
women), including womens fear of crime.
Womens safety involves safe spaces. Space
is not neutral. Space which causes fear
restricts movement and thus the
communitys use of the space. Lack of
movement and comfort is a form of social
exclusion. Conversely, space can also create
a sensation of safety and comfort, and can
serve to discourage violence. Therefore
planning and policy around safety should
always involve and consider women.
Not everyone is at equal risk of
becoming a victim of violence (Homel, in
press). Recent victimisation research has
focused on identifying who is at the greatest
risk of becoming the victim of violence.
Identifying high risk groups increases our
understanding of the dynamics of violence
and helps in designing and targeting
prevention strategies.
Age has been consistently identified
234 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah
as a major risk factor for violence
victimisation. Young people are more at risk
of being the victim of a violent offence than
older people (Stewart & Homel 1995). Data
from the 1991 Queensland Crime Victim
Survey (Government Statisticians Office,
Queensland, unpublished) indicated that
15% of females in the 15-19 and 16% of
females in the 20-24 year age group were
the victim of violence. In the 25-29 age group
this had halved and 7% of women were the
victims of violence. This decreased again in
the 30-39 (5%) and the 40-54 (4%) age
groups. In the 55 and over group the risk of
being the victim of violence was very low.
Similar trends between physical
assault and age were apparent in the
Womens Safety Survey (WSS) data. In the
12 months prior to the survey being
conducted, 16.1% of women in the 18-24
age reported being the victim of physical
violence. The percentage of women
reporting being the victim of violence
decreased as the age of the woman increased.
In the 25-35 age group 8.3% of women
reported being the victim of violence. This
was further reduced in the 35-44 (5.2%) and
the 45-54 (3.06%) and the 55 and over
(0.9%).
All women are less likely to be the
victim of a sexual assault than a physical
assault. However, although the number of
women being sexually assaulted decreased
in the older age groups, this decrease was
not as substantial for sexual victimisation
as for physical victimisation.
When the relationship between the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
victim and the perpetrator as well as the age
of victimisation is examined it is apparent
that young women are at risk of victimisation
from a range of people. Over 70% of
victimisation experienced by young women
in the 12 months prior to the survey was
perpetrated by someone other than a partner
or an ex-partner. This included boyfriends,
dates, friends, work colleagues and
strangers.
Indian Scenario Magnitude of the
Problem
The National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB) data shows that 2.44 lakh cases of
crimes against women were reported in 2013
across the country as compared to 2.28 lakh
in 2011 with an increase of 6.4%. Crimes
against women have registered a steady
increase for the last five years.
Delhi was the most dangerous of the
five megapolises, with 3.2 in every 1,00,000
population reporting having been raped in
2010, followed by 1.2 in Mumbai, 1.1 in
Bangalore, 0.7 in Chennai and 0.2 in Kolkata
the last the lowest figure in any Indian
city, along with Varanasi.
A Mumbai police report shows that
nearly 3,500 crimes against women (rape,
outraging of modesty, sexual harassment and
kidnapping) were recorded from January
2010 to August 2013. The report showed a
steady rise every year under the four crime
heads. Rape cases rose from 221 in 2011,
232 in 2012 and 224 till August 2013.
Outraging of modesty cases rose from with
635 till August 2013 against 614 in 2012 and
 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai
553 in 2011. There were 245 cases of sexual
harassment (obscene /insult) till August
2013 against 235 in 2012 and 162 in 2011
respectively. Kidnapping cases also showed
a sharp rise with 149 registered till August
2013 against 90 in 2012 and 141 in 2011
respectively. Of the cases registered in 2013,
135 involved minors. The highest increase
was recorded in cases of molestation, which
was by 300% from 215 in the first seven
months of 2012 to 635 in 2013.
The incidence of minors getting raped
in the country has been on the rise since the
past six years. While 5,045 such cases were
reported in 2007, in 2012 the figure touched
8,541, according to data of the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). There is no
disputing the fact that a good number of
minors getting raped may even have gone
unreported to the police. During the past six
years, the annual figures of this crime
reported to the Delhi police always remained
above 300 and in 2012 it reached 415.
Except for one year, Madhya Pradesh topped
the list for this crime from 2007. Frankly
speaking, in a country with 1.2 billion
people, the NCRBs statistic on reported
rape cases is a very low number.
The NCRB data shows there were
1,22,292 cases of molestation during 2009-
11 but only 27,408 people could be
convicted for the offence. Nearly 68,000
rape cases were registered across the country
during 2009-11 but only 16,000 rapists were
sentenced to prison, presenting a dismal
picture of conviction of sexual offenders.
Even though the police filed charges against
94.5 per cent of the alleged rapists, just 26.6
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
235
per cent were eventually convicted
bearing out criticism that police investigators
and public prosecutors lack the capacities
needed to make the charges strict.
The NCRB figures also show one
important reason why victims have an
incentive to remain silent: the rapists are
mainly friends, even kin. Even though the
media overwhelmingly reports on dramatic
cases involving attacks by strangers, all but
four States reported that nine out of 10
alleged perpetrators or more were known to
the victim. In Delhi, that figure was 96.6%.
The city has fared poorly when it
comes to womens safety, ranking sixth
among eight of the biggest cities in the
country, according to a new report. In an
analysis of eight cities based on three
yardsticks- gender ratio, incidences of rape
and dowry deaths-as part of a Female
Security Index (FSI), Mumbai was only
better than Ahmedabad and Delhi. The report
from the Tata Strategic Management Group
revealed Chennai had the highest FSI
followed by Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune and
Hyderabad. The indices were tabulated using
census data, national sample survey findings
and national crime research bureau data.
Though the report says Mumbai is second
of 588 districts in India on the Well Being
Index (WBI)- a tabulation of eight
parameters indicating economic well-being
it fares poorly on womens security. The
best districts on well-being are not
necessarily the best in womens security,
said Raju Bhinge, chief executive, Tata
Management Strategic Group. There
appears to be no correlation.
236 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah
Of the eight, Mumbai has the joint
second highest number of rapes per lakh
women at 3.3 (in a tie with Pune), second to
Delhi at 6.3. On the remaining two
parameters, it is joint fourth in the number
of dowry deaths and fifth on gender ratio,
with 900 women per 1,000 men.
Community life has been disrupted in the
past 10 years and Mumbai has become more
unsafe, said Vibhuti Patel, economics
professor and activist.In Mumbai and
Delhi, the level of alienation is the worst and
child abuse is also high. In the state
rankings, Maharashtra is 13th on WBI and
16th on FSI. The top 20 districts on FSI saw
the Nilgiris on top, with 14 districts from
south India and not a single metro. (Bhavya
Dore, Hindustan Times, 6th March, 2013).
Objectives
It has been a year since Nirbhaya
shook the country with her courage in the
face of the brutal gang rape on the night of
Dec 16th. A year after this incident shook the
nation, several victims of violence think
more needs to be done for women to feel
safe on the streets. Within this context it was
thought to have an understanding as to how
college-going girl students perceive their
safety and security in the city of Mumbai.
With the said purpose the authors conducted
a small survey with the social work girl
students in the College of Social Work-
Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai.
The paper intends to focus on the
findings of the survey. Authors have
attempted to provide guidelines for action
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
to deal with this issue in the light of the
increasing crime against women.
Methodology
The sample consisted of social work
girl students studying in the College of
Social Work-Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai and
the sample consisted of 27 students of MSW
I and 32 students of BSW III. A focused
group discussion was carried out along with
a written questionnaire. The data was
analyzed manually. Percentages were drawn.
Operational Definitions:
1. Safety: The condition of being safe,
freedom from danger or risk. (Oxford
English Dictionary)
2. Security: The feeling of safety is
security. (Oxford English
Dictionary)
3. Perception of threat : Developing an
understanding about a danger that
may be faced by a person sooner or
later giving a prediction, after
observing the cruciality of the
circumstances, that might the
perpetrator / opposite party invade
upon the person, after having some
clues or gestures from the side of your
adversary. (www.wikipedia.org)
4. Violence Against Women : Any Act
of gender-based violence that results
in physical, sexual or psychological
harm or suffering to women, including
threats of such acts, coercion or
 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai 237

arbitrary deprivation of liberty, perception about womens safety and

whether occurring in public or private
life (http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/acdi-
cida/acdi-cida.nsf/eng/REN-
218124839-P9K )4
Limitations of the Study: The
sample was small in size. The study
could include male social work
students to know about their
Table 1: Age of respondents
Age (in years) BSW
Frequency Percentage
security. It could be done with other
college students to know whether
there is a difference in the perception
of safety and security among girl
students having different educational
background.
Major Findings:
MSW
Frequency Percentage

19-22 23 71.8 11 40.7

23-26 2 6.2 11 40.7
27-30 5 15.6 5 18.5
31 & above 1 3.1 0
Total 32 100 27 100
71.8 % of the BSW group were from 19-22yrs age group. 40.7% of the MSWs were
from 19-22 yrs age group and from 23-26yrs age group.

Table 2: Native place

Native Place BSW MSW
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Mumbai 16 50 11 40.7
Out of
Mumbai 15 46.8 16 59.2
Out of India 1 3.1 0 0
Total 32 100 27 100

50% were from Mumbai for the BSW group and 46.8% of the BSW group and 59.2%
from MSW group were from Out of Mumbai..

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

238 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah

Table 3: Number of years in Mumbai

Duration BSW MSW

Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Less than 1 yr 0 06 22.2

2-3 years 11 34.3 01 3.7
4-5 years 01 3.1 01 3.7
6 years and
Above 19 59.3 15 55.5
No Response 01 3.1 4 14.8
Total 32 100 27 100
59.3% from the BSW and 55.5% from the MSW group were residing in Mumbai
from 6years and above.
Table 4: Main source of information
Main source BSW MSW
of information Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Family 11 34.3 7 25.9

Friends 7 21.8 7 25.9
Print Media 32 100 26 96.2
Electronic 10 31.2 7 25.9
Media
Others 3 9.3 1 3.7
For both the groups, newspapers were the most important source of information,
followed by Family with the BSW group. It was quite surprising to note that the MSW
group did not show a high rating for internet as a source of information whereas it
was mentioned by BSWs. In the MSW group, Family, Friends and the Internet were
equally rated as second most important source of information.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai 239

Table 5: Feeling safe while travelling in public transport

Feeling safe BSW MSW
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Yes 11 34.3 13 48.1

No 21 65.6 14 51.8
Total 32 100 27 100
65.6% from the BSWs and 51.8% from the MSW group said No to feeling safe while
travelling in public transport. The BSW group expressed fear as the main factor for not
feeling safe travelling in public transport. Fear of being touched, bad comments and fear of
being assaulted was on their mind. However this was not mentioned by MSW students.
Further both groups said that crimes can happen anywhere (night is dangerous)
and since the areas are public places, one encounter more strangers therefore high risk
present. As few ladies travel at night it becomes a high risk situation for them.
Table 6: Feeling safe going out after 9.00 pm in Mumbai
Safe after
Feeling safe BSW MSW
9.00 pm
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Yes 10 31.2 13 48.1

No 22 68.7 14 51.8
Total 32 100 27 100

A significant number of 68.7% said No to feeling safe going out after 9pm from the
BSW group. In the MSW group responses close to equal in number- 51.8% said No
while 48.1% said yes.
Five responses from BSW stated no Both BSW and MSW students stated
to feeling safe going out after 9.00pm in that not many women seen on the road after
Mumbai as men tend to tease, harass, roam 9.00 pm and no one on roads who can
on streets and see woman in a bad manner. respond to help if needed. They also said
Men tend to take advantage. No such answer that since crimes increasing in India and
were stated by the MSW group. Mumbai, thus do not feel safe.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

240 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah

Two responses from BSW III shared can happen anytime specially at night. One
that family does not allow. Other student shared that anything can happen
respondents were of the opinion that anytime as time does not dictate what men
Mumbai is a city that never sleeps so crimes think.

Table 7: Feeling safe visiting new places

Visiting BSW MSW

new places
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Yes 11 34.3 15 55.5

No 21 65.6 11 40.7
No Response 0 1 3.7
Total 32 100 27 100

65.6% of the BSW group said that they did people nor do they know the place thus risky.
not feel safe visiting new places while 55.5% Six responses of the BSW group expressed
felt safe visiting new places from the MSW fear of being misguided, misled, taken
group. Fourteen responses of the BSW advantage and someone doing something.
group and three responses of the MSW group No such response was stated by the MSW
stated that new unfamiliar places bring risk group.
so do not feel safe. They do not know the
Table 8: Carrying sharp objects in bag
Carrying BSW MSW
sharp
objects Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Yes 8 25 11 40.7
No 24 75 16 59.2
Total 32 100 27 100
In the MSW group 59.2% said no while
40.7% said yes to carrying sharp objects in only 25% said yes. A significant number in
bag. For the BSW group 75% said No and both the groups said No.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai 241

Common explanations for No one BSW student has learnt Karate did not
response were seen among BSW and MSW see a need to carry sharp objects.
students. The response stated for No were-
not required sharp objects as could use The MSW and BSW students who
whatever they had in their bags, had not said Yes gave common explanations for
thought about this and not necessary till date. carrying sharp objects as it gives them a
Two students from MSW and BSW said they sense of protection and to use it in case a
felt safe in Mumbai as during day able to situation arises. One student from BSW said
move safely. One student expressed she was taught by her parents while one from
confidence in dealing with cases of women MSW said for her parents satisfaction.
harassment. One MSW I student said she is Another student from BSW shared her field
well acquainted with places she visits and work area is a place where anything can
happen at anytime thus the need to carry
sharp objects.
Table 9: Thought of ways of self-defense
Have thought BSW MSW
of ways
of self defence Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Yes 31 96.8 23 85.1
No 1 3.1 3 11.1
No Response 0 0 1 3.7
Total 32 100 27 100
96.8% from the BSW and 85.1% from MSW group said yes to having thought of
ways of self-defense.
Table 10: Knowledge of emergency numbers

Emergency BSW MSW

numbers
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Yes 30 93.7 26 96.2
No 2 6.2 1 3.7
Total 32 100 27 100
93.7% from the BSWs and 96.2% from the MSW group said that they did have
knowledge of emergency numbers
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
242 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah

Table 11: Able to perceive threat

Perceiving BSW MSW

threat Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Yes 25 78.1 19 70.3
No 3 9.3 7 25.9
Sometimes 1 3.1 0
-
No Answer 3 9.3 1 3.7
Total 32 100 27 100

78.1 % from the BSW group while
70.3 said from the MSW group said yes that
they were able to perceive threat. 25.9% said
No to able to perceive threat from the MSW
group.
Those who said yes to be able to
perceive threat explained that they tend to
gain a sense of the situation and avoid
accordingly. They looked out for signs and
were alert. If someone was not behaving well
and if needlessly favoring them then they
were careful. They said that they could gain
an idea of the person from the way of
looking of the person.

Table 12: Awareness of legal provisions

Aw a r e n e s s BSW MSW
about Legal Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Provisions

Yes 23 71.8 10 37
No 6 18.7 17 62.9
No Response 3 9.3 0
Total 32 100 27 100
71.8 % from BSW group said yes to awareness of legal provisions while 62.9 % said
No to having knowledge of legal provisions from the MSW group.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai 243

The common awareness of legal on rape, sexual harassment at workplace,

provisions stated both by the MSW and BSW Domestic Violence Act, police arrest related
were awareness of Helpline 103, 109, rules and conduct.
contact police station and awareness of laws
Table 13: Felt comfortable interacting with male colleagues
Interacting BSW MSW
with male
colleagues Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Yes 23 71.8 24 88.8

No 9 28.1 3 11.1
Total 32 100 27 100

71.8 % from the BSW group and 88.8
% from the MSW group said that they felt
comfortable interacting with male
colleagues. Student from the MSW group
who said No stated that she was placed at a
community for fieldwork where there were
addicts and thus not comfortable. One
student from MSW and BSW shared that
Table 14: Any recent harassment experienced by them
Recent BSW
experience
Frequency Percentage
they had an unpleasant experience and had
brought it to the notice of the agency
officials. Two of the BSW students who said
No said that family pressure was the reason
for not interacting with male colleagues and
two others from BSW shared that they felt a
general uncomfortness in talking with
strangers and the general community.
MSW
Frequency Percentage

Yes 14 43.7 10 37
No 17 53.1 16 59.2
No response 1 3.1 1 3.7
Total 32 100 27 100
53.1 % from BSW group and 59.2 % from MSW group said No to any recent
experience of harassment. 43.7 % from BSW group and 37% from MSW group said yes to
experience of harassment recently.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

244 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah
Findings of the Focus Group Discussion
1. Majority said no to the question of
feeling safe wearing traditional
clothes. Both the groups agreed that
whatever one wears they do not feel
safe. Traditional clothes no longer
give them a sense of security. For the
BSW group, family pressure was one
of the factors determining the choice
of clothes they wear which was not
so for the MSW group.
2. With respect to friendships with male
members the BSW group felt that they
needed to maintain distance with them
and they were not comfortable
discussing private topics with them.
On the other hand the MSW group
was more open to have healthy
friendships and did not feel the need
to maintain distance.
3. With respect to helping a male
stranger the BSW group was found to
be open to offer help and shared
responses like how the person
approaches you for help and the
nature of help required as being the
determining factor in deciding to help
a stranger. However majority of the
MSW group members were reluctant
to offer help to male strangers. They
said that they felt less threatened to
help female strangers.
4. With regard to feeling psychologically
equipped to deal with untoward
situations most of the BSWs
responded negatively. Half of them
further said that they were scared of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
the revenge aspect. The MSW group
was more affirmative and felt
confident to face situations.
5. An interesting finding in response to
the question of whether the crime
against women made them feel
inferior was that both of the groups
strongly rejected this aspect. The
BSW group expressed that they felt
stronger and shared that it was
important to work with men to change
their attitudes. The MSW group
shared that the socialization process
tended to weaken the women. They
shared that though women may be
physically weak but were mentally on
par with men.
6. Both groups gave a thumbs down to
the question of marriage providing
security to women. They had strong
opinion stating that even within
marriage violence takes place and that
women are thus equally vulnerable
within marriage. The authors feel that
the negative view about the institution
of marriage held by both the group of
social work students could be due to
the exposure to gender related crime
and womens rights issues as part of
their academic social work
curriculum. This could be
corroborated further with other non-
social work college students.
Concluding the major findings
Demographic profile of the
students-Majority (71.8 %) of the BSW and
 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai
MSW (40.7%) were from 19-22yrs age
group. 40.7% from MSW group were also
from 23-26yrs age group. 50% were from
Mumbai and 46.8% from out of Mumbai for
the BSW group. In the MSW group 59.2%
were from out of Mumbai. 59.3% from the
BSW and 55.5% from the MSW group were
residing in Mumbai from 6years and above.
Feeling safe while travelling by public
transport-Majority from the BSW and
MSW group said No. Fear was an
important aspect expressed in the
answers of BSW. This was not
expressed by the MSW group.
Feeling safe going out after 9.00 pm
in Mumbai-A significant number of
68.7% said No from the BSW group.
From the MSW group responses were
close to equal in number- 51.8% said
No while 48.1% said yes. Five
responses from BSW stated no to
feeling safe going out after 9.00pm in
Mumbai as men tend to take
advantage, tease, harass, roam on
streets and see woman in a bad
manner. No such response stated by
the MSW group.
Feeling safe visiting new places-
65.6% of the BSW group said that
they did not feel safe visiting new
places while 55.5% felt safe visiting
new places from the MSW group. Six
responses of the BSW group
expressed fear of being misguided,
misled, taken advantage and someone
doing something. No such response
stated from the MSW group.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
245
Carrying sharp objects in bag- A
significant number in both the groups
said No. In spite of feeling fearful of
men, going out after 9pm and feeling
unsafe visiting new places the BSW
group did not feel the need to carry
sharp objects. Majority 96.8% from
the BSW and 85.1% from MSW
group said yes to having thought of
ways of self-defense. The authors
think that since both the groups have
thought of ways of self defense they
may not have felt the need to carry
sharp objects. Also 93.7% from BSW
group and 96.2% from the MSW said
that they have knowledge of
emergency numbers. Also did not feel
the need to carry sharp objects as 78.1
% from the BSW group while 70.3
said yes to be able to perceive threat
from the MSW group.
71.8 % from BSW group said yes to
awareness of legal provisions while
62.9 % said no about having
knowledge of legal provisions from
the MSW group.
71.8 % from the BSW group and 88.8
% from the MSW group said that they
felt comfortable interacting with male
colleagues.
53.1 % from BSW group and 59.2 %
from MSW group said No to any
recent experience of harassment. 43.7
% from BSW group and 37% from
MSW group said yes to recent
experience of harassment.
Both the groups agreed that whatever
246 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah
one wears they do not feel safe.
Traditional clothes no longer give
them a sense of security. For the BSW
group family pressure was one of the
factors determining the choice of
clothes they wear which was not so
for the MSW group.
Friendships with male members the
BSW group felt that they needed to
maintain distance with them and they
were not comfortable discussing
private topics with them. On the other
hand the MSW group was more open
to have healthy friendships and did
not feel the need to maintain distance.
Helping a male stranger the BSW
group was found to be open to offer
help while the majority of the MSW
group members were reluctant to offer
help to male strangers. The authors
found willingness to help a male
stranger seemed contradicting with
the BSW students responses of fear
of men harassment on streets and they
feeling comfortable with maintaining
distance with male friendships.
The BSW group responded negatively
to feeling psychologically equipped to
deal with untoward situations while
the MSW group felt more confident
to face situations. This supports the
BSW students answer to feeling fear
in travelling by public transport, going
out after 9.00pm and visiting new
places. The BSW group did not feel
psychologically equipped to deal with
untoward situations and thus
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
experienced high amount of fear of
men harassment. The authors found
it difficult to understand the aspect
that the MSW felt psychologically
equipped to deal with untoward
situations, felt comfortable sharing
friendships with males but still not
open to helping a male stranger.
An interesting finding in response to
the question of whether the crime
against women made them feel
inferior was that both of the groups
strongly said no. The BSW group
expressed that they felt stronger and
shared that it was important to work
with men to change their attitudes.
The MSW group shared that the
socialization process tended to
weaken the women. They shared that
though women were physically weak
but were mentally on par with men.
Both groups said no to the question
of marriage providing security to
women. They had strong opinion
stating that even within marriage
violence takes place and that women
are equally vulnerable within
marriage. The authors feel that the
negative view about the institution of
marriage held by both the group of
social work students could be due to
the exposure to gender related crime
and womens rights issues as part of
their academic social work
curriculum. This could be
corroborated with other non-social
work college students.
 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai
Recommendations- Interventions
Womens safety means a safer,
healthier community for everyone. This is a
participatory process focused on changing
community norms, patterns of social
interaction, values, customs and institutions
in ways that will significantly improve the
quality of life in a community for all of its
members. Building a healthy, safe
community is everyones job. Solutions to
the problems of womens safety and violence
must be multidimensional in nature as the
challenges facing women are interwoven
economic, political, family and financial
issues, education and emotional concerns are
all interrelated and must be treated as a
composite.
Certain strategies and interventions
that could be helpful are:-
At the Individual Level
Teaching women and girls to be aware
and alert to surroundings. Constantly
maintain situational awareness.
Developing situational awareness by
examining surroundings and potential
threats is the first step in reducing the
likelihood of a safety or security
incident. Because each region poses
its own unique threats, it is important
to look at each region and culture with
openness and discernment. Situational
awareness in its simplest form means
paying attention to your surroundings
and being sensitive to changes in
them. It begins with an understanding
of the culture and history of the area
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
247
and is reinforced by frequent
interaction with the local people.
Avoid being drawn into relationships
that might carry personal obligations
or expectations. Paying heed to any
danger signals in relationships.
Sharing and confiding in trusted
members to build a support system to
seek guidance and being able to reach
out to them for emotional support.
Being careful to what is being
disclosed and to whom especially in
new friendships. Friendships formed
through internet social networking
sites to be considered with caution.
Being Inaccessible where women
rarely travel alone especially at late
nights and assets are out of sight,
secure, or well-protected. Dont flash
money or other tempting targets like
jewelry or clothing. If required to
travel to a new place at late night then
getting details of the place to assess
the safety factor, seeking details of
proper directions and being
accompanied with someone is helpful.
Being unpredictable where members
vary their routine, using different
routes and times for daily activities
without any apparent pattern. Vary
your routines-predictability makes
you a more likely target.
Networking- Building positive
rapport and good relations with the
local population. Such positive
acceptance can help reduce
vulnerability, creating a buffer of
248 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah
neighbors committed to the safety of
women in the event of a crisis.
Understand local religious and
cultural beliefs and practices and the
various issues that may arise from
them. Be Informed-Learn the crime
trends in your area and work to protect
yourself against them.
Able to spot threat perception in
situations and act. If you are being
followed, head for a crowded place.
Remember there is no right or wrong
approach to dangerous situations. If
there are other people around, yell
loudly enough to get their attention
to what the assailant is doing. Never
admit on the telephone or at the door
that you are alone. Having important
telephone numbers handy or
memorized.
It is risky to accept a ride home from
someone you have just met. They
could be a sexual offender. Carry a
self defense product such as pepper
sprays, personal alarms etc.
At the Local level
Raising awareness and ensuring
womens rights, sharing
educational information.
Advertisement of helpline numbers:
Clear, written and audio
announcement of helpline numbers.
Improving access to information by
distributing a directory of NGOs
working to support women who are
victims of sexual harassment can be
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
compiled and disseminated. A single,
central helpline number for women
such as the 103 helpline in Mumbai
would go a long way. The 103 helpline
was launched by Deputy Chief
Minister of Maharashtra and the
Police Commissioner of Mumbai
along with womens organizations in
February 2008. Akshara, a Mumbai-
based NGO that works extensively on
womens issues, was a driving force
behind this initiative. Akshara took
responsibility for training the 103
control room on gender issues, as well
as on managing a helpline. The NGO
was also responsible for the publicity
campaign, which it implemented in
partnership with an advertising
agency. Communication material was
developed and publicized through
posters, leaflets, advertisements on
public buses and trains, electronic
traffic hoardings and slides in cinema
theatres. Celebrity endorsement
videos as well as 103 impact stories
were also developed by Aksharas
Community Video Unit. Many such
efforts by organizations could be
taken to spread awareness about
womens safety.
Advocacy efforts: Public awareness
campaigns in the print and electronic
media to raise awareness on womens
safety, promote changes in attitude,
 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai
encourage witnesses and citizens to
intervene, and deter perpetrators.
Improvement on infrastructure at bus
stops, railway stations and subways:
Enhanced lighting, electronic signage,
directions displayed on main roads,
and streets name boards displayed.
Convex mirrors can be installed in
stations and subways to remove any
blind corners. The women point out
that transport, lighting, toilets and
other public facilities are designed
with an invariably male user in
mind. As a result, womens toilets are
dark and unfriendly and often close
at 9pm, sending the clear message
that women are not expected to and
not supposed to be out in public at
night.
Visible police presence: Increased
visible presence of marshals or police
personnel at busy bus stops and
railway stations, supplemented by
plainclothes policemen and women.
PCR vans to be parked near busy
public transit points, especially during
rush hours, and at night. Employing
women police officials at every local
police station and in buses and trains
at nights. All police personnel being
trained in dealing with womens
related crimes in a sensitive manner
with an attitude of gender equality,
respect and dignity.
Involvement of men in the community
and neighborhood.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
249
At the School/College Level
Brainstorming session with school
teachers, principals, parents on how
to make the environment within and
around the schools /colleges safer for
girls and women (e.g. through better
infrastructure such toilets, well-lit
corridors, improved lighting around
the institution and on connecting
streets, appointment and accessibility
of counsellors, laying down strict
guidelines relating to treatment of girl
students, etc.)
Preparation and circulation of simple
guidelines to all educational
institutions to improve their physical
environment and amenities, in order
to make the space within and around
the institution safe for girls and
women.
Sensitization workshop for all
principals and teachers, both male and
female, on issues of womens safety
and sexual harassment. Effective
punitive measures which excludes
suspension or transfer of the staff
being adopted on the perpetrators of
crimes.
Review of school and college
curriculum to see where gender
equality/ violence against women/
womens safety issues can be
incorporated. Training of teachers to
reinterpret existing texts and
encourage dialogue and discussion on
sensitive issues.
250 Neeloferr Lokhandwalla, Renu Sharma Shah
Building of self-esteem in girls and
sessions on safety awareness among
students
Imparting education based on gender
equality and gender sensitivity.
Gender sensitivity is the act of being
aware of the ways people think about
gender, Gender sensitivity is not about
pitting women against men. On the
contrary, education that is gender
sensitive benefits members of both
sexes. It helps them determine which
assumptions in matters of gender are
valid and which are stereotyped
generalizations. Gender equality is
one of the core aspect of Gender
Sensitivity helps to generate respect
for the individual.Gender awareness
requires not only intellectual
understanding and effort but also
sensitivity and open-mindedness to
change ones views and limited
perspectives and values. It opens up
the widest possible range of life
options for both women and men and
builds their capacities to be more
wholesome and humane. Education
for sustainable development (ESD) is
the educational process of achieving
human and humane development in
an inclusive, equitable and secure
manner. It therefore includes
education for gender awareness,
gender equality, poverty alleviation,
human rights, cultural diversity,
intercultural and international
understanding, peace and much else.
The vision for ESD is a world where
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
everyone has the opportunity to
benefit from quality education and
learn the values, behaviour and
lifestyles required for a sustainable
future and for positive societal
transformation. The critical role of
education, particularly formal
education, in attaining sustainable
development cannot be
underestimated.
At The Policy and Legal Level
Interventions
Amendment of the IPC, CrPC and the
Evidence Act to make sexual
harassment a non-bailable offence:
Making sexual harassment of women
in public spaces a non-bailable
offence, with a heavy fine and jail
sentence if convicted, will go a long
way in deterring potential
perpetrators. States such as Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa have
shown the way in this regard - sexual
harassment is a non-bailable offence
in these states, with a minimum fine
of Rs. 5000, and jail sentence of
minimum five years, up to seven
years, if convicted.
Speedy justice: Fast track courts have
been created in the past by High
Courts to deal with a variety of cases.
The same could also be established
by the Delhi High Court to address
sexual harassment cases. Examples
need to be made to send a strong
deterrent message.
 Perception of Personal Safety and Security ... Girl Students in Mumbai 251

Conclusion womens safety and to build safer

To create inclusive cities that respect
the rights of everyone, we need to create
conditions and physical environments where
women, men, girls and boys can live, work,
go to school, move around, and socialize
without fear of harm. We also need to change
attitudes and policies that perpetuate
violence against women. This is essential for
economic and social development and for
meeting the Millennium Development Goal
commitments entered into by the
international community in 2000.
We need full and meaningful
participation of women and girls to make
cities safer for them. Governments at all
levels have a vital role and responsibility in
engaging women and girls and men and boys
as equals in decision-making, policy and
strategy development addressing violence
against women and girls. Ending violence
against women requires collective action and
we need to recognise that safer cities for
women and girls are better cities for
everyone. A significant number of womens
groups, NGOs, institutions and governments
from around the world are working to ensure
communities and cities for all.
As long as the mindset of the society
will not change, women can never be safe
out on the roads. Every other day cases of
rape and sexual harassment are getting
reported, where is the change? I dont see
any change, said Badrinath Singh, the father
of Nirbhaya. Changes do not take place soon
or easily, but if each one of us join hands in
every possible way that we can and start to
make little changes within the family from
today, it would gradually get implemented
and there would be a better society that
respects and understands women, at least for
our next generation and generations to come.
Women could walk around freely, without
the fear of being attacked at anytime,
anywhere.
A nations progress and prosperity can
be judged by the way it treats its women folk.
Men must recognize and accept the fact that
women are equal partners in life. This
understanding and adoption of strategies that
enhance womens empowerment would go
a long way in enhancing the welfare of the
world as said by Swami Vivekananda

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www.coe-dmha.org/care/pdf/EntireBook CARE International Security and Safety manual
www.haurraldederechos.org/.../Sonaimuthu%20SAADOW%20INDIA
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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

CHANGING FOOD
Changing FoodHABITS
Habits of theOF THE ADOLESCENCE
Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City
GIRLS IN URBAN AREAS: A SOCIOLOGICAL
EVALUATION IN TIRUPATI CITY
Introduction
Dont dig your grave with your own
knife and fork. - English Proverb Next to
air we breathe and water we drink, food has
been basic to our existence. Food is
necessary for energy, for growth, repair, and
for health. Our health depends on what we
eat daily. Now in these days most people like
Junk food and it is very popular among
adults as well as in children. Socio-
economic trends, such as longer work hours,
more women employed outside the home
and a high number of single-parent
households have changed the way families
obtain their meals.
During the last two decades there has
been a major alternation in life style and
activity pattern among all segments of
population, with the ready availability of
cooking gas, piped water supply and labour
saving gadgets and ready transport which led
to a substantial reduction in the physical
activity pattern and energy expenditure
especially in middle and upper income
group. However, the dietary intake has not
undergone any reduction; in fact ready
availability of fast foods and junk foods, ice
creams and other energy rich food items at
affordable costs have resulted in increased
* Research Associate Dept of Sociology, S.V. University, Tirupati, India.
** Professor, DDE, S.V. University, Tirupati, India.
*** Professor, Dept of Sociology, S.V.Work
Social University,
Review,Tirupati, India.
Vol. 51 No.
253
T.Mallikarjuna*
G. Janakiramaiah**
V. Reddeppa Naidu***
energy consumption of these by all members
of the family. All these have led to increasing
energy intake over and above the
requirement especially among urban and
rural affluent population and consequent
obesity in these segments of population.
Nutrition and health education to convince
the population about the need for restricting
energy dense food intake and increasing
exercise so that energy balance is maintained
are being taken up.
Adolescence a period of transition
between childhood and adulthood, occupies
a crucial position in the life of human beings.
This period is an important physiological
phase of life characterized by an
exceptionally rapid rate of growth and
development both physical and
psychological (Tanner 1955, Healed 1969
and Myron 1980).
Adolescents growth and
development is closely linked to the diet they
receive during childhood and adolescence.
Adequate nutrition of any individual is
determined by two factors. The first is the
adequate availability of food in terms of
quantity as well as quality which depends
on socio-economic status, food practices,
cultural traditions and allocation of the food.
Email:
1, Jan. tmallikarjuna.malli1@gmail.com
- Dec. 2015
254 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu
The second factor is the ability to digest,
absorb and utilize the food in the body.
According to some researcher cultural factor
play a stronger role than socio-economic
conditions in determining allocations of food
and nutritional adequacy. Even where food
resources are adequate, the mean caloric
intake of individual family members can fall
bellow requirements.
The proportion of adolescents who are
overweight or obese is high and rapidly
increasing. Being overweight as an
adolescent is associated with being
overweight as an adult. Numerous health
risks have been associated with adolescent
overweight, including hypertension,
respiratory disease, several orthopedic
disorders, diabetes mellitus and elevated
serum lipid concentrations. Diet is likely to
be one of the important precursors of
overweight and obesity. Metamorphosis of
food habits has led to the replacement of
nutritious food by things that are tasty,
convenient, in vogue-junk food. Food high
in salt, sugar, fat or calories and low nutrient
content is called junk food. Junk foods
provide suboptimal nutrition with excessive
fat, sugar, or sodium per kcal.
Nutritional needs during this period
are increased because of the increased
growth rate and changes in body
composition associated with puberty. The
dramatic increase in energy and nutrient
requirements coincides with other factors
that may affect adolescents food choices and
nutrient intake and thus nutrition status.
There are many body changes which results
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
due to the influence of hormones. Greatest
nutrients need for boys is between 12-15
years and for girls is 10-13 years. They attain
their adult stature between 18-20 years but
bone mass continues to increase up to age
of 25 years. With profound growth of
adolescence there are increased demands for
energy, protein, mineral and vitamins.
Adolescents tend to eat differently
than they did as children. Factors like the
quest for independence and acceptance by
peers, increased mobility, greater time spent
at school/college and/or work activities and
preoccupation with self-image that may
affect adolescents food choices. All these
factors contribute to the erratic and
unhealthy eating behaviours that are
common among adolescents. Busy schedules
may lead to meal skipping, snacking
throughout the day and more eating away
from home. Peer pressure is very high during
adolescence. The need to be in the step with
trends and belong to the peer group leads to
adolescent eating non-nutritious foods like
pizzas, burgers coffees, soft drinks,
chocolates and also other roadside junk
foods. Awareness about ones body and its
appearance becomes the top priority.
The practice of high consumption of
junk foods like magi noodles, burgers, pao-
bhaji, sandwiches, hot dogs, patties, pastries,
popcorn, potato chips, carbonated drinks,
biscuits, muffins, toast, kulcha- channa,
samosa, chocolates etc. have become
common feature of adolescents die.
Adolescents eating behaviors are strongly
influenced by their social environments,
 Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City
which include family, peer networks,
schools, advertising, religion and
knowledge. Ill effects of regular intake of
junk foods are mainly lack of energy, poor
concentration and obesity leading to
inferiority complex, depression, heart
diseases, high cholesterol, stunted growth,
premature ageing, and tooth decay.
According to a study on adolescents, with
excessive consumption of processed foods
and high fat diets obesity is on the rise.
High incidence of nutritional
deficiencies and poor eating habits, among
adolescents may lead to consequences in
later years including osteoporosis, obesity,
hyperlipidemia, sexual malnutrition delays
and final adult height. In addition the
development of eating disorders is very
prominent during this period. Nutritional
surveys have indicated that the highest
prevalence of nutritional deficiencies occur
during adolescence.
Sound nutrition can play a role in the
prevention of several chronic diseases
certain types of cancer, stroke and type 2
diabetes. For this reason, nutrition was a
priority area for the Healthy People 2010
and remains an important objective for
Healthy People 2020 (13). To help prevent
diet related chronic diseases, researchers
have proposed that healthy eating behaviour
should be established in childhood and
maintained during adolescence (14-17).
Health as a personal quality has been
highly valued and preserved throughout the
mankind solely depends on the consumption
of quality food. Adolescents as group are at
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
255
risk of nutritional problems both from
physiological and a psychological
standpoint. As dramatic increase in physical
growth the development creates a high
demand for nutrients and energy,
psychological changes such as adolescents
search for independence and identity,
concern for appearance and actives life style
can have a strong impact on nutrient intake
and food choices. Studies have frequently
found adolescents to have poor dietary habits
and health educators find that developing
education programme to promote healthy
eating patterns and to change dietary
behaviour among this age group is
challenging but frustrating.
Dietary Intake: Dietary intake of the
overweight adolescent subjects was
adjudged by 24-hour recall method for three
consecutive days using standardized
containers. Those days were avoided which
include fasting, festivals or wedding or any
other occasion. The different food items
consumed were converted into their raw
equivalents; categorized into their respective
food groups and average daily intake of
energy, protein, fat, calcium, iron, beta-
carotene and vitamin C were calculated from
the values per 100 g of edible portion using
MSU nutriguide12. The nutritive value of
some of the foods like maggi noodles, potato
chips, biscuits etc. were taken from the
Information provided on the
packaging of product. The calculated
nutrient intake was compared with the
recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for
the respective age group (16-18 years).
256 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu
Anthropometric measurements:
Height and weight were measured by using
the methods of ICMR14. Weight was
measured using an electronic balance
(ATCO) with 100g of accuracy. The weight
was recorded in kilograms, to the nearest 100
grams. The body mass index (BMI) was
calculated as the weight in kilogram/height
in meter and it was classified according to
the classification given by American
National Institutes of Health and National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Adolescent
girls having body mass index (BMI) below
18.5 kg/m2 were labeled underweight and
between 18.50- 24.99 kg/m2 were
considered normal. Whereas, study subjects
having BMI between 25-29.99 kg / m2 were
classified as overweight.
Dietary quality declines from
childhood to adolescence, with dietary habits
likely to promote fatness being actively
adopted. For example, the consumption of
fruit, vegetables, and milk decreases from
childhood to adolescence, while soft-drink
consumption increases. Due to increasing
allurement of adolescents towards junk food
and increasing prevalence of overweight /
obesity among adolescents, the present study
was conducted to examine and understand
the Changing food choices of the
adolescence in urban areas: A sociological
assessment in Tirupati, Chittoor district of
Andhra Pradesh.
Conceptualization of Obese,
Underweight, and Stunted and Wasted
Obesity
Obesity is defined as a generalized
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
accumulation of excess adipose tissue in the
body leading to more than 20 percentage of
the desirable weight. Obesity is determined
by measuring both the height and weight of
the child. A child or adolescent person is
considered obese if he/she is significantly
over the ideal weight for his/her height.
Usually obesity is due to positive energy
balance. The intake calories are more than
the expenditure of calories.
Underweight
Underweight is defined as any weight
in less of the ideal range. It is a very common
nutritional disordering which there is less
accumulation of body fat, which results
individual having less than the 20 percent
of their ideal body weight. Underweight also
occurs due to inadequate diet in proteins and
the person who never take rest.
Stunted and Wasted
Stunting growth is a reduced growth
rate in human development. It is a primary
Manifestation of malnutrition in early
childhood, including malnutrition during
fetal development brought on by the
malnourished mother. The wasted children
are too thin for their height, which may result
from inadequate recent food intake or a
recent illness.
TIRUPATI CITY OVERVIEW
Tirupati is a major pilgrimage city
located in the Chittoor district of Andhra
Pradesh, India. Tirupati is famous for the
Venkateswara Swamy temple dedicated to
Lord Venkateswara, located about 10
 Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City
kilometres (6.2 mi) north west of Tirupati in
the Tirumala hills at an elevation of 853
metres (2,799 ft). One of the most important
pilgrimage centers in India, the temple draws
millions of pilgrims and is one of the busiest
pilgrimage centres in the world. Tirupati
town itself has several temples and is famous
for its red wooden toys, copper and brass
idols. Also, the town is a major economical
and educational hub in the southern region
of the state.
Tirupati city is governed by Municipal
Corporation which comes under Tirupati
Metropolitan Region. The Tirupati city is
located in Andhra Pradesh state of India. As
per provisional reports of Census India,
population of Tirupati in 2011 is 287,035;
of which male and female are 145,977 and
141,058 respectively. Although Tirupati city
has population of 287,035; its urban /
metropolitan population is 459,985 of which
231,456 are males and 228,529 are females.
In education section, total literates in
Tirupati city are 229,730 of which 123,449
are males while 106,281 are females.
Average literacy rate of Tirupati city is 87.55
percent of which male and female literacy
was 92.74 and 82.21 percent. The sex ratio
of Tirupati city is 966 per 1000 males. Child
sex ratio of girls is 915 per 1000 boys.
REVIEW OF RELEVANT
LITERATURE
Balasubramaniyan & gradually becoming a major public health
Bhuvaneswari (2013) in their study on the
Challenges of Food Habits of Adolescent
Children in Chennai City. Adolescence is the
period of human life which occurs between
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
257
13-20 years of age. It is the period of
psychological and emotional transition
between childhood and adulthood. At a
transitional stage of human development it
represents the person of adolescence.
Healthy eating during adolescent period is
important because body changes require
nutritional and dietary needs. Adolescent
children tend to eat more meals away from
home because of increase in appetite and
desire to have junk foods. Sometimes they
eat wrong kind of foods and also at their
wrong time.
Clifford Stevenson et al (2007) in
their book on Adolescents views of food and
eating: Identifying barriers to healthy eating.
Contemporary Western society has
encouraged an obesogenic culture of eating
amongst youth. Multiple factors may
influence an adolescents susceptibility to
this eating culture, and thus act as a barrier
to healthy eating. Given the increasing
prevalence of obesity amongst adolescents,
the need to reduce these barriers has become
a necessity. Twelve focus group discussions
of single-sex groups of boys or girls ranging
from early to-mid adolescence were
employed to identify key perceptions of, and
influences upon, healthy eating behaviour.
Goel et al (2013) in their work on
Increasing Proclivity for Junk Food among
Overweight Adolescent Girls in District
Kurukshetra, India. An adolescent is
problem in many developing countries,
including India. Being overweight as an
adolescent is associated with being
overweight as an adult. Change in dietary
258 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu
habit of consuming more high energy junk
food and shifting to sedentary lifestyle is
likely to be one of the important precursors
of overweight and obesity among
adolescents. Keeping this in view, the
present study was conducted on overweight
adolescent girls aged 16-18 years selected
purposively from two different schools in
district Kurukshetra of Haryana.
Vandana Sharma (2013) in his study
Adolescents Knowledge Regarding Harmful
Effects of Junk food. Like very rose has a
thorn, the fast food also called Junk food;
on one side they are easy to prepare and
cheap and on other side these foods have
many harmful effects on health. Improving
nutrition knowledge among children may
help them to make healthier food choices. A
Pre-experimental study was conducted to
assess the effectiveness of structured
teaching program on knowledge regarding
harmful effects of Junk food among
adolescents.
Importance of the Study
Adolescence is the only time
following infancy when the rate of growth
actually increases. This sudden growth spurt
is associated with hormonal, cognitive, and
emotional changes that make adolescence an
especially vulnerable period of life
nutritionally. The discuss about eating
pattern of adolescents or teenagers than it is
concluded that after-school activities and
active social lives, busy schedules may lead
to meal skipping or eating away from home.
Their diet includes burgers, pizza, hotdogs,
and cold - drinks. However by eating Junk
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
food, a teenager will not get any nutrients
required for proper functioning of the body.
Junk food is full of fat and calories; a lot
more than what is required for the body on a
daily basis. This makes the teenager more
prone to heart disease.
According to NSS (National Sample
Survey) data for the category beverages,
refreshments and processed foods, the
money spent on Junk food in India was
almost 25 per cent higher than the Rs 33,000-
crore spent on edible oils.
According to NFHS (National
Federation of State High School
Associations) there is a list India ranked in
order of percentage of people who are
overweight or obese in which Punjab is in
first position. Government surveys have
shown that at least 16% of children and
adolescents age 6 to 19 years old are
considered overweight and at least 11%
adolescents now are classified as obese.
The above reports it is necessary for
adolescents to know about the harmful
effects of Junk food so that they can control
the disease conditions and improve their
health status. Therefore this study is planned
to design structured teaching program to
educate the adolescents regarding harmful
effects of Junk food which in turn is expected
to increase the awareness about harmful
effects of Junk food in adolescents and
prevent a lot of dangerous disease
conditions.
Objectives of the study
1) To assess the knowledge regarding
 Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City
nutrition and nutritional needs in
maintaining good health.
2) To develop and evaluate a structural
model of adolescent food choice. And
parental Socialization $tyles.
3) To gain an insight into adolescents
eating behaviour and practices.
4) To determine the association between
knowledge regarding harmful effects
of Junk food with selected socio-
demographic variables
Research Methods and Tools
A) Locations of study- Tirupati Town
was selected for this study.
B) Sample size of the study-A total
number of 80 samples was taken.
C) Selection of samples-Both boys and
girls aged between 14-18 years old
were Selected through random
sampling method.
D) Time of the study-The study was
carried out in 2013.
Table 1: Age structure of the respondents
S.No Age structure
1 14 Years
2 16 Years
3 18 Years
Total
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
259
E) Collection of data: Both primary and
secondary data had been collected.
Primary data was collected by survey
method. Secondary data was collected
from cited literature and the net.
F) A formulated written questionnaire
consisted of 12 close-ended question
was used to assess the level of
knowledge on nutrition and
nutritional needs for maintaining
good health.
G) An interview schedule dealt with
adolescents perceptions of teenagers
diet, attitudes towards food and
eating, family meals and food
preferences to gain an insight into
adolescents eating behavior and
practices.
Result and Discussion
General profile of the adolescent in
Tirupati
Table 1 reviles the age structure of the
respondents. Out of 80 adolescent, majority
No of Respondents Percentage
12 15.00%
38 47.50%
30 37.50%
80 100.00
260 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu

47.50 percent of the respondents were 16 respondents are 14 years old.

years old, followed by 37.50 percent of the
girls are aged 18 years and 15 percent of the Table 2 shows the predominantly
religious compositions of the respondents.

Table 2: Religious composition of the respondents

Religion
S.No No of Respondents Percentage
composition

1 Hindu 49 61.25%

2 Muslim 19 23.75%

3 Christian 12 15.00%

Total 80 100.00

High proportion 61.25 percent of the
respondents belongs to Hindus and Second
stage of respondents 23.75 percent were
Muslims and finally 15 percent were belongs
Table 3: Caste composition of the respondents
to Christians, the table reference to Tirupati
is the Hindu temple city in Andhra Pradesh.
Table 3 explains the caste composition
of the respondents. The high preponderance

S.No Caste composition No of Respondents Percentage

1 OC 34 42.50%

2 BC 27 33.75%

3 SC 11 13.75%

4 ST 08 10.00%

Total 80 100.00

of respondents 42.50 percents were belongs the respondents were scheduled caste and
to forward caste followed by 33.75 percent small proportion i.e.10 percent were
were backward caste and 13.75 percent of scheduled caste. The caste is one of the

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City 261

causes for food choice in chittoor District, Table 4 explains educational positions
the status symbol of outside home dinners, of the respondents. The majority 41.25
especially forward caste peoples in Tirupati percent of the respondents are studying
city. Intermediate first year (10+1) followed by

Table 4: Educational positions of the respondents

S.No Educational positions No of Respondents Percentage

1 < 10 07 8.75 %

2 10 16 20.00 %

3 10 +1 33 41.25 %

4 10+2 24 30.00 %

Total 80 100.00

30 percent are studying intermediate second Table 5 observed parents occupation

year (10+2) and 20 percent respondents of the respondents. Majority 51.25% percent
studying 10 th class (SSC), the small respondents parents engaged business
proportion of 8.75 percent are studying followed by 28.75% are engaged service
below SSC. sector and 20 percent are occupied by daily

Table 5: Parents occupational status of the respondents

Parents
S.No No of Respondents Percentage
occupation

1 Service 23 28.75%

2 Business 41 51.25%

3 Daily Wage 16 20.00%

Total 80 100.00

wage labours. the respondents. The high proportion i.e. 75

percents of the respondents are nuclear
Table 6 reviles type of the family of family, due to liberalization, privatization,

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

262 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu

Table 6: Type of the family of the respondents

S.No Type of the family No of Respondents Percentage

1 Nuclear 60 75.00%

2 Joint 12 15.00%

3 Broken 08 10.00%

Total 80 100.00

liberalization, education and urbanization
declining the joint family system and the
same time nuclear families occupied the
place of joint family. And followed by 15
percent is still living with the joint family.
The joint family system is the symbol of
Indian culture and heritage and 10 percent
are living in the broken family.
Table 7 shows the monthly income of
the of the respondents parents. Maximum
53.75% of the respondents monthly family

Table 7: Monthly income of the respondents parents

S.No Monthly income No of Respondents Percentage

1 < 25,000 43 53.75%

2 25,000-50,000 20 25.00%

3 50,001-75,000 10 12.50%

4 >75000 07 8.75%

Total 80 100.00

income below Rs. 25,000 and followed by 75,000and small proportion i.e. 8.75% have
25 percent in the range of Rs. 25,000-50,000 monthly family income above Rs. 75,000.
and 12.50 percent in the range of Rs. 50,000-

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City 263

The table 8: Pocket money of the respondents

Monthly pocket
S.No No of Respondents Percentage
money

1 300 - 600 35 43.75%

2 601- 900 29 36.25%

3 901-1200 11 13.75%

4 >1200 05 6.25%

Total 80 100.00

Table 8 expresses the monthly pocket of Rs. 100-900 and followed by 13.75
money of the respondents. The majority i.e. percent of the respondents received range
43.75 and 36.25 percent of the respondents of Rs. 901-1200 and 6.25 percents were
received monthly pocket money in the range received more than Rs.1200, respectively.

The table 9: Percentage of pocket money spent on junk food

Money spent on No of
S.No Percentage
junk food Respondents

1 0 - 20% 45 56.25%

2 21 - 40% 25 31.25%

3 > 40% 10 12.50%

Total 80 100.00

Table 9 shows that Percentage of 31.25 percent of the respondents spent 21 to

pocket money spent on junk food. It was seen 40 percent of their pocket money on junk
that majority 56.25 percent of the food and finally 12.50 percent of the
respondents spent up to 20 percent of their respondents spent more than 40 of their
pocket money on junk food. Followed by pocket money on junk food.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

264 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu

DIETARY HABITS OF THE ADOLESCENT GIRLS

The table 10: Food habits of the respondents
S.No Food Habits No of Respondents Percentage

1 Vegetarian 29 36.25%

2 Non-vegetarian 34 42.50%

3 Ovatarian 17 21.25%

Total 80 100.00

Table 10 expresses food habits of the
respondents. Majority (42.50%) of the
respondents are Non-vegetarians followed
by 36.25 percent are vegetarians and finally
The table 11: Skipped Meals of the respondents
21.25 percents are both vegetarian and Non-
vegetarians its called ovatarian. Most of the
adolescent girls were Non-vegetarian; the
food pattern has been change, due to western
culture and Modernization.

S.No Skipped Meals No of Respondents Percentage

1 Breakfast 33 41.25%

2 Lunch 14 17.50%

3 Dinner 6 7.50%

Nil 27 33.75%

Total 80 100.00

Table 11: Skipped Meals of the
respondents. Skipping of meals was
common in more than half of the
respondents (66.25%). Commonly the
skipped meal was breakfast, lunch and
dinner in 41.25, 17.50 and 7.50 percent of
the respondents, respectively. High rates of
meal skipping behaviour among adolescents
girls, particularly breakfast skipping
(41.25%), followed by lunch (17%) and
dinner (7.5%) have been indicated the study.
If the increased fast food consumption and
skipped breakfasts is leading to increased
body mass index

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City 265

The table 12: Frequency of Skipping meals among the respondents

Frequency of skipping meal No of

S.No Percentage
Respondents

1 Once a day 3 5.66%

2 Once a week 25 47.16%

3 Twice a week 18 33.96%

> Twice a week 7 13.20%

Total 53 100.00

Table 12 shows the Frequency of proportion i.e. 5.66 percent of the

skipping meals among the respondents. The respondents who were daily skipping the
study analyzed the data indicated that 52.82 meal and 33.96 percent were skipped meals
percent of the respondents were skipping twice a week and 13.20 percent were skipped
meals in once a week. There is a small meals more than twice a week.

The table 13 Purpose of skipping meals

Purpose of skipping meals No of

S.No Percentage
Respondents

1 Companionship 17 32.07%

2 Not tasty 7 13.20%

3 To save time 29 54.71%

Total 53 100.00

Table 13 point out the Purpose of the meals were lack of time followed by
skipping meals of the respondents. Majority 32.07% percent companionship and to small
54.71 percent of the respondents skipping extent meal not tasty 13.20%.

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

266 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu

The tables 14 Effect of skipping meals among the respondents

Effect of skipping No of
S.No Percentage
meals Respondents

1 Consume more food 10 18.86%

2 Consume junk food 32 60.37%

3 Any other food 11 20.75%

Total 53 100.00

Table 14 The Effect of skipping meals.
The Consumption of junk foods was
observed among respondents. Majority
(60.37%) of the girls as a replacement for
meal skipping and 18.86 percent of
respondents opinion that consumed more
junk food when there is skipped meal and
20.75 percent of the respondents were
replaced any other food like Bonda, bajji and
vada etc.

Table 15 Frequency of consuming junk food

Frequency of consuming No of
S.No Percentage
junk food Respondents

1 Daily 2 2.50%

2 Weekly 17 21.25%

3 Twice a week 37 46.25%

4 Thrice a week 24 30.00%

Total 80 100.00

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 Changing Food Habits of the Adolescence Girls in ... Tirupati City
Table 15 the Frequency of consuming
junk food. Majority i.e. 46.25 percent of
adolescent girls consumed junk food twice
a week. Remaining, 30 and 21.25 percent
The table 16 express Sources of eating junk food
Sources of eating
S.No
junk food
1 Home prepared
2 Restaurant
Total
The table 16 expresses the Sources of
eating junk food. The high proportion i.e.60
percent of the adolescents girls were eating
junk food way from the home and remaining
the 40 percent girls eating junk food in the
home. This is indicating that most of the
families prepared junk food in the home; die
to their children on demand always prepared
the junk food.
Conclusion
The present study was conducted on
school going adolescent girls (14-18 years)
in Tirupati city of chittoor district Andhra
Pradesh. Many teens skip breakfast and it
may be lead to better academic performance.
When teens skip meals, they are more likely
to grab fast food from a restaurant, vending
machine, or convenience store. When the
past food culture came in to the global city
the teenagers and youth food habitats
gradually change and eating very spicy food
and another culture pizza culture is the major
cause for the changing food choice of the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
267
consumed junk foods thrice and once a week,
respectively and a small proportion i.e. 2.50
percent were consumed the junk food daily
from different sources
No of
Percentage
Respondents
32 40
48 60
53 100.00
adolescents in cities and semi city in India.
Girls are skip meals in their anxiety to be
thin. This leads to anemia or low bone
density in adulthood. Anorexia nervosa, an
eating disorder, is very common among
young children. Due to irregular college or
school schedules, intake of caffeinated
drinks increases and water intake reduces.
Poor nutrition can lead to reduced
concentration in studies, hair fall, low
stamina, depression or poor posture. Meal
skipping, more intake of junk foods,
carbonated drinks were some of the
unhealthy eating habits depicted among
adolescent girls. The data also revealed that
girls were consuming excess of energy,
protein and fat but inadequate micronutrients
like iron and beta carotene, which may be
one of the causes of girls being overweight.
Therefore, it is necessary to promote healthy
eating habits among adolescents and educate
them about ill effects of junk food so as to
prevent verweight/obesity and obesity
related complications.
268 T.Mallikarjuna, G. Janakiramaiah, V. Reddeppa Naidu

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Balasubramaniyan & Bhuvaneswari. (2013). The Challenges of Food Habits of Adolescent Children
in Chennai City. Health and Medical Care Services: Claims on National Resources. ISSN
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Clifford S., Glenda Do., Barnettb, J., Muldoona, O., Karen, T. (2007). Adolescents views of food
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Gomathy R. and John S., (2008). Measuring psychosocial, environmental and behavioural factors
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26-37
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food consumption and breakfast skipping: Predictors of weight gain from adolescence to
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Ravi U. and Truman P., (2002). Diet choice, BMI and physical activity of college girls in Chennai,
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Sharma V. (2013). Adolescents Knowledge Regarding Harmful Effects of Junk food. IOSR Journal
of Nursing and Health Science (IOSR-JNHS) E-Volume 1, Issue 6 (Jul-Aug 2013), PP 01-04.
Singh P. and Singh A., (2008). Increasing allurensent for fast food in adolescent girls of urban area
Varanasi, Ind. J. Prev. Soc. Med., 39 (1and 2), 24-27
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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

GENDERED APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING AND
RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON FOOD
AND LIVELIHOOD SECURITY: A VIEW FROM
UTTARAKHAND
Introduction
The impact of climate change, which
is considered by many in the international
arena as the most defining challenge of the
21st century, on the communities and how
these impacts are differently played out for
men and women are important for the social
work community in planning for
interventions that are well grounded in local
and global realities. There are enough
indications that women suffer
disproportionately from the impacts of
climate change because of their social and
economic vulnerability. The evidence of
increasing feminisation of mountain
agriculture, women are becoming the main
food producers. Hence there is a need to
focus attention on them. This paper is thus
an attempt to unravel the complexity of
gender issues in climate change with specific
reference to the recent disaster in
Uttarakhand.
Part- I Mountain Livelihoods and
Gendered Vulnerability in the Himalayas
Mountain livelihoods to a large extent
are dependent on the natural resources.
Mountain farming and livestock rearing are
inter-linked activities. Further forests
provide the essential natural resource to meet
the food and fodder requirements as also
ensure water retention and recharge the
* Assitant Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, India. Email : malaskk@rediffmail.com
A. Malathi*
springs. Thus farming is interlinked with
forest use and protection. Much of the farm
work is carried out by women. They also
bear the brunt of carrying fuel and fodder
for meeting the family and livestock needs.
Needless to say this subsistence agriculture
had both hands to work and mouths to feed.
However changing patterns of aspirations
and the dwindling farm yields have led
families to opt for outmigration as coping
strategy. As a consequence women-headed
households have become the norm, with
migration creating problems for land
management. Overburdened women and
children are left to manage the fields; they
are unable to maintain terrace structures
on distant fragile slopes and are forced to
cut fuel wood and graze cattle on already
degraded slopes nearby. With the yields
being meagre, there is increasing
dependence on remittances from the out-
migrants. These issues are further
compounded by fragmentation of land due
to inheritance.
Within the patriarchal society, women
are playing a major role in natural resource
based economic systems. Despite this
monumental role, they do not have rights
over natural resources/forest based resources
nor do they have control over production
processes. Women-headed households are
increasing because of the migration of men
270 A. Malathi
into cities for jobs. In suchfamilies there is
a drastic increase in womens
responsibilities. In addition to the burden of
her traditional role of being a caregiver, she
is also now burdened with being the sole
home-maker for most part of the year.
Further, there are instances of migration of
young in the family for education or
employment leaving the elderly behind to
look after farming and take care of
themselves. The burden on women off the
field and on the field has been talked about
Singh, (1988), Nautiyal, (undated) and many
others.
In the absence of remunerative
agriculture, there is a tendency to look for
off the farm employment ventures within the
region or outside. Many a family member is
looking outwards for work opportunities
including overseas. Tourism was one of
those opportunities that has given space to
the communities to get remunerative
employment albeit for a short span of time
especially during pilgrim tourism. These
have provided employmentopportunities for
the young in the state- helping them to
remain within the state and involve
themselves in hotel and tour industry as
cooks, cleaners, helpers, drivers and guides.
Such ventures also provided opportunities
for local farm produce to link with these as
ready and close markets for their goods
produced in limited scale. Thus milk and
milk products, local vegetables, coarse
grains all had found markets for themselves.
These had other effects as increase in milch
animals and changing the household level
consumption patterns etc.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Every family in the village was thus
somehow connected to the pilgrim tourism
directly or indirectly. Questions of large
scale tourist inflow and the sustainability of
tourism itself are being discussed. But the
fact of the matter is the close connections
established with tourist industry in the
background of dwindling farm based food
production and thus food security are thus a
kind of coping strategy that was followed
by the village communities. While earlier
migration is a major concern now there is
a reverse flow of migration in terms of many
finding opportunities for work and income
during the pilgrim season. Along the
Gangotri Route, many of the villagers had
established small hotels, repair shops,
restaurants that were able to provide the
major relief as part of food and livelihood
security. Even those who migrated out for
work or education, returned back to help run
their family business or take advantage of
the season to earn quick money. These facts
mean that the subsistence agriculture is now
being supplemented with tourism and in case
of some families it has entirely replaced it
as a major source of livelihood.
The GLOF in June 2013 in
Uttarakhand has devastated the life and
livelihood of the communities that are
particularly close to the river. Before we
discuss how food security been affected in
the light of the disaster one can consider
from international fora Food security is said
to exist when all people, at all times, have
physical and economic access to sufficient,
safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary
needs and food preferences for an active and
healthy life.
 Gendered approach to understanding and responding ... from Uttarakhand
The indicatorsfor sustainable food
security are considered below as falling into
three4 broad categories. These are:
I. Indicators of Sustainable Food
Availability- present production
security and production sustenance-
size of the resource base and level of
present production production
sustenance is related to un-utilized
resource base
II. Indicators of Sustainability of Food
Access- present livelihood security
indicators and future livelihood
sustenance indicators.
III. Indicators of Food Absorption-that
represent food absorption, health care
and basic amenities available at
present to the population.
Food security thus was ensured
through a change in the patterns of
livelihoods- where both the capabilities and
activities required for the new means of
participation in the tourism industry were
facilitated by the institutional processes of
loans (from Banks) for the creation of assets
such as hotels, vehicles for taxi service and
sometimes even adventure gear and shops.
Such institutional linkages also ensured that
apples from Harsil area a border village of
the state could access the markets and send
their goods to as far away as European
countries and to some extent to the markets
of Delhi(because of the entire produce being
organic). However if we see the livelihoods
that accrue to men and the share of their
income from such sources it is quite clear
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
271
that women have to play the supporting role
of looking after the home and homestead. In
all these processes it is difficult to find
women running the shops, restaurants and
acting as tour guides. However, these
vocations are confined to men largely
because women are confined to the home and
still they carry out home based labour
activities that largely go unpaid and
unrecognised, with no change in their
livelihood patterns. Household level Food
security thus is ensured through the incomes
that come from MSSRF (2008).
Regarding three components of food
security- availability, access and absorption
participating in the tourism industry- which
can mean buying food grains from the
market. Incomes from tourism thus have
found their way back to the market leaving
women untouched in carrying out their daily
chores of fuel, fodder collection as also the
farm work that they continue to undertake
in their fields. Further the household food
security doesnt translate into food security
for women as still the caring and nurturing
roles that they play make them remain the
last consumers of food within their
households.
When extreme climate events occur
the loss of food grains is more sharply felt
by those who are more dependent on
agriculture based livelihoods. Subsistence
agriculture has been the hall mark of the state
of Uttarakhand Dwindling food grain
produce has meant thatsignificant population
depends on the markets or the public
distribution systems to meet their food needs.
272
The component food availability is
dependent further on the normal weather
conditions with its associated agricultural
practices. However in extreme weather
events the subsistence farm yields are also
reduced or damaged or completely lost. The
loss of foodgrains or in the case of Bhatwari
area of Uttarkashi- the loss of yield to the
damaged Asadi Alooand the access to
markets blocked by disrupted road network,
mean more vulnerability and reduced food
security. Since the roads are disrupted the
supply of essential goods is also affected-
hence the functioning of Public Distribution
Systems are also stressed. All have an impact
on the increase in food insecurity of the
mountain communities. And in households
that are managed by women, all the more
so. Relief either by NGOs or corporatesor
by Government agencies also does not reach
often (see case illustrations). There were also
many instances of village communities
supplying relief to the stranded tourists and
helping them out with their own rations-
which meant that they themselves run short
of rations for their own families. There is
also a disaggregated impact of these
vulnerabilities or how vulnerability is
experienced by various social groups-
especially the marginalized social groups. In
the Bhatwari area, the other livelihoods that
the poor families depend upon is daily wage
labour work undertaken as part of public
works or private construction activities.
Though the contractors prefer to use Nepali
migrant labour, the villagers do get
opportunities for augmenting this income
through such works. Further if they have
mules these could be further used in ferrying
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
A. Malathi
the construction material up hill. These have
been impacted during the disaster severely.
In the event of extreme climate events there
are also less chances of public works being
undertaken within and nearby villages and
hence the daily wages that such social groups
could depend upon are actually not there.
Such issues compound the food insecurity
of the disaster affected. The impacts on small
holder agriculture are more significant and
can erode the asset base of the populace and
push them into more and more vulnerable
situations. Food availability is impacted
when extreme climate events disrupt food
production and hence lesser availability
which can result in increase in prices of food
commodities because of scarcity. Such
compounded effects can mean limited access
to food. Since the poor spend a major
percentage of their incomes on food and in
case of mountain communities there is a
huge dependence on agriculture to meet the
family food needs.
These considerations mean the
external dependence of the community and
family for meeting their food needs. Food
availability is further affected because of
disruption or roads resulting in higher prices
and inability to afford. Much of the burden
falls on women who traditionally have been
the performers of caregiver roles within the
family. During the disaster, large scale relief
operations had meant that women carry loads
to meet their family requirement from as far
as 10-12km in the Uttarkashi region in the
early months of July and August, 2013 (see
case illustration).The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines
 Gendered approach to understanding and responding ... from Uttarakhand
vulnerability as: The degree to which a
system is susceptible to, and unable to cope
with, adverse effects of climate change,
including climate vulnerability and
extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the
character, magnitude, and rate of climate
change and variation to which a system is
exposed, its sensitivity and its adaptive
capacity (IPCC quoted in UN, 2006:11).
The UN has also drawn on the ISDR
(International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction) to define vulnerability as: The
conditions determined by physical, social,
economic and environmental factors or
processes, which increase the susceptibility
of a community to the impact of hazards
(ISDR quoted in UN, 2006: 11).
Vulnerability is also different for different
social groups within a community with the
poor and marginalised communities suffer
the most.
From the above discussion it is quite
evident that the vulnerabilities play out
differently for different social groups and
these are gendered.While livelihoods are
defined as capabilities, assets and activities
required for a means of living it has been
suggested that they are mediated by
processes and institutions local and regional
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
273
and in the macrostructures of polity and
economy. The livelihood system of the
mountain communities is affected by
extreme climate events and these are
compounded by the institutions and
regulatory processes where agriculture has
not been supported regular neglect of
agriculture has meant that mountain
communities have to rely on others means
of livelihoods. Even with regard to the relief
provided homestead losses are not accounted
for which are quite significant for food
security. The compensation for loss of land
is not given and it is only compensation for
the loss of crops that is being given that
too in very smallterms. The need for public
investments in agriculture to increase and
commitment to see it as a future safeguard
against vulnerabilities as also adequate
measures in terms of cropping diversity and
changes in the patterns of sowing and
reaping are all important considerations in
increasing the security for farming
communities. Thus as shown in Fig 1., the
role of institutions becomes paramount in
adapting to climate change thereby ensuring
that natural resource based livelihoods are
protected and promoted. The major driver
for sustainable development has to be thus
institutions
274 A. Malathi

Fig. 1 Livelihood Framework

Source: SRTT Cash Flow Study

The livelihood framework suggested
in Fig 1. also needs to take into account the
rapid changes to the climatic conditions in
the contextual factors, the resources
(including knowledge and skill to combat
with climate change) and the institutional
responses. These also need to factor in the
gendered effects of the climate change, the
gendered nature of vulnerability nature of
asset base and capacities of the communities
affected by the disasters as also recognise
that such events can have devastating effect
on the various aspects of the livelihood
framework and consequently impact on the
food and livelihood security.Extreme climate
events essentially affect the various aspects
concerning the food security compact6with
a large role envisaged for State Governments
to formulate and introduce integrated
programmes of natural resources
conservation and enhancement; augmenta-
tion of food. Food Security Compact has
been proposed in the Atlas of Sustainability
of Food Security in India (2004). production;
generation of sustainable livelihood and
employment opportunities; and provision of
clean drinking water, environmental
hygiene, primary health care and primary
education. It is also a fact that poor are more
vulnerable to the effects of extreme climate

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Gendered approach to understanding and responding ... from Uttarakhand
events and in the light of increasing
feminisation of poverty, it becomes
imperative to specially focus on women as
they will be impacted upon more severely
(Nelson et al., 2002). Further household food
insecurity is experienced differently by men
and women. Women go hungry to feed their
children more in the household
(Buckingham-Hatfield, 2000).All these
imply a shared reflection and understanding
of the various issues collectively to address
the concerns related to livelihood security
and concomitantly food security taking into
accountthe gender related issues and
concerns. Hence food security is inextricably
linked with sustainable livelihoods.
At the international level the UN
Rio+20 summit has in its resolution no.108
has expressed its concern and commitment
to ensure global food security. Further in its
resolution no. 109, it considered
strengthening and empowering the local
producers specially women in ensuring food
security, with a variety of supportive
programs. However translating these goals
to the local level means focusing on small
holder agriculture where women are
majorily involved.
PART II Climate Change Debates and
Gender
Climate change issues are largely seen
in the techno-economic sense. It is
recognised that climate change impacts take
place in specific contexts- notably economic
and social that shape and are in turn shaped
by them (Bijoy, Yasmin, Gopalkrishnan,
Ghosh and Dutta,2013;Masika, 2002). The
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
275
fact that such events would be occurring in
increasing frequency (World Bank, 2012) is
a cause of concern. Several other studies
have indicated increasedunpredictability/
change from established pattern of Indias
climate & the critical SW monsoon
(Engineer, Dutta & Asit, 2010).There are
some serious studies which look at
agricultural contributions to carbon emission
and the way production of certain crops is
water intensive hence leading to the burden
on the environment. However these studies
do not consider the nature of womens work
in the environment or the environmental
aspects impinging on women and their work.
The question of women in the environment
has been addressed by one strand of thought
that is eco-feminism (advocated by Vandana
Shiva and Maria Mies ) that celebrates the
connection between women and the
environment and argues that women are the
best protectors of the environment as natural
care givers and protectors. They also argue
that an agrarian subsistence economic model
is the alternative to the consumerist,
technical and industrial life styles. Thus they
question the traditional dominant model of
development and offer an alternative. They
advocated that the domination of women is
closely linked to the domination of nature.
These also mean that when it comes
tosustainable livelihoods and protecting
these or works related to these the
responsibility would naturally fall on
women. The gendered nature of agricultural
work especially in the mountain
communities depending on subsistence
farming has been well articulated.
Littig(2001) speaks of feminist perspectives
276
on environment as being dominated by the
eco feminist approaches which offer a
radical criticism to the dominant nature-
society relationships .However she warns of
the eco-feminist vies bearing the risk that
being a women is naturalised and
essentialised, regardless of whether the
convergence between women and nature is
seen as a socio-historical product or as an
essential biologically based female
characteristic. The linkage between women
and nature as natural is fraught with
difficulties or glorification of the local
development models which may neglect the
power constellations in the traditional
societies where there are hierarchies of
oppression, where the nature is not all
accessible to all women in an equal measure-
as these are mediated by traditional
structures of power and patriarchy. Thus
Dalit women in the mountains do not have
access to land and other resources. Thus the
social also intervenes in the natural field.
Littig(2001) also speaks of the growing
influence of sustainable development
concepts in the environment issues as
becoming more and more inclusive to the
concepts of realisation of gender justice, i.e,
social, economic and legal equality of men
and women. Thus environmental research
and policy that are committed to sustainable
development cannot ignore gender aspects.
She calls for a gender-sensitive socio-
ecological research based on the
deconstruction of gender relationships. She
quotes Gibbons to indicate that gender
sensitive ecological research is trans-
disciplinary and is in favour of problem
oriented knowledge production.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
A. Malathi
Concurring with such articulations,
Dominelli (2013) advocates green social
work, but goes beyond the trans-disciplinary
aspect to include the voice and knowledge
of the communities in participatory
approaches in understanding disasters- man
made or natural.
Many of the climate forums and
discussion groups have bypassed gender and
though speaking of including women the
care of environment to women as also many
other such responsibilities women are
burdened not only with productive and
reproductive but also with communitarian
roles ( Moser, 1993). Thus Krishna (2009)
speaks of genderscapes as a way of
envisioning interpreting and representing the
complex and dynamic inter-linkages
between gender and natural resources.
Similarly Terry (2009) speaks of the need
for gender recognition in climate change
debates and attributes this to lack of
information and evidence. Perhaps this is
not so and it is politics which avoids this.
Thus Mac Gregor(2010)critiques the
theories of green citizenship and questions
their lack of recognition of the differential
distribution of time between men and
women. According to her green political
theorists have recognised human
dependency on natural processes, but seem
to have failed toacknowledge human
dependency on the caring services
performed by human beings and thus
failingto value the role played by domestic
life in the search of ecological
sustainability.Such conceptions according to
her may lead to the reification of gender
 Gendered approach to understanding and responding ... from Uttarakhand
stereotypes and put the onus of
environmental work on women alone.
Further, while analysing research
related to climate change and the emerging
literature in the field she laments the facts
that class and race seem to integrated in
climate change discussions but gender seems
to be missing. Even the eco-feminist
theorization according to her is suffering
from the criticism of being termed as
spiritual, essentialist and downright fluffy.
This she feels has confined the feminist
environmental scholarship to a ghetto.
Machine (2013) deconstructs the
dominant approaches of climate change such
as the techno-economic approach or the
ethical individual approach (which puts the
onus on individual to change his/her way of
life) and finds that these solutions are not
strong, deep or long lasting enough to tackle
the problem. She argues that science has
afforded certainty in the exploitation of
nature and that climate change is one arena
where there are lot of uncertainties. Thus
scientific approach alone may not offer all
the solutions, hence she calls for using post-
normal science theorization in using
alternative forms of knowledge where
uncertainty is not banished but managed.
In this she calls for becoming sensitive to
the social construction of knowledge related
to climate change and considers politics as
the obstacle to deal with climate change
issues.
Tuana and Cuomo (2011) have
indicated that climate change debate is
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
277
dominated by western scholars with a
complete absence of gender, race and
colonialism. Dankelman, 2010, calls for
Gender differentiated impacts of climate
change, and this is especially important in
Indian Himalayan societies, where women
carry the largest burden of agricultural work.
Scholarshave expressed the need to reject
the separation of development and climate
change adaptation as two separate and
competing objectives and recognising the
agency of women and the poor in
understanding the impacts (Bee, 2013;
McGregor, 2010). Environmental risk
perceptions are also gendered with women
experiencing more concern than men linked
to their social roles and status (Slovic, 1999;
Finucane et al., 2000).
PART III Climate change Impact
Assessments: Need for participatory
processes
Household adaptation must address
the socio-political structuresacross time,
space, and scalethat shape such things as
decision making, resource access and
livelihood strategies if we are to fully
understand the scope of household
vulnerability to climate change. Adaptation
(the natural or human systems adjustment
in response to actual or expected climatic
stimuli,IPCC, 2001) to impacts of climate
change requires sharing information with the
communities being affected (Bijoy et al.,
2013) that is only seen to be the domain of
scientists.
Adaptive response mechanisms
278 A. Malathi
depend on the ability to access information
about and understand the extreme events
which in turn lead to the development of
capacities to deal with future such shocks
for sustaining livelihoods and local
economies. Social Work professional
practice believes in empowering
communities through knowledge sharing as
a matter of right (Ledwith, 2005).
In looking at the methodological
concerns in doing gender in the field,
Krishna (2009) calls for the internalizing of
gender perspective within organizations and
by individuals. Mainstreaming gender in a
project does not simply mean adding one
more component in which gender is added.
Mainstream development and resource
management needs to be re-aligned to make
gender inclusive as also with regard to use
of tools to understand I quote This is not
simply a matter of how to ( or even whether
to) meld conventional and participatory
tools, qualitative and quantitative
information, but also involves questions of
how we represent them, how we deal with
relations between the researcher and the
researched and with the often messy
interfaces of the personal, political and
professional in our lives.
Sensitivity
Spatial Social Social
Resilience
Marginality Marginality Fragility
Marginality Fragility
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Participatory assessments of
vulnerability andsensitivity would ensure
transparency to the process of vulnerability
assessments as well as ensure that such
knowledge is empowering(ECB,2012)and
these would include Disaster Response by
communities /institutions(government and
non-government) which would identify the
knowledge and capacitiesregarding climate
change impacts and their adaptivecapacities.
Participatory action research methodologies
have been found to most effective in
ensuring that the research is grounded in the
realities of the affected and that research is
driven by the concerns of the researched.
Vulnerability and capacity
Assessment: Vulnerabilities and capacities
are assessed to probe five areas of
community life human, social, natural,
physical and economic, through interactions
with community.
Vulnerabilities have to be located
within the social and economic contexts. In
understanding vulnerability issues the
Mountain Vulnerability Framework
propounded by Brodnic and Prasad (2010)
takes into account both the bio-physical and
the socio-economic factors.
Adaptive Capacity
Bio Ethnic/ Political Spatial
Diversity Liveihood Accessability Accessability
Diversity Accessability
 Gendered approach to understanding and responding ... from Uttarakhand
This framework advances on the concept of
mountain specificities advocated by
Johda(1992) and the IPCC framework. The
specificities are classified as the constraining
factors( like accesibility, marginality and
fragility) and the enabling features (diversity,
niche and human adaptive capacity).
According to Brodnic and Prasad the
boundaries are often fluid with
remoteness acting at the same time marginal
but also can generate adaptive
capacitiesaccount of their remoteness and
thus self-reliance to some extent of such
communities. Case in point is the Bagori
shepherd village in Bhatwari block who
move to the Dunda area (lower in altitude
during winters and use this to sell their
woollen products). Marginality is concerned
with the endowments of a particular system
thus those with low productivity which
may be reinforced by the lack of social and
political capital. Thus the border villages of
Bhatwari block were the last to receive relief,
as the road networks were cut-off and despite
their plea to restore roads for them to become
economically active, it was only in the month
of October that connectivity was restored.
Similarly on the sale of apples from Harsil
area or the sale of Asadi Aloo these issues
repeatedly came about. Fragility is seen to
be the diminished capacity of a social or
ecological system to buffer shocks.
Ecologically mountains in these areas have
become fragile because of the repeated
onslaughts due to developmental works-
blasting for road construction and hydel
projects. There is also the social aspect to
fragility where people live precariously with
their unpredictable livelihood sources.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
279
Mustafa, Ahmed, Saroch and Bell (2011)
speaks of the way narratives in vulnerability
analyses have helped understand the nuances
of the concept. However these have had little
influence in policy related to hazards and
climate adaptation policy. In order to
facilitate policy making they have developed
theVulnerability and capacity Index VCI that
captures vulnerability in three major areas
of material, institutional and attitudinal.
MacIntyere (2007) calls for a participatory
action research approach that is
characterized by the active participation of
researchers and participants in the co-
construction of knowledge; the promotion
of self- and critical awareness that leads to
individual, collective, and/or social change;
and an emphasis on a co-learning process
where researchers and participants plan,
implement, and establish a process for
disseminating information gathered in the
research project.
Community based participatory research has
been spoken of by many authors beginning
with Robert Chambers publication, Putting
people first(in the 1980s). From the mid
1990s PRA underwent many changes and
drew on the support of Freire and others.
Participation in development has been
influenced by the ideas of Paulo Freire
(1973) wherein he spoke of the capacity of
the poor to analyze their own reality, reflect
and bring changes accordingly. A critical
consciousness is what has been articulated
that would aid in such a reflection. Critical
consciousness enables one to perceive
connections of ones suffering to the
280 A. Malathi
discriminant structures that are present in
society. Hence conditions for raising such
consciousness or a conscientization are
advocated. A dramatic use of such methods
for adult education programme resulted in
drastic changes providing a great impetus
for the development workers who are fed up
with mainstream development theory. This
also served as a precursor for the
participatory methods.
Some of the methods underlying
participatory assessments include transect
walks within the village to understand loss
and damage to infrastructure, loss of life to
human and animals, as well as damage to
agricultural lands/crops and their impacts on
livelihoods of the people.
PART IV Sustainable Development and
Gender
The goals of sustainable development of
mountain communities in all the three
dimensions of sustainability of economic,
social and environmental are not possible
without including the women of the
mountains in decision making. From the
position of climate refugees one can be
equipped to deal with the impacts of climate
change. Thus there is a need to build their
adaptive capacities as also recognizing their
agency(Bee, 2013; McGregor, 2005).
Based on such differential assessments that
are using Gender analysis frameworks it is
possible to attain gender equity in
interventions related to community based
climate change adaptations. Lambrou and
Piana (2006) suggest that this will enhance
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
the quality and legitimacy of the community
based vulnerability assessments.
Womens limited access to resources and
decision making controls means that they are
more vulnerable than men. The traditional
household caring roles limit the
opportunities for women to seek
information, education and participate in
political processes. Post-disaster this burden
of taking care of household is increased to a
large extent as food availability and access
are decreased. Understanding these nuances
in womens everyday lives which
demonstrate both vulnerability and their
agency in coping and adaptation, makes the
interventions more grounded in the everyday
realities of mountain living. Such informed
interventions also ensure sustainability and
equity of outcomes.
Case Illustrations
Bisanpur Village, Bhatwari Block
These relief are mostly in terms of some
food/rations (critically needed in interior
villages), tarpaulin sheets, solar lanterns &
other flashlights, medicines, daily
necessities like soap, matchboxes and
candles. Worryingly - even 2 months after
the disaster, many communities are desperate
for regular & basic food supply! After an
initial 15 Kgs each of rice &Atta, the Govt
has not been a major provider. Cooking gas
cylinders are being reached to some road-
side & road-proximate villages some time
on mules hired by the Govt agencies, but
interior villages are still deprived. Lack of
food items is still a major concern. Like in
 Gendered approach to understanding and responding ... from Uttarakhand
many other villages, we heard the story of
how the small hamlet of Bisanpur with
about 15 households, fed nearly 400 stranded
people (mostly tourists) for a couple of days,
before they could be evacuated. The
villagers exhausted their food stocks, but are
now facing partial hunger, with only
occasional rations reaching them.
Loss of income and Peoples Demands: As
there are few options for incomes and food
is scarce, the old, infirm, ex-business-
persons all have been forced to eke out
livings through whatever is available, like
carrying stones for construction(more by
women) under MGNREGA or seeking
shelter in Ashrams wherever available. We
met many people with similar sentiments
we dont want to live like beggars, but
unless the roads are restored we have no
options. This was reflected in the angry
rally in Uttarkashi town, with the slogan
Nahi chahiye ye rahat ke saman, Hame do
Sadak, Surakhsa aur Samman (We dont
want this relief material; Give us Roads,
Safety and Dignity).
The persistent demand for and critical
importance of sadak (roads) was all
pervasive, and everyone seem to be waiting
for the day when the roads are opened,
tourists come in numbers and employment
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
281
& livelihood options are created again. The
repeated expressions of aaj to jhelliya, kal
kya khayenge? (today we are suffering, but
what will we eat tomorrow?) cropped up at
many places.
A number of small but important needs
that can improve conditions have not been
addressed much, such as carrying the
produce or even relief material from villages
to market & the other way. Most people
cannot afford the high hiring charges of
mules, and are spending whole days carrying
just their provisions on their backs.
School girls have to walk 6-7 Kms each way
to school, as the road connection is still
disrupted over 13 months after the disaster
(from the August 2012 cloud-burst),
stopping buses, while the heavily over-
loaded/crowded jeeps (Marshal/ Bolero/
Sumo) charge exorbitantly, putting financial
strains on an already hit population
Many younger children are not able to go
to schools as roads have been washed away.
This is even more serious for girls in hill
villages. Also, the tracks restored are often
dangerous for younger children
necessitating parents to accompany if at
all From the report on Investigating a
Climate Disaster: Preliminary Assessment
carried out on 31st August and 1st September
2013
282 A. Malathi

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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

WOMENS PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL
MIGRATION, GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
Since the late 1980s, international
migration has been one of the most debated
of the diverse processes through which
globalization has taken place. With an
estimated 210 million people living outside
their country of origin (International Labour
Organization, 2010), international migration
has touched the lives of almost everyone in
both the sending and receiving countries. It
has also generated major tensions in politics
and policies which in turn, affected the ways
in which migration has been experienced by
different social groups and by men and
women. From a gender perspective,
feminization of most migration flows has
been witnessed, especially after 1990. This
has resulted into transformations in the
structure of families along with gender roles
in the international division of labor. Many
sociologists attempted to provide gender
perspective on the process of international
migration (Barbara & Hochschild, 2002) and
economists provided multi dimensional
character to these studies (Lyberaki, 2011).
This paper tries to synthesize these efforts.
Since 1980, due to Globalization
international migration has been on the rise.
Certain aspects of globalization prominently
accelerated the movement of labor. First,
major changes in communication technology
attributed dissemination of information
which further affected peoples perception
* Junior Research Fellow, Centre for Studies in Society and Development, School of Social Sciences, Central
University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India pratham.parekh@gmail.com
Pratham Parekh*
of life. Knowledge of living standards and
social conditions across countries has
become increasingly more available,
especially through travel; both the real and
symbolic reduction of time and distance have
created powerful incentives for people to
move. Second, structural transformations in
many countries(especially in countries
leading to rural-urban migration and
informalization of production) have created
pressures to search for paid work and better
living conditions, which further lead to
international migration. In most of the cases
the number of countries sending large
numbers of their citizens abroad has been
gradually increasing, while many of them
are also receiving migrants, from Argentina
and Russia to China, Italy, and Spain
(Yakovlev, 2010). Third, despite relatively
high levels of growth in many Southern
countries in recent years, inequalities
between low- and high-income areas have
continued to grow and to provide further
incentives for international migration. As per
the United Nation Development
Programmes Human Development Report
2010, between 1970 and 2010 human
development indices show substantial
progress in most countries (United Nations
Development Programme, 2010) but this has
not had any effect on bridging the gap
between poorer and richer nations. On the
contrary, the gap has increased. According
to UNDP estimates, in 1970 the average
 Womens Participation In International Migration, Governance And Development
income of countries in the highest 25 percent
GDP group was 23 times higher than that of
the lowest 25 percent group; this figure
increased to 29 times by 2010, thus
increasing the economic incentive to
migrate.
Fourth, the formation and expansion
of international networks has also provided
the knowledge and support often needed in
making decisions to migrate, either at the
individual, family, or group level. This
includes nonprofit country-based or
international associations as well as
commercial networks involved with
facilitating labor flows at different levels.
The latter include various businesses that
have proliferated to handle the many legal
and organizational aspects of migration.
Family networks have been intensified with
the formation of transnational families,
whose members live and engage in paid
work in different countries following a
variety of arrangements and survival
strategies (Parrenas, 2001). Fifth, a rapid
increase in womens labor force participation
in high-income countries, together with
demographic changes in fertility rates and
life expectancy, have contributed to the care
crisis in many Northern countries and
generated high levels of demand for paid
care work, which has been supplied mostly
by immigrant women from lower-income
countries. To a large extent, the global
commodification of care has been part of the
globalization of the labor force; but it has
also contributed to the feminization of
international migration. Sixth, globalization
has also intensified interregional migration,
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
285
including flows between Southern countries
responding to different levels of
development and wages. Such is the case
with migratory flows in South and Central
America, with Asian migration to the Middle
East, or with the influx of labor from eastern
to Western Europe. Finally, the global crisis
affecting many high-income countries since
2008, with roots in the excesses of financial
globalization and other neoliberal policies,
has generated high levels of unemployment
with an impact on international migration.
On the one hand, the crisis has tended to
generate reverse migration and to slow down
immigration rates. On the other hand, in
countries with very high unemployment rates
among youth, such as Ireland and Spain, it
is creating new migration flows of young and
qualified labor to widely different
destinations such as Australia, Germany,
Argentina, and China (Barrio, 2010).
Globalization And The Feminization
Of International Migration
The feminization of international
migration a key aspect of migration,
particularly since the 1990s has given rise
to new debates on migration, gender, and
globalization. By 2006, women represented
almost half of the total number of
international migrants, with many women
now migrating on their own rather than in
association with other family members
(United Nations Population Fund, 2006).
They have constituted what the UNFPAs
report calls a silent and mighty river that
has been growing since the 1980s (2006: 1).
The reasons for this increase in womens
286 Pratham Parekh
migration are multiple; they range from
womens conditions in sending countries
including lack of opportunities to engage in
paid work and life options, divorce or
separation, womens desire for greater
autonomy, and a decrease in social
restrictions on womens mobility to
knowledge of employment opportunities in
receiving countries. The result has been an
increasing recognition of the importance of
gender dimensions in international
migration. Feminist analysis and, more
specifically, feminist economics literature
has focused on a variety of aspects, ranging
from the employment of women migrants
across sectors worldwide to the effects of
womens migration on gender roles,
immigrant womens wages and gender
discrimination in labor markets, the
formation of transnational families, and the
differences between mens and womens
remittance behavior, among others.
Women migrants tend to be located
in the lower echelons of labor markets. This
is the case for manufacturing employment
as well as for employment in the service and
care sectors. Immigrant womens
employment opportunities tend to be in
temporary and unstable jobs. Many
governments, in both sending and receiving
countries, are involved in some form of
regulation of migrant labor, but this does not
change the informal and mostly precarious
character of womens migration.
Employment contracts tend to be temporary
and unstable, both in high- and low-income
countries. Although contracts can be
extended, this temporary nature often
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
becomes a source of instability and concern
in the lives of immigrants and their families.
The precariousness of paid work in the care
economy has been analyzed extensively and
in the context of a great variety of countries
(Shahra, 2011). The same can be said for
industrial employment, which has often used
national and international migrant labor. As
Ruth Pearson and Kyoko Kusakabes (2012)
case study of Burmese women factory
workers in Thailand illustrates, young
migrant women may face not only the
difficulties of working under very unstable
economic and legal conditions in
manufacturing, but they have to deal with
the burden of care for their own children.
Immigrant women face a high level of
occupational segregation in labor markets.
First, they are found in extreme forms of
segregated paid work often linked to
migration, such as in prostitution or other
forms of sex work. Second, they tend to be
employed within work places highly
segregated by gender. The degree of
segregation is illustrated for the case of Spain
in Coral del Ro and Olga Alonso-Villar
(2012) contribution in this paper, which
shows that women immigrants face a
double segregation in the labor market
since not only do their activities tend to be
more feminized than that of native
women, but they also engage in more
segregated activities than immigrant men.
The contribution also shows that the number
of occupations in which there are practically
no women immigrants is much larger than
those in which there are no men immigrants.
The authors argue that this concentration in
poorly paid jobs has a negative effect on
 Womens Participation In International Migration, Governance And Development
migrant womens well-being and future
prospects. In addition, it has negative
repercussions on their families, particularly
given women immigrants important role in
household provisioning. Del Ro and
Alonso-Villar raise important policy
questions about the potential role of an active
labor market policy, ant discriminatory
measures, and other forms of action to deal
with occupational segregation. A good
proportion of womens migration is highly
linked with paid work opportunities in the
care economy, an issue that has been widely
explored in feminist literature. The variety
of factors explaining the growing demand
for care services in high-income countries
during the past decades is well known: a
rapid increase in womens labor force
participation, particularly in countries where
the rate had been relatively low, such as in
southern Europe; higher life expectancy; and
extremely low fertility rates lowering the
capacity of families to care for their own
families (Lyberaki, Migrant Women, Care
Work, and Womens Employment in Greece,
2011). The result has been the further
commodification of care and increasing
reliance on immigrant women for paid care
work, including paid domestic work,
childcare, and nursing. To provide this labor,
immigrant women often leave their own
family care behind, thus creating new care
needs in their families and countries of
origin. This phenomenon has generated
empirical studies on different regions, often
focusing on the formation of care chains,
which link a variety of care arrangements
on a global scale, in sending and receiving
countries (Gioconda, 2012). The available
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
287
evidence seems to indicate that care jobs at
the domestic level have not decreased
substantially with the economic crisis. In
countries where the crisis has generated high
levels of mens unemployment, it has made
womens employment more crucial than ever
to their households hence the continuing
demand to hire migrant women by families
that need help with care work and domestic
services. The importance of immigration for
paid care work can also be viewed from the
conceptual framework of social
reproduction, as illustrated in Herreras
(2012) studies in this paper. Not onlyis paid
and unpaid care work a basic ingredient in
the social reproduction of any society, but it
can also be crucial to deal with more specific
crises of reproduction. In many Northern
countries, low fertility rates and shortagesof
caring labor threaten their ability to
reproduce the labor force necessary for the
economy as a whole or for specific sectors
or families. At the same time, many families
cannot afford paid care, and this in turn has
a negative repercussion on their decision to
have children. Hence the importance of
immigrant labor to deal with the shortage of
care labor. The lowest fertility rates across
countries are found in very different parts
of the world, from Japan and South Korea
in Asia to Italy, Spain, and other southern
Mediterranean countries, with multiple
repercussions involving the ways in which
countries have dealt with this issue (Lourdes,
2008). In some Asian societies, low fertility
rates accompanied by shortages of women
in the population have generated an
international demand for marriageable
women. For example, Lees (2012) study of
288
international marriages between foreign-
born women and Korean men illustrates the
difficulties that some men in rural
communities face in forming families, a
phenomenon now also involving urban men.
The problem has prompted the Korean
government to encourage international
marriages through subsidies and other
policies that facilitate the immigration of
foreign-born women. The feminization of
migration has reinforced the formation of
transnational families giving rise to many
questions regarding intrafamily dynamics,
changing gender roles and forms of gender
in/equality, effects on children and adults left
behind, involvement of non- emigrant
women in family care, the role of
remittances, household allocation of
resources, and family reunification (Holst,
Schafer, & Schrooten, 2012). Finally,
women are also prominent actors in intra-
regional migration, including Global South
South migration. The major thread of this
either focus on or discuss the growing
importance of cross border or intraregional
migration, including the migration of women
from Burma to Thailand; from Southeast
Asia to Korea; from the Philippines,
Malaysia, and Indonesia to Hong Kong and
the Middle East; and in Latin America, from
Bolivia to Argentina, Peru to Chile,
Nicaragua to Costa Rica, and Guatemala to
Mexico. While the specific dynamics differ,
such as whether migration is facilitated by
guest worker and other specific recruitment
programs or motivated by the market in
brides, what these migration flows share is
that they are rooted in the differences and
asymmetries among countries of the Global
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Pratham Parekh
South thus linking countries with lower
wages with those where wages and standards
of living are relatively higher. Intraregional
migration bears a number of other
similarities to Global SouthNorth
migration. For one, migrants also tend to
enter gendered labor markets: agriculture
and construction for men; domestic service
and other care occupations for women; and
garment and hotel and restaurant sectors for
both men and women, depending on the
country. Pearson and Kusakabes (2012)
study presents one interesting example of the
fluidity of migrants movement between
neighboring Burma and Thailand and the
informal and unstable arrangements that are
made for childcare and for reproductive
activities in general. Finally, intraregional
migration is sometimes also characterized
by a divide between documented and
undocumented migration, with skilled
migrants generally comprising the majority
of the documented migrants who are
attracted by higher salaries in specific
industries.
Migration, Gender And Development
Does migration undermine
development in sending countries or speed
it up? And, conversely, does development
slow down or encourage international
migration? There is very little agreement on
these questions. In the debates in the
literature on these questions the meaning of
development is rarely made explicit,
although generally, development is assumed
to be equivalent to steady increases in Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) per capita.
 Womens Participation In International Migration, Governance And Development
Although it would be more interesting to use,
for example, the notion and indices of human
development, in the available literature on
its own terms highlights the gender aspects
of the migrationdevelopment nexus.
Migration as undermining factor of
development
It is generally accepted that
international migrants tend to be among the
better qualified of a sending countrys
citizenry, for international migration
involves monetary costs and knowledge
networks that exclude the very poor. Much
of the early literature on international
migration was focused on the brain drain,
since one of the first manifestations of
globalization was the development of an
international labor market for highly
educated, skilled labor (Bhagwati &
Hamada, 1972). If skilled labor could not
earn internationally competitive salaries or
have similar opportunities for professional
development at home, there was strong
motivation for such people to leave. The
implication was that investments in
education, particularly secondary and
tertiary education, in developing countries
might not lead to faster economic growth
(Carrington & Detragiache., 1999). In other
words, as a result of the brain drain, sending
countries incur the costs of reproduction
absorbing the costs of education, healthcare,
and maintenance up to the age of migration
while receiving countries reap the benefits.
This outcome has also been linked to the
development model implemented in the
Global South, whereby state policies are
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
289
geared to imitate the development path of
advanced countries. Education systems, for
example, tend to produce the same kind of
professionals whether or not they can be
gainfully employed at home and offered the
same opportunities as in more developed
countries, facilitating the brain drain. Little
attention was given to the gender dimensions
of the brain drain in this debate in part
because sex-disaggregated data on the
educational level of international migrants
were rarely available. As Meryl Altman and
Kerry Pannell (2012) argue, it is not
uncommon for international migration to
involve a de-skilling process for women, as
they end up in jobs for which they are
overqualified, such as domestic or other
caring labor. Thus while migrant women
may gain individually by the higher wages
that they may earn abroad as compared to
educationally commensurate paid work at
home, overall there seems to be an implicit
net global social welfare loss. Current
discussions regarding immigration reform in
receiving countries, such as the US and
Europe, have resurrected concern about the
brain drain and its potential impact on the
growth and development process of
countries in the Global South. The trend is
to favor or limit legal permanent migration
to highly educated workers in specific
technical and professional occupations
(UNDP 2009). As Altman and Pannell
(2012) also argue, these policies have an
implicit gender bias since they tend to favor
occupations in fields, such as information
technology and engineering, that men
dominate. Thus this shift reduces the
opportunities for women to migrate legally
290 Pratham Parekh
on their own. It also leads to the
concentration of legal women migrants
among those whose migration is tied to
family circumstances, so-called tied
movers, and relegates many women
migrants to the ranks of the undocumented.
Since this trend paralleled the increase in
the demand for women migrants due to the
care crisis in high-income countries, a good
share of care workers have been either
undocumented or the wives of legal
migrants. Little research has been done to
date on whether there is a gender difference
in the likelihood of migrating with or without
legal documents. Different patterns lend
weight to the argument that the individual
costs and benefits from international
migration are gendered (including by the
policies of labor-importing countries),
suggesting that the consequences in
countries of origin will be gendered as well.
While higher incomes and remittances
resulting from migration might be beneficial
to the individual and potentially to her or
his household in the sending country, the
brain drain argument implies that, because
migrants have left, development has slowed
down or been undermined. This incongruity
has been raised, for example, in the analysis
of the care deficit in the Philippines the
shortage of nurses domestically has resulted
from state policy that encourages the training
and migration of nurses (Utting, Razavi, &
Varghes, 2012). The recent trend toward the
increased migration of women on their own,
including mothers, has raised another set of
issues in terms of what this means for the
welfare of the children left behind (Yeates,
2009). Evident from the emotional stress on
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
migrant mothers, caregivers, and children in
transnational families in Guatemala.
Mothers often tend to be replaced in child-
rearing duties by other women (whether
women relatives or paid domestic help);
when replaced by daughters, this sometimes
can have deleterious effects on daughters
educational attainment, reproducing the
relative disadvantage of women. It can also
have positive implications for childrens
attainment of schooling, to the extent that
migrant mothers channel their remittances
to education, health, and improved nutrition.
Thus, there may be different short-term
versus long-term effects of womens
migration on the acquisition of skills and
educational levels and, thus, on human
development as well as GDP growth rates.
In their econometric analysis of emigration
from developing countries, Dumont, Martin,
and Spielvogel (2007) found that the rate of
emigration of highly educated women as
compared to men was negatively associated
with infant mortality, under-age-5 mortality,
and secondary school enrollment rates of
both girls and boys. They also found that
the emigration of women with only a primary
education had a positive effect on some of
these health and education indicators,
suggesting that remittances play a
differential role depending on household
income levels. Since they also found the
emigration rate of highly skilled women to
be higher the poorer their country of origin,
this suggests that the negative, gendered
impact of the brain drain may be greatest in
the poorest countries. The crucial issue in
the debate over the brain drain is whether or
not international migrants could have been
 Womens Participation In International Migration, Governance And Development
productively employed at home. This is an
open question. It may well be that the answer
to this question is gendered, if for example
women with tertiary degrees are more likely
than men to migrate because of cultural
barriers or labor market discrimination at
home, issues that require further research.
Impact of labor market
In theory, an exodus of labor due to
international migration should lead to rising
wages in the country of origin, hence
increasing national income and eventually
bringing about a convergence of living
standards between sending and receiving
countries. But it is known that, labor is not
perfectly mobile, and markets do not always
function as expected. In many cases,
globalization has created a dual international
labor market, characterized by mobility for
the highly educated and skilled but
predominantly national and restricted with
respect to unskilled labor. This, in turn, is
reflected in a large wage gap in sending
countries, with skilled labor earning
relatively internationally competitive
salaries (at least in occupations dominated
by men) while wages of unskilled labor
remain stagnant . Migration processes can
also potentially lead to a drain of unskilled
labor, either through guest worker programs
or undocumented migration flows. In theory
this should have a positive effect on
development, by raising wages in the
agricultural or construction sectors in the
sending country and leading to higher
incomes. But it can also produce other
outcomes, such as interregional relay or
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
291
chain migration. One well-known example
is the USs recruitment of labor from Puerto
Rico around World War II, which led to labor
shortages in agriculture in Puerto Rico that
were subsequently filled by migrants from
the Dominican Republic seeking higher
wages than at home. In turn, Haitian
migrants filled the labor shortage created in
the Dominican Republic (Jorge & Massey,
2010) Meanwhile, peasant agricultural
production declined in the Dominican
Republic and Haiti as rural communities
were drained of many of their most
productive members. Thus the potential
positive effects of migration on labor
markets depends not only on whether labor
shortages lead to higher wages, but also on
interlinked regional labor markets.
Remittances
One of the main trends since 2000 has
been the spectacular growth in the volume
of international remittances. Between 2000
and 2008, the total volume of remittances to
all developing countries increased from
US$81.3 billion to US$324.8 billion (World
Bank, 2011). Remittances now far exceed
the level of total direct foreign assistance
and, for some countries, are equivalent to
their export earnings from commodity
production (United Nations Development
Programme, 2010). Remittances may
contribute to development in several ways.
As a source of foreign exchange, remittances
contribute to macroeconomic stability and
allow countries to better manage their
external debt. As a source of investment
funds, they directly contribute to GDP
292 Pratham Parekh
growth. And, as a source of consumption,
they also potentially contribute to GDP
growth through their impact on aggregate
demand and hence employment. Moreover,
remittances may serve as a mechanism for
poverty reduction by raising the incomes of
migrant households, particularly in countries
where the migration of unskilled labor
dominates; this mechanism also serves to
reduce income inequality. There is a
substantial body of evidence supporting the
proposition that women migrants are more
likely to remit than men, do so more
frequently and for a longer period of time,
and remit a higher share of their incomes
irrespective of the gender wage gap that they
face in receiving countries (UNFPA, 2006).
Rosewarne (2012) notes that the standard
explanation for why women may be more
reliable remitters is that they are more
altruistic than men in terms of the reasons
why they
migrate and/or more responsible in
meeting implicit family contracts. In the case
of Asian women engaged in contract
migration, the decision to migrate is not just
their own but takes place in a context where
they are selected by their families to be the
households remitter, and given cultural
and gender norms, they have a strong sense
of obligation to comply. Rosewarne argues
that this can be a very patriarchal process,
with daughters expected to migrate to
maintain the lifestyles of fathers or brothers.
Hence, what appears as altruism can also be
perceived as lack of choice.
Family position, gender roles, and the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
motivation for migration appear to be highly
correlated with remittance behavior. For
example, sometimes mothers migrate alone
with the explicit purpose of financing the
education of the children they left behind.
This makes them highly likely to remit and
provides a strong motivation to remit a high
share of their income.
Whether remittances are consumed or
saved and invested matters for GDP growth
rates, although perhaps not for human
development. Thus it is important to
consider whether migrants themselves make
the decision on how remittances are used or
whether the person receiving the remittances
makes this decision. And this raises the
question of whether the gender of the person
remitting or receiving matters with respect
to how remittances are utilized, a topic that
has been insufficiently addressed in the
literature.
Petrozziello (2011) cautions against
considering the use of remittances that go
toward consumption, including education
and health expenses, as unproductive,
since they enhance human development and
are the primary reason that people migrate
internationally. Her concern, which is
echoed by Rosewarne (2012), is that in the
remittances for development approach
promoted by IFIs and others, migrant women
are seen as instruments for development
rather than resourceful actors in their own
right.
Turning to the impact of remittances
on poverty and inequality, there is a general
consensus that remittances play an important
 Womens Participation In International Migration, Governance And Development
role in poverty alleviation internationally,
even if spatially concentrated in only a subset
of countries. There is also some evidence
that remittances contribute toward reducing
national income inequality. In Mexico, for
example, over the 20007 period remittances
contributed to closing the gap between urban
and rural household per capita incomes.
However, as noted earlier, the role of
remittances in poverty alleviation depends
on the socioeconomic background of those
who moved, and this varies among countries
(United Nations Development Programme,
2010). Remittances may also generate
considerable differences in living standards
between those who receive them and those
who do not, whether it is improvement in
the quality of housing or broader social
changes, making those who receive
remittances a new kind of elite, such as in
the case of Cuba.
Another concern refers to the stability
of remittances and whether gains in poverty
alleviation may turn out to be short-lived if
remittances go primarily to support
consumption. The volume of remittances
depends crucially on the vigor of the
economies of destination countries, and in
times of crisis, remittances can also be
transmission belts of international crisis.
The 2007 financial crisis led to high rates of
unemployment in destination countries,
particularly among immigrant communities,
and took a toll on the volume of remittances,
which fell from US$325 billion in 2008 to
US$307 billion in 2009 for all developing
countries (World Bank, 2011).
Herrera (2012) reports changes in the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
293
use of remittances, with priority given to
basic consumption and educational and
health expenditures in Ecuador. Most
negatively affected were those investments
that could facilitate a permanent return to
Ecuador, such as investments in land,
housing, and businesses. Thus, rather than
leading to a massive return to their country
of origin, the economic crisis has served to
prolong the stay of many migrants, even in
unfavorable conditions. This outcome might
also be due to the relatively high degree of
integration of Ecuadorian migrants in Spain.
However, overall, one of the main impacts
of the crisis has been to discourage new
migrants.
In nutshell, n, there is a better
understanding of the effect of development
on migration than there is regarding the
impact of international migration on the level
of economic development of sending
countries. The latter debate is still under way.
Of the three arguments examined here the
impact of migration on the labor market in
sending countries, the benefits of
remittances, and return migration the one
regarding the impact of remittances seems
to be the most important and worthy of
further study, particularly in terms of what
tips the balance in the use of remittances
from consumption toward investment. A
gendered perspective one that takes into
account the combined effect of motivation,
family position, and gender is absolutely
necessary to move this debate forward. In
particular, it implies looking into the extent
to which migration contributes to changing
gender roles, womens empowerment, and
gender equality.
294 Pratham Parekh
Migration And Governance
As discussed earlier, marked
asymmetry in the international mobility of
capital and labor has accompanied late
twentieth-century globalization. This
asymmetry reflects a regulatory environment
that has consistently favored the interests and
mobility of capital including deregulation
of the financial sector, intellectual property
rights, and trade dispute resolutions through
the World Trade Organization (WTO) but
has undermined the rights and mobility of
labor through various controls and
restrictions. However, there are also
important asymmetries in the international
mobility of labor itself. As argued above,
immigration policies in the wealthy labor-
receiving countries of the world generally
seek to encourage the immigration of highly
educated workers who have the personal
funds necessary to obtain and maintain
residence and work permits and can make
up skills deficits in the knowledge economy.
The same policies seek to impose tight
controls to keep out the others or only
allow them entry on short-term contracts that
underline their status as temporary workers
dependent on the goodwill of employers to
remain in the country. Those without the
funds or skills to secure legal entry migrate
through undocumented channels and remain
vulnerable to violence, abuse, and constant
fear of deportation for much of their stay
abroad. This asymmetry in the terms on
which different categories of labor are able
to migrate has broadly gendered
consequences. It has been already pointed
out that, in general, it is largely male workers
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
who fit the desired skill categories, while
the kinds of skills that women acquire tend
to fall outside these skill definitions
although there are some important
exceptions, such as nurses. However, a
closer analysis of the immigration policies
of wealthy destination countries suggests
that they cannot be reduced to a simple
dichotomy between permitting some forms
of labor and keeping out others. Official
policies may ostensibly be designed around
such a dichotomy, but in reality they do
accommodate a variety of different and
contradictory pressures. Altman and Pannell
(2012) suggest that the existence of a marked
policy gap between stated intention and
achieved outcome in the field of migration
policy can be seen as a manifestation of these
conflicting pressures. Citing Wayne A.
Cornelius and Takeyuki Tsuda (2004),
Altman and Pannell argue that labor-
importing countries have difficulty
controlling immigration despite the forces
lined up in favor of control, because
immigration has become structurally
embedded in their economy and society in
ways that are impervious to policy
intervention. Immigration policy must
address the steady rise in the demand for
low-cost and readily disposable workers in
specific and highly gendered niches of
the economy where shortages occur most
often because the local population no longer
wants to do these jobs. At the same time,
immigration policy must also be seen as
regulating migration in response to the
ambivalence expressed by citizens of labor-
receiving countries to the presence of foreign
workers competing for local jobs, fears of
 Womens Participation In International Migration, Governance And Development
unemployment, periodic outbursts of
xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment,
as well as to the hyper-securitized concerns
of the post September 11 world.
As Perez (2012) comments, Ticktins
(2005) characterization has the advantage of
capturing the non-unitary character of the
state as well as the scope for arbitrary
behavior on the part of both state and non-
state actors. And certainly a diverse range
of actors, both state and non-state, are in a
position to exercise arbitrary authority over
the status and lives of people who lack clear
legal protection in the way that Ticktin
suggests. But they do so within an official
framework that lends itself to highly
selective interpretations as to when the law
applies, to whom it applies, and what
exceptions to the law can be permitted. The
results are flexible policies that generate a
topography of confusion and uncertainty,
leading to increased vulnerability for
migrants (Altman and Pannell 2012).
Flexibility of policy allows affluent
countries to adapt their immigration laws to
different needs at different times and thus
take advantage of the benefits associated
with permitting increased entry in times of
economic boom and expelling migrants in
times of crisis. Such flexibility is built into
low-skilled migration through insistence on
the temporariness of migrant workers and
the institutionalization of circular migration,
bringing in migrant labor on a temporary but
repeated basis. In Thailand, for instance,
government measures to exercise some
degree of control over the influx of migrants
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
295
from neighboring countries, such as Burma,
have been described as regulating the
irregular (Pearson and Kusakabe 2012).
This policy has created a category of
registered irregular migrant workers who
have legal permission to engage in paid work
for a set and limited period of time.
Flexibility is also built in through the
combination of official insistence on closed
and tightly policed borders and an unofficial
policy of considerable porousness that
allows in a steady flow of undocumented
migrants. Points of entry and closure are not
confined to national borders but operate
through a variety of state and non-state
gatekeepers, such as police officers, lawyers,
judges, translators, and local officials. As
Perez (2012) describes them, they are a part
of a border apparatus that does not confine
itself to the nations borders but operates at
different points of daily life in detention
centers, on the streets, and in the paid
workplace. Flexibility is further assured
through policy directives that permit
arbitrary forms of behavior on the part of
different actors engaged in policing
boundaries: the state of Arizona allows
statistical discrimination in the effort to
identify undocumented migrants (Altman
and Pannell 2012), while in Spain police
officers are encouraged to question anyone
in public who appears to be
undocumented (Perez 2012). Finally and
importantly, flexibility allows countries to
respond to humanitarian concerns through
recognition of exceptions. As Altman and
Pannell (2012), Basok and Piper (2012),
Perez (2012), and Rosewarne (2012) notes,
296 Pratham Parekh
exceptions often relate to situations where
migrants can be defined as victims and labor
market disadvantage can be cast as a moral
concern. These situations relate primarily
to sex work and trafficking but also, as in
Spain, to victims of domestic violence. It is
generally women migrants who feature in
these discourses about migrants as victim,
although gay men are also more likely than
other asylum seekers in France to gain
refugee status on the grounds of violence at
the hands of partners (Perez 2012). The
Spanish humanitarian clause focuses on
cases of interpersonal violence among
migrant heterosexual couples and allows
undocumented migrant women to report
violent partners to the police. If their
complaint is upheld, they are granted
residence and work permits for five years.
But as Perez (2012) points out, the process
that determines whether or not their
complaints are upheld is itself ridden with
arbitrariness: feelings and emotion, as well
as the narration of a good plausible story
by those seeking exception, are as likely to
be the basis of a verdict as a search for the
truth.
Conclusion
This introduction speaks to the
importance of gender awareness for
understanding the multiple aspects of
international migration. From labor market
dynamics to remittances, development, and
governance, any analysis of migration will
miss important insights if gender divisions
and asymmetries are not considered. There
exists specific examples of the usefulness
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
of incorporating gender analysis and gender-
related variables that open up information
leading to policy and action. They highlight
the fact, for example, that women do not
escape the gender segmentation of labor
markets by migrating from their home
countries but simply experience it in a
different, often intensified, form in the
receiving countries. In fact, their labor
market segregation in the latter is generally
greater than that experienced by migrant men
as well as by native women. The intersection
of global and local inequalities has given rise
to the irony that educated women are
relatively more likely than educated men to
migrate, presumably because of more limited
opportunities at home, but they generally end
up in jobs for which they are overqualified.
A gender analysis of international
migration also makes visible the increasing
commodification of care work on a global
scale. The emergence of care deficits in some
of the worlds wealthier countries, itself
partly a reflection of womens entry into the
labor market in these countries, has in turn
given rise to the well-known phenomenon
of care chains that straddle richer and poorer
countries located in different regions of the
world. Studies have shown that many of the
women migrating as part of the care chain
are only able to fulfill their unpaid care
responsibilities to their children and families
by leaving them behind to take on paid care
responsibilities for the children and families
of others. This in turn creates new care needs
within their own families and gives rise to
care deficits within the larger society. Other
factors that add to care deficits within
 Womens Participation In International Migration, Governance And Development
sending countries arise from the emigration
of skilled and unskilled women who might
have otherwise worked in the paid care
economy: the negative gendered impact of
this brain drain appears to be greater in
poorer countries, but more research is
needed along these lines. In any case, it is
clear that migration contributes to the social
reproduction not only of individual families
but also of affected countries as a whole.
Related, a gender perspective highlights the
ways in which the organization of families
is changing as a result of migration. The rise
of transnational families, including
transnational mothering, has been studied,
and much debated, since the late 1990s
although more research is needed to
understand, for example, the effects on
children who are part of these transnational
ties. One recent aspect of this is the study of
marriage migration in a variety of countries.
While marriage migration is ostensibly a
response to demographic factors such as
internal migration and the emergence of
deficits of women in the marriage market in
certain countries in the world, it appears also
to be acting as a means to address care
deficits in relation to the growing proportion
of elderly. It has given rise to what the
Korean government has dubbed the
multicultural family.Current research and
comparative analysis on this topic,
particularly in Asia, is likely to throw light
on the different factors contributing to this
phenomenon. Gender also defines how
different categories of migrants enter policy
discourse. There is, for instance, growing
evidence of migrant womens contribution
to remittance flows that are relatively, and
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
297
sometimes absolutely, greater than that of
men migrants. Women have therefore
featured very positively in the migration and
development policy discourse, often
constructed as the more altruistic members
of their families, motivated by a greater sense
of commitment to family well-being than
men. While womens greater contribution
may reflect a variety of factors, not only a
sense of altruism but also greater pressure
to meet familial obligations than men, it may
also reflect the greater temporariness of their
status as migrants since temporary workers
are more likely to send remittances home.
The possibility of achieving legal and
permanent status is much more likely for
occupations staffed by men, relegating
disproportionate numbers of women to the
ranks of temporary, often undocumented
migrants. It also leaves women far more
easily exploited under precarious working
conditions. Finally, while international
migration generally presents a number of
challenges to nation-based notions of
citizenship, particularly in the receiving
countries, gender inflects this challenge in a
number of ways. Women migrants are far
more likely than men to be in isolated jobs
that have little or no social or legal
protection: paid domestic work and sex work
are obvious examples. They are more likely
to be on temporary contracts that tie them to
particular employers. While they may
sometimes be singled out for special
treatment, it is largely as victims who invoke
moral concerns: as victims of domestic
violence who may be treated as exceptions
to efforts to regulate migration or as victims
of trafficking who must be rescued and
298 Pratham Parekh

returned to their countries. What policy attempts to represent a step further in

makers have generally failed to do, however, understanding these issues theoretically,
is to address the rights violations that most empirically, and as a basis for policy and
temporary migrants and women in particular, action.
experience on a daily basis. The paper

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UNDERSTANDING ROLE OF WOMEN IN SUSTAINING
PASTORALISM: EXCERPTS FROM PASTORAL SOCIETIES
ACROSS THE GLOBE
Introduction:
Pastoralism is a traditional form of
society and self-sufficient economy, wherein
the main activity is herding indigenous
livestock and trading its products as a mean
of livelihood. One of the distinct features of
pastoralism is that the livestock is sustained
through dependence on natural resources and
hence migration in search of grazing land
becomes essential for pastoralist community.
Pastoral way of life is nomadic and
migratory and according to Blench 2001,
pastoralism is source of livelihood to over
200 million household across the globe.
Various forms of pastoralism are as nomadic,
semi nomadic, agro pastoralism, semi
sedentrized village based pastoralism and
transhumant herders. This paper focuses on
nomadic pastoralism and particularly on role
of women in sustaining it.
According to WISP i mobile
pastoralists are a large and significant
minority, and often as ethnic minority, in
many countries around the world. Precise
figures are hard to come by, but when all
types of mobility are considered, nomadic
and transhumant pastoralists may number
between 100 to 200 million people globally.
i. World Initiative on Sustaining Pastoralism
(WISP). See WISP 2008. Pastoralism
* Assistant Professor, Mahatma Gandhi
dhruvibharwad@gmail.com
** Independent Researcher, India. Email : bhoomishroff@gmail.com
Dhruvi Bharwad*
Bhoomi Shroff**
Pastoralists constitute an estimated 16
percent of the population of Sahelian Africa,
but in a few countries they are majority. In
parts of southern Europe, and even more in
central Asia following de-collectivization,
there is an ongoing resurgence of
transhumant pastoralism.iiAccording to
MARAG iii, pastoralism is nomadic and
transhumance, is socio-cultural and
economic way of living that relies on rearing
livestock on marginal lands and is sustained
through migration. Livestock include cattle,
yaks, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, camel,
llamas, alpacas and reindeer. ivSustaining
livestock on natural resources in nomadic
way is distinct feature of pastoralism.
Livestock are also kept under agriculture,
horticulture and industrial production
conditions. But it is under pastoralism that
the life of the entire community revolves
around livestock; hence it is an integral part
of pastoral societies and main source of
livelihood. Pastoralists are culturally and
occupationally dependent on livestock. They
ii. World Initiative on Sustaining Pastoralism
(WISP). See WISP 2008. Pastoralism
iii. Maldhari Rural Action Group (MARAG)
is an organization working on pastoralism,
based in Gujarat, India
iv. Summary Report and Global Action Plan:
Women Pastoralist, MARAG, 2011-2013
Labour Institute, Ahmedabad, India. Email :
 Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral
Societies Across the Globe
trade the livestock and its products like milk,
meat, skin, hides, bone, dung, wool,
cashmere and handicrafts.
Today pastoralism is under threat due
to competition from socially, economically
and politically powerful interest groups for
resources like land, water, access to market,
fair deals for products. These societies across
the globe are also marginalized and
vulnerable to various social, economic,
environmental and political factors. In this
already marginalised society, women have
subordinated position despite being key role
players in sustaining pastoralism. This has
further led to vulnerability, dependency and
inequality of pastoralists women. Factors
like demand of livestock products with
regard to population growth, per capita
income and urbanization, declining common
property resources, land grabbing, niche
markets and education are some of the
factors affecting the role and status of
women pastoralists in sustaining
pastoralism, as way of life.
Women are backbone of pastoralism:
According to Herbert Franke, the
responsibility of taking care of household
and education of children lies on women
since the men are away on long hunting
expediations or in warfare in a nomad
society. And due to this women gain more
independence while acting as a head of
family in their husbands absence. Where as
Morris Rossabi states, without the
cooperation of both men and women, the
course which were essential for the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
301
subsistence of nomadic pastoralism could
not be completed, and the tribes and
familys survival would be threaten. Women
were required to share physically demanding
tasks with men. Hence womens contribution
in nomadism cannot be ignored.
Women hold a key position and play
a central role in sustaining pastoralism by
responding to multiple responsibilities
towards household, livestock and natural
resources. They face tremendous challenges
in surviving through migration. Their
children are borne and are reared on the
roads, they rarely have any access to health
care facilities during the course of migration.
Their only source of knowledge in surviving
through such harsh condition is their
traditional indigenous knowledge. They are
source of tremendous indigenous knowledge
and practices regarding living in harmony
with nature benefitting both environment
and community. These women are
custodians of such valuable knowledge. Be
it childbirth, livestock offspring birth,
cooking and carrying food with limited
resources, making and shifting tent, finding
nearby markets for livestock products are
all duties of women.Despite many
challenges they play role of natural resource
manager, livestock keepers, labour
providers, income generators, care takers as
well as household manager. However the life
of pastoralist women is not easy, they are
resilient and the one responsible for ensuring
smooth functioning of household and
livestock. Despite their contribution,
pastoralist women are often marginalized
due to traditional gender roles and their
302 Dhruvi Bharwad, Bhoomi Shroff

limited, sometimes restricted participation Women compose not only around 70

in decision making. Their contribution percent of the poor; they also make up
remains unnoticed. majority of poor livestock keepers vi.
According to an extensive study by FAO
According to Flintan (2008), despite
(Thornton et al., 2002), there are around 600
marginality pastoralists women play a
million poor livestock keepers in the world
multiple role in pastoral livelihood systems
around two thirds of them are women and
as livestock keepers, natural resource
most live in rural areas. Some studies on
managers, income generators and service
Animal Genetic Resources have also
providers, which are influenced by gendered
indicated that pastoralists women played a
norms, values and relations. Pastoral women
key role in the process of domesticating the
are not only primary users of land through
major livestock species and for preserving
their role as livestock managers, but are also
indigenous breeds. They are guardians of
major secondary users, collecting rangeland
local livestock breeds and plays a crucial role
products such as firewood, grasses, fodder,
in checking the decline in local livestock
ad palm leaves, gums, resins, saps and other
breeds and preserving the biodiversity.
medicinal plantsv. In some part of the world
Pastoralist women are adaptive to changing
pastoralist women have to endure harmful
socio-economic conditions as and when the
customs and cultural practices, for example
need arises. Many women in the absence of
in Africa they still have to face Female
the man take up the tasks that are typically
Genital Mutilation. They continue to face
performed by men. The opinion of women
social, economic and political
is the deciding factor in whether the family
marginalization. They are more vulnerable
should continue living the traditional pastoral
today compared to past, as they lack a
way of life or sedentrize or switch to other
platform to raise their voices for the
livelihood activities. Without the support of
decisions concerning them, despite their key
pastoralist women, the pastoralist men
role in migratory production system. Limited
cannot sustain this profession and way of life.
access to healthcare and education, poverty,
It is also noticed that in pastoral societies,
high mortality rates, low life expectancy, and
families continue livestock herding only if
traditional gender roles further adds to their
women are supportive. A study by FAO
vulnerability. Although they face many
states, decision making over resource use and
challenges and shocks, pastoralist women
sale (including sale of livestock) tends to be
have been resourceful in providing their
a joint affair between husband and wife, who
households basic needs and strengthening
ensure not only that the household benefits,
their clan bonding.
v. Flintan, Fiona et. al., Pastoral Womens
thoughts on change: Voices from vi. FAO 2012. Invisible Guardians Women
Ethiopia, paper presented at International manage livestock diversity, FAO Animal
Conference on the Future of pastoralism, Production and Health Paper No. 174,
March 2011 Rome, Italy

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral
Societies Across the Globe
but also that their obligations to their clan
are fulfilledvii.
In Africa Pastoralism is one of the
major source of livelihood across the Eastern
Africa and Horn. Ethiopia has largest
pastoral population spread across Afar and
Somali region. In Tanzania they are spread
across north and Arusha region. In Kenya
they are spread across region bordering
Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and
Uganda. Earlier in Africa the range land,
forest and water resources were common
property and usage rights were determined
by group affiliation, however in the modern
era pastoral economy is undervalued by
Government resulting in denied land rights
to pastoralists and allocation of range lands
for promoting private investments.
Pastoral societies across Africa are
patriarchal. Although a woman fulfils many
key tasks in pastoralism yet they are deprived
of participation concerning their lives,
community and livelihood. They are
socialized to respect and obey leadership of
men. They are often married forcibly for
getting more bride-wealth payments, while
they are young. They play a subsidiary role
in livestock production and have secondary
role to male member of the family. Tasks
like making and selling handicrafts,
collecting firewood, taking care of livestock,
cooking food are traditionally considered
vii. FAO 2012. Invisible Guardians Women
manage livestock diversity, FAO Animal
Production and Health Paper No. 174,
Rome, Italy, page no. 15
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
303
womens work and as a result girls are often
removed from school. They play a key role
in livestock production. Women are usually
involved in constructing houses, managing
households, preparing food, taking care of
children, milking cattle, making and selling
handicrafts, producing and selling milk and
its products, collecting water, firewood, and
fodder. The nature of work involved for
women is harder and time consuming
compared to their male counterparts. Some
of strong cultural practices like bride wealth
have further subordinated women in pastoral
In south Asia, there has been steady progress
towards meeting the MDG goals among sedentary
populations (UNESCO, 2008). In comparison with
Africa however the pace of policy awareness and
change in relation to addressing education needs of
nomadic groups is slower (Dyer, 2006). Nomadic
population in this region are significant and include
not only transhumant pastoralists but also
entertainers, hunter-food gatherers, river gypsies
and iron smith to give few examples.
In India, some estimates suggests that nomadic and
migrant populations number at least 60 million,
between 7 to 10 percent of population (National
Convention, 2005). Morton (2008) notes that in
Afghanistan, pastoralists alone are estimated to be 6
percent of the total population 1.5 million people.
Estimates for Pakistan as he notes (ibid), almost
impossible to trace but there are significant
concentration of pastoralists in millions in Pakistans
Balochistan and North West Frontier province.
Elsewhere such as in Bangladesh (van Beurden,
2007) and Sri Lanka, gypsies are a significant
element of the social landscape although exact
counts are impossible to come by.
Source: Mobile Pastoralists and Education: Strategic
Options, Education for Nomads Working Paper 1
304 Dhruvi Bharwad, Bhoomi Shroff
societies. Among Massai pastoralists of
Kenya and Tanzania women respond to
mens greetings with a shrill voice as a sign
of respect to men indicating presence of
strong cultural values of male
dominance.The whole concept of bride
wealth has a negative effect on womens life
since she comes under the control of her
husband and community/ clan who
contributed in paying the bride wealth and
ultimately this leads to the loss of womens
independence and decision making power.
Succumbing to traditional gender roles,
women do not get to own livestock due to
which they do not have independent income
and social status in society. But at the same
time womens assistance is mandatory for a
man to manage the livestock. However
women have greater rights over trading
livestock products like milk and milk
products. According to Flinton, 2008
pastoralists women in southern Ethiopia
enjoy more power over resources despite
having less livestock. Women have the
authority in food allocation to the family
members. There are even instance where
pastoralist women have demonstrated
remarkable success stories of their skills, one
such example is of pastoralist women of
Somalia, who have established camel milk
marketing and distribution system (Nori,
2010).
Across pastoral societies in Asia and
Europe women enjoys relatively higher
status as compared to their African
counterparts. According to Kohler-
Rollefsonviii, in Pakistan and Afghanistan,
women are more involved in livestock
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
related work than men. Women in urban
areas are more restricted than pastoralist
women. Among the Raika pastoralist of
India, the standard division of labour is that
men are in charge of herding, feeding and
cutting fodder, whereas women take care of
milking and looking after young and sick
animals.
In the Gobi dessert, Mongolia
pastoralist women played a key role in
preserving the declining population of
camels. They also developed and marketed
new products like fine wool and were active
players in conserving natural resources.
Among pastoralists of Tibet women not only
raise children and manage household and
tent but are also key decision makers in
managing natural resources and livestock
(Miller 1998). In Bhutan, it is
pastoralistswomen who take decisions
pertaining to breeding and exchange of
livestock.
Acknowledging the contribution of
Pastoralism in preserving biodiversity and
nature, Europe comparatively has pro
pastoralist policies. European Union policies
officially endorse low intensity, transhumant
livestock management in Europe as a source
of diverse environmental, economic and
cultural benefits. Far from seeking to
eradicate mobile Pastoralism, the European
Union explicitly attempts to preserve it
through economic subsidies and
viii. FAO 2012. Invisible Guardians Women
manage livestock diversity, FAO Animal
Production and Health Paper No. 174,
Rome, Italy
 Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral
Societies Across the Globe
programmes aimed at marginal grassland
areas.ix In European context, it will be
interesting to discuss the case of Sami
Reindeer Herders spread across Northern
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia. These
herders call their work Boazovazzi which
means Reindeer walker and that is what
Saami exactly do. Saami women enjoy some
social status and prestige in their community
as they are involved in task of rearing
children, and transmitting their distinct
indigenous culture and knowledge to the
next generation. The women are responsible
for ensuring their familys survival which
makes the household matriarchal up to
certain extend (Bosi, 79). According to
Saami Author RauniMaggaLukkari, Saami
women brought up traditionally exercise
considerable amount of power which is
manifested through skills like making
clothes which are necessary for survival in
harsh climatic conditions. Reindeer breeding
and domestication has been a part of Saami
womens domain, however according to
Lukkari, due to the emergence of monetary
economy the position of Saami women in
reindeer herding has declined considerably.
According to a study on Sweedish Reindeer
herding Sami population, women have
higher level of education compared to men
and they also contribute to economic
stability of the family. x Kaiser, Niclas.
ix. Kerven&Behnke, Pastoralism : Research,
Policy and Practice, 2011
x. Kaiser, Niclas. Mental Health Problems
among the Sweedish Reindeer Herding
Sami Population, UMEA University
Medical Dissertations, New Series 1430
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
305
Mental Health Problems among the
Sweedish Reindeer Herding Sami
Population, UMEA University Medical
Dissertations, New Series 1430
However recently across the globe
pastoralist women have found space in many
global dialogues and are perceived as
potential agents of change by many
development initiatives, in pastoral policy
domain.Being influential agents in
sustainable livelihood development pastoral
women are engage in activities ranging from
socio-economic and cultural sphere to
management and conservation of natural
resources and sustainable development.
Glimpse of pastoralists women across the
globe:
Pastoralists women perform key tasks
in sustaining pastoral way of life by
responding to multiple responsibilities. They
are custodian of indigenous knowledge and
traditional practices pertaining to natural
resource management. They contribute
tremendously in sustaining pastoral
economy by various forms. Their
contribution can be well understood from the
following excerpts from different pastoral
societies:
Residing over the western dryland
state of Rajasthan in India, Raikas are about
Quarter and half million people. They rear
livestock breeds like nari cattle, Marwari
sheep, camels and sirohi goats. The women
of Raika community paly diverse role like
managing the finance, trading cattle and milk
306 Dhruvi Bharwad, Bhoomi Shroff
in market, selling manures to farmers,
milking and nursing animals. Men are mostly
engage in grazing the herd throughout the
day. Therefore it is the women, who are the
key players in sustaining food production
system, contributing to labour and
biodiversity.
Maldharis are yet another
predominant pastoral group across Gujarat
in western India. The word Maldhari means
the one who owns livestock and comprises
few ethnic groups. They are spread across
Saurashtra region, North Gujarat and in
South Gujarat up to some extent. Women
play a very crucial role in these communities,
during the course of migration. They are the
one responsible for setting up temporary
house in their destinations across migration,
searching the place for the same, cooking
and stocking food for entire day, finding
nearby markets to sell milk and ghee and
taking care of children and nursing offspring.
Since livestock are kept in big/ huge
numbers, milking them is joint affair
between men and women. Women enjoy
decision making regarding livestock
management and selling its products. While
men are busy during the day in grazing
livestock during the entire day, it is womens
duty to watch them during night.
Mangolian Pastoralists live in a
transportable home known as a Ger.
Significant population in the country
practice nomadic pastoralism. Livestock
herding is an integral part of Mongolian
economy. It facilitates transportation for
humans and goods, provides food, clothes,
fuel, its products are helpful in a barter
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
economy. Mongolians rear livestock like
sheep, goats, horses, and camels. In some
parts of Mongolia Yaks and Reindeers are
also raised. Mongolian women take care of
household chores, raise children and young
livestock, spinning, knitting and sewing,
milking livestock and trading its products
and other handicrafts. They also manage
carts, setup and windup their temporary huts
and other belonging while migrating. It is
due to this important role that women play
in managing household activities that they
enjoy higher social status. Their contribution
in the economy is also another factor
contributing to their social position.
Karrayyu pastoralist women in
Ethiopia have inherent ability of adaption
and flexibility to adjust with changing
conditions. Cattle are integral part of
Karrayyu womens life and traditionally
these women are attached to cattle, without
which their life is not considered complete.
Traditionally, maintaining cow has been
womens domain and camel as mens in
Karrayu way of life. Along with Karrayyu
men who take decisions regarding livestock
and household, women also play an
important role which influences the livestock
management and household in significant
manner. Women also play a role in
controlling family assets and coordinating
household labour. Women also exercise
considerable power and decision making
regarding milk production and food
distribution. In traditional religion and
Karrayyu law have placed women on
superior status. Under this status women also
enjoy considerable amount of importance
 Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral
Societies Across the Globe
and respect in all spheres of social life.
Despite of increasing workload due to
environmental changes women have evolved
mechanism that enable them to fetch water,
fire wood, fodder and other commodities
essential for living.
In Somali region the responsibility of
earning livelihood and generating income
mainly falls on the womens shoulders.
Women have taken over the responsibilities
of men as bread-earner for the family by
exploring alternative livelihood
opportunities which men were reluctant to
do after loosing their herds in recurring
droughts. As a result women are now
exercising greater decision making power
over men in matter relating to household
management, trading of livestock and its
product. In spite of living in traditional
Islamic society, women are stepping outside
their home to work and generate more
income for the family.
Yet another significant case is of
Massai women. The Massai pastoralist
women like most pastoralist women are
involved in variety of tasks involving close
interaction with natural resources. When a
Massai woman becomes an adult, she will
be knowing about 300 species of plants that
can be used for medicinal purpose, for
humans and livestockxi. Women pastoralists
preserving traditional knowledge,
facing new challenges. UNCCD, IFAD
xi. Women pastoralists preserving
traditional knowledge, facing new
challenges. UNCCD, IFAD
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
307
. Thus Massai women are custodians
of traditional knowledge of sustaining
natural resources. They also play a role of
household manager and care taker, where in
they pass their traditional indigenous
knowledge to their children. Among the
Peulh pastoralists in Senegal, the women
take care of household and livestock. They
are also responsible for setting up tents at
their destinations in the course of migration,
fetching water and nursing young livestock,
searching pastures is also womens duty.
The pastoralist women of Andean
mountains, Bolivia play a significant role in
sustainable management of fragile wetland
ecosystem. Among these llama raising
community, womens role include taking
care of children and their education,
preparing food, grazing their livestock while
men are away for long durations. Women
are also in charge of spinning wool and
weaving fibre. They also contribute in
sustainable management of natural resource
by deciding about the pastures to be used
and rotating use of hill and slope pastures.
They also decide the number of livestock to
be grazed in pastures to avoid over grazing
in the pastures. They are also keepers and
providers of traditional indigenous
knowledge pertaining to natural resource
management, preserving and protecting such
fragile wetland ecosystem.
Pastoralists residing in the Romanian
Carpathian Mountains immensely contribute
in environmental conservation. Most of the
men in this region migrate to Western Europe
in search of employment leaving the women
behind to take care of majority of tasks. The
308 Dhruvi Bharwad, Bhoomi Shroff
pastoralist women perform the dual
responsibility of handling the household and
livestock while their husbands are away.
With their indigenous knowledge they also
contribute to livestock production in an
environmentally sustainable way.
For the Bedouin community residing
in the Rift valley of Southern Jordon life is
very challenging given the harsh climatic
conditions and landscape. Bedouin women
play a dual role of managing livestock and
household. All the tasks related to household
management like grazing, milking, making
milk products are performed by women.
Women understand the needs of their
environment and respond accordingly
through their actions. They also contribute
to environment conservation in their own
distinct ways. To avoid land degradation due
to over grazing, they graze their goats lightly
on sparse vegetation cover. They protect the
dessert vegetation knowing and valuing its
healing properties. Also the usage of wood
as fuel is confined to dead wood, hence the
over all existence is dependent on living in
harmony with nature.
Bakhtiars of Iran practice a very
unique way of managing and regenerating
the scare natural resources. During the
course of migration, upon reaching the
winter pastures, the women pick up the good
quality seeds and put them in lather pouches
which are later fixed on specially trained
head goats. While grazing in the pastures,
these head goats spread the seeds on the
ground. The rest of the herd walks over it
and their excrement become the manure.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
This way desertification and land
degradation is prevented and pastures are
sustainably managedxii.
Some initiatives on development front:
Since 1997, United Nations has been
practising gender mainstreaming as strategy
for achieving gender equality. This means
evaluating the activity including legislations,
policies and programmes separately for men
and women. It also entails considering both
womens and mens needs and experiences
in the design, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of policies and
programmesxiii.
The issue of pastoralism started
receiving attention on the global front
recently. Prior to this, there were some
anthropological and historical studies
conducted on these societies, which were
documented in books and journals. There is
dearth of literature on pastoralism in general
and particularly on women.The international
policy instruments including conventions
and declarations that talks about sustaining
pastoralism are ILO convention 169
concerning indigenous and tribal people,
International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural rights in UNESCO Declaration
xii. Women pastoralists preserving
traditional knowledge, facing new
challenges. UNCCD, IFAD
xiii. FAO 2012. Invisible Guardians Women
manage livestock diversity, FAO Animal
Production and Health Paper No. 174,
Rome, Italy
 Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral
Societies Across the Globe
on Cultural Diversity, DANA Declaration on
Mobile Peoples and Conservation (Jordan,
2002), IUCNs Bangkok Resolution on
Mobile Indigenous Peoples and
Conservation (2004), Wilderswil
Declaration on Livestock Diversity, Segovia
Declaration of Nomadic and Transhumant
pastoralists and Mera Declaration of Women
Pastoralists (India 2010). All these
instruments endorses for an environment that
recognize, promote, preserve and support
indigenous peoples rights, stressing on
pastoralists. These instruments considers
mobility as the key for survival of
pastoralism. They also mention that
pastoralism is adaptive production strategy
through sustainable management of natural
resources.
Out of these instruments Mera
declaration of Women Pastoralists
particularly focuses on pastoralists women.
Global Gathering of Women Pastoralist, held
during November 2010 at Mera, Gujarat,
India which came out with Mera
Declaration. This gathering had participants
from 32 countries. The aim of the gathering
was to contribute in empowerment of women
pastoralists. The major issues concerning
women that came out of this was education,
health, representation in decision making,
capacity building and advocacy. The
document produced in lieu of the Gathering
serves as support document for pastoral
policy development. The women gathered
felt that their voice is still unheard at Global
platform despite the valuable contribution
they make to their own society. The Mera
Declaration has 23 points recognized by the
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
309
women gathered, which talks about:
recognising pastoralists womens role
in environmental sustainability,
pastoral mobility as fundamental
right, them as indigenous group
ensuring equal rights to pastoralists
women, access to grazing land, their
representation in governance
protecting their rights and
safeguarding nomadic areas for
womens safety
developing policies favouring
pastoralism and implementing such
policies, that sustain pastoralism,
programmes for accessing education
for their children, programmes
addressing health concerns
support organizations protecting
pastoralists and their rights, womens
rights, pastoral research
promote regional policies that respect
traditional grazing territories
The recommendations from the
declarations are meant for Governments,
governing agencies of the Unites Nations,
relevant national and international
organizations, research institutions and
pastoral customary leaders. The gathering
also focussed on challenges faced by
pastoralists women in terms of changing
social, political, economic and
environmental factors.
Apart from these, on the development
front the important landmarks addressing the
310 Dhruvi Bharwad, Bhoomi Shroff
issues and needs of pastoralism are few
declarations and alliances that emerged out
of various pastoralist gatherings having
representatives from various pastoral
societies, institutions and organizations
across the globe. Alliances like World
Initiatives for Sustaining Pastoralism
(WISP) and World Alliance of Mobile
Indigenous Peoples(WAMIP) have emerged
recently providing a common platform to
Pastoralists across the world to gather and
raise their voices. WAMIP is an alliance of
Pastoralists across the globe living a
nomadic life and practicing mobility as a
livelihood strategy and also contributing to
natural resources and biological diversity.
The mission of WAMIP is to assist and
empower mobile indigenous people
throughout the world to maintain their
mobile lifestyle in pursuit of livelihoods and
cultural identity, to sustainably manage their
common property resources and to obtain
full respect to their rights.xiv According to
WAMIP the ideal future would recognize
and appreciate mobility as a strategy for
securing sustainable livelihood and
conserving the biodiversity. Solidarity would
exist within the mobile indigenous groups
and with other indigenous groups. Mobile
indigenous people would be granted rights
over natural resources as per United Nations
Draft Declaration. Further, the mobile
indigenous people will get respect and
recognition socially, will be allowed to
determine strategies for the conservation and
sustainable use of natural resources based
xiv. Source: WAMIP Website, http://
www.cenesta.org/
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
on their societal culture and laws, will have
freedom to live with their distinct identities,
culture, values, customs, traditions, social
setup, customary laws, and knowledge.
Moreover, they will be free to develop
relations with people across borders and
engage in activities and initiatives that aim
at peaceful resolution of conflict.
Another recent alliance is World
Initiative for Sustaining Pastoralism (WISP),
which is global network for capacity
building and advocacy of pastoral
development. It focuses on empowering
pastoralism through collaboration between
Pastoral societies, NGOs, Governments and
Aid agencies. By focusing on networking
and capacity building WISP helps
pastoralists in sustainable management of
natural resources. WISP contributes in
empowerment of pastoral societies and
organizations by giving them a platform for
knowledge building and sharing to influence
policies affecting their livelihood and for
sustainable management of their resources.
Further WISP also contributes in
understanding pastoralism as sustainable
resource management system, by
considering various socio-economic and
environmental discoursesxv
So far as Governments are concerned
it is observed that their policies are aimed at
sedentrization of pastoralists, ignoring
women. However as mentioned earlier
Government policies in Mongolia, Central
Asia and Europe are pro pastoralists in
nature. In many countries, taking help from
xv. Source: www.iucn.org/wisp whatwisp/
 Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral
Societies Across the Globe
NGOs, local government and aid agencies
women pastoralist are adapting to changing
circumstances and are exploring new
avenues like trading handicrafts, livestock
products and small businesses to generate
income. Such initiatives have not only
uplifted them economically but also socially,
by enhancing their knowledge, skills and
status. There are few organizations led by
pastoralists women working on womens
rights, livelihood, education and health care
for pastoralist women.
Conclusion:
This study has discussed the role of
pastoralist women in sustaining pastoralism
as a way of life. They are a backbone of
pastoral economy and without their
contribution; survival of these societies is
not possible. Pastoral societies across the
globe differ from each other in some way or
the other. However, the position of women
is more or less the same. Inspite of their
valuable contribution, they are playing a
subordinate role. They have lower social and
economic position. Despite playing a major
role in livestock production, women are not
principal beneficiaries of output from
pastoral economies in many countries. Their
restricted gender role in traditional set up
gives them less exposure to public life.
Women labour is at the centre of pastoral
economy and as result girls are deprived
from getting education since they attend to
their familys needs and work all day to
generate additional income. Another factor
of early marriage in these societies also
deprives them from getting proper education.
Women are also victims of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
311
commercialization of livestock and natural
resources which have led to a gradual shrink
in the hitherto prevailing power structure
making women subordinate to men.
Pastoral societies are worst affected
by climate change. Migration in search of
water and grazing pastures has increased as
a result of over exploitation of natural
resources and depleting pastures. This has
increased the workload of women in terms
of loading and unloading tents, fetching
water, collecting firewood, taking care of
household chores, children and livestock
while migrating. Also the fact that women
dont have the right to own livestock in their
own society and right to own land in larger
context makes them one of most vulnerable
in the entire pastoral economy. In some parts
of the world pastoralists women are also
victims of ethnic conflict and warfare.
In the light of these multiple
challenges that pastoralists women face, they
have shown immense strength in surviving
in an already marginalized system with very
little support from external world. Their
contribution in unacknowledged and they are
surviving as subordinate individuals exiting
on margins. However in some pastoral
societies of the world women do hold an
equitable position in their household and
community, but such cases are few as in the
larger picture majority of pastoralists women
continue to be in pitiable conditions.
There is an urgent need for efforts to
provide opportunity to pastoralist women to
attain grater power, prestige and
participation. Pastoralists women should be
brought to a common platform across the
312 Dhruvi Bharwad, Bhoomi Shroff

world to share their views, raise their
concern and stand up for their rights. Their
representation in decision making process
and policy dialogues should be encouraged.
Policy maker should view pastoralists as
conservators of environment and design
policies that will ensure their right to access
grazing land, water and other natural
resources. There also a need to preserve and
share the strong indigenous knowledge base
of pastoralists women pertaining to
sustainable management of natural resources
and environment conservation. Another
aspect that needs attention is enhancing the
research base on pastoralists womens
capacities, through establishing resource
centres regionally and globally.Region wise
detailed studies on gender dimension of
pastoralism is required to understand their
issues and strengths. This will help in
shaping right policies benefitting pastoralism
in general and particularly women.
Successful pastoralist community leaders,
especially women should be promoted as
role model and change agents to the world.
More women in pastoral community should
be encouraged to take leadership roles in
development initiatives concerning
pastoralism. Access to education and health
care services, access to technology,
information and awareness, economic
stability with independent income,
attainment of human rights, right to own
livestock and land are some of issues that
should be focussed for their empowerment.
Such access would bring them at par with
men and raise their status. Tailor made
mobile education and health care services
keeping women in centre must be designed,
where in specially trained pastoralist women
can become service provider. Such initiatives
would not only increase the womens
exposure in larger spaces but also set up
success stories for other pastoralists women.
Last but not the least there is a strong need
to recognize pastoralism and mobility as
sustainable way of livelihood and value
pastoralists womens role in conservation
and regeneration of natural resources.

Reference:

Agarwal, A. (1999). Greener Pastures: Politics, Market And Community Among Migrant Pastoral
People, Durham, N C, Landon: Duke University Press
Alexander, B. (1999). The Passing Herd: The Last Reindeer Herders OfTuva, Siberia World And
I Vol, 14, Issue 14.
Blench, R. M. (2000). Extensive Pastoral Livestock Systems: Issues And Options For Future. London:
Overseas Development Institute
Blench, R. (2001). Pastoralism In New Millennium, Overseas Development Institute, United Kingdom
Dyer, C. (2006). (Ed.) The Education of Nomadic Peoples: Current Issues, Future Prospects.
Oxford, UK and New York: Berghahn Books.

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 Understanding Role of Women in Sustaining Pastoralism: Excerpts from Pastoral 313
Societies Across the Globe
FAO (2012). Invisible Guardians Women Manage Livestock Diversity, FAO Animal Production
And Health Paper No. 174, Rome, Italy.
Flintan, F. (2008). Womens Empowerment In Pastoral Societies. A Report For IUCN, Ethiopia.
Gurung, J.D. (2010). Gender And Desertification: Expanding Roles For Women To Restore Dryland
Areas. Report For IFAD. Rome: IFAD. Www.Ifad.Org/Pub/Gender/Desert/Gender_Desert.Pdf.
Swift J. (1988). Major Issues In Pastoral Development With Special Emphasis On Selected African
Countries. Rome: FAO
Kratli, S., And Dyer, C. (2009). Mobile Pastoralists And Education: Strategic Options. Education
For Nomads Working Paper No. 1. London: International Institute For Environment And
Development (IIED). Http://Pubs.Iied.Org/Pdfs/10021iied.Pdf.
MARAG (2010). Summary Report And Global Action Plan: Women Pastoralists
Nori, M. (2004). Gender, Pastoralism And Islam: A Challenging Crucible. Report For The Milking
Drylands Project Funded By The European Commission And Marie Curie. Http://
Milkingdrylands.Ominiverdi.Org/Docs/Gendermnofin.Doc
Rota, A., and Sperandini, S. (2010a). Gender And Livestock. Livestock Thematic Papers: Tools For
Project Design. Rome, IFAD. Www.Ifad.Org/Lrkm/Factsheet/Genderlivestock.Pdf.
Rota, A., and Sperandini, S. (2010b). Livestock And Pastoralists. Livestock Thematic Papers: Tools
For Project Design. Rome: IFAD. Www.Ifad.Org/Lrkm/Factsheet/Pastoralists.Pdf.
UNCCD (2007) Women Pastoralists.Preserving Traditional Knowledge.Facing Modern Challenges.
Bonn: UNCCD.
UNESCO (2004) Women and Gender Studies in Asia Pacific. Regional Unit for Social and Human
Sciences in Asia and Pacific. Bangkok: UNESCO.
World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (2007). Change of Wind or Wind of Change? Climate
Change, Adaptation and Pastoralism.
Ykhanbai, H., Odgerel, Ts., Bulgan, E. and Naranchimeg, B. (Undated). Herder Women Speak Out:
Towards More Equitable Co- Management of Grasslands and other Natural Resources in
Mongolia. Internet: Http://Www.Idrc.Ca/En/Ev-93080-201-1- DO_TOPIC.Html

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

ELECTED DALIT WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN GRAM
PANCHAYATH - WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO KOLAR
DISTRICT, KARNATAKA
Introduction
Womens representation in
mainstream political activity has important
implications for the broader arena of
governance in any country. Direct political
representation of Dalit women in Panchayath
Raj is a central human right in itself and
enables the realization of a host of other
human rights. Political voice and decision-
making power concerning basic services,
economic development and social justice are
critical factors in challenging and
transforming structural caste-class-gender
discrimination, and enabling Dalit women
to realize their fundamental rights. Political
representation also demands accountability
from state and non-state actors to guarantee
and respect these womens equal political
voice and development. This requires a
transformation of power relationships both
within institutions of governance and in the
womens social development.
Recent legal and policy reforms in
India to ensure the representation of
marginalized social groups in decentralized
governance, including Dalits and
specifically Dalit women, through
constitutionally mandated reservations in
Panchayati Raj institutions bring these issues
to the fore. They demand analysis to
* Research Scholar, Research Fellow, Department of Social Work, Bangalore University, Jnanabarathi campus,
Bangalore, Karnataka, India Email : nageshahv@gmail.com
** Center for Women Studies, Bangalore University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Email :
sathishbub@gmail.com
Nagesha HV*
Sathish Kumar KM**
determine, that the way Dalit women are
enabled to clime their right to political
representation in local governance, and the
extent to which this participation is an
effective tool for empowerment and
realization of human rights for excluded
social groups.
Focus on Dalit women representation in
politics
The position of women has always
been a rather ambivalent one in our culture.
A woman is a symbol of sacrifice and
blossom of life. She prepares herself for life
ahead and lives in a daze with an
unexplained smile. One side, she was rise
to the status of divinity and on the other side
she was exploited in every aspect. There is
invisibility and underestimation of womens
economic contribution. Though they
contribute nearly one third of Indias GNP,
it is undervalued and invisible. Yet she
continuous to be in a disadvantaged position.
The problems of inequality of status and
freedom, sexual harassment, lack of
economic independence, lack of health
facility, lack of access to credit, training,
decision making positions which prevent
women to participate in formal and informal
social organizations. A number of research
 Elected Dalit Women Representation in Gram Panchayath - With Special Reference
to Kolar District, Karnataka
findings indicate that women are
disadvantaged gender in both rural and urban
areas of the country.
Women in many societies are often
restricted to the roles inside the house, those
of wife and mother. While major changes
have occurred in the status of women in
some parts of the world in recent decades,
norms that restrict women to the home are
still powerful in defining the activities that
are deemed appropriate for women and they
exclude political life which by its very nature
takes place in a public forum. Caste has
played an instrumental role in raising issues
related to the more marginalized among
women. In hierarchical society, women
belonging to the lower caste have lesser
access to public fore, which is compounded
by their gender. This exclusion making it
difficult for these women to represent and
articulate the voices of their constituencies
and their demands are often overlooked or
subsumed by the dominant sections of the
society.
Womens empowerment is one of the
objectives of the 3rd generation Panchayath
in India. Women in India are awfully
underrepresented in political institutions.
The political power, asses to decision
making and authority are the critical
prerequisites for womens equality in the
process for nation building.
The democratic decentralization
programme proposed through the 73 rd
constitution amendment act, provide for
reservation of 1/3rd elected seats to women
is significant step in political history of
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
315
independent India. It offers at ones a
challenge and an opportunity for women
generally for SC and ST women in particular
make an impact and the policy planning and
programme administration level in each and
every locality of our vast country.
Research Methodology
o Objectives of the study
Socio-economic demographic profile
of the respondents
Political profile of the respondents
To analyze the constraints faced by
the respondents because of the
vulnerability
o Method of the study
A descriptive study was conducted
among 50 out of 504 (331 Scheduled Caste
and 173 Scheduled Tribe) elected Dalith
women representatives from kolar district
[Total Five Taluks: Bangarpet-(10
respodents), Kolar-(10 respodents), Malur-
(10 respodents), Mulabagal-(10 respodents),
Srinivaspura-(10 respodents), 10% of the
total universe(504) the researcher was
adopted Purposive sampling technique, and
the study was based on both primary and
secondary data. A pre tested semi structured
questionnaire was administered and data was
analysed by using percentages and
proportions. The secondary data was
obtained from various published and
unpublished records such as books, journals,
magazines, newspapers, and websites etc,.
316 Nagesha HV, Sathish Kumar KM
Major Findings
The present study was conducted with
the aim of Elected Dalith Women
Representation in Gram Panchayath. The
information was elicited as per the
objectives of the study.
It is evident from the Table No-2
shows that, the majority (78%) of the
respondents belonging to the age group
varying 31 years to 50 years. It may be stated
here that age factor is off course a significant
factor. A matured age reflects quite sound
and reasonable views in conformity with the
needs and necessities warranted by the
circumstances. Almost 84 percent are
litretes, as it was observed self help group
is one of the effective strategy because of
which many representatives became
literates. The data clearly shows that nearly
62% of respondents were involved in
different occupations such as agriculture and
coolie. It can be understood since they were
felt the need for representation in politics.
Majority of 94% respondents were married.
More than half (60%) of the respondents
were belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and
rest (40%) were Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Income also plays one of the determinants
for representation in politics. The
respondents in the study were having very
low income. It is interesting to know that no
woman elected representatives was paid any
honorarium for her work. It thereby shows
that these respondents were working on self
fewer bases for an overall general welfare
and development of the people and that of
the women interests in particular.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Table No-3 shows that, majority of
78% of the respondents were not aware the
73rd Constitution (Amendment) Act 1992
which provides reservation of one-third seats
to women in general and to Scheduled Caste
(SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in particular.
In the study populati8on majority of 84%
were elected for first time as Panchayath
representatives, so they have yet to gain more
political experience. The findings of the
study revealed that Self Help Groups are the
major inspiration and determinants factor for
the membership in Panchayath raj
institutions. It is observed that all the
respondents contested elections from
reserved seats. Majority (90%) of the
respondents were supported by one or the
political party. The support from any party
however does not always imply that the
person is an active member of the party. It
has been observed that primary membership
and affiliation to political party become more
active and articulate. It may be added here
that some respondents seek membership of
political party after their successful contest
in the elections. However, in some cases
sometimes the respondents enjoyed backing
and support of political party as well. All the
respondents had links with one or the other
political party as such members were
persuaded and astonished by their political
mentors who were already in politics.
Majority of 32% of respondents mentioned
that they had pressure from the family
especially from their husbands and father-
in-laws. Nearly 24% of respondents wished
to help people in the society and to work for
the development of concerned village. And
 Elected Dalit Women Representation in Gram Panchayath - With Special Reference
to Kolar District, Karnataka
same number mentioned political parties
pressurized the respondents. 16% of the
respondents entered Panchayath to hold
power and to prove their identity. Around
4% of the respondents expressed since there
was no women member availability they
were forced to contest election.
Bringing women into power is not
only a matter of equity, of correcting an
unjust and unrespective system political
restructuring is the key to economic growth
with justice. Much has been said about
women elected representatives in
Panchayath. The Table No-4 shows that, very
few (20%) respondents visit Panchayath
office daily, because of topographical
consideration and domestic constraints.
Majority 80% of the respondents reported
that they attended the meetings regularly.
Around 70% of the respondents viewed that
they are active members in the Panchayath.
And also more than half (56%) of the
respondents had complete on no freedom of
expression in the meetings. The rest felt that
gender disparity was found to be the major
reasons for not entertaining their viewpoints,
as male member s view points were
preferred in male headed penchant, other
reason being that they felt hesitant to present
their views in front of male members. The
study revealed that around 64 % of the
respondents have visited every month their
ward area to look into the problems faced
by the ward members. It can be understood
from the above data that the reservation of
women alone will not help them to make
decisions unless she becomes assertive.
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
317
The Table No-5 depicts the constraints
faced by the respondents in discharging their
responsibility. Out of fifty respondents
majority of them faced constraints from the
family and colleagues. Around 36% of the
respondents believed that the family had no
progressive to a social-economic standing
in the community because the family were
still taboo ridden and victims of ignorance
and guided by old traditions. A majority 94%
of the respondents stated that family
members do not help them in household
chores so household chores act as constraint
in their work. Whenever women take up
Panchayath works and role seriously, some
oversight in family responsibility will only
be inevitable simply because they will not
be able to devote the same amount of time
and energy compared to when they were not
Panchayath members. Nearly 32% of the
respondents faced constraints like family
interference in their work; still another 56%
respondents faced lack of support by family
that is family did not support them
economically. On the whole it may be
concluded that the respondents were
between the fire and the frying pan. Neither
the government gave them any dole or
incentive to inspire their importance and
position in the family, nor was the
respondents themselves on their own of any
assistance to the family in performance of
its daily chores of the life. A majority of the
respondents revealed that financial
assistance is a necessary ingredient for their
self-esteem, their independent functioning
and their committed concern and approach
to the needs and urges of the people of the
318 Nagesha HV, Sathish Kumar KM
area.
Suggestions
On the basis of the study following
suggestions are made:
It is evident that mens attitude
towards womens entry into politics
has begun to change from that of total
rejection to limited encouragement
and in some cases even to active
encouragement. This trend needs to
be strengthened through orientation
courses and training programmes for
official and elected representatives,
both men and women.
Besides there is a need to train the
women leaders at regular intervals to
enable them to manage the
responsibilities assigned to them in
the Panchayath at all the levels. Since
the hard of the women members found
it difficult to forego their wages for
attending training programmes, these
must be organized at their doorstep
and some of the articulate Panchayath
leaders should be involved as the
trainers.
Another important effort required for
real empowerment of Dalit women is
to bring about an attitudinal change
in both men and women. The feeling
that women are meant for household
activities and rearing children needs
to be transformed into a feeling of
equal partnership of women and men.
To inculcate this they should be
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
imparted education for bringing about
social economical and political
awareness among both.
It is not enough that women are
motivated, bit the whole household
and the community, especially men
need to be made aware and be
convinced and hence they too support
the women in their effort for an
integral development.
Studies on women in political have
emphasized that outside world makes
women more alert and also active in
the political process. There could be
two ways of doing it. Firstly.
Interaction between enlightened rural
women and illiterate elected ones
should be encouraged. Secondly,
these women should be taken out to
the urban areas and their interaction
with educate urban elected women
representatives be arranged.
The women should also be
encouraged to organize themselves.
The Mahila Mandals in the village can
be effectively used as instruments to
mobilize them for this purpose. Some
successful womens organizations can
also act as catalytic agents for
encouraging the womens
participation in social and political
activities. The government should
provide finances and infrastructure to
some of the deserving and successful
women organization to take up the
responsibility of encouraging the
 Elected Dalit Women Representation in Gram Panchayath - With Special Reference
to Kolar District, Karnataka
women elected representatives.
Incentives play a vital role in ensuring
the participation of elected
representatives in decision-making. It
has been noticed that there are certain
very active and enlightened women
leaders at all the levels of Panchayaths
who have been successfully
implementing the developmental
schemes and have ensured over all
development of their constituencies.
Such leaders need to be encouraged
by publicizing their leadership
qualities and honoring them in public
meetings. It will certainly encourage
other women representatives and their
success stories and good practices will
gate replicated.
The media both print as well as
electronic can play an important role
in creating awareness in the rural
society. It can act as an agent of
political socialization for inculcating
the values of gender equality and
gender justice.
All the members may not have the
same caliber and expertise, the group
developers should identify the
inefficient members of the group and
impart proper training to them in order
to make them competent.
The training of Dalit women
Panchayath members should be based
on their won local experiences and
Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
319
elicits their involvement in preparing
a framework that will enable them to
analyze and understand their roles and
responsibility in accordance with the
73rd Constitutional Amendment.
Conclusion
Panchayath Raj is not a new
phenomenon in the country. Its illustration
in history goes back to more than thousand
years. Panchayath Raj Institution have
always been considered as a means to good
governance and 73 rd Constitutional
Amendment was effected in the hope that it
would lead to better governance and provide
political space to the disadvantaged section
of the society like Scheduled Caste,
Scheduled Tribes and women. Dalith women
face discrimination, exclusion and violence
as a result of both their caste and gender.
Dalit womens participation in the Grama
Panchyat is nessesary so that they can think
about Dalit womens issues. In as much as
Dalit womens participation is required, they
also need to be given support and guidance.
Then only can they become capable
representatives. The government, NGOs and
donor community need to understand and
address this situation right from the start.
Crucial aspects to the development of Dalith
womens potential is training and other
empowerment activities that lead to Dalit
women can gather, the more they will be
empowered to engage with political process
and be involved in collective action.
320 Nagesha HV, Sathish Kumar KM

Table 1: Total Statistics of Kolar District Grama Panchayat Elected Members

Grama Panchayat

Elected Members
Sl. Total
Taluks Scheduled
Scheduled Caste Backward Class General
No Tribe

Tot Tot Tot Tot

M F Total M F al M F al M F al M F al

1 Bangarpet 348 271 619 115 82 197 5 35 40 126 82 208 102 72 174

2 Kolar 327 259 586 99 80 179 29 52 91 39 20 59 60 107 267

3 Malur 265 193 458 68 53 121 31 29 60 93 57 150 76 51 127

4 Mulbagal 273 207 480 92 64 156 7 29 369 171 112 283 3 2 5

5 Srinivasapura 236 166 402 64 52 116 23 28 51 64 47 111 85 39 124

Di strict Total 1449 1096 2545 438 331 769 95 173 611 493 318 811 426 721 697

Source: Kolar District at A Glance 2011-12 (www.kolar.nic.in). PP-187

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Elected Dalit Women Representation in Gram Panchayath - With Special Reference 321
to Kolar District, Karnataka

Table 2: Socio- Economic Demographic Status of the Respondents

Socio-Economic Status Responses Resp ondents (N=50) Percentage

21-30 10 20%

31-40 26 52%
Age
41-50 13 26%

51-60 01 02%

Illiterate 08 16%

Primary (1-7th ) 29 58%

Education
High Primary (8 th
13 26%
PUC)

Agriculture 20 40%

Occupation Coolie 11 22%

Home Maker 19 38%

Married 47 94%
Marital Status
Widow 03 06%

Scheduled Caste 30 60%

Caste
Scheduled Tribe 20 40%

< 10,000.Rs 38 76%

Annual Income 10,001-20,000 Rs 08 16%

Above 20,001 Rs 04 08%

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

322 Nagesha HV, Sathish Kumar KM

Table 3: Socio- political profile of the Respondents

Aspects Responses Resp ondents (N=50) Percentage

Aware of 73r d amendment before Yes 11 22%

election No 39 78%

First Time 40 80%

Term Second Time 08 16%

Third Time 02 04%

Yes 45 90%
Support from Political Party
No 05 10%

Yes 10 20%
Member of the Political Party
Before the Contest No 40 80%

Hold power 08 16%

Help people in society 12 24%

Pressure from family

16 32%
members
Reason for Contest
Pressure from party
12 24%
leaders

Non-availability of
02 04%
candidate

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

 Elected Dalit Women Representation in Gram Panchayath - With Special Reference 323
to Kolar District, Karnataka
Table 4: Participation in Panchayath Activities of the Respondents

Indicators Responses Resp ondents (N=50) Percentage

Daily 11 22%

Visit to panchayath office Once in a Week 15 30%

Once in a Month 24 48%

Regularly 40 80%
Attendance at Meetings
Some times 10 20%

Active 35 70%
Type of participation in meetings
Passive 15 30%

Yes 09 18%

Freedom to express views No 28 56%

To some extent 13 26%

Daily 06 12%

Once in a Week 08 16%

Frequency of visit to the
Area/Field
Once in a Month 32 64%

Not at all 04 08%

Table 5: Family Constraints Faced by the Respondents

Responses Respondents (N=50) Percentage

Lack of support 28 56%

Household chores 47 94%

Econ omic constraints 34 68%

No social standing 18 36%

Interference 16 32%

Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

324 Nagesha HV, Sathish Kumar KM

Figure 1: Choice of the Study Area in Kolar District-Karnataka

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Social Work Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

CHALLENGES OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION: COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN RURAL MILIEU SRI LANKA
Introduction
Slow economic growth and
consequently persistent poverty, two decades
of destabilizing armed conflict and
discriminatory social norms have resulted in
a negative environment for women in Sri
Lanka. Despite achieving the Millennium
Development Goals pertaining to education
and health, other aspects of the third goal of
gender equality and empowerment of
women such as economic rights have yet to
be realized. Sri Lanka ranked 99 on the GEM
index, indicating a low ratio of female to
male earned income, and low participation
in decision-making positions. . Therefore, by
improving womens economic opportunities
and decision making, development agencies
action will contribute to establish gender
equality in Sri Lanka.
Numbers of community development
projects are carried by both the government
and nongovernment sectors in Sri Lanka.
The key objectives of all these development
programs are to empower and mobilise the
people at grassroots. In other words, the main
focus of these development projects are on
strengthening the vulnerable groups in
general, and empowering women in the areas
of economical, political and social in
particular. A mapping was conducted in
* Assistant Professor in Political Science, Department of Economics, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.
** Final Year Student, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, India chandimaij@yahoo.com
Aruni Samarakoon*
Chandima Jayasena**
order to raise awareness on rights and enrich
capacities of women in order to address
issues relating to domestic or gender-based
violence.
As result of that, Government of Sri
Lanka (GOSL) introduced self-employment
training under the Divinegumavillage
developmentprogram. The key objective of
the Divineguma is to strengthen the home
based economy through cottage industries
at household level to ensure sustainable
income and employment to rural families
(Mahinda Chinthana). As the article in the
Daily News pointed out that, the
Divineguma program is one of the major
national development programs in
contemporary Sri Lanka. Its implementation
is in accordance with the community
participation methodology. The Program is
supposed to address the following
components of rural economy in Sri Lanka:
up-liftment on the livelihood of low income
families; renovate the minor irrigations such
as canals and tanks in the rural areas;
construction of necessary toilets of the rural
schools; construction of the rural road
network; modernization of the Kindergartens
and the necessary equipment; modernization
of the maternity centers and provide
necessary equipments; extension of existing
rural drinking water schemes; extension of
existing rural electricity schemes; and the
rehabilitation of the flood damaged areas
(Daily News, 10/10- Monday). On the other
hand, not only government but also
nongovernmental sectors pay heavy
attention to the alleviation of poverty, and
women have been accorded special attention
in this regard. . The General Assembly report
of the United Nations cited that that, the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
adopted in 1995 at the fourth world
conference on women focused on improving
the situation of rural women through equal
access to productive resources ,especially
land, capital and technology as well as to
gain full employment, decision making
,education and health service (United
Nation General Assembly Report, 27/JULY/
2005) One of the sub organization of UN,
UNESCO has implemented activisties
aimed at producing and diffusing relevant
policies that would allow policy makers and
civil society to better plan and implement
policies that effectively address matters
relating to gender equality and womens
empowerment. Particularly in relation to
education, sexual and gender based violence,
womens political participation and
participation in decision
m a k i n g ( w w w. u n e s c o . o r g . c o m ) .
International and local Non Governmental
Organisations (NGOs) formulate and
implement polices pertaining to building the
centres for women who are victims of
GenderBased Violence/ Domestic Violence
(GBVs/DVs) and establishing self
employment programs such as handcrafts,
market based food production etc.
The research problem is: why do
community development policies with broad
participation from the grassroots fail to
attain their goals of empowering and
mobilising the women, who being as a
vulnerable group in Sri Lanka?
Two research questions are discussed
in the research. One is that, what type of
social and cultural problems occur as
obstacles for women in their participation
for community development programs.
Second question is that, how womens
attitudes/opinions affect their engagement in
CDPs. Basically, polices from GOSL and
NGOS focus on raising awareness and
empowering women economically and
socially. Moreover, women are motivated to
protect their rights and encourage exercising
their rights.
Objectives
The objective of this research is to
understand how governmental and civil
organisations formulate and implement
community development policies at
grassroots aimed at empowering and
mobilising women in Sri Lanka and yet fail
at empowering women: what are the
community respond for programs.
Research Methodology
Research methods are encompassed
upon primary and secondary data. The
primary data is collected form publications,
reports and newspapers. The secondary data
is based on collection of oral history,
questionnaires and case studies. Priority is
given to qualitative data. The data is
interpreted by phenomenology. The
justification for selecting phenomenology as
a method is that the data can be understood
from the responded point of view. And this
is a sensitive area and number of stories can
be given by the respondents.
The research sample is selected from
Mudungoda and Ellawala GN divisions, in
Kirialla DN division in Rathnapura District,
Sri Lanka. The two programs are performed
by government and non government sectors
as Divineguma by Government and Self
employment training by Caritas
Sithumina, the civil organisation are
operated programs for rural women
sustained economically. The purposive
sample consists with 60 respondents: 30
from Gamidiriya and 30 from Self
employment training.
Operational Definition
The concept of empowerment
traces its history in the mid-17th century
with the legalistic meaning to invest with
authority. Thereafter, this concept was
modernized to mean to enable or permit.
After 1980 s, the novel concept of measuring
economic development through human
development focusing on political
empowerment linkage with feminist
discourse went a long way in shaping the
idea of womens empowerment. During
1990 s economists argued that development
if not engendered, is endangered and the
major component of the global society i.e.
women are left outside the purview of the
fruits of development and planning, we
cannot achieve the desired goal of a
developed status of an economy, whether
it is developed or developing. The United
Nations has placed emphasis on the
empowerment of women as evident in the
Millennium Development Goals to trace
the progress of women empowerment across
the world (Nagaraja 2013). UNDP shows
womens empowerment has five
components: womens sense of self-worth;
their right to have and to determine choices;
their right to have access to opportunities and
resources; their right to have the power to
control their own lives, both within and
outside the home; and their ability to
influence the direction of social change to
create a more just social and economic order,
nationally and internationally. UNDP
focuses on gender equality and womens
empowerment not only as human rights, but
also because they are a pathway to achieving
the Millennium Development Goals and
sustainable development.
The position of women in society is
still low compared to their counterparts.
Particularly in developing countries women
have to face the glass ceiling. The major
reason being the discrimination between man
and woman on the basis of sex has created
various types of gender biases. Hence, efforts
were made to remove discrimination against
females and to establish equality has become
the part of the global movement emphasized
in all the Fourth World Conferences on
Women including the Beijing Conference in
1995. The World Bank has identified
empowerment as one of the key constituent
elements of poverty reduction and as a
primary development assistance goal. The
promotion of womens empowerment as a
development goal is based on the dual
argument that social justice is an important
aspect of human welfare. The Policy
Research Report of the World Bank has also
identified gender equality both as a
development objective and as a means to
promote growth, reduce poverty and
promote better governance.
Beijing Declaration (1995) presented
womens empowerment as a key strategy for
development and stated that womens full
participation on the basis of equality in all
spheres of society, including participation in
the decision-making process and access to
power are fundamental for the achievement
of equality, development and peace. Another
line of thought in development literature has
promoted social inclusion in institutions
as the key pathway to empowerment of
individuals and capitalism top-down
Figure: 1
Source: (Nagaraja 2013)
approaches to development and /or poverty
itself are seen as sources of
disempowerment. This process of social
inclusion was viewed as a process that
removes the institutional barriers and the
enhancement of incentives to increase the
access of diverse individuals and groups to
assets and development opportunities
(Nagaraja 2013).
The growth of civil society and
participatory development approach at both
macro and micro levels of society were also
proposed as the mechanisms by which
empowerment could take place. This
approach to empowerment focuses on State
and Civil Society institutions and
interpersonal gender dynamics within the
household as a part of the equation of social
exclusion and in need of directed efforts at
change.
Conceptual model for Gender and
Women Empowerment
 Findings
Challenges women participation in
development programme
In the male headed household, the
functions of the women were mainly,
reproducing, bearing and feeding the
children. Their roles weremother and wife
as opposed to breadwinner of the family.
Even if they start a home garden or cottage
industry they could not keep them away
from the family duties. For example, as
caregivers and mothers, they have to bring
their children when participating in the
training programs. They said, they do not
have anybody to look after their children at
home.

YES NO

Family support for

participating in the
program for Divi
Nagmuma 11 19

Figure 1:Family Support for Participating in the Program for Divi Naguma

Family support for

participating in the
program for
Sithumina Program YES NO
Targeting women in micro or small
enterprises will enable us to have the greatest
impact on women in Sri Lanka as two thirds
of women workers are engaged in the
informal sector.
Conclusion
Women are usually responsible for
domestic work; the care of children, family
health, cooking and providing food and other
household services. In most societies they
also play a major role in the productive
activities of the family; in forming, paid
domestic labour, services, industries and
income- generating activities. In some
societies they also have clear community
roles. In each of these areas reproduction,
production and the community-women have
often been adversely affected by the
development process. There is a wide gap
between womens high, yet unrecognized,
economic participation and their low
political and social power, and development
strategies have usually taken the needs of
the most vocal and political active as their
starting point.
Womens economic empowerment
enable the achievement of womens
participation in decision-making, and access
to and control over resources at the
household, community and private sector
levels which represent the fundamental
barriers women face to economic
empowerment in rural development
programme in Sri Lanka.
These findings on the whole have
highlighted a number of issues which need
to be researched further before using the
relevant programme in the women
participation of rural development
programmes. It is necessary to to develop
appropriate intervention to resolve above the
issues.
Hence non-government and
government agency should identify
fundamental barriers women face to
economic empowerment to womens
participation in decision-making, and access
to and control over resources at the
household, community and private sector
levels.
Reports on the economic situation of
developing countries often ignore links
between patterns of gender equality and the
achievement of sustainable economic growth
and human development Gender inequality
is usually results of development efforts and
an obstacle to achieving development.
Most development agencies are
simultaneously trying to achieve several
aims at the same time, such as poverty
alleviation, preservation of the environment,
economic growth macro-economic stability
and improvement of the position of women.
These variables are connected to each other,
both in a negative and positive manner. It
also helps to less participation of women in
community development programme in Sri
Lanka.
A woman is a subject of
marginalisation and discrimination within
her family, even when made aware of her
rights from a number of programs. Socially
and culturally construct pattern cannot be
changed with empowering and mobilising
projects conducted by GOSL (Better to say
state) or NGOs. The conventional system
can be altering by changing the norms,
acceptance and attitudes of whole society
than limiting the programs for women.
Also study suggested that need to
recommend suitable Social Work
intervention strategies to increase
participation of women identified in the
community development programme and
divergence tells us that there is a need for
identification of some cultural factors having
bearing on empowerment and autonomy.
There is a need to understand that the
concepts of empowerment and autonomy are
sufficiently different. Still a large part of
women do not have sufficient autonomy
regarding the value choices for their own
life. Again, it is also true that though not the
womens participation and autonomy have
a link with womens access to resources or
material well-being, it is to be accepted that
there is a variety of potential connections,
and there exists various forms of linkages
among these variables. Hence, the answer
for the question Are women really
empowered in Sri Lanka is nothing but not
yet to the desired level.

References
Boraian. M.P., (2008). Empowerment of Rural Women: the Deterrents & Determinants.
New Delhi : Concept publishing company
Malhotra. M., (ed) (2004). Empowerment of Women. Delhi : Isha Books
Meenai.Z., (2003). Empowering Rural Women: An Approach to empowering Women through credit
Based Self Help Groups. Delhi : Aakar Books
Nagaraja, B. (2013). Empowerment of Women in India: A Critical Analysis. IOSR Journal of
Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 9, Issue 2 (Mar. - Apr.), PP 45-52
 Gender Equality
GENDER EQUALITY AND andSOCIAL
Social Work:WORK:
Some Reflections
SOME REFLECTIONS
Introduction
Women who constitute almost half of
the worlds population are known to suffer
from many socio- economic disadvantages.
Since ages, she has been bestowed the
secondary status in the family and society.
The noticeable gap has been observed in
contribution made by women. The plight of
women in southern Asia (MDGs 2013) is at
fretful stage with low share and low
presentation with respect to womens share
of paid employment and womens
representation in national parliament.
Globally 4 out of 100 wage- earning jobs in
the non-agricultural sector are held by
women. The average share of women
members in parliaments worldwide was just
over 20% (2012).
To avail various socio economic
advantages, the principle of gender equality
is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its
preamble, fundamental Rights, Fundamental
Duties, and Directive Principles. The
political and legal efforts have been initiated
since 1947 not only to grant equality to
women but also empower the state to adopt
measures of positive discrimination in
favour of women. The marked shift in
approach to women issues from welfare to
development has been made in fifth five year
plan (1974-78). The concept of Women In
Development (WID) emerged in 1970s, the
philosophy underlying this approach is that
* Research Scholar & Assistant Professor, Dept. of Sociology, V N S G University, Surat, Gujarat, India.
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
Email : rekhanmistry@gmail.com
335
Rekha Mistry*
women are lagging behind in society and the
gap between men and women can be bridged
by remedial measures within the existing
structures.
India has also ratified various
international conventions and human rights
instruments committing to secure equal
rights of women and key among them is the
ratification of the Convention on Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against
women (CEDAW) in 1993.
In spite of all the efforts, according to
the report on Towards Achieving
Millennium Development Goals India,
2013, there are some appreciable
quantitative achievements with reference to
elimination of gender disparity in primary
education, Infant mortality rates, Mothers
Mortality Rates, but yet to accomplish other
targets like female literacy rate in the age
group of 15-24 years, the percentage of
females in wage employment in the non-
agriculture sector, is very scanty, i.e. 18.6%
in 2009-10 and the proportion of seats held
by women in National parliament (%) is
11.21% in 2013. The GENDER EQUITY
INDEX 2012 indicates that India ranks 66th
at educational attainment, 33rd at economic
Activity, 12th at empowerment, and 37th at
Gender Equity Index (GEI). On the whole
India is likely to fall short of a majority of
the targets and indicators with respect to
MDGs - 1, 3,4,5,7.
336 Rekha N. Mistry
India has to do grave efforts from all
dimensions in reaching the set MDGs
targets. The country needs paradigm shift to
inclusive growth model with proper legal
frame work and effective implementation of
the same. At the same time, Social structure
of Indian society is also responsible at a great
extent for the vulnerability of women with
the other factors like, ignorance of policy,
ineffective implementation of programs or
meager funding. Therefore, there is an
utmost need to understand and work with
the powerful impact of societal factors and
social customs like early girl marriages,
dowery which impede in bringing gender
equity in all most all walks of life. To make
women active partners in reduction of
poverty or to create the holistic social
development in a true sense as a goal, the
social work profession has to take leading
role in directing various strategies with
fundamental implication of human rights and
social justice for transformation of social
structure at all the three levels, micro,
mezzo, and macro.
Key Words: gender parity, social
structure, transformation, social
development, Inclusive growth, human
rights, social justice.
Title of the paper: Gender Equality and
Social Work: Some Reflections
The gain of development has
supplemented various facets of human life
but women, as a human being, are not
fortunate to have equal fruits of
developments in their baskets.
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
The issues related to gender inequality
has elevated since many centuries which did
not exist in ancient time in India. Ram Ahuja(
1994) points that in Vedic period, Indian
women had ample rights and were not
treated as inferior or subordinate but equal
to men. The position of women deteriorated
during colonization, especially between
1870s and 1950s. The Gender Equality is
a prior concerned in contemporary period
to achieve the target of holistic Human
Development in factual sense.
Understanding the scenario, the
United Nations (UN) General Assembly
adopted the Declaration on Rights to
development in 1986. The Declaration
defines development as a comprehensive
economic, social, cultural and political
process which aims at the improvement of
all individuals on the basis of their active,
free and meaningful participation in
development and the distribution of benefits
from development fairly to everyone. Thus,
development is a multidimensional and
value laden concept, both qualitative and
quantitative in nature. In short, it is broadly
understood as growth of human capabilities
for acquiring control over natural forces and
processes with the aim of improving the
material basis of human life. It should serve
as an aid to liberation, especially for women,
from all forms of social and economic
exploitation.
The Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) have been the most successful
global anti-poverty push in history. The
Millennium Declaration, made during the
 Gender Equality and Social Work: Some Reflections
UN Millennium Summit on 8th September
2000, was signed by 189 countries, including
147 Heads of State and Government, and
included eight (8) Goals called the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
MDGs and related targets and indicators
provide a framework for planning policy
interventions and benchmarks to monitor
progress in human development and poverty
reduction. MDGs revolve around the
women as a core group and perceive women
as an active partners and participants in the
process of accomplishments of MDGs.
With the deadline for the MDGs on
the horizon, significant and substantial
progress has been made in meeting many of
the targets, despite the impact of the global
economic and financial crisis. Several
important targets have or will be met by
2015, assuming continued commitment by
national governments, the international
community, civil society and the private
sector. As per the title of the paper, the author
would discuss achievements, causes for
discrepancy and future road map related to
various dimension of gender parity in Indian
community.
Overview of MDGs at Global Level
The world reached the overall
objective of poverty reduction target five
years ahead of the schedule. In developing
regions, the proportion of people living on
less than $1.25 a day fell from 47 per cent
in 1990 to 22 per cent in 2010. About 700
million fewer people lived in conditions of
extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990.
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
337
Achievements and plight of women @
Global level
Targets and the indicators of MDGs
three ( Annexure-I) disclose various
dimensions of Development of women like,
sex ratio, health status indicators (like infant
mortality rate, maternal mortality rate,
maternal morbidity rates, nutritional status,
life expectancy at birth), educational status
(like school enrolment of the female child at
elemental, high and technical education,
drop-out rate), nature and extent of
employment ratio in the work force, (types
of trades/professions, remuneration etc.), age
at marriage, participation in political
institutions and crimes against women.
Gender parity is closest to be achieved
at the primary level; however, only 2 out of
130 countries have achieved that target at
all levels of education. In developing regions
overall, the gender parity index (GPI),
defined as girls school enrolment ratio in
relation to boys enrolment ratio, at each
level of education is close to or in the range
of 0.97 and 1.03. Considerable progress has
been made over time in primary education.
But girls continue to face high barriers to
schooling in Northern Africa, sub-Saharan
Africa and Western Asia. Gender disparities
become more marked in secondary
education. In Western Asia, the index rose
from 0.66 to 0.90. Young women are less
likely than young men to pursue tertiary
education in Western Asia and Southern
Asia, with GPIs of 0.89 and 0.77,
respectively. Remarkable gains have been
made in the fight against malaria and
338 Rekha N. Mistry
tuberculosis. The hunger reduction target is
within reach, but accelerated progress and
bolder actions are needed in many areas like
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Mothers
Mortality Rate (MMR).
Achievements in access to womens
share of paid employment remains a distant
target. Globally, 40 out of every 100 wage-
earning jobs in the non-agricultural sector
were held by women in 2011. Recent surveys
in a sample of 37 developing countries,
mostly in Africa, show that womens
decision-making power at home remains
significantly lower than that of men when it
comes to large household purchases, visiting
family, relatives and friends, and womens
own health. The situation is worse when it
comes to money-related decisions, which are
disproportionately concentrated in the hands
of men. Cases of violence against women
are on increase. Globally, one out of three
women is beaten, coerced into sex, or
otherwise abused in her lifetime, with rates
of abuse reaching 70% in some countries.
Womens presentation in national
parliaments is very low. Globally, as of 31
January 2013, the average share of women
in parliament stood at 20.4 per cent.
The plight of women in southern Asia
(MDGs 2013) is at fretful stage with low
share and low presentation with respect to
womens share of paid employment and
womens representation in national
parliament. Whether it is in the public or
private sphere, women continue to be denied
opportunities to participate in decisions that
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
affect their lives. The suppression of
womens voices in many spheres, whether
deliberate or resulting from long-standing
discriminatory social and cultural norms,
contributes to the persistence of gender
inequality and limits human development.
Achievements and plight of women @
India level
India is a developing country where
women, the important national resource,
constitute 48.46% of the total population
(2011). Overall female literacy rate is
65.46% compare to male 82.14%.
As far as Target 4 of MDG three-
Eliminate gender disparity in primary and
secondary education, preferably by 2005,
and in all levels of education no later than
2015 is concerned, India, has already
achieved the target value of 1 in 2008-09
itself. Gender parity in primary education
and the disparity in secondary education are
set to disappear shortly. The female: male
literacy rate in the age group 15-24 years
tends to reach 1 by 2015, implying
attainment of gender parity by 2015.
The percentage share of females in
wage employment in the non- agricultural
sector stood at 18.6% in 2009-10 and 19.6%
and 17.6% were the respective figures in
Rural and Urban areas. It is projected that
with the historical rate of progression, the
share of women in wage employment can at
best reach a level of about 23.1% by 2015
which is much below target of 50%.
With reference to crime, a total of
 Gender Equality and Social Work: Some Reflections
2,44,270 incidents of crime against women
(both under IPC and SLL) were reported in
the country during the year 2012 as
compared to 2,28,650 in the year 2011
recording an increase of 6.4% during the
year 2012. These crimes have continuously
increased during 2008 -2012 (NCRB-2012).
The Proportion of seats held by
women in National Parliament is 11.21% in
2013 vis a-vis the target of 50% in 2015
seems to be far to achieve. The GENDER
EQUITY INDEX (GEI) 2012 indicates that
India ranks 66th at educational attainment,
37th at GEI, 33rd at economic Activity, 12th at
empowerment. Thus, according to the report
(MDGs 2013) there are some appreciable
quantitative achievements with reference to
elimination of gender disparity in primary
education, Infant mortality rates, Mothers
Mortality Rates, but yet to accomplish other
targets like female literacy rate in the age
group of 15-24 years, the percentage of
females in wage employment in the non-
agriculture sector. India ranks in the bottom
10 of an international list on womens
participation in the economy.
Although, this is all about quantitative
achievements and gaps, nevertheless, what
about gender biased qualitative gaps in
achievements which are implied by observed
social realities from the field experiences?
The situation needs to reflect on the
qualitative facet of achievements. To
mention few social realities like, have the
achievements of gender parity in education
brought change in her perceptions of her
traditional status and role? Is she aware of
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
339
her rights which are affecting her lives? Is
she involved in various decisions making at
home? Is her consent being taken for
selection of life partner? Gender bias in
school choice by parents is a common
practice among parents. Even after achieving
higher education, is she allowed opting for
job? Is there any change in her structured
household chorus of cooking and rearing
children???
Working with Samaj Surksha
Department and discussion with District
Probation Officer revealed that the
government has made various provisions to
facilitate higher education among girls
through checking cases of early marriage
among girls. Due to various social reasons,
people are not interested in registration of
cases of early marriages, domestic violence,
rape which are also causes and consequences
of low level of education among girls.
With the legal provision of reservation
of 50% of seats for women in Panchayat,
more women are found holding position of
a Sarpanch or a member in gram Panchayat
on record but in actuality their male member
of the family, mostly husband, is having hold
over working of Panchayat. The plight of
women in patriarchal society seems to be
negative and distressing. In short, the target
of qualitative achievements seems very far
and throbbing task.
Causes and consequences of Gender
Inequality
Despite successive decades of
340 Rekha N. Mistry
activism, number of movements by social
reformers, constitutional provisions, and
legislations, the efforts at improving the
status of women have not been successful
and still women in India continue to suffer
from social and economical disadvantages.
Since ages, she has been bestowed the
secondary status in the family and society.
The noticeable gap has been observed in
contribution made by women. The factors
like ineffective implementation of programs
or inadequate funding, inappropriate
administration and ignorance of policy and
governance, are major attributing in not
achieving desired changes with other social
factors.
Sex Ratio
Higher sex ratio is linked to higher
level of womens empowerment and higher
levels of education and health status of
women. Sex ratio contributes to the Gender
Development Index (GDI) accepted globally
and places India quite low on the GDI scale.
The sex ratio, the ratio of number of women
per thousand men in a population, is
accepted as a summary indicator of the
gender equality in any society. The sex ratio
in India has been steadily declining is a well-
known fact. There may be regional variation.
The Census of 2001 indicated a sex ratio of
933 which is declined to 914 in 2011census.
Therefore, attention needs to focus on
disparities which often stand in the way of
further improvements; one of the areas is
Gender-based inequalities.
Gender refers to the social
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
construction of differences between men and
women. These are determined by social
expectations. Overall, the concept of gender
differentiates the sexual differences based
on biology from those assigned by culture
to men and women to play their respective
roles in a society. Gender is used to explain
the nature and extent of discrimination and
disadvantages experienced by women in a
society as also to analyze differential impact
of life experiences on men and women.
Gender inequality is a cross cutting issue, if
not addressed adequately undermines all
other progress in development. In reality
Indian society is very patriarchal. From birth,
girls are discriminated through deliberate
infanticide; it is difficult for girls to enter
the education system, poor access to
nutritional information, health care, and
work. Some of the social realities persist
today also like; the preference for the son,
stereotyping of gender-roles, work at home
goes unaccounted in the national statistics,
domestic violence goes uncontested and
unreported, crime against women on the
increase, low image of women in society
manifest through social attitudes and
persisting practices through social structure.
Social structure
Traditional social structure of Indian
society has bearing at a great extent for the
vulnerability of women. The prevalent social
structure has its influence in bringing social
change. Factors that have vitiated the impact
of the social changes include the rigid social
values and deep-seated prejudices. It is not
only the society that treats women as inferior
 Gender Equality and Social Work: Some Reflections
and secondary to men; their work and
expected roles considered as unproductive
and of less value than those of men. The
women, as oppressed also participate in their
own oppression through internalization of
their image which they learn through a
process of socialization and exhibit in their
thinking, feeling and behaving. It is the
culture that becomes a vehicle in the
transmission of power. The cultural
processes structure the dominant
dependent patterns of social relationships
(Freire and others, 1987).
The sluggish rate of change in
womens material condition led to the
conclusion that lesser power in social
relations which is institutionalized in gender
relations are inhibiting their capacity to
profit from improved access to social and
economic resources. These disparities are
the direct result of differences between
women and men in terms of their control
over resources, including income and asset
ownership.
Gender Equality; Road map
Legal-Political Efforts:
The social and demographic analyses
show that we have to go along way before
we can achieve gender justice comparable
to other countries with higher GDI. India has
to do grave efforts from all dimensions in
reaching the overall set MDGs targets. It
needs paradigm shift to inclusive growth
model with proper legal frame work and
effective implementation of the same.
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
341
Social Justice is the human essence
of the Indian constitution. The constitution
resolves to secure social, economic and
political justice, liberty, equality and dignity
to every person, man or women. To avail
various socio economic advantages, the
principle of gender equality is enshrined in
the Indian Constitution in its preamble,
fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties,
and Directive Principles. The political and
legal efforts have been initiated through
formation and implementation of various
special acts related to women since 1947
not only to grant equality to women but also
empower the state to adopt measures of
positive discrimination in favour of women.
India has also ratified various international
conventions and human rights instruments
committing to secure equal rights of women
and key among them is the ratification of
the Convention on Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination Against women
(CEDAW) in 1993.
The main thrust of development
efforts in post independent India has been
reflected in five year plans. The
development policies have been reflected a
transition of approaches to dealing with
womens concerns: from welfare approach
(first to fifth plans) to development (sixth
to eights plans). During seventh Plan, a fully
fledged department of Women and Child
development within the Ministry of Human
resources Development was made the nodal
agency to integrate women- related schemes
in different sectors like education, health,
industry, labour and technology. Emergence
of the Women in Development (WID)
342 Rekha N. Mistry
concept in 1970s, started to recognize
women as producers and contributors, to the
economy. Gender and development (GAD)
approach emerged in the 1980s. The GAD
perspective evaluates social structure and
institutions. with a goal to have equitable,
sustainable development, with women and
men as decision- makers through
empowering the disadvantaged and women
and transform unequal relations.
Empowerment connotes power rather than
power over, it focused on thought,
planning, and action in development.
Women need to be empowered so as to act
as agents of social change and development.
A national policy for empowerment was
framed and reserved the seats 30% for
women in public sector, allotted 30% funds
allotted for development initiatives as an
operational strategy.
Bringing women into the mainstream
of development is a major concern of the
Government of India (GOI). Therefore, GOI
declared 2001 year as a year of Women
Empowerment. Tenth five year plan is
referred as gender budgeting, this plan fixed
certain measurable targets in the social,
economic, and environmental sectors to be
achieved during the plan period. During
eleventh and twelfth five year plan, the target
of Gender Justice has been emphasized to
eliminate all forms of gender discrimination
and enable women to enjoy fundamental
rights and freedoms on an equal footing with
men. Ministry of women and child
development still requires giant efforts in
framing social policies and effective
implementation of the same. Existing current
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
policy related to women womens
reservation Bill, property heritance rights
and many others needs to be strengthened.
The programmes for poverty alleviation
should have a womens component to ensure
flow of adequate funds to this section.
Gender-based approach to development
requires gender sensitive planning. All
efforts should be directed for creation of
enabling environments to bring changes in
social attitudes are required to achieve
gender parity.
NGOs or Volunteer Organization
(VO) concerted efforts on social
mobilization envisaged change in education
and its impact on socio-economic status of
women could be seen at some extent. There
is a need for auxiliary efforts in gender-
aware intervention to strengthen the
foundations of justice, equality and
participation of women is required.
The well structured social institution
of family fails to address the special needs
of women. Hence, there is an utmost need
to understand and work with the powerful
impact of societal factors and social customs
like early girl marriages, dowery, societal
perception about womens capabilities, for
example, which impede in bringing gender
equity in almost all walks of life. Change in
the society is possible only by fostering
attitudes of receptivity toward new ways of
doing things. The degree of cultural
accumulation and the amount of contact with
other societies determine the nature and
extent of social change with in a society. The
culture of silence of Indian women has
 Gender Equality and Social Work: Some Reflections
prohibited even the female members of
society from extending their assistance to
other women to cope with difficult situation.
To make women active partners in
reduction of poverty or to create the holistic
social development in a true sense as a goal,
the social work profession has to take leading
role as an educator and practitioner in
directing and implementing various
strategies for fundamental implication of
human rights and social justice through
transformation of social structure at all the
three levels, micro, mezzo, and macro. To
combat all the social and economic gender
inequalities, empowerment is seen as pivotal
process. As a means of empowerment, social
mobilization process, involves continuous
awareness campaigns about womens
situation, discrimination, rights and
opportunities as the first step towards gender
equality.
Women empowerment is the means
and end. Womens empowerment has five
components: womens sense of self-worth;
their right to have and to determine choices;
their right to have access to opportunities
and resources; their right to have the power
to control their own lives, both within and
outside the home; and their ability to
influence the direction of social change to
create a more just social and economic order,
nationally and internationally. Elements
which are integral to the process of
empowerment are process of
Conscientization, Participation and
Organization, which can be accomplished
through bringing change in the immediate
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
343
environment become the primary steps in the
process of empowerment. It is a
multidimensional and interlinked process of
change in power relations. It concerns with
the process of development of Power within,
Power to, Power with, and Power over.
Economic empowerment of women through
her access to paid employment is an
indication of their integration into the market
economy. This will help them to achieve
greater autonomy, self-reliance in the
household and in their personal
development, and decision-making power.
Social Work consists of organized and
systematic efforts to secure the highest
personal and social satisfaction for
individuals, groups and communities. Its
auspices may be voluntary, governmental or
combination of both. Social work in its
various forms addresses the multiple,
complex transactions between people and
their environments, and aims at enabling all
people to develop their full potential, enrich
their lives, and prevent dysfunction.
Effective social work practice involves
developing sensitivity to the existence of
discrimination and oppression along gender
lines.
The social workers can take up the
work of the implementation of various
government schemes, monitoring and
evaluation in collaboration and coordination
with police department, legal frame work,
welfare departments, with NGO/ GO/ VO.
As an educator, there is a need to
eliminate gender discriminating content
from teaching and providing students with
344 Rekha N. Mistry
necessary skills to recognize discriminatory
terms, attitudes and practice and to provide
remedy infield practice. Social worker
should be conscious to make a commitment
to non discriminatory practice and non-
gender blind approach in personal and
professional life and in taking up researches
on issues of social equity to generate data
base for influencing policy formation.
Social work practice, should give
priority to gender inequality and elimination
as the starting point for working with
women, whether as individuals, groups, or
in communities and within organizations.
While working with individual women: one
has to make sure of effective
communication, concentrate on limited tasks
and achievable goals and provide support.
Upholding the rights of women, promoting
freedom from oppression, encouraging
women to speak for themselves, listening to
what women have to say and assisting in
creating alternative life- style, integrating
theory and practice, valuing womens
contributions, respecting the individuality
and uniqueness of each woman.
Social work intervention should look
in to and work with economic inequalities,
comparable work, use of gendered language,
battered and shattered women, physical and
sexual harassment, verbal or non-verbal
abuse, victims of rape, incest and violence
of all forms, poverty, lack of opportunities,
disabilities, lack of orientation to acquiring
skills for life. At the same time, proper efforts
to make men understand and aware gender
divided roles which account for many
Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015
problems. More programs needed to make
women enabled and enriched, establishing a
better self- concept and fostering contact with
others who are working for empowerment of
women. More number of programs should be
done to sensitize women, family and society.
While working with communities, conscious
heed is to be paid to strategies to work with
revitalization of family institution to address
the issues arising out of family. Women can
only bring changes in society as she being the
core member of the family socializes children
in their formative years to adopt roles suitable
to their gender.
To summarize, it can be said that the
process of countrys development, special
care, and attention for womens health,
education, political rights, and economic
empowerment are very important. MDGs and
targets are inter-related and should be seen as
a whole. Nevertheless, redoubled efforts are
urgently needed, particularly in Gender
equality. To experience the real change, need
to have policies which deal with gender bias,
and a cultural shift as well whereby women
are empowered through education to stand up
for their rights, take leadership roles and
challenges. In short, to develop their capacity
to participate as equal partners in cultural,
social, economic, and political system of a
society.
Social work profession can take up
leading role with multidimensional efforts
from all directions to ensure women to live
with dignity all the time is the fundamental
right of all human beings.
 Gender Equality and Social Work: Some Reflections 345

References
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Freire P. (1973). Education:The Practice of Freedom. Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
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Social Work Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. - Dec. 2015

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The M. S. University of Baroda,
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3. Printer's Name : Manager (O.S.D.),

The M. S. University of Baroda Press,
Nationality Indian
Address :

4. Publisher's Name : Prof. M. N. Parmar, Dean,

Faculty of Social Work
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Address : Faculty of Social Work,
The M. S. University of Baroda,
Vadodara-390 002.

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Faculty of Social Work
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Address : Faculty of Social Work,
The M. S. University of Baroda,
Vadodara-390 002.

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Prof. M.N. Parmar

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 Social Work Review

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