Indian women in subsistence and agriculture labour

The present study by Maria Mies has been prepared for the Programme on Rural Women within the framework of the World Employment Programme. This Programme seeks to contribute to an improvement in the social and economic conditions and status of rural women through research and studies, workshops and seminars, technical co-operation services and pilot projects. The basic approach of the Programme is to promote group social and economic activities on a self-reliant and participatory basis through the initiation and strengthening of poor women's organisations at the grass-roots level. The present study should also be seen in the context of other World Employment Programme research concerned with the definition, assessment and documentation of women's work.

In the present work, the author has undertaken a detailed study of the working women in three villages in the State of Andhra Pradesh in India. After surveying the socio-economic and historical background and evolution of the region, the author examines successively the pattern of women's work, the level and sources of their income and expenditure, the process of economic change and of impoverishment and the emergence and role of women's organisations. The distinctive approach and methodology adopted by the author have enabled her to capture the dominant forces shaping the life and work of poor rural women as well as to illuminate a range of specific issues pertaining to the pattern, organisation and remuneration of their work. The author and her assistants lived in the villages with the women and adopted a similar style of living. Research techniques comprised participant observation, in-depth interviews and, above all, discussions and interaction with and participation in the activities of women workers. The researchers discovered the sharp perceptions the women agricultural labourers had of their own situation and dilemmas: they clearly explained that land rights were central, "we now want land, all the rest is humbug". While gathering and analysing information and impressions, the research team contributed to a better understanding by working women of their situation and problems, and to their struggles to organise and control the forces determining the pattern and conditions of their work.