WOMENS EMPOWERMENT: EFFECT OF PARTICIPATION IN SELF HELP GROUPS

PGPPM DISSERTATION

By

Deepti Umashankar

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT BANGALORE 2006

WOMENS EMPOWERMENT: EFFECT OF PARTICIPATION IN SELF HELP GROUPS

By

Deepti Umashankar

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of Requirements for the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT BANGALORE 2006

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENTBANGALORE

WOMENS EMPOWERMENT: EFFECT OF PARTICIPATION IN SELF HELP GROUPS

By Deepti Umashankar

has been accepted towards partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Prof. R. Srinivasan Chairperson (Dissertation Advisory Committee)

Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan Member (Dissertation Advisory Committee)

Prof. Gopal Naik Chairperson (Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management)

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to explore the impact of participation in Self Help Groups on the empowerment of women in the context of the great importance being given to the group approach while conceptualizing any programme for rural women. The study is situated in District Mewat in the Northern State of Haryana, a state which faces the conundrum of rapid economic growth juxtaposed with poor social indicators, and uses the personal narrative method to give a voice to womens perspective. The study looks at various dimensions of empowerment material, cognitive, perceptual and relational. Access to credit can help in expansion of material base of women by enabling them to start and expand small businesses, often accompanied by market access; the women also experienced Power within: feelings of freedom, strength, self identity and increases in levels of confidence and self-esteem. However, gender discrimination is most deeply entrenched in the family, evident in attitudes towards daughters in law, daughters, the gender based division of work, roles and responsibilities as well as the mind-set towards domestic violence and issues of ownership and inheritance of land. At the social level, an encouraging trend is that women have been able to challenge the norm of purdah. Besides, involvement in SHGs has enabled women to have a voice in the community affairs and they have been able to tackle problems such as a lack of drinking water and electricity, access to health services and childrens education. Though women face handicaps to their involvement in politics, their participation in SHGs has altered them, and these women can be prospective leaders in the local political field. Nonetheless various constraints like discriminatory practices in labour, a low level of skills etc. operate to contract a womans potential for empowerment. It may be comparatively easier to ensure material change than to cause a change in power structures and the ideologies and attitudes which accompany them. However, no milieu is static, and some of the recommendations for a way forward include providing a convergence of inputs, ensuring a proactive involvement of women in the program, changing social norms and perceptions and anchoring with wider movements of social change.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to my guides, Prof. R. Srinivasan and Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan for giving me guidance, encouragement and creative momentum. Saleela Patkar provided me with large measures of invaluable help at critical junctures. Prof. Manohar Reddy accompanied me on a pilot field trip and his de-freezing tips helped me in rapport and empathy building with the respondents.

I would like to express my gratitude to the women members of Self Help Groups of Mewat, who despite the ordinariness of their daily lives are, in many ways, extraordinary women. Their narratives of struggle and hope, despair and joy provide, at some level, meeting points for all women, irrespective of differences in backgrounds, lifestyles and worldviews. Personally, I went as a stranger and came back a friend.

I am thankful for to my batchmate Neerja, whose stint as Deputy Commissioner Mewat providentially coincided with my data collection period. I would also like to thank some of the staff of Mewat Social Development Agency Islam, Sahil, Mehmoodi and Dr. Aziz for all the help they rendered. My staff in the office also provided valuable logistics support.

Also a thank you to my husband for suffering (not always in silence!) when I listened over and over again to the taped interviews during the transcription phase; and to my children, Shreeya and Saumya, who bearing with equal measures of acceptance and irritation the presence of the thesis in my life, were my cheering squad urging me towards the finish.

Date: 25.2.2006 Place: Chandigarh Deepti Umashankar

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter No.

Page

Chapter 1 SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL?

1-6

1.1. Empowering through Self Help Groups ..... 1 1.2. The Research objective .............................................................................. 4 1.2. The Research objective and Research Questions....................................... 5 Chapter 1I MIXED PICTURES: EVALUATIONS IN LITERATURE 7-14

2.1. Microfinance and Empowerment: The Promise........... 7 2.2. Microfinance and Empowerment: The Critique ........... 10 2.3. Analysis of mixed findings ........... 14 Chapter III BEYOND NUMBERS: THE REALITY COUNT 15-22

3.1. Methodological Issues: Measuring Empowerment......... 15 3.2. Voice versus Silence: The Personal Narrative .......................................... 15 3.3. The Study Site: Back and Beyond ............................................................ 16 3.4. Entering the Field: Learning to Listen ...................................................... 18 3.5. Interpretation: Analyzing the Talk.. 21 Chapter IV UNVEILING EMPOWERMENT 23-71

4.1. Unveiling Empowerment............... 23 4.1.1. The First Connections: The Self Help Group.................................... 23 4.1.2. Unveiling Empowerment: Voices from the Field ............................. 27 4.2. Material Aspects...................................................... 28 4.2.1. Expansion in Resource Base............................................................ 28 4.3. Cognitive Aspects........................................................................................ 34 4.3.1. Power Within......................................................... 34 4.4. Relational: The Family........................................................................... 37

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4.4.1. Bahus: Attitudes towards daughters in laws..................................... 37 4.4.2..Betis: Attitudes towards daughters.........................................................38 4.4.3. Roles and responsibilities: Unequal Burdens........................................ 43 4.4.4. A cultured Silence: Domestic Violence................................................ 47 4.4.5. Land for Men, only Micro Credit for women?.................................. 51 4.5. Relational: Womens Networks................................................................. 53 4.6. Relational: Societal........................................................................................ 56 4.6.1. Separate Worlds: Purdah......... 56 4.6.2. Purushjati aur Strijati: Constraints.......................................................58 4.7. Relational: The Community............................................................................59 4.8. Relational: The Polity .... 63 4.9. Perceptual Aspects ........ 66 4.9.1. In slow Motion: Changes in Perceptions and Patriarchy...66 4.9.2. Bharatiya Nari: Stereotypes..... 68 4.9.3. Backlash.... 69 Chapter V FREEZING ON THE THRESHOLD: A WAY FORWARD 72-76

5.1. Implications for Government Policy............................................................ 72 5.1.1. A Gender Transformative Policy....................................................... 72 5.1.2. A synergistic combination of Inputs................................................. 72

5.1.3. A Gender Transformative Policy...................................................... 73 5.1.4. Linking with Wider movements of Social change............................ 5.2. Implications for Program Implementers..................................................... 73 74

5.2.1. A pro-active involvement of women ........................................ 74 5.2.2. The importance of training ............................................... 75 5.2.3. Changing Social norms and perceptions ................................. 76 5.3. Recommendations for Academicians.......................................................... 76

REFERENCES

77-84

APPENDICES

85-161

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix No.

Page

Appendix 3.1. Research Questions and Empowerment indicators..... 85 Appendix 4.1. Information about respondents and their businesses........................... 88 Appendix 4.2. Tangible and Intangible Benefits of Group Membership.....................90 Appendix 4.3.Personal Narratives of Respondent 1-10...... 91

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Chapter I

THE RESEARCH CONTEXT: SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL?

1.1. Empowering through Self Help Groups The Word Bank has suggested that empowerment of women should be a key aspect of social development programs (World Bank, 2001). India has also ratified various international Conventions committed to securing equal rights to women1. The National Policy for The Empowerment of Women (2000) states that The womens movement and a widespread network of NGOs which have strong grassroots presence and deep insight into womens concerns have contributed in inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of women. However, the policy also speaks of a wide gap between the goals enunciated in the Constitution, legislative Policies, plans, programs, and the related mechanisms on the one hand and the situational reality of the status of women in India, on the otherGender equality manifests itself in various forms, the most obvious being the trend of continuously declining female ratio in the population in the last few decades2. Social stereotyping and violence at the domestic and societal levels are some of the other manifestations.

The World Banks Empowerment and Poverty Reduction: A Sourcebook, defines empowerment in its broadest sense as the expansion of freedom of choice and action (Narayan, 2002). United Nations (2001) defines empowerment as the processes by which women take control and ownership of their lives through expansion of their choices. Kabeers (1998, 1999) view of empowerment refers to the processes by which those who have been denied the ability to make choices acquire such ability. The fundamentals of empowerment have been defined as agency (the

Key among them are: 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) and the Beijing Declaration as well as the Platform for Action (1995)
2

There has been a decline in the sex ratio over the century in India from 972 in 1971 to 933 in 2001 (Source: Census Data)

ability to define ones goals and act upon them), awareness of gendered power structures, self-esteem and self-confidence (Kabeer 2001). Kabeer points out that a distinction has to be made about the type of choice, and the focus necessarily has to be on strategic life choices, that is choices that shape livelihoods or are critical for people to live the lives they want. The expansion in the range of potential choices available to women includes three inter-related dimensions that are inseparable in determining the meaning of an indicator and hence its validity as a measure of empowerment. These dimensions are (1) Resources: The pre-condition necessary for women to be able to exercise choice; women must have access and future claims to material, human and social resources; (2) Agency: The process of decision-making, including negotiation, deception and manipulation that permit women to define their goals and act upon them; (3) Achievements: The well-being outcomes that women experience as a result of access to resources and agency.

Mayouxs (2000) definition of empowerment relates more directly with power, as a multidimensional and interlinked process of change in power relations. It consists of: (1) Power within, enabling women to articulate their own aspirations and strategies for change; (2)Power to, enabling women to develop the necessary skills and access the necessary resources to achieve their aspirations; (3) Power with, enabling women to examine and articulate their collective interests, to organize, to achieve them and to link with other women and mens organizations for change; and (4) Power over, changing the underlying inequalities in power and resources that constrain womens aspirations and their ability to achieve them. These power relations operate in different spheres of life (e.g., economic, social, political) and at different levels (e.g., individual, household, community, market, institutional).

JSI researchers identified six general areas or domains in which empowerment of women is believed to be taking place as a result of Grameen Bank, BRAC and other credit programs: a sense of self and vision of a future, mobility and visibility, economic security, status and decision-making power within the household, ability to interact effectively in the public sphere and participation in non-family groups. Thus,

their concept of empowerment can be looked at in a behavioural sense as the ability to take effective action (Snow, 1990).

UNDP has identified two crucial routes as imperative for empowerment. The first is social mobilization and collective agency, as poor women often lack the basic capabilities and self-confidence to counter and challenge existing disparities and barriers against them. Often, change agents are needed to catalyze social mobilization consciously. Second, the process of social mobilization needs to be accompanied and complemented by economic security. As long as the disadvantaged suffer from economic deprivation and livelihood insecurity, they will not be in a position to mobilize (UNDP 2001). In many developing countries (especially in South Asia), one strategy which has been found to be promising is participatory institution building in the self-help groups, often coupled with savings and micro credit loans (ESCAP, 2002).

Mayoux, (1995) has identified three paradigms on micro-finance and gender. The financial self-sustainability paradigm, currently dominant within most donor agencies and USAID, World Bank, UNDP, etc. assumes that increasing womens access to micro-finance services will lead to individual economic empowerment, well-being and social and political empowerment. It provides little opportunity for client participation, group self-management or autonomy (Rahman 1999; Mayoux 1995). The Poverty alleviation paradigm has its rationale for targeting women, because of higher levels of female poverty and womens responsibility for household well-being. The feminist empowerment paradigm is based on a mutual or self-help approach pioneered in India in the early 1980s. It is rooted in the development of some of the earliest micro-finance programmes in the South, particularly SEWA and WWF in India. It emphasises high levels of group ownership, control and management. Mayoux argues that the very process of taking decisions within the group is an empowering process and so can lead to broader development outcomes, such as the greater participation of women in local government processes, and so on.

A self help group consists of 10-20 members drawn from a relatively homogeneous economic class (i.e. poor), self selected on the basis existing affinities and mutual trust; members meet regularly at a fixed time and place and pool their savings into a common fund from which they take need based loans. The group develops its own rules and regulations and sanctions for violations; the meeting procedures and processes, leadership change norms, intensive training and handholding, are designed to enable SHGs to function in a participatory and democratic manner. The objectives of the SHGs go beyond thrift and credit and include the overall development of members in the social, political, cultural and economic arena; thus the SHGs are credit plus institutions (Fernandez, 1998).

1.2. The Research Context The SHG Bank linkage programme, referred to as the Indian Microfinance Model began formally in 1992 with a set of guidelines passed by NABARD and RBI enabling commercial banks to lend to SHGs without collateral. Loan repayment rates from SHGs of 98% against 32% from other programmes to the poor, convinced the banking sector of the viability of SHG lending. Currently, over 90% of SHGs in India consist exclusively of women and SHGs are the preferred strategy for both credit delivery for the poor and womens empowerment. Targets of NABARD to credit link one million SHGs by 2008 have been overshot by the exponential growth of these groups. Latest data showed that cumulatively banks have lent 39.04 billion (US $ 156 million) to 1,079,091 SHGs (NABARD, 31 March, 2004). About 16 million poor households have gained access to formal banking system through SHG bank linkage programme. The Self Help Groups have become the focal point of development schemes under the unified poverty alleviation programme, Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) launched by the government of India3.

It has, however, been argued that development agencies committed to empowerment of women need to question the nature of the link between access to credit by targeting
3

Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is the umbrella self Help programme for the rural poor in India. Launced on April 1, 1999, the programme replaces the earlier self employment and allied programmes like IRDP.

women, and the transformation of gender relations needed for empowerment and equality. Significant research and much anecdotal evidence suggest that womens empowerment cannot be assumed to be an automatic outcome of microfinance programs. Development agencies committed to the empowerment of women need to question the nature of the link between access to credit by targeting women, and the transformation in gender relations needed for empowerment and equality (Kabeer 1998; Mayoux 1998).

1.3. The Research Objective and Research questions Hence, the Research Objective of this study is to determine whether and to what extent participation in Self Help Groups has an impact on the empowerment of women members. Given the great importance being given to the group approach while conceptualizing and implementing any programme for the rural poor, especially women, this study becomes both essential and relevant. More specifically, in this work, I seek to explore if the SHG approach has been successful in the empowerment of rural women living in the highly patriarchal and traditional societies of the Northern Indian State of Haryana.

The Research Questions formulated are given below: Research question 1: Does participation in SHGs increase the womans influence over economic resources and participation in economic decision making? Research question 2: Does participation in Self Help Groups influence the individual development and growth of a woman? Research question 3: ls there an increase in a womans influence in decision making in the household? Research question 4: Has participation in SHGs increased a womans mobility, development of networks and interactions with other members of her group and community? Research question 5: Does participation in SHGs increase a womans awareness and knowledge?

Research question 6: Does participation in SHGs increase a womans participation and influence in social, community and political activities? Research question 7: Is there any change in the attitude of the husband/household/community regarding womens empowerment?

This study is organized as follows: Chapter II looks at the evaluations in literature about the impact of credit in womens lives and Chapter III delineates the methodology used in this study. Chapter IV provides an interpretation of the data and explores whether women have been empowered as a result of their participation in SHGs. Finally, Chapter V attempts some prescriptions for policy makers and programme implementers.

Chapter II

EVALUATIONS IN LITERATURE: MIXED PICTURES

2.1. Microfinance and Empowerment: The Promise Some evaluations paint a positive picture of the impact of credit programs on women's lives (Kabeer 2001). Access to savings and credit can initiate or strengthen a series of interlinked and mutually reinforcing virtuous spirals of empowerment (Mayoux, 2000).

The first set of assessments point out that women can use savings and credit for economic activity, thus increasing incomes and assets and control over these incomes and assets (Mayoux, 2000). Rahman (1986) established that active women loanees had higher consumption standards and a role in household decision-making, either on their own or jointly with their husbands, than passive female loanees. Both in turn had significantly higher consumption standards and were more likely to partake in household decision-making than women from male loanee households or from households who had not received credit. Similarly, Self-help groups through microcredit have an important role in lessening the vulnerability of poor by creating assets, income and consumption smoothing, providing emergency assistance, and empowering and making women confident by giving them control over assets and increased self-esteem and knowledge (Zaman 2001). A World Bank study found that a 10 per cent increase in borrowing had led to an increase in womens non-land assets by 2 per cent for loans from the Grameen Bank and 1.2 per cent for loans from the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) (World Bank 1998). In India, microcredit studies done on groups dealing with dairy farming have noted positive profit levels and short payback periods for loans (Lalitha and Nagarajan 2002). During the South East Asian economic crisis, self-help groups proved to be important cushions and safety nets; a high proportion of the funds made available for self-help micro credit schemes were utilized by women, facilitating them to meet the

subsistence requirements of their families during those hard economic times (ESCAP 2002).

Another group of evaluations have tried to establish that economic contribution may increase their role in economic decision making in the household, leading to greater well being for women and children as well as men (Mayoux, 2000). A study by Pitt and Khandker (1995) in exploring the impact of female membership of credit programs found that women's preferences carried greater weight (compared to households where either men received the loans or in households where no loans had been received) in determining decision-making outcomes including the value of women's no land assets, the total hours worked per month for cash income by men and women within the household, fertility levels, the education of children as well as total consumption expenditure.

It has also been studied that womens increased economic role may lead to change in gender roles and increased status within households and communities (Mayoux, 2000). Hashemi, Schuler, and Riley (1996) explored the impact of credit on a number of indicators of empowerment: (i) the reported magnitude of women's economic contribution; (ii) their mobility in the public domain; (iii) their ability to make large and small purchases; (iv) their ownership of productive assets, including house or homestead land and cash savings; (v) involvement in major decision making, such as purchasing land, rickshaw or livestock for income earning purposes; (vi) freedom from family domination, including the ability to make choices concerning how their money was used, the ability to visit their natal home when desired and a say in decisions relating to the sale of their jewellery or land or to taking up outside work; (vii) political awareness such as knowledge of key national and political figures and the law on inheritance and participation in political action of various kinds; and finally, (viii) a composite of all these indicators. They found that women's access to credit was a significant determinant of the magnitude of economic contributions reported by women; an increase in asset holdings in their own names; an increase in their purchasing power; their political and legal awareness and their composite empowerment index. BRAC loanees report significantly higher levels of mobility and

political participation. Grameen members reported higher involvement in major decision-making. The study also found that access to credit was associated with an overall reduction of the incidence of violence against women; women's participation in the expanded set of social relationships as a result of membership of credit organizations rather than increases in their productivity per se were responsible for reductions in domestic violence.

Other empowering aspects noted in studies are cognitive in nature. The IFAD gender mainstreaming review has reported gains in self-confidence and self-esteem amongst the women, enhanced capacity to articulate their needs and an increased respect in the household (FAO, 2002). Womens groups have emerged as a dynamic, articulate constituency enabling women to work together in collective agency (Krishnaraj and Kay 2002). Self-help groups have facilitated the formation of social capital, where people learn to work together for a common purpose in a group or organization (Putnam 2000). Larence, (2001) from a village level investigation of Bangladeshs Grameen Bank that center meeting norms enable women to establish individual identities and the group interaction at regular center meetings facilitate collective identity.

There can be a synergistic convergence of inputs (micro insurance, health services, non formal education and inputs on nutrition) in Micro credit plus programs. A few attempts to link micro credit with HIV/AIDS programmes have been reasonably successful (UNDP 1999). The newly set up pension fund of the Grameen Bank II is apparently quite successful (Yunus 2002).

As Mayoux (2000) puts it, these virtuous spirals are potentially mutually reinforcing in that both improved well being and change in womens position may further increase their ability to increase incomes and so on. This process of empowerment may be further reinforced by group formation focusing on savings and credit delivery as women can access wider information and support networks for economic activity; groups can support women in disputes within the household and community and groups can link to wider movements for change in womens position.

2.2. Microfinance and Empowerment: The Critique A review of the literature raises questions about the degree to which women keep a control over assets acquired as a result of loans from SHGs. Research (Goetz and Sen Gupta 1996; Mayoux 1998) shows that only a minority of women receiving credit from poverty-oriented microfinance programmes are controlling their loans; many women are merely post-boxes: passing on the full amount of their loans directly to their husbands, sons or sons-in-law, with little or no access to the income generated and receiving back only enough money to make weekly loan repayments. Goetz and Sen Gupta (1996) found that, on average, only 37 per cent of loans provided by four different Bangladeshi credit organizations were either fully or significantly controlled by women, where significant control does not include control over marketing, and may thus imply little control over the income generated. The figures for BRAC were even lower, with only 28 per cent of loans controlled by women.

Kabeer (1998) distinguishes between women as marginal, joint or primary decision makers, using a matrix, which considers womens role in decision-making regarding the use of the loan, participation in running the business, and the use of profits. She writes that it is important to acknowledge this complexity in household gender relations, and to reflect on the mix of structural, individual and programme factors which influence the degree of control women are able to take over their loan.

Rahmans (1999) research is a study of Grameen Bank lending to women in Bangladesh as well. Rahman questions the degree to which microfinance benefits women and explains that women in Bangladesh are often unable to use loans by themselves in the structure of patriarchy and the rural market economy. The absence of investment opportunities for rural women and the lack of control by the lending institution as to how loans are used and by whom lead women to pass on their loans to others (generally men) and lose control of their loans altogether. The figure shows that men are users (persons who control and use the loan and arrange for instalments) of more than 60% of womens loans. The study also shows that approximately 78% of

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total loans approved in the village are actually used for different purposes than sanctioned by the project. In all five loan centres in the study village, I discovered that one or two influential members had real control over the decision making process of the centre Perpetuation of such power relations in the loan centres is contradictory to Grameen Bank ideology.

Gibbons (1999) also specifically addresses the work of Rahman: There is of course a flip side to this miracle story. Aminur Rahman (1999) who suggests, from his villagelevel observations in Bangladesh, that the Grameen Bank prefers women more for strategic reasons in relation to investment and recovery of loans than for the benefit of the women themselves has described it most fully, because they are more compliant and easier to discipline than the men. Moreover as the honour of their wives (and themselves) is at stake in repayment the husbands also pressure their wives to repay as required. Thus poor women are pressured from both sides, and some describe this as intolerable.

Ackerly (1995) noted that underpinning most credit interventions in Bangladesh was an implicit model of the empowered woman and concluded that women's access to the market was the primary route for their empowerment knowledge which comes through market access and warned against the likelihood of overwork, fatigue and malnutrition were loans used to promote women's labour involvement without also promoting their market access.

Montgomery and Hulme (1996) found that only 9% of first-time female borrowers were primary managers of loan-funded activities while 87% described their role in terms of family partnerships. By contrast, 33% of first-time male borrowers had sole authority over the loan-assisted activity while 56% described it as a family partnership. They also found that access to loans did little to change the management of cash within the household for either female or male loanees. Interpreting reports of joint management as disguised male dominance in decision-making, the authors concluded that access to loans had done little to empower women.

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Kabeer found that many women continue to register land and productive assets in their husbands name, because of inheritance laws: assets will be inherited by sons if registered in the husbands name, and by daughters if registered in the wifes name (Kabeer, 1998). This raises questions about any assumed automatic links between credit and transformation in gender relations but also reflects the extreme dependence of women on husbands and sons for physical security, particularly in old age. BRAC research shows that, in most cases, the husbands income and other livelihood activities are essential if members are to meet their weekly instalment payments (Matin and Rab, 1997).

These findings also raise serious questions about the impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation. Using Khandkers data, Morduch (1998) found that the income effect was due to mistargeting of the microfinance programme and that the perceived increase in incomes was due solely to those already above the poverty line who had managed to access the programme. Kabeer (1998) finds that microfinance has been effective in increasing incomes and assets, although certainly not in the poorest households.

While the exclusion of the poorest is acknowledged in some research (Hulme 2000), it is rarely admitted by NGO staff and donors. The overriding concern with repayment rates puts further pressures on groups to exclude those likely to experience greatest problems i.e. the poorest (Hulme and Mosley 1996; Montgomery 1996; Noponan 1990). As micro credit is made available to groups, based on collective collateral, the process of group formation often precludes the very poor, who are perceived as being poor credit risks (Krishnaraj and Kay 2002 and FAO 2002). In some cases increased funding for large organizations has led to the squeezing out of smaller organizations in the same area who may have been challenging gender subordination on a wider basis (Arn and Lily 1992; Ebdon 1994).

Rahman (1999) points out that the empowering influence of microfinance is not always associated with improvements in womens lives, and credit as a debt for the household constitutes a risky strategy. Rahman points out a number of issues with

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relationships in the single village he studied which had Grameen Bank operations. For example: Out of 120 women borrowers, 18% claim a decrease and 70% emphasize an increase in violence and aggressive behaviour in the household because of their involvement with the Bank. Goetz and Sen Gupta (1996) also report increases in household tensions and domestic violence where women need to ask their husbands for loan instalments. However, Schuler et al, (1996) suggests that group-based credit programs can reduce men's violence against women by making women's lives more public. The problem of men's violence against women is deeply rooted, however, and the authors argue that much more extensive interventions will be needed to significantly undermine it.

The negative Impacts of microfinance cited by International Labor Organization are: Increased work loads Higher social pressure to ensure loan repayment Women often employ daughters and daughters-in-law as unpaid employees thereby increasing their workload Participation in credit schemes can lead to indebtedness that is unmanageable, simply because there are no sufficiently profitable income-earning activities in which to invest. In this situation, women may end up being even more dependent that they were before.

Some argue that micro-finance programmes divert the attention of women from other more effective strategies for empowerment (Ebdon, 1995). Evidence suggests that, even in financially successful microfinance programmes, actual contribution to empowerment is often limited (Mayoux, 2000): Most women remain confined to a narrow range of female low-income activities. Many women have limited control over income and/or what little income they earn may substitute for former male household contributions, as men retain more of their earnings for their own use. Women often have greater workloads combining both production and reproductive tasks. 13

Womens expenditure decisions may continue to prioritise men and male children, while daughters or daughters-in-law bear the brunt of unpaid domestic work.

Where women actively press for change, this may increase tensions in the household and the incidence of domestic violence. Women remain marginalized in local and national level political processes. This is not just a question of lack of impact, but may also be a process of disempowerment.

Credit is also debt; savings and loan interest or insurance payments divert resources which might otherwise go towards necessary consumption or investment.

Putting the responsibility for savings and credit on women may absolve men of responsibility for the household. Where group meetings focus only on savings and credit, this uses up womens precious work and leisure time, cutting programme costs but not necessarily benefiting women.

2.3. Analysis of Mixed Findings Kabeer, in analysing the extent of seemingly conflicting results, argues that both the positive and the negative sets of findings are valid. She makes the point that the different conclusions reflect the different assumptions of power relations in households that inform each of the studies: . . . in the final analysis, the plausibility of one or other set of conclusions about the transformatory impact of credit for women will rest on the credence attached to the models of power which inform the analysis (Kabeer 2001).

Kabeer goes on to argue that, while many microfinance programmes are often loaded with unreasonable expectations, purposive interventions can direct resources to women which may lay the groundwork for them to tackle other aspects of injustice in their lives.

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Chapter III

BEYOND NUMBERS: THE REALITY COUNT

3.1. Methodological Issues: Measuring empowerment One of the critical issues in the choice of methodology used in this study was that although womens empowerment is extensively acknowledged as a vital aim in development, the concepts related with it differ and standards and yardsticks for logically measuring changes in empowerment are not uniformly accepted. In particular, it is the ability to make and carry out significant decisions affecting ones own life and the lives of others. According to Kabeer (1999), empowerment cannot be reduced to a single aspect of process or outcome. How women exercise choice and the actual outcomes will depend on the individual. Choices will vary across class, time and space. In other words, there are measurement problems in capturing social change because of the unpredictability of human nature. Moreover, impacts on empowerment perceived by outsiders might not necessarily be those most valued by women themselves. Einstein says, Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted. Considering the significant qualitative aspects of empowerment this seemed to ring true while selecting a methodology for studying womens empowerment as a result of their participation in Self Help Groups.

3.2. Voice versus Silence: The Personal Narrative One striking observation is that studies on gender have rarely looked at the lives of ordinary women, existing in poverty and eking out a livelihood in very unfavourable conditions. Pirani (1992) writes silence is that powerful and restrictive protection particularly enforced by our patriarchal society, that hides so many truths, so many her stories. New kinds of knowledge and truths can be created from womens experiences by using a method that calls for connection, meaning-making, and relationship rather than distance, logic, and objectivity (Miller & Stiver, 1997). As Gluck & Patai (1991) write, Womens experiences are valuable and need to be

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recorded. Principles of feminist inquiry (Guerrero 1999; Thompson 1992) include a sense of connectedness and equality between researcher and researched and explicitly acknowledge and value womens ways of knowing including integrating reason, emotion, intuition, experience, and analytic thought.

Martin Buber(1923) draws a distinction between I-It and I-Thou relationships: An I-It relationship regards other human beings from a distance, from a superior vantage point of authority, as objects or subjects, things in the environment to be examined and placed in abstract cause-effect chains. An I-Thou perspective, in contrast, acknowledges the humanity of both self and others and implies relationship, mutuality; and genuine dialogue.

I chose the personal narrative method to give voice to womens perspective, besides imbuing depth and perspective to research. Thus, I preferred to rely on in-depth open ended interviews and direct observation for my qualitative research, which would give insights about womens experiences, perspectives, knowledge, views, opinions, and understanding, an approach in line with what Michael Cernea (1991) has called putting people first. In depth interviewing, communicates respect to respondents by making their ideas and opinions (stated in their own terms) the important data source for the evaluation (Kushner, 2000):

I will be arguing for evaluators approaching programs through the experience of individuals rather than through the rhetoric of program sponsors and managers. There is always a risk, that evaluators lose contact with people; and a danger that in our concern to report on programs and their effects we lose sight of the pluralism of programs. So my arguments will robustly assert the need to address the person in the program.

3.3. The study site: Back and Beyond This study is situated in Mewat District (carved out of parts the erstwhile Gurgaon and Faridabad districts) in the Northern state of Haryana. Haryana faces the

16

conundrum of rapid economic growth juxtaposed with poor social indicators and was a state I had worked in for the last almost thirteen years. Mewat is paradoxically an island of poverty located only about 60 kms. towards the south of Delhi; the area lags behind the rest of Haryana on almost every yardstick of development indices4.

The area is sandwiched between the eastern and western Aravali ranges; the nomenclature of the region has genesis in the tribal inhabitants of the region, the Meos, who inhabit most of the rural areas of this region. The Meos are mainly muslims, although their religion is a mix of Hindu and Muslim beliefs, customs and rituals. The Meo population in Gurgaon did not show any major change in the wake of the partition of Punjab in 1947. The Meos of Gurgaon claim their ancestry from the Hindu Rajputs, but in practice they follow all the major customs of Hindu Jats of this region, like the karewa. Even though in the post-1947 period there has been a greater Islamization of Meos leading to the adoption of cultural practices prescribed in the Islamic scriptures, yet the rules of exogamy are still kept and cross-cousin marriages are still taboo (Choudhry, 1994).

Unfortunately, today life in the region is fraught with difficulties facing harsh climate and socio-economic backwardness, causing poverty, illiteracy and ignorance. Some of the reasons for the constraints facing the region are the absence of perennial rivers, low agricultural productivity due to saline and sandy soils and there is absence of assured irrigation. Most of the underground water is brackish and there are inadequate sources and access to clean drinking water. There is a heavy dependence on agriculture and land holdings are fragmented. Besides, there is an absence of industries and hence of alternative employment opportunities. The family size is large (the average size is 9.5) and an adverse sex ratio, low health status and a low literacy rate further aggravate the situation.

The Government of Haryana entered into an agreement with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, (IFAD), Rome which is an organ of the United Nations
4

In 2001, one of the lowest sex ratios was in the state of Haryana with 861 females per 1000 males.

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for the implementation of an area development project, Mewat Area Development Project. The Project was scheduled from 1995 to 2005 with a cost of Rs.89.23 crores. The overall objectives of the Project were to improve the economic and social well being of the Mewat Community, promote gender self-reliance on a sustainable basis and to broaden the range of economic opportunities available to the community. The objective of the community development programme is the empowerment of women through SHGs. The programme implementer is Mewat Development Agency (MDA) in partnership with various NGOs. The records of MDA show impressive figures with respect to formation of SHGs in the region5. This, coupled with the continuing backwardness of the region, were decisive factors in the choice of Mewat as my study site. Out of the 596 SHGs, which were shown in the A+ as on 31st March in the records of MDA, I selected two randomly from those that have been existence for more than five years. After this I attended meetings of these Self-help groups and selected respondents through use of theoretical sampling i.e. sampling on the basis of concepts that have proven theoretical relevance to the evolving theory (Straus and Corbin, 1990). Since the emphasis was to be on womens understanding of reality, I kept in mind that women are not a homogeneous category and there is relevance of age, education, individuality etc.

3.4. Entering the Field: Learning to Listen I established non-hierarchical relationships with the women and consciously tried to keep away from official protocol. I took a decision not to go to the villages accompanied by government functionaries. I followed the principle of full disclosure
5

MDA: SHG Achievements, 1995 2005, as on 31st March, 2005 (Source: MDA reports) 1728 23630 3.82 crore 17.04 crore 25498 3.27 crore 596

No. of SHGs No. of Members Total Savings Amt. Of Loan Issued No. of loans Credit from Bank No. of SHGs in A+ category

18

about myself and the purpose of my study as it is difficult to build trust with half truths. My knowledge of the local dialect helped in face to face communications, doing away with the need for a translator. I talked to respondents in their homes or at their work places, and as far as possible, alone. Apart from this, I also talked to a number of government officers, programme planners and implementers, NGO workers, bankers and community leaders to understand their perceptions and experiences. However, as Patton (2002) cautions, I tried to be careful about drawing on the wisdom of the informed perspectives of key informants, keeping in mind that their perspectives are selective.

As Denzin (1978) puts it, too often social scientists enter the field with preconceptions that prevent them from allowing those studied to tell it as they see it. Lofland (1971) says: To capture participants in their own terms one must learn their categories for rendering explicable and coherent the flux of raw reality. That, indeed, is the first principle of qualitative analysis. The open-ended responses permit one to understand the world as seen by the respondents. I focussed on use of open ended in-depth interviews to build up biographies through personal narratives to determine if and how women have been empowered by their participation in the program. They were asked a series of questions about themselves, their enterprise, their family, household, and their community (past and present). I drew on the womens testimonies as a different point from which to gauge what the insights of women can put in to our knowledge of the transformatory potential of Self Help Groups. An important source of my theoretical sensitivity (Straus and Corbin, 1990) was my professional background, have worked for a number of years at the grassroots level at the cutting edge of different government programmes. I tried to give only a broad framework6 within which the women could respond and tell about their points of view and experiences and freely allowed them to digress from these. Through this, I could understand and capture their points of view without predetermining those points of view through prior selection of questionnaire categories (Patton, 2002).

The Research Questions along with the Empowerment indicators are given at appendix 3.1.

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In order to capture the actual words of the person being interviewed, I used a tape recorder. Verbatim note taking was not possible given the depth and length of the interview sessions; using a tape recorder enabled me to give my full attention to the respondents, build up eye contact and rapport and also be reflexive in terms of framing and reframing the questions in accordance with the responses and their emerging categories.

I tried to listen supportively to the respondents narratives; the women slowly shared their experiences, views and opinions and gradually revealed some of their innermost anguishes and aspirations in the course of the sessions, each one of them lasting between two and a half hours to four hours. I developed, through this personal contact, what Schwandt terms as empathic identification with the actor. It is an act of psychological re-enactment getting inside the head of an actor to understand what he or she is up to in terms of motives, beliefs, desires, thoughts, and so on (Schwandt 2000). Empathy combines cognitive understanding with affective connection, and in that sense differs from sympathy, which is primarily emotional (Wispe 1986).

Looking back, I see in the progression of my relationships with the women, a movement within the framework of humanistic psychologist Clark Moustakas (1995), who elaborated three primary processes that contribute to the development of a relationship: Being-In, Being-For, and Being-With. I started with the nonjudgemental empathic stance as Being-In anothers world immersing oneself in anothers world by listening deeply and attentively so as to enter into the other persons experience and perception (Moustakas 1995). I do not select, interpret, advise, or directBeing-In the world of the other is a way of going wide open, entering in as if for the first time, hearing just what is, leaving out my own thoughts, feelings, theories, biases (Moustakas 1995). However, it was not so easy to have no reactions especially when faced with a sixteen year old pregnant daughter in law or a woman engaged in continuous child bearing for eight years. Being-For involves taking a stand in support of the other person, being there for the other. I am listening. I am also offering a position, and that position has an element of my being on that

20

persons side, against all others who would minimize, deprecate, or deny this persons right to be and to grow(Moustakas 1995). This was evident when I became a campaigner for some of the women with reference to their frustration over the issues of battery at the hands of their husbands, and took up these issues with the other group members and NGO workers, despite the strong customary opposition against interference in domestic violence between husband and wife, and the tendency, in turn, to find fault with the woman and criticize her character and behaviour. BeingWith involves being present as ones own person in relation to another person, bringing ones own knowledge and experience into the relationship. There is, in Being-With, a sense of joint enterprise two people fully involved, struggling, exploring, sharing (Moustakas 1995). The element of Being-With was there when I listened to the womens opinions on issues like sons preference and inheritance of land, but at the same time disagreed with them and offered my own ideas. This meant being reflexive, involves self-understanding, for all under-standing is selfunderstanding (Schwandt 1997), emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, political and cultural consciousness, and ownership of ones perspective.

3.5. Interpretation: Analyzing the Talk What does this narrative or story reveal about the person and world from which it came? How can this narrative be interpreted so that it provides an understanding of and illuminates the life and culture that created it? (Patton, 2002) As Silverman (2000) puts it, interpretation of narrative poses the problem of how to analyze talk and text.

Firstly, the taped interviews which were in the local dialect were transcribed verbatim and then translated into English and typed out. Of there were some untranslatable words and phrases (Patton, 2002) which were also retained along with the translated version, to give a full flavour of the responses. After this, I tried to work out as to which categories best captured the responses in the narratives. Content analysis of the narratives helped in working out possible categories, patterns, and themes through open coding (Strauss and Corbin 1998). At this stage, I immersed myself in the

21

data, listening to the taped interviews over and over again and reading and rereading the translated transcripts; I was grounded, as emphasized in Grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) so that embedded meanings and relationships can emerge from the data. The French would say of such an immersion process: Je menracine: I root myself (Patton, 2002). These narratives were then organized into comprehensible descriptions with major themes and categories culled out through content and pattern analysis. I used the respondents quotations in the text to give a first hand representation to the womens emotions, world views, thoughts and perceptions and to encapsulate these in their own words.

Undertaking this work through this method in such a personalised manner gave me an inside understanding of womens lived realities in a manner that would else not have been likely. I came out of the whole process, transformed; looking intensely at other womens existence forced me to look profoundly at my own.

As Halcom (cited in Patton, 2002) says: You can only find nothing if you stare at a vacuum. You can only find nothing if you immerse yourself in nothing. You can only find nothing if you go nowhere. Go to real places. Talk to real people. Observe real things. You will find something. Indeed, you will find much, for much is there. You will find the world.

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Chapter IV

UNVEILING EMPOWERMENT

4.1. Unveiling Empowerment 4.1.1. The First Connections: The Self Help Group On an average, one SHG consists of 15 to 20 members; a group leader is nominated on the basis of rotation from amongst the group members to conduct meetings. About 75 per cent of the members of the Self Help Groups are illiterate (including those who can sign only) and only 5 per cent have some post primary education. However, I was impressed by the methodical and orderly process by which the self-help groups conducted their business. Meetings are usually held once in a week. Normally, the agenda is disbursement of loans, collection of savings, fines etc. A record of loans, savings and fines are maintained by an educated member of the SHG, by the group leader or by a facilitator who is paid honorarium by the group.

The SHGs after creation, (here, by an external agency, an NGO) started collecting a fixed amount of saving from each member regularly on a monthly basis, thereby creating a common fund. Newer groups are more positive about group dynamics and start with a larger amount of saving. Older groups, however, started with a smaller amount, thirty rupees, then increased it to fifty rupees and now the average savings or thrift rate of the SHGs is Rs.100 per month per member. For about six months, the group only collected thrift; no loans were given. During this period the groups opened a savings account with a bank, usually the service bank in the area and also started lending to its members; generally around the eighth month of their creation. The groups by and large evolved flexible systems of working and managing their collective resources in a democratic way, generally with chipping in of all members in decision making. The amounts loaned are small, numerous and for a short duration. The loans cover an array of purposes and the interest charged is generally a little higher than that charged by banks but much lower than that charged by moneylenders.

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The majority of the SHGs extend loan at a rate of 2 per cent per month. Generally, the members have moved from small, short, consumption loans to bigger, long-term production loans. Currently, most of the loans are being taken for agricultural activity, small business, allied activities, marriages and house building. The SHG members took a number of loans since the loans are obtainable at the doorstep. The repayment of the loan along with interest and regular saving enlarged the working fund and augmented the scope of lending. In spite of this, the working fund generated by the group was obviously not adequate to meet the credit needs of all the members. The group then approached the bank where it had opened the savings account. The bank after ascertaining the validity of demand for credit, credit handling ability of the members, repayment behaviour within the group, and finally the accounting system and maintenance of the records, extended a term loan of smaller amount to the group. The group in turn continued to take decisions as in the past; the only difference being it has now a higher amount of resource. In addition, the group is jointly liable to the bank for repayment. Thus, a sustainable financial relationship between the bank and the SHG members develops for their mutual benefit. Members are trained in the habit of banking. This credit process deters informal money lending. SHG members do not continue to take loans from the moneylenders. Banks too have realized the significance of SHG credit in terms of credit handling capacity by the poor, creditdiscipline and lower transaction cost. Banks provide financial assistance for various entrepreneurial activities such as setting up of shops, vegetable rehris, small businesses, dairying etc. The self-help groups offer a way out of the predicament of collateral, physical access and too much documentation which reduced the ability of formal institutions to serve the poor.

This is not restricted to a few groups, both because of the efforts of the NGO and also because of the demonstration effect, more groups started forming. A relationship among the groups also evolved. Some of the leaders of the earlier groups themselves undertake the role of facilitators for promoting other groups. As a consequence, the role of the NGO has declined. In some cases a number of close by groups are federated. This federation is a co-ordinating apparatus with no hierarchical position.

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Critical decision-making process for sanctioning loans to members remains with the SHG. The federation is essentially supposed to help in the formation of more SHGs, act as catalyst for fledgling SHGs and carry out entrepreneurial jobs like backward and forward linkage and liasoning with outside agencies.

What has been observed here is that micro credit through the group approach has resulted in quite a few benefits: savings mobilized by the poor, access to the required amount credit, reduction in transaction cost for both lenders and borrowers, improvement in recovery and corruption less credit. As a backdrop, it may be mentioned that banks were nationalized in 1969; consequently, priority sector for the rural areas, agricultural sector and weaker sections was defined with 40 per cent of mandatory credit and interest concession. The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) with a sizeable ingredient of subsidy was launched to alleviate poverty. Corruption and leakage were the bywords. The IRDP borrowers were considered as passengers in the banking bandwagon, and less than 10 per cent of them have been found to be still associated with the banks after their loan repayment was over (Pulley, 1989). The rural branch managers distributed credit with unconcern. These loans were written off from the mental ledger of the bank from the start. Distribution of cheap and easy loans without any deference for repayment seemed more vital (Bouman, 1989). Although moneylenders became less important after independence due to government intervention, they had started reassuming an important role in recent years in the main due to the poor quality of institutional credit (Rajasekhar and Vyasulu, 1990).

Subsequently, the central Government started the Swaranjayanti Grameen Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) by integration of all the poverty alleviation programmes and visualized the disbursal of credit through SHGs. It is felt that because of the subsidy elements under the scheme, the SHG movement would suffer. However, although a single dose of subsidized credit through schemes like IRDP weakens the motivation for repayment, the possibility of multiple loans is a motivation for SHG borrowers to pay back the loans. The repayment rate in case for bank dues is ninety percent in the

25

case of SHGs, compared to around thirty five percent in the case of schemes like IRDP.

Batliwala (1994) writes, Empowerment must be externally induced, by forces working with an altered consciousness and awareness that the existing social order is unjust and unnatural. They seek to change other womens consciousness; altering their self-image and their beliefs about their rights and capabilities; creating awareness of how gender discrimination, like other socio-economic and political forces, is one of the forces acting on them; challenging the sense of inferiority that has been imprinted on them since birth; and recognizing the true value of their labour and contributions to the family, society, and economy. An outside agency or NGO can perform definite roles in self-help groups. One is to act as facilitator, mainly in the early stages of group formation and by giving support to the leaders and members to work out its role and modalities. Social mobilization (in this case provided by MDA/NGO) is necessary for organizing women into SHGs, bringing about banksSHG linkage and organizing training programmes. NGOs, especially with local staff, are the most apt agency for this.

The common experiences of members, reciprocal help and support and collective will power and faith, are some of the qualities and processes of groups that help in empowerment. They offset isolation and alienation by creating an organization to which the women can belong, where they will be heard and would have the security of being one of a majority and a movement, rather than being individual and alone. Secondly, the women develop motivation that can lead to a stronger personal identity and self worth. Long-term association also provides the member a chance to give back, to help others, and to acquire leadership skills. It gives the members new opportunities for achieving self-growth, increasing self-esteem, contributing to the community and acquiring a sense of purpose. Women mention that they have found a new individuality through the self-help groups. Membership of SHGs aided the women to move from an inactive state to being dynamic agents and work for their own change. The women elucidate how they had discovered their power. They are

26

fortified with information. They were thrilled about their newly acquired powers. Women who had so far been hesitant and inhibited have slowly shed their reserve and stepped out of the four walls of their homes to acquire an individuality of their own. They developed a sense of self-worth as they understood that self-empowerment comes from within. They have found strength in numbers.

4.1.2. Unveiling Empowerment: Voices from the Field7 Chen and Mahmud (1995) distinguish different dimensions of empowerment material, cognitive, perceptual and relational on the basis of positive change, the consequence of which is womens improved fall back position and greater bargaining power:

Material empowerment occurs through expansion in the material resource base of women.

Cognitive empowerment occurs from womens recognition of their own abilities and skills, indicated by greater self esteem and confidence.

Perceptual empowerment occurs through changes in how others perceive them, indicated by increased social prestige and value.

Relational empowerment takes place through changes in gender relations within the family and in the broader society, indicated by gender reduction in inequality in relationships.

Chen and Mahmud refer to specific events in womens lives like schooling, paid work and participation in development programmes, and by secular life events like marriage, birth of children, setting up of separate household, marriage of children and divorce or widowhood, which can cause empowerment.

I found this framework useful for looking at the empowering changes in womens lives triggered, in this case, by their participation in the Self Help Groups.

The translated transcripts of the personal narratives of respondents are at Appendix 4.3.

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4.2. Material Aspects 4.2.1. Expansion in Resource Base8 Liberty is not just a matter of having rights on paper, it requires being in a material position to exercise those rights and It is likely that womens subordination will not be adequately addressed as long as women are confined to a sphere traditionally devaluated, linked with a low perceived well-being contribution (Nussbaum, 1999). Hence, participation in economic activities is crucial for developing a womans confidence and status. It can enable her to make investments in health and education and assist her to build up assets like housing. Additionally, a modicum of economic independence can help increase a womans bargaining power vis--vis other family members and build up her capacity to take up cudgels against domestic violence. However, the problem is of providing financial assistance to the poor rural women as they do not fulfil the lending norms of financial institutions, they do not know the requirements of financial institutions for lending and no collateral security is available at their disposal. Many rural poor feel reluctant to approach the banks or financing agencies and do not have enough courage because of their low social status and illiteracy: Earlier who used to care for us? If I said I want to borrow ten thousand rupees, people would say she is a widow, how will she return this money. They would ask a hundred questions. Today there is no such hassle. We conduct a group meeting and withdraw the money. If the bankers delay it even for one hour, we ask them why you are taking so long. They withdraw the money at once. (Respondent 10)

SHG is a viable organized set-up to disburse micro credit to rural women for the purpose of encouraging them to enter into entrepreneurial activities. Credit can counter both the lack of access women have to formal banks and the very high rates demanded by local moneylenders. The membership of SHGs lessens monetary pressure occurring out of sickness, expenditure on wedding ceremonies, death of the bread winner and loss or seasonality of employment. It can also help in meeting

Information about the Respondents and their businesses are given at Appendix 4.1.

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expenditures which are an integral part of daily life: expenses on food, clothing, health, schooling etc. Micro credit helps in steering clear of expensive usurious credit: We are no longer dependent on any one. We do not feel helpless. We can withdraw money. Earlier we used to take money from the money lender. The interest rate used to be high: three to four rupees per hundred. Here the interest rate is cheaper, two rupees per hundred. We can return this money in monthly instalments. The money we took from the moneylender had to be returned in one go. (Respondent 9)

Earlier if I needed money we went to the bania. He would ask us to come tomorrow or the day after, I have to consult other members of my family. Then after a number of rounds he would agree or refuse to give us money. Now there is no such problem. We give all repayments in time. Even if we are late for fifteen days the group accommodates us. (Husband of respondent 8)

It has also cut the lengthy and corrupt procedures which characterised the earlier government sponsored credit schemes: Once I had taken a loan of five thousand rupees from a bank for setting up a fruit shop. Every time the Secretary would come, I had to look after his chai pani. Eventually the loan outstanding against me increased to ten thousand, then twenty thousand. Till today this loan is outstanding against me. But I paid five hundred rupees to the Secretary and he had shown it as a new loan. Every time he shows the earlier loan as having been paid and makes a new loan against my name. (Husband of Respondent 8, recounting a pre SHG scenario)

This stands in sharp contrast to the present situation: Nobody could get bank loan without a middleman ealrlier. Half the loan would be eaten up because of the corruption. Today the bankers treat the women with respect and give them loans. beedi. (NGO worker) . Now no one can even dare to ask for a cup of tea or even a

29

Access to credit can help in starting and expanding small businesses often backed by market access for the women and facilitate procurement of raw materials in bulk at a lesser cost and also assist investments in cost-effective technologies: We make seats for cycles. Whenever I need the money I borrow from the group. We make cycle seats; the work is going on upstairs. I supply the finished seats myself; I go to the villages for this purpose. Earlier it was a very small business. Now it has expanded. We obtain the raw material from Noida, Ghaziabad and Sadar Bazar in Delhi. My husband also goes for purchasing the raw material and I also go. I never used to go earlier but after becoming a member of the group, when my husband tells me that we have to get raw material, I go and buy it. I supply the seats in different villages. I usually go by a three wheeler. I also catch a bus sometimes. Usually, I supply it at a big shop at a nearby town. (Respondent 2)

Earlier we operated the wheel manually. My husband worked at it. It used to take a lot of effort. Now we have a wheel which operates on electricity. We got it by withdrawing fourteen to fifteen thousand from the group. My son got it from Delhi. We have got it since the past one and half years. Now the work is simple. We simply press a button, there is a motor and the works goes on automatically. because I have joined the group. (Respondent 9) All this is

Because of this my work has become easy.

This is my shop; I have taken it on a rent of four hundred rupees per month. We have two umbrella machines. Each machine costs thirty two hundred rupees. In addition, we have installed a motor which costs five hundred rupees. This way the machine can work on electricity. It is faster than pedalling by foot. My sons work here. We also place orders in the village; we have given raw material at eight places for the preparation of finished goods. I have placed the orders with poor women of SHGs who need employment. I have got this STD machine from MDA. It costs seventeen thousand rupees, eleven thousand is the cost of the instrument and five thousand is the security amount. This amount has been paid by MDA. The security has been

deposited in the telephone office; I will get a connection this week. The money has

30

been paid by MDA. I will return the money at the rate of one thousand per month. It will become a part of our corpus fund. Now when people ring us up to place orders, we feel handicapped because we do not have a phone of our own. By having this facility we will get orders directly, thus enabling us to prepare the finished goods on time. Now I will be able to talk directly to those to place orders by phone. I can also earn an income when others use this machine. (Respondent 10)

There is also expansion of the material base of women because of investments in assets like houses, latrines and hand pumps: I took a loan from the group and constructed this house. The initial level was very low. With these seventy thousand rupees I did earth filling on my house site and then constructed this house. Earlier, I used to stay in a joint family, with my in laws and my devars family. I had a very small room in that house, enough for just two beds. It was totally cramped. Now I have my own house... I also bought a cow. We do not sell the milk, though. It is for the children to drink. (Respondent 1)

We used the four thousand I had borrowed for constructing a latrine. Earlier, we did not have a latrine and had to go to the jungle Earlier I used to live in this house but it was not ours. It belongs to a bania. I bought it for twenty thousand rupees, after taking a loan from the group I have bought two biswas of land for constructing a house. I have some land in a town now. When I repay all my

instalments, that time I will take a loan and construct a house. Then I will shift there. It will be convenient to sell my products from there. (Respondent 2)

Schrieder and Sharma (1999) state that most destitute women, belonging to the lowest castes, settle earlier debts because of their membership of the SEWA Bank, (the bank of the Self-Employed Womens Association), hence preventing the perpetuation of an exploitative situation. A similar situation is observed here: The group charges an interest of two rupees per hundred. In the market the rate is ten rupees per hundred. They ask for security also. Who will stand as a surety for a poor person? One has to go around and beg people. I have got five children married.

31

I faced a lot of difficulties. Now I have the support of the group. Because of this I have been able to return the loans I had taken from moneylenders for the marriage of my children. I may be poor, but I am not dishonest. I have my izzat (honour). I always returned every paisa that I have borrowed. (Respondent 7)

Women are inclined to utilize a greater amount of their earnings on the family and domestic expenses, consequently an increase in womens income have a greater effect on family welfare: I withdrew ten thousand rupees, then again ten thousand and finally forty thousand rupees. I got a hand pump installed with the ten thousand I withdrew in the

beginning. I got a Nipson pump installed. Now there is no shortage of water. Earlier there was lot of shortage. Nobody allows others to fill water from their tap. It doesnt look good to go around asking for water. The water supply doesnt reach here. The second time my son said that he wanted to start some business. He wanted a machine for cutting marble. He asked me to withdraw ten thousand rupees and said that he would arrange ten thousand rupees from some where else. He bought this machine for twenty thousand rupees. After this I withdrew forty thousand rupees. I spent twenty thousand on the marriage of my daughter and another twenty thousand I gave to my son. In addition we also spent ten thousand from our savings and my son bought a bigger machine for thirty thousand rupees for cutting marble. (Respondent 9)

Initially, I took a loan of one thousand rupees which I spent on food. After this, rupees three thousand were spent on my illness. Next I borrowed ten thousand rupees which I spent on a rehri for vegetables, soap, plates etc. After this, I borrowed twenty five thousand for starting work on the beejnas (hand fans). Then my house collapsed in the rains and I took a loan of twenty five thousand for building it again. I also used an additional twenty five thousand that I had saved from my business for constructing the house. I built two rooms and a verandah with a tin roof. Now my children can sleep in these. Earlier we were open to rain and the sun as the rooms were not good. Now this house is pucca. (Respondent 10)

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Now the children do not loiter here and there. They are busy with the work. Now there is no complaint in this area that a man is drinking liquor. Normally that is the case in most places. Here we are not find any one playing cards or indulging in satta. Most of the people in this village are landless. They have come settled here after coming from different villages. Both the men and children are busy with the work created as a result of the group. (Respondent 10)

In their narratives, the women say they feel calmer, independent, and happy and declare that they experience an end to their difficulties and that they can cope better.

Why should we take anything as loan from some one else when we can borrow from the group, If we have to borrow money from someone else we may be hesitant. But now we can hold our head high and say that we are taking money from our own group. (Respondent 1)

We work from home. We do not have to work for some one else. That headache is not there. We do not have to work for any one else. We can work in our own house. We have our self respect. God willing, we have been able to do all this because of the group. (Respondent 10)

Today, I am able to look after my own expenses. That is enough. These days one cannot expect anything from sons and daughters in law. I am earning, that is why I have respect. When I stop earning that day I will know the reality about my son and daughter in law. Now that I am earning, my children also look after me. My grand son comes to me and asks me for money. My son also asks me for money sometimes. They all listen to me. (Respondent 5)

As one respondent sums up, the achievements are in terms of feelings of independence, wellbeing and self-sufficiency, over and above the income gains9:
9

A table showing the tangible and intangible benefits of Group membership is given at Appendix 4.2.

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When my life was completely dark, when I had lost all hope, when I had no support, I found the support of the groupI can do any thing now. I can withdraw money. I can earn a living. I need not ask any body for any thing. (Respondent 7)

4.3. Cognitive Aspects 4.3.1. Power Within The narratives of women reveal speak of the stresses and strains of daily life in conditions of poverty. Significant qualitative dimensions of poverty, such as stress, poor self-esteem, and dependency, circumscribe their lives. Participation in SHGs has changed this: the women spoke of feeling of freedom, increases in levels of confidence and self-esteem, a change in perceptions, a feeling of strength and a movement away from restriction and constraints. In short, they experienced power within. As Sen (1993) puts it, Acting freely and being able to chose may be directly conducive to well-being, not just because more freedom may make better alternatives available. What aspects are the reasons for these changes? Significantly, these are the underlying acumen of women together with a mounting consciousness amongst them about their abilities.

Women belonging to SHGs are more secure with a growing sense of self or I: Earlier when I used to stay at home, few people knew me. Now when I go out, a lot of people talk to me. They say Salam Salma, Namaste didi. I receive a lot of respect. Earlier who knew my name? I used to be called, Masterji ki lugai, Junthu ki bahu. Today, there is someone called Salma. (Respondent 1)

Empowerment has thus helped women to realize their identity, capability, strengths and power. They also have greater self-confidence and awareness of their rights, are more assertive and more vocal in mixed forums. Empowerment for women also means being able to overcome shyness and to talk and act confidently:

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Earlier when we used to go to the bank we were very shy. But now the women are confident and look at the bank official in the eye and say, deposit our money. (Respondent 1)

When I first started going to the bank, the banker would catch hold of my hand and tell me where to put my thumb mark. Then we had a girl to teach us how to read and write. There are too many hassles; I cant concentrate. But I learnt how to sign. When I went to the bank, the Manager said, affix your thumb here. I said why? Dont tell me where to put my thumb impression, tell me where I have to sign. The Manager said you have become very big. I said why not; give me a chair to sit. All the women have learnt how to sign. Only a few who are too old still affix their thumb impression. But there is a change in them also. Now they tell the Manager dont hold our hand and make us affix the thumb impression. We will do it ourselves. (Respondent 10)

Women have gained a measure of freedom from irrelevant customs, traditions, practices and prejudices. One thing is clear: empowerment cannot be imposed from top. Rather, it is essentially a bottom up process, as women must empower themselves. However, they need assistance and facilitation from above.

Empowerment means working from a portion of enforced powerlessness to one of power. It promotes womens inherent strength and positive self-image, which enables them to face any difficult situation: Now I can go anywhere, any time and no can say anything to me. But earlier I used to very hesitant. I was always scared, what if some one says something. But now I have the confidence, I will tell him four things in return. Now I do not fear anything. (Respondent 1)

Before we joined the group what did we know what respect was. I had never stepped out of the house. I used be fearful, feel depressed. I did not know any thing. Now I know how to speak. I have learnt how to talk to people. Earlier I used to stay at home. Ab to duniya dekh li. (Now I have seen the world). (Respondent 8)

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Ever since I joined the group, I kept getting more and more independent. And the more independent I grew, the happier I felt. Now I can come and go anywhere. I meet people. I am very happy. Now if I have to stay at home, I will surely fall ill and take to the charpai. (Respondent 1)

There was a function organized in Surajkund. Mehmoodi madam told me to speak about the group activity. I went on the stage and spoke all about it. Everyone was very happy. They said you have spoken very well. I was not at all nervous. (Respondent 7)

I participated in a sports meet that was held at Punhana. In this meet woman from all over the block participated. I got the first prize in the matka race, tug of war and discus throw. I had never thought I could do this. (Respondent 8)

Thus, the process has helped women to understand and realize their unique potential, develop courage to think and act independently, express what they desire, suffer, feel, speak out and express freely, and explore their distinct growth and development. Significantly, almost all the women had goals for the future, perhaps linked to their greater sense of self efficacy and belief in their ability to actualise them: I have bought two biswas of land for constructing a house. I have some land in a town now. When I repay all my instalments, that time I will take a loan and construct a house. (Respondent 2)

If I am able to withdraw more money from the group, my husband could buy a small vehicle, may be a tractor. He could earn a good income and need not go away to earn money. (Respondent 3)

I want to start the work of making soap at home. I have heard that you can do this work at home. I want to learn about this work, if I can start something on my own I need not go out every day and labour in the sun. (Respondent 4)

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After I repay my instalment I will take another loan and increase my business. If I am able to sell two hundred fifty rupees of goods every day I will be able to save forty rupees per day, then I will not need any body. I will be able to earn enough sitting at home. I will look after myself and survive. (Respondent 7)

I want to get a community centre constructed on panchayat land. I want this work to be done by the women of the self-help group. It is no use expecting the panchayat to do some thing. If we do it, every one will look at the group with respect. They will think that these women can also do some thing. (Respondent 8)

4.4. Relational: The Family 4.4.1. Bahus: Attitudes towards Daughters in law Gerda Lerner(1986) has used the notion of complicity of women, in relation to the ancient Mesopotamian civilization, to explain their perpetuation of a patriarchal system that subordinated women and which they in turn pass on to the next generation, as a cogent tool under circumstances of helplessness and financial dependency. The collusion of women with the patriarchal order give them benefits as part of their class privileges over males and females of lower classes. The intra-gender clashes and abuse working inside the family unit based upon life cycle rank, age, seniority and gender affiliation, bears witness to the connivance of women with patriarchy.

Respondent 1 describes her life in a joint family: For 10 years after my marriage, I was not allowed to go out of the house. We lived in a joint family, with my in laws. I used to do all the household work. My husband was employed as a teacher on contract basis in a government school in a remote village; it was not possible for him to commute on a daily basis. I wanted to go and stay with him but this request would have looked ridiculous as it was felt by all that it doesnt look nice for the wife to be together with her husband. My husband would never speak to me with people around. It was difficult to get my mother in law to acquiesce to my visiting my pihir (natal place) for a few days. Whenever I asked for

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permission, my mother in law would remind me of the domestic work: who would grind the grain, cook the food, and wash her hair? Then one day two men came and said that we have heard that there is an educated woman here, we want to meet her. They were the members of this NGO. My mother in law said that how I can let you meet her. My daughter in law never steps out of the house. The man said that they had met the sarpanch and he had said that your daughter in law is an educated woman, go and meet her. My mother in law said we will not allow you to meet her. Then the men called the sarpanch, he explained that these men are like my brothers. Only then I was allowed to talk to them.

The remarks of another respondent clearly bring out how the elder controlling woman turns into a patriarch and seeks to enforce power on behalf of men: My elder son does masonry work. His wife is also a member of another self-help group. She runs a shop across the road. She sells chappals, cloth etc. First I became a member of a group, and then my elder daughter in law also joined a group after looking at me and how I was benefiting. My elder son has now constructed a separate house. He lives separately. He did this at the instigation of his wife. She sprouted wings after joining the group. My younger son is a driver...His family stays with us. My younger daughter in law looks after the housework. My daughter also helps out. My son is away most of the time to the city in connection with his driving work. Why should his wife accompany him, what is the need? (Respondent 5)

4.4.2. Betis: Attitudes towards daughters There is an obvious predilection for sons among the women, not undiluted with empathy for the predicament of a girl: I have eight children, five sons and three daughters. I did not go in for any family planning method. My husband says it is against our religion. In any case who can have enough of rain or sons...? My daughters help, but it does not look good to assign hard labour to daughters. Then people say we are delaying their marriage for this reason. Anyway that will be their lot when they get married. Two wretched ones of

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this earth, a daughter and a draught bull. Only when I get my sons married and bring daughters in law, will I get real help. (Respondent 3)

It is important to have a son, to look after the parents. I did not have my husbands permission; I couldnt look after my parents. (Respondent 9)

The cost of this partiality can be anything from foetal or female infanticide to neglect of the girl child over her brothers: There is a nursing home in Palwal. Janch karate hain, ladka hae ya ladki (They find out, whether it is a boy or a girl). One woman told me. She got the test done for her bahu, she had three daughters earlier. They found out it is a girl. It cost them Rs. 700. Then they got the dai to do the abortion. (Respondent 4)

There are strong social taboos against giving social freedom to unmarried women. The level of decision making power available to women before marriage on issues such as autonomy to get education, liberty to turn down a marriage proposal, and independence to select a job according to their preference and aptitude does not exist. As the 16 years old pregnant daughter in law of one of the respondents says: I do not say any thing in front of my parents. My parents decided to get me married. I have a younger sister who is fifteen years old. She has also got married. My father sells vegetables. I was the eldest child. I could not go to school. I only went for two three days. My mother was ill. I had to look after the household work. (Daughter in law of respondent 4)

The following remark is also in a similar vein: My father married me of to this buddha (Old man). Buddhe ne khoob rupaiya jo diya tha (He gave enough money). (Respondent 6)

Women as well persist to socialize their daughters into becoming passive, compliant and handicapped individuals. Until daughters are married off, parents are under colossal social pressure to promote their eligibility for marriage. Those girls who do

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get education are packed into training for a small number of customarily accepted occupations and subjects: ...The youngest one also studies in the local madarsa She has received training at a sewing centre. She can stitch clothes. But she does not do it for sale; she is not the member of any group. What is the use of starting something when her stay with us is only temporary; I have to get her married soon, she will go away. As it is, she is 1819 years old; if we delay her marriage further people say all kinds of things. (Respondent 3)

The importance of education of women is acknowledged by development planners due to manifold benefits that ensue to the women and their family. Despite economic and social benefits derived from womens education, a vast majority of women continue to remain illiterate or receive lower levels of education than men. Stromquist (1998) argues that the gender division of labour and the control of womens sexuality reinforce womens subordination in society and influences womens educational participation. Daughters bear far greater burden of domestic and reproductive work than sons, helping their mothers in cooking, fetching fuel, fodder and water, and taking care of siblings. Furthermore, established social customs support investments in the education of sons over daughters. Patriarchal ideology plays a significant role in defining gender roles. It highlights womens key roles as mothers, wives and housewives: I am not educated. In our time, the work qualities of the prospective bride were more important than a girls looks or education. The main requirement was: hath-paer ki mazboot honi chahiye, take kaam thik terha kar sake (she should be strong so that work can be performed well). But I have ensured that all my children have studied in school. My eldest daughter has studied up to Class five. She is married and lives in a village near Palwal. The second one is eighth pass and the youngest one has dropped out of Class tenth. This way after marriage, they will be able to supervise the education of their children. They have not gone in for education after this. My husband says that if a girl is educated beyond matric, it can cause problems at the

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time of marriage. The usual catchphrase is: Padhi likhi ladkiyan ke kaam karen sain (Educated girls do not do l work). (Respondent 3)

Gender inequality is seen as a summing up of a number of deprivations, in how girls are fed, clothed, socialised and educated, but one respondent speaks of her determination that my daughter should do something with her life, have a better life than me: My in laws said, Put the boy in a good school, he is intelligent. Even though similar sentiments were not expressed about my daughter who is the eldest, I got all my children admitted to a private school after the group started functioning. Earlier I never had the money to do so. I went to the town and got school dresses and school bags for them. Earlier they used to wear my sister in laws childrens old clothes. I got new clothes for them. My mother in law used to say, In her fathers house, a daughter is best clad in simple and rough clothes. I got some decent clothes for my daughter. I felt very contented. Now my daughter studies in class 12th in the town. I have trained her in tailoring. In fact, I have tried to train her in all things. Now she can do anything. I want her to study further, take up some professional course like nursing. Of course, there are some who say that if she is too highly educated, we will have difficulty finding a groom for her because it is feared that education will make women masters of their husbands. (Respondent 3)

Undoubtedly, education can enable women to think more critically and enquire into their social reality. The self-confidence, self-esteem and forcefulness that women may build up through education can threaten those who benefit from womens toil and submissive mind-set.

While dowry is seen by several as a cultural practice that occurred out of an anxiety to make sure that a bride carries some assets with her to her marital home, the significance of which is considerable in the lack of inheritance rights (Kishwar 1986), it is also seen by a lot of feminists as the authorized trade of a woman between her natal and marital families (Gandhi and Shah 1991). What underscores the lopsided

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stipulations of this deal is that the woman keeps little or no control of the property that she takes with her to the marital home. The practice of dowry is further convoluted by its built-in link to the arrangement of marriage, where kanyadaan or the gifting of a daughter is seen as one of the most significant responsibilities of parents in respect of their daughters (Gandhi and Shah 1991). Laws are only the visible part of the iceberg where dowry is concerned. The complexity of tacking the subject of dowry stems from its intricate association with an extensive range of cultural norms relating to marriage and community standing and the fact that the girls parents are often complicit in the trade and are not willing to confront the custom: In marriages, a lot of dowry is given. Every one gives whatever they can afford. My daughter in law got these trunks, television and sewing machine. We have not opened the television yet. I do not have the time. I have displayed the dowry brought by the bahu, else it will be automatically assumed that I got my son married into Kamino ke ghar (home of low caste/ paupers), and have received nothing worthy of display. I did not ask for dowry. I said whatever you can afford is acceptable to me. I never said I want this or that. (Respondent 4)

Another respondent laments: The marriage of daughters entails a lot of expenditure. That time my husband had some life in him. Now he is old. What to do, girls bring humiliation, you weep when they come, you weep when they go...The custom of dowry is increasing every day. People are giving more and more things. Some even give Maruti cars. I only gave a cycle... (Respondent 5)

Obviously, dowry is now an ingrained practice, signalling the overall devaluation of women. However, there are a few heartening responses as well, indicating some attitudinal change: I know that a girl below 18 years cannot be married. I try and tell every one not to give things in dowry. Some people go to the extent of selling their land their house and their animals on this account. I tell them just give ten to twenty utensils, maybe a

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cycle, call ten or twenty relatives and get the girl married. I try and tell every one this. Both my daughter in laws are over 18 years of age. (Respondent 10)

4.4.3. Roles and Responsibilities: Unequal Burdens Women put up with the double burden of productive and reproductive work. Furthermore, womens work is mainly reckoned inside the home as unpaid work; even as for men it is socially visible and economically compensated (Williams, 1994). If we put in familial and household tasks, the contribution of women in the household economy is enormous: in India, women undertake over 90 per cent of the household and farm activities (Singh, 1989). About one third of the female population of the state of Haryana is occupied in agricultural activity that is three times higher than the relative national figure for the female work force (34.18 as contrasted with 11.69 per cent). Women in Haryana take on more fieldwork than men. Many roles and responsibilities are taken as predetermined for women purely because they are women e.g. fetching water, washing clothes, cooking, cleaning etc. Farm activities which are rigorous, repetitive and tedious are usually carried out by women, e.g. transplanting, weeding, thinning, gap filling, harvesting, protection of crops, winnowing etc., where 67-88 per cent work is done by women as against only 4-40 per cent work by men (Manekar, 1990). Moreover, scarcely any agricultural technology is gender specific and they barely reach her.

The day for women starts early in the morning and they are the last ones to withdraw to bed. A typical day of a woman lasted from 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., with almost no rest in between. On a daily basis, the labour time was about 15 hours during the agricultural season. In addition, it is the women who do the entire work connected to the feeding and management of cattle. The labour women do is tough, necessitating intense effort, at times in extremely hard circumstances and frequently in pregnancy. Women occupied in agriculture have to work extended hours in the hot sun with hardly any food or water to keep them going whilst additional household work lies in store at their return. What is more, the costs of labour migration for the most part, fall on women in rural areas, principally the ones who stay behind. Moreover, the physical

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health penalty of heavy household work especially regular physical load bearing in rural situations has not been sufficiently investigated. However, the NGO workers and government officials do not appreciate the degree of womens workload and perceive women as being indifferent to participating in training courses.

I observed that in woman run agricultural operations, women are doing work and also making choices about crops to be sown, procurement of inputs and selling of produce. Besides, where women are heads of households owing to death, migration or abandonment, their management position is well defined. Thus, ensuring their access to technologies and information becomes important.

Participation in SHGs may further intensify womens responsibilities, men using this excuse to extricate themselves from their duties and commitments: The nature of my work is such that I have nothing to do with house hold work. My wife looks after every thing. It is because of the care that she gives to the land, the cattle, and the household that make me free to do my work. She makes all decisions regarding purchase and sale of buffalo, buying the inputs for the land etc. Every woman cannot do all this, only some women have the ability to look after all this. Agricultural operations are very laborious. Par kaam karne se aurat tandrust rahe sae (a woman by working remains healthy). I have nothing to do with all this. I only know that when I come home, I get my food on time. (Husband of respondent 3)

Five years ago, if a survey was conducted and a question was asked as to who is the head of the family, then a widow would name her son even if he was a child of ten years. But if a survey is conducted today fifteen percent of the women will say that despite having a husband their names should written as head of the family as she is the one who runs the house hold, who does the buying and selling, runs the business, has all the responsibility and is the head of the family. This change has taken place because of the group. (Respondent 10)

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For women on the whole, the increased work signifies an enhancement in their welfare because of improved earnings, better access to facilities and services, enhanced social status and networks and greater self respect. However, women are occupied concurrently in childbearing, looking after family members, children and elders as well as participating in income generating activities, thus spelling a great strain on their wellbeing and health: Sometimes, I am so tired when I get back home that I dont have food. I just go to sleep. I dont have the time to eat. (Respondent 6)

Cooking also has risks. I observed that women cooked on open fires in poorly ventilated rooms. I suspect that these women were exposed to many times the safe level of smoke particles.

Moreover, the disparities in power within the household can also affect a womans reproductive life, constraining her ability to make knowledgeable choices about issues like family planning. Women are hemmed in by duties and responsibilities, which bound their capability to make independent choices that are fundamental to their lives and future.

I did not go in for any family planning method. My husband says it is against our religion. (Respondent 3)

I want my sons to have only two or three children. This was our ignorance that I had so many children, one every year for seven years. I have told my daughter in law. I tell others also. Log kahte hain ki gunah padta hai (People say it incurs sin). But I say there is no shame or sin a copper T. (Respondent 10)

Furthermore, Ventateshwaran (1995) states, Womens consciousness of the environment and, therefore, their conservative approach is not something inherent, arising out of their being women as it is often propagated. It is rooted in their roles and work tasks, which led them to interact extensively with natural resources for

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survival. If the resource-base gets degraded, it then affects womens domestic work, which further has a harmful effect on womens psychological and physical well being. As Agarwal (1995) points out, womens work, mainly work carried out by poor women is affected by environmental degradation which increases the time and energy used to collect water and fuel wood.

My cow does not give much milk these days; this is because she does not get enough fodder. Earlier, there was a lot of free fodder like grass which grew on the shamlat (village common land). Now these lands are under najayaz kabzas (encroachments). All the fallow land has been brought under cultivation. Or else, they are considered the private property of the landowners. So I face a lot of difficulty, I have to go to far flung places to look for fodder for the animals. (Respondent 3)

Also, when essential resources and amenities are absent, womens work load is amplified. Corruption and the lack of transparency in the provision of essential services and government schemes also add to their woes: We need good quality soil and fuel wood for our work (potter). We hire a tempo for getting the soil. All of us: my husband, daughter in law and son go for this purpose. We get the soil from the river. Earlier the Government had allotted land for this purpose. Now that has been excavated. There is no soil left, only stones. The Panchayat has filled the land with water and leased it out for a fishery. Two acres of land also exist at block headquarter but that has been excavated till a great depth. It is under unauthorized occupation; cases are going on in the court. It is very difficult to get soil for our work. We have to go to the river for it. We get the soil secretly. We fill our tempo with it. One chowkidar of the Irrigation Department remains on guard there. We give him hundred to two hundred rupees and he lets us fill a tractor, in one season we need five tractors of soil. (Respondent 9)

We havent got the benefit of any government programme. I havent got my ration card; it is at the Sarpanchs house. Give 100 rupees, get the ration card, I havent got the card, nor did I give the money. My brother in law gave 50 rupees and got the

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ration card made, gave another 100 rupees and collected it; I did not give the money. (Respondent 6)

A lot of women complain that their name has not been included in the below poverty line survey. The rich have managed to get their names included. If the ration card is yellow in colour, one can get food grains and the benefit of other government schemes. The survey was conducted by the ADC office. We said that the names of poor women of SHGs should be included in the survey. We waited in the village for the survey team to come, but it did not. Later we got to know that they had made a nice list sitting at the houses of some of the panchayat members. This list wasnt not got passed in the gram sabha. The system is rotten. (Respondent 10)

4.4.4. A Cultured Silence: Domestic Violence Some research implies that expanding womens access to economic opportunities and resources does not always make them less vulnerable to domestic violence (Schuler, Hashemi, Riley and Akhter, 1996). Years of struggle to visibilize domestic violence or battery of women within the household as a form of violence against women has exposed a variety of forms of violation that have traditionally been hidden within the four walls of the household including physical abuse like kicking, spitting, beating with hands or objects like belts and bottles, pulling hair, throwing acid or boiling water, shooting, strangulation, burning with cigarettes or other objects, pushing and pinching as well as verbal abuse and mental torture and cruelty (United Nations 1983). Data from cases of domestic violence and persecution (Abraham 1991; Gandhi and Shah 1991; Agnes 1991) point to the pressure brought about in every day life, and the cost of being in an interaction where the conditions are out of control for women. Frequently violence is accompanied by pressure of or real desertion, which make women even more helpless and decrease their options for confrontation. While the bangs, bruises, or wounds may slowly grow fainter, the emotional wounds gradually destroy the spirit.

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Acceptance of male authority is all-encompassing, and if commiseration is evoked for women who have experienced violence, the endeavour is to seclude women or restrict their movement, discover mistakes in their conduct or else denounce them for not kowtowing to traditional social values. The effect is that women label themselves in terms of helplessness and fear.

Violence is a vital tool for subordination of women in patriarchy and to keep them under male control (Poonacha and Krishnaraj, 1991). Counell points out that the scope for bargaining over power is the greatest between men and women at the household level. This scope diminishes as women enter public institutions because of the complex structuring of power in the form of rules and organizational systems (Connell 1987). Connell refers to the social construction of emotional and sexual relationships as the ways people create emotional links between each other, and the daily conduct of emotional relationships (Connell 1987). A significant inference of Connells hypothesizing about the relations between women and men is the manner in which violence is frequently enmeshed with the idiom of love and affection. This equation forms a crucial rationale for the immense social opposition to intervening in circumstances of domestic violence (Subramaniam, 1995). On the other hand, the difficulty is not only one of public sensitivity, the women who experience battery find it hard to opt out for because of the intricate ties they have to husbands and children: My husband has beaten me, tortured me, and kept me hungry. Some how or the other, I have borne all this. I am old now. I cannot take it any longer. Once he did not come home for a number of years.... He used to earn a lot but never gave me a paisa. I laboured and survived. If my son went to him and asked him for money, he would give him a good thrashing. ... He would beat me black and blue whenever he came home. Slowly he turned my whole family against me, my mother, my brother and all my other relatives. He would rarely stay at home. He would go off and we would be left to fend for ourselves. ... . Happiness came in my life, but my husband stole it from me, he did not let me taste it. Yo budha khusad bahut jeena haraam kare sai (This old man has really made my life intolerable). Ab meri bas ki baat na sai

budhape mein pitna (Now I am old and cannot take these beatings any longer). As a

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group we have done many great things, we have even managed to recover money from the most powerful men in the locality but I have not placed this problem of mine before the group. I fear if I do so it will reach my husband. That will make matters worse. Duniya se takkar li par is buddhe se takkar na le saki (I have confronted the world but I have not been able to confront this old man). My husband says where is the money you have taken from the group? How much you have saved from your shop. Then he fights with me. I treat my husband well. But he is always full of complaints. Sometimes there is less salt in the food. Some time the achar is not good. On some pretext or the other he throws away the food. He abuses me and uses foul language.If I do not let my husband come here, people will say all kinds of things. Now God alone will give me justice. The other group members have not done any thing; Kaun burai lei (nobody wants to invite ill-will). I am not afraid of any body. Only I have not been able to confront my husband. Ke karoon, kismat sai, is haramzade ke saath kaatan laag ri su (What to do, it is my fate; I am putting up with the bastard). (Respondent 7)

As Gramsci (cited in Saxakali, 1997) writes: fatalism is nothing other than the clothing worn by real and active will when in a weak position (1971); the woman hold herself responsible and thinks if she improves, things would be well again. Moreover, she wants to protect the image of the family.

Traditional mind-sets towards women keep alive the violence. One of the myths about domestic violence is that no one should interfere in domestic affairs of man and wife. The problem breeds in silence and finds legitimacy through cultural norms: Women do not generally discuss larai (quarrels) and beatings by husbands in the group. Women fear their husbands reaction if they speak about such things. In one case, we offered to intervene, but the woman seemed to resent this and said, What my man may do is none of your business. (Respondent 1)

Some men beat their wives. But we do not discuss these things in the group, nor do we intervene. Joru Khasam ki larai keya. (A quarrel between married couples is of no

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consequence.) At times, we have intervened in a sas-bahu ki larai, but not in fights between a husband and wife. That is their own private business. (Respondent 5)

Those committing violence are not made responsible for their actions. Generally women dont leave and stay on because of family and social pressures. She does not have a secure place to go and fears parents, friends and family. Family members would not keep her for long or force her to go back. She does not have adequate financial resources to manage alone. Religious and cultural beliefs force her to stay with the husband. As one woman who was the victim of battery by her husband recounts: My husband used to say to whom were you speaking to, where did you go, and he would start beating me there and them. He has broken all my bones. After the birth of my son, I could not conceive any more children. My mother in law used to instigate my husband. They used to turn me out of the house. Who will keep a barren woman, who will keep a barren cow? My husband would accuse me of talking to someone, laughing with someone when I went out to work. I used to take my child and go to my parents place. I used to leave every thing and go. I did not even take my clothes along. I did not say anything about this in the group. It does not look good to discuss these things there. Then, my father died. I thought how many days will it go on like this? I used to be reprimanded by my bhabhi, Behan, ab tera yahan kaam ke (Sister, now you dont belong here). My mother also said, ladki apne susral mein hi jache (A girls right place is in her in laws house). My son said how many days will you go on like this? When you die what I will do. Your brother has his own children. What will happen to me?... I said, I will go back to the village. My mother in law refused to let me stay. I went to the sarpanch. I told him I will hire a lawyer. I will lodge a report against my in laws. I will put them behind bars. I will get my land. I will stay here. Whether any one gives it willingly or whether I have to fight for it. The sarpanch told my in laws to give me some place to stay...The land was partitioned. My husband is useless. Sometimes he stays here. Most of the time, he runs away. I arranged three thousand rupees and gave it to my in laws. I took a loan from the group. Then I made my house. ... My husband has broken a lot of my bones. But

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he could not break my spirit. I also vowed that I will live here in the village and show everybody. Some times he gives me money some time he does not. But I dont need his money. I have told him that if you beat me I will not spare you. My son also tells him, meri ma per haath uthaya to achcha nahin hoga (If you lift your hand on my mother, it will not be good). I do not take it lying down, I hit back. (Respondent 4)

There are no shelters, short-stay homes or refuges where women can escape, domestic or other violence and find some space which is supportive, non-judgmental and helps women to recover some dignity, even if they choose to go back to violent homes. 4.4.5. Land for men, only micro-credit for women?10 Issues of Inheritance A survey by Marty Chen (1991) reveals that only some women inherit land; still a lesser number in actual fact control it. In Chens sample of widows in rural areas in seven states, only 13 per cent of the 470 women with land-owning fathers inherited land as daughters (the figures were 18 per cent in South India and 8 per cent in North India: Agarwal 1998). Consequently, 87 per cent of the surveyed women did not obtain their rights as daughters. Amongst widows, of the 280 whose husbands were owners of land, 51 per cent inherited some land, but approximately half did not inherit land. In cases where they did, their shares were not entered officially in the records. In other cases the widows name is recorded together with sons, the latter in effect controlling the land (Agarwal 2003).

There is a contravention between rights and the actual situation. In patrilineal cultures, there is tough opposition to giving daughters land; this is seen as getting no mutual benefit, as there are taboos on asking a daughter for help. In addition, the land given to her goes out of the lands of the family. Women may relinquish their share in land in favour of brothers as in the lack of a successful social security, the former are perceived as a significant fall back option, particularly in cases of break-up of marriages. Cultural constructions of gender roles, as well as notions of how a good

10

The title of the ALRD Bangladesh workshop

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sister should act, also daunt women from affirming their rights, in addition to the stress on purdah and restrictions on a womans mobility (Agarwal, 2003).

One more aspect is the concept of the family as a space of harmony (the heart of a heartless world) that property considerations would shatter. The issue of rights of women in land is made complex as in the case of women, the family circle is also a pitch of contestation, apart from the community and the State, with its emotional and family cohesion dimensions (Agarwal, 2003): How can I have a share in the property of my pihir (natal family)? Why should I claim my share? Bebe galat seekh mut de (sister, do not give me wrong advice). I can have a share only in my husbands property. I cant have two shares. My brother is duty bound to look after me and my son. He is the one who has performed all the rituals and made all the presentations at rites of passage. Why should I lose the goodwill of my brother? What will I get in return? It would only deprive my brother and go to my husband. ...My husband said, why dont you claim land from your brother and settle there. I said, Tu pehle apni bahnon ko haq de mein phir apna haq lungi (You first give your sisters share to them, then I will claim my own). (Respondent 4)

I did not have a brother. I had one sister who died. My parents had a house in the market. There was also some land adjoining it. My father has been dead for the last fifteen years and my mother for the last five years. I gave the house and the land to my taus (fathers elder brothers) son. Main sochi ki thodi si zameen ke peeche kyon apna munh rishtedari mein kala karoon (I thought for such a small piece of land why I should dishonor myself among my relatives). Even if I had kept it they may have not let me live there, kam se kam biradari mein banae rakhoon (At least I should keep the good will of my relatives). Now that my relatives have the land, they dont care for us. And I dont have the land. We bought some land here and built this house. This land is in my husbands name. Some of the money was given by my father and some came from our own savings. It is not in my name. Janani ke naam pe zameen achhi na lage (It does not look good for a woman to have land in her name). Everyone said

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that land should not be in the name of a woman. Janani ke naam zameen na karni chahiye, aadmi ke naam badhiya rahegi (A woman should not have land in her name, it is best to have it in the mans name). I said alright; let it be in your name, I dont have any problem. (Respondent 9)

4.5. Relational: Womens Networks I observed that homogeneity of the members is chiefly in terms of similar standard of living and nearness of residence. The group process also instilled mutual trust and faith among the members. The group considers the requirements for loans in their meetings and these are settled by agreement. The loans are given on trust with least amount of documentation and security.

I would meet two or three people and try and make them understand about the group. They told me you are talking absolutely nonsense. We will not form any group. If we have any money to save, we will put in our box. But I went on making the effort. Gradually I managed to get twelve women with me. Then suddenly they said we do not trust her. Yeh to saali raand sai, bhukhi mar rahi sai, yo to bhaj jayegi paise lekar. (She is a widow, she is dying of hunger. She will run away with our money.) I told them I am not a woman who will run away. But if I do, you can take my plot, and sell it and get your 10-20 rupees back. We worked as a group for one year and started making small loans to each other. I withdrew one thousand rupees for my household expenditure and food items. Then one day I fell ill. The group held a meeting. The members said that the poor woman is ill, she has small children, so they withdrew three thousand rupees and gave it to my children and said, get your ammi treated in a hospital. (Respondent 10)

Further, joint responsibility provides incentives and compels the group to assume the burden of selection, monitoring and enforcement that would otherwise fall on the lender (Hoff and Stiglitz, 1990).

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I am always at the forefront of any group campaign. I have gone with the group for recovery of money from those members who do not pay. One woman was not

repaying money despite all our efforts so we sat down for discussion and decided to go to her house. I told the woman that you will have to repay the money. That woman was rude to me. Every one got after her and said that Lata is the oldest member of our group. How dare you speak to her like this? The woman said that I will repay the money after selling my plot. We said you are just trying to delay the matter. Earlier she was a good member of our group. But her two sons were bekaar (useless). They used to play satta. They even sold off her jewellery for this purpose. She had

borrowed forty thousand from her neighbour. To return this money she took forty thousand from the group. So she could not pay the instalments. She said her children had been caught by the police and had sold off all her household things. However, she returned sixteen thousand to us and promised to return the rest in instalments. (Respondent 7)

One member borrowed ten thousand rupees and did not return it for one and a half years. The woman was asked to return the money, she said that her husband had taken all the money and when she asked him for it, he would fight with her. One day, we went to her house and told her husband to return the money; he said I am not in a mood to do so. You do what you please. We said this is not the Governments money that you can eat it up. This is our money; it belongs to all the women. You will have to return it. He refused flatly and said you do what you please. I held a meeting of all the group members and told them about the situation. We held a dharna in his

house. No body ate any thing, not even tea to drink. The family went away from their house, they left every thing. We called the milk man and sold their cow for ten thousand rupees and the buggy for five thousand rupees and in this way we recovered our money. When that man came to know that we had sold all their things, he came and fell at our feet. We called the milk man and told him to give back the cow and the buggy. The man returned five thousand rupees to us immediately. He promised to give the other five thousand rupees after fifteen days positively. I said if you do not

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return this money within fifteen days we will not leave a single hair in your beard. (Respondent 10)

One member of another SHG had taken a loan but her husband had given it to some one else as a loan. Some of the members of that group came to me and requested me to come with them. They said we know that he has money with him but is not returning our loan. We met that man on the road. I said why you are not repaying your loan. I will not allow you to keep this money. Dont think that Shanu has only one Vikas group. All the groups belong to Shanu. I have to look after all the groups. He put his hand in the pocket and took out notes of money and challenged us, I have money, I will see who can take it from me. We felt angry and insulted. We were members of four to five SHGs, we blocked the road. There was a traffic jam. Fourfive women caught hold of him. I took the money from him. Then I held up the money for every one to see. There were seven thousand rupees. He said I will report to the police that we had looted twenty thousand rupees. I said even if you say you had fifty thousand rupees, nothing is going to happen. We can confront the police also. He was not going to report; he was just making tall claims to impress people. We came back with our seven thousand rupees. Now only three thousand rupees were left with him. The mans wife came to my house and said Shanu please do not shame me

more. You come to my house; I will return the rest of the money. I said if you had returned the money initially, and if you and your husband had not misbehaved with us, we would not have done this. We do not waive off the interest, else how will we work? That woman is still a member of the group. She runs a rehri by the road side. We have told her that if you will leave the group, we will refer your case to audit. If every one runs off what will be the value of the group? We are like this only with those who misbehave with us. It is important to teach one or two persons a lesson otherwise the others will also stop paying. (Respondent 10)

The success of SHGs in terms of high repayment is a result of existing social ties and social cohesion found among women members. Reciprocal help among members in times of problems of repayment is also observed.

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Besides, regular, public association of members of a community has been credited with mobilizing a communitys social capital (Putnam, 1993). Such community interaction encourages participants transition from I to We, while enhancing participants taste for collective benefits (Putnam, 2000).

The Commissioner had a meeting, he asked about our work. He was very happy and announced an award of twenty five thousand. I said that this award should go to the group, it is not for me. All in all, six lakh rupees were distributed as prize money to the different SHGs. I deposited the twenty five thousand rupees I got in the group account; we can use it for any purpose, for a loan or for buying chairs and tables for the group meetings. (Respondent 10)

However, one possible development is that where there is strong competition among the members with related occupations, non-co-operative behaviour will surface to weaken the long-term strength of the group.

4.6. Relational: Societal 4.6.1. Separate Worlds: Purdah Mens control over womens sexuality is one of the essentials of the subordination of women, revealed in the custom of purdah or forced partition of womens lives from men. The underlying principle for such tradition is that a womans honour needs protection.

Chen (1983) and Agarwal (1994) observe that through collective action, women members of gender progressive mixed NGOs or womens associations focused on economic activities, have also been able to challenge constricting social norms, such as female seclusion, as in Bangladesh and north India. As respondent 1 recounted her experience of a movement away from the isolation of the veil:

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For 10 years after my marriage, I was not allowed to go out of the house... I was a prisoner; leaving cow dung, I embroidered... They (NGO members) took me for a meeting. My husband came with me. The sarpanchs son also went along. This was a first time that I had gone to any such meeting. I was very hesitant. I had done purdah. The people there urged me to remove the purdah. They told me that all the other people present there are my brothers and sisters. In this way, I removed the purdah. I felt I would die, I was so shy (Respondent 1)

Other women recount: Earlier, I used to do dhhatha while working in the fields or fetching water or doing domestic work. One can move ones arms and shoulders while doing work, and it doesnt cover the eyes. Some may call us badmash (loose character), but after joining the group, most of us have stopped doing ghunghat. Maybe some of us only do it in front of senior male members in the family. My father in law told my husband to tell me to wear a proper ghunghat. I said tell my father in law my ghunghat is as befits my work. Should I wear a yard long ghunghat? (Respondent 4)

When I first came to the village, I used to do purdah. There are women, daughter in laws who go around with long ghunghats when they do their work. I dont do purdah now; one should have sharm in the eyes, what is there in purdah? Anyway, I have to work in the shop, all kinds of people come, and I cant do ghunghat. Yes, when elders and relatives come at home, that time I do purdah.(Respondent 6)

One respondent speaks about the denigration women like her faced from the village community, who view the purdah clad woman as the custodian of their culture and morality: There are people in the village who denigrate us as besharam (shameless).Those of us who have removed our purdah or reduced the size of our ghunghat, have been condemned as nangi (without clothes). They say, jab ankh ki sharm hi nahin rehti to phir kya rehta hai (if eye modesty is breached, then what remains). They even accuse us of badchalni (sexually loose behaviour). (Respondent 1)

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The women have found strength in numbers and have not been cowed down by this onslaught: We are not doing anything that is wrong. We are doing good work. This kind of thinking is useless. If we go by what people think, we will keep sitting at home. We have to work according to our own thinking (Respondent 1)

4.6.2. Purushjati aur Strijati: Constraints Women are confronted with limitations that contract their potential for empowerment. These constraints operate at the individual, familial and societal levels and range from womens level of proficiency, knowledge, information, self-confidence etc, and the roles and relationships within the household to the societal constraints in terms of norms of behaviour for women (Johnson, 1999).

There are inequities in the labour market: gender roles are observable not only in the division of work but also in the distribution of wages. Two kinds of discriminatory practices in labour can lead to womens inferior position: for the same tasks women are paid less and secondly women are limited to a restricted number of comparatively second-rate tasks. There is obvious wage discrimination; one of the reasons why landlords have a preference for female agricultural labourers, in addition to the recognized sexual allotment of labour is that their remuneration is lesser: We do transplantation, weeding, sowing, hand picking of cotton, cutting the sarson, and other such auraton ke kaam (female work). We do this work better than men and at lower wages that is why we are employed. The zamindars says a woman is brainless, if we pay the same wages to women, then why not take a man wholl do better and more work. It is the men who drive tractors or thresh with machines (Respondent 4)

Another constraint is womens limited access to health care; in fact, apart from economic and cultural factors, psychological factors may circumscribe their access to health care. Women are conditioned to consider suffering as their lot. Women

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perceive taking care of themselves as selfish, especially in economically hard circumstances. Women are married and begin their childbearing while they are still adolescents. With fertility being high more than four children per woman the reproductive years place extra burden on a womans health. The physical and emotional demands of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and childbearing, besides the other responsibilities a woman has, can lead to what has been called the maternal depletion syndrome. The cumulative effects of a lifetime of nutritional deprivation, hazardous and heavy work, and continuous childbearing and low self-esteem leave them both physically and mentally frail. Each of these can affect womens health, producing additional stresses in their lives. The setting of scales is a daily and ongoing struggle.

Similarly, the demands of survival related tasks make the acquisition of literacy skills a burden and a chore for the women. There are time-bound plans and projects and poor women are easily blamed for their lack of participation in programmes due to poor motivation. Women have internalised a poor self-image and low self-esteem for learning. Many of them even regard their learning disabilities as natural and normal. Social acculturation reinforces the belief that usefulness of literacy is limited for women due to their primary role as a wife and a mother.

However, women have a rich indigenous information base, highly developed analytical abilities and an understanding of their lived realities. These considerations are ignored in most literacy programmes.

4.7. Relational: The Community With women becoming powerful individually and collectively, they have been able to tackle problems such as lack of drinking water and electricity, access to health and anganwari services, childrens education and participation in village infrastructure like streets. Involvement in SHGs has enabled women to have a voice in the local affairs of the village and has facilitated their involvement in community affairs.

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There is also awareness that women have a mutuality of interests which can often outweigh discordant caste and religious differences and throws open the potential of broad-based united action by women for altering asymmetrical power relationships. Womens involvement in SHGs has helped them assert their individualism as women with commonality of intersts. They have carved out an identity above caste or religion. This self-perception comes about from womens own shared experiences and from stances and images forced on them by the community. The women belonging to SHGs of all castes assemble together although customarily they have been debarred from doing so. Also, as a result of membership of SHGs, women of different ages and castes take part in village affairs.

Membership of SHGs enhances womens bargaining power and helps them negotiate with superior strength in community institutions. Having knowledge of their broader context to womens lives empowers women. Womens mutual support is a necessary condition of their empowerment. Alone, individual women cannot develop their potential or make their full contribution. The mentoring of other women by veteran SHG members has helped to give supervision and assurance to other women who would else be browbeaten by the system. Mentoring serves as a role model and takes away the isolation of being one of a few: I have organized a Haryali Self Help Group recently. All the women were after me: Nafisa, we also want to become a member of the group like you. Now they do not call it Hariyali group. They say it is Nafisas group. All in all, I have got three groups opened. My mother in law is in the Aakash Group. (Respondent 2)

A lot of women ask me to accompany them to the bank, especially those who are going for the first time. Those women, whose children do not go to school, also ask me to counsel them. I go one or two times. Then the women themselves get trained. All these women really respect me. Whenever I meet them anywhere they smile and talk to me. They do salaam. I feel very happy (Respondent 1) I am also a member of this school committee. I have been a member since the past three years. If any work is to be done in the school, they call me. I have been involved

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in the construction of schoolrooms...The women complained that they do not get ration from the anganwari worker meant for the children. They asked me cant you do any thing. I heard for one or two days, then I went to anganwari worker and said, Poonam, why dont you give ration. I also know you dont come on time. I got a resolution passed by the group. I told her that I will report you. I am a social worker. After this she got frightened. She said there is no such thing; I will give the ration properly. Now there is no such problem...There was a DPEP centre and I try to get the children enrolled in it, even if it means leaving my own work. Now times have changed. Girls are going to school. Some women may say who will help us with the agriculture and domestic work if girls go to school. (Respondent 1)

Once I went to the BDO office with the women who wanted to get an IAY house. They gave an application but nothing happened. We told the sarpanch but a lot of sarpanchs are fools. I say this even though we vote for them. (Respondent 1)

I have tried to motivate women regarding sanitation issues. Also if the children fall ill, I tell them to consult an MBBS Doctor. Some of the women are firm believers in matas (female deities) and totkas (charms) and rely on them in illnesses and to ensure safe deliveries. I have tried to persuade the women not to fall for such superstition. Sometimes I take them myself to a Government hospital. This way, at least the fees are saved. And the treatment is also good. (Respondent 1)

In case there is any work relating to the community, I talk to the Sarpanch also. If there is any fight or dispute we try to sit together and sort it out. If we get to know that some woman is ill, we collect money and try and take her to the hospital. There is a marriage in a few days. The girl is an orphan. I told the other members that I want 25 rupees from each one of you. We collected 25 rupees each from all the women. We gave one suit, silver set, 25 utensils and 52 rupees. Doing this has given us a unique identity. When we went to give all this, every one said, Nafisa come and sit here. Come, eat something. (Respondent 2)

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There was an old woman in the village who had been shunned by her family because she had T.B. I took her to the government hospital and got her treatment started under the dots scheme. Now she is receiving regular medication in the hospital. She is getting costly medicines free. They do not give medicines for having at home, the patient has to go to the hospital and have the medicines. One special box is kept for each patient. Earlier people use to take the medicines home and then to forget to eat them. The women have a lot of misgivings about immunization. But now things are changing. I have participated in the pulse polio campaigning. I have tried to ensure that every child is given polio drops. Even though I receive no money for it, this is community work and we should all help out. I have tried to educate women on immunization of the children. I have taken them myself to the dispensary for DPT and other shots. I have full information about these things. I also take pregnant women to hospital for three injections. (Respondent 10)

I have worked in the Child Development centre where we tried to get children of group members admitted to school. The children were given uniforms, shoes, books, biscuits etc. One teacher was kept at the salary of 3500 rupees and a helper at 1500 rupees per month. We used to do checking to ensure that the children actually

received all the things meant for them. We did not let any one else pocket these things. (Respondent 10)

The electric supply was bad. Because of power cuts, mosquitoes would eat us the whole night long. We could not sleep. Then all of us in the SHG decided to sit on a dharna. I said, come sisters let us stage a dharna in front of the JEs office. We did not let the JE come out of his room. We said you sleep under the fan; we cannot sleep because of the heat. Arent you ashamed of yourself? Why dont you give proper supply of light? Now maybe the light goes for ten minutes but not for a longer period. The JE did our work but only after we made him feel ashamed. By joining the group and attending all kinds of meetings in different places we have learnt how to get our work done. Our strength has increased. We know how to make our voice heard. (Respondent 10)

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When there was an earthquake in Gujarat, we went from village to village and got contributions to send to affected persons. If the village street needs repairing, we collect money from each SHG and repair it. Recently, we repaired a street in this way. We got twenty rupees from each group member. Some women contributed by way of material. (Respondent 10)

I have gone to some Government Offices; we went to BDO office and got the street repaired and the drains cleaned. I have also participated in the pulse polio campaign. We learnt that the Government Hospital was not treating the women properly. All of us went to the Hospital and demanded that the doctor should give the medicines properly. We also staged a dharna and compelled the sarpanch to construct the boundary wall of the cremation ground and the kabristan. We have been to the sarpanch two to four times. Now he knows that if he does not listen to us, we will not take it lightly. We will make his life hell. So he listens to us. We also staged a dharna demanding a water tap in the colony. (Respondent 9)

These narratives of the women exemplify that women have found a voice in community affairs in contrast to the silence which existed earlier.

4.8. Relational: The Polity Martha Nussbaum writes, any living culture () contains relatively powerful voices, relatively silent voices, and voices that cannot speak at all in the public space and People who have to fight for the most basic things are precluded by that struggle from exercising their agency in other more fulfilling and socially fruitful ways (Nussbaum, 1999). The most obvious illustration of the fault line of gender is the split between the public male world of politics, and the private female world of the family and the household.

Studies have pointed out that women are not independent voters; the majority of them make their choice on the basis of suggestions from male members of the family,

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husbands and sons. Some women lack information and political awareness and hence may not be politically conscious. Also, women may have no previous experience in public life.

All of us at home decide at home whom we should vote for. Mostly, we go by what my husband says. Anyway, what is the use, who stands by a poor person? In the elections in February, for chief minister, there was a symbol of rose flower, there was Khurshid Ahmed, there was something, I dont remember, I put my vote somewhere(Respondent 6)

Clearly, women face handicaps to their involvement in politics, for example, inadequate education, the burden of household work, a lack of self-confidence and the hostility of deep-rooted cultural and religious beliefs. One main stumbling block in womens participation is time. Women, in general, have little time in their daily activity schedules. Right from early morning to late night, they take care of their children, sweep and clean their homes, send children to school, take care of livestock, cook food, help in farm activities and do all kinds of miscellaneous things. Also, the prime belief that takes men as the only bona fide political actors, but debars women is also an obstruction to involvement in politics. Besides, the masculine political culture and the adversarial procedures along with the detachment of politics from daily realities are powerful deterrents. Money, or the lack of it, is another inhibitor as womens lack of independent and adequate incomes coupled with prevalent social expectations that women spend their income on their families, prevents expenditure on a doubtful political career. Besides, fear and the threats or actual aggression used against women restrict and control womens activities. The force of custom on women to be silent in front of men, and not to give themselves or their wants priority, combined with most mens own sense of superiority, means lesser involvement of women in the political sphere.

Those who oppose participation of women in elections to the Panchayat said that women who become members Panchayats would upset the harmony of homes and of

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family life. Then the women would have to attend to peoples problems. This means irregular hours of work and a twenty four hour demand on their time. Therefore, who will look after the children and household chores, the men folk ask? Secondly, some men mentioned that whenever women hold elected offices, the male officers are the ones who dictate what is or is not to be done. They take control of the entire situation and women elected representatives become the helpless victim of officialdom. Another point they made was that even if women are elected in large numbers, the power equation will never change. Instead of Ram Singh Ram Singhs wife will be there these villagers retort. This repeats a vital fact: power has to be wrested, and is not given. In Haryana, for the first time in 1994 elections, a large number of women took posts such as Panches, Sarpanchs, members of Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samities etc. with the introduction of 73rd Amendment Act. No doubt, the Act has ensured ample representation of women at different level of Panchayati Raj institutions in the state, but still it has been observed in many villages that these women belong to the politically elite families who otherwise would have contested if the reservation provision would have not been made in the Act. Most of the women who contested elections did so under family pressures. It has been noted that the meetings of these bodies are attended either by the husbands or male family members. The male members act as proxy Sarpanches or Panches. Though the representation of women is heartening, yet there is a long way to go for the dejure participation to translate into defacto involvement.

Nevertheless, womens participation in SHGS has altered many of them, and these women can be prospective leaders in the local political field. The basics of this change are empowerment, self-assurance, political consciousness and assertion of identity: During elections, the men folk may tell us you cast your vote here or there. Earlier, when I used to stay at home, I used to maintain, What do we know about outside matters. We cast our votes wherever our men folk tell us to do. But now we told them we do not vote like this. We will vote for that person who supports us. There is so much work to be done: streets have to brick lined, water supply situation has to be

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improved. We say to the vote seeker, if you promise to do all this only then we will support you. A person who says yes to our work, we support him. If he goes back from his promise, in the next elections we catch hold of his collar. (Respondent 1)

I have not thought of contesting the elections of a panch.

I may be something

because of the group but I am very low in the hierarchy of the basti. There are bigger people like banias, punjabis etc. Yes, if the group decides to have me as a candidate, it would mean something. If every one passes a resolution then it would be of use to contest. Otherwise it would be a waste. Elections to member and sarpanch of panchayats merely invite enmity and ill-will. (Respondent 9)

Whenever elections are due, a lot of candidates come and asked for votes. But we vote according to our own wish. Normally a decision is taken in the house; I take the decision. I keep an eye on every thing that is going on, and on every one. So I know the truth about every one. In five years we can assess the performance of a person, what work he has done. (Respondent 9) What kind of a person he is, we vote accordingly.

The enthusiasm and buoyancy of women because of participation in SHGs are in step with the image they present thus giving hope to others. The self-confidence achieved appears crucial permitting women to step out. The sense of liberty is no less profound. However, the impetus of growth will have to to be continued and extended to counterbalance the deterrents of deeply ingrained culture. Women are starting to change not only the subject matter and principles of governance but are also espousing different means to those of men. They do not let official procedures stand in their way. Women stress that they are more conscious of the issues facing the village for the reason that they put up with the burden of dearth of amenities.

Convening their meetings across SHGs, may present women an opportunity to thrash out political issues. The selection of a common woman candidate from amongst themselves may also strengthen the prospects of a woman in the elections.

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4.9. Perceptual Aspects 4.9.1. In slow motion: Changes in perceptions and patriarchy Referring to the Bangladesh setting, Osmani (1998) points out that one generation of extensive exposure to income-earning activities cannot be expected to completely defuse centuries of cultural conditioning. Changes in attitudes take time to be discernable. A few years of participation in SHGs may not be adequate to alter ingrained power relations roles in the household. As Elson (1991) has stated: Overcoming male bias is not simply a matter of persuasion, argument, and change in viewpoint in everyday attitudes, in theoretical reasoning, and in policy process. It also requires changes in the deep structures of economic and social life, and collective action, not simply individual action.

Gender relations are revealed in a range of practices, including the division of labour and resources, and through ideologies and representations, such as the ascribing to women and men different abilities, attitudes, desires, personality traits, and behavioural patterns (Agarwal 1994). Men, and particularly dominant men, had the view that women were worthless, and there was an internalization of this collective consciousness by the women as well. The chauvinism against women is embedded in the sphere of gender stereotypes. The community by and large views empowered women as controlling, belligerent and horrible. Their spouses lose the esteem of their peers.

Earlier, the men folk used to get very annoyed. Where do these women go? What is the problem? But now they themselves say that you should attend the meetings on time. There is a lot of change in the men. Now seeing that you are here, my brother in law has come here out of curiosity. Earlier he used to object, who are these people and why they have come here. He would tell my husband not to listen to me, aurat ki salah per jo chale voh chutia (one who acts according to his wifes advice is a fool). My in-laws also say that this house is damned because it is aurat ka raj. My husband is an educated person. So he understands things. Even if he had some

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reservations I did not fight with him. I tried to explain my point of view. Whatever work we are doing is for our children and family. I am not doing any thing wrong. (Respondent 1)

Luckily, developments point out that positive trends have started taking place; women are up-and-coming, as individuals of substance. Gradually, yet increasingly, women are being perceived as achievers, as individuals of character capable of leadership. These depictions are a portrayal of reality and also encourage others to step forward and change the course of their destinies, hence crafting new reality.

Earlier I used to work alone. Now I have hired workers and I am able to get a very good income. All this is because my wife is a member of a group. We have really moved ahead in life. Earlier we were always short of funds. Now having got money we have expanded this business. My wife has really contributed in all this. She has supported me at every step. I have benefited from having an educated wife. I was a small time worker. Now I have become a businessman. Pucci roti aur pucci haveli (a good meal and a well built house), what more does a man want? (Husband of respondent 2

However, one can chase at the slow pace of change. One can also feel that MDA/NGO should do more, much more, to hasten this process.

4.9.2. Bharatiya Nari: Stereotypes The deep rooted ness of patriarchy is elucidated by the fact that it is not just structures or institutions that oppress women but functions on a psychic as well as a social level. Good women are thought of as deferential, obedient and docile who do not lift their voices against ill treatment, cast in the good role of mother, wife, sister, and daughter, upholding traditions and accepting patriarchal rules: I was silent, all bottled up and serious. A talkative female was not considered good. (Respondent 1)

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Motta khanna aur motta pahenana achchha ho sai (Its good to eat coarse food and wear coarse garments). (Respondent 3)

Culture also affects the socialization women. The Indian culture holds in high regard a selfless and self sacrificing temperament for Indian women. There is emphasis on interdependence and the women also hold matrimony and family as sanctified (Ramakrishna, 2004). These women appear to accept a patriarchal culture and handle it in a different way: She looks after me very well. She never acts superior. She performs her duties as a wife and behaves with utmost decorum. Even if I ask her to join me while eating, she replies, Main to kuein jhere main pad lungi (I shall eat the leftovers). (Husband of respondent 3)

Gender roles and responsibilities are determined socially. The central typecast images of women are that they are less capable beings. Women are stereotyped as being compassionate, pliable, compliant, timid, and feeble and needing defence, making it difficult for women to enter new roles and occupations. The selection of training is also influenced by the programme implementers notion of what women should be taught. There is dominant thinking in terms of the concept of appropriate trades and vocations for women. They are seen within the household, in roles which were supplementary to mens and consequently, women are given training in nutrition, food preservation, tailoring, home science etc. Womens productive roles are seen through her ability to earn additional proceeds from these activities. Stereotyping in the choice of training skills has not helped women to increase their skills for employment in new vocations. Like the TRYSEM in the past, women are continued to be taught sewing and tailoring, which may help increase a girls eligibility for marriage without giving her the needed support to set up a business enterprise. Sewing machines are a much demanded item for distribution (Sujaya, 1995). Conceivably this is done more with a view to supplement family requirements and not to help women to cope with the market.

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4.9.3. Backlash One muslim master in the Government school says where these women go. They must be doing some wrong things. There was a big fight. He instigated every one against us. We received a number of threats. Women were even scared of attending meetings. I stood up and told every one that we are doing nothing wrong. Things came to such a pass that we were even threatened that if we sit in the bus and go for any visits with the group we would be beaten up. I said we will all certainly go, there is nothing wrong with what we are doing. I said this in front of every one. I said you all have dirty minds; that is why you think like this. Still two men were sent with us when we went to Bharatpur to find out what we did there. They returned and said that all these are rumours, there is nothing wrong in all this. (Respondent 7)

People are jealous are of our activities. Afwaa failatein hain aur badnaam katre hain (They spread rumours; try to defame us). Now they are convinced; there is nothing wrong with what we do. It is only something that helps us to save and it benefits every one in the house. (Respondent 7)

Ever since the groups have become active, the moneylenders have gone out of business. In some cases it is the moneylender who is generating all this opposition to the groups. They cannot say it is objectionable that the group charges interest on the loans as they themselves does so. So they raise other kinds of objections: the women are getting out of control and that this entire thing is immoral. Once a very big meeting was held at the madarsa. There a number of speeches were made by religious leaders who said that this encourages interest and hence is against the muslim religion, these people are making every one into kadians and Christians. Some moulvies came to us and said that we should stop this work. We explained all the details of the programme to them. When they made all inquiries they were satisfied that there was nothing wrong with this programme. (NGO Worker)

The maulvies launched a propaganda that we are going against Islam by charging interest on the loans, thats why we started calling the interest sewa fees. It is

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distributed amongst the women themselves. In any case, earlier loans used to be available at five rupees per hundred and jewellery or land had to be given as security. The maulvies have vested interests. If women become member of groups, their

children will start going to school. Their madarsas will close down. (NGO Worker)

Womens roles and status are entwined and rooted in an intense network of material and ideological forces (Stromquist, 1998). As long as women do not challenge their gender subordination and remain less powerful there is no conflict. However, once they move fast into masculine roles and masculine world, confrontations and inevitable. The improvement of womens status has lead to changes in their relationship with men, and often brings conflict that is an inevitable phase of the empowerment process.

A central fact which emerges from this discussion is that power and control over decision making operate at many level, from the political structures to development agencies, to local communities and societies, to the household and the family. However, power relations are not static, they are contested; it may be relatively easier to ensure development through production and material and economic change than to cause a change in power structures, the roles and relationships and the ideologies and attitudes which accompany them. The situation becomes intractable at the level of the family, as the scope for bargaining here is most intense and also because it is not seen to be within the domain of public policy to merit intervention. In fact, the family is where sometimes the most acute forms of gender inequity are found. Although the glue of many families is the subordination of women, no milieu is static, and it should be possible to encourage a movement to bring women at the centre of both domestic and external decision-making.

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Chapter V

FREEZING ON THE THRESHHOLD? A WAY FORWARD

5.1. Implications for Government Policy 5.1.1. A Gender Transformative policy Gender distinction in access to resources such as land, technology and training, or discrimination in wages paid to women and men, have an effect on womens capabilities. Policy makers must think about both the actuality of womens lives and the manner in which institutions and ideas (political, cultural, economic, and religious) locate them. Gender-transformative policy can grant women the resources which will permit them to take enhanced control of their lives, to determine what kinds of gender relations they want to live with, and to devise strategies and alliances to help them get there (Kabeer 1998). The formulations of context-specific measures are possible following detailed analysis of a given communitys internal and external relations (Singh and Titi 1995). An examination of womens roles, division of labour based on gender, decision-making and control over resources may help in avoiding slip-ups which may eventually cause a sabotage of the aims of the program.

5.1.2. A Synergistic Convergence of inputs UNICEF linked the delivery of social services in Nepal to credit and other support provided under the Small Farmer Development Program (SFDP) in 1982-1983. In areas where credit has been combined with support for basic social services, infant mortality is lower, school attendance for girls is higher and childrens health, nutrition and education have shown greater improvement, than in areas where credit alone is given or no credit is given (UNICEF, 1997). Similarly, Credit with Education is a development initiative created by Freedom from Hunger, which combines basic information on health with microfinance. Evaluation studies (MkNelly and Dunford,

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1998) conducted in Ghana noted that as a result of these interventions, the program participants reported a reduced vulnerability to the hungry season and improved nutritional status. A combination of other inputs with micro credit would increase its effectiveness in empowering women; minimalist credit programs are less effective than a synergy of credit with basic social services like health, nutrition, education and literacy programs. Significantly, these interventions would help to translate the income increase through participation in micro enterprise as a result of credit into empowerment gains.

5.1.3. A Gender specific technology Womens live can be made easier by paying attention to their practical needs and the burden of their reproductive roles, by taking care of issues of child welfare ensuring cost effective and accessible health care systems, basic services and infrastructure like water and electricity supply and providing a reliable and cheap public transport system to make market access effective. However, it is the strategic needs of women like enhancing capabilities through training and education, increasing ownership of assets and land and political participation, which can alter the asymmetrical power balance women face. Moreover, more drudgery-prone tasks are generally assigned to women, hence the significance of developing a gender specific technology taking into account womens roles in farming and animal husbandry responsive to the problems of rural women. Implements which increase efficiency and cut time and effort have to be devised for the everyday jobs women traditionally do. Presently, agricultural and animal husbandry projects, especially the Training and Visit extension scheme have as their targets contact farmers who are men. This has to be changed and women have to be made targets of dissemination and training in new technologies in agriculture and livestock management (Thakur et al., 2001).

5.1.4. Linking with Wider Movements of Social Change Although microfinance often targets women, Johnson (1999) notes that product design rarely addresses gender-specific aspects of the use of financial services. Johnson (1999) writes, Microfinance, no more than any other intervention, is not

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blessed with the ability to right the power imbalances which result from inequalities in the way society treats men and women. Feminist movements do not question the legitimacy of microfinance but plead in favour of its political anchoring. According to these movements, microfinance projects are justified only if strategic links are established with other forces of change, among which networks and womens movements, as well as organizations of defence and lobbies for women (Mayoux, 1999).

5.2. Implications for Program Implementers 5.2.1. A Proactive involvement of women Women play a minimal role in the devising and execution of the program. The MDANGO-women relationship is an inert one, and the top-down process of decision making does not offer them occasion to assume a proactive position. As a result of the absence of participatory planning and interface, full information regarding the program benefits does not percolate down to the women fully. As a result, a few women are seen to appropriate a disproptionate share of benefits provided by the program. Practitioners in the field have to ensure proper consultation with the women. Legal guarantee established by the state, as well as opportunities created by nongovernmental organizations can provide a framework within which people can develop and exercise agency (Nussbaum, 1999). However, as Amartya Sen underlines it, beyond the rights concerning their well being it is crucial to confer women a role of agent in change (Sen, 1999). Women cannot be inactive recipients of measures to improve their status, but active initiators of change. For this, full details about program implementation agencies, activities, legal rights, instruments of grievance redressal of grievances etc. should be made available to the women. Provisions for evaluation, feedback and mid-course rectification, have to be incorporated in the scheme. Women have to be acquainted with the government machinery through illustrated pamphlets and lecture and demonstration sessions that make clear the tasks of different functionaries. As women complain about absence of health care, water, electricity roads, the public distribution system etc., it is imperative to educate them about local planning, budget making and the authorities in charge of

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delivery. Acquaintance with the government functionaries and offices of public dealing and also elected representatives may also help in giving women avenues for effective participation in community affairs.

5.2.2. The importance of training A successful intervention for empowering women necessitates several elements - an important one is imparting of new skills: the consequence of women assuming new roles is also support through training for enabling them to perform these roles. Training modules have to make women recognize clearly how society structures their perceptions. This would help in making women aware that societys perception of womens appropriate roles and behaviour should not shape their actions. The training programme must promote critical analysis in women and encourage them to think independently and challenge unequal gender relations and exploitation.

There is a necessity to alter both womens and the program implementers view of the training they require. There has to be a break from traditional training such as home science, in the direction of organization of sessions where they can discuss, build up and filter their worldview. Teaching women proficiencies they have been conventionally deprived of has great possibility for throwing open new role opportunities for women, thus integrating in it empowering aspects. Training women in tailoring, aachar making, papad making etc. are may enable women to earn supplementary income. However, it is doubtful whether these skills are contributing to womens empowerment or just accentuating womens established jobs. The employment provided as a result of these skills does not interrupt womens household tasks or take them away from home. Therefore when selecting skill development programmes for women, it as important to impart skills which will deal with both womens practical interests (for example poor nutrition) and will at the same time rework the strategic interests leading to a questioning of the power relations that avert women from accessing these skills (Molyneux, 1985). This can happen if women are given access to unconventional skills or technology. Training sessions which look at marketing, legal issues, accounting etc., should be arranged. Also, the

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peril of too constricted a focus is to propose that it is simply women who require training. It may be the male officer/worker who needs training, especially in terms of altering his preconceived notions. This is a significant point for implementers who have inclined to presume that the subject matter of their attention have to be women per se; there may be a great need for sensitizing the staff and program implementers in gender issues.

5.2.3. Changing Social norms and perceptions Qualitative factors like social norms and perceptions have a decisive effect in influencing women programs. To improve womens bargaining power would thus need strengthening both their economic situation, and changing gendered norms and perceptions. Altering public perceptions and awareness is certainly a key to providing supportive environments at the community-level, so that collective pressure can be brought about to change male behaviour. Critical linkages between the ability of women to resist violence and positive self-images supported by good health and access to empowering education clearly exist, and point to the direction that development policy and programmes should ideally follow (Agarwal, 1997).

5.3. Recommendations for Academicians The challenge for the future is to merge qualitative and quantitative methods in order to get over their respective deficiencies: the problem of generalization with one approach contrasted to the predicament of capturing all the various aspects of empowerment especially the relational, perceptual and cognitive dimensions. It may also be required to carry out this appraisal over a large area and across different programs, in order to identify strategies to support womens empowerment and transformation in gender relations. Another enduring challenge would be to build a comprehensive framework for measuring the multidimensional facets of

empowerment that can be applied to get credible comparisons across different milieus, while at the same time being flexible enough to allow modifications in accordance with variations in culture and context.

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Schwandt, Thomas A.1997. Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom, Alfred A Knopf, New York. Silverman, David. 2000. Analyzing Talk and Text, Pp 821-34. In Handbook of Qualitative Research. 2d ed., edited by Norman K. Kenzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Singh KN. 1989. Women in agriculture and appropriate technology. Manual on Extension Management. NIRD:Hyderabad; 23-27. Snow, John. 1990. Empowerment of Women Program. John Snow, Inc., Arlington, VA. Strauss, Anselm and Juliet Corbin. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Stromquist, Nelly, P. 1998. Role and statuses of women in Women in the Third World: An Encyclopaedia of contemporary issues. Gariand Publishing, Inc, New York. Subramanian. 1995. Combating Violence Against women: Finding ways forward. The Administrator Vol XL, July-Sept 1995 Sujaya, C.P. 1995. Womens Rights and development Policies in India. The Administrator Vol. XL, July-Sept 1995, pp 13-25. Thakur, Sonia, Shashi Kanta Varma and Patricia A, Goldey. 2001. Perceptions of Drudgery in Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Operations: A Gender Analysis from Haryana State, India. Journal of International Development. 13, 1165-1178 Thompson, Linda. 1992. Feminist Methodology for Family Studies. Journal of Marriage and the Family 54(1):3-18. United Nations. 1989. Violence against Women in the Family. New York, United Nations. UNDP. 1995. Human development report 1995. United Nations Development Programme, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford. United Nations Development Programme, 1999. Report on Microfinance and HIV/AIDS Workshop, Malaysia.

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United Nations Development Programme. 2001. Participatory governance, peoples empowerment and poverty reduction. UNDP Conference Paper Series. UNICEF. 1997. Give US Credit. Division of Evaluation, Policy and Planning. Venkateshwaran, Sandhya. 1995. Environment development and the gender Gap. Sage Publications India, New Delhi. Walsh, Mary, Roth. 1997. Women, Men and Gender. Hamilton Printing Press, New York. Williams, Suzanne. 1994. Oxfam Gender Training Manual. Oxfam, Oxford. Wispe, L. 1986. The Distinction between Sympathy and Empathy: To Call Forth a Concept, a Word is needed. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50:314-21. World Bank. 1998. PREM Notes, No. 8, Washington, World Bank. World Bank. 2001. Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice. New York: Oxford University Press. Yunus, Muhammad. 2002. Grameen Bank II: designed to open new possibilities. At http://www.grameeninfo. org/bank/bank2.html (November 8 2004). Zaman, H. 1999. Assessing the impact of micro-credit on poverty and vulnerability in Bangladesh: A case study of BRAC. World Bank, Washington DC At http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/ wps2000series/wps2145/wps2145.pdf (January 20, 2005). Zaman, H. 2001. Assessing the poverty and vulnerability impact of micro-credit in Bangladesh: a case study of BRAC. In World Bank, World Development Report 2000/2001, Washington, World Bank.

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APPENDICES

3.1. Research Questions and Empowerment Indicators

1 Does participation in SHGs increase the womans influence over economic resources and participation in economic decision making?

Empowerment indicators:

Decision making regarding purpose of loan Control of use of credit Management of enterprises supported by credit Use of income generated Increased savings: monetary (SHG savings, chit funds, other accounts, insurance, loans to others) and in kind (livestock, gold, land) Increased income Access to loans Increase in bargaining power Ability to spend money independently Make household purchases

2. Does participation in Self Help Groups influence the individual development and growth of a woman?

Empowerment indicators:

Addition to her literacy/education Improvement in technical and practical skills through training Acquisition of skills for income generation Use of skills for income generation

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Development of managerial skills, ability to facilitate a group meeting Increase in articulation abilities, self confidence and self respect Access to health care Side effect: Additional workload for savings and repayment of loans, effect of participation on daily work, fatigue, attention to children, family members, delegation of work to other family members

3. ls there an increase in a womans influence in decision making in the household?

Empowerment measures:

Greater decision making regarding the following

Purpose of loan taken by SHG Adoption of household infrastructure programmes (latrine, smokeless chullah, house repair programme) Household purchases (household equipment, farm equipment, livestock) Education of children and parenting issues Education and status of girl children: nutrition, health, enrolment in schools, drop out rates Fertility issues, use of family planning methods

4. Has participation in SHGs increased a womans mobility, development of networks and interactions with other members of her group and community?

5. Does participation in SHGs increase a womans awareness and knowledge?

Empowerment indicators:

Knowledge regarding:

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SHG approach and procedures Banking transactions Health and sanitation Family planning Income generating programmes

6. Does participation in SHGs increase a womans participation and influence in social, community and political activities?

Empowerment measures:

Participation in meetings of village panchayats, gram sabhas Participation in elections-as voter Participation as candidate in local body elections/elected member Action on social issues: dowry,alcoholism, selective abortions/infanticide Role in community development activities: initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring of community/village development activities, approached by other groups in the village/community for solving social/community problems, involvement in maintenance of village infrastructure measures purdah, domestic violence, sex

7. Is there any change in the attitude of the husband/household/community regarding womens empowerment?

Empowerment Indicators:

Reduction in domestic violence Attitudes towards dowry, freedom and empowerment of women Recognition of intelligence, ability, economic contribution of women

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4.1: Information about Respondents and their Businesses

Respondent Age & No. Education R1 38 years Class VIII

R2

32 years Class X

R3

35 years Illiterate

R4

35 years Illiterate

R5

60 years Illiterate

Family Details Husband teacher; 4 sons 1 daughter Husband; Mother in law; 2 sons 1 daughter Husband Driver in city Rs.2000 p.m; 5 sons, 3 daughters HusbandLabourer in city; 1son- Driver in city, Rs.1800 p.m.; daughter in law Husband; 2 sons, 3 daughters Husband; cowife with 5 children

Business Before Housewife

Business After Teacher at tailoring centre

Income Rs.2500 pm; Not regular Savings of 150200 per day Rs.8-9 per litre; sporadic

Manufacture Expansion of of cycle business seats Subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture; Selling milk

Agricultural Labourer

Agricultural Labourer; Selling earthen pots

Rs.1500 per month Pots: Rs.4 per day; Seasonal

R6

29 years Class 2

Selling bangles house to house Khokha, removed by Panchayat

Bangle shop

Provisions Shop

Rs.50200 per day; Variable Rs.35000 per annum Rs.600 pm; Son: Saving of Rs.100125 per day Saving of. 60007000 p.m; Seasonal

R7

55 years Illiterate

Deserted by Menial husband; 2 work children from 1st wife; 2 sons, 1 daughter Husband; 2 sons, 1 daughter Tent House business

Provisions Shop Fruit/channa rehri for son

R8

30 years Illiterate

Expansion in Business

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TABLE continued Age & Respondent No. Education R9 55 years Illiterate

Family Details Widow; 8 sons, 2 daughters in law

Business Before Labourer in Nursery

R10

45 years Illiterate

Husband

Business After Hand fans; MattressPillow covers; Helper in training progs. Earthen pots Expansion in business; Son: Marble cutting in city

Income Rs.1500025000 quarterly; As Helper: Rs.18002500 pm

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4.2: Tangible and Intangible Benefits of group membership

Res. Tangible Benefits No. R1 Earth filling of site, Construction of house, Increase of income through tailoring centre, Purchase of cow

Intangible Benefits Freedom, mobility, removal of purdah, courage, confidence, training in banking, health, identity, education of children in private school, education/training of daughter, mentoring of other women, participation in community issues, political awareness, Major role in family decision making Training in health, sanitation; mentoring of other women; leadership in community issues; starting of other SHGs; Primary decision maker in family Coping with out migration of husband due to job Coping with domestic violence/desertion by husband Coping mechanism in old age, reduction in dependency Increase in bargaining power in household, reduction in stress, escape from household conflict Financial support reduces dependency on violent husband, exposure, public speaking, confidence, finding meaning in life Increase in bargaining power in household, consultation by husband, respect, confidence, ability to talk and articulate, exposure Coping with social isolation of widowhood; Community leader, confidence, mobilization of women for collective works, training in health, skill development; mentoring other women Exposure, broadening of world view

R2

R3

R4

R5 R6

R7

Expansion of business, increase in income, purchase of house, purchase of plot, construction of latrine Provision of inputs for Subsistence agriculture, purchase of cow Construction of house, increase in income, expenditure on marriage of son Starting of bangle shop, purchase of cow Provision shop, marriage of son, improvements in house, construction of house for son Substitution of menial work by provision shop, rehri for son Increase in income through expansion of business From wage employment to self employment, increase in income, construction of house, installation of hand pump Reduction in drudgery through purchase of electric machine, marble cutting machine for son, increase in income, construction of house

R8

R9

R10

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4.3. Personal Narratives of Respondents 4.3.1. Personal Narrative of Respondent 1: Salma11, Member Mahila Self Help Group, June 2005; a village in District Mewat, Haryana For 10 years after my marriage, I was not allowed to go out of the house. We lived in a joint family, with my in laws. I used to do all the household work. My husband was employed as a teacher on contract basis in a government school in a remote village; it was not possible for him to commute on a daily basis. I wanted to go and stay with him but this request would have looked ridiculous as it was felt by all that it doesnt look nice for the wife to be together with her husband. My husband would never speak to me with people around. It was difficult to get my mother in law to acquiesce to my visiting my pihir (natal place) for a few days. Whenever I asked for permission, my mother in law would remind me of the domestic work: who would grind the grain, cook the food, and wash her hair? [Relational: familial; roles and relationships]12I had studied up to class eighth. I had also received training before my marriage in tailoring. But all this could not be expressed. I was silent, all bottled up and serious. A talkative female was not considered good. [Gender stereotypes] I was a prisoner; leaving cow dung, I embroidered.

Then one day two men came and said that we have heard that there is an educated woman here, we want to meet her. They were the members of this NGO. My mother in law said that how I can let you meet her. My daughter in law never steps out of the house. The man said that they had met the sarpanch and he had said that your daughter in law is an educated woman, go and meet her. My mother in law said we will not allow you to meet her. Then the men called the sarpanch, he explained that these men are like my brothers. Only then I was allowed to talk to them. [Relational: restrictions on behaviour; seclusion]

11

Names have been changed to protect identity.

12

The words in the parentheses [ ] indicate the main themes/patterns derived from content analysis of the respondent narratives.

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They took me for a meeting. My husband came with me. The sarpanchs son also went along. This was a first time that I had gone to any such meeting. I was very hesitant. I had done purdah. The people there urged me to remove the purdah. They told me that all the other people present there are my brothers and sisters. In this way, I removed the purdah. I felt I would die, I was so shy. [Purdah]They told me about the self-help group, how a saving account would be opened.

After attending the meeting there, I conducted a meeting of some women of this village in my house. I said we should be open about this thing. We are not doing anything wrong. The women said that some one would run away with their money, and eat it up. I said I am going to become your group leader. If some one runs away with your money, I will pay that amount. Then we formed a group. It was the Mahila Self Help Group. This was seven years back. First we collected Rs.20 from every women and I went as Sarpanch along with the secretary to the bank to deposit the money. The bankers refused to deposit our money. Only when I persisted did they agree to open an account. My husband had also to go for this purpose. The sarpanch also said that this work is good. [SHG: formation]

My husband used to give me Rs.30 every day for running all the household expenditure. I used to save four or five rupees every day. Even if I saved two rupees every day, I had sixty rupees every month. So we increased the savings by the group members to fifty rupees per month and then to rupees 100 per month. [SHG: savings]We started loaning out the money to the women according to the needs: for a house, a buffalo, for the marriage of their children, for a bangle shop. [Benefits: loan usage]

Our interest rate is two rupees per hundred, on a monthly basis. When we can borrow from the group, why should we take anything as loan from some one else? If we have to borrow money from someone else we may be hesitant. But now we can hold our head high and say that we are taking money from our own group. [Benefit: access to

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loans; cognitive]If we do not repay the instalment then both the groups as well as the women suffer a loss. [Incentive for repayment]

I go to the bank for group work. All of us go by rotation. We hold a meeting four times in a month. And sometimes, it is two times. Earlier when we used to go to the bank we were very shy. But now the women are confident and look at the bank official in the eye and say, deposit our money. [Cognitive: power within]

Even though there are people in the village who denigrate us as besharam (shameless). Those of us, who have removed our purdah or reduced the size of our ghunghat, have been condemned as nangi (without clothes). They say, jab ankh ki sharm hi nahin rehti to phir kya rehta hai (if eye modesty is breached, then what remains). They even accuse us of badchalni (sexually loose behaviour). But we are not doing anything that is wrong. We are doing good work. This kind of thinking is useless. If we go by what people think, we will keep sitting at home. We have to work according to our own thinking. [Purdah; seclusion]

I have four sons and one daughter. Earlier my children used to study in an Islamic school. They did not have proper clothes. I had learnt stitching before my marriage in Aligarh. So I used to alter old clothes for them. My in laws said, Put the boy in a good school, he is clever. Even though like sentiments were not spoken about my daughter who is the eldest, I got all my children admitted to a private school after the group started functioning. Earlier I never had the money to do so. I went to the town and got school dresses and school bags for them. Earlier they used to wear my sister in laws childrens old clothes. I got new clothes for them. My mother in law used to say, In her fathers house, a daughter is best clad in simple and rough clothes. I got some decent clothes for my daughter. I felt very contented. Now my daughter studies in class 12th in the town. I have trained her in tailoring. In fact, I have tried to train her in all things. Now she can do anything. I want her to study further, take up some professional course like nursing. Of course, there are some who say that if she is too highly educated, we will have difficulty finding a groom for her because it is feared

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that education will make women masters of their husbands. But I am determined that my daughter should do something with her life, have a better life than me. [Betis; children]I have done every thing with my faith and hard work. I have faced a lot of difficulties. But by the grace of God I am able to bring up my children properly. My own life is gone but the life of my children should be better than mine. [Goals for future]

I was already trained in stitching. The NGO opened a sewing centre in this village for six months and I became a teacher there. I used to be paid Rs. 2500 per month. After six months this was shifted to another village and I went there also and taught the girls. Now I teach girls free. Maybe they give me fifty to hundred rupees. Sometimes they help to me with the household work. I got two machines as prizes from the NGO. I trained my daughter also. I have gone to other villages also for teaching in the centres there. But now there is no such centre. This is a problem. Now I teach on these three machines at home. Sitting without much work at home is a problem for me I went to keep doing something. I only wish the Government gives a stitching centre in this village. [Business]

I took a loan from the group and constructed this house. The initial level was very low. With these seventy thousand rupees I did earth filling on my house site and then constructed this house. Earlier, I used to stay in a joint family, with my in laws and my devars family. I had a very small room in that house, enough for just two beds. It was totally cramped. Now I have my own house. I have repaid my instalments. I did not face much problem in making the repayment of loan. My husband was in service. We used to run the household expenditure from his income. I repaid the instalment from the income of the tailoring centre. [Material base]

I also bought a cow. We do not sell the milk, though. It is for the children to drink. Earlier I faced a lot of difficulties but now things are fine. My husband has also been regularized as an SS teacher. Earlier he was appointed for 89 days. He also got an

94

arrear of pay of Rs.1.35 lakh, which also went into making this house. [Material base]

I am used to hard work. Often I get up 3.00 in the morning. By five the food is ready. I tend to the cow, milk her, do Namaz, make tea, get the children ready for school send my husband to his duty, wash the utensils. Then I teach at the centre. In the afternoon I wash clothes and do the other household chores. My daughter cannot be asked to do much in the house because she has to concentrate on his studies. Hard work is not a problem for me. The girls who come for learning stitching also help sometimes. This is because I treat them like my own daughters. [Work burdens]

Recently I was ill. I had severe stomach ache. I got an ultra sound done at a hospital in the city. I had inflammation in the stomach. I had medicines prescribed by the doctor. Now I am fine. [Health issues]

I went to Bangalore for training. The NGO took us. I saw other groups working.

am fully trained in all such issues now and I also keep telling other women. We give training in the group regarding nutrition and health issues. I have also helped in the pulse polio campaigns. [Community work]

I am also a member of this school committee. I have been a member since the past three years. If any work is to be done in the school, they call me. I have been involved in the construction of schoolrooms. [Community work]

The women complained that they do not get ration from the anganwari worker meant for the children. They asked me cant you do any thing. I heard for one or two days, then I went to anganwari worker and said, Poonam, why dont you give ration. I also know you dont come on time. I got a resolution passed by the group. I told her that I will report you. I am a social worker. After this she got frightened. She said there is no such thing; I will give the ration properly. [Community work] Now there is no such problem.

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There was a DPEP centre and I try to get the children enrolled in it, even if it means leaving my own work. Now times have changed. Girls are going to school. Some women may say who will help us with the agriculture and domestic work if girls go to school. Once I went to the BDO office with the women who wanted to get an IAY house. They gave an application but nothing happened. We told the sarpanch but a lot of sarpanchs are fools. I say this even though we vote for them. [Community work]

Women do not generally discuss larai (quarrels) and beatings by husbands in the group. Women fear their husbands reaction if they speak about such things. In one case, we offered to intervene, but the woman seemed to resent this and said, What my man may do is none of your business. [Domestic violence]

I have tried to motivate women regarding sanitation issues. Also if the children fall ill, I tell them to consult an MBBS Doctor. Some of the women are firm believers in matas (female deities) and totkas (charms) and rely on them in illnesses and to ensure safe deliveries. I have tried to persuade the women not to fall for such superstition. Sometimes I take them myself to a Government hospital. This way, at least the fees are saved. And the treatment is also good. [Community work; womens networks]

Earlier when I used to stay at home, few people knew me. Now when I go out, a lot of people talk to me. They say Salam Salma, Namaste didi. I receive a lot of respect. Earlier who knew my name? I used to be called, Masterji ki lugai, Junthu ki bahu. Today, there is someone called Salma. [Cognitive]

A lot of women ask me to accompany them to the bank, especially those who are going for the first time. Those women, whose children do not go to school, also ask me to counsel them. I go one or two times. Then the women themselves get trained. All these women really respect me. Whenever I meet them anywhere they smile and talk to me. They do salaam. I feel very happy. [Womens networks; cognitive]

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Earlier, the men folk used to get very annoyed. Where do these women go? What is the problem? But now they themselves say that you should attend the meetings on time. There is a lot of change in the men. Now seeing that you are here, my brother in law has come here out of curiosity. Earlier he used to object, who are these people and why they have come here. He would tell my husband not to listen to me, janani ke kahe per jo kaam kare voh chutiya (one who acts according to his wifes opinion is a fool). My in-laws also say that this house is damned because it is aurat ka raj. [Perceptual]

My husband is an educated person. So he understands things. Even if he had some reservations I did not fight with him. I tried to explain my point of view. Whatever work we are doing is for our children and family. I am not doing any thing wrong. Now I can go anywhere, any time and no can say anything to me. But earlier I used to very hesitant. I was always scared, what if some one says something. But now I have the confidence, I will tell him four things in return. Now I do not fear anything. [Cognitive]

Ever since I joined the group, I kept getting more and more independent. And the more independent I grew, the happier I felt. Now I can come and go anywhere. I meet people. I am very happy. Now if I have to stay at home, I will surely fall ill and take to the charpai. [Cognitive]

During elections, the men folk may tell us you cast your vote here or there. Earlier, when I used to stay at home, I used to maintain, What do we know about outside matters. We cast our votes wherever our men folk tell us to do. But now we told them we do not vote like this. We will vote for that person who supports us. There is so much work to be done: streets have to brick lined, water supply situation has to be improved. We say to the vote seeker, if you promise to do all this only then we will support you. A person who says yes to our work, we support him. If he goes back from his promise, in the next elections we catch hold of his collar. [Politics]

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In the last Panchayat elections I thought of contesting the elections for a panch. My husband also said that I should contest the election. But a woman from this

neighbourhood was standing for the election. She came to my house and requested me not to contest. So I refused. I said there is no difference between you and me. You go ahead and contest the election. Even otherwise, I am poor and she is rich. But I have respect, which is a very big thing. The mood of the whole village can swing if you have respect. [Politics; cognitive]

4.3.2. Personal Narrative of respondent 2; Nafisa, Member, Mahila Self Help group, June, 2005, a village in District Mewat, Haryana My name is Nafisa. I am a member of the Mahila Self Help Group. My husband has a small business. When I was not a member of the Group, I used to take loans at 10% rate of interest. [Benefit of group formation: Pre group usurious exploitation] Only I know what difficulties I had to face for the sake of my children and my family members. I have three children. I have a son aged 12, then a daughter aged 10 years and then a son who is five years old. I got to know about the group from Salma didi. [SHG: demonstration effect; sisterhood] I said I will save money some how. But this will at least solve my difficulties. Some how or the other, I saved money, sometimes, two rupees; and sometimes four every day. I saved money from my expense for household items. In this way, I managed to save fifty rupees per month. [SHG: Savings] After six months, when my money finished, I told my husband that I need money. My husband said how I can give you money. I told him that I have been saving for six months. Then my husband said, never mind, you give me some proof. I went down to Salma and got a copy of the saving book and showed my husband but he still did not believe me. He said I need some solid proof. I said whenever you need money I will get it for you. [Relational/Familial/Bargaining power] He said, get me four thousand rupees. I said it is no big deal. I will get four thousand rupees for you. [Material base: Expansion] I organized a group of women and told them what has happened. They passed a resolution and I got a loan of four thousand rupees which I gave to my husband. [Benefit: Ease of withdrawal]We used the four thousand I had borrowed for constructing a latrine. Earlier, we did not have a latrine

98

and had to go to the jungle. [Material base/ Benefit through loan usage] After this, my husband developed confidence that my wife is doing something worthwhile. She is doing it for the family. [Relational; familial: Status within family] Gradually we increased the business. We make seats for cycles. Whenever I need the money I borrow from the group. We make cycle seats; the work is going on upstairs. I supply the finished seats myself; I go to the villages for this purpose. Earlier it was a very small business. Now it has expanded. [Material Base: Expansion in business] We obtain the raw material from Noida, Ghaziabad and Sadar Bazar in Delhi. My husband also goes for purchasing the raw material and I also go. I never used to go earlier but after becoming a member of the group, when my husband tells me that we have to get raw material, I go and buy it. I supply the seats in different villages. I usually go by a three wheeler. I also catch a bus sometimes. Usually, I supply it at a big shop at a nearby town. [Business-market access]For every 100 seats that we sell, we save three to four hundred rupees. In one day, we complete fifty seats. In this way, every two days, we earn three hundred to four hundred rupees. This is after deducting the expenses. [Business-income]By seven thirty in the morning, I send the children to school and finish my house work. Then I start working on the seats. [Relational-roles and responsibilities] This work was new to me. I learnt it only after my marriage. My father in law taught me. This work was not done in my parents house.

Earlier we used to make ten to fifteen seats per day. Now I get fifty seats completed every day. [Material: expansion in material base] I wake up and start the work on the seats. My mother in law works down stairs. Then I go down and attend to the household work. These workers take over. Then at 12.00 Oclock I again climb up and we start stitching the seats. [Roles and responsibilities]

Earlier I used to live in this house but it was not ours. It belongs to a bania. I bought it for twenty thousand rupees, after taking a loan from the group. Earlier we used to live here just like that. My father in law had been kept by the bania to look after the house. After his death, the bania gave it to some one else. We shifted to another house. We faced a lot of problems. Then one day I got to know that this house is on

99

sale. I told my husband and I want to buy this house. He said, you know that I do not have money. I said, you leave that to me. Then I went to the group and got money and bought this house myself. [Material benefits: assets through loan usage] I will borrow some more money and get the doors and windows changed. Now when it rains, the water comes inside. I will shift the bath room and latrine upstairs. [Future goals] There is a Government tap nearby, we get the water from there. For drinking water, we use a hand pump which is in the street nearby.

My children study in a local private school. My daughter is studying in class five. [Education of children] I want my children to grow up and stand on their own feet. [Future vision]

I have got used to hard work. My mother in law also helps out with the household work. [Relational-familial] I have three sisters in laws. One is married in Gurgaon, one in Ajmer and the third in U.P. I have been married for the past sixteen years. I was 20 or 21 years old when I got married. I have studied up to class ten. But I did not give my tenth papers as I developed chicken pox. After this, I got married. [Education] On my parents side, their business is making covers of sofa sets and seats of big vehicles. When I go to Delhi to purchase material, that time sometimes, I go over to visit my parents also. [Market access; mobility]I have borrowed many times from the group: four thousand, five thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand, and finally, forty five thousand rupees. [SHG: loans]I bought some land in a small town nearby. It is in my husbands name. I wanted it to be in my husbands name. He said, Nafisaji, you buy it in your name. But I said I do not want to have it in my name. First you should have the land in your name; otherwise it does not look nice. When he does not stop me in any of my activities, why I should insist on a thing like that. [Issues of land ownership] I have bought two biswas of land for constructing a house. I have some land in a town now. When I repay all my instalments, that time I will take a loan and construct a house. [Goals for the future]Then I will shift there. It will be convenient to sell my products from there. This house is at a height. I have to tow the material all the way. When I get the raw material for a full year, I have to

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carry it on my head and get it. It is difficult. [Burdens of work: heavy loads] Now when I sell the finished seats, I keep hundred rupees aside for every sack sold and I put it away in a box.[Expansion in material base: savings] I have told my husband that now I will not take a loan for raw material, what ever is kept in the box you take from there. Now I will only take a loan for the construction of my house. I have thought of this idea only recently. My husband takes whatever money he needs from me. I do all the purchasing for the house. I do all the work relating to the market myself. I look after the education of my children all by myself. [Relational: roles and responsibilities; increase in economic decision making, status] I did not take training at the tailoring centre. If I go away, my work suffers. I am running this

business. Even I go away for sometime, it creates a problem. In any case, I stitch all the clothes for the household myself. I had learnt tailoring before my marriage. I can stitch my own and my childrens clothes. I go to the bank and deposit the money. I also get loans sanctioned. I have organized a Haryali Self Help Group recently. All the women were after me: Nafisa, we also want to become a member of the group like you. Now they do not call it Hariyali group. They say it is Nafisas group. All in all, I have got three groups opened. My mother in law is in the Aakash Group. [Womens networks: mentoring other women] She has not yet taken a loan. We do not need the money right now.

Now I am making a repayment of rupees three thousand per month. For four five months I will give this amount, after this I will increase this instalment. This is because it is rainy season now and my business is slow. The seat does not dry quickly. The seat has to be dried in the sun. Because of the weather, my business faces problems; I told the group that for four to five months I will pay a some what lesser amount, after that, I will increase the amount. [Benefits of group membership: flexibility of repayment] Before joining the group I used to pay an interest of ten rupees per hundred per month on the money I borrowed from the moneylender. I had to face lot of difficulties. Now I have no problem. [Benefits of group membership: freedom from usurious debt] I am the group writer for the group, I write the accounts. I write the proceedings of the meetings myself, how much loan has been

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given, to whom, how much has been returned. All this I write myself. [SHG: book writer]

For five days I received training from an organization called Beehive on sanitation and health issues. [Training] Then I went from village to village for ten days. I in turn tried to educate the women on issues relating to sanitation, immunization etc. No worry is shown about the diet of a pregnant and lactating woman, All women bear children, whats so special about her. They do not go to the hospital in case of illness, childbirth etc; it is a part of life. [Health issues]I tried to educate the women on these issues. Now attitudes are changing slowly. The women ask me, Nafisa, when you will come next. I covered five villages; two villages each day. 25 women got training and after that, all of us covered five villages each. [Training of other women] I hired a woman for 15-20 days to look after my work. I got thousand rupees for 15 days. In addition, when I received training for five days, I got two fifty rupees per day. I got food also. I could go because I found a woman who could work in my place. I have participated in the literacy campaign. I have taught twenty women myself. Last October I had a batch of 30 women. I was fully successful with twenty women. The other ten women did not work hard. I got seven hundred and fifty rupees per month for this. I had a batch for three months. [Community work]Whenever the NGO comes out with any scheme, I avail of it. I do not forego the opportunity. I have tried to teach my children to be self reliant; I want them to stand on their own feet like me. In case there is any work relating to the community, I talk to the Sarpanch also. If there is any fight or dispute we try to sit together and sort it out. [Community work] If we get to know that some woman is ill, we collect money and try and take her to the hospital. There is a marriage in a few days. The girl is an orphan. I told the other members that I want 25 rupees from each one of you. We collected 25 rupees each from all the women. We gave one suit, one silver set, 25 utensils and 52 rupees. Doing this has given us a unique identity. When we went to give all this, every one said, Nafisa come and sit here. Come, eat something. A lot of women speak in the group but a few remain silent. There are some women like me who speak a lot, because I am educated. [Cognitive]I used to talk a lot from the very beginning. There

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is a lot of change in all women. As of now, I have no intention of contesting in an election. I will see in the future, only if all the groups decide on my name. Every one votes according to the decision taken in the house and the locality. But there is a lot

of cross voting among families also, because of the secret ballot. [Politics; voting behaviour]

Whenever I would go somewhere I would worry about my children. What if they fall off from the roof? That is why today I have started the construction of a boundary wall on the roof. [Benefit: Material base]

This is our work area. These are my workers. We make seats here. This boy is from this village. We pay him rupees 1200 per month. At the same time he is learning the work also. We have a big machine for stitching. It operates on an electric motor. If there is no electricity, we work by hand. Our work does not stop. [Material base: expansion in business]

Mother in law: I am glad I became a member of the Aakash Group. Nafisa gives me hundred rupees per month to put into the group savings. I get three hundred rupees as old age pension and deposit this in the bank. When my daughters visit me, I give money from my pension to them. One of my daughters is having a tough time. I give more money to her. Nafisa does not take money from me. She says I do not need it; you give it to your daughters. [Relational; expansion in material base]

Husband:

Earlier I used to work alone. Now I have hired workers and I am able to get a very good income. All this is because my wife is a member of a group. We have really moved ahead in life. Earlier we were always short of funds. Now having got money we have expanded this business. My wife has really contributed in all this. She has

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supported me at every step. I have benefited from having an educated wife. I was a small time worker. Now I have become a businessman. Pucci roti aur pucci haveli (a good meal and a well built house), what more does a man want? [Relational; perceptual; material base]

4.3.3. Personal Narrative of respondent 3; Fatima, Member Mahila Self Help Group, June, 2005; a Village in District Mewat, Haryana

I have benefited from joining the group. Whenever I need money, I can withdraw from the group. [Benefit: ease of withdrawal] I have been a member of the group for the past seven years. Earlier we used to save 20 rupees per month, now we save 100 rupees. There is no fear that someone will run away with your money. I did not tell anyone that I am putting my savings into the group fund. I used to save money from the amount given to me for running the household expenditure. I did not let my husband know about it, I did it on my own, and if my husband had found out he would not have given me the money. I used to take it on the pretext of buying vegetables. [SHG: savings]

We have two killas of land. I have borrowed money from the group for cultivating the land: for fertilizer, seeds etc. I have taken Rs.5000, then Rs.10, 000 and now Rs.20, 000. [Benefits: loan usage]The expenditure on the land is very high and the returns are very low. The soil is unprofitable and it is useless tilling it. Yoke the bullocks, plough the land, yet the produce is scanty. The water is khara (brackish) and unfit for irrigational purposes. It further hardens the soil. We grow jowar, bajra and wheat as the area is barani (totally dependant on rainfall). There is enough to feed the family and the cattle; there is no surplus to sell. Our inputs are family labour, wooden ploughs, cattle, organic fertilizer and seeds. The expenditure on one killa works out to six to seven thousand rupees per annum. [Subsistence/traditional agriculture]

I look after the house as well as the land. My husband does not as he is away most of the time. He is a driver and is away to Hyderabad and Madras for two months and

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some times for three and four months at a time. So I have to look after the children and the land all by myself. These days I am not going to the land every day but when the work demands I go daily. [Double burdens; male migration] Now we have sown Jowar. I look after the land all by myself as my husband is out most of the time. I buy and sell the cattle and the buffalo myself. I do the entire sale and purchase and manage everything all by myself. Sometimes I buy a goat and sometimes I sell it. Whenever I need I withdraw money from the group. I have full knowledge of all agricultural operations. I know when it is time to put fertilizer, when it is time for sowing. I purchase everything on my own; I also get the crop harvested. [Economic decision making: women managed farms]There is not enough to sell; it is only enough for consumption in the house. Motta khaana aur motta pahenana (eat coarse food and wear coarse garments). There is nothing wrong with doing manual work in our own fields. We are not working for anyone else. Yo hamara kam sai (its our work). [Roles and responsibilities; perceptual]

I have also bought a buffalo. I sell the milk; I have to, otherwise how we will survive. The animal related work involves: bringing fodder from the fields, chaff cutting, preparing feed mix for the cattle, giving water and feed, bathing and cleaning the animal, making cow dung cakes, preparing bitora (a structure for storing dry dung cakes) and compost making. Tending, feeding, milking, making lassi (buttermilk) and ghee (clarified butter), and collecting dung and drying it for fuel, everything I do. [Relational: double burdens] My daughters help, but it does not look good to assign hard labour to daughters. Then people say we are delaying their marriage for this reason. Anyway that will be their lot when they get married. Two pitiful ones, a daughter and a draught bull. Only when I get my sons married and bring daughters in law, will I get real help. [Familial: betis]

I sell the milk to the milkman; he gives me 8-9 rupees per litre. I have taken an advance of Rs.10, 000 from him, which is why he gives me less rate. [Constraints: economic]I had to take money from him because I had taken 20,000 rupees from the group already and till that is clear I cannot withdraw more.

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My cow does not give much milk these days; this is because she does not get enough fodder. Earlier, there was a lot of free fodder like grass which grew on the shamlat (village common land). Now these lands are under najayaz kabzas (encroachments). All the fallow land has been brought under cultivation. Or else, they are considered the private property of the landowners. So I face a lot of difficulty, I have to go to far flung places to look for fodder for the animals. [Increase in work burdens: absence of facilities] The goat also gives milk; that is not for sale. That is for the children to drink and for the tea.

Some times I have difficulty in returning the instalments but I have to return the money. Otherwise how will I get more money? I have not taken any loan from any agricultural bank. Nor do I take loans from relatives, why should I spoil the relationship. But some times when I cannot return the instalment I may borrow from some one for 10 to 15 days. When my husband does not find work and sits at home, then I have to manage some how. [Weight of obligations]Some times he finds work for four months in a year and some times six months in a year. It would be good if he can start some work in the village itself, may be he can buy a small vehicle. [Goals for future]

I have eight children, five sons and three daughters. I did not go in for any family planning method. My husband says it is against our religion. [Attitudes towards family planning] In any case, who can have enough of rain or sons? [Son preference]My eldest son is a driver in Alwar, and another one has opened a shop in Punhana. The younger ones are studying in school.

I am not educated. In our time, the work qualities of the prospective bride were more important than a girls looks or education. The main requirement was: aurat takdi honi chahiye, take bahar andar ka kaam aache se kare (a woman should be strong so that work can be performed well). But I have ensured that all my children have studied in school. My eldest daughter has studied up to Class five. She is married and

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lives in a village near Palwal. The second one is eighth passed and the youngest one has dropped out of Class tenth. This way after marriage, they will be able to supervise the education of their children. They have not gone in for education after this. My husband says that if a girl is educated beyond matric, it can cause problems at the time of marriage. The usual refrain is: padhi likhi ladkiyan ke kaam karen sai (Educated girls do not do work). [Education of girls]

I have got my daughter trained at the tailoring centre that opened in the village. She stitches clothes for everyone in the house and also stitches when she receives orders from the village. I have not gone for training programmes, who will look after the household work, if I go. Once, my younger daughter was ill, so I reached the programme at Punhana late. I came back early. I do not remember what went on there. [Training]My parents stay in Rajasthan. Sometimes I go for one to two hours. I do not have the time to go for a longer duration. Who will look after the work? [Relational: Roles and responsibilities]

If I am able to withdraw more money from the group, my husband could buy a small vehicle, may be a tractor. He could earn a good income and need not go away to earn money. [Goal for future]

The males in the house decide whom to vote for. There is too much politics involved; it is best to vote for everyone. The Sarpanch does help out some times, he got the street repaired. [Politics]

The custom of purdah is there. I only do purdah in front of the elders. [Purdah]I cannot write but I learnt how to sign after becoming a member of the group. [Literacy]My daughter keeps the accounts. [Education of daughter]The custom of dowry is increasing day by day. Peoples demands are increasing. They demand cycles and motorcycles. Now that they know that we can withdraw from the group, they demand even more. [Dowry]

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Husband:

Once I needed money. She said, I will get the money for you. I said you do not have any money. My daughter said mummy has money. She saves 20 rupees every month. When she got the money, I was impressed. [Perceptual]I said, instead of 20 rupees, you start saving 100 rupees. Whenever we need some thing we can withdraw money. We have got a buffalo and she has also withdrawn money for agricultural operations. In the village the interest rate is very high. Moneylenders charge 10 rupees for every Rs.100. This scheme is very beneficial. [Benefits of group membership] The nature of my work is such that I have nothing to do with house hold work. My wife looks after every thing. It is because of the care that gives to the land, the cattle, and the household that make me free to do my work. [Relational: roles and relationships] She makes all decisions regarding purchase and sale of buffalo, buying the inputs for the land etc. Every woman cannot do all this, only some women have the ability to look after all this. [Perceptual]Here the land is unprofitable. Agricultural operations are very laborious. Kaam karn sae aurat tandrust rahe (work keeps a woman healthy). [Relational: weight of obligations]

I have nothing to do with all this. I only know that when I come home, I get my food on time. She looks after me very well. She never acts superior. She performs her duties as a wife and behaves with utmost decorum. Even if I ask her to join me while eating, she replies, I shall eat the leftovers. [Gender stereotypes]My wife is fully knowledgeable about all aspects relating to the land and she does not consult me on these issues. She may be illiterate but she is very sharp. [Perceptual] She knows where every rupee is spent. She has educated our children, all of them are educated.

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4.3.4. Personal Narrative of respondent 4: Bhagwanti, Member, Mahila Self Help group; June, 2005; A Village in District Mewat, Haryana

I have been a member of the group since seven years. We hold meetings four times in a month. They inform about the meeting before hand. [SHG procedures] If some one does not attend we send for them. I knew Nadira before hand. She asked me to join the group. [SHG: social ties] I thought, when my child has to get married, this will benefit me. I told my husband about it only after a number of days. He asked me where do you go. I said to deposit money in the group. He said, what for. I said, when there is any need, that time I will tell you. [Relational: familial] I learnt the rules of the group by watching the meetings. If I am at home, I attend the group meetings. If I have gone out to work, in that case I do not go.

I have a mother, four sisters and a brother. My pihir (natal place) is Gamri Rajasthan. I live here with my son and daughter in law. My husband stays in Sohna. He does beldari there. He comes once every ten days or so. He gets a daily wage of 80 to 100 rupees. Some times he gets it daily and some times not. My son has learnt driving. He used to drive a vehicle in Delhi. But he has been ill since one year. He was falsely implicated in a case and was given a good beating. When he used to work as a driver in Delhi, he used to earn two thousand rupees per month. But these days we are managing some how. It is very difficult. My son is getting his treatment done from Nuh.

I took five thousand rupees as loan from the group when my son was to get married. I have repaid it; only one or two instalments are left. Earlier, I had taken a loan for the construction of my house. I had taken fifteen thousand rupees. [Benefits: loan usage] Our group meets four times in a month. We meet at Nadiras house mostly. We deposit hundred rupees per month. [SHG: Savings] The repayment is timely. If we do not repay, we would not be able to get any more loans. [SHG: incentive for repayment] If I take something, I have to return it. Before I became a member of the group, I used to borrow money from some relative. Some would charge three rupees

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per hundred. Some would not take interest at all. But we had to return their money all in one go. Here we can repay in instalments. If there is some problem, we can repay extra amount the next month. [SHG: flexibility in repayment]

I stock earthen pots in my house and sell them. I buy them from Punhana. People come here and buy them. One pot costs me ten rupees and I save two rupees per pot. This way I earn two to four rupees per day. [Material base] It depends on the season. Sometimes lots of people come and sometimes no one comes.

These days I go to the fields and do transplantation of rice. I work in the fields of Meos. One killa fetches six hundred rupees. Ten to twelve women, we work

together. We distribute the money amongst ourselves. One season, we do this work and the other season we cut sarson. If I get work I do it, otherwise I stay at home. [Seasonality of employment]We do transplantation, weeding, sowing, hand picking of cotton, cutting the sarson, and other such auraton ke kaam (womens work). We do this work better than men and at lower wages that is why we are employed. The zamindars says, a woman is brainless),[Perceptual] if we pay the same wages to women, then why not take a man wholl do better and more work. It is the men who drive tractors or thresh with machines. [Constraints: wage discrimination]

I take all the decisions, not my husband or my son. Sale, purchase, everything I do. [Relational: Roles and responsibilities] I buy things for the house and give it to my daughter in law. I get the sabzi, she does the cooking. As of now she is under my control, who knows what will happen in the future. [Relational: familial: bahus] I have brought up my son in such a way that he will listen to me. He is dependent on me, poor fellow. My son says ma, whatever you do is correct. If my husband says something, I tell him, I dont care what you say or do, I can withdraw money from the group. Nobody tells me what to do. I use my own mind. [Familial: roles and relationships; increase in bargaining power]My daughter in law is not a member of any group. Poor girl, what will she do by becoming a member? She is too simple.

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She has been married for only one year. She keeps going to and fro from here and her parents house. [Familial: Bahus]

I have gone to functions in Alwar and Punhana. They ask us how the group is working. We tell them, they give us tea and something to eat. We went to Alwar, two parties went from here. I did not fully understand what they told. I have not gone for any training programme but I have gone for these functions. We listen to their stories and tell ours. [Training]

I am 35 years old and I have been married for the past 26 years. My son is studied up to class eighth in a Government School here. But he has very less brains. One day he said ma, how long you will go on earning? He learnt how to drive, took up this job. My son is twenty years old. My daughter in law is 15 to 16 years old. When I fell ill I thought I would die, that is why I got my son married quickly. What do I know about the legal age of marriage? In any case, such things should be the concern of her parents. How do I know what is her age? [Bahus]

My daughter in law has not studied at all. What will she do by studying at this stage? She is expecting a child. [Bahus] I never went to school; there was too much work to do. I come from an agricultural family. Now I do labour work. So what is the use, as it is I can see very little. I only affix my thumb, I cannot write. [Literacy] But my mind is very sharp. [Cognitive] I do hisab mentally. I calculate how much I would save from the sale of the pots. For three years I was ill. My sisters daughter used to help with the household. I got my treatment done from a nursing home in Ballabgarh. He gave very good medicine. I am fine now. My sister has a terrible cough. I have shown her at a number of places. At Mandikhera, Palwal, Alwar. I have even taken her to Delhi for a thorough check up but the cough does not stop. My daughter in law had bleeding in the early part of her pregnancy. She is having a lot of problems. But I made her observe a totka which has warded off the miscarriage. It will also ensure a safe delivery. A dai has also given medicine. [Health issues] I took her to the government hospital also. There is a nursing home in Palwal. Janch karate hain,

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ladka hae ya ladki (They find out, whether it is a boy or a girl.). One woman told me. She got the test done for her bahu, she had three daughters earlier. They found out it is a girl. It cost them Rs. 700. Then they got the dai to do the abortion. [Son preference: consequences] I said, let my daughter in law have a girl or a boy but I want the child to be healthy. After two or three children, I will take my daughter in law for an operation. I took my sister in law for an operation to Hodal. It was performed in the Government Hospital. If my will prevails, I will get it done. Why have too many children, does she have to populate a village? [Attitudes towards family planning]

In marriages, a lot of dowry is given. Every one gives whatever they can afford. My daughter in law got these trunks, television and sewing machine. We have not opened the television yet. I do not have the time. I have displayed the dowry brought by the bahu, else it will be automatically assumed that I got my son married into Kamino ke ghar (home of low caste/ paupers), and have received nothing worthy of display. I did not ask for dowry. I said whatever you can afford is acceptable to me. I never said I want this or that. I have not asked my daughter in law what things she has got. What clothes you have got. How does it concern me? Who knows how many days I have more to live. [Dowry]

My husband comes once or twice in a month. He gives me hundred or two hundred rupees per month. Sometimes he gives me five hundred rupees. His earnings go towards his liquor and tobacco. I run the household with my earnings. I am managing by my hard work since the very beginning. [Material base; roles and responsibilities] Women may say, go some where and get your hand read. But I have never gone any where. I have been surviving because of my mind and my hard work. I do not have the support of my in laws. I do not have anybodys support. I am my own support. I tell my husband and son that I am earning and spending. If need be, I can withdraw money from the group and look after my self. I do not need you. [Cognitive: power within]

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When my son got into trouble I did not tell the group. Why should I look bad? I told my relatives, they called a meeting. By the time, the case had been disposed, so they said, there is no need to do anything. [Relational: SHG members interactions]

I work in the fields the whole day. I come back in the evening. I have food; take a bath and go to sleep. My daughter in law does the household work. Earlier I used to cook myself and do the household work also. [Double burdens]

Earlier my husband used to say to whom were you speaking to, where did you go, and he would start beating me there and them. He has broken all my bones. [Domestic violence] After the birth of my son, I could not conceive any more children. My mother in law used to instigate my husband: How can a man with one son be called a father? They used to turn me out of the house. Who will keep a barren woman, who will keep a barren cow? My husband would accuse me of talking to someone, laughing with someone when I went out to work. I used to take my child and go to my parents place. I used to leave every thing and go. I did not even take my clothes along. I did not say anything about this in the group. It does not look good to discuss these things there. [Domestic violence: efficacy of group] Then, my father died. I thought, how many days will it go on like this? I used to be reprimanded by my bhabhi, Behan, ab tera yahan kaam ke (Sister, now you dont belong here). My mother also said, ladki apne susral mein hi jache (A girls right place is in her in laws house). My son said how many days will you go on like this? When you die what I will do. Your brother has his own children. What will happen to me? [Domestic violence: familial/social pressures and attitudes]

How can I have a share in the property of my pihir (natal family)? Why should I claim my share? Galat mat na de (Do not give me wrong advice). I can have a share only in my husbands property. I cant have two shares. My brother is duty bound to look after me and my son. He is the one who has performed all the rituals and made all the presentations at rites of passage. Why should I lose the goodwill of

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my brother? What will I get in return? It would only deprive my brother and go to my husband. [Attitudes towards inheritance of land]

I said I will go back to the village. I have not done anything wrong that I cannot go. I will certainly go. I will settle my son in that village. So I came back. My mother in law refused to let me stay. My husband said, why dont you claim land from your brother and settle there. I said, Tu apni bahan unko hissa de mein phir apna hissa le lungi (You first give your sisters share, and then I will assert my own). [Inheritance issues]I went to the sarpanch. I told him I will hire a lawyer. I will lodge a report against my in laws. I will put them behind bars. I will get my land. I will stay here. Whether any one gives it willingly or whether I have to fight for it. The sarpanch told my in laws to give me some place to stay. Then my bother also came. My in laws demanded three thousand rupees for the land. My brother had said, either you do not go back to the village. But if you go, no matter what happens, do not come back. It will cut our nose. Do not come back the way you came back earlier. It was a do or die situation for me. I decided, I will stay here and show them. I demanded a piece of land from my in laws. I said, you can keep all of it, just give me a little bit where I can stay with my child. But stay here I will. [Cognitive:

determination to claim rights] The land was partitioned. My husband is useless. Sometimes he stays here. Most of the time, he runs away. I arranged three thousand rupees and gave it to my in laws. I took a loan from the group. Then I made my house. [Benefits: loan usage] Even now, my in laws want to turn me out of the village. I say you may do any thing but I will not budge from here. I will live here and show you. Since that time I am staying here.

Now I am settled here. I have my own house. Even if I die, my child will live here. No one can tell my son where from you came. Big or small, I have a house. I have seen very difficult days but I am not one who is frightened by difficulties. A lot of women in my condition would have fallen ill and taken to the charpai, if I do the same then what is my strength. [Cognitive: power within]My in-laws still do not want to see me settled here, but now I have this land I can do what ever I please here.

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My husband has broken a lot of my bones. But he could not break my spirit. I also vowed that I will live here in the village and show everybody. Some times he gives me money some time he does not. But I dont need his money. I have told him that if you beat me I will not spare you. My son also tells him, meri ma per haath uthaya to achcha nahin hoga (If you lift your hand on my mother, it will not be good). I do not take it lying down, I hit back. [Domestic violence: fighting back]

Earlier, I used to do dhhatha while working in the fields or fetching water or doing domestic work. One can move ones arms and shoulders while doing work, and it doesnt cover the eyes. Some may call us badmash (loose character), but after joining the group, most of us have stopped doing ghunghat. Maybe some of us only do it in front of senior male members in the family. My father in law told my husband to tell me to wear a proper ghunghat. I said ask my father in law should I wear a yard long ghunghat? [Purdah]

I want to start the work of making soap at home. I have heard that you can do this work at home. I want to learn about this work, if I can start something on my own I need not go out every day and labour in the sun. [Goals for future]Sometimes I get work, sometimes I do not. Some times I find work for six months in a year, some times I do not.

Sunita (Daughter in law):

I do not say any thing in front of my parents. My parents decided to get me married. I have a younger sister who is fifteen years old. She has also got married. My father sells vegetables. I was the eldest child. I could not go to school. I only went for two three days. My mother was ill. I had to look after the household work. [Betis: autonomy, education]

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4.3.5. Personal Narrative of respondent 5: Banu, Member Mahila Self Help Group, June, 2005; a village in District Mewat, Haryana

Ours was the first group in the area. Now there are at least 15 groups. [Group formation: demonstration effect] Initially, we saved 20 rupees per month for 14 months. Then all of us in the group decided that we should save more. So we started saving 50 rupees per month. We did this for 2-3 years. Then we all decided that we should save more, so that the money would be of some use to us. We could use the money for the marriage of children, or to start some work. We started saving 100 rupees per month. [SHG: group savings]I understood the rules of the group by using my mind. I saw that it would be beneficial to form the group. So we got all the neighbours together and formed our group. [SHG members: proximity of residence]

Sometimes I go for group meetings and sometimes I do not, when I do not have the time. The houses are far off and I cannot walk that far. The meetings are held at the house of one of the members. [SHG: meetings] I have to go to deposit money in the bank. I also go to deposit my instalments. The bank gives me a receipt. We all decide whom to give money to. We give according to the need of the person, not by rotation. Our bank is Gurgaon Gramin Bank. [SHG: banking procedures]

If some one is under pressure for not making the repayment, that person is allowed to delay the repayment by one month and make repayment of double the amount after the next month. [Benefit: flexibility of repayment]The rate of interest is two rupees per hundred per month. When there was no group, to get money withdrawn from a bank involved a lot of headache and a number of trips. Now there is no problem. Earlier we never used to get any loan. [Benefit: Access to loans]

As Pradhan I have conducted meetings of the group. Nadira speaks the most. Some men beat their wives. But we do not discuss these things in the group, nor do we intervene. Joru Khasam ki larai keya. (A quarrel between married couples is of little importance) At times, we have intervened in a sas-bahu ki larai, but not in fights

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between a husband and wife. That is their own private business. [Attitudes towards domestic violence]

I have taken a loan 3 times: Rs.4000, Rs.5000 and again Rs.5000. With this money, I set up this khokha where I sell bangles. [Loan usage] Before I set up this khokha, I used to go house-to-house selling bangles. But I could not go on as I started keeping ill. Then I constructed this khokha, bought bangles. [Material base]

Earlier when I used to sell going bangles house to house I used to earn more. That time was different. Now times have changed. Sometimes I earn Rs.100, Rs.150 or Rs.200 per day. [Business: income] Sometimes I earn only Rs.50 and sometimes nothing at all.

I have five children two sons and 3 daughters. I married off four children: two daughters and two sons. The marriage of daughters entails a lot of expenditure. That time my husband had some life in him. Now he is old. What to do, girls bring indignity, you weep when they come, you weep when they go. [Betis]When we married off my daughters, my son contributed from some of his earnings as a driver. The rest of the money I gave. The custom of dowry is increasing every day. People are giving more and more things. Some even give Maruti cars. I only gave a cycle. [Dowry] My daughters son runs a bangles shop in Rajasthan. The other works as Electrician in Alwar. My daughters studied in the Madarsa. They do not learn hindi there. But they learn how to keep rozas and respect elders. The youngest one also studies in the local madarsa She has received training at a sewing centre. She can stitch clothes. But she does not do it for sale; she is not the member of any group. What is the use of starting something when her stay with us is only temporary; I have to get her married soon, she will go away. As it is, she is 18-19 years old; if we delay her marriage further people say all kinds of things. [Betis]

My sons have studied in the government school till class five or six. My elder son does masonry work. His wife is also a member of another self-help group. She runs a

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shop across the road. She sells chappals, cloth etc. First I became a member of a group, and then my elder daughter in law also joined a group after looking at me and how I was benefiting. My elder son has now constructed a separate house. He lives separately. He did this at the instigation of his wife. She sprouted wings after joining the group. My younger son is a driver. He drives big vehicles to Gujarat and Hyderabad. He works for a Seth who lives in Delhi. His family stays with us. My younger daughter in law looks after the housework. My daughter also helps out. My son is away most of the time to the city in connection with his driving work. Why should his wife accompany him, ke jaroorat se (what is the need?)? Anyway, it is not possible for all of them to live in the city. [Bahus]

Today, I am able to look after my own expenses. That is enough. These days one cannot expect anything from sons and daughters in law. I am earning, that is why I have respect. When I stop earning that day I will know the reality about my son and daughter in law. Now that I am earning, my children also look after me. My grand son comes to me and asks me for money. My son also asks me for money sometimes. They all listen to me. The younger son is in my control. He gives me money from his earnings and I run the household expenditure. [Material base]

My parents house was in Ballabhgarh. My husband used to do masonry work. But now he cannot do that. He is too old. He cannot see very well. I have to sit at this shop myself because ladies do not wear bangles from a man. I come there at 8 AM or 9 AM in the morning and I return at 5 PM or 6 PM in the evening. It depends on the customers. [Work]

My house is in the village. It belonged to my father in law. Now my in-laws are dead. My husband has three younger brothers. They all live in separate houses, which adjoin each other. Our houses are partially pucca and partially kachha. When my husband was young, he could work and we could make improvements in the house. Now I have told my son you do these things yourself and do not expect it from us.

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My only savings are those, which I have put in the group. I am able to earn and make both ends meet. [Material base]Children do not earn and give you, if they look after there own expenditure that is enough. Some child has some vice or the other or some problem.

I have not studied at all. I can do hisab. But I do it orally, I do not write. Now times have changed. Earlier girls were not educated. Now girls and boys both are going to schools. All my grand children go to school. [Education] I learnt how to write my name in the group. [Literacy]But I cannot see properly. I have cataract. I know I can get myself operated for it. But I have do not time. Once I went to a doctor but he demanded Rs.1000 for it. When I have money I will get the operation done. [Health]

When training programmes are organized I do not go. They teach sewing. That can benefit young girls but I cannot see; what use it will for me. I do not go to Nuh and other such places. This is because I find the journey uncomfortable. I start vomiting. [Training]

I have not gone to any Government office. I do not have the time. Nadira goes though. She is educated and knows everything. We have not got benefit from any Government scheme. I have a pink ration card, but nobody allows a poor person to get any benefit. The big people eat all the benefits. {Governement scheme] We have no land, no Government job.

Since 2-3 years we have a buffalo. We do not sell the milk. The children drink it. Dudh becha so put. (Selling of milk is like selling of a son). We bought the buffalo out of my earning from the shop. The loans I have taken from the group were spent on this shop. [Loan usage]

I make petty purchases for the house myself. I buy oil vegetables etc. I earn every day and I take these small things back home every day in the evening. [Household

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purchasing] I procure the bangles from my shop from Punhana. I go myself either by a bus or in a three-wheeler. [Material base: market access]

I vote every time. My husband has three brothers and every family casts their votes according to their own wishes. However, our family voted for the same person. My brother in laws voted for some one else. All these things cause a lot of party factions and disputes. It is best to give two-two votes each to all the candidates. That way no one feels bad. [Politics: voter]

I have never thought of contesting an election for a panch. That only Zamindars can do. How can a poor person contest an election? Only a person with money has influence. In an election you need money, you need men and besides, rivalry between different factions can lead to violence. I run a very small business. I cannot do such things, as it is we barely survive. [Politics]

Husband:

She runs this small business. I cannot see much. I do not know much about her group. But we are able to make our ends meet. We are not dependant on our children in our old age. That is enough. [Material: reduction in dependency]

4.3.6. Personal Narrative of Respondent 6: Mumtaz, Member, Self Help Group, June, 2005; a village in District Mewat, Haryana

I have been a member of the group since 7 years. To begin with, we used to save Rs. 20 every month. Then we started saving Rs. 50, then 100 rupees. They would ask me at home, what you are doing with this money. I said this money is for buying the provisions in my shop. I need to buy bangles and other things for my shop. In this manner I was able to save. [SHG: savings]

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I have been doing shop keeping since ages. Now I have this shop. Earlier, I had a khokha (temporary structure). But the Panchayat removed that. I have been running this shop for the past 5 years. I have taken it on rent from the Panchayat. The rent is Rs.500 per month. The sale depends on the season. When the season is good, I earn well. [Material]During the rainy season, there are not enough earnings to even cover the rent repayment. I keep all things needed by women in this shop: kangan, mirrors, underwear, chappals. If my old man sits at the shop, women dont come. When I sit in the shop, women can come unhesitatingly.

My husband has a first wife. She is often ill. My in-laws are dead. The other wife has three children. I have two sons. They are small 7 and 5 years of age. Usne buddhe ko chhor diya tha (She had deserted the old man). He used to play satta (gambling). The biradari members said where there is no woman in the family, the house is certain to fall into difficulties. What can an akela adami (single man) do? [Relational: familial; roles and responsibilities]My father married me of to this buddh (Old man). Buddhe ne khoob rupaiya jo diya tha (He gave enough money). [Betis]Later, the first wife also came back. Who would have kept her and her children for long? I am from Calcutta. I go to Calcutta depending on the money. The train ticket is Rs. 500 for one person, one way. The whole trip works out to Rs 2000 for one person, if you include food and everything. During the rainy season, when the work at the shop is slow, I go to Calcutta. Calcutta is a big city. It has very big houses. The village here seems very empty. I dont like it here. I dont like coming here. I go for one week, if I have money, then I go. I go with my sister who lives in Aligarh. She has a handicapped husband. Now she has three children. It is difficult for all of us to go. Now I have money, but I cant stay there because of the shop. I have to come back soon.

The other wife is mad. She doesnt have control over her mind. She does all the household work. I tell her, sit at the shop. But she doesnt have the brains for it. She makes roti-subzi, though. I dont do household work. Her eldest son set up a separate house after his marriage. My husband is mad. He doesnt sweat in summer. That is

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why he goes mad in summer. He is under tension all the time. He takes tension over everything, childrens marriage and what not. I say, Allah will look after everything. Ever since I have joined the group, I have become calm. [Cognitive]I have benefited. I can withdraw as much money as I want. [Material benefit: ease of withdrawal]

My children study in the local madarsa. They are both in class 1. I have studied a few classes upto class 3 or 4. I can do hisab. When I buy things for the shop, I do the hisab. [Literacy]I buy things for the shop. Normally for Rs. 400 or Rs. 500. It depends on how much I am able to save. It all depends on the business. I buy things for the shop from Punhana or Pinangwa. I go myself. If the purchasing involves greater amount of money, then we buy from Delhi. I go myself to Punhana and Pinangwa. But my husband goes to Delhi for the major purchasing. [Material base: Market access]

The Sarpanch removed our khokha . A poor person, what clout does he have to stop such things. Now we have this shop. We pay a rent of Rs. 500 per month. All the shops in this row are shops rented out by the Panchayat. During Id, Bakrid and Bisakhi, I do good business. But business is slow during chaumasa. When it is marriage season, that time also business is good. [Fluctuations in business]

I took the loan 3 times. First, I borrowed Rs. 10,000, which I spent on the house. Then I borrowed Rs.15000, which was spent on the shop. I have repaid these amounts. After this, I took Rs.5000. This I used for buying things for the shop. [Material: loan usage]

Earlier I used to know few people. Now I run this shop and I know a number of people. [Relational: Society]

Salma keeps the accounts of the group, she keeps noting down in the copy. Then Sahil comes, and then we put in the register, how much money we have, who has taken what, what has Banu, what has Khateeja taken. Then we all sign. [SHG: procedures]

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I have gone to the bank to deposit money. Salma says I have work, you deposit the money. My groups money is like the money of my own house. So it is my work. I go myself and deposit it in the bank and get the receipt. The banks copy is in the name of the Banu, there is no question of a leader. Anyone can go and deposit the money. It isnt necessary that only she whose photo is there can deposit the money. [SHG procedures]

We havent got the benefit of any government programme. I havent got my ration card; it is at the Sarpanchs house. Give 100 rupees, get the ration card, I havent got the card, nor did I give the money. My brother in law gave 50 rupees and got the ration card made, gave another 100 rupees and collected it; I did not give the money. [Govt. schemes: absence of basic facilities]

All of us at home decide at home whom we should vote for. Mostly, we go by what my husband says. Anyway, what is the use, who stands by a poor person? In the elections in February, for chief minister, there was a symbol of rose flower, there was Khurshid Ahmed, there was something, I dont remember, I put my vote somewhere[Polity: voting behaviour]

I havent gone with the group to any government office. No one tells me anything. Anyway, who has the time? One person can only be one person; one cannot try and become ten people. If a group member tells me to go somewhere, I say I dont have the time. [Constraints: lack of time, double burdens]

When I first came to the village, I used to do purdah. There are women, daughter in laws who go around with long ghunghats when they do their work. I dont do purdah now; one should have sharm in the eyes, what is there in purdah? Anyway, I have to work in the shop, all kinds of people come, and I cant do ghunghat. Yes, when elders and relatives come at home, that time I do purdah.[Societal: purdah]

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There is a lot of benefit in the group. I can get money any time I want, I can spend any time I need. In 5-6 months the repayment gets final. Then the group knows my hisab is done. Then if I feel the need for more money, I again say. 10-15 women of the group, we sit down, sign and withdraw. Any one can say, I want to withdraw money. We ask, what for. The first may say, for a cow, the second for a house and the third may say I want to invest it in a shop. [SHG: benefits; procedures]

If I get more money from the group, I would like to invest in my shop. My family may want to invest in improving the house, but that would have to be repaid from the income from the shop. If I again get money, then I would like to have improvements in my house. [Goals for future]I have to get my son married and for this purpose when relatives come, they want to look at the house, the bathroom and what not. Some say, my daughter does not go to the jungle, there has to be a bathroom; some say, my daughter doesnt work on a chullah, do you have a gas and some may even say why doesnt your son come and stay with us!

My elder son (the first wifes) does masonry work. He earns Rs. 80-90 per month.

When I joined the group, we started by making savings of Rs. 30, and then increased it to Rs. 50. Then I said of what use this paltry sum is, make it Rs. 100 per month. Now we can withdraw money, for a shop, for a house, for the marriage of a child. Overall, there is a lot of benefit. Whenever I want, I can withdraw money. The first time, when I took a loan of Rs.5000 from the group, I used it for setting up my shop, after this, I took Rs.10, 000 which I spent on my house; then again Rs.15000 which I spent on my shop and the marriage of the elder son. [Material base: loan usage]

For training and all, I dont go. Salma, Sahil may call me, but I dont go. [Training: lack of time]My old man cant sit at the shop. If he sits, women and the young girls dont come. The women may come but the young girls dont. Then they ask for female things: oil, chappals etc.: he cant attend to them. In chaumasa, I may go

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somewhere. When I have Rs.2000, I may go to Calcutta. My shop is dependent on the season: festival season, marriage season etc.

We are all dependant on this shop. We have no other means of livelihood. [Material base]My husbands other wife, her three children now the elder son has married and has a separate house; then there is my husband and my two children. [Familial]

My husbands first wife is mad. Ghar mein kalesh dale rakhti hai (She is always fighting). I hate to fight; it is not in my nature. I come here; (to the shop) there is peace here. When I go back home, I am tired. The other wife looks after my children also. The childrens school is closed these days, so they come here also sometimes. The daughter (of the other wife) also comes here sometimes. She studies in the madarsa and goes there occasionally. I tell her (the other wife) to get her educated properly in a school. Tomorrow when we have to marry her off, they will ask about her education. But I have no control over her (the other wife) and she has no control over the children. She does the cooking. I tell her, there is too much salt in the subzi. She tells me, if you like it, you eat it, if you dont, leave it, I can only cook like that. [Relational: familial]

In winter, my husband is fine. In summer because of the heat, he loses control over his mind. He fights, and I get out of the house and come here. The other wife is always ready to show a red flag. She doesnt listen to good advice. [Familial]

Recently I fell ill. For 10 days I didnt come to the shop. I spent fifteen hundred rupees on my medicines, I consulted a private doctor. The government hospital is no good, they give useless medicines, they are not effective and you have to go repeatedly. Now I am fine, I only have pain from my feet to my waist. [Health issues]That is because I sit on the ground all day long in the shop. I have to sit on the floor when elders come to the shop, else it doesnt look nice. Thats why I have pain in my legs. When there is no one in the shop that time I sit on a chair. [Work burdens]

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My husband says, you do the work of the shop I cant do it. [Relational/ perceptual]Even today, I had to go and get things for the shop. I dont go anywhere with the other women of the group. Only if an officer or somebody comes, that time I go. I went for a function in Punhana and another one in Nuh. They had organized a bus. Some madam had come to the function. There were some speeches. But there was so much of a crowd that I could hear nothing. They gave us laddus to eat and Rs.10 each. I dont go to government offices I dont have the time. I have to keep Rozas also; going here and there is not possible. [Double burdens: constraints on training]

I want my children to grow up well, they should marry well, become good human beings, and everyone should respect them. [Goal for future]But it is my husbands will that prevails. I tell him, lets send the children to a good school outside, to Palwal, to Ballabhgarh or Faridabad, they will become good human beings, maybe a doctor, learn things, see the world. The bus goes from here, but he doesnt listen, I have no control. [Relational: familial]

Earlier my house was kuccha, now I have made it pucca. I have also added a small room for storing grain. I have made a Chaubara of bricks, when I have more money, I will add one more room. I made one new extension for the elder son after his marriage. [Material base: assets]He also contributed some money. But now he doesnt speak to us, he is after his wife.

Sometimes, I am so tired when I get back home that I dont have food. I just go to sleep. I dont have the time to eat. I dont like the food here. There is no variety in the vegetables here. Only baingan and gobi, no other vegetables. In Calcutta, you can get any kind of vegetables. If I dont get food to my liking, I dont eat. Yesterday, I ate chutney-roti. I got stomachache; I had to keep rushing to the jungle. So I dont eat. [Double burdens: effect on well being]

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My elder son was born in a government hospital in Punhana. The younger one was born at home. The dai had come. I gave my children polio drops, now the elder one doesnt take because he is over 5 years. The drops are only till 5 years. Even otherwise, he doesnt like taking medicines. Whenever the younger one falls ill, I take him to the hospital for medicines. [Health]

In the group loans I dont have to make rounds of the banks. I can get money to buy goods for my shop, for marriage, for making a house, for some business. [SHG: benefits]

No one discusses mar-peet (beatings) by the husband in the group meetings. Ghar mein miya Biwi ki larai ke bare bahar nahin kahna chahiye, na hi group ko kehna chahiye (Fights between husband and wife in the house should not be spoken about outside the house, nor should the group be told about them). No one tells anything. [Domestic violence: efficacy of group]Anyway, the men dont ask money to drink, they may ask money to buy a buffalo or make a house. Or if their vehicle has been involved in an accident, or needs repair, they may ask for money for that. Buying a buffalo, making a house, marriage of children, running a business, these are very good benefits of the group. If one wants to have good respect, one has to make good expenditure in marriages. [Benefits of group membership]

I can run this shop very well. Now looking at my shop everyone in the neighborhood has started opening shops. There are 7-8 shops in this street. They have all come up looking at my shop. I was the first one. I dont fear competition. One eats because of ones destiny. Allah provides everything. Let others open shops, I am not worried. Dene wala deta ha (The lord gives). [Competition to business]

I dont have problems with repayment. Once I had gone away to Calcutta. That time Salma and Banu paid the instalments for me. When I came back, I returned the money to them. [SHG: mutual help in repayment] First time, while returning the instalment

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I pay Rs. 100, then the next months, it is Rs. 10 less every time. I dont know the name of the bank. It is in front of the big shop.

Once I had gone away to Calcutta. That time Salma and Banu paid the instalments for me. When I came back, I returned the money to them. If there is work at home, my husband asks, what is to be done? I say, what should be done, what should not be done. My husband says Tu apni chalati hai (You do your wish). In matters of lenadena among the relatives, my husband says, teri rai kya hai (What is your opinion?). At times, when my sister in law comes, I give clothes, Rs.52 or 101. To my husbands sisters or cousins, I give clothes or money whenever they come. Sometimes I give Rs 10 or Rs. 20.[Relational: increase in bargaining power]Recently, my husbands cousin sister had a child and sent a message for me to come. I sent some clothes but I did not go. How can leave the shop and go? It isnt up to my husband to manage it. {Roles and responsibilities]Maybe when it rains and business is slow, that time I can go. It will be cool also. I will tell her, You stop having children now. Two daughters, one son, now again a daughter. I told her earlier also. She said she would stop once she had one more son. One child got spoiled in the womb that was a son. Now she has had a daughter. I will tell her, get an operation done. [Attitudes towards family planning]

I havent had an operation, nor do I take medicines, nor use copper T. I wanted to have only two children, and Allah listened to me and gave me only two children. There is no benefit in having too many children. You spend too many notes, whether it is a boy or a girl. First you keep them in your womb; you clean their urine, and then get them educated. A girl will still listen to you and help you with the household work but a boy after marriage becomes a complete stranger. He neither listens to the mother nor to the father. Now the eldest son (the other wifes son), at every pretext, goes to the in laws house. He doesnt consult anyone of his family. I spent money on his marriage and on his house, now I will not spend any more. Zamana bahut bura hai (The world is bad). [Relational: familial]

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Husband:

It is all right, what she did. What all the other women did, that only she did. 10-15 women joined the group, so did she. First we had the khoka that was removed. Now we have this shop. Two people are needed to run this shop. She helps and attends to the shop. [Benefit]These days, children are of no help. The eldest after his marriage has set up a separate establishment. Now whenever there is need, she gets a loan. Every month, she returns the installment, never late. Otherwise it is beizzat (Dishonor)[SHG: repayment pressure]

4.3.7. Personal Narrative of respondent 7: Lata, Member Self Help Group August, 2005; A village in District Mewat, Haryana

My father died when I was a small child. My mother became a widow. She had been married since she was seven years old. By the time she was twenty-five years old she had seven of us: we are six sisters and one brother. My childhood was full of struggle and difficulties. We did all types of work to survive. I cleaned peoples dirty utensils, ground atta at the chakki, made uplas. [Livelihood]

Our mother managed to get us married one by one. My sister was married but she died soon afterwards. I was married off to her husband. My husband used me for his own selfish purposes. My sister had two children; I brought them up. My husband has beaten me, tortured me, and kept me hungry. Some how or the other, I have borne all this. I am old now. I cannot take it any longer. Once he did not come home for a number of years. [Domestic violence]He stayed with the elder daughter. He had a shop there. He used to earn a lot but never gave me a paisa. I laboured and survived. If my son went to him and asked him for money, he would give him a good thrashing. Then some people from our biradari had a meeting and said this is also your family. You should give some money for their maintenance; two hundred rupees per month were fixed. I have not received more than this from him. Some how or the other I have managed to survive. I get three hundred rupees as old age pension. My sisters

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children used to instigate him against me. He would beat me black and blue whenever he came home. Slowly he turned my whole family against me, my mother, my brother and all my other relatives. He would rarely stay at home. He would go off and we would be left to fend for ourselves. My husband did not let my relatives come for the marriage of my children. My neighbor, Kanhaya helped in getting my three children married. My husband said Ill not let your children get married. Whenever a prospective match would come, he would ask them why you are interested in finalizing the marriage here. Go away; there is no need for any marriage. Once my husband cheated me; he told me I am going to buy land for five hundred rupees. I gave him the money, he ran away with it. When I asked him about the land he said I am not going to buy any, you will keep it yourself and not give it to my (first wifes) children. Eventually, Bachu Bania was the person who stood in for the father of my children and got them married. Kanhaya also spent money on the marriage of my children. My husband did not come for their marriage. He did not let any relatives come either. Happiness came in my life, but my husband stole it from me, he did not let me taste it. Now he is eighty-five years old. It is six months since he came home. I treat my husband well. But he is always full of complaints. Sometimes there is less salt in the food. Some time the achar is not good. On some pretext or the other he throws away the food. He abuses me and uses foul language. He has taken a separate room and stays near the temple. My daughter in law goes and gives him his food. My son says let him live there at least you will have some peace.

When my life was completely dark, when I had lost all hope, when I had no support, I found the support of the group. Akbari asked me why you dont become a member of the group. [Womens networks] Some how or the other I managed to save fifty rupees per month. After six months I withdrew three thousand rupees and started this small shop in my house. I thought, as it is, I am sitting in the house doing nothing, why dont I keep some goods in the room and start a small shop. [Material base: small business] After this I withdrew six thousand rupees and started a rehri for my son. Earlier he used to sell vegetables, and now he sells channa. I repaid this and

withdrew fifteen thousand rupees. I increased my business. I also bought two goats.

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Earlier when my husband used to give me only two hundred rupees per month, I would wash utensils and clothes, grind the atta chakki. For grinding five kilos atta I used to get one rupee. With that I could buy five kilos grain that would last us three days.

My husband earns a lot of money. At night he works as a chowkidar in the bazaar. During the day he works as a kabari. He gives all the money to the children of his first wife. My second son works in a factory in Sohna. He earns three thousand rupees per month. He has three children and manages to make a decent living. But how can I take money from my son when my husband is alive. I have found a lot of support from the group. [Womens networks] Now I am earning enough and even give a little bit to my daughter and daughter in law. I keep sweets, salt, masala, surf, soda, dal, channa, soap, tea, tobacco, sugar, rice, atta etc. at my shop. The main market is at a distance from this area. Children come here and make small purchases for their daily needs. If I make sales worth fifty to sixty rupees I save ten rupees, in this way I earn rupees six hundred per month. In addition I get three hundred rupees as pension. [Material base]My husband comes and demands that I should withdraw money from the group and give it to him. He asks me you run this shop where does the money go. I refused to do so, why should I? I said I will not give you any thing. He beats me up and goes away. [Domestic violence]

There is so much expenditure; I have to pay the rent of this house. Any way what is the luxury that is I am spending on? I do not drink milk or eat vegetables; normally I have roti with some dal. [Food/nutrition] Living alone, I do not feel like making the effort. Even if I attend one marriage, the expenditure works out to one thousand rupees. I am the one who goes to every function: birth and death ceremonies and marriages. Why should I give him money? He is earning well. He gets a pension of three hundred rupees, earns twelve hundred rupees from chowkidara. He earns rupees fifty to seventy rupees per day as a kabari. What life am I leading? I cook once and eat stale food four times. What life does a single person have? Yo budha khusad bahut jeena haraam kare sai (this old man has really made my life intolerable). Ab

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meri bas ki baat na sai budhape mein pitna (Now I am old and cannot take these beatings any longer). As a group we have done many great things, we have even managed to recover money from the most powerful men in the locality but I have not placed this problem of mine before the group. I fear if I do so it will reach my husband. That will make matters worse. Duniya se takkar li par is buddhe se takkar na le saki (I have confronted the world but I have not been able to confront this old man). My husband says where is the money you have taken from the group? How much you have saved from your shop. Then he fights with me. [Domestic violence] He wants to get money from me by hook or crook and send it to Ballabgarh where his sons family lives. His son is dead. He was the one who used to instigate his father against me. He was an alcoholic and was found dead on the road one day.

The group charges an interest of two rupees per hundred. In the market the rate is ten rupees per hundred. They ask for security also. Who will stand as a surety for a poor person? One has to go around and beg people. I have got five children married. I faced a lot of difficulties. Now I have the support of the group. Because of this I have been able to return the loans I had taken from moneylenders for the marriage of my childrenI may be poor, but I am not dishonest. I have my izzat (honour). I always returned every paisa that I have borrowed. . [Group membership: benefit]

If I do not let my husband come here, people will say all kinds of things. This poor neighbor of mine, she is the one who comes to the rescue when my husband beats me. I cry out in pain the whole night. Now God alone will give me justice. The other group members have not done any thing; Kaun burai lei (nobody wants to invite illwill). [Domestic violence]

I have found a lot of support by joining the group. I can do any thing now. I can withdraw money. I can earn a living. I need not ask any body for any thing. Earlier I used to give an installment of 1300 rupees per month. Now I am repaying thousand rupees per month. If I am unable to give in a particular month, the group allows me to repay the next month. [SHG: flexibility in repayment]

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I have visited a number of places with the group. Nahin to kaun tha hamein ghumane wala (Otherwise who was there to take me anywhere?) I have been to Kurukshetra, Sonepat, Panipat and Bharatpur. Now I have travelled everywhere. I have seen all kinds of temples and buildings, different kinds of crops growing in the fields. In one place I saw twenty types of sarson. I also saw the work of a number of groups. [Mobility; cognitive]

After I repay my instalment I will take another loan and increase my business. If I am able to sell two hundred fifty rupees of goods every day I will be able to save forty rupees per day, then I will not need any body. I will be able to earn enough sitting at home. I will look after myself and survive. [Goals for future]

I am not educated. My eldest daughter (from the first wife) is also not educated. In the earlier days we never used to study much. My daughter is fifth pass and so is my younger son. My elder son is ninth fail. My younger sons children study in Sohna. He earns three thousand rupees per month and has got his children admitted in a good school. [Education]

Before I join the group I used to do all kinds of menial water. Sometimes, I would work in a nursery also. membership] Now I can earn sitting at home. [Benefits of group

I am planning to buy maida and make papads out of it. These papads sell for thirty rupees per kilo. I can make them sitting at home. Akbari told me that she can get them sold at the centre where they give training on how to make achar and papads. [Goals for future]

The group meeting is held four times in a month. I attend all the meetings. They have never held a meeting at my house because they know that I am very poor. [SHG meetings] I am always at the forefront of any group campaign. I have gone with the

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group for recovery of money from those members who do not pay. One woman was not repaying money despite all our efforts so we sat down for discussion and decided to go to her house. I told the woman that you will have to repay the money. That woman was rude to me. Every one got after her and said that Lata is the oldest member of our group. How dare you speak to her like this? [Womens networks] The woman said that I will repay the money after selling my plot. We said you are just trying to delay the matter. Earlier she was a good member of our group. But her two sons were bekaar (useless). They used to play satta. They even sold off her jewellery for this purpose. She had borrowed forty thousand from her neighbour. To return this money she took forty thousand from the group. So she could not pay the instalments. She said her children had been caught by the police and had sold off all her household things. However, she returned sixteen thousand to us and promised to return the rest in instalments. [SHG: enforcement of repayment]

During election time leaders come and fall at our feet. They are very selfish and after taking votes they do not bother about us. [Polity]I have a pink ration card but I have not got the benefit of Government scheme. [Govt. scheme]

I have tried to learn how to read and write. But I have not been able to pick up. [Literacy]

There was a function organized in Surajkind. Mehmoodi madam told me to speak about the group activity. I went on the stage and spoke all about it. Everyone was very happy. They said you have spoken very well. I was not at all nervous.

[Cognitive: articulation]

My daughter in law who lives in this village is also a member of another group. She became a member after looking at me. [SHG: demonstration effect]My daughter in law cooks chholas at home and my son sells them in his rehri in front of the school. He manages to save hundred to hundred and twenty-five rupees per day. I do not ask any body for money. In fact my son borrows from me sometimes. My son who is in

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Sohna often gives me clothes and money. He comes once in every two months and sometimes gives me five hundred rupees. I do not go very often to Sohna because I cannot close down my shop. This house has a hand pump but not a latrine. I got this verandah made as a temporary structure. I borrowed three thousand rupees that I spent on buying a rehri for my son, after this I borrowed six thousand for setting up my shop, then fifteen thousand for the material to keep in the shop. I had married off my children before I became a member of the group. I have got these two goats for three thousand rupees from the savings of my shop. This way I have milk for tea etc. [Material]

One muslim master in the Government school says where do these women go. They must be doing some wrong things. There was a big fight. He instigated every one against us. We received a number of threats. Women were even scared of attending meetings. I stood up and told every one that we are doing nothing wrong. Things came to such a pass that we were even threatened that if we sit in the bus and go for any visits with the group we would be beaten up. I said we will all certainly go, there is nothing wrong with what we are doing. I said this in front of every one. I said you all have dirty minds; that is why you think like this. Still two men were sent with us when we went to Bharatpur to find out what we did there. They returned and said that all these are rumours, there is nothing wrong in all this. [Backlash]

People are jealous are of our activities. Afwaa failatein hain aur badnaam katre hain (They spread rumours; try to defame us). Now they are convinced; there is nothing wrong with what we do. It is only something that helps us to save and it benefits every one in the house. [Backlash]

They said that work was haram (unsanctified by religion). I said if you look at it this way then a whole lot of things are haram. This work is not haram. I have confronted a number of people on this issue. I am not afraid of any body. {Cognitive: power within] Only I have not been able to confront my husband. Kya karoon, kismat sai, is

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haramzade ke saath kaatan laag ri su (What to do, it is my fate; I am putting up with the bastard). [Violence]

4.3.8. Personal Narrative of Respondent 8: Noori, Member Self Help Group, August, 2005; a village in District Mewat, Haryana

I am a member of the Vikas group. Initially when I became a member, my husband objected. He said these women would run away with our money. He did not have faith in it. So for one and half years I did not participate in the group activity. This is because my husband refused out right. As the group continued to function, I kept trying to persuade my husband that I should also be allowed to join the group. I told him that it would be beneficial for everyone. Eventually, I succeeded in persuading him and again joined the group. My husband ran a tent house business from the very beginning. We started the poultry farm business after I joined the group. I withdrew six thousand rupees and we started a small poultry farm. He started this work jointly with a partner. For one year we earned good profits but then we had a dispute with our partner. I do not remember the income exactly as it is a number of years now but in every cycle we used to save about five thousand rupees. Every thirty to forty days one batch of chicken would be ready. My husband used to work at the poultry farm looking after the feeding, transportation etc. My husband used to take a tempo to Rewari and sell the chicks. Even though it was a good business, we did not continue with it because of the dispute. [Material base]

I withdrew fifteen thousand from the group and my husband started the tent house business once again. We manage to save six to seven thousand every month from this business. Our business is running well. [Material base] Earlier my husband used to stop me from going here and there. Now he does not say anything to me.

[Relational: familial] I have withdrawn twenty thousand rupees and we have expanded our business. [Material base]

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Earlier we used to face a lot of problem in arranging the money. We had to obtain a surety or keep our jewellery with the moneylender. When we would go to the moneylender to borrow money he would harass us. Ever since I joined the group there is no such problem. [Benefit] The group has a meeting and passes a resolution and we withdraw the money. We stock tents, fans utensils chairs, pipes etc at our shop. We keep all kinds of materials needed for this business. Some of the material is kept here in the house and some is kept in our shop in the market. People come to the shop and place orders there. They inform us about the date of the marriages and make bookings. The rates are also decided there. Sometimes the customers make advance payments and sometimes they pay later. We buy the material from Delhi. Because of my loans we have been able to increase our stock. Sometimes we buy material which is one or two years old because it is cheaper. Earlier we had a partnership with a meo. We used to do all the work; he used to sit like a chaudhary on the chair. I told my husband that this joint partnership is of no use. We should start our business on our own. problems. The partner also used to consume liquor and create

Eventually I managed to persuade my husband and got the business

divided. [Relational: increase in bargaining power] Earlier my husband had a shop in Pinangwa. He had taken it on rent of five hundred rupees per month. This shop remained with the partner and my husband rented a shop in Tauru and did business there. Now it is the off-season. When it is the season, my husband will rent a shop here in the market and start his business again. [Business]

My husband does not have land or any other assets. We only have this house. I stay at home and look after the household work. My husband works at the shop.

[Relational: familial roles] We employ labour to do the work of loading and unloading and setting up the tents. One labourer charges one hundred rupees per day. For one marriage we generally need two to four labourers depending on the work. In this business we generally have a fifty percent margin. For a modest marriage, we charge one thousand rupees. Normally our expenditure is about four hundred fifty rupees including labour. The clients themselves are responsible for the transportation of the goods. We give the material and the labour for setting up the tents. Our labour

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is trained in this work. The labour is from this village and has been with us since sometime. [Business]

I have three children. The eldest is a daughter and after that two sons. I had an operation after that. That time I was not a member of the group. I have been a member of the group since seven years. [Family planning] My youngest son is ten years old. My daughter has studied up to class five in the Government school. After that she went to the madarsa and learnt deen talim. She helps me out with the household work. [Betis] My younger son is studying in class four. My elder son is studying in class seven. I am not educated. I did not go to school. I am from Bharatpur (Rajasthan). Nobody sent me to school, if I had attended, I would have surely learnt how to read and write. Now times have changed. Every body sends their daughters to school. [Education of girls] My mother in law stays with us. My father in law lives with my husbands elder brother who lives next door.

I have been to Kurukshetra, Hathras, Alwar and Pragati maidan in Delhi.

In

Kurukshetra, we saw a group that was selling embroidered bed sheets for four thousand rupees each. We also saw the work of another group that was making disposable utensils for marriages etc. The machine costs fifteen thousand and the earning is ten rupees for every one dozen. We went to number of places and saw many things. I have decided to always remain associated with the group.

[Training/exposure]

I contested the panchayat elections last time. I lost the elections. I incurred a lot of enmity amongst my relatives. First my husband has thought of contesting the elections but it suddenly entered his head that I should contest the elections. He filled up my form I did it because of his pressure. His brothers wife was also standing for the seat. She won the election and I lost. I spent five to ten thousand on this election. My sister in law was also a member of the group. Every one said that one of you should withdraw your name. My husband said that if his brother requested him only then would he withdraw my name. But his brother did not do so. And because of

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their misunderstanding I was forced to contest this election. I have only invited a lot of ill will because of this. Now we do not speak to my sister in law and her husband. My brother in law has been a member of the panchayat for two terms. So this time, my husband thought that he should also get a chance. What was the use; every one had fun at our expenses. Now I will never contest any election. [Politics]

I normally do not go to any Government office. But once I went to the electricity JEs office. All the women sat in dharna. The electricity supply is better now. But the voltage is still dim. [Community work]

I want to get a community centre constructed on panchayat land. I want this work to be done by the women of the self-help group. It is no use expecting the panchayat to do some thing. If we do it, every one will look at the group with respect. They will think that these women can also do some thing. [Goals for future]

The group meetings are held four times in a month. Once, some people had come from Italy. We told them all about the working of the group. They spoke to us with a lot of respect. Before we joined the group what did we know what respect was. I had never stepped out of the house. I used be fearful, feel depressed. I did not know any thing. Now I know how to speak. I have learnt how to talk to people. Earlier I used to stay at home. Ab to duniya dekh li (Now I have seen the world). [Cognitive: power within]

I was the pradhan of the group. I go to the bank for the groups work. Our bank is the Gurgaon gramin bank. Earlier I used to affix my thumb but now I have learnt to sign. I have not been able to learn how to read and write. I have picked up how to read a little bit. So many things distract my mind: tensions relating to the house, the children and the shop. But I have changed, I am able to sign and I am able to talk the way I am talking to you. [Cognitive]

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My husband is not educated. He has kept one man at the shop for doing the hisab. We pay him fifteen hundred rupees per month. He takes orders, settles the payment, sees what material has gone where and checks whether it has all come back. He stays at the shop all the time. In one season, that is normally of three months we earn eighty to ninety thousand rupees. In Baisakh, and Jeth we do very good business. During the season there is so much work that often my husband is busy till four or five in the night. He does not even have time to sleep or eat. We also do business out side the village in nearby areas. [Business]

I get up at five in the morning and do namaz. After tea and breakfast, I send the children to school. Then I attend to the household work. I have thought of getting maida that is available at ten rupees kilo and making papads which I can sell at thirty rupees per kg. This would be very convenient for me as I can do this work sitting at home. I have attended a course in making achar and papads that was conducted in this village. I got a certificate also. [Training]I participated in a sports meet that was held at Punhana. In this meet woman from all over the block participated. I got the first prize in the matka race, tug of war and discus throw. I had never thought I could do this. Our team also won a prize at the Mewat level in the tug of war. I got a watch, a water cooler, bag, suitcase, jug and a number of items as prizes. The ADC was the Chief Guest. About three thousand women who were members of different groups participated. [Cognitive]

Earlier my husband used to object when I attended group meetings. He said someone would run away with the money. Because of his attitude I had to leave the group for one and a half years. Now he does not say any such thing. I am happy that I joined the group once again. My husband does all the purchasing for the house. Only if he is not there do I go and make the purchases. However, my husband consults me and takes my opinion in all matters. [Relational: familial bargaining power]

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Husband:

Earlier I did not know about the benefits of the group. In our religion some people objected to it. That is why I stopped my wife from participating in the group. She kept telling me that she wanted to join, as there would be benefit in this. Then one day we sat down and talked about it and I said all right you can become a member of the group. Now I can see that there are so many benefits. There is no problem with regard to withdrawal of money. I have expanded my tent house business. Earlier if I needed money we went to the bania. He would ask us to come tomorrow or the day after, I have to consult other members of my family. Then after a number of rounds he would agree or refuse to give us money. Now there is no such problem. [Benefit of group formation]We give all repayments in time. Even if we are late for fifteen days the group accommodates us. Earlier I had a small business. Now I have expanded my business. Last season I opened a shop at Tauru. I did very good business. [Material expansion] Earlier I used to have a shop here but now I have split up with my partner. People say this work is bad as women come and go outside the house. We had to listen to a number of things but now most people are silent because they can see the benefits of this. Earlier my relatives also objected. [Perceptual: backlash]

Once I had taken a loan of five thousand rupees from a bank for setting up a fruit shop. Every time the Secretary would come, I had to look after his chai pani. Eventually the loan outstanding against me increased to ten thousand, then twenty thousand. Till today this loan is outstanding against me. But I paid five hundred rupees to the Secretary and he had shown it as a new loan. Every time he shows the earlier loan as having been paid and makes a new loan against my name. [Benefit: pre group scenario]

4.3.9. Personal Narrative of Respondent 9: Phoolwati, Member Self Help Group, August, 2005; a village in District Mewat, Haryana

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I did not have a brother. I have one sister who died. My parents had a house in the market. There was also some land adjoining it. My father has been dead for the last fifteen years and my mother for the last five years. I gave the house and the land to my taus (fathers elder brothers) son. Main sochi ki thodi si zameen ke peeche kyon apna munh rishtedari mein kala karoon (I thought for such a small piece of land why I should dishonor myself among my relatives). Even if I had kept it they may have not let me live there, kam se kam biradari mein banae rakhoon (At least I should keep the good will of my relatives). Now that my relatives have the land, they dont care for us. And I dont have the land. We bought some land here and built this house. This land is in my husbands name. Some of the money was given by my father and some came from our own savings. It is not in my name. Janani ke naam pe zameen achhi na lage (It does not look good for a woman to have land in her name). Everyone said that land should not be in the name of a woman. Janani ke naam zameen na karni chahiye, aadmi ke naam badhiya rahegi (A woman should not have land in her name, it is best to have it in the mans name). I said alright; let it be in your name, I dont have any problem. [Issues of inheritance and ownership of land]

I have seven children, five daughters and two sons. My husband has been doing mitti ka kaam (work of earthen pots) since the very beginning. My father was a very poor man. He worked for a bania at his shop. We constructed a house on this land. Then this house collapsed because the level was low. So four years back we removed this house and got another one constructed. Then I got my elder son married; he is a karigar (skilled worker). He did the masonry work in this house. He works in Delhi. He cuts marble and installs it in houses. He learnt this work in Nandoi from some relatives who do this work. He cuts marble with his machine, he is an expert. He gets tenders for this work worth thirty to forty thousand rupees. He earns a lot of money. His family lives here. He visits us every ten days or so. My younger son studies here in the government school in class seven. Today a bhandara has been organized in the mandir and my elder bahu has gone to attend it. Her pihir (natal place) is near Seekhri in Rajasthan. She has two girls and two boys; she got an operation done after that. [Family planning]

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It is important to have a son, to look after the parents. [Son preference]I did not have my husbands permission; I couldnt look after my parents. My son does not do anything without my orders. He gets Rs.7000, sometimes Rs.10, 000 and gives it to me. How we keep his wife and children, he never asks. Our child is very good. He never takes hisab from us as to how we spent the money. I have five daughters. We married them off very well. We spent a lot of money on their marriages, gave good dowry. This way they got good matches. [Dowry]Two are married in Nandoi and three in a village in Bharatpur. My son does not give his wife money, he gives it to us. We in turn give it to the Bahu. My bahu is very good. She is not educated. She is very simple. She is not a member of any group. [Bahu] Her children study in a Government School. Later we can shift them to a private school. My daughters are all educated. They have all studied up to class eighth or ninth. [Betis]

People say that my mother must have left me money. Iskey paas haram ka paise aa gaya ha, paraayi maya aa gayi hai (She has got ill gotten money). [Issues of inheritance] I constructed this house and married my daughters well. They feel jealous of our prosperity. They dont realize it is because I am a member of the group. I have been a member since the past seven years. Akbari had come to persuade me to join the group. I refused once. I did not know what all this was about. Akbari said that it will benefit you, I became a member. At one time a number of women became members of the group, and then all of them left. Akbari and I got them together again. [Womens networks] I never left the group. I save hundred rupees every

month from the bartans or from what my son gives me. I did not tell my husband about it. I saved the money secretly. My husband got to know only recently when I withdrew money. He asked me where you have got this money from. I told him about the group. I withdrew ten thousand rupees, then again ten thousand and finally forty thousand rupees. I got a hand pump installed with the ten thousand I withdrew in the beginning. I got a Nipson pump installed. Now there is no shortage of water. Earlier there was lot of shortage. Nobody allows others to fill water from their tap. It doesnt look good to go around asking for water. The water supply doesnt reach here. The

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second time my son said that he wanted to start some business. He wanted a machine for cutting marble. He asked me to withdraw ten thousand rupees and said that he would arrange ten thousand rupees from some where else. He bought this machine for twenty thousand rupees. After this I withdrew forty thousand rupees. I spent twenty thousand on the marriage of my daughter and another twenty thousand I gave to my son. In addition we also spent ten thousand from our savings and my son bought a bigger machine for thirty thousand rupees for cutting marble. [Benefits: loan usage] My son was able to earn well and we could return the loan thousand in eight months. Mostly we return the loan along with interest in ten months, if someone is very poor in that case we allow a longer time for repayment. [SHG: repayment]

We are potters and make bartans (utensils). My in laws used to do this work. Sometimes the merchants come to our house and take away full loads of utensils. In one season starting in February and lasting till the winter season, we are able to earn up to forty thousand rupees. During chaumasa i.e. July to September, our works stops. In one season we are able to save forty thousand to fifty thousand rupees. We also stock about eighty mann of grains. We get this in exchange for the bartans. We

have a fixed bartan with a capacity of two kilos which we used for measurement. We make different type of bartans. The bartan that we use for measurement looks small from outside but in fact as has a bigger capacity. Twice a month the bartans are ready from the abha (furnace). Normally I go with my husband for the sale of the bartans. We hire a tempo; the bartans from one abha fill up one tempo. If my son is at home, he also helps out. In that case we are able to get one abha of bartans in eight days. One abha normally gives five hundred to six hundred bartans. If my son is not there to help, in that case it takes fifteen days to get one abha ready. One person cannot sell the bartans, there is so much of a crowd. There are chances of theft. We go to a number of villages like Banchari, Hodal, Bammni Khera, Siloti and Andhoop. We also go to some villages in U.P across the Yamuna. [Business]

This time when we went there, we got ninety mann of anaj which we sold in Kosi. We sold it for twenty two thousand rupees. This happened in Baishak, the time of

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anaj. At that time the sale of the bartans is also very good. The rent of one tempo is Rs. 1500-1800 one way till U.P. It takes two hours. We set up our wares by the road side in the village. We make an announcement in the mandir, so the women come and buy our bartans. They give anaj and take the bartans. Now our work will again start in September. Our bartans do not bake well in the rainy season. Often we load a donkey with utensils and take them for sale to Sultanpur. Today my husband took one donkey loaded with bartans to sell. He returned with thirty kilos of anaj. He also earned one hundred and thirty rupees. We stock anaj sufficient for one year and sell the rest. In winters we get bajra; we keep some and sell some. We charge the rate prevailing in the market. Earlier we operated the wheel manually. My husband worked at it. It used to take a lot of effort. Now we have a wheel which operates on electricity. We got it by withdrawing fourteen to fifteen thousand from the group. My son got it from Delhi. We have got it since the past one and half years. Now the work is simple. We simply press a button, there is a motor and the works goes on automatically. All this is because I have joined the group. Because of this my work has become easy. We are no longer dependent on any one. We do not feel helpless. We can withdraw money. Earlier we used to take money from the money lender. The interest rate used to be high: three to four rupees per hundred. Here the interest rate is cheaper, two rupees per hundred. We can return this money in monthly instalments. The money we take from the money lender has to be returned all in one go. There is no provision for instalments. [SHG membership: loan usage] Earlier I used to have one cow. Now I have three. [Expansion of material base] We consume the milk ourselves and also sell it if there is surplus. We need good quality soil and fuel wood for our work. We hire a tempo for getting the soil. All of us: my husband, daughter in law and son go for this purpose. We get the soil from the river. Earlier the

Government had allotted land for this purpose. Now that has been excavated. There is no soil left, only stones. The Panchayat has filled the land with water and leased it out for a fishery. Two acres of land also exist at block headquarter but that has been excavated till a great depth. It is under unauthorized occupation; cases are going on in the court. It is very difficult to get soil for our work. [Absence of facilities] We have to go to the river for it. We get the soil secretly. We fill our tempo with it. One

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chowkidar of the Irrigation Department remains on guard there.

We give him

hundred to two hundred rupees and he lets us fill a tractor, in one season we need five tractors of soil. We take labourers with us. They charge 80-100 rupees per day. It takes 3 hours to fill one tractor. We remove the soil on top and take good soil from underneath; we take the black soil and remove the pebbles. If the soil is not suitable the bartans do not turn out well. They have to be thrown away. We get the fuel from the village. We also use the cow dung cakes which are available at home. Some times we purchase a bitora, one foot costs 100-125 rupees. The cost of one works out to 700-800 rupees. We also use wood which we obtain from the saw mill. We make bartans which are used daily in the house hold. My husband daughter-in-law and I are all involved in this work. The work related to the animals and all the house hold work is done by my daughter-in-law and by me [Roles and responsibilities]. We constructed this house by taking a loan from Group. We spent 35000 rupees on earth filling to raise the level of the house. My son supervised all the work. We spent two and a half lakhs on the construction of the house. We constructed six rooms. My son has gone to collect his sisters for Teej. cosmetics as presents. He has taken rice, boora, clothes and

Group meetings are held four times in a month. I attend all of them. We have hired one girl who does the work of book writer. I tried to learn how to sign but I could not learn. I cannot understand these things.[Literacy] I can calculate mentally. I

remember all the accounts relating to my instalment. I remember every thing. I do not make any mistake in this. My elder son in law is a halwai and other one has a kiryana shop and other one runs a general purpose store. The one in Nandoi runs a photostat machine and the youngest is studying in class XII. His father does stone cutting work. All my daughters are married. They are well settled. They do not even step out of the house. They are very good. I trained my daughters in tailoring, aachar and papad making etc. [Betis]

Whenever elections are due, a lot of candidates come and asked for votes. But we vote according to our own wish. Normally a decision is taken in the house; I take the

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decision. I keep an eye on every thing that is going on, and on every one. So I know the truth about every one. In five years we can assess the performance of a person, what work he has done. What kind of a person he is, we vote accordingly. One should not invite ill-will in the locality. It is best to be tactful. My son and husband listen to me. [Polity] I have gone to some government offices; we went to BDO office and got the street repaired and the drains cleaned. I have also participated in the pulse polio campaign. We learnt that the Government Hospital was not treating the women properly. All of us went to the Hospital and demanded that the doctor should give the medicines properly. We also staged a dharna and compelled the sarpanch to construct the boundary wall of the cremation ground and the kabristan. We have been to the sarpanch two to four times. Now he knows that if he does not listen to us, we will not take it lightly. We will make his life hell. So he listens to us. We also staged a dharna demanding a water tap in the colony. [Community work]

We went for meetings to Alwar, Kurukshetra, Bharatpur etc. We saw all kinds of crops. I can tell other people about it now. We also went to Pragati Maidan. I had not been any where earlier. I could go because of the group. [Mobility/training] My daughter in law looks after the household work when I am not there. My husband does most of the purchasing for the house. My son also gets rations for the house in bulk for six months at a time. I also make small purchases like vegetables, oil etc. [Relational]

We ensure that every member makes the repayment of the loan. In times of need we help out those women who are genuinely needy. But if somebody defaults willfully we do not let the matter go. We get after that person. We have even imposed penalties. If we let people go without repayment how we will our work go on. [SHG: womens networks]

Some of the mullahs object to our work. But now they also exhausted themselves. Earlier they would say what these women are up to. They levelled all kinds of allegations them. [Perceptual/Backlash]

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I have not thought of contesting the elections of a panch.

I may be something

because of the group but I am very low in the hierarchy of the basti. There are bigger people like banias, punjabis etc. Yes, if the group decides to have me as a candidate, it would mean something. If every one passes a resolution then it would be of use to contest. Otherwise it would be a waste. Elections to member and sarpanch of panchayats merely invite enmity and ill-will. [Polity]

NGO Worker:

The maulvies launched a propaganda that we are going against Islam by charging interest on the loans, thats why we started calling the interest sewa fees. It is distributed amongst the women themselves. In any case, earlier loans used to be available at five rupees per hundred and jewellery or land had to be given as security. The maulvies have vested interests. If women become member of groups, their children will start going to school. Their madarsas will close down. [Backlash] Earlier one could not see even a single girl going to school in Mewat. It was said that if a girl goes to school she will become behaya (shameless). Besides she has to be married off, what is the use of spending money on her education. It was difficult to get even five women out of their houses. Now at one time, we can have a gathering of fifty thousand women. We take care that the group is homogenous. If a powerful person becomes a member she may take away all the benefits. Earlier nobody could get bank loan without a middleman. Half the loan would be eaten up because of the corruption. Today the bankers treat the women with respect and give them loans. Now no one can even dare to ask for a cup of tea or a beedi. [SHG: Benefits]

4.3.10. Personal Narrative of Respondent 10: Shanu, Member Self Help Group, August, 2005; a village in District Mewat, Haryana

My name is Shanu. I am from Pingangwa village, block Punhana. I am the President of the Federation. [SHG: federation]

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We lived in village Mewat Ali, near Hodal. My husband was a dacoit. When he was younger, he started with small thefts and when not stopped, he became a big dacoit. He committed dacoities in big cities on rich people. I tried to persuade him to stop these activities. But he didnt listen to me. [Relational: familial] Gradually the villagers of Ali Mew started levelling allegations against him, and started threatening him, so he left everything and came here to Pinangwa. We bought a plot here; I kept telling him to stop his dacoities, so after coming here, for one year, he listened to me and did not go anywhere. He read the Namaz and took Allah Paks name. We had sold the land in Ali Mev; we got this plot for 70,000 rupees. My husband had twentyseven cases against him. One day, two men from his gang came and said, Ali Sher, the thanedar has captured one hundred fifty cows. Come with us and get them released. My husband said, I cannot come as there is a festival coming and I have to get things for the children. The two men persuaded him to come with them.

Ultimately Ali Sher agreed. He went away. That was the last time I saw him alive. Those men took him to the mountains. There they shot him, emptied seventy bullets into him. They broke all his bones with lathis. My husbands time had come. My hearts still shivers when I think of it. I cannot tell all this. A phone call came in the chowki here, that Ali Sher is dead. The news spread all across Mewat. Every one said that Shanu is expecting a child, if she hears this news she will die. That day I was sitting outside. I was very tense. It was my husbands orders that I was never to step outside the house. I stayed inside the house in purdah. But that day I was very restless. Then one relative came and started sobbing loudly. He said Ali Sher has been wounded. Then the police came. A lot of people came. In the afternoon they brought his dead body. I saw his feet hanging outside the vehicle. I became

unconscious. I do not know what happened after that. I went mad. I lost my senses.

My husband was a fearless man. Once he was escaping from the police and reached my sister in laws house. The police had also followed him there. He said, do not trouble any one else, I am the man you want, you arrest me. I used to go to Palwal Jail to meet him, once every two months. Once, his Amma and my small brother in

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law went to meet him. The Hawaldar did not let them talk to him. At the next date of hearing, with his handcuffed hands, Ali Sher broke the Hawaldars head. When the news reached me I got angry. The twenty four months sentence was nearing an end. And now he had done this. I said I will not go and meet him. But after two or four days I swallowed my anger and went to meet him. After all, he was my husband.

Looking at me, he started laughing. I was sobbing continuously.

Today my mother in law and brother in law are dead. I only have this plot, and nothing else. When my husband was alive, they used to call us big seths. After his death, I did not have anything to eat. Four months after his death, I came to my senses. I had absolutely nothing. There was nothing to eat for the children. I asked one woman where she was going. She said she worked in a nursery. I asked her to find me work there. She said I will introduce you to the officers there. I went with her to the nursery. I did not have the guts to say anything. I was weeping silently. Then mustering up my courage some how, I said babuji, please give me some work. That officer said, alright you work in this nursery. For seven or eight years I worked there. In the morning I used to cook for the children, sometimes there used to be vegetables to eat, sometimes not. Then I would come back in the evening and do the household work. First I used to get a daily wage of thirty two rupees, and then it was increased to eighty three rupees. Somehow I managed to earn enough to bring up my children. Working hard gave me strength. When a person works and earns money, he becomes strong. Then one day Islam, Sant Lal and Sahil came. They told me about the group. I said you all are loafers. I scolded them and told them to get lost. They did not give up and tried to convince me to form a group. They told me the benefits of the group. [SHG formation: role of NGO] I had begun to think. May be there is some benefit in this scheme. So I said yes. I used to come home for lunch for one hour. I would meet two or three people and try and make them understand about the group. They told me you are talking absolutely nonsense. We will not form any group. If we have any money to save, we will put in our box. But I went on making the effort. Gradually I managed to get twelve women with me. Then suddenly they said we do not trust her. Yeh to saali raand sai, bhukhi mar rahi sai, yo to bhaj jayegi

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paise lekar. (She is a widow, she is dying of hunger. She will run away with our money.) I told them I am not a woman who will run away. But if I do, you can take my plot, and sell it and get your 10-20 rupees back. We worked as a group for one year and started making small loans to each other. I withdrew one thousand rupees for my household expenditure and food items. Then one day I fell ill. The group held a meeting. The members said that the poor woman is ill, she has small children, so they withdrew three thousand rupees and gave it to my children and said, get your ammi treated in a hospital. [SHG members; womens networks] I got my treatment and became alright. My children and I repaid the money by our hard work. I thought that I should leave the nursery. I cannot do so much hard work now. [SHG: Benefits] I will get a rehri for my children. So I withdrew ten thousand rupees. With four thousand rupees I got a rehri and stocked it with fruit. We managed to earn enough for the household expenditure and also to repay the loan. My son became more confident and said Ammi I do not want to continue with this work, I want to start something new. So we started selling plastic plates, and soap for washing clothes. We got soap for thirteen rupees per kilo and sold it for eighteen twenty rupees per kilo. Then one day some one came to sell a beejna (hand fan) for ten rupees. I studied the fan carefully. I said this is chatai. I did a postmortem of the fan. I decided that we will make these beejnas. My son and I went to Delhi and got the raw material worth twenty to twenty five thousand. We started doing this work and a number of women in the groups also started this work. Now a market has been created in this village. We get orders on the phone from Bharatpur, Ajmer, Chandigarh, Mathura and Delhi, that we want so many fans. [Business]If we do not have enough stock, we supply them from the members of other SHGs. [Womens networks] It costs us four rupees to make one beejna. We sell one beejna for five rupees. If we sell one thousand pieces, we save a thousand rupees. Another advantage is that we work from home. We do not have to work for some one else. That headache is not there. [Benefits] My children and daughters in law all do this work. Sometimes we work till one in the night. Today I put every one to work since early morning. There are a lot of orders which are pending. [Burdens: workload] For this work we need fine wire, this cost forty rupees per kg. One length of bamboo stick costs five rupees. Twelve handles

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can be cut out of this. The chatai can be bought from Pinaguwa at eleven rupees per foot. But if my children work hard and go village to village on cycle, they may get the chatai at seven or eight rupees per foot. Even if we manage to get a thousand feet, there is lot of saving for us. But this is work which entails a lot of work. We buy the cloth from Delhi. It is rejected stock. We get it at fifteen to twenty per kilo from Okhla. Now that my children have grown up, my son goes and gets the raw material. Earlier I would go; my children did not know anything. Now I have got my children educated and taught them this work. During the season there is so much work, there is no time for anything else. The season starts in February-March. This year, in three months I earned twenty thousand rupees profit. This was the saving after deducting the expenses. There was a gap of one month, my house collapsed in the rains. Today we started the work again and will go on till mid September. In winters, we switch over to making covers for mattresses and pillows. We receive orders on the phone. We do not have to work for any one else. We can work in our own house. We have our self respect. [Cognitive]God willing, we have been able to do all this because of the group. Earlier who used to care for us? If I said I want to borrow ten thousand rupees, people would say she is a widow, how will she return this money. They would ask a hundred questions. Today there is no such hassle. We conduct a group meeting and withdraw the money. If the bankers delay it even for one hour, we ask them why you are taking so long. They withdraw the money at once. [Material; benefits]

The electric supply was bad. Because of power cuts, mosquitoes would eat us the whole night long. We could not sleep. Then all of us in the SHG decided to sit on a dharna. I said, come sisters let us stage a dharna in front of the JEs office. We did not let the JE come out of his room. We said you sleep under the fan; we cannot sleep because of the heat. Arent you ashamed of yourself? Why dont you give proper supply of light? Now maybe the light goes for ten minutes but not for a longer period. The JE did our work but only after we made him feel ashamed. By joining the group and attending all kinds of meetings in different places we have learnt how to get our

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work done. Our strength has increased. We know how to make our voice heard. [Community work]

Initially, I took a loan of one thousand rupees which I spent on food. After this, rupees three thousand were spent on my illness. Next I borrow ten thousand rupees which I spent on a rehri for vegetables, soap, plates etc. After this, I borrowed twenty five thousand for starting work on the beejnas. Then my house collapsed in the rains and I took a loan of twenty five thousand for building it again. I also used an additional twenty five thousand that I had saved from my business for constructing the house. I built two rooms and a verandah with a tin roof. Now my children can sleep in these. Earlier we were open to rain and the sun as the rooms were not good. Now this house is pucca. I used my old bricks. I also purchased twelve thousand new bricks. I hired two mistries and paid them one hundred and sixty rupees per day each for one month. The other labour was contributed by all of us. [Material base; benefits; loan usage]

When there was an earthquake in Gujarat, we went from village to village and got contributions to send to affected persons. If the village street needs repairing, we collect money from each SHG and repair it. Recently, we repaired a street in this way. We got twenty rupees from each group member. Some women contributed by way of material. [Community work]

One member of another group borrowed ten thousand rupees and did not return it for one and a half years. The woman was asked to return the money, she said that her husband had taken all the money and when she asked him for it, he would fight with her. One day, we went to her house and told her husband to return the money; he said I am not in a mood to do so, you do what you please. We said this is not the Governments money that you can eat it up. This is our money; it belongs to all the women. You will have to return it. He refused flatly and said you do what you please. I held a meeting of all the group members and told them about the situation. We held a dharna in his house. No body ate any thing, not even tea to drink. The

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family went away from their house, they left every thing. We called the milk man and sold their cow for ten thousand rupees and the buggy for five thousand rupees and in this way we recovered our money. When that man came to know that we had sold all their things, he came and fell at our feet. We called the milk man and told him to give back the cow and the buggy. The man returned five thousand rupees to us

immediately. He promised to give the other five thousand rupees after fifteen days positively. I said if you do not return this money within fifteen days we will not leave a single hair in your beard. One member of another SHG had taken a loan but her husband had given it to some one else as a loan. Some of the members of that group came to me and requested me to come with them. They said we know that he has money with him but is not returning our loan. We met that man on the road. I said why you are not repaying your loan. I will not allow you to keep this money. Dont think that Shanu has only one Vikas group. All the groups belong to Shanu. I have to look after all the groups. He put his hand in the pocket and took out notes of money and challenged us, I have money, I will see who can take it from me. We felt angry and insulted. We were members of four to five SHGs, we blocked the road. There was a traffic jam. Four-five women caught hold of him. I took the money from him. Then I held up the money for every one to see. There were seven thousand rupees. He said I will report to the police that we had looted twenty thousand rupees. I said even if you say you had fifty thousand rupees, nothing is going to happen. We can confront the police also. He was not going to report; he was just making tall claims to impress people. We came back with our seven thousand rupees. Now only three thousand rupees were left with him. The mans wife came to my house and said

Shanu please do not shame me more. You come to my house; I will return the rest of the money. I said if you had returned the money initially, and if you and your husband had not misbehaved with us, we would not have done this. We do not waive off the interest, else how will we work? That woman is still a member of the group. She runs a rehri by the road side. We have told her that if you will leave the group, we will refer your case to audit. If every one runs off what will be the value of the group? We are like this only with those who misbehave with us. It is important to teach one or two persons a lesson otherwise the others will also stop paying. Another

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woman left this village and went away to her native village. She had taken a loan of ten thousand rupees from the SHG. We told her son and daughter in law to return the money, they said our mother had withdrawn the money, you ask her about repayment. I explained that she is your mother, it is a matter of honour of the family but they still refused to pay up. We raised six hundred rupees and hired a vehicle. We went to that womans house. I asked her about the money. She said isnt my son repaying the loan; he has taken money from her only day before yesterday for this purpose. I told her that her son wasnt repaying anything. She was lying to us. We told her, come straight to the point and tell us whether you intend to repay the money or not. She started fighting with us. I told her are you going to repay the money or should I take the vehicle to the police thana? She said I am folding my hands, Shanu. Please stop this. She said that on the first of next month she would bring the money herself. I said if you do not come, I will bring another vehicle of women and also book the expenditure on your account. Dont think that anything is going from my pocket. I will wait till the fifth. On the first of the next month she returned half the money and the rest of the amount she returned in instalments. There is no problem in

accommodating some one like that. If we are too harsh the group will break down. When she gave half the amount at least it showed her intention to return the money. But she returned the money only after we have made her feel ashamed. My women are no less than a team of policemen. [SHG: womens networks; repayment]

I bought the plot next door also. It has two rooms. I used four thousand rupees that I had taken from the group for installing a hand pump. The pipe is 4 wide and it has a cylinder. So the water supply is constant. I have a tap that is connected to the water supply also. I have constructed a latrine and a separate bathroom. There is a small room for storing grain and a hut where fuel wood and uplas are kept. [Expansion in material base] My two elder sons have studied in an Islami Madarsa. The younger one is studying in the Government School. I have planted a number of trees, like Anar, Shehtoot, Jamun and Neem. I know about trees because I have worked in the nursery. I do not have a cow, who will look after her? We buy milk from the market. My daughters in laws are not educated. But they are very good. One of my daughters

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in law is also a member of this group. My daughters in law learnt tailoring at a training centre; twenty-five women were trained. My daughters in law receive orders for stitching clothes; they also stitch for every one in the house. They stitch one suit for fifty rupees and receive orders for fifteen to twenty suits in one month. When there is some festival like Id they receive so many orders that they are not able to complete them. Both my daughter in laws do this work. They also work on the beejnas and cut out the cloth decorations. [Daughters in law] Sometimes, we worked till eleven or twelve in the night. [Workload] But we work for ourselves; there is no headache because we do not have to work for any one else. [Business/cognitive]

When elections approach, the leaders bow low to please us. These netas troubled us for five years, now we make them grind the dust. They come and request us for votes. We say today you need us, what about the day when we requested you to make our street pucca. After fifteen minutes some other leader comes with the same request. Both devrani and jethani contested the election for the Panchayat and both were members of the group. They were both contesting elections from the same ward. They fought like any thing. They accused each other of taking away their votes. They did not let us rest in peace during the day or sleep at night. Eventually the jethani won and devrani lost the election. People told me why you dont contest the election. You will surely win. But I have too much work to do. I do not have the time for this. [Politics]

M.D.A ran a tailoring centre here. I was appointed as a helper. In the beginning I use to earn one thousand rupees, then thirteen hundred rupees and in the end eighteen hundred rupees. The centre was run in my house, the teacher used to come to my house. These days I am working as an assistant the centre which teaches aachar, papad making etc. The instructor comes from Alwar, she has a diploma in food processing. First they said that we will employ only someone who is twelfth pass but later they took me as a helper. This course has been going on for three months and I get one thousand rupees per month. The trainees are taught how to make chips, papad etc. These things sell very well out side schools. I will be getting two thousand five

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hundred rupees every month. [Training] We buy vegetables from shops run by SHGs. The other provisions like flour, oil, salt etc. are also brought from these shops. This way they are able to earn ten or twenty rupees extra. . I have gone to a number of places with the group; I saw the working of self help groups at these places. In Hathras I saw a group which makes disposable utensils and supplies them to the towns. I also wanted to start this work, the material comes from Gaziabad, and but we decided against this work because it was the season for beejnas. In Ajmer we saw a group which made parts of big machines, each woman earned up to two thousand rupees per month. Those women have created their own market in that area. We gained a lot of strength looking at these groups. In Kurukshetra, we saw a group which did embroidery work, they sell one bed sheet for four thousand rupees. I could not go to Hyderabad because of my work. Those women who went there are full of enthusiasm; they saw big restaurants and huge shops being run by SHGs. The Commissioner had a meeting, he asked about our work. He was very happy and announced an award of twenty five thousand. I said that this award should go to the group, it is not for me. All in all, six lakh rupees were distributed as prize money to the different SHGs. I deposited the twenty five thousand rupees I got in the group account; we can use it for any purpose, for a loan or for buying chairs and tables for the group meetings. [SHG- womens networks] One group came from Italy, they were very happy to see the working of our groups.

Earlier I used to do all household works myself. Now my daughters in laws do not allow me to do any work in the house, they do all the work. My daughters in laws are very good. [Bahus]

Five years ago, if a survey was conducted and a question was asked as to who is the head of the family, then a widow would name her son even if he was a child of ten years. But if a survey is conducted today fifteen percent of the women will say that despite having a husband their names should written as head of the family as she is the one who runs the house hold, who does the buying and selling, runs the business,

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has all the responsibility and is thus the head of the family. This change has taken place because of the group. [Relational: familial; roles and responsibilities]

This plot is in my name. So is the adjoining one I bought. Why should they be it in my childrens name? They may kill me; throw me out, who can say? Both the plots are in my name. [Issues of land] Earlier I did not know how to affix my thumb. When I first started going to the bank, the banker would catch hold of my hand and tell me where to put my thumb mark. Then we had a girl to teach us how to read and write. There are too many hassles; I cant concentrate. But I learnt how to sign. When I went to the bank, the Manager said, affix your thumb here. I said why? Dont tell me where to put my thumb impression, tell me where I have to sign. The Manager said you have become very big. I said why not; give me a chair to sit. All the women have learnt how to sign. Only a few who are too old still affix their thumb impression. But there is a change in them also. Now they tell the Manager dont hold our hand and make us affix the thumb impression. We will do it ourselves. [Cognitive: power within] We have employed a book writer to write the accounts of our group. We employ any woman of our groups who is educated. In Pinangwa, we have fifteen self-help groups. There is one book writer who takes hundred per month from every group.

I have worked in the Child Development centre where we tried to get children of group members admitted to school. The children were given uniforms, shoes, books, biscuits etc. One teacher was kept at the salary of 3500 rupees and a helper at 1500 rupees per month. We did checking to ensure that the children actually received all the things meant for them. We did not let any one else pocket these things. [Community work]

We hold a group meeting four times in a month. We hold the meeting by rotation in the houses of the members. [SHG: procedures] If there is any domestic problem we try to solve it. A woman of our group fought with her son and her daughter in law. She went and lodged a report in the police station. The police came to the old

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womans house and said that it will take the son to the police station. When we got to know about this, we reached the spot. I knew the game plan of the police: the boy would have been taken to the police station and the police would have pocketed at least a thousand rupees. I confronted the police and told them that we will sort out this matter as it is a dispute among family members. You dont interfere in this matter. We sent the police back and got the matter settled amicably. The whole family still remembers what our group did for them. They say we saved them from the police. The police would have harassed them and eaten their money. [Community work]

I know that a girl below 18 years cannot be married. I try and tell every one not to give things in dowry. Some people go to the extent of selling their land their house and their animals on this account. I tell them just give ten to twenty utensils, maybe a cycle, call ten or twenty relatives and get the girl married. I try and tell every one this. [Dowry] Both my daughter in laws are over 18 years of age. My elder daughter in law has a one son and the younger one has two sons. I wanted to have a grand daughter. I want my sons to have only two or three children. This was our ignorance that I had so many children, one every year for seven years. I have told my daughter in law. I tell others also. Log kahte hain ki gunah padta hai (People say it incurs sin). But I say there is no shame or sin a copper T. It can be put for five years and then removed after that. [Family planning]

There was an old woman in the village who had been shunned by her family because she had T.B. I took her to the government hospital and got her treatment started under the dots scheme. Now she is receiving regular medication in the hospital. She is getting costly medicines free. They do not give medicines for having at home, the patient has to go to the hospital and have the medicines. One special box is kept for each patient. Earlier people use to take the medicines home and then to forget to eat them. The women have a lot of misgivings about immunization. But now things are changing. I have participated in the pulse polio campaigning. I have tried to ensure that every child is given polio drops. Even though I receive no money for it, this is

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community work and we should all help out. I have tried to educate women on immunization of the children. I have taken them myself to the dispensary for DPT and other shots. I have full information about these things. I also take pregnant women to hospital for three injections. If there is any complication at the time of delivery, we rush the woman to the Government hospital. [Health; community work; womens networks]

Now the children do not loiter here and there. They are busy with the work. Now there is no complaint in this area that a man is drinking liquor. Normally that is the case in most places. Here we are not find any one playing cards or indulging in satta. Most of the people in this village are landless. They have come settled here after coming from different villages. Both the men and children are busy with the work created as a result of the group. [Material; community]

A lot of women complain that their name has not been included in the below poverty line survey. The rich have managed to get their names included. If the ration card is yellow in colour, one can get food grains and the benefit of other government schemes. The survey was conducted by the ADC office. We said that the names of poor women of SHGs should be included in the survey. We waited in the village for the survey team to come, but it did not. Later we got to know that they had made a nice list sitting at the houses of some of the panchayat members. This list wasnt not got passed in the gram sabha. The system is rotten. [Community work; absence of facilities]

I buy the ration and do all the purchases for the house. I do not have separate saving account. I normally buy some jewellery with whatever savings I have. However, my son has a saving account which I opened for him. [Material]

This is my shop; I have taken it on a rent of four hundred rupees per month. We have two umbrella machines. Each machine costs thirty two hundred rupees. In addition, we have installed a motor which costs five hundred rupees. This way the machine can

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work on electricity. It is faster than pedalling by foot. My sons work here. [Material] We also place orders in the village; we have given raw material at eight places for the preparation of finished goods. I have placed the orders with poor women of SHGs who need employment. I have got this STD machine from MDA. It costs seventeen thousand rupees, eleven thousand is the cost of the instrument and five thousand is the security amount. This amount has been paid by MDA. The security has been

deposited in the telephone office; I will get a connection this week. The money has been paid by MDA. I will return the money at the rate of one thousand per month. It will become a part of our corpus fund. Now when people ring us up to place orders, we feel handicapped because we do not have a phone of our own. By having this facility we will get orders directly, thus enabling us to prepare the finished goods on time. Now I will be able to talk directly to those to place orders by phone. I can also earn an income when others use this machine. [Material base: market access]

The cost price of preparing one pillow cover works out to rupees ten. We sell it for fifteen or sixteen rupees. One mattress cover costs us twenty rupees and we sell it for thirty, forty or fifty rupees depending on the quality. This way, for one cover we manage to save ten to twenty rupees. In one day we manage to make fifteen covers. There is a lot of saving in this work. Throughout the winter season, we do this work. In three to four months we save rupees fifteen thousand. This work has lesser market compared to the beajnas. During this season, my son also sets up his rehri where he sells eggs, omelets etc. During the day he works on the covers, in the evening, he sets up the rehri. There is enough income from the rehri to run the household expenditure. [Business]

I tell my children even if I die, do not break away from the group. I tell my daughter in laws if you remain a member of the group, you need not ask anybody for help. You will not feel helpless. You will not even need to ask for help from your husband. [Cognitive: power within]

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