Development and rural women in South Asia: The limits of empowerment and conscientization

Critical Asian Studies

Volumn 29, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 45-53

  Rozario, Santi ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING REGION; DEVELOPMENT PROCESS; GENDER ISSUES; RURAL WOMEN; WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT;

ASIA, (SOUTH);

EID: 0031350111     PISSN: 14672715     EISSN: 14726033     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14672715.1997.10413083     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Momsen, Janet Henshall. 1991. Women and Development in the Third World, 2–2. London and New York: Routledge.
2. A key text in this development is Boserup's Ester, Women's Role in Economic Development George Allen and Unwin London 1970
3. 1989. Global Survey of the Role of Women in Development, 5–5. New York: United Nations.
4. Jahan, Ronnaq. 1995. Mainstreaming Women in Development: The Elusive Agenda, 2–2. London: Zed Books.
5. Women, the Environment and Sustainable Development: Towards a Theoretical Synthesis et al. Zed Books London 1994
6. Cain, M., Khanam, S. R., and Nahar, S., 1979. Class, Patriarchy and Women's Work in Bangladesh. Population and Development Review, 5: 405–438.
7. Chowdhury, Aditee Nag. 1990. Let Grassroots Speak: People's Participation, Self-Help Groups and NGOs in Bangladesh, Dhaka: University Press.
8. Harcourt, Wendy, ed. 1995. Feminist Perspectives on Sustainable Development, London: Zed Books.
9. Jahan, Rounaq. 1995. The Elusive Agenda: Mainstreaming Women in Development, London: Zed Books.
10. Jahan, Rounaq, and Papanek, Hanna, eds. 1979. Women and Development:Perspectives from South and Southeast Asia, Dhaka: Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs.
11. Kabeer, Naila. 1988. Subordination and Struggle: Women in Bangladesh. New Left Review, 168: 95–121.
12. Kabeer, Naila. 1995. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, New Delhi: Kali for Women.
13. Ram, Kalpana. 1991. Mukkuvar Women: Gender, Hegemony, and Capitalist Transformation in a South Indian Fishing Community, Sydney: Allen and Unwin; London: Zed Press.
14. Risseeuw, Carla. 1988. The Fish Don't Talk about the Water: Gender Transformation, Power and Resistance among Women in Sri Lanka, Leiden, New York: E.J. Brill.
15. Rogers, Barbara. 1980. Domestication of Women: Discrimination in Developing Societies, London: Tavistock.
16. Rozario, Santi. 1992. Purity and Communal Boundaries: Women and Social Change in a Bangladeshi Village, London: Zed Books; Sydney; Allen and Unwin.
17. Westergaard, K., 1983. Pauperization and Rural Women in Bangladesh:A Case Study, Comilla, Bangladesh: BARD.
18. White, Sarah. 1992. Arguing with the Crocodile: Gender and Class in Bangladesh, Dhaka: University Press Ltd.
19. Solomon, Barbara. 1976. Black Empowerment: Social Work in Oppressed Communities, New York: Columbia University Press.
20. Black Empowerment: Social Work in Oppressed Communities, 12–12.
21. Black Empowerment: Social Work in Oppressed Communities, 19–19.
22. Black Empowerment: Social Work in Oppressed Communities.
23. Black Empowerment: Social Work in Oppressed Communities, 21–21.
24. Rahnema, Majid. 1995. “ Participation ”. In The Development Dictionary, Edited by: Sachs, Wolfgang. 122–122. Johannesburg, London: Zed Books. in
25. The Development Dictionary, 123–123.
26. Bystydzienski, Jill M., 1992. Women Transforming Politics: Worldwide Strategies for Empowerment, 3–3. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
27. Women Transforming Politics: Worldwide Strategies for Empowerment, 3–4.
28. Shor, Ira, and Freire, Paulo. 1987. A Pedagogy for Liberation, 108–109. New York: Bergin and Garvey. Emphasis in original
29. Davis, Rex. 1980. “ Education for Awareness: A Talk with Paulo Freire ”. In Literacy and Revolution: The Pedagogy of Paulo Freire, Edited by: Mackie, Robert. 57–57. London: Pluto Press. in
30. Freire, Paulo. 1985. The Politics of Education: Culture, Power, and Liberation, Edited by: McLaren, Peter, and Leonard, Peter. 169–169. South Hadley, Mass.: Bergin and Garvey. Freire, consistent with this position, showed a notable willingness to modify and transform his views in response to the ongoing social and political struggle. His willingness to engage positively with feminist critiques of his early work is a case in point. See, Paulo Freire: A Critical Encounter (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), Kathleen Weiler, “Freire and a Feminist Pedagogy of Difference,” in Politics of Liberation: Paths from Freire, ed. Peter McLaren and Colin Lankshear (London and New York: Routledge, 1994); Jeanne Brady, “Critical Literacy, Feminism, and a Politics of Representation,” in McLaren and Lankshear, Politics of Liberation
31. Shor, Ira. Education Is Politics: Paulo Freire's Critical Pedagogy. Paulo Freire, 28–28. in McLaren and Leonard
32. Sen, Gita, and Grown, Caren. 1987. Development, Crises and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives, 89–89. London: Earthscan. for Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), ff. Sen and Grown do not mention Freire directly in this document, however
33. On the situation of women, in particular, see Rozario Santi, Purity and Communal Boundaries: Women and Social Change in a Bangladeshi Village Allen and Unwin London, Sydney 1992 Sarah C. White, Arguing with the Crocodile: Gender and Class in Bangladesh (Dhaka: University Press, 1992); and K. Westergaard, Pauperization and Rural Women in Bangladesh: A Case Study (Comilla, Bangladesh: BARD, 1983)
34. Mizan, Ainon Nahar. 1994. In Quest of Empowerment: The Grameen Bank's Impact on Women's Power and Status, Dhaka: University Press. Susan Holcombe, Managing to Empower: The Grameen Bank's Experience of Poverty Alleviation, London: Zed Books, 1995
35. Marshall, Ken. 1989. “ Bankers in Bangladesh: Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due ”. In The Barefoot Book: Economically Appropriate Services for the Rural Poor, Edited by: Carr, Marilyn. 39–39. London: Intermediate Technology Publications. in
36. The Barefoot Book: Economically Appropriate Services for the Rural Poor
37. Mizan. In Quest of Empowerment, 18–18.
38. Hashmi, Taj I., NGOs, Grameen Bank and Empowerment of Rural Women in Bangladesh. Bangladesh: Democracy and Development. March, Melbourne, Australia. pp. 4–4. paper presented at the, Conference
39. Holcombe. Managing to Empower.
40. Managing to Empower, See also Mizan, In Quest of Empowerment, Pieter Streefland, et al., Different Ways to Support the Rural Poor: Effects of Two Development Approaches in Bangladesh (Dhaka: Centre for Social Studies, Dhaka University, 1986); Pieter Streefland et al., “Credit and Conscien-tization: Effects of Different Development Approaches in Bangladesh,” Public Administration and Development 13 (1993): 153-169
41. Kabeer. Reversed Realities, 248–248.
42. Reversed Realities, 257–257.
43. Chowdhury, Aditee Nag. 1990. Let Grassroots Speak: People's Participation, Self-Help Groups and NGOs in Bangladesh, 20–20. Dhaka: University Press.
44. Chowdhury. 1991. Let Grassroots Speak, Edited by: Neelsen, John. New Delhi: Manohar. Michael Nebelung, “Obstacles to Social Mobilisation in Rural Bangladesh: Social and Economic Mobility of Landless Peasants through NGO Interventions,” in Gender, Caste and Power in South Asia: Social Status and Mobility in a Transitional Society, Bosse Kramsjo and Geoffrey D. Wood's recent study of Proshika may be worth consulting, but its uncritical approach limits its usefulness: Breaking the Chains: Collective Action for Social Justice among the Rural Poor of Bangladesh (Dhaka: University Press, 1992)
45. Rao, Aruna, and Kelleher, David. 1995. Engendering Organizational Change: The BRAC Case. IDS Bulletin, 26 (3): 69–69.
46. IDS Bulletin, 26
47. Chowdhury. Let Grassroots Speak, 67–67.
48. Let Grassroots Speak, 68–68.
49. Let Grassroots Speak, 71–71.
50. Let Grassroots Speak, 112–112.
51. Kramsjo and Wood. Breaking the Chains, 29–30.
52. Chowdhury. Let Grassroots Speak, 173–173.
53. Let Grassroots Speak.
54. The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), and Women's Development Programme (Rajasthan) in India, as well as Saptagram in Bangladesh (an NGO managed entirely by women at every level), all take an active role on these women's issues (see Kabeer, Reversed Realities
55. Kramsjo and Wood. Breaking the Chains, Popular theatre (jatra) is not new in Bangladesh, but its use as a tool to deal with social injustice is quite new
56. Chowdhury. Let Grassroots Speak, 203–203.
57. Rozario. Purity and Communal Boundaries.
58. White. Arguing with the Crocodile, 25–25.
59. Kabeer. Reversed Realities, 229–229.
60. Chen, Martha. 1983. A Quiet Revolution: Women in Transition in Rural Bangladesh, Cambridge: Schenkman Publishing.
61. A Quiet Revolution: Women in Transition in Rural Bangladesh 195–204.
62. Westergaard, K., 1996. People's Empowerment in Bangladesh: NGO Strategies. Journal of Social Studies (Dhaka), April
63. Chowdhury. Let Grassroots Speak, 109–109.
64. Nebulung. Obstacles to Social Mobilisation in Rural Bangladesh, 276–276.
65. Hashmi. NGOs, Grameen Bank and Empowerment of Rural Women in Bangladesh. Pauperization, 15–15. Westergaard, In earlier research in a Bangladeshi village that had access to loans from the Bangladesh Rural Development Bank, I observed that most loans taken out by women were used by their husbands. Indeed the husbands were getting their wives to take the loans. Often these husbands would interfere directly in the loan distribution process. (See Rozario, Purity and Communal Boundaries). One can imagine some of these problems to be characteristic of the credit given by the NGOs too, despite their efforts to target poor women
66. Westergaard. People's Empowerment in Bangladesh.
67. http://www.foundation.novartis.com/un-derdev.html Novartis Foundation (formerly Ciba-Geigy Foundation for Cooperation with Developing Countries), “The Political Economy of Rural Underdevelopment, 1997
68. Hours, Bernard, and Huq, S. M. Imamul. 1995. Islam and Development in Bangladesh, 131–131. Dhaka: Centre for Social Studies. trans
69. Chowdhury. Let Grassroots Speak, 109–110.
70. Sobhan, Rehman. 1990. “ The Nature and Scope of a Self-Reliant Development Strategy for Bangladesh ”. In Bangladesh Faces the Future, Edited by: Norbye, Ole David Koht. 244–244. Dhaka: University Press. in
71. Hours. Islam and Development, 125–125.
72. http://nlu. nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/FreireIssues.html Tom Heaney, “Issues in Freirean Pedagogy”, 20 June 1995
73. Braidotti R., Alternative Development Women, the Environment and Sustainable Development: Towards a Theoretical Synthesis et al. Zed Books London 1994 117 117 in
74. Freire. Politics of Education, 160–160.
75. Politics of Education, 160–161.
76. Ackerley, Brooke. 1995. Testing the Tools ofDevelopment CreditProgrammes, Loan Involvement, and Women's Empowerment. IDS Bulletin, 26 (3): 56–68. points out that for BRAC and the Grameen Bank empowerment of women is subordinated to the goals of empow-erment of the poor, It is perhaps understandable that poor peasants and poor rural women take what material advantage they can from NGO programs. When the NGO withdraws, they know that they will be left to deal with the village leaders as before, and so they cannot afford to alienate them
77. See, for example Risseeuw Carla, The Fish Don ‘t Talk about the Water: Gender Transformation, Power and Resistance among Women in Sri Lanka E. J. Brill Leiden, New York 1988 Chetna Gala, “Empowering Women in Villages: All-Women Village Councils in Maharashtra, India,” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 29, no. 2 (April-June 1997): 31-45