Skip to main content

Women bear brunt of poverty in a deeply entrenched patriarchal system


By Moin Qazi*
A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. — Melinda Gates
We live in a world in which women living in poverty face gross inequalities and injustice from birth to death. The global statistics on poverty are numbing. The real brunt has always fallen on women and sometimes it is very cruel. Women are commonly married young, quickly become mothers, and are then burdened by stringent domestic and financial responsibilities.
Women bear the greater brunt of poverty. In India, where a patriarchal system is deeply entrenched, only 13 per cent of farm land is owned by women. The figure is even lower when it comes to lower caste Dalit women who are single. About 12 per cent of India’s female population is classified as single, including women who are widowed, divorced, separated, and older unmarried women, according to the 2011 census.About 41 percent of households headed by women in India do not own land, and make a living through casual manual labour.
Over the years several strategies have been used to empower women .One of them relies on community groups whose members can be trained and equipped to use their collective strength and wisdom to tackle their problems.
Women and families the world over work tirelessly to end the poverty and hunger in their lives. But it can take much more than hard work. They need new tools to create their own paths forward. They need opportunities that can overcome economic, cultural and gender barriers. It needs multissectoral cooperation to create breakthrough ideas and breakthrough solutions that break through and break down economic, social and technical barriers. We live in a world in which women living in poverty face gross inequalities and injustice from birth to death.
The global statistics on poverty are numbing. The real brunt has always fallen on women and sometimes it is very cruel with them. Gender discrimination continues to be an enormous problem within Indian society. Traditional patriarchal norms have relegated women to secondary status within the household and workplace. This drastically affects women’s health, financial status, education, and political involvement. Women are commonly married young, quickly become mothers, and are then burdened by stringent domestic and financial responsibilities.
In India, self-help groups and panchayat raj institutions, assisted by the voluntary sector, are training rural women in nutrition and financial literacy, connecting them with health providers and financial services. Their food security has doubled. They are using digital technology to provide impoverished farmers with loans and agricultural training. They no longer go hungry; many have bought livestock and even land. They are enabling shop owners to provide women with safe ways to save, borrow, make payments, and buy micro-health insurance.
Empowerment has led to a number of positive changes in women’s own perceptions of themselves, and their role in household decision making women’s self-image and self-confidence was enhanced when they received training on women’s rights and social and political issues. This is a truly uplifting signal of the role women will play in building our future sustainable economy.
When 35 years old unassuming and submissive Rajni applied for a loan from the bank there was no one willing to back her up as a guarantor. There was great doubt whether she would be able to repay the loan. But this steely and tenacious woman proved the other members wrong. It was at the women’s meeting at which she and her mother-in-law first heard of loans being made available to women intending to pursue income-generating activities. They were at once attracted of the soft loans for women of low income households. She discussed the proposition with her husband and together they decided to avail the loan to buy a motor pump for their fields as to increase and better the yield.
The cost benefit was soon worked out. The cost of the pump being high, it was decided that both the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law would acquire a loan each and put it to use for their common benefit. And so each of them took a loan of Rs. 7000 individually. The loan soon became a bonding element to help them emerge wiser.
The pump was installed and soon the waters gushed out of the thirsting land. Now water supply was ensured at the touch of a button. The fields were full with mash-melons, gourds, wheat, rice and other vegetables. Workload happily increased and so did the returns. The whole family got actively involved in the cultivation exercise=–related to sowing, irrigating, nurturing, reaping and selling of various produce according to the time of its maturity. She and her mother-in-law had never felt this close before. The plentiful harvests had given them a sense of fulfillment. Nor were they overtly worried about the return of the loan. In fact, there was hardly any difficulty in the repayment of the monthly installments.
As Rajni led us to her fields not far from the village to show the motor pump, her face was awash with pride and recollections. “All thanks to the motor-pump”, says Rajni, as she carefully wraps it back with the polythene sheet and covers it with a wooden crate. Lightly lapping the box, she looks all around her, surveying the surrounding land. “Yes, we owe it to the pump for our togetherness and plenty”.
For all interventions, the fundamental logic is plain: if we are going to end extreme poverty, we need to start with girls and women. They are the ones who have the grit to lift families out of the pit. People who have pioneered successful social programmes recognized this potential and sought to evoke it.
During my engagement with programmes for empowering poor women to climb out of poverty, several of my colleagues would argue whether our efforts have any relevance when we have a vast desert of poverty. Their question reminded me of the story of a boy who found himself on the seashore surrounded by thousands of dying fish. The boy started to pick up one fish at a time and throw them back into the sea. A man watching him from afar came up to him and asked why he was wasting his time. The boy said that if he could save even one fish, he would have fulfilled his purpose in life.
We now have the techniques and resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will. A lot of good programs got their start when one individual looked at a familiar landscape in a fresh way. But several of these programmes were difficult to scale up. As Bill Clinton noted during his presidency, “Nearly every problem has been solved by someone, somewhere.” The frustration is that, “we can’t seem to replicate [those solutions] anywhere else.”
We increasingly have the tools to combat poverty. We know what to do; what we really need is to summon the political will.

*Author of the bestselling book, “Village Diary of a Heretic Banker”, has worked in the development finance sector for almost four decades

Comments

TRENDING

देशव्यापी ग्रामीण भारत बंध में उतरे मध्य प्रदेश के आदिवासी, किया केंद्र सरकार का विरोध

- हरसिंग जमरे, भिखला सोलंकी, रतन अलावे*  15 और 16 फरवरी को निमाड के बड़वानी, खरगोन और बुरहानपुर में जागृत आदिवासी दलित संगठन के नेतृत्व में आदिवासी महिला-पुरुषों ग्रामीण भारत बंद में रैली एवं विरोध प्रदर्शन किया । प्रधान मंत्री द्वारा 2014 में फसलों की लागत का डेढ़ गुना भाव देने का वादा किया गया था, 2016 में किसानों की आय दुगना करने का वादा किया गया था । आज, फसलों का दाम नहीं बढ़ रहा है, लेकिन खेती में खर्च बढ़ता जा रहा है! खाद, बीज और दवाइयों का दाम, तीन-चार गुना बढ़ चुका है! किसानों को लागत का डेढ़ गुना भाव देने के बजाए, खेती को कंपनियों के हवाले करने के लिए 3 काले कृषि कानून लाए गए । 3 काले कानून वापस लेते समय प्रधान मंत्री ने फिर वादा किया था कि फसलों की लागत का डेढ़ गुना भाव की कानूनी गारंटी के लिए कानून बनाएँगे, लेकिन वो भी झूठ निकला! आज जब देश के किसान दिल्ली में आपको अपना वादा याद दिलाने आए है, तब आप उनका रास्ता रोक रहें है, उनके साथ मारपीट कर उन पर आँसू गैस फेंक रहें हैं, उन पर छर्रों से फायरिंग कर रहें है! देश को खिलाने वाला किसान खुद भूखा रहे, क्या यही विकास है?

नफरती बातें: मुसलमानों में असुरक्षा का भाव बढ़ रहा है, वे अपने मोहल्लों में सिमट रहे हैं

- राम पुनियानी*  भारत पर पिछले 10 सालों से हिन्दू राष्ट्रवादी भारतीय जनता पार्टी (भाजपा) राज कर रही है. भाजपा आरएसएस परिवार की सदस्य है और आरएसएस का लक्ष्य है हिन्दू राष्ट्र का निर्माण. आरएसएस से जुड़ी सैंकड़ों संस्थाएँ हैं. उसके लाखों, बल्कि शायद, करोड़ों स्वयंसेवक हैं. इसके अलावा कई हजार वरिष्ठ कार्यकर्ता हैं जिन्हें प्रचारक कहा जाता है. भाजपा के सत्ता में आने के बाद से आरएसएस दुगनी गति से हिन्दू राष्ट्र के निर्माण के अपने एजेण्डे को पूरा करने में जुट गया है. यदि भाजपा को चुनावों में लगातार सफलता हासिल हो रही है तो उसका कारण है देश में साम्प्रदायिकता और साम्प्रदायिक मुद्दों का बढ़ता बोलबाला. इनमें से कुछ हैं राम मंदिर, गौमांस और गोवध एवं लव जिहाद. 

Only 15% businesses provide employees real-time sustainability dashboards: Study

Kyndryl in collaboration with Microsoft has released the findings of The Global Sustainability Barometer study. The study, conducted by Ecosystm, finds that while 85% of organizations place a high strategic level of importance on achieving their sustainability goals, only 16% have integrated sustainability into their strategies and data. A Kyndryl note: *** Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, in collaboration with Microsoft , today released the findings of The Global Sustainability Barometer study. The study, conducted by Ecosystm , finds that while 85% of organizations place a high strategic level of importance on achieving their sustainability goals, only 16% have integrated sustainability into their strategies and data.

How the slogan Jai Bhim gained momentum as movement of popularity and revolution

By Dr Kapilendra Das*  India is an incomprehensible plural country loaded with diversities of religions, castes, cultures, languages, dialects, tribes, societies, costumes, etc. The Indians have good manners/etiquette (decent social conduct, gesture, courtesy, politeness) that build healthy relationships and take them ahead to life. In many parts of India, in many situations, and on formal occasions, it is common for people of India to express and exchange respect, greetings, and salutation for which we people usually use words and phrases like- Namaskar, Namaste, Pranam, Ram Ram, Jai Ram ji, Jai Sriram, Good morning, shubha sakal, Radhe Radhe, Jai Bajarangabali, Jai Gopal, Jai Jai, Supravat, Good night, Shuvaratri, Jai Bhole, Salaam walekam, Walekam salaam, Radhaswami, Namo Buddhaya, Jai Bhim, Hello, and so on.

Laxmanpur Bathe massacre: Perfect example of proto-fascist Brahmanical social order

By Harsh Thakor  The massacre at Laxmanpur-Bathe of Jehanabad in Bihar on the night of 1 December in 1997 was a landmark event with distinguishing features .The genocide rightly shook the conscience of the nation in the 50th year of Indian independence. The scale of the carnage was unparalleled in any caste massacre. It was a perfect manifestation of how in essence the so called neo-liberal state was in essence most autocratic. 

Tamil Nadu brahmins are at cross roads, their future scenario remains uncertain

By NS Venkataraman*  For over 70 years now, brahmin community in Tamil Nadu have been abused, insulted and even physically attacked on some occasions by those who claimed that they were part of the so called dravidian movement. However, brahmin community silently and helplessly ducked under pressure and showed no signs of resistance or fight back.

गुजरात विश्वविद्यालय कुलपति महोदया का बयान उल्टा चोर कोतवाल को डांटे समान है

गुजरात विश्व विद्यालय परिसर में विदेशी छात्रों को सांस्कृतिक संवेदनशीलता का पाठ देने की ख़बर के संबंध में विश्व विद्यालय को खुला पत्र: --- प्रति श्री, कुलपति महोदय गुजरात विश्वविद्यालय अहमदाबाद विषय- गुजरात विश्व विद्यालय परिसर में विदेशी छात्रों को सांस्कृतिक संवेदनशीलता का पाठ देने की ख़बर के संबंध में। महोदया,

સમાજમાં ભાગલા પાડવાના ષડયંત્રકારી ઈડરના પીએસઆઇ ને સસ્પેન્ડ કરવા જોઇયે

મુજાહિદ નફીસ ,  કન્વીનર, માઈનોરિટી કોઓરડીનેશન કમિટી, નો પોલિસ મહાનિદેશક, ગુજરાત, ને પત્ર: --- વિષય- ઈડર (સાબરકાંઠા) માં તરાવીહની નમાજ પઢી બાહર આવતા મુસ્લિમ સમુદાયના લોકોને લાકડી થી મારનાર અને બિભત્સ ગાળો બોલનાર પીએસઆઇ જાદવ ને સસ્પેંડ કરવા બાબતે મહોદય,

અંકલેશ્વર/પાનોલી માં વાંરવાર અકસ્માત ના બનાવો બને છે એ એક ચિંતન નો વિષય છે

- સલીમ પટેલ*  પાનોલી જીઆઇડીસીમાં ઓદ્યોગિક ઘન/પ્રવાહી કચરાનું રીસાયલીંગ કરતી RSPL નામની કમ્પની આવેલ છે. જે અન્ય ઓદ્યોગિક એકમોના રાસાયણિક કચરાને રીસાયલીંગ કરવાનું કામ કરે છે જેમાં અનેક અને દુર –દુર ના એકમોનો રાસાયણિક કચરાને અહિયાં પ્રોસેસ માટે લાવવામાં આવે છે. આ દરમ્યાન 23.03.24 નાં રોજ મોડી સાંજે કોઈ કારણોસર રાસાયણિક કચરામાં આગ લાગતા હોળી પેહલા જ વેસ્ટ કેમિકલ હોળી દહન ના દ્ર્શ્યો સર્જાયા હતા અને તેમાં સોલ્વન્ટ સહીત ના ઝેરી તત્વો શામેલ હોવાના લીધે વાતાવરણ પ્રદુષિત બનતા આસપાસના લોકોમાં ભય ફેલાયો હતો. આ અગાઉ પણ ગત વર્ષે પણ પાનોલી જી આઈ ડી સી માં આગ અકસ્માત નો બનાવ બનતા કેટલાક ગામો ને ખાલી કરવાની ફરજ પડી હતી જે ઘટના ને યાદ કરી પ્રજા માં ભય નું વાતાવરણ સર્જાયું હતું.

Erroneously linked with Maoist party, activist arrested under UAPA for his bold voice

By Harsh Thakor* On Monday 11 th of March , the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of the repressive Indian State presented fabricated charges against Sanjoy Deepak Rao in the jurisdiction of a special court for the NIA in Hyderabad. Sanjoy Deepak Rao, a progressive intellectual from Jammu and Kashmir, was already arrested several times for his bold voice. Last September he was arrested again, in Telangana, this time charged of being a leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a party which leads the People’s War against the old Indian State.