 |
|
|
|
 |
|||
THEME: Miao and Dong women have experience, skills and interest in handicrafts and livestock-raising.
A
1996 IFAD study provides detailed information on the lives of the Miao
and Dong minority groups in the Wuling mountains of China. This is a poor
area, with little in the way of infrastructure or services. People grow
subsistence crops and raise a few pigs and cows when they can afford them.
Fuel wood, water, health services, education services and many other things
are in short supply. Poverty in the area is aggravated by the land-to-population
ratios: the study estimates that there is only 0.0041 acre of land per
person. Lack of effective irrigation and the inability to afford fertilizer
or other inputs limits yields. Increasingly, people turn to other sources
of income, such as wage labour, to survive. Many younger women are engaged
in part-time work. But wages are low, especially for the uneducated women.
The women interviewed often said that they would prefer to have small
income-generating activities that they could carry out at home, and combine
with their child care and other domestic responsibilities. The two
main areas of skill and interest among women are handicrafts and livestock-raising.
Handicrafts
Miao women are highly skilled in such handicrafts as embroidery, wax printing and gold and silver jewellery making. Except for peak seasons in agriculture, women spend all their free time on handicrafts, working long hours after housework is done.
Their skills in embroidery are particularly notable, as evidenced by their own elegant clothing, even among the poor. Girls learn to embroider at an early age, working on children's hats, clothing and items for their dowry, and sewing clothing for the dead. The researchers estimate that one suit of clothing takes about two to three years to make, from the point of raising silkworms, spinning, making cloth and dying, sewing and embroidering it. The embroidered motifs are rich in traditional symbols. Embroidery skills are important for girls' marital chances, but do not bring corresponding financial rewards, if the many hours of labour are taken into consideration.
However the study notes that in some villages, where there is access to regular local fairs and fairs held on national holidays, women are actively marketing handicrafts and earning some income from them. Estimates are not available. The study indicates that women do the marketing themselves. Some women even travel to cities such as Beijing or Kunming for marketing purposes.
Livestock raising
Both Miao and Dong women raise livestock, such as cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens. Raising pigs and chickens is seen as women's responsibility, and women play a leading role in decision-making in this area. Pigs are particularly popular. Many Miao and Dong women told the researchers that they felt they could raise four pigs a year, in addition to carrying out their agricultural and domestic responsibilities, which would result in a net income of 2400RMB (in 1996). The study found Miao and Dong women to be enthusiastic about livestock-raising.
Where access to credit is available for raising cattle or pigs, livestock loans can be repaid within a year. However, the study found that the complex and lengthy procedures involved in credit application can undermine the profitability of the livestock enterprise because of market fluctuations in the price of livestock.
Women's Other Income-generating Activities
While the study did not detail other income-generating activities, it noted that in one village that was fairly close to a main highway, some women had jointly established a shop. Women's ability to earn an income from raising vegetables or other crops was found to be restricted by their lack of access to land. Even when a woman inherits a portion of her parents' field, she often has to leave it behind when she marries. And in any case, family plots are too small to permit market production.
Women's skills and interests in handicrafts and livestock-raising could create the basis for income-generating activities. Miao and Dong women have an active interest in obtaining loans, especially for livestock.
Adapted from:
He Zhongua and Xi Yuhua. 1996. The Investigation Report of IFAD about Miao and Dong Nationality Autonomous Prefecture in Southeast Guizhou Province, Rome: IFAD.
