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Evolving a definition of poverty, livelihood
security and gender
An assessment of the existing definitions of HFS and food security
in general is limiting in the context of gender, the lacunae being
that equity in household processes is referred to but inadequately
applied in comparison with access and entitlement.
This poses a central problem because the findings of this study
indicate that the crux of women’s quest for a HFS or livelihood
strategy is represented by the challenges and pressures of both
internal (the household allocatory process) and external processes
(macropolicies) that deny equity to women.
Thus, HFS is defined by this study as access, entitlement and equitable
distribution to all (at all times) commensurate with the roles performed,
the time spent and the energy used (not always measured by cash)
towards achieving livelihood security. HFS is attained through the
autonomous and equitable decisions, choices and cultural preferences
of households (with gender-neutral values) concerning the deployment
of resources, all of which lead to improved livelihoods, well-being
and empowerment.
Towards
a definition and a construct of gender and HFS
Women are faced with three sets of pressures in the three project
areas.
- external
pressures: vulnerabilities caused by the macro policies
with which individual units of poor and powerless women are
unable to deal, for example, with regard to food supply;
- internal
pressures: challenges from within extended households in
the form of traditional power hierarchies, be they patriarchy,
caste or religious norms, apart from practices such as alcoholism
or indigenous rituals (the allocating process); and
- given
variables: the entitlement base.
6.
Struggling among these three alternating pressures, women operate
from an initial resource bundle or entitlement of at least six variables.
These are:
- productive
assets (land, forests, livestock, seeds);
- non-productive
assets (jewelry, a house, savings and so on);
- human
capital (assessed by literacy, household labour power, age,
caste and children). Intertwined with human capital are the
basic services so critical to the development and support of
human capital formation (that is, water, housing, fuel wood,
toilets). Added to this bundle of resources is the pivotal resource
of women’s time;
- income
and employment (livelihood base, type of employment, resource
base, types of income from agriculture, microenterprises, wage
work, migration);
- social
claims, such as the public distribution system, mid-day meals,
subsidies, or extension support; and
- community
claims in the form of traditional practices supporting individuals
and families, that is, the sharing of cereals, meat, foods and
so on or other support, exchange and barter systems that are
based on reciprocity and that can be considered entitlements.
Precariously balanced among these three sets of factors
(that is, external, internal and given variables), women perform four
roles: (i) the reproductive or biological role, (ii) the productive role,
(iii) the role of home maintenance and (iv) community management.
Table 1 indicates the major elements of the initial resource
bundle for women in the three project areas.
Table 1: Type of project, participant group, scope and
strategy
| |
Tamil Nadu Women’s
Development Project |
Production Credit
for Rural Women |
Andhra Pradesh Tribal
Welfare Project |
| Type of project
|
Women only |
Components approach
|
Integrated approach
|
| Participant group
|
Women |
Women |
Men and women |
| Scope of operation
|
5 districts |
55 districts |
8 districts |
| Project strategy
|
Credit and savings (mechanism
of thrift and credit groups, TCGs) |
credit groups, training,
support services |
- reforestation
- institution-building (TCGs)
- food security measures (grain banks, voluntary depots, crisis
credit)
|
| Entitlement Base:
Given Variables |
| Productive assets
|
|
|
|
| Land |
Landlessness |
40 out of 45 respondents
have access to land (wetland, slash-and-burn and common property
resources, homestead gardens in the hill districts) |
85% have access to small
plots of poor-quality dryland. Declining rights due to environment
policy and land practices |
| Rights to land |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Livestock/sheep |
Average at Rs. 2 761.36
|
Highest among the three
projects at Rs. 5 011/- |
Access only to sheep;
no livestock |
| Forests |
No access |
Yes, though diminishing
|
Diminishing in spite
of it being a major source of food supply and employment |
| (Seeds) collected, processed
and stored by women |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Non-productive
assets |
| House |
Rs. 1 471.27
|
Rs. 204.50 |
|
| Jewelry |
Rs. 956.70 |
Rs. 295.00 |
Total of Rs. 720/-
|
| Other assets |
Rs. 1 818.18
|
Rs. 500.00 |
|
| Human capital |
Scheduled and backward
or most backward caste (no upper caste) |
45% upper caste; 55%
other or lower castes |
All scheduled Tribes
|
| Family size |
80% (4-9 members) |
80% (4-9 members) |
70% (4-9 members) |
| Education |
2nd/3rd standard |
2nd standard |
Illiterate |
| Fuel |
Firewood |
Firewood |
Fuel wood |
| Toilets |
Open space |
open space |
Open space |
| Water |
Tubewell and dugwell
(90%), stream (7%) |
stream (37%) |
Stream (50%) |
| Housing |
Temporary structures
|
temporary or semi-permanent
|
Temporary structures
|
| Women’s time use
|
15.67 hours |
17.68 hours |
15.68 hours |
| Income
and employment |
| Total income increase
|
55% |
90% |
56% |
| Livelihood base and
income source |
Microenterprises (especially
livestock and sheep-rearing) wage work |
Agriculture, microenterprises
(especially livestock and sheep-rearing) wage work |
Declining subsistence
production substituted by wage work (70%) |
| Total food consumption
(increase) |
68% |
66% |
35% |
| Food expenditure |
70.67% |
63.48% |
74.42% |
| Cash crops and alcoholism
|
Highest share of household
expenditure |
Campaigned and banned
alcohol in several districts |
Anti-alcohol agitation
taken up by TCGs |
| Debt decline |
50% |
46% |
30% |
| Female headed households
|
45% |
38% |
34% |
| Food storage |
2.8 months |
4.84 months |
3.14 months |
| Social claims |
|
|
|
| Public distribution
system (PDS) |
Easy to access |
Non-existent |
Available but not always
accessible (owing to lack of ration cards or shops) |
| Mid-day meal |
Available |
Not available |
Not available |
| Subsidies |
Available |
|
|
| Extensions |
Available |
Poor - average |
Gender blind |
| Non-governmental organizations
|
Available |
Non-existent in project
|
Non-existent in project
|
|
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