The Working Women's Forum's (WWF) role to fadlitate the
empowerment process of poor fisherwomen in Adirampattanam (India)
Ilse du Piêd
University of Amsterdam
Cultural Anthropology
&
Non-Western Sociology
MA Thesis, May 2000
The Working Women's Forum's (WWF) role to facilitate the
empowerment process of poor fisherwomen in Adirampattanam (India)
Ilse du Piêd
University of Amsterdam
Cultural Anthropology
&
Non-Western Sociology
MA Thesis
Examiners:
Loes Schenk-Sandbergen, University of Amsterdam
Kristoffel Lieten, University of Amsterdam
Rosanne Rutten, University of Amsterdam
May 2000
The Husband Speaks 1his house is mine
1 've touched you Kissedyou
Felt and enjoyed you That 's why 1 keep you here. This house with its marble floor Decorated with fine furniture A roof above,
Walls on every side A kitchen nearby
And there is a living-room. You cook my food,
Get your two meals from me.
This home isfilled with lively children Blood ofmy blood, they 'll use my wealth Hallow my name
And perpetuate my lineage. Propitiating my spirit
They 'll provide food for me
In the next world,
if
not the present. You mothered my children,So you ef?f oy the status of a lady; {f 1 held back my claim
To fatherhood, you 'd lose Your claim.
You belang to me
Wholly and truly you are mine, 1
Own all that is yours. Well,
For me it 's different
1 'm your husband.
Preface
Acknowledgements Abbreviations Glossary
List of figure and tab les List of annexes
Map of the research area
1. 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 2. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Introduction
Purpose and scope of thesis
e Why a focus on wamen?
e Why do poor wamen working in the informal sector need credit?
• Problems with farmer government credit programmes e A new top-down programme (CGAP)
o Micro-finance as a way to empower wamen
Research perspective
e Feminist anthropological perspective
Methodology
Disadvantages and advantages in research proceedings Composition of the report
Theoretical framework
Introduction to the theoretica! framework
Theory, policy and practice in the development process e The welfare approach
e The equity approach e The anti-poverty approach
Ql The efficiency approach • The empowerment approach
From theory to policy to programmes: practical and strategie planning tools Wamen' s need for independent access to credit and organisation
The Working Women's Fornm (WWF) • WWF' s delivery of institutional credit
e Members, leaders, organisers and other staff
11 111 111 lV v Vl 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 12 15 17 17 18 20 21 22 23 23 24 26 28 28 30
3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.4.1 3.4.2 3.4.3 4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.3.] 4.3.2 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7
•
•
Credit as a step forward to empowerment Gender in the Indian contextGender and the historica! formation of patriarchal ideology
•
The concept of gender•
The formation of the Indian patriarchal ideologyGI The symbolical base to female subordination
Gender and caste ideology Gender and class ideology
il Is class control over females a conscious male act?
Everyday reality
Indian women in the economie arena The practical polities of gender Social and cultural factors
Women and work in Adirampattanam and the surrounding villages Equal relationships in poor working families?
The female prawn catchers and the male fishers • The female prawn catchers
• The male fishers
The wider economy: caste class and gender differences The prawn farms
• An image of the area
e Direct eff ects of the prawn farms
• Explanation of direct effects and consideration of indirect effects Fishermen' s problems with Sri Lanka
Gender differences and divisions • Gender differences in employment
lfl Analysing gender divisions in employment in Adirampattanam
Local dependency relations at the labour market • Image of the shore of Adirampattanam • The auctioneers
111 Image of the auction at Eripurakarai beach • Differences between the auctioneers
Gender differences in dependency relations and working circumstances
ID From the beach to the market
Gender divisions and differences at the fishmarket
33 37 37 37 38 39 41 44 45 46 48 50 52 55 55 56 56 57 58 58 58 59 60 62 62 63 64 65 65 66 67 68 69 69 71
ID Introduction to the fishmarkets and to fishselling in Adirampattanam area 71
5.1 The concept of the household and the family 75
5.2 Female status in households 76
5.3 Property and inheritance 81
5.4 Bride-price or dowry 82
5.5 Marriage preferences and practices 85
5.6 Pregnancy and motherhood 87
Il> Gunabooshany' s case 88
5.7 Problems in the household 92
111 Female responsibilities and male interests 93
111 Contribution to the household: the problem of alcoholism and 95 domestic violence
'111 Why men drink alcohol and beat their women 97
6. The impact of the WWF on fisherwomen in Adirampattanam area 99
6.1 Organising women for empowerment 99
19 The origin of the branch Adirampattanam 99
@ The case of Rakamma 100
111 Reasons for organising women 102
4111 Barriers to effective organising 103
6.2 Training at the grassroots 105
Ell The first training for members and leaders 105
111 The second training before the second loan 108
«IJ Training and education 109
6.3 Economie empowerment of the credit groups 110
@I Credit, economie change and material gain 111
@I One year loan group of prawn collectors 111
@I Two year loan group of fisherwomen 113
l!I Five year loan group of fisherwomen 116
411 Ten year loan group of fisherwomen 117
111 Fifteen year loan group of fisherwomen 120
@ Credit and structural change 124
6.4 Beyond economie empowerment: socio-cultural empowerment 126
<lil Fisherwomen' s socio-cultural challenge 127
•
Women' s perception on credit for males 1326.5 Political empowerment and action 135
•
Group unity and solidarity 136@ Participation and (political) action 137
7. Conclusion 141
Literature 146
This thesis enables me to obtain my masters university degree of the study 'Cultural Anthropology and Non Western Sociology' at the University of Amsterdam. During this study, I mainly took an interest in women, gender and development issues, in theoretica! as well as practical sense. As usual in university circles the attention is on so-called 'pure' science. As a consequence, many theoretical courses about women, gender and development are offered at the university, while courses on the concrete practice of development projects for women are mainly lacking. For students in the field of development sociology or anthropology it would be ofvalue to obtain applied skills on how to plan, implement and execute different phases in a development project or in anthropological fieldwork. There are only a few representatives/teachers of this practical and applied knowledge in the University of Amsterdam. I am of the opinion that this traditional stance is alarming since a scientific career is either not feasible or not desirable for many 'anthropological development' students. Furthermore, other universities in countries such as Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America, and India catch up with innovative challenges to prepare students for more practical roles to close the gap between theory and practice in development (personal communication, Schenk-Sandbergen). On the one hand, when staying behind these new developments worldwide, the gap between the University of Amsterdam and the universities mentioned may be widened. On the other hand, the gap between theory and practice in this anthropological development field may widen as well.
Against this background, I preferred to perform my fieldwork within a development project or organisation. My intention was to learn about the practice of projects and of the people
involved. In 1997, I was introduced at the Working Women' s Forum (WWF), a grassroot wamen' s organisation in the southern states of India. Performing fieldwork here enabled me to combine my interest in women and development in India.
Since 1987, the micro-credit programme of the WWF is financially supported by the
Government of the Netherlands through its Directorate Genera! for International Cooperation (DGIS). Several expert researchers and some students had visited the grassroot organisation ever since to evaluate the performance of the WWF or to perform a study of one of the branches. The WWF covered with its fourteen branches in three southern states a large area. Furthermore, with more than 434.172 female members involved in the organisation, it covers a substantial number of people as well. The successful functioning and impact oftheir credit programme may vary per location and per context. In accordance with the WWF-staff, I had chosen to study the branch Adirampattanam. Information about this branch was considered useful since there was hardly any research conducted here. Within this branch, the specific socio-economie impact of the credit pro gramme on poor fisherwomen was of interest for the organisation. Prior to the study, the WWF had agreed with the proposal to conduct a study of four months in Adirampattanam area. Y et after my arrival in India it turned out that only some weeks could be spent in this area, mainly in the months of April and May 1997. I carried out the intended study about the impact of the WWF on poverty alleviation and
empowerment as good as is possible in such a short time. The results and its inevitable gaps in information and material collected are presented in this thesis.
I would like to thank several people in India and the Netherlands who where of considerable support to the final completion of this thesis.
My research could not be conducted without the co-operation of the WWF. Despite the short time available for my study, they were of considerable help. They offered me the initia! information about the organisations, they introduced me to the branches Adirampattanam, Dindigul and Narsapur, and the co-ordinators of the Madras head office performed the role of interpreter and were valuable sources of information in the field. They assisted me in several parts of the study, but most importantly, introduced me to their poor female members in their branches. The organisation the WWF and their members form the essence of my study.
I am very grateful for the co-operation of the poor fisherwomen and the staff of the branch in the town Adirampattanam and the surrounding villages. This staff introduced me to several wamen groups and was enthusiast and helpful in arranging several interesting field visits all over the area. The co-ordinators and interpreters travelled with me to the branches several times and I appreciate their help. The fisherwomen, however busy, gave me their time and the information about their lives. Enthusiast, friendly, reserved, or warm and emotional their stories were mixed with their laughter and tears. It is amazing how much can be learned from these poor women. During my frequent stays in Madras, my friends Akila and Jayaraman and their large family consisting of parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws and children were of great importance. I enjoyed their presence, their warmth, and their hospitality, making me feel at home. Despite our many differences, we have established a special and lasting bond.
In the Netherlands, I would like to thank several people as well.
Loes Schenk-Sandbergen, my teacher at the University of Amsterdam and gender-expert in a variety of development projects throughout Asia, has been of considerable support. She
introduced me to the WWF and stimulated me in doing research. I enjoyed and appreciated our contact and like to thank her for her enthusiasm in sharing her knowledge and experience with me.
l
want to thank Kristoffel Lieten and Rosanne Rutten, both teachers at the University of Amsterdam, for their willingness to read this finished thesis and for being my examiners.My friends Rian Kriesels and Matt Naworski edited one chapter each and gave useful comments. Lione du Piêd and Stefan Goverse encouraged me in general and off ered me the use of their printing facilities.
Last but not least, my partner Jort Verhoeven has been of considerable emotional support and value in genera!, during my research in India as well as during the writing and printing of this thesis in the Netherlands.
AKRSP BC BC BOBP CGAP DGIS DRI FAO GAD ICNW IMF IUD NEP NGO NUWW PRA
se
SEWA ST UNDP UNFPA WID WWF Glo,ssary Arrack Beedi Bhakti Bhindi Brahmin Chula Crore Da lits Devadasi Dowry Harijans Idly Jati KaliAga Khan Rural Support Pro gramme Backward Castes
Before Christ
Bay ofBengal Fisheries Programme Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest Directorate General International Cooperation Diff erential Rate of Interest
Food and Agriculture Organisation Gender And Development
Indian Cooperative Network for Women International Monetary Fund
Inter Uterine Device New Economie Policy
Non Governmental Organisation National Union ofWorking Women Participatory Rural Appraisal
Scheduled Castes
Self-Employed Women's Association Scheduled Tribes
United Nations Development Programme United Nations Population Fund
Women In Development Working Women's Forum
A distilled country liquor. Very popular in the country side of Tamil Nadu
Indian hand-rolled cigarettes of tobacco in palmleaves Reciprocal devotion to a deity
Auspicious mark worn on the forehead by women, except for widows Caste of priests and religious teachers, one of the four varna' s
Cooking stove or oven made of clay Ten million rupees
Preferred term for the farmer casteless class of Untouchables and Harijans
Dancing girl dedicated to the Hindu temple
A transfer of movables or immovables from the girl' s natal family to the girl, her husband or his kin at the time of her marriage
Name given by Gandhi to the farmer Untouchables. Literally Children of God
Steamed cake made of grinded lentils and rice and eaten in the South Subdivision of the Varnas and the social group a person is bom into. There are thousands of these subcastes in India
The Black; a terrible form of Shiva' s wife Devi. Depicted with black skin, dripping with blood, surrounded by snakes and wearing a necklace of skulls
Karma Kshatriyas Kumkum Lakh Lakshmi Mariamman Paan Paddy Panchayat Paraiyar Pariah Prakrti Puja Purdah Purusa Rupee Sangham Saree Sati Shakti Shandy Shitala Strièihanam Sudras Thali Toddy Vaishyas Varnas Zamindar Zenana
Principle of retributive justice for past deeds
Caste of kings, warriors, farmers and aristocrats, one of the four varnas Paste made out of water, lemonjuice, lime and powdered saffron for the red bhindi on the foreheads of married wamen
One hundred thousand rupees
Goddess of fortune, wealth and happiness
Goddess of smallpox in Tamil Nadu, the same as Shitala
Leaves containing a sweet paste, betel leaves and a mixture of spices. Unhulled rice; the rice produced by threshing after the harvest
Local, self-governing body or council
Largest caste in Tamil Nadu that were formerly labelled as Untouchables Derived from Paraiyar
Nature
Religious service
Ideology and practice of female veiling and seclusion or manifestations that determine how wamen should dress and behave
Cosmic person or structured spirit
Indian currency, one rupee is about 5 cents in 1997 Association, organisation or committee
Traditional female dress
Wife of Shiva. Became a sati ('honourable woman') by immolating herself. Although banned more than a century ago, the act of sati, the burning on the funeral pyre of the husband, is occasionally performed Female power principle
Weekly market
Goddess of smallpox, the same as Mariamman Wornan' s property
Caste of servants, peasants and workers
Threaded ornament ceremonially tied around the bride' s neck Fermented liquor derived from palm trees
Caste of craftsmen and rnerchants
Colour, theoretica! and course division of caste hierarchy in four castes: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra
Feudal or superior landlord and revenue collector Separate living quarters for women
List of Figure and Tables
Figure 1: Office governing body of the WWF, ICNW and NUWW Table 1: One-year group of prawn collectors ofEripurakarai Table 2: Two-year group offisherwomen ofEripurakarai Table 3: Five-year group of fisherwomen of Keeza Thottam Table 4: Ten-year group offisherwomen ofKeeza Thottam Table 5: Fifteen-year group offisherwomen of Adirampattanam
Annex 1 Annex II Annex Ill Annex IV
Organisational structure of the WWF Document of credit group
Passbook of member
Tamil Nadu
LAkîSHA DWEE:P $EA
IN 0 IA N
GopyrigM (G) Coropare lnl{)bllse P\it. Ltd. 199S7q9
TAMILNADU (LOCATION IN INDIA) N
t
ARABIAN SEA .Source: http://www.mapsofindia.com
Map of the research area
t1ii11~ak11mèrl
0 C E AN
SRI
LANKA
· - - --®
state cap1t111 -Ralltilay lineAdirampattinam and surrounding
villages
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose and scope of thesis
The purpose of this thesis is to describe the impact of one specific Indian non governmental organisation (NGO), the Working Women's Forum (WWF), which pursues to reduce women' s poverty and to empower women in the southern States of India. The organisation started in 1978 in Madras1 and works at present in three States: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They work in both urban and rural areas. During my fieldwork, 1 focused mainly on the members of the WWF in the branch Adirampattanam, a small town in
Thanjavur District in Tamil Nadu. As one of the more than fourteen established branches in the three States, Adirampattanam is linked to the head office and the other branches in the sense that the purpose, ideology, methodology and organisational structure is the same in all branches. The overarching purpose for all branches is to strengthen or empower women in such a way that they can relieve themselves from poverty, exploitation and caste-, class-, and gender subordination. The core method for stimulating this process is the organisation of very poor women into credit groups that have access to small loans. The Adirampattanam branch differs from the other branches in the sense that their strategy and programme is specifically adapted to the needs, priorities and difficulties of the fisherwomen2 and women in the related informal trades of this rural area (see chapter six).
To contextualise the WWF, 1 will analyse the NGO within the historical and recent theories and policies on women and development, and consider how they are connected to various changing macro-economie approaches to development in genera!. To gain insight into the impact of the WWF at the state and local level, 1 will describe the functioning of the different programmes, but emphasise the credit programme in Adirampattanam area and the impact on poor women and their families. Following the lead of the WWF, which directs its
programmes to wamen only, I shall focus specifically on poor women in the rural context of Adirampattanam. At the same time, I consider it important to understand how wamen' s lives are firmly established in the persisting gender relations and ideologies and the influence of bath on poor fisherwomen's lives, in particular at work, in the household and in the
community. With this thesis, 1 will present a linkage of the macro-level ofwomen and development with the micro-level of fisherwomen' s experiences and WWF' s functioning at state and local level.
Why afocus on wamen?
As a grassroots organisation, the WWF has been working in the field ofwomen and
development for more than 20 years, the head office in Madras was opened in 1978 and the branch in Adirampattanam followed in 1981. During these years, the focus was always on poor self-employed women in the inforrnal sector, since it is the opinion of the WWF that women and their children are the poorest among the poor. The literature found on wamen and developrnent back this opinion with theory. The Human Development Report (UNDP, 1995) mentioned that of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty in the world, almost one-half of them are in South Asia and seventy percent of these poor are female. Agarwal (1989, 1994), Carr et al. (1997), Chen (1990) and other authors have shown through the years how wamen are disadvantaged and discriminated against in comparison to men. The roots of this
gender-1
At present, Madras is officially renamed Chemmi. During my study in 1997, many Indians referred to the city with the name Madras. Therefore I will use the name Madras in this thesis.
2
specific discrimination and subordination stem from a patriarchal kinship system in
combination with traditional farces like caste and class hierarchies. As a consequence, wamen and girls have less independent access to basic needs such as food, health care, education and training. This results in effects on their health and well-being and on their lesser access to and control over productive resources as property, markets and capita! as well. The incidence of a female-adverse sex-ratio3 in India of 93 females per 100 mal es in 1990 (Agarwal, 1994: 50) and in Tamil Nadu of 977 females per 1000 males in 1981 (ibid" 1989: 173) is illustrative of the bias against females. The extent of this bias varies cross-regionally, where Tamil Nadu and southern India as a whole are closer to parity than north-west India were sex ratios are at the lowest. However, the sex-ratio's in the South are still female-adverse, affecting and reflecting wamen' s poverty and status within and outside the household.
Why do poor wamen working in the informal sector need credit?
As a consequence of their poverty, wamen aften work in different jobs in the informal sector. The informal sector of the economy is still growing and is a major source of employment in many Third World countries. Due to capitalistic penetration and economie policies of growth, modernisation and, more recently, the introduction of the New Economie Policy (NEP), the whole structure of the labour market has changed. Y et this change diminishes or even stagnates the growth of the formal sector. The New Economie Policy (NEP) introduced in India in 1991 consists ofboth stabilisation measures and structural adjustment programmes.
In general, these measures and programmes aim at the liberalisation of the world market and a greater reliance on market mechanisms. The Indian government started this new reform with a devaluation of the Rupee, with 22 per cent in 1991, along with abolishing export subsidies and introducing an import entitlement scheme for exporters. These steps have been taken to promote merchandise exports and attract foreign- and direct- investment to make India a part of the world economy. Other measures taken were cuts in the Government expenditure (Carlberg and Erikkson, 1995:12). For example, in the 1991-1992 budget, 12.3 per cent cuts in food subsidies were carried out, justified on the ground that the public distribution system must target only the poorer groups. However, 'with an estimated population of200 million people living in poverty, it is not an easy task to reach these targeted groups' (Johanesson, in Carlberg and Erikkson, ibid.). It is likely that these poverty groups are represented in the informal sector.
In India, the total working class population is 292 million. Only 25 million of them work in the formal or organised sector compared to 267 million who work in the informal or unorganised sector (WWF, 1992:2). While official statistics indicate that women hardly participate in the labour force at all, it is unofficially estimated that 89 per cent of the people in the informal sector are wamen. Official Indian statistics of the informal sector seem to underestimate grossly the number ofwomen workers, showing that 60.4 per cent of the rural female workforce and 44.2 per cent of the urban female workforce to be self-employed (Everett and Savara, 1987: 210).
Female WWF members in Adirampattanam area have never worked in the formal sector of the economy, nor have their husbands. Y et they work in the informal sector. However, women' s roles and activities in the informal sector faces several disadvantages compared to the men in the same sector. It is mainly women' s work, paid and domestic, that is invisible, underestimated, and undervalued. Consequently, women who work outside the home are concentrated in the lowest paid and most insecure jobs. The core of female discrimination in work is reflected on the one hand by women' s receipt of lower wages compared to men in similar jobs. On the other hand this discrimination is reflected by women' s langer working
hours compared to men' s. In India wamen work about 69 hours per week opposed to 57 hours per week for men. Most of this work is classified as housework and unpaid or brings little remuneration (Carr et al., 1997:2). Notwithstanding their long working hours and hard work in and outside the household, wamen seem to become increasingly poorer, a process
described in the literature as the 'feminisation of poverty'.
The increasing feminisation of poverty is related with the fact that more and more wamen seem to be deserted, divorced or widowed, leaving them and their children as a de facto female headed household with the sole responsibility for its survival. However, wamen that are not considered as belonging to a female headed household, are in practice often a de jure female headed household, because their husbands do not contribute to the family income or in a very irregular way. Chen (1990:217) argued that women' s poverty is aften increasing by eroding family structures of marital kin support, mainly represented in the weakening of male honds of affection and norms of obligation in support ofwomen. Poignantly, despite the fact that poverty is the major cause of the erosion of male support, patriarchal control over women is still intact either by men in the household, at the workplace, and in the community. The resultant vicious circle of poverty might show poor women becoming increasingly poorer, while at the same time, women are the only or main providers of the family income.
Therefore, it is important to support women in their struggle against poverty, especially in the light of the restraining traditional socio-cultural and ideological farces, and the more recent disadvantageous implications of globalisation and economie restructuring for wamen as well. Access to credit can be a vital instrument for improving the livelihoods of the poor and of poor wamen especially.
Problems with farmer government credit programmes
Studies have found that lack of access to institutional credit has limited the economie
potential offemale home-based producers in the Third World (Everett & Savara, 1987:207). Women lack the capital necessary to buy raw materials in bulk at the source or from
wholesalers. They lack the collateral for borrowing credit and they are indebted to moneylenders who charge exorbitant interest rates. Therefore, the strategy most aften recommended in the women and development literature is that wamen get access to institutional credit.
Since the nationalisation of the banks in India in 1969, the Indian government has made an effort to institute a number of poli ei es designed to provide credit for the production needs of the weaker sections in the society, a term designated for the poor. The programme, that intends to reach the self-employed, home-based and informal producers from the lower classes, is called the Differential Rate oflnterest Scheme (DRI). It is operated through the Indian banks. DRI provides loans of up to Rs. 5,000 for fixed assets and up to Rs. 1,500 for working capita! to self-employed people. In 1977, the DRI expanded on a national basis. Since 1978, the DRI target has been to provide each bank with one per cent of the bank's advances of the previous year. This percentage may be considered inadequate in the light of India' s poverty population, hut the government has planned to allocate a larger share of the bank credit to the DRI. In 1980, there were 2,253,000 DRI accounts and Rs. 1,581,14 crores4 outstanding. With regard to wamen' s participation in this DRI programme, Everett and Savara (ibid.: 208) suggested that wamen constitute only a very small proportion of the DRI borrowers on a national basis, though female participation may vary regionally. Sometimes,
4
One crore is ten million in 1987 (Everett & Savara, 1987:208) and in 1997. Schenk-Sandbergen (1996:10) noted for 1996 also that one Dutch guilder is Rs. 22. One crore is Dil 454.545,45. In May 2000 one Dutch guilder is Rs. 18.
wamen' s organisations facilitated access to the DRI credit for wamen groups, 5 explaining this variation. However, because the banks do not keep sex-segregated data on borrowers, the data on the DRI is incomplete.
The intention of the DRI programme was to provide poor people with access to credit.
Therefore, the programme recognised that poor people may be more restrained than wealthier people in their access to credit. Y et the recognition of this class aspect could not prevent the problems with the implementation and the practice of this pro gramme. One caste and class problem involved the contact between the male bank staff and the poor borrowers, especially when the borrowers were wamen. In general, the bank staff complained over the conditions of their DRI-lending work. The staff has to work under distressing circumstances, with
inadequate resources, with untrained clients, and with an ambiguity of goals, resulting in an alienation from their original bank work. In contrast, the wamen' s organisations, which served as intermediaries between the banks and the borrowers, mentioned that the male bank staff is unfriendly to the wamen, not motivated to lend them money, or help them with filling in the necessary farms. They aften misunderstand the problems of poor wamen and are therefore inflexible to, for example, repayment schedules (Everett & Savara, 1987). Most important, however, seems to be the fact that gender differences in access to credit were not recognised. W omen participate less in this DRI pro gramme and they receive smaller loans than men do, due to the ignorance of these gender diff erences.
To conclude, the DRI programme can be categorised into the minimalist or economie approach to credit that focuses on credit delivery only. Critics of this minimalist approach to credit argued that more integrative approaches to credit, where credit and supportive services are provided, is needed to help women overcome their economie, social and political
limitations (Chen, 1996:13; Hashemi et al., 1996:635). In this context it is questioned whether access to micro-credit has the potential to benefit wamen, help them struggle against poverty, and help them empower. This question may be considered important, since minimalist as well as integrative micro-credit for women have become increasingly as common as a poverty alleviating intervention in developing countries worldwide. At present, not only women' s organisations, NGO's, local governments and banks, but also international financial
development institutions, such as the World Bank, and international banking institutions, such as Citicorp, focus on the delivery of micro-credit to the poor, and especially to poor wamen. The impacts of minimalist approaches to micro-credit are certainly different from the impact of integrative approaches to micro-credit. The next paragraph shall describe another
minimalist approach to micro-credit. A new top-down programme (CGAP)
An explanation for the minimalist approach to credit of the Indian government's DRI programme may be the connection of the DRI with commercial banks and the relatively outdated invention of the programme. However, the microlending arm of the World Bank, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), focuses recently on the same minimalist or economie approach to credit. CGAP is founded in 1995 and has a small budget of30 million dollars to form the basis of their funding facilities for micro-finance institutions such as NGO's, credit unions, co-operatives and banks. Despite CGAP's small budget, their
programme might execute politica! clout in future due to their linkage with the World Bank. However, their definition of the parameters and practice for microlenders might have a negative impact on the actors in this 'field' and subsequently on poor wamen. A variety of
5
Initially the WWF acted as an intennedimy between the poor women and the DRJ-credit from the banks. Later, they switched to the delive1y of credit from their own credit bank, the ICNW, described in chapter two.
reasons may explain this expected negative impact on women' s poverty alleviation and empowerment, when banks or organisations attempt to be eligible for CGAP' s funding. Firstly, CGAP's Policy Document (1995) showed that CGAP's expenditures in the first year of operation was spent on policy reforms that benefited lenders, but disadvantaged poor borrowers. Their aim is that many governments repealed their countries' usury laws, laws that provide ceilings on interest rates, since they consider microlending in the presence of such laws not viable at all. Furthermore, CGAP demands countries to privatise their microlending institutions completely, thereby removing all subsidised credit schemes. This strategy completely fits into the polities of privatisation and globalisation, with its structural
adjustment programmes and efficiency policies (see chapter two ), but will probably remove all subsidies for banks that service the poor. A programme such as the DRI, described previously, may be considered a less profitable subsidised credit scheme. Such schemes are less profitable just because the share amount of credit is meant for lending to the poor instead of direct investment in the banks' money-generating sectors. Banks of NGO' s and grassroot organisations, in particular smaller organisations, may be considered not viable in CGAP' s parameters. Such banks have often ceilings on interest rates and they rely on subsidies before they become financially viable. Within CGAP' s strategy, they may be forced to reach self-sufficiency in a short time. As a consequence, profitability and sustainability may be the goal instead of poverty alleviation and empowerment.
Secondly, CGAP tends to finance only organisations that are either already financially sustainable or have already had successful experiences in microlending for years (Van der Sterren & Oppewal, 1997 :3 5). This may overlook that most difficulties of a starting organisation are found in its first years of operations. In addition, it may overlook the
estimation that it takes approximately five to seven years for an organisation to cover a part of its expenditures with its yearly income.
Thirdly, CGAP advocates stronger debt collection laws, in particular collateral laws. Microlending to poor people is heavily dependent on collateral laws. The result of the
removal of such laws may be the creation of a safer environment for bankers, but an exclusion of the poorest from access to formal micro-credit at all.
In sum, CGAP narrowly focuses on micro-credit as a profitable end in itself. This profitability can be reached through the displacement of gifts and subsidies by the provision of micro-credit. However, under CGAP' s conditions the potential of micro-credit as a social security net for the poorest may be overvalued, since the poor are perceived as being able to finance their own security and alleviate their poverty and development. In addition, this may result in an actual decrease in the governments' responsibility to finance and implement programmes for the poor.
Micro-:finance as a way to empower women
Mayoux (1998:235) mentioned four main, though not necessarily mutually exclusive, visions on the potential of micro-finance programmes to contribute to women' s empowerment and/or poverty alleviation. The first vision emphasises optimistically that micro-finance provides opportunities to women' s poverty alleviation and empowerment. Those who recognise limitations to empowerment, but consider this mainly as a problem of pro gramme design represent the second vision. These people mainly seek to identify models and strategies that minimise negative impacts. The third vision coincides with those who recognise limitations in the potential to promote empowerment as well. Empowerment is considered an issue that has to be addressed by other means, since cost-effective micro-finance programmes are only important within a strategy to alleviate poverty. Those hold the fourth and last view who perceive the limitations as inherent to micro-finance programmes. They consider the current emphasis on microfinance programmes as a misplaced diversion of resources.
Researchers, planners and practitioners stressing this last vision argue that micro-finance programmes divert the attention of women from other more effective strategies for
empowerment, and/ or donor' s resources from more effective means of alleviating poverty (ibid.). Other criticisms emphasised that micro-credit precludes women' s empowerment through the existing patriarchal structure in most developing countries. Under some
circumstances micro-·credit may even worse women' s situation, in particular when women' s income is controlled and handled by men (Sinha, 1998:3). The attention of financial and international banking institutions for micro-credit and their resultant method may explain the negative visions on micro-credit as a tool for poverty alleviation and empowerment of the poor. In an era of budget cuts and disbursement reductions, these multilateral banks and organisations have used micro-credit to move away from the more capital-intensive
approaches such as welfare and anti-poverty (see chapter two) to the efficiency approach that coincides with development in the sense of doing business. This entire discussion and method had resulted in the questioning and the desired replication of the success of non-governmental and grassroot organisations alike. However, the approach of these organisations may be considered integrative to micro-credit, using micro-credit as a means to poverty alleviation and empowerment together with the provision of other facilities such as saving opportunities, training, education, organisation of trade-unions etc. Furthermore, the most important facet of these organisations may be considered their intention to make their programmes and methods participatory, acting upon the perspective and experiences of the poor. The WWF is such a grassroot women' s organisation with an integrative micro-credit pro gramme. The extent of their success in poverty alleviation and empowerment of poor women shall be the focus of this thesis.
Against this background I have formulated the following questions:
What are the gender relations and gender inequalities in work, household and community in Adil:ampattanam and the surrounding villages?
In what way is the WWF able to reduce the poverty of, and to empower, fisherwomen in and around Adirampattanam?
To operationalise the above questions, the following questions have been asked which show the outline of this thesis:
611 Whàt is the approach and role of the WWF in the international context of theories and
policies on 'women and development', as well as in the Indian patriarchal context with its restraining factors for women?
• Can credit support the fisherwomen in Adirampattanam to empower themselves and to change their gender relations in the context of the enormous social, politica! and economie inequalities?
0 What is the impact of the integrated credit programme on fisherwomen's poverty and empowerment according to the perception and experience ofwomen themselves?
1.2 Research perspective
'As a bank worker, I know that my bank considers it unimportant who demands the provision of micro-credit, although we would like to offer more micro-credit to wamen. At the moment, we have more outstanding loans f or men than for wamen. The reason is that many wamen
demand credit for economically unfeasible projects. They might not invest in the means of production since they do not use them in their projects. In contrast, men present viable projects, which include an investment and use of the means of production '. (F emale
participant at the Micro-credit Conference in Amsterdam on 26 November 1997, working for Facet BV)
This female development banker reflects how people might be ignorant of gender differences in lending money to women. The underlying reasons ofwomen's involvement in less viable projects without means of production is left unquestioned, including the lower valuation of these female projects without means of production. A guarantee of a successful project or enterprise might be considered the use of some means of production, but should micro-credit not be a helpful tool to enable wamen to buy these means and make their projects more profitable? The refusal to consider such questions may be explained by Goetz's (1992: 14) study on women' s experiences and subsequent behaviour in bureaucratie organisations, such as banks. She stated that
' ... success is bath a function and expression of their ability to conform to
organisational structures and cultures by taking on sociological characteristics of men in their dress, deportment, managerial styles, and most importantly in their capacity to minimise the demands of the home .... As a minority in most organisations, wamen have least interests in challenging dominant agency practices because of the
precariousness of individual career positions, and their effective 'minority status' outside of organisations reinforces their need to conform with them'.
A feminist anthropological perspective might have been able to recognise the existent gender differences in lending money to wamen and might have attempted to explain the underlying reasons for these differences. Eventually, such a perspective might have acted upon changing these differences. The next paragraph will discuss the usefulness of a feminist anthropological perspective in relation to analysing poor wamen' s access to micro-credit within the WWF. Feminist anthropological perspective
Doing my fieldwork at a feminist grassroots organisation, the WWF, has enabled me to gain insight into the practical, methodological and analytical si de of feminist anthropology, as well as into the usefulness of applied anthropology. My own interest in feminist anthropology is rooted in the identification with and recognition of the issues and priorities of the discipline, in its rejection of conformity to the established (scientific) order, and in its explicit being embedded into the social wamen' s movement. Feminist anthropology started initially with questioning the male biases in anthropology, but extended to a critica! examination of their own biased assumptions6 and an emphasise on the role of the researcher in doing fieldwork. It
is assumed that feminist anthropology' s most distinctive contribution lies in demonstrating why an understanding of gender relations and the intersections with other social categories has to be the core of analyses in social sciences.
Warren's (1988) article is one of the examples that deals with gender issues in field research and recognises that a researcher cannot perform fieldwork without being affected by gender, personality, class, age etc.7 Furthermore, the connection with the women's movement, the centrality of gender relations, and the gender role of the researcher in doing fieldwork reflects that feminist anthropology rejects the artificial division of science and society, in other words, between theory and practice (Van Santen, 1990:46). Interdisciplinary theory and practice is seen as a hallmark, though a fusion between both theory and practice and between diverse 6
See Moore (1988) for an extensive overview of feminist anthropology.
7
The article of Schenk-Sandbergen (1992) and the book of Panini (1991) about gender experiences in field research are other examples.
disciplines is not yet considered a 'normal' standard. With regard to feminist researchers and gender planners, Moser (1993:6) explained that women and gender would remain
marginalised in the theory and practice of planning until theoretica! feminist concerns are incorporated into a policy and planning framework.
The difference between feminist anthropology and other anthropological fields is that in feminist anthropology there has always been a direct and acknowledged bond and connection with the women' s movement. 8 Especially in the gender and development field,
anthropological research had a major impact on understanding the effect of economie change on gender relations (Gardner & Lewis, 1996:64). Furthermore, this research had a major impact on the provision of ethnographic accounts that showed, for example, the variability in household structures and divisions of labour throughout the world.
According to Gardner and Lewis (ibid.: 25), anthropological insights may contribute to positive forms of developmental thought and practice, both by working in development and also by providing a critical account of development ( emphasis in original). These distinctions are often blurred: those that produce critiques of development often influence development practice, and both forms have their positive and negative sides. In addition, Gullestrup (in Mikkelsen, 1995 :261) has separated ethical problems of development interventions in three areas: ethics of interventions in general, ethics of certain disciplines and ethics of personal conduct. These ethics are related to the question for whom is the work undertaken, to whom are the findings provided, and why. The rise and dominance of post-modernist thinking revealed some problems with these interventions in general as well as to those connected with anthropology. Within feminist post-modern thinking, the cultural diversion of people and the <langer of cultural relativism have become a mainstream issue of theory formation. In reaction toa former neglect of differences and diversity between women in the equity approach (see chapter two ), the post-modern influence sometimes seem to evolve in an endless emphasis of differences and diversity between people and structures of society. In the context ofwomen and development, without making certain generalisations few policies and methods may be changed or developed. In contrast, generalisations run the risk of perceiving women as a category of' objective others' with no attention to differences at all. Therefore, Van Driel and Deuss ( 1997: 187) rightly assumed that certain generalisations are necessary to develop
policies, but these generalisations have to be reflexive and must adopt a contextual analysis of the dynamics of the society involved and of a particular approach.
Feminist anthropology, in considering the relationship between women and men as a power relationship, always intended to approach this relationship from the position of the relative less powerful. It valued a certain commitment from the si de of the researcher, the
development planner and/or practitioner. The current popular goal of participation and empowerment in development policy and practice, though often only on paper, is closely related to anthropological perspectives on local knowledge, human agency, gender issues, as well as to anthropological methodologies. Chambers (1992) developed the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to counter the highly formalistic approaches to data collection by
development workers and professionals. PRA and its variants aim to enable rural people to plan and enact solutions to problems by analysing their own knowledge of local conditions, facilitated by outsiders (Gardner & Lewis, 1996:113). This idea coincides intentionally or unintentionally with the type of action research and anthropological work being undertaken by some non-governmental organisations and grassroots organisations.
8
Feminist anthropology is not the only field with a strong commitment to social organisations and movements. Also Marxist anthropology and action antlrropology made this commitment as a central part oftheir analysis.
During my study of the WWF's wamen members, I focused on wamen in the context of gender relations from a feminist anthropological perspective. This means that I had no intention to do value-free, objective or neutral research. The pretension of neutrality may aften only camouflage preconceived assumptions (Schrijvers, 1990:85-6) and may not be feasible and desirable when studying poor wamen. Instead, conscious partiality with the people studied, identification with their position and priorities, and emotional commitment is believed to be a useful and necessary condition within feminist anthropology (ibid.; Fontaine et al, 1990:10). One can not participate in the lives of the poorwithout having emotions or being committed. Consequently, this thesis presents only my interpretations and observations of poor fisherwomen and of one grassroot organisation and their staff in the specific area of Adirampattanam.
1.3 Methodology
During my stay in Tamil Nadu with the WWF, I made use of different research methods to understand the context ofwomen's lives, their position and condition in Adirampattanam area, and fisherwomen' s perceptions and experiences on several topics related to credit and empowerment. I mainly used the qualitative anthropological method of in-depth and open interviews with the members of the WWF who are borrowing loans fora short or long period. However, the circumstances, especially the time factor aften made me carry out
semi-structured interviews. The in-depth, more open and semi-semi-structured interview are combined with group interviews, quantitative survey, a PRA with wamen of the same groups and with observing the activities of wamen and men. The combination of such a set of diverse methods for collecting data il;nd understanding wamen' s lives was necessary because of the different problems I encountered in the field. These problems will be described in the next paragraph. Before I was able to go to Adirampattanam, I had to spend some time at the head office of the WWF in Madras. There I had the opportunity to meet some people working in the office and to get some insight into the activities of the WWF in practice. I made a questionnaire for my study in Adirampattanam area and I visited the wamen oftwo slums in North Madras: Sundarapuram and Pattalam. This visit to the wamen in the slums was originally the
programme for two visitors from the CGAP. This allowed me to view the interaction between the grassroots WWF and the World Bank related CGAP, for two days. In addition, these visits enabled me to observe the workplace of the poor wamen and to discuss their activities. For the questionnaire, I was mainly inspired by the literature on gender and development that I had studied in the Netherlands, the literature available about the WWF, and my study
proposal. Literature about the branch Adirampattanam was almost non-existent. The focus of this questionnaire was the intra- and inter-household differences between the genders in activities, priorities, decision making, access to and control over resources and benefits, like credit. I also included questions about the specific problems of the wamen and the
experienced impact and effects of the WWF in facilitating transformation in wamen' s position and condition.
When arriving in Adirampattanam, I attended several group meetings in and outside the WWF-office and with different groups. This helped me to become more familiar with the circumstances ofwomen's and men's lives, including their work. I was able to familiarise with the surrounding of Adirampattanam and with the approach of the WWF. I attended general group meetings such as the training programme for new members, for health workers and organisers, and I met diverse groups ofwomen who were already a member for two to fifteen years. It was with some of these last groups that I had done more orientating group interviews and I had to choose which groups I would like to speak later in time. Since the
credit pro gramme of the WWF is based on the organisation, mobilisation and existence of women groups, it was important to take part in, and learn from, the different groups. In addition, the relationship between the women of these groups, the social interaction with each other and the differences between meeting women individually or in a group became clearer. Besides the group members of the WWF, I wanted to interview a group of non-members and a group of male relatives of the women members. I decided to interview non-members as a sort of control group to compare the effects of credit on members and non-members.
However, it turned out that this gtoup of non-members had received their first loan from the WWF already and were members. The group of male relatives was well aware of the credit programme of the WWF. My reason to interview them was threefold: I wanted to get amore complete picture ofwomen's lives and relationships; to reveal the male vision on women and credit in the area; and to hear about changes noticed by men in their wives and mothers. Inspired by Schenk-Sandbergen's (1996) evaluation report of the WWF, I started with the method of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) which is a combination of an anthropological and gender specific participatory approach. During this PRA, members of the credit groups sat in a circle and I drew each woman' s name and other characteristics on a piece of paper. In this way, the name, age, household composition, number and amount of loans and use of money were visualised in one poster. I also asked them to mention the persons connected to them in line of importance. After drawing, there were discussions about the social and gender issues, for example, restricting and constraining factors in their work and personal lives, the present situation of women and what was needed to be done in the future to make their lives and economie situation less difficult to cope with.
After the use of these PRA' s with the different groups, it became clear that many women in Adirampattanam liked to talk about and discuss many topics, hut were a bit shy to draw something themselves. Therefore, I helped them write the visualisation of the poster. I also developed some picture association charts on which they could react to in word. I asked them ifthe subjects on the chart were more male or female and why they believed this to be the case. The answers on the charts were very enlightening and give new insight in the lives of these women. Interestingly, not only were the opinions and views of the charts different between the women' s groups, but the views were drastically different between the male relatives and the women. The sphere while presenting these charts was very open. There was joy and laughter when I presented the picture association charts.9
After the PRA, association charts, and discussions with the groups, I selected from the groups several women for an individual interview. This selection ofwomen was based on my
personai and subjective criteria. From each group I interviewed the groupleader and I selected women who differ from each other in terms of household structure. I used semi-structured, more open and in-depth interviews with the women as well as with the men and with
individuals as well as with groups. In this way data was collected on the past and current lives and on the relationships ofwomen. In the questionnaire I included the possibility to deviate from the questions, alter the content and sequence of the list, and to change and delete irrelevant questions. After six semi-structured interviews with six individual women, I had made the questionnaire shorter and deleted as well as added some questions.
In total, I conducted thirty semi-structured interviews with women members of different groups of the WWF. I consider these interviews to be semi-structured, since I attempted to create the opportunity to switch to a more open and in-depth character of interviewing. This was necessary, on the one hand, to do justice to some women' s stories and, on the other hand, because a lot ofwomen were very willing and spontaneous to tell and discuss aspects of their 9
lives. Several times women started to cry while answering my questions or telling me their stories. At other times there was an open atmosphere with much hilarity and laughter. A point worth noting is that I was dependent on the female co-ordinators from the WWF, not only for the translation but also for defining the direction of how these interviews were to be
conducted: more semi-structured or more open and in-depth. These wamen can be viewed as the 'gate-keepers' of my study. They were the actors who controlled the access to the research setting, to the information and to the people studied. Sometimes they facilitated my study sometimes they obstructed it (see paragraph 1.4). Hammersly and Atkinson (1983:65) mentioned with regard to a study within an organisation that
'Whether or not they grant entry to the setting, gatekeepers will generally, and understandably, be concerned as to the picture of the organisation that the ethnographer will paint .... Gatekeepers may therefore attempt to exercise some degree of surveillance and control, either by blocking of certain lines of inquiry, or by shepherding the fieldworker in one direction or another'.
In formal terms I conducted six life histories or case studies ofwomen staff members of the WWF who were working as directors, as health workers, or as organisers. However, I decided to use the semi-structured and informal interviews of the wamen members as well. This has been done to extend my material and to reflect my experiences with many women. It may reveal the unique characteristics of the individual, the differences in the lives between the women interviewed and their position in the community. It may also show the resemblance between fisherwomen of the same class in the same community.
Furthermore, I used the famous anthropological method of participant observation during my study. Participant observation was in my case often combined with informal conversations and interviews with women. Several visits were made to houses of members from the three different branches. These visits often helped to determine the economie impact of the loans in relation to women' s length of membership and the actual economie circumstances. The relations between the members in the household and the living conditions were also important aspects that were observed during these visits. Besides these house visits, I also visited several workplaces: the beaches where the fish comes in and is auctioned, the small and bigger fishmarkets in the area, the wholesale mark.et for fish, and the ice-factory for fish. In the other branches, workplaces and living places were visited as well. I accompanied one woman the entire day to understand the very harsh living conditions under which many fisherwomen work and live. In addition, I had the opportunity to collect several daily activity profiles of women and men, which gave me an insight to the differences of hours worked between women and men and the differences in activities between them.
Finally, I collected data from 72 WWF members who visited the bank in Adirampattanam branch on one day. This survey is the only quantitative method I used. It may be considered useful, since it presents some genera! characteristics ofwomen and their households. This information was easily collected since the women had to wait in the bank for their loans. In this survey I made some genera! statements about the relationship between women and men. Although this methodology is often considered a limited or supplementary source of
collecting data, the gap between the reality of gender relations and the desired gender relations may be identified.
I could only undertake the study and these methodologies with the assistance of the co-ordinators from the WWF, who translated the words of the women and men, as well as explained many things to me. My understanding of Tamil was very basic. I could only speak and understand a few words and simple sentences. Because ofthis handicap, I communicated
in English. The staff and members from the branch in Adirampattanam were not able to communicate in English so I needed the help of co-ordinators from other branches or from the head office. Working with translators was not always easy. It sometimes limited my personal contact with the women and it sometimes influenced the interviews and discussions. It made me aware of my own role and the role of the co-ordinator/translator in our interaction with poor fisherwomen. As a result it determined the difficult process of my interpretation, understanding and analyses of the material in this thesis.
1.4 Disadvantages and advantages in research proceedings
In this paragraph I will describe the disadvantages as well as the advantages in doing my study with the WWF organisation, working with the poor women in India. I encountered different types of problems, which I have divided into problems being linked to an
organisation and the staff and problems with my role as a western student researcher in South India.
Doing fieldwork in connection with an organisation is very complex. For me it involved several restrictions as well as several advantages in working with the poor women. One of the biggest problems for me was the role of the organisation in defining and controlling my role as a student researcher. In my opinion, this took place on several levels and in different fields. Because I did not master the Tamil language very well, I had to be assisted by a translator. The organisation did not like the idea of me finding my own translator. They were afraid that a woman translator from outside the organisation would misunderstand the women concerned. As a result I had to work with women staff of the WWF, who had to accompany me to
Adirampattanam and assisted in translating and explaining the interactions that took place. At first, this did not seem to be a real problem for me. I was aware of the more subjective and positive view they would give of the organisation. Since Ido not believe in objective and neutral research, I decided that this would be the line of my study. The fact that I could not work with the same person each time demanded flexibility from my part and from the co-ordinators and the people in Adirampattanam. I found it difficult that I had to work with different co-ordinators each time I went into the field or worked at the office. What
compounded my feelings was the fact that I was unable to choose my own co-ordinator. In total, I worked with five co-ordinators; four of them assisted me in and around
Adirampattanam, and the other helped me in the other branches I visited for a short time. Individually, and in relation to the women members and me they differentiated from each other. This influenced the study and my association with the women. One of the co-ordinators was a very clever person. She knew a lot of inside information about the organisation and the women members in general. In terms of translating women' s words and explaining the fieldvisits, she was very precise and detailed. Her introvert character would have kept the women at a distance, had it not been for the director of the branch, who accompanied almost every interview and field-visit. This director was an open and well-known person of the area, and she was committed to both the fisherwomen and the branch staff. She made it possible to take away all the discomfort and helped facilitate discussions and interviews. Sometimes, though, she had the intention to speak for the women through her own enthusiasm. Another shy woman was sent by the head office to assist me with the study, but she did not speak the Tamil language. She did speak Malayalam, the Keralese language, but there are many differences between this language and Tamil.10 Since she was new to the WWF, she did not know the organisation yet. It ended up being a stressful situation for the two of us. I found it 10
Malayalam is spoken in Kerala, the neighbouring state to Tamil Nadu. Malayalam, like Tamil, is a Dravidian language which split off from Tamil over the course of several hundred years, between the fourth and thirteenth centuries AD At present, Malayalam and Tamil are certainly not interchangeable.
difficult because I was told that I had to finish the whole study that week and she found it difficult because she could not understand Tamil, let alone translate it to English. Two other wamen, one co-ordinator of the branch in Adirampattanam and Dindigul and one bank employee from the WWF office in Madras spoke moderately English compared to the others. The bank employee was a middle-aged mother of married children and very enthusiastic about the organisation where she worked for years already. She enjoyed talking about every subject. Her age proved to be an advantage when we were interviewing some of the male relatives of the fisherwomen, since this could have been more difficult for the younger and shyer women. The only drawback was that she was unable to handle long walks in the hot sun when going on fieldvisits.
After a rather short time in the town of my study, it became clear that it was a really busy time for the WWF and for the co-ordinators at the WWF. There was no possibility for executing my planned study for four months in the remote town of Adirampattanam. I was able to understand the importance of their work at that moment, so I suggested as an alternative for conducting my study that I find my own translator. I even suggested doing the study in a different branch where someone speaks English, or to change the study by following and trying to help the busy co-ordinators with their work. Unfortunately, all of these suggestions were rejected and I had to find a solution to the dilemma of the time available for my study, for the necessary help in translating, and for organising a study that would do justice to the lives of the poor fishing wamen. Therefore, I decided to try different, mixed methods (see previous paragraph) and prepared parts of the study in advance. I wanted to get out as much as possible in the short time that was allotted to me by the organisation. Looking back, it meant that I had to perform the fieldwork in Adirampattanam, including the visits to branches in Dindigul and Narsapur, in approximately six weeks. During my entire time in India, it was never clear to me when I could get the necessary permission and approval to go to
Adirampattanam and how long I had permission to stay there. The time for study in
Adirampattanam was not united, so I was unable to undertake other activities from the head office in Madras. It could be at once that I was permitted to leave for Adirampattanam. There is no doubt that I, along with the co-ordinators and staff members had to work very hard during the time at the branches of the WWF. I aften started working at 6. 00 in the morning and <lid not stop until 20.00 at night.11 After I retumed to my guesthouse and had dinner, I still had to work out the fieldnotes, observations and fieldtrips, and had to prepare my material and myself for the next day. The fact that I stayed in a guesthouse, about 13 kilometres from Adirampattanam, concerned me in the beginning. I felt that I would miss parts of the fisherwomen's daily life. However, taking into account t4is distance, the limitations of time and the fact that most fisherwomen lived in remote areas that I was not permitted to visit during the night, made it easier for me to accept this living quarters.
Gaps in my material for this thesis are mainly due to these problems described above and to the problem that I was rarely permitted to speak with wamen more than once or twice. There was no possibility for me to check the interviews and other material. I rarely had time to speak with people outside the organisation, such as members of the panchayat.
However, the time available for the co-ordinators and for my study was, in my opinion, not the only factor defining and controlling the study. Although the president of the WWF in Madras received, and agreed, with my schedule for study in Adirampattanam, Raji, the director of Adirampattanam branch was phoned every evening to discuss the pursuits of the 11
This schedule was not only planned by me, but also by the co-ordinators and branch staff of the WWF. The branch sta:ff knew the time that was most suitable for interviews and field-visits. The schedule had to be agreed with by the president in Madras.
