Women's Rights and Status within the Household
Elizabeth Francina Negi (India)
Gender, race, class, religion, economic circumstances and age influence us and shape
our identities. In today's world, women bear the burden of poverty, social disintegrationand environmental degradation. The reality is rooted in a complex set of circumstancesthat affect women's lives. The processes of integration and disintegration of the societal
structure have been the key to the emergence of today's social fabric. This has
influenced the basic lifestyle of the population that includes patterns and structures offamilies, language, mobility, educational levels, assignment and division of labour andwork environments. There have been controversial changes within society and family
structures all of which have implications for women and children.
The question of women's rights becomes imperative in the context of the enormous
load carried by women. As the same time, women face total powerlessness with regard
to their access to resources and their disproportionate contribution in public life. Often
it is the deep-rooted cultural and social practices that are responsible for problems
arising. The situation of the girl child in Tamil Nadu is a classic example of how cultural
specific patterns have worked against women in particular. There are many problems inIndia today. Many still assume that problems like female infanticide do not exist.
However, female infanticide has emerged in a new form of sex selective abortions formore affluent households. Dowry deaths have become typical problems for the Indiancommunity. No longer is rape a stray occurrence. In all forms of disputes - caste clashes;custodial or campus violence, or even mob frenzy at meetings, we find that women are
the targets.
One of the most important changes that can have an implication for women is therecognition and acceptance of the woman's role within the home. It is necessary todifferentiate women's contribution to domestic and economic domains. Often women are
assumed to function in traditional roles within the family. Women and children are notjust the passive beneficiaries of a male's economic bounty. There is an urgent need tomake women's work socially visible even if it is not economically rewarded. Women'sand children's economic contribution to the household has to be quantified andmonetised. This would lead to a better understanding of women's access, control andownership over the family's wealth and resources. It is important to influence changes
in attitudes; shatter traditional, restricting myths; and bring about a positive

understanding of the role women play in society.
Women, even educated women, get relegated to subordinate positions that haveneither decision-making potential nor leadership abilities. Women are deprived of theirmost valuable tool – power. Recognising that women can no longer be considered passive
recipients but active partners in the process of development is the first stage in theempowerment process. It is necessary that women should play a role as decision makers
or leaders today.
A growing number of very poor women are actively organising themselves into groups.
The Self Help Group (SHG) system is one that has proven to be very relevant andeffective. It offers women the possibility to break gradually away from exploitation andisolation and seek economic empowerment for themselves. In recent years, theGovernment has worked in partnership with a number of non governmentalorganisations and become more receptive to income-generating projects for women.
These programmes currently undertaken both by the government and regional level
NGOs and supported by international agencies are usually for micro-enterprisedevelopment. In many instances, the income gained through these activities is never
the main source of income. However, the income clarifies for women the power gained
through such activities. Particularly, those kinds of enterprises initiated through andfrom group efforts have helped women to acquire and control assets in a number of ways.
These means include mainly vocational and business training as well as small businessgrants or loans to groups for the purchase of needed equipment, materials or livestock
for organising small business co-operatives. Local NGOs play an important role insponsoring such micro credit programmes. To enhance the access to credit, thegovernment is actively creating or encouraging a more conducive environment for themicro credit programmes with the assistance of NGOs.
In the post tsunami neighbourhoods many of the livelihood opportunities have been
built on this concept. It has strengthened families that have been severely hit bymultiple disasters like fire accidents and floods particularly in Chennai city. The needfor such income generating activities is vital to the development process. These kinds ofactivities can constitute a challenge to situations like working with children who haveto stay out of school to earn for their families; weaning families especially women fromdependence on moneylenders; reducing poverty and vulnerability among women as wellas informing and educating women on basic economic and market strategies.

The SHG movement can be the basis for women asserting their economic rights asnever before, particularly among communities that have been living on the brink ofdisasters. Presently, this approach is not merely addressing itself to livelihood issues
but also to some strategic gender concerns.