Income Distribution, Poverty and Employment

The marginalization of woman, both in theory and in reality, has been the essence of her situation in society. It is reflected in society in terms of differential economic benefits, dependence relations and social inferiority, and often these features are perpetuated with increasing contradictions

Flexicurity and Gender Mainstreaming: Deliberative Processes, Knowledge Networks and the European Labour Market

Gender mainstreaming and flexicurity have been adopted as separate labour market objectives in the European Union since the mid-1990s. It is remarkable that there has been a virtual absence of gender concerns in the deliberations on flexicurity for over a decade. When gender concerns were introduced into the flexicurity deliberations in 2007, they were incorporated in the 6th principle of flexicurity which “should support gender equality by promoting equal access to quality employment for women and men, and by offering possibilities to reconcile work and family life” (European Union 2007:10). The basic assumption was that the objectives of flexicurity and gender mainstreaming were compatible and even mutually supportive. Flexicurity – the labour market policy that claims to combine and enhances both flexibility and security in the labour market – emerged as an important concept in the mid-1990s and is currently viewed by the European Commission as key to the “EU’s dilemma of how to maintain and improve competitiveness whilst preserving the European social model” (European Commission 2007)....

Persistent Patriarchy: Women Workers on Sri Lankan Plantations

__Abstract__ The early suffragists in the United States had decried the “prolonged slavery of woman” as the “darkest page in human history” with one of the leaders, Susan B. Anthony, stating on Independence Day in 1876 that “Universal manhood suffrage, by establishing an aristocracy of sex, imposes upon the women of this nation a more absolute and cruel despotism than monarchy; in that, woman finds a political master in her father, husband, brother, son” (Stanton et al 1887). While countries all over the world have witnessed progress in gender equality and gender rights since that period, the recent UNDP Human Development Report of 2014 has acknowledged that there is still “no country with perfect gender equality”.1 In Sri Lanka, women on plantations experience much gender discrimination and many gender disadvantages, being ‘slaves’ to men who themselves are ‘slaves’

Gender, Entrepreneurship and Minority Groups Surinamese Women in the Netherlands

Aim of the Project: (a) To study the experiences and best practices of successful women entrepreneurs from the Surinamese community (b) To examine the methods these women used to develop their enterprises, the challenges they faced and how they coped with them (c) To identify key practices that have helped them in their entrepreneurial activity (d) To suggest ways in which the local government could support such ventures. (e) To disseminate the outcomes of the study in Suriname to encourage entrepreneurial development for women in the country. This is a pilot study, which is both exploratory and informative. It reflects on the innovativeness of these women and the lessons that can be learnt from their experiences. It also serves as a basis for further research and appropriate policy development in the field of migrant entrepreneurship and women

Violence in transition: Reforms and rights in the Western Balkans

The 1990s saw the breakdown of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which, since World War II, had developed a distinct economic system that included specific market and socialist self-management principles in production, distribution and decision-making processes. At the same time, the European Union opened up the possibility of full membership if these countries – now politically referred to as the Western Balkans – met the accession criteria claimed as essential to bring about fully-functioning and competitive market economies. The transition and accession processes were supported financially, politically and militarily by Western powers as a shift away from authoritarianism and poverty, while promoting democracy, human rights and individual freedom. This article argues that, contrary to this optimistic discourse, transition in the Western Balkans reflected and incorporated violence at different levels. The article shows that tensions between reforms and rights began in the 1970s, spurred by indebtedness and inequalities, pervading the transition process and deteriorating in the wake of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. Social policy increasingly became framed along market- efficiency principles, challenging existing entitlements and rights, particularly with regard to education, social security and health. Vulnerable groups, such as the unemployed and the aged, experienced serious shortfalls in support and care. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, social protests against the deterioration in the levels of livelihood and the retrogression of social rights had erupted in several places. Violence was expressed not only in the form of direct bodily harm, but also in control exerted through indebtedness, the destruction of livelihoods, the denial of basic human rights, and the struggle for social justice

Plantation Patriarchy and Structural Violence: Women Workers in Sri Lanka

__Abstract__ Plantation production began in Sri Lanka in the early 19th century under British colonial rule, when the government provided financial incentives and infrastructural support for the commercialisation and export of agricultural crops in line with promoting laissez-faire capitalism. Motivated by the possibility of making high profits, British entrepreneurs, including several officials, took up the large-scale cultivation of initially coffee, and then subsequently, tea, rubber and coconut. Keen to minimise their costs of labour, the planters recruited workers from neighbouring districts of the Madras Presidency in south India where there were large numbers badly affected by the widespread famine and indebtedness in the region. The spread of plantation production in the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in a more permanent workforce, constituting the single largest and organised segment of the working class in the country. While women formed a small proportion of the early pattern of migration, their numbers subsequently increased and, by the 20th century, they comprised half the now permanent workforce on the plantations

Natesa Aiyar and Meenachi Ammal: Pioneers of Trade Unionism and Feminism on The Plantations

Natesa Aiyar and Meenachi were labour activists, politicians and visionaries who used their the oratory and organisational skills, to mobilise the workers to struggle mobilise for better working conditions and wages, as well citizenship rights for all women and men on the plantations. exploitative conditions but he also emphasised the need to provide higher wages to women as well as to ensure children’s right to education

Politics of Caste-based Exclusion and Poverty Alleviation Schemes in Rural India

While social inclusion and inclusive societies are commendable goals, and also reflected in legislation and policies, the persistence of poverty and social deprivation suggests the need engage with how In spite of legislation prohibiting caste-based exclusionary practices in India, and implementation of reservation policies and welfare schemes, the vast majority of the Dalits – the so-called ‘lower castes’ continue to Caste-based stratification represents one of the most pervasive forms of social exclusion injustice with the so-called ‘lower castes’ or Dalits having been historically exposed to multiple exclusions and the majority continuing to experience social deprivation and poverty. Associated with the Hindu tradition, the caste ideology legitimises inequality according to the status of birth, restricts interactions between the castes, and accords differential privileges according to where a person is placed in the caste ladder. Since gaining Independence, the government of India has enacted legislation penalising caste-based exclusionary practices such as untouchability, and implemented reservation policies as well as welfare schemes to improve the upward mobility of the Dalits. This paper is concerned with the ways in which Dalits have been included in and benefited from such targeted legislation and schemes. Based on fieldwork conducted in 'Ambedkar' villages (with special programmes for Scheduled castes) and 'Non-Ambedkar' villages in Uttar Pradesh, it was found that, in spite of progressive legislations, schemes, central monitoring system and a pro-Dalit political party in power, there were no significant changes in the livelihood options of the Dalits in Ambedkar and non-Ambedkar villages. The paper shows that the relatively ‘high’ castes used their economic, political and patronage powers to influence the local government, implementing agencies and the police to subvert these schemes in their favour, resulting in the adverse incorporation of the Dalits into schemes specifically targeted to their benefit. The problem was compound by the fragmented nature of government and NGO interventions, which did not sufficiently recognize the interlocking and cumulative nature of the exclusions and atrocities experienced by poor Dalits, particularly with respect to their human rights, human development and human security in their daily lives. Under these circumstances, caste-based ideologies and practices continued to perpetuate the lower status of the Dalits by integrating them into programmes and schemes in accordance with dominant norms, values, rights and processes of inclusion and exclusion. The paper suggests that countering social inclusion and promoting secure and sustainable social inclusion of vulnerable groups involves unpacking and challenging the norms of inclusion that often validate the values of the more powerful, while discrediting which often favour the more powerful political and economic prorecognising the different ways in inclusion and exclusion which multiple the government and other concerned actors need to develop multiple strategies at different levels to develop more effective and sustainable ways of the Dalits in rural India