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Falling through the cracks News Update
Front Page
KIRAN BHATTY National
States:
While NREGA seems to have opened a whole new world of opportunities, • Tamil Nadu
single women find themselves excluded from the programmes due to • Andhra Pradesh
conventional definitions of a family household. • Karnataka
• Kerala
• New Delhi
• Other States
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The participation of women in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

(NREGA) programmes is an important intervention towards women’s
empowerment as it provides them, often for the first time, an independent
source of income and livelihood. In many instances, NREGA is also the only
source of livelihood available to women close to the vicinity of their villages.
It is not surprising therefore, that women have come out in large numbers
to take part in this programme. While official statistics estimate around 50
per cent participation by women on average across the country, in some
States, like Tamil Nadu, it is as high as 80 per cent.

Even in Uttar Pradesh, which showed very poor response in the first year,
the numbers are gradually going up. In a State where women have virtually
no income-earning opportunities of their own, being able to earn Rs. 100 a
day at their doorstep is an unprecedented opportunity. Across the country,
women working on NREGA are able to articulate in very clear terms the
benefits they derive from the scheme. From the simple pleasure of being
able to buy a gift for a grand child to investing in a chit fund to acquiring

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the confidence of operating a bank account, there can be no doubt that

NREGA has opened up a whole vista of possibilities for women hitherto
unavailable to them.
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benefit under of single women as was brought out by a recent survey of NREGA in
Jhalawar district, Rajasthan. The category of single women constitutes a
section 80 D
IffcoTokio.co.in separate social unit in its own right. But in the NREGA, these women are
being systematically excluded by not being issued separate job cards.
Without a separate job card they are forced to be dependent on other family
members and subject themselves to various forms of exploitative
Development arrangements. In effect therefore, the full benefits of independence and
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household [Section 2(f) of the Act]. On the one hand, this definition
extends beyond the standard definition of family by including adoption but
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www.hktdc.com women are being de facto forced into that category. In practice therefore,
the current definition perpetuates the patriarchal norm of male-headed
households.

Single women include not just single, un-married women, but divorced,
separated, abandoned and widowed women as well. While widows,
constituting roughly 10 per cent of the female population in rural areas,
have been recognised as a highly disadvantaged demographic group, the
category of divorced and abandoned women is not insubstantial either as
became evident in the Jhalawar survey. They too, represent a highly
distressed group with few, if any, social security options. In many
instances, married women are forced to return to their parental home, often
with their children and have to fend for themselves. Being separated or
divorced or even abandoned, they do not get recognition as a separate
household and become reliant on their father or brother. For instance,
Janibai of Gharbholia Panchayat was simply thrown out when she gave birth
to a girl child. Denied a separate job card, she has been forced to work on
the card of her brother without the full benefit of a hundred days of work. In
addition she is unable to use the wages earned by her as she has to hand
them over to her brother. The story of Kalyanibai of Chandipur Panchayat is
similar. Living in her father’s house for the last 15 years with her daughter,
she can work only on her father’s job card. In her case, she would like a
separate job card for herself and her daughter so that they can sustain
themselves as a credible and viable family unit. There are important
implications here for empowerment of women, especially in difficult family
relationships as access to a separate income would provide them with a
viable source of livelihood and thus the option of extricating themselves
from unhappy circumstances. In particular, it would go a long way in
challenging the patriarchal norm of male-headed households, giving women
the opportunity to live with dignity and independence.

Don’t deny the lifeline

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A potential problem is the difficulty in making a distinction between women

who are single, un-married and those who are married but not living in their
marital home. For women who move back to their parental home the case is
often made that they might return to their marital home and thus to their
husband’s job card. In other words, a temporary return does not qualify for
a separate job card. But does it matter? In any case the women would not
be able to work on two job cards in two separate places at the same time.
Even if they end up getting a new one in their parental home and then
return to their marital home, only one or the other would apply. On the
other hand, having the option of separate livelihood devoid of marital
dependency would go a long way in putting them in a position of strength
which is so often lacking for women in difficult marital situations. While it is
being increasingly recognised that NREGA is the sole source of income for
many women in rural areas, for single women it is a potential lifeline.
Without it they are in effect being denied the right to live with dignity and
independence.

PHOTOS: SOHAIL AKBAR

Left out: Single women households are family too.

The issue of intra-household exploitation applies to another category of

single women, i.e., widows living with married sons. After the death of their
spouse, one of the sons usually becomes the head of the household and the
widowed mother becomes dependent on him. More often than not, old
people, especially women, are being treated as a liability and in many
instances become victims of neglect, abuse and even abandonment.
Without a separate source of livelihood, they have no choice but to be
dependent on another household. Evidence from Jhalawar confirms that
many women in these circumstances would benefit greatly from having a
separate card and not be at the mercy of their kin.

Finally, adult un-married women should also be entitled to a separate job

card allowing them the freedom and dignity to live on their own.

Coherent definition

The imminent extension of NREGA to the whole of rural India (on April 1,
2008) makes it imperative to formulate a coherent and appropriate
definition of the household, and to incorporate it in the Act as well as in the
Guidelines. The current definition in the Act leaves a lot of scope for
interpretation resulting in certain categories of adults being left out.
Unfortunately, the Guidelines do not address the needs of single women
either. Since deeply entrenched patriarchal norms tend to influence the
interpretation of both definitions it might be useful to make an explicit
provision for single women. In a scenario where their identities are linked to
male relatives, the possession of a job card goes a long way in giving them
a sense of themselves as individuals and not tied to a male dominated
social unit. This became evident in the repeated pleas from single women
across Jhalawar, who said simply: just get us a separate job card.

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