Book review: Asha Hans,Amrita Patel,Bidyut Monhanty and Swarnamayee Tripathy,Women Reinventing Development: The Odisha Experience

In the 21st century, the importance of women’s participation in the development process has been well recognised. Women have been redefining developmental goals and setting of policy priorities for institutional reforms and implementation to make development not only equitable but also sustainable. However, despite all this, women are not so visible in the policy process and implementation. In this context, Women Reinventing Development: The Odisha Experience provides an excellent micro-level account of social, political and economic dimensions of women and development by focusing on areas of education, health, employment, migration and politics.

The 11 chapters of the book are divided into four sub-themes, the product of years of empirical research by the authors that highlight the gaps between the claim of what has been achieved and the reality on the ground. Using a historical feminist approach, the first section analyses the problems women face and their struggle for social justice in the state. In ‘Multiple Authorship and the Gendered Narrative: Basanti and the Women Question in Odisha’, Sachidananda Mohanty looks closely at the multi-authored Odia novel Basanti to locate the women’s question in the colonial Odisha. Specifically, Mohanty locates feminist discourse in the writings of three illustrious literary personalities and activists of the colonial era, namely Sarala Devi, Pratibha Devi and Suprabha Devi. The paper suggests that while nine authors wrote the novel, three women, particularly Sarala Devi’s contribution, display a unique feminist tone regarding women’s empowerment in Odia society. The second paper author Women’s ‘Movement for Land and Livelihood’ by Smita Panda and Annapurna Pandey focuses on the two grassroots women’s resistance movements (the POSCO and Kalinganagar movements) in Odisha which campaigned for traditional land rights and livelihood practices. The paper also discusses the role of indigenous rural women’s agencies and their emerging political voice in the state.

The second section of the book deals with three particular issues around gender-based discrimination in the state of Odisha. The first paper by Bijayalaxmi Nanda on ‘Gender Discrimination and the Role of the State: A Case Study of Sex Selective Abortion in Odisha’, analyses at the declining sex ratio and sex-selective abortion in the state. The paper cited evidence, which refutes the well-established notion that sex- selective abortion is an upper-class-caste and north Indian patriarchal phenomenon. The second paper by Sanghamitra Acharya and her co-authors on ‘Correlates of Health Care Among Women and Children in Odisha’ has tried to understand and examines the issue of gender-based discrimination in access to healthcare services, specifically Dalit women’s access to health services and its implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In ‘Women and Underage Marriages in Odisha’, Monica Das attempts to understand the socio-economic consequences of underage marriage. It also examines policy interventions and recommends policy measures to bring changes necessary for bettering the lives of women in the state.

The third section of the book reflects on the current patterns of development and its underlying problems of growing inequality from a gender perspective. In this section, three papers analyse important issues, such as poverty, education and political participation, of women in local governments. The paper ‘Poverty and Food Security in Rural Odisha: The Gender Dimension’ by Deepak Mishra examines the gender dimension of poverty and the food security scenario in rural Odisha. The author argues that although there is an impressive trend of a decline in the percentage of people below the poverty line in Odisha, the percentage of poverty is still high in the interior districts and among marginalised social groups, including women. The paper also provides insights into the drivers and maintainers of chronic poverty and food insecurity among women and other marginalised social groups. The second paper by Supriya Pattanayak titled ‘Inclusive Education: Fact or Fiction?’ attempts to trace the education trajectory in Odisha through an analysis of both primary and secondary data. The study explores the gender dimension of tribal residential schools and its implications on tribal language and culture. It found that the Odia language is forced on tribal students as a tool of transformation that would help them fit into larger Odia society. It also found that residential schools and the process of socialisation define indigenous students’ identity and, as a consequence, these young people have become alienated from their own culture and community. The last paper of this section is by Bidyut Mohanty and Sibabrata Das on Regional Disparity and Women in Local Government: Implications for Sustainable Development, examines available evidence that indicates developmental disparity between different regions of Odisha. The study argued that recent developments in panchayats backed by women panchayat-level representatives have the potential of redefining the development process. The evidence suggests that a focus on the involvement of local people, more particularly women, in development planning and practices, has far-reaching positive effects on marginalised groups and regions that could impact regional and gender divides.

The fourth and last section of the book deals with women in marginal social groups and communities who remain at the periphery. Dalit women, migrant women labourers and women who work in the unorganised sector are among the most marginalised. The first paper in this section, Manasi Mohanty’s ‘Skills for Employment Programme in Apparel Industries and Trends in Female Migration: A Study on SEAM of Odisha’, analyses the process of female migration to the garment and apparel industries from Odisha to Kerala. The paper discusses the growth and organisational structure of skill centres in the state and the process of migration of women as contract labourers through these to garment manufacturing units. Through a case study, the paper exposes the exploitative dimension of International Apparel Parks. The paper argues that the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana that was established to economically empower women has been used as a channel for acquiring a cheap and flexible labour force. In addition, the study also found that the garment industry, to benefit from their disadvantaged situation, deliberately recruited young women from socially and educationally backward communities. The women were forced to work in harsh conditions, including overtime and mostly without full compensation. Raj Kumar’s ‘Caste Narratives: Odia Dalit Women Literature and Society’ is somewhat different as it tries to locate the existential conditions of Dalit women in Odisha through the analysis of Odia Dalit literature. The author examines how the theme of the ‘untouchable body’ has been described as well as perceived in this literature. The paper compares some old and contemporary Odia literature from the gender perspective with the aim of understanding Dalit women’s subjectivity in society and literature. The author argues that Dalit subjugation in general and particularly Dalit women’s condition has not been properly depicted in the literature by the male writers, whether Dalit or non-Dalit. However, justice towards Dalit women is done in the writings of Odia Dalit women writers. The last paper of the book by Amrita Patel and Swarnamayee Tripathy titled ‘Social Security and Unorganised Sector: An Overview of the Women Construction Workers in Odisha’ deals with the issues of the social security of women construction workers in Odisha. Based on empirical evidence, the paper analyses the policy and practice trajectories of social security from the perspective of the female workforce in the unorganised sector like construction. The paper observes that women in the unorganised sector, specifically in the construction industry, are vulnerable on a number of fronts such as that of low earning, poor working conditions, limited or no access to social security protections. In spite of some promotional measures and a broad framework of welfare policies within which the government has attempted to improve the condition of unorganised sector workers, the absence of a comprehensive and holistic implementation mechanism means that the initiatives are not going to benefit women in the unorganised sector. The paper emphasised the need for gender-responsive budgeting and implementation of legislative measures to improve the informal sector’s social security issues.

Women Reinventing Development: The Odisha Experience provides a good overview of women’s role in the development process through different case studies. It is a significant contribution to the issues of gender justice. The authors have presented careful and logical discussions and effectively argued for redefining policy priorities and practice in different regions of the state, keeping women in mind. With the help of both quantitative and qualitative data, contributions have also very carefully discussed and analysed the problems women encounter in the different spheres of their lives. Though the book lacks a broad theoretical framework and a concluding chapter to assess the relevance, utility and potentials of development for achieving gender justice, it is a useful guide for those studying the area of gender inequality and justice.