pro-poor, pro-nature & pro-women.
Lecture
| Women, Food for Work, and Human Development |
| - Pedro Medrano, Regional Director,WFP, Latin America |
| - Millenium Lecture |
| Honourable Chairperson, distinguished participants and dear friends!!! |
 I
would like to begin with a word of sincere thanks
to the "Hindu Media Resource Centre"
at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, and
especially Professor Swaminathan and Mr. N. Ram
for inviting me to deliver The Millennium Lecture.
I feel honoured to share my thoughts on Women,
Food for Work, and Human Development before my
friends and colleagues of the M.S. Swaminathan
Foundation. |
| Women and Traditions in India |
| With your indulgence, I would like to start, by making reference to an aspect that makes India unique in the world, which is the presence of female icons in her mythology, major religions and cultural traditions. The female Goddess is a figure found throughout India's ancient historical legends, folklore, paintings, sculpture, songs and dance forms. "Mother Earth" is worshipped in many forms and several of India's major deities are female. The Goddess of wealth, the Goddess of food Annapurna, the Goddess of learning, and Sita, the consort of Lord Ram, are all major figures in India's cultural and religious traditions. |
| Indian mythology has examples of women who have been instrumental in shaping the essence of the Indian woman or the 'stree dharma', which actually make them outstanding and inspirational for today's woman. Sita's name is invoked at every stage of an Indian woman's life. She is an integral part of Indian psyche. She is synonymous with'stree dharma' or the ideal woman, the one who did not give up her self-respect and identity. She bravely faced the odds and brought up her children single-handedly, thus bringing in the concept of single motherhood. 'She has taught us that a woman can survive anything but disgrace, never, not even from her husband |
 Similarly
Parvati is the stree shakti or the power of the
woman. As Sati, she immortalized love. As Uma,
she showed devotion, dedication and determination
to win the heart of Shiva. As Kali, she vanquished
evil. Even the great lord Shiva had to fall at
her feet to pacify her when she was angry. The
image of Parvati is thus that of a powerful woman
whose love triumphs over evil and restores peace
and harmony on earth. She has built the image
of the power in woman. On a more specific aspect,
according to Hindu beliefs, the birth of a girl
child is considered auspicious as she is expected
to bring in prosperity and is worshipped in homes
and temples in the form of Goddess Lakshmi. |
| How does these spirituals and religious beliefs reconcile with the situation of women in today's India?It is very difficult to understand the current conditions of discrimination and deprivation of vast numbers of India's women in the home and in the society and this is surely not acceptable. The reality of India today is that the same girl/women, is considered the 'lesser child' and is deprived of rights and equal opportunities. The women are the first to rise. last to sleep, last to eat and first to respond to any household situation. Why' should women and children who are placed on such high pedestal go hungry or discriminated? |
| Women and Human Development |
 When
one looks at UNDP's Gender Equality Index (GEl)
of2001, we find that on an average the indicators
for women on human development scores (such as
life expectancy, access to literacy, income etc.)
were only two-thirds that of men. The 2001 India
census showed that the disturbing trend of male
preference in offspring continues and may have
worsened in some areas in India. Punjab, one of
the country's richest states, reported a sex ratio
of 793 in the age group of 0-6, with Haryana at
820 and Gujarat at 878 close behind. Field studies
conducted by several respected agencies and experts
confirm continuing biases in household allocation
of food, lower wage rates for working women and
weak inheritance rights across the country. National
Sample Survey has noted that female work participation.
rates have been declining over a period of time.
Although famine no longer stalks the land and
the country has become self-sufficient in food,
more than half of Indian children less than five
years of age are moderately or severely malnourished,
30 percent of new-borns are significantly underweight,
and 60 percent of Indian women and 75 percent
of children are anemic. These manifestations of
malnutrition are unacceptable. These deep-seated
gender biases, tradition and cultural practices,
point to the fact that just as there has been
a feminisation of poverty, so there is the feminisatation
of hunger as well. |
| The greater part of the burden of hunger is invariably borne by women. Large number of micro studies, mainly drawn from India, suggests that the allocation of household resources favours males over females. Disparities in nutritional intake and medical care favour boys, and have a direct impact on lower survival changes of girls. in India. Data from rural India show that boys, because. they are expected to be more economically productive as adults, receive a larger share of family resources and have a greater chance to survive. Although women's needs are greater and more urgent during adolescence, pregnancy and breast-feeding, this pattem 0 f discrimination continues throughout the life cycle. . |
| The women from 'hunger-trapped' households .are married young, put in enormous amounts of physical labour, and suffer severe nutritional problems while fighting to survive. Caught in the trap of under-nourishment and anemia, they give birth to small and weak infants, perpetuating the cycle...of hunger and poverty. In India, 60 percent of women in their childbearing years are stunted as a result of inadequate nutrition during their own childhood. A malnourished anemic woman is more likely to deliver a baby with low birth weight. Such a baby will carry the handicap throughout its life span, and so on. And as is has been aptly put - hunger is not just malnutrition. Hunger is rape, molestation, and alcoholism. dowry, female infanticide and foeticide. (Mohini Giri. Former head of the National Commission for Women. India) |
| We would like to argue therefore that resources and actions must be prioritised towards those for whom any delay in addressing hunger will have fatal results. Among the highest. Priority is to give attention to the special problems of women and children' in order to break the inter-generational cycle of hunger. |
| Unless the human resource base is adequately nourished with the capacity to function at peak level, both mentally and physically, no broad-based development can take place. The fact is that while continued efforts at poverty alleviation and economic development have resulted in declining poverty ratios, absolute number of people living in impoverishment and the numbers of hungry. and malnourished have been on the rise. Human development indicators particularly health and nutrition~-related ones such as anemia, morbidity, mortality, etc. reveal an acute need for well-targeted interventions and delivery services. |
| F or these reasons it is even more important to ensure that food and nutrition goals are internalized in the anti-poverty strategy of the country. Also this is absolutely important to ensure sustainable human development. Hence, interventions for women's health and nutrition are extremely crucial, not only for the reduction of poverty but also, for the health and well being of the nation. Investing in the health and nutrition of women and children is sure to yield high results. |
| Women and Development issues |
| There is enough evidence to argue that poverty alleviation programmes and human development are intrinsically linked. There is a relationship between a woman's economic productivity and the health status of her family. However, certain types of employment and the uncongenial location. will negatively influence childcare practices. Hard data to substantiate this claim is difficult to come by, but there is a significant body of literature to counter this and to suggest that by and large women's employment has a positive effect on households' access to food as (1) it increases income available for it, and (2) income enhances women's control over how money is used. This argument could be true if women did not have to work in adverse conditions. |
 In
India, the intervention of the Planning mechanism
for the development of women really started with
the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85). The Ninth
Plan (1997-2002) made two significant changes
in the conceptual strategy. for planning for women.
The distinct features included 'Empowerment of
Women' and creating an enabling environment where
women can freely exercise their rights both within
and outside home, as equal partners along with
men. The Plan attempted convergence of existing
services, resources, infrastructure and manpower
available in both women-specific and women-related
sectors. The special strategy of introducing a
'Women's Component Plan' wherein not less than
30 per cent of funds/benefits are to be earmarked
to all the women-related sectors is indeed commendable. |
| The Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the current government envisages addressing the issue of both poverty, and human, development in a holistic manner. It aims to ensure that the economy grows at least 7 to 8 percent per year in a sustained way in a manner that generates employment assuring a safe and viable livelihood of each family. The CMP focuses on the welfare and well-being of farmers, farm labour and workers, particularly those in the unorganized sector and their families and especially Women. Empowerment of women, educationally, economically and legally has been. clearly emphasized. In a country where millions of people are deprived of any economic assets other than labour power, gainful employment is essential for these rights to be fulfilled. Indeed, unemployment is one of the main cause of widespread poverty and hunger in India. In India, there is a long tradition of labour-intensive rural works programmes, especially in years of drought. |
| The proposed Employment Guarantee Act of the Government provides a universal and enforceable legal right to the most basic form of employment. The norm of "100 days per household per year" has been adopted in the Common Minimum Programme, under the assumption that all poor households in rural areas will access the opportunity for 1 00 days. The social benefits of an Employment Guarantee Act are many. It would go a long way in protecting rural households from poverty and hunger. In fact, a full-fledged EGA would enable most poor households in rural India to cross the poverty line. Secondly, it would lead to a dramatic reduction of rural-urban migration: if work is available in the village, many families will stay in place instead of heading for the cities. Thirdly, guaranteed employment would be a major source of empowerment for women. Based on past experience, a large proportion of labourers employed under EGA are likely to be women, and guaranteed employment. will give .them some economic independence. |
| Fourthly, the Employment Guarantee Act is an opportunity to create useful assets in rural areas. Fifthly, guaranteed employment is likely to change power equations in the rural society, and to foster a more equitable social order. |
 India
plays host to the largest food assistance programmes
in the world and plays a major role in the lives
of the most vulnerable people. Some 25 million
children and mothers would not receive proper
'food for growth' without supplementary feeding
schemes such as the Government of India's Integrated
Child Development Services. About 100 million
school children would. face difficulties in. learning
and regularly attending classes were it not for
the food they received in. 'food-for -education'
programmes that are run by governments all over
the region. Some ten million poor people would
not find employment and food incomes without 'food-for-work'
programmes. About 200 million people below the
poverty line would find it more difficult to meet
their basic food requirements without targeted
food distribution schemes. And at least two million
disaster-affected people in a typical year are
helped to cope with the food shock through 'relief
food' interventions. |
| But, if we examine the extent to which poverty alleviation programme has 'alleviated' hunger and malnutrition, in India we encounter a mixed picture. There has been a secular decline in calorie intakes in rural areas, amounting to approximately 70 calories per capita over the period 1983 to 1999-2000. This decrease can be discerned in virtually all 4 link roads, ponds and small buildings has also led to the limited use of its resources, as on the one hand, the lack of adequate technical capacity at the village level leads to poor absorption capacity while there is a limit to the number of soil excavation works that can be undertaken in a limited area. |
| In its present form FFW /SGRY only support work involving physical labour for the creation of community assets such as link roads, village ponds and other small-scale infrastructure. This, more often than not, involves physical work of a drudge nature such as digging pits, leveling soil, breaking stones, etc. |
| While women form a sizeable proportion of the labour engaged in FFW/SGRY, their participation often carries a heavy social and economic cost to the family. Infants and small children must accompany mothers to the worksite, where even basic care facilities are usually absent. Consequently, adolescent girls in the household. are kept back from school to look after younger siblings while the mother goes to work. There is thus a trade-offs between increased cash income for the. household and. giving up on other long term investments. |
| The proposed Employment Guarantee Act -EGA - of the Government according to our views, offers a platform to converge the goals of wage employment and human development. The concept we are putting forward is the inclusion of elements of human development to the EGA. What is proposed is an expansion of the definition of 'work' to include additional activities that are now non-existent in the employment schemes. The objective is to sharpen the focus of the EGA on women, as well as impact other, on-going government programmes that target human development. |
| We have already tested this approach of supporting human development through FFW at the village level by increasing the efficiency of delivery of various social services in the areas of education, nutrition and health. While FFW/SGRY is today implemented as a departmental programme, this concept ~seeks .to use EGA as a platform to converge other ongoing food based and social programmes. This enables. not just the expansion of wage employment opportunities at the village level and a greater utilization. of food resources but also positively impacts other human development services. and initiatives. Lastly, the expansion in the scope of EGA would seek to target women and children as a distinct category of beneficiaries and hopes to address some of the delivery gaps that exist along gender lines in sub-sectors such as literacy, health and nutrition. |
| Redefining the definition of 'work' under the Employment Guarantee Act and expanding its scope with the specific intention of targeting women's employment at the village level, the following activities could be considered as 'work' that is eligible for employment under the EGA: |
|
| The rationale for selecting these area and activities is that these are most likely to benefit from additional labour inputs to enhance their efficacy and impact. It is argued that given the present structure of the programmes listed above, it is not feasible to achieve the targets envisaged with the given manpower. For example, Anganwadi worker (and her helper in some states) is supposed to manage 80+ children as well as pregnant and nursing mothers. They have to provide nutritional supplement, fill out the health cards regularly, and organize non-formal education, immunization and health education. More often than not she is barely able to administer supplementary feeding. Children from outlying hamlets are usually unable to travel to .the Anganwadi centre, thus being deprived of the entire package of nutrition and health cover. A similar situation prevails in respect of the health worker, who serves a population of 5000. |
| The logic of the proposal is to assist the existing workforce in these programmes through additional inputs through women's work, and the combined result is expected to enhance the delivery of the original scheme, be it the Anganwadi or the health programme. FFHD could function as a sub-programme within EGA, following all its norms for payment, monitoring and reporting. The only difference is that FFHD, unlike the parent programme, will be accessible only to women who are formed into Self Help Groups (SHGs). In all ideal situations, WFP would like to propose to earmark thirty percent of the EGA budget. |
| It also needs to be stated clearly that FFHD does not seek to duplicate or replace the social service delivery sW1ctures that already exist in the areas of school feeding, supplementary nutrition or health. These programmes remain very much in their current form and in the charge of the employees that are tasked with their management. What this concept seeks to do is to exploit the gaps in delivery, which prima facie appear responsive to additional human labour input in current social service programmes. This will certainly require planning and coordination at the field level between the various agencies involved and it is expected that the state will be deeply involved in all aspects of implementation. The SHGs, formed and trained to assist in the delivery of specific human development schemes will in effect be subordinate to add work to strengthen programmes like ICDS, preventive health care, etc |
| The basic premise of this proposed Food for Human Development (FFHD) is that food resources, especially in the States with the highest concentration of the poor, offer an opportunity to not only to increase employment but also improve the efficacy of other programmes that target human development, in particular health, nutrition, education, sanitation, water management, and food security. In so doing, it will also contribute to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in India. |
| Concluding Remarks |
 Given
India's comfortable food reserves and the recent
emphasis on providing a boost to rural employment,
especially targeted at the poor, the concept of
food for human development can contribute significantly
not just in expanding work opportunities, but
. also in giving the community a sense of ownership
and tangible benefits from the intervention. While
women have.-an. additional opportunity to work
without entailing serious social and economic
costs, the community a~ large benefits by the
enhanced efficiency of social services such as
the primary school, the anganwadi centre and the
health sub-centre. With resources flowing through
the gram panchayat to the SHGs, grassroots institutions
get empowered and acquire. a greater stake in
ensuring that public programmes perfonn better.
For the government at the state and central level,
FFHD provides not just targeted employment benefiting
women, but also includes a bonus in the form of
higher performance of other official programmes
affecting human development. It's the kind of
win-win situation that can only lead to an expansion
of the concept over time to cover additional activities
that the community identifies as priorities. |
| A poem by an African woman reminds us of what they need from all of us: |
| I have only one request |
| do not ask for money |
| Although I have need of it, |
| I do not ask for meat |
| I have only one request, |
| And all I ask is |
| That you remove |
| The road block |
| From my path. |
| From the Acho/i poem, Song of Lawino |
| Okot piBitek |
| Finally, .I would like to take this-.opportunity to express thanks to Professor and Mina Swaminathan and colleagues. of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and .our deepest gratitude for the support and friendship we were privileged to enjoy during our stay in India. We will always treasure these years as the most important in our lives. Many thanks for your kind attention. |