Samita Sen and Nilanjana Sengupta
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199461165
- eISBN:
- 9780199087006
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199461165.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility, Gender and Sexuality
‘Maids’ have become an inseparable part of the daily lives of ‘middle-class’ urban households in India. Despite the fact that increasing numbers of poor women are joining this profession, very little ...
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‘Maids’ have become an inseparable part of the daily lives of ‘middle-class’ urban households in India. Despite the fact that increasing numbers of poor women are joining this profession, very little has been written about them, especially the part-time domestic workers, each of whom services a number of households at a time. They are not accorded their rightful status as workers either by the employers, their own families, the government or the traditional trade unions. Isolated in the privacy of employers’ homes, the problem of recognizing their work or organizing them is the same one as for women isolated in their own homes. Another important reason is that most such women are rendered voiceless by their social location: unlettered; staying in ‘illegal’ settlements; migrants; working to survive; performing ‘feminine’ work, both paid and unpaid, and both devalued. This book is, therefore, about making the unheard heard. It draws from personal narratives of part-time women domestic workers residing in two slum settlements of Kolkata, who speak about their work, lives, dreams, and despairs. By moving between the workplace and the homes of the workers, this book makes a departure from general accounts of labour and instead talks about labouring lives. The book also discusses public policy and politics which have historically neglected this section of workers as well as the recent efforts to give them visibility and voice.Less
‘Maids’ have become an inseparable part of the daily lives of ‘middle-class’ urban households in India. Despite the fact that increasing numbers of poor women are joining this profession, very little has been written about them, especially the part-time domestic workers, each of whom services a number of households at a time. They are not accorded their rightful status as workers either by the employers, their own families, the government or the traditional trade unions. Isolated in the privacy of employers’ homes, the problem of recognizing their work or organizing them is the same one as for women isolated in their own homes. Another important reason is that most such women are rendered voiceless by their social location: unlettered; staying in ‘illegal’ settlements; migrants; working to survive; performing ‘feminine’ work, both paid and unpaid, and both devalued. This book is, therefore, about making the unheard heard. It draws from personal narratives of part-time women domestic workers residing in two slum settlements of Kolkata, who speak about their work, lives, dreams, and despairs. By moving between the workplace and the homes of the workers, this book makes a departure from general accounts of labour and instead talks about labouring lives. The book also discusses public policy and politics which have historically neglected this section of workers as well as the recent efforts to give them visibility and voice.
Sudhir Chandra
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195695731
- eISBN:
- 9780199080311
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195695731.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This book discusses the case of Dadaji Bhikaji against Rukhmabai, his twenty-two year old wife. Dadaji filed the suit against his spouse when, after eleven years, she refused to live with him as per ...
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This book discusses the case of Dadaji Bhikaji against Rukhmabai, his twenty-two year old wife. Dadaji filed the suit against his spouse when, after eleven years, she refused to live with him as per the Hindu marriage law. The book looks at all aspects of the lawsuit, including the reactions of the people towards the argument of Pinhey and Rukhmabai’s defiance in consenting to live with her husband. It looks at the role of the British during the court proceedings and highlights some details of Rukhmabai’s life that could reveal some psycho-social factors that gave her the strength to rebel. It is important to note that this book is written using a radical-feminist stance.Less
This book discusses the case of Dadaji Bhikaji against Rukhmabai, his twenty-two year old wife. Dadaji filed the suit against his spouse when, after eleven years, she refused to live with him as per the Hindu marriage law. The book looks at all aspects of the lawsuit, including the reactions of the people towards the argument of Pinhey and Rukhmabai’s defiance in consenting to live with her husband. It looks at the role of the British during the court proceedings and highlights some details of Rukhmabai’s life that could reveal some psycho-social factors that gave her the strength to rebel. It is important to note that this book is written using a radical-feminist stance.
Nancy Whittier
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190235994
- eISBN:
- 9780190236038
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190235994.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change, Gender and Sexuality
What happens when activists who usually oppose each other work to advance similar goals? This book re-conceptualizes models of social movements’ relationships with each other and develops a new ...
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What happens when activists who usually oppose each other work to advance similar goals? This book re-conceptualizes models of social movements’ relationships with each other and develops a new framework for understanding relationships that are neither coalitions nor countermovements. Rich, empirically grounded case studies of opposition to pornography, child sexual abuse policy, and the Violence Against Women Act show how feminists and conservatives engaged with the issues and with each other, the differences between their approaches, and both their points of overlap and their power struggles. Each case illustrates a different type of relationship: an adversarial yet collaborative interaction around pornography; a narrow, issue-specific, and politically neutral opposition to child sexual abuse; and an ambivalent alliance confined to the policy arena for the Violence Against Women Act. Focusing on activism targeting the federal government from 1980 to 2013, the book draws on a unique, in-depth dataset, including transcripts of Congressional hearings and movement documents, to analyze interpretive processes within the state. Activists constructed frames that enabled cross-ideological support, dealt with the reputational risk of appearing to consort with the enemy, and sometimes compromised or de-emphasized controversial goals in favor of areas of commonality. In the end, feminists and conservatives influenced policy and culture to different degrees in the three case studies, depending on their relative power. Frenemies draws powerful lessons about both the benefits and risks of collaboration across ideological difference.Less
What happens when activists who usually oppose each other work to advance similar goals? This book re-conceptualizes models of social movements’ relationships with each other and develops a new framework for understanding relationships that are neither coalitions nor countermovements. Rich, empirically grounded case studies of opposition to pornography, child sexual abuse policy, and the Violence Against Women Act show how feminists and conservatives engaged with the issues and with each other, the differences between their approaches, and both their points of overlap and their power struggles. Each case illustrates a different type of relationship: an adversarial yet collaborative interaction around pornography; a narrow, issue-specific, and politically neutral opposition to child sexual abuse; and an ambivalent alliance confined to the policy arena for the Violence Against Women Act. Focusing on activism targeting the federal government from 1980 to 2013, the book draws on a unique, in-depth dataset, including transcripts of Congressional hearings and movement documents, to analyze interpretive processes within the state. Activists constructed frames that enabled cross-ideological support, dealt with the reputational risk of appearing to consort with the enemy, and sometimes compromised or de-emphasized controversial goals in favor of areas of commonality. In the end, feminists and conservatives influenced policy and culture to different degrees in the three case studies, depending on their relative power. Frenemies draws powerful lessons about both the benefits and risks of collaboration across ideological difference.
Stefanie Mollborn
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190633271
- eISBN:
- 9780190633318
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190633271.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality, Social Psychology and Interaction
Teenagers in the United States hear mixed messages about sexuality from the people and institutions around them. These social norms are important for understanding teen sexuality because they shape ...
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Teenagers in the United States hear mixed messages about sexuality from the people and institutions around them. These social norms are important for understanding teen sexuality because they shape teens’ sexual behaviors and because the negative sanctioning of norm violators affects teens’ lives. Struggles over norms and enforcement around teen sexuality are also a major cultural battleground in U.S. society today. Based on 133 in-depth interviews with college students and teen mothers and fathers, this book reveals teenagers’ fascinating and complicated social worlds of communication and silence, rules and inconsistencies, control and evasion, hidden behaviors and threatened reputations. The book develops theoretical tools for understanding norms and social control in ways that attend to social inequalities and emphasize conflict and change. Teen sexuality norms come in internally conflicting sets that regulate teenagers’ behaviors, emotions, public portrayals of behaviors, and sanctions. These norm sets and teens’ behaviors look very different from one community to the next. Norm enforcers—such as families, peers, schools, and communities—strategize to gain control over teens’ behaviors using informal social sanctions like gossip and exclusion and formal communication such as sex education, but teens strategize to keep control over their own behaviors. Most eventually seek to violate sex norms while evading negative sanctions. This book helps us understand why teen sexuality norms are sometimes effective and sometimes ineffective. It contributes to research in social psychology, adolescence, and the life course, and its findings are relevant for improving sexual and reproductive health policy.Less
Teenagers in the United States hear mixed messages about sexuality from the people and institutions around them. These social norms are important for understanding teen sexuality because they shape teens’ sexual behaviors and because the negative sanctioning of norm violators affects teens’ lives. Struggles over norms and enforcement around teen sexuality are also a major cultural battleground in U.S. society today. Based on 133 in-depth interviews with college students and teen mothers and fathers, this book reveals teenagers’ fascinating and complicated social worlds of communication and silence, rules and inconsistencies, control and evasion, hidden behaviors and threatened reputations. The book develops theoretical tools for understanding norms and social control in ways that attend to social inequalities and emphasize conflict and change. Teen sexuality norms come in internally conflicting sets that regulate teenagers’ behaviors, emotions, public portrayals of behaviors, and sanctions. These norm sets and teens’ behaviors look very different from one community to the next. Norm enforcers—such as families, peers, schools, and communities—strategize to gain control over teens’ behaviors using informal social sanctions like gossip and exclusion and formal communication such as sex education, but teens strategize to keep control over their own behaviors. Most eventually seek to violate sex norms while evading negative sanctions. This book helps us understand why teen sexuality norms are sometimes effective and sometimes ineffective. It contributes to research in social psychology, adolescence, and the life course, and its findings are relevant for improving sexual and reproductive health policy.
Karen W. Tice
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199842780
- eISBN:
- 9780199933440
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199842780.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Universities are unlikely venues for grading, branding, and marketing gendered beauty, bodies, poise, and style. Nonetheless, thousands of college women have sought not only college diplomas but ...
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Universities are unlikely venues for grading, branding, and marketing gendered beauty, bodies, poise, and style. Nonetheless, thousands of college women have sought not only college diplomas but campus beauty titles and tiaras throughout the twentieth century. The cultural power of beauty pageants continues into the 21st century as campus beauty pageants, especially racial/ethnic pageants and pageants for men, have soared in popularity. Tice asks how, and why, does higher education remain in the beauty and body business and with what effects on student bodies and identities. She explores why students compete in and attend pageants as well as why campus-based etiquette and charm schools are flourishing. Based on archival research and interviews with contemporary campus queens and university sponsors as well as hundreds of hours observing college pageants on predominantly black and white campuses, Tice examines how campus pageant contestants express personal ambitions, desires, and, sometimes, racial/political agendas to resolve the incongruities of performing in evening gowns and bathing suits on stage while seeking their degrees. Tice argues the pageants help to illuminate the shifting iterations of class, race, religion, region, culture, sexuality, and gender braided in campus rituals and student life. Moving beyond a binary of objectification versus empowerment, Tice offers a nuanced analysis of the contradictory politics of higher education, feminism and post-feminism, empowerment, consumerism, race and ethnicity, class mobility, and popular culture on student bodies and cultures, the making of idealized collegiate masculinities and femininities, and the stylization of higher education itself.Less
Universities are unlikely venues for grading, branding, and marketing gendered beauty, bodies, poise, and style. Nonetheless, thousands of college women have sought not only college diplomas but campus beauty titles and tiaras throughout the twentieth century. The cultural power of beauty pageants continues into the 21st century as campus beauty pageants, especially racial/ethnic pageants and pageants for men, have soared in popularity. Tice asks how, and why, does higher education remain in the beauty and body business and with what effects on student bodies and identities. She explores why students compete in and attend pageants as well as why campus-based etiquette and charm schools are flourishing. Based on archival research and interviews with contemporary campus queens and university sponsors as well as hundreds of hours observing college pageants on predominantly black and white campuses, Tice examines how campus pageant contestants express personal ambitions, desires, and, sometimes, racial/political agendas to resolve the incongruities of performing in evening gowns and bathing suits on stage while seeking their degrees. Tice argues the pageants help to illuminate the shifting iterations of class, race, religion, region, culture, sexuality, and gender braided in campus rituals and student life. Moving beyond a binary of objectification versus empowerment, Tice offers a nuanced analysis of the contradictory politics of higher education, feminism and post-feminism, empowerment, consumerism, race and ethnicity, class mobility, and popular culture on student bodies and cultures, the making of idealized collegiate masculinities and femininities, and the stylization of higher education itself.
Valerie Sperling
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199324347
- eISBN:
- 9780199381890
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199324347.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change, Gender and Sexuality
Is Vladimir Putin macho, or is he a “fag”? this book investigates how gender stereotypes and sexualization have been used as tools of political legitimation in Putin’s Russia. Despite their political ...
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Is Vladimir Putin macho, or is he a “fag”? this book investigates how gender stereotypes and sexualization have been used as tools of political legitimation in Putin’s Russia. Despite their political polarization, regime allies and detractors alike have wielded traditional concepts of masculinity, femininity, and homophobia as a means of symbolic endorsement or disparagement of political leaders and policies. By repeatedly using machismo as a means of legitimation, Putin’s regime opened the door to the concerted use of gendered rhetoric and imagery as a means to challenge regime authority. Sex, Politics, and Putin analyzes the political uses of gender norms and sexualization in Russia through the lens of three case studies: pro- and anti-regime groups’ activism aimed at supporting or undermining the political leaders on their respective sides; activism regarding military conscription and patriotism; and feminist activism (including the dramatic performances by Pussy Riot). Arguing that gender norms are most easily invoked as tools of authority-building when widespread popular acceptance of misogyny and homophobia exists, this book also examines the ways in which sexism and homophobia are reflected in Russia’s public sphere. Exploration of this subject sheds light on Russia’s sociopolitical dynamics and on the use of gender norms as part of the legitimation strategies employed by regimes in power and by their political opponents.Less
Is Vladimir Putin macho, or is he a “fag”? this book investigates how gender stereotypes and sexualization have been used as tools of political legitimation in Putin’s Russia. Despite their political polarization, regime allies and detractors alike have wielded traditional concepts of masculinity, femininity, and homophobia as a means of symbolic endorsement or disparagement of political leaders and policies. By repeatedly using machismo as a means of legitimation, Putin’s regime opened the door to the concerted use of gendered rhetoric and imagery as a means to challenge regime authority. Sex, Politics, and Putin analyzes the political uses of gender norms and sexualization in Russia through the lens of three case studies: pro- and anti-regime groups’ activism aimed at supporting or undermining the political leaders on their respective sides; activism regarding military conscription and patriotism; and feminist activism (including the dramatic performances by Pussy Riot). Arguing that gender norms are most easily invoked as tools of authority-building when widespread popular acceptance of misogyny and homophobia exists, this book also examines the ways in which sexism and homophobia are reflected in Russia’s public sphere. Exploration of this subject sheds light on Russia’s sociopolitical dynamics and on the use of gender norms as part of the legitimation strategies employed by regimes in power and by their political opponents.
Mariko Lin Chang
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195367690
- eISBN:
- 9780199944101
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367690.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Women now receive more college degrees than men, and enter the workforce with better job opportunities than ever before. Indeed, the wage gap between men and women has never been smaller. So why does ...
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Women now receive more college degrees than men, and enter the workforce with better job opportunities than ever before. Indeed, the wage gap between men and women has never been smaller. So why does the typical woman have only 36 cents for every dollar of wealth owned by the typical man? How is it that never-married women working full-time have only 16% as much wealth as similarly situated men? And why do single mothers have only 8% of the wealth of single fathers? The first book to focus on the differences in wealth between women and men, this is an accessible examination of why women struggle to accumulate assets, who has what, and why it matters. The book draws on the most comprehensive national data on wealth and on in-depth interviews to show how differences in earnings, in saving and investing, and, most important, the demands of care-giving all contribute to the gender-wealth gap. It argues that the current focus on equal pay and family-friendly workplace policies, although important, will not ultimately change or eliminate wealth inequalities. What the book calls the “wealth escalator”—comprised of fringe benefits, the tax code, and government benefits—and the “debt anchor” must be the targets of policies aimed at strengthening women's financial resources. The book proposes a number of practical suggestions to address the unequal burdens and consequences of care-giving, so that women who work just as hard as men will not be left standing in financial quicksand.Less
Women now receive more college degrees than men, and enter the workforce with better job opportunities than ever before. Indeed, the wage gap between men and women has never been smaller. So why does the typical woman have only 36 cents for every dollar of wealth owned by the typical man? How is it that never-married women working full-time have only 16% as much wealth as similarly situated men? And why do single mothers have only 8% of the wealth of single fathers? The first book to focus on the differences in wealth between women and men, this is an accessible examination of why women struggle to accumulate assets, who has what, and why it matters. The book draws on the most comprehensive national data on wealth and on in-depth interviews to show how differences in earnings, in saving and investing, and, most important, the demands of care-giving all contribute to the gender-wealth gap. It argues that the current focus on equal pay and family-friendly workplace policies, although important, will not ultimately change or eliminate wealth inequalities. What the book calls the “wealth escalator”—comprised of fringe benefits, the tax code, and government benefits—and the “debt anchor” must be the targets of policies aimed at strengthening women's financial resources. The book proposes a number of practical suggestions to address the unequal burdens and consequences of care-giving, so that women who work just as hard as men will not be left standing in financial quicksand.
Michael A. Messner, Max A. Greenberg, and Tal Peretz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199338764
- eISBN:
- 9780190226220
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199338764.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality, Social Movements and Social Change
What does it mean for men to join with women as allies in preventing rape and domestic violence? This book, based on life history interviews with men and women antiviolence activists aged twenty to ...
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What does it mean for men to join with women as allies in preventing rape and domestic violence? This book, based on life history interviews with men and women antiviolence activists aged twenty to seventy, explores the strains and tensions of men’s work as feminist allies in preventing sexual assault and domestic violence. The book examines the experiences of three generational cohorts: a “movement cohort” of men who engaged with antiviolence work in the 1970s and early 1980s, during the height of feminist antiviolence mobilizations; a “bridge cohort” who engaged with antiviolence work from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, as feminism receded as a mass movement and activists built sustainable organizations; and a “professional cohort” who engaged from the mid-1990s to the present, as antiviolence work has become embedded in community and campus organizations, nonprofits, and the state. Across these time periods, stories from life history interviews illuminate men’s varying pathways—including men of different racial/ethnic and class backgrounds—into antiviolence work. The book explores the promise of men’s violence prevention work in high schools, college sports, fraternities, and the U.S. military. The book also sheds light on the strains and tensions of such work—including the ways male privilege is reproduced in feminist spheres—and explores the ways that men and women navigate these tensions.Less
What does it mean for men to join with women as allies in preventing rape and domestic violence? This book, based on life history interviews with men and women antiviolence activists aged twenty to seventy, explores the strains and tensions of men’s work as feminist allies in preventing sexual assault and domestic violence. The book examines the experiences of three generational cohorts: a “movement cohort” of men who engaged with antiviolence work in the 1970s and early 1980s, during the height of feminist antiviolence mobilizations; a “bridge cohort” who engaged with antiviolence work from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, as feminism receded as a mass movement and activists built sustainable organizations; and a “professional cohort” who engaged from the mid-1990s to the present, as antiviolence work has become embedded in community and campus organizations, nonprofits, and the state. Across these time periods, stories from life history interviews illuminate men’s varying pathways—including men of different racial/ethnic and class backgrounds—into antiviolence work. The book explores the promise of men’s violence prevention work in high schools, college sports, fraternities, and the U.S. military. The book also sheds light on the strains and tensions of such work—including the ways male privilege is reproduced in feminist spheres—and explores the ways that men and women navigate these tensions.
Maxine Leeds Craig
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199845279
- eISBN:
- 9780199369614
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199845279.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality, Race and Ethnicity
Why do so many men in the United States refuse to dance? The answer reveals a great deal about masculinity, sexuality, and race. The book examines the past as well as the present. Drawing on research ...
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Why do so many men in the United States refuse to dance? The answer reveals a great deal about masculinity, sexuality, and race. The book examines the past as well as the present. Drawing on research in sources ranging from military planning documents to boys’ fiction along with interviews, and participant observation, this book analyzes how dance became associated with women rather than men, youths but not adults, and people of color but not whites. The book traces the history of dancing men from1900 when white upper class men were expected to be good dancers, through dance crazes of the 1910s, U.S.O.-sponsored dances during World War II, the stifling climate of the Cold War period, the exuberant release of the 1960s, and the racial fracturing of music and dance cultures of the 1970s. Interviews with Asian, black, Latino, and white, men, aged eighteen to eight-six regarding their childhood, adolescence, and current experiences with dance, reveal how norms of sexuality, masculinity, and cultural assumptions regarding racial identities encourage some men to dance and discourage others. By focusing on dance, an activity that many current definitions of masculinity seem to exclude, the book provides a window on processes of masculine embodiment and racial formation.Less
Why do so many men in the United States refuse to dance? The answer reveals a great deal about masculinity, sexuality, and race. The book examines the past as well as the present. Drawing on research in sources ranging from military planning documents to boys’ fiction along with interviews, and participant observation, this book analyzes how dance became associated with women rather than men, youths but not adults, and people of color but not whites. The book traces the history of dancing men from1900 when white upper class men were expected to be good dancers, through dance crazes of the 1910s, U.S.O.-sponsored dances during World War II, the stifling climate of the Cold War period, the exuberant release of the 1960s, and the racial fracturing of music and dance cultures of the 1970s. Interviews with Asian, black, Latino, and white, men, aged eighteen to eight-six regarding their childhood, adolescence, and current experiences with dance, reveal how norms of sexuality, masculinity, and cultural assumptions regarding racial identities encourage some men to dance and discourage others. By focusing on dance, an activity that many current definitions of masculinity seem to exclude, the book provides a window on processes of masculine embodiment and racial formation.
M.S. Sreerekha
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199468164
- eISBN:
- 9780199088836
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199468164.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work, Gender and Sexuality
This book is an attempt towards a fresh understanding of the political economy of women’s work in India and its relationship with the Indian state. The study critically analyses the concept and ...
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This book is an attempt towards a fresh understanding of the political economy of women’s work in India and its relationship with the Indian state. The study critically analyses the concept and politics of work, worker, and women workers. The politics of the ‘social’, social welfare, and social policy is defined very close to how the public and the private are defined. There is an extension of the domestic into the public in the context of women workers in the social welfare schemes like the honorary workers. The study analyses the history and politics of work and women’s work in the Indian context through a case study of honorary workers in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. The book examines how women figure in the state’s social welfare policies, making a link between the politics around women’s work and social welfare policies. It contributes towards a better understanding of the broader political framework constructed by the political economy of the state within which women’s work gets defined as honorary. The study examines the complexities around the weakening of social sector services with the withdrawal of state support under globalization coinciding with the need and demand for expansion of the horizon of state welfare schemes and programmes like the ICDS and its anganwadis. With more and more women especially from poor or lower-middle-class background employed in new social welfare schemes where the form of work is defined as voluntary social service, the book brings into attention the issue of further marginalization and exploitation of women workers especially from the lower or middle class by the Indian state.Less
This book is an attempt towards a fresh understanding of the political economy of women’s work in India and its relationship with the Indian state. The study critically analyses the concept and politics of work, worker, and women workers. The politics of the ‘social’, social welfare, and social policy is defined very close to how the public and the private are defined. There is an extension of the domestic into the public in the context of women workers in the social welfare schemes like the honorary workers. The study analyses the history and politics of work and women’s work in the Indian context through a case study of honorary workers in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. The book examines how women figure in the state’s social welfare policies, making a link between the politics around women’s work and social welfare policies. It contributes towards a better understanding of the broader political framework constructed by the political economy of the state within which women’s work gets defined as honorary. The study examines the complexities around the weakening of social sector services with the withdrawal of state support under globalization coinciding with the need and demand for expansion of the horizon of state welfare schemes and programmes like the ICDS and its anganwadis. With more and more women especially from poor or lower-middle-class background employed in new social welfare schemes where the form of work is defined as voluntary social service, the book brings into attention the issue of further marginalization and exploitation of women workers especially from the lower or middle class by the Indian state.
