ABSTRACT This article examines how older women’s work in the informal economy contributes to fami... more ABSTRACT This article examines how older women’s work in the informal economy contributes to family, national and global economies. It is argued here that protecting and promoting older women’s livelihoods will not only serve the interests of older women, but will also have much wider social and economic significance. Drawing on fieldwork undertaken over the last two decades in urban South India, the article demonstrates that amongst the poorest families, rather than being dependent on spouse or family, older women are often self-supporting, support husbands and subsidise the incomes of younger relatives. Older women’s work not only helps to reduce family poverty, it is critical to the distribution of agricultural produce in urban areas and supports India’s global competitiveness. The article identifies how state and market responses to liberalisation and globalisation are threatening older women’s livelihoods while failing to provide adequate safety nets for older women or their families.
The European Journal of Development Research, Dec 1, 2000
The failure of gender and development studies to investigate men's gendering casts doubt on the v... more The failure of gender and development studies to investigate men's gendering casts doubt on the value of much extant feminist research. In the context of household studies the investigation of men and masculinity through male informants is in danger of merely redirecting the object of essentialism and pathologisation from men to that of women. Examining the way people employ discourses on gender identity in their attempts to define and contest household relations will enable us to develop a more empathetic approach to the difficulties facing poor men without losing sight of the consequences for women of domestic hierarchies.
Research on chronologically older people approaches 'the old' as a category of people sharing com... more Research on chronologically older people approaches 'the old' as a category of people sharing common problems and experiences that are rooted in the functional disparities between old and younger people. These functional disparities are seen as impinging on social and economic positioning leading to asymmetries in dependence and vulnerability. The argument here is that rather than simply being an objective functional condition, old age is a deeply contested, socially structured condition precisely because the definition of 'old' does not merely denote diverging abilities but also confers differential needs, rights and obligations both on the 'old' and on younger people. Drawing on research in rural and urban South India, the article illustrates how definitions of 'old age' are shaped by class position within local economies. This patterns older people's access to work and, consequently, not only the extent to which people can remain self-supporting in old age but also the degree to which younger people expect downward resource flows.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Dec 1, 1999
The stereotype of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations in India is that of a dominating mo... more The stereotype of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations in India is that of a dominating mother-in-law and submissive daughter-in-law. However, residents of low-income settlements in Chennai (formerly called Madras) argue that daughters-in-law no longer submit to the demands and wishes of their mothers-in-law as they do in rural Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state of which Chennai is the capital. Rather than being culturally determined, relations between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are shaped by shifting physical, social and economic dependencies and expectations of dependence in the future. In many families social and economic developments are redefining relations between older and younger generations. Where such developments have had, or are expected to have, a deleterious effect on older women's capacity to support themselves or secure the support of their family, mothers-in-law are adopting a variety of strategies towards their daughters-in-law including that of appeasement. Amongst Indians and the general public in the West the predominant image of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations in Indian joint families is that of the dominant mother-in-law and submissive daughter-in-law. However, many residents of low-income settlements in Chennai (formerly called Madras) complain that in the city daughters-in-law do not submit to the demands and wishes of their mothers-in-law as they do in rural Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state of which Chennai is the capital. Younger women in these settlements, wishing to stress the inversion of the `typical' order of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, state `here it is the daughter-in-law who lies on the bed ordering her mother-in-law around'. In practice many women in these low-income households are wary of their daughters-in-law and anxious not to antagonise them. Such claims and relations not only contradict the
Research undertaken in the low-income settlements of India's fourth largest city, Chennai, has un... more Research undertaken in the low-income settlements of India's fourth largest city, Chennai, has uncovered the contribution that older people make to family, society and economy. By situating people at the centre of a study of urban poverty and focusing on what older people do, rather than on what they need, the study has uncovered older people's contribution to the economy, to social reproduction and to the care economy. The backward linkages of older people's work links the rural economy, where fifty percent of India's working population are engaged, to the urban economy. By making up for shortfalls in government social and physical infrastructure, older people have released women into the work force and have themselves provided low-cost inputs to industry and low-cost services to the urban population, thereby buttressing the city's role in the global economy as an IT and manufacturing centre. CONTEXT The study of Chennai, a highly dense and growing city of 4.7 million people, is a particularly apt context for studying three global processes that are having greater impacts on developing countries than on developed countries. The first process, population ageing, is growing fastest in developing countries, which is already home
India is now entering the final stages of transition from a population with high fertility and hi... more India is now entering the final stages of transition from a population with high fertility and high mortality to one with low fertility and low mortality – and is doing so in the context of widespread poverty and under-developed social and infrastructural provision. The rapidly growing population of young adults, the accelerating growth of the older population, and the increasing feminization of old age have important and largely unrecognized implications for the economy, for inter-generational transfers, and for the experience of old age that do not conform with the usual accounts of a rising burden of old-age dependency. Yet most academic and policy interest in India’s shifting population structure focuses on the ‘working generation’, defined as 15–60 years, and of these the focus is on the ‘youth’ who, it is thought, could potentially deliver a ‘demographic dividend’ of rapid economic growth. Old age, in these formulations, is seen (if discussed at all) as an uninterrupted period of dependence. By contrast, the argument here is that older people’s paid and unpaid work is needed in order to realize the demographic dividend and to counter the negative consequences of the shift to low fertility and low mortality. Drawing on mixed-methods field work that spanned two decades, this chapter will demonstrate that older people play a key role in reducing family poverty and in supporting economic growth. It explores what demographic transition means for the multiply deprived urban poor by examining its consequences for slum dwellers in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Chennai is one of India’s largest and fastest-growing urban economies and is located in a state with good human-development indicators in comparison with the national average.
Tlw objective in this paper is to show how household composition in M,ldras' low-income se ttlem ... more Tlw objective in this paper is to show how household composition in M,ldras' low-income se ttlem ents is the consequence of three facto rs: first, th<' struggle over resources within and between families; second, a concern for 111aa11am (honour/reputation) and third, housing form and tenure. The argument is that dominant principles regarding domestic relations combine with ho using form and tenure to condition individuals' access to particular households. The comparison of household composition in Slum Clearance Board tenements, government allotted land and a squatter settlement indicates that who is included as a member of the household and on what terms is strongly shaped by housing form and tenure.
Drawing on research undertaken in two Chakkliyar neighbourhoods in rural Tamil Nadu, it is argued... more Drawing on research undertaken in two Chakkliyar neighbourhoods in rural Tamil Nadu, it is argued here that while there can have been no golden age for the filial support of ageing parents, recent social and economic policies are creating a situation where sons are less able and less willing to support their parents. It is not only the post-1991 economic changes that are having this effect but also longer term changes in the rural economy together with policies that have raised expectations regarding the needs and rights of children, irrespective of caste, and of Scheduled Caste people. In order to understand how social and economic policies are impacting on intergenerational relations it is necessary to understand the logic underlying the distribution of family resources across the generations. This distribution is based on differential conceptions of personhood, and their associated needs, which change across the life-course and as social and economic conditions change. The argument here is that social and economic policies that have been directed at developing the country and strengthening what are known as 'weaker sections' can have and are having a negative impact on older people precisely because policies are conceived in reference to what is thought of as the working adult generation and children, rather than towards ageing populations. These policies are formulated on the assumption that what benefits younger people will benefit the old because 'in India sons support 1 1 Contributions to Indian Sociology (n.s.) 41, 2
Book synopsis: Virtually all anthropologists undertaking fieldwork experience emotional difficult... more Book synopsis: Virtually all anthropologists undertaking fieldwork experience emotional difficulties in relating their own personal culture to the field culture. The issue of gender arises because ethnographers do fieldwork by establishing relationships, and this is done as a person of a particular age, sexual orientation, belief, educational background, ethnic identity and class. In particular it is done as men and women. Gendered Fields examines and explores the progress of feminist anthropology, the gendered nature of fieldwork itself, and the articulation of gender with other aspects of the self of the ethnographer.
South Asia is experiencing demographic change generated by declining fertility, reduced mortality... more South Asia is experiencing demographic change generated by declining fertility, reduced mortality and lengthening life expectancy. 2 The outcome is a rapidly shifting population structure with a narrowing base, a youth bulge, an accelerating increase in the older population, especially in the oldest old, and an increasing feminisation of old age, again, especially in the oldest old. 3 This is happening in the context of low productivity in the two
Despite having the second largest population of people over age 60, India has yet to generate an ... more Despite having the second largest population of people over age 60, India has yet to generate an effective national framework for confronting the exigencies of later life, especially those that are derived from a lifetime of poverty. This article demonstrates that this lack of interest in 'past' generations is driven by the unfortunate coincidence of externally endorsed concerns and concepts, and internal politics. Foundational assumptions on the economy and development and on old-age capacities and inter-generational relations, push for evidence collation which disincentivises more empirically relevant analyses, creating the fiction of dependency ratios and preventing the generation of evidence-based knowledge on later life. The consequence is that India prioitises current and future generations over 'past' generations. Policies on older people, who are treated as 'other' at international and national levels, are tied to competition for votes at national and state elections. Currently, policy is not designed around the concept of older people's rights, nor of meeting need. The first outcome of external and internal drivers is that national and state governments are not interested in, nor know, how many older people qualify for a pension; instead they fix budget ceilings and, at a local level, allocate and manage pensions in a random fashion. The second outcome is that pension values are allowed to wither on the vine, waiting on the political context in which one or more parties places a pension uplift at the centre of their manifesto.
Abstract Book synopsis: In the interests of contextualising (and nuancing) the multiple interrela... more Abstract Book synopsis: In the interests of contextualising (and nuancing) the multiple interrelations between gender and poverty, Sylvia Chant has gathered writings on diverse aspects of the subject from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives, ...
ABSTRACT This article examines how older women’s work in the informal economy contributes to fami... more ABSTRACT This article examines how older women’s work in the informal economy contributes to family, national and global economies. It is argued here that protecting and promoting older women’s livelihoods will not only serve the interests of older women, but will also have much wider social and economic significance. Drawing on fieldwork undertaken over the last two decades in urban South India, the article demonstrates that amongst the poorest families, rather than being dependent on spouse or family, older women are often self-supporting, support husbands and subsidise the incomes of younger relatives. Older women’s work not only helps to reduce family poverty, it is critical to the distribution of agricultural produce in urban areas and supports India’s global competitiveness. The article identifies how state and market responses to liberalisation and globalisation are threatening older women’s livelihoods while failing to provide adequate safety nets for older women or their families.
The European Journal of Development Research, Dec 1, 2000
The failure of gender and development studies to investigate men's gendering casts doubt on the v... more The failure of gender and development studies to investigate men's gendering casts doubt on the value of much extant feminist research. In the context of household studies the investigation of men and masculinity through male informants is in danger of merely redirecting the object of essentialism and pathologisation from men to that of women. Examining the way people employ discourses on gender identity in their attempts to define and contest household relations will enable us to develop a more empathetic approach to the difficulties facing poor men without losing sight of the consequences for women of domestic hierarchies.
Research on chronologically older people approaches 'the old' as a category of people sharing com... more Research on chronologically older people approaches 'the old' as a category of people sharing common problems and experiences that are rooted in the functional disparities between old and younger people. These functional disparities are seen as impinging on social and economic positioning leading to asymmetries in dependence and vulnerability. The argument here is that rather than simply being an objective functional condition, old age is a deeply contested, socially structured condition precisely because the definition of 'old' does not merely denote diverging abilities but also confers differential needs, rights and obligations both on the 'old' and on younger people. Drawing on research in rural and urban South India, the article illustrates how definitions of 'old age' are shaped by class position within local economies. This patterns older people's access to work and, consequently, not only the extent to which people can remain self-supporting in old age but also the degree to which younger people expect downward resource flows.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Dec 1, 1999
The stereotype of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations in India is that of a dominating mo... more The stereotype of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations in India is that of a dominating mother-in-law and submissive daughter-in-law. However, residents of low-income settlements in Chennai (formerly called Madras) argue that daughters-in-law no longer submit to the demands and wishes of their mothers-in-law as they do in rural Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state of which Chennai is the capital. Rather than being culturally determined, relations between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are shaped by shifting physical, social and economic dependencies and expectations of dependence in the future. In many families social and economic developments are redefining relations between older and younger generations. Where such developments have had, or are expected to have, a deleterious effect on older women's capacity to support themselves or secure the support of their family, mothers-in-law are adopting a variety of strategies towards their daughters-in-law including that of appeasement. Amongst Indians and the general public in the West the predominant image of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations in Indian joint families is that of the dominant mother-in-law and submissive daughter-in-law. However, many residents of low-income settlements in Chennai (formerly called Madras) complain that in the city daughters-in-law do not submit to the demands and wishes of their mothers-in-law as they do in rural Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state of which Chennai is the capital. Younger women in these settlements, wishing to stress the inversion of the `typical' order of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, state `here it is the daughter-in-law who lies on the bed ordering her mother-in-law around'. In practice many women in these low-income households are wary of their daughters-in-law and anxious not to antagonise them. Such claims and relations not only contradict the
Research undertaken in the low-income settlements of India's fourth largest city, Chennai, has un... more Research undertaken in the low-income settlements of India's fourth largest city, Chennai, has uncovered the contribution that older people make to family, society and economy. By situating people at the centre of a study of urban poverty and focusing on what older people do, rather than on what they need, the study has uncovered older people's contribution to the economy, to social reproduction and to the care economy. The backward linkages of older people's work links the rural economy, where fifty percent of India's working population are engaged, to the urban economy. By making up for shortfalls in government social and physical infrastructure, older people have released women into the work force and have themselves provided low-cost inputs to industry and low-cost services to the urban population, thereby buttressing the city's role in the global economy as an IT and manufacturing centre. CONTEXT The study of Chennai, a highly dense and growing city of 4.7 million people, is a particularly apt context for studying three global processes that are having greater impacts on developing countries than on developed countries. The first process, population ageing, is growing fastest in developing countries, which is already home
India is now entering the final stages of transition from a population with high fertility and hi... more India is now entering the final stages of transition from a population with high fertility and high mortality to one with low fertility and low mortality – and is doing so in the context of widespread poverty and under-developed social and infrastructural provision. The rapidly growing population of young adults, the accelerating growth of the older population, and the increasing feminization of old age have important and largely unrecognized implications for the economy, for inter-generational transfers, and for the experience of old age that do not conform with the usual accounts of a rising burden of old-age dependency. Yet most academic and policy interest in India’s shifting population structure focuses on the ‘working generation’, defined as 15–60 years, and of these the focus is on the ‘youth’ who, it is thought, could potentially deliver a ‘demographic dividend’ of rapid economic growth. Old age, in these formulations, is seen (if discussed at all) as an uninterrupted period of dependence. By contrast, the argument here is that older people’s paid and unpaid work is needed in order to realize the demographic dividend and to counter the negative consequences of the shift to low fertility and low mortality. Drawing on mixed-methods field work that spanned two decades, this chapter will demonstrate that older people play a key role in reducing family poverty and in supporting economic growth. It explores what demographic transition means for the multiply deprived urban poor by examining its consequences for slum dwellers in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Chennai is one of India’s largest and fastest-growing urban economies and is located in a state with good human-development indicators in comparison with the national average.
Tlw objective in this paper is to show how household composition in M,ldras' low-income se ttlem ... more Tlw objective in this paper is to show how household composition in M,ldras' low-income se ttlem ents is the consequence of three facto rs: first, th<' struggle over resources within and between families; second, a concern for 111aa11am (honour/reputation) and third, housing form and tenure. The argument is that dominant principles regarding domestic relations combine with ho using form and tenure to condition individuals' access to particular households. The comparison of household composition in Slum Clearance Board tenements, government allotted land and a squatter settlement indicates that who is included as a member of the household and on what terms is strongly shaped by housing form and tenure.
Drawing on research undertaken in two Chakkliyar neighbourhoods in rural Tamil Nadu, it is argued... more Drawing on research undertaken in two Chakkliyar neighbourhoods in rural Tamil Nadu, it is argued here that while there can have been no golden age for the filial support of ageing parents, recent social and economic policies are creating a situation where sons are less able and less willing to support their parents. It is not only the post-1991 economic changes that are having this effect but also longer term changes in the rural economy together with policies that have raised expectations regarding the needs and rights of children, irrespective of caste, and of Scheduled Caste people. In order to understand how social and economic policies are impacting on intergenerational relations it is necessary to understand the logic underlying the distribution of family resources across the generations. This distribution is based on differential conceptions of personhood, and their associated needs, which change across the life-course and as social and economic conditions change. The argument here is that social and economic policies that have been directed at developing the country and strengthening what are known as 'weaker sections' can have and are having a negative impact on older people precisely because policies are conceived in reference to what is thought of as the working adult generation and children, rather than towards ageing populations. These policies are formulated on the assumption that what benefits younger people will benefit the old because 'in India sons support 1 1 Contributions to Indian Sociology (n.s.) 41, 2
Book synopsis: Virtually all anthropologists undertaking fieldwork experience emotional difficult... more Book synopsis: Virtually all anthropologists undertaking fieldwork experience emotional difficulties in relating their own personal culture to the field culture. The issue of gender arises because ethnographers do fieldwork by establishing relationships, and this is done as a person of a particular age, sexual orientation, belief, educational background, ethnic identity and class. In particular it is done as men and women. Gendered Fields examines and explores the progress of feminist anthropology, the gendered nature of fieldwork itself, and the articulation of gender with other aspects of the self of the ethnographer.
South Asia is experiencing demographic change generated by declining fertility, reduced mortality... more South Asia is experiencing demographic change generated by declining fertility, reduced mortality and lengthening life expectancy. 2 The outcome is a rapidly shifting population structure with a narrowing base, a youth bulge, an accelerating increase in the older population, especially in the oldest old, and an increasing feminisation of old age, again, especially in the oldest old. 3 This is happening in the context of low productivity in the two
Despite having the second largest population of people over age 60, India has yet to generate an ... more Despite having the second largest population of people over age 60, India has yet to generate an effective national framework for confronting the exigencies of later life, especially those that are derived from a lifetime of poverty. This article demonstrates that this lack of interest in 'past' generations is driven by the unfortunate coincidence of externally endorsed concerns and concepts, and internal politics. Foundational assumptions on the economy and development and on old-age capacities and inter-generational relations, push for evidence collation which disincentivises more empirically relevant analyses, creating the fiction of dependency ratios and preventing the generation of evidence-based knowledge on later life. The consequence is that India prioitises current and future generations over 'past' generations. Policies on older people, who are treated as 'other' at international and national levels, are tied to competition for votes at national and state elections. Currently, policy is not designed around the concept of older people's rights, nor of meeting need. The first outcome of external and internal drivers is that national and state governments are not interested in, nor know, how many older people qualify for a pension; instead they fix budget ceilings and, at a local level, allocate and manage pensions in a random fashion. The second outcome is that pension values are allowed to wither on the vine, waiting on the political context in which one or more parties places a pension uplift at the centre of their manifesto.
Abstract Book synopsis: In the interests of contextualising (and nuancing) the multiple interrela... more Abstract Book synopsis: In the interests of contextualising (and nuancing) the multiple interrelations between gender and poverty, Sylvia Chant has gathered writings on diverse aspects of the subject from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives, ...
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