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Social movements can be classified into women’s movements,
Dalit movements, Tribal movements, Agrarian and Farmers’ movements, Regional
identity movements, and Human Rights movements etc. on the basis of the
socio-economic characteristics of the participants and the issues involved. All
these movements are aimed at acquiring due spaces for different sections of
populations and regions. Social movements may sometimes determine public policy
The state of Andhra Pradesh has a distinct place in the
history of social movements in India. The state has witnessed many social
movements involving marginalized and disadvantaged groups and regions, these
movements have expanded social and political spaces of the women. Andhra
Pradesh is the only state with a vibrant women’s self help group movement. The
presence of a strong women’s movement probably provided a base for this.
Women’s Movements in Post
independent Andhra Pradesh.
The roots of the women’s movements
In Andhra Pradesh dates back to the nineteenth century.
In Andhra Pradesh women in early 50s joined struggles for
the rural poor such as the Telangana movement. Women played an important role
in the Telangana struggle. They actively participated in the land movement, in
agricultural labor wage struggles, in seizure of landlords' grain etc. They
acted as couriers, as political agitators, and in new centre’s as organizers of
people’s movements and mass organizations.
They had to face molestation and rape, apart from beatings
on a large scale. The story of their heroic and stubborn resistance in defense
of their personal dignity, against molestation, torture and rape, is an
inspiring one.
The transition of the economy in rural areas
from semi-feudal to capitalist relations from the 1960s has created a need for
the poor in general and rural women belonging to landless agricultural labor
and poor peasant households in particular to participate in women movements.
During the 1970s the
left parties organized agricultural labor, peasants and women on class lines.
Higher wages for agricultural labor, access to land, and protection against
famines were the issues focused upon. The extreme left parties were more
sensitive than the Left parties to issues of caste and gender oppression
although they too worked within the party rather than in separate women’s
organizations in the early 1970s.
The
women of Andhra Pradesh joined the Naxalite Movement also. Naxalite movement
had its presence in many states like Andhra Pradesh and it was found that CPIM
(Maoist) has a significant cadre of women from Andhra Pradesh. The women cadre
of CPIM (Maoist) from Andhra Pradesh participated in the Naxal operations at
AOB, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Bengal (Red Corridor). In the Naxalite movement, women have played
various roles as couriers, combatants, peace builders, activists and
politicians.
The mid-1970s autonomous women’s groups (AWG). Were brought
in to light. These groups claimed to focus more sharply on gender and feminist
issues It was increasingly realized that women’s movements needed to be
organized from a feminist perspective with autonomy of organization, Some of the earliest autonomous women’s groups were the
Progressive Organization of Women (POW, Hyderabad), The POW in Hyderabad
organized new and fresh protests against dowry
The 1970s and 1980s witnessed increased violence on women.
In the pre-emergency period (early 1970s) the Progressive Organization for
Women (POW) emerged and brought to the fore problems and issues of middle class
women. The movement organized middle class women on social and cultural issues
like dowry, alcoholism, relief from the double burden of housework and outside
work and economic issues like equal pay and the right to work.
All the major political parties,
the Congress, BJP, CPI, and CPI (M) in Andhra Pradesh have their Women’s wings.
Their political commitment is more leftist than Liberal.
From the mid-1990s the strategy of women’s organizations
shifted to a ‘Joint Action Committee’ as an issue-based expression of
solidarity, having their individual identities
In Andhra Pradesh,
India, an anti-arrack movement in the 1990s was created which grew out of the
awareness brought about by the mass-literacy campaigns of the National Literacy
Mission (NLC). It began as a spontaneous movement against alcoholism in a
remote village in Dubaganta, supported by the NLC in Nellore and adopted by the
other districts of Andhra Pradesh. It is noted that there was no organized
leadership to start within the anti-arrack movement.
Most of the groundwork was done with local initiative, with
women collectively protesting against arrack in their villages. With the
movement gathering momentum, political parties entered at the very last stage.
Eventually, the movement resulted in the declaration of total prohibition of
liquor in India. In addition, it provided a change in the party in power in the
state. It also showed a feminist way of looking at issues, especially politics,
thus aligning women's issues to the larger issues of state and society.
However, as a result of the deeply rooted problem of
alcoholism and its political dynamics the agitation could not be sustained for
long. Issues of such nature need a broad based movement though sporadic
agitations against arrack by women still continue. The
Women’s movement in the state has created a political space
for itself, and generated political consciousness and an understanding of
political processes among women
.
By the nineties the state had effectively taken over the
women’s movement by mobilizing them around thrift issues. In the context of globalization,
the state treats women
as a homogenous group to address any action or programme for
women. The creation of women’s self-help groups on a mass scale seems to
nurture depoliticized collective
action that is not threatening the power structure and
political order. On the other hand there is a shift within the women’s movement
from the ‘one women’s movement’ of the late 1970s to ‘several women’s
movements’ from various perspectives of regional, local, caste, ethnic and
minority specific issues
In 2000, with
world Bank support, the government of Andhra Pradesh expanded the program as a
thrift based program where women could make small savings, revolve their own
resources, and meet their families’ critical consumption and food needs. The program
has since evolved into a movement for the all-round empowerment of poor
women-social, legal political, and economic promotes women's social, economic, legal and political
empowerment to reduce poverty among the poor and the poorest of the poor.
The World Bank
project has helped take the women's Self Help Group movement to all 22
districts of Andhra Pradesh.
The women Self Help Groups (SHGs) hold regular weekly
meetings, save and repay regularly, and use trained bookkeepers for proper
bookkeeping. All SHG members abide by the principles of saying no to child
marriages, child labor, domestic violence and wasteful expenditures The women
discuss family planning, the number of children they should have, and the
spacing between births, indicating a significant change in their ability to
exercise reproductive choice within the household. They also take up difficult issues like domestic
violence, the trafficking of women and children, and the jogini system of
exploitation. Women’s groups have been able to prevent child marriages, .
Reduce child labor. Women’s groups discuss sensitive issues such as gender violence, and make special efforts to identify victims and help them to start new livelihoods. Social empowerment issues have become the basis for the subsequent economic empowerment of women. The program enables women’s organizations to develop the skills to negotiate with market institutions and develop other financial services.
Grassroots leaders developed through the program have
contested local government elections; and 9500 women from SHGs and their
federations have been elected at various levels.
Reduce child labor. Women’s groups discuss sensitive issues such as gender violence, and make special efforts to identify victims and help them to start new livelihoods. Social empowerment issues have become the basis for the subsequent economic empowerment of women. The program enables women’s organizations to develop the skills to negotiate with market institutions and develop other financial services.
During the last decade Women Movements in Andhra Pradesh
made a number of gains in a variety of spheres: Domestic Violence, Harassment of the Women by
their In -Laws, Atrocities against women, Eve-teasing, Women /Child Trafficking, Child Labor, Save Girl Child , and the Jogini
System Etc.
Eve-Teasing incidents like Sri Lakshmi murder Case at Guntur, rape and death case of Ayesha of Tenali and the gruesome murder incident at Tenali recently where a dalit women lost her life saving her
daughter from eve-teasers which attracted the attention of whole Andhra
Pradesh where the predators were booked under Nirbhaya Act for the first time in Andhra Pradesh.
Initiatives for Women Empowerment in Andhra Pradesh
Empowerment
of women is the hall mark of the approach of the Government in its development
initiatives (social, political and economic). The State Empowerment Policy for
women aims at the following objectives:-
-
Gender equality
- Gender justice
- Social security
- Elimination of discrimination against women in all walks of life
- Economic development and integration of women into main stream of economy.
- Gender justice
- Social security
- Elimination of discrimination against women in all walks of life
- Economic development and integration of women into main stream of economy.
As
a token of state’s commitment to remove all barriers in the way of women’s
participation in the main stream of development, the State Govt. declared 1997
as the year of ‘Gender Equality with Social Justice’. Steps have been taken to
provide specific provisions for women towards equality in all fields,
political, social, economic and cultural.
The
Department is playing a conscious role in empowering of women by striving to
enforce:
- The
reservation of 33 1/3rd Jobs for women in Govt. and public sector with
carry forward policy.
- The 33 1/3rd
of budget of all departments for developmental programmes for women.
- Implementation
of Girl Child Protection Scheme.
- Opportunities to participate through mother’s
committees and IGA groups. The year 2001 has celebrated as ‘Year of Women
Empowerment and the year 2003 as the Year of Adolescent Girls’.
- 50% of seats
are reserved for the Women in the Local body Elections.
- State Mahila
Commission was established.
- The Government of Andhra
Pradesh Started Bangarutalli Programme in 2013 for the overall development of the girl
child and gave it legal sanctity.
The Andhra Pradesh
government has initiated a unique integration of programmes across key
departments to improve health, nutrition, water and sanitation services offered
to women and children. And, the State government’s strategy to improve the
health and nutrition status of women and children — inter-departmental
coordination — has attracted the attention of the Centre too.
THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN ANDHRA PRADESH.
The status of women in Andhra Pradesh in comparison to the
all-India situation shows higher female workforce participation rate, less
gender disparity in workforce
Participation rate, lower female unemployment rate and
higher female share in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector. This
reflects the greater extent of female
Participation in the economy of Andhra Pradesh, given the
fact that there had been no public policy regarding entitlement of land to
women until recently. These factors clearly indicate the relatively larger
space in power structure occupied by women in Andhra Pradesh, compared to the
all-India level
The higher participation of women in household decisions and
relatively lower incidence of women experiencing violence caused by spouses
(NFHS III) indicates that women in AP are able to exercise greater degree of
independence in comparison to all-India. The
higher participation of women in wage and self-employment
programmes implemented by the state government highlights the fact that women
in AP are more connected to the
State than at the all India level (GOI, 2006).
However, AP occupies the first and the second place in
regard to the incidence and rate of total cognizable crimes committed against
women among all the states of India. This clearly indicates that the expanded
private and public space for women had resulted in questioning patriarchal
values, leading to enhanced crime against women in the state compared to
All-India.
Ultimately, it can be
concluded that women’s movements in AP have resulted in more space for women in
the economy, society, polity and also within the household in the state
compared to all-India.
References:
·
Women’s
Movement in India by Aparna Basu
·
Women
Movement in Andhra Pradessh by R. Pandey
·
When Women
awake by M.Larsson
·
Anti
Arrack movement in Andhra Pradesh by B. Sarveswara Rao
·
Anti
Arrack agitation of women in Andhra Pradesh by DN Reddy
·
Human and
Social Development in AP by Aponline.com
·
Dalit and
Naxalite movements in AP by Economic and Political Weekly.
·
Women’s
role in the Naxalite Movement by Prathibha Singh
·
Telangana
Peoples struggle and its lessons by P.Sundaraiah.
.
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