Women

Women mēstiri (superintendent) in indigo firms

In informal sectors, women are never considered to be put in the position for supervising. Mestiri is a tamil term to address the head workman or foreman who supervise a group of workers in informal sectors like construction, agricultural labour and production units. Generally mesthri refers to the supervisor of male gender and no title for female supervisor is found. This explains the patriarchy in work force structure of informal sector, establishing the appropriate role for men and women.

Farmers in Nepal

Image: Woman with Cane Basket, Crates filled with oranges from orange orchards in Panauti Nepal. These orchards are sold by the farmers’ families while the profit goes to the landowners and they only earn a part of the profit made on the crop since they do not own the lands anymore due to brain-drain, high taxes and the push for privatization by the government.

Edible Earth from a Mountain

I arrived at place that has a mountain with the edible earth. I found that the wonderful mountain earth is eaten by PaOh ethnic elders especially for women and pregnant women. They often eat the edible earth in two ways; first is fresh earth and second is baking the earth. Usually they put the edible earth in the traditional oven to have a good smell and better taste. They believe that it is good for their health and it helps for pregnant women to get their energy. Nowadays most of young generations don't know about the edible earth.

Woman Led Self-Reliance Family

Woman Led Self-Reliance Family

I would like to share something with you about an ethnic Lahu family in Southern Shan State, Myanmar. This is a women-led family and they are relying on their own farm for their family foods and income generation. She is Daw Thida Aung with 52 years old and her husband is a religious leader. The family consists of four family members with her husband, a daughter and son.

Hunger: "We want rice, we don't want cash!"

This haiku encapsulates my impression of the debate titled 'Cash or kind transfer? The regional, national and global dimensions of revamping the Public Distribution System' facilitated by Augustin Brutus, a scholar activist (Intercultural Network for Development and Peace) and post-doctoral scholar at IFP, Nithya Joseph, at the Pondicherry workshop.  The participants included Sudha Sundaraman, of the AIDWA (All Democratic Women's Association) and members of the local women's group SAMAM (Samam Makalir Suyasarbu Iyakkam).

Warding off the virus with Corona Drishti in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Floor drawings, especially those made by variously connecting a grid of dots using white rice flour powder or paste, are often seen at the entrance of people's homes in Tamil Nadu. Known as the kolam, these designs are typically executed by women as part of early morning household chores and renewed daily as a recurring motif of everyday life. This kolam depicts the coronavirus as the evil eye that will protect, but equally harm, if not heeded.

Rice, Women and Local Economy: Rethinking Covid-19 Consequences

The images are from Kokrajhar Town bi- weekly market. Every Thursday and Sunday people living in and around the District Headquarter of Kokrajhar in the BTC (Bodo Territorial Council) area visit the main market when the bi-weekly bazaar takes place. The bazaar is a huge affair where assorted items are sold and bought, and contribute to the local economy. From direct producers-to-middlemen-to-whole salers of innumerable products partake in the commercial exchanges here. There are dedicated lanes and by-lanes within the market area for different items sold.

Different? Not really

The two women are as different as chalk and cheese. And I don't mean in terms of skin colour alone. Their appearance distinctly identifies them from two different regions of India - Northeast and South. They speak different languages and cook and eat food vastly different. But they are one - as women, as mothers as sisters in arms. They are united in their strength in the face of adversity. Migration, resettlement and subsistence bring them together in this space. Each is invisible, marginalised and discriminated against - be it colour, caste or communal identity.

Cycling Shades of Chennai

Simi Mariya Thomas, Research Scholar, MIDS, selected a photograph from the exhibition, Ambedkar Nagar- Near Kakkan Bridge, Chennai, to write her story for the session on Reading/Writing/Re-writing/Telling/Re-telling using prompts, 20 December 2019.

Superwomen of Chennai always surprise and excite me. They design their life in a manner in which they are fully involved into some sort of activities around the clock.

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