State livelihood programme gives women in 500 villages financial support as well as a say in family decisions

Pune: Till two years ago, not a single woman in Waluj village of Mohol Taluka in Solapur district, 400 km from Mumbai, knew what a gram sabha was. Purdah was widely prevalent and women were labourers at home and farms.

But just before the onset of summer last year, over 50 women marched to the gram sabha demanding job cards so they could get work under the Employment Guarantee Scheme. The gram panchayat had never seen such collective activism before and gave in immediately: within a month, all 50 protesters received job cards.

The ground was prepared months before this. The women formed self help groups (SHGs) under Umed, a State-led initiative under the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM), which in turn is part of National Rural Livelihood Mission. The programme aims to empower women by engaging them in innovative agricultural practices and giving them a steady source of income. Government officials at the village and block level mobilise women to avail of finance for their homes, farms or even small businesses. The NGO partner is Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP).

Uma Mote, block coordinator of Waluj for SSP, says a lot has changed since. “Earlier, women had no say in decisions taken at home. Even if they did get elected to the gram sabha, they would simply follow their husbands or in-laws’ orders.”

The loan factor

Money was the game-changer; women were not entitled to loans without attending SHG meetings, workshops and training programmes. “With the implementation of SRLM, women started receiving loans of at least a few thousand rupees. Their husbands can not sign on their behalf.”

At the meetings, the NGO drew the women out to discuss and understand each other’s problems. The women soon realised they were doormats at home -- even if they need to buy slippers worth ₹10 with the money they earned they needed to take their husband or in-laws’ permission. And if they didn’t, they would be physically or verbally abused.

Still, it wasn’t easy getting the women to attend regularly. “Women would often disappear. We had to spend a good amount of time and effort convincing them to stay. We also discussed their personal problems so they would open up and then join the group,” says Ms. Mote.

Bit by bit, they began to come, to escape problems at home for a while, to make friends or just earn some money. Tabbasum Momin, programme manager, SSP, says women were asked to cultivate everything that could be consumed at home, on just one acre of the family farm. In the remaining land, the men could continue growing cash crops.

Women began to cultivate over 20 types of produce, including vegetables, cereals, pulses and fruits. They did not have to invest in buying seeds, fertilisers or pesticides as they were taught how to make them the traditional way using crops like neem. Says Ms. Momin, “The women began to cultivate more than what they needed for the home. And naturally, they began to sell these.”

When the women began to bring in an income, their husbands and families became more accepting. Says Ms. Mote, “Women began to earn through this model and men, who were growing cash crops in the way they were habituated to, continued to remain in debt. Naturally they started to respect women, followed in their footsteps and even helped them out.”

Shashikala Janardan Mote is an example of the transformation. Her husband once beat her up in front of other women at an SHG meeting for attending it. “My husband believed women get spoilt if they go outside the home. But the cash-crop model consistently failed for him. He also saw how a loan was made available to me through the SHG and how other women were earning an income. He later not only allowed me to join the SHG but also carry out organic farming on our land.”

Ms. Mote and 20 other women cultivate okra. Every alternate day, they send nearly 1,000 kg to the market in Pune, 250 km away. Every time Uma Mote met other women at district-level SHG meetings, she began selling them organic seeds. More women now sell biofertilisers, biopesticides, animal products among other things at these meetings.

Strength in numbers

Beyond their homes and farms, a deeper change was taking root. For years, the women were being short changed as labour on other people’s farms. They needed a job guarantee and fixed wages under the Employment Guarantee Act to be able to work in summer.

Last year, two women approached the gram panchayat for the job cards but were turned away. The women did not let the rejection get to them. They got 48 others together, marched to the gram sabha and demanded the cards. Says Ms. Mote, “Men in the gram panchayat were visibly tense. They knew women should be allowed to speak but were not ready to give them the power. They were now cornered.” The women also pressured the gram panchayat to provide filtered water to all the households in the village.

Ms. Momin says 50 to 100 women from each of the 500 villages covered under the experiment have benefitted from the model. “We plan to cover 900 villages by the end of 2019.”

Komal Kokate, a beneficiary in Hingalajwadi, Osmanabad district, said, “Women have started an information centre at the village where organic farming techniques are taught to everybody who visits it. We now work along with the local gram panchayat, whose members guide farmers to visit theinformation centre to learn about organic farming. They also organise sessions for them.”

Nagesh Davane, block manager, Umed, Osmanabad, says many in his villagehave got land transferred in their names following this experiment.

Parvati Narkhede, a widow from Masala Khurd village in Tulajapur block of Osmanabad, says, “Following implementation of the model almost five years ago, women started to earn a handsome amount that led men in the village to change their patriarchal mindset. There are at least five families wherein husbands or in-laws have transferred part of the land in the women’s names. This year, 150 of us have registered our own Vijayalaxmi Agriculture Producer Company, and have begun selling seeds to farmers.”

More than the financial progress though, the women have understood their strength in numbers.