Women's work: gains analysis of women's labour in dairy production
Mitra, M.
Invisible hands women in home based production: 109-143
1987
Document Number: 378648
The chapter evaluates Operation Flood in Andhra Pradesh, India, which promotes the organization and integration of women into dairying cooperatives for commercial milk production. Women do almost all dairy related rasks, including grazing, even when they do not own cows. However, men resisted the establishment of separate women's cooperatives. Further complications arose because of control over milk depots by men and various vested interests. By avoiding the vital issues of case and class, the women's cooperatives have ended by being controlled by the dominant sections of rural society who are bent upon the perpetuation of unequal social relations. Contary to the assumption by planners that poor women would benefit most from the project through access to loans and improved income, it was the better-off families who benefited most, using mainly hired labour. Traditionally, women marketed the milk to agents at their doorstep and had control over this income. This has also been adversely affected by the new scheme. Poor women were found to increase their arduous workload significantly wihout a corresponding increase in comsumption of food or milk. There is a need to recruit more women as extension officers, orienting them to women's issues and training them well in their educative and organizational role.