The dynamics of the sexual division of labor and integration of rural women into the world market
Mies, M.
Women and development The sexual division of labor in rural societies: 1-28
1983
Document Number: 411104
The chapter raises some fundamental questions about the economic and social foundations of the inequality between men and women, first pointing out that biological determinism is the deepest-rooted obstacle to the analysis of the causes of women's oppression. The tools of analysis should be revised in such a way that the problems can be looked at "from below" - that is, from the perspective of women's oppression. Secondly, the search for the origins of women's oppression should include the analysis of how "history in the making" has affected women and placed them in a subordinate position throughout history. As a result, the sexual division of labour should no longer be looked at as a problem related to the family, but as a structural problem of a whole society. The second part of the study includes an empirical analysis of this "history in the making. It refers to women lacemakers in Narsapur, Andhra Pradesh, India - engaged in a putting-out industry affecting 150 000 - 200 000 women. The proceeds from the handmade lace and lace products, sold in the national and international markets, have been increasing rapidly since 1970; its expansion has led to a greater class differentiation within local communities as well as to a greater polarization and differentiation between men and women's tasks. In the process of describing the nature of women's participation in this industry, some questions are raised about the origins of seclusion and purdah, the transmission of dominant values in a stratified class system, the division of labour between the sexes, the process of industrialization required by the industry's organization of production and the effect of pauperization on women's work.