Capitalism and subsistence: rural women in India
Mies, M.
Development, Seeds of Change, Village Through Global Order 4: 18-24
1984
Document Number: 411798
The paper presents a brief outline of capitalist development in India and its impact on women. A deterioration is identified in their position which can be documented by analyzing mortality rates, health and nutritional standards, employment and education, as well as their political representation. The analysis focuses on two aspects of this trend, the sex ratio and women's employment in the rural sector. The quantitative analysis is supplemented with evidence of a qualitative nature from tribal women in Andhra Pradesh. It is shown that capitalist development leads to pauperization and marginalization of large masses of subsistence producers in India, the capitalist periphery, and secondly, that women are more affected by these processes than men, who may still be partly absorbed into the actual wage labour force. Finally, some proposals are advanced for the development of a strategy aimed at the emancipation of subsistence producers.