Women, work and technology in rural South Asia
Sinha, F.
Occasional Papers, Intermediate Technology Development Group, UK 9: 46
1983
Document Number: 447394
The paper examines the issues involved in introducing technologies for women in a societal and development system which typically functions to restrict women's development opportunities, with reference to rural women of South Asia. Section II looks at the ways in which women have been ignored in the conventional techniques of statistical accounting which form the base for development planning; and at some findings of micro-level studies which fill in the gaps left by official data. Section III links the structural bias of development accounting to women's marginalization in the process of technological development. It shows how mechanization of women's traditional tasks displaces the poorest women from their main sources of income, whilst leaving the drudgery of unpaid female labour unaffected. Some economic and social implications of this are discussed. Section IV considers the potential of intermediate technologies for women and factors which limit their successful development and dissemination. Finally, the policy implications for the development of technologies relevant and acceptable to rural women are outlined in Section V.