'Green Earth, Women's Power, Human Liberation' Women in Peasant Movements in India
Author(s)
Omvedt, Gail
Abstract
The paper begins with a brief and general analysis of the characteristics of and conditions for agriculture in the Third World, and particularly in India, and then delve into two kinds of specifically rural ‘new social movements’ in India: the ‘Mukti Sangharsh’ with its women’s movement ‘Stri Mukti Sangharsh’, and ‘Shetkari Sanghatana’ with ‘Shetkari Mahila Aghadi’ as the women’s organization. The first represents the environmental movement of peasants and tribals who are resisting drought, ecological destruction, the displacement of people due dto the building of dams and other ‘development’ projects. These are often locally organized, and Mukti Sangharsh covers much of 108 villages in one district in the State of Maharashtra in western India. The second organization, Shetkari Sanghatana, is ‘the farmers’ movement’ consisting of peasants fighting their exploitation by the market and the state on issues of prices, indebtedness and corruption. It represents a force in about half of the districts in Maharashtra and is thus more of a mass movement than Mukti Sangharsh. Despite the difference in scope, however, the movements have many characteristics in common. One being the role and contribution of women in the two organizations increased and diversified during the latter part of the 1980s.
