Naz, Farhat. 2019. ‘Gender Division of Labour in Rural Gujarat: Hierarchy, Untouchable Women and the Case of Water', Lahore Journal of Policy Studies, Special Issue: Ecology of Work, Vol.8, No.1, pp.37-58.
This paper makes a case that water management regimes affect and are affected by women and men quite differently along the variables of gender and caste. The data for this paper is derived from longitudinal primary research undertaken in rural north-east Gujarat, India. The research methodology comprises a mix of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools, interviews of key informants, focus groups discussions, direct observation, thick description and household survey. The predominant focus on women as a unified category in policy frameworks does little to advance our understanding of how policies impact on tribal (Adivasi) and lower caste (Dalit) women. This paper illustrates the structure and practice of the gender division of labour within the caste-organised village society; understood here as the allocation of persons to different forms of work based on gender and caste, and the cultural values and meanings attached to that work. The longitudinal data emphatically supports the claim that low status Dalit and Adivasi women are controlled by patriarchal norms and by caste-based practices operating at the informal level.
