House hold politics, the market and subordination: A study of weaver community in Bangladesh

Abstract

The study examines the situation of women subordination which determined by the household politics and market strategy in weaver community of Bangladesh. In this traditional inherited occupational community the position of women in intra-household relationship is inferior because of the social construction of gender and construction of patrilineal society. In the weaving household both female and male members are engaged with the whole procedure of weaving. But female member’s participation march with their household work. Male member’s (who are responsible for running the family) participation recognized as economic and productive work. For the female it is very natural and as usual that at the same time they should cook rice on one (Chula) and on another she should boil the bobbin of yarn. And this is the actual picture of all most every household of the weaver community in kandipara village. The female members have to do the domestic work and economic activities at the same time in the household. The study will show that even though women are engaged economic and productive activities with weaving, there is no analogous improvement in gaining economic power and their bargaining power. It explores how the intersection of gender with social-class, religion and culture shapes the position and experiences of female weaver within the household in Bangladesh. This study uncovers the various factors and forces which lead to the situation of subordination of women in the weaver community. The study shows that in a weaver household work of male person is recognized as economic activities but that of a female is not recognized as economic activities. And it is considered as a normal household work on the part of women. Only when they work in others’ factory it is then only they are paid. There is disparity between the wages of male and female workers and most of the time female workers are paid less than male workers. This research provides current empirical evidence regarding the impact of She performed all the household works with his own hands like cooking, washing the cloths and utensils, cleaning the whole house, sweeping etc. At the same time she performed all the task of pre-weaving stage for the domestic production. Like spinning the yarn, boiling the yarn, applying glue to the yarn, drying it and processing it etc. I watched her cooking rice on one chula (oven) and boiling the bobbin of the yarn on another chula (oven) at the same time. And this is the illuminating picture of my research work that is subordination of women in weaver community. The housewife is doing normal household duties as well as economic activities at the same time. But she is not conscious about it and she does not get any wage for it and her work will not be recognized as economic work. Through this I got an essence about an internal household mechanism which I may call household politics. This situation of intra household mechanism-where men domination and women subordination is visible clearly with their everyday practice both private and public life. This Presented view of discrimination among the women in every weaver household of my study area village Kandipara. So I term this as “household politics”. This politics is found in weaver community of Kandipara like other weaver village of Bangladesh. Women are kept confined with weaving related work. But they do not get any wage for it. They are not aware that this work is apart from normal household work and deserves wage. This may be looked upon as domestic exploitation. This whole matter is included in intra household mechanism. This study uncovers that even though women are engaged economic and productive activities with weaving, there is no analogous improvement in gaining economic power and their bargaining power. It explores how the intersection of gender with social-class, religion and culture shapes the position and experiences of female weaver within the household in Bangladesh. This research provides current empirical evidence regarding the impact of the study considers to the aspects of gender division of labour commonly assigns of unpaid domestic activities to women. Importance is not attached to female labour. They have to perform household chores and labour of weaving. Though it is economic work they are not paid any wage for it. This type of exploitation is found in the household of weaving community in Kandipara.