mccarthy (1983) rural women discovered- new sources of capital and labour in bangladesh.pdf

8/14/2019 McCarthy (1983) Rural Women Discovered- New Sources of Capital and Labour in Bangladesh.pdf

1/26

Rural Wom en Discovered:New Sources o f Capital and Labour inBangladeshFlorence McCarthy and Shelley Feldman

Bangladesh, as a relatively recent independent cou ntry is enjoy ing adevelopment boom in the form of massive aid, gran ts and loansflooding the country from western and socialist countries alike. Inone sense the boom is stimulated by western interests in keepingBangladesh firmly tied to the West, and by socialist, primarilySoviet, concern in offsetting possible Chinese interests in the area.Before Independence, however, the area that is now Bangladeshwas an integral part of the Ind ian subcontinent an d hence shared itslong history of colonial domination by the British. Therefore,processes coming to fruition in Bangladesh have a history thatpredates recent political events. Of particular importance for thispaper are the more recent processes of capitalist penetration ofwhich the development boom is only a recent and single phase.2In understanding the mobilization of rural women into thelab ou r forc e in Ban gladesh , it is necessary t o see wom ens issues interms of these contex tual socio-economic and political issues whichestablish the parameters of the Bangladesh countryside. A basicpremise of the argument to follow is that trends in development

The authors wish 10 acknowledge the help and encouragement received from AlexDupuy, Wanda Dupuy, John Useem and Ruth Hill Useem, who carefully read andcommented on earlier drafts of this paper. The authors names were listed by a tossof the coin, and their contributions to the article are equal.Development end hange (SAGE. London, Beverly Hi l l s and New Delhi1,Vol 14 19831, 2 1 1-236


2/26

212 Florence McCarthy and Shelley Feldmanassistance, combined with worsening socio-economic con ditions inthe country, are largely responsible for the increasing interest, ofgovernment an d d on ors alike, in rural women and in the nature oftheir productive activities. Th e nature of this interest, and the shapethat it takes, will be discussed below.The approach of the paper is based on a critique of the develop-ment-underdevelopment model and the world system approach aswell as som e of th e literature which focuses o n the role of women inwage economies. In the former a pp roa ch, as exemplified by AndreG un der Frank an d Immanuel W allerstein, there is a tendency to (1)over-emphasize the dependence of the core on the periphery in thedevelopment of capitalism, (2) ignore the development of relativerather than absolute sources of surplus value as a dominant andregular factor of capitalist production, and (3) locate the funda-mental contradiction of capitalism in the field of circulation ratherth an in production (Laclau 1977: 34). That is, factors of trade andthe m arket are considered mo re essential to the dynamics of capitalthan are the conditions of production. What is not given sufficientcons ideration in this model ar e the local conditions and pre-existingpat terns of production which provide the context in whichcapitalist penetration occurs. In the case of Bangladesh, theseconditions of production are critically important to the develop-ment of the country and to patterns of penetration, including themobilization of women.In the discussion of capitalist penetration a crucial factor toconsider is that capitalist development has been shaped, and oftenhindered, by the existing structure of social formations ofdepe nden t countries; particularly property relations and systems ofsurplus extraction. T hat is, traditional forms of prod uction whichare highly labour-intensive, subsistence-based and dependent onlow level technology of ten prevent the application of new forms ofproduction (Brenner 1977: 36 .3In Bangladesh one particular structural form which hinders thedirect penetration of capitalist relations is a productive modecomposed of basically small-scale producers and the involvementof these direct producers in their own subsistence and repro-duction. Production dynamics in this mode respond primarily toissues of use value and may not be easily overtaken by marketforces such as supply and de m and o r technological innovation. Th einterjection of these ma rket forces, how ever, often disru pts existingproductive processes and social relations. Bangladesh is one


3/26

Rural Wom en Discovered: Bangladesh 213example where historically this has been and continues to be thecase.4Another hindrance to th e change from o ne mode of productionto another mode which is dominated by capitalist processes is theexistence of established forms of surplus extraction. Extractionbased on force, or dependent on systems of obligations, findsfluctuations in economic productivity passed on to peasantproducers in terms of changes in tenancy relations or increases inthe demand for labour, rent or shares of crops. These forms ofextraction tend to depress agricultural production, create intensecompetition for land , force indebted produ cers from the land , andencourage those with capital to invest in non-agricultural activitiessuch as trade.A third factor essential in capitalist penetration is the state andits place in shaping, mediating and responding to outside forcesand interests as well as directing internal policies and plans. Itsimportance is particularly enhanced in countries like Bangladeshwhere the industrial base is very small, and where the nationalbourgeoisie finds its strength primarily in trad e, business and in theuppe r reaches of the civil service. T he wealth in the coun try residesprimarily in the hands of a co mp rador class of Bangladeshis whohave essentially international l inkages mainly in trade,ma nufac turing and business of and for international companies.The state is particularly important as the focal point of thepenetration of imperialist capital and the transformation ofexisting class structures in the interests of both the national rulingclass and imperialist interests. Minimizing tensions within factionsof the national upper class and the military, an d providing cooptivemechanisms and avenues of mobility for the educated through thebureaucracy, are critical aspects of state operations. Th e conflationof these aspects create an environment particularly onerous for therural population and for agricultural production in general.6

THE INCORPORATION OF RURAL WOMENINTO DEVELOPMENT PROCESSESIn understanding the particular patterns of incorporation of ruralwomen into development processes much has been written byfeminist and socialist writers alike. The writings of Della Costa(1972). Boserup (1974) and Saffioti (1977) focus on women in


4/26

214 Florence McCarthy and Shelley Feldmanrelation to wage labour and labour force participation with anemphasis on the production an d reproduction of labour power. Inthese studies there is a tendency to ignore womens active roles inproductive activities which are not related to the reproduction oflabo ur power, and to emphasize those aspects of womens activitiesmost similar to , or providing com parisons with, womens activitiesin more developed capitalist countries. For instance, because themarginalization of women has already occurred in moredeveloped capitalist countries this condition is used as a basis forcomparative analyses with womens position in less developedcapitalist countries. Such a conceptualization hinders a moreholistic view of womens status and condition in less developedcapitalist economies where womens active participation inproductive activities has particular salience, and where the positionof women is tied, quite directly, t o economically viable subsistenceactivities.Another trend in this literature is the analysis of womensactivities in terms of the development-underdevelopment model(Saffioti 1977; Schmink 1977; Van Allen 1974). A critique of thiswork parallels ou r earlier comments; there is a tendency t o ignorethe interplay of existing relations and forces of production withexternal influences and the particular consequences of this forwomens productive activities. For example, Schmink analyzes thechanging division of labour in Venezuela as a consequence ofcapitalist penetration. The attendant changes that occur include,among other things, a shift in employment from agriculture intomanufacturing, commerce and services wherein womenincreasingly find employment in the service sector while maleemployment in this sector diminishes over time (Schmink 1977:161). What is lacking in this analysis is a more extensiveexplanation of the pre-existing structures in Venezuela whichshaped, influenced and guided the nature and extent of capitalistpenetration. That is, the availability of wage labour assumes theseparation of the small, direct producer, including women, fromthe land. How this occurred in Venezuela, and with whatconsequences f or the division of labour in the countryside, ar e notadequately analyzed.In the following discussion we have attempted to highlight theprocesses of capitalist penetration as it generates and constrains thedevelopment of new sources of capital and labour in rural Bangla-desh. The focus on internal relations is an attempt to extend the


5/26

Rural Women Discovered: Bangladesh 215contributions made by the above studies as the latter indirectlyimply that the position of dependent countries is primarily on e ofpassivity and weakness. Such an implication denies the reality ofstruggle that d om inat ion engenders an d limits a full understandingof the impact of capitalist forces on existing social formations.

SOUR CES OF DATATh e d at a on rural w omen used here come from tw o sources. One isfrom information gained from a two-year evaluation of thewomens cooperative movement. T he cooperative movement understudy represents the national, semi-autonomous Integrated RuralDevelopment Programme (IRDP) under the Ministry of LocalGovernment and Rural Development. The evaluation involved aseries of visits, interviews an d investigations of the projects in thenineteen original local fhanas(counties) in nineteen districts wherethe I R D P womens progra mm e operates. Time was spent in eachthana examining records of shares, savings and differential socio-economic and class characteristics of cooperative membersorganized in the approximately 500 cooperative societies in theprogramme.Visits were also made to two purposively selected cooperativesociety villages in each t ha na . Societies were chosen for their lengthof time in the programme and efforts were made to examinesocieties with the largest nu mber of programm e inputs and servicesin place. Ex tensive discussions were held with womens progra mm eofficers, than a officers and sta ff, cooperative chairmen, managers,and village female cooperative members and non-members. Thedata were collected between 1978 and 1980.

The second data source comes from field work done by theWomens Section of the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture andForests. A series of studies have been done on womens roles inagricultural production. The data presented in this paper comef rom a study of 200 rural women from 18 villages who work as daylabourers in the households of more solvent villagers. Before anyspecific interviewing was do ne a village census of female householdworkers was taken. Women were proportionately sampled fromeach of a selected number of villages based on the total number ofhousehold workers in each village.Interviews were taken in four areas of Bangladesh in order to


6/26

216 Florence Mc arthy and Shelley Feldmanaccount for geographical and regional differences. Householdlabour refers to women who do the most ardu ous household andcro p processing tasks for a family, usually on a daily hire basis. Thesample represents only a small fraction of the total number ofvillage women who are reliant on this form of subsistence forsurvival. H owever, th e care in drawing the sam ple and in doing theinterviewing enables us to speak with confidence of the reliabilityof the findings.

GENERAL CONDITIONS IN RURAL BANGLADESH

In analyzing th e effects of changing modes of production on ruralwomen in Bangladesh it is imp orta nt to note the general patterns ofrelations that exist in agriculture since this remains the major sectorof the countrys economy. While one can debate the exact nature ofthe present mode of production in Bangladesh, its central aspectscan be identified as 1) growing polarization in the rural areas asproduction increasingly passes into the hands of large landowners,(2) a struggling stra tum of small farmers, and (3) a growing numberof landless and land-poor people.

Given these trends, agricultural development progresses in anuneven fashion. The most affluent of the owner-cultivators, thosefarming their ow n land, and owner-managers, those farming theirow n land with th e help of hired lab ou r, have the greatest access torecent technological advances and resources made availablethrough government and donor-assisted projects. For example,high yielding varieties of rice, wheat, and potatoes have beenintroduced and, until recently, other requirements of the greenrevolution package such a s fertilizers, pesticides and tubewells havebeen heavily subsidized through the government. The nationalbanking system, with the assistance of foreign funding, has spreadrapidly throughout the countryside making credit available toselected customers at rates of interest that are less than whatsurplus farmers, traders or other moneylenders charge. Thedevelopment of water resources in the country, includingprogrammes for shallow and deep tubewells, low lift pumps,surface water an d flood c on trol have recently become prominent asthe attempt is made to further intensify cultivation on existinglandholdings.In counter-distinction to those farmers who have access to agri-


7/26

Rural Women Dkcovered: Bangladesh 217cultural inp uts an d w ho are m ore likely t o participate in capitalistfarming activities, are the great majority of small own ercultivatorsan d those farm ers who engage in tenant farming.9 Th e basic tenantrelationship is share cropping wherein the tenant returns to thelandlord 50 per cent of the crop a t th e time of harvest. In somecases, however, cash payment may be required in addition to sharepayments. Costs of inputs made during the cropping period areoften borne by the tenant. In addition, tenant prod uction is handi-capped by th e fact tha t approximately half of all tenant farmers ar eable to lease less than on e acre of land and about half usually holdsuch land for only one o r two years (Jannuzi Peach 1977: xxiv).The stimulus fo r tenancy relations stems from two sources. Thefirst is the attempt of landless people to maintain links toproductive resources and/or of small farm ers to supplement theirown small holdings with leased land. The second source is theperceived profitability am oq g larger landowners to lease out ratherthan cultivate their own land . This latter situation has always beenthe case fo r absentee landlords, but the withdrawal of governmentsubsidies for inputs, other rising costs of production and generallylow market prices for rice and jute , may act as a stimulus to surplusfarmers to sharecrop their land. That is, as costs rise and pricesremain low, renting becomes more profitable than individualfarming, particularly as surplus capital is not re-invested inagriculture but is freed for investment in trade or business.This situation highlights the contradictory consequences ofchanging agricultural policies for different groups of people inBangladesh. These contradictory consequences incur, in turn,differential responses on the part of rural families including thedifferential demands placed on rural women. For example, withincreasing rates of landlessness there is the growing wagification ofagricultural labour. Payment is either a flat wage or a combinedcash an d food remuneration. Differential remuneration depends onseason and cro p. Men as well as women and children from landlessfamilies are forced to seek off-farm employment.In the past, arrangem ents fo r labour were made between familiesin the same village on a yearly or regular basis. With the changingtrends in production and labour relations, crop specific or taskspecific arrangements a re made by families with whoever will workfor the lowest wages. In labour surplus areas there is an out-migration of labour to other tha nas o r even distant districts wherework is available although wages may be low. In some cases


8/26

218 Florence McCarthy and Shelley Feldmanmigrants from other areas are brought in by farmers in order todepress wage rates among local labourers. In other situationswomen may serve as wage labour in areas not previously open tothem or as vehicles through which resources such as credit may besecured.

FACTORS IN TH E DEVELOPMENT OOMA significant aspect of the Bangladesh economy is the role of thesta te and the active par t foreign governments and agencies play inthe country. As the main recipient and referee of the aid comingin to the coun try, the Bangladesh state app aratus uses, yet is usedby, the interests involved in such assistance. For example, at thepresent jun ctu re, the continued in-flow of aid is essential in main-taining stability in the urban are as through the ration system. Aidalso provides f unds, comm odities, equipment and subsidies to therural areas thro ugh government-sponsored programmes and, morerecently, by opening the distribution and sale of inputs to privateentrepreneurs. n addit ion, it is a source of revenue for governmentthrough reselling commodities as well as a continual source offringe benefits and extra income for most bureaucrats. For thispaper, the role of aid in the transformation of the rural countrysideand the increasing utilization of women is of primary importance.Th e aid flowing in to Bangladesh reaches all institutional sectorso f the society. Th ere are food grants and loans for rice and wheatwhich support urban ration shops and rural public worksprogrammes. Commodity aid is also available for basically non-food items such as fertilizer, pesticides, sp are parts and raw cotton.While these forms of aid go directly to the Bangladesh government,project aid involves the direct participation of foreign agencies andgovernments in project activities which range from military support(ODM ) and foreign training of government officers (USAID, FordFoundation), to thana, union and village-based programmes intubewells (UNICEF), cooperatives (World Bank), grain storage(Swiss aid), family planning (UN FPA , ID A, USAID), health careWHO), nutrition and vegetable gardening (UNICEF), rural credit(USAID, IDA), flood control and irrigation (USAID, IDA,NOVIB), and education projects (SIDA, Jap an).

Th e effects of these projects o n th e transformation of the ruralclass structu re are only too app arent as the rhetoric of helping the


9/26

Rural Women Discovered: Bangladesh 219rural poor does not obviate the reality of the actual dynamics ofmost programmes. Programme implementation, more often thanno t, delivers go ods an d services mainly to established farm ers andfurther heightens the dependency of po or families o n wage incomesand /or on the patronage of the rural power structure.

RURAL WOMEN AN D TRANSFORMING MODES OF PRODUCTIONEssential to capitalist processes are the extension of control andownership over all aspects of the means of production; the intro-duction, development, and expansion of contractual socialrelations, the institutionalization and control of extractiveprocesses of resources, capital a nd raw m aterials, and t he develop-ment of available an d expand ing markets. In any transitional socialform ation , therefore, any aspect of production, o r any segment ofthe population not subjected to capitalist control and domination,is the source for eventual attentio n and incorporation.It is suggested that these are the reasons that rural women haverecently been 'discovered' by national governments and inter-national agencies. Although the concern with recognizing womenand integrating them more fully into development processes iscouched in humanistic and liberal rhetoric, the actual reasons forthis interest are more complex. In Bangladesh, for example, thearea s which now con stitu te women's responsibilities a ndproductive concerns have yet to be fully monetized an d drawn iniogeneralized processes of appropriation and accumulation. If theintention is increasingly to monetize the rural sector, and toincrease people's participation in the comm odity market, eff orts t oextend credit facilities and to provide skills training to a selectedfemale population are not surprising.

With few exceptions, the national and international interest inBangladeshi women is turning from a perception of women solelyas reproductive un its, whose fertility must be controlled, to womenas 'important t o development processes'. On e specific reason forthis shift is that family planning programmes, operating solely aspopulation control campaigns, are only minimally successful as ameans of mobilizing rural women. In response to the minimalsuccess of early population control efforts, it has more recentlybeen assumed that one way to improve acceptance of familyplanning is to link productive activities to population controlprogrammes.


10/26

220 Florence McCarthy and Shelley FeldmanAnother reason for the change from reproductive concerns toproductive ones is that agricultural production is not increasingsufficiently to meet basic foo d needs in Bangladesh. In the past, the

basic development strategy followed by government had been toincrease production by infusing a wide spectrum of componentsnecessary to increase yields: irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides, highyielding varieties and extension packages including new methodsand techniques. All of these components have been highlysubsidized up until now and are integral parts of foreign aid toBangladesh. In spite of general increases, which have yet to reachth e levels of the late 1960s th e overall condition of the economy isnot improving. l 1Within the socioeconomic constraints of an increasing popula-tion and only minimally increasing food production, every effort isnow being mad e, by government a nd aid agencies alike, to mobilize

as yet untouched resources in the country. Women in Bangladeshare one such resource. Therefore, attempts are being made toexpropriate their activities for inclusion directly into commercial-ized production. For instance, what have been traditional womensactivities such as rice husking, livestock care and poultry raising arenow becoming the subject of programmes for landless men,youths, interested small farmers and/or commercial enterprises. l2The second consequence of this for women is the trivializing oftheir activities and the lowering of their status as a consequence oftheir loss of significant involvement in essential productiveactivities. This is illustrated by the number of projects for ruralwomen which involve them in activities geared to secondary ortertiary sectors of the economy. Of the 558 non-formal trainingprogrammes undertaken by 214 governmental and non-govern-mental organizations in 1980, for example, 89 per cent werehandicraft projects, and these were the only type of income-earningactivities being offered to rural women. The actual handicraftproduction undertaken includes jute or paper works, knitting,sewing, garment making and em broidery for the local as well as atourist or international market (Khan et al. 1981).The loss of womens status is exemplified by the growingnumbers of married women who are abandoned, separated ordivorced and the increasing proportion of young women whoremain unmarried (McCarthy et al. 1978). A shift in the marriagesystem from a bride price to a dowry system also illustrates thechanging statu s of women: t ha t is, from t he grooms family paying


11/26

Rural Women Discovered: Bangladesh 22 1for the bride t o th e girls family paying the groom and his family.Prospective bridegrooms, depending on their class, can and aredemanding as par t of the marriag e settlement wristwatches, mo tor-cycles, radios, stereo-cassettes, an d even cars, houses and financingfor foreign stud y or employment.

Of primary interest in this paper are the specific processes ofcapitalist penetration affecting the nature and extent of womensinvolvement in produ ctive activities an d the organization an d main-tenance of family life. The areas of productive labour provide asource for capitalist penetration in terms of machines, technology,credit facilities and consumer products. That is, rural people areincreasingly incorporated into capitalist processes through boththeir consumption and production needs. It is the inability to beindependent of the m arket for comm odities such as rice, wheat, saltand kerosene that involves even the poorest person in marketprocesses. H ow ever, the increasing wagification of labour and lowwage rates contribute only minimally to expanding marketdynam ics necessary t o stimulate the accum ulation of surplus.

Table 1 . Distribution of Economic Activities of Female LabourForce in Rural and Urban Areas, 1974 Adjusted Census igures

EconomicActivityEmployedLooking for WorkSub TotalInactiveHousewifeSub TotalTotal

RuralNumber Per Cent799,177 3.87

27,301 0.12826,478 4.003,835,344 18.19

16,530,678 78.0020,366,022 96.1921,192,500 100.00

Urban TotalNumber Per Cent Labour Force127,867 6.90 927,044

6,232 0.33 33,533134.099 7.20 960,577550,272 29.53 4,385,616

1,178,805 63.36 17,709,4831,729,077 92.89 22,095,0991,863.176 100.00 23,055.676

Source: Manpower and Employment Wing 1979.

The general distribution of womens economic activity, asofficially acknowledged by government, is indicated in Table 1,which shows that of a population of approximately 23 millionfemales, only 960,OOO were either emp loyed or looking for work inboth the rural an d urban areas. The 1974 Census, however,does not define what is meant by employed. If, for example,employed means full-time employment it is safe to assume that


12/26

222 Florence McCarthy and Shelley Feldmanthese figures underestimate the actual number of rural women whoare engaged in seasonal and intermittent work. If we includewomen who gain access to seasonal and temporary employmentoutside their household, the figure is significantly under-e ~ t i m a t e d . ~ecent estimates from the Womens Section of theMinistry of Agriculture suggest that womens seasonal andtem pora ry employment represents as many a s 25 per cent of samplehouseholds.In addition to this arithmetical problem, there is also the re-definition of categories made between the 1961 and 1974 Census.For instance, Table 1 indicates two categories of unemployedfemales; those who are inactive and those who are housewives.This poses a significant problem for understanding the actualemployment trends in Bangladesh because the 1974 Censusredefined the categories related t o womens work: from productiveeconomic activity as used in the 1961 Census to the category ofhousewife in the late r census. Women engaged in non-wage labouro r in in-kind exchange relations have been defined as inactive. Allthose designated as housewives are also considered to be non-productive and are classified in the non-economically activecategory. This grossly underestimates the nature and extent ofproductive la bour in which rural w omen are involved as well as theactual number of women employed. In the following pages wefocus solely on the rural sector and the diversity of ways in whichrural women are engaged in productive enterprises.The effects of and responses to penetration are differentiallymanifested in the rural areas among different groups of ruralwomen. Examples are wives of primarily subsistence farmers whobecome cooperative members, and poor, landless women whowork as day labourers in the households of other villagers. Whileonly these examples will be discussed, it should be noted that ruralwomen are increasingly involved in a wide range of occupationsand forms of employment that engage the participation of womenfrom all rural classes. Educated women, those from more well-to-d o rural families, are joining the labour force as teachers o r govern-ment employees in the cooperative, health care and agriculturalfields. Other women are working as family planning assistants,social welfare workers, field workers in foreign agencyprogrammes or as village health workers. Destitute or landlesswomen seek employment in public works programmes, onconstruction sites, road crews, commercial rice mills, and/or as


13/26

Rural Wom en Discovered: Bangladesh 223household servants, midwives or household workers. Of this lattergrou p, an evaluat ion of the Fo od For W ork projects reveals tha t inselected pro ject areas a s many as 33 per cent of the labour force arew ~ m e n . ' ~nd , in an interesting summ ary of da ta from six surveyscarried o ut over a 12-year period , it was fo un d that it is increasinglylikely that wom en, from households whose husbands are alive andin gainful employment, are seeking employment for themselvesoutside the bari. While tradition has left room for divorced,separated a nd widowed women t o seek such employm ent, marriedwomen were not encouraged to d o so (McCarthy, Sab bah Akhter1978).The marked increase in women's participation in the labourforce parallels the move of rural males into wage-earning activities.The causes are much the same: increasing reduction of land-holdings to unprofitable units, the loss of land through indebted-ness and forced sales, and growing impoverishment because offo od scarcity, high prices and few jo b oppo rtunities. To tal familyparticipation in income-producing activities is a necessity becauseof the general shift from independent production t o dependency onwages and the market for basic necessities.

WOMEN A S COOPERATIVE MEMBERSA traditional dilemma facing all regimes that have controlled thearea that is now Bangladesh is how to increase production andhence the generation and extraction of surplus while maintainingstability in the rural areas. In the pa st, as now, the introduction ofprogressive aspects of capitalist technology such as tubewells,fertilizer, pesticides a nd even cheap credit have been limited in theirdistribution and use because of generally small landholdings andthe reluctance of entrenched rural-linked urban interests toseriously encourage land reform or an y challenge t o the rural powerstructure. Hence the situation in the rural areas has been charac-terized by generally stagnating agricultural production and theexploitation of the peasantry.Th e cooperative mov ement, a s exemplified by the C omillaapproach of the Academy for R ural Development, was on e attemptto solve this dilemma. It offered the means of increasing theproductivity of the rural areas by organizing production co-operatives without necessarily challenging the established power


14/26

224 Florence McCarthy and Shelley Feldmanstructure. The key to the cooperative endeavour was the smallfarmer. If the means could be devised through cooperativeorganizations t o increase the absorptive capacity of small farmersto utilize credit, technical in pu ts and new farming techniques, theresult would more likely be increased production. Increasing theabsorptive capacity of the small farmer could also result in thecontinuation and extension of investment in agriculture, expandedmarkets, increased dem and for goods and services, and ultimately astable order and support for the existing regime.On e assumption of the cooperative app roach , therefore, was th ata stable countryside would offer conditions suitable for increasedinvestment in agriculture by commercial or large-scale farmers aswell as small farmers. However, this situation could only bereached by incorporating small farmers in essentially capitalistforms of production. Little in this approach posed a directchallenge to existing patterns of power and control in the country-side, even though increased accessibility to inputs was a primeobjective of the programme.Implicit in th is as well as most cooperc:ive schemes was theassumption that while cooperatives may increase certain forms ofeconomic competition in the rural areas, existing rich and powerfulfamilies would continue to maintain their positions by takingadvantage of changes as they came. In fact, these families wouldultimately stand to benefit from cooperative activities if, forexample, it meant increased returns from tenants crops, newopportunities for trade and business, and new values in land andthe control of inputs. The real issue was not only the overallincrease of inputs into the rural areas but the distribution andcontrol of such items in a way that guaranteed that a certainam oun t reached th e hands of small farmers.

Th e ever-present contradiction, of course, is that organizationsthat become economically competitive may also become politicaladversaries. Implicit in the Comilla approach, however, was theassumption that if the form and system surrounding the develop-ment of cooperatives was essentially capitalist, the end result wouldbe essentially capitalist. In othe r words, successful cooperativegroups in conjunction with large farmer interests would be morelikely to support existing regimes which are capitalist inorientation. This would be one way of incorporating the smallfarmer into the existing political system and mitigating against, ordiffusing, e ither active unrest o r explicit socialist alternatives.


15/26

Rural Women Dkcovered Bangladesh 225Since the independence of Bangladesh and with the increasingdependence on foreign assistance. the government has largelywithdrawn its support from the cooperative movement. This

follows changes in IMF and Bank policy supporting programmeswhich create and favour individual producers (Broad 1981). Inaddition, the general political instability in the country, theidentification of the Comilla programme with the Ayub Khanregime, as well as the encouragement of the aid community, allcontributed to shifting the focus of government from cooperativeforms of organizing rural people to stressing individualizedproduction. The cooperative programme such as the IntegratedRural Development Programme continues to operate, but is nolonger central t o development or political schemes in the country.One indication of the changed interest in cooperatives is theprivatization of the sales and distribution of agricultural inputs incompetition with the previous scheme employing the cooperativestructure. Thus the contradiction between increasing ruralinstability because of landlessness and poverty on the one hand,and promoting capitalist production among larger landholders onthe other, intensifies with the introduction of private distributionmechanisms as opposed to efforts to supp ort and improve the co-operative structure. The political options represented by a coopera-tive movem ent, in oth er words, have been circumvented and lodgedinstead in the Gram Sarkar programme and independent privateentrepreneurs.The cooperative movement remains as one mechanism forincorporating otherwise uninvolved segments of the rural popula-tion into development processes. In reaching these segments of thepopulation, penetration assumes a different form. For example,the cooperative movement continues to provide some resources,services and training for both men and women. In some pro-grammes such as that of the Academy for Rural Development(BARD), n attempt has been made to form and promote jointcooperatives. In others, such as the Integrated Rural DevelopmentPro gram me (IR DP ), a World Bank funded programme in popula-tion planning and rural womens cooperatives, the emphasis is onseparate womens organizations.The latter programme, based on some of the assumptions ofBA RD , involves the provision of loans, training and other servicesfrom government officers to female cooperative members. Theseservices and resources are distributed in exchange for regular


16/26

226 Florence McCarthy and Shelley Feldmansavings, the purchase of shares, the repayment of loans, andattendance at weekly meetings in the villages of all cooperativemembers. The loans women receive are based on the number ofshares and the amou nt of savings each member has, although anupper limit of TK 300 (US 20) per loan has been set by theWomens Programme.Although women are encouraged to save jointly and preparegroup production plans, loans are given primarily for individualprojects which usually involve small-scale agricultural and livestockproductive activities. During the first four years of the Programmeloans totalling TK 1,404,120 (US 93,608)were issued to 1192members. Initially, loans were not issued against collateral in order1) to encourage women not t o be dependent on their husbands fo rcollateral and (2) o encourage those with no family collateral tohave access to this new source of credit.

As has been noted elsewhere, these loans tend to further expandthe resource base of primarily small farmers. But, moreimportantly, it assured policy an d programme staff of the potentialof rural women to participate actively in cledit and productionprogrammes and to employ resources and services previouslydirected only toward men. In effect, it reiterated the extent towhich women can be directly included in capitalist processes ofproduction and exchange heretofore thought difficult, if notimpossible, to introduce given the cultural proscriptions regardingwomens activities in Bangladesh.

Of particular interest is the fact that from the approximately16,000 rural women in 399 cooperative societies, approximately TK774,151 (US 51,610) as been accumulated in savings and sharecapital during this same period. Given the deteriorating conditionsin the rural areas, an d the relative lack of access women tradition-ally have to cash, as their own exchanges are usually of an in-kindnature, the fact that women of primarily small and subsistencefarm families are able t o generate this capital is an indication of thepotential of rural women as a source of capital.6Women who join the cooperatives tend to come from subsistencean d marginal farm families although a small number do representland-poor and landless families. Very few represent surplus farmfamilies as these can an d d o maintain traditional views regardingpurdah or, if th e wives d o participate in the public sector, they mayjoin the ranks of professional and semi-professional rural workers.In addition, these families do not need the goods and services


17/26

Rural Wom en Discovered: Bangladesh 227provided by the Womens P rog ram m e as they have ready access toban ks an d o the r credit facilities in the coun try.It should be emphasized that the share and savings capitalrepresents only a limited amount of funds that cooperativemembers desire to place in the hands of the Programme. Onereason for this is that women do not gain interest on their invest-ment, find it impossible to withdraw money on demand andthe ref or e fear that they will eventually lose access to their investedshares an d savings (Feldman et al. 1980).It would seem likely, for example, that the Programme couldcollect capital fr om all of its mem bers an d then enable cooperativemembers to utilize this credit resource for joint projects. Unfor-tunately, using this capital as a resource base for local incomegenerating activities by the membership has been discouraged byProgramme personnel. Such a strategy, however, would enablepoor and more secure village women to pool their resources andincrease the income earning opportunities of women in IRDPvillages. Instead, this money is deposited in local banks and hasbeen used by them for their own activities, such as loans to largeand surplus farmers.Other ways in which the Programme initiates the incorporationof women into capitalist processes is indicated by the actualprojects an d training provided by IR D P. O ne emphasis is on usingimproved varieties of seed, fertilizer, pesticides, livestock injectionsand improved means of livestock care which involve women inexpanding their need for these items. Over time, cooperativewomen may develop demands for certain commodities onlyavailable fro m the m ark et, and increasingly they may be forced tosha pe their productive activities to meet these demands. Anotheremphasis is on training women in secondary and tertiary sectoroccupations, resulting in removing women from productive workand trivializing their labour. In the long run this will also reducetheir ability to compete in the productive sector and lower theirstatus (Feldman and McCarthy 1982). These processes are fittinglydescribed by one IRDP officer as the commercialization ofwomens activities and it is another indication of the way foreignassistance an d national interest com bine to link rural women in newand addition al ways to comm odity production and consumption.This example is one indication of the way in which the Pro-gramme serves the interests of surplus farmers who have readyaccess t o local bank s and , in effect, to the cap ital made available by


18/26

228 Florence Mc arthy and Shelley Feldmanpo orer village families. It a lso suggests on e interesting way in whichmechanisms of extraction are introduced in the rural countrysideand are directed toward the interests of larger farmers at theexpense of the needs of the rural poor.

FEMALE HOUSEHOLD LABOURIn the past, rural womens security and productivity was tied tofamily ownership of land. As increasing numbers of rural familieslose their land, women are deprived of their primary source ofproductive activities. The traditional system of purdah has meanttha t there has been little oppo rtunity for women to acquire basiceducation or alternative means of income-earning skills. Whenrural women d o join the labour force, therefore, it is usually at theunskilled, poorest paid levels, subject to falling wages andincreased working hours.Women working as servants or temporary labour in householdsof more well-to-do villagers is not a new phenomenon in thecountry. In the past, subsistence-earning opportunities for needywomen in the rural areas included midwifery, begging andhousehold work (McCarthy 1 7). What is new, however, are thenumbers of women now engaged in this or similar forms of wagelabou r. Quite different also is the range of jobs needy women willnow accept. These include, among other things, selected types offield work such as harvesting potatoes and chillies, pumping w ater,stripping jute, drying chillies and even marketing. Quite obviousalso is the diminution in the saliency of the traditional ideology ofpurdah as a means o f controlling the social behaviour and mobilityof rural women (Feldman McCarthy 1976).

Som e idea of the parameters of the total rural female work forcecan be obtained by considering the numbers of females in house-holds having no land or owning less than one acre. The totalnumber of households in this category is 6,932,873 which includesapproximately 59 per cent of all rural households in BangladeshSrarisrical Pocker Book 1979). If on e assumes that there is a t leastone adult female in each family, and that general conditionsnecessitate all except the smallest children to work, then thenumber of rural women who are potentially wage earners approxi-mates the total number of households. This is probably an over-estimate but is more accurate than the figure of 826,479 which the


19/26

Rural Wom en Discovered: Bangladesh 229Benchmark Survey of Rural Employment shows as being thenumber of employed rural women (Manpower etc. 1978).Of th e increasing num ber of landless and land-poor families, thefact that th e vast majority of women in these families remain in therural areas and d o not migrate to cities an d towns, has direct conse-quences for their employment. This is indicated by the fact thatemployment o ppo rtunitie s in the rural areas are limited and do notappear to be expanding, whereas the total number of peoplecompeting for the work is increasing.Most poor women seek employment as daily or temporaryhousehold labourers. We estimate the average yearly employmentof these women a t only 154 days with daily wage rates ranging fromTK 1.09 to TK 6.59 (US .O7-.44),or a yearly average income ofonly TK 1339 (US 89.27). These figures include the tak a value ofmeals which a re most o ften given in exchange for work. T he actualtake-home wages are considerably less than the figures cited here asmeals given in exchange for labour account for approximately 50per cent of tot al earnings.

As increasing numbers of families become dependent on theearnings of women, the meals that women receive as payment forwork do not provide any family resource except to reduce thedependency of the female working member on the income earnedby others. As the number of female-headed households rise,children t o o ar e forced to at least provide their own source of food.W ha t is most distressing abo ut this fend for oneself pattern is thatit epitomizes the complete destruction of the family as an economicunit. Said another way, low, particularly in-kind payments fordaily labour are decreasingly able to meet the needs of familymembers other than the wage earner. This means that one canexpect to find a decreasing dependency ratio not because familiesare having fewer children, or because family earners can supportother family members, but because everyone must fend forthemselves.Daily rates fo r male agricultural labour ranged from TK 7 to TK10 (US .57-.67) during th e same period a nd tend to be reflected notonly in higher wage rates but, on average, more person days ofwork per year. If these too remain insufficient for family main-tenance, the trends noted for single-headed households willincreasingly represent all poor rural families.

Th e high percentage of married women presently working, 58 percent of the sample, is an indication of the increasing economic


20/26

230 Florence McCarthy and Shelley Feldmanpressure to work a nd the inability of rural families to survive on theearnings of a single family member. What is particularly interestingabout this figure is that, in the past, household labourers wereusually older, widowed or destitute women for whom the socialconventions of purda h could not be met because of their economicneed. Today, these proscriptions are relaxed for increasingnumbers of women. For more than 60 per cent of all families inBangladesh the observance of purdah has, in fact. become aluxury.In examining the reasons w omen give for working, it is clear thatth e security once provided th roug h marriage is slowly eroding. It isinteresting t o n ote , f or instance, t hat regardless of marital status,rural women cite need in terms of poverty, rising prices, lack offoo d, or the insufficient earnings of their husbands as reasons forworking.One example of the intrusion of capitalist penetration in theform of technological innovation is the introduction of rice mills.These are cited by many household labourers as being responsiblefor a reduction in th e work available t o them since rice husking hasbeen a main fo rm o f household labour available in the countryside.Mills are increasingly used to husk the paddy of farm families, par-ticularly those surplus farmers able to hire female householdlabour. This represents a serious reduction in the frequency ofemployment a nd a com mensu rate reduction in the income of poorrural women. Unfortunately, mills are not being staffed by womennor are they owned and controlled by small-scale producers.Instead, they are the private business of already secure ruralfamilies who control the costs of milling and at present undercutthe costs of female household labourers.Rice husking, fo r instance, th e most lucrative work a woman canfind in the villages, is usually paid with meals and either rice ormoney in exchange for labour. Women can earn as much as TK 15USSl) a day processing rice, but only if husking is included. Insituations where paddy is husked by mills, women workers do allthe other processing required (threshing, winnowing, parboiling,drying and storing) but receive only meals or a small in-kindpayment of rice or paddy in exchange for the work. Patterns ofemployment for rural women are conditioned therefore by (1)growing landlessness and economic hardship which forceincreasing numbers of women to seek employment, (2) limitationsin employment opportunities resulting in primarily daily wage-


21/26

Rural Women Discovered: Bangladesh 23 1earning activities in other village households, 3) the displacementof women by technological innovations such as rice mills, and (4)the decreasing wage earning po tential of women due to increasingnumbers looking fo r work and the inroads in the am oun t and typeof work available to them.

SUMMARYIn this paper three main issues have been addressed. One is that independency theory the internal conditions of countries experi-encing capitalist penetration are often overlooked in the analysesthat are made. The conflation of internal factors such as existingmodes of production and accumulation, the balance between agri-culture and industry, a nd the role of the stat e are essential nationalfeatures shaping an d being shaped by capitalist form s of develop-ment. For example, traditional modes of farming based on share-cropping an d tenancy relations, generally small holdings and littleinvestment or concern with commercializing production, sets thecontext for capitalist agricultural development in the country.Secondly, foreign assistance and aid become the main instrum entsof capitalist penetration in countries where commercial andindustrial interests have only limited scope for investment andprofit making. Th e state plays a n increasingly important role underthese conditions as it is the focus and channel through whichforeign domination occurs.Th ird, capitalist t ransfo rm atio n necessitates the incorporation ofall segments of the population and all aspects of the productivesector under its auspices. Therefore, the productive activities ofwomen, and women themselves as potential sources of labour, areincreasingly involved in development processes. Rural women, forexample, are critical of current development schemes in that 1)they offer new sources of savings and capital to be drawn from th ecountryside, (2) they are prospective consumers and clients ofcapitalist goods and services currently being distributed throughgovernment programmes such as the IR D P Womens Program me ,and (3) they are new sources of labour. Rural women are beingforced to join the labour force because of worsening socio-economic conditions in the country. This has the potential forproviding cheap sources of labour in the rural areas with theadditional potential of lowering wage rates and enhancing thecompetition am ong rural labourers.


22/26

232 Florence McCarthy and Shelley FeldmanNOTES

1 . Of course. the involvement and relation of Bangladesh to India continues to beof critical importance in the foreign affairs and general internal stability of thecountry.2. The more accurate conceptualization of what is occurring is interpenetration,which incorporates the exchange and mutual influence tha t exist among an d betweencountries whether dependent, Third World, or centre. The process ofpenetration as used in the paper emphasizes only one aspect of a more complexprocess and does so in order t o clarify a particular issue of the internationalizationof capital and the preeminent position of the state.3. This is an implied criticism of the assumption made by many dependencytheorists that social processes in social formations that were colonized were simplydestroyed by the advent of stro;iger outside forces and provided no resistance to, norhad any long-term influence on, the resulting colonial regime.4. As is discussed in another paper, the demands of penetration in the form oftechnological innovation necessitates internal shifts in land distribution and isexemplified by a n increase in land concentration. Small landholdings, fo r example,inhibit the employment of deep tubewells as well as a number of other agriculturalinnovations presently part of the grant package received by B angladesh. Th e prcsentlandholding pattern, therefore, inhibits the full utilization of selected forms oftechnological innovation and may serve to catalyze changes in the presentlandholding structure.

5. Additional consequences of the existing economic situation in Bangladesh is theincreasing impoverishment of the people as indicated by a drop in real wages andbuying power from 100 in 1962 to an index value of 66 in 1975 (Clay 1976). Mal-nourishment is a chronic problem for at least 4 per cent of the population(Nutrition Survey 1977), and the lack of general health services finds the ruralpopulation suffering from chronic ill-health (Khan 1977). Inflation an d rising costsonly exacerbate the problematic aspects of peoples lives. Clay Khan (1977) show,for example, that the cost of living index has risen from 100 in 1 3/64 to 5 6 0 in1975. In sho rt, the general situation in Bangladesh involves a downward trend in theliving standard and general condition of the people.

6 . The Awam i League has a long and extensive history stemming as it does fromthe early days of Pak istan. Its particu lar relevance in Bangladesh is first through itsconnections with the regime of Ayub Khan and second, with it being the ruling partyof the first president of Bangladesh. Sheikh Majibar Rahman. In the past itsorganizational mechanisms and institutionalization in the rural areas have dependedon rural elite families and the cooptation of the lowest rung of the governmentadministrative structure, the Union Councils.7. The evaluation of the Integrated Rural Development Programme Pilot Projectin Population Planning and Rural Womens Cooperatives was funded by a ClDAgrant 1978-80. The study of female household labour was supported by a FordFoundation grant to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests 1978-80. Ableassistance in the studies was provided by Farida Akhter, Roushan Akhter. FazilaBanu and Saleh Sabbah.8. The exact number of rural households is not known but recent estimates suggesta figure of 11.5 million. It is estimated that of those households approximately 10per cent own almost 5 1 per cent of all land other than homestead land. In contrast,


23/26

Rural Women Discovered: Bangladesh 233about 45 per cent of all rural households own only 25 per cent of the total cultivableland. Th at is. approximately 29 per cent of rural households own only up to one acreand another I 5 per cent own between one and two acres of land (Jannuzi Peach1977). Rural households composed of landless persons. i.e. those owning neitherhomestead or cultivable land, and the near landless possessing homestead land only,are estimated at 33 per cent. The great bulk of the rural population. about 78 percent. therefore. exists either without land or on sm all or only marginally productivefragments of land.9. I t is estimated that tenant farm ers comprise 38 per cent of all rural households.This excludes those who d o not own land other than household land and who d o notmortgage land in from others. Roughly 23 per cent of the total owned land is farmedby tenant farmers.

10. The point should be made that it is not only women who suffer undercapitalist incursion, but the family itself as a productive unit is broken apart andreduced to individualized forms of labour and/or income-producing activities.Youth and children are also being set a p a n in special programmes. which onlyexacerbates the fragmentation of social and familial relations in the rural areas.I I . Recently the subsidies for fertilizer have been lowered and that of pesticidesremoved. This, along with increasing costs of machinery, fuel and spare parts havesubstantially increased the costs of production.12. This may mistakenly appear as an issue of gender conflict but it is not. I t ismuch more significantly an issue of capitalist incorporation and this affects ruralmen as well as women.13. When used for estimating employment demand the consequences of theunder-estimation of women presently employed and the shift in female status has

mo re far-reaching consequences not being addressed here. For an elaboration of thislatter point see McCarthy 1979.14. See, for example. Institute of Nutrition and Food Science: ood o r Work, anExamina t ion of the Pr imary and Secondary Effects (Dacca, University of Dacca,1981).

I S Between 1977-80 the exchange rate of the B angladesh Taka was 15 to USSI.16. Th e accumulation of capital from the rural areas is an ong oing process. T heBangkadesh Observer noted in June 1979 that for every TK 8 (USS.50) spent in therural areas TK I5 (USS1.00)s returned in some form or another. I t is also statedthat in the Second Five Year Plan gross domestic savings would be increased fromcurrent levels of 3.32 per cent of gross domestic product to 7.16 per cent by 1983185.Even at increasing levels of saving this will fall far short of the amounts needed tomeet total expenditures of the government but indicates the importance given tomarshalling whatever resources possible Eangkadesh Observer , I June 1980).17. What is of critical concern here is the fact that when this had been pointed outto the Programm e's Join t Director and the don or community it was ignored. despitethe rhetoric of their joint concern for improving the conditions of those most in needin rural Bangladesh.18. Exact figures of the number of household workers or women engaged inagricultural production are not available in Bangladesh as the recent censusclassified such workers as 'housewives'.


24/26

234 Florence McC arthy and Shelley FeldmanREFERENCES

Banaji. J. (1977): Modes of Production in a Materialist Conception of History,Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (1979): Statistical Pocketbook of BangladeshBenston, M 1969): The Political Economy of Womens Liberation. MonthlyBoserup. E. (1974):Womens Roles in Economic Development (London, GeorgeBrcnner. R (1977): On Sweezy. Frank and Wallerstein. New Left Review 24Broad, R. (1981): New Directions at World Bank: Philippines as Guinea Pig,Economic and Political Weekly. XVI,47.Clay, E.J. (1976): Institutional Chan ge an d Agricultural Wages in Bangladesh,

Bangladesh Development Studies 4,4Clay, E.J . Md Sekandar Khan (1977): Agricultural Employment and Under-employment in Bangladesh: The Next Decade (Bangladesh Agricultural ResearchCou ncil, Agricultural Economics and Rural Social Science Paper 4).Della Costa, M. (1972): Women and the Subversion of the Community, in: ThePower of Women and the Subversion of the Community (Bristol, The FallingWall Press Ltd).Feldman, S . (1979): Prospects for Silk Produc tion in Bangladesh (Dacca. Ox fam).Feldman. S., F. Akhter F. Banu (1980): The IRDP Womens Programme inPop ulation Planning a nd Rural Womens Cooperatives (Dacca, Integrated RuralDevelopment Programme).

Feldman. 3. F.E. McCarthy (1976): Social Class a nd Bengali Women (D an -mouth Colkge. New England Conference of Sou theast Asia Scholars)./ I (1982): Womens Labour Force Participation in Bangladesh: SomeTheoretical Considerations, International Journal of Intercultural Relations.Frank, A.G. (l%7): Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America (NewYork, Monthly Review Press)./ I (1969):Latin America: Underdevelopment or Revolution (New York,Monthly Review Press).Gerard, R., et al. (1977): Training for Women in Bangladesh; An Inventory andSample Survey of lhining Programmes (Dacca, UNICEF, Womens Devclop-ment Programme).

Jannu zi, F.T. J.T. Peach (1977):Report on the Hierarchy of Interests in Land inBangladesh (Washington, AID)./ / (1977):Bangladesh: A Profile of the Countryside (Dacca, AID).

Khan, A.R. (1977): Poverty and Inequality in Rural Bangladesh, in Poverty andLandlessness in Rural Asia (Geneva, ILO).Khan, S . , S. Islam. J.A . Rahm an M. Islam (1981): Inventory for WomensOrganizations in Bangladesh (Dacca, U NICEF , W omens Development Unit).Laclau. E.(1977): Politics and Ideologv in Marxist Theory (London. New LeftBooks).Manpower Employment Wing 1973): Benchmark Information on ManpowerCharacteristics in Bangladesh (Dacca, Ministry of Plann ing, Statistics Division),mimeographed.

Capital and Claw 3 (Autumn).(Dac ca, Ministry of Planning, Statistics Division).Review 21. 4.Allen Press).


25/26

Rural Women Discovered Bangladesh 235McCarthy. F.E. (1967): Bengali Village Women: Mediators Between Tradition and

Modernity ( A nn Arb or, University Microfilms).I / (1979): Employ ment Pro ject ion s fo r Women: 1980-1985 (Dacca, M inistryof Agriculture and Forests, Wom ens Section).McCarthy, F.E., S. Sab bah R. Ak htar (1978): Rural Women Workers inBangladesh: A Working Paper (Dacca. Ministry of Agriculture and Forests,Womens Section).

I / (1980): Getting By on Less: Rural Female Household Labour (Dacca,Ministry of Agriculture a nd Forests, Womens Section).Nutrition and Food Service Institute (1977): Nutrition Survey of Bangludesh,1975-1976 (Dacc a, Dacca U niversity).

Saffioti, H.I.B. (1977): Women, Mode of Production, and Social Formations.Lat in Am erican Perspectives. IV, I 2.Schmink, M. (1977): Dependent Development and the Division of Labour By Sex:Venezuela, Latin American Perspectives. IV, I 2.Sto rrar , A. (1979): Aid Coord ination in Bangladesh (Dacca, World Bank).Van Allen, J . (1974): African Women: Modernizing into Dependence? (SantaBarbara, Conference Paper, Social and Political Change: The Role of Women).Wallerstein, I (1974): The Modern World System: Capital ist A gric ultur e und theOrigins of the Europ ean World Economy in the Sixteenth Century (New York.Basic Books).World Bank (1978): Bangladesh: Curr ent Trends and Development Issues Washing-ton, Report No. 2245-BD).

FlorenceMcCarthy is presently a VisitingFellow in International Agriculture andRural Sociology at Cornell University.She has just completed six years of workin Bangladesh the majority of the timebeing spent as Adviser t o the WomensSection Planning and Evaluation Cell ofthe Ministry of Agriculture. She haswritten numerous policy pieces on issuesrelated to women in agriculture andwith Shelley Feldman has publishedarticles on Womens Labour ForceParticipation in Bangladesh: SomeTheoretical Considerations andNational Trends Affecting DisasterResponse and Family Organization in

Bangladesh.


26/26

236 Florence McCarthy and Shelley FeldmanShelley Feldman is presently a VisitingFellow a t Cornell University. She workedin Bangladesh betwee n 1977 and 1982for the Ministries of Local Governmentand Rural Development, Fisheries, andHe alth and Population Control. Herpublications include The IRDP Women sProgramme: A Discussion of SomeCritical Issues , An Assessment of theGovernment s Hea lth and FamilyPlanning Programme: A Thana S tudy ,and numerous articles w ith

Florence E. McCarthy.

mccarthy (1983) rural women discovered- new sources of capital and labour in bangladesh.pdf

Documents