The Humble sHERpas of Change

During my Master of Public Policy, we had a month-long rural field immersion in October 2019, after our first trimester of coursework. As part of our fieldwork, 18 of us batchmates were working in rural Rajasthan with a leading advocacy-focused nonprofit in the region, primarily to support them in undertaking the social audit of a particular government program.

Through the course of the month, we travelled extensively across various Panchayats in the district, meeting program beneficiaries, verifying the ‘claims’ of the program, helping register complaints and facilitating a public hearing towards the end. What stood out across everywhere we went, be it door-to-door in the hamlets, the fields, the MGNREGS project sites, the construction sites and everywhere else, was that it was the women, the rural women who were our primary respondents. They were articulate, aware of their rights, and even the injustice meted out to them; they had despair but most of them had hope. Being just 4 months young in the social sciences domain, where I had only begun to understand the jargon, meeting most of the women at their workplaces (primarily MGNREGS sites) was gladdening at first, which I thought to be an assertion of their agency. Deeper thought made me understand that most of them worked on less than the statutory minimum wage for most of the year, not because of their agency but as a necessity. This helped me unlearn many of the preconceptions I had.

Fast forward to January 2021, as part of my Masters Dissertation, I was building my research about the gendering of development through the years in the state of Bihar. I was working on one of the flagship women empowerment programs of the Government of Bihar which was supported by the World Bank: the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society or JEEViKA. My research led me to the field once again where I met spirited rural women who, while carrying the burden of their households, were charting a course of development through their social, economical and political empowerment, propelled by the JEEViKA project. Through my research, I noted how the project, which works on collectivising rural women through Self Help Groups (SHGs) with a graduating approach, has been instrumental in bringing to the fore the multifaceted roles a rural woman carries out. Breaking societal stereotypes, strengthening their economic footing and taking resolute steps towards political agency are some of the ways through which I understood the rural women in Bihar taking small but incremental steps towards their self-empowerment; and through this gendering of the development underway, a growth story has been weaving slowly. This was my learning, which I endeavour to carry with me throughout my life.

Both the unlearning and learning through the years have helped me challenge a lot of my beliefs and led to many such cycles of learning and unlearning and gaining a lot of perspectives. What both experiences have in common is the distinguished grit and perseverance of the rural womenfolk, who are predominantly hidden within the popular narratives of being the meek caregiver, the docile homemaker, the compelled worker and so on. 

I write this post a day after the International Day of Rural Women (October 15) to drive home the point that, while the above-mentioned adjectives may be the reality to an extent, there is a need for the true multifaceted, multitasking realities of rural women to be brought to the fore to unearth the hidden harbingers of change and through their inspiration, unravel the potential of millions. It’s about time we acknowledge and celebrate the silent drivers/sherpas of change - the rural women. 

I look forward to leveraging this platform to work on the same. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome :)

UN Women | JEEVIKA, Rural Development Department, Government of Bihar | The World Bank | ADB Gender #womeninworkforce #womenchangemakers #ruralwomen #internationaldayofruralwomen #gendering #development #MGNREGS #SHG #JEEViKA #Kudumbashree #empowherment