At the margins
Women workers in the Bengal jute industry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3865895 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samita Sen (0000-0002-7861-610X, Department of History, Calcutta University History Building, Alipore Campus, 4th floor, Reformatory Street, Calcutta 700 027, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 239-269 |
| Publication date | 1999-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Contributions to Indian Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0069-9659 • E-ISSN: 0069-9667 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/006996679903300111 |
| OpenAlex | W1989376242 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 9 |
This paper seeks to raise questions about Indian women's low participation in modern factory industries on the basis of an examination of the case of the jute industry in Bengal. The focus of the paper is on the colonial period, but some of the patterns evolved in that period are shown to be highly resilient or to have been reinforced in the period after Independence. The colonial state, it is argued, helped to achieve and foster a particular accommodation between capitalist and patriarchal forces which allowed the retention of women's labour in the non-capitalist and household sectors or at the lower end of the wage labour market. The more lucrative jobs in the mills increasingly became the prerogative of men, who through their ability to command women's labour and mobility, provided the flexible labour that jute mill entrepreneurs desired. The mills in their turn further casualised the labour market through irregular hiring and personalised and informal recruitment. The mills-and the city itself-were a predominantly male world. Poor urban women who lived and worked in this environment were confronted with frequent sexual harassment and the stigma of being seen as sexually immoral. In addition, the difference between male and female earnings widened as women became concentrated in 'unskilled' jobs. As wage conditions improved and mill workers aspired towards upward social mobility, there were strong pressures towards the domestication of working-class women
Colonialism · Earnings · Economics · Harassment · Labour economics · Market economy · Mill · Political science · Politics · Prerogative · Redress · Sociology · Wage · Working class · Engineering · Indian Economic and Social Development · Law
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,27 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2022 (12) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |