asia: India

We print below the Draft Manifesto of the Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) of Hyderabad-Secunderabad, taken from the South Asia Marxist Review No. 3, 22 Boundary Road, London N.W.3.

The concept of the Indian woman as an equal partner of man, and as an active participant in all walks of life has never been so clearly shattered as today. We have, on the one hand, our Constitution mouthing pious platitudes about the equality of women, and a few women scattered here and there, as leaders, and on the other hand, the terrible conditions of the majority of Indian women. To people who talk of Sita and Savitri, we talk of harsh, depressing reality.

87 out of every 100 women cannot read or write. The horrible practices of prostitution, child marriage, purdah and dowry have cut at the very root of the dignity of women. Feudal culture preaches to women - seclusion at home, and restriction from active participation in public life. Increasingly penetrating foreign culture, on the other hand, has reduced women to nothing more than decorative sex objects. Obscenity in art and literature, segregation and the prevailing cult of aggressive male supremacy has led to the sickening practice of eve-teasing, and one step further, rape. Some of us are not allowed to work for our own living; while others who work on a par with men are not treated on the basis of equal pay for equal work. The position of the housewife is no better. Confined to her home, working from morning to night at back-breaking chores, she has neither independence nor dignity.

These are just a few facets of the exploitation and domination of women. All of us know, through our day-to-day experience, what it is to be a woman - what it is to be regarded as something less than a human being. To achieve the objective of ending this age-old oppression, we must understand why we should support and unite with each other, what are the forces that can unite with us, what are the forces that oppose us, what is the line of action that we should take. What is it, then - the nature of this age old oppression of women?

Nature of Oppression

What are the pillars on which the inferior status of women rests?

1. Economic dependence: about 72 %of Indian women are not economically independent. Even if they work outside, it is only as a secondary source of income for the family. The centuries-old economic dependence on man is the base for all sexual, cultural and political domination. Even though women work at home - this labour is not paid for - this is private labour power, not social, and this gives rise to the low status of women in society.
2. Household drudgery (or the division of labour): women have been, for centuries, isolated in the home, forced to carry out work that is considered unskilled. Because her workday is unending, because there is no one else to look after the children, to wash the clothes, to cook the meals, the woman is isolated from all public activities. Education and work - both are made impossible for her, because of the back-breaking chores at home. Excluded from the world of productive labour giving rise to economically visible objects, the woman has become the invisible worker whose work cannot be valued. Thus the woman is practically a slave. (Slavery by the definition of modern economists = the power of disposing of the labour power of others).
3. Ideology of oppression: the concept of economic dependence and the division of labour is the economic base. But how do the oppressors justify these? Just as slavery, imperialism, and fascism gave rise to innumerable theories intended to demonstrate the inferiority of the oppressed peoples and to justify genocide, an impressive number of theories have been designed and implemented to keep women "in their place".

The sex stereotype is not due to basic biological differences, but due to the thousands of years in which the division of labour has prevailed, and men and women conditioned to this ideology of male supremacy. Participating with others in the production of a car or aeroplane (social production) is not the same thing as using in isolation, the same broom in the same few square feet of kitchen for centuries (private production).

Confined to the narrow limits of the home, the girl child receive pots, pans, dolls, mirrors, etc, as toys. She is taught to imitate her mother, to learn the art of housekeeping, and to prepare for marriage. She is taught that clinging tenderness, meekness, decorativeness, and a pathological fear of independence are feminine, and she is moulded in these feminine forms. Pictured in advertisements, books and films as a sex symbol, she is further degraded. Little wonder today then that women behave nearly always as they are expected to!

The problem of oppression of women is universal. and women of all classes face it. Take for example the young girls in school and college. Their education is either neglected totally or treated as secondary. Mostly from a middle-class background, they are cloistered to the home and class room. There is hardly any freedom of movement. Cafeterias, cinemas and walks are prohibited unless adequately chaperoned. For them, the day closes by 5,30 p.m. Even though education has opened new horizons for them, even these horizons are limited.

Take another example - working women. Though the Government of India has ratified the ILO Convention concerning "equal pay for men and women workers for work of equal value" in 1958, it has not been implemented in most industries. Employers purposely use women as a source of cheap labour. Whenever their wages are brought at par with men workers, they are thrown out of their jobs. Besides which, employers have to incur additional expenditure in the shape of maternity benefits and maintenance of creches, etc. This attitude towards women workers, their employment, working conditions, and the social discrimination like unequal wages, etc. will continue so long as the present social system based on exploitation exists.

Reason for Oppression

One important and puzzling question is whether women have always been oppressed. If the oppression was not inborn in women, how did it arise at all?

History tells us that women were not always oppressed. In the stage of society called primitive-communal, men hunted and fished, while women cared for the sprawling households and the handicrafts. At that time, women had equal status because all production was social. While men hunted together, women cooked together. Households were communal, and so were "families". When the mode of production slowly changed, when agriculture was discovered, and man settled on land, the concept of private property (as distinct from communal property) slowly arose. With this lands, animals, and children came to be owned privately. And so did wives. The work of the women, which was previously social in character, became private and individualised. Thus women, like cattle, came to be owned by men. This, in short, is the origin of the oppression of women.

Struggles of women

After 27 years of Independence, we have seen that the promises made by our rulers have been deceptive. Women like Harijans, came out strongly in the struggle for independence. But just as "freedom" has meant more discrimination, more torture and more killings to the Harijans, it has brought more exploitation and suppression for the women. But this is only one side of the coin. On the other side, we see that women all over India are realising the true nature of the system, and are breaking the chains that are enslaving them. In the peasant struggles against feudal exploitation and for land, in the workers' just struggles for better living conditions, women have been in the forefront. More recently, we have seen the women of Gujarat, Bihar and Maharashtra participating actively in the movements against corruption, scarcity of essential commodities and sky-rocketing prices.

We are aware of the forms and nature of oppression of women. Since ages, women have been protesting, both individually and socially. What is the path to emancipation? One thing we must remember is that any solution for the emancipation of an oppressed stratum of society - say women - must be radical and universal. Radical, because it must hit at the root cause of oppression and cannot stop at reforms. And universal - because it must genuinely encompass the masses of women.

Way to the Emancipation of Women

1. Economic independence of women, for women: to be economically independent, the precondition is that we should enter into social production. For the majority of women already in social production, the dignity of labour should be restored. But in these days of chronic unemployment, if women join the labour force, the result will surely be the swelling of the ranks of the unemployed. Because a few people should gain immense profits, a vast army of unemployed is maintained to keep the wages low. The answer to this problem is not that the women should remain at home, but that both men and women should fight against exploitation and for socialism. It is clear that only in a socialist society, where the factories and lands are in the hands of the people, who plan production according to their needs, is the emancipation of women possible.
2. Removal of household drudgery: when women come out of their narrow, individualised spheres of labour and take part in social production, the work at home becomes doubly a burden. Then household work should be shared by the couple, and cheap and efficient restaurants, creches, child-care centres and laundries should be created. But in our society, restaurants and laundries are built not for the working people but to satisfy the luxurious tastes of the upper classes. Maternity facilities are not provided in farms and factories, because employers care only for profits. Only in a socialist society, where industry and agriculture serve the toiling people, not private profiteers, where profits go not to fill the coffers of millionaires but to create cheap and efficient public services for the people, can the emancipation of women be possible.
3. Ideology of equality: along with the base of economic dependence and private work at home, the superstructure of male dominance should also be destroyed. Women should be encouraged to participate in all walks of life, and their potentialities in all spheres. Socialism being the ideology of the oppressed classes will also create the necessary and genuine climate for the equality of women.

The Role of Women

The women's struggle for emancipation is thus a very important component of the general struggles of the people for emancipation, and towards socialism. Hence, the women have a direct, leading role to play in education, organising and mobilising women on their own demands - whether they be that of middle-class women, or college students or working women .The majority of the Indian women are slaves - they are slaves to the men who themselves are slaves to this exploitative economic system. It is thus necessary that we women take a direct, leading role in mobilising the masses of women in their struggles for a better life and a changed system.

For this, it is of utmost importance that there be a broad-based, genuine women's organisation. The Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) must and will fulfill this. Hence the POW shall:

1. Create a broad consciousness for upholding the dignity of women and fight for their emancipation.
2. Uphold and propagate scientific socialism.
3. Resolutely fight against feudal economy and culture that mainly oppressed women.
4. Support and unite with the toiling masses in their struggles against foreign domination and exploitation.
5. Support and unite with the toiling masses in their struggles against corruption and black marketing and against the monopoly houses.
6. Support and unite with the students' demand for a scientific and production system.
7. Resolutely fight against all forms of injustice, social oppression and repression.

As immediate demands, the POW:

1. Demands legislation against (a) prostitution; (b) obscene art depicting women as degraded sex objects.
2. Demands for the enforcement of the legislation against (a) dowry; (b) child marriage.
3. Demands that daughters shall have an equal share of both earned and inherited property.
4. Demands implementation of the laws for equal pay for equal work, maternity and creche facilities.
5. Demands better facilities for working women and students in the form of better and more hostels, cheap restaurants, etc.
6. Shall fight against corruption, black marketing, hoarding and for regular supply of essential commodities.

Conclusion:

Let us not forget that we are all responsible citizens of India. So long as the wretchedness of a prostitute's life exists, so long as marriage remains a cattle auction, so long as children go to bed hungry, so long as illiterate people grope for knowledge, so long as India remains in the grip of foreign domination, so long as poverty, hunger and famine stalk the land, so long as the dignity of women remains mere platform rhetoric, we women of India cannot afford to remain quiet.

We women cannot afford to remain in our traditional passivity and feminine inactivity. Our duty is to rise, protest and struggle.

We proclaim solidarity with all women!

We proclaim solidarity with all oppressed classes!