WOMEN, WORK AND FISHING:AN EXAMINATION OF THE LIVES OF FISHERWOMEN IN KERALA

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DOI: 10.1177/0262728007027002052007 27: 205South Asia Research

Lina SamuelFisherwomen in Kerala

Women, Work and Fishing : An Examination of the Lives of

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WOMEN, WORK AND FISHING:AN EXAMINATION OF THE LIVESOF FISHERWOMEN IN KERALALina SamuelDEPARTMENTOF SOCIOLOGY, YORKUNIVERSITY, TORONTO, CANADA

ABSTRACT This article focuses on women and their families in thefishing industry of Kerala, India. Documenting womens dailyroutines and experiences in their work, home and social circles, itreveals the continuing significance of social customs and traditionsin limiting and confining women in their everyday life. Despitethe varied roles that women play in the fishing industry, the incomewomen earn from working has not altered pre-existing exploitat-

ive relations between men and women. Divisions based on caste,the emulation of upper caste behaviour, the continued practiceand inflation of dowry, and traditional perceptions of womensresponsibilities within the family combine to keep women in asecondary and subservient position relative to men.

KEYWORDS: dowry, family, fisherwomen, gender, Kerala, lived ex-perience, patriarchy, Sanskritization

IntroductionFocusing on women and their families in the fishing industry of Kerala in southIndia, a specific examination of the lived experience of such women is undertakenhere. The hard work of women and the multiple roles they play in this fishing com-munity, as well as the specific demands placed on them through social customs, par-ticularly the practice of dowry and its impact on their day-to-day lives are examined.The study goes beyond the descriptive nature of analyzing womens daily routines,

making connections to the various social institutions and structures prevalent in so-ciety; these continue to place fisherwomen and their families in secondary and sub-servient positions.

The study attempts to answer three main research questions: What are the experi-ences of women in the fishing economies of Kerala and what are their specific rolesand responsibilities as mothers, wives and workers in the fishing industry? Second,in what manner does the practice of dowry impact on fisher families and in whatways does the family perpetuate the dowry system? Finally, how are the intersections

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206 South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227

between caste, class and gender articulated in the lives of fisherwomen, within thecontext of modernization? The focus is on the lived experience of 51 fisherwomenwho make up the respondent group. In addition to formal interviews and informal

discussions, an analysis of the literature reveals the social and economic history thatshapes the lives of women in the fishing industry.

Theoretical Approach

A number of theoretical perspectives from feminist writers can be used in combinationto give greater depth and understanding to the data collected here, relying on a socialistfeminist methodological framework to understand the complexity of the relation-

ships between women and men within fishing society. The lives of fisher familiesmust be understood within the larger context of the fishing industry and changesoccurring at that level. Fishing in this region has been transformed during the pastdecades from a relatively small-scale and artisanal activity to one that is now highlyindustrialized and modern. The lives of the average fisher family have to be analyzedwithin this larger structural change.

Maria Mies (1986: 3) states that processes of capital accumulation and modern-ization constitute a structural and ideological framework within which changes in

womens lives have to be understood and appreciated. Ester Boserup (1970) highlightedfor the first time the contribution women make in the sphere of productive work.Through her research in agricultural communities, Boserup (1990) noted that eco-nomic development encourages a gradual shift from family production to special-ized production of goods and services and alters womens work, fertility and traditionalroles in the family. The change towards more intense agricultural systems with theintroduction of modern technologies, while benefiting men, has often worked to in-crease womens work burdens both within and outside the family. My study documentswomens experiences within the context of modernization, and I argue that the rise indowry must be examined within this context.

The writings of gender and development theorists have considered the nature ofwomens work both inside and outside the home. Proponents take a holistic approachto the role of women in development initiatives. For Young (1991: 2), this meansthat the focus is not exclusively on reproductive aspects of womens lives: childbearing,childrearing, socialization and so on. Nor does it focus solely on the production and

distribution of goods and services by women. Instead the approach attempts to focusattention on the fitbetween family, household or the domestic, and the organizationof the economic and political spheres (Young, 1991: 2) (authors emphasis). Theholistic perspective implies that although gender is an important aspect of socialorganization, it is not the only one: class, caste and race groupings are also of primeimportance. The focus, then, is not on compartmentalizing oppression, but insteadon formulating strategies to understand how all these differences are interconnectedand articulated in the daily lives of women (Brah, 1996: 127). Women are not seen



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South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227

as a homogenous group, but as a group internally divided by class, colour and creed.This framework encourages a culture-specific analysis which highlights how gender isrelated or interlocked with other forms of social hierarchy (Young, 1993: 135). Stress

in womens lives stems from the sexual division of labour and of responsibility, placingexcessive burdens on women both in terms of psychological stress and physical labour(Rathgeber, 1990: 21).

Dorothy Smith (1987) encourages an examination of social relations at the micro-level. The everyday world of women, their daily actions and experiences, best reflectthe impact of larger external structures. Detailed inquiry into womens lives requiresan examination of their everyday world. Ghorayshi and Belanger (1996) refer toeveryday life as a place of multiple contradictions. Its examination allows the researcher

to document the experiences of individual women and how they interpret, understand,and define their reality, thus enabling us to comprehend what women find problematicabout their lives (Ghorayshi and Belanger, 1996: x). The everyday routines of womenare important because what appears on the surface like trivial daily events is boundinto power structures which limit and confine women (Rose, 1993: 17). Such a frame-work permits researchers to examine the effects of socio-cultural structures on the actorsactual everyday practices, within a given space or territory.

I begin with the experiences of fisherwomen. Locating the knower in the every-

day world and developing an inquiry in terms of how her world is organized enablesus to see the micro and macro sociological levels in a determinate relation (Smith,1987: 99). I explored womens lives on a day-to-day basis. I spoke with them abouttheir activities which included housework, preparing meals, washing, walking longdistances to and from markets, and social events such as attending church. By examin-ing such activities, the lived experience of women is made visible.

The Setting of Kerala

Kerala is interesting as a research field for a number of reasons. The regions uniquepath to social and economic development, the history of the communist party, andhigh literacy rates are a few of the unusual circumstances found here. Located on thesouthwest Malabar Coast, Kerala was the first destination in India for Christians, Jewsand Muslims as they searched for pepper and other spices (Miller, 1988: 597). Keralitesalso have a long history of resisting British rule and have carried their struggles againstoppression into the post-colonial period. Since the 1950s and till the early 1990s, the

state has been governed, except for short intervals, by the Communist Party (Marxist),a government that is recognized as having brought radical changes to the masses ofKerala. These changes include redistributive polices that have successfully channeledresources into land reform, housing, education, health care and nutrition programmes.Communist-initiated reforms have also promoted important minimum wage legis-lation (Franke and Chasin, 1991). Indicators such as an average life expectancy of74 years for women (Indian average: 60 years), 71 years for men (Indian average:59 years), low infant mortality of 16.5 per thousand births (91 per thousand for the



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rest of India), and almost full literacy, show something about the distribution ofsocial and economic gains (Parayil, 1996: 9412). On many counts, Kerala stands outas a model for sustainable social development.

However, the same region which boasts many successes in development also facescriticism in its treatment of women, particularly poor women. While Kerala leadsthe nation in quality of life indicators, the high status of women must not be takenas a given. Rajan et al. (2000: 1090) draw attention to two factors which can be seenas challenging the status of women, namely the intensification of the dowry customand marginalization of women from paid employment:

The deep penetration of the dowry custom and the patrilineal nuclear family in a state

where substantial groups used to follow matrilineal inheritance and matrilocal residenceis a revealing trend, as womens (as a group) relation to property and position withinthe household have fundamentally changed.

Specific living conditions and violence towards women in the fishing communities,in particular, reveal that the success of the development model may not have fullytrickled down to poor men and women. Keralas society, then, is a mixture of con-flicting or contradictory developments.

Development of the Kerala Fishing Industry

Fishermen and women, a neglected group in Indian society, are found among LatinChristian communities, Muslim groups and lower caste Hindu (Ezhava) commu-nities.1 According to Gulati (1984: 5), the fishing population in Kerala numberedapproximately 770,000 people in 159,000 fishing households, roughly one in every30 households in the state. Fishing activities are known to be a low caste activity and

these groups traditionally were not allowed into schools, churches and temples.The division of labour in fishing is similar to that found in other coastal fishing

communities in the world. Women specialize in on-shore fish-related activities suchas preservation of fish and selling in the open markets, while men focus on fishingand sea-related activities. Fish production is highly labour-intensive, and pre-1962methods of fishing included small boats and fishing gear adapted to local fish harvestconditions and seasonal variations (Meynen, 1989: 739). In 1957, when the Com-

munist Party rose to power in Kerala, they adopted a people-oriented approach tofisheries planning, focusing attention on the traditional fish producers. By the 1970s,a combination of private capital and public interventions geared toward moderniz-ing the fishing economy had led to a complete reversal of the earlier people-orientedpolicies.

This later, and continuing, phase of fisheries development is one which is controlledfrom above. Its main beneficiaries are the larger processors, traders, big businessesand even multinationals. Development during this stage is described as exogenous



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where it was once endogenous, driven by local fisher folk (Ibrahim, 1992). As Houtartand Nayak (1988: 2) state, the modernization or motorisation of fishing increasedthe social distances among the fishermen, led to a degradation of working conditions

for the small-scale fisherman, and increased pauperisation of the majority of fisherfolk. Platteau (1989: 5717) in his overview of fisheries development notes thatdespite decades of development in the industry, specifically the shift from traditionalto modern technology, the absolute and relative poverty levels of those who are involvedin the actual fishing process have continued with little or no change.

Womens Major Roles and Responsibilities in Fishing

The modernization drive in Kerala had serious implications for women, displacingthem from some traditional fishing roles. Though women in certain occupations havelost their traditional jobs, some have found new work with fish processing plants.The experience of women varies within Kerala. Those involved in a processing plantface different circumstances than headload vendors of fish. Women in the formerposition have access to work but are subjected to long hours with poor wages, whereasheadloaders face an even more difficult existence, as they compete with the modernsector for selling of fish in the open markets. Both aspects are discussed here to intro-duce the variety of roles fisherwomen undertake and the stresses they face on a dailybasis.

The Indo-Norwegian Project (INP) was taken up in the mid-1950s with the aimof introducing new technologies to the various stages of fishing. Though the focus ofthe INP was fishermen, the project did open up new opportunities for women in thefish processing plants, mainly shelling prawn. About 30,000 women from the regionwork as casual labourers in peeling prawns. This group represents an unorganized,

exploited and underpaid group of women workers who make up the lowest levels ofsociety and thus have no clout over unions (Manmadhan, 1996). Organizing withinthe group is difficult as women fear losing their jobs. These women, who have no workduring the lean fishing season, depend on the income earned from these months ofshrimp peeling.

Headload fish vendors face different difficult circumstances. While women involvedin headloading are only drawn from the fishing community itself, this cannot be saidabout the Muslim cyclist vendors who come to the shores. In addition to these cyclists,trucks now appear on the coast to claim their share of the catch to sell. Despite thisunequal competition, women fish vendors have survived, the main reason being thatthey sell their loads to low income households, carrying their fish to scattered homesthroughout the remote paddy fields. While men on cycles and in trucks sell largequantities to hotels and larger firms, women reach households in more remote areas.While women fish vendors have their allotted positions in major fish markets, theyalso operate through a variety of wayside markets scattered among coastal towns.



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Both the buyers and sellers at these wayside markets are women. An important andcommon trait is the dependence of these women on middlemen suppliers and moneylenders.

Methodology

The data for this study was collected in Kerala in 1996 over a five-month period. Aqualitative, multi-method approach was used, including, but not limited to, a formalsurvey and a review of historical material. In the formal survey a purposive sample of51 women aged between 19 and 75 years were interviewed. All these women wereinvolved in fishing-related activities or were children of fisher parents. In addition

to the formal interviews, a number of informal interviews and conversations withyounger children in the community, and women workers as they waited at bus stopsor over afternoon tea, were collected. These informal discussions added to a deeperunderstanding of the context within which women live and work in the fishing in-dustry. Husbands and sons were also included in the study group as they wouldsometimes sit in during an interview.

The 51 formal interviews were completed with the help of the Quilon SocialService Society (QSSS).2 A combination of purposive sampling and snowball sampling

techniques was employed. With the purposive technique I relied on my own as wellas the QSSS workers ability to select women who were representative or typical ofthe population. With an understanding of the general variation in the population, Ithen selected samples from each grouping, based primarily on occupation and owner-ship in the family of boats and peeling sheds. The snowballing technique was alsoused, as contacts with fisherwomen led to further contacts and referrals to otherwomen who were interested in participating.

Findings and Respondent Profiles

The project site is located in an area referred to as Chavara, which falls within thePuthenthura village boundaries. Most of the data was collected in Puthenthura andNeendakara villages as well as some of the surrounding villages of Lake Astumudi inthe Quilon (Kollam) District. The National Highway cuts through the Puthenthuravillage, dividing the area into a western and eastern region. On the west is a beautiful

stretch of sandy beach looking out to the sea. On this coastline there are numerousclusters of temporary thatched huts which make up a large part of the community.On the eastern side is land which leads to what are called the backwater villages. Thewestern side is covered with sand while the eastern side is lush with vegetation. It ison this western side that Sreyas, the development training centre for the QSSS whichacted as my host, was located.

Regarding the profile of women in the study, all respondents came from a longline of fisher families and were well connected to the areas they lived in. The households



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consisted mostly of large extended families, with one set of grandparents (usuallyfrom the husbands lineage) living in the same home. Often both husband and wifeworked in the fishing industry, the men involved in the actual catching of fish and

the women in processing, preserving and marketing. The profile I provide here outlinesthe major defining features of the group of women interviewed.

In terms of household composition, all of my respondents who worked in thefishing industry had a family to care for. The term family in this environment refersnot only to children, but also elderly parents-in-law living in the same home (true foreight of my respondents). Thirteen respondents were over the age of 50, so werethemselves under the care of a daughter-in-law, or soon to be, once their sons married.According to tradition it is common for parents to live with their eldest son and his

family. While there are advantages in having a larger extended family for support andcompanionship, on the whole, the responsibility of caring for such a large groupplaces additional burdens on women in terms of time pressures and physical stress onthe body.

Household Sizes and Number of Children

Average household size for the respondents was 5.3 persons. The occurrence of some

smaller size households is mainly due to children marrying and moving away. Thelargest households contained nine people, with elderly parents and married childrenall living together. Lylas family is typical of families in the area, one of the larger onesin my interview file. She lives with her husband and her husbands parents. In additionshe has four children, all boys. The oldest son is married and still lives at home withhis wife. This type of arrangement is not unusual and quite common, as traditionallythe oldest son is responsible for the care of his aging parents and thus inherits thefamily home. The smallest households in my survey were two young couples living

alone.In the respondent group, it becomes apparent that fertility rates have been decreas-

ing. Table 1 illustrates the breakdown of my respondents by age and the averagenumber of children in that category.

Table 1 Average Number of Children per Age Group

Age breakdown for respondents Average number of children

2030 (14 respondents) 1.6



5160 (8 respondents) 6




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Table 1 clearly illustrates that there has been a considerable decrease in the averagenumber of children born to younger, more recent cohorts, when compared to theolder two groupings (51 to 75 years). The average number of children for the re-

spondents mothers was also considerably higher at 6.8 children. For the older groupof respondents mothers, it was noted that those families with smaller families offour, for example, contained only female children. I was told that it is common thatif you are continually giving birth to daughters, it is in your best interest to stop hav-ing children, as it will be difficult to collect dowries. It is important to note here thatKerala does not have a tradition of female infanticide, so girls are kept in the family.In just one generation there has been a substantial decrease in family size, perhaps theresult of popular national advertising campaigns which encourage families to have

only two children. There has been a tremendous effort in Kerala to reduce householdsizes, reflected in the change in family size in just one generation of fisher folk.

Education Levels

My research indicates an increase in educational levels among the younger age groupsof women in the study area (Figure 1). Higher literacy rates and good educationalinstitutions pursued as policy by subsequent state governments in Kerala are clearlyreflected in increasing educational attainment among women in fishing commu-nities. The oldest respondents, both 75 years of age, had no formal schooling. Ofthe two respondents between 61 and 70 years of age, one had completed grade 4and the other grade 3. The youngest age group, between 19 and 30, showed thehighest educational achievement. Although one woman still had no schooling, ninehad passed grade 9. It should be noted here that schooling in state-run facilities isfree up to the tenth standard. The two final years (11 and 12), termed pre-degree orplus-two, are not free and demand a fee. One must pass the pre-degree years to

apply for university or college education. To make it to grade 10, whether or not onepasses or fails, is still seen as an achievement.

0

5

10

15

20

25

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Years of Education

Pe

rcentage

Figure 1 Education Levels for Respondents



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In informal gatherings with younger girls on the islands and on my tours aroundLake Astumudi, I noticed a great desire among young girls to stay in school at leastuntil grade 10. When asked about their future dreams, none of the younger girls

spoke of working in the fishing industry. Many wanted to attend college, but gettingthrough to college requires the financial and emotional support of their families andcommunities. Financially, fisher families find it difficult to put their girls throughhigher college education. Also, it is in the familys collective best interest to marrydaughters off at an earlier age, now the early twenties. In a society that places a greatdeal of emphasis on marriage, girls education is often terminated early if there is noimmediate return. Educating a boy, however, is different as sons remain connected tothe family of origin, while daughters are lost to another family after marriage.

Work and Daily Activities

Women in the Kerala fishing industry typically are responsible for a variety of tasksand activities dealing directly with fish stocks, sorting the catch at the local harbour,fish vending at the local markets, headload fish vending to residential areas, andshrimp and clam peeling in local peeling sheds as well as larger exporting plants.There are also other activities indirectly linked to the industry, such as coir work

(removing the fibre from the husk of coconuts) and net making.Accordingly, there was a wide range in the work activities of the women I spoke to.Most of the middle-aged and elderly women had well over 1520 years of experienceworking in the fishing industry. The majority, a total of 18, were fish vendors at thelocal fish market. Eight respondents were headload fish vendors selling fish in localresidential areas. Five respondents worked as shrimp peelers. Three were involved inclam peeling, separating the clam meat from the shells. Nine women remained athome as they had small children to care for; two of these did some tailoring work on

the side. One woman was involved in both shrimp peeling and selling at the market.Two women were involved in the coir industry (beating and weaving coconut husk/fibre into rope). Five women were too old to continue work, but in their youth hadall been involved in selling at the markets. One of the elderly women in this groupwas injured from a fall and incapable of going out and selling. The breakdown of theoccupations of the women I interviewed is depicted in Table 2. The list, although notcomplete, illustrates the variety of ways in which women participate in the fishingindustry. Different occupations bring varying stresses and responsibilities with them.

Income, Expenses and Debts

To deal with the difficulties in gathering income-related information,3 I separatedthe responses concerning income into categories based on occupation. Incomes amongfisherwomen and their families are very modest. For women who headload fish andsell to residential areas, the monthly income varies between Rs 75 and Rs 1,000.4 Theaverage income for this group is Rs 562.5 per month. Fisherwomen who sell at the



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open markets average about Rs 579 per month. For shrimp peelers, the monthlyincome average stood at Rs 179.2. The average for my two clam peeling respondentswas Rs 600 per month, while coir workers earned the lowest income at Rs 150 per

month. Women who were homemakers relied solely on the husbands income, whichaveraged Rs 344 per month. Minimum wage in Kerala remained unchanged atRs 30 per day for workers in a formal industry, translating to approximately Rs 150per week and Rs 600 per month (Baird, 1993: 24). As the responses reveal, there is avariation in what households earn, depending on the number employed in a householdand the type of occupation. Most fish workers tend to make under the state minimumwage, and it should also be remembered that fishing work is seasonal. During the lowfishing seasons, fish workers bring in very little to no income.

When considering expenses and debts, it was found that for many of my respond-ents the cost of monthly expenses on food items and medicine was far greater thanmonthly income. Expenses vary as a result of family size and age of children. Themajority of income is used for food purchases. For a headload vendors family ofseven, an average monthly expenditure on food would be about Rs 2,000. Most ofthe respondents did not have gardens and had to rely on the market for all food sup-plies, often pushing families into debt. Important food items like rice and milk are

bought daily. For a shrimp peelers family of four, the average monthly cost was aboutRs 1,000. Market vendors stated similar levels of expenses. For a family of four, ex-penses range from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. For families with alcoholic husbands alcoholism being a major problem in the fishing villages the loss of money to alcoholpurchases can be significant.5 Betsy, a headload fish vendor, states that though theytogether bring in about Rs 500 a month, much of it goes to her husband. She states:My husband is an alcoholic and a good portion of what we bring in goes to supportinghis bad habit. What can we do? I have no control over his behaviour. I can only pray.

Table 2 Breakdown of Occupations

Occupation Number of women in occupation group

Headload fish vendor 8

Shrimp peeler 5

Clam peeler 3

Vendor at open market 18

Both shrimp peeler and seller at market 1

Coir worker 2

Housework only 9

Injured or retired fish vendor 5



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Aside from daily expenses of buying fish for re-sale, fisher families obtain loans forbuyingvallums(small dug-out canoes), putting in latrine facilities and any medicalemergencies which may arise. Large expenses such as taking down a thatched hut and

putting up a concrete house, or paying a daughters dowry will require a personalloan from a bank, from other lending organizations or rich neighbours. When incomesfall during the off-fishing season, fisher families will take small loans even for foodexpenditures. With fluctuating interest rates, these loans add up and become a never-ending source of anguish.

Dowry Payments and Average Marriage Age

Many families in Kerala incur heavy debts on the marriage of a daughter. Dowry is

commonly explained as a pre-mortem inheritance which daughters receive when theyleave their parental home for marriage (Paul, 1992: 306). Marriage continues to bean unquestioned and inevitable event in the life of a Keralite girl. Along with thesacred institution of marriage is the passing of dowry from the parents of the bride tothe parents of the groom. As my research reveals, this tradition continues with littleopposition.

The average age of marriage for respondents did not vary greatly over the agegroups (see Table 3). The elderly group of 6175 year-olds already had an aver-age age of 19.8 years for marriage. The youngest group (2030 years) had an averageage of marriage at 20.1. While the marriage ages have only risen marginally, whathas changed significantly is the amount of dowry. The inflation of dowry both in cash,gold and land is substantial. While elderly respondents had modest sums of cash andland, the more contemporary fisherwomen had dowry payments ranging to a high ofRs 75,000. Three marriages did not involve a dowry, two of which were love marriages,where parents are not obliged to pay a dowry. The other respondent stated that there

Table 3 Range of Dowry Payments and Average Age of Marriage for Respondent Group

Age breakdown for Range of dowry payments for Average age of marriagerespondents respondents (low to high) for respondents

2030 low: 5 cents of land6 20.1high: Rs. 75,000 and 15 pauvan7

3140 low: 8 cent, 2 pauvan 20.1

high: Rs. 10,000 and 3 pauvan4150 low: Rs. 1,000, 1.5 pauvan 19.4

high: Rs. 3,500 and 4 pauvan

5160 low: Rs. 200, 3.5 pauvan 17.8high: Rs. 7,600 and 1.5 pauvan

6175 low: Rs. 150high: Rs. 500 and 2 pauvan 19.8



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was no dowry for her marriage, but her age of marriage was 12, the lowest in the sur-vey group. The issues surrounding dowry are complex, and are discussed in greaterdetail below. The practice of dowry and the centrality of the tradition in the lives of

fisherwomen necessitate a deeper discussion.

Issues of Significance

The preceding sections described some common characteristics of the respondents.The majority were Latin Catholics ranging in age from 19 to 75 years. They performeda number of functions vital for the survival of the fisheries industry. Womens activ-ities ranged from duties such as shrimp peeling and vending at the markets to care of

the household. Except for one woman, all were married at one time and responsiblefor the care of husbands, sometimes parents-in-law and usually more than one child,depending on the age grouping. The majority of women were not well-educated andfishing was their only viable work option. The income earned varied depending onthe type of work, but usually did not exceed daily expenses, including personal ex-penses for buying food or paying installments on a daughters dowry, and businessexpenses such as acquiring a boat or fishing net. The research also revealed that these ex-penses forced many families into debt, usually at a high interest rate. This detailed

profile has provided an overall picture of the respondents and the characteristics theyshare as fish workers. This general description now allows below for a deeper discussionof significant issues that formed the most interesting parts of our conversations.

The Multiple Roles of Fisherwomen: The Daily Round

Women can be seen as oppressed by their heavy workload and attitudes which per-petuate the burdens placed on them. The daily activities of women, when broken

down in a detailed manner, highlight multiple roles and responsibilities. While mostwomen are bringing in important earnings, they also continue to perform all the un-paid household work such as cleaning the home, washing clothes, preparing meals,child rearing and taking care of elderly parents-in-law.

The first two responses provide a comparison between the work days of a fishvendor and a shrimp peeler. Sally, a 35-year-old fish-vendor and mother of three(two girls of 16 and 14 and a son of 13) describes her day as follows:

I have done this type of work since I was 16 years old, well before my marriage. Backthen I used to headload fish and sell to the houses. I would even cut the fish for someof my clients as often the women would not want to touch the fish. Now I sell directlyat the market. My days are full. I get up at 4 am in the morning. I have to get up thisearly so I can go to the bathroom and not be seen. We have no toilet. I then go milkthe cow. I keep some of the milk for the morning tea and breakfast. I then deliver themilk to our local milk society. The local milk society here in X pays me some moneyto distribute my milk. I then come home. It is about 6 am by now, I think. I then givetea and breakfast to the children. I wait for my husband to return in the morning with



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a catch of fish. He has akochuvallum [fishing boat]. I take this fish to the market to sellin the afternoon. I am usually home by late afternoon. I then have to tend to thehousehold chores of washing clothes and making the evening meal. My oldest daughterhelps me clean up the night dishes. She is of help to me. I only sleep at 10:30 pm.

Shrimp peelers have different schedules. Elizabeth is a 39 year old shrimp peelerand mother of two girls aged 17 and 12. Both her girls are still at school and theyleave quite early in the morning. Her daily activities are regulated by the arrival of theshrimp boats:

I wake up at 4 am and make tea. I help prepare the girls for school. I make theirbreakfast and tiffins for their lunch. The girls leave around 8 am. They have to catch avallum [small boat] and go to the mainland where they get on a bus. I clean up andwash when the girls go to school. I then go to the shrimp peeling shed to see ifthe boats have come in with their catch. If the shrimp is in then I must work to peel theshrimp till the batch is complete. There are about 12 other women who work in theshed with me. If there is a lot of shrimp I might be peeling all day. If not, and the catchis small, I finish up and go and prepare dinner and do the washing of the clothes.Sometimes the boats can arrive more than once and at odd hours, so I have to dropwhat I am doing and go peel. The hours I work are dependent on the arrival of the

boats. I have to do both. My husband is a fisherman and is usually home by the evening,but he is too tired to do anything to help me. I have two daughters though and theyare of help to me. I am usually in bed by 9:30 pm.

Women are thus responsible for work both inside and outside the home. Womenwould wake up often at very early hours and begin work. As one woman stated, theseearly hours allow her to attend to her personal needs before the males wake up. Thisis true for many women who do not have indoor toilet facilities. Duties such as milk-

ing the cow, preparing morning tea, and sending children off to school are all activitiesperformed by women, to be done prior to leaving for the harbour. Duties not com-pleted, such as preparing evening meals and daily washing, must be tended to afterreturn, usually late afternoon.

Women who were involved with peeling shrimp at a nearby shrimp peeling shedhad different schedules. Their activities are determined by the arrival of the shrimpboats and their family duties are done around the shrimp peeling. Although womenare bringing in necessary income, they continue to perform most of the unpaid house-

hold maintenance tasks. There is little to no help from husbands in terms of householdwashing of clothes, dishes, preparing meals, and looking after small children, withhelp coming only from older daughters.

Desai and Krishnaraj (1990: 16970) state that a womans survival in India isnot socially conceivable without the extended family. This social value placed onthe familial role of women is also the cause for their subordination to men and lackof access to important economic and political resources, even when they may be con-tributing an equal or greater amount of money to the collective family income.



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Patriarchal family norms and values provide the context for family behaviour (Desaiand Krishnaraj, 1990; Dhruvarajan, 1989 and 1992; Mazumdar and Sharma, 1990).Housework and child care are defined in Indian society as womens work. These

practices are legitimized in Indian society through a worldview of male dominanceand female subordination provided by Hinduism (Dhruvarajan, 1992: 2).The fisherwomen I spoke with work both outside the home as well as carry out

household duties. In addition to the hours spent walking and vending/peeling fishand shrimps, responsibilities for childbearing and childrearing are labour-intensiveand require long hours of work. The woman must service not only her husband, butalso three other groups of people: children, the sick, and the elderly. I found a largenumber of women who had mothers-in-law to care for, which supports Barretts

(1988: 209) statement that the household is consequently not merely a site in which adivision of labour exists, but a set of relations between household members by whichwomen are systematically dependent upon, and unequal to, men. Fisherwomen, asthe profile illustrated, work long hours and bring home wages that are significant forthe survival of the family. Yet even in such homes where women contribute significantlyto the family income the ideologyof womens dependence on men remains strong(Barrett, 1988: 215, my emphasis). The assumption of womens dependence makesup a central component of the oppressive nature of contemporary household structure.

Despite womens contribution to the household the notion of their dependence uponmen is not shed.

Dowry Customs and Womens Oppression

This section focuses on the nature of certain social traditions which continue toimpact on the women in the survey group. For some women their primary concernsfor the future involved the construction of a home or a latrine. For others it was the

closing of a large debt. For one woman, who only had sons, her major hope forthe future was acquiring a television set. For 30 out of the 51 respondents interviewed,their major concern involved the dowry for a daughters marriage. This numberexcludes childless couples, women whose daughters were already married and womenwho only have sons.

One of my respondents, Judith, was only 19 and her response to future concernshad to do with her parents securing enough money for a prospective groom. Her fatherwas currently unemployed and her mother was working at the harbour: I am con-

cerned about my future marriage. My parents cannot afford a high dowry and now itis impossible to marry without one. Marriages are very difficult now with no money.

The actual amount of dowry given for the marriage of my respondents variedgreatly with age. For 75-year-old Kunjunumma who was one of eight children of herparents, the dowry was Rs 150. Her marriage was arranged to a fisherman at the ageof 20. For 55 year old Rekha, her dowry was 22 cents of land, which has now beengiven as dowry to her oldest daughter. Her parents, like herself, had a large familyand were too poor to give money or gold, so land was given. In more modern and



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typical circumstances, 22-year-old Shobhana married at the age of 19 and receivedRs 40,000 plus seven pauvan of gold for her dowry. She is the daughter of a fishmerchant and coolie fisherman. Susheela, 25 years old and married at the age of

23 to a coolie fisherman in Sakthikulangara, was given Rs 75,000 plus 15 pauvangold for her dowry. She was from a large family of nine. While these recent amountsseem rather high, this is common for a modern day marriage in the fishing commu-nity. For those that do not have this income, parents are forced to promise money ininstallments and/or even give up their own home and land. The next few excerptsfrom my interviews make known the depth of the problem and the seemingly hope-less nature of ending the tragedies associated with dowry.

Madiline, who is 34, has been working as a fish vendor at the local village market.

Her husband is a fisherman and has his own traditional kochuvallum. She claimsthat they bring in about Rs 250 per month. Their expenses are about Rs 1,000 amonth. Though they own their home, which is made of thatched palm leaves, theydesire to make a concrete house some day. They also owe a large sum of money to anearby rich family. When I asked her about her future concerns she sighed heavilyand said, You have to ask this? Cant you see, I have three girls to marry. We needdowries for all three. How are we going to marry them off? This is my fate, I guess.

Eliza has the same problem as a widow and mother of two girls. As a fish vendor

she makes just enough to sustain her family. She has not been able to save for herdaughters dowries: I only have worries in my life. I have two girls to marry andI have no husband to help me. How will I get them married? Some parents facedwith this problem are forced to give up their home and land as a dowry payment.Sixty year old Lilly, a fish vendor, is one such parent:

I have two girls, one is 24 and the other is 33. Both my daughters are married off. Thefirst one we gave Rs 15,000. The second one we gave 17 cents of land and our house.

My daughter and her husband are living there now. Now we are living here. We put upthis hut and now we are here. We had to marry her, it is our duty. My daughter oc-casionally brings us some food, but not too often. What to do? I have only worries inmy life. There is nothing to get from selling fish these days. I am so sick, I cannot con-tinue to go for very much longer. We need a house now, too.

Lilly and her husband were living in a thatched hut at the back of their old home,which they had given as dowry payment. I spoke with a number of parents who had

given their homes as dowry for a daughters marriage. Now these same parents werevirtually left without a home. While it is common to give parental property to a sonas the parents still live there, with daughters this is not the same. Once parents givetheir home as dowry payment, this property belongs to their son-in-law and thus it isup to him to allow his parents-in-law to stay. Many parents are not welcome and it isnot common practice to live with daughters.

Beatrice, a headload fish vendor, has two daughters: My oldest daughter is mar-ried and we gave her the house and land for her dowry. Now my husband and I need



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to make our own house. We also have one more daughter to marry. WidowedBabykutty, who is 42 and a mother of one daughter, gave her land as collateral forthe marriage of her daughter: At least I married my daughter. I still need to give a

dowry, though. I had to give something at the time, so I gave my land as collateral.I have to make money and get my land back.One of my informants was engaged and soon to be married. Leelas marriage was

fixed for mid-August and her dowry was set at Rs 100,000, quite a large sum ofmoney. Her future husband is an auctioneer at the harbour, not an educated job, butsomewhat secure. I asked Leela, who has a BA in Malayalam, how her parents couldafford such a dowry payment as her mother works as a shrimp peeler at the harbourand her father is now unemployed due to some illness. She said that her father can-

not afford to pay the full amount, but will pay in installments. This paying in install-ments is torture for the brides family as it may lead to greater and greater demands,which usually exceed the original amount offered. Her parents will likely feel thedebt to the groom and his family for the duration of their marriage.

This continued owing of dowry leads to very unpleasant circumstances, some-times even the actual death of the bride. A tragedy on the island of Sakthikulangaramarked an important point in the research. One of my respondents was the sister ofa woman who died on the island. During our interview, she began showing me thephotos taken by the police after their arrival. The woman in the photo was hunchedover between the bed and the adjacent wall. Her body at the time had not been re-moved from the area where it was found. My respondent said: It was murder 100 percent. There was little doubt in her mind. The pictures clearly showed a woman whowas beaten and kicked to death. The police, according to her, were paid off at thescene of the crime. This is very common in cases of wife abuse/killings, and thusthe murder was reported to the press as a death due to an asthma attack. Before I left

the island, months later, I heard that this man was marrying again, thereby collectinganother dowry payment. Justice is rarely served when women are killed by their hus-bands or in-laws. The island apparently has a bad reputation for alcoholism and wife-killing, with the fishing communities as a whole having a reputation for alcoholism.

I remember conversations that were both within the interview and outside wherewomen would confide that their husbands were beating them. One respondent,Mary, during an interview, informed me that she lives with abuse on a daily basis:He drinks heavily in the evening and then beats me. I can do nothing. I cant run

anywhere at night [she lives at the bottom of a cliff and beside Lake Astumudi]. Heeven beats me in front of the girls. A number of women confided that their hus-bands drank heavily and abused them. Fisherwomen, in fact, played a central role inbringing about the prohibition of locally-produced alcohol.

The murder on the island of Sakthikulangara was an important event in the re-search as it brought to my mind the centrality of the dowry issue and how despite all



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the efforts at credit organizing, and attending seminars on sariculture (silk wormcultivation), one important facet of Indian culture is often neglected. Dowry is seenas almost impossible to question, let alone eradicate. The adoption of the practice of

dowry among groups where dowry has not traditionally been employed has been seenas an act of Sanskritization,8 a claim to high-caste status. As Berreman (1993: 384)notes, the practice is also a preliminary, unintentional step on the path of dowryabuse. Although respondents themselves will comment that dowry is harmful forwomen, there is little attempt to distance themselves from this practice. Dowry, asSharma (1984: 62) asserts, brings no honour to women. The practice pressures womento persuade their parents into giving more and leads eventually to the humiliation ofthe brides parents, ill-treatment of the bride and perhaps even death. The responses

clearly show how the price of dowry has increased over one generation. The presentsums of dowry being demanded by parents of grooms determine the kind of man awoman will marry and how she will be treated in her new home. Women who havebrought large sums of money into the household can expect to be treated better bythe in-laws than a girl who has brought a poor amount. The worth of the girl will bedetermined by the amount of material goods and cash her family gives, and thisplaces great strain on the parents and daughters as the girls begin to see themselves asburdens (Sharma, 1984: 71).

Responses to questions about dowry could be predicted, if there were young un-married girls living in the home. One of my informants, while accompanying me,commented: You should know by now that if there are daughters, then raising thedowry will be the major worry of the parents, nothing else! The inflation of dowryhas made the birth of girl children less desirable than boy children. Dowry, it seems,is perceived as set in stone and will remain a defining part of a girls existence. Im-portantly, dowry impacts on the parents of daughters as well as young unmarriedgirls. For parents of girl children, dowry becomes a central area of concern. Dowryinflation has meant either taking huge loans or giving up personal property, often thefamily home. A significant outcome of the practice of dowry is that it allows womento be seen as a source of money (property) and thus they are to a certain extent ex-pendable, as the murder at Sakthikulangara demonstrates.

It was in the aftermath of the murder at Sakthikulangara that the difficulty in goingbeyond addressing just the condition of women, and the importance of addressingwomens wider position in society became clear.9 It would appear far easier to set up

credit societies and book binding projects than to seriously address dowry and otherpractices which keep women in subordinate positions. Despite the difficulty in dis-cussing issues such as dowry, it must be addressed if there is to be substantial and con-tinued change in the position of women. Though it is important to have organizationssuch as the QSSS (199495) with their annual progress reports, it is equally, if notmore important, to also talk about and effect change on these other issues that dealdirectly with womens social position in society.



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The Totality of Womens Lives: The Intersectionsbetween Caste, Class and Gender

The discussion has so far illustrated the different levels of oppression experienced bywomen who work in fishing. The description of the daily round reveals the work per-formed by women, roles which conform to the traditional sexual division of labour.The lack of support from husbands in completing these duties means that womenoften combine activities and overlap tasks just to maintain their household. The house-hold structure and familial ideology are set in such a way that they both inform andinfluence other relevant structures in society (Barrett, 1988: 158). Structures such ascaste, class and gender divisions are reinforced through this division of labour which

places the domestic in the realm of women.As Smith (1987: 152) writes, a sociology for women must be able to disclose forwomen how our own situations are organized and determined by social processesthat extend outside the scope of the everyday world. As subjects, fisherwomenare located within their actual everyday worlds, which exposes the social relationswhich organize their daily experiences. An examination which begins at the localesets the stage for the study of such fisherwomen and their everyday world.

There are a number of social, political, historical and cultural contexts in the indi-

vidual fisherwomans life that are not only complex, but variable. The combinationof these relations makes up her individual physical and social world. Numerous fac-tors are responsible for the subordinate status of Indian fisherwomen. Constraintsarise from illiteracy, traditional patriarchal values and norms which reinforce malesupremacy, superstitions, the ideology of economic weakness which leads to depend-ence on the man, social institutions like dowry, polygamy, and unaccountability ofthe husband to the wife (Khan and Ayesha, 1982: 4). The existing androcentric valuesin society have worked to keep women subordinate to men. Changing the status ofwomen in India is a difficult task because of the numerous cultural barriers that notonly limit the areas of change, but also the speed at which this change occurs.

Kumaris (1987: 1) comments on rural women workers in the informal sector arefitting for this present study on fisherwomen, as they share many of the same chal-lenges. These women share a number of common characteristics: A lack of assets,a constant battle with insecurity, unemployment and underemployment and con-sequent indebtedness, over-extended workdays, low wages and low returns for their

labour. An important and common trait is the dependence of these women onmiddlemen exporters, suppliers and money lenders. Azad (1986: 133) states thattheoreticallyall constraints stem from the female workers caste, class and genderroles (my emphasis). Caste affiliation defines her mobility, social space and culturalnorms regarding her behaviour in society. Class membership and economic statusaffect her access to basic amenities such as housing, water and sanitation. Classand gender membership also limit her access to productive resources such as credit,goods, technology, education and training and assign her an invisible position in the



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market economy. Gender roles place multiple responsibilities on her shoulders and compelher to undertake low-productive occupations in reproductive and domestic roles, usu-ally near the household. In sum, these women are marginalized as workers in the fishing

economy, defined as housewives, despite endless hours of toil and forced into a statusof invisibility by the ideologies and institutions prevalent in society.Lower caste groups, like the fishing population in Kerala, in their claim to higher

status have adopted certain social structures, such as dowry, emulating cultural valuesand behaviours which are associated with the subordination of women (Berreman,1993: 384). Sanskritization, according to Berreman (1993: 370), initiates or deepensfemale subordination and is inherently counterproductive for women. The freedomswhich women of lower castes, tribal groups, visible or ethnic minorities have enjoyed

over their upper caste counterparts are threatened as the group as a whole tries to risein caste status. Fisherwomen in the present study have enjoyed the freedom to walkto the harbour, markets and distant residential homes for the sale of fish. Such freedomof mobility is not common for women of upper castes whose purity of blood is ofmore concern to the family lineage.10 But this freedom of movement and the ability tosecure necessary income for the family have not enabled women to challenge theideology of female dependence or the rising practice of dowry. The most severe genderinequalities, according to Berreman (1993: 370), will be found among poor low-caste

groups who are attempting to move upwards, through Sanskritization, in a rituallydefined and restricted hierarchy. Berreman (1993: 3701) thus argues that such womenhave the worst of all worlds.

From my research it can be concluded that while fisherwomen in Kerala have in-creased access to seasonal jobs and much-needed income, as a result of increasingdemand for fish and fish products, they continue to face a number of major constraints.The stresses facing individual women and their families are both common and uniqueto their specific life situation. We can make some general conclusions from the pre-sent study. Fisherwomen share a lack of access to credit, social legislation and workerbenefits. For families who live near the coast, the lack of ownership of their land meansthat they are not able to secure legitimate loans. Their close proximity to the coastalso means that particularly during the monsoon seasons their homes are threatenedby rising sea levels. The seasonality of fish work makes life during the off-fishingseason difficult. Their work situation forces them into continuous indebtedness.

Their close working proximity with males also means greater exposure to male

harassment. The interviews revealed serious problems of male abandonment, alcohol-ism, and violence. In addition to this, their struggles include their multiple roles andresponsibilities, both at home and at work. Reflecting on their daily routines womenspoke of the constant work demands, which begin from the time they wake up to thetime they sleep, depriving them of leisure. Their continuous work schedule limitsthe time for social gatherings, outside of attending church. Finally, there are numerousproblems related to marriage and dowry payments: women must bear the brunt ofboth domestic chores and financial liability.



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Conclusions

Through the use of both secondary literature and primary research undertaken inKerala, this article has illustrated the lived experience of 51 fisherwomen and their

families in the fishing economies of Kerala. The shift toward modernization andgreater capital accumulation, combined with certain social practices and institutions,has worked to negatively impact on the life and work of fisherwomen. Changes inthe industry, combined with the strengthening of traditional perceptions of womenand womens roles have worked to reinforce prevailing male and upper caste advan-tage in Keralite society.

The interconnections between caste, class and gender systems are complex andvariable. The caste system has remained a reality in India despite numerous challenges.The caste hierarchy, based on pollution and purity, continues to place groups likefisher folk at the bottom of caste groupings. While there is considerable income to beearned in the fishing industry, the perception of fishing as dirty and unclean has notchanged. At the same time, contemporary Indian society sees a mimicking of uppercaste behaviour, reflected here in the rise of dowry prices among fisher families andthe rise in dowry-related deaths, originally seen as an upper caste phenomenon.

Issues relating to class are equally complex. While the caste system for the most part

is rigid and caste mobility limited, it is possible to move upin class position. Sinceclass is commonly defined by ownership of property and the means of production,mobility would seem possible once a fisher family has secured ownership of a boat.As my research reveals, it is not quite this simple. While the income earned from fish-ing has led to certain groups advancing their class position, the majority of fisherfamilies continue to live on very modest household incomes. While certain individ-uals have gained as a result of changes in the industry, most fishing families are stillfound at the bottom of the socio-economic scale and may be pushed into debt. As a

result of their low class position, such people continue to face limited access to creditresources, technology, education and training.

Gender roles in the fishing community continue to place responsibilities for familyand home on the shoulders of women, despite and on top of their hours of work pre-serving, selling and marketing fish. Womens work in the fishing industry and theimportance of the income earned, while vital for the survival of fishing families,has not been enough to challenge traditional perceptions of womens responsibilities.Womens duties in the home, raising children, preparing meals, cleaning, and tending

to the elderly, have continued despite their long hours of fishing-related tasks. Theideology of female dependence on male earnings remains strong and traditional ideasand ideals about women within the family and society continue in spite of their chang-ing roles in the market economy. The family is still one of the prime sites of socializationof these attitudes.

Despite the increasing role of women in the market economy and the importanceof their income for survival of the family, then, this has not led to a rise in the positionof women in contemporary Indian society. In fact, the price of dowry, which has



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come to symbolize womens oppression in India, has risen to new levels, which havedirectly contributed to the increase in dowry-related deaths. The problem of dowrycuts across caste and class groupings. It is the strength of this system which gives

greater value to the birth of the boy child. The birth of a girl will continue to be re-garded as a burden on the family so long as the dowry system is maintained. Dowryis thus an instrument of patriarchy, and the family remains the mechanism or sitethrough which it is reproduced and articulated, combining to keep women in adangerous and insecure position relative to men.

Notes

1. The caste system divides the whole of society into a large number of hereditary groupsdistinguished from one another and at the same time connected by three characteristics:separation, division of labour and hierarchy (Dumont, 1970: 21). Within this system offour major castes there are thousands of sub-castes and sub-sub-castes throughout thevarious regions. Dumonts conclusion that the castes are still present, and untouchabilitystill effective, although it has been declared illegal (Dumont, 1970: 218), still rings truetoday and all the various communities in India have something of a caste system despitethe modification in their ideas and values (Dumont, 1970: 210).

2. The Quilon Social Service Society (QSSS) is a branch of the Quilon Catholic Diocese.

Separated into six zones which cover the district of Quilon, it has been in operation fordecades and has provided important services for under-privileged groups in society. I wasaffiliated with the QSSS and volunteered with the organization. The QSSS girls I refer toare young women from the fishing communities who work within the organization. Someof the programmes run by the QSSS range from book binding projects and running daycare centres to building latrines and implementing credit initiatives.

3. The examination of income was a complex task. Because of my affiliation with the QSSSthere was a belief that I was a social worker who could assist them with obtaining money/

credit. Respondents tended to list low income figures, but when I would ask about monthlyexpenses the respondents often provided a high figure. For those fisher folk who lived inpoverty it was very clear from their lifestyle that they were indeed living on very meagremeans. For those women whose husbands owned peeling sheds and boats, the responseshad to be clarified. In order to bridge this divide, I would ask specifically how muchmoney both the respondent and her husband brought into the home over the period ofone month.

4. At the exchange rate of the time, this was approximately $2.50 to $33 Canadian dollars,where 1 Canadian dollar is approximately equivalent to Rs 30.

5. The alcohol beverage commonly used in the fishing community is referred to as toddy.This is a liquid tapped from the flower buds of coconut palms or Palmaira Palm trees. Thesweet liquid is kept in an earthen pot for a maximum of 24 hours and fermented. Thealcohol is available at local corner shops and drinking establishments in most villages,despite prohibition introduced by A.K. Antony, then Chief Minister of Kerala.

6. 10 cents of land is approximately 40 by 80 ft or 3200 square feet.7. Onepauvan is approximately eight grams of gold.8. Sanskritization, a term coined by Srinivas (1956), is a process where non-Brahmanical

castes adopt Brahmanical (upper caste) rituals, institutions and cultural values.



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9. Womens condition as defined by Young (1988) is the material state in which womenfind themselves: their poverty, their lack of education and training, their excessive workburdens, their lack of access to technology, etc., as compared to men in the same group,while position refers to womens social and economic standing relative to men.

10. For a deeper discussion on this aspect of ritual purity, where women are seen as pointsof entrance to the caste system, see Desai and Krishnaraj (1990: 323) or Liddle andJoshi (1986: 59).

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Lina Samuel is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at York Universityin Toronto, Canada. Her research interests include intergenerational cultural retentionand the transformation of diasporic identities, as well as the impact of modernizationon cultural practices particularly pertaining to gender roles.Address: Department of Sociology, 2151 Vari Hall, York University, 4700 Keele Street,Toronto ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. [email: [email protected]]

WOMEN, WORK AND FISHING:AN EXAMINATION OF THE LIVES OF FISHERWOMEN IN KERALA

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