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Community of Women and Men: Issues of Social Analysis
K.C. Abraham
I. Social Analysis as a Method
Social analysis is a tool for deepening our awareness of the complexity
of our situation, especially the forces and structures that shape our attitudes
and relationship. This way of analysis becomes common when we reflect on the
phenomenon of poverty. Poverty is not an accident, nor the result of fate not
caused by laziness and drunkenness. There are structural causes - faulty
economic development, political decisions and politics that favours the rich and a system that excludes the poor.
Only with an awareness of such factors can we think of relevant strategies.
In our earlier analysis of poverty, thanks to Marxism, we have been able
to establish the link between poverty and unjust political and economic
structures. But today we realise that there are other
forces and structures that influence the condition of poverty. The poor are
powerless; the source of power is not only economic but religious and
cultural. It is not surprising that the poor are in all situations socially
oppressed. They belong to the lower castes.
In any given society the key factor that influences the relationship
between peoples is the way power is distributed and controlled. We need to ask
the question who controls power? Which groups are excluded from power? Social
analysis is a way of understanding the mechanism of power, especially the
reason for the powerlessness of the poor and other marginal groups. Clearly the
analysis is from the perspective of the poor. How does
the existing pattern of relationships and the process of change affect their
lives? How do we evaluate economic policies on development and the political
process from the perspective of the marginalised?
If we keep the focus of our analysis on power and marginalisation
we will see the relevance of it for understanding women's struggle. The
mechanism of power that impinges on women is not only economic but cultural.
They are excluded from all decision-making processes and the structure of
patriarchy in family, society, religion and politics is so strong and deeply
entrenched that women themselves are enslaved by them.
I suppose the papers and stories of women that will be shared in this
conference will help us deepen our awareness about it. The purpose of my
presentation is to situate the problem of marginalisation
in the global context and to affirm the need for building solidarity of all
marginal groups.
II. Mechanism of Power - Global
No society exists in isolation; global forces, whether we like them or
not, are steadily influencing our thought patterns, life-style and
relationships.
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The Colonial era marks the beginning of a distorted pattern of
relationships between people of different nations. Trade was the primary motive
of Western countries in establishing relationships with far away lands. Spices,
minerals, cotton and other raw materials were essential for the industrial
development of the West, and the colonies provided them cheaply. It became necessary
for western powers to protect their trade routes and interests by military
strength and political supremacy. Colonialism has been a nexus between
economic and political interests. It divided the world into coloniser and colonised. We
cannot go deep into an analysis of colonialism here. We wish to point out that
colonialism and the power attached to it is not merely economic, but also
cultural. Colonisation of minds is perhaps the most
effective weapon of control. Frantz Fanon in his famous analysis of colonialism
has brought out the condition of colonised minds.
"Those who internalise the colonial
mentality", writes Fanon, " suffer a systematic
negation ofpersonhood. Colonialism forces the people
it dominates to ask themselves the question constantly. 'In reality who am I?'
The defensive attitude created by this violent bringing together of the colonised man and the colonial system form themselves into
a structure which then reveals the colonised personality,".1
The power that dominates destroys human personality. This experience of
domination is true not only about colonialism but of other forms of
relationships. There is a striking parallel between colonial exploitation and
the oppression of women. Both destroy the identity of the subjugated sections
of humanity. Their identity has become extended identity - part of the colony,
or part of the males. This distortion is to be addressed.
Continued Domination
Coming back to colonialism, we may say the distorted and unequal relationships
between nations continue with only minor variations. Many of the colonised countries embarked on freedom struggles and
achieved political independence. But they continue to be indebted to the
advanced countries for their economic development. The socialist movement was a
specific challenge to this pattern of world order. They even experimented with
an alternate economic system. But the Cold War and the collapse of socialism
are all well known. Today power is virtually in the hands of the industralised nations of the West. The global power is
administered and controlled by the industrialised
nations through global financial institutions2, Multi-National
Companies, and Communication systems.
How do they work? IMF has been established to monitor the exchange
system of the currencies and also provides short-term bridge loans. The World
Bank provides long-term capital loans, initially for rehabilitation and now for
development. In the 1970s there was stable growth in the economies of the West.
Loans were given on a low rate of interest. But when dollar/ gold
convertibility was suspended in the 70s a crisis followed. IMF which was
supposed to be an instrument of interdependence, to monitor exchange rates, is
now a tool of protecting the interests of the rich nations.
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The Burden of Debt
Inflow of capital was necessary for the development of the
Both IMF and World Bank are exercising tremendous control over the
economies of the
The global situations clearly show that the nations in the North have
accumulated more power. Kurien quotes from the report of the South Commission
as follows:
The leading countries of the North now move readily in that power in
pursuit of their objectives. The "gunboat" diplomacy of the
nineteenth century still has its economic and political counterpart in the
closing years of the twentieth. The fate of the South is increasingly dictated
by the perceptions and policies of governments in the North, of the
multilateral institutions which a few of these governments control, and of the
network of private institutions that are increasingly prominent. Domination
has been reinforced where partnership was needed and hoped for by the South.4
Colonialism has ended but the patterns of relationship have not changed.
We are under neocolonialism. Financial institutions, trade, technology,
multi-nationals, information systems, are all controlled by small groups mostly
in the North, but they have their allies among the elites of the South. Our
life-styles, value systems and even human relationships have come under the
influence of this constellation of power.
The tendency is to create a mono-culture that encourages consumerist and
profit-gaining values, destroying whatever infrastructure is indigenously
available to people. While the elite-controlled governments in most of the
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go beyond the classical
capitalist-socialist models to develop "a society appropriate for the
multi-faced nature of human beings and their social and transcendent
dimensions."6 Diversity is the natural state of a society like
this. Plural identities should be its basis.
III. Mechanism of Power - Internal/National
Human relationships in all traditional societies in
The break up of this traditional integration has been the significant
aspect of modern awakening of people to the ideas of equality, justice and
freedom and technological rationality, the foundation of a secular framework.
This disintegration has provided a better atmosphere for realising
individual rights. Movements of the marginalised for
their dignity and justice have emerged in this context. But the impact of
technology and industrial cultural, as we have mentioned, earlier created a new
crisis in relationships. Conflict between modernity and tradition has become
characteristic of the new situation. The destruction of traditional communities
and infrastructure and value system has created a vacuum. /
New associative relationships based on new found values have not
emerged. This has affected all areas of relationships and more particularly the
man-woman relationships in
They rightly reject the dowry system and the male domination but they
are committed to the security and traditional family values. The tension
between these two pressures is not easily resolved.
The new situation is further vitiated by some of the economic
developments. It has created new elites who dominate our politics and society
and they are the agents ofconsumerist
culture which reduces human relationships into impersonal structures. Our rural
communities are steadily brought into this industrial culture by the so-called
development. Tribals and indigenous people are forced
out of their habitat which are now turned into mining areas or used for
irrigation projects. They are marginalised and women
are doubly marginalised. We need to reflect woman's
struggle in this context. They want to hold on to the human values of the
traditional cultures, but are determined to fight the evils within them; they
are also sensitive to the distortions of the new cultures. They, like all
marginal groups, struggle for a new identity.
IV. Counter-Movements
Our analysis started with global realities. The process of globalisation of the economy and the marginalisation
of poorer countries is the global context. The picture that emerges within the
countries also tells a similar story of the domination by the elites and marginalisation of the weaker sections. Our analysis will
not be complete without taking into account some of the
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movements of the marginalised that attempt to counter the forces of
domination. Women's movements will have to be placed within that context, but
before dealing with them let us look at other movements:
a) Movements
of workers and peasants that challenge the logic of dominant patterns of
economic relationships. Marxist analysis and ideology played a crucial role in
this struggle. Although it started as a movement among the industrial workers,
the peasants also joined it. The latter group brought an awareness of the need
for and reforms. In fact wherever there has been serious change in the land
ownership, there the struggle for justice has been strong.
One of
the problems Marxist movement faces today in
b) In the Dalit and Minjung movements the
recovery of identity through their culture becomes prominent! They have
appropriated for themselves their suppressed religion and culture. It is
similar to the Black movements in the
c) Experiences
and activities of groups which have refused to be co-opted by industrial and
technological culture: They are the indigenous people who live close to the
earth, fisher people who live and work near the sea and, small peasants who
care for their land. They have developed a way of using natural resources
without destroying nature.
It is recognised that the tropics hold a rich reserve of the
planets biological diversity. A variety of species that exist here are being
eliminated by destruction of tropical forests. The UN has expressed concern
over this and efforts are underway to preserve them, through the World Life
Fund and other agencies. But many Third World Leaders feel that these efforts
by the UN are neglecting the point of view of the South. Bio-diversity, it is
pointed out, is destroyed by the pattern of development adopted by MNCs and
others in the North. More important, they observe that the traditional farmers'
wisdom and techniques of preserving the diversity should be taken seriously.
Today,
there is a greater realisation about the harmful
effects of artificial pesticides and fertilisers and
a greater recognition of the value of using organic manures as the traditional
farmers have done.
We are
also challenged to learn from the fife-style and the world-view of the marginal
groups. They live in solidarity with one another and with the earth. Their
communitarian value system is necessary for evolving a just and sustainable
form of development.
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d) The women's
movement provides an alternative vision and a new pattern of relation-ship6.
The women's movement will be analysed in this
conference. Let me reiterate its crucial significance not only for women but
for the entire human family. Woman-man relationship should be reoriented along
new lines. Partnership, and not domination; should be the mode if relationship.
Asian women's movements have a special role to play. It is often argued that
the Western feminist movement has not addressed the question of partnership.
They have helped us to see the value and structures that are deeply entrenched
in our society and culture. Some of these analysis
should deepen our understanding of the problems.
But in
Asian situations we should affirm the need for establishing stronger links
between women's movements and the movements of all the marginalised.
Justice is the common goal, although there is difference in perspective.
Solidarity across these will be mutually strengthening.
Some Common Concerns
Let me conclude by mentioning some of the common concerns of these
movements which help us usher in a new order,
a) Movements
of marginal groups including women's perceive reality in holistic terms. They reject
any attempt to compartmentalize reality into material vs. spiritual, inner vs.
outer or personal vs. social. For them the world is experienced in these
inter-relationships. Dichotomy and polarity are not the ultimate from of
reality, and not even a step towards at reality. The deepening of our
connectedness with the other seems to be the goal. Man/ woman or human/earth are therefore relationships that need to be strengthened.
They are not objects to be conquered, but part of reality to be experienced.
This perception of reality has challenged the aggressive patriarchal model that
is reflected in the western scientific culture and in attitudes towards women.
b) All these
movements are rooted in a liberative and life-affirming spirituality. Integral
to our life in
c) Concrete
structures that embody the new vision and values: Social analysis is not an
exercise in theoretical reflection. It is action. In fact any reflection we do
is based on the practice that is directed towards altering the unjust
structures-praxis. Here again, we affirm the need for evolving common
strategies. We face the "urgent task of devising
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social mechanisms and
political structures that encourage genuine interdependence, in order to
replace mechanisms and structures that sustain dominance and
subservience." (WCQ
Notes:
1. The Wretched of the Earth, 1988, p. 250
2. IMF and World Bank
3. Global Capitalism and the Indian Economy, p.57
4. Global Capitalism, p.80
5.
6. Leonardo Boff,
"Liberation Theology and Collapse of Socialism" in Youth of