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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 Third World countries and the loans given in the 1970's at a low interest rate have to be paid back in today's exchange rate with hightened interest rates. This has imposed a huge debt burden on the poor countries. C.T. Kurian observes that the decade of 1980s is considered as a lost decade by Third World coun­tries. He writes, "The prices of many of the goods they (Third World countries) export came down, the richer countries kept them out of their markets and the terms of trade turned against them. As is well known, many of them have come to be caught in the debt trap. Less well known is that the decade came to be one of the net resource transfers from the South to the North. And the gap between the rich and the poor countries (measured by per capita income) widened."3

Both IMF and World Bank are exercising tremendous control over the economies of the Third World. They impose new conditions when they provide loans, devalue the local currency, cut government spending and take away any subsidy for the poor and for welfare these are the common measures. Export oriented economy is promoted in all these countries. You even forego cultivating your own essential commodities for growing materials for export. Industrial growth is enthusiastically promoted by the MNCs and the local markets are flooded with consumer durables. In many poor countries, one can see all the consumer durables in their cities, but poverty has not diminished. The basic materials needed by the poor have become scarce.

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 Third World countries follow the logic of the techno­logical growth model which inevitably leads to the erosion of values germane to indigenous culture and religion, serious questions are raised by some concerned groups about this model. They ask whether an alternate model of modernisation is possible at all. M.M. Thomas calls for a "philosophy of modernisation which goes beyond the materialistic world-view and respects the organic spiritual dimension of human community life".5 Third World development should

 

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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 Asia have been shaped and nurtured by cer­tain basic social units - joint family, caste or tribe and village. They provide the necessary emotional and political stability. It was a hierarchical society with a strong patriarchal control. Women, with some exceptions, were excluded from the decision-making process. Power was administered by the elders. Religion provided the integrating principle and the social structure and political authority were legitimised by it.

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 Asia. Women are dissatisfied with some of the traditional practices and value systems.

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 Asia is its rigid ideology. The Marxist failed to integrate realities other than class into their analysis and strategy. For example, in India the poor could not achieve the necessary class solidarity in their strug­gles. Caste loyalties have broken them and a caste/class analysis had to be evolved. We are also aware that the unorganised sectors of workers - like construction workers, house­hold helpers, landless labourers and others - form a majority of the work force in may countries in Asia. In fact most of them are women. The traditional Marxist movement has not taken them seriously.

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 U.S.A. "Black is beautiful" - repre­sents a way of affirming their identity in cultural terms. A new self-dignity and an aware­ness of their rootedness are the important sources of their struggle. They have rejected the religion of dominant groups and refused to be part of it. They want a liberative form of religion where suffering and oppression become the locus of God's revelation. In many of their analyses they integrate economic and cultural elements.

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 Asia are our religions. We cannot go into an analysis of the phenomenon of religious reality. Suffice it to say that the rationalist approach to religion - which is very much part of Western intellectual discourse and even Marxist variety of it - and a func­tionalist view of sociology have not done justice to the vitality and dynamism of religion in Asia. Religion is a way of life. Certainly there are a lot of distortions and aberration in it. But it is both liberative and oppressive. These marginal groups are determined to reappropriate for themselves the authentic and liberative visions of their faiths which have been suppressed. I suppose a rediscovery of spiritual resources necessary for build­ing a genuine community of women and men will be an important agenda of the confer­ence.

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.       Bangalore Theological Forum, Dec, 1991, p. 38

6.       Leonardo Boff, "Liberation Theology and Collapse of Socialism" in Youth of India, YWCA, 1991