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Women, Work and Fishing : An Examination of the Lives of Fisherwomen in Kerala

Lina Samuel South Asia Research 2007 27: 205 DOI: 10.1177/026272800702700205 The online version of this article can be found at: http://sar.sagepub.com/content/27/2/205

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SOUTH ASIA R E S E A RCH

www.sagepublications.com DOI: 10.1177/026272800702700205 Vol. 27(2): 205227 Copyright 2007 SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore

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

Lina Samuel
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, CANADA
ABSTRACT

This article focuses on women and their families in the fishing industry of Kerala, India. Documenting womens daily routines and experiences in their work, home and social circles, it reveals the continuing significance of social customs and traditions in limiting and confining women in their everyday life. Despite the varied roles that women play in the fishing industry, the income women earn from working has not altered pre-existing exploitative relations between men and women. Divisions based on caste, the emulation of upper caste behaviour, the continued practice and inflation of dowry, and traditional perceptions of womens responsibilities within the family combine to keep women in a secondary and subservient position relative to men.

KEYWORDS:

dowry, family, fisherwomen, gender, Kerala, lived experience, patriarchy, Sanskritization

Introduction
Focusing on women and their families in the fishing industry of Kerala in south India, a specific examination of the lived experience of such women is undertaken here. The hard work of women and the multiple roles they play in this fishing community, as well as the specific demands placed on them through social customs, particularly 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 society; these continue to place fisherwomen and their families in secondary and subservient positions. The study attempts to answer three main research questions: What are the experiences of women in the fishing economies of Kerala and what are their specific roles and 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 what ways does the family perpetuate the dowry system? Finally, how are the intersections

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between caste, class and gender articulated in the lives of fisherwomen, within the context of modernization? The focus is on the lived experience of 51 fisherwomen who make up the respondent group. In addition to formal interviews and informal discussions, an analysis of the literature reveals the social and economic history that shapes the lives of women in the fishing industry.

Theoretical Approach
A number of theoretical perspectives from feminist writers can be used in combination to give greater depth and understanding to the data collected here, relying on a socialist feminist methodological framework to understand the complexity of the relationships between women and men within fishing society. The lives of fisher families must be understood within the larger context of the fishing industry and changes occurring at that level. Fishing in this region has been transformed during the past decades from a relatively small-scale and artisanal activity to one that is now highly industrialized and modern. The lives of the average fisher family have to be analyzed within this larger structural change. Maria Mies (1986: 3) states that processes of capital accumulation and modernization constitute a structural and ideological framework within which changes in womens lives have to be understood and appreciated. Ester Boserup (1970) highlighted for the first time the contribution women make in the sphere of productive work. Through her research in agricultural communities, Boserup (1990) noted that economic development encourages a gradual shift from family production to specialized production of goods and services and alters womens work, fertility and traditional roles in the family. The change towards more intense agricultural systems with the introduction of modern technologies, while benefiting men, has often worked to increase womens work burdens both within and outside the family. My study documents womens experiences within the context of modernization, and I argue that the rise in dowry must be examined within this context. The writings of gender and development theorists have considered the nature of womens work both inside and outside the home. Proponents take a holistic approach to the role of women in development initiatives. For Young (1991: 2), this means that 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 focus attention on the fit between family, household or the domestic, and the organization of the economic and political spheres (Young, 1991: 2) (authors emphasis). The holistic perspective implies that although gender is an important aspect of social organization, it is not the only one: class, caste and race groupings are also of prime importance. The focus, then, is not on compartmentalizing oppression, but instead on formulating strategies to understand how all these differences are interconnected and articulated in the daily lives of women (Brah, 1996: 127). Women are not seen

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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 is related 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, placing excessive 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 microlevel. The everyday world of women, their daily actions and experiences, best reflect the impact of larger external structures. Detailed inquiry into womens lives requires an examination of their everyday world. Ghorayshi and Belanger (1996) refer to everyday 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 problematic about their lives (Ghorayshi and Belanger, 1996: x). The everyday routines of women are important because what appears on the surface like trivial daily events is bound into power structures which limit and confine women (Rose, 1993: 17). Such a framework permits researchers to examine the effects of socio-cultural structures on the actors actual everyday practices, within a given space or territory. I begin with the experiences of fisherwomen. Locating the knower in the everyday world and developing an inquiry in terms of how her world is organized enables us 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 about their activities which included housework, preparing meals, washing, walking long distances to and from markets, and social events such as attending church. By examining 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 unique path to social and economic development, the history of the communist party, and high literacy rates are a few of the unusual circumstances found here. Located on the southwest Malabar Coast, Kerala was the first destination in India for Christians, Jews and Muslims as they searched for pepper and other spices (Miller, 1988: 597). Keralites also have a long history of resisting British rule and have carried their struggles against oppression 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 of Kerala. These changes include redistributive polices that have successfully channeled resources into land reform, housing, education, health care and nutrition programmes. Communist-initiated reforms have also promoted important minimum wage legislation (Franke and Chasin, 1991). Indicators such as an average life expectancy of 74 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 South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227
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rest of India), and almost full literacy, show something about the distribution of social and economic gains (Parayil, 1996: 9412). On many counts, Kerala stands out as a model for sustainable social development. However, the same region which boasts many successes in development also faces criticism in its treatment of women, particularly poor women. While Kerala leads the nation in quality of life indicators, the high status of women must not be taken as a given. Rajan et al. (2000: 1090) draw attention to two factors which can be seen as challenging the status of women, namely the intensification of the dowry custom and 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 residence is a revealing trend, as womens (as a group) relation to property and position within the 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 fully trickled down to poor men and women. Keralas society, then, is a mixture of conflicting or contradictory developments.

Development of the Kerala Fishing Industry

Fishermen and women, a neglected group in Indian society, are found among Latin Christian communities, Muslim groups and lower caste Hindu (Ezhava) communities.1 According to Gulati (1984: 5), the fishing population in Kerala numbered approximately 770,000 people in 159,000 fishing households, roughly one in every 30 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 such as preservation of fish and selling in the open markets, while men focus on fishing and sea-related activities. Fish production is highly labour-intensive, and pre-1962 methods of fishing included small boats and fishing gear adapted to local fish harvest conditions and seasonal variations (Meynen, 1989: 739). In 1957, when the Communist Party rose to power in Kerala, they adopted a people-oriented approach to fisheries planning, focusing attention on the traditional fish producers. By the 1970s, a combination of private capital and public interventions geared toward modernizing the fishing economy had led to a complete reversal of the earlier people-oriented policies. This later, and continuing, phase of fisheries development is one which is controlled from above. Its main beneficiaries are the larger processors, traders, big businesses and 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 Houtart and Nayak (1988: 2) state, the modernization or motorisation of fishing increased the social distances among the fishermen, led to a degradation of working conditions for the small-scale fisherman, and increased pauperisation of the majority of fisher folk. Platteau (1989: 5717) in his overview of fisheries development notes that despite decades of development in the industry, specifically the shift from traditional to modern technology, the absolute and relative poverty levels of those who are involved in 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, displacing them from some traditional fishing roles. Though women in certain occupations have lost their traditional jobs, some have found new work with fish processing plants. The experience of women varies within Kerala. Those involved in a processing plant face different circumstances than headload vendors of fish. Women in the former position have access to work but are subjected to long hours with poor wages, whereas headloaders face an even more difficult existence, as they compete with the modern sector for selling of fish in the open markets. Both aspects are discussed here to introduce the variety of roles fisherwomen undertake and the stresses they face on a daily basis. The Indo-Norwegian Project (INP) was taken up in the mid-1950s with the aim of introducing new technologies to the various stages of fishing. Though the focus of the INP was fishermen, the project did open up new opportunities for women in the fish processing plants, mainly shelling prawn. About 30,000 women from the region work as casual labourers in peeling prawns. This group represents an unorganized, exploited and underpaid group of women workers who make up the lowest levels of society and thus have no clout over unions (Manmadhan, 1996). Organizing within the group is difficult as women fear losing their jobs. These women, who have no work during the lean fishing season, depend on the income earned from these months of shrimp peeling. Headload fish vendors face different difficult circumstances. While women involved in headloading are only drawn from the fishing community itself, this cannot be said about 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 this unequal competition, women fish vendors have survived, the main reason being that they sell their loads to low income households, carrying their fish to scattered homes throughout the remote paddy fields. While men on cycles and in trucks sell large quantities to hotels and larger firms, women reach households in more remote areas. While women fish vendors have their allotted positions in major fish markets, they also operate through a variety of wayside markets scattered among coastal towns. South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227
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Both the buyers and sellers at these wayside markets are women. An important and common trait is the dependence of these women on middlemen suppliers and money lenders.

Methodology
The data for this study was collected in Kerala in 1996 over a five-month period. A qualitative, multi-method approach was used, including, but not limited to, a formal survey and a review of historical material. In the formal survey a purposive sample of 51 women aged between 19 and 75 years were interviewed. All these women were involved in fishing-related activities or were children of fisher parents. In addition to the formal interviews, a number of informal interviews and conversations with younger children in the community, and women workers as they waited at bus stops or over afternoon tea, were collected. These informal discussions added to a deeper understanding of the context within which women live and work in the fishing industry. Husbands and sons were also included in the study group as they would sometimes sit in during an interview. The 51 formal interviews were completed with the help of the Quilon Social Service Society (QSSS).2 A combination of purposive sampling and snowball sampling techniques was employed. With the purposive technique I relied on my own as well as the QSSS workers ability to select women who were representative or typical of the population. With an understanding of the general variation in the population, I then selected samples from each grouping, based primarily on occupation and ownership in the family of boats and peeling sheds. The snowballing technique was also used, as contacts with fisherwomen led to further contacts and referrals to other women who were interested in participating.

Findings and Respondent Profiles

The project site is located in an area referred to as Chavara, which falls within the Puthenthura village boundaries. Most of the data was collected in Puthenthura and Neendakara villages as well as some of the surrounding villages of Lake Astumudi in the Quilon (Kollam) District. The National Highway cuts through the Puthenthura village, 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 numerous clusters 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. The western side is covered with sand while the eastern side is lush with vegetation. It is on this western side that Sreyas, the development training centre for the QSSS which acted as my host, was located. Regarding the profile of women in the study, all respondents came from a long line 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 (usually from the husbands lineage) living in the same home. Often both husband and wife worked 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 outlines the major defining features of the group of women interviewed. In terms of household composition, all of my respondents who worked in the fishing industry had a family to care for. The term family in this environment refers not only to children, but also elderly parents-in-law living in the same home (true for eight of my respondents). Thirteen respondents were over the age of 50, so were themselves 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 and companionship, on the whole, the responsibility of caring for such a large group places additional burdens on women in terms of time pressures and physical stress on the 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. The largest households contained nine people, with elderly parents and married children all living together. Lylas family is typical of families in the area, one of the larger ones in my interview file. She lives with her husband and her husbands parents. In addition she has four children, all boys. The oldest son is married and still lives at home with his wife. This type of arrangement is not unusual and quite common, as traditionally the oldest son is responsible for the care of his aging parents and thus inherits the family 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 decreasing. Table 1 illustrates the breakdown of my respondents by age and the average number of children in that category.
Table 1 Average Number of Children per Age Group Age breakdown for respondents 2030 (14 respondents) 3140 (13 respondents) 4150 (10 respondents) 5160 (8 respondents) 6175 (5 respondents) Average number of children 1.6 3.2 3.1 6 7.6

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Table 1 clearly illustrates that there has been a considerable decrease in the average number of children born to younger, more recent cohorts, when compared to the older two groupings (51 to 75 years). The average number of children for the respondents mothers was also considerably higher at 6.8 children. For the older group of respondents mothers, it was noted that those families with smaller families of four, for example, contained only female children. I was told that it is common that if you are continually giving birth to daughters, it is in your best interest to stop having children, as it will be difficult to collect dowries. It is important to note here that Kerala 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 the result of popular national advertising campaigns which encourage families to have only two children. There has been a tremendous effort in Kerala to reduce household sizes, 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 groups of women in the study area (Figure 1). Higher literacy rates and good educational institutions pursued as policy by subsequent state governments in Kerala are clearly reflected in increasing educational attainment among women in fishing communities. The oldest respondents, both 75 years of age, had no formal schooling. Of the two respondents between 61 and 70 years of age, one had completed grade 4 and the other grade 3. The youngest age group, between 19 and 30, showed the highest educational achievement. Although one woman still had no schooling, nine had passed grade 9. It should be noted here that schooling in state-run facilities is free up to the tenth standard. The two final years (11 and 12), termed pre-degree or plus-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 one passes or fails, is still seen as an achievement.
25 20
Percentage

15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Years of Education 7 8 9 10

Figure 1 Education Levels for Respondents

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In informal gatherings with younger girls on the islands and on my tours around Lake Astumudi, I noticed a great desire among young girls to stay in school at least until 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 getting through to college requires the financial and emotional support of their families and communities. Financially, fisher families find it difficult to put their girls through higher college education. Also, it is in the familys collective best interest to marry daughters off at an earlier age, now the early twenties. In a society that places a great deal of emphasis on marriage, girls education is often terminated early if there is no immediate return. Educating a boy, however, is different as sons remain connected to the 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 tasks and 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, and shrimp 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 experience working in the fishing industry. The majority, a total of 18, were fish vendors at the local fish market. Eight respondents were headload fish vendors selling fish in local residential areas. Five respondents worked as shrimp peelers. Three were involved in clam peeling, separating the clam meat from the shells. Nine women remained at home 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 had all been involved in selling at the markets. One of the elderly women in this group was injured from a fall and incapable of going out and selling. The breakdown of the occupations of the women I interviewed is depicted in Table 2. The list, although not complete, illustrates the variety of ways in which women participate in the fishing industry. 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 separated the responses concerning income into categories based on occupation. Incomes among fisherwomen and their families are very modest. For women who headload fish and sell to residential areas, the monthly income varies between Rs 75 and Rs 1,000.4 The average income for this group is Rs 562.5 per month. Fisherwomen who sell at the South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227
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Table 2 Breakdown of Occupations Occupation Headload fish vendor Shrimp peeler Clam peeler Vendor at open market Both shrimp peeler and seller at market Coir worker Housework only Injured or retired fish vendor

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Number of women in occupation group 8 5 3 18 1 2 9 5

open markets average about Rs 579 per month. For shrimp peelers, the monthly income average stood at Rs 179.2. The average for my two clam peeling respondents was 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, which averaged Rs 344 per month. Minimum wage in Kerala remained unchanged at Rs 30 per day for workers in a formal industry, translating to approximately Rs 150 per week and Rs 600 per month (Baird, 1993: 24). As the responses reveal, there is a variation in what households earn, depending on the number employed in a household and the type of occupation. Most fish workers tend to make under the state minimum wage, and it should also be remembered that fishing work is seasonal. During the low fishing seasons, fish workers bring in very little to no income. When considering expenses and debts, it was found that for many of my respondents the cost of monthly expenses on food items and medicine was far greater than monthly income. Expenses vary as a result of family size and age of children. The majority of income is used for food purchases. For a headload vendors family of seven, an average monthly expenditure on food would be about Rs 2,000. Most of the respondents did not have gardens and had to rely on the market for all food supplies, 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 about Rs 1,000. Market vendors stated similar levels of expenses. For a family of four, expenses 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 alcohol purchases can be significant.5 Betsy, a headload fish vendor, states that though they together 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 supporting his bad habit. What can we do? I have no control over his behaviour. I can only pray.

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Aside from daily expenses of buying fish for re-sale, fisher families obtain loans for buying vallums (small dug-out canoes), putting in latrine facilities and any medical emergencies 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 personal loan from a bank, from other lending organizations or rich neighbours. When incomes fall during the off-fishing season, fisher families will take small loans even for food expenditures. With fluctuating interest rates, these loans add up and become a neverending 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 they leave their parental home for marriage (Paul, 1992: 306). Marriage continues to be an unquestioned and inevitable event in the life of a Keralite girl. Along with the sacred institution of marriage is the passing of dowry from the parents of the bride to the parents of the groom. As my research reveals, this tradition continues with little opposition. The average age of marriage for respondents did not vary greatly over the age groups (see Table 3). The elderly group of 6175 year-olds already had an average age of 19.8 years for marriage. The youngest group (2030 years) had an average age of marriage at 20.1. While the marriage ages have only risen marginally, what has 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 and land, the more contemporary fisherwomen had dowry payments ranging to a high of Rs 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 respondents 2030 3140 4150 5160 6175 Range of dowry payments for respondents (low to high) low: 5 cents of land6 high: Rs. 75,000 and 15 pauvan7 low: 8 cent, 2 pauvan high: Rs. 10,000 and 3 pauvan low: Rs. 1,000, 1.5 pauvan high: Rs. 3,500 and 4 pauvan low: Rs. 200, 3.5 pauvan high: Rs. 7,600 and 1.5 pauvan low: Rs. 150 high: Rs. 500 and 2 pauvan Average age of marriage for respondents 20.1 20.1 19.4 17.8

19.8

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was no dowry for her marriage, but her age of marriage was 12, the lowest in the survey group. The issues surrounding dowry are complex, and are discussed in greater detail 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 performed a number of functions vital for the survival of the fisheries industry. Womens activities 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 responsible for 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 and fishing was their only viable work option. The income earned varied depending on the type of work, but usually did not exceed daily expenses, including personal expenses for buying food or paying installments on a daughters dowry, and business expenses such as acquiring a boat or fishing net. The research also revealed that these expenses 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 they share as fish workers. This general description now allows below for a deeper discussion of 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 perpetuate the burdens placed on them. The daily activities of women, when broken down in a detailed manner, highlight multiple roles and responsibilities. While most women are bringing in important earnings, they also continue to perform all the unpaid 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 fish vendor 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. Back then I used to headload fish and sell to the houses. I would even cut the fish for some of my clients as often the women would not want to touch the fish. Now I sell directly at the market. My days are full. I get up at 4 am in the morning. I have to get up this early so I can go to the bathroom and not be seen. We have no toilet. I then go milk the cow. I keep some of the milk for the morning tea and breakfast. I then deliver the milk to our local milk society. The local milk society here in X pays me some money to distribute my milk. I then come home. It is about 6 am by now, I think. I then give tea 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 a kochuvallum [fishing boat]. I take this fish to the market to sell in the afternoon. I am usually home by late afternoon. I then have to tend to the household chores of washing clothes and making the evening meal. My oldest daughter helps 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 peeler and mother of two girls aged 17 and 12. Both her girls are still at school and they leave quite early in the morning. Her daily activities are regulated by the arrival of the shrimp boats:
I wake up at 4 am and make tea. I help prepare the girls for school. I make their breakfast and tiffins for their lunch. The girls leave around 8 am. They have to catch a vallum [small boat] and go to the mainland where they get on a bus. I clean up and wash when the girls go to school. I then go to the shrimp peeling shed to see if the boats have come in with their catch. If the shrimp is in then I must work to peel the shrimp till the batch is complete. There are about 12 other women who work in the shed with me. If there is a lot of shrimp I might be peeling all day. If not, and the catch is 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 drop what 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 they are 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. Women would wake up often at very early hours and begin work. As one woman stated, these early hours allow her to attend to her personal needs before the males wake up. This is true for many women who do not have indoor toilet facilities. Duties such as milking the cow, preparing morning tea, and sending children off to school are all activities performed by women, to be done prior to leaving for the harbour. Duties not completed, such as preparing evening meals and daily washing, must be tended to after return, usually late afternoon. Women who were involved with peeling shrimp at a nearby shrimp peeling shed had different schedules. Their activities are determined by the arrival of the shrimp boats and their family duties are done around the shrimp peeling. Although women are bringing in necessary income, they continue to perform most of the unpaid household maintenance tasks. There is little to no help from husbands in terms of household washing of clothes, dishes, preparing meals, and looking after small children, with help coming only from older daughters. Desai and Krishnaraj (1990: 16970) state that a womans survival in India is not socially conceivable without the extended family. This social value placed on the familial role of women is also the cause for their subordination to men and lack of access to important economic and political resources, even when they may be contributing an equal or greater amount of money to the collective family income. South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227
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Patriarchal family norms and values provide the context for family behaviour (Desai and 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 dominance and 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 fish and shrimps, responsibilities for childbearing and childrearing are labour-intensive and require long hours of work. The woman must service not only her husband, but also three other groups of people: children, the sick, and the elderly. I found a large number 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 a division of labour exists, but a set of relations between household members by which women are systematically dependent upon, and unequal to, men. Fisherwomen, as the profile illustrated, work long hours and bring home wages that are significant for the survival of the family. Yet even in such homes where women contribute significantly to the family income the ideology of womens dependence on men remains strong (Barrett, 1988: 215, my emphasis). The assumption of womens dependence makes up a central component of the oppressive nature of contemporary household structure. Despite womens contribution to the household the notion of their dependence upon men is not shed. Dowry Customs and Womens Oppression This section focuses on the nature of certain social traditions which continue to impact on the women in the survey group. For some women their primary concerns for 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 for the 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 number excludes childless couples, women whose daughters were already married and women who only have sons. One of my respondents, Judith, was only 19 and her response to future concerns had to do with her parents securing enough money for a prospective groom. Her father was currently unemployed and her mother was working at the harbour: I am concerned about my future marriage. My parents cannot afford a high dowry and now it is 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 varied greatly with age. For 75-year-old Kunjunumma who was one of eight children of her parents, the dowry was Rs 150. Her marriage was arranged to a fisherman at the age of 20. For 55 year old Rekha, her dowry was 22 cents of land, which has now been given as dowry to her oldest daughter. Her parents, like herself, had a large family and 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 received Rs 40,000 plus seven pauvan of gold for her dowry. She is the daughter of a fish merchant 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 pauvan gold for her dowry. She was from a large family of nine. While these recent amounts seem rather high, this is common for a modern day marriage in the fishing community. For those that do not have this income, parents are forced to promise money in installments and/or even give up their own home and land. The next few excerpts from my interviews make known the depth of the problem and the seemingly hopeless 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 claims that they bring in about Rs 250 per month. Their expenses are about Rs 1,000 a month. Though they own their home, which is made of thatched palm leaves, they desire to make a concrete house some day. They also owe a large sum of money to a nearby rich family. When I asked her about her future concerns she sighed heavily and said, You have to ask this? Cant you see, I have three girls to marry. We need dowries 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 her daughters dowries: I only have worries in my life. I have two girls to marry and I have no husband to help me. How will I get them married? Some parents faced with 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. The first 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 up this hut and now we are here. We had to marry her, it is our duty. My daughter occasionally brings us some food, but not too often. What to do? I have only worries in my life. There is nothing to get from selling fish these days. I am so sick, I cannot continue 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 were virtually left without a home. While it is common to give parental property to a son as the parents still live there, with daughters this is not the same. Once parents give their home as dowry payment, this property belongs to their son-in-law and thus it is up to him to allow his parents-in-law to stay. Many parents are not welcome and it is not common practice to live with daughters. Beatrice, a headload fish vendor, has two daughters: My oldest daughter is married and we gave her the house and land for her dowry. Now my husband and I need South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227
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to make our own house. We also have one more daughter to marry. Widowed Babykutty, who is 42 and a mother of one daughter, gave her land as collateral for the 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 of money. Her future husband is an auctioneer at the harbour, not an educated job, but somewhat secure. I asked Leela, who has a BA in Malayalam, how her parents could afford such a dowry payment as her mother works as a shrimp peeler at the harbour and her father is now unemployed due to some illness. She said that her father cannot afford to pay the full amount, but will pay in installments. This paying in installments 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 the debt to the groom and his family for the duration of their marriage. This continued owing of dowry leads to very unpleasant circumstances, sometimes even the actual death of the bride. A tragedy on the island of Sakthikulangara marked an important point in the research. One of my respondents was the sister of a woman who died on the island. During our interview, she began showing me the photos taken by the police after their arrival. The woman in the photo was hunched over between the bed and the adjacent wall. Her body at the time had not been removed from the area where it was found. My respondent said: It was murder 100 per cent. There was little doubt in her mind. The pictures clearly showed a woman who was beaten and kicked to death. The police, according to her, were paid off at the scene of the crime. This is very common in cases of wife abuse/killings, and thus the 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 collecting another dowry payment. Justice is rarely served when women are killed by their husbands or in-laws. The island apparently has a bad reputation for alcoholism and wifekilling, with the fishing communities as a whole having a reputation for alcoholism. I remember conversations that were both within the interview and outside where women 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]. He even beats me in front of the girls. A number of women confided that their husbands drank heavily and abused them. Fisherwomen, in fact, played a central role in bringing about the prohibition of locally-produced alcohol. The murder on the island of Sakthikulangara was an important event in the research 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 sari culture (silk worm cultivation), one important facet of Indian culture is often neglected. Dowry is seen as 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 seen as 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 dowry abuse. Although respondents themselves will comment that dowry is harmful for women, there is little attempt to distance themselves from this practice. Dowry, as Sharma (1984: 62) asserts, brings no honour to women. The practice pressures women to persuade their parents into giving more and leads eventually to the humiliation of the 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 present sums of dowry being demanded by parents of grooms determine the kind of man a woman will marry and how she will be treated in her new home. Women who have brought large sums of money into the household can expect to be treated better by the in-laws than a girl who has brought a poor amount. The worth of the girl will be determined by the amount of material goods and cash her family gives, and this places great strain on the parents and daughters as the girls begin to see themselves as burdens (Sharma, 1984: 71). Responses to questions about dowry could be predicted, if there were young unmarried 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 the dowry will be the major worry of the parents, nothing else! The inflation of dowry has 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. Importantly, dowry impacts on the parents of daughters as well as young unmarried girls. For parents of girl children, dowry becomes a central area of concern. Dowry inflation has meant either taking huge loans or giving up personal property, often the family home. A significant outcome of the practice of dowry is that it allows women to be seen as a source of money (property) and thus they are to a certain extent expendable, as the murder at Sakthikulangara demonstrates. It was in the aftermath of the murder at Sakthikulangara that the difficulty in going beyond addressing just the condition of women, and the importance of addressing womens 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 other practices which keep women in subordinate positions. Despite the difficulty in discussing issues such as dowry, it must be addressed if there is to be substantial and continued change in the position of women. Though it is important to have organizations such as the QSSS (199495) with their annual progress reports, it is equally, if not more important, to also talk about and effect change on these other issues that deal directly with womens social position in society.

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The Totality of Womens Lives: The Intersections between Caste, Class and Gender
The discussion has so far illustrated the different levels of oppression experienced by women who work in fishing. The description of the daily round reveals the work performed by women, roles which conform to the traditional sexual division of labour. The lack of support from husbands in completing these duties means that women often combine activities and overlap tasks just to maintain their household. The household structure and familial ideology are set in such a way that they both inform and influence other relevant structures in society (Barrett, 1988: 158). Structures such as caste, 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 for women how our own situations are organized and determined by social processes that extend outside the scope of the everyday world. As subjects, fisherwomen are located within their actual everyday worlds, which exposes the social relations which organize their daily experiences. An examination which begins at the locale sets 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 individual fisherwomans life that are not only complex, but variable. The combination of these relations makes up her individual physical and social world. Numerous factors are responsible for the subordinate status of Indian fisherwomen. Constraints arise from illiteracy, traditional patriarchal values and norms which reinforce male supremacy, superstitions, the ideology of economic weakness which leads to dependence on the man, social institutions like dowry, polygamy, and unaccountability of the husband to the wife (Khan and Ayesha, 1982: 4). The existing androcentric values in society have worked to keep women subordinate to men. Changing the status of women in India is a difficult task because of the numerous cultural barriers that not only 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 are fitting for this present study on fisherwomen, as they share many of the same challenges. These women share a number of common characteristics: A lack of assets, a constant battle with insecurity, unemployment and underemployment and consequent indebtedness, over-extended workdays, low wages and low returns for their labour. An important and common trait is the dependence of these women on middlemen exporters, suppliers and money lenders. Azad (1986: 133) states that theoretically all constraints stem from the female workers caste, class and gender roles (my emphasis). Caste affiliation defines her mobility, social space and cultural norms regarding her behaviour in society. Class membership and economic status affect her access to basic amenities such as housing, water and sanitation. Class and 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 compel her to undertake low-productive occupations in reproductive and domestic roles, usually 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 status of 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 values and behaviours which are associated with the subordination of women (Berreman, 1993: 384). Sanskritization, according to Berreman (1993: 370), initiates or deepens female subordination and is inherently counterproductive for women. The freedoms which 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 rise in caste status. Fisherwomen in the present study have enjoyed the freedom to walk to the harbour, markets and distant residential homes for the sale of fish. Such freedom of mobility is not common for women of upper castes whose purity of blood is of more concern to the family lineage.10 But this freedom of movement and the ability to secure necessary income for the family have not enabled women to challenge the ideology of female dependence or the rising practice of dowry. The most severe gender inequalities, according to Berreman (1993: 370), will be found among poor low-caste groups who are attempting to move upwards, through Sanskritization, in a ritually defined and restricted hierarchy. Berreman (1993: 3701) thus argues that such women have the worst of all worlds. From my research it can be concluded that while fisherwomen in Kerala have increased access to seasonal jobs and much-needed income, as a result of increasing demand 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 unique to their specific life situation. We can make some general conclusions from the present study. Fisherwomen share a lack of access to credit, social legislation and worker benefits. For families who live near the coast, the lack of ownership of their land means that they are not able to secure legitimate loans. Their close proximity to the coast also means that particularly during the monsoon seasons their homes are threatened by rising sea levels. The seasonality of fish work makes life during the off-fishing season 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, alcoholism, and violence. In addition to this, their struggles include their multiple roles and responsibilities, both at home and at work. Reflecting on their daily routines women spoke of the constant work demands, which begin from the time they wake up to the time they sleep, depriving them of leisure. Their continuous work schedule limits the time for social gatherings, outside of attending church. Finally, there are numerous problems related to marriage and dowry payments: women must bear the brunt of both domestic chores and financial liability. South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227
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Conclusions
Through the use of both secondary literature and primary research undertaken in Kerala, this article has illustrated the lived experience of 51 fisherwomen and their families in the fishing economies of Kerala. The shift toward modernization and greater capital accumulation, combined with certain social practices and institutions, has worked to negatively impact on the life and work of fisherwomen. Changes in the industry, combined with the strengthening of traditional perceptions of women and womens roles have worked to reinforce prevailing male and upper caste advantage in Keralite society. The interconnections between caste, class and gender systems are complex and variable. The caste system has remained a reality in India despite numerous challenges. The caste hierarchy, based on pollution and purity, continues to place groups like fisher folk at the bottom of caste groupings. While there is considerable income to be earned in the fishing industry, the perception of fishing as dirty and unclean has not changed. At the same time, contemporary Indian society sees a mimicking of upper caste behaviour, reflected here in the rise of dowry prices among fisher families and the 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 up in class position. Since class 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 fishing has led to certain groups advancing their class position, the majority of fisher families continue to live on very modest household incomes. While certain individuals have gained as a result of changes in the industry, most fishing families are still found 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 credit resources, technology, education and training. Gender roles in the fishing community continue to place responsibilities for family and home on the shoulders of women, despite and on top of their hours of work preserving, selling and marketing fish. Womens work in the fishing industry and the importance 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. The ideology of female dependence on male earnings remains strong and traditional ideas and ideals about women within the family and society continue in spite of their changing roles in the market economy. The family is still one of the prime sites of socialization of these attitudes. Despite the increasing role of women in the market economy and the importance of their income for survival of the family, then, this has not led to a rise in the position of 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 have directly contributed to the increase in dowry-related deaths. The problem of dowry cuts 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 regarded as a burden on the family so long as the dowry system is maintained. Dowry is thus an instrument of patriarchy, and the family remains the mechanism or site through which it is reproduced and articulated, combining to keep women in a dangerous and insecure position relative to men.

Notes
1. The caste system divides the whole of society into a large number of hereditary groups distinguished from one another and at the same time connected by three characteristics: separation, division of labour and hierarchy (Dumont, 1970: 21). Within this system of four major castes there are thousands of sub-castes and sub-sub-castes throughout the various regions. Dumonts conclusion that the castes are still present, and untouchability still effective, although it has been declared illegal (Dumont, 1970: 218), still rings true today and all the various communities in India have something of a caste system despite the 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 for decades and has provided important services for under-privileged groups in society. I was affiliated with the QSSS and volunteered with the organization. The QSSS girls I refer to are young women from the fishing communities who work within the organization. Some of the programmes run by the QSSS range from book binding projects and running day care centres to building latrines and implementing credit initiatives. 3. The examination of income was a complex task. Because of my affiliation with the QSSS there 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 monthly expenses the respondents often provided a high figure. For those fisher folk who lived in poverty it was very clear from their lifestyle that they were indeed living on very meagre means. For those women whose husbands owned peeling sheds and boats, the responses had to be clarified. In order to bridge this divide, I would ask specifically how much money both the respondent and her husband brought into the home over the period of one 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. The sweet liquid is kept in an earthen pot for a maximum of 24 hours and fermented. The alcohol 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. One pauvan 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 women find themselves: their poverty, their lack of education and training, their excessive work burdens, 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 points of entrance to the caste system, see Desai and Krishnaraj (1990: 323) or Liddle and Joshi (1986: 59).

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Lina Samuel is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her research interests include intergenerational cultural retention and the transformation of diasporic identities, as well as the impact of modernization on 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: Lsamuel@yorku.ca] South Asia Research Vol. 27 (2): 205227
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