Grt Job
--- On Tue, 17/8/10, Rinita Mazumdar <revfem...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Rinita Mazumdar <revfem...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Our Individual Project
To: "chandrani chatterjee" <chandra...@yahoo.co.in>
Date: Tuesday, 17 August, 2010, 7:17 PM
Chandrani, could you put this on the general listing?
Thanks,
rinitadi
On 17 August 2010 07:40, chandrani chatterjee <chandra...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
Grt job
--- On Tue, 17/8/10, Rinita Mazumdar <revfem...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Rinita Mazumdar <revfem...@gmail.com>
Subject: Our Individual Project
To: "Prasanta Ghosh" <prasanta...@yahoo.com>, "chirantan sur" <walkyt...@gmail.com>, chandra...@yahoo.co.in, "Rajasri Basu" <rajasr...@gmail.com>, "Rajkumari Saharia" <rajk...@hotmail.com>, sut...@brbnmpl.co.in, "Sutapa Baul" <jaba...@yahoo.co.in>, "Sutapa Baul" <akjb...@gmail.com>, dalia....@gmail.com, roy...@gmail.com, geet...@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, 17 August, 2010, 5:22 AM
Here is the individual project Sutapa and I did last year; we shall make this a project of our organization once it is registered. I am putting the whole thing here (it is a docx file) and will upload this on my website. Rinita
The following are interviews conducted by Sutapa Baul in Salboni, West Bengal. The original interviews were all in Bengali, Rinita translated them into English.
Some general remarks (Rinita):
I have concluded the following from this research and this will be one of the research conducted on behalf of our organization when it is registered.
Rinita
Some of the key factors in the impoverishment of these domestic worker are 1) lack of proper education and hence lack of employable skills 2) early marriage 3) no access to State initiated BPL cards 4) no land 5) no uniform wage scale 6) no access to free medication. This seems to be a combination of both economic as well as cultural factors contributing to the oppression of these women. Neither is State mandated free education accessible nor cultural conditions conducive to the education of young girls. If education was made free and mandatory, then one could conclude with some probability that some families would send their girls to school to attain a level of education that would enable them to sell their skill for a decent wage in the market. Further, as domestic work is an unorganized sector, there is no State mandated minimum or uniform wage; moreover, none of these women have BPL cards. One could conclude
that the role of the State is minimum in the lives of these women.
My name is Sm. Kobita Dolui, I am roughly 43 years old.
2) Where is your house? How far is your house from your place of work?
My house is in Salboni block in Kamala area in burburnpore village. It is about five kilo meters from this mint.
3) Do you live inside this mint or walk here everyday?
I go out of the house everyday for work’ I mostly walk, sometimes I bike here.
4) When do you exit your home and when do you return? How many homes do you work in?
I exit my house around quarter to seven. And return home around three in the afternoon. Here I work in seven homes.
5) Are you married? How old were you when you were married? How old is your husband right now?
Yes I am married. I was married when I was about 14 or 15 years old. My husband is now 56 years old.
6) What does your husband do?
My husband is a daily laborer. Now a days he is mostly at home due to health reasons. Sometimes he works as a laborer.
7) How many children do you have? How old are they? What are their educational qualifications? What do they do?
I have one son and four daughters. My son is the eldest, he is almost twenty seven years old, the girls range from ten to twenty years old. My son studied till the 8th grade, my daughters are also literate. My youngest daughter has studied till ninth grade and she wishes to go on with her education. My son works as a daily laborer and one of my daughters work as a cleaner inside the mint as a janitor.
8) During work my husband and son are outside from eight to three and my daughter is in school from eight thirty till three.
9) How long are you working?
Nearly sixteen to seventeen years I am connected to this work; I go to homes or through word of mouth get jobs.
10) Where are you originally from? From Keshpore village in Midnapore district.
11) Why did you choose this job?
First, First of, we are inhabitants of Keshpore. We lost everything in flood and have little or no educational skills. I came to Salboni nearly twenty two years ago. We have about 10 acres of land in which we sow potato and paddy half the year, the other half we have to remain without work, hence I had to get this job.
12) Are you the only earning member of your family? Sometimes my husband works and sometimes he does not work because there is no work. He works as a laborer and when the owner gives him food he earns Rs 60 and when he does not he earns Rs 7. We earn roughly a little less than Rs 5000 a month.
13) When you first came to work here, did you decide on the monthly wage or did the owner of the home in which you work did it?
We do not have anything fixed, we decide the minimum. For washing dishes the minimum is Rs 100 for washing clothes the minimum is Rs 100 and so on.
14) Do you bargain with the people you work for? Do you get more than others? We usually tell what we need. I cannot tell with certainty that we get more than others or less. We do not get any annual increments.
15) Do you send a part of your money to your house? How much do you earn here monthly? I cannot send anything back home; Most of the money goes to buying food, medicine, and to my daughter’s education. What is left I deposit in the bank (I do have a bank account) and sometimes I have to borrow money from the loan sharks, they charge Rs 50 for every Rs 1000. Sometimes we have to pawn household stuff. Sometimes during harvesting season we get rice and potato and with that food is sufficed, we get about four months of rice from our field, rest we have to buy from the market. We are eligible for the BPL card but did not get it; we live in mud house, no electricity, no good drinking water, no good sanitation system and no group to make us self-sufficient nearby.
16 Do you have weekly off days? Are they with or without pay? What changes do you wish to see in your workplace?
No there are no weekly off days, we do get paid sick leave or in case of emergencies sometimes we do get financial help when children sick. When I am sick my daughter fills in and has to miss school.
About the present situation I can only say that in a household consisting of six people we clean, do laundry, wash dishes if it was about Rs 500 then it would have been better. During festivals we do get some bonuses.
17 What changes do you wish to see in your life? Can you mention any specific event? I want my children to be established. I want specially my daughters to be well educated. My youngest daughter wishes to become independent, if she does not get married, I am okay with her decision. Although we have a thousand desires in life, we have no means of fulfilling them, hence we have to be satisfied with what we have now. The future is completely dark, my husband is a good person, he never tortured or abused me physically or mentally, cared for me when I was sick, I always had the right to earn my own living. I never got any abusive behavior from any household that we live in. This is the beginning and end of our lives.
(Sm Kobita Dolui)
Interview # 2 February 03, 2010 Kamala Area, Salboni.
Interview from 5:05 till 5:30 PM
1) What is your name? How old are you? My name is Phulmoni Ghata I am about 60 years old.
2) How far is your house from here? My village is in Birbhanurpur, north kamala, Salboni, nearly five kilometers away.
3) How you live within the Mint campus? Or do you bike everyday? I walk to work everyday.
4) How long do you stay outside the house? In how many houses do you work? I exit the house at around 5:30 and return around noon; I work in two houses.
5) Are you married? How old were you when you got married? How old is your husband? What is his profession? Tell me about your children.
I was married when I was about 7 or 8 years old, he was then about 25 years old, he worked in the fields. I lost him when I was 3 years old, I do not have children.
6) Since when did you start working in the Mint? I started working in the Mint since its inception; before that I worked in people’s houses and before that I used to sell firewood.
7) Where is your original home? Why did you choose this job? How much do you earn monthly? My dad’s house and my in laws house is in Salboni. I took this job as I had no other way to earn money, there are no schemes for self sufficiency. I live here, my monthly earning is Rs 400. Sometimes I visit my niece.
8) Did you bargain your wages? There are no fixed wages. I asked for this based on needs.
9) Do you think you are getting more or less than what the market value is? Is there an annual increase in your income?. For every kind of work, it is best if there is an increase in Rs 100 wages have not increased for two years.
10) What are your monthly expenses? Do you take loans? Do you get help from the Government? I cannot talk of the overall expenses. I have to take loan, I do not know how much interest there is, I never get any help from the government, there are no other sources of income, and I do not have a BPL card.
11) Do you have weekly vacation? Is it paid or unpaid work? What are your future plans? I do not have any weekly vacation, I do not have an account in the post office, I do not think of the future. And about the future all I want is a little more, medical expenses, good drinking water, electricity, things for daily necessity, then I would have no problems.
Interview of Mongola Doloi February 3, 2010 birtanpur Village, North Kamala, Salboni Afternoon 5:25 to 5:50
1) What is your name and how old are you? My name is Mongola Doloi, I am 55 years old. The name of my village is birbhanupur, block Salboni, it is five kilometers from Salboni.
2) Do you travel back and forth every day? Yes, I do, I do not own a bike.
3) How long have you been working here? Is you home here? I have been working here for 15 to 16 years, yes, this is my original hometown.
4) In how many houses do you work? How long do you stay outside the house? I work for three houses, I enter the mint campus at six in the morning and exit at 10.
5) Are you married? How old were you when you got married? How old is your husband? What does he do? Tell me about your children. I was married at sixteen. My husband was then forty years old, I lost him when I was 25 years, he used to work in the fields in someone else’s land. My son is about 25 years, I have two grandsons and one granddaughter, ranging from four to eight years. My daughter in law is about 25 and looks after the family.
6) What kind of job did you do before this? Why did you choose this job? How much is your monthly income? I used to work in the field off and on; I had no other income. As there was no other job, I took this up I earn about Rs 1500 per month.
7) Did you choose this wage? Did you bargain? Do you think you are getting more or less than your should? There is no fixed rate of income in household work; I asked for what others get, so there is no question of more or less.
8) Do you think there should be yearly increment? Do you have other sources of earning? Do you receive other help? For two years there has been no increase in my wages; I do not get any help from the government, I get some money by working on the small plot of land, which does not grow throughout the year, during monsoon season rice is planted, that is the only extra income.
9) Do you have any weekly leave? Do you get paid leave? Can you tell from your present situation if you wish a change? What are your plans for the future? No I do not get paid leave, when I am sick I do not appear for work, but they do not take that off from my wages, although they rebuke me for that. Neither my son nor myself have a bank or post office account, I do not think of the future.
10) However if there was Rs 10 more for each type of work, for example for washing Rs 10 more for cleaning Rs 10 more that would have been good.
11) Is there any major incident in your life that you wish to recount? I cannot recall any specific event. I wish the government would provide free education, good drinking water, medical care. Although there was poverty, my husband never abused me, my son and daughter in law respect me a lot.
Interview of Sm. Chaya Adhikari
1) What is your name and how old are you? My name is Chaya Adhikari I am about forty eyars old.
2) Where is your residence? How far is it from this place? The name of my village is Birbhanupur it is in the Kamala area of Salboni about five kilometers.
3) Do you live inside the mint or do you commute daily? I come here to work everyday and then go back in the afternoon, I do not have a bike so I walk.
4) When do you exit the house? And when do you return? I exit at five in the morning, come back in the evening around six in the evening, I work in four houses.
5) Are you married? How long have you been married? How old is your husband now? What is your profession? I was married at 15, my husband is 10 years older than me, I was widowed when I was 25 or 26 years old. He did not have any regular job, he worked at odd jobs as they came along.
6) How many children do you have? How old are they? What are their educational qualifications? What are their professions? I have two daughters, the odler one is about 18-19 years old, she is married, the younger one is 13-14 years of age, she is literate. I studied till the 5th grade, and could not proceed further due to poverty.
7) How long have you been working in this field? Did you work prior to this? I have been working here for the past 19/2 years, before that I used to make paper bags.
8) Where is your original home? Why did you choose this profession? Our original place of residence is Salboni, I chose this as I did not know any other way of earning.
9) Are you the only earning member of your family? Yes I am, I earn about Rs 1000 a month.
10) Who decides on your wages? Your employer or you? Did you bargain? No there is no fixed rate of our wages. I ask what I need.
11) Do you think you are getting more or less than the market price? Do you get an annual increment? It would be good if for every work there is an increase of Rs 100 for two years there has been no increase.
12) How much do you spend monthly? Do you need to take loans? The entire money I earn go to food and medical bill; The loan shark gives loans at a high interest, I have to accept it. I do not have a bank or post office account.
13) Do you get any help from the government? Is there any other source of income? I do not get any help from the government, I do not have a land of my own, I do not have the BPL card, I somehow live in a mud house with my youngest daughter, there is electricity, I get water from the abandoned water supply of the poultry and there is no sanitation.
14) Is there any weekly vacation? Do you get paid leave? What changes do you wish to see in your present situation? I do not have any leave as such. I do not have paid leave. The employers are not always considerate. At present it would help if the wages increased a little about Rs 100 for each. I cannot think of the future, I am scared. I never knew about happiness, I was mentally abused, and I have accepted this.
Interview of Krishna Singh
Feb 08, 2010
North Kamal, Salboni
From afternoon 5:30 till 6:00
1) What is your name? How old are you?
My name is Krishna Singh I am 35.
2) Where is your house, do you commute daily? My original place of residence is birbhanupur village, I commute daily, I work for three houses by walking, I get out of the house at 6:0 in the morning and return around two in the afternoon.
3) Are you married? Tell me a little about your family. Yes, I was married at 16 now he is about 50 years old, he works in the land, I have a son and a daughter, my son is 14 and my daughter is one year younger, my husband does not contribute anything to the household. He is usually under the influence of alcohol and often abuses me. My children go to the nearby school.
4) How long have you been working here? What did you do prior to this? Why did you choose this job?
5) I have been working here for the last five years, I sued to work at odd jobs doing manual labor, here there is a fixed income.
6) Tell me something about yourself and your future plans. I don’t think of the future, I got this job by the heard of mouth, I am somehow passing my days.
February 08, 2010
Place: North Kamala Area, Salboni
Time: Evening 4 PM
1) What is your name? how old are you? My name is Saraswati Singh I am 19 years old.
2) What is the name of your village? Do you commute everyday do you walk or take a bike? How long do you stay? I am from the village birbhanupur, I walk five kilometers, I work for two houses in Salboni, I get out of the house I work in two houses and come back around 2: in the afternoon.
3) Who lives with you in your house? Can you tell us a little about them? Tell us about yourself. When my father died I was about eight years old. He did not have a job, this is our original residence. My mother was then about 40/41 years old, my sisters stay with me, I have a grandmother who is about 71 years old and stays with me. I have a sister who is one year younger than me, she is married. I have very little schooling, I can only sign my name.
4) Why did you choose this job? Are you satisfied with this job? What changes do you wish to bring in this job? We do not have any land to plough. My grandmother is not well, and my mother has developed some mental health issues, under these circumstances, what else could I do? I am happy with this job for now, I earn about Rs 800 per month, and would wish an increase of Rs 100 for each work, some houses people behave rudely.
5) What changes do you wish to see? What are your future plans? I do not see the future, somehow I live everyday, I do not have any account anywhere in the post office or bank, we neither have future nor past.
Interview of Durga Dule
Interviewers room, Salboni from 5 till 5:20.
1) What is your name and how old are you? My name is sm Durga dule I am 58 years old.
2) Where is your house how far is it from the mint? I am from North Kamala birtanpur area which is five km from the mint.
3) Do you commute everyday? How long are you here? In how many houses do you work? I commute everyday I et out of the house at 4:30 in the morning and then we walk here, we do not own a bike and come back at two in the afternoon. I work in three houses.
4) You are married. What does your husband do? Say something about your family. My husband also works in homes. I am his second wife. They were married twenty six years ago we have no children but he had a child from his first marriage two sons and two daughters, the sons live elsewhere and the daughters are married. We two live by ourselves.
5) What is your educational qualification? My parents were poor so I had no education, previously I used to do some agricultural work and earned about Rs 40 daily, and then I joined this profession, this is more permanent.
6) Where is your house? This is my original home.
7) Did you decide on your wages? Do you have annual increment? It was decided according to how others earn, no there is no annual increment.
8) How much do you need to survive monthly? Do you have loans? Do you get government loans? I do not keep a record of all the monthly expnses, I control my own finances, I do not take loans or help from the government.
9) Do you get weekly paid leaves? No but when needed my employers help me.
10) What changes do you wish to see in the future? If I got a little more then there would have been a way, at present there is no electricity, there is no sanitation or electricity, we deposit money in the bank from what we both earn, I do not think of the future. My husband is a good person, he never abused me. When I was young I decided never to get married, I would lead an independent life, eventually I got married at 34.
Interview of Shefali Mahato
February 8, 2010 Salboni Room of interviewer.
1) What is you name and how old are you? My name is Shefali Mahato I am nearly thirty five years old.
2) Where is your house? How far is it from this mint? Do you live here or do you commute? The name of my village is takshole, it is about three or four kilometers from the mint. I commute here by foot.
3) In how many houses do you work? When do you come and when do you go in? I exit the house at five in the morning. I go back around one. I work in five houses.
4) Are you married? How many years have you been married? How old is your husband now? I was married when I was 16 or 17 years old. My husband is now 4 years old.
5) What is your husband’s profession? How many children do you have? Tell me something about them.
My husband sometimes works in other people’s fields, he has no fixed income. We have two daughters, the younger one is 14 and the studies in the sixth grade and the older one studies in the seventh grade, but had to quit due to lack of funds. They never worked.
6) How long have you worked in this profession? Why did you choose this one? I have been working here for the last six or seven years. Before that I used to work as a daily laborer and earned about Rs 5 daily, and worked more than nine hours per day, and this money was given without food, sometimes the oversear would make us work more, I worked as a laborer for four years, then I would gather sal leaves from the forest and make dishes and other stuff from the sal leaves and sell them in the market and their price was Rs 40 , I made a thousand plates from sal leaves. This job is more permanent. I am the sole earning member of my family and get about Rs 1000 per month, my husband does not contribute
anything he abuses me mentally and psychologically.
7) Do you fix your wages? Do you get yearly increments? The wages are fixed according to what other usually get; there is no yearly income. Sundays are not free.
8) Do you send your money back home? How much do you spend here? Are you satisfied with what you get here? My home is here. So I don’t have to send it anywhere. I spend more than what I eanr, again Rs 100 more for each work would be helpful, sometimes I take out loans, I have no bank account or post office account. I do not have land to till nor a BPL card, a lady took me to the health center and did vasectomy.
Interview of Narina Kalindi.
1) What is your name and how old are you? My name is Narina Kalindi I am 35 years old.
2) 2 Where is your original home? How far is it from this mint? How do you commute? How long do you stay outside? I am from a village called Baghbasha. It is about three kilometers from Gate number 3 of the mint. I commute by bike and it takes about one hour. I go out of the house at 5 in the morning and come back around one. I work in four houses in the mint.
3) Are you married? Can you tell me something about your family? I was married at 11. I do not know the age of my husband, he is mentally unstable and his family did not reveal it when we got married. He had no job, so within some days of getting I retuned home, I have no children, and since then I have worked at small odd jobs. My father is still alive and my mother is dead, my two sisters are married and live elsewhere and they have a total of four children and amongst them one girl died of brain tumor, I somehow live.
4) How many years have you had this job? What did you do before that? Why did you choose this job? I have been working in this job for the past seven years. Before that I used to work as a daily laborer for about seven years and make bamboo baskets and sell them, one small basket tooka bout three days and one bamboo would cost Rs 5 and I would sell the baskets for Rs 10 usually one could make five baskets from one bamboo, sometimes I would work as a cook during festivals, this is more permanent so I have chosen this, I earn about Rs 800 per month.
5) Do you want to change your present situation? Do you think of the future? I have said before that my monthly income is Rs 800 During festivals my dad works as drummer and that too was spend for my nieces treatment, my brother would sell the bamboo baslkets and he also works as a drummer and earns very little, we do not have sudnay off, I have no plans for the future.
Interview of Lashmi Mahato
1) What is your name and how old are you? My name is Lakshmi Mahato and I am 35 years old.
2) How far do you live from this mint? How long do you stay outside the house? I am from a village called asharveda this is about ¾ km from the mint and I bike here everyday I get out at 5 in the morning and come back at 2:0 I work for five houses.
3) Are you married? Can you tell me something about your family? I was married whe I was 15/16 years old. About 1 or 12 years ago y husband passed away in an accident he was ten years older than I am and he was a woodcutter, he died at home. My youngest daughter also passed away due to snake bitewithin a year of her father’s death. When she was returning from the groceries a snake bit her, she was six at that time. Now my son is nearly 13, he studies in the 8th grade, my daughter is 16 or 17 she was married at 14 and has a son and a daughter, I am the only earning member of my family.
4) After my husband’s death I was thrown out of my in laws house and since then I have been living with my father and my brothers do not look after my parents and do not ehlp me. I somehow spend my days with Rs 1000 a month and sometimes I take a loan by pawing things from the house.
5) Did you work before this? How long did you work here? Before this I would gather log and sell sal leaves.
6) What is your view of the present and do you have plans for the future? I work for a family of eight and earn Rs 400 I live in amud house, I have to clean it, cook, if I got Rs 100 more for eac job it would have been better. I do not get any help from the government, if the money increases then I can save some for future, there is no off days on Sunday there is no significant incident in my life, there is so much poverty, I wanted to complete education but could not, I am working for my son, but the houses I work for do not abuse or torture me, I work with dignity.
First, I suggested the name "oikos" (meaning economy, household), we can also do "women's oikos" and have our organization as a sister organization (we an do workshops and share info and referrels with) of Kusum's Women's Sahayog.
Some of you thought that "oikos" is too Western, please suggest the name otherwise registration will be a problem.
Mission Statement:
(very rough)
A pilot survery of several women from middle to low income socio economic status in Kolkata showed that most women are uninformed about their economic rights; this includes their knowledge about how the banking system works to their advantage, their right to ownership of their place of residence, filing income tax, getting loans to start business, networking with organizations to assist them in getting State aid. This lack of information leads to social isolation of women who in turn results in many women being locked into
situations that are violent and contrary to their self-preservation. We do not see domestic violence as a phenomena separate from economic or social isolation and denial of information useful for one's betterment. Our organization aims at empowering women to gain knowledge and access to their economic rights and to help network and build connection which will empower them economically and socially.
Please others edit this!
rinita
Hello All,
My semester starts this week and so does my daughter's. As you all know, I tend to sleep about 2 hours during semester, hence for a while you will not see me on the email We have a very competent secretary who will update you on everything.
On a very very important note, I have requested Rajkumari Saharia, ex President of FCCI, the women's wing of Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata, to take up at for temporarily the post of President-ship. I met Rajkumari last year and was very impressed with her knowledge and experience to guide an organization. Rajkumari has some concerns and I would ask Rajkumari to bring it to this forum. Rajkumari has not formally accepted, I have to give her a brief statement of our mission and also she wishes to meet with all of you; at this time we do not have a working President, and I understand that you all need to put your voice in. I would suggest a meeting with Rajkumari when Sutapa comes to town. I am waiting to hear from Rajkumari as a reply to this email and I am a rough mission statement. On a different note, Sutapa and I did some work last year on domestic workers, wage labor disparities, etc,
mainly from Salboni and some from Kolkata, I have that document and will put it on my website which an later be counted as the work of the organization. We shall also do some independent research work on muslim women and divorced women, which I shall put on my website which we can later show off as the work of the organization. In the next email I am putting some more important things, Thanks to all, Rinita
On 11 August 2010 01:19, Rinita Mazumdar <revfem...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello All,
This should be our final list, we do not want people who are unwilling or uninterested in womens economic empowerment.
I suggest that we immediately choose a President, and treasurer.
Rinita
-- http://rinitamazumdar.com/Rinita Mazumdar, Ph.D Women Studies and Philosophy, University of New Mexico
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-- http://rinitamazumdar.com/Rinita Mazumdar, Ph.D Women Studies and Philosophy, University of New Mexico
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