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The Problem of Women’s Labour: Some Autobiographical Perspectives

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  • Mary E. John

    (Mary E. John is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi, India. E-mail: maryejohn1@gmail.com)

Abstract

This article is concerned with a long-standing problem concerning the nature and value of women’s labour in modern India. The first part of the article offers a theoretical overview of the issues involved, arguing for an intersectional framework that would reorient a focus on women through questions of gender, class, caste and sexuality. Issues relating to the prominence of the domestic sphere, stigma and public labour, and the abjection of sex work are brought into this frame. The second part of the article uses the method of exploring women’s life narratives or autobiographies to investigate this problem through the places occupied by labour in a life story, drawing on the writings of Rashsundari Debi, Binodini Dasi, Baby Kamble, Baby Haldar and Nalini Jameela. The third part of the article reflects on the insights gleaned, in particular on the kinds of conflicts that structure women’s relationships in the world of labour and on the further questions this raises for feminist analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary E. John, 2013. "The Problem of Women’s Labour: Some Autobiographical Perspectives," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 20(2), pages 177-212, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:indgen:v:20:y:2013:i:2:p:177-212
    DOI: 10.1177/0971521513482213
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Standing, Guy, 1989. "Global feminization through flexible labor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(7), pages 1077-1095, July.
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