heads of households in Jolpur
(N=
183)
(44.0ll)
Source: Field woric, 1992 N=183
A griculture: Of the total 1 83 households in the village the heads of 80 households (43.7%) reported agricultural production as their main occupation and the majority of the population was directly or indirectly attached to agriculture.
Agricultural land was unevenly distributed among households. Twenty eight percent of households had no land of their own, whereas only two percent of households owned nearly 60% of the total area of agricultural land in Jolpur. Some households operated less than they owned because it was difficult for large land owners to cultivate all their land. This was true for absentee land owners who had to depend on others to cultivate the land. On average rich
households in Jolpur cultivated 2.61 acres of land less than they owned. Small farmer 'a' category cultivated slightly more than they owned. Small farmer 'b', 'c', 'd' and middle farm households operated slightly less than they owned.
Wage labour: Thirty three ( 1 8%) household heads claimed wage labour as
their primary occupation and for twenty two households it was secondary. Most of the households which depended mainly on wage labour belonged to the destitute (67%) and the landless (45%) categories. These households did not have any permanent sources of income. Another 24% belonged to the small farmer 'a' and 'b' categories who were hired by large landowners throughout the year. Most of the wage labourers migrated elsewhere during the lean seasons. During peak seasons wage labourers worked in the fields. However, with the increase of mechanical process in production, demand for hired labour in agriculture became more and more limited in Jolpur.
Manual irrigation was replaced by technology. It is significant that the demand for hired labour was higher for women than for men in Jolpur12. Women were hired for almost all agricultural work except ploughing. Their tasks included making seed beds, planting, threshing, weeding, picking,
stripping jute fibre, drying and storing crops and raising seedlings. Men, on the other hand, were hired for some specific tasks such as ploughing, planting and harvesting. Employment as a permanent labourer was not common for men or women. This is because the limited opportunities on local farms caused men to migrate to towns or other villages. However, women were in a better position to get work especially in peak seasons because they remained inside the village
and because there were certain agricultural and domestic services which were
only done by women. Depending upon their network relationships and skills poor women were hired by the better-off throughout the year.
Salaried work: Eighteen heads of households worked in government or non government organisations as their main occupation (9.8%). These included drivers, peon (office menials), gate-keepers (darwan), clerks, village land surveyors (am in), school teachers, police, mechanics and bankers. Most of the full-time job holders who worked outside the village belonged to the small farmer categories. These individuals were educated up to at least primary level. Although most of them were lowly paid they were more certain of a monthly income than those who depended on agriculture. Even better-off farmers claimed that people with salaried jobs lived better than farmers. Except for a bus driver, the am in and school teachers, other service holders stayed at their work places and visited Jolpur during the holidays. The cultivation of the land of absentee land owners was supervised by their wives. Women in these households had to make major household decisions and take responsibility in the absence of their husbands or adult men. Some sharecropped out their land.
In addition to their principal occupations three individuals worked as part time government and non-government service holders: one as a night guard at a government office (BADe), one as a bus-conductor and another as a lorry (trak) driver. All of them lived in Jolpur.
B usiness: There were 16 heads of households (8.7%) who traded as their principal occupation. All of them, except one rich landowner, were engaged in petty business. People sold main staples, such as rice, pulses, potatoes, onions, vegetables, mustard oil, jute and jute products in the haat or bazaar, as retailers or as wholesalers. Most of the retailers belonged to the landless and small farmer 'a' categories. One rich farmer was involved in seasonal crop trading. He sold most of the Jolpur farmers' jute at Narayonganj (a district near Dhaka).
Heads of small farm households ran grocery shops at the comer of Bishoroad. They sold a variety of essentials.
Sixteen households did business as their secondary occupation. Among these the sale of milk, poultry, eggs, vegetables, fruit, oils and handicrafts fell into the women's domain and were reported by men as their household's secondary occupation. Some heads of households who described agriculture as their main occupation, sold their crops at the market or to dealers also mentioned trading as a secondary occupation.
Rickshaw pulling: After the construction of Bishoroad poor men in Jolpur started to engage in rickshaw pulling. There were thirteen heads of households (7%) whose main occupation was rickshaw or van pulling. Most of them belonged to the landless and small farmer 'a' categories. Some belonged to small farmer fbI category. No other heads of households were engaged in this occupation. This work is considered as of low status. However, it was
expensive to buy a rickshaw which most of the poor could not afford. Instead they hired from an owner, paying 50% of their income to him each day.
u III o Figure 5.3: occupation of heads of in Jolpur
•
11 11 I
r... .... _ _ __ _ __ 0Iww 0c:a4IaI1onSource: Field Work, 1992 N=44
Although rickshaw pullers did not get a reliable or sufficient income in return for their hard labour, they were not so badly off as wage labourers during the lean seasons.
U m brella repairing: People of Bhanga thana were traditionally repairers of umbrellas. They were often referred to as sata shara (umbrella repairer) by people from other districts. The reason behind the profession is unknown. One popular theory is that the region had such a high rainfall that most people used umbrellas. However, umbrella repairers in Jolpur, like many other villages of Bhanga, moved all over the country due to great competition among repairers inside the region. Nine heads of households (5%) in landless and small farmer 'a' category reported sata shara as their main occupation. An umbrella repairer carried a bag on his back in which he kept some wooden umbrella sticks, cloth (usually black), needles, thread and ribs. He then travelled from village to
town. Teenage sons sometimes accompanied their fathers as helping hands. Women in these households performed different responsibilities in the absence of their husbands or and sons.
Four heads of households repaired umbrellas as their secondary occupation. People in Jolpur said that the number of umbrella repairers was decreasing due to the introduction of foreign umbrellas, rain coats and improvements in
communications. Rain coats replaced umbrellas and foreign materials replaced local materials. In the past people used to travel on foot or by boat and they carried umbrellas to protect themselves from rain or sun. This traditional practice is not so common due to communication developments such as travelling by bus. Umbrellas were also used by women to maintain parda whenever they went out. These have been replaced by borkha or chador (a long cloth covering the head and upper part of a woman's body).
Income from umbrella repairing was very low. The wives of umbrella repairers said that their husband's income was not sufficient even to maintain the husbands themselves. These women had to depend on their own income to run their households.
Heads of other households had different occupations such as boatmen, carpenters, servants, vendors or hawkers, suitcase repairers, a tailor and a quack 13 doctor.
Summary and conclusion
In this chapter various aspects of Jolpur's social structure such as samaj, goshthi, para and the socio-economic categorization of households have been
1 3 . This word is not used a s in the English pejorative sense. I n general, those people who do not have formal qualifications but who carry out treatments with a combination of modern and traditional medicines are called quack doctors in Bangladesh.
analyzed. Education and occupations, land and cropping patterns are also discussed here to better understand Jolpur's social conditions. It has been noted that the village is highly stratified and land was the key element shaping a household's socio-economic status. It has also been argued that ownership of land was central to all social relationships such as samaj, goshthi and salish. A variety of occupations were pursued by the poorer villagers particularly those who had no, or limited, agricultural land. Large land owners controlled political relationships in the village and the labour of women and men of poorer households.
Women are not featured prominently in this chapter as their socio-economic and status position are integrally linked to their households, in particular in terms of landholding; as women rarely exercise any control over land, they are seen to be dependent on their husbands, fathers or brothers for their livelihood.
Yet it is indicated how a household's economic condition depends on its control of the mobility of its women. Ability to prevent women's mobility is closely associated with a household's socio-economic position. In the next chapter, which addresses gender relations in the context of various social factors, it becomes clear that the socio-economic status of women's households are of utmost importance in determining their physical mobility, practice of parda, religion, health, household and family composition, household decision making and participation in agriculture. Discussion in this chapter, therefore, will help to understand the differential practice of social functions and the activities of women of different socio-economic backgrounds which will be focused on in Part III.
Chapter Six
Gender relations in Jolpur
This chapter examines the maintenance of parda, religious practices, dress,
health, involvement in agriculture, political parties, household composition and household decision making. This information is important to understand how gender and socio-economic differences influence the lives of women and men in Jolpur. The socio-economic background of women respondents is also introduced here.
Maintenance of parda
Parda constitutes a powerful set of norms which define women's behaviour in most situations and in most circumstances. The practice of parda in Jolpur was affected by age, stage of life and, more importantly, by socio-economic
location. Depending upon economic necessity, poor women worked outside the village. The practice of parda was more flexible among poor women who had to pursue income earning activities. Poor women were involved in various crop processing activities with many strangers around: they dried crops on the
Bishoroad, weeded them, threshed them and stripped fibre from jute. Despite poverty, women in this village did not work for pay except in certain
paddy husking in rich and middle farmer households. However, some parda practices were followed by all, for example, women were not allowed in the mosque or in public places; unnecessary interaction with strangers was unacceptable; they did not acknowledge or exchange any word with strange men and were always expected to cover their heads. It was also evident that women's involvement in some income generating activities was prevented by the need to keep parda and thereby to protect their households' honour.
Young and newly married women always maintained parda and their movements were restricted, whereas older widows were more free. However, this also varied according to socio-economic category. Poor widowed women were freer to go outside the village to look for work regardless of their age. However, poor young women who were married were not so free to go outside the village alone. Parda in Jolpur was also different for women who were born in the village (gram er m eye) compared with those who were from a different village (gram er bou). The former had more freedom than the latter. However, only a few women in Jolpur married within the village.
Women and men were asked to define parda1 • To rich men parda meant not going outside or appearing in front of strangers without borkha. To the headmaster of the village primary school parda meant always staying within the homestead compound and not being seen by strangers. Men felt all women did not adhere to those definitions. Marriage within the village or neighbouring villages and Hindu influence were cited by men as the cause of the relaxed practice of parda within Jolpur. Only few households had boundaries. For want of high land, people built their houses close to each other. Men who wanted to put high fences around their houses in order to put strict parda on their women, failed to do so because of the location of houses or objections from neighbours or lack of resources. Within the same compound there were
many households and it was easy for a person to move from one house to another through crossing neighbouring courtyards rather than using village paths. Men in this village frequently walked to each others' compounds except to those of the rich. This situation is not a recent phenomenon. The movement of women outside their households was higher among the poor. It has also increased because of developments in communication, for example, the construction of the Bishoroad made it easier to travel by bus, van or scooter. Women visited relatives in other villages or in the town of Bhanga using vans or buses.
Religion
Although the village people were predominantly Muslim, only a few practised Islam rigorously. Only a small proportion of men attended a mosque (there were three mosques in Jolpur) five times a day. Most of those who did were over 60-65 and were no longer able to do much work. Religious observance was generally more likely to be practised by the better-off in the village. This was because the better-off had leisure time due to their ability to employ people to carry out agricultural and domestic tasks. However, it was observed that at Friday prayer (Jumm a) most men attended the mosque. At night, when men had completed their work, they often gathered in the mosques to discuss village issues. Women were not allowed in the mosque and not included in the
meeting. This is a very strong rule among the Muslim villagers.
Women in better-off households who could afford to employ servants appeared to be more religious, praying five times a day. Religious women in the other categories prayed at least twice a day- before sunset and in the dead of night. Poor women said that they felt guilty for not praying five times a day but failed to do so due to their workloads. Some poor women tried to say their prayer at their employers' houses and were not resisted (for spending time on praying taking time from the work they were assigned to). Better-off women
who practised religion were honoured by other women. Heads in some wealthy households ordered other members in their families to follow religion strictly. Moreover, all Muslim villagers celebrated the religious festivals such as Eid which varied according to socio-economic category. Better-off households could afford new clothes and delicious food during those occasions, the poor on the other hand, depended on women's own resources or on network
relationships. D ress
Dress in Jolpur was typically Bangladeshi. Women wore a cotton sari in the traditional way2. Women in better-off households wore saris with blouse and petticoats. Poor women could not afford to have petticoats and blouses. Some of them had those clothes kept with much care to visit outside village. Many women depended on social networks to fulfil that requirement. Most women covered their bodies with the ends of their saris. The materials from which saris were made also differed from poor women to better-off women. Whereas poor women wore cheap and coarse materials, other women wore fine quality saris, the prices also varied widely. Men wore lungi and panjabi. Young boys wore western style shirts and short trousers or lungi, young girls wore frocks. Girls also wore folded cotton half pants different from boys. Most of the time small boys and girls wore only pants, specially in the poorer categories. A young girl's only frock would be kept to wear in winter by her poor mother. After childhood unmarried daughters wore Muslim dress (salwar-kamij), loose folded trousers and long shirts or saris depending upon price or availability.
2. In general, rural women wear sari in a different way from urban women. Whereas urban women wear their sari by folding in the middle part, referred to as sari with fold (kuchi deya sari), in rural areas women give two-three pleats-which is called sari with one fold (ak-palch deya sari). The main reasons for wearing sari in ak-palch are three fold: i) it is easier for a woman to move and do their work, ii) to wear a sari in an urban way one must have a petticoat and a blouse which are too expensive for many of the poor women and ii) they do not fold their sari to keep the anchols (the trailing end of a sari) long which would enable them to cover their whole body and head and keep their modesty.
Women in the better-off households distributed unused or old clothes to their poor kin, neighbours or servants. Only a small number of women wore borkha when travelling over long distances. Wearing an ornament was a symbol women wore after marriage. This custom, however, was dying out. Better-off women had gold earrings, necklaces, nose-pins and bracelets or bangles. Poor women, however, might only have glass bangles and silver or other nose-pins. In rural Bengali culture a married woman should wear a nose-pin and at least two bangles on each wrist. However, some poor women in Jolpur could not afford those or did not wear bangles because they were inconvenient when working.
Health
The diet was poor and health a problem; malnourishment was common among the poor and women were in worse conditions. Dependence on traditional