vinodks
January 2nd, 2007, 10:26 PM
Interesting read...
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN002186.pdf
ABSTRACT This paper seeks to understand the gender-speciŽ c consequences of the Shahargaon
Jat community’s increasing urban contact with New Delhi. It examines the consequences
of a quick assimilation of Jat men into income-generating activities in the urban
market and a corresponding loss of Jat women’s economic roles, leading to their further
seclusion and marginalization within the household and community. By providing a historically
contextualized account of shifts in gender identity and relations in Shahargaon, the
paper considers the ways in which the newly constructed urban patriarchal gender ideology
and its asymmetric power relations reinforce gender disparity and marginalize women in an
urbanizing community. The Shahargaon Jat community’s particular historical and patriarchal
context, kinship and marriage rules, and the present state of urbanization constitutes an
example of the overall failure of urban exposure to improve economic participation and the
overall quality of life for women in urbanizing communities in north India. It appears that the
community’s economic well-being has not worked in tandem with the women’s social
well-being in Shahargaon, in the sense that the Jat patriarchal system and its rules have
largely remained unaltered despite exposure to the urban environment of New Delhi. Instead,
Shahargaon’s increasing urban context has intensiŽ ed patriarchal control and the corresponding
marginalization of Jat women. The Shahargaon case may illustrate a widespread
pattern of the increasing gender asymmetry in several other urbanizing village communities
in north India.
-vinod
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN002186.pdf
ABSTRACT This paper seeks to understand the gender-speciŽ c consequences of the Shahargaon
Jat community’s increasing urban contact with New Delhi. It examines the consequences
of a quick assimilation of Jat men into income-generating activities in the urban
market and a corresponding loss of Jat women’s economic roles, leading to their further
seclusion and marginalization within the household and community. By providing a historically
contextualized account of shifts in gender identity and relations in Shahargaon, the
paper considers the ways in which the newly constructed urban patriarchal gender ideology
and its asymmetric power relations reinforce gender disparity and marginalize women in an
urbanizing community. The Shahargaon Jat community’s particular historical and patriarchal
context, kinship and marriage rules, and the present state of urbanization constitutes an
example of the overall failure of urban exposure to improve economic participation and the
overall quality of life for women in urbanizing communities in north India. It appears that the
community’s economic well-being has not worked in tandem with the women’s social
well-being in Shahargaon, in the sense that the Jat patriarchal system and its rules have
largely remained unaltered despite exposure to the urban environment of New Delhi. Instead,
Shahargaon’s increasing urban context has intensiŽ ed patriarchal control and the corresponding
marginalization of Jat women. The Shahargaon case may illustrate a widespread
pattern of the increasing gender asymmetry in several other urbanizing village communities
in north India.
-vinod