The endosulfan tragedy of Kerala, first and foremost of the district Kasaragod, further some other districts, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Palakkad and Idukki has surely been one of the horrific man made tragedies. Thousands were affected by the law-defying spray of the acaricide and many are still to be included in the records.
Endosulfan tragedy left many people bedridden and dependent. These people should be noted as one of the most ignored community of the state. The government thinks that a mere uneven compensation of five lakhs bucks can solve all the issues. But it’s not Trivandrum or Ernakulam. It’s Kasaragod. It’s Kozhikode, Wayanad, Palakkad and Idukki. And most of the affected areas are villages and places affine to ecological belts and tribal zones. These non-urban regions are very rudimentary in terms of infrastructure. It’s indeed a social issue since many people have similar experiences and claim it as an oppression.
However, viewed from a feminist perspective, many find that the tragedy has a gendered division of reality too. This is important to note, for most of the societies have deeply ingrained patriarchy. Here’s a long and abridged except from a very reliable article of EPW.in describing the various forms of oppression that the tragedy takes. Although it’s a study from Muthalamada, a village in the Palakkad district of Kerala, I find it applicable for other districts too, especially Kasaragod. Also I insert some portions from the study conducted by Dr Jayashree Jayashree in Kasaragod.
(a) Employment and financial burden:
The caretakers are mostly unable to go for a job as they have to take care of the victims because of the inability of the victims to take care of themselves. As women are presented with the familial status of caretakers, they consequently lose chances of getting employed and becoming self-reliant. Most of the female parents of endosulfan affected admit that they’ve lost their chances of employment due to the disability and consequent dependency of their children. Notably, in the absence of any financial help to provide healthcare for the affected children, the out-of-pocket expenditure is quite high. Most of these victims are from below-poverty-line or marginal income families, and hence, it is a very high burden on them. They are tied up within the family and devoid of an outlet for ventilation. Still, in some cases, in families where husbands also are diseased along with children, mothers have to care children and earn for family. This may seem empowering but it’s some kind of multitasking too.
(b) Help from other family members:
This is a very diverse reality. Some male spouses are found to help but seldom do they take up the role of the caretaker. It was reported that there are families with women deserted or divorced by husbands leaving disabled children with them. Some do co-operate with their wives in most of the things of the affected but such families were countable only. Mostly, the husbands contribute to the financial side only. Help from the side of other relatives depends on their generosity. Women with disabled children living in joint families desire to have their own house. They informed that they were not much helped by others in the family. Instead, they are sometimes accused. Foul smell and noise is often a disturbance to others. Even when other family members do not complaint, they find it as troubling others and feel guilty.
(c) Personal health problems of female caretakers:
Most of the female caretakers are found to have serious physical health issues. However, their gender roles and the gravity of the child’s disability make them trivialise their issues. Social activists report that women are usually reluctant to go for consultation. Even after diagnosis of health problems, they ignore it. When women are bed-ridden, there will not be anybody to care them as per their need. Women stated that access to health care services is also problematic. They have to travel long distance carrying the children.
(d) Social stigma:
Some of the families hesitated to show their children who are endosulfan victims to the outside world because of the stigma. Some mothers are hesitant to avail of any external assistance or charity for their children who are endosulfan victims.
(e) Gender-based burden on females:
According to the mothers, the female victims are more at risk as compared to the males, because the physical security of the females is at stake. Parents are more worried of girl children. Mothers think that when a girl is disabled, they have to take more care to avoid sexual harassment from others. Girls with mental disability (avoiding the r word) do not express culturally developed signs of modesty as other girls do. This can be mistaken as an invitation for sexual relation. Mothers are afraid of this. They also told that some people advise to do a hysterectomy to avoid this. This is unethical and diversion from the real problems. Many of the mothers are sceptical about the security of their daughters’ security after their death so some even plan to die by suicide with the child.
(f) Psychological impact:
There is a tremendous psychological impact reported among the caretakers. They feel that their world is restricted to their kids and their problems. Women do not have their me-time and space. They’re obviously anxious and depressed about the disability of their children. The mothers are affected the most. They lost their chances of employment and upward mobility. They are also isolated from the social milieu, because many of them are engaged in the care of others in the family. Often mothers are more attached to the disabled child. Mothers take it as fate and adjust to the situation at the cost of their physical and mental health. Self –esteem of the women is low since they cannot meet the expectation of society as mothers of “healthy children”. There are mothers who have more than one disabled child. A few have 4 or 5 disabled children. Care takers undergo much distress both mentally and physically. Caring the disabled is a 24 hour job, which is invisible and unaccounted. Previously, it was believed that diseases occurred due to curses from divinities. Victims feel helpless. They themselves choose to be confined to families and avoid social functions, which is detrimental to mental and social health. Some people have gone to the extent that they refuse to get enlisted in the group of endosulfan victims and get pension or other benefits. They do not want to get identified with this stigmatising event.
(g) Femininity:
There is history of menstrual irregularities for girls, more reported before ban of endosulfan. Girls had reluctance to talk about this. Women perceive menstrual disorder as a serious problem, because it is closely related to their gender identity, perceived well-being, cleanliness, body image, motherhood and reproductive health. Period of menstruation is a concern for the mothers of disabled girls. They have to dress them up, take care of cleanliness, modest behaviour etc. This adds to the stress of mothers.
Women suffered harassment from relatives after abortions. Many women have uterine issues too. Mothers often have role conflicts. They think that they cannot meet the expected gender role as good mother in society, as above said. They feel guilty and a few decided not to have children for fear of disability. Disabled Daughters also suffer from guilt as the mothers do. One daughter attempted suicide. She justified it as follows, “My mother is suffering much because of me. So it is better to die rather than making her to suffer more”.
Concept of body image, in- built in the stereotyping of femininity adds to the sufferings of women. It is very difficult to cope up with the disfigurement of one’s own body or daughter’s body, since figure is given much importance for femininity in our society. Marital relationships were once highly condemned once the would-be groom’s side know that the would-be bride is from an affected area.
(h) Gender power relations in family
Though, endosulfan tragedy affected all, women have specific problems due to their prescribed role in family and society. There is systemic subordination and stereotyping. Women have less power in family and cannot make decisions of their own. There is no space for negotiation within family because public space is male dominated and women get marginalised. If they lose space in family, they cannot sustain economically and socially. Many of them are hesitant to talk openly, because they fear that they will be depicted as bad women if they share family matters with others. They also fear harassment from their intimate relatives in such situations. Power relations operate in subtle ways with the consent of the submissive women, rather than as explicit oppression. In some families, husbands are alcoholic. Social workers reported that in these families, women cannot spend money for family needs, since major part is spent for alcohol. In addition, wives are subjected to physical and emotional violence. This adds to malnutrition and psychological stress.
However,
Women’s confinement to family and family roles makes her more isolated socially. However, there are some public spaces where these women have access now. Buds school is a space which gives some relief for mothers. They can gather and share problems in this space, though there is much limitation in the present situation. Neighbourhood groups also open another space for women’s collectivisation. In some Panchayats there are 50- 100 members comprised of mothers or close relatives of victims distributed in different neighbourhood groups.
Samarapanthal is another such public space where women can come together and share their common concerns. Samarapanthal is set by Endosulfan peetitha Janakeeya Munnani.Women take all pain to finish their domestic work, make alternate arrangement for care of the affected children and attend strike. This is an area where equally affected women can share and support each other while engaging in the strike. They do not feel shame and isolation as they attend a function related to their children and life. One woman told, “We come here for our children only, not for any other matters”. This implies that they follow stereotypical gender roles and tries to find solutions to their agony within the limits of it. One woman activist told, “Some sort of counselling is taking place in the pandal also. Many of them really need counselling and emotional support”.
(i) Strategic and practical gender needs
There is systemic discrimination towards women in patriarchal societies and ours is not an exception. It is usually exercised in a subtle way, especially in family relations so that women themselves internalise the same values and strategically cope with situations. We experience the hegemony of patriarchal norm in everyday life through the gender discriminatory role dividing both men and women in their domestic roles and social roles. Women are ascribed to do cooking, cleaning, care of the diseased etc. in the families. Women are thus trained to be more emotional, caring and modest. Whenever there is imbalance in emotional stability or relational tension, women have to make adjustments for the integrity of family and society. This pays much stress to women in moments of crisis like endosulfan tragedy. Women have to take more responsibility in fulfilling the tasks for the benefits of family members. Here, the challenge is how to transform the mother’s concern to “social concern” by reverting gender division of labour.
In our society, usually women get adjusted to the stereotypical role, because it is promoted by society and Governments. Most of the plans and programs also follow this. In this context, it is better to distinguish between strategic gender interests and practical gender needs.
Strategic Gender Concerns
Strategic gender interests are those that women may develop by realising their social positioning through gender analysis. It is the expected change in the position in the process of empowerment and the prioritized concerns through analysis. They vary according to particular contexts, related to gender division of labour, power and control, and may include issues such as legal rights, domestic violence, equal wages and women‘s control over their bodies. Meeting SGNs assists women to achieve greater equality and change existing roles, thereby challenging women‘s subordinate position. This can be achieved through strategic plan and can be long term. Gender needs are means to achieve this.
In the endosulfan affected area of Kasargode District, women are overburdened with the care of affected children. This difficulty can be overcome only if we challenge the stereotypical gender division of labour. If the care is considered as a social responsibility rather than women’s responsibility, rehabilitation centres will be the suggested solution. A rehabilitation centre with comprehensive care with facilities for treatment, physiotherapy, vocational training, skill development, entertainment activities, computer learning etc. would have been ideal. This can be an answer to the anxiety of women about care of their children after their death. But, the question is that how far this can be materialised in a situation where women themselves cannot change their socially constructed gender roles instantaneously. There have been mixed response from the victims and care takers regarding rehabilitation centres. Some of them preferred to place the disabled children in centres, whereas others wanted to care them for ever by themselves. The latter think that it is the duty of the mother to look after children and only mothers can care children in such bad conditions. One mother accompanies her child to school, stay back there during working hours, sacrificing her own working time. Her husband is not alive and she is the only earning member. They find role conflict, if children are taken away from them. Some are undecided on this and want to buy time to take a decision.
At the same time, it is observed that many women appreciate service of buds school, though they demanded much improvement of this. At present, there are 7 buds schools distributed in seven panchayats, of which 6 are in the affected areas. Similarly, day care centres for disabled adults also can be established. Schools and day care centres will be helpful during transitional period. Mothers experience it as a relief for some time. They can be free from their strenuous duty and can relax for a while. There should be trained and skilled service providers in these centres. Mothers themselves can be trained and they can work on part time basis. Over a period of time, they can be participants, care providers and beneficiaries of the centres, which is constitutive of public sphere. This may help them to construct alternate gender norms which will take them out of closed walls of family. This will definitely reduce the distress of women. There can be trained male nurses as well, which has happened more frequent in health care system, again changing the gender norms.
There was also discussion suggesting rehabilitation village. Here also strong individualised family values dominate the thoughts of women. More infringement into public sphere may be helpful to change the perception of women regarding living and sharing a community life. Hence, strategic need can be identified as more employment and training of women in public institutions, in this case bud schools, day care centres, mobile health team, home care services, rehabilitation centres or village. Service providers should be adequately paid so that they can make a decent living out of it. The present salary of buds school teachers is very low.
A change in societal outlook towards sexuality and reproductive roles of women is needed to protect disabled women from sexual violence. This only will relieve mothers from anxiety about disabled children. For this, establishment of safe public institutions and recognition of women’s right to freedom from violence are prerequisite. This can be achieved only by legislations and women’s empowerment in all realms, which could be a long term strategic plan.
In health care settings, sufficient privacy is not ensured for women. In residence also women’s private space is given least priority. In our cultural setting, women do not talk openly regarding reproductive issues. In this area also women were not reporting menstrual irregularities and other similar problems in the initial periods. Women friendly spaces are to be developed as a long term strategic need. Organisations like kudumbasree can take initiatives for this.
There is a negative attitude towards infertility and abortions in patriarchal society. Women are often blamed for these problems even by close relatives. This attitude can be changed by creating awareness through women’s collectivisation.
There is a belief that individuals get more care in joint families. But interviews with women revealed that they prefer to get separated from joint families to have more peace. In democratic settings, social organisations take the place of joint families. Social organisations must be democratic and respecting the dignity of each individuals, including differently abled.
Women’s groups can resist alcoholism and change power equations within family through developing mutual support systems. Struggle to attain equal wages should be taken forward by women’s organisations to change power equations.
Practical Gender Needs
Practical gender needs are the needs women identify in their socially accepted roles in society. Practical gender needs do not challenge gender division of labour and women’s subordinate position. These are based on immediate and perceived needs, identified within a specific context. They are practical in nature and often concern immediate necessities like health care, financial support, safe water supply and employment. When women demand for better income and employment opportunities, it is for the family as practical needs.
Need for Special schools is emerged as demand from them. They also suggest having more vehicles for transportation of children to school considering the geographical nature demanding long time for travel. Buds school is a relief for them. One woman narrated, “After sending him school now I have time to go to temple. I do pooja for him during this time”
There are disabled who need physiotherapy. Service can be provided by physiotherapists as well as ayurvedic physicians as per requirement. Improvement in the disability will reduce the burden of women care takers. The present programs can be strengthened for this.
Wheel chairs are another requirement. It should be tailor-made, because each one’s requirement is different. Folding type of wheel chair was demanded.
Care takers need counselling and way out to ventilate. Some entertainment programs can be organised on a regular basis. Special counselling is needed for adolescents, pregnant women, lactating women, mothers and siblings of disabled. Mothers need space and time for ventilation sharing and mutual support. Counsellors should be properly trained and there should be space for debriefing, sharing and mutual support of counsellors as well as mothers.
There is requirement of balanced diet and nutrition education
There was demand for home nurses. Women prefer to have home nurses to care their children, rather than taking away them from home. There can be trained home nurses working part time to relieve mothers for some time.
Since women are traditionally considered as the custodians of natural resources like water, fuel, food etc. they feel it as immediate need.
Conclusion
One could always keep in mind the fact that women have to suffer double oppression in times of disasters like endosulfan in a very deep-rooted patriarchal society like ours. Still, they do their best within the social limits. However, inequality and oppression isn’t something to be glorified. Systemic changes are essential and female oppression shouldn’t be put on pedestal. Efforts should be made in such a way that they continuously question and dismantle inequality, one at a time.