Article

Understanding Women’s Antyajaa: Indian Journal of

Women and Social Change
Aspirations: A Study in 4(1) 70–91, 2019
© 2019 SAGE Publications
Three Indian States India Pvt. Ltd
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DOI: 10.1177/2455632719831828
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Gitanjali Chaturvedi1
Garima Sahai2

Abstract
This study provides an insight to the aspirations of women and girls in three
states in India. This study is a product of primary research, based on focus group
discussions and interviews, that highlights the voices of women in remote rural
districts as well as tribal areas where women want jobs, security, savings, educa-
tion and a happy life. Women in peri-urban areas are more confident of realizing
their aspirations than those in rural areas. Younger women are more aspira-
tional, and thus they are less willing to do manual labour. They aspire for white-
collar jobs with the government and the security that the jobs provide. As girls
get more educated, it is important to match their skills with the labour market,
ensure safe and reliable transport and public spaces so that they can achieve their
aspirations. Big hurdles to achieving their dreams are the mindsets at home—
notably that of parents, husbands and in-laws—that continue to determine how
far they will be educated and whether they will have jobs and careers.

Keywords
Labour force participation, gender, formal sector, education, skills

Introduction
Women in India are far less likely to work or to be looking for work than men. The
National Sample Survey (NSS) 2009–2010 brought out this fact showing that
only 27 per cent of women in India are employed or looking for work, down from
32 per cent in 2004–2005. In comparison, labour force participation rates (LFPRs)
for men are significantly higher at 80 per cent. This makes India to be compared
unfavourably with most countries of Africa, East Asia, Latin America and South
Asia, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

1
Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank, India.
2
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.

Corresponding author:
Gitanjali Chaturvedi, Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank, India.
E-mail: gchaturvedi@worldbank.org
Chaturvedi and Sahai 71

The decline in LFPRs among women is a cause for concern as it is marked

across all age groups, education levels as well as urban and rural areas. LFPR of
women in urban India were abysmally low, at 19 per cent, in 2009–2010, almost
similar to the LFPR of women with middle-school education in rural areas and
much lower than illiterate or primary-schooled rural women. While it is known
that workforce participation is the highest among illiterate women, declines with
schooling to secondary school completers and finally increases among those with
tertiary education, creating a ‘U-shaped’ curve, this relationship is not borne out
in India.
What makes the case of declining female workforce participation in India more
worrisome is the fact that the decline is primarily accounted for by reducing
labour force participation (LFP) among women, more so among poor women in
rural areas. Further, not all women presumably dropping out of the labour force
are entering education. Only a small percentage of women in the 15–24-year
cohort, who are not entering the labour market, were continuing in education.
Several explanations are given for India’s low and declining female LFP. First,
it may well hide several women who work in the informal economy as own
account workers or undertake activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry,
handicrafts or other home-based works which are wrongly classified as housework.
This is a measurement issue.
Second, there may be stereotyping of jobs and other forms of discrimination
against women, which limit their workforce participation. Third, in the context of
rapid economic growth and increasing incomes, it may well be that women don’t
find the need to work and voluntarily opt out to devote their time to care activities.
Fourth, women may not end up with preferred jobs, which allow them to marry an
increasing burden of care (necessitated by an increase in their daughters’ schooling
on the one hand and elderly care in nuclear families on the other hand) with time
for economic activities. Thus, they may drop out of the labour force. Finally,
physical mobility, lack of safety in public places and regressive social norms may
also cause women to stay at home.
It was this decline in female LFP that prompted a deeper understanding of
female labour force dynamics in the informal sector. The World Bank has been
supporting livelihood projects in several Indian states that hinge on women’s par-
ticipation and economic empowerment. These projects adopt a multidimensional
approach to address poverty and increased shared prosperity primarily by build-
ing and strengthening institutions of the poor in rural areas. Women are mobilized
through self-help groups (SHGs) that are then linked to financial institutions,
markets, services and infrastructure, thus giving them access to knowledge, voice
and political participation for sustainable livelihoods. Over 30 million people
have been mobilized through these projects, and significant enhancement of
incomes, enterprise through producer groups and linkage with government pro-
grammes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MNREGS) have taken place.
Impact evaluations have revealed that these projects have significantly contrib-
uted to the socio-economic empowerment of women, for instance, a study1 assess-
ing the socio-economic impacts of Jeevika in Bihar, the livelihoods project
72 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

recorded in addition to asset and livelihood creation, noticeable empowerment

within the household vis-à-vis mobility, decision-making and collective action
within the community in a span of 3 years. Women reported that they were visit-
ing the panchayat and health centres more frequently, for example. Their opinion
on important household expenses such as purchase of durables, education, liveli-
hood activity, credit access and politics was considered and respected. Finally,
women could gather and articulate their views for collective action and also act on
their own when faced with problems within their community. In a state where
entrenched social norms and practices vis-à-vis women, caste and other commu-
nity groups still prevail, these are important shifts.
Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, the Pudhu Vazhvu Project (PVP) was found to be
successful not only in increasing the voice of women in intra-household decision-
making process but has also made them more proactive when faced with problems
in public spaces.2 Women thus feel sufficiently empowered to respond to com-
munity concerns like alcoholism in the village, approaching the Gram Panchayat
in the event of shortage of food or drinking water.
In Odisha, the Orissa Rural Livelihoods Project-Targeted Rural Initiatives for
Poverty Termination and Infrastructure (ORLP-TRIPTI) has mobilized and
supported women in 10 districts to access finance, capacity building and jobs.3
The project has reached out to people in remote areas, marginalized tribal
communities and supported them in accessing government services including
MNREGS. However, does this empowerment translate into productive activity,
employment and jobs?
These rural livelihood projects make interventions in the informal sector,
which typically goes unrecorded by the NSS. Women are engaged in a range of
different productive activities that typically do not always fetch an income.
However, these projects have also supported women and their families in accessing
skill and training centres and even jobs through placement and liaison services.
Tamil Nadu’s PVP has partnered with factories that require skilled labour for a
range of jobs. Bihar and Odisha have adopted this approach and are increasingly
identifying skills that would enable young people, especially women, to find
employment and enhance their income-earning capacity.4
This study, therefore, looks at two aspects that influence female LFP. The first
is to understand the types of activities and livelihoods that have become available
to women as a result of these projects. The second is to understand their aspirations
vis-à-vis employment and jobs. Do the two correspond to explain declining
female LFP? Is there a generational shift in the kind of jobs that women would
like to do? Do the projects support skill building that correspond to the needs of
the market?

Questions, Methodology and Sample

This study undertakes qualitative discussions with women in three states in
India—Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Odisha—to probe the reasons for low and declining
female LFP. These states represent the trends in female LFP as revealed by the
Chaturvedi and Sahai 73

Figure 1. Labour Force Participation Rate, India

Source: NSS 2009–2010.

NSS data (see Figure 1). Tamil Nadu has recorded greater LFP and a decline in the
gender gap, while Bihar has the lowest LFP in the country. Odisha is in between
the two states, ahead of states such as Jharkhand, UP and Assam.
This qualitative study relied on focus group discussions (FGDs) with women
from different age cohorts, occupation and social groups, across four villages in
two districts each in the three states. In each village, three FGDs were organized
as follows:
1. Women between the age of 16 and 25 years.
2. Women between the age of 26 and 55 years.
3. Men between the age of 16 and 55 years.
Each of these groups consisted about 15–20 individuals. Thus, an aggregate of
approximately 500 people participated in the FGDs in each state. In addition, the
study involved interviews with certain key informants such as project staff in each
state, heads of skill centres and training institutes and HR personnel at companies
where women were employed. In each village also, biographies of two women
were recorded to provide additional vignettes to the qualitative study. These
vignettes helped to delve deeper into the challenges faced by women in achieving
their aspirations.
FGDs sought to find answers to some direct questions such as the kind of work
women ordinarily did in the village, the age at which they start their education and
their average years of schooling. The discussion also veered around marriage—
the age at which women get married and when they have children, how many
children do they have. Women were asked specific questions on work—the kind
of work they do, if they are paid, how many hours they spend on a particular
activity. Through the discussion, an understanding was made of the percentage of
women who work or assist in economic activities in the village and if the kind of
work women do has witnessed a change in the past 8–9 years.
74 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

Figure 2. The Ten Step Ladder

Source: The authors.
Note: During FGDs, women were asked to map which step of the ladder they perceived themselves
to be on at the moment and where they aspired to be in future.

To understand their aspirations, women were asked about the kind of work that
they would like to do. They were engaged on questions around their role models,
their clothes and fashion choices, if they enjoyed going to the cinema and if they
saw a change in their generation and that of their parents. What did they want for
themselves in the next 5 years? Did they think they could achieve their aspirations?
What prevented them from fulfilling their dreams?
During these FGDs, the groups were also asked to map where they currently
felt they were in terms of fulfilling their aspirations, on a 10-step ladder (see
Figure 2). The first step or the lowest rung indicated that their aspirations had not
yet been fulfilled, whereas the 10th step indicated the complete fulfilment of
these. They were then asked where they saw themselves in 10 years. The study
analyzes these ladders as well—using the average of each step in each group—to
understand the level of aspirations and the ease with which women feel these can
be fulfilled.
Since the projects target the poor, an effort was made to also purposively
include a section of tribal and hard-to-reach populations. At the same time, in each
state, one urban district was selected for the study. However, urban districts varied
considerably in each state. Rural environments, on the other hand, were similar in
terms of access to jobs, employment, transport, education and other resources.
This naturally impacted aspirations of women and their confidence in achieving
these. A profile of the districts covered in each state is given in the following
boxes.

Findings
Women in all areas surveyed have dreams. They have aspirations. Regardless of
whether they are able to fulfil them, they are willing to work hard to achieve them,
even if partially. Some of these aspirations are common to women in all states.
Women in the older age cohort (26–55 years) want their children to receive good
education, their husbands to have a steady job, their businesses to improve
and a house. Women in the younger age cohort typically want to study further
Chaturvedi and Sahai 75

(if currently enrolled in a course) and find stable job with ‘good’ income, and if
unmarried, a husband with a stable job.
In urban and rural environments, women look up to ‘role models’—either from
real life or from the soap operas that they watch—for strength, support and
guidance. The younger generation even dress like them but then realize that after
they get married, this would change. The quotes below illustrate both the
intergenerational change in dress and the compulsion to dress as required by
society/in-laws after marriage.

Has there been a change in the way you dress?

‘Yes, my mother only wore saris. I wear jeans.’
‘Abhi ka kapda dekhte hain to khub man tarasta hai (When I see how girls dress today,
I long to dress like them!)’
If your in-laws/husband don’t want you to wear certain clothes that you like, do you go
ahead and wear what you want?
‘In-laws aur husband ke dabav ki wajah se suit nahin pehan sakti. Sari hi pehnti hun.
(If parents say wear sari, I can still say no and wear a salwar suit. But I can’t say no
to in-laws.)’

Men reinforce a conservative dress code, insisting that women wear what suits
their gender. Discussions with different groups of men in Bihar are particularly
revealing:

‘Pant shirt ladkon ke kapde hain. Jo ladkiyon ka saman hai woh hi unhein pehnana
chahiye. (Pant shirt is for boys. Girls should wear what is meant for them.)’ (Male
FGD, Dhaukva, Bihar)
Why do girls have to wear sari in a village if you think it is alright to not wear it in a
city?
‘Jaisa desh vaisa bhesh. (Dress according to where you are.)’ (Male FGD, Satmidhuni
Tola, Bihar)

This is not to imply that young girls do not rebel. At a few FGDs, they confided
as to how they often ‘sneaked out’ and met friends or went to the movies. Girls
confessed that they sometimes get caught while doing so but carry on in any case.
Marriage plays the spoiler. Unmarried women in the younger age cohort
(16–25 years) wanted to delay marriage and childbirth at least by 5 years or more.
The previous generation got married at 16. They preferred to marry around 23
years of age. Thus, they would be able to get an uninterrupted education and, if
they were lucky, a job. This would also improve their chances of marrying a man
who was educated, valued their education and allowed them to have a career.
Delaying marriage and gaining higher education would also enable women to
decide whom they want to marry. Women in the younger age cohort said that they
would prefer to marry someone of their choice even though their parents would
prefer to arrange their marriage.

Do you want arranged or love marriage?

‘Love marriage. Zindagi hum ko bitani hai. Kyun hum mummy-papa ka bhogenge?
(I have to spend my life with my partner. Why would I suffer my parents’ choice?)’ (FGD
with women, 16–25 years in Bihar)
76 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

Married women profiled and in all FGDs with the older age group talked about
how life had been dramatically changed after marriage. Priorities changed, women
required permission for every decision that was made, and there were restrictions
on what they could or could not do. Their personal ambitions and aspirations
became unimportant. While some women accepted this without question, there
were a few voices of mild dissent. The voices below are from the FGDs in Bihar
where married women feel undermined in household decision-making but are
resigned to their fate.

Is your opinion taken in household decisions?

‘When I was unmarried, my opinion was taken. Now that I am married, for personal
expenditures (on beauty items for example) I don’t have to ask the husband for money,
but for other things I need to ask him.’
‘Bina puch ke kaise kuch kar sakte hain? Who humare guardian hain. (How can I do
anything without asking? He is my guardian.)’
‘Agar humari baat unse alag hui to sazaa hamein milegi. (If our opinion is not the
same, I will be punished.)’

The reference to punishment in the event that women’s choices do not match
those of their husbands also implies the likelihood of domestic violence—
something that never overtly came up during the FGDs. However, men in
Dumariya, Bihar openly talk about the consequences of a difference in opinion:

How do you deal with differences of opinion in household decisions?

‘Agar alag rai hoti hai to kathor nirnaya lena padta hai. (If there is a difference in
opinion, then tough decisions have to be made.)’

Dowry, however, is common to all states. In tribal areas in Bihar and Odisha, this
is emerging as a newly adopted ‘tradition’. Concessions are made, however, for
educated girls. Women from the 26–55 years age group admitted that ‘if a girl is
educated, we take less dowry as she will be able to care for us better.’
A woman’s ability to work and to pursue a career depends mostly on her
husband and in-laws, a point that will be illustrated in greater detail in Section C
(Women want work—depends on husbands/in-laws). A combination of factors
contribute to this, including a preconceived mindset in parents and girls that their
life after marriage is determined by their husbands and in-laws and that their
responsibility ends with giving them an education that often ends with marriage.
Although the 10-step ladder did not bring out nuances in how women perceived
their situation to be at present, almost all women wanted to reach the final 10th step
in 10 years. Women in urban locations were more confident of achieving their
aspirations and already perceived themselves to be on a higher step than their rural
counterparts. However, women in rural areas saw the environment in the village as
an enormous constraint. Tradition and society were seen to be stumbling blocks by
women in rural areas. Figure 3 represents the aspirations of women in rural areas on
the left in all three states and compares the rural aggregate with that of their urban
counterparts. It is interesting that Bihar and Tamil Nadu fare equally in rural areas
while in Odisha, women feel they are better placed although they also feel they can
Chaturvedi and Sahai 77

Figure 3. Difference in Aspirations as Brought Out by Rural and Urban Locations

Source: The authors (based on primary research).
Note: Overall, people in rural areas perceive themselves to be unfavourably placed when compared
to their urban counterparts.

only partially fulfil their aspirations by being halfway towards the eighth step on the
ladder. We profiled Chauhi Pradhan, age 30, from Takkarsingha in Angul district of
Odisha who was especially pessimistic about her life:

There is no hope in life. Education costs take a big chunk of the family income. How
can I move beyond Step 2? I work as a cook in a school and don’t earn enough to
educate my children and fulfill my other aspirations. If I could get other sources of
livelihood then may be that would help. I could take up additional livelihood involving
dairy, poultry or goats. If I could get skilling then even better—I could do jobs that
would fetch higher incomes. When I was young, my parents did not go the extra mile to
get their children educated so my options are limited. I don’t want that to happen with
my children. So even if I stay at Step 2, I will educate both my son and my daughter.
Some day she will grow up to become a teacher herself.

Again, although the ladder does not bring out subtle nuances, there was a significant
difference in how younger women (16–25 years) perceived the fulfilment of their
ambitions/aspirations as compared to older (26–55 years) women. Younger women
were significantly more educated and therefore had bigger dreams and aspirations.
However, they were not certain as to how they would achieve them—the options
available to them for work they felt were limited. They wanted jobs that would be
commensurate with their education. Older women in rural and peri-urban locations
had job cards and did between 30 and 60 days of MNREGA work involving work
in farms, repairing and building roads in villages that fetched an income. Women in
Bihar from the same age group had been exposed to livelihood training in goat
rearing and poultry. Younger women were not interested in pursuing these activities,
although they reluctantly added that if push came to a shove and if all work options
had been exhausted and that their family was in dire need, only then would they
consider MNREGA work. The ladder, therefore, puts the older age group higher
78 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

Figure 4. Aspirations by Age

Source: The authors (based on primary research).
Note: Older women not only perceive themselves to be better than their younger counterparts at
present but also feel more confident of fulfilling their aspirations

than younger women, as they are mostly already with SHGs, have been skilled or
exposed to livelihood activity, and therefore more confident of achieving their
aspirations (see Figure 4).
While education has resulted in women stepping out of the home and
participating in economic and political activity—the SHG movement has
prompted women to contest elections at the Panchayat level—gender relations do
not seem to have altered much. In all three states, women preferred boys over
girls. Voices from the Musahar village of Dumariya in Purnea, Bihar stand out for
both simplicity and logic behind why families continue to believe that boys are an
asset and girls a liability:

Why do you prefer boys to girls?

‘For mukti (For salvation).’
‘Girls go away.’
‘Ladke vansh chalayein (Boys run our dynasty).’
‘I had four boys because I wanted a girl. Mera haath batati, ghar ki Lakshmi hoti (She
would have helped me with my chores, brought prosperity to the home).’

Families with daughters, however, claim to treat them no differently to their sons.
When probed whether they have the same rules for their daughters and sons,
it turns out that boys can stay out later, travel farther and wear whatever
clothes they like. Restrictions are imposed on girls. Valli from Panchamadevi in
Villupuram feels her parents love her as much as her brothers.

Do your parents treat you and your brothers differently?

‘No. My parents love me and my brothers equally. But my brothers can go out in the
evening and I can’t. They can wear what they want. No one stops them from doing
anything but I am told to wear salwar kameez.’
Chaturvedi and Sahai 79

FGDs with men were similarly revealing of these gender relations. They claim to
treat their sons and daughters equally but prioritize marriage for girls. ‘Parvarish
dono ki ek samaan karte hain (we bring them up equally),’ say men in Sehdev
Khap in Bihar of their children, not going into the restrictions they impose on
them. Men are protective about women and wary of sending their wives or
daughters out of the district for work or education, although they are comfortable
with the idea of working women. A discussion with men in Genkarapalayam in
Tamil Nadu revealed the struggle in male minds about reconciling to the idea of
working women:

Is it ok for women to work outside the village?

 ‘If two women go out of the village to work, it is OK. If ten go, it is not.’

More importantly, men aspire for locally available jobs so they can continue to be
with their families. In Bihar and Odisha, male migration to urban areas in the
country and also to the Gulf countries is common. They acknowledge that
although their life is better than that of their parents, it has, in fact, become tougher
with fewer jobs and rising prices. Their responses to the quality of change in their
life as compared to their parents or that of their children are both cryptic and
philosophical. This is perhaps why an additional earning member in the family
is welcome, and why women’s participation in the labour force is important
to men.

Is there a difference in the quality of life in 10 years ago and now?

 ‘Nahi, bas pita ka bojh ab mujh pe hai (No difference. But the burdens of my father are
now on my shoulders).’
 Do you think there will be a difference in the quality of life between your life and your
children’s life?
 ‘Hum to puri koshish kar rahe hain; baaki upar wale ki marzi (We are trying our best;
the rest is up to God).’

Finally, since tribal districts were purposively profiled in two states, that is, Purnea
in Bihar and Angul in Odisha, there were certain characteristics that deserve
mention. Education outcomes are extremely low among tribal girls in Odisha
because the villages where the study was conducted fall within the Satkosia Tiger
Reserve and children do not have access to a middle school in the neighbourhood.
However, interestingly, women in Odisha perceived themselves to be on a higher
step on the ladder at present than those in Bihar. On the other hand, women in
Bihar were more confident of reaching their ambitions and had more aspirations.
In Odisha, the older age group seemed to be more realistic and more resigned to
their fate and expected less from life as they talked about all the hurdles in securing
basic needs and an education for their children. They also acknowledged that their
life was much better than that of their parents due to widespread implementation
of the Indira Awas Yojana, MNERGA and subsidized food grain (rice at `1 per
kilo) (refer to Figure 5).
Aside from the aforementioned general findings that bring out women’s
aspirations in rural, urban and tribal areas, the following four messages are
80 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

Figure 5. Understanding Aspirations of Women in Tribal Areas

Source: The authors (based on primary research).
Note: Although self-perception at present is higher than in non-tribal areas, especially in Odisha,
women in the state do not think that they will be on the top rung of the ladder in 10 years.

discussed in greater detail as they came through in every discussion in every state
surveyed. These messages impact women’s willingness and attitude to work as
also the enabling environment that needs to be put in place to support greater
female LFP.

A. Education is valued and accepted—depends on parents

I want to go to teach in a city. Maybe Delhi. That would be nice. I’ll finish my BA,
and then do an MA in Arts. MA in Arts is cheaper, so I’ll first do that and then with
the money I earn with the job I get after, I’ll pursue the course that I actually want to.
I teach my younger siblings in my free time, but I want to teach many more children.
My mother is illiterate and I have three younger sisters who are in school so it might
take some to attain my dreams but as they say—slow and steady wins the race!
—Kanchan, 19 years, Kurmama (Bihar)

In every state, education for girls is highly valued—irrespective of rural or

urban environments. In no discussion, girl children were found to be out of
schools. Girls do drop out, however. The length of a girl’s education depends on
(a) parents’ ability to finance their education, (b) parents’ perception of how far a
girl can be educated and (c) their perception of whether the choice—should there
be one—is made in favour of educating a boy over a girl.
Education is valued not because of the ability of an educated girl to get a job
when she grows up. In fact, parents look for educated daughters-in-law for their
sons as they feel an educated girl will be able to look after them in their old age
and also bring up her children better. This came out strongly in FGDs in every
Chaturvedi and Sahai 81

state. In Bihar, a respondent eloquently remarked: ‘Jab parivar dekhne aate hain,
to haath mein pen dharaate hain. (When a boy’s family comes to see a suitable girl
for marriage, they give her a pen to see if she is educated.)’ In Tamil Nadu,
mothers-in-law support their daughters-in-law to study further by looking after
their children and other household chores. Jayanthi, 24, from Nattarasanpattu in
Kanchipuram district is doing an MBA through correspondence in addition to
working full time. ‘My mother-in-law takes care of my three year old boy when
I’m out for work or even when I’m home studying,’ she adds.
In all states, ‘parents often choose to invest more in educating their sons over
daughters’. Lalitha, 22, from Kanchipuram, dropped out of class 12 to earn and
support her brother’s undergraduate studies and look after the house. Her mother is
often sick, and her brother’s education was prioritized. Discussions with men in
Milki village in Bihar revealed the motivation behind educating girls and boys:

Why do you educate girls?

‘Achha ladka mil jaaye. (So she can get a good husband.)’
Why do you educate boys?
‘Khud ka naam roshan kare. (So he makes us proud.)’

The level to which a girl is educated is also determined by how far she will need
to travel to access school/higher education institution. Urban areas, therefore, fare
better in fulfilling this criterion as transport services are available but not
necessarily in satisfying safety concerns that parents may have. This is discussed
in greater detail in Section D (Location matters). Rajeshwari, from Villupuram,
illustrates the difficulty that women face in fulfilling their aspirations. She dreamt
of being a police officer and was willing to do anything to achieve this. However,
as she recounts, ‘My family doesn’t allow me to. They want me to stay close,
work and support the family. You see, my brother failed class 12 and has been
unemployed for 2 years now, so my family does not allow me to go far. I completed
my class 12 and wanted to go to college. But we didn’t have the resources for
that.’ In many of the cases profiled, the extent to which girls get educated or are
able to fulfil those aspirations, is a result of a heavily negotiated compromise.
There are notable exceptions. In Odisha, we profiled 17-year-old Kuni Naik who
narrated how her father has great hopes for her. Her father watched proudly as she
was interviewed. Her story, however, is a bitter-sweet account of the challenges
girls face in continuing an education that will lead to a career. Her sisters have not
succeeded in continuing with their education, and her health is so severely
compromised that she doubts she will be able to live up to her father’s expectations.

 Her father’s dream:

 I am my father’s ambition. I am his dream. He has sacrificed much to see that my life
is better than his. My father is a daily wage labourer and my mother works at home. I
am in class 12 and have opted to study Science as with this qualification, I can become
a doctor. I am not sure that I will succeed in becoming a doctor as I keep falling sick.
Studying medicine is expensive too. I am really fortunate to be able to study so much.
My siblings have not had such luck. I have three sisters—the eldest is 23. She dropped
out when she failed in class 10. My younger sister who is 16 couldn’t study beyond
82 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

class 7. My youngest sister is in class 2. When I think of the struggle involved in

going to school and staying ahead in class, I feel a little daunted. This is when I feel
overwhelmed and wonder if at all I will be able to live up to my father’s expectations.
I do want to try my best…
—Kuni Naik, 17 years, Puri

Girls enjoy sport and physical activity. However, sporting talent is seldom
nurtured and prioritized even lower than academic aptitude. With puberty, there
are restrictions on girls who can no longer play outside. In every state, women and
girls spoke wistfully of those ambitions that were not realized. Kunti Devi, 27,
from Sahdev Khap, recounts how she was a sprinter in the Gaya district sports
team when in school. Her father, however, did not permit her to participate in the
state-level championship as that required travelling to Patna. She has fond
memories of the few occasions when competing at the local level, they would be
taken on a sports camp and enjoy the opportunity of interacting with girls from
other blocks. Today, she is married with two children, and her sporting ambitions
remain unrealized.

B. Skills build confidence irrespective of employment

My mother and sister are illiterate but I want to study further. Once I have enough
money, I will go to college to study organic chemistry.
—P. Ramya, 23 years (works in Linea Fashion)

The livelihood projects in each state surveyed have opened opportunities for women
to undertake training in different skills and livelihood activities (see Figure 6).
Many SHG office bearers are given training in accounting, book keeping and
computer. Placement services provided by PVP have helped several village youth—
boys and girls—find jobs with factories, thus exposing them to a life outside the
village and aspirations that go beyond simply eking out a livelihood. Women who
have been given training feel confident that they are a few steps closer to achieving
their goals.
Moni Kumari from Purnea feels it is her parents’ progressive outlook that
enabled her to not only pursue a degree in Home Science but also undergo skill
training at the NEED Centre. She feels superior to other people in the village who
only gossip and feels empowered enough to have made her own choice of
prospective spouse. She hastens to point out, however, that this was done with the
consent of her parents, and her marriage is thus love-cum-arranged. The ability to
have agency over personal decisions like marriage is indicative of empowerment
that young educated girls who have been exposed to some skills demonstrate.

 Love-cum-arranged!
 There are always murmurings in the community when a girl goes out of the village. But
my father’s friend is a driver in the railways and he wants me to have a job like that.
My parents prioritised our dreams and development and chose to ignore the regressive
views of the village that all six of us—my two sisters and three brothers—have been
Chaturvedi and Sahai 83

Figure 6. Skills Build Confidence

Source: The authors (based on primary research).
Notes: Women who have received training or placement tend to consider themselves better off at
present than their counterparts who have not been thus exposed. They are also more confident of
fulfilling their aspirations in future. They feel that their skills shorten the distance they need to travel
to achieve their dreams.

able to study. Not one of them dropped out from school. My sister had to stop studying
after she got married but she also finished class 12. I am currently doing BA in Home
Science in Ram Bagh College and I will complete this course on sales and marketing
and hopefully get a very good job. I am also getting married soon—to my sister’s
brother-in-law who I met on my sister’s wedding and have liked ever since. So it is a
love-cum-arranged marriage!
—Moni Kumari, 21 years, Purnea

Women in jobs are aware of ‘limitations in getting ahead with their ambitions at
work’. Yogeshwari, 29, who works at Appaswamy Associates Manufacturing in
Villupuram, acknowledges the absence of women at the managerial level. ‘I have
been in this floor position doing quality control for four years already. My male
counterparts earn the same as me but get promoted quickly.’ This glass ceiling exists
despite her education. ‘I come from an educated background—my father is an
advocate, and I have completed my B.Com (Hons.),’ she adds. Not getting ahead with
promotions means that salaries do not increase despite the number of years women
spend with their employer. This limits the extent to which they will fulfil their
aspirations or even, faced with stagnation at their workplace, continue with the job.
Yogeshwari is happy with her work timings but apart from that, little else. She says:

While the timings are good at the factory—9 am to 5:30 pm—the salary is only INR
5000 per month. With this income I don’t know if I will be able to fulfill my dreams.
I have many dreams. I want a nice home, I would like my children to become advocates,
and I really would like to study further and get teacher training.

At Linea Fashion, on the other hand, where 90 per cent of the employees are
female, women progress quickly in the factory hierarchy. With 3 years in the
factory, Ramya is already a zone leader with five supervisor auditors under her.
84 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

Because of the company’s supportive HR managers, she is able to save and nurture
her ambition of studying organic chemistry one day.
While there are challenges at the workplace, there is no doubt that women who
have received skill training and placement perceive themselves not only to be
better off than those who have not as well as feeling that they are capable of
achieving their aspirations in the near future. This was demonstrated by the ladder
where women in all three states perceived their situation to be better than those
who were not exposed to any training. Interestingly, women at the skill centre in
Bihar fared the highest.

C. Women want work—depends on husbands/in-laws

What sort of employment do you want (26–55 years)?

‘Employment at home. We don’t want to be dependent on our husbands.’
‘Making papad or soap; kadhai (embroidery).’
‘Tailoring!’
What sort of employment do you want (16–25 years)?
‘Padhai likhai wala kaam (white-collar job).’
‘Vardi wala kaam (job in a uniform).’

We put the same question to both groups to understand the kind of work women
wanted to do and if different age groups had different aspirations. The responses,
unsurprisingly, were quite different for the two groups. Younger women wanted
white-collar jobs and found government jobs—for the attractiveness of benefits
such as housing and pension—highly aspirational. Older women preferred home-
based work. When probed further, even when women in the older age group were
qualified, it turned out that ‘husbands and in-laws determine whether they can
work or not’. In Villupuram, and even in peri-urban blocks in Kanchipuram, the
absence of child care facilities inhibits women from actively seeking full-time
jobs. They have fewer illusions about what is possible and practical. Nagalakshmi
at Linea Fashion is engaged to a man who has firmly told her that she cannot
continue to work after they are married as ‘princesses do not work’. Married
women who have given up jobs, however, long for the independence and respect
that money gives them. It enhances their status within the family, improves their
voice and decision-making authority. However, re-entry into the labour force or
even part time home-based work is heavily negotiated and depends on the support
of husbands and in-laws, as illustrated by Jailakshmi’s personal account.

Policewoman turns caterer

 When I wore my uniform, I felt proud of myself. I enjoyed that sense of power and
freedom working as a policewoman. Then one day, after having worked for more
than a decade in the police, I had to quit. My husband, who is an electrician, wasn’t
happy with my job or that I was posted away from him for 8–9 years while he lived in
the village. I was doing everything a good wife should do—raising children, looking
after my in-laws who lived with me. Yet, when I couldn’t secure a transfer closer
to him, I quit. But I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. After a few years of just
Chaturvedi and Sahai 85

Figure 7. Women and Girls in Urban Areas Across the Three States Consider
Themselves to be More Favourably Placed than Their Rural Counterparts
Source: The authors (based on primary research).
Note: Odisha is the notable exception where women in rural areas start at a higher level than their
urban counterparts but do not feel they can fulfil their aspirations to the extent of their counterparts
in other states.

doing household chores, I started a catering business. I have two daughters who
I encouraged to study and have careers. Both have bachelor degrees and secured jobs
in private business companies. But history repeated itself as a horrible joke. Both my
daughters’ husbands do not want them to work. I hope that they are able to overcome
these hurdles and work again.
—Jailakshmi, 50 years, Kanchipuram

D. Location matters
In all three states, women in urban/peri-urban locations fare better than those in
rural areas (see Figure 7). They are not only better educated but also are more
open to exploring different avenues of employment and training. They have
access to information via the Internet and television. In rural areas, none of the
women from either age cohort had an email account. Few were exposed to
computers, but usage of the Internet was limited. Television and radio were the
chief sources of information. Older women who were literate read newspapers as
well. Men almost always have access to newspapers. Girls from peri-urban areas,
however, especially if they were enrolled in educational institutions, were avid
users of the Internet. Availability of Internet on mobile phones also encouraged
some girls to surf and stay active on email and social networking sites like
Facebook. It encouraged them to be more confident about life outside their
communities. This, coupled with the availability of transport to city centres, made
them mobile and knowledgeable about their options in life. Of the three states,
girls close to urban centres in Tamil Nadu were most mobile, using both public
transport and Internet frequently. Girls in Bihar who used Internet were younger—
between 17 and 18 years of age. In Odisha, both public transport and Internet
were not used. Rashmita from Puri narrated her story about how she missed her
86 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

qualifying exam for the B.Ed. because her male cousin could not escort her to her
exam centre near Cuttack. She did not feel confident that she could change a few
buses to make it to her examination centre on time. She now gives tuition to
young children in her neighbourhood and is hoping to qualify in her next attempt.
Parents add to this lack of confidence as they have limited experience of
travelling outside their village or district. They also have apprehensions about
safety and security that have been exacerbated from recent media stories that
focus on violence against women. In Bihar, several parents, especially fathers,
talked about how girls were paraya dhan (somebody else’s wealth) that was in
their safekeeping for a limited time, and they had to be very cautious about where
they could go given the lack of safety.

Facebook Fan
I love Facebook. I have an email account too but it is not the same thing. I discovered
Facebook from my friends I take tuition with. And I was hooked! I use my mobile to
access the internet. I want to study in a good private medical university and become
a respected doctor who earns a lot of money. Government universities aren’t clean
and my family won’t allow me to go beyond Gaya so it has to be a private university
in Gaya. I am in the first year of BSc and I am working hard to get a scholarship for
my medical studies. I have a sister and brother too—my sister is a teacher in a private
school and my brother is doing his matriculation. I want to be financially independent
like my sister.
—Shalini Priya, 17 years, Gaya

Meeting Aspirations
There is no doubt that all women would like to work. Currently, the choices
available to them are severely limited and do not match their qualifications,
interests and aptitude. As women get more educated and dream of white-collar
jobs that match their education, there is a strong possibility that if the options
continue to be limited, they will continue to be disappointed. Skilling centres and
linking with factories that employ youth have resulted in successful placements
and satisfaction but have not always served to retain women in the labour force
over the long term. At Linea Fashion, for example, women who join are counselled
on how to invest their income in gold that will be useful to them when they get
married. As the women who work there are provided hostel facility, family life is
not conducive to them; working and marriage, therefore, mark the end of their
professional career. Is there no way in which women can manage a family and a
career?
The FGDs provided us with the opportunity to discuss this at length with
women—both in jobs and those aspiring for jobs, HR managers in companies and
project staff who gave us extremely useful tips on how their aspirations could be
met. At the core was the understanding that everyone agreed that it was important
for women to be actively involved in the labour force.
Chaturvedi and Sahai 87

A. Counselling for jobs

Young girls and women in all states admit that they know little about the wide
variety of jobs that are available for them. Their parents want them to become
engineers, doctors, lawyers and accountants, and from the time they are young, they
are indoctrinated into believing that a government job is the best kind there is. Many
girls who are educated beyond class 10 feel the easiest and most respectful job is
that of a teacher as it gives them flexible working hours in addition to meeting the
demands of a family. Older women prefer tailoring jobs. However, they all admit
that they are open to working and earning but not aware of opportunities before
them. If they received counselling when they were in class 8, they would know what
to study, how far to study and whether to aim for vocational training or academics.
Girls and women in peri-urban areas feel that skills such as spoken English,
computer and accounting give them an edge and make them employable. HR
managers at Linea Fashion and the head of RUDSETI feel that a lot of investment
is required to groom women for a competitive job market. Girls who join factories
are young, come from rural areas and have never been exposed to the city. They
become homesick and often run away. Many girls work in these factories with the
mindset that they are earning to save for their marriage or education and do not
consider it worthwhile to focus on building a career.
Counselling will also enable girls who drop out to seek appropriate training
and skills that will equip them for the job market. The girls we profiled in tribal
areas in Odisha, for example, had little hope of ever finding employment in the
formal sector as a school-leaving certificate is mandatory. Would it not be simpler
if these girls were given some training or even counselled to understand the
options and opportunities before them? The faculty at RUDSETI and NEEDS feel
that functional literacy is sufficient to train women for jobs and careers. The
requirement to qualify for training at RUDSETI, for example, is class 8 (pass),
which is tough for most rural youth to meet, but given the standards by other
institutions, still quite liberal.

B. Child care and financial support to women to access jobs

Who will look after the house and kids if she goes to work?
We encountered this question on countless occasions in every state. As people
migrate to peri-urban areas and break out of the joint family system, the burden of
managing the household falls almost entirely on women. In Tamil Nadu, women
are open to leaving children at day care centres and crèche, but currently, these
options do not exist. In Bihar and Odisha, such concepts are not heard of. Linea
Fashions provides day care facilities, but these are seldom used as women do not
trust such help easily, preferring to leave their children with family members.
During the FGDs, it became clear that women were willing to work if reliable day
care facilities were available close to their homes. They are willing to pay for
these facilities just as they prefer to pay for a private school. In Tamil Nadu, in
88 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

particular, there is strong potential for SHGs to provide day care for working
women as a for-profit enterprise.

C. Transport options to access work: safe, reliable, regular

Safety concerns and the perception that the outside world is hostile to women
inhibits them from actively seeking work that would require them to travel.
Home-based work is clearly a compromise as women repeatedly spoke about how
they would feel most fulfilled doing something they were qualified to do. Men
voice this fear as they feel responsible for the safety of the women at home and
would rather have them stay home. It is interesting that the younger generation,
though open to women working and potentially earning more than them, is closed
to them working in a different district. What if safe, women-friendly transport
was available to women at all times? When this question was put to all groups,
there was a wide agreement that women would join the labour force in large
numbers.

D. Safe public spaces

Finally, it is not only the transport that needs to make women feel secure but also
the public space. Parks, pavements, markets, squares—women find it intimidating
to access even these without an escort. They are advised not to venture out alone,
to stay in groups, and be accompanied by men or older women. Articulated over
and over again at every FGD in every state was the demand that public spaces are
made safe so that girls have the same options as boys to fulfil aspirations that are
no different from them.

Conclusion
What comes in the way of achieving your dreams?
 ‘Husband. Woh chattan ka bojh hain nahi toh hum aasman choote. (Husband. He is
like a weight of a mountain otherwise we would reach the skies.)
 ‘Aurat to sabse zyaada bandhan mein rehti hai. (A woman lives in maximum bondage.)’

In a perfect world, the weight of the mountain that weighs on women would lift
up and vanish, and there would be no trouble achieving aspirations. Women would
not expect their children to fulfil their unaccomplished dreams. The move to
encourage women to work, to realize their potential, utilize their training and
skills, really begins with support from home. Mindsets need to change substantially
to enable women to confidently take the public space that belongs to them. In
addition, there needs to be a series of support structures in place—counselling,
child care, safe transport and public spaces that will prompt women to go out and
find work commensurate with their qualifications and skills.
Chaturvedi and Sahai 89

India is transforming rapidly. This transformation manifests itself through

rapid urbanization, penetration of mobile, cable and satellite in remote areas and
a dilution of societal norms that affect women. As our findings reveal, this
transformation has contributed to women becoming highly aspirational and
desirous of achieving personal goals, although they are still loosely bound by the
demands of society. What worked for their mothers will not work for them—this
explains their unwillingness to undertake agriculture, MNREGA work, or other
manual labour.
India’s growth story and the growth potential can only be realized if women
are given options to participate equally in the labour force, encouraged to stay on
despite marriage and motherhood, and given the same incentives as their male
colleagues. An assessment of blue- and white-collar jobs that livelihood projects
can facilitate is timely as the lack of interest in farm based and manual work is on
the rise, and women are dreaming big and aiming high. These dreams are a key
part of India’s growth potential.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication
of this article.

Notes
1. Drawn from an independent study conducted by the World Bank which has not been
published.
2. Drawn from an independent study conducted by the World Bank which has not been
published.
3. Information from project documents and reports internally shared at the World Bank.
4. Information from project documents and reports internally shared at the World Bank.

Appendix

Odisha
Puri: 60 km from the state capital of Bhubaneshwar, Puri is a peri-urban district that
enjoys advantages of locational proximity to this important urban centre. It is spread
over 3,479.00 km2 and has a total population of 1,697,983 according to the 2011 census.
In spite of its locational proximity to the capital, the district in itself is predominantly
rural with over 84 per cent of its people living in rural areas. The sex ratio is equitable
in the district with 49 per cent female and 51 per cent male. In terms of demographics,
roughly 16 per cent of the population belongs to scheduled castes and a negligible 0.26
per cent to scheduled tribes. While the overall literacy is high in the district, the
illiteracy is skewed by sex with many more women illiterate than men. Although 85 per
cent of the population is literate, 71 per cent of women are illiterate.
90 Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 4(1)

Angul: Spread over 6,375 km2, it is largely forested with 43 per cent of its area under
forest cover. Consequently, it has a relatively low population density of about 179 per
sq. km versus, for example, 488 per sq. km in Puri. Of its total population of 1,140,003,
about 86 per cent of its people live in rural areas. Whereas in Puri the sex ratio is
roughly equal, as opposed to Puri, it has a relatively high scheduled caste (17%) and
scheduled tribe population (11%). The literacy in the state is at 79 per cent and among
the illiterate, 38 per cent is male and 62 per cent is female (Data source: Census, 2011).

Tamil Nadu
Kancheepuram: The district of Kancheepuram is situated on the northeastern cost of
Tamil Nadu and is adjacent to the state capital of Chennai. The district has a total
geographical area of 4,393.37 km2 and is predominantly urban, with 63.49 per cent of
the population living in urban areas. The average literacy rate as per the census of 2011
is 89.39 per cent. Disaggregating literacy by gender, 83.63 per cent of male population
and 68.20 per cent of female population are literate.
Villupuram:Villupuram is the largest district in Tamil Nadu. In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati
Raj named Villupuram as one of the country’s 250 most backward districts (out of a total of
640), and it is one of the six districts in Tamil Nadu which receives funds from the backward
regions grant fund (BRGF) programme. The population density of the district in 2011 was
481 per sq. km with an average literacy of 71.88 per cent. The literacy in the district is at
80.55 per cent of males and 63.15 per cent of females in 2011 (Data source: Census, 2011).

Bihar
Gaya: The district has a population of 4,391,418 in 2011 and a density of 883per sq. km.
The district is predominantly rural with 87 per cent of the population living in rural
areas. Average literacy rate of Gaya in 2011 was 63.67 per cent—a significant
improvement when compared to the 2001 census date of 50.45 per cent. There is a
significant disparity in literacy by gender—73 per cent of males are literate as compared
to 53.34 per cent of females. The sex ratio is 937 per 1,000 males versus the national
sex ratio of 940 (Data source: Census, 2011).
Purnea: Purnea has a population of 3,264,619 with strikingly high density of 1,011per sq.
km. The district is almost completely rural, with 90 per cent of its population living in
its rural areas. The average literacy rate of the district in 2011 was low at 51.08 per
cent. Disaggregated by gender, 59 per cent of males and 41 per cent of females are liter-
ate. The district also displays an adverse sex ratio, which was 921 per 1,000 males as
compared to the national average of 940 in 2011 (Data source: Census, 2011).

Authors’ Bio-sketch
Gitanjali Chaturvedi is a Senior Social Development Specialist with the World
Bank and is Gender Focal Point for the India Country Office. She works on issues
relating to gender and inclusion in World Bank projects and has a long record of
work on behaviour change communication in public health campaigns in South
and Central Asia and Africa. She has a PhD in Political Science from Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi (India).
Chaturvedi and Sahai 91

Garima Sahai is a PhD researcher in Sociology at the University of Cambridge

where she is the Rajiv Gandhi Cambridge Trust Scholar for 2016–2019. She has
previously worked at the World Bank as an Economist, and Gender and Labour
Specialist. She has an MPhil in International Development from the University of
Oxford and an MA in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (India).