Plan India's Samanta aims to bring gender parity to rural workplaces

Plan India's Samanta is ensuring that women farm labourers not only earn as much as their male counterparts but are also treated with dignity and respect

It has been a long journey for Sakshi Devi of Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. When she started working as a daily-wage agricultural labourer soon after she got married, she would quietly do what was asked of her and accept whatever was offered as wages — mostly five kilograms of poor quality food grain for a day’s work. All this changed in September 2015 when her employer delayed the payment for 10 days of work. “I hadn’t said anything when he said he’d pay me Rs 85 a day, when men were being paid twice that for the same work,” she recounts. “But to arbitrarily delay payment despite my continued pleas was too much.” She mentioned her problems at the newly formed Working Women’s Collective in her village, part of Plan India’s programme, Samanta, which is aimed at bringing gender parity to the rural workplace. “They helped me seek information on daily wages from the Department of Labour and with the information in hand, we were able to force the employer to pay my dues,” she says. Sakshi Devi’s victory had far-reaching implications. Women like her decided to become organised and collectively demand not only wage parity with men but also well-defined working hours, humane working conditions and an hour of rest. It was as if suddenly, the silent, oppressed women of Ambedkar Nagar had collectively found their voice.

“When we started working in this district in 2014, we found that because of male migration, illiteracy and abject poverty, women often ended up going straight from the ghoonghat (veil) and into the workplace,” says Shanu Somvanshi, who coordinates Project Samanta. Consequently, women’s work wasn’t given due respect. Not only could they not negotiate their payment terms, they couldn’t even specify their working hours. Sakshi Devi recalls how they would be taunted if the heavy labour tired them out and they asked for a break. “At times, I felt as if the men didn’t even treat us like human beings,” she says. Samanta made them realise that this had to change.

“The first task at hand,” says Somvanshi, “was to define their work in terms of hours, facilities provided and the scope of their work.” This wasn’t easy as the agricultural sector is unorganised. “We brought women under collectives and trained them to maintain comprehensive work records including hours of work, nature of work and the exact amount and timing of remuneration.” Using these records as evidence, the collectives began lobbying with the labour department for their rights in the workplace. Additionally, Plan India trained several local volunteers in labour law so that they were better able to negotiate with their employers. “Next, we set up vigilance committees that would monitor how women were treated at work,” says she. 

Geeta Devi, 30, is part of one such vigilance committee. “During an inspection of an NREGA work site, we discovered that women were being taunted and discriminated against for not being able to lift the same amount of load as men,” she recounts. “We threatened the work supervisor, village elders and the pradhan (village chief) that if they didn’t resolve the issue, we’d complain to the labour department.” The matter was quietly resolved. Another time, during the sowing of the paddy crop, some woman labourers were not paid their dues despite their best efforts. So all the women of the village boycotted working for the local farms for one week during the crucial sowing period. This brought the errant employer to his knees. 

“Samanta’s interventions have demonstrated that by putting in place strategies to strengthen the agency of working women, the twin problems of gender wage disparity and workplace discrimination can be tackled,” says Bhagyashree Dengle, executive director, Plan India. It has achieved several milestones: 10,000 women of Ambedkar Nagar have registered with the Department of Labour and Employment and have job cards. The participation of women in workforce has increased from 90 days to 130 days in a year. The annual household income of women labourers has increased from Rs 5,400 to Rs 19,500. In association with Panchayati Raj Institutions, nine Block Resource Centres have been established for dissemination of gender wage parity information with working women. “We’re now seeking support from donors and the government to scale up the Samanta project to other districts in UP and in other parts of the country,” says Dengle. 

For more  information, visit www.planindia.org/samanta 

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