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Land, Labour and Livelihoods pp 309–329Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Renegotiating Patriarchal Bargains? Rural Women’s Collective Livelihood Initiatives in India

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Part of the book series: Gender, Development and Social Change ((GDSC))

Abstract

Since the 1990s, a range of collective livelihood activities for women have been sponsored by the state and non-governmental organisations in India. This chapter presents case studies of three collective livelihood interventions for rural poor women in India, drawing on exploratory qualitative field research conducted with two co-operatives and a private limited company. Using a gendered livelihoods perspective, the chapter investigates two key questions: first, the extent to which collective livelihood interventions for the economic empowerment of poor women are in fact controlled by women, rather than by the men of their households; second, whether such collective initiatives offer rural poor women the opportunity to renegotiate patriarchal bargains within households.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Bina Fernandez

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  1. Bina Fernandez
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Correspondence to Bina Fernandez .

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Fernandez, B. (2016). Renegotiating Patriarchal Bargains? Rural Women’s Collective Livelihood Initiatives in India. In: Land, Labour and Livelihoods. Gender, Development and Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40865-1_15

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