Vedanti Singhal: Week 8

Dynamics of Sexual Division of Labour and Capital Accumulation

Women Lace Workers of Narsapur

-       Maria Mies

This article expands on a detailed case study of women’s involvement in the lace-making industry of Narsapur. Mies analyses the production and reinforcement of relations within the industry and its effects on women. She suggests that ideological views often harmonize with economic systems. To consolidate this suggestion, she notes that in Narsapur a status symbol of belonging to a high caste or class is if the women of the family stay in the house, indirectly implying that they are not required to bring in capital. Many of the poorer women turned to lace making, because it brought with a higher sense of status as it was performed in the house. Irrespective of the need of adept skills, lace making was not considered productive, even though it brought capital in the house, because women did it at home and was considered as something they did in their spare time. Here, the society is benefiting economically from their work, yet due to the ideological categorization of women’s roles within society it is not viewed as work. She notes that policies for alleviating poverty often view it as a technological problem, whereas her study of the lace industry suggests that poverty also arises from ideological views and concepts towards women’s work.