Women’s Labour, Patriarchy and Feminism in Twenty-first Century Kerala: Reflections on the Glocal Present

Abstract

This article focuses on two sites in late 20th to early 21st century Malayali society to examine the transformative effects of global flows on the gender dynamics of each—labour and feminist interventions—to reflect on the shape of, and resistance to, post-liberalisation patriarchy in Kerala. As is well known, labour migration to the Persian Gulf from Kerala from the 1970s has been a decisive flow that has impacted all aspects of life in the state. Its impact on the family as a procreative unit has, however, been only probed superficially. I argue that the opening of the global job market, combined with other features of contemporary Malayali society, has transformed the very functioning of the nuclear family unit. In feminist politics, global flows have led to the surfacing of several ‘regulative universals’, and these flows take place through a variety of channels. The clash now is no longer between the indigenous and the foreign, but between ‘glocally generated’ hybrids.

Bargaining with patriarchy through the life course: obstacles faced (and overcome) by women leaders in Kerala’s health sector

“…Devika (2019) argues that while the firmament of patriarchy in the state is not dismantled, “the present includes women’s open and veiled struggles against patriarchal control” which are not addressed by the most visible and typical “streams of feminist activism” in the state. She speaks of the struggles of women plantation workers within unions and of women challenging growth model-led ecological predation in the state [ 43 ]. There appear to be various such ongoing contestations in the state and as Devika argues, patriarchy in Kerala is not merely a local or even familial phenomenon but rather intertwined closely with women’s roles as workers – and on their labour(s) – both paid and unpaid.…”