Mechanization and Changing role of women in Rural Pakistan (A case study of Tapiali Village District Rawalpindi)

Abstract

Human culture is anthropologically understood to be a term which connotes special meaning. It is a set of adaptive mechanisms which people generally adopt to adjust themselves to the overall changes which take place in their changing environments. Hence culture is not something which is stagnant but itself experiences change over a period of time. The stimulus for change may come from within or may be introduced from outside the system. However, whereas the changes coming from within are often thought to be slow (as being restrained by social norms, traditions and ancestral legacies etc.), the invading thrust of these changes in a society often occurs with adoption of such tools and techniques which people tend to accept from outside in view of their own conveniences i.e. in terms of saving time and their energies for carrying out their day to day tasks. It is also true that external stimulus like mechanization at times may often be completely alien to the cultural context in which it may initially permeate and as such, for the time being, may seem to threaten some of the already established core values of a society. Initial reaction or the level of morale expected of the stimulus may not be witnessed until it takes its own time to prove its functional worth as against some of its culturally not-so-welcome outcomes. A simple example can be that of a mobile phone; whereas on the one hand it connected people living in far off and sometimes quite isolated rural communities to the outer world and the tyranny of distances was instantly overcome, on the other it seemed to threaten the long cherished family norm of a traditional religious society i.e. in relation to the expected role of women (particularly of young unmarried girls) not to be in communication or contact with males outside their families/households. In the history of mankind, all the paradigm changes had been occurring due to the adoption of any such new tools (i.e. because of mechanization of some sort), ranging from the vi invention of a wheel to that of digital technology of today, and its overall impact on the lives of the members of any society whereas need not be stressed, anthropologically speaking, these technological innovations seemed to have had entirely a varying effect on different segments of the same society e.g. the women visa vise its male members. The study aimed to examine the impact of mechanization on the role of women in the rural areas of Pakistan. Recognition of this change was the goal of this study. For this purpose, Tapiali village was selected as a case study. Although a detailed note on research methodology is given elsewhere in this research document, it would be suffice here to say that to keep the high spirit of anthropological research, a proper attention was given to the selection of the research locale, participant observation supported by rapport building, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and the use of proper data eliciting tools etc. The study offers a number of anthropologically related conclusions, a gist of which is presented as below: Mechanization of agriculture has put women into new moulds and roles in village Tapiali and depending upon the amount of agricultural land a household owned, mechanization of their farms quite evidently modified their habits and living patterns. These new role adaptations were observed to be closely connected with institutionalized needs and ends-in-view which the farm mechanization seemed to serve. As the study examined women’s role dependent as well as independent of other actors in that village set up, in totality with all the modified changes in their living patterns, these women still continued to be as an important integral part of the social system as before. However, contrary to some similar studies conducted elsewhere which focused on women’s empowerment as a result of mechanization, in village Tapiali, the process seemed to vii promote muscularity e.g. the machines used even in household chores needed males to carry out their repairs when were out of order. Similarly, in this sense where machines were perceived to be primarily a male domain, on the other hand their adoption was observed to fairly reinforce patriarchal relations i.e. increased control on the means of production by males gave birth to some new forms of women “subordination. Resultantly the females working on the farms were observed to be still using their own traditions tools (hoe, spade and sickle etc). Besides, as was noted, whereas prior to mechanization most of the village males had given a complete control of the use of their excess “farm produce” to their women and had retained to themselves the monetary proceeds of their crop-sales only, after mechanization the females seemed to have lost their control over the kind, if not the cash, to serve their immediate family needs. Previously males duly allocated this excess produce to their female partners while keeping in view the annual food needs of the family and the latter’s management skills. This obviously empowered their womenfolk besides granting them some access to the economic resources as well. It is also true that earlier much of the farm produce was partly stored in the household itself or in the fields adjacent to it and these women were to not only to look after its storage but also managed its delivery to others, but now with mechanization of their farm lands; the produce is straightaway transported from the farms to the market thereby eliminating any role which these women could otherwise perform. Women were reported to be deprived of their power at community level also. It was despite the fact that this power was accrued to many such women because of the ownership of the land being in their name as well. On the other hand, it was found that the retention of control of production and of distribution of what was produced allowed men to be more dominant in the family and in the wider community as they gained prestige from these acts. Similarly with regard to various food products that were previously prepared at home and the viii livestock which was the main source of family’s food needs was also no more in her control as before i.e. previously food items like desi ghee, butter, milk and cheese etc. if she could sell in the market earned her some freedom in the use of that money. But now the men kept their livestock with the intension to sell the animals on Bari Eid etc. In this sense a woman’s role in village was changed from a producer to a consumer of these sources only. Mechanized life in Tapiali has also introduced pressures to get many of the amenities perceived as modern. These include television, refrigerator, mobiles and blenders etc. Also observed was the fact that But with mechanization and its heavy inputs, males were leaving the farms and heavy economic inputs in mechanized agriculture had reduced the magnitude of cultivation (practiced by only 10 percent of the households). Many of the farm operations like grass cutting, grains storage (at home for family use) weeding etc. were entirely still female done operations. The study also revealed that with a change in her role as a manager and controller of household storage of farm products also triggered a change in her socialization role. Earlier, she used to decide as to what was to be given to relatives and friends especially in kind by her. This added kind was also considered as symbol of prestige for the family sending the gift and also for the families receiving it (mostly for example in case of their daughters’ in-laws). Now she had to depend on males for such important matters concerning this nature of family building relationships. Mechanization also seemed to restrict female mobility from farm to house and vice versa thereby excluding women from the outside environment and confining her to micro level household activities only. Even due to mechanization she didn’t need to go out to fetch water as a tube well had been now installed in some of these houses. Briefly, we can say that in Tapiali village, mechanization has benefited women in general by raising their standard of living and by providing them some household comforts but on the hand it has deprived them of their earlier freedom and decision making with a change in their traditional roles and life style patterns.