Women professionals in Jammu and Kashmir: Challenges and opportunities

ARKA CHAKRABORTY

Women professionals in Jammu and Kashmir:

Women in developing countries bear the brunt of the tensions arising from a changing society with the conflict between traditional gender roles and the new narratives of empowerment along with new socio-economic exigencies setting the stage for a realm of gender relations in turmoil. India is no exception, where on one hand women are entering the workforce in steadily increasing numbers but on the other hand a shocking number of sexual and gender-based violence cases both within and outside the confines of the home point at a regressive social scenario.

Jammu and Kashmir is a region where this contrast seems to be the most striking and the Union Territory remains one of the regions with the highest female illiteracy and unemployment rate in the country. Despite this negative picture, women like Ayesha Aziz, the youngest woman pilot in the country, made the valley proud and act as an inspiration for other young women, on the basis of sheer merit and effort, not only in Jammu and Kashmir but across the country. It has to be acknowledged, therefore, that while a few women in J&K shine as the beacon of hope, their achievements cannot and should not be used to hide the structural discrimination and challenges that the majority of women in the UT continue to face. These issues must be addressed and remedies must be sought with renewed urgency if the development and social justice is to be achieved.

Women and Unemployment: A persisting issue

In Jammu and Kashmir, women face a lot of challenges that stop them from entering the workforce as compared to their male counterparts or even their female counterparts in the rest of the country, leading to the percentage of unemployment in women being alarmingly higher than the women of neighbouring states. Ghulam Sarwer (2017) points to Sharma’s study (2015) that reported that the rate of unemployment in the then state of Jammu and Kashmir was 20.2%, much higher than its neighbours Punjab (5.6%), Haryana (4.8%), Delhi (4.3%) and Himachal Pradesh (2.2%). It is also a lot higher, as Sarwer rightly points out, than the national average of 3.7 percent. Not only is the UT facing a female unemployment scenario far worse than many other states in India, but there is also the troubling trend of an increasing unemployment rate among women in J&K. A study pointed out that while 2011 data showed unemployment among women in urban J&K at 19% and rural J&K at 3%, in 2015-16, the Fifth Annual Unemployment Survey by the Ministry of Labour showed that women above the age of 15 in J&K had an unemployment rate of 25%, clearly indicating that “fewer women had jobs”.

This high rate of unemployment can be explained by a number of factors that sometimes are interconnected. The chief issue in this regard is the lack of educational opportunities. According to the census report of 2011, only 58.01% of women in J&K are literate as opposed to 78.26% male literacy. Moreover, it has to be acknowledged that literacy is far from enough to secure anyone any job in this day and age. Completing graduation or at the least school-level education is required for getting a decent job. This low rate of literacy and lack of educational empowerment is due to a lot of factors that may be interconnected in some cases.

Rather Abid points at some of these issues: the principal being the persistence of a three-decade-long conflict in the region that has made the public sphere perpetually dangerous for women, prompting many scared parents to keep their daughters at home rather than to send them to school. To this can be added poverty, lack of awareness and a traditionalist view of gender roles especially in rural J&K, which results in many girls dropping out of schools at primary and middle school levels. Importantly, many of these girls are technically ‘literate’ but due to their incomplete education, are deprived of the chance to gainful employment. Many girls in rural J&K are engaged in agricultural and household work and married off at a young age. Also, the region suffers from a lack of infrastructures like girls-only schools and higher education institutions and an efficient transportation system which could convince the traditionalist families to provide their daughters with a good education.

The lack of educational opportunities serves as the principal barrier between women and employment, but it is far from being the only one. Violence against women is another key issue restricting their life choices in the Union Territory. The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” Between 2001 and 2015, cases of crime against women in J&K have doubled from 1656 to 3363. About 70% of these cases are domestic. This is a rising trend in J&K and needs to be addressed.

The decades-long militancy also contributed to women’s unemployment. While it is important to acknowledge that the incidents of militancy and the number of civilians killed in such incidents have steadily declined from 2002 to 2015, it is also important to simultaneously acknowledge the array of effects these cases and the militarized nature of the region has on the physical, social and psychological well-being of women. Besides preventing women from attaining education which is the surest path to employment (as discussed above), the gendered nature of many cases of violence scares many women into staying indoors. Also, while conflict remains uncertain in the UT, issues of civil rights have a low chance of receiving the wider attention it deserves.

Traditionalist views on gender roles also play a big part in keeping women unemployed, uneducated and economically dependent on the male members of the family. Tradition and patriarchal control go hand in hand in every society, and in J&K too, it serves as the deeper undercurrent that empowers the gendered structural, mental and physical violence played out against women on a daily basis.

Working Women in Jammu and Kashmir

In spite of the multifarious barriers that women face in J&K, they are slowly entering the workforce. The primary reason behind this is the new economic pressure and the need to become self-reliant, as a study by Afreen Niyaz shows. The rising living costs like housing and food costs have unprecedentedly increased the challenges of an average household and both the husband and the wife need to earn in order to maintain the standard of living that could once be attained by the income of a single wage-earner. This means that sooner or later more families will have to rely on the joint income of their male and female members to survive. Apart from this reason, there are various other factors that are contributing to the need for women to seek employment, such as mishap with the traditional breadwinner, death of the breadwinner, loneliness, the urge to share her talents with the world and the effects of the feminist movement. These structural changes, however, do not nullify the notion of a ‘traditional’ gendered division of labour within the household where the woman is expected to do all the household chores and the child-rearing responsibilities. This tension between the ‘traditional’ labour division and the contemporary necessity, between the home and the outside world, is what constitutes probably the most common struggle of the working woman – maintaining a balance between home and work. At least this is the aspect of their struggle that has received the most attention from the media. Women professionals have dual responsibilities – performing better in an essentially male-dominated workplace constructed and maintained by men and performing all the responsibilities of a dutiful daughter or a dutiful wife which is required by the patriarchal household and the society at large. Niyaz’s study shows that most of the respondents have described the psychological and the physical stress of having to execute the two roles perfectly as ‘disturbing’ and ‘unbearable’. Some of the daily challenges that working women have to deal with are constant child care worries, dealing with fatigue, workload, role conflicts, less time for personal care etc.

It is important to keep in mind that these are additional challenges prevailing in the life of a working woman that has seen some media and research attention, but are far from the only ones. The factors that work as barriers for women’s employment in J&K also constantly hold the working women back from working in a safe environment and pursuing their dreams.

The working conditions of women in the organised workplace in J&K is an area that is yet to receive proper attention but nevertheless may, at this very moment, be acting as a major challenge for women. The organised workplace was traditionally seen as the domain of men and continues to function as such in general. While sexual harassment at the workplace is a gender-based crisis that is receiving attention, there is next to no discussion regarding what infrastructural and policy changes are required to effectively accommodate women as equal partners in the organised workplace.

Women, Entrepreneurship, the online space and Covid-19

By 2015, 42% of women in the urban areas of Jammu and Kashmir were self-employed. Naturally, women entrepreneurs in the region constitute a vital part of the narrative of working women. While getting jobs alone is a challenge in J&K, it is natural to assume that the situation faced by women striving to create and build their own businesses in the conflict-ridden region is even more challenging. A study by Muneer Ahmad Khan and Dr. Nisar Ahmad Wani (2017) showed that apart from the problems of lack of education, the structural marginalization by a male-dominated society and conflict that haunt working women in general, they face additional blockades. For example, lack of finances is one of the major issues faced by women entrepreneurs. This is because, on one hand, they lack the property to use as collateral in their efforts to gain loans from financial institutions and on the other hand banks do not see women entrepreneurs as less creditworthy because they assume that women entrepreneurs can leave their businesses at any time. They also face tremendous problems in marketing their products and have to rely heavily on middlemen who have the tendency to siphon off a large chunk of the profits. Due to being financially dependent on the male members of the family, women entrepreneurs also tend to have a less risk-bearing ability which is a key factor to survive in the business world. While women like Rifat Masoodi, Nusrat Jahan, Mimoona Nazir, Mahwish Zargar have beaten the incredible odds to become recognized and successful in the wider business world, they are the exception rather than the norm.

The various challenges, especially the issue of lacking a significant source of capital, have made the online space more attractive to up-and-coming women entrepreneurs. Omaira Khayoom, a school teacher and co-owner of Craft World Kashmir, acknowledged that the internet is not only a lucrative field but also a safe space for women entrepreneurs in J&K. She and Binish Basheer Khan turned their passion into a profession by founding Craft World Kashmir where they use Instagram to publicize and sell crochet and floral jewellery. Their business had grown exponentially from humble beginnings and they had taken 16 female employees under their wing. At one time, they earned 2000 dollars per month in a region where most peoples’ annual income was close to 1300 dollars. However, the internet clampdown that came with the abrogation of J&K’s special status (August 5, 2019) resulted in business coming to a grinding halt as the principal means to advertise and contact potential clients was suddenly gone. When restrictions were finally lifted in March 2020, the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown put the breaks on the hopes of recovery. Omaira and Binish have continued to pay the 16 employees because they know that for many of them that is the sole source of income. Portrait artist Sana Mir who was selling portraits online by advertising through Instagram has also lost her source of income and empowerment.

The recent restoration of 4G connectivity to the Valley was a new ray of hope for women entrepreneurs in the region, but as the second wave of Covid-19 is ravaging the country and the people facing another lockdown, the future of promising entrepreneurs like Khayoom, Basheer and Mir remains uncertain.

The pandemic has also affected the women employed in organised labour. By December 2020, 13% fewer women had jobs or were looking for jobs, as compared to 2% fewer men, clearly showing that in India, women are more likely to lose jobs during the pandemic than men. There is no reason to believe that this is not the pattern in J&K as well.

Some government Initiatives

It is necessary to acknowledge the various initiatives the central, erstwhile state and UT governments have taken to alleviate the conditions of women in J&K. Ghulam Sarwer has provided a list of activities and schemes being implemented for women empowerment. The projects are: Awareness Generation Projects for Rural and Poor Women (generating awareness among women regarding various issues like education, female feticide and addiction in order to better equip them to deal with their circumstances), Condensed Course of Education for Adult Women (providing women above the age of 15 who did not have the opportunity to gain formal education a condensed general education along with vocational and skill development trainings in order to integrate them with the workforce), Family Counselling Centres, Scheme for Working Women Hostels, Swayamsidha Scheme (a Sel Help Groups based programme with an emphasis on convergence activities aimed at ensuring that the members of such groups avail all relevant schemes in an integrated and holistic manner), Umeed (a Government of India flagship project to empower women in Kashmir and elsewhere), Sher-i-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Programme, Educational Loans, Micro Credit Loans etc. More recently, after August 2019, a plethora of government schemes are making an impact both in the education and employment scenario. For example, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana has resulted in the skill development and employment of a number of Kashmiri youths, especially women.

Recommendations

1. The lack of education is the greatest barrier to women’s employment. It is obvious, therefore, that the foremost attention should be provided to education and skill development. Solving the education puzzle should be a multi-layered process involving proper infrastructure (like establishing girls’ schools and colleges, improving the transportation system and making necessary improvements in existing schools to make them more accessible to female students and teachers), focusing on female teacher recruitment, creating awareness for the need of women’s education, spreading awareness against girl child labour and early marriage, providing and increasing educational loans, creating and promoting institutions providing vocational education to women for quick employment etc., to name a few.
2. Infrastructural improvement (ex.: repairing and increasing the number of street lights in urban and rural areas, rapid improvement of transportation system, the creation and spread of transport mechanisms reserved for women, the multiplication of working women’s hostels across the region) has to be viewed with increased priority. In this case, the government can use crowdsourced reporting to make a difference. In terms of crowdsourced reporting, the Back to Village initiative has already set an example. However, there has to be a mechanism for constant and easy reporting across J&K at all times. Here, the Safecity model of Red Dot Foundation can be emulated and employed in order to gain adequate information as to which areas specifically lack the infrastructure or which infrastructural facilities need repairing or improvement and act accordingly.
3. Violence against women, especially domestic violence, is an issue that has to be addressed right away given the severity of the issue and the increasing numbers of cases year by year. Laws against domestic violence have to be stricter, different kinds of domestic violence have to be categorized, marital rape has to be acknowledged as a reality and given a separate category. Here, non-governmental organizations like the Red Dot Foundation with its Safecity initiative can partner with the UT government and various other key stakeholders to address the issue in a comprehensive manner. Awareness about such institutions also must be increased among women in J&K and that role should be taken up by the government and the commoner alike. It must be acknowledged that women cannot reach their deserved potential both in professional and personal worlds unless they are in a safe environment.
4. Religious and secular traditional community leaders can play a critical role in removing the stigma around women’s employment. They have a deep-rooted social and psychological authority on the common householder that the state has still not achieved. Their words have the power to change deep-seated perspectives on society and life in general. Therefore, their active collaboration must be enlisted in order to truly move the masses towards the empowerment of women.
5. As the wife or any female member of the family, the traditional ‘homemaker,’ assumes the role of co-breadwinner, the traditional breadwinner i.e., the husband or any male member of the family, also must re-negotiate his position and duties within the family. Both the male and the female family members have to communicate properly and assume a more nuanced role within and outside the household. This will lessen the pressure on the female working family member(s) who alone currently has to deal with the hazards of a dual role and hopefully restore the balance within the household. Admittedly, this re-adjustment will have to take different forms according to the realities of different households and will require specific solutions arriving from an honest conversation in every household. However, the government can still contribute immensely by spreading awareness about the need to start a conversation.
6. The working conditions of women in J&K in a male-dominated organised workplace is an area that has received troublingly little attention. Adequate sociological research seeking out problems specific to women in the workplace must take place and the results have to be brought to the UT governments’ attention in order for new policies to be framed.
7. Women entrepreneurs, if provided with a level playing field, can become the basis for women’s employment and can, being women themselves and understanding the struggles of women in a male-dominated work environment, revolutionize the condition of working women in private and, by extension, public sectors. By doing so they can assist the government in reaching the goal of a gender-sensitive professional world with both genders having equal opportunity and security in a way no other stakeholder possibly can. Therefore, they have to be provided opportunities to grow and establish their footprints in the business world. The government can do this by providing women entrepreneurs loans with low rates of interest, ensuring trading practices sensitive to women entrepreneurs’ specific needs and actively contributing to remove the social stigma against women-owned businesses.

Conclusion

The problems arising from the changing relationship between women and the professional world prompted by fundamental socio-economic and ideological shifts in the Indian subcontinent in general and Jammu and Kashmir, in particular, seems to be particularly difficult to overcome. This is because the problems are far from monolithic: they are multi-layered, spread across multiple demographic groups, stretching from the issues surrounding unemployment to the problems of women who have entered the workplace to the emerging world of women entrepreneurs. It goes without saying that the problems faced by these different groups of women are interconnected and cannot be discussed separately while thinking about possible policy changes. Naturally, the solutions to these problems need to involve a multiplicity of stakeholders and need to consider all the issues while keeping in mind their interconnected nature.

The specificity of the problems of J&K also means that solutions applicable in the larger Indian context will have to be reconsidered while keeping the UT’s unique predicaments in mind. The first step should be to properly establish in the Jammu and Kashmir population’s collective consciousness the necessity of women’s empowerment, education, employment and enterprise. In this mission, the ‘traditional’ secular and religious community leaders will prove to be an unlikely but crucial ally.

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