Industrial activities, circular mobilities and new gender identity. The example of a small industrialised city in South India

Kamala Marius-Gnanou (1)

1 ADES - Aménagement, Développement, Environnement, Santé et Sociétés

In India, the decade of 1990s will be marked by its integration into a globalised economy as a result of its policy of liberalisation. By favouring the development of export industries and of delocalisation, liberalisation has enabled the growth of women's employment in most of the countries of the South, particularly in India and in our case in small cities of an industrial cluster in Tamil Nadu. In traditionnal areas where some husbands do not fulfil their responsibilities as head of family, women look upon their employers as their benefactors as they provide the women the possibility of earning even though their salaries might be ridiculously low. Our study show that the factory has enabled many women to step out of their domestic space increased their mobility and their new use of urban space, either to go to work or to visit relatives, helped them to be less dependant on the in-laws by an involvement in the decisions taken about the way in which income are to be used and thus earning respect in society. These new activities provide the women an opportunity to express their desire to create a forum for speech collective action, and new identity and thus to establish their autonomy and scope for negotiation and empowerment.

Mots clés: India; Gender; Work; Women; Industry; Identity; Tamil Nadu

Domaines: Géographie

Kamala Marius-Gnanou. Industrial activities, circular mobilities and new gender identity. The example of a small industrialised city in South India. Gendered cities; identities, activities, networks – a life course approach, Seminar of the Commission on Gender and Geography of the International Geographical Union, The Home of Geography Villa Celimontana, Rome, May 30-31 2003, May 2003, Rome, Italy. ⟨halshs-00474304⟩