Gender and the jute industry: the Calcutta chapter, 1890-1990

Samita Sen

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2014, vol. 8, issue 2/3, 126-140

Abstract: One major contrast between the jute workforce in Calcutta and Dundee is in their gender composition. Calcutta had a small and declining proportion of women; women predominated in tasks like weaving in Dundee. Calcutta and its industrial environments were considered male, while Dundee was known as a 'women's town'. In both industries, the proportion of women declined over time. In Calcutta, it began in the 1930s to be reinforced by formalisation in the 1950s and 1960s. In Dundee, these changes came later due to mechanisation. In the late 1990s, the crisis in Calcutta's jute industry led to a loss of male income and status, and a focus on women as earners. In both industries, women had an ambiguous relationship with trade unionism. They acquired a reputation for militancy, unacceptable to middle-class union leaders, who continued to emphasise domesticity and motherhood. In Dundee the leaders were middle class women; while in Calcutta, male leadership and memberships predominated.

Keywords: India; Scotland; Calcutta; Dundee; jute industry; gender; labour; class; militancy; women workers; female participation; trade unionism. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=63849 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijmcph:v:8:y:2014:i:2/3:p:126-140

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().