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Women Digging of Tomorrow

M Garry
lis hard work for women” says Dhaporam Roy. the Federation treasurer. Everyone agrees as they stand in Jabarhat Barrobari watching the women In their brightly coloured saris lifting baskets of earth out of a large square hole in the ground.
That is going to be a Federation fish pond, one day soon, when the rains come and' the people fill it with hatchlings.
It was a dream of all the members. How they would lease out the pond, make lots of money from the fish that they would harvest. But they are poor people. Where to find the money to excavate? And then the drought hit. and the Federation members were
hard pushed to survive, never mind find the funds for a fish pond.
The RDRS-ODA Drought Response Project Intervened.
"We'll help you to survive, but only if you help yourselves." The Federation was told by the local Project Manager. The Federation agreed, and through its members found 575 women and men of the most needy families who were fit to work only 70 per cent being from group member households
The women can only dig 40 cu ft a day to begin with. Though by the time they've finished their part in excavating the fish pond, they can empty over 60 cu ft." The consensus
seems to be that the women arent used to hard labour. You can almost hear the men ihlnking. "its not natural for women to dig. The men boast that they can dig 100 cu ft a day. and do the hardest part at. the bottom of the pond, where the earth is hardest to chop out. "So the women do the first part, we do the last.
It seems fair, and everyone Is still paid 30 taka a day for their work, regardless of gender. Its a small sum. but It buys the family's food, maybe pay for a few poultry birds, and everyone Is happy, the women, the Federation, the NGO and its donor.
But Is it fair? One of thoae deemed suitable to work la Bllori Begum, the wife of the
Federation treasurer. He calls her over from where she Is digging despite the heat of the winter sun. Her workmates come. too. from the 15-year old girl to the 55-year old grandmother.
Bilori agrees it Is hard work, but she says she's happy to earn money herself If only she had less housework to do in the evenings. Her husband Insists he helps, doing the cooking and looking after the children during the day. but admits he finds it difficult The hardest part is separating the rice from the boiling wa ter He is eager to dig his 100 cu ft a day His wife asks only, "isn't there another fishpond to dig next year?"