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Empowering Women: The Sathanur Story

Anand Dhanuar, November 1996

Sathanur is a sleepy village falling in the rainshadow of the Male Madeshwara hill range. Rainfall is scanty and the terrain abounds in cacti. The local populace comprising 25-30% of SC/STs did not have a steady occupation and was leading a very precarious hand to mouth existence.

About five years ago, at the initiative of the Development Commissioner, Kamataka, a handweaving centre was set up at Sathanur for training of SC/ST women. The centre came under the administrative jurisdiction of SC/ST Development Corporation. Development Alternatives, Bangalore was selected to conduct the training programme for the women. The period of training was to be one year and the training module was also to cover aspects of health and hygiene, literacy and how to save from their earnings. The programme had direct linkage with income generation and sustainable livelihood creation. This the women were to do with financial assistance from government funding agencies.

The training got off on a promising note. Officials predicted that Sathanur would be a watershed in the empowerment process of women of the backward communities. The selected women trainees were fired up with enthusiasm at the prospect of a better life at the end of the training and picked up every aspect of training with remarkable speed and it appeared that they could stand on their own.

As it happens, officials change and the initial fervour tends to die. And it happened in this case at the end of the training period. Nobody came forward to arrange for finances for the trained women to purchase their looms and commence the promised new life. The women did not give up they became activists, went to all the concerned people - the officials and the politicians. They refused to surrender silently to become victims of false promises. They were heard and at last the loans came through for them to purchase their looms.

The men folk of the community were skeptical of the ability of their women to earn a livelihood, but they were proved wrong. Production commenced, the Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation provided marketing support and the trained women weavers were on their own. Now, some of the men wanted to be trained on TARAlooms. Unfortunately, there was no financial support available for this. Development Alternatives, Bangalore suggested that the men could have hands-on experience at home and the trained ladies could help them with developing the requisite skills! This suggestion did not find favour with everyone, but at least two men overcame their inhibitions and got trained by their wives. The income of their household went up by a factor of two!

Over a period of three years, the weavers from the first batch have trained another 20 women from SC/ST communities. Unfortunately, no support is coming forth from SC/ST Development Corporation and Karnataka State Handloom Development Corporation. Development Alternatives has, however,decided to intervene and set up a production centre at Sathanur where the new batch of trained women could work. Marketing of handloom product by individual weavers is a great barrier to their earning what they deserve for their output: there are middlemen and vested interests that always shortchange them. Under Development Alternatives umbrella, it is hoped that the women will receive fair wages for a fair day’s work.

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