i 
, 
I 
Women's Issues and iVIenk Roles: Sri Lankan 
Village Experience 
REX A. CASIWADER, SEPAL'dKA FERNANDO AND 
KARUNA GAMAGE 
This papen 1s an attempt to doctlmeaet the experiences ot two Sri Lankan 
villages in a village irnprovemei~t programme activated by an action group; 
or as they are increasingly called in Sri Lanka, a non-governmental agency 
or srganization (N.G.O.). The importance of these experiences is that they 
centre on women's issues, a11d some consequences for men's roles, an aspect 
often neglected in studies of women's issues. The hTon-Governmental Organi- 
zation in activating the village improvement programme was not primarily 
collcerned with women's issues. Its objective was to improbe some aspects of 
the village economy, and it was the nature of the village economy, which 
we shall shortly describe, that gave rise to women's issues becoming a central 
assue in the village irnprovcaenl. programme. 
It should be stated at the outset that the two villages, Ralahamywatta 
and Pannagodal, which adjoin onc another are unlilce Sri Lankan villages 
whose economlc base is paddy cultivation. The characteristics of these two 
vlllages are closer to the many villages of the inner periphery of the western 
and sotill1 westel11 coast of Sri Lamaka. S~lch. villages ale dependent on small 
holdings of rubber or coconut witla negligible, if not the total absence of any 
paddy holdings. The small holdings in rubbe? or coconut we invariably insufli- 
cient for the sub.sistence ofthe famarly oa household and thereis thus dcgendence 
on wage employment in the rubber plantati~ns;~ coconut fibre n~iIls, and 
the tertiary secior as well as in thc incipient industriai sector, in the urban 
centres sf the region which rnclsrdes the C~ty of Colombo. Pannagoda is one 
such village with small holdings of coconut and wage employment mai111y 
un the ier tiary sector 111 Colombo and the suburbs. Thcre arc 153 households 
at $anndgoda ~11th a populat~on of 548 of which females number 285. 
RaIaharnywatta though in this same broad category has significant 
variations. It was a village born out of the village expansion programmes of 
the Sri Eanlca Government in the 1960s. T11is programme whose origins can 
be traced to the 1930s was in the context of population increase and co13sisted 
of the government alienating state lands adjoining villages, to villagers with no 
Rand. The lands so alienated were of I/4 lo 112 acre blocks and mainly served 
as land for housing, though villagers did plant cash crops (e.g. rubber, coconut 
etc.) in whatcver space that was left after putting up their Ilouses. 
I. Pseudonyms have been used for the two viliages and for members of the village camp- 
, 'unity referred to in this paper. ,, . . \. ,,: 
., . . . .. . 
2. Though thls area has coconut pkintatlons, such plantat~ons have a low labour reqnir;e- 
ment at 0. I person per acre (I.?. 1 person for 10 acres). Th~s conipares unfavourably 
with the other two plantation crops in Sri Lanka viz. tea and rubber which have 
labour requirements of 1.25 and0.4 per acre. Thus labour absorbed by the coconut 
plantation is negligible. Except for a few isolated pockets, there are no tea plantations 
In this area of Srl Lanka. 
'/a Rex. A. G~sinaader, S~palika Fernando nrrdKarut~a G%muge 
Obviously it was the poorer sections of the villages that opted for and were 
indecd eligible for these blocks. Often such sectiolx of the village con~munity 
typical accompanying social characteristics of their poor economic status7 
I9w educational attainment, unemployment, substandard housing, low nutr]- 
i ional standards etc. All these quickly conferred a low prestige on such villages. 
'6he now villages also exhibited less social cohesion than the older villages. All 
these often snowbllled into these villages showing signs of social disorgani- 
zation. The higher incidence of crime, juvenile delinquency and bootlegging 
as indices of social disorganization support this image of the new  village^.^ 
Walaharnywdtta is one such village. Its residents had been earlier residents of 
surrounding older villages, including Pannagoda. The population of Ralahamy- 
vvlztta is 343 wi tla 167 mdes 176 rcmalds. The households number 73. 
As it would b: app~rcnt in the d2scJption of the two villages, they werc 
as sell villages of this region alld elsewhere ill S;i Lsnka, subsumed within 
colonial alrd post colusi11 sosial forlnztisns whichin Sri Lallka were dominated 
by comm~rill-y production in plaatation and peasant agriculture. But of 
significance in the village economy of the two villages were the petty production 
in the processing of cashew nuts. Cashew fruits and cashew nuts are a minor 
cash crop and tl~ough these villages are not in a cashew producing area, they 
are within reasonable proximity of such areas to be engaged in the processing 
of cashew nuts for domestic and export sales. Traditionally in these two 
villages such petty production in casl~ew processiiig was carried out by the 
petty bourgeois and middle bourgeois present in the village, employing the 
women in the village to do the processing manually for a wage. A few women 
who had some capital to purchase raw or unprocessed cashew nuts did the 
processiitg on a petty production scale on their own. The womeli augmented 
their family income ei thsr in this manner or by the wages earned by working 
for the larger petty producers of processed cashew nuts. 
At some stage occupational segregation had occurred and processing of 
~ashcw nuts has at least for the last few decades or more been viewed as women's 
work or job. This type of occupatiolial segregation and hierarchy with a 
division of labour by sex, where the women are engaged in petty production 
is suggestive of Carmen Diana Deere's argument4 that in peripheral capitalism 
such division of labour is crucial to the extraction of surplus labour, for 
subsistence agricultural production and petty commodity production by women 
a low the wage (to the men) to be less than the cost of production and I epr o- 
duction of labour power. Deere does make clear that such "division of labour 
is not just responsive to capitalist's desire to maintain low wages; rather, 
1. Suck villages are referred to as "Colony" in Sinhalese, which now have derogative or 
low status associations. The word "Colony" is from the English word colony, as there 
villages were set up under the Land Colonization Scheme. This scheme that was launched 
in the 1930s resettled ueoale from Ehe denselv boDulated South Western region to tho 
sparsely populated and reiativcly dry North ~kritral and Eastern regions of t6e country, 
with the provision of irrigated water facilities for rice cultivation. Such villages, some 
times also referred to as Colonies did not have low prestige associations as the ones 
adjacent to the old villages in the South Western wet zone, though they also did exhibit 
problems of lack of cohesion etc. 
4. Carmen Diana Deere-"Rural Women's Subsistence Production in the Capitalist 
Pefiphery". T/ie Review of Radical Political Economics. Vol. 8 No. 1 Spring 1976. 
Women" Issues avld Men's Roles: Sri Lankan Village Experience 
'7 5 
intra-familial labour dcpjoyment is responsive to the need to attain subsistence 
in the face of rural poverty9'.~ Yet some can interpret this or see embedded in 
this, the notion that women contribute to the low wages of men that prevail 
in colonial and post colonial plantation and peasant economies. The allied 
notion that the men's wage should be adequate to support wife and child~en 
is also a divisive issue in women's studies.6 Hence one has to be cautious in 
interpreting the sole of petty production in cashew processing within the 
hypothesis put forward by Deere. Yet the division of labour by sex does appear 
functional to capitalism and as Jane Numphries states, women's "usefulness 
must be seen as clearly dependent on their adherence to established roles 
within the occupational structure. Once womcn step outside these roles thezl 
they are not only no longer supportive of established hiera~chy but ale a direc:t 
thrcat to it".'" Thcse ideas may be problematic and may also not be crucjal 
to what would emerge as the central problem subsequently in this paper. Yet 
nevertheless they are an useful background to explore problenls of women's 
issues and the men's role that emerges in these two villages. Wc shall draw 
upon these ideas where necessary. 
This c~ystalization of occupa~ional segregation where cashew processing 
became women's work had occu~red a few decades ago. Significantly women's 
pa~ticipation in economic activit~es was relegated to petty production while 
men participated in the more dominant arid p~esiigious sections ofthe economy. 
This 1 einforced the hierarchy in occupational segregation and also constrained 
the devellopment of class ~onlsciousness driving a wedge between men's and 
women's experience. At thc time the occupational ~egregation had occurled the 
characteristic inability of a colollial economy to absorb the available supply 
of labour was apparent. It became a more acute problem in recent times with 
an illcreasing number of men arid women enteiil~g the age group that aspjrtd 
to be economically active and not 211 could find ways of achieving this. The 
Sri Lanka age pyramid had largcr slabs at the bottom. The economy could :lot_ 
absorb entirely the large bottom slabs that was progressively ei~f'ciing a stzge 
when they sought to be cconornically active. The consequences arc seen in the 
rate of unemployment at these two villages. At Ralahamywatta 32.4% of 
tbose between 15 and 55 years of age are unemployed, while at Pannagodz 
i1nis is 25.3 x. Of this a greater pcrcentage are in the age group 15 to 3Q viz. 
77.4 % at Ralalnarnywatta anti 69.9 % at Pannagoda. Eqwaliy, if not of greatcP 
significance was the larger percentage of unemployed men viz. 77.5% zt 
Ralahamywatta and 58.7% at Pannagoda, in the total unemployed. 
These figules need some comment. Men seek employment in the dorni~nani 
mode of production, and the increasing numbers seeki~g such employment 
and the incapacity of the econonly to absorb them results obviously in un- 
employment. Women on the other hand are in petty production and increasing 
male unemployment pushes the women further towards petty production as a 
survival strategy. This explains the different unemployment rates for men and 
women. 
5. Ibid. 
6. Michelle Barrett and Mary McIntosh-"The Family Wage : Some problems 
Socialists and Feminists" Capital and CIass II. Summer 1980. 
7, Jane Humphries-"Women : Scapegoats and Safety Values in the Great Depression." 
The Review of Radical Political Economics. Vol. 8 .No. I Spring -1976. 
7 6 Rex A, Casiizuder., Sepalika Fernando and Karuna Gumage 
But within this context the diKe;ent rates for the two villages are significant. 
BiYe noticed at the outset that Raiahannywatla belongs to a category of villages 
newly created but for the more economically depressed sections of the older 
villages with resulting greater degree of vlrral poverty etc. In this situation 
women seek ji?come in petty production, and increasingly so when male 
unernploymeiit increases, as a survival strategy. On the other hand at Pannagoda 
which is relatively econo~nically better OR, there are many women who because 
of their econon~ic and social class positio~~s do not need to engage in petty 
p~ oduclisn activities. Tkieir labour is confined to housework. Such labour is 
enumerated within the typical sexist paradigm of demographic data collection 
and census as unemployed and hence the higher rate fo~ol- women unemployment 
at Pannagoda. 
An event of importance in this overall situation, was the village improve- 
rnent programme launched at Ralahan~ywatta and Pannagoda by a N.G.O. 
which identifies itself as the Campubuduwa Movement. To place the Gam- 
pubuduwa Movement in the Sri Lankan political economy and socio-cultural 
context, it is a part of the ubiquitious N.G.Bys that are springing up in Sri 
kanka, just as in many other Asian third world countries, toengage thenlselves 
rua the development thrust or development game as skeptics wocld have it. Sri 
Lanka has had an active N.G.8. sector and upto about the 1960s they were 
mainly engaged in social welfare activities. They were largely run wit11 volun- 
tary labour, noticeably by women of the bourgeoisie or upper class who had 
relegated their domestic chores to women servants who were available cheaply. 
Indeed until recent times this sector was referred to as voluntary organizations 
which reflected both the character of its labour and its non-governmental or 
non-statutory form, 
The 1970s have witnessed significant changes in the role and function of 
theN.6.0~. Jo1111 (J)Sidentifies three stages in the development of action groups, 
viz., social welfarism, radical ~lationalism and socialist 01-ientations, and 
contends that in India 'Action Groups' are i11 the stage of radical nationalisin 
and dabstes whether they could grow upto the stage of socialjs( orientation. 
Their Sri Lanka counterparts, the N.G.Os, exccpt for an isolated few do not 
skppear to have; reached even the stage of radical nationalism in John J's 
typology. They have on the other hand shown since the late 70's a notable 
ability to enter the international network. Indeed some of the N.G.Os and 
their personnel have such remarkable skills to operate tI1e network to such a 
degree that they are often euphemistically refel-red to as "Networkers". This 
capacity is allied to thcir ability to packa,gc and market their projects and 
programmes to be attractive and suitable to the c~~rrcr~t fads of donors la the 
is~ternational network. This does seem as one of the few jn~tances where the 
third world has used slcills comparable to what the first world uses to sell its 
consumer goods to the third world. 
It is also sigtxifica~zt that such groups are called "Actio~z Groups" in India 
while in Sri Lanka they are ~ncreasingly referred lo as 1q.G.0~. The Sri Lankan 
nomenclature paradoxialJy underlines their workllzg within the go\rernment 
rdeologies and policies. What distinguishes them from the governlnental 
agencies is their own financial resources and personnel wl~ich in fact had 
esrned them the name non-governmental organization, witlzin the total thrust 
of the governmental developmanta1 ideologies and policies. 
8. John I. "Critique of Acl~on Groups," Tirc Morxist Revieiv, Calcutta, August 198i. 
Women's Issues and Men's Roles: Sri Lcmlctan Village Experience 77 
Thus largely due to the increasing availability of international funds and a 
lilrking of the Sri Lsnka N.G.Os to the international N.G.O. network, a 
growth and expansion of the N.C.Os had occurred. Tile international network 
outlets are also more willing to donate funds to N.G.Os in the recipient 
countries than to the governments of such countries in the belief that N.G.Os 
in the third world countries are, as delivery systems more efficient and less 
corrupt than third world governments and bureaucracies. The growing system 
alzd network of N.6.88 is also an illustration of internatioxrai transmission 
at work-of ideologies, strategies, institutions etc. The change of government 
rn Sri Lanlta in 1977 and the open economy policy that followed gave a push 
to this increasing emergence of N.G.Os in importance and size. Prioi to 
1977, even though most plans remained unimplemcnted or ineffectively 
implemented, thepianlied economy ideology constrained the growth of N.G.Os. 
Further, donor countries the~nselves had not reached a "take-off" point in a 
large transfer of funds to N.G.Os. 
It is in this scenario of N.G.0s in Sri Lanka that the Ga~npubuduwa 
Movement has to be seen in its work at Ralahamywatta and Pannagoda. 
While it shares many common features of the N.G.O. pllenomena in Sri 
Lanka, notably the marked involvement of the Christian clergy and the 
access to international funds, yet, it has exhibited features much less common 
and more noteworthy. Among these may be identified the following : 
- the joint involvement of the Christian and Buddllist clergy. This 
combination is not a common experience in Sr i Lanka. 
- the courage and capacity to identify and tackle problems central to 
the village economy viz. Cashew processing ill this instance rather 
than indulge in the characteristics concern of most N.G.Os, to 
tinker with problems peripheral to the village economy, such as 
digging of wells, building roads etc. whose benefits and beneficiaries 
are both dubious. 
- to use the funds obtained from intel-national sources as security to a 
Rank that agreed to release loans to thc villagers for petty production 
in caslzew nut processing. This was in marked contrast to many 
Sri Lankan N.G.Os that used a substantial part of such1 funds to 
have cosy offices in the plush residential areas of Colombo or the 
suburbs with a braild new Japanese Jeep at the door, etc. 
- use of voluntary labour, a former characterisfic of Sri Lankarl 
N.C.Os that has now allnost disappeared amorigmost other N.G.Os. 
- relative to other N.G.Os far less dependence on a costly central, 
often a monolithic organization and irifrastructure to push, . service 
and sustain the village improvement prograimnes. 
Having set out the villago economy, and the outline of the N.G.O. 
involved, it is now 1lecessal.y to identify atid descl-ibe the content and nature 
of the village development programme initiated by the N.G.O. and in what 
ways it gave rise to t-be emsrgence of women's issues and problematics for 
men's role in these two villages. 
78 Rex A. Casinader, Sepalika Fernando and Karuna Gamage 
The village development programmes of this N.G.O., the Gampubuduwa 
Movement, largely emerge out of the participation of the villagers and the 
Gampubuduwa Movement leaders in a long process of discussion and work. 
The ideology of the movement is to encourage the villagers to identify their 
problems and needs and set priorities for action. At Ralahamywatta and 
Pannagoda the village society famed under the guidance of the Gampubuduwa 
Movcment identified their major problems as being the lack of capital for 
householders to pIocess cashew nuts on their own. Processing cashew in their 
own households would give a substantially greater income thcy argued than 
warking for a wage. 
This demand came mainly from the women because it was they who were 
engaged in cashew processing. It is not clear whether the men too identified 
themselves with this demand or had different opinions as to what should be 
the prio~ities in the village development programme. While the mechanics of 
how the Gampubuduwa Village Societies at Ralahamywatla and Pannagoda 
arrived at the decisiorr on a programme that would enable the women cashew 
processors to process cashew on their own are not clear, the fact remains that 
such a decision was arrived at and became the central thrust of the village 
developmet programme. Using some of the international funds that were 
available to the Gampubuduwa Movement, as partial security, the Gam- 
pubuduwa Village Societies at the two villages were able to obtain loansfroma 
bank for the members of the two societies for the purposeof cashew processing. 
in spite of such loans being inadequate and purchasing and marketing 
problems acute, this programme brought a remarkable increase in income for 
the women processors. The women found that for a thousand nuts purchased, 
processed and sold thc profit or income was nearly three or four times the 
wage they earned for processing a similar quantum of nuts for the petty 
production entrepreneurs. The quantum of nuts processed also increased, to 
increase income further. This was partly because the greater return acted as 
an incentive to produce more. Also when done at homc, longer hours of work 
split up into a number of sittings was possible. And in between their cashew 
nut processing work they attended to domestic chores as well. A11 this helped 
to increase production. The labour of other women family members was ia 
further contributory factor. 
When many women joined the Gampubuduwa Village Society, obtained 
bank loans and processed cashew on their own, it led to a situation where 
cashew processing mudalalis.9 in these two villages, had a labour shortage. This 
resulted ina rise in thewagc rateof thc women who continuedto workforthem. 
Such increases inincome and wagerate did not mean that poverty was completely 
eliminated. Surplus extraction continued through the exchange system, both 
in the purchasing and sale of raw and processed nuts respectively. Yet, the 
remarkable increases in income were clearly manifested in improved living 
conditions particularly in housing. 
Now all this was hoppcning in the context of a high degree of 
male unemployment. This as we noted pushed the women towards greater 
petty production. What were the consequences of this for the women's position 
and role in the family and decision-making ? We noticed that even prior to 
the entry of the Gampubuduwa Movement, the women had to contribute to 
9. Mudalali in Sinhalese refers to a person who runs a shop, cafe or engages in some kind 
of business. Also used pejoratively of some one who makes undue profit and hoards 
money. 
Y-fc'a,ne~!pl's lssues und &i9enVs Roles: Sri Lankan Village Experieftce 78 
itla family subsistence by petty productio~a. Thus there alrcady existed an 
uconomic contribution. This had also led to sorns share in family decision 
mlking etc. Obviously, increasing incomes, particuiarIy in the context of some 
famillies where the men were unemployed would have had an impact on the 
women's position, role and status. A11 this is best explored through a few 
illustrative case studies which will at thc same time surface some of the 
problematic consequenws for the men's role and the social and cultural tenets 
of male dominance. 
I1 
MaIlika is fifty two years old and is the mother of eight children, five 
~olims and three daughters. Six of the children are now married and live away 
from the parental Qmily. The youngest two, both sons, who are now in their 
Hato teens live withthe mother. Thefr?tl~er lives wi thoneor the other ofthemarried 
children. The relationship between Mallilta anct her husband does not appear 
to have been a happy one and she now does not like him to return and stay 
with her. They were married in 1949. The husband was aresident of Pannagoda 
while Mallika was from Lagonna a village a few miles away. They $ad both 
&reen unemployed at that time and their source of income was the wages 
they earned in doing any odd jobs in the village or villages close by. Mallika 
states that with her parental family's help she purchased 118 acxe of land at 
Pannagoda to put up a house in which she continues to reside with the two 
youngest sons. 
Mallilca from being a casual worker doing odd jobs about the village shifted 
quite a number of years ago to cashew nut processing on a wage basis. This 
was for the cashew processing entrepreneurs or mudalalis in the village. Later 
Mallika along with such cashew nut processing work for a wage, had as a 
supplementary source of income started to process cashew nuts on her own. 
She bought raw cashew nuts with some money borrowed from village money 
lenders, and then processed the nuts for sale. This helped to improve her 
income. 
Mallika is a good example of the woinen in this viliage who by their 
patty production in cashew processing had been keeping the family going and 
the impact of the Gampubuduwa Village Society credit scheme on such petty 
production. The credit facilities introduced by the Gampubuduwa Village 
Society brought some changes to Mallika's working arrangements and increased 
her income substantially. With the aid of the money she could borrow under 
this scheme she opted to processing cashew nuts entirely on her own and stopped 
working for a wage for the cashew nut processing mudalalis. 
She also gradually increased the quantum of cashew nut processed. The 
initial loan of Rs. 1,000/- she obtained under the credit scheme thus increased 
to Rs. 5,000/- because of the expanding nature of her activities. The physical 
manifestation of her increased income can be seen in the improvement she had 
made to her house. Recently she spent Rs. 3,0001- in replacing the cadjan 
roof of her house with a tiled roof. 
Cashew processing in this village we noted is an occupation confhed to 
women. The factors that may be contributing to women taking up this type of 
petty production had been discussed earlier. At the manifest level cashew nut 
80 
Rex A. Casinadcr, Sepalika Fernatzdo andKaruntr Gamage 
processing is now identified as a ''woman's job" and a rationale of women 
having thc manual dexterity to do such ajob has been trotted out. For instances 
villagers state that while a woman can process 2,000 nuts per day a man cannot, 
even process 500 nuts. Obviously with long association, cashew nut processing 
has acquirod the status of being a woman's job, and men will not engage in it 
because it would not be in keeping with their masculine status in socio-cultural 
terms. 
What is intenesting in this context in that with the introduction of the 
credit scheme of the Gampubuduwa Village Society the income generated by 
cashew processing has increased. Now this has brought a greater income into 
tile hands of the women and they wield much greater economic power in the 
home than before.'This is very apparent in Mallika's case. She has right 
throughout bcen the bread wilmncr of the fanlily and the recent increaso in her 
anlcomc has given her :In even greater economic strength. 
One result of this is that she does not want her husband to be with her 
anymore and she has the cco~~olnic power to keep him out. She states that her 
husbatld does not waut to help her in caslzev~ nut processing nor is he capable 
of doing it. Hcr husband consumes liquor heavily and would, in her view, 
be more interesled in using llcr i~~corno to consumc liquor rather than to help 
her. According to her, having him with her will be more a problem than a help. 
Wl~at is significa~~t in this case study is that Mallika's husband is not 
positively oriented to helping her evcn iaa the purchasing and sellitig of cashew 
nuts etc., let alone the manual processing of the nuts by decorticating the 
outer skin. This case study is illustrative of where a husband has to face upto 
a situation in which I1e js not the bread winner, a role socially and culturally 
cxpcctcd of thc 111cii. This leads to a problem situation where his status and 
role, his masculine identity and self image are threatened. 
It appears in such stress situations, that the husband seeks to cxhibit or 
indulge heavily in behavioural practices which are strengly masculine, viz., in 
drinking liquor, spending time in places where liquor is served or consumed 
etc. This invatjably leads to further conflict between husband andcwife and 
given the situation where the wire has the economic power, the husband has 
to even leave the home. 
I, 
What appears to bc happening is that the women from a position of 
contributing to the family subsistence by pctty production in a context of an 
mmladequale wage for the men in their prescribed economic activities, haye 
now reached a posjtion where they are the dominant, iinot the sole contributor 
la tlic family subsistence. This is basically because the stagnant economy was 
incapable of providing ernpPaynacnt even at an inadequate wage ratc. But the 
impetus given by the credit facilities of the Campubuduwa. Village Society 
activities has accelerated the disparities in expected and actual roles of men 
and women. 
An inte~esting comparison that suggests itself here' is tlre position a~td 
sole of women in secticns of African society as weH as in the black ghettos of 
America. In these societies too where women are the economic base of the 
fanlily, the men a1.e frequently "sent out" of the farniIy.10 
, . " :, y .,- 
10. Ulf Wanner~. - Sowl~tde . inquiries into Ghetto Cul~ure and Comnlrmity, Colombo 
Univers~ty PI ess, 1969. 
Women's Issues and Men's Roles : ST i Lankan Village Experience 
81 
In a r~umber of other cases at Kalahamywatta and Panoagoda the same 
issues and problems are manifest. One such case is Kusuma, 37 years old and 
the mother of six children, five boys and one girl ranging from five to twenty 
years of age. As a young girl, Kusuma was a resident in a working class area 
in the Colombo City. With her marriage she shifted to Ralahamywatta,tl~e 
village of her husband; patrilocal residence being culturally preferred. Her 
husband Siripala was a lo: I y cleaner by occupation. 
With the arrlval of the second chiEd, SiripaEaYs wages as a lorry cleaner 
at Coloinbo were ~nadeq~aate for the family subsistence and Kusuma had to 
supplement the famiiy j1;come. So she, Irke many other women in the village, 
started working as a cashew nut plocessor. This was on a piece rate wage for 
one of the rnudalalis in the village. She colPected the raw or unprocessed nuts 
from thew m ~adalalis, took them to her Elome, processed it, and then for the 
nurnbet of nu:; she processed, was paid a piece late wage. 
W~th the advent of the Gampubuduwa Movement she joined the 
Gampubuduwa V~llage Society. From the loan facilitres av;.;l;bIe to the 
members she got the necessary capital to br-4 ril~~aw iirris and do the processing 
entirely as her venture. When she worked for a piece rate wFge her earnings 
had been about 18 to 20 rupees per day. By processing on her own, l~el net 
income after setting off the costs of nuts purchased was about Rs. 1001- per 
day. As tlae nuts were purchased with the loan capital, she set apart about 
Rs. 201- towards the loan instalmerat she had to pay, Iraving a balance of 
Rs. 8811-. Thls incl ea~ed Income was typrclel for many women who were in the 
Gampubuduwa V~liage Socrety. 
Equaily kypical was that th~s sttuaticta often led tothemen malc~ngmtr~:1aless 
effo~ t to contribute .to the family incomc. With employment opportunltres for 
men becoming more difficult, it encouraged men to strive less for such oppor- 
tunities. Ofter this Ied to thejr being compIetely dependent on the women's 
earnings; but demanding the centnaE and auif~or~tarian position in thc finlily 
that Ilre Srj Lankan culture prescl-~bes ki;~ the husband and f8ther. Po fact 
tlze inability to be the chief mcsme earner, eprhicli the culture pi-cscsibes, along 
\?iitll the economjc depeadenc:e on the WO~~~II'S earnings apFears to bring 
about a reactive condition of intensifying, thc need 21:d the dcmsepd to be the 
key figure in the family. 
The women or? the oker hand, work hard for long hours to kc-ep the 
family going. Not only keve they to piacess thc c9shew nut but ~lso attend 
to all the dsn~cstic chores. Thc work load is heavy arid oppressive. Thcy would 
bccome battered women but for. their economic power snd the emotional 
satisfaction that ti116 brings, which gives tfi~m resilience and strength. Obvjoubly 
this increases with increasing income, while the husbarrd's position in th~s 
context 1s becoming mo;e problematic. Tbls then is rzr intensiveiy confhct 
ridden situation, and conflicts between husband and wife are to be expected. 
Kuauma's case is very jllustrative of this situation. The fact that Siripela 
had a job and was not dependent on Kusuma altered the situation somewhat. 
Rut he had been neglecting his job and the family for sometime even prior to 
the Gampubuduwa Village Society activity. This itself may be traced to 
Kusuma's increasing role even earlier as a contributor to the family income 
82 Rex A. Casinader, Sepalika Fernando and Karma Gumage 
and subsistence. But with the thrust given by the Gampubuduwa Village Society 
activities the situation was changing rapidly. To put it in Kusuma's words 
she is now "totally burdened with all the work and responsibilities of the 
family ." Siri pala she alleges had drifted away from his responsj bjlities and 
even from his earlier life style and increasingly over a period of time spent 
lass time with the family and more time with friends in consuming liquor etc. 
The heavy consumption of liquor is an allegat~ol~ that many women in 
these two villages make against their husbands. It is evident in the two case 
studies presented and also features in some of tthcothersthat we shall present. 
The authors did not have the oppol tunily to empirically verify whether what 
was alleged is true. Nor was it possible to measure whether the co~>sumptio~l 
of liquor at these two villages is heavier than is generally the case in Sri 
Lanka villages. Yet that it is repeatedly alleged is significant. The conflict 
[role situation for the men also suggests that they may be attracted to consume 
il~quor, spend time at places where liquor is consumed etc. because these 
ate in Sri Lankan culture identified as masculine behaviour practices, and 
indulgence in such behaviour practices, is a need and satisfying experience 
in the context of the collapse in the role and self image of the men. 
Interestingly this type of behaviour once again has been observed in the 
black ghettos of North America, where a similar situation of the men being 
economically dependent on the women and the family income being totally 
~nade up by the women's earnings. The men are seen to be increasingly 
klndulging in behaviour practjces which are socially identified as masculine- 
drinking, spending time in drinking places, criminal activities etc. This had 
been seen as meeting a critical need of the men. The men are in an extreme 
stress situation, for while North American culture prescribes the man to be 
the dominant economic base of the family, the reverse situation is present in 
their cases. This damages their self image and to compensate for this and 
retain their masculine identity, they indulge, often l~eavjly in behaviour practices 
which are socially identified as being almost exclusively masculine." 
While this remarkable similarity is of interest, the different cultural 
context surfaces other significant issues. At Ralahamywatta and Pannagoda 
the economic power has given the women strength to assert themselves, in 
defiance particularly of culturally prescribed ~.oles for the wife. Tlus has 
s~gnificance for matters both within the family as well as at the village society 
Bevel. The latter we shall elaboratein a case study that will follow later. Kusuma's 
case however demonstrates the consequences within the famiiy. 
As Kusuma puts it, her l~fe now is very different froin what it was before 
marriage and in the early years of inarried life. This of course is not uncommon 
Ern traditional Sri Lankan Village Society, where a girl romping around the 
village is transformed almost soon after attaining puberty to a young wife. 
children follow in quick succession and bearing and rearing of children quickly 
wears down the woman and by 30 years of age they are often viewed as a 
- -- - -. - -- 
I I. Ibid. 
Women's Issues ~~nd Men's Roles: Sri Lankan Village Experience 
"spent force."12 In Kusuma's case whjle this type of transformation appears 
present, her role as tho breadwinner of the family and the total responsibility 
for the f~~rnily means of livelihood, the domestic chores, the decision making, 
rearing of the children etc. have also affectcd her develpoment and personality. 
She is reputed to be tough and a ste~n disciplinarian with the children. The 
pressures of her life may have conditioned her to become hardened and bitter 
and at the same time lead to her being irritable and short tempered. Those 
latter characteristics ar0 known bcyond the confines of her family, because 
many informants in the village had on some occasion or other referred to this. 
They tell us ehat when her husband returns home drunk she is quick to pick 
amp a quarrel with him, which inval iably leads to his physical assault on her. 
She is now Ernown to retaliate physically. 
There is obviously a family conflict situation intensified by the oppressive 
conditions that Kusuma is subject to and the psychoIogica1 stresses her husband 
is going through. ICusurna sees her husband as a beast, to repeat her own 
words, when he is drunk. This is demonstrative of Kusuma's anger at his 
non-participation in the welfare of thc family, and letting her down or trapping 
her into a situation where she laas to battcr o~lt everything for the family. 
What she alleges may havc some material base, for Siri ala is known 
R sn the v~llage as a thug, a rolc once again suggestive of his see idg masculine 
identities to wo~ k out hls own psychrsPogical problems. In this conflict ridden 
situation, the children, p;rrticulai ly the elder ones as Kusurna fears, are likely 
to be drawn in to tlzc physical free for all that appears to occur all the time. 
In desperation Musu~~la had spent Rs. 5001- in paying a medical practitioner, 
obviously a quack, to cure her husband of exclusive consumption of liquor. 
According to her there had been some positive results but this did not last 
rnore than a few rno~rths and her busband is now baclc to his drinking bouts. 
Two other features in Kusuma's case are signif cant. Kusuma I epeatedly 
wishes that she had more daughters and less sons. Shc particularly regrets 
ehat her eldest child 1s a son and not a daughter. Obviously this is because she 
misses the help of a grown up daughter both in her casl~ew processing, a 
"voman's job" and for the domestic chores. This is iridicative of the oppressive 
demands on mothers and daughters and the importance of women in a family 
and the problem when there ale only a few. it also suggests an under1yjll.g 
positive attitude. Many Slri Lankan women in oppressive situations like this, 
rationalize the situation with Buddhist fatality, "Ape Karumey", i.e. this is 
due to our Karma. For, to them to be born a woman and to Jaad a life of 
oppression is the lot of a woman because of the sins of their past lives. 
The corralary of this is that one has led sp xelatively more meritorious life in 
one's previous birth to be born a man. This gives a religious sanction to the Sri 
-- -- - 
-- 
12. Ganarlath Obeyaseker, at u Idcture zt the Peradeniya University put forward tho view 
that "Dol;tduka" i.e. desire to eat certain types of food during pregnancy among Sri 
Lankan wornell was often limited to food they liked or tasted as children. This he 
interpreted as a I'i~ld oTreg:ession to childhood. Because of the sudden transformation 
to marital stat~ls soon arter attaining pkrberty followed by a situation of repeated child 
bearing and rea:ing an,op~?ressiveconditionoRenocc~~rs.Th~~s harking backto chiidhood 
emerges as a regression syndrome. 'Doladuka' is a social institution where the wife 
is permitted to demand some thing. While the attention she gets in this in itself is 
satisfying, it is equally significant that it Was for rood she had relished as a 
child. 
9 4 
Rex A. Casinader, Sepalika Ziernat~do and Ka~u~la Gafnuge 
Eankan cultural prefeceace for sons, men's superior status etc. In this context 
it becomes prestigious and a heralding of good times to have as the eldest 
child a son. NOW Kusurna's regret that her eldest child 1,; a soi: 3s a breakaway 
from religious and cultural value systems. 
One may interpret this as symptomatic of her breaking through the 
structures and the dominant state of valuss. For she gives expression to attitudes 
and values which are indicative of her capacity to demo~~strate the vdue of 
woman's work and enhances the principles of equality between men and women. 
Yet another aspect in Kusuma's case is lndicat~ve of this awareness or 
consciousness of women's position, apparently emerging from her experiences. 
She has little expectations from her children, particularly her sons. Even 
though they help her now in tlzs purchasing and selling of cashew nuts she 
suspects that this is due to her authoritarian ways and their young age. Soon 
she fears being men they would be less helpful. Her attitude to her only daughter 
ns different. This is not in the form of any expectations from her, but in her 
wanting to make her a working girl. And with this in view she has boarded 
haer with one of her sisters so that she may get the necessary formal and social 
cducation to be a working girl. 
Obviously she is anxious that her daughter sl~ouid be economicaJ1y 
independent and not be subject as she has been, to the double oppression of 
domestic chores and working to be the bread winner of the family. She appa- 
rently believes that if her daughter can riseout of her peasant or workingclass 
position to petty bourgeois status she will not be subject to these oppressive 
conditions that she has gone through. While upward social mobility may 
reduce oppressive conditions, Kusuma does not realize that in the Sri bankan 
petty bourgeois, particularly in urban situations, working wornen when 
married continue to perform the domestic, chores. This is especially so if they 
cannot afford domestic help, and this being increasingly expensive for most 
petty bourgeois families, the double oppression continues. 
Hence, social mobil~ly is not an answer lo the oppressive condition that 
Kusuma has expe,ienced and if her dauglltcr acquires a typical petty bourgeois 
szlt role job she may be in the same trap as her mother. Petty bourgeois values 
are sometimes more supportive of inequalities among sexes and may be she 
will not even acquire the awareness of her mother thct comes out of her experl- 
ences at working class or peasant levels. What is important is that Kusuma's 
attitude to her daughter and her expecta.tions for her are demonstrative of hcf 
awareness of women's issues, not :n an intellectual or ideologjcal sense, 
b~nt by her own hard experrencos. 
The two case studies presented, bring out features wjthjn the family, of 
importance to women's issues. The third case study, of Malanj shows many 
oftbeso features but also surface@ some village attitudes which are of releva~~ce 
to women's issues. Malani is well known in the village as the most skjlled 
cashew nut processor. She can ,process nearly 5,000 nuis per day giving her 
Women's Issues and Men's Roles: Sri Lanlcan Vilhge Experience 
85 
an earning capacity under the Gampubudrrwa Schemeof Rs. 1501- per day. l3 
She is 33 years old and the mother of five childrm agcd 3 to 17. Before marriage 
she was living with her brother at R:.Pahamywatta. During this time she had 
a love afiair with Gamini, a mason by vocation, who was from a distant pkce 
but temporarily resident in the village in connection with some work. When 
she realized she was going to have a baby by Gamiili she asked him to marry 
her but ha was not keen and in hct left the village. She had made a very 
determined effort to trace him and inldaed tracked him down to Colombo. 
They were married at a simple legal ceremony at the Marriage Registrar's 
Office in Colombo. She states that he consented to the marriage because he 
vvas concerned about the legitimacy of the child, rather than out of any 
affection or love for her. 
Soon after the child was born he left her but returned a year later, and 
Malanl had three more children. He left again after about a stay of nearly 
five years. He once again returned but this time eight years later, and they 
had another child. The relatioilship between Malini and Gaminj was not a 
happy one though she accepted his return on two occasions. Malini alleges 
that Camini was very cruel to her fiom thc very beginning of their married 
life. Frequent quarrels and physical assaults appear to have been present, right 
from the start, though she states that he is a little better since his last return. 
This according to her is because she has threatened to strike back if he assaults 
her any more. There is an ambivalent attitude for though she had acceptedhim 
back on two occasions, she contemplates seeking legal separation. Malini's 
case is replete with many features we identified in Mallika's and Kusuma's 
cases and it would be repetitious to go into these in detail. Like Kusuma Iler 
experiences appear to have hardened her and she too IS reputed to be tough 
and author~tarian. 
What is of significance is that almost soon after marriage Garnini had 
attempted to encourage his friends and other men in the villageto have close 
relationships with Malini and even have sex with her. She contends that this 
was contrived by Gamini so that he may divorce her under the ruse ofinfidelity, 
which Sri Lanlcan laws permit as grounds for divorce. This was long years ago. 
But many men in the village today attempt to make out that Mali131 was and 
still is a women of easy virtue. Some quite pointedly describe her as a prostr- 
tute:The women in the village on the other hand, categorically refutethis and 
describe jt as a baseless allegation conacocted partly by her husband. 
What is of interest in this is that it surfaces some village attitudes towards 
those woinen who having bean forced into a situation of being the sole bread- 
winner of the family, had in fact improved the family's economic standing. 
And this was manifost intheir improved or inzgroving life styles and living 
conditions. 
When this occurs it earns the displeasute of the rncn and psychological 
underpinings are apparent. This displeasure is often expressed in deprecating 
such wornen. And it il; extremely significant that they depreciate a wonla~iby 
- 
13. It may bc noted herc that Mallni, at7d as iq the casc w~th most women in the two 
villages, works only four days a week. One ddy js spent 011 parchasing OF raw nuts an2 
or in selling processed nuts. Another half day 1s spe~lt on the weekly Gampubudiiwa 
Village Society meeting. The other one and a half days which coinc~de with the weck 
ends are usually spent on domestic chores and with the family by most women, as 
schooling children and work~ng members of the family are at home. Yet for most 
women even worlting for only fo~~r days under the Gampi~bud~iwa Scheme has subs- 
tantially raised their income. 'The main avenues of expenditure of increased inwmcs 
are in settling old debts; improvement to housing ; purchase of consumer durablcs; 
pilgri~nages etc. 
86 
Rex A. Casinader, Sepalika Fernando and Karuna: Gamage 
calling her a prostitute? or a depraved woman. For in describing a woman 
as a prostitute the association and findertones of the woman being the property 
of men, a commodity that they purchase for pleasure are strong. And the 
sexual act in a forced or "'purchased" context is also seen by the men as a 
conquest, as an act of aggression, of degrading the women. It would then 
seem that in describing Malini as a woman of easy virtue, a prostitute, these 
undercurrents may be present. Even in the identification of Malini and earlier 
ICusuma as tough and hardened, a subtle negation of the culturally valued 
"feminine" characteristics, such undertones appear operative. Equally signi- 
fican t is the rationalization of Garnini's behaviour by some villagers. They 
state that Gamini was a good man but it was because Malini was not an 
obedient and faithful wife that he developed to be a cruel person. 
Interestingly a recent study of women workers in the Sri Lanka Free 
Trade Zone l4 identifies a similar syndrome operative in some attitudes to the 
Free Trade Zone women workers. The Free Trade Zone and its environs are 
described as "Isthiripura"- which in Sinhala literally means "Womens" 
City", but with the subtle coranotation of it being a city of women of easy 
virtue. This study also identifies ar-c attitude of hostility to the women workers 
because they seek ernploymer~t and economic independence; are away from 
dheiz I~omes and are in boardings etc. ; are not in the culturally venerated roles 
of mot her and wife attending to domestic chores etc. This hostility was expressed 
in terms of sexuality. Ths Flee Trade Zo~e woman worker was described as 
leading a permissive sex life, and the Free Trade Zone and its environs a 
""city of women" ! 
The three case studies presented, while higl~lighting the positive effects 
off the Gampubuduwa Village Programme by way of increased family income, 
adding economic strengtlr to ivomen's position and the principles of equality 
between the sexes, also bring out the negativc responses of Inen ~ncl ensuing 
problems both at the family and the vilfage level. It aIso appears that these 
responses and problemalics of men arc largely consequences of the two viIJages 
being encapsulated in the wider Sri Lankan social system and values, which 
prescribes a dominant role for the men in the family and village society. How- 
ever, empirical dataalso sarggests that it is possible for fzmilies and ~ndividuals, 
both women and men, to break through these structures. A dilution of thc 
socially dominant internallzed state of values thus appears lo be talcing place. 
W7e shall now present two case sturdics *err such trends appear. 
Sita is forty years old and 1s the mother of five chlIdre11, threc sons and 
two daughters. Hen husband Merril! is employed, at a government deyarlmenl 
in Colombo as a storernan. We is on the permanent caclrc. Me~ril rs from a 
village close by and had obtained a land allotment or block at Ralal~amywatta 
~irr the sixties from the government vrnder the vllIzge expansion scheme. 
Soon after marriage they had built a. small house in this block and moved 
in. When thc first child arrived, Merril and Sita fourrd that Merril's monthly 
wages were inadequate for the family subsistence and as in many other cases, 
Sita. went in for cashew nut processing for a wage. Later with some money 
-- 
14. 
"Women Workers in Srl Lanka Free Trade Zone" - Voice of Women, Colombo 1982. 
Women's Issues and Men's Roles: Sri Lankan Village Experience 87 
she borrowed from her mother she processed cashew nuts on her own as a 
suppleinentary activity. Subsequently she expanded this with the help of a 
loan obtained from the rural bank in the area. With this expansion she stopped 
worlcing for a wage. With the advent of the Gampubuduwa Village Society 
she joined the society and utilized the loan facilities available to its members. 
This has resulted in further expansion of her cashew processing work, aud 
substantial increase in income. Her family life is without any serious conflict 
or friction. 
Merril has a positive attitude towards Sita's work and activities and Iielps 
her in cashew processing when he is back home from work and during week 
ends. The income they get from cashew processing is entirely in the hands of 
Sita and she manages to meet the subsistence needs of the family with this. 
Merril keeps what he earns from his job at Colombo for his expenses and for 
littlle odd needs of the family. 
This compatibility is strengthened or may be even emerges from sonle 
common attitudes and values of Sita and Merril. Their common desire to 
improve the living standard of their family is ob~iously a strong factor but 
equally significant is the attitude they share of wanting to help their relations, 
friends and other villagers. This has some nexus to social work ideology. 
We observed earlier that Sri Eanka has had an active N.G.O. sector, 
earlier known as Voluntary Organizations. Pt was also noted that social work 
ideology and the use of voluntary free labour was a marked characteristic of 
such organizations. This is the context within which the social work ideology 
that we observe in Sita and Merril emerges. Village institutions such as the 
Dayaka Sabha (the Village Temples Laymen's Association) from traditional 
time and the Village Death Donation Society, of more recent origin within the 
last few decades, are also supportive of the emergence and growth of social 
work ideology. Urban social behaviour &en acted as models and in this too 
the urban upper class, and petty bourgeois women's participation in voluntary 
social work may have led to people like Sita, with strong social mobility 
aspirations to become jnvolved in social work. 
All this may have contributed to Sita developing the social work ideology 
and Merril was very supportive of it. Perhaps his own job and exposure 
to petty bourgeois values, aspirations and status symbols triggered him to 
encourage Sita internalize these values and acquire these behavjour patterns. 
The net result was that Sita was a very concerned individual with a social 
awareness. Indeed she js very active in the Gampubuduwa Village Society 
work and is the President of the Society. Most villagers respect her social 
awareness, and her capacity and ability for the type of work necessary in Ihe 
organization and running of a village organization like the Gsmpubuduwa 
Village Society. It would also appear, or one may conjecture that some of her 
own experiences in obtaining loans from the rural bank for cashew processing 
has acted in some way as a catalyst for the thinking behind the Gampubuduwa 
Village Society Programme of work for the village. Here too her desire to 
share her experiences with others is apparent. 
85 RE.\: A. Casinader, Sepalika Fernando and Koruna Gamage 
What we can draw out of this case study, is that certain processes and 
pressures can lend to changes or dilution in the internalized socially dominant 
values. Here apparently the improvement of Sita's material condition af life 
and accon~panying economic and social independence has led to, along with 
the transmission of the social work ideology, to the enhancement of her 
solidarity and participation in; village Pevel activities. There is a social aware- 
ness and wi!lingness to be involved in activities that are beneficial to the village 
or larger society, though within a reformist framework. Her husband Merril's 
positive attitude has been very supportive in her development. What is 
significant in comparison to the earlier Ihr-ee case studies is that such positive 
attitudes free Sita from being trapped in a family conflict situation which 
would have burnt up her energies, and also constrained hex participation in 
village activities. We shall draw on the underlying social process and their 
importance for women's issues later, together with related processes that 
chzracterize the fifth and the Bast case study wo shall now present. 
Aslin is thirty two years old and the mother of five children-two sons 
and three daughters. Her parental village was Paditiyawala while her husband 
Michael was from Ralahamywatta. Patrilocal residence being culturally 
preferred she had been living at Ralahamywatta since marriage. At the time 
of marriage Michael and Aslin were unemployed. Michael had been doing 
any casual wonk that was available in the village or environs. 
Soon after marriage Asliin settled down to cashew nut processing and 
Michael found that it was more profitable to help her with cashew nut pro- 
cessing than to do odd casual jobs. This '"elping" was initially confined lo 
plrrchaslng saw nuts, transporting it home and to the selling of processed 
nuts. With the little savings they were able to make, they expanded their 
cashew processing activities. With expansion Mjchael began to attend lo some 
of the domestic chores so that Aslin could devote more time for cashcw 
processing. Such domestic chs~ es that Michael took on were child rearing 
like bathing the children, baby-sitting ctc. as well a? washing of clotl~ees, 
tidying up the house etc. 
With the advent of the Oampubudumla Village Society and loaxi capital 
available om easy terms Aslin and Michael \ll~re able to further expand their 
cashew processing activities. At this stage, Michael when free of the purchasing 
and sales work or of the domestic (:hsres he had taken on, jolned Aslln in 
processing cashew nuts. Partly due Lo his devoting less time than Aslin, the 
number of nuts be decorticatec! were fr~~ less than hem's. But Michael states 
that his lower efficiency rate in decorticating ca~hc~v nuts IS the major 
contributive factor. Accorcl:ng to him for the came period of tme she 
could decorticate almost five times as he does. 
14 is significant that Michael dms not achieve the efficiency rate of Asljn 
in decorticating the cashew nuts and it is equally significant that he gives 
verbal expression to this. Manifestly this would appear very supportive of the 
argument that is trotted out that it is tha manual dexterity of Aslin, the woman 
that makes such jobs as cashow processing admirably suited for women and a 
typical "women's job". This is only manifestly so. At the latent level it is the 
"women's job" status for cashew processing that precludes Michael from 
achieving the same efficiency rate as Aslin. There is possibly an emotional 
Women's Issues and Men's Roles: Svi La:.okm Village -Experience S9 
blocking which prevents his achieving the same eficiency rate as Aslin and at 
the same time there is the need for his masculine identity and image to bs 
supported by this incapacity to do as well as a woman in a "woman's job". 
His verbal expression reiterates this need and he appears to obtain an emotional 
satisfaction in his lsrofessed inability to reach Aslin's levels of efficiency. 
This need to emphasize his masculine identity is greater in the context 
of his performing some domestic chores which are in the Sri Lankan social 
and cultural value systems assigned to women. Indeed the contradiction between 
his taking on domestic chores assigned customarily to women, as well as 
decorticating cashew nuts also identified as a "women's job" on the one hand, 
while his attempt to seek masculine identity by a lower efficiency rate, and 
verbalization of such professed incapacity on the other, needs to be explored 
and the dynamics uncovered. 
It would appear that the push towards Michael's positive attitude and 
actions in the participation of some of the domestic chores etc. comes from the 
growing importance of tho nuclear familyand its life styles, aspirations etc. in 
the lives of Aslin and Mich~el. The rise of czpitalism brought with it the 
emergence of the nuclear family as a basic social unit. That the nuclear family 
performs many crucial roles for capitalism needs no elaboration here. In 
peripheral capitalism, partjcularly in the urban centres of such capitalist 
societies, similar needs of capitalism led to the emergence of the nuclear family 
as a basic social unit, often aided by cultural colonialism which percolated 
down from the metropolitan cantresand with it imitative lifestylesand behaviour 
patterns. This was present in Sri Lanka. And given Sri Lanka's small size, 
good set of roads and transport, literacy and mass media, the urban Sri Lanka 
nuclear family likc many other urban phenomena became models for the rural 
areas particularly for villages likc Rallahamywatta and Pannagoda which were 
in the periphery of the great city of Sri Lanka - Colombo. 
This nt~clear family identity, and aspirationsare present in the case of Aslin 
and Michael. The aspirations are yartlcularly for urban life styles; education 
for children with the possible upward social mob~lity as a consequence etc. 
They are indeed suggestive of petty bourgeois values and life styles. This is in 
kacrping with the urban models which are dominated by petty bourgeois class 
characteristics. All this motivates to keep the nuclear family idmtity and 
more importantly, works hard towards achieving its life styles etc. It is this 
that had led Michael to identify himself strongly with the family alld work 
with Aslin in many co-operative ways including domestic chores etc. This 
leads them to achieve some of the set goals by getting better economic power. 
Yet in the process Michael suffers certainstresses but works them out in many 
ways. One identified was his professed inability toreach Aslin's efficiency rate. 
At the same time the emotional satisfaction of the economic and social progress 
of their nuclear family abates the stress. 
m 
The first three case studies have shown on the one hand the problems of 
male dominance, where economic emancipation of the women had occ~irred, 
for both the men and women, while the last two case studies on the other hand 
are illustrative of where a dilution of male dominance is occurring and directions 
in which such dominance may be overcome. In the two villages there are many 
more such situations and a number of intermediary types. 
90 Rex A. Casirluder, Sepalika Fernaizdo and Kuruna Gamcdge 
What naturally would help in such situations is an articulation of the 
principles of the equality of the saxzs. This would work towards negatingthe 
stresses brought about by sex soles and of status based on an ideology of 
equality betweell the sexes. This is what we like to draw out rrom the last 
cue study as well as in ti14 ficst three c~e studies. For there too, the principal 
of the equality of sexes would perform a similarfunction. May be in Michael's 
case with other motivating fators at work, viz the importance of the nuclear 
family etc. the seeds of equality of sexes wiIl germinate and take root quickly, 
for they work in the same direction. But even in the other cases the fostering 
of the principle of equality between the sexes will have positive results for the 
entire social network and the family unit. 
What all this seems to suggest is that petty production in cashew nut 
processing thatemerged as a poverty survival strategy had within it the potential 
and capacity to be a stop forward in women's issues. But it had also contained 
within it the seeds of conflict between women's and men's objectives and roles 
as well as of their subjective reactions. This, we observed is because they are 
trapped in the wider matrices of social values and systems, which conflict with 
the emerging new patterns. Unless the men's consciousness regardng women's 
oppression and the principle ofequality between the sexes are stirred and move 
parallel to that of women, it may not be possible to prevent such conflict. 
Other processes at work at the village and at the larger societal levels could 
obviously aid in this raising ofmen's consciousness. But some of the structural 
features of the colonial and post colo~lial social formation and its implications 
for women's work and position, some of which we drew attention to earlier 
may work against or make problornatic for even such reforms to be meaningful. 
The Gampubuduwa Movement village development programme at 
Ralahamywatta and Pannagoda have activated these various responses, though 
women's issues were not within the objective concern of the movement either 
at its ideological levels ol.in the village development programmes that emerged 
in its work at these two villages. Rut women' sissues have now emerged 
in this programme as strikingly important and crucial. It is in recognition of 
this and the dynamics that have led to this, that dictated this paper as a docu- 
mentation exercise. 
While one maysaw off thisdocumentationat this point, it appearspertinent 
to raise a few implications. The petty production in cashew nut processing was 
only a poverty survival strategy, and its effectiveness as a strategy improved 
increasingly under the Gampubuduwa Programme. It does not however elimi- 
nate poverty. For this it can be argued that organized political action may 
be necessary. 
Some argue that women's issues struggles should be within thecontext of 
broader political actionthat seeks to change the social and political system. 
This is also argued asanecessary pre-condition to eliminate sexism. Those who 
advocate this view often interpret women's issues movements outside such 
broader struggles as fissiparous of the social bases that can and should be 
organized in such struggles. In Sri.Lanka, and other South Asian countries, 
the character of the women's issues movement is sometimes supportive ofsuch 
interpretation. The movement is dominated, if not wllolly confined to, by 
bourgeois and petty bourgeois women who were attracted by women's issues 
Women's Issues and Men's Roles: Sri Lankan Village Experience 
9 1 
because it gives them a break through in their professions; it is often an "in 
thing" in the "developing strategy game". It also confers a kind of radical 
chic status on these women with social identities not perhaps entirely uncom- 
parable with learning to play the piano in colonial times. The performance 
continues to be in the main, in the drawing looms, and the allegros are in the 
sparkling conversations. To some the perks of travel, participation in inter- 
national seminars, research grants, career advancement, etc. remain additional 
rewards. 
But this perspective, while raising important questions tends to subsume 
the difference between women's oppression in particular and the oppression 
attending all workers in peripheral capitalist countries like Sri Lanka. This 
refers to the political aspects of the conflicts between men and women rooted 
in the nature of thcir interpersonal relations and its sexual division of labour 
within the family. And this includes occupational segregation by sexes in petty 
by family labour. This implicationlies embedded in the experiences 
of women and the two villages that this paper has attempted to document. 
This study while focusing attention on the sexual division of labour and 
roles within the family and interpersonal relations in such contexts has also 
sought to put in proper perspective as well as rectify a lack of recognition of 
self evident fact that without women's income families may not be able to 
survive at all. To some it may appear that this is so only in villages of the type 
of Ralahamywatta and Pannagoda, where petty commodity production is 
crucial in the village economy and where particularly paddy cultivation is 
absent or only marginally present. This is however not correct, for women 
are involved in paddy production and processing in villages where paddy 
production is central. This is the case in South Asia. The economic and other 
importance in such involvement has been demonstrated by a recent study 
in IndiaS15 
There are of course regional variations.In Sri Lanka large scale landlordism 
and use of agricultural labour are relatively less present than in India, except 
in the South Western region of Sri Lanka.I6 Even in these regions it appears to be 
on a smaller scale than wliat is evident in India. The somewhat widespread 
tenurial arrangements in the small farms of Sii Lanka are also on a cash or 
produce basis and rarely on the basis of obligatory hbour. All this has an 
impact on the nature of women's involvement in paddy production and 
processing in Sri Lanka. It occurs mainly within the context of family labour 
input. This involvement however has been little researched and thole is 
almost a complete gap in the data based on women's economic activities 
and involvement in paddy production and processing in Sri Lanka. 
- 
2 5. Joan P. Mencher and K. Saradalnoni - "Muddy Feet, Dirty Hands; Rice Productjon 
and Female Agricultural Labour". Economic Political Weekly, Bombay, Vol. XVTT, 
No. 52, December 25th 1982. 
16. There are no castes even In this region (i.e. Hambantota, Batticaloa & parts of Amparai 
Districts) in Sri Lanka who are tradiliollally associated with agricultural labour as 
an occupation. There are some castes among the Tamils in the Jaffna Peninsula and 
as resident labour in the Tea and Rubber plantations who are identical w~th what are 
referred to as Har~jans in Tamilnadu, but they are not involved in agricultural labour 
work for paddy production. The only "tribals" in Sri Lanka are the Veddhas who are 
not ~llvolved in any agricultural work and are also numerically insignificant. In India 
it appears that most agricultural workers are either I-Iarijans or Tribals.