The British novelist E.M. Forster wrote, “The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society were eternal. Both assumptions must be accepted if we are to keep open a few breathing holes for the human spirit.” Great ventilators of the human spirit have always felt the need to act and make time to be available to others. Kandikuppa Hemalata, the current All India General Secretary of Anganwadi Helpers and Workers and Secretary in the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), took the bold decision to be usefully available to others as a young girl. Following the call of her heart, she completed a course as a gynaecologist and obstetrician. Attending to women, `the neglected gender`, according to Hemalata, gave her utmost satisfaction. She gets the same satisfaction when dealing with issues pertaining to working women and the working class in general.

Hemalata`s entry into the trade union movement was not accidental. Being the wife of Shyam Sunder, who was with State Bank of India and a leading activist of the banks and LIC unions, she used to overhear the union discussions at her residence. The situation changed when she joined Praja Vaidhyashala, a CPI (M) party-run hospital in Nellore, as a trainee doctor. From then on she became increasingly aware of the need for an organisation to raise the issues of the unheard.

In the late 1970s, soon after the emergency and when land struggles became intense and widespread, the CPI(M) came to the forefront, demanding better wages for labourers, an end to human rights violations, the bonded labour system and the zamindari system. In 1980, when CITU organised its 4th All India Conference in Chennai, the party decided to send young Hemalata as a delegate from Andhra Pradesh. Listening to the leaders, the flame of activism in Hemalata was kindled. Slowly, she started flowing with the rhythm of the trade union movement.

The 4th Conference of CITU was of historic significance in that it decided to create a unit for women workers – the All India Coordination Committee of Women – to address their own issues. Being the Andhra delegate for the conference, Hemalata became a member of this Coordination Committee.

After two years of training with Praja Vaidhyashala, Hemalata went back to her home town, Machilipatnam, and set up a clinic, a step in fulfilling her childhood dreams to serve suffering women. Meanwhile, she continued her role as a trade unionist by finding time to attend workers issues.

In 1992, CITU gave Hemalata the responsibility of organising anganwadi workers. As the state secretary of CITU, her major focus was anganwadi and beedi workers in Andhra Pradesh. Besides these two sectors, she was also given the responsibility of coordinating the State Coordination Committee of Women.

“During that period, we launched a lot of struggles for protecting the rights of anganwadi workers and improving their working condition,” reflects Hemalata. When there was a move from the government to hand over the anganwadis to NGOs, the union protested, with Hemalata in the forefront. The activists organised local struggles by mobilising around 6000 workers, resulting in the government`s withdrawal of the idea. 

In 1995, the union asked her to take up more responsibilities in Andhra Pradesh and requested her to shift her base from Machilipatnam to Hyderabad, the state capital. She became a full-time worker of the union and closed her clinic in Machilipatnam.

The ruling Telugu Desam Party introduced the concept of `Mothers` Committees` for anganwadi workers. A group of mothers (whose children go to anganwadis) would form the committee and have the right to decide and disburse the honorarium of the anganwadi workers and helpers. The government issued an order for the same. The unions saw this as a way to deprive the workers of their legitimate right – the honorarium. Around 13,000 workers marched in protest, demanding withdrawal of the decision. The protest was so strong that the chief minister himself had to pacify the workers by issuing an order to cancel the decision to form the committees. Hemalata considers this initiative a major success for the anganwadi union because the united action gave strength and confidence to the workers` future movements.

In 1998, Hemalata was elected General Secretary of the Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union during the all India conference of CITU in Bhopal. She shifted her base to New Delhi at the request of the union. She remains in the same post to date.

Placement of Working Women

A majority of the women working in the unorganised sector have been employed in the public sector. Due to neo-liberal policies and downsizing and restructuring in the public sector and government departments, a major chunk of the female workforce has been retrenched or asked to opt for VRS. The general perception is that women`s income is supplementary, making them the first victims of retrenchment and downsizing. “Women have been forced to go on VRS in some banks, under the threat of transfer to far-off places. Coal India has even formulated a special VRS package for women,” says Hemalata.

In spite of all this, according to Hemalata, the number of working women has increased tremendously in the last decade, though the growth is seen in the unorganised sector. The largest female workforce is in the anganwadi sector. If all the government allotted centres were functioning, the estimated number of anganwadi workers and helpers would be around 18 lakhs.

In order to address the health needs of the rural population, especially the vulnerable sections of society, the government has established the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), a new band of community based functionaries. ASHA comes under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the women working under this scheme are not called workers but `accredited activists`. ASHA will be the first port of call for any health-related demand of the deprived sections of the population, especially women and children, who find it difficult to access health services. Earlier, anganwadi workers, under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), were engaged in organising supplementary nutrition programmes and other supportive activities. The pressure of work did not allow them to attend the health needs of the rural population, because of which ASHA has now been given the responsibility. ASHAs are functional now in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and, according to the government, the rest of the states will also have it soon. This workforce will be more than 8 lakhs in the near future.

Another trend is the increased women workforce participation – 30 to 35 per cent – in call centres; statistics show that it is increasing by the day. Domestic work is also seeing a steep rise; women from villages, tribal and urban areas are opting in large numbers the domestic work, a job which is completely unorganised and has no security. “Ninety per cent of home-based workers are women,” says Hemalata. A recent survey, conducted by CITU and the ILO, has identified around 90 different categories of home-based work that include (besides the familiar categories of work such as bindi making, whistle making, carpets, embroidery, etc.) many other new forms such cleaning of the hair that is cut in Tirupati, collecting snails, peeling off chilly stalks, making sacred threads, etc. “These are piece-rated work, which vary from season to season. On an average, the people get employment for a maximum of 6 months,” says Hemalata.

Employing Women and the Nimble Finger Theory

According to Hemalata, there is a visible trend to provide women job opportunities in some specific industries and sectors such as health, education and services. Besides these, women largely work in the manufacturing sector (including metal industries), but mostly as home-based workers.

The nimble finger theory is an age old one. Hemalata rejects the nimble finger theory. It is not nimble fingers that make women more liked by the employers. Women are ready to work for cheap rates. This means that the employer needs to pay only low wages for employing women workers. Women are hesitant to argue, can be forced to work for longer hours and there are less chances of them getting organised or unionised.

“Women from lower middle class or poor families come to work in utter desperation of getting some money for attending their immediate family needs. This desperation makes them docile. The recent CITU/ ILO survey of home-based workers shows that 59 per cent of them are earning less than Rs 1000 per month, or an average of Rs 25 per day. Since the jobs held are insecure and the income unstable, even this income could be calculated only for a period of 6 months. On the other hand, a majority of educated women from middle class, upper middle class or rich families work because they consider a job as a status symbol. In the context of globalisation and informalisation, the majority of women who come for work are from poor families.”

The beedi workers` sector had a large number of women as workers. However, after the ban on smoking in public places came into existence, the consumption of beedi has been drastically reduced, throwing thousands of women jobless or giving them employment for fewer days.

Male Leadership Paradigms and Exclusion of Women

In Hemalata`s opinion, although more and more women are coming out in search of paid employment since their families need the income, the attitude to women and their role in the family has not undergone much change. “Women are perceived to be weak, inferior, second-class citizens. The capitalist classes use the feudal attitude to exploit women and increase their profits,” says Hemalata. The perception of a woman as one who cannot attend union activities because she is busy taking care of the children, husband, parents, in-laws, etc., should be changed. Women will need to do work at home and attend to all chores, but this should not hinder their taking on leadership positions. A majority of males underestimate women`s ability to work in the union as well as their ability to manage their own work. Women have proven themselves as capable of managing their work and as organisers. The ability of the anganwadi workers to discharge their duties in the union at district, state and central levels is amazing. They organise struggles, taking up the entire responsibility of planning events, including travel and meeting arrangements. Hemalata believes that once women are convinced, opportunities given and training provided, women will willingly take up responsibilities and discharge duties in a meticulous way. In CITU, a minimum 15 per cent of its members should be women; and in proportion to the membership in different states, it can be more. According to Hemalata, some states have attempted to include women in leadership roles as well.

Women are new entrants seeking leadership positions. Sometimes, a male union leader, who has held a position for a long period, has to be replaced. This results in resistance. This conflict is absent in recently formed unions because both men and women are new entrants. Adequate representation is given to women. “All our state-level committees have women office bearers. But this was not the case a decade before,” says Hemalata. Earlier women were taken only as nominal, even cosmetic, additions. There has been a tremendous change and women are now actively participating in union activities and meetings.

Role Models for Women

 “A false notion is created in the society about women`s role. Women fall prey to this concept. The general notion is that the women are meant to do domestic chores. I am not sure, how many women have the freedom to choose even what to cook?” questions Hemalata. Woman, by nature, takes up more burdens; and she can very convincingly force other family members to give her that burden.

Working women face the double burden of their domestic and official responsibilities. This becomes one major reason for women not coming forward to take up responsibility in unions. Women trade unionists become victims of character assassination. They face both physical and mental violence including attempts to murder and murder from family members because they are unionists.

Rarely is there family support for women who play active roles in union activities. Neither men nor women should think that the woman alone should play the role of a care giver. Without adjustment, one cannot proceed. Hemalata has had the full support of her family in carrying out the duties of a trade unionist. When the union decided to shift her base from Machilipatnam to Hyderabad, her husband got a transfer to the Hyderabad branch; when the union wanted her at the centre, he took voluntary retirement and followed her to Delhi. Currently he works as the Manager for People`s Democracy. Their only son, Arun Kumar, is the All India President of SFI.

Born in 1951 as the eldest of four children to Vaikunda Rao, an engineer with PWD, and Shankari a housewife, Hemalata completed her studies in Berampur, Orissa. “My father used to be away in the forest for months together, and it was my mother who ran the family. It is from her I learnt the basics of confidence and courage,” she says. “I was never taught that being a woman I have to make more compromises and adjustments.”

Besides convincing the union members to take up gender issues in a big way, Hemalata believes that there should be concerted efforts to bring more women members to the coordination committees. A struggle within the organisation is required to bring women into limelight. Trade unions should encourage their members, including the leaders and the cadres, to respect women, share the domestic responsibilities of women workers and overcome feudal attitudes to women.

For Hemalata, the decade-long experience at the centre has taught her a lot. She is proud to be a woman. She believes in the power the women and has faith in their capacity to struggle for success.