Talk shop

Namma Katte, a shutter shop in Bengaluru, is a space for women to gossip and have the conversations that can lead to change, writes Tanisha Saxena

Women showcase their stories via stitches

A swing installed inside Namma Katte

The critical yet ignored conditions of anganwadi women are due to the ingrained patriarchal society we live in. Why is a woman’s work devalued?

Women are always finding spaces to talk in — terraces, local gardens etc. What’s unique about Namma Katte is the sense of ownership that it offers to visitors. “Namma Katte is a space to gossip and start the change with conversations. A space where we will dance with no control and where we will sell idlis. A space to see exhibitions, theatre performances, and readings. A space to swing. (There is a swing installed inside). A space to stitch and think of alternative job opportunities. A space to sleep and enjoy a cup of chai. A space to wait and think. A space to read and scream. A space that will eventually be taken over by the people themselves,” adds artist Dr Indu Antony, the brain behind Namma Katte.

Namma Katte is a shutter shop in the heart of Lingarajapuram, Bengaluru that was opened up in February this year. Dr Indu has been working with the anganwadis in and around the area for quite some time now, and she always felt the need to have a space for women to do whatever they want. In many of her interactions, they discussed their stories and issues that plague society. And that is how Namma Katte was born.

Dr Indu explains that the space is primarily for sharing stories. Especially those which are not articulated aloud. “Just two weeks ago, one lady told me that her third child was a female, and her mother-in-law was so unsupportive that she buried the child alive. There are similar tales, like dowry-related issues, and frequent domestic violence cases triggered by alcohol abuse. Each story is so personal in its own way, and the fact that there was no avenue for these women to share them is what had to be changed.”

While Dr Indu’s support for the anganwadi women is indeed appreciative, the need for such a space to exist once again highlights the plight of anganwadi workers. It is a stark reminder of the conditions they work in.

Striking the right chord

During the pandemic, the anganwadi workers were made to volunteer at centres, carry out vaccination drives to remote places, and arrange food for infants, yet no safety protocols were followed for them. The women raised an alarm over the lack of compensation, safety and above all dignity.

Renu, an anganwadi worker from Bengaluru, says, “Anganwadi aurton ka kabhi samman nahi kiya gaya. Humari ek hi binti hai ki, humey samman dijiye. (Anganwadi workers are being humiliated. We deserve respect.)”

“We have come a long way but unfortunately women are still not seen as breadwinners? And what’s even more disappointing is, this work is seen as a ‘voluntary’ extension of the unpaid work they do as mothers,” says Ann Joseph who is a social worker in Hyderabad.

“Since the pandemic began, I have been working in the area, going door-to-door, conducting Covid-19 surveys, spreading awareness on sanitation and vaccination, delivering health and nutrition supplements, tracking the health of pregnant women in the area, working for about 12-13 hours a day. After doing so much and more, we don’t even receive respect from the community to forget about wages. Who is here to look after us,” asks Suneeta from an anganwadi centre in Electronic City, Bengaluru.

“We work so hard to ensure that provisions reach the needful. But nobody cares about us. We are underpaid. When we go back home our husbands ask what’s the point of working if you don’t make enough money. After all the hard work nobody even bothers to listen to us. Aren’t we human beings?” said Lata (name changed) an anganwadi worker in the city.

She is among the other workers who fear that if creches are introduced (according to National Education Policy) in the state for children, it will take a toll on other duties towards teaching. Eventually, putting their job at risk.

And while these women’s lives are very different from that of the working-class women in India, the underlying truth is the same. “It’s been more than 10 years that I have been associated with women and work for their welfare, all that boils down to is how work done traditionally by women is devalued and not seen as worthy of being paid well. This is not just with women in caregiving or ‘supportive’ occupations like anganwadi work, domestic work, or nursing, but homemakers as well. No one talks about them and their needs, everyone is just concerned about the ”beneficiaries” and it is intolerable,” says Manju Kaushik, a social worker at Saheli Trust.

There is a stereotype here that comes into play, women perform better at reading others’ minds, especially other women. Their inbuilt consciousness to understand the feelings of other fellow humans makes them perfectly suitable to be recruited as community workers. However, there is a refusal to recognise this “all women workforce” as workers providing labour. It is often in the name of “honorary workers,” they are denied minimum wages, leave and other conditions that the work entails. In 2017, some anganwadi women in Bengaluru protested on the streets and a similar thing happened in Delhi in the month of March 2022.

The state proudly calls them “volunteers” because they assume that women’s care and emotional labour lie outside the mundane world of markets. The workers have been demanding recognition as workers for years.

The recognition will thus provide an opportunity to build an alternative structure for women in the labour market.

Moreover, recognising care work in the public sphere could also help in easing the gendered and unequal division of housework and unpaid care burden.