Box 8 Caste Differences Complicate
Organizational Performance
In Rajapura in Chitradurga district, a multicaste village with sharp
economic divisions, a Stree-Shakthi group was formed with members of
different castes. The SC households were agricultural laborers, while the
others were landed cultivators, and these subgroups of members
developed different expectations of the group. Because the anganawadi
worker stayed in a different village, she could not conduct night meetings,
and usually conducted them during the day. The wage laborers stated at
the beginning that they could not attend meetings during the work day
and would expect the staff to collect savings from their doorsteps. Women
belonging to the upper castes did attend the daytime meetings. This led to
a more intimate relationship between the staff and those members. The SC
women, meanwhile, felt that because the anganawadi worker belonged to
the upper caste she was biased toward her caste people and was neglecting
the SC women. They alleged that the worker had misappropriated
the group savings, and the issue had not yet been resolved when the
fieldwork was conducted. The anganawadi worker complained that the
SC women did not attend any training programs conducted outside the
village, while the latter took the position that their livelihood demands
were such that they could not afford to lose one day’s wage.
The study team found that the anganawadi worker was not able to
understand or deal with the problems arising from caste heterogeneity.
She took the position that the SC women were illiterate, ignorant, and
irresponsible. The study team had a different impression of the SC
women, who were raising issues relating to participation, transparency,
and accountability. These factors have in fact had an adverse impact on
the functioning of the group, which after functioning well between
October 2000 and December 2001, was disbanded in February 2002.
Source: Case studies.
include distance to market, number of households in a village, the amount
of irrigated land in a village, whether or not it is a project village, and the
state in which the village is located. Table 24 presents the findings from
regression analysis of core characteristics of the villages where the sample
organizations are operating.
Distance to market associates negatively with performance of most functions
in the women’s development sector, but it has positive significance
for many functions in the other two sectors.19 The farther away a village is