Women and Their Interests in Rural India

There is a substantial and growing recognition of the hazards of treating the interests of women as being homogenous. A variety of sources focus on diversity in the interests of a woman, ranging from bargaining with patriarchy where she is forced to carry out diverse tasks within the household, to the extension of these negotiations elsewhere in her socio-economic reality. These challenges are accentuated at times of wider social transformation. Responses of women to these challenges are also influenced by their position within the household. This article seeks to gain insights into the complex negotiations between women, households and society in times of socio-economic transformation by exploring the relationship between women’s interests, strategic gender interests and practical gender interests within households that are headed by women. It does so through an empirical examination of the linkages between these interests of women across four different patterns of transformation in 21st-century rural India.