Do Men and Women Compete - Essay Example

Do men and women compete or co-operate in coping with the threat of hunger DO MEN AND WOMEN COMPETE OR CO-OPERATEIN COPING WITH THE THREAT OF HUNGER GRACE SARKAR Order No. 423778 29 March 2010 Table of Contents Introduction 3 The cause 4 The gender that does better 5 Gender roles in third world economies 11 Migrations from rural regions 12 Conclusion 14 Sources 16 DO MEN AND WOMEN COMPETE OR CO-OPERATE IN COPING WITH THE THREAT OF HUNGER Introduction Gender plays an important and decisive role in coping with the threat of hunger. Women have notably been on the forefront when push came to shove and decisions were to be made in the face of surmounting odds in the game of survival. Women are known to go hungry in order to feed their hungry children. By nature, women are built with the resilience to cope with the threat of hunger in better ways than men (Agarwal, Bina (a); 1990). Be that as it may, men have the same inclination to self-sacrifice as women in drought condition and feed their little ones first. However, the pain of the sacrifice is plain on their faces. Women, on the other hand, sacrifice with a glow on their countenance. They have the creativity and the ability to withstand drought to the maximum extent and make food out of whatever sources available (Eldridge, Christopher, p2). Flood, drought and famine have struck all countries across the globe. The evidence of famine is scripted in the ancient texts and millions died in those days in the absence of effective communication and fast transportation available today (Dreze, Jean and Sen, Amartya; 1989). However, one must give thought to accounts of heroism and endurance that never-say-die men and women exercised to outlive those events. Small remnants of brave men and women survived to carry on with life and challenges they overcame to script their experiences with future generations. The cause The threat of hunger may or may not be an isolated incident. There are those that experience hunger as a daily challenge. In the ancient days, a lot depended on the ruling class on the extent of hunger in their land. If rulers were benevolent, people experienced prosperity and thrived with only fleeting acknowledgement of hunger. However, if rulers were exacting and impersonal large number of people below the poverty line came in grips with the pangs of hunger. This situation was man-made. But one learnt to live with it. It was only a matter of survival to live another day. There was no shortage of food as such. Life went on although the question of where the food was to come from faced the hungry segment of the population. Nonetheless, even hungry people got their needs met long enough to survive. To the hungry, it mattered little if the cause of hunger was man-made or an act of God. The challenge of survival presented a test that sometimes was overcome and other times meant defeat (Barraclough, Solon L; 1991). The scourge of famine continues to haunt large swathes of regions in Africa and Asia. These regions have witnessed famine owing to myriad reasons chiefly uncertain rains, disruptive floods or crop failures due to absence of rains. Apart from natural causes, the phenomena of famine exists owing to socio-economic failures, unstable political conditions, lumpen environment, and other factors that contribute to continuance of famine conditions that lack education and trigger contingencies (Bryceson, Deborah Fahy; 2006). The gender that does better It is difficult to pinpoint a particular gender did better than the other although natural indications point to women as better managers of hunger. By and large, women are endowed with better resilience and determination to scrape through periods of hunger irrespective of their cause. In Bangladesh which experienced famine in the 1970s, it was women who were organizationally entrusted to fight famine through community empowerment and other material means (Dreze, Jean and Sen, Amartya; 1989). It is not as if men are cowards and flee from the scene of hunger. Men have displayed courage and gone in search of food. Men have fought, lost lives or returned home with or without food. But when it comes to ingenuity in creating food for the family, it is women who display resilience and strength. Women will bargain, choose, strike conditions, search, and make maximum efforts to secure food for her family. She is built that way for the purpose. "Households faced with risks to their entitlement of food will plan strategically to minimize their impact. The task of doing this will be particularly demanding during famines" (Corbett, Jane; 2002). In calamitous famine, women will ration food, fill the storehouse with food as much as possible, economize, make representations to the highest levels of authority if required, and make way for food supply on regular basis till the famine conditions alleviate (Corbett, Jane; 2002). On the whole, the reactions of women to famine conditions also depend on their social and economical status. Although lot more women combine household duties with official duties today, women continue to take initiatives in familial issues such as food and sustenance. Women in the middle and higher social and economical orders are exposed to better interactions with local and state level leaders. Hence, there are better chances for coordinating availability of food supplies in famine situation. However, in rural and far flung regions in poverty conditions the situation is abysmal and prone to exploitations (Bernstein, Henry; Crow, Ben and Johnson, Hazel; 1992). In third world economies, political environment play pivotal role in providing or not providing succor to the hungry. Competition between men and women are limited to the extent of food available and the maximum amount of money that can be cajoled or extorted from the consumers. If there is good amount of money involved, hoarders and black marketers organize the distribution of food in the sellers' market. In this situation, it is the men who will make decisions. On the other hand, if the distribution is managed by international donor agencies, it is the woman who runs the house who will acclimatize faster with the distribution system and do a better and cleaner job of the distribution. Nonetheless, empowerment of women is not ubiquitous in third world economies in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Places where women are in control are in exceptions. In Africa and Asia, most economies have male-dominated societies or families where man is the unquestioned head. This tendency exists more so in rural regions where hunger strikes first. Women are illiterate for the most part and consider playing second fiddle to the man as their natural lot. Men are the head of the house and also dominate the scenario in the community councils (Gladwin, C, Thomson, A, Peterson, J & Anderson, A, 2001). The concept of competition between the sexes is unheard of. There may be joint efforts by man and women in the fight against hunger. However, the truce is short-lived and once normalcy is restored the men assume the leadership role. In India, the government has made it mandatory for local councils in rural areas known as gram panchayats to reserve 33% seats for women. However, most of these ladies serve only as rubber stamps for their husbands. If competition between the sexes were to be the benchmark for coping with the threat of hunger women would triumph due to their intuitive capability to organize food distribution. However, male influence in rural areas prone to threats of hunger in developing economies in Africa and Asia is very high and in certain areas indisputably overwhelming. Additionally, in tribal areas that comprise large regions in India militant extremists known as the Naxalites exist, making it difficult even for male authorities to operate without disturbances. So also in sub-Saharan Africa militant groups operate in a number of places making it difficult for food products to reach rural areas without obstacles. In such scenarios, it is not possible to conduct unbiased experiments on the issue of gender. Militant extremists mostly comprise men. Hence, even if the issue of gender is involved it gives the male unfair advantage. In order for a fair trial on the issue of competition or cooperation between the sexes on the issue of hunger the population in rural regions must be adequately literate in order to mobilize public opinion and act thereon. Government efforts at education in rural areas are bearing fruits albeit at very slow pace largely owing to local social customs and taboos that continue to influence even the educated rural folks. Blind religious beliefs neutralize the fruits of education and even a well educated person finds it difficult to go by merits and allow a woman to lead. The evils of casteism in India have existed for ages and it is not possible to eradicate the practice in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, it is not practical to allow existing situations to continue unchallenged. It is critically important to allow education to continue so that in the times ahead education can play vital role in the fight against blind beliefs and oppression. The role of education in democracies like India is huge and constructive even if social customs and taboos continue to influence the majority. Education provides people with position and power and brings about changes in the way people think and act. For instance, an illiterate rural folk is slave to social customs. However, an educated rural person may pay lip service to social customs and choose the right way of doing anything or making choice irrespective of gender difference. However, getting proper education is a major issue in many countries where childhood is spent working on farms without which the family may have to go hungry for a large part of the year. In many African countries, children including the girl child have no option to working in the fields as otherwise it is certain they will starve (Eldridge, Christopher). Obviously, these conditions exist on account of weak governments or dictatorships that could not care less. Weak or despotic governments wreck good governance. So, if any changes have to be seen on the issue of governance at the grassroot levels it is imperative to have in place proper governance at the national level. Apart from government responsibilities, it is also necessary to look at societal values in order to assess hunger. The inequality of food distribution in the market scenario is contributing in distinct measure to hunger among the poor. "While one part of humanity desperately searches for more food to eat, another part counts the calories and looks for new ways of slimming. Inequalities in the distribution of food are not a new phenomenon by any means, but while in the past affluence may have been confined to a small section of society, in the modern world the bulk of the population in many countries is now in the affluent category as far as food is concerned" (Dreze, Jean and Sen, Amartya; 1989, p4). The scale of hunger in any country is the result of its socio-economic trends and cannot be attributed wholly to the government. Of course, the government is responsible to oversee the reduction and eradication of hunger. However, governments come and go. Ultimately, it is the will of the people that works for a solution to hunger. The prevalence of hunger is a desperate situation. Quite often, such situation may warrant emergency measures. It also requires men and women at all levels to cooperate in the larger interests of society. In third world economies, food distribution is a major challenge and this challenge must be dealt with by the government. Food products are available in two categories, the average quality and good quality. The common man normally purchases the average quality, leaving the good quality for those in the higher income brackets. There is also government-subsidized food products specially made available for the poor. Whatever be the merits of these categories, the government makes food available for all class, rich and poor, of people of the land. Now there are middle men involved in the process of distribution of these food products, including the government-subsidized food products. By themselves, the middle men are capable of carrying out the distribution and if any one indulges in any malpractices they are dealt with by the law of the land. However, many times these middle men are not allowed to function independently. There are political godfathers who will not allow the full quantity of the subsidized food products to reach their destination in all their fullness. In these conditions, it is not possible to assess gender effectiveness in hunger management. In these conditions, it is not possible to discount involvement of the male in the distribution process. As mentioned earlier, a cooperative approach works better. And the best form of this cooperation can be found in families as a unit. Families have males as well as females. However, females are symptomatically relegated to playing secondary roles. The dominant males have diverse drawing powers depending on their political affiliations. Thus, the storehouses in families keep their fill according to the drawing capacity of each member. This is not the situation in normal conditions, but in famines (Bernstein, Henry; Crow, Ben and Johnson, Hazel; 1992). Gender roles in third world economies Women can play crucial roles in food distribution both in normal times and emergency situations such as famine if they are given a free hand. For such scenario in third world economies it is imperative that women operate under an independent entity such as the United Nations department or any other strong non-governmental organization. Other than these, they will not be allowed to operate in a fair and fearless manner. Wherever the women play major business roles in the family, the male members are known to remain content with other job assignments or sit at home managing babies or whiling away their time playing games or entertaining themselves in various forms. The kolis who are traditionally fishing community in the western coasts of Maharashtra, India, have predominantly women population engaged in the fishing industry. The men are either gainfully employed in governments offices or multinational corporations or just sit at home entertaining themselves or doing nothing. They may or may not have received enough formal education although they are getting their children properly educated seeing the fishing industry metamorphoses to modern methods from traditional ones. However, not all rural communities are as fortunate as the kolis. However, all communities are in the position to form cooperatives where the roles of men and women are determined. Cooperatives are classic examples for men-women cooperation or competition because market forces determine whose role is more fruitful. The emergence of cooperatives also provide tremendous boost to families in management of resources. The dynamics of a family environment play a better role in food management in the hour of crisis. This is because the family has bargaining capacities. A family may own moveable or immovable properties. Several members of a family may be engaged in income-generating activities. They can use these assets in order to pay for their ration in the short term as well as in the long run (Longhurst, Richard; 2010). In the ultimate analysis, a family stays united irrespective of gender differences. We have also seen the role of males in the event the womenfolk are involved in business activities. Thus, the picture in modern third world economies is not one of dismal failures in the times of crisis. There may be periods of exploitation and brutalities. But these do not last. They do not end either. They continue on a lower scale and exist within the tolerance level of the people. Migrations from rural regions Nonetheless, there is the impression that rural regions experience prolonged bouts of needs in times of drought because supplies either fail to reach rural regions in famine situations or reach very late. If exploitation is the norm in famine situation, customarily urban regions will be the first ones to receive food supplies. However, famine also precipitates population movements from rural to urban regions compounding shortages of food supplies. These incidents led to severe lack of water and breakdown in health facilities. Had they remained at home in their rural regions these population stood better chance of survival. But their desperate actions in migrating to towns proved counterproductive and worsened the situation in urban areas. So, in famines it is not only shortage of food products that inflicts crisis situations. Rumors and ill-advised ventures too play debilitating roles in such times (De Waal, A, 1989a). Water, though scarce, was available. The situation was better than the one perceived by migrating to towns and cities. "Villagers responded to reduced water availability in various ways. Women sometimes helped by their children, fetched water from more distant water points. Households dug shallow wells in dry river beds, where these were accessible (such wells are dug in many villages even during normal years, but their number increased during the drought); households rationed their own water use: villages established community rules restricting water use - for example, the sizes of water containers, and the times at which water could be collected, were restricted in some villages" (Eldridge, Christopher; p4). This was the situation in Zimbabwe which faced one of the worst drought situations in 1992. This example serves to highlight the fact that it is important to act collectively and circumspectly in drought situations. The grass always appears greener on the other side of the fence. But it is advisable to wait and study the situation "on the other side" than rush there and find later that conditions there are rather worse. Conclusion The recent earthquake in Haiti left cities shattered and tens of thousands dead. The magnitude of the earthquake almost decimated the island. However, relief measures by the world community has been relatively quicker and more effective than it would have been in earlier times, thanks to modern communication facilities and transportation means. One only shudders to think of situations in famine conditions in the days of old. In those days such conditions prevailed for years. However, the threats of earthquakes and famines loom larger in these days than it had in the past. States the world over must be ready with disaster management cells for any eventuality. Obviously, women must be put in the forefront for relief measures. There is no second guessing needed to question the efficacy of women in disaster situation such as famine. In famine situation we can do without competition between the genders. Let us first acknowledge that women make better crisis managers than men in famines. They have better coping mechanisms and resilience. These are the traits needed in famine situations. 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