– Our East Indian women abandon their plantation traditions
One major consequence of British colonization and imperial oppression of Indians in the Caribbean is the deprivation and erosion of their cultural and social heritage. After the abolishment of slavery, British sugar cane planters brought 238,909 Indians to Guyana between 1838 and 1917 to work on the sugar plantations. These indentured Indians came with their languages, religions and other cultural practices, and retained their customs, but this was primarily because of their residential segregation on the sugar plantations. Their survival spans many decades of great hardships during the periods of indenture, post-indenture and post-independence.
Although they have contributed significantly to Guyana’s economic and social development, they still continue to struggle for their heritage survival and national representation. Most importantly, Indian women have been relegated to subordinate positions as their presence continues to be limited in the social and political fabric of Guyana. Both men and women suffered tremendously at the hands of the colonizers, but Indian women suffered doubly in the patriarchal society.
May 5, 2015 will mark 177 years since Indians crossed the “Kaalaa Paani” (black water) and arrived in Guyana. On a 5-year contract as ‘Indentured Laborers’ with the condition of a free return passage to India upon completion of their contract, they were transported to various sugar plantations. To understand their great suffering in a foreign place, far away from India, it should be understood that British planters turned to India to revive the failing sugar plantation economy, after previous failed attempts with indentured laborers from other countries. The first arrivals in 1838 on the sailing ships, Hesperus and Whitby, numbered 423 of whom only 14 were women. The only reason that immigration agents subsequently secured more women was because sugar cane planters established certain quotas of laborers to meet their economic gains.
Gender Disparity
While immigration increased and quotas were established, women were still disproportionately represented with a ratio of 35 women to 100 men and 50 to 100 in 1860. The indenture system facilitated this gross disparity. Even as late as 1890, the proportion of women to men declined to 41 women for every 100 men. Although repeated requests were made to colonial immigration agents for more women, the disparity of female indentured laborers remained throughout the indenture period. The planters viewed women as ‘uneconomical’ and recruiters were not encouraged to meet the recommended quotas; few Indian men wanted to bring their wives as they intended to return to India. As a result, the disproportion of the sexes created a social problem for men and women on the estates. They were not only “exposed to planter tyranny and neglect, but they also suffered from the serious disproportion in the sex ratio which produced considerable tension.”
Planters abused their position of authority and engaged in sexual relationships with Indian women, and in most cases, another man’s wife, without recourse. With the disproportion of men and women, morality became an issue as some women were depicted as being unfaithful. As a consequence, an alarming number of murders occurred where, for example, during the period “1859-1864, some 23 murders of Indian women by their husbands or reputed husbands were recorded.” Murders continued into the 1920s and barbaric acts were committed by the use of a hoe or a cutlass.
Earlier in 1871, a Royal Commission Report stated that it was not “uncommon for overseers, and even managers, to form temporary connections with Coolie women, and in every case with the worst possible consequences to the good order and harmony of the estate.” The brutality against Indian women was taken lightly by colonial powers as they viewed such exploitative relations as having greater impact on the stability of the estate than on families.
While Indian men suffered because of the scarcity of women and were even killed as a result of British overseers’ sexual exploitation of women, Indian women suffered even more, not only by British overseers on the estates but also by their husbands at home. The scarcity also led to the perpetuation of child marriage, with many young women forced to have older husbands and this, in some cases, leading to domestic violence and murder of women.
Even though in 1900 the gender ratio was 62 women to 100 men, there is no written data to suggest that the shortage of women was a main factor for the abuse and murder of Indian women. But it is highly suggestive that the exploitation of men by their colonial master caused some men to function as the patriarchal authority in the home where a new dimension of sexism developed. Humiliation and self-degradation contributed to their low self-esteem and they began to harm their wives and children, the people closest to them.
The role of women such as ‘Sita’ of the Ramayana and ‘Radha’ of the Mahabarata were portrayed as the pure and ideal wife and these representations continued to influence gender relationship expectations between men and women (at least among the Hindus). During the periods of indentureship and post-indentureship, many Indian women and men maintained the ideals of a good wife and a devoted husband particularly embodying the roles of Rama and Sita in the Ramayana. However, the displacement of Indians in a western environment created some difficulties for men and women to maintain their ancestral heritage in gender identities. As Patricia Mohammad argues, Hindu symbolisms act as a strong influence in “the construction of masculinity and femininity among Indians,” where the women had to ‘prove’ their virtue repeatedly. Women who resisted or were accused of violating the oppressive patriarchal structures within Indian family structure were abused or even murdered. Among the women killed in this early period were “Anundai, Baumee, Goirapa and Saukalia, for allegedly deserting their husbands.”
Although the gross disparity of women created the conditions for sexual exploitation, it also served to strengthen their resistance movements throughout the indenture period. The importation of Indian females served as a stabilizing force on the predominantly male plantation workers. However, in spite of efforts to bring more women, “sexual immorality, polyandry, and bride purchase [thus] continued, providing the Indian nationalist movement [in India] with a powerful weapon against the continuation of the system.”
Women on Sugar Estates
Upon arrival, Indians lived in logies with poor sanitary conditions throughout the indenture period. Further, they were obligated to toe the line while working on the estates, as Planters insisted that workers “complete the stated five tasks per week or their pay was docked,” a form of exploitation that women were also subjected to. Children and young women worked on sugar plantations in the ‘weeding gang’ and later in the ‘task gang’ or ‘creole gang’, earning poor wages. Even at the height of their pregnancies, women were expected to maintain planters’ expectations:
“Indian women’s reproductive and productive role to which they were so accustomed in India was not seen as important in Guyana…. Illness and even pregnancy did not guarantee lighter tasks. Indeed, many Indian women worked in the sugar plantations late in their pregnancy, a phenomenon that still exists, although not necessarily on the sugar plantations but in the wet-land rice fields in rural Guyana.”
In the late 1940s women would leave their babies at the Estate creche and go to work in the fields. They would also carry their babies in the fields, until an older child was able to stay home and look after the younger sibling. Beyond this, sugar planters imposed harsh working conditions on laborers, so that many strikes (riots) occurred. Labor unrests were often as a result of workers’ protests against mistreatment of estate workers, especially since the first riots on estates broke out in 1869.
Resisting plantation mis-treatment
Women also participated in protests against planters’ mistreatment of workers on sugar estates. In 1903, at Plantation Friends in Berbice an indentured woman, Salamea, urged Indians to fight against the plights of indenture. Moreover, after indenture ended in 1917, while Indian women continued to protest as they struggled for justice, they also became victims of the planters’ oppressive practices on the sugar estates. In 1964, Kowsilla, at age 44 and mother of 4, was “mowed down by a tractor [at Leonora sugar estate]. She became another martyr of the Guyanese working people movement.” Her death on May 6 is remembered for a woman who stood up bravely against a system of exploitation and oppression as during 1964 especially, many suffered during the sugar workers’ strike. Few such experiences and forms of resistance were recorded against planter oppression.
Urban women make their voices heard
At the same time, a small group of middle-class Indian women in the urban areas were beginning to participate in public circles.
Education
Prior to the 1950’s, many Indians did not send their children to school. Several factors – education combined with Christian indoctrination, schools predominantly in urban centers (mainly Georgetown and New Amsterdam), children employed under age 12 and girls could marry at 13 – contributed to 80% not attending school in 1901 and still 71% not attending in 1923. No Indian women organization emerged to address this problem.
It was not until the 1920s, organizations such as the Hindu Society, British Guiana East Indian Association (BGEIA) and British Guiana East Indian Institute advocated for the education of Indian girls. The deprivation of girls’ education also occurred within the multi-ethnic and coeducational public school environment which was dominated mostly by Christian male teachers. Indian girls were also alienated around issues of Indian religion, language and culture. Undoubtedly, Indian women were oppressed as they were denied the right to educational opportunities. While the majority of Indians maintained their religion, the indoctrination of Indians into Christianity served to help them become more ‘western’.
Indian families were strongly involved in keeping up their cultural and religious practices and were against sending their children to be educated in Christian schools and to be Christianized. The schools did not teach Hindi or Arabic. In 1904, an order was passed (which remained in force until 1933), that no pressure should be placed on Indian parents who wished to keep their daughters at home and not send to school. Also, co-ed meant that girls would have to sit near boys; their parents would not tolerate this type of mixing and subject their daughters to possible relationship. Still, the colonial government actively connived at denying Indian girls an education. In 1925, only 25% of Indian children in primary schools were girls. In 1929, Subadri Lall was the first to qualify for exemption from the Matriculation to attend the University of London, establishing a unique record for local girls. In the 1950s, attitudes to education for girls had changed sharply within the Indian community as attempts were made to catch up with other sections of the population. Iris Sookdeo became the first and youngest woman to achieve a Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) at the University of Sussex in the 1969.
Nevertheless, access to the limited educational opportunities did provide some girls with new options during the late period of indenture and schooling began to have a much more positive influence in the lives of many women after the mid-1930s. During the 1930s, Indian enrolment in primary schools had increased by 50%, but these would have comprised mostly of boys since girls were being groomed for marriage. However, despite these changes, educated women’s access to formal employment and equal status were severely limited by colonial and post-colonial policies that were patriarchal in structure.
Providing for the family
While many Indian women, especially among the working poor, had not attended school, they were working to maintain their families and to send their children to school. Thus, these women contributed significantly to their household and community, especially as ‘financial managers’, developing ways to improve their economic position. These included planting their backyard with greens, raising chickens, goats, sheep, looking after their cows, selling milk, and buying and selling produce. Some also managed little shops in the villages and assisted in their husbands’ businesses, such as the tailor-shops and grocery shops. In the early 1930s and 1940s, Indian women preserved domestic life by participating in ‘throwing box hands’ to save money for their children’s education or marriage and, in some cases, they would ‘pawn’ their jewelry to obtain sufficient funds. In spite of the tremendous responsibilities they had to shoulder, their strength sustained the home greatly. Without birth control, many Indian women had large families, some having between 6 to 10 children or more, and therefore had to find ways to increase the family income to support a large family. In spite of the denial of education, Indian women performed a wide range of jobs such as selling cow’s milk, selling greens in the village and market or working in the rice or cane fields to sustain their families. During the post-indenture period, some families whose daughters received a better education were able to access other occupations. It was not until the 1950s that some Indian women were able to access employment within the commercial industry as noted when Barclay’s Bank employed the first three Indian women as ‘Tellers’.
In the early part of the twentieth century, women on the whole were relegated to the home, apart from those who were out working to help their families. The majority of Indian women worked and resided in the rural areas and often was the primary organizers of social customs. Undoubtedly, the retention of Indian culture was owed “much to these industrious, resilient women on the plantations and in the villages while at the same time exerting much energy on their many children.” Because of their direct involvement in preparations religious and social functions such as pujas, jhandis, weddings, Eid, Diwali and other social customs, they formed a strong foundation for their cultural retention. Mothers not only organized elaborate functions, but their daughters also were completely involved in the arrangements for social activities. Many of these women were not part of an established organization with leadership opportunities, but they formed the pulse of the nation’s cultural development and progression. Further, not only was it a social taboo for Indian women to join social organizations and carry the banners but also they received little or no respect.
Moving forward
Indians resisted colonial oppression and were allowed to maintain their ancestral religious practices through the establishment of Hindu Mandirs and Muslim Mosques – with 2 Hindu Temples in 1870 and progressing to 50 Mosques and 52 Temples in the 1920s.
Although Indian women were part of Guyana’s Indian cultural celebrations, either through the temple, at home or in the villages, celebrating Indian festivals, they did not participate in political affairs as they were still immersed in a life deeply rooted in traditional Indian (albeit predominantly Hindu) culture. Unlike African educated women who were nurtured by Christianity in bringing them into organizations such as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and the Presbyterian Berbice Girls High School, Indian women did not benefit from their Hindu and Muslim religious organizations in this regard, but, given the patriarchal culture, they contributed their time to help their husbands or other men to lead religious organizations. They mostly fulfilled the roles of ‘wives’ of religious and community leaders, which restricted them to meal preparation, childcare and home responsibilities, and also worked in the fields, the market and other ‘servant’ jobs in the estate managers’ homes.
In relatively recent times, few women writers emerged, notably Rajkumari Singh and Mahadai Das, whose poetry reflects themes of pain, oppression and gender assertion. Rajkumari Singh, a one-time Indian radio announcer at the Demerara Radio Station, wrote the play “Gitangali” and published “A Garland of Stories” in 1960. She was instrumental in staging plays at the Theatre Guild.
Although a number of Indian women in the rural areas might have had limited education or were even uneducated at the time, they knew their cultural activities and values to heart. Yet, the middle class who were predominantly in the city core did not fully reach out to the working class Indians and this may be due to the ‘class’ consciousness imposed by the European colonial influence. However, the middle class Indians were instrumental in maintaining some cultural awareness through the establishment of Indian cultural organizations, including the establishment of the Maha Sabha.
Indo-Caribbean women’s writing is still sparse. Guyanese Indian women writers are few and have emerged at a slow pace. As Ramabai Espinet states, “the silence of the Indo-Caribbean woman needs much fuller investigation.” Further, much more investigation is needed in the areas of Indian women as professionals – teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, scientists, technologists, civil servants.
East Indian women in Guyana today have moved a long way from their original “housewives” traditional roots. Though we may find a few in rural areas, these would include the most elder of East Indian women. Most women however (of the younger generation), having acquired a sound primary and/or secondary and tertiary education in Guyana have now gone on to becoming leaders in our society. From care-takers, education bearers and personnel (lecturers/teachers/professors), nurses/doctors, magistrate personnel, engineers, scientists, agriculturalists, to those women involved in politics and are key in determining our country’s future. Even those who have gone on to seek greener pastures have Guyana in their hearts and the contributions to their homeland are ever flourishing.
Today however, even though many Indian women are now educated and have moved up in the social, political and religious organizations, they are still marginalized to an extent. In some cases, many educated Indian women who are capable of becoming leaders continue to be restricted. While it can be argued that, in earlier times, many women suffered from a form of subservience which was reinforced by religious patriarchal indoctrination and other social demarcations, one can recognize that there is still a long road ahead for women to access higher leadership.
(Excerpted from “Indian Women of Guyana: Reflections of their existence, survival and representation,” written by Janet A. Naidu and originally printed in the 2003 issue of Guyana Journal)