Illustration by Matt Haney, GPJ
BENGALURU, INDIA — Lata. G. shouldered the responsibilities of her marital home and its finances very early. She raised two children, who are now teens, while her husband struggled to hold down a stable job.
“Food, clothing, shelter, education — I take care of everything,” she says.
Lata has a manual sewing machine in a small room in her house in the Vyalikaval neighborhood of central Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka. She is a tailor who sometimes helps other tailors for extra money: stitching buttons, embroidering — anything they need.
After working for more than 12 hours a day, she makes an average of 7,000 Indian rupees (US$83) a month, she says. But in August 2023, her income shot up by 30%, thanks to an extra 2,000 rupees (about US$23) a month from the Karnataka government. During campaign season, the Congress Party promised all women whose annual family income was below 120,000 rupees (US$1,424) a basic income if they took power. Lata qualified.
The cash transfer program is one of more than a dozen in states across India. The names of the programs translate to variations of “my dear sister” or are named for Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of money.
The money boosts women’s confidence, some community workers say. But others say the government treats the cash transfers as a favor.
“The attitude of the government is paternalistic,” says Rajeshwari Deshpande, professor at Savitribai Phule University, who has studied women’s voting in India for years. “The government may be generous today but may take it away tomorrow.”
Paternalistic promises
When India gained independence from colonial rule in 1947, it adopted universal adult franchise, giving every adult citizen — including women — the right to vote. But due to entrenched patriarchy and sexism, women didn’t vote in as large numbers as men. Even when they did, researchers found that the men in their house influenced their votes.
In 2019, thanks to decades of work by feminist organizations and grassroots movements, female voter turnout overtook male voter turnout by a slim margin, both nearing 70%.
“Political parties have realized that women are a huge voting bloc and are therefore introducing programs catering to them specifically,” says Sunaina Kumar, who researches female voter turnout.
In recent years, political parties have honed programs to entice women’s votes. In the Karnataka Assembly elections of 2023, along with the cash transfers, the Congress Party also promised free bus rides to all women residents of the state. Similarly, the Janata Dal United government in the northern state of Bihar promised an alcohol ban in 2015, after women took to the streets to demand it.
But even though women might be voting more, Kumar says, women are not represented enough in politics. There are only 75 elected women representatives in the lower house of the Indian Parliament, which has 542 seats. This means that policies created for women are not necessarily created by women, Deshpande says.
“But when it comes to treating women as mere beneficiaries,” she says, “no party is left behind.”
Independence breeds confidence
Anjali Suresh, 31, is a stay-at-home mother of two preteen daughters. The 2,000 rupees she receives has, like Lata, helped her gain financial independence.
“For every small thing like a sanitary pad, I would have had to ask my husband for money earlier,” she says.
Now, she even manages to save a small amount for the future.
“I am grateful I have a good husband and the government is depositing money in my account,” Suresh says. “What would I do otherwise?”
But she wants to ensure that her daughters will never have to depend on their husbands or the state for money.
Lata agrees.
“When I walk out of the house with my own money, I feel confident,” she says, trying to put words to a feeling she calls indescribable. There is, she says, a strange sense of identity.
Lata understands that the money might not come forever. She, like Suresh, has been saving as much as she can, and she tells her daughter to study well.
“Nothing,” she says, “gives us as much stability as a good job.”
