Globalization, Class and Gender Relations: The shrimp industry in southwestern Bangladesh

Thematic Section

Globalization, Class and Gender Relations: Theshrimp industry in southwestern Bangladesh

MEGHNAGUHATHAKURTA

ABSTRACT Meghna Guhathakurta looks at the shrimp industryin southwestern Bangladesh as a case that illustrates how globalcapitalism is linking with the local economy. She examines the impactof the shrimp industry on gender relations taking into account theoverall socioeconomic and structural transformation that is takingplace within the region.

KEYWORDS state; resistance; livelihoods; land usage; economy;environment

Introduction

The southwestern region of Bangladesh consists of the southern lowlands of the cur-rent districts of Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira. It is a coastal area constituted by thefreshwaters of innumerable rivers and distributaries, which end up in the saline watersof the Bay of Bengal. It is a region that houses part of the world’s largest mangroveforests, the Sundarbans. According to the Gazette of 1978, the area covered by theSundarbans was recorded as 2,316 square miles. This tidal plain with mangrove forestsis the most complex ecosystemwith the highest biological productivity in the world. Theintricate intertwining of the environment and peoples’ lives and livelihood is a noticeablefeature in this region or rather it was until the influence of the mono-culture of shrimpcultivation began to disarticulate this organic link between people and environment.

One of the first signs of the transformation in this region is found in the pattern ofland usage. According to the data provided by satellite, it was estimated that in the threeupazilas under study (Shyamnagar, Kaliganj and Fakirhat) the total percentage ofchange in land use averaged 15.62 percent of the total land in the area. The maximumchange was recorded in Kaliganj upazila (32.54 percent), second came in Fakirhatupazila (21.05 percent) and finally in Shyamnagar upazila,11.508 percent). The changein land use in an area traditionally rich in agriculture and fishing has important andserious repercussions for lives and livelihood.

Although the impact of the shrimp industry on the economyand environment of thearea is visible and easily noticed, the effect on gender relations and in the domain ofthe family and personal relationships has been more disguised.

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The inscription of women into the worldcapitalist economy

Third world women workers occupy a specificsocial location in the international division oflabour, which illuminates and explains crucialfeatures of the capitalist processes of exploitationand domination (Alexander and Mohanty, 1997).These are features of the social world that areusually obfuscated or mystified in discoursesabout progress and development, for example,creation of jobs for the poor, women’s economicand social advancement. Interconnections betweengender, and ethnicity and the ideologies of worklocate women in particular exploitative contexts.In the case of women either living or dwelling inthe localities of the shrimp industry it is easy tosee how contemporary global capitalism positionswomen workers in ways that effectively both re-produce and transform locally specific hierar-chies. Maria Mies, in her seminal work on theLace Makers of Narsapur (Mies, 1982), studiedIndian housewives who were producing lace forthe world market. She points out that ideologiesof seclusion and the domestication of women areclearly sexual, drawing as they do on masculineand feminine notions of protectionism and prop-erty. They are also heterosexual ideologies basedon the normative definitions of women as wives,sisters and mothers ^ always in relation to conju-gal marriage and the family. Domestication worksinto the capitalist mould through the persistenceand legitimacy of the ideology of the house-wife, which defines women in terms of their placewithin the home, conjugal marriage and hetero-sexuality. It defines women as non-workers andconsequently trivializes women’s labour. Their de-finition as housewives makes possible the defini-tion of men as breadwinners. Here class andgender proletarianization through the develop-ment of capitalist relations of production and theintegration of women into theworldmarket is pos-sible because of the history and transformation ofindigenous caste/class and sexual ideologies.What this means is that although production forthe world market may throw open opportuni-ties for women to enter the market as wagelabourers, capitalism may very well work with

the patriarchal culture of the region to devaluewomen’s work in the market and simultaneouslyextol ideologies of domestication. Hence, insteadof a classical case of capitalism freeing women’slabour, we see the onset of a capitalist patriarchalculture that eulogizes the domestic sphere andthereby keeps women from joining the workforcein greater numbers.

Structural transformations in classrelations

Structural transformation is evident in changingclass hierarchies within the region. For example,during and after the Partition of 1947, the areawas mostly Hindu-dominated with the Hinduzamindars controlling the lion’s share of the land-holding. It was also an area that had yielded agreat variety of crops along with the staple riceand where the adjunct Sundarban forests and theintertwining of the multitudinal rivers providedemployment opportunities of a wide variety.Hence a stratified system of caste-specific hierar-chies was also predominant, which evolved roundparticular occupations, for example, kolus (thosewho ground oil from mustard seeds), rishis(trading in leather and leather products), moualisand bawalis (thriving from the forests), weaversand fishermen. Traditional subsistence agricul-ture also included subsidiary activities like cattlerearing and poultry farming, all of which areendangered with the environmental degradationresulting from shrimp cultivation. All theseactivities as well as the position of those whosesubsistence depended on these activities areundergoing change. For some, the cash economybeing introduced with the advent of the shrimpindustry has proved to be a blessing, especiallythose who could adapt their skills to the changingscenario. For example, those landless labourerswho could switch to fishing for fries in the riverscould be assured of a steady income that was nolonger haunted by the scourges of Mora Kartik(the lean season of Bengal when spectres of fam-ine loom large). Or even those like the kolus, whoused to grind mustard seeds to produce oil for themarket, have merely changed into petty tradersbuying from the oil mills and selling the oil in the

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local bazaars, thus transforming a productivecommunity into a trading one. The caste-orientedprofessional boundaries are also undergoingchange. Previously, many of these communitieswere looked downon, as their workwas not consid-ered clean by the upper caste Hindus. Interestingly,even with the exodus of the upper caste Hindus toIndia, the influential propertied Muslims alsoheld the same taboos as their predecessors. I wastold by the coordinator of a local NGO that helearned from a Christian Missionary to treat therishis as equals. (Rishis were traditionally notallowed to enter the households of rich Hindus orMuslims and were given food in banana leavesoutside the house.) But currently many of theseprofessions, which prove lucrative, are beingtaken over by peasants and landless labourersoutside the traditional caste boundaries. The in-jection of the cash economy, therefore, is erodingtraditional caste boundaries, and in certain casesa certain upward mobilty among the poor can benoticed. For example, those who catch fries men-tion that they can get 50^60 taka per day for anaverage catch.This is readycash in hand, whereasas day labourers, cash payment would be uncer-tain and their payment would partially be in kind,for example, one meal a day. Also, in the words ofa rich Hindu landlordwhose wealth has visibly di-minished, some of his previous workers often askhimwhether he needs work!

Not everyone is benefiting from these transfor-mations. Many among the poor still hold ontotheir lands and are used to tilling the land. Theysomehow do not possess the aptitude to do anyother kind of work.Theyare the ones who feel inti-midated by the changes taking place. They alsofeel that the shrimp industry is aggravating thedifference between the rich and the poor.

Thus, we see that structural changes are takingplace in two ways. First, those who have lots ofland are benefiting from a windfall gain in profitsreaped from leasing their land to shrimp farms.This is turning a class of hardworking farmersinto a rural-based intermediate class. However,they admit that there is a certain degree of risk in-volved because the payments promised may notbe as forthcoming from the gher owner if a virusaffects the crop. Second, it is also creating a class

of poor who are not left with any other alternativework except to work for the industry through col-lecting and selling fries, to work in the farms or tolease their lands to them. Environmental degrada-tion has succeeded in displacing agricultural andagriculture-related work and activities like rear-ing of cattle and poultry. It has also proletariatizeda class who previously could depend on the econo-my of a stable agricultural household. Now every-thing is bought and sold in the market. There isno stock of rice available for handouts in the leanseason anymore. Two features characterize theemergence of this class of poor labourers who areno longer dependent on the land. First, the dailypayment in cash for their annual catch or work isa welcome change from the delaying tactics oftheir former landholding masters. Second, thechange in the relations of production has broughtabout certain starkness in the confrontationbetween the rich and the poor. Many of the oldernorms of society/shomaj, which used to bindtogether a village society, no longer exist. Thus,class relations are more prone to violence and thepoor find themselves defenceless against therepresentatives of a predatory state bent on pock-eting the lion’s share of profit from the industry.

The household economy

In a subsistence peasant economy, women had animportant role to play in the production process,although this role hardly ever got acknowledgedin public documents like the census. The staplecrop of a subsistence agricultural household wasrice, and the core of women’s work began afterthe rice was harvested. Her tasks involved thresh-ing, husking and parboiling. In certain regionsshe was also in charge of looking after and preser-ving the seeds for the next season. Depending onthe size of the household, a woman would eitherfind herself doing all these tasks or have severalpaid helping hands. An agricultural householdhad its own time cycle and work rhythm. Therewould be lean seasons like Mora Kartik and peakseasons of harvest marked by heightened socialactivities and festivities. Land-based livelihoodsalso provided its own opportunities for subsidiaryactivities like cattle rearing, poultry farming or

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kitchen gardening, whichworked in synergy withagricultural production. One of the prime conse-quences of the disarticulation of the peasantry re-sulting from the growth of shrimp monoculturewas felt in the displacement of women from thesphere of agricultural production. Women whogained from leasing their land off to gher ownersexpressed relief from the back-breaking work theyhad to undergo when they had to till their ownland. But others lamented the displacement.

For poor womenwho had depended onworkingfor the richer households this was sustenance.Those who had found more lucrative work incatching shrimp fries felt that they were now in aless oppressive environment where theyhad guar-anteed cash. But in terms of labour and securitythe risks were high. This will be discussed in thenext section. But some poor women claimed thatpreviously they received help from those agricul-tural households that always had grains in stock,especially during the lean season. Now, as every-one had to buy from the market, they too werenot in a position to help them. Second, women inmiddle-income households also felt the same way.Previously, they could consume their own pro-duce or sell them in the market. They retained acertain amount of control over their produce. Butnow, even assuming that they had enough cashin hand, the market dictated their consumptionpattern. Savings, too, were in cash and had to beput into banks. Gone were the days when womencould save by taking ‘ek mutho chal’ (a fistful ofrice) from current consumption and store themaway for some activity like buying schoolbooksfor their children or buying themselves orna-ments. Forms of saving now took place largely ascredit schemes of NGOs or, where possible,through poultry raising or kitchen gardening.

Women in middle- and high-income house-holds were still largely dictated by the ideology ofdomestication, which accompanied their conjugalstatus in the households as wives and mothers.Thus, many women claimed that it was not properfor them to go out and work as wage labourers.Many wanted to work within the home giventhe opportunity. But most of them relied onraising poultry and cattle rearing as a means ofearning an extra income. Conjugality, therefore,

was an important determining factor indeciding whether women should work for wagesor not. It was therefore mostly in the lowerincome households and among women who werewithout a male guardian that wage labour tookpredominance.

Women, the shrimp industry andenvironmental risks

Poor landless women and women without a maleguardian were especially drawn to the only eco-nomic activity that was left to them in the region:collecting shrimp fries in the rivers. They had todo this in knee-deep water pulling their netsbehind them. The rivers, being very near to thecoast, also respond to tides of the sea. Whenthe water is warm, sharks and crocodiles also findtheir way upstream and accidents are not infre-quent. Some reported that one of their fellowmember’s legs had been torn apart by a shark.Another told of the time she had been abductedby robbers in the Sunderbans who demanded10,000 takas in ransom. Her brother’s family, toopoor to pay the sum in full, had to sell her fishingnet ^ her only source of income ^ to gain her re-lease.What a vicious circle if ever there was one!

Shrimp cultivation is expanding so fast that it istaking up not only agricultural lands in the area,but also much of the khas or government land bythe roadsides, which, by law, is to be distributedby the local government to the landless. Manywomen feel deprived of their rights to this land,and therefore feel the need to put pressure onthe government. But this is not easy, given the factthat many of those who own the shrimpfarms are not only members of the local powerstructure but also involved in national politicsat the highest level.

Another important deprivation is the loss ofgrazing land. The Union of Kaliganj is situatedin a slightly higher plane than Munshiganj(Shyamnagar thana) in the South, which skirtsthe fringes of the Sunderbans. Traditionally, farm-ers of the Kaliganj area used to send their cattleto graze for the season down to the lowlandswhere poor families often earned an income bylooking after the livestock. But from Kaliganj to


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Munshiganj, an hour-long drive, along one sideone looks at a bleak landscape of shrimp farms,without trees, without vegetation, in fact without asingle scrap of grass in sight. On the other side ofthe road, in contrast, green fields interweave grace-fully with full flowing rivers, the edges of its banksadorned with the leafy branches of the Sundaritrees. But it is not only cattle rearing that is affected.Lackof fodderalso prevents poor people from raisinggoats and poultry as income-generation activities.This has often left onlyone opening for income gen-eration in the area and that is fishing for small fishfries in the numerous rivers of the locality.

When I visited a local group of 18 women whowere members of a local NGO, Sushilan, they allturned out to be married but without husbands.Only three were widowed, their husbands killedby tigers in the forests while foraging for theirlivelihood. The rest of the women were eitherdivorced or deserted by their husbands who,because of lack of agricultural land, could not findany work as labourers and hence, not being ableto cope with managing a family, either crossedthe border or migrated elsewhere looking for jobs.Yet we are told that the more we integrate withthe world economy, the more our chances of fullemployment. Shrimp cultivators do not use locallabour on their farms. Moreover, their work is sea-sonal, for which they bring in labourers from an-other region. As a double curse for the destituteand deserted women, many of these men enterinto relationships and marry them only to desertthem again when the season is over. The womenare left to fend for themselves and their children,as the men do not take the childrenwith them.

The role of the state

The shrimp farm areas, or ghers as they are locallyknown, are areas of social conflict and tension.The common source of these conflicts has beenover the issue of land usage since shrimp cultiva-tion has brought radical changes in land use pat-terns (Ghafur et al., 1999). The state manifestsitself in these conflicts at different levels. TheGovernment of Bangladesh supports shrimp culti-vation because it is supposed to bring much-coveted foreign exchange into the economy.

Processed shrimp, they maintain, comprises thelargest export commodity of these generatedemployment opportunities. Since the 1980s, theGovernment of Bangladesh has been offeringincentives to urban businessmen to enter into thisprofitable business. It has extended support byway of administrative backup and bank loans.There were also regulations mentioned, such asthe condition that voluntaryconsent of 85 percentof local landowners must be reached before takingover land for shrimp cultivation. But the entrypoint of businessmen who were outsiders to thearea had been ensured through the use of locallyhired musclemen together with political support,especially of local authorities. As case after caseshowed, it is this configuration that has been atthe root of most of violence in the area.

In a report on the socioeconomic and environ-mental impact of shrimp culture in south-western Bangladesh by Ghafur et al. (1999), theauthors list the principal sources of social conflictin the gher areas:

(a) Forced or false contractual agreement onleasing of land;

(b) non- or partial payment of lease-money calledHari;

(c) dispute over khas land;(d) insecurity owing to physical torture and

molestation of women;(e) fear generated by environmental impact;(f) semi-intensive mode of shrimp culture;(g) deteriorating health;(h) state patronization for farm owners.

Some of the violence took the form of murder orattempted murder, grievous bodily harm or inflic-tion of deliberate injuries. Abductions also takeplace in connection with shrimp-related contro-versies. Setting ablaze the farms has also beenknown to happen to put pressure on the opponent.Implicating opponents in false cases is a very com-mon tactic. The state mechanism plays a vital rolein all this. The government policy, law and its im-plementation are in favour of the rich shrimpfarmer and turn a blind eye to the interest of thelandless peasant and marginal farmer. Social ten-sion arises from the insecurity of food and lack ofwork opportunities for a large number of coastal


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people. Shrimp cultivation brings in rich andpowerful outsiders who often control the areas atgunpoint, and their hired hooligans play havoc inthe areas (Ghafur et al.,1999:52).

Local authorities especially play an intermedi-ary role in this situation. Charges against hooli-gans and musclemen are often not framed, andthe labyrinth of time-consuming legal proceduresmore often than not deters victims from seekingjustice. Even when a case is being tried, localmusclemen are active in preventing any eye-witnesses from giving evidence in court as well asthe bribing of local level officials so that theyignore or twist that evidence. In one case where acriminal case has been filed against hooliganswho beat up a poor farmer, it was reported thatthe officer in charge of the relevant police stationhad dropped the names of the main accused fromthe charge sheet.The trial was still on but the localpeople were skeptical of its outcome or effective-ness. In another case of double murder, allegationof partiality was brought against the AssistantPolice super of C.I.D. Khulna who, after a longinvestigation, was going to submit a charge sheetregarding the double murder over the control ofBidyar Bahan Gher. C.I.D. Headquarters rejectedthe memo of evidence and the case was trans-ferred to the Jessore zone (Ghafur et al., 1999: 60).In other incidents where cases have been filed bythe ‘shrimp lords’ themselves, especially againstpoor landless farmers, the police were quick intheir arrests, and their hyperactivity came undersuspicion (Ghafur et al.,1999:64).

Poor women in the shrimp areas were con-cerned primarily with their security. In manycases they were held hostage to the tyranny ofthe shrimp lords. Their insecurity was enhancedby the fact that they did not feel that the localauthorities were there to protect them but ratheradded to their worries. Poor landless women toldof various instances when they were allegedlyapprehended by the police and charged of smug-gling sarees across the border. Women oncecaught by the police were often trafficked acrossthe border to be sold as housemaids and prosti-tutes in India, Pakistan and the Middle East.Therefore, women are always on the alert not tofall into such a trap. Among the most common

types of insecurity that faced women in theseareas were rape, threat, false cases, cattle liftingand physical torture. Verbal abuse, forced mar-riages, fear of theft, dacoity and terrorism werealso not uncommon. The triggering condition forall insecurities, however, was the scarcity of foodand cash (Ghafur et al.,1999:87).

Women’s resistance

With the state playing such a restrictive and nega-tive role for the poor in general and women in par-ticular, it is not surprising to witness the outburstof many resistance movements in the area andthe active participation of women. One of themorepopular stories of resistance is around the killingof Karunamayee Sarder in Polder 22.

Karunamayee Sarder of the village of Bigordanaunder the Deluti Union of Paikgacha thana was aleader of a landless women’s group and memberof the Bittyahin Shamabai Samity. The local peo-ple and Karunamayee’s family alleged that mer-cenaries of the shrimp lord Wazed Ali Biswaskilled her ruthlessly.

Wazed was planning to set up a shrimp farmforcefully and illegally over 2,000 bighas of landin the village of Horinkhola of Polder 22. For this,he wanted to get a lease agreement from a fewabsentee owners. But most of the inhabitants,mainly landless and marginal peasants, werestrongly opposed to shrimp farming because ofthe hazards it brought with it. From the experi-ence of neighbouring polders, they were alertedthat the whole area may be affected by salinityand the ecosystem would be destroyed. Healthhazards accompanied the salinity and land wouldthen be unfit for cattle grazing.

Polder 22 covers an area inhabited by 10,000people from 14 villages. The area consists of about11,000 bighas. A 17 km-long embankment wasmade to protect the crop from saline water. Underfinancial assistance from the government of theNetherlands, a project was undertaken to ensurethe development of the polder area agriculturallyand socially. AnNGO called Nijera Kori and the sub-sequently formed local Bittyahin Shamabai Samitiwere given responsibility for this project, so themovementwas spearheaded by these organizations.


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On 7 November1990 at about10 am five trawlerscarrying cadres of Wazed Ali came to Horinkholato cut the embankment in order to set up a shrimpfarm. Hearing the news, members of the BittyahinShamabai Samity brought out a peaceful proces-sion, chanting slogans in protest of the shrimpfarm. Wazed’s men attacked the innocent peopleruthlessly with fatal arms like guns, bombs andsharp instruments. Karunamoyee, who was lead-ing the procession, died instantly, part ofher skull severed from her body.Twenty more peo-ple were seriously wounded.The 7th of Novemberis observed every year in memory of the lateKarunamoyee, who is still regarded as a martyrin the locality (Ghafur et al.,1999:63^64).

The death of Zahida Bibi and themovement thataccompanied it was yet another event, whichcaused much uproar in the area. The year was1998. Here too the root cause was a group of influ-ential and powerful people who, in collaborationwith local government officials and the police,sought to forcefully evict thousands of landlessfamilies and acquire several hundred acres of landfor shrimp farming. It was illegally done throughthe bribing of local officials and producing falsedocuments. The landless then organized them-selves together and started petitioning the localleaders and MPs. Despite the mobilization whenthe District magistrate ordered the police to occu-py the land in question, the landless organized aprotest march and confronted the police. It was atthis timewhen Zahida Bibi, a landless woman car-rying a child in one arm and a broom in anotheras a symbol of her protest at beingmade homeless,broke through the police barricade and marchedtowards the District Magistrate. This took the offi-cials by surprise and they gave the order to shoot.Zahida Bibi and her child were mowed to theground by bullets. Many people were injured. Ittook several hundred angrydemonstrators to keepthe pressure on the government to take effectivemeasures against the officials (Mridha,1998).

This mobilization has been spearheaded byleftist organizations like the Communist Party aswell as by local level NGOs like Nijera Kori,Sushilan and Prodipon. They have been able toorganize landless men and women and give thema voice against the shrimp farmers and local level

authorities. Even apart from major incidents likethe ones narrated above, the day-to-day lives ofwomen and men in these areas have been one ofstruggle and resistance.

Women group members of Sushilan narratedstories of resistance when they occupied a khasland and built a structure for their very needygroup members in the face of opposition fromverypowerful people. The law and order authoritieshad to comply in the face of their solidarity. Thepoor women driven to a corner had thereforefound their own answer to their problem: resis-tance! How strong are they in the face of a preda-tory state with high stakes in pocketing the lion’sshare of foreign exchange earning industries!

Conclusion

The growth of the shrimp industry in southwes-tern Bangladesh has generated a process of struc-tural transformation, which has affected bothclass and gender relations in the area. Much of thistransformation has been studied in terms of con-frontation, violence and conflict. Although thishad been more volatile during the initial period ofgrowth of the shrimp, it has not disappeared fromthe scene altogether in the later period of the rela-tive stabilization of the industry. Rather, both vio-lence and conflict have been systematized in theevolving social structures and hierarchies. Muchof this has to do with the nature of the ‘industry’itself. It is an agro-based industry dependent onnatural factors as much as it is on labour and capi-tal. Incidences of overflooding can cause havoc toshrimp farms as can virus attacks. The risk ofunprofitable returns often results in a volatilesituation where vulnerable groups, such as thelandless or those totally dependent on catchingshrimp fries, are made the ultimate victims.

Adaptation of older forms of social hierarchiesinto newer forms and structures, whether ofprofessions or living patterns, are also the featureof this new social landscape. Changing socialand gender relations have to be contextualized inthis perspective. The nuances of what takes placein the delinking of a subsistence economy or inthe integration with the global economy hasyet to be researched in detail. It is only when such


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empirical details are available that we cantheoretically interpret the realities of south-western Bangladesh in the light of propositions of

the world economy or the dual ideologies ofcapitalism and patriarchy, as mentioned in thebeginning of the paper.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to SayemaKhatun for providingmewith the recordings of interviews, which she conductedas part of her field research in the area, some of which has been used in the writing of this paper.

References

Alexander, M.Jacqui and Chandra Talpade Mohanty (eds.) (1997) Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, DemocraticFutures, London: Routledge.

Ghafur, Abdul, Mesbah Kamal, Matiur Rahman Dhaly and Sayema Khatun (1999) ‘Final Report on Socio-economicand Environmental Impact of Shrimp Culture in South-Western Bangladesh: An integrated approach’, Dhaka:RDC.

Mies, Maria (1982) The lace Makers of Narsapur: Indian Housewives Produce for theWorld Market, London: Zed Press.Mridha, Kanai Lal (1998) ‘Nirjatito Bhumihin o Shahid Zaheda Hotyar Kobita’, in Saydia Gulrukh and ManoshChowdhury (eds.) Kortar Shongshar: Naribadi Rochona Shonkolon, Dhaka: Rupantor.


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Globalization, Class and Gender Relations: The shrimp industry in southwestern Bangladesh