Human Resource Development International Vol. 13, No.

1, February 2010, 6581

Non-governmental organizations and the socio-economic development of low-income women in India

Meena Razvia* and Gene Rothb
a

Cultural Perceptions Consulting, Elgin, USA; bNorthern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA

(Final version received 13 December 2009) This literature review focuses on the socio-economic development of low-income women in India. The study describes how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India attempt to ll gaps in governmental support for marginalized women in the Indian workforce. Some scholars have recommended expanding the boundaries of human resource development (HRD) to include multiple topics in a variety of contexts to investigate the holistic development of individuals. Gaps exist in current HRD literature regarding the status of low-income women in India. This article argues that many Indian NGOs are capable of serving the needs of women in informal work sectors and in addition, they can provide a broad non-traditional context for investigating HRD processes and services at a national level. Keywords: Indian NGOs; gender; socio-economic development; NHRD, India

Research studies in human resource development (HRD) do not generally focus exclusively on the experiences and perceptions of poverty alleviation among marginalized work sectors. HRD scholarly literature typically does not include cross-cultural feminist epistemologies and pedagogies that illuminate the socioeconomic status of women within informal work sectors, and, these approaches to research involving such contexts are rarely used to bring insights to scholars and practitioners who are concerned with the national human resource development (NHRD) of a country. A scarcity of non-Western conceptualizations of low-income women in India presents an opportunity to investigate multicultural perspectives within specic contexts. When thinking about HRD in India, Western HRD practitioners and scholars are apt to visualize brilliant graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, the expanding technology start-ups of Bangalore, or the rapid growth of outsourcing to India during the past decade. Yet perceptions of prosperity in India are deceptive especially for Indian women. More than sixty years after Indias independence, the poverty rate in India remains high, with one third of the population living in poverty (World Bank 2006) and 79.9% surviving on less than $2 per day (Women in India 2006). Indias present socio-economic situation does not favour low-income women

*Corresponding author. Email: meenarazvi@gmail.com

ISSN 1367-8868 print/ISSN 1469-8374 online 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/13678861003589008 http://www.informaworld.com

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within unregulated informal work sectors. Indias economic reforms during the 1990s do not benet 90% of the female workforce that is forced to participate in informal, poorly paid sectors (Banthia 2001; Mishra 1998). Because of a shortage of formal jobs and gender bias in the workplace, 23% of Indian males work in formal job sectors compared to only 7% of females (Banthia 2001). For the small percentage of women who are fortunate to work in formal job sectors, Indian organizations have a dismal record of retaining and promoting women to levels of authority (Rajadhyaksha 2002). As a result, women dominate informal unregulated marginal work sectors, and furthermore most of these marginal sectors escape the radars of government regulations. Trapped between unrealistic ideologies and political mayhem after Indias independence in 1947, jobs for women in India became scarcer by the decade. Despite government policies and programmes, gender gaps continue to widen in education and employment. Women in poor sectors of India suer from multiple gender and social discriminations that restrict their access to labour improvements for marginalized populations. Socio-economic forces (patriarchy, labour, education, and government initiatives) greatly inuence NGOs priorities for womens education despite government initiatives that struggle to provide sustainable socio-economic development in India (Razvi and Roth 2004). Each socio-economic force aects the complex nature of human development. The notion of international HRD infers a world of inter-connectedness. This article oers a perspective that is aligned with authors who stress strategies for workforce development that can serve a nation, noting the importance of aligning public and private systems for the betterment of people and organizations within social contexts (Holton and Naquin 2002; Jacobs and Hawley 2003; Naquin 2002). As India moves rapidly towards growth and development in certain sectors of the workforce, the status of its national workforce merits examination to identify important populations, issues, and gaps. Mainstream HRD does not explain how and why only a certain segment of the Indian population participates in formal job sectors. NGOs seemingly have the potential to transform the poorest regions of India through economic, educational, and agricultural strategies (Jha and Kumar 2000). An opportunity to critically explore how NGOs in India function within the complex nature of womens development, and the extent to which they inuence womens socio-economic development brings important understandings to existing knowledge about NHRD in India. Conicting views about NGOs present an opportunity for discourse, reection, research, and scholarship by expanding traditional boundaries of HRD. This article informs HRD scholars and practitioners by extending existing literature, providing a complex international perspective, illustrating an important gap in the workforce development of a nation, and providing insights into how Indian NGOs impact NHRD. The objectives of this article are: (1) to point out recurring socio-economic factors that impact working women in India; (2) to provide brief descriptions of the origins of NGOs in India; (3) to provide a critique of Indian NGOs that illuminates their strengths and limitations; (4) to examine the extent to which socio-economic forces inuence the priorities of NGOs towards supporting working women; and (5) to oer recommendations for future directions of NGOs. Our aim is to promote awareness, dialogue, research, and action of NHRD concerning the social and economic empowerment of a marginalized work sector in India.

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A conceptual framework with multiple components best serves and inuences studies of complex specic issues that aect the lives of marginalized female workers in India. This literature review focuses on gender, economic context, and social development as an epistemological lens to explore the status of Indian women. Agar (1980, 44) argues the importance of avoiding the colonial context within the research process. Denzin and Lincoln (2003, 2) describe colonial researchers as dominant white males who set out to study the exotic other, a primitive, nonwhite person from a foreign culture judged to be less civilized than the researcher. Accordingly, a multiple theoretical paradigm is especially suitable for exploration of complex cultural factors to facilitate the emergence of unpredictable variables (Denzin and Lincoln 2003). Strauss and Corbin (1998, 287) argue it is important to not borrow theories, instead develop their own, ones that reect their societies or citizens cultures and behaviours. Voluntarism, Gandhian philosophy of non-violent resistance, feminist theory, and NHRD comprise the conceptual framework for investigating the role of NGOs in India and the status of marginalized working women. These disparate pluralities of theoretical and conceptual orientations can serve to expand the parameters of HRD scholars (Roth 2003). Voluntarism and Gandhian philosophy Indian social reforms for women were initiated by men during the eighteenth century and continued with the inclusion of women during the campaign against British rule. Gandhi was the spiritual leader of the Indian civil rights movement during the struggle for liberation from British colonial rule that Indians call the British Raj (Gandhi 1983). Tagore, an Indian poet and Nobel Laureate, bestowed Gandhi with the title Mahatma (great soul) (Ruche 2001). Gandhi included women in the struggle for national freedom and wrote about his awareness and respect for gender equality in his autobiography (Gandhi 1983). After Gandhi became a volunteer activist in South Africa, he returned to India to continue the freedom campaign on a volunteer basis while observing the condition of the Indian population. While travelling throughout India, Gandhi became appalled at the high rates of poverty and resolved to improve the socio-economic status of marginalized work sectors. He practiced the principles of ahimsa (nonviolence), sarvodaya (self-help), and satyagraha (two Sanskrit words meaning truth and rmness) (Gandhi 1983). Many Indian NGOs still follow the Gandhian philosophy in their eorts to empower women in India. Feminist theory Feminist theories account for issues of gender and power structures (Belenky et al. 1986; Hooks 1984; Woolf 1989). Hooks (1984, 4) attributes gender discrimination to race and class that aects womens quality of life, social status, and lifestyles. Lowincome women, in particular, suer gender inequalities that suppress their physical and psychological freedoms. Current NHRD literature does not include information about informal work sectors in India. Using a feminist framework, Bierema and Cseh (2003) conducted an analysis of 600 Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) papers published between 1996 to 2000 and discovered that 6% of the topics focused on aspects of diversity.

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National human resource development (NHRD) National human resource development (NHRD) is a relatively new term popularized by McLean (2004, 269) who denes it as a focus on HRD as national policy. Osman-Gani (2004) believes NHRD plays a prominent role in the economic development of a nation. NHRD in India has a limited focus on two areas: education and culture, during 1985, Indias new Ministry of Human Resource Development refocused on education (Rao 2004). Despite this trend, India has no uniform NHRD policy (p. 292). Rao believes NHRD has the potential to improve human resource development in India. In 2000, India had an available labour force of 406 million out of which only 28 million worked in organized sectors, the majority of the workforce laboured in informal sectors earning minimal daily wages, and as a result, 26% of the population remained in poverty (Rao 2004). McLean (2006) posits that HRD can contribute towards community development. The boundaries of HRD scholarship are fuzzy as scholars around the globe search for common ground with their research agendas, and yet grapple with the parameters of HRD research and practice (Ardichvili 2008; Johansen and McLean 2006; Sambrook 2008). Many Western authors focus on processes, systems, and people within organizations while some Eastern scholars not only consider HRD within organizations, but broaden HRD to include the political economy. A few authors venture beyond workforce issues and encourage HRD scholars to consider the health and well-being of a nations people. Pavlish (2002) notes disparities between poor countries of the Southern Hemisphere compared to those of the Northern Hemisphere as outlined by the World Health Organization, and urges HRD scholars and practitioners to connect the role of HRD to the disparities of health, education, and knowledge that aict residents of impoverished communities. With a focus on improving the overall health of the worlds people, Pavlish (2002) suggests a human resource model for creating, crafting, collaborating, connecting, and contributing knowledge to construct humane and sustainable social communities. It is within this broad focus on knowledge capital and caring leadership that this research was inspired an inquiry into the socio-economic conditions of women in poor sectors of India and how these factors inuence NGO responses. Sen (1999) examines economic reforms in India and explains that income enables other capacities. He argues that economic discrimination is a much broader concept that includes additional factors (1999, 108). This study revealed that patriarchy, labour, education, and government initiatives emerged as the main underlying socio-economic factors aecting the status of poor women in India. Method Torraco (2005, 357) arms the use of literature reviews as a research method for creation of new knowledge and understandings about mature topics or new, emerging topics. As India moves rapidly towards growth and development in certain sectors, it is important to understand the status of the national workforce to identify important populations, issues, and gaps within the national workforce development of a nation. This article incorporates an extensive literature review to analyze, synthesize, and understand how Indian NGOs inuence the status of a majority of working women in India that continues to labour under informal and unregulated work environments despite rapid advances in formal work sectors.

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Findings oer a reconceptualization of the Indian workforce with a focus on a marginalized sector that rarely benets from HRD advances and presents an understanding of a work sector not well known in mainstream HRD. Multiple books, articles, and business and social studies databases were used to review, critique, and synthesize the socio-economic status of marginalized women in India. Database sources included ABI Inform, ERIC, Wilson SelectPlus, Article First, PsycInfo, Social Sciences Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, WorldCat, and Dissertation Abstracts. Journals and the Internet were utilized using a multiple search engine called Dogpile.com. In addition, library books from national and international libraries were recalled on loan and scanned for recurring themes of Indian NGOs, womens socio-economic status, and womens development issues. Key descriptors and key words used were: NGOs, women, India, poverty, womens development, research, social impact, economics, human resource, Asia, self-employment, womens studies, culture, leadership, gender, and income. Searches were limited to India and womens socio-economic issues. Analysis included sorting units of literature into recurring themes that were grouped into four major socio-economic factors (patriarchy, labour, education, and government initiatives) aecting womens development in low-income sectors of India. These factors inform our conclusions that identify how and why a majority of Indias working women are restricted within informal unregulated work sectors in India. The reviewed literature also illuminates how NGOs function within complex societal structures in an eort to ll gaps between government and other organizations attempting to improve the status of working women in India. Findings Origins of Indian NGOs and socio-economic focus in India Examining the role of Indian NGOs can lead to a broader conceptualization of HRD processes and services at a national level. This examination can serve to question traditional barriers between formal and informal work sectors, while seeking innovative strategies to alleviate the socio-economic problems of marginalized women. Although evidence of voluntarism in India dates back to 1500 BC, Gandhi (1983) is most noted for initiating a national eort of community voluntary service and self-help to promote the social and economic development of Indias poor sectors. Indian NGOs are diverse in their nature, size, missions, goals, and purposes, resulting in manifold descriptions and denitions. A report from the Voluntary Action Network India (VANI) reveals that out of a total of 1.2 million Indian NGOs, 53% are based in rural areas, 47% in urban areas, and 49.6% remain unregistered. Only 8.5% of Indian NGOs include more than ten paid sta (VANI 20082009). NGOs usually function with voluntary servers that dedicate personal time to help uplift their communities. VANI also reports that 80% of funding is provided by local individuals and corporations, 13% by the Indian government, and 7% of donations are sent by international organizations. In a state-wise NGO list, the Planning Commission of the government of India (2009) reports a total of 1,392 NGOs based in the state of Gujarat. VANI sorts Indian NGOs into ve main categories: religious, community/social services, education, sports/culture, and health. Womens NGOs often cross multiple boundaries while relieving many psychological and physical conditions that have plagued females for many generations.

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Some NGOs serve to question traditional barriers between formal and informal work sectors while seeking innovative strategies to alleviate the socio-economic problems of marginalized women. Although evidence of voluntarism in India dates back to 1500 BC, Gandhi is most noted for initiating a national eort of voluntary community action to raise the status of workers in low-income sectors (Gandhi 1983). Many early voluntary organizations in India chose to follow either the Gandhian or religious ideology of non-violent sustainable development. The famine in the state of Bihar (1966) and the crisis in Bangaldesh (1971) inuenced an increase of NGOs resulting in a new professional arena of opportunities for HRD (Rai and Tandon 2000). Rai and Tandon argue that because human capital investment was not a major goal of many NGOs, economic development has not been adequate. Recently, many organizations in India have attempted to facilitate economic empowerment by providing access to micro-nance and basic skills development. Some organizations focus on policy issues at national levels by intervening on behalf of marginalized populations (Rai and Tandon 2000). Initial conceptual frameworks for voluntary organizations in India were based on ideas of self-help and community service (Sen 1999). Indias collective society favours voluntary service dating back to Vedic times (15001000 BC) when the absence of formal welfare programmes prompted families and communities to work collaboratively during times of crisis. The Rigveda, an ancient religious text, imparted written evidence of the status of Indian women. The Vedic culture believed that men and women were created as equals but over multiple generations this view was replaced by patriarchy (Masani 1973; Seth 2001; Talageri 2000; United Nations, Economic, Social Commission for Asia and The Pacic 1997). Gandhi founded the well-known national consciousness movement in India initiating a radical nonviolent peace movement called Satyagraha two Sanskrit words: sat (truth), and agraha (rmness) (Gandhi 1983). Many Indian NGOs continue to be greatly inuenced by the Gandhian philosophy (Mathiot 1998) even to the extent of emulating his insistence of wearing simple khadi (home-spun) cotton clothing. The Gandhian ideology explains why many Indians dislike the Western term NGO preferring to use the original term voluntary agencies (Mathiot 1998, 332). Eventually, community organizations in India became formalized. Chaudhary (2007, 37) denes voluntary organizations as a group of persons who organize themselves on the basis of voluntary membership with external and State control, for the furtherance of some common interests of members. Common NGO characteristics include: private ownership and control, non-prot (or perhaps not-for-prot) status, legal status; a principal function as a people-centred development; and not nancially self-reliant (Bhat 2000). In the Indian context, the government became involved in voluntary groups during the twentieth century. During the 1950s and 1960s Indias government became conspicuously assertive in an attempt to assume the primary role of economic growth. Due to its inability to eectively implement this goal, the government requested NGO assistance with poverty eradication programmes (Chaudhary 2000). Gradually as time and experience presented lessons learned, necessary changes became evident. During the 1980s the government focus shifted to socio-economic empowerment although minimal guidelines were provided (Chaudhary 2000). The Indian government raised lofty economic goals, but lacked the knowledge and expertise to implement this new ideology. NGOs were sought out as mechanisms to reach economic goals. Debates continue regarding whether this was an eective strategy.

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Socio-economic needs of the Indian population inuenced a change in conceptualization and the priorities of NGOs during the 1990s when women were discovered as major participants in the economic arena (Mathiot 1998, 97). Largescale government programmes failed to provide relief for small-scale needs. A recent response to this troubling situation has been the micro-economic strategies of NGOs (Bhat 2000). One commonly held tenet of NGOs is that micro-nance can make tangible, positive steps toward alleviating poverty (Sen 2000). The supporting logic of this tenet is that low-income women cannot aord to wait for macro developments to take eect they need micro strategies for their basic survival needs and pursuit of economic self-reliance. Initial foci of new NGOs appear to support this claim. Many new NGOs initiate their eorts with small relief projects that allow women to gain experience, knowledge, status, and adequate funding. These small successes empower women and serve as a precursor to larger initiatives. Strategies of Indian NGOs Improvements in the economic status of women through the actions of NGOs have been well documented: direct nancing through banks, nancial organizations, donors, private corporations, government programmes, and as a result of NGO training programmes (Jain 2000). However, provision of such services is not without contextual barriers. When Jha and Kumar (2000) conducted a study of an NGO in a rural region of Bihar, they noted that government ocials were reluctant to assist, rely on, or otherwise cooperate with NGOs. NGOs commonly overcome these barriers because locality, diversity, exibility, and autonomy are their main strengths (Ebrahim 2001; Kumar 2000; Madon and Sahay 2002; Sooryamoorthy and Gangrade 2001). Their diverse nature implies that NGOs can function within multiple organizational cultures while sustaining autonomy. Whereas the slow turning wheels of government bureaucracy can create gaps between policy formulation and implementation, NGOs have the potential to be nimble and ll niches (Das 2001; Madon and Sahay 2002; Sooryamoorthy and Gangrade 2001; Viswanath 1991). NGOs can respond quickly with context specic programmes whilst government agencies often falter thereby enabling most NGOs to work directly and closely with poor women. As such, NGOs can possess a greater ability to understand womens situational needs. Although womens needs have always been prevalent in India, funding decits have historically inhibited NGOs from focusing on important issues. Several contemporary funding organizations favour gender equity which has greatly inuenced Indian NGO priorities (Mathiot 1998). Handy, Kassam, and Ranade (2002) note that many Indian NGOs share a feminist perspective because they work towards womens empowerment rather than on short-term gains that do not transform society. Leaders of such NGOs understand and work to eliminate poverty by providing relevant programmes and services to empower women. Missions, visions, goals, organizational size, stang, knowledge, expertise, and funding determine the choice of strategies. One successful Indian NGO, the Self-Employed Womens Association (SEWA), was founded in 1972 by Bhatt a female Gujarati (from the state of Gujarat) lawyer (Rose 1992). SEWA is both an acronym and an Indian word meaning service (Rose 1992). SEWAs innovative ideas (e.g. a trade union for self-employed women) aim to empower marginalized working women. Because larger Indian banks refused to

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service poor women with their minimal incomes, SEWA Bank was formed during 1974 in response to poor womens demands (Rose 1992). SEWA describes its two goals as full employment and self reliance (2009). SEWAs national eorts to assist socio-economic development of disenfranchised women resulted in international recognition of the plight of millions of working women in India. As a result, marginalized women began gaining access to credit and savings programmes improving their capacity to increase their incomes and improve their lives through micro loans that expand their businesses and prots. Education is one important approach for gender empowerment and sustainability. Education Lack of education hinders poor women from realizing their rights, and inhibits their access to available resources. Some NGOs oer basic literacy education and formal training programmes while others provide knowledge and expertise responding to client needs. Whether acting as relief workers, intermediaries, advocates, or change agents, many NGOs oer some form of formal or informal education to their clients. Improved eorts could increase access to education and formal job markets for poor sectors. Because NGOs work within governmental restrictions, some NGOs may be hesitant to delve into national responsibilities such as the provision of education. Government relations NGO conicts with the Indian government may have resulted from unfamiliarity regarding diering models used by both parties. The government adopted Western models of development, whilst most NGOs operate within Indian concepts of selfsuciency, community, and spiritual growth (Mathiot 1998). Leaders of most NGOs understand the status of women as a function of socio-cultural discriminations and inept governmental agencies (Mathiot 1998). Working within these two dierent paradigms can frustrate NGOs, governments, and their clients. NGOs have been known to empathize with client frustrations regarding government bureaucracy, and NGOs gain the trust of women by working within the cultural contexts while simultaneously pressuring for legal change as opportunities arise. Because NGOs often criticize the state, the government sometimes retaliates by placing control over NGO activities and funding (Sen 1999). Such a love-hate relationship with the government is often an unavoidable aspect of government-NGO relationships because most NGOs are locally based within their clients contexts and as such, struggle to manoeuvre between local needs and government restrictions. NGOs understand the roots of oppression as well as the intricacies of how local contexts marginalize and exploit women. Many NGOs function with an understanding that social discrimination creates economic instability for poor women. Unlike governmental departments, most NGO workers within the womens development eld are females who reside close to their clients geographical locations. These workers speak local languages and understand regional dierences. Their expertise provides NGOs with an important leverage over governmental programmes that are more generic. NGO workers observe, hear, and respond to rst-hand evidence of the womens status in response to poor women who reach out to non-prot organizations as a source of hope and support knowing they will be heard with respect. Because most poor women request economic assistance,

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this need inuences NGO strategies that include micro, macro, or a combination of methods, all of which are essential for womens socio-economic development. Immediate needs can be satised together with planning for long-term sustainability that includes training and development as well as lobbying for change at macro levels of government. One can argue that a disadvantage of Indian governmental agencies is that they are staed by males; many of whom bring patriarchal attitudes to relief programmes. India has Masculinity as the third highest ranking [worldwide] Hofstede Dimension at 56 (Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions 19672009). For this reason SEWA does not include males in its organization to avoid gender bias in decision making (Rose 1992). Males are the major decision makers of policies and programmes and the main gatekeepers of womens development in India; therefore, a feminist perspective would view the lack of understanding of womens needs as a major reason for failure of government agencies. A collective look at the factors that inuence the success of NGOs in serving the needs of poor women in India would include: alternative approaches, innovative methods, a focus on womens issues, committed leadership, motivated female sta and volunteers, faster response rates than the government, exibility, access to national and international funds, context specic programmes and services, local oces, and female centred innovative strategies. Challenges confronting Indian NGOs India is a vast multicultural and complex continent that presents challenges to Western generalizations of development. Most of the previous development research has been either Western-centric or male-oriented. Indias economic reforms during the 1990s do not benet 9095% of the female workforce that is forced to participate in informal, poorly paid sectors (Banthia 2001; Mishra 1998). Indias emerging markets attract outsourcing from multinationals that only take advantage of a minority English-educated workforce. The very factors that allow NGOs to attain success in serving the needs of poor women diversity and autonomy may also be their weaknesses. Sooryamoorthy and Gangrade (2001, 152) explain that although NGOs are initially highly democratic, as they expand and develop they often drift away from democratic practices. They also note that institutionalization commonly has detrimental inuences on democracy and the spiritual outlook within NGOs resulting in formal layers of organizational structure that can prevent eld workers from accessing top leadership. The proliferation of NGOs in India is no guarantee that they can eectively advocate womens issues or serve the needs of poor women. Not all NGOs succeed regardless of their size or mission. Inexperienced sta members, insucient funds, lack of committed leadership, government bureaucracy, competition, cultural barriers, and inabilities to forge linkages outside their area are some causes for failures (Chaudhary 2000; Jha and Mishra 2000; Madon and Sahay 2002; Mathiot 1998; Prasad and Madaan 2000). For example, Appell (1996, 2245) critically questions whether SEWA is more ideological than practical, noting several gaps in its ideology: SEWA cannot create jobs, does not accept members from formal work sectors, is not participatory, and its middle class workers prefer to assume paid highlevel positions in the organization. Goals, mission, and vision are strategic decisions that are hotly debated issues with no easy solutions for Indian NGOs that often face

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competing strategic decisions of remaining small and risking a lack of a broader impact, or the alternative which could mean sacricing local connections and remaining out of touch with local needs. Often, strong leadership of NGOs is not sustained when funding leaders retire or leave the organization without succession plans and strategies to enable smooth leadership transitions. Some organizations grow too large, lose sight of their democratic goals, and their traditions dissipate through growth and eects of time risking losing touch with client needs. Rapid growth within an NGO can negatively aect response rates, exibility, and innovation. Despite optimistic possibilities for the future of NGOs, they are not immune to the eects of bureaucratic ineptitude. Although Indian NGOs play important roles in initiating and enhancing womens empowerment in India, in due course, most non-prot organizations retreat from projects leaving poor women to fend for themselves until the next aid programme comes along. Despite SEWAs attempts to promote gender and class equalities in its organization, major decisions are made by senior salaried sta. Findings support Patels argument that SEWAs attempts to minimize salary dierentials and promote an egalitarian ethos and participatory style of functioning does not eradicate class tensions among middle- and lower-class women (Patel 1995, 152). Patel acknowledges that some leaders are emerging from the membership ranks, but questions their capacities to cope with their own problems without guidance from senior sta. NGO conicts with the Indian government may have resulted from unfamiliarity regarding the diering models used by separate parties. An NGOs capacity to focus beyond reductionist psychological theories of poverty and development is its primary asset (Mathiot 1998, 96). In practice, however, many NGOs may be undermining their potential impacts by perpetuating patriarchal attitudes. The proliferation of NGOs in India is no guarantee that they advocate womens issues or succeed in their eorts. Because NGOs often criticize the state, such a relationship with the government is an interesting aspect of government-NGO relationships. Mathiot (1998) argues that patriarchal attitudes inltrate NGOs and cites examples of women workers perpetuating the status quo. Many women-centred NGOs do not question gender biases in the home. The Indian government made slow progress from 1947 to the 1990s by focusing its ve-year plans from early issues of welfare and development to current issues of empowerment. Others caution against replication of western and middle-class ideologies, and critique Indian NGOs for neglecting to monitor their performance (Banerji et al. 2001). Despite optimistic possibilities for the future of Indian NGOs, they are not immune to the eects of bureaucratic ineptitude, diering ideologies, inadequate funding, and patriarchal attitudes. NGOs and the Indian government each play important roles in initiating and enhancing the future of womens empowerment in India. Gram Vikas, a mixed NGO working with both genders, conducted a study of two NGOs Gram Vikas and India Development Service (IDS) to determine their eectiveness in serving the needs of Indian women (Viswanath 1991). Viswanaths study compared the extent to which each NGO provided sustainable economic gains, and discovered that Gram Vikas strategies were more focused on short-term gains whilst IDS strategies were long-term. Although Viswanath recommends that NGOs should adopt the Gram Vikas model, it must be recognized that ignorance of longterm needs hinders sustainability and empowerment, and encourages dependency.

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The Ministry of Social Welfare (1987, 745) lists three forms of informal labour: self-employment, contract/wage work, and housework. These forms of unstable incomes further reduce the possibility of sustainable development for women. Subcontractors exploit women in a chain of corruption that pushes poor women to the bottom of the income ladder (Dhagamwar 1995). Economic equity in this environment is tenuous. Dhagamwar argues that employers, trade unions, and government policies have not safeguarded womens jobs. Studies illuminate that poor households include more wage-earning women yet their status remains low (United Nations, Economic, Social Commission for Asia and The Pacic 1997). Although women are the main earners in 35% of Indian families (Vecchio and Roy 1998) society prefers to view them as housewives. A relationship exists among gender, caste, class, and income because the majority of poor women come from lower castes. Muslim women work at home because of purdah a Muslim term, literally translated as screen or veil, that involves the practice of keeping women in isolation (Dixon 1982; Vecchio and Roy 1998). Upper caste women resist manual labour, forcing lower-caste women to participate in unclean jobs such as washing, construction work, and sweeping. Caste mobility is impossible because of fate of birth (Dixon 1982) and taboos against mixed-caste marriages. According to the Census of India (2001), in the state of Gujarat, only 14.5% of women worked in the main sectors. The majority of women in all three sectors performed unpaid housework in addition to any paid work. Although gender discrimination in work sectors is quite prevalent, the accuracy of reporting on womens status is questionable. Underreporting of womens work exposes the tendency to undervalue womens work, thus perpetuating their marginalization and exploitation in the workforce. Access to formal job markets hinders womens sustainable development. Future directions for NGOs in India Recommendations for future priorities of NGOs in India vary among authors, and the topics include motivated leadership (Appell 1996; Manzo 2000; Mohan 1973; Viswanath 1991) and collaboration (Manzo 2000; Sen 2000; Yadama 1997). Yadama describes several possible advantages of collaboration among Indian NGOs: increasing the eectiveness of smaller NGOs, helping local NGOs to implement regional level programmes, building credibility and trust, facilitating eective sharing of technology and information, increasing the power to deal with government bureaucrats, accessing markets for women, and enhancing eective evaluation by local and national funding organizations. However, contrasting views can also be found in the literature regarding the benets of collaborative work among Indian NGOs. Opinions vary regarding partnerships and growth, and these diering viewpoints have relevance for Indian NGOs. Brinkerho (2003) cautions that some partnerships, in general, can be counterproductive. Diering ideologies and missions along with conicts of power and leadership may cripple joint ventures. Das (2001) suggests that Indian NGOs could initiate pilot projects for new schemes because smaller NGOs can take advantage of their exibility and rapid reaction time to implement new ideas. To retain this advantage, Das recommends that NGOs seek to network and share their valuable expertise. This sharing may be a good solution for those NGOs that prefer to remain small and autonomous. Regardless of which

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method is used amidst the competing environmental demands, Indian NGOs need to remain focused on client needs. In the case of serving the needs of poor Indian women, NGOs can achieve better success ratios by involving their clients in decisionmaking and leadership. Micro-strategies are crucial for improvement of the immediate well-being of poor Indian women and macro-strategies are critical for long-term sustainability in the absence of NGOs or other intermediaries. Elimination of one strategy may result in severe neglect of poor women who often remain voiceless in the power structures. A balanced approach that incorporates both micro and macro-strategies may be best for the long-term sustainability of womens development. Successful leadership will need to consider sustainable development that will release poor Indian women from total reliance on the services of NGOs in order to reach independence and empowerment (Ebrahim 2001; Gandhi 2000). Sustainable development can help Indian women avoid this cycle of dependency by empowering them to make their own decisions and secure their own resources. Therefore, the most important role of Indian NGOs is to act as important links to available resources by bridging the gap between government ocials, institutions, aid agencies, and community networks. NGOs in India could incorporate empowerment training and development strategies to assist women in solving problems associated with patriarchy, labour, education, and government access. Conclusions and implications for HRD India is in dire need of labour and educational reforms aimed at women in informal work sectors. McLean (2006) argues that HRD professionals can contribute to the development and implementation of national workforce policies. Findings from this literature review suggest that Indias social, economic, political, and NHRD policies have not adequately focused on the welfare of the labouring classes. Contrary to its original goals of social justice and equality during the early decades after independence, India has not made adequate progress in poverty alleviation. As a result, the safety and security of informal work sectors remain at risk. Without access to formal jobs, millions of Indian women struggle within limited informal sectors that restrict their self-reliance. The successes of the 1991 economic reforms in India promised a good future for the middle and elite classes but did not provide much hope for the majority of labouring classes struggling to survive on subsistence wages. Policies aimed at poverty alleviation have not been successful in improving the socio-economic status of marginalized women. With the support of NGOs and grassroots leaders, poor women can avoid working in isolation and mobilize to resist exploitation in the workplace. NGOs can serve to question patriarchal traditions that oppress women in India and in so doing, search for innovative context specic approaches to age old problems that restrict womens participation in the workplace. Many NGO leaders are capable of interpreting contextual needs and can provide much-needed relief in workplace arenas that are unregulated by the government. Findings of this literature review are aligned with recommendations that NGOs can facilitate poverty eradication through the supply of micronance to poor sectors (Manimekalai 2000; Premchander 2003; Sen 2000). Diverse cultural and geographical inuences produce complex economic participation of women at work. Sentiments regarding womens social and economic status vary greatly around the globe because of diering conceptual frameworks and

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insucient empirical evidence. Understanding how complex factors aect the global workforce and how NGOs function within various contexts can provide important insights to HRD theorists and practitioners. The need for common contextual understanding is a frequent refrain in management literature. Viewing organizations through various cultural lenses was popularized in the 1980s (Hofstede 1991). Hofstede described it as the psychological assets of an organization (p. 18). Schein (1992, 68) declares that ultimately, all organizations are sociotechnical systems in which the manner of external adaptation and the solution of internal integration problems are interdependent. NGOs should be encouraged to incorporate women-centred strategies in India to benet disenfranchised poor sectors. Although the Indian government has recognized the eectiveness of women-centred NGOs, Mathiot warns practitioners about the dangers of cooptation (1998, 100). Viswanath (1991) recommends that newer NGOs should plan a gradual and cautious approach of development commencing with small local programmes leading to a focus on larger issues and extended geographical regions. The proliferation of NGOs in India is no guarantee that they advocate womens issues or succeed in their eorts. Mishra (1998) estimates that over 95% of the female Indian workforce labours in unstable informal sectors without benets or employment security. One remedial possibility is motivated leadership a vital component for NGO success because it reects the culture and ideologies of the organization (Appell 1996; Viswanath 1991). Viswanath (1991) notes the importance of fostering leadership capacity within clients in addition to organizational sta. Others (Manimekalai 2000; Manzo 2000; Prasad and Madaan 2000) recommend research to aid deeper understanding of NGO functions and impacts. Critics disagree about the ideal missions and roles of NGOs. Despite the varying recommendations, NGOs in the Indian context should refrain from becoming substitutes for ineective governmental eorts. Each party is dependent upon the other to initiate and enhance womens empowerment in India. Interfaces between the public and private organizations in India have achieved marginal results (Mishra 1998). However, NGOs possess capacities to encourage socio-economic and national human resource development by acting as intermediaries on behalf of poor women in India. The ndings of this literature review suggest possibilities for further research in a broad range of areas such as NHRD, development policy, and NGO eectiveness. Empirical research of NGO activities can provide valuable information regarding the status of marginalized working women, most of whom remain isolated and powerless. A general tendency of formal sectors to concentrate on Indias developing middle-classes questions the ideology that India is a balanced society. Traditional methods of HRD must, therefore, be reviewed in light of these ndings. NHRD has the potential to integrate and mobilize the national workforce by bringing positive improvements and opportunities for all citizens. NHRD scholars and practitioners face new challenges to rethink and redesign national workforce development that includes the needs of marginalized sectors. This literature review reveals a low ceiling for womens capacities to climb social and economic ladders. Findings from this study are aligned with Metcalfe (2008) who urged the HRD scholarly community to challenge gender inequalities and power relations as we move toward change initiatives. As long as women struggle within low-paying informal work sectors in India, their social and economic mobility will remain low.

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Pareek and Rao (2008) provide a very informative description of the evolution of the integrated HRD systems in India and the emergence of the national HRD network. They chronicle the impressive recent development of HRD as a eld of practice and scholarship in India, but their summary comments include the refrain:
However, the profession and the body have a long way to go. Those involved in the HRD movement in India need to step out to know how HRD is a national policy issue and how they have not touched even a small part of the humanity and that the HRD movement is so incomplete if it is conned to the corporate sector. It cannot ignore the billions of people who need to improve their longevity, skills base, income, health, and quality of life. (Pareek and Rao 2008, 564)

Poor women in India need sustainable income generation opportunities with medical and insurance benets, combined with access to jobs in formal sectors. Although Indias economic reforms of the 1990s released some strangleholds on the Indian economy, the beneciaries tend to be mostly middle-class, English-educated workers. In contrast, reforms to improve the status of informal workers have remained almost stagnant. HRD professionals can assist in bridging the gap between public and private sectors by remaining vigilant and providing timely support. Patriarchy, labour, education, and government initiatives emerged as the main underlying factors aecting the socio-economic status of poor women in India. A multiple conceptual framework best serves and inuences studies of complex specic issues that aect the lives of marginalized female workers in India. References
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