Figures from the 2001 Census show that the percentage of marginal workers amongst rural women workers has increased significantly from 8.1 per cent in 1991 to 14.2 per cent in 2001. During the same period, there has been a sharp fall in the percentage of main workers, especially among rural male workers. The figures thus show a casualisation and feminisation of the workforce in rural areas, with the number of marginal women workers becoming larger and more significant, whereas male main workers in rural areas have declined. This has made it imperative that agricultural unions work more and more with women.

There has also been a change in the position of women in rural society. Reservations, a proliferation of self help groups, the general rhetoric about gender and women`s participation by donors, the government and international unions, and the women`s movement have made women`s participation in panchayats much more palatable in a hither-to male dominated world.

We live in historic times, when women are leading the struggle in rural areas. In West Bengal, we have seen history unfold before our eyes in Singur and Nandigram  struggles that have impacted the debate on the policy of converting agricultural land to non-agricultural use all over India. The large numbers of women shot at and injured during the police-cum-cadre carnage of 14 March 2007 and injured, arrested and jailed in Singur in the past year are a living testimony to their active presence. These women are not just shields for their men – they are willing participants–aware of the dangers and, yet, continue to participate in these struggles.

In Sonebhadra in Uttar Pradesh and Ghateha in Madhya Pradesh, there have been land struggles in which dalits and adivasis have asserted their right over forest land, occupying many thousands of acres of land in the face of police and upper caste repression. Again, women have led from the front. Less dramatic, but equally important, has been women`s participation and their assertion for their right to employment under NREGA, with their constant hammering of the local governments in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and many other states. Dharnas, deputations, protests – reports from many agricultural worker unions point to the huge numbers of women in these activities.

Not all these women are part of typical trade union organisations. The `heroines` in these movements were also not always `workers` in the strict sense of being labourers, who were paid wages for doing specific tasks. Many of them were one or more of the following: women in unpaid family labour, sharecroppers and self-employed women. However, many of them were also women who worked for wages as agricultural workers during some parts of the year.

The reality of women`s lives in agriculture is that their identity is not strictly based on class. It intermingles with their identity as women, as members of certain ethnic groups, as women living in certain geographic areas as well as their social identity as wives or daughters or mothers. It is only an acceptance of this reality that can lead to the organisation of women agricultural workers. The denial of some trade unions of this reality may be seen as one of the reasons for their failure to make large inroads into this group that forms a huge part of our total working force.

Along with these multiple identities, one must also acknowledge the fact that these women workers come from groups that are poor as far as written traditions go, but are very rich in oral traditions. These are also groups that may not be organised into trade unions but have their own ways of relating to each other.

How do these multiple identities and specific cultures impact the dynamics of trade union organising in agriculture? In Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS), when we first began organising the women, nearly 18 years ago, women went to sleep in the meetings. Long speeches bored them. With large numbers of illiterate women, the written word was also not usable. So, we found ourselves resorting to songs and to theatre and simplifying our language. A new idiom of communication was found that ultimately impacted all our meetings and demonstrations.

Reaching out to women also meant that we gradually began to get reports from women, who faced abuse at home because they had decided to come for the meetings. Dealing with these problems meant that the men and women of the union had to come together to face abusive husbands and in-laws. Women also saw alcohol abuse and gambling as major reasons for draining away precious family resources. Movements to break liquor dens and gambling dens became popular and helped the union to become part of the local ethos. Issues considered `personal` earlier became reasons for public campaigns and movements.

Women activists, who joined the union, also made it necessary for the union to find ways that enabled them to work and live with their male comrades. The union established centres as collectives where young girls who had left their homes to work as whole-timers could live and feel secure. Sexual relations with all its complications, including harassment, within the union had to be taken up and dealt with maturity and firmness. Once women activists had children, it became necessary to establish a central commune with a common kitchen and childcare facilities for all the whole-timers. The union thus had to innovate and had to re-structure itself to the different needs of its women members.

This experience, in which the presence of women transforms the issues, the idiom and the structures within a union, is not unique to PBKMS alone. At a consultation that was organised with women activists from several agricultural worker unions in August this year by the National Alliance of Agricultural Worker Unions, the language used and the issues being discussed were different because women were predominant in the discussions. We found ourselves closer to ground-level issues whereas in earlier meetings, the predominantly male leadership of the unions discussed larger, and sometimes, theoretical issues. How to arrange funds for our work, politics and our relationship with each other and with other alignments had concerned us a great deal in other meetings. The women were, however, more concerned with the day-to-day problems that they  faced. Women seem to have the ability to force a union to look at daily reality on a day-to-day basis. The union needs to balance this with the national and international ramifications of every micro issue.

A problem that many unions face, in becoming more women friendly, is that the top leadership is still in the hands of men, who continue to think in the old ways. The dynamism, which is part of a union that has many women members, is lost to these unions. Unions have to either change with the times or become fossilised male bastions in a sector where women are the predominant force, both in terms of numbers as well as in terms of dynamic struggles and activity. Conservatism in this issue can only lead to termination.