Gender, Work, and Household Survival in South Indian Fishing Communities: A Preliminary Analysis

Abstract

This article examines the interplay of gender, caste-religion, and household survival strategy formation among Christian and Muslim fisher folk in the south Indian state of Kerala. The methodology consisted of surveys of forty-one households in two villages in which data pertaining to male and female work patterns and other household level data were collected in the summer of 1999. My analysis demonstrates how particular ideologies of gender and work associated with different caste-religion communities influence the strategies individual households adopt. I discuss intersections between gender and caste-religion with other socioeconomic factors and illustrate the manner in which gender then gets reworked in particular ways in the course of economic transformation.