Care workers, collectivisation and protest: A case for feminist and anti-capitalist resistance against the state

Jain, Dipika (2024) Care workers, collectivisation and protest: A case for feminist and anti-capitalist resistance against the state. Feminist Theory. ISSN 1464-7001 (In Press)

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Abstract

Nation-wide organised protests by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), arguably the backbone of India's fragmented healthcare system, form a watershed moment in feminist protest in India by centring demands for the regularisation of their ‘voluntary’ and undercompensated work. This distinct subaltern group (the ASHAs) engages with the state through dynamic political protest. This article critically explores the protest strategies adopted by ASHAs to better understand feminist protest on the Indian political landscape. It adopts a reflexive method of inquiry by unpacking how ASHA policy perpetuates institutional patterns of gender-based occupational segregation and how ASHAs, in turn, navigate and respond to these challenges. Somewhere between victimhood and agency, ASHA workers have reclaimed a site of struggle and resistance. Indeed, in the face of gender-based discrimination, ASHA workers are agitating on their own terms. A postcolonial feminist lens allows us to explore the axes of resistance adopted by ASHAs, including their medium of protest, which offers a space for different performative strategies: the self-sustained and self-contained leadership and mobilisation in which ASHAs reject gender-based stereotypes, exclusion, disadvantage and discrimination; and the use of protest to build sites of resistance, solidarity and negotiation. This theoretical framework offers valuable insight by shifting focus away from judicial strategies and towards ASHA workers as ‘protesters’ and as authors of their own narrative.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Anti-capitalism | collectivisation | gender | healthcare workers | postcolonial feminism | protest | resistance | unions
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Gender Studies
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Law and Legal Studies
JGU School/Centre: Jindal Global Business School
Depositing User: Dharmveer Modi
Date Deposited: 11 Nov 2024 09:10
Last Modified: 11 Nov 2024 09:10
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/14647001241288492
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/8783

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