State's Stepping out of the Dominant Values in Women Empowerment Policy: The Experience of Andhra Pradesh, India

Gender has often been a neglected area in welfare policy, irrespective of the countries' status around the world. As Orloff (1996) observed, little attention is given to how gender relations affect the welfare state. History reveals that welfare provisions in public policy are designed and implemented on the basis of the division of labor in the formal market, considering only male wage earnings and the number of dependents in the family (Perry, 2005). Because male wage earnings are the critical factor in the industrial labor system, men's values are the basis for the design of social security programs (Orloff, 1996). Accordingly, various welfare measures that have been implemented for industrial labor in particular and poverty in general totally neglect women's social reproduction factor, which emphasizes the structures and activities that transmit social inequality. A woman's needs are not a priority for governments because she is considered to be dependent on the male in the family. Needless to say, time and again these welfare provisions are incorporated into public policy, mainly in accordance with the patriarchal core values of the society.Because welfare measures in industrial societies were intended to benefit men and their families, the benefits were less ameliorative to women. Consequently, a disparity between men and women in wages, property rights, health, education, and other areas of women's lives has continued. In response to this inequality, a series of women's movements arose in the beginning of the twentieth century, starting with the temperance movements in the United States, Canada, and the Scandinavian countries. Although these movements were viewed as struggles against women's economic deprivation, their symbolic interaction seems to benefit the overall development of women (Ayinagadda, 1999). Unfortunately, cians and makers were largely untouched by these movements, which they viewed as relating to economics within the family, not to the emancipation of women from all forms of deprivation. Consequently, welfare policies continue to have a dominant value orientation that leaves unaddressed the issues of women. Hence, only recently have governments around the world started to realize the importance of gender analysis and gender relations in their welfare policies.Although this is the situation in most first-world countries, some developing countries in the East, such as India, are leading the implementation of ented public policies. These policies for the welfare and development of women and girls are implemented with the active participation of women. A significant point is that these policies are envisioned and practiced in opposition to the existing ideological values that have dominated the public policy arena in many states for most of the twentieth century. Hence, one might be interested to know why this shift in philosophical and ideological posture is taking place. This article explores why the state of Andhra Pradesh in India is transgressing the dominant values of Indian society to formulate such women-oriented policies.The State's Role in Women Empowerment Policies: A Theoretical PerspectiveGender analysis and gender relations constitute a substantial part of the welfare policy in any democratic welfare state (Ruggie, 1988). However, these topics have not been adequately addressed because of differing ideologies prevailing in certain countries. In this section, a theoretical perspective of the nature and role of various welfare regimes and their impact on gender relations will be discussed.The role of the state is to make appropriate policies and implement them effectively for the welfare of its people. More specifically, Reggie (as cited in Orloff, 1996) conceptualized the role of the state as a commitment to modifying the play of social or market forces in order to achieve greater equality. These forces tend to neglect the poor and the unemployed because they are not self-regulating and are sometimes exploitative. …

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