Coady International Institute Newsletter, 1992, No. 2

              The Marie Michael Library Coady International Institute
COADY INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE
NEWSLEHER
ST.   FRANCIS   XAVIER   UNIVERSITY   -  ANTIGONISH,   NOVA   SCOTIA.   CANADA
Vol.12 No.2
Fall/Winter 1992
How handicraft projects waste women's time
A few years ago, I visited a village In rural Tanzania to look at how women participate in local savings groups. At the agricultural co-opera¬ tive, the secretary showed me the membership register for the savings group. Fewer than one in 10 members were women. "But we have income- generating projects for women," he said, and called someone to arrange a meeting with the women to talk about the projects.
A community development agen¬ cy, it seemed, had bought a knitting machine. A young woman, who had been trained to use it, came to talk to us. She wasn't sure where the knitting machine was, since she hadn't used It for over a year. She said the wool had come just across the border from Kenya. It cost 490 shillings to buy enough wool to knit one sweater, which she could sell for only 500 shill¬ ings - a margin of just 10 shillings for all her labour and any incidental costs.
In Tanzania, the going daily rate for women's casual labour was 170 shill¬ ings. Since she could only knit three sweaters a day on the machine, this meant a day spent knitting cost her at least 140 shillings In foregone wages.
This edition of the Coady Newsletter focuses on the work of the Institute and its partner or¬ ganizations in Asia and the South Pacific.
Increased competition also played a role In turning the knitting project Into a losing proposition. More and more used clothes from abroad were turning up at rural markets where used sweaters could be bought for 100 or 200 shillings.
Handicraft projects take a lot of women's time and give them little in return for their labour.
The dressmaking course was no better. The single sewing machine stayed with the teacher, and the learners earned nothing for their labour, In fact they had to pay a fee to the teacher. In effect, they were work¬ ing as free labour for the teacher, who
also had to compete with the used clothes market.
This story Is typical of women's craft-based income-generating projects. The well-meaning people who provided the sewing and the knit¬ ting machines wanted to help. Teach¬ ing women to upgrade their traditional handicraft skills with the help of machinery seemed natural: little sup¬ port for training would be required, women wanted the machines, and there would be no conflict In the com¬ munity over women taking on non- traditional activities. Women could do handicraft work in their "spare" time or during slack agricultural seasons, often in their own homes on a piecework basis.
The decision to support hand¬ icrafts, however, requires more care¬ ful consideration than almost any other kind of Income-generatina project.
In the first place, handicrafts are by their nature labour-intensive and the value of that labour is seldom reflected in the price, unless the hand¬ icrafts are of high artistic quality Handicrafts which are meant to com¬ pete with mass-produced items (e g pottery, clothing) often lose the com¬ petition in terms of price (lower be¬ cause of mechanization, volume production), consistent quality or readily available supply.
Handicrafts which are special be¬ cause they are unique face their own set of problems. They are often too ex-