Abstract

The working paperUneasy tenants in the Master’s house: Reflections on Mahila Samakhya published in 2018 focuses on Mahila Samakhya’s growth and the possible circumstances that led to the downfall.

The Mahila Samakhya (MS) programme, initiated in 1988 under the National Policy on Education, sought to empower marginalised rural women in India through education and collective action. Driven by feminist principles, MS aimed to address systemic socio-economic and cultural constraints while enabling women to challenge patriarchal norms, claim their rights, and achieve agency. Despite its notable achievements, including increased participation in public life, advocacy for gender equality, and innovative collective livelihood strategies, the programme faced relentless criticism for its process-oriented approach, limited economic focus, and resistance to scaling.

MS was discontinued under India’s shifting political priorities favouring microcredit-based interventions over rights-based frameworks. This transition reflected a broader neoliberal shift, reducing state accountability in poverty alleviation and promoting market-driven strategies. The programme’s demise highlighted internal challenges, including hierarchical tendencies and insufficient systemic responses to caste and communal biases. Nonetheless, its feminist ethos persisted within local sanghas, where women continued to champion sustainable livelihoods, collective farming, and gender justice.

MS’s legacy underscores the tension between market-oriented development and grassroots feminist movements advocating systemic change. Its integrated approach to empowerment, emphasising education and collective action, contrasts sharply with microcredit’s commodification of women’s labor. Today, MS remains a symbol of resistance against the intersections of neoliberalism, patriarchy, and ecological degradation, inspiring ongoing struggles for equality and justice among India’s rural women

Menon-Sen, K. (2018, February). Uneasy tenants in the Master's house: Reflections on Mahila Samakhya. Centre for Budget and Policy Studies