Tilling the Earthwoman: When She is Mother Earth

Who is a farmer? Somebody who owns the land? Somebody who gives instruction on which seeds to sow and when? Somebody who ploughs? Somebody who sows the seed? Somebody who weeds? Somebody who applies the fertilizer and pesticide (or pest repellent, if it is organic farming)? Somebody who harvests? Who is a farmer?

Does the farmer have to do all of the above to qualify as a farmer? Or is it just enough if you are the owner and supervisor of the land? Or do others count?

60% of India’s farmers are women. Na, they do not own the land necessarily. Often they are wives and daughters of the landowners. Many a time, they are paid labourers to sow, weed and harvest the crops. And traditionally, they were also the seed-keepers—those who preserved and sorted seeds for the next season.

If you don’t believe in the statistics, then maybe these photographs will show that most of the time, across India, I noticed it was women who did the agri-labour jobs. I have also been told by local NGOs in various areas that since rural women don’t get drunk or are alcoholic as often as men in rural India, they work to earn money for their family. Often, they work as agricultural labourers. Let me repeat: 60% of India’s farmers are women.

Women Agri-Labourers in Odisha

Women Agri-Labourers in Jharkhand

Jayamani, a loyal Agri-Labourer in a rural development centre in Tamil Nadu

Hence, modern agricultural problems, if anything is a feminist issue—it is the loss of women’s rights as seed-keepers, as earth-lovers, as the celebratants of nature’s bounty. It is the loss of traditional know-how on how to cross-breed, how to produce relevant fertilizers and pest-repellants, on how to preserve seeds and use harvest effectively. It is the loss of her voice, of her significance in the agriculture-based economy. It is the loss of the women’s connection with the soil. A loss that Dr. VandanaShiva sharply indicates is at the heart of Ecofeminist movement—a movement for women’s space and voice in ecology to be re-established and reaffirmed.

Many years back I had the privilege of translating for Sri Rajendra Singh, Magasaysay winner and well-known water conservationist while he was in Albuquerque. When you translate, you tend to listen to the speech more carefully than not, and that knowledge over time percolates down. He said that in our native language we speak of river as a woman, as a goddess, we speak of the Earth as mother—in a sense we tend to have a filial relationship with all elements in nature. Nature is never “it” for us Indians, nature is “she” for us. I notice that filial relationship during rituals for ancestors where crows and other creatures are fed, and when my grandma would first water her Tulsi plant and feed the birds before she sat down to eat (and my mother follows that tradition).

In his Sep 2005 speech on “Failure of Environmentalism and What Religious Communities Can Do”, Reinhold Neibuhr Professor Dr. Larry Rassmussen, rapped the audience for using the phrase we often use--“Man and Nature,” as if we are separate and in competition with nature. He argued we have to start realizing and actualizing it is humans in nature, not outside nature, a point that has since struck a chord for me.

Dr. Vandana Shiva argues and I agree that the current issues in agriculture, of seeds being genetically modified (GMO) and branded as intellectual property rights, of heavy and indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides, killing valuable soil organisms, of this extraordinary thrust on profitability and productivity instead of quality, is essentially an extreme masculinist position and a loss of feminine values in the ecosystem of agriculture. Restoring feminine values of nurture, of care and compassion, of quality vs quantity will go a long way to restore soil health, food and seed sovereignty, and a general calm in environmental turmoil. When we care for earth as our mother, and not as a production factory, the equation is bound to change.

For those who want to learn or relearn the ancient ways of seed preservation and other traditional know-how and organic farming, you may want to visit Bija Vidyapeeth (Earth University) and participate in the Grandmother’s University. Do listen to Dr. Shiva’s brilliant talks here and here. I have listened to her speak—she is a powerful and articulate speaker who provides plenty of evidence to back up her argument. Her staff in the Navdanya office in New Delhi also spoke highly of her as a woman who has in spite of everything stayed focused on one issue and that is seed and food sovereignty and ensuring that it is a woman-centred revolution. May I also suggest this wonderful book “Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism,and Religion (Ecology and Justice)” by Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether as an accompanying read to this article?

Please note: there are several eco-activists in this country fighting against GMO seeds and other agricultural issues, all of whose work I respect and admire. By not mentioning them in this article, I do not intend to demean their contribution. But rather to keep in line with the theme for this navratri series: Sa Ham-I am She, I have chosen to focus only on Dr. Shiva’s works.

Today is Sasti, the 6^th day of the moon, where Maa Durga is welcomed back to Earth through the many rituals including Bodhon—which is consecrating Mother’s image and unveiling her face. As we see Her, may we remember that She exists in all that is moving and breathing on earth today and that in that unveil, we also unveil our own connections to Mother Earth. Subho Sasti! Jai Ma Durga!