“Jagoron: Awakening” to Gender in Non Governmental Organizations in Contemporary Bengal DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Raili Roy Graduate Program in Women's Studies The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Cathy Rakowski, Advisor Wendy Hesford, Co-Advisor Wendy Smooth Mytheli Sreenivas Copyright by Raili Roy 2013 Abstract The recent history of women’s movement in India is dominated by discourses on roles of Non-governmental Organizations fostering women’s empowerment. This dissertation responds to the gaps in such discussions through a study of three women’s rights NGOs Sanlaap, Jabala and New Light in Kolkata, India working primarily with sex workers and trafficking survivors. The study challenges simplistic conclusions about the role of NGOs to promote women’s empowerment by addressing the following questions: which conceptualizations of empowerment prevail in an organization? Are they contested and under what circumstances and with what results? How do women targeted as beneficiaries perceive projects, the organization, its staff, and their own potential empowerment? And, in a more general sense, how does the shifting socioeconomic framework of neoliberalism in India in general and in West Bengal specifically constrain or contribute to women’s rights advocacy on the part of women’s rights NGOs? Further, the study has situated the three NGOs within their history, culture, and political and economic context, all widely recognized as critical to the understanding of the opportunities and constraints under which NGOs make strategic decisions, establish goals, and develop and implement programs. The dissertation identifies circumstances that play key roles in the conceptualization of empowerment and that influence not only the goals and strategies of the organizations but also the relationships among the multiple actors that contribute to the financing, management, and outcomes of NGOs. ii Dedication This document is dedicated to the memory of my dad Partha Sarathi Roy. iii Acknowledgments Though only my name appears on the cover of this dissertation, a great many people have contributed to its production. I owe my gratitude to all those people who have made this dissertation possible and because of whom my graduate experience has been one that I will cherish forever. A lot happened in my life in the course of this production, I became a mother, and I lost my father rather unexpectedly. This project would not have been completed without the constant support and encouragement of the people in my life. My deepest gratitude is to my advisor, Dr. Cathy Rakowski. I have been amazingly fortunate to have an advisor who gave me the freedom to explore on my own, and at the same time offered me the guidance I needed to recover when my steps faltered. Cathy taught me how to question thoughts and express ideas. Her patience and support helped me overcome many crisis situations and finish this dissertation. I am indebted to Professor Wendy Hesford for co-chairing my committee and providing valuable feedback on my analysis. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Mytheli Sreenivasan and Wendy Smooth for believing in me and promptly responding to any questions I may have had. Thank you to the Department of Women’s Studies, Office of International Education, Gordon P. Chu foundation and Coca Cola Grant for their financial support of this dissertation. I have realized in the course of the past eight years of my life how fortunate I am when it comes to having friends and family. I would like to thank my near and dear ones iv in India and the US for their constant faith in me, and for showering their love and affection on me and my daughter. Thank you Sankha Roychoudhury, Kaberi Roychoudhury and my other family members in India. Thank you to Shayri Roychoudhury, Shaoni Roychoudhury, Srinjay Roychoudhury, Kushanava Choudhury and Anindita Ghosh for being such supportive siblings. Thank you to my dear friends from Columbus, OH and Philadelphia for being my family in the US. Thank you to Kuttiburi and Khushi for being the best sisters to Enika. I would also like to thank Debanuj Dasgupta, Durba Chattaraj, Ananya Dasgupta and Lea Popeilinski for their valuable feedback on the draft of this dissertation. It helped that in my daily work I have been blessed with a friendly and cheerful group of co- workers. Thank you Dr. Kathleen Hall, Jody Chavez, Zoe Beckerman, and Menaka Gopalan for your encouragement and support. I hope this dissertation lets the voices of the women I interacted with in Sanlaap, Jabala and New Light be heard loud and clear. I will be forever indebted to the women of these three organizations for showing me what courage is all about. I am grateful to my mother, Kanka Roy, from whom I learned the lessons of humanity and kindness. It is from my dad, Partha Sarathi Roy, that I learned the most important lesson of life: never give up. I wish he was here to share this feeling of accomplishment with me. Last but not least, I would like to thank the two most important people in my life: my husband Sougata and my daughter Enika (Soha). Without Sougata in my life I would not have come to this country, got interested in women’s issues, and pursued my graduate v work. So thank you for being there, always. And Ms. Enika, you are the light of my life; keep shining, and I hope you forever remain the kind angel that you are. vi Vita 1995................................................................B. A. History (Honors), Presidency College 1997................................................................M.A. Modern History, Calcutta University 2002................................................................M.A. History, University of Cincinnati 2003 to 2009 .................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Women Studies, The Ohio State University 2009to present………………………………Assistant Director and Lecturer, South Asia Center, University of Pennsylvania 2010 to 2011………………………………Adjunct Professor, Drexel University 2012……………………………………….Adjunct Professor, Penn State University Fields of Study Major Field: Women's Studies vii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Overview and Introduction to the Research Problem ..................................................... 4 Objectives and Research Questions ................................................................................ 6 Organization of the Dissertation ..................................................................................... 8 The Outsider Within: The Researcher and the Researched........................................... 12 Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework and Research Methods ............................................. 19 Discourses on NGOs ..................................................................................................... 22 Assumptions about NGOs ............................................................................................. 29 The Organization of NGOs ........................................................................................... 32 Literature on Gendered Organizations and Institutions ................................................ 35 The Concept of Women’s Empowerment ..................................................................... 41 Trafficking and NGO work in India .............................................................................. 46 Research Design and Analysis ...................................................................................... 48 viii Towards a feminist methodology .............................................................................. 48 Data Collection .......................................................................................................... 50 Interviews (Sampling) ............................................................................................... 52 Interpretive Methods ..................................................................................................... 54 Using NVivo .............................................................................................................. 56 Chapter 3: In Between Nation Building and Self-Regulating Citizens ........................... 59 History of NGOs in India .............................................................................................. 61 NGOs and the State of India ......................................................................................... 64 NGO History in West Bengal ........................................................................................ 71 The Three Organizations Studied .................................................................................. 80 Day-to-Day Workings in the NGOs .............................................................................