Sunday, March 09, 2014

A strike that failed

How Asian women made trade union history and shattered stereotypes . Interesting article but it also has this statement from Jayaben Desai "You have to remember that, back in India, we came from an aristocratic background," Desai says. "My ancestors used to be ministers and dignitaries under the Raj. Desai is the name of a title, like lord, and my ancestors were very wealthy compared to the rest of the population. We were landowners and we were respected because of our position."
That was 1976; I still see this in Melbourne. Many housewives from 'upper' castes work in factory jobs but complain of labour problems back home. Many marriages seem to have about four to five celebrations, two in Australia, two in India in both party's places and often one in Tirupati.

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