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Skill Building for Scale and Sustainability for Women Artisans in India: Understanding the Policy Landscape
Abstract
The handicraft industry in India is highly feminized, not only because it is highly labour intensive, and provides minimal income, but because it is considered women’s work. This devaluation of women’s work also leads to specific forms of invisibilisation of their needs and requirements related to capacity building and skill enhancement. One of the major challenges that women face in terms of practicing their craft is the policy push towards ‘scale’. On the one hand, government policies assume that sustainability of livelihoods is a problem of scale, and have pushed towards mechanization of production. Conversely, artisans and civil society actors have articulated that skills training must focus on enhancing traditional knowledge systems of the artisans themselves, and nurturing their independence, agency and creativity to create sustainable livelihoods. To understand this contentious relationship, this paper will use data emerging from a year-long study that examines women’s craft production in two specific craft industries in Karnataka, India – Ilkal sarees in Bagalkot , and Channapatna toys in Channapatna – and will (1) document the systematic ways in which sustainability of craft is tied to both the livelihoods and identities of women, and (2) how skill-building can be leveraged to build scale and sustainability for women artisans.
PCF11 Sub-Theme: Gender, Technology and Innovation in Open Education
Paper ID: 1808
Subject
Country
India
Region
Asia
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Date
2025-09
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ORCID
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Publisher
Commonwealth of Learning (COL)