Breaking the barriers

East Indian women cast off plantation tradition

The first arrivals in 1838 on the sailing ships, Hesperus and Whitby, numbered 396, of whom only 22 were women. They lived in logies with poor sanitary conditions throughout the indenture period. Children and young women worked on sugar plantations in the ‘weeding gang’ and later in the ‘task gang’ or ‘creole gang’, earning poor wages.

In the late 1940s, women would leave their babies at the Estate crèche and go to work in the fields. They would also carry their babies in the fields, until an older child was able to stay home and look after the younger sibling.

The role of women such as ‘Sita’ of the Ramayana and ‘Radha’ of the Mahabarata were portrayed as the pure and ideal wife, and these representations continued to influence gender relationship expectations between men and women (at least among the Hindus).

Women who resisted or were accused of violating the oppressive patriarchal structures within Indian family structure were abused or even murdered. Among the women killed in this early period were “Anundai, Baumee, Goirapa and Saukalia, for allegedly deserting their husbands.”

Although the gross disparity of women created the conditions for sexual exploitation, it also served to strengthen their resistance movements throughout the indenture period.

Resisting plantation mistreatment

Sugar planters imposed harsh working conditions on labourers so that many strikes (riots) occurred. Labour unrests were often because of workers’ protests against mistreatment of estate workers, especially since the first riots on estates broke out in 1869.

Women also participated in protests against planters’ mistreatment of workers on sugar estates. In 1903, at Plantation Friends in Berbice an indentured woman, Salamea, urged Indians to fight against the plight of indentureship. Moreover, after indenture ended in 1917, while Indian women continued to protest as they struggled for justice, they also became victims of the planters’ oppressive practices on the sugar estates.

In 1964, Kowsilla, at age 44 and mother of 4, was “mowed down by a tractor [at Leonora sugar estate]. She became another martyr of the Guyanese working people movement.” Her death on May 6 is remembered for a woman who stood up bravely against a system of exploitation and oppression as during 1964 especially, many suffered during the sugar workers’ strike. Few such experiences and forms of resistance were recorded against planter oppression.

Helping to provide for the family

While many Indian women, especially among the working poor, had not attended school, they were working to maintain their families and to send their children to school. Thus these women contributed significantly to their household and community, especially as ‘financial managers’, developing ways to improve their economic position. These included planting their backyard with greens, raising chickens, goats, sheep, looking after their cows, selling milk, and buying and selling produce.

Some also managed little shops in the villages and assisted in their husbands’ businesses, such as the tailor shops and grocery shops.

In the early 1930s and 1940s, Indian women preserved domestic life by participating in ‘throwing box hands’ to save money for their children’s education or marriage and, in some cases, they would ‘pawn’ their jewellery to obtain sufficient funds. In spite of the tremendous responsibilities they had to shoulder, their strength sustained the home greatly. Without birth control, many Indian women had large families, some having between 6 to 10 children or more, and therefore had to find ways to increase the family income to support a large family.

Urban women make their voices heard

At the same time, a small group of middle-class Indian women in the urban areas were beginning to participate in public circles.

Esther Saywack Mahadeo

One of the first known women to demonstrate resistance against the injustices of colonialism was Esther Saywack Mahadeo, (born in 1872) who was widowed at the age of 28, with four children.

Having inherited a small shop, she refused her parents’ offer to return home.

Instead, she became one of the leading merchants in New Amsterdam. As a young girl, she learned business skills while her father went to work selling oil on a donkey cart. With determination, she looked after her children and never remarried. She became very involved in the business and community, and became the first woman President of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce.

Recognizing the injustices against plantation workers, she took a petition, signed by hundreds, to the Governor in Georgetown, protesting the shooting of innocent workers who participated in a riot at Plantation Rosehall, Canje where Indians were shot and some killed in 1913. At this time, it was unthinkable for a woman to have done this, especially an Indian woman and a widow.

She died in 1948, leaving a legacy of an Indian woman’s early voice against oppression. She took part in social work and was the first woman President of the Berbice Turf Club. To have achieved this singular position at that time in a colonial environment showed a tremendous influence, resilience and courage.

Alice Bhagwandai Singh

Alice Bhagwandai Singh, born in Suriname and married to Dr. J. B. Singh, (a former President of the British Guiana East Indian Association – BGEIA) directed several of the plays produced by the British Guiana Dramatic Society of which she was president.

In June 1927, she founded the East Indian Ladies’ Guild, which emerged about 10 years after the BGEIA and which functioned primarily in a social, cultural and religious capacity representing Indian concerns. As president of the Ladies’ Guild, she and other women organized and promoted cultural events. In April 1929, they produced the play ‘Savitri’ based on the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. Her husband, Dr. J. B. Singh played Satyavan and Miss I. Beharry Lall played Savitri.

Later in 1936, Alice moved towards a greater role in terms of reaching out to the poor. She founded the Balak Sahaita-Mandalee, a voluntary child-welfare society, which belatedly recognized by the Indian middleclass for its work addressing the “desperate poverty on the estates.”

Pita Pyaree

One daring young girl left her foster home at Aurora Village, Essequibo, at age 13 and travelled to Georgetown with the hope of staying with her aunt. By dint of fate, she began a singing career and later acting in the 1930s.

She performed throughout Guyana, in Suriname, Trinidad and Venezuela, and became the “Indian version of the famed Madame O’Lindy”. Her name is Pita Pyaree.

Pre and post independence efforts

In relatively recent times, few women writers emerged, notably Rajkumari Singh and Mahadai Das, whose poetry reflects themes of pain, oppression and gender assertion.

Rajkurmari Singh, a one-time Indian radio announcer at the Demerara Radio Station, wrote the play “Jitangali” and published “A Garland of Stories” in 1960. She was instrumental in staging plays at the Theatre Guild.

Today even though many Indian women are now educated and have moved up in the social, political and religious organizations, they are still marginalized. In some cases, many educated Indian women who are capable of becoming leaders continue to be restricted. While it can be argued that, in earlier times, many women suffered from a form of subservience reinforced by religious patriarchal indoctrination and other social demarcations, one can recognize that there is still a long road ahead for women to access higher leadership in such areas are unions and politics.

(Excerpted from “Indian Women of Guyana: Reflections of their existence, survival and representation,” written by Janet A. Naidu and originally printed in the 2003 issue of Guyana Journal)