Despite the initiation of collective rice farming with women through the Kudumbashree programme it was found that several households and their family members continued with multiple livelihood activities as well to ensure a better earning capacity. In the Kanjikuzhy Panchayat of Alappuzha district, people were engaged in coir work and agriculture. The Ezhava community, in particular, were involved in various stages of the production of coir, as had been another coastal belt communities of Kerala. After some point, people in this region stopped coir work and shifted to livelihood activities as they gained exposure to other means of support. Now, people are involved in agriculture, the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),[23] which is a government programme that provides daily wage labour and salaried jobs (that are available to educated people). Nevertheless, some of the women of the Ezhava community have returned to coir work. These women belong to the OBC, SC, ST and general caste categories The responses from these women indicated that there is a multiplicity of livelihood practices among most of the people in the Alappuzha district and most of the women also depend on Kudumbashree activities along with other income-generating activities. This reflects that the different livelihood initiatives of Kudumbashree alone cannot meet all the financial requirements of the women. One of the woman respondents, from Ezhava caste Kanjikuzhy panchayat, said, 'Earlier it was coir work. Here it was always the sound of the coir spinning machine. But after the introduction of MGNREGS, people stopped doing coir work. But now some people again started doing coir work. They are doing it at their homes.'

Similarly, another woman from the Chetti caste from the same panchayat and one woman, from Ezhava, Thirunelly panchayat reflected on now people are depending less on farming and more on cattle rearing and daily wage work for subsistence. As they explained, 'People are doing less farming now. They depend more on cattle rearing and daily wage work.'

In contrast, in Wayanad, a predominantly tribal district, agriculture has remained a major source of livelihood. Historically the Kurichiyas practised subsistence agriculture and have an intimate knowledge of the different varieties of rice that they grow in the region. Again, most of the women in both districts belong to OBC, SC, ST and general caste categories and they explained that it is not possible to depend solely on rice farming and agricultural work to meet the needs of their households and they augment their income with other forms of labour. This means that women have extra work burdens as they toil unceasingly in the household on the farm and at their other livelihood activities.

To understand the women's daily routines, the research participants were asked questions regarding the number of hours spent in household tasks, farming and other work. It is noteworthy that women told us that they spend a large part of their time on household chores, and the remaining time they spend on livelihood activities. The average time they spend on household chores (kitchen activities, cleaning work and washing clothes) is seven hours per day. The average time spent on farming activities is also seven hours per day. The women who have cattle, spend an average of one hour daily on cattle rearing activities. Women who have children attending school spend an average of one hour per day helping with homework. Very few women have time for rest, recreation and self-care. Out of the twenty-four respondents, five were involved in other livelihood activities such as MGNREGS or coir work. The women explained that their work chores overlap, and they have to multitask to save time. As one of the Ezhava women remarked,

Yes, it is a wonder for everyone that how I manage this much work. I have cows. I wake up at 4 a.m. and milk cows and sell the milk. Then I have a cup of tea. Then I cook rice followed by washing kitchen utensils. After that I go out after handing over the kitchen work to my daughter. I go to pluck vegetables from farm at around 6.30 a.m. After collecting the vegetables, I proceed to MGNREGS work. Now we are preparing a plant nursery so, we water the saplings and return by 8.45 a.m. After that work gets over, I carry my breakfast for work. If it is other than nursery work, then I return only at 1 p.m. At 1 p.m., I go home for lunch and return to work at 2 p.m. At 5 p.m., I go home. All work is going with an adjustment. MGNREGS work is allotted by panchayat. After 5 p.m., I come to [the] JLG farming field and water the crops with my team members. Everyone participates. After 6 p.m. I come back and take care of cows and will do all the remaining kitchen work. I don't watch TV. I spend [the] rest of my time at night … writing accounts of NHG, MGNREGS, JLG till 10.30 p.m. Even after that, I am not able to complete the task of maintaining accounts. In between I need to look after the grandson and other work at home. I have my dinner before or after 10.30. At 11 p.m. I go to sleep. I do not have any rest. I am working full time.[24]

Similarly, another (Chetti caste) participant explained,

I wake up at 4.30 a.m. My children go to school at 8.30 a.m. I prepare food and have breakfast and leave for work at 8.30 a.m. If I carry lunch, then I work till 4.30 p.m. or else I work till 3.30 p.m. After coming back, I do the remaining work at home and we have dinner. I go to sleep at around 11.30. Sometimes I watch television in between.

The responses across caste and tribe were similar with the women describing that the household responsibilities were their domain and only a few narrated that their husbands shared the work as and when they felt like it. There is no specific rest time or leisure time for women as they do multiple tasks at the same time. After returning from farming activities, they make dinner for the night and finish the left-over household work. The men have both the luxury of leisure time and the status that is associated with the fact that the work they do is considered to be the main livelihood activity. On the one hand, men's work is normally conducted away from the domestic residence which marks a clear delineation between their 'hard' work and home activities. On the other, women's farming work is for their homes, and they are forced to manage the double workload. This gendered role allocation also allows men to engage in more lucrative non-agricultural work.

The perceptions of the Kudumbashree officials echo the socio-cultural narrative of housework being primarily the responsibility of women. In fact, one Community Development Society (CDS) chairperson said that even if the women farmers were overburdened, they are happy doing all the work and that the women felt that the work they did was for their family. His opinion reinforces the unequal roles, responsibilities and cultural constructs that are based on gender, and which make women's work invisible and devalued.

Another CDS chairperson said that the women were not overburdened, and they did not have that much hard work at home. Her narrative is particularly illuminating reinforcing the social norms of gender roles,

If we could find out time for that then it is not a burden. We do not have that much hard work at home. The women do that work before they go to the field. And as far as agriculture work is concerned, it is more flexible. They can decide when to work. If it is too hot, then have a choice to take rest. So, there is no such big issue.

Some of the CDS Chairpersons indicated an acknowledgement of the burden of work of the women but they also reiterated that women were happy to do all the work for the wellbeing of their families.

Most of the participants, especially the Kurichya (ST) women, shared their in-depth knowledge of seeds and traditional farming techniques. Despite this knowledge they still considered themselves to be helping hands and their husbands to be the 'farmers'. One participant shared in detail about women's knowledge and roles in rice farming,

We know everything about it. First of all, we plough the land and prepare one field only for sowing. We apply cow dung and dried leaves and plough the remaining land. Then we construct the field bars and plough again and sow the seeds. Some seeds mature in 25–30 days. After 10 days crops start to grow and then we add the manure. Then after 25 days, we start to replant the rice seedlings. During these 30 days, we prepare the remaining field and replant the rice seedlings.

Despite the knowledge, skills and investment in agricultural processes, women continue to feel that men know more about farming than they do and that if something goes wrong the men can sense it and the women learn from the men. They feel the need for approval and assurance from their spouses in relation to farming. As shared by one woman,

Yes, there are differences. Farmers mean men. Men know more about farming than women. If something may go wrong in farming, they can sense it. I learned from them. In the agriculture field, only a few women are doing bold work and managing all work alone. But usually, it is done by men. Women cannot do it alone.

Some of the women also expressed the fact that they could not handle some of the tasks and needed the help of their husbands for some activities such as spraying pesticides, sowing seedlings and running the boat. Another woman felt that the belief that only men should do the sowing forced some women who wanted to sow seedlings to hide it and only do this activity when the landlord was not around. As one of the women said, 'There are women who do that [sow seedlings] privately. But they will not reveal it publicly. There are women who do it in the middle of the field in the backwater region.'

Officials repeated the normative understandings of gender roles. As one of them pointed out there were differences in the work that men and women can actually do. She/he said, 'There is lots of work that demands hard work and so men are doing it. There are differences in the work. The women cannot do [work] like men. We are trying … but that much perfection is not there.'

The collective farming approach puts the onus of the decision making about which lands to use for rice farming on the women themselves. There are a variety of ways in which such decisions are taken. The JLGs most often are made up of heterogeneous women from different social groups. They would make a decision as a collective about whose lands would be selected and, if needed, what part of the land would be leased from the nearby landowners. Their decision was based on how much land was required for rice farming.

Most of the women organised by Kudumbashree for collective farming do not own any land, except for a few women from OBC and general categories who, traditionally, have always had better control and ownership of land. The women who do not own or have family land have to arrange to lease land from landowners. As part of collective farming programme, there was no formal procedure by which leased land was made available, so the women had to negotiate with those who owned land. They also had to pay the lease amount from their own savings and earnings as Kudumbashree did not pay this initial amount to them. In panchayats, like Kanjikuzhy, Panamaram and Thirunelly, sometimes the women paid a portion of their harvest to the landowner, instead of paying rent for the land. Due to their economic backwardness and incapacity to pay the amount being requested, some SC and ST women, who were more impoverished than the women from OBC and general category social groups, often found it challenging to arrange the lease amount. These women did the rice farming collectively and they managed their produce either by selling it or consuming all of it at the household level. Some of their husbands owned land and controlled the use of this land. The women had to negotiate with them to use this land for collective farming. Some of the women gave some interesting insights into why men felt the need to maintain ownership and control over the land. One woman explained that the insecurity of men is associated with land ownership. Men either own the land in their name or else the land will be in joint ownership. Another woman explained that land was not in women's names maybe because of men's selfishness. She said,

Land is not in our names may be because of their selfishness that is what I feel like. Even after our marriage, he bought land but he did not feel to buy land in both of our names. (She smiled and said sarcastically) I do not know why he did not feel so. He may feel that I will take this land and go.

Another explanation given by a participant was,

Earlier also the land was in the name of the head of the family. So, the land is in the name of men. Now our ration card is in women's name. It is because men are addicted to alcohol and the family is run by women. Some men are taking responsibility for the family and some persons do not take care of their family.

There were other women who explained that even if they owned land, it would still be controlled and managed by their husbands. As one of the women told us, 'I think men have more land in their names. What to say, (pauses) even if the land is in the name of women, their husbands would be controlling it. They both may manage, and I have never witnessed husbands and wives fighting for land ownership.'

Women do wish to own land but are overlooked by their own natal families, who mostly transfer the land they may have to their sons. Research has shown that intra-household bargaining improves for women if there is gender equal allocation of assets within the households and this boosts the power of decision making that women have outside the households.[25] In the Kudumbashree programme the women who are doing the collective farming have to source and lease land as a collective from the men who own it and this lack of control over land gives the women a sense of insecurity. The landlords may or may not approve a lease to the collective and charge prevailing market rates. The women who already belong to marginalised communities and come from poor backgrounds lack the bargaining power and often struggle to negotiate even a collective lease for rice farming.

Significant information about the ways in which Kudumbashree's interventions enhanced livelihoods and alleviated poverty among women and more specifically in the marginalised groups (SC, ST and OBC) through collective rice farming were brought out in this study. The interventions have also enhanced confidence among the women farmers and made them aware of the gender inequality within their households, which they have begun negotiating.

What it is further required, however, is to reduce is the sexual division of labour both in households and within agriculture as well. The social and patriarchal norms prevent women from achieving their full contribution in farming. Further, the Kudumbashree programme has not focused on changing the gendered understanding of work, and the 'rules' of social relations continue to inform the perceptions of the officials and the men and women in the communities.[26] The women feel that they are engaged in less skilled activities in farming compared to men. This narrative of devaluing the work that women do both at the household level and in farming is echoed by Kudumbashree officials.

Even though Kudumbashree's collective programme helps the women, to an extent, with collective bargaining and addressing resource constraints, it needs to upscale the interventions and transform gender relations at the institutional level, in households, panchayats and the state. This transformation requires that women's unpaid work in household, in cattle rearing and farming be recognised as primary and valued work. Simultaneously women need to be empowered to articulate their contribution to farming—a contribution that is equal or even, perhaps, even more than that provided by men, since they are constantly multi-tasking work from home to the farm.

Kudumbashree's has a gender platform which is in a nascent stage and is a separate component that focuses more on violence against women, skill building and livelihoods for women. But it is imperative that gender interventions should not be separate programmes, but rather gender and intersectional analysis of the socio-economic contexts of the women and their situation needs to be incorporated into all Kudumbashree's programmes. While women are the main stakeholders in the Kudumbashree programmes, gender transformative approaches are essential and 'power' within households, communities, market and state institutions are changed. This would be possible with appropriate interactions, training, and dialogue with men, so that they are informed and the need to interrogate and transform gendered relations within households and communities is stressed. As highlighted, several of the Kudumbashree employees reinforced the gendered notion of women as good 'caregivers and hard workers' and failed to recognise the drudgery and burden of household work. This results in a huge work burden on women and this workload needs to be shared and thereby reduced by the cooperation and participation of all male members in household and communities. This radical transformation is a must as women's contribution to the economy comes from a great deal of unpaid and devalued work which any programme aimed at 'empowering' women needs to consider when planning its interventions.

Another major aspect of the socio-cultural contexts of Kerala's landscape that needs highlighting is the dynamics of the intersection of caste, tribe and religion which play out in the lives of the women in this research study. Women belonging to these communities lack ownership and control over the land they farm, and leasing the land requires them to constantly negotiate with landlords who have power and control because the majority of them belong to socio-culturally dominant groups. There is a power dynamic which needs analysis relating to what it takes for women to access land for rice farming activities. A certain section of women, such as those in the Kurichiyas (Scheduled Tribe), are a potential source of traditional knowledge. The traditional farming knowledge of women needs recognition, documentation and the women need to be adequately remunerated for their labour. As a women's collective of Kudumbashree they have the potential to start questioning the existing gender roles and transforming the family and society as part of their empowerment process.