Marginalisation of women and the predicaments of community-led ecotourism projects in the Chilika Lagoon, India

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies on women in ecotourism can be classified into two categories. First, women become empowered by participating in community-based ecotourism. Second, such projects continue to push women into gender-specific roles. Drawing from a qualitative study on community-based ecotourism projects in the Chilika Lagoon, this paper argues for a third category. Here, within the rubric of sanskritisation – social mobility and cultural factors associated with patriarchy – women are excluded from working in community-based ecotourism projects. Instead, they need to become "good wives" to uphold the community’s izzat (honour) and samskruti (culture) by dissociating themselves from "indecent" works like engaging in the ecotourism projects in the lake. The paper concludes that articulating the embodiment of honour and culture with the framework of sanskritisation can help us broaden our understanding of developmental practices in rural India and explain complex interplays of caste and gender that prevent Dalit women from entering certain labour markets.