Placing the household in perspective: A framework for research and policy

This paper attempts to create a gender related conceptual framework around the household, which can be put to use in research and policy. Policy maker s' understanding about the household is drawn from economics and it is both limited and unrealistic. Therefore, this study opens the concept of die ho usehold for analysis, showing how it is imperative to consider familial dyn amics for arriving at a clearer perception of intra-domestic functioning. A nalytically, the household and the family are reconciled into the concept o f the domestic unit, using a multidisciplinary approach. The close connecti on of women's lives to the domestic unit they live in, makes it necessary t o focus upon power disparities within it. The concept of the domestic unit opens doors to multidisciplinary explanatory variables, which can make sens e of seeming irrationalities that constitute intra-domestic functioning. Th is paper also develops the concept of space to arrive at a measure of power and empowerment. A parallel concept of environment (domestic and macro) is used to establish the nexus between micro and macro phenomena. Against the Indian backdrop, it also traces conceptual routes to suggest how effects o f macro changes, like economic restructuring, on women can be ascertained w ithin domestic units. The purpose of the entire exercise is to assist in th e quest of social scientists to arrive at usable constructs that bring hypo theses closer to reality. The philosophy underlying development efforts is questioned in the process. The issue of whether the human being is an activ e subject, rather than a passive object, is seen separately from the proble m of heralding her/him for intrinsic or instrumental value. While both valu es are recognized as important, this paper stresses the need to see people as active subjects with a will to develop.