WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

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S. SUDHA –S. KHANNA –S. I. RAJAN –R. SRIVASTAVA
solely to provide information on the participants, not to draw
inferences to generalize to a wider population. Table 1 details the
number, sex, and age group of the 215 individual participants in our
data (not including key informants). They belong to 179 households
which are classified into three socioeconomic strata (Table 2). A
“standard of living index” was created similar to that in the National
Family Health Survey 1998-99 for Kerala (IIPS, 2001). Household
assets (land, consumer goods, other assets etc.) were cumulated and
households were assigned strata based on levels of asset ownership.
Table 1 Age and sex distribution of individual participants
Sex
Age group Male Female Total
18–39 36 43 79
40–59 26 51 77
Above 60 30 29 59
Total
Source: survey data.
92 123 215
Table 2 Standard of living classification of households (SLI)
Standard of living index Frequency Percent
Low SLI (0-14) 47 26.3
Medium SLI (15-20) 70 39.1
High SLI (21+) 62 34.6
Total households 179 100.0
Source: survey data.
In line with what is already known about Kerala’s socioeconomic
profile, very few persons (less than 2.5 percent) reported having no
schooling, with few sex differences in percent attaining different levels.
This illustrates the importance historically placed on education in this
society and that, unlike many other regions of India, female access to
education was not limited. Regarding work patterns, greater male than
female employment is seen; 45 percent of women report being a
housewife, more among older women. Another 21 percent are
students. Only about 16 percent are employed full time for pay, another
2 percent work part time, and 5 percent are retired. In contrast, 51
percent of the men are employed full-time, 4 percent part-time, 12
percent retired and 23 percent students. Among the women who
reported not working, several with college education engaged in homebased
income generating activities such as tutoring. Those with less
education did not report such activities. Most employed women were