Water Wives – from Families to the Workplace

Swati Bhattacharya, the scriptwriter of Water Wives, a film made by ActionAid about the water wives of Maharashtra explains how and why she drew a parallel between water wives and women in the workplace and gender equality. In conversation with Rajyasree Sen.

“I had seen Guardian’s photo feature on the practice of men having water wives in Maharashtra. Yet, while that article spoke about men having wives, my mind kept going back to the wives. How do they work it out? Is it so simple to accept another person in your husband’s life? See, for me, more than poverty this is a film about how patriarchy uses the strength of women to flourish.

And it’s not just in families, there is as much tokenism in offices as there is in marriages. Women employees often miss promotions, don’t get increments and this discrimination is carried out in a very sophisticated manner. You are judged if you leave office at 5.30 pm or if you have to take the day off because there is no one to look after the kids at home.

It’s not just women in offices. Look at how we treat our maids. No overtime, no pension,..but we expect them to be devoted to our home and our kids. But with our drivers, we give them Sundays off and overtime. So we women aren’t absolved from the responsibility of keeping water wives.

It's becoming complicated for women only because men, capitalism and patriarchy are all part of a complicated mesh in which we operate. Men are also confused on how to be with us, how to love us, how to employ us. they expect us to do everything out of sense of duty. So at home, it’s aurat ka kaam na naam na daam.

Through this film, I’ve tried to bring out the fact that it’s important to become aware of the gender disparity across families and work – and to realise that even women are not above their own version of discrimination against other women.

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