Women Artisans in Kashmir and Their Livelihood Challenges: A Phenomenological Approach

Handicraft activities are mostly done by women, especially in rural areas of Kashmir. They are engaged in various craft activities such as embroidery, shawls, crewels, paper machie 1 and carpets. The position and status of Kashmiri women artisans have been a matter of great concern for the last few decades. The New Economic Policy results in the free flow of machine-made goods in the domestic market, which results in the extreme marginalization and deprivation of women artisans in the handicraft sector (Majeed, 2018, American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 25[1], 129–135). This article focuses on gaining deeper insights into the real-life situations of women artisans in the Pulwama district of Kashmir. The purposive sampling was employed for identifying the women artisans concentrated in various villages of the Pulwama district. The selection of the participants from villages was done through snowball sampling. In the present study, 15 women artisans associated with manufacturing different handicraft products were interviewed. The collected data were analysed and interpreted carefully. The themes that emerged after the data set were interpreted thematically include problems and challenges faced by women artisans, exploitation and political conflict. The findings showed that women artisans in Kashmir are suffering extreme deprivation and poverty as a result of political conflict, the closure of the Kashmir valley after the removal of Article 370, and restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19.