Women, the Planned Economy, and the Anticipation of Utopia

This paper examines a report that was published in 1947—on women’sWomen roleRole in the planned economyPlanned economy. This was put together by a national subcommittee appointed for this purpose, and its mandate was novel and expansive. It was to examine women’s lives and the rolesRole women played in three different yet related settings: the familyFamily, the economyEconomy, and socialSocial institutions. I draw on this report to indicate the issues at stake for those who were fascinated by the idea of planning, as such and used it as a context to bring together the household and the world of labourLabour, marriage,Marriage money, property, and progeny. I am particularly interested in the dissenting note appended to the report—it gives us an indication of how planning appeared to hold both practical and utopian possibilities for womenWomen committed to transforming their lives and that of other womenWomen. It seems to me that this admixture of the practical and the possible has been central to how feministsFeminist in the Indian context have attempted to redraw the contours of economic thought—and in the event, link it to what are usually considered “extra-economic” realities.