Women Empowerment in Ladakh

Dr. Jupaka Madhavi
Literally the “land of high passes”, Ladakh is situated at an altitude of over 3000 meters spanning the Himalayan, Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley. The river valley area is the most populous overlooking the Zanskar in the south and Nubra valley to the north over Khardung La, the Aksai Chin, and Kargil and Suru Valley areas.
Ladakh has also been India’s Himalayan crucible of many cultures. Ladakh served as a major junction of Central Asia and South Asia on the Silk Road. Until the late nineteenth century, traders on the Silk route frequently undertook this sixty-day journey on the Ladakh route connecting Amritsar and Yarkand through eleven passes. The term Silk Road was first used by Ferdinand von Richthofen, a 19th century German geographer, connoting “a specific trade route that started from the east European borders, went through north India, entered the Taklamakan Desert, and ended in the desert areas of western China.” However, rock carvings found in many parts of Ladakh indicate that the area has been inhabited from Neolithic times. The classical works of Herodotus and Indian Puranas had mentioned earliest Indo-Aryan inhabitants consisting of Mons and Dards. Buddhism spread into western Ladakh from Kashmir in the 2nd century and is studded with the highest altitude Buddhist Monasteries which used to also serve as a shelter space for many traders of the Silk route.
The significance of Himalayan trade with Central Asia through Karakoram pass not only lies in the items exchanged but also in the employment opportunities.
Besides silk, the commercial exchanges between India, China, Tibet, and Central Asia comprised of muslin/cotton, spices, tea, indigo, herbs for medicinal purposes, brocades, shawls, books, precious and semi-precious stones, food grains, borax, dry fruits, gunny bags, salt, gold, utensils and animals. Amongst the most prized items of trade, the Pashmina shawls from Ladakh’s Changthang valley still is the most prized as it’s the rarest in the world. The Persian word for ‘Pashm’ meaning finest wool fiber, the raw material comes from goats that graze in the high pastures of the Changthang region spread across east-southeast Ladakh and Western Tibet.
It is in this background exploring women empowerment in Ladakh through the centuries old tradition of producing hand-woven Pashmina shawls by Ladakhi women needs to be revisited. In this high-altitude region, the Changpas are agro-pastoralist communities which traditionally herd livestock, including the famous Pashmina goat. Changthang is the source of some of the finest Pashmina in the world with a fibre thickness of 12-15 microns.
Ms. Sonam Angmo with M.Tech Biotechnology and Ms. Stanzin Minglak, M.Sc Environmental Sciences returned to Ladakh after completing their Masters from Delhi & Pune Universities and created the start-up in 2016 with 11 women initially. The growth from two empowered women to a block chain of 37 women of Ladakh is the empowerment journey to that of an international brand label of Lena is indeed a grand success story. Started by two local women entrepreneurs Minglak and Sonam, today Lena helps to create sustainable and dignified source of livelihood for women artisans of Ladakh all the while providing a window to the world of pure handmade Pashmina textiles from Ladakh. “Today Lena is providing livelihood sources which include seasonal & permanent types to about 37 women from rural Ladakh. Lena has emerged as a Ladakh based slow textile brand label that crafts Pashmina products where each stage of textile production is carried by hand from spinning to weaving to dyeing.” says Sonam.
At Lena, other than sourcing and making products with the world’s most exquisite fibre, coloring of all the products is with 100% natural dyes. Many local dyes like marigold, walnut, rhubarb, arnebia are used and indigo, madder & lac from south India are also collected for the dyes. Lena is strictly against using any kind of chemical in all the processes even for washing aids too. Lena is committed to complete natural products. Considering the extremely fragile environment of Ladakh in particular & the overall global impact of all the measures of production, slow & conscious textile making is undertaken. All the makers, the artisans of Lena are all local Ladakhi women who hand spin, hand ply, handweave & natural dye our local Ladakhi Pashmina. So from source to the final finish, every step is carried in Leh.
“Although Ladakh has been known as the producer of the world’s best Pashmina but locally not enough economical benefits could be drawn from it, historically. So the endeavour of Lena women is keeping the Pashmina economy local which is very close to their hearts. It will take time for this generation to set a new culture of becoming the Pashmina makers in Ladakh but we are only hopeful it will happen soon. We truly believe in making meaningful textiles, something that carries the warmth, the moods, the emotions of its maker & finishes into a heartfelt & extremely functional heirloom that can be passed from generation to generation. says Minglak. The Looms of Ladakh brand also weaves a similar story here.
Similarly, Ms. Stanzin Ladol, hails from very small village Markha which is more than 90kms from Leh city and has covered her empowerment journey. “Ladol’s parents are engaged in farming and other work related to agriculture practices. She is youngest among the four sisters. She used to live in the hostel in the Leh market while she studied. She is motivated by her father working head in the fields and decided to work with Alichi Kitchen for promoting Ladakhi cuisine and for the family. She is also inspired by “Alichi Kitchen” where she learnt and developed her cooking skills. As Ladakh mostly depends on tourists she also learned various other dishes while interacting with them. She now feels very confident and proud of herself,” says Nari Shakti Puraskar awardee Smt. Nilza Wangmo from Leh, the founder of Alichi Kitchen.
“I am very inspired by Nilza Wangmo mam who is recipient of Nari Shakti Puraskar for Ladakh’s very own Alichi Kitchen. Alchi Kitchen has also given me an opportunity to travel to other places like Mumbai, Delhi etc. and also to participate in various food festivals and which further help me to giving me a boost to my skills as a whole”, says Ms. Ladol.
After the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year, there was little window for Ladakhi women to scale up as Ladakh is closed for five-six months during the winter season, making it impossible to do any business. Transportation is expensive and takes time amidst the climatically hostile and geographically challenging terrain. Without an adequate heating system, it’s uncomfortable for the women workers of the Pashmina Unit. While most of the outside owners owing majority of the garment is Ladakh return home in winters and shut the markets, its these women entrepreneurs who keep the market open even during winters.
Presently, the Covid 19 pandemic situation has engulfed Ladakh too and Ladakh may take this opportunity in retrospect to also see how Ladakh had pioneered the development of medical botany and pharmacology during the Middle ages and how the Silk roads had help fuel an incredible period of scholarship in medicine and prospect itself when the route had also transmitted diseases of small pox and plague in the 14th Century alike.
After the Abrogation of Article 370, the dissemination of culture and knowledge of traditional medicine needs to be explored with timely and reliable knowledge sharing. The silk road junction of Ladakh is an instructive reminder that human beings not only occupy isolated worlds but also create a shared, interdependent and empowered one that flourishes when they interact with one another.
It is envisaged that the post Article 370 abrogation, the women empowerment drive would scale up leaps and bounds as Ladakh as any other UT would be availing 100% of the centrally sponsored schemes and projects to extend its arm for a robust economy of women livelihood steered by women entrepreneurs and rural women empowerment. Now the pace of development in Ladakh may go up with PPP model and private investments by giving an edge for women entrepreneurs such as Sonam and Minglak who would be most benefitted for leveraging industries such as traditional handicrafts and industries such as shawl making etc.
Meanwhile, the rural women collectives of the weaving units have been busy collecting the Pashmina yarn and are busy weaving now, another famous fashion designer Stanzin Palmo is busy drawing motifs for her next Fashion Show’s winter collection of showcasing traditional Ladakhi Gonchas with Pashmina, Nambu and Yak wool. Women entrepreneurs Minkglak and Sonam are busy with their back to back video conferencing with their international clients for their next shipping consignment……Ladol is busy in Alichi Kitchen and the story of women empowerment continues!
(The author is Senior Consultant, Women Welfare Division, Ministry of Women and Child Development)
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