THE CRISIS AND WOMEN'S STRUGGLES IN INDIA 59 many participated but half of them were women and most of them wore red blouses."10 A well-known struggle was for fixing working hours The agitators would enter the fields in the morning, put up the red flag and, in the evening after work, remove the flag before leaving. Enraged at this attempt to enforce fixed working hours, "a landlord rushed towards the women workers brandishing knives and other weapons and stabbed seven of them".11 They had to be hospitalised in Kottayam. Among the gains of the struggles were the right to homestead, increase in daily wages and prevention of mechanisation. At the Second Conference of the Agricultural Workers Union in October 1971, three women—Sarada Kunjan, Devooty, Meenakshi—were elected into the 30-membcr Executive Committee of the Union.12 These three women activists were also members of the Kerala Mahila Federation and this led to an internal debate within the organisation on the issue of the relationship between the women's movement and the peasent movement13 This period also witnessed widespread working class struggles in Kerala. In the traditional industries of coir and cashew which were facing a crisis, the struggles by the workers, mainly women, were intense. Throughout 1971-72, women workers in the coir industry were in struggle. In January 1971, over four lakh coir workers went on a day's strike led by the CITU Coir Workers Union on the issues of DA, nationalisation of coir export trade etc.14 From February 1971, they conducted a heroic 40-day strike which led to their winning leave with wages in factories^ restoration of the DA cut, a raise in the prices of products of small producers. The demands for enhancement of DA and rise in daily wages were placed before the Industrial Relations Council for discussion 15 In March 1972, five lakh coir workers went on a day's strike for minimum wages, nationalisation of the coir industry, state control over prices of coconut fibre.16 In another agitation in May 1972 for the implementation of the minimum wages notified by the government, a 51-year old woman coir worker, Ammu was killed in police firing. This incident also led to widespread solidarity actions, particularly by the Kerala Women's Federation Around this time, struggles were also conducted against ^ attempts to mechanise the defibering process in the coir industry which took the form of Luddite type of actions.17 In August 1974, women coir workers went on a strike for minimum wages, DA, Bonus and the declaraction of coastal areas as famine areas. At the end of 1972, the CPI (M) and several mass organizations launched an anti-price rise agitation in Kerala. About 125,000 people participated in picketing programmes on the issue of price rise, unemployment and heavy tax burdens A newspaper commented that "a notable feature of the days of picketing was the large participation of women." 5,000 women under the leadership of the Kerala Mahila Federation picketed the collectoratc protesting against price rise.18 A statewide bandh was organised as part of the movement demanding food, and womep participated actively.19 In Kerala, where there was intense political struggle