In the context of declining women’s participation in the formal economy in India, this paper looks at how women’s work in the informal sector of jewellery-making emerges as gift. Gendered discourses on work turn men, who worked as labourers, into supervisors who monitor and control work situations and sort and grade final products in jewellery workshops. Following Anna Tsing, I argue that jewellery products start their lives as gifts but as they move from women (who are seen as housewives and family members) to men (who are seen as professionals/experts within the workshop) and beyond, they become commodities. This journey from gift to commodity within the workshop is made possible by a gendered discourse on work and by the dynamics within small landholding middle-caste households. Further, I underscore that women’s informal networks often help them cope with the emotional and affective tensions of work and the demands imposed on them by the men and their own households. Women facilitate the transition from gift to commodity by colluding amongst themselves to work in these informal spaces to maintain household status within peri-urban villages of West Bengal.

在印度妇女参与正规经济的参与率下降的背景下，本文着眼于妇女在珠宝首饰非正规部门的工作是如何作为礼物出现的。关于工作的性别讨论使劳动者变成了监督员，他们监督和控制工作情况，并对珠宝车间的最终产品进行分类和分级。在青衣安娜之后，我认为珠宝产品开始作为礼物的生命，但随着它们从女性（被视为家庭主妇和家庭成员）向男性（被视为车间内的专业人士/专家）转移到其他地方，它们成为商品。在工作坊中，从性别到性别的讨论以及小型土地占有的中间种姓家庭的变化，使得在讲习班内从礼物到商品的旅程成为可能。进一步，我要强调的是，妇女的非正式网络通常可以帮助她们应对工作中的情感和情感紧张以及男人和自己的家庭对她们的要求。妇女之间相互勾结，在非正式的地方工作，以维持西孟加拉邦郊区村庄的家庭地位，从而促进了从礼品到商品的过渡。