{"title":"Empowerment of Tribal Women and Gender Development in India","authors":"Mohd Rafi Paray","doi":"10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Empowerment of Tribal Women For the enhanced socioeconomic development of any community, the active participation of women is essential. In a social set up like India’s, their participation has to be ensured through concrete measures, taken at various levels, which result in their empowerment in the real sense. Empowerment of women is one of the concepts that has developed in connection with improving their status. Empowerment includes higher literacy levels, education, better health care, equal ownership of productive resources, increased participation in economic and commercial sectors, awareness of rights and responsibilities, improved standards of living, selfreliance, self-esteem and self-confidence. Mostly women and children do collection of minor forest produce. However, tribal women are still disregarded and underprivileged group in Tribal society. Gender equality among tribal groups is a complex phenomenon that needs to be addressed in the context of various issues of tribal life. The gender dimension of the tribal communities of India also has a bearing on the need for tribal development. This paper focuses on the nature and dimensions of change in the lives and status of tribal women in India. The paper also focuses how the socioeconomic changes during the last few decades have introduced new gender and class issues into the purportedly democratic society of the Tribals. The present study will based on secondary source of data collecting from various sources. Citation: Mohd Rafi Paray (2019). Empowerment of Tribal Women and Gender Development in India. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR ) ISSN:2581-4281, 2 (1), January, 2019, # Art.1114, pp 21-27 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 22 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 that a tribe is a group of people in a primitive or barbarous stage of development acknowledging the authority of a chief and regard themselves as having common ancestors. Women’s empowerment in India is heavily dependent on many different variables that include geographical location (urban/rural), educational status, social status (caste and class), and age. Policies on women’s empowerment exist at the national, state, and local (Panchayat) levels in many sectors, including health, education, economic opportunities, gender-based violence, and political participation. However, there are significant gaps between policy advancements and actual practice at the community level. One key factor in the gap in the implementation of laws and policies to address discrimination, economic disadvantages, and violence against women at the community level is the largely patriarchal structure that governs the community and households in much of India. As such, women and girls have restricted mobility, access to education, access to health facilities, and lower decision-making power, and experience higher rates of violence. Political participation is also hindered at the Panchayat (local governing bodies) level and at the state and national levels, despite existing reservations for women. 1. Need and Importance Empowerment is based on the idea that providing employees, skills, resources, authority, opportunity, motivation, as well holding them responsible and accountable for outcomes of their actions, will capability and satisfaction. Social empowerment is understood as the process of developing a sense of autonomy and selfconfidence, and acting individually and collectively to change social relationships and collectively to change social relationships and the institutions and discourse that exclude poor people and keep them in poverty. The empowering activities are those which reflect the changes that women have effectively achieved to make their lives better by resisting the existing norms of the society. Jawaharlal Nehru, 1958 said People should develop along the lines of their genius and should avoid imposing anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way their own traditional arts and culture...We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do the work of administration and development. Some technical personnel from outside will no doubt be needed, especially in the beginning. But we should avoid introducing too many outsiders into tribal territory...We should judge results, not by statistics or the amount of money spent, but by the quality of human character that is evolved. In the past, many tribal groups were forced to assimilate into the dominant culture of the country. But some groups, such as the Bhils, Gonds, Santals, Oraons, Mundas, Khonds, Mizos, Nagas, and Khasis resisted change and assimilation to maintain their cultural identities and languages. According to many Indians, their continued isolation poses problems of national integration. Under the banner of national unity, the government is now bringing these minority groups into the national mainstream. The main question is whether tribal societies can enter the national mainstream while preserving their distinct social, cultural and political beliefs. Education is in fact, an input not only for economic development of tribes, but also for inner strength of the tribal communities which helps them in meeting the new challenges of life. It is an International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 23 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 activity, or a series of activities, or a process which may either improve the immediate living conditions or increase the potential for future living. It is the single most important means by which individuals and society can improve personal endowments, build capacity levels, overcome barriers, and expand opportunities for a sustained improvement in their well-being. Professor AmartyaSen recently emphasized education as an important parameter for any inclusive growth in an economy. So, education is an important avenue for upgrading the economic and social conditions of the Scheduled Tribes. Education is in fact, an input not only for economic development of tribes, but also for inner strength of the tribal communities which helps them in meeting the new challenges of life. Literacy and educational attainment are powerful indicators of social and economic development among the backward groups in India. Currently, the tribes lag behind not only the general population, but also the Scheduled Caste population in literacy and education. 2. Tribal Women in the society 1. Women in a tribal society play a vital role in their social, cultural, economic and religious ways of life and are considered as an economic asset in their society. But they are still lagging far behind in the different walks of life like education, employment, good health and economic empowerment etc. Though they are industrious, they have limited control over resources and economic activities. Therefore, there is a need for economic empowerment of tribal women in order to overcome inequality, discrimination and exploitation and to achieve their all round development in the society. Economic empowerment of marginalized groups involves not only the process of creation of socialpolitical space for these groups by the state and civil society, but also it is a process of liberation from manmade bondage through sustained struggle and resistance. It also represents the realization of hopes and dreams of relegated groups in a social environment, free of inequalities which affect them politically, socially and economically. The issue of economic empowerment is also linked with aspects like equality, liberty and fraternity. Thus the concept of “Economic Empowerment” of tribal women is quite new and it has been contextualized and acquires a new connotation in recent years among social scientists, policy makers, and development activists. So to overcome all the obstacles of the economic empowerment of tribal women, the scientific research is an urgent need. There are a good number of studies, explaining the causes and consequences of women's disempowerment. Such studies are related to a general inquiry of women exploitation and dependency. These studies have identified lack of education, absence of skills and training, lack of property rights, social isolation and segregation and male control over resources and reproductive rights as responsible for women's disempowerment. These factors in different degrees are applicable to the disempowerment of different socio – economic groups of women who are socially heterogeneous groups like White women versus Black women, educated and uneducated women, high caste women and low caste women, Christian, Muslim and Hindu women. These socially discriminated women face different degrees and various types of obstacles for empowerment (Becker 1956; Boserup 1970; Sen 2001). Further economically, women are classified into high income, middle income, and low income groups (like men). International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 24 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Mortality Inequality Natality Inequality Basic Facilities Inequality Special Opportunity Inequality Professional Inequality Ownership Inequality Household Inequality These seven typ","PeriodicalId":127416,"journal":{"name":"Volume 2 issue 1","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Volume 2 issue 1","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Empowerment of Tribal Women For the enhanced socioeconomic development of any community, the active participation of women is essential. In a social set up like India’s, their participation has to be ensured through concrete measures, taken at various levels, which result in their empowerment in the real sense. Empowerment of women is one of the concepts that has developed in connection with improving their status. Empowerment includes higher literacy levels, education, better health care, equal ownership of productive resources, increased participation in economic and commercial sectors, awareness of rights and responsibilities, improved standards of living, selfreliance, self-esteem and self-confidence. Mostly women and children do collection of minor forest produce. However, tribal women are still disregarded and underprivileged group in Tribal society. Gender equality among tribal groups is a complex phenomenon that needs to be addressed in the context of various issues of tribal life. The gender dimension of the tribal communities of India also has a bearing on the need for tribal development. This paper focuses on the nature and dimensions of change in the lives and status of tribal women in India. The paper also focuses how the socioeconomic changes during the last few decades have introduced new gender and class issues into the purportedly democratic society of the Tribals. The present study will based on secondary source of data collecting from various sources. Citation: Mohd Rafi Paray (2019). Empowerment of Tribal Women and Gender Development in India. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR ) ISSN:2581-4281, 2 (1), January, 2019, # Art.1114, pp 21-27 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 22 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 that a tribe is a group of people in a primitive or barbarous stage of development acknowledging the authority of a chief and regard themselves as having common ancestors. Women’s empowerment in India is heavily dependent on many different variables that include geographical location (urban/rural), educational status, social status (caste and class), and age. Policies on women’s empowerment exist at the national, state, and local (Panchayat) levels in many sectors, including health, education, economic opportunities, gender-based violence, and political participation. However, there are significant gaps between policy advancements and actual practice at the community level. One key factor in the gap in the implementation of laws and policies to address discrimination, economic disadvantages, and violence against women at the community level is the largely patriarchal structure that governs the community and households in much of India. As such, women and girls have restricted mobility, access to education, access to health facilities, and lower decision-making power, and experience higher rates of violence. Political participation is also hindered at the Panchayat (local governing bodies) level and at the state and national levels, despite existing reservations for women. 1. Need and Importance Empowerment is based on the idea that providing employees, skills, resources, authority, opportunity, motivation, as well holding them responsible and accountable for outcomes of their actions, will capability and satisfaction. Social empowerment is understood as the process of developing a sense of autonomy and selfconfidence, and acting individually and collectively to change social relationships and collectively to change social relationships and the institutions and discourse that exclude poor people and keep them in poverty. The empowering activities are those which reflect the changes that women have effectively achieved to make their lives better by resisting the existing norms of the society. Jawaharlal Nehru, 1958 said People should develop along the lines of their genius and should avoid imposing anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way their own traditional arts and culture...We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do the work of administration and development. Some technical personnel from outside will no doubt be needed, especially in the beginning. But we should avoid introducing too many outsiders into tribal territory...We should judge results, not by statistics or the amount of money spent, but by the quality of human character that is evolved. In the past, many tribal groups were forced to assimilate into the dominant culture of the country. But some groups, such as the Bhils, Gonds, Santals, Oraons, Mundas, Khonds, Mizos, Nagas, and Khasis resisted change and assimilation to maintain their cultural identities and languages. According to many Indians, their continued isolation poses problems of national integration. Under the banner of national unity, the government is now bringing these minority groups into the national mainstream. The main question is whether tribal societies can enter the national mainstream while preserving their distinct social, cultural and political beliefs. Education is in fact, an input not only for economic development of tribes, but also for inner strength of the tribal communities which helps them in meeting the new challenges of life. It is an International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 23 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 activity, or a series of activities, or a process which may either improve the immediate living conditions or increase the potential for future living. It is the single most important means by which individuals and society can improve personal endowments, build capacity levels, overcome barriers, and expand opportunities for a sustained improvement in their well-being. Professor AmartyaSen recently emphasized education as an important parameter for any inclusive growth in an economy. So, education is an important avenue for upgrading the economic and social conditions of the Scheduled Tribes. Education is in fact, an input not only for economic development of tribes, but also for inner strength of the tribal communities which helps them in meeting the new challenges of life. Literacy and educational attainment are powerful indicators of social and economic development among the backward groups in India. Currently, the tribes lag behind not only the general population, but also the Scheduled Caste population in literacy and education. 2. Tribal Women in the society 1. Women in a tribal society play a vital role in their social, cultural, economic and religious ways of life and are considered as an economic asset in their society. But they are still lagging far behind in the different walks of life like education, employment, good health and economic empowerment etc. Though they are industrious, they have limited control over resources and economic activities. Therefore, there is a need for economic empowerment of tribal women in order to overcome inequality, discrimination and exploitation and to achieve their all round development in the society. Economic empowerment of marginalized groups involves not only the process of creation of socialpolitical space for these groups by the state and civil society, but also it is a process of liberation from manmade bondage through sustained struggle and resistance. It also represents the realization of hopes and dreams of relegated groups in a social environment, free of inequalities which affect them politically, socially and economically. The issue of economic empowerment is also linked with aspects like equality, liberty and fraternity. Thus the concept of “Economic Empowerment” of tribal women is quite new and it has been contextualized and acquires a new connotation in recent years among social scientists, policy makers, and development activists. So to overcome all the obstacles of the economic empowerment of tribal women, the scientific research is an urgent need. There are a good number of studies, explaining the causes and consequences of women's disempowerment. Such studies are related to a general inquiry of women exploitation and dependency. These studies have identified lack of education, absence of skills and training, lack of property rights, social isolation and segregation and male control over resources and reproductive rights as responsible for women's disempowerment. These factors in different degrees are applicable to the disempowerment of different socio – economic groups of women who are socially heterogeneous groups like White women versus Black women, educated and uneducated women, high caste women and low caste women, Christian, Muslim and Hindu women. These socially discriminated women face different degrees and various types of obstacles for empowerment (Becker 1956; Boserup 1970; Sen 2001). Further economically, women are classified into high income, middle income, and low income groups (like men). International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1114 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 24 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Mortality Inequality Natality Inequality Basic Facilities Inequality Special Opportunity Inequality Professional Inequality Ownership Inequality Household Inequality These seven typ