Status of Tribal Women

Odisha

Jyotika Matreja

National Law School of India University

Bengaluru
 Table of Content
1. Introduction 3
2. Background 4
3. Main Factors determining the Status of Tribal Women 7
4. Insights 13
5. Conclusion 15
References 16
 1. Introduction
Gender disparity is evident in India. Patriarchal, patrilocal and patrilineal family structure makes
the patriarchy depict a power relationship that upholds man’s supremacy and women subjugation.
However, women’s status varies accordingly with the region considerably. Status of tribal women
is determined by using socio-economic, political and environmental lens which are included in the
aspects: literacy, health, participation and discrimination. When we try to understand: what is the
current status of tribal women and how it is different from the non-tribal women? It is important
to compare the situation of both.

As a prerequisite for our fieldwork in Odisha with ActionAid, it was essential to gather
information through secondary research to gain some understanding of the tribe. One common
presumption was that unlike non-tribal societies, it is understood that the tribal societies have given
special status to their women (Mitra, 2007) which is considered to be better than the practices in
Hindu societies. The interactions which we had with the tribe was with the help of ActionAid
activists. They did two levels of translation for us: Tribal Language to Oriya and then Oriya to
Hindi. Our primary research was based on these interactions with the whole community together.
We visited 10 villages near Kalyansinghpur and Ambaguda in Odisha.

Status of women can be measured in terms of equality and freedom enjoyed by them. Power
to the tribal women is not extended in the societal and political spheres, women supremacy is
confined within the household domain. They do not get as much importance and recognition at the
community level as at the household level. Their role is secondary in public affairs.

These people are termed as “Scheduled Tribes” for administrative purpose to get them
some constitutional privileges and protection as they are seen to be backward and disadvantaged.
They are also known as “Adivasis” and the aborigines of the country. The scheduled tribe
constitute 8.6% of the total population (Census of India, 2011). About 92% of the tribal people in
India live in rural areas. There are some disadvantages that the scheduled tribes face are in general
for both men and women, hence, we cannot consider them as discrimination against women.
 2. Background
Odisha has 62 tribal communities consisting of 22.21% of the total population. The tribal
communities are subsistence oriented, they consist of hunter, gatherers, shifting cultivators and
settled peasantry. Odisha is amongst the poorest States in India. About 72% of the scheduled tribes
are below poverty line. Approximately 20% of the rural households are landless, 41% are marginal
farmers and 23% small farmers. The landlessness is due poor distribution of government
wastelands or due to loss of Patta land through land acquisition.

Most tribal communities depend majorly on shifting cultivation or Podu Chasa, also known
as ‘slash and burn’. These tribes come under the “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups”
(PVTGs). Constitutional provision for scheduled tribes (ActionAid, 2014) states that a well-
established criteria for terming them as scheduled tribes are based on certain attributes such as:

a) Geographical isolation – They live in cloister, exclusive remote and hills and forest areas.
b) Backwardness – Livelihood based on low level of technology which leads to their poverty.
They have a low level of literacy and health.
c) Distinctive culture, language and religion – They have developed their own distinctive
culture, language and religion, community-wise.
d) Shyness of contact – They have marginal degree of contact with other cultures and people.

Our fieldwork in Odisha started from Sikarpadi. The villages we visited in Kalahandi and
Rayagada district were:

1.) Karadapadar 6.) Yejerupa

2.) Talamasudi 7.) Kandhajubang
3.) Upparmasudi 8.) Sikarpadi
4.) Tikarpada 9.) Ambaguda
5.) Chachagaon 10.) Ulbahali

We also visited the weekly market of Majhiguda. Then we met the development officer
Mr. Praveen Kumar Nayak at the B.D.O office of Kalyansinghpur. We visited Dongria Kondh
Development Association (DKDA) office and Kutia Kondh Development Association (KKDA)
office and we met the special officer Mr. K.C.Mehra. We witnessed a rally of the Niyamgiri
Surakhya Samiti. We also went to the Anganwadi centre and learnt about the new project called
‘Shakti Varta’.

The limitations we had was the time constrain, our interaction with tribal people was
limited to the small amount of time in every village. Hence, this paper would not have any
recommendations to make. Therefore, we might not have clarity about the whole scenario but we
have a gained some understanding of the present situation.

The interactions were really engaging, we got a lot of insights with these visits and a lot of
information which contradicted out previous understanding about the tribal communities. The
interactions with the tribal communities were in the form of designed focus group discussion
interview for data collection. This method was used to get empirical data and also because of the
time constraint we had in our fieldwork.

The objective of the fieldwork was to study the situation of tribal women, seeking how the
State takes initiative for the empowerment and development. Does the benefits reach the target
audience or not. There was also a curiousness to find a scope of research in this in this field.

The largest tribal population in Orissa are of the Kondhs. They have a great cultural
heritage and values which respect nature. Their Kui language is Dravidian and spoken with only
slight regional variations. Dongria Kondhs inhabit the steep slopes of the Niyamgiri Range of
North-West Koraput (undivided) district and over the border into Kalahandi. They work entirely
on the steep slopes for their livelihood. The Niyamgiri Range provides a wealth of perennial
springs and streams which greatly enrich Dongria cultivation. Kutia Kondhs are the tribal
communities which live on the plains and the Jharnia Kondhs are the tribal communities which
live near the rivers (Odisha Dairy, nd).

Tribal communities in the rural areas continue to have low level of literacy. Certain
communities suffer from exploitation because of lack of education and awareness. The situation
of women and girl child is worse. Majority of the tribal people suffer from malnutrition and have
very little knowledge of sanitation.

They have either limited or no access to hospitals and many become chronically ill. The
social stigma attached to Adivasis often result in medical services never reaching their
communities (ActionAid, 2014). Moreover, According to the NRHM, infant mortality rate and
maternal mortality rate of Odisha is worse than the overall nation (see Table 1).

Information gathered from the KKDA, DKDA and BDO office were about the current
government schemes and district, state and national level for the tribal people were: Integrated
Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA), Indra Awaz Yojana, Public Distribution System (PDS), Mamta Yojana, Janani
Suraksha Yojana, Odisha Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana, Khadya Nirapid Mission (Food Safety Act),
Odisha Tribal Employment and livelihood program (OTELP), Integrated Tribal Development
Authority (ITDA) and the National Programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

Table: 1
 3. Main Factors determining the Status of Tribal Women
Culture is transferred from one generation to another and the constructed gender roles are also
transferred along with culture. In the present context it is essential to identify the various aspects
that tell us about the status of women in the society. The status of women is commonly described
in terms of their level of income, employment, education, health and fertility as well as their roles
within the family, the community and society. It is also important to understand the role of these
aspects in the empowerment of women as no society can develop by ignoring half of its population.
Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru has given a brilliant statement that, “when a woman moves forward, then
the entire family and village moves forward, and when the village moves then the entire nation
moves.”

3.1 Literacy

The main reason for taking literacy and not education as a aspect to determine the status of tribal
women is the uselessness of formal education to the tribal communities. They don’t get jobs with
the help of such education near their villages and they don’t wish to abandon their villages in
search of jobs. Hence, they end up continuing the family occupation (e.g. farming). Literacy on
the other hand empowers them, helps them to communicate and express their problems to the
authorities and other people who visit them.

The schools in tribal areas have a high drop-out rate and low attendance of the students.
Reasons for this include the lack of schools and great distance from Adivasi settlements. Either
the children have to travel up to 25km every day or stay in the boarding schools far from their
villages. Children are often required to participate in the day’s hunting and gathering for the family
and thus cannot be spared. The girl child have the added responsibility of being the baby sitter if
she is the eldest so that the mother can go out and work for the sustenance of the family.

In many cases there is a lack of teachers in the schools, one or two teachers are only present
to teach classes up to 5th standard in the same classroom. At times there is no teacher in school and
there are some cases of proxy teachers. No special attention is given to girl’s education. Lack of
female teachers prevents parents from sending their daughters to school.

The syllabus in the Adivasi schools is completely not related to their lives and attitudes. It
is obviously created without any consultation with the Adivasi leaders or organisations. They are
given moral education which is alien to them, for instance, the celebrate Ganapati Visarjan, Diwali,
Dusshera etc. in school even if they don’t believe in these Gods.

Social torture by higher caste children and teachers is also a major deterrent to attendance.
Tribal people are untouchables for the scheduled caste people. Adivasi children are regularly and
openly ridiculed by the so-called caregivers at school.

The fundamental right of education provides opportunity for socio-economic upliftment.

The reasons associated with denial of education to girl child are financial constraints, early
marriage, submissiveness, motherhood and parental perception on education for women.
Generally the girls study up to primary or middle level and then get married.

Child-marriage is widely prevalent in the tribal communities, their logic is that as soon as
the boy gets a moustache and the girl gets her first menstruation cycle, they should get married.
Which means that children are married as soon as they hit puberty. The boys mostly continue their
studies, however, the girls cannot go to school after marriage. Due to which there is high drop-out
rate of females especially at the high school level. Sometimes the parents only want the girls to go
to school till they learn how to write their names.

An alarming drop-out rate and low attendance among the children lead to various steps
taken by the government to check drop-outs, which included free distribution of books and
stationery, reimbursement of examination fees, free bus travel, mid-day meals etc. which had an
impact but still fall short.

Repetition of grades by students is also a problem in Odisha. It is observed that the

repetition rate is higher amongst STs as compared to non-STs. It is highest among the ST girls
than boys. Many scholars suggest that a girl’s education is significantly influenced by mother’s
education.

The fact that literacy rate of the tribal group (1.05% of the state’s population) remains so
much lower than that of the other communities shows the continuing lack of commitment to the
Adivasi empowerment in pragmatic terms. In the end, it is only knowledge that could help the
tribals convert their skills into their power. Till the time the Adivasis are not able to document their
own knowledge, the exploitation would continue.
 3.2 Health and Nutrition

The primary reason to put the factors of health and nutrition together is due to the major correlation
which they share. The tribal community have poor health condition prevailing and majority of
them are malnourished. Malnutrition affects the ability to resist infection, which leads to chronic
illness and in the post weaning period leads to permanent brain impairment. Maternal Malnutrition
is common among the tribals, which is a serious problem, particularly for the women who have
gone through too many closely spaced pregnancies. Women work in the field and walk great
distances to collect forest produce even in the advanced stages of pregnancy.

Maternal mortality rate in Odisha is 19.5% as compared to the national aggregate of 16.3%.
Tribal women prefer delivering their child in the village through the primitive process rather than
going to the hospital or the Anganwadi centres. In very few cases they intend to utilise the services
of the hospital, however that turns out to be bad for them as the ambulance doesn’t reach their
villages up the hills and ask the tribals to get the patient near the village closer to the cemented
road. There have been cases of death due to the uneasy travel. In general malnourishment, poor
medical facilities or no medical facility at all and unfavourable social conditions are the major
causes for high maternal mortality. They suffer from superstitions and taboos, hence, they remain
deprived of the advantages from existing welfare programmes and development.

Maternal and child health care are immensely neglected. There is no change in the
consumption of drug and alcohol by the women during pregnancy. No specific nutritious diet is
consumed by the women from the time of inception of pregnancy to its termination. However, they
do avail the benefits of ‘Mamta Yojana’ which is a conditional cash transfer maternity benefit
scheme. The scheme will provide monetary support to the pregnant and lactating women. The
mothers get a sum of Rs.5000/- in instalments for her first baby and Rs.1500/- for the next. There
is also a scheme called ‘Janani Suraksha Yojana’ for the women. These government schemes are
supposed to provide them benefits such as five eggs and a packet of baby food in every two months.

The villages are also supposed to get the services of Accredited Social Health Activities
(ASHA) which acts as a link between villagers and health centres. One ASHA is supposed to be
formed in every village or cluster of villages about sanitation, hygiene, contraception and
immunization. However, most of the villages we visited denied of getting any such services.
 The time during menstruation is considered as a period of pollution, during which women
do not cook, do not go to fetch water, do not worship and are confined in the house. All of these
reasons are logically because of the lack of sanitation and hygiene purposes. The age of the mother
at the first conception is too young because of child-marriage. Moreover, they are vulnerable to
the diseases which are common to all such as malaria, dengue, skin diseases etc.

Life expectancy is the common indicator of female health. The expectation of life is the
average number of years remaining to be lived by those surviving to that age. It is found in Kutiya
Kondh villages in Odisha the average life expectancy at birth for Kutiya males to be around 46
years and for Kutiya females to be around 41 years.

3.3 Participation

Participation of tribal women has two criteria of decision making and work. First, considering the
criteria of decision making, women’s perspective is respected by considering their opinion but
they do not do the decision making at the community level. The power of tribal women does not
extend to political sphere. Women participate actively in the Pali Sabha, Gram Sabha and they
even turn up the Gram Sabha office to get their pension, cash transfers etc. however, no woman
can become the mukhiya of any village. Even if they become the ward member of the Gram Sabha,
their role is pretty much passive in decision making. There are many factors that are responsible
for their low participation in the political system but two key factors that impair their participation
are psychological factor and low level of education.

Women participate actively for community rights, as we saw in the rally of Niyamgiri
Surakhya Samiti to lock up the gates of Vedanta. There was a huge turn up of the tribal women.
But the autonomy at the community level is quite low, there are some women-led Self Help Groups
(SHGs), forest management committee, village Mahila Sangathan and village Panchayat etc. in
very few villages.

Women have a lot of autonomy with social issues. The role of a woman as a daughter, wife,
mother and organizer in her social life is equally important as her role in the economic sphere.
Women are the carriers of traditional information when there are not written records, she has a
major role to play at the time of childbirth, funeral, festival and Puja. We even witnessed a Puja in
Sikarpadi village where the main priest was an old women. This help us deduce the fact that tribal
women are transmitters of rich oral traditions in the tribal community.

Tribal women need awareness regarding their decision making power like voting rights,
which they do not make full use of. Decision making power is essential for the empowerment of
the tribal women in order to help them give voice to their perspective. The tribal women should
be given leadership training for them to get the decision making power in the community.

Second, considering the criteria of work, within the household and within the community.
Women have a crucial role in the economic sphere. Many scholars believe that women contribute
to the working force in a more substantial way in the tribal world. About 90% of the women in
tribal areas are engaged in agricultural activities like transplanting, harvesting, cultivating, etc.
Forest based tribal economy is also women centred as they do the collection of minor forest
produce, water, fuel, food, etc.

Child rearing is majorly the responsibility of the women, although the men also help when
the mothers go out for work or to the weekly market to sell the forest produce. Our observation in
the Haat (weekly market) was that majority of the tribal women came to sell and very few men
were the seller. The tribal girls are taught to take care of the home and household work. They act
as pseudo-parents and have to baby-sit their younger siblings while their parents work.

3.4 Discrimination

As per the Indian Express, “Sex ratio among the Scheduled Tribe (ST) has jumped handsomely as
the latest Census results would show. From 1,003 females for every 1,000 male in 2001, sex ratio
among the tribals has jumped to 1,029, registering a 26 point increase in 2011” (The Indian
Express, 2013). The sex ratio is apparently the only thing about Odisha which is better than that
of the nation.

Tribal societies give special status to tribal women unlike the non-tribal societies who are
considered to be better. Tribal women lead a hard life in terms of physical labour but they enjoy
greater freedom within the household and community level as compared to the women of Hindu
caste.
 Nevertheless, tribal women face immense discrimination outside the tribal community.
The tribal girls are not encouraged to study till high school level or go out of town in search of
work with the reason of protection. Various problems which migrant tribal females face in cities
are communication problem, accommodation, employment, adjustment with the city life and
environment etc. The most serious issue of financial, physical and sexual exploitation of migrant
tribal women is due to lack of education, poverty, lack of awareness, misunderstanding among
people who thing tribals are free-sex workers. The major discrimination which the tribal women
face is given reason to prevent them from evil practices like human trafficking.

When asked about the sex preference of the child, they reluctantly replied and agreed to
have sons but they do not discriminate against girls by female infanticide or sex determination
tests. Reason for which they explained was that boys and girls do not have similar inheritance laws
as tribal girls do not inherit land. Additionally, the issue of child labour is high among the tribes,
and girls are no exception.

Widowed or divorced women have the right to get married again. The presumption that
we got from the secondary reading was that there is no dowry system rather the father of the
bridegroom pays the bride-price to the bride’s father. Only a few people agreed to have such
practice in some villages, however, there were some cases of dowry being given. Yet major
expenditure in a wedding is done by the groom’s side.

Tribal women generally do have the freedom of selecting their life-partner, but people
shared anecdotes where acquisition of bride through “capture” for marriage with the presumption
that she would eventually start to like the boy. It is very rare that a tribal women is abandoned by
her husband. Even in case of pre-mature death of the husband, the social standing of the woman is
not affected.

In case of marriage outside the tribal community, for instance, if a tribal girl is married to
a Dalit boy, the girl faces a lot of discrimination as STs are like untouchables for SCs. They go
through a lot of cruelty like the whole family of the girl have to get their head shaved or even pay
punishment tax of approximately Rs.10,000/- in order to get acceptance from the SC family but
still live separately. All of these observations tell us about the discrimination faced by the tribal
women outside the community.
 4. Insights
The tribal communities are increasingly having contacts with the urban dwellers, they are
somehow learning new ways of life and practices. The civilization of the tribal community is
accompanied by many changes in the tribal community.

Tribal community have their ideological system surrounded by supernaturalism. They

worship nature, so the Gods are the Niyam Raja (the mountain-Niyamgiri), Sun God, Dharni Mata
(Mother Earth), Tarani Mata (River Goddess). They believe in the presence of natural spirits and
ancestral spirits who are propitiated and offered sacrifices.

The civilization brought about some changes (mostly in the Kutia Kondhs) in their habits
and attire as well, we saw them wearing full pants, shirts, t-shirt, blouse, slippers etc. instead of
their tradition attire of leaves and sari without blouse with a lot jewellery. They were seen chewing
pan, smoking bidi and drink foreign liquor at times along with the local Mahua. Some of them
used to ride bikes and even two wheelers. They were even buying soaps, scented oils etc. all of
these were unknown to them before one or two decades.

Some cultural changes caused because of the civilization was that earlier tattooing was
majorly practised as it was their clan identity (especially among the Dongria Kondhs). But
tattooing on the face made them feel that the female became ugly and hence stopped the system.
It might not be a cultural loss but a loss of the clan identity definitely.

The custom of ‘bride-price’ being given was being changed into dowry system among
the employed educated masses who take motorcycle, wrist watches, radio, television and other
modern accessories. The ActionAid worker who was a tribal boy and was helping us with the
translation told us that he got a motorcycle as dowry at the time of his wedding.

The government officials work for the development of the tribal people however, “what
is the meaning of development for the tribal people?” is a question which none of the government
officials tried to answer. And the activist do not want to answer because it is something which the
tribal people have to decide for themselves. Any development plan made by the government in
order to uplift the tribals makes many changes in their life which might be negative. For the tribal
people, being ‘de-culturized’ from their own culture might not be their idea of development. They
government will realise the necessity to understand the tribal culture to plan anything for them.
 The most relevant policy for the empowerment of tribal women from my perspective is
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which aims to achieve Universal Elementary Education (UEE) and has a
special focus on education of the tribal children specially girls. Tribal children are an important
constituent of the Special Focus Group (SFG) under SSA. The whole idea of development would
be achieved when the tribal people have the ability to voice out their needs and aspirations, which
can happen only through literacy. The need for specific attention for education of the girl child is
because of the belief that “if you educate a boy, you educate an individual. But if you educate a
girl, you educate a whole family.” There is a scope of research in finding how the girl child can be
excused to study as she has so many other roles to play in the tribal community.

Any plan then made by the government will give some responsibility to the NGOs in
preparing the tribal people for a change which is a part of the development process as an advocacy
role. Development of education, incorporating self-sustainable development philosophy and form
public opinion about government policies or any social issue. Basically try to build the conscience
of the tribal people of the various problems like environment problem, literacy, health, family
planning etc. They don’t have to give them an opinion but help them build an opinion of their own.
As seen is many villages, the tribal people start speaking the language of the NGO activists, but
learning about the whole tribal struggle against Vedanta along with ActionAid was exceptional.

The idea of development of tribals according to Mr. Niranjan Acharya (activist in

Niyamgiri Surakya Samiti) was connectivity in terms of building road and communication, proper
health facilities in each village, appropriate education system, setting up Agricultural colleges and
Ayurvedic Research Centres through which the people could make use of the resources available
in Niyamgiri and will not have to go out of town in search of employment. This idea seemed to be
insightful even though this was also not coming from a tribal person.
 5. Conclusion
The tribal women is definitely enjoying more autonomy in their community as compared to non-
tribal communities. Their situation might become better with the State actions of helping them but
if they start adopting the worse customs from the non-tribal society, their path towards
development would have even more obstacles. Unlike the tribal women, the non-tribal modern
women still struggle with the patriarchal societal norms and traditions. While the tribal women
struggle for the livelihood of the household, they don’t have the aspirations like those which the
non-tribal women have.

Tribal people worship nature as it is precious to them, because it protects them and gives
them the means for survival. Displacement of tribals caused due to any development project had
severe impacts in their life. Apart from adjustment problems, there are serious problem of effecting
the viral role of women in the family, community and society. After displacement, the tribal
woman’s income is either shrunk or comes to a halt. Hence, they become dependent on the men
of the household which makes their role - limited and low status.

Various initiatives for women empowerment like vocational training in the skill-
development program with training in driving, papad making, mushroom cultivation, mobile
training etc. help the tribal women raise their economic status. However, other initiatives like
getting the drop out students (mostly girls) back to school and adult education programmes were
not successful.

Regarding the status of women, Mahatma Gandhi once said “To call woman the weaker
sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed,
is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably
man’s superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater
powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence
is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the
heart than woman?” to the women of India (Young India, Oct. 4, 1930).
 References
ActionAid. (2014). Recommendations for High Level Committee on Status of Tribal in India.
Census of India. (2011).
http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/scheduled_castes_and_sceduled_tribes.aspx
National Rural Health Mission. nd. http://nrhm.gov.in/nrhm-in-state/state-wise-
information/odisha.html#health_profile
Mitra, A. (2007). “The status of women among the Schedule tribes in India.” The Journal of
Socio-economic. doi 10.1016/j.socec.2006.12.077
Odisha Dairy. nd. http://www.orissadiary.com/orissa_profile/tribal/Kondhs%20.asp
The Indian Express. (2013). http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/Sex-ratio-
improves-among-tribals/2013/05/31/article1613655.ece
Young India. (1930). http://moralupbringing.com/2014/11/09/to-the-women-of-india-young-
india-oct-4-1930-%E2%80%95-mahatma-gandhi/