WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN TRIBAL SOCIETY

WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN TRIBAL SOCIETY

Published in overland patrika, Kolkata

Lakshimdra Kumar Sarkar

It can be easily admitted that strict rules are imposed on tribal women than the other women and the administrative systems are also quite strict.  Their life is influenced by the hills and mountains.  Their daily struggle has made them quite resilient.  The men do their work in agricultural fields and do not participate in the household activities.  The household activities are primarily done by the females.  The females collect the wood from the forest walking across miles in the jungle.  They carry water walking 5 to 6 miles.  The hard work of the tribal women cannot be compared with the women in the cities.  They work in rice husking and preparation and also in the construction of the houses.  The women in the cities work hard but in a different way.  But the women are not given respect properly and totally.

The restrictions have been imposed on women to maintain their character and virginity.  The men have exploited them forcefully.  The punishment is not given to the unscrupulous individual.  But the women are only facing the hardships.

This incident is occurring regularly in the tribal society.  The restrictions are imposed on unmarried women.  The illicit sexual relations are not tolerated.  The vermilion on the head of the tribal women make their marriage legal.  In this context, we need to talk about “Ityut Biye”  ‘Ityut’ means forceful marriage.  ‘Ityut’ can be of two types.  It can be a secret desire and against the will of the girl.  But the punishment is severe.  Many of us remember the murder of Tamali Soren and Shaktidhar Tudu of Bardhaman.  They were brutally killed.  Their fault is that Shakti is a Bengali boy and Tamali is a Santali girl.  They gave importance to their disrespect and sometimes their reaction was horrible.  From Dalton’s ‘Descriptive Anthology of Bengal’, we have seen that the Santals migrated from one place to another and started to live in Chaitanga forest.  At that time, Birhor tribes lived there.  The Santals regarded the Birhors as a low caste tribe.  It is male dominated.  Though most of the work is done by the women.  The women will rule the family but will remain under the men’s control.  The women have no control in the leadership of the society.  Most of the time in the religious rituals, they have no right.  The women have no right to touch the God’s offerings.  But in the tribal areas, the women play a little role in the religious rituals.  The women in the tribal society lack this facility.  In the month of ‘Bhadra’ in the Sukla Ekadoshi, the tribal women practice a ritual called “Jawakaram Purab” where they produce food grains.  The Jawakaram is the food grain festival.  The tribal women worship Karam, the God of Food Grains.  The whole family depends on the food grains and the woman who helps in the production plays a big role.  There is no difference in the tribal society.

The tribal women neglect education.  But they must be educated if the society wants to progress.  Every family wants their girl to keep in the hostel for education.  They are located in the Belpahari region of West Bengal.