Abstract
The present study investigates the level of empowerment among tribal women in terms of their participation in the decision-making process and to identify the factors that affect their level of participation. Fifty women from the Gujjar community of Kashmir Valley were selected through a purposive sampling technique. The interview and case study methods were employed for collecting data from the potential participants. The study revealed that tribal women’s right to make decisions was confined to minor household issues only. A significant positive correlation was also noted between family size, type of family, age, level of education, employment status and participation of the tribal women in decision-making.
Introduction
Women play a crucial role not only in the development of the family but also in the development of the social, cultural, religious, political and economic spheres in all settings. However, they are less privileged and do not enjoy a status equal to men in most parts of the world (Rahman & Naoroze, 2007). Division of labour, as well as decision-making are both based on the gendered status of men and women in any social group. Women’s primary role is that of a housewife, who is responsible for housekeeping and child-rearing, with hardly any decision-making power (Sultana, 2010). Gender disparity manifests itself in the realm of opportunities for women to make themselves heard in both private and public spheres, where their views can be taken into account when decisions are made at their home, place of work or within communities (Opare, 2005).
The position of women in marginalized groups such as tribal communities is a matter of great concern since tribal communities are more disadvantaged than other social groups in every possible aspect of life. They still lag behind in every sphere, particularly in education, employment, healthcare, quality of life and, finally, overall development. The empowerment of tribal women is, therefore, imperative to help them surmount gender and class disparity as well as bias and exploitation to accomplish their overall development (Bhukya, 2015). Tribal women’s development is only possible through concrete steps aimed at advancing women’s social and political development. Government programmes like the MGNREGA Act (2005) generate economic incentives for Gujjar women, and the inclusive nature of self-help groups has opened up new possibilities for empowerment as they provide women with loans without interest for starting a trade. There are opportunities for tribal women in the labour market, but this requires an attitudinal change among the men of the community.
The Gujjar Community in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir
The state of Jammu and Kashmir has been divided recently into two union territories (UTs): Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The territory of Jammu and Kashmir is host to several tribal communities, scattered in almost all the districts. The tribal people of Jammu and Kashmir are distinctive and stand out from the rest of India’s tribal populations in terms of customs, cultures, means of communication or simply their culinary arts (Nanda & Sharma, 2018). They allow intermarriages, which are firmly forbidden among the tribes of Rajasthan, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Another mark of difference is zero tolerance for dowry among these aforementioned tribes, but dowry is not unknown among the tribes of Kashmir (Poonchi, 2017). The Gujjars, who are the third largest ethnic and linguistic group constituting more than 20 percent of the population in the erstwhile UT of Jammu and Kashmir (Koundal, 2012), are mainly Muslims and observe age-old traditions and customs (Gul, 2014). According to the Census of India (2011), the tribal population constituted 8.6 percent of the nation’s total population, whereas the share of the tribal population of the erstwhile undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir was 11.9 percent, which is significantly higher.
Based on occupation, Gujjars are divided into Zamindar Gujjars and Dodhi Gujjars. Zamindar Gujjars are those whose primary occupation is agriculture and animal husbandry. They possess considerable pieces of land on slopes of mountains where only a rabi crop is possible. Dodhi Gujjars, on the other hand, are exclusively pastoral, and even today, they move from low- to high- and high- to low-altitude hills in search of pastures for their cattle on which their whole economy is sustained. They live mainly on the sale of milk and its products. Agriculture is also taken up as a secondary occupation in winter when they return to their original habitat. The main crops that are grown by Gujjars include wheat and maize. However, the production of fresh vegetables in winter is very low.
The majority of the Gujjar population reside in makeshift (kaccha) mud houses known as kothas or dhokas, built on the slopes of hills, structures like cowsheds, where cattle are also housed. Men wear long shirts and trousers as per Islamic doctrine with turbans tied in a distinctive style, and the women wear long shirts and baggy trousers (shalwars) with a cap or a dupatta (long scarf) wrapped around their heads. Their diet is mostly vegetarian, consisting of rice (the staple of all Kashmiris), vegetables, greens, roti (unleavened bread) and milk products. They also relish Kashmiri wazwan on special occasions like Eid, Urs and circumcision rituals. Adoption of Kashmiri wazwan does not imply assimilation into the Kashmiri mainstream; they prefer to maintain the integrity of their culture and identity despite different challenges.
Development Among Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir
In general, the Gujjars are poor and considered backward, socially, economically, educationally and politically. Despite proper constitutional provisions, policies and programmes, they have a low literacy rate as compared to other inhabitants of the state and other tribes at the national level (Abass et al., 2015). For the promotion of education among the Scheduled Tribes at the national level, schemes for the provision of coaching for competitive examinations, centrally sponsored post-matric scholarships, book banks and so on, have been introduced from time to time. However, one of the reasons schools do not attract Gujjars is that they are not situated at proper or suitable locations, nor do they function well. There is a need to start separate schools for girls, and mobile schools too 1 need to be organized and upgraded. In the long term, real empowerment can be achieved only when the nomadic families of the Gujjar tribe settle down permanently because their nomadic lifestyle is suitable for neither their education nor their development.
The Gujjar community has also not developed in terms of basic facilities such as shelter, healthcare, and means of communication. Most of the tribal hamlets in the far-flung areas are yet to be electrified and are without road connectivity (Sofi, 2013).
Methodology
In order to gain an in-depth knowledge about the topic under investigation, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. An interview schedule enabled the researchers to collect quantitative data. However, for an in-depth understanding, the qualitative technique of the case study was found useful. Careful observations also supplemented the findings. Tehsil Khan Sahib in Budgam district of Kashmir was selected for field investigation because most of the villages here had a major concentration of the Gujjar population than in the other six tehsils. Out of these villages, five villages, namely, Ring Zabal, Traja Khal, Yari Khah, Mujipathri and Goja Thaji, constituted the study area, as these villages had substantial concentrations of Gujjars. Fifty Gujjar women (10 from each village) were selected as a sample by making use of the purposive sampling technique. The fieldwork was conducted between April 2019 and June 2019. As Yin said, ‘the goal or purpose for selecting the specific instances is to have those that will yield the most relevant and plentiful data—in essence, information-rich’ (Yin, 2016, p. 93). Purposive sampling helped the researchers to select appropriate women as the research participants. The women belonged to both categories of Gujjars (Zamindar and Dodhi Gujjars). At the first stage, when researchers approached the participants, there was no response. Then the researchers looked for key informants who would help them in getting responses. Two key informants were found: one was a teacher, and the other worked in an Anganwadi (child care) centre. However, these two informants were not included in the research as participants. The information gathered from the fieldwork was analysed and tabulated. Case studies were also generated to make the study more comprehensive and reliable. The names of the participants in the findings section are fictional and not real.
Findings and Discussion
Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Participants (n = 50)
Level of Participation in Decision-making in Different Household Matters
The findings of the study revealed that the role of the women in decision-making is restricted to making decisions related to minor domestic matters like making menus for the day, decoration of the house, purchase of domestic goods and matters relating to the chulha/chakki (stove/grinding stone) only. In short, their sphere was totally circumscribed. However, their opinion mattered in decisions relating to house construction and renovation.
Zarina Begum, one of the participants, while deliberating upon the issue, revealed,
When we have to decide about day to day affairs like making food, buying clothes for children, etc. most of the time I act on my own because these are the things which women know better than men. My husband does not interfere in such matters.
In major domestic matters, majority of the women admitted that their opinions were seldom asked or taken into account, and that either their husbands or the male head of the family took the decision.
Social Matters
The majority of women stated that they are not given equal chances to speak or contribute to decisions related to social affairs and that men make decisions independently. Women in such circumstances only play a diffident or supportive role. Haneefa, informed that women are nothing more than puppets who have to do things as decided for them by others.
When I was 15, my grandfather and father fixed my marriage within our locality. My mother pleaded with my father to wait for a few more years. But she was silenced every time she tried to argue with them. Now, when my husband decided about the marriage of our daughter; he did not discuss it with me even once. That is how others decide our fate without taking into consideration our own opinions and choices.
About half of the women stated that they are usually ‘consulted’ before decisions are made regarding the marriage or education of or choice of occupation for their children. But the pattern of marriage, the choice of school and the level of education are decided by their husbands or other male head of the family, and women have to accept the decisions (Table 2). Sara Bano, a Gujjar woman in her 40s, lives in a kuccha house in Yari Khah area with her husband, son and three daughters. Narrating her experience, she revealed that a woman keeps a child inside her womb for nine months and puts her everything into raising her child and works very hard to meet their needs. But when it comes to taking any decision for her child, she is side-lined.
When our son passed 8th class, I was delighted and told my husband to save some money for his admission into a higher secondary school. But to my shock, my husband told me that he will not study further and instead will help him in cattle rearing. I rejected his opinion, but he did what he had already decided. I was like a spectator, looking at my dreams for my son shattering before my eyes. What could be a more disheartening thing than this for a mother?
Decisions Pertaining to Children
Women’s desire either to work or move freely outside the house was found to be greatly controlled. Women’s voices were suppressed, and they had no say. The majority of the participants said that they couldn’t move outside freely without taking permission from the head of the family. Their freedom is curtailed by the patriarchal nature of their community (Table 3), where women are supposed to stay within the four walls of the family home and take care of it. Only a few participants stated that they were permitted by their husbands/other male authority in their family to work outside. Aasia Jan, who belonged to a very low-income family, revealed that she was not permitted by her natal family to work; instead, she was married. After marriage, she thought of persuading her husband to allow her to apply for a job, but to no avail. She narrated her experience:
From the very beginning, I had a dream of getting a job to support my family and live a comfortable life. After being selected for a job in the department of Animal Husbandry, my grandfather and father did not allow me to take up the job and instead they started preparations for my marriage. I was very dejected, but there was a hope that after marriage, I would convince my husband for the same. After marriage, however, when I asked my husband about it, he told me to look after the family and help his mother in household chores.
Freedom to Go Outside the Home
Financial Matters
We also found that financial matters are treated as strictly men’s sphere, thus limiting or excluding Gujjar women’s participation in making decisions related to financial matters. Men had the power to access economic resources, and this, in turn, gave them the prerogative to handle the common monetary affairs of the family. Although Gujjar women were seen as the substantial working force at home, in agriculture, livestock care and poultry keeping, selling firewood or breeding of cattle, the level of their participation in decision-making was limited to daily family expenses and buying minor domestic articles. Most of the women in the study population did not have any key role in decision-making about purchase or sale of cattle or land, investment, savings and borrowings, lending money, expenditure on marriage and house construction (Table 4). Fatima, another participant who managed her household expenditure from the money she earned by rearing cows, narrated her story as follows:
When I was married to Rahman, we lived in a joint family. My father-in-law at that time owned six cows. When we parted to live on our own, we got three of them. I single-handedly took care of the cows as it was the only source of family income. My husband used to remain idle the whole day and never went for work. One day four men came to our house to take the cows. They told me that they have already paid money to Rahman. I was very helpless and directly went to my father-in-law’s house for help. He called Rahman and asked him why did he sold the cows without consulting Fatima, who was their sole caretaker. He replied that although she took care of them, but he was the owner. He told us that he had given the money to a local man who had promised him a job. Until now, he has not got the job, and we even lost our only means of sustenance.
Decisions in Financial Matters
Fatima’s story is enough to emphasize the marginalization of women in decision-making on major financial matters. They are not given due importance or consideration despite their hard work and contribution to the family economy.
Factors That Affect Women’s Level of Participation in Decision-making
Age, type and size of family, education, employment status and overall position of women impact their involvement in the decision-making process in different household matters (Table 1). A majority of women believed that the overall status and position of women in their society is an essential factor in determining the role women play in the decision-making process both at home and outside. Misra Begam is a widow who lives with her two children. Based on her own experience, she believed that those who enjoy a higher position in society enjoy greater decision-making power.
I am a widow and have two children (a daughter and a son). In a sense, I am the head of my family and have the authority to make decisions independently. Still, it is my son who always comes into the forefront and shows dominance whenever I take any decision. I think it is because of the general perception that women cannot do anything without taking help from a man, be it her father, brother, husband, and/or son.
We further observed that couples living in nuclear family units are able to make decisions, together. In joint families, decisions are taken mostly by the male head of the family unit, and women hardly contribute to family decisions. On being asked about the difference in the role of women in decision-making in nuclear and joint families, Khadija Bano said that there were lots of differences. She lived in an extended family for eight years after marriage but was never able to take part in any decisions taken in her family.
We were 17 members in the family, and my husband’s grandfather always took the decisions along with his sons. I remember the day when I sold five eggs without anybody’s knowledge at home to buy new bangles for my daughter. Somehow my mother-in-law came to know about it. In the evening, she questioned me before everyone. I was not able to utter a single word in front of the elders. But when we started living separately, things changed abruptly. My husband started involving me in taking decisions. In this way, I feel very powerful and respected.
The age of a woman was also positively linked with her level of involvement in decision-making. It was noted that elderly tribal women participated more in the decision-making process in different spheres than their younger counterparts because women in old age are regarded as mature and experienced and able to make the right decisions. Supporting this view, Zaina stated:
The age of a woman does play a role when decisions are taken at home. When I was young, I was never given a chance to speak up in my family. I had to comply with the decisions taken by my father and brothers. After marriage, nothing changed. But now I am a grandmother of nine children, and my husband and my sons usually come to me and ask my opinion before making a decision.
We also found a positive correlation between women’s employment and decision-making power. But in our study area only few women were employed. Needy families appreciated women’s financial contribution, and in turn, they repaid them by showing more respect and flexibility during family decision-making. Nayeemas’ husband met with an accident a few years back, which left them in abject poverty as her husband was not able to work after that. To meet the day-to-day expenses of her family and to buy medicines for her husband, she started working in a local private school as a sweeper.
After my husband met an accident, I was left with no option other than to find work. Once I was told by a neighbor to go to the nearby private school where they required a sweeper. I have been working there since that day and managing the expenses of my family. My husband appreciates my work and has given me authority to take decisions in our family. But I still discuss everything with him. We are living a happy life despite the problems we face.
Conclusion
From the findings, it can be inferred that although Gujjar women are important workers both at home and outside, their level of empowerment in making themselves heard during the decision-making process is hardly satisfactory. The authoritarian male-dominated nature of the family necessarily invests decision-making powers in the male members of the family. Throughout the study, it was noted that these women play a larger role in making decisions only in minor household matters. They remain mere spectators when decisions are being made on major issues. Thus, men make decisions not only for their family and themselves but were also arbiters in matters concerning women. They dominated women’s lives, deepening women’s marginalization and deprivation. To offset this dismal situation, some significant positive correlations were also found between women’s role in decision-making and family size, age, type of family, level of education and employment. Gujjar women’s fundamental problem still remains the centuries’ old male attitudes of dominance and power over women due to which women are unable to liberate themselves from the vicious circle of patriarchy. Hence, it can be concluded that for women to take part efficiently in social, economic, political as well as reproductive matters, for the improvement and progress of their community and of themselves, and for their empowerment, a friendly and favourable environment within the family must exist. Therefore, it is the right time to help them to come out of their homes by providing them quality education or skills in order to enable them to learn and earn through trade, entrepreneurship or a suitable vocation.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.