The Status of Women

Meaning of status of women

Three separate but interdependent components
of womens position are:
a) The extent of exposure to the outside world;
b) The extent of interaction with the outside
world, and in particular, the extent of economic
interaction; and
c) The level of autonomy in decision-making within
and outside the household
Absolute levels of womens position on above
variables, not necessarily relative to the men in
their households .
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Predictors of the status of women

Education
Marriage and kinship patterns
North
CULTURAL INFLUENCE
South
Potential for female employment

Exposure
Interaction
Autonomy

Employment
3

Kinship and Marriage :North South

Variations
Northern kinship system is characterized by a
principal of expansion and the incorporation of
outsiders as wives into the family >
Village is exogamous unit. No exchange marriage
South represents the principle of immediate
exchange and a policy of consolidation of existing
kin network >
Intra-kin marriages and marriages within a village
4

Womens Economic Roles

Opportunities for womens participation in the labour force
Perception of women and their kin group
Women in North India are less likely to be doing work and in
waged activity
Womens participation in labour force : Rural areas
(Source: Registrar General of India,1987)

% of women
UP
Tamil Nadu
In labour force
5
22
Cultivators
48
23
Agricultural labourers
35
53
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Ownership of sewing-machine (%) 22
8
5

Purdah or female seclusion

Origins: marriage and kinship patterns, history
of invasions, Islamic influence etc.
Practiced by 45 % of women in UP, 5 % in
Tamil Nadu
Effect: differential use of space by women like
avoidance of outdoors when there are men.
Example from the study

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