Nihuti Nihuri Danda tooteei re tootee

Bhooti kati kan chootee

(The hard and laborious work we do has broken our back.

Will there be a day where we will be free of this toil?)

This folk song, which can be traced to the zamindari system under the British regime, is still sung by the tribal women of Jharkhand. And like the words and tune of the song, the plight of tribal women has not undergone any change in the last 300-odd years. If anything, their condition has deteriorated. Whether it is in a small hamlet or in the large cities, these women are being milched dry. Under the capitalist system, which is quite divorced from the tribal economy, the only returns on their toil are hopelessly inadequate wages, loads and loads of work, insult, rape, physical exploitation and even death. Working Adivasi women do not even qualify as ‘labour’. The ‘cultured’ and ‘developed’ society of the biggest democracy in the world refers to them as ‘daai’, ‘aayaa’, ‘rehaa’, or ‘weswa (prostitutes)’.

Adivasi women have always established themselves as a strong work force. The inherent collectiveness and equality in the social and economical constitution of the Adivasi society and the total absence of preferential treatment based on gender are important reasons for this. This counts for a strong presence of Adivasi women in the work force. Where the ratio in general of the working males and females in other communities elsewhere is 5:1, it is 3:1 among the Adivasis. Whereas the proportion of non-adivasi women in the work-force stands at only 11.9 per hundred, the same is as high as 20.75 among the Adivasis. Despite this, the present and the future for Adivasi women are dark.

In the traditional economy, Adivasi women were mainly required in agricultural work involving no estrangement from the village or society. This ensured their safety, strength and self-reliance. However, the changing times made it increasingly necessary for them to leave their familiar social and economic milieu, resulting in cataclysmic change. Neither considered woman nor worker, the Adivasi woman has been reduced to just a ‘thing’ from which work can be extracted and which can be exploited.

Compared to mainstream Indian society, traditionally Adivasi women enjoyed equal status with men. The women had a role as decisive as men in economic matters. They participated in economic and productive activities as much or sometimes even more than the men. They toiled harder and are more industrious than men. There was no restriction whatsoever on the economic activities of women. Such restrictions still obtain in non-tribal societies.

This, however, does not mean that there was no inequality in the tribal society. In class-ridden societies, the status of Adivasi women is below men. Various developments in the post-independence period and in mainstream societies have tended to further increase this inequality. This has led to a serious deterioration in the view about women in tribal society.

Adivasi women are mainly employed in construction, brick kilns, daily wages, domestic work, farm work, forest-goods related work, mining and industry. Barring mining and industry, the other areas come under the unorganised sector of labour. The plight of the workers in this sector is known. Even in organised sectors, such as mining and industry, the condition of women is not good. They are contract labour or temporary workers.

That Adivasi women have never been recruited as skilled labour and have been treated as unskilled workers is of great concern. Adivasi women are given work, which involves physical labour, for which the wages are minimal. They rapidly lose their health. Moreover, with automation, the services of the unskilled workers are the first to be terminated. Mining is a case in point. Before automation, women counted for nearly 30 to 35 per cent of the labour force; this is now between 5 and 10 per cent. The employment of women in automated coal mines is minimal. The employment of pay-loaders for loading wagons and machines for screening and shelling has also affected employment adversely. The contention is that, being illiterate, women cannot operate the machines. Managers also contend that women do not work underground or during nights; moreover, women are entitled to maternity benefits, and crèches have to be provided for their children (though very few women send their children there). The output of women in terms of work is not much. Women are, thus, a burden.

The disappearance of the traditional economy, new developments, dislocation and migration are the four main reasons for a growing increase in the Adivasi women labour force. The difficulties these women face are increasing by leaps and bounds. The condition of Adivasi women workers, as reported in news reports from Ranchi and Delhi, presents a very grim picture. The women workers are physically and economically exploited, regardless of whether they are 10 years old or 40 years old. If one were to believe reports in newspapers, every third unmarried Adivasi woman, who goes to the town or city for work, is at high risk.