An analysis of profile characteristics of tribal women in farm and home management in Kanniyakumari district

Introduction

India is home to a rich cultural and heritage legacy of tribal communities. Approximately 90.00 per cent of the tribal population resides in rural areas, while 10.00 per cent live in urban regions. These communities are distinct in their languages, cultures, geographical settings and maintain an independent way of life along with a unique social structure. Agriculture in India is the backbone of the country and it plays an important role in the economy, is regarded as the largest sector of the country's economic activity. Above 80.00 per cent of the Indian population, either directly or indirectly depends on agriculture (Kumar and Saranya, 2019) [5] . Tribal women play a significant role in shaping their social, cultural and religious practices. Women are the driving force behind development programs, whether in developed or developing nations. In every part of the country, women in the family are responsible for caring for both children and the elderly. International studies have shown that significant changes in a society's financial and political infrastructure occur when women actively participate in helping their families navigate new challenges and realities. However, the majority of tribal women have limited access to modern farming technologies and related resources. Despite their active involvement in farm and home management, they remain marginalized due to traditional values, illiteracy, social issues and other barriers. Tribal women in India face numerous social, economic and cultural challenges that hinder their overall development and participation in society. They face many issues such as poor living conditions, low levels of education and widespread exposure to gender-based violence and discrimination. Although tribal women constitute nearly half of the tribal population, they continue to struggle for equal access to education, employment opportunities, healthcare and legal protections. These systemic barriers prevent them from fully contributing to and benefiting from national development www.extensionjournal.com (Banerjee, 2024) [1] . In Tamil Nadu, nearly 50.00 per cent of the tribal population are illiterate. Among the literate groups, women constitute more percentage compared to men. This shows the positive turn towards the efforts on tribal women education (Selvi, 2021) [11] . Once a nomadic tribe, the community has now settled in one place, with agriculture as their principal occupation. Apart from agriculture, the Kani tribes collected honey from the forest regions and cultivated other minor forest produce. This helped them in earning some money to cater for their needs. The Kani speak a dialect that is similar to the Dravidian language of Malayalam. There is no script for Kani. In addition to speaking their native dialect, they also have proficiency in Tamil and Malayalam. Words from Tamil and Malayalam are prominent in their language. They write in Tamil and Malayalam script. Like other rural women, tribal women play important role in agriculture and home management. No field operation is beyond the reach of tribal women in tribal areas. Keeping this fact in view the study was undertaken with the following objectives. The objectives of the study was, 1. To study the profile characteristics of tribal women.

Research Methodology

Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu was purposively selected for the study considering the following reasons:

Kanikkar is one of the 36 tribes listed in the Gazette of India. The Kani tribes are primarily found in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. They live in the Western Ghats of southern Tamil Nadu and commonly known as Kanis. The investigator was familiar with the local language, which would help to build up quick rapport and also enable in-depth study combined with personal observation. Kanniyakumari district has thirteen blocks viz., Agastheeswaram, Rajakkamangalam, Thovalai, Kurunthancode, Thuckalay, Thiruvattar, Killiyoor, Munchirai, Melpuram, Nagercoil Municipality, Padmanabhapuram Municipality, Colachel Municipality and Kuzhithurai Municipality. Among them Thiruvattar block was selected for the study since the block occupies the highest percentage of Tribal women. A sample size of 120 respondents was fixed for this study considering the limitations of time and other resources. Tribal women were respondents for the present study. Tribal women were selected from each of the six villages of selected block. A sample size of 120 respondents was selected from the six villages by using proportionate random sampling. An Expost-facto research design was adopted for the study. The data were collected from the respondents with the help of a well-structured and pre tested interview schedule. The distribution of tribal women according to their profile characteristics revealed that half of the respondents (50.00 per cent) belonged to the middle age group (36-45 years), followed by old (32.50 per cent) and young (17.50 per cent). With regard to educational status, 30.00 per cent had middle school education, 23.33 per cent had primary education and 21.67 per cent had secondary education, while 10.00 per cent were illiterate, 8.33 per cent were functionally literate and 6.67 per cent had collegiate education. Majority of the respondents (80.00 per cent) were engaged in agriculture as their primary occupation and 20.00 per cent as their secondary occupation. More than half (62.50 per cent) belonged to joint families and 37.50 per cent to nuclear families, with 55.00 per cent having medium family size, followed by small (27.50 per cent) and big (17.50 per cent)

Results and Discussion

The profile characteristics among the Tribal Women

families. Regarding farm size, 47.50 per cent were small farmers, 37.50 per cent were marginal farmers and 15.00 per cent were big farmers. A majority (60.00 per cent) fell under the low annual income category, while 30.00 per cent and 10.00 per cent belonged to medium and high income groups respectively. Half of the respondents (50.00 per cent) had medium farming experience, followed by low (30.00 per cent) and high (20.00 per cent). In terms of social participation, 42.50 per cent had medium level, 37.50 per cent low level and 20.00 per cent high level. Extension agency contact was low among 40.00 per cent, medium among 37.50 per cent and high among 22.50 per cent. More than half (51.66 per cent) had medium livestock possession, while 29.17 per cent had high and 19.17 per cent had low possession. With respect to cosmopoliteness, 50.00 per cent www.extensionjournal.com had medium level, followed by low (35.00 per cent) and high (15.00 per cent). Regarding fatalism, 42.50 per cent exhibited high level, 32.50 per cent medium and 25.00 per cent low level. Time management analysis indicated that respondents spent comparatively more hours in household and farm activities than in off-farm and social activities. The decision-making pattern revealed that most farm management decisions were taken jointly with spouse, whereas home management decisions, particularly household and child-related activities, were largely taken independently by the respondents.

Summary and Conclusion

The profile characteristics of the tribal women revealed that half (50.00 per cent) of the respondents belonged to the middle-aged group, while the majority (62.50 per cent) lived in nuclear families and over half (55.00 per cent) had medium-sized families. Regarding education, nearly onethird (30.00 per cent) had studied upto middle school and majority (80.00 per cent) reported agriculture as their primary occupation. In terms of landholding, 47.50 per cent were small farmers and most of the respondents (60.00 per cent) had low levels of annual income and half (50.00 per cent) had medium level farming experience. Social participation was moderate in 42.50 per cent of the women, while 40.00 per cent had low contact with extension agencies. Livestock possession was medium among 51.66 per cent of the respondents. Similarly, 50.00 per cent exhibited a medium degree of cosmopoliteness. Fatalism were high in 42.50 per cent of the women. In terms of time allocation, 33.33 per cent spent up to 6 hours per day on household activities, while 25.83 per cent spent a maximum of 7 hours on farm activities and 22.50 per cent spent 6 hours on off-farm work. Only a small proportion (1.67 per cent to 12.50 per cent) engaged in social activities for 1 to 7 hours. Notably, a majority of the women actively participated in joint decision-making with their spouses in both farm and home management.

References

1. Banerjee R. Position of tribal women in India. International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation. 2024;6(3):868-879.
2. Bora MB, Deka MB, Borah SB. Characterization of participation pattern of tribal women in house, farm and allied areas. Asian Journal of Home Science. 2018;13(1):417-422.
3. Dhruw B, Kaushal R, Bhagat R, Atree N. Tribal women participation in agriculture and allied sectors in Gariaband district of Chhattisgarh. International Journal of Research. 2020;8(9):334-344.
4. Kiran CH, Minaxi B, Sandip K. Socio-economic profile of tribal farm women and its relationship towards involvement in agriculture practices in Chhotaudepur district of Gujarat state. Journal of Krishi Vigyan. 2018;7:139-143.
5. Kumar H, Saranya H. A study on participation of farm tribal women in agriculture. Journal of Humanities and Social Science. 2019;24(5):60-64.
6. Mohanta. Participation of tribal women in agriculture. International Journal of Science, Environment and Technology. 2017;6(1):745-750.
7. Nath RK, Brahma S, Sarma R, Ahmed PA. Study on participation of rural tribal women farmers in horticulture and household activities in Assam. International Journal of Recent Scientific Research. 2020;11(5):35651-35653.
8. Patel RM, Patel A, Desai DJ, Patel VB. Social participation of tribal farm women and its relationship with their contribution in agriculture and animal husbandry. International Journal of Informational Research Review. 2016;3(7):2593-2595.
9. Patel V, Chauhan NM. Role performance of tribal farm women in livelihood dealings. International Journal in Management and Social Science. 2015;3(11):256-265.
10. Pratibha M. Participation of tribal farm women in decision making process related to farm and home activities in Southern Rajasthan [doctoral dissertation]. Udaipur: MPUAT; 2024.
11. Selvi VK. Status of tribal women in Tamil Nadu, India. Asian Review of Social Sciences. 2021;10(1):16-21.
12. Shamna AP, Biswas P, Jha SK, Sarkar S, Kumar S. Tribal farm women's participation in agriculture and factors influencing it: Evidence from West Bengal, India. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. 2018;20(5):911-922.
13. Sujeetha TN, Anamica M, Balarubini M. Socioeconomic characteristics of self help group tribal women in Nilgiris district, India. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences. 2017;6(11):3988-3991.
14. Sujeetha TN. Role performance of tribal women in farm and home management -An exploratory study. Coimbatore: AC and RI, TNAU; 2015.
15. Vaibhav H, Basunathe VK. Decision making pattern of tribal women in dairy enterprise in Melghat region of Amravati district. Indian Research Journal of Extension Education. 2015;15(4):10-15.