The status of the tribal domestic workers in Jharkhand is explored. It is evident that large numbers of tribal women are engaged as domestic workers inside and outside of the state, and the sector provides a large chunk of employment apart from the cultivation and agricultural sector. The data show differential engagement in the sector by age, urban–rural location, gender, and tribe.
The general idea that “politics is for males and the private for females” applies to Santal society as well. The political space in Santal traditional society is male-dominated with little room for women’s issues and interests. This paper explores the different layers of male hegemony in the structure and functioning of traditional village institutions. It also assesses the changing role of these institutions in recent times when the Santal socio-economic space is getting more integrated with the mainstream. As Santal community life gradually disintegrates, there is an erosion of faith in, and the strength of, Santal traditional institutions. The already vulnerable Santal woman, living under the shadow of patriarchal customary laws, emerges as the most disadvantaged in these times.
The Adivasi women of Jharkhand negotiate with power structures within the family system and society, and are further entrapped in gender hegemonies that are part of larger shifts in the political economy. Their lived experiences in the urban and rural landscape of Ranchi, a Schedule V district under the Constitution, and an analysis of the enforcement of legal machinery in removing or tightening the existing disparities provide crucial insights into the sociolegal realities of the lives of Adivasi women, thereby mapping their everyday experiences of violence and the means available to address their issues.
The ‘Chalo Nagpur’ campaign mobilised thousands of women marchers and drew attention to not only the exploitation and violence suffered by women from the lower castes, classes and marginalised sections but also their efforts to build connections with women engaged in similar aims across the world.
