Empowerment of Tribal Women and Gender Development in India

Empowerment of Tribal Women For the enhanced socioeconomic development of any community, the active participation of women is essential. In a social set up like India's, their participation has to be ensured through concrete measures, taken at various levels, which result in their empowerment in the real sense. Empowerment of women is one of the concepts that has developed in connection with improving their status. Empowerment includes higher literacy levels, education, better health care, equal ownership of productive resources, increased participation in economic and commercial sectors, awareness of rights and responsibilities, improved standards of living, selfreliance, self-esteem and self-confidence. Mostly women and children do collection of minor forest produce. However, tribal women are still disregarded and underprivileged group in Tribal society. Gender equality among tribal groups is a complex phenomenon that needs to be addressed in the context of various issues of tribal life. The gender dimension of the tribal communities of India also has a bearing on the need for tribal development. This paper focuses on the nature and dimensions of change in the lives and status of tribal women in India. The paper also focuses how the socioeconomic changes during the last few decades have introduced new gender and class issues into the purportedly democratic society of the Tribals. The present study will based on secondary source of data collecting from various sources.