Poverty Of Tribal Women Headed Households In Shervaroy Hills

摘要

In patriarchal societies all over the world and in India, culturally the term 'head of the household' is confined to an elderly male member of the family. A male is symbolized as an authority of the household, whereas woman by and large is treated secondary to male. She is supposed to play diverse roles as mother, wife, sister and daughter. The male's role is limited only to taking care of the family by fulfilling the social, physical and integrative needs of the family unit. The place of women in Indian society is quite different from their counterparts across the globe. The lives of Indian women are deeply rooted in the household and family. The destiny of women is linked to that of household, they recognize themselves powerfully with its welfare and yet the panic of losing their family's security generates special vulnerabilities. Episodes like widowhood, separation, abandonment are distressing for women and bring drastic changes in their lives. Such female headed women are accorded the position of lesser esteem in a world of challenges. In the context of Tamil Nadu, there has been scanty attention pertaining to female headed households (FHHs) and hence, there is the absence of reliable data on poverty stricken state like Tamil Nadu characterized by illiteracy, wide-spread poverty, break-down of age-old values, FHHs present a dismal picture. It has been observed that several families in the pockets Salem, Namakkal and Erode districts of Tamil Nadu, run wholly by women, by their widows, divorcees, separated or whose husbands work at distant places. At this backdrop, it is imperative to study the socio-economic problems of FHHs in the district of Salem in the state of Tamil Nadu with special reference to Shervaroy hills. The selection of the study area is made purposively as it is the tribal belt of Salem district.