Skill Education and Employment Gap Among Tribal Women in Rural Bengal

Abstract

Skilled-based knowledge and human resources are the key factors for the inclusive growth of a country. In India, both men and women from rural and urban areas are unskilled. In case of women, most of them are working in informal setting with unequal pay structure. Hence, empowerment of the rural women is very much needed not only for the development of the employment status but also for the equal contribution in social, cultural and economic development with decision-making powers. The enrolment rates of tribal women in skill education are still incredibly low in spite of having governmental policies and programmes. Thus, the present study seeks to analyse the obstacles of tribal women in pursing skill education and creating a gap between skill education and empowerment. It also tries to understand the skill education and employment status of tribal women in the rural Bankura district. On basis of the results it strives to identify ways to facilitate skill education among the tribal women for their better sustainable employment. The study is based on multi stage sampling method with the sample of 90 tribal women (18 to 25 years old) from rural Bankura, West Bengal. The results depicted that enrolment rate in skill education and employment with it is very low among them. Fear of migration, distance from institutions, language barrier, low self-confidence, poor knowledge and misconceptions are creating obstacles for them in skill education and employment. Thus, constant monitoring, need based traditional courses and more employments are needed from the government and NGOs to ensure equal services for tribal women to get a quality life.

Keywords: Skill Education, Employment, Tribal Women, Rural Bengal, Low Enrolment

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