Prospects and Challenges in Empowerment of Tribal Women

Tribal development in India has been a success as the primitive societies living in remote rural areas are now educating their children and living in desirable standards. It is interesting to note that apart from several governmental efforts, the contributions of non-governmental organizations in providing training and development in different sectors of economy especially the tribal population. ERT India group initiated a survey as a part of the ERT International project to study the opportunities and avenues for the people living in remote tribal villages to acquire essential knowledge and skills for their livelihood. The project also focused on various skill development programs, especially for women. This paper discusses training as well as skills development in tribal women of Gujarat, India. The training and skill development among women would be mainly pertaining to farm forestry, papad making, sewing, cooking, sanitary pads making and so on. Women in tribal India often face abusive situations related to domestic violence, physical and mental torture, wife-beating, sexual abuse, and so forth. It is also realized that women face resistance in participating in training programmes due to sharing of responsibilities at family level. They also face barriers due to bias and discriminatory behavior common in society. Arrangements are made by the government and NGO’S to encourage women to form self-help groups and seek answers to their own problems. The paper brings out the cases of under-represented women who are successful in empowering themselves by making use of education and training. It reviews vocational and skill based training among the women of several tribal villages in Gujarat.