ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES OF CONTEMPORARY ODISHA

The tribal women of Odisha have been enjoying honourable position in their respective communities, they play important role in socio-cultural, political as well as economic life. The prime hypothesis of this research paper is based on the economic and political status of women of tribal communities of Odisha, who are comparatively much more empowered than the non-tribal women. The status of empowered women in Odishan tribal communities can be said to be fairly high. Commonly the sense of gender equality among the sexes can be observed in most of the tribal societies of Odisha. The main focus of this research paper is on measuring the position of empowered tribal women in economic and political field of their communities. Tribal women of Odisha are not struggling for their socio economic and political empowerment because traditional and customary tribal norms are comparatively more liberal to women in their communities. In the tribal communities of Odisha women have their unique status and much more empowered than non tribal women due to their significant role in social, religious, political, cultural and economic field in their family as well as in village or community level. The women in the tribal society constitute about half of the tribal tribe population. Their role in the tribal society is very important, because the tribal women are work harder and the entire family economy and management depends on them. The tribal women better placed in many respects and more empowered in certain areas.