The word ’empowerment’ is used in different contexts by different people. There is a variety of meanings of the term due to its widespread usage. Although the term is used frequently for development-related work, it is to be defined. However, it refers to the expansion of freedom of choice and action. For the poor people, this freedom is severely curtailed by their poor contribution to representation particularly in the state and markets. Hence, empowerment is the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to negotiate influence and control the accountable institutions that affect their lives.
The empowerment of tribal women has been a major concern. The past three decades have witnessed a steadily increasing awareness of the need to empower women through measures to increase social, economic and political equity, broader access to fundamental human rights, and improvements in nutrition, basic health and education. The current attempt to evaluate the role of educational attainment, economic participation, social capital, knowledge, wealth in women’s empowerment, and its links to health outcomes special reference to tribal population in India.It was found that the health status was poor among the primitive tribal women resulted from their low proxy empowerment indices ie., illiteracy, exposure to any media and living with low wealth. As a result female empowerment is positive influence on health outcomes. This information is vital for the researchers, government and voluntary agencies, NGOs, social reformers, social activist to take appropriate measures to improve the health outcome of tribal population.
Tribal woman in contribute positively in local economy and participate with men in subsistence activities. In reality, women perform more work than men as they participate in all agricultural activities (except ploughing) as well as other indigenous cottage industries. They manage household chores as well as child rearing is also their responsibility. In India, over 80% of the tribals work in the primary sector against 53% of the general population. About 45% tribals are cultivators against 32.5% of the general population. Tribal women work hard for the livelihood of their family but maintain a poor life in spite of their contributions. Their whole income spent over their basic requirements i.e., food and other needs. The status of women usually depends on the economic roles they play. Due to lack of skills and regular income generating activities, they are below the poverty line. Economic environment of women affects the social development. Thus, there is a need to undertake income generating activities among the poor women for their economic empowerment.
Educational Attainment is a universally recognised powerful instrument of social, cultural and health development. It is crucial to women empowerment.Thus, primary education has been a goal in many developing countries for several years. With the articulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there has been an increased focus on meeting this challenge. The proportion of tribal women who have never attended school was highest , and there is a gender difference at different levels of education.The reasons associated with not imparting education to girl child are financial constraints, early marriages, submissiveness, motherhood and parent’s narrowed perceptions about women education. Educating a girl child is deliberately denied that affects the future opportunity for her total development. Development of infrastructure was previously assumed to be gender neutral, with both sexes benefiting equally from well-designed projects Gender-responsive
infrastructure interventions can free up women’s time, thereby increasing girls enrollment in schools and facilitating women’s participation in income-generation and decision-making activities.
The National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001 has as its goal bringing about advancement, development and empowerment of women in all spheres of life through creation of a more responsive judicial and legal system sensitive to women and mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process. The strengthening and formation of relevant institutional mechanisms and implementation of international obligations/ commitments and co-operation at the international, regional and sub-regional level was another commitment.The present Government in their National Common Minimum Programme have laid down six basic principles of governance one of which is to empower women politically, educationally, economically and legally.India has ratified various international conventions and human rights instruments committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1993. India has ratified the convention with two declaratory statements and one reservation. Both the declarations relate to marriage.
The woman empowerment proxy indices such as education, economic participation in non-agricultural sectors, exposure to media and wealth are inadequate among tribals. They remain largely marginalized, poor and socially excluded, and their health outcomes are not optimal. Working with these imbalances is of importance for the researchers, policymakers, programme managers and civil society groups. There is also a need to monitor the impact on women empowerment and their health, concentration on the barriers to girls education which is familial resistance, cost of education, school drop-out rates etc, exposure to media, early marriages and pregnancy are crucial. Education or health-related knowledge about reproductive, communicable and non-communicable diseases etc. empower women to gain benefits for their overall health development. School education needs to emphasize the importance of gender equality and the greater need and role of women’s participation in family health. The primitive way of women living in tribal areas requires urgent actions in all these aspects to empower them.
