Decision Making Role among The Darai Women A case Study of bharatpur municipality,Chitwan

Abstract

Nepal's rural setting is a complex structure of social system consisting ofhierarchical social structure that includes different economic and social classes,oppressive castes system and gender discrimination, which is developed fromfeudal, bureaucratic and caste and gender biased interests.The backward andmarginalized community must be given special emphasis for main-streaming themand the condition of gender situation need special insight. Gender is a major issuethat makes strong matter in democratizing the people. It is essential to increaseparticipation of women in all sectors in order to improve their status in the society.The study concluded that awareness and platform for empowering the women isvery important to promote capacity, and standard of life of the women. So, forover all development of the society and the country it is essential to promote roleof the women in every social and economic activities of the country equivalent tothe male counterpart. Initiation must be started right from the household. Study Area: The study includes socio-cultural status of Darai people in Bharatpur Municipalityof Chitwan district. There are 45 households altogether. Out of this, the studycovers all of the households of the municipality because of low literacy rate oftarget group, time and resources’ constraints. Moreover, to analyze the collecteddata, categorization, ordering and ranking was done to obtain the objectives of thestudy. Within the prescribed limitation, Darai people’s educational status,women’s role in decision-making and economy of the households has beenintensely analyzed. Moreover, the demographic, health and marital status of thetarget group have been analyzed so as to draw the information and to find theactual and factual state. The researcher had planned to carry this research mainly focusing to searchthe answer to thesequestions; i. What is the main source of family income?ii. What is the role of women in case of marriage process?iii. How are Darai female being viewed in terms of schooling? iv. What is the involvement of women in different occupations and their voting rights? What is the awareness status of female to their right and responsibility regardingtheir use in the community? The Main Goal of the Study: The general objectives of this study are to assess the status of Darai womenparticularly at Naurange of Bharatpur Municipality. Specific objectives are givenbelow: i. To identify the origin of Darai and explore the status of Darai women of Naurangein Chitwan district. ii. To analyze and explore the involvement of women in decision making process indifferent household activities. The Tools used to collect the data:This study is mainly focused on female’s status and roles their attitudes and suggestions that are needed for the democratization of the social structure. Thisstudy had utilized descriptive methodology in the form of social survey. At thefirst detail of the main elements of the methods to be used is given under.For thispurpose, the interview schedule was prepared carefully, instruction of supervisorwas included and the questions were refined in the interview schedule. Bothstructured and unstructured observations were made from time to time while in thefield work process. Observations and case study have yielded qualitative data,while interview schedule has yielded both types of data. The collected data havebeen analyzed by using computer program SPSS 11.5 while qualitative data havebeen arranged manually and analyzed descriptively. Results of quantitative dataanalysis have been shown by using various tables, charts and diagrams.Findings of the Study  The attitude of the family member towards women working out is yet foundextreme narrowness. The respondents have reported that most of the family headdo not allow them to work outside the home.  The educational attainment is also found very low. It may bebecause they getmarried in the young age.  Darai were migrated from the different place to the Bharatpur municipality.Mainly they came from Darbhanga, a district of Bihar in India, likewise it has alsobeen reported by the respondents of the study site that most of the Darai in the pastwere believed to migrate from Madi the western of Chitwam District.  The gender discrimination is found much in the case of domestic chores. Very fewmales corporate in doing the work at home to their females. Most of the householdactivities are predominantly performed by the females, so they don’t get the timefor any kind of creative skill earning or contributing to the development andconstructive works.  Slowly the study populations have started to involve in different organizations toempower themselves and to bring change in the community.  The main traditional work of the Darai community is farming but nowadays thetrend of their tradition has changed. Though communities are giving continuity inthe inherent tradition.To decide on the buying and selling of animals in Darai 8 community in this area (Naurange) male have main role according to this research.In all 45 houses one did not respond out of 44 responded 22 male (48.90 percent)decided for buying and selling animals. 14 male and female (31.10 percent)decided jointly on the issues and only 8 female (17.80 percent) decided on buyingand selling animals.  In observation during the field work most of the Darai female wear the silverornaments but some of them also wear the golden ornaments like Barhmin/Chhetri women. According to them if the ornaments get as a dowry women havefull right to use it. Therefore, keeping all the facts in consideration, it can be concluded that issues offemales must be rightly addressed. The female should be incorporated andprovided proper space at the time of decision making. The female members shouldbe given the chances to express freely and create the environment so that the entirefemale member can express their views freely. In the same way their views mustbe considered at both the stage of making decision and involving them at differentactivities.So it is necessary to provide some extra initiatives and chances for thefemales for certain period till they will not be at the equal level to that of malecounterpart