0 STATUS OF KUMAL WOMEN (A CASE STUDY OF KUNDUR VILLAGE OF GORKHA DISTRICT) SUNITA ARYAL 201 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE CENTRAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY/ANTHROPOLOGY FOR PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUREMENTS FOR THE MASTERS DEGREE OF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY BY SUNITA ARYAL 2010 STATUS OF KUMAL WOMEN 1 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES CENTERAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY/ANTHROPLOGY KRITIPUR, KATHMANDU, NEPAL LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION It is certified that Miss. Sunita Aryal has completed her dissertation on the topic “Status of Kumal Women” under my guidance and supervision. I, therefore, recommend this dissertation for final approval and acceptance. Miss. Milly Joshi Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology Tribhuvan University,Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal. Date:...………………………….. 2 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES CENTERAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY/ANTHROPLOGY KRITIPUR, KATHMANDU, NEPAL LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE The thesis entitled on the topic “Status of Kumal Women” a case study of Kundur village of Gorkha district prepared by Miss. Sunita has been accepted as partial fulfillment for the requirement of the degree of Master of Arts in sociology. Dissertation Committee Supervisor …………………………………. External Examiner …………………………………… Head of the Department …………………………………… Date:………………………... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my deep gratitude for my thesis supervisor Miss. Milly Joshi for her constant guidance and support. I would also like to thank faculty members for their cooperation. I am very much grateful to all respondents from the inner core of my heart for sharing their experiences with me. I also thank all the key informants for providing me the information without which the in-depth study of the cases would not be possible. It is my pleasure to thank Mr. Rupak Bhandari who supported and helped me for collect information. I would like to thank Mr. Rajesh Sharma for his valuable suggestions. Finally, I want to thank my family for their inexorable encouragement and support. I would like to express gratitude to all of them who have helped me to complete this dissertation. Sunita Aryal 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1-6 1.1 Background of the Study 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem 3 1.3 Objective of the Study 4 1.4 Significance of the Study 4 1.5 Conceptual Framework 5 1.6 Definition of the key terms 6 CHAPTER II RIVIEW OF LITERATURE 7-19 2.1 Status of Women in Nepal 7 2.1.1 Women and General Social Status 7 2.1.2 Educational Status of Women 8 2.1.3 Economical Status of Women 9 2.1.4 Women and Health 10 2.2.5 Women and Decision Making 11 2.2.6 Martial Status 12 2.2.7 Occupational Status 12 2.2 Theory of Related to Gender 13 2.3 History of Kumal 18 5 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS 19-23 3.1 Selection of the Study Area 19 3.2 Research Design 20 3.3 Sources and Nature of Data 20 3.4 Sampling Procedure 21 3.5 Instrument of Data Collection 21 3.5.1 Case Study 21 3.5.2 Use of Key Informant 21 3.6 Mode of Data Analysis 22 3.7 Limitation of the Study 22 3.8 Research Experience 22 CHAPTER IV CASE STUDIES GENERAL INFORMATIONS OF KUMAL WOMEN WITH REGARD TO CASE 1 TO 10: 24-48 CHAPTER V STATUS OF KUMAL WOMEN 49-60 5.1 Family Status 49 5.1.1 Family Type 49 5.1.2 Family Relation 50 5.2 Marital Status 50 5.2.1 Marriage Type 51 5.2.2 Marital relationship 52 5.3 Educational Status 52 5.3.1 Literacy Rate 53 5.4 Health Status 54 5.4.1 Nutrition 54 6 5.4.2 Treatment 55 5.5 Economic Status 55 5.5.1 Occupation 55 5.5.2 Main Source of Family Income 56 5.5.3 Ownership of the Land 56 5.5.4 Division of Labor 57 5.5.5 Household Chores 58 5.6 Position of Women in Decision -making within Households 58 5.6.1 Religious Work 59 5.6.2 Household Expenses 59 5.6.3 Saving 60 CHAPTER VI SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 61-63 6.1 Summary 61 6.2 Conclusion 63 REFERENCES APPENDEX 7 CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Status is multidimensional concept and measurement of status involves complicated exercise in grading and judgment (Acharya, 1981). According to United Nations (1975), status of Women may be defined as to “what do Women, compared with men have access to knowledge, to economic resources and political power”. The word „status‟ has variously been defined by different dictionaries. For the development of the nation men and Women both are important since Women play significant role for the development of the country. Women are backward in different spheres like education, Political, economic and social spheres. They are exploited and dominated in many ways by males. In context of Nepal, due to conservative tradition, illiteracy, poverty and superstition, women are considered to be born to serve her husband smoothly without comment. Our social myth is that Women are basically inferior and their labor and efforts are less valuable than men. There are many cultural rustications to Women (Acharya, Bennett, 1981). Literacy and educational qualification are the vital indicators of Women‟s social status. There are not only crucial factors for availing of employment opportunities created by process of modernization but also for communication with the outside world as with increasing educated males within the household (Acharya,1995). The role of Women has great importance in terms of socio-economic development. It will be certainly difficult to achieve sustainable development without full participation of Women. But, the status of Women in Nepal is in miserable condition. Most of the research works reveal that different aspects of living standard of Women as poor. Though the level of living standard of Women has been in increase day per day but the situation is not satisfactory (Thapa, 2002). Women in Nepal as in other underdeveloped countries not only have been physically, socially, and economically weak but also they are fully deprived of the decent scripture 8 religious traditions and other social and cultural practices of rituals science of the immemorial. Overall serval studies have found that in the course of time, women gave lost their higher prestigious position in comparison to men in the contest of Nepal (Tamang, 2000). Complex society like Nepalese society with a multiplicity or religious and cultural tradition and a variety in family structure does not easily permit us to generalize the status of Women in Nepal such as but it can be stated without reservation that Nepali Women from the communities high in the Himalayan region are exploited and oppressed (Subedi, 1993). The word Kumal in the Nepali language denotes a person who is engaged in manufacturing clay pots as an occupation. Some scholars have considered the Kumals as one of the „tribal‟ peoples although more recently, they have been listed under the adivasi janjati category. Although Kumals are to be found in different parts of Nepal, their place of origin has not yet been confirmed. Their settlements are generally located in river basins and plains of lower hills and inner Terai of the country. Differentiating basically on the basis of geographic regions in which they are found today, they are recognized as Madeshi Kumal (i.e. those living in Madesh or the plains), Newar Kumal (mainly in Kathmandu valley) and Pahade Kumal (those from Hills) (Bhurtel and Chhetri, 2006). Kumal is one of the approved castes among 59 indigenous group of Nepal, which has been assigned as marginalized indigenous people. They are mostly found in the western part of Nepal, especially in Nawalparasi,Arghakhnchi, Gorkha, Tanahun, and Palpa district. According to census of 2058 B.S, the population of Kumal community is 99,389. Among which male are 48,883 and female are 20,507. Though, agriculture is the main occupation of this caste, now has been involved in business and other professions as well. The important traditional skill is they making clay pots (Nepal Kumal women organization, 2003). Thus, this study was mainly conducted to identify status of Kumal Women in Kumal community of Gorkha district. 9 1.2 Statement of the Problem It is known to all that the domestic work load of rural house wife is higher than that of their counterpart. She has to work easily all the household unpaid work. In the other words, they are working nearly, 15-16 hours a day, which mainly includes fetching water, collecting fuel wood, cleaning the house, preparing food besides doing farm work (UNICEF,1996). Virtually, in every aspect of life, Women are generally subordinate to men. For this a rapid progress in building the Women‟s capabilities and in closing the gender gaps in those capabilities is necessary. But no society still today do women enjoy the same opportunities as men. There are general patterns of inequality in man and Women Persist-in their education, health, nutrition and even more in their participation in economic, decision making and political sphere (Rajbaidya, 2004). Women‟s relative status varies from one ethnic group to another. Generally, the status of Women in Tibito- Nepalese communities is relatively better than that of pahari or Newari Women. Women from low caste group also enjoy relatively more autonomy and freedom than that of pahari and Newari Women (Acharya, Beentt 1995). Generally, Kumal societies are backward as compared to other community/society of Gorkha District. They have low status and weak performance in role and position as compared to male counterparts.