Auditing Gender Equality Among Santhals
Sudipta Ghosh* and S.L. Malik*
Abstract
There is a slim line of demarcation between ‘being different’ and ‘being unequal’. The latter one is a hierarchical model, often associated with the concept of superiority / inferiority and is thus socially value loaded. In order to investigate gender differences in activity patterns, health and nutritional status of Santhals, a cross-sectional sample of 400 households of Santhal from 18 villages of Bankura district, West Bengal was collected. Santhals of this area belong to low socio-economic class. In terms of nutritional intake, no gender differentials are evident. Both men and women take their meals together at least twice a day, sharing every preparation equally. Analysis of BMI suggests that Santhals are either ‘Underweight’ or ‘Normal weight’, but are rarely ‘Overweight’ and almost never ‘Obese’. Such a distribution of BMI might be due to their low socio-economic conditions. Both men and women do most of the agricultural work together, except ploughing, which is tabooed for women. Generally, women do relatively higher level of physical and muscular activity, which is evident in their greater Mesomorphic component than men in body physique.
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* Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India
Introduction
In any human society, at the very least, there are some differences between the role of men and women. This stems from the fact that women give birth but men do not, and that there are obvious differences between male and female anatomy. However, every culture gives a meaning to these differences in its own way by explaining how this two kinds of people resulting from the differences should relate to one another and to the world at large, causing tremendous variations from one society to another. Anthropologists use the term gender to refer to the cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes.
Gender differences are as old as human culture and arose from the biological differences between early human males and females. Back then, males were about twice the size of females, as they are today among certain species like gorillas, orangutans and baboons. With human evolution, however, the biological differences between the two sexes were radically reduced. Thus, whatever biological basis was there for the gender role difference largely disappeared. But, cultures have maintained some differentiation of gender roles ever since. These differences are far greater in some societies than in others. Paradoxically, gender differences are more extreme in our mainstream or so called civilized societies than they are among food-foraging peoples whose way of life are more like those of our late Stone Age ancestors. In some societies, men and women may be regarded as unequal, with the former outranking the latter. Gender inequality may sometimes be seen in societies that are not otherwise stratified; in such instances men and women are always physically as well as conceptually separated from one another. This is known as gender stratification.
Some division of labor by sex is characteristic of all human societies. However, the sexual division of labor cannot be explained simply as a consequence of male strength, male expendability, or female reproductive biology. Instead of looking for biological imperatives to explain the sexual division of labor, a more productive strategy is to examine the kinds of work done by men and women in the context of specific societies. In this context, William A. Haviland (1990) has identified two different configurations, one featuring flexibility and sexual integration, another featuring rigid segregation by sex. The flexible / integrated pattern is seen most often among food foragers and subsistence farmers. In such societies, up to 35 percent of activities are performed by both sexes with approximately equal participation. In addition, those tasks considered appropriate for one sex sometimes performed by the other, without loss of face, as the situation warrants. On the other hand, sexually segregated societies are those in which almost all work is rigidly defined as either masculine or feminine, so that men and women rarely engage in joint efforts of any kind. This pattern is frequently seen in pastoral nomadic, intensive agricultural and industrial societies, in which men’s work keeps them outside the home for much of the time.
Gender differences in health and nutrition could be due to biological differences, but also to differences in nutritional requirements as a result of different physical activities. In addition, these differences can be the result of intrahousehold resource allocation processes (Bolin et al 2001). Amartya Sen opined that there are systematic disparities in the freedom that men and women enjoy in different societies and these disparities are often not reducible to differences in income or resources. While different wages or payment rates constitute an important part of gender inequality in most societies, there are many other spheres of differential benefits, e.g. in the division of labor within the household, in the extent of care or education received, in liberties that different members are permitted to enjoy (Sen 2005). Studies on gender inequality among indigenous populations of India suggest different perspectives in this context from what we had found in earlier researches. For example, some tribal societies of West Bengal show a declining trend in male-female ratio in line with other schedule castes or general castes (Tisdell 2002). In addition, it is observed by scholars that in the post-Independence era tribal society has been witness to unprecedented change, where women do not enjoy any better social status anymore than their counterparts in the larger Indian society (Xaxa 2004). Further, it is suggested by previous investigators that this increasing tendency towards growing inequality in gender relations among Indigenous societies of India, are more pronounced in societies that have integrated with mainstream Indian society (Basu Mullick 2000).
The present paper aims to investigate gender differences in activity patterns, health and nutritional status of Santhals focusing on whether differences between men and women in these aspects lead to gender inequality.
Materials and Methods
A household survey of 400 households was conducted on Santhals of Bankura district of West Bengal. In order to study gender differences, data were collected from 400 men and 400 women from these households. Men ranged in age from 40 years to 87 years with a mean age of 57.5 years, whereas women ranged in age from 35 years to 83 years with a mean age of 48.6 years. Data were collected from several villages of Ranibandh block of Bankura district, West Bengal, using multistage random cluster sampling method. Date of birth of subjects was recorded by asking them. Decimal age of each subject was calculated by subtracting the date of birth of the subject from the date of data collection, using Decimal Age Calendar (Tanner et al. 1969).
Ranibandh block is one of the 22 Community Development Blocks of the district Bankura. The total land area of the block is 428 km2 with a population density (244 per km2), the lowest as compared to the other blocks. The total population of the block is 1, 08,591. The sex ratio of Ranibandh of 964 is the highest as compared to the other blocks and is also higher than that of the district, as well as the state average. The total number of tribal population of this block is 49,321 out of these 24,912 are males and 24,409 are females.
Information gathered on marriage / mating pattern suggested that Santhals of Ranibandh strictly follow the rule of tribal endogamy and clan exogamy. As a consequence, not a single intra clan marriage was found in this population. Moreover, they have the preference of bringing their brides from the same village or from the neighboring villages with a marital distance not more than 15 km. Hence, on the basis of nature of mating pattern, this tribe could be considered as a Mendelian population.
According to Guha’s racial classification (Guha 1944), the Santhals belonged to the Proto-Australoid, which he considered to have arrived in India soon after the Negritos. Currently, they are the largest tribe to retain an aboriginal language, known as Santali, belonging to Austro-Asiatic, sub-family of the Austric family. This language is closely related to Mundari as well as Ho, Korku, Savara and Gadaba languages spoken by smaller tribes (Culshaw 1949).
The Santhals have been living in southern and western part of the West Bengal for at least five hundred years. It was found that some of the Santhal villages in Bankura district are over three hundred years old. They live in tropical environment, which is humid and hot. Their habitational places are generally covered with forest and hills that are intercepted by streams and springs. In some parts, there are ranges of low hills, while in others, the conical shaped hills rise abruptly from the undulating plains. Most part of the countryside is covered with the Sal forest that contributes to the well being of the dwellers. The area in the plain is characterized with the lateritic reddish soil having scanty water supply.
The primary occupation of the Santhals is agriculture, though food gathering and hunting are their important subsidiary occupations. Familiarity with animal husbandry contributes marginally to their livelihood. Santhals are expert hunters who hunt a variety of games that are available in the surrounding forests. They fish in river, ponds and other water- logged areas with the help of nets, traps, bow and arrows. They also do fishing with the help of poisonous plants. Monogamous marriage system is the most prevalent one among Santhals, though polygynous marriage system is also found in some cases. There are seven accepted forms of marriages or Bapla namely, Kring Bahu Bapla, Ghardi Jawae Bapla, Itut Bapla, Sanga Bapla, Kiring Jawae Bapla, Tunki Dipil Bapla and Nirbolok Bapla. The Santhals are divided into 12 exogamous totemic clans, locally known as Paris. These are: 1) Hansda, 2) Marndi, 3) Soren, 4) Hembrom, 5) Tudu, 6) Kisku, 7) Murmu, 8) Baske, 9) Besra, 10) Pauria, 11) Chore and 12) Bedea. Pauria, Chore and Bedea clans are on the verge of extinction and not even a single member of these three clans was found during the present study.
Each subject was interviewed to obtain information regarding their education, activity patterns, morbidity pattern of last three years and dietary intake.
In addition, ten anthropometric measurements were taken on each subject, following standard methods (Martin and Saller 1957, Tanner et al. 1969). These measurements were: Body weight, Height vertex, Bicondylar humerus, Bicondylar femur, Mid upper arm circumference, Mid Calf circumference, Skinfold at triceps, Skinfold at subscapula, Skinfold at suprailliac and Skinfold at calf. Sum of skinfolds was calculated by using the four skinfolds mentioned above.
On the basis of the formula given by Martin and Saller (1957), Body mass index was calculated, which is the percentage ratio of the weight to height. Body mass index = [Weight (kg) / Height2 (cm)] ×100. Later, each subject was categorized by using the classification of National Institute of heart, lung and blood, US (www.americanheart.org, 2005): Underweight = <18.5; Normal weight = 18.5 – 24.9; Overweight = 25.0 ≥.
Anthropometric somatotyping was calculated and rated, using Heath and Carter’s method (Carter 1980, Heath and Carter 1967). Mean Sex Difference Index (MSDI) was calculated using the following formula, which is MSDI = M1 – M2 / (M1 + M2 / 2), Where, M1 is the variable mean of males and M2 is the variable mean of females.
In statistical analysis, Mean, Standard error and Coefficient of variations were estimated for somatotype components using computerized statistical software, SPSS and MS Excel. Chi-square and t- tests were calculated, using SPSS software, to examine the sex differences in Body mass index (BMI) and Somatotype components respectively.
Results and Discussion
In this section gender differences in certain socio-economic aspects and body physique among Santhals of Bankura would be discussed. Dietary habits of the Santhals are presented in Table 1. Their staple diet is rice and they don’t take any wheat-based preparations. Majority of them (80.6%) take meals thrice a day, whereas some of them (15.0%) take meals twice a day and only a few (3.8%) have meals four times a day. Pulse intake on regular basis is rare among the Santhals. Consumption of pulses is restricted mostly to three (31.1%) or two (33.0%) days a week, with a negligible percentage of them consuming it on daily basis (6.1%). Some of them (21.5%) even intake pulse only one day per week. One of the prime reasons behind the dearth of pulses in this population is that Santhals do not cultivate pulses; instead they purchase it in cash (not through barter system, which they do in case of green vegetables and rice) from market. As milk is scarce, consumption of milk is almost nil in this community. They usually neither consume milk nor they put it in tea and leave it for cows to feed their calves. Although they relish non-vegetarian food, they can ill afford to devour these on regular basis. Consequently, they consume fish or meat only once (70.1%) or twice (22.3%) a month. Very few of them can afford to consume non-vegetarian food thrice (4.5%) or four (3.1%) times a month. Therefore, their daily meals consists boil rice and green vegetables. They don’t purchase fruits from market but collect them from forest; so, the consumption of fruits depends on the season. From the glimpse of nutrition intake among Santhals it is apparent that in general they are nutritionally deprived and therefore malnourished. However, from the information based on intra-household allocation of food and nutrition, it is evident that Santhals do not discriminate between men and women on this ground and as a result no evidence of gender inequality is observed. All the household members take their meals together after distributing every preparation equally. Hence, this visible nutritional deprivation is due to their low socio-economic status and not because of any gender inequality at household level, as it is present in both men and women of this community.