Mother's work profile in tribal communities and its effect on child feeding

Background: Female labour participation is considered strong indicator of the growth of a country. Women in the rural set up constitute 26.7% of the workforce in 2015 '“ 2016 (ILO, 2016). This study was taken up to understand the multiple roles and responsibilities taken up by the women from these tribal areas - starting with household to economic and child care responsibilities. The objectives of this paper is to explore the multiple work roles performed by tribal mothers of young children between (9-24 months) and the mother's combining work roles with child feeding. Methods: It was a descriptive, cross-sectional study with data collection done at a single point of time. Study area comprised of 16 tribal villages in the Koraput district, Odisha. 200 households with children in the age group (9 '“ 24 months) were selected by purposive sampling technique. Socio demographic details were collected. A time use study was employed to understand the caregiver's time allocation for different types of works at different times of the day.. Results: In the present setting, the women perform multifarious responsibilities both indoors and outdoors. The demand for women's time on household work, child care responsibilities and economic work is very high. Irrespective of the employment status of the mothers, child minding and care are entrusted to a caregiver, within or outside the family setting. The effect of the family type and caregivers involved in child care in the mother's absence are studied. Conclusions: The hectic work profile of the mothers owing to the nature of the intensive nature of their work leaves them with limited time for child care responsibilities. However, the study reveals that the time spent by employed and unemployed mothers does not show much variation. Various strategies like carrying the child to the work site, engaging older siblings in child minding and feeding are used in the mother's absence. Subhangi Sahoo"Mother's work profile in tribal communities and its effect on child feeding" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-2 , February 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd9598.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/home-science/child-care-and-development/9598/mother's-work-profile-in-tribal-communities-and-its-effect-on-child-feeding/subhangi-sahoo