Impact of Ho Women on Tribal Economy and Society A Historical Study

The presented article is a critical study of the transformative role in the economic and social life of Ho tribal women of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. This article is divided into three parts. The first part is a study of the economic activities of Ho women in the Ho society during the pre British period. Initially the economy of Ho society was based mainly on the products of wild collection and rudimentary farming. In both these economic activities, tribal women appear to be more active than men. In agriculture, men did plowing and weeding while women did the work of weeding, planting, harvesting and threshing. When there was no work in the fields, women used to make household useful items like Bachhom Bayar, mats, brooms, making leaf plates, extracting oil etc. and went to the markets to sell these items. The second part begins with the establishment of the British Raj in 1837 AD over the present day West Singhbhum region as the Kolhan Government Estate. During this period, changes in the economy and livelihood of women as a result of Forest Act and land settlement have been observed. Now women are seen working under forest contractors, in mines, brick kilns, road and railway construction etc., which strengthens their economic condition. In the third part, in the latter half of the 19th century, education arrived and spread in Kolhan and from 1871 72 AD, education started being given to women in the Kolhan region. Later, after getting education, women started adopting various new professions. In order to observe the changing livelihoods of educated Ho women in the post independence period, changes in livelihoods and socio economic changes have been reviewed on the basis of questionnaires received from Ho families. Rinu Kumari "Impact of Ho Women on Tribal Economy and Society: A Historical Study" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-8 | Issue-2 , April 2024, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd64538.pdf Paper Url: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/history/64538/impact-of-ho-women-on-tribal-economy-and-society-a-historical-study/rinu-kumari