Socio-Economic Status of Women in Rural Udaipur, India
Seema Dangi
All India Coordinated Research Project- Women in Agriculture, College of Community and Applied Sciences, MPUAT, Udaipur, India.
Vishakha Bansal
All India Coordinated Research Project- Women in Agriculture, College of Community and Applied Sciences, MPUAT, Udaipur, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In our country, rural women – the wives of farming family heads – account for almost 80% of the overall female population. They constitute about half of the total rural population and, as such, are quantitatively capable of playing a significant role in the rural economy. The demographic profile of women in general, and rural women in particular, paints a depressing image of educational backwardness, poverty, deprivation, bad health, and a lack of possibilities for economic, political, and social development. Rural women have a variety of roles that need more time and effort. The present study makes an attempt to analyze the demographic factors of rural women. The total sample of the study comprised of 180 farm women drawn by random sampling method from six villages of Mavli and Vallabhnagar Block. The demographic variables viz., age, education, caste, family type, family size, land holding, housing pattern, occupation, income and material possession were studied through a general information schedule. The profile analysis of rural women with respect to the demographic characteristics revealed that majority of the respondents (83.34%) had medium socio-economic status while 16.67 per cent respondents belonged to low socio-economic status. None of the respondent fall in the high socio-economic category.
Keywords: Socio-economic, female labour, rural women, rural development