• AJOY MURMU
• Dr. Gita Pyal

Women Tea Garden laborers play an important role in the Darjeeling community. Our society cannot be completed without their involvement and contribution towards our developing country. Therefore, it is essential to study the socio-economic status of this particular section. Most tea garden laborers are backward in all aspects of their life. The tea garden laborers have faced enormous problems and difficulties (poverty, homelessness, ness, and illiteracy) in their daily lives. The term ‘status’ is difficult to conceptualize and it is often elusive to the empirical grasp. Yet, the idea of status is essential to an understanding of a social system, which includes role, position, and stratification. “A ‘role’ is the expected behavior associated with a social position. It is not possible to list all the roles in a particular society because there are no clear principles for deciding, what a social position is. In so far as people are conscious of themselves and others occupying positions with generally known rights and duties, then their behavior cannot be understood without reference to their expectations about how others should behave towards them. “In order to analyze actual behavior, the concept of role is only a beginning which must be supplemented by a battery of related concepts which give it greater utility (Batton, 1989: 716).” “In defining status as “an effective claim to social esteem is terms of positive or negative privileges”. Weber (1978) emphasizes its relational base and the fact that a status claimant must have an audience from which to receive or to demand differential response. Gerth and Mills (1953)* emphasizes that a status situation is not fixed; it tends to be played out on the uncertain grounds of the claimant and the audience negotiation and promise. Status of Women The National Committee on the status of women maintains (ICSSR 1955: 3-4), “Status is realized through roles. This brings into focus the rights and opportunities provided to women by the state and socio-cultural institutions to perform these roles, which may not necessarily reinforce each other. Change processes are responsible for divergence, between the expected and the actual role behavior …. Status will have to relate to the living realities of the social and cultural context of the individual’s present situation.” Women are the backbone of a society. Yet, it is a well-known fact that they are faced with many problems. They are exploited, suppressed, and subjected to harsh restrictions, discriminatory rules, unreasonable customs, etc.”

Socio-Economic Status, Tea Garden, Women Labourers

"Women Socio-Economic Status of Tea Garden Labourers In Darjeeling District, West Bengal", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 6, page no.c762-c782, June-2024, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2406293.pdf

"Women Socio-Economic Status of Tea Garden Labourers In Darjeeling District, West Bengal", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 6, page no. ppc762-c782, June-2024, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2406293.pdf