Work Status of female migrants/infiltrators from Bangladesh in West Bengal and Orissa

The Partition of India in 1947 saw an onslaught of refugees from Pakistan (from eastern and western parts) into India. Displaced migrants started pouring into India in the wake of communal disturbances preceding and following Independence (Dey and Chakraborty1994).This has continued unchecked especially in the Eastern part of the Country,even after East Pakistan became an independent country,namely,Bangladesh in  1971. Though migrants from Bangladesh to India were primarily Hindus, Muslims also formed a part of the flow, mainly for economic reasons.

The migrants from Bangladesh are primarily settled in West Bengal and neighbouring states, one of which is Orissa. A study was conducted among 400 women in Nadia and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal, and Kendrapara of Orissa, where there are large settlements of migrants from Bangladesh. The study tried to take a look at the work status of the female migrants. The study focussed on females especially, because over the years, the percentage of females among the migrants from Bangladesh to India has been on the rise (from 46.21% in 1971 to 52.79%   in 2001 in accordance with Census of India 1971-2001).

Participation in economic activity of the female migrants in the survey areas has been examined and reasons behind different levels of participation have been analysed.

In the study areas of West Bengal and Orissa, four blocks were chosen from the two district of West Bengal (Murshidabad and Nadia) in consultation with local people, officials and Panchayat members. In Murshidabad, the four blocks selected were Murshidabad –Jiaganj of Lalbagh subdivision, Raninagar II, Jalangi and Domkal blocks from Domkal subdivision .In Nadia, Chakdaha block from Kalyani subdivision and three blocks namely Karimpur-1, Karimpur-2 and Tehatta-1 from Tehatta subdivision were chosen.

In Orissa’s Kendrapara district where the study was concentrated, one block, namely Mahakalapada block was chosen after consultation with the local people, officials and the Panchayat members regarding area-wise concentration of migrants.

The women in the survey areas have been divided into groups of five year

period. The age distribution is seen to vary amongst the different survey areas (Table 1).

Table 1: Age distribution of the female migrants (Percentage)

Source: Survey data

The main concentration is in Lalbagh (30-54 years), but there is a substantial percentage (38.75%) in the 60 years plus age group. In Domkal and Kalyani   the women under the survey belong to the   25-54 years age category mainly, though in Tehatta, the women were from a lower age cluster (20-49 years). In Kendrapara, the respondents primarily belonged to 25-49 years.

Quite a few women in Lalbagh belong to the 60 years and above   category, but this is for Lalbagh only. In the other areas, very low percentages of the women migrants belong to this age category. Also, in Lalbagh, Domkal, Kalyani, Tehatta and Kendrapara, none of the   women migrants   were from the 0-14 year’s age group. The average age of the women varies from 35 years in Tehatta,  37 years in Kendrapara, 39 years in Kalyani, 40 years in Domkal to 49 years in Lalbagh

All the females chosen for the study in Lalbagh and Kalyani in West Bengal and Kendrapara, Orissa were Hindus, the areas being predominantly Hindu, but in Domkal and Tehatta of West Bengal the females were broadly divided between Hindus and Muslims.

Table 2: Religious composition of the female migrants (Percentage)

Source: Survey Data

57.89% of the females were Hindus in Domkal, and 54.16% in Tehatta.

Work Status

An examination of the data on work participation of the women reveals a huge disparity among the female migrants in the survey areas of West Bengal and Orissa.Almost all of them are engaged in economic activities in Orissa, but in the study areas of West Bengal, only 25% in Lalbagh, 15.78% in Domkal, 7.14% in Kalyani and 12.50% in Tehatta are engaged in economic activity.

Amongst the women workers in Lalbagh, 5.26% work as agricultural labourers. But the women are mainly engaged in the biri making (52.63%) and 42.10% work as maids or cooks in other households

Table 3: Sector wise distribution of the working women migrants (Percentage)

 Source: Survey data                       

(N.B: Women engaged in biri making have been shown under ‘household industries’ and those working as maids have been classified under ‘others’.

N.B.2: In Kendrapara, the total is not 100% because some women are engaged in more than one occupation)

The paltry 15.78% women, who are engaged in regular employment work in Domkal, also work in the biri industry or as maids (Table 3).  This is again observed in the case of Kalyani where the very low percentage who are engaged regular employment, work in either the biri industry or as domestics in other households.In Tehatta, only 12.5% are employed, primarily in livestock tending.

So overall in the survey areas of West Bengal, where work participation rate is low, the women are mostly working as biri maker, as domestics or as livestock tenders.

However, in Orissa, the distribution picture of the women migrants engaged in various sectors is very different compared to that of West Bengal. 99% of the women in Kendrapara work   outside, mainly as agricultural labourers (96.96%) and a few are engaged in livestock tending and construction-there are overlappings, as the women are engaged in more than one occupation.

The migrant women, mainly Hindus primarily fled from Bangladesh due to a wide range of socio-political and religious factors that made it difficult for them to live in their motherland. Muslims also came into India for different reasons and purposes, but mainly due to economic reasons. In Domkal (Murshidabad) and Tehatta (Nadia) of the study areas of West Bengal, Muslims form a substantial portion of the migrant population. A very low percentage of females in these two areas however, are engaged in economic activity. Among the low percentage of women migrants who are engaged in outside work in these areas, 56% in Domkal and 57.14% in Tehatta belong to Muslim families. Thus in the study areas of West Bengal, Hindu or Muslim, a very low percentage of the women migrants are engaged in economic activity. Why is this so?

Generally the economic condition of a family regardless of its religious followings is a strong determinant of employment of its women folk. A look at the economic situation of the migrant families, for both working females and non working, reveals a mostly modest economic situation of both the groups.  Yet a very low percentage of the women in the survey areas of West Bengal are gainfully employed.Table 4 presents a picture of the economic situation of the families’ of the employed female migrants.

Table 4:  Economic background of the employed female migrants (Percentage)

Source: Survey Data

In Lalbagh the women belong mainly to low income families of monthly earnings less than Rs 3000. In Domkal  also ,the  women come  primarily from low  income families,with  only  20% belonging to the second income bracket of Rs 3000-6000 .

In Kalyani(where only 7.4%  of the migrant  females who work outside), all  are from low income families .Only Tehatta  displays a better income distribution picture  with the main concentration  in the Rs 3000-6000 category  and 15% belonging to the highest income bracket of Rs 15000 plus .

Table 5: Economic background of non working females in the survey areas of West Bengal (Percentage)

Source: Survey data

Table 5 shows that the economic scenario of housewives in Lalbagh is not much different from those of the women who work for cash.In Lalbagh, in both the cases, the women belong mainly to the lowest income group.In Domkal, the non workers are spread out over all the income groups, though highest concentration is in the first group.

It was observed for Kalyani that  all the working women are from the first income group and for non working females also, maximum concentration is in this category ,with smatterings in the other  groups.For the migrant women in Tehatta the pictures for non workers and those in regular employment are almost mirror images of each other.

Economic situation of the migrant families in general is thus are observed to be largely modest. In it universally acknowledged that poverty is generally the main reason why women leave the confines of their homes, to seek work. Chaudhury (1978) and Hossain(1998) writing on working married women in Bangladesh observe that poverty is the main reason behind women going out to work,which overrides the strong patriarchal traditions to confine women at home .But in the survey areas of West Bengal economic factors are not propting the women in the survey areas to go out for work in large numbers.

In a country like India, the conservative societal mindset in several parts of the country regarding the role of women in the world of work, tries to protect women in the private confines of home (Jejeebhoy 2000) and even in dire need, women are often not allowed to work beyond the family farm or business.

 Krishnaji (1995) argues that, female work participation is determined by economic status of the family, often overriding patriarchal tradition of keeping girls at home.In poor families women very often, enter the job market at a very tender age-there being more often than not, siblings or children to feed. Seeing the economic plight of the family, girls often seek employment to supplement the family’s income. But since the women in the survey areas of West Bengal are not going out to work in droves one is led to wonder whether the conservative societal mindset is playing a dominant role among the migrants settled in West Bengal.

Basu and Basu (1991) explain that this is however nothing surprising.Literature on women’s employment is replete with such contradictory conclusions-unacceptably low levels of labour force participation among poor women, co-existing parallely with   female employment primarily driven by poverty. Apprehensions regarding security, and conservative attitudes regarding fear of their harassment, violence and rape (also noted by the World Bank Development Report 2012), appear to be some of the over riding factors preventing females from seeking outside work irrespective of theie families’ economic situation(Hamid 2011).

On the other hand in the survey area of Orissa (Table 3), with a 100% Hindu migrant population, 99% of the females are engaged in outside labour. They come from mainly low economic backgrounds, with families earning mainly below Rs 6000 a month.

What is helping so many females from modest economic backgrounds in Orissa to work outside overcoming traditional conservative mindset of confining women at home?

Many of the women among the migrant population in Orissa felt this was largely due to education and other migration induced factors that brought about a change in their beliefs and attitudes to life.

If we are to look at education first, Table 6 on the literacy levels of the female migrants reveals disparities in the literacy rates among the women in the survey areas of West Bengal and Orissa. Only 32.5% women in   Lalbagh, Murshidabad are literate. Literacy rate is marginally higher at 42.10% in Domkal. In Tehatta in Nadia, a close 41.66% are literate. But in Kalyani, Nadia however, an impressive 61.42% women are literate, which is way above the other three survey areas of West Bengal.

Table 6 : Literacy rates  of the female migrants from Bangladesh

Source:Survey Data

Looking at Kendrapara,Orissa however, it  may be noted  that literacy rate is relatively high at 66.0% ,which is at a comparable rate with  Kalyani in West Bengal .

Authors like Kishor and Gupta(2004) however feel that the benefits of education at the  household and societal levels are likely to begin accruing with literacy, as it  is one of  the fundamental source  of status,but the benefits are  fully realised only with increasing educational attainment(Kishor and Gupta 2004) . Jeffery and Basu (1996) and Kishor and Gupta (2004)  share  the opinion that a minimum threshold level of 5-6 years of education is necessary for  attainment of significant improvement in female status in a highly gender stratified country like India.

In order to examine the education levels of the literate women in the survey areas, the women  have been  divided  according  to education  levels, namely,  primary, secondary, higher secondary, graduate ,post graduate and Madrassah educated (Table 7).None of the surveyed women have proceeded however beyond higher secondary level            Table 7: Level of education of literate female migrants in the survey areas (Percentage)

Source: Survey Data

The percentage of literate women, holding primary education is highest in Lalbagh. Literate women with primary (50%) and secondary education (41.66%) are comparable, but a very low percentage of women hold a higher secondary degree. In Domkal on the other hand, percentage of women who has completed secondary level is as high as 70%.Secondary education level is high in Kalyani also (72.34%), which is also the highest amongst the survey areas.

 Women with secondary education level are high in percentage in Tehatta, Nadia (64.28%) and the figures for primary level though nearly half its size, is the second highest among all the study areas in West Bengal.

It is interesting to observe that in Kendrapara, Orissa  all the three education levels are  well represented ,with 40% of the literate women migrants having  primary education,27.69% secondary and nearly 33% higher secondary level of education .The percentage of women with higher secondary education  in Kendrapara, Orissa ,is the highest among all the survey  areas, and much higher  in comparison to those  of  West Bengal. Quite a few women migrants in West Bengal have completed their education up to secondary level, but did not proceed beyond that.

The essential difference between the survey areas of West Bengal and Orissa lies in the literacy and education levels of the female migrants.Literacy level among those in the survey area of Orissa is far higher than the areas of West Bengal, barring Kalyani.However when we look at education levels, a substantial percentage of women in Orissa’s study area have completed higher secondary level of education, while none in West Bengal proceeded to that level. For women migrants settled in West Bengal, supply factors deterring further education (distance, lack of infrastructure for girls in school, clothes, books, equipment,  dearth of trained teachers  and poor teaching etc) did to some extent act as a brake, but demand factors like parental disinterest and also discouragement at home exerted  a pressure that was far more powerful compared to the supply related factors. The ambivalence regarding the relative unimportance of women’s education   and the age old traditional view about the futility of female education  is very much evident in the lives of the women migrants. The findings reiterate the observations of Rana et al.’s (2003), Bagchi and Guha (2005),Dasgupta and Bandopadhyay (2005)and Levine (2006) regarding family  reluctance as a strong inhibitory factor for discontinuity of education in West Bengal. The report of  The National Development Council Committee on Literacy in India (1992-93) also identifies  conservatism of tradition bound families and  looking upon girls as economic burden ,and the overall low status of women as  parts of the reasons for the  educational deprivation of girls in India.

On the other hand in Orissa, migration, with its upheaval, was a major discouraging factor after secondary level for 87.50% of the women in Kendrapara, Orissa. Despite this however, 32.30% of the literate women in Kendrapara are higher secondary educated. After completing class 12, they did not study further, but neither did they get sucked into a never ending cycle of housework and drudgery at home. Almost all of them, along with those with primary/secondary level of education, started working.

This is where female migrants in West Bengal, and those in  Kendrapara, Orissa differ. In both the States, migration stopped education of many, but in Kendrapara, it brought about a transformation in the lives of the women. Aided by education they managed to carve out a different life for themselves compared to those in West Bengal.The lives of these women in Kendrapara appear to be much in tune with the observations of Buijs and Zentgraf on international women migrants.

Buijs (1993) and Zentgraf ( 2002) comment on the metamorphosis of migrant or refugee women ,who do not always act as is expected of them.  These women  may   try  to retain their original lifestyle  and culture at least to some  extent , but  very often, find exigencies  of  being migrants and refugees  forcing  them to  examine the preconceptions, and adopt roles both social and economic, which they would have rejected at home. Acting very differently, from what is expected of them. This is what happened to these migrant women in Orissa. They did not go along the beaten path that primarily expects them to stay at home. On the other hand, the process of migration changed their thoughts, beliefs and outlooks, and they decided to start working once their education became discontinued.

In this context, Zentgraf (2002) challenges a unilinear, integrationist view that sees immigrant women’s status and roles as changing along a traditional-modern continuum. Immigrant women’s experiences and their perceptions of their experiences, are quite diverse and complex, and very often   women  report a sense of empowerment, new found freedom, and self confidence as they negotiate traditional gender roles in a new social and cultural context, very often acting  very much unlike what would be expected of them.

When the women in Kendrapara wanted to work and be financially independent, it had less to do with their families’economic situation and more due to their education and /or change in perception.  

Thus overall, the economic situation of the family appears to be relatively less important in a woman’s decision to work.Despite adverse economic conditions she may continue to be at home as we observe for those settled in the survey areas of West Bengal or she may choose to work, but largely governed by non economic factors like education or changed perception and belief.

Education is the key of keys to women’s  status  in developed and developing  countries( Ramalingaswami et al.1997). Education has the potential of empowering women in several different ways. It enhances every aspect of a woman’s autonomy. It increases women’s economic independence  by equipping them with skills necessary to avail of  paid income employment opportunities, and thereby make their economic contribution   more visible.  It equips them with awareness and knowledge   to make life’s choices by increasing ability to access resources and services, enabling them to become informed consumers and citizens and   challenge and make accountable  those who hold positions of  power and authority. Education inculcates  a sense of self worth ,  commands greater  family  respect for opinion  for women and more decision making  power( Kishor and Gupta 2004).

The   empowering role of women’s education is multi-pronged, affecting not only every aspect of women’s  lives but also the lives of their children and other dependents. Mother’s  education is a significant variable affecting children’s education attainment and opportunities (Feinstein and Sabates 2006, Jerrim and Micklewright 2009). A mother with a few years of formal education is considerably more likely to send her children to school. Eduction of women thus has an intergenerational cascading effect, with far reaching consequences on a society’s development and progress. 

*Director, Centre for research in Indo-Bangladesh Relations, Kolkata.

This paper is based on the Ph. D thesis ‘Status of women migrants from Bangladesh to West Bengal and Orissa during 1971-2001’,Jadavpur University,Kolkata,2013 by Kasturi Bhadra Ray.

Published in  Artha Beekshan, Vol,.27, No.2, September 2018, pp.65-77, (Journal of Bengal Economic Association).