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It has been witnessed a number of times that even a financially independent woman is less empowered in terms of decision-making power she enjoys at homes. Therefore, the paper assesses the status of the decision-making power enjoyed by them and the target group is the Scheduled tribes from Union Territory Ladakh. Accordingly, there are three main objectives, firstly to examine the socio-economic background of them, secondly, to assess the situation at financial and non-financial and finally, to recommend policy. The paper used primary data being collected from 131 ST working women, it uses statistical tools like percentage and frequency. The paper witnessed that tribal working women are less empowered in terms of decision-making perspective whether its financial or non-financial. The paper has made some policy suggestions.

1. To identify the socio-economic background of Tribal working women 2. To assess the level of participation of these working women in financial and non-financial decision-making processes at households. 3. To suggest policy recommendations

The existing literatures on the topic do confirm that there is wide gender disparity in the decision especially related to finances at household level and some of these studies are Pahl, Riley and Chow, Mukhtar, et al, Bernasek and Bejtelsmit, Acharya, et al and Yogendrarajah. The women always tend to involve themselves lesser in these decisions at home and most of the time, they have not been given their due power to take decisions. In other words, the men at home deliberately do not consider their wives or mothers, in the decision. However, the involvement from women does improve with the level of education and income. Therefore, there has been a gap as there is a dirt of studies on the particular problem in the UT Ladakh. Therefore, the paper will try to explore the problem and that too among the working women of Ladakh.

The paper is primary data-based study and it has collected the primary data from 131 tribal working women. The questionnaires being sent to these respondents through google form in the month of December2021-January 2022. The questionnaire consisted a set of questions encompassing the individual socio-economic backgrounds to their involvement in financial as well as non-financial decisions at household level. The data has been processed in the SPSS software and accordingly it has been analyzed by using the tools like mean, percentage, graphs, etc.

These working women have been asked a series of questions pertaining to their involvement at decision-making processes at home and accordingly their responses have been aggregated and presented in the tables below. Apart from this, their socio-economic background has been also checked and the results are presented in the table 1. The table shows that the 63.4 percent of the tribal working women belongs to the age category of 30-49 years and corresponding frequency is 83 women. As far as the education qualification is concerned, the 28.2 percent of them are Post graduates and 25.2 percent under graduates. These two account for more than 50 percent of the total respondents. Then, the rest have lower education qualification except for the 7.6 percent (with Professional Degrees) and 8.4 percent (with Mphil/Ph.D). in terms of marital status, the majority i.e., 71.0 percent are married and 28.2 percent single, and 0.8 percent divorcee. The area to which these women belong, the majority of them that is 67.9 percent are from rural areas. In other words, they are living in villages. Only 32.1 percent of them are living in towns. The 61.1 of them live in a nuclear family and the rest in a joint family. In terms of their working place is concerned, the majority has a job in the public sector that is 67.2 percent and 32.8 percent of them are associated with private sector. The account other than saving account, the 65.6 percent said Yes and the rest has said No.  As far as the ownership of the property is concerned, only 4.6 percent of them won the property.

The table 2 reveals the summary of the responses given by these women and these responses are finances related decisions. The estimates are telling the percentage share of each answer category under the question on the decisions related to finances. There are two questions and

Table 1: Socio-Economic Background of the Tribal Working Women Respondents

Characteristics	Categories	Frequency	Percentage
Age	15-29 Years	41	31.3
	30-49 Years	83	63.4
	50-60 Years	7	5.3
		131	100
Education Qualification	Under Matriculation	4	3.1
	12th Passed	23	17.6
	Under Graduate	33	25.2
	Post Graduate	50	28.2
	Professional Course	10	7.6
	MPhil/PhD	11	8.4
		131	100
Marital Status	Single	37	28.2
	Married	93	71.0
	Divorced	1	.8
		131	100
Area	Urban	42	32.1
	Rural	89	67.9
		131	100
Family	Nuclear	80	61.1
	Joint	51	38.9
		131	100
Types (Occupation)	Public Sector	88	67.2
	Private Sector	43	32.8
		131	100
Account other than Saving A/c	Yes	45	34.4
	No	86	65.6
		131	100
Owner Property	Myself	6	4.6
	My spouse	34	26.0
	My Parents	83	63.4
	In-Laws	3	2.3
	Jointly	5	3.8
		131	100.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2:Percentage Share of the Responses in the Decisions related to Finances

Questions	Answers	Frequency	Percentage
Who decides monthly grocery list?	Myself	40	30.5
	Husband	65	49.6
	Jointly	26	19.8
	Total	131	100.0
Who decides daily miscellaneous purchases?	Myself	19	14.5
	Husband	77	58.8
	Jointly	35	26.7
	Total	131	100.0

Source: Author’s Calculations

these are financial related questions. decisions related to finances like monthly grocery list and daily miscellaneous purchases tell that, there is a low involvement from women in such purchases. There percentage is as low as 30.5 percent and 14.5 percent in grocery list and daily miscellaneous purchases respectively. While looking at the involvement of their spouse or parents, the share is as high as 49.6 and 58.8 in terms of former and latter respectively. Even, a significant share of them takes the decision jointly.

Table 3 reveals the situation of these working women from non-financial related decisions perspective and their performance is little bit better than in financial decisions. They have been asked four questions in this regard and the responses are almost the same. The overview of the situation is that unlike financial decisions case, here there is a relatively low involvement from their husbands and at the same time a relatively much higher involvement from these women but not independently rather jointly.

Table 3:Percentage Share of the Responses in the Decisions related to non-Finances

Questions	Answers	Frequency	Percentage
Who takes the decisions on the taking care of kids?	Myself	30	22.9
	Husband	3	2.3
	Jointly	53	40.5
	No Kids	45	34.4
	Total	131	100.0
Who takes the decisions on the taking care of elderly?	Myself	24	18.3
	Husband	8	6.1
	Jointly	99	75.6
	Total	131	100.0
Who takes the decisions on the rearing of cattle?	Myself	12	9.2
	Husband	43	32.8
	Jointly	63	48.1
	No Cattle	13	9.9
	Total	131	100.0
Who decides the clothes to be worn by kids and yourself?	Myself	75	57.3
	Husband	5	3.8
	Jointly	19	14.5
	Not Married	32	24.4
	Total	131	100.0

 Source: Author’s Calculations

Therefore, it has been concluded that the involvement of these tribal working women at household decision- making processes is lower in financial matters than non-financial matters. While comparing their level of involvement with their husbands/ parents’, it has been argued that the latter involvement is always higher than the former’s. The other important feature of these women is that they somehow involve in the decisions but most of them take the decision jointly rather than independently.

In order to know these tribal working women their perception on themselves that how are they consider themselves as efficient enough to take decisions in general and financial and non-financial decision in particular. They have been asked three questions and the responses are categorized in to three, namely Yes, No and Maybe. The results are presented in the table 4 and these results tell that 68.7 percent of them consider themselves as efficient enough to take

Table 4:Working Women’s Perception on the Efficiency at Decision-Making Processes

Questions	Answers	Frequency	Percentage
Do you consider yourself efficient enough to take any decision?	Yes	90	68.7
	No	16	12.2
	Maybe	25	19.1
	Total	131	100.0
Do you consider yourself efficient enough to take any financial decision?	Yes	55.7	19.9
	No	19.8	22.9
	Maybe	22.9	98.5
	Total	131	100.0
Do you consider yourself efficient enough to take any non-financial decision?	Yes	84	64.1
	No	25	19.1
	Maybe	22	16.8
	Total	131	100.0

Source: Author’s Calculations

Any decision and responded Yes and only 19.1 percent said Maybe. But surprisingly, when the second question being asked on financial decisions, immediately, the percentage falls to 19.9 percent. On the other hand, 98.5 percent of them are doubtful in financial decisions. Whereas, the third question pertains to non-financial decision, the 64.1 percent of them considered them as efficient in taking the non-financial decision and responded Yes. But, only 16.8 of them are doubtful about themselves.

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