Culture and the Fragmentation of Women’s Agency:Evidence from Tribal and Non-Tribal Communitiesin Tripura

Abstract

India’s tribes have stood out by virtue of according distinctly higher status and agency to women, manifested in greater
personal freedom, mobility, and lack of division of labor along gender lines. However, several scholars have pointed out an ongoing
process of socio-cultural adaptation among tribes. A specific dimension of these changes has been the adoption of cultural practices
of the dominant non-tribal Hindu community, described by what has been called ‘Sanskritization’/‘Hinduisation’ of tribes in
literature. This has arguably caused diminution of women’s agency in both the productive and reproductive domains. In this context,
drawing on a sample of women from tribal (Reang) and non-tribal(Bengali-speaking) communities inhabiting Tripura, this paper
attempts to answer two questions (a) If and to what extent is sociocultural assimilation a reality among the studied tribe? (b) How
strongly does sociocultural group belongingness, in fact, impact women’s decision-making autonomy in the productive and
reproductive spheres? In the absence of longitudinal data, the answer to the aforesaid questions has been sought through comparative
study of the Reangs and Bengalis. Results from bivariate and multivariate analyses reveal clear signs of cultural assimilation among
Reangs. Culture as embodied in group belongingness, has a significant role in shaping women’s agency in both the productive and
reproductive dimensions While Reang women have more agency vis-à-vis their nontribal counterparts in the nonreproductive sphere,
the same cannot be said for reproductive agency. One of the interesting findings of the paper is the dissociation between the
reproductive and non-reproductive agency dimensions, which inter alia calls into question existing notions of high agency among
tribal women in India. One of the main policy implications that follows is that, given the importance of sociocultural groups in
determining women's agency, policy interventions targeting specific agency domains seem inevitable to further women’s economic
and social standing.