The object of this study is to analyse the relationship between education, economic status and political development among the women of Uttaranchal. The general impression prevailing among laymen as well as scholars is that the hill woman is the family breadwinner. Hard working by nature, not only does she look after the family but also cares for household agriculture, using even her leisure in some money raising activity such as weaving, knitting or dairying. Contrarily, the general impression of a hill man is rather demeaning. If he has not migrated to plains for earning a livelihood, he is supposed to be a lazy drunkard usurping the income earned by family women.
The present study seeks to build on the following line of argument answering some penetrating questions in so doing. If the hill woman is the family bread winner, then is she economically independent, i.e. does she enjoy the right to spend her income independently? Or is her income cornered and usurped by dominant social forces such as the traditional elite? If she is economically independent, then is she able to assert this advantage to secure a better future for herself? E.g. does she succeed in educating herself or win social respect for herself? Or is her wealth usurped by the idle male who presides over the domestic helm? In other words, has the hill woman succeeded in converting her bread winning status in improving her lot? Or does the hill woman continue to be an exploited creature, a domestic fief working for the male only? Finally, is the hill woman aware of the political development around her? Does she participate in political processes, institutions in her environment? Has her awareness of the political sphere increased or not? Or does she remain as politically unaware and nonfunctional as ever? In other words, has her continued bread winning status lead to economic independence? Has economic independence in its own turn lead to higher social development? Finally, has economic independence coupled with a higher level of social development lead to a higher level of political awareness and political development? Is there a positive linkage between economic independence, social development and political development? If not, then where has this spiral broken?
Major concepts
Economic Independence: The capacity to earn fails to define the concept of economic independence comprehensively. Rather it involves the freedom to spend one's income at will and according to one's choice. This concept acquires significance when the social and political development of a social group is being examined. The hill woman is not economically independent if her earning is usurped and spent on the purchase of liquor rather than her own education and well being.
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