Deprivation of Women Migrants: A Case Study of  Titagarh,Municipality, North 24 Pargana,West Bengal

Shatarupa Dey Neogi; Rumela Dutta

Volume : III, Issue : X, October - 2013

Deprivation of Women Migrants: A Case Study of Titagarh,Municipality, North 24 Pargana,West Bengal

Shatarupa Dey Neogi, Rumela Dutta

Abstract :

This paper is based on a sample study of migrant workers from Bihar to Titagarh, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. It highlights the trends, patterns and nature of gender disparity that exists between male and female migrants. Titagarh has been acting as a ‘sponge’ absorbing huge migrants over decades. Titagarh has been selected as the study area because huge migration has taken place here from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh for employment in jute mills and paper mills. Bihari migrants have been considered for the study because gender discrepancy has been more among Bihari migrants. Study has been conducted in Ward no 19, 20, 21 due to domination of Bihari migrants in these three wards. To identify the crisis of female migrants three parameters have been considered–educational attainment, workforce participation and health status. Women migrating form Bihar face the ‘dual identity crisis’ –being firstly a female gender and secondly as a migrant. This paper will conclude that although the female migrants avoid hunger, starvation and death by the process of migration from rural Bihar to an Urban agglomeration but their identity from gender perspective is at stake even in an urban setting like Titagarh