Abstract

Women constitute half of the world’s population, two third of the world’s work force but get one tenth of the world’s income and one percent of the world’s Wealth. Even in developing nations women have been doing paid, underpaid and largely unpaid work in homes, factories, fields, forests and mines. Over and above 3 Cs-cooking, cleaning and caring, large number of women do activities such as collection of fuel, fodder and water, animal husbandry, kitchen gardening, raising poultry that augment family resources. If women would not do this work, these goods would have to be purchased from the market. They contribute a significant part of the GDP of a country, yet, they are not treated at par with men in many aspects of life. In India, with the passage of more than seven decades of development, women still remain in the clutch of economic dependency and societal negligence which inhibits them from realizing their due place. The present paper sheds light on the role of women in household decision making and gender disparity in ownership rights in the Jandi and Chan Khatrian villages of Hiranagar block. and Hiranagar blocks. The findings of the study revealed the women’s autonomy through their decision-making freedom regarding various aspects of life such as education, career, job, asset creation, investment, savings, education of their children etc,.

Key words: Women, Freedom, Household decision-making, ownership rights etc.