Contribution of Muslim Women in Trade and Commerce: A study of Kantha Workers in Rural Bengal Dr Bhattacharjee Sharmistha Faculty, Department of Professional Development, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology University, A-10, Sector-62, Noida-201 307, Uttar Pradesh Online published on 27 June, 2013. Abstract In the traditional sense, it has become a part of family ideology that women's place is at home while the men's task is to go out to work to earn money and to render support for his wife and children. The male and the female social functions were differentiated accordingly, while the female functions are said to be reproductive and sustenance oriented, the male functions are productive and procurement oriented. The scholarship dominating 1950’s era (Bielby, 1992)1 agreed that male and female functions at home and workplace were necessary to be differentiated to minimize competition between sexes to sustain family cohesion and minimize imbalance in traditional locus of family power. Concentrating on working of women outside the home, scholars are of the opinion that the artificial environment and natural environment have come into close conflict to some degree, and have not only affected the sound economic and social development but also have endangered physical, social, aesthetic and even the spiritual wellbeing of people mainly those who stay at home. In case of working, women are given a label of being unskilled and are denied proper wages and working conditions. It is assumed that given women economic independence would enable women to come out from the domestic drudgery and access to the available modern facilities to improve their quality of life. Top |