Patriarchy in Adivasi Societies

I was invited to give a lecture cum training on adivasi issues to young scholars as part of a programme on human development being conducted for them by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai. When I said that adivasi societies are highly patriarchal in common with other communities in India I was met with howls of protest from the participants who said that they had heard that among adivasis, women have a better status. I had a tough time convincing them that on all three major counts - the gender division of labour with women having to take care of children, housework and the aged, the lack of property rights and the suppression/oppression of women's sexuality adivasi women suffer as much as women in other societies. Details about the deep patriarchy prevailing among the Bhil adivasis can be read here , here and here. There was also a recurrence of the perennial debate regarding the keeping of adivasis in a primitive mode separate from the mainstream. However, I did manage to put through my point that modern development has become unsustainable and we can learn a considerable amount from the adivasis about how to remedy this. Heads were shaken in acquiescence finally but its debatable as to whether the hearts and minds also were moved!