Empowering tribal women: a comparative analysis of matrilineal and patrilineal societies in India

Abstract

Tribal societies are often considered egalitarian, especially in contrast to the hierarchical caste society. However, tribal societies are not homogeneous, as both matrilineal and patrilineal tribes exist in India. This study examines whether matrilineal tribal women from Meghalaya are more empowered than patrilineal tribal women from Assam. Using NFHS 2015–16 and 2019–21, a revised survey-based women’s empowerment index (SWPER) is created to measure empowerment in four domains: attitude to violence, freedom of movement, decision-making and social independence. Multivariate regression was used for further analysis. The analysis reveals that while both groups of women had positive scores in the attitude to violence domain, patrilineal tribal women were more empowered in this domain. In contrast, matrilineal tribal women were more empowered in freedom of movement and decision-making power. However, in social independence, women from both societies were poorly empowered and the situation was worse for women from patrilineal society. After adjusting for other demographic and socioeconomic variables, societal lineage structure became insignificant in freedom of movement. This study highlights that while matrilineal societal lineage provides a means of descent rights from mother to daughter, this does not necessarily translate to an improvement in overall empowerment across all aspects of life. Empowerment for the tribal women is an interplay of lineage structure, tradition, geography and socioeconomic conditions. Policymakers can address socioeconomic disparities for women from both societies by implementing skill-building and social support networks for women.

Keywords:

• Women empowerment
• matrilineal
• patrilineal
• tribal women
• SWPER index
• India

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Geng Yuqing, Shanghai Dianji University, Shanghai, China

SUBJECTS:

• Asian Studies
• Human Geography
• Population & Development

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

Tribal societies¹ in India have been characterized as egalitarian societies, and women face less discrimination, especially compared with hierarchical Hindu caste societies (Baghel & Tiwari, 2021; Bhasin, 2007; Mitra, 2008). Tribal women share the same social and familial responsibilities as their male companions (Mitra, 2008). They have equal partners with tribal men to contribute to the household economy (Naresh, 2014). Therefore, according to the general perception, tribal women enjoy more freedom than nontribal women in India. However, different studies have claimed that tribal women also face discrimination within their societies (Dunn, 1993; Manna & Sarkar, 2016; Mishra et al., 2012; Sengupta, 2018). The status of tribal women in terms of education, work and health is poor, not just when compared to the status of tribal males, but also the status of women from the general public, making them doubly disadvantaged for being women and their minority group status (Dunn, 1993; Rafi et al., 2019).

India is a heterogeneous country in terms of class, caste and ethnicity. It is essential to recognize that tribal societies are not homogeneous. Each tribe possesses a unique identity, with distinct languages, customs, traditions and social structures, including kinship systems and hierarchies (Bhasin, 2007; Khan, 2023; Singh et al., 2010; Xaxa, 1999). In Northeast India, both matrilineal and patrilineal tribes have been found. Matrilineal descent refers to a system that traces lineage or kinship through women or female relatives. In such a society, women are expected to play a pivotal role and hold a place of pride in the social setup, unlike their counterparts in patrilineal society (Allen, 2012; Roy, 2016). Here, the eldest woman functions as the head, while the youngest daughter inherits the property and the right to stay with her parents after marriage. Here, a woman’s social status is due to the preferential rights that she enjoys. These preferential rights refer mainly to the succession of family titles or names and property inheritance (Garg, 1960). Khasi, Garo and Jayantia are the three largest matrilineal tribal groups in Northeast India. On the other hand, patrilineal descent refers to a system where an individual’s clan or lineage group is determined through men or male relatives. Bodo, Mishing, Karbi, Bhutia and Kuki are some patrilineal tribes of Northeast India.

A previous study has shown that the gender division of labour appears to be more flexible and decision-making is more equally shared in matrilineal tribal society, whereas it is more clearly defined and hierarchical in the patrilineal tribal culture, leading to more egalitarian gender relations in the matrilineal tribe (Ellena & Nongkynrih, 2017). However, another study has found that women in matrilineal society are still treated unequally regarding their social status, education, health, economic position and gender equality (M. Das Gupta et al., 2013). Furthermore, a study claims that women in both matrilineal and patrilineal societies experience similar patterns of vulnerability related to socio-economic and cultural discrimination stemming from patriarchal dominance (Azong & Kelso, 2021).

1.2. Defining women empowerment

There are different definitions that exist for empowerment. Empowerment is a multidimensional social process that allows individuals to gain control over their own lives, communities and society by addressing issues that they deem necessary (Page & Czuba, 1999). It is the process of having and exploiting resources in an agentic manner to obtain the desired outcome, such as gender equality, improved well-being, more freedom and balanced decision-making power (Rodriguez, 2022). The World Bank characterizes empowerment as the process of enhancing an individual’s or group’s capacity to make purposive choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes (Alsop et al., 2006). Empowerment can be understood through various dimensions, including the ability to make choices, concern for gender-related attitudes and beliefs, and achievements in the economic, social and cultural realms (Kabeer, 1999; Moghadam & Senftova, 2005). It can be understood by a three-dimensional model of empowerment that includes enabling resources (school attainment, wage work, access to information and pivotal life events), intrinsic agency (attitude to wife-beating) and instrumental agency (participation in household decisions) (Miedema et al., 2018). In this study, we have also adopted those dimensions for defining women’s empowerment. A higher level of empowerment leads to increased opposition to intimate partner violence, improves women’s socioeconomic status through increased physical mobility, and amplifies influence on household and financial decisions (Fakir et al., 2016).

In some selected indicators, the empowerment status of women in Northeast India is comparatively better than that in the rest of the country (IIPS & ICF, 2021). In recent years, tribal women have been empowered through several self-help groups and entrepreneurial activities (MoTA, 2023; NFTFDC, 2022). The empowerment of women through entrepreneurial activities has led to women’s empowerment in many ways, such as socioeconomic opportunities, property rights, political representation, social equality, personal rights, family development and community development (Kandpal, 2022; Nichols, 2021).

1.3. Theoretical framework and working hypothesis

We adapted social investment theory to understand the role of societal lineage structure in the empowerment of tribal women. Social investment theory claims that changes in personality traits over time are driven by changes in people’s commitments to social roles and institutions (Roberts et al., 2005). This theory helps explain how societies assign and reinforce gender roles and expectations and how individuals invest in conforming to these roles based on cultural norms, expectations and anticipated rewards (Bleidorn et al., 2013). Furthermore, a previous study also showed that traditional social systems, such as residence practices, shape gender norms and motivate varying social preferences in northeast India (Guha, 2023). Therefore, we hypothesize that women’s empowerment in tribal societies is determined by the lineage structure.

2. Rationale of the study

As mentioned earlier, there are different views regarding women’s actual positions in tribal society that have caused huge debates and arguments about gender and gender-related issues in tribal society over several years. Some considered tribal culture relatively egalitarian, while others found gender discrimination even in matrilineal societies. Some argue that matrilineal society gives women greater empowerment and power, whereas others suggest the situation is more complicated. In this context, it is essential to critically examine the relationship between societal lineage systems and women’s empowerment. This study is a fresh attempt to shed light on the status of women in tribal society, focusing on societal lineage structure. By doing so, we can better understand the interplay between culture, gender and power in this region and develop more effective strategies for promoting gender equality and women’s rights.

This study seeks to understand whether matrilineal tribal women are more empowered than patrilineal tribal women in terms of attitude to violence, freedom of movement, decision-making and social independence. Further, this study explores whether matrilineal tribal society empowers women better after eliminating other background variables. We argue that the level of empowerment in these two tribal groups should be helpful for promoting gender equality and women’s rights, irrespective of their societal lineage structure.

3. Materials and methods

3.1. Data source

We used the fourth and fifth rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4, 2015-16 and NFHS-5, 2019-21) as no other comprehensive data is available for this study. The NFHS provides data on population, health and nutrition, as reported by adults aged 15–49 years in India’s states and union territories. This study focused on currently married women, as most questions about empowerment were asked only for currently married women. The NFHS-4 fieldwork in India was conducted from January 2015 to December 2016. The NFHS-5 survey for India was conducted in Phase I from 17 June 2019 to 30 January 2020, and Phase II from 2 January 2020 to 30 April 2021. Women were interviewed in their households.

3.2. Study area

This study was based on the Scheduled Tribes of Assam and Meghalaya. In this study, we considered a tribe scheduled tribe according to the constitutional definition. NFHS-4 (2015–2016) provides the name of the caste tribe for every individual. This information classifies tribal women into matrilineal and patrilineal groups. In our study, women belonging to the ethnic groups of Garo, Khasi and Jayantia were considered matrilineal tribes. On the other hand, women belonging to the remaining ethnic groups, such as Bodo, Dimasa, Hajong, Kachari, Karbi, Kuki, Lalung, etc., are classified into patrilineal tribal women. NFHS-5 (2019–2021) does not provide caste tribe names for every individual. According to the Census of India 2011, approximately 87% of scheduled tribes in Meghalaya are matrilineal, and 95% of scheduled tribes in Assam are patrilineal tribes (Census, 2011). Therefore, we considered the scheduled tribe women of Assam as patrilineal and of Meghalaya as matrilineal as a proxy to understand the present scenario. In the NFHS-4 (2015–2016), 4723 matrilineal and 3951 patrilineal tribal women were interviewed. In the NFHS-5 (2019–2021), 7513 matrilineal and 4587 patrilineal tribal women were interviewed.

3.3. Ethical approval

This study is based on data accessed from Demographic Health Survey (https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm). Therefore, ethical approval is not required.

3.4. Statistical analysis

To develop a composite index measuring women’s empowerment for each tribal society, we utilized a revised survey-based women empowerment index (SWPER). The SWPER index was originally developed for African countries, encompassing three empowerment domains: attitude to violence, decision-making and social independence (Ewerling et al., 2017). Each domain comprised several variables.

Attitude to violence is related to the concept of intrinsic agency, where the acceptability of violence is measured. Decision-making was related to instrumental agency, where women participated in household decisions. Social independence is related to enabling resources to achieve their goals.

We adapted the SWPER index to the Indian context, creating a revised version with four domains: attitude to violence, freedom of movement, decision-making and social independence. Freedom of movement is a key aspect of an individual woman’s agency, particularly in low-resource environments where women may have limited opportunities for community engagement or employment (Richardson et al., 2019). We have included women having bank account variable in the social independence domain as financial tools give women greater control over resource allocation, leading to economic empowerment and broader positive effects (Hendriks, 2019).

In our study, we utilized 17 variables that assessed women’s empowerment across four domains.

The variables were initially re-categorized to form the revised SWPER index, with higher scores indicating greater empowerment and lower scores indicating poor empowerment (Table 1).

Table 1. List of the variables used to calculate SWPER Index, NFHS-4 (2015–2016) and 5 (2019–2021).

Domains of empowerment	Variables	Code or units
Attitude to violence	Beating is justified if wife goes out without telling husband	Yes = −1, do not know = 0, no = 1
	Beating is justified if wife neglects the children
	Beating is justified if wife argues with husband
	Beating is justified if wife refuses to have sex with husband
	Beating is justified if wife burns the food
Freedom to movement	Usually allowed to go to the market	Not at all = −1, with someone = 0 and Respondent alone = 1
	Usually allowed to go to health facilities
	Usually allowed to go to outside village
Decision making	Who usually decides on respondent’s health care	Partner/other alone = −1, Respondent and husband / partner =0 and Respondent alone = 1
	Who usually decides on respondent’s household’s purchases
	Who usually decides on visits to family or relatives
Social independence	Frequency of reading newspapers or magazine	No = 0, <once a week = 1, >once a week = 2, all day = 3
	Woman’s year of education	Year
	Age of respondent at first birth**
	Age at first cohabitation
	Has a bank account	No = 0, yes = 1
	Respondent worked in last 12 months (work)	No = 0, in the past year =1, currently working = 2

** Imputed for women who had not had a child as suggested (Ewerling et al., 2017).

To generate a common index, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using oblique varimax rotation by combining all India data to produce a weight for the individual-level SWPER score for each domain of each tribal group. The first component is interpreted as an attitude to violence, the second as freedom of movement, the third as decision-making power and the fourth as social independence.

The following equation was used to create an individual-level SWPER score (SR_ij) $$S{R}_{\mathit{\text{ij}}}=\frac{[-({\sum }_{v=1}^{17}{\Psi }_{\mathit{\text{vj}}}*{\overline{x}}_v)+({\sum }_{v=1}^{17}{\Psi }_{\mathit{\text{vi}}}{x}_{\mathit{\text{vi}}})]}{{\sigma }_j}$$

Ψ_vi is the weight given to each of the 17 variables in each component j designed from combined data (All India), calculated from the following formula. $${\Psi }_{\mathit{\text{vj}}}=\frac{f_{\mathit{\text{vj}}}}{{\sigma }_v}$$ where $x_v$ represents the variables used to generate empowerment levels. ${\sigma }_j$ is the standard deviation of the predicted scores for each component. ${\mathrm{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\text{vj}}}$ is the PCA loading for each variable $v$ in each domain j and ${\sigma }_v$ is the standard deviation of each variable $v$ in the combined dataset.

After generating a revised SWPER score for every tribal society, each empowerment domain was calculated for each age group, religion and wealth tertile.

Multiple linear regressions were performed using the pooled datasets of NFHS-4 (2015–2016) and NFHS-5 (2019–2021) for each domain of empowerment to understand whether societal lineage structure has a role in empowering women better after eliminating other background variables (age, religion, wealth and time).

4. Results

4.1. Empowerment level of women from matrilineal and patrilineal tribal societies

In 2015–2016, women from societies with a matrilineal descent system justified wife-beating to a greater extent (24.7%) if the wife neglected the children (Table 2), whereas women from patrilineal societies justified it more (21.1%) if the wife argues with the husband. In a matrilineal society, tribal women have more decision-making power in matters related to their healthcare, household purchases and visiting family/relatives. In contrast, women in patrilineal societies have a lower level of decision-making power. More women in matrilineal societies are allowed to go alone to the market and health facilities than in patrilineal societies. However, more women in patrilineal societies are allowed to go outside the village alone. In terms of work, having a bank account and reading a newspaper at least once a week, a higher percentage of women in matrilineal societies are engaged in these activities compared to patrilineal societies. There were no significant differences in the average years of education, age at first birth, or age at first cohabitation between the two types of societies.

Table 2. Empowerment scenario of matrilineal and patrilineal tribes, NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 (2015–2016 and 2019–2021).

	Societal lineage structure
	2015–2016		2019–2021
Empowerment domain	Matrilineal (n = 4723)	Patrilineal (n = 3951)	Matrilineal (n = 7513)	Patrilineal (n = 4587)
Percentage of women justified wife beating
If wife goes out without telling husband	13.5	12.4	14.2	6.1
If wife neglects the children	24.7	19.7	22.2	12.1
If wife argues with husband	20.6	21.1	12.2	11.6
If wife refuses to have sex with husband	8.4	8.9	8.3	6.4
If wife burns the food	10.6	9.7	6.9	5.8
Freedom of mobility alone
Market	72.6	65.8	76.4	62.4
Health facilities	59.5	54.5	65.6	48.6
Outside village	46.8	56.2	50.4	53.3
Percentage of women make a decision alone
Healthcare	15.0	4.7	9.5	8.9
Household purchases	23.0	3.5	13.4	5.3
Visit to family or relative	9.4	4.4	8.3	6.3
Social independence
Reading newspaper or magazine at least once a week	25.0	9.4	38.8	15.2
Woman’s average year of education	6.0	6.0	6.0	7.0
Age of respondent at 1st birth	21.5	21.1	21.5	21.4
Age at first cohabitation	20.0	19.5	20.4	19.8
Has a bank account	54.8	49.7	59.2	36.2
Respondent worked in the last 12 months	38.2	14.1	48.3	20.9

The scenario of empowerment in various indicators between matrilineal and patrilineal societies has remained similar in 2019–2021. The attitude to justification for wife-beating has decreased in patrilineal societies for all reasons, while it has reduced for almost all reasons in matrilineal societies, except when the wife goes out without informing the husband. The freedom of movement has increased for women in matrilineal societies and decreased in patrilineal societies. The reading of newspapers, having a bank account and engaging in work have improved for women in matrilineal societies, while they have only slightly improved in patrilineal societies, with the exception of having a bank account.

The data presented in Table 3 reveals that in the empowerment domain of attitude to violence, both matrilineal and patrilineal tribal women had a positive score in both surveys. However, patrilineal tribal women demonstrated higher levels of empowerment in this domain compared to matrilineal tribal women. For instance, in the 2019–2021 survey, the SWPER scores for attitude to violence were 0.109 for matrilineal tribal women and 0.351 for patrilineal tribal women. In contrast, when it came to freedom of movement and decision-making power, while both tribal women had positive scores, matrilineal women were more empowered. Unfortunately, matrilineal and patrilineal tribal women were both found to be poorly empowered in the domain of social independence.

Table 3. SWPER scores of different domains of women empowerment among matrilineal and patrilineal tribes, NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 (2015–2016 and 2019–2021).

	Societal lineage structure
	2015–2016		2019–2021
SWPER score	Matrilineal	Patrilineal	Matrilineal	Patrilineal
Attitude to violence	0.242	0.314	0.109	0.351
Freedom to movement	0.203	0.180	0.294	0.021
Decision making	0.498	0.055	0.298	0.085
Social independence	−4.987	−4.913	−0.001	−0.310

4.2. Women empowerment for different subgroups in matrilineal and patrilineal tribal societies

For matrilineal tribes in 2015–2016, there was no discernible pattern in empowerment attitude to violence and freedom of movement with age and wealth (Table 4). Empowerment in decision-making, however, increased with age. Empowerment in the social independence domain was poor across all age groups and worsened with age. Women without a religious affiliation were most empowered in attitude to violence (SWPER score 0.632) and freedom of movement (SWPER score 0.832), while Christian women were least empowered in attitude to violence (SWPER score 0.221) and Hindu women in freedom of movement (SWPER score −1.211). Hindu women were also least empowered in decision-making (SWPER score −0.602), and women from other religious backgrounds (SWPER score 0.715) were most empowered in this domain. All religious groups had poor empowerment in social independence.

Table 4. SWPER scores of different domains of women empowerment among matrilineal and patrilineal tribes for different subgroups, NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 (2015–2016 and 2019–2021).

	SWPERAttitude to violence		SWPERFreedom of movement		SWPERDecision making		SWPERsocial independence
	Matrilineal	Patrilineal	Matrilineal	Patrilineal	Matrilineal	Patrilineal	Matrilineal	Patrilineal
2015–2016
Age
Less than 20	0.250	0.334	0.163	−0.321	0.212	0.056	−4.936	−4.853
20–30	0.267	0.381	0.120	0.115	0.403	0.049	−4.973	−4.924
30–40	0.275	0.248	0.185	0.228	0.495	0.081	−4.995	−4.913
More than 40	0.158	0.302	0.349	0.283	0.674	0.028	−5.001	−4.906
Religion
Hindu	0.551	0.311	−1.211	0.179	−0.602	0.064	−4.758	−4.910
Christian	0.221	0.331	0.214	0.164	0.503	−0.074	−4.992	−4.950
Buddhist	NA	0.760	NA	0.921	NA	0.305	NA	−4.865
No religion	0.632	NA	0.832	NA	0.372	NA	−5.120	NA
Other	0.515	NA	0.295	NA	0.715	NA	−4.939	NA
Wealth
Poor	0.285	0.222	0.190	0.127	0.397	0.010	−4.960	−4.883
Middle	0.186	0.440	0.243	0.254	0.578	0.069	−5.003	−4.848
Rich	0.319	0.440	0.084	0.246	0.542	0.263	−5.023	−4.933
2019–2021
Age
Less than 20	0.147	0.387	0.015	−0.230	0.160	−0.516	−0.070	−0.491
20–30	0.090	0.384	0.227	−0.221	0.252	0.075	0.014	−0.195
30–40	0.095	0.372	0.349	0.206	0.297	0.136	−0.006	−0.307
More than 40	0.159	0.262	0.316	0.098	0.398	0.089	−0.007	−0.460
Religion
Hindu	0.123	0.338	0.024	0.036	−0.211	0.086	−0.322	−0.304
Christian	0.088	0.459	0.299	−0.074	0.335	0.091	0.031	−0.345
Buddhist	NA	0.510	NA	−0.464	NA	−0.051	NA	−0.513
No religion	0.539	NA	−0.023	NA	0.462	NA	−1.006	NA
Other	0.429	NA	0.539	NA	0.385	NA	−0.166	NA
Wealth
Poor	0.024	0.043	0.270	0.097	0.247	0.087	−0.305	−0.487
Middle	0.246	0.314	0.329	−0.165	0.352	0.061	0.339	−0.033
Rich	0.286	−0.096	0.357	−0.066	0.485	0.184	1.056	0.774

NA: not applicable

In patrilineal tribal societies in 2015–2016, empowerment in freedom of movement increased with age, while the other domains showed no pattern with age. Buddhist women were the most empowered in all domains. None of the four domains had a wealth pattern.

In 2019–2021, for matrilineal tribes, decision-making empowerment increased with age, while the other domains showed no pattern with age. Women without a religious affiliation were most empowered in attitude to violence (SWPER score 0.539) and decision-making (SWPER score 0.462), while women from other religion background were most empowered in freedom of movement (SWPER score 0.539). Hindu women were least empowered in decision-making (SWPER score −0.211). Women without a religious affiliation were very poorly empowered in social independence (SWPER score −1.006). In all domains, empowerment increased with increasing wealth.

In patrilineal tribal societies, empowerment in attitude to violence decreases with increasing age. The other domains showed no pattern with age. Christian women are most empowered in this attitude to violence (SWPER score 0.459) and the decision-making empowerment domain (SWPER score 0.091). In the domain of social independence, empowerment increases with increasing wealth. Other three domains have no pattern with wealth.

4.3. Societal lineage structure as a factor of empowerment of tribal women

After making appropriate adjustments for factors, such as age, religion, wealth and time, the results (Table 5) revealed women from patrilineal societies are significantly more empowered than matrilineal tribal women in their attitude to violence [Coef: 0.23, CI: 0.13, 0.33], which is consistent with previous descriptive findings. However, when examining freedom of movement, societal lineage structure became an insignificant factor after accounting for other background variables. Instead, the study found that women’s empowerment in this domain increased significantly with age. In the realm of decision-making, women from patrilineal tribal societies were found significantly less empowered than their counterparts in matrilineal societies [Coef: 0.22, CI: −0.37, −0.07], that aligns with previous descriptive findings. Additionally, age emerged as a significant factor in women’s empowerment in decision-making, with decision-making power increasing significantly as women age. Lastly, empowerment in social independence domain, societal lineage structure found a significant factor. Women from patrilineal tribal societies were found to be significantly less empowered than those from matrilineal societies [Coef: −0.10, CI: 0.19, −0.01], which is consistent with previous descriptive findings. Wealth was also identified as a significant factor in this empowerment domain.

Table 5. Results of multiple linear regression showing factors associated with different domains of empowerment (based on pooled NFHS data, 2014–2015 and 2019–2021).

	SWPERAttitude to violence	SWPERFreedom of movement	SWPERDecision making	SWPERSocial independence
Societal lineage structure
Matrilineal^®		.
Patrilineal	0.23*** [0.13, 0.33]	−0.11 [−0.27, 0.05]	−0.22** [−0.37, −0.07]	−0.10* [−0.19, −0.01]
Age group
Less than 20^®
20–29	0.01 [−0.14, 0.16]	0.2* [−0.03, 0.43]	0.22* [0.03, 0.42]	0.05 [−0.08, 0.18]
30–39	−0.04 [−0.19, 0.12]	0.42*** [0.19, 0.65]	0.26** [0.06, 0.45]	0 [−0.13, 0.13]
More than 40	−0.07 [−0.23, 0.10]	0.43*** [0.19, 0.65]	0.28** [0.06, 0.46]	−0.08 − 0.21, 0.06]
Wealth
Poor^®
Middle	0.08* [0.00, 0.15]	−0.02 [−0.11, 0.06]	0.07 [−0.01, 0.15]	0.26*** [0.20, 0.32]
Rich	0.06 [−0.15, 0.26]	−0.04 [−0.20, 0.12]	0.17** [0.06, 0.29]	0.54*** [0.40, 0.68]
Religion		.
Hindu^®
Christian	0.05 [−0.05, 0.15]	0.03 [−0.13, 0.19]	0.09 [−0.06, 0.24]	0 [−0.09, 0.08]
Buddhist	0.23* [0.03, 0.43]	−0.29 [−0.98, 0.41]	−0.08 [−0.52, 0.36]	−0.31 [−0.69, 0.08]
No religion	0.55*** [0.36, 0.74]	0.41* [0.04, 0.77]	0.11 [−0.46, 0.68]	−0.2 [−0.43, 0.03]
Other	0.37*** [0.24, 0.51]	0.24* [0.01, 0.47]	0.2 [−0.02, 0.42]	−0.01 [−0.21, 0.19]
Time
NFHS-4 (2015–2016)^®
NFHS-5 (2019–2021)	−0.01 [−0.09, 0.07]	−0.09*[-0.17,-0.01]	−0.03[-0.11,0.04]	4.78***[4.72, 4.83]
Constant	0.1 [−0.08, 0.28]	−0.06[-0.35,0.22]	0.03[-0.22,0.28]	−5.02***[−5.17, −4.8

^® : reference category

* p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

5. Discussions

India has both matrilineal and patrilineal tribes with different cultural norms and practices regarding gender roles. However, there has been a growing movement to eradicate the matrilineal system in Meghalaya (Rathnayake, 2021). Some organizations have been working to eliminate the matrilineal system, and changes in cultural traits have been reported among some Garo tribes (Sikdar, 2009). When exploring women’s empowerment, different studies found that culture, inheritance and family structure can influence women’s empowerment (Kaur, 2010; Moghadam & Senftova, 2005).

Our study found that women’s empowerment varies between these two types of tribal societies. Women from patrilineal tribes tend to be more empowered in terms of attitude to violence, while those from matrilineal tribes are more likely to experience freedom of movement and decision-making power. In terms of social independence, women in both types of societies are relatively disempowered, but the situation is worse for women in patrilineal societies.

While both types of tribes have empowered women in terms of attitude to violence, the findings indicate that women from patrilineal societies are more empowered in this respect. A previous study revealed that the principle of matrilineal descent is undermined by men’s desire for power and hierarchical political structures, and the largest matrilineal tribe, Khasi, considers men physiologically and intellectually superior to women (Nongbri, 2000). This may explain why matrilineal tribal women are less empowered in this domain. Women are not only viewed as symbols of culture and tradition but are also subject to strict social and moral codes in order to maintain the family and societal honor (Nongbri, 2000). As a result, they were not well-informed about their rights to domestic violence.

Our research suggests that matrilineal tribal women have a greater sense of empowerment when it comes to freedom of movement compared to their patrilineal counterparts. An earlier study found that matrilineal tribal women in Meghalaya are more likely to choose a competitive environment than men (Gneezy et al., 2009). Furthermore, prior research has demonstrated that women are typically responsible for market trips, and employment rates among women in matrilineal tribes are high, with few restrictions on their movement outside the home (Mukherjee, 1974). However, after adjusting for other variables, societal lineage structure became insignificant, and age became a significant factor in empowerment in freedom of movement. That indicates women from both societies are allowed to travel outside based on their age and other socioeconomic factors instead of their societal lineage structure. Earlier studies while investigating the determinants of women’s freedom of movement, also found that other socioeconomic factors, such as age, can also play a significant role in shaping women’s mobility (Bloom et al., 2001; K. Gupta & Yesudian, 2006; Mehta & Sai, 2021).

Our research has revealed that women from both societies have demonstrated empowerment in the domain of decision-making. When comparing the empowerment levels between matrilineal and patrilineal tribal women, it appears that the former is more empowered, and this difference remains significant even after controlling for other variables. Our findings contradict previous studies on matrilineal tribes, which suggest that women in these communities still consider their husbands to be the head of the family (Ellena & Nongkynrih, 2017). Another study found that in matrilineal societies, the mother’s brother plays an important role in the lives of his sister and her children as their guardian (Lyngdoh & Nongkynrih, 2016). Our study findings may hold true, as in matrilineal societies, descent and inheritance are traced through the mother’s line, and women may have greater access to property and decision-making power within the family. Patrilineal societies trace descent and inheritance through the father’s line, and men may have more power and authority within the family. This may be why patrilineal tribal women are less empowered in decision-making. One study also found that matrilineal tribal women with inheritance property have more decision-making power in the household (Keeni et al., 2018). Another study in supporting our findings found that in patrilineal communities, men are more likely than women to participate in politics and support a leaner welfare state, whereas, among matrilineal tribes, women display higher levels of grassroots political engagement (Brulé & Gaikwad, 2021).

In the social independence empowerment domain, which includes education level, newspaper reading and economic empowerment, women from both societies were poorly empowered. The Northeast region is a less-developed area in India, marked by factors, such as geographical isolation, limited connectivity, inadequate infrastructure, limited private investment, insufficient capital formation, educational disparity, insurgency and cultural diversity (Bhattacharjee & Nayak, 2013; Bhattacharya & Deka, 2021; Ziipao, 2018). Moreover, tribal people are underdeveloped (Dunn, 1993; Rafi et al., 2019). An earlier study showed that in Northeast states, the lack of gender-based academic institutions causes tribal women to be illiterate (Kakati, 2014). Our findings indicate that despite poor empowerment level in the domain of social independence, the condition of matrilineal tribal women is relatively better. This may have been due to the introduction of Christian missionaries as earlier research found missionaries consistently associated with better female education outcomes in both the colonial and post-colonial periods (Lankina & Getachew, 2013). Our study also found that Christian women are empowered by social independence.

6. Conclusion

The current discourse elucidates the multifaceted nature of women’s empowerment in our study area, which is influenced by a combination of factors, including lineage structure, tradition, geography, socioeconomic status and governance. While matrilineal societal lineage provides a means of descent rights from mother to daughter, this does not necessarily translate to an improvement in overall empowerment across all aspects of life. However, matriliny provides women with better decision-making power and socio-economic opportunities, which are not always available to their counterparts in patrilineal societies. On the other hand, patrilineal lineage structure may restrict women’s social and economic opportunities and decision-making power within the family, but they may have lesser justification for wife-beating. It is, therefore, essential to examine women’s empowerment within specific cultural and social contexts is essential, rather than generalizing it based on lineage alone. Factors, such as religion, wealth, access to resources and exposure to modern ideas can also influence women’s empowerment regardless of their lineage. Furthermore, it is also important to recognize significant variations in women’s empowerment within matrilineal and patrilineal societies.

This study suggests that targeted empowerment programs that focus on enhancing attitude to violence among matrilineal tribal women can be developed. For example, community-based awareness campaigns, workshops and educational initiatives can be adopted to change societal norms and attitude to violence. Policies can be implemented to reduce socioeconomic disparities among tribal communities for women from both patrilineal and matrilineal societies through skill-building and social support networks for women. In addition, community sensitization programs should be developed and implemented to challenge traditional gender roles and expectations by engaging community leaders, elders and influencers in promoting gender equality and empowering women, regardless of societal lineage structure.

7. Limitations

The SWPER index omits some essential components of empowerment, such as political participation or leadership. Additionally, it only takes into account married women of reproductive age, which may result in an overestimation of the level of empowerment.

This study adopts a quantitative approach based on secondary source of data to assess the empowerment levels of matrilineal and patrilineal tribal women. Qualitative research could offer a deeper understanding of the cultural nuances, social dynamics, traditional norms, customs and lived experiences that shape women’s empowerment within these tribal communities. Future research endeavors may find value in employing mixed-method approaches to capture the multifaceted nature of empowerment within tribal societies more comprehensively.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

This study is based on secondary data, which is available in public domain. Therefore, ethical approval is not required for conducting this study.

Author contributions

PM and NS were involved in the conception and design. PM conducted the analysis. PM wrote the first draft under the supervision of NS. NS reviewed and finalised the manuscript. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and helpfull comments. This study is a part of Ph.D. work of Piyasa Mal. The findings of this study has been presented in Population Acossiation of Singapore (2024) with the travel grant from International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS), Mumbai. We are thankful to the IIPS and the conference orginizers for providing the platform to present this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research

Notes on contributors

Piyasa Mal

Piyasa Mal is a PhD scholar at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. She has completed her master’s in geography from the Centre for Regional Development (CSRD), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Her current research focuses on the Gender role in Matrilineal and Patrilineal Tribal societies and their health. Email: [email protected]

Nandita Saikia

Dr Nandita Saikia is a Professor in Public Health and Mortality Studies at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. She was an Assistant Professor in population studies at the Centre for Regional Development (CSRD), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. She completed a Master’s in Statistics from Gauhati University, Assam, and an M.Phil and Ph.D. from IIPS, Mumbai. In her Ph.D., she spent substantial time at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), Germany, one of the finest places for research in mathematical demography in Europe and the world. She was a post-doctoral research fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. Prof Saikia’s research interest lies in formal demography or mathematical & and statistical relations between demographic measures; mortality and cause of death studies using life tables; socio-economic and regional inequalities in health; disability analysis; quality of demographic data and undocumented immigration; demography of Tribal Population. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Notes

1 This study considered constitutional definition of scheduled tribe as tribe. The Constitution of India defines ‘Scheduled Tribes’ as ‘such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of Constitution.’