Poverty and Inequality in the Matrilineal Society of Meghalaya in the North-Eastern Region of India

Abstract

Poverty, inequality and deprivation between men and women are some of the most crucial disparities in many societies and this is particularly so in India. Poverty status of women in particular has often received wide attention among economists and policy thinkers. Feminisation of poverty has been linked to a perceived rise in the number of female-headed households and this study is no exception in this respect. With the rise in female-headship and their vulnerability to poverty, it is typically expected that female-headed households face a higher risk of being poor vis-à-vis the male-headed households. The state of Meghalaya, in the north-eastern part of India, boasts of a predominant tribal population consisting of three major tribal groups, namely, the Khasis, the Jaintias and the Garos. These tribal groups are some of the few surviving matrilineal communities with one of the strongest matrilineal kinship systems in the world. Poverty in the state of Meghalaya, resides mainly in the rural areas. This paper makes an empirical analysis of the status of poverty and inequality among the female-headed and male-headed households in the matrilineal state of Meghalaya.