Socio-Economic and Educational Status of Muslim Women: A Comparative Outlook

Abstract

One-fourth of the entire population of West Bengal, an Indian state,  are the  Muslims who have been well thought-out as the second largest religious group and meanwhile the biggest minority of the state representing about ninety six percent to the total state minority population according to the census report of 2001 in spite of that it has been reported that in contrast to other religious communities or groups residing in West Bengal, the Muslims with special reference to the Muslim women are lagged behind the mainstream in almost every spheres of social development viz. socio-economic standing, educational attainment, empowerment, political participation and decision making and so on due to various external and internal factors.

The proposed paper attempts to explore the status of Muslim women in West Bengal in a comparative perspective. Emphasis has also been given to enquire the pattern of work participation, employment and inclusion of Muslim women in comparison to the women in other religious groups of West Bengal. An endeavor has also been made to pinpoint the factors which are operating as bottleneck in their social change and development and to provide some suggestions and way forward.

The present paper is based on facts gathered through both secondary and primary sources of data. Numerous relevant published literatures were consulted besides the author’s empirical field studies to produce this piece of writing.

Keywords: Muslim women; status; backwardness; development; problems; way forward.