Women’s Activism and Resistance to Exploitation: A Study of Women Workers in the Tea Estates of Assam

Abstract

Patriarchy and capitalism have always considered women to be meek and submissive in nature. But women also resist and have a voice of their own. The tea plantation women workers have their agency and they also resist the exploitation they face in their daily lives in their homes and workplaces. The trade unions often do not adequately address their issues as they are not their active members. But they use acts of resistance which are usually disguised, like gossip, jokes, name-calling, foot-dragging, etc. In some of their acts of resistance, they receive help from their supervisor and women co-workers. The Jhumur folk songs portraying the plight of women workers are sung by them on various cultural occasions. In this empirical study, an attempt has been made to analyse various forms of resistance used by women workers in two tea estates of Assam.