In India, women account for nearly half of the total population and play an essential role in the domestic, rural, and urban economies. The role of women in the Darjeeling hill economy is praiseworthy. The women of the Darjeeling hills play a vital role in different sectors, such as the tea plantation industry, tourism, agriculture, trade and commerce, and other allied development activities. Let’s explore some crucial roles of women in the Darjeeling Hills economy.

Tea Plantation Industry:

The plantation industry employs a sizeable amount of labour force, especially women workers. It is highest compared to any industry in Darjeeling. However, quite a good percentage of women also engaged in informal and allied sectors.

Tea, as an everyday beverage, is both ancient and inexpensive.  Darjeeling’s hill people rely on the tea industry for a living. Sixty percent of workers are female. This is a unique feature of the hill economy. In the Darjeeling hill areas, forest, cinchona, and tea gardens cover 66 percent of the area. These tea gardens, as well as the Cinchona plantation industries in the hills, have employed many women. The Tukvar Tea estate, for example, has the highest proportion of female labourers.

The British advocated for the employment of families rather than individuals, absorbing women and children into their labour force because they could perform various tasks in tea production. Tea is the second largest foreign exchange earner and is exported to approximately 85 countries.

Read more to explore the history of the tea plantation industry in the Darjeeling hills

Agriculture:

Women are also in charge of agricultural operations. Women grow maize, millet (known locally as “kodo“), wheat, barley, mustard, rice, potatoes, cardamom, ginger, orange, and vegetables such as peas, beans, potatoes, cauliflower, beetroots, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, squash, and round chilies (known locally as “dalle khorsani“) for both local and distant markets. Many agricultural and allied operations, such as seed sowing, transplanting, manuring, weeding, harvesting, cattle care, and milking assigned solely to women in the hills because of the social framework.

Tourism:

Tourism is a significant economic activity in mountain areas, providing income and employment to the local population. Faced with the stagnation of the tea industry, the economic development of Darjeeling women will be heavily reliant on the development of tourism. Tourism is, without a doubt, an essential part of any nation’s socioeconomic development, but from the standpoint of long-term development, plantation and tourism should be profitable.

Tea tourism was promoted, with women playing most of the roles. Some women work in the hotel industry while others run small tea stalls and shops near tourist attractions such as Rock Garden, Batasia Loop, Tenzing Rock (Bhale Dhunga), Darjeeling Zoo, and Chitre (below Tibetan Refugee Help Centre) to supplement their income. As a result, women play an essential role in developing Darjeeling’s tourism industry.

Trade and Commerce:

‘Trade and Commerce,’ both medium, small, and petty, have grown in popularity over the years. Women are involved in business transactions. The Tibetan and Bhutia women would sell used (secondhand) clothes, woollen garments, and foreign goods. In contrast, Nepali women primarily deal with vegetables, grocery items, and small restaurants in marketplaces.

Tibetan women also sell traditional dairy products such as churpi. Furthermore, Nepali women sell fermented foods such as Kinema, Sinki, Gundruk, etc. Momo and Thukpa are the most common food items women sell in most places. It is quite surprising to see women traders and vendors selling everything from tea leaves, vegetables, cosmetics, woollen garments, and foreign goods in all three major urban centers of Darjeeling Hills.

The educated women primarily traded in curio items, ladies’ cosmetics, and fashionable garments. Even a few women make loans to people and rely on the interest to support their families. The haats, or weekly markets, are very important regarding social and cultural significance. Specifically, markets not only meet the needs of buyers and sellers but also act as agents of cultural change. Women attend weekly markets and haats.

Read more to discover the legacy of trade and commerce in the colonial Darjeeling hills

Other Allied Activities of Development:

Apart from significant business sectors, hill women are involved in most allied activities in the Darjeeling hills. A distinctive feature of the Darjeeling Hills is the high proportion of self-employed women, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas. A select group of artisan women absorbed in other self-employed activities such as noodle production, handicrafts production, and other home-based enterprises such as knitting and weaving that require less capital.

Women also make local liquors such as Chhang, Tomba, Rakshi, Jaad, etc. Many young women and girls work in large cosmetic and curio shops and shopping malls such as Big Bazaar, Inox, Glenarys, and so on. Wool knitting and carpet weaving are two other types of hill handicrafts. The expansion of small and cottage industries has relied heavily on female labour.

Almost every family in the rural hills has taken up livestock rearing as a secondary occupation. And women play an important role in this activity as well. Organic farming is vital in today’s world. Bio-organic vegetables are gaining popularity in the hill market and elsewhere. Cinchona is used to produce Quinine and other Quinine byproducts. It is a potential foreign exchange-earning drug plant.

In this context, I’d like to ask about the plantation “What would be the condition of the women workers and the economy of the Darjeeling hills if the tea industry had not existed? The economy of Darjeeling can not survive without tea and tourism. Nonetheless, development refers to a multifaceted process of gradually improving women’s social, cultural, economic, and human conditions in the hill economy and empowering them.

The time has come to establish a joint forum of private sectors, government bodies, international bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), tourism associations, and research organizations for mountain tourism’s collaborative and innovative development while ensuring increased participation of local women.

There should be the empowerment of women in the economy of Darjeeling Hills. For instance, they need particular focus, attention, and analysis in the tea plantation industry. We should understand the significance of women’s participation in the hill economy, which subsequently influences the national economy. 

Read more to explore the people’s history of Darjeeling

Eventually, I would like to conclude:

 “Investing in women’s capabilities and empowering them is the surest way to contribute to economic growth and overall development.”