A Profile on Women Handloom Workers of Rajasthan

Women play an important role in different home based cottage industry and other traditional art and crafts. Hand loom weaving is household industry where all the members of family participate. The women handloom workers and their specific role in fragmented manner do not reveal a clear cut picture of women's participation and time use pattern in various handloom related activities. Thus in the present study an attempt has been made to asses the work profile of women handloom workers in terms of their participation in handloom weaving i.e. pre-weaving, weaving and post loom weaving. The present study was conducted in Rajasthan state. Rajasthan state is divided into six divisions, one district from each division was selected on the basis of concentration of handloom weaving in the area, total six districts was selected. Thirty handloom weaving units were selected, from each unit one women respondent was purposively selected and interviewed for the purpose of data collection. The results of the study reveals that very high magnitude of women's participation was found in prim winding, creel winding, loosening and rewinding , checking and mending and storage. Spinning of yarn was carried out by few units it was solely performed by the women. Preparing warp reed filling, sizing of the yarn, setting of the loom were the activity where women were assisted by their counter parts. Women's participation was found very low in purchasing and selling activity. Further no significant difference was found in the time devotion pattern by men and women but significant difference was found on the basis of type of activity. On the basis of the study it can be concluded that women play significant role in handloom weaving due to their sincerity hard work and effective time management practices, what ever time the women gets after household task was consumed in handloom weaving to raise the quality of life of the family.