Santal Women’s Struggles in a Changing Context: The Case of Women Stone Quarry Workers in Birbhum

This paper mainly focuses on Santal women’s economic condition in the Birbhum stone quarry industry (1970–2010), which is a part of the Chotanagpur plateau region. There are plenty of rock pits here which are the site for the stone quarry area, with significant settlements of tribal Santals. Santal women work in the stone quarries, where they are mostly unorganised and also exploited in various ways, both on account of their class, gender and tribal status, and specifically also with regard to wage and conditions of work.