Change of women’s role in a traditional village

Abstract

Rural villagers are unable to forget because they have not been changed due the social, economic, political and cultural factors for more than half a century. The role of father and mother is an important factor to perform the various types of responsibility within the family system. Economic and social life of human is based on livelihood in past and present time. So, women do important and equal role in traditional society. Due to industrial revolution and urbanization rural people migrated to urban areas for finding employment in factories. Sri Lanka society was not vulnerable to those changes but due to colonization of Sri Lanka by English people abolished the feudalism (1833), barren land act (1840), corn tax act (1855), prohibition of illegal settlement act (1897) etc. forced to change Sri Lanka society and urbanized. With the introduction of open economic policies or liberalized economic policies to Sri Lanka in 1978 rural men and women were able to find jobs in Free Trade Zone in Sri Lanka. Hence, the role of women has been changed. It can be identified the various ways of the changes of women’s role in Sri Lanka. It can be recognized various changes of women’s role in the Sooriyagama study area. Due to free education majority of women were able to go to various types of jobs in Sri Lanka. With the help of modernization, urbanization, westernization and industrialization it is obvious that any society can be changed. So, the problem of this studies whether the women’s role has been changed and which ways. The objectives of this study are to identify the various types of ways which the women’s role has been changed, identify the sectors of changed and identify the type of change either positive or negative. It has been used comparative method and functional method for this study. Interview schedule and observation method was employed to collect primary data. Sooriyagama village in Haburugala in Bentota division was selected for this study. Data was collected from sixty women as a sample in this village. This include over sixteen women, unmarried ten women, thirty four women under twenty five-fifty age category. Thirty two were employed and majority is self-employed women. The reasons for changing the role of these women’s are free education, social understanding and job opportunities. The contribution for child socialization from nuclear family is 68%. 70% of women work hard daily. Due to new technology cooking and washing of women has been changed by 80%. According to collected data it can be said that the role of women has been changed and this change not a change of role but the modernization of role.