Dusk at the Dawn : A Study of Unwed Mother in Odisha

Document type: Web page copy

Publication date: 22 February 2018

Dusk at the Dawn : A Study of Unwed Mother in Odisha

Ms. Sunita Behera, Dr. Ranjita Behera

Women’s Studies Reserarch Center, Berhampur University, Berhampur

*Corresponding Author E-mail:

ABSTRACT:

The demand for the rights of women and the foundation of organizations for their protection could be described as the early stages of the welfare state development. women's struggles for political and social rights, citizenship, and welfare had been closely linked, and the emphasis was on working class women and their poverty. Many women fought not just for suffrage but also to shape social policies in favour of women. Women began to investigate poverty and found out that it was closely connected to maternity and to the status of single mothers. A group of feminist theorised that maternity should be recognised as work and be awarded a wage. In the United States, the first mothers’ pension law was enacted in Illinois in 1911, and by 1919 thirty-nine states provided some form of mother’s aid. It was granted on two conditions: economic need and the absence of husband’s support, and thus was granted especially to widows, but in some states also to single, deserted or divorced women. Such maternity policies were rooted in diverse and sometimes conflicting motives, they coincide to a large extent with the feminist demands for mothers’ rights.

KEYWORDS: Statement of the problem,Objective,Hypothesis,Methodology,Study Area, Literature Review,Unwed Mother: A World Perspective,Unwed Mother in Indian Perspective,Unwed Mothers in Odisha.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A paradox in Indian society is that, on the one hand, it greatly values fertility and motherhood with in marriage, but on the other, it totally rejects and ostracizes the unwed mother and the child born out of wedlock, to the extent that the mother is compelled to give up her child for adoption. There is limited statistics in the country to reveal the intensity of the problem of unwed mothers and the child born out of wedlock; but the setting up of an increasing number of foundling homes and admissions to more new born babies is an indication towards it. The extend and magnitude of the problem is indicated by the fact that almost all children given in adoption are illegitimate ones.

The present study aims at an in-depth analysis of the problem of unwanted pregnancies and lone motherhood, especially those residing in the licensed homes in Kerala. The researcher also aims to evolve an intervention model for the Institutionalized Unwed mothers for their Future life. It is necessary to explore and create new educational programmers that will reduce the probability of these young unwed mothers, becoming pregnant again and which will also help them to have the greatest opportunities for success in their life2

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS:

There was significant association between age and problems due to the reaction from family members. Younger age groups experienced high problems than older age groups. This indicates there was significant association between age and problems experienced by the respondents due to the attitude of family members and so the hypothesis was accepted. There is significant association between age and guilt feelings of the respondents. There is significant association with age in the case of emotional problems like fear, anger and hatred. Majority of the Unwed mothers experienced an average level of overall Psychological problems.

Social problems-

Financial independence w is a matter of concern for of the unwed mothers and majority, are not at all confident to bring up the child by themselves. The unwed mothers experience negative feelings towards men. There is significant difference in the social problem among unwed mothers belonging to different age group. Social ostracism and social stigma were the main reasons for relinquishing the child for unwed mothers, followed by helplessness and financial dependence.

OBJECTIVES:

The general objective of the study is directed to word the unwed mother in Odisha. The study has been propelled by the following specific objectives:

· To study the socio-economic and demographic conditions of the unwed mothers.

· To investigate into the circumstances which led to unwed motherhood?

· To study the nature of family and social relations of the unwed mothers.

· To enquire into the psychological and social problems experienced by the unwed mothers.

· To find out whether the unwed mothers have adequate knowledge about sex.

· To develop an intervention module for unwed mothers and to assess the impact of intervention on sexual knowledge, self esteem and subjective well being of unwed mothers.

HYPOTHESIS:

· There is association between age and sexual knowledge of unwed mothers.

· There is association between education and sexual knowledge of unwed mothers.

· There is no significant difference in the social problem among unwed mothers belonging to different age groups.

· There is association between family & social relations and circumstances which led to unwed motherhood.

· There is association between problems due to the attitude & reaction of family members and the age of unwed mothers.

· There is association between problems due to the attitude & reaction of putative father and the age of unwed mothers.

· There is significant increase in the subjective- well being of unwed mothers after intervention.

· There is significant increase in the self esteem of unwed mothers after the intervention.

· Intervention is effective for increasing the sexual knowledge among unwed mothers.

METHODOLOGY:

For this research I have depended on both primary and secondary data while collecting data from the primary sources the study had to rely on the field data collection. For this study I have adopted feminist methodology like, Observation, Personal, Interview, Case Study and Oral History methods. For the secondary data I have depended on books, journals, articles, newspaper, various reports and net searching.

Study Area-

Our study area is Odisha State. The universe of the study had adopted the Rural and Urban Unwed Mothers of Odisha State.My study area is 12 district .in the rural area setting like Ganjam, khorda, bhadrak, Cuttack, Jajpur ,Dhenkanal ,puri and in Urban Area setting like Mayurbhanja ,Jagatasinghapur, Angul, Kandhamal and Keonjhar district had been selected for the purpose of sample collection.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

In western countries, unwed mothers is a much acknowledged category of single parents and their mental health issues are relatively well addressed in the mainstream research literature.

Studies reiterated that in relation to the unmarried, married adults experiences greater well-being on a number of factors, including greater affluence over the life course, less substance abuse, less depression, lower suicide rates, better physical health, longer lives, greater happiness and well-being, more emotional satisfaction with partners, and better sex lives. Studies of unwed teen motherhood are mostly centered on the short-and long-term economic consequences while our understanding of subsequent marital histories of unmarried mothers is virtually nonexistent. The social and economic consequences of unwed motherhood are well documented, yet the psychological associates are largely unstudied. Clinical studies point to distressing reactions to adolescent pregnancy and do not reflect changes in social attitudes about teenage parenting. Social supports and socioeconomic status predicted psychological well-being better than parenting status. Stigmatization is a significant predictor of psychological well-being among single mothers. Deterioration in the employment situation after becoming a single parent is found to be the strongest predictor of stigmatization, whereas being on welfare and a lack of employment are positively and significantly correlated with stigmatization. Hence, this section of the review is critically 61focused on unwed motherhoods and associated mental health problems from an international and national perspective.

Looking unwed motherhood from an international perspective, some of critical case study explorations revealed that single parent families demonstrate some unique problems with which such family unit must cope. They frequently present children to the family physician, pediatrician or child psychiatrist with specific symptom complaints. There exists a need to recognize that these symptoms may reflect the special problems of the single-parent family or unresolved issues which led to the formation of the unit. To meet the needs of these parents the physician must explore the specific circumstances of such a family in some depth. Nonjudgmental recognition of their problems may decrease the tendency to view these problems as "psychiatric". Mild to moderate depression is a commonly observed condition in pregnancy along with anxiety and manifested by crying spells, nervousness and irritability, overeating, insomnia, nausea and vomiting .It has been noted that similar symptoms often accompany mild to moderate depression not associated with pregnancy. It may be further associated with depression and anxiety accompanied by feelings of guilt, rejection, abandonment and censure. Increased awareness of this entity as a new social unit will help the physician choose proper techniques and appropriate resources to provide support.

These case based observations become critical in the context when the prevalence rates of clinical disorders among unwed mothers are on increase in recent years. They are single mothers who have garnered increasing attention from both researchers and the media, as the number of single mothers continues to rise. The phenomenon is on rise in the west since, in the year 2002, 62about 23% of children in USA lived with only their mothers. These single parent households were more likely to be poverty ridden and estimated poverty rate was 38%.In addition, about 65% of children in single-mother households live with less than $30,000 per year. Poverty repeatedly showed a consistent correlation with depression. Further, poor single mothers are approximately twice as likely to develop major depression as women in the general population. Seifert, et al found in their study that more than one-quarter of mothers receiving welfare met diagnostic criteria for major depression. In addition, the struggle to survive in destitute conditions increases one‘s risk for developing depression. While the rates of depression in poor single mothers are well-known, few researchers have investigated the etiology of the disorder as it specifically applies to poor women. Higher depression rates among poor single mothers when compared to women in the general population indicate that certain qualities about the environments of poor women must contribute to the disorder .

In this chapter, the Researcher has tried to consolidate the extensive review done on the conceptual and empirical studies, related and relevant to the topic of unwed motherhood. The nature of information reviewed in the present review write up are the facts, statistics, or findings, tor interpretation, methods and procedures, opinion, beliefs, point of views, narrations of incidence or clinical impressions related to the life of unwed mothers.

This article gives hard facts about the growing problem of single unwed mothers in Morocco, citing that the number increased over two fold from roughly 11,000 to 27,000 from 2008 to 2009. The article mentioned that 60% of these women are younger than 26 years of age and about 30% of them are under twenty years. Many of the women work vulnerable professions like domestic cleaners and others believe that their sexual partners will give into their demand of marriage. Once they are pregnant, the boyfriend flees leaving her to fend for herself and her baby. These women and their children are often seen as baggage, and it is difficult for them to remarry. As a result many find themselves at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder and find themselves in the field of prostitution to make ends meet. I agree with the ideas presented in this article, and I saw the economic struggle myself went out in the field. I visited two single mothers in their homes, and it was appalling to see. The smell of mildew filled the small living room of one woman’s home, and the smell of an over flowed Turkish toilet filled the living room of the other’s. The paint on the walls were chipped exposing the concrete underlay. And in both homes I sat on rigid concrete floors only covered with a thin piece of fabric.

INTRODUCTION:

A critical disadvantage of adolescent child bearing is that it often interrupts education, because pregnant girls are sent away from school. Because, the effect of education in the development of modern adolescence has made the adolescent less dependent upon parents and family and has postponed the age at marriage, and thereby the age of socially sanctioned sexual relations. In the context of social background and determinants of adolescent pregnancies, another aspect of improved education is that the overall level of childbearing is usually lower in better-educated women (compared to the less-educated); and in urban (compared with rural) areas. Greater modernization living in an urban area or having a higher level of education is therefore expected to be associated with lower levels of adolescent childbearing, all other factors being equal.

In developing countries like India, where family structure and functioning were relatively firm and stable, had been remained as a protective shield from teenage motherhood. However, India‘s intensive urbanization induced by the scientifically planned and politically accelerated economic development redefined the basic tenets of family relationships and its fundamental properties such as stability and functioning. These fundamental changes had produced a wide range of impacts on interpersonal and intrapersonal relationship contexts in individuals, families and communities and in the broader Indian society.

Teenage pregnancy today is a widely acknowledged common public health problem worldwide, whereas the problems presented by the pregnant unwed teenagers are among the most difficult and perplexing issues faced by those who work in the fields of health, education and social services. Society is immune to teenage pregnancy and it affects every society-developed and developing alike. There is a growing awareness that early child bearing has multiple consequences in terms of maternal health, child health and over all well-being of society .Illegitimate pregnancies may have multiple traumatic impacts on the teenager, her boyfriend, her family, her community and ultimately on her yet to-be-born child .Therefore, pre-marital or teenage pregnancies is a crucial area of scientific exploration and examination in the context when no segment of society is immune to the causes and effects of the out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy. Each year the extent of this problem grows. The statistics from worldwide indicate a substantial increase of unwed mothers that warrant multi-disciplinary research response. This trends suggest that the proportion of the adolescent population involved in increased sexual activities were so large that sexually active teenagers can no longer be considered socially deviant, a dominant view of Christian west.

Substantial proportions of young people in all regions are sexually active; in most countries it is not the age at marriage, but the age at first intercourse outside marriage which is an important factor determining the occurrence of adolescent pregnancies. In relationships between adolescents, gender imbalances often increase the risks faced by young females. Young males are widely perceived the need for premarital sexual experience and a variety of partners; females are not so perceived. The need to conform to these double standards may cause young females to fear disclosing their sexual activity, and may result in reluctance among them to report sexual experience. This fear may also inhibit sexually active female adolescents from seeking contraceptive services. The fear of losing her partner or incurring his anger appear to be important factors inhibiting young females from exercising choice in the timing of sexual activity or negotiating the use of condoms or other contraceptives. In those countries and regions where early marriage is common, a pregnancy soon after marriage is often considered desirable. Even so, in the Middle East and North Africa young women aged 15–19 report that some 15–20Percent of their births are unwanted. Moreover, in those countries where marriages of very young girls are common, gender discrimination against women often occurs. This means that women (especially young girls) receive less and inferior food, receive inadequate health care, and are given an additional burden of work both inside and outside the home. The main task of a woman in such settings is often assumed to be bearing children.

In India, many scholars would argue that strong parental controls on adolescents‘ behaviors and activities have limited opportunities for sexual activity especially among adolescent females and also among young males. Evidence from both quantitative and qualitative studies suggests that premarital sexual activity among female adolescents is limited while a study of mothers of adolescent girls in an urban slum in Mumbai suggests that girls are so closely watched that sexual activity is virtually impossible. This idea further strengthened while evidences suggest complete ignorance of sexual activity at the time of marriage. Despite this fact, other studies suggest that about 20 to 30 percent of all males and up to 10 percent of all females have sexually active during adolescence be for marriage, whereas the widespread social attitudes in India clearly favor cultural norms of premarital chastity for adolescents in general and adolescent girls in particular. The unmarried adolescent boys are far more likely than adolescent girls to be sexually active and they are also more likely to approve premarital sexual relations for themselves whereas their movements are less likely to be supervised, and availing opportunities to engage in sexual relations. Since puberty, adolescence females are brought under strict parental control and supervision which exert immense social control on socialization process and restrict mobility outside of the households and access to proximity contexts and social intimacy building.

In USA, an experimental project examined the association between program participation rate and frequency and regularity of ante partum clinic visits among teenage mothers. The study was focused on three major components of experimental programme. These focuses were obstetric, educational and social service related. The variables that measured participation in the obstetric clinic, such as the week of gestation they registered for care and the number and percentage of ante partum clinic visits etc. The results revealed that there were significant statistical association with avoiding a rapid subsequent pregnancy and frequency and regularity of clinical visit. However, the following variables were associated with delay of pregnancy beyond 15 months: attending McCabe, attending McCabe regularly, and attending a high number and percentage of the group sessions conducted by the social workers. This significant association need to be looked at from a critical social work intervention perspective that reiterate the effective role of social workers in prevention of teenage pregnancy and the need for developing systematic intervention module to meet the programme needs. The teenage mothers who delayed another pregnancy beyond 15 months postpartum were likely to have actively participated in school program and social work intervention.

An intervention study was conducted by Cooper-Lampley(2003) to determine the degree to which moral development levels and cognitive development skills models will affect the transition into the working community of single mothers between the ages of 18and 25. The single mothers were plagued with high rates of pregnancy and tremendous barriers in their attempts to gain more advanced education and employment. This research study involved exploring the causal relationships among core life skills, cognitive skills and moral development, and success in transitioning into the working environment. The instruments used in the research study were the Moral Judgment Test (MJT) and the Employee Reliability Inventory (ERI) and they were administered to the participants. The control and experimental groups each consisted of 20 single mothers, randomly assigned. The data analysis showed that the scores of the MJT and the ERI had consistent upward trends. A major finding of this research study was the significant influence of the intervention, which included life skills, self-esteem, coping skills, and job readiness, and moral and cognitive development, on the single mothers.

Unwed motherhoods at many times are the outcome of violence. Even though false promise to marry is usually the cause behind it and is equally an act of violence as a woman in this situation is cheated and abused. A problem such as unwed motherhood seems almost unreal in our society, but it is very real and is alarmingly on the rise. The problem of unwed mothers it seems is always the outcome of some kind of a disastrous circumstance. Our society being very male dominated; the woman in this type of situation is always blamed and is termed as characterless and irresponsible. The woman in this type of situation is completely helpless and is faced with the burden of a child. And as our society is intolerant of such women, the women mostly commit suicide the ones who don’t lead a very shameful life. In order to curb such a problem and safeguard our female populace it is necessary to interact with the women who have unfortunately become unwed mothers and are leading a very secluded and harassed life. To safeguard our future generations it is imperative that certain measures need to be attained so as to avoid this type of problems. The younger generations need to be aware of this issue so that they not only avoid this type of situation but also make others aware of this outrageous issue8. The society needs to be sensitized about unwed motherhood that will lead to acceptance of those unfortunate women who are already leading a miserable life with small children or in a pregnant condition without any support or help from their families or the society. And in order to achieve these benefits one has to undergo an ordeal. Thus, the quest to find answers began in earnest in an extremely sensitive issue. And answers could only be found by conversations with the unwed mothers which were proving to be a very difficult task as these women were very harassed and not willing to admit any thing. And unfortunately some of them were very good at lying about their real story. But nevertheless this is an effort to bring out the socio-emotional problems the unwed mothers face through these harrowing interviews.

UNWED MOTHER: A WORLD PERSPECTIVE:

The rise in illegitimate fertility in the late 18th and early 19th centuries has often been related to increasing economic and social vulnerability in the urban industrializing world. Many studies using macro-level data or analyzing individual characteristics of unwed mothers have found support for the vulnerability hypothesis. In this article, we investigate illegitimate childbearing in early 19thcentury Geneva in a longitudinal perspective. Relating events (illegitimate births) to the population at risk (single women), our multivariate analysis shows that the segment of the female population assumed to be most vulnerable – immigrants and maids – did not have a higher risk of illegitimacy. However, the substantially increased risk among women who already gave birth to illegitimate children indicates the existence of a small but highly vulnerable group of women.

The increasing number of unwed mothers has attracted the attention of the Malaysian government to deal with the issue inasmuch as pregnancy could jeopardize teenage life through dropping out from school, violence or delinquency. Studies have shown that pregnancy out of wedlock is the main factor for infanticide and the abandonment of babies. Our aim is to listen to the voices of unwed teenage mothers living in shelter homes concerning their experiences in order to shed light on certain aspects of their situation. In the following sections we start with an overview of how the Malaysian legislation deals with unwed teenage mothers. Subsequently, we report on the life experiences of unwed teenage mothers. The international mandate, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, will be our framework in order to problematize and reflect on the interventions provided by the Malaysian authorities for unwed teenage mothers. The Malaysian Legislation and the Unwed Teenage Mother One of the options to deal with pregnancy out of wedlock other than marriage and abortion, is by sending the unwed mother to a maternity home. In Malaysia, the shelter home services for unwed teenage mothers were established fifty years ago. The admission normally needs a request either from the unwed teenage.

At the same time, relatively few empirical studies have examined the complex link between union formation and unwed childbearing, a situation we propose to remedy here. We argue that changes in union formation are inextricably linked to recent trends in non marital and teen fertility especially as non marriage among unwed mothers has become more common.

This source gives great background information on the topic of single unwed mothers in Morocco. It also makes the distinction that in Islam, children of unwed parents should not be stigmatized due to, what some societies may deem as, their lack of legitimacy. However, she goes on to say that though the religion says one thing, this notion of compassion is not carried over, particularly in Morocco for cultural reasons.The authors go on to list issues these women and their children face. Of the repercussions, social reintegrate on is made very difficult since marriage is no longer an option for these women, and their children do not have the right to the financial Support from their fathers. The article praises civil society for trying to uplift this marginalized group of women by fighting on their behalf to get the “respect of their identity name, nationality and registration in the civil record”, as guaranteed by Morocco’s Family Law. The article mentions activists including Aicha Ec-Chenna, who has been working since 1983 to help relieve the social stigma and pain that single mothers in Morocco have to deal with. I agree with the assessment that it is unislamic to stigmatize these “illegitimate” children or their parents. As many interpret Islam to be a “dean it-tasamuh” (religion of pardon), I do not see how it is justified for a deed to brand someone for life.

Unwed Mother in Indian Perspective-

In Indian society is that, on the one hand, it greatly values fertility and motherhood with in marriage, but on the other, it totally rejects and ostracisms the unwed mother and the child born out of wedlock, to the extent that the mother is compelled to give up her child for adoption. There is limited statistics in the country to reveal the intensity of the problem of unwed mothers and the child born out of wedlock; but the setting up of an increasing number of foundling homes and admissions to more new born babies is an indication towards it. The extend and magnitude of the problem is indicated by the fact that almost all children given in adoption are illegitimate ones.

Among the so- called socially handicapped, the unmarried mothers occupy the lowest place because of the stigma attached to their plight. Hence the status of an unmarried mother is more deplorable and pathetic in comparison to other women in the Indian Society. Lack of adequate programmers and interventions for these unwed mothers has definitely an economic, social and educational impact. The present study aims at an in depth analysis of the problem of unwanted pregnancies and lone motherhood, especially those residing in the licensed homes in Kerala. The researcher also aims to evolve an intervention model for the Institutionalized Unwed mothers for their Future life. It is necessary to explore and create new educational programmers that will reduce the probability of these young unwed mothers, becoming pregnant again and which will also help them to have the greatest opportunities for success in their life.

An unwed mother is a girl or woman , who is not legally married to a man by whom she has conceived a child. She may be separated, divorced, widowed, married to someone other than the child’s father or never married. She may be pregnant or has already delivered a child and is living presently in any one of the nine licensed institutions in Kerala for a minimum of one month period.

The age of menarche among Indian girls, which is reported to be declining, ranges from 11.5–14.5 years. With sexual maturation taking place earlier and the age of marriage delayed, the period of non-marital fecundity, is increased, exposing more people to more years at risk of an unwanted, premarital pregnancy.An estimated eight million induced abortions are performed in India, and anecdotal evidence suggests that a fairly large proportion of them are performed for adolescent mothers and unmarried teenage girls. While no realistic or accurate data are available, the enormity of the problem may be judged by the fact that 8–10 percent of those who seek medical terminations of pregnancy are teenage mothers and unmarried girls. The real percentage may be far larger.

It is difficult to have a correct estimate of the number of unmarried mothers in India because such incidences are always kept as a family secret, and seldom come| to the public notice. Even to estimate the number of unmarried mothers coming to the hospitals seem to be practically impossible because these hospitals, specially the private ones, are not willing to give out any such type of information, because of the nature of the problem.

One of the objectives of this study was to develop an intervention model for working with these young unwed mothers. While dealing with unwed mothers it should be kept in mind that each individual is unique and the intervention should not be a blanket approach. There is an urgent need of trained professionals to provide quality interventions .It is in context that the Researcher gave an orientation programmed for the Social workers and functionaries of the licensed homes with the objective of enhancing their knowledge, attitude and skills while working with these marginalized and deprived group of unwed mothers. This was actually an outcome of this study which in turn rendered sustainability to the intervention programmed .This not only benefit the unwed mothers but also the children born out of the wedlock, there by reducing the trauma of the unwed mothers who were institutionalized.

Adoption of the neighborhood community by the Schools of Social Work to provide awareness classes to different target groups and thereby strengthen the community support system will reduce the stigma of unwed motherhood and also helps in preventing the incidence of rape and sexual abuse, preventing the incidence of illegal abortion, feticide, infanticide, child abuse and child abandonment. Awareness creation through value added sex education for the adolescents at schools and colleges will prevent or reduce the incidence of premarital sex and out of wed lock births. Social work educators can effectively implement the above mentioned psychosocial interventions as part of the Field Practicum.

The study was confined only to the unwed mothers who were admitted to the licensed homes in Kerala and not to the other unrecognized homes in Kerala. Only two homes (Nirmala Sisubhavan, Ernakulam and Sisubhavan Angamaly) gave consent for intervention. Accordingly intervention was given only to the unwed mothers in these homes. Only limited studies related to institutionalized unwed mothers in the Indian context. The respondents were informed in detail regarding the study and their consent was obtained before the study. Confidentiality was strictly observed regarding the responses.

This study has in fact added more clarity to the problems of institutionalized unwed mothers. Development of an Intervention Module for the Unwed mothers residing in the Licensed Homes and the intervention programmed has proved that it has helped them to improve their sexual knowledge, self esteem and subjective well being which would help in their future life. Hence the Intervention module can be adopted as a model for all such homes in Kerala.

The intervention will reduce the trauma of the unwed mothers there by giving birth to healthy babies. The findings of the study open new avenues for framing Social Policy in the context of unwanted pregnancies and lone motherhood. The Orientation Programmed (evolved as an outcome of this Research) conducted for the functionaries of the Licensed homes with the objective of equipping the Social Workers in terms of knowledge, attitude and skills while working with Institutionalized unwed mothers, has in turn rendered sustainability to the intervention programmed with institutionalized unwed mothers.

Unwed Mothers in Odisha-

There are hundreds of unwed mother in Orissa's tribal belts. Driven by poverty and homelessness, these girls are easy victims for predatory males. According to the Indian National Trust for the Welfare of Tribals (INTWT), the interior districts of Orissa have an estimated 4,000 unwed mothers. State Commission for Women(SCW) Ex-Chairperson, Namita Panda describes the problem as a ticking time bomb that would one day explode and shatter the conservative Oriya society. In fact, the consequences of this sexual abuse are already surfacing in various forms. Shunned by society and rejected by their families, many young unwed mothers are either ending up in shelter homes or are falling into the hands of traffickers. According to an estimate at least 3,000 girls are "missing" and are feared to have been smuggled out of the state by agents and touts operating in deep rural areas with promises of marriage and a good life.

Shocked by the number of such cases, NGOs like Basundhara, the Nari Suraksha Samiti (NSS) and the Society for Weaker Communities have taken up cudgels on behalf of the victims. The SCW alone has received complaints from 1,280 minors and teenagers since 1993. But the SWC and other women's groups say that this figure does not reflect the ground reality: the number could well cross the 10,000-mark and it is swelling by the day. Most of the 20 short-stay homes set up by the Orissa Government in various parts of the state to shelter women in distress and provide vocational training have become homes for unwed mothers.

An INTWT report says, "While premarital sex was not a taboo among tribal groups and freedom loving young tribal girls want to live a fun-filled life, non-tribals or outsiders take advantage of their simplicity and seduce them into sexual relationships."There are about 4,000 unwed mothers in Orissa's impoverished coastal districts, most of them aged between 14 and 20 years. The problem, however, is not a tribal vs non tribal conflict. Anjali Bose, secretary of the Jamshedpur-based Mahila Kalyan Sangathan (MKS), who has conducted an extensive study on the problems of unwed mothers in the villages around the city, says that tribal youth who go to towns to study or work also undergo a massive attitudinal change. The environment of sexual exploitation in urban areas pollutes the rustic innocence of the tribal youth. "They develop a tendency to sexually exploit innocent girls in their villages by promising to marry them. But the moment a man realises that the girl has conceived, he abandons her," says Bose.

This is an humble attempt to perceive and understand the socio-emotional problems of unwed mothers. This problem is magnified by poverty, ignorance, social stigma which forces these women towards humiliation which act as a hindrance on the path of their development. The futures of those children who remain with the unwed mothers are a source of primary concern, and attention needs to be given towards their welfare. Domestic violence is becoming a matter of great concern. Work place violence is also causing serious concern. All efforts should be made to identify and get the accused, stringent laws should be made and strict punishment along with financial penalty should be made for the accused. Awareness campaign regarding welfare measure and legal issues and there should be women police station or Mahila desk in all the villages, adult education system should be made functional, political rights and financial literacy campaign should also be organized in all the remote rural areas. Awareness regarding safety measures like use of contraception, regarding risks factors like unsafe pregnancy leading to HIV/AIDS, and Sexually transmitted diseases etc should be imparted. The society needs to be more sensitized about the problem of unwed mothers. The society should adopt measures to avoid domestic violence, mothers of the young girl along with their daughter should be made aware of the problems and how to protect them from such type of crime, mother and daughter’s relationship should be a friendly one where she tells all her problems without fear and favour. A major problem that cannot be ignored is poverty, thus more number of SHGs and microfinance scheme should be made available to rural women to empower them economically. Land rights to women should be given so that they could have a share on the labour they put in. The welfare schemes like Short Stay Homes and Swadhar Shelter Homes for destitute should be available in rural and tribal areas so as to give these victims immediate relief instead of only being available at urban areas. A committee should diligently monitor the lives of the destitute women once they are in the Short Stay Homes and Swadhar Shelter Homes. Special attention needs to be given to rehabilitate them within the time span allotted to these homes. And special attention also needs to be given to the children who live with these unwed mothers. Print and electronic media should be active in the rural and tribal areas to spread the message of safe sex and knowledge regarding the risks involved in unprotected sex through pamphlets, showing documentaries on the life of unwed mothers and the life of their innocent children in schools and colleges. These measures will instill in the youth greater awareness and responsibility. As false promise to marry is one of the most common causes of unwed motherhood women must be educated against this act. The severe laws and punishments for this crime should be highlighted. And most importantly the DNA test should be made available for such victims. NGOs and voluntary organizations should actively spread the awareness regarding different welfare schemes and developmental programme in the rural areas. They should also identify unwed mothers and try to give them justice with the help of the police. They should provide training programmes to make these women economically independent.

Government hospitals, bus stands and railway stations are the areas where the unwed mothers are generally found. Thus “help desk” should be established in these areas. All efforts should be made to make right the wrongs and make this earth a beautiful place for women to live where women will not feel vulnerable or misused but be the epitome of power. Women have the most powerful and unique ability that is the ability to give life, lets not tarnish that one accept that makes her unique by abusing her integrity but lets try to cherish, uphold and celebrate this life giving phenomena—a woman.

With the Government turning a blind eye and social groups battling against impossible odds, the problem of unwed mothers is like a gathering storm.

CONCIUSION:

This study of Unwed Mothers in Odisha confined only to the unwed mothers. The respondents were informed in detail regarding the study and their consent was obtained before the study was conducted. Confidentiality was strictly observed regarding the responses.

In this study, profile refers to the selected characteristics of the unwed mothers such as their age, educational qualification, birth place, religion, Family details-age, education and occupation of parents, place of upbringing, number of siblings, ordinal position, monthly income of the family and major health problems in the family. Any situation or reason that led a woman to conceive because of illicit relationship, love affair, rape or deceived on false promises to marry, conflicts in the family, broken family due to death, divorce and separation. This refers to personal, familial, social or other causes which resulted to the present situation of unwed motherhood and who referred them to the institution. In this study Family Relations refers to the unwed mothers’ interaction among family members, home situation, conflicts in the family, parent- child relationship, marital relationship of respondent’s parents, family get together, respondent’s role model in the family.

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Received on 08.01.2018 Modified on 19.01.2018

Asian Journal of Management. 2018; 9(1):582-590.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2018.00092.6

Countries: United States of America, Morocco, India