FIRST ASSIGNMENT: BVF 020

WOMEN IN INDIAN SOCIETY

Submitted To: Ma’am Shrishti

Submitted By: Kalpana
Roll Number: 1914151
Student ID: LWBLI19364
CLASS: BA LLB VIth Semester
Man and woman both are equal and play a paramount role in the creation and
development of their families in a particular and the society in general. Indeed, the
struggle for equality has been one of the major concerns of the women’s movement
all over the world. The difference in sex and physical form denotes no difference in
status. Woman is the complement of man, and not inferior. In India, since long back,
women were considered as an oppressed section of the society and they were
neglected for centuries. The birth of the son is being celebrated while the birth of a
daughter is filled with pain. Boys are encouraged to be tough and outgoing but girls
are encouraged to be homebound and shy. All these differences are gender differences
and they are created by society. It has adverse impact on development goals and
consequently reduces economic growth. It hampers the overall well-being because
blocking women from participation in social, political and economic activities can
adversely affect the whole society. Gender inequality is, therefore, a form of
inequality which is distinct from other forms of socioeconomic inequalities. Gender
inequality in India is a crucial reality. In modern times, women are performing
exceptionally well in different spheres of activities. Still majority of Indian women
are facing the problem of gender inequality and discrimination. As per UNDP report,
India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on gender inequality index (GII). India ranks low
partly because of its skewed ratio, with only 914 females for every 1000 males,
according to Indian government data. As per UNDP report, only 29% of Indian
women above the age of 15 in 2011 were part of labour force, as compared to 80.7%
men. In parliament, only 10.9% of law makers are women, while in Pakistan it is
21%. In India, 200 women died for every 100,000 child births and 80% of Indian
women didn‟t have bank account in 2016 as per UNDP report Every day 39000 girls
are forced for early marriage i.e. 27 girls are married a minute. This paper is trying to
bring out the factors that are responsible for gender inequality and suggests measures
to eradicate this problem.

Man and woman both are equal and play a paramount role in the creation and
development of their families in a particular and the society in general. Indeed, the
struggle for equality has been one of the major concerns of the women‟s movement
all over the world. The difference in sex and physical form denotes no difference in
status. Woman is the complement of man, and not inferior. In India, since long back,
women were considered as an oppressed section of the society and they were
neglected for centuries. The birth of the son is being celebrated while the birth of a
daughter is filled with pain. Boys are encouraged to be tough and outgoing but girls
are encouraged to be homebound and shy. All these differences are gender differences
and they are created by society. It has adverse impact on development goals and
consequently reduces economic growth. It hampers the overall well-being because
blocking women from participation in social, political and economic activities can
adversely affect the whole society. Gender inequality is, therefore, a form of
inequality which is distinct from other forms of socioeconomic inequalities. Gender
inequality in India is a crucial reality. In modern times, women are performing
exceptionally well in different spheres of activities. Still majority of Indian women
are facing the problem of gender inequality and discrimination. As per UNDP report,
India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on gender inequality index (GII). India ranks low
partly because of its skewed ratio, with only 914 females for every 1000 males,
according to Indian government data. As per UNDP report, only 29% of Indian
women above the age of 15 in 2011 were part of labour force, as compared to 80.7%
men. In parliament, only 10.9% of law makers are women, while in Pakistan it is
21%. In India, 200 women died for every 100,000 child births and 80% of Indian
women didn‟t have bank account in 2016 as per UNDP report Every day 39000 girls
are forced for early marriage i.e. 27 girls are married a minute. This paper is trying to
bring out the factors that are responsible for gender inequality and suggests measures
to eradicate this problem.

Gender Inequality and Development: Development- a nice word to hear involves

various factors. Development of a nation in a complete sense means the overall
upliftment of the entire population as a whole. It means each sector of the country has
to develop equally. In the past years everyone is saying that India has developed a lot.
But is it true? How can we say that only based on some values such as GDP and
GNP? Yes it is true we as a nation have achieved a lot in the past years but at the
same time we cannot ignore the fact that half of the population of the country
specially the women are deprived of many things. And the entire country can achieve
the pace of development only when these section of the society i.e. the women begins
to equally contribute to the nation. For this it is very important that all possible steps
must be taken to eradicate gender inequality. There is growing evidence of the
synergies between gender equality, on the one hand, and economic, social and
environmental sustainability, on the other. For example, when women have greater
voice and participation in public administration, public resources are more likely to be
allocated towards investments. Yet this is also a time of opportunity. There are many
examples around the world of alternative development pathways that move towards
sustainability with gender equality. Gender equality and development can reinforce
each other in powerful ways. Achieving gender equality and realizing the human
rights, dignity and capabilities of diverse groups of women is a central requirement of
a just and sustainable world. Increasingly, women‘s full participation is recognized as
central to policymaking. For example, their decisive involvement in community forest
management bodies yields positive outcomes for both forest sustainability and gender
equality (Agarwal, 2010). Further, certain aspects of gender equality, such as female
education and women‘s share of employment, can have a positive impact on
economic growth, although this impact is dependent on the nature of growth
strategies, the structure of the economy, the sectoral composition of women‘s
employment and labour market segregation, among other factors (Kabeer and Natali,
2013).
Health:– India has made considerable progress in social and economic development
in recent decades. However, improvements in women‘s health have lagged behind
gains in other areas. India is among the few countries where males significantly
outnumber females, and its maternal mortality rates in rural areas are among the
world‘s highest. Females experience more episodes of illness than males and are less
likely to receive medical treatment before illness is well advanced. Women, especially
the poor women, are often trapped in a cycle of ill health exhausted by childbearing
and hard physical labour. The cultural norms that particularly affect women‘s health
are the attitudes to marriage, age of marriage, the value attached to fertility and the
sex of the child, the pattern of the family organization and the ideal role demanded of
the women by social conventions. In India, most women suffer from malnutrition.
Malnutrition can be a factor in maternity-related complications and infant deaths.
Undernourished mothers are more likely to have undernourished children. Indian
women have high mortality rates, particularly during childhood and in their
reproductive years. Unwanted pregnancies terminated by unsafe abortions also have
negative consequences on women‘s health. Maternal mortality rate is also high in
India. In a study conducted by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), it was
found that 37% of all pregnant women in India received no prenatal care during their
pregnancies. According to NFHS, Indian children, especially girls, are the most
malnourished in the world. 2.2.3. Infanticide and Female Foeticide :- Female
foeticide and infanticide are the most hideous outcome of sex discrimination. Son
preference a deep-rooted social value combined with poverty, illiteracy and low status
of girls are among the few of the factors associated with the female mortality before
and at birth. Female foeticide- a practice of denying birth of a female child-though
prevalent in many parts of the country, remain largely invisible. According to a
recent report by the UNICEF up to 50 million girls and women are missing from
India‘s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India. In most
countries in the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males.
In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. The
accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide and female
foeticide in India is mainly the costs involved with the raising of a girl, end eventually
providing her an appropriate marriage and dowry, was the single most important
factor in allowing acceptance of the murder at birth in India. Female infanticide is
leading to a serious imbalance in the sex ratio in the country.

Education
Little girls face the debilitating discrimination of all few chances of attaining any
education. Either girls are not sent to school or at an early age their education is
discontinued. In India, very conspicuous gender disparities persist in all educational
indicators, especially with regard to enrolment and retention at the primary, upper
primary and higher levels of school education. The situation is much worse in rural
and tribal areas due to social attitudes, poor access to education and family-oriented
role and responsibilities of the girl child. Girls form more than half of the illiterate
children in the age group of 5-9 years. Although girls‘ enrollment at various levels of
school education has improved appreciably, girls account for only 43.2% of
enrollment at the primary stage and 39% at the upper primary stage. The incidence of
dropout and stagnation for girls is much higher than that of boys at primary and upper
primary stage. It is estimated that every 10 girls who enter class 1st, only 6 reach to
class 5th. Access to education continues to be a major problem especially for rural
girls. In India the literacy rate of women is much lower than men because boys
receive more schooling than girls. There are parts of India where the literacy rate of
women today is as low as 3 percent. So stark is the gender inequality in India that it is
one of the 43 countries in the world where male literacy rate are at least 15 percent
higher than female rates. As per the census of 2011, an effective literacy rate for men
was 82.14% whereas for women it was 65.46% Educational deprivation is intimately
associated with poverty. The UNICEF Executive Director Mr. Carol Bellamy says;
―No country has ever emerged from poverty without giving priority to
education.‖(Indian Currents, 13 June 2004). Low female literacy rate means an
overall sluggish growth of India, as it impacts every arena of the development. India
is struggling hard to stabilize its growing population through family planning
programs. But if females are illiterate, then this has a direct and negative impact on
these initiatives. When a girl or a woman is not educated, it is not only she who
suffers but the entire family has to bear the consequences of her illiteracy. It has been
found out that illiterate women face more hardships in life than literate ones. They
have high levels of fertility as well as mortality; they suffer from malnutrition and all
other related health problems. In one of the surveys, it has been found out that infant
mortality is inversely related to mother‘s educational level. In such a scenario not only
women but their kids also go through the same conditions. She, who does not know
the importance of education in life, does not emphasize the same for her kids. This
hampers the family as well as the nation‘s progress as a whole. Lack of education
means lack of awareness. Illiterate women are not aware of their rights. They know
nothing about initiatives taken by the government for their welfare. Illiterate women
keep on struggling hard and bear harshness of life, family and even their husbands.

Employment
Gender inequality can also be seen in case of employment. Women in India are
primarily responsible for child care and household responsibilities. The size and
composition of female labour force are a reflection of their overall submerged socio-
economic status. A majority of women are to be found in the vast rural and urban
unorganized sector. According to an Estimate by the National Commission on Self-
Employed women, 94% of the total female workforce operates within this highly
exploited sector. Employment in this sector is characterized by low pay, long works
of trade unions/organizations to facilitate the mobilization of workers and knit them
into a conscious workforce. This is all due to varied nature of occupation in this
sector, inadequate legislation and ineffective enforcement of legal safeguards to
protect these workers, particularly in regulating their work conditions. Due to various
prevailing social relations between men and women as well as the structure of the
economy women lack the opportunity to acquire skills and training, which could
facilitate occupational shifts. Since women have to bear the major burden of domestic
chores, which in poor household is time-consuming and labour intensive, they do not
have the time and opportunity to acquire skills and training for better jobs. On the
other the ‗organized sector‘ accounts for approximately 10% of the female labour
force. Employment opportunities in the governmental and public sectors and the
private corporate sector are limited in view of the general constraints on resources for
major expansion and dependence on the dictates of market mechanisms, which are
prejudicial to women. The status of women is intimately connected with their
economic status, which in turn, depends upon rights, roles and opportunity for the
participation in economic activities. The economic status of women is now accepted
as an indicator of a society‘s stage of development. However, all development does
not result in improving women‘s economic activities. Pattern of women‘s activities
are affected by prevailing social ideology and are also linked with the stage of
economic development.

Conclusion
Decision making Power It is the fundamental right of every citizen to contribute to
the decision-making process. As the future of the people of the country lies in
women‘s hands, their effective participation in the political matters of the country is
extremely important. Gender equality is a prerequisite for effective participation of
women in strengthening the institutional structure of democracy. On the question of
peace, since women are one of the most vulnerable groups in the region effected by
armed conflicts, special attention has to be drawn to the need to eliminate by armed
conflicts, special attention has to be drawn to the need to eliminate obstacles to the
maintenance of peace. Women‘s equal role in decision making with respect to peace
and related issues should be enhanced and encouraged at all levels. Women have been
marginalized because of because of several socioeconomic constraints. But however,
the number of women in leadership position at the local, village, district and national
level is still not commensurate with the numbers in society. The number of women
contestants in parliamentary elections has not increased significantly over the years.
Political parties seem uniformly reluctant to field women candidates. Women in
Parliament are under-represented and are often ignored in the decision making
process. There are many social, political and cultural factors which come in the way
of women who are interested in entering the political field. The prevalence of the
masculine model of political life and of elected governmental bodies-men dominates
the political arena. As a result of these women often remains suppressed.