WOMEN’S ISSUES
IN INDIA
Dr Ranjini C R
Centre for Public Policy
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
November 15, 2013
Outline of the Class
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Historical Perspective
Pre-independence and National Movement
Waves of the Women’s Movements
Many Dimensions of Inequality – Culture, Health, Law, Politics, Work,
Leadership, Violence Against Women
• Global Gender Gap – Global perspective
Critiques of the ‘The Golden Vedic Age’
• Commonly believed that the Vedic period (1500 – 500 BC) was the golden age of Indian
Womanhood. Status of Women was very high.
• Invasion by Muslims. Evils of the 19th century – purdah, sati, female infanticide – were outcomes
of fears for women’s safety
• Christian Missionaries and historian James Mill considered Hindu civilisation to be crude and
immoral. Justified British rule in India by arguing that women in India required the protection
and intervention of the colonial state.
• Feminist Historians – The Golden age of Indian womanhood is only a selective picture. Limited
recognition as wives and mothers within patriarchal kinship structure.
• Scholarship and Property. Less than one % of 1000 hymns of Rig Veda are attributed to women,
which show marginal position of women.
4
Pre-Independence
• Improvement in the Position of Women at the Heart
of Social Reform Movements
• Raja Ram Mohan Roy and the Abolition of Sati
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Women’s Education, Widow
Remarriage
5
National Movement and Women
Political participation by women in the
massive political struggles from the twenties
onwards opened up new vistas of possibilities
that a century of social reform could not.
Women participated in all streams of the
national movement—Gandhian, Socialist,
Communist and Revolutionary Terrorist
Source: Bipan Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee, India After Independence, p 451.
•
The nationalist movement, by treating women as political
beings capable of nationalist feelings and as, if not more,
capable of struggle and sacrifice than men, resolved many
of the doctrinal debates about the desirability of women’s
role in the public sphere.
•
The two central symbols that Gandhi used to generate a
new life in the anti-imperialist struggle—Khadi and salt–
were both explicitly derived from women’s life-sustaining
activities in the ‘private’ realm, linking these, in a
revolutionary manner, to the ‘public’
•
Mahatma Gandhi to Mridula Sarabhai: “I have brought the
Indian women out of the kitchen, it is up to you (the
women activists) to see that they don’t go back.”
•
Thus, when freedom was won, the Constitution aimed to
ensure legal rights to women
•
Women got the right to vote, along with men,
without any qualification of education or property or
income—a right for which women suffragettes had
fought long and hard in western countries.
Gandhi at Champaran, Bihar, Quit India Movement
Women’s Movement in India
• Three Waves: First Wave (National Movement)
• Second Wave (70s)
• The ‘Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India‘, a ‘historic
benchmark' when it was first published in 1974. It forced a
reconceptualization of the prevalent discourse on issues of gender and
economic well-being, political participation, law, health and family welfare.
• Third Wave (80s onwards)
Women in Development
• During 50s and 60s, “modernisation theory” propagated as the solution to the ills
of the Third World. The social analysis premised on simple dichotomy: between
traditional and non-traditional societies. Modernising agents were educated middle
class, improved communication and methods of governance. The benefits of
growth, it was claimed would “filter” down to the poorer classes.
• Post Independence, planner also adopted this approach to development
• Feminists contested this – further promoted hierarchical patriarchal values,
development does not affect people equally, but differs across social classes, castes
and different groups. Development had marginalised women further.
• Whether development increases inequality and gender exploitation or that
development that is sensitive to egalitarian and gender concerns.
• Women in Development, Later Gender and Development.
Women’s Movement
• By early 1980s:
• Feminism had branched into a series of activities ranging from production of
literature and audio visual material to slum improvement work, employment
generating schemes, self help groups, health, education, trade unions.
• Example of SEWA.
• Also moved from issue based groups to organizational identities
• Journalism, Academia, Medicine. Women’s Studies Departments; Journals;
Publishing houses.
10
Women’s Movement
• The political right has floated various womens’
organizations, mainly welfare oriented but using social
activities as a vehicle for conservative ideas.
• Resurgence of the idea of Sati early 1980s with the death
of Roop Kanwar of Rajasthan.
• Reactionary forces co-opted the language of “right” of
Hindu women to commit sati.
• A setback for the womens’ movement?
11
Women’s & Women-Led Movements
• Anti-Liquor Movements (Bhils in Dhulia; AP)
• Chattisgarh: Against Bhilai mechanization
• Shetkari Sanghatan’s Women’s Wing
• Bhopal Victims
• NGO Participation
• Narmada Bachao Andolan
• General NGO-ization of the women’s movement
• Anti-Rape and Anti-Violence Movements
• Naxalism
• Protest against Army in Manipur: Irom Sharmila
The Chipko Movement
• During the activist phase of Chipko in
the 1970s, the courage and vigilance
of Uttarakhandi women saved many
forests and earned them a hallowed
place in the history of the global
environmental movement.
• Most prominent amongst these
women was Lata village's Gaura Devi
who led the first all-women action to
save their community forest in March
1974.
Source:
http://anshulg.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/chipkomovement.jpg
Many Dimensions of Gender Inequality
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Culture and Attitude
Health – Infant and Maternal Mortality
Law
Political Power: Reservations for Women in Representative Institutions
Work
Corporate Leadership
Violence Against Women (Domestic Violence, Dowry Deaths, Rape…)
The Inequality Trap
• Men’s Sphere Outside the Home; Women’s Inside
• Women’s work = household inputs; men = breadwinners
• Marriage preserves patriarchy: patrilocal
• Marriage: framework to exchange women between households;
hence less education (why invest?)
• Inheritance & property rights regimes favour men; Dowry
• Mobility restrictions; internalized by women
• Expectations on gender roles get solidified as norms
• Women work outside home mainly due to adversity/need
• Lower earnings for same work; work at home too
• Information asymmetries in home about work & options
• Violence often used to control wife’s earnings & behavior
• Higher earnings for women lead to better outcome for kids
The Missing Girl Child
• A study by the British Medical journal Lancet in 2006 found that
Indians have terminated 10 million girl children in the last 20 years
• It analysed female fertility figures from a national survey of 6 million
people in India. Alarmingly, there were about 0.5 million fewer girls
born in the country in 1997 than expected
• Last census in 2011 — 940 girls per 1000 boys
• Neglect of the interests of female children in healthcare and nutrition
Source: http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/prov_results_paper2_india.html
Not just a rural phenomenon
• Prenatal sex determination & selective abortion accounts for
half-a-million missing girls yearly
• Indian Medical Association says five million female foetuses
are killed in India each year
• This is not just a rural phenomenon: affluent south Delhi
known for its flashy markets and lavish consumers has only
762 girls for 1000 boys: one in every four girls are aborted
• A study by the Christian Medical Association of India proves
that wealth and education have nothing to do with aborting a
female foetus
Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/posh-south-delhi-has-low-sex-ratio/14441-3.html
Practiced in North & South India
• Highly skewed ratios in northern Punjab – 874 girls per 1000 boys
• Son temples exist to pray for a male child
• In southern Tamil Nadu where development indices are higher than most other
states, in Salem district 60% of the girls born are killed within 3 weeks of their
birth
• Tamil Nadu started the Cradle Baby scheme where parents who don't want to
keep their girl babies could leave them in cradles kept at government reception
centers. So far about 3,200 girls and 582 boys had been rescued. Subsequently,
2,088 girls and 372 boys were given in adoption in the country and another 170
girls and 27 boys were in foreign countries. Non-resident Indians adopted 13
girls and 5 boys. 160 children were handed over to their parents.
Leading to Sales and Barter
• Many belts in Haryana when men buy women for as low as
Rs. 3,000 because of the paucity of women. They don’t
mind mixing caste and region as long as the bride is from
the same religion
• The Rod community in Haryana barters their girls for other
girls – give a girl in marriage only from a family which is
sure to give you one back. The process of bartering girls is
called 'Roda'. Over time, it has transformed into an intercommunity trafficking of young girls
• Young girls are also bought for a price, from Rs 50 - Rs
60,000.
Prohibited by Law
• Sex determination of the foetus is prohibited under the PNDT
(Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) Act, 1996
• Very few convictions under the Act due to a nexus between
powerful medical profession and the law enforcers
• The process is discreet as the doctors usually begin to refer
to the baby by their gender, or ask parents to buy clothes of
a certain colour
Source:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/sex%20determination%20india/Nitajk/september%202007/october%2007/berkely2.jpg
http://www.nomad4ever.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pre-birth-sex-determination-punishable-by-law-in-india.jpg
Why the preference for males?
• In Hindu custom, boys perform funeral rites
• Girls have to be married off by paying dowry, hence are considered
expensive (paraya dhan—other’s wealth)
• Boys are considered earning members of the family and thus valued
more and invested in more (in terms of nutrition, education etc.)
• Pressures leading to sex selective abortions/ infanticide: economic
(dowry) socio-cultural (preference for a male child) & socialized
preference for at least one male child.
• The social and familial status of the woman who bears a son (contrast
to the woman who bears only daughters) founded on a bias that does
not weaken with education, income or social prestige.
• Bias is implicitly or explicitly universal in Indian society.
• The political economy of sex selective abortions: sex determination
outlawed, but continues as part of corrupt medical practice.
• Female elimination whether through illegal sex determination and
feticide, or through resurgence of sati, not fundamentally different.
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Mathrubhumi: Futuristic Fiction
• Story of village where systematic female
infanticide leads to scarcity of women.
• Village filled with bachelors who all despair
of ever getting a wife so they are prepared
to pay a hefty sum to secure one.
• Contrast with Indian tradition where girls’
parents have to pay dowry to compensate
groom’s family for taking over ‘burden’.
•It is a harsh film which shows the dark side of man, his cruelty
towards the female sex, from the newborn to the full-grown.
Women’s Health
• Family Planning, until recently, was the main focus at the public health centres;
• Family Planning – Women as Monthly ‘Targets’
• Assumption: Women’s ignorance will lead to high rates of infant and maternal
mortality, rather than poverty, malnutrition and lack of medical facilities.
• Ignore the structural constraints in which poor women work.
• Breast feeding. Lack of measures to make it feasible for working mothers.
Women’s Health
• Contraceptives by MNCs, pushed here despite being banned in West
• Depo Provera and Net-En. Testing was shrouded in secrecy. Women
volunteers were only told that this will stop them from conceiving, nor that
this is an experiment and that their might be side effects.
• In 1986 (Stree Shakti Sangathana of Hyderabad, Chingari of Ahmedabad
and Saheli of Delhi), along with doctors and a journalist filed a petition in
Supreme Court against Indian Council for Medical Research, Ministry of
Health and the State of Andhra Pradesh, demanding its halt.
Maternal Mortality in India
• Despite an ambitious rural health initiative, over 100,000 women
die from pregnancy-related causes each year, more than
anywhere else in the world. Many more suffer debilitating
complications that they endure in silence.
• The medical causes of maternal mortality are well known and
largely preventable:
• Prevalence of child marriage and early pregnancy
• Malnutrition
• Poor quality healthcare
• Complications from unsafe abortion
• Inadequate access to family planning information and services.
• Gender inequality
Source:
http://reproductiverights.org/en/feature/maternal-mortality-in-india-a-human-rights-crisis
Inequality and the Legal System
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Source:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bSrULquY9Ms/ShlW8Co01oI/AAAAAAAAABA/5jlga_1fyKE/s320/women-power_18.jpg
Civil Laws and Religion
• Hindu Code Bill
• Ambedkar submitted a bill that raised age of consent and marriage, upheld
monogamy, gave women the rights to divorce, maintenance and inheritance, .
• Opposition from conservatives: postponed
• Later, sections passed as Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Hindu
Minority and Guardianship Act, and Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act
• Laws still gender unequal: under Hindu Marriage Act, if there are no children
in a marriage, the women is assumed to be “barren,” not the man.
Shah Bano Case
• When the Supreme Court ruled in favour of a divorcee, that she
should be given support by her ex-husband, the orthodox elements
among the Muslim community opposed this ruling as an interference
in their personal law
• Rajiv Gandhi got parliament to pass a law overturning the Supreme
Court verdict
Muslim Personal Law
All India Muslim Khwateen's (Women) Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB)
Parveen Abidi: Maulanas always describe & implement the Shari'ah as per their
interests. Muslim women are doubly disadvantaged. The Maulanas never come to
the rescue of harassed, divorced or victimised women while the administration
refuses to interfere, terming it a religious matter
Maulanas: Islam is one of the most progressive religions as far as women's rights
go. For instance the Shari'ah stipulates a marriage cannot be initiated till the
woman's permission is sought. To bring up, educate and marry well a daughter is
one of the surest routes to Jannat and a man cannot force his wife to do
household chores. The nikahnama lists the duties and rights of both men and
women and stipulates that representatives from both sides should be present to
settle a dispute
Ownership of Land
• “Maika bhi paraya, sasural mein bhi parayi, mera hai kya?"
• (My parents' home is not mine and I am a stranger in my
in-laws' home, what is mine?).
• Village exogamy (marrying into a different village),
customary relinquishing of property in favour of brothers,
etc., have kept women away from land ownership.
• Dowry is intended to serve as a settlement of the woman’s
share of inheritance
• Laws aimed at equal land ownership and inheritance are
rarely implemented
Leading to Practical Challenges: Bina Agarwal
• Men migrate from villages in search of jobs and come back only during
harvest season. Thus the women who do all the work, take decisions and
shoulder all responsibilities, have actually no rights.
• In our villages, it is the women who are the real farmers, yet ownership
rests with men. There are so many practical problems that flow from this.
• For instance, if the woman wants a loan for water or seed or implements,
the official machinery will deny her this on the pretext that she is not the
owner.
• Also a woman pays far more attention to the land with an eye always on
saving the earnings, whereas left to themselves men would spend a large
part of the income. The world over, studies have proven that if resources
are with women, the benefits that flow to the family are far greater".
Similarly, in Naxalite-infested Areas
• Historical factors and present circumstances have conspired to
keep women away from land ownership.
• "Being a tribal area, land rights here were governed by custom and
usage, which were women-unfriendly. With naxalism, hundreds of
men were jailed or killed. Their women, illiterate and exploited,
were left without any land.
• When they demanded their rights from the administration they were
branded naxalites and jailed. There are huge tracts of lands for
which no ownership records exist.
• Even land which was donated under bhoodan went back to those
who donated it as they were the ones who knew how to claim the
land.”
Changes in the Law
• The Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) emphasised the need for genderfriendly changes in land laws and stated "(there must be) preference to
women in the distribution of surplus land and legal provisions for
protecting their rights on land".
• However, existing land ownership laws in most states are discriminatory
• Although the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005 does away with
the gender discriminatory clause on agricultural land, it is applicable only
to Hindu women.
• Among Muslims, even though the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat)
Application Act, 1937 gives daughters and widows property rights,
agricultural land is kept away from its ambit.
And the Reality
• For instance the Ministry of Rural Development's instruction
that 40% of agricultural land settled under land reform
programmes should be exclusively in the name of women and
in the remaining cases, the allotment may be jointly in the
name of husband and wife, is not being followed.
• Thus in UP, only five, two and 15% of women of the high,
middle and lower castes respectively own land.
• Interestingly, 60% of the high caste women get a share in the
land only because the family wishes to avoid the land ceiling.
Women in Parliament
• Women currently constitute
• 10.7% of Lok Sabha
• 11.1% of Rajya Sabha
• 7% of State Legislative Assemblies
Source: Wikipedia, http://164.100.47.5/Newmembers/women.aspx
Women in Politics and Government
• History of powerful women leaders: Indira Gandhi, Sonia
Gandhi, Jayalalitha, Mayawati
• Most women get power through kinship ties
• Now reservations under Panchayati Raj
• Pioneered in Karnataka (1987) 25%, 73th and 74th
Constitutional Amendments Acts in 1992.
• Sometimes tokens for their male relatives
• Social taboos on participation outside home with men
• Bureaucracy seeing more women at the top
• Foreign Secretaries: Chokila Iyer, Nirupama Rao
38
Women’s Reservation Bill 2008
• The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008 seeks to reserve onethird of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative
assemblies. The allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by
such authority as prescribed by Parliament.
• One third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes shall be reserved for women of those groups in
the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies.
• Reserved seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in
the state or union territory.
• Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the
commencement of this Amendment Act.
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Pros & Cons
• Proponents stress the necessity of affirmative action to
improve the condition of women. Some studies on panchayats
have shown positive effect of reservation on empowerment of
women and on allocation of resources.
• Opponents argue that it would perpetuate the unequal status
of women since they would not be perceived to be competing
on merit. They also contend that this policy diverts attention
from the larger issues of electoral reform such as
criminalisation of politics and inner party democracy.
• Reservation of seats in Parliament restricts choice of voters to
women candidates. Therefore, some experts have suggested
alternate methods such as reservation in political parties and
dual member constituencies.
Source:
http://www.prsindia.org/index.php?name=Sections&action=bill_details&id=6&bill_id=45&category=46
&parent_category=1
40
Source:
http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Constitution%20Eighth/bill184_20080923184_Legislative_Brie
f____Womens_reservation_Bill_final.pdf
41
• Rotation of reserved constituencies in every election may
reduce the incentive for an MP to work for his constituency
as he may be ineligible to seek re-election from that
constituency.
• The report examining the 1996 women’s reservation Bill
recommended that reservation be provided for women of
Other Backward Classes (OBCs) once the Constitution was
amended to allow for reservation for OBCs. It also
recommended that reservation be extended to the Rajya
Sabha and the Legislative Councils. Neither of these
recommendations has been incorporated in the Bill.
42
43
Violence Against Women
Source:
http://moinansari.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/violence-clock-in-india.png
Rape
• Nirbhaya Gang Rape in Delhi
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StYj8gzEtGQ
Dowry
• The 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act' prohibits the request, payment or
acceptance of a dowry, "as consideration for the marriage". where
"dowry" is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for a
marriage.
• Gifts given without a precondition are not considered dowry, and are
legal. Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment
of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs. 5000. It replaced several
pieces of anti-dowry legislation that had been enacted by various
Indian states.
• Dowry, has been reported to be the predominantly favoured form of
female family inheritance in India, and a method of 'equalising' with a
groom of higher social status
Dowry Deaths
Source:
http://www.way2india.org/admin/upload/Religion_07312008-110705.jpg
Dowry Deaths
• Dowry deaths are the deaths of young women who are
murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and
torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an
increased dowry. (Women, e.g., mothers-in-law are often
involved in abetting dowry deaths).
• The Indian National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports
that there were about 8,618 dowry death cases registered in
India in 2011.
• This is nearly double the number of cases registered in 1995
(4,648).
Source: http://ncrb.nic.in/CD-CII2011/cii-2011/Chapter%205.pdf
Domestic Violence
Source:
http://www.globalhealthmagazine.com/screenshots/of_women_who_believe_its_ok_for_husbands_to_hit_them
Treatment of Widows
• Traditionally, within moments of the last breath of husbands,
women were treated worse than animals, and forced to work
like slaves the rest of their lives tending to others in the
family.
• Widows could not be invited to weddings or any festive
occasions, many women would not let their children near
them (for the fear of a curse), can only wear simple white
clothes (and often had to shave their heads), and otherwise
deny their sexuality.
• Remarriage was not allowed historically.
The Feminization of Poverty
• The gap between men and women caught in the cycle of poverty has continued to
widen in recent years. This alarming trend is called ‘the feminization of poverty’.
• 70% of the world's poor are women. The majority of the 1.5 billion people living on $1
a day or less are women.
• According to the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, women living
in poverty are often denied access to critical resources such as credit, land and
inheritance. Their labour goes unrewarded and unrecognized. Their health care and
nutritional needs are not given priority, they lack sufficient access to education and
support services, and their participation in decision-making at home and in the
community are minimal. Caught in the cycle of poverty, women lack access to
resources and services to change their situation.
52
What Can Be Done - The Beijing Platform for Action
• The Beijing Platform for Action resulted from the Fourth World Conference on
Women held in Beijing, China in 1995.
• The Beijing Platform for Action blueprint highlighted twelve critical areas of
concern, one of which was ‘women and poverty’. It urged the international
community, governments and civil society to act in a number of ways:
• Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and development strategies
that address the needs and effort of women in poverty.
• Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women’s equal rights and access
to economic resources.
• Provide women with access to savings, credit mechanisms and institutions.
• Develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the
feminization of poverty.
Women and The Millennium
Development Goals
• In September 2000, building upon a decade
of major United Nations conferences and
summits, world leaders came together at
United Nations Headquarters in New York to
adopt the United Nations Millennium
Declaration, committing their nations to a
new global partnership to reduce extreme
poverty and setting out a series of timebound targets - with a deadline of 2015
• These have become known as the
Millennium Development Goals.
Women-Related Goals:
Tangible Time-bound Targets
• Promote gender equality & empower women
• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education
preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
• Reduce child mortality
• Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five
mortality rate.
• Improve maternal health
• Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the
maternal mortality ratio.
• Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.
• At 20% of the global burden, India’s progress is crucial to the
world achieving Millennium Development Goals
• India needs a clear strategic focus on skilled birth attendants,
emergency obstetric care and referral services (we rely too
much on traditional methods)
• The key reasons for India’s failure are political, administrative
and managerial rather than a lack of technical knowledge
• Government expenditure on health accounts for 0.9% of GDP
• India has only three technical officers for maternal health at
the national level. Almost no state in India has a maternal
health director
Source:
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/india-needs-political-will-to-reduce-maternal-mortality-who_10033862.html
Public Policies for Enhancing Women’s
Rights & Opportunities
• When women are empowered, their fertility rates drop; they
have smaller families
• Devote more resources to the fewer children
• Most effective way to bring about family planning is
through empowering women
• Empowerment: education, later age for marriage, incomegeneration possibilities
Importance of Girls’ Education
• 60% of the 113 million illiterate children in the world are
female.
• Three-quarters of the children not in school are girls, leaving
25% of the world's girls not in school.
• Women with some formal education are more likely to seek
medical care, ensure their children are immunized, be better
informed about their children’s nutritional requirements, and
adopt improved sanitation practices. As a result, their infants
and children have higher survival rates and tend to be
healthier and better nourished.
• When women control the family budget, they spend more on
health, nutrition, and education – and not on alcohol and
cigarettes!
58
Importance of Girls’ Education
• According to The International Center for Research on
Women, the education that a girl receives is the strongest
predictor of the age she will marry and is a critical factor in
reducing the prevalence of child marriage.
• The World Bank estimates that an additional year of
schooling for 1,000 women helps prevent two maternal
deaths.
• Also, each additional year of formal education that a mother
completes translates to her children staying in school an
additional one-third to one-half of a year.
59
Source:
http://www.globalactionforchildren.org/issues/basic_education/?gclid=CIHXh9akt5wCFZcwpAodgw7UmA
Innovative Schemes
• Bhagyalakshmi scheme in Karnataka
• Bank account opened for every girl child
• Accrues Rs. 1 lakh withdrawable at age 18
• Education
• Combat drop-out rate by providing bicycles, toilets
Kerala: The Exception
Source:
http://suresh12378.blog.com/files/2009/06/kerala-gods-own-country1.jpg
Amartya Sen
• Kerala is different from the rest of India
• According to the 2011 census, the female literacy rate in
Kerala is 91.98 percent (the male rate is 96.02 percent)
• As per 2008 data released by the Registrar General of India,
Kerala has the highest life expectancy at birth for females in
India of 77.2 years (with a male life expectancy of 71.2
years).
• Its contemporary female-male ratio of 1.084
Source: Wikipeida; http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-02/india/34217600_1_life-expectancy-rural-males-indians
Why the Difference?
• Kerala's pre-independence rulers' stress on public education
• Public policy of "enlightenment" & "diffusion of education," articulated
by the reigning queen (Rani Gouri Parvathi Bai) of Travancore as early
as 1817.
• High level of education contributed to the development and utilization
of Kerala's public health services, by making the population more
informed, more articulate, more keen on demanding health services,
and more able to make use of what is offered.
• Nair community’s tradition of inheritance through the female
line
• Gives women more material means for survival
• Sets example of high status for women in society
Chasin & Franke: Thank the Left!
• Left organizations have demanded and won accessible health
care, educational opportunities, real land reform, successful
caste affirmative action, rural workers' pensions, and effective
food distribution to all social classes.
• Kerala, with a per capita GNP lower than the all-India average
ranks first among all Indian states in provision of 15 basic
services, including schools, good roads, ration shops, health
centers, hospitals, veterinary services, banks, etc.
• Women are better off in Kerala because they are part of a
struggle that benefits the whole population.
Gender Budgeting
• Gender budgeting involves accounting for how much money is spent on women
in the Union Budget.
• Gender budgeting statement was introduced in the Union Budget for financial
year 2005-06.
• It includes (A) schemes that fully benefit women and (B) schemes where at least
30 % of expenditure benefits women
• The Interim Budget for 2009-10 had Rs 51,159 crore (Rs 511.59 billion) under
the gender budgeting statement, compared with Rs 49,623 crore (Rs 496.23
billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2009. In part A, the government had
provided Rs 14,553 crore (Rs 145.53 billion) in 2009-10, compared with Rs
14,875 crore (Rs 148.75 billion) in 2008-09.
65
Source:
http://business.rediff.com/column/2009/may/12/gender-budgeting-a-failed-attempt.htm
Empowering Women
Source:
http://www.shaktisadhana.org/Newhomepage/images2/3rdeye.JPG
Work
• Women’s Job in industry are those that men do not care for –unskilled, semiskilled, low grade office jobs, or assembly lines.
• When manual jobs traditionally performed by women are mechanised, men
take up that work, women have no alternative training and employment.
• For example: Electrically operated flour mills replacing the traditional work
of hand-pounding of grains by women;
• Nylon fishing nets hand-made by women
• Women’s jobs are increasingly being shifted from formal to the informal sector
where there is no security of employment, lower wages, no trade union rights
• Equal Wages Act was passed in 1975, assuring equal pay for equal work or work of
similar nature. Law is not effective.
• Indian women are increasing dropping out of the paid workforce. According to
International Labour Organisation’s Global Employment Trends 2013 report, of
the 131 countries with available data, India ranks 11th from the bottom in female
labour force participation
• Declining in both rural and urban areas.
Sexual Harassment at Workplace
• India does not have any legislation to deal with sexual harassment.
The sexual harassment of women at work place (prevention,
prohibition and redressal) bill, 2006 is still under consideration.
Various women’s groups have been lobbying with Parliamentarians to
get it passed.
• Till then, the guidelines that the Supreme Court has laid down in the
Vishaka case are to be followed. These guidelines encompass a
comprehensive definition of sexual harassment, directions for
establishment of a complaint mechanism and the duty under which
employers are obligated to obviate any such act.
• Currently only legal remedy available is approaching the Court under
Art. 32 for violations of gender equality, right to life and liberty and
right to profession which is subject to the condition of a safe
environment safeguarded as fundamental rights under the
constitution under Art. 14, 15 and 21.
Women’s Self Help Groups
• Grameen and SHG Models “Stree Shakti”
• Small groups of women and Microfinance
• Hugely successful in enhancing confidence & economic
options in limited sphere
• Sustained through peer pressure & support
• Hindustan Lever’s Shakti Programme
• Works through SHGs and women sales reps
Women Entrepreneurs: Lijjat Papad
• Started by 7 semi-literate women in Bombay 50 years ago with
Rs. 80
• Works on cooperative model
• Flour bought centrally, dough kneaded at branches
• Women take away dough and make papads
• Paid for their work as long as it meets quality requirements
• Profits equally distributed to all
• Today a Rs. 300 crore enterprise
• Core principles: dignity and self-respect (does not accept
donations); daily accounts; decision by consensus; no men as
members; no discrimination based on caste or religion
71
Lijjat Papad
Co-founder Jaswantiben
72
Women in the Indian IT Sector
• Women account for 21-24% of jobs in IT
• Much higher than overall economy at 13%.
• Several accounts of women’s functioning at low level
programming jobs, far fewer women in middle management
positions and still fewer in top management.
• Women largely occupy the low skilled end of the occupational
hierarchy in IT, with little career prospects, while men
dominate technical and managerial positions.
• Multiple disadvantages of women working in an industry that
requires long hours of work, travel, social networking and so
on?
73
Work Life Balance
.
INDRA NOOYI: When I became the president, at 10
o'clock in the night I went home and said, 'mom I have
some very important news', to which she said 'leave
that important news, just go buy some milk'. To
which, I said, 'Raj is home, why don't you ask him to
buy the milk?' She said, 'he is tired'. Typical mother
you know, can't disturb the son-in-law!
I was very upset, but I went and bought the milk and
banged it on the kitchen table in front of her…
New Initiative
Tata group attracts
Women back into
the workforce
75
About SCIP
• Begun in June 2008, Tata SCIP is a career transition
management programme for professionals
• Tata SCIP is not a job. It is an intermediary programme aimed
at developing alternative talent pools in traditional/nontraditional formats and facilitating career transitions
• Tata SCIP II, once again focuses on women professionals who
have taken a career break but offers an extended opportunity
in terms of professional categories
• Tata Group companies provide live business projects covering
approx 500 hours engagement spread over 6 months on a
flexi time basis
• There is no placement guarantee at the end of the project.
However, the women professionals have the option of
exploring full-time employment on mutually acceptable terms
with the respective Group Company
76
About SCIP
• SCIP projects are allotted based on the area of expertise of the
applicant, following a rigorous selection process that is completed
in 60 days
• The project remuneration will be 4 Lakhs for 500 hours, divided
into monthly payouts (taxes as applicable)
• Flexi time delivery with defined core hours on-site
• Induction & training programme conducted by Tata Management
Training Centre
• Appointment of individual Mentor-Guide
• HR helpline during the programme
77
Leadership
The recently passed Companies Act mandates the listed
companies have at least one women director on the board
Two of the four deputy governors at the RBI till 2010 were
women—Usha Thorat and Shyamala Gopinath. RBI had to
wait 68 years to get its first woman deputy governor in
K.J. Udeshi, who was elevated to the post in 2003
Ranjana Kumar at Indian Bank in May 2000.
H.A. Daruwalla, in 2005 at Central Bank of India.
Global Gender Gap Index
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hpQ3X2wlWU
Overall
Ranking
Economic
Participation
Educational
Attainment
Health And
Survival
Political
Empowerment
101/136
Countries
124
120
135
9
• India: A Dangerous Place to Be a Woman, BBC Documentary, 2013, 52
minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StYj8gzEtGQ
THANK YOU
References
• http://www.firstpost.com/living/durga-ma-as-battered-wife-a-giant-step-backward•
•
•
•
for-womankind-1094781.html
Malashri Lal, Women’s Issues in India: An Overview, Intersections: Gender and
Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific. Issue 22, October 2009
http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue22/lal.htm
http://racismandnationalconsciousnessnews.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/bharatmata3.jpg.
India: A Dangerous Place to Be a Woman, BBC Documentary, 2013, 52 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StYj8gzEtGQ
References
On Women's ascent in corporate India
http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/a-look-at-how-women-are-entering-top-echelons-of-india-inc/article1-1146798.aspx
Global Gender Gap, World Economic Forum
://www.weforum.org/issues/global-gender-gap
Nivedita Menon Ed (1999) Gender and Politics in India, Oxford India: New Delhi