ndia has been
developing fast, but not always equitably or inclusively. The biggest
issue we face is the empowerment of women. While certain development
indicators show their quality of life is improving – maternal mortality
rates are declining, literacy rates are increasing, more women are
gaining access to healthcare and education – but the pace of change is
heartbreakingly slow.
India ranks 113 out of 135 on the World Economic
Forum’s Gender Gap Index. According to India’s 2011 census, the sex
ratio for children under six was 914 females to 1,000 males, a
disturbing decline from 927 in 2001. The ranking of Indian women in
economic empowerment is 0.3, where 1.0 means equality. This is a
dangerous state of affairs for any society. Denying women opportunities
to realise their potential is a waste of human capital and bar to
economic progress. Women are undoubtedly the foundation of the basic
unit of society – the family. Even in traditional roles they demonstrate
great innovation, skill, intelligence, hard work and commitment.
Policies to provide affordable, quality child care
and adequate health care services would not only free women to enter
paid employment, but also help change care work from being understood as
a ‘domestic responsibility’ to a ‘collective responsibility’. While
changes in policy and schemes becomes very pertinent to expect women’s
effective and fruitful contribution to their own life and to family and
society, it is necessary to understand as what breeds this level of
discrimination and how it gets so internalised into our institutions
that we not only blind-foldedly accept them rather keep propagating them
knowingly and unknowingly.
As 1 in 7 girls marries before the age of 18 in the
developing world (UNFPA 2012), early and forced marriages remain a key
issue and an important factor limiting young women’s engagement in both
education and economic activities. In the short term, there is need to
create full, decent productive employment opportunities for women and
access to finance, as well as continue to provide social protection.
Societal perceptions of females and their role are often the biggest
barriers to change, because they shape women’s perception of themselves.
Across all strata of Indian society, people still believe that women are
capable of performing only certain types of jobs and that marriage must
take precedence over career.
For making gender-equal relationships achievable,
engagement of both male and female family and community members is a pre
requisite and this calls for a paradigm shift in mind sets and deep
rooted prevailing societal norms. Challenging gender inequality often
involves conflict and could place stress on family members (specifically
males), but it is a feasible and attainable objective.
Till the time the root causes of inequality are not
addressed in any country’s socio cultural context, the expectation of
change is vague and groundless. For example, if girls are continued to
be seen as plants growing in the neighbours’ courtyard (which gets
reflected in practices like married girls being responsible for taking
care of in laws and not parents, spending their income on marital family
and not on natal family), or are seen too vulnerable to be protected
(from sexual abuse, rape etc. hence becoming easy targets for targeting
anyone’s ‘honour’), they will be discriminated.
If we wish to look for changes in this kind of
mindset, we have to question and counteract such basic societal norms
and practices and take courage to become change agents. No amount of SDG
formulation and resulting policy changes can make much difference if
there is no ready ground to reap benefits or even demand for those
benefits. q