The educated women in India are healthier, empowered, socially and
economically mobile and having access to information and opportunity more than
illiterate women. Is this a metaphor or real situation about the status of
women in India? This is also very similar analogy exists with the Indian man.
Even educated man also having access many opportunities in comparison with the
illiterate fellow. There are many issues and challenges in dealing with this
kind of situation in India. On the other hand, there are many similar situation
equally effecting both men and women of the similar socio economic group.
There is agreement that the disparity and deprivation among the women is
quite high than man in India irrespective of women belong to either high or low
socio economic status. Proving this point would be a himalayan task at this
juncture that because in the comparative paradigm, the low is always compare
with the high status, while in the case of women or gender, the situation in
low social status or high social status is more or less same. Therefore, this
is generally said in India that in term of gender equality, every women is
dalit and deprived. The reference of deprivation and inequality is different in
the form of comparative degree and status.
In last many decades, a number of initiatives and programs were evolved
to address the women’s issues and empowering them by ensuring their
participation in decision making. The programs and projects have its own
limitation and also have its own values too. However, the perception about the
women empowerment and development is also differently perceives in different
socio cultural and economic group in India.
The status of women in India is must see within a dynamic context, as
intricately connected with social, economic, historical and political
processes. The poor record of women’s rights protection, less number of women
engagement in the formal sector employment, socio cultural and geographical
challenges, weak social infrastructure and hostile environment condition have
been further impediments to improving the status of women in India. This is
also true that, in term of geographical challenges, the urban women’s problem
is different from the rural women, but in the context of independent decision
making, the situation is equally worse for both groups of women in India. There
are also many exceptional examples of high social and economic mobility of
women in India.
An analysis of women’s status in India, necessarily takes a
multi-faceted scope, examining women’s social, economic, physical and emotional
well-being. This paper provides an overview of women’s status in
India, ranging from education, literacy, including sex ratio, the status of
women's health, including maternal and reproductive health, violence against women,
and women's representation in politics and the workforce. It
concludes with a summary of existing and the past policies and programs for
women. Improving women’s status in India requires combating the
societal forces that reproduce gender inequities and targeting interventions in
different sectors and at all levels of society. Grassroots
development must be combined with an effective policy framework and political
will in order to advance the status of women in the country.
I am not going to deny the conceptual and structural nature of
inequality among women but try to assemble the efforts and initiatives in the
area of education, health, work participation, social security and how these
efforts and initiatives has improved the status of women in India. This is an
agreement here, that the education has played a significant role in India.
Almost every Indian family, weather rural or urban encourage their children to
go to school, conditioning that school is available in proximity and children’s
performance in the school is moving up. The remarkable enrollment record in
primary education in India is the best example of the said assumption of
parental preference.
The inspiring fact and figure shows that at the time of the formation of
Republic of India, the number of literate among the total female population was
between 2% to 6%. The consistent efforts both at government level and awareness
at community level through the NGOs and women movement show the impressive
improvement in female literacy in India. According to 2011 census, literacy
among women has improved in India, though this figure is still low in
comparison between the world standard and even with the male literacy within
India. The women’s health and nutritional status is inextricably related with
the socio cultural and economic arena.
During the period of Six decades, the availability of schools and
educational institutions has increased in numbers and the level of awareness
among the community also influential in improving the literacy rate among women
in India. These factors play significantly in bringing positive change in the
life of the Indian women and also affect the family and newborn baby’s health
status. In the recent decades, the women’s involvement in education and some improvement
in their health status has also improved, which does not mean that
the wave of improvement has been able touch every Indian women. At macro level,
the women status has gone up and visible, but the micro level situation is not
quite impressive.
