Essays

There are several clear indicators of the fact that Indian women continue to be discriminated against: the sex ratio  is skewed against them; maternal mortality is the second- highest in the world; more than 40 percent of women are illiterate; and crimes against women are on -the rise. Yet, the women's movement, which gathered strength after the 1970s, has led to progressive legislation and positive change, spurred on by the participation of women in local self- government.

It is a paradox of modern India that women wield power and hold positions at the topmost levels, yet large sections of women are among the most underprivileged. Some women from the upper classes head political parties and command large followings, yet women's representation in the Parliament and state legislatures has not been more

than 10 percent.

The roots of discrimination against women lie in the religious and cultural practices of India. The beginning of changes started with the reform movements in the nineteenth century which addressed practices like sati, child marriage, life of the widows, etc. The status of women in the contemporary context is reflected in the state of their health, education, employment and life in society The Indian women's movement started with addressing the problems that women faced, like violence, property rights, legal status, political participation, and the rights of minority women. Today, Indian women have won several victories against an oppressive way of life and are poised to raise pertinent questions that will make their lives more emancipating.

Women played a major role in the struggle for freedom from colonial rule. In 1917, the first women's delegation met the Secretary of State to demand women's political rights. The Indian National Congress supported the demand. In 1949 independent India gave them their due by enshrining in the Constitution the right of equality for women. Indian women have participated in large numbers ill people's movements including those for land rights, environment, anti-price rise and anti-liquor agitations. The clearest indicator of discrimination against Indian women is the skewed sex ratio. There were only 927 females per 1000 males in India (the world average is 990 women per 1000 men), according to the 1991 Census. Provisional figures for Census 2001 indicate that the trend has been slightly arrested, with the sex ratio at 933 females per 1000 males, with Kerela at 1058 females.

Poverty, early marriage, malnutrition and lack of health care during pregnancy are the major reasons for both maternal and infant mortality. In rural India almost 60 percent of girls are married before they are 18. Nearly 60 percent of married girls bear children before they are 19. Almost one third of all babies are born with low birth weight.

Poverty and lack of awareness also hinder mothers from giving adequate care for their children. For instance, although diarrhoea is the second largest killer of babies, only 43 percent of mothers know about ORS and only 26 percent report ever having used it. Similarly, only one-third of children are fed complementary foods between the ages of six and nine months when breastfeeding should be supplemented. The second National Family Health Survey

suggests that uneducated mothers tend to lose the most infants.

Social restrictions on women's mobility also contribute to lesser healthcare for women and children. For example, 90

percent of married women in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and about 80 percent in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Assam need permission to visit even friends and relatives.

Since the majority of India's unlettered people are female, literacy and education programmes need to focus on girls

and women. Yet progressive government programmes like the Mahila Samakhya, that designed a scheme to empower rural women and motivate them to educate themselves, have been distorted in recent years. The District Primary Education Programme focuses on enrolment but not on the retention of girls in schools. In the absence of an

enabling and empowering environment, girls are unlikely to stay on in school, say critics of the large World Bank funded programme.

Although industrial production increased in the 1980s, jobs in factories and establishments — or non-household jobs — stagnated at eight percent of the workforce. Increasingly, companies tend to rely on outsourcing, using cheap labour.

Crime against women has been rising with each year. Violence, both outside and within the household, is a grim reality of women's lives. Between 1990 and 1996 crimes against women grew by 56 percent. Cruelty to wives comprised 28 percent of all crimes in 1996. The extent of trafficking in women is unknown. However, one official study admits to 100,000 prostitutes in six metro cities. Of these, 15 percent are girls below the age of 15. Cross-border trafficking is common.

As the number of new women's groups, NGOs and organizations grew throughout the country, they felt the need for representation at the national level. The United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, provided an opportunity. UN and donor funding enabled the formation of a Coordination Unit to hold preparatory meetings in different parts of the country. Post-Bering, these groups formed the National Alliance of Women's Organizations (NAWO) that played an active role in the Beijing Plus Five meetings held in New York. Women were also organized through a Task Force set up with donor support for the Plus Five process.

Women have equality of status under the country's Constitution. However, many anomalies remain under different laws.

The government has declared 2001 as the Year of Women's Empowerment or Swashakti. A policy for the Empowerment of Women was drafted in 1996 but has been in cold storage since then. It has recently, in March 2001, been passed by the Cabinet but has still to be made public. Even the Parliamentary Committee on Women's Empowerment has been denied the document.