SOCIAL SCIENCE PROJECT

GENDER GAP

Gender inequality or the gender gap continues to be an immense issue of concern in

India despite its achieving high rates of economic growth in recent years. Traditional

patriarchal customs and norms have relegated women to a secondary status within

the household and workplace.

Gender inequality is reflected in India’s low ranking on the World Economic Forum’s

Gender Gap Index (GGI), 2020, with scores below average on parameters such as

educational attainment, economic participation and health and survival.

Furthermore, UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) 2015 highlighted that with

respect to gender inequality, among South Asian countries, only Afghanistan fares

worse than India.

Overall, India as a whole was ranked at 112 on the Global Gender Gap Index 2020.

India was ranked as the following in the sub indexes :-

1. Political Empowerment is the area where women are severely under-

represented. Only 14.3 (78 out of 543) per cent of parliamentary seats are

held by women in India as against 20.175 per cent in Pakistan and 20.63 per

cent in Bangladesh.
2. Economic Participation and Opportunity: The fact that women are

persistently less present in the labour market than men contributes to the

Economic Participation and Opportunity gap. India was ranked 149 on the

criterion of economic participation and opportunity of women, Pakistan was

ranked at 150 and Bangladesh being at 141

3. Educational Attainment: On the criterion of educational attainment, India

was ranked at 112 with a score of 0.962.

4. Health and Survival : India was ranked at 150 on the basis of health and

survival of women, four large countries— Pakistan (94.6%); India (94.4%);

Viet Nam (94.2%) and China (92.6%) — trail behind, which means that

millions of women in these and other countries are not yet granted the

same access to health as men.

The Global Gender

Gap Index rankings by region, 2020

India ranks 112th on the overall Global Gender Gap Index and the country has closed

two-thirds of its overall gender gap (score of 66.8%). However, the condition of

women in 31 large fringes of India’s society is precarious. It has lost four positions

since the previous edition, despite a small score improvement, as some countries

ranked lower than India have improved more. The economic gender gap runs

particularly deep in India. Only one-third of the gap has been bridged (score of 35.4%,

149th, down 7 places). Since 2006, the gap has gotten significantly wider. Among the

153 countries studied, India is the only country where the economic gender gap is

larger than the political gender gap. Only one-quarter of women, compared with 82%

of men, engage actively in the labour market (i.e. working or looking for work)—one

of the lowest participation rates in the world (145th). Furthermore, female estimated

earned income is a mere one-fifth of male income, which is also among the world’s

lowest (144th). Women only account for 14% of leadership roles (136th) and 30% of

professional and technical workers. India ranks a low 150th on the Health and Survival

subindex (94.4), as a result of the skewed sex ratio at birth: there are 91 girls born

per 100 boys born, a ratio well below the natural one. Violence, forced marriage and

discrimination in access to health remain pervasive. The situation and the trend are

more positive in terms of gender gaps in education. From primary to tertiary

education, the share of women attending school is systematically larger than the

share of men. But a large difference persists for literacy rate; only two-thirds of

women are literate compared with 82% of men. Yet the gap has been narrowing in the

past decade, because the literacy rate has significantly increased among women (66%)

and slightly decreased among men to 79%. Finally, India ranks 18th (score of 41.1%) on
the Political Empowerment subindex. Of the past 50 years, the country was headed by

a woman for 20 years (4th) which largely explains this strong performance. But today,

female political representation is low: women make up only 14.4% of the parliament

(122nd) and 23% of the cabinet (69th).

STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT

The Government of India, along with various states, initiated a number of policies,
programmes and schemes intended to reduce the gender gap and to boost women’s
empowerment over the 1989-2015 period. Some of these notable initiatives are :-

 National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW)

National Mission for Empowerment of Women is a Scheme under Ministry of Women

and Child Development which was launched in the year 2010 and aims at
strengthening the processes that promote holistic development of women through
inter-sectoral convergence both at the Centre as well as in the States/UTs.

 Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA)

 The Union Government in September 1982 launched Development of Women and

Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA). The main objective of DWCRA is to improve the
socio-economic, health, and educational status of rural women by providing
financial assistance and creating employment opportunities for them to become
self-reliant and to raise their standard of living.
 Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY)

Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) was launched on 31 August 2007 which seeks to
empower adolescent girls, so as to enable them to take charge of their lives. It is
viewed as a holistic initiative for the development of adolescent girls. The
programme through its interventions aims at bringing about a difference in the
lives of the adolescent girls. It seeks to provide them with an opportunity to
realize their full potential.

 Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls-Sabla (RGSEAG)

The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) Sabla is

a centrally sponsored program of the Government of India initiated on 1 April 2011
under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. RGSEAG Sabla aims to
converge the pressing requirements of adolescent girls viz. nutritional needs and
skill development. Hence this comprehensive scheme provides nutritional
supplement and increasing awareness on health, nutrition, lifestyle and adolescent
reproductive and sexual health to facilitate a smooth transition into womanhood.
It also provides vocational training to out of school, girls to create avenues of
economic empowerment.

 Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana Conditional Maternity Benefit plan

(IGMSY-CMB)

The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) is a maternity benefit program
run by the Government of India. It was introduced in 2010 and is implemented by
the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD). It is a conditional cash
transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating mothers of 19 years of age or above for
the first two live births. It provides partial wage compensation to women for
wage-loss during the childbirth and childcare, and aims to promote conditions for
safe delivery, good nutrition, and feeding practices.
  Ladli Laxmi Yojana

Ladli Laxmi Yojana is a scheme introduced by Government of Madhya Pradesh. The

scheme lays a lot of emphasis on providing a good substructure for the economic
and educational status of the families adopting this and suppress female
infanticide. Its underlying goal includes bringing about a positive change in the
mindset of conservative Indian families about the birth and upbringing of the girl
child.

But, in spite of these attempts, a considerable gender gap still exits.

MAIN CAUSES FOR GENDER GAP IN INDIA

Lack of education generally engenders a series of problems for them. Uneducated

mothers are not aware of the best nutritional choices for their children. Without

education, women lack confidence or knowledge to make their own choice and are

encouraged or forced to marry early. India holds the miserable record of having the

highest absolute number of child brides : about 24 million. This represents 40% of the

world's 60 million child marriages. Early marriage forces girls into adulthood and,

frequently, motherhood before they are emotionally or physically mature. It

profoundly affects a girl’s life, not only by substantially lowering her educational

prospects, but also by causing health complications and harming psychological well-

being. In this way gender-based discrimination in education is both a cause and a

consequence of broader forms of gender inequality in society.

Apart from education, there are a number of intricate and often interconnected

factors that explain the prevailing gender gap in India. The root cause of gender

inequality in Indian society lies in its patriarchal system. Most of India, with some

exceptions, has strong patriarchal and patrilineal customs, where men hold authority

over female family members and inherit family property and title. Examples of

patriarchy in India include prevailing customs in which inheritance passes from father

to son, women move in with the husband and his family upon marriage, and marriages

include a bride price or dowry. This ‘inter-generational contract’ provides strong

social and economic incentives for raising sons and disincentives for raising daughters.

The preference for sons is so strong that it is manifested in terms of limiting the birth

and survival of girl children. As a result, the sex ratio in India has become

imbalanced. From 983 girls for every 1000 boys in 1951, it went down to 945 in 1991,

then to 927 in 2001, and declined to 918 in 2011 - the worst since independence
 Increasing Imbalance in Sex Ratio in India
950

940

930
Increasing Imbalance in Sex
920 Ratio in India

910

900

890
1951 1971 1991 2011

A fundamental factor responsible for gender inequality in India, and arguably one of

the most powerful, is poverty. Out of the total of 30 per cent poor people, 70 per

cent are female. This factor is closely associated with gender disparities in

employment opportunities. As estimated by the World Bank, 90 per cent of Indian

working women are employed in the informal sector and do tasks involving heavy

physical work of different types, with long working hours with limited payment, lack

of guarantee of minimum wages, job insecurity and lack of minimum facilities at the

work place.
SOLUTIONS

Primarily, gender inequality is a predicament of unequal opportunities.

 Thus the solution also lies in providing equal opportunities to women in access

to services, resources and infrastructure such as healthcare, education,

banking, water, electricity, sanitation and communication tools, etc. Without

access to such resources women cannot use their potential, skills, expertise,

knowledge and passion, keeping them at a disadvantage.

 Access to information and communication technology (ICT) tools is particularly

important as studies show that it has potential to broaden women’s and girls’

opportunities in education and employment and can bring greater access to

health services. Examples would be the International Telecommunication Union

(ITU) initiatives, the “Digital literacy” campaign, training more than one

million women in basic ICT skills, and the “Mobiles for midwives” programme,

which enables midwives practising in remote areas to provide accurate records

of births. Thus it is of great importance to include an agenda for gender

equality in ICT Policies, programmes and projects at all levels.

 Added to this, women should be given more opportunities to be visible in public

life and institutions. It is disturbing to see that women make up only 5 per cent

of the total work force, and that just 2 out of 24 Supreme Court judges, 11 per

cent of members of the last parliament and only 3 per cent of Vice-Chancellors

are women.
  The government needs to design more result-oriented ‘conditional cash

transfer’ schemes on the lines of Apni Beti-Apna Dhan, which provides a cash

payment into a saving bond account on the condition that the girl’s family

keeps her in school rather than marrying her off young. Similar schemes could

be introduced to ensure children’s attendance at school and health clinics. A

conditional cash transfer scheme has had some remarkable success in countries

such as Brazil and Mexico. In these countries a scheme was founded to help

women invest in their own education and in small livestock and poultry rearing,

alongside doing more for their children’s education

CONCLUSION

 It can be concluded that a country like India has a long way to go before it can

call itself a ‘gender neutral’ country. However, no simple and direct solutions

are available to minimise gender inequality as gaps are rooted in norms and in

cultural and social practices and are further consolidated by poor

infrastructure and service delivery.

 Possibly, the change will come only with awareness, cultural/fundamental

restructuring, mindset shifting and through widening access to public service

delivery without discrimination on a gender basis. No government, be it state

or central, can by itself bring long-lasting change. Government authorities, the

donor community, the private sector and civil society need to come together to

act to close the gender gap, and a system of accountability should be put in

place to record the aid they provide.