WOMEN IN INDIA (2) - WOMENS STRENGTH AND INDIAS DEVELOPMENT: 

The gender ratio in India is said to be 933 females per 1000 males, which is way below the world’s average gender ratio of 990/1000. This horrible situation comes due to the fact that females have always faced discrimination against them, and although like male or even above them female plays important role in the family and national development, her contribution is not recognized by the male dominant society.*

Women in India suffer from the abortion of female child; foeticide; malnutrition; denial of education and many other issues. These practices come from cultural beliefs and financial reasons such as educational backwardness, low income, unemployment, and although the Indian Government has showed efforts to finish this cultural traits there is still lots to be done. **

India represents a picture of contrasts when it comes to education and employment opportunities for girls. However, the rural and the urban areas present a contrast.

UNDP data: (2011)

Adult literacy rate: 62.8%
Male literacy rate: 82,14%
Female literacy rate: 65.46%
Gender gap rate: 16.68% 

WOMEN DEVELOPMENT REPORT (2003):

Women in workforce:
13,9% in urban sector.
29,9% in rural sector.

WOMEN IN INDIA- HOW FREE? HOW EQUAL? (2001)

245 million Indian women lack basic capability to read and write.

COMMINIT.COM data:

70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty in the world are female.

In the rural areas the girl child is made to perform  household and agricultural chores. Households are therefore reluctant to spare them for schooling. Physical safety of the girls, especially when they have to travel a long distance to school and fear of sexual harassment are other reasons that impede girls' education.
In the urban areas, however, there is a discernible difference in the opportunities that girls get for education and employment. Though the figures for girls would still be low as compared to boys, what is heartening to see is that whenever given the opportunity, girls have excelled more than boys.***

Investing in human capital is one of the most effective means of reducing poverty and encouraging sustainable development. And gender discrimination hinders development. So while denial of education, employment or health care for women is detrimental to women, this denial, ultimately also harms the society by hampering development. ***

 Parent-child relationship is significantly determined by the education level and employment status of woman in the family. Education on the part of women brings about positive changes in their own and their husbands’ parenting style. Educated women can raise educated kids, with knowledge about hygiene and life skills.***

Gender equality is a solution for a country’s development and EMPOWER PRAGATI is for sure doing an excellent work on empowering women in India. It trained 9771 people last year, of which 45% are women. And also, will train 2 million men and women in the next 10 years.

*(“Gender Equality and Women’s Empowernment in India” – National Family Health Survey - http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/od57/od57.pdf)

**(“Gender discrimination and Women’s development in India” by M. SIVAKUMAR , Ph.D Scholar in Economics, Chikkaiah Naicker College- http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/10901/1/MPRA_paper_10901.pdf)

***  “Gender inequality in education and employment

by  Geeta Sharma, Editor, Learningchannel.org”

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