Dr. Devendra Kothari
Population and Development Analyst
Forum for Population Action
International Women's Day (IWD) is an
occasion to review how far women have come in their struggle for equality and
development. The condition of women in India has
undoubtedly improved in last twenty years. However, the extent of this
improvement is mainly confined to the middle classes. Even among the middle
class families this change has been very slow and it has benefited only a small
proportion of women, mainly in the educated ones and that too in big cities.
Women from this class have achieved remarkable success and are piecing the
glass ceiling, but they are still the exceptions. According to the Gender Gap Index Report 2011, released
by the World Economic Forum, India is simply not doing enough for its women.
The country ranked 113 out of 135 countries in 2011. Further, India’s
ranking has been falling steadily since 2006 when the Index was launched. In
2006, India was ranked 98th. Between 2007 and 2011, the ranking has swayed
between 112 and 114. That is a shameful reflection of the condition of the women
in a country that is on a growth song.
Available
data indicate that the lack of
education, poor health conditions and discrimination in opportunities for work
and income still haunt women. It appears that India is simply not doing enough
for its women to improve access to resources and freedom of movement. There is an urgent need to rethink as how to
expedite the process of women empowerment in a patriarchal and traditional
society like India with innumerable obstacles.
One has to recognize that high GDP alone does not
automatically empower women nor does it reduce gender inequality. That can
happen only from more deliberate public policy interventions. The Report indicates that Indian women
have narrowed the gap with men on education, economic and political
participation; relative to men, however, “they are slipping further on health”.
It is because they have unequal access to basic health resources especially
reproductive healthcare services and lack adequate counseling as well as
follow-up and management of side effects. The result is an increasing risk of
unintended or unwanted, early pregnancies, HIV infection and other sexually
transmitted diseases.
As per the latest
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), every fifth birth has been classified
as unplanned or unintended (that
is mistimed or unwanted at the time the women became pregnant). It is estimated that more than 26 million
children are born in India every year and out of this about 6 million births
have been classified as unplanned. The level of unwanted fertility can also be
measured by comparing the total wanted fertility rate with the total or actual
fertility rate. The total wanted fertility rate represents the level of
fertility that theoretically would result if all unwanted births were
prevented. Overall, the total wanted
fertility rate of 1.9 children/woman is lower by 0.8 child than the total
fertility rate of 2.7 for the country as a while, as per the NFHS-3. The
proportion of births that were unwanted was the highest for births to women from
the Four Large North Indian States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Utter Pradesh as compared to the southern States. The difference between the
total fertility rate and wanted fertility rate ranges from 0.1 children in
Kerala followed by Andhra Pradesh (0.3 children) and Tamil Nadu (0.4) to 1.6 children in Bihar closely followed
by Uttar Pradesh (1.5), Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh (1.0 each).
It is estimated that currently there are around 450 million
people in India out of 1200 million who are product of unwanted/unplanned
pregnancies, and most of them are from the lower economic strata. The consequences of
unintended pregnancy are serious, imposing significant burden on women and
families, and in turn slowing down the process of women’s empowerment.
Unintended pregnancy breeds powerlessness
and powerlessness breeds subordination
(quality of obedient submissiveness)
and subordination breeds unintended pregnancy. And women find themselves in a vicious circle.
In other words, Indian women, in general, do not have control on their body[1].
We have to agree that the poor performing States of India have neglected the
reproductive health programme in spite of extra attention given under the
National Rural Health Mission. Had these States been meticulous enough to
provide client centered reproductive health services and to frame appropriate
policies to manage the programme, India could have, by now, improved the status
of women and reduced the gender gap significantly, as observed in many
developing countries? Therefore, reproductive healthcare is an essential plank
in empowering the women.
We need creative
policies to strengthen this foundation. It is because women don't leave their gender behind when they enter
the workforce, as argued by the Professor Ruth Pearson of
University of Leeds. Women's
ability to choose the number and timing of their births is the key to
empowering women as individuals, mothers and citizens. Through this women
gain greater share of
control over resources -
material, human and intellectual in
the home and out side. As such, it is much desirable to make
reproductive healthcare accessible and affordable in expediting the process of
women empowerment in the traditional society like India. Until the policy makers take a focused
and long term interest in the advancement of women by ensuring reproductive
rights backed by quality health care services, it will be rather difficult to
expedite the process of women empowerment in existing environment. Also, the
educating the girls could be the fast track to progress. And this feminist agenda will contribute significantly towards women’s
empowerment.
Next four posts discuss the population and development scenario in Four Large North Indian States of India.
Next four posts discuss the population and development scenario in Four Large North Indian States of India.
[1]
For details, see: Kothari Devendra,
“Empowering Women in India through Better Reproductive Healthcare”, FPA Working Paper No 5, Jaipur: Forum for
Population Action, 2010.
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