Gender Unequal India

According to the 2011 census, women account for 586.47 million in absolute numbers and represent 48.46% of the total population of the country.

Sex Ratio

• The sex ratio of last birth is biased against females and is lower by 9.5 percentage points in 2015-16 in comparison to other countries. And this has remained stagnant in the last decade.
• most North-Eastern states (with the exception of Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh) and Goa occupy the North-East quadrant, indicating that they are the best performers at all points of time.
• Kerala is the next best performer. The lagging performers are Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and, surprisingly, Andhra Pradesh. Delhi’s performance actually worsens in a decade, and it falls from having the highest score in 2005-06 (going from 73 in 2005-06 to 70.9 in 2015-16).
• The biologically determined natural sex ratio at birth is 1.05 males for every female. Any significant deviation from this is on account of human intervention – specifically, sex-selective abortion.

Sex Ratio of the Last Child (SRLC)

• It is a preference for sons will manifest itself in the SRLC being heavily skewed in favor of boys.
• Families continue to have children until they get the desired number of sons. This kind of fertility stopping rule will lead to skewed sex ratios but in different directions: skewed in favor of males if it is the last child, but in favor of females if it is not
• India after outlawing sex selection (via the implementation of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 1994) saw a stabilization of its sex ratio at birth (see Annex II), albeit at an elevated level. However, it is not clear whether it resulted from changes in societal preferences or due to increased state regulation of sex-detection technology. SRLC helps us better understand and decompose the underlying factors.

Health

On the health front, implementation of the National Rural Health Mission has resulted in an improvement on many indicators pertaining to gender. Fertility Rates have come down and have reached replacement levels in a number of states; Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) is improving, from 301 per 100,000 live births in 2003 it has come down to 212 in 2009; Infant Mortality Rate, though still high, has reduced to 47 per 1000 in 2011.

There are increasing concerns regarding the gap between male and female infant mortality rate—49 for girls as compared to 46 for boys. The under-five mortality rate for girls in India is very high at 64 per 1000 live births as compared to 55 per 1000 live births for boys. The decline in MMR has fallen behind and is less than the target of 100 in the Eleventh Plan.

Literacy

There has been an increase in literacy amongst women from 53.67% (Census 2001) to 65.46% (Census 2011). The challenge however remains in bridging the gender gap which stands at 16.68%. The gender differential in education is declining, particularly at the primary level. There is a need to address the issues of retention of girls’ in school, quality of education and the provision of separate toilets, sibling care facilities, and so on.

Employment

From 1993–94 to 2009–10, women’s participation in the labour force has decreased substantially from 36.8% to 26.1% in rural areas and from 17% to 13.8% in urban areas as indicated by NSSO data. Another major concern is the gender gap in the educational level of the labour force. Whereas in 2004–05, 60% of employed females were illiterate and 3.7% were graduates for men it was 28% and 8%, respectively. Female hourly wage rates in agriculture vary from 50% to 75% of male rates, and are insufficient to overcome absolute poverty.

Violence against Women

Addressing violence against women, in both public and private sphere, is a major challenge. Data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that the total number of crimes against women increased by 29.6% between 2006 and 2010. What is equally disturbing is that conviction rates remained low, reflecting inter alia, that many of these cases are not being well prosecuted and inadequate proof is tendered before the courts.

The 2005–06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-III) also reported that one-third of women aged 15 to 49 had experienced physical violence, and approximately one in 10 had been a victim of sexual violence.

Early marriage makes women more vulnerable to domestic violence. According to the NFHS III data, the median age of marriage for women in the 20–49 years age group ranges between 16.5 years to 18.3 years.