GENDER MAINSTREAMING: GENDER

AUDITING OF VARIOUS SECTORS IN INDIA

BY

B R SIWAL

by
SINDICATE FOR GENDER MAINSTREAMING
NEW DELHI, INDIA
E-mail: syndicate_gender@yahoo.com

2007

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 CONTENTS

PAGES

Preface

CHAPTER-1 Gender disparity profile 1-25

CHAPTER-2 Gender discrimination at early childhood 26-41

CHAPTER -3 Gender and policy framework 42-57

CHAPTER- 4 Gender and economy 58-71

CHAPTER -5 Gender and poverty 72-88

CHAPTER -6 Gender and governance 89-106

CHAPTER -7 Gender and education 107-119

CHAPTER -8 Gender and health 120-136

CHAPTER -9 Gender based violence 137-154

CHAPTER -10 Gender –other sectoral issues 155-171

Bibliography

2
 Preface

Equal participation of women and men in all aspects of society is crucial for lasting
growth and democracy. This ambitious goal, however, is far from being a reality
despite substantial progress over the last five decades. The root cause of the problem
lies in the social structures, institutions, values and beliefs which create and perpetuate
the imbalance between women and men. The issue is not how to “add” women to
various processes but to reshape these processes to create the space for women’s and
men’s involvement.

Gender mainstreaming was established as a global strategy for the promotion of

gender equality in the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on
Women. Gender Mainstreaming focuses on gender roles and relationships rather than
on women only; it is designed to ensure that women and men have access to project
resources and services, in relation to their actual responsibilities. Mainstreaming can
reveal a need for changes in goals, strategies and actions to ensure that both women
and men can influence, participate in and benefit from development processes. Gender
mainstreaming is the integration of the gender perspective into every step of policy
processes - design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation -with a view to
promoting equality between women and men.

Gender mainstreaming is an important aspect of good governance. It seeks to ensure that

institutions, policies and programs respond to the needs and interests of women as well as
men, and distribute benefits equitably between women and men. It contributes to social,
economic and cultural progress. It leads to greater fairness, equity and justice for women
and men, thus enhancing the accountability of governments to achieve results for all
citizens. While mainstreaming is clearly essential for securing human rights and social
justice for women as well as men, it also increasingly recognized that incorporating
gender perspectives in different areas of development ensures the effective achievement
of other social and economic goals. Mainstreaming can reveal a need for changes in
goals, strategies and actions to ensure that both women and men can influence,
participate in and benefit from development processes.

Although government agencies such as a national women’s machinery may provide the
initial impetus for gender mainstreaming activities, these strategies will not be effective
or sustainable if individuals and groups within a society do not understand the importance
of the change being sought. Civil society has an important role to play in to fulfill its
commitment to gender mainstreaming.

Keeping the above in view Syndicate for Gender Mainstreaming has under taken a study
to critically examine the efforts of government as well as efforts of Civil Society
institution for gender mainstreaming in development process. This is the first report of

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newly established set up Syndicate for Gender Mainstreaming a non profit organisation
established for expressed purpose of gender equality. This report critically examine the
efforts of government of India along with other para-statal and civil society institutions to
mainstream gender in development process. The report is divided into ten chapters. The
first chapter give an account of gender-disparity in society and economy and the second
chapter examine the gender discrimination at early childhood and how gender
discrimination affect survival and development of girl child. The third chapter deals with
gender policy framework and efforts of government of India to empower women. The
Fourth chapter deals with women’s economic role and mainstreaming policy of
government. Fifth chapter examine the relationship between gender and poverty. The
sixth chapter take a stock of situation of women in governance obstacles and strategy to
enhance women’s role in goverance and decision making. Seventh chapter gender
dimension in school education are discussed, factors affecting envolvement and how to
make gender sensitivity in school. The Eighth chapter on Gender and Health evaluate the
government policy and programme that affect women more specically the reproductive
health. Chapter nine deals with gender-based violence in country its causes,
consequences and strategy to combat it. The last chapter critically review the government
efforts to mainstream gender in various other sectors i.e. environment, land rights,
agriculture, drinking water, housing and shelter.

It is hoped that the present report will be useful to all those who are interested in gender
issues and empowerment of women.

B R SIWAL

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 CHAPTER-1

GENDER DISPARITY PROFILE

While the impact of various developmental policies, plans and programmes
implemented over the last few decades have brought forth a perceptible improvement in
the socio-economic status of women, problems like illiteracy, ignorance, discrimination
and violence continue to persist even today. The following paragraphs give an account
of achievements in the selected areas of demography and vital statistics; health and
family welfare; literacy and education; work and employment; decision-making;
political participation; etc.

Demography and Vital Statistics

There has been a slight increase in the total female population of the country, from
407.1 million (48.1 per cent of total population) in 1991 to 495.7 million (48.3 per cent)
in 2001. While the percentage increase of 0.2 is very marginal, increase in terms of
absolute numbers was 88.6 million as against 77.1 million between 1981 and 1991. The
growth rate of female population for the 1991-2001 decade was 21.79 per cent, which
was 0.86 percentage points higher than that of males and 0.45 percentage points more
than that of the total population. Yet, the demographic imbalances between women and
men continue to exist till date.

The sex ratio, which represents the survival scene of women, registered a very marginal
improvement, from 927 in 1991 to 933 in 2001. While the sex ratio in respect of all
ages has increased, it has declined in the most crucial 0-6 age-group, from 945 in 1991
to 927 in 2001. Also, the same declining trend was reflected in most states, including
the more economically advanced ones like Punjab and Haryana. This clearly points to
the fact that economic growth may not necessarily bring about an improvement in the
status of women. This, in turn, can be attributed to the discrimination that the girl child
faces and the consequential problems of poor health and nutritional status. Added to
these are the problems of female foeticide and female infanticide, the incidence of
which is on an increase.

Health and Family Welfare

While the Birth Rate has declined by 7.8 points from 33.9 in 1981 to 26.1 in 1999, the
Death Rate has also declined by 3.8 points from 12.5 in 1981 to 8.7 in 1999. Similarly,
the effective mean age at marriage for females has also increased from18.3 years in 1981
to 19.5 years in 1997. The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1976, which raised the age of
marriage for girls from 15 to 18 years has, no doubt, helped reduce child/early marriages
and the consequent early pregnancies and birth of premature babies. At the same time,
education and employment of women/girls has also played a very important role in
raising the age of marriage.

Declining Sex Ratio

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Nothing reflects the adverse position of Indian women than the declining sex ratio.
Women have an evident biological advantage of survival over males, and this is reflected
in the higher ratio of female over male in almost every country of the world. But in India
this ratio is declining consistently over the years. When the first Census of the country
was conducted in 1901 there were 972 females per 1000 males in the country; this
number has declined to 933 in 2001. In absolute terms this implies that in a country of
over a billion populations, nearly 50 million women are ‘missing’. Either their birth has
been averted by female foeticide or they have been killed by the practices of female
infanticide or they have not been allowed to survive through a discriminatory feeding
practices against the girl child. High rate of maternal mortality has also contributed to this
imbalance in the sex ratio.

Table.1 Sex Ratio in the Population

Sex
ratio
Census
(females
Year
per 1,000
males)
1901 972
1911 964
1921 955
1931 950
1941 945
1951 946
1961 941
1971 930
1981 934
1991 927
2001 933

Source: Census of India 2001, "Provisional Population Totals".

The Census of 2001 has confirmed the trend of an alarming

decrease in the juvenile sex ratio (age group 0 to 6) in the recent years.

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 Table. 2 Juvenile Sex Ratio
Census Sex Ratio (0 to 6 years)
Year
1981 962
1991 945
2001 927

Source: Census of India 2001, "Provisional Population Totals".

This trend is widely associated with the technological advancement in the pre natal sex
diagnosis and abortion of the female foeticide and reflects a deepseated societal
prejudice against the girl child. Analysis of cross country data indicates that except in
small pockets of south west (Kerala and Lakshadeep) and north east (Sikkim, Tripura
and Mizoram) juvenile sex ratio is declining in all the provinces and among all the
communities, irrespective of the level of education and economic prosperity.
Shockingly, it is the more prosperous States of Punjab, Haryana, Maharastra and Gujrat
that have taken the lead in this practice. Government had enacted the Pre Natal
Diagnostic Technique (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act in 1994 for
compulsory registration of all clinics employing equipments for such tests and for
prosecution and punishment of medical practitioners and their accomplices but
evidently the legislation could not make any difference to the situation which has
created a sense of alarm among the right thinking men and women in the country

Table – 3
Life Expectancy at Birth (1981-2001)

(in years)
Females Males
Year
(1) (2) (3)
1981- 55.7 55.4
85
1989- 59.7 59.0
93*
1996- 65.3 62.3
2001

Note : * Based on the Sample Registration System Estimates.

Source : Census of India, 1991; and Census of India, 2001 : Provisional Population Totals, Registrar-General &
Census Commissioner, GOI, New Delhi.

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 Table – 4
Mean Age at Marriage (1981-1997)

(in years)
Year Females Males
(1) (2) (3)
1981 18.3 23.3
1991 19.5 23.9
1997 19.5 N.A.

Source : Sample Registration System Bulletins for respective years, Registrar-

General and Census Commissioner, GOI, New Delhi

Table : 5
Birth Rate (1981-1999)

Year Birth Rate

(1) (2)
1981 33.9
1991 29.5
1999 26.1

Source : Sample Registration System Bulletins for respective years, Registrar General and Census
Commissioner, GOI, New Delhi

Table :6
Death Rate (1981-1999)

(per thousand)
Year Females Males Total
(1) (2) (3) (4)
1981 12.7 12.4 12.5
1991 9.7 10.0 9.8
1999 8.3 9.0 8.7

Source : Sample Registration System Bulletins for respective years, Registrar-

General and Census Commissioner, GOI, New Delhi

However, while the female Death Rate has come down by 4.4 points from 12.7 in 1981 to
8.3 in 1999, the male Death Rate has come down by 3.4 points, i.e. from 12.4 in 1981 to
9.0 in 1991 per cent), which could have been prevented easily through better reproductive
health care and nutrition. Despite the special sanction of the Medical Termination of
Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971, illegal abortions continue to be performed by
unauthorized persons like local quacks and untrained persons under unhygienic and

8
unsafe conditions. In fact, abortions accounted for 8.9 per cent of the maternal deaths,
which is quite high. Other causes of high morbidity amongst women are Reproductive
Tract Infections (RTIs) and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), besides their higher
vulnerability to cancer, malaria and tuberculosis and other diseases due to their lower
access to health care facilities. The highest number of maternal deaths in 1998 was due to
hemorrhage (29.7 per cent), followed by anemia (19 per cent) and Sepsis

Adverse Health Conditions of Women

The health of Indian women is intricately related to the socio-economic status of the
households to which they belong and their age, kinship and marital status within the
households. Given the predominantly patriarchal set-up, women and girls get a lesser
share in the intra-household distribution of health goods and services, compared to men
and boys. However in the intra-household distribution of labour, women get the major
share of economic, procreative and family responsibilities. As a result of the competing
demands on their time and energy, as well as their socialization, women tend to neglect
their health. The lesser access to food within the household invariably leads to poor
nutritional status and a state of ill health for women, with serious inter-generational
implications of low birth weight babies etc.

Although women have an evident biological advantage of survival over male, until 1981
the life expectancy at birth for women in India was lower than that for men. In 1991, it
barely surpassed that of men, but by 1994 it has surpassed that of males. But the life
expectancy at birth barely conceals the actual health status of women in the country. The
Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in India, which has been estimated as 408 per 1,00,000
births is one of the highest in the world. This translates to one maternal death in every
200 pregnancies or 273 deaths everyday. Maternal deaths constitute 1.1% of the total
reported deaths of all women in all age groups and 15% of deaths among women in the
reproductive age group (15-44 years). Severe anaemia and bleeding are the two major
causes of maternal death followed by abortion and toxaemia.

Table. 7 Health Profile by Gender

Life 1971 1981 1994
Expectancy
at Birth
Male 46.4 50.9 59.7
Female 44.7 50.0 60.9
Total 45.6 50.4 60.3

Infant 1978 1988 1997

Mortality
Rate1

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 Male 123 96 70.3
Female 131 93 72.2
Total 127 94 71.2

Child 1970 1985 1997

Mortality
Rate2
Male 51.7 36.6 23.2
Female 55.1 40.4 25.3

Maternal 1980 1993 1997

Mortality
Rate3
468 437 408

1. 1. per 1,000 live births.

2. 2. per 1,000 under five years of age
3. 3. per 100,000 live births Source: Sample Registration System
(SRS) estimates, Office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
New Delhi in Ninth Five Year Plan, Planning Commission, GOI and
Economic Survey, 1999-2000, GOI.

In addition to the NNMB’s data given above, the National Family Health Survey
(NFHS)-II of 1998-99 shows that while 1.9 per cent of the adolescent married girls suffer
from severe anemia, 45.9 per cent from moderate anemia. If left undetected and
untreated, this will lead not only to increased morbidity amongst mothers, but also to
higher risk of low birth rate and higher pre-natal mortality. Poor child-rearing practices of
these adolescent mothers will add to the otherwise high mortality, morbidity and
under/malnutrition amongst the infants and thus perpetuate the problems in the inter-
generational cycle. The survey also shows that 51.8 per cent of women (15-49 years)
suffer from nutritional anemia, which can easily be prevented by providing better
nutrition during their adolescent period and, more specifically, during pregnancy and
lactation. Studies conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New

Various studies have indicated that there are profound gender biases in the feeding
practices that result in chronic under nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies in girl child.
National Family Health Survey of India noted that there is significant gender difference
in the percentage of undernourished and severely undernourished children in the country.
Even the median duration of breast-feeding is two months shorter for girls than for boys.

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 Table – 8
Maternal Mortality Rate (1980-1998)

(per one lakh live births)

Year Maternal
Mortality
Rate
(1) (2)
1980 468
1993 437
1998 407

Source : Sample Registration System Bulletins for respective years, Registrar-

General and Census Commissioner, GOI, New Delhi

Although MMR has been declining from 468 in 1980 to 407 in 1998, it is still very high
and, therefore, a matter of great concern. The major causes responsible for this high rate
have been detailed as follows.The prevalence of anemia is highest amongst pregnant
women, ranging between 50 and 90 per cent. However, the NFHS II estimates the
prevalence to be 49.7 per cent, which is substantially lower than earlier reports. What is
more important is that the prevalence of moderate and severe forms of anemia (< 8 gms
per cent and < 5gms per cent) associated with adverse obstetric outcomes continues to
remain high..

Literacy and Education

The past gains in women’s education as reflected in the female literacy rate shows an
increase from 29.76 per cent in 1981 to 54.16 per cent in 2001. Also, it is encouraging to
note that as revealed by the 2001 Census for the first time, the absolute number of female
illiterates has come down from 200.07 million in 1991 to 189.6 million in 2001.
Similarly, the gap between female and male illiterates and drop-outs has also started
narrowing down. Some states, however, continue to have very large inter-regional
variations in education and there are still 299 districts with lower female literacy levels
than the national average. While Kerala recorded the highest female literacy rate of 87.86
per cent, Bihar recorded the lowest at 33.57 per cent in 2001.

Discrimination in Education

Education is essential for improving women's living standards and enabling them to
exercise greater ‘voice’ in decision-making in the family, community, place of work and
the public arena. While both men and women's literacy rates have improved considerably
in the last quarter century, only half the women are literate compared to 73 per cent of
men. Female illiteracy continues to be particularly pronounced in rural areas.

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Inadequacy of the education system to reach out to girls and women can be seen from
four different aspects viz. supply, access, demand and participation. On the supply side,
not having a school within easy reach of home is often a barrier to girl's enrolment and
retention. Closely related to this physical proximity is the question of quality of school
education. Similarly, the availability of girl's schools as opposed to co-educational
schools is also an important factor. Too often girls do not go to school particularly at the
secondary level unless the school has separate lavatories and a degree of privacy for girls,
particularly as they move to upper primary levels. Sometimes having lady teachers can
make a difference. Poor road and transport infrastructure and limited teacher training
institutions in rural areas impede rural women from receiving teacher training.
Conversely these factors hinder urban women from taking up teaching jobs in rural areas.
This is a vicious cycle.

On the demand side, costs of education are a major factor, but even when education is
free, there are both direct and opportunity costs which are very real. Cost of books,
uniform, mid-day meals, etc. are major costs for poor families. Loss of girl children's
availability for household chores and wage earnings are very often the major opportunity
costs for poor families for sending their daughters to schools. Cultural norms increase the
costs of girl's schooling both in terms of direct and opportunity costs.

While the costs of schooling appear to be real and immediate, the benefits are often too
remote to perceive. While, the gender division of labour tends to mask the benefits of
girl's education in the short run, the usual social norm of a woman settling down in the
husband's home, often in a different village, further undermines the perceived economic
benefits of sending daughters to schools. The concept of the daughter as a ‘someone
else’s wealth’ which can at best benefit another household, reduces the incentives of
sending daughters to school. On the other hand, the labour market also discriminates
against women in terms of wages and availability of jobs, which further reinforces the
perceived futility of girl's education and the vicious cycle goes on. The practice of dowry
further aggravates the situation. The more educated a girl is, the higher needs be the
education level of the groom, and therefore higher expectation of dowry price, although
there may be good exceptions.

However despite these constraints, there has been a rapid increase in girls' share in total
enrolment in the last 30 years, although female enrolment is still less than a half the total
enrolment at every stage of education and it decreases with the every next higher stage of
education. The Gross Enrolment Ratio, defined as percentage of enrolment to the
estimated child population in a specific age group also discriminates heavily against the
girl child.

India's performance in educational enrolment for women is poor in comparison to its

peers in the developing world. Female enrolment at both the primary and secondary
levels are lower in India relative to the average for all medium human development
countries (of which India is a member) as well as for all developing countries

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Similarly, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for girls both at primary and middle levels
have also increased from 64.1 in 1980-81 to 85.2 in 1999-2000 in respect of primary
level and from 28.6 to 49.7 in respect of middle level during the same period. Between
1990-91 and 1999-2000, the GER of girls at the middle level has also increased from
47.8 to 49.7

The number of women in higher education which includes colleges, universities,

professional colleges of engineering, medicine, technology, etc. has also increased from
1.32 million (33.0 per cent) in 1990-91 to 3 million (39.8 per cent) in 1999-2000. The
number of women enrolled has shown an increase in both absolute and relative terms.

The drop-out rates, which have a direct bearing on the school retention rates, have also
shown a definite declining trend from 1980-81 to 1999-2000, both in the case of boys and
girls at all levels of school education. Although, the drop-out rates for girls at primary
and middle levels reduced from 62.5 and 79.4 respectively in 1980-81 to 42.3 and 58.0 in
1999-2000, the rates are still higher than those for boys .

The age-specific work participation rates reveal that women tend to enter the labour
market later than men. In the age group 15-29, participation of male is considerably
higher than females, both in rural and urban India. Female participation improves with
age until 60 years, but the gender gap continues to be very pronounced. In 30-59 age
group, female WPR is 24.1 per cent in urban and a little more than a half in rural areas. In
the overall 15-59 age group the participation rates for males are 88 per cent in rural and
80 percent in urban areas. The corresponding rates for females are a little more than a
half in the rural areas and a little less than a fifth of the corresponding male rates in urban
areas, respectively. Contrarily, the work participation of male and female child do not
vary very substantially. If the girl child participation in domestic chores, which are not
reflected in the official statistics, is considered more number of girls child would be
found to be engaged in work than the boys.

A significantly larger proportion of female workers are in the unorganised sector whose
activities are not regulated under any legal provisions (such as the Factories Act 1948)
and/or protected by maternity benefits, leave, pension, gratuity etc. As much as 95.8 per
cent of the total of 89.77 million women workers in the country are employed in the
unorganised sector.

The average female wage in India is almost 80 per cent of the male average in urban
areas and 60 per cent in urban areas. The gender difference in wage rate is the highest in
the rural manufacturing sector, where the female wage rate is less than a half of the male
rate.

A significant part of the contribution of women towards the economy remains

unrecognised in quantitative terms, or at best undervalued, because of the restricted
definition of economic activity in national income accounting. Only market-oriented
activities are considered ‘economic’. Thus, for the purposes of economic valuation,
much of the household and community work that is not marketed and hence has no

13
market value remains outside the national income. A pilot Time Use Survey (TUS) using
stratified sampling technique was conducted by the Central Statistical Organisation in
about 18,600 households spread over the six states of Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,
Meghalaya, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu during July 1998 to June 1999. This showed that
payment was not made for about 38 per cent of the time spent on activities, which
actually qualify for national income accounting. A gender disaggregation of unpaid work
further shows that such unpaid activities was much higher at 51 per cent for females
compared to only 33 per cent for males.

Table –9
Work Participation Rates by Sex (1981 to 2001)
(in per cent)
Census T/R/U Female Male
(1) (2) (3) (4)
1981 Total 19.7 52.6
Rural 23.1 53.8
Urban 8.3 49.1
1991 Total 22.3 51.6
Rural 26.8 52.6
Urban 9.2 48.9
2001 Total 25.7 51.9
Rural 31.0 52.4
Urban 11.6 50.9

Source : Census of India, 1991, Series I and Census of India, 2001 : Provisional Population
Totals,
Registrar General & Census Commissioner, GOI, New Delhi.

Women’s share in the organised work-force has also shown an increasing trend, from 2.8
million (12.2 per cent) in 1981 to 4.8 million (17.2 per cent) in 1999. Between 1991 and
1999, rise in the percentage points of women was 3.1. In contrast, the share of men has
been declining. However, women’s participation in the organized sector is still very low,
as compared to men.

Similarly, women’s employment in the public sector has also recorded an increase from
1.5 million (9.7 per cent) in 1981 to 2.8 million (14.5 per cent) in 1999. However, it is
still much lower than that of men.

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 Decision-making
Administrative

The representation of women in the decision-making levels through the Premier

Services viz., the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS),
which stood at only 5.4 per cent in 1987, increased marginally to 7.6 per cent in 2000.
However, the figure is still very low, requiring not only affirmative action but also
special interventions to help raise the number of women at various decision-making
levels.

Political
The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments in 1993 have brought forth a definite
impact on the participation of women, in terms of absolute numbers, in grassroot
democratic institutions viz. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Local Bodies (Table
2.11.17). In fact, these amendments have helped women not only in their effective
participation but also in decision-making in the grassroot democracy. Of the 475 Zilla
Parishads in the country, 158 are being chaired by women. At the Block Level, out of
51,000 members of Block Samitis, 17,000 are women. In addition, nearly one-third of
the Mayors of the Municipalities are women. In the elections to PRIs held between
1993 and 1997, women have achieved participation even beyond the mandatory
requirement of 33 1 / 3 per cent of the total seats in states like Karnataka (43.45 per
cent), Kerala (36.4 per cent) and West Bengal (35.4 per cent). However, the all India
figures for women show that their representation in 2001 is still low.

Although the number of women in Parliament has increased from 59 in 1998 to 70 in

2001, their share continues to be very low representing only 8.5 per cent (Table
2.11.18) of the total Members in Parliament in 2001. The number of women in the
Central Council of Ministers continues to remain extremely low, but with a marginal
increase of 0.8 per cent between 1985 and 2001. Of these, 2 are of Cabinet rank and 6
are of the rank of Minister of State, and of these, 2 are holding Independent Charge.
These trends point out very clearly to theneed for affirmative action besides addressing
these issues in a systematic and expeditious way so that women’s concerns gain
political prominence and a fairly representative number of women are in position not
only at grassroot level, but also at the state and national levels.

Table- 10 Selected Gender Development Indicators

Sl. Indicators Female Male Total Female Male Total

No.
Demography and Vital Statistics
Population (in million 1991 &
1 407.1 439.2 846.3 495.7 531.3 1027.0
2001) (Census)
Decennial Growth (1981 & 2001)
2 24.93 24.41 24.58 21.79 23.93 21.34
(Census)

15
3 Sex Ratio (1991 & 2001) (Census) 927 933
Juvenile Sex Ratio (1991 & 2001)
4 945 927
(Census)
5 Life Expectancy at Birth (in years 58.1 57.1 65.3 62.3
in 1991 & 2001) (Census)
Mean Age at Marriage 1981 &
6 17.9 23.3 19.3 24.0
1991 (Census)
Health and Family Welfare
Birth Rate (per 1000 in 1981 &
7 35.6 25.0
2002) (SRS)
Death rate (per 1000 in 1981 &
8 12.7 12.4 12.5 7.7 8.4 8.1
2002) (SRS)
9 Infant Mortality Rate (per 1000 81 78 80 65 62 64
live births in 1990 & 2002) (SRS)
10 Child Mortality Rate (per 1000 40.4 36.6 38.4 71.6 70.5 71.1
live births under 5 yrs of age in
1985 & 2001) (SRS)
11 Maternal Mortality Rate (per 408 407
100000 live births in 1997 &
1998) (SRS)
Literacy and Education
12 Literacy Rate (1991 & 2001) in 39.29 64.13 52.21 53.67 75.26 64.84
percentage (Census)
Gross Enrolment Ratio (1990–91
13
& 2002–03)
Classes I-V {Ministry of HRD} 85.5 114.0 100.1 93.1 97.5 95.3
Classes VI-VIII {Ministry of
47.0 76.6 62.1 56.2 65.3 61.0
HRD}
Dropout rate (1990–91 & 2002–
14
03) in %
Classes I-V {Ministry of HRD} 46.0 40.1 42.6 33.7 35.8 34.9
Classes I-VIII {Ministry of HRD} 65.1 59.1 60.9 52.3 53.4 52.8
Work and Employment
15 Work Participation Rate (1991 & 22.3 51.6 37.4 25.6 57.9 39.2
2001) in percentage
16 Organised Sector (number in 20.50 22.85 23.20 28.11
2.80 4.83
millions in 1981 & 1999)
(12.2%) (17.2%)
(DGE&T)
17 Public Sector (number in millions 14.0 15.5 16.8 19.4
1.5 2.8
in 1981 & 1999) (Employment
(8.7%) (14.5%)
Review)
18 Government (number in millions 1.2 9.7 10.9 1.6 9.1 10.1
in 1981 & 1997) (11%) (14.6%)
Women’s Representation in

16
 Decision Making
19 Administration (no. in IAS & IPS 579 7347 8036 645 7860 8460
in 1997 & 2000) (7.6%) (7.6%)
20 PRIs (no. in figures in 1985 & 318 630 948 725 1997 2722
2001) (33.5) (22.6%)
21 Parliament (no. in 1991 & 2004) 77 712 789 72 712 784
(9.7%) (9.2%)
22 Central Council of Minister (no. in 36 40 8 66 74
4 (10%)
1985 & 2001) (10.8%)

Source: Office of the Registrar General of India.

* figures in per cent; ** females per 1,000 males; *** Refers to 1995 in respect of some states, namely, Gujarat,
Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura and West Bengal
Note : i) Figures in parentheses indicate the percentage to the total and year of the data in respective columns.
Although, efforts
were made to keep a common ‘base’ and common ‘comparable year’, but the same could not be kept up
because of the
limitations in the availability of data and other practical problems; ii) The years given in the parentheses refers
to the year of
the data in columns 3,4 &5 and 6,7 & 8 respectively.
Source : 1. Census of India, 1991; Census of India, 2001: Provisional Population Totals; and SRS Bulletins for
respective years, Registrar
General & Census Commissioner, GOI, New Delhi; 2. Selected Educational Statistics for respective years, Dept
of Education,
Ministry of HRD, New Delhi; 3. Annual Report, 1999-2000, Depts of Elementary & Literacy and Secondary &
Higher
Education, Ministry of HRD, New Delhi; 4. Employment Exchange Statistics, DGE&T, Ministry of Labour,
New Delhi; 5.
Dept of Personnel & Training, New Delhi; 6. Ministry of Rural Development, New Delhi; 7. Election
Commission of India,
New Delhi; 8. National Informatics Centre, Parliament House, New Delhi.

A quick review of the progress made by women has not only focused light on the gains
but also brought forth to surface certain critical areas of concern relating to women
requiring attention of the Government during the Tenth Plan.

Caste, communalism and gender

Caste and communal issues have not featured prominently either in analyses of gender
relations in India, nor, more generally, in considerations informing the design of aid
programmes and projects. This is partly, perhaps, because of the dominance of upper
caste and/ or middle-class groups in national level political life generally, including
within the women’s movement. The ‘invisibility’ of caste in the post-Independence
secular politics of India, at least from an upper caste perspective, has, until recently,
meant that the complex ways in which caste and gender interact have been largely
ignored. Also, perhaps, much in the way that external actors (particularly men) are often
reluctant to tackle gender inequalities, since these are often consigned to the domain of
‘culture’ or ‘tradition’, caste is perhaps seen in a similar light, as a peculiarly Indian
tradition which should be left well alone. The communalization of Indian political life
over recent years also has specific gender dimensions: as with caste issues, women are
often singled out for attention or attack as bearers of the respective communal identities.

17
On the other hand, some women have a stake in advancing communal projects, or in
maintaining caste divisions.

Relations of gender inequality in India, as well as, importantly, differences between

women in India, cannot be understood without analysing how they interact with caste
relations. Moreover, in terms of development policy and practice, there are particular
implications arising from an incorporation of caste and communal issues into a gender
analysis. In general:

Given the paucity of data, particularly gender-disaggregated data, on caste (and

communal) issues, interventions should be preceded by both qualitative and quantitative
analysis of the target or participating populations, to ensure that resources are not being
concentrated among already privileged groups. This is particularly important where there
is regional and spatial separation of different caste (or communal) groups.

Where participatory approaches to development are being promoted, it is important to

understand the dynamics of inter-caste and inter-communal relations in a given context,
particularly where there is a local history of conflict. It must not, conversely, be assumed
that such a history of conflict is always present, nor that different communal or caste
groups are unable to work together.

Certain social and religious groups may dominate local political structures and the voices
of lower caste, non-Hindu, Dalit and tribal groups, and particularly women within these
groups, are likely, in many instances, to be under-represented. Specific mechanisms may
therefore be needed to elicit the opinions of under-represented groups.

Caste and gender

The connection between caste and gender is most evident in the differential control men
exercise over women’s identity, labour and sexuality. Whilst upper caste women have
gained access to privileged employment and other resources through their caste status,
lower caste women are generally confined to work in the non-formal sector. In as much
as reservations have promoted lower caste employment, this had tended to favour men.

On the other hand, the sexuality of upper caste women is highly controlled through
marriage, as the means of ensuring their caste status. When marriage is being considered
for upper caste women (and men), caste considerations - which may otherwise feature
little in daily life - becomes prominent. Whilst upper caste practices (such as dowry) have
spread to some extent among lower caste and tribal groups, their sexuality may be less
controlled and women from these groups may have greater autonomy though in
conditions of greater poverty. Lower caste women are nevertheless highly vulnerable to
sexual harassment and attack, particularly from upper caste men. Dalit women have
arguably suffered most from physical and sexual violence against women in India, with
little protest or protection offered either by the state or other sections of society.

18
In a situation of increasingly public inter-caste tension and conflict, women are being
singled out for attack as the ‘bearers’ of their respective caste identities. Lower caste
women, and Dalit women, in particular, are attacked and abused with impunity. Upper
caste women may also be the objects of threats, intimidation and attack, but mere
suspicion of attack on upper caste women by lower caste men can lead to brutal reprisals
(see Box 2). Interventions to address violence against women, including sexual violence
and harassment, need to be informed by this wider canvass of inter-caste and inter-
communal tensions.

Tribals and gender

Tribals make up 7.7 percent of India’s population, of whom 60 percent are concentrated
in Central and Northern states (Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal,
Maharashtra) and are overwhelming concentrated in rural areas (94 percent). There is a
general lack of information on gender issues in the tribal context beyond the
anthropological literature which focuses on kinship and marriage systems. Stereotypes of
tribal women as powerful members of egalitarian societies, as loose women or witches,
or as the most oppressed among women in Indian society, vie with each other in existing
literature, but none are very illuminating about the nature of gender relations among tribal
communities, nor about how these relations are being shaped by wider processes of social
change.

Processes of hierarchization are evident among some ‘tribal’ communities where

societies are taking on some features of the caste system. This may imply less autonomy
for women among those groups taking up caste practices such as dowry. However, little
is known about intra-household relations in tribal communities, particularly about
household decision-making patterns. Further research relating changing marriage
patterns, household formation, decision making and related practices in tribal
communities and their impact on gender relations would be informative in this context.

Whilst often characterised as isolated, egalitarian communities, tribal communities are

increasingly incorporated into the monetary economy, though migration, indebtedness,
bonded labour etc. Women as well as men are caught in these relationships and often
suffer further discrimination, e.g. in agricultural wage rates. Tribals are increasingly
fragmented and thus collective identity or homogeneity among tribal communities cannot
be assumed. Given this, and the trends noted above, in planning interventions in tribal
contexts, it is important to take into account local categories and identities rather than
externally imposed ones.

The access of tribal communities (and particularly women) to the natural resource base is
increasingly threatened with erosion of land rights, large scale development projects and,
even, environmental initiatives. The identification of tribal women’s interests with
environmental concerns is often romanticised and misplaced. The priorities of tribal
women in relation to the natural resource base must be considered in the planning of
environmental interventions.

19
The categorisation of tribals along with Scheduled Castes (Dalits) in official statistics and
as a target group for interventions has led to distinct issues in relation to tribal
communities being overlooked. There has been a tendency for non-tribals to capture
benefits of programmes aimed at both Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Tribals, at
least in some states, appear to suffer even greater poverty than Dalit groups. In as much
as reservations have benefited these groups, men appear to have benefited more. Tribals,
and tribal women particularly, may require separate anti-poverty interventions rather than
programmes targeted at Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes together.

Access of tribal women to education and their retention within the system is particularly
poor (. Specific measures are required (e.g. campaigns, incentives to compensate for loss
of household labour) to increase attendance of tribal girls in educational institutions; but
it would also be important in this context to assess the perceived relevance of formal
education to tribal communities and particularly young tribal women.

CHALLENGES FOR GENDER PARITY

Women and poverty
An estimated 260–300 million people remain below the poverty line, more than half of
them being women and girls. The implementation and monitoring of gender equality
and rights based policies and programmes with a view to reducing the feminisation of
poverty, needs to be a priority.
Eradicating poverty requires improvement on many fronts – not just improving access
to income generating opportunities.The challenge is to combat hunger and
malnutrition, provide avenues for employment, ensure adequate wages for work,
reduce drudgery and provide sustained access to drinking water and sanitation.
The impact of macro economic policy on the incidence of poverty needs to be carefully
assessed.

Education and training of women

To enable girls and women to achieve not just equal access to schools but also
throughout schooling, sustained effort is needed to address stereotypical socialisation
patterns.
Increased investment in interventions like bridge courses and residential camps for
girls should be supported to allow girls to enter, or to re-enter, regular schools.
The quality and relevance of the school system needs strengthening, especially in light
of the growing gap between the government and the private educational systems.
Increased opportunities for adolescent girls for further study or vocational training
need to be created.
Women and health
Serious gender gaps remain in health outcomessuchasmortalityandmorbidity rates.
High fertility rates and low mean age at marriage has a debilitating impact on health of
girls and women. Diseases like anaemia, stemming from nutritional deficiency persist.
Health outcomes depend on many factors, including sanitation, clean drinking water,
food security, etc. Convergent action is, therefore, urgently needed.

20
 Of the total estimated HIV/AIDS cases in the country, 25 per cent are reported to be
women. Efforts to address the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS using a multi-sectoral
approach and building capacity of individuals, institutions and networks need to be
intensified
Mental health continues to be a neglected area, and health care delivery system
remains ill equipped to tackle these problems, specifically in the rural areas. Another
area that has received insufficient attention is occupational health. Increased attention
needs to be paid to these areas.
Violence against women
Support services for victims of gender-based violence need to be strengthened.
Though laws and legislations are in place there is a need to strengthen enforcement and
create better awareness to address issues of gender-based violence.

Women and economy

Increased efforts are needed to ensure sensitivity of the macro policy framework to
micro impacts,calling both for employment generation and also for putting in place
systems for re-training and enabling mobility of workers, within a sector as well as
between sectors. Processes that will engender global trade agreements and treaties need
to be supported, as they can greatly influence the impact of globalisation and trade
liberalisation on women.
Special attention needs to be given to women in agriculture. Continued support needs
to be given to efforts to promote policies and institutions that provide women,
especially rural women, employment, ownership and access to economic resources,
and social security.
The fact that the majority of women are in informal employment, and likely to remain
so, has to be considered while formulating policies.

21
Women in power and decision making
India has primarily relied upon the method of reservation to ensure women’s presence
in decision-making bodies. This has increased de jure, but not necessarily de facto,
participation. There is need to encourage women’s participation in other kinds of
groups and associations which contribute to an atmosphere of leadership by women, as
well as supporting training and networking for elected women.
The factors that limit women’s effective participation, apart from their own
inexperience need to be identified and addressed.
Mahila Sabhas (or equivalent women’s groups) should be encouraged to articulate and
facilitate the raising of women’s concerns and priorities in meetings of Gram Sabhas
and Ward Sabhas.
The provision of Women’s Component Plan may be provided in the budgets of local
self-governance institutions like PRIs and urban local bodies and more subjects be
transferred to them.

Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women

There is a need to strengthen the capacity of line ministries/ departments/ committees
and shift their focus from project implementation towards formulation of gender
sensitive policy, advocacy and monitoring with emphasis on the more disadvantaged
women
Gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting have been introduced with great success
at the national level in various ministries and departments. With the devolution of
power to the Panchayati Raj institutions, the need for gender budgeting at the
grassroots level needs to be recognised.
The Government has taken up important steps to engender data collection. There is a
need to strengthen and institutionalise systems of gender statistics and to use this data
in planning and advocacy for gender justice.

Human rights of women

With women entering the workforce in increasing numbers, there is a need to put in
place mechanisms for effectively combating the incidence of sexual harassment at the
workplace.

Women and media

Create mechanisms to increase women’s access to media and communication
technology, and support the training of media personnel to eliminate gender bias in
reporting.
Support processes to engender ICT in all initiatives of PFA and CEDAW
implementation.
Engender the depiction of women in media.Gender to be included in curricula of art,
drama and journalism schools.
Regulatory mechanisms for the media to be put in place and implemented
Women and environment

22
 The urban environment and its gender-differentiated impact on well-being is a
neglected area in planning and programmes. The urban dimension has to be
strengthened.
The close link between development policies and environmental impact needs to be
factored into macro policy decision making, and an ecological perspective ensured in
planning for development in environmentally sensitive areas.
More resources need to be directed into women-sensitive environmental programmes
The girl child
Measures that will help in changing social norms and perceptions that affect the well
being of the girl child need to be strengthened.
In the area of education, early childhood care and education needs to be integrated with
the schooling system, so that the needs of children between 3–6 years are addressed.
The well being of young girls is closely dependent on the availability of childcare so
that older daughters can be released from the burdens of sibling care. Measures to
ensure fuel, drinking water and sanitation will likewise impact on both time available
to young girls for study and recreation, and their general well being.

Emerging Areas of Concern

Globalisation and livelihood

With the onset of trade liberalisation, women in India today are linked to the global
economy to a very significant extent, as producers, entrepreneurs, service providers,
consumers and citizens.There is a need to identify capacity constraints and entry barriers
that prevent women from securing gains from trade. Government is seized of the fact that
trade related awareness and capacity building of the women stakeholders need to be
prioritised. This will include training women on specific market and trade information,
that will improve their responsiveness vis-à-vis their sectors and help them to pursue their
livelihood options in an increasingly globalised environment.
The industry also needs to be sensitised—certain gender sensitive industries may seek to
secure wider market access by means of gender labelling. Liberalised access of ‘gender
sensitive products’(GSP) to developed country markets can lead to growth in exports and
consequently increase women’s employment. Moreover, there is a need to look into
incentives and schemes for promotion of FDI, growth of GSP industries and liberalisation
of import tariffs on products that are of consumptive importance to women. Policy
responses need to be framed to overcome the restrictions and challenges that both women
in services sector and women service providers face, while at the same time enabling
them to explore trade gains that may accrue in hitherto unexplored sectors.
The adjustment costs of trade reform represent the adverse and visible aspects of
globalisation, especially on women. Domestic policy responses have to be firmed up,
drawing up from the success stories and best practices. The functioning of the credit
markets also needs to be improved to ensure that the displaced workforce gets financial
support to endure periods of low or zero income.

23
Gender database and indicators
The Government’s emphasis is on bringing gender concerns centre-stage in all aspects of
public expenditure and policy through the instrument of gender budgeting. This implies
the need to continue efforts to build up the available databases and also to supplement it
with qualitative analysis.
Recent statistical work that has contributed in a very critical way to deepening our
understanding of gender relations include the findings concerning the declining sex ratio
and the need to focus attention on how to counter the regressive tendencies that this data
indicates. Similarly in relation to work, the information now available on the numbers
and proportion of women in home based work helps to draw attention to this category of
workers and the manner in which the production system has developed in India. At the
same time, numbers alone can be misleading, and this is particularly true in the case of
representation of women in Panchayats, where numbers would overstate the actual
autonomy and influence that these women are able to exercise.

Women's status also depends on intangible resources, including self-confidence and self-
worth, as well as information, knowledge, and specific skills. A just society ensures that
all individuals can acquire basic levels of these resources, eliminating discrimination that
causes lack of confidence and guaranteeing every individual an equal opportunity to
access information, knowledge and skills. Thus for women's status to improve,
development interventions must be designed to serve the goals of gender equality.
Women's access to knowledge, information and skills have to be made central not just to
promote their 'participation in development', but so that they become tools to challenge
subordination

Positive Actions: Positive action can reduce biological and cultural differences between
the two gender by compensating women for the disadvantages they experiences. It can
also be mean of correcting the power imbalance between the females and males by
ensuring that more women participate in political decision-making. Positive action can
achieve these ends in a variety of ways.

. • Introduction of reservation/quota system: It can require that in a

particular profession or sector of society where women are underrepresented quotas are
set and met.
. • Setting of targets: Setting of targets encourages the organization or
employer to examine their practices in order to identify and remove barriers, which
prevent that target from achieving.
. • Adopting a policy: if women are underrepresented in a particular sector,
they are offered special training or facilities in order to obtain the relevant qualifications
or experience, which will allow them access to achieve reservation / quota or target.
. • Awarding special rights and protection: In the case of biological
differences between the sexes, positive action may take the form of awarding women
special rights or protection, for instance in relation to pregnancy or maternity. For
example, India has give reservation to socially backward people in the constitution.

However, attempts to use positive action initiatives to tackle social differences based on

24
caste, colour is far more problematic. They are problematic because of an inherent belief
that, in their extreme forms, such as the setting of employment quotas, they are morally
unacceptable. Thus, we can achieve Gender Equality by changing attitudes, by
identifying areas of strategic importance and by positive actions.

25
 CHAPTER-2

GENDER DISCRIMINATION AT EARLY CHILDHOOD -

STATUS OF GIRL CHILD

Early childhood is a time of opportunity and learning, in which even a small positive
change can generate long term social benefits. The appropriate care children receive
while they are young or the manner in which their needs are met, has a remarkable
positive impact as their intelligence, personality and social interaction well into
adulthood. It is well accepted that children whose developmental needs are met do better
in life than children who are neglected in this domain. The development of young
children entails needs related to their physical, cognitive and psycho-social growth, and
they are in constant need of protection, health and nutrition care, affection, interaction,
stimulation and learning. During this period, a child learns to handle more complex levels
of moving, thinking and interacting with people and objects in the environment. This 'arc
in a life time' process comprises the unfolding of behaviour patterns from immature to
mature and from simple to complex, which enables the child to emerge from dependency
and become an independent adult.

Early childhood care and development refer to approach to policies and programmes for
children from birth to tight years of age. It is purpose is to protect the child rights to
develop her or his full cognitive, emotional and physical potential. Children need health
care, sound nutrition, a safe and hygienic environment and loving interaction. The
expanding body of knowledge shows how the early year of life are absolutely vital,
lagging the ground for the child's survival, growth, health and later accomplishments.
During this time, the neural network in the brain develops, depending largely on the
stimulation, health, nutrition and care the child receivers. Before a healthy child reaches
the age of two and half, millions of neural link have been forged, connections upon which
physical, mental and cognitive development largely depend. To be a give born into
poverty is to endure discrimination many times over in pervasive and insidious, their
rights are in peril. Although discrimination against girls is found on every continent of
the world but it is more damaging in India.

Although the principle of gender equality and gender equity is basic to Indian thinking
girls in our country are still deprived of equal opportunities for survival and development
and unfortunately, this begins early in life or rather before birth. In terms of Gender
Development Index, Indian ranks 99 among the 130 countries included in the index
(UNDP 1995). Girl child in India, is subjected to "inequality", "disparity" and "neglect".
Gender based inequalities permeate the very fabric of the social and cultural environment
and the value system. She has lesser entitlement to health care, nutrition, education and
even parental attention.

The care and focus given to a child as a girl and as an adolescent with focus on her health
and nutrition, education and economic potential determines her empowerment as a
woman. A healthy, literate and empowered adolescent girl will be able to contribute
positively to the society. The Constitution of India has laid special emphasis on the well-

26
being and protection of the children. It not only grants equality and prohibits any kind of
discrimination but also protects children against exploitation and abuse. It also empowers
the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of children.

Born into indifference and reared on neglect, the girl child is caught in a web of cultural
practices and prejudices that hamper her development, both physically and mentally. In
India, for a girl child the period from infancy to adolescence is a perilous path. In this
socially inhospitable environment of patriarchal and male dominated society a girl is
considered to be someone, who will never contribute to the family income and who at
marriage will take a large portion of family assets as dowry.

Gender discrimination replicate themselves from generation to generation violate the

rights of the girl child and choke her further development. Low weight at birth,
insufficient feeding, inadequate care and nutrition depletions caused by repeated bouts of
illness culminate overtime in a girl child. Deprivation in feeding and care that impair
growth in the critical first years may also reduce cognitive development and learning
abilities and failure in early growth. Gender discrimination comprises with poverty, crush
girls sense of autonomy and self as well as their potential.

Persisting gender inequalities, existing cultural beliefs and practices permeates into
almost every aspect of the growing girl's, social and cultural environment and our value
system. Inspite of all the efforts made, an in sight into girl child, profile indicates
negative sex ratio, higher female child mortality rate, lesser access to food, health and
care. Female foeticide, though prevalent in many parts of the country remain largely
invisible. Sex pre-selection is prevalent in states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana,
Rajasthan and Punjab. A girl child is also runs the risk of female infanticide by deliberate
killing or neglect at the time of birth and during the vulnerable period of infancy.

Why are boys more valued than girls?

In the patriarchal family structure a young women's prestige or recognition in her
husband's home is based on her fertility in general and the birth of a son in particular.
Several studies have found that almost all societies have valued sons more than daughters
and have shown a marked preference for male children. Son preference is both a cause
and a consequence of the low status of women. It is a consequence because it arises as a
result of women being considered fit to play only unimportant roles and thus being
valued less. It is a cause because this under-valuation, in turn, has led to lower investment
in females as a result of which they are only able to play a peripheral role in society,
causing a further lowering of their status.

Traditional cultural practices reflect deeply rooted values and beliefs. Son preference is
exhibited in many cultures and is not unique to developing countries or rural areas,
although it is stronger in countries where patriarchy and patriliny are prevalent. Societies
that expect women to live and express themselves within narrowly defined gender roles
also often exhibit cultural practices that benefit men and harm women and girl children.

27
 Lineage: Family lineage and the family name are carried on by male children in many
societies, leading parents concerned about their family’s future generations to hope for a
son and possibly murder or abort girl children in order to get an heir. The preference for
sons, however, is not the only reason for the practice of female infanticide and selective
abortion. There are actual disincentives and costs associated with raising girl children that
influence choices made in communities where this abuse is practiced. The same social
practices reflect a community’s low estimation of women in general.

Care for the Elderly: In many countries, parents rely upon their children to care for
and support them in old age. The People’s Republic of China, for example, has very
limited pension plans and publicly-funded assistance for the elderly, and it is commonly
believed that parents without a son will have no one to care for them after a daughter
marries. Traditionally, a Chinese daughter becomes her husband’s “property” and moves
away from her home when she marries. Her parents are left without any income or home
labor she may have provided, and the groom’s family receives a worker that they did not
have to support through childhood.
Economics: In general, girls still have lower economic earning potential than boys. A
poor family may not want the added expense of another child unless that child will
someday bring economic wealth back to the family. “Compared with men, women have
fewer opportunities for paid employment and less access to skill training that would make
such employment possible,” according to a re
12
port by the UNHCHR. In China, even if a daughter is educated, employed and able to
send money to her parents, the amount is less than what a son would provide, because a
woman has less earning potential and must first offer her income to her husband, to
13
whom she is subordinate.
Social Custom: Some societies practice rigid social customs that make girls much
more expensive to raise than boys. In parts of India, for example, families are expected to
hold religious or social ceremonies for a girl that would not be held for a boy. These
ceremonies can be very expensive—often requiring a family to provide a feast or gifts for
everyone in their village. “Proper” ceremonies for even one girl can ruin an already poor
family, and inadequate ceremonies are grave social disgraces. A family may choose to
kill a girl child rather than take on the expense, indicating the belief that a family’s social
status outweighs the value of a girl child’s life.
Throughout India, many families participate in the dowry sys-tem, where the bride’s
family must pay a large sum of money to the groom’s family so he will marry her. The
practice is illegal but nonetheless widespread. Paying a dowry for even one girl can bank-
rupt a poor family, whereas a son will bring wealth to his family when he marries.
Furthermore, in order to disguise the illegal outright payment of dowry, the bride’s
family often is expected to give their daughter several large gifts to help her establish her
new household. Demands may continue to be made by the son-in-law or his family for a
long period of time.
India supports a plural or heterogeneous society consisting of numerous stratifications
based on religion, caste and class. Dual structures of law exist side by side, the religious
sanctions condoned against constitutional ones. Yet one finds that preference for sons

28
runs high amongst all religious groups and social classes. This preference is due to shared
civilization patterns on the Indian subcontinent and the underlying principle of a
patrilocal, patrilineal and patriarchal society. Women in such societies always occupy a
low status and are neglected. As women are considered a burden, female infant mortality
exceeds that of males, notwithstanding the fact that a female child is biologically stronger
at birth. A girl faces deprivation throughout her life. Preference for sons is obvious from
the brutal traditions that are prevalent in India.

Gender and Education

Primary Education:
When 104.91 % boys enrolled in the first standard only 85.2 % girls are enrolled
(Economic Survey 2003-2004). Though the gap between male and female enrollment has
been reduced from 36% in 1950 to 20% after 50 years in 2001,still there is a long way to
go to bring gender equality in formal education. Further the drop-out rate is much higher
in girls than boys.

Several problems persist: issues of ‘social’ distance-arising out of caste, class and gender
differences-deny girl children equal opportunities. Child labour in economically weak
communities coupled with a resistance to sending girls to school remain real concerns.

The reason is the lack of education facilities beyond this level, in the same vicinity.
Mothers are usually unwilling to send their daughters to schools situated at a greater
distance because of safety reasons where the schools are far away fear of sex abuse on the
lonely and long- distance roads.

Reasons why girl-children drop out of schools:

. • Taking care of younger siblings or earning a living.
. • Lack of adequate schooling facilities suitable for a girl child
• Lack of value and awareness of the need for formal education and its
manifold benefits to the parents.

India’s urban-rural, male-female literacy gap closing: India’s sustained literacy drive is
seeing some interesting results, with greater growth rates in rural areas compared to urban
areas. And the male-female literacy gap is closing. It’s encouraging that the gap between
male and female literacy rates decreased from 24.84% in 1991 to 21.70% in 2001. During
the past decade, the female literacy rate has witnessed much higher growth (14.87
percentage), as against 11.72 for males.

Socialisation

The boys are treated as strong, autonomous beings right from birth. In some cultures,
mothers fuss with the baby girl’s hair, dress her in a feminine fashion and tell her how
pretty she is and must always strive to be. These physical, experiences of early childhood
are very important in shaping the self-perception of girls and boys.

29
Typically enough, girls are given dolls or pots and pans to play with, and boys are
encouraged to play with guns, cars and aircrafts. In working class homes in India, girls do
not play with pots and pans, they are made to start cleaning real pots and pans, and real
homes, looking after real babies while they are still very young; whereas boys are sent to
school or made to work outside the home. Through this kind of differential treatment the
interests of girls and boys are channelled towards gender-specific behaviour due to which
they develop different capabilities, attitudes, aspirations and dreams.

Impact of Religion on Socio-cultural Status on Girls:

Dowry among Hindus, originally a girl inheritance as her share of the property
(streedhan), became her husband’s property in the modern world. It became a direct
transaction between patriarchal households in the patriarchal system. Girl subsequently
became dependent, silent possessions of men- to be traded at will for reasons far removed
from notions of their benevolence and well being. In Muslims, a woman is entitled to
claim from her husband a sum of money known as the ‘dower’, which is returnable once
the marriage contract is dissolved i.e. divorce. Though the Muslim law, as in all
patriarchal communities favours the stronger sex, the marriage contract, can be if well
drawn out, as advantageous to the wife. A woman is as much as a heir, under the Muslim
law, however all her rights were denied because of the rigidity of the ‘purdah’ system
which made them unaware, ignorant and uneducated.

Gender and Caste/Social Class

In India, Caste distinctions among the Hindus, often chart out the course of the daily life
of a girl, since birth. Sometimes, religious and social differences take on unfortunate
connotations In all such cases, girls and children of both the warring factions are the
worst affected, especially as sexual violence against women and girls which becomes a
tool for further subjugation of the marginalized disadvantaged preschool girl child.
Many a times Dalit girls and boys are asked to sit in the back rows in the Pre-schools and
schools. They are not allowed to eat along with other children during the mid-day meal
programmes or supplementary feeding programmes. Though this discrimination is similar
for both girls and boys, within that system the girls are made to sit behind the Dalit boys
and are often served food after the boys. So the gender discrimination exists both at
household and school levels where gender discrimination along with class and caste are
added to the severity.

Muslims, which are a minority community in India, often feel insecure among a majority
of Hindus, and to propagate their community, many do not avail of planning methods.
Patriarchy, emphasized by leaders in this community, imposes restricted mobility and
freedom of expression to girls in terms of their clothing, interaction with the opposite sex
and other personal choices. Girl children in this community are required to cover their
heads and faces when stepping out of the house on limited sanctioned occasions. Female
genital mutilation at a young age, to ‘curb’ women’s sexuality, is still practiced, although
with the passage of time, this practice is being gradually eliminated. Contrarily, young
boys are made to undergo removal of the foreskin of the penis, as this is supposed to

30
enhance their masculinity and sexual pleasure.

The Declaration and Plan of Action in the World Conference against Racism, Racial
discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance: United Nations 2002 recognises the
intersection of discrimination on grounds of race and gender, a regard women and girls
particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, economic depravity, etc.
However in India, the tribal girl child is treated almost as an equal to a male child. The
arrival of a female child is welcomed, as it gives an opportunity to increase the numbers
in the tribe as every female child is conceived. Conversely, to the practice of dowry, the
institution of the bride-price, to loss of the productive powers of the daughter, is a
recognition of the economic significance of the girl child in tribal households.

Gender and Access to Health & Nutrition

Discriminatory practices against daughters such as differential feeding and health care are
common especially in the quality of food. e.g. Both boys and girls may get the basic food
rice and roti (Indian bread) as required, but when it comes to the expensive foods such as
fruits, milk, eggs the boys are given preference. This is the situation of rural poor
families.

Studies show that a girl is breast-fed less often and for a shorter period of time than a boy
(five months less). For example, according to National Family Health Survey, the median
duration of breastfeeding for girls was slightly lower (24.6 months) than the median
duration of breastfeeding for boys (24.4 months). Many women, eager to try again for
the birth of a son, will sacrifice their own health and the nutrition of the daughter to try to
become pregnant again. A girl is often weaned earlier than recommended and does not
receive the necessary nutrients for early development. The mother also puts the baby at a
greater risk of infection because of malnutrition and the impurity of water and foods used
in place of breast milk.

Data from the National Family Health Survey-2 (NFHS-2) indicates that such
discriminatory practices against the female child may be widespread in India. A larger
proportion of female children than male children were severely underweight (19.1% of
girls and 16.9% of boys). When they fell ill with diarrhoea, a smaller proportion of girls
(69.9%) were taken to a health facility or provider as compared to boys (64.8%). Female
child mortality rate (1-4 year) during the ten-year period preceding 1998-99 was much
higher (36.7 per 1000) than male child mortality (24.9 per 1000). Previous studies have
concluded that when there is much a substantial gender differential in child mortality
rates it may be reasonable to assume the presence of discriminatory and/or care.

In the past decade, there have been noticeable improvements in the Infant Mortality rates
(IMR) from more than 120 to 67 and in Under-five Mortality rates, from around 200 to
93 (2002) (Human Development Report, 2004). However according to NFHS Report
2003, 51.8% of women in the age-group of 15-49 years are anaemic which is a condition

31
that they have been subjected to since birth, due to inadequate nutrition. Only about
51.6% of women in the same age group are involved in their own health care decisions.

In India, health and well being of a girl child is at risk from time of conception. Although
overall infant mortality rate has declined and gender differential in infant mortality rate
has been narrow down, still there are differential in health care due to cultural belief and
practices. According to an estimate, every year 12 million girls are born but despite being
biological stronger than boys, 3 million girls do not survive to see their 15th birth day.
About 1/3rd of these deaths are in the first year of life. It is estimated that every seventh
death is due to gender discrimination. Female foeticide and infanticide are the most
hideous outcome of sex discrimination. Son preference rooted social value- combined
with poverty, illiteracy and low status of girl are among the few factors associated with
female mortality before and at birth. Studies indicates that girls do not receive timely and
adequate health care. They are treated by traditional healers and taken to hospital only on
last stages.

Growth and physical development of infants and children are widely used as indicators of
the overall health and nutrition status of community. Though malnutrition affects all
segments of population but children appears to be more at risk than others, also the
consequences of malnutrition appear to be more serious. In addition the belief that
culturally determined social behaviour place the female child at a nutritional
disadvantaged. This belief has gain wide acceptance without its having been subjected to
adequate scientific scrutinizing. Some recent studies which have specifically looked into
this aspect seem to question the validity of the belief.

While socio-economic factors are well known to be important determinations of

nutritional levels and differences between males and females have been widely
documented, the synergistic effects of socio-economic levels and gender on nutritional
status have been demonstrated less frequently.

Sexual exploitation may take the form of:

. • Child labourers and young domestic workers sexually exploited by
employers and other adults
. • Sexual abuse within the family by older members
. • Rampant child sex tourism where children are victims of a globally
organised sex trade. In developing and under-developed countries, this is used for
bringing in a much-needed foreign exchange.
. • Children in situations of disadvantage – border conflicts, displaced
populations, juvenile homes, cultural contexts like child-marriage, etc.

Sexual Exploitation of Girl children

. • The demographic breakdown of the sex working population, combined
with the testimonies of social workers, reveal that most of these girls from the rural areas
were brought in by traffickers, often over long distances to render her helpless in
sprawling metropolises.
. • The study found that almost two-third of these girls belonged to

32
impoverished families, 36 per cent were from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes,
while 24 per cent were from backward classes. Economic stress combined with gender
discrimination incited their families to push the girl-child into this profession. According
to Indian Health Organisation, 8 per cent of these girls, had been victims of incest within
their own families.
. • Such conditions made the girl child vulnerable to traffickers, especially in
impoverished communities. Of a sample of 1000 sex workers, 33 percent were found to
be forced by the family into this profession. In most cases, the girls from rural areas are
kept ignorant before they are brought to the city.

CHILD MARRIAGE

The causes of child marriage are complex, varied and often interlinked.
Socioeconomic factors such as poverty, family circumstances, a community’s
marriage customs and practices, and girls’ lack of access to empowering options like
education all play a role in whether girls marry too young.
. • Poverty: In some families, girls may be viewed as an economic burden. In these
cases, marriage can be perceived as the best tool to alleviate the burden of having one
more mouth to feed.
. • Transfer of Wealth: Dowry and bridewealth—which involve the exchange of
money, livestock or other wealth from the bride’s family to the groom’s, or vice versa—
often are determined by the age of the bride. Lower dowry costs or higher bridewealth
gains for girls’ families serve as a common incentive for marrying girls early.
. • Custom: Community customs regarding the appropriate age for marriage can
exert a great deal of social pressure on parents to marry their daughters at young ages. In
places where the custom is to marry daughters at age 9 or 10, a girl reaching her 15th or
16th birthday may be considered past the marriageable age. Parents often worry that if
they don’t marry their daughters according to social expectations, they will not be able to
marry them at all.
. • Protection: For many parents, marriage is seen as a way to protect their
daughters. Parents fear their daughters may become victims of violence or rape; at times
girls must walk alone— sometimes long distances—to school or to collect firewood and
water. And in some communities where virginity is prized and associated with family
honor, parents want to protect their daughters from engaging in premarital sex.
• Ties that Bind: Marriage in many communities serves as a means for
strengthening economic, social and political ties between different families and
communities. The early marriage of a daughter may help reinforce such a tie or establish
a new bond that improves the standing of the family or community. It is not uncommon
for young girls to be offered in marriage to a family that is known to own more land or
livestock.
. • Little Education and Few Options: If no schooling or work is available, a
young girl may get married based on her family’s economic need or to secure her
economic future. In some communities, young girls are withdrawn from school so they
can marry.

33
Consequences of child marriage
Child marriage makes it harder for families, communities and countries to escape
poverty. It erodes the health and well-being of girls and the overall welfare of
communities. It also undercuts international efforts to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS,
improve child health and survival, and support other international development
initiatives, making billions of development assistance dollars less effective.

Girls who marry young are more likely to be poor and remain poor. Child marriage is
most common among the poor and in rural communities. In sub-Saharan Africa, the
practice is twice as common among the poorest families (lower 40th percentile) as
compared to the richest families (top 20th percentile). In certain countries, this income
gap is even wider. A poorer woman in Senegal, for example, is more than four times as
likely to be a child bride as her richer peers. Moreover, girls who marry young have less
education and fewer economic opportunities, which greatly increases the chance that
they—and their children—will remain poor.

Under-nutrition and Malnutrition: Early marriage is often followed by early

pregnancy. Girls who are pregnant or lactating require more calories and nutrients
compared to those who are not, and when this extra nutrition is not available, their
nutritional status is compromised. Married girls who are thin and undernourished
before becoming pregnant are particularly vulnerable to becoming malnourished during
pregnancy. Young mothers also are less able to adequately care for their children, and
this often compromises their children’s nutritional status.
. • Maternal Mortality: Girls between the ages of 10 and 14 are five times more
likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than women ages 20 to 24; girls ages 15 to 19
are twice as likely to die.
. • Infant Mortality: The underdeveloped bodies of young girls can lead to
complication in childbirth that can result in the death of the child (see related chart, page
. • Obstetric Fistula: Obstetric fistula results when a young mother’s vagina,
bladder and/or rectum tear during childbirth, a condition that causes urine and feces
leakage.
.
Female infanticide

The most alarming finding of the 2001 Census is the sharp decline in the sex ratio among
the children in the 0-6 years age group. The sex ratio of the child population has declined
by 18 points from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001. The sharpest decline in the child sex ratio
after independence was observed during 1991-2001. Masked by the national ratio, far
grimmer ratios prevail in selected parts of India in relatively prosperous states such as
Punjab and Haryana. In Haryana the child sex ratio has gone down to 820. Several
authors have expressed this continuing disparity between males and females in terms of
total missing females. Behind this, lies a story of sex selective discrimination by active
elimination through abortion of the female fetus and passive elimination through neglect
ultimately leading to the death of the female child. Very little is known about the reason
and circumstances under which a woman discriminate her own child. It may be possible

34
that there may be a life course impact on the women’s behaviour regarding her sex
preference, family size preference and sex selective discrimination. There is dearth of
studies which explored the relationship between women’s autonomy and sex preference
or her marital instability and sex preference or any influence of her own childhood
experience with her reproductive behaviour and its linkages with the ultimate process of
active and passive elimination of females. Again, any policy measures must not focus
primarily on restricting technology used to female’s detriment, but also the root causes of
devaluation of women.

While the improvement in the overall sex ratio between 1991 and 2001 is noticed in a
majority of states and union territories; among the major states Kerala, Uttaranchal and
Uttar Pradesh have registered a more than 20 point increase and Bihar, Jharkhand,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal between 10 to 20 points increase. In contrast,
there has been a decline in sex ratio in Gujarat and Maharashtra on the one hand, and in
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi on the other. A very
substantial decline of 260 points in Daman and Diu and 141 points in Dadra and Nagar
Haveli require special explanation
Concentrating on the states where the overall sex ratio improved substantially –
Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala – one finds that the child sex ratio declined by 42
points in Uttaranchal, and by 11 points in Uttar Pradesh while it improved by 5 points in
Kerala. Among the other states where the improvement in overall sex ratio has been of
more than 10 points, Bihar had a shortfall in child sex ratio of 15 points, Jharkhand of 13
points, and Tamil Nadu of 9 points. It is obvious that the improvement in sex ratio in the
above named states has come in population aged seven and above. One needs to probe in
detail as to what has been happening to children in these states, especially in Uttaranchal.
The states where there has been a decline in overall sex ratio, especially Gujarat and
Maharashtra on the one hand and Punjab,

Female infanticide is the murder of a young girl child. Selective abortion—also called
gender-selective abortion, sex-selective abortion, or female feticide—is the abortion of a
fetus because it is female. These practices are among the forms of gender discrimination
against women and girl children where sexual roles outweigh the value of human life.
Female infanticide and selective abortion are most often practiced in societies where it is
believed that having a girl child is culturally and economically less advantageous than
having a boy child. Parents who strongly prefer sons but who can support only a small
family may choose to murder or abort a girl and attempt to have a boy instead.

Female infanticide may be committed deliberately or through neglect. In some cultures,

female infanticide is so widely known as a traditional practice that the methods are part
of community lore. In parts of India, for example, traditional methods include choking a
girl infant with rice grains that swell in her mouth and throat or feeding her poisonous
oleander berries.
Neglect that results in female infanticide is more widespread and insidious. There often is
a correlation between a strong son preference and a health disadvantage for females, a
disadvantage exacerbated when resources are scarce. The World Health Organization

35
(WHO) reports that men and boys often receive preference within households, including
higher expenditures on medicines and health care. Among humans, females are
biologically stronger than males, yet data on mortality and nutrition for girls suggest that
in many settings their social disadvantages outweigh their biological advantages.

Sex Selective Abortion

Medical technology makes it easier for parents to discover the sex of a fetus at earlier and
earlier stages of pregnancy. Such techniques have been developed to check a fetus for
genetic or birth disorders, but in societies where son preference is strong, parents are
eager to discover the sex of a fetus as soon as possible. As this technology spreads around
the world, many women from communities with a preference for boys practice selective
abortion, and abort fetuses solely because they are female. Acting on son preference at an
even earlier stage, clinics that offer pre-pregnancy sex-selective technology are doing a
booming business despite laws against sex-discriminatory techniques.

In countries where female fetuses are aborted in favor of male fetuses, there has been a
steady decline in the number of female births over the past decade. Coupled with a higher
mortality rate for girl children due to neglect or murder, the ratio of women to men has
noticeably fallen in comparison to countries where female infanticide and selective
abortion are not practiced.
As observed, it is not poverty alone that makes families kills their children. The
community, too acts in strange ways to perpetuate the crime by ridiculing couples who do
not have a mal child illiteracy, ignorance of the welfare scheme available for the girl
child and poverty alleviation and the legal implication of indulging in female infanticide,
and the dowry system are some of the reasons for failure of the schemes and
interventions undertaken by the government and NGOs to eradicate female infanticide.

The long-term strategies should include education and empowerment of women.

Empowerment of rural marginalized women and education to improve their lot will
heighten their status in the society. As the women sangams and the federation gain in
importance and play a greater role in the development of the area, it is hopes that their
presence and the politico-economic strength they enable will help curb the practice.

Media-both print and electronic-plays a very significant role in removing gender bias and
developing a positive image of the girl child in the society, but in a county like ours
where there are problems in reaching the backward rural and tribal areas, a mix of mass
media with various traditional forms of communication may provide a more effective
alternative to influence the illiterate and the poor.

Government Response
The Indian government has opposed the practices of female infanticide and sex selective
abortion, but has been slow and ineffectual in bringing about reform. The Dowry
Prohibition Act was passed in 1961 approximately a decade before sex determination

36
technology was introduced in India. Despite revisions in 1983 and 1985, this law has
been poorly enforced and is thus completely ignored. Many feel that the giving of
dowries has actually become more prevalent in the past twenty years (Bumiller, 1990).
Under pressure from feminist groups, the Indian government prohibited prenatal sex
determination testing in government hospitals. This measure had little or no effect other
than encouraging the proliferation of private sex test clinics. As previously mentioned,
the competition between these clinics actually served to make the services more
affordable for lower middle class Indians.
In 1988, the Maharashtra government enacted the Maharashtra Regulation of Prenatal
Diagnostic Techniques Act. The salient features of the Act are as follows

1. Prenatal diagnostic can only be conducted to detect genetic abnormalities

(including sex linked genetic diseases).
2. The test may only be undertaken by a high risk pregnant women who meet at least
one of the following criteria:
a. Age over 35 years.
b. History of 2 or more abortions/miscarriages.
c. History of exposure to hazardous substances.
d. Family history of genetic disorder.
e. “Any other condition as specified by the authorities.”

3. Use of prenatal diagnostic techniques for indicating the sex of the fetus are banned.
Offenses are punishable by both imprisonment and a fine.
4 Three committees to operationalize the policy will be established: State Appropriate
Authority, State Vigilance Committee, and Local Vigilance Committees. Two loopholes
in this Act immediately leap to mind. Firstly, a woman can easily manufacture a high risk
history of inherited disorders or exposure to teratogens. Moreover, the history of two or
more abortions criterion does not specify whether these abortions had to be spontaneous.
A woman who had had two or more therapeutic abortions in the past would technically
become eligible under the Act. Secondly, the determination of sex-linked genetic
disorders could theoretically result in the physician revealing the sex of the fetus.
Needless to say, with the above loopholes and the increased availability of illegal services
and services in neighboring states, the practice continued unabated.

Also in 1988, the Indian government established a committee to study sex selective
abortions and make recommendations on how best to deal with them. In response to this
task, the committee introduced the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Regulations and
Prevention of Misuse Bill in 1991. The Bill essentially mirrors the Maharashtra Act with
two small changes. The high risk criteria were changed to “history of spontaneous
abortions” and “exposure to teratogenic substances (omitting history of . . .).” Clinics,
hospitals, and laboratories offering prenatal testing are all covered by the law. This bill
finally passed three years later in the Indian Parliament in August, 1994 (Burns, 1994).

The Central Government Bill has some of the same limitations as the Maharashtra Act.
The high risk criteria are susceptible to fabrication by the pregnant woman. In addition,

37
over the past decade, enforcement of a ban on sex determination techniques has become a
Herculean task. In Delhi alone, there were over 2000 sex test clinics in 1994 (Imam,
1994). Furthermore, “no provision is made [in the bill] for the registration of the
thousands of ultrasound machines installed by entrepreneurs in vans that travel from
village to village charging rural women exorbitant fees for the procedure”.

Suggestive Measures

The culmination of the growing concern for the Girl Child being subjected to inequality,
disparity and neglect manifested in the decision to observe 1990 as the SAARC year of
the Girl Child. The enthusiastic response to issues concerning the Girl Child promoted
the heads of SAARC countries during the conference at Male in 1990 to declare 1991-
2000 as the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child. India formulated National Plan of Action
for the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child in 1991-92. The main strategic principle in
implementing the SAARC Action Plan is to strengthen the awareness and capacity of the
family and the community to a level, so that the goals for the Girl Child are owed,
pursued and achieved by them. The four guiding principles of the SAARC Action Plan
are formulation of gender-specific goals and strategies; ensuring equality of status; use of
integrated approach in programme planning; and change in social attitudes and
behavioural practices. Implementation of SAARC Action Plan gave a separate identity to
the Girl Child. India also formulated the National Plan of Action for children (NPA) in
1992. NPA goals and objectives are centered around a range of activities for the
development of the Girl Child and adolescent Girls. Goals and objectives of NPA are in
consonance with the goals and objectives of SAARC Action Plan.

In 1992, India ratified UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 2 of the
Convention stresses on gender equality by stating that rights set forth in the Convention
are for all children irrespective of their sex. CRC accords Girl Child her rights to
survival, protection, participation and development. The Convention revalidates thee
rights guaranteed to children by the Constitution of India and is a powerful weapon to
combat forces that deny these rights. India is signatory to Jomtien Declaration on
Education for all (1990), which calls for universal quality education and educational
opportunities to all to meet the basic learning needs. In the expanded vision of education
that emerges from Jomtien Declaration, thee most important key element is making girl's
education a major priority. India is also a member of E-9 Education Summit (1993) and
has adopted UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of opportunities for persons with
disabilities (1993). Implementation of SAARC Action Plan and NPA, and ratification of
CRC led to strengthening of administrative machinery and launching of need-based
programmes and interventions in development sectors to improve status of the Girl Child.
During the last five decades, formulation of national policies, strengthening of legislative
support and commitment at the national and international levels led to levels led to
minimisation of gender inequality in all the sectors. As a result, Girl Child in India has
the advantage of having fully developed organizational set-up, which is geared towards
promoting gender equality. At the national level, the Department of Women and Child
Development (DWCD) is the nodal Department to guide, coordinate and review the

38
efforts of both governmental and non-governmental organisations for development of the
Girl Child. The Department of Family Welfare and Department of Education are also
giving special emphasis on gender-specific interventions and programmes. The Ministry
of Labour and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment are implementing
progammes to meet the needs and rights of the Girl Child among working children, street
children, disabled children, destitutes and juvenile delinquents.

The major national programmes being implemented for the development of thee Girl
Child are Integrated Child Development Services, Balika Samriddhi Yojana, Adolescent
Girl Scheme, District Primary Education Programme and Reproductive and Child Health
Programme. In the Ninth Five Year Plan, children are at the top of the national agenda
with a focus on gender equality. The major strategy in the Ninth Plan is to arrest the
declining sex ratio, and eliminate problems of female foeticide and infanticide through
two pronged strategy of both direct and indirect measures. The focus is on improving
quality of health services and early detection of health and nutrition problems among
children, especially the Girl Child. Also, importance is being accorded to health and
nutritional adequacy, nutritional status of mother and children, dietary intake and
prevention of deficiency diseases. The National Charter is under preparation. The aim is
to ensure that no child remains illiterate, hungry or lacks medical care. Strict policy
measures are being adopted to eliminate child abuse and exploitation.

The special expert committee headed by justice V.R. Krishan Iyer formulated. The
Children's Code Bill-2000 in which measures to prevent all forms of discrimination
against girl child and special measures for gender equality at early childhood have been
suggested- these includes (a) Elimination of all forms of discrimination against girl child
(b) elimination of negative cultural, attitudes and practices against girl child (c)
elimination of discrimination against girls in education, skill, development and training
(d) elimination of discrimination against girls in health and nutrition (e) elimination of
girl child labour (f) elimination of violence against girl child (g) promoting the girl child
awareness of and participation in social, economic and political life (h) strengthening the
role of the family in improving the status of the girl child.

It is not easy to change overnight the attitude of even women towards females infanticide.
Even if the women are prepared to understand and accept the need to change, the social
situation and the family environment prevent them from doing so. Therefore, young
married couples and pregnant women were given counseling so that they could cope with
the situation, because they are surrounded by in laws and neighbors who are pro-female
infanticide.

The practice of using amniocentesis for sex determination shall be banned through law
and practitioners indulging in or abetting such acts shall be punished severely.
Amniocentesis, where necessary, will be performed only in government or approved
medical institutions to prevent the practice of using amniocentesis for purpose of sex
determination Public education on the illegality of fetal sex determination and sex
selection abortion will be accompanied by positive messages on the value of daughters

39
Advertising of sex determination techniques shall be banned forthwith and stringent
measures will be taken against the offenders.

Media will be effectively use to bring about attitudinal changes towards the girl
child.There should be a trust on elimination of gender disparities in infant and under-5
child mortality, though gender sensitive monitoring in mortality starting from the field
level.Priority will be given for educating parents on the importance of provding adequate
food for the girl child.

Extensive use of media for the sensitive promotion of a positive image of women and
girls. Development of school based strategies for inculcating of positive self-image
amongst girls. Concerted efforts to break the gender stereotypes particularly at the +2
level. Conscious inputs into curriculum, textbooks, teacher education institutional
planning supported by career guidance, counseling. Special awareness generation
programmes and campaigns to sensitize the public.

The strategy includes keeping a close watch on the pregnant women for six months (three
months before delivery and three months after it) to this end, panchayat-level vigilance
committees are to be formed, comprising two leaders from each sangam to undertaken
vigilance work in their respective villages. A special committee is to be formed within
the federation, where main job would be to keep a watch on pregnant women. Activate
advisory, planning supervisory committees to work closely with the district
administration and block-level officers of various departments like health, nutrition,
police, BDO, village administrative officer and teachers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Generate awareness of the disadvantaged situation of girls among

policy makers, planners, administrators and implementors at all levels,
as well as within households and communities;
2. Make the girl child, particularly the girl child in difficult circumstances, aware of
her own potential, educate her about the rights guaranteed to her under all
international human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, legislation enacted for her and the various measures undertaken by both
governmental and non-governmental organizations working to improve her status;

3. Educate women, men, girls and boys to promote girls' status and encourage them
to work towards mutual respect and equal partnership between girls and boys;

4. Facilitate the equal provision of appropriate services and devices to girls with
disabilities and provide their families with related support services, as appropriate.

5. Take steps to integrate functional literacy and numeracy programmes, particularly

for out-of-school girls in development programmes;

6. Increase enrolment and improve retention rates of girls by allocating appropriate

40
 budgetary resources and by enlisting the support of the community and parents
through campaigns and flexible school schedules, incentives, scholarships, access
programmes for out-of-school girls and other measures;

7. Develop training programmes and materials for teachers and educators, raising
awareness about their own role in the educational process, with a view to
providing them with effective strategies for gender-sensitive teaching; Provide
education and skills training to increase girls' opportunities for employment and
access to decision-making processes;

8. Ensuring that all the girl child receives proper care, survival development,
protection and advancement from birth and after.

9. Removing the injustice and obstacles to inheritance faced by girl child so that she
can enjoy equal rights without any discrimination.

10. Taking steps to stop tradition and customary practices and their expressions which
promote discrimination against girl child.

11. Elimination of all forms of discrimination against the girl child which result in
harmful and unethical practices, such as pre-natal sex selection, female foeticide
and infanticide.

12. Creating awareness on removal of discrimination practices against girl child in

nutrition and access to health services.

13. Taking appropriate measures to protect the girl child in the household and in
society, from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect of
negligent treatment or exploitation, sexual abuse and incest.

14. Undertaking gender sensitization training programmes of officials working for

development/welfare of children.

15. Formulating policies and programmes to help the family in supporting, education
and nurturing roles with particular emphasis on the elimination of intra-family
discrimination against the girl child.

16. Provide an environment conducive to the strengthening of the family with a view
to provide supportive and preventive measures, which protect, respect and
promote the attention of the girl child.

41
 CHAPTER -3

GENDER MAINSTREAMING AND POLICY FRAMEWORK

Gender mainstreaming

Consideration of gender issues is now common currency in government, NGOs, the

private sector and mainstream politics in India, at least at the rhetorical level. This
awareness has come about as a result of the efforts of the women’s movement and the
influence of international development and feminist debates, as well as aid initiatives
with a focus on gender. However, this increased awareness does not imply that gender
issues are being dealt with on their own terms. The range of actors with a stake in
promoting ‘women’s’ issues each have their own underlying agendas which influence the
way in which gender questions are addressed. Moreover, analysis of gender issues
cannot be separated from broader political and economic developments. Gender relations
are being continuously reshaped by contemporary developments so that it is necessary to
look at the complex ways in which gender relations are being recast today.

Response to Beijing Action Plan

The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women 2001 is the response to Beijing
Platform. It is an action plan initiated after the Beijing Conference. The Beijing Platform
urges Governments, the international community and civil society, including non-
governmental organizations and the private sector, to take action on critical areas of
concern, and call for redistribution of wealth or incomes both within countries and
between rich and poor nations. Supporting a strong role for women enhances the quality
of their own lives and contributes to economic growth.

The goal of this Policy is to bring about the advancement, development and
empowerment of women. The Policy will be widely disseminated to encourage active
participation of all stakeholders for achieving its goals. Specifically, the objectives of this
Policy include
. • Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for
full development of women to enable them to realize their full potential.
. • The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental
freedom by women on equal basis with men in all spheres – political, economic, social,
cultural and civil.
. • Equal access to participation and decision making of women in social,
political and economic life of the nation.
. • Equal access to women to health care, quality education at all levels,
career and vocational guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health
and safety, social security and public office etc.
. • Strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of
discrimination against women.
. • Changing societal attitudes and community practices by active

42
participation and involvement of both men and women.
. • Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process.
. • Elimination of discrimination and all forms of violence against women
and the girl child.
. • Building and strengthening partnerships with civil society, particularly
women’s organizations.

To this end, Governments, the international community and civil society,

including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, are called upon to take
strategic action in the following critical areas of concern:
. The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women
. Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to education and
training
. Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to health care and
related services
. Violence against women
. The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those
living under foreign occupation
. Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive
activities and in access to resources
. Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-
making at all levels
. Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of
women
. Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the human
rights of women
. Stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and
participation in all communication systems, especially in the media
. Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the
safeguarding of the environment
. Persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl
child

The Platform for Action recognizes that women face barriers to full equality and
advancement because of such factors as their race, age, language, ethnicity, culture,
religion or disability, because they are indigenous women or because of other status.
Many women encounter specific obstacles related to their family status, particularly as
single parents; and to their socioeconomic status, including their living conditions in
rural, isolated or impoverished areas. Additional barriers also exist for refugee women,
other displaced women, including internally displaced women as well as for immigrant
women and migrant women, including women migrant workers. Many women are also
particularly affected by environmental disasters, serious and infectious diseases and
various forms of violence against women.

43
Gender and the MDGs

Goal 3 – “Promote gender equality and empowerment of women” - is the culmination of

years of determined advocacy and action by the international women’s movement. The
high priority accorded to Goal 3 represents a global affirmation of women’s rights and
gender equality as core values of development.
This hard-won recognition that “development, if not engendered, is endangered” was also
an outcome of debates and discussions at the UN Conferences of the 1990s, including the
World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna 1993), the International Conference on
Population and Development (Cairo 1994), the World Summit on Social Development
(Copenhagen 1995) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).
Growing recognition of the gender dimensions of development paradigms and policies
during the 1990s created the momentum for a consensus on gender mainstreaming – the
incorporation of gender perspectives into all aspects of development theory and practice -
as a key strategy to achieve gender equality.
There is a clear correspondence between the MDGs and other global instruments related
to gender equality, such as the Beijing Platform for Action and CEDAW. However,
unlike the other goals, Goal 3 is not specific to any particular sector or issue, since gender
equality and women’s rights underpin all the other goals. It has been pointed out that
attempting to achieve the MDGs without promoting gender equality will both raise the
1
costs and decrease the likelihood of achieving the other goals. The reverse is equally true
– achievement of Goal 3 depends on progress made on each of the other goals. The
implication is clear - while accurate reporting against Goal 3 is critical, tracking gender
gaps and inequalities against each of the other MDG targets and indicators is no less
important.
At the national level, MDGRs and the process of MDG reporting represent a new
opportunity for gender advocates to enlarge the space for dialogue and build a broad
national commitment to women’s rights and gender equality. Apart from their role in
monitoring and tracking key indicators of women’s empowerment, national MDGRs are
also aimed at facilitating systematic policy dialogue on critical development challenges
and building a supportive environment for translating commitments into actual results on
the ground. Ideally, MDGRs are expected to reach out to a range of national actors
including communities, civil society groups and the media, initiating wider debate and
dialogue around key development choices and enabling citizens to demand accountability
from their governments.

In several countries, the MDGR process has been “localised” and extended to the sub-
national level through the preparation of regional reports. Effective gender
mainstreaming would therefore expand the possibilities of building links between actions
for gender mainstreaming at macro and micro levels, and encompassing a wider
constituency of support for these actions.
National MDGRs are also relevant to the wider donor community, particularly in

44
targeting and optimising their support to national development efforts. Goal 8
(“Developing a global partnership for development”) is focused on making visible the
linkages between national and international commitments to achieving the MDGs, with
clear resource implications for action on gender equality. In addition, reporting against
each of the MDGs is expected to identify priorities for action and also provides a basis
for resource mobilization. Effective mainstreaming of gender issues into MDGRs can
thus be expected to have significant long-term impacts in terms of enhanced resources
and focused support for action on gender issues within the country.

Despite scepticism about the feasibility of achieving any of the MDGs within the
projected time-frame, it is generally agreed that they represent a “strategic talking-point
for assessing what the barriers to the achievement of goals are, and provide a tool with
which to hold both donor agencies and governments accountable. Given the above, it is
important for women’s organisations and gender equality advocates to use the
opportunity created by the MDGRs and the MDG reporting process to ensure greater
public visibility and awareness of gender inequality, and demand a stronger policy
commitment for gender equality.

Ten years after Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing

Ten years ago, at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the development
community agreed on a Platform for Action to advance the lives of women and girls.
Today, disparities between men and women remain pervasive around the world—in
resources and economic opportunities, in basic human rights, and in political voice—
despite significant gains in some areas and countries. These disparities are strongly linked
to poverty. Ignoring them comes at great cost to people’s well-being and to countries’
abilities to grow sustainably and govern effectively.

In the last 10 years, the lives of women and girls around the world have, on average,
improved due in part to concerted action by the international community and national
governments and in part through the actions of women and girls themselves. Today, there
is greater awareness that gender equality is important for economic development and
poverty reduction, and there is a greater commitment to promoting gender equality
almost everywhere. But declaring victory would be premature. Gender inequalities still
prevail in many countries, as evidenced by such indicators as high and unchanged
maternal mortality, disparities in access to secondary education and basic health services,
and women’s under-representation at all government levels. At the same time, the
challenges to achieving gender equality have evolved as a result of such forces as
increased globalization and the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Global trends in
improving girls’ and women’s lives are outlined below, and remaining areas in need of
action are highlighted.

45
Six Strategic Priorities

Strategic Priority 1: Strengthen Opportunities for Secondary Education for Girls and
Eliminate Gender Gaps at That Level

In order to achieve Goal 3, evidence suggests that among all levels of education,
secondary education has the greatest pay-off for women’s empowerment. This implies
that investments in primary education must be made in order to create the pipeline for
secondary education. The actions that need to be taken to achieve gender equality in
primary education are discussed in Task Force 3’s report on universal primary
education. These include: making schooling more affordable by reducing costs and
offering targeted scholarships, building secondary schools close to girls’ homes,
making schools girl-friendly, and improving the content, quality, and relevance of
education.

Strategic Priority 2: Guarantee Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health

Goal 3 cannot be achieved without the guarantee of sexual and reproductive health and
rights for girls and women. Priorities for action are reducing persistently high rates of
maternal mortality, strengthening women’s and girls’ ability to protect them from HIV
infection, and providing adolescent girls with full access to sexual and reproductive
health information and services. Interventions must occur both within and outside the
health system. At a minimum, national public health systems must provide quality family
planning, safe abortion, and emergency obstetric services. Other essential services
include the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV,
and interventions to reduce malnutrition and anemia. Outside the health system,
comprehensive sexuality education programs are essential for laying the foundation for
improved sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Ultimately, these interventions must
be supported by an enabling policy and political environment that guarantees women’s
and girls sexual and girls reproductive rights. Current threats to those rights must be
opposed if Goal 3 is to be achieved.

Strategic Priority 3: Invest in Gender-Responsive Infrastructure to Reduce Women’s

and Girls’ Poverty

Gender-responsive infrastructure investments are needed to reallocate women’s time and

energy away from routine maintenance tasks to more productive and fulfilling activities.
As long as poor rural women and girls are burdened with having to expend large amounts
of time and energy on collecting water and fuel, they will find little time to attend school
or work on adopting the new practices suggested by development programs. Investments
in the appropriate infrastructure to relieve women’s time poverty are essential to
maximize the impact of all the strategic priorities discussed in this report.

Strategic Priority 4: Guarantee Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights and Reduce
Discrimination in Labor Markets

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It is now widely recognized that ownership and control over assets such as land and
housing provides economic security, incentives for taking economic risks which lead to
growth, and important economic returns including income. Yet, women in many
countries around the globe lack this right. Ensuring female property and inheritance
rights empowers women and rectifies a fundamental injustice. Immediate action to be
taken, including legal reform, legal literacy, and recording women’s share of land or
property. In the short term, institutional arrangements that allow women collective or
individual lease and use rights are important first steps.

Strategic Priority 5: Increase Women’s Representation in Political Bodies

Without equality of opportunity for participating in decision-making in all political

arenas, Goal 3 cannot be met. There has been noticeable progress made in women’s
representation in political bodies in several countries since 1991. The experience of these
countries has shown that gender quotas and reservations are the most effective policy
tools to increase women’s representation in national and local legislatures.

Strategic Priority 6: End Violence Against Women

Violence against women exists in epidemic proportions in many countries around the
world. Because it has serious health and development impacts and is a gross violation of
women’s rights, it must be eliminated if Goal #3 is to be met. There is no single
intervention for ending violence; rather, it requires a combination of infrastructural, legal,
judicial, enforcement, educational, health, and other service-related actions aimed at
prevention, protection, and punishment. Most importantly, ending this epidemic requires
normative change in the acceptability of violence against women that can only be brought
about through a global campaign, combined with a scaling-up of effective community-
based interventions and analyses that documents the costs of violence against women.

Ultimately whether gender equality and women’s empowerment are achieved is mostly in
the hands of policymakers in the developing countries. The nature and composition of
governance, public policy, spending decisions, and political will in those countries will
determine whether and how the six strategic priorities are implemented. At the same
time, the Task Force believes that even the best effort and policy change at the country
level will not be enough. For the poorest countries in particular, that are most at risk of
falling short on this and the other goals, the input, leverage and sustained commitment of
the donor community is critical.

National Level Actions

At the national level, an enabling national environment for gender equality consists of
four components.

1. An effective national women’s machinery. Lessons learned from the implementation of

national machinery over the past two decades shows that an effective national machinery

47
must have a strong mandate that is supported by legislation, goals and priorities, and
coherent lines of responsibility and accountability; a policy oversight and advocacy role;
an appropriate location within the government that allows for cross-sectoral influence; an
adequate budget that is commensurate with the mandate for monitoring and
accountability; a technically qualified staff that has a wide range of sectoral skills and
experience; links to national networks of civil society organizations to maintain
legitimacy, credibility, and accountability; and finally, institutional autonomy that
protects it from political interference and manipulation.
2. A strong presence of women in legislative bodies. The representation of women in
legislative bodies serves as an indicator of society’s commitment to gender equality and
women’s empowerment and has the potential to trigger more fundamental changes in
gender relations and beliefs about appropriate gender roles.
3. Mechanisms for assessing progress and holding stakeholders accountable. The three
most important mechanisms to hold stakeholders accountable for gender equality at the
national level are: sex-disaggregated and statistics to assess progress made toward the
gender equality targets discussed above, a legal framework such as offered by the
Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and
strengthening the participation of women’s organizations in national-level budgetary
processes.

4. Knowledge of the costs of gender inequality and expenditures to promote equality and
women’s empowerment. No study has attempted to estimate the costs of gender inequality
across all domains because it is difficult to do so without addressing the underlying data
requirements that are necessary for such analysis. Many methodological issues also need
to be addressed; experimentation and innovation will be required to move this effort
forward. Because gender inequality is multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral, assessing the
financial costs of efforts to reduce it are difficult to calculate. The Millennium Project is
developing a model for estimating comprehensive costs for countries with different levels
of gender inequality which will be reported in the final report of the Task Force.

However, there is no consistent overall policy framework on gender issues to which

government departments can be held accountable. The national machinery dealing with
women and development lacks co-ordination, resources and power. The system needs
reform.

The range of existing policy documents on women do not provide a coherent strategy or
approach. The language of empowerment and the demands of many women.s
organizations have been incorporated in places but instrumental approaches are also
apparent; in others, a welfare approach appears to persist, or there is little mention of
women at all. Welfarist approaches persist particularly in relation to Scheduled Caste of
Scheduled Tribe women, or those from educationally backward or minority districts.
Elsewhere, poor women are referred to as an undifferentiated group, with no reference to
other axes of discrimination,along caste or communal lines. Nor do the various
government policy documents collectively provide an overall policy framework. They
tend to serve as plans of action rather than policies disseminated through the various

48
ministries and to which the government can be held accountable. An exception to this, at
state level, is the recent Maharashtra State Policy on Women. This is ground breaking
because it attempts to link interventions in different sectors and commits the government
to specific resource allocations. Also, for the first time in a government document, there
is recognition of the need to address cultural or traditional factors which keep women in
subordinate positions, identified particularly as family issues. Another important facet of
this policy document is that there was widespread consultation with women.s groups and
minority bodies in its preparation.

The National Machinery on women comprises a variety of cells, Departments,

corporations and boards, as well as specialised units within government departments. In
1993, the National Human Rights Commission was set up with a mandate to investigate
violations of women.s rights. Besides the lack of overall policy framework highlighted
above, there are a number of other reasons for the collective failure of these bodies to
influence government policy making processes. Firstly, there is no regular system for
incorporating findings of reports in different sectors, nor for consultation and discussion
between different Departments to integrate their efforts. This means that the Department
of Women and Child Development, which should play a key role in advocacy within the
government, in practice does all the WID work and as well as implementing its own
programmes with limited resources and staff. There is also little networking or
collaboration between the various components of the National Machinery and both the
National Machinery and state-level bodies lack resources and institutional powers. There
is a need for greater attention to transforming existing departments from within by
working with key personnel over a period of time: this is the challenge of mainstreaming.

Government policy on women and the national machinery

Government policy towards women in the immediate post-Independence era was

basically welfarist in orientation. Mahila Mandals or women‘s centres set up in the
context of Community Development Programmes featured child nutrition programmes
and income generating activities, but drew in mainly relatively well-to-do women.

As noted above, the 1970s was a decade of intense political opposition to the
government, including feminist activity. In 1974, the Committee on the Status of
Women, comprising leading feminists as well as technical experts, drafted the report
Towards Equality under the aegis of government, as part of its obligation to report on its
progress towards women‘s equality for the 1975 UN Women‘s Conference. This report
is a founding text of the Indian feminist movement. It concluded that, barring the gains
made by a minority of middle-class women who had found employment in the expanding
public services sector, the situation of women had worsened in many respects, in spite of
two or three decades of planned development.

49
Government policy underwent a shift to a typically ”WID‘ approach with the Sixth Five
Year Plan (1980-85), which recognised women‘s central role in the economy and
incorporated a number of the demands of women‘s organisations, for example, the need
to give joint titles to husband and wife where transfers of assets occurred. The Sixth Plan
also contained contradictions, however, presenting the family as the basic unit of
development whilst supporting the need for women to increase their economic
independence. The Seventh Five Year Plan (1986-91) went further, presenting individual
women as potential beneficiaries of development schemes and emphasising the need to
raise awareness about women‘s oppression and to build women‘s self confidence. It also
envisaged an integrated and multi-pronged approach to women‘s development,
incorporating employment, childcare, education, nutrition, health etc. The National
Perspective Plan on Women, 1988-2000 - the government‘s second major policy
document on women - was also published in this period, combining a review of existing
approaches and programmes with recommendations for future action, including a strong
emphasis on training as a strategy, the separation of welfare and development activities
between the Social Welfare Boards and Women‘s Development Corporations,
respectively, as well as an increased role for the voluntary sector.

With the Eighth Plan (1992-1997), a decisive shift in overall development strategy has
occurred away from centralised planning at a national level. There is now strong
emphasis on promoting community participation and people‘s initiative, and a range of
institutional options for the delivery of services, particularly through the increased role of
the voluntary sector. However, there is no special emphasis in the Eighth Plan on the
participation of women, nor other marginalised groups.

The range of existing policy documents on women do not provide a coherent strategy or
approach. The language of empowerment and the demands of many women‘s
organisations have been incorporated in places but instrumental approaches are also
apparent; in others, a welfare approach appears to persist, or there is little mention of
women at all. Welfarist approaches persist particularly in relation to Scheduled Caste of
Scheduled Tribe women, or those from educationally backward or minority districts.
Elsewhere, ”poor women‘ are referred to as an undifferentiated group, with no reference
to other axes of discrimination, along caste or communal lines.

Nor do the various government policy documents collectively provide an overall policy
framework. They tend to serve as plans of action rather than policies disseminated
through the various ministries and to which the government can be held accountable. An
exception to this, at state level, is the recent Maharashtra State Policy on Women. This is
ground breaking because it attempts to link interventions in different sectors and commits
the government to specific resource allocations. Also, for the first time in a government
document, there is recognition of the need to address cultural or traditional factors which
keep women in subordinate positions, identified particularly as family issues. Another
important facet of this policy document is that there was widespread consultation with
women‘s groups and minority bodies in its preparation.

50
The National Machinery on women comprises a variety of cells, Departments,
corporations and boards, as well as specialised units within government departments. In
1993, the National Human Rights Commission was set up with a mandate to investigate
violations of women‘s rights. Besides the lack of overall policy framework highlighted
above, there are a number of other reasons for the collective failure of these bodies to
influence government policy making processes. Firstly, there is no regular system for
incorporating findings of reports in different sectors, nor for consultation and discussion
between different Departments to integrate their efforts. This means that the Department
of Women and Child Development, which should play a key role in advocacy within the
government, in practice does all the WID work and as well as implementing its own
programmes with limited resources and staff. There is also little networking or
collaboration between the various components of the National Machinery and both the
National Machinery and state-level bodies lack resources and institutional powers.

There is a need for greater attention to transforming existing departments from within by
working with key personnel over a period of time: this is the challenge of
mainstreaming.
The ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) provides a further tool to make state policy accountable and
to hold specific departments responsible for their functions in relation to women and
development.

Women in development schemes

One manifestation of the increasing government focus on women is the increase in the
number of development schemes aimed specifically at women, currently numbering over
200, although most are concentrated in a limited range of departments and some are
externally funded. Most are narrowly woman-focused with little emphasis on gender
relations. The record of government in the implementation of development programmes
is weak; this is now being addressed mainly through greater involvement of NGOs.
Mechanisms are in place to allocate a proportion of funding to voluntary sector activity in
every social sector ministry. Further, the government plans to set up an all-India
monitoring agency to oversee the implementation of rural development schemes,
consisting of senior ministry officials and the heads of ten NGOs. It is not clear whether
this agency embodies any gender expertise nor whether gender-sensitive criteria for
monitoring and evaluation will be employed.

There are both overall and gender-specific problems with these schemes. In self-
employment schemes, provision of credit in itself is insufficient to stimulate long-term
sustainable self-employment without other supports, market demand and market access.
Targets for women‘s participation in mixed schemes may not be met or may be
subverted. Women‘s participation can be hampered by head of household approaches,

51
particularly where male defaulters are barred from schemes, sometimes leaving women
with little support ineligible for access to credit. Experience from elsewhere has shown
that even where women are targeted with loans, they may not control their use or the
returns from investment. In women-specific programmes, there are often considerable
pressures on women field workers, who may be expected to work collectively at
grassroots level, in the context of vertically organised programmes and who are expected
to perform a wide range of tasks, with insufficient support and training.

For those poor women who do participate in self-employment schemes, there are high
expectations, to act as entrepreneurs, understand the market and take risks, with limited
support. Areas of activity which are encouraged may be in markets with other larger
players. It may be necessary to consider more interventionist measures which would
offer a niche in the market, or minimal guarantee of market access to those who seek
self-employment in such areas. Wage employment schemes also have drawbacks. They
tend only to provide temporary or seasonal employment at very low wage rates and thus
whilst they may perform a limited safety net function, they are unable to pull
beneficiaries out of hard-core poverty. More attention is needed to asset creation at
village level in wage employment programmes.

To date, poverty alleviation programmes have been concentrated in rural areas, since
poverty has been assumed to be a largely rural phenomenon. Since 1989, NRY has
offered support for micro-enterprises and wage employment in urban areas, but coverage
is limited and the proportion of women benefiting is not known. However, recent data
suggest that urban poverty may be more widespread than previously thought and
structural adjustment may intensify urban poverty, with gender-specific impacts. In this
context, existing anti-poverty programmes in urban areas need to be extended and
improved upon, with particular attention to their gender impact. Small towns particularly
may be being by-passed by current anti-poverty efforts.

Alternative development programmes for women have also been sponsored by the Indian
government: in particular the Women‘s Development Programme in Rajasthan (WDP)
(begun in 1984 in Rajasthan) and the more recent Mahila Samakhya programme in Uttar
Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Rather than a focus on service
provision or poverty alleviation per se, these programmes have adopted an awareness
raising and ”empowerment‘ approach. They have a number of particular features:
interaction and cooperation between government and NGOs; key role of women field
level workers; collective participation of women; emphasis on women themselves
providing direction to the programme; and relatively low levels of funding.
In WDP, tensions arose between the NGO and government sides of the programme and
a number of problems emerged regarding the role of sathins (village level animators).
Sathins were under pressure to take up a number of functions related to government
programmes. Some of them aspired to become regularised workers, with commensurate
rewards, rather than acting in a largely voluntary capacity as grassroots animators.

52
Although programmes such as WDP and Mahila Samakhya are seen by some as models,
more systematic evaluation of their benefits is needed before such approaches are widely
adopted in other programmes. There is evidence of qualitative benefits, but there is also
a need to assess, over large samples, to what extent changes in service delivery and
women‘s access to resources have occurred and what has happened to livelihoods and
poverty alleviation as a result of these programmes. This raises the broader question of
whether it is possible to measure the impact of empowerment on more tangible economic
and social goals.

Gender budgeting

Gender responsive budgeting or gender analysis of budgets is a very useful tool being
used in India to promote gender mainstreaming. Gender budgeting refers to presentation
of budgetary data in a manner such that the gender sensitivities of budgetary allocations
are clearly highlighted. Gender budgeting includes carrying out an impact analysis of
government programmes and its budgetary allocations on the overall socio-economic
status of women in the country. The Tenth Plan states that ‘The Tenth Plan will continue
the process of dissecting the Government budget to establish its gender differentiated
impact and to translate gender commitments into budgetary commitments…’The Tenth
Plan will initiate immediate action in tying up these two effective concepts of Women’s
Component Plan and Gender Budgeting to play a complementary role to each other, and
thus ensure both preventive and post facto action in enabling women to receive their
rightful share..’

At a national level, a task force was set up in 2000-01 to examine this issue. On its
recommendation, a sub-group was set up to suggest a framework for introduction of
gender budgeting in the Government. The sub-group has recommended that Gender
Budgeting Units be set up in identified Departments, as well as an Interdepartmental
Steering Committee to identify issues for gender budgeting that cut across departments,
budgetary allocations related to domestic violence, micro-finance, homelessness, etc.
While initial gender budgeting efforts were limited to education, health, nutrition, access
to resources and public services, etc, the Department of Women and Child has recently
(2004) prepared checklists to assist all departments in gender budget exercises and in
using these to develop a gender perspective in planning. These check lists are not only for
the conventional social sector Ministries and Departments but also seek to involve so
called gender neutral Departments like Transport, power, Home, etc.

Through a consensus approach the Department has also advocated broad framework
within the ambit of which the gender budgeting initiatives could be undertaken by all
stake-holders including Government Departments (Centre and
States),voluntaryorganizations,researchers, international bodies like UNIFEM,UNDP,etc.
The intention is to synergise the activities taking place in realm of gender budgeting and
help collage the information base on the subject. A dedicated website is also being
developed on gender budgeting.

53
In order to seek convergence of important sectors looking after social development,
consultation has been held with Ministries of Rural Development, Agriculture, Agro and
Rural Industries and Food and Public Distribution. The effort will be to synergise the
activities and interventions of these Departments towards more meaningful
developmental initiatives.
Widened Scope of Gender Audit
Plan and non-plan expenditure of the central government for social services such as
education, health, family welfare, water supply, housing, social welfare, nutrition and
rural development has more than doubled from Rs.1163 million in 1995-96 to Rs.3548
million in 2003-04. The total plan expenditure for social sector rose from 26.5% in 2000-
01 to 30.2 % in 2003-04. As a ratio of total expenditure, the combined plan and non-plan
expenditure of the centre in the social sector rose from 10.2 % in 1995–96 to 11 % in
2003-04. (RE). Expressed as a ratio of GDP at current market prices, expenditure on
social services increased from 1.5 % in 1995-96 to 1.9 % in 2003-04. The total
expenditure of both centre and states on the social sector was 19.8 % of total expenditure.
DWCD took the lead in partnership with UNIFEM to initiative gender mainstreaming in
macro fiscal policy frameworks by initiating a two-year process of gender budgeting
within the Government of India. In partnership with the National Institute of Public
Finance and Policy (NIPFP), Ministry of Finance, the Department supported a study on
“Gender Budgeting in India”. The study analysed the existing degree of gender inequality
in economic policy issues and identified policy alternatives to build in a gender sensitive
national and state level budgeting processes. For the first time, gender as a category, was
included in the National Economic Survey in 2001-02 and 2002-03.

DWCD has commissioned gender budgeting studies in several State Governments, in

association with NIPCCD (National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child
Development).Since a major part of social sector expenditures is through the State
Governments,assessments at the State level are crucial. With the devolution of powers to
Panchayat Raj institutions, capacity for gender budgeting at this level also needs to be
built up.

In the area of Gender Statistics, important steps have been taken to improve the data base
on women, to institutionalise systems of data collection, and to use this data in planning
and advocacy for gender justice. These are as follows: The Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation has started a regular publication,‘Women and Men in
India’ since 1995. A National Plan of Action identifying data gaps has been formulated.
For some indicators requiring detailed probing the Plan of Action recommends that
NGOs take the lead. A National Data Dissemination Policy has been formulated. A pilot
Time Use Survey was conducted in six states, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil
Nadu, Orissa and Meghalaya, in 1998-99. The report was brought out in 2000 and results
have been widely disseminated.

Gender sensitisation of enumerators and respondents was undertaken for the

population census in 1991 and in 2001, in partnership with UNIFEM. In order to

54
 capture women’s work better, a few probing questions were added in the Individual
Slip administered as part of the Census process to elicit better information on women’s
work, paid or unpaid. This has increased the reporting of women’s work, with overall
work participation rate of women being 19.7 in 1981, 22.3 in 1991 and 25.7 in 2001.
Special effort was made to obtain information on women in unorganised sector
activities in the Economic Census conducted in 1998.
The National Sample Survey (NSS) Employment – Unemployment round of 1999-
2000 included a module on the Informal Sector, which has yielded important and new
data on the size and characteristics of home based workers. Out of a total of 29.2
million home based non-agricultural workers (20.9% of the non-agricultural
workforce), 12.6 million were women.This represents 45% of the women non-
agricultural workforce.
National Family Health Surveys (1992-93 and 1998-99) have further strengthened the
database for implementation of the RCH approach as adopted after the ICPD.
All programme statistics are expected to provide gender based data/information.
To enable preparation of a Gender Development Index, 18 indicators have been
identified, after extensive consultations, for collection of data at district level.
At a policy level the Government has initiated gender mainstreaming
measures at the Union and State levels to ensure that gender concerns are brought centre
stage in all aspects of public expenditure and policy. The Tenth Plan has initiated action
in tying up the concept of Women's Component Plan and gender budgeting exercises to
develop a gender perspective in planning.

The Government through its Common Minimum Programme has endeavoured to ensure,
elimination of gender discrimination, economic empowerment of women through equal
rights of ownership of assets such as land, shelter, etc. One of the thrust areas identified
by the Prime Minister for development of women is legal equality for women in all
enactments.

Some important initiatives include:

Women’s participation has been built into the Joint Forest Management (JFM)
Committees which are grassroot level institutions for conservation, protection and
management of degraded forests. At least 50% of the members of the JFM general
body are required to be women, and at least 33% of the membership in the JFM
Executive Committee/ Management Committee is to be filled by women.
In order to improve general cleanliness and also protect the dignity of women of poorer
sections, construction of toilet complexes is being emphasised under the National
River Conservation plan. Construction of more than 3600 toilets in the states has been
taken up.
Gender issues relating to forestry are given special focus in the training of Indian
Forest Service officers.
Women’s participation is encouraged in community resource management and
watershed programmes.
Rural women living below the poverty line are provided with financial assistance to

55
 raise nurseries in forest lands
The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources is implementing several
programmes to benefit women by reducing drudgery and providing better and
convenient systems for cooking and lighting.
Environmental education programmes supported by the Department of Education play
an important role in creating awareness and seeking local specific solutions to
environmental problems.
New initiatives to improve urban environment, especially water and sanitation,
emphasise partnerships between private, community and government agencies.

Creating Gender-Sensitive Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the sector wide approaches studied for this guide
are, on the whole, still weak. A variety of instruments are in use, often poorly linked to
each other, and many are inadequate for understanding gender impacts. Especially among
donors, the link to the Millennium Development Goals in existing M&E also tends to be
weak. Creating gender-sensitive M&E is technically not a particular chal-lenge—good
models can be found for projects and adapted to sector wide approaches, for example.
The organisational challenges referred to earlier, however, tend to result in weak M&E of
the gender dimension of sector wide approaches, a challenge that needs to be dealt with
explicitly in the development of M&E systems, both by government and donors.

Criteria to Promote Gender mainstreaming

In order to promote Gender mainstreaming the following issues are the key development
challenges that many countries face in the immediate future:

•Work under Gender Analysis Approach

•Expand economic opportunities for women
•Strengthen the role of women in governance
•Address the much-neglected area of violence against women and children
•Giving safe and violence free cities and work environment
•Effect changes in mindsets that perpetuate anti-female biases
•Expand access to quality reproductive health services for women and especially
adolescent girls
•Demand better gender-disaggregated data for monitoring progress, and concentrate
particularly on expanding opportunities for the girl child in the most disadvantaged
communities
•Involve more women in decision making activities
•More political participation
•Promoting Gender Justice and Gender Equity
• Involve women in peace keeping missions
•Gender-sensitive Development leads to Human Development

Very often, especially in a democratic political environment, the easiest thing for

56
governments to do is to change laws or pass new laws to support the poor. These may
include a range of important actions that will depend on the specific context, such as anti-
discrimination legislation, changing civil and inheritance codes, protecting the common
resource areas used by indigenous peoples, or easing the credit-worthiness criteria used
by public sector banks for example. None of these examples constitutes a welfare hand-
out; instead they remove barriers and free up the capacity of poor communities to
empower themselves.
But laws in themselves are often insufficient. This could be because they are poorly
implemented, or because more active steps need to be taken. Two key policy directions
can be identified, in addition to the removal of barriers to the empowerment of poor
people. The first is to foster group processes in antipoverty programmes as a conscious
step towards transforming rigid and top-heavy programmes into more creative, flexible
and responsive ones. It is not enough, however, for women's groups, for example, to be
formed at the bottom tier of a government programme. Indian experience tells us that
such groups often do not take off or can be stunted in their capabilities, unless the entire
programme structure is re-thought so as to give them greater voice in making the
decisions that affect project plans, monitoring and evaluation. It is here that government
programmes have the most to learn from non-governmental experiences. Bureaucrats
must be willing to do this learning, and to alter their approaches and mind-sets. The
second policy direction is to remove barriers to the access poor people have to
information. Information is often one of the most tightly guarded and controlled
resources in development programmes.

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 CHAPTER- 4

GENDER AND ECONOMY

Women and Economy

India embarked upon a restructuring of the economic policy framework in 1991. There
has been a commitment to reforms that would encourage stronger participation in world
markets and a greater role of foreign investment. This process has resulted in numerous
benefits, but has also meant greater burdens for some sections of the economy. Positive
impacts include innovation, higher productivity and reduction in prices of commodities;
impacts have also included business closures or restructuring. The impact of globalisation
on women has been a consequence both of the manner of their participation in the
economy, as well as of pre-existing social norms and networks that have influenced the
manner in which production is organised.

Statistics show that 93% of all workers in India are in informal employment; the
percentage is even higher for women, at 96%. Nearly 99% of agricultural workers are in
informal employment. In the non-agricultural sector, 86% of women and 83% of men are
in informal employment. Informality of employment is thus a key characteristic of the
workforce in India. Several studies suggest that there has been an increase in sub-
contracting, casualisation and outsourcing—trends that have increased the incidence of
informality in work and the corresponding precariousness of the terms of employment.
The emergence of global value chains linking units in different countries has been
associated, in some sectors, with increased outsourcing to home based women workers, a
trend that is explained partly by pre-existing social norms and networks, and partly by
economic factors.

While women remain largely concentrated in agriculture, there has been some increase in
the employment in export oriented manufacturing units. According to Census data the
work participation rate of women has been increasing. According to 2001 Census, it is
25.6% as compared to 22.3% for the year 1991. The work participation rate of women
was 15.9% in 1991, and 14.68 % in 2001 (for main workers). The corresponding figures
for marginal workers were 6.3% and 10.9 %. This is in contrast to that for males, as data
suggests that most men are in relatively stable employment (with 45 % recorded as main
workers and 6% as marginal in the 2001 Census). While the increased incidence of casual
work has affected both male and female workers, it is far more striking for females.
Another important feature of women’s work is that 45% of the non-agricultural female
workforce is home based.
By contrast, 94.4 percent of women are in informal sector occupations, including home-
based workers, piece rate workers, casual labourers and petty traders. The informal
sector is the dominant form of employment in most sectors, but particularly in agriculture

58
(99 percent) and manufacturing (78 percent) and especially for women; in manufacturing,
88 percent of women are in informal sector jobs. In other areas such as transport and
community services, the formal sector has a much greater presence. In general, there is a
high level of insecurity in informal sector employment. Pay and employment conditions
in the informal sector are poor relative to the formal sector and pay differentials by
gender are greater. Moreover, women in this sector are also vulnerable to discrimination,
harassment, sexual exploitation and violence; they also lack access to productive
resources for self-employment.

It is well accepted that there is considerable under enumeration of women’s work,

whatever be the source. This is both because of the self perception of women that they
are non-workers, even where their contribution to home based and household economic
activity is very substantial, and the biases in the minds of enumerators who fail to probe
adequately in posing the question on whether women are working.

Many have argued that the labour participation of women is one of the most important
indicators of women’s empowerment, access to resources, and decision-making ability
and thus must be made a central focus of policy. Wage differentials have been
extensively documented in all sectors of the Indian economy. Within the workforce, two
kinds of wage differentials have been found to exist. In the informal sector—where most
women are employed—there is evidence of women directly being paid lower wages than
men, especially in the agricultural labour sector and the urban informal labour sectors
where little effective legislation exists as a disincentive for this practice. In the organised
sector, where equal renumeration laws are more directly enforceable, pure wage
discrimination (differential pay for the same job) has not been found to exist. However,
differential levels of education and differential returns to that education implies that
women are usually less skilled than men and thus can attain only lower level jobs even
within the organised sector, leading to a high wage differential.

After independence, the Indian economy passed through many economic crises and
concerted efforts were made every time to resolve those crises with a varying degree of
success in the past. The economic reforms initiated in 1991 had a specific objective to
emphasise upon the role of market forces, international competitiveness and withdrawal
of interference by the government in economic activity. India is not the only country to
have initiated economic reforms to get integrated into the global economy. Different
countries have adopted different strategies of economic reforms making the effects of
liberalisation country specific. So much so that different sectors of economy have
different experiences about the impact of those reforms. In a country like India,
productive employment is central to poverty reduction strategy and to bring about
economic equality in the society. The policies for globalisation adopted in India would
definitely have significant implications for employment and the labour market in addition
to their impact on overall economic growth of the country. But the results of unfettered
operation of market forces are not always equitable, especially in India, where some
groups are likely to be subjected to disadvantage as a result of globalisation. Women

59
constitute one such vulnerable group and globalisation has both positive and negative
effects on their status.
In the Indian labour market, women have been assigned a different kind of role. Unlike
in the industrialised societies, women in India are primarily associated with menial
personal services, such as, a housemaid, a housekeeper, a housewife or a housemaker.
They are restricted to household management, shopping, cooking, maintaining and
running household activities as chief lady menial of household. Thus, as mentioned
earlier, women are in unpaid work, which is invisible or is poorly paid and marginalised.
It is very important for the female employees with regard to their status that they be
assigned equal responsibility and share in work to enable them to develop confidence in
themselves which can go a long way in helping them. It was observed during the field
survey that most of the women employees were kept and adjusted in a chain of work and
they did not share responsibility other than their own routine work.
Conditions of working women in India have improved considerably in the recent years.
Ironically, despite the improvement in their status, they still find themselves dependent
on men. It is because of the fact that man in patriarchal society has always wielded
economic independence and power to take decision. Since the working woman earns an
independent income in the same patriarchal set-up, where the basic infrastructure of
society has hardly changed, though her own role within the same structure is passing
through a transitional phase, it is but natural that she would remain vulnerable to
exploitation even in her economically independent state. She continues to remain
marginalised as she is generally employed in a chain of work and seldom allowed
independent charge of her job. Sharing of responsibility at work place or taking
independent decisions is still a remote possibility for her.
The common belief that working women are economically independent was also put to
test to verify whether they had the real freedom with regard to the use of their earnings or
were still subject to some control in relation thereto. Working women do use and spend
their income at their own sweet will but sometimes permission of the husband becomes
necessary for the purpose. Interestingly, when it comes to making investments, they often
leave it to their husband or other male member of the family to invest on their behalf.
Many of them do not take decision even in case of important investments, like, life
insurance, national saving schemes or other tax saving investments. Working women do
feel concerned about the economic needs of the family but when not consulted in such
matters, they regret being ignored especially when they contribute monetarily towards
economic well being of the family.

The marginalisation of female labour

Already discussed in previous sections of this report, the marginalisation of female

workers refers to an increasing trend to displace female workers into the informal sector
due to a lack of labour mobility, adequate education and job skills, and the shift away
from traditionally female sectors of employment. An increasing number of women are
also entering the informal sector due to increasing poverty that makes subsistence living
less viable. In addition to the increasing numbers of casual workers due to rising poverty
levels and the commercialisation of agriculture, a similar trend has been identified in the
manufacturing sector. Women employed as low-skilled workers in the manufacturing

60
sector, which employs large numbers of female urban casual labour, tend to get easily
displaced by new technologies and are either pushed out or pushed down when new skills
are thought to be required. Employers cite the lack of education and inability to adapt to
new skills among women as the reasons for such retrenchment. These women are
increasingly being pushed into the informal sector where they are forced to work for low
wages in adverse conditions.

Economic contribution of women

. The burden of working hours in addition to domestic management could have direct
effects on a woman’s health, her efficiency, and her status within the family. In addition,
such interventions continue in an established trend of devaluing women’s domestic work
and seeing it as inimical to their development, rather than trying to engage women’s
domestic productivity into their development process. It must be understood that simply
increasing income and waged employment will not automatically eradicate gender
inequality and might even have other adverse effects on women. Attempts must be made
to engage the value of women’s domestic labour into their development process.

The relationship between economic empowerment, often discussed in relation to

employment and income, and gender equality is not straightforward. Increased access to
employment and income for women does not readily translate into an improved status or
bargaining power for women. Although involvement in economic activity is a necessary
condition for the attainment of gender equality in the economic sphere, it is in itself not
sufficient, partly because not all economic activity is empowering, and partly because
additional measures are required to promote gender equality in other spheres (legal,
political etc.). The pursuit of gender equality is bound to be a complex process since
inequality is multi-causal phenomenon, linked to the intra-household decision-making
processes and influenced by both market signals and institutional norms. Whilst access
to economic activity is important in this pursuit, the key concern which drives this review
is to identify what forms of economic activity most enhance women's position and under
what terms and conditions.

Why Economic Activity is Important for Gender Equality

Gender equality is a multi-faceted concept which implies equality of opportunities in the

legal, political, social and economic dimensions as well as equality in personal
relationships between men and women. Economic equality can be defined as the ability
of men and women to support the same standard of living for themselves over their
lifetime. Men and women can only have equal chances for achieving the same standard
of living if they have the same distribution of opportunity and outcomes throughout their
life. More precisely, economic equality will exist only when employment opportunities
and outcomes, earnings and returns to labour are equal by gender, whether in the formal
or informal sector and all across types of economic activity. Gender equality in an
economic sense requires equal access to resources (credit, market opportunities,
education etc.) and equal engagement in all aspects of the economic activity. It is only

61
when the conditions and terms of the economic activity are the same for both men and
women that the returns generated are equal. Moreover, whatever differences exist in
market and transaction costs as between the genders must not bias net returns.

The economic dimension is central to achieving gender equality overall. Without

economic equality women will always have an incentive to buy into the 'patriarchal
bargain'. As long as women are relatively disadvantaged in economic terms they will
continue to be drawn into partnerships with men who earn more and have more resources
in exchange for the provision of services within the household. As a result, women are
often perceived as secondary members of the household with consequences for women's
bargaining power in wider political and legal contexts.

Patriarchal partnerships also limit women's opportunities to secure employment and a

livelihood in the short and long term, creating a vicious circle. There are repercussions in
terms of the investments made for boys and girls which carry through into social ranking
and political participation in later life and determine the life chances of individuals,
particularly in terms of earning capacities and access to resources. For instance, families
often prefer to invest in education for boys because the perceived returns from their
market activity are higher than those for girls.

Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality

Economic empowerment based on economic activity is a step towards gender equality,

but it is not synonymous with it. Nevertheless, the underlying assumption of many
interventions targeting women is that engagement in economic activity will translate into
economic empowerment. Such assumptions rest on the belief that women secure the
benefits of their involvement in an economic activity. However, research has shown that
outcomes vary according to both the type of activity and women's household
circumstances.

Women's relative lack of education and training contributes to their lower earnings.
Lower returns to female labour force participation also act as a disincentive to future
investment in female education, perpetuating a vicious circle. In addition, employers use
lack of education and experience as a screening device to exclude women (and other
disadvantaged groups) from employment. Relatively low educational levels also limit
women's access to information sources about employment and reduce training
opportunities.

The modern global economy is now a reality. Yet everywhere in the world, there are
people working in conditions that should no longer exist in this 21st century, for income
that is barely enough for survival. Home-based workers put in long hours each day, yet
are paid for only a fraction of their time. Rural women spend backbreaking hours on
family plots, often for no payment at all. Those in urban areas work in unregulated
factories, earning pennies for products that are shipped via sub-contractors to markets far
away, or they find jobs as waste-pickers, scavenging garbage heaps for items to sell. The
working poor are both men and women. However, the further down the chain of quality

62
and security, the more women you find. Yet it is their work — including their unpaid
work in the household as well as their poorly paid work in insecure jobs or small
enterprises — that holds families and communities together.

Informal workers are everywhere, in every country and region. Globalization has brought
new opportunities for many workers, especially those who are well educated, with the
skills demanded in the high-tech global economy. But it has deepened insecurity and
poverty for many others, including women, who have neither the skills needed to
compete nor the means to acquire them. The lives of these working poor people are the
message of this report: too many of them, women and men, are in unregulated and
insecure jobs, in conditions that are frequently unhealthy and often unsafe.

Increasingly, rather than informal work becoming formalized as economies grow, work is
moving from formal to informal, from regulated to unregulated, and workers lose job
security as well as medical and other benefits. What we are seeing is that growth does not
automatically ‘trickle down’ to the poor. It can in fact widen the gap between rich and
poor. As globalization intensifies, the likelihood of obtaining formal employment is
decreasing in many places, with “footloose” companies shifting production from one
unregulated zone to an even less regulated one elsewhere, employing workers in informal
contract or casual work with low earnings and little or no benefits.

Women workers are not only concentrated in the informal economy, they are in the more
precarious forms of informal employment, where earnings are the most unreliable and the
most meagre. While in some instances, their income can be important in helping families
move out of poverty, this is only true if there is more than one earner. This is a sobering
fact to consider as we redouble our efforts to implement the Millennium Development
Goals, including the elimination of poverty and the achievement of gender equality. Not
achieving these goals is unthinkable. Widening gaps between rich and poor, and women
and men can only contribute to greater instability and insecurity in the world.

First, organizing women informal workers to obtain legal and social protection. Unless
women are empowered to demand services, protection and their rights, the basic
structures that govern their lives will not change. Women acting alone can only bring
about limited change. This therefore means supporting women’s organizing, along with
unions and member-based workers’ organizations, to ensure that more workers receive
the labour rights to which they are entitled.

Second, for the self-employed, greater effort must be made to deliver services to these
workers, to improve access to credit and financial markets and to mobilize demands for
their products and services. Women’s skills and assets must be upgraded so they can
compete more effectively in these markets.

Third, there must be appropriate policies in support of informal workers. This requires
that informal workers are visible and that the totality of their work — especially in the

63
case of women — is valued. The starting point for meaningful policy decisions is to make
women’s informal work visible through gender-sensitive, disaggregated statistics on
national labour forces.

Finally, there is a need to strengthen strategies that can transform basic structures that
perpetuate gender inequality. What kind of global rules are required to regulate markets,
and guide the priorities of international economic institutions towards globalization that
improves lives and working conditions? Closing the gender income gaps, ensuring safe
and healthy working conditions for all, must be central to policy and rule-setting. Socially
responsible corporations can lead the way in this. At the same time, all corporations can
be held accountable through standard-setting and the independent monitoring and
verification that are a necessary part of implementation.

Today’s global world is one of widening income inequality and for many, increasing eco-
nomic insecurity. Informal employment, far from disappearing, is persistent and
widespread. In many places, economic growth has depended on capital-intensive
production in a few sectors rather than on increasing employment opportunities, pushing
more and more people into the informal economy. In others, many of the jobs generated
by economic growth are not covered by legal or social protection, as labour markets are
de-regulated, labour standards are relaxed and employers cut costs. As a result, a growing
share of the workforce in both developed and developing countries is not covered by
employment-based social and legal protection.

Moreover, in the process of economic growth and trade liberalization, some informal
workers get left behind altogether. This includes wage workers who lose their jobs when
companies mechanize, retrench or shift locations. It also includes the smallest-scale
producers and traders who have little if any access to government subsidies, tax rebates
or promotional measures to help them compete in export markets or against imported
goods. These ‘losers’ in the global economy have to find ways to survive in the local
economy, many resorting to such occupations as waste picking or low-end street trading.

Progress of the World’s Women 2005 makes the case that strengthening women’s
economic security is critical to efforts to reduce poverty and promote gender equality,
and that decent work is basic to economic security. It provides data to show that:
. -the proportion of women workers engaged in informal employment is generally
greater than the proportion of men workers;
. - women are concentrated in the more precarious types of informal
employment; and
. - the average earnings from these types of informal employment are too
low, in the absence of other sources of income, to raise households out of poverty.

Unless efforts are made to create decent work for the informal workforce, the country
will not be able to eliminate poverty or achieve gender equality.

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Targeted interventions

To increase the assets, access and competitiveness of the working poor, both self-
employed and wage employed, in the informal economy. For the working poor to be
able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by a more favourable policy
environment, they need greater market access as well as the relevant resources and
skills with which to better compete in markets. Over the past three decades, there has
been a proliferation of projects designed to provide microfinance and/or business
development services to microenterprises. While the vast majority of the clients of
microfinance are working poor women, business development services are not typically
targeted at the smallest enterprises, particularly those run by women. Future
microfinance and business development services need to target working poor women
more explicitly, and with context-specific and user-friendly services.
To compete effectively in the markets, in addition to having the requisite resources and
skills, the working poor need to be able to negotiate favourable terms of trade. This
involves changing government policies, government-set prices or institutional
arrangements as well as the balance of power within markets or value chains. This
requires that the working poor, especially women, have bargaining power and are able to
participate in the negotiations that determine the terms of trade in the sectors within
which they work. Often what is effective in this regard is joint action by organizations of
the working poor and like-minded allies who can leverage access to government policy
makers and to rule-setting institutions.

To secure appropriate legal frameworks for the working poor, both self-employed and
wage employed, in the informal economy workers in the informal economy, especially
the poor, need legal recognition as workers and the legal entitlements that come with that
recognition, including the right to work, rights at work and rights to property. Strategies
to secure the rights of women informal wage workers include international labour
standards and conventions; national labour legislation; corporate codes of conduct; and
collective bargaining agreements and grievance mechanisms.

To address risk and uncertainty faced by poor workers, especially women, in informal
employment all workers, and informal workers in particular, need protection against the
risks and uncertainties associated with their work as well as the common contingencies of
illness, property loss, maternity and child care, disability and death. Providing needed
protections requires a variety of interventions, including different safety nets (relief
payments, cash transfers, public works); insurance coverage of various kinds (health,
property, disability, life); and pensions or long-term savings schemes. Governments, the
private sector, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and other membership-
based organizations can all play active roles in providing social protection to informal
workers.

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Support for organizing by women informal workers

To hold other players accountable to these strategic priorities, the working poor need to
be able to organize and have representative voice in policy-making processes and
institutions. Informal workers, especially women, cannot count on other actors to
represent their interests in policy-making or programme planning processes, including
national Millennium Development Goals reports and the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Papers (PRSPs). Securing this seat at the decision-making table requires supporting and
strengthening organizations of informal workers, with a special focus on women’s
organizations and women’s leadership.

First, poverty and inequality cannot be reduced by expecting economic policies to gen-
erate employment and social policies to compensate those for whom there are no jobs, or
only bad jobs. Economic growth often fails to generate sufficient employment or
employment that pays enough to live free of poverty, while compensation through social
policies is typically inadequate or neglected altogether.

Second, poverty reduction requires a major reorientation in economic priorities to focus

on employment, not just growth and inflation. To be effective, strategies to reduce
poverty and promote equality should be employment-oriented and worker-centred.

In recent years, many observers have called for people-centred or gender-responsive

approaches to poverty reduction. What is called for here is an approach that focuses on
the needs and constraints of the working poor, especially women, as workers, not only as
citizens, as members of a vulnerable group or as members of poor households. A worker
focus will provide coherence and relevance to poverty reduction strategies because most
poor people work, because earnings represent the main source of income in poor
households, and because working conditions affect all dimensions of poverty (i.e.,
income, human development, human rights and social inclusion).

Strategies and Forms of Organizing

Whether informal women workers organize, and what types of collective organization
best fit their needs, depends on a range of factors, including the broader social, political
and economic environment in which they work and live. Geographical location and
restrictions on women’s physical mobility can influence the ability to organize. In small
scale, family or home-based enterprises, workers are not as visible as part-time,
temporary or contract workers in larger enterprises and hence more difficult to contact
and mobilize. In addition, many informal workers may hesitate to join organizations due
to family-based alliances, loyalty to kinship networks or fear of job loss. Organizing must
reflect the nature and conditions of work in the informal economy, including the different
types of work informal workers perform, their uncertain hours and their dispersed
workplaces.

Women must also confront issues of power and discrimination based on gender. Thus, in

66
addition to specific work-related protections, women workers need guarantees of equal
pay for equal or comparable work; adequate, safe and affordable childcare; income
protection when giving birth; physical security while travelling; and freedom from sexual
harassment and sexual exploitation in the workplace.

Because informal workers often cannot easily identify an ‘employer’ with whom to
negotiate better conditions, or risk losing their jobs if they do make demands, they have
utilized various forms of organizations and diverse strategies to attain their goals. Where
there is no identifiable employer, for example, street vendors have negotiated with
municipalities to protect their right to earn a living on the street.

Worker cooperatives
Worker cooperatives are generally the easiest to set up, especially for small numbers of
people. Cooperatives provide a structure through which workers pool financial resources,
equipment, skills and experience (to minimize transaction costs), enabling them to
increase their earning power and/or to obtain goods and services by sharing the gains
from these combined resources. Cooperatives typically focus on income generation
through business development and pursue both economic and social objectives, a factor
that has contributed to their success in empowering women and increasing their
awareness of the benefits of organizing. They also provide a structure through which
women can develop bargaining, managerial and other skills and gain the know-how to
eliminate exploitative contractors and intermediaries.

Interventions
These broad strategies require targeted interventions. First, policy reforms are needed to
correct for biases in existing policies against the working poor, especially women, in the
informal economy and to develop policies to support specific groups of informal workers.
Second, relevant institutions need to become more inclusive of the informal workforce;
and organizations representing informal workers need to be strengthened to have
effective voice. Third, a range of services are needed, including microfinance, business
development, infrastructure, social services, occupational health and safety and social
protection (insurance, safety nets, disability and pensions). To successfully pursue these
broad strategies and implement the interventions requires concerted action by a range of
players—including governments, international trade and financial institutions,
intergovernmental agencies, the donor community, the private sector, consumers and the
public, unions and other worker organizations and NGOs.

Addressing biases
Women’s rights advocates have pointed out that women’s location in the economy means
that general economic policies cannot be assumed to be gender neutral simply because
they are gender blind. To make policies more gender-sensitive, they have developed a set
of analytical tools: gender assessments, gender impact assessments and gender-
responsive budgeting. Gender assessments involve the analysis of national data and

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research findings to assess the situation of women and men/girls and boys in order to
develop gender-sensitive national policies. Gender impact assessments are designed to
assess the impact of specific policies, such as trade or investment, on women and
men/girls and boys. Gender-responsive budgeting integrates a gender perspective into the
budget process and tracks how government revenues and expenditures affect women and
men/girls and boys. A gender budget is not a separate budget for women but an attempt
to disaggregate expenditure and revenue according to their different impacts on women
and men (UNIFEM 2000).

As with gender, economic policies that are ‘blind’ to how labour markets are actually
structured and function cannot be assumed to be ‘neutral’ towards labour. Economic
planners should take into account the size, composition and contribution of both the
formal and informal labour markets in different countries, and recognize that their
policies are likely to have differential impacts on informal and formal enterprises, on
informal and formal workers, and on women and men within these categories. To assess
and address how economic policies affect the working poor, especially women, it is
important to analyse how class, gender and other biases intersect in labour markets,
including biases that favour capital over labour, formal over informal enterprises, formal
over informal workers, and men over women within each of these categories.
A newer tool, informal economy budget analysis, views budget allocations (or the lack
thereof) as an expression of policy approaches. Informal economy budgets are designed
to do three things. First, they examine the extent to which the state budget shows an
awareness of the existence and situation of informal workers and their enterprises.
Second, they identify measures of direct and indirect state support, and thus have the
potential to raise the visibility of informal workers and their enterprises and encourage
advocacy for greater support. Third, they can be used to assess the gap between policies,
budget allocations, and policy implementation.

Support to the self-employed

Many of the working poor who are self-employed, both women and men, are unable to
take advantage of new opportunities opened up by trade liberalization or economic
growth because they lack access to credit, business skills or technologies, productive
assets, or market information. And self-employed women face additional problems not
faced by self-employed men, including less access to property due to unequal inheritance
laws; less access to formal sources of credit due to lack of collateral; and fewer
opportunities for apprenticeship and skills training.

Microfinance – Beginning in the early 1970s, there has been what has been called a
‘microfinance revolution’. Microfinance has shown that poor people are bankable – they
can save regularly and borrow and repay loans at interest rates at or above commercial
rates of interest. At the heart of the microfinance movement the world over are working
poor women, who make up around 80 per cent of all clients of microfinance institutions.
They have proved to be credit worthy and good savers and, in general, they have better
repayment rates than men. Microfinance has led to fundamental changes in the lives of
many (though certainly not all) women, who now have increased access to resources,
improved material well-being and enhanced identity and power.

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Despite the importance of microfinance in recognizing and supporting women’s
economic roles, however, it should not be seen as a magic bullet for women’s economic
security. To date it reaches less than 13 per cent of the estimated 550 million working
poor worldwide. As different types of financial institutions become involved in
microfinance – and formal banks go into ‘untapped’ markets – it is important to keep a
focus on women’s participation as well as products and services that address the needs of
working poor women. Equally important, the formal financial sector needs to develop
financial policies and systems that work for the poor majority

Business development services – Business development services (BDS) are aimed at

increasing the business skills and market access of microenterprises. Those offered by
government generally do not reach the smallest enterprises, especially those run by
women, and while BDS provided by NGOs have been more successful at targeting the
most disadvantaged producers and traders, they have limited outreach. More critically for
2
our purposes, few if any of these focus on working poor women. This is an area in which
governments can play a role in facilitating service provision through private firms or
through public-private partnerships of various kinds.

A key issue is whether to provide generic BDS (such as preparing a business plan) or
more specific services (such as marketing specific products). Both are needed, but sector-
specific services are more likely to be effective for self-employed women, who tend to be
concentrated in certain sectors and face a variety of sector-specific disadvantages.

Core Priorities
What is needed is a critical mass of institutions and individuals at all levels to work
together on a core minimum set of interventions and to move forward in a collaborative
and incremental way towards the broader strategies and goals outlined below:

Core Priority 1 - To promote decent employment for both men and women as a key
pathway to combating poverty and gender inequality. A concerted effort is needed to
ensure that decent employment opportunities are viewed as a target rather than an
outcome of economic policies, including national MDG strategies and Poverty Reduction
Strategies.

Core Priority 2 - To increase visibility of informal women workers in national labour

force statistics and in national gender and poverty assessments, using the employment by
type and earnings indicators proposed for Millennium Development Goal 3.

Core Priority 3 - To promote a more favourable policy environment for the working
poor, especially women, in the informal economy through improved analysis, broad
awareness building and participatory policy dialogues.

Core Priority 4 - To support organizations representing women informal workers and

help them gain effective voice in relevant policy-making processes and institutions.

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 So long as the majority of women workers are informally employed, gender equality
will also remain an elusive goal. Progress on both of these goals therefore demands that
all those committed to achieving the MDGs, including the UN system, governments and
the international trade and finance institutions, make decent employment a priority – and
that corporations be made more socially responsible. Informal workers, both women and
men, organized in unions, cooperatives or grassroots organizations, are ready to partner
with them in this vital endeavor.

Policy and programme interventions

Positive measures for workers in informal employment, which are expected to especially
help women workers, include: The recently introduced ‘Unorganised Sector Workers
Social Security Scheme’ being implemented by the Employees Provident Fund
Organisation, with the active support of Workers’ Facilitation Centres, Employees State
Insurance Corporation, other insurance companies, PRIs, SHGs and other civil society
organisations. Initially this scheme is being implemented for 2.5 million workers in 50
districts of the country for two years on a pilot basis.
Universal Health Insurance Scheme launched by Government in July 2003 for people
of low income groups provides for reimbursement of hospital expenses upto Rs.
30,000/- per family/individual. The scheme also provides for the loss of livelihood at
the rate of Rs. 50 per day upto a maximum of 15 days in case the earning member falls
sick. Government also provides a subsidy of Rs. 100 for families below the poverty
line.
The National Social Assistance Programme (1995) aims at ensuring a minimum
national standard of social assistance over and above the assistance provided by States
from their own resources.
National Agriculture Policy 2000 has specific provisions for structural, functional and
institutional measures to empower women,build their capabilities and increase their
access to inputs.
Department of Agriculture has constituted an Expert Committee of Women in
Agriculture to analyse policies and strategies and suggest ways to make agriculture
policy gender friendly.
Institutional mechanisms to assist women workers to get their due include the
Minimum Wages Act and the Equal Remuneration Act, monitored by a special cell of
the Ministry of Labour. Coordination and monitoring of vocational training institutes
of women is done by the women’s cell within the Directorate of Employment and
Training.

The Way Forward

Such an approach requires a major reorientation of economic thinking, economic
planning, and economic policies. The global community needs to recognize that that there
are no short-cuts to reducing poverty and gender inequality; and that economic growth
alone – even if supplemented by social policies to compensate the losers – cannot
eliminate poverty and inequality. The global community needs to set more and better
employment – especially for working poor women and men are core priority and target of

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all economic policies. It should also recognize that economic policies that are narrowly
focused on inflation-targeting, such as those promoted by the IMF and the World Bank,
can create an economic environment that is hostile to an expansion of more and better
employment opportunities. Successful implementation of the policy framework proposed
here would require adjustment in the focus and targets of the economic policies promoted
by these institutions and, therefore, adopted by many national governments.

As part of this reorientation, the greater focus on employment proposed here should be
incorporated into national poverty reduction and development strategies, including the
national MDG reports and PRSPs. The fact that employment creation is neither one of the
Millennium Development Goals, nor an indicator under the goal of eradicating extreme
poverty and hunger is reflected in the relative neglect of employment in most of the
national MDG reports as well as the PRSPs. Even in those PRSPs that include a focus on
employment, the role of informal employment and women’s employment in poverty
reduction receive scant attention.

In sum, promoting decent work for the working poor, both women and men, is a key
pathway to reducing both poverty and gender inequality. This requires re-inserting
employment on the poverty reduction and development agenda. Specifically, it requires:
. - creating more and better employment opportunities
. - creating incentives for informal enterprises to register and for employers
to extend benefits to workers
. - increasing the returns to labour of those who work in the informal
economy

However, reorienting policies, planning, and practices towards creating more and better
employment will not be possible unless two preconditions are met. First, the visibility of
workers – especially working poor women and men – in labour force statistics and other
data used in formulating policies needs to be increased. Second, the representative voice
of workers – especially informal workers, both women and men – in the processes and
institutions that determine economic policies and formulate the ‘rules of the (economic)
game’ needs to be increased. This requires pursuing an inclusive development policy
process that promotes the participation of the poor, both men and women, as workers:
that is, a worker-centred policy process.

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 CHAPTER -5

GENDER AND POVERTY

Poverty is tied to a lack of access to productive resources, physical goods and income
which results in individual and/or group deprivation, vulnerability and powerlessness. It
has various manifestations including hunger and malnutrition, ill-health, and limited or
no access to education, health care, and safe housing and (paid) work environments. It
also includes experiences of economic, political and social discrimination. Within this
context, poverty must be viewed both in its absolute and relative dimensions.

Although very useful, government-defined poverty lines refer only to absolute poverty.
Relative poverty refers to the individual's or group's position in the social scale, that is, to
a low position in the hierarchies of class and other inequalities, a dimension not captured
by absolute poverty lines. For example, within the same household, women and female
children may be relatively poorer than other household members or they may be deprived
of basic needs even if the household itself does not fall within the defined absolute
poverty line. In this sense, the presence of poverty is inseparably linked to inequality in
the distribution of resources and income.

Structural and Transient Poverty

Distinctions between structural or chronic and transient poverty are particularly useful
for understanding the lived experiences of poor women. Structural poverty is rooted in
socio-economic and political institutions, is experienced over the long term, and is often
transferred intergenerationally. Rural populations with little or no access to land and
other productive resources, with living standards below the poverty line, and/or with
chronic under-employment or unemployment exemplify this type of poverty. Gendered
dimensions of structural poverty are based, in many instances, on the institutional -
specifically legal and cultural - denial of land and other productive resources, including
vocational and educational training, to women. In contrast, transient poverty is due to
cyclical or temporary factors and is experienced over shorter periods of time, such as
with cyclical unemployment, inflation, macro-economic policy shifts, and/or natural
disasters. Within the current global economy, technological changes often lead to
transient poverty among women with low education and skill levels. It is important to
note that the presence of one form of poverty in a region or country does not preclude the
presence of another.

Women and girls often carry the heaviest burden of economic adjustment because of their
reproductive roles and/or household divisions of labour. Adjustment packages have
intensified their workload by increasing their participation in formal and informal labour
markets. Women often assume the responsibility for "making ends meet" when real
incomes fall. This is accomplished through what has been called "packaging", a term
referring to the performance of several jobs in either or both the formal and informal
economic sectors, typically resulting in an intensification of women’s workloads.

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Thus, structural adjustment has illustrated how macroeconomic policies that work
through and within gendered structures and relations shape the choices and material
conditions of women and men differently. Although there is a lack of systematic country
data on the gender dimensions of adjustment, numerous case studies and accumulated
evidence from different countries during the past decade reveal that an unequal burden of
adjustment has disproportionately fallen on women. Given the longer than expected
length of adjustment and the devastating social costs experienced in many countries, the
need to rethink adjustment policies is urgent. Within this context, it is critical that macro-
policies be gender-sensitive so as to prevent gender bias in the process of re-adjustment.
This work has already begun and it must be viewed as highly relevant for policies and
projects dealing with poverty eradication.

Thus poverty is linked to the inability of the economic system to generate a sufficient
number of jobs to absorb the unemployed and the underemployed. Again, these processes
have specific gender dimensions, including higher levels of female vis-ý-vis male
unemployment, informalisation of work often performed by women, and increased
participation of women in the precarious informal sector.

Entitlements and Capabilities

Gendered dimensions of poverty can be understood by using the notions of entitlement

and capabilities to discuss poverty and gender biases as well as policies to address them .
Amartya Sen has defined entitlements as the "bundle of goods over which [people] can
establish ownership through production and trade, using their own means". Capabilities,
on the other hand, have been defined as the alternative combination of "functionings" - or
"doings and beings" a person achieves - from which a person can choose. These
benchmarks are useful for the evaluation of factors related to the gendered dimensions of
poverty. For example, poor women's relatively low entitlements are at the source of their
dependency, vulnerability, and low degree of autonomy. Similarly, their limited
capabilities, such as in cases of illiteracy or low educational levels, tend to lock them in
the vicious circle of poverty and deprivation. This, together with market discrimination,
is at the root of their concentration in low-paying work.

An analysis of entitlements and capabilities provides an essential starting point for

gender-sensitive poverty eradication strategies. Such an analysis highlights the
importance of focusing on women's entitlements, through increasing their access to land
ownership and use, credit, and other productive resources that have the potential to
facilitate income generation. Likewise, such an analysis emphasises the gendered (that is,
socially determined) nature not only of women's and men's differential capabilities but,
significantly, their ability to develop and deploy these capabilities in order to move out of
poverty. Thus, while there is a strong correlation between greater access to education and
increased opportunities for economic advancement, it is also true that women may
achieve a level of education similar to that of men, yet they may not use it to the same
extent as their male counterparts due to a variety of social and cultural constraints.

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Preferences and Rights

By contrast, an emphasis on rights highlights these limits and obstacles by focusing on

external constraints facing women who live in poverty, such as legislation that limits
women’s access to land and productive resources and/or restricts their rights to
employment, income, and safety. While emphasis has been placed on women's rights
during the past two decades, much remains to be done in terms of dismantling gender
bias and ensuring the successful implementation of laws regarding women's rights,
including economic rights. Additionally, a focus on rights, as Elson has pointed out, has
to be supplemented by an emphasis on the socially conferred and constrained nature of
women's capabilities, understood as what women are able to do. Gender discrimination in
the labour market and the social stigma sometimes attached to women's participation in
paid production, coupled with expectations that their reproductive role calls for a primary
concentration on household work, are examples of constraints that define women's
capabilities.

These concepts can be used not only to best understand the complexity of factors that
result in gendered dimensions of poverty, but as a framework for policy in and of itself.
Given that the eradication of poverty is a component of human development, defined as
"a process of enlarging people's choices" (UNDP 1990) the concepts described above can
help shape policy directions to address gender specific dimensions of poverty. This
implies a focus on:

• entitlements, such as land and credit policies that increase access to resources
for poor women and men;

• increasing capabilities, as with training programmes and access to marketing

networks; and

• integrating gender as a category of analysis in international and national debates

on poverty and in the formulation of appropriate economic, political, and social
policies and programmes/projects to eradicate poverty.

These actions have the potential to increase the possibilities of meeting individual
preferences and rights.

Gender Bias in Development Policy

Mainstream development theories, policies, and strategies have analysed poverty through
what has been described as a gender-blind or gender-neutral lens. However, most
approaches are in fact not neutral because they assume the male actor as the standard and
representative of the human actor. Consequently, gender-neutral policies address
women's lived experiences, needs, interests, and constraints only to the extent to which
they conform to or overlap with the norms set by the male actor. Within the context of
poverty analyses, this leads to misdiagnoses of poverty processes through the erasure of
its gendered dimensions.

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Additionally, policies and strategies developed to assist "the poor" have often focused on
men's roles or on institutions such as the household or the family, with the assumption
that women would benefit as equally as men. One such example is that of social
investment funds that have been implemented in many low-income countries to assist
"the poor" during the process of structural adjustment. Although some of the projects
have been designed to assist women, the most common presupposition has been that
women will benefit alongside men from project implementation. The operationalisation
of social investment funds has ignored women and proved unable to address the specific
needs of women living in poverty. This is principally because the lived experiences of
poor women are rarely conceptualised. When their material realities are theorised,
women are primarily perceived in the roles of dependent wives and mothers and they are
as a result incorporated into policies only in terms of these family roles.

Thus, when projects are implemented specifically for women, they are most often
formulated from limited, stereotypical, and essentialist notions of femininity. They
consequently reinforce women's subordinate positions within their households and
communities, as with microenterprise projects that promote low-paid craft production for
women without training them in marketing or other better-paid skills. Traditional poverty
eradication measures also prioritise the provision of "basic" goods and services (such as
food, housing, health care, and education) to poor women and men without questioning
the role(s) of economic, political, and social institutions and ideologies that are
implicated in the production and perpetuation of poverty processes.

It is also critical to incorporate in this analysis an understanding of gender relations,

understood as relations of power between women and men that partially determine the
terms on which they interact. Gender relations are revealed in a range of practices,
including the division of labour and resources, and through ideologies and
representations, such as the ascribing to women and men different abilities, attitudes,
desires, personality traits, and behavioral patterns. Policies that are informed by the
analyses above will address gender-specific needs of both poor women and men.

Engendering Poverty Eradication Measures

Gender-transformative policy can hope to provide women with the enabling resources
which will allow them to take greater control of their own lives, to determine what
kinds of gender relations they want to live within, and to devise the strategies and
alliances to help them get there.

Gender-sensitive policies must reflect an understanding that gender-specific needs and

interests between women and men who belong to the same country, race, and/or social
class may conflict, despite their intersecting needs and interests and similar life
experiences.

Poverty eradication policies and strategies are also dependent on critical analyses of the
political economy of class, markets, and work processes. For example, the incorporation
of women in the labour market is often insufficient to generate an income that allows

75
them to escape poverty. Such is often the case with participation in the informal sector
and lower levels of formal labour hierarchies. A variety of studies provide illustrations of
this phenomenon across countries.

The Household and Gender Analysis

An important factor in policy design is the unit of analysis through which to view and
implement policy decisions. Debate begins at the theoretical level but it has clear
practical implications. The abundant literature on women and gender and development
that has appeared since the 1970's has made considerable use of the household as a unit
of analysis. This has proved to be a useful and strategic starting point for understanding
the significance of gender relations and unequal distributions of resources and power. We
will briefly point out distinctions between three different views of the household and
explore their implications for the analyses of poverty and the formulation of poverty
eradication policies.

First, the orthodox neo-classical approach tends to view the household as a harmonious
unit within which decisions regarding consumption, the division of labour, and labour
market participation are made without apparent tensions among household members. In
its most extreme version, an altruist household head (assumed to be male) essentially
guarantees not only maximisation of household utility but also "helps families ensure
their members against disasters and other consequences of uncertainty"

Second, the household has been viewed as the locus of tension and struggle where
unequal power relations between women and men are manifested. This approach
questions the notion of the family as an harmonious unit, suggesting that it must be
understood "as a location of production and redistribution". Without denying that families
"also encompass strong emotional ties", it emphasises "the nature of work people do in
the family and their control over the products of their labour" (Ibid.). Thus, using this
approach, poverty eradication measures must take into consideration the division of
labour within the household and the gender-related resource distribution which affect
gender relations. For example, because women tend to use a higher proportion of their
earnings on children and household expenses, poverty eradication measures that increase
women's income are more likely to have a positive effect on family well-being than if
they are addressed to men.

Finally, an intermediate approach conceptualises the household as the locus of both

tension and cooperation. It interprets the family as a contradictory institution through
which power, affective relations, and resource distribution are played out at the micro
level. Amartya Sen's household bargaining model, which emphasises the "cooperative
conflicts" that characterise household relations, typifies this approach. In this framework,
the process of bargaining depends upon a series of characteristics that define the relative
strengths and/or weaknesses of different household members. Within this approach,
actions can be taken to improve women's bargaining position. Hence, it is useful in terms
of providing guidelines for gender-sensitive poverty eradication measures, such as those

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geared to increasing women's self-esteem and autonomy, improving their health,
decreasing their work load, and ensuring their greater access and control over resources.

Female-headed households

An increasing burden of poverty is thought to affect women more than men. Women
suffer from biases in intra-household nutrition and resource allocation and thus have to
bear the brunt of the reduced availability of resources. In addition, women are often not
in positions to influence how earned income is spent. It has already been argued that
several factors — stagnation in the agricultural sector and the shift to non-farm
employment, rising rural poverty, marginalisation of female workers in manufacturing
sector etc. — are leading to an increasing burden of poverty that is pushing many women
and children into informal sectors of the economy and possibly increasing levels of
female child labour. Women’s experience of poverty can be further exacerbated in the
case of female-headed households (FHHs). Studies estimate that between 30-35% of
households are exclusively female-headed. The relationship between the number of
FHHs and female poverty is hard to ascertain — one cannot say which has a causal effect
on the other. Indeed a correlation cannot be assumed, and when and where there is a
correlation depends on such factors as why the household is female-headed. What one
can argue, however, is that in the case of economic hardship, women in FHHs have few
options of support without an economically supportive family. The lack of fair property
and inheritance laws, micro-credit facilities, alimony payments for divorcees, or pension
payments for widows makes the situation of these women even more precarious. More
data on FHHs, their prevalence amongst different income, religious, and caste groups,
and explanations of their regional disparity is needed in order to understand the
relationship between FHHs and poverty.

Employment status and wages by gender

Overall employment rates are much higher for men than for women and for women in
rural than urban areas, when domestic work is not considered. When domestic work is
included, the female employment rate overtakes that of males. Women also have much
higher rates of subsidiary employment than men.Caste and communal differences
interact with gender differences in terms of employment status. Dalit males and
females are more concentrated in casual forms of employment than non-Scheduled
Caste groups with approximately double the participation rates in casual labour of other
groups in both rural and urban areas. Dalit females are less likely than other women to
be exclusively engaged in domestic work. Overall, Muslim women have lower labour
force participation rates than both other women and Muslim men. Muslims in general
also have low rates of regular waged employment and high rates of self-employment in
comparison to other groups. Economic support to Dalit groups - particularly women -
would need to be tailored to their heavy involvement in casual wage labour; similarly,
for Muslim groups (including women), their high level of involvement in self-
employment should be recognised in interventions aimed at including this group among
beneficiaries. Greater detail of the gender-differentiated conditions of wage labour and

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 self-employment among Dalits and Muslims respectively would be of value in this
regard.

Conventional unemployment data are of limited value in the context of India, because the
majority of the population cannot afford not to work. Also, under some circumstances,
women are less likely than men to report unemployed even where they cannot find
work. Nevertheless, unemployment rates tend to be higher for women than for men
and higher in urban than rural areas. Those with high school and college education also
tend to have higher unemployment rates than less educated groups (who cannot afford
to be ‘unemployed’). Among educated women, unemployment is higher in rural than
urban areas. Underemployment is also a growing problem for both men and women.
Investigation of the specific barriers to employment of female high school and college
graduates would seem to be justified given the gender differential in unemployment
rates and the questions it raises about the value of investing in female education.

Gender discrimination in wages and differentials in earnings are widespread in India and
particularly in the informal sector where equal pay legislation is not applied. Moreover,
a large proportion of women and children working in the informal sector are doing so
as unpaid family labour. In agriculture, wage rates vary widely across regions and by
season; but rates for women, children and bonded labourers are particularly low.
Female wages as a proportion of male wages range from around half to over three
quarters depending on the state. There is no consistent trend in and little recent data on
gender differentials in agricultural wages. In most industrial categories, women’s
earnings in the informal sector were around half those of men. Even in the formal
sector, however, inequalities in earnings are marked because women are concentrated at
lower occupational levels.
.

Women as Agents of Change

The task of engendering poverty eradication measures must not be limited to locating the
household as the centre of analysis. It must focus on the different levels at which poverty
producing processes are at work. In each case, however, our conceptual approach to
understanding gender relations are key to the design of appropriate policy and action.
Additionally, in all cases it is critical to emphasise the role of women's agency in these
processes. The 1980s and 1990s have provided numerous illustrations of the key roles
played by women in daily survival during periods of crises and deteriorating living
standards.

Given the current emphasis on democratisation and investment in civil societies, it is

important to focus on the factors that can contribute to this process. Most countries face
one of the most potentially explosive contradictions of our times, namely, increasing
economic and social polarisation, partially as a result of the dynamics of the market
within an increasingly global economy. This is happening at a time when emphasis on
human rights, equality, higher levels of education, and expanding information systems
are the cornerstones of "the new civil society" and of democratic institutions. A

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significant proportion of the literature focusing on growing inequalities indicates that
gender, class, racial, and other types of inequalities must be addressed. We must therefore
insist that true democracies promote both political and economic equality to ensure
sustainable human development.

An Agenda for Change

An agenda for eradicating poverty, and its gendered dimensions in particular, requires the
dismantling of the institutions and ideologies that maintain women's subordination and
that justify inequality in terms of political, social, and economic resources. To this end,
international development organisations can work with governmental, non-governmental,
and private sector organisations to:

• insist on the importance of eliminating illiteracy among poor women as an

urgent first step towards the improvement of women's entitlements, expansion of
their choices, implementation of their rights, and enhancement of their socially
acquired capabilities;

• encourage the removal of legal obstacles and cultural constraints to women's

access to and control over productive resources such as land and credit;

• promote the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyse
the gendered dimensions of relative and absolute poverty, to emphasise the links
between economic production and social reproduction and to render
unremunerated labour visible in order that it may be accounted for in economic
planning and poverty eradication strategies;

• ensure that poverty eradication policies and programmes are based on gendered
analyses of the nature and extent of women's and men's differential entitlements,
choices, rights and capabilities;

• invest in strengthening the capacity of local, national, and regional organisations

to understand and respond to the gendered dimensions of poverty;

• encourage international financial institutions to implement foreign debt

cancellation, reduction and/or rescheduling programmes on condition that
resources are directed towards eradicating poverty in general and its gendered
dimensions in particular; and

• ensure that national poverty eradication strategies, which signatories to the

World Summit on Social Development's Declaration and Programme of Action
agreed to develop, are fully engendered.

India contains one of the largest concentrations of poor people in the world and thus
poverty has been an areas of extensive debate, measurement and policy intervention.

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There remains considerable controversy over what measures of poverty and/ or methods
of poverty assessment are most appropriate and this is reflected in differing data and
assessments. In spite of all the attention to poverty, differential experiences of poverty
according to other caste and community, and the interactions of these with gender, are
relatively under-analyzed. Whilst women’s relationship to poverty is shaped by the
wider context, there are also gender specific processes of impoverishment. Here, intra-
household processes and the incidence of female headship are particularly considered.

Workers in the informal economy, especially women, have lower average earnings and a
higher poverty risk than workers in the formal economy. The meagre benefits and high
costs of informal employment mean that most informal workers are not able to work their
way out of poverty. In the short term, they are often forced to ‘over-work’ to cover these
costs and still somehow make ends meet. In the long term, the cumulative toll of being
over-worked, under-compensated and under-protected on informal workers, their
families, and their societies undermines human capital and depletes physical capital.

In conclusion, the working poor in the informal economy are relegated to low paid,
insecure forms of employment that make it impossible to earn sufficient income to move
out of poverty. So long as the majority of women workers are informally employed,
gender equality will also remain an elusive goal. Progress on both of these goals therefore
demands that all those committed to achieving the MDGs, including the UN system,
governments and the international trade and finance institutions, make decent
employment a priority – and that corporations be made more socially responsible.
Informal workers, both women and men, organized in unions, cooperatives or grassroots
organizations, are ready to partner with them in this vital endeavour.

Today, there are several broad approaches to understanding and measuring poverty and
well-being, including:
. income and basic needs: focusing on the income, expenditures, and basic needs
of poor households;
. human development: focusing on health, education, longevity and other human
capabilities and on the choices or freedom of poor people;
. human rights: focusing on the civic, political, economic and social rights of the
poor; and
. social inclusion: focusing on the access of poor people to what they are entitled to
as citizens and on giving them representative ‘voice’ in the institutions and processes that
affect their lives and work.

The lives of the working poor in the informal economy come up short along each of these
dimensions of poverty and well-being.

Gender: Implications for Poverty Reduction

Furthermore, women’s access to property is typically less than that of men and often

80
mediated through their relationship to men; and women face greater social constraints
than men on their physical mobility. Perhaps not surprisingly, unpaid work in the family
enterprise is also consistently done by women more than by men.

However, understanding the links between women’s employment and their poverty status
requires integrating an analysis of gender with that of other relationships. Class, religion,
race/ethnic-ity and space intersect with gender to position many women in precarious
forms of work. Wealth is frequently distributed along ethnic and racial lines..

In India, on the other hand, religion, caste and ethnic identity all play a role in what work
people do. Among Hindus, many individuals and families– particularly those from artisan
and service castes - continue in hereditary caste occupations even today. If and when
individuals leave the hereditary occupation, their caste also determines what kind of
alternative work they can take up. Gender norms impose limits on women’s physical
mobility and what work they can do. Both high-caste Hindus, particularly in North India,
and Muslims practice purdah (the veiling and/or seclusion of women) which imposes
restrictions on women’s physical and work mobility. If and when these women work for
pay, they are likely to do so from their homes—with the result that a large share of all
women workers in India is home-based.

Gender matters
The evidence highlights the reality that working women are concentrated not only in
informal employment but also in the more precarious forms of informal employment:
. - women are more likely than men to be own account operators, industrial
outworkers and unpaid contributing family members;
. -men are more likely than women to be informal entrepreneurs who hire others,
employees of informal firms and heads of family businesses;
. -women are more likely than men to be concentrated in export-oriented light
manufacturing, at least in the early stages of trade liberalization when a premium is
placed on low-skilled and low-paid workers;
. --women are more likely than men to be in street trade, except in societies that
place constraints on women’s physical mobility, and they are also more likely to sell
from the street (rather than from push carts, bicycles or as hawkers) and to sell perishable
goods (rather than non-perishables).

As a result, women workers in the informal economy face a significant gender gap in
earnings, arguably greater than that faced by women workers in the formal economy.
This is largely due to the fact that women are concentrated in lower-paid work
arrangements even within given occupations. But even when women and men do similar
kinds of informal work, they often earn differ.

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Market Failures and Market Interventions

Mainstream economists argue that markets fail to achieve socially desirable outcomes
when there are external costs or benefits, when contracts cannot be enforced without
costs, when information is not shared or when monopolistic power exists. Such market
failures are endemic in informal labour markets. A strong case can be made for direct
government intervention in informal labour markets to achieve social objectives. But
mainstream economists also argue that the costs of enduring market failures are less than
the costs of intervening to correct market failures, especially in labour markets.

In assessing whether to accept market failure or intervene in informal labour markets,

labour should not be seen as simply an input that produces output but rather as a process
through which people experience benefits, costs or risks; through which people’s well-
being and capacities can be enhanced or depleted; and through which people can be
empowered or disempowered. Decent work generates social benefits such as social
inclusion and cooperation, as well as personal benefits that extend beyond production and
the income generated. However, informal work is often not decent work.

Intersection of gender and other sources of disadvantage

In every country in the world, under every economic system, women face constraints in
the realm of paid work simply because they are women: their access to property is
typically less than that of men and often mediated through their relationship to men; they
face greater social demands on their time than men do (notably to carry out unpaid care
work); and they face greater social constraints on their physical mobility than men. But to
fully understand the relationships between women’s employment and their poverty status,
we need to integrate an analysis of gender with an analysis of other relationships and
other sources of disadvantage. After all, most working poor women are poor and
disadvantaged not just because of gender roles and relationships. Class, religion,
race/ethnicity and geography all intersect with gender to position many (though not all)
women in precarious forms of work. In most regions of the world, certain communities –
differentiated largely by religion, race, ethnicity or geography as well as by class – are
over-represented among the poor: notably, rural communities and religious, racial, or
ethnic minorities. In these communities, women are further disadvantaged by reason of
their gender, but the fact that they are poor and disadvantaged stems in the first instance
from their wider social identity and/or from where they live.

As women comprise nearly 70 per cent of the population living below the poverty line,
and are very often in situations of extreme/abject poverty, the on-going poverty
alleviation programmes are expected to address specifically the needs and problems of
such women as poverty affects women more than men. Though, 40 per cent of benefits
under SGSY have been earmarked for women, but in practice, benefits are not reaching
women in the same proportion, as some of the studies have revealed. Therefore, the
Tenth Plan will address the need for better targeting of benefits to women under various

82
poverty alleviation programmes. Further, as the women-specific scheme of Development
of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) has been subsumed/merged under the
SGSY, it is necessary to exercise a greater vigil to ensure that the allocations earmarked
for women are not diverted to other components of SGSY. Also, as the earlier
programmes have proved that the ‘Group Approach’ is more successful than the
individual beneficiary approach, steps will be taken for mobilisation of poor women into
SHGs and through convergence of services, offering them a wide range of economic and
social options, along with necessary support services to enhance their joint capabilities.
To this effect, the available programmes for women will be converged into block level
action plans of the newly launched Swayamsidha programme, meant for empowering
women.

Several micro-studies have indicated that adverse consequences of SAP are

disproportionately borne by women. Increased mechanization leading to displacement of
female unskilled workers, increased movement of male workers into traditionally women
dominated areas, increase in female headed households due to migration of males are
some of the trends established, indicating a growing incidence of the feminization of
poverty. Even within households which may otherwise fall above the Below Poverty Line
(BPL) the situation of the women is known to be at levels below poverty. Female headed
households are among the most impoverished. The incidence of landlessness and
consequent impoverishment is highest among women headed households and is reported
to be rising. The incidence of poverty is also known to be maximum in the states of
Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh, which contribute more than a third of the country’s poor
and are known to be areas of male out-migration. These are also the states where the
Public Distribution System (PDS) system is the weakest.

There is currently increased attention to the perceptions of the poor of their own poverty
and increasing use of participatory methods of poverty assessment. One study of poor
villagers in India found that reduced dependence on landlords, greater mobility, changes
in consumption patterns and the opportunity to purchase consumer durables were valued
by villagers themselves but these priorities may differ by gender and by residence, caste
and community. It is important to understand more about what different groups of
women themselves would consider to be an improvement in their lives, to inform the
design of poverty alleviation programmes.

Overall, poverty has been declining in India since the late 1970s but, according to one
recent survey, more rapidly in rural than in urban areas. Whilst the absolute numbers of
the rural poor are the largest, they are declining; by contrast, the absolute number of the
urban poor has increased in recent years. Whereas in the early 1970s the urban poor
constituted around one sixth of the total poor, by the late 1980s they constituted more
than one quarter of the total. However, the relative importance of rural and urban poverty
varies considerably according to the state. Intra-state variations in poverty levels are also
considerable. Poverty estimates based on expenditure class data show that in rural areas,
tribals then Dalits are the poorest social group; in urban areas, Muslims are the poorest
followed by Dalits then tribals.

83
 Access to land and credit

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation is making pilot efforts to improve women’s

access to land by providing community wasteland, fallow land, surplus land for
‘collective action’ to women SHGs on long term lease basis and to promote joint pattas
(titles) in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. DWCD has drawn attention of other
State Governments to initiate similar schemes that ensure self-sustenance and
empowerment of women. The Government has adopted land reforms and ceiling laws on
agricultural lands. The surplus lands that is vested with the Government has been
redistributed to the landless. While granting land to the landless, the Government has
been issuing joint pattas (titles) in the name of both husband and wife, thereby making
women joint-owners of the land. Some States like Tamil Nadu are implementing schemes
such as the Comprehensive Wasteland Programme, where wastelands are leased to self-
help groups with priority being given to women SHGs. The scheme is linked with the
Agriculture Department.
To advocate effectively for policies and programmes that address poverty and increase
gender equality, the working poor, especially poor women must organize to strengthen
representative voice beyond the local level to all levels of planning and policy-making.
Recent international initiatives to combat poverty such as MDGs have opened up political
space for informal workers involvement in the development process. Taking advantage of
this space, however, is difficult for informal workers with limited resources and capacity
for advocacy beyond a local agenda. It requires creative and sustained linkages between
women’s and social justice organizations and trade unions, along with governments and
NGOs

Women and girl children suffer from gender discrimination in the allocation of resources
within the household, in spite of their considerable labour and often cash contributions.
This discrimination is particularly marked in the allocation of food and health care
resources, resulting in imbalances in the sex ratio for most states, discussed further in the
health section. The relationship between household wealth and income and gender
discrimination is not straightforward; there is some evidence that in the Indian context,
gender discrimination within the household may be less in poor than well-off households.
In situations of upward mobility, women often see less of the benefits than men and
gender discrimination certainly does not disappear in better-off households; in fact it may
intensify. In general, where women’s productive work is not visible, or where gender
differentials in earnings are high, women may be particularly prone to discrimination in
the household. There may also be socio-cultural factors involved, since Muslim women’s
apparently lower participation rates do not seem to play out in terms of significantly
lower sex ratios in aggregate, for example.

In most households, women’s relationship to and uses of income are quite different from
those of men. Although women frequently manage household budgets and consumption,
they may have little direct control over income and often do not even know what
husbands earn. When women do earn cash their income is often entirely absorbed in
family expenditure; men, on the other hand, will tend to retain personal income for
spending on luxuries (tea, alcohol, bidis), irrespective of poverty, consumption of which

84
helps them maintain some sense of manhood in the face of inability to support their
families; to be ‘good’ husbands and fathers. In this respect, poor men are increasingly
seen as irresponsible and shiftless, particularly from a middle class perspective.

The relationship between female headship and poverty is not clear and there is
considerable debate over the definition of female headship. In India, female headed-
households tend to be concentrated in the lowest expenditure classes and among
cultivating households, they own smaller than average plots of land. They are also over-
represented among casual labourers. At the same time the average size of female-headed
households is smaller than households overall, in most cases due to the absence of a male
spouse. Official estimates put the incidence of female headship at around ten percent, but
the actual incidence may be considerable higher, possibly as high as 30 percent,
especially in rural areas, where rural-urban migration of males may be a significant
contributing factor.

Variation across states in the incidence of female headship is considerable. In some

accounts, the higher incidence of female headship in particular states (e.g. Kerala) relates
to traditions of a more elevated status of such women, where matriliny has been
prevalent. Other explanations link the phenomenon to high rates of male outmigration,
including to work overseas, which may indicate that such female-headed households are
comparatively well off, at least in material terms. The proportion of female-headed
households increases in older age groups and the majority are widowed, divorced or
separated. The process through which female headship arises is important in terms of
what forms of social support are available; this probably differs considerably across
social groups or communities. It would be of interest, for example, to know whether
female headship through widowhood remains a predominantly Hindu phenomenon
(where Hindu widows are not expected to remarry) and how the social support and living
arrangements for such women varies by caste group. In general, a more nuanced picture
of the processes through which female headship arises and the implications of these for
the extent of available social support, may assist in identifying particular sub-groups of
female headed households who face extreme hardship.

Female headship of households and well-documented gender biases in intra-household

resource allocation in India suggest that women are specially vulnerable to poverty, but
there are complications. Gender biases within the household may be less severe in lower
income groups and not all female-headed households are poor. It is not helpful to either
poverty alleviation efforts, or interventions to promote gender equity, to see women and
the poor as synonymous.

Poverty alleviation schemes have provided employment opportunities for the rural and,
more recently, urban poor with limited success, especially in asset creation. Special
schemes for women have focused on empowerment rather than poverty alleviation per se;
their impact on livelihoods is uncertain.

85
Wage differentials, however, are only indicative of differences in income, and though the
measurement of poverty as a paucity of sufficient income has traditionally dominated
academic thinking, discourses on the gendered experience of poverty seek to widen this
perspective. Though hard to empirically define and analyse, there exist specific processes
and indicators—intra-household processes and incidences of female headship in
households, in particular—that indicate that men and women experience poverty
differently, and use different methods to cope with that experience.

Overall trends in poverty depend on the method of analysis being used. Though most
studies indicate that the percentage of people living below the poverty line has reduced,
others argue that absolute numbers tell a different story. The most recent government-
backed study by Das Gupta et al. (1995) indicates that poverty levels actually rose from
35% to 39% between 1990-94, though they have since fallen. A new trend seeks to define
poverty in terms of the perceptions of the poor themselves, arguing that it is important to
consider what different groups of people believe their true hardship consists of, and what
they would consider a real improvement in their standard of living. This report uses the
estimates in the study undertaken by Das Gupta (1995), and argues that theoretical
evidence supports a rising level of poverty, especially in rural areas and among women.

The Way Forward

Combating poverty and achieving gender equality require a major reorientation of
economic and development planning. Governments and their international development
partners need to recognize that that there are no short-cuts in this effort: economic
growth, even if supplemented by social policies, too often fails to stimulate the kind of
secure, protected employment needed to enable the working poor to earn an income suffi-
cient to pull themselves out of poverty. Women’s entry into the paid labour force on the
terms and under the conditions identified in this report has not resulted in the economic
security needed to improve gender equality

The creation of new and better employment opportunities – especially for the working
poor – must be an urgent priority for all economic policies. The experience of the last two
decades, especially in developing countries, has shown that policies targeted narrowly
towards containing inflation and ensuring price stability, such as those frequently
promoted by the IMF and the World Bank, often create an economic environment that is
hostile to an expansion of more and better employment opportunities. Successful efforts
to combat poverty require a radical change in the economic policies promoted by these
institutions and adopted by many governments.

In the short term, however, there are things that can be done short of the complete
overhaul of development thinking and planning called for. What is needed is a critical
mass of institutions and individuals at all levels to work together on a set of core
priorities. These include:

Core Priority 1 - To promote decent employment for both women and men as a key
pathway to reducing poverty and gender inequality. A concerted effort is needed to
ensure that decent employment opportunities are viewed as a target rather than an

86
outcome of economic policies, including national MDG strategies and Poverty Reduction
Strategies.

Core Priority 2 - To increase visibility of informal women workers in national labour

force statistics and in national gender and poverty assessments, using the employment by
type and earnings indicators recommended for Millennium Development Goal 3.

Core Priority 3 - To promote a more favourable policy environment for the working
poor, especially women, in the informal economy through improved analysis, broad
awareness building and participatory policy dialogues.

Core Priority 4 - To support and strengthen organizations representing women informal

workers and help them gain effective voice in relevant policy-making processes and
institutions.

Economic policies that are explicitly employ-ment-oriented and address the costs of
informal employment can achieve better social outcomes

– in terms of reducing both poverty and gender inequality – than policies that
narrowly target growth. The evidence presented in that most of the world’s poor –
especially in developing countries – are working but they are not able to work
their way out of poverty. A key pathway to reducing poverty and gender inequal-
ity is to create more and better employment opportunities and to increase the
benefits and reduce the costs of working informally.
– Goals (MDGs) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) all need to
include the voices and concerns of informal workers, who are the majority of
workers in most developing countries and the vast majority of the working poor.
Ensuring a voice for informal workers at the highest level requires supporting the
growth of their organizations, and building capacity for leadership in this
endeavour. It is not an easy road to travel, but it is a vital one.

Tackling the gender dimensions of poverty _

- It is important to understand what different groups of women themselves would

consider to be an improvement in their lives, to inform the design of poverty
alleviation programmes.

- A better understanding of the processes through which female headship arises is

needed to identify particular sub-groups of female headed households who face
extreme hardship.

- The participation of women in poverty alleviation schemes needs to be improved

both quantitatively and qualitatively and urban coverage extended. Factors which

87
would facilitate women’s participation need to be identified by drawing on the
lessons from the most successful schemes.

- Project and programme level monitoring of the impact of structural adjustment

on the livelihoods of the urban poor could assist in informing the design of
poverty alleviation programmes.

- Improved targeting of the public distribution system is needed to ensure

maximum benefits to both the rural and urban poor and specifically to women
in these groups.

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 CHAPTER -6

GENDER AND GOVERNANCE

Democratization and Gender Issues

Political participation is one of the major ways to ensure women’s empowerment, to increase
decision-making power and greater ability and to influence matters that affect their lives in the
community and the larger society. In the broader sense, participation in politics goes far beyond
electoral politics, such as voting and election to public office. Women’s empowerment begins
with their consciousness - perceptions about herself and her rights, her capabilities and her
potentials, awareness of her gender and socio-cultural, economic and political forces that affect
her. Women’s political empowerment and equal representation in all decision-making institutions
are critical inputs in their struggle for freedom from patriarchal subjugation. Local government
bodies have a vital role in the developmental processes. Therefore, importance of local level
government to women and men is twofold. First, decisions made at the local levels have
implications for the distribution of resources and opportunities between women and men. Second,
the lower tiers of government are also arenas in which individuals gain experience and knowledge
and a political base for seeking office at higher levels. Within local bodies, women are generally,
expected to represent women’s interests. That is, women’s development is seen as women’s
business rather than the responsibility of both men and women members. Allied to this is the
perception that women serving at the local level should focus on women and children’s issues
rather than the full range of issues at the grassroots level.

Gender empowerment is determined by the degree to which women and men participate actively
in economic, professional and political activity and take part in decision-making. Women's
political participation was hindered by a system of social relations in the male-dominated society,
reflecting the orthodox male-centric mentality like religious fundamentalism. Only men were
consistently educated and trained for leadership, while very few rural women had the opportunity
to pursue their education because of tradition. Women themselves had been strongly influenced
by male-dominated village communities and had little faith in their own capacities to take on
leadership roles.
In India, among the women who became Sarpanches, elected Panchayat members, intermediaries
in Panchayati Samitis and chairpersons at Zilla Parishads, nearly 83 per cent of these women
were first timers in politics and 74 per cent of the women stood independently. About 23 per cent
stood as party candidates. These women were predominantly married, illiterate/literate and from
very poor families. This trend focuses on whether these rural women, always in veil, inarticulate
and ignorant of the rules of the political game would be able to make even a dint in their self-
identity. While in Bangladesh, most of the women members attained school level education and
were married. Though these women had attained some school level education, they were not
employed thus leading to dysfunctional educational syndrome. This was one of the major reasons
for the lack of effective participation among these women in Union Parishads in Bangladesh. But
we still find some sporadic cases among these women who have made a mark in the Parishad
cutting across the gender-class-traditional bias of a primarily Islamic society.

89
The context that defines women’s political participation is the endemic nature of
patriarchal structures and the resultant gender inequality and gender discrimination in the
region. Gender relations are rooted in the ideology of relationship whereby women are
seen as subordinate to men. Women are consistently denied inheritance rights, adequate
food, freedom of expression and mobility, participation in community activities and say
in personal choices and preferences (from education, to spouse, number of children, to
profession, etc.) They are thus denied a meaningful role in decision-making, and are not
in a position to access educational and health care facilities, or political and financial
institutions nor own assets and resources. Women’s place in the family hierarchy and
relationships within the home combine with the socially prescribed gendered division of
roles to determine their levels of exclusion in both the private (household) and public
spheres. Class, caste, religion, ethnicity and location are additional factors that mediate
gendered social relations.
Types of political participation

Participation in electoral processes involves much more than just voting. Political
participation derives from the freedom to speak out, assemble and associate; the ability to
take part in the conduct of public affairs; and the opportunity to register as a candidate, to
campaign, to be elected and to hold office at all levels of government. Under international
standards, men and women have an equal right to participate fully in all aspects of the
political process. In practice, however, it is often harder for women to exercise this right.
In post-conflict countries there are frequently extra barriers to women’s participation, and
special care is required to ensure their rights are respected in this regard.

Political parties are among the most important institutions affecting women’s political
participation. In most countries, parties determine which candidates are nominated and
elected and which issues achieve national prominence. The role of women in political
parties is therefore a key determinant of their prospects for political empowerment,
particularly at the national level. Because political parties are so influential in shaping
women’s political prospects, Governments and international organizations seeking to
advance the participation of women in elections justifiably tend to focus on the role of
political parties.

Political participation extends beyond parties, however. Women can also become
involved in certain aspects of the electoral process through independent action—
particularly at the local level—and by joining civil society organizations. Some women in
post-conflict countries have gained political experience by participating in non-elected
transitional assemblies. Women’s networks, trade unions, non-governmental
organizations, and the media can all provide avenues for women’s political participation.

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Women in Power and Decision Making
Legislative enactments have dramatically increased women’s access to decision making
rd th
structures over the last decade. The 73 and 74 Constitutional Amendments passed in
1993 provide for reservation of 33% of elected seats for women at different levels of
local governance in both rural and urban local bodies. Also there would be one-third
reservation for women to posts of chairperson of these bodies. One–third of the seats are
further reserved for women belonging to the SC/ST community. The Panchayats
(Extension to Schedule Areas) Act 1996 (PESA) made this amendment applicable to
Schedule V areas. This has dramatically increased women’s participation in local bodies.
For every five-year tenure of local governments, about one million women get elected to
panchayats and local bodies. In some states, the number of elected women exceeds the
reserved one-third quota.

The Constitution provides for rotation of seats reserved for women but does not prescribe
the number of terms for which seats may be served for rotation. Seats are reserved for
one term, two terms or more depending upon the provisions made by the State
Legislature in the State law. The option to reserve seats for more than one terms is open,
but it is for the State Legislature to decide the number of terms for which seats will
remain reserved. Tamil Nadu has taken a positive step by freezing the reserved seats for
women for two terms.

Local government institutions have not been given full financial and political powers to
function independently but 29 subjects ranging from agriculture to poverty eradication
have been devolved to these institutions. In theory, the presidents of the gram panchayats,
block panchayats and district panchayats are responsible for prioritising the
developmental needs of the villagers and allocating the grants accordingly. In practice,
the level of responsiveness and manner of functioning of the panchayats varies
considerably across states. As far as women’s participation is concerned however, the
legislative enactments have ensured that they are represented in all states.

Many of the elected women entering the public arena for the first time lack confidence,
feel isolated, and have no previous political experience. They need to develop their innate
leadership skills. Studies conducted in different parts of the country show that 95% of the
elected women representatives (EWRs) are first-timers in politics and join politics
because that is what their male family/village members want. As first timers without
previous exposure to politics, many of the elected women lack the capacity to function
properly in the panchayats and municipalities, and consequently are not taken seriously
by their colleagues. Sustained training and networking efforts are being undertaken both
by government and non government agencies to ensure that women’s capacity to
participate improves. With just a few years of experience, women have emerged as
articulate, motivated leaders all over the country. Gender budgeting involving grassroot
elected women representatives is being used for advocacy in several places.
Increased networking and formation of confederations of elected women representatives
has helped to strengthen women’s leadership. This approach has been especially
successful in southern and western India. The formation of these networks promotes

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solidarity among the elected women representatives, otherwise divided by caste, religion
and geographical boundaries. Thus, formation of these networks is the first step in the
direction of empowering women.
Table
Percentage of Women
Representatives in PRIs
1997 2002
States/UTs GP TP ZP GP TP ZP
Andhra Pradesh 33.84 37.01 33.21 33.00 33.65 33.24
Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act (not yet Passed)
Assam 18.01 26.09 33.45 34.73 30.00
Bihar Post 73rd Amendment Elections not held in the state, not available.
Chhattisgarh 33.74 34.33 34.67
Goa 36.53 31.76 34.00
Gujarat 17.29 33.43 33.38 33.35 33.48 33.54
Haryana 30.74 35.31 80.53 33.59 34.65 34.71
Himachal Pradesh 32.93 33.59 33.33 36.78 33.90 34.66
Jharkhand Current figures not available
Jammu & Kashmir State proposes adopting 73rd Amendment
Karnataka 43.79 40.21 36.45 44.86 42.24 38.09
Current figures not
Kerala 36.21 38.40 34.20
available
Madhya Pradesh 32.93 34.84 2.99 33.82 33.44 33.79
Maharashtra 33.33 33.31 33.31 33.33 36.06 33.73
Manipur 35.67 36.07 35.48 36.07
Meghalaya
Mizoram Traditional Councils perform duties of local government.
Nagaland
Orissa 33.35 33.35 33.26 35.88 35.14 34.66
Elections
Punjab 35.69 35.69 32.78 31.90
due
Rajasthan 29.73 31.67 3.21 34.52 36.29 36.11
Sikkim 37.34 30.43 36.88 31.52
Tamil Nadu 25.07 35.31 3.40 26.86 26.94 26.37
Tripura 33.55 34.18 34.29 33.33 35.81 34.15
Uttar Pradesh 15.08 23.11 23.60
Uttaranchal
West Bengal 36.33 35.18 33.94 22.46 22.42 21.58
Andaman &
34.33 33.33 34.39 37.31 33.33
Nicobar Islands
Chandigarh Current figures not available 33.95 40.00 30.00

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Dadra & Nagar
34.07 25.00 36.29 33.33
Haveli
Daman & Diu 39.68 33.33 26.98 40.00
Delhi NCT government Propose conduct of panchayat elections
Lakshadweep 37.97 36.36 37.97 36.36
Pondicherry Not Available. Post 73rd amendment elections not held in the state
India 6.40 8.86 3.38 3.66 2.70 2.99

Source : Annual Report 2000–01, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India.

Interestingly, the Gram Sabha without women is not a legal entity, therefore, the
traditional community forum which excluded women cannot exercise legal authority
unless women also participate. In Madhya Pradesh, the law envisages that at least one-
third of members present in Gram Sabha must be women, to constitute the necessary
quorum. Reservations have also meant that social biases have to give way to more
inclusive forums, both in respect of gender and caste. Even in very traditional
communities where previously women could not participate like those of the village
assemblies, they are welcome now and are, in fact, encouraged to participate in many
places.

Participation in decision making as EWR has impacted on other aspects of capability

development. In a study of some hundred EWRs from four districts in Haryana, it was
noted that the majority were illiterate when elected to office. After two years in office,
women have sought to acquire literary skills and are committed to the education of their
daughters.

Women’s Representation in Parliament

Rajya
Year Seats Lok Sabha Percentage Seats Percentage
Sabha
1952 499 22 4.4 219 16 7.3
1957 500 27 5.4 237 18 7.5
1962 503 34 6.8 238 18 7.6
1967 523 31 5.9 240 20 8.3
1971 521 22 4.2 243 17 7.0
1977 544 19 3.4 244 25 10.2
1980 544 28 7.9 244 24 9.8
1984 544 44 8.1 244 28 11.4
1989 517 27 5.3 245 24 9.7
1991 544 39 7.2 245 38 15.5
1996 543 39 7.2 223 20 9.0
1998 543 43 7.9 245 15 6.1

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1999 543 49 9.0 245 19 7.8
2004 539 44 8.2 245 28 11.4

Source : CSDS Data Unit

rd
Supportive interventions are needed to ensure that the 73 amendment does not lose its
potential transformative edge when implemented within the reality of a feudal,
patriarchal, and highly fragmented society.Thus, Maharashtra has provided for Mahila
Gram Sabhas that preceded Gram While the sphere of local governance has seen
significant improvement, the numbers of women in official positions remains relatively
low.The representation of women in the decision making level through the Indian
Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service which stood at 5.4% in 1987
increased to 7.6% in 2000. Of all employees in central, state and local governments,
17.47% were women in 2001.

Women’s in Top Decision-making committees of Political Parties

Party Committee No. of Total % of
Women members women
CPI(M) Politburo 0 15 0
Central Committee 5 70 7
CPI Secretariat 0 9 0
National Executive 3 31 10
National Council 6–7 125 5
Political Affairs
JD 0 15 0
Committee
Parliamentary Board 0 15 0
National Executive 11 75 15
UF Steering Committee 0 15–17 0
BJP Parliamentary Board 1 9 11
Election Committee 2 17 12
Congress Working Committee 2 19 11
Source : Manushi (96), September–October 1996, p.27

The Panchayati Raj brought more than one million women as members and chairpersons
of local bodies. However the performance and election of women in different states
varies: Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh elected 38 percent women in the elections
of 1996, Punjab 29.6 percent and Karnataka a little over 43 percent. Bidyut Mohanty
summed up the profile of the elected women on the basis of various case studies as, being

While the Acts per se do not provide for all-women panchayats, their subsequent
emergence has been an interesting development. It needs to be pointed out that as early as

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1989 nine villages in the western state of Maharashtra had elected all-women gram
panchayats reportedly an outcome of the campaign of an independent farmers’
organization, Shetkari Sanghatana. West Bengal got its all women gram panchayat in
May 1993 under the Left Front Government. The unanimous decision for all-women
panchayats was reportedly because men did not want controversy or expose women to
contests. Earlier, an all woman panchayat was elected in Andhra Pradesh in the seventies
and another in the eighties. One other reason for all women panchayats was that higher
caste men did not want to work under a lower caste woman.
The participation of women under the PRI by all accounts has generally been positive.
The main obstacles to women’s fuller participation have been those of inexperience,
inadequate information and knowledge about the system and their role in it, of class,
caste and religion, and of lack of resources. That many came in as proxy candidates place
their legitimacy into question. Resistance has come from women’s families, political
parties, male colleagues who see women quotas as a hur dle in their political aspirations,
and male officials. The use of no-confidence motions against sarpanches (often to also
dislodge male sarpanches belonging to backward castes and tribes) is also widespread.
Some states have tried to curtail the practice through legislation. According to one
analysis the rotation of women’s reserved seats fails to advance women’s right to
political office as the next election shifts the quota to another area rendering theirs as
general seats, it also opens women to manipulation and control by male politicians who
use them as their proxies.
Women’s groups in India have come forward to provide the necessary support and
capacity building of women representatives in local government. Several NGO
programmes are underway to train women and many women representatives turn to the
support bases of women’s movement and NGOs. One successful example is that of
COVA, a network of 750 organisations in Hyderabad, India. COVA works for communal
harmony through community empowerment. It be gan its intervention with the objective
of establishing the legitimacy of women political representatives to address the concern
that women’s reserved seats had been captured by male politicians who in fact performed
the duties of elected women.

The participation of women under the PRI by all accounts has generally been positive.
The main obstacles to women’s fuller participation have been those of inexperience,
inadequate information and knowledge about the system and their role in it, of class,
caste and religion, and of lack of resources. That many came in as proxy candidates place
their legitimacy into question. Resistance has come from women’s families, political
parties, male colleagues who see women quotas as a hur dle in their political aspirations,
and male officials. The use of no-confidence motions against sarpanches (often to also
dislodge male sarpanches belonging to backward castes and tribes) is also widespread.
Some states have tried to curtail the practice through legislation. According to one
analysis the rotation of women’s reserved seats fails to advance women’s right to
political office as the next election shifts the quota to another area rendering theirs as
general seats, it also opens women to manipulation and control by male politicians who

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use them as their proxies.

Clearly, election to the panchayats, in and by itself, is not a panacea for women’s
subordination. Many women regretted that the panchayats were not mandated to address
problems such as dowry, frequent child birth, female education, men’s alcoholism,
spousal abuse and women’s unemployment. While women from activist backgrounds
were able to enlarge the agendas of the panchayats to address some of these issues,
women who were newcomers to politics could not. An even bigger problem is that the
resources and the planning capabilities of the panchayats are relatively limited. State
legislatures determine how much power and authority the panchayats will wield. Very
few states have engaged in a serious devolution of the panchayats’ development
functions. Most panchayats are responsible for implementing rural development schemes
rather than devising them. The village level panchayats, in which women are especially
apt to be active, work under particularly severe constraints.

The different ways in which politics is understood locally and nationally is also
extremely significant. The kinds of decisions that the gram panchayats make are often
simultaneously economic, social and political. They have to do with questions of land
ownership, municipal facilities, marital disputes and the distribution of power. This
convergence of issues between public and private spheres encourages the panchayats to
further expand the definition of the political to include issues that are normally
considered private rather than public, social rather than political and collective rather than
individual. The boundaries that are traditionally drawn between politics and other
domains narrow at the upper reaches of power. Of the hundreds of issues that come
before MPs, few directly bear upon the situation of women.

The attention currently being given to panchayati raj is linked to the need for
decentralisation within the overall policy shift under structural adjustment, where the role
of the central state is being reduced. It is hoped that panchayats will prove be more cost-
effective and efficient in their delivery of services. However, the revival of a panchayati
system, especially one that grants greater powers to women, hinges crucially on the
devolution of power from existing vested groups, whether it be the state bureaucracy or
local lobbies. Thus, the actual outcome of the decentralisation process remains uncertain.
There is likely to be considerable variation in the extent to which a genuine process of
decentralisation occurs, depending on the extent to which particular state governments
are willing to devolve power and resources, the nature of local level political interests and
processes and the general state of civil society in particular regions. In some states, there
has already been considerable stalling of the election process. These will be constraining
factors on the extent to which women are able to represent their interests in local self-
government.

More than 100,000 women were elected in panchayati-raj institutions throughout the
country, including several thousand chairpersons. In the past, very few women stood for
elections; the nomination system for women operated on the basis of patronage by the
dominant political or social group and led to more or less tokenistic representation. Some

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states, like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, introduced a reservation policy of 22-25
percent in the mid-eighties but this was seen to be inadequate. Even though these
reservations were based on an electoral process, those elected were largely women
relatives of the sarpanches (panchayat leaders) or other influential members.

The promotion of women in panchayati raj is seen as a means to address women’s

subordinate position in rural society and their lack of political power. But there is an
equal if not greater emphasis on the gains that are expected to accrue to society by having
more women as political representatives in local bodies. In particular, women’s
participation in panchayati raj is expected to bring about:

- improved implementation of development schemes for women and other sectoral

programmes in e.g. education, health and sanitation, horticulture etc.;

- a more active role of women in the mediation of disputes, particularly at familial

level;

- a fresh and incorrupt input into local government.

However, most reviews on the position of women in the panchayats to date emphasize
the difficulties women encounter in standing for elections and in carrying out their
functions once elected, because of prevailing social norms. Unrealistic expectations may
be being raised of women members, particularly when considered in the light of past
experience and of the constraints mentioned above. Moreover, there is perhaps
insufficient attention to the personal economic and social costs of women’s participation.

Mainstream gender in Panchayats

rd
The influx of women political leaders through the 73 CAA led to the dawn of a new
reality in politics. Panchayats as an institution give women much required space and is a
liberating and enabling mechanism. On the other hand, the social structure is embedded
in traditional patriarchal values that set restrictive conditions on women. Both the
systems viz. Panchayats as institution and the social structure have placed conflicting
rd
demands on women leaders. The 73 CAA as a top down policy fails to address this
reality. It was a challenge for CSOs to facilitate women in taking advantage of
Panchayats, a process that could transform the social structure and power relations.

Many forces against women’s leadership remain. Access to information necessary to

govern is still a problem. Respect that should be accorded to women as elected leaders
has not been paid, reducing women’s confidence to govern. In addition, social
restrictions curtail their voice, mobility and rights to decision-making. Enabling
mechanisms have to be developed to fortify women’s position as leaders and reduce
negative forces.

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Functional literacy: A major limitation that keeps women in a weaker position may be
traced to the lack of functional literacy. Women leaders often sign on documents without
reading and understanding the consequence. As a result, illegal and false court cases have
been levelled against them. In this context, a literacy programme that concentrates on
reading skills is most desirable in its first phase.

State training policy: Regular and ongoing training programmes which address the
needs of the elected leaders especially women are necessary. The programme should
employ innovative methodologies, strive for a wide outreach, and be gender-sensitive,
with a scope to evolve on the basis of feedback. It is envisioned that through such
training programmes women understand their rights and obtain skills to voice and assert
their concerns, make informed decisions, and demand accountability.

Supportive measures for women’s leadership: Women who have not had opportunities
to participate in local-self governance need time to understand and function as
representatives. In this regard, the Government machinery must be sensitised to build
supportive relationships with women leaders. For example, women need more than five
years to become effective as chairpersons, but the chairpersonship reserved for women
rotates every five years. While the principle of rotation is desirable, there needs to be
some other ways to accommodate and support the needs of newly elected women leaders.

Active coordination among stakeholders: To strengthen women’s leadership at the

grass-roots level, all stakeholders, such as the Central and State governments, the media,
academics, NGOs and community based organizations, need to clearly define their roles
and coordinate with one another to comprehensively mainstream gender into
development.

Strategies

1.In order to increase the number of women in local government a comprehensive

package needs to be developed and distributed nationally. This package to include
information kits for women who are considering standing for election; workshop outlines
and suggestions on how to support candidates; a media kit for use by women candidates;
and a candidate database.
2.Funds be established to assist women to run for election.
3.Best practice models be developed on women and local government and all local
government be encouraged to adopt them.
4.A mentoring programme be established to provide support, information, resources and
assistance to women in local government
5.Women employed in local government be offered opportunities for career development.
6.Local government women’s associations be established.
7.National databases be established on women in local government that provides
resources and material for research on women and gender issues.
8.Guidelines need to be developed to measure the impact of all policies and programmes
on women and men.

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Training
1. Citizen’s awareness of gender, politics and human rights programmes be
established for men and women.
2. Training programmes for women candidates on the political system, local
government functions and processes and support for them to stand as candidates.
3. Training programmes for elected women in local government functions and
processes and in leadership skills.
Girls and young women’s education should include training on self-reliance, self-
confidence and their
Obstacles
The rights of women are enshrined in law, and there are no formal legal barriers to
women’s political participation in election processes. In practice, however, there are often
formidable obstacles to women’s active participation in politics. The hurdles to be
overcome can be particularly daunting for women considering running for office, and
may be overwhelming for women in post-conflict countries.

Politics has traditionally been a male domain that many women have found unwelcoming
or even hostile. Societies in which traditional or patriarchal values remain strong may
frown on women entering politics. In addition to dealing with unfavourable cultural
predilections, women are often more likely than men to face practical barriers to entering
politics, including a paucity of financial resources, lower levels of education, less access
to information, greater family responsibilities, and a deprivation of rights that has left
them with fewer opportunities to acquire political experience. With the exception of the
close relatives of male politicians, women generally lack the political networks necessary
for electoral success.

Political parties

The most common route to elected office is through political parties. Most candidates
depend on parties for their nomination, their base of electoral support, and help during
the election campaign, financial resources, and continued assistance after their election.
While some candidates run for office independently of political parties, it is far more
difficult to win election without the backing of a political organization, especially at the
national level. Hence, women seeking an entrée into politics must usually turn to
political parties. Political parties vary greatly in the extent to which they seek to promote
women into leadership positions and to recruit women as party candidates, as well as in
the extent to which they address political, economic and social issues of special concern
to women. Since political parties often tend to be more open to nominating women as
candidates for local elections, women may find it easier to start at this level and use it as
a stepping stone to national office.

Most countries have a law regulating how political parties must be organized and
registered and dictating how they must operate. The operational provisions of the
political party law can be extremely important in establishing the framework for women’s
political participation. For example, if parties are required to practise internal democracy
and employ transparent nomination procedures through primary elections, all-party

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caucuses, locally based candidate selection or similar options, women will generally have
a better chance of emerging as candidates. In contrast, highly centralized parties that are
tightly controlled by a few leaders or organized around well-known personalities—
usually men—may be much less receptive to selecting substantial numbers of women as
candidates. This may be particularly true in post-conflict countries, in which political
parties are frequently associated with male-dominated military groups.

Political party laws may include provisions aimed specifically at enhancing women’s
political participation. For example, they may require parties to affirm their position on
gender equality in the party constitution. They may mandate that party management and
party policy committees be gender balanced. Political party laws, or in some cases
election laws, may require a gender balance in candidate lists as well. Alternatively, laws
may offer parties incentives such as more free broadcast time or additional public
funding if they include certain numbers of women among their candidates. New laws are
often introduced in post-conflict countries, providing an ideal opportunity to incorporate
these and other provisions aimed at ensuring equal political participation for women.

Generally, parties that practise internal democracy and have transparent nomination
procedures offer the best prospects for women to emerge as candidates. In order to ensure
more balanced representation, political parties in many countries have adopted voluntary
targets or quotas specifying a minimum number or proportion of women on their
candidate lists, and may even alternate women and men on the lists. In some countries,
this has become a legal requirement. Many political parties have established “women’s
wings”; in some cases these have constituted a useful tool for the advancement of
women, while in others they have led to the compartmentalization or marginalization of
women within the party.

Women’s participation required for free and fair elections

Women’s equal participation is essential to the conduct of democratic elections. At the
practical level, an election fails to comply with international obligations and standards
unless the opportunity for full and equal participation by women is provided.For elections
to be truly free and fair, women must have the same opportunities as men to participate in
all aspects of the electoral process. Women should have an equal chance to serve at all
levels within local and national election management bodies. Women should be engaged
on an equal basis as election monitors or observers. Women should be able to participate
fully in all aspects of political party operations.

Voter education. Voter education can be a critical factor in enhancing women’s

participation in elections, particularly in post-conflict countries in which women have not
traditionally played an active role in the electoral process. In the broadest sense, voter
education includes the dissemination of basic information on voting rights, the political
system, candidates and issues, as well as specific information on where and how to vote.
Voter education should include publicity encouraging people to vote, with campaigns
targeted specifically at women as well as at men and women together. Non-governmental
groups organizations can often make a valuable contribution by helping to develop
gender-sensitive voter education messages. This involves promoting a positive image of

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women as leaders and politicians in order to encourage women’s participation in the
political process and challenge the traditional view of a society dominated by male
leaders. In post-conflict societies, such messages can highlight the importance of
women’s knowledge and expertise in the areas of reconstruction and national
reconciliation. Women’s groups can make a significant contribution through activities
such as advocating for gender balance among candidates, election administrators,
observers and other electoral participants.

Election administration. The practical aspects of administering an election can have an

important impact on women’s participation. Election management bodies should operate
independently, impartially and transparently. Boards at all levels should include women
as part of their membership and leadership. Where necessary, special training might be
made available for women to ensure that they are qualified to assume such positions.
Election management bodies should develop a clear policy on advancing women’s
electoral participation. They should take gender considerations into account in all aspects
of their work and should strive to facilitate and increase women’s participation.

Election observation. The presence of observers can serve as a deterrent to fraud and
malpractice. Observation may be carried out by international organizations, domestic
groups or both. In general, international observers should be able to impartially assess the
quality of elections and to provide suggestions on how practices can be
improved. Observation methodology should take into account how various aspects of the
electoral process can have a different impact on women than they do on men. Observers
should carefully assess the way in which the legal framework, political parties, election
administration and other factors affect women’s participation. Ideally, observer groups,
and particularly national groups, should include equal numbers of women and men.
Specialized election observation efforts can be designed to focus exclusively on the role
of women in elections.

Women seem more apt to exercise leadership collectively than individually and more
opportunity for this exists in community based than national movements. Quotas provide
one means of ensuring a critical mass of women in office to enable them to effectively
voice their concerns. Women are also most apt to become active in movements and
institutions that address the interface between their private and public roles. This often
happens when public policies hinder their capacity to fulfil their domestic
responsibilities. The greater informality of community than national arenas may also help
explain women’s greater participation at the local level. Similarly, the more open and
democratic forums are, the more likely women are to be represented. The creation of
democratic deliberative bodies of the kind that sometimes exist at the local level and
rarely at the national level, are vital ingredients of women’s participation
Networking: To facilitate the inclusion of women’s issues in the political and public
agenda, networking between the women’s organizations and women politicians, in
particular, is necessary. Curriculum and media should be adequately utilized so as to
change patriarchal social values and encourage women towards leadership roles and
activities.

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Organize Pressure Groups: To support women candidates and mobilize funds for
increasing women’s participation in politics, NGOs should organize support groups and
raise the political consensus of women through seminars, workshops, orientation training,
mass media, etc. To lobby for increasing women’s participation in politics, pressure
groups should be formed within and outside the Parliament.
Participation in political parties: To increase the number of women in the rank and file at
all levels of political parties, grassroots women’s organizations should mobilize women
at all levels. They should also highlight the potentials of women and their competence as
candidates.
Knowledge about the functions of Panchayats and Union Parishads: Most of the women
members had lower levels of education. Their training may be conducted by the relevant
training institutes or by the respective district authority with the financial support of the
government or assistance from the donor agencies/development partners.
To participate in the local bodies meeting: In order to ensure proper participation in the
local bodies, the government may undertake the membership of women members in the
different committees, specially the committees dealing with family planning and
women’s development. A mechanism should be developed to ensure regular attendance
of the women members at the meetings.
Selection procedures of party’s candidates: Rural women do not have a clear
appreciation and adequate awareness of the issues faced by the women because of the
respective environment. Women members, whatever may be their selection procedure,
are recognized as leaders at the grassroots level by the government and by the local
community. They should, therefore, be given adequate training and exposure to the
issues, which stand in the way of the integration of women with the socio-economic life
of society

Role of Government
Election rules and regulations to be restructured: In India election rules should be
restructured in the light of facilitating women’s participation in the electoral processes,
i.e. right to choose their representatives, freedom to express their views and opinions,
freely allowed to cast their precious vote, strict ban on use of violence in elections, limits
on expenditure and its strict implementation.
Representation of women members at the local level committees: In India at the local level,
planning and decision-making committees should comprise at least 50 percent women.
Social programs should be introduced to encourage women’s effective participation in
such activities.
Fair representation of minorities: Government should also let the minorities like Hindus
and Christians be represented in the decision-making process, which could be facilitated
by the help of reservation or through fair entry basis.
Information and training to women members of local bodies: The government along with
the NGOs imparting training should provide information and training to women members
of local bodies to increase their knowledge of local government, responsibilities and
functions. This could be through information manuals, mobile training program and
through audio-visual mediums. Women should be given various opportunities for
leadership training and education in order to encourage them to take up political and

102
leadership position in all fields. Supportive services should be provided to allow women
to participate in local bodies.

Literacy in legal rights and politics: In all formal and non-formal schools, proper training
and exposure to the legal and political rights of women should be given to bring about
attitudinal changes among both men and women.

Improvement of motivational programs: To create greater awareness among women about

their low status in society and the need to improve it, motivational programs for
expanding opportunities for education, health care and employment should be launched.

Role of Political Parties

Need for democratization from within: If women are to come even without reservation, as
was not approved by some sections of the women’s groups and the academia, the
foremost responsibility should be that of the political parties who should recognize the
capability and success of women and give party tickets to those who are interested to
stand for the said post. Party manifestoes and constitutions should include gender equity
as one of their goals and have a plan of action for its achievement.
The present system of reserved seats is a necessary evil that may continue until greater
representation of women is achieved. However, political parties in Bangladesh should
work together to amend the system of nomination to direct election of women to the
reserved seats for the Parliament as well.
Political parties should:

Adopt internal democratic structures;

In proportional systems, place women contenders high enough on the candidate
lists to ensure they will be elected, including through such mechanisms as “zippered”
lists, and consider voluntary quotas or targets for women candidates;
In majority systems, establish voluntary targets or quotas to ensure a specified
minimum number of women are put forward as candidates;
Provide support and resources to ensure the election of women candidates;
Make certain that women are fully represented in party leadership and policy
committees;
Clearly identify the advancement of women and issues of special concern to
women as priorities in their platforms.

Conscientisation to women’s issues: To raise the political consciousness of the people and
to sensitize them about women’s issues, political parties should organize workshops,
dialogues, discussions and mass meetings. Political parties should also sensitize party
leaders and party workers about women’s issues by organizing discussion sessions.

Maintain linkages with voters: Political parties should encourage their women candidates
to maintain a continuous linkage with the voters, with special emphasis on women voters,
so that they are not misled by the male members of their families.

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Fair elections at all levels: Political parties should work towards free and fair elections so
that women candidates can contest. Awareness programs for the voters should be
undertaken so that they can cast their vote in favor of eligible candidates.

Stand against factionalism: Political parties should take a positive stand against
factionalism, fundamentalism and misinterpretation of religious beliefs, which stands in
the way of women’s political participation. In order to develop political awareness and
consciousness, women should be involved in social, economic and political activities.

To change the policy of political parties: Women belonging to all political parties have to
take organized steps to change the discriminatory policy and approach political parties in
the matter of financial support to women candidates in elections. Political parties should
provide financial allocations for the campaign expenditure of women candidates.

Role of NGOs and Civil Society

NGO Agenda: Political empowerment of women should be incorporated in the NGO
agenda. They should consciously make an effort to emphasize the issues of gender equity
and women’s empowerment in its right perspective. Both men and women leaders at the
grassroots and national levels must be sensitized to women’s issues, and form pressure
and advocacy groups for the realization of gender equity.
Women should be made aware of their potential political power and their contribution to
the political process as voters.

Civil society actors should:

Identify women willing to run for office;

Provide training and other types of support for women candidates;
Lobby to ensure issues of special concern to women are addressed in party
platforms;
Lobby for legislative changes to advance women’s empowerment;
Develop cross-party networks of women;
Develop and disseminate gender-sensitive messages for voter and civic education;
Advocate improved media coverage of women’s issues and women candidates;
Persuade international donors to support projects aimed at advancing women’s
political participation.
The way forward
Recognising that affirmative actions where taken have opened unprecedented spaces for
women , these are the essential first steps needing follow up for removal of distortions
and ensuring fuller participation of women across class, caste, religion, and
national/ethnic divides. For achieving the goal of Beijing Platform for Action’s goal of
adequate representation of women in all decision making bodies will require the
following steps to go forward
1. Introduction of affirmative action in the countries where it does not exist to reserve
seats for women to ensure a “critical mass” (33 percent) at different tiers of representative
bodies to be elected directly from their constituencies, with provisions for the inclusion of

104
 marginalised women. And implementation of affirmative action in letter and spirit where
they already exist. These must have the provision of operating till women’s equal
participation in the political process is achieved.
1. Removal of distortions in the reserved seats system to create an even playing field
by instituting direct constituency based elections. Mandating women’s presence in
committees and bodies to prevent their exclusion from decision-making. Removing any
other anomalies that place a burden on women compared with women.
2. Making equal participation of women in political process an official policy to be
ensured through: introduction of a mandatory 20 percent women’s membership in
political parties as a qualification for participation in elections; commitment by political
parties (through manifestos) to inclusion of programmes for women in nation building
activities; institution of a special fund for female candidates, irrespective of political
affiliations, to contest elections at all levels..
3. Developing and running training programmes for women in local government to
equip them for fulfilling their responsibilities effectively. Provide them with information
on their duties and powers; give them skills of identifying, planning and implementing
development programmes; of conflict resolution and of women’s agency.
4. Special allocation within budgets, at different tiers, to women members for
implementing programmes and ensuring that they are not marginalized or bypassed.
Making women’s membership of committees/sub-committees, arbitration councils, etc.
mandatory both in local government and legislatures.
5. Training for male members of local government for sensitivity towards women
members and the imperative of their inclusion in the business of the elected body.
Introducing special measures for relieving elected women of the household burden for
playing a fuller role.
6. Facilitation of NGOs to play a more coordinated role in linking elected women,
catalysing platforms and networks of solidarity and support: by creating an enabling
environment, providing security against physical threats, violence and harassment and
provision of resources.
7 Closure of gap between the women’s movement and elected representatives to foster
collaboration and cooperation of women at all levels through the initiation of dialogue by
women’s groups with elected women.
8 Sensitisation by women’s and human rights groups of the media to the issues of elected
women and the potential of their role in the political process; sensitization and
mobilization of women voters to vote for female candidates.
9 9 Above all, the removal of all barriers to women’s participation in political
processes particularly of discriminatory legislations and structural barriers that entrench
inequality between classes and gender.

Government actors should:

Ensure that political party laws and other election-related legislation do not
indirectly disadvantage women;
Consider legislation requiring political parties to adopt democratic procedures for
their internal operations;

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 Consider temporary special measures requiring political parties to include a
substantial proportion of women high on their candidate lists;
Provide incentives for political parties to promote women candidates, including
resources, training and increased access to broadcast time. Providing increased
airtime for women in politics between elections could also advance women’s
participation by enabling voters to make informed assessments at election time of the
overall performance of political parties, including their support of women who have
been elected as representatives.

The media should:

Provide gender-sensitive coverage of elections, avoiding negative stereotypes and

presenting positive images of women as leaders;
Provide women candidates with at least as much airtime and print space as that
given to men;
Focus attention on issues of special concern to women in news programming;
Undertake voter and civic education programmes aimed specifically at women.

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 CHAPTER -7

GENDER AND EDUCATION

Girls’ education was identified as a development tool in September 1990 at the World
Summit for Children, when the global community agreed to the Goals for Children and
Development in the 1990s, including “universal access to basic education and
achievement of primary education by at least 80 per cent of primary school-age children
through formal schooling or non-formal education of comparable learning standard,
with emphasis on reducing the current disparities between boys and girls.”4
A decade later, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, six goals were
endorsed – two-thirds pertaining to gender parity and equality in education. The next
year, the Millennium Summit gave birth to the Millennium Development Goals, which
also focused on girls’ education as being crucial for development.
The push for gender parity in education has produced three UN flagships for girls’
education: Education for All, headed by UNESCO; the Fast-Track Initiative, under the
auspices of the World Bank; and the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative,
coordinated by UNICEF. Each lead agency, active in all the enterprises, coordinates
various partners including development agencies, donor nations and non-governmental
and community-based organizations.

The Beijing Platform for Action includes a section on the education and training of
women. The strategic objectives identified in that section are:
ensure equal access to education;
eradicate illiteracy among women;
improve women’s access to vocational training, science and technology, and continuing
education;
develop non-discriminatory education and training;
allocate sufficient resources for and monitor the implementation of educational reforms;
and
promote lifelong education and training for girls and women.

Recognising that non-discriminatory education contributes to more equal relationships

between men and women, the Platform for Action identifies areas in which
discrimination in education exists, including:
customary attitudes;
early marriages and pregnancies;
lack of gender awareness on the part of educators;

girls’ domestic responsibilities and the reduced time they are allowed for education; and
sexual harassment.

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Discrimination in education resources is found in:
inadequate and gender-biased teaching and educational materials;
lack of adequate schooling facilities, particularly for girls’ special needs;
stereotyped images of women and men in educational materials and teaching;
gender-biased curricula and teaching materials which reinforce traditional sex roles;
gender-biased science curricula and texts; and
insufficient resources for education, particularly for females.

The Platform for Action recommends strategies specific to each of the above, and
advocates use of other avenues for change, such as exploiting the potential of the
powerful mass media as an educational tool, and specifically targeting the involvement
of women in technology education.

The Five Year Plan documents recognise that national developmental and demographic
goals cannot be achieved unless women’s education is taken up on a priority basis. All
possible strategies, starting from flexible school timings to decentralised planning and
administration have been recommended over and over again. One of the arguments put forth
by educational administrators is that serious efforts were really never made to implement
some key recommendations like flexible school timings and appointing local people as
teachers in primary schools. Some of these ideas have been tried out in pockets, especially
in Rajasthan through Shiksha Karmi Project and Lok Jumbish. Flexible timings were also
experimented in Madhya Pradesh. But, unfortunately they have remained essentially micro-
level initiatives and have not been integrated into the mainstream.

This phenomenon has compelled some commentators to ask if non-implementation of

Governments own policy is because of lack of political will or because certain powerful
vested interests are determined to ensure a significant section of our society remains
illiterate and disempowered. Therefore, many enlightened leaders are demanding the law of
the land be enforced and that elementary education be made a fundamental and inalienable
right. Making children’s rights to primary education justiceable and enforceable in court of
law could push basic education on the national agenda as never before.

The National Policy on Education (1986, revised in 1992) is perhaps the most lucid
document on women’s education. It was hailed as a major breakthrough in addressing
gender issues in government policy. The chapter titled “Education for Women’s Equality”
states: “Education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of women. In order
to neutralise the accumulated distortions of the past; there will be a well-conceived edge in
favour of women. The National Education System will play a positive, interventionist role
in the empowerment of women. It will foster the development of new values through
redesigned curricula, textbooks, the training and orientation of teachers, decision-makers
and administrators, and the active involvement of educational institutions. This will be an
act of faith and social engin-eering...The removal of women’s illiteracy and obstacles
inhibiting their access to, and retention in, elementary education will receive overriding

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priority, through provision of special support services, setting of time targets, and effective
monitoring....”

Bridging the gap between intention and action – Girls’ and Women’s Education
Provide schools within walking distance, closer to the place of dwelling, if necessary
satellite schools for remote hamlets,
. • Provide child care facilities/cràche within school premises,
. • Provide escort for girls, if school is away from the village or hamlet,
. • Introduce flexible school timings and region specific school calendar,
. • Provide alternative modes / forms of schooling, combine formal with non-formal,
condensed courses for drop-outs, residential schools (Ashram Shalas) for special focus
groups like nomadic tribes etc.,
. • Appoint more women teachers in rural areas and provide them with secure
residential accommodation.
. • Expand pool of women teachers by lowering qualifications, providing intensive
training (near the place of dwelling), providing regular educational support, organizing
special condensed coursed for drop-outs who can be trained to work as teachers, providing
secure accommodation for out-station teachers, etc.
. • Make curriculum relevant to the lives of poor women who are engaged in battle
for survival,
. • Recognise the problem of working children, provide special facilities with
flexible calendar and timings,
. • Introduce facilities for “bridge programmes” to enable dropouts to re-enter the
school system.
. • Provide incentives like uniforms, textbooks, exercise books, attendance
scholarship, free bus passes etc.
. • Involve the community in managing the school through advocacy, mobilisation
and formation of village education committees with at least 50% women members,
. • Improve quality of education, motivate teachers to make learning a joyful
exercise,
. • Decentralise educational planning and administration, bring it closer to people so
that it reflects the special needs and aspirations of the community,
. • Create village level education committees to plan, support, encourage and monitor
basic education;

Monitoring mechanisms:

. Government of India has a well established system for monitoring programmes and
submitting regular reports to State Assemblies and the Parliament. While nationally funded
projects follow the routine system of reporting through a MIS system; externally assisted
projects and programmes follow two parallel systems. While the regular system continues
to operate, each donor-assisted project has its own reporting system. Annual reports,
periodic review missions and mid-term and end-project evaluations are followed by most

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donors. However, DPEP follows a different system with six monthly joint reviews and
periodic issue specific studies. DPEP has also developed two software packages that enable
monitoring through computerised information systems, i.e. Project Management
Information System (PMIS) and Education Management Information System (EMIS). The
centralised monitoring and assessment system provides information to all contributing
donors and the World Bank. Some states have also done extensive household surveys to
create base line information.
. Lok Jumbish Rajasthan has evolved a unique planning, review and monitoring system.
The system encourages a regular participatory process review consisting of Cluster level
Review and Planning Meetings (monthly) to Block Level review and Planning Meetings
(monthly) culminating in the State Level Review and Planning Meetings (periodic). In
addition LJ has a computerised MIS system to track each component of the project i.e.
building construction, training, retention registers, formation of village education
committees, women’s groups’ etc. All information is disaggregated by sex and at any given
point the project has information by sex from the village education committee to the state
office located in Jaipur.
.
. Introducing flexible timings, and context specific school calendars is necessary to
promote enrolment and retention of girls. Here again teacher unions have resisted flexible
school calendar and timing across the country. The urban/semi urban middle class and the
rural middle class (including land owning castes) form the bulk of rural teachers. They are
said to be the backbone of many political parties. Mobilisation during elections and
subsequent political trouble shooting is done through teachers. They constitute a vocal and
powerful group in electoral politics. Therefore it is not surprising that key policy
recommendations have remained unimplemented.
.
Rajasthan Lok Jumbish Gender Sensitivity in management

Since the inception of LJ, gender sensitivity has been woven into the philosophy and
structure of the
organisation. As different organisations have different interpretations about this phrase, it
would be
helpful to clearly state what gender sensitivity in LJ management means:

. • Firstly, it means what circumstances should be created to appoint women in

reasonable proportion.
. • Secondly, it implies that women should be able to work as equals and should not
have to conform to stereotyped expectations. They should, moreover, have appropriate
working conditions and facilities for safety and essential comfort.
. • Thirdly, women’s role in the family and responsibilities of motherhood should be
recognised. They should be enabled to work at a time and pace suitable to them. The fact
that, generally speaking, they have to bear a double burden should be acknowledged and
scope provided to them get over fatigue.
. • Fourthly, circumstances that result in women’s isolation should be altered - at the
individual as well as group level. An organisation should attempt to create women’s

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 collectives and networks for empowerment.
. • Fifthly, necessary steps should be taken to prevent sexual abuse and mental and
other harassment. Exemplary penal measures should be taken if such happenings were to
occur.
. • Sixthly, women must have a say in decision making. This should not be confined
to decisions that affect women staff members and women and girls in educational and
related situations, but all decisions, including decisions concerning policy and finance.
. • Seventhly, a gender sensitive system of educational management has to have the
capability to extend gender sensitivity to the entire system of education and to monitor it.
The Indian administrative system is based on the principle that generalists, who do not have
roots or vested interests are, by definition, superior to those who have a stake in what they
do. Experiences of successful initiatives in the government and in the non-government
sector point to the role played by dynamic and committed leaders in making the system
work to the best advantage of the beneficiaries. Staying power within a department, district,
programme or project is somehow frowned upon. Looking back over fifty years of
government functioning, it is quite apparent that committed civil-servants, technocrats,
specialist have been the only ones who have made a significant difference. Yet, the system
continues to transfer teachers every few years, move committed civil servants from
positions where they have made an impact. The system binds and bind everyone to
inflexible rules and regulations. Even when autonomous bodies are created to provide for
flexibility, they gradually take on the character of the main system and loose their flexibility
and innovativeness. Recruitment policies, transfers, financial decentralisation and
devolution of administrative powers to lower levels become contentious issues.
.
Innovations in the public sector with potential for large scale replication:

• Micro-planning and school mapping as a technique to enumerate all children in the school
going age, record their enrolment and attendance status, estimate demand for non-formal
education, identify barriers to participation, take stock of infrastructure. Teacher attendance
and motivation has been tried out in Rajasthan Lok Jumbish with considerable success.
Using this information, generated by local people through Village Education Committees,
Prerak Dal (group of animators) or rural women’s groups work out decentralised strategies
for mobilisation, improving school environment and motivating and supporting teachers.
The result is micro level plans that reflect the felt needs of the community. Lok Jumbish has
introduced both a Village Education Register and Retention Register to keep track of, and
update, information. This system of planning from below has resulted in opening new
schools, establishing non-formal education centres, organising residential
camps/programmes for out-of-school adolescent girls and organising decentralised training
for teachers, village level animators and members of village education committees. This
effectively results in transferring the initiative to the people and to educational
administrators working at the Block and District levels. In Rajasthan this has brought into
the open the phenomenon of the invisibility of girls and has forced rural communities to
think about the status of girl children.
Mahila Samakhya, meaning women’s equality through education, is a women’s
empowerment project which seeks to bring about change in women’s perception of

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themselves and that of the society. It endeavours to create an environment for women to
mobilise themselves into collectives. Women are to seek knowledge and information in
order to make informed choices and create circumstances in which they can learn at their
own pace and rhythm. The centrality of education and life long learning is an important
focus of the project. A Sahayogini (a cluster co-ordinator in 10 villages) facilitates the
process of mobilisation and organising women. She functions as the link between women
and the project structure. She accesses and organises resource support by way of training
and other inputs to meet the emerging demands of women. These demands range from
childcare support to workshops, fairs and training programmes on specific issues/themes.
Where possible, the programme links up with other development initiatives. For example,
the programme has had links with the public distribution system, the health care system
with access to forest produce and education. This Dutch Assisted programme is operational
in 5000 villages of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. It has been
recently extended into Madhya Pradesh and Assam through the DPEP initiative.

Bridging the gap between intent and action involves a wide range of hard management
decisions. It is not enough to proclaim one’s good intentions through policy documents and
statements. India has no dearth of good policies and programmes. The basic question is one
of commitment to act. Reviewing interesting initiatives, successful inno-vations and
effective programmes, one cannot but notice that India is a country of varied experiences.
No document can do justice to the hundreds of stories, small and large, that made a
difference. From committed teachers who plug along regardless of insensitive system and
harsh ground conditions to large national projects that have become show pieces of the
nation – it is not such a grim situation. The challenge before us is to devise ways and means
to harness the experience of micro-initiatives, both in the government and non-government
sector in order to bring about meaningful change in the management of education. We have
wonderful policies, but are at a loss to implement them. Instead of working on new policy
documents every few years, we as a nation will do well if we decide to set aside all debates
and discussion on policy and focus on the effective implementation.8 We have talked the
talk, lets now resolve to walk the walk, however arduous the journey may be.

. Unless every child – girl and boy – has an opportunity to go to school, and is retained and
taught in school for at least five years there will be no significant change in the educational
scenario in India. Adult and Non-formal education programmes will then make a qualitative
difference. Non-formal and other forms of partial education programmes cannot be a
substitute for universal access to elementary education. This is of particular importance for
girls’ education. Ensuring every girl child experiences childhood and has access to
schooling should be the priority of all educational interventions.
. • Identify the most deprived sections of society and design and implement time-
bound special programmes for girls. Link the special programmes to the formal school
system (where feasible) and give a big push to girl children from the poorest and the most
disadvantaged sections of the society.
. • Similarly, running time-bound special educational programmes for adolescent
girls (and boys) who are either out of school or have completed grade 5 and have nowhere

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 to go or have never been to school. Focusing on education, skill development, self-
confidence building and health education of adolescents will create a critical mass of
educated women in society. The ripple effect of this needs no elaboration. Such an
intervention will have a positive impact on primary education – creating role models that
have visibly benefited from education. This intervention lends itself to effective NGO –
Government collaboration.
. • Upscale and replicate innovations that have made an impact (see page 16 of this
paper) by organising intensive training and study tours for a team that is ready to initiate or
strengthen a programme. Organisations like UNESCO can play a very important role in
partnership with the Government. Intensive advocacy to replicate the lessons of few
successful innovations could be followed by an intensive training/study tour. Handholding,
nurturing and encouraging innovation is necessary. However, it is important to keep in mind
that only the generic principles can be replicated. No model, however successful, can be
duplicated. Duplication of models can be disastrous – especially in a country with so much
diversity.

. • Orient and train educational administrators, teachers and faculty in training

institutions and sensitise them to gender dimensions of educational access and give them the
necessary skills to deal with gender issues in their working and living environment.
Training a few individuals in an organisation will not suffice. A critical number of
converted and motivated functionaries are necessary to bring about sustainable change in
any organisation.
. • Follow-up gender sensitisation training with appropriate administrative reform.
Rules, regulations, work ethics, training systems and a whole range of management systems
need to be reviewed from the gender lens. Some examples have been cited in this paper.
. • Do away with stand alone gender consultants or women’s focal points in
mainstream institutions. Create a three-dimensional (matrix) system. A three-way work
allocation system can be adopted. For example each functionary can be given three
interlocking responsibilities. Dimension one related to a component of the programme
(formal, non-formal, extra-curricular, school health, teacher training, curriculum
development etc.). Dimension two related to a special focus group girls (even here one can
distribute between urban poor, rural backward community, minority) children with
disabilities, children from disadvantaged castes / communities, children of nomadic tribe
etc. Dimension three where each worker is made fully responsible for one small
geographical area – with full responsibility for logistics, personnel and finance. Each
functionary ends up with an interesting job profile. The danger of marginalisation can be
addressed in this way. Training and support of functionaries to work in a holistic manner is
a precondition for the success of this strategy.

• Create a public platform at the District/State/ Regional level where key political leaders are
invited to publicly commit themselves to promoting girls’ education. Follow up with regular
news/information on what is happening where. The main focus could be on facilitating the
implementation of Government’s policies and programmes. This platform could also be
used for seeking information, recognising teachers who have made a difference, giving
awards, bringing to light persistent absenteeism by teachers in some areas and so on.
Making primary education a public and political issue may go a long way in building

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political commitment and administrative will.

. Adult literacy programmes

The main strategy that has been followed since 1988 to spread adult literacy has been the
Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) of the National Literacy Mission (NLM), using volunteers
in time-bound decentralised programmes. Post Literacy Campaigns and Continuing
Education Programmes have also been part of the NLM’s effort to sustain adult literacy.
The NLM was revamped in 1999. The goal that has been set is to attain a sustainable
threshold of 75% literacy by 2007 by imparting functional literacy to non-literates in the
15–35 age group. At the core of the programme is a pedagogical approach known as
‘Improved Pace and Content of Learning’ which essentially maintains that given the short-
lived motivation of adult learners, literacy classes need to be short in duration with intensive
teaching and high quality inputs. These campaigns are area-specific, time-bound,
participative, cost-effective and outcome-oriented. Apart from imparting functional literacy,
TLC also disseminates a ‘basket’ of other socially relevant messages, such as enrolment and
retention of children in schools, immunisation, propagation of small family norms, women’s
equality and empowerment, peace and communal harmony, etc. The impact of these efforts
is reflected in the data.The female literacy rate increased from 39.3% in 1991 to 53.7% in
2001, while the male literacy rate increased from 64% to 75% over the same period.The
gender gap in literacy has thus come down from around 25% to 21% between 1991 and
2001. There has been a decline in the absolute number of female illiterates from 200.07
million in 1999 to 189.6 million in 2001.
Education for all
The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 makes free and compulsory education a
justiciable fundamental right for all children in the 6–14 year age group. The Government
of India is committed to realising the goal of elementary education for all and bridging of
gender and social gaps by 2010. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA – Education for All),
launched in 2001– 02, is the national umbrella programme that is spearheading the
universalisation of elementary education through a community-owned approach, with a
specific focus on the provision of quality education. SSA has relied on the Education
Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative and Innovative Education (AIE) which are
specially designed to provide access to school-less habitations. SSA seeks to reduce the
gender and social gap through context specific innovative interventions. The National
Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL), a component of SSA,
provides region specific strategies to enable girls to come to school, provide remedial
teaching through bridge courses and residential camps. It targets the most educationally
backward blocks in the country where the female literacy rate is below the national average
and the gender gap is above the national average.

The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) started in 1994 had a holistic approach
to reducing gender and social disparities and universal access, retention and achievement.
Enrolment of girls has shown significant upward trend in DPEP districts as compared to
non-DPEP districts.

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A synergetic public-private partnership has been built up during the Tenth Plan to achieve
the objectives of Universalisation of Elementary Education. There has been significant
mobilisation of women’s groups, grassroots level women’s associations and mothers’
groups to secure regular attendance and continuation in schools.

Lok Jumbish, a programme started in Rajasthan in 1992, gives priority to the education of
girls, and to involving women at all levels of educational management. Adhyapika Manch
(female teachers’ forum) was a unique strategy adopted by Lok Jumbish in which it focused
on the role of women teachers in education for social change. In its third phase, 1999–2004,
special emphasis has been given to Sahaj Shiksha Centres established for children
belonging to school-less small habitations, girls engaged in domestic chores and dropout
children in the age group, 9 years and above. Balika Shikshan Shivirs (girls’ camp) have
been opened for those adolescent girls who have missed the opportunity of going to school
because of family compulsions, early marriage or lack of school facilities. Muktangans or
open space schools have been opened where children in the 5–14 years age group can come
according to their own convenience and learn at their own speed.

The Madhya Pradesh Education Guarantee Scheme, started in 1997, received international
recognition with the award of the Commonwealth Gold Medal for best International
Innovation 1998, given by the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and
Management. Under EGS, the Government gives a guarantee to provide a primary
schooling facility to children in a habitation where there is no such facility within a
kilometre, within a period of 90 days of receiving a demand for such a facility by the local
community. The EGS has thus created a three way partnership to ensure the right to primary
education: between the community, the local government (panchayat), and the state
government. A primary schooling facility has been set up in every habitation of the State.
This scheme has been able, through decentralised provisioning and management of primary
schooling, to expand outreach and better target disadvantaged children. The key principles
of the programme are decentralisation, community ownership and partnership, and it is girls
from disadvantaged groups that have especially benefited. Moreover, the achievement levels
of EGS school children have been found to be on par with those of regular government
primary schools.
The Madhya Pradesh Jan Shiksha Adhiniyam,2000 (People Education Act) was formulated
for strengthening community management of education, on the principles of state-
community partnership and for making the public education system accountable to the
community for the quality of education it delivered.

School curricula and teaching-learning materials have been revised to make them gender
sensitive.Social learning curriculum (SLC) started as part of a small educational project for
girls and later adapted for about 150 government schools in Uttar Pradesh, has been an
attempt to include overt teaching lessons with broad objectives of developing appreciation
for equity, respect for diversity and democracy, capability to question, argue and negotiate
in the context of real life experiences and social situations. Initially aimed at girls and later
all the children in the 9+ age group, the SLC is based on the belief that schooling is an
influential form of socialisation where children from an early age are capable of learning
complex values,processes,relations and positions, if taught and transacted through

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appropriate methods and tools. Two initiatives Udaan and Janshala need a special mention.
The Udaan experience reflects upon the content and the process of developing the SLC,
training the teachers, the challenges faced and the impact on girls. Janshala is a school
improvement programme operational in all formal primary schools of 138 blocks in India.

The Shiksha Karmi project aims at universalisation and qualitative improvement of primary
education in remote, and socio-economically backward villages of Rajasthan with primary
attention being given to girls. With teacher absenteeism having been identified as a major
problem area, this project substitutes teachers in single teacher schools with a team of
education local residents called Shiksha Karmis,’10% of whom are women.
The National Policy of Education, 1986 is a major landmark in the evolution of the status of
women in India. The policy addresses not only the issue of equality of educational
opportunity for women but commands the entire educational system to work for women’s
equality and empowerment. The policy gives overriding priority to the removal of women’s
illiteracy and obstacles inhibiting their access to and retention in elementary education. The
policy of non-discrimination will be pursued vigorously to eliminate sex stereotyping in
vocational and professional courses and to promote women’s participation in non-traditional
occupations, as well as in existing and emergent technologies.

There are several programmes of Early Childhood Care and Education which include the
ICDS, creches, Balwadis, ECE centres, pre-primary schools run by the state and the private
sector and many experimental and innovative projects like Child-to-Child programmes,
Child Media Lab, Mobile creches and Vikas Kendras. Making education a fundamental
right for the 6–14 age group has led to inadequate attention being given to the 0–6 years, as
well as the 14–18 age groups,in educational programmes. There is a need to improve quality
of Early Childhood Care and Education for the 0–6 age group. Likewise, special effort
needs to go into educational planning for young adolescent girls.

Schooling has been made completely free for girls in most states upto the higher secondary
stage. The participation of girls in secondary education has been increasing steadily from
13.3% in 1950– 51 to 39.9% in 2001–02. Various Centrally Sponsored Schemes have been
formulated to strengthen school education and a large number of girls have benefited from
these schemes. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) have been setup in rural areas as pace
setting schools for talented rural children and also to ensure greater participation of girls
from SC/ST communities and from households below the poverty line.

One third of seats in JNVs is reserved for girls. In the higher education sector, the
University Grants Commission (UGC) has been implementing various schemes for
promoting women’s education in Universities and Colleges like schemes of grants to
women’s universities for technical courses,scheme for construction of women’s hostels,
setting up of Women’s Study Centres in 34 universities, etc. Participation of women
students in polytechnics was one of the thrust areas under World Bank assisted Technical
Education Project. The scheme of community polytechnic aims at bringing in communities
and encouraging rural development through Science and Technology apprenticeship and
through skill oriented non-formal training focused on women, minorities, SCs/STs/OBCs
and other disadvantaged sections of the society. Currently, 43% of the total beneficiaries are

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women. The Indira Gandhi National Open University identified 148 districts with low
female literacy and have provided those districts with IT infrastructure so as to establish
connectivity in these regions with other parts of the country for free flow of information.
Resources
Resources allocated to education were 3.49% of the GDP in 1997–98 and 3.82% in 2001–
02, 3.97% of GDP in 2002–03, with the highest being 4.25% in 1999–2000, although the
commitment to increase resources to 6% of GDP was accepted in 1995. Elementary
education received the highest priority with more than half (1.76%) of the investment in
2002–03 being at this level. Resources allocated to education are expected to increase in
proportion to the requirements of universalisation. To ensure that the programme is not
checked by shortage of resources, the present government has imposed a 2% educational
cess on Union Taxes. The cess amount estimated for the year 2004–05 is Rs. 49,100 million
(0.16% of GDP). The private sector in education is growing, and while this helps in
expanding the schooling infrastructure it is also associated with the emerging inequities—
those who are better off, urban and male going to private schools and those who are poorer,
rural and predominantly female going to government schools.

Policy Framework and Action Points

There follow a number of action points which governments may wish to adapt to suit their
national circumstances and use in the formulation of policies, plans, programmes and
projects.

School management, teachers and school staff

organise gender training/planning workshops for teaching staff, in co-operation

with school management, parents associations and teachers unions, in order to

provide school staff with an understanding of the construction of gender;

develop binding guidelines and disseminate them to all educational and training
institutions;
publish a newsletter containing information and data on gender and education;
establish, for all staff, selection and promotion criteria that include specific expectations
in relation to the achievement of gender equity;
develop materials to assist teachers with assessment and evaluation procedures, including
examples of assessment tools that consider the different experiences, interests and aptitudes
of girls;
encourage teachers to change their practice in a particular way, through, for example,
promotion or allocation of resources; and
ask schools to submit a plan of action to achieve gender equality and equity, and an
annual report on progress made in this respect.

School organisation and practice

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 ensure that the school dress code enables girls to engage in sport and active play;
establish staffing procedures to ensure that women are represented in leadership
positions;
ensure that the timetable provides girls with real flexibility in their subject choice; and
provide for the physical needs of each girl in relation to privacy, hygiene and clothing.

Curriculum

ensure that gender considerations are included in all educational and training curricula,
thus providing a curriculum which in content, language and methodology meets the
educational needs and entitlements of girls and which recognises the contributions of
women to society and values female knowledge and experience;
include in the curriculum a range of teaching methods which best promote the active
participation of girls in learning;
provide access for girls to all areas of the curriculum, and establish the skills and
confidence necessary to utilise this access;
in partnership with the school community, provide information on conception,
contraception, pregnancy, childbirth, child rearing, parenting and relationships;
develop a curriculum which critically examines the gender distribution of work in
families, households and paid work, and the relative values attributed to these different
kinds of work by society; and
provide advice on subject choices to ensure that girls do not limit their training and
employment opportunities by the patterns of their study.

Educational materials

ensure that textbooks and tests are gender-sensitive as regards the language, images and
examples used therein.

Career counselling and guidance

sensitise people engaged in career counselling on gender issues, thus ensuring that they
also direct women to sex-atypical occupations;
disseminate information to students and parents about career counselling and vocational
guidance;
devise a career guidance programme to encourage bright girls to further their education in
areas where they are traditionally under-represented, such as technical and scientific areas;
and
guide boys and men also into ‘female’ occupations, which could eliminate gender
segregation in jobs.

Girls’ perceptions and attitudes

stimulate girls to plan on working careers by changing their expected time allocations to
both the labour force and home and their own perceptions of their roles and capabilities;
establish mechanisms for identifying, supporting and monitoring girls at risk; and
provide programmes for school teachers, counsellors and parents in order to enable them

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to understand those issues which place girls at the risk of not completing their education,
issues such as income support, housing and childcare.

Parents’ attitudes and involvement

set up parent-teacher organisations to increase the awareness among parents of the

benefits of educating and training girls and to involve parents more with schooling in
general; and
engage parents and the community in the development of programmes and materials that
enhance and develop awareness of the impacts of gender construction.

Sex education

give advice to young girls and boys on avoiding unwanted pregnancies and on reproductive
health, including protection against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Sex-based harassment

develop programmes that teach girls and boys effective communication and conflict
resolution skills;
develop policies at school level to demonstrate that sex-based harassment is unacceptable
behaviour and ensure that it is punished; and
provide programmes and materials that inform school and wider communities about the
underlying causes of sex-based harassment and its impact on the education of girls.

Vocational training

prohibit discrimination in vocational education and apprenticeship programmes;

take affirmative action to recruit more women to vocational education and
apprenticeships;
ensure that girls are familiarised with vocational education and apprenticeships, set up
orientation programmes and provide connections with potential employers; and
re q u i re government contractors to provide on-the-job training opportunities for women
or to participate in training programmes that include women and minorities.
Affirmative action

put in place a programme to give preference to women in terms of education and training
and career advancement until such time as women are available in sufficient numbers and at
sufficiently high levels to ensure fair competition.
Image of women

devise strategies to project a more positive image of women’s working abilities and
promote their entry into non-traditional occupations. Non-governmental organisations can
play an important role in reorienting society’s and men’s attitudes to acceptance of new
employment roles for women.

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 CHAPTER -8

GENDER AND HEALTH

Studies of gender and health issues abound with evidence of the disadvantaged status of
women relative to men. India is one of the few countries where women and men have
nearly the same life expectancy at birth, despite the natural female advantage in this
regard. However, it has also been pointed out that the focus of health research must move
beyond the reproduction of data that repeatedly proves this disadvantaged status, to
actually examining the reasons for India’s falling sex ratios, gender differentiated
mortality rates, and socio-cultural beliefs governing health.

However, there is no consistent overall policy framework on gender issues to which

government departments can be held accountable. The national machinery dealing with
women and development lacks co-ordination, resources and power. The system needs
reform .Gender and health There are now a host of indicators available on women.s
health in India showing their poor health status compared to men. However, there is also
a need to move beyond reproducing these data to examining the causes of differential
mortality by gender; gender-specific health environments; and socio-cultural and other
norms surrounding health, which create different perceptions of and responses to
women’s and men’s health.

Also, women may be more susceptible than men to diseases which cause death.
Comparisons of the morbidity of men and women in the same households usually show
female morbidity to be higher, possibly due to lack of health care. Differential morbidity
by gender is partly due to the different health hazards to which men and women are
exposed. One study in Tamil Nadu showed a higher incidence of respiratory diseases
among girls exposed to smoke-filled kitchens. There may also be differences in the
duration and intensity of illness by gender, these being correlated with poor nutritional
status and inadequate health care. Because of undernourishment, girls are likely to take
longer to recover from illnesses. Nutritional status and growth are also affected by
illnesses and their severity and duration, and the health care received during and after
illness.

At least four sets of factors conditions gendered access to health care, i.e. need;
permission; ability (including affordability); and availability. The extent of women.s
relative health needs has already been indicated, but evidence from elsewhere suggests
that the probability of girls. illnesses being reported is much lower than boys; women are
socialised into accepting pain and suffering. In terms of permission, i.e. social factors
affecting access to health care by gender, women.s constrained mobility and literacy are a
disadvantage. Ability to access health care is limited by direct and opportunity costs, and
the lack of fit between the timings of clinics and hospitals compared to women.s
schedules. Poor women cannot afford to wait for long periods at government facilities so

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they tend to use private health care for all but severe or chronic illnesses. The availability
of health care is restricted in terms of coverage and quality especially in rural areas. Other
issues here are the relevance of the care provided to women.s needs; and the culture and
attitudes prevailing in health sector institutions. Many women, especially those from rural
areas, find the health system quite alien. The scolding. attitude of medical staff also
dissuades women from using health sector institutions.

For a combination of these reasons, most women in rural areas continue to use home
remedies or local health systems. There has been some success in integrating allopathic
and non-allopathic medicine at local levels, but not on a broad institutional scale.
Meanwhile, .modernisation. and environmental degradation may represent threats to
indigenous knowledge bases on health and health resources. Measures are required to
indigenous health resource and knowledge bases and to develop their potential, especially
among women.

The approach to women’s health has evolved over the 90s from a target-oriented
approach into a more holistic, integrated life-cycle and needs-based approach. The
challenge is to ensure that women’s health throughout the life cycle, from birth to old
age, is a public health priority; and that it is viewed in a holistic manner that encompasses
decline in the incidence of diseases; improvement in access to, and the quality of
services; and empowers women to make informed choices.
Improvement in the health status of women is sought to be achieved through access and
utilisation of health, family welfare and nutrition services with special focus on the
underprivileged segment. The Government of India is engaged in considering ways and
means of fostering active community involvement in the population and reproductive
health programme. Bringing down the incidence of maternal mortality is a priority. The
progress is evident from the data, which shows fall in maternal mortality rate (MMR)
from 437 in 1993 to 407 in 1998. The total fertility rate (TFR) stood at 3.2 in 1998 and
the objective is to bring this down to 2.1 by 2010. Infant mortality rate (IMR) for girls
was 70.8 in 1999 and 69.8 for boys. Latest data suggests that the IMR in 2002 stood at 65
for girls and 62 for boys. The crude birth rate fell from 29.5 to 25.0 and the crude death
rate from 9.8 to 8.1 between 1991 and 2002 respectively.

Maternal mortality, despite the fall in the MMR, remains high. In Uttar Pradesh and
Rajasthan, it is 707 and 670 respectively. Other states in which MMR is above the
national average of 407 are Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Assam. Causes of maternal death
include haemorrhage, sepsis, obstructed/ prolonged labour,unsafe abortion,anaemia, etc.
Factors responsible include poor health care facilities, lack of access to health care
units,poor nutrition,early marriage,frequent and closely spaced pregnancies.
Access of the poor to integrated health services is limited, especially in rural areas,
despite the fact that the poor face a disproportionate disease burden. The resurgence of
communicable diseases is a challenge. The Common Minimum Programme of the present
government commits to increase public health expenditure to 2–3% of GDP. The
government proposes to launch a National Rural Healthcare Mission throughout the

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country to improve healthcare delivery over the next five years. Key measures include a
national scheme for health insurance for poor families,special attention to poorer
sections, food and nutrition security, focused population stabilisation programme in high
fertility districts, replication of success of the southern states, and availability of life
saving drugs at reasonable prices.

India’s health system

There is a range of health institutions in India, including government services, private

institutions and NGOs. A considerable bias exists towards urban areas in terms of
availability of health care facilities — in 1986, only 21% of all hospitals were in rural
areas. Government health care systems are based on the establishment of Primary Health
Care (PHCs) centres and sub-centres. Though PHCs are meant to cover only 30,000
persons each, only 15% of them stayed under this limit (1988). Studies have shown that
in rural areas, PHCs cover over 40,000 people each on average and that 16% of the
population in rural areas lives over 10km away from the nearest health care centre
(Bhalla 1995). Inadequate number of PHCs and poor health care at those that do exist has
led to the growth of a large private health sector. Recent data suggests that over 84% of
health expenditure is now private. The effects of the increased privatisation of health
care is dealt with in detail below. Access to health care is found to vary by income-level:
studies have found that low-income households treated less than half of illness episodes
compared to over 65% in high-income households. Health also forms a lower percentage
of overall household expenditure in lower income households.

The primary implication of such nutritional biases is deteriorating levels of women’s

health. The effect of this deterioration on the ability of women to fight disease is
discussed elsewhere in this report. Lower rates of nutrition, however, also imply reduced
economic productivity of women in terms of a reduced ability to function at optimal
capacity, more sick days, and the inability to undertake regular long-term employment.
Indeed, when explaining the retrenchment of an inordinate number of female workers, a
government sector company cited such factors as the reasons for the women’s dismissals.
Another important conclusion that must not be missed is the worrying inability of
increased literacy levels and higher levels of income to affect ingrained nutritional biases.

Health Indicators: A Comparison

Past Latest
Health Indicators
Performance Findings
Crude Birth Rate (Per
40.8 (1951) 25.0 (2002)
thousand population)
Crude Death Rate (Per
25.1 (1951) 8.1 (2002)
thousand population)
IMR (per thousand live 146 (1951–
64 (2002)
births) 61)
MMR (per 100000 live 437 (1992– 407 (1998)

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births) 93)
TFR (per woman) 6.0 (1951) 3.2 (1999)
10.4 (1970–
Couple Protection Rate 52.0 (2000)
71)
Life Expectancy at Birth (1951) (1996–2001)
Male 37.1 63.87
Female 36.1 66.91
Immunisation Status (%
(1985–86) (2003–2004)
Coverage)
TT (for pregnant women) 40 82.9
For Infants:
BCG 29 102.5
Measles 44 91.8
DPT 41 96.6
Polio 36 97.0

Source : Annual Report 2003–04, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI

Health system reforms

Health is a state subject. Faced with suboptimal functioning and resource limitations,
almost all state governments have introduced health system reforms. Several states have
obtained external assistance to augment their own resources for initiation of health sector
reforms. Almost all States have attempted introduction of user charges for diagnostics
and therapeutic procedures from people above the poverty line. The funds, thus,
generated could be used to improve the quality of care in the institution.

One of the major initiatives of the Ninth Plan was the Secondary Health System
Strengthening project funded by the World Bank in seven states (Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra,Orissa and Uttar Pradesh).The focus in
this project is on strengthening FRUs/CHCs and district hospitals to improve availability
of emergency care services to patients near their residence and reduce overcrowding at
district and tertiary care hospitals. The States have reported progress in construction
works, procurement of equipment, increased availability of ambulances and drugs
improvement in quality of services following skill upgradation training in clinical
management, changes in attitudes and behaviour of healthcare providers; reduction in
mismatches in health personnel/ infrastructure; improvement in hospital waste
management, and disease surveillance and response system.

Gender and HIV/AIDS

Held in June of 2001, the United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS introduced a
strong need to consider the gendered impact of HIV/AIDS, especially in developing
countries. In the last three years, the percentage of people infected with HIV who are

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women has risen from 41% to 47%, a higher rate of increase than that amongst men.
Women are biologically more prone to getting the virus from sexual contact than men —
the rate of infection from men to women is twice that of transmission in the reverse
direction — but several other factors including economic dependence, social and cultural
factors, bias in access to health care, lack of authority etc. further compound women’s
biological disadvantage (UNIFEM 2000).

In the case of India, it was found that only 36% of married women between the ages of
15-49 currently use modern contraception. (IIPS 1995). Studies have also found that,
even when knowledge of contraception techniques exists, factors such as place of
residence (state of residence and rural vs. urban), education, and religion are strongly
related to both fertility and contraceptive use. (Velkoff and Adlakha, 1998). Data shows
that Muslims have the lowest levels of contraceptive use while Sikhs have the highest;
urban areas had higher use than rural areas; and use increases with increasing education
levels (IIPS 1995).

There is thus a need to problematise the issue of HIV/AIDS beyond the medical
semantics to economic, social and cultural issues and, for the focus of this report, to
gender. The gendered impact of HIV/AIDS is said to be predominant due to several
factors:

Financial dependence on men is one aspect of an unequal power dynamic, which

means that women cannot control when, with whom and in what circumstances they
have sex.

Increasing poverty has forced many women to enter the commercial sex trade where
rates of infection are very high and the power dynamic between them and their clients
is imbalanced (see below).

Within culture and religious bounds, women are not expected to discuss or make
decisions about sexuality or ask for contraceptive use.

Being a sexually transmitted disease for the most part, incidences of HIV/AIDS
among women are often unreported for fear of the effects of such a disclosure on the
reputation of such women, who fear ostracism from their families and communities.

Cases of sexual abuse and domestic violence add to women’s subjugation. Refusing
unprotected sex, or sex in general, might also lead to sexual abuse and domestic
violence against women.

It has been found that the truck drivers are instrumental in carrying the HIV virus to rural
and outlying areas (Upadhyay 2000). 5% of truck drivers are infected with the HIV virus,
and more than 90% admit to visiting a prostitute at least once a week, with 68% of the
encounters occurring without the use of any contraception. Low-income male workers in

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urban areas in construction, transport and trade sectors have all been found to have
frequent encounters with prostitutes.

Increasing gender-sensitivity in health programmes

- Awareness raising about women’s, and specifically girls’, health problems is

needed to promote early recognition and treatment of illness among girls.

- Health delivery systems need to be designed to take account of limitations on

women’s flexibility in timing and mobility in attending health facilities.

- Family planning programmes need to promote a wider range of contraceptive

methods and follow up care. Women are rarely independent decision-makers; it is
vital to educate men regarding responsible family planning.

- Gender-sensitive AIDS awareness and behavioural change requires

decentralised peer group education, e.g. in existing women’s organisations in
literacy programmes, and among groups of men, to complement mainstream
public information campaigns.

Social sector policy, biases

Social sector policies, institutions and delivery systems are influenced by historical
legacies as well as by the interests of the various interest groups who influence state
resource allocation. Current ideology about the nature and causes of poverty, about the
role of the state in basic needs provision as well as prevailing views of gender roles and
relations, also shape social services provision.

Unless carefully conceived, social services provision can act to reinforce and reproduce
gender biases. Moreover, not all women are equally served by social sector provision;
biases also prevail according to region, location, class, caste and community. This
chapter and the following one on education provide ample evidence of such biases in the
Indian context.

To date, social sector spending has been characterised by certain biases. Firstly,
government subsidies have been concentrated in economic rather than social services,
tending to benefit private entrepreneurs and better-off farmers. Secondly, the share of
state allocations to health and education in Plan outlays have been declining steadily,
except for a recent (since 1985) rise in the share of education expenditure (see Table 2).
The share of health allocations continue to decline. Thirdly, social sector spending has
been biased towards urban areas and towards higher level services. As a result of
cumulative biases, social sector subsidies are mainly captured by relatively high income
groups. For example, only 20 percent of health subsidies and about 35 percent of water,
sanitation and housing subsidies reach the rural sector, where two thirds or more of the
Indian population lives

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The gender implications of these biases in funding have not been fully analyzed.
However, it is clear that biases towards higher level services are likely to favour men,
who, for example, form a progressively higher proportion of students at higher levels of
the education system. Moreover, the lack of provision in areas such as health, pre-school,
and lower levels of education, and water and sanitation, particularly in rural areas,
increases the work burden of women directly, reducing their possibilities for productive
employment and/ or taking a toll on their health in terms of reduced leisure and increased
workload. There is increasing emphasis on NGO and community participation in social
sector service delivery, and women are expected to play a key role within community
based provision, often as unpaid volunteers. However, women’s participation will be
constrained by their existing work burden, unless there are clear incentives and economic
or social benefits to women’s participation built into community-based service provision.

Health institutions and health policy

Recent government policies have taken a very top-down, centralised approach to try and
dictate family planning methods and their usage. Having historically used cash incentive
programs to promote terminal contraception, policies are now trying to enforce rules that
would disqualify persons who have more than two children from panchayats (local
village councils). A recent bill seeks to extend this to members of parliament who violate
the two-child norm. In June 1994, the Ministry of Labour tried to introduce amendments
to the Maternity Benefit Act to restrict benefits to those mothers who had two or fewer
children. Women’s groups argue that such policies do not change basic social biases
involving family planning and that the government needs to focus on interactive,
community-based education projects (that involve men and women) with adequate follow
up care to change patterns of contraceptive use.

Under government direction, the use of non-terminal family planning policies

(contraception, oral pills etc.) is increasing but is still nowhere near adequate levels.
Terminal procedures such as vasectomies for men and tubectomies for women are more
common, though the date on the numbers of procedures performed may be skewed due to
the government sponsored voluntary sterilisation drives of the late 1980s (Mayer 1999).
Regardless, terminal contraceptive procedures show a large gender bias. 93% of such
procedures are tubectomies, though vasectomies are less dangerous procedures that can
be performed just as easily. The focus of family planning policies on women has angered
women’s groups. They argue that focusing family planning policies on women ignores
the reality that women are usually not the decision makers in issues of fertility in a
patriarchal culture like India’s.

Further complaints leveled against the government’s family planning policies by

women’s groups highlight areas of concern. These include:

Government health care providers do not offer adequate information — if any at all
— on reversible, non-terminal contraceptive options to women because they do not
consider them to be responsible enough to be able to use them.

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 The use of injectibles and untested contraceptive methods, distributed without
adequate information or follow up care, has also drawn sharp criticism from women’s
groups.

The increasing use of sex-determination tests without any safeguards or legal

provisions, and the legalisation of abortions without first ensuring that adequate
facilities were available have both angered women’s groups who argue that the
government must build facilities and infrastructure to aid women to be able to take
responsible and informed education before dictating top-down policy that isn’t
appropriate to their reality.

It is also imperative that the government recognises that a pervasive preference for
the male child distorts the incentives for persons to respond to family planning
initiatives and, therefore, programs must account for this preference and educate
against it.

Insufficient research has been done to gain feedback from women of different groups
to find out what forms of contraception are more acceptable in their communities.
Tailoring family planning programs to the specific needs of communities is critical to
ensure their success. As an example, women’s groups point out that breast feeding,
accepted in almost all communities, has a contraceptive function and also helps in
increasing the gap between children but is never aggressively promoted in
government family planning programs.

There are a range of health service providers in India, including government services,
private practitioners and voluntary organisations. Whilst there has been considerable
investment in government health infrastructure, this has been heavily biased in favour of
urban curative services. At the same time, urban-rural differentials in hospital coverage
have widened (21 percent of hospitals were in rural areas in 1986 compared to 39 percent
in 1956) and intended coverage of primary health centres (PHCs) and sub-centres has not
been achieved. In 1987, there was one primary health centre per 40,215 population on
average, compared to a target of one per 30,000. In 1988, only 15 percent of PHCs
fulfilled the prescribed norms in terms of population coverage and supplies. There was a
particular shortage of lady health visitors (LHVs) suggesting that women’s health needs
specifically were being neglected. One recent study found that 7.1 percent of rural births
take place in government hospitals compared to 43.1 percent of urban births. Of home
deliveries, 9.4 percent were attended by medical personnel in rural areas, compared to
23.1 in urban areas.

Poor and worsening coverage and quality of care in government health services has led to
a mushrooming of the private health sector. In 1974, 16 percent of hospital beds were in
the private sector; by 1988 this figure had risen to 30 percent. Recent data suggest that
84 percent of expenditure on health is privately rather than state financed. All social
groups use private health care; the proportion of household health expenditure on private
care ranges from 72 percent in low income groups to 95 percent in high income groups.

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Voluntary agencies have also played a significant role in health provision and particularly
in promoting alternative models of community health care. There are an estimated 7,000
voluntary health organisations in operation in India. Government is increasingly
encouraging non-government health agencies to take on implementation of its
programmes.

Access to health care is affected by income level: one study found that low-income
households treated less than half of illness episodes compared to 60 percent in high-
income households; health spending formed only two percent of household expenditure
in high-income households compared to 10 percent in low-income households. Status
within the household, clearly affected by gender, also determines access to health care .

Health policy as stated in the Eighth Plan stresses the goals of Health for All by the year
2000 and health for the underprivileged. Prioritization of primary health care is another
theme. Beyond this, there is increasing promotion of both NGOs and the private sector
as alternative providers. The quality of care offered by non-government health care
providers and their ability to provide services to social groups currently excluded from
provision cannot be assumed but requires investigation. If to date, there has been a
failure to reach poor women in rural and urban areas, Dalits, tribals and Muslims, for
example, this cannot be assumed to be only a problem of state inefficiency, since private
and non-government actors have also been playing a major role in health provision for
some time.

Family planning is one area which has had an explicit and almost exclusive focus on
women. Growth in family planning expenditure, particularly since the mid-1960s, is such
that it is now almost equal to all other health expenditure put together. Moreover, family
planning is now the lead agency in public health provision. These funding and
organisational priorities reflect a dominant approach to women’s health in which women
are targeted primarily as child bearers. Recent widespread criticism of family
programmes has led to some modifications in the use of language relating to fertility
control and in the delivery of family planning services. However, approaches to family
planning based on women’s individual ‘right to choose’ need to address the limitations
on women’s control over and choices about their sexuality and reproductive behaviour.

Women’s health is also affected by their work. The relationship between work and
health is quite complex. The assumption that economic participation improves women’s
status and thus health is too simplistic; it may do so but only under specific circumstances
where they have control over increased earnings and feel the right to greater
consumption, for example. Whilst work can increase incomes and thus spending on food
and health care, this will not necessarily benefit women themselves. At the same time,
longer working hours and occupational hazards can impact negatively on women’s
health.

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Women’s consumption is inadequate, particularly among poor women, but they work
extremely long hours. Adolescent girls are often working 10 hours or more a day by the
age of 15. Boys are more likely to be compensated for their work with additional food.

Ill-health, poverty and poor working conditions form a vicious cycle with relatively
greater impact on women, who carry the burden of sickness in the family and are thus
often constrained to work in the unregulated sector. Women are exposed to a range of
occupational health hazards, from their domestic work as well as paid work and may be
especially prone to occupational hazards because of their concentration in unregulated
sectors. Specific occupational health hazards suffered by women include: bad posture;
damage to eyesight; respiratory problems and exposure to dust and toxic chemicals; and
forms of mental stress, anxiety and depression. Insufficient attention is paid to women’s
occupational health problems which are often dismissed as caused by other factors. With
the implementation of structural adjustment and the resulting likely expansion of
unregulated and unorganised forms of employment, the need for systems of monitoring
and protection for occupational health problems is increasing. Such systems would need
to address the gender-specific nature of occupational health problems.

Gender bias in access to health care

National survey data from 1990 found evidence of lower medical contact rates of female
than male children and that female children were the most disadvantaged group in the
household in this respect. The states with the largest gender differentials in medical
contact rates were Orissa, Haryana and Punjab. Other smaller-scale studies have shown
that female children are only one third of total children attending outpatient facilities; and
only 16.5 percent of children admitted to hospital. Of those who are admitted, girls are
more likely than boys to die, suggesting that they are only brought to hospital at an
advanced stage of illness. However, survival chances of girls vary by birth order: whilst
first sons and first daughters had roughly equal chances, the second plus daughter was at
much greater risk, indicating selective neglect as between female children. This indicates
that analysis of gender differentials in mortality and morbidity needs to contextualize
gender categories according to age, birth order, familial relationship etc.

At least four sets of factors conditions gendered access to health care, i.e. need;
permission; ability (including affordability); and availability. The extent of women’s
relative health needs has already been indicated, but evidence from elsewhere suggests
that the probability of girls’ illnesses being reported is much lower than boys; women are
socialised into accepting pain and suffering. In terms of permission, i.e. social factors
affecting access to health care by gender, women’s constrained mobility and literacy are a
disadvantage. Ability to access health care is limited by direct and opportunity costs, and
the lack of fit between the timings of clinics and hospitals compared to women’s
schedules. Poor women cannot afford to wait for long periods at government facilities so
they tend to use private health care for all but severe or chronic illnesses. The
availability of health care is restricted in terms of coverage and quality (see above)

129
especially in rural areas. Other issues here are the relevance of the care provided to
women’s needs; and the culture and attitudes prevailing in health sector institutions.
Many women, especially those from rural areas, find the health system quite alien. The
‘scolding’ attitude of medical staff also dissuades women from using health sector
institutions. Finally, medical staff often adopt communal or other biases, for example,
purveying the idea that Muslim women have too many children. This can lead to poor
communication between medical personnel and client, resulting in unnecessary health
risks. Awareness raising about women’s and specifically girls’ health problems may be
important to promote early recognition and treatment of illness among girls. Health
delivery systems need to be designed to take account of limitations on women’s
flexibility in timing and mobility in attending health facilities.

For a combination of these reasons, most women in rural areas continue to use home
remedies or local health systems. There has been some success in integrating allopathic
and non-allopathic medicine at local levels, but not on a broad institutional scale.
Meanwhile, ‘modernisation’ and environmental degradation may represent threats to
indigenous knowledge bases on health and health resources. Measures are required to
indigenous health resource and knowledge bases and to develop their potential, especially
among women.

Family planning

There has been a great deal of controversy over family planning programmes in India. In
some sections of the bureaucracy, among the elite and in some international agencies, the
rate of growth of the Indian population is perceived to be responsible for increasing
poverty, overcrowding, unemployment and so on. Others perceive poverty to be a cause
rather than a consequence of population growth, since poor families may have additional
children for security or as an economic resource.

Family planning investments are seen by some as a substitute for development and
structural change; vertical family planning programmes are relatively easy to implement,
compared to long term improvements in the economy, in health and so on. Due to their
primacy in funding and organisational terms, family planning programmes have been
diverting resources from other health care uses; for example, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives,
who are burdened with a wide range of health tasks at sub-centre level, are liable to focus
mainly on meeting family planning targets and neglect their wider primary health care
role.

The assessment here is that the impact of family planning programmes has been
relatively poor. There has been some success in increasing contraceptive usage, but
limited impact on the birth rate. Terminal methods have been widely adopted but tend
only to be used after family completion. Non-terminal methods have as yet made little
impact.

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A number of limitations of family planning programmes are presented, in relation to
information, attitudes, the methods promoted and the lack of a gender perspective.
Information tends to be limited to single methods, usually sterilization, rather than a
range of methods being presented, together with their relative advantages and
disadvantages. Here again, communal bias is prevalent: the widespread belief that
Muslims do not use contraception and therefore need to be specifically targeted by family
planning programmes is countered with evidence that, apart from markedly lower use of
sterilization and higher use of the oral pill, their pattern of utilization of contraception is
similar and overall only slightly below that of other religious groups. As regards
methods, breast-feeding requires more concerted promotion and support, for its
contraceptive effects and also nutritional benefits. This would require interventions in
the workplace to assist breastfeeding. Terminal methods have a controversial history.
Since the mass sterilization of men in camps in the 1970s, terminal methods have
subsequently focused almost exclusively on women; the proportion of tubectomies in
total sterilizations may be as high as 93 percent. Given that vasectomy is a comparatively
straightforward procedure, awareness raising and promotion to counter the negative
image of vasectomy is required. Similarly, barrier methods are rarely supplied to women
on the grounds that they are ignorant of how to use them; in reality the need for ongoing
supplies and monitoring (and therefore ongoing resources) may be the major constraint to
their promotion. Injectables have attracted a lot of criticism from women’s organisations.
They are considered to be under-tested, difficult to reverse and to have a range of
potentially dangerous side effects. The context of lack of care in which these, as well as
other contraceptive methods, are supplied, is a major problem in monitoring problems
with contraceptive use.

Family planning programmes need to promote a wider range of contraceptive methods,

including balanced information about them all. Breast-feeding, barrier methods and
vasectomy, in particular, need to be further encouraged. Follow up care needs to be
provided in conjunction with family planning services, to ensure proper use, avoid
complications and monitor for side-effects.

In spite of the current emphasis on women’s right to choose, there is a lack of recognition
of the constraints on women’s rights to choose over questions of their fertility and
sexuality. Women working in the formal sector are to be penalised under new
government legislation which will deny them maternity leave after the second child.
There is little recognition of the fact that women are rarely independent decision-makers.
It is just as important to educate men regarding responsible family planning and
reproductive decision making.

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State initiatives:

National Health Policy 2002: focuses on the need for enhanced funding and an
organizational restructuring of the national public health initiatives in order to facilitate
more equitable access to the health facilities, particularly of the disadvantaged sections of
society. It highlights the need for time-bound programmes for establishing a network of a
comprehensive primary health care service, extension and health education, mediation
through health volunteers, establishment of a referral system and encouraging private
initiative for providing health care facilities.
Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Programme: (first phase 1997-03, second
phase from 2003) aims at reduction of maternal and infant mortality, creation of
awareness about rights of population in health care and improvement in the heath care
delivery systems. Interventions for reducing maternal mortality and morbidity include the
promotion of safe deliveries in institutions and at home. The birth attendants are being
trained for conducting clean deliveries under RCH. Along with this, efforts have been
increased to address women’s health issues and concerns related to HIV/AIDS, TB,
Malaria, Leprosy and other communicable diseases. Visibility for men is also sought in
the RCH programmes.

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM): The NRHM (2005-2012) seeks to provide
effective health care to rural population throughout the country with special focus on 18
States, which have weak public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure. It aims to
undertake architectural correction of the health system to enable it to effectively handle
increased allocations as promised under the National Common Minimum Programme and
promote policies that strengthen public health management and service delivery in the
country. It seeks to revitalize local health traditions and mainstream AYUSH into the
public health system. It aims at effective integration of health concerns with determinants
of health like sanitation & hygiene, nutrition, and safe drinking water through a District
Plan for Health. It seeks to improve access to rural people, especially poor women and
children, to equitable, affordable, accountable and effective primary healthcare.

Family Welfare Programme: has adopted a Community Needs Assessment Approach

(CNAA) since 1997, through a decentralised participatory planning strategy. The
Department of Family Welfare has taken several new initiatives in the Ninth and Tenth
Plan Periods to shift the focus from individualized vertical interventions to a holistic and
life cycle approach giving priority to reproductive health care. The program as a part of
the RCH programme aims at reducing infant mortality rate to 30 per 1000 live birth and
maternal mortality rate to 100 per 100,000 live births by 2010. The major interventions
th
reiterated in the 10 Five Year Plan include 100 per cent registration of pregnant women,
essential obstetric care (around 67 per cent of the pregnant women received atleast one
antenatal checkup), 24 hour delivery services at PHCs and CHCs, screening for anemia,
promotion of safe delivery by trained personnel, etc. Also efforts are being made for
establishing male reproductive health centres to motivate men to accept family planning.
No scalpel vasectomy project was launched in January 1998 to promote male
participation in the family welfare programmes, due to which male sterilisations have
gradually increased from 1.8 percent in 1997 to 2.46 percent in 2002. The project has

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been implemented in 20 States.

National Population Policy 2000: recognises links between socio-economic

development and health. It affirms the commitment of the Government toward voluntary
and informed choice, consent of citizens while availing of the reproductive health care
services, and continuation of the target free approach in administering family planning
services. Adolescent girls have been recognised as a priority group in the National
Population Policy and the RCH programme.

The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act

1994 amended in 2003 seeks to prevent misuse of new technologies by bringing the
technique of pre-conception sex selection and use of mobile ultra sound machines within
the ambit of this Act and has made punishments more stringent. The Central Supervisory
Board constituted under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Health and Family Welfare
has been empowered for monitoring the implementation of the Act. Similarly State level
Boards have been constituted for monitoring implementation in the States. Around 2000
district level committees have been set up in all the States and UTs, and separate bodies
have been constituted for the Defence Services Medical Institutions. These apart from
granting/canceling registration of centers also enforce prescribed standards. The Indian
Medical Association in collaboration with UNICEF and NCW held a meeting of religious
leaders in 2001 at which sex selection was strongly condemned. The co-operation of
religious and spiritual leaders has been sought to create awareness about the rights of the
girl child and the resultant consequences of female foeticide. The Advocacy Strategy
formulated in 2002 for checking and preventing sex selection and termination of female
foetus is being implemented in partnership with several stakeholders. The Supreme Court
issued directions to the Centre, States and UTs in Centre for Inquiry into Health and
Allied Themes (CEHAT) vs. Union of India (R (2001) 5 sec 577) regarding monitoring
and effective implementation of the Act.

The recently introduced ‘Janani Suraksha Yojana’ scheme has the main objective of
reduction in maternal mortality/infant mortality by making available quality care in
essential and emergency obstetric services and by way of focusing at increased
institutional delivery in the BPL groups. The scheme focuses on tracking of pregnancy
from the beginning, identification of pregnancy-related complications, enhanced
assistance on delivery in a health institution, linking antenatal check up and mental care
and providing appropriate referral and transport assistance. Trained and Accredited
Social Health Activist (ASHA)/Trained Birth Attendant act as an effective link between
the field level Government machinery and intended beneficiaries, encouraging mental
care, institutional delivery and small family norms. The scheme is available to all women
from BPL families, of age 19 or above. Benefit is available upto two live births. Cash
assistance as provided to the mother on the birth of a child in a health institution
(institutional delivery) on a graded scale.

A number of activities have been undertaken in a concerted manner in States where the
decline in child sex ratio is significant. Government of India in collaboration with the
State Governments, Population Foundation of India, Plan India and other donor partners

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launched a national campaign against sex selection and pre-birth elimination of female
foetuses in eleven States namely Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh. Apart from taking stringent action, they include the use of decoy
customers, awareness raising through extensive use of multimedia, sensitization of the
medical community and appropriate authorities, the launching of the “Save the Girl
Child” campaign and appointing a high school topper, Ms. Aruna Kesavan, as its
ambassador for the campaign for 2004, etc.

The National Nutrition Policy (1993) and the National Plan of Action on Nutrition
(1995): The policy recognizing the multifaceted nature of the problem of malnutrition
recommended a multisectoral strategy at various levels. It includes both direct nutrition
interventions for specially vulnerable groups as well as indirect policy instruments for
creating conditions for improved nutrition, like ensuring food security, minimum wage
and equal remuneration, improving the public distribution systems, effecting land
reforms, etc. A National Nutrition Council has been set up under the Chairmanship of the
Prime Minister and an Inter-ministerial Coordination Committee under the
Chairpersonship of Secretary, DWCD for planning, coordinating, reviewing and
monitoring the implementation of nutrition measures. This inter-sectoral approach has
created a positive impact on the nutritional status of children below 6 years and expectant
and nursing mothers.

The National Nutrition Mission under the Chairpersonship of the Prime Minister was
set up in 2003 with the objective of addressing the problem of malnutrition in a holistic
manner and accelerating reduction in various forms of malnutrition. The Mission is also
responsible for providing policy direction and effective coordination of nutrition
programmes being implemented by the Government. A pilot project is being
implemented in 51 backward districts in the country where undernourished adolescent
girls, pregnant and lactating women are provided 6 kgs of wheat/rice per month free of
cost.

The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has taken several steps to prevent
discrimination of women with HIV/AIDS. NACO through its Prevention of Parent to
Child Transmission (PPTCT) program provides counseling to help pregnant women
make informed choices about childbirth, treatment, etc. Abortion is never forced on her,
nor is she forced to keep her child away from breast-feeding. It also emphasizes priority
to be given to women’s needs in treatment, their involvement and participation in
decision-making and supports the Positive Women Network+ (PWN+) which has
membership from across the country to fight for their rights and encourages legal
resources centers to take up cases in court pertaining to their right to health, property and
employment. The Greater Involvement of Positive People (GIPA) strategy emphasizes
involvement of HIV positive persons in decision-making processes.

Apart from the above initiatives, NGOs have been proactive in providing health
services, particularly in the areas of reproductive health and rights, checking and
preventing female foeticide and infanticide and HIV/AIDS. They are active in

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implementing programs related to drinking water and sanitation and hygiene. They are
also involved in empowering, mobilizing and organising women, raising awareness,
advocating for policy change and partnering with the Government in achieving the set
standards.

Public expenditure on health as percent of GDP and total Government expenditure has
declined from 5.3 per cent in 1997 to 5.1 percent in 2001 and 3.5 per cent in 1998 to 3.1
percent in 2001 respectively. The Government expenditure to total expenditure on health
has remained around 18 per cent during the same period. Private expenditure on health
has shown a significant increase, indicating a growing dependence of the population on
private health care facilities. Privatisation of health care would affect the most vulnerable
sections -the women, the poor and those residing in the rural and backward regions.

Impact of State Initiatives

The persisting adverse sex ratio has been an important concern to the nation.
There has been a marginal increase from 927 in 1991 to 933 in 2001. During the decade,
though there has been an improvement in sex ratio in both rural and urban areas, the sex
ratio in urban areas is considerably lower than in rural areas. There is significant variation
in sex-ratio across States. The sex ratios are more favourable for females in the Southern
and Eastern States than the Western and Northern States. Kerala continues to have a sex
ratio favourable to females (1036 & 1058 females in 1991 & 2001 respectively) as
against a low of 710 in Daman & Diu and 777 in Chandigarh. The other States having an
adverse sex-ratio include Haryana, Punjab, Sikkim and Delhi. Several States have also
recorded a decline in sex-ratio during the decade.

The incidence of malnourishment among women and children continues to be

widespread, the consequence of which is the high rate of morbidity and mortality among
them. According to the NFHS II, 1997-98, more than 50 percent of the ever-married
women and 75 per cent of children suffered from anemia. Women still lack access to the
daily per capita requirement of the recommended minimum nutrition. Nearly 60 per cent
of the women particularly pregnant and lactating women suffer from anemia. This is in
spite of self-sufficiency of food production which has not percolated to households with
low per capita income. A programme has been implemented since 1997-78 to treat
anemia and severe anemia among pregnant women, wherein they have been provided
with folic acid and iron tablets daily for 100 days. More than 90 percent of the
households under the poverty line consumed less than the average energy levels
th
according to the estimates of the NSSO’s 50 Round Survey on Nutritional Intake in
India.

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The morbidity pattern, according to the National Council for Applied Economic Research
Survey in 1995 indicated a prevalence rate of 103 per 1000 persons at the national level.
It was found to be higher among women in both urban and rural areas. Further, it was
seen to be highest among women in the 15-59 years age group, children below 5 years,
old people ( above 60 years). Morbidity prevalence was highest in the States of Kerala,
Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

Data from the National Cancer Registry Programme estimates the addition of about
800,000 new cancers cases in the country every year. Cancer sites associated with
tobacco form 35 to 50 per cent of all cancers in men and about 17 per cent of cancers in
women. These cancers are amenable to primary prevention and can be controlled to a
large extent..

From a comparison of the goals and achievements made by Government between 1996-
2000 on some of the indicators in health and family welfare programmes, it is seen that
the goals set have been achieved with respect to life expectancy at birth. Achievement is
close to fulfilment of the goal in relation to immunization of infants.
Challenges ahead

Women’s health is also related to the socio-cultural practices in the country. Women
continue to carry the heavy burden of work both within and outside the house, follow the
norm of eating last, have limited access to and control over resources, both tangible and
intangible, and decision-making powers within the household.

In spite of the various efforts made by the Government and other stakeholders to provide
equal access to health care for women and children, there are striking disparities in the
health status of women and children, particularly girl children. The disparities are higher
for those belonging to the SC/ST and minority sections of the society, those residing in
the remote rural and tribal areas, backward and conflict-ridden States and districts.

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 CHAPTER -9

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Violence against women and girls continues to be a global epidemic that kills, tortures,
and maims – physically, psychologically, sexually and economically. It is one of the most
pervasive of human rights violations, denying women and girl’s equality, security,
dignity, self-worth, and their right to enjoy fundamental freedoms. Violence against
women is present in every country, cutting across boundaries of culture, class, education,
income, ethnicity and age. Violence against women is a universal problem that affects all
countries, regardless of their degree of development, and occurs across all segments of
society. It is an ancient and universal problem occurring in every culture and social
group. Power inequalities between women and men and the masculine culture are the
major sources of this violence. In order to stop violence against women, it is increasingly
recognized that the focus of attention also needs to be directed toward men. Violence
against women is not an isolated or contingent problem, but one with deep structural
roots whose definitive solution will call for an ongoing effort from society as a whole.
Violence against women is a social phenomenon of many and varied dimensions. It is the
expression of a social order based on inequality, a result of the assignment of different
roles to women and men on the grounds of their sex and differential recognition of the
male role as superior. Violence, an expression of gender inequality, is therefore a mean to
which many men recur to maintain their privileges by subjugating women, with
devastating effects for the victims

Gender-based violence is indiscriminate. It cuts across racial, ethnic, class, economic,

religious and cultural divides. It affects women and men, girls and boys of all ages in
different ways. However, females are more often the victims than males, with girl-
children and women with disabilities facing the most challenges. Many forms of sexual,
physical, emotional and psychological violence are hidden, perpetuated in the privacy of
the home and unseen by the community. Other harmful traditional practices and forms of
socio-economic violence are structural and public.

There is a growing recognition that countries cannot reach their full potential as long as
women’s potential to participate fully in their society is denied. Data on the social,
economic and health costs of violence leave no doubt that violence against women
undermines progress towards human and economic development. Women’s participation
has become key in all social development programmes, be they environmental, for
poverty alleviation, or for good governance. By hampering the full involvement and
participation of women, countries are eroding the human capital of half their populations.
True indicators of a country’s commitment to gender equality lie in its actions to elim-
inate violence against women in all its forms and in all areas of life.

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Until the late 1980s and the 1990s, violence against women was a taboo subject of
discussion even in international fora analyzing the question of women’s rights. There
were in fact two phases with regard to the articulation of the international human rights of
women. The first phase, which culminated in the drafting of the Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, involved discussion of the issues relating
to “discrimination” against women in political and civil life as well as in economic, social
and cultural life. Except for the question of trafficking, issues relating to violence against
women were not included in the Convention. With a focus on discrimination in the
workplace, access to state services, and discrimination in family law, the Convention was
a major landmark for the international articulation of the rights of women.

It was only in the 1980s that violence against women became a focal point of
international mobilization. In 1991, the CEDAW Committee, responding to pressure
from women’s groups formulated recommendation 19, that articulated violence
against women as gender based discrimination covered by CEDAW. Women from
the grassroots from all over the world came together and mounted an international
campaign to make violence against women an important issue of human rights.
These activities culminated at the United Nations World Conference on Human
Rights that took place in 1993 in Vienna.

Domestic violence

Domestic violence will be understood to be any violence, physical, sexual and/or

psychological – in the last case, if reiterated – inflicted on the perpetrator’s spouse or
intimate partner or on people comprising the core family. In many cases, in particular in
the case of domestic violence inflicted on women, it occurs because the perpetrator is in a
position to wield permanent power over the woman in question.

Any definition of domestic violence must cover the following:

. • Infliction of physical, sexual and/or psychological violence.

. • Perpetration by the spouse or former spouse, partner, expartner or any
other person with whom the victim forms or had formed a similar relationship
(boyfriend/girlfriend) or by any other member of the family.
. • In the case of domestic violence inflicted on women, command of a
situation of permanent power by the perpetrator.
. • Regularity, i.e., reiteration of violent acts, in the event of psychological
violence.

Sexual violence

Any act in which a person is obligated, under coercion by one or several others, to bear or

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perform actions of a sexual nature may be termed sexual violence.

Any definition of sexual violence must cover the following:

. • Reference to any abusive act of sexual nature.

. • Violation of the person’s sexual freedom, infringing on his/her human
dignity.

Workplace violence

This type of violence refers to abusive behaviour engaged in by superiors in rank or peers
in the workplace, without the consent of the person on whom it is inflicted, creating an
intimidating, hostile or humiliating work environment for the victim and jeopardising
her/his job or interfering with her/his career.

Therefore, the elements that characterise workplace violence are:

. • Abusive behaviour.
. • Perpetration at workplace.
. • Infliction on a person without her/his consent.
. • Creation of an intimidating, hostile or humiliating work environment for
the victim.
. • Placement of her/his job in jeopardy and limitation of her/his possibilities
of promotion.

Two different forms of workplace violence are considered: sexual harassment and
bullying. The only characteristic differentiating the two is the sexual connotation inherent
in the former.

Nature and Forms of Domestic Violence ;

The domestic violence against women may be classified as under

–
.(a) Physical Violence
.(b) Emotional Abuse
.(c) Economic Abuse

Each of the above may take different forms and only the most common
forms which are frequently used by the perpetrators may be described as under –
(a) Physical Violence

The most common and frequently used forms of physical violence used

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against women are-

(i)Slaps (ii) beating (iii) pulsing (iv) Kicking (v) throwing objects (vi) beating with cane
(vii) Burning with rod (viii) holding with rope (ix) Sexual coercion or assault.
(b) Emotional Abuse :
The mental or emotional abuse of a woman may take the following forms –

(i) Using abusive language (ii) Insulting her in the presence of children, other member of
the family and relatives (iii) Blaming her for everything that goes wrong in the family
(iv) Charging her frequently on small and negligible issues (v) Making her feel guilty for
no fault of her (vi) Giving her verbal threats to use physical force (vii) Giving her threat
of divorce (viii) Treating her like a servant (ix) Keeping a strict watch on her movements
(x) Prohibiting her from meeting her friends and relatives (xi) Prohibiting her from
expression of her view on family matters (xii) Suspecting her for extramarital relations
(xiv) Using ugly and insulting language for her parents (xv) Insulting her for house-
keeping (xvi) Demeaning her family background (xvii) Criticising her for lacking
intelligence (xviii) Threatening her to commit suicide
(C) Economic Abuse

Following are the most frequently used forms of economic abuse against women – (i)
Preventing her from taking a job (ii) Forcing her to leave present job (iii) Not allowing
her to purchase things of her liking and choice (iv) Stopping her from access to resources
or money (v) Pressurising her to bring money from her parents and so on.

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA

Despite existence of a number of special legislations for providing protection to women,

the proportion of crime against women has deteriorated. Women continue to be victims
of various types of crimes.

Although Women may be victims of any of the crimes such as `Murder', `Robbery',
`Cheating', etc, only the crimes which are directed specifically against Women are
characterised as `Crime Against Women'. These are broadly classified under two
categories.

(1) The Crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

(i) Rape (Sec. 376 IPC)

(ii) Kidnapping & Abduction for different purposes (Sec. 363 - 373 IPC)
(iii) Homicide for Dowry, Dowry Deaths or their attempts (Sec. 302/304-B IPC)
(iv) Torture, both mental and physical (Sec. 498-A IPC)
(v) Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC)

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(vi) Sexual Harassment* (Sec. 509 IPC)
(vii) Importation of girls (upto 21 years of age) (Sec. 366-B IPC)
(* referred in the past as `Eve-Teasing')

(2) The Crimes under the Special & Local Laws (SLL)

Although all laws are not gender specific, the provisions of law affecting women
significantly have been reviewed periodically and amendments carried out to keep
pace with the emerging requirements. The gender specific laws for which crime
statistics are recorded throughout the country are
(i) Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
(ii) Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
(iii) The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 1979
(iv) Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986
(v) Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987

Reported Incidents of crime

A total of 1,40,601 incidents of crime against women were reported in the country
during 2003 compared to 1,43,034 during 2002 recording 1.7% decline during 2003.
These crimes had reported continual increase during the year 1999 to 2001 with values at
1,35,771, 1,41,373 and 143, 795 cases respectively and declined during 2002 and 2003
with 1,43,034 and 1,40,601 cases respectively. Andhra Pradesh, accounting for nearly 7.3
per cent of the country’s population, has accounted for 13.1% towards total incidents of
crime against women in the country by reporting 18,382 cases. Madhya Pradesh, with
nearly 5.9% share of country’s population has accounted for 10.3% of crime against
Women by reporting 14,547 cases during the year.

Crime Rate
The rate of crime has also declined by 2.9 per cent from 13.6 in 2002 to 13.2 during the
year 2003. Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi were the top three States in the
order of crime rate at 23.6, 23.0 and 22.1 respectively.

Trend Analysis

The crime head-wise details of reported crimes during 1999 to 2003 alongwith
percentage variation is presented in Table-. The crime against women has declined by
1.7 per cent over 2002 and increased by 3.6 per cent over 1999. The IPC component of
crimes against women has accounted for 93 per cent of total crimes and the rest 7 per
cent were SLL crimes against women.

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Table-
Proportion of Crime Against Women (IPC) towards total IPC crimes
Total IPC Crime Against women Percentage to total IPC
Sl.No Year
Crimes (IPC cases) crimes
1 1999 17,64,629 1,23,122 7.0
2 2000 17,71,084 1,28,320 7.2
3 2001 17,69,308 1,30,725 7.4
4 2002 17,80,330 1,31,112 7.4
5 2003 17,16,120 1,31,364 7.6
The proportion of IPC crimes committed against women towards total IPC crimes
have increased continually during last 5 years from 7.0 per cent in 1999 to 7.6 per cent
during 2003.

Crime head-wise analysis

Rape

Rape cases have reported mixed trend over last 5 years with an increase of 1.8 per cent
in the year 2002 over 2001 and a decrease of 3.2 per cent in the current year. Madhya
Pradesh has reported the highest number of Rape cases (2,738) accounting for 17.3%
total such cases reported in the country. However, Mizoram has reported the highest
crime rate 5.9 as compared to National average of 1.5. Rape cases have been
categorised as Incest Rape and other Rape cases.

Incest Rape
As compared to 1.7 percent decrease in Rape cases, Incest cases have declined by 16.3
per cent from 369 cases in 2002 to 309 cases in 2003. Madhya Pradesh (123) has
accounted for the highest 39.8 per cent of the total such cases in the country.

Rape Victims

Out of 15,847 reported Rape cases in the country, there were 15,856 victims of Rape.
8.3% (1,320) of the total victims of Rape were girls under the 14 years of age, while
11.3% (1,792) were teenaged girls (14-18 years). Nearly two-third (9,873) (65.5%) were
Women in the age-group 18-30 years. 2,811 victims (17.8%) were in the age-group
of 30-50 years while only 0.4 per cent were over 50 years of age.

Offenders were known to the victims in as many as 13,782 (87.0%) cases. Of these
neighbours were involved in 34.2% of cases (4,731 out of 13,782) and close relatives
were involved in 6.9% (949) cases. The State/UT/City-wise details are presented in
These cases have reported a decline to 8.3 per cent as compared to previous year

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(14,506). Rajasthan(1,750) has accounted for 13.2 per cent of the total cases at the
National level. Jammu & Kashmir with country’s share of 6.0% (797) cases has reported
the highest rate at 5.7 as compared to the National level rate of 1.2.
Rape: There is a growing demand for amendment of the narrow definition of rape in the
IPC and to delete the provision in the Indian Evidence Act (Section 155 (4)), where the
antecedent of the woman can impeach credibility of her evidence. The National
Commission for Women has reviewed the laws and has recommended a comprehensive
amendment regarding offences against women in the IPC to redress crimes against
women. Consultations are under way to amend the relevant Sections of Indian Penal
Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Evidence Act. A new scheme is also
being drafted by National Commission for Women to provide compensation to rape
victims.

The Supreme Court in various cases is convicting the accused based on the evidence of
the victim without seeking corroboration. In many cases, the Supreme Court, in addition
to penalizing the accused has been granting compensation for women (BodhiSattwa
Gautam -vs-Subhra Chakroborthy ( AIR 1996 SC 922), Chairman Railway Board -vs-
Chandrima Das ( AIR 2000 SC 988 ), Delhi Domestic Working Women’s Forum –vs-
Union of India {(1995 ) 1 SCC 14}. The Supreme Court has laid down certain guidelines
about the support that should be given to the women in rape cases.

Dowry Deaths
These cases have declined by 8.8% over the previous year (6,822). Out of the total such
cases reported in the country around 21.3% of such cases were reported from Uttar
Pradesh (1,322) alone followed by Bihar (909) (14.6%). The highest rate of crime (1.1)
was, however, reported from Uttaranchal as compared to the National average of 0.6
only.

Torture(Cruelty by Husband & Relatives)

‘Torture’ cases in the country have increased by 3.0 per cent over the previous year
(49,237). 16.1 per cent of these were reported from Andhra Pradesh (8,167). The highest
rate at 10.5 was reported from Andhra Pradesh as compared to the National rate at 4.7.

Molestation
Incidents of Molestation in the country have declined by 3.0 per cent over the
previous year (33,939). 20.8% of total such cases were reported from Madhya
Pradesh (6,848) which also reported the highest rate (10.8) as compared to the
National average of 3.1.

Sexual Harassment (Eve –Teasing)

The number of such cases have significantly increased by 21.4 per cent over the previous
year (10,155). Uttar Pradesh has reported 40.3 per cent of cases (4,970) followed by

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Andhra Pradesh 18.5 per cent (2,286). Haryana has reported the highest crime rate 5.5 as
compared to the National level rate of 1.2.
Sexual Harassment: According to the recorded data from the National Crime Records
Bureau, cases of sexual harassment are increasing. The existing provision in the Indian
Penal Code was found inadequate to address all forms of sexual abuse and harassment
that range from teasing, gestures, molestation to violent sexual abuse. The Supreme Court
in Vishaka's case (AIR 1997 SC 3011) has defined sexual harassment, which is in
accordance with the definition in General Recommendation 19 of the Convention, and
has laid down certain guidelines as preventive measures against sexual harassment at
work place and has directed employers to put in mechanisms at the work place. Pursuant
to the above judgement, Government has taken many steps to ensure compliance with the
law laid down by the Supreme Court (refer Article 11).

Importation of Girls
A decline of 39.5% in such cases were reported as only 46 cases were reported during the
year as compared to 76 cases in the previous year. Bihar alone has reported 37 cases
sharing 80.4% of the total such cases at the National level.

Crime Trends - (Special Laws)

Sati Prevention Act

The practice of Sati is on the wane in modern times. Still sporadically, cases under this
Act get reported. However, no such case from any of the State/UT was reported in the
country during the year 2003.

Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act

Cases under this Act have registered a decline of 16.5 per cent during the year as
compared to the previous year (6,598). 51.1% (2,839) cases were reported from Tamil
Nadu which also reported the highest crime rate of 4.5 as compared to the National
average rate of 0.5.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act

A significant decline of 58.4 per cent was noticed for cases under this Act as compared
to previous year (2,508). Andhra Pradesh with 909 cases has accounted for 87.2 per cent
of such cases at the National level. It has also reported the highest crime rate of 1.2 as
compared to the National average rate of 0.1 only.

Dowry Prohibition Act

The cases under this Act have declined by 4.6 per cent as compared to the previous
year(2,816). More than one fourth (26.3%) cases were reported from Bihar (706)

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 followed by Orissa (412) which also reported the highest crime at 1.1 compared to
0.3 at National level.
Dowry and dowry death: Demanding and taking dowry is treated as a crime and the
Dowry Prohibition Act has been amended in the years 1984 and 1986 and the
Criminal Law also has been amended correspondingly. The details have been
furnished in the Initial Report (Para 369 and 370). There has been a slight decrease in
the incidence of harassment for dowry and dowry deaths in the year 2002-2003. The
practice of dowry continues despite the law, as it continues to enjoy social sanction.
Unemployment and greed for materialistic gains and overemphasis on marriage for
women are making them more vulnerable to dowry harassment
Cross Border Trafficking

Inter-country trafficking in the SAARC region has assumed large dimensions in the
recent past. Globalisation, economic disparities between the countries, development of
modern means of transportation, lack of employment opportunities, demands for
entertainment industries etc, has given rise to cross border trafficking. Cross border
trafficking also gives rise to the conflict of immigration laws vis-à-vis the rescue and
rehabilitation of the woman. Government has created a favourable policy environment for
such activities. Government in its National Policy for the Empowerment of Women
(2001) has undertaken to lay a special emphasis on the programs and measures to deal
with women in difficult circumstances. Asian Development Bank recently completed its
project with the Government of India, Bangladesh, and Nepal to assess the magnitude of
the problem and to devise methods of combating trafficking in women and children.

Sexual harassment of women

The Supreme Court in the Vishakha Vs State of Rajasthan case in August 1997
considered provisions in CEDAW to address sexual harassment at the workplace. It laid
down guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace by holding that actual
molestation or even physical contact is not required for it to be construed as sexual
harassment, if the background of the entire case establishes the genuineness of the
complaint. The significance of the Supreme Court ruling was that CEDAW, though not
directly part of domestic law, could be used by the Indian courts to shape national laws.

The Supreme Court of India has passed an order in April 2004 according to which the
Complaints Committee as envisaged by the Supreme Court in Vishakha judgement will
be deemed to be an inquiry authority for the purposes of Central Civil Services (Conduct)
Rules, 1964 and the report of the Complaints Committee shall be deemed to be an inquiry
report. Taking into account the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Vishakha case, the
Government of India is actively considering enactment of a law for prevention and
redressal of sexual harassment of women at the work place. Rape laws are under scrutiny
following the report of the Justice Malimath committee (2003).

Progressive legislation in the context of personal laws has endeavoured to make Indian
family law more gender just. Positive developments include the passing of the: Indian
Divorce (Amendment) Act, 2001:

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 amended to remove gender inequality and to do away with procedural delays in
obtaining divorce;

Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act 2001: enabling the applicants to apply for
maintenance and education of minor children to be disposed of within 60 days from the
date of service of the notice to the respondent;
Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act 2003: aggrieved wife may file petition in the district
court within local limits of whose jurisdiction she may be residing;
Indian Succession (Amendment) Act, 2001: enables a Christian widow to get a share in
the husband’s property even in the absence of a will.

The Hindu Succession Act is also being amended to grant coparcenary rights to women.

Violence against women

Statistics on the incidence of total crimes committed against women to the total crimes in
India has shown that the incidence of crimes against women has increased from 135771
in 1999 to 140601 in 2003. However the proportion to the total crimes has marginally
declined from 2.76 percent in 1999 to 2.56 percent in 2003. The increase in the number
of cases of crime reported is due to the fact that increasing legal awareness has enabled
people to access the redressal system. Four pronged strategies have been adopted to
address violence, i.e., (a) legislative action, (b) training and awareness, (c) support
service, through crisis intervention and rehabilitation center, crimes against women cells,
strict enforcement of poverty alleviation programmes, enhanced opportunities for
education of girls, proactive measures by enforcement machinery with participation of
NGOs and (d) action at social level such as encouraging NGOs to generate public opinion
on law enforcement agencies, self help groups of women, organizing gender awareness
week, etc. All women police stations have been set up in 14 States to facilitate in the
reporting of crimes against women. Help line cells in police stations have been set up to
address calls regarding incidence of violence against women. Voluntary Action Bureaus
and Family Counseling Centers have been set up in police stations to provide counseling
and rehabilitative services to women and children who are victims of family
maladjustment. Special Courts, viz., Family Courts and Fast Track Courts have been set
up and some courts are exclusively meant to address crimes against women. Gender
sensitization of enforcement agencies especially the police and the judiciary is being
imparted periodically.

. Domestic Violence: In addition to the Indian Penal code, a new law on domestic
violence, ‘Protection from Domestic Violence Bill, 2002’ had been introduced in the
th
Parliament on 8 March 2002 to address the hitherto hidden form of violence against
women in the domestic sphere. This Bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing
Committee, since there were objections by women’s group. The Committee has given its
recommendations, but no further action could be taken on this bill as Parliament
dissolved in February 2004. The present Government has committed to enact a law on
domestic violence. A new Bill has been drafted taking into consideration the views of
women’s groups and is likely to be introduced soon.

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Female infanticide and foeticide: Female infanticide exists in some parts of the country.
The reason for this practice is the preference for sons to daughters. Amniocentesis and
Sonography are often used to determine the sex of the unborn child and is misused to
abort the female foetuses. Another major concern is the adverse sex ratio, which is
declining sharply in some states, viz. Punjab, Harayana and Delhi. Government has
enacted ‘The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex
selection) Act, 1994’ (PNDT) which has been amended in 2003, to prevent misuse of
scientific techniques and to prohibit clinics from revealing the sex of the foetus.

Factors Contributing to Violence against Women and Girls

Some of the factors that foster an environment of violence against women include:
. • attitudes in society that define women as inferior, the property of men or
emotional and irrational;
. • a preference for sons over daughters for cultural or economic reasons;
. • the perception that women ‘deserve’ punishment for perceived faults such
as bad housekeeping, ‘nagging’, ‘unwomanly’ conduct or actual or suspected infidelity;
. • alcohol abuse;
. • the perception that violence against women is a private matter and should
not be talked about outside the family;
. • the failure of police and other authorities to act when violence is reported;
. • high rates of acquittal by courts by those accused of such violence;
. • an acceptance as a reasonable defence of violence that the victim has
ruined her own or her family’s honour;
. • ‘cautionary’ rules of evidence, i.e. advising the jury in a case to treat
women’s evidence with caution on the premise that they habitually lie about sexual
matters;
. • traditional practices that continue even when there are laws against them;
. • the perception that women can be thrown out of the marital home if their
husband no longer wants to live with them;
. • imposing strict dress codes for women or prohibiting them from public
places, with punishment for failure to conform;
Consequences of Gender-based Violence
Gender-based violence adversely affects victims, family members, perpetrators,
communities and states on profound emotional, physical, psychological and economic
levels. It accounts for more death and ill health among women ages 15 to 44 worldwide
than cancer, obstructed labour, heart disease, respiratory infections, traffic accidents and
even war.

Some of the consequences of gender-based violence include feelings of hopelessness and

isolation, guilt and depression, or suicide. The more severe or longer term the abuse and
violence the greater the impact on women’s autonomy, sense of worth and ability to care
for themselves and their children. In concrete terms, it may lead to bruises, cuts, broken
bones or limbs, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (including
HIV/AIDS), permanent disabilities or death. Rape and domestic violence are major
causes of disability and death among women of reproductive age in both developed and

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developing countries. In developing countries, it is estimated that gender-based violence
accounts for 5 per cent of the healthy years of life lost to women of reproductive age .
In addition, victims may also suffer from a loss of human potential and wages,
resulting in personal economic hardship and depressed overall development. Violence –
and the threat of violence – reduces women’s and girl’s opportunities for work, their
mobility and their participation in education and training, community activities and wider
social networks. If women are prevented by violence from developing their full potential,
this has serious implications for the development of the country as a whole
Children who are abused “are wounded in their self-esteem; they feel dirty, ashamed,
they lose faith in others”, Childhood sexual abuse has also been shown to be a predictor
of a number of negative behaviours, including drug and alcohol abuse, early sexual
initiation, multiple sexual partners, unprotected sex and prostitution. Girls’ education is
often affected as well as they may become pregnant and be expelled from school.

Physical health outcomes

Injury (from lacerations to fractures to internal organ injury), unwanted pregnancy,
gynaecological problems, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS,
miscarriage, pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pelvic pain, headaches, permanent
disabilities, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, self-injurious behaviour (smoking,
unprotected sex), suicide, homicide, maternal mortality.

Violence against anyone is unacceptable. Violence experienced by women, however,

particularly intimate partner violence and sexual assault, represents a unique aspect of the
wider social problem of violence, and requires specific attention and solutions. Individual
experiences of violence against women must be assessed against the backdrop of
historical, social, political, cultural and economic inequality of women.

Violence against women in society seriously affects the ability of women to achieve
equality. It is not only the incidence of violence against women which limits women’s
lives, but the fear of violence which affects their daily existence, how they dress, where
they go, with whom they associate, and their mode of transportation. Violence against
women continues to be a significant and persistent social and economic problem in India
with serious impacts on our health, justice and social services systems.

The focus on violence against women does not deny or diminish the rate of violence
against men; however, as these indicators demonstrate, women represent the vast
majority of sexual assault victims and spousal assaults experienced by women tend to
be more severe overall, more frequent, and cause more serious physical injury and
psychological harm.

Enforcement

Law and order and criminal matter is a State subject under the Constitution and therefore
the State Governments are directly responsible for dealing with the enforcement

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machinery which are registering, investigating, detecting and preventing crimes against
women. The Central Government has initiated a number of measures to check such
crimes. Apart from legislative changes in the relevant Acts, instructions/ guidelines have
been issued from time to time to the State Governments/Union Territories to effectively
monitor and enforce legislations relating to crimes against women. The Minster for
Human Resource Development had written during August 2000 to all State Home
Ministers stressing the need for including gender sensitization module as a component of
training courses for enforcement machinery in the State Police Training Academies and
also on the need for gender sensitization of Judiciary.

Preventive Measures: The Government is strengthening the existing legislation and

developing institutional machineries (all women police stations, gender sensitisation of
law enforcement personnels, creating legal awareness, creating neighbourhood groups by
involving civil society, etc) through extensive research and review. It is also running
projects that provide support to vulnerable women (short stay homes, hostels for working
women, etc) and rehabilitation of victims of violence. The Central Social Welfare Board
is implementing the scheme of Family Counselling Centres to provide preventive
rehabilitative services for women and children who are victims of atrocities and family
problems. Family Counselling Centres are running in the District Police Headquarters in
different states and 19 Family Counselling centres are functioning in police headquarters
at Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal, Orissa, Tripura, Pondicherry, Assam, Karnataka, Manipur,
Goa, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil
Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, which provide legal aid and run help lines.

Crimes against women's cells have been set up in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab,
Orrissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karantaka, Madhya
Pradesh and in the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi and Pondicherry. Special
Courts have been established to deal with crimes against women. In the year 2001, which
was observed as Women Empowerment Year, Secretary,DWCD had written to all State
Governments to set up District Level Committees headed by the District Magistrates to
review and monitor cases of crimes against women. 12 State Governments, viz., Andhra
pradesh., Chattisgarh, Daman & Diu, Harayan, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, and Uttar Prasesh have reported to have set up such
Committees. The Central Government has also initiated steps to organise an effective
campaign to sensitise the public about violence against women and has initiated action to
compile and collate statistical information pertaining to crimes against women on rape,
causing miscarriage, harassment both mental and physical in a marital relationship and
offences relating to marriage, dowry death, molestation, kidnapping and procuration of
minor girls.

State initiatives

The discriminatory provisions of law are being progressively reviewed by several bodies,
such as the Law Commission, the Legal Department, DWCD, National Commission for
Women and National Human Rights Commission. The National Commission for Women
is continuously reviewing the existing laws that are discriminatory. Some of them are:

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The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, The
Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, The Commission of Sati
(Prevention) Act, 1987; The Guardians and Wards Act, 1860; Indian Penal Code, 1860;
The Christian Marriage Act, 1872; The Indian Succession Act, 1925; The Child Marriage
Restraint Act, 1929; The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937; The
Factories Act, 1948; The Minimum Wages Act, 1948; The Employees State Insurance
Act; The Special Marriage Act, 1954; The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; The Hindu
Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956; The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956;
The Hindu Succession Act, 1956; The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961; The Foreign
Marriage Act, 1969; The Indian Divorce Act, 1869: The Medical Termination of
Pregnancy Act, 1971; The Bonded Labour System ( Abolition ) Act, 1979; The Equal
Remuneration Act, 1976; The Contract Labour ( Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1979; The
Family Courts Act, 1984; Juvenile Justice Act, 1986; National Commission For Women
Act, 1990; The Inter-State Migrant Workmen ( Regulation of Employment and
Conditions of Service) Act, 1979; The Pre Natal Diagnostic Technique (Regulation and
Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994; The Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant
Foods ( Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution ) Act, 1992. Of the 41
legislations having a bearing on women, the NCW has reviewed and suggested
amendments to the discriminatory measures in 32 Acts. A Task Force on Women and
Children headed by a Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission further examined these
recommendations of the Commission in respect of 14 Acts in detail and amendments
have been effected in a few enactments. The Department of Women and Child
Development has suggested amendments to the Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, Indecent
Representation of Women (Prostitution) Act, 1986 and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act,
1956. The Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed amendments to certain sections
relating to Rape in IPC, Indian Evidence Act and the Criminal Procedure Code. The
Government has proposed to amend Section 66 of Factories Act, to facilitate night shift
work for women also. An Inter-Ministerial Committee including NCW and NGOs
working in this field has been constituted in May 2005 to review existing laws to address
discrimination and ensure equality to women.

Challenges Ahead

The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001) has recognized that all
forms of violence against women, physical and mental, whether domestic or societal
including those arising from customs or traditions shall be dealt with effectively with a
view to eliminating its incidence. Institutions and mechanisms/ schemes for assistance
will be created and strengthened for prevention of such violence, including sexual
harassment at work place and customs like dowry, rehabilitation of victims of violence
and for taking effective action against the perpetrators of such violence. The Policy
commits to take effective measures to prevent all forms of violence including sexual
harassment, customs like dowry and trafficking of women and girls. The Government is
drafting a National Plan of Action to implement the above National Policy. This plan will
focus on creating support infrastructure to compliment legislative efforts and on creating
a conducive environment for women for reporting cases related to violence against them.

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Gender sensitivity among policy makers will be strengthened along with the awareness
on the prevention of atrocities on women

Despite the constitutional mandate of equal legal status for men and women, the same is
yet to be realized. The dejure laws have not been translated into defacto situation for
various reasons such as illiteracy, social practices, prejudices, cultural norms based on
patriarchal values, poor representation of women in policy-making, poverty, regional
disparity in development, lack of access and opportunity to information and resources,
etc. The Government in many of its initiatives through the National Empowerment Policy
of Women, 2001, gender budget, Women Component Plan and various schemes has
attempted to bridge the gap between the promise in the Constitution and the Convention
and the defacto situation.

Many State Governments have initiated several measures against trafficking. The states
of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have initiated special rehabilitation
measures for Devadasis. Andhra Pradesh has adopted a State Policy on trafficking of
women and children and Bihar has established a State Action Plan for the welfare and
rehabilitation of trafficked women and children. Madhya Pradesh has launched a scheme
'Jabali' that focuses on welfare and development of trafficked women and children.
Maharashtra has set up 50 Family Counselling Centres and a Monitoring Committee to
monitor the working of children's homes. Tamil Nadu has taken many steps against
trafficking viz., created the Anti Vice Squad to deal with trafficking, set up District
Advisory Committee and Village level watch dog committees, social defence welfare
fund for women and children and their rehabilitation, mapping of trafficking in terms of
source, transit and destination points and creation of crisis intervention centres to prevent
child abuse. West Bengal has established homes for HIV infected persons exposed to
commercial sexual exploitation. Goa has enacted the Goa Children's Act, 2003 providing
for stringent control measures to regulate access of children to pornographic materials.

The enforcement machinery, the police and the judiciary are being made sensitive to deal
with this issue. Various training and orientation programmes are being conducted with
the police, to create awareness about the legal provisions and the gender perspective.
Sensitisation meetings are being organised with the judiciary and a manual is being
prepared for the judiciary and the police to deal with the cases under the Prevention of
Immoral Traffic Act.

Civil Society

Civil society organisations are also being encouraged to undertake various schemes
sponsored by the Government. Many NGOs are running shelter homes and are involved
in rescue and rehabilitation of these women. They are working at grass root level
providing support to women in prostitution and the trafficked women in terms of
strengthening the voice of the vulnerable section economically and to secure their rights
as individuals and also in HIV /AIDS prevention programmes.

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 RECOMENDATIONS

1. Since legal measures cannot exist in a vacuum, a supportive enabling environment

conducive to the application of the law must be created, e.g., birth and marriage
registration in relation to early marriage laws. In spite of numerous laws which currently
exist, implementation and enforcement of these laws are often weak. Measures to
strengthen the implementation and enforcement of laws are essential and these could
cover:

2. Strong action should be taken against law enforcing authorities and agencies
involved in cases of trafficking, rape, torture, extortion or any other form of violence.
Strong and effective measures on the part of the government is urgently needed and
NGOs are to play an appropriate role in this regard.

3. While laws and legal measures are important preventive and protective
instruments, there should not be over-dependence on the law; furthermore, in the
interpretation of the law, there could be occasions where the spirit of the law should be
considered.

4. Relevant training should be imparted to concerned personnel – medical, police,

legal and judiciary, etc., and such training should be undertaken as early as possible to
increase receptivity. Training should cover gender-sensitization for attitudinal change and
specific training related to handling of violence against women incidences. Such training
should as far as possible be integrated into existing training programmes. Training
manuals tailored to particular target groups could be produced for standardized and
sustained training. CEDAW should be included in the curriculum of law schools.

5. Shelters and crisis centres should be established in strategic locations and these
centres should try to offer “one-stop” service (covering for example medical, counselling,
legal and economic assistance) by governments and NGOs.

6. Investigation desks should be established at every police station so that women

and girls can report acts and file charges of violence against them in a safe, confidential
and enabling environment free from fear of penalties or retaliation.

7. Customary or traditional practices that are inherently violent and infringe upon
the personal integrity and human rights of women should be reviewed and challenged.

8. Strong action has to be taken against inimical local practices such as any fatwa
which is being used to victimize women. Illegal practices like child marriage and
polygamy are to be stopped by the respective countries in the region.

9. The prevailing concept and ideology of support services and counselling with the
view to preserving the integrity of the family unit should be examined as reconciliation
could sometimes result in VAW victims returning to the situation in which further harm

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could be inflicted.

10. At the institutional level, coordinating mechanisms to combat violence against

women such as a task force or national committee on violence against women should be
established. A plan of action should also be formulated, identifying priority concerns,
remedial measures, implementation bodies and mechanisms, and the time-frame for
action. Institutional mechanisms (such as national women’s rights commission) should be
established for legal reform, and for overseeing implementation of laws.

11. Community-based groups should be mobilized both to prevent and remedy, as

well as serve as watchdogs and monitors against violence against women. In this regard
to maximize people’s participation, the process of democratization and decentralization
should be promoted.

12. The participation of women in decision-making in the political process and

governance play an important role in promoting the interests of women and in this regard,
measures like affirmative action to increase the participation of women in this process
should be encouraged.

13. Networking and the strengthening of linkages should be promoted among:

women’s NGOs women’s NGOs and NGOs in other sectors, e.g., development, children
and youth NGOs, the government sector, research institutes (especially women’s studies
centres) and related members of civil society

14. Particular attention should be paid to strengthen the linkage between the women’s
movement and the national machinery (focal point) for the advancement of women, while
not prejudicing the advocacy and watchdog roles of NGOs.

15. Since many studies and activities have been undertaken on the subject of violence
against women, a repository of available information should be established, preferably
within existing national and subregional facilities.

16. Create an environment of accountability of police towards all people in the

community, not just those with power and influence or those from the same caste or
community. Ensure that people from all caste and ethnic groups are given opportunities
for entry, training and promotion with police forces so that all sections of society are
represented in all levels of the police. In order to ensure this, urgent consideration should
be given to reform of the police system as it exists;

17. Conduct proper and regular gender sensitisation and orientation courses for police
personnel of all levels, irrespective of gender. Individuals from other backgrounds who
have a role in ensuring the rights of women should be invited to address police and
provide information on their roles and experiences in dealing with women victims of
violence -- these can include non-governmental organizations, counsellors and health
professionals.

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18. Provide mandatory training to all judges, magistrates, lawyers and public
prosecutors to enhance their understanding of violence against women, its causes and
consequences. Programs of gender-sensitization and awareness-raising should be
integrated and made mandatory through continuing legal education seminars or
workshops for judges

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 CHAPTER -10

GENDER –OTHER SECTORAL ISSUES

Women and Environment

Women and environment has been a global concern since the 1990s, and sustainability
the underlying yardstick to assess the translation of policy concerns to the grassroot level.
Achieving sustainability at a local level requires a balancing of the imperatives of
livelihood with those of ecological preservation. In rural India, over 96% of households
use bio-fuels, 39% of fuel wood is collected from forests, 62% of households collect
water from lakes, handpumps or wells, and 90% lack toilet facilities. Women have
traditionally been responsible for subsistence and survival tasks which include collecting
water, fuel wood and fodder. Time and energy spent on household maintenance has direct
implications for other activities. Women’s livelihood and health are both directly affected
by the quality of rural environment and by the technology in use.

Programmes and policies that recognize the link between women's well being and
environmental health cut across various sectors and include initiatives in forestry, water
supply, rainwater harvesting, sanitation, natural resource management etc. Several
programmes have been initiated over the decade of the 90s including programmes for the
removal of waste, land development, fuel and fodder production, minor forest produce
and aerial seeding. The major environmental problems sought to be addressed relate to air
and water pollution, degradation of common property resources, threats to biodiversity,
solid waste disposal and sanitation. The Tenth Five-Year Plan emphasises the sustainable
use of resources. The emphasis placed by the plan on governance has encouraged
administrative measures like reservations in all sectors. The plan lays a particular
emphasis on water supply and increase in forest and tree cover.
The nodal agency for activities relating to environment is the Ministry of Environment
and Forests. Gender sensitive resource managementis encouraged through several
schemes. Reservations have been made for women to ensure their involvement. The
implementation strategy seeks to ensure that programme benefits reach women, and to
institutionalise and deepen their participation in the decision making process at grass
roots level.
Some important initiatives include:
Women’s participation has been built into the Joint Forest Management (JFM)
Committees which are grassroot level institutions for conservation, protection and
management of degraded forests. At least 50% of the members of the JFM general
body are required to be women, and at least 33% of the membership in the JFM
Executive Committee/ Management Committee is to be filled by women.
In order to improve general cleanliness and also protect the dignity of women of poorer
sections, construction of toilet complexes is being emphasised under the National
River Conservation plan. Construction of more than 3600 toilets in the states has been
taken up.
Gender issues relating to forestry are given special focus in the training of Indian

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 Forest Service officers.
Women’s participation is encouraged in community resource management and
watershed programmes.
Rural women living below the poverty line are provided with financial assistance to
raise nurseries in forest lands
The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources is implementing several
programmes to benefit women by reducing drudgery and providing better and
convenient systems for cooking and lighting.
Environmental education programmes supported by the Department of Education play
an important role in creating awareness and seeking local specific solutions to
environmental problems.
New initiatives to improve urban environment, especially water and sanitation,
emphasise partnerships between private, community and government agencies.

Community based initiatives

There has been a long history of community participation in resource management in
India,andpracticessuchaspreservingsacred groves around temples have been ways of
ensuring forest cover. The Jamatia Tribals of Killa village in south Tripura, collectively
own forests called Asha Van or forests of hope and have rules that govern extraction of
resources. Women take an active part in protecting the forests. Similarly the Khasis in
Meghalaya and Maities of Manipur maintain and preserve forests as abodes of their
ancestors and as forest gods. Many such practices and traditions have fallen into disuse
with industrial development. However, it is increasingly recognised that effective
resource regeneration needs to be community-led.

Degradation of Natural Resources

Women have traditionally played an important role in managing and protecting natural
resources and their access to natural resources like land, forest and water, especially for
tribal and other disadvantaged groups of women are significant factors. With increasing
commercialization and corporatisation of management of these resources, however,
women are being marginalized from their traditional roles and access, which very clearly
has an adverse impact on the sustainability of these resources themselves, apart from
increasing women's vulnerability in the struggle for survival. The increasing pressure for
access to these resources also has an adverse impact on women in the family, with the
incidence of violence increasing.

Initiatives for the development of natural resources must not be at the cost of livelihoods
and means of survival of large number of indigenous populations and communities
dependant on these resources. Women are major contributors in these economies and
bear the brunt of these developments. They are also increasingly the victims of violence
in instances of a conflict of interest between the state and the users.

The Uttaranchal Van Panchayat rules were revised in 2001, and women are represented
on these committees. Many women’s groups (Mahila Mangal Dals) have been organised

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in Uttaranchal apart from Van Panchayats, to protect and use civil forests outside the Van
4
Panchayat based on consensus decision-making.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests constituted a task force in June 2003. The task
force comprised of ten members from various fields. Both the Minister for the
Environment and the Minister for Health are represented on this, and it aims to bring
together health and environmental experts and address the health impacts of
environmental change. The task force has decided that it will address women and
children as a priority, and seek to ensure that they are educated on environmental health
risks, such as those resulting from the kitchen smoke to which women are always
exposed.

Given theTenth Plan objective of achieving 25 per cent tree/forest cover as one of the
monitorable targets for the Plan, an ambitious afforestation programme has been
launched through the National Afforestation and Eco-development Board. All existing
afforestation schemes have been converged under this programme and are being
implemented through decentralised forest development agencies(FDA)set up at the forest
division level. The FDAs are a confederation of the Joint Forest Management Committee
(JFMC) at the village level, and thus provide an organic link between the forest
department and communities.

Land Rights for Women

Very strong gender inequalities exist in various inheritance laws, especially in land
reform laws passed by various states. In a number of North Western States, including
Haryana, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, the
land inheritance devolves on male lineal descendants and consequently, widows and
daughters inherit only in the absence of male heirs. In Uttar Pradesh section 171 of the
Zamindari Abolition Act bars any female child from inheritance of agricultural land. In
some States women cannot even buy agricultural land because of the absence of land
records to prove their rights as Agriculturists

The explanation for the neglect of forestry and women is obvious. Development has
concerned itself with producing surplus for the market economy, and because natural
forests are used by the poor and tribals for their consumption needs, and women remain
involved in the subsistence rather than the cash sector of the economy, both were not able
to attract serious attention from the planners. While forests were conceived only in terms
of supplier of raw material for industry, the interest of women was considered subsumed
within the family. In almost all schemes for the rural poor the family approach was
adopted under the assumption that benefits to the head of the family, who is assumed to
be a male, will percolate down to women and children.

While it is now universally accepted that identifying the interest of the family with its
male head exhibits a gender bias, there is no unanimity as regards how one should
explain the relationship between women and natural resources. Shiva (1986)

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conceptualises the link between women and the environment mainly in ideological terms.
Her argument is that there are important connections between the domination and
oppression of women and the domination and exploitation of nature. Because the
domination of women and of nature have occurred together, women have a particular
stake in ending the domination of nature.

Thus it is simplistic to argue that ‘women, qua women, are closer to nature or more
conservationist than men. Rather, poor peasant and tribal women's responses to
environmental degradation can be located in their everyday material reality - in their
dependence on natural resources for survival and the knowledge of nature gained in that
process. People's relationship with the environment is rooted not just in ideas but also in
their material reality. Hence, insofar as there is a class (caste/race)-based division of
labour, property and power, these factors structure the effects of environmental change on
people and their responses to it. For instance, in poor peasant households, women are
usually the worst affected by environmental degradation while also often possessing a
special knowledge of plant species and processes of natural regeneration, since it is they
who typically collect and gather from forests and village commons, and in high male-
outmigration areas are also often the main cultivators. But women, who are no longer
dependent on or in contact with the natural environment in the same way, will neither be
so affected nor so knowledgeable about species-varieties. In this conceptualisation,
therefore, the link between women and the environment lies in the interactive effects of
ideology and material conditions, rather than being rooted mainly in ideology or women's
biology.’

This is illustrated by women's involvement in movements such as Chipko, which have

emerged mainly in hill or tribal communities among which women's role in agricultural
production has always been visibly substantial and often primary - a context more
conducive to their public participation than found in communities practising female
seclusion.

Between the three types of lands - forest, revenue, and private - women are most
dependent on forest lands, where they are gatherers of forest produce for subsistence and
sale. They are also employed by the Forest Department and contractors to work as
unskilled labour on public lands. They have similar roles as collectors and as wage-
employees on common and revenue lands, though to a lesser extent, as these lands are
more degraded, and their total area in the country is perhaps only one-sixth of the forest
area. In community forestry programmes and JFM areas women are also supposed to
participate in the management of afforested lands. Lastly, women are involved as
producers in farm forestry programmes. Thus women have four distinct occupational
roles in forestry - gathering, wage employment, management, and production..

Collection of Minor Forest Products

In addition to wood, the poor collect what are called minor forest products (MFPs). These
include fodder and grasses; raw materials like bamboo, canes and bhabbar grass for
artisan based activities; leaves, gums, waxes, dyes and resins; and many forms of food,

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including nuts, wild fruits, honey, and game. In the Himalayan villages, where tree fodder
is vital for the local economy, older women train the younger ones in the art of lopping
and collecting forest produce. Much of it is done by women in the lean agriculture
months when agricultural employment is not available. A study of village Fakot in U.P.
showed how poor women's interest in renewable use and sustained yield is more
compatible with national objectives of environment preservation for the forest reserves
(Rocheleau 1987). Seventy per cent of MFPs are collected from the five states of
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh which has 65 per cent
tribal population (Guha l983:l890). Most MFPs come from forests, and provide valuable
flows for subsistence and cash. But here women face three main problems; their rights of
collection are not well publicised, the states have nationalised many MFPs in the interest
of revenue, and opportunities for self-employment which collection of MFPs generate are
on the decline.

Lack of information - Often women are not aware of what they can collect from forest
lands. This leads to harassment. A Government Commission on Women interviewed
Dapubai, a tribal woman in Udaipur who got only Rs 7 for 10 kg of gum, which took her
10-12 days to collect (Bhatt 1988:v), although its market price was Rs 250. When asked
to comment on the low price, she said, "How can I demand a higher price? The trader's
man threatens to report me to the Forest authorities for entering the forest area. Then we
will get nothing."

The ability of tribal women to enjoy their rights in forests is insecure when they are
uncertain what these rights are. But informing them is not considered politically
desirable, whereas keeping the poor ignorant of their rights and leaving them to the
mercy of the low-paid forest staff is perceived as politically neutral. Such is the irony of
the Indian political system!

Nationalisation of MFPs - Before nationalisation, the gatherers could sell forest produce
to anybody, but under the new system it has to be sold to the Forest Department only. In
almost all cases the Department has appointed agents formally or informally (GOI 1987).
This has put the gatherers at the mercy of two different sets of people, the contractor as
well as the government department, and payment gets routed through both of them (FAO
1989: 70). For instance, private trade in sal seeds is illegal in Madhya Pradesh, but
shopkeepers manage to exchange it with tribals for daily necessities at a low price. They
then sell it to government bodies, thus defeating the very purpose of nationalisation (GOI
1988).

Nationalisation reduces the number of legal buyers, chokes the free flow of goods, and
delays payment to the gatherers, as government agencies find it difficult to make prompt
payment. This results in contractors entering from the back door, but they must now
operate with higher margins required to cover uncertain and delayed payments by
government agencies, as well as to make the police and other authorities ignore their
illegal activities. All this reduces women's collection and incomes.

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Women as producers in farm forestry

As regards farm forestry, the benefits to women are constrained by two factors: their own
place in the family, and the legal position regarding their ownership of private lands.
Unfortunately, over the past several decades women have been deprived of their
customary rights in management and ownership of land. It appears that the transition in
land rights from communal to private ownership has affected women adversely. So long
as land was commonly owned, women had a voice in its management, but with private
owning of land, their rights have become diluted. The result is that both extension
programmes and credit services are now geared to men, which has helped them to get
into the modernised sector while women have remained behind in the subsistence sector.

Women's right of access to land and other material resources is not a legal issue alone. As
their control over loans, income and assets goes down, their access to social resources
such as knowledge, power and prestige diminishes. Disparity in gender status gets
intensified with the emergence and deepening of other forms of stratification.
Subordination and seclusion of women is more noticed in communities where social
differentiation and hierarchy based on ownership pattern or on prestige is more
pronounced.

Possible Solutions

As already stated, of the several roles women have in forestry, the most important is as
gatherers of forest produce. Women would therefore be greatly benefitted if opportunities
for collection from forest and public lands are enhanced. This would require:-

• sharing of management and protection with women,

• a change in the silvicultural practices of managing forests,
• a change in the nature of species being planted on public lands from timber to
usufruct based trees,
• improving women’s access to markets, value-added technology, training and
credit,
• building gender sensitisation at the project preparation stage,
• publicity about women's rights in forest and community lands, and
• a change in outlook to facilitate the above.
• We discuss these below.

Sharing of management

Social conditions in India are such that neither cattle nor human beings can be totally
stopped from entering forests or village lands. What is therefore needed is adopting
policies which improve productivity of degraded lands, taking constraints of the human
and livestock pressure as givens of the situation. Given the ease of access to forests it has
been impossible, in practical terms, for the Forest Department to enforce its property
rights. Forest lands too, like revenue lands, have been a victim of the "tragedy of the
commons" phenomenon where community rights and management have not existed or

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have broken down. Therefore, any effort towards reforestation can yield results only if it
involves local people, specially women, in protection. Sharing of management and
usufruct with women, if properly implemented, could have wide ranging implications on
forest regeneration and welfare of the poor. Women's subsistence compulsions have
shown greater sensitivity to ecologically sustainable development needs. Thus it would
be in the interest of the Forest Department to give higher priority to women's needs.

Given the sex segregated and hierarchical nature of Indian society, separate women's
organisations and staff are needed to work among women, to instill confidence in them,
so that they can fight for their rights. Therefore, whenever there is recruitment, more
women need to be recruited in the Forest Department. The village level committees
should have adequate and equal representation of women. Forestry staff should be
sensitised on gender issues through orientation programmes. As women in many societies
still feel inhibited in expressing themselves in mixed gatherings, each committee should
have a separate women's cell for raising their consciousness and for improving their
skills. The quality of women's participation and the control they exercise over decision
making processes is more important than the sheer number of women present in such
bodies.

Both the short and long term goals of supporting women's participation in natural
resource management must be defined clearly. Is the goal limited to integrating women in
on-going or new programmes simply because traditional gender roles assign subsistence
tasks of biomass gathering to women? Or is the goal to empower women to gain greater
control over their labour, knowledge and local natural resources which may eventually
lead to changing gender relations resulting in greater gender equity? Unless a
commitment to working towards greater gender equity in the longer term is incorporated
as a programme goal, success in increasing women's participation in forestry programmes
may end up being short-lived or may even result in increasing rural women's excessive
work burden.

Drinking Water and Sanitation

This is an area of critical concern for the public health. Although 85 per cent of the
villages have been covered under safe drinking water supply, the actual coverage of the
hamlets and households have been much less particularly in the hilly, tribal, drought
prone and desert areas where women have to travel a long distance for fetching the
drinking water. The priority concern for the Tenth Plan should be to ensure that every
woman could access safe drinking water in the neighbourhood.

More than 70 per cent of the population in India are not covered by toilet and sanitation
facilities. The women, particularly living in the urban slums, are the worst sufferers since
their privacy is disturbed severely. The low cost sanitation scheme for the liberation of
the scavengers had unfortunately a very tardy performance. Even the meagre allocation
of the Plan resources are not being fully utilised by the State Governments and the
demeaning practice of manual scavenging of night soil by the female scavengers is still

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continuing in many urban areas. The Tenth Plan should have a fresh look into the entire
issue of urban sanitation in the country which badly affects the interests of the women.

Water in recent years has assumed an increasing importance.According to studies done

by the Indian Market Research Bureau, households that collect drinking water from
exposed sources like ponds, lakes, canals, etc visited dug wells about 12 times a day,
public hand pumps and taps nine times, exposed sources like lakes six times. The
distances travelled ranged from 100 to 1000 metres. Women, who are the primary
collectors of water, spend approximately two and a half hours a day on average for this
purpose. Diminishing availability on the one hand and the belief that better management
of water is needed, have stimulated efforts at community based initiatives for the
management of water supply, both drinking water and irrigation.

A decade-long water campaign was launched by the Self Employed Women’s

Association(SEWA)in 1995 in nine districts of Gujarat. Watershed Committees have
been set up, with the majority of members being women.These have been successful in
regenerating wasteland, community pasture land and private land, as well as planting
trees and increasing grass cover for better water retention. Successful rainwater
harvesting has been done in several villages in Rajasthan through the efforts of a local
NGO, Tarun Bharat Sangh.

Official estimates for 1993 were that 78.4 percent of the rural and 84.9 percent of the
urban population in India had access to safe drinking water, although these are thought to
exaggerate actual coverage, since many villages were only partially covered. Moreover,
increasing scarcity may be affecting access and these figures do not account for facilities
which are not functioning. In rural areas, women and children walk long distances to
collect water; in urban slum areas, poor women rely on standpipes which are beset by
problems of low water pressure, short durations of supply, large numbers of users and are
located some distance from women’s homes. Reliance on hand pumps in poor urban
areas particularly may be contributing to a lowering of the water table, ultimately
affecting access for everybody.

Water collection and management is now widely recognised as being predominantly

women’s work under prevailing gender divisions of labour. Poor water supply facilities
and increasingly scarce water resources thus create a considerable labour burden for
women and also contribute to poor health conditions within households and communities.
There is a need to consult women - of all communities - in the design and implementation
of new water supply projects. Failure to do so has, in many instances, led to project
failure. Women should also be involved in technical and managerial aspects of
community-based water provision, with appropriate incentives, training and rewards;
women should not be seen as cheap or voluntary labour for community-based service
provision - this will lead to poor services and/ or incur high opportunity costs for the
women concerned. It is also important, however, to overcome opposition and gain the
support of men for a more public role for women in these areas.

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In new water supply provision, there is a need to consider the range of uses of water of
women, which are not restricted to the domestic sphere, but also include irrigation for
agriculture, livestock, small-scale enterprises etc. The capacity and management of new
systems and tariffs need to take account of the range of uses of water as well as
affordability for women as well as men. The opportunity cost of women’s labour needs
to be included in any cost benefit analyses of new water supply facilities, as well as
consideration of the need for flexible systems so that women can fit water collection and
management around other activities.

Access to water in India is critically mediated through caste relations, such that Dalit
women may not have direct access to village water supplies. These issues are rarely
discussed in the literature or in project design. Discrimination against Dalit women in
access to water indicates that this may be a priority area of intervention to support Dalit
women in particular.

Sanitation provision is much less widespread than water supply in India. There is a need
for a more co-ordinated approach in water supply and sanitation since the impact
improved water supply may be limited where lack of sanitation facilities means that new
supplies are easily contaminated. In 1988-9, only 3.15 percent of the rural population
had access to government-assisted sanitation facilities, with eleven percent of rural
households having private facilities. Men in general may attach much lower priority to
sanitation facilities than women, which may explain the lack of provision in this area; it
has also been suggested that sanitation provision may be a higher priority for better-off
rural women, living in the centre of villages, than poorer women on the edge of
settlements, though evidence for this is limited.

In 1987-8, in urban areas of India, one third of the population had no access at all to
lavatory facilities; 60 percent of those who did shared toilet facilities. In urban areas,
lack of privacy in sanitation is a priority for all women, not just the well-off. Since they
cannot be seen relieving themselves in public, they are forced to do so under cover of
darkness, leading to considerable discomfort and possible health problems.
Consideration should be given to the need for increased public toilet facilities in urban
areas around places where women work and live.

In one sanitation project in an urban slum area, women emerged with different priorities
from those proposed under a government housing scheme. Whereas the original
proposals favoured private toilet facilities in dwellings, women themselves preferred
shared public facilities, which they perceived as more hygienic and less work (i.e.
someone else would maintain them). Interestingly they also felt that provision of private
toilet facilities was more likely to result in their homes being appropriated by higher
income groups. Again, it is important to consult women about the design of new
facilities and implementation of sanitation projects and where possible to involve them in
skilled labour, technical and managerial aspects of such programmes (e.g. in latrine
construction).

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Housing needs by the year 2000 are estimated at 32.6 million units in rural areas and 31.2
million units in urban areas. The Eighth Plan does, however, give priority in housing to
single women and female-headed households, as well as Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
However, no concrete measures are proposed and it is expected to take a ‘reasonable
amount of time’ to meet the housing needs of these groups. In order to extend housing
provision to poor urban groups and particularly to female-headed households, enabling
mechanisms for the provision of housing finance are needed. This is particularly the case
for those outside formal employment, of whom women are a large proportion.

Housing and Shelter

Although the women are the house-keepers their perspectives are not generally
considered in the planning of houses and housing colonies and provision of shelters in
both urban and rural areas. The gender bias in planning of human settlements should be
removed by necessary amendments in the building bye-laws and the rules and regulations
of the town planning.
Special attention should be given for providing adequate and safe housing and
accommodation for women including single women, heads of households, working
women, students, apprentices and trainee

Gender sensitisation at the project preparation stage

How can gender issues be adequately addressed in forestry development? Key to this
objective is identifying and, to the extent possible, quantifying the potential gains that
will accrue to women and the likely losses they may have to bear as a result of the
planned intervention. Micro-planning provides an ideal forum for this kind of thinking.
Specific issues to be considered include:

• pre-project benefits likely to be foregone by women and their households, with

special attention to households headed by women: e.g., when common land is to
be utilized for tree plantations; when gathering and sale of wood from government
forests is eliminated as a source of income for poor households; when the
utilisation of minor forest products is expected or likely to become
commercialised; or when changing gender-specific economic interests and
incentives induced by project interventions are likely to deprive women of access
to previously accessible resources;
• workload implications for women: e.g., the extent of added labour required of
women of various socio-economic groups for project activities (such as watering,
weeding, protection); longer distances to be walked for gathering fuel, fodder and
other products previously obtained from land now brought under a different
production and management regime; the effect of such additional labour
requirements on women's time and labour allocation and on women's and
household welfare (e.g., curtailing of time allocated to other tasks, increasing
reliance on child labour);

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 • probable gains to women from planned interventions: e.g., increased availability
of forestry products (but check for potential conflicts arising between men and
women, between commercial and subsistence users); availability of new products
for subsistence and/or market-oriented income generation; introduction of new
income-earning activities based on forest products not previously available;
generation of wage-labour opportunities (but check for potential distortions in
male-female competition for new employment);
• differences and potential conflicts between probable gains and losses for women
and those anticipated for men, households in general or the community as a
whole: e.g., men's strong preference for timber species crowding out women's
need for fuel and fodder trees; men's preference for selling trees en block
conflicting with women's need for the domestic or home-industry use of by-
products; or men's interest in cash-cropping of trees and their command over the
labour of women in their household forcing women to reduce their time
allocations to other family-care and/or income-earning tasks.

Changes in outlook

One aspect of this bureaucracy that demands greater understanding is its "culture" -
something that is highly relevant to the success of all community participation schemes.
For example, while the principle of JFM assume a participatory/ consultative framework,
the government bureaucracy that is charged with its implementation operates in a
decidedly non-participatory/ non-consultative fashion. Bureaucratic regulations regarding
release of budget, physical targets, development of working plans, all act against the
more flexible adaptive process needed to successfully implement a JFM programme.
What is needed, therefore is an effort to identify the key points of leverage through which
the forestry bureaucracy could be incrementally moved toward more open working
practices.

Gender mainstreaming and voluntary action

The women’s movement in India has a long history, dating back to the nineteenth
century, and has played a key role in influencing both the state and wider civil society,
especially in its most recent phase since the early 1970s. In the 1990s, however, a wide
range of actors have taken up women’s, or gender, issues as part of their agenda,
including the state, political parties, international agencies and a growing number of non-
government organisations.

The women's movement in India today is a rich and vibrant movement, which has spread
to various parts of the country. It is often said that there is no one single cohesive
movement in the country, but a number of fragmented campaigns. Activists see this as
one of the strengths of the movement which takes different forms in different parts.

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While the movement may be scattered all over India, they feel it is nonetheless a strong
and plural force.

It is important to recognise that for a country of India's magnitude, change in male-female

relations and the kinds of issues the women's movement is focusing on, will not come
easy. For every step the movement takes forward, there will be a possible backlash, a
possible regression. And it is this that makes for the contradictions, this that makes it
possible for there to be women who can aspire to, and attain, the highest political office
in the country, and for women to continue to have to confront patriarchy within the home,
in the workplace, throughout their lives.

Despite the longstanding and vigorous women’s movement, patriarchy remains deeply
entrenched in India, influencing the structure of its political and social institutions and
determining the opportunities open to women and men. The negotiation and conflict
between patriarchy and the women’s movement are central to the constitution of the
nation-state.

The development of the revolutionary movement in the country marks a great hope for
women all over the country. Women too must move forward collectively, united to
demand what it theirs by right, to oppose the continuing atrocities and discrimination, to
participate in the struggle for a new democratic society. If the women’s movement moves
forward hand in hand with the revolutionary movement for new democratic revolution
only then the root causes of women’s oppression can be smashed and concrete steps
forward for the emancipation of women taken. Women’s liberation can be achieved as
part of the transformation of the entire socio-economic set-up.

Women's Movement in India is an attempt at delineating the tremendous responses of

women from the different parts of the Indian sub-continent to the growing women's
problems. Starting from the mainstream organisations to the most articulate autonomous
omen's groups, the volume depicts the various pattern of women's struggle against age-
old suppression and discrimination and for equality with men. It covers the development
of women's movement from east to west and north to south of the country.

Considerable gains have been made by the women’s movement and there is a wealth of
experience - of grassroots organising, of the design and implementation of services and
development projects, of lobbying the state and of working within state structures - to
draw on. The women’s movement has also built up a substantial body of research on
women and development and gender and development issues as well as an institutional
research capacity.

Particular issues taken up by the women’s movement in the last two decades include:
violence against women; the law and legal reform; health and family planning issues; and
issues around women’s work, employment opportunities and employment conditions.
Many women’s organisations work in several of these areas at the same time. A number
of strategies have been adopted in relation to these issues.

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For example, work around violence against women has included public awareness
campaigns and demonstrations, lobbying the government for legal reform, taking up
individual cases and extending support to women victims, confronting perpetrators of
violence against women and organising social boycotts of offenders. Demands for
changes in police structures and practices have also featured strongly, resulting in the
setting up of special women’s units and special all women police stations in some cities.
However, these strategies in relation to the police are now seen as having further
marginalised women victims of violence within police structures. There is now a shift
(as in Maharashtra) towards composite policing, where training and equal opportunities
policies are being integrated. The new shift away from women-specific interventions to
the integrated gender-aware policy of composite policing needs to be encouraged in
future strategies.

NGO approaches to gender issues

Of the thousands of NGOs, only a small proportion - probably less than 20 percent -
focus activities explicitly on women and even fewer are ‘women’s’ NGOs. Moreover,
there is a concentration of NGOs generally and women’s NGOs specifically in the West
and the South. In the North, where gender disparities are the worst, there is a low density
of NGOs. The resources, infrastructure and skills base of existing women-focused and
women’s NGOs and networks needs to be drawn on in order to support the local
development of NGOs in areas of the country where NGOs currently have little presence.
Key areas of NGO activity with women include: economic support and services;
infrastructure provision; health and family planning; social, political and legal issues;
labour conditions; and support or resource functions (e.g. training, research,
documentation, networking etc.). NGOs working with women, or with a gender
perspective, in India range in their activities across a number of sectors and issues, and
many may be involved in several areas at once. The multi-functionality of many
women’s NGOs may limit their ability to access resources where these are channelled in
a sectoral framework.

A number of different types of NGO or voluntary agencies are involved in women-

specific programmes or work from a gender perspective. In the past, there has been
something of a divide between women’s movement related organisations, who have been
largely urban based and advocacy oriented, and non-government development
organisations, who are mainly rurally based and have been involved in social
programmes and poverty alleviation for a considerable period. Some women’s
organisations have become increasingly professionalised and taken on a more NGO
character, whilst others have attempted to maintain a movement character.

Socio-political activities have also shifted ground: there is increasing recognition of the
diversity of the women’s movement, especially as Dalit women have become more
visible; uniform interests or strategies can no longer be assumed. There has been a loss
of confidence in legal reform or legal awareness as a strategy for working with women,
given problems of implementation and communal, class and other differences which have
emerged in this area. There has been a move towards supporting and mobilising popular

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campaigns (e.g. the anti-arrack movement described above) and other forms of social
boycott. Due to the earlier efforts of the women’s movement, work in areas such as
domestic violence is now considered legitimate development activity. The current focus
on gender training as a strategy has led to a proliferation of organisations offering
training of different kinds to NGOs and government but there is some scepticism about
the impact of such training as it is currently constituted.

Some NGOs with a long record of work in rural communities are now seeking ways of
increasing poor rural and particularly Dalit women’s access to land, forest resources and
secure livelihoods. These programmes have emerged out of long-term interactions and
discussions with women in particular rural localities. Their importance lies in the attempt
to increase the asset base of poor rural women
Overall, NGOs are increasingly seen, by both government and donor agencies, as
alternative service deliverers to government as part of a wider agenda of decentralisation
and liberalisation. Government departments in the social sectors are now directed to
allocate a certain percentage of funds to NGOs. Given existing gender bias in access to
social services, particularly, this raises questions about the implications of increased
NGO involvement in service delivery. The underlying assumption that NGOs will be
more efficient, participatory and equitable service deliverers than state agencies needs to
be questioned, particularly from a gender perspective.

Long-standing concerns have been heightened among women’s organisations and in the
NGO sector more generally about the implications of their greater role in service delivery
in the contemporary Indian context. This implies a need for scaling up of activities and
pressures to be more accountable to funders and possibly to meet particular targets to
demonstrate efficiency, or, in this context, gender sensitivity. These pressures are
perceived as potentially limiting the flexibility, participatory nature, capacity for
innovation and critical role of NGOs generally, but specifically those working with
women, where considerable investment in awareness raising and organisational work
may be required. There is a question as to whether women’s NGOs, specifically, face
particular constraints in scaling up activities. Alongside investment in enhancing the
capacity of NGOs for expanded service delivery where appropriate, there is a need to
provide mechanisms for continued support to smaller NGOs, particularly those working
with women. One such approach may be the provision of decentralised innovation funds.

Whilst NGOs, as well as government programmes are increasingly targeting women as

beneficiaries, many still lack a gender perspective: there is a tendency by focusing on
women as a broad category to homogenise women’s interests across communal, class,
caste and other differences. There are relatively few NGOs working with men, alongside
women, from an explicitly gender perspective. Crude targets such as increasing the
numerical representation of women are insufficient indicators of gender-awareness.
Mechanisms are also needed to ensure that poor, lower caste or minority women are
adequately represented among beneficiaries. Encouragement is needed for the
development of gender-aware approaches to working with men.

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Gender sensitivity is increasingly a requirement for donor support of NGOs. This raises
questions about the ways in which funding agencies can assess, monitor and evaluate the
gender awareness of NGOs and support the development of their capacity in this respect.
Support for the development of gender-aware monitoring and evaluation methodologies
and of institutional capacity of NGOs is important, so that NGOs do not perceive criteria
for gender-sensitivity as externally imposed demands with little relevance to local
conditions. Such methodologies need also to incorporate attention to the differences
between women.

With the exception of women’s organisations, women are under-represented in NGO

work, and tend to be concentrated in field rather than leadership positions. Women in
NGOs face a number of particular constraints due to the internal structures and
institutional culture of NGOs and conflicts between their expected behaviour at work and
in the domestic sphere. Efforts to increase the gender-awareness of NGOs need also to
address these internal organisational issues and look towards the introduction of equal
opportunities policies.

There has been considerable growth in networks of NGOs and women working in NGOs
in recent years. Latterly, this has been given a new impetus by networking efforts in
preparation for the UN Conference on Women in 1995, with NGO consultations
occurring at local, state, regional and national levels. This momentum needs to be
sustained beyond the immediate goal of working towards the Beijing conference. There
is a need to build on existing networks but also to extend them across institutional
boundaries, so that women’s NGOs or women working in NGOs also develop stronger
links with women outside the NGO sector. Links across the rural-urban divide and,
specifically, between urban-based women’s movement organisations and rural-based
development organisations need to be encouraged. Dialogue between women’s
movement organisations, gender specialists and technical experts in particular sectors,
particularly in areas such as natural resources management and irrigated agriculture,
could facilitate the development of a more clearly articulated gender perspective in these
areas, where it is currently lacking.

Although there are several thousand NGOs in India, the proportion of these explicitly
targeting women is low and they are concentrated in particular regions. NGOs are under
increasing pressure to become alternative service deliverers to government, which may
limit their flexibility, capacity for innovation and advocacy role. Scaling up may pose
particular problems for women’s organisations and their multi-functionality may also
limit their access to resources where these are channelled on a sectoral basis. Some
women’s organisations may wish to retain an independent, social movement character,
rather than become professionalised and reliant on external funds.

There are pioneering areas of NGO activity with a gender perspective in India which
may need support, for example, attempts to increase the asset base (land, forests etc.) and
secure the livelihoods of poor rural women; and HIV/AIDS awareness programmes,
linked to other health issues and to women’s empowerment.

169
The examples in this section are drawn from recent Indian experiences, but similar cases
exist elsewhere, and the typology is more generally applicable. There are three main
types of empowerment, when cases are classified by the nature and role of the change
agent: (i) those that are catalyzed by NGOs, (ii) those that develop as people's movements
in which the change agents may be external or internal, and (iii) joint government-NGO
initiatives. Each type has specific strengths and weaknesses. NGO based experiments
have the plus of being innovative, flexible, and responsive in both their substantive
content and their methods. One reason is that, with a few exceptions, they tend to start
small and remain small. Thus, while they can generate interesting new experiments, their
results are not easily replicable or expandable. This problem is often compounded by the
fact that key personnel are few in number, and the leadership structure of many
organizations is quite thin. Although many NGO tend to guard their autonomy quite
fiercely, the kind of work they generally do - providing different services, or supporting
functions - can mean that they have to work within the larger political if not social status
quo without challenging it directly. This constraint is probably less strict for advocacy
NGOs than for those providing services.

People's social movements, unlike NGO, are not constrained in this manner, and many
quite consciously set out to alter the social and political status quo. By the very nature of
their work, if successful, they tend to be large and may extend beyond specific locales.
Their strength is that they are able to go directly to the heart of the causes of poor
people's lack of power and work to transform them. But this can also mean that they may
face opposition (sometimes violent) from those who control resources, a violence from
which they may not be able to insulate their weakest and most powerless members.

Interestingly, some of the most exciting of recent empowerment experiences in India are
the result of joint actions by government and the non-governmental sector. As we will see
in some of the examples below, these are able to avoid the NGO problem of small size
and weak replicability, as well as to use the power of the state (to some extent at least) to
tackle the vested interests of the powerful. But their strength can also be their weakness,
in that they are constantly under pressure to adapt to the needs and methods of
government; the danger of cooption or of succumbing to bureaucratic or political
pressures from within government are ever present.

Promoting institutional change and support to NGOs _

- Training for women candidates and representatives in local government is

needed for women from all communities, particularly Dalit, tribal and Muslim
women.

- Women’s effectiveness in local government could be strengthened by supporting

increased links between local government representatives and local development

170
NGOs; such alliances have proved effective in other countries in challenging
vested interests.

- Alongside investment in enhancing the capacity of NGOs for expanded service

delivery where appropriate, there is a need to provide mechanisms for continued
support to smaller NGOs, particularly those working with women and/or not
directly engaged in service provision.

- The resources and skills base of existing women-focused NGOs and networks
needs to be drawn on to support the development of NGOs in areas of the country
where they currently have little presence.

- Gender training needs to be integrated into mainstream training programmes;

incentives to institutions are needed to invest in training and follow-up. It should
assist in supporting long-term links between institutions (e.g. between government
and non-government; across sectors) and should aim to become self-sustaining by
training trainers.

- Gender training must be systematic, analytically coherent and address other

axes of inequality (e.g. caste, class). It must support government (and
non-government) personnel in promoting long-term change within their
institutions, while recognising the constraints to this. Finally, gender training
must address male needs without losing sight of the politics of gender.

171
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