The Status Of Rural Women In India
“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of
its women”- Jawaharlal Nehru. Emphatic words by one of our country’s premier leaders. The statement stresses the role women have to play in our society. India is currently witnessing a revolution of sorts in economy and the technological sectors, yet even 60 years after independence, women’s liberation seems a distant dream.
As a country with more than seventy percent of its population residing in rural areas, it is worthwhile to examine the condition of women in our villages. A closer look at them reveals a striking paradox for a country poised to take the leap to becoming a super power in the not-so –distant future.
Women are the pillars on which the family unit stands but rural women present a picture of abject poverty and exploitation both inside and outside the home. A vicious circle of malnutrition ,ill-
health and decreased productivity plagues them even today.
The Asian Enigma,- a study conducted by the UNICEF stated that the exceptionally high rates of malnutrition are rooted deeply in the soil of inequality between men and women. These gender disparities are present at ages as young as five years and less. They manifest mainly as neglect of the girl child during illness and partiality in the rationing of food for girls in the family. Malnutrition has far reaching changes on the children these women are going to give birth to. it leads to anemia and ill-health both of which are risk factors in pregnancy.
Health care is another sector that has failed to establish inroads and make a substantial difference in the condition of rural women. An estimated six percent of rural women have access to basic facilities of sanitation. Only fifty per cent of women ever seek antenatal care in villages. the statistics of a government survey show that a quarter of the deaths among rural females are pregnancy related and an estimated two-thirds are preventable by early screening at a primary health care facility. A village level study in Maharashtra showed that around 92% of women were suffering from one or more gynecological disorders. These numbers reflect how ignorance of their own health under trying conditions snatches the core productive segment of the female population.
Knowledge and awareness is low among rural women with just about a third of the girls between the ages of 5-14 years attending school. Household duties and sibling care gain precedence over education in most cases. A government funded village study revealed that at home girls assist their mothers in almost all tasks and by the age of 10 they participate fully in agricultural work done by women. Boys on the other hand are usually sent to school and usually complete a primary education much before lending a hand on fields.
Women’s contribution to agriculture in terms of tasks done and time spent is much greater than men. A micro –study done in the Himalayas showed how skewed the distribution of work hours was. On a I hectare farm a pair of bullocks worked for 1064 hours, an average man put in 1212 hours while the average
woman clocked a whooping 3485 hours, and all this on lesser nutrition and amenities than men.
Despite putting in more hours on the field women are still traditionally dependent on men although it has been estimated that as many as 88%of rural housewives can be economically productive. NABARD has launched micro-credit schemes which have changed the way money works for a village woman. These schemes fund self-help groups consisting mainly of women who save small amounts of money and borrow to grow funds for a variety of tasks ranging from household emergencies to paying school fees. The success of these micro credit schemes rests on the fact that women are a safer and more viable credit option and money lent to them is used for family improvement leading to healthier educated children, a self-sufficient family and overall empowerment of women by making them economically independent.
Another promising trend for the rural Indian woman has been her entry into village politics. Panchayat Raj Institutions have encouraged nearly a million women to actively enter political life. a third of the seats are reserved for women but currently as many as 43% of the seats overall are occupied by women at various levels .A study funded by the Center for Women’s Development studies in Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh,Chattisgadh and Uttranchal showed that far from being just rubber stamp leaders, two thirds of the elected women were actively engaged in learning the ropes and exercising power. Ms. Noleen Heyzer, the executive director of UNIFEM says this is one of the best innovations in grass – root democracy in the world.
These positive trends reinforce the fact that women can play an active role in spearheading changes in cultural mores and combating social ills at the level where it matters the most. It requires political inclination and policy makers who will understand what a precious resource these women not just in terms of numbers but also as harbingers of positive change in society. Hence, Education and empowerment of women has far reaching changes. These steps will affect not just the current generation of women but also the ones to come, for in a woman lies the potential for the betterment of her children and her society and ultimately the country.Write your abstract here.