DISADVANTAGED
WOMEN OF SOUTH ASIA
BY JAGJIT SINGH
Even though the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women was widely hailed as a turning point in the global struggle for women’s rights, very little has, since then, changed so far as the state of women in South Asian
region is concerned. A UNDP report focused on women of this region reveals that women in South Asia are bearing the brunt of the region’s increasing poverty, colossal
human deprivation, poor governance, discriminations based on customs and traditions, and civil and military strife.
Interestingly, the region had the rare honour to have three women Prime Ministers (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) and one woman President (Sri Lanka) at the time of Beijing conference. These women leaders, at that time, proclaimed their wholehearted support for
gender justice. “The trend we have set in gender equality through emancipation of women is now irreversible”,boasted Benazir Bhutto, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan. “Five years after those optimistic words, however, women in South Asia remain far behind men in enjoying human rights, let alone in participating on an equal footing with men in educational institutions, the job market or in government…. The overall picture for gender –related development is poor in South Asia, even in comparison to the region’s human development levels. In every South Asian country, the gender-related development index (GDI) is lower than the human development index (HDI)”, says the report.
Admittedly, there has been some progress in terms of process, yet the fact remains that very little has been accomplished since 1995. There has been no significant improvement in the political will to bring a revolutionary change in women’s situation. The ministries, departments, commissions and bureaus dealing with women issues remain under-funded, lacking in the authority required bringing gender concerns into the mainstream. A lack of gender-disaggregated data remains a major obstacle to gender-sensitive policy making throughout South Asia.
The value of women’s labour is neither accounted for in official statistics nor appreciated by policymakers. Their work, no matter how physically rigorous, mentally taxing, or emotionally draining, is considered to be a duty, undeserving of compensation. Women in the region work at least 10 to 12 hours a day while men, on average, work 2 to 4 hours less. The gender division that persists in the region deems women to be suitable for only certain types of work. In most cases, women are found to be working in the informal sector where remuneration is meagre.
With a mere 37 per
cent female literacy, ability to read and write remains a distant dream for a vast majority of women in South Asia which has the dubious distinction of having the lowest literacy rate among all the regions of the world. More than two thirds of South Asian out-of- primary school children are girls. Nearly two-thirds of
girls enrolled in primary school drop out before grade 5. Shockingly, the mean number of years of schooling that most South Asian girls receive is less than 1.2 years, with girls in Bhutan receiving a mere 0.2 years of schooling. In India, while the difference between primary enrolment for boys and girls is only 5.2 per cent in Tamil Nadu, the relative figure for Bihar is a huge 42 per cent.
The burden of disease and death in South Asia is heavier on women than men because of multiple reasons such as women’s dependence on men for their health needs, social and cultural restrictions and their generally low socio-economic status. As a result thereof, an estimated 208,000 women in the region die annually due to pregnancy and birth –related complications. The region has a shocking maternal mortality rate of 480 deaths per 100,000 live births as compared to 13 in some industrialized countries. Infant mortality for girls is much higher than boys inmost of the countries of the region. In India, for instance 18 per cent more girls than boys die before celebrating their fifth birthday. Situation is Maldives is much more worse where 51 per cent more girls than boys die before reaching the age of five. The widespread female infanticide, foeticide and inadequate feeding practice lead to the “missing” of 79 million women in the region. In Mumbai alone, there were 40,000 cases of foeticide in 1984. Similarly, in the neighbouring city of Ahmedabad, there were 10,000 estimated cases of female foeticide every year.
Though ‘guaranteed’ equality by the constitution of the respective nations, majority of the women in the South Asian region face discrimination and deprivation in property, political and economic empowerment, legal protection against the denial, violation and abuse of their fundamental human rights. In fact the legal system itself is discriminatory which is apparent in personal laws as well as criminal laws. Dowry related killings, acid throwing, rape, karo kari (‘honour killing’), sexual harassment at the workplace, trafficking of women and children and forced prostitution etc. are the common sorts of violent acts against women in the region.
To effectively implement the agenda for women’s equality and empowerment, it is imperative to create a strong and result-oriented institutional structure at the national and international level, provide the needed financial-support system and plug the loopholes that impede their emancipation and development.
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