India, being a vast and populous country, holds gender issues that many countries around the world have faced in similar manners. This is particularly challenging because it holds different socio-economic strands, normal cultural happenings, and historical contexts that are unique to the country. Key matters of concern under the gender issue in India are education and employment, legal rights, health safety, etc. The progress and hurdles regarding these issues call for a look into the same in this paper.
Education is a right, but it has remained a distant dream for many women in India. As per the Census data, much has been achieved in increasing female literacy—from 53.67% in 2001 to 65.46% in 2011. Government initiatives like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ have brought improvement in the enrollment rates. In fact, poverty, early marriage, and procreation, as well as general attitudes toward women and girls about education. These have been major reasons for high dropout rates, especially at the secondary levels. It is a matter not only of scaling up enrolment but also of ensuring that quality education is retained.
Women comprise half of the population, and yet their workforce participation has been declining in India. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey, this declined from 37% in 2004-05 to 18% in 2020. There are various factors explaining such a decline: lack of access to safe and secure work environments, social norms that uphold women’s roles as caregivers, and general unavailability of jobs where women would be the main employees. Also, the wage disparity between men and women is still one of the important issues whereby women are paid much less compared to men for the same work.
The Government of India has implemented several key legal reforms toward securing and protecting the rights of women and advancing the cause of gender equality. Prominent among these are the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; the Domestic Violence Act, 2005; and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013. The government even enacted a Criminal Law Amendment Act, in 2013, after the Nirbhaya case, which amended the Indian Penal Code with more stringent punishment for sexual assault. These are important steps forward. However, the enforcement of all these laws remains spotty, and many women do not know their legal rights.
Women in India have to suffer from many health problems, such as high maternal mortality rates and a very minimal percentage of access to health facilities in rural areas. The different programs that have been put into place are Janani Suraksha Yojana and Mission Indradhanush. The initiative was on vaccination and improving health services related to maternal health. Safety is one of the major issues that women have to confront along with high rates of gender-based violence. Other projects developed to contribute to solving these safety problems, were the nationwide emergency response number 112 and different mobile safety apps.
Women have increased their presence in politics, academia, and the corporate world. Figures like Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, and Nirmala Sitharaman, the first full-time female Finance Minister of India, stand as testimony to this fact. Despite that, the representation of women in positions of leadership remains low. It is generally because of deeply entrenched patriarchal norms and a general lack of support structures. While open to every policy incentive for encouraging more women into leadership, the change in society will continue to be a very important area of action.
While there have been remarkable strides in overcoming gender issues, some big challenges remain. Government-related initiatives and NGOs in this respect have been of immense use. The depth of the cultural and structural impediments to achieving full gender equality calls for more concentrated efforts than have so far been expended. Critical analysis and sustained commitment to women’s empowerment will help to institute the transformative change required. Only through increased awareness, continuous legal reforms, and socioeconomic opportunities for women will a road to an equal society emerge.
| Gender Issues UPSC Notes |
| 1. Male and female genders are paid unequal pay for equal work- sure reflection of high gender wage gap. 2. Ranking of India in the Gender Inequality Index: 122 out of 191 countries in the year 2021 with a score of 0.490. 3. While progress has been made, as shown by growing female literacy rates, social attitudes, and early marriage issues continue to be problems; hence, the high dropout rate of women despite ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ and similar initiatives. 4. The female workforce participation has slumped from 37% in 2004-05 to 18% in 2020 because of societal norms, along with a lack of safe and suitable job opportunities. 5. Legal reforms like the Dowry Prohibition Act and Domestic Violence Act have been established, but these are sporadically enforced, and most women remain unaware of their rights. 6. Certain schemes relating to the health of women, such as Janani Suraksha Yojana and Mission Indradhanush, exist, but high maternal mortality and violence against women remain grave challenges. 7. There are several schemes, namely Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Mahila Shakti Kendra, and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna, which aim to achieve better equality with the help of support services of different natures provided to women. |
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