· As last year’s #MeToo movement and Sabarimala protests showed Indian women are ready to foment a rebellion.
· These movements are fueled by the very success of India’s economic transformation which brings with it a stark realisation that it has not paid particular care and attention to women.
· The most promising sign of the improving conditions of Indian women lies in declining inequality in education. But at the same time, labour markets and social norms constrain women.
· Data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and the IHDS show that education and employment have a U-shaped relationship. Illiterate women are most likely to participate in the workforce.
· Work participation drops sharply for women with primary and secondary education and rises only with college education. This relationship holds even after we take into account income of other members of the household, social background and place of residence.
· NSSO data for 25 to 59 year old workers in 2011-12 show that among farmers, farm labourers and service workers, nearly one-third are women, while the proportion of women among professionals, managers and clerical workers is only about 15%.
· Young men with Class 10 or 12 education find jobs as mechanics, drivers, sales representatives, postmen and appliance repairmen while few of these opportunities are available to women.
· Whether employers choose not to hire women in these positions or working conditions make for an inhospitable environment for young women is not clear.
· The young women’s lives are also circumscribed by social norms like marriage where women’s education does not seem to carry the same value as caste, the family’s economic status and horoscope.
· Research from other countries shows that educated women marry similarly educated men. But in India, women frequently marry men with lower education than themselves.
· Based on recent National Family Health Survey data, a moderate level of education doesn’t offers women a greater say in household decisions or freedom of movement outside the home. College graduates fare slightly better, but even for them, the difference is relatively small.
· Inspite of the tremendous sacrifices made by the parents to educate their daughters, and young women joyously working hard at school in search of a better life, their aspirations frustrated by economic and social barriers that restrict their opportunities.
· What is more surprising is that their demands are not more strident, and that no political party has chosen to espouse their cause which would be championed by political parties if women were a caste or an economic class, in order to mobilise caste- based or class-based vote banks.
· However, our political process sees women as an extension of the men in their households and assumes that no special effort is needed to win their hearts and minds.
Source : The Hindu
07.03.2019