Article on Status of Women

The Indian Constitution guarantees the fundamental right of women to equality in status and opportunity, yet after 60 years of Independence the prospects are still bleak. Nearly two million women in India remain illiterate, leaving little hope for any real socioeconomic progress.
Their lower socioeconomic status can be attributed to:
Lower growth rate at the elementary level
Higher drop out rates
High rate of illiteracy
lower ratio of girls to boys (933:1000)
Child marriages
Female Feoticide
High rate of malnutrition
Unfortunately, when girls are considered expendable by our society, it is the society which suffers most. Cases of female foeticide are growing at an alarming rate.. The main culprit in this mad spree of slaughter is urban India, the millennium cities and metros seen as the torch bearers of “shining India”. The highest incidence of female foeticide occurs in Haryana, one of the richest and most prosperous states in India. If, by luck or chance, they survive the foeticide, they are abandoned or chucked in a dustbin or sewer.
Consider the following:
1 out of every 6 girls does not live to see her 15th birthday.
1 out of every 6 female deaths is due to gender discrimination.
22 million girls under the age of 18 are forced into marriage against their wishes, most often to men more than twice their age.
Female mortality exceeds male mortality in 224 out of 402 districts in India.
The castigation that starts in the womb doesn’t stop after the birth. Child marriages and the practice of sati (the ceremony of burning a Hindu woman with the body of her dead husband) may sound archaic yet it is unfortunately still commonly accepted and practiced. In Rajasthan, sati is both worshipped and encouraged. Although a boy may continue his education following a child marriage, the girl is deprived of her right to education. She is supposed to learn housework and look after her younger siblings.
According to the constitution of this country, girls are supposed to be accorded the same rights as citizens as boys, however, these rights are not upheld. How can we aspire to be in the league of superpowers when 50% of girls in India can’t exercise their fundamental rights?
New Governmental policies must be established to ensure that women are granted the same human rights as their male counterparts. It is only in this way that women’s educational and economic advancement can be protected. This can be accomplished with increased governmental support enabling easier access to micro loans to encourage women entrepreneurs. Lending circles have also been shown to provide not only the financial security necessary to improve the livelihood of these women but also the necessary social support. Other ideas include increasing the number of women's cooperatives and improving the working conditions of female agricultural workers and laborers.

By Uma Sharma