Women Empowerment in India

Nayak, Purusottam and Mahanta, Bidisha (2009): Women Empowerment in India.

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to analyze the status of women empowerment in India using various indicators based on data from secondary sources. The study reveals that women of India are relatively disempowered and they enjoy somewhat lower status than that of men in spite of many efforts undertaken by government. Gender gap exists regarding access to education and employment. Household decision making power and freedom of movement of women vary considerably with their age, education and employment status. It is found that acceptance of unequal gender norms by women are still prevailing in the society. More than half of the women believe wife beating to be justified for one reason or the other. Fewer women have final say on how to spend their earnings. Control over cash earnings increases with age, education and with place of residence. Women’s exposure to media is also less relative to men. Rural women are more prone to domestic violence than that of urban women. A large gender gap exists in political participation too. The study concludes by an observation that access to education and employment are only the enabling factors to empowerment, achievement towards the goal, however, depends largely on the attitude of the people towards gender equality.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Women Empowerment, Gender
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration

References

Anand, S. and A. Sen (1995): “Gender Inequality in Human Development: Theories and Measurement”, in Fukuda Parr and A.K. Shiv Kumar (eds.) Readings in Human Development, OUP, New Delhi.

Bardhan, K. and S. Klasen (1999): “UNDP’s Gender Related Indices: A Critical Review”, World Development, Vol. 27, No.6, pp.985-1010.

Bardhan, K. and S. Klasen (2000): “On UNDP’s Revisions to the Gender-Related Development Index”, Journal of Human Development, Vol.1, pp.191-195.

Barkat, A. (2008): “Women Empowerment: A Key to Human Development., http://www.goodgovernance.org visited on 20th April 2008 at 4.30p.m.

Beteta, K.C. (2006): “What is Missing in Measures of Women’s Empowerment?”, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Vol.7, No.2, pp.221-241.

Blumberg, R.L. (2005): “Women’s Economic Empowerment as the Magic Potion of Development?” Paper presented at the 100th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Philadelphia.

Census of India (2001): Govt. of India, New Delhi.

Chattopadhyay, R. and E. Duflo (2001): “Women's Leadership and Policy Decisions: Evidence from a Nationwide Randomized Experiment in India”, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and Department of Economics ,MIT, and NBER.

Desai, N. and U. Thakkar (2007): “Women and Political Participation in India”, Women in Indian Society, New Delhi, National Book Trust.

Dijkstra, G. (2002): “Revisiting UNDP’s GDI and GEM: Towards an Alternative”, Social Indicator Research, Vol.57, No.3, pp.301-338.

Dijkstra, G. (2006): “Towards a Fresh Start in Measuring Gender Equality: A Contribution to the Debate” Journal of Human Development, Vol.7, No.2, pp.275-284.

Dijkstra, G. and L.C. Hanmer (2000): “Measuring Socio-economic Gender Inequality: Towards an Alternative to the UNDP- Gender-related Development Index”, Feminist Economics, Vol.6, No.2, pp.41-75.

Figueras, I.C. (2008): “Women in Politics: Evidence from the Indian States”, Department of Economics, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

G.O.I. (2000): National Population Policy, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi.

G.O.I. (2001): Census Report, Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, New Delhi.

G.O.I. (2002): National Human Development Report, 2001, Planning Commission.

G.O.I. (2005-06): National Family Health Survey – III, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi.

G.O.I. (2009): Gendering Human Development Indices: Recasting the Gender Development Index and Gender Empowerment Measure for India: A Summary Report, Ministry of Woman and Child Welfare, New Delhi.

Govt. of Assam (2003): “Women: Striving in an Unequal World” in Assam Human Development Report, 2003. <http://planassam.org/report/hdr2003/ HDR.html> Visited on 20th February, 2008, at 5pm.

IFUW (2001): “Empowering Women”. <http://www.ifuw.org/saap2001/ empowerment.htm> Visited on 10th February 2008 at 10 a.m.

Karat, B. (2005): Survival and Emancipation: Notes from Indian Women’s Struggles, Three Essays Collective, Haryana.

Kishor, S. and K. Gupta (2004): “Women’s Empowerment in India and Its States: Evidence from the NFHS”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXIX, No.7.

Klasen, S. and D. Schüler (2009): “Reforming the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM): Some Specific Proposals”. <http://www2.vwl.wiso.uni-goettingen.de/ibero/papers/DB186.pdf>

Klasen, S. (2006): “UNDP’s Gender-related Measures: Some Conceptual Problems and Possible Solutions”, Journal of Human Development, Vol.7, No.2, pp.243-274.

Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre (2000): Human Development in South Asia 2000: The Gender Question, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Mahanta, A. (ed.) (2002): Human Rights and Women of North East India, Centre for Women’s Studies, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh.

Malhotra, A., S.R. Schuler and C. Boender (2002): “Measuring Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development” Unpublished Paper for the World Bank. <www.unicef.org/pubsgen/humanrights-children/index. html> Visited on 11th January, 2008, at 5 p.m.

Mishra, S.K. and P. Nayak (2010): “Facets and Factors of Human Development in Tripura” in P. Nayak (ed.) Growth and Human Development in North-East India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp.281-296.

Mathew, G. (2003): Keynote address in the workshop on “A Decade of Women’s Empowerment through Local Governance” organized jointly by Institute of Social Sciences and South Asia Partnership, Canada sponsored by International Development Research Centre.

Moser, Caroline O. (1993): Gender Planning and Development: Theory Practice and Training, available from Women, Ink.

Narayan, D. (2007): Empowerment: A Missing Dimension of Human Development, Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Conference, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford.

Panda, P. and B. Agarwal (2005): “Marital Violence, Human Development and Women’s Property Status in India”, World Development, Vol.33, No. 5.

Parasar, S. (2004): “A Multidimensional Approach to Women’s Empowerment and its Links to the Nutritional Status and Immunization of Children in India”. <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p109193index.html> Visited on 15th February, 2008 at 1 p.m.

Pillarisetti and Gillivray (1998): “Human Development and Gender Empowerment: Methodological and Measurement Issue” Development Policy Review, Vol.16.

Ranis, G. and F. Stewart (2005): “Dynamic Links between the Economy and Human Development”, DESA Working Paper No. 8. <http://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers> Visited on 25th December, 2007 at 5 p.m.

Schüler, D. (2006): “The Uses and Misuses of the Gender-related Development Index and the Gender Empowerment Measure: A Review of the Literature”, Journal of Human Development, Vol.7, No.2, pp.161-182.

Sen and Batliwala (2000): “Empowering Women for Reproductive Rights”, in H.B. Presser and G. Sen (eds.) Women's Empowerment and Demographic Processes: Moving beyond Cairo, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.15-36.

Seth, Mira (2001): “Women and Development- The Indian Experience”, Sage Publication, New Delhi.

Shariff, Abusaleh (2009): “Gender Empowerment in India: Concepts and Measurement”. <http://salehshariff.blogspot.com/2009/09/gender-empowerment-in-india-concepts.html>

Sharma B.R. and M. Gupta (2004): “Gender Based Violence in India - A Never-ending Phenomenon”, Journal of International Women’s Studies, Vol. 6, No.1, pp.113-122.

Shields, Lourene E. (1995): “Women’s Experiences of the Meaning of Empowerment”, Qualitative Health Research, Vol.5, No.1.

Sridevi, T.O. (2005): “Empowerment of Women-A Systematic Analysis” IDF Discussion Paper.

UNDP (1990, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2007-08): Human Development Report.

UNESCO (1993): Violence against Women- Reports from India and the Republic of Korea, Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific, RUSHAP Series of Monographs and Occasional Papers 37, Bangkok. <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000966/096629eo.pdf>

World Economic Forum (2005): Women’s Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap. <http:/in.rediff.com/money/2005/may/17wef.htm> Visited on 20th January, 2008 at 9.30 a.m.