Gender inequality in India

Shil sindhu singh

• Gender inequality in India refers to socially constructed differences between men and women in India that systematically empower one group to the detriment of the other.

• Gender inequalities include :- unequal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for Indian women and translate to poor health status, educational attainment, and economic status compared to men.

Gender equality in India among worst in world

• When India's Human Development Index is adjusted for gender inequality, it becomes south Asia's worst performing country after Afghanistan, new numbers in the UNDP's Human Development Report 2013 show. Pakistan,Nepal and Bangladesh, which are poorer than India and have lower HDIs, all do comparatively better than India when it comes to gender equality.

Gender inequality is not one affliction.

Prominent faces of gender injustice can vary.

The effects of gender inequality can impoverish the lives of men as well as women.

Gender inequality hurts the interests not only of girls and grown-up women, but also of boys and men.

The Gender gap index for India compared to other countries

Global rankings

•Various groups have ranked gender inequalities around the world. For example, the World Economic Forum publishes a Global Gender Gap Index score for each nation every year.

India's Global Rank on various Gender Inequality Indices

Dowry and extortion

• Although in theory dowry is illegal, since 1961, it is widely practiced today.

• The amount of dowry in a consumerist society has grown.

• Dowry extortion is a major middle class issue and tragedy.

Education inequalities

• Schooling

• Literacy

• Reservations for female students

Schooling

• In rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys. According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless vs. strong, adventurous, and intelligent men with high prestige jobs)

Literacy

• From 2006-2010, the percent of females who completed at least a secondary education was almost half that of men, 26.6% compared to 50.4%. In the current generation of youth, the gap seems to be closing at the primary level and increasing in the secondary level.

Reservations for female students

• Under Non-Formal Education programme, about 40% of the centres in states and 10% of the centres in UTs are exclusively reserved for females.

• Certain state level engineering, medical and other colleges like in Orissa have reserved 30% of their seats for females.