Essay on Problems of Women in Modern India – Women in independent
India are comparatively in a more respectable position. Some of the
problems which had been haunting the community of women for centuries
are not found now.
Problems such as child marriage, practice of ‘sati’, prohibition
on widow remarriage, exploitation of widows, devadasi system, purdah
system, etc. have almost disappeared. Development in the field of
science and technology, universalisation of education, socio-political
movements, modernisation and similar developments have changed the
approach of people towards women to a certain extent.
These developments boosted the morale and self-confidence of
women. As a result, Indian women now feel that they too have their own
individuality, personality, self-respect, talent, capacity and
efficiency.
Many of those women who could grab the opportunities extended to
them have proved that they are capable of discharging the
responsibilities assigned to them on par with men. The nation which
neglected almost 50% of its population for several centuries has now
understood the necessity of giving equal rights and opportunities to its
womenfolk.
The Constitution of India provides equal rights and opportunities
to women. It does not make any discrimination on the grounds of sex.
Indian women are also responding positively to this changed
socio-political situation. This does not mean that our women are
completely free from problems. On the contrary, the changing situation
is causing them new problems. They are now beset with new stresses and
strains. Some of the major problems haunting the modern women may
briefly be analysed here.
1. Increasing Violence against Women:
i. Violence is almost universal:
Most societies exhibit violence in one way or another. Violence
against men or women is a social problem because; a large number of
people are affected by it almost every day. Each of us is affected in
countless ways by the climate of violence. Violence disrupts society.
Every society creates institutions designed to achieve certain
ends. Violence cuts short normal institutional functions. Every act of
violence, from assault to armed revolution, detracts to some degree from
the authority normally vested in society.
ii. Women as Victims of Violence:
Who is most likely to be victimised by violent crime? Women are
less likely to be victimised by violent crime than men, though or some
crimes and among some groups of women, victimisation is higher than men.
Violence against women is not a new phenomenon in India. “Women in
Indian society have been victims of ill-treatment, humiliation, torture,
and exploitation for as long as written records of social organisation
and family life are available.
These records are replete with incidents of abduction, rape,
murder, and torture of women. But, regretfully, female victims of
violence have not been given much attention in the literature on social
problems or in the literature on criminal violence.
iii. Increasing Crimes against Women:
Crime against women is an ever-increasing problem. This problem
has been growing more and more acute in India during the recent years.
Crimes against women include violence against women, rape, molestation,
dowry harassment, wife-battering, kidnapping female children to be sold
into brothel homes, forcible embracement, forcible religious conversion,
cheating young women with a promise to marry them or fetch them a job
and various types of sexual harassments and abuse of women including eve
teasing.
As per the report [1994] of the “Crime Record Bureau” of the
Central Home Ministry, crimes against women increased to a great extent
in the year 1993-94. As per this report, in India on an average,
(i) every day for every 6 minutes one atrocity is committed against woman; (ii) for every 44 minutes a woman is kidnapped;
(iii) for every 47 minutes a woman is raped;
(iv) every day 17 dowry deaths take place. The same report says
that crimes against women increased two times in the last 10 years;
instances of rape by 400% in the last two decades; instances of
kidnapping and blackmailing women by 30% between 1974 and 1993. In 1993
alone about 82,818 instances of crimes against women were registered.
Many cases are not registered. It is said that only 10% of the rape
cases are reported.
Violence against Women within and Outside Family:
In a male dominated society like India violences against women
are unfortunately increasing at an alarming rate. Such violences can be
grouped into two types: (a) violence against women within the family,
and (b) violence against women outside the family.
(a) Violence against Women within the Family or Domestic Violence:
Women are often subject to violence within the family, a place
which is expected to protect their dignity and assure their safety. This
type of violence includes crimes such as — dowry related harassments
including death, wife-battering, marital rape, sexual abuse of female
children and women of one’s own family, deprivation of sufficient food
to female members, committing incestuous offences, inducing female
members of the family to resort to sex-trade, female genital mutilation,
abusing female servants of the family, and so on.
(b) Violence against Women outside the Family or Social Violence:
Kidnapping, raping and murdering women are very serious offences.
The society at large itself is to be blamed for many types of
violence’s that are committed against women especially outside the
family.
Such violence’s include compelling women for abortion and to
undergo tubectomy operation, eve-teasing, kidnapping girls of
pre-matured age and forcing them to marry, sexual harassment of women
employees in work place, immoral trafficking in women and girls, forced
prostitution, kidnapping and mutilating the organs [such as hands, legs,
ears, nose, etc.] of female children to use them for the purpose of
begging, resorting to forcible religious conversion of young women,
blackmailing of women, throwing acid at the faces of girls who refuse to
marry, the police and the jail personnel committing sexual crimes
against female prisoners, the police, armed forces and the border
security forces committing sex crimes against the female citizens in the
border areas and so on.
2. Gender Discrimination:
Gender discrimination refers to “the practice whereby one sex is
given preferential treatment over the others. The practice of giving
social importance to the biological differences between men and women is
there everywhere. In some societies, these differences are very much
pronounced while in others, they are given less importance. Even the
Indian society is not an exception to this.
Different Faces of the Practice of “Gender Discrimination”:
In comparison with some other social problems, “gender
discrimination!’ does not “appear” to be a serious problem in India. It
“appears” to be so because; it has not been made a very big social issue
so far. But in reality, it has weakened the strength of the female
community of India.
Though constitutionally men and women are equal, socially men are
given priority and importance sometimes to the disadvantage of women.
There are various areas wherein this discrimination is apparent.
(i) Discrimination in Socialisation:
In our socialisation process female children are becoming victims
of discrimination. In the Indian social context even today male
children are preferred to female children. Hence, female children are
subject to discriminatory treatment. Male preference and female
negligence has almost become a working policy especially in the rural
areas.
Discrimination between male and female children is made in
matters relating to food, dress, health, education, domestic work etc.
The policy of male preference and female negligence has led to what is
known as “female disadvantages “. In India, mothers show preferences for
male children.
They give them importance because – males are wanted during their
old age to offer protection, males have greater scope than women and
occupational avenues are also wider for males than for females.
This male preference has led to the abuse of advanced technology.
The sophisticated scanning and supersonographic equipments are being
misused to find out the sex of the child; that is to go for abortion if
the child is found to be an unwanted female child.
These medical tests which would cost between Rs. 80/-to 800/- are
within the reach of the middle class and even the upper-lower class
resulting in the killing of the female foetuses in large number. Between
1978 and 1982 more than 78,000 foetuses were killed mainly because of
these medical tests.
(ii) Discrimination in the Distribution of Power and Work:
Most of the Indian families are patriarchal. Hence, the
philosophy of equality of sex is not acceptable to them. Domestic works
such as – cooking, looking after the children, washing clothes and
vessels, keeping the house neat and clean, looking after the
domesticated animals, serving family members like a nurse on all days
and especially when they fall sick, etc., are branded as “women’s work”.
Very rarely men do these works.
But when the question of exercising power comes, it is always the
man who dominates. His decisions are final and his orders are ultimate.
The female voice is always suppressed.
(iii) Women’s Health is ignored:
Women suffer from some distinctive health problems from which men
are free. Women have to undergo the distinctive biological process of
pregnancy, or child-bearing, delivering, nursing, feeding, child-caring
or rearing etc. These are their maternal functions. But the insistence
on the family planning has posed many health hazards.
The use of contraceptives, Copper-T, sterilisation, abortion and
hormonal drugs has an adverse effect on health. Those who make use of
them suffer from problems such as bodily weakness, bloodlessness, high
bleeding, fatness, problems in uterus, discomfort in breast, chronic
backpain, etc. As Neera Desai and Vibhuti Patel have criticised, the
advocates of family planning do not seem to bother much about these
problems.
a. Women neglecting their Own Health:
Studies have revealed that our women themselves are neglecting
their own health. Normally Indian women consume less food [that is, on
an average 100 calories a day] and spend more energy on work. Women toil
for the good of the family and children even at the cost of neglecting
their own health.
Women very rarely complain about their ill-health because of
their virtue of “self-denial”. The records in the health centres reveal
that women are lagging behind men [that is, 1:3, meaning one woman
taking medical help for every 3 men] even in matters of availing of
medical help.
b. Women have their own reasons to neglect their health:
Not finding free time to go to health centres because of heavy
work at home; non-availability of proper medical facility to test the
health or ill-health of the mother and the child especially in the
primary health centres; inability to walk a long distance to reach a
well equipped health centre in the absence of proper transportation
facility; non-availability of female doctors in the nearby health
centres, etc., are some such excuses.
(iv) Decline in the Female Population:
Normally, in the population of any country, male- female ratio
remains more or less the same, that is, 50:50. In India as the census
reports reveal female population has been steadily declining ever since
1901.
It is for this reason Neera Desai and Vibhuti Patel raised the
point whether the womenfolk in India represent a “declining sex”.
According to 2001 Census, there is a deficit of 35 million women as
compared to 3 million in 1901. For every 1000 men, we have only 933
women at present as against 972 women in 1901.
The male preference has led to the abuse of technology. Thousands
of “unwanted female” children are killed at the stage of foetus itself.
It is said that in India, out of 12 million female children born every
year, around 25% of them die before they attain the age of 15. Of the
children who die every year, about 3 lakh female children, that is, more
than the number of male children, die for one or the other reason. Of
the children which die every year in India, the 6th child dies due to
gender discrimination.
(v) Gender Discrimination in Occupations and Public Life:
Women workers are paid less than the male workers for the same
type of work. Much labour is extracted from women by giving them very
minimum wages. In matters of giving treatment, promotion, increment,
facilities, etc., discrimination is normally made. In public life also
men are given priority.
Excepting the glamorous film actresses and politicians, in all
other fields, women are not given importance on par with men. Government
officials also practise this discriminatory treatment in dealing with
the people.
3. Problems of Female Education:
Social reformers and social thinkers believe that in a nation
like India giving education to women in as large a number as .possible
can prove to be a panacea for many of the problems of women.
Accordingly, much attention is paid to the education of women
after independence. The female literacy level is also increasing
steadily. It has increased from 18.7% in 1971 to 39.42% in 1991 and to
64% in 2001. In spite of this change in the trend towards literacy, some
problem has cropped up. We find glaring differences between the level
of education of men and women. For example,
i. It is found that girls are being discouraged to go for higher education and also for professional and technical education.
ii. There are regional imbalances also. In states like Kerala,
Karnataka and Maharashtra, female education is encouraged and given
almost equal importance. Whereas in states like Bihar, Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh etc. education of girls is neglected even today.
iii. Increasing drop-out of female children from schools is
another problem. Though female children are getting admitted to primary,
middle and high schools in a substantial number, many of them drop out
of the school in the middle without completing the course.
For example, as per the data furnished by the Ministry of
Education [New Delhi], in 1984-85 the number of female children enrolled
at primary school crossed the figure of 34.2 million, and at middle
school level the enrolment crossed 9.2 million. More than 74% of these
female children, between the age-groups of 6-14 years, quit schools and
lapsed into ignorance.
iv. Admission to School: Even in the matter of admitting children
to school at elementary level, female children are discriminated
against male children. For example, in 1984-85, the admission of male
children to school was around 90%, the percentage of female children was
only 66.2. It means complete awareness is not there among people
regarding female education.
4. Problems Relating to Employment and Unemployment of Women:
In the economic field the situation is such that majority of
women who are ready to work are not finding suitable work to their
satisfaction. Those who are in the employment sector are becoming the
objects of exploitation and harassment.
Though an increase in the female literacy level and extensions of
employment opportunities for women in the non-agricultural sector, have
added to the trend in favour of female employment, these two problems
continue to exist.
i. Large Number of Employed Women is Illiterate:
Of every 100 women employed, 52.59% of them are illiterate and
28.56% of them have studied only up to elementary level. Of every 100
women working in the rural areas, 88.11% are illiterate.
These illiterate women in the unorganised sector are totally
exploited by their employers. Women working in factories, mining
industries, building construction process, in dams, bridges and road
repair or construction work are not only paid less but also made to work
in unhealthy surroundings.
ii. Decreasing economic participation of women:
Technological development seems to have a negative effect on
employment opportunities of women. Studies conducted between 1975-85
have revealed this fact. Application of new technology in agrarian
sector, textiles, mines, jute, pharmaceuticals, small scale industries
like coir, handloom, weaving, spinning, cashew, fisheries, tobacco,
animal husbandry, fruits and vegetable processing etc. rendered many
women jobless. Computerisation has also adversely affected the job
prospects of women as clerks, typists and accountants.
5. Harassment of Women at Work Place:
Women constitute an important labour force in all the countries.
During the recent years there are an increasing number of women
especially in the Indian context, who are working outside the family to
get more income for the family. In fact, “the term working woman ”
refers to one who works outside the home for a wage or salary”.’
Nearly 1/3 of our labour force [32%] consists of women. Working
women constitute 16.43% of the female population of the country. As per
1991 Census, the number of working women was around 278.35 million,
representing a growth rate of 26.12% over the previous decade.
The percentage increase of working women during the last decade
was double that of male workers. The main problem with these female
workers is that they are harassed in work place in different ways.
“Harassment” refers to the basic violation of an individual’s rights.
Not only the rights of working women are violated, they are often
sexually harassed also.
i. Economic Exploitation:
Women workers are given much work but are paid less wages or
salary especially in the unorganised sector. “Equal pay for equal work”
remains only a slogan. “EqualRemuneration Act, 1976 has proved to be a
dead letter in this regard. There are also sufficient instances of such
exploitation even in the organised sector.
ii. Threat of Removal from Job:
In the Indian context, majority of women go for work not for fun
but out of necessity. Some are compelled to work because of poor family
conditions. Employers who are aware of the helplessness of these female
employees exploit them in all the possible ways. They do not tolerate
any type of opposition or protest from the side of the female workers.
Due to the fear of losing the job, women bear all the exploitations, and
do not protest.
iii. Women are given More Work:
Women normally work with devotion, seriousness and sincerity.
This commitment to work is proving to be a big disadvantage for them.
Hence, every time they are given more and more work which is not duly
rewarded.
iv. Discrimination in Giving Opportunities:
In spite of the hard work which women do, many employers consider
these working women as “non-serious workers”. They are also regarded as
“non- permanent employees” especially in the case of unmarried female
workers. They are discriminated with regard to recruitment, promotion,
increment, training, over-time allowance, facilities at work place, and
so on. Male workers are given preference in these matters.
v. Sexual Harassment of Women:
Sexual harassment of women at workplace refers to giving indecent
treatment to women workers by violating all the norms of modesty. Many
female workers have complained of such harassments during the recent
years.
This harassment by men includes – continuous staring at women,
making women the targets of lewd remarks, dirty jokes, repeated
invitation to meals and outings, offers to drop them home, making
unwanted comments about dressings, making “accidental” touches and
dashes, making them stay back in the work spot even after the working
hours, male bosses calling smart female employees to their chambers and
making unwanted “advances” towards them, molesting women workers and so
on.
6. Exploitation of Women in the Media:
The mass media such as the radio, television, news papers and the
cinema play a vital role in social change and social development
especially in the modern societies. But unfortunately, the media has not
been playing a positive role in the case of women. The media is even
condemned of exploiting and misrepresenting women.
(i) Journalism as Print Media and Women:
Newspapers, weeklies, monthlies or other types of magazines seem
to be interested in increasing their circulation by rousing the cheap
emotions of the people. “They target the woman’s body to get their
things done.” Papers no doubt give due publicity to some unfortunate
events under the captions such as “Atrocity against Women”, “Dowry Costs
A Woman’s Life”, ‘Mass Rape of a Woman’, ‘Sexual Harassment of Women’,
etc. But in doing so they give the least information about the culprit
of the crime. On the contrary, they take more interest in weaving
stories about the victim of the event which often amounts to character
assassination.
(ii) Visual Media and Women:
Since about 35% of the people in our society are illiterate,
visual media such as television and the cinema have a greater impact on
people. The Indian visual media is a failure in playing a positive role
in educating people and enriching their knowledge.
Like the newspapers, they also exhibit the female body and make
it their main capital to mint money. Modern movies believe in achieving
success by portraying more and more sex, violence and murder. Women are
shown as targets of attack, sex, rape and such other exploitations.
Unfortunately, our T.V. is also following the example of the
movies. With the invasion of our skies with a number of T.V. channels,
the choice of T.V. viewers has greatly expanded. T.V. channels such as
the Star Plus, MTV, Asian TV Network, Zee TV, and other Cable channels,
are promoting a lifestyle which is totally alien to us. As usual women
are presented in these channels in an indecent manner. Indian movies and
T.V. serials are playing havoc with our values and morals.
(iii) Advertisements and Women:
Advertisements whether in newspapers or T.V. play no less an
important role in debasing women. Advertisement firms also make use of
female body in a cheap manner to get publicity for things.
(iv) Media and Women Movements:
Media has an important role to play in strengthening women’s
position. While pronouncing women’s weaknesses, it must also emphasise
their strength. It must awaken women from the slumber of centuries,
inform them, mobilise them and motivate them whenever required. It must
give due publicity to women’s struggle for justice, equality and
fairplay. This will help them in regenerating power. The present role of
the media in this regard is not that encouraging, but disappointing.
i. Legislation to Regulate the Media:
The Government had passed as early as in 1986 a legislation
namely; “The Indecent Representation of Woman [Prohibition] Act, (1986)
in order to prevent the media from misrepresenting the women. Any
attempt to degrade and discredit women, insult and humiliate them,
assassinate the character of women, and present them in an indecent
manner is declared punishable. The provisions of this Act are applicable
to all the means of the mass media and also to advertisements, books,
handbills, posters, etc. Violation of this Act is liable for punishment,
which amounts to 2000 Rs. fine and 2 years imprisonment.
7. Divorce and Desertion:
During the recent years, instances of desertion and divorce are increasing making the lives of many women very miserable.
(a) The Hardship of Desertion:
Desertion is defined as “deliberate abandonment of conjugal
relationships.” As a matter of fact, desertion may take place at the
behest of any one of the two, or both together. In actuality, in the
Indian context, it is mostly the husband who goes away from the family
leaving the wife and children at home to fend for themselves.
Desertion causes lot of hardships especially for women. It
immediately drives a woman to a state of uncertainty and helplessness.
Deserted women belonging to poor families all of a sudden become orphans
especially when they are disowned by their own parents. Some of them
may resort to immoral activity, some others fall prey into the hands of
anti-social elements, while a few of them may commit suicide.
(b) The Agony of Divorce: Divorce is “…an institutional arrangement for terminating marital relationship…”
Causes of divorce are many:
Sociologists like Damle, Fonseca and Chaudhary together conducted
a study in India which revealed the following causes of divorce :
marital disharmony, sexual conflicts, maladjustments between husband and
wife, marital desertion, husband’s cruelty, prostitution on the part of
wife, sexual impotency, severe and unmanageable clashes with the
in-laws, mother-in-law’s harassment, including dowry harassment, illicit
sex relationship on the part of either the husband or the wife,
irreparable health hazards, mutual distrust, total irresponsibility of
the husband or wife towards the family matters and so on.
Divorce causes lot of hardships especially for the women. It
damages the social image of the wife. It becomes a permanent stigma in
her life. Many sensitive women find it difficult to come out of the
shock of divorce. The impact of divorce on children is also very severe.
The burden of protecting and rearing of children also lies on the
wife. Jobless and resourceless divorced women find themselves in a big
economic crisis. Young and beautiful divorced women find it difficult to
suppress their sex urge. They are often forced to resort to illicit
ways of satisfying it. It usually leads to family disintegration.
8. The Problem of Dowry:
Dowry is both a practice and a problem associated with the Indian
marriage. Though it was more in practice among the Hindus, it has now
spread to almost all the religious communities of India.
i. Dowry refers to “….the property, money, ornaments or any other
form of wealth which a man or his family receives from his wife or her
family at the time of marriage.”
The age-old practice of dowry has now assumed the form of a
social evil because the bride’s family is compelled to give some dowry
as a price for marriage. It has become a social bane and a kind of
bargain.
It has caused unhappiness, misery and ruin of the bride’s family.
Huge amount of money is demanded at the time of marriage and the
failure to give the promised amount would make the bride to suffer the
consequences at the hands of her in-laws and also the husband.
ii. Dowry harassments are many. Women are ill-treated,
disrespected, man-handled, tortured and subject to all sorts of
cruelties in the name of dowry. Very often, our daily papers flash news
about the tragic results of the dowry system, in which the newly married
girls are always the victims of harassment, violence, murder and
suicide. Dowry is demanded as though it is a fundamental right of the
bridegroom.
Violence against women who bring less dowry or no dowry include –
wife battering, emotional neglect / torture, verbal abuse, refusal of
sufficient food, imposition of heavy physical work, severe physical
harassments to the extent of killing the victim, and so on.
In spite of the legislation against the practice of dowry, it
persists. Demands for dowry have even caused dowry deaths. According to
an estimate, as many as 4148 dowry deaths were reported in the year 1990
and it increased to 4366 in the year 1993, and to 6205 in the year
1994, that is, at the rate of one dowry death for every 17 minutes.
iii. Dowry leads to the degradation of women. Prevalence of the
practice of dowry reflects the inferior status of women in society. It
makes a girl a great liability on her family’s resources. Some
unscrupulous and money minded young men contract more than one marriage
just for money.
It disturbs the normal relationship between the married women and
her in-laws in the husband’s family. Some poor parents, who cannot pay a
huge amount as dowry, are often compelled to arrange the marriage of
their daughters with old men, or physically or mentally handicapped
persons. Such marriages prove to be miserable for women.
As early as in 1961 itself, The Dowry Prohibition Act was passed
in order to prevent the practice of dowry. It was amended in 1986 to
make its provisions more severe and stringent. In spite of this Act, the
practice continues to be in vogue.
9. Decline in the Political Participation of Women:
Participation of women who constitute 50% of our total population
in politics and public life is very much negligible in India. We find
only a negligible number of women in prestigious positions like those of
Central and State cabinet ministers, governors, secretaries and legal
advisers to the governments, ambassadors to other countries, IPS, IAS,
IFS officers, judges in courts, mayors of big cities, office bearers of
all-India parties, etc. No political party of India has given position
to women in accordance with their number in the total population. In
some areas seats are reserved for women as we find in Gram Panchayat,
Jilla Panchayat, University Senate, etc. Even in these areas women have
not constituted themselves into a “pressure group “. Hence in our
political life, we have caste lobbies, linguistic lobbies, capitalist
lobbies, minority lobby, etc. but we do not have “-women lobby ” to
bring pressure on the government.
i. Increasing Violence and Terrorism in Politics:
Political corruption, criminalisation of politics, erosion of
political values, disappearance of political decency, instability,
lawlessness, terrorism and confusion have been increasing in our public
life since 1980s. This state of confused political situation has
discouraged women from taking active role in politics.
ii. Minimum Representation of Women in Lok Sabha:
The representation of women in Lok Sabha has been very poor since
1962 elections. For ex: there were only 33 elected women members in the
third Lok Sabha [out of 494 members] after the 1962 elections. In the
6th Lok Sabha out of 544 elected members there were only 19 women
members and their percentage was only 3.4. In the 10th Lok Sabha [1991
Elections] there were 39 elected women members and their percentage was
7.4.
iii. In the 1996 Elections for the 11th Lok Sabha though the
total number of women voters increased to 28.24 crores [47%], only 477
women candidates as against 14,250 men candidates contested for 543
seats. [In the 1991 Elections for the 10th Lok Sabha 325 women
candidates contested as against 8,374 men candidates for 521 seats].
These figures reveal that only a small number of women are interested in
political life.
iv. In the 1999 General Elections for the 13th Lok Sabha also
women’s participation was the poorest one. Though political parties were
speaking vociferously in terms of 33% reservation for women in
legislative bodies including the Parliament, no political party had
given tickets to women in more than 10%. In some parties, the percentage
of women candidates was not even 2 to 3.
v. Poor Participation of Women in the Party Politics:
Not only in the legislative bodies but even within the framework
of the political parties also the participation of women is very poor.
Political parties are still male-dominated and unwilling to give
sufficient representation to women.
For example, at present, [that is, in 2001] the Congress Party
has only 3 women in its 20-member Working Committee. In the BJP Working
Committee, out of 75 members there are only 8 women, and in its 650
member National Council, there are only 150 women.
The Communist Party [Marxists] has only 12 women in its 150
member National Council, and 3 women in its 21 member National
Executive. Though theoretically women’s representation in politics is
regarded as the first step towards women empowerment, the
socio-political atmosphere has not yet become conducive for that.