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| India | |
 Flag of India | |
| Population (in Mil.) | 1095,4 |
 Sex Ratio (m/f)
| 1,06 |
 Life Expectancy Ratio (f/m)
| 1,05 |
 Fertility Rate
| 3 |
 Income Ratio (f/m)
| 0,31 |
 Literacy Ratio (f/m)
| 0,65 |
 Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (f/m)
| 0,66 |
 Women in Parliament (in %)
| 8,3 |
| SIGI Rank | 96 |
| Source: GID Data Base (2008) More information on variables | |
| Did you know that India ranks number 96 of 102 countries on the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index? To learn more, see the official country note "Gender Equality and Social Institutions in India" at genderindex.org: | |
For several reasons India is an interesting country to study in the context of gender equality. Although China has a larger population, it is fair to say that India is the country in which the highest number of women suffer discrimination.
India is also an example of failed attempts to implement pro-women policies. Since independence, the Indian government has imposed several laws to protect women, which for the most part have not been applied. Consequently, India has been named "a good example of a country with an abyssal gap between policy and practise” (Rhoodie, 1989). India is therefore a prime example to illustrate the limitations of a sound legal framework.
Finally, India is characterised by the impact of religion on the status of women. In many cases, Hinduism (accounting for some 80% of the population) is more important than the officials laws and regulations. Similarly for the Muslim population the Islamic code is frequently the reference.
Contents |
Family Code
The State has fought against child marriage since the 19th century and the legal age of marriage for girls has been raised continuously: from 12 in 1891, 14 in 1929, 15 in 1955, and finally to 18 in 1976. However, a high percentage of women married before the age of 20 shows that the law is not respected. An estimated 30 percent of girls between 15 and 19 years of age are currently married, divorced or widowed. What is more, in rural areas in the North, more than 50% of women are believed to be married even before the age of 15 (C. Morrisson 2004).
Polygamy is legal for Muslims and it also exists to some extent among Hindus, particularly in cases where the first wife has not given birth to any sons. Repudiation is also legal for Moslems. For persons of other religious believs, the divorce proceedings have been equal for men and women since 1976. Divorce by mutual consent is legal but in reality, any woman who initiates a divorce is condemned by the public opinion. For that reason, divorces are very rare. The father alone detains parental authority in Hindu and Muslim families. His authority is partially limited only in educated and urban families. In the event of divorce, the law assures some equality with regards to child custody, but any advantages granted to the mother in this aspect are rarely exercised as divorces are not common practice. The old Hindu traditions privileged men in matters of inheritance: only sons – not daughters - could inherit their parents. After independence, however, these traditions were abolished by law. But in the North, nothing has really changed and women are still deprived of inheritance. Contrary to laws passed by the Indian Union, several local states allow the exclusion of widows and daughters for land inheritance. The conditions for women are most favourable in the South, where the national laws tend to be respected more often. For the Muslim population, inheritance practices are discriminatory. A daughter, for example, inherits half as much as a son. This is commonly justified by the fact that a woman has no financial responsibility towards her husband and children.
Physical Integrity
Violence against women is very frequent in India. Statistics show that wives are often the victim of domestic violence: in half the states, the percentages of women that are beaten by their husbands vary between 10% and 20%. The practise of dowry has been maintained and thousands of women are murdered every year by their husbands because the dowry is too low. An estimated 6000 women are killed every year. However, this figure most likely underestimates the reality as the majority of murders do not get registered.
Selective abortions are more and more frequent in India, which explains a high percentage of missing women. Census data show that almost 40 million Indian women were missing in 2001 (Hudson et al., 2005). This practice is linked to an old tradition: during the past centuries, young girl killings were frequent. In 1870, the authorities probibited this practice and demanded the registration of all births. But especially in rural areas, girl killings have continued and now, owing to technological progress, it is even getting easier to be sex-selective before birth. Moreover, when children are ill, the fathers prefer to pay treatment for sons than for daughters, so that more girls die.
Civil liberties
Women are not free to move in the villages of the North and suffer severe restriction of their movement in the South. In the North the tradition of the purdah prevails except in large towns: 80% to 85% of women do not have any freedom. Purdah imposes at the same time the veil and reclusion at home: the wife must ask permission to go to the village market or to visit friends.
Before the 10th century purdah did not exist. The Muslim invasion at that time lead the Hindu husbands to enforce this practise because they feared Muslims who imposed the purdah on their wives. But the purdah is less respected in large towns: in Delhi nearly half the women can move freely. In the South, Muslims ruled only for a short time during the 18th century. As a consequence, purdah affects less than half the women in this region.
Restrictions on freedom of dress only affect 50-60% of women if the following facts are taken into account: in the villages of the North the obligation to wear of a veil and reclusion are always linked, but in the South the obligation of the veil is less frequent. On the other hand, freedom of dress prevails often in towns.
Ownership Rights
In principle, several laws guarantee that women have access to property, including land. In the North, however, these laws are not respected. On average half the women may not even have access to money (e.g. they must ask their husbands for a small amount of money before going shopping). In these cases, women naturally do not have access to other forms of property as well, including credit. The situation is worse for land ownership which is always restricted to men. In the South, women can sometimes inherit land and frequently have access to money: between 70 and 80% according to surveys.
Sources
- Coonrod,C. (1998), Chronic Hunger and the Status of Women in India, http://www.thp.org/reports/indiawom.htm.
- Devendra,K. (1994), Changing the Status of Women in India. Asian Publications.
- Dyson,T. and M.Moore (1983), On Kinship Structure, Female Autonomy, and Demographic Behavior in India. Population and Development Review, pp.35-60.
- Hudson, V. and A. Den Boer, Missing Women and Bare Branches: Gender Balance and Conflict, ECSP Report, Issue 11, 2005.
- Klasen, K. and C. Wink (2003), “Missing Women”: Revisiting the Debate, Feminist Economics 1/2003, Volume 9, Issue 2-3.
- Menon-Sen,K.and A. Shiva Kumar (2001), Women in India: How Free? How Equal?. Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, New-Delhi. http://www.un.org.in//wii.htm.
- Morrisson, C. (2004), La condition des femmes en Inde, Kenya, Soudan et Tunisie. Document de travail n° 235. Centre de Développement de l’OCDE.
- OECD (2006), The Gender, Institutions and Development Database, www.oecd.org/dev/gender/gid.
- Rhoodie,E.M. (1989), Discrimination against Women: a Global Survey of the Economic,Educational,Social and Political Status of Women, chapter 6,Mc Farland,Jefferson,NC.
