Figuring women

On Women8217;s Day, some data for thought: The more things change for India8217;s women, the more they remain the same

Most people know Annie Besant as a theosophist and intrepid activist in the cause of India8217;s independence. What is less known is the fact that Besant was arguably the first to draw public attention to the terrible death toll of Indian women between 15 and 30 years of age and its link to early marriage and illiteracy. That sepia-tinted concern, which Besant voiced nearly a century ago, continues to be very much with us today. Change for Indian women has plotted a slow and convoluted path. Progress has often seamlessly melded with reversals.

On Women8217;s Day, chew on these curiosities, if you will: The female sex ratio was 972 women for 1000 men in 1901 and a hundred years later, in 2001, the figure stood at 933. In a state like Kerala, where women have the highest levels of education, their representation in the workforce is one of the lowest in the country. Crimes against women in India have actually grown, not declined, over the years, despite growing awareness and policy interventions.

So the big picture allows no easy conclusions as the preliminary data from the National Family Health Survey-3 2005-2006 8212; arguably the most comprehensive scrutiny of the health and social profile of Indians 8212; indicates. Among its most significant findings is the persistence of early marriage among Indian women: 44.5 per cent of women in the 20-24 years bracket interviewed, were married by 18. Certainly there has been a decline 8212; NFHS-2 1998-99 and NFHS-1 1992-93 had registered figures of 50 per cent and 54.2 per cent, respectively. But much of the change has occurred in urban areas and among the better-educated. NFHS-3 tells us that 28.1 per cent of urban women were married by 18, while the figure for those who had 10 years and more of schooling was significantly lower 8212; at 12.8 per cent.

It is a similar picture when it came to early motherhood. According to NFHS-3, 16 per cent of Indian women, aged 15-19, were either mothers or were pregnant at the time of the survey. The figure drops to half of this in an urban setting and to 5.2 per cent when the woman had 10 or more years of schooling. Later marriage and later motherhood are clearly key factors in female empowerment. Their impact is wide and decisive. Not only do they determine the health profile of babies and mothers, they decide whether a woman has the required agency to stand up to domestic violence and participate actively in family decisions.

One of the more distressing aspects of the Indian development scenario is the extremely high child mortality rate, as development economists have often reminded us. One-third of babies in India are born with a low birth weight. To get an idea of how alarming this figure is, it may be useful to recall that sub-Saharan Africa shines in comparison: One-sixth of babies born there are of low birth weight. The link between women8217;s general health status and child nutrition has been well-established, yet women8217;s health remains a greatly neglected area in the country. NFHS-2 revealed that as many of 36.2 per cent of Indian women had a body mass index below normal indicating 8220;a high prevalence of nutritional deficiency8221; and the figure has improved only marginally to 33 per cent in NHFS-3. When it came to 8220;ever married women age 15-49 who are anaemic8221;, the percentage actually rose: From 51.8 per cent to 56.2 per cent. Anaemia among Indian women is all-pervasive 8212; it affects rural and urban women and educated and uneducated women, but as NFHS-2 told us, women from rural, illiterate, SC/ST backgrounds have always registered the highest levels of anaemia. Anaemia in infants 6-35 months plots the same trajectory 8212; it registered an increase from 74.2 NFHS-2 to 79.2 NFHS-3. These figures could tell us a good deal about about food consumption patterns in the country.

Words like 8220;women8217;s empowerment8221; are now very much a part of official jargon 8212; among the pieties that the government of India in all its authority voices with alarming regularity. That the phrase has been rendered bereft of all meaning as a consequence should not lead us to the conclusion that Indian women no longer require the careful attention of policy makers.

As we have seen, not only do the gains women have made over the years require to be defended, old and familiar discriminations have proved more resilient than imagined earlier.