Once again girls have outdone the boys, both in the X and XII board examinations. Nisha Sharma, a young bride-to-be in Noida, had the courage to turn away her bridegroom when his dowry demands became incessant and excessive. She did not care for the grave financial loss it would cause her family or the damage it would do to her, personally. She was keen to preserve her dignity and she did it. She has proved that doing the right thing compensates for everything else. Three minor girls—all 12 years of age—prevented a child marriage of their school friend, that too in conservative Haryana where child marriages are common. Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut from the same state, was the first Indian woman to travel in space.These are just some indications that women in the country are getting out of the box. Contrast this with the failure, yet again, of our predominantly male Parliamentarians to empower women by allowing the passage of the Women’s Bill, and the lack of sync between the genuine stirrings on the ground and the apathy at the very top comes across with great clarity.Ironically, despite significant assertions by Indian women over the last few years, things have not changed very much for them. Almost everywhere else in the world, women outnumber men but India continues to be the exception to this rule. The population sex ratio, which in India in 1901 was 972 of females for 1000 males, is today 933 females for 1000 males. In Haryana, the sex ratio is 861 girls for 1000 boys. This indicates that practices like female foeticide and infanticide continue in alarming numbers.Everywhere else, the lifespan of women is generally longer than that of men. But not in our country. It’s the same story in education. The general increase in the number of girls enrolling in primary classes over the last 30 years is somehow not sustained at the secondary and higher education levels. Drop-out rates of girls continue to be high: 82.9 per cent at the primary and 49.1 per cent at the upper primary levels. One had hoped that with the right to education becoming a fundamental right, things would change but, clearly, there are formidable hurdles. Even in health, the discrimination against girls continues in terms of inadequate nutrition and medical care. Out of four girls requiring specialised healthcare, only two on an average reach the hospital. This is not the case with male children.The world today is increasingly rooted in human rights. Equality—along with liberty—has come to be regarded as the most fundamental of them. Freedom and equality go hand in hand, based on the basic premise that human beings are born free and equal. At one stage, society was governed by the belief that only the strong should rule. Women, being biologically weaker, were at a disadvantage in such a society which put such a premium on physical prowess.Things began to change with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Electricity and labour-saving machinery slowly altered the almost total dependence on physical labour. The arrival of the information technology revolution hastened this transformative process. The mind overtook the body.These developments should have, logically, destroyed the age-old superiority of men over women. Unfortunately, for the most part, it has not — and all the more so in a strongly hierarchical society like ours. Today, in India, the preference for sons is still the dominant sentiment, the birth of a daughter continues to be a matter of disappointment and shame. Instead of a female child being regarded as “desh ka dhan”, she continues to be “paraya dhan”.So how do we change this reality? We have laws to combat every form of discrimination but they can only go that far. What we need, and are still seeking, is that crucial change in mindsets. Every Nisha Sharma, every schoolgirl who prevents a child marriage, every successful woman professional, provides a glimmer of hope. But it is as yet only a glimmer.
