Women In India| Women Responsibilities. Special Stories

WOMEN IN INDIA

Women's rights are secured under the constitution of India - mainly equality, dignity, and freedom from discrimination; further, India has various statutes governing the rights of women.

As of 2011, the president of India, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposotion in the Lok Sabha(Lower House of the parliament) were women. However, women in India continue to face numerous problems, including violent victimisation through rape, acid throwing, dowry killings, marital rape, and the forced prostitution of young girls. In 2012, the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the worst G20 country in which to be a women.

Indian Women Culture:

The status of women's in India is strongly connected to family relations. In India, the family is seen as crucially important, and in most of the country the family unit is patrillineal. Families are usually multi-generational, with the bride moving to live with the in-laws. Families are usually hierarchical, with the elders having authority over the younger generations, and the males over females. The vast majority of marriages are monogamous(one husband and one wife), but both polygyny and polyandry in India have a tradition among some populations in India. Wedding in India can by quite expensive. Most marriages in India are arranged.

With regard to dress, a sari and salwar kameez are worn by women all over India. A bindi is part of   a women's make-up. Despite common belief, the bindi on the forehesd does not signify marital status; however, the Sindoor does.

According to 1992-1993 fig, only 9.2% of the households in India were headed by females. However, approximately 35% of the households below the poverty line were found to be headed by females.

WOMEN TO WORK

Education :

Though it is gradually increasing, the female literacy rate in India is less than the male literacy rate. Far fewer girls than boys are enrolled in school, and many girls drop out. In urban India, girls are nearly on a par with boys in terms of education. However, in rural India,girls continue to be less educated than boys. According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy. According to scholars, the major factor behind improvements in the social and economic status of women in Kerela is literacy.

Workforce participation :

Contrary to common perception, a large percentage of women in India work. National data collection agencies accept that statistics seriously understate women's contribution as workers. However, there are far fewer women than men in the paid workforce.In urban India, women participate in the workforce in impressive numbers. For example, in the software industry 30% of the workforce is female.