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Short Report: Women’s Empowerment in India

Introduction

Women’s empowerment has gained momentum globally over the past few decades. From the British suffragette movement in the early nineteenth century to the United States’ Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in 2009, women have gained numerous rights world-wide over time. Studies have shown that as a byproduct of empowering women, countries have had a greater GDP per capita, lower infant mortality rates and higher literacy rates. Despite this, the gender inequality gap has not entirely been bridged.

Gender inequality combined with high poverty has resulted in numerous crimes against women in India. Though there are numerous factors that affect the status of women in Indian society, this report will concentrate on reproductive health, political participation and the economic independence of women in India.

Reproductive Health

Although there are laws that support access to women’s health care and the distribution of products for reproductive health in India, the implementation of such laws has been subpar. Due to a lack of adequate forms of birth control (like the birth control pill or IUDs), in 2010, India had one of the highest birth rates in the world with 21.595 births per 1,000 people. As a result, the government implemented a controversial sterilization program. By 2013, roughly 4.6 million Indian women were sterilized to lower the birth rate; roughly 568 women died from this procedure. The insufficiency of reproductive health care for women in India is a systemic issue and one that is barely addressed because of a stigma against it.

Political Participation

Since India gained its independence from the British in 1947, Indian women have been politically active. In 1966, India’s third prime minister Indira Gandhi was a woman who went on to serve for another term in 1980. In the 2014 Indian elections, 65.63% of women voted, which is an impressive figure considering that total voter turnout was only 66.40% that year. It was observed that in states where the literacy rates amongst women were lower than others, the percentage of women that voted was also less. This shows a correlation between women’s access to education and women’s political participation in India. It is important for women to exercise their right to vote because they can elect officials that will create an environment in India where women can flourish.

Economic Independence

Under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, women have the right to financial and economic independence and anyone accused of demanding a dowry should be arrested. However, in 2014 this law was highly abused when the Indian Supreme Court ruled that any arrest must be approved by the magistrate. Due to such poorly executed laws and the lack of financial independence amongst Indian women, they are often dependent on their fathers and then after marriage on their husbands. Moreover, this has created a vicious cycle where young girls are never given the opportunity to have an education, hence must rely on a male authoritarian figure as they do not have a job and thus no financial independence.

Furthermore, in rural areas most women do not get the opportunity to work and earn a wage; instead, they take care of household chores. When women do get the opportunity to work, they earn roughly Rs. 85 ($1.27) per day, which is less than half of what men earn, because of discrimination in the work environment. The root of this problem is cultural and it is difficult to change a society that has been subordinating women for centuries, but not impossible. With the help of NGOs like Apne Aap and CARE India that specialize in giving young girls an education and adult women entrepreneurship skills to start their own business or job qualifications, women have slowly started gaining economic independence.

Conclusion

Overall, while women have been empowered in India, there are still numerous flaws with the implementation of laws that are supposed to decrease the inequality gap between men and women. Additionally, class does play an integral role in this dilemma as women from lower classes and rural areas have more difficulty obtaining access to education and other such vital resources that enable women to reach their true potential. Taking all these factors into consideration, it is only through a cultural revolution where the population truly understand that both women and men are capable of achieving greatness that women can accomplish empowerment. 

Works Cited:

Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. "Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation." The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2009. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/politics/30ledbetter-web.html>.

Cohn, Claire Litton. "12 Reasons Why Empowering Women Should Be The World's Priority." Matador Network. N.p., 6 Mar. 2014. Web. <https://matadornetwork.com/change/12-reasons-empowering-women-worlds-top-priority/>.

"Reproductive Rights in India." Reproductive Rights in India. Human Rights Law Network, 2013. Web. <http://www.hrln.org/hrln/reproductive-rights/433-reproductive-rights-in-india.html>.

The World Bank, Indian Birth rate (2010). Retrieved from <http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.CBRT.IN?end=2014&locations=IN&start=1960>

Shanker, Richa. "Measurement of Women’s Political Participation at the Local Level: India Experience." Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implemenatation, India (n.d.): n. pag. UN Stats. United Nations. Web. <https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/Mexico_Nov2014/Session%206%20India%20paper.pdf>.

The Editoral Board. "India’s Lethal Birth Control." The New York Times. NYT, 20 Nov. 2014. Web. <https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/opinion/indias-lethal-birth-control.html?_r=0>.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Indira Gandhi." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 09 June 2016. Web. < https://www.britannica.com/biography/Indira-Gandhi>.

"WebCite: Election Commission." WebCite Query Result. Press Information Bureau Government of India, 21 May 2014. Web. <http://www.webcitation.org/6SSfQxJNT>.

"What Is IPC-498a ? Why Is It Misused ?" 498A. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.498a.org/498aexplained.htm>.

Blair, Cherie, and Siddharth Chatterjee. "Promoting Women's Economic Participation in India." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Mar. 2013. Web. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/promoting-womens-economic_b_2917923.html>.

Parekh, Dhimant. "Five NGOs Working towards Women Empowerment." The Better India. The Better India, 02 Mar. 2011. Web. <http://www.thebetterindia.com/2544/awards-ngo-women-empowerment/>.

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Reflection

While writing this short report, I had to combine a range of techniques that we learned in class. The most prominent technique that I implemented was paraphrasing. Paraphrasing was necessary in the short report because I had to convey a lot of information and also condense it into the word limit. I did not have too much experience paraphrasing, but aI understood the general gist of it from what I had gathered in class. So, I went back onto bCourses and checked the modules section where I found the lessons we had learned on paraphrasing.

While typing out this short report, I found myself looking at the Birds Of Egypt document often and seeing all the steps that were listed. After a while. I did not have to look at the steps when paraphrasing and it became almost like second nature to me. Also, I often did not realize when I would combine two or more steps because they are all interconnected. By writing this short report, I understood how paraphrasing worked and how to implement the steps that were listed. While paraphrasing, I had some difficulty grasping how to paraphrase specific numerical data. For instance, I had come across a particular statistic (which I eventually did not include in the essay) on the literacy rate amongst women in Tamil Nadu being 73% and I had trouble paraphrasing that. I felt that if I wrote “roughly three-fourth…” then I was being inaccurate and when writing a short report, it is important to be factually correct. However, after consulting a friend who has great experience in paraphrasing and writing reports, I felt more comfortable saying “roughly three-fourth” because it did not convey inaccurate information and gave the general idea of the literacy rate. Moreover, while paraphrasing, I used many synonyms and eventually had to look through a thesaurus. I ended up learning many new words and incorporating them into my vocabulary.

Summary: There Is No Harvard Cheating Scandal

In Farhad Manjoo's article, “There Is No Harvard Cheating Scandal: The Students Should Be Celebrated For Collaboration”, Manjoo argues that the students did not plagiarize their work in the final for the “Introduction To Congress” course. Numerous students were penalized for collaborating on the final as it was considered to be a form of plagiarism.

The exam was a take home paper and students had access to books, Internet, etc. Manjoo states that since the internet by nature is collaborative with forum sites like Wikipedia and Quora, students could discuss the exam. Manjoo also criticizes the design of the paper and notes that it was unfairly difficult to the students, hence forcing them to discuss the questions in order to get a better understanding of what the answers required. Moreover, Manjoo claims that the students should be praised for successfully tackling such a tough paper through teamwork because most jobs require collaboration amongst colleagues and it polishes a student’s communication skills. Manjoo acknowledges that by collaborating it was difficult for the professor to evaluate an individual student’s skills as some were “free-riding” on the hard work and knowledge of other students; however, by discussing ideas, students managed to enhance their own understanding of the topic.

Manjoo ends his article by weighing out the pros and cons of the collaboration of the students in the class and concludes that discussing the paper is beneficial to students and should be encouraged as it teaches students skills that are essential in many post-university jobs.

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Reflection

I chose to summarize this particular article because I found it to be the most compelling with a diverse range of points. Previously to this, I had some summary writing experience from my second year studying English. From that class, I recalled that the shorter the summary, the better. I also recalled that only the most important points made it into a summary. So, I started by reading the article 3-4 times. The first time, I highlighted what I felt was important, but I ended up highlighting too much to fit into a summary, so I had to go over it and question if it was really important and worth mentioning to the reader. My whole approach when deciding what information went into a summary and what did not, was asking myself: “If someone has not read the article and is reading the summary for the very first time, is it necessary to help them better understand the dilemma that I include this detail?” Thus, if I felt the detail enhanced the reader’s knowledge, then I would include it, but if I felt like the detail was implied or previously states in a different fashion, then I excluded it.