Make them equal partners in development
Mishra, T.K.
Yojana 32(9): 18-20
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0044-0515 PMID: 12281793 Document Number: 359256
The general status of women in India and the world, their potential as entrepreneurs in India, and the Indian government's initiatives for women are described. Women are actually good household managers and essential for success of the family and the nation, but economic development alone will not benefit women by a "trickle down" effect because male superiority is a vested interest. Women around the world perform 2/3 of the work, but receive 1/10 of the income and own less than 1/100 of the property. Although female literacy in India has grown from 18.7% in 1971 to 24.8% in 1981, the absolute number of illiterate women has grown from 215 to 241 million, and the ratio of illiterate women to men has risen. Higher education for women is largely limited to home economics, art, literature and dressmaking. Women are taking up spinning, weaving, crafts, matchmaking, cereal processing and other cottage industries. Elite urban women are also starting businesses doing marketing, advertising, electronics, designing, textiles and beauty clinics. Entrepreneurial women face problems with credit, bureaucratic hurdles, harassment by inspectors, huge consultancy and legal fees. Women's welfare organizations should foster their economic development. The Indian government has proposed anti-poverty programs, job programs, legal safeguards, and promotion of women in the media. It has suggested that a Ministry of Women and Child Development be created to enforce the law for women. A Ministry of Rural Development has initiated a Scheme for the Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA). There is a National Committee on Women, headed by the Prime Minister, to advise the Central and State Governments on policy, legislative and administrative measures needed to remove economic and social inequalities for women.