1. An Inter-state Comparison of Status of Women in Some Selected
States of India with Special Reference to Assam.
Presented by:
Annesha Mech
M.A in Economics,
Dibrugarh University
2. Introduction:
Status of women implies the position that women possess in the society in
relation to men.
With passage of time though Indian women have progressed in different field
but there are yet a major portion who still are deprived of basic needs and
amenities of life. Different indicators are used for assessing the status of women
in different aspects which are vitally interlinked with concepts of power and
position they hold in the society.
Objectives:
1) Comparative analysis of status of women in Assam to some selected major
states of India with the help of some selected indicators.
2) Some governmental schemes implemented by Assam government for
upliftment of women.
3) Some ways for improving the status of women in Assam.
3. Materials and Methodology:
All the relevant information and data were collected using secondary data from
various sources such as journals, newspapers, Census Reports of the Government,
NFHS-III, Sample Registration System etc.
Different indicators were used such as male -female literacy gap rate, number of
girls enrolled per 100 boys, drop-out rate of girls, Female Infant Mortality Rate,
Maternal Mortality Ratio, Percentage of pregnant anaemic women & Percentage
of Safe Delivery, number of women members in Lok Sabha , Number of women
with bank accounts, number of women having operational landholdings and
women’s participation in decision making, Percentage of women employed in
organized sector, Sex ratio and incidence of crime committed against women
to make an Inter-state Comparison of Status of Women in Some Selected
seventeen States of India with Special Reference to Assam
4. Results and Discussion:
Educational status of women can be analysed by using some indicators like:
male-female literacy gap rate, number of girls enrolled per 100 boys and dropout rate of girls.
Chart 1:
male-female literacy gap rate in %
Inter-state comparison of male-female literacy gap rate (%)
30
27.85
25
20.51
20.06
19.98
18.61
20
18.04
16.5
15.82
14.23
15
14.72
14.34
12.95
11.54
10.14
10
5
4.32
4.04
0
states
Source: Census of India,2011
11.51
5. Table 2:
Statewise drop-out rates in class (I-X) & No. of girls enrolled per 100 boys
Sl.
States
Drop-out rates, Class I-X (6-16 yrs)
No. of girls enrolled per 100 boys, 2006-07
(2009-10)
No
Boys
Girls
Total
Classes I-VIII
Classes IX-X
1
Andhra
52.73
54.02
53.36
96
90
2
Assam
77.41
77.82
77.60
96
79
3
Bihar
78.46
76.06
77.56
71
50
4
Gujarat
60.37
64.41
62.14
76
69
5
Haryana
20.17
19.46
19.84
87
87
6
Himachal
22.28
18.93
20.65
90
90
7
Karnataka
46.89
46.33
46.62
93
90
8
Kerala
-2.94
-5.20
-4.06
95
97
9
M.P
60.98
71.32
65.71
88
59
10
Maharashtra
38.63
42.62
40.54
90
88
11
Mizoram
64.79
60.72
62.87
94
99
12
Odisha
69.98
65.91
68.19
89
83
13
Punjab
41.23
39.45
40.42
87
80
14
Rajasthan
70.52
73.42
71.64
80
51
15
Tamil Nadu
37.56
30.28
34.06
94
94
16
U.P
29.19
15.09
23.83
82
53
17
West Bengal
72.89
70.70
71.83
98
77
Source:Abstract of Selected Educational Statistics 2009-10* & 2006-07 ** Ministry of Human Resource Development; GoI[5]
6. Health status: Different health indicators such as female infant mortality rate, maternal
mortality ratio, percentage of pregnant anaemic women and percentage of safe delivery are
used for assessing the health status of women.
Chart 3:
Female-Infant Mortality Rate
Inter-state comparison of Female Infant Mortality Rate
(per 1000 live births) for year 2011.
70
60
53
50
40
33
30
20
23
34
35
37
39
42
45
46
56
58
59
48
25
13
10
0
Source: Sample Registration System(2012)
62
8. Political Status: For empowerment women need to have a voice in decision making and planning
through adequate representation.The number of women members in the Lok Sabha is used in assessing
the political status of women.
Chart 5:
Number of women members in Lok Sabha(2009)
interstate comparison of male-female gap in
number of members in Lok Sabha
80
67
70
60
50
45
37
40
39
36
27
30
22
20
10
12
5
2
4
4
23
20
8
2
4
6
1
0
Female
Male
Source: www.parliamentofIndia.nic.in
States
22
21
13
10
3
1
35
4
3
7
9. Socio-Economic status: Number of women with bank accounts, number of women having operational
landholdings and women’s participation in household decision making and percentage of women
employed in organised sector are used as indicators for assessing economic empowerment and
independence of women.
Table 6:
Statewise comparison of no. of women with credit accounts (credit limit above Rs 2
lakhs) under all scheduled commercial banks in India as on 31st March 2006
No. of women with bank accounts
174854
84634
76868
60062
55129
7284
9713
22067
23120
18964
4401
Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development.(2009)
1978
10955
24590
38231
22875
25851
10. Chart 6.1:
No. Of women having operational land holdings(in thousands) during agricultural census
2000-01
2347
No. Of women having operational land holdings
1878
1417
1374
1134
1119
483
470
142
53
1266
63
7
125
8
226
198
Source:Ministry of Women and Child Development(2009)
Chart 6.2:
Inter-state comparison of percentage of married women who participate in household
decisions(%)
Currently married women who participate in household decisions(%)
70.4
60.9
40.4
32.7
36.6
41.7
47.2
39.2
35.2
45.4
48.8
41.8
37.4
33.7
29.4
22.8
Source: NFHS-3(2005-06)
23.9
11. Chart 7:
Inter-state comparison of percentage of women employed to total employed in organised
sector; 2009.
Percentage of women employed to total employment
40.1
33.3
33.7
32.7
21.8
14.7
26.4
17.1
13.8
16.8
15.3
21.3
17.4
11.6
5.2
12.5
Source: Directorate of General Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour ;(2009)
Sex ratio and incidence of crimes committed against women are used as a social indicators
reflecting how much
woman as a human-being enjoy the right of survival, protection and development in the society.
Chart 8:
Inter-state comparison of Sex-ratio (2011)
Sex-ratio(2011) (no. of females per 1000 males)
992
954
916
918
877
974
Source: Census of India,2011 (Provisional Data)
968
1084
930
925
975
978
893
926
995
908
947
13. Different schemes that are implemented by Assam government for
uplifting women status:
Janani Suraksha Yojana
Majoni Scheme
Janani Sishu Suraksha Karyakram
Grants in aid to Assam state Commission for women to provide legal help to women in
distress.
Financial incentives under Nabau and Baideu Schemes
National Bowari Scheme
Anganwadi Karjakatay Bima yojana
Sawaymsidha
Some Suggestions for improving status of women in Assam:
• Value
based education, self –defence courses for girls, skill developing courses should be
introduced in the curriculum.
14. •Training for employment and for other income generating activities with the aim of
making women economically independent.
•Every educated youth has a great role to play in creating awareness among women
about their rights through campaigns in remote areas.
•Maternity care facilities need to be improved
•Education is utmost necessary for each and every girl child.
Conclusion:
The status of women in Assam is quite satisfactory in terms of women who have
access to all needs and opportunities of life but there are still a major section who
receive deprivation and discrimination in every steps of life. Every women should
unite together to stand against the social evils. The status of women would be
improve in real sense only when society’s attitude towards women change and
when each women are treated and respected as an equally human being.
