This document discusses women's freedom and equality in India based on constitutional rights and realities. It summarizes that while the Indian constitution guarantees equal rights and opportunities for women, realities such as uneven access to healthcare and high maternal mortality rates show that women's freedom and ability to lead healthy, long lives are still limited in practice. Key issues discussed include high rates of infant and maternal mortality, prevalence of diseases like anemia, lack of access to family planning resources, and social factors like sex-selective abortion that threaten women's basic freedoms.

1. Women in India
How free?
How equal?

2. Women’s freedom and equality
• At some time or the other, we have all heard the comment,
‘Gender is a Western concept. We don’t need it in India’. A
number of arguments are used to justify this stand. we are told
that India is the original home of the Mother Goddess. In our
ancient history, we have many instances of women scholars and
women rulers. Stories from mythology and folklore are recounted
to prove that women in India have always been honoured and
respected. We are proud of the fact that India was one of the first
countries in the world to give women the right to vote. The Indian
Constitution is one of the most progressive in the world, and
guarantees equal rights for men and women. All this is cited as
evidence to support the contention that Indian women are free and
equal members of society.

3. The Constitutional Pledge
• The Constitution of India pledges ‘to secure to all the people ...
justice, social, economic and political; equality of status,
opportunity and before the law; freedom of thought, expression,
belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to
law and public morality’.
• The Constitution is firmly grounded in the principles of liberty,
fraternity, equality and justice
• It emphasises the importance of greater freedom for all and
contains a number of provisions for the empowerment of women
• Women’s right to equality and non-discrimination are defined as
justiciable fundamental rights
• The Constitution explicitly clarifies that affirmative action
programmes for women are not incompatible with the principle of
non-discrimination on the grounds of sex.
• The Constitution does not merely pay lip service to an abstract
notion of equality. It reflects a substantive understanding of the
practical dimensions of freedom and equality for women.

4. The Constitutional Guarantees:
• Article 14: Equality before the law.
• Article 15(1): No discrimination by the state on grounds of
religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth.
• Article 15(3): Special provisions to be made by the state in favour
of women and children.
• Article 16: Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters
relating to employment or appointment to any office under the
state
• Article 39(a): State policy to be directed to securing for men and
women equally, the right to an adequate means of livelihood.
• Article 39(d): Equal pay for equal work both men and women.
• Article 42: Provisions to be made by the state for securing just
and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.
• Article 51(A) (e): To promote harmony and to renounce practices
derogatory to the dignity of women.

5. Some questions:
• What do freedom and equality mean to women in India?
• Can they exercise their right to live with dignity?
• Do they have the freedom to develop their potential and choose
what they should do or be?
• Can they acquire knowledge, be creative and productive and live
long and healthy lives?
• Are they protected form the major sources of unfreedom – from
violence, discrimination, want, fear and injustice?
• Do they enjoy the same chances and choices as men, equally and
on the same terms?
• In essence, how free are Indian women? How equal are they to
men?
Unfortunately these questions do not have simple and straightforward
answers

6. Critical aspects of women’s freedom and equality
– Freedom to lead a long life
–Right to health
–Right to education
– Freedom to work without exploitation
– Freedom to participate in decision making
– Freedom from fear

7. Freedom to live a long life

8. Freedom to lead a long life
• The ability to live out a normal life span and not be at
the risk of premature death, is a basic pre-requisite for
the realiaasation of the full potential of a human being.
• A long life implies good health – the capacity to avoid
illness – not merely with the help of doctors and drugs,
but with a clean living environment with access to safe
drinking water and sanitation, adequate nutrition,
protection from disease and a decent standard of living.
• How long does an Indian woman live?

9. How long does an Indian woman live?
• In 1951 an Indian woman could expect to live no longer than 32
years
• The figure has nearly doubled in 50 years – the average female
life expectancy is a little over 63 years
• But this average hides the fact that progress has been uneven.
• The life expectancy of an Indian woman depends on the state
where she is born
• If she is lucky enough to be born in Kerala, she can live until the
age of 75 – as long as women in China, Malaysia, Thailand and
Phillipines
• If she is born in Bihar or Madhya Pradesh, she can live until 57
years – 18 years less than a woman born in Kerala.
• In Karnataka a woman can expect to live upto 65 years,
marginally longer than the national average.

10. Life expectancy – the international scorecard
• Maximum life expectancy: Japan 84 years
• Minimum life expectancy: Sierra Leone 39.6 years
• Countries with HIGHER life expectancies than India
• USA - 79.7
• China - 72.5
• Sri lanka - 75.0
• Viet nam - 70.2
• Countries with LOWER life expectancies than India
• Bangla Desh - 59.0
• Nepal - 57.8
• Senegal - 54.8
• Nigeria - 51.7
• Ethiopia - 44.9
• Rwanda - 40.6

11. Infant mortality rates
• IMR – number of infants that die within one year for every 1000
babies born – is a critical measure of a country’s level of human
development
• Prevalence of poverty, nutritional status of mothers and children,
availability of clean water and sanitation and access to proper
health care are all determinants of child survival.
– In India, out of 27 million children born every year 2 million do not live to
celebrate their first birthday
– Out of every 1000 children 70 die within a year
• In Orissa 96 out of 1000 infant girls die within the first year
• In Kerala 13 out 1000 infant girls die in the first year
• Karnataka’s female IMR is 57/1000, somewhat lower than the
national average of 71/1000.

12. Why do baby girls die?
• Improvement in medical technology has made it possible to
determine the sex of the unborn child and there is a visible
proliferation of ultrasound clinics even in rural areas.
• Far worse is the prevalence of female infanticide:
– lacing their feed with pesticides
– forcing down a few grains of poppy seed or rice husk to slit their gullets
– stuffing their mouths with black salt or urea
– feeding them with the juice or paste of oleander berries
– suffocating them with a wet towel or bag of sand
– starving them to death
– rubbing poison on the mother’s breast, so that the baby girl is poisoned as
she suckles.
• Other forms of discrimination include: fewer months of breast
feeding, less nurturing and play, less care or medical treatment,
less ‘special’ food, less parental attention
• Female foeticide and infanticide signal the grossest form of
discrimination against women

13. Right to health

14. Right to health - Anaemia
• Anaemia, a debilitating disease, which increases a
woman’s vulnerability and limits her capacity to
function as full human beings.
• Its symptoms – constant tiredness and lack of energy,
loss of appetite and breathlessness – are usually
dismissed as ‘laziness’ or ‘imagination’.
• NHFW survey shows that 50% of all married women in
India suffer from anaemia.
• Lack of care, inadequate nutrition during times of
special need like illness and pregnancy, untreated
gynaecological conditions, early and frequent child birth
– all these contribute to high prevalence of anaemia.

15. Right to health – maternal mortality
• 1,00,000 to 1,20,000 women die every year due to pregnancy
related causes.
• Close to 300 women die every day of pregnancy related causes:
i.e. there is one death in every five minutes.
• Countries with MMR LOWER than India
• China - 55
• Sri lanka - 60
• Vietnam - 160
• India - 407
• Countries with MMR HIGHER than India
• Chad - 830
• Eritrea - 1,000
• Mozambique - 1,100
• Central African Republic 1,100
• Causes of maternal deaths: Puerperium; anaemia of pregnancy;
mal-position of child; puerperal sepsis; abortion.

16. Right to health – institutional deliveries
• 2/3rds of all deliveries in India take place at home – 35% in urban
areas to 75% in rural areas.
• Most women deliver with help from women in the family who
often lack skills and resources to save the mother’s life if she is in
danger.
• Even a small investment in upgrading the levels of knowledge of
these women can have huge returns.
• Even when deliveries take place in a public health facility and a
supervised by a doctor or a nurse, childbirth is not a risk free
process.
• A recent study shows that an average PHC is not equipped to
handle even minor emergencies and does not meet the minimum
standards of cleanliness and sanitation.
• Most PHCs lack toilet facilities with adequate water supply,
operation rooms with clean rubber sheets, washbasins, adequate
source of light, anitbiotics, analgesics, sedatives, anti-haemorrhage
medicines.

17. Motherhood – is their a choice?
• Very few women in India have the opportunity to choose whether
or when to have a child.
• Women do not have access to safe and self-controlled methods of
contraception.
• The public health system emphasises permanent methods like
sterilisation, or long term methods like IUD that do not need
follow up.
• Sterilisation accounts for more than 75% of all contraception,
with female sterilisation accounting for more than 95% of all
sterilisations.
• Less than half the couples (48%) in the reproductive age group
use contraception: in Bihar the Contraception Prevalence Rate is
as low as 25%. In Himachal it is 68%. Karnataka’s CPR is 58%.
• Reasons for not using contraception: embarrasment associated
with consulting a male doctor; lack of privacy in PHCs;
reluctance of men to use condoms. consequently, abortion is often
seen as a contraceptive method of choice.

18. Right to health – pulse polio, people centred
campaign
• Mass mobilisation of people around elimination of polio, which
was presented as a matter of national pride.
• Political support at the highest level, including personal
endorsements and involvement of political leaders of all parties
• Well-coordinated and sustained media and advocacy campaigns
for awareness building
• Intensive planning to ensure involvement of all section of society
including declaring public holiday to enable working parents take
their children to imunisation centre
• Interdepartmental coordination to mobilise grassroot workers of
all government agenceis and schemes
• Pooling in of financial, medical and other resources from
government, corporate sector and NGOs.
• Effective logistic support and coordination by the district
administration
• Careful monitoring and performance assessment.

19. Right to education

20. How educated are Indian women?
• At the time of the 1991 census, only 39% of Indian women could
read and write.
• According to census 2001 female literacy rate is 54%: highest in
Kerala with 88%; lowest i Bihar with 34%. In Karnataka female
literacy is 57%).
• Despite this progress – close to 190 million indian women lack
the basic capability to read and write.
• Countries with HIGH female literacy:
• Thailand - 94
• Vietnam - 91
• Srilanka - 87
• Malaysia - 83
• China - 76
• Countries with LOW female literacy
• Niger - 7.9
• Burkina Faso - 13.3
• Guinea Bisau - 18.3
• Nepal - 22.8

21. Gender gap in literacy
State 1991 2002 State 1991 2001
A.Pradesh 22 20 Orissa 28 25
Bihar 29 27 Punjab 15 12
Gujarat 24 22 Rajasthan 35 32
Haryana 29 23 T.Nadu 22 18
H.Pradesh 23 18 U.Pradesh 30 27
Karnataka 23 19 W.Bengal 21 17
Kerala 7 6 J&K 25 24
M.Pradesh 29 27 All India 25 22
Maharash
24 18
tra

22. How many girls go to school?
Bihar 54 Karnataka 78
Rajasthan 63 Haryana 86
Uttar Pradesh 69 Maharashtra 87
Andhra Pradesh 71 Tamil Nadu 89
Madhya
71 Punjab 90
Pradesh
Gujarat 73 Himachal
Pradesh
97
Orissa 75 Kerala 97
W. Bengal 77 All India 74
J&K 78

23. Workforce participation rates of children
State Total Workers
(million)
% of girls in 5-14 age group
recorded as workers
A. Pradesh 5.53 10.54
Bihar 3.35 2.93
Karnataka 5.61 8.71
M. Pradesh 4.79 8.56
Rajasthan 4.57 7.88
Uttar Pradesh 3.14 2.46
W. Bengal 3.23 2.68

24. How many girls go to school?
• The workforce participation rates do not tell the whole
story:
– In 1991, 52 million girls were recorded as neither going to
school, nor participating in paid workforce. These are the
‘nowhere’ children, working within the home or in the
unorganised sector.
• Child labour laws do not cover children doing domestic
work or children working in agriculture, whether for
their own families or for wage.
• Girls cannot therefore be freed from domestic drudgery
and tyranny of family responsibilities or avail of their
right to education without a huge change in the attitudes
and values of parents.

25. The state of schools in India
• PROBE report:
– 44% schools do not have a playground
– 54% schools do not have drinking water
– 55% schools do not have teaching kits
– 72% schools do not have a library
– 84% schools do not have a toilet
• With the 93rd constitutional amendment free and
compulsory education for children in the 6-14 age group
has been made a fundamental right.
• This means that there must be greater resource
allocation to the education sector – at least 6% of the
GDP.

26. Freedom to work without exploitation

27. Freedom to work without exploitation
• Irrespective of caste, class or age, most indian women
are expected to be responsible and accountable for the
invisible and unpaid work within the home
• Women’s right to work outside the home, however,
cannot always be taken for granted.
• A vast majority of indian women work throughout their
lives: the irony is that this fact is not officially
recognised.
– When asked ‘Does your wife work?’, the automatic response
of the ‘head’ of the household is ‘No – she’s just a housewife’.
– Thus, the work that women do – water, fuel, fodder collection,
cooking, cleaning, care of children and elderly, unpaid work
on family land or enterprises – is made invisible and not
accounted for in national estimates.

28. Women’s invisible work
• A time-use survey conducted by Central Statistical
Organisation reveals:
– Women sleep on the average two hours less than men
– Women spend ten times more time on househild work than
men. This is true even in families where women work full time
– Men have two hours a day for leisure. Women have only five
minutes
– Men spend less than one hour a week on cooking, while
women spend 15 hours per week.

29. How safe is the workplace for women?
• The National Women’s commission for Self employed women
did a detailed study on occupational health hazards in 1988
• Many of the occupations in which women are concentrated are
hazardous in themselves:
– Block printing, screen printing, dyeing, biri rolling, waste disposal, rag
picking, headloading – all involve exposure to toxic chemicals and
pathogens.
– Women who cook on wood fires are exposed to more pollutants than
industrial workers
• NCW survey in 1998 found that nearly 50% had experienced
gender discrimination or physical and mental harassment at work
• In 1997, the Supreme Court took a strong stand against sexual
harrasment of women in the workplace: Sexual harassment was
defined as ‘unwelcome sexually determined behaviour, including
physical contact or advances, demands or requests for sexual
favours,, sexually coloured remarks, showing of pornography,
and any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct
of a sexual nature’. Very little follow up on SC decision.

30. Freedom to participate in decision
making

31. Do indian women particpate in private decisions
• Indian women are marginalised in decision making and
leadership by a variety of processes that begin at infancy
– Girls are encouraged to play passive roles and given little
opportunity to make decisions or develop leadership skills
outside the family
– Instead they are taught to accept the decisions that others –
parents, teachers, brothers, uncles – make on their behalf.
– Thus, women lack confidence and skills needed to function
effectively in the public place.

32. Women’s autonomy: private decisions
take no
deci-sions
cooking health
care
jewel.
purcha
se
staying
with
parents
going
to the
market
visiting
friends,
relatives
UP 16 78 45 41 36 17 12
Bihar 14 82 48 43 44 22 21
Rajn. 13 82 41 43 39 19 17
MP 13 82 37 44 38 21 20
J&K 12 80 56 58 49 12 8
K’taka 8 88 49 47 45 43 34
WB 8 87 45 48 47 18 14
AP 7 86 56 61 58 20 15

33. Women’s autonomy – private decisions
Kerala 7 81 73 63 60 48 38
Delhi 5 83 69 59 47 52 34
Assam 5 88 65 54 45 13 14
Gujrat 4 90 71 74 65 55 51
TNadu 2 92 61 67 62 79 56
P’jab 1 97 79 75 68 50 28
HP 1 95 81 93 91 33 31
India 9 85 52 53 48 32 24

34. Freedom from fear

35. Freedom from fear
• The Indian Constitution guarantees to all Indians the right to
bodily integrity, personal safety and security.
• Yet violence against women continues to be on the rise
• Between 1980 and 1990, there was an increase of nearly 74% in
crimes against women, with rape, molestation and torture by
husbands and in-laws showing the highest growth rate.
• Domestic violence takes the following forms:
– Refusal to talk to wife (9%)
– Get angry with children (12%)
– Not give money (18%)
– Reprimand wife (19%)
– Threat to throw out of the house (51%)
– Physically assault wife (63%)
– Use abusive language (80%)
• Violence against women within the families is justified as being
necessary to establish men’s authority over women, to
‘discipline’ them and to punish them for dereliction of duty.

36. Does the law protect women from violence
• In a study conducted in 1996, 109 judges were
interviewed to assess their attitudes to violence against
women:
– 48% believed that there were certain occasions when it was
justifiable for a husband to slap his wife.
– 74% believed that preservation of the family should be the
woman’s primary concern, even when she faces violence.
– 50% believed that child sexual abuse is not common.
– 68% believed that ‘provocative’ clothes are an invitation to
sexual assault.
– 34% believed that dowry has an inherent cultural value.
– 55% believed that the moral character of a woman is relevant
in cases of sexual assault.
– 9% believed that those who say ‘No’ to sexual intercourse
often mean ‘yes’.

37. In conclusion
• Women are not a homogenous group – women belonging to
privileged and dominant classes and castes enjoy many freedoms
and opportunities that are denied to men from subordinate and
disprivileged groups. Gender inequality is not the only inequality
in India – women are unfree and unequal, but so are dalits,
members of subordinate castes and communities, landless people,
displaced people, migrants, the homeless, disabled people and
many other groups. Yet, women are at the bottom of the pile in
every one of these groups – the ‘last man’ in Gandhiji’s talisman,
the poorest and most powerless individual, is actually a woman.
Equality of freedoms and opportunities for this ‘last woman’can
come about only through transformation in all structures and
systems that generate and perpetuate inequalities – a
transformation that would benefit every other subordinate group
in society.