By Taniya Parkar
Throughout the world, India retains the tag of one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with the International Monetary Fund for the year 2022, forecasting 8.5% growth. But when it comes to gender equality, India ranked at 140 out of 156 countries as per the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 published by the World Economic Forum. Even though the government has taken many steps to reduce gender inequality in India. Like the program “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” for promoting girls’ education, Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP) for marginalized, asset-less rural and urban women to ensure sustainable development employment, and many more. And also, the government is working to improve it.
According to data on COWIN, India’s official vaccination website shows a total of 1.63 billion vaccine doses have been administered in India. Of these, 830 million doses were given to men with a difference of over 38 million doses. There are many reasons why only a few women are being vaccinated than men and the first most important is the spreading of rumors about vaccines that are disrupting women’s menstruation cycle and reducing fertility. The second reason is the unavailability of transport facilities to leave their houses and lack of access to information and technology to know when and where to register and get vaccinated.
Women represent about 50% of the population but they earn only about one-third of the labor income for it, according to the Inequality report 2022 shows. But why it is so? If 50% of the total population are women then why do women capture only 18% of labor income? There are several reasons for the fall in women’s labour force participation in India, like occupational segregation, increased mechanization, the income effect, social norms, etc.
Today, women are walking step by step with the men in every field. But, at the same stage women are also facing gender inequality in every situation. Racial discrimination, disability, sex, and gender discrimination are some major problems that are usually faced by women. One reason for being discouraged with opportunities to proceed in their profession is 22%working women in India said their companies show a bias towards men at work, compared to the regional average of 16%. In India, 85% of working women claim to have missed out on a raise, promotions, or work offer because of their gender, compared to the regional average of 60%.
On 21st January 2022, the Supreme Court made clear that in the absence of other legal heirs Hindu daughters would be entitled to inherit the property of their father. Even if the father does not leave behind a will, they would receive partiality over the members of the family in taking over the property. And the impact of this verdict is that it will treat daughters and sons equally in the matter of inheritance.
In our society low level of literacy, more household responsibilities, a traditional value system, lack of awareness, lack of self-confidence, and advanced science and technology are a few of the factors that are responsible for fabricating gender discrimination.
According to the report, India will not be able to achieve gender equality within a few years but it will take an average of 135.6 years to reach parity. People of India should be sincere in their endeavors and work on changing the community’s attitude towards women. For bringing positive changes in society and also for full gender equality both men and women must work together. Although the government is working hard to reduce gender inequality and it is not only the government’s responsibility but also the duty of every citizen of India.
(Author is Mass Communication student at Karim City College, Jamshedpur. The views expressed are personal opinion of the author.)
