December 11, 2001

Mira Seth begins her account by tracing the background of the women’s struggle for their rights in the subcontinent. While the Muslim invasions since the eleventh century touched upon the lives of both Muslim and Hindu women, it was not until the nineteenth century that landmark decisions were first taken under the British influence towards gender equality by banning sati in 1836 and infanticide in 1870.

A social reform movement was also initiated around this time when monogamy and widow remarriage were supported and child marriage was opposed. Women’s education was also promoted strongly which would have the most empowering effect in the centuries to come. However, female literacy rate improved by only 0.2 per cent during the last decade of the nineteenth century. It stood at only 0.7 per cent in 1901.

While the women’s rights’ movement gathered pace in the twentieth century on all fronts, including political rights, it received a fillip particularly during the freedom struggle in the subcontinent. Women were encouraged by Indian men to hold the banner of freedom aloft which was not an easy task. It was like the participation of labour in political life in the West that was encouraged during the second world war.

However, while Labour won government office in Britain for the first time soon after the end of the war, the women of the subcontinent were ironically excluded from the national mainstream and had to start their own freedom struggle after the liberation of the subcontinent from British rule. As the men came to dominate the positions in both politics and economics, women found themselves marginalized. This brought a new awakening to women in both India and Pakistan!

The book is about the women’s struggle in India and is a piece of work that could be replicated for Pakistan and other developing countries in the region and elsewhere. It is worth noting that the Indian Constitution pronounces equal rights for women in all spheres including vote, employment, and all fundamental rights. Under these guidelines, Indian legislators got down to the social uplift of Hindu women through a series of social and labour legislation covering the issues of succession and inheritance, marriage and divorce, adoption, child marriage restraint, dowry prohibition, sati, immoral traffic, indecent media representation, equal remuneration, and maternity benefits, etc. The rights of women were further safeguarded in the Factories, Mines, and Plantation Labour Acts. Inheritance of agricultural land still remains an issue which requires exceptional courage on the part of women at individual levels. As for minorities, their women are governed by their own customary laws. The minority communities would need to demand treatment on the basis of gender equality, if they so desire.

The author concedes that legislation by itself cannot bring about social revolution, more so, if there are loopholes in legislation. Nonetheless, the policy makers, administrators, and voluntary organizations should play a role and formulate/execute policy as close to the spirit of the law as possible. However, despite over eight five-year plans and despite an expanding share of women in development with 33.3 per cent seats’ reservation in Panchayats and other local body institutions, “...women are as yet nowhere near receiving their due share of planned development...”

The inferior status of the girl child continues to be determined by the cultural norms which, in turn, are determined by historical and politico-economic reasons. These norms cut across all social strata, religions, and castes. Female foeticide and infanticide are common despite scientific and technological developments. In fact, high technology is further facilitating the perpetuation of morally and religiously repugnant practices as above. These tendencies show up in declining female sex ratios which decreased from 972 per 1000 males in 1901-11 to 927 per 1000 males by 1991-96.

Sex ratios have declined the most in the case of Hindus and less so in the case of Muslims. In the case of Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, the sex ratios have improved although marginally for Christians and significantly for Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs even though the sex ratio for Sikhs is the lowest of all the religions studied. With widespread foeticide and infanticide, crimes/violence against women are also on the rise.

A key reason is an inability on the part of women to take charge. This, in turn, emanates from their low levels of literacy, education, and gainful employment. The female literacy rate stood at 39.29 per cent in 1991 compared to 64.13 per cent for males in the same year. The enrolment figures for females are similarly lower than those for males. The females’ dropout rates are higher than men’s. And, only 28.58 per cent of those employed are females.

So, even though legislation has created an enabling environment and the social status of women has improved, the Indian psyche has not undergone a transformation which is why efforts towards true empowerment of women keep encountering the formidable hurdle of cultural norms and mores. While women from the privileged affluent classes could choose to progress more smoothly if they so desired, the ones from the less privileged could break class barriers by first ignoring the social norms.

Desire to conform to norms and to seek empowerment at the same time poses conflicting requirements with the more docile settling down for the former after discovering that the twin goals were self-contradictory. The author concludes, “It is their (women) lack of awareness, motivation and mobilization that has created the gender gaps. Women should adopt the strategy of demanding the cleaning up of our public life.” She further suggests, “They (women) can also play a powerful and positive role in confidence-building in their daughters and other women to promote self-reliance and the strength to resist crimes.”

The above study clearly demonstrates that no matter what be the intensity of supportive macro-level policies, unless there is an intrinsic micro-level desire in women to change their destiny, sordid stories will continue to be told of their plight. The decadent and obstructive cultural norms will change only when these are rejected by women themselves at micro-levels. And, these norms will continue as always for as long as mothers and grandmothers will continue to prefer male children over the female offsprings. Until then no new century will have really dawned on the girl child in any developing part of the world.

Despite movement at a slow pace with several steps backwards, the author is optimistic about reaching the end of the tunnel. How long would it take to reach this goal is unclear. The author makes no predictions about when the conditions of gender parity will be created. Probably, her long association with the Indian government as a civil servant instils a certain confidence in governmental effort that others would like to see as more focused and result-oriented.

Nonetheless, this is a commendable study that should also be undertaken in other South Asian countries in an attempt to close the gap between rhetoric and actual delivery in the field of women’s development.

Women & development: the Indian experience
By Mira Seth
Sage Publications, M 32 Market, Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi-110 048. 
Email: marketing@indiasage.com
ISBN 0-7619-9488-2
282pp. Indian Rs295

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