25 Development and Empowerment Strategies

Sarala Gopalan

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1.   INTRODUCTION

 

I am Dr. Sarala Gopalan, Formerly Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Human Resources Development, in charge of Women and Child Development. I have experience in Civil Service for 34 years, and after retirement I have been working on social development issues including gender issues with the United Nations Agencies and with civil society organizations. During my service, I have been involved in Policy formulation, Planning and Implementation of Programmes and evaluating them. I had the opportunity to participate in the creation of “Tools” for the purpose of achieving various goals set up for purposes of social development and empowerment of women in particular. I have also documented various processes involved in Women’s empowerment. Women were viewed as objects of welfare and beneficiaries in State programmes, with the Welfare State concept in the Constitution. Subsequently, in line with the global approach, they were considered as partners in Development and had to contribute to the national development as a human resource with skills. This approach was further modified to one of empowerment, where the women as individuals had to advance to realize their competencies, participate in decision making and shape the process of advancement itself. In this lesson we shall trace these various phases and the ‘Tools’ used to achieve them.

 

2.   CREATION OF A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT

 

India, a nation where women were venerated and female deities as goddesses are still worshipped as a tradition, could not bestow the same high status for women – steeped in patriarchal social systems. Socially, culturally and economically, women were placed at a lower status, and deprived of opportunities that men enjoyed. Consequently, as a matter of course, they have not been able to climb in the hierarchies of power and enjoy high social or political positions. There are exceptions, where women have been able to get to the top when they could avail of opportunities that presented before them. India boasts that it has had a woman Prime Minister (Mrs. Indira Gandhi,) long before other countries placed women as Heads of their States. This certainly does not compensate for the poor condition and status for women in the society on the whole.

 

3.      IDENTIFICATION OF THE SHACKLES THAT CAUSE THE VICIOUS CIRCLE

 

Cultural practices in India over centuries established a tradition of confining the female to the home. Her role was mainly seen as a caregiver for the family, a mother who brought forth children; nursed and nourished them, took care of the elders, attended to the sick, cooked, washed, fetched water and fuel for the household. She also attended to agriculture and livestock as part of her household chores, and often participated in family enterprise in an artisan family. She therefore provided a great deal of unpaid labour which got merged in the income and resources of the family. She fed everybody and ate what remained, sometimes going hungry if there was insufficient food in the family. In poor households, she was the most deprived. Leisure was not known to her. She cherished the trips to the village pond or tap as part of her socialization. It was not even considered necessary that she should get educated or go to school, as that skill was not required for her role in the family. She therefore had no skills to earn incomes on her own or time and opportunity to acquire them. She came into the family most often as a child bride and died there when her time came in child birth or old age, or in agonies of sickness. Often she was a victim of domestic violence:- the wrath of the in-laws for not bringing enough dowry, or vagaries of a drunken husband, who rejoiced in torturing her in his drunkenness. These conditions perpetuated a vicious circle from which she could not come out. Her natal family, often in poverty, could do little to help her. The irony was that often they thought this was how life would be and accepted it as it was. This therefore conferred a low social status for the female, and she was deprived of claims to any right to a better quality of life. Laws of the land did not favour her much.

 

4.    SOCIAL REFORMS

 

Credit goes to the SOCIAL REFORM MOVEMENT that emerged from the 17th century onwards in India which looked at the pathetic condition of women. The reformers identified two major factors, namely the patriarchal laws dictated by the cultural standards of those early times and the lack of knowledge and education in the society to understand the tyranny on the individuals, particularly women. Women did not have a right to property, and this deprived them of a status even in the family. Parents of a girl were given to understand that “kanyadhan” would earn them merit, and therefore the daughter should be married before she attains puberty. This seems to be the foundation for child marriages among other things. Age of marriage was one of the most significant issues identified by the social reformers. They tried to enforce a law on this and pegged it at 14 years for the girl and boys at 18 (Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929). Giving a girl in marriage before she is 14 years of age was punishable legally. Then it was raised to 18 years for girls, and 21 years for boys in 2006. Though child marriage is outlawed, it has not been enforced strictly. As it is, minors can stay married if they choose to, making such marriages void is currently under consideration. The restraint on child marriage is mainly to safeguard the health of the minor girl. Early marriages lead to early child-bearing, making them grandmothers even before they reach 30 years of age. This gives them no time for self improvement. On the other hand, often it pushes them into morbidity and several ailments. The thrust on education has been continuing over the centuries and the battle against illiteracy has not been won in many parts of the country. Similarly, “The battle for improving the rights of women in the family, in the society, and in decision-making at all levels of social interaction is still continuing”. (Gopalan Sarala,Dr. and Shiva Mira, Dr. National Profile on Wom furtheren, Health and Development,2000). In 1950,

 

5.    THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

 

The Preamble to the Constitution of India grants equality to women and empowers the State to adopt affirmative action to remove discrimination against women that has prevailed over the years, to remove the socio-economic, educational and political disadvantages faced by them. The Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles further reinforce this position. Following this a number of Legislative Measures have been enacted in the decades that have followed. Unfortunately, the cultural environment and the social mindset are very slow to change and the laws remain only on the statute book. Implementation is tardy.

 

6.  CREATION OF TOOLS FOR EMPOWERMENT 6.1 LEGISLATION

 

(a)  Right to property The Hindu Succession Act (1956) brought about fundamental and radical changes in the law of succession giving equal right to the sons and daughters in their father’s property. Not all daughters got the share as they relinquished their share for a variety of reasons. Fragmentation of agricultural land is one of the issues in the daughter taking her share of land to the marital home after marriage.

 

(b) Law relating to Marriage The Hindu Marriage Act 1955, prohibits a second marriage while the first marriage is subsisting. Right to judicial separation and divorce under specified circumstances. Divorce is more difficult for women, than men as grounds of divorce for women. The woman has to prove that the husband is involved in bigamy, rape, sodomy etc. The court can decide on the quantum of maintenance. Custody of children, for a boy below 5 and girl below 7 is generally with the mother as long as she does not marry. Children can also chose the parent with whom they will live. The Dowry Prohibition Act was passed in 1961, it made giving, abetting or taking dowry a cognizable, non-bailable offence. An Amendment brought in 1986 makes the husband and in-laws punishable if a woman commits suicide within 7 years of marriage and it has been proved that she has been subjected to cruelty. A new criminal offence of “Dowry Death’ has been incorporated in the Indian Penal code. I have had occasion to visit the Women’s Ward in the Tihar Jail, as Secretary to Government of India, where 90% of the women prisoners were either serving a sentence or were undergoing trial under the Dowry Prohibition Act.In order to quicken the process of justice in cases arising from family disputes, Family Courts were established under the Family Courts Act, 1984

 

6.2. Ratification of international conventions and declarations

 

The Government of India has ratified several Conventions of the United Nations relating to women. Most significant of them in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (1993). In accordance with the prevailing social and economic milieu, India has expressed reservation to Article 29, paragraph 1, which refers to dispute resolution. India has ratified several ILO (International Labour Organization) Conventions relating to labour, wags and Employment.

 

7. DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH FIVE YEAR PLANS

 

7.1 Since 1951, India implemented Eleven Five Year Plans to achieve several development goals.

 

The first five Five Year Plans and the interims rolling plans, were largely Welfare oriented as far as women were concerned. The Community Development Blocks and the National Extension Service Programmes largely addressed nutrition awareness and health awareness programmes. Mahila Mandals were organized for women at the village levels for promoting these programmes. The Central Social Welfare Board established in 1953, undertook several welfare programmes through the voluntary sector.

 

The Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85) was a landmark for women with its approach of Development of women, transcending from ‘welfare’. The orientation was the development of women through all sectors of education, health, employment, with a multi-disciplinary approach.

 

The Seventh Plan  (1985-90)   continued the development approach with   emphasis on mainstreaming women in the national process of development. One example of mainstreaming in the formation of Women’s Dairy Cooperatives, by organizing 500 women for milk production by giving them skill training and credit to purchase animals and link them to milk collection centres in the Milk Route which was part of the ‘white revolution’. This gave employment and steady incomes to the women. Forming their own Cooperatives, they were also responsible for the management of the business.

 

The Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97) shifted from development to empowerment of women. The reservation of membership in the local Bodies by the 1993 Constitution Amendment was another significant factor in this period. The three sectors of education, health and employment were monitored even more vigilantly, and other support programmes were taken up.

 

The Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) introduced the concept of “Convergence” of different sectors for greater coordination between them and also introduced the ‘women component’ plan. Every programme had to identify the amounts set apart for benefitting women under that programme. When the amounts under the Women Component plans were aggregated it worked to less than 1% of the whole expenditure under the plan! That highlighted how little was spent for women’s programmes. The Government of India in their Economic Review remarked that the investment in women did yield higher returns for the economy, than in the general case.

 

The Planning commission went on with the 11th, 12th and 13th plans till 2015; thereafter, the Planning Commission was wound up and replaced by Niti Aayog.

 

7.2 EDUCATION

 

Education of the girl child of the girl child was emphasized as a special concern in the 1986 Education Policy of the Government of India. There had to be primary schools within a distance of 1 km. from the habitation, so that girls particularly, can walk to the Schools. Recruitment to schools, attendance, retention in schools at various levels of education reducing drop-outs, higher education and vocational education were all given attention in the policy document. The progress has been uneven to various factors. In UP in several parts, parents were reluctant to send their girls to schools as they would have to walk through wheat fields. The crop standing high was an invitation to molesters who would trouble the girls. Other cases where the schools were within 50 ft. radius, there were still taboos, owing to fear of the one teacher system, where the teacher was a male. In some of the remote places it was difficult to get female teachers. Yet in other places, families did not find school education relevant to the girl child as she was only to adorn the role of a home-maker, and school education, they felt was irrelevant, and take the girl away from household chores. Currently, the Government is emphasizing on ‘save the girl child’ and ‘educate the girl child’.

 

7.3 HEALTH

 

The programmes for health have been concentrating on child and maternal health, particularly, pregnancy, prenatal and post natal care. This emphasis has often tended to lose sight of women’s health as a whole, particularly in old age, and other kind of ailments through life. Criticism from the Women’s Movement has been that the focus on Family Planning and experimentation of different methods and drugs for the purpose have made women just child-bearing machines. They urge a holistic view of health at all ages. This is particularly necessary as women have different kind of health problems at different ages in life, therefore a “Life Cycle Approach to Women’s Health” is essential. This constant insistence from the women’s movement has made the planners in India move towards a holistic health approach, as can be seen in the different Five Year Plans. Of course it is yet a long way to reach the goal. The legistation increasing age of marriage to 18 and 21(for boys) does help reduce infant and maternal mortality, as very young girls who have themselves not developed fully tend to die at child birth and affect the survival of the infant. It has also been realized that survival of the infant, by itself is a deterrent to more frequent child births, which goes towards bringing down fertility ratios and taking population growth to Replacement levels, which is one of our development goals.

 

8. SPECIAL INSTITUTIONS

 

The National Commission for Women was set up in 1992 as a National Apex Body to review the Constitutional and legal safeguards for women, recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise Government on all policy matters affecting women. State Commissions were also set up in several States. Other enabling Institutions were the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) which advanced credit to NGOs and Women Development Corporations that were set up in several States to finance women’s enterprises etc.

 

9. NATIONAL POLICY ON EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

 

At the UN FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN Beijing, India undertook among other things to bring out a NATIONAL POLICY ON WOMEN. A draft policy was worked out in 1996 and circulated to all ministries and States. After several discussions, finally in 2000, a NATIONAL POLICY ON WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT was adopted. Earlier in 1989, a NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE PLAN FOR WOMEN UPTO 2000 had been prepared by the Department of Women and Child and endorsed by the Government of India. This did bring some focus on issues relating to women in different sectors, but it did not have the mandate of a National Policy. Various State Governments prepared their Action Plans and also issued State Policies for women. UNDP had been compiling and publishing Human Development Reports based on selected indicators for social, economic and political development. Government of India also decided to prepare similar reports for the country and the different States to track the status of development and compare the achievements in different States. Indicators on gender have become very useful from these Reports prepared by the Planning Commission. At the State level, the indicators for the Districts highlight the progress or lack of it in different parts. It has been a long journey since the Status Report prepared by the Committee on the Status of Women in India in 1975 to the proclamation of the National Policy on Empowerment of Women in 2000. Meanwhile the system of identifying and setting up of indicators to track progress has come to stay. A joint Parliamentary committee on Empowerment of Women was set up, which reviewed the situation in different sectors for women and compiled critical Reports, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Margaret Alwa, MP.

 

CONCLUSION

 

India has attempted in the 20th and the 21st centuries to realize many of the aspirations of the social reformers, freedom fighters and the women’s movement. Several legislations have been enacted after a great deal of debate and discussion in the country and existing legislation amended to suit emerging situations. Yet the cultural climate has not significantly changed the mindsets of all men and women. This is important and needs to be pursued with a great deal of perseverance to emphasize the individuality of women and treat them as persons with dignity. A lot of violence at home and in the public space persists only because of this attitude. Consequently, women risk harassments at the workplace, schools, homes and everywhere. This has to change. And change urgently.

 

SUMMARY

 

The status of women has been a societal concern for the last three centuries and has caught the attention of Social Reformers. Girl’s education and women’s right to property has been the focus to raise their status in the family and in the society. A number of legislations, to give women the requisite entitlements and rights have been formulated. Enforcement of the legislation has met with hurdles due to the mindset of men and women owing to the cultural milieu and beliefs. The Five Year Plans, National Policies have indentified the critical issues and tried to address them from time changing their intent and focus as required from time. A conducive environment has also been created by establishing an infrastructure of institutions and financial resources. Social development indicators have also been worked on to identify situations and remedy them with right strategies. Yet it seems women’s empowerment is a long way off. Women have to be looked upon as partners in development and not mere objects of pleasure. The Glass ceiling is hitting them more than in many advanced countries. We must now consider that actions taken are sharp enough to pierce the glass ceiling with requisite armoury of skills and opportunities for the development of the laggards in the interest of the Nation and humanity.

 

Women are being used as objects for pleasure or service, and not looked as individuals and persons with dignity.

Questions for revision

  1. Who was the first Woman Prime Minister of India?
  2. Give three examples of the role played by women in their homes.
  3. Why did not women have a Status in the Family, and which Legislation tried to change this?
  4. What does the Preamble of the Indian constitution lay down for women?
  5. Which Law bestows right to property for women?
  6. What are the main features of the Dowry Act?
  7. What do you understand by a ‘Welfare’ Approach?
  8. Why is the Sixth Five Year Plan most significant for women?
  9. What do you understand by ‘Women’s Component Plan?
  10. When was the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women finally approved?
  11. What do you mean by “life-cycle approach” to Women’s health?
  12. Which was the special body created in 1992, with special attention to women?
  13. What is Rahtra Mahila Kosh?
  14. What is the legally prescribed age of marriage in India? What is its significance?
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References and Web links

 

  1. Government of India, Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, December 1974: Towards Equality-Report of the Committee on The Status of Women In India.
  2. World Health Organization and Voluntary Health Association of India. – Country Profile –India. National Profile on Women, Health and Development. Edited by Gopalan, Sarala Dr. and Shiva,Mira, Dr.
  3. Government of India – National Commission for Women, 2002. Towards Equality – The Unfinished Agenda- Status of Women in India- 2001, GopalanSarala, Dr.
  4. United Nations, New York, Department of Public Information; The United Nations and The Advancement of Women 1945-1995.
  5. The Constitution of India, The Universal Law Publishing Co.Pvt.Ltd.2007-Bakshi P.M