I read an interesting static the other day that "only 30% of Internet users in India are women". In a time where the internet is one of the main sources of knowledge and education, I found it sad that only 30% of users are female and have access to this powerful tool. This made me wonder about the male to female ratio in India and I found it is not nearly as swayed as I thought - for every 1000 males there are 940 women. However, with a rapidly expanding population, currently 1.21 billion but looking to be bigger than China as the most populated country by 2025, Indian women need to have a stronger voice. Would greater education of these women assist in correcting some of the imbalance that we see in this culture? I really don't know.
The standing of women in the community is still not great here and there are several examples of this. As I have previously mentioned in other blogs, right from their birth women are deprived of basic rights. They tend to be discriminated in most areas of their lives, be it education, employment, sports, marriage, business etc. progress has been made in India but it tends to be in certain segments of the community - not overall. The big cities have many empowered women who are making huge advances but in the outer towns and villages, they are not progressing so well.
The existence of child marriages is still very high and the child in the relationship is always the woman. This begins the cycle with them being 'owned' by the male partner and not having any say. The improved wealth and literacy in India, seems to be predominantly within the male population, therefore causing even more problems with couples giving birth to females - it is not a celebration but a burden. These poor girls have such a hard time breaking from this existence. Often, these young girls don't even know what is possible in this great world of ours and they are kept from learning about it.
The women are also in more physical danger in India - Thomson Reuters conducted a poll in 2011 and India was the 4th most dangerous country for women to reside, behind Afganistan, Congo and Pakistan. Unfortunately, this is not seen as an area that needs to be addressed by the powers that be. Women are often subjected to burnings, beatings, rape and even acid attacks. I know it is not only women, but the majority of these vicious attacks are targeted at women and mostly by people they know. With the little worldly knowledge they do receive, they then get punished due to the fact they are not being a good or obedient wife. And often the community elders enforce the village laws with horrendous stories of gang rapes and beatings for women not 'behaving'. Terrifyingly, a report from 2011 showed that one in four Indian men had committed sexual violence at one point in their lives (2011 International Men and Gender Equality Survey) - how can this even be possible ?
I am happy to say that in the area where we live it is not as common as the more remote villages but women are still subjected to very unfair social status. I, once again, have no solution to this horrendous issue but I feel for these ladies so much. They are often the most hardworking people you see, and do anything and everything for their family, particularly their children. I hope India's strive for 'international acceptance' will see a general change in attitudes and beliefs and the women will have the rights they deserve.
The standing of women in the community is still not great here and there are several examples of this. As I have previously mentioned in other blogs, right from their birth women are deprived of basic rights. They tend to be discriminated in most areas of their lives, be it education, employment, sports, marriage, business etc. progress has been made in India but it tends to be in certain segments of the community - not overall. The big cities have many empowered women who are making huge advances but in the outer towns and villages, they are not progressing so well.
The existence of child marriages is still very high and the child in the relationship is always the woman. This begins the cycle with them being 'owned' by the male partner and not having any say. The improved wealth and literacy in India, seems to be predominantly within the male population, therefore causing even more problems with couples giving birth to females - it is not a celebration but a burden. These poor girls have such a hard time breaking from this existence. Often, these young girls don't even know what is possible in this great world of ours and they are kept from learning about it.
The women are also in more physical danger in India - Thomson Reuters conducted a poll in 2011 and India was the 4th most dangerous country for women to reside, behind Afganistan, Congo and Pakistan. Unfortunately, this is not seen as an area that needs to be addressed by the powers that be. Women are often subjected to burnings, beatings, rape and even acid attacks. I know it is not only women, but the majority of these vicious attacks are targeted at women and mostly by people they know. With the little worldly knowledge they do receive, they then get punished due to the fact they are not being a good or obedient wife. And often the community elders enforce the village laws with horrendous stories of gang rapes and beatings for women not 'behaving'. Terrifyingly, a report from 2011 showed that one in four Indian men had committed sexual violence at one point in their lives (2011 International Men and Gender Equality Survey) - how can this even be possible ?
I am happy to say that in the area where we live it is not as common as the more remote villages but women are still subjected to very unfair social status. I, once again, have no solution to this horrendous issue but I feel for these ladies so much. They are often the most hardworking people you see, and do anything and everything for their family, particularly their children. I hope India's strive for 'international acceptance' will see a general change in attitudes and beliefs and the women will have the rights they deserve.
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