The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) has released a report on the state of women’s empowerment in India. The study was launched by the institute’s Gender Centre utilizing the parameters specified in Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) on gender equality, with an emphasis on subnational (district) level variances.
The research, titled ‘Women’s Empowerment at the Subnational Level: Towards Achieving Gender Equality (SDG 5)’, presents the Women Empowerment Index, which provides a thorough, district-level examination of women’s empowerment across India, providing fresh insights and data to assist advance gender equality.
The report reveals the unique challenges women encounter in different regions and across different communities – from limited access to education and economic independence to the struggle for a better work-life balance – to enable more targeted interventions by districts.
The study compared and analyzed data for women aged between 15 to 49 from a total of 705 districts across the country from the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) and NFHS-5.
Of the 705 districts studied, 67.5% said that women were empowered in decision-making and mobility. Women are becoming more involved in decision-making, notably on their own healthcare, home expenditures, and how to spend their husband’s salary. The percentage of women who make decisions alone or with their spouses has increased.
The proportion of women who own their own asset (land or home) alone or jointly with their partner has similarly risen, from 29.09% in NFHS-4 to 35.00% in NFHS5.
Although women’s literacy rates have risen, only 46.1% of districts expressed educational empowerment, and only 32.25% of women respondents believed they could achieve a balance between work and life, emphasizing the persistent issues of unpaid domestic work.
Higher education: From 11.43 per 100 women in NFHS 4 to 14.42 per 100 women in NFHS 5, the average number of women completing higher education rose. Primary and secondary schooling, however, did not demonstrate a noticeable difference.
Additionally, from 69.12% in NFHS-4 to 76.24% in NFHS-5, there was a significant increase in women’s interest in mass media, indicating increased exposure to mass media (listening to radio, watching television, and reading newspapers).
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Source: NDTV
