SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROGRAMMES FOR WOMEN
BACKGROUND 14.1 The Constitution of India provides for equal rights and privileges for men and women and makes special provisions for women to help them improve their status in society. A number of social enactments have been put on the statute books for removing various constraints which hindered their progress. In-spite of these measures, women have lagged behind men in different spheres, especially in education. The female literacy rate has consistently been lower in rural as well as urban sectors. In rural areas, where 77 per cent of the female population lives, women's literacy rate is only 17.96 per cent. The urban literacy rate for females is 47.82 per cent. The literacy rate for females varies from 65.73 per cent in Kerala to only 11.42 per cent in Rajasthan. There are many reasons for this, generally of sociological nature.
14.2 The health problem of women in society at large is another crucial area not given the required attention. Due to the predominantly patriarchal order, women are confined within an oppressive environment. Differences are frequently noted between health and nutritional status of men and women. Nutritional surveys have indicated high rates of inadequacies among females compared to males. Female infants and children are subject to neglect in respect of nutrition and health care. Statistics from primary health centres show that adult women do not generally take treatment from them. Maternal mortality continues to be very high. A number of studies have indicated that a large number of children suffer from malnutrition, to which the mother's poor health contributes to a great extent. Anaemia among rural women is estimated to be as high as 60-80 per cent, leading to low birth weight among babies.
14.3 According to the 1981 Census, only 14 per cent of the total female population in the country fall in the category of "workers". The unpaid economic activities of women and their contribution through work in the domestic sectors remain unreported in the census. An ILO study has estimated that the value of unpaid household work constitutes 25-39 per cent of the total gross national product in developing countries.
14.4 Women play an important role in agricultural production, animal husbandry and other related activities such as storage, marketing of produce, food processing etc. Apart from these, they spend almost 10-12 hours per day doing household chores, including fetching of water and gathering of fuel. Large number of female labour are engaged in the plantation sector. About 54 per cent of rural women and 26 per cent of urban women are engaged in marginal occupations in order to supplement the family income by collection of fish, small game, firewood, cowdung, maintenance of kitchen gardens, tailoring, weaving and teaching, but the quantification of this activity, in terms of work-hours contributed, or its income-generating equivalent was not attempted or recorded.
14.5 Recently, a declining trend has been observed in the employment of women labourers. Some of the new technologies have displaced women from many of the traditional activities. The incomes of the poor households are supplemented by women, although they have to face many problems due to family responsibilities, limited mobility and social restrictions. The Green Revolution has led to increased demands for casual labour, dispossession of small landholders from their land and consequently, pushing out of women from such small landholdings to become wage earners. Though many of the tasks per- formed by males are getting mechanised, the women continue to toil in labour intensive jobs like rice transplantation, cleaning and storage of grain in post-harvest operations, picking of leaves and fruit, handshelling groundnut, picking out cotton seed, etc. Women get limited job opportunities in modern occupations/trades as they do not have access to the training required for new technologies. In many areas where multiple crops are grown, the workload of women has increased. In industry, women continue to be employed mostly on unskilled jobs. The average earning of a regular salaried woman worker continues to be less than that of a man.
14.6 An emerging phenomenon in the rural scene is the single- parent rural family", due to large-scale migration of men seeking employment in urban areas. The woman
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has to assume the role of head of the household and responsibility for the support and care of children and also of the elders in the rural family. Her income is inadequate to meet the family's needs; thus, there is tension in the family, as remittances from the men-folk are mostly irregular as also meagre, given the high cost (and many temptations) of urban living.
14.7 There is considerable evidence to show that parents discriminate against girls in the matter of science education. With the majority of women being engaged in agriculture and allied fields, an exposure to science and technology aimed at, and for the benefit of, women has yet to come about. There is a felt need to structure courses, through visual as well as other (literacy-based) media, which are related to health and health care, nutrition (especially of young children), simple-to-follow techniques against morbidity (especially from water-borne infections) and infant mortality (e.g., oral dehydration therapy), food preservation and enrichment and for a balanced diet using readily available natural foods and additives. Inputs of science and technology are required also in housing, cooking and performance of other household work, which can lead to a considerable reduction in drudgery. Time and energy thus saved could be used by rural women for improvement of their knowledge, skill and aptitude levels.
14.8 There has been, in general, a lack of awareness among the people about various legislations and programmes being implemented for the benefit of women. Although the socio-cultural situation, to a great extent, keeps women isolated, lately the radio, TV and other mass communication media have exposed them to information and knowledge. However, such exposure has not yet resulted in creating consciousness to the desired extent among women, nor has it succeeded in loosening the hold of tradition-oriented thinking and mores. The significant role that is rightly women's in such vital areas as attitudes to education, health and health care as well as nutrition and related delivery system, reduction of infant mortality; in meaningful participation in many skilled jobs in advanced science and technology areas like medicine and medical research, electronics and informatics, education and teaching, energy-conservation and in improving the quality of life, has not yet been grasped fully by society at large.
SIXTH PLAN REVIEW 14.9 During the Sixth Plan, a variety of programmes were taken up under different sectors of development to ameliorate the working conditions of women and to raise their economic and social status.
14.10 A special cell created in 1976 continued to look after the employment of women and monitor the implementation of the Equal Remuneration Act, enacted to provide for wages equal to those of men for work of similar nature. Three regional vocational training centres, one each at Bangalore, Bombay and Trivandrum, and a National Vocational Training Institute at New Delhi, with a total annual intake capacity of 600 women trainees, were set up by the Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGE&T). Apart from these, 144 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) exclusively meant for women were functioning in different States by the end of the Sixth Plan. The intake capacity in these institutions is 11,200 per annum.
14.11 In the Rural Development Sector, the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) accorded priority to women heads of households. On the whole, women comprised 7 per cent of the beneficiaries covered under the IRDP during the Sixth Plan. A decision was also taken that a minimum of one-third of the beneficiaries under TRYSEM would be women and thereby, about 3.27 lakh women constituting 34.8 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries were trained. A new scheme, namely, "Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas" (DWCRA) was started in 1982-83 as a pilot project in 50 blocks of the country. Women who were not in a position to take advantage of schemes under the IRD Programme were organised into homogeneous groups of 15 to 20. Each such group was provided training in a chosen economic activity along with necessary infrastructure. Such activities included weaving, fish vending, broom and rope making, brick making and pickle making. Training was also given in candle making and in baking. The scheme has proved quite popular. Over 1900 groups were formed and trained, benefiting about 30,000 women during the two-year period, 1983-85.
14.12 The scheme of Krishi Vigyan Kendras introduced for bridging the gap between the farmer's knowledge and available technology also covered women. Eight home science colleges for women attached to agricultural universities were set up to provide training and research facilities.
14.13 A radical move in the concerted attempt to improve women's status was the decision to confer joint titles on husband and wife in all development activities involving transfer of assets, distribution of land and house sites.
14.14 In order to encourage girls into elementary and higher education, a Centrally sponsored scheme was taken up for providing financial assistance to educationally-backward States for establishing non-formal education centres exclusively for girls. Financial assist- ance was given for appointment of women teachers in primary schools. Incentives were provided to States at
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different administrative levels for encouraging girls to enrol in larger numbers. Text-books for elementary and high schools were evaluated with a view to vocationalising higher education.
14.15 Nearly 73 per cent of the total non-enrolled children in the 6-11 years age group were girls. In the age group 11-14 years, only 38 per cent of girls had been enrolled for formal education. The drop-out rate for girls both at the elementary and secondary levels of education continues to be high. To boost enrolment in the primary classes, early childhood education centres for children in the age- group 3-6 years were set up as adjuncts to primary schools for the first time in the Sixth Five Year Plan in rural and backward areas. These centres also provided creche facilities for younger siblings of girls attending primary schools. The scheduled caste/ scheduled tribe girls continued to receive higher rates of post-matric scholarships as compared to boys. Other incentives to girls included free clothing and free tuition. To give additional fillip to higher education among women, separate universities for women have been established in the States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
14.16 Special programmes were taken up for women in adult education centres, providing education in subjects like health, nutrition, child care and family planning. The curriculum also included skills like teaching, sewing, embroidery and building up of awareness and functionality through discussions and literature. The enrolment of women under the Adult Education Programme in December, 1984, was reported 2.89 million, the coverage being about 52 per cent of the total enrolment. Besides, 4,62,000 women were also covered under the programme "Functional Literacy for Adult Women", implemented by the Ministry of Social Welfare.
14.17 Under the scheme "Science and Technology for Women" a wide spectrum of activities was taken up. Projects were sponsored for development of smokeless chullahs, use of solar cookers, setting up bio-gas plants, and devices for improving the water purification system. New programmes which had a bearing on the overall economic development of women and reduction in their drudgery have been identified, comprising improved agricultural implements for farming in hill areas, better methods of sheep-rearing and wool-spinning devices for women. Several technologies were developed in the areas of transplantation, post harvest activities, fish-cumpaddy culture, processing of rice products, fish processing, pearl culture, and in the cashew and coir industry. Research and development activities were taken up to minimise physical discomfort to orthopaedically handicapped women while working on handlooms.
14.18 Added impetus was given to the training of women in instrumentation technology for repair and maintenance of electronic equipments in offices and hospitals. In certain areas of West Bengal, tribal women were trained in making blocks from stone chips, in bamboo craft and rope making. Tribal women were also trained as rural health workers in Maharashtra. With a view to training women in identification of herbs of medicinal value and cultivation and preparation of standardised medicinal formulations experiments were conducted on vegetable gardening in courtyards and on rooftops. Studies were undertaken to assess the incidence of bronchial asthma and skin diseases amongst women engaged in sericulture.
14.19 A report was brought out on "Occupational and Environmental Health Problems of Indian Women", containing detailed information on the health hazards to women in different occupations. Also, a film, "Science and Technology for Women", is under preparation.
14.20 A number of technology demonstration-cumtraining centres at selected focal points all over the country were set up by National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to provide expertise and resources to women entrepreneurs in respect of new technologies relevant to their daily needs and economic enterprises. Low-cost industrial technologies were also developed, relating to food products, post-harvest operation, domestic aids for pure drinking water, educational toys, low-cost latrines and improved chullahs. A number of projects on agro-waste compaction, machines for converting agricultural waste into fuel and other technologies relating to food, chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, energy and fuel, building materials, were taken up by NRDC. A compendium on appropriate technologies for women developed by NRDC was also published.
14.21 A major step was taken by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to provide a boost to women's participation in the field of science and technology by enhancing by 10 years the age of eligibility for women scientists to receive research fellowships.
14.22 Various measures have been taken to improve women's health and nutritional status. Nutritional intervention to the most vulnerable groups of women, namely, pregnant and nursing mothers belonging to the weaker sections, was given high priority. Under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), special nutrition was provided to pregnant women and nursing mothers. At the end of the Sixth Plan, more than 1.2 million such women were receiving benefits under the programme.
14.23 Provision was made for expanding maternal and child health (MCH) programmes including training of local dais. In order to induct local women as auxiliary nursemidwives (ANMs), the educational qualifications for their
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training were relaxed to the seventh standard if girls with requisite educational qualifications at the higher level were not available. The upper age limit of training for ANMs was also raised. Prophylaxis programmes against nutritional anaemia of pregnant and lactating mothers were implemented. Iron and folic acid tablets were distributed to more than 72.5 million pregnant women and nursing mothers. Tetanus Toxoid was administered to about 36 million pregnant women.
14.24 Under the family welfare programme, the couple protection rate was expected to have reached 36.6 per cent by the end of March 1985. It is worth mentioning that the female infant mortality rate had fallen from 148 in 1972 to 115 in 1980, whereas the male infant mortality rate fell from 132 in 1972 to 113 in 1980. The fall in mortality rate of female infants has been more rapid as compared to males. However, the rate of infant mortality is still too high (though there are considerable inter-State differences) and needs to be reduced drastically. The sex ratio which had persistently been declining upto 1971 had shown a slight rise in 1981. In the 1971 Census, the sex ratio was recorded as 930, but this rose to 933 in the 1981 Census. The maternal mortality rate of 4.1 7 per thousand live births during 1980 continued to be disturbingly high.
14.25 A number of schemes were taken up in the social welfare sector to benefit destitute and needy women. By the end of 1984-85, voluntary organisations were assisted in the construction of 344 hostels for working women. Nearly 3000 women were given training in skills in modern industries and provided employment under the scheme "Employment and Income-Generating. Training-cum-Production Centres for Women". Condensed courses of education and vocational training courses were organised by a number of voluntary organisations benefit- ing 1,11,000 women. Under the "socioeconomic programme, " 3589 units were sanctioned, with a coverage of 47,011 women. The scheme of "Assistance to women in distress" covered only 9,260 women through 267 vocational courses in non-traditional trades with the aim of making these women economically independent.
14.26 For creating increasing awareness of the role of women in development and the need for improvement of their status, various media units under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting presented appealing programmes on social and economic problems and other related issues faced by women.
14.27 To mould public opinion against atrocities on women, a number of interviews and discussions were' held with legal experts, social workers and officials of women's organisations. All India Radio, in collaboration with different State Governments, and assisted by UNICEF, organised twelve radio workshops on maternity and child care. The various Doordarshan Kendras also included in their programmes messages pertaining to the status of women. Audience programmes for rural people and industrial workers were also telecast. The Press Information Bureau took up a programme of mass education and information to promote positive social attitudes towards women and motivate people to fight social evils like dowry, child marriage, drinking, etc. A booklet entitled 'Status of Women' was published by the Directorate of Field Publicity. The Song and Drama Division of AIR took up programmes for women's upliftment. The Film and Television Institute of India prepared programmes highlighting women's problems and development schemes for them.
SEVENTH PLAN: OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES 14.28 The long-term objective of the developmental programmes for women would be to raise their economic and social status in order to bring them into the mainstream of national development. Due recognition has to be accorded to the role and contribution of women in the various socioeconomic, political and cultural activities.
14.29 In the Seventh Plan, the basic approach would be to inculcate confidence among women and bring about an awareness of their own potential for development, as also of their rights and privileges. The, various mass communication media would be utilised extensively in this task. Special measures would be initiated for strict enforcement of the Dowry Prohibition Act and also to prevent harassment and atrocities on women. Voluntary agencies and educational institutions would be fully involved in launching organised campaigns to combat these evils. An integrated multi-disciplinary approach would be adopted covering employment, education, health, nutrition, application of science and technology and other related aspects in areas of interest to women. Efforts would be made to extend facilities for incomegenerating activities and to enable women to participate actively in socioeconomic development. The educational programmes will be restructured and the school curricula will be modified to eliminate gender bias. Enrolment of girls in elementary, higher secondary and higher education courses, formal as well as non-formal, will be given high priority.