India, recently marked 70 Years of Independence and with projects like “Make In India” and “Digital India” campaign, it won’t be wrong to say that India is rapidly moving towards development.
One of the most top inspiring woman, Harriet Beecher Stowe once said, “Women are the real architects of society.” This directly shows that the condition of women play a pivotal role in the country’s development.
The question here is what really are the parameters to be deciding if the country is actually developing or not?
The literacy rate, the poverty rate and the sex ratio in the country are a few basic factors that determine the real status of a country.
The sad part is that these factors, in India, are a silent yet most common cause behind a lot of crimes, especially against women.
The Literacy Rate : As per the 2011 census, literacy rate in India reached to 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women, which clearly shows the difference between education pattern in our country. Women are still not provided with education in a lot of states. It is often said that the lack of literacy in any country is responsible for the crimes happening in the country too.
But the ironical part is, in India, Kerela has the highest literacy rate and highest crime rate as well.
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released a data in 2015 saying crime against women is reported every two minutes. It is visible that the crimes against women are prevalent in every part of the country no matter what the literacy level of that place is.
What people neglect is that there is a difference between education and literacy, and people need to be educated and not just literate.
It’s the mindset of the people that needs to be changed indeed for further development of a country. A woman is an essential tool in shaping the basic structure of any nation. It is very righteously said that when you educate a man you educate a man, but when you educate a woman you educate an entire nation.
Hence, it is very important to first make women aware of their own rights and responsibilities.
Another problem related to the literacy rate and one of the leading factors responsible for the crime rate is Poverty in India.
No wonder Dr. Helene Gayle said, “No matter how you measure it, women and girls bear the brunt of poverty”
Two very prominent crimes against women that takes birth from poverty are Human Trafficking and Dowry.
Human Trafficking : Human Trafficking is the third largest organised crime and the most prevalent and major cause of concern in the country. According to the definition of the United Nations, trafficking refers to any activity leading to recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat and violence, but 80% of human trafficking is done for sexual exploitation. One of the most significant causes of this evil crime is the leading poverty and the difference in sex ratio.
There is a possibility of being sold if you are born to a poor family in India, and if you are born a girl in a poor family, then these chances further increases.
Low economic strata, regional gender difference, corruption and social inequality are among the many causes of human trafficking.
The fact that every year more than 100 cases of human trafficking are reported in different parts of our country, despite of it being illegal, reflects the pathetic condition of our legal system.
But what actually is the root cause of all these factors is the ideology and mentality of the people which acts as the biggest obstruction towards women empowerment, hence, development of the nation as well.
It is a reality that we still live in a society that is male dominant and wants women to stay inside the threshold. In many areas, women are still not allowed to work after marriage and sometimes not even before.
Jayati Ghosh, a JNU Economics Professor very rightly commented on why is India still in the developing phase by saying, “What’s more, the recognised and paid participation of women in working life has actually been declining in a period of rapid income growth.”
Be it politics, be it law, be it entertainment, be it education, women are moving ahead in every field and giving men a tough competition, and we need to realise their potential and move beyond gender disparities.
For a nation to be developed, it is the prime most responsibility of the people to ensure first that it’s not atleast running backwards and that is only possible when women are granted an equal status as men in our society.
Hence, Women Empowerment is important for Development.
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