0.1696
7667766266
x

Societal attitudes towards women’s work

iasparliament Logo
July 29, 2017

What is the issue?

  • The country and society focus more on educating girls.
  • Little has been done on helping them become financially independent and productive members of the country’s workforce.

What are the recent findings?

  • The National Sample Survey 2014-15 found that for every 100 men enrolled in higher education (college and above) there were only 85 women.
  • National Family Health Survey 2015-16 shows that the proportion of working women, who were paid for their work, has fallen four percentage points over the past decade.
  • Another research reported that over 60 per cent of households in India had only one wage earner each.
  • The numbers have highlighted the idea of "overqualified Indian housewives"

What are the prevailing attitudes in Indian society?

  • Fatherly duties to a daughter don’t go beyond educating her.
  • Women's careers depend on the requirements of the families they marry into.
  • Once she becomes a mother, she will have to give up working.
  • The onus of taking care of a child entirely lies on the mother.

What is the way forward?

  • Government’s schemes like the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save girl child, educate girl child) should be implemented taking into consideration the societal attitudes.
  • Paternity leaves should be provided on par with maternity leaves to enable and ensure that both the sexes participate in child care.
  • The society has come a long way from confining women at homes to educating them.
  • However, there's still a long way to go beyond education and  embrace women's choices, goals, careers, aspirations, independence, etc.
  • Limiting them with familial and child birth responsibilities should be changed with growth of the society.

 

Source: Business Standard

Login or Register to Post Comments
There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to review.