RIGHTS-INDIA: Govt. Economic Policy Takes Note of Gender Equality

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Feb 28 2001 (IPS) - The emphasis on gender equality, for the first time, in the Indian government’s annual economy survey ahead of Wednesday’s budget presentation in parliament, has failed to impress women’s rights activists in the country.

However, U.N. development agencies in India, which worked for the inclusion of gender concerns in the official economic policy document, have hailed it as a key step toward raising the lot of women in the South Asian nation.

Brenda McSweeney, the India Resident Representative of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), said the chapter on gender concerns in the Economic Survey, was a “substantial step forward in promoting gender equity…and should be welcomed by all.”

Its significance lies not so much in the data and analysis it contains, but in the fact that it marks the recognition of gender equality as an economic rather than a purely social issue, she said.

“We are really pleased that the survey emphasises that the existing practice of budgeting does not pay attention to its impact on women, an area that we have all been extremely concerned about and have been discussing,” McSweeney said.

But women’s rights activists, grouped under the Joint Action Front for Women, are complaining they were not consulted by the finance minister on the survey.

“The finance minister held consultations with the corporate sector, captains of industry and labour leaders but did not think fit to call us,” said Front convener Ranjana Kumari.

Even the official National Commission for Women complained it was left out of the customary consultations, held by the finance ministry months before the annual survey is released.

Razia Ismail, who leads the non-governmental Women’s Coalition for Peace and Development in India, described the survey’s inclusion of gender concerns as a “half-hearted gesture simply because this is the year for women’s empowerment.”

“The document has nothing for women below the age of 20 who form 47 percent of India women — this country happens to have one of the youngest populations of women in the world,” Ismail said.

The survey notes that investments in women’s empowerment have a “high social rate of return”. It admits that the “existing practice of budgeting does not pay any special attention to the impact of budgets on women.”

It speaks of the need for a “gendered” analysis of government spending to take into account its separate effects on women and men.

Citing the example of water, the survey says that increases in the supply of safe drinking water can benefit women more than men in the mainly rural nation, where village women spend hours fetching water from distant rivers, ponds and streams.

Describing the survey as a “major victory for gender”, the UNDP official said U.N. development agencies in India have long been advocating making the government’s budget sensitive to women’s concerns.

They have also supported government efforts to examine shortfalls in social sector spending for women’s’ advancement.

The survey observes that investment in women’s advancement results in improvements in other important human development indicators like the health and education of children.

McSweeney said the survey’s focus on the problem of the “missing women” and the under-estimation of women’s economic contribution, has raised hopes that these vital areas would now receive more official attention.

Acknowledging that the ratio of women to men is “abnormally low” in India, the survey explains that these “missing women were either never born or died of chronic malnutrition or because of lack of medical attention.”

Women’s inequality in India begins at birth with an average of 109.5 male live births per 100 female live births.

Women’s rights groups said they would rather wait for the budget to see if the government was serious about addressing gender imbalances in socio-economic growth.

“The real test of the survey is to see if the government provides any real benefits for women through health and education programmes,” said Kalawathi Tripathi who leads the All-India Women’s Conference.

“We would like to see, for example, tax incentives for parents who invest in higher and professional education for their girl children,” said Ranjana Kumari.

The survey notes that education is essential for giving women a bigger say in decision-making in a country where nearly half the women are illiterate.

“The problems (with female illiteracy) are manifold: shortage of female teachers, shortage of single-sex schools and distances required to travel to school,” the survey points out.