c





Women constitute almost half of the total human resources (population) of India. Unfortunately,
denial of equal socio-economic opportunities and strong traditional bias against women have
resulted in low human development indices over the years, as India, like many other developing
nations, has lagged behind in upgrading the status of half of its women, in many respects.
Education is universally accepted as a fundamental agent of socio-economic upliftment but women
have not been fairly treated as far as access to education is concerned. It is needless to emphasise
that education for women is synonymous to health, information, confidence, dignity,
empowerment and independence. Conversely, illiteracy leads to their exploitation in all walks of
life. Despite the fact that women's education in India has been a major area of concern for both
the government and civil society and some statistics have changed since independence, many
ground realities have not. Gender bias against women and hence, gender gaps still persist in
almost all aspects of women education and we are far behind a condition where µeducating women'
is no longer a news.

Ô
  

 



he advantages of educating a woman are irrefutable. Education boosts a woman's self-esteem,
her employment opportunities and her ability to deal with the problems of the world around her.
Moreover, her confidence and opportunities are passed on to her family, later in life. Numerous
studies reveal that illiterate mothers whose lives are characterized by poverty and gender-based
discrimination have daughters who are likely to share a similar destiny (Jha, 2002). An educated
mother means an educated family, but the same may not hold true for a man. Educated women
tend to delay marriage and hence, child birth. hey are vocal about the size of the family, gender
parity among their children in all contexts from ranging from health and nutrition to education and
career. herefore, the overall health of the society and nation improves. here are cases to prove
that human development indices are directly correlated with the educational status of the women.
UN Millennium Development Goals of 2000 have stressed the relevance of gender parity in all
contexts, especially, education. he National Policy on Education 1986 also emphasizes the role of
education, as an agent of basic change in the status of women.





 


he overall literacy rate in the country has increased from 18.33% in 1951 to 65.38% as per 2001
census and so has the female literacy rate, from 8.86% in 1951 to 54.16% in 2001(Fig.1). In fact,
female literacy rate during the period 1991-2001 increased by 14.87% whereas male literacy rose
by 11.72%. Hence female literacy rate actually increased by 3.15% more compared o t male
literacy rate. But, gender inequality particularly in education, is inbuilt into the social system of our
country and the difference in female and male literacy rates is just one aspect of this gender-
based inequality in India. India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in the world, with
just a little more than half of its total women (53.67%) aged 7 and over being literate and there
are striking gender gaps at various levels to be filled up. his means half of our population could
not be developed as a human resource because female literacy has a lot do with levels of fertility
and mortality, nutritional status, earning capacity and her own independence within and outside
home.

‰

c

  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.
  c


 


‰ 

 


 he differences in
female literacy rates among the states are also extreme with Kerala having the highest female
literacy rate of 87.72%, followed by Mizoram (86.75%) (Fig.2). On the other hand, there are
several states that have female literacy rates as low as 33.12% in Bihar and 38.87% in Jharkhand.

‰

Ô

  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

hese literacy levels are highly correlated with the health status of the population. Kerala
has the lowest infant mortality rates and highest life expectancies of all the states, whereas States
like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have some lowest life expectancies found in India.

 Ô
 



he gender gaps in literacy are even more
pronounced by the place of residence, with female literacy rates in rural areas lagging
behind their counterparts in urban areas. 
c and Fig. 3 show Rural-Urban Literacy
in India (in %) for the years 1991 and 2001.

 
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 81.10 64.00 73.10 86.70 73.20 80.30

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  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

‰



  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

While there has been some catching up in literacy rates for both males and females
between rural and urban areas, the gender gaps continue to be unacceptably large,
especially for females. Only 46.70 % of females in rural areas were literate as opposed
to nearly 73.20 % females in urban areas in 2001. hough there have been substantial
increases in literacy rates in both urban and rural areas, the gap between the two
sectors has not narrowed appreciably. As with India, many states have large rural-urban
differentials in female literacy. In Bihar and Jharkhand less than 30% of rural women
were literate in 2001, whereas their counterparts in urban areas had a literacy rate of
62.59% and 69.96% respectively. A major problem facing Indian education system,
especially in rural areas, is that although students may enroll at the beginning, many of
them do not complete their schooling.

 
%


 
 


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,
-

 While participation of girls in education has seen an increase
over time at all levels of education, it continues to lag behind that of boys. Even in 2001-02, girls'
enrolment remained below 50 per cent of total enrolment at the primary school level. his
percentage of girls' enrolment goes down to 18.7% as one goes higher up at the secondary
level, which indicates that more than 30% girls drop out before reaching secondary education.

As far as number of girls per 100 boys in primary and secondary education is concerned,
there were 87 girls at the primary level, which decreased to 81 and 72 at the secondary and
higher secondary levels respectively in 2005-2006. Inter-state disparity was glaring in this respect
as  
Ô reflects

 
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Bihar 70 68 47

Uttar Pradesh 85 70 58

Rajasthan 85 61 46

Kerala 90 92 100

Mizoram 94 97 98


 +* +c *Ô

  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

At the one end were the educationally developed states of Kerala and Mizoram having not only
higher girls-boys ratio than the national figures but this ratio increases as well from primary to
middle to secondary & higher secondary education; at the other end were the states like Rajasthan
and Bihar where thee girls-boys ratio is awfully low and contrary to Kerala and Mizoram it retards
as one progresses from primary to middle and subsequently to secondary& higher secondary levels
(Fig.4).

‰

(
  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

An equally appalling situation pertains to the drop out rates of the girl students at various
levels. In 2005-2006, drop rate at primary level of boys was 28.53 % as against 21.54% of girls.
At the secondary level, it amounted to 60.04% for boys and 63.56% for girls (Fig. 5).

‰

)

  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

he spatial variation in drop out rates for girls was high. In Bihar and Rajasthan, as many
as 45.25%and 45.94% of the girls dropped out at primary level and 85.64% and 81.80% girls
dropped out respectively, before they could complete secondary education(Fig.6). In Kerala, on
the other hand, drop out rates at primary level were 0 %, for both boys and girls and the drop out
rate for boys was higher (7.44%) than that of girls (2.42%) at the secondary level.

‰

'
  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

As far as number of female teachers per 100 male teachers in India is concerned, the ratio
was 65100 at the primary level and 81100 at the secondary level in 2005-2006. he states
display a high disparity, with Kerala having 283 female teachers per 100 male teachers at the
primary stage and 221 female teachers per 100 male teachers at the secondary stage of education
in 2005-06(Fig.7). Bihar on the other hand, had a ratio 26100 at the primary and 40100 at the
secondary level. No wonder these gender gaps get reflected in inter-state educational disparities
too. he gender disparity at Secondary stages is mainly due to the existing gender gaps at the
entry stage to an educational institution.

‰

*

  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

 !#
% 
Primary education is the base from where secondary and higher
education systems draw their resources. Unfortunately, primary education in India is ridden with
numerous problems which get aggravated with strong gender bias and disparities. In a patriarchal
society like ours, educating a girl child has always been a financial liability, especially in rural
areas, as the girl child is perceived as belonging to her in-laws. herefore, investing in a girl is
thought to be a wasteful expenditure, whereas boys, due to their employability, are considered to
be useful products of the society. Major problems of primary education of women are as follows

£ 

£ 
Whatever said and done, uneven achievements in education against the
backdrop of
 
  continue to haunt our system. he rising literacy rates have been
accompanied by skewed achievements in favour of men, urban residents, upper castes, serving
middle class and the elites across various States. he gender gap becomes more defined with
spatial and caste-class factors. herefore, a scheduled caste girl of a rural area is more deprived
than her urban upper caste counterpart, although even the latter may lag behind her male
counterpart in the same region. Hence, inequity in terms of access to education is the biggest
problem as well as a challenge we face.
 A major problem of rural education is the 







2



 
 in primary schools and its irrelevance of life (Ram, 2005) and this applies to both boys
and girls. So, no matter how many schools get added up, the actual quality of teaching they
receive is awfully inadequate to acquire the basic literacy and numeric skills. he problem persists
across gender lines, but its potential impacts on women education would be severe as it means
even the girls who attend school are deprived of quality education and remain barely literate.
According to a study (Bajpai and Goyal, 2004), this seems to be true of both the educationally
more advanced States as well as the educationally backward ones. Even in states like Maharashtra
and amil Nadu whose literacy rates were above national average of 64.84% (76.88% and
73.45% respectively) there are many instances where dismal low proportions of children who
complete all grades of primary school have functional literacy. Similar results were reported by
other surveys of four northern states where few children could read their fundamental texts
fluently. he emphasis was on rote learning and there was little attempt to impart understanding
or comprehension of the text.

3
  of the enrolled students and 


 

  is another
problem as enrolment is meaningless if retention rates do no not match them (Bajpai and Goyal,
2004). he problem gets aggravated in rural areas. Fewer girls attend school in the rural areas
compared to their urban counterparts, and also compared to boys in the rural areas. Full time
attendance is a practical problem that hinders universalizing primary education (Ram, 2004). Part
of the problem is due to physical access of schools within one kilometer of their place of residence.
hough the number of primary schools in the country has increased substantially, many places still
do not fulfill the requirement of having a primary school within a distance of one kilometer. And,
even in places where primary school is within reach, it lacks basic facilities like sufficient
classrooms, running water and toilets (Bajpai and Goyal, 2004). Lack of basic facilities act as big
deterrent especially for female education and are not helpful to create a learning environment,
resulting in poor attendance and low quality. he number of teachers too has not increased in that
proportion. eacher-pupil ratios are inadequate. he motivation and incentive to learn is lacking
due to long distances.

Poor attendance is also because many girls come from poor families. here seems to be a
direct relationship between the family income and expenses toward girls' education (Banerjee,
2007). hough primary and secondary enrolment has increased in many regions, India witnesses
an alarming statistics of children who have never enrolled, mainly due to negligence or poverty on
the part of their parents. he girls from poor economic background either do not get enrolled or do
not attend schools, preferring to help their parents in domestic work or look after siblings. In such
cases, fake attendance is a convenient arrangement for students, parents, teachers and even local
education offices which boast of statistically demonstrable progress of education (Ram,
2004).  


 

 are common problems in rural areas, as
majority of teacher are strangers to villages where schools are located and therefore, are unwilling
to travel long distances on daily basis for work. It is often difficult for an outsider to establish
rapport with the local community because of dialect and other cultural barriers.

1



 for girls is a persistent problem disturbing the authorities. Girls often
discontinue their schooling to help in domestic chores or looking after siblings in rural areas. he
drop out rates of the girls increase as they reach adolescence, especially if the schools are co-
educational or they do not have a proper toilet facility. Even girls who attend school at the initial
stages may have to drop out as they could be malnourished leading long stretch of sickness and
absenteeism from school (Banerjee, 2007). Early marriage and frequent child birth are other
associated reasons for girls discontinuing their education. he accepted notion is that a son's
education is urgent for a job, whereas a girl destiny is to get married and be bound to stereotype
domesticated roles and functions (Chandana, 1992). A high drop out rate may also be explained
by the scarcity of female teachers, especially in rural areas. his is because, as girls reach
adolescence, parents feel more insecure if their daughters are not taught by a female teacher.

 (
1


%

 

  (!#
,
-

 Increasing access to higher education is associated with
increasing gender parity -something like 10% of women enrolment in higher education (degree
and above level) in 1950-51 to 40.40% in 2006-07. Faculty wise disparity is however, glaring.
Women's enrolment is as high as 51% in Arts but as low as 20% in Science, 4% in Engineering
and 3.6% in Medicine. Hence for professional courses scenario needs to be drastically improved
(Bhushan, 2006) (Fig. 8).

‰

+

  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.

An important study (Afzal and Ahmad, 2008) concludes that during the first five years of
the 21st century, 20% more men students were enrolled as compared to women students. he data
with respect to faculty-wise enrolment shows that there was a big gender gap in the enrolment in
various faculties of higher education- 10% in the Faculty of Arts; 20% in the Faculty of Science;
27% in the Faculty of Commerce/Management; 56% in the Faculty of Engineering/echnology;
nine percent in the Faculty of Medicine; 65% in the Faculty of agriculture; 55% in the Faculty of
Veterinary Science; 59% in Faculty of Law. Only the Faculty of education had 3% more enrolment
of women students than men students (Fig.9).

‰

$

  Abstracts, Selected Educational Statistics (2005-2006), Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.
  (!#
% 
he major problem concerning women in higher and professional
education is their2

 in various faculties, which often leads to illogical
conclusions regarding their competency in faculties like Arts, Language and Education rather than
Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Medicine. Many feminists (Ram, 2004) criticize higher
education for its complacency and its greater suitability for the life cycle of as typical male rather
than the typical female. Married women students, especially those with children, are thought to
suffer from impossible demands on their time and energy and from the expectation that husband's
career would always have priority in case of a conflict. Higher education is the gateway to a world
of greater opportunities and aspirations in terms of an individual's own creativity and employment
necessities. Indeed it is useless to talk about gender parity if it does not open up equal avenues
for women students.



  in higher education too inhibit the growth potential of women
students. In this respect, while Environmental Studies have been made compulsory at the
graduation level, by the UGC, no such provision exists to increase gender sensitivity through a
compulsory course on Women Studies.

Women are also







 











 in Colleges and Universities. One really must begin asking as to how many women are
VCs, Professors, Rectors, Chief Proctors and Principals in various Universities. And, why women
Principals are largely confined to women colleges only. In a nutshell, the higher education too
caters to stereotyped roles for women, defined by a typical patriarchal society. As far as working
women in higher education are concerned, strict but limited-in-scope rules for maternity and child-
care leave have been a major hindrance in successful pursuance of their career options.

 )
4

,
-





 


Many factors are held to be responsible for poor female literacy rate

X Gender-based inequality.

X Social discrimination and economic exploitation

X Occuaption of girl child in domestic chores

X Low enrolment of girls in schools.

X Low retention rates and high drop out rates.

he gender gap in education is mostly due to well-established gender norms, especially in
the states of the north. Socially, the prejudices against education of the girl child, mobility, low
status accorded in the family, lack of educational institutions for the women, lack of female
teachers, incidence of early marriage and movement of girls from their parents' place of residence
to their spouses at the time of marriage means that any benefits of investment in education of
girls will be utilised by her own household after marriage. his reduces parental incentives in the
education of girls. However, in India, education of girls is increasingly becoming a matrimonial
necessity at least in urban areas (Chandana, 1994).

Economically, the widespread poverty and low degree of work participation among women
are the factors responsible for male-female disparity in educational status. In such a scenario,
education of a male child gets priority over the education of girl child. Similarly, the degree of
participation in economically gainful activities among the women is also low. he females are often
required to participate in domestic chores. Since literacy has little functional utility for the females
under such social circumstances, therefore, it suffers a setback.

Recent years, of course, have witnessed a change in this context of male-female

differential in literacy even in traditional societies. here has been an evident decline in the male-
female differential in literacy as the female literacy rates have increased more rapidly than the
male literacy rates. his may be attributed to a very low base of female literacy and also to the
opening up of large number of schools in the rural areas. Consequently, the number of female
teachers has also increased considerably which has had a catalytic effect upon the proce ss of
dissemination of female education. Moreover, the increasing social awakening and increasing male
literacy have stimulated female literacy, as the female literacy is now becoming matrimonial
precondition (Chandana, 1994).

 '
4 
here are many challenges to be met in order to have a quality
universal education that gives priority to gender parity 

>1.he real challenge is to recognize and prioritize women education as the most
critical factor in bridging the gender gaps in various indices of human
development.

>2.he challenge is make at least primary and secondary education accessible to all,
either through formal or informal systems; to reduce differences in enrolment,
drop out rates; and creation of a gender sensitive education system.

>3.Along with accessibility to all, the quality of education has to be upgraded at all
levels; curriculum has to be redesigned to suit the girl child and relating it to the
needs of emerging urban and rural settings.

>4.Social conditions have to be made su ch that women seek knowledge and

information, empowering themselves to take the world head on.

>5.he challenge is involve local communities in spreading the message that

educating women is the pre-condition for fighting the ills of a society.

 *



he government has adopted some strategies for increasing female literacy in the country like

X National Literacy Mission for eradicating adult illiteracy and imparting functional literacy to
women illiterates,

X Universalisation of Elementary Education,

X Non-Formal Education.

Besides these, there are many programmes especially targeting women education

X the integrated Child Development programme, Inclusive Education to address the

special needs of the girls from disabled, ethnic minorities and underprivileged
segments,

X the Mahila Samkhya and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),

X District Primary education Programme, Extension Education to provide job related

knowledge, Shiksha Karmi scheme in the extremely low literacy blocks,

X Saraswati Yojana to run courtyard schools in homes,

X Lok Jumbish project to set up Women education Centres and Women eachers' Forum,

X Mid-Day Meals Scheme to boost lower secondary and Universalization of primary

education by impacting upon attendance, retention and nutritional needs of
children. ,
 X In 2001, the National Policy on Empowerment of Women was adopted to empower
women as agents of socio-economic change.

 +
‰
4

£ 

  Such literacy campaigns have aimed at increasing levels of social
awareness and school enrolment; instilling self-confidence and raising status of women in the
family; promoting educational parity, health and hygiene; encouraging women entrepreneurs,
household savings and access to credit. hough these programmes have yielded significant results,
a rigid gender disparity persists, more so in rural areas and among the disadvantaged sections of
the society. £




 to remove gender disparities in education

X New policies should lay special emphasis on the removal of disparities and ensuring
equal opportunities to the specific needs of those who have denied equality so far.
he nature of our education system has to be interventionist in order to empower
women.

X here should be provision of special support services setting time-bound targets

and effective monitoring of programmes aimed at removing women illiteracy and
removing obstacles inhibiting their access to and retention at all levels of
education.

X Major emphasis must be laid on women's participation in vocational, technical and

professional education at different levels.

X Special programmes should be run for ensuring women's participation in non-

traditional occupations, as well as in existing and emergent technologies.

4 


Gender disparities are the most striking, though unfortunate, feature of Indian education system.
Despite various serious governmental and civil society concerns and measures, the gender gaps in
education have not narrowed down appreciably. hese are even more pronounced inrural areas
and the among the disadvantaged sections of our society where strong patriarchal and
conventional ethos prevent young girls from venturing out of their homes and mass poverty
ensures that the education of girl child is sacrificed for her male siblings. hough enrolment rates
have considerably increased over the years, the drop out rates continue to be high among girls at
primary and secondary levels. Even the higher education is ridden with huge gender gaps in
various faculties. Right to free and compulsory education for all is guaranteed by our Constitution
and it is high time this right becomes a reality, not just rhetoric. If India has to reach the league of
developed nations in the new millennium, then a gender free education for all is the first step in
ladder to climb.