Skip to main content

Indian girls fail to attain decent work, gender justice despite better educational attainment: UNESCO report

Observing a major discrepancy, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report has said that India may have seen rapid growth in education attainment among girls, but this is "not seen a commensurate increase in decent work or changes in gendered social norms."
"In India, the female employment rates have decreased while female education increased", UNESCO says in its “Global Education Monitoring Report 2016.”
It underlines, "Furthermore, while the levels of girls’ and women’s enrolment in all levels of education is rising in the country, the female-to-male infant ratio is simultaneously dropping, especially among more urban populations, with gender-discriminatory views leading to sex-selective abortion and gender-discriminatory child-rearing practices."
The report also says, "Gender-based violence can continue in spite of high levels of education."
Giving an instance, it says, "Kerala state, India, has a high level of women’s education and literacy, yet rates of domestic violence and dowry-related crimes have been increasing. Furthermore, women’s levels of mental ill-health, and changes in marriage, inheritance and succession practices have weakened women’s access to and control over inherited resources."
Blaming this on strong traditional roots, the report states, "A survey-based analysis of intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes in India finds strong positive correlations between parent and child attitudes, with mothers having greater influence than fathers."
It adds, "On average, when a parent holds a discriminatory gender attitude, their child is 15 percentage points more likely to hold that attitude; the effect is 50% larger for mothers than for fathers. Girls with more gender-discriminatory parents tend to drop out of school earlier than those with more gender-progressive parents."
It underlines, studies "confirm the importance of female role models" in overcoming this problem.
"The presence of female leaders in India was found to narrow the gender gap in girls’ aspirations and advancement in education. Female students were found to perform better in introductory math and science courses if taught by female faculty, and more likely to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics."
However, the report believes, "Focusing on women’s initiatives is not enough. Men and women have to work together to achieve gender-balanced lives. Analysis of results of the International Men and Gender Equality Survey from 10,490 men aged 18 to 59 in 8 countries, including India, found that "men’s education and income, and equitable practices in men’s childhood homes, were associated with their attitudes to equity."
The report, however, says that the results of the survey revealed somewhat surprising results for India. It says, "Men’s equitable attitudes were reflected in practices such as more participation in the home, reduced use of violence and higher relationship and sexual satisfaction; men’s education and their mother’s education were found to be positively associated with progress towards gender equality, except in India."
The report also finds that greater representation of women in politics and public office can also reduce gender disparities in education and provide positive role models for other women, increasing their educational aspirations and achievements, and thereby improving female educational attainment levels.
Thus, it says, “Across the 16 biggest states in India, a 10% increase in the number of women involved in district politics would lead to an increase of nearly 6% in primary school completion, with a larger impact on girls’ education. Similarly, in villages assigned a female leader for two election cycles, the gender gap in career aspirations shrank by 25% in parents and 32% in adolescents.”

Comments

TRENDING

World Hijab Day? Ex-Muslim women observe Feb 1 as No Hijab Day, insist: 'Put it on a Man'

I didn't know that there could ever be a thing as World Hijab Day until I received an email alert from Maryam Namazie of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), stating that several ex-Muslim women's groups had observed the same day—February 1—as No Hijab Day! According to Namazie, the day "was created on February 1 as a direct response to World Hijab Day" to "illuminate the coercive and oppressive realities of the hijab as a pillar of sex apartheid and a war on women."

Google powered AI refuses to correct grammar of a 'balanced' piece on Trump sending chained immigrants to India!

This is a continuation of my blog on how, while the start-up-developed AI app DeepSeek is being criticized for consistently rejecting content related to China or Maoism, there appears to be no mention in Western media about why another app, developed by the powerful Google, Gemini, remains silent on Indian political issues.  

5% poor in India? Union govt claim debunked, '26.4% of population below poverty line'

A recent paper, referring to the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23 of the Government of India (GoI), has debunked the official claim that poverty has substantially declined. Titled "Poverty in India: The Rangarajan Method and the 2022–23 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey", the paper —authored by scholars CA Sethu, LT Abhinav Surya, and CA Ruthu—states that "more than a quarter of India’s population falls below the poverty line."

Gujarat a police state? How top High Court advocate stunned a senior-most journalist

Rajdeep Sardesai, Anand Yagnik This is a continuation of my earlier blog on well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai's lecture in memory of the late Achyut Yagnik at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA). I was a little surprised when I received the intimation about the venue for the lecture.

How the middle classes are returning to the BJP fold, be it Delhi or Gujarat: Mahakumbh, Sitharaman's budget

Whatever reasons may be offered for the Aam Aadmi Party's defeat in Delhi—whether it was the BJP's promises of more freebies than AAP, the shedding of ultra-nationalist slogans, or the successful demolition of Arvind Kejriwal's "Mr. Clean" image—my recent interaction with a group of middle-class individuals highlighted a notable trend. Those who had just begun to sit on the fence were now once again returning to the BJP fold.

Why burn Manusmriti? Why not preserve it to demonstrate, display historicity of casteism?

In a significant Facebook post, Rana Singh, former associate professor of English at Patna University, has revealed something that few seem to know. Titled "The Shudras in Manusmriti", Singh says,  because Manusmriti is discussed so often, he thought of reading it himself. “This book likely dates back to the 2nd or 3rd century BCE, and the presence of contradictory statements suggests that it is not the work of a single author,” he says in his Facebook post in Hindi, written in 2022 and recently reshared.

Talking of increased corporate control over news, Rajdeep Sardesai 'evades' alternative media

When I received an intimation that well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai was to speak at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on February 2, my instant reaction was: I know what he is going to say—his views are quite well known; he wouldn’t be saying anything new. Yet, I decided to go and listen to him to catch his mood at a time when the media, as he (and I) knew it, is changing fast due to the availability of new technological tools that were not accessible even a decade ago.

Trump’s research cuts 'may mean' advantage China: But will India leverage global brain drain to its advantage?

When I heard from a couple of NRI professionals—currently on work visas and engaged in research projects at American universities—that one of President Donald Trump's major policy thrusts was to cut federal funding to the country's top educational institutions, I was instantly reminded of what Prof. Kaushik Basu had said while delivering a lecture in Ahmedabad.

I'm flattered: A New York media house claims I was a KGB agent! Wow, I didn't know that

I was astonished, let me say pleasantly surprised, on receiving a comment by Rich TVX News  on my blog   "Why predictions of an imminent collapse of the Russian economy may be wrong" (January 28).  I don't know who wrote the strange comment from this "media house", which is based in New York, and claims to "hold sway not only among the masses but also within global corridors of power, influencing esteemed politicians and shaping international diplomacy, especially evident during pivotal events like the ongoing crisis in Ukraine."