Woman Empowerment

The Tej Kohli Foundation is committed to playing a role for the holistic empowerment of women, who constitute 48 per cent of India's total population and are an important human resource for the country.

"We recognize that this can happen only when the economic, social and political aspects impacting a woman's life converge effectively," Mr Tej Kohli says.

The Indian Constitution grants equality to women and also empowers the State to adopt various measures of positive discrimination in favor of women. In recent years, there has been a marked shift in the approach to women's issues from welfare, to development and the empowerment of women has been recognized as the central issue in determining the status of women.

There is a strong women's movement in India and a widespread network of non-Government organizations (NGOs) with a strong grassroots presence and deep insight into women's concerns and they have taken many inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of women. But there are still wide gaps between the goals set by the Government and the realities concerning the status of women in India.

Gender disparity continues to be a major problem, and this is most obvious from the declining female ratio in the population. Other issues include social stereotyping; domestic and societal violence; and discrimination against girl children, adolescent girls and women. These are related to the social and economic structure, based on informal and formal norms, and practices.

Among other things, these mean that women -- especially those belonging to weaker sections of society, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and minorities, as well as those in rural areas and in the unorganized sector -- continue to be marginalized, impoverished and socially excluded as a result of limited access to education, health and productive resources.

The Tej Kohli Foundation plans, in particular, to work for the economic empowerment of women, given the fact that they comprise the majority of the population below the poverty line in India.

“We will also look at providing support services for women, such as child-care facilities, including creches at work places and educational institutions, and career and vocational guidance,” said Mr. Kohli. “A special target group would be girls who have dropped out of schools, and those who have never had the benefit of formal schooling.”

“Other areas we would like to work in include the eradication of illiteracy among women, programs for girl children and nutrition and health services with special attention to the needs of women and girls, “ he added.

The Tej Kohli Foundation is also looking at working with the media to portray dignified images of girls and women and to remove demeaning, degrading and negative conventional stereotypical images of women and violence against women. We will help communicate social messages relating to women's equality and empowerment, promoting societal awareness of gender issues and women's human rights.

A situational analysis of the social and economic status of women conducted by the Government recently reveals a less than satisfactory picture. The maternal mortality rate is estimated at 407 per 100,000 live births (in 2000). There is an increasing prevalance of pregnant women testing positive for HIV as well as a growing incidence of female foeticide, as reflected in the decline of the child sex ratio from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001.

The literacy rates went up from 39.3 per cent to 54.3 of the total female population between 1991 and 2001, though much more needs to be done in this area for women in the socially and economically backward regions and groups.

The percentage of women in the work force went up by only three per cent from 22.5 per cent to 25.7 per cent in this period and there continued to be a wage differential between women and men. Also, violence against women continued unabated. Traditional sectors like agriculture, where women eke out a barely sustainable livelihood, are becoming unviable, and there is a lack of alternate employment, skill training or credit facilities.

Some figures are telling. Of the 397 million workers in India, 123.9 million are women. Of these, 106 million are in rural areas. Also, 96 per cent of the women workers are in the unorganized sector.

There is also the problem relating to trafficking of young girls for sexual exploitation and domestic labor and the need for prevention of child marriages.

"We must recognize gender equality as an essential constituent and an instrument of development. India cannot claim to be a developed country if half is population continues to be deprived of basic needs, livelihood options, access to knowledge and resources, and a political voice," Mr Kohli said.

He also points out that, without gender equality, development goals such as poverty alleviation, economic growth and environmental sustainability cannot be achieved.