Indian & Kerala
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1 The Undisclosed Misery of Indian & Kerala Women A detailed analysis and review of Women - Based on All Global Gender & Women indexes James Vadakkan, Centre for Kerala Studies 2 Kerala Feminism at Cross roads Emancipation* of Kerala Women by Men (* The fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions, liberation) Status of Kerala Women to be assessed/measured on Global Gender Parameters Men and Women to share a dual role at Home, Work & Society Men should be given the same duties as women in their parental capacity “VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN” IS A GLOBAL DISASTER THAT ONLY MEN CAN PREVENT Report of the Working Group appointed to “Study the entire subject of women, gender discrimination, child care support, child education, Happiness, Motherhood, Wife’s right on the salary/income of the husband, Property Rights, Personal Law, Violence against women and children, Sex Education in Schools, including the influence of modern media and the ICT and the absence of clear laws against abuse of the women body” By James Vadakkan The ever increasing violence against women and children in Kerala/India prompted us to have a detailed study on the subject which may help the thinkers, the policy creators, the decision makers, the leaders of various kinds and areas and the legal profession and judiciary to understand the real problem which may result in development of appropriate solutions. Centre for Kerala Studies KP6/399, Vadakkan Buildings, 1st Floor, Mundankal PO, Pala, e mail:[email protected] 9497340829 3 My confession The subject of women empowerment came to my mind during the early 2000. May be based on my 3 weekly articles on Entrepreneurship, Modern Management and Marketing in ‘Business Deepika’ at that point of time, Sri T K Jose IAS, then Executive Director of Kudumbasree forced upon me the task of training entrepreneurship on ‘groups of women’ under Kudumbasree which I never believed that will be understood and grasped. But my first training at Malappuram changed my entire thinking on women and their capacities. Afterwards I took classes for hundreds of women entrepreneur groups- most of which are successfully running their small business. This provoked mine and our two research and public interest organizations – Centre for Consumer Education ( CCE) and Centre for Kerala studies (CKS) to have a separate research section on women. Women Empowerment may be the word which is the highest misquoted and understood word in Women Sphere. Empowerment refers to gaining greater control over one’s own life – includes enhancement of mobility, of decision-making about spending one’s earned income , as well as other aspects of life such as the right to choose a partner, children’s welfare and education and so on. An enhanced sense of self-esteem is at the core of empowerment which increases the ability of women to negotiate the constraints of their everyday lives. Women Empowerment is possible only when women has economic empowerment which comprises of a mix of autonomy and dignity which is associated with choice, mobility and freedom from violence, non discrimination in work and women’s right to own productive assets like land, house, technology ,finance etc. as well as their right to organize themselves and to voice representation which ultimately will end up in creating ability to make decisions inside and outside the home. Women Economic Empowerment can happen only when women have unrestricted entry and exit options to any labour market. History of Women Empowerment in developed countries like US or OECD ( Organization for Economic Co Operation and Development) indicates that a long period of ‘evolutionary change’ preceded the ‘revolution’ that was happening in the last few decades. Women in Kerala are better educated, more literate and have less number of children, and are not dependent on agriculture. Since the 1970s, there have been many literature on women and her role in economic development and more specifically in home care and care giving . Women’s work , both at home and in the paid work, has made significant contributions to economic growth .The non availability of reasonably good and economical child care facilities is the most deterring factor affecting women. Feminist economists point out the nature of economic transformation and growth contributed by working women . It is widely accepted across the globe that women’s work is overlooked, undervalued and underreported particularly of their non market activities , such as care giving and child care which have substantial economic benefits for households Women’s participation in paid work depends on the time spent in reproductive functions and their ‘unpaid work’ and the extent to which they are able to access support including sharing of unpaid work within the family. Vast majority of the women workers in Kerala work in low-pay, 4 low-productivity jobs in rural and informal economy. The gaps in labour force participation (LFP) rates between women and men in Kerala are large. Education is one of the most important factors influencing female labour participation. Overall, educational attainment has an important effect on the women’s decision to participate in labour market. The relationship between educational attainment and the female labour participation in not straight forward. Poorly educated women’s employment is distress driven and they are compelled to work to support themselves and their families. Attractive job opportunities with higher wages induce better educated women to work. Promoting female education is known to reduce the number of children born to a women which increases the probability of participation in labour market. It is reported that in Mexico, unmarried women participate in large numbers in the labour market , while married women’s decision to participate depends largely on the presence of young children. Cultural and societal norms also have significant influence on women’s freedom and employment. These norms discourage women to take paid employment or more active involvement in the public sphere and that they confine women to the role of caregivers. Women are often viewed as ‘supportive earners’ that reduces the range of options for married women in labour and stop gap arrangement in public action sphere. Women Empowerment will happen only when women on themselves can contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive growth process in a country’s development path. Women Participation must be taken seriously by policy makers and should not be relegated as a social issue left to women leaders , line ministries and women agencies. The ‘transition points’ along the life cycle of a household women to become a society women – the completion of education, transition from education to work, acquisition of skills, the marriage and birth of children, child care facilities , issues of limited mobility and safety at work and public places – needs special attention of the policy makers . An engendering of policy is needed at all levels of the policy process: in the identification of issues, design of policy, its implementation and evaluation Women Empowerment (WE) is Women Economic Empowerment (WEE). There can be six pillars for WEE. They are (1) Inclusive Growth and Job Creation, (2) Education and skills development, (3) Support for reducing the time burden of care and other household activities, (4) Transport and Infrastructure, (5) Legal rights and protection, and (6) Measurement of Women’s work. A wide spectrum of people, literature, incidents, issues, indexes ,reports– trivial as well as very serious- are referred, cited, commented and used in the creation of this report. This is our style of research which we had used successfully in our earlier research papers on several areas like State Public Finance, Agriculture , Farmers Issues, Public Transport , Media and Courts etc . Our research style is “Publication of research notes for public discussion as a part of social education process in the field of people related issues” Everybody is free to use this note for any purpose and all are requested to correct us anywhere and please inform us about the correction required in subject content, layout, presentation etc. This may be treated as a “Draft Report” only James Vadakkan, Pala Dated 1st May 2018, [email protected], 094973 40829 5 Contents No Chapter Name Pages 01 Women Unsafe in Kerala – Kerala Model being questioned 07-16 02 History of Women Movements 17-30 03 Gender Equality 31-34 04 Women Empowerment 35-38 05 Global Gender Equality Indices & Indicators 39-42 06 Social Institutions & Gender Index ( SIGI ) 43-48 07 Global Gender Gap Report 49-54 08 Women, Business & the Law (WBL) Report 55-70 09 Sex Surveys in Kerala/India – Morality exposed 71-74 10 World Happiness Report 75-80 11 Child Care Support 81-84 12 Kids/ School Education Revolution 85-104 13 Women Specific Legislation 105-116 14 Women in India 117-122 15 Women in Kerala 123-134 16 Women Property Rights 135-138 17 Sex Education in Schools 139-145 List of Tables 01 Major Crimes against women in Kerala 2010-17 6 02 Comments of 7 women leaders of Kerala 03 Kerala Women’s observations on men 04 Attack on travelling women 05 Men around the world support women’s rights except in India 06 Earnings Gap between women and men 07 Women and men working in different sectors 08 Time utilized in a day of 12 hours 09 SIGI Gender Gap variables 10 Women Discrimination based classification of countries 11 Country Score Card and selected contextual Data 12 Global Gender Gap