Allowing mother’s name in driving licence is not enough to end gender inequality
In a bid to reduce gender inequality, the Delhi's government’s transport department has decided to allow women to have their mother’s name on the driving licence from April onwards. Until now, woman applicants were required to provide either their father’s name, or husband’s.
The change follows a decision of the central government to effect similar provisions in applications for passports for female applicants. While the department feels it's a big step for those with a single parent or those who for some reason do not want to provide their father’s name in seeking such documents, the decision seems to belittle the sacred bond of fatherhood.
Also, such ornamental changes would actually work only if the status of the guardian, the mothers in this case, is strengthened in the first place. A female applicant aged 18 today, will have mothers - single or supported by a spouse - in the age group of 40-45. Most of these women in our country are still not self-reliant, except a few in advanced societies or cities and mostly dependent on their spouses or other earning members in the family.
Steps like these to bridge the gender gap is not enough. Much more is required to be done in this regard. The world economic forum (WEF), which first started measuring the global gender gap index (GGGI) in 2006, had placed India at number 87. In their 2017 report released in November last (in a 10-year span), India slipped 21 places to 108 (out of 144), behind neighbours China and Bangladesh, attributed primarily to the overall reducing participation of women in our economy.
Interestingly, smaller nations like Bangladesh that secured freedom much later than us are ranked at 47th position, with Sri Lanka just next to us at 109, and China having been ranked at the 100th. The Maldives too is listed two notches above us. Another major cause behind the centuries-old inequalities is comparatively lower wages for women for the same kind of work, belying the principle of "equal pay for equal work" in India (and most other nations as well). No wonder, women’s labour force participation in India stands at around 28 per cent, gradually reducing to below 20 per cent at higher echelons of jobs, skills and professional levels. The four pillars across which the GGGI findings of the WEF are based include - health, education, workplace and political representation. Our greatest challenges lie in the economic participation where we have been ranked 139 as well as in health where we are ranked 141 - almost the lowest in the entire spectrum of nations studied. "In India, the workplace gender gap is reinforced by extremely low participation of women in the economy (136 of the total 144 countries covered) and low wages for those who work (136th ranking for estimated earned income)," the WEF said, adding that “on average, 66 per cent of women’s work in India is unpaid, compared to 12 per cent of men’s”.
This unpaid work includes time spent on household chores, caring for family members and travel related to the household.
Recent advancements through the Right to Education, campaigns like "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao", supported by a growing number of NGOs and civil society groups besides a stricter monitoring of female foeticide are increasing the hope for a better future. In one positive news, as per the WEF study, we have succeeded in fully closing our primary and secondary education enrolment gender gaps for the second year in running. And for the first time have nearly closed our tertiary education gender gap.
However, we continue to rank fourth-lowest in the world on health and survival, remaining the world’s least-improved country on this sub-index over the past full decade. The findings in this report showed that an overall 68 per cent of the global gender gap had been closed. This is a slight deterioration from 2016 when the gap closed was 68.3 per cent. At the current rate of progress, the global gender gap will take 100 years to be bridged, compared to 83 last year. The case is worse in terms of workplace gender divide, which the report estimates will take 217 years to close.
However, a number of countries are bucking the dismal global trend as over one-half of all 144 countries measured this year have seen their score improve in the past 12 months. At the top of the Global Gender Gap Index is Iceland. The country has closed nearly 88 per cent of its gap. It has been the world’s most gender-equal country for nine years. Others in the top 10 include Norway (2nd), Finland (3rd), Rwanda (4) and Sweden (5), Nicaragua (6) and Slovenia (7), Ireland (8), New Zealand (9) and the Philippines (10). The only bright spot for India is political empowerment, where we are ranked 15, but to retain or improve upon this score, we need more women in political leadership. For, even on this parameter, women account for less than 20 per cent of all ministerial jobs and parliamentary seats.
Despite the fact that today the nation has a woman speaker in Parliament, a woman external affairs minister, a woman defence minister and a woman I&B minister (besides woman chief ministers and a president and prime minister of the country in the past), we cannot ignore the ground realities and gender inequality in all walks of life.
A handful of women in ministerial positions is not enough to bridge the gap. The overall condition of women at workplaces and homes need to improve drastically. Perhaps an early passage of the women's reservation bill should be the government's immediate priority. India has to catch up fast. We can ill-afford to leave our women behind. Some marginal changes in our laws are a must to hasten the pace to close this gap. This also includes providing better security to school-going girls, working women and women at home.
Until then, such symbolic announcements in the name of gender equality will remain just that - a token gesture.