India falling 21 ranks on Global Gender Gap index: Who will bachao the beti?
More women are employed in the informal sector, which has been hit by demonetisation and a sluggish economy.
One of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship campaign - Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao - has been all about the PM's sensitivity towards gender justice and making India great again for its daughters. PM Modi pushed the campaign in most spectacular fashion, and the scheme, under the ministry of women and child development, happens to be one of the most talked-about, worldwide.
Despite the hype and focus on PM Modi's pet scheme, here comes a sobering jolt: the country fell 21 places on the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Gender Gap index in a year. Even as the government was celebrating India's improved performance in the ease of doing business rankings, and while we were previously warned about India falling sharply in the Global Hunger Index, what's alarming is the drastic fall in the gender gap rankings inspite of PM Modi himself being a brand ambassador of pro-woman policies.
The rankings mean that as far as equality between men and women is concerned, India stands at the 108th position, behind countries such as China and Bangladesh. Last year, it stood at the 87th place.
The rankings are calculated on the basis of four parameters: health and survival, access to education, economic participation and political representation. While India's performance has never been heartening, a fall of 21 places is dismally sharp.
According to the WEF, India's greatest challenges lie in the economic participation and opportunity pillar, where the country is ranked 139. In the health and survival pillar, the country is ranked a worrying 141.
"On average, 66 per cent of women's work in India is unpaid, compared to 12 per cent of men's," the report said.
So how can we account for the steep fall in India's rankings in the space of one year? While it is too early to pin down specific reasons for the poor performance, some broad indicators stand out.
Economic slowdown
The Indian economy has been sluggish for a while now, with high inflation, no creation of jobs and falling growth.
According to a DailyO article, GDP growth was 7.9 per cent in April-June 2016, which fell to 6.1 per cent in January-March 2017, and further in April-June 2017 to 5.7 per cent. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) declined by 1.2 per cent in July 2017, down from 4.5 per cent in July 2016. The consumer price index inflation went up from 2.4 per cent in July 2017 to 3.4 per cent in August 2017.
On the other hand, in 2015-16, employment growth fell by 0.3 per cent in the rural sector, and by 1.3 per cent in the urban sector. In 2016, the unemployment rate stood at 7.97 per cent -- 7.15 per cent for rural India and 9.62 per cent for urban India.
A slow economy means fall in wages, freeze on new hirings, fewer promotions and smaller salary hikes. In India, men continue to remain the primary breadwinners, economically, socially and culturally. So when it is time to cut jobs or reduce salaries, women are more likely to take the hit than men.
Demonetisation
The "surgical strike on black money" has turned out to be such a sucker punch for the economy that its ill-effects are still being calculated. However, one thing abundantly clear is that its impact on the informal economy and the medium and small scale industries has been devastating.
As the government almost magically wiped off 86 per cent of the cash in the economy ecosystem, and started an aggressive, totally unannounced push for a digital economy, the cash-intensive smaller industries, especially those in rural areas, were left gasping.
To give just two examples, the Bhiwandi textile industry and the Solapur beedi industry have been in tatters ever since the demonetisation, due to the inability and lack of preparedness to switch to bank- and Internet-based transactions.
According to Sudeshna Sengupta of the Right to Food Campaign, only 1.8 million women - less than 10 per cent - work in the organised sector in India. As demonetisation crippled small businesses - cottage industries, handicraft industries, leather goods manufacturers - many of those who lost out on jobs and salaries are likely to have been women.
The new maternity leave regulations
On March 9 this year, Parliament passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which increased the paid maternity leave offered to women in the organised sector to 26 weeks, from the existing 12 weeks.
While the move has been applauded in many quarters, there is a possibility that it has deterred business houses from hiring women, or promoting them to positions of more responsibility.
Smaller businesses, such as start-ups, claim they can ill-afford to keep employees on their rolls with paid leaves for six months.
If this is indeed a factor, firms need to be sensitised about offering more equitable work atmospheres and not calculating employees' productivity solely in terms of numbers.
Health and education
India has long held a dismal record in terms of women's access to healthcare services. The Modi government, ever since it came to power, has pushed several schemes targeted to improve women's health, such as the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, and maternity benefits of Rs 6,000 to pregnant and lactating mothers. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative seeks to "ensure survival, protection and empowerment of the girl" through "coordinated and convergent efforts".
If health care and other indices are not improving despite targeted schemes, the government needs to examine their implementation.
Political representation
A lot can change at the policy level if women are adequately represented in legislative bodies. India ranks 15th on the WEF's list in terms of political empowerment.
"With more than 50 years having passed since the inauguration of the nation's first female prime minister in 1966, maintaining its global top 20 ranking on the political empowerment sub-index will require India to make progress on this dimension with a new generation of female political leadership," the report says.
While India's rank is fairly good, the ground reality is that the Women's Reservation Bill, 2008, for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies, remains lapsed, even though the Rajya Sabha passed it in 2010.
A study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union says that India ranks 149th in a list of 193 countries in terms of women's representation in the lower or single house of parliament as of July 1, 2017. The average percentage of women's representation globally is around 22 per cent, in India it is 11.8 per cent.
Poor performance globally
India is not the only country to fare badly on the Global Gender Gap index this year, the trend is global. This can be linked to the rise in Right-wing politics worldwide - the rise of the Right has been historically bad for women.
The society cannot develop as long as half of its people are subjugated and under-empowered. The WEF list is a reminder of how much more needs to be done to ensure a more gender equal society.