India: Riding Coat Tails

INDIA

Riding Coattails

India recently released its 2018 Economic Survey outlining the success of the economic liberalization strategies that have effectively quadrupled the nation’s economy since 1991, making it the world’s third-largest economy behind China and the United States, the Washington Post reported.

But as India continues to experience rapid economic growth, the survey notes another troubling trend: Economic progress has yet to deliver on gender equality.

India is currently in what researchers have coined the “second stage” in the relationship between development and gender equality, meaning that while women may have made strides in joining the workforce and gaining more respect in public life, societal forces have sprung up to hinder further progress.

Hindu traditions of dowry, as well as women being excluded from inheritance rights, mean gender bias in India has economic roots, writes Business Standard – many families simply think they can’t afford to have girls.

The result is that selective abortion and premature death of girls due to neglect and even murder is still prevalent in Indian society, resulting in an estimated 63 million women “missing” from the population, the Guardian reported.

It’s why the nation’s birth ratio between girls and boys is even lower than it was a decade ago: Only 899 female births for every 1,000 boys.

Later on, societal factors continue to work against women – some local customs subject women to beatings and other penalties if they don’t pass a rudimentary virginity test on their wedding night, for example, Al Jazeera reported.

And almost 24 percent of women still report having been subjected to physical or sexual abuse in the past year, according to World Bank data cited by the Wire, a news website in India.

Strides have been made to level the playing field, the Wire reported: Data show that state-led efforts to promote female primary-school enrollment have significantly decreased the number of girls out of school to just a fraction of what it was in 1990.

Moreover, more niche gender identities in India have been officially recognized and protected, despite continued social stigmatization, the New York Times reported.

But women still lack equal access to basic social opportunities like proper health care and financial services, presenting a slew of challenges in finding organized work: They made up 24 percent of the labor force in 2016, compared to 36.3 percent 10 years prior, the Washington Post noted.

For its part, the 2018 Economic Survey admitted that India has work to do to tackle gender bias, which it states “is long-standing, probably going back millennia,” CNN reported.

In the meantime, women won’t be riding the coattails of India’s economic success story.