Briefly discuss various issues and measures for women and child welfare at National and International level.
Answers
The major problems faced by Women and Children are :-
1)Under nourishment
2)Malnutrition
3)Limited education
4)Lower socio-economic status
A brief discussion of these issues is given below:-
(i) Under nourishment
Under nourishment means the lack of sufficient calories in food. The lack of energy and nutrients make them prone to infectious diseases. In causes weakness and sickness also.Mainly the poor women and children are severely influenced by it. They are generally subjected to following ill-effects.
1)weakness and giddiness
2)lower working efficiency due to weakness
3)sickness at increased frequency
4)poor growth of children
5)social and mental disorders
6)mental retardation
(ii) Malnutrition
Malnutrition means lack of specific ingredients such as vitamins, proteins, minerals, etc. in the food. Pregnant women, nourishing mothers and children are more susceptible to malnutrition. It causes the following ill effects in women and children.
1)illness like anemia, goiter, pellagra, etc.
2)less weight of child at birth.
3)high rate of child mortality.
4)Miscarriages, maternal depletion, toxemia of pregnancy in pregnant women.
According to demographic data and estimates, the projections in the year 2002 for India are as follows;
Infant mortality rate = 68.
Life expectancy at birth(total life) = 633.
(iii) Limited education
The number of school going children is still far from satisfactory. Less than 50% reach to primary school. Also a substantial number of them than drop out at elementary level. The drop-out rate of girls is much higher than those of the boys. It is probably because the girls have to perform many household works also. The literacy rate of women and children to given below reveals more facts in this regard.
Literacy in the year 2001 at national level=65.38%
a. The literacy rate in males = 75.85%
b. the literacy rate in female =54.16%
(iv) Lower socio-economic status
The socio-economic status of women is generally lower than man in under-developed countries. This can be understood well by the fact that the number of school going boys at all levels of education is generally more than the number of girls. Also the grown up and adult women are depend in respect of social and economical decisions.
The lower socio-economic status of women and children can also be understood by the following status
a. Women labour force in the year 2001 = 90 million
b. Child labour force in the year 2001 = 11.28 million