Identify the challenges to the unity of women's movement in India.
Answers
Answered by
12
Challenges for the Women’s Movement
[The 6th National Conference of AIPWA is to be held at Vijaywada on 8-9 February. As a curtain-raiser, we have an overview of the major issues and challenges facing the women’s movement in India today.]
All over the world – be it in the Arab Spring, in the movements against austerity measures all over Europe, in the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests in the US, or in struggles against corruption and corporate land grab in India –women have been at the forefront of a remarkable wave of people’s movements for democracy. In India, too, women are coming forward to assert their rights and demand equality. But ruling class policies, and regressive social forces, present a formidable challenge to women’s assertion. 
The Indian Government, led by the UPA in its second term, makes tall claims that two decades of liberalization have ‘empowered’ women. The facts on the ground present a very different – and shameful – reality.
Gender Biases and Discrimination
Sex Ratio
For women in India, discrimination begins in the womb and at birth. The latest census figures show that the number of girls in the 0-6 age-group has fallen to the lowest since Independence – a mere 914 girls for every 1000 boys. Governments at the State and Centre have been deliberately lax in implementation of the PC & PNDT Act (Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994) that bans sex-selective abortions.
Health and Survival
The Global Gender Gap Report 2011 shows that when it comes to women’s health and survival, India’s performance is at rock-bottom (at 134th place among 135 countries). India has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world. 57.9% pregnant women and 56.2% married women suffer from anaemia: clearly pointing to poverty, chronic malnutrition, and gender biases that affect the vast majority of Indian women.
The Government’s policies on food security and women’s health, far from urgently correcting this appalling situation, are only calculated to make women even more vulnerable. The Prime Minister recently described the findings of hunger and malnutrition report (HUNGaMA) as a “national shame” – but the policy direction of the Government does nothing to correct the shame. The Government’s proposed ‘food security bill’ mocks at the very idea of ‘food security.’ Under it, BPL numbers will be arbitrarily fixed by the centre. The Government is yet to withdraw its criteria of Rs 26/Rs 32 for poverty line, and has only reluctantly agreed to modify it slightly. The criteria for BPL identification are guaranteed to exclude a huge number of the poor. The Bill reduces the amount of food grain rations; and proposes a shift from food entitlements to cash transfers. The Bill also links the ration system to the highly controversial ‘Aadhaar’ scheme. The Government is yet to universalise the ICDS programme. In spite of a Supreme Court directive, the Government is yet to ensure sufficient fund coverage for ICDS. As a result, over 1 lakh anganwadis remain unoperational, while those that do operate often lack the most basic facilities. Now, the Government is talking of ‘restructuring’ the ICDS in keeping with World Bank recommendations, and is proposing to privatise the ICDS on a ‘PPP’ model. Such measures can only help food marketing companies prey on the malnutrition of women and children for profit. Similarly, the NRHM is also under-funded, with the ASHA workers, who provide crucial services in improving women’s health and survival, being paid a pittance of an ‘honorarium.’ 
Daily, lakhs of crores of rupees are being drained away to corporate coffers and Swiss bank accounts in the form of black money, corporate plunder and huge scams in which the Central Government’s top leaders are involved. Yet the Government, which is desperate to protect this corrupt system, claims to have inadequate funds to ensure food security and health for India’s poor, especially its women and children, who are living in conditions worse than those
[The 6th National Conference of AIPWA is to be held at Vijaywada on 8-9 February. As a curtain-raiser, we have an overview of the major issues and challenges facing the women’s movement in India today.]
All over the world – be it in the Arab Spring, in the movements against austerity measures all over Europe, in the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests in the US, or in struggles against corruption and corporate land grab in India –women have been at the forefront of a remarkable wave of people’s movements for democracy. In India, too, women are coming forward to assert their rights and demand equality. But ruling class policies, and regressive social forces, present a formidable challenge to women’s assertion. 
The Indian Government, led by the UPA in its second term, makes tall claims that two decades of liberalization have ‘empowered’ women. The facts on the ground present a very different – and shameful – reality.
Gender Biases and Discrimination
Sex Ratio
For women in India, discrimination begins in the womb and at birth. The latest census figures show that the number of girls in the 0-6 age-group has fallen to the lowest since Independence – a mere 914 girls for every 1000 boys. Governments at the State and Centre have been deliberately lax in implementation of the PC & PNDT Act (Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994) that bans sex-selective abortions.
Health and Survival
The Global Gender Gap Report 2011 shows that when it comes to women’s health and survival, India’s performance is at rock-bottom (at 134th place among 135 countries). India has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world. 57.9% pregnant women and 56.2% married women suffer from anaemia: clearly pointing to poverty, chronic malnutrition, and gender biases that affect the vast majority of Indian women.
The Government’s policies on food security and women’s health, far from urgently correcting this appalling situation, are only calculated to make women even more vulnerable. The Prime Minister recently described the findings of hunger and malnutrition report (HUNGaMA) as a “national shame” – but the policy direction of the Government does nothing to correct the shame. The Government’s proposed ‘food security bill’ mocks at the very idea of ‘food security.’ Under it, BPL numbers will be arbitrarily fixed by the centre. The Government is yet to withdraw its criteria of Rs 26/Rs 32 for poverty line, and has only reluctantly agreed to modify it slightly. The criteria for BPL identification are guaranteed to exclude a huge number of the poor. The Bill reduces the amount of food grain rations; and proposes a shift from food entitlements to cash transfers. The Bill also links the ration system to the highly controversial ‘Aadhaar’ scheme. The Government is yet to universalise the ICDS programme. In spite of a Supreme Court directive, the Government is yet to ensure sufficient fund coverage for ICDS. As a result, over 1 lakh anganwadis remain unoperational, while those that do operate often lack the most basic facilities. Now, the Government is talking of ‘restructuring’ the ICDS in keeping with World Bank recommendations, and is proposing to privatise the ICDS on a ‘PPP’ model. Such measures can only help food marketing companies prey on the malnutrition of women and children for profit. Similarly, the NRHM is also under-funded, with the ASHA workers, who provide crucial services in improving women’s health and survival, being paid a pittance of an ‘honorarium.’ 
Daily, lakhs of crores of rupees are being drained away to corporate coffers and Swiss bank accounts in the form of black money, corporate plunder and huge scams in which the Central Government’s top leaders are involved. Yet the Government, which is desperate to protect this corrupt system, claims to have inadequate funds to ensure food security and health for India’s poor, especially its women and children, who are living in conditions worse than those
Answered by
1
There are few women in leadership positions in India this limits their authority and power to serve the challenges facing women. Many women should be elected into leardeship positions to counter the challenges that our women are faced with. The initial under rating of the purpose of education; many women are still illiterate
Similar questions