Workplace Gender Discrimination Faced by

Proceedings of International Conference on Gender Equality
through the Strategy of Gender Mainstreaming, 6-7 September, 2018
Edited by
Dr. Sapna S.
Ms. Swati Sharma
Organized by
in collaboration with with support from

Proceedings of International Conference on
Gender Equality through the Strategy of Gender
Mainstreaming, 6-7 September, 2018
Edited by
Dr. Sapna S.
Ms. Swati Sharma
Organized by
in collaboration with with support from

Disclaimer:
The responsibility for opinions expressed, in articles, studies and other
contributions in this publication rests solely with their authors, and this
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in them.
Copyright © 2019 by Presidency University, Rajanukunte, Yelahanka,

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ISBN 978-93-5311-724-5
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Editors’ Note
When we started our travaux préparatoires for launching this International

Conference Proceedings, in a book form, we were happy to note many of our
colleagues sharing our interest, enthusiasm and ideas, and willing to participate on
the board of editors. Thanks to excellent cooperation within the board it has been
possible to realize our plans. In the same vein we would like to express our
gratitude to our Hon’ble Chancellor for his support to publish this Review and to
the Pro-Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor for their guidance throughout. The Pro
Vice Chancellor for assisting us in numerous ways and for having initiated the UN
collaboration which was the starting point of this Conference.
The Conference had an Advisory Board consisting of eminent experts in the field
of gender who responded with enthusiasm and were willing to invest some of their
precious time in the Journey.
The Book has made a serious attempt to initiate discussion of the most important
and relevant gender issues through a rigorous scholarship selection and editing
process.
Editors
Dr. Sapna S.
Ms. Swati Sharma
Table of Contents
Page
SN Conference papers
no.
Integration of Ethnic Fashion and Entrepreneurship for Economic

Empowerment of Kuki Women
1 1
Hoipi Haokip
Role of Women in Unorganized Sector: A Study on Paddy Labours of

Kuttanadu, Alappuzha District, Kerala
2 24
Bindu M. V.
Educating High School Children about Gender Equality for Better

Sustainability and Future
3 35
Chandrakala B.
Gender Security and Smart Cities in India

4 48
Sulaiman KM and Nivedita Roy
Climate & Sustainability Challenge for Tribes in India

5 58
Santosh Bharti
Gender Equality: Need of Women Protection: A study on Role of SHE

Teams in Hyderabad
6 64
Shailaja P.
Indian Society at Crossroads in Handling Sexual Assault

7 75
Sumana B. and Srinivas M.
Life Skills Initiatives are Effective Tools to Achieve Women’s

Empowerment
8 83
Annapoorni S., Julian Joseph, Shankar A. G. and Chakraborti
Shaonli
Effectiveness of Gender Budget of Jharkhand as a Tool of Gender

Mainstreaming
9 107
Neha Prasad
Gender and Decentralisation: A Study of Women’s Empowerment in

Myanmar
10 122
Priyanca Mathur Velath
Violence Against Women And Masculinities: Indian Perspective
11 136
Sujata Chavan
Interventions in Community Development partnering with a business

consortium: Analyzing the Prospects of 20/20 Project at
12 Kizhakambalam 149
Rose Thomas
Gender Equality and Education for Sustainable Development

13 162
Elsheba Saly Raju
Gender Equality in Librarianship: a study of Indian scenario

14 190
S. Vijayakumar and K. N. Sheshadri
Technology Mediated Violence against Women in Bangladesh: Evidence

from Contemporary literature
15 198
Md. Mamunur Rashid Sheikh
Workplace Gender Discrimination Faced by Female Extension Workers

in a Government Organization in Southern Bangladesh
16 222
MD. Mamun-Ur-Rashid
Integration of Ethnic Fashion and Entrepreneurship for
Economic Empowerment of Kuki Women
Hoipi Haokip
Assistant Professor, Department of History, Y K College
Abstract
The Kukis are one of the main tribal ethnic groups inhabiting the hills of Manipur state in
north east India. The rich, vibrant culture and historicity of Kuki women’s active economic
participation is visible through their active role in agriculture, weaving and craft as well as
in trade and marketing. Since weaving and handloom sectors has always been the domain
of women’s income generating source , ethnic fashion has the potential to capture the
globalized fashion market and thus enhance the economic empowerment of women whilst
boosting the economy of the state too. As such Manipur has tremendous scope for the growth
of fashion industry in the state since traditional motifs could be transformed into globally
attractive designs for promoting women’s path towards achievement of empowerment.
Unfortunately much of the women engage in these economic activities are unable to grapple
with the fast changing fashion technology and the changing scenario of digitalise marketing
system that has swept worldwide due to their lack of entrepreneur skill and know how.
Therefore this paper is an attempt to focus and explore the developmental possibilities to
integrate ethnic fashion globally as a mechanism for women’s entrepreneurship and
economic empowerment.
Keywords: Kuki women; Ethnic fashion; Entrepreneurship; Economic

empowerment.
1. Introduction
In Manipur as in all north eastern state, next to agriculture, handloom and

handicraft industry is one of the principal sector in which large number of employment
opportunities can be created for women and hence pave the way for economic
empowerment. Women of Manipur irrespective of communities have been known for
their skill and ability to create wonderful designs with the warp and the weft whether
threads (both cotton and silk). Weaving industry in Manipur is not just an economic
activity as there is a concomitant relationship between its origin as an industry and the
cultural demands of the society. The industry is self-sustained as there is sustained
need for customs by different clans to mark their distinct identity and for various
secular and religious occasions.
Proceedings of International Conference on Gender Equality through the Strategy of Gender Mainstreaming
1|Page
But that skill has been withering in the wake of the growing market oriented
economic activities, paradoxically for want of markets in the fast developing new
economics of digital. The existence of women market in every district and villages not
to mention the Khwairamband market (Ima Market), the only women market for
women and by women illustrates the immense economic role of women in the state.
Besides trading, weaving is the secondary source for most rural women to generate
their livelihood incomes. A large segment of women in the market are involved in the
handloom sector, either as weavers, sellers and traders. Every market in different parts
of the districts has a stall where women sell multi-color ethnic cloths.
Since the Fourth World Women Conference, held at Beijing in Sept, 1995 the
necessity of empowering women particularly from the viewpoint of a global strategy
(mainstreaming) has become the highlight of the current global discourse, however for
the Kuki women residing in North east India, and in Manipur, the word empowerment
is still elusive. For a society which is still regulated by the customary law, the United
Nations (2001) definition of women’s empowerment in terms of five components.
“women’s sense of self-worth; their right to have and determine choices; their rights
to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have power to control their
own lives both inside and outside home; and their ability to influence the direction of
social changes to create a more just and social and economic order, nationally and
internationally is yet to be achieved. Paradoxically despite their marginalization
economically and politically Kuki women are the main economic sustainers of the
family substantiating to the economy of the family. According to Anne Marie Golla
(et.al.) a woman is economically empowered when she has both the ability to succeed
and advance economically and the power to make and act on economic decisions, to
succeed and advance economically, woman need the skills and resources to compete
in markets, to make and act on decisions as well as fair and equal access to economic
institutions including the power and agency to benefit from economic activities,
women need to have the ability to make and act on decisions and control resources
and profits. Taking the parameters set out by Golla’s description of economic
empowerment, the paper attempts to examine how incorporation of ethnic fashion
cold pave be access as a medium for economic empowerment of the Kuki women. As
economically empowered women it would eventually pave the way for their
emancipation and upheld the Women’s Empowerment Principles, a partnership
initiative of UN Women and UN Global Compact (UNGC). Given the rich potential
2|Page
and contributions of women in handloom industry, the Department of textiles,
commerce and Industries, Government have Manipur have taken numerous initiatives
and measures to impart, train, enhance and developed, the handloom sector and due
to the initiatives undertaken by the Government of the Kuki women have benefitted in
garnering skill in weaving using shuttle and Burmese loom. The past few decades in
Manipur has witness the growth of handloom industry among the Kuki-Chin-Zomi
group of people and as such this paper attempts to explore the developmental
possibilities to integrate ethnic fashion globally as a mechanism for women’s economic
empowerment.
2. The Kukis
The Kukis are one of the native ethnic communities of Manipur residing in the
surrounding hill areas of Manipur. Kuki is a generic term applied to the various sub-
tribes, viz., Thadou, Paite, Hmar, Simte, Zou, Gangte, Vaiphei, Guite, Ralte, Sukte, etc
. Despite division into various tribes and sub tribes, the Kukis have no language
barriers and are able to communicate in their respective dialects, or use one of the
dialects of any tribe within the Kuki nomenclature. The appellation ‘Kuki’ is
synonymous to Chin in Myanmar and Mizo in Mizoram, thus the term Kuki- Chin-
Zomi( Mizo)) is often use to encompass those section of people within the fold of Kuki
nomenclature or vice versa. They are found residing in Myanmar’s Chindwin valley,
Chin Hills State and Arrakan State on the Myanmar side; Manipur, Mizoram, Lower
Assam, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya on the Indian side; and Chittagong Hill
Tract and Sylhet District of Bangladesh. Thus, encompassing a geographical region
between 18⁰N and 25⁰30’N Latitudes and 90⁰ 30’E Longitudes. However, the focus of
this paper is limited to cover those of the Kukis in Manipur. The Kukis of Manipur
mostly inhabit districts of Churachandpur, Chandel, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal and
some portions of Tamenglong, and Ukhrul districts.
3. Brief background of weaving among the Kukis
Traditionally weaving among all women in North east India is part of a

necessary skill imparted to women at a young age. The traditional ethnic fabrics are
narratives which narrates their history, cultural identity and social structures.
Weaving in a Kuki society is a gendered activity and hence every Kuki women is an
expert weaver, as such every household has a traditional loom, since it was the duty of
3|Page
the women to weave all the basic clothing amenities required in the family. The
inclusion of weaving loom as part of her traditional dowry embodies the import of
weaving as primary qualifications for eligibility to marriage. A woman highly skill in
weaving was consequently the first choice for selecting a bride. The traditional weaving
loom commonly used is a simple tension loom. Fabrics of the Kuki’s are called
Puan/pon and each tribe within the Kuki nomenclature has distinct ethnic motif to
identify their tribes, occasionally similar patterns with minor variations are also
commonly worn by the different sub tribes. The embroidered motifs are varied and are
one of the most beautiful rare art works. The traditional attire was worn to manifest
the status of warriors as well as for utilitarian purposes. The Kukis take pride in their
colourful ethnic wear and as such they are quite possessive of the designs which they
create on their traditional textiles. Cloths with similar patterns are claimed by different
tribes as their own, supported by their respective prevalent myths. At times, the same
design is interpreted differently by different tribes, connecting their creations to their
oral traditions, It was compulsory for a girl to weave at least one puandum/pondum
(dark black cloth) among other things that she might carry at the time of her wedding,
if not; she must weave it as soon as she gets married. The sacred cloth is used to cover
the dead body of her husband if he meets death during her lifetime. In fact if , due to
very unusual circumstances, she failed to carry it thus, it was considered her prime
duty to weave one soon after going to her in-laws; place, as failure to have at least one
puandum/pondum by her was looked upon as highly disgraceful. Puandum/pondum
also has great significance during the divorce settlement and when a woman dies too.
Traditionally only cotton yarn was used but around 1950, the staple yarn was
imported into Manipur and the tribal people began to use it as well. During 1960-70,
four-ply acrylic wool was brought in. This four-ply wool was split laboriously into one-
or two-ply wool for weaving. Then, around 1980, one- and two-ply wool was
introduced and the hill people also began to use these wool yarns to weave cloths
conveniently in assorted colours. With the influx and availability of staple yarns in
assorted colours the traditional practice of dyeing with indigenous dye from herbs and
barks of common type of mordant became extinct. Myriad textile designs of different
hues depending upon the tribes within the Kuki nomenclatures has made it a rare
masterpiece of art that has evolved from living in close proximity with nature and are
symbolic manifestation of their environment. These motifs or designs document
visually some aspects of oral literature which was an educational vehicle for youths in
4|Page
the past and still, to some extent today consists of fables, folk tales, legends, youths
and proverbs and in some way are similar with the representations found among the
Africans. Mythical folklores are intricately tessellated into colourful patterns and as
such weaving was regarded as sacred and hence possess the spirit of the weaver,
conspicuously Kukis seldom sell their clothes as it was the belief that the soul of the
owner or wearer possess the object; to sell it would mean to sell a piece of the owner's
soul. Therefore a lot of taboos are associated with their weaving; and it was common
to sacrifice an animal on the completion of a fabric. Thus, the Thang Suah( famous)
and Thangnang pon can be worn only by couple who has perform the Sa-Aih, Chang
Aih/Tang Aih and the Chon/Tuan rites. Ethnic cloths of the Kukis have deep cultural
and sociological connotations and their motifs are full of allegorical meanings,
therefore among the Kukis puan/poan continues to play a key facet in the socio-
cultural life of the Kukis. On the occasion of marriage, death ceremony, social
festivities etc. ethnic clothes are exchange and presented as the occasion requires,
fundamentally, the corpse is generally covered with a traditional shawl and buried
along with it too; hence clothes for the Kukis’ have deep sociological as well as aesthetic
meanings.
4. A brief glance of their ethnic attire
The main items of clothes traditionally woven are shawls, wrap-around skirt for
women known as Puan veh, kilt loin cloth for men, pouch, pugree and scarf/muffler.
Originally puanve was worn from bust to calf length, later it was worn from waist to
calf length and today it extends up to the ankle from waist down. Most of the tribal
textiles have colourful weft woven designs. They also weave extra warp designs which
are of two kinds: (a) Decorative and (b) Ordinary.
The traditional mode of wearing is classified under working clothes, occasional

dresses, clothes worn by meritorious men and women who have perform feasts of
honour such as Sa-Ai, Chang- Ai and night clothes. Some of the varieties of ethnic
attires of the Kukis are:
a. Puanduam/ Pondum- Puandum stands for a dark black cloth puan/poan meaning
cloth and dum meaning dark navy blue or black. It has a deep cultural significance
and it is indeed one of those few traditional puan/pon which retains its hallow
meaning to a very large extend till today. It assumes different names according to
the purpose for which it is mainly used and hence when it is used to cover the death
5|Page
it is called si tuampuon(si-die, tuam-cover, puan-cloth) and when gifted as a token
of love or appreciation to a lover as zawl puan and as Lutom and Laisui as bride
price Generally woven in black background with red, yellow and green combination
with laikaih of Siallu tun ( mithun’s head kept upside down). Puandum is further
classify under different sub tribes such as:
1. Gangte Puandum, 2. Hmar puandum, 3. Paite puandum, 4. Simte puandum,
5. Vaiphei Puandum, 6. Zou punduam and 7. Thadou Puandum.
Fig 1: Gangte Puandum Fig 2: Hmar Puandum
Fig 3: Vaiphei Puandum Fig 4: Thadou Puandum
Fig 5: Paite Puandum Fig 6: Zou Paundum
6|Page
b. Puanlaisan/ ponlaison: there are various
sets of designs and colour combinations of
Puanlaisan. However the puanlaisan
which literally means red in the middle
(puan- cloth lai- middle- san- red) is a
colourful and vibrant puanve
predominantly of red strips in different
shades, combined flawlessly with green,
yellow, blue band horizontally and a broad
back band passing vertically. It is Fig 7: Puanlaisan Puanve
embroidered with dihsul and lengbuangthuam pattern.
c. Ngotekherh: Ngote in Mizo language

refers to a pet name for a little boy or girl
and kherh is synonymous with hruih
which means transverse stripes on
cloths. The cloth can be worn commonly
either by both men and women. It came
to be called Ngotehkerh in view of its
daintiness and newly evolved designs.
This puan/pon is woven on white Fig 8: Ngotehkerh Puanve
background with two black band borders about four to five inches broad woven on
the edges running horizontally. The weaving of the borders, stripes and wooden
bars are characterised by the distinctive features where the white woof is delicately
hidden under the black warp.
d. Tawlhoh puan: Tawlhoh in Mizo means

‘to stand firm’: and not to change
position: not to move backward. Over
time the original pattern of the Tawlhoh
puan was no longer woven and it began
to assume a more generic meaning for
puans with black background and series
of red and white stripes, some of which
are bordered with thin yellow lines. Fig 9: Tawlhoh Puan
7|Page
e. Vaiphei Khiang kawi: It is a combination of white and red, Vertically red and
black are used for Laikaih ( zig zag patterns)
Fig 10: KhiangKawi Shawl Fig 11: Khiang kawi Puanve
f. Puanroupui/ Puanthupi: meaning

‘grand cloth.’ It may have been so
name because of the overall gorgeous
effect of the overall design. On a red
and black background broad bands of
horizontal, the multi-colour diamond
shape on the black band are woven in
red, yellow and green, On the red band
Khiangkawi( zig zag) is wefted in
green, blue, red and yellow colours. Fig 12: Puan Roupui
g. Seniar pah/ senior pah: The term “siniar” may have been an improvisation of the
term senior which was worn only by senior women and not young girls when it first
came into vogue. Traditionally the seniar pah is woven on a navy blue black
background with a single line of bold diamond across the entire puan horizontally
about nine inches from the lower edge. It is characterise by diamond shape pattern
in all its varieties butterflies and Kikau( zig zag) about nine inches from the lower
edge. However today the senior pah have undergone various modifications yet the
diamond shape and Kikau motifs represents Seniar pah.
8|Page
Fig 13: Traditional Seniar Pah Puanve Fig 14: Modify Seniiar Pah Puanve
h. Aksi pak/arsi pak: Aksi or Arsi means star,

therefore Aksi/ Arsi pak stands for flower
stars. or Small white flowers covering the
entire lower half of the puanve embroidered in
white, which appears somewhat like stars
against the dark blue background. Although a
recent design it is more or less a puanve which
is worn for its aesthetic beauty. Fig 15: Aksi pak puanve
i. Khamtang Puanve: A puanve exclusively

worn by the woman, its motifs have
allegorical representation and are belief to
have been copied from the markings of the
python god. Traditionally woven in black
with the main motifs woven in yellow on the
outer part and red colour running in the
centre to resemble the python, the white
diamond shape is changmaimu ( cucumber Fig 16: Khamtang Poanve
seed) ,the main motif is usually encase in gosemjang (gourd reed) motif.
j. Saipikhup: Literally Saipikhup ( Saipi- elephant and khup-Knee) means elephants

knee. The motif is copied from the knee of the elephant and hence so name.
Traditionally woven on black background and normally worn as a shawl. It is
distinctively categories into pusal (male) and numei (female)Saipikhup. The
distinction between the pusal( male) saipikhup and numei (female) saipkhup is that
the pasal saipikhup besides the motifs of the saipikhup(elephant's knee), the
9|Page
changmaimu (cucumber seed), sumtung (pestle) is intricately wefted whereas the
numei saipikhup has only saipikhup and changmaimu motifs , the sumtung (pestle)
is absent , moreover the saipikhup motif is woven very boldly in the pusal saipkhup
unlike the numei saipikhup which is more fine and delicately woven.
Fig 17: Pusal saipikhup shawl Fig 18: Numei saipikhup
k. Mangvom Puan: mang meaning border

and vom meaning black. Traditionally a
white shawl with black border band with
gosemjang motif. It is worn commonly
among both male and female.
Fig 19: Mangvom shawl
l. Thangnang Puan: a shawl woven on a

black background with Goshemjang,
diamond shape motif resembling to some
version that of a python while another
version that of the tree insect. Traditionally
woven as a shawl, but today is also wove as
a puanve.
Fig 20. Thang Nang
10 | P a g e
m. Thangsuah puan: Thangsuah Puan is highly
sacrosanct and can only be worn by individuals
who had successfully performed meritorious feats
such as Sa- Ai, Chang-Ai and lastly Chon /Tawn
(religious rites). There are Hmar Thangsuoh
puan, Gangte Thangsuoh puan and Vaiphei
Thangsuah puan.
Fig 21: Vaiphei Thangsuah Puan
5. Government initiative in promoting handloom industry
It was in the year 1975 that the Weavers Centre Service was established to cater
the needs of the weaver. Through the imitative of the WSC large sections of women in
the valley and the hills were imparted training to divert them from loin loom to shuttle
loom and technological upgradation from shuttle loom. As per National Handloom
Census Report published in 2010, among the districts of Manipur, Churachandpur
ranks third in terms of weavers, number of looms, and consumption of yarns and
production of cloth per month. The table given below illustrates potential for
promoting ethnic fashion as a medium for entrepreneurship among Kuki women and
for achieving economic empowerment at the same time leading to their emancipation.
Production of
Consumption
Sl. No. of No. of cloth per
District Name of yarn per
No. Weavers Looms month (in
month (in Kg
metre)
Imphal( East&
1 91820 68273 5,01,936.10 44,26,402.00
West)
2 Thoubal 37835 26586 1,60,334.50 19,33,600.00
3 Bishnupur 53069 31420 1,86,294.70 13,25,974.00
4 Churachandpur 39294 43847 56,502.10 3,61,953.60
5 Ukhrul 24233 22629 23,567.00 1,98,933.50
6 Tamenglong 35577 36918 1,02,953.80 2,29,434.30
7 Senapati 44250 35443 12,763.80 92,901.12
8 Chandel 13554 11639 20,209.70 71,615.00
TOTAL 339632 276755 10,70,557.00 86,40,814.00
Source: Gupta (2010) and http://investinmanipur.nic.in/handloom.htm
11 | P a g e
Handloom production activities are undertaken by three government
organizations: viz.
1. Manipur Development Society(MDS)

2. Manipur Handloom and Handicraft Development Cooperation( MHHDC)
3. Manipur State Handloom weavers Co-operative( MSHWCS)
The contribution of women weavers in Manipur saw the emergence of the

Handloom industry as the largest cottage industry in the state. Ranking among the
top 5 states in terms of number of looms in the country with 40 active handloom
production centres in 2014-15, around US $0.06 million was allocated towards the
development of the handloom sector of the state. The amount was allocated under
various schemes of the National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP). To
facilitate handloom weavers to meet the challenges of a globalize environment, the
State Government initiated a flexible and holistic cluster in handloom sector. National
Handloom Development Programme was newly introduced in 2015-16 by merging all
other general schemes, to promote the handloom industry. To promote handloom
industry the Directorate of Handloom & Textiles, Department of Textiles, Commerce
& Industry have undertaken to take up various initiatives such as: Handloom &
Handicraft delivery scheme, Revival of Manipur Spinning mill, Revival of grievances
redressal cells for weavers and artisans, Manipur dyeing institute, market promotion,
welfare schemes, Cluster development programme, Implementation of policy, with
this view , the state Government is planning to achieve the Vision of Hon’ble prime
Minister of India for daily earning of Rs. 1000 by a weaver and artisans in 2022.
6. Emerging trends of ethnic fashion and entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is an economic activity which is undertaken by an individual

or group of individuals. Entrepreneurship can be defined as the making of a new
combination of already existing materials and forces; that entrepreneurship throws up
as innovations, as opposed to inventions and that no one is entrepreneur forever, only
when he or she is actually doing the activity. Women entrepreneurs are represented
by those groups of women who have broken from the beaten tracks and are exploring
new vistas of economic participation.
As per the definition of the Government of India women entrepreneur is based

on women participation in equity and employment of a business enterprise.
12 | P a g e
Accordingly, a women entrepreneur is defined as "an enterprise owned and controlled
by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51 percent of the capital and giving
at least 51 percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women,
meanwhile a woman entrepreneur is a person who is an enterprising individual with
an eye for opportunities and an uncanny vision, commercial acumen, with tremendous
perseverance and above all a person who is willing to take risks with the unknown
because of the adventurous spirit she possesses. Going by these definitions Kuki
women are innate entrepreneurs who have an aptitude of picking up new modes of
business and establishing it to generate income. Although traditionally weaving was
not considered as a medium of economic activities among the Kukis, today it has
emerged as one of the most lucrative economic enterprise. Some of the Kuki women
have begun combining the factors of production and undertaking risks and economic
uncertainty involved in opening weaving enterprises.
One of the forerunners among Kuki women who have contributed towards
developing the traditional Kuki textiles to a broader and wider spectrum over the
decades are:
a. Mrs. Manneikhol Vaiphei Haokip presently residing in B. Aijalon Village,

Churachandpur district. Having received a formal weaving training at Banaras, she
decided to experiment in weaving the traditional ethnic clothes by using the shuttle
loom. It was an enormous task in those days, since it was a new project to produce
ethnic clothes with the aid of shuttle loom. But undeterred, she with the assistance
of her family members bought a shuttle loom and began experimenting weaving
the intricate ethnic patterns on the shuttle loom. Therefore, she organised a group
of women skill in weaving to form a Cooperative Society and under her supervision
and entrepreneurship, the Bijang Area
Handloom Co-operative Society was
established and registered under the
Cooperative Society Act in 1984. She breaks
new ground in the art of weaving by
employing shuttle loom in weaving ethnic
clothes among the Kukis and set the trends
for the younger generations. She also
13 | P a g e
imparted among the women the benefits of cooperative societies for establishing
weaving enterprises in Churachandpur districts.
b. She reminisced with fond memories how one of her sister an expert tension loom
weaver assisted in designing the patterns and choosing the colours to be woven on
the shuttle loom. Initially the society met with lots of hurdles but eventually they
overcame and gain popularity among the Kukis who preferred loin woven clothes.
She narrates, ‘in the early years we initially wove, Khamtang, Saipikhup and
Mangvom designs in the open courtyards of my house with not much expertise but
arm with only our enthusiasm, I had to train these women so that the fabrics
woven were as excellent as those woven from the loin looms. An immense hard
work was required since the motifs were very intricate and needed much skill to
retain the traditional designs. But these days we wove only Vaiphei motifs viz.
Vaiphei Puandum, Thangsuoh and Khikau etc. since many upcoming new weaving
centres have come up by the girls train by our centre and by the government’. The
Society have a showroom attached to the weaving centre and do not sell their
products in the markets but only wove specific orders demanded by Church
organisations, marriage parties or other related social functions. For her tireless
efforts the DIC funded in constructing the weaving shed and today there are around
24 shuttle looms in which girls are trained and paid accordingly. Most of the
weavers who came for training are mainly from poor family with minimum
educational qualification, widows and orphans. Her weaving centre has generated
income for many poor girls and widows to maintain their family. For her
achievements she was awarded the National Handloom Weaving, Bronze Awards,
from the Ministry of Textile and Handloom Commission, in 1995 at New Delhi.
c. Following in her lead after a decade is another woman by the name of Mrs.
Neikhochong Haokip Kipgen, a young enterprising woman of 35 years, who
candidly set up a weaving centre with no assistance or funds from any sources but
through her own earnings. An orphan with only high school qualifications, having
acquired skill of weaving on the loin loom and a flair for colour combinations and
new patterns, she dreamt of setting up her own handloom and weaving centre. So,
after completing elementary and advanced course in weaving on fly shuttle loom
from DIC weaving centre, Churachandpur district she embarks on a journey of
setting up a weaving industry. She narrated “I would untiringly weave at the
14 | P a g e
training centre during the day time and at night on tension looms so I could save
enough to buy a loom of my own’. Her hard work finally paid off and she bought
her first shuttle loom in 2008 which cost Rs. 18000, later in 2011 she then bought
five more looms from the financial loans
sanction by Canara Bank. Today she had
successfully installed 28 fly shuttle looms in
her make shift weaving centre sheds registered
as M/S NKC Handloom under MSME-
Development Institute, Takyelpat Industrial
park, and even had a training centre set up at
Tronglaobi, which lies in between the border of Bishnupur and Churachandpur
district with four looms. Her dedication towards the upliftment of women in skill
development led to government recognition and a new handloom work shed was
inaugurated under the sponsor of Directorate of Handloom & Textiles, Govt. of
Manipur. Her products are exquisite master piece of ethnic designs. After weaving
shawls and puanves( wrappers) she first dabble in producing ethnic neck ties with
Mangvom designs. She began to show case her style during the State Kut festivals
beauty pageant show, her innovative use of different motifs to create a new design
without losing the original patterns created a demand for her products . Presently
her centre weaves all kinds of ethnic attires such as frocks, bags, bow ties, coats and
vests alongside producing shawls and punves by interactive fusion of different
ethnic motifs to create a new set of styles such as Ashi- Khamtang puanve, Numei
Saipikhup puanve, new colourful motifs are also blended to create a new style of
Kamtang puanve Etc. She is the first to blend ethnic motifs in western/ Christian
wedding dress. She has participated in numerous national fairs and exhibitions.
Today she is one of the leading entrepreneurs in Churachandpur district. Having
participated in numerous handloom fairs and exhibitions in the national level, her
products have acquired a name for its exquisite workmanship among all handloom
weavings. Her products are sold in the local markets and in some outlets in Imphal
and at Manipur Emporium House in the state and in Delhi. Beside imparting
training, her handloom centre has generated income for many women weavers ,
where they could earn as much as Rs. 400 to Rs. 900 in a day depending on the
complexity of the designs and the nimbleness of the weavers in finishing the
weaving, which are paid weekly.
15 | P a g e
d. L. T. (Roslyn) Khongsai, Fashion Design Graduate, NIFT, New Delhi is another
upcoming women designer with her own brand name of ethnic collections. She has
created a whole range of contemporary ethnic style of clothing under her brand
name Roselyn Khongsai. She first made her debut by designing an ethnic neck tie
of Thangnang motif, on request by the KSO (Kuki Student Organisation) which was
not in vogue yet in 2009. She launches her new design with the aid of CAFD, she
remarked although ‘I was not satisfied with the result since it could not capture the
intricate designs of the Vaphol mit (owl eyes) in the Thangnang motifs
authentically as traditional weaving does and the vibrancy and intensity of the
colours was lacking’, overall it met with approval among the local people.
Consequently she remarked, it ignited in me a passion to launch my own brand of
ethnic wear on modern lines which would be easily assessable and affordable for
all women and men alike’. Until then ethnic designs were merely showcase for Kut
festivals beauty pageant shows and were either loin-woven or woven on shuttle
looms, which when tailored for modern daily attires lacks the élan of modern
trendy wears. Besides loin woven clothes were expensive and cumbersome to wear,
so she crafted a style of clothing range which can meet the modern day
requirements with a touch of ethnicity.
e. Her acumen and business profiles associated in working with leading International
and national brands enable her to craft the ethnic designs on a new level of
seamless ethnic fashion. She is the first among the Kukis to launch ethnic design
using CAFD and digital computer graphics
accessories to her line of ethnic
collections. Her boutique formally launch
on March 2018 at Chingmeirong, Imphal
west have created a new sensation in
ethnic designs ranging from trendy
modern wears to accessoriestasselled with
ethnic patterns for men and women alike
showcasing her fashionable flairs.
7. Concluding remarks
Clothes were mostly woven by women of the family for their personal needs and
were rarely woven for sale in the market. The introduction of girl’s education and
16 | P a g e
gradual modernisation of the Kukis saw the declining technique of weaving. On the
flip side ethnic attire came to be woven for sale hence it emerge as an alternative
source for generating income for women in the rural areas besides agricultural
activities. Thus in most household in the villages, a woman skill in weaving could earn
a substantial amount of cash for maintaining the family. The establishment of the state
handloom and handicrafts industry also spur the demand for these artistic fabrics.
Given the fast growing trend of handloom industry in the state in recent years; the
prospect of budding women entrepreneur is immense which is accentuated by weaving
being the exclusive monopoly of women. Ironically, despite this exclusivity held by
women their economic status remains stagnant as traditional traders and suppliers of
handloom goods. They have not been able to accentuate their entrepreneur skill in the
national and international level. Given the rich cultural heritage these rich untapped
resources of colourful handloom designs and appliqué works have been left
unexplored in the fashion industry. Since most of the weavers are in rural areas, there
is a wide gap between the weavers and the global market industry. Kuki women
weaver’s need to be inculcated innovative entrepreneur skill and motivations to keep
up with the globalized market trends. Given the unpredictability of the fashion world
they need to be educated about the ever changing competitive fashion trends so that
they could keep up with the national and international markets without losing the
traditional rich and exquisite textile themes that made ethnic designs a unique feature.
These rich untapped resources of colourful motifs works have been left unexplored due
to certain difficulties that hamper the full potential growth of Kuki women in the
fashion industry. There is a need to empower these rural weavers to take up initiatives
in spurring up their entrepreneur skill.
The main obstacles the entrepreneurs face are:
 Shortage of good quality yarns: shortage of good quality yarns, Roselyn Khongsai
commented “unavailability of good quality yarns in different shades in bulk in the
market hampers me in ordering my designs in different shades from the weavers.
If I could get my pick of good quality yarns in different shades then I could enhance
my designs more creatively.” Meanwhile the same difficulty is face by Mrs.
Neikhochong Kipgen, quip “even though the DIC supply yarns at a low cost of Rs.
390, its only 15 kg which is not sufficient for my weaving industries, therefore I
normally purchase from the market at a higher rate of Rs. 450 since it is very
17 | P a g e
inconvenient for a married woman with small children and running a weaving
industries to travel all the way to Imphal for only 10 kg of yarns, if I could procure
the yarns here in Churachandpur it would be indeed beneficial.” Some of the
apparels lack quality and finesse due to lack of good quality yarns in Manipur.
 Inability to adapt use of new technology: There is also inability to adapt to new
technology among the entrepreneurs which hampers in producing finer products
for global markets. According to Mrs Neikhochong , ‘I have to take the assistance
of the expert technical help in installing my loom as ethnic designs of the Kukis are
complex and it requires different intricate tools to weave the fabrics so as to retain
the originality of the motifs’. Meanwhile Ms Roselyn Khongsai remarks that ‘I had
to order from other state the designs and sometimes these designs do not turn out
as I want it or to the consumer’s satisfaction.’ Then again as most of these local
entrepreneurs have neither the skill nor knowledge to advertise their products in
online markets their popularity and exposure is diminish, lack of new technology
to weave these intricate motifs suitably to retain their originality have also
hampered the growth for wider markets.
 Shortage of skill weaver: Despite the Governments initiative there is still lack of
skill weavers in fly shuttle loom and this is another constraint face by the
entrepreneur since most of the Kukis depends on loin weaving and only few have
mastered the skill. Therefore often the handloom centres face shortage of skill
weavers. Mrs. Mangneikhol meanwhile remarks, ‘when due to sudden problems
such as marriage, child birth etc., the skill weavers decided to quit, it is a great
inconvenience for the handloom industry since I have to find new weavers skill in
the shuttle loom which is not often so and hence a few months is wasted in training
new weavers in mastering the skill, which is a huge set back in production.’
 Lack of professionalism: weaving among the Kukis’ is not regarded as a profession,
it is merely regarded as a secondary option, Mrs. Mangneikhol retorts humorously,
‘most of the girls who came for weaving training are mainly high school dropouts
and hence there is lack of commitment among them to excel. Only in rare case few
girls genuinely interested in acquiring the skill came for training and it is this few
girls that eventually set up their own weaving centres, but for the main majority of
girls who came for training, it is more out of desperation to earn and not for
profession. Therefore weaving is undertaken only when the women have their
spare time, so accordingly flexible time have been adopted, as such there are some
18 | P a g e
girls who came in the morning or noon and even during night time a per their
conveniences.
 Lack of market: Then again there is the problem of marketing their products; in
this regard Mrs. Neikhochong narrates. “I supply my products to the local markets
for sale and only when my products have been sold I then collect the money from
all the shops I supplied, when the sale is not good I have to wait which often leads
to delay in buying yarns and payment of the weavers I employed.”
 Financial constraints: Capital constraint is also another factor which hampers the
growth of entrepreneurship among the Kuki women, the government schemes
often are not sanction to the deserving candidates as Mrs. Neikhochong remarks,
“I had applied for the PMRY Loans for the fifth time and each time I have rejected.
So finally in the last interview, I boldly enquire the board members, the criteria for
selecting the beneficiaries, for each time my name is not included in the list of
selected beneficiaries,” Shortage of electric power is also another constraint that
the entrepreneurs face, due to irregularities in the power supply by the electric
departments, Mrs. Neikhochong inform that she bought a generator for the
weavers, so that production would not be disrupted for the weavers who came to
weave during the evening and night shift and these have been a great financial
burden for me. Many of the government schemes and the process are unaware to
them and even if they are aware of it, since the govt. failure to implement and
complications in applying, most of the entrepreneurs often are disinterested in
applying for such schemes.
Despite their lack of education, funds, marketing and technological knowledge

of online marketing, the Kuki women have a rare knack of picking up new innovative
styles and designs with an eye for colour combinations these days, a new plethora of
fashion entrepreneurs have emerge in transforming traditional ethnic fashion as
avenue for fashion industry with vast potential for economic growth. Although ethnic
fashion among the Kukis is still in its nascent stage, it is gaining momentum and since
most women are expert weavers, influencing these women as fashion entrepreneurs
needs only imparting new innovative technological and managerial market skills as
well as financial capital for upgradation could yield not only economic empowerment
but also economic emancipation as well.
19 | P a g e
Fig 22: A girl weaving at Bjiang Area Handloom Co-operative Society, Aijalon,
Churachandpur District
Fig 23: A Girl weaving at M/S NKC Handloom & Training centre, Koite,
Churachandpur district.
References
1. Kshetrimayum, Otojit. ( 2016) Women and Entrepreneurship in North East India:

Handloom as an enterprise in Manipur, V.V. Giri National Labour Instirute,sector
-24 Noida- 201301, U.P.p.7
2. United nations Population Information Network (POPIN) UN Population division,
Department of economic and Affairs, with support from UN Population Fund
(UNFPA). Retrieved from
http://www.un.org/popin/unfpa/taskforce/guide/iatfwemp.gdl.html
20 | P a g e
3. Golla Marie, Anne et.al. (2016) Understanding and Measuring Women’s
Economic Empowerment.
4. Retrieved from https://www.icrw.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/10/Understanding-measuring-womens-economic-
empowerment.pdf p.4
5. Guite, Vanlalruate ( 1999), Traditional Dresses and Crafts of the Zomis in Manipur:
A Historical study, unpublished PhD thesis, Department of History, Manipur
University, Canchipur, pp. 122-126
6. Bahadur, Mutua, (2000) Tribal Hand woven fabrics of Manipur, in M. Bahadur,
Tribal Hand Woven Fabrics of Manipur, Imphal,p.5
7. Dr. Chatterjee, N., (1978),Puan- The Pride of Mizoram, Firma KLM Research
Institute, Aizawl, Mzoram, p.33
8. Guite, ibid, pp.204-210
9. Bahadur, M. ibid. p.6
10. Oladumiye, Bankole E. (2015), Reflections in African Digital Age Visual Designs:
An Alternative to paint Box design in 21st century in Mura Gianluca (ed.) Analyzing
Art, Culture and Design in the Computer Age, IGI Global, USA.p.222
11. Bahadur,M. Ibid.
12. Guite, ibid, pp.213-218
13. ibid
14. Ginkhankhual (1998), “I Zo Ngeina Puante in Zolus Journal III, Zomi literature
Uplift Society”, Yangoon, Myanmmar, p. 53.
15. Guite, ibid. p. 204
16. Lu- meaning head and Tom meaning wear, a turban for the bride’s father and
laisui- meaning umbilical cord , a cloth for the bride’s mother to tie around her
waist.
17. ‘Di’ means sungrass and ‘sul’ refers to a long grass or weed on or by the side of a
path which are rushed against by passers-by and thus point to the direction in
which they have gone.
18. Len means ‘ net’ and ‘ buang’ means the name of a particular tree , Thuam means
a place where two roads or bough met, thus Lenbuangthuam means a Tree with
many branches ,
19. Dr. Chatterjee, N. op. cit. p.38
20. Guite, Vanlalruate. op.cit pp.97-100
21 | P a g e
21. Tualchin, Neihsial (1993) History and Culture of the Zoumis, Unpublished PhD
thesis , Department of History, Manipur University, 1993, p.203
22. Citizen’s charter, Womens’ service centre, Government of India, ministry of
textiles, weavers’ service centre, industrial Estate,Takhelpat, Imphal, Manipur,
retrieved from
https://handlooms.nic.in/writereaddata/HL_Citizen_Charter_WSC_%20Impha
l.pdf. p.2
23. Retrieved from https://manipur.gov.in/?page_id=3614.
24. Manipur Jewel of India. Retrieved from
https://www.ibef.org/download/Manipur-July-20171.pdf. p.29
25. New Initiatives, Handloom and Textiles, Department of Textiles, Commerce and
Industry, published on wed. 28, June, 2017, retrieved from
http://www.diprmanipur.in/NewsFiles/New%20Initiatives%20%20New%20Gov
t.%20handloom%20&%20textiles.pdf.
26. Joseph, Shumpeter (1961) the Theory of Economics Development, Oxford
University Press, New York.
27. Moitra, Biplab. (2001).’ Women and Entrepreneurship’, Yojana, Vol. 45, p.17
28. Khanka, K. K. (1998), Women Entrepreneurship in India, Journal of Assam,
University of Assam, Vol 3(I), Janaury, pp.11-16
29. Vinze, Medha Dubashi (1987) Women Entrepreneurs in India, Mittal Publication,
New Delhi, p.112.
30. Personal interview with Mrs. Manneikhol Vaiphei Haokip , 60 yrs of age at the
training Centre cum residence, Bijang, Area Handloom Co-operative society, B.
Aijalon Village, Churachandpur District on 12th June, 2018.
31. Personal interview of Mrs. Neikhochong Haokip Kipgen, 35 yrs of age, at her
weaving centre, NKC Handloom, Koite, Churachandpur district, on 13th June,
2018.
32. Post-Harvest Festival among the Kuki- Chin- Mizo groups, usually held with much
aplomb and festivities on every 1st November, in Manipur the day is a state holiday
since it is the largest festivals among the Chin-Kuki- Mizo’s.
33. Personal interview of Ms. Roselyn Khongsai at her boutique, Roselyn Khongsai, at
Chingmeirong, Imphal west, on 24th May, 2018. currently working as a
Design/Technical Expert (3years contract) under the Ministry of Textile, Govt. of
India, at the Apparel and Garment Making Centre, Imphal from May 2004 -
22 | P a g e
August 2006 with KSP India for 2 year 6months, as a Designer /Merchandiser
Specializing in both Woven/ Knits (Handling -Menswear, Women’s wear & Kids
wear) for Buyers like Chicos, H&O, Suburbia, Wall mart, Laura Ashley, Sears, etc.
Handling line planning and merchandising - translated trend to appropriate
market and price range. Gained extensive experience in sample making,
production, direct manufacturing, and package program throughout right from
sampling to production stage, and later from September 2006 – November 2007
with OCCPL (Orient Clothing Pvt. Ltd.) as a Sr. Designer; handling Buyers such as
Karen Millen, Next, Monsoon, Esprit, Max Mara; her work profile involves mainly
New Developments and sampling with responsibilities of producing quality
assured, extremely good fitting and perfect garment construction products wherein
keeping a checked of the feasibility for manufacturing flow in production. Then
again from February 2008 – June 2010 her experience of working with a designer
for Urban Outfitters (Retail) through “Attitudes Connect” (Buying House) which
consist of sketching the design and making the range with the Main Designer for
seasonal Buyers meeting added to her acumen in fashion technology. Added to
these experiences are her familiarity of being associated with Ogaan India Pvt. Ltd.
For “ Kavita Bhartia Label from June 2010- 2012 combine with Projects and
freelance work with “SABPAM” (Export house) as a Designer, handling buyers like
– Nordstrom, Guess, Arden B Ann Taylor, Soft Surrounding, Rampage, Lord &
Taylor, etc. And her handling of a project for Tarun Tahilliani, SBJ (Study By
Janak) for the Women’s wear Line, for a Retail Brand for Kidswear line (Girls
Development, Project done for an export house for hand crafted products(involves
macramé)) and for Varun Bahl (design concept of macrame & crochet)
23 | P a g e
Role of Women in Unorganized Sector: A Study on Paddy Labours of
Kuttanadu, Alappuzha District, Kerala
Bindu M. V.
Project Scientist
Abstract
The main occupation of India is agriculture. Most of the women are found to be employed in
the unorganized sector of agricultural activities in Asian counties is between 60-80 percent.
Paddy has high socio-economic value and is supporting the livelihood of about millions of
people across the country. So a number of women labours are working in paddy fields for
their livelihood. Percentage contribution of women in agriculture is higher than men. The
class of agricultural labours is the most exploited and oppressed class in the rural hierarchy.
Now a days, the women paddy labours’ condition is worse and challenging than the male
labours in terms of wage, education, access to productive resources etc. So it is essential to
study of these workers in a scientific base. The purpose of the study is to analyze the socio-
economic status and related problems (nature of labour, health issues, and socio-economic
problems) being faced by the women paddy workers. This study shows that women paddy
workers in Kuttanadu, in general present a picture of social and educational backwardness.
From the analysis, it is observed that these workers are getting low wages and they are forced
to work in this field because they don’t know any other job and have less education. The wage
pattern is not regular because the work is seasonal. And in the coming years, these workers
will face a severe problem because of the introduction of mechanization and other social
problems like reduction of the landed area due to the reclamation of paddy fields. Agricultural
development programmes are usually planned by men and aimed at men. Mechanization, for
example, alleviates the burden of tasks that are traditionally men’s responsibility, leaving
women’s burdens unrelieved or even increased. This study contributes to shed light on the
socioeconomic problems of women paddy labours.
Keywords: Unorganized sector; Women paddy labours; Socio-economic status.
1. Introduction
In Indian society, women’s role-traditionally has been of childbearing and

homemaking. Now the whole pattern of the female role is undergoing considerable
change for a job. Women have a greater problem of unemployment than men, both, in
terms of quality and quantity. The status of the world's women reports (1985) says
24 | P a g e
ladies are 33% of the world's authentic work constrain, however are moved in the most
reduced paid occupations and are more defenseless against business (Sundaram,
2000 & Parmer, 1992). The status of women workers in India is obvious from the fact
that 94% of them are found in the unorganized sector, leaving only 6% in the organized
sector ((Tripathy and Das, 1991 & Naik, 1975). Most of the women labours in India are
employed in the unorganized or informal sector (Nandal, 2006). In unorganized sector
employment does not necessarily mean that the worker gets regular wage payment for
the work. There is gender discrimination in wages. For working in the unorganized
sector, there is no upper or lower age limit for a worker (Naik, 1975).
India is mainly an agricultural country, now a day’s agriculture is the major

economic activity of women in the unorganized sector. Most of the working population
especially women in our economy belong to the agricultural sector (Agarawal, 1980).
Agricultural labour is seasonal work and women engaged in the agricultural position-
-- in three ways depending on the socio-economic status of their family and certain
other regional factors. Women in rice agriculture perform numerous tasks like land
preparation, planting, and harvesting etc., and the level of employment of female
agricultural labourers is mostly related to the extent and intensity of rice cultivation
(Ganesh, 1990). That women play a significant and crucial role in agricultural
development and allied fields including in the main crop production, livestock
production, horticulture, post-harvest operations, agro/ social forestry, fisheries, etc.
The growth rate of women agricultural labours decreasing now a day. Equal
remuneration is not received by women workers, and many suffered from diseases
related to the work environment (Lily, 2000). Shiza Malik (2017) point out that the
working conditions of the rice labours of Punjab are harsh; the water that fills the fields
is full of leeches and corrosive chemicals. Each day someone in the group collapses
from the heat. Women rice farmers spend the day immersed in hot water, carrying
infectious diseases, back pain apart from leeches and snakes. Sinha and Dash (2018)
reported that women labours are exposed to chemicals. Women working in flooded
fields for long hours come into contact with a various disease-causing vectors exposing
them to multiple health risks like intestinal to skin diseases and female urinary and
genital ailments and agricultural injuries (Mc Coy and Carruth, 2011). The water-rice
field is a suitable place for the growth of several types of bacteria, virus, fungi and
different parasites. In the developing countries, diseases like malaria, tetanus,
25 | P a g e
hookworm, leptospirosis, schistosomiasis, hay fever, farmer's lung, dermatitis,
blepharitis, conjunctivitis and the common cold are very common (Joshy,2002).
The committee on the status of women India (1975) has observed ‘...another
problem that affects women’s participation in agriculture is the introduction of
modern methods of cultivation, and mechanization, which is resulting in a gradual
displacement of women and shrinking of their activities (Tripathy, 1996) and reducing
working days’ lead to a rising unemployment rate in the agriculture sector. Earlier in
Kuttanad region the entire paddy farming operations were exclusively carried out by
making use of human or animal labour. At present in all the Padasekharams(fields) in
the study area electrically run pump sets, tillers, tractors and harvesting machines are
extensively used in this region (Thomas, 1996)
Women in the unorganized sector as well as countless other women invariably

also do a wide variety of "invisible" work, and often shoulder the dual burden of paid
and unpaid labour. The unpaid contribution of many of the activities associated with
household maintenance, provisioning, and reproduction -- which are typically
performed by women or female children -- tends to be ignored in calculations of labour
(Joshi, 2007). Acharya, 1987 & Saradamoni (1995) state that women workers are
exposed more to the risk of sexual harassment and exploitation. Breman (1985)
reports that women workers often have to work till the last stage of pregnancy and
have to resume work soon after childbirth exposing themselves and the child to
considerable danger.(Saradamoni, 1995) state that women labourers mostly from
Kerala, working in the fish processing industries of Gujarat are subject to various
forms of hardship and exploitation at the hands of their superiors. Rao and
Suryanarayana (2013) consider that with the entry of younger women in the export
processing zones, market segmentation is being accentuated; female-dominated jobs
are being devalued, degraded and least paid. Acharya and Mathrani (1993) explained
the variation in inter-state labour participation rates of rural women in terms of
varying nature of land systems.
Paddy is an important crop in the agricultural sector. It has high socio-

economic value and is supporting the livelihood of millions of people across the
country. Rice is the main food of Keralites. So a large number of women labours are
working in paddy fields for their livelihood.
26 | P a g e
2. Methodology and Data
The agricultural workers are engaged in the unorganized sector. In Kerala,

especially in Kuttanadu Thaluk of Alappuzha district, paddy and related industries
have become an integral part of the economy. After the analysis, it was observed that
majority of the people working in this sector are women. The number of agricultural
workers has been increasing rapidly for a long time. The class of agricultural labours
is the most exploited and oppressed class in the rural hierarchy. Now a day the women
paddy labours condition is worse and challenging. So it is essential to study the
socioeconomic and related problems of these workers in a scientific base.
a. Hypothesis:
 Socio-economic background of women paddy workers are low
 Women paddy workers suffer from occupational hazards and it affects their
health.
A pilot survey was conducted to ascertain the scope for conducting this work.
After the pilot study, it becomes clear that there was enough scope for the sociological
significance of this topic. The study constitutes the women paddy labours of Kuttanadu
Thaluk in Alappuzha district, Kerala. Total agriculture paddy women labours of the
Thaluk is 5374 and are from the four agriculture divisions of the Thaluk viz, upper
Kuttanadu, lower Kuttanadu, north Kuttanadu and Kayal lands. These divisions are
falling under fourteen villages of Kuttanad Thaluk. In order to study the socio-
economic parameters of the women paddy labours in the area randomly there were a
total of 80 labours (20 samples from each division) were selected.
b. Data collection: Primary data was collected using an interview schedule from 80
respondents of the area. Interview Schedule consisted of information on all
important aspects of the life of women paddy worker, like their socio-economic
background, nature of work and health problems etc.
c. Tools for Data collection: A detailed interview schedule was used to collect the
data from the respondents, a detailed discussion was also done.
3. Findings and discussion
The data were analyzed on the basis of the relationships between the selected
independent and dependent variables. Analysis of socio-economic background is of
27 | P a g e
great importance. Therefore, it is essential to examine the socio-economic background
of women paddy labours.
a. Socio-Economic background of women paddy labours

 Age of respondents: This study found that the maximum number of
respondents is among the age group of 36-46 (29%) and also married. Because
the younger generations are not interested in this profession they go for other
better jobs.
 Marital status: From the study, the marital status of the respondents belonged
to different groups. Married women are more (79%) than other categories, they
are the middle-aged group and no other experience and other income other
than paddy works. 17 percentage of the respondents were widows and observed
a very low percent of unmarried and divorced groups i.e. about 3 percent and 1
percent respectively
 Religion: Religious distribution of the respondents showed that 75 percent of
them are Hindus and 25 percent belonged to Christians. There were no Muslim
group present, this is the number of Muslim families is very low population in
the study area, some families are there but they are not engaged in this type of
works.
 Caste of the respondents: Caste wise
analysis of the respondents revealed that
50 percent of them belonged to SC. 37
percent belongs to OBC and only 13
percent belonged to forward group. It
was clear that the SC groups are more
engaged in this work because of the
lower level of education and lack of training in other fields (Fig.1.)
 Education of the respondents: (Fig.2.)
showed the educational background
of the respondents. 58 percent were
studied up to SSLC and 42 percent
completed SSLC and above. All the
respondents are literate.
28 | P a g e
 Type of family: Analysis of Table1.
Showed that most of the respondents
came from Nuclear families (79%), 17
percent belongs to the joint family and
only 4 percent came from extended
family. It was clear that nowadays due to
the disintegration of the joint family
more people live in nuclear type families.
 The annual income of family: 75
percentages of the respondents had
an annual income between 5000-
10,000/- another 23 percent had an
income between 10,000 -20,000/-
and remained 35 had an annual
income below 5000. From this, it is
clear that a vast majority had low
income. This proves the first
hypothesis formulated earlier (Fig.3.).
 Land possessed by respondents: It discussed the landed property of the
respondents. 63 percent of the respondents possessed land between 3-7
cents.16 percent had below 3 cents and 14 percent had 8-11cents of land. Only
8 percent of the respondents had the property above 11 percent. Majority of the
respondents had below/1 cents of land. All the purposes of meeting within this
limited area. E.g. Cattle shed, vegetable garden etc.
 Education and Land: Education and possession of land have related then it
was observed that irrespective of education, the majority had 3-7 cents of land.
Some of the respondents sold their land for educational purposes of children.
 Type of family and Land: When we related type of family and land, it becomes
evident that there is no association between the two variables. This means
irrespective of the type of family majority had 3-7 cents of land (Fig.4).
29 | P a g e
 Amount of Debt: This is about the amount of debt of the respondents. 31 percent
of the respondents have debts above 5000/- and another 31 percent of them
had the debt between 1000-2000/- and 20 percent has debt between 4000-
5000. 15 percent have debt between 2001-3000. And only 6 percent has debt
between 3001-4000/-.
 Nature of Savings: Despite the fact that
the works have obligation they spare
less measure of cash in various plans for
the advantage. 58% of the respondents
have savings in SHG and 24 percent of
the respondents have savings at LIC and
about 15 percent saved their money in
the post office. Only 4 percent have
savings in banks. Majority of the
respondents are members of SHG that’s why they saved in SHG (Fig.5)
b. Health hazards: Rice cultivation is done in the low lying muddy area with water.
Numerous factors cause different disorders, skin diseases (redness and blisters
from prickly rice leaves; abrasions and skin injuries by prickly plants), respiratory
problems, and parasitic diseases, body pain, headache, hot etc. Women labours in
the study area were facing different type of health problems and there is no special
allowance for treatment also. 60 percent of the respondents facing the health
problem like itching, body pain, and headache. 29 percent of them are suffering
from dust allergy, asthmatic and bronchial problems.11 percent of the respondents
30 | P a g e
have some other rare problems
like lesion, sunburn disease
around nail and edema. From
this, it is clear that all are
suffering from one or the other
health hazards. This proves the
second hypothesis formulated
earlier. Table. 2. reveals the
health hazards of the
respondents.
c. Present problems
One of the main problem facing

by the labours in paddy is the
mechanization i.e. the introduction of
a harvesting machine which reduces
or losses the works of labours. Even
though, they all are supporting
mechanization for the extraction of
the rice grain or seed. Because while
extracting seeds manually, it causes
itching and lesions on the legs. Now in the study area, all are using the extracting or
crush machine. Some other social problems occurring in the area is the landowners
changed their attitude to paddy cultivation many of them are not interested to do
cultivation and so some owners forced to reclaim their land for some other purposes.
This ultimately affects the women labours. Table.3.
d. Opinion regarding whether there is any Social problem: Out of the 80

respondents 18 percent of them were facing various social problems and 82 percent
of the respondents have no problems. The woman engaged in agriculture labour
number is reducing due to the difficulties in the works.
e. Nature of Problem: From the table 3 it is revealed that about 77 percent of the
respondents face land reclamation problem it is now a social issue because land
31 | P a g e
reclamation reduces the paddy fields area and 21 percent of the respondents have
no problem. Low wages and seasonal works creates the financial crisis.
4. Conclusion
The major objectives of the study were to examine the socio-economic

background, nature and health hazards and the present problems of the women
workers in the paddy fields of Kuttanadu Thaluk of Alappuzha district, Kerala. Women
paddy workers in Kuttanadu, in general, present a picture of social and educational
backwardness.
The analysis of socio-economic conditions showed that they had very low status
and the majority of them belonged to the age group of 36-46 (29%) and most of them
are married (79%) and are belonged to the category of scheduled caste (50%). The
analysis of the type of family shows that they are from the nuclear family (79%) and
are less educated (58%) the income and landed property are low i.e. 3-7cent. Financial
background of the respondents was very bad, most of them were in debt (81%) and
borrowed money from money lenders. The main reason for debt is domestic purposes.
All the respondents were suffered from one or other health problems like skin diseases,
allergy, lesion and vector bite etc., and they have no allowances for treatment Recently
some other social problems like mechanization and land reclamation are emerging
that reduces their working days. The workers have no union activities 94 percent of
the respondents belonged to the communist party. Women’s labor power is considered
inferior because of employers predetermined notion of women’s primary role as
homemakers. As a result of discrimination against female labor, women are
concentrated. In the secondary sector of labor market. Their work is low paid, low
status, casual, and lacks potential upward mobility. In general, most of the women
workers in this field are unskilled labourers and are getting low wages and they are
forced to do work in this field because of the lack of education and experience in other
jobs. The wage pattern is not regular because the work is seasonal. And in the coming
years, these workers will face a severe problem because of the introduction of
mechanization and reduction of the landed area due to the reclamation of paddy fields.
Now the majority of the landowners is not interested in this paddy cultivation.
Acknowledgment: This paper is dedicated to Dr. E. Vijayakumari, former HOD

Sociology department CMS College Kottayam, Kerala, for the memory and motivation.
32 | P a g e
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34 | P a g e
Educating High School Children about Gender Equality for
Better Sustainability and Future
Chandrakala B.
PhD Research Scholar, Department of Extension Education and Communication
Smt. V.H.D Central Institute of Home Science, Bangalore
1. Introduction
Gender Based Discrimination against female children is pervasive across the

world. It is seen in all the strata of society and manifests in various forms. Female child
has been treated inferior to male child and this is deeply engraved in the mind of the
female child, due to this inferior treatment the females fail to understand their rights.
The Girl child is discriminated against boy’s from the earliest stages of life from the
stage of sex selection of the before birth and neglect the child after birth, in the
childhood, during teenage years has outnumbered males to females in India. This is
more predominant in India. According to global study, India is the 4th most dangerous
country for a female child in the world. Females of our country have faced the
discrimination for ages now and still continue to exist in various forms. The decline in
the child sex ratio is a major indicator of injustice towards girl child. Haryana has the
worst sex ratio among all the states in the country standing at just 879 females per
1000 males. India emerged as a major player amongst the emerging market
economies; the apathy towards Girl child is still quite rampant in many parts of the
country.
Sustainable Development is the Development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs, the goal of which is to achieve Balance/ Harmony between Environment,
Economic and Socio Political Sustainability. Sustainable Development emphasises on
achievement of continuous wellbeing.
The twin challenges of building pathway to sustainable development and

achieving gender equality have never been more pressing. The effects of unsustainable
patterns of development intensify gender inequality because women and girls are often
disproportionately affected by economic, social and environmental shocks and
35 | P a g e
stresses (Neumayer and Plumper, 2007). The causes and underlying drivers of
unsustainability and of gender inequality are deeply interlocked.
Linking gender equality and sustainable development is important for several

reasons. First it is a moral and ethical imperative. Second it is critical to redress the
disproportionate impact of economic, social and environmental shocks and stresses
on women and girls, which undermine the enjoyment of their human rights and their
vital roles in sustaining their families and communities. Gender Equality and
sustainable development can reinforce each other in powerful ways. Women have a
vital role to play in sustainable development. . Women should be viewed as central
actors in moving towards sustainability.
Gender equal society and empowerment are crucial to sustainable development

and a prosperous society. No society can progress or develop successfully unless it
provides equal opportunities for both males and females. Gender based inequality has
been there almost in all the societies throughout the history. The quest for equality
may not be new but the concerted efforts to achieve gender equality are certainly a
feature of modern societies. Achieving gender equality and empowerment of women
are essential for ensuring fundamental human rights. Empowerment refers to making
individuals stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and
claiming their rights.
Children are the future of every nation. Status of the girl child is the key to
achieving women’s equality and dignity. Equal impetus needs to be given to the
children of both sexes, since it is of utmost importance that both of them need to
understand the importance of each other and their interdependence. Value education
is a powerful tool and provides a proper direction to the children, inculcating a positive
attitude in them.
Teaching of value based life skills is of utmost importance in this stage of life,
since these skills teach the children behaviour, sensitivity and a capacity to face and
handle different types of situations and learn to live life a better, healthy, and
wholesome way.
Hence the investigator felt a need to explore the existing knowledge, attitude
and practices of high school children, both boys and girls regarding gender
discrimination and educate and empower them towards gender equality so as to create
36 | P a g e
a more understanding, positive and sensitive world around the children, and the girl
child in particular.
2. Review of literature
a. Bills Gates… on Indian Parenting ….
I was just wondering why Indian parents hate their sons so much. These poor
guys are not taught to make even a cup of tea for themselves, forget cooking an entire
meal. They have absolutely no idea about house cleaning or laundry or how to look
after themselves. They forever have to live on the mercies of others. This is so sad. I
know of grown men who will never be able to go on a trip, be it for work or pleasure, if
their wives do not pack their suit case for them.
There is an entire generation for Indian men who would literally starve to death
if left on their own. I always thought parents loved all their children equally. But that
is clearly not the case. They raise daughters who can take care of themselves and will
survive under any conditions…. but they raise sons to be helpless and without any life
skills. I think we should start a petition for equal rights for men at home.
Don’t laugh…. Think about it….while Indian women are all set to conquer Mars,
our poor boys will die a slow death because nobody showed them how to turn on the
cooking gas!
b. “The Daughter Disadvantage” by Francis Kuriakose and Deepa Kylasam Iyer ;

Kurukshetra; A Journal on Rural Development-Women Empowerment, Vol. 63,
No 05 , March 2015
According to UN data, CSR dropped from 964 in 1971 to 919 in 2011. There was
a steady decline of CSR in two thirds of India’s 664 districts. A 2011 study in Lancet
conclusively proved that between 1980 and 2010, 12 million girls were selectively
aborted in India. The girl child faces persistent threats to life security due to the
socioeconomic structure in India. The perception of the girl child induces various
forms of neglect related to nutrition, health, education and employment. Patriarchal
customs along with scientific beliefs and practices increase crime against girls and
women in the form of sexual assault, trafficking, wife sharing and other practices.
37 | P a g e
c. Mr. Kodi Rangappa and Dr M.S Talawar, Professor P.G Education Department,
Bangalore University (2010); “A Study of Attitude of Students, Teachers and
Parents towards Gender Equality” (A thesis submitted to Bangalore University).
Gender refers to the social aspects of being male or female, where as the sex
refers to people’s biological characteristics. Men or Women act not only subordinate
to biological constraints but also to the social pressure and expectations which they
meet as representatives of their own sex. Gender refers to the roles tasks, rights and
duties which are typical of each sex. These differences of sex and gender have created
inequalities between men and women, the subordination of men and women. This
ultimately is the cause for the creation of gender equalities.
d. Girl Child Education India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Dept of

Elementary Education and Literacy, New Delhi. (2001). educating adolescent
girls: opening windows. New Delhi: DEEAL, 2001. 80 p.
Adolescents need specific attention, education and information. This study,

conducted in 1999, was done to map the experiences in educating adolescent girls in
five states namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In
Andhra Pradesh, six organizations were studied namely Mahita, Confederation of
Voluntary Agencies (COVA), Ananda Bharthi, Deccan Development Society (DDS),
MV Foundation (MVF), and Mahila Samatha (MS). They successfully launched and
sustained a programme for girl’s education. COVA and Mahita brought together girls
for vocational training and literacy. MS and DDS focussed on empowering adolescent
girls. There was a marked difference between the two sets of girls; MS and DDS girls
showed more confidence and had greater self-esteem than COVA and Mahita girls,
where majority of them were Muslims. At Ananda Bharthi, girls were looked after with
care and sensitivity. At MVF, girls were full of energy and confidence. In Bihar, four
Mahila Shiksha Kendras (DIET, Maria Ashram, District Sheikhpura and Fakirana)
were selected. At MSK a minimum of Class 5 education was attained and it ensured
that there was no relapse into illiteracy. The Bihar Education Programme provided an
easy way for girls to complete Class 5 and continue with Class 6 in Government
schools. MSKs educational motivation programme showed girls, who lived in different
and distressing circumstances, how to live together, be well groomed, keep the
surroundings clean, and participate in extracurricular activities. MSK focused on
building self-esteem and self-confidence of young women. Many women became
38 | P a g e
jagjagi workers (heads of jajjagi centers). MSKs created an environment that was
conducive for learning. In Rajasthan, to understand the necessary and sufficient
conditions for girl’s enrolment and education, Balika Shikshan Vihars were organized
between 1996 and 1999, and data was collected and analyzed. Focused discussions and
interviews revealed enthusiasm and commitment of the girls, which was enhanced by
perception of education as relevant, meaningful and empowering. Sensitivity of the
programme played a role in ensuring enrolment and retention in the camps. The
flexible curriculum and camp approach relieved girls from daily duties and helped
them to learn faster. Social consciousness and gender sensitivity were generated. The
retention of girls from varying social backgrounds in the Girl Child Education
Research Abstracts on Education, 1998 - 2009 15 camps was made possible and girls
who passed Class VIII were working in most difficult areas under Lok Jumbish
Programme. In Delhi, Katha and Ankur had implemented educational programmes
for adolescent girls for over 10 years. Girls reached a high level of competence in life
skills, became confident, assertive and in command of their lives. They understood
societal constraints, patriarchy and sexuality through analysis of their own situation.
They also acquired skills in computers, stitching, beauty therapy, read newspaper
regularly, and were able to interact freely with boys in classes and workshops. Mahila
Samakhya, a block-specific programme in Uttar Pradesh, operated in 10 districts.
Major achievements of the programme were that it ensured regular attendance and
built confidence among girls. Teachers noticed that girls aspirations changed and they
became role models for others. All five studies focused on educational efforts outside
the formal years of schooling. There is a need to acknowledge, support and nurture
alternative visions of education, which could impact on the marginalized segments of
society.
e. Nayar, Usha. (1999). planning for UPE of girls and women's empowerment:
gender studies in DPEP. New Delhi: National Council of Educational Research
and Training. 32 p.
A study was conducted in 44 low female literacy districts of 8 states of India,

namely Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Haryana, Assam, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra and Kerala, to identify areas of intervention for universalizing primary
education among girls with focus on women’s equality and empowerment. Interviews
were conducted in 13013 households; with 2424 dropout girls; 4316 never enrolled
39 | P a g e
girls; 792 teachers, 269 educational administrators and 416 community leaders in
more than 400 villages and urban slums. Focus group discussions were also conducted
with parents and community members. Study revealed that participation of women in
educational administration is negligible in most districts. The provision of support
services like Anganwadis and Balwadis were absent in sample villages of Madhya
Pradesh and Orissa. Except for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, there was acute shortage of
women teachers in rural areas. Linkages with other Departments like Women and
Child, Social Welfare, etc. we’re not effective. Mahila Mandals and other women’s
groups were nearly absent in sample villages of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, in other
states, they were ineffective, at times functioning only on paper. Study found that
parental motivation and education, followed by economic status of the household,
were the key factors for continuance of girls in schools. The main reasons for girls
dropping out of school were found to be poverty of the household, and gender based
division of labour and resources. Lack of women teachers and separate schools for girls
were among the most prominent factors for girls dropping out of schools in almost all
the states. Poverty and social discrimination were the major hurdles faced by
scheduled caste and scheduled tribe girls; while the restrictions on women and girls,
and negative attitudes to girls’ education were the prominent reasons for Muslim girls
dropping out from schools. In the case of non-enrolled girls, domestic work and
helping parents in their occupations, and being engaged in remunerative work, were
found to be the chief reason in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. A combination of
topographical and developmental factors, in addition to poverty and cultural factors,
were also the main reasons for non-enrollment of girls. Programme interventions
proposed for better primary education among girls include opening junior primary
schools, open schools, residential schools; providing bicycles to girls for attending
middle/high schools; adult education programmes for removal of parental illiteracy;
condensed courses of education of Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), Open
Schools and Balika Yojana; poverty removal and rural development programmes in
low female literacy districts; separate toilets for girls in primary and middle schools;
focus on training and upgrading local persons/ girls for teaching in remote areas;
incentives like free books, stationery, uniforms, shoes, waiving off all extra tuition fees;
and special schemes to be formulated to prepare women teachers from rural areas to
teach in rural schools.
40 | P a g e
f. The following messages were shared on What’s App which are worth mentioning
author not known
When women are changing, men ought to change or prepare themselves for the
change. In an evolving world girls/women are changing…………boys/men need to
change too………,
“For at least a generation now- especially in urban India and educated middle-
class families-we have raised our girls to be confident and fight for their rights. But we
seem to have ignored an entire generation of boys who were not told anything about
how their sisters were changing. While we gave our daughters new ideals and role
models, no one bothered to tell their brothers that they ought to change too!
Girls drive two-wheelers and cars. It is considered an essential life skill. You can
often hear dads proudly proclaiming that their daughters can drive very well indeed
and they don’t need a father/husband/brother to take them anywhere.
However, boys were never taught that cooking is an essential life skill. You don’t
see parents proudly saying that their son can cook and doesn’t need a
mother/wife/sister to feed him) and keep him alive!).
We don’t tell our sons that is okay for them to be paid less than their wives or
stay at home to take care of the kids while their spouses continue to work.
Men want to marry a working woman (in theory) but are completely
unprepared for the practical reality of a marriage where both partners work. It means
doing the dishes or supervising the maid when your wife has a report to complete, it
means taking half the day off to take care of your sick son because your wife has an
important presentation. It may even mean giving up a promotion or moving to a new
city for your spouse’s career.
Because we don’t tell our sons all this, they continue to expect that their wife
will automatically give up the job/promotion/transfer in favour of the family where as
they will never have to take a step back from their own careers.
Boys are still raised the way they were for the last many generations.
Women are upset that dinner- and the house, kids, in-laws, maid-is still their
responsibility while the men don’t know what they did wrong. After all, they ‘allow’
their wives to work, what more do they want?
41 | P a g e
g. Let us not only empower women, but also prepare men to set their expectations
right. Girls are just so much more hesitant than boys and it’s tragic…… Schools
are reinforcing stereotypes and inequality’, The times of India, Friday 26 th
January, 2018,page 20 says that
Aser 2017 exposes a gender gap in adolescence, including higher dropout rates
for girls after standard VIII. There are more girls in school today. They are studying
more years. You can see it when you travel to rural India. Young women are just more
visible, out and about, and clearly that is a good thing. But also clearly that is not
enough. Because it seems to be only a very superficial level of change. Skill levels and
real confidence in their own abilities remain low. Girls have a higher ‘no response’ rate
in simple tasks like pointing to their own state on a map of India. Girls are just so much
more hesitant than boys. In 18 year old Rita from Gujarat, other girls that I have met
and I am sure you have met, there’s this assumption that they don’t know, that they
cannot, and it’s tragic. To me that’s a fundamental part of what schools should do,
build confidence, curiosity, and the sense that there is a lot to learn and I can learn it.
The other thing is that there is now more than 50 years of research showing that
expectations really affect learning. If the teachers think that a group of students can’t
learn it’s quite likely that they will internalize that expectation and they won’t learn.
Unfortunately teachers’ attitude especially in government schools is that it’s the

dregs who remain in their classrooms because everyone who afford it has abandoned
government schools. Law is not going to change these attitudes but the right kind of
training can.
It’s not just rural India-our schools everywhere seem to have abandoned the
idea that they should do teaching beyond rote memorization. You ask a middle class
parent in a metro. Homework, tuition, parents are supposed to provide the learning.
Part of it is the law that says that the teacher’s job is to complete the curriculum.
I don’t think teaching and learning processes can be fixed through a law. The
main problem as we see it is grouping children by age. The pedagogy that Pratham
has evolved, called Teaching at the right level, is based on the common sense that you
group children based on what they can do. Different states are trying this now. You
can see fairly rapid progress.
42 | P a g e
If you view schools as institutions that are supposed to help break all the
traditional gaps, like the gender gap, they are not playing that role right now. They are
just reinforcing many of the traditional attitudes, stereotypes and in equality.
(The Twelfth Annual Status of Education Report, Aser 2017: Beyond Basics,
focuses on 14-18 years old across rural India, and finds disturbing shortfalls in their
ability to do even simple tasks like counting money and telling time. Suman
Bhattacharjea, Director of Research at Aser, spoke with Renuka Bisht about gender
gaps, teaching failures and future solutions.)
3. Research methodology
a. Aim:
The study aims at educating high school children belonging to 8th and 9th
standard studying in private aided and government schools in Bangalore city
regarding Gender Equality.
b. Objectives
 To know the existing knowledge, attitude and practices of the high school children
about Gender and Gender equality.
 To develop an educational module for intervention using appropriate techniques
and teaching materials to educate high school children towards gender equality.
 To compare the knowledge, attitude and practice towards gender equality between
private aided and government schools, boys and girls, pre and post-test; and
control and experimental group children.
c. Hypotheses:
 The respondents do not have knowledge about the concept of Gender, Gender
Discrimination and equality.
 There is no difference in the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding Gender
equality between the pre and post-test.
equality between the private and government schools.
equality between boys and girls.
43 | P a g e
equality between control and experimental group children.
 The intervention programme does not have a positive impact on the knowledge,
attitude and practice regarding gender equality among intervened respondents.
d. Limitations
The study is limited to high school children studying in ten co-education private
aided and government schools in Bangalore city. Only children studying in 8th and 9th
standard are taken for the study.
4. The study will be carried out in nine phases

a. PHASE I: Survey of schools
To explore co-education Private aided and Government schools in Bangalore

City for their selection for the study. This phase has been completed.
b. PHASE II: Identification of the sample
Ten schools will be identified purposively, out of which five private aided and
five government schools will be identified purposively from different parts of
Bangalore for conducting pre and posttest. Two private aided and two government
schools out of the above identified schools will be purposively selected by considering
the four zones of Bangalore for the Intervention program.
High School children, both boys and girls studying in 8th and 9th standard in
the ten schools chosen will be identified as the sample for the study and those from the
four identified private aided and government schools will be the control and
experimental groups for the intervention program.
The Ten schools for conducting pre and posttest have been identified and two
private aided and two government schools to conduct the intervention programme
have also been identified.
c. PHASE III: Development of the tool
An appropriate tool to study the children’s knowledge, attitude and practice of

Gender equality has been developed. The Tool consists of Questionnaire and Multiple
choice questions regarding awareness/knowledge about gender and gender equality
among the high school children considered for the study, and statements about
44 | P a g e
attitude and practices regarding gender equality. The tool has been given for
validation.
d. PHASE IV: Pilot Study
A pilot study will be conducted on 10% of the sample equal to the main study to
study the feasibility of the tool.
e. PHASE V: Pre test
The children of the identified private and government schools will be

administered the developed tool to elicit information about their existing knowledge,
attitude and practices followed regarding Gender Equality.
f. PHASE VI: Development of the module
After assessing the existing knowledge, attitude and practices followed by the
children, the intervention module will be developed to educate the high school
children in gaining more knowledge, to develop positive attitude and better practices
with regard to Gender Equality. The intervention module has already been prepared.
g. PHASE VII: Intervention Phase
The developed intervention module will be implemented on two Government

and two Private aided schools identified for a period of six months using appropriate
techniques, audio visual aids and teaching strategies.
After the intervention, an interactive session along with an exhibition will be

held to know about the activities carried out by the children during the course of the
intervention.
h. PHASE VIII: Post Test
The developed tool will be re-administered to the children of all the ten schools
to assess their knowledge, attitudes and practices followed regarding Gender equality.
A pre and post test data analysis will be done to study the influence of the intervention
program in enhancing the knowledge, positive attitude and better practices among the
children. The intervention programme will be reassessed using the same tool, keeping
an interval of one month between the intervention and reassessment.
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i. PHASE IX: Statistical Analysis
Appropriate statistical analysis will be used to analyze the data based on the
objectives and hypotheses formulated.
References
1. UN WOMEN. (2014).The World Survey on the role of Women in Development on

the theme of “Gender Equality and Sustainable Development” was first issued by
the nations in 2014 as a report of the Secretary-General (A/69/156); United
Nations Publications .
2. Girl Child Education India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Dept of
Elementary Education and Literacy, New Delhi. (2001). educating adolescent girls:
opening windows. New Delhi: DEEAL, 2001. 80 p.
3. Mr. Kodi Rangappa and Dr M.S Talawar, Professor P.G Education Department,
Bangalore University (2010); “A Study of Attitude of Students, Teachers and
Parents towards Gender Equality” (A thesis submitted to Bangalore University).
4. Nayar, Usha. (1999). planning for UPE of girls and women's empowerment: gender
studies in DPEP. New Delhi: National Council of Educational Research and
Training. 32 p.
5. ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’-Dr Puran Singh and Ajay Kumar ;Kurukshetra; A
Journal on Rural Development-Rural and Urban linkages,Vol.63,No. 04, February
2015
6. “Gender Equality and Empowerment”- Dr Sheetal Sharma, Assistant Professor,
Centre for European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
“Kurukshetra”- A journal on Rural Development,vol.63,no.05,march 2015
7. ‘The Daughter disadvantage’- Francis Kuriakose and Deepa Kylasam
Iyer;Kurukshetra; A Journal on Rural Development- Women Empowerment,Vol.
63,No.05, March 2015
8. Julie Mullin, 2008, “Gender Discrimination-why is it still so bad and what can you
do about it?”, Accessed from www.childerninneed.org on 15 .08.2008
9. Desai Sonalde, 1994, “Gender Inequalities and Demographic Behaviours: India”,
New York, the population council, Inc.
10. Amarthya Sen (2001) “Many Faces of Gender Inequalities” Front Line, No. 9,pp-
414.
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11. Kalyani Menon Sen and A.K. Shiva Kumar, 2001, “Women in India, How free? How
Equal?”,New Delhi, UNDAF
Website links:
 www.wcd.nic.in/wggirlchild.pdf
 www.wcd.nic.in/childabuse.pdf
 http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/file/protecting-the-girl-childpdf
 www.kingdomfoundations.org/archives/tag/girl-child-issues
 www.nipccd.nic.in/reports/raed.pdf
 http://girlrights.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/violence.pdf
 http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/journal/grje
 www.pdhre.org/rights/women-girl-child.html
 www.unicef.org/india/child-protection-1360.htm
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Gender Security and Smart Cities in India
Sulaiman KM
Nivedita Roy
Senior Research Manager at Kantar Public
Abstract
Smart Cities are not just a matter of smart infrastructure; they require a social
infrastructure, one that supports freedom of work and movement for women and men. The
promises and slogans are promising from the government to make cities women friendly,
but, the real question is coming from the current urbanisation process. Is it really a gender
friendly process? The current concerns about urban women include economic concerns,
intellectual and ideological concerns majorly. Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the
process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including
legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and at all levels. The smart cities must take
following steps to make the city for gender friendly, where women can travel freely, express
their ideologies freely and live by feeding their mouth with their own hands. Without having
a proper gender based framework of development, a city cannot transform into a safe and
smart city.
Keywords: Smart Cities; Gender Security; Urbanisation; Gender Mainstreaming.
1. Recent concerns about smart city
The Smart Cities Mission, with its goal of bringing improvement in livelihood
and socio-economic conditions of 100 cities across the country was launched in June
2015. The focus of this mission is on sustainable and inclusive development and the
idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a
lighthouse to other aspiring cities.
“Smart cities have to be safe for women and girls, and must reduce inequalities
between women and men,” former Union Minister for Urban Development, M.
Venkaiah Naidu, said at the inauguration of United Nations conference on ‘Safe Cities
for Women and Girls – Implementation Essentials’ which began in New Delhi on 10
June 2015. The minister had further said, “It is important for urban policies to be
guided from women’s perspectives, to provide not just a safe environment, but a whole
ecosystem that places the needs of women and girls at the center of urban
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development.” At the launch of the Smart city scheme on June 25, 2015, Prime
Minister Shri Narendra Modi said, ‘For the first time in India, a challenge was being
floated, in which the citizens of urban India could contribute in the formulation of
development visions of their cities. We want to make our cities more women friendly
that way we can have more work force that will develop a smart growth engine.’ He
further addedthat by ensuring houses and better transport facilities to our vulnerable
section of the cities can make our cities more secure and world-class.
The major ten elements of smart city development that intertwines effectively
to work towards this mission by building smart cities are – ubiquitous connectivity,
resilient and advanced energy, security and privacy, sensors and measurement,
curbside compute, sidewalk storage and caching, hardware maintenance and
upgradeability, APIs and third-party development, user interfaces and better design.
Among these ten elements, the third element talks about safety and security of citizens,
particularly women, children and the elderly.
Smart Cities need women to be safe. UN Women Deputy Executive Director,

Lakshmi Puri (2015) pointed in her lecture in ‘Safe Cities for Women and Girls –
Implementation Essentials’ program:
‘Urban safety is intrinsically linked to the concept of the Right to the City, and
encompasses every person’s right to mobility and access social, economic, political,
cultural opportunities that the cities offer. Adequate gender-sensitive planning in the
provision of services and infrastructure can become an empowering force that enables
the full enjoyment of women to their right to public space, gender equality, and equal
access to income, education, health care, justice, and political participation and
influence.’
The promises and slogans are high from the government to make cities women
friendly but, the real question that is coming from the current urbanisation process is
whether it really is a gender friendly process. Can a better infrastructure and planned
communication make women safe in their cities? Can a city be smart and sustainable
if half of its population is not safe and live in fear of violence? The struggle of India’s
young women is one for security, dignity and the right to work, outside the home, if
they wish. Besides its human rights aspects, it is also a struggle for the structural
transformation of the economy. Can there be Smart Cities without the cultural and
social security transformation of women’s roles in the economy and in public spaces?
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More than getting a security from violence woman needs security in all socio-economic
activities in urban area, including work participation, health, education, decision
making power and free environment. The word gender security must have a wide eye
that makes a woman feel self-efficient and safe in the city.
2. Concerns about urban women
According to the UNDP Human Development Report 2011, India ranks 134 in
the Human Development Index. India ranks 129 out of 187 countries in the Gender
Inequality Index. Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality
in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health
(Maternal Mortality Ratio & Adolescent Fertility Rate), empowerment (Female and
male population with at least secondary education & Female and male shares of
parliamentary seats) and the labor market (Female and male labor force participation
rates).
3. Economic concerns
The main concern about the urban areas of India is the level of poverty. Poverty
has become an issue of relatively more importance as reportedly women majorly get
exposed to poverty than men. According to Planning Commission of the India from
1975 there is an increase in the number of people in urban areas, while the poverty
level of rural area is decreasing. There is an increase of 200 lakh people falling in the
vicious trap of poverty. In the same period the female migration from rural to urban
areas, mainly marriage migration also doubled. Thus the increasing poverty level has
to be considered primarily to make cities healthier for women.
The next concern is developing a gender friendly working area and increasing
female economical participation. Women’s participation in the economy has been
neglected and has often been invisible as they have been working primarily in the
informal economy. Lack of exposure to the formal economy and the job market has
kept their status in society also low despite their contributing substantially to the
labour force. For women, numerous studies show that labour force participation that
provides an income increases their self-esteem and their status in both the household
and society. For the economy, as IMF Chairperson Chrisine Lagarde pointed out in her
recent visit to India, an increase in women’s labour force participation would boost
India’s GDP by a couple of percentage points. According to the MDG report again the
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female work participation in non-agricultural sector in urban areas is lower than rural
areas. We can see that in the time of 2009-10 there is a decrease in work participation
by women mainly because of the economic recession. The job security for a female in
the urban area is lower than males. Even if we take the IUCN EGI report (International
Union for Conservation of Nature’s Environment and Gender Index), we can see the
number of female managers is very low while comparing to developing countries and
Srilanka. The smart cities must have a job market where people should be valued by
their qualities rather than gender. A working woman, compared to men, concentrates
more on spending money in an economic way that will help her to increase the living
standard of the family. The work participation of the women will help the society
became a smart society.
4. Intellectual concerns
The education of women will be another main concern. In millennium

development goal under the goal number three stated as promoting gender equality
and empowering women, the recent and final reports published by the UNDP (United
Nations Development Program) and the government of India shows the achievement
100% enrollment of girls in primary school. But the real situation can be seen in the
higher education area. The dropout rate from school is high even in urban areas due
to the security and family reasons. The smart cities have to concentrate on women’s
education that can lead to the overall development of the family. An educated woman
is always fully aware of the health and security of her own and her family. In urban
areas, another trend is that even if a woman is well educated, she does not get an
assured comfortable job for herself. Getting a comfortable job should first be taken
into consideration before considering the wage differences. A smart city must have an
inclusive development of education and work sector where both male and female can
meet their needs.
Health is another area that cities have to go far. There is a visible malnutrition
among urban women in lower wealth quartile, we need a proper data collection
mechanism in all levels to understand that (Agarwal and Sethi, 2013). A healthy
woman can develop a healthy atmosphere surrounding her. The migration of woman
from rural to urban areas also calls the need of having a behavioral changing approach
from urban health providers to develop a health seeking behavior among urban
women. The smart cities already using the Information Communication and
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Technology for the betterment of urban service delivery will develop a strong link
between the urban health service provider and the citizens. The lack of women's peer
groups in urban areas is also a concern; as reported from previous studies in this area,
women who are actively participating in any of the peer group in urban areas have a
good health seeking behavior than other women.
5. Ideological concern
Decision making is the finest tool that keeps anyone in secure zones.. The
proper female participation in the decision making can help the city become more
gender friendly. It is a fact that the real social status and the real level of political
participation of women cannot be analyzed in isolation. On the contrary, it is
interlinked with the socioeconomic conditions, political climate and inequalities
inherent in the traditional social structure, its norms and values, customs and rituals.
Because of these factors once women get the power of decision making, it leads to the
vast changes in societal structure. The countries main decision body only has 12%
women participation in the 2015 (UNDP MDG report 2015), it is a huge challenge that
lack of proper participation female in decision making. However, there was no
meaningful effort to provide satisfactory representation for women in the legislative,
executive and other similar bodies. Some cosmetic steps have been taken by both the
Central and State governments just to ensure the women vote bank for election
purposes. Manu Bhaskar says that, ‘there is no country in the world today, where
women have equal status with men in all the major areas of life family, health,
reproduction, education, work, government,These abuses limit women’s freedom as
equal citizens to enjoy the urban environment, and to exercise their rights to
education, work, recreation, collective organisation and participation in political life.
Surveys give some idea of the and cultural expression.’ (The global gender gap report
2017 – World Economic Forum) The smart cities which are getting developed must
have a smart gender unbiased decision making body for overall development of the
city.
In cities all over the world, every day, women and girls face the threat of sexual
harassment and violence in public spaces as they go about their daily routines—
whether on city streets, on buses and trains, or in their own neighborhoods. Extent of
gender-based harassment and violence. The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights
found that 83 percent of women had experienced sexual harassment on the streets of
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Cairo, while 62 percent of men admitted harassing women. In New Delhi, India, a rape
is reported every 29 minutes. In Lima, Peru, only 12 percent of women surveyed said
that they could move around freely without fear of violence; in Montreal, Canada, the
figure was just over 40 percent. In Tokyo, Japan, 64 percent of young women reported
being groped when travelling by train. It’s clear that gender based harassment and
woman’s fear and vulnerability in the public place is universal.
The fear free public place for the woman is not the recent concept, it starts long
back with a lot of massive women movements all over the world. In India the Delhi
gang rape became a milestone in this movement. The cities had become hub of
developed economies whereas the women are still suffering to travel freely in the
nights. There is a quote that I had read in a social media long back: The night call
center job for women is equal to the call girl job. The women are still facing a lot of
problems in urban mobility due to lots of security reasons. Throughout the year 2009,
the Centre for Equity and Inclusion surveyed 630 women of all ages and
socioeconomic status in New Delhi and Old Delhi, India. Ninety-five percent of the
women said their mobility was restricted because of fear of male harassment in public
places. Another 82 percent said the bus was the most unsafe mode of public
transportation for them because of male harassers. And in Mumbai well known for its
local train network as fast and safest mode of transport of the nation, a study
conducted by We the People Foundation’s 2012 found out that 80% of women in
Mumbai had been street harassed, primarily in crowded areas like trains and railway
platforms (Stop Street Harrassment, 2015).
Despite disrupting the lives of countless millions of women and girls, this
pattern of abuse is widely tolerated as a regular feature of city life. Violence against
women in public spaces remains a largely neglected issue. Few laws or policies are in
place to address it, in spite of its social and economic costs to individuals, families and
communities.
6. Suggestive measures
How a smart city can ensure the gender inclusive development and gender
security? It can be achieved by developing a gender friendly city by taking the following
measures.
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7. Gender mainstreaming
Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications

for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs,
in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s
concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and
societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not
perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality (UN Economic and Social
Council, 1997).
Mainstreaming is not about adding on a ‘women’s component’, or even a

‘gender equality component’, to an existing activity. It involves more than increasing
women’s participation. Mainstreaming situates gender equality issues at the center of
policy decisions, medium-term plans, program budgets, and institutional structures
and processes. Mainstreaming brings the perceptions, experience, knowledge and
interests of women as well as men to bear on policymaking, planning and decision-
making. Mainstreaming can reveal a need for changes in goals, strategies and actions
to ensure that both women and men can influence, participate in and benefit from
development processes. It can require changes in organisations – structures,
procedures and cultures – to create organisational environments which are conducive
to the promotion of gender equality. Similar to participatory budgeting, gender-
responsive budgeting is used by municipalities in many countries to sensitize elected
officials about the specific needs of women. Involving women in municipal budgeting
processes increases their capacity to participate in public decision making processes.
Increasing the number of reservation for women will help the smart cities to have a
gender inclusive decision making body that will develop the overall participation of
women in different socio-economical activities.
Smart cities and economic policies and plans need to recognize the roles and
contributions of men, women, boys and girls, and address their needs equitably. By
having gender responsive budgeting the city administration can contribute to women
empowerment and gender equality. Once the smart cities adopt the Gender Responsive
Budgeting, it will also develop a monitoring mechanism on government intervention of
gender inclusiveness by having the gender auditing of government resource allocation.
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The smart cities must have an eye on gender mainstreaming that will help the
city administration address the issues in a structured mechanism.
8. Economic development of women
Women have the potential to change their own economic status, as well as that
of the communities and countries in which they live. Yet more often than not, women’s
economic contributions go unrecognized, their work undervalued and their promise
unnourished. Smart cities must concentrate on policy and programmatic initiatives to
generate economic opportunities for women, such as providing them with training to
increase their chances of employability, ensuring that jobs match women’s specific
needs, and recognizing that women should receive economic support in the informal
sector.
It’s a proven fact that improving gender equality has broad development impact,
such as greater participation of women in the labor force, especially in the non-farm
sector. It also leads to higher wages for girls and women, higher school enrollment and
lower adolescent pregnancy, as well as lower maternal and infant mortality.
Once a smart city became engine for economically strengthening women – who
are half the city’s workforce – it will not only be one of the important means tospur
economic growth, but enhance in advancing women's human rights. When
governments, businesses and communities invest in women, and when they work to
eliminate inequalities, developing smart cities are less likely to be plagued by poverty.
Eventually then the cities can also better their chance of becoming stronger players in
the global marketplace.
Women’s partnerships include collectives, NGOs, forums and virtual

communities that operate at different (international, national, local, community) levels.
They work on a range of issues related to women’s safety such as education,
employment, health, gender-based violence. They focus on a variety of issues such as
knowledge production and exchange, community mobilization and advocacy, public
education, mediation, and capacity-building.
The smart city must promote women partnerships, and women peer groups that
will help their overall development and also that will give her a place to be with other
women partners and share the knowledge and spend their free times. These
partnerships will develop a collective feeling among women that will help them have
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their own contributions in the development of the society. Smart cities develop a free
and flexible atmosphere where women can develop their own peer groups and be the
part of any kind of socioeconomic activities.
9. Women’s right to the city
Smart cities concentrate on the approaches and aims to strengthen women’s

right to the city thereby empowering them. This includes helping them to improve
their levels of civic participation that provide them with a greater feeling of security
and safety. A rights-based approach to women’s safety highlights the fact that women
should have the right to access land and housing, be protected from homelessness and
forced eviction, have the right to freely and safely move within cities and receive access
to basic services such as water, sanitation, and hygiene.
In case of gender security smart cities must cover the following features:
 A city where women and girls can enjoy public spaces and public life without fear
of being assaulted.
 A city where violence is not exercised against women and girls in either the home
or the street.
 A city where women and girls are not discriminated against and where their
economic, social, political, and cultural rights are guaranteed.
 A city where women and girls participate in making decisions that affect the
community in which they live.
 A city where the state guarantees the human rights of all people without excluding
women and girls.
 A city where the state and local government take actions to provide attention,
prevention, and punishment for violence against women and girls.
 A city where the state and local government guarantee women’s and girls' access to
justice.
Thus, without having a proper gender based framework of development, a city

cannot transform into a safe and smart city. The main part of the development agenda
of a smart city is that, we have to concentrate on gender inclusive, fast and secure
development strategy. Without considering the gender security and development the
cities cannot develop in future. The smart city with gender security will be the best
answer for the problems that urban areas are facing now.
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Smart Cities involve more than just smart infrastructure for the benefit of
freedom of work and movement for women and men. Cities cannot be smart by just
having 24×7 broadband connections and CCTVs at every street corner. Smart Cities
need a transformation of restrictive gender roles and norms. Smart Cities need all the
cultural and intellectual development and ferment that these transformations bring
along.
References
1. Agarwal, S., & Sethi, V. (2013). Nutritional Disparities among Women in Urban
India. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition, 31(4), 531-537.
2. Bhaskar, M. (2000). Women and Grassroot Politics: Theoretical Issues and Social
Concerns of Kerala Women. South Asian Journal of Socio Political Studies, 1(1),
22-31.
3. Bradshaw, S., Joshua, C., & Bineta, D. (2013). Women’s role in economic
development: Overcoming the constraints. High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons
on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Sustainable Development Solutions
Network.
4. Government of India (2011). Census of India: Report. New Delhi: Delhi Press.
5. Khosla, R. (2009). Addressing Gender Concerns in India’s Urban Renewal
Mission. UNDP Study Report. Government of India.
6. Prasad, R. (2014). Women Empowerment in Urban Governance in India. Indian
journal of Public Administration. 20(5), 13-21.
7. Stop Street Harassment (2015). Gallup’s Annual Crime Survey. Retrieved from
http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/resources/statistics/statistics-academic
studies/
8. UN Economic and Social Council (1997). IUCN EGI report (International Union
for Conservation of Nature’s Environment and Gender Index). New York.
9. UN WOMEN (2015). Smart Cities are safe cities. United Nations conference on
‘Safe Cities for Women and Girls – Implementation Essentials’. Delhi.
10. UNDP (2011). Human Development Report. Government of India.
11. UNDP (2015). Millennium Development Goals: national reports. MOSPI. India.
12. UN-HABITAT. (2008) The Global Assessment on Women’s Safety. UN-HABITAT.
Kenya.
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Climate & Sustainability Challenge for Tribes in India
Santosh Bharti
Assistant Professor, Delhi University
Abstract
The study proposes to explore the impact of climate change on tribal women and the
adaptability challenges faced by them. It examines conceptualization and the characteristics
of tribal knowledge, and how it can contribute towards sustainable development practices
and towards combating of climate change induced by environmental crises. Further, the
paper seeks to analyses tribal women in their traditional roles and how their knowledge
based on respect, harmony and cooperation with nature could be relevant to address the
climatic and environmental crises facing India today. Tribal knowledge is specific to women
and it can be stated that as keepers of tribal knowledge, these women can bring in profound
changes having bearing on larger communities. It is crucial to incorporate tribal women in
the policy-making process to tackle global warming and the resultant extreme weather
conditions that manifest in natural calamities. Such a participation is necessary to
accommodate the distinct needs of tribal women as well as the men. This will also lead to an
enhanced participation with both men and women being able to contribute holistically
towards combating environmental issues affecting human lives. Adoption of a gender-based
approach to address environmental issues will also help resolve a phenomenon as complex
as climate change by involving all the experiences and expertise of all the stakeholders in a
society. It will also empower the individuals and marginalized groups that are not often
adequately represented in the Indian multi-cultural society.
Keywords: Tribal women; Gender equality; Climate change; Sustainability

challenges and goals.
1. Introduction
Climate Change is a global issue: it is one of the sustainability challenges facing

every country in the 21st Century. The increase in temperature, industrial emissions,
and deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions have become social, economic and
political concerns for everyone. The anthropogenic or ‘human made’ are main causes
for such weather calamities, which have brought together nations seeking to develop
ways and technology to mitigate extreme weather disturbances. In 2001, the
intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the United Nations in
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1988, observed that human activities have been the cause of extreme climate
disturbances. (IPCC Working Group 1: 2001)
The climate change has been impacting humans and demands holistic efforts
to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic climate changes. It has been understood that
vulnerable groups of society with least resources have least capacity to deal with
climate change effects. Tribal people are the most vulnerable groups of our society.
They are the most affected by climate change due to their close connection with mother
earth and nature. They live in harsh climatic environments to which their culture and
traditions are well adapted to. Generally, tribal people have low incomes and inhabit
isolated rural environments; they are more exposed to climate-related disasters such
as storms, floods and droughts. Further, the lack of adequate structural protection
measures and services makes their condition worse.
For tribal peoples, especially for tribal women, such changes disrupt the
continuity of their lifestyle, which is a deep-entrenched system of responsibilities that
their communities rely on self-consciously for living close to the nature. Tribal
women’s rights and roles in their communities are threatened due to the threats posed
by global warming as well as by continuous marginalization and discrimination in a
changing social and political environment susceptible to patriarchal European
influences. Inspite of various United Nations’ provisions to eliminate discrimination,
tribal women face violations of their both indigenous and human rights to participate
in climate change regime and other related programs.
Tribal women are disadvantaged in terms of their ability to access economic

and social resources. These resources include access to land, new technologies,
bargaining power, social capital, and training for climate adaptation and disaster
preparedness. Such inequalities threaten women’s resilience to climate change, at
times preventing their effective engagement in development processes and further
exacerbate gender inequality. The women’s insufficient representation in decision-
making processes on climate change mitigation and adaptation can further aggravate
such vulnerabilities.
2. Adaptive strategies among tribal people
Inspite of tribal women’s disadvantageous position, which is amplified by

changing environmental conditions, these women take seriously their responsibilities
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as the members of their communities to combat the effects of climate change. Through
their traditional knowledge of observations, predictions and experiences of
environments, tribal women of India have adopted adaptability strategies to lessen the
effects of climate change. The traditional knowledge and detailed crop and place
specific information at the local level have helped these women cope with changes in
Climate.
To keep up with fluctuating weather patterns, these women have started their
seasonal activities with better management of resources and also “changing
agricultural inputs such crop varieties with increased resistance to heat, shock or
drought; altering fertilizer rates to maintain grain or fruit quality consistent with the
climate; and changing amounts and timings of irrigation”. (UNIFEM:2009: 19)
Harvesting differs from one year to another as no two years are alike in terms of
harvesting success. Also due to irregular and heavy rains, women farmers have started
to cultivate new variety of fruits and vegetables. For example, in Jaintia Hills
(Meghalaya) “women farmers have started to grow a variety of cabbage and cash crops
such as turmeric and broom grass which can withstand unseasonal and heavy rains”.
(UNIFEM: 2009:21) Likewise in Sikkim, women farmers “cultivate a new variety of
cardamom which is better suited to the increased frost and fog”. (UNIFEM: 2009: 22)
The older women use their traditional skills and knowledge to predict the wind
pattern. This way they are making attempts to survive.
Interestingly, tribal peoples have their own way of weather prediction to

minimize their loses. For example, in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, indigenous peoples
use their traditional practices for weather forecast eg. If “dragon flies low, it might
rain” or “termites flying in the evening, indicates there might be rain”. (Anandraja:
2008: 631) Such predictions keep these people well prepared in advance to enable
them to forecasts about weather and act accordingly. Similarly tribes of Mizoram use
their own bio indicators to predict weather and changing wind pattern, for example
“when there are a number of ants moving along a path carrying their food items with
them, a heavy rain is expected on the same day, or within one or two days.”
(Chinlampianga 2011: 208) Such means of flora and fauna help tribes to survive in the
climate changing era and also sustain their traditional knowledge.
In the last few decades, tribal women mobilization in India has happened
through various protest movements; besides climate change, it handles caste and
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gender inequality. However, the struggle for political power had started with the
Naxalbari movement in the late 1960s. Since then tribal women have actively involved
themselves in revolutionary movements, which has led to formation of tribal
organizations like peasant organizations and women organizations. They have also
formed cultural organizations to protect their tribal cultures, heritage and literary
traditions. There are a few tribal women who have acquired positions in legislative
bodies and representations at community level.
Inspite of all these initiatives by the tribal women in India, they face many
problems, including their isolation from mainstream governance, including policy
making on climate change. The prime reason for their lack of representation in policy
making and execution at national governance level is their ‘backwardness’. No doubt,
the Britishers’ policy of Divide and Rule had segregated different communities in
India: it affected tribal people the most in terms of the impact on their socio-economic
life. Scholar Doley suggests that “the British policy of separation of tribes and non-
tribes came from the notion of cultural backwardness of these people” (Doley 1998:16).
Since then backwardness has become the defining characteristic of indigenous people
in India. Lack of education, health and equal opportunities further ensures their
marginalization in the Indian society.
According to Stephen Humphreys, climate change and human rights are linked
to each other. That’s why climate change is being articulated as a human rights concern
for tribals because the worst effect of climate change are felt mostly by individuals or
groups living close to nature (Humphreys 2010:37). In fact like Stephan, many authors
and literatures focus on climate change vulnerability and its impact on individual
human rights. As such rights deeply involve minority who are debarred from
exercising their rights on environment from which they derive their livelihood,
identity, survival and development. The tribal people often face violation of their rights
and duties in regards to their environment. In case of India, tribal women activism has
been called as struggle for “Right to Earth” by Manoranjan Mohanty in his article,
Adivasi Awakening and Emergence of New Politics. He writes that the emergence of
such struggle was against globalization, liberalization and privatization. Calling it a
“new awakening” on the part of tribal peoples, he further states that this is the way
which will affirm Forest Rights guaranteed to tribal women through Forest Rights Act,
2006 (Mohanty 2011:11-14). What this guarantees to tribal people and women is the
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right to access and maintain forest and other resources in tribal areas as part of their
right to self-governance. Such claim for rights will assure tribal women their civil and
political rights.
However, tribal people’s efforts to mitigate climate change effects are seen as
autonomous and more as individual community affairs, with very limited support
from governments at state or national level. Thus, climate change continues to be a
challenging issue for tribal people in India, especially the women.
3. Conclusion
Despite the talk about climate change and the need to involve participation of
tribal people to address this challenge, a very little has been achieved in this direction,
thus creating concerns if these people will ever be included. However, individual
activism of Medha Patkar and others offers some hope, as these activists have
advocated awareness on climate changes and demanded better participation of tribal
women in government-led programs, which can benefit from incorporating their
traditional knowledge to build a holistic framework for combat and mitigate the effects
of climate change.
References
1. Doley, D (1998), “Tribal Movement in North Eastern Region” in K.S Singh et. al
(ed.) Antiquity to Modernity in Tribal India.Vol IV, New Delhi: 14-49.
2. Humphreys, Stephen (2010), “Introduction: Human Rights and Climate change”
in Stephen Humphreys (ed.) Human Rights and Climate Change, New York:
Cambridge University Press: 37-68.
3. M. Chinlampianga, Traditional Knowledge, Weather Prediction and Bioindicators
: A Case Study in Mizoram, Northeastern India, 10 INDIAN J. TRADITIONAL
KNOWLEDGE 207, 207-211 (2011),
http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/11083/1/IJTK%2010%281%29
%20207-211.pdf.
4. Mohanty, Manoranjan (2011), “Adivasi Awakening and Emergence of New
Politics”, Frontier, 44: 11-14
5. N. Anandraja et al., Indigenous Weather and Forecast Practices of Coimbatore
District Farmers of Tamil Nadu, 7 INDIAN J. TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE 630,
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630-633 (2008),
http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/2399/1/IJTK%207(4)%20630-
633.pdf.
6. UNIFEM, Adivasi Women: Engaging with Climate Change (2009),
https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4ab37acb2.pdf.
7. WMO & IPCC, Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis (2001),
https://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg1/pdf/WGI_TAR_full_report.pdf.
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Gender Equality: Need of Women Protection: A study on Role
of SHE Teams in Hyderabad
Shailaja P.
Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration,
Nizam College (Autonomous) OU, Hyderabad
Abstract
Women is the word without which the world is not imagined. She is the most prestigious in
the society. Without the role and participation of women, noting is possible. Even though
the society is showing the discrimination against her even after 70 years of independence in
India. Not only in India but in other parts of the world also. There is a lot of gender
discrimination and social boycott based upon the community also. There is a need to
safeguard and protect the women from all the sources even in this period of globalization
and world of IT. Even the educated women is facing the harassment and discrimination at
the work places. There is a need to protect the women for the future world. In this era of
modernization also we can see so many issues and challenges faced by the women in the
society. The government is taking initiatives to protect women from all sources. But until
and unless there is a change in the mindset of the public the women will be facing the
problems. Gender discrimination is being shown starting from the home to workplace. Even
though there are several laws and acts to stop the discrimination towards the women in
India. But these laws are unable to stop the gender inequality. The present study is take up
on the role of the SHE teams in protecting the teenage Girls and women from the eve teasing
and harassment in public places in the Hyderabad city.
Objective of the Study: To assess the reasons for gender discrimination; to study the
initiatives take by the government towards protection of women; to know the function and
role of SHE teams in protecting the women in the society.
Keywords: Women; Inequality; Protection; Harassment; SHE teams.
1. Introduction
It is very true that women in India are given a place of Goddess Lakshmi in the
Indian society however we also cannot ignore the negative aspect of women position
in India. Every day and every minute some women of all walks of life (a mother, a
sister, a wife, young girls, and girl baby children) are getting harassed, molested,
assaulted, and violated at various places all over the country. Areas like streets, public
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spaces, public transport, etc have been the territory of women hunters. In some cases
a girl child is sale by her parents just to earn some money. Girls generally face acid
attacks on the streets and kidnapping for the sex purpose by strangers. According to
the statistics, it is found that a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes.
Women safety in India is a big concern which has been a most important topic
regarding women safety. It is not only the responsibility of the individual bust also
society should take the responsibility towards their safety and protection. But due to
various reasons it is observed that the harassment and attacks towards women are
being continued in different forms. Even the educated women are begin suffering with
this in the society. There is no different between a educated and uneducated women
towards the violence.
The government of India has introduced several laws and acts towards the
protection of women in the society. Even though there is no change among the society.
We can observe this by the way number of cases filed are increasing day by day. Even
the punishment accorded to the victim is very less and the process of judgment is very
slow.
2. Traditions of Discrimination: Society vs Law
Indian society, to provide an overview, is largely a traditional society which still

holds on to the vestiges of the past in terms of age old beliefs and customs. The political
set up of the country on the other hand is quite a contrast on paper. Protection of
women is only on paper, when it comes to implementation of laws the government is
facing several challenges.
The Constitution of independent India boasts of being one of the first

documents envisioning a political structure, historically situated in the 20th century
world that offered equal political, social and economic rights to women alongside men.
This was a marvel at that point in time as many advanced nations of the First World
had then yet to come to terms with the demand and need for gender equality. When a
country is governed with the help of new age laws while traditional society resists the
new legislative requirements of practicing gender equality, guided by the
discriminatory customary laws? Social indicators such as female infanticide rates,
maternal mortality rate and overall child sex ratio besides the obvious statistics found
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in crime reports are telling signs of this misfit beneath the image of a new age
democracy.
3. Laws protecting women's rights in India
After Independence there was have to be compelled to introduce some statutory

laws to confirm safety and protection of girls. Keeping visible this demand, similar to
constitutional provisions, numerous parliamentary steps have conjointly been taken
by the law of Asian nation so as to confirm dignified life to the Indian ladies.
Parliamentary steps suggest that and include the enactment of varied laws and
statutory acts to shield the interest and to prevent the crime against women. These
acts have tried very helpful towards progress and safety of girls in society. Let Pine
Tree State conjointly shares the name of a number of the legislative acts that square
measure offered in Asian nation to shield women’s rights against harassment. These
acts square measure sort of a boon to ladies at giant to shield their dignity in society.
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) serves to provide us with a bird’s eye view of the
legal stance on crime against women in India. The list is as follows:
1. Rape (Sec. 376 IPC)

2. Attempt to commit rape (Sec 376/511 IPC)
3. Kidnapping & abduction of women (K&A) (Section 363,364,364A, 366 IPC) - in
order to murder, for ransom, to compel her for marriage and other purposes
4. Dowry deaths (Section 304B IPC)
5. Assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty (Sex. 354 IPC) - including
sexual harassment, voyeurism and other forms of sexual violence
6. Insult to the modesty of women (Sec. 509 IPC) - including at work and in public
transport
7. Cruelty by husband or his relatives (Sec. 498A IPC)
8. Importation of girl from foreign country (up to 21 years of age) (Sec. 366 B IPC)
9. Abetment of suicide of women (Sec. 306 IPC)
The violation of women’s elementary rights through physical, mental,

emotional, and sexual violence against ladies has become virtually commonplace
within the Indian context. Violence against ladies has taken significantly acute forms
in circumstances wherever population’s area unit already marginalized, like in areas
full of armed conflict, areas undergoing mass displacement. Ladies within the social
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group belts and amongst Dalit populations area unit already vulnerable, and become
even a lot of therefore in areas full of conflict. There’s thus a pressing want for the
judiciary to acknowledge and address the actual kinds of violence levied against ladies
United Nations agency area unit ‘doubly marginalized’ by caste, class, religion, or in
things conflict. Customary habitually laws discriminate against ladies, each by denying
justice to victims of violence and by dispossessing ladies from their shares in land and
property. The variety of laws that defend ladies from discrimination have conjointly
either inadequate, or haven't been properly enforced.
Some of the major areas where the women is being violence are through
 Girl Kidnapping
 Women Eve Teasing
 Domestic Violence
 Harassment at Work Place
 Rape attempt
 Caste base indulge treatment
 Gender Discrimination
These are few areas where the women is being facing problem from the society.
In this period of modern information technology also the cybercrime towards women
is being incrassated through the social media like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp
massages etc. Mostly young women are being affected by this type of cybercrimes.
4. Role of SHE Teams in protecting women in Hyderabad City
The Telangana State is newly formed 29 state on 2 June 2014 as Hyderabad city
as its Capital city. Hyderabad city is 400 years old city, here we can see the mixed
culture of all religious people in the city. It is one of the developed metropolitan city
in the country. Daily number of people from different parts of the country are
migrated to this Hyderabad city in search of work. Protection to all the people in the
city is a big task to the police department. Previous there was a bomb blast by the ISI
agents in the city also.
Telangana government gave importance towards protection of the girls in the

society. To eradicate the crime rate towards the women i.e. kidnapping, eve teasing,
phone calls, messages, emails and social media platforms. For this purpose the
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government started SHE Teams a special force to protect, safe and save women in the
city.
5. Protection of Women and Security
In present day context it is identified that the protection of the women is very
essential. There is a need to save the women for future generation. There is “NO
WORLD” without the women. We cannot imagine this because today whatever we
are it is due to the sacrifice and efforts of the women @ Mother, Sister, Wife and
Friend. It is the responsibility of each and every one to protect and provide security to
all the women in the nation. The Women must be given respect for ever.
Even though every individual is educated and aware of the laws and rules, still
the MEN is involving crime towards the women in different modes. So, there is a need
to protect and save the women at home and outside also. To protect the women the
government of Telangana has initiated to form SHE teams. Protecting the women for
tomorrow.
a. SHE Teams
On October 24, 2014, SHE team was launched in Hyderabad with an aim to
make the city safe for women. As the force celebrated its 2nd anniversary on Monday,
the results are a lot more rewarding than expected. It claimed to have reduced crime
against women by around 20% in the city.
SHE TEAMS has been introduced in Telangana state with a moto to provide
safety and security to women in Telangana and to make Hyderabad a SAFE AND
SMART CITY.
The aim of these teams is to curb eve-teasing and harassment of women in

public places. With the aim that no girl or woman needs to suffer disrespect (through
vulgar comments by men on roads), suffer humiliation or become victims of any sort
that can make them feel belittled. SHE teams ensure that women speak out and their
safety is not compromised upon.
 Curbing sexual harassment of women in public places (Eve Teasing).

 Nabbing offenders harassing women through phone calls, messages, emails and
social media platforms.
 Helping women to get immediate Police support and ensure their safe travel.
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 Acting as a deterrent force to stop serious crime on women by nipping the problem
in the bud
 Correcting misguided youth by counselling them towards becoming responsible
citizens and respect women.
b. HOT SPOT Areas : The department has recognized the hot spot areas where there
is a scope for eve teasing the other activities in the city like Women colleges, bus
stop, shopping malls, cinema theaters, parks etc.,
c. SHE Teams - 30
Hyderabad city is divided in to four zone, 10 teams for each zone.
In each team: Sub-Inspector of police as Team incharge 1 SOT PC, 1 ZTF PC, 3/4
WPCs, They will be shuffled on rotation basis for every 3 months
d. Decoy Operation
Team goes to Hot Spots in mufti carrying with SPY cameras and records the satiation
at the hot spot. How the girls are being trapped and harassed by the men. The
Observes for eve teasers, stalkers and catch the eve teasers and counsel them and if it
is proved punishment is accorded as per the law. The case will be filed in the concerned
sections.
e. Team Collects
The SHE team members collects the evidences at the places where the eve teasing by
Photos of the offenders, preparing the Interrogation report, Finger Prints, ID Proofs,
Contact numbers and
Court Serial numbers in case of Punishment
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f. Counseling
It is very important to counsel the victims at the police station, their parents are also
called and counseled so that the same mistake may not be repeated again in future.
The victims has to sing the undertaking that further mistake is commited they will held
responsible for themselves and action may be taken according to the law in some small
incidents. Registering cases and conduct counseling before their parents on every
Saturday.
6. Impact of SHE Teams in Protecting Women
Since the day of formation of the SHE team to today there is a drastic change in
controlling the eve teasing and other small incidents at public places in the city. As per
the survey it is found that there is an overall reduction of around 20% offences
against women in Hyderabad due to the strict vigil kept by 'SHE Teams', which were
set up in 2014 to keep a watch on those harassing women.
Upto September, a total of 1296 cases of teasing and harassment among others
were booked as compared to 1521 in September 2015. Till September 2014, a total of
1606 such cases were registered. ‘SHE Teams' were launched on October 24, 2014 in
Hyderabad, with the sole aim and objective of curbing eve teasing/street harassment
and providing a safe and secure Hyderabad city to women.
“There is a drastic reduction of harassment against women in the public places

and a deterrence has been created among the boys as there is a sense of fear that the
'SHE Teams' are watching. The offences against women in Hyderabad have reduced
by around 20 per cent," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes and SIT) Swathi
Lakra said. She said till now a total of 800 persons were caught by the teams while on
patrol that included 222 minors and 577 adults. Apart from registering 1897 petty
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cases, 40 Nirbhaya Act cases, 33 IPC and IT Act cases in different police stations were
registered. As many as 41 persons were jailed, 242 persons were fined, 392 persons
were warned and let off, she said.
Offenders who harass women through phone calls, e-mails, social media etc are
tracked down by dedicated officers using the latest technology, Lakra explained. Till
now, a total of 2362 complaints were received through various means and attended to
which included 1,217 complaints from Dial 100, 322 from Facebook, 183 from email,
421 direct complaints, 44 Hawk eye (Mobile Application) and 175 WhatsApp
complaints.
The offenders included 28% minors while 46% constituted in the age group of
18-20 years, 21-40 years-35 %, 41-55 years-0.67 per cent and above 55 years at 0.33
per cent.
Stalking at 39 per cent topped the list of nature of offences, followed by

harassment over phone and passing lewd comments, both 21 per cent, harassment
through social media, sending photos, videos to mobile phones with 9 per cent,
touching inappropriately-3 per cent, taking photos without the knowledge of the
victim at 2 per cent besides creating nuisance near bus stands, girls colleges, hostels
etc. using two-wheelers and cars recorded 5 per cent.
The officers of a 'SHE Team', who are in civil dress, are deployed near colleges
and other public places. A single SHE Team comprises a male or female sub-inspector,
a woman police constable and three police constables, who carry hidden cameras for
video recording.
Most of the girls are coming forward towards informing the SHE teams by
calling 100 when they are facing the problems. Immediately the SHE team members
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are presented in the location and helping the gilrs or women towards eve teasing,
harassment or misbehavior in the public places.
7. Success Story of SHE Teams
The SHE Team received 86 complaints in April 2017, and after preliminary
investigation, 22 cases wherein offences were of severe in nature were registered.
Police then arrested 12 accused and produced them before court. All of them were sent
to judicial remand. Police said that most of the accused were in 18-30 age group. Group
discussion were done with the college girls to discuss about the role of SHE teams and
need of their protection in the society,
a. Case-1
In one case, cops arrested a 32-year-old businessman who had sexually

exploited and impregnated a software professional after promising to marry her.
When the victim started pressuring him to marry her, the accused convinced her to
undergo an abortion and then started avoiding the victim. SHE Team detectives
apprehended the offender and handed him over to the KPHB police.
b. Case-2
In another case, SHE Team detectives arrested a 28-year-old software engineer

for sexually exploiting a colleague after promising to marry her. The offender
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blackmailed the victim, threatening to share their intimate photographs online. The
accused was sent to judicial remand through KPHB police.
c. Case-3
A car driver was also held for sexually exploiting a married woman, who he was
in a relationship with, and her 16-year-old daughter. Without informing the mother,
the man took the minor girl to Bhongir, confined her in a room and sexually exploited
her for three months. When the girl returned home, her mother came to know about
the true face of her 'lover' and lodged a complaint with the SHE Team. The offender
was booked under the Nirbhaya and POCSO Acts. He was sent to judicial remand
through Jagadgirigutta police.
8. Some Tips Regarding Women Safety

 Self-defence techniques are the first and foremost thing to which each and every
woman must be aware of and get proper self-defence training for their safety. They
must be aware of some effective defiance techniques such as kicks to groin,
blocking punches, etc.
 Generally most of the women are gifted with sixth sense which they must use
whenever they become in some problem. They should at once avoid any situation
which they feel bad for them.
 Escape and run is also a good way to reduce some risks of women whenever they
become in problem. They should never go with any unknown person alone at some
unknown places.
 Women must understand and feel their physical power and use accordingly. They
never feel themselves weak than men and take some self-defence training.
 They should be careful while communicating with someone on internet in the
cyberspace.
 Pepper spray can also be proved as a useful self-defence tool however it has a
drawback that some people cannot be harmed through it even after full-face spray.
It may not stop the attacker so women should not depend on it completely and use
other techniques also.
 They must have all the emergency numbers with them and whatsapp also if
possible so that they can immediately tell to their family members and police.
 Women should be very conscious while driving the car and going to any trip. They
must lock all the doors of car while travelling with own or private car.
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The efforts of the SHE Team is appreciable by the public. Because most of the
girl students are feeling safety during their college time to be aware of the eve teasing
and other harassments. Even the working women felt happy that the SHE teams
members are going in the positive way and protecting the women from all the sources
of harassment.
The women are demanding to spread the functioning of the SHE teams even to
the rural areas too, so that the rural women who are ignorant and illiterate can also be
protected in the public places.
9. Conclusion
In Indian society women have had an extremely difficult time developing under the
oppression of a male dominated society, discrimination and violence. But now it’s the
time to break silence. Women are coming forward to raise the voice and complaint
against the violence. The government is taking initiatives to protect the women and
give equal respect to her in the society. There is a need for women to empower herself
and face the problems in the society.
References
1. Women’s Police Stations, Hyderabad

2. Gupta, Monobina (27 October 2006). "Malevolence for women's law – Men go to
PM against female 'terrorist activity'". The Telegraph, Calcutta. Archived from the
originalon 16 October 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
3. Sandhu, Veenu (5 November 2006). "Men running scared now". Hindustan Times.
Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
4. Jump up Sorabjee, Soli (5 November 2006). "SUNDAY DEBATE: Is verbal abuse
domestic violence? No". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
5. Interaction with the college Girls to know their opinion
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Indian Society at Crossroads in Handling Sexual Assault
Sumana B.
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Government First Grade College,
Hiriadka, Udupi District, Karnataka.
Srinivas M.
Assistant Professor of History, Government First Grade College,
Saligrama, Mysore District, Karnataka.
Abstract
Women’s position in society is the reflection of the attitude of the community towards them.
This mirrors the significance of their position in society. In India even though after having a
vicious cycle of ups and downs, the problems women face in general are taking forms of
complexities, thereby proving as a hurdle to their empowerment. Rape, a brutal form of
sexual attack on women, irrespective of age is becoming serious issue and malady in
contemporary India. Even though this heinous act incorporates brutal levels of assault on
women, the laws and enforcement bodies though have legalized punitive measures on the
assaulter or the guilty; lot needs to be done on a preventive perspective. This paper is a study
of society’s perception about sexual assault. The objective of the paper is to elaborate the
sensitivity of the victims of sexual assault and the response of the society in general
aftermath. It also incorporates the necessary preventive measures that could be taken on a
long footing which can curb this menace from the root of its ignorance itself. This would
enable the readers to understand the consequences of the assaulter and the mindset of the
present youth in general pertaining to the seriousness of the crime. The paper would
conclude with suggestions and recommendations in handling this issue from preventive
perspective.
1. Introduction
Rape is one of the worst of the sexual abuse encountered by a woman, which is
masked with stigma and silence. The etymological meaning of the word ‘rape’ is
derived from the Latin word ‘rapere’ which means to snatch, to grab or to carry off.
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, “Rape is defined as an unlawful sexual
activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury
against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or
incapable of valid consent.” In India however though there has been subsequent
change in the definition of rape under the Indian Penal Code. Through an ordinance
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even though the word sexual assault was sought instead of rape, the term has been
retained under section of 375. In spite of various developmental measures pertaining
to women’s empowerment which includes enhanced literacy rate, health care, active
participation in all allied fields of growth, this peril is curbing and creating trepidation
in the minds of women.
2. Current trends in Rape Situations in India
The recent 2013 global study conducted by the United Nations agencies with
regard to the mindset of the sexual assaulter, it was quite pervasive that 70 % of them
admitted that they committed the crime for sexual entitlement. Forty percent of them
confessed that they wanted to take vengeance on women and nearly fifty percent of
them admitted that they were not guilty of committing the crime. It is too alarming to
know that a rape occurs in India for every 22 minutes. Sexual assault including rape
has become an underreported crime due to the social stigma attached to it. Collusion
of familial position, shame and a matter of guilt associated with the victim make it
quite difficult for the family or the individual to advance with the legal measures.
In India mostly the most violent and brutal ones are reported and highlighted.
Neither police departments nor hospitals have any facility for trained trauma
counsellors to console and facilitate the victim to come out of the post traumatic
experience. Even filing criminal charges against the culprit, requires justification of
the attack from witnesses. This could also hamper the woman’s sexual past, which can
be tried by the defense to dishonor her allegation. The victim has to bear humiliation
and dishonor all through her life time. There are very many cases wherein the victim’s
family may resort to honour killing or may persuade the victim to have a forced
marriage with the culprit himself.
The J.S.Verma Report clearly indicated that the failures on the part of the
Government and Police were the root cause behind crimes against women. As per the
report and the subsequent ordinance promulgated, there has been subsequent change
in the definition of rape under the Indian Penal Code. Even though the word sexual
assault was sought instead of rape, the term has been retained under section of 375.
The sole purpose of its retention was to include acts in addition to vaginal penetration
alike in the case of Nirbhaya. Offences like acid attack, sexual harassment, voyeurism,
stalking have also been incorporated in the Indian Penal Code. The recent amendment
in the act has made the process of recording the statement more victim friendly. But
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all these aspects deal with post sexual assault, but there is need for preventive
measures that needs to be taken, which is the need of the hour.
3. Mindset of Indians with regard to the women and sex in general
In India throughout our socialization process in inducting value based notions

about female and women there is a lot of lacunae with respect to gender upheaval. The
women in India are treated as commodities. She isn’t allowed to assert herself
independently. Our society has derailed into transforming itself as a male chauvinistic
one. Men may be lacking virtue; they may be perverts, immoral and devoid of any good
qualities. Yet, women are constantly groomed to worship and serve their husband.
a. Notion of possessing: Social institutions like marriage are used to subordinate

women and demean her freedom, instead of elevating her and protecting her.
Especially in the rural set up, the notion of possessing women is more dominant in
the mindset of the youth and people in general. And also as sex and its education
is repressed in our society, marriage then becomes only approved vent for
expressing sexuality. As a result women are treated as commodities for lust
gratification and one sided pleasure. Usually it is common to see in human beings
that whenever there is an internal inadequacy due to incompleteness or vacuum in
the personality of a person, an urge to possess, subjugate and humiliate is always
seen. The urge to rape is indeed a deeper indication of this vacuum. Also in India
the patriarchal family system has groomed the psychological conditioning of the
male youth that women is the one who should be possessed, which has made her
status as nothing less than a commodity.
In India, the virtuousness of a woman is incepted and hyped in the minds of all,
hence when an act of sexual violence is on the happening, it humiliates not just the
woman, but also her entire family and community. The victim is always treated with
shame and suspicion. The claim that rape is all about power and dominance became a
worldwide tag, after feminist journalist Susan Brown Miller published her influential
work, “Against our Will” in 1975. The book has in fact changed the way we converse
about rape. The bollywood movie ‘Pink’ has very prudently highlighted the fact that
when a women encounters a physical relationship within an ambit of the institution of
marriage or outside , it will not be accepted or tolerated if she is not willing to go ahead
with it or if she resists it with a ‘NO’.
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Ancient India’s attitude towards sex was very broad and liberal. Sexuality was
just another aspect of ancient Indian life. When one carefully observes the ancient
Indian way of life, ancient texts, and temples architecture, this liberality is quite
evident. Sex was believed as a way to experience deep spiritual connections and
liberations. The phallic worship practiced in ancient India it is testimonial to that
consciousness and purity. But from being society of consciousness and purity we have
derailed into repressed and conservative one. Only by restoring our society into that
path we can empower our women from vast misconceptions and rigidity and make
them feel protected.
4. Mindset of Indians with regard to the Victim of Sexual Assault
In India empowering the sexual assault victim is a big question that ponders on
rehabilitating her socially, mentally and economically. We won’t as long as we have the
conservative and contemptible mindset on sex and its education. We still give so much
sanctity to sex and virginity. Growing up in her upbringing and socialization all her
life, she is told or invested to preserve the sanctity. When a sexual assault happens it’s
not the physical trauma that is excruciating but the mental trauma and very
fundamental layer of her belief that gets shattered. And we can never empower our
girls keeping them in this kind of conservative mindset where she is put under so much
of rigidities and misconceptions. The victim feels she will never be accepted; the
society will never stand by her. She will never be treated alike. Unable to find a
platform to console herself she feels vulnerable, she feels unprotected.
5. Is Law enforcement the only solution for this deep rooted problem?
Statistics prove that nearly 96% of the sexual assault occurs within the four
walls, wherein the tentacles of law enforcement just don’t reach the suppressed voices
for help or aid. Anytime a woman is assaulted, the law making bodies are questioned,
but nobody bothers to raise queries about the source of this problem, which includes
the family upbringing of the victim, schooling, community and the rest of which the
victim is associated. It was quite disgusting when one of the rape victims of the recent
Delhi rape case when interrogated quite blatantly commented on his brutality
mentioning that the victim should not have been out in the night which at the moment
of their urge made them to commit this gruesome act.
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A law or a sentence is only pertinent when things go wrong. Punishment is not
the sole answer for curbing rape. It is in fact a peripheral way of prevention. But it is
seen that perpetrator are quite careful in committing crimes. One may be very aware
of the chemical drug named rohypnol also known as the rape drug is quite familiar
among intentional sexual assaulters who used these medications on the victim and
commit the crime. The drug induces a state of automatism or dissociation that the
victim is unable to remember the perpetrator or even the event of crime. This is widely
used in rave parties and the like.
In most of the advanced countries the youth are generally free to do whatever
they want after they are 18. But in India our mind set which is groomed with our own
cultural backing and setup does not entertain our youth with this type of freedom.
Moreover there are a lot number of social institutions that they have to be bonded
before entering into socially acceptable relationships which include the caste, religion,
family, marriage institutions as a whole. Managing ones inherited emotions and
instincts with rudimentary system of rules and procedure and social norms of the
society often creates conflicts.
6. Solution
Apart from constitutional and legal back up and protection lot more needs to
be done on par with rehabilitation and wellbeing of the victims of sexual assault. With
reference to the victims who are belonging to the vulnerable space of haplessness with
no effective family backup, economic stability, it becomes the responsibility of the state
to see that the victims are recovered with the needed medical facilities and counselling
along with adequate rehabilitation, so that the victims may lead a life of dignity and
peace.
Individual transformation is indeed the most crucial things, which is

undermined in the very essence of socialization. A lot more needs to be done in this
aspect as it encompasses with the primary responsibilities of social institutions such
as family, schools, colleges, religion. For instance, when it comes to the role and
responsibility of family as a social institution, more emphasis is given in the peripheral
grooming of a child’s transformation pertaining to his schooling, employments, fast
track competitive examinations etc., but it has failed in investing to transform them
into more inclusive human beings. Here inclusion refers to being sensitized to the
basic issues relating to the nature of human being, compassion to the nature and
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people around him, empathy to the social problems that people face at large. Even
educational institutions have failed to encompass these qualities in students as they
too are after the mad rush in enhancing the students for achieving anything
materialistic as the primary goal of life.
Being reactionary is not an answer to any sexual assault, as this is not a

permanent solution to this problem. Though being reactionary is a short time process,
wherein when such incidents prevails, a lot of turmoil happens through agitation,
protests, marching on the streets and after sometime everything appears to be normal
like before. Moreover the guilty may be punished. But the root cause of the problem is
still there. Hence prevention and being responsible is the need of the hour if we want
to prevent our younger generation of being targeted and being sexual offenders in large
scale. Prevention is itself a long time commitment goal both for the state and the
community at large.
Aberrations and anomaly of personality are occurring in the population mainly

because we have failed to understand the fundamental issues pertaining to this
problem. Also there is a large cultural lag that is acting as hindrance in maintain the
juggle between the materialistic culture that we are acquainted at a larger scale, in
contrast to the non-materialistic culture that encompasses our belief systems, notions,
traditions, folkways and the rest. After the onset of technological revolution in the field
of communication in general, it is very common to see that the youth of the present
generation have an easy access to some of the wonderful gadgets right from their
childhood itself. The mobile phone and the gadgets have been an easy window for them
to access sleazy and atrocious content. It is at the peak of their hormonal surge that
the society has left them under utter confusion. The juggle and confusion in these
young minds have paved the way for all unseen happenings in young adolescents. With
reference to the under 18 age structure of the sexual assaulters who are convicted with
regard to the offences affecting human body, the highest crime rate is accorded on rape
and assault on women. This is a very clear indication that the youth in general are
going astray in maintaining a balance with the lag that is created in the cultural set up
and know how in our society. The lacunae of this gap which has resulted in a high crime
rates among youth with special reference to sexual assault and rape can be set right by
introducing apt sex education in schools and colleges, mandatory counselling facilities
in schools and colleges, a comprehensive personality grooming in strategies which
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includes inclusiveness of people and nature around them should be introduced with
utmost priority.
Technology has penetrated so deep that it’s successfully created a virtual

parallel world for gratifying sexual indulgence through simulation games. Millions of
violent and perverted video games are sold and are being devoured by people in large
number thereby nurturing a sick world of deviants. There are very many simulation
games with regard to rape and sexual assaults which acts in increasing the
vulnerability of the closeted rapists who undergo the same assault in the same mindset
within the four walls along with the street rapists. In fact when it comes to the
dimensions of psychological illness there is no difference between the two. The former
one is not convicted by law, but the latter one is convicted if proved guilty.
7. Conclusion
Law and legislations are dynamic in nature based on the current trends and
requirements of the society. In considering rape as a heinous crime which deters the
very basic freedom of women and her development, a lot more needs to be done in
preventive aspect of handling the crisis. The responsibility and onus of women in
distress cannot be assigned as the sole concern of the law making bodies and the
Government alone. In fact all institutions of the society as a whole should join hands
in galvanizing a curative, preventive and holistic approach in dealing with this malady,
and also we as a society instead of repressing sex and its education should be more
broad and empathetic thereby making our society much more safer and conducive for
our women to nurture their dreams and translate them into reality.
Reference
1. Crime in India, National Crime Records, Government of India, 2016 crime

statistics.
2. Criminal Law Amendment Act, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal Law

(Amendment) Act 2013.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date rape drug.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape in India.
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5. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape.
6. http://time.com/4062637/against-our-will-40/.
7. http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbap/docs/Research%20&%20Publications/
womens_empowerment/RBAP-Gender-2013-P4P-VAW-Report.pdf
8. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Indian Penal Code, New Delhi.
9. Madan V.K. and Sinha R.K.(2013). The Dynamics of Rape in Modern Indian
Society, Agora. International Journal of Juridical Sciences, Vol 7, No 4.
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Life Skills Initiatives are Effective Tools to Achieve Women’s
Empowerment
Annapoorni S.
Julian Joseph
Shankar A. G.
Senior Manager, Swasti Health Catalyst, Bangalore
Chakraborti Shaonli
Abstract
Women have always been disadvantaged in the economic, and socio-cultural spheres of
society; despite constituting one third of India’s workforce, existing gender inequalities and
discrimination prevent women from attaining their full potential and their contribution
remains invisible; thereby negatively affecting their lives. Swasti Health Catalyst aims to
empower people to lead health lives Swasti is strongly driven by the belief that its work
should challenge established norms, and break barriers - particularly, the inextricable link
between ill health and poverty - to innovate to create change. Swasti’s initiatives
address behaviours, systems and social determinants together to ensure the
wellbeing of most hard to reach populations. Communities are the central focus of
Swasti’s work. The organization works with rural and urban poor including young women
in factories, women in sex work, farming communities, marginalised gay men and
transgender people and factory workers. Swasti recognizes that the challenges to wellbeing
are not only limited to health, and hence its programs address the key enablers to health in
an integrated way. Swasti’s work has reached 29 countries and is nationally and
globally recognized. Our impact and recognitions in 2016-’17 here:
https://goo.gl/mbGiBd and to learn more about us, kindly visit our website:
www.swasti.org. Swasti has been implementing various women’s empowerment initiatives
in the garment and manufacturing sector since 2007 and empowered 121,557 women across
168 factories in India. These initiatives build women’s capacities to achieve personal and
professional growth, and create an enabling ecosystem by institutionalizing capacities
within industries to sustain women’s empowerment agenda. Life Skills trainings has
emerged as a significant tool in empowering women, by improving their knowledge and
skills to cope with life challenges and facilitating access to services that improve the quality
of their lives. Evidence indicates positive impact of life skills education on women’s personal
and professional advancement1, and adequate Return on Investment (RoI)2 for businesses
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such as improved productivity (by 5%), reduced absenteeism (by 20%) and late-coming (by
77%), reduced attrition and reduced gender pay gap (by 1.35 USD or 40%). Life skills
initiatives have immediate and long term impact on the lives of women, contributing to
women’s empowerment.
Key Words: Women empowerment; Life skills; Gender equality; Return on

investment; Swasti Health Catalyst.
1. Introduction
The garment and manufacturing sectors are one of the most labor-intensive
industry that provides a gateway for developing countries to enter into the global
market. India and several of the South East Asian countries have done exactly that.
Textile and garment industry in India contributes 14% to industrial production, 4% to
India’s GDP and constitutes 16% of the country’s export earnings 3. Growth in
production and exports in the sector is predicted to boom in the coming years and
offering lakhs of job opportunity.
Therefore empowerment of women in the garment and manufacturing supply

chain is crucial for furthering industrial growth - particularly in the garment sector. So
what does it mean when we say that a woman is empowered? The United Nations
Population Fund recognizes an empowered woman as one with a sense of self-worth,
ability to participate in decision making and exercise choices, of pursuing her
life/career/livelihood based on access to wide range of opportunities and resources
available to her to achieve her goals. The UNDP Human Development report
recognizes gender equality and women’s empowerment as integral to discussions on
development, at both the national and international levels4.
Life Skills have been recognized as an effective tool for women’s empowerment.
Life skills training which focuses on using participatory learning methods is known to
improve one’s psychosocial skills and abilities to deal with and manage life challenges5.
Life skills contribute to women’s empowerment by equipping them with knowledge
and skills to make informed choices and decisions on their health, income and
expenditure, pregnancy and family planning, children’s development and education,
and achieve a gender equitable ecosystem in their communities, nations and at the
global level.
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2. Swasti’s life skills training programs
Swasti Health Catalyst, is a not for profit organization headquartered in

Bangalore. Established in 2004, Swasti Health Catalyst aims to empower people and
communities to lead healthy lives.
Swasti is strongly driven by the belief that its work should challenge established
norms, and break barriers - particularly, the inextricable link between ill health and
poverty - to innovate to create change. Swasti’s initiatives address behaviours, systems
and social determinants together to ensure the wellbeing of most hard to reach
populations. Communities are at the centre of our work, and we have reached 29
countries across the globe to deliver solutions for people to lead better lives. We work
with rural and urban poor including young women in factories, women in sex work,
farming communities, marginalized gay men and transgender people and factory
workers.
For over a decade, Swasti has been using Life Skills to empower 124,086 women
in 168 factories across 14 states and one Union Territory in India through life skills
training. Swasti has developed 628 trainers and 5006 peer educators. In particular,
this training has been implemented in 168 factories with 4483 supervisors and
management trained, and Swasti’s geographical reach in implementing women
empowerment initiatives extends to 11 South-East Asian countries with Technical
Support in the area.
This paper is a synthesis document based on two independent studies

conducted by Tufts Labor Lab and the International Center for Research on Women
(ICRW) on two flagship life skills initiatives of Swasti -- the Women in Factories
program executed in partnership with Walmart Foundation and the P.A.C.E. (Personal
Advancement and Career Enhancement) program implemented in partnership with
Gap Inc. Both programs have been implemented on a large scale covering several
countries and have positively impacted the lives of workers and enabled adequate
return on investment for business.
3. Women’s empowerment models
Women constitute a large portion of the workforce in the garment and

manufacturing sector, constituting about 49.6% of labour participation according to
the 2015 Human Development report6. However existing gender barriers and poor
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economic backgrounds hinder both personal and professional growth of women,
including occupying managerial positions. Given this context, Swasti’s life skills
programs work with women in the garment and manufacturing sector and empower
them to enhance their personal and professional advancement. About 16 ongoing
workplace initiatives contribute to women’s empowerment by building their life skills.
This paper describes two large scale women empowerment models - the WiF and
P.A.C.E. programs which work with women to empower them and promote their
employability and professional advancement.
a. Women in factories (WIF) program
Launched in 2011, in partnership with Walmart Foundation, as part of the

Women Economic Empowerment Initiative (WEEI), the ‘Women in Factories’ (WiF)
was initially a five year program that aimed to train 60,000 women in 150 factories
across 5 countries (India, Bangladesh, China, El Salvador and Honduras). The
program was initiated in India in 2011 and implemented in 34 factories across four
states (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Punjab) and Union Territory of Daman
until 2017.
The program aims 'to build a system that focuses on enhancing capacities of
women workers to attain their full potential in all spheres of life by strategically
engaging women, men, family, factories and communities’. The key program
objectives include: (1) Enhancing capacities of women on life skills education to help
them overcome life challenges, (2) Strengthening the systems (capacity building - life
skills and technical) within the factory that recognizes and promotes talent,
particularly of women workers leading to women attaining full potential, and (3)
Creating an enabling environment at work and personal spaces by empowering
stakeholders to identify barriers and develop capacities to address the same.
Two levels of training were delivered to build life skills of women and empower
them to achieve their personal and professional growth and create an ecosystem to
sustain the program:
 Foundational Training: builds life skills of women on personal and workplace

advancement through a 15 hour training program on topics of Communication,
Managing Work and Career, Gender Awareness, Health, Workplace Discipline and
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Learning Application. It is a course for all the workers in the factory including men
and women.
 Advanced Training: It is an intensive course designed exclusively for women that
builds their life skills and leadership skills through an 80 hour training curriculum
on Health, Gender, Financial Inclusion, Life Skills, and Workplace Excellence etc.
b. Personal advancement and career enhancement (P.A.C.E.) program
The Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.), program,

launched in 2007, aims to empower women garment workers in the Gap Inc., supply
chain through training on life skills. It aims to build the managerial and life skills of
women to promote their personal and professional growth in supply chains, which in
turn positively impacts production at the workplace.
The P.A.C.E. program aims to enhance personal and professional growth of

women garment workers, through 65 to 80 hours of life skills training, followed by
technical skills training. The entire curriculum stretched over a period of 8 to 10
months, covers a wide range of life skills topics crucial for personal and professional
growth of the women garment workers like (1) Communication, (2) Problem Solving
and Decision Making, (3) Time and Stress Management, (4) Execution Excellence, (5)
General and Reproductive Health, (6) Financial Literacy and (7) Legal Literacy and
Social Entitlements. Execution Excellence stood out as a unique module that enabled
workers to apply their newly learned skills at the workplace. The topic of gender was
incorporated within all the modules and addressed gender roles and norms, and how
gender has an influence on opportunities and access to resources, particularly for
women.
 Program reach and impact
Both the Women in Factories and P.A.C.E. programs reached a large number of
workforce across several countries. As of 2014, 48,729 women completed
Foundational training in 82 factories as part of the WiF program across India,
Bangladesh, China, El Salvador and Honduras. About 2,546 women were trained
on leadership through advanced training.
In India, the WiF program trained 26,022 workers through Foundational

training out of which 21,885 (84%) were women. It sensitized 1620 middle
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management representatives and Supervisors on workers issues and improved
workplace relationships within factories. About 141 factory trainers were developed
through the Training of Trainers (ToT) approach8, and 1320 Peer Educators9 were
developed to sustain learning outcomes from the program through regular outreach
with their coworkers on program topics. At the end of Phase II, 4221 women
completed advanced training and by utilizing the lessons learnt at the workplace, 31
women across 14 factories advanced in their careers to the next position.
Launched in 2007 in two garment factories in India, the P.A.C.E. program

has since expanded to 7 countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia,
Jordan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam) and reached 65000 women.
c. Evaluation of life skills as a tool for women empowerment
Both the Women in Factories and P.A.C.E. programs were evaluated for impact
of women empowerment on the personal lives of the women, as well as the returns it
enabled for businesses as a result of a sense of wellbeing created by these programs.
The Women in Factories program was evaluated by the Tufts Labor Lab, a
collaborative institute that engages in research to identify viable systems to improve
the working conditions and worker wellbeing in factories in developing countries.
Tufts University collaborated with Walmart Foundation to evaluate the Women in
Factories programs in India, Bangladesh, Honduras and El Salvador. The impact
evaluation, funded by Walmart Foundation was conducted across seven factories in
India and Bangladesh from 2014 to 2016 through a randomized controlled trial (RCT)
with support of Swasti Health Catalyst in India and CARE in Bangladesh. The
Foundational training trial covered 1025 participants, while the advanced training
experiment covered 1150 participants.
Workers, Supervisors and Managers participated in the study, and participants

were assigned randomly to two training batches.
Builds capacity of the factory trainers to implement Foundational and

Advanced level life skills training for workers. ToTs are provided 21 days of intense
coaching to become effective life skills trainers.
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Selected factory workers are trained as Peer Educators to share learnings on life
skill topics with their co-workers through one on one, one to group interaction, and
formal outreach.
 The study began with a baseline evaluation of the two training batches constituting
workers, Supervisors and Managers.
 After the baseline, the first batch was trained.
 After completion of training for the first batch, the workers, supervisors and
managers were surveyed through a midline assessment
 Post completion of the midline, the second batch was trained.
 Post training of the second batch, an end line survey was conducted for workers
supervisors and managers.
The baseline was completed for 1025 participants, midline for 942 respondents
and end line for 859 workers. Factories which participated in the survey tracked six
key performance indicators such as late-coming, absenteeism, efficiency, product
defects, accidents and separations.
The Tufts evaluation indicated positive workplace outcomes and return on

investment for business, such as reduced late days, improved productivity, reduced
workforce turnover, reduced absenteeism, reduced gender pay gap, increased sense of
pride in work, teamwork and problem solving, increased receptivity to women
supervisors, and reduced acceptance of gender based violence and stereotypes.
Advanced training helped workers learn how to earn a promotion, use purified water,
use personal protective equipment and manage stress.
Impact evaluation of P.A.C.E. funded by Gap Inc., was conducted by ICRW

(International Centre for Research on Women) from 2009 to 2013 in six factory sites
- two in India and one each in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China and Vietnam. The entire
cohort of participants who underwent the P.A.C.E. training were interviewed and
researchers conducted in-depth interviews with about 7 to 16 supervisors at each
factory site at the end of the program. A global monitoring data system was also used
to collect data in addition to the evaluations to provide information on impact from
the program to the factories.
For the P.A.C.E. study, participants were selected from a pool of workers who
expressed interest to be part of the program. The workers were randomly chosen
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through a lottery to be a part of the training. Randomization was conducted at two
levels - at the line level and at individual levels within treatment lines. Five units of
one factory were chosen for the study, comprising of 112 production lines across these
5 units. For randomization at the line level, approximately, about two-thirds of the
production lines were randomly selected for treatments, constituting 80 treatment
lines and 32 control lines.
The second level of randomization was conducted within lines that were already
selected for treatment. A fixed number of workers (about 13 to 14) were chosen from
each treatment line to be part of the P.A.C.E. program. Totally, 1087 workers were
randomly selected for treatment. Four standard global indicators were created to
measure outcomes – self-esteem, self-efficacy, work efficacy and influence on the
workplace environment and a consistent pattern of positive changes in both social and
business outcomes were observed across all the six sites of evaluation post the
evaluation.
4. Impact of life skills on women empowerment indicators key

findings
The overall findings from both the Women in Factories and P.A.C.E. programs
point towards a definitive positive impact on the personal and professional growth of
women in the garment and manufacturing sector. It also indicates a positive trend in
key performance workplace indicators, which are described below:
a. Gender equality
Life skills is an effective tool to empower women on addressing gender

stereotypes and discrimination, which has its roots in our patriarchal society.
Improved awareness on gender stereotypes, violence against women and services
available to address violence have been some key outcomes from life skills programs.
b. Self-esteem and acceptance of women in leadership roles
Both the WiF and P.A.C.E. programs exhibit a beneficial impact of life skills
training on women in improving their self-esteem/self-confidence. While the ICRW
study on the P.A.C.E. program reported a 49% increase in self-esteem and 150%
increase in self efficacy10, the Women in Factories program demonstrated that
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improved knowledge on the fact that gender roles are learned, leads to self-confidence
at work and improved acceptance of women in supervisory positions.
Fig 1: Depicts the relationship between support from supervisors and women’s
preference for a male supervisor over a female supervisor
The Tufts impact evaluation of life skills training on gender shows that when
there is lesser verbal abuse, women feel more confident at work and believe that
women can be good supervisors. The report compares this outcome to the relationship
between sexual harassment and women empowerment. It reports that when women
face less verbal abuse at the workplace, they are empowered to accept other women in
supervisory positions.
c. Role of supervisors/managers in women’s empowerment
Supervisors are the immediate line of contact for workers in the production line,
and act as a crucial link between workers and management. There is adequate evidence
to demonstrate that in most factories, relationships between workers and supervisors
is not conducive and leads to conflicts at the workplace. The Women in Factories
program aimed to sensitize Supervisors on women’s issues to enable empowerment
within workplaces.
The Tufts evaluation indicates that women’s empowerment is intricately linked

to support from supervisors in the factory. When supervisors show support, women
were more likely to show more improvements even months after completion of
training, and women are less likely to feel that they would rather work for a male
supervisor, indicating more acceptance of women in supervisory positions.
d. Gender roles and empowerment
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Women’s development is often impeded due to the dual roles that women have
to play in managing responsibilities of their homes and the workplace. The
responsibility of domestic chores and childcare are exclusively reserved for women.
The Tufts evaluation indicates that life skills training did not have a significant impact
on workers understanding of gender socialization. However, it does reveal that when
women receive help with household chores and childcare at home from their family
members, they have better control over time, and are incentivized to take up the role
of supervisors. This in turn has a direct and two-fold impact on empowerment. Women
who receive help with childcare and chores at home, are likely to feel more confident
at work and view other women as able and competent supervisors. When women feel
more confident, they seem to show lesser preference to a male supervisor. It could be
related the theory that when women gain more power, they are likely to feel more
confident in assuming managerial and other roles of hierarchy within the factory.
e. Empowerment reduces tolerance to violence
Life skills training improves knowledge on gender discrimination and violence,

and reduces tolerance among women towards violence with time.
Fig 2: Indicates improved responses among

Fig 3: Shows that women are less likely to
women soon after training, about the
tolerate violence to keep their family together
perception of men and women’s behaviour
months after the training
is learned while growing up
This is corroborated by the findings of the Tufts evaluation of the WiF program
which demonstrates that the 100 hour Advanced training led to positive changes in
women’s knowledge about gender stereotypes and violence. Immediately after the
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training, women’s perceptions that most differences in men and women’s behaviour
are learned improved. An interesting piece of evidence that has emerged from the
advanced training is that women exhibited lower tolerance towards violence, and were
less likely to tolerate it months after the training.
f. Personal advancement
Life skills contributes to personal advancement of women by equipping them

with adequate skills to deal with their life challenges and find ways to overcome them.
Evidence from both the Women in Factories and P.A.C.E. programs indicate that life
skills training promotes personal advancement of workers in different spheres.
g. Health and hygiene
Women participants were trained on different aspects of health through both

the WiF and P.A.C.E programs such as Nutrition, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene,
Menstrual Hygiene Reproductive Health and Family Planning, Occupational Health
and Safety (including use of Personal Protective Equipment) etc. After the training,
positive health outcomes were witnessed from both programs.
h. Use of safe drinking water
Impact evaluation of the Women in Factories program indicates improved

awareness among workers on important health indicators like drinking purified water.
Participants were taught that boiling water before use for drinking, will kill bacteria
and reduce illness. The Tufts evaluation on WiF indicates that more number of
workers reported using safe water (boiled or filtered) for drinking, which in turn led
to improved health and wellbeing of self and family.
Fig 4: Indicates that workers are using boiled or purified water to drink based on
their knowledge of the topic from the training
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i. Use of personal protective equipment and eating breakfast
Life skills training built knowledge of participants on the importance of using

personal protective equipment (PPEs) and eating breakfast. This is evident from the
Tufts Evaluation of Women in Factories that clearly indicates improved usage of
(PPEs) after the training, and it increased with time, with continued use of PPEs
among workers post the training.
Fig 5: Shows improved usage of personal protective equipment at work, which is

another important indicator for good health.
Fig 6: Reveals a decrease in dizziness and fainting at work due to improved habit of
eating breakfast among workers.
Through life skills training, women were empowered to look after their health
as it was found that most of them skipped their breakfast in the morning. Consequently
frequent bouts of dizziness and fainting was reported on the shop floor. After the
training, dizziness and fainting were reported to decrease over time where there is high
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support from the management. The Tufts evaluation of the WiF program indicates that
dizziness decreases after training, and the impact increases with time. Workers who
ate their breakfast regularly reported better health and improved performance at
work.
j. Mental health and wellbeing
Life skills training improves resilience among workers to deal with life
situations as a result of improved self-esteem/self-confidence. Both the WiF and
P.A.C.E. programs built resilience among participants and improved their perception
of self, leading to improved mental health.
The ICRW study on the P.A.C.E. program reports that training positively
affected personality traits like conscientiousness, perseverance, extraversion and self-
sufficiency, with significant impact on extraversion (the ability of women to become
more open, and enjoy being around their peers). P.A.C.E. training was found to
increase self-regard of workers with respect to their performance at the workplace,
with reduced comparisons with their peers. Also, P.A.C.E. training increased
participants’ aspirations for their children's education.
Fig 7: Indicates improved mental health among workers who were trained through
Foundational training. Improved mental health positively impacts productivity in the
factory.
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The Tufts evaluation of Foundational training reveals an improved sense of self-
worth and value at the workplace among workers. Life skills training equipped workers
with skills to manage conflict and stress. The study also indicated that when managers
support the training, there are immediate positive effects on mental health which
increase with time.
k. Financial planning and accessing government schemes
Life skills programs aim to improve the socio economic status of workers by
imparting information on financial planning, budgeting etc. and adoption of lessons
learnt are known to enable positive changes among participants. Both the WiF and
P.A.C.E. programs enhanced knowledge of participants on improved management of
finances and improved their economic status by enhancing investment in government
based schemes.
The ICRW study on P.A.C.E. program indicates a 30% increase in saving for
own self and children’s education. This finding is intricately linked to mental wellbeing
of workers with increased aspirations for their children. The P.A.C.E. program also
improved access to government based programs such as government pension and
government subsidized healthcare, while there was no visible impact in availing
workplace based entitlements and other government programs.
The Tufts evaluation of the WiF program revealed that workers having life goals
were more inclined towards financial planning and budgeting. Workers reported that
when they had a life goal, they were more likely to use a budget, and using a budget in
turn had an impact on whether the worker would use a bank. The study findings
indicate that trained women were more likely to use a budget and proactively save
money. Also when a worker is confident in voicing her opinion, she is more likely to be
involved in the decision making process at home, and has a say in deciding how to
spend the family income.
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5. Engendering the pay gap and professional advancement
Fig 8: Depicts an increase in salary among P.A.C.E. participants by less than 0.5 USD
Both the WiF and P.A.C.E. programs aim to equip women with skills that
improve their employability and career advancement. Women are imparted training
on leadership skills which improves their ability and confidence in taking on greater
responsibilities at the workplace. Life skills training in the P.A.C.E. program was
supplemented by technical training to improve women's prospects of advancing at the
workplace.
The ICRW study on P.A.C.E. indicates that trained workers received on an

average, less than half percent more wages after completing the program, which
translates to about 30 INR or less than 0.5 USD per month. Therefore it is evident that
despite training, treatment, workers were not receiving significantly higher wages
although they were assigned more tasks.
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Fig 9: Shows a reduced gender pay gap among respondents who participated in
Foundational training by 40%
The Tufts evaluation of the WiF program indicated reduced gender pay gap by
1.35 USD equivalent to 40% post the life skills training. The life skills training
increased intrinsic value of work among workers, and improved their teamwork and
problem solving abilities, which led to increased productivity, enabling women to earn
more after the training.
The ICRW study on P.A.C.E. indicates that after the training, workers’
expectation of a promotion in the next six months increased by 8.7 percentage points,
and 16% workers reported a need for skill development training. Workers also
reported an increased ranking for self than their peers in terms of technical skills.
The Tufts study on WiF demonstrated that workers who underwent the WiF
Advanced training program learnt how to get a promotion, which in turn influences
whether women have life goals. Promotions can pave the way for women to achieve
their life goals through a better position and higher pay. Data collected from across the
factories that implemented WiF indicate that 31 women from across 14 factories
advanced to the next position in their careers, after being trained on leadership
through advanced training.
6. Workplace performance indicators
Both the life skills initiatives, the P.A.C.E. and the WiF programs were
evaluated for impact on key workplace performance indicators. A productive
workforce is crucial to any organization, and both programs have generated evidence
that exhibit a positive impact of life skills on workplace indicators like productivity,
absenteeism, turnover or retention, days late etc.
a. Retention or separation or workforce turnover
Life skills training positively impacted retention in both the P.A.C.E. and WiF
programs. While the impact of training on retention through the P.A.C.E. program is
small as reported by the ICRW study, pronounced impact of life skills training was
observed with both Foundational and Advanced training of the WiF program.
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Fig 10: Reveals a reduction in workforce turnover among WiF Foundational training
participants
The Tufts evaluation demonstrated that training reduced workforce turnover or

separation from 30 to 23 per 100 workers for a given period of time. 77 workers who
underwent Foundational training were still employed during the midline survey, and
60 workers who were trained in the first batch were still employed in the factory during
the end line.
In the case of advanced training, the Tufts evaluation reported a reduced

workforce turnover from 30 to 21 workers per 100 workers over a given period. It was
reported that out of 100 workers who were trained, 79 were still working in the factory
up to the midline assessment and 57 workers from the first batch were still working in
the factory at the time of end line assessment. In the control group which was not
subjected to treatment, only 70 workers were retained at the time of the midline and
only 49 workers were retained during the end line.
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Fig 11: Indicates a reduction in workforce turnover among the WiF Advanced
training participants
b. Productivity and task complexity
Life skills initiatives improve productivity at the workplace. It instills improved

communication and negotiation skills in participants, enabling them to achieve
improved workplace relationships. Stress management and time management skills
play a crucial role in enhancing productivity at the workplace. The WiF and P.A.C.E.
programs equipped participants with adequate life skills that enhanced their
performance at the workplace, but it was reported that in response to increased
productivity, factories increased the productivity target or assigned more complex
tasks to workers.
Fig 12: Reveals an increase in efficiency among workers trained through the P.A.C.E.
program throughout the program period.
The ICRW study reports that the P.A.C.E. program resulted in increased
efficiency throughout the training period. After training, efficiency increased by 32%
among trained workers and had a strong impact on productivity on completion of the
program. However, workers were assigned with more complex tasks after completing
the P.A.C.E. program and they were found to be more productive with the harder tasks
after training.
Tufts evaluation on the impact of WiF Foundational training on productivity

indicated that experienced workers are likely to be more productive after training.
Efficiency rate among women was 69.5 for women before the training, but post the
program, it increased by 5% to 73%. Also, out of 100 workers who had less than a year
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of experience, 51 workers became productive enough to earn a productivity bonus.
Among workers with two to three years of experience, 63 were likely to earn a
productivity bonus.
With respect to Advanced training, the Tufts evaluation demonstrates that the
efficiency rate (that is the number of pieces produced by a worker versus the target)
among women increased from 69.5 to 73.0 which is equivalent to a 5% increase in
productivity. Factories responded to increase in efficiency by increasing the
production target. As per the Tufts study findings, targets were increased by 15.4% for
workers who had just completed their training and by 39.2% for participants’ months
after the training.
Table A: Indicates an increase in the number of workers achieving their production

targets after the WiF Advanced training
Another interesting finding from the Tufts evaluation denotes an improvement

among trained workers in achieving their production targets. The Tufts evaluation
reveals an 8 percentage point increase in workers meeting their production targets
(from 88% before training to 96% after the training).
c. Absenteeism
The P.A.C.E. and WiF initiatives sensitized workers on their roles in the supply
chain and how absenteeism impacts their salary. Workers were encouraged to come to
work regularly in order to avail incentives and bonuses which in turn would impact
their financial status in the long run. This is corroborated by the ICRW study which
indicates that workers who were trained through the P.A.C.E. program attended work
regularly during the first two months of the program, and absences were authorized
(informed) during this period.
The Tufts evaluation further strengthened this finding, and reported reduced
absenteeism during the course of the study by 20%. Before the study, workers who
remained in the factory reported 0.97 days absenteeism per month. Days absent
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declined to 0.90 just after start of the program, and over time, it reduced to 0.69 per
month.
d. Late days or late coming
When workers arrive late to work, it disrupts the smooth flow of production, as
in the case of absenteeism. The training curriculum of the WiF and P.A.C.E. program
included time and stress management sessions, which benefited the workers in terms
of late days. Although the ICRW study does not present a strong evidence on late days,
the Tufts Evaluation presents a strong case for impact of life skills training on late days.
Fig 13: Indicates reduced late days among WiF Foundational training participants
after the program
The evaluation of Foundational training by Tufts reports that for every 100
women workers, late days reduced from 45 to 17 per month. Advanced training led to
a reduction in late days by 77%. Participants reported an average of 0.44 days late per
month before training but days late declined to 0.33 immediately after training and
further reduced to 0.10 over time.
e. Workplace accidents
The WiF Advanced training focused on workplace safety and sensitized

participants on the need to maintain compliance with respect to using and storing
factory material. It encouraged the use of PPEs among workers for improved health
outcomes. Consequently, the Tufts evaluation of advanced training reports fewer
injuries among participants post the training. Before training, on an average, workers
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reported being injured rarely. After start of the training and over the course of time,
workers reported being midway between rarely and never injured.
f. Increased pride in work, teamwork and problem solving
The Advanced life skills curriculum of the WiF program focused on inculcating
a sense of pride and responsibility among workers on their roles at the workplace. Post
the training, the Tufts evaluation concurrently reports an increased sense of pride
among workers in their work. With time, workers reported a further increase in sense
of pride in their work, months after the training.
Workers were trained on teamwork and helping each other at the workplace.
Consequently, the Tufts study reports that trained workers were more likely to help
their coworkers. After the program, workers reported increased instances of helping
their coworkers. The Tufts study findings also reports that when workers were asked
how they would respond upon being ignored, they stated being aware of dealing with
the situation through assertive communication, instead of keeping quiet or being
aggressive. The study also substantiates that in factories where managers intensely
support the program, workers developed improved problem solving skills which
increased over time, and persisted after the program. The Foundational training
equipped workers with skills to address a disagreement with a worker or supervisor by
arriving at a mutually agreed upon solution that works for both of them.
7. Women’s empowerment contributes to socially accountable business
Programs such as P.A.C.E and Women in Factories help firms to improve

retention of workforce through life skills training. Retaining human capital developed
through work experience is most beneficial to firms/organizations. Investing in life
skills training improves productivity and pay among the workforce through
empowerment, and helps factories in retaining its best workers.
Life skills initiatives result in adequate Return on Investment for firms. Return
on Investment evaluation of both the P.A.C.E. and the Women in Factories program is
high as reported by the ICRW and Tufts evaluations respectively. The return on
investment (ROI) for the Women in Factories program was measured for both
Foundational and advanced training. In case of Foundational training, factories
recovered the time lost in training in less than 1.7 months through increased
productivity, reduced late days and turnover. The time lost in advanced training was
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recovered by factories in about a month through reduced late coming, days absent and
increased productivity.
The P.A.C.E. program return on investment (ROI) through productivity

accounts for more than 70% as reported by the ICRW study on the program. The net
return on investment at the end of the program period was reported at about 73%, and
costs incurred by the factory in investing in the program had been recovered along
with 73% additional returns. When the ROI was measured after 20 months of program
completion, the net rate of return was calculated to be 258%.
Given the global focus that empowering workers through life skills training
leads to their overall wellbeing, there is a need for organizations to invest in their
human capital and empower them for a socially accountable, responsible and
sustainable business. This would lead to a socially accountable supply chain that
ensures human dignity and rights.
8. Conclusion
This paper is a study of the impact of life skills training on women’s

empowerment through two large scale programs - P.A.C.E. and WiF which contribute
to sustainable business and workers development. The life skills programs lead to
women’s empowerment, through a multitude of factors. Improved communication
and reduced conflict with supervisors increases feeling of being respected at work,
improves workplace relationships leading to improved productivity and quality of
work. Reduced gender stereotypes improves women’s confidence at work, and reduced
verbal abuse positively impacts confidence and receptivity to women supervisors.
Improved confidence at home leads to increased control among women over

the number of children, seeking help from family members with housework and
childcare and participation in decisions about spending the family income. When
women feel small and unimportant, or anger and frustration with their family
members, their confidence decreases. When women understand that gender roles are
learned, it improves their confidence in the family, and ability to negotiate for equal
opportunities for sons and daughters.
Empowerment is therefore crucial in sustainable development of women, their

families, and communities. Investing in skills training for women’s empowerment
leads to socially accountable, responsible and sustainable business. To ensure that the
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efforts of empowerment reaches every poor and marginalized woman worker across
the globe, there is a need to scale up such life skills initiatives, to achieve worker
wellbeing, equip workers with adequate skills to manage personal and professional
challenges, and lead a better quality of life. This calls for action to actively involve all
stakeholders in the supply chain such as brands, factories, civil society, academic
institutions, and government organizations for a collective effort to integrate the
women’s empowerment agenda into their organization’s vision to create an
empowered workforce which actively contributes to the national and global economy,
thereby strengthening the process of women’s development worldwide.
References
1. Achyuta Adhvaryu et al, The Skills to Pay the Bills: Returns to On-The-Job Soft
Skills Training, DEP'T. INT. DEV. (2017), https://www.gov.uk/dfid-research-
outputs/soft-skills-to-pay-the-bills-evidence-from-female-garment-workers.
2. Jade Woo et al., Women in Factories Evaluation, TUFTS LABOR LAB (2017),
https://sites.tufts.edu/laborlab/projects/wif/#working.
3. India Law Offices, Indian Textile Industry,
http://www.indialawoffices.com/ilo_pdf/industry-reports/textileindustry.pdf.
4. UNDP, Human Development Report 2016: Human Development for Everyone,
http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/humandevelopment/HDR16%
20Report.pdf.
5. UNICEF, Definition of Terms,
https://www.unicef.org/lifeskills/index_7308.html.
6. Walmart Foundation, Overview of Women in Factories Training Program,
https://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/50/15/061c23244012b869400e493cb204/o
verview-ofwomen-in-factory-training-program.pdf.
7. International Center for Research on Women, Advancing Women, Changing Lives
a Comprehensive Evaluation of the Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. Program,
https://www.icrw.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/10/PACE_Report_PRINT_singl
es_lo.pdf.
8. Directorate General for Internal Policies, Women's Empowerment & Its Links to
Sustainable Development: In-Depth Analysis,
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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/556927/IPOL_ID
A(2016)556927_EN.pdf.
9. IRCW, Innovation for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality,
https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Innovation-for-
WomensEmpowerment.pdf.
10. UNECE, Empowering Women for Sustainable Development,
https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/Gender/publication/UNECE_Discussio
n_Paper_ 2012.1.pdf.
11. DAC Network on Gender Equality, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Issues
Paper, https://www.oecd.org/dac/genderdevelopment/47561694.pdf.
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Effectiveness of Gender Budget of Jharkhand as a Tool of
Gender Mainstreaming
Neha Prasad
Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Ranchi University
Abstract
Gender Budget is considered as an effective tool of gender mainstreaming. Due to

international commitments, it has become compulsion for all the states to prepare Gender
Budget. The job of establishment of gender equality do not end by preparing mere Gender
Budget. The effectiveness of Gender Budget depends upon the quality of its contents and
actual realization of its promises at the policy and implementation level. Generally, it is
prepared to fulfill the quorum by skipping most of the steps of gender analysis. There is a
number of gaps between expectations and realities, which are hardly got discussed or
analysed. This paper has critically evaluated all those gaps between expectations and
realities in the first two Gender Budgets of Jharkhand. Gender Budgeting in Jharkhand is in
burgeoning phage and requires a number of amendments, adjustments and restructuring in
Government’s different policies, planning, implementation and monitoring procedures for
being an effective tool. Lack of clarity on concept, skipping of crucial steps and unavailability
of pre-requisites are openly apparent which reveals the seriousness and will power of
political leaders towards international conventions. The paper highlights the need for open
discussions and empirical research on conceptual and methodological aspects of Gender
Budget so that it can serve its purpose effectively.
1. Introduction
Out of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), gender equality is the most

important one, as its realization sustenance attainment of other goals simultaneously.
Equality between women and men (gender equality): refers to the equal rights,
responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does
not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s
rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born
male or female2. The UN and other international organizations has developed a

number of tools and strategies to attain the greater level of gender equality. Among
them gender mainstreaming is the most important one. As defined by the United
Nations, gender mainstreaming is: “… the process of assessing the implications for
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women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes,
in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s
concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and
societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not
perpetuated”.
It is a way to make women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an

integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
policies and programs in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women
and men benefit equally. Thus, it is not a goal or objective on its own, but a strategy to
attain the goal of gender equality4. It is currently the main internationally accepted
approach to promoting equality. It aims to make all government policies, programmes
and implementation gender-sensitive, instead of formulation of women centric
programmes.
Finance is the key element for implementation of any policy or programme at

the ground level. The political parties make a number of promises to attain their
political agendas. When they come in government, they are not always serious to fulfill
all those promises, unless or until they are persuaded to do so. The intention of
government and its seriousness can be assessed only though assessment of financial
allocations made to different sectors in the public budget, if it is making policies and
programmes as per the promises made earlier or not. Thus, budget is the most
important and influencing document which reveals will and intention of the
government. Initially, Budget was considered as gender-neutral, but it is not. It affects
men and women in different way due to their differently assigned role and
responsibilities in the society. If budget is gender sensitive, it will promote gender
equality; it might also strengthen gender discrimination by promoting those policies
and programmes which are gender stereotyped. Thus, to attain both the motives - to
initiate the procedures of gender mainstreaming at the government level and to assess
the willingness of government towards gender equality, assessment of government
budget from gender perspective, popularly known as gender responsive budgeting
(GRB) is must.
Gender Budget comprises of two words Gender and Budget. Gender refers to
both women and men, and the relations between them, while budget is the policy
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document of government, which reflects intention, agendas and functions of the
government. Collectively gender budget analyses differential impact of policies and
budgets on women and men and are adopted accordingly to enhance gender equality.
According to UNwomen - GRB is not about creating separate budgets for

women, or solely increasing spending on women’s programs. Rather, it seeks to ensure
that the collection and allocation of public resources is carried out in ways that are
effective and contribute to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. It
should be based on in-depth analysis that identifies effective interventions for
implementing policies and laws that advance women’s rights5. It is a tool to bridge the
gender-gap and establishment of human rights. It also helps to gain higher level of
transparency and accountability in the administration and promote economic
development too.
There are certain pre-requisites for successful implementation of gender

budgeting initiatives (GBI). There should be a permanent institution with sufficient
human, financial and physical infrastructure to implement the GBI in proper way. If
these resources are not made available, gender-sensitive aspects of policies may be
present on paper but will not happen in practice. What has been happening with the
GBIs in India and its states?
The government of India has ratified to several international commitments –

CEDAW, Beijing Platform for Action, MDGs and SDGs for gender equality, which
obliged it to present a gender budget statement (GBS) at regular basis. The GoI has
started to present GBS from the financial year 2005-06. The GBS of GoI is based on
numerous misleading assumptions and there are a number of conceptual and
methodological flaws in it, which hinders it from being an effective policy document. If
these conceptual and methodological issues are not rectified, the GBS will remain as
paper exercise rather than an effective tool for the establishment of gender equality.
Subsequently, GoI persuaded its states too, to prepare GBS at the state level so that the
GBI would be deepened further. Unfortunately, little attention has been given to
conceptual and methodological flaws of GBS, which are resultant from weak
institutions (nodal agency, gender budget cells and gender budget team) and gross
unavailability of prerequisites (infrastructure and financial barriers) for implementing
GBI. It is quite strange that availability of prerequisites, strengthening of institutions
other and enabling environment for GBI have never been concern of any debate. As,
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almost all the states imitate union’s concept and methodology of GRB closely without
considering its implementational implications, all the shortcomings of union’s GBIs
automatically get transferred into GBIs at the state level. However, the ministry of
women and child development (the nodal agency for gender budgeting in India), GoI
has developed a Handbook12, which has explained the procedures of GRB in detail. It
has also issued a guideline13 for the implementation of gender budgeting at the state
level. Unfortunately, instructions and directions made in both the official documents
are not followed either at union or states level. Most of the crucial steps of gender
budget analysis are skipped openly.
Jharkhand is one of India’s most poor and backward state with lowest level of
female literacy and higher rate of child malnutrition and maternal mortality, thus has
dire need for GRB. Though, it is a new state relatively, it too, has huge pressure from
union government to implement the GRB at the state level. Unfortunately, due to
frequent alterations in Jharkhand’s government and infrastructural barriers, it could
be able to implement GRB only from the financial year 2016- 17, far behind other
states. As, Jharkhand government took due time to initiate GRB, it was expected that
it might had taken proper consideration on methodological aspects and inbuilt
shortcomings of union’s GRB. Unfortunately, there is nothing new or altered either in
the conceptual background, approaches and tools adopted or methodology followed.
All are carbon copy of Union’s GBI, hence, the shortcomings too are same.
This article is a small effort to draw the attention of policy makers,

academicians, CSOs and women activists towards half-finished status of GRB of GoJh
due to institutional weaknesses and unpreparedness of the government and slackened
debates on the improper GBI. Explains the discrepancies between expectations from
a government’s GB as explained in MoWCD, GoI’s guidelines and their status in
Jharkhand’s first two GB reports.
2. Assessment of Gender Budget of GoJh
This article has assessed the status – concept, format, methodology and scope
of first two GB reports of GoJh in the backdrop of MoWCD, GoI Guidelines for States
2013. It has assessed the GBIs of GoJh under six different categories:
 Clarity on Concept of Gender Budget

 Availability of Prerequisites for Gender Budget Initiatives
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 Contents of Gender Budget Report as per MoWCD’s Guidelines
 Methodology of Gender Budget
 Scope of Gender Budget
 Relevance of Programmes selected under Gender Budget Statement
3. Clarity on Concept of Gender Budget
In spite of several orientation workshops organized by MoWCD and CBGA for

the state GB team, they have lots of confusion and ambiguities on simple terminologies
used in the GB, which got reflected through title of the GB report itself. The first report
on GB is available on the official website of Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoP&F)
of GoJh, which is saved as “Gender Budget in Jharkhand”, while the title of report is “A
Report on Women Specific Programs and Programmes for the Empowerment of
Women”. However, it is clear from the title that the concurrent GBI of GoJh is confined
to accounting and assimilation of women specific programmes of GoJh, while gender
budgeting is more than accounting procedures. It also reveals the conceptual vagueness
of the government on the terms gender and women. Both are used as interchangeable
while have different meanings.
 Availability of Prerequisites for Proper Gender Budgeting

 Law, Notification, Circular, Guidelines and Directions
 State Institutions (Nodal Agency, Gender Budget Cell and State Committee)
 Provisions for Trainings and Guidance to GB Team
 Allotment of Sufficient Time
a. Law: There is no legislation for GRB in Jharkhand; neither in the union

government nor in any other state.
b. Notification: However, the official notification letter is not available in public
domain; it is obvious from the GBS that out of 31 Departments only 11 are notified
to take GBIs for the year 2016-17 and 13 for the financial year 2017-18.
The procedure of GB starts with issuing of a notification for setting-up a nodal

agency and release of a concept note depicting the definition and objectives of it and
power, discretion and role and responsibilities of nodal agency.
c. Budget Circular: The MoP&F, GoJh has issued the Budget Direction 2016-17,
which has one- page chapter on GB. It instructs about the format for demarcation
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of allocations to women/girl’s- oriented programmes or items of expenditure and
their percentage major heads wise. There are no instructions regarding total
number and name of major heads, which has to allocate under GB. The criteria for
selection of programs and programmes are also not explained.
The Planning or Finance Department is required to issue a separate circular or

include one specific chapter on GB in common budget circular directing about format,
timeline, percentage of allocations and criteria of inclusion of different programmes
under GBS.
Guidelines for Institutionalization of GRB –There is no information either in

the GB report or in the official website of GoJh, if any state specific guideline is
developed or all the departments have been notified to follow the guidelines of
MoWCD, GoI.
4. State Institutions for Gender Budget
a. High Level Committee on Gender Budget: The GoJh has sanctioned “A

Collaboration Project on Gender Budget” to UNICEF, Jharkhand in 2017. The
objectives of this project were to suggest measures for strengthening of
implementation of GRB in Jharkhand. There is no role and any representative from
the GoJh side (either DoP&F or DoWCD) in this project. The state team of Unicef
did not have required capacities on budget analysis, hence, it has transferred the
project to another NGO. All the partners have different motives and different level
of understandings on gender and budgetary issues. There was complete lack of
coordination, which created a lot of hurdles in the attainment of delineated
objectives of the committee. Unfortunately, it lost its path.
It is directed in the MoWCD’s Guidelines that in the initial phase of GB, a high-
level committee can be constituted (till the set-ups of permanent institutions) to look
after and facilitate the GBIs in the state. The committee would assist in developing
standard set-ups, format, and selection of approaches and methodology. The relevance
of committee got enhanced in case if the state lacks permanent gender cell and full-
time team. The committee must be comprising of senior level officials of DoP&F and
DoWCD and renowned NGOs and Academicians who have sound understanding on
gender, budgetary and administrative issues of Jharkhand.
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b. Nodal Agency: The GB of GoJh is prepared by DoP&F with other budget
documents, but it is presented in legislation by DoWCD. There is no information
either in GB report or in GoJh’s websites, about the specific role and
responsibilities of nodal agency or which department is exactly notified as nodal
agency. Due to lack of clarity on nodal agency, all the efforts are scattered.
The exercise of GRB starts from issue of a notification for set-up a nodal agency;
which is responsible for overall execution viz – finalization of format, issue of
guidelines, selection of Departments, and coordination among them; to supervise,
monitor; and making arrangement for training and other technical assistances and
overall compilation of information and report of GB.
c. Gender Budget Cells (GBCs): Till the presentation of GB of 2017-18, none of

departments of GoJh had set-up the GBC.
It is directed that each department should set up a GBC, which is assigned with
all the responsibilities of gender and budget analysis, vital for preparation of GB. They
are assigned with the task of generation and compilation of sex-disaggregated data of
the programmes of their departments. They are also responsible for developing state
specific methodology suitable to the prevailing circumstances with the help of nodal
agency – for this, they have to do extensive literature review covering different set of
approaches, tools and techniques (including concept and methodology) for gender
budgeting applied through-out the world. They can also suggest measures to bring
several changes in the ongoing programs/programmes to make them gender sensitive
and to attain the objectives of GB.
d. Gender Budget Team and Provision for Their Trainings: There is no custom to
provide any appendix with the GB either in union government or in any other
states, hence, there is no information regarding the GB team or the trainings
provided to them. However, it is clear that as there is no GBC or any permanent
team for GBI. Two-three orientation workshops had been organised by MoWCD,
GoI and GoJh with the help of CBGA. But, these orientation programs are of very
short duration and one-time nature. The selection of participants (which change in
each workshop) was also done on ad hoc basis.
It is directed that every GBC should have a team of experts which is permanently
appointed and engaged in the assignments of GB only; so that all the tasks of GB can be
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performed smoothly. It is also required that the GB team should be comprises of
experts on gender, budget and departmental issues and they should be assisted with
regular trainings and guidance
e. Provision for Time: In Jharkhand, the tasks of GBIs start only in the last quarter
of financial year, hence, the GB team do not have much time to research on
methodology or analyse the whole budget properly or accomplish all the required
steps for GRB.
5. Contents of Gender Budget Report as per MoWCD’s Guidelines
The format of both the GB reports are very clumsy and do not have many of the
components of GB (as explained in MoWCD’s Guidelines) explicitly. After scrutinizing
the report, some become apparent, few are mixed with each other, some are vague and
incomplete, and some are totally absent which collectively make it a weak report. It
lacks basic information about GB like – status of nodal agency, gender cell and gender
budget team; notification, circulars and guidelines for it; concept-note and
methodology of the GB is also absent.
Here is the brief explanation on status of some major components of GB report:
a. Introduction: It is stated in the first GB report of GoJh that the procedure of GB

could be initiated from the financial year 2016-17, Jharkhand government has long
been implementing women/girl’s specific programs/ programmes for gender
mainstreaming, direct immersion of women in economic development of state and
elimination of gender discrimination from the society.
It is also stated that the GBIs in Jharkhand are in initial phase, and there are
huge scopes for improvements, and GoJh would incorporate the required
amendments in the format and methodology of GB in forthcoming years. The
government is also bound to make amendments in the implementation procedures
and would make efforts for regular monitoring of gender budget procedures so that an
effective GB report can be produced, which would be helpful in overall empowerment
of women.
b. Goals of Gender Budget in Jharkhand: Though, it is not illustrated particularly,

after analyzing the GB report, the following can be perceived as the goals of GB of
GoJh:
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 Economic development of state
 Gender mainstreaming
 Recoganise women’s contribution and increase their participation in the economic
development of state
 Empowerment of women
 Elimination of gender-based discrimination against women
 Objectives of the Gender Budgeting in Jharkhand – The GB of GoJh has clearly
delineated following as its objectives:
 Make all the ongoing programs and programmes women sensitive
 Accord due respect to women
 Provide more opportunities of employment to women
 Provide proper security and safety to women/girls
c. Gender-Gap Profile of State: The women profile presented in GoJh’s GB includes

only social sector and completely lacks data economic and political status of women
in Jharkhand. The available data on social status viz – demographic, health and
education parameters are inadequate (comprises of few indicators only).
d. Jharkhand State Policy for Women: The GoJh had formulated a draft women
policy in 2013 which was approved by the cabinet in 2014 after long discussions
and several amendments. Unfortunately, this could not be implemented due to
notification of state election. The new government has been working on the
drafting a new policy for women and it is yet to come.
e. Methodology of Gender Budget Statement: In line with union’s methodology of

GBS, the Jharkhand GB states that all the programmes are categorized into two
parts; but, it has presented those programmes into three parts which are:
 Part A presents all women specific programmes in which cent percent

budgetary provisions are meant for women or all the expected beneficiaries
are mere women/girls.
 Part B presents those programmes, where at least thirty percent of total

provisions for programmes are meant for women/girls or at least thirty
percent expected beneficiaries of that programmes are women/ girls
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 Part C presents those programmes where total provisions for women/girls
are less than thirty percent of total provisions which means the number of
expected women beneficiaries are less than thirty percent
f. Tools of GRB: The GBIs of GoJh has selected a mix of tools to attain the goals and
objectives of GB, but, has reported only two tools - provision for reservation of
women in lower level of governance (PRIs and UBCs) and formulation of
women/girl’s specific programmes. The GB report has mentioned some
programmes particularly as women specific. These are: Laksmi Ladli Yojna;
Mukhyamantri Kanyadaan Yojna; Janani SurkshaYojna (JSY); SABALA; Mahila
Sastikaran Yojna via Construction of SHGs; Balika Poshak Yojana; Balika Cycle
Yojana; Tejashwani Programmes. However, it also presents GBS, which is also a
tool of GB.
g. Gender Budget Statement: For the first GB of GoJh, only eleven departments (who
have been formulating women/girl’s specific programmes) out of 31 departments
were notified for the preparation of GBS. All notified departments are instructed
to prepare a GBS on their total plan budget, however, only few selective
programmes could be included in the GBS. It is stated that sex-based
disaggregation of beneficiaries of most of programs and programmes is not
possible; hence, only few could be able to show separate allocations to
women/girls.
As per the first GBS of GoJh, the magnitude of allocations made to GB in the
financial year 2016-17 is Rs.13515.73 crore which is 36.46 % of total state plan budget
of Rs. 37065.35. When it is calculated from Detailed Demand for Grants (DDGs), it is
mere 15.62 % of total state plan budget. There are a lot of discrepancies in figure
reported in GBSs and calculated from DDGs of both the years; however, both are
prepared and presented by MoP&F, GoJh. There might be some printing and
compilation mistakes, but, not to such large scale. These discrepancies are very large.
The GBSs has also given a detailed table on programme-wise allocations made under
these departments. Like magnitude of allocations, number of programmes shown
under different departments in GBS of both the years do not match with DDGs.
h. Explanatory Note on Gender Budget Statement: The GB report of GoJh do not

provide any concept note with GB report
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It is instructed by the MoWCD that every GB report must provide an
explanatory note on the rationale of selection of different programmes and items of
expenditures under different parts of GBS. It is also needed to explain their
implications in the attainment of goals and objectives of GB either in short-run or long-
run.
i. Implementational Status of Women/Girl’s Specific Programmes: It takes almost

two years to come figures of actual expenditure; and GoJh has initiated the GBIs
only in 2016-17. The data on actual expenditure have yet not come, hence,
implementational analysis was not possible immediately.
j. Gender Audit: This initiative could not be started at first GB. Along with statements
on financial allocations and implementational status of women specific
programmes, it is also required that a separate statement is prepared on the
monitoring status of these women specific programmes. As, it is the most
important thing that all the allocations under GBS have been accruing to those
only, for which they are designated.
k. Impact Evaluation of Gender Budgeting Efforts: It takes several years to illustrate

the outcomes of a programme, only after passing of substantial time. Though, the
GBIs is quite new in Jharkhand; the GoJh has been implementing several women
specific programmes for quite long period. It would be appreciable if the first GB
had conducted impact evaluation of few women specific programmes.
6. Methodology of GRB
The methodology of GRB is not explicitly explained. Whatever is explained, is

basically the methodology of GBS rather than GB. From the assessment of the GB
report, it is quite clear that most of the crucial steps of GRB as explained in the
MoWCD’s handbook for gender budgeting or MoWCD’s guidelines were skipped.
a. Scope of Gender Budget
In line with union government, only expenditure part of Jharkhand budget is

under the purview of GB. Out of 31 departments of Jharkhand government, only 11 and
13 departments were notified to present the GB from their plan budget. It is also stated
that it is not possible to include all the programmes of these departments under the
purview of GB, as, the beneficiaries of many of them are non-separable on the sex
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basis. Thus, only few programmes of some selective departments, which are
implemented under plan budget and whose sex-based disaggregation of beneficiaries
is possible, are under the purview of GBI of GoJh
b. Relevance of Programmes included under Gender Budget Statement (GBS)
The government proclaims that all the programmes under ‘Part A’ of GBS are
meant for women/girls or have cent percent women beneficiaries only. During
inspection, it was found that many of them do not have cent percent women
beneficiary or specifically designed for women’s empowerment as proclaimed. In ‘Part
B’ too, many programmes which have little connection with the objectives of GB, are
generously been included in the GBS. It is needed to assess the delineated objectives
and actual beneficiaries of these programmes and their long-term impact on
delineated objectives of GB. It is possible that despite being name in the beneficiary
list, women are not the final beneficiary, or it do not have any impact on any of the
objectives of GB.
There is little apparent about the objectives of most of the programmes selected
under whichever part of GBS that to what extent, they are women-intensive or gender-
sensitive. It might be possible that programmes are not formulated for women
specifically, but, accidently have women as highest number of beneficiaries; or despite
having women as beneficiary, do not serve the objectives of GB. It might be possible
that sex-based disaggregation of beneficiaries of each programme is not feasible, still,
it is beneficial for attainment of objectives of GB either directly or indirectly. It’s a very
time and resource consuming job, which are unavailable to GB team.
7. Conclusion
The overall content of GB reports of GoJh is very preliminary and superficial, the
financial allocations shown under GBS are vague and fail to relate with the delineated
objectives of GB, hence, unacceptable especially the way it is prepared. Most of the
steps of proper gender and budget analysis are skipped; and all the focus is accorded
on accumulation of financial allocations. In steed of being a complete GB reort, it is
mere a GBS which provides magnitude of budgeted allocations to some government
self-proclaimed women/girl’s-oriented programmes without any supporting analysis,
explanatory notes and proper methodology. However, total number of departments
and magnitude of financial allocations to women/girl’s specific programmes have
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increased in the next GB report, there is no change in the format and methodology. It
seems that like union government, the Jharkhand government too, thinks that the task
of gender budget is accomplished with presenting a flaw full, clumsy and half-finished
GBS.
From the very first look of both the GB reports of GoJh, it become clear that the
GB team did not have much exposure on the concept, methods format and scope of GB.
They were not well equipped with proper training, guidance, background support and
even sufficient time to do some self-research and simply directed to follow union’s
methodology and format which is already subject to severe criticism due to conceptual
weaknesses and methodological flaws. Availability of pre-requisites for
implementation of GBI was also not taken into account before notifying for GRB. The
status of nodal agency and GBCs was not clear; the official notification letter for GB is
not available in the public domain and budget circular and available guidelines for
gender budgeting are vague, incomplete and very short (do not explain or instruct the
steps clearly).
In such circumstances, it’s an achievement of the GB team of Jharkhand that it

could be able to present a GBS as of union’s standard, which have much more
resources and support in hand; still the quality of their GB report is stuck to same point
for years.
8. Discussion
What is unfortunate with the GBRB is that all the urges, discussions and
thinking on it, hover around inclusion of more ministries/departments, and
programmes under GBS and increasing the magnitude of financial allocations out of
SGDP, plan budget and total expenditure of the state. However, there are some
concerns over the exclusion and inclusion criteria of various programmes in GBS, but,
there is hardly any consideration on the confusion and ignorance about the concept,
tools to achieve the goals the goals of GB, methods to implement GBI, and availability
of pre-requisites for the proper GBI. The GB team changes every year and have lot of
confusion over various aspects of GRB. It is still considered as for the women, by the
women initiative. They are often perplexed on how to define whether a programme is
gender sensitive or not, if it is, then to what extent? Most of the confusion and
methodological shortcoming emerge due to lack of conceptual clarity and ignorance
about goals of GRB and it is not limited to mere GB team, but, expanded among all the
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class of people. The general misunderstanding over various aspects of GRB seriously
need dire attention. Which is not the concern of anybody either at the union level or at
the state level. Development of clear understanding on the various aspects of GRB is
not that easy as conceived and need serious willpower, devotion of time, efforts,
research and resources especially during initial period of GRB, which is hardly
provided or even planed during notifying for GRB.
9. Way Forward
Initiation of gender budgeting exercise in the union and states is outcome of

long battle by various women and intellectual groups and international commitments
of GoI. Unfortunately, just after initializing the trend of preparation of GBS at the
government level, the urge for GRB become weakened; while, it was only the first step,
there are many crucial steps for proper implementation of GBI, which remains
unfinished either at union or state level. Without their accomplishment the goals of GB
could not be achieved.
As, the government has several constraints to indulge directly into research and
evaluation works; it has been expected from the academicians, social activists and civil
society to take this responsibility; and acknowledge and facilitate the government with
concrete research and feasible solutions so that the government can make required
amendments in its policies and programmes. The strategy of GRB is quite new for the
state and no standard methodology has been developed so far through-out the world;
in such situation, the need for concrete research on all the aspects of GB is grave. The
government needs regular update about the functional status and impact of GRB. It is
the responsibility of NGOs, academicians and activists to acknowledge and persuade
the Government in the right direction with concrete evidences.
Only a complete and full-fledged GB, which is prepared after completion of all
the steps of gender budget analysis would be effective to accomplish its delineated
objectives, otherwise, it is mere a paper piece for political show-off. There is need to
assess all the shortcomings and loopholes of the gender budgeting efforts of GoJh
along with their root causes. It is also needed to explore all the institutional barriers
and hurdles on the way of proper implementation of GBI in the backdrop of prevailing
circumstances in Jharkhand; only then, feasible solutions can be found.
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References
1. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm
2. Hannan, C. (2001). Gender mainstreaming: strategy for promoting gender
equality. Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of
Women.
3. https://trainingcentre.unwomen.org/mod/glossary/view.php?id=36&mode=letter&h
ook=g&sortkey=&sortorder=asc &fullsearch=0&page=1
4. https://unwomen.org.au/our-work/focus-areas/what-is-gender-responsive-
budgeting/
5. Budlender, D., & Hewitt, G. (2003). Engendering Budgets: A practitioners' guide
to understanding and implementing gender-responsive budgets. Commonwealth
Secretariat.
6. Frey, R. (2008, January). Paradoxes of Gender Budgeting. In Paper for the First
International Conference on Gender Responsive Budgeting and Social Justice in
Vilnius (Vol. 14, p. 15).
7. Das, S., & Mishra, Y. (2006). Gender Budgeting Statement: Misleading and
Patriarchal Assumptions. Economic and Political Weekly, 3285-3288.
8. Mishra, Y., & Sinha, N. (2012). Gender responsive budgeting in India: What has
gone wrong?. Economic and Political Weekly, 50-57.
9. Mishra, Y., & Jhamb, B. (2009). An Assessment of UPA-I through a Gender
Budgeting Lens. Economic and Political Weekly, 61-68.
10. Goyal, A. (2013). Women’s Empowerment through Gender Budgeting-A review in
the Indian context.
11. Government of India Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2015. Gender
Budgeting Handbook for Government of India Ministries, Departments, State
Governments, District Officials, Researchers, Practitioners – the India manual.
wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/GB%20-%20Handbook%20October%202015.pdf
12. The Secretary, MWCD, vide D.O. no. 1-25/2012-GB, dated, 18th February, 2013,
has issued guidelines to States to provide a road map towards institutionalizing
Gender Budgeting at State level.
13. Das, S., & Mishra, Y. (2006). Women’s Component Plan and Gender Budgeting in
India: Still a Long Way to GoI. Yojana, 50.
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Gender and Decentralisation: A Study of Women’s
Empowerment in Myanmar
Priyanca Mathur Velath

Associate Professor, Centre for Research in Social Sciences and Education,
Jain University, Bangalore
Abstract
When women are involved in decision-making in public office, it simply ensures that
decision-making reflects their views and experiences. This in turn, invariably leads to better
policy outcomes, as views just of men do not necessarily fully reflect the right responses.
Thus, equal representation of women should be provided for within a decentralized and
federal model of governance, by creating more positions and opportunities for women at the
regional, state, and local levels because even though women comprise over 50 per cent of the
world’s population, they continue to be under-represented as voters, political leaders and
elected officials. This paper shall explore the linkages between federalism and gender that
are crucial to create an environment where women can advocate on matters of policy, run
for political office, be elected, govern effectively, and participate meaningfully in every facet
of civic and political life.
Having women in decision-making is a growing trend world over. As of June 2017, only two
countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda
with 61.3 per cent and Bolivia with 53.1 per cent; a greater number of countries have reached
30 per cent or more. Post 2015, the new and emerging democracy of Myanmar, has sought
to govern in a manner that combines elements of diversity management and human rights
for all with national pride, through a federal model of governance enshrined in the principle
of ‘self-rule and shared rule’. It is crucial thus, within such governance structures and
processes, to introduce mechanisms to secure the rights of women and to advance gender
equality. This paper seeks to explore the trajectory of women’s empowerment in Myanmar,
through the lens of Gender and Decentralization (based on the authors own visits to
Myanmar as an international trainer on Federalism and Gender from 2016-2018).
Keywords: Decentralization; Development; Empowerment; Gender; Myanmar
1. Introduction
Comprising over 50 per cent of the world’s population, women continue to be

under-represented as voters, political leaders and elected officials. Equitable
participation of women, in politics and government, is essential to build and sustain
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democracy. A federal structure provides greater opportunity for women to enter
politics by opening up more access points for new political actors. Research has shown
that women can change the role of politics and legislative life because they bring a
different point of view that their male counterparts. Women also change the way
government works once they are in power, for example, they are more likely to criticise
the status quo of democratic institutions; they are more likely to appoint or hire other
women to change the way government works (Slack, Spicer and Montacer, 2014).
Thus, linking federalism and gender is crucial in order to create an environment

where women can advocate on matters of policy, run for political office, be elected,
govern effectively, and participate meaningfully in every facet of civic and political life.
Such a study can focus on the cause and effect relationship between federalism and
gender, as well as the impact that the process of federalism may have on women’s
political participation and on gender in general. In the long run it also addresses
fundamental issues of gender equality. This paper is an overview of the research and
work conducted by the author inside Myanmar from 2016 – 2018. Thus the
methodology of the paper is exploratory and it is derived from secondary research
conducted for and primary data derived from the FoF Workshops. It is divided into
three sections – the first one elaborates on the importance of bringing women into
federalism and what are the barriers that they would face therein; the second section
is a gender analysis of the situation in Myanmar; and the third section iluustrates all
the arguments through women’s voices themselves.
a. Women and federalism
When women are involved in decision-making in public office, it ensures that

decision-making reflects their views and experiences, which invariably leads to better
policy outcomes. Thus, equal representation of women should be provided for, within
a decentralised and federal model of governance, by creating more positions and
opportunities for women at the regional, state, and local levels. In doing so, local and
state governments also become more inclusive as they create more opportunities for
women to participate in governance. Local governments are clearly closer to people at
that level.
Besides, ensuring gender equality at all levels of political decision-making

enhances not just economic growth but also, productivity and improved social
conditions as it has been seen to lead to better educational and health outcomes,
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increase in family income and savings, and safer and empowered communities. In all
of this, the role of the state in making laws that implement such measures, is
indispensable.
In fact, having women in decision-making has become a growing trend world

over. As of June 2017, only two countries had 50 per cent or more women in
parliament in single or lower houses, namely Rwanda with 61.3 per cent and Bolivia
with 53.1 per cent. But a greater number of countries, as many as forty six single or
lower houses, were composed of 30 per cent or more women. Besides, around 19
countries in Europe, 13 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 11 in Latin America have applied some
form of quotas - either legislative candidate quotas or reserved seats - opening space
for women's political participation in national parliaments.
b. Gender quotas
Gender quotas or reservation of seats for women in assemblies, have been

effective means for increasing women’s political participation. The UNDP laid down
in a report (in 1995) that 30 per cent was a critical minority required for women, as a
group, to exert a meaningful influence and participate in governance. Countries like
Timor-Leste and Taiwan achieved this 30 per cent ‘critical masses of female
parliamentarians. In recent years, governments across Asia and the Pacific adopted
gender quotas to increase women's representation in parliament; countries in Asia
have an average of less than 20 per cent of women in their national legislatures (both
Houses combined). In East and Southeast Asia, 8 out of 15 countries — Laos,
Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Timor-Leste —
have altered their constitutions or party laws to adopt some form of gender quotas.
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, all had the quota system for directly elected seats at
the local government level introduced in the 1990s.
World over, numerous examples have proven that women’s representation in

local governments has had positive impacts. For example, a UN Women Factsheet
stated that Panchayats (local councils) in India discovered that the number of drinking
water projects in areas with women-led councils was 62 per cent higher than in those
with men-led councils; in Norway, a direct causal relationship between the presence
of women in municipal councils and childcare coverage was found. Yet, the overall
number of female politicians in Asia remains low. According to Inter-Parliamentary
Union data, only 19 per cent of parliamentarians in Asia are women — compared to
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23.1 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa, 25.7 per cent in Europe and 27.5 per cent in the
Americas.
Undoubtedly, quotas are an effective way to address the ‘historical inequality’

of women, to achieve gender balance, and to deepen democracy. However, the quota
system has its pros and cons. They, in a way, ‘fast-track’ women’s equal representation
by giving voters the opportunity/option to elect both men and women and have a
positive impact on ‘familial and institutional relations’. However, ‘this impact is rather
fragile and will need further nurturing in order to be consolidated’ and it has not
always necessarily translated into an increase in women’s status or representation in
national parliament. Also in 2003, Indonesia introduced a 30 per cent gender quota
that, over two election cycles, contributed to an increase in women's share of seats in
the national parliament from 9 per cent to 18 per cent. In the most recent (2014)
elections, despite stronger enforcement of the quota provisions, expansive civil
society-led efforts to support women candidates and favourable press coverage, the
percentage of women elected to the national parliament declined.
Very often, the political and cultural context in which the gender quota operates
is more critical and common support programs, designed to maximize the gender
quota's impact on women's representation, and may be insufficiently targeted at major
obstacles. Just having legislative quotas is not enough. While Timor–Leste and Taiwan
have 38 per cent of female parliamentarians, South Korea and Indonesia both fall
nearly 10 per cent short of filling their legislative 30 per cent quota for women.
Gender quotas are often accused of being undemocratic and opposed to the
principle of merit and being the reason behind a less competent legislature, as they
ostensibly facilitate the election of politicians because of their gender, not because of
their expertise. Thus, women elected to fill quotas risk being viewed as not equally
competent, and instead are stigmatised as ‘quota women’. This further aggravates
gender stereotyping. What makes the difference is the presence or absence of political
will in the electoral and party system to truly make the quotas effective. Besides,
gender stereotypes need to be continually addressed through sensitisation and other
‘non-quota strategies’ such as media training, mentoring programs, financial support
for campaigns, and more positive media around female politicians.
c. Importance of civil society in advancing women’s rights
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The combined membership of the Women’s Organizations Network of
Myanmar (WON) and the Gender Equality Network (GEN) includes most of the
domestic and international non-governmental organizations working on gender
equality and women’s rights in Myanmar. GEN and WON member organizations
working on women-and-leadership/ women-and-public-life have primarily been
engaged in advocacy work and providing leadership trainings to women. Since 2011,
CARE Myanmar has implemented what is perhaps the most comprehensive and
holistic approach to promoting women’s participation. CARE stresses the need to (1)
increase the “individual agency” of women (through building their knowledge, skills,
confidence, and awareness), and (2) influence “relations” (with family members,
peers, friends, religious leaders) and “structure” (norms, tradition, policy, law,
religion, regulations). (Minoletti, 2016)
Over the last 20 years, a number of Myanmar women’s organizations operating

in exile have been engaged in research and advocacy work to influence domestic policy
and the policies of other countries towards Myanmar. Since 2011, there has been
increasing space for Myanmar civil society and international development partners to
conduct research and advocate for policy changes that promote gender equality and
participation in governance. Of the organizations working with political parties, Phan
Tee Eain has probably been the most prominent, using their Women’s Leadership
Academy to work with a number of parties (although not the NLD or USDP) to provide
capacity building workshops, advocacy workshops, and exposure visits (to India and
Sweden) for women party members. Around 60-70 of the women party members that
received their training went on to contest seats in the 2015 elections. Despite the large
number of non-governmental organizations now carrying out research, advocacy, and
program activities, these organizations have had relatively little interaction with the
government or political parties. It is hoped that in the coming years, international
development partners and Myanmar civil society will be able to increasingly engage
with the Myanmar government and political parties on the issue of gender equality of
participation, and share their technical expertise.
d. Gender budgeting and fiscal federalism
Within a federalised state of decision-making and power-sharing it is also

important to mainstream gender within politico-economic budgetary processes. A
'gender-blind' budget is one that perpetuates inequality, fails to acknowledge the
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different needs of men and women and, instead, favours spending biased towards
men, and groups and institutions led by men. In contrast, a 'gender-responsive' budget
is one that increases spending on sectors that address women's needs, and that
essentially reflects the needs of men and women equally. Such a gender-responsive
budgetary approach identifies policies and budget allocations that could alleviate
gender inequalities, evaluates the efficacy of such allocations, surveys the existing
methods for revenue collection through a gender lens, assesses the positive and
negative impacts on women, and alters expenditure and revenue collection
accordingly.
In Myanmar, budgetary allocations in health, education, electricity and social

protection services, that target women’s practical and strategic gender needs and
which evidence shows overwhelmingly benefit women, remain low. Instead the
budgetary process remains largely male-led, wherein more importance is given to
areas like roads/transportation. The low levels of parliamentary representation of
women further limits the opportunities for women’s voices to be heard in budgetary
decision- making in State/Region level Parliaments. The fact is that only two women
(out of a total 15-20 members) are members of the National Planning, Union Budget
and Tax Law Committee.
Besides, within this process transparency and accountability remain weak. The
public or civil society organisations, including those that support women’s rights, are
hardly engaged in a public discourse on budget-making. Thus lack of awareness of
budget processes, absence of channels for engaging with local authorities and absence
of budget documentation, particularly disaggregated data, being freely available to the
public all contribute in making the budgetary process in Myanmar quite ‘gender-
blind’.
While the Government of Myanmar urges resourcing for the NSPAW to advance
women’s rights, there is little budgetary allocation to take this plan forward. Without
funds to help incentivize officials, redesign curricula, ensure that women and girls are
able to access core government services, and reach out to the public with messaging
and awareness-raising campaigns, it is unlikely that this policy commitment will turn
into reality unless the government takes steps towards gender-responsive budgeting
e. Barriers
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Women have always faced barriers in carving their own space in decentralisation and
political decision-making. In the earliest known form of democracy in ancient Greece
in 5th century BC, Athenian women were not considered citizens and hence denied the
right to either vote or participate in politics. In fact, women’s franchise right was not
recognised in the first wave of democratization (1828–1926) in many of European
countries.
One of the biggest barriers that women face is the existence of the traditional
patriarchal value system and gender stereotyping that favours sexually segregated
roles, thereby perpetuating the social perception of women meant only for apolitical
roles. It fallaciously binds leadership with masculinity and becomes a cultural barrier
to women in political decision-making. Traditionally, political socialisation in the
home and family, local community, and in schools and the workplace have relegated
women to private spheres and not encouraged them to run for/seek political office.
Besides, most religions hold a conservative view and consider women as

inferior to men. “Hence, religion is one of the anachronistic cultural beliefs in many
communities in the country that excludes women from the mainstream of leadership.
In most religions, power and authority is believed to divinely belong to men hence
subjugating women. Thus women are encouraged to play subsidiary roles since their
place is in the kitchen and men are the decision makers.”
Economically, the socio-economic status of women also goes a long way in

determining to what extent women get a space in decentralised governance. Women
experience lower socioeconomic status in general and hence are marginalized from
making decisions at all levels. Lack of, or poor access to resources, services and
employment, financial dependence on men (fathers, brothers, husbands),work
stereotyping and gender distribution of labor (more women made to occupy
economically invisible work) become further barriers. “They do not enjoy due
acknowledgment for their labour contribution, which is only ironic as women’s
contribution for the survival of the household and economic and social development
of the society as producers and reproducers is indispensable.”
In fact, in Ethiopia, realising this, the government in 1992 had formulated the
Economic Reform Policy, to promote economic development and improve the living
standard of the most vulnerable sections of the society, particularly women. Despite
it, in most Ethiopian societies, women have no right to decide on one’s own property
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in the household because the household head is always the father which can control
every asset and property of the family. Also, when it comes to family work and time
distribution, women are invariably at the receiving end of uneven distribution of
family care responsibilities and the persistent tendency of women to do a larger share
of childcare. It is more than evident that when it comes to navigating political positions
and family responsibilities, women are more disadvantaged as the work is rarely
shared equally. Thus, we see how economic and social barriers become intrinsically
linked. At the end of the day, the biggest barrier that women face is the existence of a
male dominated society “where men dominate the political arena; men formulate the
rules of the political game; and men define the standards for evaluation.”
The 2011 UN General Assembly resolution on women’s political participation

stated that it is “Highly concerned that women in every part of the world continue to
be largely marginalized from the political sphere, often as a result of discriminatory
laws, practices, attitudes and gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access
to health care and the disproportionate effect of poverty on women”. While this
succinctly sums up the barriers that prevent women from participating in governance
and political life, it must also be noted that obstacles also exist in the form of capacity
gaps, which mean women are less likely than men to have the education, contacts and
resources needed to become effective leaders.
f. Increasing engagement of women at local levels
Local governments are the cornerstone of democracy, often considered as the

‘nursery for future leadership’. It is the place where practical experience of
participation in governance is gathered; hence, it’s critical that all sectors of society are
represented here. Besides, the provision of basic services and citizens’ perception of
government invariably improves with an increase in the number of women in local
leadership. However, there are risks involved too as women can end up being confined
to participation only at the lower levels of governance, making the ‘higher’ levels
inaccessible to them. Thus increasing the engagement of women at local levels should
be seen essentially as a stepping stone and entry point. Nonetheless, it has been seen
in many countries that participation of women in local governments is an important
vehicle for driving change in the country’s political landscape, for example Pakistan.
In Pakistan, the success of women in the local councils led to the rise in involvement
of women in advocacy and community work, encouraged the passage of several pieces
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of pro-women legislation and policies by the federal and provincial government, and
also countered taboos about women’s ability to participate in governance and produce
results for their constituencies. Countries like Rwanda used special techniques to
increase participation of women at the local level such as making candidate eligibility
criteria more flexible. For example, while a university degree was mandatory for
national candidates, literacy was not required of all local candidates (proceedings are
often conducted in local language). These reduced requirements encouraged women,
who are often handicapped with less formal education than men, especially in rural
areas, to enter governance processes at the local level.
Thus in this first section, through a review of literature, it is visible that there
are critical issues that impact the process of federalization and its relationship with
women’s political participation and gender. Gender quotas remain a corner stone but
they also have arguments that both support and not support it. The most fertile ground
for increasing participation of women is at local levels even though numerous barriers
exist at all levels and all realms to inhibit gender equality in a federal form of
governance. In the second section gender equality as currently existing in Myanmar is
reviewed.
2. A gender analysis of Myanmar
The next section of this paper looks at Myanmar’s commitments to gender equality
and the institutional mechanisms in Myanmar, which can create a supportive
environment for potential project stakeholders working towards gender equality. It
shall explore country statistical data and/or data from other sources about gender
inequalities, status of women, women’s rights, and also previous gender equality-
related experience of other stakeholders related to gender equality, particularly in the
sector/region of the planned project.
a. Myanmar’s Commitments to Gender Equality
Myanmar is party to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995),
whose primary aim was to establish gender equality and help women fully enjoy their
rights. In 1997, Myanmar also acceded and ratiﬁed the Convention on Elimination of
all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) of the United Nations. Apart
from the above mentioned international efforts, national efforts toward gender
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equality include the Constitution of Myanmar (2008) itself, which has certain Articles-
349, 350, 352, that promote gender equality across social and political arenas.
Based on the 12 Priority Areas of the Beijing Platform for Action and the
principles of the CEDAW, Myanmar has developed a 10 year National Strategic Plan
for the Advancement of Women (NSPAW). The NSPAW (2013–2022) aims to improve
systems, structures and practices that improve women’s livelihoods and reduce
poverty, and that ensure fairness and equal rights for women in relation to
employment, credit, resources, assets and economic beneﬁts, which is to be achieved
through policy formation and implementation that includes data collection, research,
advocacy, and capacity-building activities involving government and non-government
stakeholders, and resource allocations. Needless to say, “It is an ambitious yet
achievable Plan that will require the political will and commitment of all Ministries,
national Non-Government Organisations and Myanmar’s development partners, to
resource and implement the Plan. Its implementation will be as strong and successful
as the partnerships that are built around it.” Besides, as the State Counsellor also
pointed out in her ASEAN speech, “Myanmar hosted the International Women’s
Forum in 2013 to acknowledge the important role women play in economic and social
development, the vital role played by the creativity and resilience of women in our
country’s transformation, and the need for women’s perspective in bringing about
sustainable social change.”
b. Institutional Mechanisms for ensuring Gender Equality in Myanmar
 Government Agencies
After participation at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995),

the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement established the Myanmar
National Committee for Women Affairs (MNCWA) in 1996, to enhance the
advancement of women. The Myanmar National Working Committee for Women’s
Affairs (MNWCWA) was subsequently formed, and this was followed by the formation
of State/Division, District and Township level Working Committees for Women’s
Affairs. Then, in 2003, the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation (MWAF) was
established to assist the MNCWA to carry out its functions for the development and
security of women, and to enhance cooperation with national and international Non-
Governmental Organizations.
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However, while the frameworks and formal conceptual frameworks are there to
ensure gender equality in Myanmar, a concomitant institutional commitment is not
found to be so enduring. Minoletti had analysed that despite NSPAW being “a
government commitment to promoting and protecting the human rights of women, it
is a non-binding commitment, and the government of 2011-15, with a few exceptions,
generally did little to raise the gender equality of participation.” He also noted that the
implementation plans for NSPAW seem to have stalled and that “so far, little has been
done to translate the ambitious goals of this plan into practical action.”
There have been programmes that have adopted gender equality of

participation as their goal such as, the Department of Rural Development’s National
Community Driven Development Project (NCCDP) that required key local decision-
making bodies to equal gender parity of 50:50 male female representation. But the
problem arises when there is no homogeneity amongst these schemes on how to raise
women participation levels.
 National Community Driven Development Project (NCDDP)
The NCDDP, which was piloted in three townships in 2013, has a timeline from 2012
to 2021, and is currently in its fifth year of implementation. Funded by the World Bank,
it targets poor, rural communities and intends to promote citizen participation in local
decision-making so as to improve communities’ access to basic infrastructure. One of
the key features of this project is its aim of gender inclusiveness. NCDDP includes
specific provisions to ensure mainstreaming of gender and participation of women in
decision-making. These include efforts to ensure that at least 50 percent of committee
members to be women; dual committee chairs (with at least one chair being a woman);
separate discussions among women and men prior to subproject prioritization; equal
pay for equal work; gender parity among community and technical facilitators; project
data reported disaggregated by gender.
c. Political Parties and Parliament
Political parties and Parliament are a fertile field area where women’s
participation has a lot of scope to increase. In a recent report, it has been summarised
that “Myanmar now has more than 90 political parties, but only a handful have
concrete policies promoting women’s participation or set aside reservations for
women candidates. Some 90 per cent of Central Executive Committee members of
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political parties remain male. The percentage of women holding decision-making
positions in state/region and district level party organization structures is around six
percent. Women are similarly under-represented in ministerial and deputy ministerial
positions as well as in the judiciary." Thus, in the history of modern Myanmar, only
four women have served as Union-level ministers and the strategy of adopting a
voluntary target for a minimum number of female candidates or a mandatory quota
has neither been widely embraced nor largely achieved.
Nonetheless, some parties have independently adopted policies and quotas like
the National Union Party (NUP) and the National Democratic Force (NDF) and others
like the SNLD have higher proportion of female MPs than any other party. Sai Nyunt
Lwin, the SNLD party’s general secretary was keen to stress that “although the
membership and decision-making bodies of the party are male dominated, all of the
party’s township committees have at least one woman on them.” Most other parties
unfortunately have not prioritized increasing women’s participation. Tun Yi, Central
Executive Committee Member of National Unity Party, supported quotas and
emphatically said, “We wish to mobilize and organize more women in our party, not
only for the Party’s sake, but also for nation-building. That’s why we hope for at least
a 30 per cent (representation) of women in Parliament, because we need their
assistance, we need their help. We need their capability.” However, the general
argument against gender quotas in parties has been that ostensibly even is a goal of 20
per cent is achieved, “it couldn’t possibly achieve markedly more representation
because most of those candidates won’t win.”
The ‘World Chronology of the Recognition of Women’s Right to Vote and to

Stand for Election’ states that in Myanmar women got the right to vote in 1935 and
while this may be way after New Zealand (1893), Norway (1913) and Finland (1906),
it is still much before Malaysia (1957), Switzerland (1971) and Kuwait (2005).
In the first elected Parliaments in Myanmar of 2011-2016, elected women made

up only 6 per cent of the Union Parliament (4 seats in Upper House and 24 in Lower
House) and women won only 25 or 3.8 per cent of the seats across the 14 state/region
parliaments. In the 2015 general elections, the number of women parliamentarians
increased significantly to a total of 151 elected seats across both national and
state/region levels.
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However, in women’s political participation, while the trend in Myanmar across
two elections may be positive, it still lags behind most countries and ranks a low 160th
in the world, with only 10.2 per cent of total women parliamentarians (44 out of 433 –
as of 08.11.2015),while Rwanda is at the top of the list with (61.3%), Switzerland at
rank 34 (32.5%), South Sudan at 51 (28.5%), India at 149 (11.8%) and Malaysia just
above Myanmar at 158 (10.4%). Myanmar, however, is still better in this regard
compared to Thailand, which ranks an abysmal 182 (4.8%) and Sri Lanka at 180
(5.8%). (See table below)
Percentage of
Rank Name of Country Women
Parliamentarians
1 Rwanda 61.3 %
6 Sweden 43.6%
15 France 39.2%
34 Switzerland 32.5%
49 Philippines 29.5%
51 South Sudan 28.5%
55 Afghanistan 27.7%
94 Bangladesh 20.3%
149 India 11.8%
158 Malaysia 10.4%
160 Myanmar 10.2%
180 Sri Lanka 5.8%
179 Maldives 5.9%
182 Thailand 4.8%
Source- http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/arc/classif011017.htm (accessed on 03.02.18)
d. Conclusion - Women’s Voices on Gender Equality
On September 8th and 9th 2017, Forum of Federations brought together

representatives from political, social, and academic fields to explore the question of
gender and how the country could improve the inclusion of women and sexual
minorities within a federal system. The wide range of social and ethnic representation
at the event demonstrated that celebrating diversity and encouraging collaborative
engagement between all parties is understood to be the ideal method of achieving
democratization and federalism. When asked what could be done in Myanmar to
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improve gender equality, participants answered that advocacy, capacity building, and
public awareness should be made priorities. “Women are too traumatized to use their
voice,” asserted a participant with 16 years of experience working in development; she
added that equality, equity, and information sharing would be the tools to overcome
this problem of long term suffering. Federalism, she said, can help divide services to
minority ethnic groups and shape a strategy of nation building. It was also reiterated
that gender equality must be discussed not just amongst women but even more men
should be brought onto the table and made equal stakeholders. Even the opinions and
voices of sexual minorities must be heard.
Thus women’s voices are the one that frame the main argument behind any
gender analysis in countries like Myanmar. Struggling to gain its foothold in the
world’s eyes as a truly democratic nation, Myanmar also in making all efforts to
‘engender’ the process of federalism and decentralization that it places at its
foundation as a democracy. The struggles have always been many, and will continue
to carry on, but not without the voice and space being given to its women.
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Violence against Women and Masculinities: Indian
Perspective
Sujata Chavan
Assistant Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
Abstract
Masculinity refers to having qualities appropriate to or associated with a man. Indian

society is male dominated. Family and religious cultures in India make Indian culture male
dominated. Family believes that important decisions will be taken by male members and
they try to assert themselves in many spheres of lives neglecting women members from
family right from education to marriage issues. Indian Family prefers to adhere to
traditional gender role preferences /patriarchal ideology and follow patrilineal rule of
decent. Family system contains various formal and informal ways of asserting and
celebrating male privileges and preferences. Critical analysis is required to understand and
stop violence against women. Violence against women can be interpreted in terms of or as a
result of masculine crisis. People must be located with reference to their social structure and
power relations implied in those social structures. Masculinity has cultural currency which
stems from idea that men and women are two discrete groups and are different on various
parameters. Genetic differences manifest on behavioral level. Gender inequality in India is
seen in gender stereotypes, socialization process, typical media roles and gender based
violence. In India we have different castes, cultures and traditions. There are many social
issues in India such as sati, widow re-marriage, education, violence, etc. My experiences and
interactions with college youth, especially males, at various colleges in Mumbai, are included
in this paper.
Keywords: Masculinity; Family; Culture and religion; Male identities; Sexual

equality in India.
1. Introduction
What is masculinity?
The meaning given in dictionary is,
 The quality or condition of being masculine.

 Something traditionally considered to be characteristic of a male.
 The trait of behaving in ways considered typical for men.
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Masculinity refers to having qualities appropriate to or associated with a man.
Indian society is male dominated. There are two main social institutions in
India that make Indian culture male dominated. These are family and religious
cultures. Family believes that important decisions will be taken by male members
and they try to assert themselves in many spheres of lives neglecting women
members from family right from education to marriage issues. Family represents
important site where cultures, constructions and gender intersect. Indian Family
prefers to adhere to traditional gender role preferences /patriarchal ideology and
follow patrilineal rule of decent. Family system contain various formal and informal
ways of asserting and celebrating male privileges and preferences. Male child is
greatly stressed and praised and certain religious duties are performed by men only.
Men are treated with respect and given special privileges. Male children are
supposed to be assertive, less tolerant, independent, self-reliant, demanding and
dominating. Females are socialized from early age to be self-sacrificing, docile,
accommodative, adjustable, nurturing, adaptable, tolerant and religious and they
should value family above all. There is male sexual dominance and unequal gender
attitudes and lack of sexual knowledge. Men do need to prove their so called
"manhood". As men grow to adolescence, they enjoy all sorts of freedom such as
autonomy, mobility, opportunities and power. Whereas, for females as they grow to
adolescent her freedom is restricted in mobility, communication with males,
decision making, so on and so forth. These social differences have long lasting
impact on adolescent reproductive behavior. In socialization process, women are
trained to not to challenge discrimination and exploitation by men and in fact
women learn to sustain discrimination and exploitation. Critical analysis is required
to understand and stop violence against women.
Violence against women can be interpreted in terms of or as a result of

masculine crisis.
Men group is not homogeneous. People must be located with reference to

their social structure and power relations implied in those social structures. Not all
men have equal potentials or agency (genetic, biological, financial, social, and
psychological, etc.) to play out defined idea /expectations of masculinity.
Masculinity has cultural currency which stems from idea that men and
women are two discrete groups and are different on various parameters. Genetic
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differences manifest on behavioral level.
Gender inequality in India is seen in gender stereotypes, socialization

process, typical media roles and gender based violence.
2. Research methodology
Aims of the study were to work with college boys for gender sensitisation and
forming the values of life towards gender equality.
Students of degree colleges at the city of Mumbai were selected. All were
students of BA, BSc or B Com courses. Random sampling method was used for
selection of participants.
Totally, every year there were 50 participants. Group work method was used.
The researcher had worked with the group for five years. Every year new group was
added and older groups were also involved and would talk with new groups. Various
methods were used, such as film screening followed by discussion, street plays, talks,
debates, posters exhibitions, and essay writing.
Those who participated in the study had given feedback that there was change
in their thinking and attitude towards girls. There was also an awareness and learning
about stereotypes, gender binary and need for change.
3. Findings
While working with the youth, following points were emphasised and the
participants have learned these aspects.
a. Sex v/s Gender
Sex is a biologically determined /or labelled character. Gender refers to

physicals, behavioral and personality traits that a group consider normal for its male
and female members. It creates masculinity and femininity. Gender is product of social
processes and embodies cultural meanings to masculinities and femininities.
Gender is created. The roles and behavior deemed appropriate to the sexes are
expressed in values, customs, laws and social roles. They are expressed in metaphors,
which become a part of the cultural construct.
Gender is our social and legal status as girls and boys, women and men. Gender
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identity is how you feel about and express your gender.
Culture determines gender roles and what is masculine and feminine.
What does it mean to be a woman or man? Whether we are women or men is

not determined just by our sex organs. Our gender includes a complex mix of beliefs,
behaviors, and characteristics. How do you act, talk, and behave like a woman or man?
Are you feminine or masculine, both, or neither? These are questions that help us get
to the core of our gender and gender identity.
Sex and gender are culturally defined and regulated. It is the cultural hierarchy
that makes men more valued than women.
Lack of educational opportunities for girls, Lack of freedom and mobility for
girls, Sexual harassment at workplace. Opportunities and freedom differed for brother
and sister. Men control women body and sexuality, fertility or reproductive rights.
Women are part of men’s property. Nature of patriarchy can differ in classes in same
society, in different societies, and in different periods in history. The broad principles
remain the same though nature of the control may differ. Patriarchy is based on a
system of power relations which are hierarchical and unequal where men control
women’s production, reproduction and sexuality.
(H. Christian, The Making of Anti-Sexist Men (London: Routledge, 1994), p. 6.) It
imposes masculinity and femininity character stereotypes in society which strengthen
the iniquitous power relations between men and women. Patriarchy is not a constant
and gender relations which are dynamic and complex have changed over the periods
of history. The nature of control and subjugation of women varies from one society to
the other as it differs due to the differences in class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity
and the socio-cultural practices. Thus in the context of India, brahmanical patriarchy,
tribal patriarchy and Dalit patriarchy are different from each other.Patriarchy within
a particular caste or class also differs in terms of their religious and regional variations.
Similarly subordination of women in developed countries is different from what it is
in developing countries. While subordination of women may differ in terms of its
nature, certain characteristics such as control over women’s sexuality and her
reproductive power cuts across class, caste, ethnicity, religions and regions and is
common to all patriarchies.
This control has developed historically and is institutionalized and legitimized
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by several ideologies, social practices and institutions such as family, religion, caste,
education, media, law, state and society. Patriarchal societies propagate the ideology
of motherhood which restrict women’s mobility and burdens them with the
responsibilities to nurture and rear children. The biological factor to bear children is
linked to the social position of women’s responsibilities of motherhood: nurturing,
educating and raising children by devoting themselves to family.
b. Process of being and becoming male
Learning Masculinity is not linear or straightforward. It goes through

configurations that are determined by age, class, caste, etc. Masculinity is constantly
constructed and confirmed. Peer group also influences formation of Masculinity.
Formation of Masculinity in relation to management of social relations between
employers, workers, neighbors and community members within context of upward
mobility. Involving men is effective alternative for scaling down gender inequality.
Gender is about men and women, attempts at changing these relationships must
incorporate not only men but also better understanding of why men behave the way
they do, and of the ideals of Masculinity that shape their behavior
Making of masculinity is continued in higher education. One observes choice of

discipline is also related to gender. Society expects men to work in fields of masculine
virtues and women in feminine virtues.Roles/virtues are determined by men and they
impose masculine values to all those roles.
In Indian set up the caste and class aspects also need to be considered while
working with youth for gender sensitisation and awareness. They all interplay an
important role in development of an individual.
c. Features of masculinities
 Challenging binaries that limit our understanding of gender and sexuality,

man/woan, subject/object, hero sexual/homosexual.
 Engage the body and practices of embodiment to capture lived experiences as
performative.
 Conceptualise resistance and agency in the context of social structure and
discourse. 4 Embrace notion of power as productive, not just repressive.
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d. Male Identities
Identity is a powerful phenomenon, which directs our behavior, perception of

ourselves. You can decide how others should treat you and think about you by adopting
different types of identities and acting/reacting/communicating about ourselves in a
way that lead others to treat you in your expected manner. Thus one can wisely choose
the type of identity that will control how others will view and interact with you.
There are 9 predominant male identities,
Identity play important role in social interactions, sexual and interpersonal

relations. Identity is what you identify as and aspire and what other people
pinpoint/label you as and aspiring to be and what the others stereotype you as.
Stereotype means, conventional and the one that is regarded as conforming to

a set of socio culturally approved set of images/conduct/types. Stereotyping is shortcut
used by human beings to place new ones they meet into neat little /fixed boxes,and
decide on how to deal/behave with them .Stereotypes focus on minimizing
threats/deviations from normalcy and maximizing opportunities. Men in general,
retreat to the' safer 'male gender roles, females make no efforts to retract female
gender roles in moments of high emotional vulnerability.
Identity has an impact on how you relate with women and socially in general.
Three aspects of identity that impact you are,
 Gradation. It is where you fall status wise in a given identity. It refers to the
strength of your identity, an identity with higher grade is strong identity.
 Combination of identities that you hold. More number of identities with similar
strength you hold, harder it is to box you in any one type of identity.
 Vibre is general air about you above and beyond your identity. It includes things
such as, sexual vibre, how smooth you are, any edge you have, degree of warmth,
humbleness, etc. Attitudes have little to do with identity, but there are certain
attitudes/expectations which go along with identity.
We have primary and complementary identities. Primary is one which appeals

your natural inclination.
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e. Types of male identities
1 Rebel. 2 Student. 3 Tough. 4 Regular. 5 Social Butterfly 6 Business.
7 Intellectual. 8 Athlete. 9 Artist.
 Rebel: Man who fights with system, does things in his own ways, majority of times
opposing mainstream.
Positive aspects of rebel identity are: He is cool, independent, different,

interesting, not under social pressure and exhibits wide range of byronic
characteristics.
Negative aspects of rebel identity are: He is Pessimistic, outsider as has harder

time breaking into many social circles, tends to make life difficult for others,.
Rebel usually has easier time sexualizing himself and being appealing to women
as compare to other types of male identities, because he offers something that most
other identities do not, and he is used to operating outside the stereotyped systems.
 Student: He is anyone who is in the process of learning something new.
Positive aspects of student identity are: He is actively upgrading himself,

perceived as intelligent/curious and someone with potentials. He has an identity and
others look at him favorably.
Negative aspects of student identity: He is Follower and not the master,

bookworm rather than acting on what he reads, viewed as inexperienced, unwise,
boring, unexceptional and ordinary.
He has difficulties in sexualizing and often struggles to create sexual masculine

identity.
 Tough: His primary identity is as hard asd ass, he is aggressive, imposing. Examples
are soldiers, police officers, firemen at noble side and criminals at low ends.
Positive aspects of tough identity are: He is high on perceived physical

dominance, commands a fair bit of respect, has large social circle, clear and stable.
Negative aspects of tough identity: He is Physically dominating leading him to

more exhausted and busy, difficulties in maintaining long term strong relationships,
many women are intimidated by him than being attracted to him, he does things in his
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ways leading him to proneness to violent behavior and taking law in hands resulting
in run-is with higher authorities or legal problems.
He is clear with his tough identity so even if he wants to shift to other identity
he cannot as he face good amount of opposition or negative social pressure from
people around him.
He is fine and does well with women so long as he sticks to his turf, what he is
familiar with and what he knows. He has easy associated with masculinity, like renbel
and is easily sexualized identity.
 Regular: He follows beaten path, not trying to cause any ripples or do anything crazy,
does just like everyone does. Does not try to change world, wishes to live good routine
life, not taking challenges in life to break barriers.
Positive aspects of regular identity: He is normal, reliable, not misfit to

stereotypes, not to worry about being judged as " extreme" ,does not polarise women
hence no women dislike him.
Negative aspects of regular identity: He is Just like everyone else, not

interesting, it is hard for him to meet new women as he does not break social
conventions/norms, has limited social circle, he does not polarise women so no women
dislike him but at the same time no women really like him either.
This is the hardest identity to sexualise. For him it is easy to adapt to other
identities in order to mold himself for becoming sexually attractive to women (e.g.
artist /athlete/rebel).
 Social butterfly: He is connected to all, always in good mood, skillful as knows different
ways to invite himself to different people and has contacts with many people.
Positive aspects of social butterfly identity: He is Friendly, social, gracious,

optimistic, inspirational, with lots of contagious energy, never feels like an outsider.
He is at center in most of social circles and he likes bring people together and inspire
others.
Negative aspects of social butterfly identity: He is Too busy in social networking

,cannot focus on building deeply rooted relationships as has difficulties in
concentrating in one individual in social situations, his social life is not steady and
revolves introducing new ones and older ones going out.
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He is moderate in sexualizing. It is challenging for him to build strong sexual
relations. Businessman
It is all about work, efficiency and product and is result oriented. He does not
care so much for proving himself like rebel or tough. He is not satisfied in living
ordinary life. He defines success in terms of money and wants to have lots of money.
Positive aspects of businessman: He is After getting things done as he wants to

get successful life, does not dilly- dally, creates opportunities to be more efficient,
commands respect mainly due to his efficiency and success, he is down to earth,
honest, straightforward, has masculine aura around himself and regarded asd
powerful.
Negative aspects of businessman identity: He is Always after success, does not

like relaxed, cool peaceful life, he has stressful lifestyle, and he is not ready to
compromise which may lead to sustaining long term relationships. He is confident in
doing what he decides to dfo. He is focused on tangible results. He sees other activities
as waste of time and hence has difficulties in connecting to people. He can easily
sexualize mainly by his masculine character.
 Intellect: He lives in world of mind, idea, philosophy, experiments, hypotheses,

arguments and debates. He would argue with words.
Positive aspects of intellect identity: He is viewed as a leader, knowledgeable, expert,

authority due to highly perceived level of competence, his life is relatively stable with
stable career path. He is often eccentric but has freedom from social pressure.
Negative aspects of intellect identity: He is seen as unrealistic by uneducated people,

difficult to break from stability that he has created for himself, may fall out from social
circle, and may be seen as arrogant. He establish his identity by winning academic
fights and debates with challenges using their ideas as proof of their strength as men.
It is not so difficult for him to sexualize and he is appealing to many women.
 Athlete: He channelize his resources through rule based restricted realm of

competitions.
Positive aspects of athletes: He is Big, strong, attractive to women. Physically

dominant, confident.
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Negative aspects of athlete identity: He is viewed as less intelligent, not as
impressive as businessman, intellect and artist. He may not be as social as social
butterfly.
He usually has easy time in sexually appealing to women. He has raw masculine
sex appeal as result of strong physique.
 Artist: He is creative person who enjoy in bringing new things/work/beauty. He holds

mythical status culturally, he is as someone magical.
Positive aspects of artist identity: He is Creative, sexually attractive, follow own

path, breaks social norms, uncommon, unique, eccentric, can get away with many
things as seen as odd with other male identities.
Negative aspects of artist identity: He is unstable, poor, eccentric, lacks real

world credentials, live in fantasy.
Artist is dreamer, idealistic, longs for perfect world where things are as per his
wishes. He uses his art to convert real world into dream world. He can easily sexualize.
We need to be aware of these types of identities in order to understand actions and
reactions of men towards women.
4. Conclusion
I will like to say that, specifically with reference to Indian setup, having strong
patriarchal society, we need to involve men while aiming for elimination of violence
against women. Men group is not homogeneous. Working is not Men v/s Women, but
it has to be Men and Women.
Men and women are two fragrances that can blend together to give rise to new
scent. Neither of us can live alone and it is time now to come together on equal levels
and get rid of petty issues of socialization. It needs exploration beyond walls of
defined roles of men and women and rebuild balance amongst two sexes which is lost
during battle aimed at gender equality. We must priorities not the masculinities and
femininities, but to grace humanity be cherishing uniqueness of men and women.
Men are the part of problem they must be part of solution. Social discourses
and practices provide subject positions and that individuals can take up a variety of
positions within different contexts. Individual take up gendered positions according
to practices, discourses and contexts through which they engage with gender.
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Spatial context refers to need to situate masculinities in the particular
locations in which they are enacted or contested. Men do not behave in the same
manner everywhere. Masculinity emerge out of the specific interactions and power
relations. There are many aspects of masculinities that men draw upon in a particular
contexts to construct shifting ideals and masculinity practices.
There exists culturally recognized core of masculinity that centers on the

responsibilities of men as Provider for family. To be man is to control space, different
men attempt this through different styles of behaviors, and their styles will depend
upon resources available to them.
Male gender identity is constituted by different, often conflicting, values in

different contexts. It happens in domestic sphere and public sphere. Patriarchal
systems generate masculinity. During adolescence and young adulthood, there is a
critical period of opportunity to engage boys and young men in understanding why
gender equality is good for everyone and recognizing their role in promoting the
empowerment of girls and young women. By using and sharing their power and
privilege, boys and young men have the ability to shift the dominant norms and ideas
about gender and masculinity, and challenge the patriarchal beliefs, practices,
institutions and structures that drive inequality between men and women. Remedy
to achieve sexual equality will include making of laws, changing mind set, education
and creating social awareness.
Changing or altering traditional masculinity should be more widely

recognized as an important step towards realizing gender equality. In view of this,
while working with college students the need to promote masculinities that are more
conducive of change was identified. By encouraging males to become more open and
discuss their masculinities, it is possible to educate them on how their social roles
and responsibilities impact women.
Developing male attitudes towards open acknowledgement of the

gender profiles they operate within is an important step in reaching gender
equality.
By encouraging males to analyses their socially constructed gender profiles,

it is possible to educate them on how their social roles may impact gender equality.
Male stereotypes affect the manner in which males engage with gender
146 | P a g e
equality, and traditional masculinity acts as the dominant masculinity for men.
Although different masculinities exist for men, the idea of traditional masculinity
remains the most influential. Realizing gender equality is difficult, because the
fundamental characteristics exhibited by traditional masculinity defend against
change. Without the supportive contribution of males, gender equality is doomed to
perpetuate existing power imbalances that favor traditional masculinity. To
progress towards gender equality, efforts must be made to deconstruct traditional
masculinity.
In order to aspire to this social classification, there is a particular set of core

features that a man must demonstrate. These include: power/strength, rationality,
heterosexuality, risk-taking, dominance, leadership, control, and repression of
emotions. Given that identities, and indeed gender profiles, must be defined,
reconstructed, and performed, it is argued that the construction of masculine
identities by men is a conscious attempt to maintain their power within the gender
hierarchy. To achieve gender equality, it must be recognized that hegemonic
masculinities can be altered, or even replaced, through the socialization process
from which they are initially constructed.
Public and private engagement with gender equality is scarce among males,
which often obscures the issue and manifests dismissive attitudes. One of the main
issues regarding gender equality is that men do not comprehensively understand how
traditional masculinities disadvantage women. Many men are unaware they exist
within socially constructed gender structures that disenfranchise subordinated
gender profiles, and therefore do not recognize a problem.
Traditional stereotypes are often just as difficult for men to live up to. There
are enormous pressures to be a ‘real man’, to demonstrate physical and emotional
strength, and to provide financially as the family ‘breadwinner’. Trying to live up to
this ideal can lead to feelings of inadequacy. Yet the pressure to remain emotionally
resilient often prevents men seeking help.
It's time for the men, who by and large hold the positions of power in our
community, to step up beside women to advance gender equality.
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Reference
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of Reason and Emotion, 17 INT. J SOC. SOC. POL’Y 129, 129-52 (1997) (Discussing
the Context of Feminist and Post Modern Thought
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Organizational Culture, 12 GER. J. RES. HUM. RESOURCE MGMT., 210, 210-222
(1996) (Discussing the Social Positions of Men and Management)
3. Fidelma Ashe, New Politics of Masculinity: Men, Power and Resistance (2007)
4. Harry Christian, the Making of Anti-Sexist Men, (1994).
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Women’s Equal Citizenship (2011)
7. Jane Flax, Gender Equality, In New Dictionary of the History of Ideas (Maryanne
C. Horowitz Ed. 2005)
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9. Larry May Et Al., Rethinking Masculinity: Philosophical Explorations In Light Of
Feminism (2nd Ed. 1996)
10. Mairtin M. A. Ghaill, Understanding Masculinities (1996)
11. Michael A. Messner, Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements (2nd Ed. 2000).
12. Mirra Komarovsky, Dilemmas of Masculinity (2nd Ed. 2004).
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(2011).
14. Romit Chowdhury & Zaid Al Baset, Men and Feminism in India (2018)
15. Tuja Parvikko, Conceptions of Gender Equality: Similarity and Difference, In
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Interventions in Community Development partnering with a
business consortium: Analyzing the Prospects of 20/20 Project
at Kizhakambalam
Rose Thomas
Department of History, Madras Christian College, Chennai
Abstract
A corporate body is highly complex towards its economic gains and mostly less prominent
in social welfare activities. The Government and its agencies were collectively accountable
for development at the same time authoritative towards the well-being of the people. This
conventional equation was transmuted though enforcement of more welfare measures by
the corporate sector. Here a company being dynamic and vibrant in understanding and
fulfilling the amenities of the masses, is endeavourer to tackle those social issues which an
obstacle for development. The political entry of the company after the democratic process
further elaborated CSR activities in the area to transform kizhakkambalam as a model
village 2020. This victory not only reflected intensive progressive measures adopted by the
company prior to election but also created themselves as the new alternative centres of
power. The corporate is going beyond people’s mandatory prerequisites for their livelihood
and extending its CSR visions. This paper seeks to illustrate a model developed by Kitex
group in Kizhakkambalam based on a case study. The whole methodology of the study
manifesting a mixed execution of quantitative techniques based on in depth personal
interviews, structured and unstructured interviews and focused group discussions etc all
were conducted among the professionals, officials, common people who were engaged in the
CSR initiatives in kizhakkambalam. An ample number of literary sources had been referred
to enhance its perceptions.
Key words: Corporate social responsibility; Welfare; Infrastructure; Community

development.
1. Introduction
In history, private mechanism aims at profit maximization, looting and direct

plunder. Colonial rule and the British raj would be the best examples. Generally, the
trend is that, the government will take care about the people and private for their own
benefits. Especially in a democratic country like India, have extensively focusing on
people's participation and government agencies are responsible for the growth.
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Through ages we are experiencing a situation where the Government being the
collective entity for common good whereas, corporate considered for profit
maximization. This trend has been changing in the developmental stream. There was
a time, when India stressed on state mechanism and private sector given the minimal
role. It is only after liberalization, privatization and globalization, at least some
industries were free from Government intervention. Today, in this age the corporate
sector slowly taking the lead role and they are becoming the emerging partners in
community development. Many countries have seriously discussed and adopted
mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy to bridge the gap between the
have and have not. The Corporate Social Responsibility is prevalent since
industrialization but it was given less attention. Now, the meaning and definition of
CSR itself has changed enormously. Every corporate tend to cross the boundaries of
profit sharing on social activities. Recently, a unique example by Anna-Kitex group
through their CSR approach in Kizhakkambalam panchayat under 20/20 Project.
Here, it is showcasing an unparallel model how a corporate could covert a village
through its philanthropic activities. The company went through a democratic process
which is commonly uncommon for accomplishing their objectives .it disrupted the
prevailed political contest of Kizhakkmabalam village and the triumph of a new
unique electoral experiment, created a sense of cautious excitement among the
masses. Anna-Kitex group started the venture - 20/20 Kizhakkambalam Project with
Seventeen of the Independents backed by Twenty20. They constituted 19-member
panchayat committee, virtually wiping out the traditionally leading political fronts in
the State and panchayat. The main objective is to covert Kizhakkambalam as the best
model village in India by 2020.
This paper has divided in to three parts, in the first part mainly focusing on
elementary understanding of the key concepts, back ground of the topic. In the second
part, which is the larger portion of the article narrates the socio economic condition of
the people and how the CSR themes helping the agendas of community development,
the third part, deal with the different interpretations and analyse the model in
kizhakkambalam.
2. Kizhakkambalam
Kizhakkambalam is a Grama Panchayath in the Kunnathunadu Taluk,

Ernakulum district of Kerala, Total population of panchayat according to 2011 census
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is about 23,186. Whereas as per panchayat records it is about 36,000 by 2016. It has
total 19 wards and the panchayat was governed by LDF and UDF. The community
predominantly agrarian but there are about 40 small and large industries;
Kizhakkambalam has fairly well statically rate on literacy around 94%.
a. Anna-Kitex
The present Anna-Kitex group came in to existence in 1968 was founded by Sri
M.C.Jacob, with just 8 employees. They started their business venture with aluminium
products and proceeded to several sectors like garments, school bag, and curry
powders etc.The ascendency of the group laying its Growing rate at 20 percent a year.
The company have excelled and scaled great heights of success in aluminium cookware
sets and other aluminium products, garments, food and spices and bag manufacturing.
Its business activities are organised and managed in Kizhakkambalam. Thus it got its
name kitex, deriving 'ki' from kizhakkambalam and 'tex' from textiles. The successors
of the company are headed by Mr. Sabu Jacob and Mr. Bobby Jacob
b. What is CSR?
The concept of CSR is not a new invention India. In ancient and medieval
Indian history there is a reference to. Dhana, zakat, basically donations made by haves
to have not. Even the religious beliefs attached towards the sharing of one’s earning
for others benefit. In the modern era, ‘The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA)
regulates corporate affairs in India which introduced the Corporate Social
Responsibility in Voluntary Guidelines in 2009. These guidelines have been
incorporated within the 2013 Companies Act and have obtained legal sanctity. The
2013 Companies Act for the first time mandates that private corporations join public
sector firms in annual donations for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and firms
with net worth above Rs 500 crore, turnover over Rs 1,000 crore, or net profit. In India
firms were instructed to spend at least 2% of their annual profits (averaged over 3
years). CSR is more of a philanthropic exercise and had nothing to do with
business. Here the firm extending welfare activities on a community out of their profit.
CSR is a continuing commitment and dedication by business to behave ethically and
contribute towards economic development while improving the quality of life of the
workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.
c. Corporate entry in to the political mainstream
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The Entry of Kitex in the political sphere was totally unplanned. As a part of
company’s CSR policy, they conducted a multi speciality mega medical camp to
identify major health issue and also to under the health condition.. It exposed the
severe condition of the people. Since then company have been extending its CSR
activities for the needy. According to the founders of kitex group, when a company
grows, the society must also grow. This ideology is the corner stone of the extensive
CSR activities in kizhakkambalam. Since the society and ecology are also part of the
development process it must be an advancement of the entire community. The main
purpose of the twenty twenty project is to free the society from the clutches of
underdevelopment and poverty.
At the time of Twenty-20’s commencement, Kizhakkambalam panchayath was

dominated by the congress government. As per the 2010 native body election trends,
congress had secured fifteen seats out of twenty one with commendable majority. LDF
that was in power within the state throughout the time had downplayed the election
solely with a pair of seats, returning to 2015, the political situation of Kizhakkambalam
witnessed a paradigm shift all told spheres. The outcomes of this political modification
audibly echoed within the native body election. It had been a blow for each the
Congress and LDF. The triumph of Congress has narrowed to one seat from fifteen,
and also the Left Democratic Party fully scrammed from the election scene. The
Twenty20 wave in Kitex has affected each LDF and UDF, tremendously. Anna-Kitex
group of Kizhakkambalam inaugurated the organization 2020Kizhakkambalam on
January 19, 2013 which was originally started as a charitable organization registered
below the Travancore- Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act, 1955,
with the vision that they will turn Kizhakkambalam as the number one panchayat in
India, by the year 2020. This initiative aims at better society with high life standards.
d. CSR initiatives
In India, it is mandatory that each corporate has to spend 2% of a Company’s

net profit on CSR but Kitex has been spending more than 6% of its net profits for
Kizhakkambalam through Twenty20 Kizhakkambalam. Mr. Sabu Jacob the chairman
of their CSR, chief coordinator of 2020Kizhakkambaalm. The company is providing a
strong emphasis on good corporate social responsibility (CSR) in order to continue
their commitment to initiate sustainable practices throughout all sectors. During
2016-2017, the company spent 6, 09,41,516 though the mandatory CSR contribution
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was only 2, 67, 27,184.The basic philosophy of the company is ‘Compassionate Care’
willingness to build a much better society. The phrase ‘compassionate care’ is carefully
designed to signify the care, attention and affection of the company towards the people
of Kizhakkambalam They endeavoured to create a strong relationship with the
community for a better place to live.
In Housing and
Infrastructural Drinking water
road
facilities development
Waste disposal
Agriculture Electricity and eradication
of pollution
Township corruption
industry
development erradication
Fig 1: Agendas of CSR programs
The CSR activities are chiefly centered on economic upliftment. Among them
are distribution of Subsidized food products, Self-employment measures or swayam
thozhil padhathi were to brought out for the financial security of the poor and
disadvantaged, arranged Facilities for animal husbandry opened in houses, organized
Eight Self -employment groups, , Street vendors were opened ,The lottery-selling
facility was arranged for 12 residents and so on. This would also elevate the Income
Generation Programmes (IGP) in a sustainable manner. Through all welfare ventures
they offer a better fiscal stability and self-sufficiency for economically backward people
the group has starts self-employment schemes. In order to achieve self-sufficiency in
every house hold, Hens, ducks, goats, and cows were supplied to the required
households as an additional source of income. Malsya Gramam Project (organic fish)
and Adu Gramam Projects (goat) kozhi gramam projects (hen) were also initiated.
Even though the capital investment was low the twenty twenty provided the initial
amenities, adequate fund for the domestication. This helped the society to rely on its
own, locally produced dairy and meat products.
In the field of food security, They outset alternative Public Distribution System
(PDS) with the panchayat, identified families are availing benefits from
153 | P a g e
2020Kizhakkambalam.in the very beginning they have started with supplying free
food kits in 2013, by 2107 they inaugurated bhakshya suraksha market or food security
market in the year 2017 exclusively for the benefit common people. This run through
a allocation system where The whole population is divided in to four categories, where
each given a specified coloured cards, twenty twenty card, it is issued directly from
the company It exhibited their economic status and framed the consumption of food
grains in a family according to their monthly earning. The lowest one is the red card,
green is the middle family. The entry to the 20 twenty food security market is through
these cards. Each card documents their monthly purchase and their maximum limit to
obtain food articles from the stores. This card allocation system operated by linking
the entire punchayat , very importantly this market began to work extensively only
when public distribution system failed to feed and serve the people. It helped the
lowest sections of the society this would be fundamental to the company’s CSR
programs. As a researcher, I engaged in a number of conversations with the customers
which envisaged their immense satisfaction and happiness towards this new program
and they are extremely enthusiastic and optimistic towards future prospects of 20
twenty at kizhakkambalam. This system helps the entire society not to get off with their
basic food grains. Now important question rise, does the food security market merely
a platform for promoting their manufactured products? But very surprisingly the
market wide range of products which were given on a subsidiary rates. The initiative
could actually identify the problem of the community and was successful in giving an
adequate solution. The classification of the entire population and the required amount
of food articles to each family destroyed the misuse of ID card for other purpose. The
welfare measures shaped the community in to self-sufficient, reliant and progressive
society.
Blue card – Green card – Red card – Red card –

above Average / above average poor/ destitution
Average family
rich family
Fig 2: Card allocation structure
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This agrarian society was provided ample financial assistance, technical
training, introduction of modern equipments and organic farming techniques. There
were given good awareness how agriculture could be a profitable sector by correlating
manpower and modern technologies. The Main aim is to attain agricultural self-
sufficiency and raising the agriculture revenue in Kizhakkambalam to ‘16 Million US
dollars’ in 2020. 500 acres of land utilized for paddy cultivation. Apart from paddy
other crops like coconut, banana, nutmeg, tamarind and various other vegetables were
also given proper attention and focus. To promote organic farming, lands were
distributed to the peasants for renewing cultivation. These helped the community the
consumption of products which is free of chemicals, toxins and rely on their cultivated
food grains.
The drinking water scarcity was met properly by supplying individual pipelines
to each household and also by constructing new and renovating the existing wells they
were able to tackle this issue. They have offered to construct 5200 wells by the year
2020. To solve the water shortage from the grass root level they started ground water
conservation: and implemented Bore Well construction and well recharging.
Generally the bore well is constructed for drinking water requirements but here rain
water and extra water from the riverbeds were brought to the soil through these wells.
Well recharging is a method where water moves downward from surface water to
groundwater which will increase the water level and prevent water scarcity in future.
To conserve water resources Canal renovation projects were also initiated focusing on
the renovation of all canals in the Kizhakkambalam panchayat, making it useful for the
agriculture and drinking. The company has constructed check dams, farms ponds, 290
wells (some are under construction) and identified 510 wells for the purpose of
maintenance in the last year. It has also budgeted for the protection of canal and
facilities for safe drinking water. The new drinking water arrangement has been
checked and managing efficiently
Three is a massive transformation of infrastructure facilities in the punchayat

stressed on building better way of transportation provisions. Twenty20 take part in
widening 12.5 meters of roads with BMBC taring. Almost 20 km road has been in four
lines by now. An interesting element is that without any sort of hesitation or
resentment they provided the land for road widening. It showcased the immense unity
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and determination for that community advanced. It is further benefited to the people
with ample number of street lights.
People didn’t live in houses; it was a horrible condition where animals and
human beings lived in just one roof of sheet with highly shabby surroundings. A
scheme named “Ende Vedu Padhathi” was launched for those family who own land
but does not have a roof for their house. Under this scheme 468 houses were
renovated. Unveiling this pathetic condition the twenty twenty set out housing
renovation and construction programs. The much appreciated one was the
transformation of lakhamveedu colony under the CSR policy. Along with housing,
sanitation facilities were given attention in each Ouse hold. 220 toilets were
constructed by now. The community was not just economically backward but poor in
managing waste, so an efficient system was implemented through for the waste
management
In order to check health conditions, they set out Regular Health and Medical
Check-up Camps. The company provide its ambulance services to all needy and
distribution of fee medicines. As part of health program the company had conducted
about 1890 operations and supporting about 9890 patients up to the end of this year.
The Company proposed a medical insurance scheme to cover about 6000 poor and
Improvised families. They also provide free refreshments to the visitors at Malayidam
Thuruth Primary Health Centre at Kizhakkambalam on a daily basis.
In education, Twenty20 seeks to provide quality education, training and skill

enhancement to improve the quality of living and livelihood. A new school bus has
been provided to three Schools in the panchayath and started free mid-day meal
scheme to the students. They have been distributing School bags and uniforms to 2300
students. Adequate learning tools from books to cycles were also given. Around 12
lakhs were spent for the education of 312 children from economically unstable
families. In order to improve the quality in teaching and learning modern amenities
and facilities were provided by the organization. They also give importance on
educating girls.
The project didn’t confine to just economic or infrastructure progress but also
obviate social problems that would be a threat to the integrity and prospects of
community development. Anti-alcohol, anti-corruption movements, by Twenty20
were proved be successful in bringing harmony and integrity. The figure no: 3 is a
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glance to the CSR, twenty twenty activities. From the conversation with the
kizhakkambalam pachayat executive members, the officials are really content about
the working mechanism, the committee claimed that they have an inbuilt
responsibility to respond and understand the needs and aspirations of the society.
They believed in the collective obligation towards development scale of the society.
They themselves are against corruption and bribe and very dedicated towards the
community progress.
SOCIAL CHANGE
HEALTH  Widow remarriage SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD
 Primary health care through medical  Awareness programmes on anti  Formation of Self Help through
camps social issues
collective faming of multi-crop
 Mother and Child care projects  De-addiction campaigns and
harvesting
 Health care for visually impaired, and programmes
physically challenged  Espousing basic moral values  Groups for women empowerment
 Preventive health through awareness  Vocational training through Kitex

programmes. Group Technology Parks
 Agriculture development and better
farming abilities through rain water
harvesting
EDUCATION INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

 Formal schools  Basic infrastructure facilities
 Anganwadis for elementary education  Housing facilities
 Quality primary education  Safe drinking water
 Girl child education  Sanitation & hygiene
 Renewable sources of energy.
Fig 3: CSR initiatives at kizhakkmabalam in glance
e. Female participation
Kizhakkambalam is a place where women enjoys high political liberty too, as a

researcher my conversations with the kizhakkmbalam panchyat committee members
unveiled their new era of rejoice in all aspects and women are free from the clutches
of traditional ,conventional attitudes.. Women occupies majority of seats in village
office which is a significant feature. As a part of 20 twenty project through food security
market their basic necessities were satisfied. Women live in peace and here no other
evident for any other atrocities. Women at home didn’t have to worry about exhaustion
of resources. Surprisingly women form the majority of panhayat administrative body
Women voluntarily performs all kinds of social and political responsibilities. That
atmosphere kept their individuality and self-esteem high. They are emerging as major
contributors to economic development through the participation in the workforce
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sector as well. Twenty20 framed the self-employment project centering the women;
this has further helped them to create a favorable impression around the society. The
kudumbasree association is a back bone of the twenty 20 project. They are in the
forefront in assisting the welfare plans of twenty twenty.
The enormous CSR commitment rendered wellbeing of the people. Here

important question how do they carry these programs and policies? How do they
channelize the implication of the program? Here there is an inclusion of professional
social workers in reaching out to people. They themselves have the committees and
divisions to effectively implement the CSR scheme. These specialists connect the
necessity with resources and integrate the plan. They analyze the impact result of each
plan to bring out the most propitious outcome. These experts work in every field of the
community not just sticking on to official arena.
3. Conclusions and interpretations
Kizhakkambalam illustrated how a corporate can change the face of

underdeveloped village through a company, Anna Kitex. Here they materialized the
concept of corporate governance for the interest and welfare of the people. The twenty
20 vision will transform as model village by 2020. This case represented an active
involvement of the public at the same time a rare political attempt in Kerala where
traditionally only political parties has been ruling. The triumph of the 2015 LSG (local
self-government) election and the inauguration of twenty twenty marked real
beginning of corporate influenced administration in kizhakkambalam. It showcased
progress and advancement in all areas. The people in kizhakkambalam really
optimistic and looking forward to seeing the future prospects of twenty
twenty projects. Kizhakkambalam shows a best example that if exercised effectively,
CSR is powerful tool. Twenty20 has termed the CSR initiative as TSR (Total Social
Responsibility) the integral, the objective id over whole development of the
community.
The culmination of such corporate intervention would be a threat to democratic

setup. It might lead to the major role of corporate in policy making. The CSR activities
will be beneficial to the company as well. Definitely CSR is another way of promoting
the company’s brand. More than just financial gain it will enhance the company’s
reputation too. Kitex is the first to enter in to the political fray, this would be merely a
beginning and there are high chances for the new tendency to become the trend.
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Usually the centre of power and administration lies in the government now; there
emerged an alternative centre of power for the well-being of the people. The
appearance new partners in framing the development agenda of a community who
actually get the real acceptance from the people make a crucial subject matter among
the political intellectuals. Now, the society developing a tendency to depend on such
financial private enterprise for fulfilling their needs. Basically, the people look up to
the financial agencies who were not really accountable to community growth and
development. During Kerala flood in 2019 august elucidated a perfect model how
nongovernmental agency really could bring relief to the flood affected people. It’s not
a deliberate attempt by any of the forces but a gradual occurrence when the specialised
governmental institutions failed to do the real task. , the authority being shifted from
the government force though, the parameters for growth have been untroubled for
them. The new apparatus in kizhakkambalam through twenty twenty project bearing
good fruits of success. The above findings and assumptions are ambiguous; it does
just remain as future possibilities. But there are few criticisms against the waste
management sector of the company. Still they reluctant to address the pollution issues
on soil. The dying agents would definitely not do well to the natural resources. The
inclination of people on dependent the company might lead to totally an unbalance
system of governance. And people might lose its independency. The only solution from
the political parties is to revise their age old norms and bring vibrant and dynamic
plans for the well-being of the people and revisit their promised agendas. In a
democratic country like India, people’s role and participation is crucial. So only when
the real leaders of a democratic set up that is the people could accept the system, and
then only it becomes successful. Whatever the system may be it must be embraced by
the masses.
Any way it acclimatized the people and work for their own wellbeing the
programs of the twenty twenty is extremely commendable, unquestionably, this
actually brought happiness to the community. The five years of their commitment and
dedication will be gathered by 2020. The strategies of new development prospects laid
only Anna kitex through twenty 20 project
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References
1. Srinsha K, Luqman Thazhathe Peedikakkal, (2017) Politicizing Corporate Social

Responsibility: A Triple Bottom Line Perspective of Kitex’s Twenty20 Association,
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 22, Issue 5,
Ver. 7
2. Rajeev S. P.*, Kiran Thampi (2016)Twenty20 vision of CSR in Kizhakkambalam,
International Journal of Business Ethics in Developing Economies, Volume 5 Issue
1 June
3. Aswin Vinodan K (2016)2020 Kizhakkambalam: A Case Study of Kizhakkambalam
Panchayat, Kerala.
Web references
1. Twenty twenty kizhakkambalam website :

http://www.2020kizhakkambalam.com/
2. Facebook page of 2020Kzhm: https://www.facebook.com/2020kzhm/
3. Kitex Website. Retrieved from http://www.kitexgarments.com/aboutus/
4. NDTV online. Retrieved from http://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/corporate-
group-to-govern-a-panchayat-in-kerala-for-first-time-1241793.
5. kitex CSR report 2017- 2018 : http://www.kitexgarments.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/07/KGL_CSR_Report_2017-18.pdf
6. http://www.kitexgarments.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/05/Kitex_CSR_2017.pdf
7. The changes UK.Retrieved from http://changesuk.net/themes/community-
development/
8. The Hindu Daily.(2015). Kizhakkambalam notches up record of sorts.Retrieved
from http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/kizhakkambalam-notches-
up-record-of-sorts/article7848901.ece
9. Kitex garments website: http://www.kitexgarments.com/2015/04/29/csr/
10. Business line online : https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/specials/india-
file/twenty20-disrupting-keralas-political-game/article8120849.ece
11. Ministry of Corporate Affairs. (2012). Companies Bill 2011 as presented in
parliament.
http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/The_Companies_Bill_2011.pdf
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12. Outlook magazine online: https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/a-
corps-new-clothes/295855
13. Daily hunt online news:
https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/deccan+chronicle-epaper-
deccanch/nitin+gadkari+to+open+twenty20+initiative+at+kizhakkambalam-
newsid-76381544
14. Deccan chronicle : https://www.deccanchronicle.com/151010/nation-current-
affairs/article/businessman%E2%80%99s-2020-revs-kizhakkambalam-poll
15. Twenty20 kzhm gramangal thedi – metro:
http://www.2020kizhakkambalam.com/index.php/twenty20-kzhm-gramangal-
thedi-metro/
16. TWENTY20 KZHM JANAGALILOODE – ACV:
http://www.2020kizhakkambalam.com/index.php/twenty20-kzhm-
janagaliloode-acv/
17. Kitex CSR 2017: http://www.kitexgarments.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/05/Kitex_CSR_2017.pdf
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Gender Equality and Education for Sustainable Development
Elsheba Saly Raju

School of Law, Presidency University
Abstract
“Bandhoora kanchana koottilanengilum,

Bandhanam bandhanam thane paaril”
-Vallathol
A translation of the poem is mentioned below
“Although you may be in a golden cage you are caged bereft of freedom”
Gender equality is another step in evolution. It isn’t about bestowing women with privileges
but about empowering women and liberating men from social constructs of gender-specific
roles. This enables men and women to formulate better decisions in their social and economic
life by giving them equal opportunities and rights. History has shown us women who have
broken through these social and cultural constructs had broken these norms by facing
tremendous challenges and overcoming distress to change the world. This paper will focus
on gender equality and its part in sustainable development by covering the issues faced by
these valorous women whose perseverance has made us understand the unparalleled
importance of women and of female education as stepping stones to progress. Research into
interactions of humans with such topics across the world and in various fields will be
necessary to shape societal and legal perspectives and will be helpful to increase public
awareness and hopefully change the way of how we as humans perceive females.
1. Introduction
Gender refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being
male and female and the relationships between women and men and girls and boys,
as well as the relations between women and those between men. These attributes,
opportunities, and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through
socialization processes. They are context/ time-specific and changeable. Gender
determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given
context. In most societies, there are differences and inequalities between women and
men in responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, access to and control over
resources, as well as decision-making opportunities. Gender is part of the broader
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socio-cultural context. Whereas sex refers to the genetic and physiological traits and
characteristics that indicate if a person is a man or woman.
Gender Equality or equality between men and women refers to the equal rights,
responsibilities, and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality
does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s
rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born
male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs, and priorities of both
women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different
groups of women and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue but should concern
and fully engage men as well as women. Equality between women and men is seen
both as a human rights issue and as a precondition for an indicator of, sustainable
people-centered development. And gender equity is the provision of fairness and
justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities between women and men. It
means that men and women have different strengths and needs which needs to be
identified and rectified to remove the imbalances between the sexes so that we can
utilize their strengths to its full potential.
The term empowerment has diverse meanings in different context. Self-

strength, control, self-power, self-reliance, the life of dignity in accordance with one’s
values, capable of fighting for one’s rights, independence, own decision making, being
free, awakening, and capability are few of the local terms that has the meaning of
empowerment embedded in them. Empowerment is of intrinsic and instrumental
value and can be significant to an individual at a social, political and economic level.
In a broader sense empowerment refers to the process of increasing the opportunity
for people to take control of their own lives. It is about people living according to their
own values and being able to express preferences, make choices and influence – both
individually and collectively – the decisions that affect their lives. As people exercise
real choice, they gain increased control over their lives. Poor people’s choices are
tremendously limited, both by their deficiency of assets and by their inability to
negotiate better terms for themselves with an array of institutions, both formal and
informal.
Sustainable development Although many definitions abound, the most often

used definition of sustainable development is that proposed by the Brundtland
Commission (Cerin, 2006; Dernbach J. C., 1998; Dernbach J. C., 2003; Stoddart,
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2011) This concept of conserving resources for future generations is one of the major
features that distinguish sustainable development policy from traditional
environmental policy, which also seeks to internalize the externalities of
environmental degradation. The overall goal of sustainable development (SD) is the
long-term stability of the economy and environment; this is only achievable through
the integration and acknowledgment of economic, environmental, and social concerns
throughout the decision-making process.
The key principle of sustainable development underlying all others is the

integration of environmental, social, and economic concerns into all aspects of
decision making. All other principles in the SD framework have integrated decision
making at their core (Dernbach J. C., 2003; Stoddart, 2011). It is this deeply fixed
concept of integration that distinguishes sustainability from other forms of policy.
The broader definition of sustainable development is that which ensures human

wellbeing, ecological integrity, gender equality and social justice now and in the future.
Pursuing sustainable development requires upholding human rights principles,

widening freedoms, promoting peace- in combination with respect for the
environment. It requires redressing discrimination and disadvantage at household,
local, national regional and global levels.
2. Statement of The Problem
Gender can be discussed as gender issues, gender dimension, and gender

interventions. Some of the current gender issues widely discussed include gender
equality, gender mainstreaming, awareness and education and empowerment. The
second aspect is the gender dimensions which include urban/rural/poverty, social
development, economic, political and environmental protection. The third aspect is
the gender interventions starting with government initiated support-policies,
programs, and projects involving the government ministries at the national, regional
and local levels. Besides involving public sectors, non-profit organizations such as the
NGO’s, national and international NGO’s, civil societies, other grass-root level support
institutions. These institutional interventions should be covering socio-economic
development issues not leaving behind political participation. This simply means that
gender awareness through education and training is a vital part of this
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transformational process. So this education and training result in hard and soft skills
packaged as competency skills towards job market and market readiness.
The connecting/turning point of education and awareness is leading to

empowerment which includes political, social and economic. Women being the central
point in this process leadership skills are par essential in formal or informal sectors.
These efforts of establishing a cause and effect relationship of gender issues,
dimensions through interventions is going to result in attaining sustainable
development depending upon political, social, economic and technological
developments in the country. Especially in a country like India where there are vast
differences among communities, neighborhoods, both the formal and informal sectors
need to work together so that we march towards a sustainable development.
3. Research Questions
 What are the gender equality goals to understand the gender issues and
dimensions?
 What are the gender inequalities in society?
 What are the tools which mark towards gender mainstreaming?
 What could be the role of education in creating awareness, empowerment, and
leadership?
 Finally how gender mainstreaming tools could lead to sustainable
development?
4. Objectives of the study
The general objective of the paper is to analyze how gender equality and
education can lead to sustainable development.
The following are the specific objectives of the study
 To analyze the MDG goals and SDG goals on Gender Equality

 To analyze the concept and types of Gender inequality and Gender
mainstreaming
 To explain how education can lead to gender empowerment
 To explain how gender equality and empowerment can lead to sustainable
development
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5. Research Methodology
The methodology used is a qualitative approach using discourse method.

Therefore different E-resources, journals, and books and relevant documents and
reports were utilized to systematically organize the referential work in this study.
6. Literature Review
a. Theoretical review
Investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency

and sustained economic growth. Educated women have more economic opportunities
and engage more fully in public life. Women who are educated tend to have fewer and
healthier children, and those children are more likely to attend school. Education also
increases the ability of women and girls to protect themselves against HIV.
Over the years development programs have been criticized for ignoring gender
roles and the impact it has on women globally especially in the developing countries.
Recently, there is been an enormous effort to integrate women in development
programs in the hope of eradicating poverty and low socio-economic status. There are
six main theoretical approaches namely:
1. Welfare approach
2. Women In Development (WID)
3. Women And Development (WAD)
4. Gender And Development (GAD)
5. Effectiveness Approach (EA)
6. Mainstream Gender Equality (MGE)
The term “Women, Gender, and Development” could be seen as a discipline

much like every other area of knowledge. However, what sets it apart from various
disciplines is that its major contributors are individuals that raise issues and concerns,
concerning women, gender, and development. These are academics, feminist activists,
and development practitioner.
In 1972 Ann Oakley was able to distinguish the difference between sex and
gender. Gender refers to one’s sexuality based on masculinity and femininity and sex
refers to the biological features of one physiology. With the rise and popularity of the
term gender, came with its misusage of its actual meaning. For example, as most
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development agencies and NGO’s supported its terminology, however, they used it as
a reference point when talking about mainly women issues. Today the term gender has
become more popularized, that it is usually linked to a wide range of sectors like
politics, economics, environment, and health.
 Welfare Approach
Social assistance or the “welfare approach” originated back 1950s to the 1970s
during the era of decolonization and political transitioning in most African and Asian
countries. The welfare approach was a response to most of the newly independent
countries outcomes of inequalities among the local elites and the common man in each
nation.
Most international development agencies applied a very western approach

towards helping these nations develop. Some of these theories where the
modernization theory, and the Malthusian theory (Population vs. Resources). These
brought about a negative impact and outcome towards most developing nation’s
development and it also helps to further impede on its progress.
 Women in development
Women in development (WID) approach, was originated as a result of three

major feminist moments/waves concerning feminine conditions. The first two were
due to the feminist waves. The first wave also known as women’s suffrage movement,
originated in North America back in the late 19th century when women fought for the
equal right to vote and participate in politics. The second wave of feminism sought to
deal with the remaining social and cultural inequalities women were faced with in
everyday affair i.e. sexual violence, reproductive rights, sexual discrimination and
glass ceilings. The second wave was very controversial however the women’s
movement was very influential that the UN organized the first global conference on
women back in 1975 in Mexico. The conference sought to address nations role on
fighting gender inequalities and support women’s right.
The third was influenced by Ester Boserup (1970) publication on “Women’s

Role in Economic Development”. “The book sent a shock wave through northern
development agencies and humanitarian organization” (pg 93). She states and gave
empirical results of how increasingly specialized division of labor associated with
development undermines or neglects the value of women’s work and status especially
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in the developing world. As it explains why women were being deprived of an equal
share among men in social benefits and economic gains. Boserup book had an
influence on making women more visible in development approach and as a specific
category when addressing women in development. In 1973, the US Congress
implemented a bill, which required the USAID to include women in development
programs. The WID approach helped to ensure the integration of women into the
workforce and increase their level of productivity in order to improve their lives.
However, some have criticized this approach as being very western. Since it is a
perception of the global south from the global north perspective, as it fails to
acknowledge the collective and cultural concerns of women in the developing world.
Its approach has been tagged as being rather cumbersome on women, as it fails to
understand the dynamics of the private sphere but focus solely on the public sphere.
 Women and development
The women and development (WAD) approach originated back in 1975 in

Mexico City, as it sort to discuss women’s issues from a neo-Marxist and dependency
theory perspective. Its focus was to “explain the relationship between women and the
process of capitalist development in terms of material conditions that contribute to
their exploitation” (pg 95). WAD is often misinterpreted as WID, however, what sets
it apart is that WAD focuses specifically on the relationship between patriarchy and
capitalism. The WAD perspective states that women have always participated and
contributed towards economic development, regardless of the public or private
spheres.
 Gender and Development
The Gender and development approach originated in the 1980s by socialist

feminism. It serves as a transitioning point in the way in which feminist have
understanding development. It served as a comprehensive overview of the social,
economic and political realities of development. It origin relates back to the
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) network,
when it was first initiated in India. The DAWN program was then officially recognized
in 1986 during the 3rd UN conference on women in Nairobi.
The conference brought about an activist, researcher and development

practitioners globally. As the conference discussed the achievements made from the
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previous decade’s evaluation of promoting equality among the sexes, and a full scope
of the obstacles limiting women’s advancements, especially in the developing world.
The forum discussed the effectiveness of the continuous debt crisis and structural
adjustment program implemented by the IMF and the World Bank, and how such
concept of neoliberalism tend to marginalize and discriminate women more in the
developing countries.
The diversity of this approach was open to the experiences and need of women
in the developing world. Its two main goals were to prove that the unequal relationship
between the sexes hinders development and female participation. The second, it sort
to change the structure of power into a long-term goal whereby all decision-making
and benefits of development are distributed on the equal basis of gender neutrality.
The GAD approach is not just focused on the biological inequalities among sexes: men
and women, however on how social roles, reproductive roles, and economic roles are
linked to Gender inequalities of masculinity and femininity.
 Effectiveness Approach
The Effectiveness Approach (EA) originated in the 1980s. Its ideas are linked to
the concept surrounding WID, which was the inequalities women faced and how
societies fail to acknowledge the impact of women in economic development.
However, EA sort to not just include women in development projects but also reinforce
their level of productivity and effectiveness in the labor market. So this required the
development of infrastructure and equipment that aided to increase women’s earnings
and productivity (especially women in the rural areas).
 Mainstreaming Gender Equality
Mainstreaming Gender Equality (MGE) approach also commonly referred to,

as gender mainstreaming is the most recent development approach aimed at
women. Gender mainstreaming ensures that all gender issues are addressed and
integrated into all levels of society, politics, and programs. It originated in 1995 at the
4th UN conference on women in Beijing, China. At the forum, 189 state representatives
agreed that the inclusion of both women and men in every development project was
the only way to succeed and progress in a national economic growth and
development. The WID approach had been drop by various aid agencies like CIDA,
due to it negative interpretation from supporters as being too feminist and brought
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about hostility from men towards such programs. So basically organization like CIDA
now has to include men and women in their annual development report concerning
the allocation of fund’s spent towards education, health care, and employment of both
sexes.
In conclusion to all the six main theoretical approaches.
o It is important to note that no approach can be neutral in terms of its effect on the
power relationship between men and women.
o Second, gender inequality is highly linked with the power struggle that hinders
the recognition of women as significant actors and negotiators of the development
processes.
o Finally, the need for including actual fieldwork results into theories of
development. Basically, the collective needs of individuals need to be put into
consideration when implementing various development theories
b. Empirical literature
The experiences of the different countries are illustrated herein as best practices
or ongoing initiatives relating to gender issues, strategies, gender mainstreaming and
challenges in these chosen local communities. The first is the European Union
experience is in addressing, promoting, tackling gender issues. Few instances of Africa
experience in peace and conflict resolution areas which is a need of the hour in the
African context. An example of social and economic development best practice is
microcredit and microfinance in Bangladesh. In Indian experiences, instances of
Kudumbhashree, in Kerala and other regional states like Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana are clearly illustrated.
 European Union Experience
o Addressing gender roles

o Promoting women in decision making
o Supporting work-life balance
o Tackling the gender pay gap
The initiatives taken by EU social partners include the following.
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1. A work environment based on social dialogue that offers work-life balance as a
prerequisite for successfully attracting and retaining talented employees at
BOLIDEN Sweden
2. An additional day of paid leave for the first day of school in the first grade of
primary school or kindergarten is given to employees in MERCATOR Slovenia.
3. A calculator ‘Login-D’ for voluntary measuring of the pay gap in the workplace
between women and men.
4. “Spouse of a craftsman is a true profession!” an initiative by CAPEB in France on

the promotion of women in decision-making which acknowledges the role of co-
working spouses, demanding the recognition of their professional activity and legal
protection, as well as enhancing their role in the enterprise.
5. A collective agreement concluded by Saint-Gobain Italy for the promotion of

“Positive Actions” in favor of gender equality at work, such as targeted training for
women, facilitation of access to employment and career progression.
6. The CSC campaign against gender stereotypes: “J’efface fewer clichés, he bosses
pour l’égalité” – “I erase stereotypes, I work for equality’.
7. Actions to encourage girls to choose STEM - science, technology, engineering, and

mathematics - skills in education: MintRelation and Girls’Day, in Germany.
 African experience
 The People-Oriented Planning (POP) framework developed by UN HCR in
conflict inflicted areas as a component of involving the women in resolving issues
related to conflict resolution and peace.
 Women Peace Building Network is being supported in West Africa by CRS
through West Africa network for peace (WANEP). The women in peacebuilding
program examine avenues through which West African women can play more
functional roles in peacebuilding in different stages of the conflict. The core
objective is to transform the negative image of helpless victimhood to a positive
and more assertive image of stakeholders and active participants in pursuit of
peace in their communities.
 Grameen Bank, Bangladesh
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Mohammed Yunus was awarded the Nobel peace prize for founding the Grameen
Bank. He is a social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader pioneered
the concept of microcredit and microfinance. These looms were given to entrepreneurs
to very poor people who are outside the qualification of traditional bank loans. His
effort was to create microcredit and therefore ensure economic and social
development for very poor communities.
 Indian Experiences
o Kudumbhashree, Kerala experience: Kudumbashree is the poverty eradication and
women empowerment program implemented by the State Poverty Eradication
Mission (SPEM) of the Government of Kerala. They are working in different sectors
of development such as running restaurants at select places such as tourist spots,
airports, and such other places. They are currently involved in waste segregation
and recycling.
o Self-help groups: in other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana the
government are promoting self-help groups in neighboring communities on the
lines of kudumbashree. These self-help groups are involved in different sectors
such as agribusiness such as vending fruits and vegetables, flowers, pottery,
lacework, pickle making, etc.,
o Hyderabad Metro Rail in Urban Transport: The metro rail in Begumpet,
Hyderabad is completely manned and managed by women employees. This is a
clear case of supporting and promoting gender.
o Women Police catering to gender violence and gender equality: In India, the police
stations exclusively catering to the women issues, and challenges. In India, women
police are working with the community to cater to the gender issues.
o Women Legal Cells: They extend legal services, Investigate and examine all matters
relating to the safeguards provided for women under the Constitution and other
laws. The primary mandate of the National Commission for Women is to review
the constitutional and legal safeguards provided for women, recommend remedial
legislative measures, and advice the Government on all policy matters affecting
women.
o Social Forestry and the role of women: Another instance of women in protecting
the forest from degradation is where the people in the neighborhood are involved
so that they use as well as protect the forest. This strategy is public participation is
utilized.
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7. Conceptual Framework
Prepare a Conceptual Framework
Gender Issues
Equality
Mainstreaming
Education
Empowerment
Gender Dimensions
Poverty
Social development
Economic development
Political development
Environment Protection
Gender Interventions
 Support policy, programs and projects
 Social, economic and political
participation
 Education awareness and training
 Empowerment
 Leadership
Sustainable Development
Source: own construction, July 2018
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8. Data Analysis
a. MDG and SDG and Gender Equality
 MDG GOAL: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
To meet the millennium development goals to eradicate poverty 8 goals with

measurable targets and clear deadlines for improving the lives of the world’s poorest
people 189 countries have signed the historic millennium declaration at the UN
millennium summit in 2000. Out of the 8 goals the third goal is to promote gender
equality and empowerment. The 3rd goal talks about eliminating gender disparity in
primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no
later than 2015.
o The developing countries as a whole have achieved the target to eliminate

gender disparity in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
o Globally, about 3 quarters of the working-age men participate in the labor force
compared to half of the working-age women.
o Women make up 41 percent of paid workers outside of agriculture, an increase
from 35 percent in 1990.
o The average proportion of women in parliament has nearly doubled over the
past 20 years.
o Women continue to experience significant gaps in terms of poverty, labor,
market, and wages, as well as participation in private and public decision
making.
According to the World Health Organization, MDG 3 indicators track key

elements of women’s social, economic and political participation and guide the
building of gender equitable societies. All the MDG influence health and health
influences all the MDG’s. The MDG’s are interdependent. For example, better health
enables children to learn and adults to earn. Gender equality is essential to the
achievement of better health. Girl’s education is critically linked to self-determination,
improved health social and economic status as well as positive health outcomes for the
mother and child. Yet girls still account for 55 percent of out of school population.
Maternal deaths and pregnancy-related conditions cannot be eliminated

without the empowerment of women. Maternal mortality is a number one cause of
death for adolescents 15-19 years old and in many countries, sexual and reproductive
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health services tend to focus exclusively on married women and ignore the needs of
adolescents and unmarried women. Empowerment of women including ensuring
access to health information and control of resources such as money is important for
achieving gender equality and health equity. However, the ratio of female to male
earned income is well below parity in all countries. Up to 1 in 3 women worldwide will
experience violence at some point in her life. Which can lead to unwanted pregnancy,
abortion among other things?
WHO key working areas include the following in partnership with member
states and others:
o For the empowerment of women especially it contributes to health.

o Supports the prevention of and response to gender-based violence.
o Promotes women participation and leadership, especially in the health sector.
o Defines ways in which men can be engaged to promote gender equality and to
contribute more to their own health and that of their families and communities.
o Builds the capacity of WHO and its member states to identify gender equality-
related gaps and provides support for gender-responsive policies and programs.
 SDG GOAL: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower Women
SDG has 17 goals to transform our world by 2013 which is fully inclusive of
people with disabilities as well. The 5th SDG aims to achieve gender equality and
empower all women and girls. The listed targets include the following:
1. End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and
private sectors including trafficking and other types of sexual exploitation
3. Eliminate all harmful practices such as child- early and forced marriages and
female genital mutilation.
4. Recognize and value unpaid care or domestic work through the provision of
public services, infrastructure, social protection policies and the promotion of
shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally
appropriate
5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for
leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life.
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6. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive
rights as agreed in accordance with the program of action of the international
conference on population and development and the Beijing platform for action
and the outcome documents of their review conferences.
7. Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources as well as
access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial
services, inheritance and natural resources in accordance with the national loss.
8. Enhance the use of enabling technology in particular I-city to promote the
empowerment of women.
9. Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the
promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at
all levels.
The summary of the targets broadly talks about:
1. End of all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
2. Secondly, eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public
and private spheres including trafficking and sexual and other types of
exploitation.
b. Concept and Types of Gender Inequality and Gender mainstreaming

 Gender Inequality In India
Gender inequality in India refers to health, education, economic and political

inequalities between men and women in India. Gender inequalities and their social
causes impact India's sex ratio and women's health over their lifetimes, their
educational attainment, and economic conditions. Gender inequality in India is a
comprehensive issue that concern men and women. A few argue that various gender
equality indices place men at a disadvantage. However, when India's population is
examined as a whole, women are at a disadvantage in numerous important ways. In
India, discriminatory attitudes towards either sex have existed for generations and
affect the lives of both sexes. Although the constitution of India grants men and women
equal rights, gender disparities remain.
Education is not equally attained by Indian women. Although literacy rates are
escalating, the female literacy rate lags behind the male literacy rate. Literacy for
females stands at 65.46%, in comparison to 82.14% for males. The primary cause for
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such low literacy rates is parents' perceptions that educating girls is a waste of
resources as their daughters would eventually live with their husbands' families. Thus,
there is a strong belief that due to their traditional duty and role as housewives,
daughters would not benefit directly from the education investment.
Discrimination against women has contributed to gender wage differentials,

with Indian women earning 64% on an average of what their male counterparts earn
for the same profession and level of qualification. This has led to their lack of
independence and authority. Although equal rights are given to women, equality may
not be well implemented. In practice, land and property rights are weakly enforced,
with customary laws widely practiced in rural areas. Women do not own property
under their own names and usually do not have any inheritance rights to obtain a share
of parental property.
 Causes and Types of Gender Inequality In India
The root cause of gender inequality in Indian society lies in its patriarchy
system. According to the famous sociologists Sylvia Walby, patriarchy is “a system of
social structure and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women”.
Women’s exploitation is an age-old cultural phenomenon of Indian society.
For instance, as per ancient Hindu lawgiver, Manu women are supposed to be
in the custody of their father when they are children, they must be under the custody
of their husband when married and under the custody of her son in old age or as
widows. In no circumstances, she should be allowed to assert herself independently.
The unfortunate part of gender inequality in our society is that the women too
have accepted their subordinate position to men through continuous social
conditioning. And they are also part of the same patriarchal system. Extreme poverty
and lack of education are also some of the reasons for women’s low status in society.
Poverty and lack of education derive countless women to work in low paying domestic
service, organized prostitution or as migrant laborers. Women are not only getting
unequal pay for equal or more work but also they are being offered only low skill jobs
for which lower wages are paid. This has become a major form of inequality on the
basis of gender.
 Economic Inequalities
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o Labor participation and wages: Over 50% of India’s labor is engaged in agriculture.
A majority of rural men work as cultivators, while a majority of women work in
livestock maintenance, egg, and milk production. Rao states that about 78 percent
of rural women are engaged in agriculture, compared to 63 percent of men. About
37% of women are cultivators, but they are more active in the irrigation, weeding,
winnowing, transplanting, and harvesting stages of agriculture. About 70 percent
of farm work was performed by women in India in 2004. Women's labor
participation rate is about 47% in India's tea plantations, 46% in cotton cultivation,
45% growing oil seeds and 39% in horticulture.
There is wage inequality between men and women in India. The largest wage
gap was in manual plowing operations in 2009, where men were paid ₹ 103 per day,
while women were paid ₹ 55, a wage gap ratio of 1.87. For sowing the wage gap ratio
reduced to 1.38 and for weeding 1.18. For other agriculture operations such as
winnowing, threshing, and transplanting, the men to female wage ratio varied from
1.16 to 1.28. For sweeping, the 2009 wages were statistically the same for men and
women in all states of India.
o Access to Credit: Although laws are encouraging of lending to women and

microcredit programs targeted to women are prolific, women often lack the
collateral for bank loans due to low levels of property ownership and microcredit
schemes have come under scrutiny for coercive lending practices. Although many
microcredit programs have been successful and encouraged community-based
women's self-help groups, a 2012 review of microcredit practices found that
women are contacted by multiple lenders and as a result, take on too many loans
and overextend their credit. The report found that financial incentives for the
recruiters of these programs were not in the best interest of the women they
purported to serve. The result was a spate of suicides by women who were unable
to pay their debts.
o Property Rights: Women have equal rights under the law to own property and
receive equal inheritance rights, but in practice, women are at a disadvantage. This
is evidenced in the fact that 70% of the rural land is owned by men. Laws, such as
the Married Women Property Rights Act of 1974 protect women, but few seek legal
redress. Although the Hindu Succession Act of 2005 provides equal inheritance
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rights to ancestral and jointly owned property, the law is weakly enforced,
especially in Northern India.
 Educational Inequalities
o Schooling: In rural India, girls continue to be less educated than boys. Recently,
studies have investigated the underlying factors that contribute to greater or less
educational attainment by girls in different regions of India. A 2017 study
performed by Adriana D. Kugler and Santosh Kumar, published in Demography,
examined the role of familial size and child composition in terms of gender of the
first-born child and others on the educational attainment achieved in a particular
family. According to this study, as the family size increased by each additional child
after the first, on average there was a quarter of a year decrease in overall years of
schooling, with this statistic disfavoring female children in the family compared to
male children.
In addition, the educational level of the mother in the family also plays a role in
the educational attainment of the children, with the study indicating that in families
with mothers that had a lower educational level, the outcomes tended to more
disadvantageous for educational attainment of the children.
 Secondary education: In examining educational disparities between boys and girls,

the transition from primary to secondary education shows an increase in the
disparity gap, as a greater percentage of females compared to males drop out from
their educational journey after the age of twelve. A particular 2011 study conducted
by Gaurav Siddhu, published in the International Journal of Educational
Development, investigated the statistics of dropout in the secondary school
transition and its contributing factors in Rural India. The study indicated that
among the 20% of students who stopped schooling after primary education, near
70% of these students were females. This study also conducted interviews to
determine the factors influencing this dropout in Rural India. The result indicated
that the most common reasons for girls to stop attending school is the distance of
travel and social reasons.
 Post-secondary education: Participation in post-secondary education for girls in

India has changed over time. A 2012 examination conducted by Rohini Sahni and
Kalyan Shankar, published in High Education, investigated the aspect of
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inclusiveness for girls in the realm of higher education. The source indicates that
overall participation for girls in higher education has gone up over time, especially
in recent years. However, there are persisting disparities in terms of spread across
disciplines. While boys tend to be better represent all educational disciplines, girls
tend to have a concentration in selective disciplines, while lacking representation
in other educational realms.
 Literacy: The female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate.
According to Census of India 2011, the literacy rate of females is 65.46% compared
to males, which is 82.14%. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the
schools, and many of them drop out. According to the National Sample Survey Data
of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female
literacy rates. According to the majority of the scholars, the major reason behind
the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy. From
2006-2010, the percent of females who completed at least a secondary education
was almost half that of men, 26,6% compared to 50.4%. In the current generation
of youth, the gap seems to be closing at the primary level and increasing at the
secondary level. In rural Punjab, the gender gap between girls and boys in school
enrollment increases dramatically with age as demonstrated in National Family
Health Survey-3 where girls age 15-17 in Punjab are 10% more likely than boys to
drop out of school. Although this gap has been reduced significantly, problems still
remain in the quality of education for girls where boys in the same family will be
sent to higher quality private schools and girls sent to the government school in the
village.
 Reservation for female students: Under the Non-Formal Education program, about
40% of the centers in states and 10% of the centers in UTs are exclusively reserved
for females. As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE centers were catering to about 7.42
million children, out of which about 0.12 million were exclusively for girls. Certain
state level engineering, medical and other colleges like in Orissa have reserved 30%
of their seats for females. The Prime Minister of India and the Planning
Commission also vetoed a proposal to set up an Indian Institute of Technology
exclusively for females. Although India has witnessed substantial improvement in
female literacy and enrolment rate since the 1990s, the quality of education for
female remains compromised.
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 Legal and Constitutional Safeguards against Gender Inequality
Indian Constitution provides for positive efforts to eliminate gender inequality.

The Preamble to the Constitution talks about the goals of achieving social, economic
and political justice to everyone and to provide equality of status and of opportunity to
all its citizens. Article 15 of the Constitution provides for prohibition of discrimination
on grounds of sex also apart from other grounds such as religion, race, caste or place
of birth. Article 15(3) authorizes the State to make any special provision for women
and children. Moreover, the Directive Principles of State Policy also provides various
provisions which are for the benefit of women and provides safeguards against
discrimination.
Various protective Legislations have also been passed by the Parliament to

eliminate exploitation of women and to give them equal status in society. For instance,
the Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 was enacted to abolish and make punishable the
inhuman custom of Sati; the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 to eliminate the practice of
dowry; the Special Marriage Act, 1954 to give rightful status to married couples who
marry inter-caste or inter-religion; Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and
Prevention of Misuse) Bill (introduced in Parliament in 1991, passed in 1994 to stop
female infanticide and many more such Acts. Furthermore, the Parliament time to
time brings out amendments to existing laws in order to give protection to women
according to the changing needs of the society, for instance, Section 304-B was added
to the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to make dowry-death or bride-burning a specific
offense punishable with a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Despite all these provisions women are still being treated as second rate citizens
in our country; men are treating them as an object to fulfill their carnal desires; crimes
against women are at the alarming stage; the practice of dowry is still widely prevalent;
female infanticide is a norm in our homes.
 Gender Mainstreaming
Gender mainstreaming has been embraced internationally as a strategy

towards realizing gender equality. It involves the integration of a gender perspective
into the preparation, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies,
regulatory measures, and spending programs, with a view to promoting equality
between women and men, and combating discrimination. Gender mainstreaming
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ensures that the policy-making and legislative is of superior quality and is structured
to meet the needs of all citizens including girls, men, and women.
Gender mainstreaming addresses the different areas of inequality in the society.

It aims to remove all forms of existing gender inequality in the social, economic and
political platforms. It also identifies the cause of these issues and removes the
mechanisms that result in them. At the national level, it is the responsibility of the
government or members of the state to implement changes to attain gender equality.
This plan should be in relation with the perspective, satisfy the essential conditions,
cover all the relevant magnitude, anticipate the use of existing methods and tools, set
out the responsibilities and make sure that the essential competencies exist to
accomplish the anticipated results within a planned time frame.
The strategy of mainstreaming is defined in the ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions,

1997/2, as “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any
planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and at all levels.
It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an
integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of
policies and programs in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women
and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to
achieve gender equality.”
It is important to see the linkages between gender mainstreaming in the

substantive work of the United Nations and the promotion of equal opportunities and
gender balance within the United Nations itself. Organizational culture and
organizational values are important in terms of creating work environments which are
conducive to gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming is easiest to implement
in organizational environments which support approaches such as multi-disciplinary
focuses, teamwork, creative thinking, flexibility, and risk-taking.
Gender mainstreaming was established as an intergovernmental mandate in

the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, and again in the ECOSOC Agreed
on Conclusions in 1997. The mandate for gender mainstreaming was considerably
strengthened in the outcome of the General Assembly special session to follow-up the
Beijing Conference (June 2000). Gender mainstreaming is not being imposed on
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governments by the United Nations. Member states have been involved in the
Intergovernmental discussions on gender mainstreaming since the mid-1990s and
have, in consensus, adopted mainstreaming as an important global strategy for
promoting gender equality.
c. Education and Gender Empowerment
 Education
Education is a catalyst for social change and a condition for the achievement of
fundamental human rights. It increases cognitive and non-cognitive skills, improves
productivity and provides individuals with a greater ability to further develop their
knowledge and skills throughout their lives. It also makes women and men better
equipped to secure steady, well-paid jobs and thus combat the risks of social exclusion.
Furthermore, education can better prepare individuals to recognize and handle
difficult situations. Economic independence makes it easier to leave a difficult
situation, such as a violent home. At the same time, educated citizens – both women
and men – benefit entire societies. They make substantial contributions to the
economy and contribute to the improved health, nutrition, and education of their
families.
Educational achievement is one of the most important predictors that may

contribute to a child’s future economic well-being. These days, companies are
investing heavily in highly educated employees to have a distinctive organization. To
assure the quality of the employees, organizations only select highly qualified people.
Higher educational performance leads to a higher workplace productivity. Knowledge
capital is the most important determinant of a country's economic growth. A country
with high-performance students and a higher literacy rate, therefore, leads to a better
economic position. A person is considered literate when he/she can, with
understanding, both read and write a short simple statement related to his/her
everyday life. A person is considered functionally literate when he/she can engage in
all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning of his/her
group and community and also for enabling him/her to continue to use reading,
writing, and calculation for his/her own and the community’s development.
A woman who is educated has a higher chance of getting a job at a company or

an organization due to her qualifications. Cultural differences between the United
183 | P a g e
States and India affect the individual family’s perceived notion of what education is
and how it should be implemented in these countries. The United States education
system largely represents Western education values while the Indian education system
can be compared to other East Asian countries. Western education tends to place a
higher value on creativity and individuality while Indian education places a higher
value on family and work ethics. How does this affect the chance of a girl getting
educated and do such cultural differences play a major role in the discrimination of
women?
 Gender Empowerment
Gender empowerment is conceived as a process by which women can overcome many

of the hurdles that they face such as education, work status, employment
opportunities, health care, social security, position in decision making by virtue of
their gender. The Government of India as well as various state governments have taken
numerous measures and are continuing in their endeavors to raise the status of women
in the society.
Measures taken by the Government of India include the establishment of the

National Commission for Women (NCW); Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK); launching
of Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY), Balika Samridhi Yojana (BSY); and Rural Women’s
Development and Empowerment Project (RWDEP). Formulating a National Policy for
Empowerment of Women and setting up a National Resource Centre for Women are
other efforts of the context undertaken by the government in the interests of women.
The ‘Women Commission’ constituted by the state government is actively

engaged in checking crime against women and ensuring equal wages and
opportunities for them. Such social security measures, as construction of state homes,
marriage grants to destitute girls, construction and expansion of hostel buildings for
working women, short stay homes for women and girls.
d. Gender Equality, Gender Empowerment, and Sustainable Development
While gender equality is an important goal in itself, an issue of human rights

and social justice -efforts to promote greater equality between women and men can
also contribute to the achievement of other social and economic objectives. It has been
clear for decades that women in many parts of the world make key contributions in
areas of development such as agriculture and water resources management.
184 | P a g e
Neglecting women in these areas has often led to less than optimal effects of
development inputs, and at worst negative impacts. In other sector areas, it is
becoming increasingly clear that development goals will not be met unless the needs
and priorities of all stakeholders are identified and addressed, for example in the
transport or health sectors.
There has been a steady accumulation of evidence that gender differences and
inequalities, directly and indirectly, affect the impact of development strategies and
hence the achievement of overall development goals. Persistent differences and
disparities between women and men can mean that women have to bear more of the
costs of lack of development and gain fewer benefits than men from development
interventions. This does not only have negative implications for women themselves,
but for the society as a whole. Women represent half the resources and half the
potential in any society. This potential remains unrealized when women are
constrained by inequality and discrimination.
The links between gender equality and effective and sustainable development
are clear in some areas, especially in areas where both women's and men's roles are
very visible, for example in health, education, and agriculture. The most well-known
example of links between the promotion of gender equality and the achievement of
development goals is in the area of education. Research carried out, particularly by the
World Bank, has shown that, in many contexts, more equitable access to education by
women and girls can give very positive returns in improved family health, greater
productivity and reduced family size. Studies in 46 developing countries showed that
a one percent rise in women’s literacy had three times the positive effect of a one
percent rise in the number of doctors available.
Research on economic growth and education shows that failing to invest in

education can lower the gross national product. All other things being equal, countries
in which the ratio of female-to-male enrolment in primary or secondary education is
less than .75 can expect levels of GNP that are roughly 25 percent lower than countries
in which there is less gender disparity in education. Experience in the area of
agriculture has indicated that the failure of many agricultural programs in developing
countries could be directly related to the neglect of women’s productive roles,
particularly in relation to food crop production. Experience has also shown that
women farmers are particularly receptive to innovations and incentives in progressive
185 | P a g e
farmer schemes. Studies have shown that giving women farmers in Kenya the same
level of agricultural inputs and education as men farmers could increase yields of
farmers by more than 20 percent.
Work in the area of forestry has also shown that it is important to identify the
roles of women as well as men and to understand the uses and knowledge of forest
resources of both women and men. Identifying and utilizing the knowledge of women
has proven critical to the successful promotion of biodiversity in some areas.
Studies have shown that giving women farmers in Kenya the same level of
agricultural inputs and education as men farmers could increase yields of farmers by
more than 20 percent. There is also evidence from water supply programs in
developing countries which indicates that the sustainability and impact of these
programs can be positively affected by proper attention to gender perspectives in user
participation. This is due to the fact that women play key roles in relation to the
management of water resources at both household and community levels.
Considerable research has also pointed to gains that can be made by focusing
poverty reduction efforts on women. Investing in women is seen to speed up economic
development as well as produce significant social gains, and to have considerable
intergenerational payoffs. It is well established that improving women’s equitable
access to credit is cost-effective since women are often more reliable credit-takers than
men.
In other areas of development, the inter-linkages between gender equality and

achievement of overall development goals are not as clear. Even when the broader
development impacts of gender equality are increasingly understood, the direct and
indirect interconnections with economic development are not always explicitly drawn
out. There are many examples of why and how gender equality is critical for
sustainable people-centered development, with links to economic development and
economic efficiency.
Research on gender inequality in the labor market shows that eliminating

gender discrimination in relation to occupation and pay could both increase the
income of women, and contribute to national income. Estimates reveal, for instance,
that if gender inequality in the labor market in Latin America were to be eliminated,
not only would women’s wages rise by about 50 percent, but national output would
186 | P a g e
rise by 5 percent. Data also shows that gender inequality hampers a positive supply
response to structural adjustment measures by reducing women’s incentives to
produce tradable goods as a result of increases in women’s time burdens.
To promote greater gender mainstreaming throughout the United Nations

system, it is important to be able to illustrate for economists that gender equality is
relevant to issues of economic growth and efficiency. Similarly, it is important to
convince demographers that gender perspectives can strengthen their analyses and
provide new insights into demographic processes and to demonstrate to statisticians
the inadequacy of data that do not incorporate gender perspectives.
9. Conclusion
In this paper, we have argued that gender equality is integral to sustainable

development. MDG has made a remarkable improvement in achieving gender equality
with the developing countries eradicating gender parity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education. It is seen from the SDG that eliminating violence and
discrimination against women and girls in all sectors ensure participation of women
in social, economic and political platforms thus empowering women and leading to
sustainable development. Gender equality can lead to social, economic, environmental
development and hence leads to sustainable development. There has been progressing
in removing gender-based legal restrictions, but the playing field is far from level. The
idea of equality in terms of economic opportunity remains elusive in some countries.
A number of legal restrictions that impede female labor force participation remain in
place which in turn hampers. Thus we can conclude that gender equality and
sustainability can reinforce each other.
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Gender Equality in Librarianship: a study of Indian scenario
S. Vijayakumar
Assistant Librarian, Presidency University, Bangalore
K. N. Sheshadri
Senior Librarian, Presidency University, Bangalore
Abstract
The study has been undertaken to measure the level of professional satisfaction of female
librarians in India and to understand how the job facets affect the professional satisfaction
of female librarians. The specific objectives of the study were to find out the level of job
satisfaction of library professionals, working environment of library professionals, job
contentment among library professionals with regard to the factors like job security,
promotion, employee recognition, etc., the comfortable with superior and colleagues,
economic benefits available for the professionals and the impact of technologies on work
environment. Here, the authors have ascertained the professional contentment using 14
variables on a five-point scale based on Likert’s scale and narrowed down to three scales
during analysis. A survey method was adopted and the authors have conducted the survey
in academic Libraries to understand the variation in professional satisfaction, and the same
has been collectively explained. The questionnaire survey method was administered on
around 300 academic female librarians who represented Central universities, State
universities, Institutes of National importance, Deemed universities and Private universities'
libraries in India. The response rate is 76 %, which is very encouraging. Findings are
presented based on the responses from 230 female library professionals. Majority of the
respondents (82.61 %) agreed that their work is recognized by their superiors and hence the
respondents are able to maintain the good balance between professional and personal life;
64 % of the respondents have expressed that their management do take regular feedback on
their performance and accordingly, the respondents are given their remuneration for their
contribution. These findings help authors to understand the status of gender equality in
librarianship in the country.
Keywords: Gender Equality; Librarianship; Job Satisfaction.
1. Introduction
Gender roles are discovered through socialization methods with the aid of
offering equal prominence to both genders. In fact, the place of work surroundings
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provides a meaningful, satisfying, and difficult ecosystem which will unleash human
perspective within every individual. Both genders are equally contributing to the
overall improvement of the library discipline in today’s context. To extend efficiency,
enhance job satisfaction, and increase the worker morale, it is necessary that a worker
is considered as a physiological, sociological, psychological and egoistic creature.
People convey to the workplace, a crystallized and complicated set of cognition,
personal feelings, desires, perceptions, and motives. Thus, one is concerned with
matters such as security, relations with fellow workers, status, roles, and personal
needs. However, when a person is unsettled about these, his/her efficiency will be
impeded. An individual whose a variety of dimensions are harmoniously attuned will
be more effective in his/her working environment (Ekere, J. N., & Ugwu, C. I. 2011).
2. Need for the study
Job satisfaction is important to retain and attract well-qualified personnel in

to-day’s challenging environment. The scarcity of profession contentment
consequences in a low stage of employee’s dedication which in turn could affect the
best of the service provided to the users of the library. Therefore, an attempt has been
made by authors in this study to identify the job satisfaction among the female library
and information science professionals working in institutions in India.
3. Significance of the study
Badawo, G. (2006) paper was deliberate to examine the stages of profession

contentment of woman librarians in Nigeria using Herzberg's Hygiene issues of
profession contentment. overall of 228 casually selected woman librarians from 35
libraries drained from the six topographical regions of Nigeria. Consequences of the
research presented that woman librarians in Nigeria are very gratified with colleagues,
social relationships, appreciation, progress, work itself, remuneration, private life, and
profession safety. Khan (2013) examines the job satisfaction, Job security; pay scale;
promotion criteria; annual increment provided by the employer is not up to
satisfactory level and further, they suggest that employer should take the necessary
actions to improve their needs. The Adio (2010)explains that job commitment will
increase depends on the compensation, policies; pay scale increase, and other working
environment provided by the employer and same Hart (2011) explored that 50% of
respondent unsatisfied by the remuneration offered by the employer and further the
expressed their dissatisfaction towards the stagnant working environment, the
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frustration of inadequate availability of working resources. Diqian, M. (2009)
paper, on the basis of Tianjin university librarian positivism research, analyses female
librarians' job satisfaction structure and builds a corresponding regression formula as
well as brings reasonable improvement method aiming at the female librarians'
present state. Amune, J. B. (2014) the study shows that to assess the relative factors
of professional contentment between man & woman librarians in public university
libraries in Edo state. For this research twenty female and 20 male librarians were
selected randomly. The outcomes discovered that woman librarians in public academy
libraries were more satisfied with their professions.
4. Aims of the research

 To measure the level of job satisfaction and working environment of library
professionals;
 To understand the factors such as job contentment & security, promotion,
recognition etc.;
 To discover the level of satisfaction regarding the economic benefits;
 To assess the impact of technologies on the work environment.
5. Research Methodology
The authors adopted the online survey method to collect the responses to this research
from randomly selected LIS Professionals in the Central universities, State
universities, Institutes of National importance, Deemed universities and Private
universities of India. The e-mail addresses of full-time LIS Professionals who are
working in the different sector were collected. The structured online questionnaire was
prepared to keep the objectives in mind for easy data handling. An e-mail sent with
the link for the online questionnaire to the professionals for data collection. Finally,
we received 230 outputs with responses with the help of MS office excel data has
analyzed. The scope of this study was limited to selected universities in India. The list
of universities considered for this study is attached as Annexure 1. The participants
were asked to fill the variables in a five-point scale based on Likert’s scale. The same
has been reduced to three scales while data analysis for better understanding.
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6. Data Analysis
Table 1: Level of satisfaction
Neutral Disagree
Standards Agree (%)
(%) (%)
The significance of your work is
190 (82.61%) 22 (9.57%) 18 (7.83%)
acknowledged by library administration
Do you get regular feedback on your
143 (62.17%) 52 (22.61%) 35 (15.22%)
performance?
Do you think that the management cares
116 (50.43%) 65 (28.26%) 49 (21.30%)
about the grievances of staff?
You receive appropriate remuneration
147 (63.91%) 34 (14.78%) 49 (21.30%)
(salary) for your contribution
Table 1 determine the job satisfaction among the respondents under study, each
statement of professional development and recognition facet has been asked to rate
their satisfaction. 190 female library professionals (82.61%) were “Agreed” with their
significance of your work is acknowledged by library administration, 143 respondents
(62.17%) were “Agreed” with their regular feedback on their performance. Among
them, 116 respondents (50.43%) were “Agreed” with their management cares about
the grievances of staff and 147 respondents (63.91%) were “Agreed” their
remuneration (salary) for their contribution.
Table 2: Professional development and recognition
Neutral Disagree
Standards Agree (%)
(%) (%)
Are you encouraged to make 139
independent decisions? 45 (19.57%) 46 (20%)
(60.43%)
Do you get the opportunity to execute a
variety of tasks and activities? 176 (76.52%) 24 (10.43%) 30 (13.04%)
Does your work give you a feeling of

personal accomplishment (achievement) 181 (78.70%) 26 (11.30%) 23 (10%)
Time is available to formally meet and

discuss with colleagues at workplace 170 (73.91%) 33 (14.35%) 27 (11.74%)
You are able to maintain a good balance

between professional and personal life 190 (82.61%) 25 (10.87%) 15 (6.52%)
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The table 2 described opinions about the nature of LIS profession, in order that
139 (60.43%) respondents agree with that they are encouraged to make independent
decisions followed by 176 (76.52%) respondents agreed that they have opportunity to
execute variety of tasks and activities, 181 (78.70%) respondent agreed that they
satisfied with their personal accomplishment, 170 (73.91%) respondents agree with
they have time to meet and discuss with colleagues at workplace and importantly 190
(82.61%) agree with they are able to maintain good balance between professional and
personal life.
Table 3: Organization's environmental factors
Neutral Disagree
Standards Agree (%)
(%) (%)
Do you have a stimulating work environment
which inspires you to improve your skills & 175 (76.09%) 28 (12.17%) 27 (11.74%)
perspective?
Are you happy with the team spirit in your work
154 (66.96%) 36 (15.65%) 40 (17.39%)
environment?
The moral of the people in your team is good 149 (64.78%) 52 (22.61%) 29 (12.61%)
Stress at work make you dissatisfied and
81 (35.22%) 66 (28.70%) 83 (36.09%)
unhappy
Equal opportunities are provided in the
working environment without any 132 (57.39%) 47 (20.43%) 51 (22.17%)
discrimination
Table 3 is an analysis of the organization's environmental factors affects the

professionals in terms of maximum involvement in the organizational activities, in
their own professional development, effective rendering of LIS services, innovative
services etc. Some of the factors rated by the respondents in this survey reveals 175
(76.09%) agrees with they have a stimulating work environment which inspires them
to improve your skills & perspective, followed by 154 (66.96%) respondents agreed
that they are happy with the team spirit in their working environment, 149 (64.78%)
agrees with the morale of the people in their team is good, 83 (36.09%) respondents
disagreed with stress at work makes them dissatisfied and unhappy, and 132 (57.39%)
respondents are getting equal opportunities are provided in the working environment
without any discrimination.
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3. Findings
 Majority of the respondents (82.61 %) agreed that their work is recognized by their
superiors and hence the respondents are able to maintain a good balance between
professional and personal life;
 64 % of the respondents have expressed that their management do take regular
feedback on their performance and accordingly, the respondents are given their
remuneration for their contribution;
 Though 60% of the respondents are encouraged to make independent decisions,
only 50% of the respondents expressed that their management cares about their
grievances;
 76.52% of the respondents agreed that they get the opportunity to execute a variety
of tasks and activities which in turn creates a challenging work environment that
encourages them to develop their skills & potentials;
 Majority of the respondent (79 %) agreed that they satisfied with their personal
accomplishment and 65 % of the respondents expressed their satisfaction with the
team sprite and morale;
 36 % of the respondents have disagreed that the stress at work makes them
dissatisfied and unhappy, and 58 % of the respondents expressed their satisfaction
for not having any kind of discrimination in the workplace.
4. Recommendations
 Expert authorities should deliberate to reward a female employee for their good
performance and Allow them achieving administrative autonomy;
 The management of educational institutions must give equal priority for
promotion to females;
 Understanding among the co-workers would have an impact on job satisfaction
and hence the employer need to create such environment for the healthy
workplace;
 Management should ensure the security at the place for the woman library
professionals;
 Awareness needs to be created so that the associated colleagues take more
household responsibilities;
 A suitable place is required to be made for children who are of less than 3 years old
so that parents can peacefully work and become more efficient.
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5. Conclusion
The results of the current research are judiciously good in its range with regard
to many facets. In the globalized world, women are no more biased and occupy equal
opportunities in all the sectors and results from this study that the level of profession
contentment among female librarians is very high. This indicates that by and large, the
library profession has been achieving gender equality by giving their dues to female
library professionals in all aspects. Though there are scopes for better work
environment which creates more contentment among women librarians. The
management has to understand the anomalies in details if any and thereby improve
their contentment to a full extent for better productivity of the organization in general
and library in particular.
References
1. Amjid Khan & Shamshad Ahmed, Job Satisfaction Among Librarians in the
Universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: A Survey, LIB. PHIL. PRAC.,
(2013), http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/906/.
2. Farzana Sultana & Bilkis Begum, Measuring the Job Satisfaction of Female Library
Professionals Working in the Health Libraries in Dhaka City, 23 EASTERN
LIBRARIAN 37, 37-50 (2012).
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Nigeria: A Test of Herzberg's Hygiene/ Motivator Factors, 6 SAMARU J. INF.
STUD. 6, 6-12 (2006).
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Professionals in India: A Study, 7 INT. RES. J. LIB. INFO. SCI. 690, 690-706
(2017).
5. Gboyega Adio & S.O. Popoola, Job Satisfaction and Career Commitment of
Librarians in Federal University Libraries in Nigeria, 59 LIBR. REV. 175, 175-84
(2010).
6. Genevieve Hart, Job Satisfaction in a South African Academic Library in
Transition, 36 J. ACAD. LIBRARIANSH. 53, 53-62 (2010).
7. J.B. Amune, A Comparative Study of the Determinants of Job Satisfaction Among
Male and Female Librarians in Public University Libraries in Edo State of Nigeria,
2 INT. J. EDUC. RES. 649, 649-60 (2014).
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8. Justina N. Ekere & Cyprian I. Ugwu, Influence of Age, Gender and Working
Experience on Librarians Job Satisfaction in University Libraries in Nigeria, 2 J.
INF. KNOWL. MANAG., (2011).
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Tamil Nadu: A Study, ASIAN J. INF. SCI. TECH., (2012).
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Educational Institutions of Kanchipuram District (Tamil Nadu), 6 INT. J. LIB. INF.
SCI. 38, 38-48 (2017).
11. S. Jayaraman & R. Mahesh Kumar, Measuring the Job Satisfaction of Digital
Library Professionals Working in the Arts College Libraries in Coimbatore City, 13
GLOBAL J. HUM. SOC. SCI. LINGUISTICS EDUC. 9, 9-13 (2013).
12. Veena Eranna Ankad & D.B. Patil, Job Satisfaction of Women Library Professionals
in Karnataka, 6 INDIAN STREAMS RES. J., (2016).
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Technology Mediated Violence against Women in Bangladesh:
Evidence from Contemporary literature
Md. Mamunur Rashid Sheikh

Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work,
Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Abstract
In the last couple of years, with the growing reach of the internet, the rapid spread of digital
technologies and the wide flow of social media the country experienced an increase in the
rate of new dimensional Violence against women called Technology Mediated Violence
against Women (Tech-Mediated VAW). It refers to a range of behaviors where digital
technologies are used to facilitate harms including image based sexual abuse, sextortion,
sexual solicitation, hate speech, hacking, trolling, defamation, blackmailing, cyber-stalking,
cyber pornography, making threats and rape threats and so on. Tech-Mediated VAW has a
number of detrimental impacts on women‟s well-being. It not only causes severe emotional
and psychological distress and portends the threat of physical harm, but also has a chilling
effect on women‟s free expression. There have very limited literature and empirical research
addressing on this issue. The literature review showed that in the absence of strong legal
orientation, socio-cultural misrecognition along with scope of availability, accessibility and
anonymity in cyber space perpetrators targeting women and girls in increasing manner.
The present paper aims to explore the forms of Tech-Mediated VAW in Bangladesh with
special attention to evaluate the victim support service potency and legal framework in
combating Tech-Mediated VAW. The finding would be important guideline to the
governments, policy makers, Gender specialist and human rights organizations.
Key Words: Tech-Mediated VAW; Cyber violence against women.
1. Introduction
Almost without exception, across national boundaries and jurisdictions,

millions of girls and women are subjected to deliberate forms of violence because of
their gender. The violence includes dehumanizing, aggressive and harmful acts that
are in turn physical, psychological, sexual, and exploitative (Broadband Commission,
2015). These acts around the globe occurred in every spare in societal settings either
in the closed doors or in the open in public.
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One in three women has experienced physical/ sexual violence at some point in their
lives (United Nations, 2015). In the last couple of decades, with the rapid spread of
Information and Technology (ICT) more particularly the wide diffusion of social
media, violence against women get new shape with various dimensions. The access to
ICT, transform many women’s live in positive social indicators by giving them
opportunities in health facilities, educational availability, income generation, access to
basic services and participation in political and economic agenda. Besides these
enormous possibilities and prospects, it continues to open up new spaces for
harassment and abuse, in a world that is already hostile to women and girls, and to
marginalized groups (BLAST, 2017). Statistics showed that 73 percentage of women
abused online (Network Intelligence for development, 2015). Harassment and abuse
both in offline and online happened in multiple forms by using the opportunity of
anonymity and accessibility. Tech-Mediated VAW include sexual assault, image based
sexual abuse, sextortion, Revenge Porn, sexual solicitation, hate speech, hacking,
trolling, cyber-stalking, Surveillance, making threats and rape threats. The pandemic
nature of using technology as a tool to wreak harm to women often considered as the
consequences of long existing male dominated attitudes, lack of strong legal
framework and absence of strong victim support service.
Over the last couple of years, Bangladesh have been witnessed a strong surge of
growth in the field of Information and communication technology. The number of
internet users in last decade increased in enormous in manner, the total number of
internet subscribers has reached 88.687 million at the end of August, 2018(BTRC,
2018). Majority of the subscribers use internet on mobile phone (93.49%), remaining
are ISP, PSTN and WiMAX users (BTRC, 2018). The number of people using mobile
phone reached at 152.527 million in July 2018. With this proliferation of internet and
mobile phones, use of social media platforms has been increased, 29 million registered
Facebook users of which 86 percent use Facebook from their mobile devices. At least
one third of the subscribers of mobile phones and internet are women (Akter, 2018).
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Source: Networked Intelligence for Development 2015, cited in UN Broadband
Commission, 2015)
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Women in Bangladesh are subject to targeted for various forms of abuse and
harassment in cyber space. Study conducted by Cyber Crime Awareness Foundation
(CCAF) showed that more than 51percent cybercrime victims are women (The
Independent, 2018). The study also showed that around 73.71 percent victims of
cybercrime are women aged between 18 and 30 years. Most of the cybercrimes are taking
place through the social media. Using the scope for online anonymity, perpetrators
increasingly target women and girls on the internet or by mobile phone. The wide
spectrum of abuse includes hate speech, public shaming, spamming, hacking and identity
theft, cyber stalking (repeatedly sending offensive or threatening emails, text messages or
instant messages), surveillance tracking, malicious distribution of illegal materials such
as recordings of rape, „revenge porn‟ (distributing intimate videos or photographs
without consent), “morphing‟ (the manipulation of a person‟s images often onto different
body), making threats or sending obscene emails or text messages, including threats to
inflict physical harm, sexual assault or to kill as well as efforts to instigate suicide
(convincing or compelling a person to end her life) (UN Women, 2015, cited in BLAST,
2017).
In the contrary to multiple victimization and increasing in manner , very few victim
support services are available and also have strong „legacy of fear‟ among women not to
report to justice system for afraid of not getting proper justice.
The present paper emphasis on determining forms of Tech-Mediated Violence

against Women in Bangladesh with special focus on legislative orientation and victim
support services. The article based on content analysis using existing available literature
(Islam & Cojocaru, 2015). Two stages have been followed to complete the literature
review: first; I searched articles and journal papers in electronic database using some
keywords including „cyber violence‟, cyber violence against women‟, „Tech-
Facilitated/Mediated/Related violence against women‟, „cybercrime against women‟ etc.
secondly; I used the „snowball‟ method for searching for journal articles, books and
reports as well as articles presented in conference (Islam & Cojocaru, 2015). We
considered 13 articles and several reports as well as 7 books relevant for this article. All
the relevant reports, books, articles and presentations carefully analyzed for this article.
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2. Understanding Technology Mediated Violence against Women
Technology Mediated Violence against Women is a new phenomenon. This Study

only considers the literature which demonstrates the definition and forms of Technology
facilitated violence against women and cyber violence against women. The reason behind
the consideration of literature relating to cyber violence against women is that in contrast
to rapid spread out of victimization of women related to technology, it remained
unnoticed from the legal point of view for long due to the absence of proper definitions as
well as proper legal attention (Halder & Jaishankar, 2012). Moreover, the public is in
general ignorant about cyber violence against women and girls and therefore less likely to
consider it an issue of any consequences (“UN Broadband Commission, 2015).
Some studies before present similar observation is that with the expansion and
easier access to digital world in everyday life and everyday uses technology uses as weapon
against women increased in a rapid manner (Halder & Jaishankar, 2012; West, 2014;
Powell & Henry, 2017). While empirical studies have highlighted perpetrators use of
technology to facilitate domestic violence (Burke et al., 2011; Diamond, Fiesler, &
Bruckman,2011; Woodlock,2016), dating abuse (stonard et al., 2014; Zweig et al.,2013),
cyberstalking (Sheridan & Grant,2007; Spitzberg & Hoobler,2002), and sexual
exploitation of children (Mitchell et al., 2012; Westlake & Bouchard, 2016), but their
remains a notable lack of empirical research examining and presenting the nature and
forms of technology facilitated violence against women in Bangladesh.
Powell & Henry (2017) stated that combination of easy access to internet and
camera enabled smart phones and widespread participation in online social networks has
provided a ready platform for the perpetration of sexual harassment, abuse and violence.
Mentioning several example of cyber violence (including Caroline Criado Perez who was
bombarded with anonymous and abusive tweets after a 2013 campaign in England)
relating to revenge porn, defamation and stalking they tried to demonstrate the persistent
nature and prevalence of sexual violence and harassment in digital age which are
disturbing, harmful, highly gendered and most often relational.
In terms of conceptual clarification literature related to „Technology Mediated

Violence against Women’ researcher have clarified onto different perspectives. A few
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literature clearly defined the term technology mediated/facilitated/related violence
against women (Baker, L., Campbell, M., Barreto, E.,2013; CASA Forum, 2015), majority
in this regard provide evidence to technology based sexual violence or cyber violence
against women (Powell & Henry, 2017; Halder & Jaishankar, 2012; West2014; UN
Broadband Commission,2015; Preetha, 2015).
Powell & Henry (2017) stated that Technology –facilitated sexual violence is a
concept refers to the diverse ways in which criminal, civil or otherwise harmful sexually
aggressive and harassing behaviors are being perpetrated with the aid or use of digital
communication technologies.
In the context of definition of technology facilitated violence against women the

centre against sexual assault and family violence stated that technology facilitated
violence against women (Tech Facilitated VAW) encompasses using technology to stalk,
harass, threaten or distribute degrading images, which include; stalking, sexual
harassment (contacting the victim regularly via communication device, creating
fraudulent images), distributing degrading images or child sexual abuse material, making
treats via communication devices to kill or injure someone (Baker, Campbell & Barreto,
2013)
However, Association for progressive communication (APC) briefing paper (2015)

also support the above idea to define Tech Facilitated VAW stating that Tech Facilitated
VAW encompasses acts of gender-based violence that are committed, abetted or
aggravated, in part or fully, by the use of information and communication technologies
(ICTs), such as phones, the internet, social media platforms, and email. Many researchers
adopt a broad understanding of online sexual harassment that includes unwanted sexual
attention, image-based abuse, simulated rape, rape threats, hate speech, trolling, flaming,
cyber bullying and cyberstalking (Ballard & Welch,2015; Barak, 2005; Citron, 2014; Fox&
Tang,2014; Morahan-Martin, 2000 cited in Powell & Henry,2017).
3. Types or Forms of Tech-Mediated VAW
In Bangladesh, women are facing multiple types of harassment and violence

everyday irrespective of their age, culture and geographical identity. Technology has
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added a new dimension of abusing and harassing women in Bangladesh but a very few
empirical studies has been done so far to address this issue particularly. More than
17,000 complaints were submitted to the ICT Division's Cyber Help Desk in the two
years that it was open, an official from the division said. Among those, 70% of the
complainants were women. More than 60% of women had faced some form of
harassment on Facebook. About 10% of the victims had very serious allegations.
Their images were stolen, merged with pornographic images and then released on the
internet (Rabbi, 2017). The present study has tried to minimize the data gap and
presented the empirical data on prevalence and consequences of this new type violence
against women.
The types/forms of Tech-Mediated VAW literature has tended to put different

dimensions, forms and characteristics by academician and researchers (Powell and
Henry, 2017; Baker, 2013; Halder & Jaishankar, 2012; Baker, L., Campbell, M., Barreto,
E., 2013; Broadband Commission, 2015). Fascendini and Fialová (2011) stated that within
the category of technology related VAW, there are differences in the prevalence of violence
and how it manifests due to a combination of factors. This includes but is not limited to:
Who the perpetrators are (e.g. intimate partner, parents, strangers, community, and
state),
The technology platform used by perpetrators (e.g. mobile phone, social

networking platforms, chatting, email, website, webcam), The nature of the violence (e.g.
online harassment and stalking, intimate partner violence, culturally justified VAW,
sexual assault & rape, violence targeting communities), The type of violent act (e.g.
threats, blackmail, stealing someone's money or property, identity theft, surveillance of
online and/or offline activity, unauthorized recording and/or distribution), The harm
faced by the victim/survivor (e.g. physical harm, psychological harm, sexual harm,
economic harm, or privacy harm), The social and bodily characteristics of the
victim/survivor (e.g. class, ethnicity, nationality, race, age, or physical and intellectual
abilities) Baker, L., Campbell, M., Barreto, E. (2013) grouped technology related violence
against women in seven following broad categories;
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a. Hacking: using technology to gain illegal or unauthorized access to systems or
resources for the purpose of acquiring personal information, altering or modifying
information, or slandering and denigrating the victim and/or VAW organizations.
Example include; violation of passwords, controlling computer functions (e.g., freeze
the computer; log off the user), accessing information from a cell phone or TTY device
such as text messages, call histories, and contact lists, using data broker sites to gain
access to personal information such as home address, phone number, and marital
status Surveillance/ Tracking: using technology to stalk and monitor a victim‟s
activities and behaviours either in real-time or historically. Examples include: mobile
phone tracking/GPS, keeping track of web-browsing, tracking email, program, and
chat activity, tracking files transferred and keystrokes typed on the computer
b. Impersonating: using technology to assume the identity of the victim or someone else
in order to access private information, embarrass or shame the victim, contact the
victim, or create fraudulent identity documents. Examples include: impersonating
someone in instant messaging applications, impersonating the victim/survivor while
sending emails from her account or creating a fake profile for social networking sites,
„spoofing‟ -- the ability to change what someone sees on their caller ID display and, in
some cases, alter the caller‟s voice, destroying credit rating by way of identity theft,
counterfeiting documentation using advanced printer and computer technology,
impersonating victims who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech-impaired by using
their TeleTypewriter (TTY) or Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS).
c. Harassment/ Spamming: using technology to continuously contact, annoy, threaten,

and/or scare the victim. This is ongoing behaviour and not one isolated incident.
Examples include: persistent mobile calls or texts, persistent unwanted emails or
messages, filling up voicemail with messages so no one else can leave a message
d. Recruitment: using technology to lure potential victims into violent situations.

Examples Include: using the internet to recruit victims of human trafficking,
fraudulent online postings and advertisements (e.g., dating sites; employment
opportunities), traffickers using chat rooms, message boards, and websites to
communicate or advertise with each other and with customers
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e. Malicious Distribution: using technology as a tool to manipulate and distribute
defamatory and illegal materials related to the victim and/or VAW organizations.
Examples includes: Blackmail by threatening to distribute intimate photos or video,
Manipulating photographic images and distributing them, unauthorized use of
personal videos/images/photographs, posting slanderous, defamatory material on
social networking sites, using technology as a propaganda tool for supporting violence
against women, using file swapping programs and peer to peer networks to share
illegal material
f. Others: some types of tech-related violence do not fall under these general categories.
Examples include: forcing women to do illegal tech activities, traffickers using e-
business technologies to make anonymous financial transactions with customers.
In the digital era, some literature provides the typology of online sexual
harassment citing example from different countries particularly from industrialized and
heavy technological advanced countries. As Powell &Henry (2017) cited that given the
recent growth in digital technologies and the ways in which motivated individuals use
those technologies as a tool of oppression and abuse, increasing media and scholarly
attention is being given to online sexual harassment, including unwanted sexual
attention, gender-based hate speech, cyberstalking, image-based harassment and rape
threats.
However, there have very limited literature including report, empirical study or
survey on what type of technology related violence are women facing. Based on media and
investigation report, we argue the following common patterns of technology mediated
violence against women in Bangladesh:
 Hacking
 Identity Theft and Fake Account
 Blackmailing
 Gender based hate speech/ Trolling/Lewd Comment in social Media
 Cyber stalking
 Threat through mobile call
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 Sexting
 Sending Obscene photos or videos
 Threat to inflict physical harm
 Sexual solicitation
 Rape threat
4. Factors Contributing Tech-Mediated Violence against Women
A number of literatures itemized the factors contributing technology facilitated

violence against women such as easy access; targets are everywhere, anonymity,
automation, action at distance, inequality and discrimination, ill-equipped law
(Fascendini and Fialová,2011; Powell & Henry, 2017; Baker, L., Campbell, M., Barreto, E.,
2013). Fascendini and Fialová (2011) clearly pointed out the number of factors which
affect how VAW can manifest in digital age; first they mention the factor is „Anonymity‟
which means the perpetrator remain anonymous after doing criminal activity. A
perpetrator can be an intimate partner, acquaintance, work colleague or stranger can
commit abuses without physically entering public spaces, such as a local photo lab or
postal office, the second factor is „Automation‟ it refers to the use of information
technologies to reduce human work in tasks (“Automation.” 2018).
The automobile enabled the ICTs allows abusers to check their partners‟ mobile
phones for SMSs, monitor social networking activity, check their browser history and log
into their personal accounts with little effort. Furthermore, the technologies usually do
not require any special knowledge or skills to use (Mooiman, 2011, cited in Fascendini
and Fialová , 2011). Halder and Jaishankar (2012) cited that there are various factors,
which instigate cybercrime against women to grow. One of the main factors is the
patriarchal approach of the law and justice machineries of most of the cyber savvy nations
towards this grave issue. Similarly, Preetha (2015) pointed out that the cyber space is an
extension of the real world; as such, the jingoistic attitudes and patriarchal norms we face
on a daily basis in private and public spaces are reflected in the cyber domain as well.
Without any protection or systematic support extended to female users, Digital
Bangladesh, like real Bangladesh, will continue to be a male dominated space in which
women remain vulnerable.
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5. Legal Mechanisms in Bangladesh
There have no separated law to tackle the Tech-Mediated violence against women
in Bangladesh. However, existing legal framework comprises of a number of laws that are
related to Cyber violence in Bangladesh from colonial period to modern day.
From constitutional perspective, every person has a right to life, to personal liberty,
to freedom of expression, to freedom of the press and to treat equally in eye of law without
any discrimination in terms of sex, race, religion and caste (The Constitution of
Bangladesh; 1972). Being a ratified country of numerous international human rights
treaties related to freedom of expressions and ensuring the rights of women Bangladesh
has enacted several laws and policies of ensuring women rights and tackle violence
against women.
Legal protection against cyber violence may be sought under a range of different
laws; existing criminal laws penalize acts of cyber violence with imprisonment or fine for
the perpetrator: these include the colonial-era penal code of 1860, as well as post-
independence laws such as the Dhaka Metropolitan police ordinance. Laws which
specifically address online content include the pornography control act and the
information, communication and technology act 2006 (BLAST, 2017).
In the purpose of providing legal recognition and security of Information and

Communication technology „Communication ‘The Information and Communication
Technology Act, 2006 (Amendment 2013)’ has been created. This law included several
computer related crime coupled with Punishment for publishing fake, obscene or
defaming information in electronic form.
a. Article 54 of the Act mentions that:

 If any person, without permission of the owner or any person who is in charge of a
computer, computer system or computer network,--
 accesses or secure access to such computer, computer system or computer networks
for the purpose of destroying information or retrieving or collecting information or
assists other to do so;
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 downloads, copies or extracts any data, computer database or information from such
computer, computer system or computer network including information or data held
or stored in any removable storage medium;
 Introduces or causes to be introduced any computer contaminant or computer virus
into any computer, computer system or computer network; damages or causes to be
damaged willingly in any computer, computer system or computer network, data,
computer database or any other programmes residing in such computer, computer
system or computer network;
 Disrupts or causes disruption of any computer, computer system or computer
network;
 Denies of causes the denial of access to any person authorized to access any computer,
computer system or computer network by any means;
 Provides any assistance to any person to facilitate access to a computer, computer
system or computer network, in contravention of the provisions of this Act, rules or
regulations made there under;
 For the purpose of advertisement of goods and services, generates or causes
generation of spams or sends unwanted electronic mails without any permission of
the originator or subscriber;
 Charges the services availed of by a person to the account of another person by
tampering with or manipulating any computer, computer system or computer
network; then the above said activities shall be treated as offences of the said person.
(2) If any person commits offence under sub-section (1) of this section, he shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine
which may extend to Taka ten lakhs, or with both.
This particular provision clearly mention the crime related to computer and
computer related problems including; computer contamination, computer virus and
damage. However, the Punishment for publishing fake, obscene or defaming information
in electronic form has been mention in article 57 more precisely. Here mention that:
If any person deliberately publishes or transmits or causes to be published or

transmitted in the website or in electronic form any material which is fake and obscene
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or its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard
to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it,
or causes to deteriorate or creates possibility to deteriorate law and order, prejudice the
image of the State or person or causes to hurt or may hurt religious belief or instigate
against any person or organization, then this activity of his will be regarded as an offence.
The punishment for the aforesaid offence shall be imprisonment for a term which
may not be less than seven years and more than fourteen years and with fine which may
extend to Taka one crore.
Truly this provision make clear some crime related cyber space first time but critics
stated this section is also the barrier of proper justice because of unclear definition of
terms cited as offence. However, the Cybercrime tribunal was established accordance the
provision 68 and operating its activity. More than 520 cases have been filed so far
February 2016 from its inception only 90 cases were related to victims of women in cyber
space (BLAST, 2017).
Section 500, 504, 505, 505A and 509 of the Penal Code 1860 covers the offence of
defamation and the punishment. Section 500 mentions that: Whoever defames another
shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years,
or with fine, or with both.
b. Article 504 stated that:
Whoever intentionally insults, and thereby gives provocation to any person,

intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him to break the
public peace, or to commit any other offence, shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
This provision clearly identified the intentional insult and provocation to break the
peace. Section 505 also elaborately mentions the public mischief. The article stated that:
Whoever makes publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report, with

intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, any officer, soldier, sailor or airman in the
Army, Navy or Air Force of Bangladesh to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty
as such; or with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or
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to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence
against the state or against the public tranquility; or with intent to incite, or which is likely
to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class
or community ; or with intent to create or promote, or which is likely to create or promote,
feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different communities, classes or
sections of people, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to seven
years, or with fine, or with both.
Exception: It does not amount to an offence, within the meaning of this section,
when the person making, publishing or circulating any such statement, rumour or report,
has reasonable grounds for believing that such statement, rumour or report is true and
makes, publishes or circulates it without any such intent as aforesaid.
c. Article 505A further mentions the prejudicial act by act of words.
It mentions that: Whoever- by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by

visible representation or otherwise does anything, or makes, publishes or circulates any
statement, rumour or report, which is, or which is likely to be prejudicial to the interests
of the security of Bangladesh or public order, or to the maintenance of friendly relations
of Bangladesh with foreign states or to the maintenance of supplies and services essential
to the community, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to
seven years, or with fine, or with both.]
d. The Article 509 of penal code clearly states the Word, gesture or act intended to insult
the modesty of a woman. It emphasized that:
Whoever, intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, makes
any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be
heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen, by such woman, or intrudes upon the
privacy of such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which
may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
The Pornography Control Act, 2012 is one of the important safeguard for women
in protecting from cyber violence. This act clearly defined the concept „pornography‟ in
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section 2 and in section 8 it describes the penalties and punishment for pornography
manufacturing and supplying. The article 8 stated that:
8 (i) penalizes manufacturing pornography or agreeing to supply participants for

the purpose of producing pornography or forcing any person to participate in such
production. The maximum penalty is seven years in jail and a fine of taka two lakhs
8 (ii) penalizes harming a person‟s social status, blackmailing or inflicting

emotional abuse on a person by means of pornography. The maximum penalty is five
years jail and a fine of taka two lakhs.
Another legal provision for tackling violence against women and girls is Nari O
Shishu Nirjaton Daman Ain (The Suppression of Violence against Women and Children
act, 2000 (Amendment 2003). The section 9A, 10 and 14 have makes clear that there will
be harsh punishment for those convicted of committing violent crimes.
Section 9A: Penalizes causing or abetting suicide of a woman. The penalty is

minimum five years and maximum ten years in jail, and a fine.
Section 10: penalizes „sexual oppression‟ including among others, any “indecent
gesture”
Section 14; penalizes the publication of the identity in the media of a victim of any
offence under this act. The penalty is up to two years in jail or a fine of taka one lakh or
both (this is not official or direct translation of provision)
Sending any obscene or indecent messages is a crime and this activity punished for
six month jail or financial fine according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, 2001.
Even if any person causes annoyance or inconvenience to another through telephone calls
he/she will be punished by 25,000taka and jail up to three months. The provisions are:
Section 69 penalizes sending any obscene or indecent message by a maximum of

six months in jail, or a maximum fine of 50,000 taka, or both
Section 70 penalizes any person cause annoyance or inconvenience to another

through telephone calls. The maximum penalty is taka 25000 taka and in default of
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payment of the fine, jail for up to three months. (This is not official or direct translation
of provision)
Another legal safeguard for cybercrime is that Dhaka Metropolitan police

ordinance, 1976. In which any type of insulting or annoying activity commissioned by
indecent language, sounds, gestures or remarks in the public or street penalizes.
Section 76 penalizes insulting or annoying any women by using indecent language,

sounds, gestures, or remarks in any street or public place. The maximum penalty is one
year in jail, a fine, or both (This is not official or direct translation of provision)
The Children Act, 2013 emphasize the prohibition of showing pictures of women
and children who are victims of rape or adultery. It stated that:
Clause No 3.6.6 prohibits showing pictures of women and children who are victims
of rape or adultery.
Clause no 5.1.3 prohibits circulation of information which is confidential or

defamatory to any person.
Furthermore there have a guideline of the High Court of Bangladesh to address the
sexual harassment in workplace and educational institutions in both the public and
private sectors (BLAST, 2017). It defined sexual harassment;
e. Sexual Harassment includes:

 Unwelcome sexually determined behaviour (whether directly or by implication) as
physical contact and advances;
 Attempts or efforts to establish physical relation having sexual implication by abuse
of administrative, authoritative or professional powers;
 Sexually coloured verbal representation;
 Demand or request for sexual favours;
 Showing pornography;
 Sexually coloured remark or gesture;
 Indecent gesture, teasing through abusive language, stalking, joking having sexual
implication.
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Insult through letters, telephone calls, cell phone calls, SMS, pottering, notice,
cartoon, writing on bench, chair, table, notice boards, walls of office, factory, classroom,
washroom having sexual implication.
 Taking still or video photographs for the purpose of blackmailing and character
assassination;
 Preventing participation in sports, cultural, organizational and academic activities on
the ground of sex and/or for the purpose of sexual harassment;
 Making love proposal and exerting pressure or posing threats in case of refusal to love
proposal;
 Attempt to establish sexual relation by intimidation, deception or false assurance.
National Broadcasting Policy 2014 is also playing pivotal role to curb the spreading
fake news, photos and information that is harmful for children and in conflict with law.
Section 81 provides the clear direction;
The Section 81 provides publication of any news report, photo or information that
is contrary to the best interests of children in conflict with la or in contact with law in any
kind of media, print, electronic or the internet. The maximum sentence is one year of
prison or a fine or, for institutions suspension of registration for up to two months or a
fine up to taka two lakhs.
In February 2013, the Cyber tribunal has been established to address the
cybercrime in Bangladesh. The Cyber Tribunal received three cases in 2013, 33 in
2014, 152 in 2015, 233 in 2016, 568 in 2017, and 114 in the first month of 2018 (Tipu,
2018). Most of the cases were filed under the ICT Act on charges of uploading
indecent pictures of women to Facebook and other sites, hurting religious
sentiment, making indecent remarks about important people, publishing false and
defamatory reports on newspapers and online news portals, hacking bank
passwords, and leaking exam question papers.
However, there is limited research or data on how existing laws are being used to
address cyber violence against women and girls (BLAST, 2017). Since its inception of
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Cyber tribunal over three years (2013 to 2016) among 520 cases only 90 cases had been
filed by women (BLAST, 2017).
f. Addressing the Harm: Victim Support Preferences
It needs to be understood that Bangladesh does not have separate law to tackle or
regulate the technology mediated violence against women. Furthermore, the reluctance
of victims to report the crimes to the police or seek justice from the courts directly
influencing the rise of the culture of impunity. In the absence of uniform law and
awareness about Tech-Mediated Violence against women, the need of the professional
services for the victim of Tech-Mediated crime has not focused. Both government and
non-government initiative to address Tech-Mediated VAW is limited. To improve the
police response to cybercrime swiftly and effectively by developing the mainstream
capability of the police across the country, coordinating law enforcement to all types of
cybercrime and by providing a national investigative capability for serious cybercrime
incidents, Criminal Investigation Department of Bangladesh police established special
centre name „Cybercrime Investigation Center‟. This centre provides swift and effective
service for cybercrime victim. Information and Communication Division have also help
line number in this regard which is 01766678888 and furthermore Bangladesh
Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has received complained regarding
cybercrime.
With regard to Non-Governmental initiative relating to cybercrime, it is to be

investigated that limited organizations provides services for cybercrime victims. Insight
Bangladesh Foundation (IBF) provides legal support for the person who is a victim of
cyber bullying or cyber fraud without financial benefits. Cybercrime awareness
foundation (CCA Foundation), a non-government volunteers organization working for
making awareness about cybercrime among all ages of people throughout the country.
g. Tackling Tech-Mediated VAW
Literature suggested that to tackle the Tech-Mediated VAW the international body
and the state both needs to take action. APC Briefing Paper (2015) recommended the
following action needed to take: a. Recognition of technology-related forms of VAW; b.
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Multi-Sectoral prevention and response mechanisms; c. Evidence building: Reporting on
technology-related forms of VAW; d. Capacity building for actors in the criminal justice
system; e. Engaging intermediaries to build safer online spaces. Nearly similar
suggestions made by IT for change (2017), they also include reform of existing legal
provisions, however, the UN Broadband commission (2015) categorizes the most policy
and practice fall into one of three categories of action; First: Sensitization, it means that
society will prevent Tech-Mediated AW through changes of societal attitudes or norms,
learning and community development; Second: Safeguards, it indicate the oversight &
monitoring to minimize risks for women through development of technical solutions and
to promote due diligence as well as duty to report abuse, and Finally: Sanctions, it include
developing laws, regulations and governance mechanism and consultations on a cyber-
civil rights agenda.
Powell &Henry (2017) argue that in addressing the problem, responses to

technology facilitated sexual violence must engage in proactive prevention strategies
across the micro (individual), meso (organizational) and macro (societal) levels. They also
mention the education-based approaches, regulatory approaches and promoting digital
equality.
 Rahman (2018) suggested the following recommendations to tackle the Tech-

Mediated violence against women focusing the Bangladesh perspective;
 Promote wide spread awareness among women and girls on Directive No 2 e, h and
iof the Guidelines on Sexual Harassment that deal specifically with online sexual
harassment;
 Stronger implementation of the Sexual Harassment directives of HC in work places
and academic institutions along with strong and clear directives on sexual harassment
online;
 Amendment of the existing Evidence Act to accommodate the digital records as
evidence;
 Enact a specific law or include specific provisions in the Pornography Control Act to
address the issue of “revenge pornography”;
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 Formulate Rules for investigation under the ICT Act 2006 laying down the
investigating procedures for cyber offences;
 Address Issues on data protection in laws;
 Deal with issues of consent in laws to prevent TMVAW;
 Relevant existing laws such as section 509 of Penal Code, section 10 of WCVPRA, etc.
should be amended to address sexual harassment online;
 Draft Digital Security Act should include address TMVAW with sufficient precision.
Promotion of dialogue and research in this area for better understanding of

TMVAW Broad range of activities and strategies are needed to target prevention of Tech-
Mediated Violence against women across individual, organization and societal levels. The
government and should address gender inequality along with possible legal mechanism
reform to address the problem. Make awareness among the victims to report to police and
ensure the proper justice and finally remove the misrecognition among society and law
enforcement agencies, while Non- government organization or corporate leadership is
necessary to make such an environment where the socio-cultural attitudes towards
women at whole will be changed. All the stakeholders must response to address the
problem and create social movement that contributes greatly to challenge the long pre-
established structure and cultures of injustice and impunity. Consequences, social justice
and safe cyber space will be ensured.
References
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Workplace Gender Discrimination Faced by Female Extension
Workers in a Government Organization in Southern Bangladesh
MD. Mamun-Ur-Rashid
Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development,
Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Dumki, Patuakhali, Bangladesh
Abstract
Gender discrimination is a major bottleneck in the development process shrinks employee’s

productivity. With the aim determining the extent of the workplace gender discrimination faced
by female agricultural extension workers in a government organization in Southern Bangladesh
this research adopted mixed method approach. For quantitative data this research considered
76 randomly selected female extension workers from 114 populations, while qualitative methods
considered focus group discussion, informal interviews, and case studies. The findings of the
research reveal the fact that in almost all the aspects under the dimensions of promotion and
financial incentives, decision making, job opportunity, job classification, sexual harassment and
internalized oppression discrimination is widespread. Respondents perceived that workplace
gender discrimination can contribute to frustration, loss in self-confidence, fragile relationship
with higher authority and co-workers and diminish interest in work. Regression analysis results
show that aged employees face less discrimination while high self-confident employees face
more discrimination. Factor analysis output confirms that modification of the proposed six
dimensions model into three set factors can be used as an off-the-rack tool for gender
discrimination assessment in the similar organizations. According to the respondents change of
attitude of male workers, proper policies safeguarding women rights, and consideration of
women sensitivity is crucial for minimizing work place gender discrimination.
Key words: Workplace; Gender discrimination; Female extension workers; Bangladesh
1. Introduction
Discrimination is the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people

differently from other people or groups of people. It is also portrayed as any distinction,
exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion,
national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality
of opportunity and treatment in employment or occupation (ILO, 2003).Gender
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discrimination is a global phenomenon which can be traced at both personal and
organizational level and eventually considered as a terrific constraint towards the
development process (Ferdaush & Rahman, 2011).In Bangladesh, a convincing number
of empirical studies confirmed the fact that in spite of considerable progress in some
socioeconomic indicators, such as poverty reduction, increase in number of enrollment
for both boys and girls in primary and secondary education, raise in women participation
in labor forces in last two decades still a higher degree of gender breach persists in almost
all the sectors like health, education, wage, participation in labor force, and access to and
control over resources etc (Martin, 2006; Ferdaush & Rahman, 2011; Kapsos, 2008).
Women are indispensable contributors to agriculture and rural economics in

developing countries. Women make up 43% of the labor force in developing countries
(FAO, 2011). Despite variation in role within and between different regions, their
involvement is prominent irrespective of country boundary. In Bangladesh, participation
of women in agriculture sector is also pervasive and women have conspicuous
participation in crop processing, home gardening, and managing small scale livestock and
fisheries (Rashid et al., 2017).During the period 1999-2000 and 2004-05 the number of
women employed in agriculture raised from 3.76 million to 7.61 million, which
represented a more than 100% increase (Sraboni et al., 2014). Not only the number of
women’s participation is escalating, they are also appearing as an entrepreneur in a
progressive rate. Women role in agriculture is changing from unpaid family workers to
farm managers, a phenomenon called ‘feminization of agriculture’ (Jaim & Hossain, 2011;
Birner et al, 2010).
Proliferation of opportunities for women in agriculture can have extensive impact

on productivity and agriculture-led growth. Women can perform as efficiently as male
producers if provide with equal access to resources, training, and services (USAID, 2011).
Lamentably, in spite of several strategic changes for improving agricultural extension and
mainstreaming gender in agriculture, a bulk of women until recent years remain isolated
from agricultural extension service in Bangladesh (Rashid et al., 2017). Along with several
other factors related to capacity, structure, and policy of extension service, social norms,
women client’s access to resources one of the major bottle neck of women involvement in
agricultural extension service is scarcity of female extension workers. For instance,
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among all the extension staffs of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) – the largest
extension service provider – only 7% are female (Malone at al., 2013). Actually, it is quite
difficult to reach women clients with such an inadequate number of female extension
workers. Despite, as workplace gender discrimination is widespread in Bangladesh, it can
make the entire situation much more worse impeding the potentiality and satisfaction of
existing women extension workers. So, an in-depth analysis of the situation of gender
discrimination in DAE is indispensable for the improvement of extension service for the
woman farmer.
2. Theoretical Framework
Discrimination represents a situation in which someone is treated less well because

of their sex, usually when a woman is treated less well than a man. Lippert-Rasmussen
(2006) defined discrimination as age, racist or sexist prejudice, which involves treating
people in a different way on the basis of their personal properties (including age, sex and
race), in an ethically objectionable way. Gender discrimination is a global phenomenon,
which can be traced at personal as well as organizational level. Despite recent
improvements in social, educational, political and economic opportunities women face
extensive gender bias in virtually all spheres of life, although there are few differences
based on country, religion, society or ethnicity (Benson & Yukongdi, 2005; Pokharel,
2008).
In Bangladesh, despite recent improvements in social, educational, political and

economic opportunities women face extensive gender bias virtually in all spheres of life,
and the worst form of discrimination is visible in their work place (Uddin, 2016; Benson
and Yukongdi, 2005). Reviewing various articles Rezina and Mahmood (2016) also found
that females are discriminated more than their male counterparts at their workplace even
of the basic facilities obligatory for a female to have friendly working environment. A
study endeavor to explore the effects of Brick Wall and Glass ceiling in public
administration of Bangladesh has shown that women are discriminated in civil services
of Bangladesh from entry to the higher posts (Glass Ceiling)(Zafarullah, 2000).
Discrimination, in the context of workplace, may be defined as the situation of an

unjust advantage (or disadvantage) to the members of the particular group in comparison
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to the members of the other group (Cascio, 1995).The gender discrimination may exist in
various dimensions in workplace which include differences in hiring, financial incentives
and wages, promotion, and inequity related to different goods and facilities provided to
different gender (Abbas, Hamid & Waheed, 2011). Women employees are more likely
work in temporary and part time jobs, and are less likely be promoted, have fewer
opportunities for career development, and are concentrated in occupations and sectors
with limited barriers to entry (World Bank, n.d.). ILO analysis of 83 countries reveals that
women in paid work earn on an average between 10 to 30 percent less than men (Kabeer,
2013). According to the Central Statistics Agency of Indonesia for the period of February
2017, women receive less salary than male in agriculture, mining, finance and industry
sector (Kurniawan et al., 2018). As stated in the latest Grant Thornton International
Business report, globally only 24 percent women play senior management roles (World
Bank, 2013). Female employees are usually located in the lower level of hierarchy and
very few are working as manager, authorities, and decision makers (Agrawal & Rao, 2004;
Banerji et al., 2010; Nandy et al, 2014).
Employee performance plays a decisive role in determining the progress of an

organization. Workplace discrimination can significantly reduce the efficiency of an
organization and carries significant economic consequences (U.S. congress joint
economic committee, 2013). Sattar and Nawaz, (2011) says that gender discrimination is
consistently viewed as a crucial factor in determining various attributes for instance job
satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment and many more. Gender
discrimination in an organization mainly affected the employee’s performance. Abbas,
Hameed & Waheed (2011) in their study in Pakistan found that gender discrimination
significantly and negatively contributes in employee productivity. Discrimination can
contribute to high turnover, erodes the workplace environment, fuel jealous and pit
employees against one another, force legal action against an organization, propagate rates
of anxiety and depression, increase stress which lead to greater rates of physical illness,
inefficient selection of qualified employees (Ruiz & Singh, 2016; Tyagi, 2016; Nayab,
2010).
In fact, gender discrimination turns the employees emotionally frail, simple peace
loving employees transform into paranoid and suspicious, fearful and angry individuals.
225 | P a g e
Hence, elimination of Gender discrimination is crucial for the satisfaction and
motivation, commitment and enthusiasm and less stress of the employees.
3. Methodology
a. Study Locale
The organization considered in this study plays the central role among agricultural
extension service providers in Bangladesh and have 12,832 grass root level extension
workers. This organization has a far-reaching extension service network extend from the
national level to Block (Composed of several numbers of villages) level. The extension
workers generally perform their activities at block level and administratively attached to
Upazila (Sub-district) level office. It is important to note that Bangladesh is
administratively divided into 8 divisions which is further divided into 64 districts and the
districts are again divided into sub-districts. The study was conducted in four
purposefully selected districts in the southern part of Bangladesh namely Barisal ,
Patuakhali, Jessore and Khulna.
b. Population and Sampling
The female extension workers serving in different blocks under the selected
districts constitute the population of this study. In total 114 female extension workers
were working in the study area and necessary sample size at 5% margin of error and 90%
confidence interval is 81. However, due to time and resource constrains and homogeneity
of respondents, this study considered 76 female extension workers. The detail of the
sampling frame of the study is displayed in Table 1. In case of qualitative methods, this
study followed purposive sampling and considered female extension workers in the study
area, who did not participate in quantitative data collection.
Table 1. Sampling frame of the study
District Total worker Female Worker Selected sample

Khulna 240 45 30
Barisal 340 28 19
Patuakhali 212 14 10
Jessore 259 27 17
Total 1,051 114 76
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4. Data Collecting Instruments
For quantitative data this study used structured questionnaire. The first section of
the questionnaire was composed of descriptive characteristics of the respondents such as
age, religion, job experience, education level, personal income, family income, marital
status, job satisfaction, interpersonal relationship with other employees, self-confidence,
etc. The second section of the questionnaire was composed of items related to the six
dimensions of gender discrimination such as decision-making, promotion/financial
incentives, opportunity, job classification, personal problems, and sexual harassment. All
the dimensions were measured deploying a seven point Likert scale (Strongly agree=3,
Agree=2, slightly agree=1, Neutral= 0, slightly disagree=-1, disagree=-2, disagree=-3)
based on multiple items. However, the detail of the measurement procedure of each
dimension is displayed in Table 2. Other data collecting methods adopted in this study
were focus group discussion, informal interviews, and case studies.
Table 2. Measurement procedure of gender discrimination dimensions.
Variable Literature
Variable Definition
type consulted
The action of raising someone to Abbas, Hameed,&
a higher position or rank or the Waheed (2011);
Promotion/
fact of being so rose. Financial EQUAL RIGHTS
Financial Continuous
incentives mean opportunities of ADVOCATES(2013);
incentives
having legal extra income other Isaac (1995); Barkan
than regular salary. (2012)
The thought process of selecting
Decision Stamarski and Hing
a logical choice from available Continuous
making (2015)
option
A situation or condition Bilkis, Habib and
Opportunity Continuous
favorable for attainment of a goal Sharmi (2010)
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An arrangement of different
types of employment within an
Job EQUAL RIGHTS
organization, according to the Continuous
classification ADVOCATES(2013)
skill, experience, or training
required.
Women’s believe in herself to be
Internalized inferior and weak and hence look Bearman and
Continuous
oppression for opportunities to avoid Amrhein(2014)
responsibilities.
Unlawful harassment of a person EQUAL RIGHTS
Sexual
(an applicant or employee) Continuous ADVOCATES(2013);
harassment
because of that person’s sex. Barkan (2012)
Before finalizing the questionnaire the data collecting instrument prepared for this
study was tested on 20 similar samples and some of the statements were dropped after
necessary analysis. Reliability refers to the extent to which the data collection techniques
or analysis procedure will yield consistent findings (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009;
Bryman & Bell, 2003), therefore is an essential prerequisite of a data collecting
instrument. Construct reliability of the instrument was checked using Cronbah α. The
Cronbachα values present in Table 3 ranged from 0.714 to 0.943 which is more than the
value 0.7 suggested by Nunnally (1978) hence indicating an accepted level of reliability.
228 | P a g e
Table 3. Reliability of the instrument based on αvalue
Discriminatory Dimensions No. of item Cronbach α

Decision making 5 0.937
Promotion and Financial incentives 7 0.943
Opportunity 5 0.729
Job Classification 2 0.714
Personal oppression 3 0.759
Sexual harassment 4 0.927
5. Data Analysis
Data collected in this research is analyzed and described using descriptive analysis,
multiple regression analysis and factor analysis (using principle component method with
VARIMAX rotation). All the statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 16.0 software.
The qualitative data gathered in this study is described based on narrative and content
analysis.
6. Results and Discussions

a. Descriptive Characteristics of the Respondents
Data presented in the Table 4 shows that the average age of the respondents is
about 43 and all of the respondents are female. In case of marital status, almost all the
respondents (96.1%) were married, while 3.9% of the respondents were unmarried.
Except few aged employees, all the other respondents possessed same educational level
and had agricultural diploma form Agriculture Training Institutes (ATIs). When comes
religious affiliation, more than half (57.9%) of the respondents were belonged to the
Muslim community and rest 42.1% belonged to the Hindu community. Experiences in
extension service of respondents fluctuated from 2 to 42 years and on an average the
respondents had almost seventeen years of working experience as an extension worker.
However, a detail of all the other variables allied with this study can be observed from
Table 4.
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Table 4. General characteristics of the respondents (N=76)
Observed
Variable Mean Med. Mode SD
range
Age 43.26 42.00 50.00 8.91 28.00 82.00
Job Experience 17.68 15.00 12.00 1.02 2.00 42.00
Personal income 4.70 4.00 360 1.58 270 720
Family income 8.05 8.00 600 2.65 270 1500
Job satisfaction 9.40 8.00 8.00 3.76 2.00 20.00
Interpersonal relationship 2.17 2.50 8.00 5.03 -8.00 8.00
Self confidence 10.09 12.00 14.00 6.60 -13.0 21.00
Religion Muslim (44) = 57.9%, Hindu (32)=42.1%
Marital Status Unmarried (3)=3.9% , Married (73)=96.1%
b. Level of Gender Discrimination
This research used six dimensions namely decision making, promotion and financial
incentives, job opportunity, job classification, internalized oppression, sexual
harassment, etc., for measuring level of gender discrimination in the selected
organization. Based on average score displayed in the third column of Table 5 the
dimensions exhibit highest discrimination is promotion/financial incentives followed by
decision making, job opportunity, job classification, and sexual harassment. The same
table further reveals that internalized oppression representation negative value (-0.38),
which means that internalized oppression is not crucial for gender discrimination in the
selected organization.
Table 5. Comparison of dimension specific gender discrimination (n=76)
Observed
Dimension Mean Med. Mode SD
range
Decision Making 6.15 8.50 7.00 7.60 -9.00 15.00
Promotion and financial
6.51 10.5 15.00 1.14 -14.00 21.00
incentives
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Opportunity 3.40 5.00 6.00 6.24 -11.00 14.00
Job Classification 1.86 2.00 4.00 3.06 -5.00 6.00
Internalized oppression -0.38 00 3.00 4.46 -7.00 8.00
Sexual harassment 1.35 4.00 6.00 7.18 -12.00 12.00
c. Discrimination in Decision Making
Among the selected items deployed for measuring decision making presented in
Table 6 women face highest discrimination in having leadership assignments followed by
availing higher responsibilities, and participation in selection and evaluation of
performance. However, other aspects of discrimination related to decision making can be
observed from Table 6.
Table 6.Gender discrimination in decision making (n=76)
Sl. Item WM Rank

Women’s participation is less in selection and performance
1 1.23 3
evaluation
2 Most of the higher responsibilities are occupied by men 1.40 2
3 Men are preferred more for the leadership assignments 1.46 1
4 Most of the economic decisions are performed by men 1.18 4
Women’s opinion don’t capture much attention in deciding office
5 0.90 5
rules and regulations
Actually, women opinion captures meager attention in decision making meetings.

In a FGD in Dacope Upazila under Khulna district the participants claimed-
In meetings women’s opinions are regarded as inconsequential, even some of the

male participants very often questioned about the capacity of women in decision making.
Virtually, a significant proportion of the male workers possessed negative

perception about the qualification of the women for doing extension work, which also
hinder women form participation in decision making and breed work place
discrimination.
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d. Discrimination in Promotion and Financial incentives
Discrimination in promotion and/or financial incentives was determined based on

7 selected items. Data arranged in Table 7 indicates that women extension workers faced
highest discrimination in having opportunities for additional income followed
discrimination in giving recognition, authorities’ assumption of women to be less
qualified than man. However, a detail of other aspects of promotion and financial
incentives can be observed from Table 8.
Table 7. Discrimination in promotion and financial incentives (n=76)
Sl. Item WM Rank

1 In general, women observe responsibilities in lower level posts 0.75 7
Higher authority assumes males as more qualified than female for
2 1.15 3
promotion
3 Higher authorities are less inclined to promotion of women 0.85 5
4 Women receive less opportunities for additional work/income 1.26 1
Implementation of economic benefit for female workers need more
5 0.56 8
time than male workers
Male enjoy more opportunities in getting job, if there is no quota
6 0.89 4
for female
Despite having same education and efficiency women receive less
7 1.23 2
recognition in their work
According to the opinion of the participants in a FGD, better performance of

women fails to capture attention of the higher officials.
‘When performance of a block is failed all responsibilities goes to the women

extension workers. But, if a women leaded block perform well, they don’t get proper
reward or recognition. Rather officials reprimand male workers saying. If women can
perform well, why not you?’
e. Discrimination in Opportunity
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Data on discrimination in job opportunity in Table 8 shows that women
experienced highest deprivation in having a comfortable office room and seating
arrangements. Another aspect of job opportunities having noticeable gap were availing
training opportunities. The same table further reveals that physical difference and
sensitivities (family responsibilities, Children raring, etc.) of women employees failed to
attract attention in creating congenial office environment.
Table 8. Discrimination in job opportunity (n=76)
Sl. Item WM Rank

Men enjoy more facilities (e.g. comfortable office room, setting
1 1.27 1
arrangement, etc.) than women
Women receive adequate facilities for sensitivities (sensitivity
2 -0.05 5
means family responsibilities, child rearing, etc.)
3 Male enjoy more training opportunities than female 1.05 2
Marital status of women effect on receiving on the job
4 0.74 3
opportunities
5 Women should avail easy leave 0.552 4
In the qualitative studies female extension workers argued that higher authorities
don’t want to recognize the family life of women. If we explain family responsibilities they
suggest us to quit the job. Unfortunately, it is even not easy to avail maternity leave. If
someone applies for maternity leave the male co-workers feel jealous. Some of them even
say:
‘It would have been better, if I were a woman.’ The physical facilities in the offices are
also not feasible for women extension workers. A Participant in FGD conducted in
Dumuria Upazila under Khulna said-
‘I have been working in this organization for 25 years. Regrettably, I did not find a
separate toilet for women in any workplace.’ A case study related to job opportunity may
help us to conceive the disastrous situation faced by female extension workers. A female
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extension worker in Khulna district (This study don’t mention her name and work place
for her job security) described her striking experience presented in Box 1.
Box 1. A case of discrimination in job opportunity of a female extension

worker.
She is 57 years old and weight up to 94 kg. Her overweight made it difficult for her even
to manage daily chores normally. It was also creating hindrance in her frequent
movement. Her workplace was near the Upazila (Sub-district) headquarter. Suddenly,
an officer changed her workplace, which was far away from the Upazila headquarter
and more or less 30 km away. The communication infrastructure in that area was
dilapidated and she could only use the Van (a manually driven tricycle) as
transportation.Nonetheless, she had to cross two bamboo made bridges. In such a
miserable situation, she tried her best to convince the higher authority about her
problem. But all her efforts were in vain. Finding no other way, she had to continue her
job in a strenuous situation.
f. Discrimination in Job Classification
Findings arranged in Table 9 mirror that women are remarkably deprived from
getting higher responsibilities and they are often chosen for less important/less beneficial
tasks. However, a detail of the scenario of gender discrimination in job classification can
be observed from the Table 9. In fact, job classification depends upon different factors. In
distributing field work place (Block) localism and political power of the employee play
decisive role. Those who have power found their workplace in nearby area, while others
have to work in a distant place.
Not only localism and political power sometimes marital status and personal
beauty determine job classification. A female extension worker in the Patuakhali district
explained with wrath-
‘She, who is beautiful and young, is the boss of the office.’ Nonetheless, the person,
who can manage their boss and higher authority need not to do work regularly.
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Table 9. Discrimination in Job Classification (n=76)
Sl. Item WM Rank

1 Women normally get less important/less profitable work 0.63 3
2 Women are not selected for highly responsible duties and activities 1.35 1
g. Discrimination due to Internalized Oppression
Discrimination not only occurred by the action or activities of other person,

sometimes women are responsible for their own discrimination. Data presented in Table
10 shows that among the personal feeling of shyness was the main problem contributed
to discrimination followed by the less inclination in taking high responsibilities and
increased tendencies in enjoying vacation. Another problem very often contributed to
gender discrimination was women’s failure to protest misbehavior or illegal
decisions.Participants in a FGD in Jessore district said:
‘Naturally, womendon’tlike to protest, as a result higher authority often does harsh

behavior with them.’
Table 10. Discrimination due to internalized oppression (n=76)
Sl. Item WM Rank

1 Women feel shy in contracting male farmers 0.53 1
Women are less interested in taking high responsibilities because
2 0.09 3
of their family responsibilities
3 Tendencies of enjoying vacation is high among women 0.21 2
h. Sexual Harassment
Result of discrimination in sexual harassment presented in Table 11 shows that

women frequently face rude and insulting remarks from her colleagues. They also receive
unwanted offer for outing from the higher officials or male co-workers. Occasionally they
have to listen indecent jokes and face overwhelming interest of male co-workers in
knowing personal information.
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Table 11. Discrimination due to Sexual Harassment (n=76)
Sl. Item WM Rank

Higher officials/male co-workers often offer for outing, having tea
1 0.34 2
together, etc.
2 Male colleagues occasionally use rude and insulting remarks 0.64 1
3 Male co-workers share indecent jokes with women 0.21 4
Male employees are overwhelmingly interested to know personal
4 0.27 3
information
Women have to face sexual harassment in diverse ways. Most of this harassment
is done by verbal remarks. Aggregating the findings of different FGDs in this study, a list
of such remarks is presented below-
‘Madam you are getting beautiful day by day’
‘How long do you take for make-up today?’
‘Madam why are you going to toilet so frequently? Are you suffering from diabetes?’
‘When will you have a new member in the family?’
‘Madam you are earning enough money. Why are you not taking more than two children?’
Sexual harassment can occasionally become more serious and not only confined to
verbal remarks. An extreme case of such harassment is described in Box 2. For the safety
of the employee her identity remained anonymous.
Box 2. An extreme case of sexual harassment.
I had entered in this job at the age of 24 years. I had to face a very disgusting situation.
One of my male colleagues always tried to perturb me saying bad comments and making
eye contact. Sometimes, even he tried to convince me for his evil purpose. At that time, I
was so scared and annoyed but could not inform higher authority due to fear. Day by day
that man became irresistible, and finally I had to change my workplace for solving this
problem.
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i. Determinants of Gender Discrimination
This research used regression analysis to find out the determinants of workplace
gender discrimination faced by female extension workers. Regression analysis explains
the variance and the causal relationship between predictor and criterion variables. The
predictor variables entered in the model were age, family income, job satisfaction, and
self-confidence. The suitability of the data for regression analysis was tested and related
information is arranged in the bottom row of the Table 5.Findings of regression analysis
presented in Table 12shows that all the predictor variables can jointly explain 35%
variation in overall discrimination faced by female extension worker. The model
constructed hasF4, 75=11.09(p = 0.000), which indicates acceptance of the model. The
results presented in Table 5 further reveal that age, family income, job satisfaction, and
self-confidence can jointly explain 35% variation in workplace gender discrimination
experienced by female extension workers. Among these variables age had negative and
self-confidence had positive significant relationship with workplace gender
discrimination, which means that gender discrimination decrease with the increase of age
of female extension workers and discrimination swell with the increase of self-confidence
of the female extension workers. However, other two variablesviz. family income and job
satisfaction didn’t have significantcontribution on gender discrimination.
Table 12. Determinants of gender discrimination (n = 76)
Variable B SE β t p VIF
Constant 84.912 17.440 - 4.869 0.000 -
Age 1.720 0.624 0.440 2.757 0.007 2.934
Family income -0.017 0.020 -0.133 -0.880 0.382 1.014
Job satisfaction 0.647 0.954 0.070 0.679 0.500 1.223
Self confidence 1.798 0.495 0.341 3.634 0.001 2.628
F4, 75= 11.09, p< 0.000; R= 0.620; R2= 0.40; Adj. R2= 0.350; Durbin-
Watson= 1.454; Cook's Distance = 0.00-0.177; Kolmogorov-Smirnov=0.75, p=0.200
j. Crucial Aspects of Gender Discrimination
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The important aspects of workplace discrimination are determined by factor
analysis of a 28 item scale following the principal component method along with
VARIMIX rotation. Prior to performing factor analysis, suitability of the data was
checked. For this data set, the value of the determinant is greater than the necessary value
0.00001. Therefore multicollinearity is not a problem. The Kaiser-Meyer with a value of
0.90 exceeds suggested value of 0.60 (Kaiser, 1970, 1974). Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity
(Bartlett, 1954) showed statistical significance (p<0.001) which supports the suitability
of correlation matrix. All the variables having commonalities less than 0.50 were dropped
from further analysis following recommendation of Hair et al. (2010). The cross loaded
variables were also removed from further analysis. The results of the final analysis exhibit
presence of three components those in common can explain 72.179% of the variance.
The original survey instrument was composed of 26 items grouped into six sets of
factors. However, the final solution retains 22 items grouped into three sets of factors. All
the items included in promotion and/or financial incentives and decision making
successfully retained in factor one including few other items from opportunity and job
classification. This set factor renames as monetary and nonmonetary incentives,
promotion, and decision making. All the items related to sexual harassment confirmed
their position in a second set of factor called sexual harassment. The rest of the factors
loaded in another set of items, mostly comes from internalized oppression hence named
as internalized oppression.
Table 13. Factor analysis results.
%
Factors Loading EV* varianc C*α
e
F1(Monetary and nonmonetary incentives, 0.96
11.164 51.62
promotion, and decision making ) 7
SP4 Women receive less opportunities for 0.881

additional work/income
SP3 Higher authorities are less inclined in 0.867
promotion of women
Women’s opinion don’t capture much
DM5 importance in deciding office rules and 0.840
regulations
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DM3 Men are preferred more for the leadership 0.830
assignments
Despite having same education and
SP8 efficiency women receive less recognition in 0.818
their work
SP2 Higher authority assumes males as more 0.814
qualified than female for promotion
SP1 In general, women observe responsibilities 0.813
in lower level posts
DM4 Most of the economic decisions are 0.799
performed by men
SP7 Male enjoy more opportunities in getting 0.796
job, if there is no quota for female
DM1 Women’s participation is less in selection 0.774
and performance evaluation
Implementation of economic benefit for
SP5 female workers need more time than male 0.770
workers
Women are rarely consider for highly
JC3 0.770
responsible job/duties
OP3 Male enjoy more training opportunities 0.757

than female
Men enjoy more facilities (e.g. comfortable
OP1 office room, setting arrangement, etc.) than 0.719
women
0.93
F2(Sexual harassment) 2.901 13.816
2
WP3 Male co-workers often share indecent jokes 0.925

with women
WP1 Higher officials/male co-workers often offer 0.888
for outing, having tea together, etc.
WP2 Male colleagues occasionally use rude and 0.849
insulting remarks
WP4 Male employees are overwhelmingly 0.811
interested to know personal information
F3 (Internalized oppression and 0.76
1.475 7.023
opportunities) 3
PP3 Tendencies of enjoying vacation is high 0.793

among women
Women are less interested in taking high
PP2 responsibilities because of their family 0.760
responsibilities
Women receive less priority in field work
OP5 0.743
(field day, field trip, etc.)
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k. Perceived Effect of Discrimination on Job Performance
Gender discrimination has multifaceted negative contribution on the performance

of the employees and can have serious effect on organizational achievement. This research
seeks out the effect of gender discrimination on the performance of the female extension
workers via qualitative data collection methods. The findings in this connection are
displayed in Box3.
Box 3. Perceived consequence of gender discrimination on the performance

of female employees
 Loss self-confidence because of the absence of proper recognition in their work.

 Discrimination creates frustration among employees particularly when the higher
authorities remain indifferent.
 Interpersonal relationship become fragile, so working environment deteriorated.
 Employees lost love and respect for their job, which diminish their interest in work
and consequently reduce productivity
 Discrimination in the form of severe sexual harassment can create massive mental
pressure, which can force detrimental consequences
l. Ways to Minimize Workplace Gender Discrimination
Elimination of workplace gender discrimination is not an easy task as it is deeply rooted

in organization culture, society, even in the mind-set of a person become discriminated.
Sometimes, gender insensitive policy may also contribute to gender discrimination.
Hence, removal of gender discrimination necessities all out efforts. However, the opinion
of the female employees in minimizing gender gap in the selected organization is
presented in Box 4.
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Box 4. Suggestions for minimizing gender gap in the selected organization
 To establish a good interpersonal relationship between co-workers and higher

authority
 To change the attitude/ behavior of male co-workers
 Proper policies safeguarding women rights
 Increasing the number of female extension workers in the selected organization.
 Giving proper recognition and reward to women
 Man and women should enjoy equal facilities in their workplace
 Women sensitivities need consideration during policy making and providing job
facilities
 Obliterating biasness in work distribution
7. Discussion
This research reveals the situation of gender discrimination in a selected

government organization in Bangladesh based on the selected dimensions, such as
decision-making, promotion and financial incentives, job opportunities, job
classification, internalized oppressions, and sexual harassment. This research also tries
to find out the sociopersonal determinants of gender discrimination and perceived effects
of discrimination on employee’s performance and possible solutions. It is revealed that
women were discriminated remarkably in decision-making,particularly in performing
leadership roles, acquiring high responsibilities, and participation in the selection and
performance evaluation of the employees. Stamarski and Hing (2015) also said that
personal discrimination of women in organizational decision making can occur in each
stage of human resource related decision- making regarding recruitment and selection,
role assignments, training opportunities, pay, performance evaluation, promotion, and
termination.On the selected organization the number of women employees is far less than
male employees. So, in most of the cases, men play a dominant role in decision-making
excluding women. In case of discrimination in promotion and financial incentives,
women experienced a conspicuous gap in availing opportunities for additional
work/income and receive less recognition. The higher authorities also have gender bias
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assumption like men are more qualified than female for promotion. Jones and Makepeace
(1996) said that women have to meet more stringent criteria than men for promotion and
higher authorities are also less inclined in the promotion of women. Nevertheless,
implementation of economic benefit for female workers needs more time than male
workers, and despite having same education and efficiency women receive less
recognition in their work. Peterson and Togstad (2006) claimed that women face
favoritism in job promotion and biasness in wage setting for different type of job work.
The constitution of Bangladesh preserves equal rights for both men and women, hence
government organizations have to maintain similar criteria irrespective of gender for
entrance into the job. However, after entering in the job women have to face
discrimination, which are not visible in the organization policy and structure, but
envisaged in the mental construct of the male employees and higher authorities. Women
also face noticeable discrimination in enjoying job related opportunities such as office
room and seating arrangement. Doctor (2014) in his article focusing toilet facilities for
women at workplace claimed that participation of women in the workplace has been
gradually increasing, but facilities for them have not kept pace. Women also had fewer
opportunities for their career progress through training than man. The organization also
seemed indifferent in considering women's sensitivity. Women sensitivity never captured
widespread attention in Bangladesh. Organizations remain apathetic in realizing the dual
role of employed women in both office and family maintenance. Some people even have
the misconception like as women demand equal rights so office facilities will also be equal.
Discrimination in job classification shows that women normally got less important/less
profitable tasks and were not selected for highly responsible duties and activities. Rica
and Felgueroso (2001) said that males are more likely to be in the higher job category
even the human capital of men and women being equal. Although not much, women also
face discrimination due to internalized oppression, such as shyness, avoiding
responsibilities, and high tendencies in enjoying vacations. Women in Bangladesh are
usually grown up in a conservative environment and the interaction between male and
female are very limited. So, for women even after properly educated, bear shyness in
working with men. Family duties and responsibilities also create internalized oppression
among women. Discrimination through sexual harassment was also visible in the
organization, although the extent of discrimination is low compared to other dimensions
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of discrimination. In line with our study, Social and Rural Research Institute (2012) in
their study in eight cities of India on a large sample of women from organized and
unorganized sectors found that 17% women faced sexual harassment at the workplace.
Sexual harassment of women is widespread in Bangladesh in almost all the sectors.
Women have to work in the office in a comparatively isolated environment with male
coworkers. Some evil male coworkers and bosses take this situation as an advantage and
try to sexually harass women. Nonetheless, the women due to family honor and self-
prestige do not protest against sexual harassment, which often inspire further
harassment.
Age of the women had a negative relationship with gender discrimination, i.e.
gender discrimination decreased with the increase of age of the female extension workers.
Harnois (2015) in a research based on data obtained from the U.S. General Social Survey
found that younger and older women workers face more perceived age-based
discrimination compared to middle aged (30-40 years) workers. When an employee gain
experience and became senior, they know their rights and responsibilities well and can
bargain with the authorities for the rights and privileges, which might contribute to the
decrease of discrimination. This research found that the employees have more self-
confidence face more discrimination, although usually self-confidence contributed to
lower gender discrimination. In Bangladesh, when an employee enters in the job the
authorities as well as senior colleagues deserves that he will seek permission from the
authority on everything. Soaping is preferred more than creativity. A self-confident
person is often creative and tries to do the work by thyself, which might not acceptable to
autocratic higher authorities.
8. Study Limitations
The organization considered in this research has a country wide network covering
all the district and Upazilas. This research considered only four districts in the southern
region of the country which might not be enough to have a clear picture of the situation
of gender discrimination as there is a perceptible variation in office facilities, work
environment, and work load based on regions. Although, Bangladesh is a democratic
country, but the rules and administration followed in the management of Government
243 | P a g e
organizations is still conspicuously authoritative. So, the lower level employees are always
hesitating to share oppressive situations. Moreover, gender discrimination is a complex
construct hence linked with numerous factors, but this research considered limited
number determinants and dimensions. Last but not least, gender discrimination can be
embedded in national and organizational policies as well as linked with employees of
multiple strata, lamentably, this study considered only the female extension workers.
9. Conclusions and Recommendations
Gender discrimination is a global phenomenon and widespread from developed to

developing countries. In Bangladesh, despite conspicuous achievements in different
socioeconomic sectors, there is still a sizeable discrimination prevailed in almost all the
sectors, particularly at work place. The organization considered in this study, exhibit that
gender discrimination is traceable in all the selected dimensions in a varying degree.
Women are typically deprived from promotion and financial incentives, decision-making,
and job related opportunities. Gender discrimination can have an enormous negative
contribution starting from the personal level to organizational outcome. According to the
perception of the respondents, a good interpersonal relationship with co-workers and
higher authority with a changed attitude of male colleagues under gender sensitive policy
guidelines may be useful in minimizing gender discrimination in the selected
organization.
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through the Strategy of Gender Mainstreaming, 6-7 September, 2018

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Copyright © 2019 by Presidency University, Rajanukunte, Yelahanka,

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When we started our travaux préparatoires for launching this International

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Workplace Gender Discrimination Faced by Female Extension Workers

Keywords: Kuki women; Ethnic fashion; Entrepreneurship; Economic

In Manipur as in all north eastern state, next to agriculture, handloom and

3. Brief background of weaving among the Kukis

Traditionally weaving among all women in North east India is part of a

4. A brief glance of their ethnic attire

The traditional mode of wearing is classified under working clothes, occasional

Fig 1: Gangte Puandum Fig 2: Hmar Puandum

Fig 3: Vaiphei Puandum Fig 4: Thadou Puandum

Fig 5: Paite Puandum Fig 6: Zou Paundum

embroidered with dihsul and lengbuangthuam pattern.

c. Ngotekherh: Ngote in Mizo language

d. Tawlhoh puan: Tawlhoh in Mizo means

Fig 10: KhiangKawi Shawl Fig 11: Khiang kawi Puanve

f. Puanroupui/ Puanthupi: meaning

h. Aksi pak/arsi pak: Aksi or Arsi means star,

i. Khamtang Puanve: A puanve exclusively

j. Saipikhup: Literally Saipikhup ( Saipi- elephant and khup-Knee) means elephants

Fig 17: Pusal saipikhup shawl Fig 18: Numei saipikhup

k. Mangvom Puan: mang meaning border

Fig 19: Mangvom shawl

l. Thangnang Puan: a shawl woven on a

Fig 21: Vaiphei Thangsuah Puan

5. Government initiative in promoting handloom industry

Source: Gupta (2010) and http://investinmanipur.nic.in/handloom.htm

1. Manipur Development Society(MDS)

The contribution of women weavers in Manipur saw the emergence of the

6. Emerging trends of ethnic fashion and entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is an economic activity which is undertaken by an individual

As per the definition of the Government of India women entrepreneur is based

a. Mrs. Manneikhol Vaiphei Haokip presently residing in B. Aijalon Village,

The main obstacles the entrepreneurs face are:

Despite their lack of education, funds, marketing and technological knowledge

1. Kshetrimayum, Otojit. ( 2016) Women and Entrepreneurship in North East India:

Keywords: Unorganized sector; Women paddy labours; Socio-economic status.

In Indian society, women’s role-traditionally has been of childbearing and

India is mainly an agricultural country, now a day’s agriculture is the major

Women in the unorganized sector as well as countless other women invariably

Paddy is an important crop in the agricultural sector. It has high socio-

The agricultural workers are engaged in the unorganized sector. In Kerala,

3. Findings and discussion