An Interstate analysis of Gender Disparity in India (with special reference to Elementary Education)

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1 An Interstate analysis of Gender Disparity in India (with special reference to Elementary Education) Chandrika Soni 1 1 UGC Junior Research Fellow, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi Dr. Padmini Ravindra Nath 2 Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Mahila Mahavidyalaya (MMV), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi Introduction Gender equality and women empowerment are the two important concepts which have been recognized as key for India s economic development. One of the objectives of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to promote gender equality and women empowerment (goal number- 3) to which India is a signatory also. Despite various policy and programmes related to the improvement in girl s education, data shows a continuing gender gap in drop-out rate. Gender disparity in education is still a significant problem in India. Policy related documents like the report of the Kothari Commission (1966) and the National Policy on Education (1986) have put enormous emphasis on promotion of gender equity between boys and girls in education by reducing the gender gap in access, retention, generation and transition from one stage to other. At present India s current ranking is 127 out of 152 countries in the UNDP s Gender Inequality Index (2014) list whereas, India ranks 108 out of 145 countries of the world in World Economic Forum s Global Gender Gap Index, (2015) list. The main focus of this paper is to carry out an in-depth interstate investigation of Gender disparity in elementary schooling in light of the fact that gender parity in education is one of the important steps towards gender equality. Literature Review Soni (2016) s focus is on the linkages between Education and Women empowerment in South Asia. The study concluded that improvement in the status of women can be possible only through education. 282

2 Dube (2015) s study examined the trends of Gender disparity in education sector of sub-saharan Africa to find out the main factors behind disparities between males and females from primary school level through to university level. The study concluded that the main drivers of poor educational enrolment and attainment are economic factors, cultural beliefs and attitudes. Gul & Khan (2014) s main focus is on the assessment and understanding of the gender equity in education in Jammu and Kashmir. It was found that the literacy rate and education of the women of Jammu and Kashmir is lower than women at national level. Poverty, ignorance of parents and lack of basic infrastructural facilities seem to be major obstacles in the attainment of gender equity in education. The educational schemes and developmental programmes have not helped to improve the condition of girls. Kishor & Gupta (2009) s study emphasizes that Gender equality and women s empowerment are the two sides of the same coin. In order to attain Gender equality and empowering women, gender differences in access to education and educational attainment have to be eliminated. The elimination of gender disparity in primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals too. Klasen & Lamanna (2009) try to investigate the extent to which gender gaps in education and employment can reduce economic growth. The study concluded that the discrimination toward women in education and employment not only harm the women concerned but also impose a cost for the entire society as a whole. Thus, reducing gender gap in education and employment will not only promote economic growth but also further other valuable development goals such as reductions in fertility, child mortality, and under nutrition. Buchmann et al. (2008) s study largely addressing issues in the Sub Saharan region was on gender inequalities in educational performance and attainment from early childhood to young adulthood. The study highlighted that educational inequalities have traditionally been against women but this assessment is no longer true in industrialized countries. Tanye (2008) s research work on gender and schooling in Africa provides a number of insights about the reasons and causes of gender differences in enrolment patterns of secondary school students. Most of these studies link the disadvantage position of women and girls to factors such as gender, poverty, culture, religion and socioeconomic barriers which continue to create and perpetuate gender inequality in educational access, participation and achievement. Sabanna (2007) s main focus was on gender discrimination in education and employment. The study found that women are not getting opportunity equal to men in higher education. The 283

3 situation of urban areas and higher income groups is better as compared to lower income groups and rural areas. Kabeer (2005) s study highlighted important indicators which are associated with the third Millennium Development goal on various aspects such as education, employment, and political participation, which can contribute to it and also discusses the positive effects of education. Dollar & Gatti (1999) stated that there are different dimensions of Gender inequality, of which four were considered more important, namely: Access and achievement in education, Improvement in health, Indexes of legal and economic equality of women in society and marriage; and measures of women s empowerment. Further they stated that Girl education is a good investment that raises national income, and in turn leads to more gender equality in education and also in other areas. Societies who are not investing in girl s education pay a price for it in terms of slower growth and reduced income. Thus, the process of correcting gender disparity prevailing in the society especially in education can leads us to improve the condition and status of women in all spheres of life. Discussion In the present paper gender disparity in elementary education is studied in India at the Interstate level. For the purpose of study 28 major states and the union territory of Delhi have been considered. The Gender disparity is studied with the help of Gross parity Index (GPI) across a variety of indicators including Literacy Rate, Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) and Drop-out rates. The Institute for statistics of UNESCO defines GPI as relative to this indicator by dividing its value for girls by its value for boys. According to Statistics of School Education Report ( ) GPI of 1 indicates parity between boys and girls. A) Literacy Rate According to Census- a person aged seven and above who can both read and write with understanding in any language, is treated as literate. Literacy rate if calculated excluding the population in the age-group of 0-6 from the total population is appropriate, since population aged 7 years and above only are classified as literates, hence accordingly it is adopted since According to UNICEF- Adult literacy rate means percentage of persons aged 15 and over who can read and write. According to Census 2011, India s total literacy rate stands close to 75%, approximately 82.14% of males are literate as compared to only 65.46% of females. According to the Table-1 and Table-2, if we look on the GPI figures of literacy rate then it is clear that there are nine states who are below all India s average (0.80), they are- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, 284

4 Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan. Eighteen states are above such as Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi. Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have same literacy rate as all India average. North-eastern states on the whole seem to have performed better. It is surprising that relatively backward state like Uttar Pradesh has a higher than national average in Gender Parity in Literacy rate. Literacy can help women to understand the constitutional and legislative provisions of India that are made to strengthen them. It is seen at all India level that the gender gap in literacy has been decreasing and even the rate of female literacy has been increasing every decade but the gap between the sexes still exists. B) Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) UNDP s Human Development Report (2014) defines Gross enrolment ratio (GER) as total enrolment in a given level of education (pre-primary, primary, secondary or tertiary), regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the official school-age population for the same level of education. According to Statistics of School Education Report ( ) it is calculated by dividing the number of pupils (or students) enrolled in a given level of education regardless of age by the population of the age-group which corresponds to the given level of education and multiplying the result by 100. In other words, Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) used to show the ratio of the number of students who live in that country to those who qualify for the particular grade level. In this paper the Interstate Gender differences in GER have been studied at two levels- Classes I- V and Classes VI- VIII. B 1: Gender Parity in GER (Classes I V) If we look on GPI figures at primary level (Classes I- V) then it is clear that there are 12 states who are below all India s average (1.01), they are- Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim. Fourteen states are above such as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and Delhi. The remaining three states (Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Tripura) have same figures as All India average. Table-1 clearly shows that at primary level Haryana (1.09) has highest GPI and the lowest is of Mizoram (0.94). Table-2 shows that among North eastern states except Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim all are performing better at primary level. 285

5 B 2: Gender Parity in GER (Classes VI- VIII) At upper primary level (Classes VI- VIII) than there are 13 states who are below all India s average (0.99) they are- Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh. Fourteen states are above such as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Delhi. The remaining two i.e., Himachal Pradesh, Punjab have same figures as All India average. Table- 1, clearly shows that at upper primary level Sikkim (1.18) has highest GPI and lowest is of Rajasthan (0.91). Table-2 shows that at upper primary level among North eastern states except Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha all are performing better. At upper primary level some states are better performed as compared to primary level. Table- 1 and 2, clearly shows that Gross Parity Index (GPI) is improving to a great extent at both level of education but GPI in GER at primary level (1.01) are comparatively better as compared to GPI in GER at upper primary level of education (0.99). C) Dropout Rates According to Statistics of School Education ( ) a dropout is a pupil who leaves school before the completion of a school stage or leaving at some intermediate or non-terminal point of a given level of education. Drop-out rate at primary level is calculated by subtracting the value obtained by dividing the enrolment in Class V during by enrolment in Class I during from one and multiplying it by 100. From the table-3, it clearly shows at Elementary level drop-out rate is lower in girls as compared to boys which shows that now girls wants to improved their status through the education system. Out of 23 states, there are nine states whose girls drop-out is higher than boys drop-out, they are- Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh. States which have low drop-out rate at elementary level among both sexes, they are- Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra. Causes of Gender Disparity in Elementary Education Barriers to girls education focus mainly on the three pillars of access, affordability and quality. The main causes which are adversely affecting girls education are poverty, early marriage, insecurity, lack of family and community support, lack of female teachers, distance of schools, very low quality of education, no girls only school and violence, harassment, Parental Illiteracy, Lack of hostel 286

6 facilities, Lack of Transport facility (Bose, 2000; Jackson, 2011; Virender, 2012, Dabla, 2007; Gul & Khan, 2013). Conclusion and Suggestion Education plays an important role in bringing a reduction in gender disparities and also in improving women status in the society. Although there is an improvement in all indicators of women s education and a movement towards gender parity at elementary education level it is far from adequate. Various policies and programmes are initiated for improving girls education which creates confusion with overlapping objectives. The schemes are not being accessed by the section which is in need the most due to various reasons. The reasons are the lack of awareness in the target group, insufficient allocation of resources, lack of integration between policy makers, implementing agencies and the people. In addition policymakers have to realize that the programs should take into account special needs of girl child like flexi timing, modules which can be completed at their own pace, greater emphasis on distance education, mobile school, outreach programs and subject curriculum tailored to the needs of girl child. The policy of government to have same schooling pattern for both boy and girl child is itself a barrier in cases where schooling of the latter is not a priority of the family. It must be kept in view that in India, many girls children will not opt to higher education and may not continue beyond classes VIII. Thus, there should be an attempt to equip them with life skills like health, hygiene, nutrition, child care, basic financial literacy etc which will help them take care of their families. Thus, we can conclude that although education plays an important role in reducing gender disparity its full potential can only be realized when the schemes are specific, need based and properly implemented. References 1. Bose, A. (2000). Jammu and Kashmir- Focus on children and women. A statistical profile. Briefing report for UNICEF, New Delhi. 2. Buchmann, C., DiPrete, T.A., & McDaniel, A. (2008). Gender Inequalities in Education. The Annual Review of Sociology, 34, Census of India (2011). Office of Registrar General, India. 4. Dabla, B. A. (2007). Multi-Dimensional Problems of Women in Kashmir. Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi. 287

7 5. Dollar, D., & Gatti, R. (1999). Gender Inequality, Income, and Growth: Are Good Times Good for Women? Policy Research Report on Gender and Development, Working Paper Series, No. 1, Dube, T. (2015). Gender Disparities in Educational Enrolment and Attainment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 5(3), Gul, S. B. A., & Khan, Z. N. (2014). Assessment and Understanding of Gender Equity in Education in Jammu and Kashmir. Reviews of Literature, 1(6), ISSN: Jackson, A. (2011). Girls Education in Afghanistan (A Joint Briefing Paper by 16 Organizations). 9. Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women s empowerment: A critical analysis of the third millennium development goal. Gender and Development, 13 (1), Kishor, S., & Gupta, K. (2009). Gender Equality and Women s empowerment in India. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) India , International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. 11. Klasen, S., & Lamanna, F. (2009). The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth: New evidence for a Panel of Countries. Feminist Economics, 15(3), Sabanna, T. (2007). Women Education, Employment and Gender discrimination. New Delhi: Serials Publications (India). 13. School Education Statistics ( ). Ministry of Human Resource Development Bureau of Planning, Monitoring & Statistics, Government of India. 14. Smee, S. & Woodroffe, J. (2013). Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment in the post-2015 framework. Gender and Development Network, Soni, C. (2016). The Pathways to Empowerment: Educational Status of Women in India and Nepal. Anvikshiki: The Indian Journal of Research, 10 (1), Sonowal, M. Kr. (2013). Impact of Education in Women Empowerment: A Case Study of SC and ST women of Sonitpur District, Assam. IJCAES Special Issue on Basic, Applied & Social Sciences, 3, Tanye, M. (2008). Access and Barriers to Education for Ghanaian Women and Girls. Interchange, 39(2), Virender, K. (2012). Socio-Economic Conditions of Nomadic Gujjars Women in Udhampur District of Jammu and Kashmir. International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow, 1 (3),

8 TABLE 1: STATE WISE GENDER DISPARITY IN LITERACY RATE, GROSS ENROLLMENT RATIO (GER): S. No. Name of the States LITERACY RATE (GPI) GER (Classes I- V) (GPI) GER (Classes VI- VIII) (GPI) 1 Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal Delhi INDIA Source: Based on Census of India, Office of Registrar General, India (2011); School Education Statistics, , Ministry of Human Resource Development Bureau of Planning, Monitoring & Statistics, Government of India 289

9 TABLE 2: STATES ABOVE, BELOW AND SAME AS TO NATIONAL AVERAGE: (Interstate) Indicators Below National Average Above National Average Same as National Average Literacy Rate (GPI) Gross Enrolment Ratio(GER) Classes I-V (GPI Gross Enrolment Ratio(GER) Classes VI-VIII (GPI) Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Delhi Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Delhi Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura Himachal Pradesh, Punjab Source: Based on Census of India, Office of Registrar General, India (2011); School Education Statistics, , Ministry of Human Resource Development Bureau of Planning, Monitoring & Statistics, Government of India 290

10 SI. No. Table 3: DROP- OUT RATE: (INTERSTATE) Classes I- VIII States Boys Girls 1 Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Rajasthan Sikkim Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal INDIA Source: School Education Statistics, , Ministry of Human Resource Development Bureau of Planning, Monitoring & Statistics, Government of India 291