EVEN as India celebrated International Women’s Day recently, the fairer sex continues to be discriminated against in the country and elsewhere including Thailand, Myanmar, Afghanistan, China, among different social classes, despite laws against their exploitation. Despite the increase in women literacy rate, women across India are discriminated against both at home and workplaces. With Lok Sabha polls round the corner, although there is a demand to field more women candidates, political parties are unlikely to filed handful.

The Women’s Day celebrations on March 8 across the country brought little cause for cheer to the women of Dhubri district in Assam, which has the lowest female literacy rate and working women in the State, according to the Assam Human Development Report, 2003. The situation is equally depressing in other districts of Assam, in terms of health and education of women. “Women are deprived of basic facilities, and relegated to subservient yet physically demanding roles. In this context, the position of women in Assam is no different from that of women in other regions of the country. In fact, in some respects, women in Assam are even more disadvantaged,’’ the report pointed out. The report inlcudes the Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Equality Index (GEI). Assam is ranked 29th in GEI, which measures comparative figures of education, participation in work and proportional rate of female wages to male wages. Within the State, the GDI looks at inequities in income, education and health. However, it ‘’may not reflect all the discrimination faced by women and the societal attitude and family pressures that they have to contend with,’’ the report cautioned. According to the GDI, the women of North Cachar Hills district ranks top, whereas their counterparts in Karimganj, with a GDI of 0.012, languish at the bottom of the scale. The condition of women in the rural areas is worse compared to those in urban areas. According to 1992-96 figures, the life expectancy of urban women is 65.5 years, whereas their rural counterparts had an average life expectancy of 55.9 years. ‘’The preference for male children leads to a higher allocation of nutritional and medical resources for them and a relative indifference to female children. Deprivation and neglect of the girl child can lead to rise in female infant mortality rate,’’ the Report said.

“Other factors that tell on women’s health are lack of good living conditions. These add to the risks that women face during pregnancy and childbirth. Laborious work under poor working conditions and drudgery contribute to ill-health and short life span,’’ it added. While the male literacy rate in 2001 was 71.83, the female literacy rate for the corresponding period was as low as 56.03 per cent, with Dhubri ranking at the bottom.

| Assam | North East Enquirer (Headlines) | Nena Home Page |