Status, Problems and Empowerment of Girl Children in India–An Over

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ByDr. S. Vijay Kumar

Associate Professor & Head (Retd.), Kakatiya Government (UG & PG) College,

Hanamkonda, Warangal District, Telangana State.

Introduction

• Girl child is the future of every nation and India is no exception. The status of the girl child is the key to achieving women’s equality and dignity which is, in many ways, a litmus test of the maturity of a society. Girls are to be the future mothers, besides future policy makers and leaders. Jawaharlal Nehru once said “To awake the people it is the women who should be awakened first. Once she is on the move the family moves …the nation moves”.

Status of the Girl Child:• Sex ratio in the 0-6 Years age group has fallen to

an all time low of 914 girls to 1000 boys• One in three girls die in the first year of life and

one in four do not live to celebrate their fifteenth birthday

• Two out of five girls are malnourished and every second adolescent girl is anemic

• Six out of ten girls are child brides and four out of ten have their first child before they are 18 years old

• India ranks 113 out of 135 countries as per World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2011

• With more than one-third of its population below 18 years, India has the largest young population in the world.

• Only 35% of births are registered, impacting name and nationality.

• One out of 16 children die before they attain the age of 1, and one out of 11 die before they are 5 years old.

•  35% of the developing world’s low-birth-weight babies are born in India.

• 40% of child malnutrition in the developing world is in India.

•  Out of every 100 children, 19 continue to be out of school.

• Of every 100 children who enroll, 70 drop out by the time they reach the secondary level.

• Of every 100 children who drop out of school, 66 are girls.

• 65% of girls in India are married by the age of 18 and become mothers soon after.

• India is home to the highest number of child labourers in the world. India has the world’s largest number of sexually abused children, with a child below 16 raped every 155th minute, a child below 10 every 13th hour, and at least one in every 10 children sexually abused at any point in time.

• According to UNDP Human Development Report (2014), on educational indicators - a measure of how many years of schooling a child is expected to receive, if prevailing enrollment patterns continue. India’s average is 11.7. The world average is 12.2 years, while the developed countries average 16.3 years. Among the BRICS countries, India's average is the least. Currently, Indians of 25 years or more have received just 4.4 years of schooling on average, compared to a global average of 7.7 years.

• HDR 2014 introduces a gender development index (GDI) for the first time, which measures gender development gaps among 148 countries. While the overall gender gap is an 8% deficit for women, the income gap is shockingly high — per capita income for men is more than double that of women.

2011 Census: • The Census indicated a continuing preference for male

children over female children. A matter of overwhelming concern lies in the fact that the child sex ratio has slipped to its lowest since India's independence. The sex ratio (the number of females per 1,000 males) for the 0-6 age group has dramatically dropped to 914 in 2011, from 927 in 2001.

Population of children (0-6 years):• The total number of children in the country in the age

group of 0-6 years is 158.8 million, about five million less than the 2001 census figures and marks a negative growth of 3.08 percent. While the decline in male population (0-6 years) is 2.42 percent, it is higher at 3.80 percent in females.

Why Caring For Girl Child Is Vital for India’s Growth?

• Women have been at the forefront of shaping our future, yet, we are still fighting the medieval menace of gender inequality. A recent UN report terms India as the most dangerous place in the world to be a baby girl. What a sad distinction to have?

• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs data for 150 countries over 40 years shows that India and China are the only two countries in the world where female infant mortality is higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s. It indicates that an Indian girl child aged 1-5 years is 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy, making this the worst gender differential in child mortality for any country in the world.

• “Investing in Women is smart economics. Investing in girls-catching them upstream-is even smarter economics.” An educated girl will use 90% of her future income towards her family, while boys invest only 35%.

• Former UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, pointed out that “short-changing girls is not only a matter of gender discrimination, it is a bad economics and bad societal policy. Experience has shown over and over again, that investment in girls’ education translates directly and quickly into better nutrition for the whole family, better health care, declining fertility, poverty reduction and better overall economic performance”.

• Sustainable and inclusive development in India will not be possible, without a holistic approach to women’s empowerment and livelihood and their involvement in all spheres of development.

Measures to Empower Girl Children and Women

• Education:• If survival of girl child is necessary for the existence of

the world, their education is equally important for her development. As such education, employment opportunities and a supportive home and societal environment are keys to their empowerment.

• When girls are educated, they have better career and employment opportunities in life. They are better able to avoid commercial sexual exploitation. They gain self confidence, learn the life, technical and practical skills to demonstrate their capabilities and challenge stereotypes about women.

Beijing Platform for Action Recommendations

• Eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl - child;• Eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against girls;• Promote and protect the right of girl - child and increase

awareness of her needs and potential;• Eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition;• Eliminate the economic exploitation of girl labour and protect

girls at work;• Eradicate violence against girl-child;• Promote the girl-child’s awareness of and participation in

social, economic and political life.• Strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of the

girl-child.

Strict enforcement of laws• All forms of discrimination against the girl child and

violation of her rights must be eliminated by undertaking strong measures both preventive and punitive within and outside the family. These would relate specifically to strict enforcement of laws against parental sex selection and the practices of female forticide, female infanticide, child marriage, child abuse, child marriage, and child prostitution etc.

Removal of discrimination in the treatment:• Removal of discrimination in the treatment of the girl

child within the family and outside and projection of a positive image of the girl child must be actively fostered.

Special Focus on Girl Children:• In implementing programmes for eliminating child-labour, there should

be a special focus on girl children. Added to these, special care should be taken to reduce gender disparities, infant mortality and malnutrition, to prevent female foeticide and infanticide to increase enrolment and retention of girls in schools besides elimination of child labour.

Mass Campaigns:• Discrimination against girl child is a curse for the society. Mass

campaigns in favour of survival of girl child and giving her human right including education must be initiated to bring a positive change. Such campaigns need to be organized particularly in the villages highlighting the threat to the life of the girl child and creating awareness in the villages about the dangerous consequences which the society as a whole will have to face without the girl children. The issue has to be discussed on religious, cultural, economic, political and social level.

Computer Literacy, Technical skills and Self-defence

• Computer literacy and enhancement of technical skills among girls must be ensured. Added to this, self-defence trainings, as KARATE, must be introduced and made compulsory for girl children to make them self reliant and cope with unforeseen circumstances.

Save the Girl Child for the Future of the World:• Even to-day in the 21st Century the position remains

unchanged even after education and financial independence. Hence, people and Governments must be committed to protect the girl child – future hope of all nations. 

Reduction in Gender Imbalance

• Already some of the developing countries like India are experiencing the deficit of women and children. As this leads gender imbalance and which in turn leads to several social problems like finding the life partner difficult. For example - Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Conclusion:• If the society has to grow into a civilized social fabric, the

enlightened mass has the responsibility to shoulder and sharing the responsibility of maintaining the balance in sex-ratio. This is possible not only through discussions in seminars, but also by mobilizing and empowering the woman and children by organizing the society for equality in all spheres of social and national activities where any discrimination of gender basis is entrenched.

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Thank You