Max's position article

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Bottled Up, India’s Women Although India is experiencing a meteoric rise to the fore of the world’s powers, the economic growth of the world’s largest economy is overshadowed by the lack of any similar progress in Indian society towards the equality, respect, or even basic bodily security of its female citizens. A recent poll of 370 gender specialists voted India the worst place to be a woman out of all the G-20 countries, and it is clear that India’s economic breakthroughs have not been accompanied by a major moral reassessment of women’s rights by Indian society. i Making up only 24% of the Indian workforce (according to a paper published in 2012 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies), the disproportionate ratio of women in the workplace and the quality and salary of their jobs, prevents women from taking the respected and equal place they deserve in society.ii Without strong and esteemed women in administration and business, women are not able to achieve any degree of equality with men. Last year Indian women held only 5% of senior positions in comparison to the global average of 20% (according to last year’s study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies).iii The lack of opportunity and representation for women in administrative and corporate roles as well as their lack of financial independence and household authority perpetuates the powerlessness and vulnerability Indian women. Sheelah Kolhatkar, a correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek, asserts, “[t]he continuing exclusion of India’s female human capital from professional life is something that the country can no longer afford.”iv Kolhatkar message is that India’s women are too valuable to the country that faces a myriad of problems associated with its modernization, and they need to be respected and given the opportunity to work for a prouder, safer, more united state.

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Although by some measures women have achieved meaningful representation in India’s government, including the positions of president and prime minister, women still occupy less than 10% of the seats in Parliament. As Nilanjana S. Roy, a New Delhi based writer on gender issues, simplifies, this means that “most laws passed in the name of women are passed by men.”v With men making the decisions that impact woman, it is clear that any improvement of woman’s rights will be slow, ineffectual, or nonexistent because men lack the perspective to the appropriate changes. There would be significant benefits to having women at positions of power, even at the village level. Roy is adamant that improved representation of women in these positions will be to the benefit of women and the country because “women give attention to issues that don’t matter as much to their male counterparts” and when in positions of influence “have a significant effect on the aspirations of young girls” and increase the “general societal acceptance of working women.”vi Roy believes that women with authority bring a new and important perspective to administration and the example they set normalizes women in power.

Also, women are badly needed to reform outdated legislative protection for women that includes only a one year maximum sentence for any type of sexual assault or molestation outside of vaginal penetration that is classified as rape.vii A female newsreader at New Delhi TV lamented the state of India’s legislature responding to a story of village elders banning women from owning cell phones, choosing their husbands, or leaving the house alone or unveiled. “The story is the same ... No respect for women. No respect for our culture. And as far as the law is concerned: who cares?" viii The newsreader’s point is that Indian society tolerates discrimination and violence towards women, and the law does not at all address these points.

The lack of women in the workforce has prevented the development of self-confidence

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and independence among women and a establishing of working respect between men and women. According to a recent survey conducted by the networking firm LinkedIn, 94% of Indian women feel their working career is successful.ix However exciting this might seem for women, it is not indicative of a good working environment or an increasing acceptance of women. In the same survey women voted “lack of investment in professional development” their number one challenge, followed at a close second by the “absence of a role model.”x These statistics show that women are eager to work and enjoy doing so, however they are not at all supported nor do they have a strong precedent to follow. An increase in the number of working women would serve to change this situation, but this process is moving slowly.

Not only are women finding it hard to participate in corporate environments, they also lack basic economic knowledge. Women are also discouraged from taking responsibility for family finances or economic decisions, exacerbating both their lack of knowledge and dependence on their husbands. The tradition of arranged marriages, whereby girls as young as the age of ten are married off, is part of the long list of social norms that rob Indian women of an opportunity for education or work. It also subtly reminds women that in the eyes of Indian society they are not fit for the workplace or life decisions. Women are also deprived of any monetary responsibility and, according to a recent study by the World Bank, only 26% of Indian women hold an account with a recognized bank.xi These numbers are shockingly low for a country with such a large economy and Soutik Biswas, a Delhi correspondent for BBC, points out the stupidity of this situation: “Many Indian women typically give their earnings to their husbands -- when in fact women are seen as more astute savers than men and it would make sense for them to have a bank account of their own.”xii This kind of obstacle for women is one that helps to perpetuate sexism because it institutionalizes women as inferior and unable to

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handle money despite the potential abilities they have given education and opportunity.

The women of India have been bottled up by men for the entirety of the country’s modernization, restricted and constrained by the glass walls of prejudice and sexism that surround them, but give glimpses of the modern world. With so few women engaging in the world outside of the bottle, politically, commercially or economically, progress has been slow.

Given a push by more women from outside the bottle, it will crack and bring forth the best Indian women have to offer to the country and the world.

i

Helen Pidd, "G2: No Place to be a Woman: Of all the Rich G20 Nations, India has been Labelled the Worst for the Way it Treats Women. but how is this Possible in a Country that Prides itself on being the World's Largest Democracy?" The Guardian, Jul 24, 2012, accessed May 15, 2013, http://search.proquest.com/docview/1027569679?accountid=12012. ii Sheelah Kolhatkar, "India's Economy Lags as its Women Lack Opportunity," Business Week (Jan 28, 2013): 1, accessed May 15, 2013 http://search.proquest.com/docview/1287909974?accountid=12012.. iii Ibid. iv Ibid. v Nilanjana S. Roy, “Political Strength Will Force the Issue,” New York Times, January 10, 2013, Accessed May 9, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/09/power-for-the-women-of-india/political-strength-will-force-the-issue. vi Ibid. vii Pidd, No place to be a woman. viii Ibid. ix "Indian Women @workplace Want Flexibility," The Hindustan Times, March 05, 2013, accessed May 15, 2013, http://search.proquest.com/docview/1314437624?accountid=12012. x Ibid. xi India Need a Bank for Women,” British Broadcasting Corporation, May 2, 2013, Accessed May 9, 2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/21611787 xii Ibid.