GENDER DISPARITIES AMONG DISTRICTS OF RAJASTHAN

Prem Singh; Dr. Kumud Dave

GENDER DISPARITIES AMONG DISTRICTS OF RAJASTHAN

Prem Singh¹, Dr. Kumud Dave²

Research Scholar, Department of Economics, University College of social Science & Humanities, Mohanlal Sukhadia University,Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Lecturer, Department of Economics Meera Girls Govt PG College, Udaipur,Rajasthan, India

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Abstract

Inequality between men and women is one of the most crucial disparities in many societies, and this is particularly so in India. On one level, gender disparity can be narrowly defined as the purely descriptive observation of different outcomes between males and females. The variables chosen for examination include those, which have a bearing on gender and equity issues. We found that in Rajasthan, there is decrease in gender disparities during last decade but the rate of this is very slow.

Keywords

Gender disparity, Inequality, Work participation

INTRODUCTION

There are large disparities in the economic, social and schooling opportunities available to men and women in India. Gender disparities begin early in life, with female infants having a lower chance of survival than male infants, owing largely to parental neglect of female infants. The discrimination against the female continues as the child grows older – first in the form of smaller rations of food and nutrition (especially for higher-order females) and later in the form of fewer schooling opportunities relative to boys. As women enter the labour force, they face discrimination in the labour market as well, primarily in the form of lower wages. There are marked regional differences with respect to gender disparity within the country. This paper focuses on gender disparities in Inter-district comparison in the areas of health, education, status of women and social opportunities have been done.

Discrimination on the basis of ‘gender’ has been observed in all spheres of human interests including the granting of land rights by the state [Agarwal 2002], intra-household allocation of food and resources [Harris-White 1996; Cowan and Dhanoa 1983; Sen and Dreze 1989] and payment of wages and remunerations [Unni 1999].

METHODOLOGY: DATA COLLECTION

The objective of this research is to examine the inter district disparity or inequality between men and women. The analysis of the above objective is based on the some selected variable based on secondary data. All 33 district of Rajasthan are considered in the study. The secondary data had collected from the various sources like Report of Census of India, research papers, books etc. Statistical methods were used for the determination of disparity.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Literacy- Differences in female and male literacy rates are one aspect of this broader phenomenon of gender-based inequality in India. Rajasthan has the lowest GDF (0.607) among all states. Even in progressive Kerala with the highest female literacy, gender disparity is evident though to a much lesser degree.

There are large interstate variations in the extent of gender disparity in schooling. The school administrative data indicate that gender disparity is greatest in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the gross primary enrolment rate for females is about two-thirds or less than that for males. In Rajasthan maximum literacy rate is in Kota district (66.32). Jalore District is having minimum total literacy rate (55.58) and minimum female literacy rate (38.73) in state (during 2011). It is observed that female literacy rate is continuously increasing. It may be due to government rules & policies. The total literacy rate, literacy in male and female in Rajasthan is shown in table 1.

B. Sex ratio- Sex ration in districts of Rajasthan is presented in table 2 and it is clear from the table that there is also continuously increase in sex ratio. Dungarpur district stands on first position on sex ratio criteria during last three decade but during last decade sex ratio of this district is decreased that extensive research is needed to know the reason for this decline.

C. Health- The mortality rate of females tend to exceed those of males until the late twenties, and even till the late thirties in some states, and this-- as known from the experiences of other countries, is very much in contrast with what tends to happen when men and women receive similar nutritional and health care (Sen, 1992).

D. Work Participation – Women’s participation in the labour force has long been central to research on gender inequalities. In Rajasthan working participation rate is low but we can say that there is improvement in participation rate.

CONCLUSION

Gender disparity is not only a phenomenon of poverty; there is almost no correlation between per-capita income and the gender disparities in health and education outcomes. So, while the absolute level of health and education outcomes for girls are strongly related to economic conditions, the disparities between females and males are not. It is concluded from the results that gender disparity is higher in most of the districts, but in some developed districts of Rajasthan, there is successive decrease in gender disparity. Therefore, by enforcement of government rules, policies and along with that general awareness of people can reduce this difference.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PS acknowledges the financial support scheme RGN Fellowship for research provided by UGC, New Delhi.

References

Sen, A.L, “Missing Women: Social Inequality Outweighs Women’s Survival Advantage in Asia and North Africa”, British Medical Journal. Vol. 30, 1992.
Agarwal, B., “Are we not peasants too? Land Rights and Women Claims in India”, Seeds Publication, Twenty First Issue, 2002.
Cown and Dhanoa, “The prevention of toddler malnutrition by home based nutrition health education, in nutrition in the community: A critical look at nutrition policy, planning and programs” (Ed. By D.S. Mclaren), 339-356, 1983.
Harris-White, Barbara, “Gender bias in intra-household nutrition in south india: Unpacking households and the policy process’ in (Ed. Haddad et al.) Intra-household resource allocation: method, allocation and policy”, John Hopkins University Press for The International Food Policy Research Institute, 1996.
Sen, A and Dreze, J., “Society, class and gender”, in hunger and public action, 1989. Unni, J., “Women workers in agriculture: some recent trends’, in TS Papola and Alakh N Sharma (Ed.) Gender and Employment in India”, Indian Society of Labour Economics and Institute of Economic Growth, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 1999.