The state of women’s empowerment in India

The role of women in society is always been a widely discussed topic all over the world. They always raised their voice to get equal opportunities as men. If we talk about India, the government made rules to empower women but the result isn’t been much satisfying.

As a society, we still have a long way to go so that women can be treated equally to men. But instead of going forward, we are coming backward. According to a report by the world bank, the women workforce in India comes down to 19% in 2020 compared to 26% in 2010. 

Women’s literacy rate is constantly increasing with time after independence. According to a study women’s literacy rate was 74.37% in 2018 which was 5.07% higher than 69.30% in 2011. In women’s literacy rate, India never sees a decline in the 75 years of independence. Then why does there is a decline in women’s number in the workforce? There can be many reasons for it like women’s safety in India, and some stereotypes as many corporate still prefer men in several positions it also can be a reason the government just changed the rule but they failed to change the perception. In the 75 years of independence, 14 people become prime minister. And out of these 14 people and 75 years, Indira Gandhi was the only female prime minister India ever had. That’s the condition of India’s women in leadership positions. According to the data of the national informatics centre, there are only 21% of women in civil services. 

The number of women in the workforce will keep going up and down, but what matters is how many women are in leadership positions. The answer will be, very few. In Lok Sabha, there is only 82 female member out of 543 members. Which is just 15%. That’s the reality of women in a leadership positions. Women are getting literate, and some of them are also getting employed but very few of them manage to get into a leadership position. We have done many things for women after independence, but we still live in a society driven by men.