ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

The invisible sex

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Women who are fast moving to a dominant position in the education and health spheres in Kerala are witnessing a steady decline in their economic and social status.

While demographic studies point out that women in Kerala are expected to become much sought after in another decade as a result of low fertility, studies on female work participation find them virtually invisible in the public domain.

The paradox is quite intriguing to scholars since women in Kerala have been traditionally better-placed under the matrilineal system with command over economic resources. While the demographic transition taking place in Kerala is expected to benefit women by the end of the next decade, the prevailing economic and social conditions will it seems leave much to be desired.

The study on female work participation rate sponsored by the Centre for Development Studies revealed that women in Kerala are marginalised in the economic process and are exploited and harassed despite their high education and a developed political consciousness.

The study conducted by T M Thomas Isaac, T N Seema, Binitha Thampy and Margaret Antony revealed that the work participation rate of women in the state was declining steadily. While the rate in India as a whole increased from 19.7 per cent to 22.7 per cent between 1981 and 1991, in Kerala, the ratio continued to decline from 16.6 per cent to 15.9 per cent during the same period.

Kerala's female literacy rate of 86.2 per cent is nearly equal to that of the state's males. The Indian average of 39 per cent for females is lower than that of males by one-third. The infant mortality rate in Kerala is 13 as against 80 in India. The number of children per couple has declined to less than two. The higher social capability due to better education and reduction in child care burden due to declining fertility have, however, not led to an increase in the work participation rate of women or in their social leadership role.

The study revealed that violence against women and the incidence of sexual harassment has tended to increase. The number of registered crimes against women has increased from 1,862 in 1991 to 4,937 in 1996. Despite the spread of education, the practice of dowry has been rapidly spreading among all communities and regions. Economic improvement in some of the communities has tended to strengthen revivalist tendencies and obscurantism in the attitude towards women.

Many trade unions, such as the agricultural workers unions or unions in the traditional industries such as cashew and coir where the rank and file membership is predominantly female, the representation of women at the leadership level has been namesake. The female representation in the entire history of the state legislature has not exceeded six per cent, but for once.

Another interesting aspect is that despite the powerful trade union movement in the state, equal wages for equal work still remains a mirage for women in Kerala. The study says that gender discrimination at the work place is widely prevalent in almost all the sectors in the state. The study attributes the decline in the female work participation rate to the severe unemployment rate in the state. The unemployment rate in Kerala is three times that of the rest of India.

The incidence of unemployment among females in the state is higher than that among males by two times in the rural areas and by three times in the urban areas. The study also identifies the changes in the structure of employment as another reason for the low participation of women. The sexual division of labour has resulted in the concentration of women in low paying unorganised sectors, such as agricultural labour, cottage and traditional industries and selected service sectors.

The shift in cropping pattern from labour intensive paddy cultivation to commercial crops has also resulted in the decline in the share of agricultural workers in the women work force from 43.6 per cent in 1981 to 36.1 per cent in 1991.

The crisis in the cottage industries has also resulted in the decline of female work force in the sector from 7.7 per cent to 5.9 per cent in the same period. The compensatory improvement has been in the share of the service sectors and to a very limited extent in the non-household industrial sector.

A concerted attempt by the Kerala government to boost the economic status of women through its People's Planning campaign has not been really successful. Women still suffer constraints like inadequate awareness, aversion to public activities, burden of household duties, active discouragement from spouses etc. The campaign, which has entered the third year of implementation, has included gender as an important criterion in the selection of beneficiaries.

Tell us what you think of this report