But millions still live a life of discrimination
The showcasing of nari shakti during the Republic Day parade and throughout US President Barack Obama's three-day tour, has been a matter of pride. It started with the Inter-Services Guard of Honour that was inspected by President Obama on Sunday at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The contingent was led by Wing Commander Puja Thakur, marking the first time that a woman officer conducted the ceremony for a visiting dignitary.
The trend continued well into the following day as well — a lady officer from the Army was by the President's side when he unfurled the National Flag; then separate women contingents from all the three Services marched down Rajpath for the Republic Day parade. But while each of these was a landmark moment that will inspire thousands of women to not just join the forces, and importantly, explore their horizons and fulfil their potential, it does not change the fact that the average Indian woman today is still considered a lesser being.
The discrimination starts even before birth, when a strong societal preference for the male child often leads to the abortion of female foetuses. In some parts of the country, this has led to such an acute problem that there are entire villages without a single girl child; brides in these villages are brought from other parts of the country and usually for a hefty price. It is no wonder that India's child sex ratio is an abysmal 919 girls to every 1,000 boys, compared to 1029 girls in America and 1076 in Europe. If the female foetus survives and the girl child is not killed at birth, then there is a lifetime of discrimination that lies ahead of the survivor.
In education, for example, survey after survey shows that fewer girls are enrolled in schools than boys; that over the years, girls are far more likely to drop out even before completing middle school, even though they routinely out-perform the boys. Women also form a shockingly small part of the national labour force in India — lowest among the Brics countries; in fact, with a figure that is comparable to that of Saudi Arabia's — and the numbers are actually worse for urban areas.
Also, women who remain in the workforce get paid an estimated 29 per cent less than their male counterparts and are expected to quit their jobs sooner and oftener than men. And this is just the material that can be statistically measured. It does not even begin to factor in the pervasive discrimination that even an Indra Nooyi, one of the world's most powerful corporate executives, had to face as she balanced her duties at home and work — something which she has herself acknowledged.
The only silver lining here is that the situation is changing — slowly but steadily, we see the indices improving. The Government has an important role to play here (for example, by implementing laws against female foeticide and dowry, encouraging women's education through programmes such as the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme). But, ultimately, it is society that has to change its mindset.