Empowering Women: Gender equality still lost dream in India

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02:55

Apart from trade issues, one of the key topics for the G20 gathering is closing the gender gap. As one of the G20 members, India has taken various steps to bridge the gap. But as CGTN's Ravinder Bawa finds out, gender inequality still exists in areas like health, education, finance and politics.

As for the 2011 census there are only 943 women per 1000 men in India. Women account for 48.5 percent of the total population.

Even then they are far behind when it comes to any equality in the society.

That was a glimpse of how women feel in the capital Delhi. Even though India's growth rate is cited globally the gender gaps are widening.

Last year India fell by 21 positions in the global gender gap report released by the World Economic Forum. Data shows that participation of women in workforce has dropped to 27 percent. So why is India leaving its women behind?

ANJU PANDEY UN WOMEN'S OFFICE FOR BHUTAN, INDIA, MALDIVES & SRI LANKA "The drop in the participation of women is worrisome and we want it to be reversed and another issue which we all have ben talking about is the issue of ending violence against women and providing them safety at workplace."

The other sectors where gaps are clearly visible are education and health. Even though India managed to bridge the gender gap in enrolment in primary and tertiary education, the dropout rate of girl children is high. About 40 percent of them dropout in their teens.

INDU AGNIHOTRI ACTIVIST "These facilities and good quality education has to be available and they should be closer to the homes of the teenagers. There is enough evidence in the past to show how lack of toilets and sanitation keeps the adolescents away."

Exclusion of women begins from the womb. The skewed sex ratio results in more violence against women. Government has started schemes to create awareness about welfare and empowerment of girl child but still the unsafe environment forces women to stay at home.

RAVINDER BAWA DELHI "India needs to not just fear but also act on the increasing fractures between men and women. Experts believe that forced exclusion of women specially from the economy needs to be addressed urgently as it would have its repercussions on the society as a whole."

Ravinder Bawa, CGTN, Delhi.