The Education of Women in India
By Sanaa Unus
Islam Online, Washington DC
Despite government attempts at improving education for all its citizens, India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. There are 330 million women above the age of 7 in India. Today about 60 percent, or over 200 million, are illiterate.
Literacy rates are important not only as a gauge of a country's educational development, but overall development. Illiterate women have high levels of fertility and mortality. Their nutritional level and earning potential is very low, affecting the entire household. The lack of an educated population can be a major obstacle to the economic development of a country. The mother also plays a vital role in molding her children, so her education level affects the future generation.
Some improvement in literacy levels
There is an overall improvement in literacy levels; however, the improvement is by no means uniform. Between the early 1970s and the early 1990s, the literacy rate for women went from only 22 percent to 39 percent. For men, the increase was from 46 to 64 percent. The increase is almost the same across the genders, although more men were literate to begin with.
Also, the disparity between rural and urban literacy is very significant. The literacy rate for urban women is more than twice what it is for their rural counterparts. The urban literacy rate for women is 64 percent, while only 31 percent for rural women. While literacy rates are going up for both women in urban and rural settings, the large gap between them remains.
Education Hurdles
Low literacy levels in India can be attributed to many factors, the high level of poverty being a principal cause. According to the World Bank, more than one-third of the country is estimated to be living below the poverty line. Attending school is free; however, the costs of transportation, materials and uniforms can be beyond the means of many families. The cost of time is also a significant factor. Poorer families are more likely to keep their girls at home to help tend to the house and the younger children. If the choice must be made between educating a son or a daughter, the son is most likely to be chosen. Educating sons is seen as an investment in a way that the education of a daughter is not. The popular sentiment is that an educated daughter can be a liability to her family.
Poor school facilities
Another reason for the education problems in India is the lack of acceptable school facilities. In many Indian states, there aren't enough classrooms to accommodate all the children. Often, even when classrooms exist, the conditions are poor and unsanitary. A recent World Bank survey of Uttar Pradesh, one of India's most populous states, found that 54 percent of schools did not have a water supply and 80 percent did not have bathrooms.
The problem of insufficient space is made worse by the large increase in the number of school-age children. High population growth rates are the main culprit, a problem that is often a symptom of illiteracy.
Not enough women teachers
The lack of female teachers is another problem for young girls in India. Girls are more likely to attend school and achieve more academically if they have female teachers. This is even truer in countries, such as India, where classrooms are gender-segregated. Only 29 percent of teachers are women today. This number is even lower, 22 percent, at the university level. This is a reflection of the poor education of young girls.
However, these numbers should be increasing in the future. Currently, women make up almost half of the people training to be teachers. Those states that have the highest literacy rates are also the states that have the highest percentage of female teachers.
Male-dominated curriculum
In 1965, the Indian government decided to rewrite textbooks in order to fix the portrayal of men and women in gender-stereotyped roles. A later study of Indian textbooks found that the problem still exists. In most lessons, men are the main characters. They hold positions of higher prestige and are shown as strong, adventurous and intelligent. Women, when included, were often depicted as helpless, often victims of some type of abuse. Such depictions are major obstacles to women's education.
Overall development of any country is directly linked to the education of its women. As mothers, women have the capacity to change the dynamics of the home, the child, and eventually the nation. Recent studies have shown that there is a minimum threshold of education that must be reached before the mother's schooling positively affects her children. At least 5 or 6 years, basically a primary education, is needed to achieve that level. In India, almost 60 percent of the literate women have only a primary education or less. Only 13 percent of Indian women have more than a primary education, and this is holding the entire nation back
