Women Poverty And Productivity In India

This publication considers the effects of gender on access within the family and beyond. It is based on a more detailed study of women's involvement in key sectors of the Indian economy, the returns they are getting, and the critical constraints they face in increasing their access to, and productivity in, these sectors. Three fundamental observations emerge. First, women are vital productive workers in India's national economy. Second, the poorer the family, the greater its dependence on women's economic productivity. The third observation is that, as a society, India invests far less in women workers than in its working men. India's women also have less access than do men to health services and nutrition. These gender based asymmetrics are contributing factors in India's high child mortality rates and persistently high birth rates.

The relationship between women's health and their productivity is characterized by 'flows' in both directions and a host of intervening factors. Two statements summarize the major directional flows: (a) women's health affects their productivity, and (b) productivity affects women's health. This paper documents the nature of these relationships, using available data on Indian women which relate to a variety of health indices, and construing 'productivity' in the broadest possible way, including labor force participation, work output, income, and so on. The overall purpose is to discuss women's health within the context of the need to improve both women's productivity and welfare. Thus, women's health status, its determinants and consequences, are explored, leading ultimately to the identification of interventions required to improve it and thereby to improve women's productivity. The suggested interventions are viewed against the Bank's past and current efforts in the health (and nutrition) sectors in India and against current overall directions in Bank programming in these sectors; they may also signal possible new intitiatives for Bank assistance for the development of women and health in the country.

Documentation of the interaction of Indian women's poor health status and low productivity and evidence that raising the economic value of women is ultimately the most effective way of improving their health.

Contents: Rural Poverty in India, The Persistence of Indian Poverty and its Alleviation, The Dynamics of Rural Poverty in India, Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Overcoming the Poverty in India and the Lessons Learned, Rural Poverty in India and Development as a Policy Challenge, Peace and Poverty, After the Microcredit Summit, Link Between Disability and Poverty, Towards a New Policy on Poverty Reduction, Women and Poverty, Empowerment for Women? The Gap Between Theory and Practice, Women in Politics, Women in Authority, Promotion of Women, Lightening the Load for Women, Equal Opportunities for Women in the Community, Fighting for Equality on All Fronts, Population Growth and Women s Role in India, Stop Child Labour, Child Labour Targeting the Intolerable, Child Labour in Weaving Industry, The Indian Economy and the Cattle Wealth, Water Problem in South India, Cheap Transport for India s Millions, Population Growth and Jobs, Population Growth and Income, Population Growth and Housing, Population Growth and Grain Production.

According to India's 2011 Census, the country's population has increased by 17.6% since 2001. The Census shows that 51.6% of the population is male, while 48.4% is female. Unfortunately, the 2011 Census data also shows that the gender ratio for children below six years has dropped. This decline is unabated since the 1961 Census. This gender bias draws attention to a lingering societal flaw which economic growth has not been able to correct. Gender equality is a constituent of development, as well as an instrument of development. No country can be deemed developed if half of its population is severely disadvantaged in terms of basic needs, livelihood options, access to knowledge, and political voice. The advancement and empowerment of women in India has been a leading objective of state policy ever since the attainment of Independence in 1947. India's Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012) recognized women, for the first time, not just as equal citizens, but as agents of economic and social growth. Women's lack of economic empowerment not only impedes growth and poverty reduction, but also has a host of other negative impacts, including less favorable education and health outcomes for children. Thus, it is extremely important to ensure that women are economically, socially, and politically empowered. This book provides a vivid account of the problems faced by Indian women, particularly those belonging to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. It explains the various policies, programs, and schemes initiated by the government of India, in co-operation with other agencies for the welfare, development, and empowerment of women.

The efforts made by the Indian development planners during the past decades are commendable in reducing poverty and other dimensions of human development. However, a number of tasks remain unfinished. Abject poverty is still a stark reality for millions of Indians. Also, wide gaps in human development among states, districts and social groups exist. There is an urgent need for more concerted efforts to achieve greater social and gender equality. Women in India are victims of a multiple socio-economic and cultural factors. They are an integral part of every economy. All round development and harmonious growth of a nation would be possible only when women are considered as equal partners in progress with men. Emancipation of women is a pre-requisite for a NATION'S ECONOMIC development and social upliftment. Poverty is the main obstacle for the improvement of the women. The role of women and the need to empower them are central to human DEVELOPMENT programs including poverty alleviation.

Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventions—specifically home gardening and dairy projects—show mixed impacts on women’s empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on women’s empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.

Based on a broad literature review, this publication discusses rural women’s time poverty in agriculture, elaborates on its possible causes and implications and provides insight into the various types of constraints that affect the adoption of solutions for reducing work burden. This paper raises questions about the adequacy of women’s access to technologies, services and infrastructure and about the control women have over their time, given their major contributions to agriculture. It also look s into the available labour-saving technologies, practices and services that can support women to better address the demands derived from the domestic and productive spheres and improve their well-being. The reader is presented with an overview of successfully-tested technologies, services and resource management practices in the context of water, energy, information and communication. The findings elaborated in this paper feed a set of recommendations provided for policy makers and development partners. A gender-transformative approach at community and household level is suggested as a way forward to promote women’s increased control over the allocation of their time.