Question – Discuss the impact of globalization on the status of women in Indian society.
- February 14, 2023
- Posted by: Pallavi Singh
- Category: Blog
Answer –
Globalization involves different issues which are related to the women empowerment. Women reservation, rights, problems, status and authority etc are now days known to women. In family may be we can say that women are getting the favorable situation.
The voice of women is increasingly heard in Parliament, courts and in the streets.
India is a society where the male is greatly revered but impact of globalization women participating in all the fields. Globalization brings all women together to act. The modern development of technology offers the possibilities for women to communicate more directly through networking both within and across countries.
Globalisation has affected women as following :-
WOMEN & AWARENESS :
1)Access to global media and televisions led to increased awareness on the status of women.
2)Better recognition of basic rights of women like liberty and equality in social, cultural and economic spheres.
WOMEN & EDUCATION:
1)Increased access to education and rise in women literacy rate.
2)Decline in child marriage.
3)Rise in private educational institutions and inequalities in the quality of education.
4)Minimal improvement in tertiary education compared to primary and secondary.
WOMEN & HEALTH:
1)Rise in access to healthcare driven by vaccination, institutional deliveries.
2)Education combined with policy initiatives led to decline in total fertility rate, maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate.
WOMEN & TECHNOLOGY :
1)Rise in consumerism of household appliances and direct effect on women empowerment.(Less time in household chores means more opportunities for women)
2)Rise of technology related entrepreneurship (eg. Networking, e-commerce)
3)Lifestyle changes exposed women to non communicable diseases like diabetes, cancer.
FEMINISATION OF LABOUR FORCE:
1)Rise in labour force participation rate of women in the initial years.
2)Women benefitted from the financial independence and more women entered the public space.
3)Unfortunately 90 percent of the women ended up in informal sector, which means they were deprived of social security mechanisms like pension, maternity benefits, childcare systems.
4)Increased household income confined women to private space post reforms, resulting in defeminisation of labour force.
RURAL WOMEN:
Diversification of employment in rural areas from agricultural to non agricultural sectors.
However, domination of women as agricultural labourers and outmigration of men led to feminization of agriculture. This in turn contributed to ruralisation of poverty and feminization of poverty
Conclusion –
Globalisation is a double edged process as far as women are concerned. On the one hand, majority of women in India and other developing countries find themselves stripped off the benefit of social security, government subsidy, protection of labour rights and their safety nets.
On the other hand there are possibilities of better education facilities and opportunities at the global level. It is however necessary to understand that effective development requires full integration of women in the development process, as agents of change as well as beneficiaries because Indian women can be utilized as development resources in manyways.