1. Women Empowerment and Economic Policy: A Review of Pre-Reform and Post-Reform Period in India
Paper presented at
IAFFE Annual Conference 2009
Boston, Massachusetts USA
June 26-28
Kanwaljit Kaur Gill
Professor of Economics and
Coordinator of Master’s Course in Women Studies,
Punjabi University Patiala (India)

2. Introduction Empowerment of women
A balanced distribution of power between males and females.
Power can be the control over physical, natural, intellectual, financial and human resources along with the control over their self esteem.
Empowerment of women: A process, demanding life cycle approach, for their upliftment.
Mainstreaming gender perspective in the development process - the ultimate goal.

3. Programs and Policies for Empowerment of Women since 1950's:
to : The Welfare Approach -
To take up the issues related with women and child welfare.
A special cell was created to look after and monitor the issues related with women employment.
Some legislative measures were undertaken to protect the interests of women.
During the third and fourth plan ( to ) education and maternal health also came on the priority list.
Thus, up to the period of fifth five year plan women were the policy takers and not the policy makers.

4. 1980-85: Shift from Welfare Approach to Development Approach
Programs and Policies for Empowerment of Women since 1950's: (Continued)
: Shift from Welfare Approach to Development Approach
A multi-sectoral approach was adopted during the sixth five year plan ( ) for the development of women.
The areas of health, education and employment of women were given priority and special funds were demarcated for the same.

5. 1985-90: Beneficiary Oriented Scheme
Programs and Policies for Empowerment of Women since 1950's: (Continued)
: Beneficiary Oriented Scheme
A Beneficiary-Oriented Scheme was launched to get benefits from various development programs during Seventh Five Year Plan ( ) related with education, health, employment and other economic activities.
The objective of raising their economic and social status was emphasized
Special mention was made to bringing them into the mainstream of national development.

6. Programs and Policies for Empowerment of Women since 1950's: (Continued):
To monitor the flow of benefits to women, and enable them to function as equal partners and participants in the development process, human development was focused during the period of Eight Five Year Plan ( ). :
Women Component Plan - A special strategy of 'Women's Component Plan' was adopted to monitor flow of all types of benefits to women and to ensure that the proposed strategy brings forth a holistic approach towards empowering women. This was the time when National Policy for Empowerment of Women, 2001, was adopted to 'eliminate all types of discrimination against women' and to ensure gender justice, besides empowering women both socially and economically.

7. Programs and Policies for Empowerment of Women since 1950's: (Continued):
National Policy for Empowerment of Women - A sector specific three-fold strategy was adopted for empowering women.
Economic Empowerment
Social Empowerment
Legal Empowerment :
Targeted Intervention - for the first time women are recognized not just as equal citizens but as agents of economic and social growth.

8. Section-2 Promises and Practice
In Human Development Reports, the concepts of GDI and GEM are used as indicators for measuring gender disparity. These indicators are applied for measuring women empowerment in India.

9. Table 1: Gender-related Development Index for India
Variables
1990
1995
2000
2005 1.
GDI
Rank
Value - 99
0.401 98
0.586
113
0.600 2.
Life Expectancy at Birth
Female
Male
60.9
59.7
65.3
62.3
65.0
61.8 3.
Adult Literacy Rate
Total
44.1 29 58
35.2
63.7
47.8
73.4
( ) 4.
Combined Gross Enrolment ratio for Primary, Secondary and Tertiary School
P 81
S 27
T 5.2
P 113
S 50 T
45.8
63.8 56 64 60 68 5.
Estimated Earned Income (PPP US$)
870
19.2(%)
80.8(%)
1569 (Rs.)
4130 (Rs.)
1620 (Rs.)
5194 (Rs.) 6.
HDI Rank
123
134
128
127
Source: Compiled from various Human Development Reports of UNDP

10. Table 2: Sex-wise Literacy Rate and Gender Disparity in India
(%age)
Year
Persons
Males
Females
F/M
Gender gap
1971
34.45
45.95
21.97
0.48
23.98
1981
43.57
56.38
29.76
0.53
26.62
1991
52.21
64.13
39.29
0.61
24.84
2001
65.38
75.85
54.16
0.71
21.69
Source: Indian Economic Survey , March 2003, p. 223
Note:
1. F/M ratio highlights gender disparity in all the educational parameters. This is the ratio of female level of literacy to the male level of literacy.
2. Gender gap is the difference between the level of literacy of male and female respectively.

11. Percentage of Total Population
Table 7: Percentage of workers in total population by residence and sex in India:
Total/ Rural/ Urban
Persons/ Males/ Females
Percentage of Total Population
Non-workers
Workers
Total workers
Main workers
Marginal workers
1981
1991
2001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Total
Persons
36.7
37.5
39.3
33.5
34.1
30.5
3.2
3.3
8.7
63.3
62.5
60.7
Males
52.6
51.6
51.9
51.0
45.3
1.0
0.6
6.6
47.4
48.4
48.1
Females
19.7
22.3
25.7
14.1
16.0
14.7
5.6
6.2
11.0
80.3
77.7
74.3
Rural
38.8
40.0
42.0
34.8
35.8
31.0
4.0
4.3
10.9
61.2
59.9
58.0
53.8
52.4
51.8
44.5
1.2
0.7
7.9
46.2
47.6
23.1
26.8
16.1
18.7
16.8
7.0
8.0
14.2
76.9
73.2
69.0
Urban
30.0
30.2
32.2
29.2
29.5
29.3
0.8
2.9
70.0
69.8
67.8
49.1
48.9
50.8
48.5
48.6
47.5
0.5
0.4
3.4
50.9
51.1
49.2
08.3
09.2
11.8
07.1
08.1
09.1
2.4
91.7
90.8
88.5
Source: Census of India, 2001, series 4, Punjab Provisional Population totals paper 3 of 2001, Distribution of workers and non-workers, p. 40.

12. Gender Differentials in Employment: As presented in table 7.
Total Workers
though there is increase in percentage of total female workers (from 19.7 in 1981 to 25.7 in 2001), this increase is far lesser when compared with the percentage of male total workers (52.6 in 1981 and 51.9 in 2001). This is true for both rural and urban areas. (Table 7).
Total rural –urban
At rural level there is marginal decline in percentage of male workers (53.8 per cent in 1981 to 52.4 in 2001) but for rural females there is increase from 23.1 per cent in 1981 to 31.0 per cent in 2001.
Marginal Workers
There is marginalization of female workers. When we say that percentage of total females workers both at rural and urban level has increased, this increase is not as 'main workers' rather this is in the category of marginal workers (Table 7). Percentage of total female marginal workers increased from 5.6 in 1981 to 6.2 in 1991 and further to 11.0 per cent in 2001, which is much higher than the percentage of (total) male marginal workers. (1.0 in 1981, 0.6 in 1991 and 6.6 in 2001). These facts are true for both rural and urban areas. Female work participation has doubled as marginal workers during this period which implies that they do not get employment throughout the year on a sustained basis.
Non Workers
Percentage of female non-workers is also higher than the male non-workers (see table 7).
Definition of Work has changed
Increase in female work participation is not because of increase in main workers rather it is due to the change in definition of work also. Now the activities related to production even for domestic consumption are treated as work.

13. Table 8: Annual compound growth rate of workers: region-wise and sex-wise
Total workers
Main workers
Marginal Workers
Total
Persons
2.52
2.47
2.53
0.93
12.22
Males
2.03
2.13
-2.64
2.18
29.16
Females
3.61
3.94
3.23
3.32
0.94
7.87
Rural
2.33
2.31
2.51
2.26
0.36
11.72
1.75
1.84
-2.89
1.81
0.31
29.20
3.62
3.79
3.13
0.50
7.66
Urban
3.28
3.31
1.86
3.47
2.72
19.06
2.92
3.07
-1.11
2.60
28.93
3.58
5.01
3.29
4.74
11.96
Source: Calculated from census reports. Quoted in Indian Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 46, Nov., 2003, Changing Work Force Structure in India, : An Inter-state Study, Ajit Kumar Singh, p. 890.

14. Table 9: Sect oral Distribution of all Workers (usual Status)
Sr. No.
Sectors
NSSO Rounds/Years(%)
38th
1983
50th
55th
1. Primary
Persons
68.7
64.6
61.7
Male
62.3
58.3
54.9
Female
81.1
77.8
76.2
2. Secondary
13.3
14.2
15.8
15.0
15.9
17.8
12.5
10.9
11.8
3. Tertiary
18.0
21.2
22.5
22.7
25.8
27.3
9.1
11.4
12.0
Source: NSSO Report No. 458, Employment and Unemployment in India (   2000), Govt. of India.

15. Impact of Economic Policies
a. World Experience
Sr.
No.
GDI Rank
Number of countries
GDI value and Category 1.
1 to 32 32
above 8
0.019 Sweden, at the top)
0.812 Uruguay 2.
33 to 85 53
less than 8 but greater than 5
0.798 Thailand and
0.502 Cape Verde 3.
86 to 130 45
less than 5 but greater than 1
0.487 Popua New Guinea and Afghanistan, at the bottom
b. Indian Experience
1995
2005
GDI Rank
GDI Value 99
0.401 98
0.586
Number of Countries
130
177
Source: HDR 1995 and 2005 UNDP

16. Table 10: Literacy and Education
Sr.
No.
Indicators
Women
Men
Total 1.
Literacy Rates ( )
29.76
56.38
43.57
54.16
75.85
65.38 2.
Gross enrolment ratio ( and )
Classes I-V
64.1
95.8
80.5
85.2
104.1
94.9
Classes VI-VIII
28.6
54.3
41.9
49.7
67.2
58.8 3.
Drop-out rate ( and )
62.5
56.2
58.7
42.3
38.7
40.3
79.4
68.0
72.7
58.0
52.0
54.6
Source: Govt. of India, Tenth Five Year Plan.

17. Table 11: Work and Employment
Sr.
No.
Indicators
Women
Men
Total 1.
Work Participation Rate ( )
19.7
52.6
36.7
25.7
51.9
39.3 2.
Organized sector (No. of million in 1981 and 1999)
2.80
(12.2%)
50.05
22.85
4.83
(17.2%)
23.28
28.11 3.
Public sector (No. in million in 1981 and 1999) 15
(9.7%)
14.0
15.5
2.8
(14.5%)
16.6
19.4 4.
Government (No. in million in 1981 and 1999)
1.2
(11%)
9.7
10.9
1.6
(14.6%)
9.1
10.7
Source: Ibid.
Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages.

18. Table 12: Decision Making
Sr.
No.
Indicators
Women
Men
Total 1.
Administration (No. of IAS and IPS in 1987 and 2000)
360
(5.4%)
6262
6622
645
(7.6%)
7815
8460 2.
PRIs (No. in thousand in 1995 and 2001)
318
(33.5%)
630
948
725
1997
2722 3.
Parliament (No. in 1998 and 2001) 59
(7.2%)
761
820 70
(8.5%)
750 4.
Central Council of Ministers (No. in 1985 and 2001) 4
(10%) 36 40 8
(10.8%) 66 74
Source: Ibid.
Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages.

19. Suggestions
The funds which are earmarked for specific items/heads, should be spent for the same. The gap between the outlay (which is higher) and actual expenditure which is lower) should be avoided.
Women participation in decision making should be encouraged. For economic empowerment of women, the policies related with micro finance and other credit facilities should be strengthened.
Capacity building among women is equally an important issue which is possible through elimination of all types of discrimination in education, health, employment, opportunities, political participation and make sure that she enjoys all legal rights and social justice.
The policy makers should keep in mind that economic policies and programs if not engendered are endangered.

20. Thank you!