How much control do Indian women have over different aspects of their lives?
Not much, according to the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), conducted by the University of Maryland and the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 2004-2005 and 2011-2012.
Only 4.99 percent of women in India had sole control over choosing their husbands, while 79.8 percent of women needed permission to visit a health centre, according to the 2012 IHDS survey, showing little change since the IHDS survey in 2005, when 5 percent reported having sole control over choosing their husband, and 74.2 percent reported needing permission to visit a health centre.
The IHDS survey in 2012 covered over 34,000 urban and rural women between the ages of 15 and 81, in 34 Indian states and union territories.
Overall, 73 percent of the women surveyed reported that their parents or relatives alone chose their husbands, while as few as 5 percent of women reported to have had sole control over choosing their husbands.
A similar survey for men has not been conducted.
Women Need Permission to Visit a Grocery Store, Healthcare Center
Limited control over life decisions extended to visiting a healthcare centre, and a grocery store.
Almost 80 percent of women said they had to seek permission from a family member to visit a health centre. Out of these women, 80 percent said they needed permission from their husband, 79.89 percent from a senior male family member, and 79.94 percent from a senior female family member.
Further, 58 percent of women reported that they needed permission to visit the local kirana (grocery) store, compared to 44.8 percent in 2005.
Such restrictions are also echoed in other indicators. For instance, only 27 percent of Indian women are in the labour force, the second-lowest rate of female labour-force participation in South Asia after Pakistan, as IndiaSpend reported in April 2016.
Women, however, seemed to have control over what is cooked in the house, a decision that 92.89 percent women reported making everyday. About 50 percent reported that the husband took part in deciding what to cook, highlighting the gendered nature of household chores.
Since 2005, there has been a decrease in the percentage of women who decide what they cook (94.16 percent in 2005), and an increase in the percentage of men (40.89 percent in 2005) who took part in the decision.
Women (In %) Who Ask Permission To Visit Health Center
A Woman’s Freedom to Make Decisions Depends on Where She Lives
More women chose their own husbands in states in north-eastern and southern India as compared to northern India, as per 2012 IHDS data.
The percentage of women who had sole say in choosing their husbands was lowest in Rajasthan (0.98 percent), followed by Punjab (1.14 percent) and Bihar (1.19 percent). It was the highest in Manipur (96 percent), followed by Mizoram (88 percent) and Meghalaya (76.9 percent).
As many as 65 percent of the women said they had met their husband for the first time on the wedding day, but wide variations exist across states. For instance, all women in Manipur had met their husband before the day of the wedding, while 94 percent of women in Bihar met their husband for the first time on the day of the wedding.
This highlights the “arranged” nature of marriages in India, a process in which prospective partners usually meet for the first time with the intention of getting married, after their family vets the spouse-to-be, and the match is backed by the support of their extended social network.
A similar trend in regional variations can be seen in the percentage of women who needed permission to visit a health care center. As many as 94 percent of women reported needing permission to visit a health center in Jharkhand, the highest of any state, while only 4.76 percent of women in Mizoram needed permission, the lowest.
The top five states, which weren’t necessarily doing well in 2005 like Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal, have improved since then. However, more women in the bottom five states reported they had to ask for permission to visit the health centre in 2012 as compared to 2005.
Does Higher Literacy Lead to Greater Decision-Making Power? Not Really
A woman’s power to make decisions regarding marriage, and visits to a healthcare centre are not correlated with literacy at the state-level, or to the sex ratio (the number of females per 1000 males), suggesting the role of social norms, which might differ by state.
For example, in Chattisgarh, which has one of the highest sex ratios in the country (991), only 7.57 percent women said they did not need permission from another family member to visit a healthcare center.
This paradox is not being observed for the first time – despite female literacy levels being higher than before, the child sex ratio (indication of son preference) in India is at its lowest since 1951, as IndiaSpend reported in December 2016.
“The bias against daughters can only end if women’s education is accompanied by social and economic empowerment”, concluded a study conducted over a period of 30 years in Gove, Maharashtra, by Carol Vlassoff, a professor at the University of Ottawa, as IndiaSpend reported in December 2016.
In Delhi, which has a literacy rate of 86.21 percent (higher than the national average of 74.04 percent), only 2.09 percent women reported they had sole control over choosing their husband. Meghalaya, which has a lower literacy rate than Delhi (74.43 percent), ranks third from the top in terms of women who said they had sole control over choosing their husband (76.9 percent).
“Cultural climate also plays a role,” said Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the Delhi-based All India Progressive Women’s Association, which works on issues such as reservation for women in Parliament and violence against women.
In and around Delhi, there is no doubt that there is a more rigid patriarchal culture that is hostile to women’s sexual autonomy – this may be far less in the case of Meghalaya... This study shows that denial of autonomy is in itself one of the central problems for Indian women. This problem can’t be addressed by literacy alone, and governments need to address the issue directly.Kavita Krishnan
(This article has been published in an arrangement with IndiaSpend.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)