Page 143 - Journeys Through Society-7

Schooling and Education Today women's movement. Women all over the country
have contributed individually and collectively to bring
Today, both boys and girls attend school in large
about these changes.
numbers. Yet, as we will see, there still remain
differences between the education of boys and girls. The women's movement in India has acquired a
India has a census every 10 years, which counts the dynamic character through the efforts of many
whole population of the country. It also gathers people, both men and women. The changes began in
detailed information about the people living in India - the nineteenth century. The early campaigns were
their age, schooling, what work they do, and so on. We directed against the purdah system, and social evils
use this information to measure many things, like the like the practice of sati, child marriage and illiteracy. It
number of literate people, and the ratio of men and was led by prominent women leaders like Kamladevi
women. According to the 1961 census, about 40 per Chattopadhyay, Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu, Pandita
cent of all boys and men (7 years old and above) were Ramabai and also social reformers like Raja Ram
literate (that is, they could at least write their names) Mohan Roy and Jyotiba Phule.
compared to just 15 per cent of all girls and women. In
the most recent census of 2011, these figures have
grown to 82 per cent for boys and men, and 65 per
cent for girls and women. This means that the
proportion of both men and women who are now able
to read and have at least some amount of schooling
has increased. But, as you can also see, the percentage
of the male group is still higher than the female group. Annie Besant Sarojini Naidu
The gap has not gone away.
Over the years, women have adopted different
From this, we can conclude that though many girls strategies of standing against discrimination. These
have started attending schools in recent years, in include campaigning, protesting, raising awareness
comparison to boys the number of girls enrolling in amongst people and showing solidarity to other
schools is still less. The rate of girls dropping out of women’s causes.
school is also very high in India.
Some of the reasons for the high dropout rate among Campaigning
girls are : Campaigning has been an integral part of the women's

• Absence of teachers in rural areas to conduct movement against injustice, discrimination and
regular classes violence. Domestic violence is the most common type
of violence against women in India. In 2006, a law was
• Lack of proper facilities in schools in many rural
passed to check domestic violence, making it a
areas
punishable offence.
• Lack of transport facilities to enable girls to travel
Another issue which has been relentlessly pursued by
long distances for attending school
women's groups is the dowry system. The increase in
• Poverty and the high cost of education
the number of dowry deaths has made this a central
• Being held back at home for domestic chores issue for all women's organisations. Their efforts
• Sometimes also on account of discrimination resulted in the passing of anti-dowry laws by the
between males and females at school government.
Women have also raised their voice against
Women’s Movement
discrimination and harassment at the workplace. In
Today, girls are participating in almost all spheres of 1997, the Supreme Court laid down guidelines for
life. The struggle for reform in their legal status, protection of women against sexual harassment at the
health, and job opportunities has led to an active workplace and educational institutions.

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