If you thought there was a correlation between the material well-being of a woman and her safety, think again.
According to the Tata Strategic Management Group’s (TSMG) report, ‘Well Being Index (WBI) and Female Security Index (FSI) for India’, which covered 592 districts, a North-South divide was prominent.
Cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Pune may be the best to inhabit, but may not be the safest for women. Women are actually better off in places like Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, where their safety is less at risk.
To create the WBI, the TSMG analysed National Sample Survey Organisation and census data from 2001. It used the categories of home amenities, kitchen facilities, education, hygiene, entertainment, communication, transportation and healthcare as parameters. For the FSI, they accumulated data from 2007/07 National Crime Bureau data and analysed national statistics of gender ratios and crimes against women.
TSMG Practice Head (Analytics Solutions) Harsha Kapoor said: “With women comprising half of our population, it is crucial to know what their status is and how they are being treated.”
India is growing at a blazing 7.4 per cent. Yet, crimes against women, such as rape, are among the faster rising ones in the country. The National Crime Records Bureau says an Indian woman is raped every 30 minutes. With growth in material well-being in the country, it is crucial to ensure that gender equality is fostered and respected.
An interesting finding of FSI was that there seemed to be no correlation between the gender ratio in a district and the security of its women, with Kargil (J&K), Mon (Nagaland) and Wardha (Maharashtra) scoring the “worst” in gender ratios, but having the lowest rapes and dowry deaths.
Speaking at the release of the report and explaining its relevance, Tata Strategic Management Group CEO Raju Bhinge said: “The Well Being Index report sheds insights on district-wise parameters and trends. The parameters considered for the study and the findings are the foundation for action planning and effective performance, whether for a policy maker wishing to improve ‘well being’ in rural India, an NGO aiming to improve gender equality or reducing crime against women, or a business house planning to increase the penetration of its goods or services in the domestic market.”
The conclusions of the report reveal three main trends.
First, that there is a large disparity in the well-being and safety of women across districts in the subcontinent. While only Chennai in Tamil Nadu is in the top 20 for WBI, the state has nine districts in the top 20 for FSI. Delhi has one-fifth of the top 20 “best” districts in India in terms of material well being for women, but is also host to 7 of the “worst” districts in terms of safety for women.
This depth of this disparity can even be witnessed within a single state, such as Karnataka; where Bangalore is ranked among the best in terms of well-being and Bellary, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Koppal and Gadag are among the worst.
This sheds light on the debate of the validity of other economic indicators, such as per capita income, to accurately reflect the treatment of women in India.
Second, there is no direct correlation between the wellbeing of women and their security. While the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi are amongst the most well-off parts of India, they are the worst when it comes to protecting their women. Central Delhi, for example, scored the highest in terms of material well being, but was the second worst when it came to the security of its women.
Yet states having districts ranking poorly on the WBI, such as Orissa, Eastern UP, WB, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar, perform much better than their counterparts on female security.
Third, it is clear that, for the effective planning of policies to further improve the quality of life and status of women in India, further progress needs to be made on the district level, rather than on the state level.
Kapoor noted that the report points to the need for a differentiated approach when it came to dealing with gender issues in the different districts, as each had a different root cause. The report helped to identify the districts that needed to be examined further, so that appropriate programs can be created and adequately monitored.
India, in sum, must ensure that in its quest for material growth, the needs and safety of the Indian woman are not left behind.
