Women Poverty: Lost In Statistics

Women Poverty: Lost in Statistics

In India poverty has been measured in terms of absolute poverty using the recommendations of the Tendulkar Committee. The monthly per capita consumption expenditure of Rs. 972 in rural areas and Rs. 1047 in urban areas is treated as the poverty line at an all India level. According to this methodology 21.9% of the population in India is poor. These statistics are insufficient because they end up counting the number of households in poverty and assume that the income is shared equally in the household between men and women. Thus women’s poverty is partially hidden. This essay looks into the causes of women poverty and argues that a multi-dimensional perspective like Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach should

Moreover it’s also important to note how much say the women have at the decision making level because that’s where all the welfare policies are formulated. In 2009 women constituted a mere 10.12% of all the parliamentarians. Many women continue to be unaware of the reservations made for them in local bodies. One reason could be lack of education or awareness but even in states like Kerala where women literacy levels are favourable, their political participation continues to be low. For women to participate in political arena they need to step out of their household in the public space which still continues to be dominated by men. A woman’s political participation not only depends on her socioeconomic status but also on her position in the household, whether she can negotiate an independent identity in her

Women end up earning lower wages because they are employed mostly in low paying employment, informal sector or they put relatively less working hour due to disproportionate domestic burden. These factors lower the earning potential of women. As a result investment in their education lags behind because return for the investment put in their education is low. And if the earnings or the earning potential of women remains low, gendered division of labour gets reinforced as does the decision making power of a woman in the family. Moreover women’s decision making role in the family further dictates her presence in the public space where she finally gets empowered to influence policy decisions through political participation.

Similarly redistributing resources to women who are socially deprived and excluded through laws and reservation is not enough. Again one has to question whether the individual is truly empowered to utilize that capability. For instance monopoly over land resource still remains in the hands of the male members of the family; the obstacles in the administrative and legal setup have to be removed so that women can function in the manner they want to use this capability