Industry Analysis

) Role of women in a changing economy - national and international perspective

(b) Mainstream development paradigm - a critical appraisal from a gender perspective

(c) Changing nature of work

(d) Changing agricultural sector

(e) Health of rural and urban women

(f) Women bringing changes in rural economy - national/international perspective

(g) Micro-credit - merits and demerits of promoting women entrepreneurship at the grassroots level

(h) Women in emerging economic sector

(i) Changing gender role in media - from silence to voice

(j) Development and displacement

In her keynote address, activist and journalist Padmashree Patricia Mary Mukhim of Meghalaya presented a paper on the Global Gender Gap Report 2006, which surveyed 115 world economies. She pointed out that while the World Economic Fourm placed India way ahead of some advanced nations like USA, France and Japan so far as political empowerment is concerned, the participation of women in the economy, their educational attainments and access to health is way below these advanced countries. India ranks 20th in political empowerment and 110th in economic empowerment. Indian women constitute a meagre eight per cent in the Lok Sabha and three per cent hold ministerial posts. In India, work-force participation of women is 34 per cent in the labour force and 21 per cent in technical and professional workforce. Comparative figures of women-participation in the work force in the US show a percentage of 60 and 55 respectively.

The Global Gender Gap Index measures the difference between the sexes in matters of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health, survival and political empowerment. Interestingly, the Gender Gap Report throws light on the lesser-known facts about women's economic empowerment such as the duration of paid maternity leave, maternal mortality rates, and access to skilled health staff for childbirth.

Mukhim's paper also discussed a study in which the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, working with NFHS, drew samples from 100,000 women in the age-group of 15-50 years across 26 states. The percentage of menopausal women was highest (31.4) in Andhra Pradesh. The study added that the percentage of menopausal women was higher in rural than in the urban sector and that the highest incidence was among women aged between 29 and 34 years as against the natural menopausal age falling anywhere between 45 and 55 years with an average of 51 years. Medical findings, according to Mukhim's paper, show that early marriage among girls, the trend of malnutrition among girls and women, lack of family support and the tension of having to eke out a living to supplement the family income lead to early menopause.

Smita Premchander, Secretary, SAMPARK, a Bangalore-based NGO, said that according to figures arrived at by the banking sector, India has around 3 million SHGs (Self-Help Groups) which give loans to around 40 lakh households through extended credit. According to NABARD, the record for repayment of loans from SHGs to banks is more than 95 per cent. She added however, that the default rate is very high in case of subsidised loans that mainly cover BPL (Below Poverty Line) groups but the record for repayment of unsubsidised loans is almost 99 per cent and women do not default in repaying loans because they immediately apply for the next loan.

From a conference exhibition by Drik-India, a photographer's collective: Women in the Cosmopolitans is a series of photographs taken by Swapan Nayak, showing women belonging to a completely different liberalised and cosmopolitan niche, who have shed all inhibitions in a spirt of partying and nightclubbing day in and day out.

Of the total SHGs, 90 per cent are women-only groups according to NABARD's figures. Why are there more women than men in SHGs? On the basis of her experience with SAMPARK, Premchander pointed out the reasons. Women are (a) easy to discipline, (b) wait patiently, (c) take small amounts between Rs.10,000 and Rs.20,000, (d) repay soon and easily, (e) permit external leadership and control, (f) easy to train as they are flexible, (g) expectations are low. However, inviting the active participation of women in SHGs ultimately comes down to using women rather than empowering them.

Rangan Chakravarty, media producer and editorial consultant of Ananda Bazar Patrika, Kolkata, made his presentation on 'Women and the Media through Television'. He pointed out that violence is very much a part of the entire process of communication in television. The systemic violence by television is characterised by the marginalisation of the majority. By banishing the poor from the realm of images the media renders them invisible because the have-nots, which includes a large percentage of women, are considered a nuisance, a burden that disrupts the smooth passage to a global, consumerist world. Invisibility, he underscored, is a major and strong weapon - 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Chakravarty insisted on television's need to: (i) raise a voice against the woman's body being made a site for the nation's morality; (ii) question and debate on how and why women are increasingly made targets of political violence and (iii) recognise that women are the worst sufferers of economic violence. Representation, according to him, need not necessarily mean empowerment because representation also depends on which women get represented in the media, how and in what context.

Dr Walter Fernandes, Director, North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati, pointed out how globalisation will add to the woes of women who have already been displaced in the past due to political reasons and