The following points sum up how women are still discriminated against and oppressed in India.
Literacy rate: The first and foremost discrimination is in the field of education where the literacy rate among women is only 66 per cent when compared to a high 82 per cent in males. Even otherwise, parents prefer educating spending their resources of education of a male child rather than a female child.
Sex ratio: The sex ratio in India is as low as 940 females per 1000 males. The proportion of women as compared to men is very low. A major reason behind this is that parents prefer having a male child over a female child keeping in view the future perspective.
Unpaid work: The proportion of highly-paid women is very less when compared to highlypaid men. Though on an average, Indian women work one hour more than men every day but they are not equally paid and thus their work is also not often valued as much as that of men.
Domestic violence: Women every day in Indian society are harassed, exploited, and subjected to all sorts of violence behind the closed doors. Both in urban and rural areas, domestic violence is one of the most prominent form of discrimination faced by women. Many cases of domestic violence and dowry deaths are reported in the media every day.
Female foeticide: In India, a male child is considered a blessing and a female child is considered a bane. This has come to an extent where the female child is killed in the womb of the mother. This killing of foetus is known as foeticide. Female foeticide is prevalent in both urban and rural areas.
