J
I do not think so, Indian women enjoy equal rights
Sure there are the exceptional few. And I emphasise few. But I doubt that, everyday, women enjoy exactly the same equality as men do. They don't in Australia, why would it be different in India?
I understand there are laws in place (there are here), but the legal framework is one thing - a very important thing, don't get me wrong - and what actually happens in practice is another.
I'm not overly well informed on this, and relying on info from Wikipedia for example, which includes the following: )
Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out.
According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates.
In urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys.
According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless).
Workforce participation - while women participate widely in work, there are far fewer women in the paid workforce than there are men. In the software industry 30% of the workforce is female. They are at par with their male counter parts in terms of wages, position at the work place, but this seems to be an exception.
Land and property rights - In most Indian families , women do not own any property in their own names, and do not get a share of parental property.... Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property.In fact, some of the laws discriminate against women, when it comes to land and property rights.eg,:
The Hindu personal laws of mid-1956s (applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains) gave women rights to inheritance. However, the sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters' shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but the son will continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing marital harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home. After amendment of Hindu laws in 2005, now women in have been provided the same status as that of men.
Crimes against women - Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010.
According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates.
In urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys.
According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless).
Workforce participation - while women participate widely in work, there are far fewer women in the paid workforce than there are men. In the software industry 30% of the workforce is female. They are at par with their male counter parts in terms of wages, position at the work place, but this seems to be an exception.
Land and property rights - In most Indian families , women do not own any property in their own names, and do not get a share of parental property.... Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property.In fact, some of the laws discriminate against women, when it comes to land and property rights.eg,:
The Hindu personal laws of mid-1956s (applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains) gave women rights to inheritance. However, the sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters' shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but the son will continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing marital harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home. After amendment of Hindu laws in 2005, now women in have been provided the same status as that of men.
Crimes against women - Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010.


