Gender equality and Empowerment of women in rural areas

In the rural areas of India, gender inequality is one of the significant challenges in order to empower women. The poor education, inequality in employment as well as wages, and sex ratio are the major challenges that have to focus to eliminate the gender difference from the rural areas.

We cannot eliminate the gender equality from the society by any government law unless there should be a change in the patriarchal system. In a family, the food given to the girl child is comparatively less than the boy child. They are allowed to go school for not more than five to six standards. The rural people consider the girls as a liability, so they think there is no need of educating the girls. Women don't send their daughter to the school so that she will help them at work inside the home as well as outside the home in agriculture lands and fields. At the age of 15-16, the girls get married and become a mother after one year. And this results, the premature delivery or the underweight and weak baby.

In India, the female literacy rate (65.46%) is lower than that of the male literacy rate (82.14%). According to the report of U.S. Department of Commerce, the main obstacle to the female education is the inadequate facilities of the school (such as sanitation facilities). It is also seen that the in a same family boys were sent to the private school and girls were sent to the government school in the village, where no facilities were given to the students. The government of India has taken step for the protection and survival of the girl child, by the National Plan of Action for the Girl Child (1991-2000) for giving a better and bright future to the girls.

According to the National Family Health Survey-3 of 2005, the immunization rate is 41.7% for the 2year old girl and 45.3% for the 2-year old boy. The reason for the high mortality rate of women and children is due to the malnutrition. These factors are not controlled because of the gender biased as the family creates inequality even with their children and provide less food to their girl child. Maternal death rate is 437 per 100,000 live births, which is mainly caused due to the anemia, abortion, infection, hemorrhage and obstructed labor.

Sometimes, women are forced to abort the child, when a mother is carrying a girl child. This is the major problem of gender bias and decreased level of sex ratio. The female infanticide is the common problem of most of the states of India like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, and almost every women face in the rural areas. This type of cruelty against women leads to the increase in the female mortality rate and severe health problems. However, a forceful abortion is a crime, and a person can be punished under the Section of 312 and 316 of Indian Penal Code. If abortion is done without the consent of the mother carries the baby.

To stop the crime against women in the society a Women PowerLine number has started by the police of Uttar Pradesh to help women at the time of emergency. Women Power Line is a 24*7 helpline where women can register their complaint. The members of WPL effectively deal with the crime against women and ensure that they feel more secure. Women power line 1090 is also receiving calls from those teens who were forced by their parents to get married in at an early age and those women who are compelled to abort their girl child. Women Power Line is a gift for the women who protects them and provides safety at the time of emergency.