Haryana Women: heading towards happier times Haryana Women: heading towards happier times

By

Amarnath Wadehra and Randeep Wadehra

History tells us that there is a symbiotic relationship between education, woman’s emancipation and a civilization’s progress; the progress being all round – economic, social and cultural. With the decline in its women’s status a civilization too declines and eventually goes to seed. It gets resurrected and rejuvenated only when the woman is restored to her respectable status and role in the family and the society at large. This is as true of civilizations as it is of individual nations and their various provinces. The story of Haryana’s women has not been any different.

When Haryana came into being on November 1, 1966, its economic condition wasn’t exactly healthy. Poor per capita income, backward agricultural practices and undeveloped infrastructure were the salient features of Haryana’s economy. Worse, the literacy rate was very poor at 19.92% which was much below the national average of 27.76% (1961 census). Consequently, the economic status of women in the state was not a happy one. Considered as no more than an extra farm hand who also did domestic chores, apart from delivering and nurturing babies, the Haryana woman remained in the near oblivion. It was impossible to espy even a single woman employed in offices or factories. Moreover, with mothers being illiterate their children’s chances of acquiring good education were significantly reduced. Due to rampant illiteracy she was not aware of her rights; getting them enforced was, of course, beyond her ken and power. Therefore, the Haryana State Government established the State Commission for Women to protect the constitutional and legal rights of women and facilitate their overall development.

An average Haryana woman’s health status was pathetic during the 1960s. Anemia was rampant. Even basic healthcare was not available to her. Deaths during childbirth were unbearably high. Malnutrition led to all sorts of physical ailments and deformities not just among women but their children too. However, things began to improve. The state government ensured that medical facilities were available to all even in the remotest village in Haryana. Special schemes were launched for women’s healthcare as well as medical attention for pregnant women and newborn babies. For example, The Kishori Shakti Yojna focuses on improving the health and nutritional status of adolescent girls and promotion of awareness of health, hygiene, nutrition, home management, child care etc. The adolescent girls are also provided supplementary nutrition.

Gradually, over a period of time things began to improve in other aspects too. The Haryana government had realized the wisdom in the saying, “If you educate a man you educate a person, but by educating a woman you educate an entire family.” Therefore, it focused on providing quality education to the masses even in such places as were considered beyond the pale of routine governance. Schools, colleges and universities reached out to people, especially women, in the rural areas and small towns. Various schemes were launched to make education accessible as well as affordable. Today the literacy rate in Haryana is much higher than the national average, with women making impressive strides in various academic disciplines. As the state took firm strides towards economic progress, winds of modernity began to rejuvenate the socio-economic scenario – not just in the newly developing urban areas but also the countryside. The spread of education lent further fillip to the Haryana woman’s march towards empowerment and eventual emancipation – an emancipation that has not yet fructified but is bound to happen sooner than later.

Today, women driving various types of vehicles are a common sight even in the hinterlands. Girls are acquiring 21^st century skills in the fields of Information Technology and other sunrise industries. Indeed, they are competing with men for jobs in the Civil Services, Defence and Police as well as the highly competitive high-skilled corporate sector. As sportspersons they are making waves at the national and international levels.

Today women form more than 12% of the IAS officers in Haryana. The percentage may seem insignificant in absolute terms but when we consider the path traversed by Haryana’s women it is an impressive achievement, indeed. Moreover, in places like Gurgaon and elsewhere there are all-women police units that perform a wide range of duties from traffic to crime fighting. Such has been the change in the Haryana woman’s socio-economic profile that it is considered usual for women to work in various public and private offices ranging from telephone departments to BPOs etc. You see them as business executives and entrepreneurs. In fact female entrepreneurship is not limited to Haryana’s urban areas. In rural areas too they are making their presence felt. For example, in Kherla village women have overcome social prejudices and patriarchal taboos to set up small business units manufacturing various artifacts and fashion goods that are being supplied to export houses. To think that only a few years back the men folk of this village considered it an insult to send out their women to earn money! Although the Kherla experiment has borne fruit due to the efforts of an NGO, the Government of Haryana too has been proactive in enabling women to become economically self-sufficient. Towards this end the Haryana Women Development Corporation is functioning to promote activities for women’s development, awareness generation and vocational training; it also arranges institutional finance for self-employment to ameliorate the socio-economic conditions of women belonging to weaker sections.

And, let us not forget that women are increasingly taking part in politics at various levels. A female panch or sarpanch is no more a novelty. Similarly, in the state’s legislative assembly, women belonging to different political parties have been becoming increasingly visible, and assertive. Even at the national level women politicians from Haryana have been participating as MPs and Ministers; however, admittedly, their numbers have been very small.

It need hardly be emphasized that a woman’s socio-economic status in a society is the true index of its economic, social, cultural and spiritual advancement and sophistication. Today, the Haryana society has reached the stage where there is an increasing demand for educated and employed brides. Although this trend is throwing up quite a few problems in its wake in the long run it would strengthen the Haryana woman’s status in the society. Her academic and professional achievements in educational institutions and various offices would have a salutary effect on her role as decision maker, or at least as an important contributor to the decision making process, at home and, hopefully, the society at large. It has been a common universal experience that employed women have a far better status in the family and the society when compared to a housewife.

So, it would be safe to say that women in Haryana can look forward to constant improvement in their status at home and the society at large. And, gradually, as it sheds its patriarchal characteristics Haryana will transform into a more tolerant, refined and forward looking society.