THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN INDIA - PART II

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NEW DELHI 001749

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/INS, DRL, PASS TO SECRETARY RICE, U/S HUGHES,
U/S/ BURNS, U/S DOBRIANSKY, AND DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PINR SOCI KWMN IN
SUBJECT: THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN INDIA - PART II

REF: A. NEW DELHI 1653

B. NEW DELHI 1032

C. 06 NEW DELHI 7199

D. NEW DELHI 1401


1. (U) SUMMARY: This is the second in a two part series on
the status of women in India. This cable is derived from
Post's ongoing analysis of the issues facing women as well as
conversations with politicians, think tanks, NGO activists,
pundits, and government officials during Senior Advisor to
the Secretary of State on Women's Empowerment, Ambassador
Shirin Tahir-Kheli's visit to New Delhi. The first part of
this series (reftel A) outlined the progress that has been
made toward protecting women in Indian society. In addition,
it highlighted the ongoing struggle with implementation and
enforcement of laws and the continued fight to end female
feticide and dowry deaths. Part II (this cable) deals with
trafficking in persons, the inability of many women to access
education, jobs, and health care and the overlay of caste and
class. END SUMMARY.

Trafficking in Persons
--------------


2. (SBU) India is a significant source, transit point, and
destination for many thousands of trafficked women. On March
23, National Commission for Women's (NCW) Girija Vyas spoke
of trafficking of women and children both within India and
from external sources. According to Vyas, there is currently
a flow of Eastern European women to India for prostitution.
Within India, the low male/female ratio resulting from female
feticide encourages families in Punjab and Haryana to import
brides from Bihar and other Northeastern states to marry
their boys. These women are often mistreated as they do not
speak the local language and can be easily manipulated.
(Note: India, however, is marching towards progress, for more
information, see India,s 2007 TIP report (reftel B) End
Note).

Marriage Fraud Among the Diaspora
--------------


3. (SBU) Vyas and the NCW described a relatively new racket
that subjugates and marginalizes women. Some non-residence
Indians (NRIs) marry in India, although they already have a
wife or girlfriend in the U.S. The new bride is then
abandoned upon arrival in the US, UK or elsewhere. Vyas said
that this practice is occurring wherever Indians have
migrated. The NCW is collaborating with Indian associations
in the UK to raise awareness about this practice and assist
with recourse for the women who find themselves in the lurch.
Vyas is looking for possible partners in the US to
participate in a similar process. Minister for Women and
Child Development Renuka Chowdhary had previously raised her
concerns about hoodwinked brides with the Embassy (reftel C).

Promoting Democracy Bilaterally And Multilaterally
--------------


4. (SBU) On March 21 and 22, Ambassador Tahir-Kheli met GOI
officials, including the Prime Minister's Media Advisor
Sanjaya Baru and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon. Both
Baru and Menon agreed that more could and should be done for
women. Menon added that &women's empowerment is an
essential element for democracies in transition.8 As
women's empowerment is an issue of democracy promotion, Baru
requested an update on the UN Democracy Fund. (Note: There
are two programs currently funded in India under this
program: Center for Social Research and ActionAid. Both
projects engage women to become more politically active and
provides them with the necessary skills to do so. To date,

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however, both projects are still waiting for their grant
money before beginning their work. Any further information
from the Department on the holdup would be welcomed and
appreciated. End Note.)


5. (SBU) On March 23, Kiran Bedi, Director General, Bureau
for Police Research and Development highlighted the Indian
All Women's Police Unit sent to Liberia to work alongside UN
Peacekeepers (reftel D). Though she met initial resistance
to creating such a unit, it is now recognized as another
success story. Bedi believes India can train other countries
to mobilize similar units that can work both domestically or
as part of international efforts.


6. (SBU) On March 23, Ambassador Tahir-Kheli met with NGOs
working with USAID through their Women's Legal Rights
Initiative Project. The Mission,s Women,s Legal Rights
Initiative (WLRI) focuses on gender based violence including
dowry, domestic violence and female feticide and rights
within the family (such as property rights and maintenance)
in Rajasthan and in Karnataka. At the national level, the
program supports advocacy for legal and institutional reform
through WomenPowerConnect (WPC),a national level coalition
lobbying district and national governments. WPC has five
state chapters and more than 450 members across India. WLRI
in partnership with grassroots NGOs is creating support
systems in the two states to provide legal knowledge,
counseling, mediation and representation services to
vulnerable women and communities. The program has developed
and expanded community based approaches to dispute
resolution, worked to change the attitudes of men and boys,
trained medical doctors, statutory bodies, religious leaders
and public prosecutors and targeted state and national level
reforms. A specially designed program disseminates
information on Muslim women,s rights as enshrined in the
Holy Quran and the Indian constitution. WLRI is also linking
women to livelihood enhancement opportunities. As a result
of these programs, there are many anecdotal success stories
in which women recognize the power of working collectively to
demand and force the police to take action in instances of
domestic violence.

Education and Health
--------------


7. (SBU) India has been a major seat of learning for
thousands of years and the GOI has expressed a strong
commitment toward education for all. Currently, 30 percent
of seats in engineering, medical and other colleges are
reserved for women. However, India still has one of the
lowest female literacy rates in Asia. The gap in male-female
literacy rates is 21.70 percent, according to the 2001
census. Low literacy levels have a negative impact on the
lives of women and their families in addition to their
country,s economic development. Numerous studies show a
strong correlation between high levels of female illiteracy,
high fertility and mortality levels, poor nutritional status,
low earning potential, and low household autonomy. A
woman,s lack of education has been shown to contribute to
high infant mortality rates.


8. (SBU) The barriers against women,s education include
insufficient school facilities, not enough classrooms, and
inadequate latrines and access to water. There are also
deeply-held social beliefs against female education. Many
families continue to regard male education as an investment
guaranteeing future economic returns. On the other hand,
investing in girl,s education is deemed an immediate
economic loss that deprives the household of a loyal and
unpaid helper. In rural India, because girls are married and
sent to another house, investing in their education is not

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considered a viable option.


9. (SBU) Although female life expectancy (currently 65) has
gradually improved over the years, it remains lower than many
other countries. In many families, especially in rural
India, girls and women face nutritional discrimination with
the family. Only 42 percent of births in the country are
supervised by health professionals. Most women deliver with
help from female family members who often lack the skills and
resources to ensure a safe birth. According to 2007 data,
India accounts for over 20 percent of the world,s maternal
deaths at a rate of 408 deaths/100,0000 live births.


10. (SBU) The average Indian woman has little control over
her own fertility and reproductive health. Women in rural
areas in particular do not have access to safe and
self-controlled methods of contraception. The public health
system emphasizes permanent methods like sterilization, or
long-term methods like IUDs that do not need follow-up. Some
studies suggest that sterilization accounts for more than 75
percent of total contraception, with female sterilization
measured around 67 percent (compared to 9 percent for males).


Workforce Participation
--------------


11. (SBU) Women in India are now more likely to participate
in traditionally male dominated industries. According to
Kiran Bedi, more women now serve in the armed forces and the
police. She described a jump in female recruitment onto the
police force, and she noted the important role of
Jayalalitha, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in boosting
numbers of police recruits in Southern India. Bedi also
underscored the presence of women police officers in rural
areas helps women address specific problems such as female
feticide and domestic violence. According to Bedi, women
police officers have a "healing but tough hand" that can
bridge gaps between certain segments of society more easily
than their male counterparts.


12. (SBU) More women are not only serving in entry level
government positions, they are occupying high level, decision
making roles in government. At the national level, several
interlocutors pointed to the leadership of Congress President
Sonia Gandhi. Further, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who
ruled from 1966-1977, was the second woman in the world to
serve as Prime Minister, after Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri
Lanka. At the local level, one third of panchayat seats
(village local governments) have been reserved for women
since 1992, enabling over a million women to enter political
life in India. In Ambassador Tahir-Kheli's meetings with
Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commissioner, Montek Singh
Ahluwalia on March 21 and Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dixit
on March 22, they dismissed critics who argue that women
holding panchayat seats merely reflect their husbands,
positions. They argued that the newly empowered women
leaders come to value their own voice and eventually
instigate change. To support this conclusion, Montek Singh
Ahluwalia cited a recent MIT study which found that women
leaders in panchayats matter, noting that many women
panchayat members invest local funds toward health,
education, and water projects. Alternatively, male leaders
direct funding toward construction of meeting and community
halls. Dixit and Punjab Member of Parliament Praneet Kaur
echoed Ahulwalia's comments, adding that they expect to see
these women rise to national level politics. Ahluwalia,
Dixit, and Kaur all expressed confidence and pride in the
reservation system, suggesting it could serve as a model for
other countries. (Note: Nationally, however, a bill to give
women one-third representation in Parliament has been stalled

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for a decade. End Note.)


13. (SBU) These efforts do not stop at the local level.
Since 2005, the Finance Minister, with the Prime Minister's
support, does not release funds to the Ministries unless they
demonstrate that they are allocating 20 percent of their
overall Ministerial budgets to programs that support women.
Such programs include efforts to raise maternal mortality
under the Health Ministry or the Human Resource Development
Ministry,s programs to raise female literacy rates.


14. (SBU) Some of the world,s leading businesswomen are
Indian. In 2006, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who started Biocon,
one of India's first biotech companies, was rated India's
richest woman. Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia (the only
businesswomen in India who made the Forbes World's Most
Powerful Women's List) run India's second-largest financial
institution, ICICI Bank. Contrary to common perception, a
large percent of women in India work. National data
collection agencies verify that womens, contribution as
workers has been underestimated. However, there are far
fewer women are in the paid workforce. In rural India,
agriculture and allied industrial sectors employ as much as
89.5 percent of total female labor. Women's average
contribution to farm production is estimated at 55 - 66
percent of the total. According to a 1991 World Bank report
women accounted for 93 percent of the total employment in
dairy production in India and 51 percent of the total
employed in forest-based small-scale enterprises.


15. (SBU) However, the earnings gap remains enormous.
Women's average annual earned income was 1,471 USD in 2002,
almost one third of men (4,723 USD). In addition, sexual
harassment, known as "eve teasing," is also reportedly on the
rise as more women enter the work force. Half of the total
number of crimes against women reported in 1990 related to
molestation and harassment at the workplace. In 1987, the
Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed
to prohibit indecent representation of women through
advertisement or in publications, writings, paintings,
figures or in any other manner.


16. (SBU) In 1997, in a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court
took a strong stand against sexual harassment of women in the
workplace by presenting detailed guidelines for prevention
and redress of grievances. The NCW subsequently elaborated
these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers.

COMMENT
--------------


17. (SBU) In India, nothing is easy and it is impossible to
generalize. All of the aforementioned concerns are
complicated by caste, class, religion, and corruption, which
still sharply compromise societal and legal efforts to
improve the lot of Indian women and range over issues as
diverse as access to land and property, the right to obtain a
divorce or be divorced, and to be treated with dignity and
respect. For example, in February 2007, a UN committee
equated violence against Dalits in India with racial
discrimination. Reports produced by the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination found systemic abuse
against Dalits, including torture and extra-judicial
killings, and an "alarming" rate of sexual violence against
Dalit women. There are several reports of Dalit women
stripped naked by mobs and paraded in public for offending
higher castes. The media often documents upper caste gangs
using mass rape to intimidate lower castes, and gang rape as
punishment for alleged adultery or as a means of coercion or
revenge in rural property disputes. Although the GOI banned
the practice of sati, in which Hindu women throw themselves

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on the funeral pyre of their deceased husband, the practice
persists. Honor killings also remain a problem,
predominantly in Muslim and Hindu communities. Furthermore,
a strong belief in mythology and the supernatural in rural
India has been used against women. In 2006, for example,
informal courts passed death sentences on women, labeling
them witches. The Assam police are now working with NGOs to
raise awareness of these problems.


18. (SBU) While the picture is far from rosy, good things
are happening for India,s women. The NGO community, civil
society and the media are vibrant, active and gaining
traction in a national dialogue on women,s rights. As with
any movement that must overcome centuries of tradition, it
will require several generations of concentrated efforts and
national dedication to fully integrate women into all aspects
of society. Opportunities exist for Indo-U.S. bilateral and
multilateral collaboration. Framed by Secretary Rice's four
pillars of women,s empowerment -- political participation,
economic empowerment, education, and justice issues -- Post
will continue to work with Ambassador Tahir-Kheli's office
and our Indian counterparts to deepen, broaden and strengthen
the ongoing efforts to promote women's empowerment. END
COMMENT
MULFORD