The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) has launched a report on the status of women's empowerment in India. The report has been introduced by the institute's Gender Centre based on the parameters stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) on gender equality, focusing on subnational (district) level variations.
The report, titled 'Women's Empowerment at the Subnational Level: Towards Achieving Gender Equality (SDG 5)', introduces the Women Empowerment Index that provides a detailed, district-level analysis of women's empowerment across India, offering new insights and data to help advance gender equality.
The report reveals the unique challenges women encounter in different regions and across different communities – from limited access to education and economic independence to the struggle for a better work-life balance – to enable more targeted interventions by districts.
The study compared and analysed data for women aged between 15 to 49 from a total of 705 districts across the country from the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) and NFHS-5.
Of the sample of 705 districts, 67.5% of districts report women empowered in decision- making and mobility. There has been an increase in women's involvement in decision- making, particularly regarding their own healthcare, household purchases, and how to spend their husband's income. The percentage of women who make decisions either alone or jointly with their partners has grown.
The percentage of women who have ownership of their own asset (land or house) alone or jointly with their partner has also increased from 29.09% in NFHS-4 to 35.00% in NFHS-5.
Although women's literacy rates have increased, only 46.1% districts reported educational empowerment, and women respondent in just 32.25% of districts felt that they were able to achieve work-life balance, highlighting ongoing challenges with unpaid domestic work.
Higher education: The average number of women completing higher education increased from 11.43 per 100 women in NFHS 4 to 14.42 per 100 women in NFHS 5. But primary and secondary education did not show very significant difference.
Furthermore, interest in mass media has also surged from 69.12% in NFHS-4 to 76.24% in NFHS-5, with more women engaging with various forms of media, indicating greater exposure to mass media (listening to radio, watching television, and reading newspapers).