In Gujarat "leader in development", 70% of women do not have a job
Ahmedabad (AsiaNews) - Over the coming weeks the Gujarat government will
promote "women's empowerment". Yet in the state more than 70% of
women between 15 and 34 years of age are unable to contribute economically to
their family or the society. This despite the fact that a large number of them
have had access to at least a basic education. This situation has been
confirmed by data from the last national census, conducted in 2011 and recently
published.
Of the estimated 10 million young women included in this age group, only 1.6
million have jobs and are considered "primary workers", or someone
who contributes to the family maintenance; about 1.9 million are students, many
of them also working at home; little more than 300 thousand are employed.
Taking account the male population between 16 and 34 years, of the estimated 10
million non-workers (people who do not contribute to the economy), 8.2 million are
women.
Fr Cedric Prakash SJ - director of the Jesuit Prashant Centre for Human Rights,
Justice and Peace based in Ahmedabad - confirmed this reality to AsiaNews and said it can be traced to
the "lack of respect for the women. Discrimination against them is still very
high". Moreover, he adds, "It is common and official knowledge that
the female-male ratio in Gujarat is an alarming 845:1000. This is far more than
the national ratio. Girls are generally not allowed to study and
even when they complete their high school education, it is a rather small
percentage that actually is given a chance to go for higher or professional
education".
"Many young girls - says the Jesuit - are employed in the 'service'
industry as teachers, nurses, clerical jobs, in the banks
etc; but once you move on to the managerial sector or even above,
then the percentage of women there is really shocking".
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10/02/2021 09:34
30/12/2020 10:36
