Gender Fact: Women of Jammu And Kashmir through the lens of Data

Enhancing women’s participation in economic activities is very critical not only for achieving
poverty reduction and economic development but it is also crucial for having true women empowerment. Any effort to cut down gender gap in participation in the economy contributes towards many other benefit of economic prosperity such as improvement in child survival, overall family health, reduction in fertility. On Gender Fact today, we look at Women of Jammu And Kashmir through the lens of data.

• Total female population of Jammu and Kashmir is at 47.05 per cent and the sex ratio is 889 females for every 1000 males, which is low among the states. In fact there are only four other states with a worse sex ratio than this.
• Sex Ratio: The improvement in the sex ratio has been small. Over the period of 60 years, the improved has been a tiny 1.7%. From 873 in 1951 to 889 in 2011.

Gender Fact/ Sex Ratio = Females per 1000 Males / Source: Census 2011

• Child sex Ratio: This is a troubling sign. Over the ten year period 2001-2011 the child sex ratio (0 to 6 years) came down from 941 to 862.
• Women's Mean Age at Marriage gives an idea of length of reproductive period. The women’s mean age at marriage has shown an increasing trend in all the major States and at all India level it has increased from 21.2 to 22.1 years during 2011 to 2015. The same is highest in Jammu & Kashmir (24.8 years) and lowest in West Bengal (21 years).
• Infant mortality rate: In Jammu and Kashmir this has dropped from 39 per 1000 in 2002 to 24 per 1000 in 2016.

MATERNITY, CHILD, CONTRACEPTION

• Mother's Health: For the five years before this survey was done, mothers in J&K who had had full anti natal care in the state were at 26% compared with Andhra Pradesh at 43.5%, Tamil Nadu at 40% and Punjab at 30%. States with lower status than J&K on this count include Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal, Bihar etc. The numbers were better for women of J&K when one looks at the parameter of at least 4 anti natal visits 81%. Anti natal care in India is broadly defined as at least four key visits to the doctor to check pregnancy before a) 12 weeks, b) Second visit - Between 14 and 26 weeks c) Third visit - Between 28 and 34 weeks and d) Fourth visit - Between 36 weeks and term.
• Support during Delivery of child: J&K women have good support, and medical assistance as per yearly data since 2012 until 2015. Percent of live births where the mothers received medical attention at delivery rose from 75.7 in 2013 to 82 in J&K among rural women. And the data in the same period for urban women shows broad consistency rising a bit from 95.6 in 2012, to 96.4 in 2013. In 2014, this was at 96.3 and percent of live births where the mothers received medical attention at delivery was at 96.6 in 2015.

Also Read: In this UP village, women promote condoms

• Use of Condoms in the state is among the highest in the country. 11.3% compared with 0.2% Andhra Pradesh, 3% in Odisha. This is a statistic to reflect current use of Family Planning Methods where married women are in age 15-49 years. Delhi for example is higher at 19%. Use of pill is at 6.2% among women of J&K.

HEALTH OF WOMEN

• Anaemia among women: The condition of anaemia as per a survey done in period 2015-2016 shows, that 29% of J&K women have some form of mild anaemia. This is only above few other states in India like Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim.

Women data Kashmir Anaemia

LITERACY RATE

• The literacy rate among women is up from 43% to 56% from 2001 to 2011. State-wise Gap in the Literacy rates of Males and Females in last two decades has dropped by over 13% from 23.6% to 20.3%.

Gender Fact: Female Literacy Rate India/ Source India's Central Bank RBI's Handbook of Statistics on States

WORK PARTICIPATION

• Labour Force Participation Rate among women in Kashmir was abysmally low at 10.6% as per data out in 2015. compared with a national figure of 27.4%.
• Turn back time a little bit more to the Census 2011, the work participation rate was at a combined (male and female, rural and urban) 34%. Break it down further, in rural J&K female work participation rate was 20.8% in 2011 and for urban J&K it was 14.%
• Rural Distribution of Female Labour: If one looks at the self employment rate, then the rate in J&K among rural women was very high at 90% for data from 2011-12. Organised female labour was just over 5% of the total rural population while casual female labour force even smaller at 3%.
• Urban Distribution of Female Labour: Of the total urban female working population, 42% were self employed, about 50% we in organised labour and just 6% worked as female casual labour force. This is referenced with a total female labour force participation of not more than 10% among women in J&K.
• Of the total population of state, 25% women from rural J&K are in the work force while from the urban sector, only 11.7%. The figures represent size of workforce as percentage of population. In 2011, the Workforce Participation Rate at all India level was 25.51% for females and 53.26% for males. While there is no rural – urban gap for males (53%), there is considerable rural – urban gap for females (rural -30%, urban- 15.4%). Workforce Participation rate for females is significantly higher at 41.8% in rural areas against urban participation rate of 35.31%.
• Unemployment data shows fewer people have jobs: Among women in urban J&K, 2011 data showed unemployment at 19% while 3% in rural parts of the state. This is high compared with most states with the exception of Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadeep Islands and Tripura. In 2015-16, the Fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey by Ministry of Labour showed that women above 15 in J&K had an unemployment rate of 25%, reflecting that fewer women had jobs. A majority of the job losses for women came in rural Kashmir.

Making sense of the data behind Indian women

BANK ACCOUNTS

India Scenario
Nothing empowers women more than their ability to run a business, earn and have their own money and agency over that month. As on March 2016, percentage of female share in number of accounts and deposits in scheduled commercial Banks is around 32%. That's a number that must change for the country as a whole.

Gender Fact/Source: Basic Statistical Returns of Scheduled Commercial Banks in India 2016

Kashmir Scenario
In J&K specifically, the total number of bank accounts held by women are half of that of men in the state. As on March 2016, State-wise Deposits of Scheduled Commercial Banks show that 5255 women held bank accounts compared with a 10,654 by men. This ratio is true for most states. At 48,000 plus bank accounts women in Maharashtra still have only half the number of accounts compared with me.

Women owned 24% rural and 19 % urban proprietary establishments. Females in Manipur owned proprietary establishments among States/UTs both in rural (82%) & in urban (77%) areas (Table 4.25).

EARNINGS

• Average Wage Earning (in Rs.) received per day by Casual Labourers of Age 15-59 Years in Specified Works as per 2011 data shows that in J&K>Rs. 220 for rural women who is working outside the public works departments of the state
  
  >Rs.114 for rural women who is working within the public works but not those under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
  
  >Rs. 217 for urban women not working in public sector

• Salaries for Urban Working Women in J&K are middle of the path when compared to other states.
  In Jammu & Kashmir it was 484 rupees, while much higher in eastern states like Manipur (Rs 646) or Arunachal (Rs 629). In Himachal, this was at 306 rupees per day, Delhi at Rs 683 and in Maharashtra the state saw 370 rupees as daily salary for Regular Wage/Salaried Employees of Age 15-59 Years.

INDIA SCENARIO

National Data on jobs in India for 2017-18 has a dismal picture. It says the proportion of the active labour force declined twice for females between 2011-12 and 2017-18. Compared to 2011-12, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) for females fell by 8 percentage points to 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 whereas the LFPR for males dipped by 4 percentage points to 75.8 per cent. So only a quarter of the females in the country were either working or seeking jobs.

Statistical Sources: NSS 2011 / Women And Men In India Report 2017 / Fourth National Family Health Survey