Towards Women Empowerment in Sikkim

The idea of women empowerment has taken over the minds of increasing number of people in recent times. It is now widely employed in the press, on television, in political, academic and legal circles. Empowerment literally means 'becoming powerful'. It includes both control over resources (physical, human, intellectual, financial), and over ideology (beliefs, values and attitudes). Women's empowerment in general term refers to enabling women to stand on their own by providing them access to all kinds of freedoms and opportunities and also enhancing their position in the power structure of the society.

Sikkim has a women population of 252,276 sharing 46.7 per cent of the total population. The state has a sound track record of maintaining gender equality. The state government has consciously worked to consolidate this tradition of not discriminating on the basis of gender and giving due respect to both genders. The Gender related Development Index (GDI) in the state has steadily improved in the last one and half decade. Women in the state, unlike in other parts of the country are not secluded. The practice of dowry, sati and female infanticide are almost nonexistent and there is hardly any noticeable discrimination against the girl child in the society. Hence, women in Sikkim enjoy a comparatively better position than their counterparts in many mainstream states. Having said that, this piece attempts to briefly examine three important aspects of women's empowerment in terms of education, health and workforce participation.

First, education is a key to development and women empowerment. It is a dynamic force that influences physical, mental, emotional, racial and ethical development. Examination of literacy data in the state since 1951 highlights the fact that there has been significant increase in the gender gap between the periods of 1951-2001. The literacy gap between male and female increased from 10 per cent in 1951 to over 15 per cent in 2001. Today about 39 per cent the Sikkimese women are still illiterate. Further, the enrolment of girls in schools has always been lower than that of the boys. The dropout rate for girls has also been higher in Sikkim. This may be possibly due to relatively early age of marriage for girls and associated social responsibilities. According to Sikkim Human Development Report (2001), over 60 per cent of rural women and 70 per cent of urban women get married before they are 20 years old. Besides, girls in rural areas are mostly engaged in household activities such as fuel and fodder collection, fetching of water and sibling care. The parental indifference towards girl child due to economic reasons has also kept the girl children away from schools at many cases.

Second, good health is another important aspect of women's empowerment. Health, according to World Health Organisation (1948), is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity. The health of women has profound implication for socio-economic well-being of the society. Health standard has improved significantly in Sikkim over the last two decades. Along with the expansion of public health infrastructure, there has been a massive increase in the budgetary allocation over the years. Such developments in health sector have helped reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate. The infant mortality rate (IMR) was 49 per thousand in 2001 which was lower than all-India average of 68 per thousand. The IMR was, however, high in rural areas as compared to urban areas of the state. Poor delivery of health care services, low nutritional level and low literacy among women are some of the important reasons for high infant mortality rate in rural Sikkim. Low literacy among the female has a great impact on infant and child mortality rates. Deprivation of education not only affects the advancement of women but also negatively influences the state of nutrition, health and diseases. The challenge of nutritional security before the state is formidable. Anemia among the women is one of the major concerns for the government. Sikkim stands seventh in all India rank of women suffering from anaemia. It has 61.1 per cent of women with any anaemia. Among the north-eastern states, Sikkim has very high incidence of anaemia and stand only after the state of Meghalaya ( 63.3 per cent) and Arunachal Pradesh (62.5 percent).

Third, another important route to empower women is to make them economically independent. The social and political empowerment of women would be meaningless unless they are economically empowered. In order to widen their role beyond reproduction and child caring, women should be encouraged to take active part in economically productive role. In fact, the social status of women is greatly influenced by the extent of their participation in income generating activities. Women in Sikkim are in relatively better position as compared to women in many other parts of the country. The state government has reserved 30 percent of seats for women in public employment. In fact, in some of the government departments, women employees outnumber their male counterparts. At the state level, however, there are 57.6 per cent male workforce and 39.6 per cent female workforce indicating a fairly wide gender gap in workforce participation rate. There is a need to encourage women to take active participation in both public and private sectors. Female work participation not only increases their family income but also brings economic independence in the household. This helps them to participate more effectively in intra-household decision-making and have better access to information.

Lastly, the constitution of India provides for equal political and civil rights to both men and women. Women need to have equal opportunity to participate in decision making process at all levels. The representation of women in the Assembly and local bodies are not very satisfactory in Sikkim. Nonetheless, the representation of women is comparatively better at local level than their representation in the Assembly.

To conclude, in order to empower women socially, economically and politically a more integrated approach is required encompassing advocacy, access to resources & information, and capacity-building. Further, provisions for women component plan need to be seriously thought of. The government of India and some of the mainstream states have already started their gender budgeting exercise. We need to learn from them. Women should be considered as active stakeholders in all welfare programmes rather than mere beneficiaries. Women development should be given priority by recognizing their needs and potential as partners in development. The government should encourage women to organize Self Help Groups under various poverty alleviation programmes and offer them a range of economic options along with necessary support measures to enhance their capabilities.

*Durga P. Chettri was the second author in this article*

**Pubslished by Sikkim Express, August 8, 2007**