Central Statistical Office released the Women & Men In India 2014 Report

The Central Statistical Office on 2 November 2014 released the Women & Men In India 2014 Report. 

Population and related statistics

• As per Census 2011, the population of India is more than 121 Crore with 48.5 percent females, which states the fact that there are 949 female to 1000 males in rural India against 929 in urban India.
• The State of Kerala, Puduchery, Manipur, Goa and Chhattisgarh have more females than males whereas Daman & Diu and Chandigarh are home to less than 80 females to 100 males.
• The Sex Ratio is least for the Girl Child (0-19 Years) but 103 females per 100 males in the age group of 60+ indicates a threat of less economic activity by a sizable population.
•  The economically active age group (15-59) has 94 females to 100 males. Sex ratio at birth is 908 in 2012, which has marginally decreased as compared to the last year.
• The mean age at marriage for females stood at 21.2 years in 2012 with urban mean age at 22.4 and rural mean age at 20.8.
• As per National Sample Survey 68th Round (2011-12), 1.5 percent of total households in rural and 12.4 percent in urban were female headed households as compared to 9.7 percent in rural and 10.6 percent in urban during 1993-94.

Health

• Crude Birth Rate have reduced from 21.8 in 2011 to 21.6 in 2012 and General Fertility Rate (GFR) have also reduced from  81.2 in 2011 to 80.3 in 2012.
• Total fertility Rate (TFR) has also gone down from 2.8 in 2011 to 2.2 in 2012.
• The age-specific fertility rate was the highest for women in the age-group 20-24 years(191.9) followed by age-group 25-29 years (154.6) and then by the age group 30-34 years (64.5).
• The female Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was 42 compared with the male IMR of 39 and the overall IMR of 40 in 2013.
• IMR has reduced substantially from 60 in 2003 to 40 in 2013 indicating improvement in health facilities for infants. Among the major States, the highest overall IMR of 54 was observed in Madhya Pradesh and the lowest at 9 in Goa in 2013.
• The mortality rate is the lowest in the age group of 10-14 years for males as well as for females but female mortality rate is still lower, it is 0.6 against 0.8 for males. The mortality rate among females across all ages was 6.4 and that among males was 7.7 in the year 2012.
• The Maternal Mortality Ratio has gone down to 178 in 2010-12 from 327 in 1999-2001, which may be attributed due to wide range of Government's Mother & Child schemes and increase in institutionalized births . Among the States, highest MMR is of Assam at 328 and minimum is in Tamil Nadu at 90.

Literacy and Education

• As per 2011 census, literacy rate in India stands at 74.04 percent with a 14 percent increase to that of 2001, whereas the hike is maximum for rural women at 26 percent in the last decade. The female literacy levels according to the 2011 census are 65.46 percent whereas the male literacy rate is over 80 percent.
• Kerala is the state with highest literacy rate of 94 and Bihar with the lowest literacy rate at just 63.82.
• The adult literacy rate at the age of 15+ for male has increased from 73.4 to 78.8 whereas increase in adult literacy is more in case of females from 47.8 to 59.3 from 2001 to 2011. Overall adult literacy is increasing over decades.
• The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for females at the primary level stood at 102.65 compared with 100.20 for males in 2013-14.
• There were 93 girls per 100 boys in primary classes, 95 in middles classes and 90 in secondary classes during 2013-14.
• The drop-out rates were observed to be 4.66 and 4.68 in the classes I-V, 4.01 and 2.3 in classes I- VI for females and males respectively.

Participation in Economy

• As per Census 2011, the workforce participation rate for females is 25.51 percent against 53.26 percent for males. Rural sector has a better female workforce participation rate of 30.02 percent compared with 53.03 percent for males in urban sector.
• 41.1 percent of female main and marginal workers are agricultural labourers, 24.0 percent are cultivators, 5.7 percent are household industry workers and 29.2 percent are engaged in other works.
• National Sample Survey (68th Round) results indicate that the worker population ratio for females in rural sector was 24.8 in 2011-12 and 54.3 for males.
• Only 20.5 percent women were employed in the organized sector in 2011 with 18.1 percent working in the public sector and 24.3 percent in the private sector.
• During 2011-12, the average wage/salary received by regular wage/salaried employees of economically active age group was 428.6 rupees per day for females compared with 550.23 rupees per day for males in rural areas. For urban areas, it was 609.7 rupees per day for females and 805.52 rupees per day for males.

Participation in Decision Making

• In 2014, women occupied only 7 out of 45 Ministerial positions in the Central Council of Ministers, which is a little more than 15 percent against around 10 percent women participation in 2004. 62 females have been elected in 2014 Elections constituting more than 1 percent share in the Lower House.
• Female participation in elections has gone up from 56 percent in fifteenth General Elections to 6 percent in the sixteenth in 2014. The male participation has also improved from 60 percent to 67 percent during the same period.
• In the states, women share is only 8 percent in assemblies and only 4 percent in State Councils.
• In the Panchayat setup, overall 46.7 percent women are present with maximum 58.6 percent in Jharkhand and minimum 32.3 percent in Goa as on 1 March 2013.
• There were 2 women judges out of 30 judges in the Supreme Court and there were only 58 women judges out of 609 judges in different High Courts with maximum 25 percent in Delhi High Court.
• Among the All-India and Central Group A Services, 30 percent females are in Indian Economic Service and only 12 percent in Indian Trade Service.
• Social Obstacles in Women's Empowerment
• Cruelty by husband and relatives continues to have the highest share followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty. There has been a phenomenal increase in reporting of Indecent Representation of Women Cases in 2013 over 2012.
• The number of rape case victims had increased to 90 percent in the age group of 50+ whereas 5 percent of all rape victims were under 10 years of age. 13 percent of the rape victims were in the state of Madhya Pradesh in 2013 and 46 percent of the total rape victims in India were in the age-group 18-30 years in 2013.
• The suicide rate among females is approximately half than that of males and there has not been much variation in the suicide rates over the last 10 years.