The celebration of International Women’s day does not have any meaning for women in the rural areas of Hyderabad Karnataka whose rights are trampled upon on a day-to-day basis. Denied of equal wages, they are also denied of their share in education.
A study conducted by sociologist Sangeetha Kattimani on the status of women, particularly those living in rural areas of Hyderabad Karnataka, presents a shocking picture of neglect and the failure on the part of the society to empower them with education.
The gender gap in literacy between males and females in urban and rural areas in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region is 19.7 per cent. The gap is more wider among those in urban areas and rural areas. While 69.83 per cent are literates in urban areas and it was just 47.99 per cent in rural areas.
Prof. Kattimani said in Raichur, Koppal and Yadgir districts the gender gap was more than 20 per cent in the literacy rates among males and females. She said the female literacy rate among socially disadvantaged groups was abysmally low in the entire region. Except in Bidar district, female literacy rate among these groups was less than 50 per cent. The overall literacy rate among the Scheduled Castes is 45.31 per cent and Scheduled Tribes is 42.65 per cent in the region.
The female literacy rate among SCs and STs were as low as 32.05 per cent and 32.64 per cent in Yadgir district. In Raichur district it was 41.91 per cent for the SC women and 33.32 per cent among STs, who form a considerable population in Raichur district.
School enrolment among girls, which is more at the primary level, slide down in the higher secondary level in rural areas owing to reasons such as the distance factor with the high schools located far away.
Although the situation had improved after the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and women started getting more as wages, still there is a wide gap in the wages paid to the male and female agriculture workers.
