- Exemption of fee for females for application forms which is done by almost all the states as well the centre should be done by J&K state Govt. too, as it will increase female representation in Govt employment.
“If society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodeled."
Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910),
JAMMU: Human development as an objective is meant to embrace all sections of society. Accordingly, the Constitution of India guarantees equality to all citizens without any discrimination on the basis of race, sex, caste, creed, etc. Yet the ground reality is that women find it difficult to realize their Constitutional rights despite the commitment to work towards equality and social justice.
The status of women and children is almost the same in all the states and union territories, where males dominate and females are accorded low status. Women’s work has historically been excluded from accounting schemes of the male-dominated production process and male-constructed development discourse.
History of the Jammu and Kashmir reveals only few women from state have entered Parliament of India, This is obviously a matter of grave concern, that in a state with more than crores of female electorate, still their presence in the power corridors of Jammu and Kashmir State remains almost negligible. In this troubled state with more than two decades of disturbance, female folk are hardly accommodated even at the soft higher political posts.
Present Status of Women in J&K - A Brief Overview
As revealed by Census 2011 that female population of J&K State came down from 47.15% of the total population in 2001 to 46.88%. Total population of Jammu and Kashmir is 12,548,926 of which male and female are 6,665,561 and 5,883,365 respectively indicating a reduced sex ratio of 8839. The corresponding figures of male and female as per Census 2001 were 5,360,926 and 4,782,774 respectively indicating sex ratio of 892.
Economic Empowerment of Women
During the last two decades women in Jammu and Kashmir have suffered badly, economic empowerment is magic wind to bring women in distress to main stream. Jammu and Kashmir lies at bottom in terms of share of female in the workforce in both urban and rural areas. In-fact similar condition can be seen in other states of India and in centre. At present, women constitute just 7.52% of the central government workforce, of which 24% are in All India Civil Services. The rest of them are placed either at Group C or Group D level -- lower categories in the hierarchy.
As part of its efforts to increase representation of women in central government jobs, the government has decided "to exempt women candidates from payment of fees". The government made it mandatory for recruitment panels to keep at least one woman member in the Board so that these agencies could "strive to have a workforce which reflects gender balance" in the central government jobs. The idea is to increase the number of women in central government jobs from existing 7.52% to at least 15%-20% of total strength of workforce in the next couple of years. It is believed that the presence of women members in various selection committees will ensure sensitivity towards finding more and more women for government jobs commensurate with their educational qualification.
As per the 68th round of NSS, the unemployment situation at J&K in comparison to northern states viz Punjab, Haryana, HP and Delhi, the unemployment rate of males in J&K was 3.2% only whereas that of females was 20.2%,which is far too high when compared to neighboring states viz Punjab (5.6%) Haryana (4.8%), Delhi (4.3%) and HP (2.2%). This clearly shows the alarming situation of female unemployment rate in our state.
Female population needs serious concern by Govt. and policy makers to increase its share in state Govt. jobs. Just like Centre Govt. our state Govt should also take necessary steps to increase the representation of women in State Govt jobs and to hit the gender gap. Exemption of fee for females for application forms which is done by almost all the states as well the centre should be done by J&K state Govt. too, as it will increase female representation in Govt employment.