Gender and Development in India: Dimensions and Strategies

Ensuring gender parity has become a great challenge for the modern world. Gender equality forms part of development strategy in many countries of world including India. When both men and women have equal access to services and resources, enjoy equal rights, and get equal opportunities to develop skills and capabilities then the development of the country is fast and balanced. Despite considerable efforts towards advocacy and awareness of gender equality and launching of various programmes for welfare of women, gender discrimination in India remains pervasive in many dimensions of life. Though the nature and magnitude of discrimination against women vary from country to country, in no part of the world gender parity has been achieved completely in legal, social and economic terms. Gender gaps are widespread in respect of access to and control of resources, economic opportunities, and political voice. Women are still exploited, discriminated against and subjected to harassment and violence. In this perspective, the present volume covering various dimensions and strategies of gender development is highly topical. The volume has emerged from the research papers contributed by social scientists and academicians from different parts of India, focusing on specific gender-related issues. Both primary and secondary data have been used by the authors to analyse the problems and conclude with suggestions. The main themes which the volume covers are: agriculture and gender development, micro credit financing and women empowerment, role of self-help Groups (SHGs) and NGOs in socio-economic development of women and health and education of women. The volume will provide valuable information and inputs to academicians, researchers, NGOs, and government agencies and functionaries.