The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) provides crucial data on indicators essential to measure women empowerment in India. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, let’s take a look at some key indicators and the progress made from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5.
International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8 to honour and recognise the achievements and contributions of women around the world. The day is dedicated to raising awareness about gender equality and advocating for women’s rights. It provides an opportunity to reflect on progress made so far, recognise challenges and call for continued efforts to ensure equality in all aspects of life. The theme of International Women’s Day may change from year to year to reflect shifting priorities and concerns in the global effort towards gender equality. The theme for 2024 declared by the United Nations is “Investing in Women: Accelerating Progress”, highlighting the importance of gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and their right to live healthier lives.
Celebrating International Women’s Day is a reminder of the continued pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 5 – building a world where gender equality is achieved and women and girls are empowered in all spheres of life. It highlights the need to eliminate gender-based discrimination, violence and harmful practices. The goal aims to ensure equal opportunities, rights and participation for women in all spheres of life, including education, employment and decision-making processes.
The NFHS also collects data on indicators related to women’s empowerment.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) plays a key role in collecting comprehensive data essential for women’s empowerment in India. Six key factors are assessed. These include ownership of physical assets such as bank accounts, land, housing, and mobile phones. The survey also considers participation in important household decisions such as taking care of one’s own health, shopping for household items, and visiting family and relatives. Women’s employment status and access to menstrual products in the past year are also assessed in the survey. While these indicators are not exhaustive, they provide valuable insights into the situation of women in India and can help identify specific areas for targeted interventions and policy improvements.
In this article, we look at how states have performed across several indicators of decision-making and ownership of physical assets based on the latest NFHS-5 (2019-21) and progress since the previous NFHS-4 (2015-16).
Data for this analysis was obtained from Dataful It should be noted that the specific age group of women surveyed is often defined as 15 to 49 years old (considered to be in the reproductive age range) unless otherwise stated.
Target 5.A of SDG 5 aims to “implement reforms that give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources.” In line with this SDG, the NFHS report assesses the proportion of women who own homes and land, whether alone or jointly with others.
In Delhi, only one in five women owns land or a home.
Nationwide, only around 43% of women own their own home or land. In urban areas, the figure is around 38% and in rural areas it is over 45%. Despite equal rights to inherit property between men and women and encouragement of women’s property ownership through government policies such as PMAY, there are significant disparities across states: Nearly two-thirds of women in Karnataka and Telangana own property, while in Delhi the figure is just around 22% (about one in five). At least half of women in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Punjab own property, while in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttarakhand it is less than one in four.
Further, in the five-year period between the fourth and fifth rounds of the NFHS, the proportion of women owning property declined in 16 states/union territories, including Odisha, Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
The proportion of women with bank accounts has improved significantly
Having a bank account is a clear indicator of women’s empowerment and signifies financial independence, access to resources and active participation in financial decision-making. The NFHS report provides details on the percentage of women in this age group who have a bank account or savings account.
There has been a significant improvement in this area over a five-year period. At the national level, the share of women owning and operating a bank account was around 53% in 2015-16, which increased to 78.6% in 2019-21. The improvement was more pronounced in rural areas, where the share increased from 48.5% to 77.4%, as compared to urban areas, where the share increased from 61% to 80.95% during this period. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Direct Benefit Transfer, and other microfinance initiatives could have contributed to this increase in the share. As of February 2024, over 519 million bank accounts have been opened under PMJDY.
Between the two surveys, Bihar, the state with the largest number of PMJDY beneficiaries, saw a rise of more than 50 percentage points in the share of women owning and operating their own bank accounts. Similarly, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, which also have large numbers of beneficiaries under the scheme, saw large increases.
Over 50% of Indian women own and use a mobile phone
Across India, more than half of women own and personally use a mobile phone – around 69% in urban areas and 46.6% in rural areas. The surge in mobile phone usage in the country is due to a combination of factors, ranging from technological advancements and affordability to increasing internet penetration and adoption of digital means.
At the state level, the proportion of women who own and personally use a mobile phone increased in all states except Haryana. In states like Kerala, Sikkim and Goa the proportion was over 80 percent, while in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh the proportion was less than half.
In Nagaland, more than 99% of women are involved in decision-making in three areas:
Women’s active involvement in decisions regarding health, major household purchases and visiting relatives is an important indicator of women’s independence, well-being and overall progress towards gender equality in society. While more than 99 per cent of women in Nagaland are involved in decision-making, the states with the lowest involvement were Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, at 82.7 per cent and 84.1 per cent respectively.
Female participation in the paid workforce is low and has not shown any significant improvement since 2015-16.
Women who have worked and received cash transfers in the past 12 months is an indicator that suggests women are actively participating in the workforce and receiving direct monetary compensation, which can be seen as a measure of economic independence and control over their financial resources. Across India, only around a quarter of women worked and received compensation. More than 40% of women in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur and Tamil Nadu were engaged in paid work in the last year. This indicator has shown only marginal improvement since 2015-16.
Women still face challenges in earning an income and owning assets
The above indicators clearly show that women continue to face challenges in earning income and have limited ownership of assets such as real estate and financial resources. Addressing the obvious challenges in women’s income and asset ownership requires a comprehensive strategy that includes efforts such as expanding economic opportunities, promoting financial literacy and ensuring equitable access to resources. While there are plans and policies to facilitate this, concerted efforts are needed to ensure that benefits reach women across the country and that SDG targets are achieved in the next five years.
The UN has identified areas where urgent action is needed.
The UN has also identified five key areas that require urgent attention:
Investing in women’s empowerment is not only necessary to protect human rights, but also a fundamental building block for building inclusive societies. An additional $360 billion in funding per year is needed to achieve gender equality. COVID-19 and conflict have pushed an additional 75 million people into deep poverty since 2020. Urgent action is needed to prevent 342 million women and girls from falling into poverty by 2030. Conflict and high prices are expected to cause 75% of countries to cut public spending by 2025, negatively impacting women and essential services. Despite leading efforts, feminist organizations receive only 0.13% of official development assistance. The existing economic system disproportionately impacts women. Advocates suggest a transition to a green economy and a care society to empower women’s voices.
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