2. The Profile of Women in India

As per World Economic Forum survey, India’s Global Gender Gap Index, 2017 ranking is 108 out of 144 countries, behind neighbours China and Bangladesh, primarily due to less participation of women in the economy and low wages.

1) Sex Ratio & Mortality Rate–Sex ratio is used to describe the number of females per 1000 of males. As per census 2011 sex ratio for India is 940 females per 1000 of males, i.e. females form a meager 47% of the total population. The State of Haryana has the lowest sex ratio in India and the figure shows a number of 877 females to that of 1000 males while Kerala has the highest of 1084 females per 1000 males.

Mortality rate or the death rate measures the frequency of deaths. This is an annual rate and is calculated for different age groups as number of deaths for 1000 live births. The age- specific death rate data indicates high rate of female infant mortality (0-4 years) and maternal mortality (5-24 years). The life expectancy rate represents the mean life length an individual is expected to survive given the prevailing mortality conditions. It has been observed that the chances of longer life expectancy is higher among women during older years, whereas women in the younger years continue to have relatively higher death rates.