{"id":30956,"date":"2024-10-17T18:45:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T13:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=30956"},"modified":"2024-10-17T18:45:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T13:15:05","slug":"two-billion-women-lack-social-protection-un-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/17-10-2024\/two-billion-women-lack-social-protection-un-women","title":{"rendered":"Two billion Women Lack Social Protection: UN Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/Society<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development report released by <strong>UN Women <\/strong>highlighting the widening gender gap in social protection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The report reveals that an alarming<strong> two billion<\/strong> women and girls<strong> <\/strong>are <strong>without access to any form of social protection<\/strong>. This is putting at risk progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 5<strong> (SDG 5).<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gendered poverty: <\/strong>Women aged 25 to 34 are <strong>25 percent<\/strong> more likely than men in the same age group to live in extreme poverty.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Conflict and climate change <\/strong>continue to exacerbate this inequality, with women in fragile environments being <strong>7.7 times<\/strong> more likely to live in extreme poverty compared to those in stable regions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Maternity protection:<\/strong> Globally, over <strong>63 percent<\/strong> of women still give birth without access to maternity benefits, with the figure reaching 94 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Indian Scenario\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Health and Nutrition: <\/strong>The National Family Health Survey <strong>(NFHS-5)<\/strong> reveals that <strong>23.3% of women (15-49 years)<\/strong> are undernourished, and<strong> 57%<\/strong> of women are anemic.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) <\/strong>in India was<strong> 97 <\/strong>per 100,000 live births in 2023, down from 130 in 2014.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gendered Poverty: <\/strong>According to Oxfam, <strong>63%<\/strong> of women in India face unpaid caregiving responsibilities, which limits their economic participation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Labor Force Participation:<\/strong> In India, only around <strong>37% <\/strong>of women aged 15 years and above participate in the workforce (compared to about 73% of men).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender Gap in Education:<\/strong> As per NFHS-5, <strong>70.3% of females are literate, <\/strong>compared to 84.7% of males.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons of Vulnerability of Women<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Cultural Expectations and patriarchal norms<\/strong> restrict women\u2019s opportunities to participate in formal employment and hinders their access to economic independence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Educational Disparities:<\/strong> Cultural practices like early marriage, gender-based violence in schools, and lack of sanitation facilities disproportionately affect girls\u2019 attendance and retention rates in education.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Informal Sector Employment: <\/strong>A large percentage of women are employed in informal sectors, which are characterized by low wages, irregular hours, and lack of job security.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government Initiatives\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP):<\/strong> Launched to address the declining child sex ratio and promote education and survival of the girl child.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY):<\/strong> A maternity benefit scheme providing financial assistance to pregnant and lactating mothers to ensure safe delivery and proper nutrition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ujjwala Scheme:<\/strong> Provides free LPG connections to women from below poverty line (BPL) households to reduce health issues caused by smoke from traditional chulhas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Poshan Abhiyaan: <\/strong>This mission aims to improve nutrition outcomes for children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Digital Literacy Programme for Women: <\/strong>It is part of Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) and <strong>empowers women to access e-governance services and financial platforms<\/strong>, helping them participate in the digital economy<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>One Stop Centre Scheme (Sakhi Centres),<\/strong> aims to facilitate women affected by violence with a range of integrated services under one roof such as Police facilitation, medical aid, legal aid and legal counseling, psycho-social counseling, temporary shelter, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The poor condition of women is a product of deeply rooted patriarchal norms, discriminatory practices, economic inequalities, and lack of targeted policies that address the specific needs of women.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Addressing these systemic issues requires a comprehensive approach that includes <strong>improving access to education, healthcare, and legal protections, <\/strong>while promoting gender-responsive social protection policies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender budgeting<\/strong> is a critical tool for advancing gender equality, promoting women&#8217;s empowerment, and achieving inclusive and sustainable development in India.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/governance\/two-billion-women-lack-social-protection-un-women-report-finds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development report released by UN Women highlighting the widening gender gap in social protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30957,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30956\/revisions\/30957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}