In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme marked 11th July as ‘World Population Day’. The day is marked by raising awareness of issues faced by the population, such as family planning, poverty, maternal health, gender equality, human rights etc.

The theme for the year 2023 is ‘Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities’. The theme encourages discussions on women’s rights.

Suppression of women leads to women being kept out of schools, workforce, and leadership roles, limits their agency when it comes to sexual, reproductive, and marriage life, and increases their vulnerability to violence, maternal death and crime. In short, they live a caged life.

It is said that a woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth. Reducing the disparity between genders will improve the statistics like the one mentioned above. Making women financially independent and uplifting them can boost their self-esteem to live a fulfilling life.

However, we also need to create a safe environment for women, so that women can go freely for work without fearing for their lives. Strict enforcement of laws and changing sexist cultural norms is the way to change the mindsets of the people.

Women also need to be kept free from child-bearing and marriage as long as possible. As younger women without no qualifications or skills can easily be exploited by in-laws of the family members.

India is ranked 135 out of 146 in Global Gender Gap. Gender disparity is still evident in education levels, where the male literacy rate outperforms the female literacy rate by 12.9 per cent. In 2021, India recorded an average of 86 rape cases daily, with 49 cases of crime against women being reported every hour.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (June ‘21-June ’22) showed that only 29.4% of women were part of the labour workforce, which was a 0.4% drop from the preceding year, whereas the men’s participation rate increased from 80.1% in 2020-21 to 80.7% in 2021-22.

The aforementioned statistics show that women still have a long way to go when it comes to breaking the chains of patriarchy. It is our responsibility as a society to encourage women to be independent and empowered.

Child Help Foundation recognizes the problem of gender inequality and has worked constantly to empower women. Through its gender equality programme, Child Help Foundation has positively impacted 3,06,820 lives. Child Help Foundation has also provided self-defence classes, POSH and POCSO training, and awareness related to discrimination. It has distributed sanitary pads to 55,831 girls.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. We hope that you learnt something new from this blog. Please share this article with all your friends and family members, and make sure to comment on how you are reducing the gap between a man and a woman.