According to the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), only 5 percent of Indian women enjoy the liberty of choosing their life partners. Almost 80 percent of women surveyed said they had to seek permission from a family member to visit a health centre.
Out of these women, 80 percent said they needed permission from their husband, 79.89 percent from a senior male family member, and 79.94 percent from a senior female family member.
The survey was conducted by the University of Maryland and the National Council of Applied Economic Research – a New Delhi based non-profit think tank. The survey was conducted in two phases in 2005 and 2012 to evaluate the change in circumstances and consequences. But, very little or no change was registered in the socio-economic plight of women between the ages of 15 and 81 in most of the states and union territories.
Only a few states located in the country’s north east and south had women enjoying comparatively greater extent of liberty.
What was most startling was that the Indian woman's power to make life decisions is not correlated with literacy. In Delhi, which has a literacy rate of 86.21 percent (as compared to the national average of 74.04 percent), only a little over 2 percent women reported they had sole control over choosing their husband.
— Arun Chembilath (@ichembilath) February 14, 2017
As many as 65 percent of the women surveyed said they had met their husband for the first time on the wedding day. The largest number of such marriages was reported in the state of Bihar.
Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!
