Deprivation of Women in Education in West Bengal

Women account for roughly half the world's population, perform two-thirds of the hours worked, receive one-tenth of the world's income, and have less than one hundredth of the world's property registered in their names. Female deprivation is very acute in the developing countries with high levels of poverty, though in affluent nations women also suffer low status due to conservative attitudes. Equality of the sexes in terms of men and women's command over resources, their access to education and health, and in terms of freedom to develop their potential has an intrinsic value in its own right. The equal treatment of the sexes for intrinsic reasons is, in the parlance of welfare economics, the equity reason for reducing gender-imbalances. A second important reason in favour of reducing gender-imbalances is what might be termed the instrumental reason i.e. the gains to be had from granting equality. This is the efficiency reason for reducing gender inequality in areas where women are currently deprived. An attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the deprivation of woman in education in West Bengal vis-a-vis India. The study reveals that since independence, there has been some positive improvement in the status of girls’ education. However, this change has been primarily observed in urban areas among the higher and middle classes. In rural and remote areas, particularly among certain social groups and communities, girls and woman are still facing problems in deriving the benefits of educational attainment. It has been also found that wide disparities in the attainment of education particularly among rural males and females, urban females and rural females and between females belonging to scheduled and non-scheduled groups and certain minority communities. The intervention of gender sensitive planning and gender budgeting are call for the day to reduce the gender gaps in education.