It’s that time of the year again when CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 board exam results are declared – and girls outperform boys.
That trend has continued for almost two decades now.
But as we celebrate the girls’ excellence in board exams, let’s stop and think about why these overachievers go missing in such large numbers in colleges? Why aren’t there more of them in India Inc? Why aren’t more of them the game-changers in every walk of life?
The truth is the pipeline keeps narrowing with every step a woman takes to move up the ladder.
To see how off-balance the gender ratio is, look at India's premier institution – Indian Institute of Technology – where an abysmal one female takes admission for every 10 males. Consider the fact that the Supreme Court has had only seven women judges since its Independence 70 years ago compared to more than 200 male judges. Think about the fact that only 61 women MLAs represent India’s Parliament right now.
According to 2017 UN data, at the current rate of progress, it would take 50 years for the number of women to equal that of men in legislative bodies.
Women still go largely under-represented on corporate boards, holding a mere 12.4 percent of board seats in India.
It’s a conspiracy – of the insecure Indian male, who comes in the form of dad, granddad, husband, father-in-law, and of even moms and mothers-in-law. The conspiracy to prevent them from leaving the four walls of their house to pursue higher education or take up a job, to marry them off, to make motherhood their sole activity, and eliminate them from the race.
So, if the empty celebrations have settled, can we focus on the rest of their lives?
Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam
Cameraperson: Shiv Kumar Maurya
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