National Family Health Survey Says Rajasthan Turning Women-Friendly

Spousal violence has decreased from 46.3% to 25.1%

Literacy rate has increased from 36.2% to 56.5%

Percentage of anaemic women has reduced from 52.6% to 46.8%

The National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-2016) has released its new data that looks pretty good for women in Rajasthan. Looking at data from the past 10 years, the changes have been significant in areas like child marriage, domestic violence, women's health, and even education.

Here are the list of significant changes in the last 10 years:

- More women are participating in the decision-making process related to the household. The number in the year 2005-06 was 65.1%, which has now increased to 81.7%

- A decline of 29.8% was noted in the number of child marriages today. In 2005-06, 65.2% of women aged 20-24 years had got married before 18 years, but in 2015-16, this number reduced to 35.4%

- The literacy rate has increased from 36.2% to 56.5%, a whopping jump of 20.3% from year 2005-06

- In terms of women's health, 84% of the total childbirths happened in hospitals in 2015-16, as compared to 29.6% 10 years ago. Also, 86.6% of the births were assisted by health personnel, which shows an increase from 41% 10 years ago

- There's also a decline in number of anaemic women among the pregnant and non-pregnant. For pregnant women, the number of anaemic women decreased from 61.7% to 46.6%, while for non-pregnant women, the number decreased from 52.6% to 46.8%

- Spousal violence has decreased to 25.1% now as opposed to 46.3% in 2005-06

This is a testament to the efforts made by the government in the last few years that has made this change possible for the women of the state. The literacy game still lags, but there has been an increase. We aren't a 100 per cent there yet, but with faster implementation of policies that support women's health, education and laws that protect women's rights, Rajasthan can reach the goal of being an equal state.

Feature Image courtesy: Rediff

News Source: TOI