What every girl needs: A leg up, a chance to fly

Why in the News

Three rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) show Indian girls marrying later and gaining schooling, bank accounts and phones. Earning has moved far more slowly: only 30.8% of women work and earn their own income, fewer than one in three.

What does the National Family Health Survey show for girls?

1. What it is: The NFHS is the Union Health Ministry‘s large household survey of health, family life and women’s status, run in rounds. It works like a periodic health check of the country.
2. Child marriage: The share of young women married as children fell from 26.8% to 20.1% across the three rounds, from about one in four to one in five.
3. School attendance: Attendance among girls aged six and above rose from 68.8% to 73.7%, so more girls are in school than before.
4. The takeaway: Girls now marry later and stay in school more, which builds the base for earning and independence later in life.

How far have women’s access and agency grown?

1. Bank accounts: Women with a bank account rose from 53% to 89%, the widest gain in the series.
2. Household decisions: Women taking part in decisions on their own healthcare, big purchases and family visits rose from 84% to 89%.
3. Mobile phones: Phone ownership rose from 45.9% to 63.6%, which opens access to banking, learning and information.

Why has earning not kept pace with these gains?

1. Earning as the end goal: Every other gain was meant to lead to women earning their own income, and that step has not fully arrived.
2. Reached in time: Each girl who broke through had a health worker, school or programme step in at the right moment. Eg. Child brides from Beed now work as a nurse and a salon owner.
3. What the next girl needs: Reaching one girl does not prepare the next one. She needs:
   • health information, so she can make her own choices;
   • a voice in her community;
   • skills for a job market that artificial intelligence (AI) is changing.
4. Shared responsibility: Preparing the next girl cannot be left to girls themselves or to the government alone.

Challenges

1. Informal work: Over 90% of employed women work informally, so more earners does not mean secure income.
2. Unpaid care burden: Domestic and care work keeps women out of paid jobs. Eg. Women do over thrice men’s care work (Time Use Survey 2024).
3. Proxy representation: In the “Sarpanch Pati” pattern, male relatives exercise power behind elected women, so the women elected have little real say in panchayats.
4. Online harm: Phones bring cyber harassment, stalking and deepfakes, AI-made fake images, which drive girls to stop using phones and the internet.

Way Forward

1. School health for every girl: The Ministries of Health and Education should extend the Ayushman Bharat School Health and Wellness programme to every school, so trained teachers teach every girl health and life skills.
2. Beyond one model panchayat: The Ministry of Panchayati Raj should take the Women-Friendly Gram Panchayat initiative, now one model panchayat per district backed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to more panchayats.
3. Learning to earning: Link skills training to real employers, markets and business openings, online and offline, with digital safety built in.
4. Care infrastructure: Expand Anganwadis and creches so mothers can take up paid work.

Conclusion

Girls’ lives have changed on marriage, schooling and money, but the change stops short of independent earnings. Whether school, panchayat and skilling programmes grow from model sites to every girl will decide if the next generation earns as well as it learns.

Key numbers

1. Survey rounds: The three rounds are NFHS-4 (2015-16), NFHS-5 (2019-21) and NFHS-6.
2. Child marriage, NFHS-5: 23.3% of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18.
3. Women earning their own income, NFHS-4: 24.6%.

Government Initiatives for the Girl Child

1. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Addresses the declining child sex ratio and promotes the education of the girl child, under the Sambal (safety) component of Mission Shakti.
2. Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat Abhiyan: Aims to end child marriage by 2030, cutting it by 10% on the way, through Child Marriage Prohibition Officers and a reporting portal.
3. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: A savings scheme for the girl child that builds money for her education and future.
4. Lakhpati Didi: Helps women in Self-Help Groups (SHGs) earn an annual household income above Rs 1 lakh through small enterprises.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2024, GS1, 10 marks] Distinguish between gender equality, gender equity and women’s empowerment. Why is it important to take gender concerns into account in programme design and implementation?”