Gender inequality in India

[2][3] Gender inequalities, and their social causes, impact India's sex ratio, women's health over their lifetimes, their educational attainment, and even their economic conditions.

While Indian laws on rape, dowry and adultery have women's safety at heart,[9] these highly discriminatory practices are still taking place at an alarming rate, affecting the lives of many today.

For example, Dijkstra and Hanmer[2] acknowledge that global index rankings on gender inequality have brought media attention, but suffer from major limitations.

[19][20] The cultural construct of Indian society that reinforces gender bias against men and women, with varying degrees and variable contexts against the opposite sex,[21] has led to the continuation of India's strong preference for male children.

[24] The demand for sons among wealthy parents is being satisfied by the medical community through the provision of illegal services of fetal sex determination and sex-selective abortion.

[26] An underlying factor for such low literacy rates are parents' perceptions that education for girls are a waste of resources as their daughters would eventually live with their husbands' families.

[29] Tribal women lack access to educational institutions and are isolated from urban society, which restrict them from obtaining economic opportunities and mobility.

As a result, tribal women who attempt to integrate within rural or urban societies end up as sexual workers or take up physical manual labor jobs.

[40] Although the Hindu Succession Act of 2005 provides equal inheritance rights to ancestral and jointly owned property, the law is weakly enforced, especially in Northern India.

Tribal women in India hold status primarily due to their acting roles as forest-based gatherers, and are especially impacted by inadequate property protection policies.

[44] Another 2011 study conducted by Colin Williams and Anjula Gurtoo, published in the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship describes women entrepreneurs face several barriers in the development of their work due to different factors.

[45] In addition, women in this realm may lack a formal designated space for their occupational work and can face gendered violence due to their more open presence in society.

[45] Oftentimes, these activities may be quite limited, corresponding to traditional gendered roles, performing business ventures such as selling fruit or flowers at temples in India, which hinders the further development of women entrepreneurs beyond a certain point.

[45] However, a primary concern for these women was the lack of alternate employment which initially prompted them to pursue entrepreneurial work, though economic benefits were slowly acquired after gaining a foothold in the industry.

[47] In addition, in terms of hiring practices, the interview committees of these institutions asked female applicants how they would balance their family with work, and why they were applying for a position rather than being a homemaker.

[61] A particular 2011 study conducted by Gaurav Siddhu, published in the International Journal of Educational Development, investigated the statistics of dropout in the secondary school transition and its contributing factors in Rural India.

[64] A 2007 source authored by Sugeeta Upadhyay in the journal Economic and Political Weekly, described that the dropout rate in higher education in greater for boys rather than girls.

On health and survival measures, international standards consider the birth sex ratio, implied sex-selective abortion, and gender inequality between women's and men's life expectancy and relative number of years that women live compared to men in good health by taking into account the years lost to violence, disease, malnutrition, or other relevant factors.

Economic reasons include earning power since men are the main income earners, potential pensions, since when the girl is married, she would part ways with her family, and most importantly, the payment of dowry.

Even though it's illegal by Indian law to ask for dowry, it is still a common practice in certain socioeconomic classes, which leads to female infanticide since baby girls are seen as an economic burden.

Some studies in south India have shown found that gender disadvantages, such as negative attitudes towards women's empowerment are risk factors for suicidal behavior and common mental disorders like anxiety and depression.

[88] Other social stressors that contribute as influences in mental illnesses include marriage, pregnancy, family, with pressure to fit into certain traditional roles ascribed to women in India.

[88] Furthermore, another 2006 study conducted by Vikram Patel et al., published in Archives of General Psychiatry, further examined specific aspects of gender disadvantages that contributed to common mental disorders.

[89] The areas investigated within gender disadvantages included marital history, life experience of various forms of violence in relationship with spouses, autonomy regarding a woman's personal choices, level of engagement outside the home, and social support from family during times of difficulty.

[89] The results of the study indicated that for all factors represented, if these contributed in a negative manner, there was a higher occurrence of common mental disorders in rural and periurban communities in India.

[96] In a survey including women of different castes from a rural village in New Delhi, Barwala, it was identified that the most common factor of domestic violence was alcoholism.

[107] Some honor killings are the result of extrajudicial decisions made by traditional community elders such as "khap panchayats," unelected village assemblies that have no legal authority.

The causes of gender inequalities are complex, but a number of cultural factors in India can explain how son preference, a key driver of daughter neglect, is so prevalent.

A 2005 study in Madurai, India, found that old age security, economic motivation, and to a lesser extent, religious obligations, continuation of the family name, and help in business or farm, were key reasons for son preference.

Different states and union territories of India, in cooperation with the central government, have initiated a number of region-specific programs targeted at women to help reduce gender inequality over the 1989–2013 period.