Impact of Enhanced Women Education on Social and Economic Development in India:A State Wise Comparative Study

Indian population is almost one sixth of the total world population and half of them are women. For the welfare of India in particular and the world in general, it is necessary that Indian women are well educated. This paper deals with a state wise comparative study of the improvement in India of women literacy and its impact on the social and economic development of Indian society. The importance of Indian women in Indian society has gone through various changes over the times. Though they had right to education in Vedic period, they gradually lost the right to such a level that they were considered inferior to men. During the British rule there were attempts to improve women education. After the Independence in 1947, women education saw a rapid improvement because the Indian government has taken various measures to provide education to all Indian women. As a result, women’s literacy rate has grown tremendously so much so that the growth of female literacy rate has in fact, became higher than that of male literacy for a few years in the past. According to latest Indian census, among the Indian states, Kerala has the highest female literacy rate (92%) whereas, Rajasthan has the lowest (52.7%). It is also observed that the women from Kerala are well employed resulting in higher standard of living and the infant mortality rate is very low depicting proper childcare. This means there is socio-economic balance in the lives of people from Kerala. Whereas, in Rajasthan, people are facing many social and economic problems which could be solved through enhanced women literacy.

Thus enhanced women literacy results in women empowerment leading to reduction in poverty through employment, removal of income disparity and an increased social awareness for the betterment of life.