THE women workforce has witnessed a steep increase of 224.37 per cent in Haryana, according to the 2001 census. This phenomenal increase can easily be attributed to the unprecedented efforts of the department of census to put the true ground realty on record. For decades, Haryana’s women workforce had gone unreported not because of any planned bias against them but because of the feudalistic psyche that never gave due importance to their role.

The latest census indicates that an all-out effort has been made to put every kind of female worker on record. This, of course, must have been an uphill task. According to Sunil Gulati, Director, Census, Haryana," We went out of our way to ensure that woman workers do not get left out in the census. Forty thousand personnel conducting this census were specifically trained to list the contribution of women workers. We even sensitised them on gender issues through seminars and discussions. Television advertisements and spots were also made by involving Shabana Azmi.

NGOs were also roped in and advertisements in the newspapers were given to educate the public. Besides, we also produced a 30-minutes documentary film titled, Mahila Ko Mat Bhula. A number of street plays were also staged in the rural as well as urban areas to create awareness among the masses about the importance of census. All these efforts have paid off and you can see that as against the 1991 census that had recorded 10.76 per cent women workers, the 2001 census has registered a 27.31 per cent."

The Census-2001 also records that the female population has gone up to 27.75 per cent. I personally feel this increase in female population is a small consolation for a state like

Haryana where the sex ratio is the worst at 861 in India, and also the world. The census report of 2001 further elaborates that the child sex ratio in Haryana of 0-6 age is at 820, down from 879, "shows distinct possibility of male child preference being practiced silently through possibly female infanticide and feticide." It also suggests that the remedy lies in raising the status of women, besides making their presence visible through active contribution in decision-making at the community and the family level.

Although the report’s suggestion is very Valid, in practice it is literally non-existent. The orthodox and male-dominated social structure has very little scope of accepting women in decision-making at either the community or the family level. At least for present it is a very idealistic suggestion. However, the ray of hope lies in the fact that Haryanvi women, who were lucky enough to be educated, are acutely aware about the plight of their fellow women.

For instance, Dr Anita Goel, herself a Haryanvi and Head of the Sanskrit department of Panjab University Correspondence Courses, puts the plight of a majority of Haryanvi women accurately when she says, "In Haryana, the girl is often treated as an unpaid labourer-- first in the house of her parents and then in the home of her in-laws. Sacrificing a girl’s education comes easily to Haryanvis, especially in the rural areas." Dr Goel, who knows the pulse of Haryana culture as she herself is a product of a rural area, has opened a NGO in Kaithal through which parents are persuaded to send their daughters to the schools and colleges. This NGO even sponsors poor girl students if they do not have the resources to complete their education.

The suggestion in the census report that women should be in decision-making positions is the need of the hour. However, Haryana continues to remain shackled with the most orthodox and feudalistic social set up. The state, social organisations, religious outfits and NGOs desperately need to bring in change in this enviornment.

In fact, they need to learn from Punjab, where Sikhism has played a great role in uplifting the status of women. No wonder, we have the first woman IPS officer from Punjab, first woman doctor from Punjab, first women engineer from Punjab. Besides, the visibility of women workforce at much higher level is there in every possible field. As compared to the Punjab scene, women in Haryana are largely confined to rearing children, tending cattle, stitching clothes, making cow-dung cakes for sale, assisting in black-smithy, making pottery, papad, pickle jam, gur and working as labourers in the fields.

On the contrary, in Punjab, it is the men who do the entire physical labour in the fields. At the most, women pick cotton or milk the cattle.

Even in the joint Punjab, women of the area now called Haryana were saddled with all the hard physical labour because of the prevailing social structure. The subjugation of women continues even today as a majority of rural men prefer to spend their time either sitting in the chaupals or smoking hukkas.

The overwhelming preference for a male child has, over the years, encouraged infanticide and feticide to such an extent that the sex ratio has fallen to an alarming level. To add to this pathetic scenario is the fact that the men are directionless and largely unemployed. The young are also rather rowdy as compared to their counterparts in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. The molestation of girls in a Kurukshetra hostel by a mob of boys and the rising crime rate amongst the youth are clear indicators that they are not growing up in a positive atmosphere.

On the contrary, Haryana women, despite the over bearing burden of physical labour, are showing much better results. Their school dropout rate is more on account of the distance to school/colleges than a lack of interest in education. They have also carved internationally recognised icons from amongst themselves, like Kalpana Chawla, astronaut, and Santosh Yadav, mountaineer.