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FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4760
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5953
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 9526
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 9655
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2881
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RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 7417
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 3879
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 9064
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 4458
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4395
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 6723

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NEW DELHI 001749 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/INS, DRL, PASS TO SECRETARY RICE, U/S HUGHES, 
U/S/ BURNS, U/S DOBRIANSKY, AND DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PINR SOCI KWMN IN
SUBJECT: THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN INDIA - PART II 
 
REF: A. NEW DELHI 1653 
     ¶B. NEW DELHI 1032 
     ¶C. 06 NEW DELHI 7199 
     ¶D. NEW DELHI 1401 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: This is the second in a two part series on 
the status of women in India.  This cable is derived from 
Post's ongoing analysis of the issues facing women as well as 
conversations with politicians, think tanks, NGO activists, 
pundits, and government officials during Senior Advisor to 
the Secretary of State on Women's Empowerment, Ambassador 
Shirin Tahir-Kheli's visit to New Delhi.  The first part of 
this series (reftel A) outlined the progress that has been 
made toward protecting women in Indian society.  In addition, 
it highlighted the ongoing struggle with implementation and 
enforcement of laws and the continued fight to end female 
feticide and dowry deaths.  Part II (this cable) deals with 
trafficking in persons, the inability of many women to access 
education, jobs, and health care and the overlay of caste and 
class.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Trafficking in Persons 
--------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) India is a significant source, transit point, and 
destination for many thousands of trafficked women.  On March 
23, National Commission for Women's (NCW) Girija Vyas spoke 
of trafficking of women and children both within India and 
from external sources.  According to Vyas, there is currently 
a flow of Eastern European women to India for prostitution. 
Within India, the low male/female ratio resulting from female 
feticide encourages families in Punjab and Haryana to import 
brides from Bihar and other Northeastern states to marry 
their boys.  These women are often mistreated as they do not 
speak the local language and can be easily manipulated. 
(Note: India, however, is marching towards progress, for more 
information, see India,s 2007 TIP report (reftel B) End 
Note). 
 
Marriage Fraud Among the Diaspora 
--------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Vyas and the NCW described a relatively new racket 
that subjugates and marginalizes women.  Some non-residence 
Indians (NRIs) marry in India, although they already have a 
wife or girlfriend in the U.S.  The new bride is then 
abandoned upon arrival in the US, UK or elsewhere.  Vyas said 
that this practice is occurring wherever Indians have 
migrated.  The NCW is collaborating with Indian associations 
in the UK to raise awareness about this practice and assist 
with recourse for the women who find themselves in the lurch. 
 Vyas is looking for possible partners in the US to 
participate in a similar process.  Minister for Women and 
Child Development Renuka Chowdhary had previously raised her 
concerns about hoodwinked brides with the Embassy (reftel C). 
 
Promoting Democracy Bilaterally And Multilaterally 
--------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) On March 21 and 22, Ambassador Tahir-Kheli met GOI 
officials, including the Prime Minister's Media Advisor 
Sanjaya Baru and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.  Both 
Baru and Menon agreed that more could and should be done for 
women.  Menon added that &women's empowerment is an 
essential element for democracies in transition.8  As 
women's empowerment is an issue of democracy promotion, Baru 
requested an update on the UN Democracy Fund.  (Note: There 
are two programs currently funded in India under this 
program: Center for Social Research and ActionAid.  Both 
projects engage women to become more politically active and 
provides them with the necessary skills to do so.  To date, 
 
NEW DELHI 00001749  002 OF 005 
 
 
however, both projects are still waiting for their grant 
money before beginning their work.  Any further information 
from the Department on the holdup would be welcomed and 
appreciated.  End Note.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On March 23, Kiran Bedi, Director General, Bureau 
for Police Research and Development highlighted the Indian 
All Women's Police Unit sent to Liberia to work alongside UN 
Peacekeepers (reftel D).  Though she met initial resistance 
to creating such a unit, it is now recognized as another 
success story.  Bedi believes India can train other countries 
to mobilize similar units that can work both domestically or 
as part of international efforts. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) On March 23, Ambassador Tahir-Kheli met with NGOs 
working with USAID through their Women's Legal Rights 
Initiative Project.  The Mission,s Women,s Legal Rights 
Initiative (WLRI) focuses on gender based violence including 
dowry, domestic violence and female feticide and rights 
within the family (such as property rights and maintenance) 
in Rajasthan and in Karnataka.  At the national level, the 
program supports advocacy for legal and institutional reform 
through WomenPowerConnect (WPC), a national level coalition 
lobbying district and national governments.  WPC has five 
state chapters and more than 450 members across India. WLRI 
in partnership with grassroots NGOs is creating support 
systems in the two states to provide legal knowledge, 
counseling, mediation and representation services to 
vulnerable women and communities.  The program has developed 
and expanded community based approaches to dispute 
resolution, worked to change the attitudes of men and boys, 
trained medical doctors, statutory bodies, religious leaders 
and public prosecutors and targeted state and national level 
reforms. A specially designed program disseminates 
information on Muslim women,s rights as enshrined in the 
Holy Quran and the Indian constitution.  WLRI is also linking 
women to livelihood enhancement opportunities.  As a result 
of these programs, there are many anecdotal success stories 
in which women recognize the power of working collectively to 
demand and force the police to take action in instances of 
domestic violence. 
 
Education and Health 
--------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) India has been a major seat of learning for 
thousands of years and the GOI has expressed a strong 
commitment toward education for all.  Currently, 30 percent 
of seats in engineering, medical and other colleges are 
reserved for women.  However, India still has one of the 
lowest female literacy rates in Asia.  The gap in male-female 
literacy rates is 21.70 percent, according to the 2001 
census.  Low literacy levels have a negative impact on the 
lives of women and their families in addition to their 
country,s economic development.  Numerous studies show a 
strong correlation between high levels of female illiteracy, 
high fertility and mortality levels, poor nutritional status, 
low earning potential, and low household autonomy.  A 
woman,s lack of education has been shown to contribute to 
high infant mortality rates. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The barriers against women,s education include 
insufficient school facilities, not enough classrooms, and 
inadequate latrines and access to water.  There are also 
deeply-held social beliefs against female education.  Many 
families continue to regard male education as an investment 
guaranteeing future economic returns.  On the other hand, 
investing in girl,s education is deemed an immediate 
economic loss that deprives the household of a loyal and 
unpaid helper.  In rural India, because girls are married and 
sent to another house, investing in their education is not 
 
NEW DELHI 00001749  003 OF 005 
 
 
considered a viable option. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Although female life expectancy (currently 65) has 
gradually improved over the years, it remains lower than many 
other countries.  In many families, especially in rural 
India, girls and women face nutritional discrimination with 
the family.  Only 42 percent of births in the country are 
supervised by health professionals.  Most women deliver with 
help from female family members who often lack the skills and 
resources to ensure a safe birth.  According to 2007 data, 
India accounts for over 20 percent of the world,s maternal 
deaths at a rate of 408 deaths/100,0000 live births. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The average Indian woman has little control over 
her own fertility and reproductive health.  Women in rural 
areas in particular do not have access to safe and 
self-controlled methods of contraception.  The public health 
system emphasizes permanent methods like sterilization, or 
long-term methods like IUDs that do not need follow-up.  Some 
studies suggest that sterilization accounts for more than 75 
percent of total contraception, with female sterilization 
measured around 67 percent (compared to 9 percent for males). 
 
 
Workforce Participation 
--------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Women in India are now more likely to participate 
in traditionally male dominated industries.  According to 
Kiran Bedi, more women now serve in the armed forces and the 
police.  She described a jump in female recruitment onto the 
police force, and she noted the important role of 
Jayalalitha, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in boosting 
numbers of police recruits in Southern India.  Bedi also 
underscored the presence of women police officers in rural 
areas helps women address specific problems such as female 
feticide and domestic violence.  According to Bedi, women 
police officers have a "healing but tough hand" that can 
bridge gaps between certain segments of society more easily 
than their male counterparts. 
 
¶12. (SBU) More women are not only serving in entry level 
government positions, they are occupying high level, decision 
making roles in government.  At the national level, several 
interlocutors pointed to the leadership of Congress President 
Sonia Gandhi.  Further, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who 
ruled from 1966-1977, was the second woman in the world to 
serve as Prime Minister, after Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri 
Lanka.  At the local level, one third of panchayat seats 
(village local governments) have been reserved for women 
since 1992, enabling over a million women to enter political 
life in India.  In Ambassador Tahir-Kheli's meetings with 
Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commissioner, Montek Singh 
Ahluwalia on March 21 and Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dixit 
on March 22, they dismissed critics who argue that women 
holding panchayat seats merely reflect their husbands, 
positions.  They argued that the newly empowered women 
leaders come to value their own voice and eventually 
instigate change.  To support this conclusion, Montek Singh 
Ahluwalia cited a recent MIT study which found that women 
leaders in panchayats matter, noting that many women 
panchayat members invest local funds toward health, 
education, and water projects.  Alternatively, male leaders 
direct funding toward construction of meeting and community 
halls.  Dixit and Punjab Member of Parliament Praneet Kaur 
echoed Ahulwalia's comments, adding that they expect to see 
these women rise to national level politics.  Ahluwalia, 
Dixit, and Kaur all expressed confidence and pride in the 
reservation system, suggesting it could serve as a model for 
other countries.  (Note: Nationally, however, a bill to give 
women one-third representation in Parliament has been stalled 
 
NEW DELHI 00001749  004 OF 005 
 
 
for a decade.  End Note.) 
 
¶13. (SBU) These efforts do not stop at the local level. 
Since 2005, the Finance Minister, with the Prime Minister's 
support, does not release funds to the Ministries unless they 
demonstrate that they are allocating 20 percent of their 
overall Ministerial budgets to programs that support women. 
Such programs include efforts to raise maternal mortality 
under the Health Ministry or the Human Resource Development 
Ministry,s programs to raise female literacy rates. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Some of the world,s leading businesswomen are 
Indian.  In 2006, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who started Biocon, 
one of India's first biotech companies, was rated India's 
richest woman.  Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia (the only 
businesswomen in India who made the Forbes World's Most 
Powerful Women's List) run India's second-largest financial 
institution, ICICI Bank.  Contrary to common perception, a 
large percent of women in India work.  National data 
collection agencies verify that womens, contribution as 
workers has been underestimated.  However, there are far 
fewer women are in the paid workforce.  In rural India, 
agriculture and allied industrial sectors employ as much as 
89.5 percent of total female labor.  Women's average 
contribution to farm production is estimated at 55 - 66 
percent of the total.  According to a 1991 World Bank report 
women accounted for 93 percent of the total employment in 
dairy production in India and 51 percent of the total 
employed in forest-based small-scale enterprises. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) However, the earnings gap remains enormous. 
Women's average annual earned income was 1,471 USD in 2002, 
almost one third of men (4,723 USD). In addition, sexual 
harassment, known as "eve teasing," is also reportedly on the 
rise as more women enter the work force.  Half of the total 
number of crimes against women reported in 1990 related to 
molestation and harassment at the workplace. In 1987, the 
Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed 
to prohibit indecent representation of women through 
advertisement or in publications, writings, paintings, 
figures or in any other manner. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) In 1997, in a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court 
took a strong stand against sexual harassment of women in the 
workplace by presenting detailed guidelines for prevention 
and redress of grievances.  The NCW subsequently elaborated 
these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶17.  (SBU) In India, nothing is easy and it is impossible to 
generalize.  All of the aforementioned concerns are 
complicated by caste, class, religion, and corruption, which 
still sharply compromise societal and legal efforts to 
improve the lot of Indian women and range over issues as 
diverse as access to land and property, the right to obtain a 
divorce or be divorced, and to be treated with dignity and 
respect.  For example, in February 2007, a UN committee 
equated violence against Dalits in India with racial 
discrimination.  Reports produced by the UN Committee on the 
Elimination of Racial Discrimination found systemic abuse 
against Dalits, including torture and extra-judicial 
killings, and an "alarming" rate of sexual violence against 
Dalit women.  There are several reports of Dalit women 
stripped naked by mobs and paraded in public for offending 
higher castes.  The media often documents upper caste gangs 
using mass rape to intimidate lower castes, and gang rape as 
punishment for alleged adultery or as a means of coercion or 
revenge in rural property disputes.  Although the GOI banned 
the practice of sati, in which Hindu women throw themselves 
 
NEW DELHI 00001749  005 OF 005 
 
 
on the funeral pyre of their deceased husband, the practice 
persists.  Honor killings also remain a problem, 
predominantly in Muslim and Hindu communities.  Furthermore, 
a strong belief in mythology and the supernatural in rural 
India has been used against women.  In 2006, for example, 
informal courts passed death sentences on women, labeling 
them witches.  The Assam police are now working with NGOs to 
raise awareness of these problems. 
 
¶18.  (SBU) While the picture is far from rosy, good things 
are happening for India,s women.  The NGO community, civil 
society and the media are vibrant, active and gaining 
traction in a national dialogue on women,s rights.  As with 
any movement that must overcome centuries of tradition, it 
will require several generations of concentrated efforts and 
national dedication to fully integrate women into all aspects 
of society.  Opportunities exist for Indo-U.S. bilateral and 
multilateral collaboration.  Framed by Secretary Rice's four 
pillars of women,s empowerment -- political participation, 
economic empowerment, education, and justice issues -- Post 
will continue to work with Ambassador Tahir-Kheli's office 
and our Indian counterparts to deepen, broaden and strengthen 
the ongoing efforts to promote women's empowerment.  END 
COMMENT 
MULFORD