Socio - Economic status of female headed-households in rural Punjab-Haryana Plain 2011

Abstract

A woman is the companion of man gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the minutest details of the activities of man, and she has the same right of freedom and liberty as he. By sheer force of a vicious custom, even the most ignorant and worthless men have been enjoying a superiority over women which they do not deserve and ought not to have, “Women hold up half the sky – the Chinese proverb – has long been more aspiration than fact. In developed and developing countries alike, gender gaps persist in education, health, work, wages and political participation. In patriarchal societies all over the world and in India in particular, an elderly male member of the family is considered as head of the household. But family and household structure and headship are fast changing under the impact of structural changes due to the development of the Indian society (Vardhan, 1999) [31].