No country for women: Equal Measures 2030 Report

The world is still a long way from attaining gender equality as envisaged in the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDG 2030), reveals a study conducted by Equal Measures 2030 (EM 2030). According to the report, with only 11 years to go till 2030, nearly 40 per cent of the world’s female population, 1.4 billion people, still live in countries that fail on gender equality. The report further states that women and girls are at a disadvantage across all areas – they are underrepresented in decision-making positions and leadership levels, education, health, get less paid work and are often the target of violence.

The 2019 SDG Gender Index tracked 129 countries, 14 of the 17 SDGs, and 51 indicators linked to issues existing in the SDGs. All indicators were given values between 1 and 100, with 100 being the highest, and values above 90 being excellent. The highest scores were awarded to Scandinavian nations of Denmark (89.3), Finland (88.8) and Sweden (88.0), while no country received an ‘excellent’ rating. Further, the report reveals that even these high scoring countries have to do much more in areas such as climate change, gender pay gaps, gender-based violence, equal representation in powerful positions and gender budgeting and public services.

Overall, while Europe and North America top the 2019 SDG Gender Index with an average regional index score of 79.1, Sub Saharan Africa has the lowest ranking, with an average regional index of 51.1. The situation is particularly serious in the landlocked country of Chad which occupies the 129th place.

The Index has also found that globally, all countries are furthest behind on gender equality issues related to public finance and better gender data (SDG 17), climate change (SDG 13), gender equality in industry and innovation (SDG 9), and standalone gender equality goal (SDG 5).

When it comes to women in STEM, the report has revealed that the high performers are not necessarily the ones with high income or with overall higher investment in science and technology. In Europe, for example, two of the top three countries are amongst the region’s lowest-performing one – FYR Macedonia and Moldova. Similarly, only eight countries in the Europe and North America region are close to having full parity between men and women in science and technology research positions - a lower proportion than in Asia and the Pacific or Latin America and the Caribbean. Further, despite the fact that Germany is known for its high investment in R&D and is the largest technology-based economy in the region, the country has a fewer number of women in STEM and has one of the steepest rates of women dropping out of the field.

Also, many Sub Saharan African countries perform exceptionally well when it comes to the overall proportion of women in the government. Countries such as Rwanda (61 per cent of parliament), Namibia (46 per cent), South Africa (42 per cent), Senegal (42 per cent) rank among the top 10 countries in terms of women in parliament.

India: inequalities in secondary education

One of the main areas where persistent challenges remain in South Asia, in particular, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, as per the Index, is gender equality in education. As per the report, the number of primary and secondary school-age girls was 186.2 million girls, across the three countries - this represents 52 per cent of the entire Asia and Pacific region.

While there has been improvement in the share of women with secondary education in India (almost 70 per cent of 15–19 year‑olds are in secondary education compared to less than 40 per cent of those in the 20–24 year age group), however, these improvements fade off in the light of the actual number of girl students who complete secondary education. As per the survey, though child marriage rates have nearly halved in the last 15-20 years, there has been almost no progress in secondary school completion. In both India and Pakistan, data shows that girls from rural areas are losing out on basic skills – as per the Annual Status of Education Report’s (ASER) assessment of basic math skills of 14–16 year‑olds in India, only 44 per cent of girls could do division, compared to 50 per cent of boys.

This is also holding back the ability of young girls to transition to work. In India, 8 per cent of boys in the 15-24 age group were not in employment, education or training (NEET) as compared to 49 per cent of girls. These figures were steeper in Pakistan where 54 per cent of girls were NEET as compared to only 7 per cent boys, in 2015.

The goal of achieving universal secondary education is still distant in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as per the report. “While data show that the barriers to primary education have weakened in the region, they remain persistent regarding girls’ ability to complete secondary education, undermining girls’ rights and critically harming their success in the labour market,” the survey explains.

India scored the lowest in partnerships (18.3, among the bottom 10 countries), industry, infrastructure and innovation (SDG 9 - 38.1) and climate (SDG 13 - 43.4). The country, however, scored the highest on health (on SDG 3 - 79.9), hunger and nutrition (SDG 2 of - 76.2) and of energy (SDG 7 - 71.8). The Government’s initiative of bringing cleaner cooking fuel to households across the country is a major enabler

Women under represented in higher education in India: Report

Summary of the Report
Women continue to be under-represented in India’s higher education leadership despite nine-fold increase in the government expenditure on the sector between 2007 and 2012, according to a British Council report.

While women constitute 44 per cent of the 27.5 million students in country’s higher educational institutions, they constitute just 1.4 per cent of the professoriate and 3 per cent of vice-chancellors in the universities, it noted.
In most Indian universities, the representation of women academics is less than 40 per cent, added the report, titled 'Women in Higher Education Leadership in South Asia: Rejection, Refusal, Reluctance, Revisioning’.

“While in all categories of academic positions women are under-represented, this increases for higher positions. Thus, only 25.5 per cent of professors, 31.1 per cent of readers and associate professors, and 38.5 per cent of lecturers or assistant professors are women,” it noted, analysing a 2013 report of the government.

The report, prepared by the British Council in collaboration with the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER) of the University of Sussex, was released here at a two-day deliberation on the representation of women in higher education in South Asia. The event, organised by the British Council, concluded on Wednesday.

An analysis of the government data also indicated that women with disability represent only 1.9 per cent of the overall total number of academics in India. “Muslim women are also under-represented in Indian higher education, both in relation to male academics and overall. Of the Muslim academics, only 33.5 per cent are women, which is only 14.9 per cent of the total number of academics in India,” underlined the report.

The report found that women in higher education in South Asia, including India, were not prepared for leadership. There was also evidence that when they did aspire for leadership, they were frequently rejected for the most senior positions. Referring to interactions with women faculty, the report highlighted how the country’s universities’ selection procedures were “exclusionary and discriminated” against women. “First and foremost, most selection committees have only men. Very few have women. Most that I've gone through, have all men on the committee, for any position,” the report quoted a senior woman faculty.

The British Council suggested that educational institutions should adopt changes in work practices.

Source | http://www.britishcouncil.in/

16cr women do only household work





Nearly 160 million women in India--or 45% of the total working age population aged between 15 and 59--do only household chores and reported themselves as “not working“, according to 2011 Census. 58 lakh men too reported to be doing only household work. 

16cr jobless women India's `Great Invisible

Force'

Subodh Verma





Nearly 160 million women in India, 88% of which are of working age, that is between 15 and 59 years, remain at home doing “household duties“, according to census data. Note that these are women who reported themselves as `not working'.
All the other women who work also do domestic work. But these 160 million are the Great Invisible Workforce, primar ily involved in care work and rearing families.The total number of women in the age group 15-59, according to census data released earlier, is just under 355 million. The latest data shows that about 45% of them are confined solely to domestic duties. They have an interesting complement – men exclusively doing household duties. The ratio is, unsurprisingly, 28 to 1.
That is, compared to 16 crore women doing only domestic duties, just 58 lakh men are exclusively involved in household duties.The large proportion of working age group women who are confined to their home and hearth is partly because of social pressures, and partly the result of economic policies that have offered no opportunities to women.

Source::: The Times of India, 03.07.2014,  p.01, 
http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/index.aspx?eid=31804&dt=20140703#

‘Can a woman outrage modesty of another?’ 
Court Seeks To Know Legal Provision

Rosy Sequeira TNN 

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday questioned if a woman can be accused of outraging the modesty of another woman and sought the legal provisions for it. 
    A division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice V L Achliya on Thursday heard a petition by a family of six from a Borivli housing society, including the 78-year-old matriarch Sarlaben Shah, seeking to quash an FIR filed against them by neighbour Preeta Jain (55). 
    It started with a dispute over grilles that the Shahs fitted outside their ground-floor flat, which was opposed by their neighbours, including the Jain family. During an argument, Sarlaben’s granddaughter was allegedly assaulted and manhandled. On October 23, 2009, she lodged a complaint of molestation against Jain’s son and husband and an FIR was registered. 
    A few months later, on February 27, 2010, the Jains also got an FIR registered against the Shahs and the charges included molestation. 
    In the court, Shah’s advocate Pradeep Havnur questioned how two FIRs could be registered for the same incident. “It is absurd that a 78-year-old woman can be accused of molesting another woman,” he exclaimed. At that, the judges questioned if a woman could indeed molest another woman and what was the legal position. “This is a serious question. Can a woman molest another woman? Even scientifically? Because there are the allegations,” said Justice Patil. “Go through the law. If a woman does commit such an act, can she be tried under the available law for molesting a woman?” 
    On going through section 354 of the IPC, the judges noted that while the section began with the word “whoever”, it later went on to refer to the accused as a “he” and the victim a “she”. “Can a woman be accused of outraging the modesty of another woman under section 354? Get the legal position,” said Justice Patil to Havnur. The judges pointed out that even the amended section 354 A referred to an act committed by a man on a woman. While parting with the matter, the judges said housing societies must intervene and sort out such problems instead of parties filing cross-complaints and coming to court.     (Names of disputing parties changed) 

SPAT AT BORIVLI SOCIETY 
In 2009, the Shah family in Borivli fitted grilles outside their groundfloor flat, which was apparently opposed by some of their neighbours, including Preeta Jain’s family. During an argument, the Shah family matriarch’s granddaughter was allegedly assaulted and manhandled. They lodged a complaint of molestation against Jain’s son and husband on Oct 23, 2009. On Feb 27, 2010, the Jains lodged a counter-complaint, against the Shahs, one of the charges being molestation 

Section 354 of Indian Penal Code 
Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty. Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.



Source :::: The Times  of India, p.5,    http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2014/02/28&PageLabel=5&EntityId=Ar00500&ViewMode=HTML

‘No maintenance for wife who earns from investments’

Shibu Thomas TNN 

Mumbai: Only a wife with no sufficient source of permanent income can claim maintenance from her husband, the Bombay high court has ruled. A division bench of Justice Vijaya Kapse-Tahilramani and Justice P N Deshmukh rejected an application by an Andheri resident, Sheela Sharma (61), who had sought Rs 15,000 as monthly maintenance from her husband, Nitin Sharma, who is based in Australia. 
    “It is a well-settled law that only a wife who has no sufficient permanent source of income can claim and get maintenance from her husband who has sufficient means,” said the judges. The Sharmas have a son and daughter who are married and settled abroad. The couple has been living separately since 2007. 
    The court pointed out that it had come in evidence that Sheela had invested Rs 50 lakh in fixed deposits and also made investments in mutual funds. She has also invested another Rs 2 lakh that she got from Nitin in a fixed deposit. She resides in a flat that she had bought with Nitin, who said she had exclusive possession of the house. This meant there was no rent to be paid. “It is seen that the wife is gettingover Rs 37,500 per month as interest. She has over Rs 50 lakh in the bank. In addition, (her) son is providing money for her maintenance and other expenses. No one is dependent,” said the judges. 
    Nitin had moved the court for divorce on the grounds of cruelty, which was dismissed by a family court. Meanwhile, Sheela too moved the court. The family court allowed her plea and granted the couple judicial separation and asked Nitin to pay Rs 25,000 as monthly maintenance. Nitin challenged the maintenance order and a single bench of the HC set it aside. Sheela then challenged the order and sought Rs 15,000 as maintenance. 
    (Names of the couple changed to protect identities)


Source::: The Times of India, 24-02-2014, p.5,   http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2014/02/24&PageLabel=5&EntityId=Ar00501&ViewMode=HTML

Women account for just 22% of workforce

Rema Nagarajan | TIG 

Oslo: As more women come forward to expose incidents of sexual harassment at the workplace, the focus is back on the extremely poor work participation of women in India, just 22.5%, which makes places of work male-dominated spaces. Norway, a country with one of the highest work participation rates for women, about 69%, might have some useful pointers to offer on how to go about changing that. 
    According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), out of 131 countries for which data was available, India ranks 11th from the bottom in female labour force participation (FLFP). In fact, the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) data reveals falling FLFP from over 40% in the mid-1990s, to 29% in 2004-05, to 23% in 2009-10 and 22.5% by 2011-12. 
    In contrast, in just over 40 years, Norway, where the ideal of the housewife was strong in the 1950s and 1960s, has successfully pushed up women’s labour participation from just 44% to almost 70% currently, compared to 76% among men. Over 80% of mothers with small children are employed in Norway. 
    This remarkable transformation has been achieved through strong state-backed incentives, regulations, legislation and quotas. 
    Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the recent conference held in Oslo on Women Power and Politics, Arni Hole, director general of the ministry of children, equality and social inclusion in Norway, explained that the basic Norwegian principle was that no individual, especially a woman, should be forced to choose between family and career. 
    “It should be possible for men and women to have both career and family,” she said, elaborating how the government had expanded the early child care sector, creating thousands of new jobs, and freeing parents, especially women, from homes to do paid work. 
    All children over the age of one can be enrolled in kindergarten. And up to one year, parents get fully paid leave to look after the baby, which they can divide between themselves, with the father mandated to take a compulsory 10 weeks of that one year as paternal leave. 
    Not stopping at just providing an enabling environment, the government has also enacted laws to provide quotas for women. The Gender Equality Act of Norway requires 40% of each gender in all governmentappointed committees, councils, working groups and delegations since 1988. This has ensured a 47% share for women in governance today. Similarly, the Municipal Act of 1993 mandates that all elected municipal councils shall not have less than 40% of each gender. 
    Even the private sector cannot escape ensuring gender parity with a 2003 law making it compulsory for publicly listed companies to ensure 40% women on their boards. “At that time, most board members in Norway were men (just 6%were women). The initiative was controversial and many business leaders expressed strong opposition. Now, however, not only are more women serving on boards, but governance in Norwegian companies has also improved,” said Ingvild Naess Stub of the Norwegian Foreign Affairs ministry at the Oslo meet. With more women in high level boards and committees, Norway has found it easier to work on strategies and implement decisions to ensure gender equality, which is seen as work in progress as even today women are under-represented among CEOs of companies, in certain professions and in fulltime jobs. In contrast, in India, the proportion of women working seems to be dipping. Women constitute just over a fifth of the organised sector workforce. They are mostly to be found in the unorganized sector, marked by poor wages, poor quality of work and absence of social protection of any kind. 
    The proportion of women in private sector companies is 24.5% of the total workforce compared to just 17.9% of the public sector. In central government jobs, women accounted for 7.6% in 1991, which, almost two decades later, had touched just 10%.


Source:::: The Times of India, 29-11-2013, p.16,  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/11/29&PageLabel=16&EntityId=Ar01602&ViewMode=HTML

Only 11% women MPs in LS

India Ranked A Poor 108th In Gender Parity In Parliament

Lubna Kably TNN 

    Women have a poor 11% representation in India’s Lok Sabha and 10.6% in Rajya Sabha, making India 108th among 188 countries covered in the annual analysis on statistics of women MPs conducted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). 
    The global average of women in Parliaments, as of November 2013, stood at 21.3% — a slight increase over the preceding two years (20.3% and 19.5%). IPU is an international organisation of Parliaments and works for establishment of representative democracies. Countries are ranked by IPU based on percentage of women in the lower house. The top three in the 2013 analysis were Rwanda, Andorra and Cuba. 
    India fared poorly even when compared with her immediate neighbours (see graphic). Here, Nepal, ranked at 24, led the pack, followed by China (55) and Pakistan (66). 
    With elections around the corner in India, several women’s groups have come together under the umbrella of ‘Time for 33% Coalition’ and are seeking passage of the women’s reservation bill during the winter session that begins shortly. The bill proposes to reserve 33% seats for women in Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. Various similar bills, introduced since 1996, have lapsed. 
    According to Election Commission statistics, for the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, the number of elected women increased from 49 in 1999 to 59 in 2009, with 11% representation in the lower house. In 2009, the number of elected women over total seats was maximum in Punjab (30.8%), followed by Madhya Pradesh (20.7%) and Haryana (20.0%). Against this, the number of women voters in India has risen from 44.3% to 45.8%. 
    “The patriarchal hereditary nature of Indian politics requires intervention at many levels and in many forms. A 33% reservation, which is the minimum mass required, will be one of the most significant changes in helping women attain their right to participate in Indian democracy not just as voters but also as leaders,” stated Amitabh Kumar of Centre for Social Research. 
    “Even in highly patriarchal societies such as Afghanistan, a reservation mechanism is in place. Appropriate representation of women is possible only through a quota regime, and this in turn will bring more transparency, efficiency and even decency in Parliament’s functioning,” said Vibhuti Patel, economist and president of Women Power Connect. 
    Many EU countries such as Belgium, France and Germany, besides others — Egypt, Iraq, and Nepal — legislatively provide for quotas for women candidates. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan reserve seats for women in Parliament. Voluntary quotas adopted by political parties exist in countries such as Australia, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands and the UK. 
    “Although quotas remain contentious in some parts of the world, they remain key to progress on a fundamental component of democracy — gender parity in political representation,” stated IPU secretary general Anders B Johnsson. 
    Quotas need to be ambitious and women candidates should be placed in winnable positions on party lists, the IPU added. In the Indian scenario, where the ratio of women candidates winning their contested seats is not yet optimal, this is a suggestion that needs to be followed.

Source:::: The Times of India, 26-11-2013, p.06, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/11/26&PageLabel=9&EntityId=Ar00900&ViewMode=HTML

Internal migrants make up 1/3rd of India’s population

50% Of Global Figure, Twice That Of China

TIMES INSIGHT GROUP 

    Internal migrants in India are expected to touch 400 million in the 2011 census, over half the global figure of 740 million and almost twice as much as China’s estimated 221 million. These migrants, comprising a third of the population in India, are estimated to account for remittances anywhere between Rs70,000 crore and Rs120,000 crore. 
    The estimate of 400 million internal migrants, of course, far exceeds the total estimated Indian migrants to other countries, which is estimated at just 11.4 million. While there is more attention and policies for emigrants, internal migrants are accorded very low priority by the government whose existing policies have failed to provide legal or social protection to them. 

‘Half of world’s 30 million slaves in India’ Some 30 million people are enslaved worldwide—trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labour, victims of debt bondage or even born into servitude—and India accounts for almost half of them, a global index on modern slavery showed on Thursday. In India, slavery takes the form of forced labour in quarries and kilns, besides trafficking for prostitution. After India, China has the most slaves, at 2.9 million. 

‘80% of all migrants in India are women’ 
    The UNESCO report —“Social Inclusion of Internal Migrants in India” — was released by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday. 
    According toNSSO2007-08 women constitute 80% of total internal migrants. “There isn’t enough data on women migrant labour because of the assumption that most women migrate because of marriage. This assumption blocks further analysis of the women migrants engaged in paid labour and an understanding of how their vulnerabilities are being compounded by contemporary economic practices and not just because of historicalor culturalbaggage.Thisleads to the “invisibilisation” and undermining of women in policies too,” said Indu Agnihotri of the Centre for Women’s Development Studies. 
    The report estimated that about 30% of the migrants are youth aged 15-29 years and another 15 million are children. The intensity of migration is likely to increase in future. 
    Internal migrants constitute a floating population, which is put at anywhere at 15-100 million by different estimates. These migrants often lose social protection benefits as most benefits are linked to the place of residence, pointed out the report. 
    The report says internal migrants faced discrimination as ‘outsiders’, which excluded them from access to legal rights, public services and social protection programmes accorded to residents. This is despite the migrants providing cheap labour and typically doing the mostdirty,dangerous and degrading jobs that locals do not want to do. Far from being a burden on society, migrants’ cheap labour contributes to the national GDP, stated the report. 
    Jairam Ramesh, who provided the estimates of remittances, pointed out that migrants constitute a significant share of a state’s gross domestic product, about 10% in the case of Bihar and 3-4% in the case of Uttar Pradesh. “Portability of legal entitlements could make a huge difference to the lives of internal migrants. The UID number could be the single most important intervention which could ensure portability of legal entitlements as well as financial inclusion. Legal entitlements should not be location specific,only individualor household specific and UID number could make this possible,” said Ramesh. 
    Financial inclusion, he said, was important also because barely 30% of the remittances currently flow throughformalchannels,the remaining 70% being dependent on informal channels.

Source:::: The Times of India, 18-10-2013, .p.01,  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/10/18&PageLabel=3&EntityId=Ar00302&ViewMode=HTML

Now, you can help map unsafe zones for women

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Mumbai: Citizens can now play an active role in making Mumbai safe by contributing to an online initiative that will map unsafe zones and incidents of sexual harassment. The project—HarassMap-Mumbai —encourages victims of sexual harassment to report their experience on a real-time website (see box). 
    Launched by women resource centre Akshara on Thursday, the online map allows women who report an incident to maintain their anonymity if they wish. Victims can offer specifics about the type of harassment they suffered, the place where the incident occurred and the profile of their harasser. It also urges Mumbaikars to log in and report areas where they feel unsafe, be it due to the lack of adequate street lighting or the absence of police patrolling. The areas show up as coloured dots on a map reflecting the heightened risk quotient of an area. 
    “It would help us get a true picture of how the city treats its women,” said actor Rahul Bose. “This site will be listening to survivors as well as holding up a mirror to men.” “We will pursue the police to take action to make public spaces safer,” said Nandita Gandhi of Akshara. 
“If we find that a woman who logs in needs help, we will alert the police,” said an Akshara spokesperson. 

THE INITIATIVE 
HarassMap-Mumbai is a platform for citizens to take steps to make the city safe
WHAT YOU CAN DO Report an experience of harassment, flag off unsafe spots or upload photos 
HOW TO REPORTR| By filling a form on on akshara.crowdmap.com/main n| By sending a message to 9920103103 1| By using the the Ushahidi app for iPhone/Android 
WHAT THE APP PROVIDES Real-time picture of violence against women in Mumbai 
Information about support services for survivors like helplines & legal aid services 
HOW THIS WILL HELP Women resource centre Akshara will work with the police to mitigate the incidents 
THE CHALLENGES Reach is limited to those who are techsavvy and know English


Source:::: The Times of India, 27-09-2013, p.07,  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW&AW=1380269603906

Women make 36% of MBA applicants

Global Share Declines From 40% In 2012

Hemali Chhapia TNN 

Graduate business schools that participated in the latest Application Trends Survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reported receiving 1.21 lakh applications from women, which represented 36% of the applicant pool of the 2013-2014 academic year. 
    In 2012, women had formed 40% of the applicant pool. But this time, their share contracted a little, particularly in professional MBA courses and specialized master’s programmes. Only in two programmes was there an increase in the share: master’s of accounting programmes got 59% applications from women, up from 56% last year; and the master’s programmes in IT management received 45% applications from women, compared with 40% in 2012. 
    In contrast, the share of women applicants decreased this year for the master’s of finance and master’s in management courses as well as for full-time one-year, flexible, part-time, executive and online MBA programmes. The full-time two-year MBA programme applications from women were 39% of the total pool this year, same as in 2012. 
    Although the 2013 application volume trends for women mirrored the overall downward trend for some programmes, anywhere from a third to over a half of the programmes in the latest GMAC study received increased applications from women. In several courses, the growth in application volume from women exceeded the growth in application volume from men. 
    More than half (53%) the master’s in management programmes reported increased applications from women, compared with 43% that received increased applications from men. Executive, flexible and part-time MBA programmes showed a similar trend—a greater percentage of these reported volume growth in female applicants that outpaced the volume growth in male applicants.

Source::: The Times of India, 25-09-2013, p.08, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW