India’s gross economic inequality also has a sorry revelation about its gender inequality

New Delhi, Jan 24: Non-profit major Oxfam recently came up with a startling revelation that the creamy layer of India is getting even richer while those down the ladder are merely crawling in the economy index. The report was released ahead of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos suggesting the pace at which India's inequality is widening.

The economic inequality has also revealed with it another story of inequality and it is about the gender. According to the report, the women are hit hardest by the rising income inequality as they continue to get paid lesser compared to the men for the same work. It said the women still got 34 per cent less salaries than their male counterparts at the workplace. While the nation's 119 billionaires feature only nine women, the report said the grim picture becomes more prominent as one goes deep down the ladder.

"When governments reduce their expenditures on essential public services such as education and healthcare, women and girls are the first ones to lose out on these services," the report said.

In terms of education, while girl children in families that belong to the top 20 per cent get nine years of education on an average, those in the bottom 20 per cent get none whatsoever. Financial constraints often see dropouts in case of girls who still make it. Moreover, over 23 million girls end their studies in schools owing to lack of toilets and menstrual hygiene management facilities.

The Oxfam report also cited a survey covering 1,000 households in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh which said that while 53 per cent of the respondents felt that it was okay to criticise women harshly for not being able to take care of the children, 33 per cent felt it was acceptable even to beat them!