Women Education

Kerala is regarded as the most progressive state in the matter of women's education. According to 2001 census the female literacy rate is 87.86 percent in the state as against 54.16 per cent at the national level. The enrolment of girl student in schools stood at 28.96 lakhs in 1992, which constituted to 49 per cent of the total school enrolment. The number of girl students in high school went up to 7.7 lakhs in 1992 from 4.7 lakhs in 1977'' registering nearly a two-fold increase within a period of one and a half decades.

Kerala continues to record the highest percent of women enrolment among all the states in India in all stages of higher education, in the general education stream. Rapid progress of girls education at the university level is a remarkable feature of educational development in the state. The enrolment of women in Arts and Science College in the state mounted to 177.4 thousand in 1999-2000 from 77.8 thousand in 1975 - 76.

Females constitute higher proportion than males at all levels of education in the general education stream indicating the increase in the number of girls for higher education. The rapid growth in the supply of women graduates in the labour market in the absence of adequate employment opportunities suitable for women in the state aggravates the problem of educated female unemployment in the state.

The gender issue has figured prominently in discussion on employment and unemployment. It is suggested that modern growth process marginalizes female workers. It makes them more dependent on male heads. It is further suggested that this development has adverse implications for women's development and consequently for total development, since women's development holds the key to total development via the effects on literacy, health and nutrition. There are even evidences to show that incomes of the women are spent on household and children much more than the incomes of the males. However, the images of women have undergone significant changes from the past to the present. Now she is considered more as a productive source rather than being merely as agent of giving birth to children and discharging domestic duties. Today she has more economic freedom than ever before and her economic freedom stems from the fact that she is gainfully employed. This fetches her own income and way of living, so that she does not become dependent on her male counterpart.