Women in Punjab, India

Women in Punjab can also be known as Punjabans or Punjabi women. They are the female inhabitants of state of Punjab in India. They belong to diverse economic, social, cultural and caste backgrounds, but their residence in a common state gives them a shared identity. Women have made significant progress in Punjab but they still remain underrepresented in various fields due to the patriarchal structure still remaining intact in Punjabi society.

History
During the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, schools for girls were also opened in many places. In 1870, to stop female infanticides, the British government passed a legislative act called Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870. This act banned the murder of female infants in Punjab and some other provinces. Names of some of the women from Punjab who participated in the freedom struggle of India are Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Gulab Kaur, Adarsh Kumari, Kishan Kaur, Amar Kaur, Dalip Kaur, Shushila Devi, Har Devi, Purani and Pushpa Gujral.

On 17 June 1956, Hindu Succession Act came into force. It gave the women right to inherit property.

In 1993 and 1994, the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts were passed that reserved one-third of seats in Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) for women. These acts were passed to ensure equal participation for women. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal served as the first female Chief Minister of Punjab from November 1996 to February 1997. She took office after the resignation of Harcharan Singh Brar. She was the eighth female Chief Minister in Indian history.

On 14 October 2020, Punjab government passed ‘Punjab Civil Services (Reservation of Posts for Women) Rules, 2020’. This gave 33% reservation to women in direct recruitment to posts in state government, boards and corporations.

In April 2024, Panjab University in Chandigarh became the first university associated with Punjab government to grant menstrual leave to female students, starting from the session 2024-25. The policy will allow leave of one day per one calendar month of teaching and maximum of four days leave per semester.

Demographics
As of 2011 census, women constitute 47.23% of total population of Punjab, as compared to 48.5% at the national level. In the same year, the sex ratio of Punjab was 895, which was lower than the national average of 943. As of 2011, the child sex ratio of children between the ages of 0 to 6 years was 846, which was lower than the national average of 914.

The table below shows the sex ratio of Punjab through the years.

As of 2011, among the different districts of Punjab, the sex ratio was highest in Hoshiarpur at 961 and lowest in Bathinda at 868. The table below shows the sex ratio of Punjab by district, according to the 2011 census.

Health
As of 2020, the percentage of deaths due to heart disease was higher in women than men, 41.8% for females compared to 32.2% for males. In the same year, the percentage of deaths due to covid-19 was lower for women compared to men, 13.4% for males and 9.9% for females.

The table below shows the state nutrition profile of Punjab for women between the ages of 15 and 49 years.

In 2019, the female cervical cancer incidence rate in Punjab was 13 per 100,000 women in all ages. This was less than the rate of 14.75 in 1990. The female cervical cancer mortality rate was 7.14 per 100,000 women of all ages in 2019. This was lower than the rate of 9.34 in 1990.

Life Expectancy
Between 2013 and 2017, the life expectancy at birth for women in Punjab was 74 years, compared to the total of 72.4 years and 71 for males.

The table below shows the life expectancy in Punjab by gender and residence in 2013–17.

Estimated from civil registration and vital statistics system (CRVSS) data, the table below shows the life expectancy by gender in the districts of Punjab, in 2012.

Childbirth
In 2019–21, 94.3% of the births were institutional births in Punjab, which was an increase from 90.5% in 2015–16. Of this, 53.9% were institutional births in public facility, which was up from 51.7% in 2015–16. In rural areas, the births in public facility were 57.6%, compared to 47.0% in urban areas, for year 2019–21. The percentage of home births that were conducted by a skilled health personnel was 2.6%, it was 3.0% for urban areas and 2.3% for rural areas. In 2015–16, this percentage was 4.5%. Of the total, 95.6% births were attended by a skilled health personnel, 2019–21. For urban areas, this rate was 93.7% and 96.6% for rural areas.

Of the total births in Punjab, 38.5% were delivered by caesarean section in 2019–21. This number was 24.6% in 2015–16. For private health facilities, 55.5% of the births were by caesarean section, in 2019–20, compared to 29.9% for public healthcare facilities. In 2015–16, this number was 39.7% for private and 29.9% for public health facilities. For private health facilities, the rate was 57.0% for rural areas and 53.4% for urban areas in 2019–21. For public health facilities, the rate was 29.1% in rural areas and 31.1% in urban areas, in the same year.

The table below shows the maternal mortality rate per one lakh (1,00,000) per year, through the years.

According to the National Family Health Survey of 2015–16, the percentage of women age 15-19 who have begun childbearing (teenage pregnancy) was 2.6%.

The table below shows the variation the fertility rate (children per woman) according to the education of a woman in Punjab, as of 2019–21.

Reproductive Health
The table below shows the current use of family planning methods by currently married women between the age of 15 and 49 years, in Punjab.

The table below compares the reproductive health statistics women between the ages of 15 to 45 years in Punjab at the national level.

Other
According to the NFHS-5 (2019-21), the percentage of women between the ages of 15-24 years who use hygienic methods of protection during their menstrual period in Punjab was 93.2%. This was an increase from the 2015-16 percentage of 84.4%. In the year 2019-21, the number was 95.4% for urban areas and 91.9% for rural areas.

Education
According to the 2011 census, the literacy rate of women in Punjab was 70.73%, as compared to 80.44% for men and 75.84% as a whole. The median number of years of schooling completed by females in the state was 6.5 years, as compared to 7.8 for males, as of 2011.

Between 2001 and 2011, the literacy gap between men and women decreased from 11.9% to 9.7%. Among the different districts of Punjab, the literacy rate of women was highest in Hoshiarpur at 80.3% and lowest in Mansa at 55.7%.

The table below shows the difference in the literacy rate by gender in Punjab through the years.

The table below shows the difference in the literacy rate of women in rural and urban areas in Punjab.

The table below shows the women proportion in the total enrolment at different levels of school education in Punjab by years.

The table below shows the literacy rate of women by district in Punjab.

Politics
In 2022 state assembly elections, out of 117 seats 13 seats were won by women, of which 10 were first-timers. Of these 13 MLAs, 11 were from Aam Admi Party (AAP), 1 from Indian National Congress (INC) and 1 from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

The table below shows the number of women in the Punjab legislative assembly by election years.

As of 2023, there was 2 women Members of Parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha representing Punjab, out of the total 13 constituencies in the state. There were no women MPs representing Punjab in Rajya Sabha, out of the total of 7 representatives.

During the 2022 Punjab legislative assembly elections, 71.91% of eligible women voters voted, as compared to 71.99% of eligible male voters.

The table below shows the polling percentage in Punjab legislative assembly elections by gender.

Economy
As of 2022-23, 25.2% of the women in Punjab are employed, which was an increase from the rate of 21.9% in year 2021-22. But it was lower than the national average of 36%.

As of 2011, the work participation rate of females was 13.9% in Punjab, which was lower than the rate of men at 55.15%. It was also lower than the average female work participation rate of whole India at 25.51%.

The table below shows the work participation rate by gender in Punjab, as 2011 census.

Crimes
In 2022, Punjab registered 517 rape cases, which was an increase of about 10% from the previous year, with 464 cases in 2021. However, the total number of FIRs in various crimes against women dropped slightly from 5,662 in 2021 to 5,572 in 2022. This was a drop of 90 registered cases. These cases included 1,478 for kidnapping and abduction of women and 1,640 of cruelty by husband, in 2022.

As of 2020, the overall share of women in the police force was 9.4% in Punjab, which was lower than the Indian average of 10.5%. At officer level, the share in Punjab stood at 7.1%.

According to the NFHS-5 (2019-21), percentage of women in between the ages of 20-24 years, who were married or in union before the age of 18 in Punjab was 9%, which was lower than the Indian average of 23%.

Honour Killings
As of 2014, Punjab has one of the highest frequency of honour killings in India. Perpetrators are mostly the family members of the victim. A study of 100 sample cases of honour killings in Punjab between 2005 to 2012, revealed that the proportion of cases in which only girl was killed was 41%, cases in which only boy was killed was 12% and the cases in which both girl and boy were killed was 47%.

According to the same study, 40% of the girls were in the age group of 15-19 years and 60% in 20-25 years. According to the study, the most common cause of the killing was inter-caste relationship at 44%, followed by relationship within the same village at 28% and family intolerant to the relationship at 28%.

In the same study, of the 100 cases the caste of the accused has been known in 87 cases, which revealed that in the 80 cases among these the accused belonged to Jat caste. By proportion, 91.75% of the accused belonged to Jat caste, 6.89% to Khatri caste and 1.14% to were Dalits.