Social Inequality in the Context of Gender: a Study of Rural West Bengal, India

Abstract

Recent poor ranking of India in the Gender Inequality Index highlights the reality of gender-based discrimination. The article addressed social issues regarding women’s agency, social status, and empowerment by examining negative externalities like intra-household intersectionality and inequalities in rural West Bengal. The authors emphasized the role of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 5 and 8) in uplifting the social status of women. A household-level survey was conducted with a semi-structured survey schedule of 200 respondents and seven Focused Group Discussions (FGD) from 70 participants to unravel the ground reality related to education, income, employment, and domestic violence. We have highlighted the difficulties faced by women in their daily lives. The study enumerates the findings based on mixed methods. The qualitative analysis results give comprehensive information that aids in explaining the causal linkages figured out in the quantitative study. The result shows that low education standard is one of the parameters for underdevelopment as it limits the scope of livelihood. Intrahousehold intersectionality restricted girls and women from getting equal opportunities in education, food, and social services in the locality. Though women contribute almost equally on financial grounds, they are humiliated daily. This research advocates for the required infrastructure and legal and social backing to women, which helps them build integrated, productive employment and decent workforce participation. They promote sustainable economic growth in rural settings to improve women’s living standards. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.