Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

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Table 7.14: Crime Against Women Reported in Kerala State During 2003 – Rates per Lakh Population
District Rape Molestation Kidnapping Sexual
Harassment
Dowry
Death
Cruelty by
Husband and
Relatives
Thiruvananthapuram 1.39 10.08 0.62 0.28 0.28 9.71 26.28
Pattanamitta 1.06 7.63 0.00 0.00 0.16 9.42 19.89
Kollam 2.05 12.27 0.43 0.00 0.19 14.12 30.49
Alappuzha 0.47 5.89 0.57 0.09 0.14 8.45 15.96
Idukki 1.24 8.24 0.00 0.53 0.00 9.21 20.02
Kottayam 1.28 7.22 0.51 0.51 0.00 5.89 15.46
Ernakulam 1.07 3.52 0.26 0.00 0.06 2.97 12.59
Thrissur 0.97 5.28 0.24 0.34 0.10 7.53 22.35
Palakkad 1.80 5.35 0.04 0.15 0.11 8.18 17.54
Malappuram 1.16 1.57 0.11 0.06 0.06 12.67 22.67
Kozhikode 1.18 4.38 0.24 0.35 0.10 12.75 29.43
Wayanad 2.54 6.36 0.00 0.25 0.13 10.81 42.84
Kannur 0.54 2.69 0.08 0.12 0.00 7.21 16.33
Kasargod 1.25 5.90 0.33 0.25 0.00 5.48 24.35
Kerala 1.23 5.87 0.27 0.19 0.10 9.03 21.84
Source: State Crime Records Bureau.
Total
4. Concluding Observations
As is often the case, some of the discouraging features
of Kerala’s socio-economic landscape today are a
product of what one might call the `excesses of success.’
Chapter 7 deals with these issues, with specific reference
to the problem of educated unemployment and aspects of
female disadvantage, which are not commonly picked up
by human development indicators. The chapter suggests that
despite high unemployment levels, the desire for enhancing
educational qualifications is strong, perhaps understandably
so, because unemployment is a declining function of
educational qualification beyond the secondary school level.
The problem of educated unemployment is particularly stark
among women: There are strong indications that education
has combined with conservative gender norms leading to
differentiation in male and female employment streams but
also in defining much stronger employment preferences
among women. Unemployment among the youth is also
very high in Kerala. The absence of any significant ruralurban
difference in Kerala’s unemployment distribution
suggests that unemployment in this State is probably more
`open’ than `disguised’. Insofar as the `recognition’
aspect of unemployment is concerned, it appears that a
higher proportion of men than women find their jobs not
commensurate with their qualifications: While this may be
on account of the significant proportion of employed women
who have regular employment, the influence of differences
in women’s expectations cannot be discounted.
Chapter 7 also explores the question of women’s relative
disadvantage in terms of property rights and violence.
An uncritical appreciation of social reform in Kerala
masks its formative influence in advancing gender as
the basis of social difference, manifested starkly in the
negotiation of new marriage and property laws/customs.
These reforms and the consolidation of marriage as
the dominant framework of women’s property rights
speak directly to women’s contemporary disadvantage
in property rights through the `thinning’ of parental
inheritance and the growing importance of dowry and
spousal inheritance. More direct violations of personal
liberty are reflected in statistics on crimes against
women: An analysis of National Crime Records Bureau
data suggests that Kerala figures prominently in the
prevalence of domestic cruelty. The picture might well
survive even after adjusting for the possibility of better
crime reporting (associated with higher levels of literacy).
In sum, an examination of employment, unemployment,
property rights and violence suggests that patriarchy
has been reconstituted through social reform and has
endured in and through social development in Kerala.
Having appraised various aspects of human development
and growth in Kerala, and also subjected this experience to
critical evaluation in terms of certain crucial areas of both
promise-bearing and cautionary concern, one must now
consider where and how Kerala might go in the time to come.
This is the subject of enquiry in the following chapter.