This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

80 Percent of Indian Women Didn't Have Bank Accounts In 2014: UNDP

A Whopping 80 Percent Of India's Women Didn't Have Bank Accounts In 2014
NEW DELHI, INDIA - FEBRUARY 7: Women in queue to cast their vote at Tughlakabad polling station, during the Delhi Assembly Elections 2015, on February 7, 2015 in New Delhi, India. Delhi is headed for a record turnout on Saturday as more than 69.5% of the city's 1.33 crore voters cast their ballot till 5pm. After a slow start in the morning, polling picked up around noon, with scores of people queuing up at booths to exercise their franchise in an electrifying electoral battle that the national capital has never witnessed before. 69.5 per cent of 1.3 voters had been inked by 5 pm on Saturday, as Delhi looked set for a record turnout after a slow morning. There are 673 candidates in the fray now. Voting is taking place in 11,763 centers, located in schools. Many initial voters in middle class and posh areas were early morning walkers. (Photo by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
NEW DELHI, INDIA - FEBRUARY 7: Women in queue to cast their vote at Tughlakabad polling station, during the Delhi Assembly Elections 2015, on February 7, 2015 in New Delhi, India. Delhi is headed for a record turnout on Saturday as more than 69.5% of the city's 1.33 crore voters cast their ballot till 5pm. After a slow start in the morning, polling picked up around noon, with scores of people queuing up at booths to exercise their franchise in an electrifying electoral battle that the national capital has never witnessed before. 69.5 per cent of 1.3 voters had been inked by 5 pm on Saturday, as Delhi looked set for a record turnout after a slow morning. There are 673 candidates in the fray now. Voting is taking place in 11,763 centers, located in schools. Many initial voters in middle class and posh areas were early morning walkers. (Photo by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released the Human Development Report for 2015 and it paints a disturbing picture of gender inequality in Indian society. In the section titled 'Imbalances In Paid And Unpaid Work', it states that 42 percent of the world's women were found to have not had access to bank accounts in 2014. A greater percentage of women in developing countries didn't have access to bank accounts. It added that India was among those countries in which more than 80 percent of the women didn't have access to bank accounts in 2014.

The report states: "And in 38 countries, including India, Mexico, Pakistan and Uganda, more than 80 percent of women are unbanked. By contrast, in Japan and the Republic of Korea more than 90 percent of women have bank accounts."

This inequality is not restricted to just access to bank account. The percentage of India's women using internet was also dismal compared to the percentage of men with access to the internet. The report states that in 2013, only 39 percent of Indian women were using the internet, whereas, 61 percent of men were found to be internet users.

The report provides data from other countries to help us compare internet usage by the two sexes. "In China the percentage was 44 percent for women and 56 percent for men, and in Turkey only 44 percent of women were, compared with 64 percent of men."

Stating that global participation of in world's economy declined in 2014, the report traces the roots to India and China. It says, "Second, globally participation rates for women have fallen slightly in recent years, as have men’s. The drop in the rate for women is due mainly to reductions in India (from 35 percent in 1990 to 27 percent in 2013) and China (from 73 percent in 1990 to 64 percent in 2013."

Contact HuffPost India

Also see on HuffPost:

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.