20 million missing women

How do you count 1.2 billion people? The Indian government are working on this precise issue at the moment: 2011 sees the next census, where not only is every single citizen to be counted, but all over the age of 15 are going to be given an ID card. The mind boggles at the extent of the work and challenges involved. Not only are there the challenges of collecting data about all citizens, including migrants, Muslim women in purdah, and those living in huge slum colonies, but there are also perplexing difficulties concerning what questions should be asked. Whether caste should be included has been a hot topic. On the one hand gathering such data would be used to inform government policy for the disadvantaged – the pragmatic viewpoint is that caste is evident in Indian society today and therefore the government needs data so they are as well informed as possible. On the other hand, by including the question the government are perpetuating the issue of caste and caste distinctions, and through this are giving it more credibility when many believe it should be obsolete in a modern India.

Another important question, and more pertinent to my work, is whether there should be questions on disability. In theory, of course the government needs to know the extent of its disabled population. However, in practice the question has not always been included, partly because it is very difficult to frame: how do you define disability? How do you define whether someone is visually impaired – whether they wear glasses? There was no disability question in 1991, but a question was included in 2001. However, the question was inadequately framed – it did not include all forms of disability, and the census enumerators found it difficult to recognise when to define someone as disabled. According to the data generated by the 2001 census, 2.1% of the population are disabled. The UN estimates, on the other hand, are around 6%.

This means that 20 million disabled women were not counted in the last census. This is 20 million women who have been invisible in government policy for the last 10 years, who have not been taken into account in the allocation of resources or budgets.

It is therefore crucial that the government gains a more accurate picture this time round. Not only does this necessitate a more accurate framing of the question, and training of the census enumerators, but it also requires disabled women to stand up and be counted. It is thought that last time round many disabled women were unwilling to be counted due to shame and the stigma associated with disability.

To address these issues AWWD arranged a census seminar with disabled women, people from other NGOs, and government officials. The Census Commissioner for West Bengal and the Disability Commissioner both came and spoke about what their respective departments are doing about the issue, which was very positive. Disability groups have been more involved in the framing of the question this time, and it is likely they will be involved in training census enumerators. Now we need to spread the word among disabled women to stand up and be counted.