Demographic Profile of Women in Rajasthan :

Women of Rajasthan has to perform agricultural practices and contribute a major share of family economy in terms of food grains, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, milk, wool, fuel, fiber, timber etc. The average sex ratio of the region is low. The literacy status of the women is also lower than their male counterpart. The participation of women in the tertiary sector such as medical, teaching, administrative and other official services is lower than the male population. In this part of area, excess workloads coupled with inadequate nutritious food have led normal to severe under-nutrition problem among the women. Women of this rural based region are busy since early morning to late night in various household activities. Consequently 42 % of the total surveyed women fall under the grip of moderate to severe malnutrition. As a result of malnutrition mothers gave birth to low weight babies. 

Demographic profile of women :

Distribution pattern As per census 2011, population of Rajasthan state is 6.86 crores (exactly 68,621,012) of which male and female are 35,550,997 and 32,997,440 respectively. In 2001, total population was 56,507,188 in which males were 29,420,011 while females were 27,087,177. The state has recorded 21.44% growth in last 10 years. The number of males in Rajasthan stands at 35,620,086 while that of females is 33,000,926. As per the provisional results of the Census 2011, Rajasthan has recorded eighth highest population growth in India.

Literacy pattern :

Literacy is an important indicator of socioeconomic and cultural development. It is regarded as both a means and an end of development (Azim, 2005). Literacy is an essential means for eradicating poverty and mental isolation, for cultivating peaceful and friendly international relations and for permitting the free play of demographic process. Literacy is a game-changer in the effort to advance women’s standing in the third world. In Women and Literacy, Marcela Ballara (1992) defines literacy as “the apprenticeship for the knowledge needed to cope with everyday needs, including the individual’s relationship with the surrounding world’’. The importance of literacy need not be stressed-it is an end in itself. Moreover, literacy and schooling are important determinants of economic growth  and women’s education may be especially important for future growth.

The decadal change in literacy rates as total was 21.9 per cent where by residence, it was 25 per cent in rural areas and 10.9 per cent in urban areas, and by gender it was 20.7 per cent in among males and 23.4 per cent among females.

During recent years, Rajasthan has worked on improving education. The state government has been making sustained efforts to raise the education standard. Rajasthan produces 30% CA's of India. Rajasthani are topping in IAS, IIT JEE, science Olympiads. In recent decades, the literacy rate of Rajasthan has increased significantly. In 1991, the state's literacy rate was only 38.55% (54.99% male and 20.44% female). In 2001, the literacy rate increased to 60.41% (75.70% male and 43.85% female). This was the highest leap in the percentage of literacy recorded in India (the rise in female literacy being 23%). At the Census 2011, Rajasthan had a literacy rate of 67.06% (80.51% male and 52.66% female) which is unfortunately less than Cameroon, Egypt and Ghana. Although Rajasthan's literacy rate is below the national average of 74.04% and although its female literacy rate is the lowest in the country, way below the national average of 65.46, and is closely followed by Bihar at 53.33. The state has been praised for its efforts and achievements in raising literacy rates.

Sex ratio :

 In Rajasthan sex ratio (number of females per thousand males) is -928 out of which the urban sex ratio in Rajasthan is 914 and Rural sex ratio in Rajasthan – is 933.

Work force participation :

 The female labor force participation rates increased considerably in the developed countries in recent years. The labor force participation rate plays an increasing trend toward women’s participation in the labor market in both developed and developing countries has drawn both social and academic interest resulting in many insightful studies on gender aspects of labor market issues .

Female workers play very important role in agriculture based Indian economy. They participate in farm and non-farm activities besides domestic work. Now the attitude of the society has also changed and working women is not seen with suspicious eyes like earlier. Females constitute about 48.14% half of the total population in Rajasthan and play a very significant role in the state economy. According to the 2011 census estimates is 29.9 millions, out of which 18.3 millions are males and only 11.6 millions are females. It is more important to highlight that 10.6 millions female are working in rural areas while only 0.98 millions female are engaged as main and marginal workers in urban areas in Rajasthan. Around 77% of total workers and 18% of total urban female workers are engaged as cultivators and agricultural labourers . In recent Year women are playing an important role in the economic development. They contribute significant proportion in gross domestic product through actively participating in industries services and in agricultural activities.

Economic position of females in the state has strengthened and a large share of women worker is engaged in primary sector. Rural women are mostly engaged in agriculture and allied works where they can fulfill their duel responsibility easily and this does not require any special education and training as required for women workers in urban areas. All these factors combines to raise the FWPR ( Female Work Participation Rate) in rural areas while in urban areas the reverse happens and FWPR pushed down.

Nutrition status of women :

 A Study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of 941 adolescent girls, aged 10–18 years belonging to Scheduled Caste communities in rural Rajasthan. Dietary intake was assessed by 24 hours recall method. It was found that the diets were deficient in calories by 30 to 40% in proteins by 25 to 37%, by 39 to 55% in iron and by 10 to 34% in vitamin A. 78% of the subjects suffered from various grades of anaemia and 40% of the subjects had B-complex deficiency. NFHS (1998-99) found that prevalence of anaemia in Rajasthan ,severe anaemia is highest in Rajasthan whereas moderate anaemia is highest in Jharkhand (69.4 %), Bihar (68.2 %) and Odisha (60.9 %) are having the highest percentage of anaemic women among EAG ( Empowered Action Group ) states.

In Rajasthan, the mean age of marriage of women is slightly better at 19.4 years but it is worst in comparison to other big states. The mean age of marriage in the country is 20 years. In Uttar Pradesh too, women gets married at an average age of 19.4 years fares worst in women education in age group of 15-17 years. Uttar Pradesh has the highest reproductive span (years) which is 10 years. Following UP, Rajasthan is at the second spot with women having 9.2 years as reproductive span. The national average reproductive span is 6.6 years which is quite lesser than Rajasthan's reproductive span. This has been revealed in the recently released Sample Registration System (SRS) baseline survey 2014.

 A series of multi-stakeholder dialogues on health care for women and children organised at five district headquarters in Rajasthan over the past month addressed the issues of “weak supply side” and lack of coordination among different government agencies for framing robust district-level health plans. The woman, who appears to be only in her late 30s, keeps groaning as she has lost a lot of blood during her mensuration cycle that lasted for a staggering 20 days. State like Rajasthan where maternal mortality rate is 318, infant mortality rate 55 and child sex ratio is an abysmal 883 girls against 1,000 boys.

                                            The condition of women in Rajasthan is pitiable in comparison to other states. Infamous for child marriages, Rajasthan is among the states having worst sex ratios in the country. Here, women have to collect water from uncovered wells and cook food on firewood. Besides, the desert state also has the worst percentage of girls going to school in 15-17 age group. The women are not well employed too. The reproductive span of women here is second highest in the country. But these are areas where govt. as well society need to  improve the performance.