In August of 2009, the Indian parliament had passed the landmark Right to Education Act. The act allows children from 6 to 14 to get free education. Even though the act has passed, many girls had to drop out of school to help out. Some would drop out even before completing elementary school. In 2018, an estimated 13.5% of girls from the age of 15 to 16 were out of school. This percentage can be seen as the result of various external factors that play into the limitation of girls' education. Such factors include child labor, poverty, gender inequality, pregnancy, early marriage, harassment, and more. 

​

Even if a few amounts of girls do go to school, the facility of school is not a safe place for them. The young girls have to go through obstacles such as lack of toilets and not having an environment where they can feel safe, due to the harassment by adult figures at schools.

 

But the major reason why girls cannot go to school is housework. Girls are forbidden from education by gender role stereotypes and expected to be mothers or wives. Underprivileged girls are more in burden to housework. Studies found that around 40% of girls were out of school, and 65% of them are engaged in housework. McKinsey Global Institute found that 85% of the time, women in India are 10 times underpaid than men.  “Girls who do two hours of housework per day have a 63 percent probability of finishing secondary school,” the 2018 report said. Even though the act has been through, that did not bring many outcomes to girls receiving education. 

​

Education and rights for women have been normalized globally, but girls in India are still suffering from discrimination and controlled by societal norms. Simply a trip to and from school poses many dangers as girls are subjected to various forms of harassment. 

​

In India alone, about 50% of girls that walk to school are sexually harassed. According to the UNGEI, "[g]irls walking down the street, for example, going to or returning from school, become subject of 'female infanticide,' kidnapping, public assault, and acid throwing [including] rape, incest, and harassment through language, trafficking, and forced prostitution."

​

Due to this culture's strong gender bias and male chauvinism rate, girls much after their years of schooling still face vitriol attacks. Many women in India are victims of concentrated acid throwing for showing signs of individualism and independence. This is a direct act of prejudice by men as it is severely dangerous and often ends in death. 

​

Different ranges of literacy rates vary among different Indian states. The highest being at 87.7% in Kerala, and the lowest being 31.1% in Bihar. UNGEI states that "the absolute number of illiterate females has remained almost the same (193 million in 2001 compared with 198 million in 1991). India is still a long way from achieving gender parity in literacy. The current gender parity index is 0.713 in favour of males (a gender gap of almost 22 percentage points)." 

​

All in all, the level of male chauvinism in India poses a serious concern and barrier to achieving gender equality. Girls' voices are being shunned by these men and, therefore, vulnerable to forms of abuse. To move towards gender parity, we need to recognize the voices of girls and their stories. The Government of India must also heed more attention to day-to-day assaults and issue stricter forms of consequences and laws. Due to the prejudice in gender, schooling is viewed as dangerous rather than empowering and safe. Many girls are pulled out by their families for this very concern.

​