Educational Status of Women in Odisha

The progress in the spread of education in Odisha, though remarkable in the past decades, remains uneven and unequal across the regions and communities. Based on various secondary data sources, this study has attempted to assess the educational status of women in the state. It examines different aspects of female education, such as gender gap in literacy rate, differences in female literacy rates in rural and urban areas as well as among the social groups and women’s access to education in terms of gross enrolment ratio(GER), drop-out rates etc. at different levels of education.The findings suggest that the educational status of women has improved significantly in Odisha. However, beyond the basic reading and writing skills, women’s educational attainment at the higher levels is not that impressive. Women’s educational attainment has remained highly skewed within the state and among the different social groups. The gender disparity in literacy rate, for example, is found to be very high among Scheduled Tribes. Based on the 2019-20 data on school and higher education, the study has noted that school education is inclusive for the children of all social groups up to elementary education. Beyond that, barriers to educational attainment have been observed at the higher levels, particularly among the girls and other social groups. The high drop-out rates among the girls at the secondary level education are alarming. The study finds a higher concentration of female students in degrees associated with stereotypical ‘feminine’ occupations at higher education