Editing Kerala model (section)

== Gender ==
Kerala has the highest score on the [[Gender Development Index|Gender Development index]] in India, as demonstrated by the relatively high literacy rate, sex ratio, and mean age at marriage for women, as well as low fertility and infant mortality rates compared to the rest of the country.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kumar |first=B. Pradeep |date=2020-12-01 |title=Does Gender Status Translate into Economic Participation of Women? Certain Evidence from Kerala |journal=Shanlax International Journal of Economics |volume=1 |issue=9 |pages=50–56 |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/104878/1/MPRA_paper_104878.pdf |language=en |location=Rochester, NY |doi=10.34293/economics.v9i1.3546 |ssrn=3785204|s2cid=229368586 }}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last1=Mitra |first1=Aparna |last2=Singh |first2=Pooja |date=December 2007 |title=Human Capital Attainment and Gender Empowerment: The Kerala Paradox |url=https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00500.x |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=88 |issue=5 |pages=1227–1242 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00500.x |issn=0038-4941|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parthiban |first=Dr Shahana A. M., Dr A. Sivakumar & Mr V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6AI1EAAAQBAJ&q=gender+equality+kerala |title=THE OPPORTUNITIES OF UNCERTAINTIES: FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTATION NEEDED IN CURRENT CLIMATE Volume I (Social Science and ICT) |date=2021-06-25 |publisher=Lulu Publication |isbn=978-1-300-39724-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last=Chacko |first=Elizabeth |date=2003 |title=Marriage, Development, and the Status of Women in Kerala, India |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4030640 |journal=Gender and Development |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=52–59 |doi=10.1080/741954317 |issn=1355-2074 |jstor=4030640 |s2cid=71356583|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In fact, women in Kerala have played a crucial role in increasing the state's literacy rates, with the mobilization of educated, unemployed women making up two-thirds of volunteer teachers involved in the literacy drive during a 1990 campaign to eliminate illiteracy.<ref name=":11" /> The literacy gap between males and females in India is lowest in Kerala, with the female literacy rate just 5% lower than that of males.<ref name=":10" />  Moreover, as of 2021, the life expectancy for females is 79.98 years in Kerala compared to 72.09 years in India as a whole.<ref name=":0" /> The infant mortality rate is 7 per 1,000 live births in Kerala,<ref name=":7" /> as opposed to 28 in India.<ref name=":8" /> Another indicator of gender equality and women's health is the [[Maternal mortality in India|maternal mortality]] rate, which is 53.59 per 100,000 live births in Kerala and 178.35 in the rest of India.<ref name=":0" />

Historically, women in Kerala are thought to have possessed more autonomy relative to other Indian states, which is often attributed to its [[Matrilineality|matrilineal]] structure which ultimately changed into a [[Patrilineality|patrilineal]] system in the 20th century.<ref name=":14">{{Cite thesis |last=Håberg |first=Ingunn |date=2020 |title=Men: a missing factor in SDG 5? A study on gender equality in Kerala with a focus on men's attitudes towards women |type=MA |publisher=Oslo Metropolitan University |url=https://oda.oslomet.no/oda-xmlui/handle/10642/9195 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Erwér |first=Monica |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/61115319 |title=Challenging the genderparadox : women's collective agency in the transformation of Kerala politics |date=2003 |publisher=Dept. of Peace and Development Research, Göteborg University |oclc=61115319}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jeffrey |first=Robin |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1083463758 |title=Politics, Women and Well-Being : How Kerala Became 'a Model'. |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan Limited |isbn=978-1-349-12252-3 |oclc=1083463758}}</ref><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Grover |first=Shalini |date=2015-05-04 |title=Women, Gender, and Everyday Social Transformation in India |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2015.1053296 |journal=Gender & Development |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=387–390 |doi=10.1080/13552074.2015.1053296 |issn=1355-2074 |s2cid=141504763|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Matriliny, in which property was inherited collectively through the female line, was largely practiced by the Hindu Nair caste as well as some other upper-caste Hindus such as the Ezhavas and even some Muslims, who are exclusively patriarchal in other parts of India.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":12" /> However, Christian succession laws in the early 20th century in Kerala were severely restrictive against women. For instance, unmarried daughters could only claim between a quarter and a third of each son's share of paternal property, or 5,000 rupees, whichever was less, if the father died without making a will. In all other instances, daughters' inheritances were restricted to dowries. These laws were challenged when [[Mary Roy]], a [[Syrian Christianity in India|Syrian Christian]] woman who had not received a [[dowry]] sued her brother to gain equal access to their inheritance. She ultimately won the case and it was considered a landmark ruling for female succession. Beginning in the 1920s, the Hindu matriarchal system fragmented, especially once the Travancore Nayar Regulation Act of 1925 was passed, which was initiated by the British and began the transition to a strictly patriarchal structure.<ref name=":11" /> By the 1970s, the matrilineal system had virtually disappeared and the Kerala family organization became exclusively patrilineal and women's rights to property were significantly restricted.<ref name=":12" />

Though women in Kerala are highly educated, recent studies have called attention to the "gender paradox" in Kerala, in which despite the literacy and education of women in Kerala, they are still oppressed in similar or greater regards by the patriarchy relative to other Indian states.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14" /> Societal and cultural norms are argued by scholars to continue to restrict women's freedoms and maintain their subservience to men both at home and in the labor market. High female unemployment rates, discrimination in the labor market, and elevated female suicide rates and gender-based violence, are all indicators of the "gender paradox" in Kerala.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":11" /> In addition, the persistence of the long-standing tradition of dowry across lines of caste, class, and religion, and the finding that women do about twenty times as much housework as men in Kerala suggest the restricted autonomy and oppression that Kerala women continue to face.<ref name=":11" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simister |first=John |date=April 2011 |title=Assessing the 'Kerala Model': Education is Necessary but Not Sufficient |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097317411100600101 |journal=Journal of South Asian Development |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1177/097317411100600101 |issn=0973-1741 |s2cid=153551223|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Furthermore, economic participation and involvement of women is declining in Kerala, and male casual laborers receive almost double that of women.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pradeep Kumar |first=B |date=2020-12-01 |title=Does Gender Status Translate into Economic Participation of Women? Certain Evidence from Kerala |journal=Shanlax International Journal of Economics |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=50–56 |doi=10.34293/economics.v9i1.3546 |issn=2582-0192 |s2cid=229368586|doi-access=free }}</ref> However, some policies such as the [[National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005|Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme]] (MGNREGS) and [[Kutumbashree|Kudumbashree]] microenterprises have promoted female entrepreneurship, encouraged women's economic empowerment, and decreased gender disparities in Kerala, according to academic literature analyzing gender sensitive policies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ali |first1=Hyfa M. |last2=George |first2=Leyanna S. |date=2019-09-30 |title=A qualitative analysis of the impact of Kudumbashree and MGNREGA on the lives of women belonging to a coastal community in Kerala |journal=Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=2832–2836 |doi=10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_581_19 |issn=2249-4863 |pmc=6820395 |pmid=31681651 |doi-access=free }}</ref>