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Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
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Indian Women Are Better Off — But It’s Not All Good News

About 75 percent of women are dependent on rural agriculture for work
  • More women have their own bank accounts, cell phones
  • Sex ratio of men to women rises but many states see declines

A richer India is bringing more cell phones, bank accounts and schooling to women but other signs of female advancement in the $2 trillion economy remain patchy, including the most basic: births.

First, the good news. Education levels among women have risen in the past 10 years, according to the government’s National Family Health Survey 4, released this year. That’s helped push the percentage of women who are literate to 68 percent from 55 percent, though that remains below the male rate of 86 percent.