Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs

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Muslim Women in India: Status of Demographic,

Socioeconomic and Health Inequalities

Ramphul Ohlan

To cite this article: Ramphul Ohlan (2020) Muslim Women in India: Status of Demographic,
Socioeconomic and Health Inequalities, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 40:3, 429-440, DOI:
10.1080/13602004.2020.1813991

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1813991

Published online: 09 Sep 2020.

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Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2020
Vol. 40, No. 3, 429–440, https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1813991

Muslim Women in India: Status of Demographic,

Socioeconomic and Health Inequalities

RAMPHUL OHLAN

Abstract
This paper examines the comparative status of demographic, socioeconomic and
health inequalities experienced by Muslim minority women in the Indian context.
To do so, the socioeconomic conditions of Muslim women are compared with those
of other minorities and majority religions by using the latest available data. The
empirical analysis indicates that Muslim women are relatively educationally and
economically backward in India. The socioeconomic condition of women of almost
all other minorities is better off than that of Muslims. The paper also goes to
examine the level of economic freedom enjoyed by the women of different minorities.
It is found that the participation of women of the Muslim minority in household
economic decision-making is relatively low. The findings of this study provide justi-
fication for the continuation of the provision of special treatment for Muslim women
through government policies for improving the level of their socioeconomic develop-
ment.

Keywords: Muslim women; education; employment; economic freedom; health; social

mobility; India

Introduction
This study investigates the comparative status of demographic, socioeconomic and health
inequalities experienced by Muslim minority women in the context of India. India is the
world’s second-largest populous country. With a share of 14.2% in India’s total popu-
lation, Muslims form the largest minority of the country. Indian Muslims represent the
world’s third-largest population of this religion. It makes up 11% of the world’s total
Muslim population. Gender inequality is one of the major social problems faced by
India. According to the global gender gap report for the year 2018, India ranks 108th
out of 149 countries. The economically disadvantaged Indian women faced the
problem of inequalities not only due to their class and gender but also due to their reli-
gion.1
The problem of illiteracy, poor health and unemployment can be expected to more
prevalent in socioeconomically backward communities, especially in minority commu-
nities.2 The benefits of social welfare schemes launched by the government have not
been properly harnessed by Muslims.3 According to official estimates, about 43% of
the Muslims are poor and their literacy level is below the national average. The share

Ramphul Ohlan is working at Institute of Management Studies and Research, Maharshi Dayanand Uni-
versity, Rohtak, Haryana, India. His research interest lies in the social and economic inclusion of all sec-
tions of society. His research papers published in top-tier journals have been cited widely.

© 2020 Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs

430 Ramphul Ohlan

of Muslims in government jobs and cabinet is less than their share in the total population
of the country. The life of women in this economically backward minority is harder than
that of men. In other words, the socioeconomic backwardness among Muslims is more
proverbial in the case of women.
As shown in the next sections, the socioeconomic condition of women in Muslim min-
ority is worse than that of women of other minorities. The work participation rate of
Muslim women is low and they are mainly engaged in low remunerative self-employment
activities. Their literacy rate is relatively low. Access of Muslim women to health services
is limited. The mainstreaming of a large section of marginalized Muslim women requires
active intervention by government and non-governmental organizations. It is, therefore,
instructive to know the way forward for improvement in the status of Muslim women’s
socioeconomic development.
Having briefly introduced the study, next we provide a rationale for conducting a study
on women of the Muslim minority. In this way, it analyses the demographic and socio-
economic trends among Muslim women in India in a comparative perspective. It is fol-
lowed by a discussion on Muslim women’s participation in economic decision-making.
In this process, we analyse the comparative status of health of Muslim women. Finally,
it summarizes the main findings and offers their policy implications for improving the
level of socioeconomic development of women of the Muslim minority.

Why Muslim Women?

The proper utilization of the capacities of the people of all sections of society is necessary
for achieving the full potential level of socioeconomic development of a country. Women
discrimination in developmental opportunities is an old problem in India. They are yet to
get their due share in fruits of economic growth witnessed by the county.4 Muslims are
marginalized in terms of most of the dimensions of socioeconomic development. The
prevalence of socioeconomic backwardness increases the chances of restriction to live
full and active lives.
An emerging body of research shows that level of socioeconomic development and
quality of life achieved by people of different segments of society vary considerably
with religion.5 Women’s access to economic resources also varies with religion.6 The
dominant religion in India is Hindu. The Muslim population in India is far below that
of the Hindu. The quality of life of the Muslim community in India is poor compared
to that of other religious communities.
The participation of Muslim women is limited in household decision-making. Muslim
men check women’s participation in public life and restrict their social mobility. In many
Muslim families, women are not considered as a primary economic agent. These acts
affect women economic self-sufficiency.7 There is an urgent need for active intervention
by government and non-governmental organizations to ensure Muslim women’s full and
equal participation in socioeconomic activities as Indian citizens.

Demographic Profile of Muslim Women

We begin by presenting demographic information about Indian Muslims in terms of their
share in total population, sex ratio and decadal growth rate of population in Table 1. As
seen from Table 1 that Muslims constituted 14.23% of Indian population in 2011.
However, the share of Muslim population in India’s total population varies substantially
across states and even within a state. For instance, in Jammu and Kashmir state
 Muslim Women in India 431

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of muslims in India.

Decadal growth rate

Year Muslim population Women Men Sex ratio of Muslim population

2001 138,188,240 66,814,106 71,374,134 1.936 29.56%

(13.43%) (13.46%) (13.41%) 2.(933) (21.54%)
2011 172,245,158 83,971,213 88,273,945 1.951 19.77%
(14.23%) (14.29%) (14.16%) 2.(943) (17.72%)

Note: Figures in parentheses in Columns 2–4 are share of Muslim population in India’s total population,
while that of in Columns 5–6 are sex ratio and decadal growth rate of total population.
Source: Calculated using data available in Census of India 2011.

Muslims form majority religion with a share of 68.31% of the state total population in
2011. In most of the other states, namely Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Megha-
laya, Manipur, Orissa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, Muslims account for
less than 10% of India’s total population during the same period. In some states like
Punjab, Mizoram and Sikkim Muslims make up less than 2% of the total population on
the other hand. It is pertinent to mention here that Muslims enjoy minority status through-
out India irrespective of state-level variations in their representation in the population.
The data presented in the last Column of Table 1 confirm a slowdown in the growth
rate of India’s population during the last decade—came down from 21.54% during
1991–2001 to 17.72% during 2001–2011. While decadal growth rates of population
have been weakened among all religious communities, this drop is stronger among
Muslims than among non-Muslims. The growth rate of Muslim population was fallen
from 29.56% during the decade of 1991–2001 to 19.77% during the decade of 2001–
2011. The gap between growth rates of Muslim and all-religion population has been nar-
rowed—the difference came down from 8.02 percentage points during 1991–2001 to
2.05 percentage points during 2001–2011. However, the growth rate of Muslims is still
faster than that of the national average. Accordingly, the share of Muslims in India’s
population went up marginally from 13.43% in 2001 to 14.23% in 2011. In the figure,
Muslims jumped up by 3.41 crore during the same period. The population of other reli-
gions has grown up by 14.81 crore during the same period. The observed high fertility
among Muslims matches with their relatively low access to education and poor economic
condition.
The other important demographic dimension is sex ratio, measured as the number of
women per 1000 men. The sex ratio of the country has been improved considerably over
the last decade—went up from 933 in 2001 to 943 in 2011. The sex ratio among Muslims
is better than that of the country’s overall average. In addition, the improvement in sex
ratio is larger among Muslims—improved from 936 in 2001 to 951 in 2011. The differ-
ence between Muslim and national average sex ratio widened from 3 per thousand in
2001 to 8 per thousand in 2011.

Growth of Muslims Working Age Population

The information on the growth of Muslim working-age population in India is given in
Table 2. The proportion of Muslim women in working-age population (15–59 years
age) is slightly higher than that of Muslim men. Specifically, 57.08% of Muslim
women were in working-age group against 56.91% of Muslim men in 2011.
432 Ramphul Ohlan

Table 2. Muslim working age population in India—2001–2011 (in %).

Percentage of working age Percentage of Muslim Decadal growth of

population in Muslim workforce in India’s total Muslim working age
total population in 2011 workforce in 2011 population, 2001–2011

Women Men Women Men Women Men

57.08 56.91 13.52 13.38 36.11 32.75

Source: Same as in Table 1.

It is noticeable here that the representation of women in Muslim working-age popu-

lation varies from state to state. Among the major states of India, the presence of
Muslim women in working-age was highest in Goa (64.31%) and lowest in Tamil
Nadu (47.15%) in 2011.
The proportion of Muslim population in working-age group has grown up during the
decade of 2001–2011. A glance at the last column of Table 2 makes it clear that the
growth occurred in working-age group Muslim population is more robust in the case
of women. Muslim women working-age population witnessed a growth of 36.11%
during the decade of 2001–2011. This growth in Muslim women of working-age group
is higher than that of non-Muslim women which recorded an improvement of 24.15%
during the same period. The percentage of working-age group Muslim women in their
total population has been improved by 4.38 points, which stood at 52.70% in 2001.
While in the case of Muslim men, this change in the composition of population is
recorded by 3.89 percentage points. However, Muslims still constitute the lowest share
in India’s working-age population. For instance, in the case of non-Muslim population,
60.89% of women were in working-age group in 2011. It may be concluded from the
above discussion that the proportion of Muslim women in their working-age population
is still below that of the non-Muslim women.

Muslim Women Workforce Participation Rate

The majority of Muslim population resides in rural areas. Table 3 provides information
on the workforce participation rate of Muslim and non-Muslim women and men
measured on a rural and urban basis for the years 2001 and 2011, respectively.
Table 3 portrays that the average workforce participation rate of Muslim women was
much below Muslim men. The situation was worst in the case of urban areas. Their
work participation rates were markedly different from other communities. For instance,

Table 3. Workforce participation rate of Muslim and non-Muslim women and men in India, 2001 and
2011 (in %).

Muslim Non-Muslim

Women Men Women Men

Year Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural

2001 12.17 29.89 75.77 82.60 18.63 51.91 74.73 83.44

2011 15.44 27.91 75.76 79.47 22.65 47.74 75.64 79.84

Source: Calculated using data available in Census of India, 2001 and 2011.
 Muslim Women in India 433

the workforce participation rate of Muslim women was far below than that of the non-
Muslim women.
A comparison of data reported in Table 3 brought out that the work participation rate
of Muslim women in rural India declined from 29.89% in 2001 to 27.91% in 2011. In the
case of Haryana, the rate dropped by 37.59 percentage points during the same period.
This is partially due to the faster growth in Muslim women population and a sharp fall
in number of Muslim women main workers and marginal workers.8 The lowest work-
force participation of Muslim women led to overall lowest share of Muslim people
among all religious communities. This situation has not changed much from the last
decade. This indicates a stasis in economic status of Muslim women. It may be added
here that a high proportion of Muslim population is engaged in service and industry
sectors. On the other hand, Hindu community is predominantly working in the agricul-
ture sector.

Educational Attainment of Muslim Women

The distribution of educational attainment of Muslim and non-Muslim households
measured in terms of number of years of schooling completed and median number of
years of schooling completed in the year 2015–16 is given in Table 4. A look at
Column 2 of Table 4 makes it clear that the proportion of women with no schooling is
higher than that of men irrespective of their religious background. Similarly, the
median number of years of schooling completed is low for women in comparison to
men. Among different religious groups, the percentage of both women and men
without any schooling is highest in Muslims with a value of 32.3% and 19.8, respectively.
Likewise, the median number of years of schooling among Muslims was lowest with a
value of 3.7 for women and 4.8 for men against 9.6 for Jain women and 10.7 for Jain
men. The same is true for percentage of households that have completed 12 or more
years of schooling. Clearly, Jain households enjoy the highest level of education, while
Muslims suffer from the problem of poor education. According to NFHS-4 (2015), edu-
cational attainment of women increases with economic earnings of a household. A low
rate of literacy among Muslim women may be due to their poor economic condition.

Ownership of Assets by Muslim and Non-Muslim Women

It can be seen from Table 5 that women’s ownership of property is much less than that of
men. For instance, 65.4% of Hindu men enjoy the ownership of a house alone or jointly
with someone, while this figure is only 37.8% in the case of Hindu women. The gender-
based disparity in property ownership is highest in Muslims and lowest in Jains. About
25% of Muslim women own land alone or jointly, while this figure is 29% for Hindu
women and 30.8% for Jain women. Similarly, 63.4% of Muslim women own a mobile
phone for personal use, while 72.1% of Jain women keep a personal cell phone. Accord-
ing to the data reported in NFHS-4, ownership of mobile phones increases with the edu-
cational attainment of women. The difference in ownership of mobile phones between
Muslim and non-Muslim women may be due to a difference in educational attainment.

Earnings of Muslim Women

Table 6 provides a glimpse of comparative information on the extent of women’s cash
earnings measured in terms of percentage. A cursory look at Table 6 makes it clear
434 Ramphul Ohlan

Table 4. Educational attainment of women in Muslim and non-Muslim households in 2015 (in %).

Women’s level of schooling (years completed):

Median no.
of years
Religion 0 <5 5–7 8-9 10-11 ≥12 completed

Hindu 31.4 (14.5) 15.7(17.2) 16.2(17.3) 12.9(16.4) 9.6(13.3) 14.0(21.0) 4.4 (7.1)
Muslim 32.3 (19.8) 19.5(22.5) 18.3(19.6) 12.3(14.8) 8.3(10.3) 9.2(12.7) 3.7 (4.8)
Christian 18.8 (11.9) 16.2(16.1) 16.2(17.0) 13.9(15.7) 12.9(15.7) 21.9(23.4) 6.8 (7.7)
Sikh 24.9 (15.8) 10.2(11.5) 18.2(16.7) 11.8(13.8) 13.8(18.1) 21.0(24.0) 6.2 (7.7)
Buddhist 23.5 (8.8) 16.2(20.1) 16.6(13.6) 18.1(19.3) 10.3(14.9) 15.1(23.2) 6.1 (8.1)
Jain 5.8 (1.6) 10.8(10.0) 15.4(10.3) 9.6(10.6) 19.7(18.8) 38.4(48.3) 9.6 (10.7)

Note: Figures in parentheses are respective information for men.

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015–
2016.

Table 5. Ownership of assets by Muslim and non-Muslim women and men in 2015 (in %).

Women Men

Joint or single Joint or single Own a Joint or single Joint or single

ownership of a ownership of personal cell ownership of a ownership of
Religion house land phone house land

Hindu 37.8 29.0 45.5 65.4 50.2

Muslim 34.1 24.9 43.8 64.6 44.9
Christian 38.9 28.9 63.4 65.8 48.1
Sikh 30.2 22.4 54.9 57.9 33.6
Buddhist 27.6 18.1 49.0 52.6 29.3
Jain 37.4 30.8 72.1 56 32.9

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015–
2016.

Table 6. Women’s cash earnings compared with their husband’s cash earnings across religions in 2015 (in %).

Religion More Less Same Husband without earnings Don’t know/missing

Hindu 19.3 52.8 23.7 3.3 0.9

Muslim 17.2 56.8 18.5 6 1.5
Christian 25 49.9 20.5 3.8 0.7
Sikh 10 56.7 31.3 1.5 0.5
Buddhist 19.5 57.2 21.7 1.5 0.2

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015–
2016.

that relative income of women is far below their husbands irrespective of religion back-
ground. In the case of Muslims, 56.8% of women say that they earn less than their hus-
bands. The proportion of women having earning less than their husbands is highest in
Buddhist with a value of 57.2% and lowest in Christian (49.9%). A higher proportion
(45.5%) of Christian women earns the same or more than their husbands. On the
other hand, only 17.2% of Muslim women earn higher than their husbands. The cash
 Muslim Women in India 435

earnings of 18.5% of Muslim women are found equal to that of their husbands. At the
same time, 6% of Muslim women say that their husbands do not earn. Likewise, 1.5%
of Muslim women do not know about the earnings of their husbands.

Economic Freedom for Muslim Women

The information on Muslim and non-Muslim women’s access to money and microcredit
is given in Table 7.
A glance at Column 2 of Table 7 shows that only 39% of Muslim women kept money
for personal expenditure. On the other hand, 65.6% of Jain women keep money for their
own use. Similarly, proportion of women having a bank or savings account that they
themselves use varies from 44.5% for Muslim women to 69.7% for Jain women.
In addition, the proportion of women having knowledge of microcredit programme is
least among Muslim women (35.4%) and highest among Christian women. Only 5.6%
of Muslim women take a loan from a microcredit programme. At the same time,
12.5% of Christian women have borrowed a loan from a microcredit programme.

Control over Muslim Women’s Cash Earnings

Table 8 shows control over women’s cash earning as measured in terms of percentage dis-
tribution of person who decides how women’s cash earnings are used according to their
religion. Among Muslims, 26.3% of women are the sole decision makers regarding the
utilization of their earnings. It may be noted here that the proportion of women who
are sole decision makers regarding use of their earning is highest among Muslims in com-
parison to other minorities as well as Hindus (20.1%). This analysis provides preliminary
evidence that economic violence is least among Muslim women. Similarly, 82% of cur-
rently married Muslim women admit that they make decisions alone or jointly with their
husbands on the way of the utilization of their cash earnings. The proportion of such
women is highest among Sikhs (88.6%). For 16.5% of Muslim women, life partner
was the sole decision maker on the utilization of their cash earnings. The proportion of
women for which husband is the sole decision maker for the use of their earning is
highest among Hindus (17.1%) and lowest among Sikhs (9.6%). As reported in
NFHS-4 (2015) husband or others’ control over women’s earnings tends to decrease

Table 7. Muslim and non-Muslim women’s access to money and microcredit (in %).

Women’s knowledge and use of microcredit

Women’s access to money programmes

Women having Women having Women having Women having loan

money for personal personal bank knowledge of source of from formal source of
Religion use (%) account (%) formal credit (%) credit (%)

Hindu 41.9 54.0 41.3 8.1

Muslim 39.3 44.5 35.4 5.6
Christian 41.2 66.9 52.2 12.5
Sikh 41.9 59.5 44.1 2.5
Buddhist 57.7 55.6 46 6.6
Jain 65.6 69.7 45.6 5.7

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015–
2016.
436 Ramphul Ohlan

Table 8. The control over women’s cash earnings among Muslims and non-Muslims (in %).

Decision maker for the pattern of utilization of wife’s cash earnings:

Religion Primarily wife Wife and husband Primarily husband Other

Hindu 20.1 61.6 17.1 1.2

Muslim 26.3 55.8 16.5 1.3
Christian 22.4 63.8 13 0.8
Sikh 19 68.4 9.6 3
Buddhist 24.5 64.1 11 0.4

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4),
2015–2016.

only a little with women schooling and wealth, and is lower in urban than rural areas.
However, women’s control over their own earnings was positively related to the wealth
index.

Muslim Women’s Participation in Economic Decision-Making

It is clear from Table 9 that large variation exists among Muslim and non-Muslim
men’s attitudes towards a wife’s participation in economic decision-making measured
in terms of major household purchases, purchases for daily household needs and the
use of money earned by wife. Men among Muslims have low egalitarian attitudes
towards their wife’s role in economic decision-making. For example, for the use of
money earned by wife, 82.7% of Muslims men are to admit that wife could enjoy an
equal right against 96.2% men among Sikh. Egalitarian attitudes regarding women’s
role in household major and daily use purchases are most prevalent for men among
Jains.
The proportion of gender-egalitarian men, who admit that a wife should have an equal
or greater participation in household economic decision-making, increases with an
increase in their level of schooling and the wealth index (NFHS-4 2015). Low egalitarian
attitudes of Muslims towards women participation in household economic making may
be due to their poor economic condition and low educational status.

Table 9. Muslim and non-Muslim men’s attitudes toward wife’s participation in economic decision-
making in 2015.

Percentage of husband admitting that a woman could enjoy an equal or greater right than him
on economic matters:

Participating in family main Participating in family usual Money the wife

Religion economic decisions economic decisions earns

Hindu 72.3 79.3 84.4

Muslim 70.9 75.1 82.7
Christian 73.5 79.9 87.2
Sikh 68.7 85.6 96.2
Buddhist 77.7 83.1 88
Jain 80.4 86.1 90.1

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4),
2015–2016.
 Muslim Women in India 437

Health Profiles of Muslim and Non-Muslim Women

Table 10 shows the health condition of women belonging to different social groups
measured in terms of hospitalization cases reported during a year. It can be seen from
Table 10 that the percentage of ailing women is higher than men in both rural and
urban areas. It implies comparatively poor health of women. Both in rural and urban
areas the proportion of hospitalization was reported higher for Muslim women than
Hindu women, which form the majority in India. It indicates a comparatively poor
health condition of Muslim women.

Usage of Hospital Facilities by Muslim and Non-Muslim Women

Information on the pattern of delivery hospitalization of Muslim and non-Muslim women
on an urban–rural basis in 2014 is given in Table 11. It is generally held that in India
private hospitals provide better maternal care than a public hospital.9 The level of care
measured in terms of use of private hospital for childbirth is low for Muslims at 28.7%
in rural area and 49.1% in an urban area against all religions average of 30% and
52.6%, respectively.

Table 10. Hospitalization cases of Muslim and non-Muslim women in 2014 (% in a year).

Rural Urban Total

Religion Men Women Men Women Men Women

Hindu 3.37 3.51 4.11 4.59 3.58 3.81

Muslim 3.06 3.71 4.01 4.35 3.41 3.95
Jain 4.67 8.77 4.78 3.94 4.77 4.22
Christian 5.35 6.37 5.65 8.62 5.46 7.27
Sikh 3.41 4.20 4.54 3.61 3.70 4.04
Buddha 5.13 3.74 4.67 4.09 4.97 3.85
Zoroaster 20.88 36.14 2.95 11.03 8.47 20.19
All Religions 3.37 3.60 4.15 4.64 3.61 3.91

Source: Author calculation based on data available in NSS Report No. 574: Health in India, 2014.

Table 11. Pattern of delivery hospitalization of Muslim and non-Muslim women in 2014 (% of
hospitalized cases).

Rural area Urban area

Religion HSC and PHC Public Hospital Private HSC and PHC Public Hospital Private

Hindu 18.1 51.8 30.1 3.4 43.4 53.2

Muslim 17.9 53.4 28.7 5.7 45.2 49.1
Jain 20.9 43.3 35.8 0 23.8 76.2
Christian 20.5 45.8 33.7 2.2 37.9 59.9
Sikh 5.5 56.7 37.8 3.7 40.6 55.7
Buddha 28.8 51.9 19.3 3.0 55.5 41.5
Zoroaster 0 0 0 0 0 100
All Religions 18.0 52.0 30.0 3.8 43.6 52.6

Source: Author calculation based on data available in NSS Report No. 574: Health in India, 2014.
438 Ramphul Ohlan

The delivery hospitalization in Muslims is far less than other minority communities,
viz. Jain, Christian, Sikh and Zoroaster. The level of use of childbirth care for all social
groups is higher in an urban area than rural areas. However, the difference between
Muslims and non-Muslims’ institutional deliveries is also higher in urban areas. It
means that Muslim women use comparative low institutional delivery services even in
urban areas. It is interesting to note here that for delivery purpose Zoroaster uses services
of only private hospitals.

Teenage Pregnancy and Motherhood in Muslim and Non-Muslim Women

Table 12 gives information on the problem of teenage pregnancy measured in terms of
percentage of women of age 15–19 years who have had a live birth, pregnant with first
child and childbearing. The problem of teenage pregnancy is relatively high in Muslim
women with a share of 3.1% of women who have had a live birth during the teenage,
while 2.7% of Hindu women have such experience. Now, it is worthwhile to note that
Jain women are free from the problem of teenage pregnancy. Again, 5.9% of Muslim
women have had a live birth. Similarly, 9% of Muslim women have begun childbearing
in teenage, which is less than the level in other minority women and Hindu women.
According to the National Family Health Survey report (2015), the level of teenage preg-
nancy decreases with an increasing level of schooling and wealth index. As noted above,
the education and wealth status of Muslim women is low in comparison to non-Muslim
women. It appears from our analysis that high teenage pregnancy in Muslim women is
correlated with their low level of schooling and poor wealth condition.

Fertility of Muslim Women

Table 13 shows the extent of variations in the fertility of women of different religious
background measured in terms of total fertility rate, proportion of pregnant women
and mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49. A cursory look at Table
13 reveals that Muslim women have the highest fertility measured in terms of all three
indicators. The average number of children ever born by Muslim women is 1.85 times
higher than that of Jain women. The total fertility rate of Muslim women is 2.62
against 1.2 for Jain women. The pregnancy in women varies from a low of 1.9% of
women among Jains to a high of 5.6% of women among Muslims.
The data reported in NFHS-4 show that fertility of illiterate women is 1.8 times higher
than that of women who completed 12 or more years of schooling (3.07 versus 1.71).

Table 12. Teenage pregnancy and motherhood in Muslim and non-Muslim Women in 2015.

Women aged 15–19 who:

Women age 15–19 who have
Religion Have had a live birth (%) Are pregnant with first child (%) begun child bearing (%)

Hindu 5.1 2.7 7.8

Muslim 5.9 3.1 9.0
Christian 4.6 1.8 6.4
Sikh 1.8 0.9 2.6
Buddhist 6 1.4 7.4
Jain 1.2 0.0 1.2

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4),
2015–2016.
 Muslim Women in India 439

Table 13. Fertility of Muslim and non-Muslim women in 2015.

Average number of children ever born

Religion Total fertility rate Pregnant (%) to women age 40–49

Hindu 2.13 4.3 3.13

Muslim 2.62 5.6 4.15
Christian 1.99 3.9 2.65
Sikh 1.58 3.8 2.62
Buddhist 1.74 3.8 2.93
Jain 1.2 1.9 2.24

Source: Author calculation based on data available in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4),
2015–2016.

Clearly, fertility declines with an increase in women’s level of schooling. The policy impli-
cation of this finding is clear. The family planning in Muslim women can be made fam-
iliar by improving their level of education.

Conclusion
In this study, we have examined the relative status of demographic, socioeconomic and
health inequalities faced by Muslim women in India. The level of Muslim women’s invol-
vement in household economic decision-making and work participation rate is compared
with women of other minority and majority groups. The proportion of Muslim women
workforce in India’s total women workforce is less than their share in the country’s
total women population. The wealth condition of Muslims is poor in comparison to
other minority communities, viz. Jain, Sikh, Buddhist and Christian. However, the
wealth condition of Muslim households is at par with Hindus. The cash earnings of
most of the Muslim women are less than those of their husbands. Among Muslims,
fewer women have access to money and microcredit. Overall, these findings support
the hypothesis that Muslim women lag behind the mainstream in social, economic and
educational sectors.
We observed that the use of private hospitals for delivery among Muslims is lower than
the national average and all other communities except Buddhists. Fertility rates among
Muslim women are highest in India. The high fertility rate among Muslim women
may be due to their low level of educational attainment. Likewise, child mortality rate
is highest among Muslims.
Child mortality rates also inversely related to the level of sanitation, mother schooling
and household wealth level and access to healthcare facilities. Muslims also have India’s
highest teenage pregnancy rate and childbearing rate. Muslim women have the least
freedom of movement to healthcare facilities. Our findings support the hypothesis that
the health of Muslim women is comparatively poor in India. There is an urgent need
for active intervention by governmental and non-governmental agencies to implement
policies for ensuring Muslim women’s health and their well-being and their full and
equal participation as Indian citizens.
Additionally, there is an urgent need to establish more educational institutions in min-
ority concentrated backward areas. Moreover, the attitude of Muslim women towards
education may be favourably changed by assuring the availability of Muslim women tea-
chers in their educational institutions.
Access to health services can be improved by government intervention for the establish-
ment of more Health Sub-Centres in Muslim-concentrated backward areas. Arrange-
440 Ramphul Ohlan

ment for tap water and construction of toilets in backward regions can also be helpful in
improving the health status of Muslim women. For increasing safer institutional deliv-
eries among Muslim mothers, cash support can be provided to them in addition to deliv-
ery services in public hospitals. Similarly, professional skill development is apparently
suitable for offering good employment and, thus, betterment in the quality of life of
Muslim women.

NOTES
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3. Rajindar Sachar, Sachar Committee Report, New Delhi: Government of India, 2006.
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Approach”, Social Compass, Vol. 60, No. 1, 2013, pp. 97–114; Varapa Rakrachakarn, George
P. Moschis, Fon Sim Ong and Randall Shannon, “Materialism and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Reli-
gion”, Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 54, 2015, pp. 413–426.
6. Shanug Cherayi and Justin P. Jose, “Empowerment and Social Inclusion of Muslim Women: Towards
a New Conceptual Model”, Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 45, 2016, pp. 243–251.
7. Judy L. Postmus, Sara-Beth Plummer, Sarah McMahon, N. Shaanta Murshid and Mi Sung Kim,
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8. Subhashree Sanyal, “Representation, Identity and Socio-Economic Positioning of Muslim Women in
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9. Bhaskar Thakur, Sonali Karb, Mona Pathak and Nishakar Thakur, “Public-private Share in Maternal
Health Care Services Utilization in India: A Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis from Three
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ORCID
Ramphul Ohlan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3367-2631