Jaipur: There are over five crore single women in the country (including widows, separated women, divorcees and those over 35 and never married), according to Census 2011. Of these, over 20 lakh are in Rajasthan. In 1999, with help from Udaipur-based NGO Astha Sansthan, an effort to bring single women together was begun. Called 'Ekal Nari Shakti Sanghatan', this group now has about 40,000 members across the state.
This coming together of single women has now spread to many states in the country. In November last year, about 125 women from 11 states met in Ranchi, Jharkhand, to discuss the peculiar problems of single women and plan better advocacy of their rights. The National Forum for Single Women's Rights (NFSWR) now extends to Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Puducherry, besides Rajasthan.
According to Census 2011, 13.2% of households in India are of singles (including men). Over 57% of these, however, are of single women - living alone. There are far many more single women than men in the country. Ginny Srivastava of Aastha Sansthan, founder-member of Ekal Nari Shakti Sanghatan, said that if a country was made up of just the single women in India, it would have a larger population than Canada or Australia.
While the percentage growth of female population from 2001 to 2011 is 18.3%, the number of female singles has grown at 29.6%. The number of never married women over 35 years old has seen a sharp increase of 66%. This, Srivastava says, indicates an increase in the number of women choosing to stay unmarried or deciding to marry late.
Box: Single Mingle
While 'Ekal Nari Shakti Sanghatan' comprises women of all classes across the country, single women in Jaipur city, comprising mostly working or retired professionals, have formed a new group, Single Mingle. Gerda Unnithan, the force behind the group, lost her husband, former VC of Rajasthan University, T K N Unnithan, in July last year. "I have no family in the city. With my children working abroad, I felt singlehood rather acutely," she said, at a recent meeting of singles. She found an enthusiastic response when she floated the idea of a get together with other singles in the city. The next meeting of the group will be held on January 6.
