GS 1 Role of Women and Women's Org PDF

VISION IAS
www.visionias.in
VALUE ADDITION MATERIAL – 2018

PAPER I: SOCIETY
ROLE OF WOMEN AND WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS
Copyright © by Vision IAS

All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior
permission of Vision IAS
DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

www.visionias.in # 8468022022 ©Vision IAS
Student Notes:
ROLE OF WOMEN AND WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION

Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world
– Hillary Clinton
Contents
1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................2
2. The Profile of Women in India ................................................................................................2
2.1. Social Structure, Social Processes and Women.................................................................4
3. Nature, Range and Patterns of Women’s Work .......................................................................7
3.1. What is Women’s Work?..................................................................................................7
3.2. Unpaid Work in Home-Based Production and Family Farms .............................................7
3.3. Female Child Labour ........................................................................................................9
3.4. Paid Work........................................................................................................................9
3.5. Women Workers and the Growth of Unorganized Sector ...............................................11
4. Women’s Issues: A Manifestation .........................................................................................11
5. Women’s Issues: Responses .................................................................................................12
5.1. Women’s Movements....................................................................................................12
5.1.1. Women’s Movement as a Social Movement ............................................................12
5.1.2. Dimensions of Indian Women’s Movement .............................................................12
5.1.3. Pre-Independence Women’s Movements................................................................13
5.1.4. Post-Independence Women’s Movements ..............................................................17
6. An Analysis of Women’s Current Situation ............................................................................25
7. National Policy for Women ...................................................................................................32
7.1. National Policy for Empowerment of Women, 2001 .......................................................32
7.2. Priority Areas for a New National Policy for Empowerment of Women ..........................32
8. Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................33
9. Appendix..............................................................................................................................33
9.1. Legislative Acts ..............................................................................................................33
9.2. Constitutional Provisions for Women in Our Constitution ..............................................34
9.3. Government Response ..................................................................................................34
9.4. Women Empowerment Programs/Schemes by GoI ........................................................36
10. Vision IAS GS Mains Test Series Questions ..........................................................................37
11. Previous Year UPSC GS Mains Questions.............................................................................49
A initiative to provide watermarks and bookmarks free pdfs to you.

Share and Subscribe our telegram channel
@visionpt3652019
https://t.me/visionpt3652019
All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Vision IAS

1 www.visionias.in # 8468022022 ©Vision IAS
Student Notes:
1. Introduction
Imagine the following scenarios:
• You are waiting for a bus at the bus stop and a young man takes out a knitting needle and
wool and starts knitting. A school girl who is also waiting for a bus climbs a tamarind tree to
look for a raw tamarind.
• A couple lives in your neighbourhood. The husband stays at home and takes care of their
two-year-old daughter and manages other household chores while the wife works in a bank
as a manager.
Do these events surprise you? What reactions do you expect to hear from people with respect
to these incidents? What is so unique about these scenes / events that people have to express
their surprise or pass such comments? Why cannot a man knit or a girl climb a tree? What is
wrong if a man stays at home and takes responsibility for child care and house work? Why
cannot a woman give full time attention to her career? These images surprise people because
they are contrary to the existing practices, which they usually see in society. It is our culture,
which has built many stereotype images of men and women, and over a period of time most
people have come to accept it as the right image.
Women can thus be described as a social category. There have been a series of women’s issues
in terms of low access to productive resources, medical facilities, educational and employment
opportunities and various other social and economic discriminations faced by them. Women
play various roles in their lifetime ranging from a mother to that of a breadwinner but are
almost always subordinated to male authority; largely excluded from high status occupation
and decision making both at work and at home. Paradoxically, even in our Indian society where
women goddesses are worshipped, women are denied an independent identity and status.
In recent years, particularly with the rise of Women’s Liberation Movement, this discrimination
against women has been widely debated. Two main positions have emerged from this debate.
• One maintains that this inequality between the two sexes is determined to some degree by
the biologically or genetically based differences between men and women.
• As against this, the second position argues that they result from socially constructed power
relations and are culturally determined.
2. The Profile of Women in India

As per World Economic Forum survey, India’s Global Gender Gap Index, 2017 ranking is 108 out
of 144 countries, behind neighbours China and Bangladesh, primarily due to less participation of
women in the economy and low wages.
1) Sex Ratio & Mortality Rate–Sex ratio is used to describe the number of females per 1000 of
males. As per census 2011 sex ratio for India is 940 females per 1000 of males, i.e. females
form a meager 47% of the total population. The State of Haryana has the lowest sex ratio in
India and the figure shows a number of 877 females to that of 1000 males while Kerala has
the highest of 1084 females per 1000 males.
Mortality rate or the death rate measures the frequency of deaths. This is an annual rate
and is calculated for different age groups as number of deaths for 1000 live births. The age-
specific death rate data indicates high rate of female infant mortality (0-4 years) and
maternal mortality (5-24 years). The life expectancy rate represents the mean life length an
individual is expected to survive given the prevailing mortality conditions. It has been
observed that the chances of longer life expectancy is higher among women during older
years, whereas women in the younger years continue to have relatively higher death rates.

Student Notes:
Declining Child Sex Ratio

• As per the Census, 2011 the child sex ratio (0-6 years) has shown a decline from 927
females per thousand males in 2001 to 919 females per thousand males in 2011
• Some of the reasons for neglect of girl child and low child sex ratio are son preference and
the belief that it is only the son who can perform the last rites, that lineage and
inheritance runs through the male line, sons will look after parents in old age, men are the
bread winners etc.
• Exorbitant dowry demand is another reason for female foeticide/infanticide.
• Small family norm coupled with easy availability of sex determination tests may be a
catalyst in the declining child sex ratio, further facilitated by easy availability of Pre-
conception sex selection facilities.
The consequences of declining child sex ratio:
• It has led to a sharp increase in violence against women.
• Increased violence against women has led to more son preference, as parents feel it is
difficult to keep women safe.
• In a study conducted by the Centre for Social Research, Haryana, fear of violence against
women is a major cause of female foeticide.
• Apart from this, there have been increasing cases of polygamy due to shortage of women.
There are cases of forcible marriage of widows.
• There has been commodification of women as well, with practices of purchasing of brides
from poor areas.
• Economic consequences are that there is a huge proportion of productive population
which is missing. Lack of women impairs the ability of men to work, and has led to
increased work pressure on the men.
The government has tried to counter the declining sex ratio through initiatives like Beti
Bachao, Beti Padhai; Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana etc.
2) Health - Studies on hospital admissions and records have shown that males get more
medical care compared to girls. 2% of the female population is absolute anaemic. 12% of
the female population of the country suffers from repeated pregnancy (80% of their
productive life is spent in pregnancy) & lack of nutrition.
Reproductive Health
• Maternal Mortality Rate in India has dropped from 167 to 130
• The number of contraceptives has increased, but is far from reaching the 100% mark
• Institutional deliveries: Number of institutional deliveries rose by 15% from 2004 to 2014,
mostly aided by JSY.
o Deliveries in government hospitals rose by 22%, and it fell by 8% in private hospitals
o Home births dropped by 16%
• But JSY has not been able to cater to the lowest most rung of the society. This is primarily
due to lack of facilities in rural areas, and lack of doctors there
• Also, quality of antenatal care is vital to reduce the risk of still births and pregnancy
complications, and that is not in a very good position in India.
3) Literacy - The female literacy levels according to the Literacy Rate 2011 census are 65.46%
where the male literacy rate is over 80%. While Kerala has the highest female literacy rate
of 100% , Bihar is at the lowest with only 46.40%

Student Notes:
4) Employment – Of the total female population 21.9% are a part of Indian workforce.
Majority of women are employed in the rural areas and in agriculture. Amongst rural
women workers 87% are employed in agriculture as laborers, cultivators, self-employed like
hawkers etc., i.e. in the unorganized sector which almost always remains invisible. Despite
the equal remuneration Act 1976, women are paid lower wages, occupy lower skilled jobs,
have less access to skill training and promotion.
5) Political status – Though India had a first women Prime Minister Late Ms. Indira Gandhi,
nonetheless women are not fairly represented in the Parliament & other State & Local
bodies. With only around 9 per cent women in upper house and around 11 per cent in the
lower house of parliament, India ranks 99th in the world in terms of female representation
among MPs.
However, 73rd & 74th amendments to the constitution have ensured the participation of
women in PRIs with a reservation of 1/3rd for women. Today more than 30 million women are
actively participating in the political decision making process at the grass root.
Political Status of Women

• Women have a very low status in the political scenario in the country.
• The number of women in the Parliament has never crossed the 20% mark till now. 50% of
the population is represented by less than 20% participation is a clear indication of the
poor political status of women.
• The government had proposed a reservation for women in the Parliament, but the bill has
still now been passed.
• In the Panchayats, 33% of the seats are reserved for women. This has led to development
of many women leaders, but in many places the concept of sarpanch pati has emerged
where the women is just the nominal sarpanch, whereas her husband is the real decision
making authority.
• Such practices needs to be discouraged, and women should be provided with more
political empowerment.
• Political empowerment to women can have the following impacts:
o More focus on women related issues
o More sensitive handling of women related issues at the top level can have an
immense impact on the status of women
o It would help in inspiring other women to take up such roles, and thus it can help
create multiple women leaders
What are the reasons behind such a low status being accorded to women in India?
Let us explore these reasons in the social structure and social processes characterizing Indian
society.
2.1. Social Structure, Social Processes and Women
In this section let us try to understand the various structures that create the secondary status of
women and perpetuate the discrimination through various social processes.
i) The Caste Structure
The subordination of women was crucial to the development of caste hierarchy. The higher
the caste the greater were the constraints on women. It is observed that the development
of gender division, based on the control of female sexuality, was integral to the formation of
the social structure.

Student Notes:
It might be relevant to ask: What was the need to control women’s sexuality? What was it
that women’s power would endanger? How was it linked to material resources? For
unravelling these questions it is important to understand the system of caste.
Historically, Indian society is categorized into thousands of sub-castes regionally known as
‘jatis’. However, the pan-Indian social hierarchy is based on the ‘varna’ hierarchy, which
divides the Hindu population in four major groups: the Brahmin (priestly caste) at the top,
followed by the Khatriya (warrior caste), then the Vaishya (commoners, usually known as
trading castes) and at the bottom the Shudra (agricultural laborers and artisan). Some who
are beyond the caste hierarchy were considered to be untouchables. The caste boundaries
are maintained through strict purity – pollution principles, rules of commensality and
endogamy, commitment to caste occupation and ascribed life-style. Ritual purity is in the
nature of religious status but also coincided with economic wealth and social esteem. That
is, the upper castes own more property and the lower castes are property less or have the
least property. Over the decades the association of ritual status and economic status has
undergone change. The concept of ‘dominant caste’ demonstrates this.
Three of the major signs of purity: vegetarianism, teetotalism and tight constraints on
women, indicate that a significant degree of ritual purity comes through domestic activities.
The control on women comes from two major aspects-
1. Women’s disinheritance from immovable property, removing them from the public
sphere and limiting them to the domestic sphere in the form of seclusion.
2. Far greater control is exercised by men over women’s sexuality through arranged
marriage, child marriage, the prohibition of divorce, and strict monogamy for women,
leading to sati and a ban on widow remarriage, including infant or child widows.
These strictures were enforced most strictly by the upper castes to maintain ritual purity,
biological purity, caste supremacy and economic power. Lower caste groups attempting to
achieve upward status mobility with improvement in economic power, also imbibe upper
caste norms of constraining women’s freedom.
The ideological and material basis for maintaining the caste system was closely regulated by
religious scriptures and the patriarchal, patrilineal and patrilocal family ideology.
ii) The Institution of Family
Family is the most important social unit in which members live in a network of mutual ties,
roles and obligations, that it is a unit of procreation, it nurtures the young and socializes
them (i.e. transmits tradition, culture, religious and social values) to enable them to
perform various roles in the society. Family performs the function of continuity of
generations and the transmission of private property. The role of the family in procreation
is closely intertwined with the pattern of descent and religious prescriptions/priorities.
Descents are of two types: patrilineal and matrilineal. In the patrilineal descent system the
property of the family is transmitted through the male offspring for example, father to son.
In the matrilineal system the property is transmitted through the women, for example,
mother to daughter.
At present, barring the Nair community of Kerala, the Khasis of the north-east, the Garos of
the North-eastern India, and certain tribes in the Lakshdweep, all the other communities
practice patrilineal descent system. The worship of mother goddesses is prevalent in all
parts of India.
Closely connected to the patrilineality is the practice of patrilocality, i.e., the transfer of
residence of women to the village/residence/family of the husband, after marriage. The
sons stay with the father. The property laws, therefore, forbade daughters from inheriting

Student Notes:
immovable property, since such property would pass to their husband’s family on marriage.
Instead women were given a portion of movable property (like jewellery) to take with them,
known as dowry.
This provides material reason for anxiety over the birth of daughters. Moreover, the
religious scriptures, especially the Hindu religion place a high preference for sons.
According to the code of Manu, a man could achieve merit only by protecting the purity of
his wife and through her, of his sons. A son is necessary for lighting the funeral pyre of the
father, propitiating the souls of agnatic ascendants through ‘shradha’ and thereby enabling
the father and agnatic ascendants to attain moksha (to be relieved from rebirth). The role
of the women is to beget sons, perpetuate the male descent and facilitate the performance
of rituals. This hierarchy of male and female roles create differential evaluation of children
with a strong son preference on the one hand and daughter neglect on the other, in terms
of access to food, health care, education, freedom, rights and justice.
iii) Socialization within the Family
Socialization performs the function of transmitting culture, tradition, social values and
norms. Apart from parental socialization in the family, various agencies like the schools,
peer groups, literature and films play a role in early socialization and adult socialization.
Girls and boys receive differential socialization, which further perpetuate asymmetric roles
and relationship. Boys are equipped with higher education and skills in order to perform
the ‘breadwinner’s’ role and the girls are initiated into domestic chores at an early age,
given lesser education, trained to work hard and to develop low self-esteem. Boys receive a
status of permanence as against girls who are seen as temporary members of the family.
Very few families enable their daughters to develop an independent identity and dignity.
The family ideology which determines ‘suitability’ and ‘unsuitability’ of certain jobs for
women is also reflected in job stereotyping in labor market.
It has been observed that school books perpetuate images of mother as the ‘housewife’,
father as the ‘breadwinner’; boys playing with guns and trucks and girls playing with toys
and dolls. Though several schools encourage involvement in sports for boys and girls, there
are stereotyped patterns of playing. Boys play football, basketball and cricket and girls skip
and involve in restricted games. Media messages about women and girls perpetuate
stereotyped sexist images which enable the media industry to maintain its market.
iv) Class Structure and Women’s Work
Class is defined primarily by the ownership of property or capital or economic resources. In
simple terms, in a capitalist structure hierarchy is determined by wage, relation viz., people
who work for a wage and people who hire workers for wages in rural areas, where the
social, economic and political power coincide with caste structure. The constraints on
women that vary from upper to the lower castes are reinforced by the class structure as
well. Women of upper castes/classes are secluded, and participate in activities in the
domestic sphere.
Women from middle castes with medium and small holdings are more likely to work on
their own fields and in certain cases work for wages. Women from artisan castes/classes
contribute to the home-based production They belong to the bottom of the hierarchy
where seclusion and restriction on social mobility are not practiced.
In the urban context, where there is a transition to non-agricultural occupations (from an
‘ascribed’ to ‘achieved’ status situation) the upper castes form the predominant group
among middle classes. Women of this class emerged from seclusion during the century to
acquire education and employment. The important aspect is that the economic

Student Notes:
dependence on men is broken. However, this did not drastically change the subordination
of women. The class structure appears to build upon the existing gender hierarchy in the
caste structure. The family within the class structure also derives status from women’s
education and employment. Women perform status – maintaining and enhancing activities
to the family – as educated housewives, mothers and earners. Advertisements in
matrimonial columns are ample evidence of this trend.
Women’s subordination is entrenched in the caste and class hierarchies which have to be
understood. Otherwise, women’s issues will be misunderstood as mere cultural accidents
and violence on women as stray incidents.
3. Nature, Range and Patterns of Women’s Work

Women do various types of work. Their household work remains mostly invisible and
unrecognised. Here it is essential to categorise various types of work done by women in terms
of paid and unpaid work. This will give us a broad idea to understand the significance of
women’s work both in the family and in the society.
3.1. What is Women’s Work?

Women were the major producer of food, textiles and handicrafts throughout human history
and continue to provide a major labour input where production is still in the small scale
subsistence sector.
Defining the exact nature, scope and magnitude of women’s work remains a problem area
because a good deal of women’s work is either invisible or is only partially accounted for in the
data on workforce participation.
Components of women’s work include housework, paid and unpaid work related to home-
based craft activities, family enterprise or business and paid work outside home. You must have
observed differential work participation of men, women and children within the family both in
quantitative and qualitative terms. The kind of work women do is determined by women’s
position in the society and family’s location in the social hierarchy.
The basic elements of women’s work within the home are related to the division of labour
between men and women. Activities included under ‘housework’ broadly differ according to
age, gender, income, occupational group, location (rural/urban), size and structure of the
family.
3.2. Unpaid Work in Home-Based Production and Family Farms
Economists distinguish between production for self-consumption and production for the
market. Only the latter is counted as ‘work’. The parameters of work used in official data reflect
this bias. Much of the work that women do in household industries and processing of
agricultural products, if unpaid, is not recognised as ‘work’ in the data systems.
In rural areas the women from the poorer households engage in various activities such as
cooking, processing of food for household consumption, storing grains, childcare, fetching
fuelwood, fodder and water, collection of forest produce, preparation of cow dung cakes, care
of livestock and cattle and house repair and maintenance. Much of this work, which is
important for the maintenance of families, is largely done by women. However, this work is
unpaid and is not accounted for as productive work as it is meant for self-consumption. The
conventional definition of ‘work’ does not include activities, which are of ‘use-value’ and do not
have ‘exchange-value’.

Student Notes:
Activities like dairying, small animal husbandry (poultry, piggery, goatery etc.) fisheries,
handloom weaving, handicrafts, pottery etc. are family activities and every member assists in
some aspects of production. A major part of the work is done within the home and yet a
woman is not accorded the status of a worker. Non-valuation of women’s unpaid work within
the home results in non-recognition of women’s crucial economic contribution.
Quantifying Women’s Work in GDP

Quantifying women's work in GDP:
• Women play a very important role in households, but their contribution is not a part of the
GDP calculation and hence goes unnoticed or rather not quantified
• This is because it is very difficult to quantify the work done by women.
• In the contemporary society, working women are facing double exploitation because they
are forced to do the household work even after working at homes.
• This quantification of women's work is important for them to gain recognition, and for their
roles to be given more importance.
• If this cannot be quantified, then atleast there needs to be more value given to their work.
Missing Women
Lack of participation of women in workforce:
• According to IMF working paper: India has one of the lowest female labour force
participation (FLPF) rates among emerging markets and developing countries.
• 20.5% women employed in organized sector in 2011
• Women's participation in workforce is skewed towards certain sectors: unorganized sector;
manufacturing and services (just 18% of rural employment for women); agriculture
(dominates at 75%); blue collar jobs (women are losing blue collar jobs, while gaining white
collar ones)
Reasons for low labour force participation:
• Increased income of men: as men start to earn more, women tend to cut back their work to
concentrate more on household activities.
• Caste factor: in some upper castes, there is a stigma attached to women working outside
the home
• Safety issues and harassment at work place
• Increasing numbers of women of working age are enrolling in secondary schools.
(economic survey 2014-15)
• Nature of eco growth: not been able to create large number of jobs in sectors that could
readily absorb women, especially those in rural areas.
How to bring women into workforce:
• Bridging gender gaps in secondary and tertiary education.
• Creating employment opportunities in male dominated sectors.
• Ensuring skill training for women in key sectors
• Increasing reach of financial sector in order to service the women entrepreneurs better
• Strengthening legal provisions for women and the enforcement of these laws (like
harassment at work place)
• Reshaping societal attitudes and beliefs about women participation in the labour force.

Student Notes:
3.3. Female Child Labour

Girls continue to provide free labour in home-based production system. Studies on rural girl
child labour show that she works nine hours a day providing goods and services, which keep her
out of school. She works on an average 318 days a year in the fields and at home providing free
labour.
More girls are being inducted into work while more boys are sent to school thus widening the
gap between boy’s and girl’s opportunities. They are employed in agricultural and related
industries in large numbers. Girls are also employed in large numbers in carpet industry of
Kashmir, in lock making in Aligarh, in gem polishing in Jaipur, in match industry in Sivakasi and in
bidi rolling. In fact, in the match industry of Sivakasi, ninety per cent child workers are girls
under the age of fourteen, working under hazardous conditions. Female children working in
home based industries are beyond the purview of child labour laws. These laws are not
enforced even in factory based industries. Even in piece-rate system, her labour is seen as an
extension of her mother’s labour and is not given an independent value. Such work cuts them
off from schooling, literacy, learning technical skills and improving their job prospects. These
handicaps remain insurmountable throughout the life.
Right to Education
• As per RTE, all children (both girls and boys) are entitled to free primary school education
till the age of 14. But still, primary education in India is not universal. The most
disadvantaged of the lot include the girls, for whom education is not seen as necessary.
• Reason for this:
o Parents consider teaching household chores to girls are more important than
education, and this is due to the ingraining of patriarchy and the confinement of girls
inside the house.
o Another reason which keeps girls away from school is the concern for their safety and
sexuality.
o Also, schools are generally located at a distance, with zero or very few number of
female teachers.
o No bathrooms inside the school premises or lack of separate bathrooms for girls and
boys is another disincentive
• As per statistics, the Literacy Rate for Women is 65%, whereas it is 82% for men. This
difference reflects how far women are behind men in terms of education
• Illiteracy of women has far reaching consequences, and it has an impact on their children
also. Also, low schooling leads to poor quality of care for their children, leading to higher
infant and child mortality, and it sometimes leads to malnutrition because lack of education
makes it difficult for women to adopt appropriate health promoting behavior such as
immunization of children.
• Government measures: 'Sarva Siksha Abhiyan' and 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' are initiatives
to promote the education of girl child.
3.4. Paid Work

Women also work for wages in fields, forests, mines, factories, offices, small-scale and
household industries. The nature and extent of such work differs according to the location of
family in the social hierarchy. In the rural sector the subsistence work burden falls heavily on
women, while in higher castes and higher income groups ‘non-work’ of women is given more
value. Many micro studies have reported inverse relationship between income level of the
household and nature of women’s work participation. Women in the subsistence sector have no
option but to work. However, their options are limited as they are non-entrants or drop-outs

Student Notes:
from school. They are often the primary breadwinners of the family, but the ideological bias
views men as the primary breadwinner of the family.
i) Education, Paid Employment and Household Responsibilities
The spread of education among the middle and upper class women has opened up new
avenues of employment. However, education does not necessarily lead to employment. On
one hand, illiteracy among the majority of women in the lower socio-economic group
constitutes a major barrier to increasing and diversifying work and training opportunities.
On the other hand, pre-defined roles, ideology and labour market forces in a labour surplus
economy effectively restrict women’s work opportunity among educated women of certain
sectors.
In middle class families, women work for improving or maintaining the standard of living of
the family or to provide a cushion against rising cost of living. Working outside home on the
same terms and conditions, as men, does not absolve them from their domestic
responsibilities. As a result, the dual burden of work exerts physical, mental and emotional
strain on them. One of the consequences of double burden may be delayed promotions or
sacrificing new job opportunities due to family responsibilities.
ii) Agricultural and Industrial Sectors
Gender inequalities exist in all sectors. Inequalities are reflected in distribution of women
workers in different sectors, across job hierarchies and in wages and earnings between men
and women.
In the latter half of the twentieth century there was very little structural change in women’s
employment. The proportion of female agricultural workers which was less than one-third
of the total workforce in 1951 rose to more than fifty per cent, which means greater
dependence on agriculture sector. In 1993-94, as many as 86.2 percent female workers
were engaged in the primary sector, which includes agriculture and allied sector such as
forestry, livestock etc., in the rural areas. Within agriculture they mostly work as agricultural
labourers or cultivators.
The wave of Industrialisation has created more work opportunities for a small section of
educated women but at the same time reduced work opportunities for unskilled women
workers working in textiles, jute industries etc. As a result, women workers got
concentrated in plantations, food products, tobacco and textiles, cane and bamboo work,
silk worm, rearing coir products, domestic services, education and health services. The high
concentration of women in household industries rather than factory-based production
affects their status as workers with no control on their labour and earnings.
iii) Women in Services and Professions
As far as women in services and professions are concerned there is no wage discrimination
but they are concentrated in certain types of soft skill jobs like teachers, nurses, typists and
stenographers and very few occupy higher positions in administration, business and
technical jobs.
Despite impressive increase in the number of educated women in urban areas the gap
between men and women in the services and professions is large. It can be attributed to
the following factors-
a) Girls are generally socialised for their domestic roles.
b) Less investment in the vocational and technical training of women
c) Male stereotypes determine attitude to work and differential expectations from girls
education, which is rarely seen as an investment for future.

Student Notes:
d) Higher concentration of girls is found in humanities and social sciences rather than
vocational and technical courses.
e) There is less physical mobility among women after marriage.
Women in Leadership Role

• Many reports have pointed out that the number of women in leadership roles in India is
very low.
• But this number is gradually increasing, which is a very positive sign.
• Many big corporates are headed by women, example Pepsi by Indra Nooyi, Axis Bank by
Shikha Sharma, ICICI Bank by Chanda Kocchar (who just quit) etc.
• Many argue that there is existence of a glass ceiling, which restricts the promotion of
women to the top most positions. This glass ceiling exists due to the persistence of
patriarchy in the society, and also due to the fact that the present leadership consists of
men who promote the interests of men only
• But it is very inspiring to see that many women have been successful in breaking this glass
ceiling.
• More focus on social, economical and political empowerment, and better education
facilities for women can help more women in reaching the leadership roles in the society.
iv) Earning Differentials

An expression of discrimination against women in labour market is wage differential. They
not only get unequal pay for equal work but many jobs that women do are categorised as
low skilled jobs for which lower wages are paid. For example, men usually do weaving
which is better paid while spinning, usually done by women, is low paid. In construction
also men are supposed to do skilled jobs and women do unskilled work and get lower
wages. Sexual divisions of labour and lower duration of women’s work are reflected into
lower wages for women. Earning differentials also reflect differences in skill acquisition,
education and training.
3.5. Women Workers and the Growth of Unorganized Sector

A majority of women are working in the rural and urban unorganized sector without the
protection of labour legislation regarding wages, hours of work, working conditions, health and
maternity benefits and childcare services. Those women workers include agricultural and
construction labourers, women in dairying, small animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry,
handlooms and handicrafts, small vendors and hawkers selling vegetables and food items,
washer-women, scavengers, domestic servants, crafts workers and piece-rate workers in home
based production. The labour force in this sector is characterised by higher incidence of casual
labour and intermittent nature of work, low wages, and low capital incentives.
4. Women’s Issues: A Manifestation

There are different forms of violence on women, which act as threats to women’s independent
identity and dignity. Some forms of violence are:
1) Female foeticide & infanticide- According to a survey by British medical journal, Lancet,
nearly 10 million female abortions have taken place in India in the last 20 years, which is
rampant amongst the educated Indian middle class as well.
There are organizations like Swanchetan, which are working towards educating and bringing
awareness in people against the ghastly act.
2) Rape, sexual harassment & abuse- It acts as a deterrent to women’s freedom and
perpetuates the notion that women are the weaker sex.

Student Notes:
The recent Dec. 16 Delhi Gang rape case, shook the entire country and led to protests all
across the country, setting up of Justice Verma panel & helped in the fast track judgment of
the case. However rampant cases of rape of Dalit women, acid attacks and eve teasing go
unnoticed.
3) Domestic violence and dowry deaths- Violence on women in the family were considered
family problems and were never acknowledged as “crimes against women” until recently. It
is prevalent in all classes of society.
4) Prostitution- A large number of women destitute or victims of rape who are disowned by
family fall prey to prostitution forcibly. There are no governmental programs to alleviate the
problem of prostitution.
5) Objectification of women- Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986
prohibits indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications,
writings, paintings etc. However, a whole lot of indecent representation of women is done
through literature, media, paintings etc. upholding the “right to freedom of expression”.
5. Women’s Issues: Responses

5.1. Women’s Movements
The roots of the Indian women’s movement go back to the nineteenth century male social
reformers who took up issues concerning women and started women’s organizations. Women
started forming their own organization from the end of the nineteenth century first at the local
and then at the national level. In the years before independence, the two main issues they took
up were political rights and reform of personal laws. Women’s participation in the freedom
struggle broadened the base of the women’s movement.
In post-independence India, large number of women’s autonomous groups has sprung up
challenging patriarchy and taking up a variety of issues such as violence against women, greater
share for women in political decision making, etc. both at the activist and academic level. India
has a rich and vibrant women’s movement but it has still a long way to go to achieve gender
equality and gender justice
5.1.1. Women’s Movement as a Social Movement
Conventionally social movements are viewed as intended and organized collective actions
based on certain defined aims, methodology for collective mobilization, distinct ideology,
identified leadership and organization. A social movement involves collective action that is
distinct from individual action. Thus a social movement essentially involves sustained collective
mobilization through either informal or formal organization.
5.1.2. Dimensions of Indian Women’s Movement
Unlike the women’s movement in the West, the Indian women’s movement began in the
shadow of colonial rule and the commitment to attain freedom from colonial rule. Thus, the
Indian women’s movement transcended the limited gender framework unlike the women’s
liberation struggles in the other parts of the world, especially in the West where the principal
purpose was to address the relationship between women and men in the private and public
spheres. Questions of independence and freedom from the colonial power were inextricably
linked with the consciousness of the Indian women’s movement, a consciousness of women in
relation to the larger society, not only to men.
Since the late 19th century Indian society, witnessed an active feminist movement. The early
attempts at reforming the conditions under which Indian women lived were mainly carried out
by western educated middle and high-class men. Soon they were joined by the women of their
families. These women along with the men began organized movements fighting against the

Student Notes:
oppressive social practices such as female infanticide, sati, child marriage, laws prohibiting
widow remarriage, etc.
The public participation of these women of middle and high caste and class background led to
the birth of women’s organizations in the early 20th century. They began fighting for the status
and rights of women but this task was unambiguously located within the agenda of the
freedom struggle as a whole. Another strand in the women’s movement developed roughly
around this time. The Left-radical tendency was shaped in women’s movement by their
activities among women of the working class. Women with Left political leanings were involved
in working class and revolutionary peasant struggles, such as the struggle in Telangana.
After Independence, many of the bourgeois-liberal section advocated for representation of
women within the system. Late 1960s and early 1970s witnessed the resurgence of women’s
movement, mainly due to the repercussion of the problems that cropped up at the national
front (such as price rise) and the women’s active mobilizations at the international front. The
struggle against the Emergency saw the rise of many new women’s groups, which rejected the
politics of earlier women’s organizations. These groups sprang up as part of the movement for
democracy and against gender discrimination and later emerged as autonomous organizations
without any explicit party affiliations though many of them were drawn from political parties.
They mainly intended to raise feminist issues in mass organizations such as trade unions or
kisan samitis. Many autonomous groups, which were mostly women-only groups, without party
affiliations and conventional hierarchical organizational structures, were also formed mainly
dealing with domestic issues such as domestic violence.
Women’s movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s were dominated by such autonomous
women’s groups, which were mostly city based. At the same time feminist consciousness had
taken place in some of the rural movements too. Overall, Indian Women Movement witnessed
three tendencies in terms of their affiliations- the bourgeoisie liberals, the left radicals and the
autonomous groups.
5.1.3. Pre-Independence Women’s Movements
The roots of the Indian women’s movement go back to the early nineteenth century when
social reformers, beginning with Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833), began to focus on issues
concerning women. Following them, improving the condition of women became the first tenet
of the Indian social reform movement. Women’s inferior status, enforced seclusion, early
marriage, condition of widows and lack of education were the main facts documented by
reformers throughout the country. However, women’s movement is linked to both social reform
movements & the nationalist movement.
5.1.3.1. Socio-Religious Reform Movement
Women’s Organizations Started by Men
Men who belonged to the socio religious reform associations began the first organization for
women. They are as follows:
1) Brahmo Samaj: It was founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in 1825 & attempted to abolish
restrictions and prejudices against women, which included child marriage, polygamy,
limited rights to inherit property. Education was seen as the major factor to improve the
position of women.
• Civil Marriage Act, 1872 was passed, which permitted inter-caste marriage, legalized
divorce and fixed 14 and 18 as the minimum age of marriage for girls and boys
respectively.
• Raja Ram Mohan Roy played an important role in getting Sati abolished.

Student Notes:
2) Prarthana Samaj: It was founded by MG Ranade & RG Bhandarker in 1867. Its objectives
were more or less similar to that of Brahmo samaj but remained confined to western India.
Justice Ranade criticized child marriage, polygamy, restriction on remarriage of widows and
non access to education.
3) Arya Samaj: It was founded by Dayanand Saraswati in 1875. Unlike the above two it was a
religious revivalist movement, revitalizing the ancient Hindu traditions. It advocated reform
in the caste system, compulsory education for men and women, prohibition of child
marriage by law, remarriage of child widows. It was opposed to divorce & widow
remarriage in general.
4) Social reformers mentioned above eulogized the position of women in ancient India.
However radicals like Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Jyotibha Phule and Lokhitwadi Gopal Hari
Deshmukh accused the caste system responsible for the subjugation of women in society.
5) Similar movements began in Islamic community as well. Begum of Bhopal, Syed Ahmad
Khan & Sheikh Abdullah in Aligarh and Karmat Hussain in Lucknow spearheaded a
movement to improve women’s education.
The male-inspired and male-guided organizations for women did valuable work in educating
women and giving them their first experience with public work. While the men wanted the
women to be educated and take part in public activities, but at the same time they regarded
the home as the primary focus for women. Gender equality was never an agenda for any of the
movements mentioned above. They had a very limited perspective of changing the position of
women within the family through education, as education would improve women’s efficiency as
housewives and mothers!
Women’s Organization Started by Women
By the end of the nineteenth century, a few women emerged from within the reformed families
who formed organizations of their own. One of the first to do so was Swarnakumari Devi,
daughter of Devendranath Tagore, a Brahmo leader, and sister of the poet Rabindranath Tagore,
who formed the Ladies Society in Calcutta in 1882 for educating and imparting skills to widows
and other poor women to make them economically self-reliant. She edited a women journal,
Bharati, thus earning herself the distinction of being the first Indian woman editor.
In the same year, Ramabai Saraswati formed the Arya Mahila Samaj in Pune and a few years
later started the Sharda Sadan in Bombay. The National Conference was formed at the third
session of the Indian National Congress in 1887 to provide a forum for the discussion of social
issues. The Bharat Mahila Parishad was the women’s wing of this and was inaugurated in 1905.
It focused on child marriage, condition of widows, dowry and other “evil” customs. The Parsis,
the Muslims and the Sikhs all formed their own women’s organizations.
Women in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and other smaller cities formed associations whose
members were drawn from among a small group of urban educated families. They were useful
in bringing women out of their homes, giving them an opportunity to meet other women, doing
philanthropic work, encouraging them to take an interest in public affairs and thus broadening
their horizon. It also gave them the experience of managing an organization.
National Women’s Organization
The early women’s organizations were been confined to a particular locality or city. In 1910,
Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, daughter of Swarnakumari Devi formed the Bharat Stree Mandal
(Great Circle of India Women) with the object of bringing together “women of all castes, creeds,
classes and parties… on the basis of their common interest in the moral and material progress
of the women of India.” It planned to open branches all over India to promote women’s
education. Branches were started in different cities such as Lahore, Amritsar, Allahabad,
Hyderabad, Delhi, Karachi and other cities. Purdah was regarded by Sarala Devi as the main

Student Notes:
obstacle for women’s education and teachers were sent round to women’s homes to educate
them. She wanted women to escape male domination and as a result only women were
allowed to join her organization. However, the Bharat Stree mahila Mandal proved to be a
short lived venture.
5.1.3.2. National Freedom Movement
“Women is the companion of man gifted with equal mental capacities”
-Mahatma Gandhi
At the time when women’s organizations were fighting for women’s political and economic
rights and trying to improve their position by education and social reform, women’s struggle
entered a new phase with the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian political scene. Women
had been associated with the freedom struggle before that too. They had attended sessions of
the Indian National Congress and taken part in the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, 1905-11 and
in the Home Rule Movement. But the involvement of really large number of women in the
national movement began when Gandhiji launched the first Non Co-operation Movement and
gave a special role to women. Peasant women played an important role in the rural satyagrahas
of Borsad and Bardoli. Women participated in the Salt satyagraha, in the Civil Disobedience
Movement, in the Quit India Movement and in all the Gandhian satyagrahas. They held
meetings, organized processions, picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor and went to
jail.
Gandhiji took interest in collective mobilization of women to fight for political freedom as well
as for their social and political rights. He felt that women were most suited for Satyagraha as
they have great qualities appropriate for non-violent struggle. While thousands of women
joined the freedom movement in response to Gandhi’s call, there were others who could not
accept his creed of non-violence and joined revolutionary or terrorist groups. Their hatred of
the British was intense and their plan was to make attempts on European lives as widely as
possible. They believed in individual acts of heroism not in building a mass movement.

Student Notes:
Women participated in the freedom movement because they were inspired by patriotism and
wanted to see the end of foreign rule. It is debatable as to how far this participation liberated
them. Women’s participation in the freedom movement did not lead to a separate autonomous
women’s movement since it was part of the anti-colonial movement. While women who
picketed shops, marched in processions or went to jail or threw bombs did not question male
leadership or patriarchal values, it did generate in them a sense of self-confidence and a
realization of their own strength. Many returned to their homes but others continued their
activities in the public arena. It transformed the lives of many young widows such as Durgabai
Deshmukh or Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya. Women won respect for their courage and the large
numbers in which they participated in the freedom struggle. The first woman to participate in
the nationalist movement during salt march was Sarojini Naidu who later became the first
woman president of the Congress.
Women’s participation in the national movement helped in breaking several of the old barriers
of tradition and custom. Women’s organization side by side raised their voices for removal of
social injustice meted to them, which resulted in passing of the resolution on Fundamental
Right of equal rights for both the sexes at the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress in
1930. The declaration reads as follows:
1. All citizens are equal before the law, irrespective of religion, caste, creed or sex.
2. No disability attaches to any citizen, by reason of his or her religion, caste, creed or sex, in
regard to public employment, office of power or honour, and in the exercise of any trade or
calling.
3. The franchise shall be on the basis of universal adult suffrage.
4. Woman shall have the right to vote, to represent and the right to hold public offices.
Agrarian Struggles and Revolts
It is often assumed that only middle class educated women participated in social movements.
Part of the struggle has been to remember the forgotten history of women’s participation.
Women participated along with men in struggles and revolts originating in tribal and rural areas
in the colonial period. The Tebhaga movement in Bengal, the Telangana arms struggle from the
erstwhile Nizam’s rule, and the Warli tribal’s revolt against bondage in Maharashtra are some
examples.
Women in Labour Movement
In 1917 Anasuya Sarabhai had led the Ahmedabad textile workers’ strike and in 1920 under her
leadership the Majoor Mahajan, the Ahmedabad textile mill workers union was established. By
the late 1920s, the presence of women in the workers’ movement was noticeable. There were
several prominent women unionists and women workers were consciously organized and a
special role was given to them in the workers’ movement. Bombay was the center of this
development and Maniben Kara emerged as the socialist leader of railway workers and Ushabai
Dange and Parvati Bhore as Communist leaders of textile workers. In the 1928-29 Bombay
textile mill workers’ strike, women played a leading role, as they did in the Calcutta strike during
the same years.
Other Major Organizations
The early 20th century saw the growth of women’s organisations at a national and local level.
The Women’s India Association (WIA) (1917), All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) (1926),
National Council for Women in India (NCWI) (1925) are ready names that we can mention. The
Women’s India Association (WIA) was formed in 1917 by Margaret Cousins, an Irish and an
Indian nationalist. This was followed by the formation of the National Council of Indian Women
(NCIW) in 1926 and All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) in 1927. The first of all India women’s

Student Notes:
organisation came into existence in 1926, with the setting up of the National Council for
Women in India (NCWI). The NCWI aimed at securing women’s rights through social reforms
and women’s and children’s welfare. The All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) was set up in
1927 in Poona. Its members were primarily women from the upper and upper-middle classes
and princely families, women members of the Indian National Congress Party, the Communist
Party, professional women like doctors and educationalists, and social workers. The AIWC took
up the questions of women’s education, and it was at its initiative that the Lady Harding College
for women was set up in Delhi in 1932. It also organized a large number of literacy schools and
handicraft centres, which helped women from poor families learn basic skills in order to earn
and be relatively independent economically.
A significant concern for women’s group in this period, in particular the AIWC, was the
campaign against child marriage. As a result of this struggle the Sarada Act was passed in 1929,
fixing the age of marriage at fourteen for girls and eighteen for boys. In the 1930’s the AIWC
directed its energies towards fighting for women’s equal rights in inheritance and marriage, and
reforms in the personal laws of different communities. Jyoti Singh in Gujarat (1934) played an
active role in harnessing energies of women. Several women active in the nationalist movement
became founders of women’s organizations. While many of them began with a limited focus,
their scope extended over time. For instance, the AIWC began with the idea that ‘women’s
welfare’ and ‘politics’ were mutually exclusive.
5.1.4. Post-Independence Women’s Movements
In the post-Independence period a series of institutional initiative has been introduced for the
emancipation of women in the society. The most important of these pertain to the
constitutional provisions and social legislation for women and planned economic development.
Women’s movement has been widely influenced by these broad socio-economic and political
processes of this period.
5.1.4.1. Constitutional Provisions and Social Legislation
The Constitution of independent India followed the basic principle of women’s equality as
accepted in the Fundamental Rights Resolution of the Karachi Congress. The provision of Article
15(3), which empowered the state to make special provisions for women and children, suggests
that there was a realization of women’s disadvantaged position and the need for the state to
enact special measures to bring them at par with men.
During freedom movement it was felt that with the nation’s Independence would disappear
many of the disabilities, and problems of women attributed to colonial rule. The national
government undertook to remove the legal disabilities suffered by women and initiated major
reforms in Hindu family laws. The legal reforms in the 1950s sought to provide greater rights to
Hindu women in marriage, inheritance and guardianship. However, they failed to bridge the gap
between legal and social realities. Similar changes in the family laws of other communities like
Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Jews, have not yet come up due to political resistance despite
the Directive Principle of State Policy clearly stating the need for uniform laws for all the
communities.
With these legislative measures in the fifties women’s organisation became passive and lost the
vigour shown during the pre-Independence period. Several of these organisations received
government grants and their activities were shaped by the grants they received for activities
like adult education, nutrition programmes for children, tailoring classes under vocational
training programmes and family planning programmes. Most of these organisations were urban
based and the leadership came from the educated middle and upper class women.

Student Notes:
In the post-Independence period, two important organisations for rural women were set up,
i.e., Kasturba Memorial Trust and Bharatiya Grameen Mahila Sangh(Indian Rural Women’s
Organisation). Their main objective was to assist the rural women in developing leadership
potential.
5.1.4.2. Planned Development and Women’s Issues
In the post-Independence period it was assumed that economic development policies i.e.,
agriculture development and modernization, industrialization, technological development etc.,
will bring about better life for everyone including women. The overall growth strategies failed
to take note of the existing class, caste and gender inequalities. Planned development in India
increased socio-economic inequalities. Let us discuss the observation in more detail.
The Five Year Plans
From Welfare to Development to Empowerment

Over the year the planning strategies (line of action) for women have shifted from Welfare to
Development and to Empowerment. It is this shift which needs to be critically examined if we
wish to understand the role of the state in women's empowerment.
First to Fifth Five Year plans

The approach of the First Five Year Plan (1951-56) was to provide adequate services to promote
the welfare of women so as to enable them to play their legitimate role in family and
community. Here, the emphasis was on welfare and hence women were treated as mere
recipients of incentives, which the state chose to give. The plan called for setting up of special
organizations both at the central and state levels for promoting the welfare of women. The
Central Social Welfare Board was set up in 1953. It has its branches in the states. These boards
have been supporting and conducting a number of programmes, mainly with a thrust on (with
an emphasis on) economic advancement.
The approach of the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plans was in no way different
from that of the First Five Year Plan. The welfare approach still guided policies and programmes,
which were launched for women's development. Only two special schemes were introduced
during this period. These were, the condensed Course of Education and Women and Socio-
Economic Programme introduced during the second plan (1956-61) and Working Girls Hostels
and Short Stay Homes introduced during the Fourth Plan (1969-74).
Towards Equality- A Report, which Actually Set the Government and Voluntary Groups
Thinking.
Conceding to the representations made by the international women’s movement, the United
Nations declared 1975–1985 as the International Decade of the Woman and organised the
World Conference on Women in Mexico (1975). The World Plan of Action formulated during the
Conference stressed the need for research, documentation and analyses into processes in
society that create structures of gender inequalities. In India, the National Committee on the
Status of Women had been set up to examine the status of women in the country and to
investigate into the extent to which the constitutional and legal provisions had impacted on
women’s status including their employment and education.
The Committee was the first major attempt to review and evaluate data on various aspects of
women’s status. It was also empowered to comment on the directions of change in women’s
roles, rights and opportunities due to development.

Student Notes:
The Committee came out with its findings in the form of a report, popularly known as the
Towards Equality Report (1974), which became a major landmark for the women’s movement.
The beginnings of the women’s movement in India, has often been traced back to this report.
The report revealed the deplorable condition of women in the country evident from
demographic data, an analysis of the socio-cultural conditions prevalent, the legal provisions
and safeguards, economic role played by women in all sectors, women’s access to education,
political participation, the policies and programmes for welfare and development, the impact of
mass media, etc.
This Report, paved the way for serious thinking on the status of women in different social
institutions in India, because it showed that women far behind men in enjoying the equal rights
conferred on them by them by the constitution. This Report led to a debate in the parliament
and showed the failure of the welfare approach, which treated women as recipients of benefits
and not as equal partners in the development efforts.
The report also made several recommendations which included stressing the important role of
the State and the community in the achievement of ‘gender equality’. It highlighted the need
for a concerted effort to eradicate oppressive practices such as dowry, polygamy, bigamy, child
marriage, ostentatious expenditure on weddings, and it emphasised the need for a campaign
on legal awareness, the provisions of crèches, better working conditions for women including
equal remuneration for equal work, the compulsory registration of marriages, law reform on
aspects concerning divorce, maintenance, inheritance, adoption, guardianship maternity
benefits, the universalisation of education, etc.
The new consciousness that emerged after the publication of Toward Equality has to the setting
up of the Women's Welfare's and Development Bureau in 1976 under the Ministry of Social
Welfare. Four Separate working groups on employment of Women, Adult Education
Programmes for Women, Women in Agriculture and Rural Development were also up to work
out strategies for action.
Sixth Five Year Plan: The Shift from Welfare to Development
From the Sixth Plan (1980-85) onwards, a marked shift took place from the Welfare to a
Development approach. While the welfare approach treated women as beneficiaries or
recipients of benefits, the development approach recognized women as participants in
development and not as development targets. It was not enough to introduce a few women
specific schemes, but there was need to strive for an all-round development of women. Look at
the examples given below:
Example 1: A women in the village was given tailoring lessons under one of the government
schemes. But, she had no other means of economic needed to open a small tailoring business.
So her training was going waste. She was treated as a target of a welfare programme and
afterwards nobody asked her what she really wanted. This is an example of the welfare
approach with fixed targets.
Example 2: Before sanctioning women's development programme in a village, a meeting of the
women who were residents of the village was called. They were asked to name a few
programme which they thought would be helpful to them to better their economic status. They
were also asked to give suggestions as to how best these programmes could be implemented.
Since the women identified the setting up of a milk- cooperative and basket weaving as their
priorities, the development agency started a milk co-operative and provided the initial funding.
Training in basket weaving, especially keeping the market needs in view was also given. In this
case women were not treated simply as beneficiaries or receivers of a welfare programme, but
they were consulted about their choice of a programme and also involved in managing the
programme. This is an example of the development approach.

Student Notes:
Towards the end of the Sixth Five Year Plan i.e., Plan i.e., in 1985, the Department of Women
and Child Development was set up as part of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
This Department was created to function as a central agency to formulate and implement plans,
policies and programmes for the development of women and children.
The Seventh Five Year Plan
The Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-1990) laid emphasis on generation (creation) of employment
opportunities for women. Two new schemes-Support to Training and Employment (STEP) and
Awareness Generation Programme for Rural and poor Women (AGP) were introduced. Three
important Reports, which were to serve as useful guidelines for future development
programmes of the government were also released during the seventh plan period. These
were:
• Sharma Shakti (Report of the National commission on Self-Employed Women and Women
in the Informal Sector).
• National Perspective Plan on Women in (1988-2000).
• SAARC Guide Book on Women in Development.
The Decade 1990-2000 was declared as the SAARC decade of the Girl Child and as part of this
event, programmes laying special thrust on (giving special importance to the ) the overall
development of girl children were launched.
Landmarks (highlights) of the Eighth Plan
The Eighth plan period also saw a revolutionary amendment to the Constitution of India, which
provided for the reservation of one-third of the seats in Panchayat raj institutions and urban
local self-governing bodies such as municipalities and corporations to women. The 73rd and
74th constitutional amendments, which made this reservation possible, have gone down in the
in the history of women's empowerment in India as a 'democratic revolution'. Today, there are
more than 40.000 women in local governing bodies across the country, a phenomenon (an
occurrence), which would never have been possible, if a provision for reservation of 1/3 seats
for women had not been made.
The Ninth Five Year Plan- From Development to Empowerment-
It was during of the Ninth Five Year plan (1997-2002) that two significant development took
place in the framework (outline) for chalking out women's development programmes. Hitherto,
women were either being treated as target for development programmes or as participants.
But not much attention was paid for creating an environment that would enable women to
exercise their rights or enjoying their freedom. The Ninth Plan put forth the concept of
Empowerment, which would create an enabling environment where, women can experience
freedom not just in letter, but also in action. To achieve this goal, a National Policy for the
Empowerment of Women was accepted by the Government of India in 2001. The second
significant development, which took place during the Ninth Plan period was the adoption of a
Women’s Component Plan. This plan directed both the Central and State governments to
earmark (set apart) at least 30 per cent of the funds/benefits in all sectors for women's
development.
Women's Empowerment Year, 2001
The Government of India declared 2001 as the year of Women's Empowerment. Three primary
objectives were set to be achieved during this year. These were:
• Creating and raising large scale awareness of women's issues with active participation and
involvement of women and men.

Student Notes:
• Initiating and accelerating action for improvement access to and control of resources by
women.
• Creating enabling environment for enhancing self-confidence and autonomy of women.
A number of policies and programmes were initiated during this year to ensure equal
participation of women and men in the social, economic and political life of the nation.
Two prominent schemes that were launched for women during 2001 were: Swayamsiddha and
Swadhar.
Swayamsiddha is an integrated programme, which supports the empowerment of women
through a network of Self-Help Groups of women. It aimedto bring together all the women
related schemes of the central and state governments at the block level. The government also
launched the Swashakti Project to help the setting up of women's Self-Help Groups in villages
by giving financial incentives. In many villages, Self Help Groups have been doing great work is
not only encourages savings but also mobilizing women to fight against oppression in their
families and villages. Self Help Groups also offer essay credit to members to start or improve
small-scale business enterprises.
Whereas Swadhar was launched to prove rehabilitation to women in difficult circumstances
such as destitute windows, women prisoners released from jail and without family support,
women survivors of natural disaster and victims of sexual crimes. Shelter homes are planned to
be constructed in which rehabilitation programmes will be offered a holistic basis.
The Tenth Plan (2002-07)
A Working Group on Empowerment of women was constituted to prepare a base paper, to
provide guidelines for future programmes for women's empowerment. This paper has made
the following recommendations:
• Women must be helped to equip themselves to face the challenges being thrown up by
globalization.
• Even through a number of development policies and programmes have been formulated to
empower women, not all women could make use of these programmes because of the
prevailing social discrimination against them. So investments on health, education and
capacity building must be stepped up in future.
• During the last 10 years there has been a decline in expenditure on health, education and
welfare. Since this affects women's development seriously, efforts must be made to
increase investments on those sectors, which actually help women's development.
The concept of Gender Budgeting was also incorporated during this Plan. Alongside NREGA
scheme specially targeting women was also started.
MGNREGA and Women

• MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every
financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-
related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage.
• Act covers entire country except for districts which have 100% urban population.
• More than 65 per cent of the works taken up under the programme are linked to
agriculture and allied activities.
• In the initial years, MNREGA was a true game-changer, rural wages started climbing
and reports also pointed towards a decline in migration to urban centres.
• More than half the jobs going to women workers and almost a third to members of
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

Student Notes:
• 57% of all workers are women, more than the statutory requirement of 33% and the
highest in three years.
• It gave a large number of women their first opportunity to earn income in cash, reduced
reliance on moneylenders
• It has led to a substantial increase in women’s control over resources, including cash in
hand and the likelihood of having a bank account, and improvement in women’s ability to
make independent decisions about their health.
The Eleventh and the Twelfth Plan

The idea of ‘Inclusive Growth’ related to inclusion of various marginalized groups, of which the
women category has also been specifically addressed too. The Current Plan has also to take up
various provisions which include the – All India Mahila Bank and the Nirbhaya Fund.
The 12th Five Year Plan Working Group (WG) on ‘Women’s Agency and Empowerment’ builds
on the view that development is a process of expanding freedoms equally for all individuals,
and considers gender equality as a core development goal in itself. It expands the definition of
women’s empowerment by looking at it as a process, which enables women to have a notion of
dignity and self-worth, bodily integrity, freedom from coercion and control over resources. It
affirms that empowerment is achieved when, along with the condition of women, their position
improves and their freedoms and choices are enlarged economically, socially and politically.
Empowerment must enable all women to negotiate these freedoms and increase their
capabilities. The overall framework takes steps to advance substantive equality by addressing
the causes and consequences of social, economic and political exclusion on all women
especially the dalits, tribals,minorities, women with disability, migrant, displaced and trafficked
women, women in the unorganized workforce, women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS,
single and excluded women especially widows and women in conflict zones.
The Plan advocates a shift from mere ‘income’ poverty of women to the adoption of a ‘multi-
dimensional’ approach to poverty and wellbeing. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
complements the income poverty measures by reflecting all the other deprivations with respect
to education, health and living standard that a poor person simultaneously faces.
Overall review of the Plans Since the planning period began in 1951, a number of programmes
have been designed and implemented for women's empowerment. But all these efforts have
not been able to remove gender discrimination inherent in such sectors as family life, health,
education, employment and political participation. Dedicating one year to women's
empowerment or one decade to girl children will not automatically bring about women's
emancipation. There must be a commitment to make all these programmes functional in a way
as to remove gaps between men and women on the one hand, and among women of different
groups on the other. The need of the hour is an Action Plan, which believes in action and not
just in taking about women.
5.1.4.3. Role of Voluntary Organizations
One of the weaknesses in the political strategies of women’s organisations in the 1950s and
1960s was their inability to mobilise ordinary women and failed to address the issues that
concerned them. The lack of efforts to reach to the masses and expand the base of women’s
movement limited its effectiveness and agenda for action. The position of peasant and working
class women deteriorated and only a small minority of women benefited.
Resurgence of Women’s Movements in the 70s: Issues and Actions
The late 1970s and 1980s was marked by a resurgence of women’s struggle and emergence of
new women’s groups and organisations. After their participation in nation’s independence

Student Notes:
struggle women again withdrew from public life and the debate on women’s issues also faded
out from the public arena.
However, many women activists, who were working with political parties, trade unions, peasant
and workers movements, realised that they were hesitant to take up issues which concerned
women exclusively. The issues women raised were the retrenchment of women from textile
mills and other industries due to technological changes and replacing them by men who
received training on new machines, lack of maternity benefit to women workers, lack of
provision of children at work place, wage discrimination between men and women, inadequate
education and training facilities for women workers and discrimination at work places. This led
to the emergence of separate women’s organisations in various parts of the country, which
seriously attempted to organise poor women for a positive change.
Emergence of New Organizations and Approaches
The growing economic hardships of rural poor and urban women (fifty percent of the
households were below poverty level at the end of the Sixth Five Year Plan) and failure to take
up women’s issues by the general agrarian and industrial workers’ movements resulted in
women labourers organising separately. Let us now look at the new organisations and
approaches in more detail.
i) Organisation
New organisations such as Self-Employment Women’s Association (Gujarat), Working
Women’s Forum (Tamil Nadu), Sramik Mahila Sangathna (Maharashtra) concerned
themselves with the plight of women workers in the unorganised sector. Organising women
labour and taking up the issues of their wages, working conditions, exploitation and health
hazards became an important task for these women’s organisations. Research on women in
the unorganised sector helped in developing new strategies for dealing with the problems
of poor rural and urban workers. Anti-price rise movement in 1973-74 was a united front of
women’s organisations belonging to several parties.
ii) Approaches
In the late nineteen seventies several women’s organisations emerged which were not
affiliated to political parties or to trade unions. They were called ‘autonomous women’s
organisations’. They rejected the ‘welfarist’ approach adopted by the previous women’s
organisations, many of which were set up during the pre-Independence period, and
adopted ‘protest polities’ for mobilising women on specific issues.
Deforestation and Ecological Movement
Economic hardships faced by women in the Himalayan region due to cutting down of
forests resulted in spontaneous mobilisation of women. They hugged the trees to prevent
the contractors from felling them. This is popularly known as Chipko movement. The
disappearance of forests means acute hardships to women who are primarily responsible
for the collection of fuel, fodder, fruits, herbs for medicine and other forest produce which
give them income and employment. This is why we find that women are even now in the
forefront of these ecological agitations.
Issue Based Movements in the 1970s and 1980s
The autonomous women’s organisations’ took up issues related to women’s oppression like
dowry, violence within the family, alcoholism among men and wife-beating, discrimination
at the work place etc. to mobilise women for collective action. For the first time some
groups in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Patna etc. raised issues such as sexual exploitation of
poor scheduled castes and scheduled tribe women by upper caste landlords.

Student Notes:
Issues of rape, dowry murders, crime and violence against women were taken up. All India
anti-dowry and anti-rape movements were launched by women’s organisations and Civil
liberties and democratic rights organisations also joined them. They launched important
issue based movements. Let us examine few of these movements.
iii) Anti-dowry Movements
Dowry murders have witnessed a sustained campaign by several women’s organisations
and civil rights groups. Journalists wrote extensively about the dowry problem. In the 1980s
several women’s and other progressive organisations formed a joint front in Delhi called
“Dahej Virodhi Chetna Manch”. Organisations in other major cities also campaigned
through protest, demonstrations, discussions, street theatre, posters etc. against the
ghastly murders of young brides for dowry. After much deliberation, the Dowry Prohibition
(Amendment) Act, 1984 was passed. The Act sets a limit to the amount given in dowry but
does not ban dowry. While cruelty by the husband and his relatives leading to suicide or
death has become an offence, punishable with imprisonment, still dowry deaths continue.
iv) Anti-sati Movement
In 1829 the practice of Sati was abolished through a legislation which marked the
culmination of a debate initiated by the British. The burning of a young widow Roop Kanwar
in 1988 on the funeral pyre of her husband in Deorala, Rajasthan, sparked off strong
protests by women’s organisations. The delayed response of the government came in the
wake of mounting agitation in the shape of Commission of Sati (Prevention) Bill, which was
hurriedly passed in the Parliament. The Act assumes that it is a practice sanctioned by the
custom. It does not seek to punish those who profit by raising money by selling
photographs and raising donations in the name of so called ‘sati’. There is nothing on
preventive action. It is strange that the barbaric practice, against which social reformers
raised their voices, still persists in a country, which reveres mother goddesses.
v) Anti-rape Movement
An anti-rape movement was launched in the last decade demanding review of the Supreme
Court judgment in a rape case, which acquitted the culprit. Women activists forced the
government to review Rape Laws. Several women’s organisations and legal and social
activists held discussions with the Law Commission to amend the law and in 1983 Criminal
Law (Amendment) Act was passed.
In the 1990s women took up the issue of communalism and globalisation through a wider
networking both at the national and international level. At the beginning of the twenty-first
century the women’s organisations in India are linked together through networks on
different issues and campaigns. While former methods of protest and advocacy are still
used, new methods of resistance and mobilisation for change are also being evolved.
Nirbhaya case and Verma Committee

• Justice JS Verma Committee was formed in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya rape case.
• Some of the recommendations of the committee are:
o It sought comprehensive amendments to the criminal laws, seeking 20 years
imprisonment for gang rape and lfie term for rape and murder.
o To implement police reforms to provide them with better autonomy, and for better
functioning of the police force
o An officer who doesn’t report a FIR or delays it for a rape case should be punished
o It had framed a protocol for medical examination of a rape victim
o The government should tackle the issue of trafficking of children and it should also
maintain data on the same

Student Notes:
o All marriages in India should be registered mandatorily in the presence of a magistrate

who would ensure that no dowry has been taken for the marriage
o It also argued to make marital rape a punishable offence
Other Organizations in Voluntary Sector

NFIW: The National Federation of Indian Women in India (NFIW) is amongst the largest
women’s organization in India today. It was founded in 1954 as the women’s wing of the
Communist party of India (CPI), with Aruna Asaf Ali among its prominent leaders.
AIDWA: The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) (1981) takes upon itself the
task organising the masses of women in town and villages of India and of building a powerful
broad based women’s movement for the uplift and betterment of the lot of the women as a
whole, to remove all discrimination between man and woman, to fight for democracy, equal
rights and emancipation of women, in a society free from exploitation. It is the women's wing
of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The women’s movement during 1970s and 1980s while being effective in bringing women’s
issues back into the arena of public debate was only a beginning of the long struggle ahead for
equality, justice and dignity to all women.
SHGs and Women

• SHGs have been successful in fulfilling their aim of empowering women, and to help
eradicate poverty in rural areas.
• The impact of SHGs on women are as follows:
o It has led to their social and economical empowerment
o It has helped women gain more control over decision making in households
o It has been helpful in providing women with financial autonomy, in participation in
community driven program, self employment autonomy
o It has helped instill a saving spirit among the members
• Though SHGs have had an immense impact on the status of women, but they can be made
more effective in the following ways:
o Through proper capacity building, training and skill upgradation of women
o Motivating SHG women to participate in government sponsored community driven
programs
o Proper rating and categorization of SHGs
o Providing technical help to the SHGs so that they can also utilize the ongoing ICT
revolution and grow further
6. An Analysis of Women’s Current Situation

According to Census-2011, India has reached the population of 1210 million, as against 301
million in 1951, of which 58, 64, 69,174 (48.5 %) were females. The population of India
accounted for 17.5% of the total world population and occupied second place. The sex ratio
was 930 in 1971 and it has increased to 940 according to 2011 Census. The female literacy also
increased from 18.3% in 1961 to 74.0% in 2011 and a decrease in male-female literacy gap from
26.6% in 1981 to 16.7 per cent in 2011.
Women empowerment in India is heavily dependent on many different variables that include
geographical location (rural/urban), educational status, social status (caste and class) and
age. Policies on women empowerment exist at national, state and local levels in many
sectors including health, education, economic opportunities, gender based violence and
political participation. The scope and coverage of the schemes launched has been expanding

Student Notes:
that include initiatives for economic and social empowerment of women and for securing
gender equality. The following schemes at present are aiming at women empowerment and
gender equality in India:
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) (1975)
• Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) (2010)
• The Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers.
• Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) (2009-10)
• Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP)
• Dhanalakshmi (2008)
• Short Stay Homes
• Swadhar
• Ujjawala (2007)
• Scheme for Gender Budgeting (XI Plan)
• National Mission for Empowerment of Women
• Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (1993)
• Beti Bachao Beti Padao
• SABLA-Scheme for Adolescent Girls
In spite of the above schemes and programmes, there are significant gaps between policy
achievements and actual practice at the community level. The Global Gender Gap Index (2017)
ranking of the country has fallen from 87 in 2016 to 108 in 2017 out of 144 countries according
to the recent report of the World Economic Forum. According to the 2017 report, India has
closed 67% of its gender gap, but this is less than many of its neighbours such as Bangladesh,
which ranked 47, and China, which was placed 100. Also, on an average 66% of women’s work
in India is unpaid, compared to 12% of men’s. India’s greatest challenges were in the economic
participation and opportunities for women. India did not perform too well in the health and
survival pillar either. India, however, fully closed the gap in primary and secondary education
enrolment for the second year in a row.
Global Gender Gap Index

The index measures gender gap as progress towards parity between men and women in four
indicators
• Educational attainment,
• Health and survival
• Economic opportunity and
• Political empowerment.
Countries are ranked based scores on scale ranging from 0 (highest imparity) to 1 (least
imparity). It is released every year by World Economic Forum since 2006.
Iceland is most gender-equal country with score of 0.878. It is followed by Norway (2nd rank),
Finland (3), Rwanda (4) Sweden (5), Nicaragua (6), Slovenia (7), Ireland (8), New Zealand (9) and
the Philippines (10).
Overall 68% of global gender gap has been closed, deterioration is seen compared to 2016
when gap closed was 68.3%. At current rate of progress, global gender gap will take 100 years
to bridge, compared to 83 last year. The case is worse in terms of workplace gender divide as it
will take 217 years to close.
• EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS
No doubt, India has attained significant improvement in women’s literacy which was 8.9 %

Student Notes:
in 1951, improved to 65.5 % as on 2011. As a result the male-female gap in literacy has
narrowed down from 26.6% in 1981 to 16.7% in 2011. However, the Human Development
Report-2011 observed that the population with at least secondary education (% age 25
and above) was only 26.6% for females as against 50.4% for males.(Human Development
Report-2011).
Net Attendance Ratio at primary and upper primary levels in rural areas and in urban areas
was found for females were completely low during 2007-08 (India Human Development
Report-2011). Net Attendance Ratio at higher secondary level for females was only 20.0% in
rural areas and 39.0% in urban areas. Inspite of the implementation of programmes like
“Sarva Siksha Abhiyan”, still 21.8% of the girl children (6-17 years age) were found out of
schools.
Although the gender differential in literacy has declined over time, the differential remains
high even in the youngest age group among those 15-19 years of age, the percentage
of females who are literate (74%) is 15%, which is less than the males (89%). The
National Family Health Survery-3 (2009) observed that there are great disparities in literacy
by wealth especially for Women.
• ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION AND OPPORTUNITY
Women’s participation in labour force is seen as a signal of declining discrimination and
increasing empowerment of women. It is thought that feminization of the workforce is also
a sign of improvement of women’s opportunities and position in society. In India, the
statistics show that in both rural and urban areas, the Labour force Participation Rate had
declined in 2009-10 as compared to 1003-94 particularly for females.
Surveys reveal the fact that in India there are considerable gender disparities in Labour
force Participation Rates. The female labour force participation rate has declined from
49.0% to 37.8% and from 23.8% to 19.4% in rural and urban areas respectively between
1993-94 and 2009-10. The second conclusion is that in 2009-11, the female labour force
participation rate is only 19.4% as against 76.2% for males.
The low labour force participation rates are attributed to reasons that women’s work is
statistically less visible, non-monetized and relegated to subsistence production and
domestic side and estimation reveal that this proportion accounts for 60.0% of unpaid
work and 98% of domestic work. The India Human Development Report-2011 observed
that poor access to education was one of the reasons for higher labour force participation
rate in rural areas particularly for females. Further, there is huge gender disparity in both
rural and urban areas for females with reference to Worker Population Ratio.
Women’s workforce participation rate was almost half of that of men in rural areas and less
than a third in urban areas. These figures make it clear that the achievement of economic
development for the past 60 years did not had a telling effect on Workforce
Participation Rate for females in India as almost no change took place in this vital index of
women empowerment.
• EMPLOYMENT SCENARIO
Employment can also be an important source of empowerment for women, particularly for
cash and in the formal sector. Employment empowers women by providing financial
independence, alternative source of social identity and exposure to power structures.
It is observed that women’s employment both in rural and urban areas is very low
compared with men, particularly in urban areas. It is also found that 49.4% of the women
are employed in rural areas (as against 88.7% of males) as the agricultural work is typically

Student Notes:
more compatible with women’s responsibilities as well as with low education. Employment
by age also exhibits a serious gender gap. Employment is found at peak in all the age groups
for men, whereas for women it is found at peak in the age group of 30-39 years (also for
males). In each and every age group, the percentage of women employment is low
compared to that of men in our country.
• ACCESS TO RESOURCES
Access to resources is important for economic freedom of women as freedom of movement
is linked with their economic independence and also infuses with power and expands
agency. The National Family Health Survey-3 has identified five important variables
namely: knowledge of loan programme, get loan, having bank account, higher educational
attainment and working outside as a measure of economic independence.
NFHS-3 has also captured “exposure to media” through four variables namely: reading
newspaper every day, listening radio every day, watching TV every day and knowing
about modern contraceptives, as the measurement indicators of women’s empowerment.
The media is important source of information and exposure to new ways of thinking and
doing things. Besides, radio listening, TV watching and reading newspapers or magazines
are important leisure activities and represent an important indication of women’s
empowerment and have the potential for enabling environment by facilitating greater
control over their own time use.The survey showed that women’s access to resources is
dismally poor in our country.It is quite disappointing to note that the women who have a
bank saving account was found very low at 15.07% and in spite of knowing about loan
programmes, they have failed to secure a loan. 36.4% of the women had the freedom to
work in outside. These variables are closely associated with level of education and the
higher education, a potent source of empowerment was found at only 7.3% for women.
It is also evident that women have least exposure to mass media and almost all women
know (98%) about modern contraceptives. The percentage of women who read
newspapers and listen to raid every day was estimated at 12.5% and 17.1% only. However,
about the modern contraceptives had a great bearing on the estimation of index for access
to resources at 0.7259
• CONTROL OVER OWN EARNINGS
“Empowerment” also means “to invest with power”. In the context of women
empowerment, it refers to increased control over their own lives, bodies and environment.
Hence, an important indicator of “agency” is decision making power. For women
particularly the post-marriage phase of life decides the capability of women to overcome
barriers all translate into increased/decreased agency.
According to NFHS-3, married men are more likely to be involved in decisions about the use
of their own earnings than married women. The data also show that men have higher level
of decision making power compared to women to use their own earnings. Further, it is
evident that most than two third of women are unable to make decisions alone about the
use of their own earnings.
• PARTICIPATION IN HOUSEHOLD DECISIONS
NFHS-3 has collected data on how women are participating in several other decisions and
who usually makes them. Specifically, decisions related to own health care, large household
purchases and visits to family or relations are considered for analysis.
The data on specific decisions and how they are being taken by the women exhibit that
73%, 91% and 89% of women even today are not able to take decisions alone with

Student Notes:
respect to their own health care, large household purchases and could not decide
themselves even to visit their family or relatives respectively. Less than 50% of women
have participated in decisions about visits to their family or relations jointly and only
35.1% of women have participated in decisions about their own health care jointly.
• SPOUSAL VIOLENCE
Domestic violence is one of the most common forms of gender-based violence experienced
by women across the world. Domestic violence results into violation of human rights and
economic costs. It leads to both short term and long term detrimental effects on the health
and welfare of women and their children. Living with constant threat of domestic violence
is, as considered by experts, acts as a source of disempowerment of women.
Domestic violence takes the forms like emotional, physical and sexual violence by their
husbands. It was observed that 27% of currently married women age 15-49 have
experienced the violence during a survey period of 12 months according to NFHS-3. 55% of
women who have experienced physical and sexual violence reported that they were injured
by their husbands. Cuts, eye injuries, sprains, dislocations, deep wounds, broken bones,
broken teeth and other serious injuries were the types of injuries reported.

Student Notes:
Domestic violence act

Domestic Violence Act:
• The act defines the term 'domestic'. The scope of term women has been widened and it
now includes 'live in partners', wives, sisters, widows, mothers, single women, divorced
wife.
• Definition of domestic violence has been widened- includes actual abuse or threat of abuse
that is physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic
• It provides the right to secure housing in the matrimonial or shared household.
• It provides for appointment of protection officers and NGOs to provide assistance to
the woman for medical examination, legal aid and safe Shelter.
• Non-compliance or discharge of duties by the protection officer is also sought to be made
an offence under the Act with similar punishment.
• A progressive piece of legislation in the direction of providing equal socioeconomic
rights and empowerment to the women in the country.
• Non bail-able offence if booked under this act
Criticism of the act:
• Gender biased- There are increasing number of false cases
• Verbal abuse and mental harassment are open to subjective interpretation- this is being
misused
• Lack of awareness, especially in rural areas
• Insensitivity of male police officers, judicial magistrates during hearing
• Absence of economic, psychological and support system for victim women
• Excludes marital rape
• Insufficient budgetary allocation to states: states could not assign 'Protection officers'
Way forward:
• NGOs relating to women empowerment should be encouraged to protect women from
domestic violence
• Faster delivery of cases
• PRIs should play a progressive and empathetic role towards such cases
• More sensitive training to be given to officers concerned at every stage
• More awareness drive especially in rural areas
• Long term solution: Women should be financially empowered through various govt
schemes and programs
• AUTONOMY OF WOMEN
Autonomy of women in control over decision making freedom in sexual relations, freedom
of movement and women's attitude towards wife-beating are considered as indicators of
women empowerment by the experts. Autonomy of women in refusing sexual intercourse
with their husbands is a very forceful expression of women's control over their sexuality
and control over one’s sexual life is integral to women’s well-being and autonomy.
According to NFHS 3, the data analysed on female autonomy deals with two important
determinants of autonomy of women as indicators of empowerment. The data reveal that
more than 78% of women in India had hold on sexual intercourse with their husband. Wife
beating is found in India as one of many types of domestic violence on women. It is
observed that it is fairly accepted by the women themselves. Wife beating was justified by
the women to the extent of more than 64% of women were found must assertive in
rejecting the wife beating as the overall index worked out to 0.9599.

Student Notes:
Marital Rape Debate

Why marital rape must be a crime?
• Arguments against making it a crime:
o There is too little education and too many customs and beliefs in the Indian society
• Arguments in favour of making it a crime:
o Justice JS Verma committee, which recommended sweeping changes in the law relating
to offences against women, called for marital rape to be made an offence.
• The present Indian law exempts non-consensual sex between a husband and wife, not
being less than 15 years of age, from being charged with rape. However, by another
provision it makes rape of a wife who is living separately a criminal offence.
• The age limit of 15 years above which marital rape is not an offence is inherently
problematic, as normally sex with a girl up to the age of 18 is an offence regardless of
consent.
• The exemption given to marital rape, as Justice Verma noted, “stems from a long out-dated
notion of marriage which regarded wives as no more than the property of their husbands”.
Marital rape ought to be a crime and not a concept.
• There will be objections such as a perceived threat to the integrity of the marital union and
the possibility of misuse of the penal provisions. It is not really true that the private or
domestic domain has always been outside the purview of law. The law against domestic
violence already covers both physical and sexual abuse as grounds for the legal system to
intervene.
• It is difficult to argue that a complaint of marital rape will ruin a marriage, while a
complaint of domestic violence against a spouse will not. It has long been time to jettison
the notion of ‘implied consent’ in marriage. The law must uphold the bodily autonomy of
all women, irrespective of their marital status.
Uniform Civil Code and Women

Art 44: state shall endeavor to secure a UCC for its citizens, throughout the territory of India.
Uniform Civil Code essentially means a common set of laws governing personal matters for all
citizens of the country, irrespective of religion.
Arguments in favour of UCC:
• Article 25 of the Constitution empowers the State to frame any law to regulate or restrict
“secular activity which may be associated with religious practice”-therefore, it is argued,
Article 25 is no bar to having a Uniform Civil Code.
• DPSP as per Art 44 of the Constitution
• Inconsistency in personal laws has been challenged as it violates Art 14, which ensures the
right to equality. Litigants have contended that their right to equality is endangered by
personal laws that put them at a disadvantage.
Benefits of UCC:
• Divest religion from social relations and personal laws, ensuring equality, unity and
integrity of the nation and justice to both men and women.
• All the laws related to marriage, inheritance, family, land etc. would be equal for all
Indians.
• Help improve condition of women in India.
• Will help society move forward, and take India towards its goal of becoming a developed
nation where women are treated fairly and given equal rights.

Student Notes:
• Various personal laws have loop holes which are exploited by informal bodies like
Panchayats etc.
• Help reduce vote bank politics-- as politicians will have less to offer to communities in
exchange for their votes.
• help in integration of India
• Could induce custodian of faith to look inwards and seek to codify and reform age old
personal laws in conformity with current modernizing and integrative tendencies.
• UCC is present in countries like Germany, Italy, Egypt and Turkey.
Challenges in implementing:
• Law Ministry: 3 chief impediments: separatism, conservatism and misconceived notions
about personal laws.
• India has a strong and long history of personal laws and it cannot be given up easily.
• Broad consensus must be drawn among diff communities.
• Biggest obstacle in implementing the UCC, apart from obtaining a consensus, is the
drafting. How to blend all the set of personal laws which are present in society will be a
major challenge.
Way forward:
• Take an evaluation survey of all communities to suggest reforms within personal laws on
modern and liberal lines.
• Need for bringing awareness among citizens through discussion, deliberations, and
academic seminars among members of various communities.
• Need of piecemeal reform rather than a holistic reform starting with what minorities
are most comfortable of doing away with.
7. National Policy for Women

7.1. National Policy for Empowerment of Women, 2001
The Government of India had adopted the National Policy for Empowerment of Women on 20th
March, 2001 with the objective to bring about the advancement, development and
empowerment of women and to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.
Given the long term nature of issues which impact on women, need was felt to strengthen the
processes that promote all-round development of women by focussing on a coordinated
approach for implementation of the schemes of the concerned Ministries/Departments and by
creating an enabling environment conducive to social change. With this in view, the
Government has set up National Mission for Empowerment of Women in 2010 with the
objective of convergence of schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments of
Government of India as well as State Governments/UT Administrations.
7.2. Priority Areas for a New National Policy for Empowerment of Women
• Health including food security and nutrition
• Education
• Economy
• Governance and Decision Making
• Violence Against Women
• Enabling Environment
• Environment and Climate Change

Student Notes:
Policy also describes emerging issues such as making cyber spaces safe place for women,
redistribution of gender roles, for reducing unpaid care work, review of personal and
customary laws in accordance with the Constitutional provisions, Review of criminalization of
marital rape within the framework women’s human rights etc. relevant in the developmental
paradigms.
8. Conclusion
Looking back at the last four decades we can say with a fair amount of certainty that women’s
position in Indian society has changed. This change has been to women’s advantage. There has
no doubt been a wider recognition of women’s rights, several steps taken towards equality
among genders, a greater sensitivity towards gender discrimination, etc. The women’s
movement comprising of autonomous women’s organisations, other women’s groups, women’s
studies centres, etc., has played no small role in the bringing about of this change. We can,
therefore, say without hesitation that, over the last 40 years, the women’s movement has
affected the socio-political environment in India. However, this change has been at a gradual
pace and has even affected certain sections more than others leaving yet much to be desired.
Despite the current fragmentation, women’s groups have come together with one concerted
voice on certain issues such as violence, health, employment conditions including wages, legal
rights and law reform. The issues today are sexual harassment at the work place, the violence of
development, caste and communal violence, lobbying for increased political participation of
women in the highest levels of decision-making, etc.
The list will go on as long as there is a women’s movement. Many scholars have illustrated how
the women’s movement has not been static but has been compelled to respond to changing
political, social, economic and other national realities and not exclusively influenced by women-
specific issues and problems.
9. Appendix
9.1. Legislative Acts
Parliament from time to time has passed several legislations to empower women & to provide
them a legal basis in their fight for equality & justice. Some of them are:
1) Sati (Prevention) Act 1987 – The practice of Sati which was first abolished in 1829, was
revised and made illegal in 1887. It provided for a more effective prevention of the
commission of sati and its glorification and for matters connected therewith.
2) Amendment to criminal Act 1983- This Act talks about domestic violence as an offence,
rape is also made a punishable offence.
3) Special Marriage Act 1954- It has been amended to fix the minimum age of marriage at 21
yrs for males & 18 yrs for females.
4) Hindu Succession Act 1956- Equal share to daughter from property of father, while a widow
has the right to inherit husband’s property. An amendment in this Act in 2005 enabled
daughters to have equal share in ancestral properties.
5) Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), 1986- Suppression of Immoral Trafficking in women
and girls Act (SITA) 1956 was amended in 1986 & renamed ITPA. SITA was enacted to
prohibit or abolish traffic in women and girls for purposes of prostitution. It was amended
to cover both the sexes & provided enhanced penalties for offenses involving minors.
However the system has failed to crack the mafia working both at interstate and
international levels.
6) Dowry Prohibition Act 1961- Now court is empowered to act in his own knowledge or on a
complaint by any recognized welfare organization on dowry murder. Indian Evidence Act is

Student Notes:
also amended to shift the burden of proof to husband & his family where bride dies within
7 yrs of marriage.
7) Maternity benefit Act 1961- An Act to regulate the employment of women for certain
period before and after childbirth and to provide for maternity benefits like paid leaves for
6 months.
8) Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971- Legalize abortion in case if fetus is suffering
from physical or mental abnormality, in case of rape & unwanted pregnancy within 12
weeks of gestation period & after 12 th week, before 20th week if the pregnancy is harmful
for the mother or the child born would be severely deformed.
9) Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986- This Act prohibits indecent
representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings,
and figures or in any other manner and for matters connected therewith.
10) Domestic Violence Act 2005- It seeks to determine domestic violence in all forms against
women & make it a punishable offence.
11) Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 – In the backdrop of Dec 16 gang rape, this Act was
passed amending the CrPC. The new law has provisions for increased sentence for rape
convicts, including life-term and death sentence, besides providing for stringent
punishment for offences such as acid attacks, stalking and voyeurism. Through the revised
Bill, the government has amended various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Code of
Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act.
9.2. Constitutional Provisions for Women in Our Constitution

1) Article 14 - Men and women to have equal rights and opportunities in the political,
economic and social spheres.
2) Article 15(1) - Prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex etc.
3) Article 15(3)- Special provision enabling the State to make affirmative discriminations in
favor of women.
4) Article 16- Equality of opportunities in matter of public appointments for all citizens.
5) Article 23- Bans trafficking in human and forced labor
6) Article 39(a)- The State shall direct its policy towards securing all citizens men and
women, equally, the right to means of livelihood.
7) Article 39(d)- Equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
8) Article 42- The State to make provision for ensuring just and humane conditions of work
and maternity relief.
9) Article 51 (A)(e)- To renounce the practices derogatory to the dignity of women
10) Article 300 (A)- Right of property to women
11) 73rd & 74th Amendment Act 1992- Reservation of 1/3rd of seats in local bodies of
panchayats and municipalities for women.
(The day on which 73rd amendment became operational i.e April 24th is also declared as
Women’s Empowerment Day).
9.3. Government Response
1) Committees on the status of women in India (CSWI) – This was set up in a response to
United Nation’s general assembly Declaration of Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women 1967. It submitted its report in 1974, which stressed the fact that poor are not a
homogenous group & highlighted the unequal burden of poverty on women.
2) Draft National Plan of Action for Women- GoI has drawn up a national plan based on CSWI
report. The plan accords priority to the need of concrete action in the areas of education,

Student Notes:
health, welfare and employment with special reference to weaker section of society
especially women.
3) It was only in 1980s that women were recognized as a separate group and a separate
chapter viz “Women and Development” was included in the 6 th Plan Document (1980-
1985) for the first time. Then subsequently it was included in the 5 year plans to ensure
that fruits of development & benefits of Govt. programs do reach women.
4) National Commission for women 1991 - The National Commission for Women was set up
as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to:
• Protect and promote the interest and safeguard the right of women.
• Study all matters related to constitutional and legal safeguards provided for women, to
review existing legislation & suggest amendments if necessary.
• Look into the complaints and take notice of the cases involving deprivation of women &
provide support legal or otherwise to helpless and needy women.
• It recommended the Govt. to play an active role by incorporating a component of
organizing in all govt. schemes, project etc for the poor, to promote organization of
women at a broader level.
National Commission for Women: A toothless tiger?

• NCW is the apex national level organization of India with the mandate of protecting and
promoting the interests of women.
• The major functions of NCW include:
o Investigating and examining all the matters relating to the safeguards which women
are provided under the Constitution
o It presents reports to the central government on the work done by the commission
o It also makes recommendations for effective implementation of safeguards to the
central as well as state governments
o It reviews the legislations related to women, and points out the shortcomings
o It looks into complaints, and can take suo moto action in such cases
o It works towards women rights and women empowerment
• But the NCW has not been able to play a very effective role. This can be clearly seen by the
slow improvement in the status of women in India, and also the increasing cases of
violence against women.
• Some of the reasons for this are:
o The financial assistance provided to the commission is less to cater to its needs, and to
fulfill its mandate
o The members are appointed by the government, and this is a major shortcoming, as
the commission cannot select its own members
o The recommendations of the commission are not mandatory; therefore the NCW lacks
any concrete legislative power. Recommendations of the commission are not binding
on the government
• All these reasons have led the commission to be more of a toothless tiger.
5) National Institute of Public Cooperation and child Development- NIPCCD, New Delhi is an
autonomous organization under the aegis of Department of women and child
development. Its objective is to:
• Develop and promote voluntary action in social development through training &
capacity building of Govt. and Non Govt. functionaries
• Take a comprehensive view of women and child development & develop and promote
programs in pursuance of national policy of children.
• Develop measures for coordination of governmental and voluntary action in social
development.

Student Notes:
9.4. Women Empowerment Programs/Schemes by GoI

For empowering the women, various program have been initiated by GoI as below:
1) Gender Budgeting- This concept was first introduced in Australia in mid 1980s & India
incorporated this in its budget since 2005-06.
It is not an accounting exercise but an ongoing process of keeping a gender perspective in
policy/ program formulation, its implementation and review. GB involves dissection of the
Government budgets to establish its gender differential impacts and to ensure that gender
commitments are translated in to budgetary commitments.
• Nirbhaya fund- In a tribute to the recent Delhi gang-rape victim of Dec 2012,
government in the union budget 2013-14,announced setting up of a 'Nirbhaya Fund' of
Rs 1,000 crore for safety and empowerment of women.
• An all-women bank was also proposed to be set up by October, 2013 with an initial
capital of Rs 1,000 crore for the purpose to facilitate women empowerment
2) Working Women Hostel- The objective of the scheme is to promote availability of safe and
conveniently located accommodation for working women, with day care facility for their
children, in urban, semi urban, or even rural areas where employment opportunity for
women exist.
3) Support to training cum employment for women (STEP)- Ministry of Women and child
development launched this program in the year 1986, for training and employment for
women below poverty line in traditional sectors like agriculture, small animal husbandry,
dairying, fisheries etc. where women are employed on a large scale. Its basic aim is to
upgrade skills of women for self and wage employment.
4) Swayamsidha- It is an integrated program, seeks to empower women through awareness
generation, achievement of economic independence through micro-level income-
generating activities and by establishing convergence of various services such as literacy,
health, rural development etc. It also aims at organizing women into Self-Help Groups,
developing access to micro credit.
5) Swa Shakti – This project aims at establishment of more than 16000 self reliant women
SHGs(Self Help Groups) having 15-20 members each & thereby enhance women’s access to
and control over resources for betterment of their lives. Also to sensitise and strengthen
the institutional capacity of support agencies to pro actively address women’s need.
6) Rashtriya Mahila Kosh – It is a national level mechanism to meet the micro credit needs of
the poor and asset-less women in the Informal Sector. From inception in 1993 till February
2001, total credit worth Rs. 100 crore was sanctioned to benefit more than 400,000 women
through 827 NGOs spread over the country. RMK has a very good recovery rate of 90 to 95
per cent.
7) Swadhar- This scheme aims to provide basic necessities to marginalised women and girls
who are living in difficult circumstances without any economic or social support. Under this
scheme women are provided with emotional support and counselling. The target group is
mainly women who are victim of violence or survivors of natural disaster, trafficked women,
and women without no families.

Student Notes:
10. Vision IAS GS Mains Test Series Questions

1. Any discourse on environmental movements in India is incomplete without analysing
the role of women in it. Comment.
Approach:
• Elaborate on the basics of environmental movements in India. Then argue how,
access to natural resources is central to Women’s lives in India, which is the basis of
environmental movements in India.
• Further, an analysis could be given of CHIPKO movement, which is indeed the
starting of environmental movements in post-independent India. Conclude w.r.t.
the birth of ecofeminism in India.
Answer: [Student Note: Answer has been kept long to discuss the issue in detail.]
• Environmental movement is a “diverse scientific, social and political movement for
addressing environmental issues.”
• Environmental movements in developing countries are struggles of the
dispossessed, the marginalized, the victims of discrimination, among whom can
be counted women, tribal and the non-commercial farmers.
• Reasons for the movement are control over natural resources; resistance offered
by ecosystem people to the resource capture by omnivorous; environmental
degradation; socio-economic reasons (tribal issues).
• Hence, any discourse on environmental movements in developing countries cannot
be complete without understanding how they are related to livelihood issues & its
gendered context. This is in contrast to the discussions on environment
conservation in developed countries which often revolves around the issues of
quality of life, animal rights etc.
• Women have direct contact with natural resources like fuel, food and fodder,
forest, water and land especially in rural areas where 70% of Indian population
reside and directly dependent upon natural resources. Women are also responsible
for using these resources to satisfy the basic needs of their families.
• Women have given different perspective to the environmental issues due to their
different experience base. They view the issue in a broad and holistic manner
aiming at long term benefits of subsistence and survival as against short term
commercial gains.
• Therefore, conservation of natural resources and promotion of environment
cannot be done without involving the women in planning and training for
promoting the values for conservation and promotion of environment.
• The emergence of the Indian environmental movement can perhaps be dated to
1973, when the famous Chipko movement began in the central Himalayas. The
Chipko movement emerged as a protest against granting of permission for access to
the forests to commercial timber operators, while the local people were refused
access to the forests for making agricultural implements.
• The movement which spread rapidly to other villages saw the active involvement of
women. They worked jointly with the men of their community, and in some cases
even against them, when they differed with them over the use of forest resources.
Women were more concerned with the long-term gain of saving the forests and
environment, and hence, subsistence and survival issues, rather than short-term
gain through commercial projects like monoculture forests, potato-seed farms, etc.
• The scope of the movement broadened and involved issues of male alcoholism,
domestic violence, women’s representation in village councils, as well as against

Student Notes:
mining in the hills. It helped women recognize the inter-connections between

nature and human sustenance. The movement was carried forward largely by
women using Gandhian techniques of protest.
• It was just the beginning, which was followed by several other movements such as
Green Belt movement in 1977 (planting trees), Appiko movement (hugging the
trees) , Narmada Bachao Aandolan etc. which saw significant participation of
women at all levels.
• We need to analyze women’ s interaction with nature and their responses to
environmental degradation with respect to the material reality of gender, caste,
class and race based division of labor, property and power. It is the poor, lower
class and lower caste, and within them, the peasant and tribal women, who are
worst, affected and hence, they are the most active in the protests. Women are
victims of environmental degradation as well as active agents in the regeneration
and protection of the environment. The adverse class-gender effects of these
processes are reflected in the erosion of indigenous knowledge systems and
livelihood strategies on which poor, rural women depend.
• The history of environmental movements in India shows that women have bear the
major brunt of environmental degradation & hence have also been the first ones to
spearhead conservation movements from Chipko to the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
• Moreover the strong connection between women and the issues of the
environment led to the emergence of the concept of ecofeminism. The term which
grew out of the various social movements that were occurring all over the world
involves the concept of feminism, peace and the ecology and signifies the role of
women in environmental conservation.
2. Feminization of agriculture has led to women empowerment in rural India. Critically

analyse.
Approach:
• Define first what do we mean by two terms-feminization of labour & feminization
of poverty & relate it to Indian agriculture. Next would be to talk about how both
of them are related to the invisible hand of patriarchy & finally to point out how
feminization or defeminisation of labour force is determined by the intertwining of
market forces with patriarchy.
Answer:
The gendered division of labour under the pervasive influence of patriarchy has
traditionally ensured that women are restricted to household work which is easily
passed off as unpaid domestic labour. However the invisible hand of patriarchy is not
only at work within the household but also in cases where women manage to gain an
entry into the labour market.
The participation of women in agriculture & thus outside the traditional domain of
domestic work has been in the backdrop of agrarian distress in agriculture which
forced the male members of families to move out of rural-agriculture - low wages
sector into the relatively better paying jobs in the informal sector in urban economies.
It is believed that this phenomenon has been induced by casualization of work,
unprofitable crop production and distress migration. Migration has been noticed to
other rural areas, to urban slums and to highly labour-exploitative sectors of the
economy such as construction.

Student Notes:
This trend in the agriculture sector was most visible during 1999-2005 period in India
marked by declining agriculture growth rates which saw a distress migration of male
members to relatively better paying jobs either in the urban informal economy or the
agriculturally prosperous states and “distress employment” of 17 million females in this
sector.
This phenomenon of increased participation of women workforce in the agriculture
sector was termed as feminization of agriculture which itself was a manifestation of
feminization of poverty- the fact that in a market economy functioning under a
patriarchal mind set females often find themselves cornered into relatively lesser
paying jobs with minimal rights, no job security, sexual harassment at workplace & a
gender insensitive policy framework which has failed to take up the issue of capacity
building of female farmers on a priority basis.
For example: Women employed as wage labour receive lower wage than men do. Even
when women are categorised as cultivators, their ownership and control over resources
such as land, livestock, farm machinery, and transport equipment are limited. In
addition, their access to credit, technology and market information is highly
restricted. Their opportunities for education, skill formation and of shifting to better
paid work are also narrow. Disadvantages experienced by women become apparent
once women’s work comes out into the open, as in the case of female wage labour and
women-headed households. Female wage labourers are the lowest paid in the
economy. The women-headed households in rural areas are seen in the lowest income
class. Hence, the major implication of feminisation of agriculture is the increasing
burden of work on them and lower compensation.
Therefore, it is evident from above illustration that increase in female participation in
agriculture was thus driven by the need to supplement declining family income (or
rather male income) termed as “distress employment” & not by any desire to give them
an equal status either in the formal economy or within the household with the result
that females worked on wages that their male counterparts found to be below
subsistence level in the first place.
Feminization being an unintended consequence of the low agricultural growth did not
lead to the women empowerment in true sense. Moreover, the limited increase in
bargaining power of rural women within family fuelled by participation in formal
economy itself was short lived. This is exemplified by the fact that women labour force
participation in rural areas declined again in 2005-2009 period which was marked by
relatively better agricultural growth rates & increasing wages as a result of positive
influence of MGNREGA &Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), a phenomenon which
has been termed as defeminisation of agriculture leading to withdrawal of 19 million
females from this sector during this period
Thus while increasing labour force participation of women definitely carries the
potential of uplifting their position within the family & society, no sustainable gains
can be made unless the gendered division of labour is frontally attacked by gender
sensitive policies of the state which actively support women employment. Moreover,
the nexus between market forces & patriarchy will have to be broken in the first place
for which the state & civil society will have to play a vibrant role.

Student Notes:
3. Why is it that the societal trends that maintain a violent order against women have
remained intact, when there has been a legal expansion of women’s rights in India?
Approach:
• Argue on the lines that -Rights may be self-evident or constitutionally secured;
however they do not automatically implement themselves.
• Comment on why, despite far reaching legislations, rape and sexual assault are still
common and how caste based institutions (Khap Panchayats, Kangaroo Courts)
have asserted their rights over that of the Women. – i.e. Societally sanctioned rape
and assault cases in India
Answer:
The gravest issue which has confronted the Indian society over the years is the violent
order against women. "Violence against women is a manifestation of historically
unequal power relations between men and women" and that "violence against
women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a
subordinate position compared with men". These include violence carried out by
‘individuals’ as well as ‘states.’
It has got manifested in the form of rape; domestic violence; sexual harassment;
coercive use of contraceptives; female infanticide; prenatal sex selection; as well as
harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry
violence, female genital mutilation, marriage by abduction and forced marriage.
Some forms of violence are perpetrated or condoned by the state such as war
rape; sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict; forced sterilization; forced
abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging.
Many forms of violence such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often
perpetrated by organized criminal networks.
In Indian context, past year has seen a much delayed yet needed discussion on women
security & related issues in the civil society, media & legal domain which fuelled the
establishment of Justice Verma committee, the passage of sexual harassment at
workplace bill and a proactive supreme court taking up gender related issues in a big
way. Yet, the paradoxical finding has been a study in 2011 conducted by the
International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) on gender attitudes which
showed that 68 per cent of the Indian men surveyed agreed that women should
tolerate violence to keep their families together, while 65 per cent believed that
sometimes a woman deserves to be beaten. The most interesting finding from the
study was this one — 92 per cent of those surveyed knew of the laws pertaining to
violence against women. The figure quoted above tells us that legislation alone is not
going to stop violence against women from occurring.
This apparent paradox of expanding legal rights on one hand& a backlash from a
society can be seen either in the form of either poorly formulated or poorly
implemented laws dealing with gender related issues in India, whether it is the case of
laws relating to foetal sex determination or the poor conviction rate in rape cases or the
persistence and thriving of Khap Panchayats in rural areas despite the Supreme Court
describing them as unconstitutional and illegal; lack of adequate institutional
mechanism to ensure its implementation, lack of awareness amongst the women
about their rights.
However this ‘apparent paradox’ has a simple logical explanation- the deeply
patriarchal nature of society which legitimises the use of violence to discipline women.

Student Notes:
The hegemony of this parochial mind-set and lack of gender sensitivity, which can be
seen in the fact that some degree of violence against women is considered as both
necessary and desirable not only by males but also by females in Indian society. The
gross under reportage of violence related cases against women in India is a result of
this basic fact.
Against this backdrop of a patriarchal society, the state passes some progressive laws
but lacks the capacity to effectively implement them because the vital political will is
missing in the first place. Secondly “The Law decides the direction in which society
might go, it is the culture and family which decides the direction in which the society
actually goes”. Hence it’s the failure on the part of institutions such as education
system, family values and norms etc. to deal with the menace of the violence against
women.
The only way out of this trap is to bring the society out of the cultural inertia which has
adversely affected the supposedly progressive laws to fight the violent order at all its
stages: formulation, implementation, evaluation.
Perhaps a good point to start is by providing reservation to women in the legislative
bodies so that instead of viewing women in development, we ensure women and
development.
4. What are the factors responsible for high infant mortality rate in India? Discuss its
implications for Indian women. Suggest steps that have been taken by the
government to address this problem.
Approach:
Answer can be divided in three parts:
• First discuss the socio-economic and cultural factors that lead to high infant
mortality in India along
• In few concrete points discuss the implications of the phenomena for women.
• Enumerate important steps taken by the government for reducing infant mortality.
Answer:
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of
age, per 1,000 live births in a given year. According to the 2011 Census report IMR in
India stands at 40. India is unlikely to achieve the targets under the Millennium
Developmental Goals. Many research studies conducted so far have indicated that,
besides medico-clinical causes, the SOCIO-ECONOMIC factors are important
determinants in high infant mortality.
• Economic Factors- Household income is measure determinant in the facilities that
can be availed during maternity and after birth. Access to healthcare, prenatal care,
nutrition, immunization and information about the care to be taken during
pregnancy directly depends on the economic profile of the family. Rampant poverty
and unemployment leads to absence of toilet facilities, sanitation and hygiene,
particularly menstrual hygiene. It directly contributes in higher rates
• Social and cultural factors- Girls are married young & pressurized after marriage to
conceive early. Resorting to foeticide to get rid of the girl child still is a common
practice. Pregnant women are not fed adequately due to superstitious belief and a
fear of growth of the foetus, lending the delivery difficult. Immunization of
pregnant women is avoided as also the vaccination of the child. Restrictions on girls

Student Notes:
in terms of education social roles reduce awareness about standard health

practices leading to higher mortality.
Implications for Women:
• Health: Women suffer from mental and physical agony because of high infant
mortality. Trauma of infant death affects the mental health of women. A low or sad
mood, loss of interest in fun activities, changes in appetite, sleep, and energy,
feelings of worthlessness, shame, or guilt and thoughts that life is not worth living
are common implications because of infant mortality.
• Social: Social stigma attached to infant deaths leads to harassment, domestic
violence and falling prey to superstitions.
• Economic: Morbidity and mental illness induced by infant mortality reduces
capacity to participate in economic activity thereby increasing economic hardships
for women.
Under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) the following programmes/schemes
and awareness campaign is launched by the Government to reduce infant mortality
rate:
• Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) has been launched on which entitles all
pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no
expense delivery including Caesarean section. The initiative stipulates free drugs,
diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to institution,
between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements
have been put in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for
treatment.
• Navjaat Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (NSSK), a programme for training health care
providers on essential newborn care and resuscitation.
• Village Health and Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for provision
of maternal and child health services.
• Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), an introduction of child health screening
for 4Ds i.e. defects at birth, deficiencies, diseases, development delays and their
management among the children.
• Improving Infant and young child feeding practices including breastfeeding
promotion.
5. Investment in the future of girl child is not only a question of economic priority but
also one of social attitude. Comment. How can the government schemes help change
entrenched social attitudes vis a vis the girl child?
Approach:
• Explain both the economic and social imperative in investment for a girl child.
• Focus on the need for attitude change.
• Discuss the role of government schemes in bringing attitude change.
• Futuristic and positive conclusion.
Answer:
Investment in the future of a girl child is inextricably linked to the goal of gender
equality and women empowerment. This includes investing in their education, health,
skill development, etc. McKinsey’s 2015 report, ‘The Power of Parity: Advancing
women’s equality in India’, estimates that India can add $700 billion of additional GDP

Student Notes:
in 2025 by matching the momentum towards gender parity to the fastest country in the
region. A majority of this would come from improving labour force participation by 10
percentage points. This will require bridging both social and economic gaps.
Some of the ways in which investment in the future of girl child can help improve social
attitude are:-
• Greater participation of men in women empowerment programmes like He4She
campaign
• Innovative methods such as nukkad nataks
• Naming and shaming of the perpetrators of women related crimes.
• Making women more aware of their rights and involving them in formulating
policies.
Role of government
Government welfare schemes bring out change in attitude of society and address the
gender discrimination by creating a positive environment in favor of the girl child. The
roles played by such schemes are as follows
• Elimination of all forms of violence against women and the girl child.
• Strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of gender
discrimination - enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by
women on equal basis with men in all political, economic, social, cultural and civil
spheres
• Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for full
development of girl child in order to enable them to realize their full potential.
• Equality in decision making in social political and economic spheres.
• Equal access to health care, quality education at all levels, career and vocational
guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety, social
security and public life etc.
Examples
• Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme was launched to empower the girl child
and enable her education and bring positive change in the societal attitude towards
the birth of the girl child.
• The Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme help in encouraging people to save for a girl child
and discourage child marriages
• The Ladli Scheme Implemented by Delhi & Haryana Government aims at curbing
female foeticide and improving the social state of the girl child by supporting
education and protecting them from discrimination.
There is a necessity for people’s involvement for success of any programme. For
women, the ability to exercise choice will be limited unless there is a change in social
attitude.
6. Even though the provision of reservation for women has enhanced their presence and
visibility, this has not necessarily translated into their empowerment. Do you agree?
On what grounds is the reservation for women in Parliament opposed?
Approach:
• The first part of the question demands to analyse if their has been any progress in
providing real empowerment to women by providing political rights to them.

Student Notes:
• The second part of the question demands to list down the various causes or views
that are opposing the bill to guarantee reservation for women in parliament.
Answer:
Women in India represents nearly 50% of the total population yet has mere 12%
representation in parliament . Though India embarked on a journey of universal adult
franchise even after 5 decades the statistics show that the political equality has not
transformed into social and economic equality for women in India.
• Visibility is taken for tokenism, an oft quoted example is that women sarpanches
survive because of the sarpanch pati or beta .
• HDI report ranks india 132 out of 148 countries on gender inequality index.
• Female labor participation is mere 29% as compared to 80% of men.
• Women ownership is still 4% whereas 73% of food production is done by rural
women.
The above statistics are disheartening but it cannot be ruled out completely that
reservation do not have a positive impact on status of women in the society.
In favour:
• In states like M.P , kerala , chattisgarh, rajasthan where the reservation has been
extended to women in local municipal corporations and PRIs , positive impact on
governance is visible where they are headed by women.
• They have contributed immensely in overcoming social taboos and constraints like
removal of ghunghat , sitting at same height as men on chairs etc.
• Though it begins at token equality that caused acute discomfort and even
confrontation, women especially dalit has been able to push boundaries and create
space in the decision making sphere across all sectors.
All this may lead to a gradual change in cultural values of community which will slowly
lead to not only equality in socio-economic area but also commensurate political
equality with decision making capability.
Opposition to the 108th constitutional bill providing reservation to women are on
following grounds:
• India being a Patriarchial society, thereby denying women any role in political
participation
• Traditional orthodox groups like khap panchayat etc in opposition and political
pressure over parties as loss of vote bank, electoral calculations.
• Fear of usurpation of power by few in the form of entry of related women of
politician in parliament, thus capturing the whole process under the aegis of
nepotism and favoritism.
• Disincentive for MP and MLA as seats will be on rotation basis so they might not
focus on their constituencies.
• Reservation do not lead to real empowerment as seats are contested by women
from rich families, business and political families.
• Denies equality of opportunity to males to contest from those seats.
Though the bill is opposed, still it should be pursued so as to enable inclusive growth to
all in the society and also to guarantee democratic rights to women at par with men.

Student Notes:
7. Over the past few years, there have been innumerable cases of domestic workers,
nearly all of them female, being abused and exploited by their employers. What are
the factors that make domestic workers vulnerable to abuse and exploitation?
Enumerate the provisions in Domestic Workers Welfare and Social Security Act 2010
to prevent their exploitation.
Approach:
• Briefly discuss the case of exploitation of domestic workers.
• Enumerate the factors that make them vulnerable.
• Enumerate the provisions in Domestic Workers Welfare and Social Security Act
2010.
Answer:
Every year thousands of complaints of exploitation and abuse of domestic workers are
received with most of them about unpaid wages, food and sleep deprivation and long
work hours with verbal, physical and sexual abuse. The reported cases are miniscule per
cent of actual abuse of a workforce consisting of 80% of women.
Several factors have led to such state:
• Absence of legal protection through a specific law.
• Paid domestic work continues to be excluded from the central list of scheduled
employments under the Minimum Wages Act of 1948. It is also not covered under
Payment of Wages Act (1936), Workmen’s Compensation Act (1923), Contract
Labor Act (1970) or the Maternity Benefit Act (1961).
• Only seven states have the provision of minimum wages for them. Hence, wage
fixation and payment is arbitrary. Even, where it has been fixed, the wage rate is
very low.
• Sector is dominated by women. In India, 73% of working women are illiterate or
educated upto primary level. Thus, they are unaware of their rights and fail to unite
themselves.
• Majority of domestic workers are distress migrants, SCs/STs and EWS, seeking
employment desperately. They accept work under any conditions and become
vulnerable to exploitation as well as caste and class discrimination.
• Mobilizing domestic workers to assert their rights is difficult. Also, workplace is an
extremely amorphous term in this particular context, as it typically connotes more
than one household. The isolated and unprotected nature of the activity makes
workers vulnerable.
To improve the situation of domestic workers, NCW drafted ‘Domestic Workers Welfare
and Social Security Act, 2010’ Bill. Some important provisions are as follows:
• It brings domestic workers under the ambit of organized sector.
• Three tier architecture of Central Advisory Committee to implement and review the
Act, State Advisory Board for implementation in states and District Boards at the
district level.
• It creates a Domestic Workers Welfare Fund.
• Defines rights of full-time domestic workers and process of their registration and
identification.
• It also has provisions for registering part-time helps and migrant domestic workers.
• It seeks to regulate minimum wages, working conditions and working hours..
• The bill mandates domestic worker to be above 18 years.
Since, India is signatory to ILO Convention on Domestic Workers, it is high time that we
pass this bill which is hanging since years to protect the rights of the domestic workers.

Student Notes:
8. Gender justice is often hindered by religious sensitivity over women related issues. In
this context, discuss how gender justice can be ensured while also keeping in mind
religious sensitivity of different communities.
Approach:
• Citing examples, discuss how gender justice reforms are affected due to religious
sensitivities.
• Discuss the need for consideration of religious sensitivity while pursuing reforms.
• Suggest ways through which the two can be balanced.
Answer:
Abolition of sati and child marriage and progressive legislations like Widow Remarriage
or Hindu Remarriage Act were opposed on the basis of religious and patriarchical
traditions. Similarly, Shah Bano judgement was opposed as it was seen interfering with
the personal laws of Muslims. Presently, many steps to render gender justice are being
opposed by citing their interference with the fundamental right to freedom of religion.
For example:
• Abolition of Triple Talaq.
• Reform of personal laws and implementation of Uniform Civil Code.
• Entry of females in the inner sanctum of temples and dargah.
• Nullifying rulings of personal law courts amongst minorities.
It is often argued that these steps amount to interference of State in the personal lives
of people.
Religious texts provide sufficiently as to how people should operate in matters of
worship, marriage, divorce or adoption. Misinterpretation of these texts by some
religious bodies however block progressive legislations and create a rift in the society
between various communities. As a result, minorities perceive such reforms as a threat
to their identity. They start believing that steps like Uniform Civil Code amount to
imposing majoritarian culture and practices on them.
But, social reformers believe that practices which undermine the independence and
integrity of women amount to gender injustice. That these practices are out of time and
reflect gender prejudices. They point out that the interpreters of religion have mostly
been men which is a reason for perpetuation of such practices.
Hence, the issue of gender injustice vis-à-vis religion is a sensitive issue and needs to be
tackled cautiously. Perception that the State is interfering in the religious and cultural
practices does not augur well for peace and unity of the country. It should also be
remembered that social, religious and cultural beliefs that are correct in one age may
have been unacceptable at another time. For example slavery was the economic
bedrock of the imperial age which is however a reprehensible belief today.
Ensuring Gender Justice while respecting religion
• Promoting education and awareness among women about civil rights and liberties.
If women themselves take up their issues it would create a greater impact. Role of
educators and family is critical in these efforts.
• A change that comes from within is widely accepted. Hence, the notion of gender
equality should be promoted using community leaders and religious texts. This will
force people to consider dichotomy of their thinking and they would be more open
to reforms.
• Citing examples of suffering of women due to some religious diktats.

Student Notes:
• Upward socio-economic mobility of women.

• Gradual exposure to reforms after extensive dialogues with the various
stakeholders involved. Avoiding hasty legislations.
• Upholding constitutional values of freedom of religion without constricting the
universal rights of women.
It should be kept in consideration that social reforms cannot be enforced by
governmental or judicial diktats overnight. They have to be nurtured through patient
persuasion, enlightened leadership and personal examples and only then they will be
acceptable widely.
9. It has been observed by some that emergence of a distinct “female vote bank” has
made political parties and leaders take women related issues seriously. Critically
examine in the context of electoral mobilisation in India in the recent times.
Approach:
• Contextualise the argument with recent examples.
• Highlight the limitations of the argument on multiple fronts.
• Provide a balanced conclusion on the issue.
Answer:
In recent times the importance accorded to issues affecting women in the electoral
agendas of political parties has been attributed to the emergence of a ‘female vote
bank’.
• For instance, in the most recent assembly elections in Bihar the issue of prohibition
was widely perceived to be influenced women voters.
• Similarly, in the recent assembly elections in Goa the issue of ban on casinos has
been described to be influenced by the consideration of female votes.
• Statistically, the participation of women in last few assembly elections in states like
Bihar has outstripped that of the male voters, giving further credence to the idea.
• Issue of women safety and women related violence and abuse has become an
important issue during elections.
However, this idea has certain limitations:
• The phenomenon has been observed in only a few states and any wide spread
study is lacking.
• Many, observers argue that the lack of attention to women is due to a lack of
women as a consolidated voting bloc. Their interests stand to be a function of their
socio-economic class, race, religion, ethnicity, and other demographic
characteristics of age and location rather than gender alone.
• The arguments about the ‘female vote bank’ as an important consideration in the
calculation of political parties and leaders are also not reflected in the number of
female candidates proportionate to their population.
• The lack of reservation for Women in Parliament and State assemblies also weaken
the argument.
On the positive, the governments across the country irrespective of ruling political
parties have initiated policies and schemes for the welfare of females. These include
maternity benefit programmes, nutrition and education of girl child and reservation for
women in local government. These have been influenced by a wider activism and
participation of women rather than being a direct outcome of the ‘female vote bank’
considerations.

Student Notes:
The ‘female vote bank’ is only a reflection of a wide range of tactics being adopted by
women to make their voices heard and their issues addressed. The concept of ‘vote
bank’, tied to a particular party and community, might not be conducive for advancing
the cause of the females in the long term. Rather, the empowerment of women and
their full participation in all walks of life as citizens is a far more powerful idea.
10. Portrayal of stereotypical sensational images of women not only reduces their
identity to a mere object of desire but also reinforces the patriarchal structure of the
society. Discuss with examples.
Approach:
• Introduce by giving the current status of women i.e. how they are portrayed.
• With examples provide the true picture of different sectors which portray women
as commodities.
• Discuss how it reinforces patriarchy.
• Conclude by providing a solution to this problem.
Answer:
It is said that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment
of women but many a times this empowerment gets disguised when women are
portrayed on various forums in either of the two characters - as an object of desire or
as their all-pervasive stereotypical roles.
Literature and media are two streams which portray women in different yet similar
light. Though the recognition of women’s identity in literature and media is similar to
each other but both claim to redefine the women’s position in their own ways.
Literature promises a holistic representation of women’s self, lending them an enviable
comparable status with men. On the one hand women is portrayed as divine in our
classical literature, on the other hand, poets like Harivanshrai Bachchan and Mirza
Ghalib identify the romantic glory associated with women. However, media believes in
only exposing their physical domains to make them commercially viable.
Advertisements in particular reinforce this notion. For ex- deodorant ads have explicit
sexual suggestions, even ads relating to men undergarments show woman. Another
aspect of advertisements is its act of creating a world of perfection where women
remain pretty angels sans any blemishes or scars on their body. It casts precarious
psychological impact on women not being an “ideal women” created in the ads.
Hindi and particularly regional cinema also reinforces women‘s traditional role as wife
and mother mostly. The women are made to look alluring and appealing to attract
sections of the audience. Defining women as sex objects has become the leading
representation in the media. Women are presented as sexual objects to be enjoyed by
men, which in turn leads to false consciousness.
Such representations reinforce patriarchal structure in a society, in the sense that they
are believed to be less competent even after being equal or more qualified and also
less paid than their male counterparts.
This representation of women is based on the gender discrimination. Right now
dissemination of feminist sensitivity is the only remedy for effecting the desirable
change.

Student Notes:
However, things are improving a little bit and signs of change are seen in certain recent
instances such as women march against President elect Trump for his remarks
admitting to sexual misconduct and harassment allegations against him, women in
progress ad campaign which shows independent women along with their emotional
side, example of Roshni Misbah – “hijabi biker” from delhi. All these shows a ray of
hope for a better future for women.
11. Previous Year UPSC GS Mains Questions

1. “Male membership needs to be encouraged in order to make women’s organization free
from gender bias.” Comment.
2. How does patriarchy impact the position of a middle class working woman in India?
3. Discuss the various economic and socio-cultural forces that are driving increasing
feminization of agriculture in India.

All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Vision IAS


GS 1 Role of Women and Women's Org PDF

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

GS 1 Role of Women and Women's Org PDF

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

VISION IAS

VALUE ADDITION MATERIAL – 2018

ROLE OF WOMEN AND WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS

Copyright © by Vision IAS

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

ROLE OF WOMEN AND WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION

A initiative to provide watermarks and bookmarks free pdfs to you.

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

2. The Profile of Women in India

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Declining Child Sex Ratio

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Political Status of Women

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

3. Nature, Range and Patterns of Women’s Work

3.1. What is Women’s Work?

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Quantifying Women’s Work in GDP

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

3.3. Female Child Labour

3.4. Paid Work

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Women in Leadership Role

iv) Earning Differentials

3.5. Women Workers and the Growth of Unorganized Sector

4. Women’s Issues: A Manifestation

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

5. Women’s Issues: Responses

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

From Welfare to Development to Empowerment

First to Fifth Five Year plans

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

MGNREGA and Women

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

The Eleventh and the Twelfth Plan

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Nirbhaya case and Verma Committee

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

o All marriages in India should be registered mandatorily in the presence of a magistrate

Other Organizations in Voluntary Sector

SHGs and Women

6. An Analysis of Women’s Current Situation

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Global Gender Gap Index

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Domestic violence act

DELHI JAIPUR PUNE HYDERABAD AHMEDABAD LUCKNOW

Marital Rape Debate

Uniform Civil Code and Women