Status And Social Position Of Women

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction: Status and Social Position of Women

The women are the soul of our community and they are self build and self trained human responsible for the morale development of their children, inspiration for the family and an example for the community to follow. As a wife, woman is his best friend and inspiration. The history conveys that, "Each successful man has an inspiring woman responsible for success". [1] 

According to Swami Vivekananda- "That country and that nation that do not respect women have never become great, nor ever be in future."

According to Historian Romilla Thapper- "Within the Indian sub-continent there have been infinite variations on the status of women diverging according to culture malice, family structure, class, caste, property rights and morals."

Tagores said, "Womens are the ornaments of society". The society was male dominated and he ruled mainly by ethics and morals. But now a day’s women’s are enjoying the topmost supremacy and these have won over intelligence and mental capacity of the men. Today if it was that the society was "Male-Dominated" then india wouldn’t have produced highlighting examples such as "P.T.Usha-The Women Athlete", "Lata Mangeshkar-The Nightingale and the Singer", "Sonia Gandhi-Political" and "Klpana Chawla-The Indian Astronaut". Today the proverb given above has proved true. A woman is the pillar of a family, and concussively that of a nation. The statue of liberty which is symbol of peace and liberty is none other than that of a woman. Therefore, respect women and every life. [2] 

In spite of fifty percent of the population on the world wide, women were not in equal status with men. This differential position causes socialization raises from boys and girls are different roles. As a traditional form, the status and social role of the women in every society, specific Indian society have been women are weaker than men. Women are the teachers of the society and they are not competitors. "Woman as the mother is the best friend and teacher for the child, especially girl child (Firestone, Catlett, 1993, the Mother-Daughter Bond)". Woman as friend is an inspiring support for any task. Woman as wife is a best friend and supportive partner for the husband. Woman as a family member is a best family manager and care taker of family values and traditions. Women as a community member are an example of love, friendliness, inspiration and the best worker. These are the normal roles and responsibilities performed by the women community around the world. Woman is an all-round player in the game where, playground is ‘family’. The only difference is that, woman is an all-round player at almost all such play grounds around the world. In family, woman is an excellent manger cum worker. [3] 

The social stratification of women in-India however leaves them as a second rate citizen. This is no more evident than the violence to which a woman is subjected in her domestic setup. Violence against woman is present is every society cutting boundaries of class, culture, education and age. Even though most societies proscribe violence against woman, the reality is that she is tortured physically, psychologically, sexually and economically, the right to equality, security dignity and self worth are denied to woman. At times the place where a woman seeks love, safety, security and shelter, becomes a place of terror and violence at the hands of somebody close to them whom they trust. [4] 

If we visualize the multiple view of the, woman from various families working for her children, family and herself; we will find that there several women working for the development of their respective families. In broad sense, they are working for combined development of the family, community and society in which they live because; community is the united from of varied families. A woman is never appreciated for her indirect participation in this strong development and in the progress of her children, family or external community. She can be said as a silent and selfless leader. We take woman as a strong pillar on which the progress of the family and community depends. If she is educated enough to utilize and manage the family resources in smart manner and every woman does so, than such community will definitely progress irrespective of the variations in the religion, tradition, culture and financial background that are present in any community around the world. There can be many circumstances that can prevent woman from performing at her best. It can be lack of peer support, illiteracy, lack of knowledge, lack of resources or lack inspiration to name few. [5] 

Crime, atrocity and violence against woman is a revelation of the factual disproportionate power relation among) man and woman, which led to the domination of a woman's fuller advancement. Violence in the domestic spare is usually committed by them who are or who have been, is position of trust and intimacy and power-husband's father, brother, uncle sons or other relatives. It does not mean that women are not violent but their actions account for a small percentage of domestic violence. Such as outside homes these type activity boy friend and unknown person.

The criminals, atrocious abuser and the abused are tied together because of emotional, physical, biological, familial, residential and financial ties, and are often their intimate partners. [6] Perpetrators of domestic violence seek power and control over their survivors. The factors which contribute to the continued prevalence of violence are mainly the woman’s lack of deprivation of approach to legal information, to provide support or safeguard) and also the lack of laws that protect woman against violence) . [7] There is also failure to reform existing laws and the efforts made on by public authorities to create awareness of and implement existing law are also inadequate. Illiteracy and other means to handle reason and effect of violence is also the reason behind the prevalence of violence.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declares that 'Motherhood and childhood are entitled for special care whether born in or out of wedlock shall enjoy the same protection. [8] The Indian constitution enshrines in Art.14, 15, 39(a) (d) and (e) that the state shall ensure a just social order for women based on equality and dignity. In spite of all these, and on the sacred land of Sita, Sabitri and Damayanti it found that women are being seduced, tortured, and enjoyed and betrayed. In spite of Constitutional guarantees and legal protection there is a rise on the trend of committing offenses against women and the domestic violence is one of them. Women have always played a specific and crucial role which has been veiled in society and history. Traditionally, the Indian woman has been the keystone of the family and society in general. She creates life, nurtures it, guards and strengthens it. In her task as mother, she plays a vital role in the development of the nation. [9] 

Status and social position of women in India

Women in India have been always topics of concern since ancient period. They can as a exact example of excellent or complete home makers. With their paramount quality of patience women can tackle any tough situation. The Indian woman are fully dedicated to their families. They are known in the names like as Goddess Saraswati ,Llaxmi Durga Parwati and Kali .The evolution of the status and social position of women in India [10] has been a continuous process of ups and downs throughout history. For the purpose of depicting a brief survey of the changing position and role of women in India throughout history, four broad periods are considered:

Ancient Period

Medieval Period

Modern India Period

British-India Period.

After Independence Period

Brief described each period on following as:-

A) Ancient Period

11The women have consolation themselves with a view of plenty scholars that women were honoured in the Vedic times of ancient India. They rejoice learning opportunities, status and freedom. We can probably compare Vedic women to the modern women in the edge of freedom. In recent time women historian give it a try to interpreted original Brahmanical Texts. On the one hand Scriptures have also aggrandized womanhood. Men and women were treated equal. On the other hand some sacred texts reveals women were disrespected and even in positive hatred. There are disagreements and agreements, which can be elucidated in either way.

Women were bearing very key position in ancient society of India. There are written evidences that woman destroyed mighty sovereign and royal kingdoms. Elango Adigal’s Sillipathigaram wrote that Pandyas capital Mudurai was burnt when a woman’s husband was killed by Pandyan ruler Nedunchezhiyan. Though this incident happened because of misunderstanding, In Mahabharat, fall of Kauravas was because they humiliated Duropi Valmiki's Ramyana tells, Ravana killed when he abducted and tried to marry Sita powerfully. Lord Shankar Ardhanareeshwar, appearance is worshipped, this appearance is half-man and half-woman.

For example:-

1. Manu told that God are subsist where women are honoured, No reward were yields in the place where women are not honoured. Same Manu has told "Pita’ rakshathi Kaumare Bhartha rakshathi yavvane Rakshanthi Putrah Stavire, na Sthree svatantram arhati". woman has to depend on her father in her childhood, on her husband in youth and on her sons during her old age and no woman is fit for freedom.

2. Yagnavalkya stated that women are the manifestation of all divine virtues present on earth. Soma has bequeathed all his purity on women. Gandharva has given them kindness of speech and agni has drizzled all his brilliance to make women most adorable. Manu says women can lead off the path not only the ignorant but also learned men and make them slave of anger and lust. Such elevated moral beliefs about women have been illustrated in Ramayana and Mahabharat also.

B) Medieval Period

Medieval period of India has not women’s good time, it is term as "dark age "for them. Many foreign conquests have been seen during Medieval, which resulted in the degrading of women status. When foreign conquistador like Muslim attacked and encroached India they brought with them their own culture.

These period women were treated as sole property of male gender, and she was not allow to do anything with their own will. This thought also approach unnoticed into the mind of Indian people and they also started behaving with their women like this. Other reason of degrading women status and their freedom was that Indian wanted to protect their women from Muslim invaders. Polygamy was a prevalence for these invaders they take any women as per their wish and kept them in their "HAREMS" . Women started using "PARDHA"(a veil),which covers their body, to protect themselves .Women were not allow to go alone and move around freely, this resulted in further deterioration of their status. Above circumstances resulted in attitude change of common people, they started differentiating among male and female child, girls child were consider as burden which need to be protected from intruders eye and extra attention/care is required for them whereas for boy child were consider as extra earning hand and need not required extra care for them. Due to above reason some new evils such as Purdha system, devdasi , restriction in widow marriage child marriage, sati practice and restriction on girls education.

Sati:

Hindu ritual of dying at the funeral pyre of husband is known as Sati. In Hindu scriptures if women will do sati they will go to the heaven and they would be honoured by society. It is said that sati practice was voluntary but some instances are stated in scriptures and history women were forced to do practice sati. In some Indian society women considered sati was better option than living widow in this cruel world. In some of the scriptures such as "Ramayana" , "Mahabharta" and "Medhatiti" had different view about sati practice, they criticize and termed as committing suicide.

Jauhar:

Our religion always presses on the need of piousness and sanctity of women at any cost. Jauhar which can be dubbed as Sati at a mass scale is setting up a large pyre and willingly jumping into the flames for burning themselves alive. The ritual which was practised during the medieval and early modern period among the Rajput clans, was basically done to save honour and pride from the hands of invaders (in most of the cases the Muslim invaders). When it became apparent that a defeat at the hands of enemy is inevitable, then the Rajput women used to perform this otherwise heinous act of saving pride and honour.

Devadasis:

Devdasis literally means slave of the Gods. Some of the women in medieval times in South India were used to get married to a temple to serve the Gods. In the Ancient India too there was the practice of Nagarvadhus which would then become property of the whole town. Acharya Chatursena has elaborated this evil practice in his epic novel ‘Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu’.

Child Marriage:

During medieval times, the girls were often married at a very early age of about 8-10 years, some even at infant stage. The reason behind child marriage can be attribute to desire of creating powerful alliances, or caste system or social problems where girls becomes a burden and cause of concern to its family as she grows older. Child marriage creates a lot of physiological and emotional problems to a girl. Child marriage has given birth to other problems such as population explosion, high maternal and infant mortality rate and poor health of the women.

Condition of Widow and Restriction on Remarriage:

During the medieval times the conditions of the woman deteriorated to the nadir. The women whose husbands died were first forced for Sati and if not then their life would become miserable. A lot of restrictions were imposed upon her stripping her off the basic rights which every human being should get. They were forced to live solitary and tough life and were not allowed to attend to any social functions. Many times a widow was forced to undergo tonsuring. She was forced not to wear any colourful dress and ornaments. She was not allowed to marry anybody else again. Due to a lot of efforts by social reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy, the condition and perception of society against widow has improved somewhat.

Purdah System

Purdah system is predominantly followed by both Muslim and Hindu people. This is a practice in which the face of a woman is covered by cloth to conceal it from other men. The origin of Purdah system can be traced back to the need of protection against medieval invaders particularly the Muslim invaders. Whatever the purpose may be but this system definitely cuts down the basic rights of women to express and interact freely.

Girl Education

Girl education in Ancient, Medieval and rural parts of Modern India has not been given due importance. Their education was limited to the household requirements. Maharishi Vatsyayan had however advocated about need of educating women in the fields of cooking, spinning grinding, medicine, recitation and many others.

C) Modern India Period

((((( Modern India witnessed some developments in the status and social position of women. There were many reformers in India who worked for the betterment and upliftment of their other female counterparts. The Begum of Bhopal discarded the ‘purdha’ and fought in the revolt of 1857. Many reformers measures to eradicate social stigmas from the society. Sir Sayyid Ahamad Khan established the Aligarh Muslim University for the spread of education among the Muslims. Among many the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856 was important. The education system was also elevated. English was introduced in this period. Various female English writers like Sarojiini Naidu, Kamala Das made their presence felt in this period.

In the modern times, women in India are given freedom and right such as freedom of expression and equality, as well as right to get education. Women in Contemporary India are doing the same what a male can do. Various prestigious positions are held by Indian women. They are enjoying the ‘ladies first’ facility in various fields. But still problems like dowry, female infanticide, sex selective abortion, health, domestic violence, crime and atrocities are prevalent in the society. Several acts have been passed to demolish all these problems. But illiteracy and lack of awareness are the obstacles in the path of Indian women to stand against these follies.))))

British India Period

Women’s struggle and Emancipation

It is generally concluded that women in India do not enjoy the same status as her counterpart in the Developed Countries but her struggle for equality continues. When we talk about the era of British rule in India, there are several examples of extraordinary courage and daring which showed other women how to fight for their rights. One such example is the queen of Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai popularily known as ‘Jhansi ki Rani’. Even though the revolt of 1857 sparked at Barrackpore, the credit for spreading it to Central India goes to her only. She fought for her rights which were stripped by the British Rulers. She stood in the way of Lord Dalhousie’s doctrine of Lapse and finally when the new Viceroy arrived India this doctrine was renounced. However, to the rescue of the oppressed women came a few men of extreme courage who fought for the basic rights of women. To name some of them there were Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Swami Vivekanad, Swami Dayanad Saraswti and Bhartendu Harischand.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

When we talk about reforms for women in modern India, the first name which comes to our mind is Raja Ram Mohan Roy. During his time a lot of evils against women were prevailing like Sati Pratha, painful Conditions of Widow etc. He fought hard with the society and the rulers and finally got the Abolition of Sati Act enacted in 1829. He was a great supporter of education for women and worked hard in this field. He taught people about evils of child marriage and fought with the rulers for widow remarriage act. He himself married a widow to set an example for others. He established Brahmo Samaj in 1828 with the help of Debendranath Tagore which started one of the most influential religious reforms in India.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

The literal meaning of Vidyasagar is ocean of cognition. He was really a very knowledgeable person who showed great interest in reading and understanding Indian scripture such as Vedas, Shastras etc. He was one of the fore leaders of the social reforms in contemporary Bengal. He noticed that none of the Hindu scriptures supported gender divide and ill treatment of women as was prevalent in the Bengal in 19th century. He preached the benefits of educating a girl child and tried to persuade people to send their girl children to schools. He established many schools for promoting the education of girl child in Bengal. He also supported widow remarriage.

Mahatma Jyotirao Phule

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was an activist, thinker, social reformer, writer, philosopher, theologist, scholar, editor and revolutionary from Maharashtra, India in the nineteenth century. He is known as one who opened the first girl school in India. He initiated widow-remarriage and started a home for upper caste widows in 1854, as well as a home for new-born infants to prevent female infanticide

Swami Dayanand Saraswati

He is well known as the founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement of the Vedic tradition. He was a profound scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language. Among Maharshi Dayananda's contributions are his promoting of the equal rights for women, such as the right to education and reading of Indian scriptures, and his intuitive commentary on the Vedas from Vedic Sanskrit in Sanskrit as well as Hindi so that the common man might be able to read them.

Mahatma Gandhi

Prior to decent of Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi, the struggle for social reforms and emancipation of women was more or less localised. It was only after Ganghiji’s effort the struggle could spread to the masses. He actively participated against Purdah tradition and other social evils against women. He advocated for education for women and said that educating a girl child eventually leads to educating the whole family. He encouraged women to take part in India’s struggle for independence thus enabling them to have their say in nation making process. He said that the women should be liberated from the bondage of only kitchen to come forward and lend their hands in national cause.

In the early twentieth century, the average life span of Indian women was 27 years and only 2% of the Indian women were literate an indication of the condition of women at that time. It was indeed a mammoth task to liberate the women from claws of such backwardness and to bring them to the front so that they could struggle for the national cause. But his tireless efforts pave the way for a lot of women who came forward and joined hands with their male counterparts for India’s struggle. To name such a few women we had had Sarojini Naidu, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kriplani and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.

Gandhiji strongly favored the emancipation of women, and he went so far as to say that "the women have come to look upon me as one of themselves." He opposed Purdah, child marriage, untouchability, and the extreme oppression of Hindu widows, up to and including sati. He especially recruited women to participate in the salt tax campaigns and the boycott of foreign products. Gandhiji's success in enlisting women in his campaigns, including the salt tax campaign, anti-untouchability campaign and the peasant movement, gave many women a new self-confidence and dignity in the mainstream of Indian public life.

His efforts bore fruit in the fact that when India got independence 'right to vote' came naturally to Indian women without any great hue and cry whereas women got this right very late in other western nations like England and America and that too after lot of protest.

Spread of Education

Among various ill-practices prevailed and promoted by British Rulers in India there was one thing which helped a lot in changing the status of Indian women in contemporary India. Before that it was universal feeling that spending on women’s education is unnecessary. The first commission which officially took care of women education in India was Hunter Commission under W.W. Hunter in 1882. Earlier the Institutions in India did not allow the admission of girls. It was only the Hunter Commission recommendations which forced them to open their doors for the girl students. And this then when progress of education of women India saw a new dawn. Slowly but consistently, the number of female students started showing improvement.

After Independence Period

The condition of women in modern India is a story of contrast. It can be said that she has made big strides in every field but still we find her lagging far behind her male counterpart. This is very apparent from the condition of Indian women in rural India which shows a marked increase in domestic violence. There have come a lot of women organisations yet women are struggling hard to find their way to equality. Women have come forward and are working with others shoulder to shoulder and they are also making their presence felt but still they are struggling to make their impact felt. As per census of 2011 the sex ratio in India is 940 female per 1000 males which is much below the world average. The irony is that it is women herself who in many cases is responsible for misery of other women or herself. There exists a plethora of problems for women in India, which can be -Malnutrition, Poor Health, Maternal Mortality, Lack of education, Mistreatment, Overworked, Lack of Power, Marriage, Dowry, Female infanticide/foeticide.

Malnutrition

Women in India being dubbed as ‘annapurna’ makes sure that everyone in the family get their share of meal before she can feed herself of whatever is left over. Added to that she does not think that she also needs the same quality balanced diet that the other members of the family are taking, thus it does not take a lot of research to find out why she suffers from under nutrition. The UNICEF in one of its reports clearly suggested that women in South Asia gets improper care which finally leads to higher level of malnutrition. The under nutrition itself kicks off a vicious cycle which starts with malnutrition and ends at malnutrition. A woman who is malnourished becomes anaemic and never reaches up to her full growth and when she gets pregnant she gives birth to an underdeveloped baby.

Poor Health

The male dominated society does not spare some basic rights for the women which include right to free movement, right to education, and right to expression and so on. She never gets her quota of balanced diet whereas the male child is given proper nutrition and care. Lack of specialist female doctors in rural areas adds to more problems for her. Over and above that in poor families proper medication of girl child is always deemed secondary to a male child. Desire for male child also does not help the deteriorating health of women as she is pressurised to give birth to next baby of the previous one is a girl child ignoring the health complications she may have. Thus even from her childhood she has to fight with the problem of poor health

Maternal Mortality

According to the latest UNICEF report, infant mortality rate (IFR) is one of the highest among world. High Infant mortality rate is itself an indication of how malnourished the mothers are and when they give birth to an underdeveloped baby, life expectancy of child as well as the mother is jeopardised. Even though the Government has so many programs running for the expecting mothers in rural India yet their penetration and effectiveness has always been a moot subject.

Lack of education

Women education in India (especially rural India) has never been a subject which is met with very high level of enthusiasm. We have seen how in medieval times and even in modern era under British rule there were a lot of attempts by many social reformers for upliftment and education of women. The census 2011 boasts of 65 % female literary rate in India but the picture is not very rosy when we divide it to rural and urban literacy rates. While female literacy rate in urban India is close to 80%, the rural counterpart is well behind at 59% which was 46% in 2001. However we can see the marked increase in the last ten years yet a lot is needed to bring women out of the claws of illiteracy. The main reason for this shortfall is attitude of people towards education of women in rural India; they treat girl child as a burden which has to go to somebody else’s house after marriage and hence they do not bother to spend money on her education.

Added to this there is lack of female teachers and availability of schools in nearby locations which hampers the commute of a girl child because there are always fears of sexual abuse associated with her.

Lack of education cannot be talked in isolation. Associated with it are a further uneducated girl child which she can give birth to (as an uneducated mother is less likely to fight for her rights), a malnourished child, improper hygiene, lack of knowledge of balanced diet and healthy cooking and so on which give rise to more social problems.

(Source for data: http://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/censusinfodashboard/stock/downloads/Profiles_6/PDF/IND_6.pdf)

Ill-treatment

Domestic violence in India is endemic and widespread predominantly against women. Around 70% of women in India are victims to domestic violence according to Renuka Chowdhury, member of Rajya Sabha. National Crime Records Bureau reveal that a crime against women is committed every three minutes, a woman is raped every 29 minutes, a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes and one case of cruelty is committed by either the husband or relative of the victim every nine minutes. [Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6086334.stm].

There are several laws to protect women against such heinous crimes like Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, The Hindu Succession Act of 1956, The Hindu Widow Remarriage Act of 1856, The Hindu Women Right to Property Act of 1937, The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961. Further the women are protected from Domestic abuse under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 but since both the accusation and conviction rates keep very low crimes against women continue.

Overlooked

The irony of the Indian society is that even not a single work done by a woman is considered as a work rather it is seen as fulfilment of her duties. Moreover since their works do not generate direct monetary value, they seldom receive recognition for what they have been doing. If working hours added with the responsibilities handled are compared with her male counterpart the outcome suggests that they are highly overworked. There has been a study conducted by Mies in 1986 which says that an average woman works around 15 hours a day during agricultural seasons as compared to an average man who works only for 7-8 hours.

Lack of Power

It is accepted by both the groups of the society that the women do not have a say even in day to day decision making process; forget about family matters. They are dependent on the male members of the family for her personal matters too. There exists no personal life of a married woman in a family.

Marriage

There is a tradition of arrange marriages in India. In this system the family of girl (and boy’s family also) depending of various parameters, like boy’s background, his family’s status, financial capacity and what not, chooses a right candidate for her according to their perceptions. In our villages vey often the prior consent of girl is not sought. After marriage the girl has to follow and fulfil the wishes of her husband and his family. She is not even allowed to go to meet her parents without permission of her husband or his family.

Dowry

There have a lot been written and talked in media about pompous Indian weddings. Indian wedding is a seriously costly affair and added to this is the brunt of dowry. Dowry is hefty cash or any material of good monetary value which is demanded or expected by the groom’s family at the time of marriage. This tradition is an old one which was also practised during Vedic times when the parents of the girl used to give her some money as a gift for her use during bad times. Now this tradition has become a compulsory one. Many of the times marriages are fixed on the basis of how much dowry can be fetched from the girl’s family. When the girl fails to bring with her, even after a lot of sacrifices of her parents, dowry as per expectations of her husband’s family she loses her respect, many times she is abused, beaten and even tortured to death. According to a BBC news a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes in India.

Female infanticide/feticide

For various reasons starting from earning capabilities to religious reasons or burden of dowry etc, a boy child is highly preferred over a girl child in most parts of India. Some people treat birth of a girl child as a curse and they even resort to killing the new born girl child. In some areas of Rajasthan there has been practice of drowning the new born girl child in milk until she is dead, in some parts of Bihar there has been practice of feeding the new born girl child with lot of table salt until she is dead.

The process of female feticide began in the early 1990’s when ultrasound techniques gained widespread use in India. There was a tendency for families to continuously produce children until a male child was born but with use of this technique selective abortions were being carried out, creating an unbalance in sex ratio. However the Government of India enacted a law in 1994, Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, to stop this evil practice.

Divorce

Divorce as itself is not a crime against women but it is necessary to understand the inside story of divorces in India. A divorcee woman is looked down by the society as the main culprit for the breakdown of marriage. More often than not she does not become able to get married again. In Muslim communities the women did not have the right to divorce her husband until recently Muslim Law Board has given the right to divorce to the women too. In recent times Government of India has accepted to pass a few amendments to Marriage laws which propose that while a wife would now be eligible to oppose a husband's plea for divorce under the new "irretrievable breakdown of marriage" clause, the husband shall not have such a right if the wife moves the court on the same grounds. [Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cabinet-clears-change-in-divorce-law-women-to-get-part-of-husband-s-property/950887]

WOMEN'S MOVEMENT

That is evident from the views of various thinkers; there is a difference in the perception of the premise from which the proposition of subordination of women is modern time. For the feminists one of the important aspects has been to understand the various causes for women's subordination. It is true that, the world over, women have a lower status than men-socially, economically, educationally and politically. However, there is a difference in the analysis of the origin of subordinate status of women, the persisting lower status and what strategies are to be adopted and devised to end this subordination. There are different perception has given rise to three major ideological movements and they are: [12] 

l. Liberal Feminism

2. Radical Feminism

3. Socialist Feminism

Let us see the different ideological approaches taken by them.

1. Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminists have championed equal legal and political rights for women to enable them to compete with a man in the public realm on equal terms. The philosophical basis of liberal feminism lies in the principle of individualism and they campaigned for all individuals to participate in public and political life. Mary Wollstonecraft, besides others, is a well-known liberal feminist, famous for her ardent support for women’s causes. Amongst the first systematic and serious works on the subject is "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" published by her in 1792 was the first great feminist treatise. The basic idea of the work was that women are first and foremost human beings and not sexual beings. Women are rational creatures, capable of governing themselves by reason. Hence, if women are denied natural rights, it must be proved that they have no rational capacity. Wollstonecraft preached that intellect will always govern and sought "to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness." [13] 

Liberal feminism flourished in the 1960s but it did not provide more insights into the roots of woman’s subjugated status. The liberals began to enlarge the concept of equality beyond the formal equality in civil and political spheres, to child care facilities, the rights of poor women and women's control over their reproductive life. They advocated improvement in social customs, institutions, laws and attitudes while accepting the existing social structure. According to them, reforms will transform society but radical restructuring is not essential. [14] 

2. Radical Feminism

Radical feminists have campaigns against a number of things on the grounds of equality for women. Each of these things could be objectionable on grounds of sexual equality only if there were an asymmetry in the way the sexes were treated in respect of them. However there is no such asymmetry for any of these things. What these things do have in common is that, in some way or another, they concern - or bring to attention - the issue of sex. The radical feminist campaign against these things, despite its ostensible concern for women’s equality, is merely an attempt to suppress sex. [15] 

The beginning of radical feminism coincides with the second phase of feminism around 1969-1910. It is contended that radical feminism has important ties with liberal feminism, the feminists who spoke of sexual politics. Liberal feminists overlooked the necessary connection between sexual oppression, sexual division of labour and the economic structure, therefore their claims remained reformist. [16] Today, the radical feminists have replaced the struggle for vote and for legal reform with the demand for destruction of patriarchy.

The main averment of radical feminists was not only removal of all sex distinctions but also there being no place for men in their lives. Man was considered as an enemy and subordination was seen as bio psychological supremacy of male over female. The radical feminists believed in sexual preference, control over one's body, free sex and collective child care. According to them, masculine hostility manifests itself through rape, pornography and sexual violence. The overthrow of male dominance requires a complete sexual revolution which would destroy traditional sex taboos. Through consciousness raising women should be made aware of this dominance, solidarity among them be developed and they should be made self-reliant so that they are not dependent on men in any sense. [17] 

3. Socialist Feminism

The thinkers of sociological school prominently Karl Marx and Engels advocated the socialist pattern of movement. The socialistic pattern of society is against capitalism and patriarchy system but the inferior status of women cannot be rooted out unless the concept of communistic society is wiped out. The emergence of concept of private property, confining women to production of children and persistence of gender inequalities caused a great hurdle in women's socialistic movement. Thus, the Marxist theory was found to contain restrictions in terms of political participation /representation of women.

Indian social reformers of 19thcentury did approach of the line of liberal movement, campaigning right of education to women so that women become better mothers and wives and they also campaigned for removal of social evils like Sati, Child marriage, prohibition on widow's re-marriage etc. However, issue of sexual freedom and sexual preference etc could not be agitated as in developed western countries because it is oppose to basic concept of Indian society. [18] 

According to the socialist view, women's inferior status is rooted in private property, and class-divided society. Sexist ideology and structures such as the family maintain women's inferior status in society. Oppression is inclusive of exploitation but reflects a complex reality. For the socialist feminists it is imperative to understand the operation of hierarchical sexual ordering of society within the class structure. They also feel that overthrow of the capitalist system by itself will not mean transformation of patriarchal ideology. It would be necessary to organise struggles simultaneously against capitalism and patriarchy. [19] 

Socialist feminists believe that the powerlessness of women in society is rooted to four basic structures: production, reproduction, sexuality and socialisation of children. Family, as the radical feminists observed, was an institution which reinforced women's oppressive condition. Family and economy should not be looked upon as separate systems but as vitally interacting systems. The unequal and hierarchical sex role operates in both the domains, of family and economy. [20] 

Present Position of Women in India [21] 

As on 1st March, 2011 India’s population stood at 1.21 billion comprising of 623.72 million (51.54%) males and 586.47 million (48.46%) females. India, which accounts for world’s 17.5 percent population, is the second most heavily populated country in the world next only to China (19.4%). Of the 121 crore Indians, 83.3 crore (68.84%) live in rural areas while 37.7 crore (31.16%) live in urban areas, as per the Census of India’s 2011. [22] 

Empowerment of women is closely correlated to the opportunity they have in education, health, employment and for political participation. Over the years, significant advancements have been made in India on many of these counts. Data on literacy rate, enrolment and drop rate in primary education, life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal mortality rates, etc has shown a progressive trend.

Selected Indicators on status of Women in India [23] 

S.N.

Indicators

Male

Female

1

Literacy Rate (%)

Census 2011

82.14

65.46

2

Maternal mortality ratio (per

100,000 live births) SRS 2009-10

212

3

Sex Ratio Census 2011

1000

940

4

Child Sex Ratio (0-6 years)

Census 2011

1000

914

5

Worker Population ratios

(Per 1000)

819

336

6

MPs in Lok Sabha (%)

89.18

10.82

Though the child-sex ratio [0 to 6 years] have declined from 927 female per 1000 males in 1991-2001 to 914 females per 1000 males, increasing trend in the child sex ratio was seen in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Andaman and Nicobar Island. Literacy rate increased from 64.83% in 2001 to 74.04% in 2011; 82.14% male literacy, 65.46% female literacy. [24] 

However, other parameter that reflect the status and position of women in society such as work participation rates, sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 years and gender based violence continue to be heavily skewed against women.

Associated Organisations for women [25] 

The Department of women and child development has been established by the ministry of human resource department, in the year 1985 to provide a much required momentum for the development of women and children. The women and child development department has been elevated as a ministry effective 30.01.2006.

The ministry of Women and child development is lead by by Smt.Krishna Tirath, Minister of State (IC), Shri Prem Narain, Secretary and Shri Sudhir Kumar Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The performance of the ministry is directed by the seven bureaux.

The ministry of women and child development consist of seven independent organisations

National Commission for Women (NCW)

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)

Rashtriya Mahila Khosh (RMK)

Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB)

Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)

National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development (NIPCCD)

National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW)

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) [26] has been established in March 2007 with the mission of Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005).The objectives of this commission is to make sure that all laws, policies, programmes and administrative functions are in agreement with the child rights outlook, as enclosed in the constitution of India and UN Convention for the rights of child. The child is defined as a person in the age group of 0 to 18 years.

Rashtriya Mahila Khosh (RMK) [27] 

Since 1950s, Government of India has tried out with large number of financial assistance programmes to mitigate poverty. It has been proved through studies that these programmes have not been succeeded completely in achieving their Socio-economic objectives.

.

The similar objectives of these programmes were

target orientation

based on financial aid, and

Credit linkage through commercial banks.

These programmes

were often not sustainable

perpetuated the dependent status of the beneficiaries

depended ultimately on government employees for delivery

led to misuse of both credit and subsidy and

Were treated at best as poverty alleviation interventions.

Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) [28] 

The central society welfare board came in to existence to benefit the underprivileged section of society, and were designed on the basis of various surveys done by municipalities. Most of these dealt with the simple needs like balwadis for the children of women workers, hostels for Working Women and financial support to various organizations that are working for the aged, handicapped and other such groups. Welfare Extension Projects and Border Area Projects were initiated in areas where there were no organizations to execute the programmes of the Board. The board also provided support for family welfare and financial aid to old age, sickness, disablement and unemployment. The board also prearranged support during natural disasters. Apart from this, the board also structured training programmes in social work and approved pilot projects.

Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)

Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is an independent body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions. CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal through inter- country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003. CARA mostly deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.

National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development

National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development is the foremost organisation dedicated for encouraging volunteer activities like research, training and documentation in the area of women and child development. It has been established in New Delhi in the year1966 under Societies Registration Act of 1860.Four regional centres were also been established in Guwahati (1978), Bangalore (1980), Lukhnow (1982) and Indore (2001) for handling regional requirements. It is the top notch institution for the training functions of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has nominated this institution for imparting training on two important issues of Child Rights and Prevention of trafficking of women & children for SAARC countries. The institute was also been acknowledged by UNICEF in 1985 and awarded the Maurice Pate Award for its stupendous contribution in the field of Child Development.

National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW)

The National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) has been initiated by government of India on the occasion of women’s day in the year 1980.It was been intended for encouraging the all round development of women. It has the directive to brace the union of various sectors, facilitate the process of coordination between all women’s social and economic development programmes across ministries and departments. Under guidance of various central ministries, this mission plans to provide single window facility for all the programmes run by government. This mission has been named as mission "POORNA SHAKTI" that implies the complete empowerment of women. NMEW will accomplish gender equality, gender justice and holistic progress of women by union of various programmes for women, formulating synergy between stakeholders and forming an environment favourable for social transformation.

Other Activities and Association for Women Empowerment

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) movement in Ahmedabad led by Ela Bhatt, which was a sort of pioneering women’s trade union movement that began in 1972, was another such landmark in the history of the contemporary women’s movement. Women involved in various trades in the comfortable sector were brought together by their shared experiences such as low earnings, harassment at home, harassment by contractors and the police, poor work conditions, non-recognition of their labour to list just a few. Apart from collective bargaining, the movement strove to improve working conditions through training. [29] 

The Nav Nirman movement of 1974, which begin as a student movement in Gujarat, chiefly against corruption, was another such turning point in the history of agitations for ‘rights’ and ‘lokniti’ (people’s rule of law). Influenced by concepts of ‘revolution’, the movement critiqued the caste system and religious rituals. Besides involvement in political and economic issues it was also concerned with those that were considered private such as family violence, domestic roles and challenged patriarchal stereotypes.

The Progressive Organisation of Women (POW), developed in Hyderabad in the year 1974, worked towards organising women against gender oppressive structures in society, namely, the sexual division of labour and the culture that rationalised this discrimination. The organisation promoted the ideology of ‘equality’ and opposed the economic dependence of women on men.

Family Planning Programme

In 1952, the Indian Government was one of the first in the world to launch a national family planning programme, which was later expanded to encompass maternal and child health, family welfare and nutrition the figures given in the publication are based on the data reported by the States/ Uts at district level and then consolidated at State and National level on HMIS portal. Percentage of districts reported in 2009-10 and 2010-11 was 98%. [30] 

Janani Suraksha Yojana:

The Jannani Suraksha Yojana JSY is central govt scheme, in this scheme women are provided cash assistance for delivery and care after delivery. The scheme was launched with focus on demand promotion for institutional deliveries in States and regions where these are low. It targeted lowering of MMR by ensuring that deliveries were conducted by Skilled Birth Attendants at every birth. The Yojana has identified the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA),. ( ASHA is a vital chain between poor pregnant women and the government in eighteen states namely eight Empowered Action group (EAG) states, Assam ,Jammu & Kashmir and remaining north east states. States where Aganwadi workers and Traditional Birth Attendants are working they may be affiliate with Jannani Suraksha Yojana). The JSY scheme has shown phenomenal growth in the last three years. Starting with a modest number of 7.39 Lakhs beneficiaries in 2006-07, the total number reached 113.89 lakh during 2010-11. [31] 

Conclusion

When we have talked about of status and social and legal position of women, an individual’s standing vis-à-vis others. While discussing about women status and their legal position , a question come in our mind why, in the country where we give women as a status of goddess to worship and altercate about their status as a human being. However we have to accept the fact that women status should have been recognise as identity, has been converted to a debate topic.

(((((((The last few decades or after Independence of India have no doubt seen women have been coming out in the open and joining the mainstream of development of the country. Ever, it is to be seen whether this has helped them in achieving a status for themselves, in the minds of people at large. Can we consider women now equal to men in status, at least those who are working with men? No, I don’t think this has been achieved. Women are today, found in every field of man’s working, and several have even become economically independent but has even that enhanced our status? On the contrary, with this see on the one hand, we can see a mushroom growth of crimes against women, never heard of ever before. At once time a young girl only was an item of lust for every men, but with this advent of so called women’s lib, infant girls of four to five years and even less, or ladies of sixty and above are becoming objects of man’s lust. It has been high time that we analyse the cause of all this, for if our achievements on the one side result is such disorder on the other, we will have to weigh the advantages accrued to women against the burnt sacrifice set for them.

After sixty years of Independence of India, we have seen women coming out to be educated, to do jobs, to make careers, yet the perception that women are second to men has not been erased. Now thus it is time to study and analyse the irregularity that, though she work shoulder to shoulder with men, she still remain second - why? Are we getting women’s more honour and respect at home in society, and from the world at large, if not then what have we done, where have we gone wrong? Our pursuit of status for ourselves is obviously not giving the desired results, so I feel that we women need to change our attitudes in order to achieve our goals, and the men too must be made to feel differently. Men have to feel that women are their equal partners, only with different attributes and different assignments.

So now, after six decades of trying to rival men it is time for us women to take stock of the situation and make a more strict effort to fight for our rights and equality with men and men with a changed attitude, and not only a change of assignment or appearance. Two people with different assignment can surely be equals so, why do we women have to hanker for stepping into men’s shoes and take up the roles of men. Let us now change our strategy of the struggle and not only stamp men but create for us a new horizon.))))))