Sociology Project Work 2014

Contents of Project

 Introduction
 Objectives
 Statement of Problem
 Hypothesis
 Method of Study
 Review of Literature
 Social Reformation in India
 Constitutional And Legal Provisions For Women In
India
 Women’s Participation in the Struggle for Independence
 Special Initiatives For Women
 Role Conflicts arising in the middle class working
women in India
 Women in Modern India
 Conclusion and Suggestions
 Bibliography and References
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Introduction
Feminist theorists have started to question the differences between women, including how
race, class, ethnicity, and age intersect with gender. Feminist theory is most concerned with
giving a voice to women and highlighting the various ways women have contributed to
society.

Role Conflicts : An Indian Working woman performs many roles throughout her life like any
other women of any nationality. Issues and conflicts crop up because in her conquest to
justify every role in her life she fails to restore her identity.

Even in the 21st Century , there are power struggles in women to be considered equal to men ,
at the work place and in general in the Indian Patriarchal Society .

The Indian society is multitudinous society with caste, religion, ethnicity and gender as some
of the important dimensions influencing politics and the development of the society. Gender,
and the term “women” has been used to both front and confront issues of equality in the
society. The colonial rulers used gender, and what they considered as brutal and barbaric
patriarchal practices towards women, as a justification for the rule forced on India. The
gender issue has been the basis of women’s movements in India mobilizing against violence
and discrimination, and for improved living conditions and their human rights, amongst
others.

The early seeds for raising the issue of gender in India came with the colonial rule where the
British rule embarked on a “civilizing mission” on a society viewed as barbaric in its
treatment of women. Women’s status was considered especially low whist men was
considered as exceptionally violent towards women1. Through English education Indian men
from the upper casts was exposed to a “modern” view on women’s rights .

Statement of Problem :
1
(Sen 2002: 465)
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To study the role conflicts in the life of modern Indian Women, and also trace the history of
various Women’s Movement in the Indian Society and their impact.

Objectives :

 To understand the Role conflicts in the lives of modern Indian women

 To trace the history of various Women’s movements in Indian Society
 To critically appreciate the impact of various Women’s Movements and the
challenges that lie ahead .
 To understand the threats and challenges faced by Women in India

Thrust Area

 History of Women’s Movement

 Role Conflicts in Modern Working Women
 Women in Modern India

Hypothesis :
It has been assumed that the working women in India have to suffer from Role conflicts due
to the multiplicity of the roles being performed by them , and that the modern Indian women
still suffers from discrimination and social stigma.

Method of Study :
The methodology adopted is of a descriptive and review method. The data has been collected
from primary and secondary sources, which include Internet sources, publications of reputed
journals, bulletins, Books of authors of international repute, research publications and data
collected from certain case studies. Whole of the collected data critically reviewed and
analyzed to draw conclusions.
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Review of Literature :
Crossman Ashley (2013) , in her article “ Overview of the Feminist Theory” writes :

“ Power is the key variable in the two main theories of gender oppression: psychoanalytic
feminism and radical feminism. Psychoanalytic feminists attempt to explain power relations
between men and women by reformulating Freud's theories of the subconscious and
unconscious, human emotions, and childhood development..”

Rustagi Preet (2014) Joint director of Institute for Human Development in Delhi, said:

“To a certain extent, men control women’s lives. And women have internalised this as the
norm. In such situations, the little work they do is the result of compulsion, such as when the
household income is not enough, rather than choice.”

Verick Sher (2014) , a senior specialist at the International Labour Organization in his article
“India’s Urban Work Boom” says :

“In India, there is a U-shaped relationship between education and participation of women in
the workforce. Illiterates participate more out of necessity. Women with a middle-level
education (below graduate) have different aspirations and can afford to remain out of the
workforce. Only better educated women have been ‘pulled’ into the labour force in response
to better paid opportunities.”

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India best illustrates the role of women in the
struggle for Independence:

Most of us men folk were in prison. And then a remarkable thing happened. Our women
came to the front and took charge of the struggle. Women had always been there, of course,
but now there was an avalanche of them, which took not only the British government but
their own menfolk by surprise. Here were these women, women of the upper or middle
classes, leading sheltered lives in their homes, peasant women, working class women, rich
women, poor women, pouring out in their tens of thousands in defiance of government order
and police lathi (2003: 29).
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Blumberg Leaser Ray (2003) in her book on “Conflicting Feminist Theory”

“Sexual stratification, Blumberg argues, is ultimately driven by the degree to which, relative
to men, women control the means of production and the allocation of productive surplus or,
in Marxian terms, “surplus value.” Such control gives women economic power that, in turn,
influences their level of political power, prestige, and other stratifying resources.”

What we understand from these articles and various sociological theories is

that Feminist theorists have started to question the differences between women, including
how race, class, ethnicity, and age intersect with gender. Feminist theory is most concerned
with giving a voice to women and highlighting the various ways women have contributed to
society.

An Indian Working woman performs many roles throughout her life like any other women of
any nationality. Issues and conflicts crop up because in her conquest to justify every role in
her life she fails to restore her identity.

Even in the 21st Century , there are power struggles in women to be considered equal to
men , at the work place and in general in the Indian Patriarchal Society .
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Social Reformation in India

Within the women’s movement there have been divergent understandings of patriarchal
oppression and its outcomes and, therefore, also varied strategies to combat it. Some
organisations have been small intellectual groups while there have been some that have had
mass support. Some have emerged in support of certain causes or for the purpose of a
focussed campaign, while there are some that have existed for years with evolving agendas.
The ideologies also vary from radical, liberal, socialist, Marxist and Gandhian, to the new
fundamentalist.

Given the fact that in our history there is sufficient evidence that women were excluded from
the formal education system, it is not surprising that their voices have not been reflected in
the written texts that stand as testimonies of our history. We do not argue, therefore, about the
general gender- biased nature of our history, but take that as a given.

The Ladies Theosophical Society :

Swarnakumari Devi, less heard of than her brother Rabindranath Tagore, started the Ladies
Theosophical Society (a multi-religion association of women) way back in 1882 and later
became a member of the Indian National Congress. The Theosophical Society was later
associated more with Annie Besant, a British woman supporter of the Indian nationalist
movement. Swarnakumari’s daughter Sarala Devi started training women in the use of the
sword and lathi in 1903, as she was actively involved in nationalism of a militant kind .

Contribution of Pandita Ramabai :

Pandita Ramabai, whose father was an unconventional social reformer who began with social
transformation in his own home by educating his wife Lakshmibai even at the cost of being
exiled by his own community for this. Lakshmibai subsequently taught her daughter Sanskrit
in the forests as is recorded in Pandita’s book (1886) The High Caste Hindu Woman. The
book is a critique of women’s oppression, religion and colonialism (Ramabai 1887). Pandita
Ramabai was one of the 10 women delegates to the Indian National Congress in 1889 and she
was instrumental in the setting up of several women’s organisations, schools for girls, and
homes for widows, apart from a host of her other contributions to society.
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All India Muslim Womens’ Conference :

In 1916, the Begum of Bhopal founded the All India Muslim Women’s Conference with
education of women as a prime agenda, apart from provisions of other remedial services for
women and changing oppressive practices such as polygamy. We can site many such
instances or special cases where individual women have been leaders in a struggle for
women’s rights, but whose voices have been accounted for in the patriarchal recording of
history.

All India Women’s Conference (AIWC)

Women’s leadership in the nationalist phase however, emerged from a small section of the
urban, middle-class, who had their education in English and invariably was in some way
linked to movements or organisations in the west. The Women’s Indian Association, which
had links with the British women’s movement for suffrage, was started in 1917 by Margaret
Cousins, Dorothy Jinar jadasa and Annie Besant. The National Council of Women, a
branch of the International Council of Women, was founded by Lady Tata and Lady
Aberdeen in 1925. In 1927, the All India Women’s Conference was set up by Margaret
Cousins which later merged with the Women’s Indian Association in the 1930s .

The Women's Indian Association (WIA) sought votes for women and the right to hold
legislative office on the same basis as men. These positions were endorsed by the main
political groupings, the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League .  British
and Indian feminists combined in 1918 to publish a magazine Stri Dharma that featured
international news from a feminist perspective. In 1919 in the Montagu–Chelmsford
Reforms, the British set up provincial legislatures which had the power to grant women's
suffrage
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Contribution of Social Reformers

European scholars observed in the 19th century that Hindu women are "naturally chaste" and
"more virtuous" than other women.[28] During the British Raj, many reformers such as 

Ram Mohan Roy, 

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and 

Jyotirao Phule  , fought for the betterment of women. Peary Charan Sarkar, a former
student of Hindu College, Calcutta and a member of "Young Bengal", set up the first free
school for girls in India in 1847 in Barasat, a suburb of Calcutta .

Missionaries' wives such as Martha Mault née Mead and her daughter Eliza Caldwell née
Mault are rightly remembered for pioneering the education and training of girls in south
India. This practice was initially met with local resistance, as it flew in the face of tradition.
Raja Rammohan Roy's efforts led to the abolition of Sati under Governor-
General William Cavendish-Bentinck in 1829.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's crusade for improvement in the situation of widows led to
the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856. Many women reformers such as Pandita Ramabai also
helped the cause of women.

Voting Rights to Women in Punjab and Madras

Whereas wealthy and educated women in Madras were granted voting right in 1921 in Punjab
the Sikhs granted women equal voting rights in 1925 irrespective of their educational
qualifications or being wealthy or poor. This happened when the Gurdwara Act of 1925 was
approved. The original draft of the Gurdwara Act sent by the British to the Sharomani
Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) did not include Sikh women, but the Sikhs
inserted the clause without the women having to ask for it. Equality of women with men is
enshrined in the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of the Sikh faith.

In the Government of India Act 1935 the British Raj set up a system of separate

electorates and separate seats for women. Most women's leaders opposed segregated
electorates and demanded adult franchise. In 1931 the Congress promised universal adult
franchise when it came to power. It enacted equal voting rights for both men and women in
1947.
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Women’s Participation in the Struggle for Independence

The liberal ideas of the individual right to freedom and equality were particularly
championed by Mahatma Gandhi and that laid the foundations of what later developed
within the women’s movement as autonomous women’s organisations fostering similar aims
of self-determination and independence. By the 1920s, however, he began acknowledging the
important role women could play in the struggle for freedom, and called women to participate
in the civil disobedience movement. Gandhi wrote ‘the women in India tore down the purdah
and came forward to work for the nation. They saw that the country demanded something
more than their looking after their homes …’ (Gandhi 1954: 18). Some of the names of
women who were involved in satyagrahas against colonial rule subsequently were Sarojini
Naidu, Lado Rani Zutshi, Rani Gudiallo, Kamala Nehru, Hansa Mehta, Anantikabai Gokhale,
Satyavati, Parvathibai, Rukmini Lakshmipaty, Lilavati Munshi, Durgabai Deshmukh and
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya - to name just a few as thousands of women joined in the
manufacturing and selling of salt all over the country. This is remembered as the turning
point for women’s participation in struggle.
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Constitutional And Legal Provisions For Women In India

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble,
Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only
grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive
discrimination in favour of women. Within the framework of a democratic polity, our laws,
development policies, Plans and programmes have aimed at women’s advancement in
different spheres. India has also ratified various international conventions and human rights
instruments committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification
of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
in 1993.

The Shah Bano Case , and the Mathura Rape Case are two very important precedent cases
in this regard . Shah Bano is a case specifically relating to a Woman seeking maintenance
from her husband after divorce . This case received the status of a landmark judgement .

In Mathura Rape case, a 15 year old named Mathura was brutally raped by Policemen in
Police Custody at night . It attracted severe criticism as the Supreme Court had let off the
police men saying that the girl did not resist the policemen.

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS

The Constitution of India not only grants equality to women but also empowers the State to
adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women for neutralizing the cumulative
socio economic, education and political disadvantages faced by them. Fundamental Rights,
among others, ensure equality before the law and equal protection of law; prohibits
discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth,
and guarantee equality of opportunity to all citizens in matters relating to employment.
Articles 14, 15, 15(3), 16, 39(a), 39(b), 39(c) and 42 of the Constitution are of specific
importance in this regard.
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Constitutional Privileges
(i) Equality before law for women (Article 14)

The State not to discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex,
place of birth or any of them (Article 15 (i))

(iii) The State to make any special provision in favour of women and children (Article
15 (3))

Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to

any office under the State (Article 16)

The State to direct its policy towards securing for men and women equally the right to an
adequate means of livelihood (Article 39(a)); and equal pay for equal work for both men and
women (Article 39(d))

To promote justice, on a basis of equal opportunity and to provide free legal aid by suitable
legislation or scheme or in any other way to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are
not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities (Article 39 A)

(vii) The State to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and
for maternity relief (Article 42)

The State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker
sections of the people and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation
(Article 46)

(x) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of
India and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women (Article 51(A) (e))

(xi) Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women
belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to
be filled by direct election in every Panchayat to be reserved for women and such seats to
be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat (Article 243 D(3))

(xii) Not less than one- third of the total number of offices of Chairpersons in the
Panchayats at each level to be reserved for women (Article 243 D (4))

Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct
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election in every Municipality to be reserved for women and such seats to be allotted by
rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality (Article 243 T (3))

Reservation of offices of Chairpersons in Municipalities for the Scheduled Castes, the

Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the legislature of a State may by law provide
(Article 243 T (4))

LEGAL PROVISIONS

To uphold the Constitutional mandate, the State has enacted various legislative
measures intended to ensure equal rights, to counter social discrimination and various forms
of violence and atrocities and to provide support services especially to working women.

Although women may be victims of any of the crimes such as 'Murder', 'Robbery',
'Cheating' etc, the crimes, which are directed specifically against women, are characterized as
'Crime against Women'. These are broadly classified under two categories.

The Crimes Identified Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

 Rape (Sec. 376 IPC)

 Kidnapping & Abduction for different purposes ( Sec. 363-373)

 Homicide for Dowry, Dowry Deaths or their attempts (Sec. 302/304-B IPC)

 Torture, both mental and physical (Sec. 498-A IPC)

 Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC)

 Sexual Harassment (Sec. 509 IPC)

 Importation of girls (up to 21 years of age)

The Crimes identified under the Special Laws (SLL)

Although all laws are not gender specific, the provisions of law affecting women significantly
have been reviewed periodically and amendments carried out to keep pace with the emerging
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requirements. Some acts which have special provisions to safeguard women and their
interests are:

 The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948

 The Plantation Labour Act, 1951

 The Family Courts Act, 1954

 The Special Marriage Act, 1954

 The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

 The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 with amendment in 2005

 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956

 The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (Amended in 1995)

 Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

 The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971

 The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1976

 The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

 The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006

 The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983

 The Factories (Amendment) Act, 1986

 Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986

 Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987

 The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

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Special Initiatives For Women

 National Commission for Women

In January 1992, the Government set-up this statutory body with a specific mandate to study
and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and legal safeguards provided for
women, review the existing legislation to suggest amendments wherever necessary, etc.

 Reservation for Women in Local Self -Government

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Acts passed in 1992 by Parliament ensure one-third of
the total seats for women in all elected offices in local bodies whether in rural areas or urban
areas.

 The National Plan of Action for the Girl Child (1991-2000)

The plan of Action is to ensure survival, protection and development of the girl child with the
ultimate objective of building up a better future for the girl child.

 National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, 2001

The Department of Women & Child Development in the Ministry of Human Resource
Development has prepared a “National Policy for the Empowerment of Women” in the year
2001. The goal of this policy is to bring about the advancement, development and
empowerment of women.
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Role Conflicts arising in the middle class working

women in India
An Indian Working woman performs many roles throughout her life like any other women of
any nationality. Issues and conflicts crop up because in her conquest to justify every role in
her life she fails to restore her identity. There is immense pressure on a working lady in our
societies , as they are traditionally perceived to be handling only the domestic front .

Traditional families in our country still do not allow with utmost consent , the women to
work outside and establish herself professionally .

Here we look at the various types of Role conflicts arising in the typical Indian woman’s life :

 Role conflict as a growing daughter

India is male dominant country. Rules policies, schemes are framed according to the
gender .Religious and societal norms also vary with the gender. The daughters (in urban areas
) are sent to school, colleges and other eminent places which could instil in them good values
and education .Mean while they are taught household chores which is very unlikely to be
taught to their male sibling. Their male counterpart as young student has to study and play
whereas they do many other things. This is a good concept until and unless this does not
create conflict in their minds. They treat their brother or a male friend as their equivalent but
the number of jobs which they perform is more than their male counterparts. This creates a
mental turmoil on a very initial level.

 Role conflict as working girl-

When they grow up and pursue their careers , then arises the major conflict. Their career
choice is not their sole decision but of their family members which is not the case with most
of the boys. The right to decide the groom for themselves is not majorly granted. This
situation occurs in most of the middle class homes where girls are working. Conflict also
arises at work place , as even when they are well groomed and professionally qualified they
may still be paid less as compared to the male employees .
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 Role conflict as a wife (home maker)

After her marriage which is well showered with dowry , her responsibilities and duties
multiplies but her rights are hardly acknowledged. A huge amount of dowry and no
persuasion in her career life creates a unhealthy state of mind. Her own parents leave her to
destiny. She is taught to sacrifice most of the time .After having best of the qualifications her
identity ceases to being a homemaker if it is not by her own choice.

She gets almost no appreciation or regard for being what she is. It is a rare case when groom
or his family members are supportive enough to help her maintain a balance in her personal
and professional life . Women , in general are taught to listen to , and follow the commands
of their husbands .Conflicts arise, as there are multiple roles of wife, mother , daughter-in law
etc and each of them is very demanding .In order to perform every role she fails to retain her
identity. She forgets her education, her dreams for the sake of family but hardly do family
members acknowledge her efforts.
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 Role conflict as a working married woman-

It is always said that ‘Behind a successful man , there is a woman’ who is most of the times
his wife .But how many times we have heard that behind a successful woman is her husband.
It is a very rare case in the context of India at least .At times she becomes a victim of jealousy
, if her professional life is better than her husband’s.

Let us imagine a situation where both husband and wife enter house at 7 pm .Both are equally
tired but the wife will still be occupied with the house hold chores of the family whereas the
husband would relax , and sit in front of the TV. Food, clothing, children, in laws , etc are all
waiting to be dealt with. The wife sleeps last and gets up the first. And there are pressures of
the workplace , which she must deal with all by herself .

It isn’t too common to find extremely supportive families who , instead of complaining
would encourage the lady of the house to seek an appropriate job .

Can a Woman be Karta of the family ? 2

The Karta of a Hindu joint Family in Hindu Law is the senior most member of the family
entitled to manage family affairs, in his absence the next eldest male member after him is
entitled to be the Karta. A Karta is the caretaker of the whole family and looks after the
welfare of all the members of the family. His relationship with other members is a
relationship of trust and confidence.The law commission also has rightly observed that
although the Hindu Succession Amendment Act, 2005 has conferred upon the daughter of a
coparcener status but there is still a reluctance to making her a Karta. This seems to be
patently unfair as women are proving themselves equal to any task.

2
• http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/kar.htm
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Women in Modern India

 Discrimination in the Political Sphere

We have had a woman President and Lok Sabha Speaker. But these symbols of
women’s political participation appear rather hollow when we remember that women
continue to be abysmally underrepresented in the Parliament and Assemblies.

 With great fanfare, the UPA Government passed the Women’s Reservation Bill
(providing 33% reservation in Parliament and Assemblies) in the Rajya Sabha. But
this was pure political theatre – and the same Government, using the old excuse of
‘lack of consensus’, has carefully avoided placing the Bill for vote in the Lok Sabha.
In Parliament, MPs across political lines openly aired their patriarchal prejudices
while opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill. There is now talk of truncating the
reservation provisions to 20% or less

 Dowry – still a social reality

 The evil system of dowry is still in practice and culturally approved and socially
recognized. Dowry is public all condemned but privately followed in practice. The
belief that the evil of dowry which is deep rooted in the Indian society can be
eradicated by just making laws is no more stands true.

 The laws enacted to eradicate the evil system of dowry from the society should be
supported and backed by the public opinion. If progressive legislations lacks the support of
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public opinion it is no more than a waste bundle of papers and are regarded as dead law; As
is case with the Indian Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, It must be asserted that a social reform
should be done in consonance with social thinking, behaviour and after creation of a strong
public opinion, as laws could only be effective when they are hacked by major section of
the society.

 Discrimination in Access to Jobs, Land and Resources   

Women continue to have unequal access to land and other resources. Women farmers rarely
have land pattas issued in their name. Compensation policies in case of displacement are
inevitably discriminatory towards women. Women also find it more difficult to get
loans.   
At the workplace, too, gender bias is rampant. Even in MNREGA, for instance, women are
often denied work on the grounds of gender. In many colleges and universities, women
teachers have been asked to observe ‘dress codes.’ In one University in Kolkata, a woman
was not allowed to take classes because she refused to wear purdah, as demanded by some
fundamentalist force .

 Women’s Work: Least Paid, Most Exploited 

In certain sectors, however, women’s labour is, indeed, preferred – as a cheaper
labour substitute for men’s labour. Women are also sometimes preferred because they
are perceived as less likely to unionise or engage in struggles, and more vulnerable to
coercion. 
Women are therefore, disproportionately represented in the informal sector, in what
are called the ‘3D’ (dirty, dangerous, demeaning) jobs. 
•         It is significant, for instance, that whereas women aged 15 and above comprise
only 27% of all employed persons in the country, girl children constitute 42% of all
child labour in the country.
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 Sex trafficking and Sex Workers

The global sex industry preys on women in poor and backward countries like India..
Within the country too, sex trafficking is rampant. 
A large number of sex workers in India are brought into sex work by force,
kidnapping and violence. An even larger number opt for sex work as a means of
survival in the absence of secure and properly paid work. Sex workers work in
conditions that are extremely hazardous to their health as well as safety. They also
bear the brunt of the stigma attached by social hypocrisy.   
As long as poor women remain deprived of secure, properly paid employment, they
will inevitably seek refuge in demeaning and dangerous sex work. While resisting the
social stigma and violence faced by sex workers, we must demand an end to
trafficking; protection of sex workers from exploitation and violence; social services
for sex workers and their dependants; as well as rehabilitation in alternative and
remunerative employment .

 Women’s Freedom Under Attack

Women are finding their daily freedoms and rights under the worst kind of assault. Young
girls and even adult women face violence when they exercise their freedom to choose their
friends, wear clothes of their choice or marry a partner of their choice. 

Sangh Parivar outfits like Sri Ram Sene and Bajrang Dal have systematically attacked
women for wearing jeans, visiting pubs, and even for having Christian or Muslim male
friends at school or college. The bogey of so-called ‘love jehad’, accusing every Muslim
man who marries a non-Muslim woman of being a ‘jehadi’ (terrorist)
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Conclusion and Suggestions

While India’s progress in this front has been brave, there are quite a few corners that it needs
to cut before it can be called as being truly revolutionary in its quest for understanding what
is women empowerment .

India as a country is still recovering from years of abuse in the time of the Raj and more years
of economic suffering at the hands of the License Raj. It is only now that globalisation,
liberalisation and other socio-economic forces have given some respite to a large proportion
of the population. However, there are still quite a few areas where women empowerment in
India is largely lacking.

A woman is the world in itself. Her beauty, care knowledge etc has no substitute in
the world .It is important to realize that we as woman have immense power. This power must
be used efficiently.

No family runs without the sacrifices or adjustments made by the women.She should
not feel incomplete or a mere worker. Her own individual identity should never cease to
exist.It is vital to cultivate necessary reforms in today’s lifestyles for a better and healthier
tomorrow.

We have a long way to go, but we will get there someday. We shall overcome.
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Bibliography and References

 Sociology Material of Second Trimester , NLIU Bhopal

 Basu, Monmayee, Hindu Women and Marriage Law: From Sacrament to Contract,
2001, Oxford University Press.
 Report by NCW : National Commission for Women

Web References :

 http://www.cpiml.org/liberation/year_2012/feb_2012/cover_feature.html
 http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/2722/13/13_chapter%204.pdf;
 http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/kar.htm

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