Scribd
Upload
94 views17 pages

Legal Position of Women in India: Kunal Dutta

Women's empowerment aims to give women power over their own lives and find their rightful place in society. The Constitution of India grants women equality and protects them from discrimination. Several laws have been enacted to uphold women's rights, counter social discrimination, and provide support services. However, challenges remain due to patriarchal attitudes, women's economic dependence, and failure to properly address issues like domestic violence. Reforms are still needed to the inheritance, marriage, and consent laws to fully achieve the equality and justice promised in the Constitution. Continued efforts are required from the government and citizens to educate society and promote gender equality.

Uploaded by

KUNAL1221
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
94 views17 pages

Legal Position of Women in India: Kunal Dutta

Women's empowerment aims to give women power over their own lives and find their rightful place in society. The Constitution of India grants women equality and protects them from discrimination. Several laws have been enacted to uphold women's rights, counter social discrimination, and provide support services. However, challenges remain due to patriarchal attitudes, women's economic dependence, and failure to properly address issues like domestic violence. Reforms are still needed to the inheritance, marriage, and consent laws to fully achieve the equality and justice promised in the Constitution. Continued efforts are required from the government and citizens to educate society and promote gender equality.

Uploaded by

KUNAL1221
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 17

LEGAL POSITION OF

WOMEN IN INDIA

Kunal Dutta
Student BBA LLB
Raffles University, Neemrana
[email protected]
Contact no.- 7725948844
 
Women Empowerment
Women empowerment in simple words can be understood as giving power to women to decide for
their own lives or inculcating such abilities in them so that they could be able to find their rightful
place in the society.
According to the United Nations, women’s empowerment mainly has five components:
Generating women’s sense of self-worth;
Women’s right to have and to determine their choices;
Women’s right to have access to equal opportunities and all kinds of resources;
Women’s right to have the power to regulate and control their own lives, within and outside the
home
Thus, women empowerment is nothing but recognition of women’s basic human rights and
creating an environment where they should not have social barriers in day to day life.
Laws enacted to secure the rights of women

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.
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.
A. 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)
B. 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
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
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.
Special Initiatives for Women
 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.
Realistic view of the legal provisions and
practices in India in respect to women
 There is no comprehensive anti-discrimination code in India although there
are laws that address specific aspects related to equality.
 In the absence of an anti-discrimination code, there is no comprehensive
statutory definition of discrimination that takes into account different
manifestations of discrimination and its impact.
 India’s legislative measures and the commissions assigned to deal with
domestic violence have poorly addressed the issue and have failed to
effectively stop the rise in domestic violence in the country.
 Various legal experts have pointed out that the Indian National Human Rights
Commission and National Commission on Women have failed to address cultural
norms, stigma and the systemic entrenchment of domestic violence in India.
 India has instituted statutory commissions to protect human rights such as the
National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women.
These commissions have been vested with the function of inter alia monitoring
and reviewing state action and making recommendations for better enforcement
of human rights and women’s rights. However, they have their limitations. Their
recommendations are not binding upon the government and they have no power
to redress individual grievances and grant relief.
Reasons for the Problems
 Firstly, this is due to the local police’s unwilling and complacent
attitude towards the implementation of the statutory measures for
domestic violence against women.
 Secondly, the cultural patriarchal attitudes that govern the position
of women in the family that are systemic and deeply entrenched
hinder the attempts at reform.
 The third factor that affects the implementation of laws is the
diminished economic power of women in urban and rural areas and
the intersectional identities of women that result in them being
ignorant about their legal rights and ways to seek redressal.
The Inadequacy in Law
   Hindu laws of inheritance: Different religions have different inheritance laws.
According to the Hindu inheritance law, the property of a woman who dies without a
will is handled differently from that of a man. In the absence of spouse and children, the
husband’s heirs inherit the woman’s estate.

 Parsi laws of inheritance: Despite decreasing numbers in the Parsi community, those
who marry outside the community are penalised. A non-parsi woman who is either a
wife or a widow of a Parsi man cannot inherit. However, their children can. But again, a
Parsi woman marrying a non-Parsi man cannot be considered a part of the Parsi
community.

 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act: The law only prohibits the marriages of children;
it does not render them illegal once they actually happen. The married children,
however, have the right to declare it void. A woman can call off a marriage until she
turns 20, whereas a man has till age 23.
The Inadequacy in Law
 Age of consent: Sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 18 is considered rape. But since
child marriages are not illegal, a man can legally have sex with his wife even if she is a minor,
as long as she is above the age of 15. Further, marital rape is still not criminalised in India.

 Rape of a separated wife: The rape of a separated wife carries lesser punishment than the rape
of any other woman. Forced sexual intercourse with the former is punishable with two to seven
years of imprisonment. The prison sentence for the rape of any other woman ranges from seven
years to life.

 Marriageable age: The minimum age for marriage for a boy is 21, but 18 for a girl. This is a
legal extension of the patriarchal mindset that believes that a wife should always be younger
than the man.
Conclsion
 In conclusion, it can be said that women in India, through their own unrelenting
efforts and with the help of Constitutional and other legal provisions and also with
the aid of Government’s various welfare schemes, are trying to find their own
place under the sun. And it is a heartening sign that their participation in
employment- government as well as private, in socio-political activities of the
nation and also their presence at the highest decision making bodies is improving
day by day.
 However, we are still far behind in achieving the equality and justice which the
Preamble of our Constitution talks about. The real problem lies in the patriarchal
and male-dominated system of our society which considers women as subordinate
to men and creates different types of methods to subjugate them.
Conclsion

 The need of us is to educate and sensitize male members of the society regarding
women issues and try to inculcate a feeling of togetherness and equality among
them so that they would stop their discriminatory practices towards the fairer sex.
 For this to happen apart from Government, the efforts are needed from various
NGOs and from enlightened citizens of the country. And first of all efforts should
begin from our homes where we must empower female members of our family by
providing them equal opportunities of education, health, nutrition and decision
making without any discrimination.

You might also like