WOMEN EMPOWERMENT : INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

A LEGAL ANALYSIS

AN ASSIGNMENT

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENT OF THE AWARD OF LLM

COURSE CODE : 201C

COURSE TITLE: LAW AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN INDIA

SUBMITTED BY : PRAGNA PARAMITA GUHA ROY

LL.M SEMESTER II

SUPERVISOR : DR.SANGEETA CHATTERJEE

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

(DEPT.OF LAW)

BANKURA UNIVERSITY

SUBMITTED TO : DEPARTMENT OF LAW,

BANKURA UNIVERSITY,BANKURA,WEST BENGAL

 ➢ INTRODUCTION-
“Yatra Nari Astu Pujyante, Ramante Tatra Devataa” or

“Gods reside there where women are worshipped”.

_____________ One of the verses from Manu Smriti.

In India goddesses are not only part of mythology and religion but penetrate the social psyche
so much that young girls here are often called on occasions like Navratris and worshiped as
Devi or the goddess.

“Wo + Men”

From the bifurcation of the word “women”, can we say that “Wo” is adding extra to “Men”
or “Men” is adding extra upon “Wo”. The answer would be very controversial if we choose
any one of them. A man and a woman completes each other. Likewise the world get
completion by their union. So both of them are equally important for their contribution to the
society.

“Union of men and women = life.”

We are very much concern about Women Empowerment. If both the genders are equally
important for the society, then what is the use of empowering a particular gender. The reason
lies in the origin of importance given to a particular gender mainly the “Male”. If we go back
to the Ancient India we will see how a male dominated society ruling over female
communities. But the reason is unknown why the “Females” allow the “Male” to dominate
them. Was it the fault of “Males” or “females” or the “Nature” that is a huge controversy.
Due to Patriarchal society the women are economically, socially and politically deprived
since inception of the society.

Indian history bears the testimony to the fact that Indian woman have always been treated
badly and unequally to men. Social evils such as “dowry”, “sati-system”, “child marriage”,
and “female infanticide” were widely prevalent in the early ages. In medieval India, along
with “sati-system”, “Purdah system”, was much common in this period1. It is often said that
status of women in India suffered with the advent of foreign rule. The truth is that women all
over India played a subordinate role.

But the last fifty years have seen tremendous transformation in the status of women. National
Commission for Women(1998) was established as watch dog to protect their rights. The
Hindu Code Bill(1956), Hindu Succession Act, Anti Dowry Act, Equal Pay Requirements,
Right to Divorce all these laws have been formulated as corrective steps for their
empowerment. There are number of laws to correct gender bias at grass root level. 73rd
Amendment(1993) to the Constitution has provided for reservation of seats for women in the
Panchayats. Today women empowerment is an important feature in our plans at every level.

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Women’s Reservation Bill is expected to be passed in parliament very soon. It was
introduced in Rajya Sabha as ‘Women’s Reservation Bill 2008’(108th Amendment) to
provide reservation of one-third of all the seats for women in the legislature at the centre and
states level. The Bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha on 9th March,2010, but is pending in
the Lok Sabha. When passed, the bill would spark of thousands of opportunities for women
to show their skill at decision-making level. Rani Laxmi bai, Annie Besant, Hansaben Mehta,
Sarojini Naidu, Vijyalaxmi Pandit, Indira Gandhi, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, Dr. Kiran Bedi,
Mother Teresa, Kalpana Chawla, J. M.Fathima Beevi, Mamta Banerjee, Indira Gandhi,
Kadambini Ganguly, Jhulan Goswami etc., are the notable pictures of women empowerment.

➢ LITERATURE REVIEW –
This assignment has been made with the help of number of books, articles, literatures which
are reviewed one after another:-

• Law and Social Transformation in Social Transformation in India, Dr. Krishna Pal
Malik and Dr. Kaushik C. Raval, Allahabad Law Agency, Faridabad, India, 4th
Edition, 2017 : This book give us an idea about relationship between law and society
and their needy transformation in the present day with a view point of Indian
Perspective.
• 151 Essays, S.C. Gupta , Arihant Publications (India) Ltd. Revised Edition: This
book gives us a basic concept about women empowerment and its importance to the
society.
• Descriptive English, S.P. Bakshi, Richa Sharma Arihant Publications (India) Ltd.,
Revised Edition: This book also gives us a basic idea of women empowerment and
social evils of them with an emphasis on gender equality.
• The Times Of India Newspaper: The daily newspaper gives us information about All
India Surveys on various activities on men-women ratios and other trending topics on
empowering women.

➢ STATEMENT OF PROBLEM-
Due to patriarchal society women are not getting their needs what they deserved. They are
going through various socio-legal problems which they accepted for their social respect and
only due to this reason they are always standing behind men. Empowering them would not
only develop the female society but also the whole world. Due to various superstitions and
false belief there are lots of customs prevalent in India on women which can only be
abolished by a social transformation which is only possible by empowering women.

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 ➢ OBJECTIVES OF STUDY-
There are lots of objectives of women empowerment. But the two main objectives are as
follows:-

• To ensure gender equality.

• To develop a crime free society.

➢ Objectives of Women Empowerment Policy of 2001:2

A national policy on women empowerment was passed in 2001 by the govt of India to bring
about the advancement, development and empowerment of women. The policy has to widely
disseminate so as to encourage active participation of all stakeholders for achieving its goals.
Specifically, the objectives of this policy include-

• Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for full
development of women to enable them to realize their full potential;
• The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by
women on equal basis with men in all spheres-political, economic, social, cultural,
and civil;
• Equal access to participation and decision making of women in social, political and
economic life of the nation;
• Equal access to women to health care, quality education at all levels, career and
vocational guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety
social security and public office, etc;
• Strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of discrimination
against women;
• Changing societal attitudes and community practices by active participation and
involvement of both men and women;
• Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process;
• Elimination of discrimination and all forms of violence against women and the girl
child; and
• Building and strengthening partnerships with civil society.

2
Dr. Krishna Pal Malik and Dr. Kaushiki C. Raval , Law and Social Transformation in India , Allahabad Law
Agency, 4th Edition at p.191

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 ➢ Socio-Legal-Political & Economical Development For Women Are As
Follows:-

❖ Women Friendly Justice Delivery System:-3

Legal-judicial system should be made more responsible & gender sensitive to women’s
needs, especially in case of domestic violence & personal assault. The Protection of
Children From Sexual Offences Act,2012 & The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act,2013
has amended procedure law to introduce a system in which female has to take care of a
woman victim of a crime. As far as possible the case should be tried by a woman judge; the
FIR must be registered by a woman police officer & all other procedures like medical
examination etc., should be done by female medical practitioner & female workers so that
the victim can get a comfortable & friendly environment.

❖ POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT:
Active participation in decision making by women in political process at all levels should be
ensured for the achievement of the goals of empowerment. The Convention on Political
Rights of Women, 1954, empowered women with three basic rights, namely:-

• Women shall be entitled to vote in all elections on equal terms with them, without
any discrimination;
• Women shall be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies established by
law of the nation on equal terms with men & without any discrimination;
• Women shall be entitled to hold public office & to exercise all public functions
on equal terms with men. 4

❖ ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT:-
Since the below poverty line of majority of population belongs to women, there should be
improved implementation of programmes which are already women oriented with special
targets for women. Steps should be taken for mobilization of poor women and convergence
of services, by offering then a range of economic and social options, along with necessary
support measures to enhance their capabilities. Strengthening micro-credit mechanisms and
microfinance institution for enhancing outreach of credit. Bank and other financial
institutions must conduct programmes for ensuring easy access to credit. Self Employed
Workers Associations (SEWA) had given women certain benefits of a scheme introduced for
unorganised workers.

3
Ibid
4
Id at p.3

4
 ❖ MAINSTREAMING A GENDER PERSPECTIVE
IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:-
Policies, programmes and systems will be established to ensure mainstreaming of women’s
perspectives in all development processes, as catalysts, participants and recipients wherever
there are gaps in policies and programmes women specific interventions would be undertaken
to bridge these.

❖ EMPOWERMENT THROUGH
EMPLOYMENT:-
The provisions of support services for women, like child care facilities, including crèches at
work places and educational institutions, homes for the aged and the disabled will be
expanded and improve to create an enabling environment and to ensure their full cooperation
in social, political and economic life. There are lots of women who are leaving their jobs in
their post-delivery stages due to inadequate facilities in their work places. We need to give a
work friendly environment for those women who are dealing with these maternal issues.

❖ SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN:-

(EDUCATION):-

“Education to man is education to individual, while education to woman is education to

families”. Equal access to education for women and girls should be ensured. Special
measures should be taken to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate
illiteracy, create a gender-sensitive educational system, increase enrolment and retention rates
of girls and improve the quality of education to facilitate life-long learning as well as
development of occupation, vocation, technical skills by women. Our focus should also be
given on reducing the gender gap in secondary and higher education particularly for those
who belongs to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other Backward Classes and Minorities.

It is observed 18% more women are involved in higher education in 5years from the
professional and technical courses where female enrolment is significantly lower. The Gross
Enrolment Ratio of Females stands at 27.3% which is better in comparison to that of females
26.9%. 5

(HEALTH):-A holistic approach to women’s health which

includes both nutrition & health services. Not only woman we have to give our concern to the
girl child also by reduction of infant morality and maternal morality. Women should have
access to comprehensives affordable and quality health care. To effecting meet problems of
infant and maternal morality, and early marriage, strict implementation of registration of
births and deaths should be ensured by compulsory registration of marriages. As far as
compulsory registration of marriage is concerned, according to the direction of Supreme
Court, registration of marriage in all the states irrespective of provisions in their personal law.

5
The All India Survey on Higher Education(AISHE),The Times Of India, Friday,June,11,2021 at p.1.

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Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,1971 gives us certain restrictions for termination of
pregnancy, in which a medical practitioner if not following the procedures, then he is
punishable under IPC. In 2006, the Prohibition Of Child Marriage Act,2006, had substituted
the Child Marriage Restraint Act,1929 , to make the Act stronger to eradicate child marriage.
Women in rural areas always bind with the concept of having last meal of the day. This type
of rigidity should be broken so that they can get the proper nutrition specially for their
childhood, adolescent, pregnancy, lactating periods.6

Nowadays there are many women who are working or focused to their professional lifestyles
rather than household activities in urban areas. Due to working pressures and other crucial
conditions many women are suffering from infertility, in many cases husbands and wives are
not staying together due to their professional differences and other geographical reasons.
They are now free from these type of stress and tensions as science and technologies are
developing day by day for giving birth at a meaningful time. Surrogacy, IVF, Test-tube baby
etc, are offering these women to get their child at their needful time.

Apart from these, “egg freezing” is a new concept by which we can empower a women by
allowing her to give birth and also carry her process of employment.7

Studies shows 1 out of 6 couples in urban India face fertility issues and seek medical
intervention.

Egg harvesting can help those women to fight against infertility. Accenture and WeWork are
the two institutions which provide for this procedure in India.8

Apart from all these developmental objectives there are lots of other objectives which are not
possible to discuss in a limited ambit e.g., sexual harassment of women at workplace etc.,

➢ HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF WOMEN

EMPOWERMENT-

Feminism and feminist movement got a new dimension in 1949 with the hands of Simone De
Beauvoir, a French existentialist philosopher and feminist, who wrote the famous book, the
Second Sex in that year. This book has clearly portrayed the condition of women in society
and has also explained the true spirits of feminism. She has tried to bring to forefront the
myths about feminism as well as the practical lived experiences of women. Since the
publication of this book feminism has got a new dimension. Not only that, everyone has
started to understand the need of feminist movements to bring about women empowerment.

6
Supra Note 1 at p.3
7
Empowering women: More cos now offer medical cover for egg freezing, The Times Of India, Monday, June
21,2021at p.1
8
Ibid.

6
 ➢ INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ARENA-

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966

• European Convention on Human Rights, 1950

• American Convention on Human Rights, 1969

• Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women

(“CEDAW”), 1979

• Asian Human Rights Charter, 1998

• Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 1993

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 2000

✓ IMPORTANT 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 1993.9

1. 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.

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Important Constitutional and legal provision
http://mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/reports_and_publication/cso_social_statices_division/Constitutional&Legal
_Rights.pdf on 21.062021 at 3:15 p.m.

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Articles 14, 15, 15(3), 16, 39(a), 39(b), 39(c) and 42 of the Constitution are of specific
importance in this regard.

Constitutional Privileges-

i) Equality before law for women (Article 14)

(ii) 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))
(iv) Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment
to any office under the State (Article 16)

(v) 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))

(vi) 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)

(viii) 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)

(ix) The State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people (Article
47)

(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))

(xiii) 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 Municipality to be reserved for women and such seats to be allotted
by rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality (Article 243 T (3))

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(xiv) 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) )

2. LEGAL PROVISIONS10:-

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.

(1) The Crimes Identified Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

(i) Rape (Sec. 376 IPC)

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

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

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

(v) Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC)

(vi) Sexual Harassment (Sec. 509 IPC)

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

(2) 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:

(i) The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948

(ii) The Plantation Labour Act, 1951

(iii) The Family Courts Act, 1954

(iv) The Special Marriage Act, 1954

(v) The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

(vi) The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 with amendment in 2005

(vii) Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956

10
Id at p.8

9
(viii) The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (Amended in 1995)

(ix) Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

(x) The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971

(xi) The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1976 (xii) The Equal
Remuneration Act, 1976

(xiii) The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006

(xiv) The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983

(xv) The Factories (Amendment) Act, 1986

(xvi) Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 198611

(xvii) Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 (xviii) The Protection of Women from
Domestic Violence Act,2005.

3. SPECIAL INITIATIVES FOR WOMEN :-

(i) 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.

(ii) 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.

(iii) 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.

(iv) 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 women12

Schemes for the Empowerment of Women-

 Short Stay Homes (SSH) for Women and Girls, 1969

 Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), 1993

11
Id at p.9
12
Supra Note 2 at p.3

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  Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), 2005

 Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (SABLA), 2011

➢ GENDER BUDGETING-

Gender budget initiatives analyze how governments raise and spend

public money, with the aim of securing gender equality in decision –
making about public resource allocation; and gender equality in the
distribution of the impact of government budgets, both in their benefits
and in their burdens. The impact of government budgets on the most
disadvantaged groups of women is a focus of special attention.

• First step towards this goal was taken by Australia, South Africa and
Philippines

• India has also taken initiative from its Eighth Plan onwards

• The first gender responsive budget initiative was taken by Australian

government at the federal level in 1984 and fully executed in 1985.

• Australian government adopted a “Three-way categorization” to address

the issue.

• This approach distinguishes between -

1. Gender-specific expenditure;

2. Equal opportunity expenditure for civil servants;

3. Gender expenditure (the rest) considered in terms of its

gender impact.

➢ CONCLUSION:-
The Government is approaching women empowerment but is still away from the goals set up
by the constitution and Indian Commitments to the international fora. Women participation in
decisions making policies through reservation systems have empowered them a lot but on the
other hand the crime rate against women are increasing day by day specially the domestic
violence like cruelty by husband and his relatives and also other offences like eve teasing.
molestation etc., Earlier the women used to hide these offences due to honour of family and
tried to solve by a settlement through family members. But now due to empowerment of
women many reporting of cases are lodged against them in the police station and also judicial
proceedings are also happening at a large number. Nowadays we are getting report of a lot of
number of offences against women and as a result we are able to get a chance to work on

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those area for which these offences are happening frequently. In India we are mainly focused
on the behaviours of a girl child(how they walk, speak, dress etc.,) but our careless attitude
towards male child is main reason for these types of offences. If we care more towards male
child specially in their adolescent periods we can get a positive change in the future family
which will not only lead a happy family but also a happy world free from all abuses against
women. In this assignment “Law and Social Transformation” we have seen how the law and
society is changing with each other. May be today we are discussing about Women
Empowerment but one day may arise when we again can get a new concept like
Empowerment of men. So in the very beginning of the assignment we have discussed that
both the genders are equally important and we have to look into both of them so that no one
can abuse their use of powers by way of empowerment.

➢ BIBLIOGRAPHY:-

• BOOKS-
Dr. Krishna Pal Malik and Dr. Kaushiki C. Raval , Law and Social Transformation in
India , Allahabad Law Agency, 4th Edition.

• ARTICLES-
The All India Survey on Higher Education(AISHE),The Times Of India,
Friday,June,11,2021.
Empowering women: More cos now offer medical cover for egg freezing, The Times
Of India, Monday, June 21,2021.

• INTERNET/WEB RESOURCES-
http://mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/reports_and_publication/cso_social_statices_divi
sion/Constitutional&Legal_Rights.pdf
https://www.womensweb.in/2019/01/despite-being-a-goddess-jan19wk4sr/

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