Equality in India

This paper begins by briefing about the marginal position occupied by the indian woman in the society and also in the political process due to socio-economic constraints. It outlines the evolution of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) against this backdtrop. It then gives a brief account of the position of women in the PRIs before the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act. Finally, it examines the probable role of women in the context of the 73 rd Amendment Act. It examines whether women will be able to exercise political power through this system, what hurdles are there on their way, and finally how they can overcome these?

Gender equality through reservation in decision-making Bodies

This article discusses the need for political empowerment of women through reservation in its ... 

decision making bodies like parliament, and state legislature in the same line as at ‘Panchayat’ (village) level in India. The current economic and socio-political maladies along with increasing violence against women and children are attributed to the failure of male oriented polity. Representation of women in higher bodies of political authority has been considered a prerequisite for the success of democracy at the grass-root level. However the need for accountability and sense of commitment on the part of the elected women representatives is stressed. This requires a higher degree of awareness among women regarding health, literacy, gender and other relevant social, economic and political issues.

Law and Gender Inequality : The Politics of Women's Rights in India

This book explores the issue of gender and law reform with reference to the politics and history on India. It also explores the strategies, which could safeguard the of women's rights in a country like India, which has a typical social, cultural and political background. The book is divided in four parts. First part contains five chapters and speaks about Pre-colonial and colonial Legal Structures. Second part comprises of three chapters, and explores the post-independence developments. Third part of the book which consists of two chapters explains the Developments in the personal laws of non-muslim minorities. Fourt and last part of this book contains the analysis of the current trends of the debate on the Uniform Civil Code.

Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women

Madhu Kishwar is an influential participant in the women's rights and human rights movements since the 1970s and is the founding editor of Manushi - a journal about women and society.

This volume is a collection of some of Madhu Kishwar's best and most controversial essays concerning topics central to women's issues in India today: the role of marriage payments and dowry, unwanted daughters, denial of inheritance and land rights to women, love, sex and marriage, sexual harassment, identities, beauty contests etc. Many of these offer a critical appraisal of Madhu Kishwar's activism and engagement. The essays are an attempt to grapple with one of the most serious challenges to women in India: Why is it that inspite of all the high profile attention on women's issues many remain unresolved? Most of the work thus far has resulted only through symbolic actions such as passing of laws, which very often are inappropriate and not implemented. In most cases where laws are misused it contributes to increasing the vulnerability of women's lives. The volume also deals with Madhu Kishwar's moving away of 'ism-driven' politics and orthodox feminist thinking. The essays reject statist interventions in social reform and appeal to people's consciences to bring about any meaningful changes in the position of women.

" Gender Justice and The Supreme Court"

Indira Jaising is a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India. She has been a fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies London and is Secretary of 'Lawyers Collective' which deals with socio legal issues of public interest.

This essay traces the evolution of gender justice in the Supreme. Before taking up judicial decisions concerning issues that involve women's rights, the author draws attention to the composition of the judiciary and its starkly unrepresentative character. Through an analysis of cases dealing with property rights to women to cases of violence against women, the essay addresses the problem of formal equality and the evolution of equality jurisprudence in the Indian Supreme Court where sameness and similarity form the criteria for classification. One of the recent cases (Vishakha vs. State of Rajasthan) where the Supreme Court has considered provisions in CEDAW to address sexual harassment in the workplace is also discussed. While some recent decisions do indicate a positive step towards gender justice the unevenness in this development is attributed to a greater emphasis on criminal law as opposed to civil law, leading to a neglect of women's economic rights. Finally, the essay points to emerging issues concerning validity of personal laws, women's representation etc. which will engage the courts and it is felt that an increasing number of women in the judiciary will be able to perceive women as autonomous decision makers and active participants in public life.

The article identifies gender backward districts among fifteen major Indian States — Andhra Pradesh , Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal — based on 13 gender sensitive indicaters — such as demographic, educational, health related, socio-cultural and economic levels of development. The assesses the relative levels of backwardness or development, ranking based exercise on individual indicators. The study limits itself mostly on secondary data from 1991 census, 370 districts have been taken into consideration. The study indicates female to male ratio (FMR) as a demographic variable. Female literacy serves as basic indicator of educational status. The health related variable is mortality rate. The data source used for the study are : the census of India, 1991, mortality estimates from Rajan and Mohanchandran (1998) and UNFPA's calculated data on fertility and female age at marriage. The paper undertakes detailed state and district wise discussion on each of the selected indicators under separate heads. Through the study mekes no attampt to look at transition overtime and only focus on rural areas, however its significance lies on its methodology that reinforces two points — one disaggregated analysis and second significance of looking at different aspects of gender development. The findings of the study concludes that no state or district exhibits a uniform pattern of backwardness or development in terms of gender sensitive indicators.

The paper on gender differences in literacy attainment in Uttar Pradesh, 1951-91 reveals significant regional variations in female achievement and the gender gap. A case study of changing spatial patterns in the literacy gender gap within Uttar Pradesh illustrates national statistics on regional gender and caste inequities. The paper raises questions for further study about the ability of decentralized planning to promote educational equality and its threats to community cohesion. The study is mainly based on female and male literacy rates as reported by government of India census data collected in 1971, 1981, and 1991. It analyses total female literacy rates per state and district, comprising both rural and urban. Uttar Pradesh has high female literacy and gender gap and is a big state of 140 million people. The study covers status of literacy in northern and eastern parts of the state and influence of religion, urbanization and income on literacy rate and emphasis of history, social relations and politics on the female literacy level and gender gap in state. The study illustrates female literacy rate in both national and state maps and comparative study in graphs. The study is supported by relevant statistics.

The author in this paper a defence of gender quotas in legislative bodies and debates on potential political and socio-cultural consequences of the institution of a gender quotas in the Indian parliament by a constitutional amendment and provides justification for the use of a gender quota in legislative bodies. Author offers consequential argument in section I of the paper. In section II she emphasizes on concept of the public sphere and idea of acting in solidarity with women presupposed in the debate and in section III, she elaborates on her perspective on identitarian justification of gender quotas and compares her justification with support for gender quotas from the argument for ‘a politics of presence’ in section IV. In a concluding section of the paper she derives an answer to : Should feminists support the women's bill for an amendment to the Indian constitution that has provided 33% reservation for women in the Indian parliament and state legislature?

In response to Meena Dhanda's article, representation of women should Feminist support Quotas, the author expresses her view point on the same. She argues on the improvements she has proposed to the original Women's Reservation Bill and reasons out its shortcomings. She further refers to impact caste and gender has upon women politicians and their insensitivity to women's concerns. The author states the salient features of the Alternative Bill and presents its advantages. The article presents statistical data analyzing gender advantage in Lok Sabha elections since 1952 and statistic on comparative performance of men and women candidates of recognized parties in Lok Sabha elections.

This paper attempts to situate women in the present context of national development, to assess their condition since the changes in their status and study the link between economic progress and the class to which the woman belongs , for studies have indicated that there is a close connection between the two. In order to analyse it, the paper first identifies the problems in the path of women's equality. After an overview of awareness of their situation among various classes of women, the paper ends with a view of the future and the possible solutions.

The report examines the role of the Law Commission of India (LCI), assesses its contribution to women's equality and identifies ways of improving that contribution. Specialised agencies like the LCI were recommended by the UN Commission on the Status of Women to play a multiple role in eliminating women's inequality. The first chapter of the book deals with the genesis of the LCI and the second chapter with its composition, status and functioning. The report, cextly deals with women specifi creports of the LCI which includes topics like, married wimen's property, mrape,etc. the latter part of the same chapter deals with family law related topics like Gindu Marriage Act. Finally , the report concludes with catious recommendations like as per Indian laws a mother is continued to be treated as comng onl after the father as a natural grardian of a minor child is against the recommendations of the UN Commission on