Gender Equality: Intertwined Notion of Women and Law in India

The United Nations has a list of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that it aims to achieve by the year 2030 and the Fifth one on the list is about Gender Equality. This article takes a gander at the status of women in India and its attempt to achieve gender equality by empowering women over the years post-independence.

The evil of crime and violence against women is deeply rooted within the edifice of the Indian patriarchal system. Religion, traditions, age-old prejudices, customs have put Indian women in a subservient and exploitable position in numerous areas of life. In India, since the olden times, women have been put on the pedestal of Goddesses; however, incidentally, they have been dealt with like torn clothes. Lower education rates (with as low as 56.7% in some states of India), an absence of monetary autonomy, and societal biases working against them have made women unnecessarily and unfortunately deliberately dependent on others. Women in India tend to be unmindful of their rights as little efforts are made to create legal awareness of the same, and even when they are aware of the legal recourse they can take, it is not easily accessible for them. In his work, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Friedrich Engels aptly said that “Woman was the first human being that tasted bondage. Woman was a slave before slavery existed”.

Equality for women is enshrined in the Constitution of India. It guarantees women equality (Article 14), no discrimination by the State (Article 15(1)), equality of opportunity (Article 16), equal pay for equal work (Article 39(d)), and Article 42. The Indian Judicial System is attempting its best to deliver justice and equality. Tracing the history of women’s law in the country, 1975 stood out as the turning point for women in Indian jurisdiction. This was one remarkable year that witnessed the submission of a report on the status of women authored by a Committee on the Status of Women in India. The committee kept in mind the important things were to examine various legal, constitutional, and administrative provisions that impacted the social status of women and how these provisions have turned out to be in the past two decades. In 1976, to recognize the International Year of Women, the Equal Remuneration Act was passed, which gave women the right to equal pay for equal work. When we look back at the Report of the Committee today, we can see how most of their suggestions have been followed four decades down the lane, and much of its recommendations still hold. Yet, a lot more needs to be done.

The Supreme Court of India is entrusted to be the Custodian of the Constitution of India. The judicial force is perceived as a component of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. It is the judicial obligation of the Court to safeguard the rights of individuals guaranteed by the Constitution. Throughout the course of history, the judiciary has taken many crucial decisions to safeguard women’s rights in the country. Women have been provided with many legal and constitutional rights in the country. Several landmark judgments have changed the concept of law and women in India. Kofi Annan once said that “There is no tool more effective than the empowerment of women for the development of a country.” The Supreme Court of India has often opined that empowering women is a required course to the country’s advancement and cannot be overlooked.

There are various facets of the status of women in India. In a report by the World Bank, it has come to notice that around 48.03% of the Indian population comprises females. Considering that half of India’s population, i.e., women, are stifled, it seems wishful that the status of women in India will change dramatically in the coming times. Even though there is a colossal contrast between the way women were seen a century ago in the country and today, the violations against women are still very much in existence. While women enjoy legal and constitutional protection, it has a restrictive scope when the traditional norms prevail. It is vital for India to not only have provisions for equality but also implement them. Susan B. Anthony, in her article, The Status of Women, Past, Present, and Future said “The day will come when men will recognize women as his peers, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.”

By Prerna Deep