Women's rights and gender equality issues in India

Abstract

Women constitute half of humanity and probably the better half. In the absence of gender equality, humanity is depriving itself of a substantial strength from fifty percent of its constituents. It has been the case almost from the beginnings of civilized society that women were cast in specifically discriminatory roles and thus have never been empowered to contribute their best to the advancement of the society. Gender inequalities hinder development Social hierarchies are embedded in social institutions which are designed to perpetuate them through control over the environment and the socio-economic resources. Equality of participation and control are the necessary pre-requisites towards gender equality. There are many special challenges still faced by the women, but progress has been made when gender equality is viewed over the longer term. Much more can be accomplished, however, when women‘s contributions are valued by society as a whole, when they have a more prominent role in decision-making, and when women and men work in partnership to achieve these aims. In this context, the paper attempts to highlight the gender inequalities and identify the recent trends in women‘s social and economic development in India. The paper will be based on secondary sources of data.