2. As Our First Prime Minister Jawaharhal Nehru Once
Said “You can tell the condition of a nation by
looking at the status of its women”
•Our country India is the fastest developing economy in the world and is on the high roads to success
but the life of an average Indian female is still a constant struggle from the time she enters into this world to
the time of her parting.
•Our country India is the land of moral ethics, values and cultures where women are worshipped as
deities.
•We call our country India motherland and that is the respect we pay to the women here and we Indians
have evolved from a culture and heritage so rich.
•Scholars believe that in ancient India, women enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of life but
gradually Indian women's position in the society deteriorated during the medieval period which is also
considered to be the “dark ages for women” where historical malpractices such as sati, jauhar, purdah and
devadasis were also practiced. Under the british rule many a few notable Indians introduced reforms for the
betterment of women and this was when the change was initiated in the Indian society and as india
developed after the british rule changes in the field of science and technology, universalisation of education,
socio-political movements, modernisation and similar developments have changed the approach of people
towards women to a certain extent.
•These developments boosted the morale and self-confidence of women. As a result, Indian women now
feel that they too have their own individuality, personality, self-respect, talent, capacity and efficiency. They
now participate in all activities such as education, sports, politics, media, art & culture, service sectors
including science and technology.
•But what is frightening here is to see the same women being made fun of, ignored, discriminated,
mistreated and abused on the grounds of various selfish and unethical reasons.
3. MAJOR PROBLEMS FACED BY
INDIAN WOMEN
•Increasing Violence Against Women
•Gender Discrimination
•Female Foeticide
•Problems Of Female Education
•Child Marriage
•Problems relating to Emloyment and Unemployment
•Harrassment of Women at Work place
•Exploitation of Women in the Media
•Divorce and Desertion
•Problem of Dowry
•Decline in the Poilitical Participation of Women
4. CAUSES FOR THE PROBLEMS FACED BY
INDIAN WOMEN
Women have not achieved equality with men in any country.
Their place is considered at home and are controlled by man.
They play secondary role in decision making.
Their self worth is undermined and are often controlled and kept under
the watch of the family members and are further restrained by man
hindering their freedom.
Their self concept is based on mens perception and thinking.
The social institution socialises them to play a subordinate role.
Parenting, housekeeping and cooking is primarily a womans concern.
Women have less opoortunities than men.
They are treated as an object for sex, prostitution, human trafficking and
pornography which is inturn results in the increasing voilence and rape
cases against women.
There are unequal power relations between man and woman in both
family and society.
Another reason being “ desigination of male as the family head ” for all
social, economic and political purposes i.e in other words male
predomination.
Eventhough the constitution of India provides equal rights to both men
and women the social institutional framework , religion and patriarchy
deny women decision making rights, public life and sanction womens
subjugation to men.
Development programmes by the government often neglect the gender
issues and there is wide gender differential in achievements by both.
5. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
• Woman right from their infant stage to their old age get an unfair deal in the matters of health starting right from their
family. A healthy woman leads to a healthy society so the government should bring about proper reforms from the grass-
root level so that the plans are implemented properly without any mishaps or setbacks. Proper sanitation and healthcare
facilities should be made available to all without any gender bias in order to avoid gender bias, female feoticide and cases
of maternal deaths.
• The primary thought that “ Girls are not as clever as boys “ should be removed and every girl child must be given a proper
right to fuflfil her educational desires.
• Women should be given equal opportunities at the work place, the inbuilt conviction that women cannot handle
strenuous jobs and late shifts and that women are less efficient must be substituted. There must be an eqaul pay for
equal work done.
• Stringent laws are required in order to eradicate violence against women. Laws must be made in such a way that even
the victim must think twice before commiting a crime and a fear must be instilled every person who even thinks of
commting such a crime that he will be punished no matter what and that he cannot evade law. Fast track courts must be
provided and reforms have to made in the law system in order to avoid the sluggush nature of the court and waiting for
years for justice to happen “ justice delayed is jutice denied ”. A sense of security should be felt by the women of India
and the only way to achieve this is through proper policing(including moral) and a strong underlying governance.
• Media has an important role to play in strengthening women’s position. While pronouncing women’s weaknesses, it
must also emphasise their strength. It must awaken women from the slumber of centuries, inform them, mobilise them
and motivate them whenever required. It must give due publicity to women’s struggle for justice, equality and fairplay.
This will help them in regenerating power. The present role of the media in this regard is not that encouraging, but
disappointing.
• The current scenario requires women to be strong, independent and hardworking so that even in the cases where the
husband or family members abandon the girl and in cases of divorce women have an upper hand and remain on the safer
side. Proper laws must be made such that women can sustain themselves their children economically in cases of divorce.
• Women must be given equal inheritance rights to property of parents as that of the male members of the family.
• There must be active participation of women in poilitics so that the laws made to govern them can be framed by a proper
person in-charge who has full knowledge and know how about the harships amdthe issues that women are facing in the
present male dominant society..
• Women protection cells and womens rights associations should be in the reach of every indivudual who seeks help. Help
shpould be available to those who seek help and it should arrive on time at time whenever needed.
6. PROGRAMMES FOR WOMEN WELFARE
• Marraige legislation act
• Child Marriage restraint act, 1929
• Hindu marriage disabilties removal act, 1946
• Hindu marriage validity act, 1949
• Hindu marriage act, 1955
• Special marriage act, 1954
• Hindu widows remarraige act, 1856
• Dowry prohibition act, 1961
• Socio Economic program
• Development of women and children in rural areas (DWCRA)
• Indira Mahila Yojna
• Balika Samriddi Yojna
• Plan of action to combat sexual exploitation of women and children
• National commission for women
• National women fund
• Mahila Samriddi Yojna
• Rural womens development and employment project
7. Women Empowerment in India
Though women of India are not at par with her counterpart
in the Western world but she is getting there. India has
examples of commendable women from history who set an
example of extraordinary bravery, which even men might
not be able to show. Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi was the one
such woman. She was the one who put even British rulers to
shame with her extraordinary feats in battle. She fought for
her kingdom, which Lord Dalhousie, British Governor
General, had unlawfully annexed. She was in a true sense
the leader of uprising of 1857. There are certain men who
took the cause of women in India. There have been social
reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar, Swami Vivekanand, Swami Dayananda Saraswati
who have helped women gain a strong standing in society.
8. Women’s Empowerment Principles in
Brief
1. Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality.
2. Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support
human rights and nondiscrimination.
3. Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men
workers.
4. Promote education, training and professional development for
women.
5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing
practices that empower women.
6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy.
7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender
equality.
9. Women AchieversWith the help of these social reformes, the women of India slowly started recognizing their true
potential. She started questioning the rules laid down for her by the society. As a result, started
breaking barriers and earned a respectable position in the world. Today Indian women have
excelled in each and every field from social work to visiting space. There is no arena, which
remained unconquered by Indian women, be it politics, sports, entertainment, literature or
technology.
Politics : Women of India are highly active today in politics, right from Sarojini Naidu,
Vijaylakshami Pandit, Sucheta Kriplani who were the torchbearers for the women of India. The
most important name in the category of women politicians of recent times is Mrs Indira Gandhi.
She was the one who made world stop and notice the talent and potential of Indian women. She
was the first women Prime Minister of independent India. Today her daughter-in law Mrs Sonia
Gandhi is following her footsteps and is leading the Indian National Congress.
Sports : Indian women have achieved great laurels for the nation in every sport. Whether it is
cricket or hockey India have national women team for every game. Indian women cricket team
has won Asia Cup of 2004 and 2005 and made country proud. Some women sports icons of India
are:
P.T. Usha (Athletics), Sania Mirza (Tennis), Karnam Malleshwari (Weight lifting), Saina Nehwal
(Badminton), and Saina Nehwal (Badminton).
Art and Entertainment : This arena is full of Indian women. We have many names to
boast of like M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle as famous
singers. Madhu Bala, Rekha and Aishwarya Rai as Bollywood queens.
Literature : In past women of India used to write, but their work did not get the recognition.
Today they are getting their dues. Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Shobhaa De, Jhumpa
Lahiri are famous names in Indian literature.
Corporate Divas : Kiran Majumdar Shaw is the undisputed corporate queen of India. She is the
richest Indian woman. She is the MD of Biocon India. She is the wealthiest entrepreneur of India.
Naina Lal Kidwai, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of HSBC Securities and Capital Market.
Naina Lal Kidwai, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of HSBC Securities and Capital Market.
10. Social saints : Mother Teresa is one name which every Indian is familiar
with. She was the person who used to consider the smile of her
countrymen as her wealth. She worked for those whom even their own
families have deserted. She did not care whether she is in the company
of a person suffering from communicable disease or whether it is day or
night. Whenever or wherever one needed her she was present. She
opened various homes for these people most famous of which is 'Nirmal
Hriday". It is open to everyone irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
Universal Queens : Indian women have not just made their mark on
earth but they have engraved their name in the whole universe by flying
to space. Kalpana Chawla, who was the member of Colombia Space
Shuttle, which exploded on its way back, was the first Indian women
astronaut who visited space station. Following in her footsteps is
another woman of Indian origin, Sunita William, who has become the
second one to be the member of International Space Station crew.
Present Status of women in India
Some Bright Spots : India has the world's largest number of
professionally qualified women.
India has largest population of working women in the world.
India has a large number of female doctors, surgeons, scientists,
professors, than the United States
11. WHAT WE NEED TO DO ?
• Injustice begins at home
• Women upliftment should start at the root
level
• Social stigmas and taboos need to be dealt
with.
• Proper social and financial system needs to
be created
12. “ The origin of a child is a mother, a woman….she
shows a man what sharing, caring and loving is
all about. That is the essence of a woman. “
Dedicated to all all the wonderful and selfless
woman out there who play an important role in
shaping the society.
THANK YOU
