All human rights are women’s rights. The United Nations Organisation’s International Covenant on civil and political rights, International Covenant on social, economic and cultural rights, Universal Declaration of human rights 1948, UN Convention on Complete Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW), several fundamental rights enshrined in Indian Constitution from articles 14 to 32 and directive principles of state policy from articles 36 to 51 describes the human rights of women. There are several legislative provisions and social security laws are also provides provisions for protection of human rights of women. The National Human Rights Commission constituted under the protection of human rights Act 1993 and National Commission’ for women are actively working for protecting the woman’s rights. The guidelines of supreme court of India in Vishakha case has to be followed for preventing sexual harassment of working women. The national policy for women and national mission for empowerment of women and national awards for eminent women working for protection of rights of women enables women empowerment and helps for protection of their human rights. The greatness of a civilization can be judged by the place given to women in the society. One of several factors that justify the greatness of India's ancient culture is the honorable place granted to women. The foreign influence on India caused considerable deterioration in the status of women. They were deprived of their rights of equality with men. Raja Ram Mohan Roy started a movement against this inequality and subjugation. The contact of Indian culture with that of the British also brought improvement in the status of women. The third factor in the revival of women's position was the influence of Mahatma Gandhi who induced women to participate in the Indian Freedom Struggle. The development of women is of paramount importance and sets the pace for overall development. There is a need for addressing gaps in state action for women on promoting inter-Ministerial and Inter Sector Convergence to create gender equitable and women centered policies and programmes. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has nodal responsibility to promote the human rights and concerns of women. We should have a vision of empowering women with human dignity and contributing as equal partners in development in an environment free from violence and discrimination. The Government and society should promote social, economic and political empowerment of women through policies, programmes and create awareness about their rights and facilitate institutional and legislative support for enabling them to realise their human rights and develop their full potential of human personality. Several social reformers like Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra VidyaSagar, Narayan Guru and Periyar E.V. Ramasamy have fought for the human rights of women especially Right to Education, Right to Equality etc and removal of social evils like Abolition of Child Marriages, Sati and promotion of widow remarriages. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution and First Law Minister of independent India has introduced Hindu Code Bill in Parliament for liberating women from traditions and providing equal human rights for empowering them. Education, health employment and political power will empower the women and helps of protection of their human rights. 8thMarch is being observed as International Women’s Day every year across the globe.
According to government reports 2 million foetuses are aborted each year for reason none other than they happen to be females. Census 2001 shows that during the 1991- 2001 decade the overall sex ratio increased from 927 per 1,000 to 933 per 1,000. But during the same decade the child sex ratio (0-6 years) dropped from 945 to 927, while the sex ratio in the seven plus age group increased from 923 to 935. The problem of declining sex ratio cannot be viewed only in terms of numbers. Studies should be conducted to look at the reasons behind the decision to abort and neglect baby girls. Some of the studies shows that juvenile sex ration (0-6 years) has been dropped from 945 (1991 census) to 896 (2001 census). This juvenile sex- ratio (0-6 years) is the most realistic indicator of trends in female foeticide and continuing discrimination against the girl child. The reasons behind the mistreatment of girls crosses the spectrum of Indian region, economic classes and castes and are due to a complex mix of economic social and cultural factors. Declining sex ratio is the reflection of the intrinsic flow in our social system, which has to be taken into consideration and addressed. There is an urgent need to take measures to curb this decline in sex ratio. In context to theeducational development of women in India, they have achieved far less education when compared to men. As per the Census report 2001, the literacy rate of women is 54.16 per cent and that of men is 65.38 per cent. There has been a sincere effort to improve the educational attainment of women by both government and voluntary organizations. The changes in the policies and infrastructural supports on primary, secondary and higher education reflect the initiatives of the Government of India towards women education. From aneconomist point of view, gender discrimination severely limit expansion and utilization of human capabilities in women and it has critical implications for economic growth. It is assumed that the status of women and discrimination against them are inversely related and therefore measuring women’s status is equivalent to measuring gender discrimination.
Constitutional Rights
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. India also ratified the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1993. Several provisions are provided in Indian Constitution for upliftment of women like Equality before law for women (Article 14), 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)), the State has to make any special provision in favour of women and children (Article 15 (3)), Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State (Article 16), Prohibition of traffic in human beings, beggar and other similar forms of forced labour, 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)), 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), the State has to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief (Article 42), 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), the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people (Article 47), 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)).
Human Rights
Human Rights are indivisible, inalienable and universal. The Human Rights includes Right to life, Right to equality, right to freedom of speech and expression, human dignity, right against discrimination, liberty, equality and right to safe environment etc. India is a signatory to Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights and UN Convention on Complete Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. All these UN Human Rights Conventions have provided equal human rights to women. “Human rights represent the rights of all human beings of the sex, men and women. Both men and women have equal access to these rights. No discrimination is allowed or imposed in the exercise of these rights. It is a fact of history that women have been denied equal rights for centuries. The “philosophy of human rights” became popular only during the second half of the 20th century and the issue of “gender equality” and “equal rights” for women assumed importance only after 1970′s. India which joined the UNO after its independence gave much importance to the human rights by incorporating many of these in its constitution. India which adopted a Constitution of its own in 1949 contains several Articles mandating equality and non-discrimination on the ground of sex. Indian Parliament enacted protection of Human Rights Act 1993 and on the basis of this legislation National Human Rights Commission was established for protection of Human Rights. Women can also send complaints to NHRC when their constitutional, legal and human rights are violated.
Legislative Provisions
The State has enacted various legislative measures intended to ensure equal rights, to counter social discrimination and various forms of violence, atrocities and crimes against women to provide support services especially to working women. Although women may be victims of any of the crimes such as 'Murder', 'Robbery', 'Cheating' Child Marriages, Sati and forced prostitution and human trafficking etc. The crimes, which are directed specifically against women, are characterized as 'Crime against Women'. These are broadly classified under two categories. The crimes identified under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are Rape (Sec. 376 IPC), Kidnapping and Abduction for different purposes (Sec. 363-373), Homicide for Dowry, Dowry Deaths or their attempts (Sec. 302/304-B IPC), Torture, both mental and physical (Sec. 498-A IPC), Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC), Sexual Harassment (Sec. 509 IPC), Importation of girls (up to 21 years of age). The second category crimes are identified under the Special Laws. The Supreme Court of India is a great champion of rights of women. The Apex court has given specific guidelines for protection from Sexual Harassment of working women in Vishakha vs State of Rajasthan.
Indian Parliament enacted several legislations on women for protection of their rights in tune with the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Indian Constitution and United Nations Human Rights Conventions. The legislations includes the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, the Family Courts Act, 1954, the Special Marriage Act, 1954 the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 with amendment in 2005, Hindu adoption and Maintenance Act 1955 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (Amended in 1995), Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1976, the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983, the Factories (Amendment) Act, 1986, Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment Act.
Family courts are established to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, such as custody of children. In common-law jurisdictions "family courts" are statutory creations primarily dealing with equitable matters devolved from a court of inherent jurisdiction, such as a superior court. The Family Courts Act 1987 was enacted on 14 September 1987 to provide for setting up of the family courts with a view to promoting conciliation and to secure speedy settlement of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs. The State Government after consultation with the High Court and by notification shall establish a Family Court for every area of the state consisting of a city or town whose population exceeds ten lakhs and for other areas in the state as it may deem necessary. Family courts are subordinate to the High Court, which has power to transfer the case from one family court to the other. The matters which are dealt in the Family Court in India are matrimonial relief which includes nullity of marriage, judicial separation, divorce, restitution of conjugal rights, declaration as to the validity of marriage and matrimonial status of the person, property of the spouses or any of them and declaration as to the legitimacy of any person, guardianship of a person or custody of any minor children, maintenance of wife including the proceedings under the Criminal Procedure Code.The Supreme Court of India in its several landmark judgments like Shah Bano case protected the rights of women.
Empowerment of Women
National Policy for Empowerment of Women: The National Policy for Empowerment of Women (NPEW) was formulated in 2001 as the blueprint for the future, with the expressive goal of bringing about the advancement, development and empowerment of women. The NPEW laid down detailed prescriptions to address discrimination against women, strengthen existing institutions which includes the legal system, provide better access to health care and other services, equal opportunities for women's participation in decision-making and mainstreaming gender concerns in the development process. The policies and programmes of the Government are directed towards achieving inclusive growth with special focus on women in line with the objective of the National Policy for Empowerment of Women. The Government introducedGender Budgeting in 2005-06 in order to ensure that policy commitments are backed by financial outlays and that the gender perspective is incorporated in all stages of a policy or a programme. The objectives of Gender Budgeting are for committing to initiatives with the objective of influencing and effecting a change in the Ministries’ policies, programmes in a way that could tackle gender imbalances, promote gender equality and development and ensure that public resources through the Ministries’ budgets are allocated and managed accordingly. The government also made all efforts to ensure a definite flow of funds to women was the introduction of a Women’s Component Plan (WCP) in the 9th Five Year Plan whereby all Ministries/Departments were directed to ensure at least 33 percent funds for women.
National Mission for Empowerment of Women: Government of India launched the National Mission for empowerment of women (NMEW) on International Women’s Day in 2010 with the aim to strengthen overall processes that promote all-round development of women. It has the mandate to strengthen the inter-sector convergence; facilitate the process of coordinating all the women’s welfare and socio-economic development programmes across ministries and departments. The Mission aims to provide a single window service for all programmes run by the Government for Women under aegis of various Central Ministries. The Mission has been named Mission Poorna Shakti, implying a vision for holistic empowerment of women. The Mission focussed on access to health, drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities for women, coverage of all girls especially those belonging to vulnerable groups in schools from primary to class 12th, higher and Professional education for girls, Skill development, Micro credit, vocational training, Entrepreneurship, Self-Help Groups development , Gender sensitization and dissemination of information and taking steps to prevent crimes against women and a safe environment for women.
National Commission for Women: The National Commission for Women was set up as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to review the Constitutional and Legal safeguards for women ; recommend remedial legislative measures ; facilitate redressal of grievances and to advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women. The Commission initiated various steps to improve the status of women and worked for their economic empowerment. It organises consultations, constituted expert committees on economic empowerment of women, conducts workshops and seminars for gender awareness and took up publicity campaign against female foeticide, violence against women, in order to generate awareness in the society against these social evils and human rights of women.
Women constitute almost half of the population of the world. Education for women is the best way to improve the health, nutrition and economic status of a household that constitute a micro unit of a nation economy. The lack of woman education can be an impediment to the country’s economic development. In India, women achieve far less education that of men. As per the Census report 2001, the literacy rate of women is 54.16 per cent and that of men is 65.38 per cent. There has been a sincere effort to improve the education attainment of women by both government and voluntary organizations. The changes in the policies and infrastructural supports on primary, secondary and higher education reflect the initiatives of the Government of India towards women education. The divergences in the literacy rates between sexes indicate the difference in the growth rate of literacy levels between males and females over a period of time. Another area of concern is to reduce the gap between the rural and urban female literacy. Though there has been a steady upward trend in both the rural and urban female literacy rates, it is observed that the rural female literacy is increasing much faster than that of urban.
In economics we often talk of discrimination which means denial of equality and human rights to women and the freedom to make decisions which affects their lives and results in widening disparities in the human capabilities and functionings associated between man and woman. The add gender discrimination severely limit expansion and utilization of human capabilities in women and it has critical implications for economic growth. It is assumed that the status of women and discrimination against them are inversely related and therefore measuring women’s status is equivalent to measuring gender discrimination. This issue, though, is receiving increasing academic and policy attention in the recent years, there is still a dearth of research in this area, particularly quantitative and empirical research. Until recently, it was assumed that development was gender-neutral – that both men and women could benefit equally from development, and that the benefits of developmental interventions spread evenly across society. The historical legacy of gender inequality existed in all societies across the world implies that there is no “level playing field”. Gender inequalities can also have instrumental impacts through creating constraints in the achievement of a number of development goals. For example, studies have shown that gender inequality in education and access to resources may hamper the process of reduction of child mortality and lowering of fertility, which in turn impacts the expansion of education for the next generation. Gender inequality also has a negative impact on economic growth. There is now overwhelming evidence that countries that adopt specific measures to protect women’s rights and increase their access to resources and schooling have less corruption and achieve faster economic growth than countries that do not.
There is a need for political empowerment of women Globally, women hold slightly less than 20 per cent of seats in Parliament. In Asia-Pacific region, just over 18 per cent of all members of national Parliaments are women. India is far below these countries with 11 per cent women in the Lok Sabha. With 60 women members of Parliament out of 545 (11 per cent), nationally, India’s Lower House ranks only 105th worldwide in this context. With 37 per cent of members at rural and district bodies, India has achieved a better gender balance at sub-national level. Not less than one-third 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)), 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)), Not less than one-third 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)) 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)). The 73rd and 74thConstitution Amendments provided reservations for women. The Bill for providing 33 percent reservation for women in legislatures is not yet enacted.
Media and Women
MAG Study (1994) revealed that there are now more women in the media workforce than they were twenty years ago. The decision making in these organizations remain overwhelmingly the domain of man. Senior decision makers with a gender sensitive perspective can use their persuasive power to empower others and change the image and status of women in print and electronic media organizations. As far as print media is concerned, late seventies and eighties in India witnessed the emergence of lot of women journalists. The choice of many educated women to take to this profession which was till recently considered a bastion of men is a sign of women of India joining the main stream decision making process in an important way. The last twenty years of print media is a story of women's participation in an area that focuses on the national agenda of great public interest. Communication researchers should take up studies on women's employment in various mass media. This may provide guidelines for bringing gender equality in the employment in mass media. It is true that women are lagging behind men in the media work force. At the same time, it is also a fact that there has been progress in this regard. There is more number of women employed now in media organizations and Government media of radio and Doordarshan in senior positions. Once they acquire positions of power in the media workforce, the task of improving women's images in media will become easier. There is a need for projecting the positive image of women in film media.
Awards
Government of India instituted five national awards which are to be called 'Stree Shakti Puraskar for recognition of achievements of individual women in the field of social development. These awards will be in the name of the eminent women personalities in the Indian history, who are famous for their personal courage and integrity like Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, Kanngi, Mata Jijabai, Rani Gaidenlou Zeliang and Rani Lakshmi Bai. The award will carry a cash prize of Rupees one lakh and a citation. These awards will be given to women who have triumphed over difficult circumstances and have fought for and established the rights of women in various fields. Also, women achievers who have worked in the areas of education, health, agriculture and rural industry, protection of forests and environment and those who have created awareness and consciousness on women's issues through arts and media would be recognized and awarded by the Government.
8th March is being observed as International Women’s Day every year across the globe.
dowry for their daughters or eliminating the daughters even before their birth. As a result, the advanced medical technology and sophisticated sex determination techniques (post-implantation cell free foetal DNA testing, ultrasound scans, amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling - CVS) are now being used or rather misused, to get rid of the girl child much before she comes to this world.
demographer of our country had raised an alarm regarding the“missing girls” and stressed on segregated analysis of demographic data for the under six. As per the Census-2011, the child sex ratio has dropped to 919 females/1000 males. Some of the developed states like Haryana, Punjab, NCT Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat lie far below the national average; and Delhi NCT has the lowest child sex ratio (871 girls/1,000 boys in 2011). Though, the overall sex ratio is showing a positive trend, the child sex ratio is registering a decline which is a matter of great concern. The decrease in female birth ratio is considered to be due to violent treatments meted out to the girl child at the time of birth.
