Women and the Rule of Law

Almost universally it is claimed that all human beings (i.e. men and women) are equal. Many new coinages like ‘Chairperson’, ‘feminism’, ‘women empowerment’, ‘women emancipation’ etc., came in vogue. Gender-discrimination is claimed to be prohibited at all spheres in all societies. Indians boast of high status of women at equal (sometimes superior) footing in yore days. But these are all tall talks. Women are still considered and treated as inferior to men in all walks of life. Statutory provisions were formulated and enacted to safeguard the rights of weaker people (i.e. women and dalits in India). Despite all these safeguards, the women in India continue to suffer, due to lack of awareness of their rights, illiteracy and oppressive practices and customs. The resultant consequences are many e.g., a constant fall in the sex ration, high infant mortality rate, low literacy rate, high dropout of girls from schools, low wage rates etc. To uphold the Constitutional mandate, the State has enacted various legislative measures intended to more equal rights, to counter social discrimination and various forms of violence and atrocities and to provide support services especially to working women. The present book is designed to highlight women’s situation in India in the light of legal framework. Though things and issues addressed here are not new and said once and again yet we have tried to bring relevant issues together. To make the book comprehensive, expressions of different scholars on women are reproduced. Cases are cited wherever feasible alongwith comments from legal experts. Besides this some documents are reproduced for wider reference use.