Women in Decision-Making Positions

Whether it is a developed country or a developing one like India, women everywhere are struggling to break the shackles of the patriarchal society-that has divided the sphere of action into private and public. Women who have been generally acted upon as objects of development plans or policies must become initiators of change. This however is possible only if women are empowered in all spheres of life, foremost among these being the decision making process. In the context of India, this becomes even more important, in the context of declining sex ratio, increasing violence and crimes against women and their marginalized status in employment, education and health sectors. This study is an attempt to trace the degree of representation that women in India have enjoyed at the higher levels of legislature, executive and judiciary-the three institutions that are considered the main pillars of our democracy which are involved in taking major policy decisions affecting the lives of men and women alike.