Women’s Empowerment in India

Women in India have played an important part in our social life and in our history. They have played this part in every branch of national activity from high learning to valour on the battlefield. But it is their unobtrusive work in the household, in the village or in the larger community that has moulded this nation. Today, we pass rapidly through various phases of transition. The rapid changes, however, have not uprooted us from our old foundations. The Indian woman, the majority that is, lives in her own time, in the rhythm of her own history which does not quite keep time with the clocks of the 21st century. This book traces the evolution of Indian women through the mists of history to the present efforts to empower them and give them their rightful place in society. Attempts in this direction have not been dramatic or aggressive but rather after the old Indian fashion of combining change with continuity. It was Gandhiji who brought a dramatic change among our women, when at his bidding they came out in large numbers from the shelter of their homes to take their part in the struggle for India’s freedom. Once the old shackles were removed, it was no longer possible to replace them in the same way. Attempts were no doubt made to go back, but they were bound to fail. This book brings much information, which will enlighten the reader’s mind and give him an idea of what our women have done and are doing. This book therefore presents a picture not only of the past but also of the changing status of women in present-day India.