Status of Women in India In previous times, the status of women in

India was inferior than men in the practical life. However, they had a higher status in scriptures. They are considered as the perfect home maker in the world. With their incomparable quality of calmness of their mind, they can easily handle even toughest situation. Indian women are completely devoted to their families. They’re preached in the names of Goddess Saraswati, Goddess Durga, Parvati & Goddess Kali.

• Their condition remains unchanged even during the modern times with only little changes. In India, women were never given any right of liberty & equality. Their condition becomes even worse when they gave birth to girls. Men treated them in a humiliated manner. They were not only permitted not to step outside their house but also abstained from being educated.

• They were also supposed to eat after their husbands or even sometimes to eat their husband’s leftovers.

Women Empowerment in India “ A Burning Issue”

You might be listening to news, reading newspaper or magazine, you would have gone through incidents and accidents with women in India. While any other article on women’s empowerment in India will take a look at our rich heritage and enlightened societies of the past where women were treated as equals But the TRUTH is that in the modern India, the woman has always been a second grade citizen, no matter what its esteemed leaders have said or done.

It is only in India that glaring and brutal gang rapes occur frequently in a state that was headed by a woman Chief Minister. Gender discrimination is the least of worries for women in India, known otherwise as the fourth most dangerous country in the world for women. Other instances of violence against women has an astonishing and grim variety to it – with acid throwing, domestic violence stemming out of dowry, rape, harassment and an assortment of others.

What is women empowerment?

In the simplest of words it is basically the creation of an environment where women can make independent decisions on their personal development as well as shine as equals in society.

Crime against Women

Dowry Death• Dowry deaths are deaths of young

women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry.

• Dowry death is widespread in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and some regions of Africa. Pakistan has the highest reported rates of dowry-related deaths of women in the world.

Female Foeticide

• Female foeticide is the act of aborting a foetus because it is female. This is a major social problem in India and has cultural connections with the dowry system that is ingrained in Indian culture.

• Ultra-sonography and Foetoscopy helps determine abnormalities in the foetus. But it is misused to find out sex of the foetus and abortion is done if it is a girl.

Acid Attack

An acid attack is a form of violent assault defined as the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, torture, or kill."Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims, usually at their faces, burning them, and damaging skin tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones.

Honor Killing

  Honour killing is a death that is awarded to a woman of the family for marrying against the parent’s wishes, marrying within the same gotra or outside one’s caste or marrying a cousin from a different caste.. We have had a tradition of honour killing. Both men and women are victims of honour killing, however, women tend to be the victim more often and it is common for younger brothers to commit the murder.

Eve Teasing

• Sexual harassment is bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favours. In most modern legal contexts, it is illegal. 

• In India it is termed "Eve teasing" and is described as: unwelcome sexual gesture or behaviour whether directly or indirectly as sexually coloured remarks.

REFORMS NEEDED

• In an effort to curb the problem of rape and other violent activities against women, the government formed a 3-member panel of legal experts to amend the laws. And this time, India’s capital city-Delhi, become the centre of focus. In fact, it has even been nicknamed ”rape capital of India”. Some of the measures that the government has put in place to tame these criminals include:

• Carrying out night patrols

• Thorough supervision and checks on public utilities such as the transport system, bus drivers and their assistants.

• Vehicle with tinted windows or curtains have also been banned

• Posting of photos of people convicted with such crimes on official government website to deter people who may want to commit such crimes.

• The Delhi government has also set up a committee that is responsible for the task of speeding up cases related to sexual assault against women.

Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994

•  It is an federal legislation enacted by the Parliament of India to stop female foeticides and arrest the declining sex ratio in India. The act banned prenatal sex determination.

• It focused on the prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female foeticide.

THE DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT 1961

In this Act, Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment of up to six months, a fine of up to Rs. 15000 or the amount of dowry (whichever is higher), or imprisonment up to 5 years. It replaced several pieces of anti-dowry legislation that had been enacted by various Indian states.

Legislation In India Against Acid Attack

India's top court has ruled that authorities must regulate the sale of acid. The Supreme Court's ruling on July 16, 2013 comes after an incident in which four sisters suffered severe burns after being attacked with acid by two men on a motorbike. An acid called "Tezaab", which is designed to clean rusted tools but is often used in the attacks can currently be bought across the counter. But the judges said the buyer of such acids should in future have to provide a photo identity card to any retailer when they make a purchase. The retailers must register the name and address of the buyer.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and

Redressal) Act, 2013

An Act to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD), is a social initiative designed to create awareness amongst men to instill gender equality and respect towards women. This is an initiative by Farhan Akhtar, Bling and JWT Digital. We understand that the change will not be immediate but we are more interested in it being long-term. 

National Commission for Women

The apex national level organization of India with the mandate of protecting and promoting the interests of women. 

Women's Reservation Bill Women's Reservation Bill or the The

Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, is a pending bill in India which proposes to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33 per cent of all seats in the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women. The seats to be reserved in rotation will be determined by draw of lots in such a way that a seat shall be reserved only once in three consecutive general elections.

Kalpana Chawla Kiran Bedi

Indira Gandhi

Indira Nooyi

Some Special Ladies

Meenakshi Vijayakumar

    On August 1 when she joined the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services -- TNFRS -- as a divisional fire officer, Meenakshi Vijayakumar became the first woman in India to do so.

Maria Teresa de Filippis

She’s an Italian former racing driver noted as being the first woman to race in Formula One. She participated in five World Championship Grands Prix, she won races in other series and is remembered as a pioneer in the sport.

Mumtaz Kazi

Nation’s Pride and all along a supportive daughter, sister, wife and a caring mother. This is Mumtaz Kazi, the first woman diesel engine driver in Asia. Limca Book of Records, in its 1995 edition, has acknowledged her great success. Adding another feather to her cap is that she is the first train driver who has the skill of driving both Electric and Diesel engine.

Yamuna Krishnan Yamuna Krishnan (born 25

May 1974) is a Reader in National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, Bangalore, India. She was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for science and technology, the highest science award in India, for the year 2013 in chemical science category.

Malala Yousafzai

As a young girl, Malala Yousafzai defied the Taliban in Pakistan and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived.

SAVE THE GIRLS AND EDUCATE THEM!

What would our country be like without women and girls? Who will take care of the family, carry generations forward and safeguard our culture? Real shame on Indians-if even being literate doesn't help.We surely are hypocrites. On the one hand  we  worship  goddess  Laxmi  and Parvati while on  the other we exploit and  humiliate  girls  by  keeping  them away from education.

‘If you educate a man you educate an individual .If you

educate a women ,you educate a NATION.’

Conclusion

•  It requires the attitudinal change of the husband, other family members and society as a whole to the women.

• The first and foremost priority should be given to the education of women , which is the grassroot problem.

A woman brought you in this world, so you have no

right to disrespect

one!

A Sister is like the pride of our life.

A Daughter is the best Blessing from god.

A mother is the first true God who meet on earth.

RESPECT A WOMAN!She is the smile of your life!