LEGISLATION RELATED TO WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND GENDER EQUITY

Abstract

Women in ancient India enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of life. Rigvedic verses suggest that women married at a mature age and were probably free to select their own husbands. women enjoyed equal status and rights during the early Vedic period. However, in approximately 500 B.C., the status of women began to decline, although Jainism and Buddhism allowed women to be admitted to religious orders, by and large women in India faced confinement and restrictions. With the onset of feudal age the status of women became worse, the practice of child marriages is believed to have started around the sixth century, though the Bhakti movements tried to restore women's status and questioned certain forms of oppression, yet traditions such as Sati, Jauhar, Devadasi etc were some of the practices which led to women loosening their self-identity. Though, some instances of these practices are still found in remote parts of India. The purdah is still practiced by Indian women in some communities. Child marriage remains common in rural areas, although it is illegal under current Indian law yet we can safely say thanks to the social reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Jyotirao Phule, who fought for the betterment of women, the status of women in the society has witnessed a sea change.  

In 1917, the first women's delegation met the Secretary of State of British India, to demand women's political rights, supported by the Indian National Congress. The All India Women's Education Conference was held in Pune in 1927, it became a major organization in the movement for social change. In 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, stipulating fourteen as the minimum age of marriage for a girl.