Question

Mention the different aspects of life in which women are discriminated against or disadvantaged in India.

Answer 1

Hint: Most of such gender-based discrimination stems from patriarchy and the belief that women should be under the subjection of men. It is stated in the Manusmriti that “as daughters women should obey their fathers, as wives obey their husbands, and as widows obey their sons”. As the women’s movement gained ground in the 1900s, they were soon given suffrage rights in most countries. After independence, the Indian Constitution also gave fundamental rights to all citizens irrespective of their gender. However, discrimination against women continues

Complete Step by Step answer: One of the biggest causes of such discrimination is personal laws which lie outside the ambit of Article 13 and is not considered law in force but usually attributed to a divine source. In Hindu law, women were only given property rights as recently as 1956 when the Hindu Succession Act was passed. Dowry related crimes are still prevalent in India even after the enactment of the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961. Another social pathology that is rampant is female infanticide/foeticide which emerges from the culture of “son preference" in society. Due to its high prevalence, domestic violence is probably the most difficult crime to avoid in India because of the number of cases that occur and the majority that remain unreported. Trafficking, rape and other sexual violence crimes are still widespread with an average of 88 rapes taking place daily in India according to the 2019 annual report of the National Crime Reports Bureau. Other than these, there is a widening gap for pay for equal work on the basis of gender. Women do not receive equal representation to their male counterparts in almost all fields, professional, academic or otherwise and fewer women hold positions of power. The female literacy rate in India also remains substantially less than men.

Note: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, serves as an international bill of rights for women.