The rights of Indian women are better and different from women of other countries in many ways.
Women’s Rights in India: This is how women are working all over the world for the progress of women. Women are coming forward and are also doing a lot of work and are also earning names. India is also not behind in this. Today, daughters in the country are burying flags in every field. The monopoly of men is now almost finished. Many special rights have been given to women. Yes, even after these legal rights, there are problems in their implementation. More work is yet to be done in this direction. But these many special rights are completely different from women of other countries, it will not be appropriate to say. Many countries have equal target policies, but some measures in India take different forms due to their scope, time and applicable system.
Let us know about some major provisions in India on the pretext of Women’s Equality Day i.e. Women Equality Day and some major provisions in India and their economic social reference.
Reservation of women seats in panchayats and municipalities
The Constitution of India gives the right to gender equality. These rights have been found through Article 14 (equal), Article 15 (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender) and Article 16 (equal opportunity in jobs). Especially Article 15 (3) allows the government to make special provisions for women and children. It is considered a constitutional basis of positive discrimination.
Article 39 also has given attention to the welfare and equal occasion of women. This means that different types of support options for women are legally valid.
After the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, reservation of seats for women in panchayats and municipalities in India became mandatory. It is considered one of the largest scale reservation projects for women in representation at the level of population in the world.
These reservations have played a decisive role in increasing political participation from the village level and ensuring the presence of women in local decision processes. Some other countries have also adopted women quota, but India’s universal and compulsory reservation at the local level is considered extraordinary on the scale of its huge population.
Improvement in property and succession
The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 also gave co -traditional rights to the daughter. This strengthened the rights of daughters in family property. This change was an important legal step against traditional practices. Many parts of the world also have similar succession, but its impact and social influence on India’s family law is special. Because here the scope of family property and Hindu private laws is quite large.
Rights of working women
- Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 has been provided with a provision of maternity leave for 26 weeks for working women in the formal sector. There is a system of giving maternity leave for different periods in different countries of the world.
- The responsibility of setting up the internal complaint plant has been fixed on employers for sexual harassment at the workplace under POSH Act under 2013. Such an institutional approach is also in many countries, but in India this law is designed to be widely implemented.
Security law
- There is a provision of specific civil protection and relief for domestic violence under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Many countries have domestic violence laws, but in India this bill ensures detailed relief, ban, shelter, counseling etc. in the domestic context.
- The definition and punishment of sexual offenses was very strict after the Nirbhaya case in 2012 under Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
- Stringent rules were made to prevent embryo gender selection under PCPNDT Act, 1994 (Pre-Concept and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act). This law was specifically designed to deal with the tendency of fetal sexual selection affecting the number of daughters in terms of India.
How are Indian provisions special?
In local rule, compulsory reservation for women and its prevalence can be counted in any major democracy in India in a unique initiative. The Hindu Succession Amendment brought a major change of financial rights in the traditional pattern. This is considered notable due to social influence. Laws and public health and social public interest schemes like PCPNDT are related to India’s special social population reference.
Boundaries and action needed
Following and implementation of laws is seen many times weak. That is why domestic violence, dowry, salary discrimination and female violence are still seen on a large scale. The need for improvement in this is being felt. The ratio of women in Parliament and Assembly is still very low. The bill of 33 percent reservation in Parliament could not be passed yet. There is still a lot to be done in education and working world.
Slightly, a little needs
There are many legal rights and policies for women in India that give them some additional means of security, political representation and economic opportunity. There is still a lot to be done in historical provisions like village level reservation, improvement in Hindu succession, maternity benefits, domestic violence conservation. It does not seem appropriate to call them special in global comparison. Because different countries have made many provisions for equal purpose at different times. The real challenge is to effectively implement these rights on the ground, change social perception and open the way of economic equality.
On the occasion of Womens Equality Day, it is important to remember that laws and policies are necessary but not enough. The real equality will come when the standard of living, safety and opportunities in the workplace and public life will start to look equal for women.
ALSO READ: Saudi-Targ left behind, the largest buyer of weapons became the country with only 4 crore population