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“Understanding Legal Rights of Women and Women Empowerment” By Gunjan Bhagchandani

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“Understanding Legal Rights of Women and Women Empowerment” 

Author: Gunjan Bhagchandani, 7th  Semester,  Faculty of Law, Lucknow University

“It has been rightly said by a great scholar: “If u educate a man, u only educate a man but if you educate a woman, you educate a family”.

Women empowerment, referring to the empowerment of women in our present society, has become a significant topic of discussion in regards to development and economics. It can also point to approaches regarding other trivialized genders in a particular political or social context. There are still uneducated and poor town ladies fiscally reliant on their relatives, despite the fact that they are persevering and have their own particular capacities to be monetarily self-subordinate. Still, they won’t land any great position and no money-related backing to begin their own particular family unit businesses and additionally fare well.

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”
– Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

Biologically speaking also, it is a proven fact that female race is superior to male. Need for empowerment arose due to centuries of domination and discrimination done by men over women; women are suppressed. They are the target of varied types of violence and discriminatory practices done by men all over the world. India is no different. India is a complex country. We have, through centuries, developed various types of customs, traditions and practices. These customs and traditions, good as well as bad, have become a part of our society’s collective consciousness. We worship female goddesses; we also give great importance to our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives and other female relatives or friends. But at the same time, Indians are also famous for treating their women badly both inside and outside their homes.

Indian society consists of people belonging to almost all kinds of religious beliefs. In every religion women are given a special place and every religion teaches us to treat women with respect and dignity. But somehow the society has so developed that various types of ill practices, both physical and mental, against women have become a norm since ages. For instance, sati pratha, practice of dowry, parda pratha, female infanticide, wife burning, sexual violence, sexual harassment at work place, domestic violence and other varied kinds of discriminatory practices; all such acts consists of physical as well as mental element.

The reasons for such behavior against women are many but the most important one are the male superiority complex and patriarchal system of society. Though to eliminate these ill practices and discrimination against women various constitutional and legal rights are there but in reality there are a lot to be done. Several self-help groups and NGOs are working in this direction; also women themselves are breaking the societal barriers and achieving great heights in all dimensions: political, social and economic. But society as a whole has still not accepted women as being equal to men and crimes or abuses against women are still on the rise. For that to change, the society’s age-old deep-rooted mind set needs to be changed through social conditioning and sensitization programmes.

Therefore, the concept of women empowerment not only focuses on giving women strength and skills to rise above from their miserable situation but at the same time it also stresses on the need to educate men regarding women issues and inculcating a sense of respect and duty towards women as equals. And for this awaking problem it’s very important that woman should know about their legal rights and duties to achieve equal status in society.

The rights available to woman (ladies) in India can be classified into two categories, namely as constitutional rights and legal rights. The constitutional rights are those which are provided in the various provisions of the constitution. The legal rights, on the other hand, are those which are provided in the various laws (acts) of the Parliament and the State Legislatures.

Legal Rights to Women:

  1. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005)is a comprehensive legislation to protect women in India from all forms of domestic violence. It also covers women who have been/are in a relationship with the abuser and are subjected to violence of any kind—physical, sexual, mental, verbal or emotional.
  2. Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (1956)is the premier legislation for prevention of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. In other words, it prevents trafficking in women and girls for the purpose of prostitution as an organised means of living.
  3. Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act (1986)prohibits indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner.
  4. Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act (1987)provides for the more effective prevention of the commission of sati and its glorification on women.
  5. Dowry Prohibition Act (1961)prohibits the giving or taking of dowry at or before or any time after the marriage from women.
  6. Maternity Benefit Act (1961) regulates the employment of women in certain establishments for certain period before and after child-birth and provides for maternity benefit and certain other benefits.
  7. Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (1971)provides for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered medical practitioners on humanitarian and medical grounds.
  8. Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (1994)prohibits sex selection before or after conception and prevents the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex determination leading to female foeticide.
  9. Equal Remuneration Act (1976) provides for payment of equal remuneration to both men and women workers for same work or work of a similar nature. It also prevents discrimination on the ground of sex, against women in recruitment and service conditions.
  10. Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act (1939)grants a Muslim wife the right to seek the dissolution of her marriage.
  11. Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act (1986)protects the rights of Muslim women who have been divorced by or have obtained divorce from their husbands.
  12. Family Courts Act (1984) provides for the establishment of Family Courts for speedy settlement of family disputes.
  13. Indian Penal Code (1860)contains provisions to protect Indian women from dowry death, rape, kidnapping, cruelty and other offences.
  14. Code of Criminal Procedure (1973) has certain safeguards for women like obligation of a person to maintain his wife, arrest of woman by female police and so on.
  15. Indian Christian Marriage Act (1872)contain provisions relating to marriage and divorce among the Christian community.
  16. Legal Services Authorities Act (1987) provides for free legal services to Indian women.
  17. Hindu Marriage Act (1955)introduced monogamy and allowed divorce on certain specified grounds. It provided equal rights to Indian man and woman in respect of marriage and divorce.
  18. Hindu Succession Act (1956)recognizes the right of women to inherit parental property equally with men.
  19. Minimum Wages Act (1948) does not allow discrimination between male and female workers or different minimum wages for them.
  20. Mines Act (1952)and Factories Act (1948) prohibits the employment of women between 7 P.M. to 6 A.M. in mines and factories and provides for their safety and welfare.
  21. The following other legislation’s also contain certain rights and safeguards for women:
    1. Employees’ State Insurance Act (1948)
    2. Plantation Labour Act (1951)
    3. Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (1976)
    4. Legal Practitioners (Women) Act (1923)
    5. Indian Succession Act (1925)
    6. Indian Divorce Act (1869)
    7. Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act (1936)
    8. Special Marriage Act (1954)
    9. Foreign Marriage Act (1969)
    10. Indian Evidence Act (1872)
    11. Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (1956).
  22. National Commission for Women Act (1990)provided for the establishment of a National Commission for Women to study and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and legal rights and safeguards of women.
  23. Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal). Act (2013)provides protection to women from sexual harassment at all workplaces both in public and private sector, whether organised or unorganized.

THEREFORE THE KNOWLEDGE OF THESE LEGAL RIGHTS TO EVERY WOMAN OF OUR NATION WILL MAKE HER MORE POWERFUL AND WISDOM AND THIS WILL LED TO WOMEN EMPOWERNMENT ULTIMATELY RESULTING IN NATION DEVELOPMENT.

“A woman is like a tea bag—you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

 

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Disclaimer:

This Article was prepared or accomplished by Gunjan Bhagchandani in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of the LawOF.in

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