WOMEN

· economically exploited, discriminated, socially subjugated and politically rendered a powerless group in the society.

· Art 14
· Art 15(3):- state shall make special provision for women and children
· Art 39- equal pay for equal work - Randhir Singh Vs Union of india- SC said Equal pay can also be enforced through Art 32
· Art 40 - reservation in PRIS/ULBS
· Art 42- provide free pregnancy care and delivery

· Every third women in india is malnourished
· 34% of all women are married under age

· Issues:- LFPR, Wage disparity, Sexual Harassment, d CSR, MMR, Teenage pregnancy, surrogacy, domestic violence, education
· WEF- Global Gender Gap Index- India's Ranking has been improved from 108 to 87 - IT industry - gender gap of 34%
· IMF - India one of lowest FLPP among developing economies - 20%
· Male dominated Sectors, Caste Factor, Patriarchal mindset, Safety issue, Preferance to male, Empee, Career break to parenthood, Dual responsibility, Lack of opportunity in male dominated sectors, Glass ceiling effect
Solution:-
· Bridging gender gap in secondary and tertiary schools, Skill training, Financial inclusion, Promoting gender diversity policies and practices in private sector, Strengthen legal framework, Changing societal attitude and beliefs


 Sexual harrasement at workplace:-
Vishakha Guidelines Sexual harrasement at workplace Act 2013- codifies to be what to be done by the employer
Issues
· 70% women does not report due to fear of repurcussions
· Internal complaint committee not constituted -Mandatory for MNCs
· Act does not prescribe who is in charge of ensuring that work place comply to that act

WF
· ICC constituion
· Complaints of sexual harrasement to get a standardised training module program
· MoWCD  She-BOX Scheme for online complaints
· Monthly reporting  WCD on no of complaints received, pending and action taken.

Declining Child Sex Ratio/Sex Ratio/MMR:-

CSR- Census-2011-917 as compared to earlier 927
Reasons:-

· Death during the child birth- under weight, malnourished, etc
· Female infanticide, foeticide
· Lack of care during early childhood
· Early marriage, Frequent Pregnancy
· X institutional delivery
· X Adequate Medical Care

Solution SC guidelines:-
· Centralised database for all state and UT
· Fast track court
· Awarness campaign
· Effective implementation of PCPNDT Act
· crackdown on all search engines

TEENAGE PREGNANCY:-
34 % of all women are married underage
Reasons:-
· Lack of Awarness
· Illiteracy
· Lack of Decision making power
· Patriarchal mindset

SURROGACY:-
Issues involved:-
· Surrogate exploitation in terms of health, financial and post natal care
· Abandonment of babies in case of born with disability
· Improper contracts
· Commercialisation and Commidification- CII Data $2.3Bn Industry
· Ethical issues:-
§ Some considered it as moral duty to alleviate the Curse of Infertility
§ Depersonalization of Reproduction:- Womb on hire
§ Child socialization problem as he will know of his/her origin
Proposals of Surrogacy Bill:-
o Only Altruistic Surrogacy (No financial gain) allowed
o Surrogate should be married and close relative
o 5 years after legal marriage
o One surrogate in life only- to reduce the chance of commercialisation
o National surrogacy board
o Issues with the bill:
· Pushes underground market
· Livelihood issues of current Womb
· Recently parliamentry committee also sighted flaws



Welfare Schemes:-
S.no. Scheme Remarks
1 Janani Suraksha Yojana Promotion of institutional deliveries.
2 Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (jssk) Absolutely free and no expense delivery including caesarean section
3 Mother and Child Protection Card To monitor service delivery for mothers and children
4 Mother and Child Tracking System To ensure antenatal, intra-natal and postnatal care along with immunization services.
5 Maternal Death Reviews (MDR) To take corrective action at a level to improve the obstetric care quality.
6 MAtriva sahyog Yozna Pregnant women
7 MAA(Mother Absolute Affection Program)



CRIME AGAINST WOMEN:-(physical and Mental)

As per NCRB data:-
· Crime against women doubled in last 10 years
· Bihar and UP topped the list
· 95% offender is known to the victim
· Domestic Violence has highest share in crime against women


Recent changes in domestic Violence Act:-
· Definition of Domestic Violence widened- include actual abuse or threat of abuse
· Widened scope of Term Women- live in partners, wives, sisters, widows, mothers, single women, etc.
· It provides for appointment of protection officers and NGO to provide assistance to women.
· Financial Schemes
· Mahila E Haat
· Sukanya Samridhi scheme-to secure the financial future of girl child


o Women and Law:-
· institution of polygamy:-as per committee of Status of Women in India, full equality of sexes can hardly be possible in a legal system which permits polygamy and a social system tolerates it.
· Child marriage
· Dowry- still glorification of event is being made
· Divorce- Social stigma is attached to woman who is considered to be the culprit
· Property and inheritance-Hindu Succession act was introduced inplace of dayabhaga and mitakshara school but discrimination between unmarried, married and widow. In Muslims also, daughter gets one third
· Work Remuneration and maternity benefits- not applicanle to the unorganised sector
· Domestic Violence
· Indecent representation of women- Commodification of women
· Traffiking of women and girl child
Various acts passed:-
· PCPNDT Act
· The Protection Of Child Marriage Act, 2006
· Equal remuneration act
· Indecent representation of women(Prohibition) Act, 1986
· Marriage restraint act, 1956
· Dowry prohibition act
· The Protection Of Women From Domestic Violence Act, 2005
· The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act,2013- enacted to make the punishment more stringent for offences like rape and have broadened the definition of sexual assault and harassment.
· Nirbhaya Fund- women’s safety and prevention, protection and rehabilitation under which one stop centres are giving medical aid, police assistance, legal and psycho-social counseling and temporary shelter to women affected by violence.
· To increase the visibility of women in the police force, 33% reservation has been made for women in the police force, in UTs and some states
· Ujjwala Scheme- to combat trafficking of Women.

Schemes/Acts Remarks
Right to Education (RTE) act,2009 to make free and compulsory elementary education a right for all children
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) To universalize access to education at primary level and upper primary level
Padhe Bharat, Badhe Bharat A sub-programme to SSA, it ensures that the learning levels of class I and II students in reading, writing and mathematics is at par with the world.
Vidyanjali (school volunteer programme) Under SSA, to enhance community and private sectorinvolvement in govt. run elementary schools across the country.
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan(RMSA) To enhance access to secondary education for all children 14-18 years and to improve the quality of education.
Udaan (by CBSE) for girl students mentoring and scholarship scheme to enhance the enrolment ratio in engineering college and teaching-learning of science and mathematics at senior secondary level by providing free online resources for all.
Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan(RUSA) For the holistic development of higher education.
Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram A single window To provide educational loans for the students seeking higher education. (launching of a web-based portal named vidya lakshmi



o Some basic impediments in the empowerment of women:-
· Patriarchal mindset
· Sexual division of labour
· The way they are perceived-They must not be treated only as objects of welfare but needed to be treated as those who are contributing to the economy
· Dual responsibility
· Their work remain unrecognised
· Issue of entitlement-over food, sexuality, inheritance, power in family and society, work, etc (entitlement- socially sanctioned right to have or do something, which otherwise is their official right
o Various judicial cases:-
· Mohd. Habib vs. State, 1989, the Delhi High Court allowed a rapist to go scot-free merely because there were no marks of injury on his private parts- which the High Court presumed was an indication of no resistance. The most important facts such as the age of the victim(being seven years) and that the medical report and the bite marks on her body were not considered by the High Court

· State Of Rajasthan And Others versus Smt. Bhanwari Devi, wherein a judge remarked that the victim could not have been raped since she was a dalit while the accused hailed from an upper caste- who would not stoop to sexual relations with a dalit

· Vishaka and others Vs State Of Rajasthan
· first time sexual harassment had been explicitly-legally defined as an unwelcome sexual gesture or behavior whether directly or indirectly as :- Sexually colored remarks; Physical contact and advances; Showing pornography; A demand for sexual request and favors; Any other unwelcome physical, verbal/non-verbal conduct being sexual in nature.
·

ICC 50% of the companies had untrained staff in the ICC- FICCi

o Govt initiative to curb growing violence against women

· Panic button and GPS (Global Positioning System) – By using these in mobile phones, it is easy to send distress signal and identify current location.
· 181 - Universal Women Helpline Number which is available for 24 × 7 time.
· Himmat App - To raise the SOS alert. To know the real time victim’s location which can be captured by nearby police station.
· 2 Mahila Battalions - Replacement of 2 male battalions by female battalions in CRPF for the year 2015-16 and 2016-17.
· Ladies special trains and ladies compartments – security squads were provided for these.
· Security Helpline 182 and Twitter account – Activated to provide assistance during the travelling in train.
· CCTV Surveillance cameras - To be installed in main trains having more travellers. e.g. – Amritsar-Delhi-Shann-e-Punjab E xpress.
· Middle Bay in trains reserved for women.
· Reservation Quota – Has been increased for women and senior citizens in sleeper class trains.
· SAKHI – One Stop Centre Scheme – This scheme will support women affected from violence and will offer Medical and Police assistance, Legal Aid and Shelters.

o Various Women Organisations:-women organisation is an ongoing process-initially it started as a humanitarian movement and later it get converted to right based movement
· SEWA:- by Ela bhatt in Ahmedabad
· To provide skill and technical aid to women engaged in unorganised sector
· Ex-lijjat papad
· Working Women Forum by Jaya Arunachalam @ Chennai
· To eradicate poverty among women in the unorganised sector
· Provide micro credit
· Shramik mahila sanhathan in MH – for preventing women discrimation in wages,etc.
· POW(progressive organisation of women)- first feminist group in AP stressed on gender based oppression
National Commision of Women:-
· Set up as a statutory body under National Commision of Women act,  1980 on the recommendation of Committee of Status of Women in India.
· Investigate all women related matters
· Take up cases of violation of provisions of constitution and other laws relating to women
· Look complaints and grievances relating to deprivation of women’s right, non implementation of law, non compliance of policy decisions
· Has power of civil courts
· Lay its report to CG who further lay before Parliamnent.

Ways forward for Women Empowerment:-
· Need to put women in centre of economic reform
· Investment in soft infrastructure-providing support services to the enabling women in the poorest among the poorest.
· Holistic social security cover
· Build the grassroot self employed women capacity to enter mainstream markets local an global


 Conclusion:-
· India has the largest population of working women in the world but mostly pink collar jobs
· Modern woman can be called as a SUPER WOMAN due to jaggling many fronts single handadly
· Need a fight for right in progress- changing the women’s stature and position from SATI TO MARI KOM

Role of women and women's organization,

• House maid
• Elite movement
• 5 star

• Anti-male approach
• Lack of consistency
• Unorganized
• Financial constraints
• Narrow base
• Urban centric - prestige, glamour , rich , educate
• Curative not preventive
• Corruption