Transformation of Women in India: A Socio-Legal Study

As Indian society advances and evolves, it is evident that traditional gender roles and expectations can no longer remain the norm. We look at how the conversation around gender equality and status of women in India continue to change with the times.

How independent are women in independent India? Are we able to steer the direction of our lives as freely and unencumbered as men? Have our inspirations, and the freedoms to translate them into reality, grown in the past 75 years? The answer to the questions is not obvious as statics or hot-takes on papers, reports or social media make them seem. How do we understand ‘Independence’ when our lives are fundamentally interdependent? God has sent women and men separately, so how can we humans be able to remove this difference. What does a woman want? Women want education, respect and equality in the society from their counterparts.

The condition of women was not always the same; its status kept hanging according to the changes in the society. We talk about civilization, but where is this civilization that women should not be given equal status? It’s true that the worth of a civilization can be judged by the place given to women in the society. By this measure, we studied the position of women from ancient times till today. According to studies, women enjoyed equal status and rights during the early Vedic period. However, later (approximately 500BC), the status of women began to decline with the Smritis especially Manusmriti. Despite several evil practices prevalent in Medieval Period that most of the women’s of that period took active part in politics. During Britishers Indian society indulged in many social evil practices like sati, infanticide, child marriage etc. Britishers changed the social and economic structure of our society, which brought a positive attitude towards women. Since then there were waves of law to protect and promote women welfare in all spheres of life. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the position of women from ancient to modern era with reference to socio-legal perspective.