Education for women in contemporary India

Research on women in India is not new. In fact, the debate on the status and conditions of women in the social reform movement and the nationalist movement has provided considerable impetus to the research on women. Social reformers, revivalists and also the liberals regarded education of women as an instrument for changing their subordinated status in the society. Thus the paper emphasizes upon several efforts which were made in the pre independent and the post independent period to provide education for women in India.

It then tries to explore the present scenario in the context of education for women. There has been a blending of academic research with action in various forums to influence public policy and public opinion in order to improve the status and conditions of women in the present times. The Towards Equality Report has pointed out that education has both reduced and widened the gender gap among different levels of the population.

Thus the paper brings to the forefront several debates and challenges confronting women's education in the contemporary times. It also raises few questions on the basis of some case studies in this direction. Finally, it proposes that we need to address the issues mentioned and find answers to the questions raised in the paper.