State Initiatives for Women Empowerment in India: A Critical Overview

Gender is a concept that refers to socially constructed roles, behavior, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate and ascribes to men and women. Within the framework of a democratic polity, our laws, development policies, Plans and programmes have aimed at women's advancement in different spheres. From the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974–78) onwards has been a marked shift in the approach to women's issues from welfare to development. However, there still exists a wide gap between the goals enunciated in the Constitution, legislation, policies, plans, programmes, and related mechanisms on the one hand and the situational reality of the status of women in India, on the other. There is an urgent need for performing holistic development for women.