Women's Rights and Legislative Reforms: An Overview

Extract

The Indian Constitution with its mandate of equality (Art. 14), non-discrimination on the basis of sex (Art. 15) positive discrimination in favor of women (or affirmative action) (Art. 15(3)) equality and non-discrimination in employment and service conditions (Art. 16), right to life and liberty (Art.21) is an important instrument for the protection of women in India. Although certain protective legislation was enacted in the first thirty years after the Constitution came into being, it is only during the last three decades that women's concerns were highlighted in the official discourse and in the public domain. One major contributory factor towards this change has been the Report of the Status of Committee for Women brought out in 1974 as the background country paper for the forthcoming United Nations Conference in 1975 – the International Year of the Women.