India is a country of paradoxes. One of the largest democratic countries in the world and a huge population running in crores, the Indian society, patriarchal in composition, well defines the duties of women as daughter, wife, and mother but the same is coupled with very few rights enjoyed by them. With the passage of time, even in the modern era, women in India unfortunately continue to face uncountable issues at home and in the society since their youth.
The feminist strive for equal rights has been paved through legislation and provisions, be it the Suffragette movement and the right to vote, to employment rights, protection rights, property rights, or rights concerning divorce and marriage to child-care. However, although these rights exist on paper, the depth of the issue runs deeply into the patriarchal mindset of the many in the country. Innumerable kinds of wrongs are perpetuated against women, from their very birth. Various factors ranging from sociodemographic, cultural, lack of sufficient awareness regarding their rights, media, etc. play a role in this continued saga of women being treated as inferior, lacking the safety or basic rights they deserve, and being pulled down rather than being uplifted.
These days, it is not uncommon to have questions like; has our legal system sustained with social change? Do rights guarantee justice? Are citizenshipp rights gendered? In this light, the first half of this paper aims to study the kinds of violence committed against women, the factors behind the same and various prevention mechanisms that can be adopted in this regard. The second half deals with the various legal provisions and laws for women that we have in place and the loopholes in the legal system of India, followed by suggestions by the author and lastly, the conclusion.
