Women’s Constitutional Rights – A privilege

Introduction- In the words of Gloria Steinem "A gender-equal society would be one where the word 'gender' does not exist: where everyone can be themselves." The rights to women were given under the Indian constitution seventy years ago; still we find that women continue to remain a suppressed class. The point to be highlighted is that it took us 70 years to realize that women can hold commanding positions in the armed forces. The basic rights of women are violated by the patriarchal structure of the society and the cultural norms that are set up. Here in this paper we shall be discussing about the provisions for women under the Indian Constitution as well as in Indian Law and discuss as to what extent it has been implemented and accepted by the society. While discussing so the emphasis will also be laid upon the sociological aspect as to why women are not being treated as ‘equal’. Theme- The paper shall be based upon the concept of equal rights to women with proper implementation and acceptance. Objective- The objective of this paper is to describe what exactly the term “equal rights” and “equality” signify and also to present the provisions that are already present in our constitution but are not being implemented. It is also to bring out the problems that women face even though they have the rightful claim to it yet they are being deprived of it and being treated as equal still remains a privilege for the women even today. Research Methodology- The paper is mainly based on the information gathered through articles, newspapers, books and internet sources as well as examples seen and observed by the authors