Law, Society, And The Struggle For Gender Justice: A Socio-Legal Inquiry
- IJLLR Journal
- 10 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Diksha Pallavi, B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), KCC Institute of Legal and Higher Education, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Harsh Raj, B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), Gitarattan International Business School, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), New Delhi
ABSTRACT
India's Constitution promises equality between the sexes in plain language, yet they lived reality for most women in the country still does not match that promise. This paper examines that gap and asks why it has not closed despite decades of legislative and judicial effort.
The central argument is that a law functions only as well as the society around it allows it to function. A carefully drafted statute can still fail in practice because of the custom, family pressure, or lack of court access underneath it remains untouched. Accordingly, this paper does not stop reading judgments and legislation alone. It examines a set of Indian court decisions on gender rights, some that advanced the law and some that expose its limits and reads these alongside sociological and feminist scholarship to explain a recurring pattern: a law that appears facially fair can still leave women, and other marginalized genders, worse off once it meets the realities of enforcement.
Caste, religion, and class complicate this picture further. Two women situated under the same statute can experience markedly different outcomes, and treating gender justice as a uniform experience obscures rather than explains that difference. This paper takes that variation seriously rather than smoothing it over.
None of this is an argument against legislative reform. Reform alone, however, has not closed the gap, and this paper considers what must accompany it: institutions that are held accountable for their failures, communities with sufficient legal literacy to exercise their rights, and courts that remain responsive to the people they serve. The paper's underlying aim is to look past what the law states and examine what the law achieves in practice, since that is where the substantive account of gender justice in India is found.
Keywords: Gender Justice; Socio-Legal Inquiry; Judicial Interpretation; Patriarchy; Intersectionality.
