Subjugation To Empowerment: A Legal Trajectory Of Women's Safety And Justice In India
- IJLLR Journal
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Piyusha Pradhan, Advocate, Odisha, India Simran Sahoo, Ph.D. Scholar, KIIT School of Law
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the continued status of women in India within the context of the overall cultural climate that reveres women, including the worship of goddesses as well as the national icon Bharat Mata, but at the same time considers the long-term trends of oppression and subordination of women. In particular, the paper analyses the development of the position of women from being mere victims to the people granted rights via legal instruments and government policy. Even though the advancements made in the area of the rights of Indian women cannot be called negligible, much still remains to be done in semi-urban settings. At the same time, the paper attempts to provide the necessary contextualization for the existing gaps and to discuss their causes.
In order to find out about possible breaches of women's rights in India, this study applies both doctrinal and empirical methodologies. Thus, statutes and case law as well as academic sources dealing with the topic will be analysed; also, surveys and ethnographic studies will be conducted to understand women's legal consciousness and problems with the enforcement of their rights.
The findings show that access to health care is restricted by financial and infrastructural obstacles; sense of security experienced by women decreases because of under-reporting and stigma; finally, women hesitate to make use of their rights because of lack of knowledge in this regard. Hence, it becomes clear that making the exercise of rights easier and understandable to women is required.
Keywords: Women’s Empowerment; Women’s Health; Gender-Based Violence; Legal Rights; Access to Justice; Socio-Legal Analysis; Legal Awareness; Institutional Barriers; Gender Equality.
