Role of Women in Society and Women's Organisations

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies I.

Role of Women in society and women's organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

This page covers the first part of the line: the role of women in society and women's organisations, with their problems and remedies.

Topics in detail

Women in Indian society

• Status of women through history: the Vedic period, the medieval period, the colonial period
• Women in the social reform movements: sati, widow remarriage, child marriage, female education (Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai)
• Women in the freedom struggle
• Women in the economy: agriculture, the informal sector, unpaid care work, self-help groups
• Women in politics and administration; one-third reservation in panchayats and municipalities (73rd and 74th Amendments, 1992)

Women's organisations and movements

• Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910), Women's Indian Association (1917), All India Women's Conference (1927)
• Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, Towards Equality (1974)
• Movements after independence: the Chipko movement, SEWA (1972, Ela Bhatt), campaigns against dowry and against liquor
• National Commission for Women (1992) and state women's commissions

Constitutional and legal protection

• Articles 14, 15(3), 16, 39(a) and (d), 42 and 51A(e)
• The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023: one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies reserved for women, to take effect after the delimitation that follows the next census
• Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971; Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005; Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
• Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (equal coparcenary rights for daughters); Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017

Problems

• Declining child sex ratio and son preference
• Low female labour force participation; wage gap
• Maternal health, anaemia and nutrition
• Violence against women, trafficking, dowry deaths
• Gaps in education, digital access and property ownership

Remedies

• Education of girls and skilling; schemes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (2015)
• Financial inclusion and self-help groups under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission
• Better enforcement of laws, fast-track courts, one-stop centres
• Gender budgeting; changing social attitudes through the family, school and media