Women’s Emancipation

• Based on the various religious practices and the personal laws, it was assumed that the status of women was inferior to that of men.

• After 1880s, when Dufferin hospitals, named after Lady Dufferin (wife of the Viceroy), were started, efforts were made make modern medicine and child delivery techniques available to Indian Women.

• Sarojini Naidu, the famous poetess, became the President of the National Congress in 1925.

• In 1937, several women became ministers or parliamentary secretaries.

• All India Women's Conference founded in 1927.

• Women's struggle for equality took a big step forward after the independence.

• Articles 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution (1950) guaranteed the complete equality of men and women.

• The Hindu Succession Act of 1956 made the daughter an equal co-heir with the son.

• The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 permitted dissolution of marriage on specific grounds.

• Monogamy has been made mandatory for men as well as women.

• The Constitution gives women equal right to work and to get employment in State agencies.

• The Directive Principles of the Constitution lay down the principle of equal pay for equal work for both men and women.