What is equality ?

Equality is a situation where everyone has the equal rights, advantages and privileges irrespective of their caste, gender, religion, choices and preferences etc. there is nothing that can be denied n any ground.





Gender equality as the name suggests is the equality for all the humans belonging to different genders in every aspect. Equality in every field whether it is in education, employment, respect and access to various opportunities.

The scope of this equality has a broader reach than any other kind of equality as it depends on the dignity and modesty of each gender.

From the time immemorial women had been facing inequalities in various aspects of their life and always given less importance than their male counterparts. Apart from women, there is transgender who has been facing the same circumstances of inequality but in their case, the social stigma is the hurdle and their morphological and anatomical made up makes the issue.

Gender equality has always been a heated topic and necessary for the upliftment of women and their empowerment.

Woman are not born vulnerable but they are made vulnerable due to socio economic beliefs about them prevalent in the society and stereotypes that prevails and made their picture in mind as dependent.

Their strength and reach are hampered at every stage which is due to socio-economic beliefs and patriarchal society. Gender inequality and their social causes impact India’s sex ratio, women’s health over their lifetime, their educational attainment and socio-economic conditions. There has been a Positive move towards gender equality from the 1950s to the present but still, major loopholes are yet to cover. From the very beginning, many laws and acts were made to, women and check the atrocities towards them. Gender equality was prevalent in the world everywhere in the earlier times but various countries like the US has done away with it to a great extent. In India, these inequalities have deep roots in the mind of the people which is much difficult to do away with.women are bound to do household chores and take care of young ones and their family they are always treated as subordinate to their male counterparts. The irony is that apart from doing such tasks they don’t even get the desirable respect that they deserve.

This is one part of the whole scenario, secondly, if they are allowed to work or get employed then also they have to do household tasks as if they are born to do that, this imparts dual responsibility on them again making worse their condition.

And when they refuse to do household chores they get tortures and disrespect from the society. women had to struggle in each aspect, from right to vote to the right to dignity. Right to vote was in the privilege of women in various countries, they got this right followed by various protests and revolution by them and hence their hard work paid off, in 1893 new Zealand gave the right to vote for women, in 1902 Australia, in 1917 Canada, in 1928 Britain and in 1920 US had given right to vote to their female population. In India, this right had been conferred to them with the implementation of the constitution itself thereby granting the right to their women without any struggle for it.

Women empowerment is necessary for the upliftment of vulnerable women position in our country and shapes the development of the country by engaging them in various work fields and harnessing their capabilities for the nation building.

Constitutional provisions and various Laws:-

There are various policies of gender equality well enshrined in our constitution:-

1. Article 14:– ensures women the right to equality. 2. Article 15(1):-prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. 3. Article 15(3):-empowers the state to take affirmative action in favour of women. 4. Article 16:- provides for equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office. These are fundamental rights and are justifiable. 5. Article 39a:- provides that the state direct its policy towards securing for men and women equality to right to an adequate means of livelihood. 6. Article 39(d):- grants equal pay for equal work for men and women. 7. Article 42:- provides state to make provisions for securing just and humane conditions of work for maternity relief. 9. And article 51(a):- which expects from the citizen to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all people and dignity to women. These are not justifiable but enshrined in constitution as directive principles of state policy and fundamental duties.

Specific laws for their equality and empowerment:- 1. Equal remuneration act 1976 2. Dowry prohibition act 1961 3. Immoral traffic(prevention) act ,1956 4. Maternity benefit act 1961 5. Medical termination of pregnancy act 1971 6. Commission of Sati (prevention )act 1987, which was also previously banned by british govt. 7. Prohibition of child marriage act,2006 8. Sexual harassment of women at work prevention and protection act 2013 9. Preconception and prenatal diagnostic techniques(regulation and prevention )act 2013 10. Hindu succession act 2005 for granting women equal right in their paternal property, etc. Apart from these, there are, acts and international commitments of India as to women empowerment but India is still lagging behind developed countries and in valuing their own commitments, various are also available for girls and women but the result is not much satisfactory.

UN report on India’s progress towards eliminating gender inequality:- Women in India represent 29%of workforces down from 35% in 2004. it does not only mean that they are not working but it means half of the work done by them is unpaid, informal and unprotected.

They have only 9% of land in India and they are shut out of the formal financial system. Half of them do not have bank or savings account of their own. 60% of them do not have valuable assets. They contribute a lower share to GDP compared to 37% globally. The rate of crimes stands at 53.9% in India against women, in the capital city itself, 92% of women reported having experienced sexual or physical violence in a public place. OPPORTUNITIES:- The economic impact would be estimated to be the US $700 billion of added GDP by 2025 and their equal participation will increase India’s GDP by 27%. Educated women will add up to become a good mother and having the good decisional ability to influence in the home-related matters and to shape the future of their children. Mudra scheme launched by Govt.to support MSME and DBT under JDY seeks to empower women and about 78% of total no.of borrowers are women. WAY AHEAD:- By removing social stereotypes and moving ahead from a patriarchal and male-dominated society to a gender-neutral society will enhance their influence and hence empower the society ultimately. Removing social barriers and related prejudices will open the door for them to enrich themselves with the and various fields of life. By providing vocational and technical training programmes and by enriching them with entrepreneurial qualities. Employers can invest in women security and by ensuring protection from sexual harassment, which will encourage more women to work and add up to country GDP By providing a balance between household and professional work by dividing responsibilities will be a great step towards their involvement . UNIBF at its second meeting focuses on women empowerment principles by encouraging CEOs to pledge their support towards gender equality. TRANSGENDER TRANSGENDER:- T here is another class of vulnerable group which is much more vulnerable than women and needs equality. The transgender community was deprived of various opportunities in life from education to employment, dignity and even their right to privacy.which is a kind of injustice for them in a democratic country like India.these inequalities are due to social bias and stigma prevalent about them in the society as a whole. Waking up the cause govt has launched various scheme to cover this issue, recent umbrella scheme launched by govt. to provide better educational facilities and provide financial aid to out of work transgender is a positive move towards this issue. In a bid to address the social stigma the umbrella scheme will provide a monetary benefit to families with transgender families and encourage them enough to not to abandon them the scheme has five components, pre-metric, post metric, scholarship support for vocational training and pension for out of work transgender of 40-60 years of age. It is a bid by govt to uplift this section by subjugating prevalent practices and stigma against them. and encouraging their education. Various efforts by govt and transgender themselves bring a lot of change in society and enable them to occupy an even highly authoritative position like a civil servant. “Aishwarya pradhan” has become the first transgender to occupy this position. Section 377 move towards gender equality and right to privacy. Right to privacy is a fundamental right granted by the constitution of India to its citizens but various communities still do not enjoy this privilege just because they have different morphological and anatomical aspects. This is not acceptable in a democratic country like India which protects rights of everybody. Section 377 which is covering the headlines nowadays due to its controversial provision.it is a section of IPC introduces in 1861 during British rule modelled on the buggery act 1533.it criminalises sexual activities against the order of nature this act criminalises the right to love between gay communities, lesbians etc as it was believed to be against the order of nature. Even if it is consensual.if we go through the right of privacy this act has been hampering the right to privacy of individuals of LGBT community, they are even do not have right to choose their partner according to their choice. Hon. SC of India in September 2018 pay heed on this act and passed a verdict by decriminalising gay sec which is a landmark judgement and said social morality cannot trump constitutional morality. It is a reaffirmation of the right to love.

The constitutional bench judgement in navtej Singh Johar and others vs Union of India is a watershed moment in Indian constitutional jurisprudence which is removing 158 years old heteronormative belief. The identity of anybody could not be changed and changing it hampers the fundamental right to equality, tantamounting to crush intrinsic dignity that cumulatively encapsulates the values of privacy, choice and freedom of speech and another expression. By citing that they are minorities and section 377 should not be shut down is discriminatory in a democratic country as fundamental rights do not hinge on no. Of people who claim them.

It shows another move of govt towards ensuring equality even in minority communities, as every citizen of India whether men women or any other community had the right to equality as well as privacy. by decriminalising section 377 gives them right to privacy but when only the activities are consensual.and it is not consensual then it further invites punishment due to the offence and put the person behind bars.

It is only a judgement which paving the way for greater equality but social stigma attached to it takes time to be in normal line. but the judgment is historical and we should appreciate the move by 5 bench judges and their verdict to further broaden the reach of privacy.