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DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

VISAKHAPATNAM, A.P., INDIA

LAW AND GENDER JUSTICE

SOCIOLOGY

Prof. LAKSHMIPATHI RAJU

KOTA DHANVANTH

2015060 – II SEMESTER
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

I am grateful to our sociology Professor Lakshmipathi Raju for his valuable guidance,

significant suggestions and help for accomplishing this project regarding “LAW AND GENDER

JUSTICE”. I have tried my best to collect information about the project in various possible ways

to depict clear picture about the given project topic.

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CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION AND EXPLAINATION…………………………………….…..5

JENDER DISCRIMINATION AND ITS CAUSES…………………………………6

LEGISLATION IN GENDER JUSTICE ………………………………………....…7

FOLLOWING ACTS O GENDER JUSTICE ………………………………….……8

LAW AND GENDER ENFORCEMENT ……………………………………..…….9

ACCESS TO GENDER AND JUSTICE ……………………………………….....…9

GENDER NORMS ……………………………………………………………..……9

LAWS IN INDIA……………………………………………………………………10

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SEX AND GENDER…………………………………11

FUNDEMANTAL RIGHTS IN GENDER JUSTICE……………………………….11

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT ……………………………………11

GENDER EQUALITY AND INEQUALITY ………………………………………...12

GENDER EQUAITY ………………………………………………………………..13

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER JUSTICE IN INDIA ……………………………13

DEMOCRRATIZATION AND POLTICS OF GENDER …………………………….14

GENDER JUSTICE AND JUDICIAL PRONUNCMENT…………………………….15

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VIOLATION ………………………………………………………………………………16

HYPOTHESIS ……………………………………………………………………………..16

CASE LAWS……………………………………………………………………………....17

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………18

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………19
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NAME OF THE PROJECT: SOCIOLOGY

TITLE OF THE PROJECT: LAW AND GENDER JUSTICE

INTRODUCTION:

Gender justice means equal treatment and equitable value of the sexes. Therefore, gender equality

is a fundamental human right that is guaranteed in international and regional treaties, conventions,

and national legislation.

Gender justice is a human right; every woman and girl is entitled to live in dignity and in freedom,

without any fear. Gender Justice is indispensable for development, poverty reduction, and is

crucial to achieving human progress

Gender justice is a correlation of social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and

educational factors, these preconditions need to be satisfied for achieving gender justice.

GENDER DISCRIMINTION:

Gender is a common term whereas gender discrimination is meant only for women, because

females are the only victims of gender discrimination. It is a harsh reality that women have been

ill-treated in every society for ages and India is no exception. Women are deprived of economic

resources and are dependent on men for their living. In modern times many women are coming

out to work but has to shoulder the double responsibility; one she has to work where she is

employed and secondly she also has to do all the house hold works, moreover, she is last to be

considered and first to be fired as she is considered to be less productive than her counterpart. Her

general status in the family and in the society has been low and unrecognized. In number females

are nearly 50 percent of the total population but their representation in public life is very low. Thus
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recognizing women’s right and believing their ability are essential for women’s empowerment and

development.

CAUSE OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION:

 Men dominating the mentality

 Various social and religious belief

 Lack of strong protest by women

 Family rituals

 Physical factor (treating women as weaker gender)

 Work place discrimination

GENDER JUSTICE AND CONSTUTION OF INDIA:

The framers of the constitution bestowed sufficient thought on the position of women in Indian

social order, which is quite evident from the provisions of the constitution. The Constitution of

India which is regarded as the supreme law of the land, gives special protection to women’s such

as Article 15 guarantees the right against discrimination. The prejudice and bias against women is

rampant an issue to be countered by the right to equality, hence the right against discrimination.

Article 15(3) talks about the special protection for women. Article 16 provides the right to equal

opportunity in terms of public employment irrespective of the sex of the person. This provision

aids women to start participating in elections and the decision making process. In this regard it is

important to mention the 74th amendment, made for the reservation for women in Panchayats.

Article 19 guarantees freedom of speech and expression, to assemble peaceably and without arms,

to forms associations and unions, to move freely throughout the territory of India, to reside and

settle in any part of the territory of India; to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation,
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trade or business. This fosters the right to equality, by providing the necessary freedoms needed to

live in society. Without the right to equality, the purpose of gender justice cannot be achieved.

Article 39 talks about the certain principles of policy that need to be followed by the state which

are securing adequate means of livelihood equally for men and women, equal pay for equal work

among men and women, and the health and strength of workers, men and women are not abused.

Article 42 requires the state to make provision for securing humane conditions of work and

maternity relief.

LEGISLATION IN GENDER JUSTICE:

In our society girls are socialized from their tender age to be dependent on males. Her existence is

always subject to men. In her childhood she is under the protection of her father, after marriage

under the protection of her husband and in old age at the mercy of her sons.

The patriarchal system in India made women to live at the mercy of men, who exercise unlimited

power over them. In order to ameliorate the condition of women in India Legislature enacted the

large volume of enactments and many of these legislations were enacted in colonial period.

FOLLOWING ACTS:

(1) 1829, Abolition of Sati;

(2) 1856 Widow Remarriage made legal;

(3) 1870 Female infanticide banned;

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(4) 1872 inter caste, intercommunity marriages made legal;

(5) 1891 age of consent raised to 12 years for girls;

(6) 1921 women get rights to vote in Madras province:

(7) 1929 Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed;

(8) 1937 women get special rights to property;

(9) 1954 Special Marriage Act was passed;

(10) 1955 Hindu Marriage Act was passed;

(11) 1956 Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act was passed;

(12) 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act was passed;

(13) 1981 Criminal Law Amendment Act was Passed;

(14) 1986 The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was Passed;

(15) 1987 Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act was passed.

Apart from these above mentioned laws there are some enactments pertaining to industry which

contain special provisions for women such as: The Workmen Compensation Act, 1921; Payment

of Wages Act, 1936; Factories Act, 1948; Maternity Benefit Act, 1961; Minimum Wages Act,

!948: Employees State Insurance Act 1948 and Pensions Act, 1987.In addition to this, the

Constitution of India which is regarded as the supreme law of the land too gives special protection

to women.
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LAW AND GENDER ENFORCEMENT:

 Criminalization of domestic violence

 Raise of sectoral department with in the police

 Synergies with other sectoral ministries, principally of women and child development

ministries which exists in odd and rather non conversant relationship with the home

ministry which the police.

 The special police station for women

 The community police initiative of family counselling centers

 Training for gender mainstreaming and gender sensitization from donor led projects

ACCESS TO GENDER AND JUSTICE:

The women’s lack of access to justice in case of domestic violence remains victim to the structural

issues of women subordination which gets in the delivery of justice and its distance from the victim

throwing challenges at law the justice and governing in the country

GENDER NORMS:

Gender norms are a set of “rules” or ideas about how each gender should behave. They are not based in

biology, but instead determined by a culture or society. For example, women are not better than men at

doing housework, but often they are expected to perform those tasks. It is important to remember that

gender norms can be very different from one culture to another. What may be acceptable behavior for a

male in one culture may be unacceptable in another.

Social norms are part of the way in which power inequalities are maintained. Discriminatory

gender norms affecting adolescents are key forces maintaining patriarchal power relationships that
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subordinate women, girls and younger men and boys. Feminist power analysis is thus a vital

element of a toolkit for understanding and challenging discriminatory gender norms.

Laws in India:

There are various legislations that have been passed in India with a view to curb the imbalance in

gender hierarchy and aid in women’s empowerment. The constitution of India guarantees various

rights for women in this regard. This can be evidenced by Part III of the Constitution which deals

with fundamental rights and Part IV which deals with Directives Principles of State Policy. Article

14 states that there shall be equal protection of the law and equality before the law which means

that the Courts or any Law enforcement agency should not discriminate between a man and a

woman. The right to equality is the foundation on which other laws are formulated and can be

implemented.

FUNDEMANTAL RIGHTS ON GENDER JUSTICE:

SIX CATAGERIOES

 Equality,

 Freedom,

 Protection against exploitation,

 Freedom of religion,

 Cultural and education rights,

 Constitutional remedies.
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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENDER AND SEX:

SEX:

Categorized by male or female

Biological

Fixed at birth

Does change across time and space

Equally valued.

GENDER:

masculinity and femininity

socially cultural and historically determined

learned through socialization

varies over time and space

unequally valued.

Sex is biologically characterized whereas gender is social characteristics.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT

Of the many presumed differences between the behaviors of males and females, some are real,

some are found only inconsistently, and some are wholly mythical.

Girls are more physically and neurologically advanced at birth. Boys have more mature muscular

development but are more vulnerable to disease and hereditary anomalies. Girls excel early in

verbal skills, but boys excel in visual-spatial and math skills. Boys' superior mathematic abilities,

however, reflect only a better grasp of geometry, which depends on visual-spatial abilities. Boys
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are more aggressive, and girls more nurturant. Boys have more reading, speech, and emotional

problems than girls.

More equivocal are gender differences in activity level, dependency, timidity, exploratory activity,

and vulnerability to stress. There are no gender differences in sociability, conformity, achievement,

self-esteem, or verbal hostility.

Although differences exist, it is important to remember that the overlap between the distributions

is always greater than the differences between them. In addition, noting the existence of the

differences does not tell us why they exist. It is clear that girls and boys have many different

experiences and opportunities as they develop, which may lead to divergent outcomes or highlight

existing differences.

Gender equality and inequality:

means that women and men, and girls and boys, enjoy the same rights, resources, opportunities

and protections. It does not require that girls and boys, or women and men, be the same, or that

they be treated exactly alike.

Gender inequality in India refers to health, education, economic and political inequalities between

men and women in India Various international gender inequality indices rank India differently on

each of these factors, as well as on a composite basis, and these indices are controversial.

Gender inequalities, and its social causes, impact India's sex ratio, women's health over their

lifetimes, their educational attainment, and economic conditions. Gender inequality in India is a

multifaceted issue that concerns men and women alike. Some argue that some gender equality

measures, place men at a disadvantage. However, when India’s population is examined as a whole,

women are at a disadvantage in several important ways.

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Gender equity:

Engendering all areas of public policy, elimination of adverse sex ratio, and provision of support services

to working women, taking into account the multiple burden on a woman's day to day life.

The commitment to gender equity is well entrenched at the highest policy making level- the

constitution of India. A few important provisions for women are:

• Article 14 – equal rights and opportunities in political economics and social spheres.

• Article 15 – prohibits determination on grounds of sex.

• Article 15(3) – enables affirmative discrimination in favour of women.

• Article 39 - equal means of livelihood and equal pay for equal work.

• Article 42 - just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.

• Article 51(A)(e)- fundamental duty to renounce practices, derogatory to the dignity of women.

Apart from the above mentioned provisions, the legislation has also made certain policies such as

National Policy for empowerment of women 2001etc. In various five year plans such as- Seventh

plan, eighth plan (1992-97), Ninth plan (1997-2002) and the Tenth plan, various schemes and

policies were introduced.

Human rights and gender justice in India:

Gender injustice is a problem that is seen all over the world. But unless there are certain
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attitudinal changes, women will continue to get a raw deal. They need to be educated. Educated

mothers take care of their children irrespective of the boys or girls.

It is well known fact that the education of a girl is the education of family continuing its impact

on the future generations while the education of a boy is the education of a single person.

Women has to be treated as equal partners in decision-making and implementation rather than

as beneficiaries. The development of a nation depends upon GDI that is, Gender Development

Index and HDI that is Human Development Index. Our country ranks 98 for the former and 127

for latter.

In these days of globalization, the global picture of women is most ignoble and inequitable.

Women constitute 50 per cent of the world's population, and account for 66 per cent of the work

done, but they have only a share of 10 per cent in the world's income and own one per cent of

the world's property.

Democratization and the Politics of Gender:

The central instrument for the protection of rights has been, and must remain, the state. As

women’s movements turned their attention in the 1990s to rights issues, they were drawn into an

engagement with the state as rights activists and as participants in government. Whether states

advance or curtail women’s rights cannot be explained in terms of any single variable, although
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democratic institutions and procedures are generally assumed to allow greater voice and presence

to social forces pressing for reform. Yet, while many countries now identify themselves as

democracies, and have established institutions of representative government, the degree to which

democracy has been consolidated and institutionalized is highly variable. As the case studies in

this section bear out, in some countries even a minimal democracy has yet to be institutionalized.

Even where elections have been held, political parties often remain weakly institutionalized, all

too often serving as instruments to secure the rule of leptokurtic oligarchies and discriminatory

ethnic groups. In much of the world, the institutions for popular participation are weakly embedded

in society, civil rights are not protected, and political parties lack strongly articulated social

programmes.

GENDER JUSTICE AND JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENT:

The Indian Judicial System has independently and effectively intervened on the issue of women

emancipation. For instance, in C.B. Muthamma v. Union of India1979 AIR 1868, the validity

of the Indian Foreign Service (Conduct and discipline) Rules of 1961 was challenged which

provided that a female employee to obtain a written permission of the Government in writing

before her marriage is solemnized and at any time after a marriage a women member of the service

may be required to resign from service. The Supreme Court held that such provision is

discriminatory against women and hence unconstitutional. The Supreme Court made it clear that,

we do not mean to universalize or dogmatize that men and women are equal in all occupation and

all situations and do not exclude the need to pragmatise where the requirements of particular

employment, the sensitivities of sex or the peculiarities of societal sectors or the handicaps of either

sex may compel selectivity. But save where the differentiation is demonstrated, the rule of equality

must govern.
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VIOLATION:

violence against women, economic and legal discrimination, domestic exploitation, the gendered

division of labor and gendered socialization. The sense of “costs” employed is similarly wide.

Costs can be material (such as financial, time or effort), psychological (such as self-respect, a good

relationship with one’s body and emotions) and social (such as reputation, social acceptance and

valuable social relationships).

The Hypothesis

The gender similarities hypothesis holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all,

psychological variables. That is, men and women, as well as boys and girls, are more alike than

they are different. In terms of effect sizes, the gender similarities hypothesis states that most

psychological gender differences are in the close-to zero or small range, a few are in the moderate

range and very few are large or very large.

RELATED CASE LAWS:

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C.B. Muthamma V. Union of India:

C.B. Muthamma V. Union of India the validity of the Indian Foreign Service (Conduct an

discipline) Rules of 1961 was challenged which provided that a female employee to obtain a

written permission of the Government in writing before her marriage is solemnized and at any time

after a marriage a women member of the service may be required to resign from service. The

Supreme Court held that such provision is discriminatory against women and hence

unconstitutional. The Supreme Court made it clear that, we do not mean to universalize or

dogmatise that men and women are equal in all occupation and all situations and do not exclude

the need to pragmatise where the requirements of particular employment, the sensitivities of sex

or the peculiarities of societal sectors or the handicaps of either sex may compel selectivity. But

save where the differentiation is demonstrated, the rule of equality must govern.

Vishaka and others V State of Rajasthan:

In Vishaka and others V State of Rajasthan, the Supreme Court held that sexual harassment of

working women at her place of an employment amounts to violation of rights of gender equality

and right to life and liberty which is clear violation of Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian

Constitution. The Court further observed that the meaning and content of the fundamental rights

guaranteed in the Constitution of India are of sufficient amplitude to encompass all the facts of

gender equality including prevention of sexual harassment or abuse.

Further Supreme Court in this case said that, as there is no law relating to sexual harassment in

India, therefore the provisions of International Conventions and norms are to taken into

consideration, and charted certain guidelines to be observed at all work places or other institutions,

until a legislation is enacted for the purpose.

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In Apparel Export Promotion Council V A.K. Chopra, again Supreme Court reiterated Vishaka

ruling and said that attempts of sexual harassment of female results in violation of fundamental

rights to gender equality enshrined under Article 14 an d21 of the Constitution. The Court further

stated that international instrument such as the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Declaration casts obligations on the state to take

appropriate measures to prevent gender inequalities and protect the honour and dignity of women.

CONCLUSION:

Complete gender justice is complex to achieve typically in a country like India. The diversity of

cultures, subcultures, is vast and there is a lot of rigidity in traditions and beliefs. Lack of education,

lack of development, poverty, improper enforcement of the laws, lack of awareness among women,

deep rooted patriarchy, economic dependence of women, all lead to the subversive condition of

women in our society. Gender hierarchies in Europe and USA are relatively more balanced than

in India.

SUBMITTED BY,

Kota. Dhanvanth,

2nd semester, sec(A).

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BIBILOGRAPHY:

Gender justice-women in India law -author-dr. Monica Chawla

www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/gen_j.htm

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/gen_j.htm

www.uhasselt.be/.../PPT%20lecture%203%20Women's%20equality%20a.

http://www.jesp.org/articles/view.php?id=62

http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-606581.pdf

http://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/SAAM_2012_Gender-norms.pdf