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The National Commission for women has been setup since 1990. To protect the right and interest of women and 1/3rd seats in Panchayati Raj have been reserved for women. All these efforts have resulted into some extent the progress in the status of women. The progress of women can be judged with the help of some indicators such as, literacy rate, women work participation rate and sex ratio. The development of women is interlinked with the inequalities inherent in the social structure, socio-economic conditions, political climate and cultural background. All these play a significant role in determining the position or status of women. In general, women suffer discrimination right from birth, female babies are usually unwanted and therefore, sufferers and neglected not only in poorer families but also in richer families. This has an adverse effect on their health and educational opportunities, marriage decisions etc. The customary payment of dowry associated with marriage has become the most prevalent social evil. Again, the working women are burdened with two-fold responsibilities. In addition to this, there are several cases of discrimination, exploitation, physical and sexual violence, crime against women, dowry deaths, trafficking in women and girls, divorce and harassment. Feminists have drawn attention to different type of discrimination and violence against women and have demanded gender equality-equality in family decisions, in political field, in society, in education, at work place and so on. They highlighted that the contribution of women to their families and society remains largely unrecognized and unaccounted for. In recent past, at international level several significant steps have been taken. The competent organs of the United Nations have given sufficient time and energy to improve the status of women in various fields and eliminate discrimination against women. Declaration of International Women Year (1975), International Women's Day (8, March) and several other measures are the examples. The Indian Constitution has also accepted the principle of women's equality in all spheres of life, Since independence, several steps have been taken for the progress of women by the government through successive Five Year Plans, though the approaches have been changing. During the 1970s, the approach was the welfare of women, in 1980s the objective was the development of women, in 1990s, and it was the empowerment of women. To fulfill these objectives, different Acts have been passed from time to time, provisions for financial assistance have been made, women cooperatives have been encouraged, and schemes like Mahila Smriddhi Kendras have been started. The Government of India for providing credit support to poor women has constituted Rastriya Mahila Kosh. The National Commission for women has been set up since 1990, to protect the rights and interest of women and one third seats in Panchayati Raj have been reserved for women. All these efforts have resulted in to some extent the progress in the status of women. The progress of women can be judged with the help of some indicators such as, literacy rate, women work participation rate and sex ratio. Literacy Rate: A comparative picture of the literacy ratio of men and women reflects the level of educational status. In 1951, female literacy in India was only 7.9 percent as against 24.9 percent for men as per 2001 Census; the literacy ratio among men and women has increased to 54.1 and 75.9 percent respectively. The overall literacy rate in India was 18.3 percent in 1951 and 65.3 percent in 2001, which reveals quarter to four fold increase. Though the female literacy is much below to male literacy in the year 1951 as well as in he year 2001, the magnitude of increase in female literacy is much higher in comparison to male literacy. The male literacy has attained the three-fold hike whereas women literacy has crossed seven-fold increase during the same duration of time. This change is the result of two dominating factors: firstly, there has been phenomenal growth in the number of educational institutions both in public and private sector. Secondly, there has been change in attitudes, with the result, there is a growing aspiration among families to provide education to female also. Work Participation Rate: The work participation rate of women, in general, has increased from 14.2 percent in 1971 to 22.3 percent in 1991, representing approximately 6 percent increase On the contrary, men's work participation rate has slightly reduced from 52.8 percent to 51.6 percent during the same span of time but it is still more than double to that of women. Similarly, in administration, especially in the field of decision-making, the number of women as IAS officer was 339(8.1 percent of the total) in the year 1987; it increased to the figure of 535 (10.4 percent of the total) in the year 2000. During the same period, the number of women IPS officers has enhanced from a meager figure of 21(0.9 percent of total) to 110 (3.3 percent of the total) In political field, too, their participation has been increasing. In Legislative Assembly, the number of women was 141(5.1 percent) in 1987, that increased to 229(5.6 percent), in the year 2000. During the same span of time, their representation in Parliament increased from 47(6.1 percent) to 67(8.4 percent). Similarly, their representation the Central Council of Ministers has moved up from 4(10.0 percent) to 8(10.9 percent). All these reflect that in economic term, there has been improvement in the status of women over a period of time. Sex Ratio: Sex ratio is the indicator of the status of women in a society It also measures the healthcare which a family provides for female children and women. Normally there is a tendency that people have low preferences for investment on girl child in the form of nutrition, education and other personality development pursuits. During the past decades, the number of female per thousand males has declined from 927 in 1901. to 946 in 1951, and further to 933 in the year 2001 Selected figures reveal that the sex ratio has, generally been adverse to women and has been declining over decades, though, there was some improvement in 2001 over the previous decade, it came up from 927 in 1991 to 933 in2001 but it is still well behind the number of men. It may be explained in terms of preferences for male children as against female babies and the relative gap in health care conditions between male and female children. In addition, early marriages, early motherhood, unwanted pregnancies are also responsible for smaller number of women in comparison to men. The picture of the some of the aspects of the progress of women reveals that on some of the fronts such as literacy and employment women has achieved and progress is visible but what is the picture on demographic and social fronts? On these fronts, her position is far from a satisfactory level. At demographic scenario, the ratio of women is smaller and infant mortality rate is higher in comparison to men. Similarly, women's position is highly deteriorating. The crime against women including rapes, dowry deaths, cruelty by husband and relatives is increasing rapidly. In 1990, the number of dowry deaths was 10068 which increased to 15031 in 1998. Similarly, cruelty by husband and relatives has increased from 13450 to $41380 during the same period. Further, the number of rape cases has gone up from 4836 to 691 during 1990 1998. These figures prove that no doubt women have gained on economic front but on social front she lags behind and sufferer. Recently, the policies of globalization and liberalization are also adding the sufferings of women. For example, globalization has encouraged consumerism. It means that different types of commodities are entering in the market. Possessions of these has become a status symbol and fashion. People with lower income are having temptation to purchase them in place of necessaries including health and education. In addition to this, people are demanding more and more items in the form of dowry, which is causing different types of problems in settlement of girl's marriage. Not only this, every year 'Miss World', 'Miss Universe' being selected from India. The globalization has commercialized and commodified beauty. Women are ruthlessly exploited by the multinationals and the media for promotion of their product.

Sweety Jain research scholar from Mangalayatan University has said that women empowerment is essential for the achievement of sustainable development. She also discuses about the some problem and issues which has been facing by the women in their life (March 2022). In the words of Gloria Steinem, an American feminist, journalist and social political activist, “Women are always saying ‘we can do anything that men can do’ but men should be saying, ‘we can do anything that women can do.” (April 2017). A Pakistani activist and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai spoken about women’s education “I raise up my voice - not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard … we cannot succeed when half of us are held back”. Mr Deepak Kumar concludes his paper “Socio Economic Issues of women in contemporary India” that a nation can only be called a developed one when the women will be getting equal opportunities in financial matters, getting proper social representation and their dignity will also be duly taken care of.(June 2017). Mrs Roshni Kapur (Research Analyst) and Dr S Narayan (Visiting Senior Research Fellow) in the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS). Have mentioned in their research paper (July 2020) that India’s journey on women empowerment and gender equality started when it became a sovereign state in 1947. New Delhi still has a long way to go in many areas of women empowerment. A more concerted effort is needed to close the urban-rural divide and ensure that women in rural areas enjoy the same access to education, employment, healthcare and decision-making as their urban counterparts. Ishan Arun Mudbidri from Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s Shankarrao Chavan Law College, Pune has concluded that today women have proved to be better than men in many fields. However, as they were treated differently for so many years and were subjected to equality since ancient India today, even after so many years, there still exist gaps in the context of women’s empowerment. In many parts of the country, women are still subject to inequality and gender discrimination. Many times, various schemes and policies implemented for the sake of women do not reach them. Hence, there are some serious concerns that need to be resolved in time. (September 2021)

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