Towards Gender Equality: India's Experience

Economic Development is expected to show a positive impact on women's control over resources and their participation in decision-making and this has initiated great interest in empowerment studies. Researchers, Policy Makers, Feminist Scholars, Activists, Administrators. Politicians, Bureaucrats, Sociologists, Economists. Anthropologists, Intellectuals, Non-Governmental Organisations (NG0s) and International Institutions, such as the United Nations, etc.. have been examining the impact of development on the status of women in general and developing countries in particular. Many of them are inspired by Easter Boserup's path breaking study on "Women's Role in Economic Development" published in the year 1970. Most of the studies conducted by them address the problems of gender discrimination that is beset with the process of development. In the light of this backdrop. the collection of essays in this volume made an attempt to examine the national policies and ideologies which often declared their commitment towards the attainment of gender equality. Though, this book does not seek to offer a definition or meaning of empowerment that will be effective and applicable globally, it speaks about the approach to "Moving towards Gender Equality" at the national and regional levels and further this volume tries to highlight the different implications of empowerment of women in the specific context of development and social change. This volume is divided into five sections. Section-I deals with Women's Status, Section-II with Women's Education, Section-III with Women's Employment, Section-IV with Women's Health and the last and the fifth section deals with Gender Equality. This volume is the outcome of the Two-Day National Seminar conducted in the Department of Economics of Kakatiya University, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh.