Enacting legislation not enough for social change

Every year International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 to focus attention on the achievement and advancements of women and also to understand the issues that confront them. Women have great potential to bring about change in society. As equal partners, the role and work of women is very important to bring about balanced and complete development in themselves as well as in society.

If we concentrate on empowering women through gender equality, we will actually be promoting the cause of democracy, mitigating poverty, improving general health of women and promoting development to accord the right meaning to the status of women in the 21st century. In fact, it is women who suffer the most due to poverty.

Our Constitution recognises the equality of all citizens. The Preamble to the Constitution of India resolves to secure to all its citizens justice — social, economic and political.    

 When we look back, we can derive some satisfaction about advancements made in the field of gender issues since independence. The roadmap for a gender responsive approach finds its genesis in our freedom movement in which women and men both participated shoulder to shoulder in the fight to remove the colonial yoke. Later, in the Constituent Assembly debates, the concept of equality irrespective of gender, found resonance.

Fundamental Rights in our Constitution give to all citizens equal rights and equal opportunities. The women of India got the right to vote from the very beginning of the adoption of the Constitution of India. I have often remarked that this was a laudable step because in many other countries women had to strive hard to get voting rights.

Post-independence, the pro-women leanings in our constitutional philosophy inspired the enactment of women welfare legislations. Noteworthy among them the Special Marriage Act; the Dowry Prohibition Act; the Maternity Benefit Act; the Factories Act; the Equal Remuneration Act; the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 and more recently, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

Over the years, these laws have been helpful in enabling women to come forward in the various activities of the nation. The increasing presence of women in employment, social and economic activities, as well as in public life is proof that the constitutional doctrines of equality and equal opportunity are at work. However, I hope that more women will join professions, including the legal profession and the judiciary.

There are many challenges that remain, in particular the social biases and social malpractices which continue to impede progress towards the goal of gender equality.

While the relevance of laws in bringing about social change is important, we also know that enacting legislations only is not enough. There needs to be awareness about the remedies available and the procedures to be followed.

There is no doubt that change is taking place, yet it is also equally true that women are still confronted with many challenges. I feel that it is here that women’s organisations are important platforms for building a collective voice for taking action to address such issues.

A woman has a right to live with dignity and a right to be an equal citizen of the country. Self-help groups have proved to be effective vehicles for the economic transformation of women. It should be our endeavour to bring every eligible woman under the cover of a self-help group for her economic empowerment.

We also need to address the gender bias prevalent in our society which has resulted in social malpractices like female foeticide, dowry, child marriage and other evils. Civil society and the media can also play a very important role in changing mindsets and I call upon them to do so with drive and commitment.

Therefore, it is for all of us to work together to help achieve to make our society truly one, where every individual has the opportunity to contribute to nation building, in larger or smaller measure according to each one’s capability and station in life. This indeed can truly be our goal on this day, to strive for an equal partnership between men and women, for working shoulder to shoulder for the country’s progress.
- President Pratibha Devisingh Patil