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This article provides information about the report of CSW to explain the status of women in society:
In the year 1971, the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Government of India appointed a committee called Committee on the Status of Women in India to study the status of women in India. The Ministry was acting on a UN request for a status of women report for International Women’s’ Year in 1975.
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The Committee had two tasks: (i) to examine the constitutional, legal and administrative provisions that have a bearing on the social status of women, their education and employment and (ii) to assess the impact of these provisions.
The Committee came to the conclusion that there was an increase in the marginalisation of women in the economy and society. The CSWI report Towards Equality found demographic trends of declining sex ratio, disparities in the life expectancy and death rates between men and women; and the difficulties involved in women’s access to literacy, education and livelihood. It was of the view that the Indian State had failed in its constitutional responsibility of gender equality.
The planning process for development in agriculture, industry, fishery, livestock, etc. and other important sectors of the Indian economy contained no acknowledgement of the millions of women involved in these sectors due to livelihood reasons. This process of marginalisation of the large majority of women in the economy, together with their neglect and devaluation by the society with the support of the state, definitely demonstrated gender bias.
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The increasing investment on education, health and the opening of public employment opportunities had benefited a very small section of the female population. This privileged section of women were again threatened by escalation of social practices like dowry, inequality meted out as a consequence of the personal laws, the non-enforcement of the existing laws, which sought to offer protection to women (like the labour laws or criminal laws) and lack of women’s overall “visibility” in the sense of the inclusion of their needs, concerns and perspectives in the planning process.
Even though the parliamentary debate on the Towards Equality report sought the removal all disabilities that Indian women continue to suffer from. The declaration of National Emergency within a few weeks after it has been tabled in the Parliament pushed back any serious action on the CSWI recommendations.