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Eternal India
encyclopedia
PEOPLE
sex, "equality before the law", "equal protection before the law" and
"equality of opportunity in matters of public employment". Women
enjoy the same right as men to vote and to contest elections, to seek
and to hold public office.
The Hindu Marriage Act of 1956 enforces monogamy, outlaws
polygamy, makes provision both for judicial separation as well as
divorce for marriages performed according to Hindu religious rites.
The Act also provides for payment of alimony. The Hindu Marriage
Act marks an advance on the rules of alimony prevailing in other
countries in that alimony can be paid not only to the wife but also the
husband in special circumstances. Marriages may also be con-
tracted by registration under the Special Marriage Act of 1954,
which also provides for divorce on similar grounds to those allowed
under the Hindu Marriage Act. The Hindu Marriage Act 1956 has
been further amended by the Hindu Marriage (Amendment) Act
1976 providing for divorce by consent.
A significant step in the emancipation and equality for women
was taken with the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 which conferred
on women absolute rights in the property devolving on them which
meant they could alienate, sell or mortgage it. It also provided for
equal share for daughters along with the sons in the self-acquired
property of the Hindu father in case of intestate succession. Till
then, under the Hindu Women's Right to Property Act of 1937, a
widow could enjoy her husband's share in co-parcenary property for
her lifetime without the right to alienate it.
In Hindu Law a woman had no right to adopt a child because the
entire theory of adoption was based on the belief that for the
salvation and peace of a man's soul a son had to make a spiritual
ceremony called
pinda-daan.
So if a man did not have a child of his own
he was allowed to adopt a male child. A female child could never be
adopted. By the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956 any
male Hindu is allowed to adopt a son or a daughter provided he gets the
consent of his wife. Married women have not been given the right to
adopt but an unmarried woman, a divorcee or a widow can adopt a child.
By the same law, a woman can claim maintenance if she is living
separately without divorce or judicial separation, if she proves that her
husband has been guilty of desertion or cruelty, or has any other wife
living, or keeps a concubine in the same house as his wife or any other
cause justifying her living separately.
Muslims, Christians and Parsees are governed by different laws
relating to marriage, divorce and succession to property.
The total percentage of female literacy in the 1991 census was
39.42
(compared to
63.86
for men) a definite advance on the previous
census figures of
29.75 (1981
census),
21.97 (1971), 15.34 (1961)
and
8.86 (1951).
Among the States, Kerala has the highest female literacy
rate of
86.93.
Rajasthan with
20.84
comes at the bottom of the table.
SEX RATIO (Females per 1000 males)
Y ear
Sex Rati o
Y ear
Sex Ratio
1901
972
1951
946
1911
964
1961
941
1921
955
1971
930
1931
950
1981
934
1941
945*
2015
Sex Ratio in Selected Countries
Australia(2008)
949
Russia(2008)
944
UK(2008)
951
Japan(2008)
946
Denmark(2008)
948
Newzeland(2008)
943
China(2008)
836
QUOTE
To call woman the weaker sex is libel, it is man's injustice to
woman. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is
immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition,
is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of
endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man
could not be. If non-violence is the law of our being, the future
is with women.
- Mahatma Gandhi
CHANGING FACE OF INDIAN WOMEN