Gender Equality: Reality or Myth

Laws for equality and status of women

The position of women in India has been undermining since decades. The patriarchy system of our country was so strong that it not only negated the opportunity of equality but also subjected women to different kinds of cruelty-physical as well as mental. Though the Constitution provides the provision of equality for every one irrespective of their gender but the framers of the Constitution were aware of the actual status of women. Due to this the framers of the Constitution through a special provision empowered the legislature to make provisions for the enlistment of women. Since then the legislature has made numerous efforts in removing the gender inequality.

Gender equality is a basic human right of which everyone should be entitled in order to live with dignity. Different laws as a result have been incorporated by the legislature of India to correct the imbalance in the society. This is because gender inequality exists in every dimension in the society. The World economic forum introduced four critical areas for the determination of gender gaps – economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, educational attainment and political empowerment. The determination of gender gaps on the following criteria can aid the legislature in taking actions in the benefit of the women of the society.

The literacy rate of women of our country was the major concern for gender equality. The State through its programmes of ‘Beti Padao Beti Bachao’ and ‘

’ has made a huge difference in the status of women. According to the Census of 2011, there was a growth of 15.01% growth in the literacy rate of women in 10 years as compared to men with a growth of 11.66%. 

Apart from these, there are legislation to provide every woman adequate health services, opportunities in employment etc. The Protection of Women from the Domestic Violence, the Dowry Prohibition Act and Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, are some of the special legislation that are introduced to curb the social evils against women in India. Apart from these special legislation, the Penal Code of our country also possesses provisions for the protection of women.

The male dominant society also has a notion that women could not work as complex works as men do. Due to this reason, women were provided menial jobs and were paid less as compared to men. But the legislation addressed this issue and formulated legislation like Equal Remuneration Act, Maternity Relief Act etc. so that women may not be subjected to discrimination on the basis of their genders.

Even the laws of cruelty were at the initially about the physical cruelty imposed upon women during the course of marriage but the interference of judiciary extended the scope of cruelty to mental cruelty as well. Further, the provisions of dowry death were also another step in securing social equality for women of India by the legislature. 

Apart from all these special provisions enacted by the legislature, even the judiciary through its judicial pronouncements has always aided the legislature in determining the existence of certain issues that women face in the society and play a vital role in curbing the same. The cases concerning equal property rights, entry of menstruating women at religious places, protection against sexual harassment at workplace, equal wages etc. Some of the legislation were formulated even after the suggestions made by the judiciary to the legislature.

Even after the existence of such special laws in favor of women, India holds 123rd Rank among-st 189 countries of the world as per the Gender Inequality Index 2019 with only 20.5% labour participation rate. Over 4.05 lakh offences were registered for crimes against women in 2019. Out of which 30.9% cases were only of domestic violence. These are the numbers of cases that are registered against women; most of them remain unregistered because these victims are not literate enough to avail legal remedies against their abusers.

Though the legislation of our country have been made to avoid all these social evils in the society but these alone are not enough. The presence of the laws can only help curb the gender inequality in lack of social affluence.

Earlier, the laws that curb the gender inequalities were not incorporated because the gender inequality was misunderstood as mere biological difference in men and women. Even today, India lacks any law against the crimes like marital rape. This is because the social norms have considered sexual engagement as a part and parcel of marriage.

Though gender equality arises due to lack of equal opportunities which impacts both the genders but women are more vulnerable in such situations.

Misuse of gender equality laws

The laws that have been incorporated for the eradication of social evils that promote gender inequality and for the benefit of women are often misused by them. The legislation made for the welfare contains such provisions that shifts the burden of proof on the accused like the cases of dowry, rape, cruelty, sexual harassment etc. In such circumstances it becomes convenient to misuse these laws by the women against the opposite gender.

There have been numerous instances where the men are the victim of domestic violence and harassment but due to societal pressures these cases remain unreported. The society expects a man to be dominant over women due to which the victims of such abuse do not report the incidents occurred with them. Instead many a time women take advantage of such situations and file a frivolous complaint against the man.

The laws that have been formulated by the legislature provide rights against such abuse to women only as these are special legislation. But the Penal Code also lays down such laws that were incriminatory towards men and biased.

Generally, these laws are misused by women either to extort money from the man or to take revenge resulting from any false promises of marriage or break ups. They are misused by that category of women who are well aware of the fact that such offences are non-bailable in nature. The judiciary at various instances has suggested the Law Commission as well the legislature to such offences bailable so that if the allegations are proved to be malicious it may not cause any prejudice to the husband or his family members. The apex court observed that the exaggerated versions of the story of the victims come to light in most of the cases which is required to be looked into.

These instances of misuse of provisions not punishable with imprisonment of more than 7 years under the Indian Penal Code has made the judiciary issue some guidelines during the arrest of the accused:

• The police officials should first ensure that the parameters laid down under Sec 41 CrPC is followed before making an arrest;
• The police officials shall fulfil all the requirements provided under the section and specify the required reasons of the arrest;
• The Magistrate shall order for detention of accused only if he is satisfied by the report furnished by the police officials;
• If the police officials fail to fulfil any requirements during the arrest, they shall be liable for departmental inquiry and even contempt of court.
• However, if the magistrate does not comply with the necessary provisions and requirements, he shall too be liable for departmental action by the concerned High Court of the State.

However, to the sad reality the women using such rights provided to them for malicious means do not face any liability for their actions. There have been some instances where the courts have imposed liability on the women for procuring false information but not always. Such instances not just violate the fundamental right of an individual but also hamper the essence of gender equality.