Amity Law School, New Delhi

Human Rights & Dignity of Women (With critical regard to India)

Parnal Vats III- B 07710303810

For over 4000 years now, the struggle for safeguarding one's fundamental rights, is still on. There are countless forms of rights that have been well part of this slow process. One of them are the rights of women. The following Research paper categorically aims to trace the origin and evolution of the same, in India and the world. The methodology of the paper is dominatingly doctrinal and a purely thorough assessment of the gathered data, was mainly through data mining and it assisted in utilizing the valuable information that further derived the purpose of the research and its better understanding. Besides academic assistance, certain essential statistical tools of UNIFEM and of some domestic non state actors have been used. As the world moved closer to realizing what are better known as 'Civil rights', rights of women were moving closer to being asserted by the feminists. The ''Declaration of Sentiments'' which is also referred to as the ''Declaration of Rights and Sentiments'', was the first women's rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, in the Wesleyan Methodist Church on July 19th and 20th, 1848 and it marked the beginning of the struggle of women. The main document was drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and she tried highlighting the areas of regular life where women were presumably discriminated upon. Consequently, they strived for the addition of an amendment prohibiting and eliminating sex discrimination in employment. Active struggles for womens basic autonomous rights appeared in many countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Though these movements differed in their reasons and tactics, the fight for female suffrage, along with other womens rights concerns, cut across many states in the United States of America. A major step forward in the promotion and protection of international women's rights was the drafting and ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), that was entered into force on the 3rd of September, 1981. Besides this, other conventions of various Intergovernmental organizations, like the Convention on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations 1973, Convention on the Law Applicable to Matrimonial Property Regimes, 1978, Convention on Celebration and Recognition of the Validity of Marriages, 1978, Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations, 1970, also helped in furtherance of the cause of

women. The paper draws a parallel focus, on all the legislations in the Indian subcontinent and the constitutional doctrines that pledge to safeguard hellenism and guarantee women a respectable position in the society, with all their rights intact. Maternity Benefits Act, 1961, Medical Termination Pregnancy Act, 1971, Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act of 1986, National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, 2001 are some of the legislations in India. The credibility and implementation of all the relevant legislations and enactments have been thoroughly analyzed. Conclusively, it will be misleading to represent the existing body of human rights law as a satisfactory regime from the perspective of women. This battle is an ongoing struggle for liberty. Some of the most prominent commentators have convincingly demonstrated the limitations of the current law that falls short of taking into account the reality of a womans life. This problem persists not only in the domestic front, but also in the global front and the paper briefly proposes a cooperative solution model. The Researcher extends this opportunity to particularly pay her heartfelt gratitude to the Human Rights Professor, Mr Manish Sharma, for his guidance on making the researcher understand the focal point of the issue at hand. The library of Amity Law School provided essential data for the completion of this Research paper. The Researcher would thank the evaluators in advance, for their time and consideration.

Regards Parnal Vats