Who is a feminist?

Woman or a man who believes in equal rights and opportunities for

women and men.

Feminist movement:

These are the agitations of women which demanded on enhancing their political and
legal status and improving their educational and career opportunities. More radical
women’s movement aimed at equality in personal and family life as well. These
movements are called feminist movement.

Different aspects of life in which women are discriminated in India-

Ours is a male dominated patriarchal society. Women face disadvantage discrimination
and oppression in various ways-

1. (a) The literacy rate among women is only 54 percent compared with 76 percent among
men. (b) A smaller proportion of girl student to go for higher studies.(c) They drop out
because parents prefer to spend their resources for their boy’s education rather than
spending equally on their sons and daughters.

2. The proportion of women among the highly paid and valued jobs is still very small.

3. In spite of the Equal Wages Act in India, almost all areas of works from sports and
cinema to factories and fields, women are paid less than men.

4. Indian parents prefer to have sons and find ways to have girl child aborted before she
is born. Girl Infanticide is also one of the major reason for the poor sex ratio.

5. There are reports of various kinds of harassment, exploitation and violence against
women. Urban areas have become particularly unsafe for women. They are not safe even
within their own home from being beaten, harassment and other forms of domestic
violence.

Women’s political representation is necessary because:

1 Issues related to women’s well being or otherwise are not given adequate attention.

2. Many feminists and women’s movements believe that unless the women control
power, their problems will not get adequate attention.

3. One way to ensure all these is to have more women as elected representatives.

The status of women in Indian legislature and comparison with other countries or
regions of the world;
1. In India the proportion of women in legislature has been very low. In Lok sabha it has
never reached even 10% of its total strength.

2. Their share in the state assemblies is less than 5%.