Remember ”knowledge is power”. As a parent, wife, daughter, employee and a woman these are rights set in place to protect you and it is important that you are aware about these.
The rights available to women in India can be classified into two categories, namely as constitutional rights and legal rights. The constitutional rights are those which are provided in the various provisions of the constitution. The legal rights, on the other hand, are those which are provided in the various laws (acts) of the Parliament and the State Legislatures.
Here are 10 rights that women should know:
1. Right to equal pay - According to provisions under the Equal Remuneration Act, one cannot be discriminated on the basis of sex when it comes to salary or wages.
2. Right against harassment at work - The enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act gives you the right to file a complaint against sexual harassment.
3. Right to anonymity - Victims of sexual assault have a right to anonymity. To ensure that her privacy is protected, a woman who has been sexually assaulted may record her statement alone before the district magistrate when the case is under trial, or in the presence of a female police officer.
4. Right against domestic violence - The act primarily looks to protect a wife, a female live-in partner or a woman living in a household like a mother or a sister from domestic violence at the hands of a husband, male live-in partner or relatives. She or anybody on her behalf, can file a complaint.
5. Right to maternity-related benefits - Maternity benefits are not merely a privilege of the working woman, they are a right. The Maternity Benefit Act ensures that the new mother does not suffer any loss of earnings following a period of twenty six weeks, this benefit could be availed by women for a period extending up to a maximum of 8 weeks before the expected delivery date and the remaining time can be availed post childbirth, allowing her to rejoin the workforce.
6. Right against female foeticide - It is a duty imposed on every citizen of India to allow a woman to experience the most basic of all rights — the right to life. The Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT) ensures her right against female foeticide.
7. Right to free legal aid - All female rape victims have the right to free legal aid, under the Legal Services Authorities Act. It is mandatory for the Station House Officer (SHO) to inform the Legal Services Authority, who arranges for the lawyer.
8. Right not to be arrested at night - A woman cannot be arrested after sunset and before sunrise, except in an exceptional case on the orders of a first class magistrate.
9. Right to dignity and decency - In the event that an accused is a woman, any medical examination procedure on her must be performed by or in the presence of another woman.
10. Right to property (Personal Law) - The Hindu Succession Act allows women and men equal share in inheritance, thereby setting new rules and regulations.
The Christian law of inheritance and succession is the same for men and women. A person's property is treated as self-acquired despite the mode of acquisition and during one's lifetime, nobody else can contest for it. (On equal footing).
While Property rights of a daughter in Islam - Under the Muslim law, the rules of inheritance are rather strict. A son takes double the share of a daughter, on the other hand, the daughter is the absolute owner of whatever property she inherits. If there is no brother, she gets half a share. It is legally hers to manage, control, and to dispose it off as and when she wants.( this is why because it is the duty of a son to take care of his parents, wife and children whereas the lady is the absolute owner of all her property. So it clearly indicates the superior position of a girl in a family.
Comment:- Laws meant to protect women are being “blatantly abused and misused” to silence in-laws, so the court has to observe and make it clear that the judiciary would effectively prevent such “illegal conduct”.
IS THESE RIGHTS HAS CHANGED THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN INDIA
The path towards total gender empowerment is full of potholes. Over the years, women have made great strides in many areas with notable progress in reducing some gender gaps. Yet realities such as 11,332 women and girls getting trafficked every year, and increased practice of dowry, rape and sexual harassment hit hard against all the development that has taken place. Thus, if on one hand women are climbing the ladder of success, on the other hand she is mutely suffering the violence afflicted on her by her own family members. As compared to the past, women in modern times have achieved a lot but in reality they have to still travel a long way. Women may have left the secured domains of their home, but a harsh, cruel, exploitative world awaits them, where women have to prove their talent against the world who see women as merely vassals of producing children. The Indian woman has to make her way through all the socialised prejudices against her, and the men yet have to allow and accept the women to be equal participants in the country’s way forward.
