This paper intends to sensitize the students about the changing dimensions of gender and also familiarizes them with the subtle manifestations of inequality rooted in our society.

1. SEMESTER: NINTH
BBALLB / BALLB
NAME OF THE SUBJECT: SOCIO LEGAL DIMENSIONS OF
GENDER
UNIT - 1
TOPIC: GENDER AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT
FACULTY NAME: Ms. Anubha Jain
(Assistant Professor)

2. What is Social Construction
• Social construction is a social process in which both individual and other social
processes are intrinsically related. Every construction or image of the world is
influenced by the individual’s experience of the society and his/her interaction with
various social processes.
• Therefore, many often it is argued that the social construction itself carries
subjective biases as it is shaped by individual experience.
• Social construction is also influenced and dominated by the interests of a particular
group or class of people.

3. • Sex- biological category
• Gender-Sociological category
• Gender is a social construct that is determined by culture and society and
defines man-woman relationship that is changeable.

4. Sex and Gender
Sex;
• Sex refers to the biological characteristics with which we are born.
• In a very broad way ‘‘sex’’ refers to the biological and physiological
differences between male and female sex.
Gender:
• Gender is a analytical category that is socially constructed to differentiate
the biological difference between men and women.
• The term gender is also used to describe the differences in behavior
between men and women, which are described as masculine and feminine.

5. The emergence of gender issues
• Gender has been a central ‘issue’ in India since the colonial period. An
overwhelming woman’s question arose from the 19th century social reform
movement, crucially informed and remains a point of crisis in India’ s cultural,
social, and political space.
• The recognition of gender as an issue forms the basis for India’s women’s
movement.
• One important gender concern was a status that is, the rewards and benefits to
women on India’ s journey to self determination, statehood, democracy, progress,
modernity, and development.

6. Manifestation of gender differences can be found in
Construction of:
• Roles-What women and Men do
• Relations- How women and men relate to each other
• Identity-how women and men perceive themselves

7. Ideology of Gender
• Contains norms and rules regarding appropriate behavior
• Determines attributes
• Reproduces range of beliefs and customs to support these norms and social rules
• Norms and rules determine material reality of relative access of men and women to
and claims over different resources. E.g. food, health, education, property, job,
opportunities & entitlements, so on & so forth

8. Gender and Socialization
• Socialization is the process, through which the child becomes an individual
respecting his or her environment, laws, norms and customs.
• Gender socialization as the learning of behavior and attitudes considered
appropriate for a given sex.
• The Gender Socialization process occurs in multiple social institutions, including
the family, religious and educational institutions, mass media and peer networks.
• Gender socialization is a more focused form of socialization, it is how children of
different sexes are socialized into their gender roles and taught what it means to be
male or female.

9. Agents of gender socialization
Family
• The family is considered as the institution that has the greatest impact on gender
socialization. The parents usually hold a number of gender stereotypes, which are
ideas about how a girl and a boy should ideally act and think.
• The choice of toys for the children seem to an image of what is expected of them in
their future.
• Talking and communication pattern.
• Sitting expectations.
• Providing opportunities.

10. Schools
• The next environment that children are entering is the school, where a
conscious socialization is happening. Schools are major contexts for gender
socialization.
• In elementary and middle school, boys usually get more time to talk, are
called on more often, and receive more positive feedback.

11. Theoretical Approaches to Gender
Socialization
• Several theories that attempt to explain gender socialization – social learning
theory, and gender schema theory, Such theorists understand the processes by which
children learn gender appropriate behavior in the same way children learn in
general.
• Other theories focus on gender and sexuality exclusively. Psychoanalytic theory, for
example, emphasizes the unconscious processes involved in developing gender
identity.
• Stockard (1999) suggests that all three theories help explain the process of gender
socialization.

12. Social Learning Theory :
• This theory suggests that learning occurs through reinforcement or imitation and
modeling.
• People learn attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors through social interaction.
Psychoanalytic theory :
• It isn’t a learning theory, it suggests that some aspects of gender identity result from
unconscious psychological processes, rather than more conscious processes.
Cognitive Development theory :
• Cognitive theories of gender socialization offer a different perspective,
emphasizing the developmental nature of the socialization process, as well as the
active role the child plays in the construction of his or her gender identity.
Gender schema theory:
• Gender schema theory suggests people have mental organization systems (schemas)
to help them identify as male or female.

13. Social Constructionist Approach
• A social construct is something that does not exist independently in natural world
but is instead an invention of society
• Cultural practices and norms give rise to the existence of social constructs and
govern the practices ,customs, and rules governing the way we use/view/understand
them.
• In other words, we all act as if they exist, and because of our inter subjective
agreement, they do.

14. • To conclude, gender and gender roles are neither only innate nor only socially
constructed.
• The notions “gender” is both biological and cultural, so gender roles are resulted
from both of the two factors.
• People’s daily life family life, parental guidance, parental selection of toys and
clothes, role modeling creates a constructed perception of gender.
• However, culture and society are not the only; people’s biology, genes, hormones,
brain and the way their brain functions have a huge influence on people’s gender as
well as their sex.
• To understand the secrets of gender and gender roles attached to both men and
women, it is necessary to focus on both biological and social factors. We cannot
understand one without understanding the other.
• Gender and gender roles are socially constructed as well as they are innate.

15. Production of Masculinity and femininity
• The conceptions of masculinity and femininity emerge from broader ways
of thinking about gender. From, the very beginning of his/her identity
formation, an individual has to be involved in the polyphonic discourse of
the society where he/ she is compelled to accept or discard some elements

16. Social construction of masculinity
• Masculinity consists of those behaviors, languages and practices, existing in
specific cultural and organizational locations, which are commonly associated with
males and thus culturally defined as not feminine.
• As socially constructed identities, boys and men learn “appropriate” gender roles in
accordance to the masculine expectations of their given society.
• Another way to explain masculine is construction through what is known as the
Inside the box is a list of socially valued roles and expectations that constitute
conventional masculinity.
• All men are influenced by their upbringing, experience, and social environment
which play a big role in determining one’s view of masculinity and manhood

17. Social construction of femininity
• Simone de Beauvoir's quote, one is not born a woman,but becomes one is
applicable here.
• The notion of womanhood or femininity is accomplished through an active process
of creating gender through interacting with others in a particular social context.
• given a choice to decide their own identity through toys, dresses etc.
• build characteristics and expectations.
• Based on the characteristics of physical, emotional etc which are particularly
appropriate with femininity.

18. • Femininity and masculinity are behavioural construct which are powerful regulators
of human socio-cultural affairs.
• Femininity is the abstract quality of being feminine and masculinity is the abstract
quality of being masculine.
• In the frenetic search for masculinity and femininity in our society, both sexes
project some qualities that they admire and desire on the opposite sex. In denying
themselves the qualities which are said to belong to the opposite sex, people glorify
these qualities in the opposite sex out of proportion.
• For example, it is observed that men deny themselves sensitivity and gentleness in
certain occasions, but desire these qualities in their women. Similarly women are
fond of assertive and authoritative behaviour and demand these qualities of their
men. If the partners can conform to these stereotypes, then it is a good thing.
• But if they cannot sustain these ideals, then there will be conflict, confusions and
disappointment.

19. • The socialization of woman performs her an individual with certain apparently
inherent qualities such as weakness, fickle-mindedness, patience etc. All these help
the patriarchal males to argue that women need to confined to the home and be
protected and controlled. "Her sexuality and desires are made and treated as
subservient to that of the male's.
• Thus the feminists suggest that inequality of sexes does not have a biological basis
of origin, it originates in the cultural constructions of gender differences. Gendering
is a practice of power, where masculinity is always associated with authority"

20. UNIT - 2
TOPIC: POWER AND SUBORDINATION

21. Power and subordination
• The widely accepted definition of power is getting someone else to do what
you want them to do.
• Gender shapes power, from the ‘private’ relationships of the household to the
highest levels of political decision-making.
• Gender divides power. Inequalities between men and women are one of the
most persistent patterns in the distribution of power. For example, women’s
lack of influence marks political decision-making the world over.
• Women, particularly in their socially assigned roles of wife and mother, may
more often understand themselves as being in continuity with the people
around them rather than in opposition. They often aim to build capacity in
others rather than to dominate.

22. • Often what it means to be a woman is to be powerless (quiet, obedient,
accommodating). A real man, by contrast, is powerful (outspoken, in control, able
to impose his will), particularly in relation to women. These gender roles tend to
perpetuate the power inequalities that they are based on. For example, the fact that
many men and women think it’s not natural for women to speak up in public often
poses a key barrier to women’s access to decision-making.
• Gender shapes institutions and how they affect the distribution of power. Most
political and economic institutions, historically dominated by men, are tailored to
(elite) men’s experience. They idealise masculine forms of behavior and rely on
men’s power over women. Therefore these institutions tend to lock in two types of
power - men’s power over women, and the power of the most masculine men over
everyone.
• So gender and power are intrinsically linked

23. Patriarchy and Women’s Subordination
• Patriarchy is the prime obstacle to women’s advancement and development.
Despite differences in levels of domination the broad principles remain the same,
i.e. men are in control. The nature of this control may differ. So it is necessary to
understand the system, which keeps women dominated and subordinate,
• In the modern world where women go ahead by their merit, patriarchy there creates
obstacles for women to go forward in society. Because patriarchal institutions and
social relations are responsible for the inferior or secondary status of women.
Patriarchal society gives absolute priority to men and to some extent limits
women’s human rights also.

24. • The word patriarchy literally means the rule of the father or the patriarch and
originally it was used to describe a specific type of ‘male-dominated family’ – the
large household of the patriarch which included women, junior men, children,
slaves and domestic servants all under the rule of this dominant male. Now it is
used more generally to refer to male domination, to the power relationships by
which men dominate women, and to characterize a system whereby women are kept
subordinate in a number of ways. Patriarchy refers to the male domination both in
public and private spheres.
• Thus, patriarchy describes the institutionalized system of male dominance.
.
• Regarding the existence and origin of patriarchy, traditionalists do believe that men
are born to dominate and women to be subordinate. They believe that this hierarchy
has always existed and will continue, and like other rules of nature this one too
cannot be changed. There are others who challenge these beliefs and say that
patriarchy is not natural it is man-made and, therefore, it can be changed.

25. • Subordination means something else is less important than the other thing.
• Patriarchy, which pre-supposes the natural superiority of male over female,
shamelessly upholds woman subordination to, man in all spheres of life.
Consequently, all the power and authority within the family, the society and the
state remain entirely in the hands of men. So, due to patriarchy, women were
deprived of their legal rights and opportunities patriarchal values restrict women’s
mobility, reject their freedom over themselves as well as their property.
• The term ‘women’s subordination’ refers to the inferior position of women, their
lack of access to resources and decision making etc. and to the patriarchal
domination that women are subjected to in most societies. So, women’s
subordination means the inferior position of women to men.
• Thus, women’s subordination is a situation, where a power relationship exists and
men dominate women

26. • Contemporary feminist theory begins with Simone de Beauvoir’s argument that
because men view women as fundamentally different from themselves, women are
reduced to the status of the second sex and hence subordinate (Beauvior 1974).
Kate Millet’s theory of subordination argues that women are a dependent sex class
under patriarchal domination (Millet 1977).
• Patriarchy is a system whereby women are kept subordinate in a number of ways.
The subordination that we experience at a daily level, regardless of the class we
might belong to, takes various forms – discrimination, disregard, insult, control,
exploitation, oppression, violence – within the family, at the place of work, in
society.
• For instance, a few examples are illustrated here to represent a specific form of
discrimination and a particular aspect of patriarchy. Such as, son preference,
discrimination against girls in food distribution, burden of household work on
women and young girls

27. • So, the norms and practices that define women as inferior to men, impose controls
on-them, are present everywhere in our families, social relations, religious, laws,
schools, textbooks, media, factories, offices. Thus, patriarchy is called the sum of
the kind of male domination we see around women all the time.
Different areas of womens lives which are said to be under patriarchal control:
• Womens Productivity or Labour Power
• Womens Reproduction
• Control over Womens Sexuality
• Womens Mobility
• Property
• In this ideology, men are superior to women and women are part of men’s property,
so women should be controlled by men and this produces women’s subordination.

28. Socio-legal dimensions of Honour Killings
• Honour crime is a vintage crime which still holds its place in today’s society inspite
of the modern mindset and advance thinking. Honour killing is the most aggravated
form of honour crime which is prevalent almost in all the societies of the world
with variation in its statistics. Laws in some countries have totally banned honour
killing and is regarded as one of the heinous crimes. As far as India is concerned it
has no proper and accurate law to deal with such crimes, because of which a big
lacuna has been developed in the Indian legal system.
• An honour killing or shame killing is the homicide of a member of a family by
other members, due to the perpetrators belief that the victim has brought shame or
dishonour to the family or has violated the principle of the family or of the religion,
usually for reasons such as refusing to enter in an arranged marriage, being in a
relationship disapproved by the family, having sex outside the marriage, becoming
the victim of rape, dressing in ways deemed to be inappropriate and so on.

29. • The extend of honour killing varies from state to state and country to country. India
inspite being one of the highest rated countries in regard of honour killing, still all
its states are not involved in this barbaric practice except (Punjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan, Delhi, Bihar etc). In India Punjab is the most notaries state in this regard
with highest rate of honour killing cases because of the presence of ‘Khap
Panchayat’ or ‘Caste panchayat’. Most of the cases go unreported because of the
influence of the family or are reported as suicides or accidents.
• Indian Constitution has been the basic document and guiding force which vests
ample of rights to its citizens. Honour killing violates few such provisions in the
Constitution, thus, contrary to the basic rights of people. Such rights are: Article 14
(Right to Equality), Article 15(1) and (3) (prohibition of discrimination on grounds
of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth), Article 17(Abolition of
Untouchability), Article 19(1) (freedom to speech and expression) and Article
21(right to life and personal liberty).

30. • The Directive Principle of State Policy (DPSP) though not enforceable can be
considered for good governance of the Country. Article 39(a) provides for the State
to secure that all citizens are provided with adequate means of livelihood. But
honour killing deprives the life of the woman in most of the cases. And Article 39
(e) and (f) provides for the State to ensure that the childhood and youth are
protected.
• Due to this customary practice of honour killing many young and married couples
are exploited, they are placed in an unprotected circumstance. Hence it is the duty
of the State to protect such vulnerable people and protect their lives against this evil
practice. exploitation and against growing and material abandonment.

31. Reasons behind prevalence of honor killing
• Patriarchal Mindset
• Caste system
• Khap Panchayat and vote bank politics
• Lack of education
• No separate and strict laws

32. Different laws in India pertaining to honour killing
• The Indian Penal Code-Section 300(Murder)
• Constitution of India- Articles 14, 15 (1) & (3) 19 and 21
• The Indian majority Act, 1857
• The special marriage Act, 1954
• The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
• The protection of women from domestic violence Act, 20051
• Indian evidence Act, 1872
• Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2006

33. Khap Panchayats and Honour Killing
• Panchayat literally means assembly of five prudent and respected elders chosen and
accepted by the village community. Usually, some mighty and powerful persons,
were coerced public consensus and without any election group together and declare
themselves ‘the king of the caste’, thereby constituting the caste panchayats.
• Khaps panchayats are active in various states of the country especially Haryana.
Khaps of these states are notorious for their outlandish edicts like declaring married
couples siblings, ostracising families and such other atrocious acts. The reason
behind all these atrocious verdicts is to save the so called honour and culture of the
society.

34. Indian Judiciary on Honour Killing
• Lata Singh v. State of U.P. and Anr, 2006 (5) SCC 475
• Bhagwan Dass v. State (NCT) of Delhi, 2011 (6) SCC 396.
• Ashish Sharma and Another v. State of UP and others
• State of U.P. v. Krishna Master and anr, AIR 2010 SC 3071
• Arumugam Servai v. State of Tamil Nadu,34 (2011) 6 SCC 405.

35. Socio-legal Dimensions of Witch-Hunting
• The word ‘witchcraft’ is made up of two words ‘wicce’ and ‘craft’. ‘Wicce’ has
originated from ‘wicca’ which means ‘witch’ and ‘craft’ refers to ‘skill or ability’.
Witchcraft is the practice and belief in magical abilities and the one who professes
witchcraft is called a witch or wizard. In the past, midwives were accused of
witchcraft and were made to admit it by subjecting them to torture. As the word is
used in a negative sense, the people associated with witchcraft are looked at with
suspicion and are socially less acceptable.
• On the other hand, witch hunting is the wicked practice where the women alleged
of causing detrimental influences are branded as witches by Ojhas (witch
doctors/tantriks) or community people and are thereafter hounded, banished,
flogged, raped, paraded naked through the village, forced to eat human excreta,
balded, thrashed etc. The women accused of being witches are called by various
names like dayan, tonahi, beta khauki (son eater), adam khauki (man eater),
bhaikhauki (brothereater), maradmuhi, kheldi (characterless), bisahin (poisonous
woman), bhootni, Dakan etc. Thus, witch hunting involves both physical and verbal
abuse.

36. • Despite the tremendous amount of violence involved in the witch hunt, it lacks a
national legal code which could be adequate to deal with the issue in its entirety. A
significant thing to note here is that, barring the recent few contrary cases, the
victims of witch hunt are generally the women who are mentally unsound, sans a
spouse or children, and/or are from lower strata of society. This does not only
exhibit the schematic nature of the matter, but also a sense of animosity against a
particular section of the society.
• The practice is said to have emanated hundreds of years ago in the Morigaon
district of Assam which is famously called ‘The Indian capital of black magic’ and
is the abode of people who want to learn witchcraft. The practice is a customary
one in India and is prevalent in rural isolated areas especially among the tribal
population. The incidents of witch hunting are prominent in Assam, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

37. Witch hunt as a Social Practice
• The whole practice of witch hunt entails the social pattern which is being followed
from the primitive times. Not only does it encapsulate the authority of regressive
yet indelible social norms, it also vividly depicts the repercussions of a deviant
behavior. In fact, with superstition being a primary ingredient of the practice, earlier
times have created distinctive images of witches.
• From a hag on a broom to a woman with supernatural powers, the narrative has
undergone some shifts. What remains constant, however, is the horrendously
violent treatment which is given to the people who are branded as witches. Going
by the witch hunt accounts, the patriarchal Ojhas possess all the social powers to
drive an entire town into brutally murdering the supposed evil force.

38. Legislations on Witch Hunting
• It cannot be denied that the primary reason which aggravates the issue at hand is the
scarcity of a national statutory provision.
• There are numerous laws in force at international, national level and in various
states which provide stringent punishment to the perpetrators of witch hunting and
the related practices.
• Different states have respective enactments to handle the issue effectively, with
Bihar being the first state to give an affirmative nod to the legislation in the form of
Prevention of Witch (Dayan) Practices Act, 1999. The step was followed by
numerous states such as Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Assam to
name a few.

39. • The state of Assam, in fact, has only recently got the Presidential affirmation to the
Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention, and Protection) Bill, 2015. The Act,
2015 classifies the practice as a non- bailable, non- cognizable, and non-
compoundable offence while laying down up to seven year imprisonment and a fine
up to 5 lakh for identifying any person as a witch.
• The violent incidents of witch hunt are also dealt by invoking various provisions of
Indian Penal Code, 1860. Majorly, Section 302 (murder), Section 307 (attempt to
murder), Section 323(punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), Section 376
(punishment for rape), and Section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the
Code, 1860 come into force while dealing with the atrocities pertaining to witch
hunt.
• Apart from these state legislation there are other bodies established to prevent
witch-hunting and promote protection to women and to ensure those rights
necessary for them to live a peaceful life with dignity.

40. • Partner for Law in Development (PLD) 1998, which is a group of legal resource
working for social justice and women’s right in India. It considers women’s rights
as an integral part of the society and hence protects women’s right from getting
violated through families, on basis of sexuality, culture, caste, etc.
• Other than this many NGO’s are working for preventing and protecting women
from the social evil of witch-hunting.one among those is Rural Litigation and
Entitlement Kendra, which had also filled a PIL in Supreme Court relating to the
abuse of women in name of witch-hunting on behalf of 1000 rural women in
Jharkhand who were victimised of witch-hunting.
• Apart from these NGO’s and some local bodies working against witch hunting, a
bill “Prevention and Prohibition of Witch-Hunting” has been drafted by members of
Human Rights Defence International, which is still pending. It aims at establishing
national legislation relating to witch-hunting.

41. Case study
• In January, 2019(Orissa) Mangri Munda, a tribal woman along with her two sons
and two daughters were murdered and their bodies were dumped in a well close to
their house. People believed her to be a witch capable of doing black magic. The
main accused in the case was Budhram Munda who was the witch doctor. People
thought that she was responsible for a long-running sickness in the accused family.
• The case of Mangri Munda is only one example among the many where innocent
women are accused of being witches and are held responsible for the deaths of
children, illness spreading in the village and other mishappenings.

42. Judicial Pronouncements
• Tula Devi and others v. State of Jharkhand, 2006 (3) JCR 222 Jhr
• Madhu Munda v. State of Bihar, 2003 (3) JCR 156 Jhr

43. UNIT - 3
TOPIC: RESISTANCE AND MOVEMENTS
FACULTY NAME: Ms. Anubha Jain
(Assistant Professor)

44. Resistance and Movements
• Women have historically been associated with inferiority in philosophical, medical
and religious traditions.
• The hierarchical dichotomy of a body versus soul/intellect was seen to parallel the
division of the sexes with women, due to their childbearing functions and
menarche, pejoratively associated with corporeality.
• Despite the dominance of these misogynist traditions, some individuals during the
Middle Ages and early modern period challenged the status quo and called for
greater equality between the sexes.

45. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century:
The First Wave
• Both men and women, (notably Mary Wollstonecraft), the idea of pursuing greater
gender equality was rarely discussed.
• By the turn of the twentieth century, however, Woolf’s contemporaries in Britain
and in the United States Of America, New Zealand and Australia were actively
pushing for greater equality, establishing new traditions and feminist mothers to
inspire later generations.
• Emmeline Pankhurst in England were the key pioneers of ‘first-wave feminism’, a
period in which women organized themselves into public and high-profile advocacy
groups, campaigning for equality in property, economic and voting rights.
Beginning with New Zealand in 1898, women were granted the Women’s Suffrage
and within half a century, enjoyed suffrage in a majority of countries across all
continents: the US in 1919 and the United Kingdom in 1928 (to all women over
21).

46. The Second Wave
• The second-wave of feminist campaigning for gender equality targeted new
objectives from their ‘first wave’ sisters. Having achieved suffrage and equality in
property rights, Feminists after WWII broadened their objectives to tackling
discrimination in employment opportunities, pay and education, reproductive rights
and the role of women in the family and household. The slogan and battle-cry of the
second wave was coined by Carol Hanisch: “The Personal is Political” The second
wave deconstructed and criticized for the first time power relations between men
and women in the realm of the personal as well as the public: culture, sexuality, and
the political inequalities were intimately intertwined, subjecting women to
discrimination that only self-realization of these power relations could overcome.

47. Key achievements of second wave
• In the US: the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Title IX and the Women’s Educational Equity Act (1972 And 1975).
• This period also saw international committees and conferences dedicated to
promoting gender equality.
• In the first decade, the Commission passed the following conventions aimed at
promoting gender equality: Convention on the Political Rights of Women, adopted
by the General Assembly (1952); the convention on the Nationality of Married
Women, (1957).

48. Third Wave Feminism
• By the late 1980s, the campaign for gender equality entered the ‘third wave’.
• Feminist called for greater awareness of the specific equality concerns of other
female identities previously marginalised in second wave discourses for gender
equality: women from black and minority backgrounds, bisexual, lesbian, and
transgender women, the ‘postcolonial’ voice and lower social classes. The third
wave criticised the second wave’s “conformism”.

49. From Chipko To Sati-The Contemporary Indian Women’s Movement- RADHA
KUMAR
• In 1970’s Indian women faced a number of problems and domination which
resulted in the outbreak of a series of women’s movements and campaigns. These
campaigns and movements include a number of issues of importance of women,
which emanate process of change and development in feminist thinking.
• After India’s independence in 1947, the Congress Government of that time made
promises to uplift the position of women and thereby, declared equality of men and
women in the Constitution, by setting up many administrative bodies and raising
opportunities for women.
• Most famous Feminist movements were Shahada and anti-price agitations in
Maharashtra and Self Employed Women’s Association and Nav Nirman in Gujarat.

50. • The shahada movement was a Bhil Tribal landless laborer’s movements.
• In Gujarat, the first women’s trade union(textile labor Association) formed in 1972 by
Ella Bhatt.
• The self-employments women’s association (SEWA) was an organization which worked
collectively for women and fought against the issues of low earnings, poor working
conditions, harassment from those in authority etc.
• The drought and famine, in the rural areas of Maharashtra in early 1970’s led to a sharp
rise in prices in the urban areas, which resulted in the formation of United Women’s anti-
price rise front.The protest included mostly women who campaigned against the
inflation and addressed the government to fix the prices.

51. • This movement spread to Gujarat and was known as Nav Nirman movement, which
was students movement against black marketing, corruption, and soaring prices.
• During the same time, the first contemporary women’s feminist movement was
formed in Hyderabad which include the women from Maoist movement, who raised
the issue of gender oppression. Because of sudden rise in women’s movements, the
United Nations declared 1975, as the International women’s year. March 8,
international women’s day was celebrated for the first time in India.

52. Early Feminists Campaigns
• The role of the feminist groups was to raise feminist issues with mass organizations
such as trade unions, Kisan Samiti etc. In the late 1970’s many loosely organized
groups were formed, the only party based organization was Mahila Dakshata Samiti
(women’s self-development organization) founded in 1977 by the socialist women
in the coalition of Janata Part.
• Many Dowry related cases were found in and around Delhi, dowry related crimes
and murder of women because of dowry, increased in the country. Women’s death
by the fire was regarded as suicide and police refused to lodge the complaint
treating the matter as personal.
• No one bothered to raise voices against the violence until when the feminists
reversed the indifference by linking the deaths of women by fire not as merely
suicides but coupled with dowry harassment

53. The Agitation Against Rape
• Just after the few months of the anti-dowry campaign and dowry-related crimes, the
campaigns against rape started with campaigns against police.
Growth And Maturing Of The Movements
• Feminist began to move from the earlier modes of agitations such as public
campaigns illustrations, street plays etc to build the structures of support to
individual women, which resulted in the formation of women’s center in several
cities. These centers provide support, counseling, health care and in some centers it
also provided with employment.
• Later in 1980, these centers also organized workshops which initiated several
activities and has sessions on drama, singing, painting etc. Short stories, myths,
folktales, songs, street plays were used to depict the position of women from the
past to present.
• Feminists also emphasized the role of the women int movements which depicted
social tranformation, one such movement was Chipko movement- a movement
against deforestation and to preserve forest from destruction from timber
contractors. Women played an important role in this mass movement.

54. Challenges to Movements
• There were several challenges which were related to the issue of religion and
interfered with the personal. For example, A women married under Muslim Or
Hindu law cannot take divorce under secular law, several hardships were faced
during the time, later British colonial government passed (section 125 Cr.P.C.) that
a divorced women is a destitute who is entitled to maintenance by her husband.
Another case of the practice of sati
• There were several agitations towards the sati, but immediately after the
immolation, the site became a pilgrimage spot, where it was seen from Hindu
(religion point of view). Feminist were opposed by mainly Hindu reformist, Arya
Samaj etc. These were very challenging towards the women’s movements.

55. • Contemporary Indian women’s movement was a complex journey. It included a
large participation of women from both rural and urban areas. These movements
created a sense of understanding on the position of women and also created
consciousness among themselves.
When supporting gender equality they are the group who are especially confronted
with resistance.
• The section gives three main messages:
• Resistance is part of any change process
• Resistance can be used to promote change
• There are ways of dealing with resistance

56. Types and Causes of Resistance
Individual level and Organisational level
• There is a broad range of manifestations of resistance:
• Passive resistance
• Hidden resistance

57. Gender in Media and Market
• The media is instrumental in defining what we think, how we look and our social
place and issues in the society.
• The term mass media is defined as a means of communication that operates on a
large scale, reaching and involving virtually everyone in the society to a greater or
lesser degree.
• Mass media has been influencing the social,cultural, economic, spiritual, political
and religious aspects of society as well as personal level thinking, feeling and
acting.
• Media feed the people with the latest information and create the need for change in
contemporary society.

58. • Media and Gender refers to the relationship between media and gender, and how
gender is represented within media platforms.
• Information is power. It is a source of knowledge. Modern age is the age of
information. Information plays an important role in each and every sphere of life.
• We are living in an age of information revolution. Newspapers, radio and television
are all well-known resources for getting information.
Participation and influence of women in the media
• Numbers of women in media profession, such as journalism, is growing; however,
the media is and has been statistically dominated by men, who hold the vast
majority of power positions. Studies show that men are more likely to be quoted
than women in the media, and more likely to cover “serious” topics.
• For example, women’s presence on radio is typically hired to cover topics such as
weather and culture.

59. • The level of participation and influence of women in the media also has
implications for media content: female media professionals are more likely to
reflect other women’s needs and perspectives than their male colleagues. It is
important to acknowledge, however, that not all women working in the media will
be gender aware and prone to cover women’s needs and perspectives; and it is not
impossible for men to effectively cover gender issues.
• In cinema there is concern about the low number of female directors and the
difficulties of older actresses to find roles. They also earn 2.5 times lesser income
than men in the same jobs.
• A survey conducted by Stacy Smith of the University Of Southern California shows
that only 7% of directors, 13% of writers and 20% of producers in film and
television are women.
• However, increasing numbers of women work in the media as journalist or
directors. Therefore, they deal with the topics closely related to women’s need and
tend to provide a positive role for women.

60. Media content and portrayal of men and women in the media
• Fair gender portrayal in the media should be a professional and ethical aspiration,
similar to respect for accuracy, fairness and honesty
• Stereotypes are also prevalent in every day media. Women are often portrayed
solely as homemakers and carers of the family, dependent on men, or as objects of
male attention. Stories by female reporters are more likely to challenge stereotypes
than those filed by male reporters (Gallagher et al., 2010). As such, there is a link
between the participation of women in the media and improvements in the
representation of women.
• Men are also subjected to stereotyping in the media. They are typically
characterised as powerful and dominant. There is little room for alternative visions
of masculinity. The media tends to demean men in caring or domestic roles, or
those who oppose violence. Such portrayals can influence perceptions in terms of
what society may expect from men and women, but also what they may expect
from themselves. They promote an unbalanced vision of the roles of women and
men in society.

61. SEXUALIZATION
• The western ideal of female beauty is that of the fit, young and thin women, and the
media spreads this ideal through movies, TV shows, fashion shows, advertisements,
magazines and newspapers, music videos, and children’s cartoons. For women to be
considered attractive, they have to conform to images in advertisements, television,
and music portraying the ideal women as tall, white, thin, with a ‘tubular’ body and
blonde hair.
• Studies show that a typical female roles fall into cultural stereotypes of women and
are often sexualized with minimal clothing and sexualized roles.
• The objectification of women in the media is transmitted verbally and nonverbally,
as well as directly and indirectly, and it is not only visual but can also be expressed
subtly by commenting on women’s appearance in a humorous way, making jokes
and gags, and using double meanings.
• Some shows focused entirely on successful professional women and their “quests
for sex, pleasure and romantic love”, such as Ally McBeal (1997-2002) and Sex
and the city (1998-2004). Even if the main character in Ally McBeal was portrayed
as desperate to find a husband, the show had other non-stereotypical female
characters and “ sided with the women”.
•

62. DOMESTICATION
• On TV, marriage, parenthood,domesticity have been shown as more important to
women than men. From the mid-1940s to the 1960s, women (predominantly white,
middle-class women) were portrayed mostly as housewives who had seemingly
“perfect” lives: their houses were always impeccably clean, their children were
always healthy, and they were always beautiful and organized.
• Men are portrayed as more as assertive or aggressive, adventurous, active, and
victorious, whilst women are shown as passive, weak, ineffectual, victimized,
supportive, and laughable.
AGE GAP
• While 40+ male roles are on the rise in both theatrical and television productions,
female 40+ roles represent only 28% of female roles.

63. • Thus the manipulative role and the class and gender bias of media is essential to be
challenged.
• Women must create alternatives in different media and use them to inform and
empower women, to get women out of their isolation.
• We must make ourselves more visible and audible so that our concerns do not
remain unarticulated and unattended.
• Not only must women create alternative methods of working together; methods
which are more democratic and participatory and which break the divide between
‘media makers’ and ‘’media takers’.
• It is heartening to see many women making feminist films, publishing magazines,
writing plays, songs, children’s poems, etc., to express themselves and to initiate a
dialogue with other women, to challenge stereotypes and myths.
• The struggle is long and complex as the patriarchal society is very strong.

64. Socio Legal dimensions of Third Gender
• Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity, gender
expression or conduct does no longer conform to that generally related to sex to
which they had been assigned at beginning.
• Throughout our lives we have been told that Sex and Gender are synonymous. Men
are Masculine and Women are Feminine.
• The group of people who fall outside the stereotypical spheres of Gender are
branded as Transgender Persons.
• Transgender people have existed in every culture, race, and class since the story of
human life has been recorded. The contemporary term ‘transgender’ arose in the
mid-1990s from the grassroots community of gender-different people.
•

65. • Transgender is not a term limited to persons whose genitals are intermixed but it is
a blanket term of people whose gender expression, identity or behavior differs from
the norms expected from their birth sex. Various transgender identities fall under
this category including transgender male, transgender female, male-to-female
(MTF) and female to male(FTM). It also includes cross-dressers (those who
wear clothes of the other), gender queer people (they feel they belonged to either
both genders or neither gender) and transsexuals.

66. Problem Faced by the Transgender
• The main problems that are being faced by the transgender community are of
discrimination, unemployment, lack of educational facilities, homelessness, lack of
medical facilities: like HIV care and hygiene, depression, hormone pill abuse,
tobacco and alcohol abuse, penectomy, and problems related to marriage and
adoption.
• In the Present Scenario, the problems faced by the Transgender in India can be
categorized into three
1. Exclusion from Social and Cultural Participation
2. Exclusion from Economy
3. Exclusion from Citizen Participation:
• Poverty
• Illiteracy
• Discrimination and Ignorance
• Suicide
• Prone to HIV
• Alcohol and Drug Usage

67. • Most families do not accept if their male child starts behaving in ways that are
considered feminine or inappropriate to the expected gender role. Consequently,
family members may threaten, scold or even assault their son/sibling from behaving
or dressing-up like a girl or woman. Some parents may outright disown and evict
their own child for crossing the prescribed gender norms of the society and for not
fulfilling the roles expected from a male child. Parents may provide several reasons
for doing so: bringing disgrace and shame to the family; diminished chances of
their child getting married to a woman in the future and thus end of their generation
(if they have only one male child); and perceived inability on the part of their child
to take care of the family.
• Thus, later transgender women may find it difficult even to claim their share of the
property or inherit what would be lawfully theirs. Sometimes, the child or teenager
may decide to run away from the family not able to tolerate the discrimination or
not wanting to bring shame to one's family.

68. • Some of them may eventually find their way to Hijra communities. This means
many Hijras are not educated or uneducated and consequently find it difficult to get
jobs. Moreover, it is hard to find people who employ Hijras/TG people. Some
members of the society ridicule gender-variant people for being 'different' and they
may even be hostile. Even from police, they face physical and verbal abuse, forced
sex, extortion of money and materials; and arrests on false allegations. Absence of
protection from police means ruffians find Hijras/TG people as easy targets for
extorting money and as sexual objects. A 2007 study documented that in the past
one year, the percentage of those MSM and Hijras who reported: forced sex is 46%;
physical abuse is 44%; verbal abuse is 56%; blackmail for money is 31%; and
threat to life is 24%.

69. Rights Granted under Indian Law to Transgenders
• The rule of law is supreme and everyone is equal in the eyes of law in India. Yet, the
transgender community is in a constant battle as they have to fight oppression, abuse and
discrimination from every part of the society, whether it’s their own family and friends
or society at large. The life of transgender people is a daily battle as there is no
acceptance anywhere and they are ostracized from the society and also ridiculed.
• Preamble to the Constitution mandates Justice - social, economic, and political equality
of status.
Articles to be Discussed:
• Article 14
• Article 15
• Article 19
• Article 21
• Article 51
•

70. • In April, 2014, Supreme Court in its landmark judgment of NALSA v. Union of
India (hereinafter the NALSA judgment) ushered in the recognition of various civil
and political rights of the transgender community. The genesis of this recognition
lies in the acknowledgment of equal worth of every person and the right of choice
given to an individual which is the inseparable part of human rights.
• The Supreme Court of India in its pioneering judgment by the division bench
of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri in National Legal Services Authority
v. Union of India & Ors. [Writ Petition (Civil) No.400 of 2012(NALSA)]
recognized the third gender along with the male and female. By recognizing diverse
gender identities, the Court has busted the dual gender structure of ‘man’ and
‘woman’ which is recognized by the society.
• “Recognition of Transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a
human rights issue,” Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan told the Supreme Court while
handing down the ruling.

71. • The Indian Supreme Court’s declaration that transgender individuals are a Third
Gender under the constitution and recent legislation has significantly furthered
recognition and rights for transgender individuals.
• One of the basic tenets of the equality scheme lies in the recognition and
acknowledgement of the ‘right of choice and self-determination’. Determination of
the gender to which a person belongs and relates is intrinsic to their right of self-
determination and their dignity.
• This judgment covers persons who want to identify with the third gender as well as
persons who want to transition from one identity to another, i.e. to male to female
or vice versa. The Court has directed Centre and State Governments to grant legal
recognition of gender identity whether it be male, female or third gender.
• Legal Recognition for Third Gender
• Legal Recognition for people transitioning within male/female binary:
• Public Health and Sanitation
• Socio-Economic Rights
• Stigma and Public Awareness

72. Violation of Human Rights
• The transgender community faces stigma and discrimination and therefore has
fewer opportunities as compared to others. They are hardly educated as they are nor
accepted by the society and therefore do not receive proper schooling. Even if they
are enrolled in an educational institute, they face harassment and are bullied every
day and are asked to leave the school or they drop out on their own. It is because of
this that they take up begging and sex work.
• Seldom does a skilled individual from this community get into formal employment
due to the policy of hiring only from either the male or female gender. Even if they
do, they are ridiculed and ostracized and hence forced to leave their jobs.
• They are forced into sex work which puts them at the highest risk of contracting
HIV as they agree to unprotected sexual intercourse because they fear rejection or
they want to affirm their gender through sex. They are viewed as ‘vectors’ of HIV
in the society. Other sexually transmitted infections such as rectal gonorrhea,
syphilis, rectal Chlamydia, etc., add to the risk of HIV

73. • Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956 which was amended in 1986 has become
a gender neutral legislation. The domain of the Act now applies to both male and
female sex workers along with those whose gender identity was indeterminate.
With the amendment both the male and hijra sex workers became criminal subjects
as this gives the police the legal basis for arrest and intimidation of the transgender
sex workers.
CASE STUDIES
• Laxmi Narayan Tripathy, a Hijra, explained her trauma as growing up as a child,
“I felt different from the boys (as I was born as a boy) of my age and was feminine
in my ways. On account of her femininity, from an early age, I faced repeated
sexual harassment, molestation and sexual abuse, both within and outside the
family. Due to my being different, I was isolated and had no one to talk to or
express my feelings while I was coming to terms with my identity. I was constantly
abused by everyone as a ‘chakka’ and ‘hijra’.”
• Later, she joined the hijra community is Mumbai as she identified with other Hijras
and for the first time in her life, she felt at home.

74. • Siddarth Narrain, an eunuch, has similar things to say. He expresses his feelings
as when, “I was in the 10th standard I realized that the only way for me to be
comfortable was to join the hijra community. It was then that my family found out
that I frequently met hijras who lived in the city. One day, when my father was
away, my brother, encouraged by my mother, started beating me with a cricket bat. I
locked myself in a room to escape from the beatings. My mother and brother then
tried to break into the room to beat me up further. Some of my relatives intervened
and brought me out of the room.”

75. Right of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014
• The Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on 12th December, 2014 which is passed on
24thApril, 2015 unanimously, with cross-party support. This was a private
member’s bill introduced by the MP from Tamil Nadu, Tiruchi Siva. 24th April is
celebrated as Transgender day following the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
• The rights guaranteed under the Bill are mostly substantive rights such as the right
to equality and non-discrimination, life and personal liberty, free speech, to live in a
community, integrity, along with protection from torture or cruelty and abuse,
violence and exploitation. There is a separate clause for transgender children.
• Education, employment and social security and health are also covered under the
Bill. The chapter on education makes it mandatory for the Government to provide
inclusive education for transgender students and provide adult education to them.
•

76. The Transgender Persons ( Protection of Rights) Bill 2016
• It was introduced in Lok Sabha on 2, August 2016 by the Minister of Social Justice
and Empowerment.
The Bill provides:
• Definition of Transgender
• Recognition of Gender Identity
• Certificate of Indentity
• Welfare Measures
• Right of Residence
• Right to Education
• Health Care Facilities

77. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act,2019 (the
‘Act’).
• Non-recognition of the Third Gender in the Indian legal framework has resulted in
systematic denial of equal protection of law and widespread socio-economic
discrimination in society at large as well as in Indian workplaces. In the wake of the
Nalsa Judgment, the Indian parliament recently enacted the Transgender Persons
(Protection of Rights) Act,2019 (the ‘Act’).
• ‘Transgender’ as defined in the Act, refers to and includes all individuals whose
gender does not conform or match with the gender assigned to them at birth and
includes trans-man and trans-woman (whether or not they have undergone sex
reassignment surgery (‘SRS’) and individuals with socio-cultural identities such as
‘kinner’, ‘hijra’, ‘aravani’ and ‘jogta’.

78. • The obligations included in the Bill take the form of guarantees (from Chapter II to
Chapter VIII). They include the following.
• Prohibition of discrimination against Transgender individuals
• Recognition of identity
• Welfare measures
• Rehabilitation and right of residence
• National Council for Transgender Persons
• Inclusivity in the workplace

79. TOPIC: EMERGING TRENDS WITH RESPECT TO LGBT
COMMUNITY

80. LGBT Community
• The phrase “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community” (or “LGBT
community”) refers to a broad coalition of groups that are diverse with respect to
gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
• Lesbians, gay men, and bisexual men and women are defined according to their
sexual orientation, which is typically conceptualized in terms of sexual attraction,
behavior, identity, or some combination of these dimensions.
• They share the fact that their sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual. Yet
this grouping of “non heterosexuals” includes men and women; homosexual and
bisexual individuals; people who label themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual,
among other terms; and people who do not adopt such labels but nevertheless
experience same-sex attraction or engage in same-sex sexual behavior.

81. • In contrast to lesbians, gay men, and bisexual men and women, transgender people
are defined according to their gender identity and presentation. This group
encompasses individuals whose gender identity differs from the sex originally
assigned to them at birth or whose gender expression varies significantly from what
is traditionally associated with or typical for that sex (i.e., people identified as male
at birth who subsequently identify as female, and people identified as female at
birth who later identify as male), as well as other individuals who vary from or
reject traditional cultural conceptualizations of gender in terms of the male–female
dichotomy.
• The transgender population is diverse in gender identity, expression, and sexual
orientation. Some transgender individuals have undergone medical interventions to
alter their sexual anatomy and physiology, others wish to have such procedures in
the future, and still others do not.
• Transgender people can be heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual in their sexual
orientation. Some lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals are transgender; most are not.

82. • The idea of human rights is the most common issue around the world that
encapsulates human dignity. The very idea of human rights lies in the concept of
‘humans should be treated as equal and anything that undermines it is the violation
of the principle of equality’. Under the articles of 14 and 21, the Indian constitution
rightly mentioned equality before the law and equal protection of the law for all.
• The preamble of the constitution also mandates justice such as social, economic,
and political equality of status -- for all. Earlier in 2014, Apex Court ruled that the
rights and freedoms of transgender people in India were protected under the
Constitution.
• Also, the court has decriminalized adult consensual same-sex relationships in the
Section 377 judgment review.
• These judgments are considered a landmark both in terms of their expansive
reading of constitutional rights and in empowering LGBT persons. Both judgments
mark an important moment for the rights of LGBT. But as per the various critics,
there is a huge gap in implementing a program for the LGBT community in India
that paves the way for discrimination.

83. Difficulties Faced by LGBT Community: The LGBT face innumerable difficulties
in the society where the only accepted orientation is heterosexuality and
homosexuality is regarded as abnormal.
• Heterosexuality: They are more likely to experience intolerance, discrimination,
harassment, and threat of violence due to their sexual orientation than those that
identify themselves as heterosexual.
• In-equality & Violence: They face inequality and violence at every place around the
world. They face torture from people who mock at them and make them realize that
they are different from others.
• Deprived in Rights: In many countries, the rights enjoyed by opposite-sex couples
are not enjoyed by same-sex couples. They are prohibited from those rights.
• Isolation from society: They gradually develop low self-esteem and low self-
confidence and become isolated from friends and family.

84. • Conflict in Family itself: Lack of communication between LGBT children and the
parents often leads to conflict in the family. Many LGBT youths are placed in foster
care or end up in juvenile detention or on the streets.
• Racial Discrimination: Additionally, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
face poverty and racism daily. They suffer from social and economic inequalities
due to continuous discrimination in the workplace.
• Tape of Addictions: These people mostly get addicted to drugs, alcohol, and
tobacco to get themselves relieved of stress and rejection and discrimination.
• Victims of Hate Crimes: They also become victims of hate crimes. In some
countries, homosexuality is regarded as a crime. It is illegal and is often met by
imprisonment and fines.

85. Exclusion and discrimination have more impact on the lives of LGBT persons. This
has resulted in the following:
• Dropping out of school earlier
• Leaving home and family
• Being ignored in the community
• Lacking family support
• Attempt suicide

86. International Developments for LGBT Community
• India: In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court of India ruled that consensual
adult gay sex is not a crime saying sexual orientation is natural and human
beings have no control over it.
• Ireland: Ireland legalized same-sex marriage. The country, which had
decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, became the first country to allow same-
sex marriage at a national level by popular vote.
• USA: US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal.
• Nepal: Nepal legalized homosexuality in 2007 and the new Constitution of the
country to gives many rights to the LGBT community.

87. Recent Rising Issues for India: Gap for Policy Implementation
The Indian government has successfully leaped ahead of section 377 which had
imposed by the British on the people of India. As section 377 removed, but there
is a wide gap in implementing a policy for the LGBT community and make a better
environment for them. Right now, they are facing many issues that are underline in
the below section:
• Issue of Family: The problem of sexual orientation and gender identity leads to
fighting and family disruption. Lack of communication and misunderstanding
between parents and their LGBT children increases family conflict.
• Issue of Discrimination still prevails in Work Place: LGBT suffers from the socio-
economic inequalities in large part due to discrimination in the workplace.
• Issue of Injustice: Human rights and fundamental rights are applicable to all
person, but the state is failed to create special legislation which protects the rights
of LGBT Minority community and to provide real justice to them.
• Issue of Khap Panchayat: The consent of the family or the community or the clan is
not necessary once the two adult individuals agree to enter into wedlock while
holding that any attempt by Khap Panchayats or any other assembly to scuttle or
prevent two consenting adults from marrying is absolutely “illegal”.

88. Socio-Legal Dimensions of Prostitution and Trafficking
• Trafficking is a organized crime which violates all tenets of human dignity and
rights. Trafficking can occur for various purposes--labour, commercial sexual
exploitation, organ trade etc. Trafficking is a centre and State subject
• Poverty, illiteracy, lack of livelihood options, natural/man made disasters makes a
person vulnerable to trafficking. India faces both In-country and Cross Border
trafficking.
• Estimate place number of sex workers in country at 3 million of which 40 percent
are children.
• 90% or more estimated as in-country and 5 to 10% to cross-border trafficking,
reported mainly from Bangladesh and Nepal.
• Also, there are reports that people from India are being trafficked to Middle Eastern
countries for domestic help, manual labour, child marriages etc.

89. 89
Constitutional Provisions on Trafficking
Trafficking in Human Beings or Persons is prohibited under the Constitution of
India. The specific provisions relates to Article 23 (1) of the Constitution which is as
follows:-
'Traffic in human beings and begar and other similar forms of forced labour are
prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable
in accordance with law'.

90. 90
International Legal Instruments
 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols (Sale of
Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography) [Ratified]
 Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) [Ratified]
 UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime [Signed]
 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Esplly. Women
and Children supplementing above Convention [Signed]
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

91. 91
SAARC
• SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and
Children for Prostitution [Ratified].
• SAARC Convention on Regional Arrangements for Promotion of Child
Welfare in South Asia [Ratified].
• SAARC Charter where trafficking issues to be addressed at regional level

92. 92
National Legal Framework
• Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956
• Indian Penal Code
• Juvenile Justice ( Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000
• Child Marriage Prohibition Act 2006

93. 93
National Policies and Plans
• National Child Labour Policy, 1987
• National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, 2001
• National Plan of Action to combat trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation
of women and children (1998)
• National Plan of Action for Children, 2004
• Integrated National Plan of Action to Prevent and Combat Trafficking of Human
Beings, with Special focus on Women and Children (being formulated)—will look
at trafficking for all purposes

94. 94
Commissions
• National Commission for Human Rights.
• National Commission for Women.
• Nation Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

95. 95
Amendments to Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956
To protect the victim:-
• New section where Trafficking is defined
• Age of child raised from sixteen years to eighteen year.
• Deletion of Sections which re-victimized the victims.
• In-Camera proceedings in court cases to safeguard privacy of victims.
• New Section 5B which provides punishment for trafficking in persons
• Enhancement of punishment to traffickers, brothel keepers, pimps etc.
• If the trafficked victim is a child the punishment can extend to life.
• New section for punishment for a persons who visits brothel for sexual exploitation.

96. 96
Institutional Mechanism:-
• Setting up of a Central Nodal Authority in the centre and State nodal authorities in
the States for preventing and combating offence of trafficking.
• Its Functions include :
• Coordination
• Investigation
• Rescue and rehabilitation
• Judicial support
• Cooperation and research training

97. 97
Need for demand reduction
• Justification for new Section 5C which provides Punishment for Visiting Brothel
and thus reduces demand .
• ITPA is an Act against Trafficking which is an organized crime.
• Growing demand for children even as young as 2 years old
• Poverty and social compulsions t push women and girls to prostitution
• In spite of NACO promoting condom use in brothels, clients infected by HIV/and
pass it to their partners.
• Countries like Sweden, USA, UK ,Indonesia have provisions for demand to be
penalized

98. THANK YOU