WOMEN AUTONOMY: A NEED TO INTROSPECT

SIDDHARTH BADKUL, DEHRADUN

Autonomy characterizes the ability for a women to accomplish prosperity and participate in
decision making. India's accomplishments in gender equality value are very blended. From one
viewpoint, impressive exertion has been made to utilize legislative enactment and social
engineering process to bring women into the standard of society. Women's own endeavors to
enhance their lives have for the most part got official consolation, but some of the time not as
effectively as could be wished. Accordingly, they have come far in India from the position they
were in ahead of schedule in this century. Yet the pace of progress has frequently been
horrendously moderate, particularly with respect to health, well-being and education. This has
significantly influenced the capacity to enhance the living conditions of women and to actualize
the laws for guaranteeing their independence.
A year back, amidst the Gujarat government's unlawful snooping on a young lady "for her
security", the Bharatiya Janata Party representative Lalitha Kumaramangalam controversially
stated that most Indian women are not prepared for autonomy. Later, after she was appointed as
the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women, she kept on protecting her statement.
According to her (as per a TV interview), society is extremely gender biased and that such bias
has become so deep-rooted that any woman who is really autonomous is considered a risk, not
just to men but to other women also. Additionally, she stated that, autonomy brings with it
certain risks and responsibilities.
Her thoughts regarding women's autonomy raises a few undeniable reflections. If society's
gender bias and predisposition is a prevention to a womens independence, why should the onus
of "preparing" and "control" be on ladies? Must men not be prepared too about the obligations
that accompany the autonomy that is so promptly given to them in the public arena?
Perhaps such intospection whould lead us to decide the state of women autonomy, and its
dimensions in present context. Some dimensions which are mostly debated includes outside
mobility, access to economic resources and involvement in household decisions and their
association with fertility and contraceptive. Without going into the merits of the dimensions of
women autonomy, lets take a dig at the factors affecting the same.

In predominantly patriarchal society like India, tight controls are applied on ladies in each circle
of their lives: their freedom of movement and their voice in family undertakings, their financial
autonomy, and their relations with their spouses. With regard cultural, religional and regional
context, scope of women's autonomy is determined on different lines. for example, in Tamil
Nadu, Hindu women experience more independence than Muslim with regard to decision
making and freedom of movement. In Uttar Pradesh, by differentiation, women from either
communities are just as compelled as far as decision making and versatility is concerned,
however, Muslim women are fundamentally more liberated from danger and experience more
noteworthy access to and control over assets of families than Hindu women.
Convincingly, women are to a great extent rejected from family decision making; they have
restricted access to, and activity restricted control over assets; their flexibility of development is
extremely obliged; and that only a few are insusceptible to this . The situation, accordingly must
be essentially addressed by both policy maker and the administrator thereof.