THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF INDIAN WOMEN: PAST & PRESENT
Pradeep Kumar Deepak · International Journal of Advances in Social Science and Humanities · 2026
This paper makes a comparative historical analysis of the status of women since time immemorial. During the Vedic period though the basis of social life was patriarchal, but the women enjoyed more privilege in education. Some ladies like Apala and Ghosha composed mantras and rose to the rank of Rishis. Thus, women occupied a more respectable place among Aryans as compared to other people of contemporary civilizations. However, women did not enjoy equal rights with men socially and legally. They had no property rights and they had to remain in the care of the male members of the family. Coming to the medieval period, which is considered as Dark Age for the women which resulted in the decline in women’s status. As far as the present status of women is concerned, the role of women is expected in all types of responsibilities: - such as Leaders, Changemakers & Equal Participants. This paper makes an attempt to examine the significance of Indian women in the over-all development of the country. Therefore, it is utmost required that an equal opportunity must be provided to them so that they can share their responsibilities in all types of social indicators that are related with governance, health, education, economics and demography. This paper also studies the important steps in women’s social reforms in the field of child marriage. The status of women deteriorated due to child marriage, purdah system, Jauhar paratha Sati Pratha etc. As we aim towards achieving Viksit Bharat by year 2047, we must address that women are almost half of the population but not half of the workforce of India, so we need to emphasize on the empowerment of woman as it directly impacts the social indicators. Keywords: Women empowerment, Historical analysis, Social reforms, Democracy, Viksit Bharat, Social Indicators.