ABSTRACT
Indian society continues to be based on principles of patriarchy which through social and cultural practices subordinate women to men in a variety of ways — in status, rights and power (Alam 2001: 23). Such subordination 1 manifests itself through various phases of the lifecycle, and not just ‘in such matters as education, and opportunity to develop talents, but also in more elementary fields of nutrition, health and survival’ (Dreze and Sen 1995: 140).
