ABSTRACT
This chapter will explore the history of the idea of nondiscrimination on the basis of sex, through a detailed investigation of some continuing, persistent themes in Indian society. What are the key themes, the constants, in the proliferation of concerns about women? And what does this tell us about the specific ways in which Hinduism, for instance, is structured by patriarchy? This issue is particularly significant given the hegemonic, majoritarian position that Hinduism has increasingly come to occupy in contemporary India.
