ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the efforts of the women's movement to improve the status of women over the past several decades have been undercut by conflicting sources of community authority flourishing in the diversity that is Indian society. One of the startling aspects of gender relations in India is the male/female sex ratio. Despite the biological advantage of the female foetus and globally higher female life expectancy, the situation is reversed in India. Caste is an important principle of social organisation in Indian society, which significantly shapes gender relations. It is a system of hereditary social ranking associated with Hinduism, which governs social relations and the distribution of power in Indian society. In contemporary India caste intersects with class inequalities and low caste is frequently synonymous with low socio-economic status and poverty. The activities of the women’s movement highlight a number of seemingly contradictory and complex factors governing women’s lives.
