STUDY OF AWARENESS ON LEGAL RIGHTS OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES OF UDAIPUR NAGAR PANCHAYAT AREA WORKING IN DIFFERENT SECTORS UNDER GOVT. OF TRIPURA

A woman is as important as a man. From ancient time to the present, women’s labour and efforts, often unnoticed and always uncalculated, have contributed substantially to the wellbeing of society. A woman is called the first guru of a child. A child is nurtured physically, emotionally and spiritually by the mother. Therefore the mother is the key to the quality of the next generation. If the mother is aware of her value, if she is valued and respected by the family and society, if she enjoys her rights and privileges as a mother, wife and daughter, then these elements are transmitted to both her daughters and sons. The preamble of the constitution ensures, inter alia, equality of status and opportunity and dignity of the individual. The Fundamental Right guarantees women’s equality under the law. Article 14 and 15 pronounce not only the rights of men and women to equality under law but prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender by the state. Article 15 goes as far as to for bid the state to subject any citizen to any disability on the basis of gender in access to or use of public places or services. Article 16 says equality of opportunity in matters relating to employment under the state. The Directive Principles of the State Committee include adequate means of livelihood for men and women, equal pay for equal work, protection of health and strength of workers, protection of men and women from abuse, just and humane conditions and maternity relief. The Indian constitution has enacted various legislative measures intended to ensure equal rights, to counter social discrimination and various forms of violation of human rights, and to provide support service to women. The constitution has guaranteed equality to women but empowerment of Indian women has not yet happened because ignorance is the biggest enemy of them. Only consistent and sincere efforts along with education can change the thinking of people. This requires that awareness should be created regarding the legislative provisions. It will be a long drawn battle but ultimately sincere efforts will succeed. One of the evils of the modern society is sexual harassment caused to the women particularly the working women by their male counter parts and other members of the society. Recent report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that this heinous crime is increasing alarmingly. Sexual harassment infringes the fundamental right of women to gender equality under article 14 of the Constitution of India and her right to life and live with human dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution which includes right to safe environment, free from sexual harassment. The right to protection from sexual harassment and the right to work with dignity are recognized as universal human rights by International Conventions and Instruments such as Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that has been ratified by India. It has been only six years since sexual harassment was, for the first time, recognized by the Supreme Court as human rights violation and gender based systemic discrimination that affects women’s right to life and livelihood. The 73rd and 74th Amendment calling for 33% representation by women provoked visceral reactions in parliament from male members of parliament. Within the political parties, barely 3.3% of candidates are women. Women in local area planning have engaged in heated debates on financial allocation, accountability, planning measures and yet they have been denied presence of Parliament. Women rights are the human rights. Denial of rights occurs in families where people are motivated by selfishness and greed. A demand for dowry, harassment of a daughter-in-law, withdrawing a girl from school or an upper caste male exploiting a 2Dalit women – all indicate selfishness and treatment of human beings as objects. These inhuman and cruel social attitudes are absorbed by women as much as by men. Legal emancipation does not result in social emancipation. The laws in India are a superstructure built upon a foundation which is gender biased and ridden with prejudices. The history of the reform movement is only a few decades old whereas exploitation has a history of thousands of years. These hurdles preventing women from enjoying the benefit and protection of laws that secure their rights need to be removed. The laws would have some meaning, if women were informed and educated about their rights and thereby developed confidence in applying them. The Supreme Court of India declared recently that the mother is also the natural guardian of her children. This declaration took a long time to arrive. A mother gives birth to a child and gives her time for many years to the child’s upbringing. Practice a woman can only receive the advantages accorded to her by the law if she fights for her rights. This means that she first has to be aware of her rights. Unless women know and recognize her constitutional and legal rights, all these laws will be of no use and improvement of women’s position in the society will remain a far cry. Legislations, Court orders, International covenants etc. do not make sense and prove colossal failure unless the people for whom such rules and laws are made, are kept ignorant of them. It is the duty of the local administration and civil society groups including non-governmental organizations, voluntary agencies and community based organizations to see such rules and laws are made known to people. This is more pertinent with respect to people of rural areas since the urban population have various means to come to know about them formally or otherwise.