How far did the status of women improve in contemporary India? Give examples to support your answer.

There were a large number of women’s organisations that arose both at all India and local levels in the early twentieth century. And then began the participation of women in the national movement itself.

In 1931, the Karachi Session of the Indian National Congress issued a declaration on the Fundamental Rights of Citizenship in India whereby it committed itself to women’s equlality.

All citizens are equal before the law, irrespective of religion, caste, creed or sex. Women shall have the right to vote, to represent and the right to hold public offices.

Jotiba Phule came from a socially excluded caste and his attack was directed against both caste and gender discrimination. He founded the Satyashodak Samaj with its primary emphasis on “truth seeking”. Phule’s first practical social reform efforts were to aid the two groups considered lowest in traditional Brahmin culture: women and untouchables.