Most discussions of reservations for women in India have contextualized the issue in relation to the p

Vanangana, a women’s group, recently organised a campaign against domestic violence in Banda district in Uttar Pradesh. To provoke the women themselves to break their silence on this issue. Vanangana, in 30 villages, performed a play based on a real incident and followed it up with discussions.

The women's movement in India launched campaigns against rape, domestic violence, sexism in advertisements as well as against state repression during caste and communal riots in the early eighties.

It is now common practice to infer the social status of women from their demographic characteristics. Yet it is not so easy to read through demographic progress, in terms of declines in mortality and fertility, to make unambiguous judgments about trends in women's social standing.

Status literally means position in relation to others. The status enjoyed by women in any society is an index of the standard of its social organisation.