Violence against women is legitimized by social norms, beliefs and institutions.

This study aims to provide an evidence-based analysis of the persecution and hunting of women as witches in indigenous and rural societies in India.

Decades of campaigning has led to signiicant changes and reform in the rape law.

Women experience disadvantage and oppression differentially, based on their status, context and location.

The drive for a rapid development in the education of women came largely from a perception summed up aptly in .the following statement by Mayhew: "women