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

Beyond use value and exchange value, commodities encapsulate semiotic values too. They function as markers of status, domesticity, social discipline, rebelliousness and so on. These functions are contextual, contingent and change over time.

The mandate of the Committee was massive, to assess the status of women in India in all aspects of their lives, keeping in mind the diversities (class, caste, religion, ethnicity, region, abilities, age groups etc.), complexities and paradoxes that prevail in our society.