Legal education in rural India which circumscribes rights of women with special focus on reproductive rights, rape laws, female feticide, domestic violence, child marriage etc. has played a pivotal role in translating these rights into practice. This has been possible through innovative legal education drives which have identified a set of para-legal women who act as reservoirs of knowledge and are adequately equipped to handle instances of violation of such rights.
Further, grass-root democracy through institutions of local self-governance (Panchayats) have been accorded functions relating to health by the Constitution of India and when women have been elected to such bodies they have had a phenomenal positive impact on reproductive and other rights of women and empowerment of other marginalized communities. However, the impediments being the two-child norm policy which bars a persons from holding office if such person has more than two children in institutions of local self governance have adversely affected women participation in these institutions which is hampering their decision making power which in turn is impacting their social, economic and political rights. This has also resulted in sex-selective abortions, abandoning of children and wives etc. As a result such a law is hampering women's empowerment in a country which has a patriarchal set-up and where women do not have a right to decide when and how many children to have.
Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: None disclosed
Recorded at the 19th WAS World Congress for Sexual Health - Sexual Health & Rights: A Global Challenge - Goteberg, Sweden, June 21-25, 2009.
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