E-Paper
Mother's lib
The Supreme Court's order giving a woman custody of her child from her first marriage also strikes a blow for the cause of gender equality.
The Supreme Court’s order, giving a woman custody of her child from her first marriage, is part of a set of small but significant steps that help deepen and broaden the rights of an individual in our society. This step also strikes a blow for the cause of gender equality. A similar progressive trend is evident in the National Development Council’s proposal to provide incentives for joint custody of properties, reportedly a move to empower women by making them financially independent. Both steps point towards the need for policy and law to catch up with the reality that women do hold up half the sky. Unfortunately, several significant remnants of an outdated patriarchal system exist in our laws and to do away with them requires sustained effort.
The guiding principles of the Constitution state that all citizens are to be treated as equal, irrespective of gender, race, etc. Yet, the fine print in specific laws, mainly those pertaining to family matters, pins women down to a second-class status. While the constitutional provisions adopted in 1950 were perhaps deemed progressive for the time, the 56 years that have followed have wrought significant changes in the Indian woman’s status. And these must be reflected in our laws.
Several positive changes are already underway, with the Centre having passed the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, doing away with discrimination against women in inheritance laws, and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Besides, the Supreme Court has largely interpreted our laws in accordance with changes in the social climate, rather than taking an overtly literal reading. Its historic ruling in 1999 had deemed that both parents were equal and natural guardians of a minor child — despite the prevailing wisdom that this honour rested solely with the father. In the latest ruling, the apex court, keeping the best interest of the child in mind, has taken this forward by overruling the clause that the mother must not remarry if she wants to retain her status as her child’s guardian. Empowering women economically and politically is as important as ensuring that they do not remain disempowered legally.
