Indian Women Rising: Contributions, Challenges and the Road to Equality

Every morning across India, women hold up much of the country’s daily life. They cook and care for families, teach in schools, tend crops, run small businesses, treat patients, lead panchayats and govern states. In 2022, a woman from a tribal community in Odisha, Droupadi Murmu, became President of India. In Assam, Lovlina Borgohain won an Olympic boxing medal in Tokyo, and lakhs of women run self-help groups that keep village economies moving.

Yet the same country ranked 131st out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025. Women still face violence, discrimination, unpaid work and unequal opportunities, often from before they are even born.

This article looks at both sides of that story: what Indian women contribute, the challenges they continue to face, the laws and schemes meant to help them, and what still needs to change.

The contributions of Indian women

In the family and community

Women remain the main caregivers in most Indian households. They raise children, look after elderly relatives, manage the home and hold families together in difficult times. This work is essential, but it is rarely counted or paid. According to the National Statistical Office’s Time Use Survey 2024, women spend far more time than men each day on unpaid domestic and care work, roughly three times as much.

In the economy

More Indian women are now in the workforce. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the female labour force participation rate rose from 23.3 per cent in 2017–18 to 41.7 per cent in 2023–24, with the sharpest rise in rural areas. Much of this growth is in self-employment and agriculture, where women make up a large share of the workforce.

Women are also building businesses. By February 2026, more than 3.07 crore women-led enterprises had registered on the government’s Udyam portals, most of them micro enterprises run from homes and villages.

In leadership and public life

India has a long record of women in high office. Indira Gandhi became the country’s first woman Prime Minister in 1966, Pratibha Patil its first woman President in 2007, and Droupadi Murmu its first President from a tribal community in 2022. Nirmala Sitharaman became India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister in 2019.

At the grassroots, the change has been even larger. Reservation for women in panchayats has brought around 14 lakh women into local government as elected representatives, close to half of all members. In 2023, Parliament passed the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, reserving one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women. It will take effect after the next census and delimitation.

In business, Indian women have led some of the world’s largest companies. Indra Nooyi, for example, served as chief executive of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2018.

In education and health

Indian women have long been pioneers in these fields. In 1848, Savitribai Phule and her husband Jyotirao Phule opened one of the first schools for girls in India, in Pune. In 1863, they also opened a home to protect pregnant widows and prevent infanticide. Savitribai faced insults and even had stones thrown at her on the way to school, but she kept teaching.

In medicine, Anandibai Joshi earned a medical degree in the United States in 1886, and Kadambini Ganguly became one of the first women to practise Western medicine in India. Rukhmabai, who qualified as a doctor in 1894, was also a campaigner whose famous legal case helped raise the age of consent in 1891.

Today, women form the backbone of India’s frontline health workforce. ASHA workers and anganwadi workers, almost all of them women, played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In culture and heritage

Women preserve much of India’s living culture: recipes, folk songs, weaving patterns, traditional healing practices and farming knowledge passed down through generations. In Assam, the craft of weaving muga and eri silk on the loom, and the songs of Bihu, have been carried forward largely by women.

The challenges Indian women still face

Sex-selective abortion

Preference for sons has had a heavy cost. According to UNFPA’s State of World Population 2020 report, about 4.6 lakh girls went “missing” at birth in India every year between 2013 and 2017 because of sex selection.

The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act of 1994, strengthened and renamed the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act in 2003, makes it illegal to determine or reveal the sex of a foetus. The law has helped, but enforcement remains uneven.

Violence against women

Violence remains one of the most serious problems. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India recorded about 4.48 lakh cases of crimes against women in 2023. The largest category, about three in ten cases, was cruelty by husbands or relatives.

Dowry remains deadly despite being banned since 1961. NCRB data show 6,156 dowry deaths in 2023, along with more than 15,000 cases under the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Most violence never reaches the police. In the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019–21), 29.3 per cent of ever-married women aged 18 to 49 said they had experienced physical or sexual violence from their husband.

Gender inequality at work

Women often earn less than men for similar work, are concentrated in low-paid and informal jobs, and are under-represented in senior roles. Many face sexual harassment at the workplace. They also carry a “double burden”: paid work outside and unpaid work at home. Even products marketed to women often cost more than similar products for men, a pattern sometimes called the “pink tax”.

Education gaps

Girls’ school enrolment has improved greatly, but gaps remain. In the 2011 Census, the literacy rate was 65.5 per cent for women compared with 82.1 per cent for men, and the gap was wider in rural areas. Many girls still drop out because of early marriage, household work, distance to school, lack of toilets or safety concerns.

Health and nutrition

Anaemia is widespread: NFHS-5 found that about 57 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 were anaemic. Early marriage leads to early pregnancy, which is risky for both mother and child. In some families, women eat last and least, and food restrictions during pregnancy, based on custom rather than science, can harm both mother and baby. Access to contraception, safe abortion and mental health care is still limited in many areas.

Property and decision-making

Under the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, daughters have equal rights to ancestral property. In practice, many women, especially in rural areas, never receive their share, or are pressured to give it up. Without land or assets, women find it harder to get credit and have less say in family decisions.

Even where women hold elected posts, male relatives sometimes take decisions on their behalf, a practice known as “sarpanch pati” or proxy leadership.

Social restrictions and isolation

Many women still need permission to travel, work outside the home or meet others. Those who challenge traditional roles can face resistance from their own families. Limited contact with the outside world leaves many women without support networks, legal help or counselling when they need it most.

The digital divide

Women are less likely than men to own a smartphone or use the internet, especially in rural areas. This shuts them out of online learning, digital banking, government services and new markets, all increasingly important in modern India.

Basic infrastructure

Lack of toilets, clean water, safe transport and reliable electricity affects women most. Women and girls spend hours fetching water and fuel. The absence of clean toilets at workplaces, schools and public places causes health problems and keeps some girls away from school.

Climate change

Women in farming families are among the most affected by floods, droughts and erratic rainfall, as they are in Assam. When crops fail or water becomes scarce, women’s workload grows and their income often falls.

Laws that protect women

India has a strong legal framework, though enforcement is often weak:

Law	What it does
Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961	Bans giving and taking dowry
PCPNDT Act, 1994 (amended 2003)	Bans sex selection and disclosure of foetal sex
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005	Provides protection orders, residence rights and support for victims
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006	Sets the minimum marriage age at 18 for women
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (POSH) Act, 2013	Requires workplaces to set up complaint committees
Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017	Gives eligible women 26 weeks of paid maternity leave
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023	Replaced the Indian Penal Code from 1 July 2024, including offences such as dowry death and cruelty
Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023	Reserves one-third of Lok Sabha and assembly seats for women (after delimitation)

Government schemes for women

Many older women’s schemes have been reorganised. In 2022, the Ministry of Women and Child Development brought several of them together under Mission Shakti, which has two parts:

• Sambal (safety and security): One Stop Centres for women affected by violence, the Women Helpline (181), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Nari Adalats.
• Samarthya (empowerment): Shakti Sadan (which replaced the Ujjawala and Swadhar Greh shelter homes), Sakhi Niwas (working women’s hostels), Palna (crèches), the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (maternity benefit) and hubs for the empowerment of women.

Other important central schemes include:

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: free LPG connections for women from poor households, reducing indoor smoke and the burden of collecting firewood.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: a savings scheme for girls with a high interest rate and tax benefits.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: basic bank accounts, many of them opened by women.
• Mudra loans and Stand-Up India: credit for women entrepreneurs.
• DAY-NRLM: self-help groups, credit and livelihood support for rural women.

Assam has its own programmes too. Under Orunodoi, women from economically weaker households receive ₹1,250 a month directly in their bank accounts; around 40 lakh women were covered in 2026. Nijut Moina gives monthly stipends to girl students who continue their studies, with the aim of preventing child marriage.

If you or someone you know needs help, the Women Helpline is 181 and the national emergency number is 112.

Strategies to close the gap

Schemes and laws are only part of the answer. Real change needs action on several fronts:

• Enforce laws properly. Faster investigation, fast-track courts and trained police can make existing laws effective.
• Keep girls in school. Scholarships, safe transport, toilets in every school and action against child marriage help girls complete their education.
• Build skills, including digital skills. Vocational and computer training opens up better jobs and businesses.
• Support women’s economic independence. Credit, SHGs, property rights and fair wages give women control over their lives.
• Improve health care. Better maternal care, nutrition programmes, menstrual health and mental health services are essential.
• Make workplaces fair and safe. Equal pay, working POSH committees, crèches and flexible hours help women stay in work.
• Strengthen support services. More One Stop Centres, counselling and free legal aid, especially in rural areas.
• Support real political leadership. Training for elected women and action against proxy leadership.
• Involve men and boys. Changing attitudes at home and in schools tackles the roots of discrimination and violence.
• Build women’s networks. Women’s groups give confidence, solidarity and a collective voice.

Conclusion

Indian women have always been at the heart of the nation’s life: as mothers and farmers, teachers and doctors, artists and leaders. The progress of recent decades is real. More girls are in school, more women are working, more are running businesses, and more are entering public life.

But the challenges are just as real. Millions of girls are lost to sex selection, lakhs of crimes against women are recorded every year, and many women still lack property, safety and a voice in decisions that shape their lives.

Laws and schemes have laid a foundation. What is needed now is stronger enforcement, wider access and a change in everyday attitudes, in homes, schools, workplaces and communities. When women rise, families, villages and the whole country rise with them.