Impact of Economic Development on Status of Women: An Analysis for India

This paper intends to analyze the impact of Economic Development on the status of women in India and tries to study how historical perceptions, prejudices, predispositions and beliefs regarding women in society have led to perpetuation of „deprivation and discrimination‟ against the women and in result deteriorating the overall status of women even in today‟s world. For any economy, growth relates to an increase in per capita income which reflects only “quantitative aspect” in disregard of distributive justice in that economy. Economic development, on the other hand, is a wider concept pertaining not only to the quantitative aspect but also qualitative aspect of distribution of income and income inequity in respect of its distribution among the population and also other socio-economic factors as well, hence it is also referred as a “multi-dimensional concept” including not only increase in per capita income but also improvement in living standards, educational attainment of people, alleviation of poverty, health conditions and nutritional status, status of women and their empowerment etc. This paper focuses on the status of women and their empowerment along the path of economic development in India and suggests some possible channels as also remedial measures that can lead to or help to uplift the status of women.