India Needs Real Reform: Policies That Truly Empower Women

by Aditi Singh

India often celebrates women as symbols of strength, yet in everyday life, women continue to face discrimination, insecurity, and systemic inequality. Prime Minister Narendra Modi frequently speaks of women-led development, but slogans like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao cannot replace real, structural change. To build a democracy rooted in equality, the government must take concrete steps that protect women’s rights, ensure economic dignity, and challenge patriarchy at its foundation.

The first step lies in strengthening the legal system. Although India has progressive laws against sexual violence, their implementation remains weak. Survivors continue to face police apathy, social stigma, and years of delay in the courts. The government needs an independent body to monitor gender-based crimes, ensure accountability, and make fast-track courts and survivor protection programs truly effective.

Economic justice is another critical area. Millions of women perform unpaid labor such as cooking, caregiving, and managing homes that sustains families and the nation’s economy, yet remains invisible in official policy. Recognizing unpaid work through pensions, social security, or tax incentives would be a major step toward valuing women’s contribution beyond traditional employment.

Representation in decision-making spaces is equally vital. Despite being nearly half of India’s population, women continue to be sidelined in politics. The long-delayed Women’s Reservation Bill, ensuring one-third representation in Parliament and state assemblies, must be implemented now. When women lead, issues like safety, education, and health no longer remain secondary concerns.

Education, too, holds transformative power. Schools should integrate gender sensitivity and consent education into the curriculum, teaching boys and girls alike about equality and respect. Patriarchal thinking begins early, and so must the effort to unlearn it.

At the same time, women’s participation in the workforce has been declining even as India’s economy grows. Beyond corporate offices, women in informal sectors such as domestic work, factories, and street vending need stronger protections under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, along with access to grievance cells, maternity benefits, and childcare facilities.

Finally, policies must reflect the layered realities of Indian women. Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim, and queer women face overlapping forms of exclusion that cannot be addressed by one-size-fits-all reforms. Ambedkar’s idea of equality was rooted in justice for those at the margins, and real empowerment in India will remain incomplete without that focus.

India’s democracy will ultimately be measured not by how loudly it praises women, but by how fearlessly it protects them. The government must move beyond rhetoric and act on Ambedkar’s reminder that the progress of a community is measured by the progress of its women. For India to truly progress, it must translate those ideals into law and life.