The National Commission For Women: Assessing Performance

Although a lot of scholarly attention has gone into issues concerning women for more than three decades, little work has been done on the evolution and functioning of institutions1 that have been created since the mid-1970s to specifically look into the interests of women as discriminated, marginalized and oppressed sections of society. While the Indian State experimented with a variety of forms and modes of organizations and structures on questions relating to women’s equality or women’s status within the broad framework of the welfare state even before the 1970s, the emergence and/or change, modifications, and renewal in these structures and formations from time to time have been influenced by the struggles of women and pressures from women’s movements2 and new and varying approaches to women issues, both at the national and international levels. These new mechanisms were intended to create spaces to influence policies and processes for bringing required changes, both at the ideological and structural levels, to achieve the objectives of gender equality and justice.