Gender, Law and Social Transformation in India (eBook)

This book provides deep insights into the wide-ranging issues linked to gender, law, and social transformation in India.  It focuses on women-centered laws as well as the violence of unequal and discriminatory social order. It emphasizes violence and the neutrality of laws that sustain the status quo and perpetuate the stereotypical notions related to women's condition. Based on the first-hand experience of laws and their nuanced understanding, the essays highlight the rules associated with the private and the public domains. The chapters in the volume analyze various statutes and their enactment related to domestic violence, dowry crimes, sexual abuse at home as well as sexual harassment at the workplace, child marriages, education, property rights, trafficking, prostitution, 'honor' killings, and armed conflict.  The book is essential to the academics and researchers in the disciplines of social sciences, gender studies, law, and the government and policy-makers for making meaningful interventions.

Ajailiu Niumai is Professor of Sociology and Head, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policy, University of Hyderabad (UoH), Hyderabad, and Honorary Adjunct Professor, Department of Science and Humanities, National Institute of Technology, Nagaland. Earlier, she has served as Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, UoH, and she is one of the pioneers of the Centre for Women's Studies, UoH, and the North East India Sociological Association. Currently, she is the Executive Council Member of the Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh and the Board of Governors of Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. She is the Member of Board of Studies, and Member of Advisory Committee in various Universities, Editorial Board Member and Referee in reputed journals. She holds Ph.D. from JNU, New Delhi, and Postdoctorate from University of Iowa, USA. She is Member, Managing Committee of Indian Sociological Society. She has been Convenor of RC-04 Migration & Diaspora Studies, ISS, and she is an active Member of the International Sociological Association. Her specialisation includes Gender Studies, Indian Diaspora, North East India Studies, NGOs & Development. She has published several articles in reputed journals, chapters in edited books and book reviews. The Collaborative Arts and Research Translation for Humane Advancement, USA, awarded her 'First Fellow' grant in 2006 and UGC awarded her the Raman Postdoctoral Fellowship in USA (2013). She has completed six research projects sponsored by UGC, ICSSR, Sehgal Foundation & Eye Foundation of America.

Abha Chauhan is Professor, Department of Sociology at the University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (India). She is also the President of the Indian Sociological Society. She holds a Ph.D. from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her research interests include gender, community, kinship, marriage, culture, conflict, and borderland studies. She has published/edited books and articles in reputed journals, and attended several national and international conferences, presented papers, chaired and organized sessions. She received awards under Indo-Dutch Program on Alternative Development 2005 (ICSSR-WOTRO), Indo-French Social Scientist Exchange Program 2007 (UGC), and ESRC-ICSSR India-UK Scholar Exchange 2009. She is a Life Member of the Indian Sociological Society (ISS), the Indian Association for Women's Studies (IAWS), and the Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society. She is an active member of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and has been the South Asia Representative, RC 32 'Women in Society' of the ISA (2006-2010). She was the Director, Dr. Ambedkar Studies Centre, and Editor of the Jammu University Journal (2010-2013). She has been a Member of the Editorial Board of Sociological Bulletin, the Journal of the ISS (2016-2017), Managing Committee Member (2002-2007), Convenor of RC 10 'Gender Studies' (2011-2014), and Secretary (2016-2017) of the Indian Sociological Society.

---

This book provides deep insights into the wide-ranging issues linked to gender, law, and social transformation in India.  It focuses on women-centered laws as well as the violence of unequal and discriminatory social order. It emphasizes violence and the neutrality of laws that sustain the status quo and perpetuate the stereotypical notions related to women's condition. Based on the first-hand experience of laws and their nuanced understanding, the essays highlight the rules associated with the private and the public domains. The chapters in the volume analyze various statutes and their enactment related to domestic violence, dowry crimes, sexual abuse at home as well as sexual harassment at the workplace, child marriages, education, property rights, trafficking, prostitution, 'honor' killings, and armed conflict.  The book is essential to the academics and researchers in the disciplines of social sciences, gender studies, law, and the government and policy-makers for making meaningful interventions.