"We all know that women are half the world and hold up
half the sky but where are they when it comes to
equality?" – Leela Seth
The concept of equality, however, requires equity. The history
of social development is also the history of inequality. Inequality
between nations, religions, ethnicity, class, caste, race and
sexuality. However, the question of women's rights looms large,
cutting through all the layers of social stratification. German
philosopher and social scientist Friedrich Engels in his
classical writing "Origin of the Family, Private Property
and the State" states that, "Woman was the first
human being that tasted bondage. Woman was a slave before slavery
existed". The feminist struggle for equal rights has been
paved through legislation, be it the Suffragette movement and the
right to vote, to employment rights, property rights, rights
governing divorce and marriage to child-care and medicine –
legislation based on equal rights affects the very values
