nineteenth century when campaigns for the betterment of the conditions of women's lives were taken up. It is around mid seventies when the most recent phase of the women's movement started. In 1971, the government appointed a committee on the status of women in India. It raised basic questions about the socialization processes inherent in a hierarchical society, about the resources, power and assets distribution patterns as well as diverse cultural values in the country.

A number of voluntary organisations have endeavored towards the cause of the under privileged section of the society with a tradition of grass root activism throughout the 20th century. NGOs working with women have expanded in geographical spread, numbers particularly since mid eighties. While the collective reach of the NGOs in terms of the number of women they serve, is small relative to the government programmes, they nevertheless represent an important element in the overall picture related to women's development.
Realizing the fact that women have always experienced the status of subjugated class in the Indian society and a new self-image of the women has to be constituted, an attempt has been made by the Centre for Social Research to reconstruct the prevailing image of women. This is sought to be achieved through a process of restructuring existing social relations of men and women and by enlightening and empowering both the sexes.
The endeavor is to empower women by building inroads into decision-making institutions from Panchayats (Local units of governance) to the National Parliament. Our goal is to facilitate the process of women achieving economic self-sufficiency and higher awareness levels on social, political and legal issues through mobilization and conscientization.

Many sociological studies indicate a marked subjugation and subservient role for women in society. Male dominance and relegation of women to perform and carryout most non-monetized domestic unpaid for work is one of the indicators of this social malaise. Women especially in rural areas are largely confined to fetching water, collecting fuelwood, cooking food, taking care of children, cleaning the dwelling unit, washing clothes and utensils, etc. -- all invariably unpaid for labour. Despite working twice the number of hours, women control an infinitesimal fraction of the financial resources of the family (some estimate it as 3 % of the GNP). Even when women do work which has monetary value (such as in agriculture and animal husbandry), it is men who not only control but decide on what the money is to be used for. Thus, a significant portion of the family budget is frittered away in smoking, drinking, gambling and at times prostitution, while invariably women’ priorities such as food, clothing, children’s education, etc. is relegated to second place.

The above facts also indicate a need for drudgery reduction in the lives of women. However, this cannot be generalized across the board as applicable to all women. It is
true for women from a certain economic strata that have enough food to cook, agricultural lands and animals to take care of. However, women from the poorer sections of society with limited availability of food and no assets such as agricultural lands and domestic animals to take care of are often idling most of the time and welcome any livelihoods development proposition. For them income-generating activities and economic empowerment are significant priorities. It is also in these poorer strata of society that women not only eat last but often only what is left and ‘feminization of poverty’ becomes an issue of concern. Moreover, men from these poorer strata of society are more likely to be found indulging in physical violence against women, sexual abuse, alcoholism, gambling and indulging in prostitution although these evils are not necessarily restricted to this class of society alone. Sexual abuse not only in the form of incest and rape, but in social behaviour designed to treat women as objects for male gratification poses a constant threat and social conditioning wherein women constantly live in apprehension and in threat of sex based violence.