India speaks of a $5-trillion economy, demographic dividends and technological leadership. Yet there is an uncomfortable contradiction at the heart of this ambition: it cannot achieve sustained development while a substantial part of its human capital remains constrained by gender inequality.
Gender injustice is not merely a women’s issue. It is an economic, social and institutional issue. Three interconnected failures deserve particular attention: inequality within the family, inadequate control over crimes against women and the absence of a sufficiently large female presence in employment and positions of influence. Together, these create a cycle that can turn development into mere economic expansion without corresponding social progress.
The first inequality begins at home. The family, often regarded as the foundation of Indian society, is also where gender roles are frequently established.
I was once on election observer duty in Uttar Pradesh. While walking through a village in Mahoba district, I came across a woman who was walking along with a 10-year-old girl who had a heavy load of firewood on her head. Another girl, who looked no more than six, was carrying a smaller stack.
Walking along smartly was a well-dressed, kajal-smitten seven-year-old boy with nicely combed hair, while the girls were dressed in rags. Upon enquiring from the mother, she proudly told me that the boy was going to school. “What about the girls?” I asked. The mother replied: “Then who will help me in bringing up the children? A girl child is supposed to help the mother in household chores, that is it.”
India’s Time Use Survey in 2019 found that women spent an average of 299 minutes a day on unpaid domestic services, compared with only 97 minutes for men. The family becomes the first labour market in which women’s work is undervalued. The Supreme Court in June rejected the idea that a homemaker is a mere dependent and recognised her as a nation-builder, and valued a basic minimum compensation for domestic work. .
The second obstacle is the continuing inability of society and institutions to provide women with adequate protection from violence, which is also a development issue.
The National Crime Records Bureau recorded nearly 3,000 more cases in 2023 than the previous year, placing the national rate at 66.2 cases per lakh female population. Most significantly, cruelty by husband or relatives accounted for 29.8 percent of the total.
This statistic should fundamentally change the way India discusses women’s safety. The threat to women is not confined to streets, workplaces or public transport. A substantial proportion of reported violence originates within the very institution traditionally expected to provide security—the family.
The answer cannot be measured merely by the number of laws enacted. The real test is enforcement. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita enforces a victim compensation scheme. If crimes against women are committed by influential individuals, we are no strangers to a judiciary that turns a blind eye.
Even strange incidents have happened where, when allegations are raised against the judiciary itself, they conduct the investigation and issue the judgement themselves. If the accused is prominent, opportunities might arise where the material evidence is taken away and completely destroyed.
Women must believe that reporting violence will lead to protection, investigation, prosecution and timely justice. Police responsiveness, forensic capacity, witness protection, victim support, speedy trials and effective implementation of protective laws are, therefore, not peripheral concerns. They are essential components of development.
In the capacity of Assistant Inspector-General in 2000, I had urged the then Kerala Chief Minister for a better police subculture to tackle crimes against women. The proposal was to open up the recruitment at constabulary and sub-inspector level, which was shelved due to the misogynistic attitude of senior officials in the force.
It took 17 years to open up the sub-inspector post as gender-neutral and as director of the Police Academy, I could train the first gender-neutral batch. Even today, constabulary posts have not opened up and women constitute only around 8 percent of the force in Kerala—though the Union home ministry has repeatedly set goals of representation to one-third. Without sufficient women police in the police station, the victims would find it difficult to open up and narrate incidents of crimes like rape.
India needs a critical mass of women at work, which makes the third challenge economic. India has educated an increasingly large population of women. Yet education has not translated proportionately into economic power. The WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025 placed India at 131st among 148 countries. Women’s Economic Participation and Opportunity score was only 40.7 percent, placing it among the bottom five economies on that dimension.
A few successful women cannot transform an institution. When women constitute only a small minority in an organisation, they may be expected to represent an entire gender while having little influence over organisational culture. A critical mass of women, however, changes what institutions consider normal. Critical mass is particularly important in the police, judiciary, bureaucracy, corporate leadership, science, technology, academia and politics.
In the Judiciary, only 116 of 814 working high court judges in February 2026 were women, while the Supreme Court has only two women among 38 justices after mid-year appointments. Women account for roughly 31 percent of recommended candidates in recent civil services examinations conducted by the UPSC. However, the representation of women among the active IPS officers is only around 12 percent.
Representation does not automatically guarantee feminist outcomes. But exclusion certainly limits the range of experiences represented when institutions make decisions affecting millions.
Development must, therefore, be redefined. India’s development strategy cannot be confined to GDP, infrastructure and technology. Development must mean expanding the capabilities of every citizen. The message is unmistakable: educating women without creating conditions in which they can safely and meaningfully participate in economic and public life is an incomplete development strategy.
India needs a three-part gender compact. First, equality must begin inside the home through shared domestic responsibilities, equal decision-making and recognition of unpaid care work.
Second, the State must make violence costly and justice credible through professional policing, effective investigation, victim protection and speedy adjudication. Third, institutions must deliberately create pathways to critical mass by ensuring women’s recruitment, retention, promotion and leadership—not merely token representation.
Gender justice is not a destination after development. It is one of the conditions for development itself. If India wants to move forward, it must ensure that women are not merely carried along by progress—they must have an equal hand in directing it.
B Sandhya
Retired Director General of Police and Member, Kerala RERA
(Views are personal)