Even though fair elections are held at regular intervals for State
Assemblies and Parliament, they do not reflect the true consent of the
people because a large number of women are missing from the electorate
On her arrival in India recently, the words of Gloria Steinem, American
feminist and leader of the women’s liberation movement, sounded like
bells tolling for all women in today’s modern Indian society. “I came
[to India] and what was here a half-a-century ago is still here… and yet
there is everything else.” Studying data on the sex ratio in India over
60 years supports her grim observation. In this essay we provide a
political economy explanation for the persistence of gender inequality
in