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Abstract
Most studies on women's status focus on status as a unitary construct and search for a universal explanation of the low status of women. Recognizing the inadequacies of such research the present study focuses on the multi-dimensionality of the concept and argues that the complexity of the phenomena makes it necessary to conceptualize status broadly in terms of its economic, social, and political dimensions. The contrasting performance of specific states/districts on each dimension clearly indicates that the dynamic and variable nature of women's status cannot be captured by any one dimension.
Further, a structural approach is used to analyze the regional variations in women's position in India across each dimension because such a framework, stressing economic context and socio-cultural factors, reveals the complex and multilayered nature of the processes that affect women's position. It is observed that women's status is affected by kinship structures, development levels, and social stratification, which vary over space and time individually and in interaction with each other. It is this variation that leads to differences in women's position from one region of India to another.
The findings of the study suggest that it is important to recognize the mutual interdependence of gender relations, development levels, and social stratification without underestimating the full significance of each in Indian society. In some cases kinship patterns interact with economic development to produce major spatial variations in women's status, and in others, it is the development levels and social stratification that has the greatest influence. For instance, kinship structures appear to be the most powerful factor in affecting women's economic status, while the social dimension of women's status is greatly affected by the varying development levels. And finally, political socialization appears to have the largest impact on women's political status. This reiterates not only the independence of these dimensions but also the important role of 'place' in the constitution of gender differences in India.
