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Women constitute more than fifty percent of the world population. They play the most important role both as housewives or working women in the development of a country. They work longer hours and bear nearly total responsibility for child-care and house-hold. The degrees of freedom given to women to move about in society and to take part in its public life give a' good idea of the nature of its administration and cultural ethos. It also enables us to know how far it has realized the difficult truth that women have contribution of their own to make to its development and progress.
The insignificance given by the historians to the role of woman and the status, she was assigned· in the society during different phases of history lead one to investigate this particular area. We find a shallow orientation in this regard from the records of the past. The historians of the present era are putting utmost efforts in divulging many unrevealed aspects of woman's life in different cultures and societies from the ancient to modern times.
To have a clear understanding it will be better to have a look at the changing position in the role and status of women during the historical past. One may say human civilization emerged with the existence of a 'Man' and 'Woman' as 'humans' beyond any gender discrimination, though the first conflict is related to it. However, gender co-relation laid foundation of the early form of society in which these two different genders occupied different positions and roles during different eras. It appears that in the early stages of human evolution, man and woman had the same status but with the passage of time, due to some biological evolutionary necessities, the woman had to remain secluded and later this tradition developed that a woman was to remain at home.' "Historically, the he-man hunter had dominated the females and she was considered as the weaker sex. The weak were even exploited and subjugated by their males in home and society."2
However, man had to struggle very hard to live in better conditions during different stages of human development. In the initial phase there was no division based on social class, the concept of personal property was absent, and so...