Contribution of women in framing India’s constitution

Introduction

• 15 women in the 299-member constituent assembly.
• Two of those 15 women were as follows

Dakshayani Velayudhan

• She was the first Dalit woman from Kerala to graduate from Madras University.
• In 1945, she was nominated to the Cochin Legislative Council that elected her to the constituent assembly.
• Dakshayani strongly opposed reservation or separate electorates and worked towards a vision of India free of caste or community barriers.
• She held that the assembly should offer the people a “new framework of life”.

Vijay Lakshmi

• She was the first Indian woman to hold a cabinet post in pre-independent India.
• A decade before independence, she moved a resolution demanding a constitution, and among other issues, she spoke on the ‘Centrality of New Asia in Post-Raj World Order’.

Conclusion

• Most were against reservation for women in the parliament
• They believed that new India would be one with gender equality.

Question for Answer Writing

Reference: The Wire

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