The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From a largely unknown status in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. There are several clear indicators of the fact that Indian women continue to be discriminated against: the sex ratio is skewed against them; maternal mortality is the second-highest in the world; more than 40 per cent of women are illiterate; and crimes against women are on the rise. Yet, the women's movement which gathered strength after the 1970s, has led to progressive legislation and positive change, spurred on by the participation of women in local self-government.

Understanding this important issue and highlighting the action required, Open Forum organized National Advocacy Conference on Women of India: How Equal–How Safe on 26th November, 2007 at Vasuki, Lok Kala Manch, 20, Lodhi Institutional Area, New Delhi. The past three decades have witnessed a steadily increasing awareness of the need to empower women through measures to increase social, economic and political equity, and broader access to fundamental human rights, improvements in nutrition, basic health and education. Along with awareness of the subordinate status of women has come the concept of gender as an overarching socio-cultural variable, seen in relation to other factors, such as race, class, age and ethnicity. Gender is not synonymous with women, nor is it a zero-sum game implying loss for men; rather, it refers to both women and men, and to their status, relative to each other. Gender equality refers to that stage of human social development at which “the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of individuals will not be determined by the fact of being born male or female,”2 in other words, a stage when both men and women realize their full potential.

The day long conference divided into three sessions included eminent speakers to address the conference. Grameen Gyan Abhiyaan, Solution Exchange for the Gender Community in India, Delhi University Students Union, Wada Na Todo Abhiyaan, K4D, and Young Energetic Society were the thematic partners for this National Conference. The first session was to mark the conference as Introductory Session, as to discuss the related issues thematically. The second session was termed as National Debate Session where 8 chosen participants from different part of country participated to address the issue and share their viewpoints on their selected thematic areas of Women of India. And the Concluding session, namely Session Three was to share the viewpoints of policy makers and the women achievers, how they would like to see Women of India. All the sessions were participant centric where the participants raised their concerns and also received valuable inputs from the esteemed speakers on their raised queries.

The Speaker Panel included, Ms. Sonal Mansingh, Eminent Classical Dancer & Social Activist; Ms. Rami Chhabra, Pioneer woman journalist & Social Activist; Smt. Margret Alva, Ex-MP & General secretary, Congress Working Committee; Dr. Ranjana Kumari, President, Women Power Connect; Dr. Geeta Malhotra, ICT Advocacy, Grassroots Communications, OneWorld South Asia; Ms. Soni Sangwan, Associate Editor, Metro NOW; Dr. Ratnakar Gedam, Joint Advisor, Planning Commission of India; Dr. Khushal Singh Purohit, Eminent Journalist and Chief Editor Paryawaran Digest; Mr. Suresh Gaur, Member, Governing Board, Open Forum; Ms. Sawitri Singh, Advisor, Gender Program, International Co-op Allience – Asia Pacific; Ms. Shallu Jindal, Vice-President, Flag Foundation of India; Dr. Najma A. Heptulla, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Ms. Mukta Gupta, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Ms. Rufina Fernandis, Chief Executive Officer, NASSCOM Foundation; Ms. Mukta Nandini Jain, Chairperson, CACCI Womens’ Council; and Smt. Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Govt. of India. Every speaker addressed the participants on different thematic areas of the Issue.