The last five decades have witnessed some basic changes in the status and role of women in our society. Today this process has been further accelerated with some women becoming increasingly self-conscious of their discrimination in several areas of the family and public life. They are also in a position to mobilise themselves on issues which affect them vitally, and constitute a significant segment in the electoral politics of the nation. Inspite of all these efforts, it is revealed that during the past decades the sex ratio in the country has been continually worsening. Promoting Awareness A large number of women are either ill-equipped or not in a position to propel themselves out of their traditionally unsatisfactory socio-economic conditions. They are poor, uneducated and insufficiently trained. Some tend to be ill-nourished , anaemic and burdened by domestic chores and child care responsibilities. They are often absorbed in the struggle to sustain the family physically and emotionally and as a rule are discouraged from even taking an interest in affairs outside the home. There is an urgent need to encourage them to face the problems of illiteracy, lack of information and lack of skills, and try to find solutions to these problems.They should be made aware of their shortcomings in terms of education, nutrition and health. There are many issues that require to be taken up for betterment of women in India. The recently announced national population policy is built on the correct premise that population stabilisation is a matter of human development. It is also important to look at this in the broader context of women’s health and enhancement of their capabilities. Success will depend upon a number of related factors including simultaneous improvements in education, child health care, how effectively women get empowered to gain access to education, to make the right choices, and to influence decisions. Education Education of women is a critical input for improving nutrition levels, raising the age at marriage, acceptance of family planning, improvement in self-image, and their empowerment. In India female literacy rate is as low as 39.42 per cent as compared to 63.86 per cent of men. The need of the hour is to improve female literacy. With the exception of Kerala where the female literacy is 86.9 per cent, in the states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh less than 30 per cent women are literate. The recent UNDP report placed India 103 out of 174 in the rank of ‘gender-related development index’. Education is the key to development. For educational development of women, a vigorous drive for universalisation of elementary education, retention of girl child in school, reduction in drop out rate and promotion of adult literacy was taken up by Government in the Five-Year Plans. Some of the special initiatives were, review of school text books to remove gender bias, re-orientation of school teachers to present gender equality and setting up of Women’s Development Centre in Universities and colleges to bring about social awareness on women’s issues. Education is the basic tool for empowering a woman. This is where the NGOs and Social Service Sector people need to work. There are phases of empowerment. Once a girl undergoes the first phase of information, education and communication she becomes aware of her surroundings. Then comes the phase of accountability, where she is given the ability to rationalise and take informed decisions for which she is accountable. Once she is educated and empowered, she is in a better position to take care of herself and this needs to be sustained. On one side where there is a need to educate girls, it is also necessary that the other sex be sensitised towards her. Cultural patterns tend to impose male superiority by assigning males with the roles of producers and heirs. It is important to usher in changes in societal attitudes and perceptions with regard to the role of women in different spheres of life. Adjustments have to be made in traditional gender specific performance of tasks. Mass media and inter-personal communication techniques should be utilised to achieve these ends.Health Care Equal status of women is difficult, as women are physically smaller in size and strength as compared to their male counterparts. To make woman physically healthy and may be able to take challenges of equality, she needs special health care and diet. NGOs/Social Service Sector people should look into this aspect and help the women to be enlightened about this. To be useful to the family, community and the society, they must take care of their own health. They must not only think of their husbands, children and in-laws but also think of themselves. The seventies brought women to the forefront of development concerns. This happened with publication of the report of the committee on Status of Women in India, the observance of the International Women’s year in 1975, preparation of a National Plan of Action for women and introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971. Thirty years have gone by and a look at indicators of Maternal & Child Health (MCH) care, shows the poor current status of health of women. India like other South East Asian countries has a very high maternal mortality rate of 4.6 per 1,000 live births, Bangladesh 6, Nepal 8.3 where as USA 0.08 and Switzerland 0.05. Magnitude of the problem of anemia for pregnant women in South East Asian countries is high – 60 per cent in India, 77 per cent in Bangladesh and 68 per cent in Nepal in comparison to 29 per cent in America and 20 per cent in Europe. The sex ratio in India was 1,000 males to 978 females in 1901, which has come down to 1000 males to 927 females in 1991. Where as in developed countries like USA, Canada and Britain the ratio is 1000 males to 1080 females. How is it that the population of females in India is going down? Ultra sound, Amniocentesis to detect the sex of the foetus is followed by female foeticide. Besides other causes, female foeticide is one of the main causes for decrease in female population in India. A girl is discriminated from the very childhood. At birth she is unwanted, she is not sent to school, she is given less food to avoid her to grow fast. After sad experiences of childhood in a woman’s life come three phases that could be remembered with 3 Ms. These are – Menarche, Motherhood and Menopause. At Menarche, she should be educated to take high protein diet and food items containing iron. She must also be educated about sexuality, teenage pregnancy (17 per cent of pregnancies are in age group of 15-18 years) complications of abortions. The next phase is motherhood. It is also important that she is aware about the do’s and don’ts of pregnancy. Access to good health facility for check ups, extra diet rich in protein, calcium and iron, and the power to decide as to how many children she should have. Maternal Care Indicators show that only 62.3 per cent of pregnant women receive antenatal check ups, 53.8 per cent doses of Tetanus Toxoid, 50.5 per cent iron/folic acid tablets, and only 25.5 per cent deliver with propers health care facilities. Lastly comes the phase of Menopause, when a woman reaches the age of 45 and generally stops menstruating. If she has an understanding of menopause and an understanding partner/husband and family, she gets over this phase smoothly. With the physical changes in this phase comes the need for self-respect and feeling of being wanted. Many a time family members are unable to show these in their behaviour. The discrepancy in the ideology and practice of the empowerment policy of women in India constitutes its continued social, economic and cultural backwardness. As empowerment of women in a society is the most effective index of measuring modernisation and development, it should be ensured therefore that at every phase of life, a woman needs to be given special inputs in terms of school education, higher education, health education, sex education, population education and education on self development, so that these may improve her status in the society and better the quality of her life .