Status of Women in Contract Law

[Volume 2, Issue 5] – May, 2017

Author – Neha Saini (B.A.LL.B, LL.M , UGC-NET Qualified, Pursuing Ph.D. in Law from Amity University) Assistant Professor at School of Law, The NorthCap University, Gurgaon.

Co-Author – Prof. Dr. Arvind Bhanu

“The movement of the progressive societies has hitherto been a movement from Status to Contract.”- Sir Henry Maine

Introduction

The right to enter into a Contract is one of the basic rights that every human being is entitled to. Everyone has the freedom to enter into a contract with anyone subject to reasonable restrictions imposed by law. For example, an alien enemy is disqualified by law to enter into a contract. Likewise an insolvent person cannot enter into contracts. But now the question arises about the position of women in relation to contractual freedom. How much freedom do they enjoy in contractual matters? The position of women is generally considered to be inferior to that of men in every field whether political, economic and social. What about Contract Law? Does Contract Law also discriminate between men and women? If we look at Contract Law it makes no difference between men and women. It says that “Every person is competent to contract who is of the age of majority according to the law to which he is subject, and who is of sound mind and is not disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject.” So we can see that Contract Law does not discriminate between men and women. It gives equal contractual rights to men and women. There is no gender based discrimination in Contract Law. But there is still discrimination against women in contractual matters in some personal laws. The women did not enjoy the same freedom earlier which they do now. In this paper we will try to study the historical evolution of contractual rights of women and the present scenario.

Coverture

Under traditional English common law, an adult unmarried woman was considered to have the legal status of feme sole, while a married woman had the status of feme covert. These terms are English spellings of medieval Anglo-Norman phrases (the modern standard French spellings would be femme seule “single woman” and femme couverte, literally “covered woman”).((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverture#CITEREFBlackstone1769 [Last Modified on 11 February 2017, at 21:05]))

The principle of coverture was described in William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England in the late 18th century:

By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs everything; and is therefore called in our law-French a feme-covert; is said to be covert-baron, or under the protection and influence of her husband, her baron, or lord; and her condition during her marriage is called her coverture. Upon this principle, of a union of person in husband and wife, depends almost all the legal rights, duties, and disabilities that either of them acquires by the marriage. I speak not at present of the rights of property, but of such as are merely personal. For this reason, a man cannot grant anything to his wife, or enter into covenant with her: for the grant would be to suppose her separate existence; and to covenant with her, would be only to covenant with himself: and therefore it is also generally true, that all compacts made between husband and wife, when single, are voided by the intermarriage.((Blackstone, William (1769). “Of husband and wife”. Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769). Lonang Institute))

A feme sole had the right to own property and make contracts in her own name, while a feme covert was not recognized as having legal rights and obligations distinct from those of her husband in most respects. Instead, through marriage a woman’s existence was incorporated into that of her husband, so that she had very few recognized individual rights of her own. As it has been pithily expressed, husband and wife were one person as far as the law was concerned, and that person was the husband. A married woman could not own property, sign legal documents or enter into a contract, obtain an education against her husband’s wishes, or keep a salary for herself. If a wife was permitted to work, under the laws of coverture, she was required to relinquish her wages to her husband. In certain cases, a wife did not have individual legal liability for her misdeeds since it was legally assumed that she was acting under the orders of her husband, and generally a husband and a wife were not allowed to testify either for or against each other.((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverture#CITEREFBlackstone1769 CITEREFBlackstone1769 [Last Modified on 11 February 2017, at 21:05]))

Criticism of Coverture

The doctrine of Coverture was severely criticized because it denied the women their right to individuality and treated them as slaves.

According to Chernock, “coverture” and other “principles” did not reflect the ‘advancements’ of a modern, civilized society. Rather, they were markers of past human errors and inconsistencies, and thus in need of further revision.”((Chernock, Arianne (2010). Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-6311-0.))

In the 1850s, according to DuBois, Lucy Stone criticized “the common law of marriage because it ‘gives the “custody” of the wife’s person to her husband, so that he has a right to her even against herself.’”. DuBois wrote that coverture, because of property restrictions with the vote, “played a major role in” influencing the effort to secure women’s right to vote in the U.S. because one view was that the right should be limited to women who owned property when coverture excluded most women (relatively few were unmarried or widowed).(( DuBois, Ellen Carol, ed. (1998). Woman Suffrage and Women’s Rights. New York, NY: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1901-5.))

In the mid-19th century, according to Melissa J. Homestead, coverture was criticized as depriving married women authors of the financial benefits of their copyrights including analogizing to slavery. According to Homestead, feminists also criticized the effect of coverture on rights under patents held by married women((Homestead, Melissa J. (2010) [2005]. American Women Authors and Literary Property, 1822–1869. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15475-8.)). In 1869, coverture was criticized when Myra Bradwell was refused permission to practice as a lawyer in Illinois specifically because of coverture In 1871, Bradwell argued to the Supreme Court that coverture violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.((DuBois, Ellen Carol, ed. (1998). Woman Suffrage and Women’s Rights. New York, NY: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1901-5.))

According to Margot Canaday, “coverture’s main purpose was the legal subordination of women.”((Canaday, Margot (2008). “Heterosexuality as a legal regime”. In Michael Grossberg & Christopher L. Tomlins. The Twentieth Century and After (1920—). The Cambridge History of Law in America. 3. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80307-6.))

Coverture was diminished in the 1970s, as part of a broader feminist revolution in law that further weakened the principle that a husband owned a wife’s labor (including her person). The regime of coverture was coming undone in the mid-20th century.((Canaday, Margot (2008). “Heterosexuality as a legal regime”. In Michael Grossberg & Christopher L. Tomlins. The Twentieth Century and After (1920—). The Cambridge History of Law in America. , Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80307-6.))

This situation continued until the mid-to-late nineteenth century, when Married Women’s Property Acts started to be passed in many English-speaking jurisdictions, setting the stage for further reforms.((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverture#CITEREFCanaday2008 CITEREFBlackstone1769 [Last Modified on 11 February 2017, at 21:05]))

In the United States, many states passed Married Women’s Property Acts to eliminate or reduce the effects of coverture. ((Married Women’s Property Acts (United States [1839]), in Britannica Online Encyclopedia [Visited on February21, 2017]))

Pardanashin Women

A pardanashin girl is one by the custom of the country or the usage of the actual community to that she belongs, is duty-bound to watch complete seclusion (Parda). “A girl won’t be a pardanashin girl if she goes to the court and provides proof, settles rents with tenants and collects rents, communicates in matters of business with men aside from the members of her family.”((http://sabijutt786.altervista.org/pardanasheen-women-in-busines law/?doing_wp_corn [Visited on February 20, 2017]))

Pardanashin woman is the women who observed rigid rules of seclusion. Various legal systems and traditions arranged special arrangements for the protection and preservations of the interest of the pardanashin woman in terms of contract, execution, search, photographs, commissions, etc.((http://www.clcbd.org/lawdictionary/201.html [Visited on February, 19, 2017]))

A woman who observes the practice of seclusion; applied to a respectable female who observes the rules of seclusion, and who is on that account excused from personal appearance in a court of justice.(([Wil. Gloss.402]))

“Parda-nishin” means a woman who, according to the custom of the country, might reasonably object to appear in a public office.(([Section 2 of the Mahommed Marriage and Divorce Registration, 1876 (Rep. by Act LII of 1974)]))

A woman of rank who lives in seclusion, shut in the Zenana, having no communication except from behind the parda or screen with any male persons save a few near relations.(([Satish Chandra vs. Kali Dasi AIR 1922 Cal 203]))

It is an established principle that in case of a document executed by an illiterate pardanashin lady the onus is on the party who relied on such a deed to satisfy the Court that it has been read over and explained to her, that it was understood by her and that she had independent and disinterested advice in the matter.(([Suratunnessa Bibi vs. Md. Naimuddin Mandal (1966) 18 DLR 37]))

It is believed that a pardanashin girl will fall prey to dishonest individuals. Therefore, to guard such girl, the law has provided special protection to them. Persons dealing with them should, therefore, show affirmatively and once and for all that the deed wasn’t solely read by, however was explained to, and was very much understood by her. That person must also show that the deed was created by her free consent, i.e., no coercion or undue influence was exercised. Also, if any pardanashin girl executes/makes any contract then she ought to be accompanied with any male member of her family as without this her contract will not be valid.

Legal presumption:
A contract with a pardanshin girl is presumed to be induced by undue influence.
The other party entering into a contract with Pardanashin women should prove:
a. That he revealed all the facts to her;

1. That she understood the contract and the implications of the contract;

2. That the agreement was created by her free consent.

Surrogacy

Surrogacy means to act as a surrogate. To surrogate means to act as a substitute. As per Artificial Reproductive Technique (ART) Guidelines surrogacy is an “arrangement in which a woman agrees to a pregnancy, achieved through assisted reproductive technology, in which neither of the gametes belong to her or her husband, with the intention of carrying it to term and handing over the child to the person or persons for whom she is acting as surrogate; and a ‘surrogate mother’ is a woman who agrees to have an embryo generated from the sperm of a man who is not her husband, and the oocyte for another woman implanted in her to carry the pregnancy to full term and deliver the child to its biological parents(s)”.((The Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill-2010, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ministry of Health &Family Welfare, Govt. of India, pg. 4 (aa).))

Earlier surrogacy was used only to help family members and friends. It had an altruistic end. But as it involved money also, with the passage of time, surrogacy started to be used as a means to earn money which resulted in exploitation of women who belong to the lower strata of the society. Due to their poverty, illiteracy and ignorance these women fell easy prey to such unscrupulous practices.

To overcome these issues the Government of India has proposed Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016. The Bill defines surrogacy as a practice where a woman gives birth to a child for an intending couple and agrees to hand over the child after the birth to the intending couple.((http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-surrogacy-regulation-bill-2016-4470/ [Visited on February 22, 2017])) The bill has the following features:

1. Regulation of surrogacy: The Bill prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic surrogacy. Altruistic surrogacy involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy. Commercial surrogacy includes surrogacy or its related procedures undertaken for a monetary benefit or reward (in cash or kind) exceeding the basic medical expenses and insurance coverage.

2. Purposes for which surrogacy is permitted: Surrogacy is permitted when it is, (i) for intending couples who suffer from proven infertility; and (ii) altruistic; and (iii) not for commercial purposes; and (iv) not for producing children for sale, prostitution or other forms of exploitation.

3. Eligibility criteria for intending couple: The intending couple should have a ‘certificate of essentiality’ and a ‘certificate of eligibility’ issued by the appropriate authority. A certificate of essentiality will be issued upon fulfilment of the following conditions: (i) a certificate of proven infertility of one or both members of the intending couple from a District Medical Board; (ii) an order of parentage and custody of the surrogate child passed by a Magistrate’s court; and (iii) insurance coverage for the surrogate mother. The certificate of eligibility is issued upon fulfilment of the following conditions by the intending couple:(i) Indian citizens and are married for at least five years; (ii) between 23 to 50 years old female and 26 to 55 years old male; (iii) they do not have any surviving child (biological, adopted or surrogate); this would not include a child who is mentally or physically challenged or suffers from life threatening disorder or fatal illness. Other conditions may be specified by regulations.

4. Eligibility criteria for surrogate mother: To obtain a certificate of eligibility from the appropriate authority, the surrogate mother has to: (i) be a close relative of the intending couple; (ii) be an ever married woman having a child of her own; (iii) be 25 to 35 years old; (iv) be a surrogate only once in her lifetime; and (iv) possess a certificate of medical and psychological fitness for surrogacy.

5. Appropriate authority: The central and state governments shall appoint one or more appropriate authorities within 90 days of the Bill becoming an Act. The functions of the appropriate authority include; (i) granting, suspending or cancelling registration of surrogacy clinics; (ii) enforcing standards for surrogacy clinics; (iii) investigating and taking action against breach of the provisions of the Bill; (iv) recommending modifications to the rules and regulations.

6. Registration of surrogacy clinics: Surrogacy clinics cannot undertake surrogacy related procedures unless they are registered by the appropriate authority. Clinics must apply for registration within a period of 60 days from the date of appointment of appropriate authority.

7. National and State Surrogacy Boards: The central and the state governments shall constitute the National Surrogacy Board (NSB) and the State Surrogacy Boards (SSB), respectively. Functions of the NSB include, (i) advising the central government on policy matters relating to surrogacy; (ii) laying down the code of conduct of surrogacy clinics; and (iii) supervising the functioning of SSBs.

8. The Bill states the following offences: (i) undertaking or advertising commercial surrogacy; (ii) exploiting the surrogate mother; (iii) abandoning, exploiting or disowning a surrogate child; and (iv)selling or importing human embryo or gametes for surrogacy. These offences will attract a minimum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to 10 lakh rupees.

The Bill specifies a range of offences and penalties for other contraventions of the provisions of the Bill and initiating commercial surrogacy.((http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-surrogacy-regulation-bill-2016-4470/ [Visited on February22, 2017]))

Women’s Position in Employment Contract

An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain.((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_contract [Last Modified on 16 October 2016, at 18:05])) Labour laws apply to that area of activity where workers are working under a contract of employment.((http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/12832/13/14_chapter%205.pdf [Last Viewed on February 22, 2017]))

Women constitute a major workforce in industries and factories. Women being vulnerable can be easily exploited by their employers or other people in dominant position. To protect women various legislations have been enacted to ensure equal rights to women in employment contracts. Various laws containing such welfare provisions for women are as following:-

(i) Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

(ii) Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

(iii) The Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923

(iv)The Trade Unions Act, 1926

(v) The Payment of Wages Act, 1936

(vi)The Payment of Wages (Procedure) Act, 1937

(vii) Employers Liabilities Act, 1938

(viii) The Minimum Wages Act, 1948

(ix) The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948

(x) The Minimum Wages Act, 1950

(xi) The Plantation Labour Act, 1951

(xii) The Mines Act, 1952

(xii) The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

(xiii) The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966

(xiv) The Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970

(xv) The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1979

(xvi) The Inter – State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979

Some of these enactments deal exclusively with women workers like Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. Other laws deal with workers generally but they also contain some welfare provisions for women.

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 regulates the employment in of women in certain establishments for certain periods before and after child-birth and to provide for maternity benefit and certain other benefits. Various provisions of Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 empower women in terms of their bargaining powers while entering into an employment contract during pregnancy and for certain period after child birth. For instance, Section 5 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 entitles a woman to payment of maternity benefits.((Right to payment of maternity benefits [(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every woman shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of the average daily wage for the period of her actual absence, that is to say, the period immediately preceding the day of her delivery, the actual day of her delivery and any period immediately following that day.]

Explanation: For the purpose of this sub-section, the average daily wage means the average of the woman’s wages payable to her for the days on which she has worked during the period of three calendar months immediately preceding the date from which she absents herself on account of maternity, ¹²[the minimum rate of wage fixed or revised under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948) or ten rupees, whichever is the highest].

(2) No woman shall be entitled to maternity benefit unless she has actually worked in an establishment of the employer from whom she claims maternity benefit, for a period of not less than¹³[eighty days] in the twelve months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery:

Provided that the qualifying period of ¹³[eighty days] aforesaid shall not apply to a woman who has immigrated into the State of Assam and was pregnant at the time of the immigration.

Explanation : For the purpose of calculating under this sub-section the days on which a woman has actually worked in the establishment, ¹⁴[the days for which she has been laid off or was on holidays declared under any law for the time being in force to be holidays with wages] during the period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery shall be taken into account.

[(3) The maximum period for which any woman shall be entitled to maternity benefit shall be twelve weeks of which not more than six weeks shall precede the date of her expected delivery:]

Provided that where a woman dies during this period, the maternity benefit shall be payable only for the days up to and including the day of her death:

[Provided Further that where a woman, having been delivered of a child, dies during her delivery or during the period immediately following the date of her delivery for which she is entitled for the maternity benefit, leaving behind in either case the child, the employer shall be liable for the maternity benefit for that entire period but if the child also dies during the said period, then, for the days up to and including the date of the death of the child.]))

Similarly, Section 8 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 entitles a woman for medical bonus.((Payment of medical bonus

Every woman entitled to maternity benefit under this Act shall also be entitled to receive from her employer a medical bonus, of [two hundred and fifty rupees], if no pre-natal confinement and post-natal care is provided for by the employer free of charge.)) Section 9((Leave for miscarriage, etc.

In case of miscarriage or medical termination of pregnancy, a woman shall, on production of such proof as may be prescribed, be entitled to leave with wages at the rate of maternity benefit, for a period of six weeks immediately following the day of her miscarriage or, as the case may be, her medical termination of pregnancy.])) and Section 9A((Leave with wages for tubectomy operation In case of tubectomy operation, a woman shall, on production of such proof as may be prescribed, be entitled to leave with wages at the rate of maternity benefit for a period of two weeks immediately following the day of her tubectomy operation.])) entitle a woman for Leave for miscarriage and Leave with wages for tubectomy operation. Section 11 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 allows a woman to take nursing break.((Nursing breaks

Every woman delivered of a child who returns to duty after such delivery shall, in addition to the interval for rest allowed to her, be allowed in the course of her daily work two breaks of the prescribed duration for nursing the child until the child attains the age of fifteen months.)) Section 12 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 protects a woman from dismissal on account of absence during pregnancy. ((Dismissal during absence of pregnancy

(1) When a woman absents herself from work in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it shall be unlawful for her employer to discharge or dismiss her during or on account of such absence or to give notice of discharge or dismissal on such a day that the notice will expire during such absence, or to vary to her disadvantage any of the conditions of her service.

(2) (a) The discharge or dismissal of a woman at any time during her pregnancy, if the woman but for such discharge or dismissal would have been entitled to maternity benefit or medical bonus referred to in section 8, shall not have the effect of depriving her of the maternity benefit or medical bonus:

Provided that where the dismissal is for any prescribed gross misconduct, the employer may, by order in writing communicated to the woman, deprive her of the maternity benefit or medical bonus or both.

[(b) Any woman deprived of maternity benefit or medical bonus, or both, or discharged or dismissed during or on account of her absence from work in accordance with the provisions of this Act, may, within sixty days from the date on which order of such deprivation or discharge or dismissal is communicated to her, appeal to such authority as may be prescribed, and the decision of that authority on such appeal, whether the woman should or should not be deprived of maternity benefit or medical bonus, or both, or discharged or dismissed shall be final.]

On the other hand, The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 provides for the payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers and for the prevention of discrimination, on the ground of sex, against women in the matter of employment.((Preamble to Equal Remuneration Act, 1976))

Section 4 of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 imposes the obligation upon the employer to pay equal remuneration to men and women workers for same work.((Duty of employer to pay equal remuneration to men and women workers for same work or work of a similar nature.

(1) No employer shall pay to any worker, employed by him in an establishment or employment, remuneration, whether payable in cash or in kind, at rates less favorable than those at which remuneration is paid by him to the workers of the opposite sex in such establishment or employment for performing the same work or work of a similar nature.

(2) No employer shall, for the purpose of complying with the provisions of sub-section (1), reduce the rate of remuneration of any worker.

(3) Where, in an establishment on employment, the rates of remuneration payable before the commencement of this Act for men and women workers for the same work or work of a similar nature are different only on the ground of sex, then the higher (in cases where there are only two rates), or, as the case may be, the highest (in cases where there are more than two rates) of such rates shall be the rate at which remuneration shall be payable, on and from such commencement, to such men and women workers.

Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall be deemed to entitle a worker to the revision of the rate of remuneration payable to him or her with reference to the service rendered by him or her before the commencement of this Act.)) Section 5 provides that no discrimination to be made while recruiting men and women workers.((No discrimination to be made while recruiting men and women workers

On and from the commencement of this Act, no employer shall, while making recruitment for the same work or work of a similar nature, [or in any condition of service subsequent to recruitment such as promotions, training or transfer,] make any discrimination against women except where the employment of women in such work is prohibited or restricted by or under any law for the time being in force:

Provided that the provisions of this section shall not affect any priority or reservation for scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, ex-servicemen, retrenched employees or any other class or category of persons in the matter of recruitment to the posts in an establishment or employment.))

In the case of Mackinnon Mackenzie and Co. Ltd.v. Audrey D’Costa((AIR 1987 SUPREME COURT 1281)) the Management tried to evade its responsibility to pay equal remuneration to women employees on the ground that it’s financial responsibility is not satisfactory. The Court laid down that The Act does not permit the management to pay to a section of its employees doing the same work or a work of similar nature lesser pay contrary to section 4(1) of the Act only because it is not able to pay equal remuneration to all. The applicability of the Act does not depend upon the financial ability of the management to pay equal remuneration as provided by it.

Thus, we can see these welfare legislations improve the bargaining powers of women employees while entering into labour or employment contracts. And we can see that though women were initially at a disadvantageous position but now welfare laws like these have brought the women at an advantageous position and now they are at par with men.

Conclusion

Thus, we can conclude by saying that initially the women’s right to enter into a contract was restricted or their bargaining power was weak while entering into a contract so they could be easily exploited. The freedom of women was restricted due to various historical doctrines such as coverture etc. But now theses doctrines have become outdated. Now, we can see that various legislations have been passed to emancipate the position of women in matters of contract. Various special provisions have been made for women. The purpose of these legislations is to protect women from exploitation in contractual matters. So now the position of women is at par with men in contractual matters.

Bibliography

Books

1. Pollock and Mulla, The Indian Contract Act, 1872 (Lexis Nexis, First Edition, January 2014).

2. Avtar Singh, Contract and Specific Relief (Eastern Book Company, Twelfth Edition, 2017)

3. R.K. Bangia, The Indian Contract Act, 1872 (Allahabad Law Agency, Fourth Edition, 1990)

4. Dr. Avtar Singh & Dr. Harpreet Kaur, Introduction to Labour and Industrial Laws (Lexis Nexis, 4^th Edition, 2017)

5. H.L.Kumar, LABOUR LAWS – Everybody Should Know (Universal Law Publishing, 11th Edition, 2016)

Acts and Statutes

1. Indian Contract Act, 1872

2. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

3. Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

4. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016

Dictionaries

1. A Dictionary of Law (Oxford Quick Reference)

2. Black’s Law Dictionary

Journals and Reports

1. Chernock, Arianne (2010), Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.ISBN 978-0-8047-6311-0.

2. DuBois, Ellen Carol, ed. (1998), Woman Suffrage and Women’s Rights, New York, NY: New York University Press,ISBN 0-8147-1901-5.

3. Homestead, Melissa J. (2010) [2005],American Women Authors and Literary Property, 1822–1869. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-15475-8.

4. DuBois, Ellen Carol, ed. (1998).Woman Suffrage and Women’s Rights, New York, NY: New York University Press, ISBN0-8147-1901-5.

5. Canaday, Margot (2008). “Heterosexuality as a legal regime”, In Michael Grossberg & Christopher L. Tomlins, The Twentieth Century and After (1920—) The Cambridge History of Law in America, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-80307-6

Webliography

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverture#CITEREFBlackstone1769 (Last Modified on 11 February 2017, at 21:05)

2. http://sabijutt786.altervista.org/pardanasheen-women-in-busines law/? doing_wp_corn (Visited on February 20, 2017

3. http://www.clcbd.org/lawdictionary/201.html (Visited on February, 19, 2017)

4. http://ncw.nic.in/pdfReports/Surrogacy_Report_CSR.pdf (Visited on February 21, 2017)

5. http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-surrogacy-regulation-bill-2016-4470/ (Visited on February 22, 2017)

6. http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-surrogacy-regulation-bill-2016-4470/ (Visited on February22, 2017)

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_contract (Last Modified on 16 October 2016, at 18:05)

8. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/12832/13/14_chapter%205.pdf (Last Viewed on February 22, 2017)

9.https://mahakamgar.maharashtra.gov.in/images/pdf/maternit-benefit-act-1961.pdf (Last Viewed on February 21, 2017)

10.http://www.helplinelaw.com/1/METB/maternity-benefits-act-1961-act-under-the-maternity-benefits-act-1961.html (Last Viewed on February 22, 2017)

11.http://labour.gov.in/sites/default/files/equal_remuneration_act_1976_0.pdf (Last Viewed on February 20, 2017)

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Editor – Dr. Komal Vig; LL.B. & LL.M. (Criminal Laws and Criminology), MBA (Human Resources), LL.D (Law); Assistant Professor, Amity Law School, Amity University Noida