Margaret Alva, former minister for women in the government of Rajiv Gandhi, set themes that became the ground of being for understanding the condition of women in India. She stated that for 50 years, India had failed to involve 50 percent of the population in development. Women do all the household work including child-rearing, do unpaid labor on family farms and businesses, and work outside the home in paying jobs. This burden results in women working nearly twice as many hours per day as men. All of the speakers emphasized that the subjugation of women in India is not a matter of men versus women, but is embedded in the patriarchal structure of society.
Hunger is rape, molestation, alcoholism, dowry, female infanticide and feticide.
Selective abortion in India has reached such lengths that at one hospital, the ratio of boy to girl babies is two to one. A first step for effective action is to recognize the wisdom, strength and courage of village women themselves. Geeta Mukherjee, a member of parliament from West Bengal, pointed out that the greatest vehicle for women's emancipation has been the law requiring that one-third of all local government seats be reserved for women. Women may arrive with veils, or mirroring their husbands' views, but the experience of real power alters them. Mina Swaminathan spoke of the success of a range of video clips produced in her state that set new role models for men in very nonthreatening ways.