The Main achievements of the Social Reform Movements of the 19th century in emancipating women:

(i) Education: Most of the social reformers of the 19th century strongly advocated women's education, for they saw education as the single most important tool for liberating women.

(a) The opening of schools, particularly meant for girls, was a major step in efforts at emancipating women.

(b) When women got an opportunity to move out of their homes and also an exposure to the world at large, they were lifted out of ignorance. Though conservative parents did not really accept the idea of sending their daughters to school easily, the fact that efforts began to be made for providing education to girls, was itself a major step in the direction of women's emancipation.

(ii) Laws were passed against so many social evils related directly with the women's emancipation: On the eve of British conquest of India, the position of women was very humiliating. Social evils such as female infanticide, sati, child marriage, restrictions on female education, polygyny and ban on widow marriage flourished. In the name of religion, women were kept away from all efforts to seek empowerment. For more than two hundred years after they set foot in India, the British did not interfere with the religious and social life of the people they governed because of their policy of non-interference. But as their position in India was strengthened (became strong), the British started responding positively to the efforts of enlightened Indian social reformers who had launched a struggle to emancipate women from the clutches of evil social practices and customs.

(a) Ban on Sati: The period between 1829 and 1947 saw the enactment of many laws, which aimed at emancipating women from the clutches of oppressive social customs. Indian social reformers had to work against heavy odds and stiff social opposition. A change-resistant (opposing change) society did not accept the ban on Sati or the legal sanction for widow marriage so very easily. Though sati was legally banned in 1829, incidents of sati continued and even as late as 2002 cases of sati were still being reported. If an inhuman practice like sati could exist even in the 21st century, when so much progress has been made in the fields of science and technology, you can well imagine how difficult it must have been to fight for women's emancipation over one hundred and seventy years ago.

(b) Legalisation of Widow-re-marriage: Lifting the ban on widow remarriage was another major step in the struggle for the emancipation of women. While the ban on sati was somewhat effective, the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856 could not be effectively implemented because of social opposition. But the freedom, which the law gave widows to marry was definitely an achievement in the struggle for women's emancipation. With a ban imposed on sati and the ban on widow marriage removed, an environment for liberating women was created.

(c) Ban on Child marriage: One of the greatest obstacles to women's emancipation was child marriage. The enactment of the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1992 prescribed the minimum age at marriage for a girl as 14 and a male as 18 years. Though 14 years is by no means the right age for a girl to be married, this Act at least took the bold step to put an end to the evil custom of infant marriages. When girl children did not have to be married off at an early age, they could go to school which is a very effective instrument of emancipation. The 1992 Act was the single most significant piece of legislation that sought to emancipate women in the pre- independence era.