The National Commission for Women was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 ( Act No. 20 of 1990 of Govt. of India ) to :
In keeping with its mandate, the Commission initiated various steps to improve the status of women and worked for their economic empowerment during the year under report. The Commission completed its visits to all the States/UTs except Lakshadweep and prepared Gender Profiles to assess the status of women and their empowerment. It received a large number of complaints and acted suo-moto in several cases to provide speedy justice. It took up the issue of child marriage, sponsored legal awareness programs, Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalats, and reviewed laws such as Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, PNDT Act 1994, Indian Penal Code 1860, and the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to make them more stringent and effective. It organized workshops/consultations, constituted expert committees on economic empowerment of women, conducted workshops/seminars for gender awareness, and took up publicity campaigns against female foeticide, violence against women, etc. to generate awareness in the society against these social evils.
NCW strives towards enabling women to achieve equality and equal participation in all spheres of life by securing their due rights and entitlements through suitable policy formulation, legislative measures, effective enforcement of laws, implementation of schemes/policies, and devising strategies for the solution of specific problems/situations arising out of discrimination and atrocities against women.
The Indian Woman, secure in her home and outside, fully empowered to access all her rights and entitlements, with the opportunity to contribute equally in all walks of life.
The Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) recommended nearly two decades ago, the setting up of a National Commission for women to fulfill the surveillance functions to facilitate redressal of grievances and to accelerate the socio-economic development of women.
The First Commission was constituted on 31st January 1992 with Mrs. Jayanti Patnaik as the Chairperson. The Second Commission was constituted in July 1995 with Dr. (Mrs.) Mohini Giri as the Chairperson. The Third Commission was constituted in January 1999 with Mrs. Vibha Parthasarathy as the Chairperson. The Fourth Commission was constituted in January 2002 and the government had nominated Dr. Poornima Advani as the Chairperson. The Fifth Commission was constituted in February 2005Dr. Girija Vyas as the Chairperson. The sixth Commission was constituted in August 2011withMrs. Mamta Sharma as the Chairperson. The seventh commission has been constituted in 2014 with Ms. Lalitha Kumaramanglam as Chairperson.
In December 2006 and January 2007, the NCW found itself at the center of a minor controversy over its insistence that Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code not be changed to make adulterous wives equally prosecutable by their husbands.
The NCW has demanded that women should not be punished for adultery, as a woman is "the victim and not an offender" in such cases. They have also advocated the amendment of Section 198 of the CrPC to allow women to file complaints against unfaithful husbands and prosecute them for their promiscuous behavior. This was in response to "loopholes" in the Indian Penal Code that allowed men to file adultery charges against other men who have engaged in illicit relations but did not allow women to file charges against their husbands.
The Commission has also worked to guarantee women's security in unconventional relationships.
The NCW came under sharp criticism for their response to the attack by forty male members of the Hindu right-wing Sri Ram Sena on eight women in a bar in Mangalore in late January 2009. Video from the attack shows the women were punched, pulled by their hair, and thrown out of the pub.
NCW member Nirmala Venkatesh was sent to assess the situation and said in an interview that the pub did not have adequate security and that the women should have protected themselves. Venkatesh said, "If the girls feel they were not doing anything wrong why are they afraid to come forward and give a statement? On 6 February, the NCW said they decided not to accept Venkatesh's report but would not be sending a new team to Mangalore. On 27 February, the Prime Minister's Office approved the removal of Nirmala Venkatesh on disciplinary grounds.
The NCW came under fire again after the molestation of a 17-year-old girl by a gang of men outside a pub in Guwahati on 9 July 2012. NCW member Alka Lamba was accused of leaking the name of the minor victim to the media and was subsequently removed from the fact-finding committee, though she remains a member of the commission. The following week, NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma made comments suggesting that women "be careful how you dress", which invited criticism that she was guilty of victim-blaming. The controversy led activists to call for a restructuring of the commission.
In 2021, the NCW was once again criticized for engaging in victim-blaming following the gang rape and murder of a woman in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. A two-member delegation from the NCW was sent to the site of the incident to meet with the victim's family and prepare a fact-finding report. NCW member Chandramukhi Devi, who was part of the delegation, stated to the press that part of the blame for the incident lay with the victim, as she had chosen to visit the temple late in the evening. Devi stated, "A woman should not go out at odd hours under the influence of somebody. I think if she had not gone out in the evening, or had some child along with her, this could have been prevented. The comments attracted wide criticism on social media, as well as from celebrities. Following public criticism, Devi withdrew her remarks.