The paper attempts an assessment of the National Commission for Women, which was created in 1992 as an autonomous apex body to monitor and influence state policies with regard to women. It examines the State's approach to women's issues through the evolution of national mechanisms as also through an understanding of the engagement of women's movements with the state, both by way of challenging and participating in its institutions. It argues that the willingness to intervene on behalf of women is determined by the interests of the state and political actors in securing and maintaining power. The questions that women's movements face are: to what extent do these national machineries effectively address the issues for which they had been created and to what extent are they able to bring in changes in the culture and practices of the bureaucratic structures of the state.
