The article examines the opportunities of women in India through the six axial institutions prism — family, labor market, education, science, political and corporate governance. The scientific novelty of the research lies in a comprehensive economic analysis of the women role in axial institutions. The theoretical relevance of the problem is related to the discrepancy between the existing methods of assessing gender equality, which have been developed for developed economies, and the socio-cultural realities and developing countries peculiarities. The practical importance of the work is confirmed by the increased interest of the BRICS countries in women's empowerment, which affects the pace of their socio-economic development. According to the study results, it was found that the women position in India is characterized by ambivalence due to the socio-economic heterogeneity of the country and the strong influence of patriarchal norms. Despite a long history of progressive policies — India has been a pioneer in family planning, policy quotas, and corporate governance — the implementation of these initiatives runs into cultural barriers. This leads to paradoxical situations: with an increase in the level of education, for a long time there has been a decrease in women's labour force participation rate, and gender quotas in companies often lead to the appointment of nominee directors from among relatives. Significant progress has been made in the field of education, where the gender gap has almost been bridged, but there remains a sharp horizontal segregation in the labor market. Although there has been a positive trend in recent years due to an increase in the number of highly educated women, problems such as the high level of unpaid labour, the dominance of informal employment, and the structural lack of suitable jobs remain. Thus, the gap between progressive legislation and the real status of women remains a challenge for modern India.
