While India has had several women in positions of power — most notably Indira Gandhi, who was elected to the more powerful position of prime minister in 1966, and her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi_ many women still face rampant discrimination.
Mrs. Patil is a member of the Indian National Congress party and the United Progressive Alliance which is headed by Sonia Gandhi who is an Italian born Roman Catholic, the widow of assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The United Progressive Alliance is a coalition of left leaning parties that runs all the way from communists and socialists to moderate pro-capitalism center-leftists.