Over the last few thousand years, there have been several significant shifts in the position of women in India. Throughout history, women have had equal standing with males. This trend peaked in the Middle Ages, but many reformers, including Mahatma Gandhi, have since worked to further equal rights. Women in India have had a long and storied history. During the Middle Ages, when practices like sati, child marriage, and the prohibition on widow remarriage spread across India, the status of women declined even more.