Women‘s empowerment is a new phrase in the
vocabulary of gender literature. The phrase is used in two broad senses i.e.
general and specific. In a general sense, it refers to empowering women to be
self-dependent by providing them access to all the freedoms and opportunities,
which they were denied in the past only because of their being a women ¶. In a
specific sense, women empowerment refers to enhancing their position in the
power structure of the society.
All the countries of the world
have taken efforts to develop women resource, enacted laws to guarantee the fundamental rights and
opportunities and to protect them against violence so that women empowerment
can be achieved and women resource become apart of the productive resource
contributing to welfare of the society and national devilment.
Every nation believes that If women are empowered with certain tools of
empowerment such as higher education for knowledge on many matters , ,job
training for independent income, health promotion facilities, legal protection
for dignified living , political opportunities to participate in decision
making process, they will be able to develop certain qualities such as
The ability to live without depending on others,
The ability to participate in decision making process,
The ability to protect themselves from violence,
The ability to fight for equal rights,
Their the ability to use the resources available to best advantage,
The ability to achieve the goals of life.
Women endowed with such qualities
will not be sitting in a corner crying or suffer in silence or and remain
passive under difficult circumstances and get into depression and then commit suicide.
But when we see highly educated,
women with high profile jobs like computer professionals, lawyers, teachers and
scientist and film stars commit suicide, we get a doubt about their empowered status.
These women who are not able to face the challenges of life and end their
life have not learn t to use the tools of empowerment such as
education, specialized job training, independent income ,women protecting laws
of the land and the political rights effectively to attain the empowered status. That means,
they have not learned to use the empowerment tools foe betterment of their
life. People mistake them as empowered women since their dresses are trendy
they communicate excellently in English, able to drive vehicles, hold high
profile jobs. But to qualify to be an empowered women they have to possess
certain other inner qualities, in addition to possessing the tools of
empowerment.
They are---
Positive attitude towards life
Mental strength to face
crises of life
Willingness to work hard to achieve goals
of life
Courage to use women protecting
laws in case of necessity
Ability to cross hurdles of life without
yielding to pressures
.
Status of Indian women
Year
2001
2011
Sex ratio 927:1000 940:1000
Literacy rate 54.17% 65.46%
Female employment 26.2% 34.1%
Political-status 10.8 %,( Lok Sabha) 9 %-( Rajya Sabha)
Legal status-- 27 direct and indirect laws but conviction rate of offenders is only 2%
India’s position in gender equity in the world
is 129/146
Better only than Afghanistan in
South Asian countries
The status of Indian women is
still lower because of lack of awareness about many things such as, legal,
health, political and economic rights. Majority of women have faith in certain traditional believes such as “women’s role is only within the family as home maker, they
have to be content with a secondary role, women’s virtues are obedience and
patience, political role is taboo for women, fighting for dignified treatment
by men will affect family harmony, religions expect them to be subservient to
men etc”., Since these cultural factors determine women’s mind set, fighting against
injustice is unthinkable for them.
This type of mindset prevails
even among the highly educated and employed women who are considered as
progressive minded. They are even afraid that they will get the tag of
'feminist"(as if it is an abusive word) if they start talking about their rights.
The result is for all of us to see in the form of 129th rank in gender equality
among the countries of the world. Let the women of India develop their inner
strength, so that they can face the challenges of life with courage and
confidence, attempt to live with dignity by avoiding total economic dependence
on men and make use of the protective laws of India when crimes are committed
against them instead of attempting and committing suicide. They do it In spite of
having higher education and decent jobs. Such women do not understand the real
meaning of empowerment and there is an urgent need to create awareness among
women about the correct meaning of the word, “women empowerment”
Women empowerment is the product
of evolution and not of revolution. Women with stronger inner qualities can
make best use of the tools of empowerment, such as higher education, economic
independence, and better health, legal and political awareness to attain the
goals of their life and live with dignity.
Let us not mistake that modern appearance, vehicle driving capacity,
fluency in English, college degrees and jobs will make them as real empowered persons.
The strong inner qualities make a
difference between a weak and a strong woman
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