Women Empowerment

By- Vishu Raj

1- Introduction- Women empowerment refers to the creation of an environment for

where they can make decisions of their personal benefit as well as for the society .A lot

is being heard these days on the need for the empowerment of women .women
continue to suffer and have an inferior status in society as compared to their male
counterparts. Many programmers have been implemented and run by the government
such as International Women’s day, Mother’s day’s etc.in order to bring awareness in
the society about the true rights and value of the women in the development of the
nation. The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of their
political, social, economic and health status is highly important in itself, also it is
essential for sustainable development. The men’s and women’s both is required in
productive and reproductive life, including shared responsibility for the care and
nurturing of children and maintenance of the household.

2- Women Empowerment -Empowerment can be defined in many ways, however,

when talking about women's empowerment, empowerment means accepting and
allowing people (women) who are on the outside of the decision-making process into it.
“This puts a strong emphasis on participation in political structures and formal decision-
making and, in the economic sphere, on the ability to obtain an income that enables
participation in economic decision-making.” Empowerment is the process that creates
power in individuals over their own lives, society, and in their
communities. Empowerment includes the action of raising the status of women through
education, raising awareness, literacy, and training. Women's empowerment is all about
equipping and allowing women to make life-determining decisions through the different
problems in society

3- BODY – The world literacy rate of adult females (ages 15 and above) has gone up from
77.7% in 2005 to 82.6% in 2016 according to World Bank Data. In India too, the female
 literacy rate has seen a drastic increase from 50.82% in 2006 to 62.98% in 2015. Though
the Indian statistics are much lower than the world’s, the direction seems to be right
There is high level of gender inequality in India where women are ill treated by their
family members and outsiders. The percentage of literate population in india is around
74% in which 65% is covered by women. The real meaning of the women empowerment
is to make them well educated and leave them free so that they can be capable of
taking their own decision in any field. From equal status with men in ancient times
though the low position in medieval period to the promotion of equal right by many
reformers , the history of women in India has been eventful.

4- MODERN PERIOD – In that time women have high officers including that the
president ,Prime minster ,speaker of lok sabha ,leader of the opposition ,union minster’s
, chief ministers and governor .women in India now participate fully in such areas as
education ,sports politics media ,art and culture service sector , science and technology
etc. In October 2018, Gita Gopinath was appointed as the first woman IMF Chief
Economist. Apart from this, women can now be seen at top positions in several fields
like Mary Barra (CEO of General Motors), Janet Yellen (Chair of Federal Reserve of US),
Indra Nooyi (CEO of PepsiCo), Hillary Clinton (Presidential Candidate of US) .

Some best example for women empowerment in modern time-

 Avani chaturvedi, bhavana kanth,and mohana singh – first ever women fighter
plane pilots and Avani chaturvedi first women to fly a fighter aircraft solo MiG-
21
 Aruna budda reddy – she becomes India’s first world cup medals winners in
Gymnastic with a bronze medal in Melbourne
 Radika Menon- The first women captain in the merchant navy.
 The first all women station in India, Matunga on central railway manned by a
staff of 41 women has entered the Limca Book of Records .
 Kavita devi- the first WWE India women wrestler
 Shubhangi Swaroop – becomes Indian navy first women pilot.
  Karnataka first women DG-IG-Neelamani N Raju
 Kerala 1st women IPS & DGP Officer – R.Sreelekha
 Justice Abhilasha kumari - First women Chief Jusice Of Manipur High court
 Indu Malhotra- 1st women lawyers to be directly appointed as judge of Supreme
Court.

5- NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001)-

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble,
Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not
only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of
positive discrimination in favor of women. Within the framework of a democratic polity,
our laws, development policies, Plans and programmers have aimed at women’s
advancement in different spheres. From the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78) onwards has
been a marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from welfare to development. In
recent years, the empowerment of women has been recognized as the central issue in
determining the status of women.
The National Commission for Women was set up by an Act of Parliament in
1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women. The 73rd and 74th
Amendments (1993) to the Constitution of India have provided for reservation of seats in
the local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation
for their participation in decision making at the local levels.

6- Benefits of Women Empowerment:

 They are able to lead their lives with dignity and freedom
 It adds to their self-esteem and self-confidence
 It gives them a distinct identity of their own
 They are able to gain respectable positions in society
  As they are financially independent they are able to spend on all their needs and
desires and they don’t need to sacrifice or compromise with their needs for others.
 They are able to make meaningful contributions to the well-being of society
 They act as capable citizens to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
growth of the country.
 Country’s resources are fairly and equally accessible to them

7- Necessity of Women’s Empowerment-

 Injustice and gender bias and inequalities cannot be removed without women
empowerment.
 Women cannot enjoy security and protection in life if they are not empowered.
 It also provides them with a safe working environment
 Empowerment acts as a powerful tool against exploitation and harassment faced by
women
 It provides legal protection for women
 Women cannot develop their own identity if they are not empowered.
 Women constitute a vast chunk of the world’s population. So if they aren’t employed
the global economy will be adversely affected.
 Women need to be provided equal opportunities for work to produce a just and
progressive society.

8- Conclusion-
According to the report of UNO India is the 4th most dangerous country for women and
India also noted as the worst country for women among the G-20 countries. In India our
Slogan is BHARAT MATA, and that country women’s are not safe it’s a worst thing for
our country.