“A WOMAN WITH A VOICE IS BY DEFINITION, A STRONG WOMAN” – MELINDA GATES
Women Empowerment is made of two words women and empowerment. Empowerment implies lending power or authority to someone. So, Women’s Empowerment implies power in the hands of women. It indicates that women should be provided equal opportunity in every field, irrespective of any discrimination.
Our society includes men and women. In earlier times, men were deemed to be the leading members of a family. They were credible for earning their livelihood and were the decision takers of the family. On the other hand, women were credible for doing household work and upbringing children. So, the roles were primarily based on gender. There was no right to take to in decision-making. If we evaluate our entire sector, then research says that women’s problems are either focused on their reproductive role and their body or their financial role as a worker. But none of them is concentrated on empowering women.
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA.
Women’s empowerment in India cannot be distinguished from that in other countries. Women were highly honoured in the Vedic periods. The priority on women’s education was never absent. The term ‘sahadharmini’ was known from the Vedic days. Sahadharmini implies – an equal partner. It is thus very obvious that women in India in old days enjoyed respect, education and reverence.
As time passed the Indian culture was degraded by the conservative Middle Eastern and British cultures. As a result, the strength and respect that women enjoyed were lost.
Slowly after independence, women began regaining the lost power. Today women are everywhere. The country saw its female Prime Minister and President, the country has many prominent female sportspeople like P.T Usha or Saina Nehwal , the country has been adored by talented women scientists like A. Chatterjee or B Vijayalakshmi. Women are joining the combat forces in India without any reluctance.
However, various women in India are still finding it difficult to come out of the clutches of patriarchy – particularly in the rural sector. The empowered women must exhort these women to raise voices, protest and seek benefit from the authorities.
NEED FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
Practically all countries, regardless of how advanced, have a history of mistreating women. To put it another way, women from all over the world have been courageous to achieve their current standing. While Western nations continue to make improvements, third-world countries such as India continue to wane in terms of women’s empowerment. Women’s empowerment is more significant than ever in India. India is one of the countries where women are not prudent. This is due to a variety of components. Not only that, but dreadful crimes against women such as acid attacks, rape, the dowry system, honour killings, domestic violence, and other aspects of violence against women continue to happen throughout India. Women should account for 50% of the whole population. However, expected to female foeticide practices, which are still existing in the rural and underprivileged sections of Indian societies, the girl child population is shortly decreasing, influencing the country’s sex ratio. Furthermore, the education and freedom scenario is very regressive in this situation. Women are not permitted to begin again their education and are married off at a young age. In specific areas, men continue to dominate women, as though it is the woman’s duty to labour for him indefinitely. They don’t let them go out or have any form of freedom and private life. As a result, we can see how women’s empowerment is a clasping issue. We must ready these women with the tools they want to stand up for themselves and never be victims of injustice.
HOW TO EMPOWER WOMEN
There is a broad range of methods and approaches to empower women. Individuals and the government must work together to attain this. Girls’ education should be made crucial so that they do not come to be illiterate and incapable to support themselves. Women, regardless of gender, must be provided with equal chances in all fields. Women empowerment may also be attained through government-sponsored programmes as well as on an individual level. On a personal level, we should start to appreciate women and give them chances equal to males. We should improve and encourage them to seek jobs, further education, and entrepreneurial endeavours, among other things. To empower women, the government has executed programmes such as the Mahila Shakti Kendra, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, and others. Apart from these programmes, we can all enable women by eliminating societal problems such as the dowry system and child marriage. These simple actions will expand women’s status in society and help them feel more influential.
