WHAT IS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

WHAT IS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT : Women empowerment can be defined in very simple words that it is making women powerful so that they can take their own decisions regarding their lives and well being in the family and society. It is empowering women to make them able to get their real rights in the society.

WHY NEED OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA

As we all know that India is a male dominated country where males are dominated in every area and females are forced to be responsible for only family care and live in the home including other many restrictions. Almost 50% of the population in India is covered by the female only so the full development of the country depends on the half population means women, who are not empowered and still restricted by many social taboos. In such condition, we cannot say that our country would be a developed in the future without empowering its half population means women. If we want to make our country a developed country, first of all it is very necessary to empower women by the efforts of men, government, laws and women too.

The need of women empowerment arose because of the gender discrimination and male domination in the Indian society since ancient time. Women are being suppressed by their family members and society for many reasons.

They have been targeted for many types of violence and discriminatory practices by the male members in the family and society in India and other countries as well. Wrong and old practices for the women in the society from ancient time have taken the form of well developed customs and traditions.

There is a tradition of worshiping many female goddesses in India including giving honor to the women forms in the society like mother, sister, daughter, wife and other female relatives or friends. But, it does not mean that only respecting or honoring women can fulfill the need of development in the country.

It needs the empowerment of the rest half population of the country in every walk of life.

India is a famous country proving the common proverb like ‘unity is diversity’, where people of many religious beliefs are in the Indian society.

Women have been given a special place in every religion which is working as a big curtain covering the eyes of people and help in the continuation of many ill practices (including physical and mental) against women as a norm since ages.

In the ancient Indian society, there was a custom of sati pratha, nagarvadhu system, dowry system, sexual violence, domestic violence, female infanticide, pardapratha, wife burning, sexual harassment at work place, child marriage, child labour, devadashipratha, etc including other discriminatory practices. All such type of ill practices is because of male superiority complex and patriarchal system of the society.

Socio-political rights (right to work, right to education, right to decide for themselves, etc) for the women were completely restricted by the male members of family. Some of the ill practices against women have been eliminated by the open minded and great Indian people who raise their voices for the discriminatory practices against women. Through the continuous efforts of the Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Britishers were forced to eliminate the ill practice of Sati paratha. Later, other famous social reformers of the India (Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Acharya VinobaBhave,

Swami Vivekananda, etc) also had raised their voices and worked hard for the upliftment of women in Indian society. In India, the Widow Remarriage Act, 1856 was initiated by the continuous efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in order to improve the conditions of widows in the country.

In the recent years, various constitutional and legal rights have been implemented by the government of India in order to eliminate ill practices and gender discrimination against women. However, in order to solve such a big issue, the continuous effort of everyone including women is required.

Modern society is being more aware about the women rights which results in the increasing number of several self-help groups, NGOs, etc working in this direction. Women are being more open minded and breaking the societal barriers in order to achieve their rights in all dimensions even after crimes are going side by side.

Some of the acts passed by the Parliament are Equal Remuneration Act-1976, Dowry Prohibition Act-1961, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act-1956, Medical termination of Pregnancy Act-1971, Maternity Benefit Act-1961, Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act-1987, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act-2006,

Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act-1994, Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Protection and) Act-2013, etc in order to empower women with legal rights.

In order to provide safety to women and reduce crime against women in India, government has passed another act Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015 (especially after Nirbhaya case when an accused juvenile was released). This act is the replacement earlier Indian juvenile delinquency law of 2000 (Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000) in order to reduce the juvenile age from 18 to 16 years in cases of heinous offenses.

Need for Women Empowerment

Almost every country, no matter how progressive has a history of ill-treating women. In other words, women from all over the world have been rebellious to reach the status they have today. While the western countries are still making progress, third world countries like India still lack behind in Women Empowerment.

ROLE OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY :

Women play a great role in the growth and development of the society and making it an advanced and modern society. There is a famous saying by the Brigham Young that, “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” Educating and giving power to the women is of great importance which needs to be followed in the society to bring women empowerment and development of society. Because it is true that, if a man is getting educated and empowered, only he can be benefitted however if a woman is getting educated and empowered, whole family and society can be benefitted.

Women are not things which can be neglected because of their less power and authority instead they should be empowered and promoted to get higher education. Women are the half population of the world mean half power of the world.

If women of any country are not empowered mean that country is lack of half power. By nature, women play their all the roles with great responsibilities and have capability to make a healthy family, solid society and powerful country. Lots of efforts have been done however still women are backward and limited to home activities. We need to understand that if an uneducated woman may handle home properly then why not a well educated woman can lead the whole country like men.

Without woman nothing is possible for men, they are basic unit of the society, they make a family, family make a home, home make a society and ultimately societies make a country. So the contribution of a woman is everywhere from taking birth and giving birth to a child to the care for whole life and other areas.

All the roles and responsibilities of the women can never be neglected by the societies. Without education and women empowerment no development is possible in the family, society and country. Women know well how to talk, how to behave, how to deal with people of different classes, etc. She knows to handle all the situations because she knows well the basic fundamentals of a good society and play her roles politely as a main contributor in building a strong society.

Earlier, when the lives of women were worse than slaves, women were considered as animals and used as sex toys. It was a sin for women to give birth to a girl baby, either they were killed, buried alive or thrown away by the male head of the family. However, the condition has become advance now in many means but not completely.

CONCLUSION-:

In order to really bring women empowerment in the Indian society, it needs to understand and eliminate the main cause of the ill practices against women which are patriarchal and male dominated system of the society. It needs to be open-minded and change the old mind set against women together with the constitutional and other legal provisions.

How to Empower Women?

There are various ways in how one can empower women. The individuals and government must both come together to make it happen. Education for girls must be made compulsory so that women can become illiterate to make a life for themselves.

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

Introduction

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 favour of women…..Learn More