Women Empowerment

“ There is no possibility for the welfare of world unless the state of women is enhanced. It is unrealistic for a flying creature to fly on just a single wing. “

This statement said by Swami Vivekananda emphasises the need to empower women. Women empowerment means strengthening and emancipation of women from social, economical, political & gender-based discrimination. As we know that India is the largest democratic country in the world with about 1.3 billion population and equality in democracy is the foremost thing. No one can deny the fact that women in India have made considerable progress in almost seven decades of independence but they still have to struggle against many handicaps and social evils in make dominating society. Many evil and masculine resist modern society to march forward. Isn’t it ironical that India to be acclaimed as first Asian country to accomplish Mars mission in its first attempt bus positioned at 29th rank among 146 countries across globe on basis on Gender Inequality Index.

Earlier the position of women wasn’t good enough. They were denied right to education and widow remarriage. Dowry system and Sati Pratha also prevailed in society. Many social reformers such as Jyotiba Phule started agitations which led to formulation of widow remarriage act, abolishing the Sati Pratha.

Thanks to the efforts of our founding fathers who worked for women empowerment & due to which social, economic & political provisions were made in Indian constitution. Many areas of exploitation were transformed but still deep-rooted patriarchal mentality exists in Indian society. Women are still subjected to discrimination in many areas like unequal salary and many more. For developing our nation, we can’t leave half of our population in dark. Isn’t it ironical that India, a land where goddess are worshipped women are suppressed.From household chores to corporate sector & space, everywhere women had proven themselves not less than men. They have esteem potential to carry out any work.

Empowering women has various facets namely

• Social women empowerment

• Educational women empowerment

• Legal women empowerment

• Economic & occupational women empowerment

Empowering women doesn’t mean worshipping them but giving them rights and testing them at par with men. Women have learnt to lead, challenged existing norms of society rewriting the history.

“ We can’t all succeed if half of this are held back “ – Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai had set a big example and what we need is to support her campaign for girls education & women’s rights. Sex ratio is an important indicator of development. Developed countries have sex ratio above 1000. For instance, USA has sex ratio of 1029,Japan 1041 and Russia 1140. In India, Kerala is the state with highest sex ratio of 1058 and Haryana, the lowest of 861.

Measures

The government has taken measures to prevent crimes against women but certain loopholes still exist. Government after independence had formulated many policies like STEP, Swadhar etc but lacks proper implementation to reach out to masses. Right to Education, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act,2005, Sexual harassment at Workplace act, 2013, Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 & many more are some of the legal actions taken to protect the women & to ensure that they are not alone in this race of equality. One-third of the seats are reserved for women in Panchayati Raj institutions. India needs to transform it’s colossal women Forde into an effective human resource. Patriarchy needs to be replaced by parity & concentrated efforts focussed in right direction is what we need. The ordeal that an Indian girl faces at birth is only the beginning of lifelong struggle to be seen and heard. We need a transition in our mind-sets & let women contribute boundlessly to development of nation. It’s the need of hour to stop discrimination and create a safer society where every woman can look for bright future. Then only our nation will truly become a force to reckon equality.