Ruth Bader Ginsberg, US Supreme Court Justice said that “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.”. Her statement resonates strongly with today’s times where we are seeing a tumultuous world with climate change and environmental issues. There are increasing prospects of territorial wars and disputes.
Empowering women has become the focus of considerable discussion and attention all over the world, and rightly so!
Times like these need the driving force of women and women empowerment. Increasingly, there is an impetus for both the government and civil society to raise the bar on empowering women.
Women and Their Empowerment
The disheartening fact is that even in this 21st century women’s education and empowerment are not up to par with men. The inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women are age-old issues all over the world.
Women Education
Education is the cornerstone for women’s empowerment because it prepares them to respond to challenges, confront the forced traditional roles and change their lives. The education of a woman is the most powerful tool to change her position in society.
Education also brings a reduction in inequalities. It functions as a means of improving their position within the family based on the concept of participation. Empowerment is a means of creating a social environment wherein one can make decisions and make choices either individually or collectively for social transformation.
Article 14 of the Indian Constitution clearly outlines the privilege of unbiased gender-free education for all and Article 15 of the Constitution empowers the state to adopt affirmative measures for promoting ways and means to empower women and especially focuses on the importance of education for women.
So while today Indians enjoy the benefits of being citizens of a free nation, what comes under the scanner is equal access to freedom amongst all.
Empowerment Defined
Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing individuals to think, take action, and control work in an autonomous way. It is the process by which one can gain control over one’s destiny and the circumstances of one’s life.
Women and their Empowerment
A woman is a primary caregiver in a child’s upbringing and that makes her a mother of the land. It is therefore crucial for the socio-economic and political progress of India to focus on the development of women’s education. If India wants to be the superpower of the world in a few years, then the empowerment of women has to be central.
Importance of Women’s Participation
Women’s education in India plays a very important role in the overall development of the country. It not only helps in the development of half of the human resources but in improving the quality of life at home and outside. Educated women not only tend to promote the education of their girl children but also can provide better guidance to all their children.
Moreover educated women can also help in the reduction of the infant mortality rate and the growth of the population. The current gender gap in the male-female literacy rate is more than 82.14% and the female literacy rate is just 65.46%. This discrimination that still plagues India can be corrected by the emphasis on women’s education in India.
Government led Women Empowerment Programmes
The government has also launched several women empowerment programmes and women-first initiatives. The most popular and visible among all is the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Andolan, launched to create awareness among the people to educate all girl children in the country.
Both earning and learning are the combined key factors to women’s empowerment. There is a possibility that a woman is involved in unskilled work (for example, house helps) but still not empowered. On the contrary, it might be possible that a woman is educated but still not empowered because she is not earning.
Women, who are educated and earning, are in a much better position as compared to uneducated women workers. Therefore, a scheme called Working Women Hostels has been launched so that safe and convenient accommodation can be provided to working women.
The scheme benefits every working woman without any distinction of caste, religion, marital status, etc. In order to take advantage of this scheme, the gross total income of women should not exceed INR 50,000 per month in the case of metropolitan cities whereas, in the case of small cities, the gross total income should not exceed INR 35,000 per month.
Other Women Empowerment Programmes
The focus of the government has increased manifold towards women’s development. They are working around the clock to maximize women’s access to education, skill training, and institutional credit.
- MUDRA Yojana (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. ) is one such scheme that was launched on 8 April 2015 in which loans up to INR 10 lakh are provided to women entrepreneurs, without any collateral.
- The government has passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 increasing the maximum period of maternity leaves from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. Earlier a lot of women left their job after giving birth to children leaving a lot of working women unemployed. This landmark act has given a new life to the vision of women-led development.
Doing It Right and Fast
“If you educate a man you educate an individual, however, if you educate a woman you educate a whole family. Women empowered means Mother India empowered.”
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
Though the Government has come up with various measures for women’s empowerment, it is still facing hurdles in society. Therefore, there is a need to do much more for women. Also, there is a need to uphold their dignity at par with the status of men in society.
The Constitution of our Nation doesn’t discriminate between men and women, but some pockets (decider pockets) of our society do. And that needs to stop now!
Smile Foundation and Women Empowerment Programme
Smile Foundation‘s women empowerment programme, Swabhiman aims to enhance the access of women to basic healthcare, nutrition, and knowledge about the different government schemes. Everything possible to bring an overall improvement in the quality of their lives. Potential women entrepreneurs are identified and supported with dedicated programmes to build an ecosystem for them to progress and excel.
