A women’s safety is ensured through her empowerment. Women have always been handling household works but we should support them and motivate them to take their own decisions and do their best in all fields. They must be encouraged to follow their desires and passions and let them choose their careers. We must let her focus on her professional work. Equal opportunities of education must be provided. We must build a safe and comfortable environment for them. We must teach others about the abilities of a woman. We must respect their individuality and must also try to share domestic work, only then will be be able to step on the path to women empowerment.
Narrow minded mentality creates a barrier for women empowerment, which is not good for any country’s future. These are the people who are judgemental towards working women. It is unfortunate that we have to fight daily to change the mindsets of people to end gender discrimination. Many families don’t give their daughters enough space and freedom to make her own decisions or follow her dreams and hobbies; hence stopping empowerment of women in it’s track.
Poverty has also been restricting women’s education. Poor women do not have enough money to let their children attend schools to get proper education. They cannot afford to educate their daughters and send them to good schools which ultimately allow them to get themselves employed and earn a living. Being financially independent allows them to make their own decisions, stand on their own and develop their financial skills.
Illiteracy restricts women from health and social awareness whereas literacy allows their economic growth and development. A large population of the illiterate people constitute women who are unprivileged from basic education. Health education is very important as it makes us aware of different health issues and their cures. Literate women can work in the private sectors and earn a good amount of money to support her and family. Women participation in economic growth of our country cannot be ignored so we must do our best to make every girl child get basic and quality education.
What we can do
We must make sure that women get a safe and comfortable environment everywhere, whether it is her home or the place she is working at. this will encourage more and more women and it would also let them trust their colleagues and the people who work in the same workplace.
We can help women to develop their decision making power by letting them choose their own careers and practice their hobbies. We must not be forcing them to get married soon or to give all of their time in household work.
We must encourage them to get proper education, which would not make them literate and find a good job, but also would make them aware of various health issues and problems and their precautions. It also saves them from diseases like AIDS which is chronic and can lead to death.
We must try to boost their confidence by letting them share their opinions and speak in front of people. We can discuss the things that are happening in the world and ask what they think about a specific thing that has happened, this will also develop their speaking skills and build their self esteem, it will help them express themselves more and better.
Smile Foundation’s programme – Swabhiman, meaning self-respect in English, was initiated in 2005 to address these challenges through a simple yet effective approach. The programme is specifically aimed at realization of both individual and collective self-esteem and inner strength for marginalised and socially excluded women and adolescent girls through innovative community practices.
A tailor-made strategy called the ‘4 S Model’ has been developed under Swabhiman for women empowerment. The ‘4 S Model’ is an acronym for four novel approaches, namely Seeking Healthcare as a Behaviour, Support for Education, Supporters through Male Involvement, and Sustaining the Change in Communities.
The programme identifies adolescent girls and women from the community and develops them into Change Agents, who in turn actively contribute to the community mobilisation process.
So far, Swabhiman has successfully made a difference to the lives of over 500,000 women and girl children, successfully stepping into the path of women empowerment.
To help girls go to school and to make a difference visit: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/she-can-fly/
