What is Women Empowerment?
Women have emerged successful in many walks of life today. We see participation of women happening on a large scale be it in business sectors, industrial sectors or other conventional fields.
This is because women have emerged from their couches to make a mark in the world. They are no longer resilient to male dominance in the world.
All these changes have happened over the years and leads one to think about ‘women empowerment’.
Meaning & Definition of Women Empowerment
Women empowerment can be broadly defined as enriching women with qualities that make them independent; ready to take on the world with confidence and instill values that help them achieve greater heights in life.
Women should be taught to learn self-dependent at every phase in life.
They should be appropriately guided to take steps and measures that make them rely on none but themselves to carry on the wagon of life.
Principles of Women’s Empowerment
Women are no longer restricted to the kitchens. They spend equal amounts of their time in their work area as well. Women of today are taught to be self dependent and walk the ramp with confidence.
They look up to the world with their heads held high and have occupied some of the most coveted posts in the world. They have become tough from the inside and the outside and stand tall to face the challenges of life.
Let’s look at some of the principles of women’s empowerment
Gender equality at all levels of social framework
It’s just not equal if we talk about gender equality on TV chat shows or spread the word through the press media. We have to advocate it at every level of our social structure.
Let’s get down to the basics first. Let’s try to know what gender equality means. At the grassroots level, let’s consider a very basic instance of a small family of four, the husband and the wife with their two children- a son and a daughter.
If the parents are from a conservative mindset and they think of providing good education for their daughter but step back when she demands them to put her in extracurricular activities, they aren’t being fair to her.
They probably consider her to be their own at the time being, but see her being settled in another home in the future, so they don’t want to support unnecessary expenditure on her.
She would anyways be going off to another place after marriage, so putting all the money on her for her extra-curricular interests would do no good return to the parents is a very common conservative thinking of our society.
On the other hand if the son demands the same activity some other day, they would be pleased to offer a ‘yes’ to him.
That’s because the son is considered as the earning member of the family and the future care-taker of his parents as well.
So, in short they would be beneficial from his extra learning, so he would be encouraged to take part in all his interests.
This is a typical scenario out of a middle class conservative household, may even exist in many houses even today.
What needs to be changed to welcome a progressive thinking is to encourage both the son and the daughter to involve themselves in their areas of interest.
Instead of viewing their future returns on us, they should be encouraged solely for their abilities alone.
That is what we mean by promoting gender equality at all stages of society. People should realize the potential of women on par with men and treat them equally with men.
Non-biased treatment of women at work
This is a straight- from-office type of factor wherein most of the senior roles are occupied by men at large.
Usually we find very less women occupying higher posts, because firstly we see no encouragement from the top brass to include women in higher decision making wings.
Secondly, men in the superior cadres would consider it demotivating to be governed and told to do things by a woman mentor.
So, these kinds of stigmas have been sticking to our social framework since long times and to change them, we need a good leadership with a broad vision.
Decision makers in the top management should rely solely on the person’s abilities, be it male/female and not enroll based on the gender of a person.
Certainly, the gender of a person has got nothing to do with the individual decision making ability of a person.
Steps against discrimination of women at home and work
We see women playing secondary roles in their everyday lives at home. There are many homes that exist even today and wish to stick to these principles.
Women are forced to eat only after the male members of the home eat their share of lunch and leave.
It is considered improper for women to share the table along with the other members of the house to sit and have their meals with them.
We can see changes in the way women are treated only when the basics of treatment at home take a good change.
Aren’t the digestive systems of both men and women equally demanding the food kept on the table?
Why is it that only men should be allowed to eat the food first and then be offered to women every single day, isn’t it totally unjustified?
At work as well, we can see differential treatment being meted out to men and women and nobody questions the system.
Women have become accustomed to such set-ups in our society that they dare not question things the way they are.
They blindly accept the hierarchy imposed on them and work without realizing the damage implicated on them.
Prioritizing and being sensitive to the health concerns of women
Again, women are considered soft and gentle creatures and offered soft roles to perform and thought of as super-sweet human creation.
The multi-tasking mother has to take care of her duties at home. She has to cook for the family, pack their lunch boxes, get her children ready to school.
She has to even devote time for her husband, get things in order for him, maintain good deadlines for him. She has to take care of her in-laws.
She has to make sure that the house is neat and clean and maintain everything in order. She has to pay all the bills on time.
Apart from all this, she also has a career to maintain and look after her role in her job-area. So, this is a big part of her life.
She carries the big chunk of running the household smoothly on her shoulders apart from being the provider to a certain extent too.
On the other hand, men are basically providers. They go out and earn money for the family. They come back home exhausted, relax and go to sleep.
It’s surprising that a woman who has done much more than her male counterpart has to continue attending the chores lying in front of her, while the male members take bouts of relaxation after a hard day’s work.
So, all the multi tasking efforts put a pressure on the woman’s mind. She has to deal with stress. We can see women falling sick too soon, unable to handle family pressures.
The balancing act of the family and the professional life puts undue pressure on women, impacting their health largely.
So, women should be empowered right from their families to look after their health. Men should participate in the daily chores of the house and lend a supportive hand to share things with their wives.
They should be understanding towards the female members of the house.
Equal education for girls and women
It is very important to educate girls, to make them independent decision makers. If girls are educated, they would lead their families towards prosperity.
They would guide the family and their children and take the right steps to promote their welfare.
In the rural areas, women should be empowered by spreading literacy. We can see many volunteers sending their weekends in remote villages, educating the people of the village.
They realize the importance of education. Education opens up a world full of opportunities, it teaches one to be self-reliant.
Women locked in the four corners of their rural set-up can march forward and see how they could also be potential earning members for their family if they are educated.
They can work on par with their male counterparts and see their prosperity lighting up when they seek formal education.
Support awareness programs that promote the literacy and development of women
The government has started evening schools for farmers and women dwellers in remote village areas and regions that have very poor literacy rates in our country.
Often, these women are exploited by moneylenders and village heads because they lack education and knowledge.
They do not understand the tricks played by middlemen to loot their money and they land up as innocent paws in their hands.
Also, we can see many money lenders and petty financial institutions offering attractive loans to women to buy jewellery and impose huge rates of interest on the repayable amount.
In many cases, they would be cheated of the commodity they desire to purchase. Such exploitation and cheating can be avoided if one is educated and has attained knowledge.
It will place a person in a position to decide what is good and what is not. It will help a person decide to go in for what looks reasonable and what looks offensive.
Hence, providing good educational means at the grassroots level works a good wonder if the schemes are implemented in large rural pockets of India.
Educating women about smart financial planning
Financial education is a part of every woman’s life. Whether she is an earning member of the family or a homemaker, it is entirely on her to make smart decisions for the family.
When it comes to financial decisions, there are many reliable as well as money-laundering schemes and persons who make promises in vain and never return the money taken for investment.
Smart financial choices should be made by women which would help them save money for the future, invest their money in safe places.
They should be good enough to seek growth aspects for their money by pooling in money at the right places.
Nowadays everybody has a bank account and it’s a rare situation if one doesn’t have one. So, there should be good education given to smartly save money and pool in assets for the future.
Women should also be educated about tax schemes, current financial commodities, various investment options available and separate saving schemes for women.
Any good newspaper provides all the necessary details for women to be on their toes today.
Hence women should come out from their nutshells and think of the world on a big platter and see themselves progressing in all walks of life.
Any violations regarding the above principles should be dealt seriously by the lawmakers
Crimes against women are on the rise. When any crime of wrong-doing against women are brought into picture, police personnel may or may not oblige to report a case based on the involvement of persons and the seriousness of the case.
This is out rightly wrong. Isn’t it necessary to provide women the support they need when something wrong has been done to them?
Aren’t the authorities being a part of the crime by not rendering their supporting hand? It is every lawmaker’s responsibility to discharge his duties in a free and fair manner regardless of the involvement of people in any case.
But our society doesn’t run that way. Every other day we see many cases reported against women. The newspaper fills itself with news of crimes carried out against women.
The society is totally insensitive to the needs of women and instead causes much damage to her dignity and moral self.
There should come by a major change in society when crimes against women should have zero tolerance and trespassers of law should be punished strictly by law.
Any crime against women, taking place in any part of our country should be treated seriously and there should be no ways to escape, no matter how influential the persons involved in the crime are.
Women Empowerment in India
The term ‘women empowerment’ stands at a very nascent stage in India. Not a day goes without any crime being reported against women.
We see news of dowry deaths, rape cases, murders, sexual harassment, exploitation at work places and the list is endless.
Men take advantage of women in a variety of ways. If a good looking woman passes on a street, she is bound to receive lewd comments by some snobbish men who do not tolerate the fact that the women looked so good.
Eve-teasing college girls is a norm outside most colleges and they are dealt strictly only in some very reputed institutions.
At malls, market places, in buses, trains and flights, women are meted out ugly treatment and they are forced to stay back or think twice about the way they dress or appear in public.
It is definitely good to be dressed appropriately, but it doesn’t require a male bastion to point out to that.
The male bastion should look into its own shortcomings when wanting to comment on the female community about their dressing senses.
Women who are married in India are expected to play a certain role that confines her and restricts her ability within the four corners of the doctrines of home culture.
She is supposed to behave in a certain way. She is supposed to be presentable in a certain way. She shouldn’t appear too modern in front of elders.
Our society, by and large is a very conservative one that demands women to always be a little inferior when it comes to walking hand in hand with men and that’s how it has come this long way, generation after generation.
Many years have passed by, generations have changed, thinking processes have taken many transformations, yet the position of women hasn’t manages to change much.
If we bring to light, the plight of many working women across different verticals, we would be surprised to find that at the bottom level, things are pretty much the same and women are treated indifferently even today.
What has changed over the course of time is the society accepting the woman also as another working member of the family, her educational needs, her desires to make a career of her own and spread wings in the direction she chooses to.
The society is slowly changing and opening up to something that it thinks is a change creation process.
Though large parts of the country are brooded in poverty that hardly bring into light, the female members and their living conditions, the urban set-ups have definitely marched towards a progressive outlook.
They have changed with the times and understand the modern needs of a woman. They understand that a modern day woman has a thinking of her own and leads life the way she chooses too.
Women would be really empowered in our country if both the rural and urban dwelling woman attain this independence to decide and live life on their own terms and not at the mercy of others.
Status of Women in India
The status of women in India is quite different in the urban as well as the rural pockets of India. Women are much more informed and advanced in the urban regions of the country.
They are well educated, smart and take their own financial decisions.
On the other hand, the rural pockets still do not support the uprising of women and most of them still dwell within their own couched habitats, not finding a way out from their burrows.
This difference in living and thinking occurs mainly because of awareness and growth in knowledge and education.
Empowering women through education is the best ways to see women performing to the best of their abilities and seeing that they do not hesitate to walk out of their comfort zones and make a mark for themselves in the world.
It is not that the urban women lead a life full of enrichment. This notion is perhaps not justified and totally wrong. They too face problems in lives.
They too face discrimination at work and they also have the possibilities of being treated badly at home and outside. What matters is how such women react in their tough situations.
If the same scenario is applied to rural women, they might probably not know how to deal with any situation. They may not be smart enough to rise up and think far beyond in a situation.
The lack of good knowledge and awareness is the culprit again. What urban women have an advantage in contrast to their rural counterparts is awareness plus good access to technology tools.
Most urban women, especially the younger generation is totally tech savvy and they make good use of technology to act as savior at unfavorable times.
It is just that these women are better equipped to handle situations when compared to rural women because they seem to have higher awareness of the society they live in.
Women’s Rights
The constitution of India contains separate provisions and specific rights and provisions to protect and safeguard the rights of women. They are discussed below:
Article 15 [1] talks about equality of women in India
The article abolishes discrimination based on gender either in work place or elsewhere.
It totally condemns discrimination or exploitation of women, bias against women, etc.
Any partial treatment meted out based on the gender of a person is totally unacceptable under law.
Article 16 [2] condemns discrimination of women at their work places
It is common for women to land up in posts at the entry and mid level jobs. But higher posts are usually attracted by men alone.
Very less women occupy higher-up posts due to gender bias; this is not acceptable under law.
Article 23 [1] speaks against illegal trafficking of women
Sexually exploiting women for commercial gains, prostitution acts and trafficking women for money gain or any other purpose is totally unacceptable by the constitution.
The constitution of India works for the empowerment of women. Any act that brings down the dignity or moral respect of a woman is totally punishable and amounts to crime under law.
Article 42 provides special provisions to women who are expecting children.
Maternity leave benefits, relaxation of working norms for expecting mothers and ensuring a stress-free environment for them are some of the few provisions made exclusively for women in their delicate stages of pregnancy.
This also brings ease to mothers who have small babies and newborns to take care of.
Various provisions of article 243 entitle reservations for women in occupying government seats and other high posts of value.
This is to ensure equal participation of both men and women in offices of public policy matters. At the same time, it ensures a balanced office holding and gives equal opportunities to both men and women.
Article 51 [e] condemns eve-teasing remarks, unjust remarks and any other remarks or comments passed against women that aim to bring down the dignity of women.
Gender Equality
Men and women should be treated equally. Our constitution contains special provisions to make sure that men and women are treated equally on all grounds.
There is provision for reservation of women in government offices. This is done with an aim to promote equality in participation and contribution.
Both men and women should be given equal chances to display their talents.
Today, women occupy posts that were previously considered men-only. They are taking up professions that were conventionally meant only for men.
Women have started enrolling in the army, navy and the air-forces. Previously, families used to defy sending their daughters and wives into such posts thinking they are fit only for males.
So, slowly the citizens of our country are changing their attitudes and their ways of thinking and walking towards empowering women to try different terrains.
Women Empowerment Programs
The government has initiated plenty of schemes, right from steps to save the girl child to providing financial aid to girl students.
In order to provide necessary support to empower women, the government of India has contributed in more than one ways to build a strong framework to look into the participation of women in all sectors and fields.
Some of the famous empowerment programs undertaken by the government are:
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: This scheme treats girl children as a boon to the family. It provides special help to underprivileged families to save money for their girl child. It helps with special schemes to educate the girl child.
Women help lines are established to help women in distress. Women can call up the number when they need some assistance or help from lawmakers.
They can approach the right persons to help them in unfavorable situations. Counseling for required women is also necessitated as per need.
Working women’s hostels are opened at almost all major regions of the country to empower working women and provide them safe accommodation facilities. The same applies to students as well.
Employment training and vocational training programs provide women to display their abilities in the areas of their choice.
They can get into professional practice after getting aids to buy resources and start their own small business, in order to support their families.
Mahila Shakti Kendras have been opened at many regions to empower women, to look into the interests of women, their welfare programs etc.
The government also works to rehabilitate women who were victims of unfavorable incidents. Separate schemes are opened for abolishing criminal acts against women, especially trafficking and related acts.
Women Empowerment Speech
Good Morning to all the dignitaries present on stage including our honorable chief guest, honorable principal, management, staff and students.
A hearty welcome to all. Today I would be talking about women empowerment – the necessity of empowering women in our country.
Women are very important in any society. They help to carry on the society smoothly. They drive the family in their smooth wheels.
They are multi-taskers and help in building the society. They provide a balancing act by working outside their homes to build a career and fame for themselves.
They also do every task at home to look into the smooth functioning of their family. Women by nature possess soft qualities- tenderness, kindness, softness and they tend to be protective in general.
We must empower women in our society to make them independent decision makers. They should be able to stand up on their own and take right decisions in life.
They should be empowered to stand up when something wrong is done against them. If anybody resorts to eve-teasing women, they should be able to stand up for themselves and speak up for their rights.
They should be able to judge the good from the bad. They should be made tough enough to handle the ups and downs of life.
Life throws up many challenges in different ways. Women should be taught to handle their challenges. The society commits many crimes against women.
Women should be empowered not to turn a blind eye against such crimes. They should raise their voices against any wrong doings against them.
Women would be really empowered if they realize the way society treats them, differentiates the good from the bad, lives with their dignity high and leads a life full of respect.
Young girls should be taught about how they are vulnerable in a society like ours and they should be prepared in a better way to face the upcoming challenges in life.
We should always lead by example. There are some amazing women in our society who have broken the glass ceiling to achieve greater heights in life.
They also stood strong through difficult waters. They saw themselves rising through tough times.
In spite of such shortcomings and weapons that society threw at them, they were able to walk up with confidence and march towards victory.
Women from all walks of life should draw inspiration from such great lives and make their lives fruitful and enriching.
Women Empowerment Quotes
Empowering women to carry on the world with confidence leads one to ponder over these quotes to seek good motivation:
- “Women are true assets to the country; they glorify the nation with their true interests”.
- “Women should rise and accept challenges; they are born to be tough to the world”.
- “Women are like coconuts, soft from inside but very tough from the outside”.
- “Women have the ability to tide thorugh any given situation, they are born fighters”.
- “Every woman is a daughter, sister, wife, mother, daughter-in-law and much more, in short, a legendary creation by God”.
Women Empowerment Slogans
We should encourage women to rise up from their comfortable couches and make a mark in the world full of challenges. Some motivational slogans are:
- “Rise up women, you were born to rule!”
- “Women are true leaders; they make a difference to the world”.
- “An educated women is like light in the lamp, spreads light in all directions”.
- “Educate women; they build assets to your family”.
- “A girl child is the most precious gift from god, treasure her, value her!”
Leave a Reply