Empowering the Girl Child – Process and Examples

By

Prof. Jyothi Raghavan, Regional Director,

Rai Business School,
Balanagar,
Hyderabad – 500037.

According to businessdictionary.com, “Empowerment is the Management practice

of sharing information, rewards, and power with employees so that they can take
initiative and make decisions to solve problems and improve service and
performance. It is based concept of giving employees the skills, resources,
authority, opportunity, motivation, as well holding them responsible and
accountable for outcomes of their actions”. We can substitute ‘ Girl Child/Woman’
for ‘Employee’ to get an acceptable definition of their empowerment.

Much literature has appeared on the above topics; seminars and conferences have
been held and also action plans initiated. Let us try to have a look at these and
understand the process of empowering the girl child with practical examples.

Women and daughters are held in high esteem according to several scriptures. Let
us have some insights into it as per Islam, Hinduism and Christianity and the
Current Times.

As per Islam: Fatimah was the youngest daughter of the Holy Prophet
Mohammed. In dealing with her, he set an example of fatherly love which is a model
for mankind. "Fatimah," he would say, "is a part of my being; whosoever annoys her
annoys me" (Mishkat-ul-Masabih, XLIV:S)
He also emphasized preferential treatment towards the female sex and said "When
you bring anything for your children for distribution, begin with the girls first
because the girls love their parents more than the boys."

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Status of Mothers in Hindu Scripture: "The professor is equivalent of ten
teachers, the father is equal to hundred professors, the mother exceeds a thousand
fathers in honour."
"One conquers this world through respect for the mother, the middle religion (the
firmament) through respect for the father, and through service to the preceptor one
gains the region of Brahman."
From The Bible: “A capable wife who can find? Her value is far more than that of
corals” (Proverbs 31:10-31)

Current Times: The best example of empowerment of the girl child in India in
present times is ‘Project Nanhi Kali’. This was initiated in 1996 by K C Mahindra
Education Trust (KCMET) with an objective of providing primary education to the
underprivileged girl child in India. In 2005, KCMET entered into a partnership with
Naandi Foundation, a reputed NGO, to jointly manage the programme. Through this
partnership the two not for profit organizations aim to extend 10 years of quality
education to the under privileged girl children.

It is interesting to note that eight-year-old daughter Suhana and seven-year-old

Sana are part of Project Nanhi Kali. Well, who are these ‘Laadlis’ (Adorables) ? Well
they are none other than the daughters of Shahrukh Khan and Saurav Ganguly
respectively who are active patrons of the project. According to Khan, “Every
daughter is a ‘laadli’ (adorable) and she is very special”. Ganguly on the other hand
says “Everybody questions me about my most memorable moment - is it making a
century in my Test debut or winning a series in England or getting into the world
cup finals? But the most memorable time is the time that I spend playing hide and
seek with my seven-year-old daughter; Her smile is priceless - no trophy and no
award come closer to matching it,” .

Inspite of the past and present being ‘glorious’ as indicated above, we all know that
the situation is not as glorious as above. In fact, the umpteen instances of women
and girl children being exploited physically, mentally, emotionally, economically,
socially, religiously and politically are too well known to be elaborated here. It is in
this context that here is a need for empowerment.

The empowerment can be successful under the following conditions:

 Information availability

 Information Processing ability

 Self Motivation

 Realization of alternative means for achievement

 Commitment to continuous improvement {Kaizen)

 Self Confidence to overcome limitations

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Now let us try to understand these factors one by one. All empowered women have
all or most of these qualities. However, specific examples are sighted to highlight
some specific factors:

a) Information availability & Processing Ability : It is rightly said that

“information is power” and “knowledge is the supreme power!”. When one
has the right knowledge, nobody can subjugate her, however mighty he may
be. The recent example of Ruchika Case in which a Director General of
Police has been convicted to rigorous imprisonment for the molestation of a
minor girl is the best example of the same. He is likely to lose his best
service medals also. This goes to prove that moral turpitude on the part of a
hig ranking official can never be condoned, especially when the dignity of a
girl child is involved.

b) Self Motivation: The empowered woman is self-motivated. Nobody is

going to tell her to achieve what she does. Take the example of Poomari of
Tamil Nadu, India. When her father became invalid, this polio affected young
girl took to the seas all by herself to support her family and educate her
brothers and sisters.

c) Realization of alternative means for achievement: It is said that when

one door closes another opens. But many a time we waste our precious time
lamenting on the closed ones failing to see the open ones. The empowered
woman always sees and pursues alternate means for achievement.
Brahmacharini Kamala Bai, born in 1923 at Kuchaman town of District Nagaur
of Rajasthan got married at the tender age of 12 and was widowed barely two
years thereafter. Being totally illiterate, she found herself totally destitute ,
without any help or support. She learnt to read and write at Sri Mahavir
Mumuksha Mahila Ashram. Soon she developed an inspiration and motivation
to spread the message of literacy among the women and the girls in the
backward areas. She founded Adarsh Mahila Vidyalaya which presently has
more than 2000 girl students from the deprived sections of society. Her
organization has grown by leaps and bounds with a present annual budget of
more than Rs. 65 Lakhs. Her untiring efforts in empowering self and others
won her Rotary International Award in 1998 and Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Stree
Shakti Puraskar, 1999

d) Commitment to continuous improvement {Kaizen): Lilatai Pradkar, born in

1925 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh is a classical example of Kaizen. She, an
M.A.; B.Ed. was an inspiring teacher for nearly three decades. She spent most
of her salary for financially supporting the needy students. She also served in
the Medical Center of the Vivekanada Kendra, Kanyakumari for two years.
Later on she devoted her entire time for the cause of education among the
backward tribal people of Madhya Pradesh. In 1975, she established the
Vanabasi Kalyan Ashram for Women in Raigarh to offer vocational training to
women. She also started the Nivedita Vanabasi Kanya Chhatravas to provide
boarding and lodging facilities to the tribal girl students.

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For a woman of achievement, the sky is the limit! Thus, in 1980, Lilatai
started working among the Bhils and established Nivedita Vanabasi Kanya
Chhatravas providing boarding and lodging facilities to the tribal girl
students. In 1990, she started a hostel for the postgraduate girl students.
Lilatai Pradkar was awarded Rani Gaidinliu Stree Puraskar, 1999 in
recognition of her untiring efforts towards empowerment and education of
the marginalised tribal girls.

Self Confidence to overcome limitations: In all the above cases we have seen
that all the empowered women have scaled the pinaccle of glory not because
they were born with a silver spoon in the mouth but because of sheer
determination and hard work. Let us conclude our discussions with the
example of Ashamma from Karni village in Mehbubnagar district of Andhra
Pradesh who is a socially-marginalised woman who won the coveted Neeraja
Banot award recently. She was made a “jogini” when she was seven years
old and married off to the village deity. . In her own words "Since the day of
the initiation, I have not lived with dignity. I became available for all the men
who inhabited Karni. They would ask me for sexual favours and I, as a jogini,
was expected to please them. My trauma began even when I had not
attained puberty." When in her teens she became an unwed mother, "I bore
the child from the man I loved, but he did not marry me. Later, I escaped
from the village," she says. But all the time she was reminded that she was a
jogini and should not act like a chaste woman.

She joined and in 1997 became the head of Andhra Pradesh Mahila Samatha
Society Sangham which empowers sexually exploited women to lead a life of
dignity and grace.

Her commitment was to foil the attempts of villagers to initiate young girls
into this evil practice. She still remembers how hard she had to fight in order
to save a nine-year-old girl in her village from being made a jogini. The police
had blatantly- refused to help her and no one in the village was prepared to
cooperate with her. But Ashamma sat in protest until she succeeded in
preventing the initiation ceremony.
Now I think that all of us are convinced that “faith can move mountains!”. Do
we need any further example of Self Confidence to overcome limitations in
women’s empowerment?
In conclusion we can say that any one can play an effective role towards
empowerment of women and girls. One neednot belong to the well educated
class or a high society. When totally marginalized women like Ashamma can
become a role model for empowerment, is it not our turn to contribute
something towards this cause? Let us remember, “It is better to light a small
lamp than to curse the darkness!’
Acknowldgement:
Finally, I wish to thank Dr. T. Thomas, Dean (Academics), Rai Business
School, Balanagar, Hyderabad for his inpiration and guidance in preparing
this article.
References:

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1. http://www.joe.org/joe/1999october/comm1.php
2. www.nanhikali.org/nanhikali/about_nanhi_kali.aspx
3. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/snippets-of-life-non-fiction/14698-
women-achievers-of-india-1-a-2.html
4. http://tamildownunder.blogspot.com/2007/12/women-achievers-of-india-
there-are.html
5. http://74.125.153.132/search?
q=cache:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010505/windows/main1.ht
m

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