Essay-When women are the advisor, the Lords of creation don't take the advice till they have

persuaded themselves that it is just

what they intended to do; then they act upon it and if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it; if fails, they
generously give herself the whole".- Louisa May Alcott
India today is at the cusp of a paradigm change in its growth and its position in the world. We (both men and women) must act
decisively to capture this opportunity. We need to think big and scale up rapidly in each and every area, be it education,
infrastructure, industry, financial services or equality of both genders. For around two centuries, social reformers and missionaries
in India have endeavored to bring women out of confines in which centuries of traditions had kept them. According to the 2001
Census, the percentage of female literacy in the country is 54% up from 9% 1951.
But we should not forget that history in a witness to the women who have in the past demonstrated unique leadership capabilities.
Razia Sultana, Rani of Jhansi, Sarojini Naidu and Indira Gandhi are motivation examples of women empowerment. Earlier, most
women were able to demonstrate the leadership qualities only on their home fronts, as in Indian society man has always acted as
the master of the scene and the decision regarding the issue of empowering women has always been taken by him. God has gifted
women with compassion, tender-heartedness, caring nature, concern for others. These are very positive signs which imply that
women can be leaders. Though some women have shown their mettle yet a large number of them have to sharpen their leadership
qualities in various ways. In order to help women to be in limelight, they need to be empowered. Therefore, empowerment of
women is the prerequisite to transform a developing country into a developed country.
I would like to peep into the past when the stature of women as destroyed. They were treated as chattel in the early Roman
society. In France, they were termed as half-soul creatures responsible for the destruction of society. The Chinese considered them
as devil's soul. Japanese men preferred to live unmarried lives. Before the advent of Islam, Arabs buried their daughters alive
considering them as a sign of disgrace. In this way, they deprived women of their due place. Most men view themselves as being
the superior life-form in society. They justify this belief by saying that they are stronger and more capable; thus, making them
more qualified for the more important roles in society. they place themselves on pedestals and force women to believe in their
own inferiority to men and their incapability to excel educationally, politically, economically and domestically. But the truth is
that women have advanced in all those areas.
In Shakespeare's works, many female characters are portrayed as being manipulated, if not controlled outright by the men in t heir
lives as fathers, uncles, suitors, husbands. Therefore, Shakespeare's works appear to send mixed singles regarding the notion of
female empowerment. empowerment has multiple, interrelated and interdependent dimensions economic, social, cultural and
political. It can be understood in relation to resources, perceptions. relationship and power. But what does women empowerment
mean? Women empowerment generally has five components : firstly, women's sense of self worth; secondly, their right to have
the power of control their own lives, both within and outside home; and lastly, their ability to influence the direction of social
change to create a just social and economic order nationally, internationally and universally.
Educational attainment and economic participation are they key constituents in ensuring the empowerment of women. Educational
attainment is essential for empowering women in all spheres of society, for without education of comparable quality and content
given to boys and men, updated with existing knowledge and relevant to current needs, women will be able to have access to well-
paid formal sector jobs and advance with men. The economic empowerment of women is a vital element of strong economic
growth in any country. Empowering women enhances their ability to influence changes and to create a better society.
Other than educational and economic empowerment, changes in women's mobility and social interaction and changes in intra-
household decision-making are necessary. Slight improvement in women's involvement in household decision-making in male-
headed household, on such issues as credit, the disposal of household assets, children's education and family healthcare can work
wonders. Traditionally, gender based divisions persisted in intra-household decision-making. Women basically decide on food
preparation and men make the financial decision. Women are one of the greatest assets in our society. They equal to men in all
aspects. Women are more perfectionist in the power to create, nurture and transform.' Today, women are emerging as leaders in
growing range of fields. be it aeronautics, medicine, space, engineering, law, politics, education, business...you just name the
profession and they are there, all that needed in today's world in their empowerment.
In India, the empowerment process has already begun. We are now witnessing a steady improvement in the enrollment of women
in schools, colleges and even in profession institutes. Their health is better as compared to earlier decades. In this decade, women
are entering into the job market in increasing numbers. They are showing their skills even in non-traditional sectors like police,
defence, administration, media and research fields. Twenty-six laws have been enacted so far to protect women from various
crimes. The recent law on the 'protection of women against domestic violence' satisfies the long pending demand of the women
activities. In the political field, the reservation for women is a significant step forward towards their political empowerment. When
thirty-three percent reservation for women in Parliament becomes a reality, women's voice will be heard in the highest forum of
democracy. The day, women of India will reach zenith in their empowerment. But a lot of work has to be done as there is a
category of women (who consider themselves highly educated) that proudly accepts that they don't have digital literacy even
though they own a computer, they cannot even operate bank accounts or make travel arrangements for family or handle hospital
admissions even during emergencies. Even for a simple task like social visits or shopping generally they need the company of
their husbands.
Women in India feel proud to display that they are well protected and pampered by their husbands without realizing that they are
making themselves helpless. Such women's economic literacy is so low that they cannot play any role in family's decision
regarding family's budget, savings and investments. To such women, the national budget discussion is for men only and soap
operas are for them. Such women suffer a lot if something untoward happens to their husbands. This type of extreme dependency
is not good for the development of women. Women should remember that they are also rational, intelligent and thinking human
beings. Dependent women are not empowered women. If modern women think that they are empowered, it's a myth for them.
Empowerment means to inspire women with he courage to break free from the chains of limiting beliefs, patterns and societal or
religious conditions that have traditionally kept women suppressed and unable to realize their true beauty and power.
Some qualities to be acquired by women to become truly empowered are awareness about risk prevailing at home, in work place,
in traveling and staying outside home. They should have political, legal, economic and health awareness. They should have
knowledge about support groups and positive attitudes towards life. They should get goals for future and strive to achieve them
with courage. The best gift parents today can give to their daughters is education. If women choose to be ignorant then all t he
efforts taken by the Government and women activists will go in vain. Even in twenty-fifth century, they will remain backward and
will be paying a heavy price for their dependence, So, it is a wake-up call for women to awake from their deep slumber and
understand the true meaning of their empowerment. In the end I would like to conclude with the following words, "Women as the
motherhood of the nation should be strong, aware and alert".
Four ways to empower woman
1. Help them become business leaders
Evidence shows that women in Africa re-invest about 90 percent of their income back into their households compared to between
30 and 40 percent for men. Giving women the knowledge and skills they need to run successful farms and businesses is an
efficient way to strengthen poor families.
2. Help them grown more and better food
Women produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food in most developing countries, despite having less access to land and credit
than men do. Providing them with the tools and training they need to raise quality and yields is one of the best ways to increase
food production in countries prone to hunger.
3. Help them rebuild after conflicts
Women are particularly vulnerable in times of conflict, even as their role as providers becomes more important than ever. Easing
their return home by giving them the tools and training they need to rebuild can kick-start the recovery process for an entire
community.
4. Help them and their daughters get an education
Two thirds or the approximately 75 million children denied an education around the world are girls. Yet studies show that
educated women have healthier children, who are more likely to live longer and attend schools themselves. Educating women is
thus an important first step towards beating poverty and hunger.
Ways to
India: Women's empowerment
THEME: Social and economic factors can contribute to women's empowerment.
The completion evaluation of the IFAD-supported Tamil Nadu Women's Development Project in India took place in late 1999.
The project had aimed to bring about the social and economic betterment of women. The core mechanism was the women's self-
help groups, which were set up with both financial (saving and lending) and community action objectives. At the time of the
evaluation, a total of 5 207 of these groups had been formed, almost double the established target The evaluation noted that, at
least in the latter phases, the project acted not as just "a credit-cum-subsidy project, but as a genuine process of empowerment."
The evaluation concluded that such empowerment lay in the interaction between the social and economic aspects of the project.
Four of the main processes that could lead to women's empowerment, as defined by the IFAD evaluation, were:
changes in women's mobility and social interaction;
changes in women's labour patterns;
changes in women's access to and control over resources; and
changes in women's control over decision-making.
Changes in women's mobility and interaction. The evaluation found that women had become more mobile and begun to have
new interactions with a range of officials. There was even a growing willingness on the part of group members to approach the
Panchayats and Collectors with petitions or grievances. In all, the evaluation found that:
50% of women group members had visited new places and travelled longer distances; and
94% had experienced new interactions with staff of institutions such as banks, district and block development
organizations, NGOs and the project itself.
The study observes that this type of change was most likely to occur among women group members when:
the women involved were heads of households or were older;
the women involved had participated in training;
their group members had accessed a bank loan;
their group had undertaken community action initiatives; or
their group had been organized into a federation and encouraged to participate in special events (such as Women's
Day, Rural Women's Day)
Changes in women's labour patterns. The evaluation did not find any major changes in gender division of labour. However,
there were indications of such changes beginning. For instance, the group meetings themselves forced some of the husbands to
look after children and feed themselves while their wives attended the meetings. The evaluation found that the extent to which
men helped in reproductive tasks was related to the health of the woman (men helped more if women were sick), the type of
household (men helped more in a nuclear household), and the gender and age of the children (men helped less if girl children were
present to help).
There was comparatively greater change reported in non-domestic productive tasks. Not all the changes in such labour patterns
can be viewed as beneficial to women.
Fully 30% of women who had taken bank loans reported a marked change in gender roles, and 70% reported a small
change. (Greater change was reported by women heads of households, which implies that changes in the division of
labour were not always involved, but that the women themselves adopted new productive roles.)
However, the income-generating activities of the majority of women in male-headed households (for which loans had
been taken) continued to be managed by men (presumably, the women's husbands).
The workload of 94% of the women who had taken loans increased compared with their previous workload (many had
been wage labourers).
Therefore, the changes in women's labour patterns were mixed, and not as positive as along other dimensions. There was little
indication that women's control over their labour had undergone a marked change, and the evaluation noted that many women
may simply have gone from undertaking paid work outside the home to becoming unpaid family labourers (in male-managed
enterprises). At least self-employment allows women the possibility to have better working conditions, save on travel time, and be
able to more effectively combine reproductive and productive roles.
Changes in access to and control over resources. The evaluation also looked into women group members' access to non-loan-
related resources and benefits, and particularly to common resources. It seems that a number of the groups undertook activiti es
that would give their communities better infrastructure or services, for instance in water supply, child-care facilities, health care
services and improved roads. In this sense, they played a key role in promoting changes in collective access to resources.
Changes in intra-household decision-making. The evaluation concluded that there seemed to be a slight improvement in
women's involvement in household decision-making in male-headed households, on such issues as credit, the disposal of
household assets, children's education, and family health care. However, the traditional gender-based divisions persist in intra-
household decision-making. Women basically decide on food preparation, and men make the financial decisions. But group
members had become more aware of their property and political rights (which was part of group training). As in the case of
mobility and social interaction, the evaluation again found greater improvements among women heads of households, older
women, and more educated women.
In traditional societies, even more than elsewhere, women's empowerment does not occur easily or overnight. In the India case
described, there was evidence of such change beginning, to which the project had apparently contributed. It was most noticeable
among certain types of women. Perhaps one of the most important emerging lessons is that women's groups themselves, in their
social aspects, play a role in such empowerment. This argues for placing emphasis on sustaining groups beyond the life of the
project, which indeed was done in this instance. The project evaluation also recommended that communication support (films,
radio broadcasts and so on, with sensitization and training content) be used to speed up the empowerment process.
India ranked at 115 on women empowerment scale: Survey
Melbourne: India has been ranked at a poor 115 by a global survey which looked into the level of economical
empowerment of women in 128 countries.
The list was topped by Australia and followed by three Scandinavian countries -- Norway, Sweden and Finland.
At the bottom of the list were Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan and Chad.
The research done by an international consulting and management firm Booz & Company ranked India at 115 and
noted that with the second-largest population in the world, India generates 14 per cent of the global talent pool, among
which are the 5.5 million women entering India's workforce each year, all overwhelmingly driven to succeed.
Yet India's women--whether in Mumbai's conference rooms or Kerala's backwaters--must navigate a familiar
but daunting set of obstacles and challenges in their search for economic empowerment and professional
success," it said.
It added that although the knowledge economy has created enormous opportunities in India, too many women
are still prevented from reaching their full potential by a combination of cultural restrictions, gender
discrimination, and lack of resources.
"The country has anti-discrimination legislation in place designed to protect women, yet implementation has a long
way to go. Each year, approximately 1,000 'honour killings' are perpetrated against Indian women.
"Along with female feticide and infanticide, acid attacks, rape, and sexual harassment, honour killings are both the
symptoms of and catalysts for women's disempowerment.
"Forty-five percent of women believe that they're treated unfairly at work because of their gender; many others
struggle to rejoin the workforce after giving birth. More than 50 percent of women report safety concerns related to
commuting," the scathing report said.
It underlined that if India is to sustain its rate of growth, it will have to break down these sizable barriers to women's
empowerment - both in the private-sector workforce and in the entrepreneurial landscape.
Across the globe, the survey found up to one billion women will enter the world's workforce over the next decade.
The report named 'Third Billion index' has observed that while the burgeoning populations of India and China have
been given much attention by the media, less has been paid to the one billion women who will soon enter the world's
workforce.
The report is based on the country's performance in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary education, equal pay for
equal work, non-discrimination policies, access to childcare, property ownership rights and ability to access credit.
It also looks at whether wages are equal, the number of women in work compared with men, and whether there is
equality in the number of female managers, senior business leaders and politicians.
Political empowerment of women in India poor: UNDP
NEW DELHI, Sep 22, 2012, DHNSStrongly pleads for reservation in ParliamentIt will take more than 50 years for
countries like India to achieve gender balance in politics if the womens participation in Parliaments remains
at the current pace, according to the United Nations report.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report released this week offers six-point action plan that
includes a whole range of structural changes in the electoral politics to bridge the gender gap. It strongly pleads quota
for women in Parliament.
The action plan recommended by the report includes constitutional reforms, changes in the pattern of electoral
campaign and its financing, provision of reservation ofseats, change in party selection rules, capacity building on
policy and programs and gender sensitive rules in elected bodies.
The UNDP report, Gender Equality in Elected Office in Asia-Pacific: Six Actions to Expand Womens Empowerment,
says that globally, women hold slightly less than 20 per cent of seats in Parliament. In Asia-Pacific, just over 18 per
cent of all members of national Parliaments are women.
The leading countries in the region for womens membership in Parliament are New Zealand and Nepal, where
women are one-third of all members of Parliament. Women are more than one-quarter of parliamentarians in
Afghanistan, Australia, Laos, Timor-Leste and Vietnam, says the report.
LS ranks 105th
India is far below these countries with 11 per cent women in the Lower House.
Despite frequent attempts to introduce a similar policy of reserved seats for the Lower House (Lok Sabha) of the
national Parliament , these initiatives have repeatedly failed.
With 60 women members of Parliament out of 545 (11 per cent), nationally, Indias Lower House ranks only 105th
worldwide, says the report.Among the Asia-Pacific countries with the highest proportions of women in Parliament in
2010, most had constitutional, legal or party quotas. By contrast, among the 20 Asia-Pacific countries lagging behind
in growth, none had implemented quotas, says the report.
Gender balance
Due to the implementation of reserved seats, women do better in sub-national than national elections in India,
Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the report pointed out. With 37 per cent of members at rural and district bodies, India has
achieved a better gender balance at sub-national level. However, the report has lauded the consequences for
including women in India in local bodies. It underlines its role in altering policy priorities.
Hence, studies have reported the significance of gender for policy outcomes; in particular, vil lage councils headed by
women invested more in public infrastructure concerning provision of clean water, while village councils headed by
men invested more in job provisions, says the report.
Womens empowerment in India is heavily dependent on many different variables that include
geographical location (urban/rural), educational status, social status (caste and class), and age.
Policies on womens empowerment exist at the national, state, and local (Panchayat) levels in
many sectors, including health, education, economic opportunities, gender-based violence, and
political participation. However, there are significant gaps between policy advancements and
actual practice at the community level.
One key factor for the gap in implementation of laws and policies1. to address discrimination, economic disadvantages, and
violence against women at the community level is the largely patriarchal structure that governs the community and households in
much of India. As such, women and girls have restricted mobility, access to education, access to health facilities, and lower
decision-making power, and experience higher rates of violence. Political participation is also hindered at the Panchayat (local
governing bodies) level and at the state and national levels, despite existing reservations for women.2.The impact of the
patriarchal structure can be seen in rural and urban India, although womens empowerment in rural India is much less visible than
in urban areas. This is of particular concern, since much of India is rural despite the high rate of urbanization and expansion of
cities. Rural women, as opposed to women in urban settings, face inequality at much higher rates, and in all spheres of life. Urban
women and, in particular, urban educated women enjoy relatively higher access to economic opportunities, health and education,
and experience less domestic violence. Women (both urban and rural) who have some level of education have higher
decisionmaking power in the household and the community. Furthermore, the level of womens education also has a direct
implication on maternal mortality rates, and nutrition and health indicators among children.