MADHAV VIDHI MAHAVIDHYALAYA

SUBMITTED BY:

ANUJA SINGH
LL.M-FIRST SEM








TABLE OF CONTENTS



1. Concept of women empowerment
2. Historical & Sociological dimensions of the issue of Women
Empowerment
3. Role of education in Women Empowerment
4. Need for Women Empowerment in modern context
5. Measures for ensuring women empowerment
6. Hurdles in achieving women empowerment



















Women Empowerment: A Challenge of 21st
Century

For centuries women were not treated equal to men in many ways. They
were not allowed to own property, they did not have a Share in the
property of their parents, they had no voting rights, they had no freedom
to choose their work or job and so on. Now that we have come out of
those dark days of oppression of women there is a need for strong
movement to fight for the rights of women and to ensure that they get
all the rights which men have or in other words a movement for the
Empowerment of Women. The present seminar has been planned with a
view to discuss the various issues related to the Empowerment of
Women and to suggest measures for achieving this end.

Empowerment Conceptual Framework
The origins of the concept of empowerment go back to the civil rights
movement in the USA in the 1960. It has since then been interpreted
differently and filled with new meanings and is today used in such different
sectors as business, social work, development discourse and by advocates of
very different political agendas. The different definitions of empowerment
range between defining it as a largely individual process of taking control of
and responsibility for ones life and situation, and defining it as a political
process of granting human rights and social justice to disadvantaged groups
of people. At the former end of the continuum, where empowerment is
defined largely as an individual process, empowerment can be used in the
conservative political rhetoric of freeing the government of responsibility for
injustices and for granting social security. Instead, the argument makes
individuals and communities responsible for their own social security and
welfare, without providing the necessary support and resources.


The empowerment of women is located within the discourse and agenda of
gender equality and is increasingly being taken in the agendas of
international development organizations, perhaps more as a means to achieve
gender equality than as an end in itself.
At the Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1993 and the International
Conference on Population and Development in Cairo 1994 Governments
committed themselves to the empowerment of women. This commitment
was operationalized and formulated into a clear action plan at the Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995 where Governments
committed themselves to the empowerment and advancement of women,
including the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief,
thus contributing to the moral, ethical, spiritual and intellectual needs of
women and men, individually or in community with others and thereby
guaranteeing them the possibility of realizing their full potential in society
and shaping their lives in accordance with their own aspirations.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT is, first and foremost, a human right. A
woman is entitled to live in dignity and in freedom from want and from
fear. Empowering women is also an indispensable tool for advancing
development and reducing poverty. Empowered women contribute to
the health and productivity of whole families and communities and to
improved prospects for the next generation. The importance of gender
equality is underscored by its inclusion as one of the eight Millennium
Development Goals. Gender equality is acknowledged as being a key to
achieving the other seven goals.
Yet discrimination against women and girls - including gender-based
violence, economic discrimination, reproductive health inequities, and
harmful traditional practices - remains the most pervasive and persistent
form of inequality. Women and girls bear enormous hardship during and
after humanitarian emergencies, especially armed conflicts. There have
been several organizations and institutions advocating for women,
promoting legal and policy reforms and gender-sensitive data collection,
and supporting projects that improve women's health and expand their
choices in life. Despite many international agreements affirming their
human rights, women are still much more likely than men to be poor
and illiterate. They usually have less access than men to medical care,


property ownership, credit, training and employment. They are far less
likely than men to be politically active and far more likely to be victims
of domestic violence.
The ability of women to control their own fertility is absolutely
fundamental to womens empowerment and equality. When a woman
can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. When she is
healthy, she can be more productive. And when her reproductive
rightsincluding the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of
her children, and to make decisions regarding reproduction free of
discrimination, coercion and violenceare promoted and protected, she
has freedom to participate more fully and equally in society

It would be apt to quote Swami Vivekananda "There is no chance of the
welfare of the world unless the condition of women is
improved. It is not possible for a bird to y on one wing."



Understanding gender equality and women's empowerment
:
Gender equality implies a society in which women and men enjoy the
same opportunities, outcomes, rights and obligations in all spheres of
life. Equality between men and women exists when both sexes are able
to share equally in the distribution of power and influence; have equal
opportunities for financial independence through work or through
setting up businesses; enjoy equal access to education and the
opportunity to develop personal ambitions.
A critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of
women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances
and giving women more autonomy to manage their own
lives. Women's empowerment is vital to sustainable development and
the realization of human rights for all. Where womens status is low,


family size tends to be large, which makes it more difficult for families
to thrive. Population and development and reproductive health
programmes are more effective when they address the educational
opportunities, status and empowerment of women. When women are
empowered, whole families benefit, and these benefits often have ripple
effects to future generations.
The roles that men and women play in society are not biologically
determined -- they are socially determined, changing and changeable.
Although they may be justified as being required by culture or religion,
these roles vary widely by locality and change over time.
Womens Work and Economic Empowerment
In nearly every country, women work longer hours than men, but are
usually paid less and are more likely to live in poverty. In subsistence
economies, women spend much of the day performing tasks to maintain
the household, such as carrying water and collecting fuel wood. In many
countries women are also responsible for agricultural production and
selling. Often they take on paid work or entrepreneurial enterprises as
well. Experience has shown that addressing gender equality and
womens empowerment requires strategic interventions at all levels of
programming and policy-making.
Unpaid domestic work
From food preparation to care giving directly affects the health and
overall well-being and quality of life of children and other household
members. The need for womens unpaid labour often increases with
economic shocks, such as those associated with the AIDS pandemic or
economic restructuring. Yet women's voices and lived experiences
whether as workers (paid and unpaid), citizens, or consumers are still
largely missing from debates on finance and development. Poor women
do more unpaid work, work longer hours and may accept degrading
working conditions during times of crisis, just to ensure that their
families survive.
Intergenerational gender gaps
The differences in the work patterns of men and women, and the


'invisibility' of work that is not included in national accounts, lead to
lower entitlements to women than to men. Womens lower access to
resources and the lack of attention to gender in macroeconomic policy
adds to the inequity, which, in turn, perpetuates gender gaps. By the
time girls and boys become adults; females generally work longer hours
than males, have less experience in the labour force, earn less income
and have less leisure, recreation or rest time. This has implications for
investments in the next generation. If parents view daughters as less
likely to take paid work or earn market wages, they may be less inclined
to invest in their education, women's fastest route out of poverty.

Empowering Women through Education:
"Education is one of the most important means of empowering women
with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate
fully in the development process."
Education is important for everyone, but it is especially significant for
girls and women. This is true not only because education is an entry
point to other Opportunities, but also because the educational
achievements of women can have ripple effects within the family and
across generations. Investing in girls' education is one of the most
effective ways to reduce poverty. Investments in secondary school
education for girls yield especially high dividends. Girls who have
been educated are likely to marry later and to have smaller and healthier
families. Educated women can recognize the importance of health care
and know how to seek it for themselves and their children. Education
helps girls and women to know their rights and to gain confidence to
claim them. However, womens literacy rates are significantly lower
than mens in most developing countries.

Education has far-reaching effects -The education of parents is
linked to their children's educational attainment, and the mother's
education is usually more influential than the father's. An educated
mother's greater influence in household negotiations may allow her to


secure more resources for her children. Educated mothers are more
likely to be in the labour force, allowing them to pay some of the costs
of schooling, and may be more aware of returns to schooling. And
educated mothers, averaging fewer children, can concentrate more
attention on each child. Besides having fewer children, mothers with
schooling are less likely to have mistimed or unintended births. This has
implications for schooling, because poor parents often must choose
which of their children to educate. Closing the gender gap in education
is a development priority. The 1994 Cairo Consensus recognized
education, especially for women, as a force for social and economic
development. Universal completion of primary education was set as a
20- year goal, as was wider access to secondary and higher education
among girls and women. Closing the gender gap in education by 2015 is
also one of the benchmarks for the Millennium Development Goals.

Political Empowerment
Throughout much of the world, womens equality is undermined by
historical imbalances in decision-making power and access to resources,
rights, and entitlements for women. Either by law or by custom, women
in many countries still lack rights to: Own land and to inherit property,
obtain access to credit, attend and stay in school. Earn income and move
up in their work, free from job discrimination. Moreover, women are
still widely under-represented in decision-making at all levels, in the
household and in the public sphere. Addressing these inequities
through laws and public policy is a way of formalizing the goal of
gender equality. Legal changes, which most countries have now
implemented, are often a necessary step to institute gender equality, but
not necessarily sufficient to create lasting changes. Addressing the gaps
between what the law proscribes and what actually occurs often requires
broad, integrated campaigns.







Key issues and linkages
Reproductive health: Women, for both physiological and social
reasons, are more vulnerable than men to reproductive health problems.
Reproductive health problems, including maternal mortality and
morbidity, represent a major but preventable -- cause of death and
disability for women in developing countries. Failure to provide
information, services and conditions to help women protect their
reproduction health therefore constitutes gender-based discrimination
and a violation of womens rights to health and life.
Stewardship of natural resources: Women in developing nations are
usually in charge of securing water, food and fuel and of overseeing
family health and diet. Therefore, they tend to put into immediate
practice whatever they learn about nutrition and preserving the
environment and natural resources.
Economic empowerment: More women than men live in poverty.
Economic disparities persist partly because much of the unpaid work
within families and communities falls on the shoulders of women and
because they face discrimination in the economic sphere.
Educational empowerment: About two thirds of the illiterate adults
in the world are female. Higher levels of women's education are
strongly associated with both lower infant mortality and lower fertility,
as well as with higher levels of education and economic opportunity for
their children.
Political empowerment: Social and legal institutions still do not
guarantee women equality in basic legal and human rights, in access to
or control of land or other resources, in employment and earning, and
social and political participation. Laws against domestic violence are
often not enforced on behalf of women.
Different Levels of Empowerment:


In line with most theorists on empowerment the one has to view
empowerment as taking place on different levels and that change on all
levels is necessary if the empowerment of women is really to occur. We have
to relate empowerment at three levels: empowerment on the individual,
group, and societal/ community- level and the interaction between these.
The individual level deals with individual womens abilities to take control
over their lives, their perceptions about their own value and abilities, their
abilities to identify a goal and work towards this goal.
The group level deals with the collective action and sense of agency that
woman experience together, in a group.
The societal level deals with the permissiveness of the political and social
climate, the societal norms and the public discourse on what is possible and
impossible for women to do, how women should behave etc.
The different levels are seen as interconnected and mutually reinforcing, e.g.
when empowerment on individual level occurs, this will have effect on the
group and societal level. Women who are empowered on an individual level
will most likely go on and affect the other levels. Empowerment on a group
level e.g. women organizing around a particular need is likely to have effect
on the individual empowerment of the women in the form of increased self
esteem and sense of agency.





Historical Background of Women Empowerment in
India:
The status of Women in India has been subject to many great changes over
the past few millenniums. In early Vedic period Women enjoyed equal status
with men. Rigved & upnishads mention several names of women sages and
seers notably Gargi & Maitrey. However later the status of women began to


deteriorate approximately from 500 B.C., the situation worsened with
invasion of Mughals and later on by European invaders.
Some reformatory movements by Guru Nanak, Jainism, Rajaram mohan Rai,
Ishwarchandra Vidya Sagar, Pandita Rama Bai and others did give some
relief. It is not that Britishers didnt do any thing for improving the condition
of women. Some laws were enacted such an Abolition of practice of Sati,
Widow Remarriage Act 1856 etc.
The real change came after independence. Constitution of India guarantees
equality to women (Article 14). There are other articles too which ensure
rights of women e.g. no discrimination by the state [article15(1)] equality of
opportunity (Article16) etc. Feminist activism picked up momentum in India
during later 1970s. Later on Many groups and NGOs have been working
for the Empowerment of women. We are proud that in India Women got
voting right much before USA and some other European countries.






Steps Undertaken in India for Women
Empowerment:
The Constitution Framers were very much Conscious of the problem of
women empowerment hence they ensured that the Principle of Gender
Equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental
duties and Directive Principles. The various articles mentioned in the earlier
paragraph are meant for ensuring gender equality. Moreover the Constitution
also empowers the states to adopt measures of positive discrimination in
favour of women.
The real impetus for this movement was gained when under the


Priministership of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, a scheme known as Indira Mahila
Yojana was launched, UNDP also incorporated issues of women upliftment
as Primary objective. Various Schemes were later on launched for the
empowerment of women such as Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Mahila Samridhi
Yojana, Self help groups at Panchayat level and many more. The
establishment of National Womens Commission and State Womens
Commissions were important milestones in the direction of Women
Empowerment in India.
The National Policy for the Empowerment of women (2001) was an
important step taken by the Government of the time for accelerating the pace
of women empowerment. The policy was aimed at ensuring women
empowerment through positive economic and social policies for the full
development of women. So that they could realize their full potential. The
policy assured equal access to women to health care, quality education,
participation and decision making in Social, Political and Economical life of
the nation.
The National Policy also aims at Strengthening legal system for eliminating
discrimination against Women. It also visualizes strengthening partnership
with Civil Society, particularly Womens organizations.
States have also taken various measures for empowerment of women.

Why is there still a Need For Women Empowerment?
Inspite of the various measures taken up by the government after
Independence and even during British rule the Women havent been fully
empowered. We may be proud of women in India occupying highest offices
of President, Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of the Opposition
or women like Ms. Chandra Kochar occupying highest positions in the
Corporate Sector but the fact remains that we still witness dowry deaths,
domestic violence and exploitation of women. The female foeticide is not an
uncommon phenomenon.
The male female ratio though improved over last few years is still far from
satisfactory. It is 940 women per 1000 men for India in some states it is as
much lower as 877. These are the states where female foeticide is maximum.
The female literacy rate is also lower than the male literacy rate.


The ground reality is deprivation, degration and exploitation of women
specially women from rural areas and those belonging to deprived sectors of
the society. The Urban elite class women have no doubt been benifitted by
the efforts of women empowerment. Dr. Dashrath Bhuyan in his article titled
Empowerment of Indian Women : A challenge of 21st century writes
Women are being brutalized, Commodified, materialized and subjected to
inhuman exploitation and discrimination Inspite of reservation being
granted to women in Panchayat elections after 73rd and 74th Constitution
amendment, in many Panchayats the male Chauvinism does not allow them
to function independently.

Globalization
Globalization has presented new challenges for the realization of the goal of
womens equality, the gender impact of which has not been systematically
evaluated fully. However, from the micro-level studies that were
commissioned by the Department of Women & Child Development, it is
evident that there is a need for re-framing policies for access to employment
and quality of employment. Benefits of the growing global economy have
been unevenly distributed leading to wider economic disparities, the
feminization of poverty, increased gender inequality through often
deteriorating working conditions and unsafe working environment especially
in the informal economy and rural areas. Strategies will be designed to
enhance the capacity of women and empower them to meet the negative
social and economic impacts, which may flow from the globalization
process.

Social Empowerment of Women
Under the social empowerment of women steps needs to be taken to
improve the health status of women, reduce maternal mortality
especially in the areas that do not have good medical facilities. A
programme for checking the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like
HIV / AIDS and infections / communicable diseases like T.B. need to
be launched.
Women face high risk of malnutrition hence focused attention would


have to be given to meet the nutritional needs of women at all stages of
their life cycle.
The problem in the country is serious about the women belonging to
disadvantaged groups. They are the most exploited lot. The Social
activist should keep a vigil on the atrocities committed on women
belonging to weaker sections and help them to fight the legal battle for
obtaining justice. Schemes need to be introduced for helping women
who are victims of marital violence, who are deserted and those
engaged in sex professions.
Awareness programmes need to be organized for creating awareness
among women especially belonging to weaker sections about their
rights. Government has to be vigilant for ensuring that there is no
discrimination against the girl child and her rights are protected. The
social stigma like child marriage. Female foeticide, child abuse and
child prostitution must be eradicated immediately.

Role of NGOs in Women Empowerment
Governmental Organizations are formal agencies working for the
empowerment of women. But this work requires multidimensional
approach and hence a large number of voluntary organizations / NGOs
have gained increased attention in the field from grass root level to
national & international level. Their role is so impressive because they
work with missionary zeal and commitment. The working style of
NGOs is open, transparent and personal. So, they are more effective in
this direction. They organize seminars, conferences and workshops for
the awakening of the masses. Their mass appeal style contributes to a
better understanding of womens rights and of the means to ensures the
enjoyment of those rights and the elimination of discrimination. They
prepare urban and rural uneducated women for self employment,
which is vital for the economic empowerment of the women. In short,
all these programs and functions of NGOs contribute towards the
realization of sustainable community development and hence women
empowerment.



Role of International Agencies: for Women Empowerment
Promotion of equality between women & men and the empowerment of
women is central to the work of United Nations. The UN actively
promotes womens human rights and works to eradicate, discourage of
violence against women, including in armed conflict and through
trafficking. There are various UN agencies working for the
empowerment of women like The Commission on the Status of women,
The Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women,
The Division for the advancement of women, The United Nations
Development Fund for women, and recently, the UN Women
association is formed which co-ordinates the activities of all the former
UN agencies. These international agencies work to ensure that women
have a real voice in all governance institutions, from the judiciary to the
civil service, as well as in the private sector and civil society. So they
can participate equally with men in public dialogue and decision-
making and influence the decisions that will determine the future of
their families and countries.



















NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN (NCW)

Empowerment of women will also bring down
atrocities against women as they will have the
strength and knowledge to stand up for their
rights

NAT I O N A L COMMISSION FOR WOMEN (NCW) tirelessly works
round the year for empowerment of women. An apex national organization,
NCW was constituted to safeguard the interests of women in India.
NCW has a wide mandate covering almost all aspects of womens
development and plays a pivotal role in studying and monitoring all matters
relating to the constitution and legal safeguards provided to women. It


reviews the existing legislations and suggests amendments wherever
necessary to meet any lacunae, inadequacies or shortcoming in such laws and
also suggests fresh legislations.

Recent Initiatives
The Commission has taken a number of initiatives to create awareness
among women and their capacity building to exercise their right for dignied
life and sensitizing the police personnel. Some of these initiatives include
Violence free home-a womens right, Jogo as well as MOUs signed with
other organizations for partnership.

NCW concentrates not only on womens empowerment but also on their
growth and development including health care and education. In order to
bring down atrocities committed against women, there should be interaction
between NCW, the police and the Media. Rashtra Mahila, a monthly news
letter of the Commission, highlights the activities of the Commission as well
as successful stories with regard to complaints lodged before the
Commission and also important court and Government decisions affecting
women.
A number of foreign delegations have visited NCW to have an insight about
the working of NCW and its role in safeguarding the interests of women and
also understand the status of Indian women in politics and their
empowerment.









STREE SHAKTI



Womens concerns have to be kept at the center
of public policy, developmental planning and
governance, with recognition of their role as
critical growth agents and as ambassadors of
social change

Stree Shakti literally meaning woman power is a visible name today adopted
by some NGOs as their brand names, as also some government programmes
and initiatives. A national award instituted by the Ministry of Women and
Child Development, Government of India is also called Stree Shakti.
The project focused on reaching out to poor women and providing them,
social, economic and legal empowerment, through access to healthcare
facilities, non-formal education, vocational training and awareness on legal


issues. It was pointed out that the major strength of this set up was the
conceptual acceptance that women find it difficult to come out of household
chore even if opportunities are there and hence bringing services to their
doorstep was important. It was also observed that the intervention constantly
needed growth and modification with changing needs and situation in
covering the untouched and newer dimensions of womens empowerment.
On the national canvass too there has been a wide recognition of the need to
break silos and create convergence mechanisms across schemes and
programmes. The initiative came from the rst woman president of
the country, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil to set up a Committee of
Governors in 2008 to study and recommend strategies for speedy socio
economic development and empowerment of woman. The Committee gave
its recommendations in Feb.2009 which was considered by a Group of
Ministers and thereafter the Finance Minister in his Budget Speech
announced:-
(i) Setting up a High Powered Committee of eminent persons and experts to
study the Status of Women of India to enable the Government to take
expeditious action;
(ii) Setting up a National Mission for Empowerment of Women for
implementation of women-centric programmes in a Mission mode to achieve
better coordination and synergy amongst the participating stakeholders;
(iii) Restructuring of the Rashtriya MahilaKosh (RMK), a
government run micro nance agency, to scale up its activities and to
function as a single window facilitators and service provider for women Self-
Help Groups (SHGs).
The approach of addressing issues related to empowerment of women from a
holistic and macro- point of view acknowledging the cross cutting linkages
between economic, social and political identity of woman presents a new
hope. Therefore, for the holistic empowerment of women, all ministries and
departments would need to energize synergistic measures through more
effective use of tools such as Gender Budgeting and platforms such as the
National Mission for Empowerment of Women.








Empowering Women in Agriculture



Major attributes that contribute to women
empowerment are education, social equity and
status, improved health, economic or nancial
stability and political participation



The concern for women in agriculture at global level and in India, initiatives
taken by the Government of India to enhance the understanding and working
of women in agriculture and suggests the need to empower women in
agriculture in real sense of the broad-based denition of empowerment.
There is now growing realization and commitment of the global community
to achieve more sustainable and broad-based agricultural growth by
addressing gender related issues in agriculture through national, regional and
global initiatives and partnerships. There is also greater degree of
coordination, consultation and convergence of initiatives undertaken by
international institutions, viz. FAO, Global Forum on Agricultural Research,
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, regional forums
and many National Agricultural Research Systems.
Their hard work has not only been unpaid but also remained mostly
unrecognized. They perform on a daily basis the most tedious and back-
breaking tasks in agriculture, animal husbandry and homes. They are
invariably paid lower wages than men for the same agricultural work. Land
ownership titles are most often in a mans name.
With grossly inadequate access to education and technology, a host of other
socio-economic factors have an adverse impact on the lives of women
farmers in recent years. Despite their eagerness they have often not been able
to take advantage of opportunities from new technologies, innovations and
markets. The constraints and opportunities that women face in agriculture
vary across the agro- ecological and geographical regions of the country
depending upon, among others, the socio-economic- cultural context. Despite
many policy reforms and interventions at the macro level gender issues have
not received the priority attention they deserve.

Indias Initiatives
Recognizing that enlightenment of women will change the face of rural India
Indias initiatives to empower women include the following:
Women specic technologies under different production systems. Most
important research projects in the area of gender study on agriculture and
house economy, among others, include
(i) development of extension methods for farm women in Easter India,


(ii) standardization of women specic eld practices
(iii) occupational hazards of farm women
(iv) improvement of storage practices of seeds and grains
(v) reducing drudgery of women in agricultural operations through use of
improved tools and techniques
(vi) management of coastal agro- eco system affected by super cyclone
(vii) involving women in aquaculture to ensure nutritional and economic
security
(viii) mobilizing Self-Help-Groups to pursue income generating activities in
agriculture and animal husbandry and access to marketing outlets, enhance
knowledge on various aspects of family life with an increase in the ability to
exercise power.















Women's Empowerment Across Indian
States:



It is important to realize that there is signicant
variation in the degree of socio-economic
development among Indian states. Hence it is not
feasible to develop a single model for empowering
Indian women or a single blue print of state
policies

EMPOWERMENT is a multi-dimensional concept and relates to the social


attainment, economical participation and political participation of people.
Further, empowerment being an ongoing process, there is no nal goal. One
does not arrive at a stage of being empowered in some absolute sense. It is
always relative and situation specic in context. Because of its complex and
dynamic nature, defining and measuring empowerment is a challenge in any
development study. More so in case of women, who faced prolonged
discrimination that has resulted into gender disparity in the society.
Hence, it is a challenge to dene what empowerment means in its own
context and to assess whether and to what extent women have been
empowered. Some studies suggest a linear cause- effect model while others
resort to a more process-based approach. The dynamic process might be
broken into key components for a comprehensive understanding of
empowerment. Separating the process into components (such as enabling
factors/parameters, agency and outcomes) is useful in identifying policy
interventions to support empowerment, and for evaluating the impact of such
interventions. Success or failures in development interventions may partly be
attributed to approaches that recognize the underlying parameters responsible
for empowering women. Therefore, utmost attention needs to be taken in
identifying the key empowerment parameters.

Methodology
A large number of factors contribute towards empowerment of women in
socially complex and tradition bound societies in India. It is almost
impossible to track all of them in any one study. Despite the well-known
conceptual and empirical constraints this study identied 32 socio-economic
and political parameters that have direct or indirect bearing on the
empowerment of women (Table 1).
The parameters are selected based on the availability of comparable
statistical indicators and have been grouped under three broad category (i)
Womens Social Attainment,
(ii) Economic Participation of Women and
(iii) Political Participation of Women. Under womens social attainment
there are four sub factors viz., Demography, Womens educational
attainment, Womens health status and access to healthcare and finally
domestic violence. The classication of the parameters is done based on their


nature and not based on any hierarchical order of their relative importance.
Table 1: State Women Empowerment Factors/Parameters




















EMPOWERMENT FACTORS/PARAMETERS

LIKELY INFLUENCE ON
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT



I. Demography Index
Sex Ratio (No.)
Child Sex Ratio (No.)
Female Urban Population as proportion of total urban population (%)
Women (in the age group of 20-24 years) married by Age of 18 (%)
Mean Age at Marriage
II. Womens Educational Attainment Index
Female Literacy Rate (%)
Enrolment Ratio for Girls in Primary education (%)
Enrolment Ratio for Girls in Secondary education (%)
Enrolment of Girls in Higher education per lakh population (No.)
Drop out Rates of Girls in Classes I-X (%)
III. Womens Health Status and Access to Healthcare Index
Life Expectancy at birth for females (No.)
Couple Protection Rate (%)
Total Fertility Rate (No.)
Maternal Mortality Ratio (per lakh live births) (No.)
Female Infant Mortality Rate (No.)
Median age at the rst birth for women in the age group of 25-49
years (No.)
Institutional Births (%)
Births assisted by health professionals (%)
IV Domestic Violence Index
Dowry Deaths per lakh female population (No.)

Female Suicides due to family problems to total female suicides (%)
Cruelty by husbands and relatives per lakh female population (No.)
V. Economic Participation Index
Female Work Participation Rate (%)



POSITIVE

POSITIVE


POSITIVE

NEGATIVE
POSITIVE


POSITIVE

POSITIVE

POSITIVE

POSITIVE

NEGATIVE




POSITIVE

POSITIVE

NEGATIVE

NEGATIVE

NEGATIVE

POSITIVE


POSITIVE

POSITIVE



NEGATIVE




NEGATIVE

NEGATIVE



POSITIVE







Women and Panchayati Raj
Female Labour Force Participation Rate Rural (%)
Female Labour Force Participation Rate Urban (%)
Women employed in Organised Sector per thousand female population
(No.)
No. of Saving Bank Accounts held by Women in Scheduled
(Commercial Banks per hundred female population)
VI. Political Participation Index
Women MPs as % of total MPs from the state
Women MLAs as % of total MLAs in the state
Proportion of women casting vote in Lok Sabha Elections (%)
Proportion of women casting vote in State Assembly Elections (%)
Women contestants as % of total contestants in Lok Sabha Elections
Women contestants as % of total contestants in State Assembly Elections



POSITIVE

POSITIVE

POSITIVE


POSITIVE





POSITIVE

POSITIVE

POSITIVE

POSITIVE

POSITIVE


POSITIVE


ERMENT



Decision making processes in Panchayats need to
be better dened, to diminish the possibility of elite
captures, proxy participation and single point
decision

It is argued that women need to be empowered in the realm of political
decision making so as to facilitate their real empowerment. About one
million women entered Panchayats after 73rd constitutional Amendment Act.
It is a known fact that 40 percent of the elected women represented the
marginalized sections and about 70 percent women representatives were
illiterate and most of them had no previous political experience. Therefore, it
was but natural that there was a widespread apprehension that women will be
manipulated by men. However, in spite of several instances of such
manipulation and capitulation by women, the presence of such a large
number of women in Panchayats has indeed had a deep impact on gender
equity.



Some studies suggest that Reservation brings women into the Panchayat
office but cannot really be said to empower rural Indian women due to
several factors like illiteracy, language barriers, inexperience or low respect
among fellow villagers. These are some of the main problems besetting
active participation of women in the decision-making.
In many cases because of lack of availability of forums and lack of proper
grievance redressal mechanism for gender related issues, most of women
elected representatives in panchayats have very minor role in decision
making and mostly they are dummy.
As women are still considered one of the neglected categories in some of the
regions of India, there should be a separate quorum for attendance of women
and for attendance at Gram Sabha meetings. In view of the crucial
importance of adequate womens participation in meetings of the
gram sabha, a sub-quorum of female attendance should be built into the
required quorum. Moreover, provision may be made that meetings of the
gram sabha be preceded by meetings of the Mahila Sabha, comprising all
adult women voters of the village panchayat, to ensure that gender concerns
and preferences get fully reected in the proceedings of the gram sabha.

WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

STATE SPECIFIC

Women Self Help Groups (SHGs)








Women through SHGs the women get an
exposure to outside world. The resources and
organizations, which were unseen earlier,
become accessible

THE POLICIES OF EXCLUSION of the so-called patriarchal societies
throughout the world, especially in the Least Developed and Developing
countries are primarily responsible for marginalization of women, both
covertly and overtly. The practice of exclusion is widespread and it
encompasses every sphere of societypolitical, social, and economic and so
on. It makes resources and organizations inaccessible to women. However,
of late, it has been realized that the best way to improve the overall condition
of the woman-folk is to adopt policies of inclusion in which every woman
should get a chance to participate in the decision-making process, express
her view against exploitation of her male counterpart and get herself
involved in the group activities meant for their socio-economic uplift. These
strategies could not only bring about a change in patriarchal outlook in the
form of driving them out of the forced connement to the four walls but also
encourage the male counterparts to persuade them to participate in the
earning activities, thereby contributing to the family- income, which in turn


could tackle poverty to a great extent. It is true, as long as the disadvantaged
suffer from economic deprivation and livelihood insecurity, one cannot
dream of achieving a prosperous and vibrant society.
Viewing it in the welfare programmes of ninth ve year plan and shifting
the concept of development to empowerment the Indian Government
adopted the approach of Self Help Groups (SHGs) to uplift the rural poor.
WSHGsA solid means of women empowerment
It is through SHGs that the women get an exposure to outside world. The
resources and organizations, which were unseen earlier, become accessible.
Weekly meetings, weekly savings, internal lending, repayment of loans on
regular basis, not only promote thrift among the members, but also
encourage oneness among the group members. It is seen that for updating the
records, the members very often take the help of their literate daughters or
sisters and it is a good sign that some members learn the art of book keeping
from them. It indirectly promotes literacy among the illiterate women.
They can even borrow money as and when necessary by them. The
repayment of the bank loan is very regular. Thus, the members have been
successful in reducing poverty of the family. Their husbands who are
basically day labourers are very much satised with the contribution their
wives make to the family pool. Thus, participation in SHGs increases their
influence over economic resources and participation in economic decision-
making. They take decisions with regard to childrens clothing, their
education and even entertaining the guests. Getting exposure to the outside
world, coming in contact with government ofcials undoubtedly develops
their personality.
WSHG-movement has accomplished the task of poverty- reduction to a great
extent. It is not a magic wand that the results would come overnightit
requires the hard work and the patience of the members, animators as well as
the catalysts. A critical element in expanding SHG movement is to change
the bankers attitude that the poor lacks the repayment capacity.























Amending Archaic Laws to Empower
Women:

INDIA has come a long way economically since the 70s. But this gallop has
failed to keep pace with another crucial social indicator that determines a
countrys overall well being: the status of its women.
Statistics of crimes against women corroborates this view. According to the
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data rape cases have gone up 791
percent since 1971 when such cases started getting reported. The total
incidences of crime against women have skyrocketed to 2,13,585 in 2010.



Antiquated laws
It is not that India does not have laws dealing with crime against women. But
the existing provisions related to such crimes in the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
are antiquated framed way back in 1860 and completely out of sync with
the times. The existing laws related to rape, molestation and eve teasing are
awed and do not reect the reality and manner in which women experience
sexual assault.
The 172nd Law Commission report had way back in 2000 recommended
many much wanted and important changes to the existing IPC provisions
dealing with rape, molestation and other forms of sexual assault. Though
based on the law commission as well as a government constituted high-
powered committees recommendations, a draft Criminal Law (Amendment)
Bill was framed in 2010 it is yet to see the light of the day.
Despite activists, various womens organizations and legal experts pushing
for an urgent need to overhaul the archaic laws and give it more teeth by
clearing the proposed bill, successive governments have failed to deliver.
Need for tough laws to deal with newer form of crimes
With newer forms of aggression against women such as date rape, stalking,
cyber stalking coming up, the existing legislations in the IPC related to rape
and sexual assault cases have been found appallingly inadequate in dealing
with them. An ineffectual legislation has failed to act as a deterrent and the
ramications are there for all to see: a phenomenal spurt in crime
against women.
A poor denition of crimes like rape, molestation and stalking in the existing
IPC has not only resulted in abysmally low conviction rate but has also
ensured that in cases where offenders are caught, they get away with a very
lenient punishment.
A stark example is the case of a minor girl who was molested by former
Haryana DGP way back in the 90s. Fed up with the harassment that
followed, the girl-committed suicide while the ofcer got away with a light
punishment, that too several years after the incident were reported.
The 2009 Mangalore incident where activists of Ram Sene, a right wing


Hindu group had gone to a pub and attacked women in full public view is
another case in point where no strong action was taken against those
involved.
According to NCRB figures (see box), in 2010 of the 89707 rape cases
pending trial (including pending cases from previous year) only 3788
persons were convicted while 10,475 persons were acquitted. The
corresponding gures for molestation are equally alarming. Of the 18, 2736
cases pending trial, there were only 6899 convictions while 16328 persons
were acquitted.

Crimes like rape are not dened properly in IPC
Legal experts opine that the primary reason for low conviction rate is the
faulty definition of rape and other forms of sexual assault in the existing law.
The present law does not consider other forms of penetrative assaults like
oral and anal sex as rape. This despite the fact that penetrative sexual assault
is widely recognized as an extreme form of sexual assault where a womens
bodily integrity is violated. It is about time that the government fast tracks
the process and bring the necessary changes in the IPC sections that deal
with crime against women.
The bill proposes to expand the denition of rape in the IPC and replace it
with sexual assault to broaden the ambit of crimes covered. Presently,
under S.375 of IPC, penetration is sufcient to constitute the sexual
intercourse necessary to the offence of rape but it in now proposed that an act
of sexual assault will also cover crimes like sodomy, fingering, insertion of
foreign object and other similar offences which do not come under the
present denition of rape.
It also proposes to make sexual assault gender neutral, which will make it
possible to penalize offenders of any gender who has committed the
crime.Box I- Statistics Cases of Crime Against Women that Were



Reported/Registered



Top ve cities where maximum cases of crime against women was reported in 2010


City
Cases Percent of the total crime
Delhi 3886 16 percent
Hyderabad 1964 8.1 percent
Bengaluru 1570 6.5 percent
Ahmedabad 1564 6.4 percent
Mumbai 1409 5.8 percent
Source: National Crime Records Bureau










RECOMMENDATIONS



COMMITTEE TO STUDY STATUS OF WOMEN:
Government has set up a 15 member High Level Committee, HLC, on the status of
women to undertake comprehensive study to understand the status of women since
1989 as well as to evolve appropriate policy interventions based on a
contemporary assessment of womens needs. Justice Ruma Pal will chair the
Committee.
The HLC will conduct an intensive literature survey to take stock of published
data, reports, articles and research from about 1989 onwards, on the status of
women in India. It will prepare a Report on the current socio-economic, political
and legal status of women in India. The Report will also bring out the
interconnectedness of these aspects in terms of their impact on women and
recommend measures for holistic empowerment of women. The Committee will
examine the overall status of women including the socio-economic, health and
nutritional, legal and political status, disaggregated by rural/urban, economic and
social position (e.g. APL/BPL, SC/ST, single women, disabled women, migrant
women) and wherever possible by minority status (e.g. Muslims/others). The
analysis would take account of cross-regional differences and focus on inequalities
both within and outside the household. It would also assess the impact made by
existing policies and legislative changes on equality, security and holistic
empowerment of women, and will identify inequalities in policy and legislation as
well as gaps in implementation.
The Committee will examine womens access to and participation in formal and
informal paid employment; emerging areas of participation, geographical pattern
of their economic activity, unpaid work/ care economy, etc. and access to micro
nance,bankcredit,training and skill upgradation, marketing etc. and constraints on
increase in productivity.








Empowered Women, Empowered Nation:




The empowerment process encompasses several
mutually reinforcing components but begins with
and is supported by economic independence,
which implies access to and control over
production resources



CONCLUSION



The Empowerment of women has become one of the most important
Concerns of 21st century not only at national level but also at the
international level. Efforts by the Govt. are on to ensure Gender equality
but Government initiatives alone would not be sufficient to achieve this
goal. Society must take initiative to create a climate in which there is no
gender discrimination and Women have full opportunities of Self-
decision making and participating in the Social, Political and Economic
life of the Country with a sense making process and in governance.
To reign in the spurt in incidences of crimes against women, the government
and the political class should come on board to amend the existing
legislations dealing with such crimes and give it more teeth. The political
class will have to display more pragmatism and sensitivity in dealing with
such issues. Until that happens India would not be able to achieve its goals
on the economic and social fronts and its gallop would reduce to a crawl.
Gender equality and women's empowerment are human rights that lie at
the heart of development and the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. Despite the progress that has been made, six out of
ten of world's poorest people are still women and girls, less than 16
percent of the world's parliamentarians are women, two thirds of all
children shut outside the school gates are girls and, both in times of
armed conflict and behind closed doors at home, women are still
systematically subjected to violence.
Women empowerment connotes Economic Empowerment which
implies a better quality of material life through sustainable livelihoods
owned and managed by women, Social empowerment" which means a
more equitable social status for women in society, "Legal
Empowerment" that suggests the provision of an effective legal
structure which is supportive of womens empowerment and "Political
Empowerment" means a political system favoring the participation in,
and control by women of the political decision of equality.
Then only the Vedic verse YATRA NAARI PUJYANTE
RAMANTE TATRA DEVTA(Wherever Women is respected,
God resides there) would come true.