Almost every country, no matter how progressive it is, has a history of ill-treating women. In other words, women from all over the world have been rebellious to reach the status they have today. While the western countries are still making progress, third world countries like India still lack behind in Women Empowerment. Women have suffered a lot through the years at the hands of men. In earlier centuries, they were treated as almost non-existent. As the times evolved, women realized their power. There on began the revolution for women empowerment. Women empowerment refers to making women powerful to make them capable of deciding for themselves. It is the process of giving women control over their choices and access to the opportunities and resources that allow them to thrive. While there’s been progress, gender inequality still remains a persistent issue in the world. However, empowering women politically, socially, economically, educationally and psychologically helps narrow the gap.A woman is entitled to live in dignity and in freedom from want and from fear. Moreover, 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 also to improved prospects for the next generation. 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. Women have been deprived of every basic right ever since the dawn of civilization. They could not work, could not take decisions and had no say in any family matters. We are aware that the society has been discriminating against women even though they are the ones who take care of everyone. They might be respected in religious texts, but the same amount of respect is not given in real life. They are simply expected to cook for everyone in the family and thus are not allowed to work outside their homes even in this generation.The society sets a lot of restrictions on women. They are expected to walk a certain way, talk a certain way and behave in a certain way. This degrades the self-respect of women and this behavior is carried down from generation to generation.Gender equality implies a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes, rights and obligations in all spheres of life. 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 women’s 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; instead 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. The united force of both genders is the only possible way of eradicating the social evils of the past that prevailed in our nation.
“There is no force more powerful than a woman determined to rise!”
Women’s empowerment starts at home, men should start taking up responsibility and should relieve women of the household duties the society particularly expects them to do. It is believed that men should not cook or clean, and it is solely the responsibility of the wife or mother to do these activities. The change in such ideology is very important to move towards sustainable development. Men do not need to do every job, even small help at home goes a long way. The need of the hour is to create a change and every small step counts for that. Understanding the need for women empowerment is essential but what is more essential is the action taken to ensure this. As stated earlier, the first and foremost step is starting at households. If there is a change in the household then slowly society changes and with that, the government too will have to create stricter laws for the same. The government has already set laws for equality and reservation of women in many areas but it has to ensure that these laws are being followed appropriately. Educating society on this topic is an important tool. When society has knowledge about right and wrong, decisions can be made to improve the life of not only women but every person in the society that has been a victim of societal expectations and standards. Each and every person should look to participate in the issue of women empowerment. When the country acts united, the purpose of the movement becomes stronger. The Women’s Empowerment Principles are specifically used to empower the women in the marketplace, workplace as well as at community level. These seven principles were created in a collaboration between the UN Global Compact and UN Women,
The seven principles are given below:
Principle 1: Create high-level corporate leadership for gender equality.
Principle 2: Treat all people fairly at work, respecting and supporting non-discrimination and human rights.
Principle 3: Ensure the health, wellbeing and safety of all workers, whether male or female.
Principle 4: Promote education, training and professional development for women.
Principle 5: Implement supply chain, marketing practices and enterprise development that empower women.
Principle 6: Champion equality through community initiatives and advocacy.
Principle 7: Measure and report publicly on progress to create equality.
The increased familiarity with this term “women empowerment” has resulted in the slow transformation of most of the ideologies that have justified inequalities in the social structures for the past so many years. The emerging debates that surround the concept of ‘empowerment’ have had considerable effects on the well-established roots of the institutions that provide support to the existing power structures such as family, state etc. Women have started to become aware of the limitations and confines of the territories within which they have been placed all these years. They have demanded control over their own bodies, equal spaces in the social institutions and an acknowledgment for their identity. Last few years have witnessed a sharp increase in the strategies of women’s development by the state in order to eliminate the gender gaps in the work opportunities, political participation, health facilities and distribution of resources. Women are now dominating the key positions in many fields that were earlier denied to them. The emergence of women to the strategic positions in the social structures has given way to a relatively better understanding and identification of the oppressive practices. However, these transformations seem to be insignificant when compared to the number of issues that continue to degenerate the conditions of women in the society. Also, new challenges have emerged that impede the holistic development of women. Crime against women has been on the rampant rise in the country along with the growth in the number of career-oriented women in the professional space. Cybercrimes such as sexual harassment and molestation of women through the internet and mobile devices have gone up along with the technological development in the country. As the nation basks in the various scientific and economic achievements, half of its population writhes under the fear of rape, trafficking, domestic violence, honor killing, acid attacks and sexual harassments. Child marriage, dowry demands and female infanticide remain a harsh reality even after the strict attempts of their prohibition through the law. These practices are the major reasons behind the skewed sex ratio in the society. Education plays an important role in the conditioning of the young minds towards the concept of gender. Schools become one of the initial stages where internalization of the performance of gender roles takes place. Gender sensitized pedagogy is needed for the subversion of these roles. Instilling sensitivity towards the dignity of women, emphasizing the development of ethical stand towards the equality in the boys can provide the society with responsible and sensitive individuals. Only with constructive planning and comprehensive changes at various levels in society the new emerging “women power” shall be soon able to realize its complete potential. Due to changing trends, women have been constantly trying to break stereotypes in the context of job types, interests and hobbies. The gender roles are less rigid, women are not just nurturers now, and they are providers too. In the era of women earning for themselves and their families, they are facing certain concerns too. They have to juggle multiple roles and this can put a lot of pressure on them risking them to mental health concerns. There could be multiple factors behind the vulnerability of women. Be it cultural inhibitions, lack of financial support, lack of opportunities, gender-based discrimination or personal responsibilities, women often give up on themselves, their passions, dreams and aspirations. Indeed, women empowerment in society facilitates to bring equality for both genders and helps women by providing them strength and courage to become the decision maker of their own lives. International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality. Marked annually on March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year. The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge’. A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change. So, let’s all #ChooseToChallenge.
(The authors write regularly on social and environmental issues for “Kashmir Horizon” exclusively. Views are their own)