Power is defined as the ability to influence the\nbehaviour of others with or without restraint. The extent to which a person or\ngroup holds such power is related to the social influence they can wield. Noted\nFrench fashion designer Coco Chanel quoted, \u201cA girl should be two things: who\nand what she wants\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A woman\u2019s quest for equality with man is a\nuniversal phenomenon. What exists for men is demanded by women. Almost 50% of\nthe world\u2019s population is women, so treating them equally gives an impetus to\nthe development of the society as a whole. The man of the house is\ntraditionally considered to be the breadwinner of the family and the woman is\nconsidered to be the homemaker. Tradition and culture are considered to be the\ntwo big impediments for women empowerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women Empowerment is understood as a very narrow\nterm in today\u2019s world. It may be understood as enabling people, especially\nwomen to acquire and possess power resources in order to make decisions on\ntheir own or resist decisions made by others that affect them. A person may be\nsaid to be powerful when she\/he has control over a large portion of power\nresources such as personal wealth, education, information, knowledge, social\nstatus, position, leadership, capabilities of mobilisation. The National Policy\non Education (1986) suggested certain strategies to empower women. Accordingly,\nwomen became empowered through collective reflections and decision making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The youngest Nobel laureate, Ms. Malala\nYousafzai, famously quoted \u201cI raise up my voice\u2014not so I can shout, but so that\nthose without a voice can be heard\u2026we cannot succeed when half of us are held\nback\u201d, and that sentiment precisely outlines the basis of new age women\nempowerment. In India, in theory, women enjoy a status of equality with the men\nas per constitutional and legal provisions. Arguably, our country has taken\nenormous strides towards inclusion of women with the fairer gender excelling in\ndiverse fields, from literature to astrophysics to finance. Headlines about\ndowry killing, female foeticide and domestic violence still making the\nnewspapers, put a silent question mark behind the two words. Here, in this\ncurrent age, true development and growth can only be achieved by taking\nsuccessful strides in eliminating deep-rooted ideologies of gender bias and\ndiscrimination like the confinement of women to the private domestic realm,\nrestrictions on their mobility, poor access to health services, nutrition,\neducation and employment, and exclusion from the public and political sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In major parts of India as well as the world,\nwomen are still denied basic education and are never allowed to pursue higher\neducation despite possessing the needed acumen. This colossal waste of talent\nis definitely holding economies backwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women empowerment in its actuality is synonymous\nwith complete development of the society. An educated woman, with knowledge\nabout health, hygiene, cleanliness is capable of creating a better,\ndisease-free environment for her family. A self-employed woman is capable of\ncontributing not only to her family\u2019s finances but also contributes towards\nincrement of the country\u2019s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A shared\nsource of income is much more likely to uplift the quality of life than a\nsingle income household and more often than not helps the family come out of a\npoverty trap. Women who are aware of their legal rights are less likely to be\nvictims of domestic violence or other forms of exploitation. Their inherent\naptitude towards organisation and well-rounded maintenance of home makes them\nuniquely suited for political and civil leadership roles. Recent participation of women in political and\nsocial positions of power has seen a marked reduction in corruption in those\nspecific areas which adds another advantageous point in favour of women\nempowerment. The rapid pace of economic development has increased the demand\nfor educated female labour force in almost all fields. Women are earning as\nmuch as their husbands do, their employment nonetheless adds substantially to\nfamily income and gives the family an economic advantage over families with only\none breadearner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new phenomenon has also given economic\npower in the hands of women for which they were earlier totally dependent on\nmales. Economically independent women feel more confident about their personal\nlives. Hence, they are taking more personal decisions, for instance, about\ntheir further education, marriage, etc. More and more women want freedom of\nwork and control their own reproduction, freedom of mobility and freedom to\ndefine their own lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can now see women in almost every field:\narchitecture, law, financial services, engineering, medical and Information\nTechnology. They have also entered service occupations such as a nurse, a\nbeautician, a sales worker, a waitress, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women are increasingly and gradually seen\nmarching into domains which were previously reserved for males (police, army,\nair force, chartered accountancy, commandos). In spite of their increasing\nnumber in every field, women still remain perhaps the world\u2019s most\nunderutilised resources. Many are still excluded from paid work and many do not\nmake the best use of their skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A new pattern is emerging in which both partners\nwork outside the home but do not share equally in housework and childcare as we\nsee in Western families. In India, the paternalistic attitude of the male has\nnot undergone much change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In spite of such drawbacks and hurdles that\nstill prevail, Indian women (especially educated) are no longer hesitant or\napologetic about claiming a share and visibility within the family, at work, in\npublic places, and in the public discourse. The need is to set our minds open\nand work towards a future where both men and women work together, have equal\nrights and respect each other. We need to create an environment such that the\nwomen are not scared of those staring eyes all around them but brave enough to\nstare back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, our efforts should\nbe directed towards the all-around development of each and every section of\nIndian women, not confining the benefit to a particular section of women in\nsociety, by giving them their due share. It is a must to protect their\nchastity, modesty and dignity and ensure their dignified position in society.\nWithout removing social stigma, enduring progress and development could not be\nachieved. For this, the governmental and non-governmental organisations\nincluding media should come forward and play an active role in creating\nawareness in society.\n\nThe task is not too difficult to achieve. The honesty and sincerity on\nthe part of those involved is a must. If lots of women change, definitely it\nwill have a positive impact on society. Hence, women\u2019s empowerment is the need\nof the hour<\/em>.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Power is defined as the ability to influence the behaviour of others with or without restraint. The extent to which a person or group holds such power is related to the social influence they can wield. Noted French fashion designer Coco Chanel quoted, \u201cA girl should be two things: who and what she wants\u201d. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}