The preamble of the Constitution of the Greatest Republic of the world, Indiagrants equality to women through the principle of gender equality guaranteed by the Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and the Directive Principles of State Policy. It also empowers the states to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. Gender inequality is a part and parcel of the accepted male dominated culture. Atrocities and discrimination are the two major problems which an Indian woman faces in the present day society. The very traditional mentality of the Indian society is that women can be deployed in kitchen work and upbringing the child. From the 5lh Five year planl()74-78 onwards it has been marked that there is a shift in the approached issue from welfare to development. Now empowerment to women is being recognized as the prime issue for determining the status of women in the Indian society. The National Commission for women was set up by promulgation of an act in Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the right and the legal entitlement of women. The 73rd and 74thamendment to the constitution in 1993 have provided for reservation of l/3rd seats in Local bodies and the Municipalities thereby paving a way for decision making and legislation in lower echelon of the society The Indian government have issued various legislations to safeguard the constitution status of women. These legislations include The Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Hindu Succession Act 1956, Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971, Equal Remuneration Act 1976, Child Marriage Restraint Act 1976, Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act 1986 and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique 1994.
However there still exists wide gap between the goals enunciated in the legislation, policies, plans and programmes in one hand and the situational reality of the status of women in India on the other. Discrimination against girl children, adolescent girls and women persists in all parts of the country. Following are the processes that could lead to women empowcrmcnt:-
1. Changes in women’s mobility and social interaction.
2. Changes in women’s labour pattern.
3. Changes in women’s access to and control over resources.
4. Changes in women’s control over decision making.
Changes in women’s mobility and social interaction :-
“We are not free if our mothers are not free” Theresa Mary Solmon.
The women should have equal access to education. Special measures should be taken to eradicate illiteracy and create gender sensitive education system, increase enrolment and retention rates of girls improving quality of education for development of occupational / vocational / technical skill. As a matter of fact, 30% of the seats have been reserved for women in Orissa in all Colleges.
I ) Infant and maternal mortality should be the barest minimum. Woman’s traditional knowledge about health care and nutrition should be properly documented and they can be trained through Audio and Visuals.
II ) Women group members or girls can freely visit places of need and can travel longer distances. They should have the courage to face any govt. staff at any level.
A minute study of the process observed changes in the women in following locations:-
Then women involved are head of household or older.
The women participated have been imparted training.
The group members have access to banks and offices.
They have been organized into an organization or federation
They are working in the community as a whole or as an entity.
Changes in women’s labour pattern :-
A study on evaluation of the labour pattern in Indiashows that female labours are paid at a rate of 70% of male labours. The income generating activities of the majority of women in male headed households continued to be managed by men. So the changes in the women labour pattern are not as positive as in other dimensions. Self employment or NGOs formed by women have given a better approach in this regard allowing women the possibility to have better working conditions.
Changes in access to and control over resources:-
National and state resource centers have been formed to evaluate and collect information undertaking research work, conducting surveys, and implementing training and awareness generation programmes. The evaluation also looked into women group members access to non loan related resources and benefits. It seems that a number of groups undertook activities that would give their communities better infrastructure e.g water supply, child care facilities and health care services etc.
Changes in intra household decision making:-
Women’s equality in power sharing and active participation in decision making including decision making in political process in all levels has to be ensured for the achievement of the goals of empowerment. All measures have been taken to guarantee women equal access to and full participation in decision making bodies at every level, including legislative, executive, judicial, corporate statutory bodies, as also the advisory commissions, committees, boards and trusts. The evaluation concluded that there seemed to be a slight improvement in women’s involvement in decision making in male headed households on such issues as credit, disposal of household assets, children education care. However the traditional gender based divisions persist in intra-household decision making. Women basically decide on food preparation and men on financial decisions.
It is a disturbing reality that no country has yet’ managed to eliminate the gender gap. Those that have succeeded best in narrowing the gap are the Nordic countries like Sweden standing out as most advanced in the world ,India being in 53 position The United Nations Development Fund for Woman(UNIFEM) was established in 1984 to ensure women’s involvement in main stream activities. Even in highly developed countries, violence against women of all kinds is routine and often condoned. Female sexual slavery and forced prostitution are stilld terrible facts of life. Genetic testing for defects of the unborn is used in some parts of the world to determine the sex of the foetus , so that females can be aborted., while in some countries, female infants are buried alive. Forced marriage and bride burning are still prevalent in the Asian sub-continent.
Despite worldwide evidence of low level of female participation in social, educational, economic and political spheres, there is still a tendency to see it as a real problem only in a limited number of countries. Educational attainment is without doubt, the most fundamental perquisite for empowering women in all sphere of the society. Information and communication technologies which have become a potent driving force of the development process, represent yet another dimension in which a knowledge gap has emerged between women and men, a gender based digital divide.
Gender disparity in educational attainment are captured using data on literacy rates, enrolment rates for primary, secondary and tertiary education and average years of schooling across the population. In this way we can determine the current level of women’s empowerment through education.
The complexity of the social and cultural issues, combined with the stigma and fear of disclosure lead to a situation where only a small portion of the crimes of sexual assault, child abuse, wife battering and gun related violence are ever reported, making accurate data extremely difficult to obtain. Indeed, it is difficult to measure the true extent of violence and sexual assault, which go unreported.
Various activities have been planned to make impressive impacts in empowering women and improving their social status in their Families and community •e.g.
• Formation of training and self help group
• Group development
• Capacity building
• Income generation activities
• Credit and saving mobilization
• Establishment of linkages
Various activities have been implemented to develop women empowerment in present day society vig:-
• Formation of self help group
• Income generation activities
• Credit and saving mobilization
• Establishment of credit linkages
• Entrepreneur Development programme training
• Establishment of manufacturing unit
• Promotion of kitchen herbal garden
• Promotion of federation
Amartya Sen makes a compelling case for the notion that “Societies need to see women less as passive recipient of help, and more as dynamic promoters of social transformation, a view strongly buttressed by a body of evidence suggesting that the education, employment and ownership rights of women have a powerful influence on their ability to control their environment and contribute to economic development” The roles a woman plays in various aspect of life are many like at home, on job, in society as mothers, wife, sisters, daughters, learners, workers, leaders. But are they being treated fairly and equally? Are they empowered enough by the society? Let us have a look on these women who made history by them selves
• Indira Gandhi the first woman Prime Minister of India for four times from 1966 to 1977
• Prativa Devisingh Patil the first lady President of Present India
• Indira Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of Pepsi Co. is the fourth most powerful woman of the world
• Sriti Vadera Special Advisor to the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
With the introduction of the national Policy Empowerment of women, the Government of India had declared the year 2001 as Women’s empowerment year. It was said “Our vision in the new century of a nation where women are equal partner with men.” Many new projects were launched like Swashakti and Shree Shakti for women’s empowerment, Swayam Siddha to benefit one lakh women through micro credit programme, Balika Samrudhi for the girl child and many more. Let us think of the era we live-in
• Cases of female infanticides are still on rise
• Certain sections of people do not send their girls to schools once they attend puberty
• Some are not sent to school ever
• Number of pre-age marriages are significant
• Dowry related harassment and deaths are on rise
• Harassment in work place, sexual or otherwise are significant
• Sati is still being practised in many places
• The legislative strength of women is less than 10%
• The crime against women are on the rise
• Widows are now also looked down by many
• The gender disparity is all-time high
In the fast ever gender gap study covering 58 nations, the world economic forum has ranked India a lowly 53. The report titled’ the women’s empowerment : measuring the global gender gap’, measure the gap between women and men in five critical areas like economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, access to education and access to reproductive health care. The report is based on United Nations Development fund and for women’s findings on global developed society, we can’t dream of becoming a civilized nation what so ever pattern of inequality between men and women.
We call ourselves the next superpower comparing us with many more nations of the world but unless we strive to develop the stand of women in the present scenario without acknowledging the vital women force, which is 50% of the total population in a men dominated society like ours.
“ANURAG”, 51, Rajiv Nagar, AIGINIA, Bhubaneswar– 19
