Women Empowerment: Issues and Challenges: Srinivasa Murthy A T

The International Journal of Indian Psychology
ISSN 2348-5396 (e) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (p)

Volume 4, Issue 2, No. 89, DIP: 18.01.092/20170402
ISBN: 978-1-365-74162-3
http://www.ijip.in | January-March, 2017
Women Empowerment: Issues and Challenges
Srinivasa Murthy A T 1*
ABSTRACT
Women’s Empowerment has been an issue of immense discussions and contemplation over the
last few decades world-wide. This as an agenda has been on top of the lists of most government
plans & programs as well. Efforts have been made on a regular basis across nations to address
this issue and enhance the socio-economic status of women. However, it has been observed that
most of the policies and programs view empowerment in the economic sense only working in the
belief that economic self-reliance empowers women ignoring other variables like health,
education, literacy etc. Introduction In the history of human development, woman has been as
important as man. In fact, the status, employment and work performed by women in society is
the indicator of a nation’s overall progress. Without the participation of women in national
activities, the social, economical or political progress of a country will be stagnated. Women
constitute half of the humanity, even contributing two-thirds of world’s work hours. She earns
only one-third of the total income and owns less than one-tenth of the world’s resources. This
shows that the economic status of women is in pathetic condition and this is more so in a country
like India., “women constitute nearly 50 per cent of population, perform two-thirds of the work
and produce 50 per cent of food commodities consumed by the country. They earn one third of
remuneration and own 10 per cent of the property or wealth of the country” (Reddy et al., 1994).
Keywords: Women, Empowerment, Issues & Problems
In the ancient Indian society women were adored and worshiped as goddesses. However in the
middle age, the status of women got down to a great extent. Women are considered in the society
only to perform duties like bring up children, caring every family member, and other household
activities. There is old and traditional faith of people coming out for years that men are for thy
field whereas women are only for the home. Now-a-days, women are breaking all the barriers of
social issues and problems against them in the society.
Earlier to this women were facing a lot of problems because of male dominated, patriarchal
society system, practice of old traditional believes, etc. Women were only responsible to the
1
Assistant Professor In Sociology, LBS Govt. First Grade College, R T Nagar, Bangalore, India
*Responding Author
Received: January 25, 2017; Revision Received: February 11, 2017; Accepted: February 15, 2017
© 2017 Murthy S; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
traditional roles like child bearing and child rearing. In the modern world, where women status
has been improved a little while, still they are facing problems. They have to perform both
family and professional responsibilities together without the help of their husbands. In some
cases, the condition of women becomes more embarrassed when they get tortured by their family
members instead of getting help. Sexual harassment is more common at homes as well as in the
offices by the family members, relatives, neighbours, friends, boss, etc. They have to suffer a lot
in their daily life to nourish their career as well as saving their family relationships.
Concept of Empowerment
Empowerment refers to policies and measures designed to increase the degree
of autonomy and self-determination in the lives of people and in communities in order to enable
them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting (again) on their
own authority. Empowerment refers both to the process of self-empowerment and to professional
support of people, which enables them to overcome their sense of powerlessness and lack of
influence, and to recognize and eventually use their resources and chances.
Empowerment is a multi-dimensional process, which should enable women or group of women

to realize their full identity and power in all spheres of life ( Surekharao and Rajamanamma,
1999). It consists of greater access to knowledge and resources, greater autonomy in decision
making to enable them to have greater ability to plan their lives, or to have greater control over
the circumstances that influence their lives and free from shocks imposed on them by custom,
belief and practice. Generally development with justice is expected to generate the forces that
lead to empowerment of various sections of population in a country and to raise their status
specially in case of women. “Empowerment comes from Women’s groups who seek to empower
themselves through greater self-reliance. They have right to determine their own choices in life.
They also seek to gain control and access to resources”. Empowerment is process, which helps
people to gain control of their lives through raising awareness, taking action and working in
order to exercise greater control. Empowerment is the feeling that activates the psychological
energy to accomplish one’s goals (Indiresan, 1999). The term ‘empowerment’ has till-date not
been very explicitly defined and it may be assumed that based upon context the term may be
interpreted contextually &situational. However, in context of women, empowerment essentially
refers to a feeling of awareness of one’s own situation backed up with the knowledge, skills and
information which could enable women to gain higher self-esteem and facilitate their role as
decision makers in the current patriarchal society where women have always been subordinate to
men. Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of
individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their
own capacities.
Empowerment is probably the totality of the following or similar capabilities:
1. Having decision-making power of their own
2. Having access to information and resources for taking proper decision
© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) | 115
3. Having a range of options from which you can make choices (not just yes/no, either/or.)
4. Ability to exercise assertiveness in collective decision making
5. Having positive thinking on the ability to make change
6. Ability to learn skills for improving one's personal or group power.
7. Ability to change others’ perceptions by democratic means.
8. Involving in the growth process and changes that is never ending and self-initiated
9. Increasing one's positive self-image and overcoming stigma
Issues and Problems faced by Women in India

There are various issues and problems which women generally face in the society in India. Some
of the problems are mentioned and described below:
1. Selective abortion and female infanticide: It is the most common practice for years in
India in which abortion of female fetus is performed in the womb of mother after the fetal
sex determination and sex selective abortion by the medical professionals.
2. Sexual harassment: It is the form of sexual exploitation of a girl child at home, streets,
public places, transports, offices, etc by the family members, neighbors, friends or
relatives.
3. Dowry and Bride burning: It is another problem generally faced by women of low or
middle class family during or after the marriage. Parents of boys demand a lot of money
from the bride’s family to be rich in one time. Groom’s family perform bride burning in
case of lack of fulfilled dowry demand. In 2005, around 6787 dowry death cases were
registered in India according to the Indian National Crime Bureau reports.
4. Disparity in education: The level of women education is less than men still in the modern
age. Female illiteracy id higher in the rural areas. Where over 63% or more women remain
unlettered.
5. Domestic violence: it is like endemic and widespread disease affects almost 70% of Indian
women according to the women and child development official. It is performed by the
husband, relative or other family member.
6. Child Marriages: Early marriage of the girls by their parents in order to be escaped from
dowry. It is highly practiced in the rural India.
7. Inadequate Nutrition: Inadequate nutrition in the childhood affects women in their later
life especially women belonging to the lower middle class and poor families.
8. Low status in the family: It is the abuse or violence against women.
9. Women are considered as inferior to men so they are not allowed to join military services.
10. Status of widows: Widows are considered as worthless in the Indian society. They are
treated poorly and forced to wear white clothes.
Earlier women were facing problems like child marriage, sati pratha, pardapratha, restriction to
widow remarriage, widows’ exploitation, devadasi system, etc. However, almost all the old
traditional problems have been disappeared gradually from the society but given rise to other
new issues. Women are continuously facing many problems even after having self-confidence,
individuality, self-respect, personality, capacity, talent, and efficiency more than men. They are
facing problems in their daily life even after they are given equal rights and opportunities like
men by the Constitution of India. Some of the major problems modern women are still facing
mentioned below:
1. Violence against women: Women are getting affected by the various violence almost every
day which is disrupting the society. Women are being victims of violence at huge level day
by day because of increasing crimes against women (according to the report of Crime
Record Bureau of the Central Home Ministry). Woman is getting kidnapped at every 44
minutes, raped at every 47 minutes, 17 dowry deaths every day, etc. They may face
violence within the family (dowry related harassment, death, marital rape, wife-battering,
sexual abuse, deprivation of healthy food, female genital mutilation, etc) or outside the
family (kidnapping, rape, murder, etc).
2. Gender discrimination: Women are considered as weaker section of the society than men
and given less importance. Girls’ children are becoming real victims of the discrimination.
There are also discrimination of power and work between men and women because of the
patriarchal system families in India. Gender discrimination affects women in the areas like
nutrition, education, health, care, decline of female population, job, public life, etc.
3. Problems of female education: Women education percentage is low in India especially in
the rural areas because they are discouraged for higher education like professional and
technical education.
4. Problems related to unemployment: Women are getting more problems in searching their
suitable work. They become more prone to the exploitation and harassment in the work
areas.
5. They are given more work and hard tasks by their boss intentionally. They have to prove
their devotion, seriousness and sincerity towards work time to time.
6. Women who are uneducated more prone to divorce and desertion by their husbands on any
stage of life. They have to live whole life with fear of divorce. In some cases they have to
finish their life because of unbearable conditions.
7. Dowry system is another huge women problem in the society which is increasing day by
day. Women are ill-treated, man-handled, disrespected, tortured and suffer other cruelties
(violence, murder and suicide) because of the lack of dowry at the time of marriage. It
causes degradation of women status to a great extent.
NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001)

Introduction
The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble,
Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only
grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive
discrimination in favour of women.
Within the framework of a democratic polity, our laws, development policies, Plans and
programmes have aimed at women’s advancement in different spheres. From the Fifth Five Year
Plan (1974-78) onwards has been a marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from welfare
to development. In recent years, the empowerment of women has been recognized as the central
issue in determining the status of women. The National Commission for Women was set up by
an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women. The 73rd
and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Constitution of India have provided for reservation of seats
in the local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation for
their participation in decision making at the local levels.
India has also ratified various international conventions and human rights instruments
committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification of the
Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1993.
The Policy also takes note of the commitments of the Ninth Five Year Plan and the other
Sectoral Policies relating to empowerment of Women.
The women’s movement and a wide-spread network of non-Government Organizations which

have strong grass-roots presence and deep insight into women’s concerns have contributed in
inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of women.
However, there still exists a wide gap between the goals enunciated in the Constitution,
legislation, policies, plans, programmes, and related mechanisms on the one hand and the
situational reality of the status of women in India, on the other. This has been analyzed
extensively in the Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, "Towards
Equality", 1974 and highlighted in the National Perspective Plan for Women, 1988-2000, the
Shramshakti Report, 1988 and the Platform for Action, Five Years after- An assessment".
Gender disparity manifests itself in various forms, the most obvious being the trend of
continuously declining female ratio in the population in the last few decades. Social stereotyping
and violence at the domestic and societal levels are some of the other manifestations.
Discrimination against girl children, adolescent girls and women persists in parts of the country.
The underlying causes of gender inequality are related to social and economic structure, which is
based on informal and formal norms, and practices.
Consequently, the access of women particularly those belonging to weaker sections including
Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/ Other backward Classes and minorities, majority of whom
are in the rural areas and in the informal, unorganized sector – to education, health and
productive resources, among others, is inadequate. Therefore, they remain largely marginalized,
poor and socially excluded.
Goal and Objectives

The goal of this Policy is to bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of
women. The Policy will be widely disseminated so as to encourage active participation of all
stakeholders for achieving its goals. Specifically, the objectives of this Policy include,
1. Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for full
development of women to enable them to realize their full potential
2. The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by
women on equal basis with men in all spheres – political, economic, social, cultural and
civil
3. Equal access to participation and decision making of women in social, political and
economic life of the nation
4. Equal access to women to health care, quality education at all levels, career and vocational
guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety, social security
and public office etc.
5. Strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of discrimination against
women
6. Changing societal attitudes and community practices by active participation and
involvement of both men and women.
7. Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process.
8. Elimination of discrimination and all forms of violence against women and the girl child;
and
9. Building and strengthening partnerships with civil society, particularly women’s
organizations.
Judicial Legal Systems

Legal-judicial system will be made more responsive and gender sensitive to women’s needs,
especially in cases of domestic violence and personal assault. New laws will be enacted and
existing laws reviewed to ensure that justice is quick and the punishment meted out to the
culprits is commensurate with the severity of the offence.
At the initiative of and with the full participation of all stakeholders including community and
religious leaders, the Policy would aim to encourage changes in personal laws such as those
related to marriage, divorce, maintenance and guardianship so as to eliminate discrimination
against women.
The evolution of property rights in a patriarchal system has contributed to the subordinate status
of women. The Policy would aim to encourage changes in laws relating to ownership of property
and inheritance by evolving consensus in order to make them gender just.
Decision Making
Women’s equality in power sharing and active participation in decision making, including
decision making in political process at all levels will be ensured for the achievement of the goals
of empowerment. All measures will be taken to guarantee women equal access to and full
participation in decision making bodies at every level, including the legislative, executive,
judicial, corporate, statutory bodies, as also the advisory Commissions, Committees, Boards, and
Trusts etc. Affirmative action such as reservations/quotas, including in higher legislative bodies,
will be considered whenever necessary on a time bound basis. Women–friendly personnel
policies will also be drawn up to encourage women to participate effectively in the
developmental process.
Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in the Development Process

Policies, programmes and systems will be established to ensure mainstreaming of women’s
perspectives in all developmental processes, as catalysts, participants and recipients. Wherever
there are gaps in policies and programmes, women specific interventions would be undertaken to
bridge these. Coordinating and monitoring mechanisms will also be devised to assess from time
to time the progress of such mainstreaming mechanisms. Women’s issues and concerns as a
result will specially be addressed and reflected in all concerned laws, sectoral policies, plans and
programmes of action.
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

Poverty Eradication
Since women comprise the majority of the population below the poverty line and are very often
in situations of extreme poverty, given the harsh realities of intra-household and social
discrimination, macro-economic policies and poverty eradication programmes will specifically
address the needs and problems of such women. There will be improved implementation of
programmes which are already women oriented with special targets for women. Steps will be
taken for mobilization of poor women and convergence of services, by offering them a range of
economic and social options, along with necessary support measures to enhance their
capabilities.
Micro Credit
In order to enhance women’s access to credit for consumption and production, the establishment
of new, and strengthening of existing micro-credit mechanisms and micro-finance institution will
be undertaken so that the outreach of credit is enhanced. Other supportive measures would be
taken to ensure adequate flow of credit through extant financial institutions and banks, so that all
women below poverty line have easy access to credit.
Women and Economy

Women’s perspectives will be included in designing and implementing macro-economic and
social policies by institutionalizing their participation in such processes. Their contribution to
socio-economic development as producers and workers will be recognized in the formal and
informal sectors (including home based workers) and appropriate policies relating to
employment and to her working conditions will be drawn up. Such measures could include:
Reinterpretation and redefinition of conventional concepts of work wherever necessary e.g. in
the Census records, to reflect women’s contribution as producers and workers.
Globalization
Globalization has presented new challenges for the realization of the goal of women’s 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.
Women and Agriculture

In view of the critical role of women in the agriculture and allied sectors, as producers,
concentrated efforts will be made to ensure that benefits of training, extension and various
programmes will reach them in proportion to their numbers. The programmes for training
women in soil conservation, social forestry, dairy development and other occupations allied to
agriculture like horticulture, livestock including small animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries etc.
will be expanded to benefit women workers in the agriculture sector.
Women and Industry

The important role played by women in electronics, information technology and food processing
and agro industry and textiles has been crucial to the development of these sectors. They would
be given comprehensive support in terms of labour legislation, social security and other support
services to participate in various industrial sectors.
Women at present cannot work in night shift in factories even if they wish to. Suitable measures
will be taken to enable women to work on the night shift in factories. This will be accompanied
with support services for security, transportation etc.
Support Services
The provision of support services for women, like child care facilities, including crèches at work
places and educational institutions, homes for the aged and the disabled will be expanded and
improved to create an enabling environment and to ensure their full cooperation in social,
political and economic life. Women-friendly personnel policies will also be drawn up to
encourage women to participate effectively in the developmental process.
SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

Education
Equal access to education for women and girls will be ensured. Special measures will be taken to
eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate illiteracy, create a gender-sensitive
educational system, increase enrolment and retention rates of girls and improve the quality of
education to facilitate life-long learning as well as development of occupation/vocation/technical
skills by women. Reducing the gender gap in secondary and higher education would be a focus
area. Sectoral time targets in existing policies will be achieved, with a special focus on girls and
women, particularly those belonging to weaker sections including the Scheduled
Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes/Minorities. Gender sensitive curricula would
be developed at all levels of educational system in order to address sex stereotyping as one of the
causes of gender discrimination.
Health
A holistic approach to women’s health which includes both nutrition and health services will be
adopted and special attention will be given to the needs of women and the girl at all stages of the
life cycle. The reduction of infant mortality and maternal mortality, which are sensitive
indicators of human development, is a priority concern. This policy reiterates the national
demographic goals for Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) set out in
the National Population Policy 2000. Women should have access to comprehensive, affordable
and quality health care. Measures will be adopted that take into account the reproductive rights
of women to enable them to exercise informed choices, their vulnerability to sexual and health
problems together with endemic, infectious and communicable diseases such as malaria, TB, and
water borne diseases as well as hypertension and cardio-pulmonary diseases. The social,
developmental and health consequences of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
will be tackled from a gender perspective.
To effectively meet problems of infant and maternal mortality, and early marriage the
availability of good and accurate data at micro level on deaths, birth and marriages is required.
Strict implementation of registration of births and deaths would be ensured and registration of
marriages would be made compulsory.
In accordance with the commitment of the National Population Policy (2000) to population
stabilization, this Policy recognizes the critical need of men and women to have access to safe,
effective and affordable methods of family planning of their choice and the need to suitably
address the issues of early marriages and spacing of children. Interventions such as spread of
education, compulsory registration of marriage and special programmes like BSY should impact
on delaying the age of marriage so that by 2010 child marriages are eliminated.
Women’s traditional knowledge about health care and nutrition will be recognized through
proper documentation and its use will be encouraged. The use of Indian and alternative systems
of medicine will be enhanced within the framework of overall health infrastructure available for
women.
Nutrition
In view of the high risk of malnutrition and disease that women face at all the three critical stages
viz., infancy and childhood, adolescent and reproductive phase, focused attention would be paid
to meeting the nutritional needs of women at all stages of the life cycle. This is also important in
view of the critical link between the health of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women
with the health of infant and young children. Special efforts will be made to tackle the problem
of macro and micro nutrient deficiencies especially amongst pregnant and lactating women as it
leads to various diseases and disabilities.
Intra-household discrimination in nutritional matters vis-à-vis girls and women will be sought to
be ended through appropriate strategies. Widespread use of nutrition education would be made to
address the issues of intra-household imbalances in nutrition and the special needs of pregnant
and lactating women. Women’s participation will also be ensured in the planning,
superintendence and delivery of the system.
Drinking Water and Sanitation

Special attention will be given to the needs of women in the provision of safe drinking water,
sewage disposal, toilet facilities and sanitation within accessible reach of households, especially
in rural areas and urban slums. Women’s participation will be ensured in the planning, delivery
and maintenance of such services.
Housing and Shelter

Women’s perspectives will be included in housing policies, planning of housing colonies and
provision of shelter both in rural and urban areas. Special attention will be given for providing
adequate and safe housing and accommodation for women including single women, heads of
households, working women, students, apprentices and trainees.
Environment
Women will be involved and their perspectives reflected in the policies and programmes for
environment, conservation and restoration. Considering the impact of environmental factors on
their livelihoods, women’s participation will be ensured in the conservation of the environment
and control of environmental degradation. The vast majority of rural women still depends on the
locally available non-commercial sources of energy such as animal dung, crop waste and fuel
wood. In order to ensure the efficient use of these energy resources in an environmental friendly
manner, the Policy will aim at promoting the programmes of non-conventional energy resources.
Women will be involved in spreading the use of solar energy, biogas, smokeless chulahs and
other rural application so as to have a visible impact of these measures in influencing eco system
and in changing the life styles of rural women.
Science and Technology

Programmes will be strengthened to bring about a greater involvement of women in science and
technology. These will include measures to motivate girls to take up science and technology for
higher education and also ensure that development projects with scientific and technical inputs
involve women fully. Efforts to develop a scientific temper and awareness will also be stepped
up. Special measures would be taken for their training in areas where they have special skills like
communication and information technology. Efforts to develop appropriate technologies suited
to women’s needs as well as to reduce their drudgery will be given a special focus too.
Women in Difficult Circumstances

In recognition of the diversity of women’s situations and in acknowledgement of the needs of
specially disadvantaged groups, measures and programmes will be undertaken to provide them
with special assistance. These groups include women in extreme poverty, destitute women,
women in conflict situations, women affected by natural calamities, women in less developed
regions, the disabled widows, elderly women, single women in difficult circumstances, women
heading households, those displaced from employment, migrants, women who are victims of
marital violence, deserted women and prostitutes etc.
Violence against women

All forms of violence against women, physical and mental, whether at domestic or societal
levels, including those arising from customs, traditions or accepted practices shall be dealt with
effectively with a view to eliminate its incidence. Institutions and mechanisms/schemes for
assistance will be created and strengthened for prevention of such violence, including sexual
harassment at work place and customs like dowry; for the rehabilitation of the victims of
violence and for taking effective action against the perpetrators of such violence. A special
emphasis will also be laid on programmes and measures to deal with trafficking in women and
girls.
Rights of the Girl Child

All forms of discrimination against the girl child and violation of her rights shall be eliminated
by undertaking strong measures both preventive and punitive within and outside the family.
These would relate specifically to strict enforcement of laws against prenatal sex selection and
the practices of female feticide, female infanticide, child marriage, child abuse and child
prostitution etc. Removal of discrimination in the treatment of the girl child within the family
and outside and projection of a positive image of the girl child will be actively fostered. There
will be special emphasis on the needs of the girl child and earmarking of substantial investments
in the areas relating to food and nutrition, health and education, and in vocational education. In
implementing programmes for eliminating child labour, there will be a special focus on girl
children.
Mass Media
Media will be used to portray images consistent with human dignity of girls and women. The
Policy will specifically strive to remove demeaning, degrading and negative conventional
stereotypical images of women and violence against women. Private sector partners and media
networks will be involved at all levels to ensure equal access for women particularly in the area
of information and communication technologies. The media would be encouraged to develop
codes of conduct, professional guidelines and other self-regulatory mechanisms to remove
gender stereotypes and promote balanced portrayals of women and men.
Institutional Mechanisms
Institutional mechanisms, to promote the advancement of women, which exist at the Central and
State levels, will be strengthened. These will be through interventions as may be appropriate and
will relate to, among others, provision of adequate resources, training and advocacy skills to
effectively influence macro-policies, legislation, programmes etc. to achieve the empowerment
of women.
National and State Councils will be formed to oversee the operationalization of the Policy on a
regular basis. The National Council will be headed by the Prime Minister and the State Councils
by the Chief Ministers and be broad in composition having representatives from the concerned
Departments/Ministries, National and State Commissions for Women, Social Welfare Boards,
representatives of Non-Government Organizations, Women’s Organisations, Corporate Sector,
Trade Unions, financing institutions, academics, experts and social activists etc. These bodies
will review the progress made in implementing the Policy twice a year. The National
Development Council will also be informed of the progress of the programme undertaken under
the policy from time to time for advice and comments.
National and State Resource Centres on women will be established with mandates for collection
and dissemination of information, undertaking research work, conducting surveys, implementing
training and awareness generation programmes, etc. These Centers will link up with Women’s
Studies Centres and other research and academic institutions through suitable information
networking systems.
While institutions at the district level will be strengthened, at the grass-roots, women will be
helped by Government through its programmes to organize and strengthen into Self-Help Groups
(SHGs) at the Anganwadi/Village/Town level. The women’s groups will be helped to
institutionalize themselves into registered societies and to federate at the Panchyat/Municipal
level. These societies will bring about synergistic implementation of all the social and economic
development programmes by drawing resources made available through Government and Non-
Government channels, including banks and financial institutions and by establishing a close
Interface with the Panchayats/ Municipalities.
Resource Management
Availability of adequate financial, human and market resources to implement the Policy will be
managed by concerned Departments, financial credit institutions and banks, private sector, civil
society and other connected institutions. This process will include:
1. Assessment of benefits is flowing to women and resource allocation to the programmes
relating to them through an exercise of gender budgeting. Appropriate changes in policies
will be made to optimize benefits to women under these schemes;
2. Adequate resource allocation to develop and promote the policy outlined earlier based on
(a) above by concerned Departments.
3. Developing synergy between personnel of Health, Rural Development, Education and
Women & Child Development Department at field level and other village level
functionaries’
4. Meeting credit needs by banks and financial credit institutions through suitable policy
initiatives and development of new institutions in coordination with the Department of
Women & Child Development.
The strategy of Women’s Component Plan adopted in the Ninth Plan of ensuring that not less
than 30% of benefits/funds flow to women from all Ministries and Departments will be
implemented effectively so that the needs and interests of women and girls are addressed by all
concerned sectors. The Department of Women and Child Development being the nodal Ministry
will monitor and review the progress of the implementation of the Component Plan from time to
time, in terms of both quality and quantity in collaboration with the Planning Commission.
Efforts will be made to channelize private sector investments too, to support programmes and
projects for advancement of women
Legislation
The existing legislative structure will be reviewed and additional legislative measures taken by
identified departments to implement the Policy. This will also involve a review of all existing
laws including personal, customary and tribal laws, subordinate legislation, and related rules as
well as executive and administrative regulations to eliminate all gender discriminatory
references. The process will be planned over a time period 2000-2003. The specific measures
required would be evolved through a consultation process involving civil society, National
Commission for Women and Department of Women and Child Development. In appropriate
cases the consultation process would be widened to include other stakeholders too. Effective
implementation of legislation would be promoted by involving civil society and community.
Appropriate changes in legislation will be undertaken, if necessary.
In addition, following other specific measures will be taken to implement the legislation
effectively.
1. Strict enforcement of all relevant legal provisions and speedy redressal of grievances will
be ensured, with a special focus on violence and gender related atrocities.
2. Measures to prevent and punish sexual harassment at the place of work, protection for
women workers in the organized/ unorganized sector and strict enforcement of relevant
laws such as Equal Remuneration Act and Minimum Wages Act will be undertaken,
3. Crimes against women, their incidence, prevention, investigation, detection and
prosecution will be regularly reviewed at all Crime Review fora and Conferences at the
Central, State and District levels. Recognized, local, voluntary organizations will be
authorized to lodge Complaints and facilitate registration, investigations and legal
proceedings related to violence and atrocities against girls and women.
4. Women’s Cells in Police Stations, Encourage Women Police Stations Family Courts,
Mahila Courts, Counseling Centers, Legal Aid Centers and Nyaya Panchayats will be
strengthened and expanded to eliminate violence and atrocities against women.
5. Widespread dissemination of information on all aspects of legal rights, human rights and
other entitlements of women, through specially designed legal literacy programmes and
rights information programmes will be done.
Gender Sensitization
Training of personnel of executive, legislative and judicial wings of the State, with a special
focus on policy and programme framers, implementation and development agencies, law
enforcement machinery and the judiciary, as well as non-governmental organizations will be
undertaken. Other measures will include:
1. Promoting societal awareness to gender issues and women’s human rights.
2. Review of curriculum and educational materials to include gender education and human
rights issues
3. Removal of all references derogatory to the dignity of women from all public documents
and legal instruments.
4. Use of different forms of mass media to communicate social messages relating to women’s
equality and empowerment.
Panchayati Raj Institutions

The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Indian Constitution have served as a breakthrough
towards ensuring equal access and increased participation in political power structure for
women. The PRIs will play a central role in the process of enhancing women’s participation in
public life. The PRIs and the local self-Governments will be actively involved in the
implementation and execution of the National Policy for Women at the grassroots level.
Partnership with the voluntary sector organizations

The involvement of voluntary organizations, associations, federations, trade unions, non-
governmental organizations, women’s organizations, as well as institutions dealing with
education, training and research will be ensured in the formulation, implementation, monitoring
and review of all policies and programmes affecting women. Towards this end, they will be
provided with appropriate support related to resources and capacity building and facilitated to
participate actively in the process of the empowerment of women.
International Cooperation
The Policy will aim at implementation of international obligations/commitments in all sectors on
empowerment of women such as the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD+5) and other such instruments. International, regional and
sub-regional cooperation towards the empowerment of women will continue to be encouraged
through sharing of experiences, exchange of ideas and technology, networking with institutions
and organizations and through bilateral and multi-lateral partnerships.
Acknowledgments
The author appreciates all those who participated in the study and helped to facilitate the
research process.
Conflict of Interests: The author declared no conflict of interests.
REFERENCES
A. Jhamtani, Rural women: The powerless partners in development, Kurukshetra, 43(8) (1995),
61-63.
A. Tejaswini and S. Veerabhadraiah, Knowledge assessment of rural women on DWCRA and
their problems, Kurukshetra, 51(4) (1996), 46-47.
A.R. Desai and A. Mohiuddin, Involving women in agriculture – Issues and strategies, India
Journal of Rural Development, 11(5) (1992), 506-648.
G.T. Govindappa, Rural women entrepreneurship- Constraints and strategies, Kurukshetra, 48(2)
(1999), 11-14.
K.S. Jyothi, Employment pattern and empowerment of rural women – A study in Kolar district,
M. Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, (1998), University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.
N. Nikhade and A. Patwardhan, Economic contribution of home-makers through household
production, Maharashtra Journal of Extension Education, 9(1990), 81-86.
R. Parekh and K. Mehta, Empowerment of rural women – A case study of Udwada, Proceedings
of the National Consultation on Gender Issues in Credit in the Rural Non-Farm Sector,
14-15 September (1992), Organized by SNDT Women’s University, Bombay.
S. Giriappa, Women empowerment and decision making analysis in rural enterprises, Paper
Presented at International Conference on Gender Equity through Women’s
Empowerment, 23-29 December (1997), Lucknow.
Srisankari and K. Uma, Women’s participation in agriculture, Kurukshetra, 43(8) (1995), 103-
104.
Thangamuthu and N. Manimekalai, Generation of employment for women through DWCRA,
Journal of Rural Development, 8(4) (1989), 431-438.
How to cite this article: Murthy S (2017), Women Empowerment: Issues and Challenges,
International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume 4, Issue 2, No. 89, ISSN:2348-5396 (e),
ISSN:2349-3429 (p), DIP:18.01.092/20170402, ISBN:978-1-365-74162-3

Women Empowerment: Issues and Challenges: Srinivasa Murthy A T

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Women Empowerment: Issues and Challenges: Srinivasa Murthy A T

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Women Empowerment: Issues and Challenges: Srinivasa Murthy A T

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The International Journal of Indian Psychology

ISSN 2348-5396 (e) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (p)

Women Empowerment: Issues and Challenges

Keywords: Women, Empowerment, Issues & Problems

Empowerment is a multi-dimensional process, which should enable women or group of women

Issues and Problems faced by Women in India

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001)

The women’s movement and a wide-spread network of non-Government Organizations which

Goal and Objectives

Judicial Legal Systems

Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in the Development Process

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

Women and Economy

Women and Agriculture

Women and Industry

SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

Drinking Water and Sanitation

Housing and Shelter

Science and Technology

Women in Difficult Circumstances

Violence against women

Rights of the Girl Child

Panchayati Raj Institutions

Partnership with the voluntary sector organizations

Conflict of Interests: The author declared no conflict of interests.

You might also like