1

Role of the State in Empowerment of women in India

Presented at SSV College seminar
Introduction
“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”
- Jawaharlal Nehru.

Women’s empowerment is a new phrase in the vocabulary of gender literature. The phrase is used in two
broad senses i.e. general and specific. In a general sense, it refers to empowering women to be self-
dependent by providing them access to all the freedoms and opportunities, which they were denied in the
past only because of their being women. In a specific sense, women empowerment refers to enhancing
their position in the power structure of the society

“Women empowerment is essentially the process of upliftment of economic, social and political status
of women, the traditionally underprivileged ones, in the society. It is the process of guarding them
against all forms of violence.” 1 Kofi Annan takes violence against women as the most shameful of
human rights violation. To him ,” violence against women takes various forms such as : domestic
violence, rape, trafficking in women , forced prostitution and violence in armed conflict ( such as
murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy ) and honour killings, dowry related
violence, female infanticide and parental sex selection in favour of male babies, female genital mutilation
and other harmful practices and traditions “ 2. Women empowerment involves the building up of a
society, a political environment, wherein women can breathe without the fear of oppression, exploitation,
apprehension, discrimination and the general feeling of persecution which goes with being a woman in a
traditionally male dominated structure. Deepa Narayan in her edited book ‘Measuring Empowerment’ 3
(www.oup.com) takes “ Empowerment as the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to
participate in, negotiate with, influence control and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives “
Looking back
In 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 4, arguing that it is not
charity that is wanting in the world—it is justice. The book captures the essence of women’s struggle for
rights. The struggle entered a new phase in the 1800s. India abolished sati (self-immolation of widows)
and legalized intercaste marriage. England reformed laws governing marriage. France recognized
women’s right to divorce. China allowed women to hold office. New Zealand in 1893 became the first
country to extend the right to vote to women. In the first decade of the 20th century women’s movements
gathered strength in several countries, including China, Iran, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Russia,
Ceylon, Turkey and Viet Nam. In the first four decades women got the vote in countries ranging from
Austria, Germany and the Netherlands to Ceylon, Turkey and Uruguay. Around the same time Margaret
Sanger in the United States, Ellen Key in Sweden and Shizue Ishimoto in Japan launched campaigns for
women’s right to reproductive health. They demanded that information on contraception be provided to
all women
The fight for women’s rights would prove to be a long and gruelling process in India, but British presence
would prove to play a positive role in this process. The fight would be especially difficult because those
religious traditions that were part of the culture in the country were very adamant in their beliefs on the
role of women in society, but British seemed to be determined to turn India into what they deemed as a
civilized nation. With this in mind it could be argued that the British are actually responsible for starting a
women’s rights movement in India.
Now in power of governmental activities in India and not afraid to flex their power to promote their own
ideals, they began to pass important pieces of legislation. The British started with proclamation that
would prove to be extremely influential, the abolition of sati. The abolition of sati was not so much a
victory for women in terms of saving them from the funeral pyre, but it was more of an invitation for
women (and men) to involve themselves in a movement against a barbaric religious tradition. This sent a
message to women throughout the country telling them that their rights were an interest of the British. In
addition to legislation, education was a key component of the fight for women’s rights. Men became
more tolerant of their women as western education took root. Not one of these movements was more
important than another, every one helped contribute to what would eventually be a successful women’s
movement. As people in India began to embrace more western ideas and education they began to turn
away from religious traditions that were seen as unsavoury in western teachings.

The efforts of Raja Ram Mohan Roy to uplift the condition of women by educating them had its social
impact. As early in 1819, a school for females was opened at Calcutta by the Calcutta Female Juvenile
Society. Women’s education became more common after the Hindu Girls College, the present Bethune
College, was established in May 1849 due to the efforts of J.E.D. Bethune, President of the council of
Education. Ishwar Chandra Vidhya Sagar, the great social reformer of Bengal after Raja Ram Mohan Roy
also played an important part in the spread of women’s education.

On December 10, 1948 the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the "Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.”5 It called upon member nations to adopt and implement these rights in their respective countries.
This declaration was a momentous achievement because it was for the first time that human rights were
codified and steps were taken for the preservation of human rights.
“India had taken an active part in the drafting of the UDHR. The Indian delegation led by Dr.Hansa
Metha had made important contribution in the drafting of the declaration, especially, by highlighting the
need for reflecting gender equality.”6 The women’s question, like the untouchability question or the
communal question, emerged during the national movement as a political question that had to be solved
to give shape to the vision of a free Indian nation. It is my contention that this political aspect of women’s
equality or inequality has never received adequate attention from historians or other social scientists - a
neglect which has helped to perpetuate many ambiguities, mis-conceptions and under-valuation of this
issue. The primary role of women’s studies in the contemporary period is to rectify this neglect and to
generate both empirical data and theoretical perspectives to place the issue in its proper context.

India and women Empowerment

India’s rapid growth of business-generated capital is hailed as an “economic miracle [that] bypasses”
Indian people living in rural areas . Chatterjee (2006) says that India’s economy is “surging”, with large
industry “growing at a frenetic pace” while most rural people are “desperately poor and vulnerable” (p.
1483). The most recent national census taken by the government of India in 2001 indicates that the rural
to urban population is 72.4% to 27.6% . According to the United Nations International Children’s Fund,
35 % of India’s population lives on one dollar or less per day (Census, 2001). Rural Indian people have
inadequate access to health services, sanitation, nutrition, and safe drinking water. For example, five
percent of children in a poor rural area of Bihar are immunized versus 90% of children in 42 wealthy
urban districts (Chatterjee, 2006). Poverty in India is further complicated by discrimination toward
people with lower social class, lower status caste membership, tribal membership, disabilities, and
gender. 7
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India conducted a National Family Health Survey
(NFHS-3) 8 in 2005-06 and in its summary and key findings it was asserted that gender equality and
empowerment are two sides of the same coin and both have multiple dimensions that together yield a
wide variety of indicators. Over the past decade, gender equality and women‘s empowerment have been
explicitly recognized as key not only to the health of nations, but also to social and economic
development. India‘s National Population Policy 2000 9 has empowering women for health and nutrition
as one of its crosscutting strategic themes. Additionally, the promotion of gender equality and
empowering of women is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 10 to which India is a
signatory. “M.D.Gs and Human rights have a common ultimate objective and a mutually enforcing
manner. Its commitment promotes human welfare and the protection of basic rights of all sections of the
community.” 11 writes Sivadasan.E.N about MDG

Newspapers and periodicals of all hues in India often carry reports about violence against women. These
include among others incidents of young brides being burnt for bringing ‘insufficient’ dowry, women dying in
abnormal circumstances, rape on hapless women and molestation of young girls. In some cases there are
public protests by women activists and such protests receive media coverage. Deaths of women are extreme
outcome of ill treatment, psychological abuse, or physical violence suffered by women. On the other hand
domestic violence suffered by women on a regular basis in the form of psychological or physical abuse goes
unreported. Very rarely do women themselves file police cases against the ill treatment meted out to them. A
few women who escape death end up in shelter homes, but the majority continues to live in marital union and
endure abusive behaviour.
Empowerment of women in the context of knowledge societies entails building up the abilities and skills
of women to gain insight into the issues affecting them and also building up their capacity to voice their
concerns. It entails developing the capacities of women to overcome social and institutional barriers and
strengthening their participation in the economic and political processes so as to produce an overall
improvement in their quality of life.
India today is at the verge of a quantum leap in its growth and its position in the world. We (both men and
women) must act decisively to capture this opportunity. We need to think big and scale up rapidly in each
and every area, be it education, infrastructure, industry, financial services or equality of both genders. For
around two centuries, social reformers and missionaries in India have endeavored to bring women out of
confines in which centuries of traditions had kept them. According to the 2001 Census, the percentage of
female literacy in the country is 54% up from 9% 1951.
But we should not forget that history is a witness to the women who have in the past demonstrated unique
leadership capabilities. Razia Sultana, Rani of Jhansi, Sarojini Naidu and Indira Gandhi are
motivation examples of women empowerment. Earlier, most women were able to demonstrate the
leadership qualities only on their home fronts, as in Indian society man has always acted as the master of
the scene and the decision regarding the issue of empowering women has always been taken by him. God
has gifted women with compassion, tender-heartedness, caring nature, concern for others. These are very
positive signs which imply that women can be leaders. Though some women have shown their mettle yet
a large number of them have to sharpen their leadership qualities in various ways. In order to help women
to be in limelight, they need to be empowered. Therefore, empowerment of women is the prerequisite to
transform a developing country into a developed country.
Present position
Chiranjivi J Nirmal in his book “Human Rights in India” 12 writes. “What happens to women in
traditional and fundamentalist contexts is the evidence of their reluctance to communicate and examine
the realities of their own experience, which remains a heavy burden of our own history. Violence against
women extends beyond their bodies. The role of the judiciary and its judgments created a more
acceptable climate for reform”
In India, the empowerment process has already begun. We are now witnessing a steady improvement in
the enrolment of women in schools, colleges and even in profession institutes. Their health is better as
compared to earlier decades. In this decade, women are entering into the job market in increasing
numbers. They are showing their skills even in non-traditional sectors like police, defence,
administration, media and research fields. Twenty-six laws have been enacted so far to protect women
from various crimes. The recent law on the 'protection of women against domestic violence' satisfies the
long pending demand of the women activities. In the political field, the reservation for women is a
significant step forward towards their political empowerment. “Women have already captured 40 per cent
(numbering more than a million) of the seats in panchayati raj institutions, exceeding the Constitutionally
mandated one-third. It is good that the Government is all set to raise this to 50 per cent soon. However,
women form only 15 per cent of the civil service, although many of them have risen to high positions in
Government, bureaucracy, police, armed forces, professions, science and technology, business, industry
and the corporate world.” 13 When thirty-three percent reservation for women in Parliament becomes a
reality, women's voice will be heard in the highest forum of democracy. The day, women of India will
reach zenith in their empowerment. But a lot of work has to be done as there is a category of women
(who consider themselves highly educated) that proudly accepts that they don't have digital literacy even
though they own a computer, they cannot even operate bank accounts or make travel arrangements for
family or handle hospital admissions even during emergencies. Even for a simple task like social visits or
shopping generally they need the company of their husbands. Women in India feel proud to display that
they are well protected and pampered by their husbands without realizing that they are making
themselves helpless. Such women's economic literacy is so low that they cannot play any role in family's
decision regarding family's budget, savings and investments. To such women, the national
budget discussion is for men only and soap operas are for them. Such women suffer a lot if something
untoward happens to their husbands. This type of extreme dependency is not good for the development of
women. Women should remember that they are also rational, intelligent and thinking human beings.
Dependant women are not empowered women. If modern women think that they are empowered, it's a
myth for them. Empowerment means to inspire women with the courage to break free from the chains of
limiting beliefs, patterns and societal or religious conditions that have traditionally kept women
suppressed and unable to realize their true beauty and power.
Role of UN
The questions surrounding women's empowerment the condition and position of women have now
become critical to the human rights based approaches to development 14. The Cairo conference in 1994
organized by UN on Population and Development called attention to women's empowerment as a central
focus and UNDP developed the Gender Empowerment measure (GEM) which focuses on the three
variables that reflect women's participation in society – political power or decision-making, education
and health. 1995 UNDP report 15 was devoted to women's empowerment and it declared that if human
development is not engendered it is endangered, a declaration which almost become a lei motif for
further development measuring and policy planning. Equality, sustainability and empowerment were
emphasized and the stress was, that women's emancipation does not depend on national income but is an
engaged political process.

Poverty and gender inequality

Placing greater emphasis upon gender discrimination, Human Development Report (1997),16
prepared by the UNDP maintains that the degree of gender discrimination does in fact have a
significantly negative bearing upon the extent of human poverty. The report goes on to calculate the
gender development index (GDI) based upon (a) female life expectancy (b) female adult literacy and
gross enrolment ratio and (c) female per capita income. The report argued that across countries there are
systematic relationships between gender inequality, as measured by the GDI and the general level of
human poverty as measured by the Human Poverty Index (HPI ). “ Gender inequality is strongly
associated with human poverty. The four countries ranking lowest in the GDI — Sierra Leone, Niger,
Burkina Faso and Mali — also rank lowest in the human poverty index (HPI). Similarly of the four
developing countries ranking highest in the HPI, three — Costa Rica, Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago
— also rank among the highest in the GDI “ ( UNDP 1997, page 39 ) the report also finds that HPI is
correlated to Gender Empowerment Measure ( GEM ) , an index that measures the extent of gender
inequality in political and economic participation and decision-making.
United Nations, New York, 2 July 2010 — In an historic move, the United Nations General Assembly
voted unanimously to create a new entity to accelerate progress in meeting the needs of women and girls
worldwide.

The establishment of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women 17

— to be known as UN Women — is a result of years of negotiations between UN Member States and

advocacy by the global women’s movement. It is part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together
resources and mandates for greater impact.

“I am grateful to Member States for having taken this major step forward for the world’s women and
girls,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement18 welcoming the decision. “UN Women will
significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination
around the globe.”

UN Women merges and will build on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN
system which focus exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:

 Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW, established in 1946)

 International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW,
established in 1976)
 Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI, established
in 1997)
 United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, established in 1976)

“I have made gender equality and the empowerment of women one of my top priorities — from working
to end the scourge of violence against women, to appointing more women to senior positions, to efforts to
reduce maternal mortality rates,” said Secretary-General Ban

Over many decades, the UN has made significant progress in advancing gender equality, including
through landmark agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Gender equality is not
only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering
women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth.

Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women in all parts of the world suffer
violence and discrimination, and are under-represented in decision-making processes. High rates of
maternal mortality continue to be a cause for global shame. For many years, the UN has faced serious
challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality globally, including inadequate funding and no single
recognized driver to direct UN activities on gender equality issues.

UN Women — which will be operational by January 2011 — has been created by the General Assembly
to address such challenges. It will be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing
them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels. It will enhance, not replace, efforts by
other parts of the UN system (such as UNICEF, UNDP, and UNFPA) that continue to have responsibility
to work for gender equality and women’s empowerment in their areas of expertise.

UN Women will have two key roles: It will support inter-governmental bodies such as the Commission
on the Status of Women in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms, and it will help
Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial
support to those countries that request it, as well as forging effective partnerships with civil society. It
will also help the UN system to be accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including
regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

The Indian State and the Women Empowerment

Constitutional guarantee

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, a position; indiscrimination in favour of women. Within
the framework of democratic polity, our laws, developmental policies, plans and programmes are aimed
at women’s advancement in different spheres.
(Article 14 of the Constitution of India guarantees equal rights and opportunities to men and women in
political, economic and social spheres, Article 42 directs the State to make provision for ensuring just
and humane conditions for work and maternity itself and Article 51 (A) e imposes upon every citizen, a
fundamental duty to renounce the practices derogatory to the dignity of women.)
The status of women in India has been undergoing a sea-change. Supported by Constitutional guarantees
to ensure dignity and equal opportunities, their active participation in all walks of life including
education, politics, sport etc., has been growing. Taking note of women’s role in the nation-building
activities, the Government had declared 2001 as the year of Women’s Empowerment by adopting a
National Policy to offer “Swashakti” to women.

Several laws have also been adopted to empower women socially, economically, legally and politically.
Considering the role of rural India, the country’s backbone, the Government had taken several measures
to strengthen Pachayanti Raj system with the active participation of women. This gave a boost to increase
the number of women being elected to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, an indication to suggest their
political empowerment.

National Policy for the Empowerment of Women – 2001

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental
Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles of State Policy. The Constitution not only
guarantees equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination
in favour of women. Since the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78), India has been making a marked shift in
its approach to women’s issues from welfare to development while keeping the empowerment of women
as the central issue in determining their status in the society.

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 to the Constitution in 1993 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.

National Mission for Empowerment of Women

The Government has set up a National Mission for Empowerment of Women early this year and the same
has been notified on 8th of March, 2010. The Mission aims at implementing the women-centric
programmes in a mission mode to achieve better coordination. The Ministry of Women and Child
Development is administering the Support to Training and Employment Programme of Women (STEP)
scheme with a view to help assetless and marginalised women become economically self-reliant.

The scheme also aims at providing training for skill upgradation, development of entrepreneurial skills,
asset creation, mobilisation into small viable groups to enable beneficiaries to take up employment-cum-
income generation activities. The Ministry has also launched the “Priyadarshini” scheme to empower
vulnerable groups of women in a holistic and sustainable manner by addressing their social, political,
legal, health related and economic problems through vigorous capacity-building by organising them into
Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

Swarjjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)

The Ministry is also implementing the Centrally sponsored scheme. The scheme is desinged to promote
self-employment oriented income generating activities for the BPL households in the rural areas. Special
safeguards have been provided for vulnerable sections by way of reserving 50 per cent benefits to
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 40 per cent for women, 15 per cent for minorities and 3 per cent
for disabled persons. Since its inception, about 37 lakh SHGs have been formed and 134 lakh
swarozgaris assisted, out of which, approximately 70 lakh (52 per cent) are women. The Rashtriya
Mahila Kosh (RMK) scheme extends micro-credit support for income generation to poor women grouped
into SHGs in unorganised sector.

India Vision 2020

India Vision 2020 document, while discussing about women in the labour force has, inter alia, mentioned
that secure child care support services are necessary for working women. The 11th Five Year Plan
document of the Planning Commission incorporated various schemes and programmes for women and
child development. It also mentions about the setting up of creches in unorganised sector and
restructuring and revamping of the existing Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for the children of
working mothers.

Helplines for Women

As per 2001 census, there are 34.3 million widows and 2.34 million divorced and separated women in the
country. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing shelter-based schemes namely
“Swadhar” and “Short Stay Homes” under which financial assistance is provided to the implementing
agencies for providing support services to women in difficult circumstances.

Under the scheme of Integrated Programme for Older persons implemented by the Ministry of Social
Justice and Empowerment, financial assistance is provided to NGOs for running and maintenance of
Multi Facility Care Centre for older widowed women.

The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme
(IGNWPS) and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), under which central
assistance is given towards a monthly pension of Rs.200 to widows below the poverty line in the age
group of 40 to 64.

Women’s Leadership Summit 2010

The Ministry has organised a Women’s Leadership Summit in New Delhi on 6th of March this year as
part of the celebrations for the International Women’s Day. The objective of the Summit, inaugurated by
the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, was to showcase empowered women, those who had excelled
in different fields.

The central theme of the Summit was Inclusive Growth and Empowering Women of Rural India. Several
women achievers spoke on challenges and opportunities for women in diverse fields such as corporate
sector, financial services, agriculture, science, media, panchayati raj, sports, culture, education and law.
Government’s 100 Days Action Plan

As part of the 100 days Action Plan, the government had proposed several measures to increase the
representation of women. It has also proposed Constitutional amendment to provide 50 percent
reservation for women in Panchayats and in urban local bodies and to increase the representation of
women in government jobs.

India’s Tirade Against Anti-Woman Activities

The Government has been adopting several stringent measures to uphold the status of women in India by
launching a tirade against injustices done to them. They included protection against domestic violence,
stopping crime against child and women, human trafficking, sexual harassment at work place, eliminating
beggary among women and street children, child marriages, harassment in dowry related matters,
malnutrition among women and children, providing relief and rehabilitation to rape victims. The Centre
has allocated Rs.11,000 crore to the Ministry of Women and Child Development for the year 2010-11, an
increase of around 50 per cent over last year’s Budget Estimates of Rs.7,350 crore. (PIB Features)

Need of the hour

Broadly there may be two ways for bringing about gender equality and women empowerment- a)
through inducting women in the mainstream of development and assuring their access to productive
assets and (b) through legislation for ensuring them equal social and political status and assuring their
participation in political decision making and thus providing them a platform for venting their
grievances , integrating their issues into the mainstream of the decision making process and fighting for
the cause of female community in general and of the poor and oppressed women in the society in
particular. However in both the strategies providing education is the crucial link which holds the key.
The best way of empowerment is perhaps through inducting women in the mainstream of
development. Women empowerment will be real and effective only when they are endowed income and
property so that they may stand on their feet and build up their identity in the society. Development
warrants the eradication of the feeling of dominance and dependence of whosoever is associated with
inferior economic status. Professor Amartya Sen taking a much wider view of development talks of
development as the process of expansion of entitlement — ie. giving life sustenance and self esteem —
and capabilities : giving freedom19.. Development improves quality of life through the process of
expansion, ensures freedom from hunger, exploitation, discrimination and oppression and also infuses a
sense of self belief and provides the strength to stand up against violence. “ Development effectiveness is
an act of transformation to end violence, poverty and discrimination “ ( Noeleen Heyzer op.cit ) 20 .
Economic independence is the basic premise behind empowerment through development. While
women’s participation in the development process provides them employment opportunity and the
opportunity to get out of the clutches of poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy etc, economic independence
imbibes confidence and the strength to stand up and think about their future. Employment generating
schemes in rural areas providing preferential treatment to poor women workers may prove to be a good
move in this direction, but it needs a definite preconceived development strategy and pattern. Growth
itself does not guarantee gender equality and women empowerment. The present mode of production
based on the market system has no inbuilt system of minimising gender disparity; rather it thrives on
opportunities created by gender relations for power and profit. 21. Development strategy for
empowerment will mainly be concerned with employment and asset generation coupled with skill
oriented education and vocational training. A preconceived development strategy studded with emphasis
on employment, education, health, nutrition, sanitation etc, critical elements that contribute to the quality
of human life, more so in the rural sector, may prove to be effective in the long run to raise the status of
women but in men dominated societies with social and political institutions biased in favour of gender
discrimination, may not prove to be effective enough to take them out of the downward gravitational pull.
Economic empowerment can be a handy tool in as much as enabling a woman to lead a graceful
existence in her family and society but may not prove too potent a weapon in the larger more grim battle
against social, political and even economic oppression, which warrants collective strength. In a
democratic setup collective strength emanates from political participation.
It requires some legislative compulsions for mending the working of political and social institutions,
which if left to themselves are unlikely to change in favour of women. It thus calls for, essentially, an
active participation of women in the decision making process. Empowerment of women through
legislation then provides the women with a constitutional platform to stand up to men, to raise their voice
on issues concerning women oppression, subjugation and related issues and thus in effect, providing them
with an identity in an orthodox male dominated socio-political setup, in addition to providing a much
needed forum to seek redressal of problems directly affecting them : the true essence of empowerment. In
a decentralised federal structure, with growing emphasis on the implementation of various employment
and income generating schemes, participation of women in the decision making process at the Panchayat
Raj institution level becomes imperative if they are to seek any meaningfully significant gains for
themselves.
According to Mahatma Gandhi, “If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a
woman you educate an entire family.” Our predominant patriarchal system doesn’t provide enough
chances for women to have higher education even if they wish. Girls should be motivated to take up
higher education. Universal education for all below 14 years should be strictly implemented. There is an
urgent necessity of framing gender sensitive curricula at all stages of primary education to address sex-
stereotyping menace.

Women should be allowed to work and should be provided enough safety and support to work.
Legislatures such as Equal Remuneration Act, Factories Act: Constitutional safeguards such as maternity
relief, and other provisions should be strictly followed. Poverty eradication policies need to be
implemented. Macroeconomic policies would help in this drive. Through economic empowerment
women’s emancipation could be realized.

Dowry still remains the major reason for all the discrimination and injustice shown to women. Dowry has
always been an important part of Hindu marriages. Not only among Hindus, its evil tentacles are now
spreading to other religions also. Although dowry was legally prohibited in 1961 22, it continues to be
highly institutionalized.

Some qualities to be acquired by women to become truly empowered are awareness about risk prevailing
at home, in work place, in travelling and staying outside home. They should have political, legal,
economic and health awareness. They should have knowledge about support groups and positive attitudes
towards life. They should get goals for future and strive to achieve them with courage. The best gift
parents today can give to their daughters is education. If women choose to be ignorant then all the efforts
taken by the Government and women activists will go in vain. Even in twenty-fifth century, they will
remain backward and will be paying a heavy price for their dependence. So, it is a wake-up call for
women to awake from their deep slumber and understand the true meaning of their empowerment.
Conclusion
Women form half of the human beings inhabiting planet Earth. Since human rights are the rights of all
human beings, male and female alike, human rights are women's rights.
Not-withstanding the remarkable changes in the position of women in free India, there is still a great
divergence between the constitutional position and stark reality of deprivation and degradation. Whatever
whiff of emancipation has blown in Indian society, has been inhaled and enjoyed by the urban women,
their population belonging to the rural areas are still totally untouched by the wind of changes. They still
have been living in miserable conditions, steeped in poverty, ignorance, superstition and slavery. There
still exists a wide gulf between the goals enunciated in the Constitution, legislations, policies, plans,
programmes and related mechanisms on the one hand and the situational reality on the status of women
in India, on the other.
But despite all these there should be a strong determination among every man that every woman in this
country should be honoured. Only then empowerment in its true meaning will be realized.

Swami Vivekananda had said “That country and that nation which doesn’t respect women will never
become great now and nor will ever in future” and in pursuit of making India a great nation, let us work
towards giving women their much deserved status.

Notes and References

1. Shiva Kumar Lal A Study of Issues and Challenges in Empowerment of Women Through
Their Participation in the Panchayat Raj Institution: A Case Study of Allahabad District of
Uttar Pradesh
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Dr. Rakesh Chandra, Professor of Philosophy & Director, Institute of Women's
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