RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL (MGSP002)

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
&
SKILL DEVELOPMENT

A CASE STUDY
ON
JIO MART
 Introduction

Gender wage inequality is a prime indicator of the egalitarian disposition of a society. A number of studies

have empirically found that there exists earning differential between male and female workers in many

developed as well as in almost all developing countries like India. However, not the entire earning differential

in different economies is attributable to the vice of domination of one gender over the other. This paper

attempts to identify and quantify that portion of the gender wage gap in the context of the Indian labour market

which is not explained by economic rationale, but is rather based on unexplained / discriminatory societal biases

by one gender over the other. Gender wage discrimination, besides being a social evil, also impacts negatively

the efficient and effective use of a key factor of production, viz. human resource. India’s youthful population

profile is today seen as a competitive advantage in wresting pole position for meeting the demands of goods and

services of the increasingly unified global markets. A corner stone of India’s economic policy is to effectively

leverage theabundant humanresources for rapid economic growth. The possibility of sustained economic

growth increases. if the available human resources are used efficiently / effectively and the resulting

benefits percolate down, equitably, to all the participants. As per current estimates, 54% of India’s population

is in the working age group (15 – 59 years). As per Census 2011, women constitute around 47% of the total

population of India. It may be deduced from the above statistics that, at a ball-park level, women in the working

age group, theoretically, account for a significant 25% of India’s population. Hence, the importance and

urgency of framing and implementing state policies for ensuring active women participation in the work

force cannot be undermined.

Literature Review
Women in a Men‘s World? One hundred years after women won suffrage, women still live in a world where

men hold the vast majority of power and women are consistently undervalued relative to them.

Being the “only one” is still a common experience for women in the workplace. According to the 2021 Women

in the Workplace report, one in five women often find themselves the only woman, or one of the only women,
in the room at work. This has a significant psychological impact putting women under increased pressure. In the

workshop addressed in this manuscript, most feminine participants stated that they had faced such a situation.

3.1. To Assess the Gender Balance The world is a men’s workplace. They describe and conceive it in their own

perspective and from their own point of view as an absolute truth. It seems necessary to count on the narrative

of women. As inequality occurs along gender lines, but also regarding other social factors, it is important to

make an intersectional analysis that considers all the combination of factors that apply to a woman. This entails

that the point of view of women will be determined by multiple overlapping factors (sexuality, class, race) and

therefore there is not a unique narrative associated to women. However, it is unquestionable that this is a

gender-based narrative. Women’s point of view, probably based on distinct values and assumptions compared

to that of men’s, deserves the universal right to be different and to be treated with identical respect. Indeed,

maybe it is not an issue of gender equality but of respect for differences and dignity in a plural society. To

achieve this goal, it is necessary that key social actors (such as social role models and educators) assume and

spread the idea that competence, professional value, and possibility of success are not solely men’s privileges.

Discussions at the workshop contributed to highlighting this plurality as a fundamental dimension of an

equilibrated society. According to a traditional perspective, women and men are different from physical and

intellectual points of view, and this may lead to the maintenance of the usual roles and social differences. The

valuation of characteristics, e.g., strength, is related to a particular type of work and, therefore, this justifies

differences in salary and other social perks. A balanced and equilibrated society should refuse this straight

liaison between physical characteristics and social privileges as this interferes with social sustainability.

Measuring gender equality is difficult to achieve. Indicators do not capture some of its subtleties and the

pervasive and frequently hidden nature of gender inequality. However, what is exactly intended to be

measured? How? Gender differences and biases are complex and go beyond the mere presence of women in

distinct contexts. Therefore, if gender equality is to be assessed using indicators, the assessment should be based

on its varied nature and able to capture the tonalities of a plural society, which (according to the workshop

participants) is virtually impossible. The report of the EU Expert Group (EU EG) on RRI indicators

acknowledges that, while the indicators used for Europe provide a good overview of the participation of women
and men in different sectors and at different levels, namely connected with governance and sustainability, they

do not seem to provide insight into the cultural issues associated with gender inequality. In the aforementioned

report, some of the RRI indicators used were as follows: the percentage of research projects including gender

analysis, namely, the percentage of women that were principal investigators on a project, or the percentage of

them who were the first authors on research papers; in agriculture or the industry sector, other indicators were

used, like the percentage of women in leadership positions or as main investors, or the percentage of them

reaching financial support, among others. Thus, the problem is not to find a way to measure equality, but to

have insights about the real meaning, gender nature, and impact of equality on social sustainability. The EU

reports about women’s engagement in EU science and research mention that there has been an advancement in

the number of women engaged in projects and research networks, mainly since the Horizon 2020 Program

implementation. However, and because some strategic gaps to reach gender equality are still remaining, the

Horizon Europe Program promotes the following in many projects, entities, and countries:

(i) a Gender Equality Plan;

(ii) a gender dimension into research and innovation content as a requirement by default (considered an award

criterion evaluated under the excellence); Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 6 of 16 and

(iii) an increasing gender balance throughout the program with a target of 50% women in Horizon Europe-

related boards, expert groups, and evaluation committees. In this line of thought and goals, a gender balance

among research teams is set as a ranking criterion for proposals with the same score. According to the United

Nations, Europe has experienced significant progress over the last decades; however, “despite these gains, many

challenges remain: discriminatory laws and social norms remain pervasive, women continue to be

underrepresented at all levels of political leadership, and 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49

report experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12 month period. Women still

have the need to prove for themselves and for society that they are good professionals, and that they deserve to

play their role in both private and public sectors. The issue here is that all social actors (including women) are

shaped by social role models that privilege men in general, and especially in leadership positions. There are

unconscious biases that affect the way women begin their professional career, how they progress, and the way
they manage the obstacles they face. These biases and rooted ideas challenge women more than men when

proving credibility and inner professional or entrepreneurship value. To fight against these difficulties, both the

political and social spheres should work side by side with joint efforts., acting in distinct contexts and

professions.

3.2. The Obstacles Faced by Women in a Professional Career and Related Strategies To develop a successful

professional career usually demands more efforts and sacrifices from women than from men, due to persistent

social inequalities and contrasting genderbased labour valuation and workload. Especially, when talking about

top responsibilities, high-level management, or about carrying out innovations, these social scourges play

important roles, even under equal legal rights. Despite being pioneers in many fields, women often step aside

because of family responsibilities and situations inherent to their specific physical characteristics (when

assumed, e.g., maternity). This is aggravated by the lack of effective collaboration of their partners, independent

of legislation produced by many countries to allow for and justify men’s family responsibilities. Thus, women

are often in especially vulnerable situations throughout their professional life, which frequently prevents them

from “dreaming” a normal career progression. The obstacles that are identified as bringing increased difficulty

to women regarding their professional career may vary significantly according to their economic, social, and

cultural context. According to their characteristics, these obstacles and constraints may be divided into several

categories.

• Inside the family: Here, the primary responsibility for dependent care work remains delegated to women.

Martinez et al. proved that the main reason why women are underrepresented in leading positions (in academia)

is due to maternity and childcare. This is translated to a lack of linearity in the professional career of many

women due to family role and responsibilities, including maternity. Similarly, the work–family conflict appears

to be one of the major barriers to women’s advancement to the highest echelons in the public domain. Very

frequently, women drop out their positions after a certain stage of their careers, whereas this phenomenon is less

usual in men, most likely because it is generally more accepted that women step aside to take care of family and

men stay devoted to work. Although in some rare cases the opposite can occur, often this situation is not

accepted by society as a normal choice. Moreover, nowadays and due to varied circumstances, it is more
difficult to have the support of other family members (e.g., grandparents), which increases the childcare weight

for women. Not only are women the main undermined party when addressing childcare, but this situation is

aggravated by the lack of suitable mechanisms that enable women to properly combine career and family like,

for example, social infrastructures (since it is usually expected the women’s role as major educators and

caregivers from the early childhood), Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 7 of 16 schedule flexibility, possibility of

reduction of working hours, etc. In the end, there is not enough time or intellectual availability to do everything

properly, which could result in poor availability to address all personal and professional duties. According to the

workshop attendants, teleworking (as far as necessary and possible) may be, at least, a temporary solution.

Managers and younger women frequently have a favorable opinion about the possibilities of teleworking

regarding a professional career. However, it may contribute to the crystallization of precarious or less

competitive professional activities for women. According to research performed by Ferreira, “Working at a

distance created even more invisibility for women who no longer knew how to value themselves and how to

network. Women had to further prove their worth in relation to their male counterparts. With the excuse of the

pandemic, many companies did not offer promotions or salary increases, and those that did, it was more to men

who asked and knew how to value themselves more easily. To avoid this situation, the workshop attendants

proposed nevertheless, it is key the supportive role of the partner that collaborates in home and childcare to

prevent the social image of “she is at home, doing the job, the housekeeping, the childcare, etc.”. As pointed out

in side, harmonization between family and work exigencies is highly costly for women, and society tends to

neglect the mechanisms of social support. Additionally, the employers seldom promote work organization

schemes that support the implementation of Strategy. The gendered nature of unpaid work affects women

throughout the life cycle, since the design of adult work roles are long anticipated and have enduring

consequences. Despite that, it seems to remain essential for many women to build a professional life and be

independent, even in hard or obscure conditions.

• Laws/Rules: Although from a jurisdictional point of view, laws do not unambiguously undermine women in

the countries considered in this assessment, the norms of the male organizational culture that define the skills

required for advancement in professional careers are in accordance with the male model of leadership.
Highlights that, against the law, non-professional attributes have an important role when evaluating women’s

work, their pathway and, consequently, their possibility to ascend in professional career.

• Social perception, social acceptation, and work evaluation: In disadvantaged social classes, there is a

generalized acceptance of gender inequalities, which makes the obstacles faced by women even greater. In more

well-off social classes, there are more favorable conditions, from material, educational, organizational, and

symbolic-ideological points of view than there are in subaltern classes in the construction of a more effective

citizenship, which allows women to claim equal rights and acceptance. The education system is traditionally

aligned with the prevailing social role models, meaning that girls are commonly “guided” to certain jobs and

qualifications (or to avoid others), because they are considered “feminine” or because, in practice, some jobs

and positions are “closed” to women in the labor market and recruitment events (even being balanced in

regulations and in legal framework). A valid strategy could be to foster that women have their own competences

and responsibilities, as opposed to women complementing men’s activities, which undermines women’s

visibility and valuation of professional performance. This measure would recognize women’s true contribution

to the missions they are involved in Strategy. Studies have shown that gender diversity in the workplace

increases profitability and creates value, and that gender-diverse leadership correlates with productivity. Despite

this fact, there is a tested unconscious bias in society regarding female competency: both men and women,

almost equally, have difficulties in identifying women with leadership positions. An example of this is a study

performed by Moss-Racusin et al. Where six American universities evaluated two applications for a laboratory

manager position with the exact same CV with different names: Jennifer and John. Both male and female

evaluators deemed John as more competent, more hirable, offered him more career mentoring, and were willing

to pay him more. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 8 of 16 To address this bias, we must lay the legal and social

foundations so that women are able to accomplish both professional exigencies and family care. Education

(formal and informal, on the behalf of national or international institutions) is key to allow all societal actors to

give their best, whether male or female, and this implies having support services of a high-quality level and a

real exchange in roles among family members. It is frequent for women with successful careers to talk about the
compatibility between family life, social life, and a professional career, stating “and in the end it worked!”. The

question is thus as follows: At what price, and does it happen in common or in exceptional situations?

• In the public sector: The work–family conflict is one of the major barriers to career progression for women, so

very few achieve top positions in the public domain. It seems to be paramount for career development of

women to have successful role models at the parents’ home, serving as guides for future family and professional

challenges. It is common that women leave their positions after a certain stage of their career, and society seems

to accept it as an inevitable side effect and, particularly as “her choice” about which nothing can be done. The

increasing use of digital skills and teleworking by women may lead to a paradox: instead of facilitating smooth

professional development, it may conduct to a larger gap in social relationships and lead to a stagnation in the

career. If teleworking becomes a predominant option for women, this could contribute to the crystallization of

precarious or less competitive professional activities due to the need of multitasking familiar and professional

duties. To avoid this situation, it is necessary to promote teleworking to the same extent for men and women.

This issue has a current exacerbated importance as the COVID -19 pandemic crisis is disproportionally

impacting women’s working hours and therefore their careers.

• In the private sector/companies: Research suggests that a woman’s choice to become an entrepreneur enables

her to achieve both practical and strategic gender needs. The question here is not about the value of the

entrepreneurial ideas and projects lead by a woman but, mostly, the bias and subjective evaluations that affect

the project or idea appreciation when coming from a woman. One possible strategy to overcome the lower

interest to fund ideas led by women could be the use of social support or alternative source of funding for

investments, e.g., social payment for family services or crowdfunding. Another potential solution may be the

compartmentation of funding according to gender, completely changing the equality principle and the

equilibrated chances in the market Strategy. According to the workshop attendants, the social and family

context and the specific characteristics of the chain of command in the workplace are among the most important

factors that influence women’s empowerment and the success in their professional career. For example, if the

context is a small company or a small institution, it becomes easier to surpass the bureaucratic and

organizational impediments to career ascension to high-level positions. The family where each one was born
and raised may have a huge influence in how women adapt to professional and familiar exigencies. For

example, in a family business, the family members need to give a substantial support and, at the same time,

push for higher patterns of professional results. It is frequently harder for women than for men to withstand the

pressure of being the heritor in a traditional family enterprise. In these cases, there is a great expectation about

the professional capability of women, who need to deal, at the same time, with the responsibility of keeping the

family peace and running the organization. Career advancement for women may be more difficult in the private

sector than in the public one because the regulations and legal norms are not so persuasive or, sometimes,

official standards have been left behind. Even the banks, the insurance companies, and the market dealers

regard women and men differently in similar situations. Apparently, in many countries (except in Nordic ones),

companies confuse work efficiency with long stays in the workplace, as they tend to disproportionately reward

Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 9 of 16 employees who stay at work for many extra hours. This occurs in parallel

with the non-paid work (housekeeping) mainly performed by women, which prevents them from extending the

working hours; cumulatively, this is aggravated by the frequent family or social division of roles and

responsibilities at home or in family. Some companies try to compensate for the male favor that underlies the

traditional workplace and working hours. Campbell Soup offers, for example, post-school classes and summer

programs for workers’ children; Google offers meal supplements and has included equipment such as laundry

facilities in the surroundings of its facilities so that workers can take care of certain domestic routines during

working hours; Sony Ericsson and Evernote provide cleaning services at workers’ homes; American Express

covers the costs of shipping a maternity bed for mothers who have to travel while breastfeeding. However,

companies that make women a priority by taking their needs into account are exceptions. The Apple

headquarters, built in 2017, was considered the best office space in the world with a medical and dental clinic

and a luxurious SPA; however, there was no nursery within their facilities. Even greater difficulties are faced by

women in rural areas. According to CopaCogeca “women are at a further disadvantage when it comes to

equality between their urban counterparts. Although women farmers and women working in rural areas face

similar constraints to women in urban areas, they are also confronted with other difficulties due to their

specificities” like the high volume of non-paid work and legal rights. This organization considers that “some
European women do not have access to legal recognition of their part-time or full-time work on a farm. In some

countries, family members working on farms do not have social protection or legal recognition and are therefore

not covered for maternity leave or against accidents in the workplace, to name a few examples”.

• The implementation of a quota system: Quota systems aim at ensuring that women constitute a certain number

or percentage of the members of a body, of a public institution, or of a government (e.g., political affairs or top

positions in public organizations) beyond their quality as professionals and their competencies. Quotas are not

just about access to decision-making places, they are also to strive for the quality of the decisions taken, to

recognize that women make different contributions from men, and that joint decision-making processes are

necessarily more comprehensive and therefore more inclusive. However, the best argument in support for

quotas is that a gender balance in management and leadership jobs will change the models of governance

towards diversity, complementarity, and cooperation in the end creating positive feedback on women’s

empowerment and favoring societal changes. Chen states that “The core idea behind the gender quota systems

is to recruit women into political positions and to ensure that women are not isolated. The incorporation of

women’s concerns in decision-making would, thereby, improve the nature of the public sphere. In addition,

women’s representation can also have an indirect influence by increasing men’s attention to policies concerning

women. How can the quota system be addressed to contribute to social sustainability? According to Correia,

female quotas are important for boosting parity but should be seen as a temporary measure; they provide an

artificial ‘input’ for change and can be used to create a minimum level of equality, leaving behind the

meritocracy. Like this, quotas could be counterproductive, contributing to establishing “political” choices for a

professional position. Referencing issue there is no consensus about quotas, but the workshop attendants agreed

that quotas should be considered as a starting point for women’s empowerment and, thus, for social

sustainability. A balanced view about the quota system should support and push for women’s presence in top

positions having, at the same time, the objective evaluation of skills and competencies as a basic condition to

ascend in professional career (for both men and women). Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 10 of 16 From an ethic

point of view, we need to ask: what kind of world do we want, or dream of? Gender issues should not be

addressed by just counting women in a job. This is a weak response towards the objectives of RRI, where social
actors need to be particularly responsive and reflexive. 4. Women in Academia and the RRI Principles The

attendants to the workshop agreed that women in academia, and its relationship with RRI, deserve particular

attention in the frame of this article. Female researchers are challenged in every aspect of their scientific career

by biases and barriers. Regarding the research footprint, women publish less articles than men, and articles with

women in first, last, and corresponding authorship positions are less quoted than those with men in these

positions. As for funding sources, a study performed in the Netherlands found that women are less successful

than men when applying for public research funding. Regarding employment, women have been found to rate

lower than men when applying with an identical curriculum vitae (CV) for a job position, and to be less

employed in laboratories led by high-achieving male researchers. This evidence led to the conclusion that

gender discrimination in science is a deep-rooted and self-perpetuating issue. Several sources have pointed out

the worrying global gender gap in academia by which women are severely under-represented in this sector.

According to the European University Institute, in some countries, women in the academic professions are

equal or higher in number to men Portugal is one such case. However, other countries are far from reaching this

goal. Japan’s Fourth Basic Plan for Gender Equality states the importance of promoting an environment in

which female researchers can perform their job in the best possible conditions. The plan, released in 2015, also

encourages women’s involvement in research, while acknowledging that their participation has been inadequate

thus far. A recent report on gender in the research landscape published in 2020 shows that disparities in Japan

still exist: only 15.2% of researchers were women in the 2014–2018 period, proving that more effort is needed

to address issues that cut across diversity as well as inclusion. Concerning the positions occupied by female

academics, it may be observed that women are usually concentrated in the lowest positions of the academic

career ladder. This is a recurrent and cross-country pattern, in the higher positions of the academic ladder,

women fail to be well represented even among those specialties considered more appropriated to women, like

humanities. This phenomenon is known as the “glass ceiling” for women: an invisible obstacle that prevents

women from advancing to leadership positions. In agreement, attendants to the workshop confirmed that in their

institutions there is a notable under-representation of women in managing and leadership positions. Universities

can, nevertheless, provide a good example of gender-neutral policies that ultimately lead to discrimination
against women. University professors in the so-called tenureregime have seven years after their doctorate to

reach a place on the board, otherwise they are dismissed. In general, this system stimulates creativity and

promotes a challenging environment in which discovery and scholarship flourish. Universities without a

TENURE system tend to become a corporation formed by part-time and contingent employees who can be hired

or fired at the will of the full-time corporate administrators. However, this system harms women who want to

have children because the period between the completion of the doctorate and entry into the framework

corresponds to the years of greater fertility for women. The fact that the training period in academia is longer

than most professions and it is performed in a highly competitive environment, leads to an overlapping of the

professional stabilization stage and the fertile period of women. In Europe, the TENURE system corresponds to

a permanent position, which implies that academics have the guarantee of maintaining their job, dismissal only

being possible with a “just cause.” However, job stabilization varies among countries. This creates a protective

environment for academics who are mothers, but many of them would have fallen by the wayside somewhere

else. On the other hand, in many US universities, Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 11 of 16 this TENURE system

is highly criticized since it creates a pseudo-market environment within public universities [38] and also

because the new members look for more flexible schedules. The TENURE system, for all its faults, must be

promoted and made more flexible to level the playing field and suit the modern realities of both male and

female academics’ lives. In the end, the system must adapt itself to the university conditions and to the demands

of society, integrating the stimulus and the critical positions from its direct users, paying special attention to

women’s particularities. Here, we return to the RRI policies and its importance for social sustainability as an

ambitious challenge driven by the demands of the general public and built on the engagement of all societal

actors (where women are an important part) during the whole process. Having children requires that someone in

the couple makes the family a priority over her or his job, and that person usually is the woman in heterosexual

couples. Mason et al. Analysed data collected from 10 years in the US, and they found that the partners of

female researchers most frequently had full-time jobs, whereas only around 50% of male researchers had

partners that worked full time. They also found that women with young children have 35% less probabilities of

getting a permanent job in academia compared to men in the same situation, and 33% less than women without
children. However, women without children have the same probability of getting a permanent job than men

without children. Similarly, Czech and Blair–Loy published a research study performed with 4000 researchers

conducted over 8 years in the US that showed that almost 50% of women drop out of academia after having

their first child. Some men drop out of the academia as well: 16% of men and 23% of fathers drop out, which is

a similar number to woman without children leaving academia (24%). All this scientific evidence highlights that

there is a reproductive cost, and that this cost falls mainly on women. Universities have done little to overcome

this problem and those that did something did it in a neutral way, giving another year to anyone who had

children in that period. This measure exacerbates the problem because it equally protects mothers and fathers,

even though there is evidence that supports that the consequences taken on by having children for women and

men are not comparable. Regarding maternity in academia, there are certain tasks exclusively related to women

such as pregnancy, giving birth, breast feeding, and most early childcare, which requires huge amounts of time

and energy. All this leads to mothers in academia having some years of lower scientific productivity around

their 30s–40s. It should not be a big issue that in 40 years of scientific career a mother would have low

productivity for 3 or 4 years. However, the issue here is that, often, mothers do not get to have these long

careers because scientists have to face constant evaluations, especially during the fertility period of women, and

if they are not sufficiently competitive, they will not be able to keep their positions. Thus, when a female

researcher decides she wants to become a mother, she will probably have to do it during the most competitive,

but also most vulnerable, time of her scientific career. The cost of being a mother in academia is assumed

during a limited period, but it has catastrophic consequences in the career of many women because it happens in

the early career phase. Certainly, similar breaks happening during mid-career stages would be more harmless.

Dropping out during this critical period entails that coming back into academia (if possible), they would have to

start all over again, losing any upward mobility achieved during the pre-maternity leave. Thus, 3–4 years

maternity leave could set them back 5–10 years in career years in comparison with their male counterparts, who

would be able to continue their upward trajectory, leading to a damaging disconnection between women’s age

and career stage. On the top of that, funding proposals never take into consideration the CV gap due to

motherhood, which again puts women in a disadvantaged situation compared with men. According to the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “Women are disproportionately affected

by these conditions (family conditions) and many “drop out” during the transition from early to mid-career.

Ultimately the quality of science is being imperiled by a “publish or perish” culture, in which risk aversion

hinders novel research, and research integrity and rigour Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 12 of 16 are of

diminishing importance in the face of excessive competition. This organization also highlighted several

measures as a potential driving force of change: “Recruitment processes should promote diversity in the

research workforce and offer clear and equal opportunities for women and under-represented groups.

Institutions need to address “academic inbreeding” and promote diversity through targeted policies that address

the barriers faced by under-represented groups in research. Progress should be monitored by publishing research

workforce data disaggregated by specific population groups of interest. Less recognition and respect from not

just funding agencies, but also colleagues and students, is another barrier to female academics. Hence, they

must work harder to get the same results as their male counterparts. In historically male-dominated

environments such as science, researchers are likely to value men’s contributions while discounting women’s

opinions regardless of actual expertise. Research points out that individuals considered as experts by other team

members, regardless of their actual expertise, have a prevalent role in decision making, more opportunities to

perform, and are more likely to be treated as informal leaders in teams. The social role theory is particularly

useful for understanding the effects of gender on expertise recognition. According to this theory, culturally

shared ideas regarding the suitable roles and skills ascribed to men and women in society have important effects

in the workplace. Women occupying roles or displaying skills culturally ascribed to men tend to be undervalued

and discounted by their work colleagues. From an early stage of the education system, there is a tangible social

pressure to guide the job choices for women. It is widely extended in society that female characteristics are not

in accordance with some of the professional exigencies related to objectivity or the intellectual capacity for

mathematics or computing. This fact is frequently seen in science and in science management: even though

women are well represented and evaluated until the medium stage of their careers, this changes drastically when

arriving to leadership positions not because of a lack in skills, but because there are interruptions in the

professional trajectory, due to motherhood, home, child or elderly care, or other related needs. The male partner
seldom equally assumes these kinds of duties due to a general lack of commitment of men with domestic affairs

and parenting. This differential gender-based investment between family and professional life is assumed not

only by men, but by most social actors. On the top of that, there is a lack of female role models regarding

leading science management. Women in top positions are frequently subjected to a colleague’s supervision and

are expected to make mistakes or even abandon the job position. This phenomenon is related to the

aforementioned male culture, where women are fighting to be equal to men instead of being valued for their

own individual characteristics and skills, which would prevent subordination relationships. As a result of all

these facts and cultural scourge, and even in countries deemed as open-minded cultures and offering equal

opportunities to researchers regardless their gender, e.g., Finland, the OECD points out that “Lengthy mobility

periods for women, especially early career researchers, are often ruled out, not because women are not

interested in them but due to family commitments; and women are underrepresented in tenure track positions,

particularly when recruitment is based on invitations. Reflections about Gender and Equality Structural stigma

rooted in patriarchy is tied to social identities based on gender and has historically and contemporaneously

marginalized women from society, with an impact in its sustainability and equilibrium. This ideology permeates

everyday life through the institutions, policies, and systems that perpetuate it, and can either be assumed or

rejected by the communities subjected to exclusion. Gender-based structural stigma leads to social hierarchies

based on differences in terms of sex, which are reflected in culturally ascribed stereotypes. These dominant

cultural norms translate to women facing a different reality to that perceived by men, as they are generally

subjected to different experiences Sustainability 2021, 13, 12754 13 of 16 and constraints. This phenomenon

leads to gender role attitudes, which translate into gender differences in society in terms of specific

characteristics related to femininity and masculinity. As an example, there is evidence that women show higher

levels of social sensitivity, and teams with a high feminine proportion increase the collective intelligence in

scientific teamwork and cooperation in natural resource conservation. The negative consequence of this

differential of gender-based characteristics is that features associated to women are frequently undervalued in

society. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that men and women are equal. Using a metaphor of a plant, the root

and shoot perform different roles, but they complement each other for the plant unity. Similarly, in human
societies, men and women present differences, but it is important to protect diversity, which will support social

sustainability. However, this is different from accepting subalternation of women by men. To avoid gender-

related issues that undermine women’s professional success, particular measures that are specific for women

need to be applied. The challenge is to create a fair, equal, and balanced environment that allows women to

develop a successful career despite cultural and social constraints and biases. To achieve this goal and

contribute to social sustainability, a comprehensive set of bold actions needs to be implemented:

1. Evaluation of careers shall be done based only on competences, putting in blind anything connected to

gender.

2. A package of measures to raise awareness in panels of evaluators, so that children or pregnancy are

considered as a positive asset for career prospective.

3. Health and family care shall be a positive valuable issue in curriculum vitae, as well as volunteer work or

other citizenship issues.

4. Recruiting programs specifically for women that promote labor reinsertion following total or partial

disengagement from work due to maternity should be available. A robust example in academia at EU level is

the Career Restart (CAR) Panel—Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action.

5. A package of measures to promote family reconciliation: avoid working during evenings whenever possible,

promote schedule flexibility, promote the possibility of a reduction of working hours, “controlled use” of

teleworking, promote online meetings and conferences, and many other possibilities.

6. Deployment of some potential game changer measures, such as prioritizing the job stabilization of women vs.

men, or initiatives such as successful women acting as role models and ambassadors for the coming generations

of working women (see, e.g., the list of 100 influential and inspiring women from around the world, selected by

the BBC).

7. To promote work on goal-driven basis instead of strict timetables to provide a much more flexible

environment that would allow for fairer women/men competition”.

Review of Literature H. Subrahmanyam (2011) compares women education in India at present and Past. Author

highlighted that there has a good progress in overall enrolment of girl students in schools. The term empower
means to give lawful power or authority to act. It is the process of acquiring some activities of women. M.

Bhavani Sankara Rao (2011) has highlighted that health of women members of SHG have certainly taken a turn

to better. It clearly shows that heath of women members discuss among themselves about health related

problems of other members and their children and make them aware of various Government provisions

specially meant for them. Doepke M. Tertilt M. (2011) Does Female Empowerment Promote Economic

Development? This study is an empirical analysis suggesting that money in the hands of mothers benefits

children. This study developed a series of non cooperative family bargaining models to understand what kind of

frictions can give rise to the observed empirical relationship. A Study on Issues and Challenges of Women

Empowerment in India DOI: 10.9790/487X-17411319 www.iosrjournals.org 14 | Page Duflo E. (2011)

Women’s Empowerment and Economic Development, National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge The

study argues that the inter relationships of the Empowerment and Development are probably too weak to be self

sustaining and that continuous policy commitment to equally for its own sake may be needed to bring about

equality between men and women. Sethuraman K. (2008) The Role of Women’s Empowerment and Domestic

Violence in child Growth and Under nutrition in a Tribal and Rural Community in South India. This research

paper explores the relationship between Women’s Empowerment and Domestic Violence, maternal nutritional

status and the nutritional status and growth over six months in children aged 6 to 24 months in a rural and tribal

community. This longitudinal observational study undertaken in rural Karnataka. India included tribal and rural

subjects. Venkata Ravi and Venkatraman (2005) focused on the effects of SHG on women participation and

exercising control over decision making both in family matters and in group activities.

Government Schemes For Women Empowerment The Government programmes for women development began

as early as 1954 in India but the actual participation began only in 1974. At present, the Government of India

has over 34 schemes for women operated by different department and ministries. Some of these are as follows;

1. Rastria Mahila Kosh (RMK) 1992-1993.

2. Mahila Samridhi Yojana (MSY) October,1993.

3. Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY) 1995.

4. Women Entrepreneur Development programme given top priority in 1997-98.

5. Mahila Samakhya being implemented in about 9000 villages.

6. Swayasjdha.

7. Swa Shakti Group.

8. Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women(STEP).

9. Swalamban.

10. Crèches/ Day care centre for the children of working and ailing mother.

11. Hostels for working women.

12. Swadhar.

13. National Mission for Empowerment of Women.

14. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) (1975).

15. Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescence Girls (RGSEAG) (2010).

16. The Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers.

17. Integrated Child Protection scheme (ICPS) (2009-2010).

18. Dhanalakahmi (2008).

19. Short Stay Homes.

20. Ujjawala (2007).

21. Scheme for Gender Budgeting (XI Plan).

22. Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). 23. Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment

(TRYSEM).

24. Prime Minister’s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY).

25. Women’s Development Corporation Scheme (WDCS).

26. Working Women’s Forum.

27. Indira Mahila Kendra.

28. Mahila Samiti Yojana.

29. Khadi and Village Industries Commission.

30. Indira Priyadarahini Yojana.

31. SBI’s Sree Shaki Scheme.

32. SIDBI’s Mahila Udyam Nidhi Mahila Vikas Nidhi. 33. NGO’s Credit Schemes.

34. National Banks for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Schemes The efforts of government and its

different agencies are ably supplemented by nongovernmental organizations that are playing an equally

important role in facilitating women empowerment. Despite concerted efforts of governments and NGOs there

are certain gaps. Of course we have come a long way in empowering women yet the future journey is difficult

and demanding.

Reasons For The Empowerment of Women Today we have noticed different Acts and Schemes of the central

Government as well as state Government to empower the women of India. But in India women are

discriminated and marginalized at every level of the society whether it is social participation, political

participation, economic participation, access to education, and also reproductive healthcare. Women are found

to be economically very poor all over the India. A few women are engaged in services and other activities. So,

they need economic power to stand on their own legs on per with men. Other hand, it has been observed that

women are found to be less literate than men. According to 2001 census, rate of literacy among men in India is

found to be 76% whereas it is only 54% among women. Thus, increasing education among women is of very

important in empowering them. It has also noticed that some of women are too weak to work. They consume

less food but work more. Therefore, from the health point of view, women folk who are to be weaker are to be

made stronger. Another problem is that workplace harassment of women. There are so many cases of rape,

kidnapping of girl, dowry harassment, and so on. For these reasons, they require empowerment of all kinds in

order to protect themselves and to secure their purity and dignity. To sum up, women empowerment can not be

possible unless women come with and help to self-empower themselves. There is a need to formulate reducing

feminized poverty, promoting education of women, and prevention and elimination of violence against women.

XI. Challenges There are several constraints that check the process of women empowerment in India. Social

norms and family structure in developing countries like India, manifests and perpetuate the subordinate status of

women. One of the norms is the continuing preference for a son over the birth of a girl child which in present in

almost all societies and communities. The society is more biased in favor of male child in respect of education,
nutrition and other opportunities. The root cause of this type of attitude lies in the belief that male child inherits

the clan in India with an exception of Meghalaya. Women often internalize the traditional concept of their role

as natural thus inflicting an injustice upon them. Poverty is the reality of life for the vast majority women in

India. It is the another factor that poses challenge in realizing women’s empowerment. There are several

challenges that are plaguing the issues of women’s right in India. Targeting these issues will directly benefit the

empowerment of women in India Education: While the country has grown from leaps and bounds since

independence where education is concerned. the gap between women and men is severe. While 82.14% of adult

men are educated, only 65.46% of adult women are known to be literate in India. The gender bias is in higher

education, specialized professional trainings which hit women very hard in employment and attaining top

leadership in any field. Poverty: Poverty is considered the greatest threat to peace in the world, and eradication

of poverty should be a national goal as important as the eradication of illiteracy. Due to this, women are

exploited as domestic helps. Health and Safety: The health and safety concerns of women are paramount for the

wellbeing of a country and is an important factor in gauging the empowerment of women in a country. However

there are alarming concerns where maternal healthcare is concerned. A Study on Issues and Challenges of

Women Empowerment in India DOI: 10.9790/487X-17411319 www.iosrjournals.org 18 | Page Professional

Inequality: This inequality is practiced in employment sand promotions. Women face countless handicaps in

male customized and dominated environs in Government Offices and Private enterprises. Morality and

Inequality: Due to gender bias in health and nutrition there is unusually high morality rate in women reducing

their population further especially in Asia, Africa and china. Household Inequality: Household relations show

gender bias in infinitesimally small but significant manners all across the globe, more so, in India e.g. sharing

burden of housework, childcare and menial works by so called division of work. XII. Constitutional Provisions

For Empowering Women In India Equality before law for all persons (Article-14). Prohibition of discrimination

on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15(I)). However, special provisions may be

made by the state in favors of women and children Article 15(3). Equality of opportunity for all citizens relating

to employment or appointment to any office under the state (Article 16). State policy to be directed to securing

for men and women equally the right to an adequate means of livelihood (Article 39(a); (v) equal pay for equal
work for both men and women (Article 39(d). Provisions to be made by the state for securing just and humane

conditions of work and maternity relief (Article 42). Promotion of harmony by every citizen of India and

renouncement of such practices which are derogatory to the dignity of women Article 51A(e). Reservation of

not less than one-third of total seats for women in direct election to local bodies, viz; Panchayats and

Municipalities (Articles 343(d) and 343 (T).

A number of studies have been undertaken on women empowerment at the global level and in India. Some

studies dealt on methodological issues, some on empirical analysis and some others on the measures and tools

of empowerment. We have presented in this section first some of the important studies which were undertaken

at the international level followed by other studies conducted in India. Moser (1993) focused on the

interrelationship between gender and development, the formulation of gender policy and the implementation of

gender planning and practices. The work of Shields (1995) provided an exploratory framework to understand

and develop the concept of empowerment both from a theoretical and practical perspective with a particular

focus on women’s perception of the meaning of empowerment in their lives. Anand and Sen (1995) tried to

develop a measure of gender inequality. Pillarisetti and Gillivray (1998) mainly emphasized on the

methodology of construction, composition and determinant of GEM. Bardhan and Klasen (1999) critically

examined GDI and GEM as two gender-related indicators of UNDP and argued that there are serious conceptual

and empirical problems with both the measures and suggested some modifications to the measures including a

revision of the earned income component of the GDI. Accordingly, based on their suggestions UNDP modified

the procedure for calculating the GDI since 1999 without mentioning that it was different from previous year’s

procedure (Bardhan and Klasen, 2000). Similarly Dijkstra and Hanmer (2000) assessed the concept of GDI and

pointed out how it suffered from several limitations. According to them GDI conflates relative gender equality

with absolute levels of human development and thus gives no information on comparative gender inequality

among countries. Using GDI they further constructed a Relative Status of Women (RSW) index and admitted

that RSW is also not an ideal measure of gender inequality. The paper was concluded by offering 6 a conceptual

framework that provides the basis for an alternative measure of gender inequality. Dijkstra (2002) while
providing a critical review of both the measures indentified the strengths and weaknesses of these and suggested

a new measure called Standardized Index of Gender Equality (SIGE) which attempts to encompass all possible

dimensions of gender equality and avoids the conceptual and methodological problems of GDI and GEM. He

further claimed that SIGE can serve as a first approximation of such an overall index. Malhotra et al (2002) in

their paper highlighted methodological issues of measurement and analysis of women empowerment. Dijkstra

in 2006 argued that UNDP should take the lead in either constructing a new index for measuring gender

equality or elaborating a revised GDI and GEM. He made a detailed recommendation for both the possibilities

on the basis of a brief review of alternatives presented in the literature. Klasen (2006) suggested some

modifications to the measures that addressed some of the identified problems associated with GDI and GEM.

Schüler (2006) reviewed how the two indexes were used in academia and the press. His review revealed that the

GDI in particular seems to be a measure that was not used appropriately. In most cases of misuse, the GDI was

wrongly interpreted as a measure of gender inequality. Beteta (2006) in his paper argued that the GEM is an

incomplete and biased index on women’s empowerment and measures inequality among the most educated and

economically advantaged and fails to include important non-economic dimensions of decision-making power

both at the household level and over women’s own bodies and sexuality. After identifying and assessing

potential indicators in those spheres which were absent in the GEM suggested for the construction of a new

aggregated measure called Gender Empowerment Enabling Environment (GEEE). Barkat (2008) while

discussing the present status of women in Bangladesh opined that although women as mothers are held in high

respect at the individual level, there was an unclear understanding of empowerment of women as a process of

awareness and capacity building leading to greater participation in decision making and control over her own

life. 7 Klasen and Schüler (2009) extended their previous works by way of suggesting concrete proposals for the

two gender-related indicators and by presenting illustrative results for those proposed measures. The most

important proposals included the calculation of a male and female HDI, as well as a gender gap index (GGI) to

replace the GDI. Regarding the GEM, the most important changes proposed were different ways to deal with

the earned income component and also to replace it with a more straight-forward procedure to calculate the

measure. Using his proposed methods he found different ranking of countries compared to that of GDI and
GEM. The work of Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2001) is an important contribution on women empowerment in

the context of India. The authors used a policy of political reservation for women in India to study the impact of

women’s leadership on policy decision. They found that women were more likely to participate in policy

making process if the leader of the village community was happened to be women. Mahanta (2002) sought to

explain the question of women’s access to or deprivation of basic human rights as the right to health, education

and work, legal rights, rights of working women’s, besides issues like domestic violence, all the while keeping

the peculiar socio-cultural situation of the North East in mind. A workshop organized in 2003 by the Institute of

Social Sciences and South Asia Partnership, Canada addressed the issues like “Proxy Women” who after being

elected to Panchayat bodies were merely puppets in the hands of their husbands, relatives and other male

Panchayat members; and emphasized on training programme for their capacity building. Assam Human

Development Report (Govt. of Assam, 2003) threw some light on inequality in the achievement between men

and women of Assam in different spheres of life. The report viewed that poverty, violence and lack of political

participation were the main issues of concern for South Asian Women, and Assam was no exception. The study

of Kishor and Gupta (2004) revealed that average women in India were disempowered relative to men, and

there had been little change in her empowerment over time. Parashar (2004) examined how mother’s

empowerment in India is linked with child nutrition and immunization and suggested women to be empowered

simultaneously along several different dimensions if they and their children were to benefit across the 8 whole

spectrum of their health and survival needs. Sridevi (2005) in her paper provided a scientific method to measure

empowerment. Study of Cote de Ivoire revealed that increased female share in household income leads to

increased spending on human development enhancing items (as quoted by Ranis and Stewart, 2005). Blumberg

(2005) viewed that economic empowerment of women was the key to gender equality and well being of a

nation. This would not only enhance women’s capacity of decision making but also lead to reduction in

corruption, armed conflict and violence against females in the long run. Karat (2005) in her works discussed the

issues of violence against women, their survival, political participation and emancipation. Panda and Agarwal

(2005) focused on the factor like women’s property status in the context of her risk of marital violence and

opined that if development means expansion of human capabilities, then freedom from domestic violence
should be an integral part of any exercise for evaluating developmental progress. Desai and Thakkar (2007) in

their work discussed women’s political participation, legal rights and education as tools for their empowerment.

Deepa Narayan (2007) made an attempt to measure women empowerment for different countries and regions by

using self assessed points on a ten steps ladder of power and rights, where at the bottom of the ladder stood

people who were completely powerless and without rights and on the top stood those who had a lot of power

and rights. Figueras (2008) in her work studied the effect of female political representation in State legislature

on public goods, policy and expenditure in the context of India and opined that politician’s gender and social

position matters for policy. Shariff (2009) suggested a specific measure for gender empowerment for India

keeping in view culture specific conditions prevalent in the country. The dimensions and factors used in his

paper are very different from those identified by the Government of India (G.O.I., 2009) which is aligned with

the UNDP concept but weak data support of suspicious quality. He identified six dimensions for which

dependable data are available from sample surveys and government records. The dimensions are literacy, work

participation rate, decision making power (women’s capacity of making purchases for daily household needs

and participation in decision 9 making for own health care), ownership of resources (immovable assets and

bank accounts), reproduction and care (capacity to choose a modern contraceptive method and to ensure her

own children completed with all essential dozes of immunizations) and political participation (exercising

franchise in parliamentary election and participation in panchayat councils). Using these dimensions he

constructed GEI for major Indian states and found overall GEI to be 0.424 at the all India level and varying

from the lowest value of 0.238 in Uttar Pradesh to the highest value of 0.646 in Kerala. Mishra and Nayak

(2010) in their work emphasized how education plays a central role in human development; as a matter of fact

the other two components– health and income - are dependent on educational development. Education permits a

person to inherit the wealth of knowledge amassed over generations. It also makes a person more acceptable

and productive. Education increases the chances of fitness and employability. Additionally, education leads to

fulfillment. Economists have found that a larger share of increase in productivity is attributable to education of

the people. Skill formation, which has quite limited scope to inculcate among the illiterate, is a necessary

condition to foster growth. Therefore, literacy and some extent of educational proficiency are of fundamental
importance for skill formation. In particular, literacy among the females is of great importance, not only for

participation in productive and civic activities, but also for rearing children for a better future. Thus, from the

above review of literature it is evident that quite a number of studies have already been undertaken on women

empowerment and related issues. Entire gamut of literature has centered mainly around conceptual and

measurement issues and the constraints to women empowerment. The present study in this respect analyzes the

status of women empowerment in India by taking into consideration various dimensions of it such as women’s

household decision making power, financial autonomy, freedom of movement, political participation,

acceptance of unequal gender role, exposure to media, access to education, experience of domestic violence, etc

based on data from different sources. 10 The Case of India As far as India is concerned, the principle of gender

equality is enshrined in the Constitution and finds a place in the Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental

Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only grants equality to women but also empowers the

States to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. Historically the status of Indian women

has been influenced by their past. There is evidence to show that women in the Vedic age got most honored

positions in the society (Seth, 2001). They had the right to education and were free to remain unmarried and

devote their whole life to the pursuit of knowledge and self realization. The married women performed all the

works and sacrifices equally with their husbands. They were educated in various disciplines of knowledge such

as astrology, geography, veterinary sciences and even in martial arts. There were instances of women taking

part in wars and fights. They were highly respected within and outside home. Gradually due to several socio-

political changes, especially during the middle age, the glorious status of women declined. The urge for equality

on the part of Indian women started getting momentum during the colonial times. Noted social reformers and

national leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Annie Besant, Sorojini Naidu and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

made selfless efforts to create awareness among women about their status and were quite successful in

removing various social evils such as sati pratha, child marriage, and polygamy. They also encouraged widow

remarriage and women education. The reformers were successful in creating a base for development of women

and theirs strive for equality. In course of time Indian society got transformed from traditional to a modern one.

Consequently women became more liberal and aware of various ways of life. Since they are quite capable of
breaking the traditional barriers imposed by the society are now challenging the patriarchal system though in a

limited scale. Since independence, the Government of India has been making various efforts to empower

women. In various plan periods, the issues regarding women empowerment has been given priority. From fifth

five year plan onwards there has been a remarkable shift from welfare oriented approach of women

empowerment to development approach. The National Commission for women was set up by an Act of 11

Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights’ of women. The 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of

India provided opportunity to women to take part in active politics. The year 2001 was declared as the year of

women’s empowerment for enhancing their status. To achieve the goal, the government introduced different

programmes, identified strategies, established different institutions and made various legal provisions. In spite

of all these efforts and actions, women in India still lag behind the men. According to 2001 Census, female

literacy rate in the country was 54.2 per cent as against 75.9 per cent in case of males (Table 6: G.O.I., 2001).

Although literacy rates for both the sexes were witnessing increasing trend over the years from 1951 to 2001 the

gap between them were also simultaneously increasing till 1981 and since then it has started declining but the

progress has not been as much as was expected. The situation has been much worse in the rural and remote

areas of the country. In spite of women going for higher education they are facing exclusion from their male

counterparts and are alienated in various positions in governance. The incidence like early marriage, female

feticides and infanticide, dowry, bride burning, rape, molestation, kidnapping etc are very frequent. The record

of crime against women indicates an increasing trend (Sharma and Gupta, 2004: 122). The position of women

in the country in the social, economic and political fields is by no means equal to that of their male counterparts.

Besides low female literacy, there are many other factors that have contributed to gender biasness. Girl child is

still given less priority in certain parts of India. Past studies indicate that it is the people’s perception in general

that the birth of a girl child is less desirable and evokes less happiness than that of a boy child (Seth, 2001). It is

ingrained in the Indian psyche, cutting across religion, caste and region. Since her birth she is victimized in all

spheres including education, employment, nutrition and social status. The World Economic Forum (2005), in its

first gender gap study placed India at 53rd position among 58 nations, which shows a significant gap in male

and female achievements. In the same study, the rank of India in terms of political empowerment was 24th at
both primary and grassroots level. The National Population Policy 2000 12 specifically identified the low status

of women in India as an important barrier to the achievement of goals towards maternal and child welfare

(G.O.I., 2000). UNDP in its various Human Development Reports since 1990 have placed India at a very low

level of development regarding the position of women in terms of various indicators such as adult literacy, gross

enrolment, share of seats in parliament and the professional and technical positions held by them (as shown in

Box – 1). Though data are not provided for GEM indicator after 1995, GDI values reveals that women are

consistently lagging behind. India has been placed in the 113th rank with a GDI value of 0.600 as against a rank

of 89 with GDI value of 0.753 in case of a small neighboring country like Sri Lanka (UNDP, 2007-08). The

rank of India has also gone down from 99 in 1995 to 113 in 2007-08 and has been fluctuating from year to year.

National Human Development Report (G.O.I, 2002) brought out information on indices on GDI and GEM. GDI

showed marginal improvement during the eighties. GEI increased from 62 per cent in the early eighties to 67.6

per cent in the early 13 nineties. This implies that on an average the attainments of women on human

development indicators were only two-thirds of those of men. At the State level, gender equality was the highest

for Kerala followed by Manipur, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland in the eighties. Goa and the

Union Territories, except for Delhi, had gender equality higher than the national level. In the nineties, Himachal

Pradesh had the highest equality, whereas Bihar was at the bottom and witnessed a decline in absolute terms

over the earlier period. In general, women were better off in the Southern India than in the Indo-Gangetic plains

comprising mainly the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. States like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the

south and Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir in the north made considerable progress in improving the status of

women vis-à-vis men on the human development indicators. States that did well in improving their female

literacy levels are also the ones that substantially improved their gender equality. On the whole, gender

disparities across the States declined over the period. NFHS-III (G.O.I., 2005-06) collected information on large

number of indicators of women empowerment such as relative earnings of wives over their husbands’ control

over the use of these earnings, participation in household decision making, freedom of movement, gender role

attitude, freedom from domestic violence, etc. Data on some of these indicators of women empowerment are

examined and findings are presented in the following paragraphs: Decision Making Power Decision making
power of women in households is one of the important indicators of women empowerment. It is found that only

37 per cent of currently married women participate in making decisions either alone or jointly with their

husband on their health care, large household purchases, purchases for daily household needs and on visiting

their family members and relatives. Forty three per cent participate in some but not all decisions and 21 per cent

do not participate in any of the decision. As high as in 32.4 per cent cases the decision regarding the purchase of

daily household needs is taken mainly by the respondents whereas the decisions like visit to her relatives are in

most cases taken alone by husbands or jointly. Decision like major household purchases is taken jointly in most

of the cases. A very less number 14 of women alone take this type of decision. About 27 per cent of total

respondents take their own health care decision alone. Women’s participation rate on household decision

making not only varies from rural to urban areas but also gets affected by their background characteristics like

age, educational status, husband’s education, employment status etc. Urban married women are observed to be

more empowered than that of the rural women. Empowerment of women increases with the increase in their

age. Women who are more educated and employed are relatively more empowered. About 46 per cent of total

women in the age group 40-49 years participate in all the four decisions compared to 15 per cent belonging to

the age group 15-19 years. With higher spousal educational status women’s participation in decision making

increases. About 21 per cent of women with no spousal education do not take part in any decision making at all

as compared to 17 per cent of women with spousal education of 12 years or more. Employment also provides an

advantage to women regarding their ability to decision making power. Employed women are more likely to

participate in all decision makings. In urban setting and in nuclear type of family, women have more autonomy

in household decision making. Freedom of Movement Free mobility of women is another indicator of women

empowerment. The data reveals that about half of women are allowed to go to the market or to the health

facility alone . Only 38 per cent are allowed to travel alone to places outside the village or community. While

not all women are allowed to go to these places alone, only a minority are not allowed to go at all. Compared to

urban women, rural women have less mobility. Women’s mobility is also affected by their background

characteristics like age, education, marital status, type of family etc. Reveals that freedom of movement

increases with age though it does not vary linearly with education. Seventy per cent of the women of the highest
education group are allowed to go alone to the market as against 49 per cent of women with no education.

Employment is associated with greater freedom of movement. Only one in five never married women go to all

of the three places compared with about one in three 15 currently married women and two in three formerly

married women. Nuclear residence and urban setting are also associated with greater freedom of movement.

Women of urban areas are freer than that of the rural women. Similarly as high as 37 per cent of women of

nucleus families are freer regarding their movement as compared to 29.5 per cent in case of the non-nucleus

families. Acceptance of Unequal Gender Role Women’s protest against unequal gender role in terms of their

attitude towards preferences for son, wife beating etc is another indicator of women empowerment. The data

presented in reveal that 54 per cent of women in India believe wife beating to be justified for any of the specific

reasons. Similarly 35 per cent women believe it to be justified if they neglect their house or children. However,

agreement with wife beating does not vary much by women’s age and household structure, but decline sharply

with education. It is to be noted that even among the most educated women, at least one in three agrees with one

or more justifications for wife beating. In rural areas women are generally more agreeable to wife beating than

in urban areas. Agreement is lower among never married women as compared to ever married women. Access

to Education Women’s access to education which is one of the important sources of empowerment can be

measured by gender gap in literacy rates and enrolment in different stages of school education. The literacy gap

between men and women was as high as 21.7 per cent in 2001. Though the gap was fluctuating from 18.3 per

cent in 1951 to 23.9 per cent in 1971, it has been showing a marginal declining trend since 1981. Shows

enrolment by stages from 1951 to 2001-02. It is clear that participation of girls at all stages of education has

been steadily increasing over time. However, the overall performance of participation has not been satisfactory

as it had been below 50 per cent at all stages of education. 16 Access to Employment shows the employment

and cash earnings of currently married men and women. National Family Health Survey data published by

Govt. of India reveal that only 43 per cent of married women in the age group of 15-49 years are employed as

against 99 per cent of married men in the same age group. It also reveals that gender inequality exist in the

arena of employment. As compared to 51 per cent married women employed for cash only, the corresponding

figure for that of the males is as high as 72.5 per cent. Similarly a very few males are employed for kind only
(3.4%) as compared to females engaged for kind (11.6%). Twenty four per cent women are not paid at all for

their work whereas this proportion is as low as 5 per cent for men. For women earning cash is not likely to be a

sufficient condition for financial empowerment. Employment and cash earnings are more likely to empower

women if women make decisions about their own earnings alone or jointly with their husband rather than their

husband alone and if these earnings are perceived by both wives and husbands to be significant relative to those

of the husbands. In this connection shows the extent of women’s control over earnings on the basis of

background characteristics like age, education, place of residence, household structure, etc. It is seen that

women’s control over cash earnings increases with age. In the age group 15 - 19 years only 17.7 per cent

women alone take decision about the use of their cash earnings as compared to 28.3 per cent in the age group

40-49 years. Similarly husband mainly takes such decision in case of 20 per cent women in the age group 15-19

years in comparison to 12.7 per cent in the age group 40-49 years. Influence of other person in making such

decision decreases with the increase in age of respondents. It varies from 18.6 per cent in the age group 15-19

years to as low as 0.4 per cent in 40-49 age groups. Place of residence also affects women’s control over their

cash earnings. Generally women in urban areas have more control over their earnings than that in rural areas.

About thirty three per cent take decision alone about the use of their own earnings in urban areas as compared to

21 per cent in rural areas 17 Education is one of the important factors that affects greatly in women’s control

over earnings. About 23 per cent women with no education have more control over their earnings whereas it is

28.6 per cent in case of women completed 12 or more years of education. Other persons’ influence on the

decision about the use of earnings reduces significantly with education. It is as high as 8.3 percent in the case of

respondent with no education as compared to 4.9 per cent respondent with secondary level education.

Household structure has an important role to play in affecting women’s financial empowerment. In non nuclear

family structure, influence of others is more in making such decision. In case of 6.4 per cent women in non

nuclear family, the decision about the use of their own cash earnings are taken by others as compared to 0.6 per

cent women in nuclear family. Exposure to Media Table 10 which presents data on women’s exposure to media

reveals that percentage of women not exposed to media is more than double that of men. About 71 per cent of

women are exposed to media as compared to 88 per cent in case of men. Twenty nine per cent of women do not
have access to media regularly. Since it is an important source of empowerment, greater proportion of women

without having access to media reflects the relatively disadvantageous position of women in relation to men

with regards to empowerment. Domestic Violence. Shows percentage of women who have experienced

different forms and combinations of physical and sexual violence according to selected background

characteristics. It is observed that extent of violence is not lessened by age. In the age group of 15-19 years,

22.5 per cent women experienced physical or sexual violence in India as compared to 39 per cent in the age

group 40-49 years. Both types of violence are higher for ever married women than for never married women.

Almost 40 per cent ever married women experienced physical or sexual violence as against 16.9 per cent never

married women. Extent of domestic violence is higher in rural areas as 18 compared to urban areas. About thirty

eight per cent women in rural area faced either physical or sexual violence as compared to about 29 percent

women in urban areas. Political Participation Women’s political participation is one of the important issues in

the context of empowerment. In conventional analysis it means activities related to electoral politics like voting,

campaigning, holding party office and contesting election. But in broader sense it encompasses all voluntary

actions intended to influence the making of public policies, the administration of public affairs and the choice of

political leaders at all levels of government. Political interventions by women of India today range from

movement for peace and good governance to protest against dowry, rape, domestic violence, food adulteration,

price rise etc. [Desai et al, 2007]. However in this section we discuss participation of women in formal politics

by analyzing the indicators like women voters and women elected members in the first twelve general elections

in India. Shows the voting percentage of men and women in the first twelve elections of independent India. In

the very first election the percentage of women voter was significantly low (37%). Many women were left out

as their names were not properly registered. The gender gap in voting though has been narrowing gradually

significant gap between male and female voters still exists. Elected Women Members Many factors are

responsible and decisive in the election of women candidates such as literacy, financial position, liberal family

background, support of other members of the family, strong personality etc. Since most of the women lack

access to these, few women get tickets and even fewer get elected from this handful of women candidates.

Shows the elected women Members in Lok Sabha. From the table it is clear that percentage of women members
to the total members has been consistently less than 10 per cent in each Lok Sabha starting from 1st to 12th one.

This shows poor participation of women in political field. 19 Thus it can be concluded with information

provided by NFHS - III and others that women of India are disempowered relative to men in respect of decision

making power, freedom of movement, education, employment, exposure to media, political participation etc

and face domestic violence to a considerable degree and occupy the subordinate status both at home and in the

society even in the 21st century. Constraints to Women Empowerment There are several constraints that check

the process of women empowerment in India. Social norms and family structures in developing countries like

India, manifests and perpetuate the subordinate status of women. One of such norms is the continuing

preference for a son over the birth of a girl child, which is present in almost all societies and communities. The

hold of this preference has strengthened rather than weakened and its most glaring evidence is in the falling sex

ratio (Seth, 2001). The society is more biased in favor of male child in respect of education, nutrition and other

opportunities. The root cause of this type of attitude lies in the belief that male child inherits the clan in India

with an exception in Meghalaya. Women often internalize the traditional concept of their role as natural, thus

inflicting an injustice upon them. Poverty is the reality of life for the vast majority of women in India. It is

another factor that poses challenge in realizing women’s empowerment. In a poor family, girls are the main

victims; they are malnourished and are denied the opportunity of better education and other facilities. But if

they are financially independent or they have greater control over the resources then they exhibit greater

autonomy both in the household and in public sphere and are no longer victims of poverty. Lack of awareness

about legal and constitutional provisions and failure in realizing it, is another factor that hinders the process of

empowerment. Most of the women are not aware of their legal rights. Even women who are aware lack the

courage to take the legal step. The legislation which affects women most is their situation in marriage and

inheritance. As far as the rights of inheritance are concerned, women generally do not try to inherit land left by

their parents if brothers are alive (Seth, 2001). The traditional belief that land should not go outside the

patriarchal 20 family operates. The provision of Act like

(1) Child Marriage Resistance Act, 1930,

(2) The Suppression of Immoral Trafficking of Women Act, 1987 and

(3) The Indecent Exposure of Women Act, have not led to the suppression of practice indicated in them. Of

these three, the first one is by and large successful in restraining child marriage. The legislation almost failed in

case of immoral trafficking and indecent exposure to women. There are numerous incidence of indecent

exposure of women in all forms of media with hardly any prosecution. Although the legal rights are in place to

create an enabling atmosphere these have not been very successful in realizing women’s empowerment.

Purpose and Objectives of the Research

Purpose -
There is a requirement to build an ecosystem to develop skills in India. There is no doubt that the ecosystem is
maturing and with the lead taken by the government the stakeholders are aligning with the ecosystem. There is a
need to create coordination and synergy between different stakeholders like the government, National Skill
Development Corporation, corporate houses, small enterprises and NGO’s.The need to skill the population of
India should be taken up as a mission and zeal by all stakeholders.The initiative to develop skills should be
aligned with the industry and job requirements. The skill building should be inclusive (including women) and
sustainable for livelihood and entrepreneurship as well.

Objective-
1) To study the impact of skill building on employment
2) To understand the effect of skill development and employment on women empowerment
3) To assess the contribution of small businesses of private sector in skill building and women Empowerment.
4) To know the need of Women Empowerment.
5) To assess the Awareness of Women Empowerment in India.

6) To analyze the Factors influencing the Economic Empowerment of Women.

7) To study the Government Schemes For Women Empowerment.

8) To identify the Hindrances in the Path of Women Empowerment.

9) To offer useful Suggestions in the light of Findings.

Findings of The Study

1) Globalization, Liberalization and other Socio - Economic forces have given some respite to a large

proportion of the population. However, there are still quite a few areas where women empowerment in India is

largely lacking.
2) There needs to be a sea – change in the mind set of the people in the country. Not just the women themselves,

but the men have to wake up to wake up to a world that is moving towards equality and equity. It is better that

this is embraced earlier than later for our own good.

3) There are several Government programmes and NGOs in the Country, there is still a wide gap that exists

between those under protection and those not.

4) Poverty and illiteracy add to these complications, The Empowerment of Women begins with a guarantee of

their health and safety.

5) Empowerment of Women could only be achieved if their economic and social status is improved. This could

be possible only by adopting definite social and economic policies with a view of total development of women

and to make them realize that they have the potential to be strong human beings.

6) In order to create a sustainable world, we must begin to Empower Women.

Suggestions

1) The first and foremost priority should be given to the education of women, which is the grassroots problem.

Hence, education for women has to be paid special attention.

2) Awareness programmes need to be organized for creating awareness among women especially belonging to

weaker sections about their rights.

3) Women should be allowed to work and should be provided enough safety and support to work. They should

be provided with proper wages and work at par with men so that their status can be elevated in the society.

4) Strict implementation of Programmes and Acts should be there to curb the mal-practices prevalent in the

society.

Conclusion

Thus, the attainment in the field of income / employment and in educational front, the scenario of women

empowerment seems to be comparatively poor. The need of the hour is to identify those loopholes or limitations which
are observing the realization of empowerment of women and this initiative must be started from the women folk

itself as well as more importantly policy initiative taken by the state and society. Let us take the oath that we want an

egalitarian society where everybody whether men or women get the equal opportunity to express and uplift one’s well

being and well being of the society as whole. Women’s empowerment is not a Northern concept women all over the

world, including countries in South, have been challenging and changing gender inequalities since the beginning of the

history. These A Study on Issues and Challenges of Women Empowerment in India struggles have also been supported

by many men who have been outraged at injustice against women. Women represent half the world’s population and

gender inequality exists in every nation on the planet. Until women are given the same opportunities that men are,

entire societies will be destined to perform below their true potentials. The greatest need of the hour is change of social

attitude to women. “When women move forward the family moves, the village moves and the nation moves”. It is

essential as their thought and their value systems lead the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a

good nation. 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. The Empowerment of Women has become one of the most

important concerns of 21st century not only at national level but also at the international level. Government initiatives

alone would not be sufficient to achieve this goal. Society must take initiative to create a climate in which there is no

gender discrimination and women have full opportunities of self decision making and participating in social, political and

economic life of the country with a sense of equality.