Women Empowerment for Socio-Economic Development

Dr. D. Mukhopadhyay
Overall socio-economic development of India is possible only when women are empowered to contribute substantially to the issues concerning growth and sustainability of Indian economy. Women empowerment is a process of creation of congenial environment for the fair sex where they can make  decisions on their  own for their personal cause as well for the cause of the society. The positions enjoyed by women during  Vedic Age deteriorated later and more specifically  women were made victims of  social taboos including child marriage and dowry system that eclipsed the confidence of self governance and establishing distinctiveness of women identity in the society. But western civilization recognises women with high degree of dignity as they were placed on high pedestal in ancient times when women used not only to assume household responsibilities but also  they were comfortable to attain high order to spiritual and intellectual standards in the society.
The Government of India adopted the national policy for empowerment of women on 20th March, 2001 with an aim to bring  about advancement and development of women so that they could  participate  in all sphere of  public activities and join  various  social and peoples forums for the cause of wellbeing of the society in general. From the Eighth Five Year Plan, emphasis was shifted from women’s development to women’s empowerment. But so far  everything including  passing of Women’s Reservation Bill 2010 is in pen and paper and true  women’s empowerment  is yet to take place in Indian society.
Indian women are facing problems with regard to  gender inequality, low mobility, illiteracy, female  infanticide, high family responsibility  and so on though women are  as talented as men . Economic progress of India is badly hindered because women are not allowed to contribute   to the cause of nation building in significant way. Swami Vivekananda once said, “There is no chance   for the welfare of the world unless  the conditions of women is improved. It is not possible  for a bird  to fly on only one wing.” Roughly half of the population of the country  consists of women. Though, of late, Government of India and State Governments  adopted various  schemes  in favour of welfare of women in order to create space  for woman development but the same is very insignificant. It is our responsibility  to educate women and make them capable  enough to establish themselves in the socio-economic map of the country. It is globally accepted  phenomenon, it can make a nation progress rapidly if women are given equal opportunity and wider access to education. It also appears  if the Government closes the labour force gender inequality and discrimination by half,  the country economy can grow over  $150 billion in next three to five years. In Indian society, a married women is expected to  take care of her in-laws at par with her own parents and play a vital role of an ideal daughter-in-law and supporting wife and simultaneously working  in firms for earning and supporting financially  to the family. But she is hardly relieved   of   the domestic obligations  of home making to certain extent even. Sometimes, a working woman faces many challenges in her work place also and faces difficulties to make balance between  work and family life. It is a general perception that working women cannot give proper justice to both work and  family simultaneously but today’s women are  capable enough to play  their roles efficiently both in family front and office and it is proved that women are never second to men in any count. It appears  that more women work in rural India than in cities but conditions of working women in rural India is worse if not worst. India ranks 139th  among 144 countries in the Economic Participation and Opportunities Index published in the Global Gender Report 2017. Women constitute  almost 50% of world’s population and 48% of India’s population. As far as social status of women is concerned, they are never treated  equal to men in all forums and platforms. One of the reasons is that Indian society is male dominated  and there is quite a significant degree of gender discrimination. It is the need of the hour to empower women in the society by improving  economic, social, political and legal strength of women. Besides, it is to ensure  bestowing equal rights  to women in order to make them confident and claim their rights. Through this process, women shall be able to have control over material and intellectual resources like knowledge, ideas and financial resources and equal participations in the decision making both at home front and place of work. The society should understand  that women are not just  childbearing instruments but equal partners of nation building and therefore, it must not discriminate women and stop any kind of violence against women. There is urgent need  to enforce constitutional  and legal provisions for safeguarding  rights of women in the society.
Indeed,  empowering woman on equal footing  against man  in Indian society is a herculean task but not a utopian scheme  and to bring about  any dynamic revolution in this regards is matter of time taking and time consuming. It is being recently noticed that  Indian women are  striving relentlessly  to find their place  in the society with the help of constitutional  mandates and various schemes  launched  by the Central  Government as well as State Governments and through their tireless efforts. It is also a point of satisfactory observation that the degree of involvement and participation of the fair sex  in socio-economic and political activities is increasing everyday.  To call a spade a spade, people from all walks of life need to change  their perception about women. It is worth mentioning that  a woman is manifestation of what our society can become if she is allowed to  utilize her full potential for deriving overall wellbeing  of the society. It may not sound exaggerated  when it is stated   that man and woman  both are created by God as Adam and Eve and they are entitled to equally share  rewards and responsibilities  in their families  in particular  and social, economic and political responsibilities  in the society in general.  In order to bring about  overall socio-economic advancement and progress in India, women empowerment  is the need of the hour. India is to increase  and improve  social, economic, political and legal strengths of women in order to ensure  establishment of gender equality and make them confident to establish their claims  and distinct identity in male-dominated Indian society.
Women are required to come forward to empower themselves  by being strong from heart and mind. They should gallantly  face social and family difficulties  which limit their  empowerment and progress. Presence of  poor performance   on the issues  concerning  women empowerment in India   is seen because of perpetuity  of  persistent existence of gender inequality. It has been observed that sex ratio in many parts of the country is persistently dropping  and currently  850 females per 1000 males  are in place.
According to the Global Human Development Report, 2013, India ranked 132nd among 148 countries  all over the world in terms of gender inequality. It may be asserted that both gender  equality  and women empowerment   constitute the pivotal force  to bring about  transformational revolution for achieving    desired socio-economic  progress of India. It is not possible to have accelerating socio-economic development  unless women empowerment takes place  in revolutionary mode  in the society.  Under the given circumstances, we need to deeply ponder  and discuss  how our cultural, traditional and social rules affect women empowerment  so that the same can be changed.
(The author is Professor of Management, School of Business and Dean-Faculty of Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, Jammu & Kashmir.)
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