Women Empowerment in India
For centuries women were not treated
equal to men in many ways. They were not
allowed to own property, they did
not have a Share in the property of their parents, they had no
voting rights, they had no freedom
to choose their work or job and so on. Now that we have
come out of those dark days of
oppression of women there is a need for strong movement to fight
for the rights of women and to
ensure that they get all the rights which men have or in other
words a movement for the Empowerment
of Women. The present seminar has been planned with
a view to discuss the various issues
related to the Empowerment of Women and to suggest
measures for achieving this end.
Empowerment –Conceptual Framework
The origins of the concept of
empowerment go back to the civil rights movement in the USA in
the 1960. It has since then been
interpreted differently and filled with new meanings and is today used in
such different sectors as business,
social work, development discourse and by advocates of very different
political agendas. The different
definitions of empowerment range between defining it as a largely
individual process of taking control
of and responsibility for one’s life and situation, and defining it as a
political process of granting human
rights and social justice to disadvantaged groups of people. At the
former end of the continuum, where
empowerment is defined largely as an individual process,
empowerment can be used in the
conservative political rhetoric of freeing the government of
responsibility for injustices and
for granting social security. Instead, the argument makes individuals and
communities responsible for their
own social security and welfare, without providing the necessary
support and resources.
The empowerment of women is located
within the discourse and agenda of gender equality and is
increasingly being taken in the
agendas of international development organizations, perhaps more as a
means to achieve gender equality
than as an end in itself.
At the Social Summit in Copenhagen
in 1993 and the International Conference on Population and
Development in Cairo 1994
Governments committed themselves to the empowerment of women. This
commitment was operationalised and
formulated into a clear action plan at the Fourth World Conference
on Women in Beijing 1995 where
Governments committed themselves to the “empowerment and
advancement of women, including the
right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, thus
contributing to the moral, ethical,
spiritual and intellectual needs of women and men, individually or in
community with others and thereby
guaranteeing them the possibility of realizing their full potential in
society and shaping their lives in
accordance with their own aspirations.”
In line with most theorists on
empowerment the one has to view empowerment as taking place on
different levels and that change on
all levels is necessary if the empowerment of women is really to occur.
We have to relate empowerment at
three levels: empowerment on the individual, group, and societal/
community- level and the interaction
between these.
The individual level deals with
individual women’s abilities to take control over their lives, their
perceptions about their own value
and abilities, their abilities to identify a goal and work towards this
goal.
The group level deals with the
collective action and sense of agency that woman experience
together, in a group.
The societal level deals with the
permissiveness of the political and social climate, the societal
norms and the public discourse on what
is possible and impossible for women to do, how women should
behave etc.
The different levels are seen as
interconnected and mutually reinforcing, e.g. when empowerment
on individual level occurs, this
will have effect on the group and societal level. Women who are
empowered on an individual level
will most likely go on and affect the other levels. Empowerment on a
group level e.g. women organizing
around a particular need is likely to have effect on the individual
empowerment of the women in the form
of increased self esteem and sense of agency.
Historical Background of Women
Empowerment in India
The status of Women in India has
been subject to many great changes over the past few
millenium. In early Vedic period
Women enjoyed equal status with men. Rigved & upnishads mention
several names of women sages and
seers notably Gargi & Maitrey. However later the status of women
began to deteriorate approximately
from 500 B.C., the situation worsened with invasion of Mughals and
later on by European invaders.
Some reformatory movements by Guru
Nanak, Jainism, Rajaram mohan Rai, Ishwarchandra
Vidya Sagar, Pandita Rama Bai and
others did give some relief. It is not that Britishers didn’t do any
thing for improving the condition of
women. Some laws were enacted such an “Abolition of practice of
Sati”, Widow Remarriage Act 1856
etc.
The real change came after
independence. Constitution of India guarantees equality to women
(Article 14). There are other
articles too which ensure rights of women e.g. no discrimination by the state
[article15(1)] equality of
opportunity (Article16) etc. Feminist activism picked up momentum in India
during later 1970’s. Later on Many
groups and NGO’s have been working for the Empowerment of
women. We are proud that in India
Women got voting right much before USA and some other European
countries.
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