Women Empowerment Facts, Importance, Barriers and Schemes

Women Empowerment Overview

Women's empowerment empowers and allows women to make life-changing decisions in the face of many societal difficulties. They may be able to reinterpret gender roles or other similar responsibilities, giving them greater flexibility to pursue desired goals. Women's empowerment has emerged as a critical issue in development and economics. Women's economic empowerment enables them to control and profit from resources, assets, and income. It also improves women's well-being and their capacity to handle risk. Women's empowerment improves women's position via literacy, education, training, and raising awareness. Women's empowerment also refers to women's capacity to make strategic life choices that were previously denied to them. Empowering women improves the quality and quantity of human resources available for development. When it comes to human rights and development, empowerment is one of the most important procedural issues.

What is Women Empowerment?

Women's empowerment may be characterized as boosting women's self-esteem, ability to make their own decisions, and the right to influence societal change for themselves and others. It is directly related to female empowerment, which is a fundamental human right that is also critical to establishing a more peaceful and prosperous world. Women's empowerment and the promotion of women's rights have developed as part of a huge worldwide movement that has been breaking new ground in recent years. Days such as International Women's Empowerment Day are also gaining popularity. Nonetheless, despite significant advances, women and girls continue to experience prejudice and violence in all parts of the world.

Importance of Women 

Women's empowerment has received a lot of attention recently. It is correct to argue that women's empowerment has become an urgent issue. Women should have the freedom, faith, and self-esteem to choose their own wants and desires. Discrimination based on gender is pointless and has no value when seen in the context of women's advancement over the previous few decades. 

For Example: Women are paid less and regarded as cooks and slaves in households, and their true ability is not recognized. 

Women's empowerment is essential in India to overcome such conditions and equip them with an independent position in Indian society. Women's empowerment is a necessary right.

Types of Women's Empowerment

The following are the three types of women empowerment-

• Economic Empowerment

Since the 1980s, the campaign for neoliberalism has prioritized competitiveness and self-sufficiency as indicators of economic success. Individuals and their identifying communities who do not conform to society's preferred neoliberal ideals are looked down upon and are more likely to suffer from poor self-esteem. The lower working class and the jobless are two groups that do not suit the preferred neoliberal picture. Neoliberalism, in particular, has harmed women's self-esteem through its welfare reform measures. 

Work obligations and time constraints are among the variables that are quickly pushing women into the job market. The aggressive promotion of women's labor force participation supports the assumption that single moms and unpaid caregivers are unproductive to the American economy. As a result, women are obliged to accept low-paying, precarious professions while still managing their maternity and household duties. 

Women's empowerment and gender equality assist society to secure a country's long-term growth. Many international leaders and intellectuals have claimed that without gender equality and women's empowerment, sustainable development is impossible. Environmental protection, social and economic growth, and women's empowerment are all part of sustainable development.

• Political Empowerment

Political empowerment promotes the development of policies that promote gender equality and women's agency in both the public and private realms. Affirmative action plans with quotas for the number of women in policymaking and legislative posts have been proposed as a solution. Policies that account for divorce, policies that improve women's well-being, and policies that allow women authority over resources are examples of policies that boost female bargaining power in the home (such as property rights). Women have been unable to become community leaders owing to financial, social, and legal obstacles. Women face organizational and cultural constraints in sectors dominated by males. Science, engineering, finance, and other fields are among those included. 

• Cultural Empowerment

As a progressive society committed to women's rights and empowerment, we must cease considering culture solely as a barrier and impediment to their achievement. Culture is an essential and significant component of diversity, as well as a means for ensuring women's equal chances. Traditions clothed in the concept of empowerment should, without a question, be challenged in light of feminism. Women only have an equal probability of having their written work published in peer-reviewed journals if the author's gender is completely undisclosed to the reviewers. Equal cultural rights for women must be recognized and realized in order to aid in the reconstruction of gender in ways that transcend women's inferiority and subordination.

Principles on Women's Empowerment

The seven principles are as follows-

Principle 1: Develop senior business leadership for gender equality.

Principle 2: Treat all employees equitably, respecting and promoting nondiscrimination and human rights.

Principle 3: Ensure the health, well-being, and safety of all employees, male and female.

Principle 4: Encourage women's education, training, and professional growth.

Principle 5:Implement supply chain, marketing, and company growth approaches that empower women.

Principle 6: Promote equality via community outreach and advocacy.

Principle 7: Track and publicly report progress toward gender equality.

Feminist Perspectives on Women's Empowerment

Feminism is characterized by the movement's purpose of empowering women. Below are some of the following feminist perspectives on women's empowerment-

• Increasing Awareness

Feminists frequently employ awareness-raising to promote women's empowerment. By raising their consciousness, women learn about their own challenges as well as how they connect to political and economic issues. Raising consciousness enables oppressed people to recognize where they fit into the greater social system and identify the source of their oppression. Using the word "raising consciousness" implies that the oppressed community is unaware of their oppression and how to deal with it. 

• Relationship building

Furthermore, feminists, particularly feminist organizers, emphasize connection development as a means of empowering women. Conflict frequently emerges when community members seek to establish ties with external power figures, such as government representatives. Storytelling is an example of this depoliticizing trend.

Also read more about Women's Education in India. 

Women's Empowerment: Measuring and Evaluating

Women's empowerment may be quantified using the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), which evaluates women's political and economic engagement in a specific country. GEM is computed by measuring "the proportion of seats in a parliament controlled by women; the proportion of female legislators, senior officials, and managers; the proportion of female professionals and technical employees; and the gender inequality in earned income, showing economic independence." The Gender Parity Index (GPI) and the Gender-related Development Index are two more indices that quantify women's involvement and relative equality (GDI). 

Barriers to Women's Education

Cultural norms are responsible for many of the impediments to women's empowerment and equity. While many women are aware of the problems caused by gender inequality, others have grown used to them. According to research, more Internet access might lead to increased exploitation of women. The publication of personal information on websites has jeopardized some women's safety. Cyberstalking, harassment, online pornography, flaming, and, in particular, sexual harassment in the workplace are examples of victimization. It is most common in the following industries: business, trade, banking and finance, sales and marketing, hospitality, civil service, lecturing, teaching, and education. According to studies, women face greater challenges in the workplace than men. Gender-related hurdles include sexual harassment, discriminatory hiring practices, career advancement, and unequal pay, in which women are paid less than men for doing the same work.

Read more about the Mody University (Rajasthan) and MKM Group of Colleges for Girls (Haryana).

Role of Education in Women's Empowerment

Education, in particular, allows mothers to make decisions that improve their children's health, well-being, and prospects of obtaining survival skills. Education teaches people about illness prevention and control. Such knowledge helps women to make decisions that benefit their well-being, such as marrying later in life and having fewer children. Education may raise women's understanding of their rights, promote their self-esteem, and allow them to demand their rights. There are attempts underway to alleviate females' poorer participation and learning success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In certain regions of the world, girls and women are attacked for attending school, and social measures to prevent violence may be weak.

Women's Empowerment Schemes

The following are some of the schemes-

1. Awardees of Rajya Mahila Samman & Zila Mahila Samman
2. Awardees of Stree Shakti Puruskar, 2014 & Awardees of Nari Shakti Puruskar
3. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme
4. Mahila Police Volunteers
5. Mahila Shakti Kendras (MSK)
6. The Ministry authorizes new Ujjawala Scheme projects and continues current ones.
7. NIRBHAYA
8. NARI SHAKTI PURASKAR
9. One-Stop Center Scheme
10. SWADHAR Greh (A Scheme for Women in Difficult Circumstances)
11. UJJAWALA: A Comprehensive Plan for Trafficking Prevention and the Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation Victims.
12. Women Helpline Scheme
13. Working Women Hostel