Women Empowerment: Concept, Context and Challenges
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| Women in Agriculture: Mahuaatongri, Jharkhand (Photo: Subhankar Chhandogi) |
Rapid changes in developmental outlooks
were transforming neo socio-cultural and economic concepts worldwide. Newly
emerged terminologies (like- empowerment, sustainability, integrated and
holistic development etc.) became the mantras of social science.
Undoubtedly, effective utilization of human potentials and realization of
knowledge about him/herself are believed to be the most critical capabilities
of individuals. Probably this is the root of ‘Empowerment’.
Written by Atanu
Deb
OBLATION TO THE MANES
Nowadays ‘Women
Empowerment’ has become a common phrase. The concept of ‘Empowerment’ was
firstly highlighted by the Political Scientists. In the era of economic
liberalization and globalization, reaching the people with life surviving
services became the topmost priority. It was conceptualized that any food is
good enough when there is a famine. The concept of development were changing.
Philanthropic approaches were substituted by the concept of service. Sporadic
approaches were replaced by community based developmental approaches. On the
other hand, voluntary organization/ civil society movements were started. Rapid
changes in developmental outlooks were transforming neo socio-cultural and
economic concepts worldwide. Newly emerged terminologies (like- empowerment,
sustainability, integrated and holistic development etc.) became the mantras
of social science. Undoubtedly, effective utilization of human potentials and realization
of knowledge about him/herself are believed to be the most critical
capabilities of individuals. Probably this is the root of ‘Empowerment’.
Schuler and Riley (1996) conceptualized ‘Empowerment’ as “ The means
of creating a social environment in which one can make decisions and make
choices either individually or collectively for social transformation. It
strengthens the innate ability by way of acquiring knowledge, power and
experience”. But some social scientists often observes ‘Empowerment’ as a
mental process which compels to authorize over one’s own destiny. It mainly
deals peoples ’thought process and their control over resources which finally
lead them to take action.
Concept of
Women Empowerment:
During 2001, World Bank has suggested that empowerment of women should
be a key aspect of all social development programs. They declared, ‘’ Since
the 1990’s women have been identified as key agents of sustainable development
and women’s equality and empowerment are seen as central to a more holistic
approach towards establishing new patterns and processes of development that
are sustainable’’.
As per the United National Development Fund for women (UNIFEM), the term
women’s empowerment means:
·
Acquiring
knowledge and understanding of gender relations and the ways in which these
relations may be changed.
·
Developing a sense of self-worth, a belief in one’s
ability to secure desired changes and the right to control one’s life.
·
Gaining
the ability to generate choices exercise bargaining power.
·
Developing
the ability to organize and influence the direction of social change, to create
a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally.
CONTEXT
Women are contributing huge workforce in domestic as well
as agriculture sector. Hence, socio-economic development and women empowerment
is synonymous in society. Beijing declaration strongly claims that women empowerment and their full participation
on the basis of equality in all spheres of the society including participation
in the decision making process and access to power are fundamental for the
advancement of equality, development and peace. ‘Women
Empowerment’ is one of
the most imperative socio-cultural issue of this century and is a newly evolved
research topic to combat the upcoming socio-economic crisis. Status of women on
the other hand though a recent and broadly spoken concept, also has been
extensively researched, especially in regard to its role in shaping various
socio-politico-economic and environmental dimensions. Hence; if we intend to
realize women issues, then we have to start from the very beginning.
Status of
women in ancient India
Dutta and Dey (2011) in their study on ‘Empowerment of
tribal women through SHG’, have narrated how the status of women gradually
decreased. They describes- “During the early ‘Vedic’ period women enjoyed a
high status as she was considered the “Goddess”
& was adored and she shared equal right & responsibilities with
her husband in the family. Women were mistresses of the households and an equal
partner in religious duties. She moved freely in the society and attended
public assemblies and social entertainments. Child marriage was unknown to them
and widows were permitted to remarry.
Women were productive members in the society engaging themselves in
several activities. Women gradually
lost her independence due to the development of the concept of property. During
the medieval period the condition of women deteriorated in all spheres of life.
Her physical weakness & other
disadvantages gave an excuse for the assignment to her for an inferior
status. The medieval period of Indian history which synchronized with Muslim
rule further brought deterioration
in her position. She was portrayed as
source of evil &gateway to
hell. Child marriages become more prevalent. Smritishastras came to be
written which severely curtailed many of the privileges enjoyed by the women
from ancient times. They condemned women to a life of dependence on father,
husband and son successively. (“The father protects a woman in her
childhood, husband during her youth, and her son in old age; …woman is never
fit independence”- Manu’s Code).
Long subjection of alien rule, lack
of contact with other nations, outmoded system of education all lead to the
degradation of the moral outlook in the society. Early marriage of girls
deprived them of any chance of education and if the husband dies, the girl had
to spend her rest of life as a child widow. Female infanticide was also
extensively practice”. In fact the great epic ‘Mahabharata’
reveals the truth where ‘Draupadi’ had been considered as a commodity.
After that…
After that situation became worse. ‘Satidaha
Pratha’, ‘Bal Vivah’ and other customary rituals became parts and parcel of
Hindu society. During Muslim empire, the situation became more complex. Inclusion
of ‘Harem’ created a massive destruction. Women were thus increasingly treated as being child
production unit of society, or as means of leisure time. It was seen that the
situation was changing during British period. Probably it was because of westernization.
Raja Rammohan Roy, Pandit Iswar Chandra
Vidyasagar and other personalities stepped forward against these oppressing
stones of superstition.
After six decades of our independence, still, the condition of women is
not satisfactory. Because of ruthless exploitation of male dominated society,
the women of this nation are in doldrums. Biju (2006) in his study opines that In case of caste hierarchical society the
women suffers from rape, dowry, political violence and other such
discrimination. In the tribal society the gender problem assumes a different
dimension. I am not citing here any
data. But the situation is alarming. Actually Indian women are still prevailing
in the darkness of a vicious cycle.
WHY WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT?
‘Feminism of Poverty’: Not an illusion
In recent past there has been a trend to analyse poverty
in the context of gender issues. The concept of ‘Feminism of Poverty’ critically linked poverty with women related
issues. Now role of women varies from society to society. But ‘Feminism of
Poverty’ often proves that women empowerment is one of the strong weapons to
struggle against poverty. Let’s check some statistics. A 1992 UN report disclosed
that “the number of rural women living in poverty in the developing
countries has increased by almost 50% over the past 20 years to an awesome 565
million -- 374 million of them in Asia, and 129 million in Sub-Saharan Africa.
... While poverty among rural men has increased over the last 20 years by 30%,
among women it has increased by 48%”.
Women in India contribute 89 per
cent of the unrecognised sector and it is reality that their participation rate
is higher in rural areas. Women responsible for one-third of the labour force
of India and 90 per cent of the rural-urban women are unskilled workers. Hence,
women empowerment could be a mechanism to pave the way for integrated
development.
DIMENSIONS OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
Despite the diversity in conceptualizing women empowerment, there is a
consensus on three basic features and dimensions. These are: (i) Social
Dimension, (ii) Economic Dimension (iii) Political dimension.
SOCIAL DIMENSION
This dimension considers the aspect of empowering women through
socialization i.e. freedom to acquire resources, access to knowledge, freedom
of employment selection, greater autonomy in decision making, improvement of
social status, ability to get defend, problem solving skills, ability to get
support, ability to convey and sense of self dignity. The Government of India
has declared 2001 as Women’s Empowerment year. To safeguard social
status of women, GoI has launched a lot of schemes. Let’s have a glance on
it.
Major Government Programmes
Scheme/
Programme
|
Year of
initiation
|
Feature
|
Support
to Training & Employment Programme for Women (STEP)
|
1986-87
|
Vocational
training and employment generation were the major concern
|
Swarnajayanti
Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
|
1992 (implemented 1999)
|
To help poor families (swarozgari’s) above
the poverty line by providing them income generating assets through a mix of
bank credit and governmental subsidy
|
Swa-Shakti
|
1999
|
To
bring out socio-economic development and empowerment of women through
promotion of women SHGs
|
Swayamsiddha
|
2001
|
integrated scheme for women empowerment
through formation of SHGs
|
Swadhar
|
2001-2002
|
To
provide relief and rehabilitation to women in difficult circumstances
|
The
National Programme for Education of Girls
|
2003
|
Component of ‘Sharva Siksha Aviyan.
|
Kasturba
Gandhi Balika Viodyala
|
2004
|
Residential
school for SC/ST/ OBC girls
|
Early Childhood
Care and Education
|
2005
|
Child care schemes for pre school
|
The
Mother and Child Tracking System
|
2009
|
It
helps to monitor the health care system to ensure that all mothers and their
children have access to a range of services
|
The
National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW)
|
2010
|
Holistic Development and Gender equality
|
Rajiv
Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) – ‘Sabla’
|
2010
|
Empowerment
of girl children, life skill education and vocational training
|
Priyadarshini
|
2011
|
Stimulates women in seven districts access
to self-help groups
|
Challenges
1. Age old tradition of male domination.
2. Social stereotyping and violence are the
major factors, inhibiting the process of women empowerment.
3. Lack of competent and committed workers at
grass root level which often hinder the process of judicial implementation of
the programmes/ schemes.
4. Illiteracy and lack of gender sensitization.
5. No right to blossom the free expression of
women in society.
ECONOMIC DIMENSION
This dimension intends to describe empowerment in economic point of
view. Most of the considerations of this dimensions are strongly economical in
focus and clearly deal with economic impact and its sustainability. Mostly this
dimension is cost-return oriented and developed at micro/ individual, aggregate,
regional and country level. This dimension tries to focus on the capability of
self-financing. This dimension also deals with freedom to earn, freedom to
consume, freedom to save, freedom to borrow, freedom to invest, control over
property and contribution to the family.
Major Government Programmes
Scheme/
Programme
|
Year of
initiation
|
Feature
|
Rashtriya Mahila Kosh - (National Credit
Fund for Women)
|
1993
|
Purpose
was to provide lower income women with access to loans to begin small
businesses.
|
National
Mission for Empowerment of Women
|
2010
|
Ensure economic empowerment of women
|
Challenges
1. Women don’t have right to decision making.
2. The bank accounts are often maintained by the
male members of the family.
3. Though equal labour Act is the most talked
issue, but practical situation is different.
4. Right to family property is an illusion in
rural belts.
5. Often SHGs are failing because of poor
planning and marketing strategies.
6. Market oriented training and development of
marketing channel – are still in the state of doldrums.
POLITICAL DIMENSION
Traditionally women were considered a passive worker in
the society. Hence, political empowerment is needed to melt the ice. Political
empowerment has direct relationship with social empowerment. Recently,
Government had taken special interest in the empowerment of women. Their seats
in Panchayat election were reserved. The strategy adopted in these villages had
changed the traditional perception regarding women’s place within and outside
the family. This dimension considers the issues like- Political Awareness,
Protest Power, and Participation in election and panchayat meetings. Although
many aspects have been considered, they do not cover all aspects of political
empowerment. Moreover, due to variation in mental and socio-economic
conditions, the aspects may vary from society to society. Leadership quality is
now considered as the major aspect of political dimension.
74th Amendment Act, 1992
The 73rd and 74th amendments were enacted during 1992, which
lead the way for democratic decentralization. The concept of grassroots
governance came into existence. 33% of total seats at the local government
level were considered for the women reservation. As a result women
participation was ensured. But it is a state of illusion.
Challenges
1. Male dominated society is unable to synthesize woman as a
leader.
2. Often women candidates are selected because of the
mandate. The main activities are run by the males.
3. Illiteracy is a major factor which hinders the process of
political empowerment.
CONCLUSION: ‘AND MILES TO GO…’
“If an ancestral treasure
lying buried in a corner of the house unknown to the members were suddenly
discovered, what a celebration it would occasion. Similarly, women’s marvellous
power is lying dormant. If the women of Asia wake up dazzle the world……………….”
- Mahatma Gandhi
For centuries, women of
the nation have stayed in the cave of societal taboos, have maintained their
distinctive culture of living, have sustained on their family lives, and now
they are struggling to overcome poor socio-economic condition. The
women of this nation have stayed outside the realm of the self-motivation and
self-reliance. Male dominated society for various needs, ranging from economic to social
system has utilized women as the prime unit of child production. These concepts
have been gradually integrated and incorporated in the social system of human
beings. Domestic activities are often considered as the prime job of women. The
economically developed world as well as some of the underdeveloped economies
still struggling against gender disparities, yet in different ways and
meanings.
Robert Chambers, a famous social scientist, once opined, “The central
thrusts of the [new] paradigm … are decentralization and empowerment.
Decentralization means that resources and discretion are devolved; turning back
the inward and upward flows of resources and people. Empowerment means that
people, especially poorer people, are enabled to take more control over their
lives, and secure a better livelihood with ownership and control of productive
assets as one key element. Decentralization and empowerment enable local people
to exploit the diverse complexities of their own conditions and to adapt to
rapid change”.
By upholding the banner of Women empowerment Vis-Ã -vis
Political Decentralization, the preamble of the Constitution of India, speaks
of social, economic and political justice for women. Undoubtedly the constitutional
spirit, is advocated by various acts and intends to safeguard women. Since
inception, women are considered as the passive members of society. But it’s the
time when some of them are asking a pertinent question; why should they
tolerate this severe darkness?
A deep silence is still prevailing.
**********
Atanu Deb. Research Scholar, RKMVU, F/C for IRTDM, Ranchi
E mail: atanu.literacyindia@gmail.com
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| 'And miles to go: Narayanpur', West Bengal (Photo: Atanu Deb) |
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