Women Empowerment
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| Women force in MGNREGA (Photo: Arindam Ghosh) |
In our country India, the status or position of women is miserable. We all know that India is a democratic country where there are certain rights which are for both the women and the men. But there are always inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women have also been age-old issues all over the world.
Written by Aranya
Ribhu.
Empowerment
refers to the increasing the economic, political, social, educational, gender
or spiritual strength of an entity or entities. There is another term
“marginalized”, which refers to the overt or covert trends within societies
whereby those perceived as lacking desirable traits or deviating from the group
norms tend to be excluded by wider society and ostracized as undesirables. So,
empowerment is the process of obtaining basic opportunities for marginalized
people, or through the help of non-marginalized others who share their own
access to these opportunities.
In our
country India, the status or position of women is miserable. We all know that
India is a democratic country where there are certain rights which are for both
the women and the men. But there are always inequalities between men and women
and discrimination against women have also been age-old issues all over the
world. Thus, women quest for equality with man is a universal phenomenon. What
exists for men is demanded by women? They have demanded equality with men in
matters of education, employment, inheritance, marriage, and politics and
recently in the field of religion. Women want to have for themselves the same
strategies of change which menfolk have had over the centuries such as equal
pay for equal works.
We find
that the status of women has been very low in 18th and 19th
centuries in India and elsewhere when they were treated like objects that can
be bought and sold, even now in several villages of Rajasthan and Haryana they
are treated as animals. For a long time women in India remained within the four
walls of their household. A long struggle going back over a century has brought
women the property rights, an equalities in civil rights before the law in
matters of marriage and employment. In addition to the above rights, in India,
the customs of purbha (veil system), female infanticide, child marriage, sati
system, dowry system and the state of permanent widowhood were checked to an
appreciable extent but not totally removed. In various villages and towns of
some states of our country this types of criminal offence are taking place day
by day.
Now we
are living in 21st century where the infrastructures are modern,
standard of living is new, new technologies have been introduced and many more
things. We are living in an age where women wears jeans, skirt and other modern
dresses. Then the type of torture against women is also changing. It also
became modern. So the modern types are sexual harassment, sexual abuse, rape,
eve teasing, acid attack and etc.
There
are certain acts which have been enacted to emancipate women in India. These
are, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and the Compulsory
Registration of Marriage Act, 2006. The Domestic Violence Act recognizes that
the abuse be physical as well as mental. Anything that make women inferior and
takes away her self-respect is abuse. Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act
can be beneficial in preventing the abuse of institution of marriage and
hindering social justice especially in relation to women. It will help the
innumerable women in the country who get the abandoned by their husbands and
have no means of proving their marital status. The Act is applicable on all women
irrespective of caste, creed or religion. It will truly empower Indian women to
exercise their rights.
We all
know that girls are now doing better than boys. The annual results of Secondary
and Higher Secondary Board of examinations reveal this fact. More women are
getting degrees than men and are filling most new jobs in every field. Women
are playing bigger and bigger role in economic field as workers, consumers,
entrepreneurs, managers and investors. They also have a great contribution
towards our society. They also do social works. We can now see women in almost
every field such as architecture, lawyers, financial services, engineering,
medical and IT jobs. They have also entered service occupations such as a
nurse, a beauticians, a sales worker, a waitress etc.
In
spite of such a drawbacks and hurdles that still prevailing Indian women are no
longer hesitant or apologetic about claiming a share and visibility within the
family, at work, in public places, and in public discourse.
***********
Aranya Ribhu. 6th semester, RKMVU, F/C for Ranchi,
E mail: aranyaribhu.rkmvu@gmail.com
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