Women Empowerment: Challenges and Prospects

India, the sub-continent, is indubitably a great country of miscellaneous cultures, traditions, religions, castes and geographical characteristics. However, India is even known for its sobriquet 'male-chauvinistic nation'. It's 'Bharath Maatha' who is inturn a woman that serves as the mother of every Indian. While such a woman looks after every Indian child, women in general are simply being disregarded at the dominant men's best. Men ought not to forget the fact that 'men' are in 'WOmen'. Women are no less than men in India in any sector. Women are not what they really were. Some decades ago, women were limited to the kitchen. Today, Indian women have made their presence felt virtually in every field. Women have ultimately come out of their 'saree' image and entrap the nation by dint of their hardwork and power. Women Empowerment is infact the ability of women to exercise full control over one’s actions. Empowerment of women in India is conspicuous by many live examples. But, is that all? Are only those women empowered? If not, how about rest of the Indian-women world? Are the common women vested with powers to drive the nation? These above questions, if posed to our so called leaders, would simply be parried. Women have become marionettes in the hands of them. Delegating power or an authority to a woman seemed astonishing to our governing bodies. Ironically, our country, our leaders and governing bodies in particular, are being ruled by Smt.Sonia Gandhi who is a woman. It is that woman who had been ranked 13th among world's most powerful women by Forbes magazine. It's a woman who is leading Indian National Congress as its president. Sonia Gandhi would be an epitome of women's leadership qualities. She did umpteen things what a male leader couldn't do. Smt. Mamta Banerjee is the next big name; she has managed to break the jinx of Communist Party in Bengal who has ruled there for more than half the century. She is the Railway minister of India and is working hard to improve the image of Indian railway. Smt.Mayawati who is the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and president of the Bahujan Samaj Party is the most influential name in the Indian Politics. Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil is the first women President of India and is actively working for the upliftment of Indian women. The year 2009 witnessed the History written moments when Smt. Meira Kumar became the first Indian women to hold the office of the Lok Sabha Speaker. She is an ex-IFS officer and hails from the Bhojpuri land clearly indicating the women power in politics. Women could really do more than what they actually think they can. The real power within a woman is exuded by the first woman IPS Officer Kiran Bedi. The ability of a woman to break the barriers and tread on a new path was proved by her. People usually get carried by the myth that men can do far better than women. Indian women dispelled the myth by making their footprints in almost every field of work. Women are not only law-makers and law-controllers, but also Business magnates. Chanda Kochhar is the current CEO and MD of ICICI Bank. She was born in 1961 and now heads ICICI Bank. The CEO and Chairperson of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, born in 1955, sets the perfect model of a Business magnate. She carved out a niche for herself in Business. Nafisa Ali who was actress, model and politician is now an eminent social worker, with her crusade on HIV/AIDS being world recognized. She has been appointed as the Chairman of the Environment Committee of Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010. She is industrious in the area of health, women and child rights poverty and social development. She reached out to the masses and made a significant difference in lives of the people. Tennis star Sania Mirza and Badminton player Saina Nehwal made their mark representing India. Women have the inherent potential to overlook any impediments, to commit themselves to their ambitions and eventually drive the nation by fulfilling them. The real empowerment is attained only when they are wise-enough and highly-powered to make decisions and women, when authoritative, would turn into economic carriers of India. Gender equality plays a crucial role in uplifting women. Rather, gender inequality certainly needs to be abolished. Gender-based discrimination and disparity are evident from various dowry cases and sexual harassment incidents. The idea of equal employment opportunities is still lingering unimplemented in several remote areas. Women in some inaccessible areas are yet confined to their household routines while their spouses go for work. India has the lowest percentage of women employees (23%), followed by Japan (24%), Turkey (26%) and Austria (29%), according to the Corporate Gender Gap report brought out by the World Economic Forum. Women must be given freedom to choose their interest of work and discharge their duties unbiased. Government should open its doors for women to be given opportunities to prove themselves on a par with the men. Survey confirms various percentages of employed women in distinct sectors - the financial services and insurance (60%), professional services (56%) and media and entertainment (42%). The sectors that flaunt the lowest percentage of women in the 20 economies are automotive (18%), mining (18%) and agriculture (21%). Besides employment, gender inequality is clearly observed at temples wherein only entry of male devotees is sternly followed. One of such temples is Sabarimala temple where women are not at all allowed in which creates imbalance between men and women. "When women are the advisor, the Lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do; then they act upon it and if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it; if fails, they generously give herself the whole". - Louisa May Alcott. 'A blessing in disguise' seems to justify the women empowerment in India. Although women are brought up by themselves to the top-notch position, some miscellaneous factors clampdown on them. Top brass officials politicise things and it's ultimately women who become victims which lead to their resignation or stall of activities being carried out by them. Drearily, sometimes it might even result in suicides. Sexual harassment is one of the horrendous factors that suppresses women. The Ruchika Girhotra Case involving the molestation of 14 year old Ruchika Girhotra in 1990 by the Inspector General of Police Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore is a shame on Indian bureaucracy. If this is the case of police being culprit, how can women be protected then and where is the question of empowering women. Another incident of girls assaulted in Mangalore Pub by Sri Ram Sena and Bajrang Dal activists throws down the gauntlet to the government. Rape is another abysmal crime that government needs to tackle to ensure women empowerment. Hardly a day passes without a case of rape being reported in Indian newspapers and media. Statistics from 2000 showed that on average a woman is raped every hour in India. Welfare of women is the foremost thing that government must lay an emphasis on. The Government of India declared 2001 as the Year of Women's Empowerment. The National Policy For The Empowerment Of Women came was passed in 2001 the goal of which is to bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of women. The Constitution not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. It underscores girl rights, health, women education, gender equality, decision making, poverty eradication and violence against women. Women's Reservation Bill, which promises 33% of LokSabha seats reserved for women, is put on hold. Although it was passed by RajyaSabha, Loksabha is yet to table it. The bill, if passed, makes history in Indian politics and constitution. This bill certainly adds to empowering of women. The key benefits that can be reaped out of the bill are - women's resistance to corruption, gender equality, equal employment opportunities for men and women, sensible and legal politics, sincerity and eventually transparency in implementing the policies. A berth in Loksabha is an impetus for women to voice their views and take up the gauntlet to bring a revolution in the country. Women empowerment can be achieved chiefly through Health and Education. "Health is Wealth". Basic sanitation facilities, adequate medical camps, government health schemes would be conducive to bring about a major change. According to National Literacy Mission, referring to the last census held in 2001, the percentage of female literacy in the country is 54.16%. The female literacy rate has also increased from 8.86% in 1951 to 54.16%. It is noticed that the female literacy rate during the period 1991-2001 increased by 14.87% whereas male literacy rate rose by 11.72%. Enrolment of girls in schools makes a huge difference in transforming the nation. Women are no less than outstanding, be it in business, politics, entertainment, sports or whatever. They must be provided with ardent invigoration and their spirits must be kept high to delete the term 'impossible' from the dictionary. Like sarojini naidu, Jhansi lakshmi bhai and Indira Gandhi who exemplified women empowerment with their deeds, let us expect many more epitomes of such personality traits.