Speech on Women Empowerment in India!
Speech on Women Empowerment # Introduction to Women Empowerment:
The term “empowerment” is rooted in the theories of Paulo Friere, who put forward the notion of “conscientization” as a process by which the poor could challenge the structures of power and take control of their lives. But Friere’s analysis totally ignored gender as a determinant of power.
Empowerment for women is moving from being:
Empowerment can be described as follows:
1. Empowerment is a gradual process of gaining control over self, over ideology, and the resources that determine power.
2. Empowerment refers to a range of activities from individual to self-assertion to collective resistance, protest and mobilisation that challenge basic power relations. Empowerment begins not only by recognition of class, caste and ethnic differences in accessing power and resources by groups or individuals, but through acting on them to change the power relations in the society. It thus requires a lot of mobilisation.
3. Empowerment of women is also one of the important movements that is not directed against men, but against all the systems which discriminate women. For this, it is necessary to look at all the systems of power that operate in the society. An understanding of how power operates becomes essential in order to know how to change these systems of power.
The concept of power can be understood at four different levels:
1. Power over- This has a negative connotation. This involves a relationship of subordination/ domination. There is always a conflict between the powerful and the powerless.
2. Power to- This power relates to having the decision-making authority, power to solve problems and can be creative and enabling.
3. Power with- This power involves peoples organising with a common purpose or common understanding to achieve collective goals.
4. Power within- This power refers to self-confidence, self- awareness and assertiveness. It is the positive definition of power that we must work upon.
The goal of empowerment thus is to:
1. Change the subordination and subjugation.
2. Transform structures, systems and institutions that have supported inequality such as family, caste, class and religion, by using power in the positive sense through recognising power within ourselves as well as the power of collective mobilisation.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Pivotal Points for Women Empowerment:
The following are the Pivotal Points to be considered for women empowerment:
i. Literacy
ii. Family planning and welfare programmes
iii. Non-formal education
iv. Extension programme
v. Community education
vi. Adult education
vii. Access to communication media
viii. Access to appropriate technology
ix. Access to credit
x. Participation
xi. Work and empowerment
xii. Ownership and control over resources
xiii. Access to cooperatives and local women organization
Brief descriptions of some of the pivotal points above, for women empowerment are given below:
Credit Support to Women Farmers:
Credit and capitals are the basic requisites to boost the production and productivity of agriculture. Men and Women both have problems in acquiring credits. Men are the legally land owners arid less than 10% of women own the land in India. Men often migrate to other places in search of work leaving women alone to manage the household and farm activities. Under such situations there is problem to women even in managing the basic imputes like seeds and fertilizers.
Extension Support for Women Farmers:
Female farmers receive only 5% of all the agricultural extension services. Only 15% of the world’s agricultural extension agents are women. Men usually focus on commercial production rather than subsistence crops, which are primary concern of the women farmers. Extension meetings are generally usually scheduled at times when women farmers are unable to attend because of their other household responsibilities.
Women’s Education:
Women constitute 49% of country’s population and 75% of them live in rural areas. Out of them 40% are illiterate; and only 3% of rural women have secondary education and 0.4% are graduate and above. They constitute about 2/3rd of the world’s illiterates. As per the 1961 census, literacy rate of females and male was 12.95% and 34.44%, respectively which increased to 54.16% and 75.85% in 2001 census.
Elements of Empowerment:
The term ’empowerment’ began to be applied in the women’s movements in the mid-1970s. The international use of the term probably began with the appearance of the book, “Development, Crisis and Alternative Vision- Third World Perspectives” (1985), prepared by Sen and Grown, for the Nairobi conference at the end of the U.N. Decade of Women. Even before that the term had been in use in Management Sciences.
The dictionary meaning of the term ‘to empower’ is, ‘to invest legally or formally with power, to enable or to permit.’ Since the word ’empowerment’ is built around the notion of ‘power’, let us have a detour into the variety of meanings of power.
1. Power:
The dominant understanding of power has been as ‘power over’, where one person or group of people is able to control in some way, the actions or options of another. Other notions of power are variously described as ‘power to’, ‘power with’ and ‘power from within’, all of which allow the construction of a very different meaning for empowerment.
Hartsock (1985) brings out an ‘energy’ definition of power. This is power which does not involve the domination of ‘power over’, but which is generative such as ‘the power some people have of stimulating activity in others and raising their morale’. Some analysts also identify ‘power with’, when a group tackles problems together.
According to Foucault, power is not a finite entity that can be located; power is relational, and is something which exists only in its exercise. For Radtka and Stam (1994), power is the capacity to have an impact or produce an effect’ so that ‘power is both the source of oppression in its abuse and the source of emancipation in its use’.
In Layman’s parlance, power means having the capacity and the means to direct one’s life towards desired social, political and economic goals. The crux of power lies in the possession of and/or access to and control over means and resources.
2. Empowerment:
Empowerment is a goal to be achieved. At the same time it is also an ongoing process which is undergone by individuals, groups and communities. Nelly Stormquist, defines empowerment as “a process to change the distribution of power both in interpersonal relations and in institutions throughout society”.
Lucy Lazo describes it as “a process of acquiring, providing, bestowing the resources and the means for enabling the access to and control over such means and resources.” Both the definitions recognise a process of transformation in the person as well as in relationships.
According to Depthnews, “it is a process in which women gain control over their own lives by knowing and claiming their rights at all levels of society at the international, local and house hold levels. Self-empowerment means that women gain autonomy are able to set their own agenda and are fully involved in the economic, political and social decision making process.
Therefore, once empowerment is achieved by a person, it extends to all kinds of relationships and environments he gets involved in. From immediate relationships, it permeates to other arenas like the local, national, international as well as economic, political and social.
3. Empowerment as a Process:
Though the term ’empowerment’ has got a variety of definitions, the most appealing of them in the context of empowering women is the notion of empowerment as a process. It is a transformative action either self-propelling or propelled by others. It is a self-propelling process if it dawns on a woman that her life will become better if she tried to act upon such thoughts, link up with the source of resources and facilitates her own empowerment.
In the first stage, Empowerment enables a person to gain insight and have an awareness of what is undesirable and unfavourable and realising what is within her reach and what she should do to get to a better situation. This characterisation of empowerment implies that the process could involve a change of perceptions about the self, the environment and the relationship of the self and the environment.
It is a process that involves the generation of a “push” to act or what psychologists call “motivation”. Secondly, Empowerment enables a woman to ‘generate choices’ and as an outcome of having such choices, she ‘acquires leverage and bargaining power’. It makes the person able to choose her goals, generate opportunities to reach the goals and determine the overall direction of her life.
This makes the notion of empowerment a fascinating and powerful one. In the final stage, empowerment enables a woman to gain ‘relative strength’ as a result of having choices and bargaining power. Ultimately, empowerment should lead to the improvement of women’s socio-economic status.
Women’s empowerment can be viewed as a continuum of several inter-related and mutually re-inforcing components. According to Shetty, empowerment is not an end-of-project product or a state that can be attained within defined time frames.
Instead, empowerment is a dynamic and on going process which can only be located on a continuum. The diagram below visualises this concept. One can move from an extreme state of absolute lack of power to the other extreme of having absolute power. The extreme ends of the continuum are of course “idealised” states.
Thus, empowerment is the process as well as the result of the process-whereby the powerless or less powerful members of a society gain greater access and control over material and knowledge resources, and challenge the ideologies of discrimination and subordination, which justify its unequal distribution. Empowerment manifests as a changing balance of power in terms of resource distribution and changes in ideology or ways of thinking.
4. Powerlessness:
Women’s state of powerlessness is borne by a ‘combination and interaction of environmental and personal factors’. Women’s powerlessness arises from their illiteracy, lack of awareness, lack of information and knowledge, lack of skills, overall lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, lack of money, lack of job opportunities and lack of connection to those who can provide jobs and lend them money to start their own small enterprises. Lucita identifies variables of power as well as powerlessness from a study conducted on a group of ‘home workers’. The following figure depicts the variables of powerlessness in four levels-personal, household, workplace and society.
5. Components of Empowerment:
Four components of empowerment have been identified by Carolyne and Bettina such as cognitive, psychological, economic and political. The cognitive component would include the “Women are understanding of their conditions of subordination and the causes of such conditions at both micro and macro levels of society”.
It involves understanding the self and the need to make choices that may go against cultural and social expectations and understanding patterns of behaviour that create dependence, interdependence and autonomy within the family and society at large.
The psychological component, on the other hand, would include the “development of feelings that women can act at personal and societal levels to improve their condition as well as formation of the belief that they can succeed in their change efforts.” It deals with the ‘learned helplessness’ of women through socialisation from early childhood.
The economic component requires that women be able to engage in a productive activity that will allow them some degree of autonomy, no matter how small it be and how hard to obtain it at the beginning. It is this economic component which is going to be the focus of this study. And other components will follow it in the process of empowerment.
The political component would encompass the ability to analyse the surrounding environment in political and social terms; it also means ability to organise and mobilise for social change. Consequently an empowerment process must involve not only individual awareness but also collective awareness and collective actions.
The notion of collective action is fundamental to the aim of attaining social transformation. Empowerment ultimately involves a political process to produce consciousness among policy makers about women and to create pressure to bring about societal change.
Thus empowerment occurs at various levels such as the cognitive, psychological, economic and political. It involves a change within the person as well as in the environment. It builds up aspirations, hopes and expectations and keeps the women going.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Gandhiji’s View on Women Empowerment:
Gandhiji championed the cause of women. He considered women as the incarnation of ahimsa, the infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering. ‘Who but woman, the mother of man, shows this capacity in the largest measure?
Let her not forget, she will occupy her proud position by the side of man as his mother, maker and silent leader. It is given to her to teach the art of peace to the warring world thirsting for that nectar’. Gandhiji considered woman as the personification of self-sacrifice.
Indian National Congress (INC), the first national political party, founded by A.O. Hume in 1885, has taken steps to uplift women’s status in India. INC has brought up many women national leaders. Most of the people’s movements of INC had good participation of women.
The leaders of INC had profound respect for women and encouraged them to play a leading role in freedom movement, such as civil disobedience and sathyagrahas. Several policy documents prepared by INC before the Independence have upheld gender equality.
As president of the Indian National Congress in 1931, Jawaharlal Nehru accepted equal political and legal rights of woman and introduced the concept of equal obligations along with equal rights in the fundamental rights resolution passed by the Congress that year.
G.K. Deodher, one of the founder members of the Servants of Indian Society dedicated a major part of his life for the cause of women’s education. D.K. Karve was a staunch protagonist of widow remarriage and devoted his energies to the work of the education of the widows.
The establishment of SNDT Women’s University which dispels ignorance of hundreds of women was the glorious climax of that modest work begun in the field of social work. The candle enkindled by SNDT University is slowly spreading its light all over India.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in India:
Rural Indian women devote their whole time to their families. After doing their household work they are engaged in earning money for their families. There is no doubt that the women of our country are the victims of social inequality. Definitely there are few instances of empowered women in India but what is the actual situation of rural Indian women? Are they really empowered? In this article we will try to find out answers of these questions.
Without economic empowerment total empowerment of a woman is not possible. As most of the women in rural India are economically backward they are deprived of different kinds of facilities, rights etc. As most of them are illiterate or semi educated they are exploited in various ways. In most of the cases they are ignorant about their rights.
Self Help Group and Rural Indian Women:
Unemployment is a serious problem in our country. In this situation self-help group is playing a significant role for the economic betterment of rural Indian women. Self-help group is mainly a group of 10 to 20 members of homogenous group or community working for economic betterment of rural people in India. Rural women face lots of hardships and discrimination. They work as lower wage labour. Self-help group is a ray of hope for them.
Both central and state government had taken policy and initiative to set up self-help groups in order to economic upliftment of rural women in India. NABARD started SHG bank linkage programme. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) actively promotes the SHGs in the state. Mention may be made of Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) initiated by Rural Development Department.
According to the newspaper The Hindu (25th August, 2010), “The total number of SHGs in the State stands at approximately 12 lakh with more than 1.2 crore beneficiaries with approximately Rs.2000 crore of credit provided and a savings of approximately Rs.1200 crore. Currently, there are 3,00,388 SHGs in the State under the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) programme which is looked after by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department in the rural areas.”
Speech on Women Empowerment # Micro-Credit and Empowerment:
The Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980 to 1985) of the Government of India is a landmark in the history of women’s development with emphasis on health, education and employment. The Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985 to 1990) provided top priority for programmes to improve the status of women and operationalized the concern of equality and empowerment, generating awareness about their rights and privileges and training them for economic activities and employment.
The focus also was on bringing them into the mainstream of national development. The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992 to 1997) continued emphasis on ensuring that benefits of development in the different sectors do not circumvent women and that women are enabled to function as equal partners in the development process.
A major development in the empowerment of women is the 73rd Constitutional amendment to Panchayat Raj Act which requires 1/3rd of the posts of ‘Sarpanch’ and chairman of the block level assemblies (Samiti) and in the district assembly (Zilla parishad) to be filled with women.
This is expected to bring radical changes in women’s status and will generally increase their political participation. The Finance Minister stated that Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) had emerged as an important means to financial inclusion. 2011 Union Budget has created a Rs. 500 crore ($111 mn) women’s Self Help Group (SHG)’s Development Fund.
The micro-credit programme launched in the early nineties ushered in a silent revolution for the empowerment of women.
Other Empowerment Effecting Areas:
(a) Judicial Legal System
(b) Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in the Development Process
(c) Economic Empowerment of Women – Poverty Eradication
(d) Micro-Credit
(e) Women and Economy
(f) Globalization
(g) Women and Agriculture
(h) Women Industry
(i) Support Services
(j) Social Empowerment of Women Education
(k) 50% reservation for women in AP.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Feminism and Women Empowerment:
Feminism is an awareness of women’s oppression and exploitation in society, at work and within family and conscious action by women and men to change this situation. There is no universally accepted definition for feminism. It is a cluster of values, a perspective, an ideology, a way of looking at life and the world with women’s eyes.
All issues are women’s issues because women constitute half the world’s population. “Personal is political”. Nothing is personal as everything one does has an influence on others.
Feminism questions our ego, attitudes, beliefs, relationships, religion, our value systems, our inmost feelings, and thinking. It is comprehensive. It questions private sphere and public sphere. The division between domestic and public is disempowering women. It also questions democracy, peace, ecology, family, caste, race, class, religious fundamentalism etc., and challenges patriarchy and male -dominated systems.
It is a discursive process, a process of producing meaning, of subverting representations of gender, a process of new representation of womanhood, women’s identity and gender. Feminism is transformational of political practices and ethics and the transformation is towards feminization and democratization at domestic, social and political level. It is a transformation towards economic leveling, racism/ casteism and social inequality.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Women Achievers of Post Independent India:
It goes without saying that Indian women have been achievers since the pre-independence era. Take the example of Rani of Jhansi, who fought bravely in the first mutiny of 1857 against colonial rule. And women also participated subsequently in the struggle against the British. For instance Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army had a women’s battalion.
Post-independence, the role of women has evolved with the evolution of the society and a change of thought process. The result being that today it is no big deal if a woman is an engineer, a politician or an army major which was all male- dominated professions at one point of time.
Here is an abridged list of women who either broke erstwhile largely male bastions or created a dent in their chosen fields:
1. Durga Khote:
Indian cinema entered a new phase with the entry of this fiery young actress in 1931 when she made her debut in a silent film. The first woman from a ‘good’ family who entered films, Durga Khote broke the notion that movies were a taboo profession for Indian women. A leading Indian magazine, rated her among 100 people who shaped India, as it noted that “Durga Khote marks the pioneering phase for woman in Indian cinema”.
2. Homai Vyarawalla:
India’s first woman photojournalism Homai Vyarawalla took the first picture of her career at the age of 26 in 1938. She has worked for the Illustrated Weekly of India and by clicking some historical pictures herself became a historical figure.
3. Sarojini Naidu:
The governor of erstwhile United Provinces, Sarojini Naidu became the first Indian woman to be made the Governor of a state when India attained independence from the British rule on August 15, 1947. Sadly she breathed her last barely two years after that. She was also the first Indian woman to become the president of the Indian National Congress in pre-independent India.
4. Vijay Lakshmi Pandit:
She was not only the first Indian but also the first woman president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1953. Besides, Pandit had served as envoy to the USSR before her appointment to this coveted post. Vijay Lakshmi was the younger sister of ex-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
5. IB Joshi:
The first woman IAS officer of independent India, Isha Basant Joshi was posted as Magistrate and then as Assistant Commissioner in Delhi, followed by her appointment as Commissioner-cum-State Editor of District Gazette. She retired in 1966. The sad part of her life is that at the ripe age of 96, the lady was spending her last days in the dingy servant quarter of her already sold out ancestral house.
6. Sucheta Kriplani:
First woman Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in independent India in 1963, Sucheta was a freedom fighter and also one of the few women who was elected in the Constituent Assembly and was a part of the subcommittee that drafted the Constitution of free India.
7. Reita Faria:
The first Indian woman to win the Miss World title in 1966 serves as a role model for women who aspire for glamour. Reita Faria gave up modeling after her tenure as Miss World ended. She took up medical studies after that and became a doctor.
8. Indira Gandhi:
First woman Prime Minister of independent India in 1966, Indira was the daughter of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. She was PM for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984.
With the Green Revolution that made India a food exporter to the White Revolution that aimed at combating malnutrition, Indira’s tenure was also tainted by her clamping of Emergency due to which her career suffered a serious setback.
9. Maharani Gayatri Devi:
The Rajmata of Jaipur was born as Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar. She was the third Maharani of Jaipur from 1939 to 1970 through her marriage to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II.
Following India’s independence, she became an extremely successful politician and was a 15-time MP. Known for her beauty, she championed the cause of women’s education and upliftment. She was also the first to step out of Purdah in her state, paving the way for other women’s freedom.
10. Kiran Bedi:
Breaking the shackles of the male-dominated Indian Police Service, Kiran Bedi became the first woman IPS officer of India in the year 1972. She has worked with the United Nations as the Police Advisor to the Secretary General.
Bedi has also received the Ramon Magsaysay Award when she was the IG of Tihar jail. Prior to joining the civil services, Kiran was an Asian tennis champion.
11. Bachendri Pal:
This bold Indian from the North-East braved the onslaught of an injury to become famous as the first Indian woman who successfully surmounted the highest mountain peak Mt Everest in 1984. She was also the fifth woman of the world to have achieved this remarkable feat.
12. Kalpana Chawla:
First Indian-born woman to enter space in 1997, Kalpana Chawla’s life ended tragically when while returning from her second mission for 16-days, her space shuttle Columbia disintegrated and killed the 41 year old astronaut.
13. Mary Kom:
Our-time world champion M C Mary Kom is the first woman boxer to be honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. She is also the first boxer along with Vijender Singh to be awarded the same.
The Manipuri girl also won the Arjuna award in 2004 before being conferred with the Padma Shri a couple of years later in 2006. She is also the International Boxing Association’s Ambassador for women’s boxing. She has won a bronze medal in 2012 Olympics.
14. Sania Mirza:
She became the first Indian to have won a Grand Slam title when she triumphed in the girl’s doubles event at Wimbledon in 2003. She is also the country’s highest ranked WTA player.
15. Fathima Beevi:
The first woman judge of the Supreme Court, Fathima Beevi was also the first one to be appointed as a judge of the apex court in the whole of Asia. It is an achievement for an Indian woman and a feat indeed for a Muslim woman during 1989. Her accomplishment lay in the fact that she facilitated the entry of other women in the apex court.
16. Priya Jhingan:
Erstwhile male bastion the Indian Army was broken by Priya Jhingan-Army’s first woman. In fact she even wrote to the then Chief of Army Staff, General Sunith Francis Rodrigues requesting him to open doors of the Army to the Indian woman.
And in the year 1992, the bright young law graduate joined the ‘hard’ profession. Before she retired she said, “It’s a dream I have lived every day for the last 10 years”.
17. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay:
With a list of accomplishments to her credit, Padma Bandopadhyay an IAF officer who rose to be India’s first woman Air Vice Marshal in 2002, Bandopadhyay also served as the first woman fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society of India and the first Indian woman to have conducted scientific research at the North Pole as also the first woman officer to have completed the Defence Service Staff College course in 1978 and to command the IAF’s Central Medical Establishment (CME).
18. Pratibha Patil:
In 2007, Pratibha Patil became the country’s first woman president. Prior to this, she was also the first woman governor of Rajasthan from 2004-2007. What is noteworthy is that she has never lost an election that she has contested.
19. Meira Kumar:
In 2009, Meira Kumar became the country’s first woman as a Dalit Speaker of the Lok Sabha and was elected unopposed. An IFS officer by profession, Meira was a Cabinet Minister in the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment in 2004-2009. Meira is-a five-time Lok Sabha MP.
20. Sushmita Sen:
In 1994, for the first time, an Indian beauty won the Miss Universe crown. The answer to the question of the final round made her immensely popular among people. When asked “What was the essence of being a woman?” the charming 18- year-old replied, “The origin of a child was a woman…. a woman teaches a man what … caring….is all about…” This won her the much sought after crown.
21. Naina Lal Kidwai:
The first Indian woman to graduate from the Harvard Business School, Naina Lal Kidwai was appointed as the country head of HSBC (India) this year. Kidwai was bestowed with the Padma Shri in 2007 and was also in WSJ’s list of world’s top 50 businesswomen. Not only this, the woman was listed as one of the 15 global influential of 2002 by Time magazine.
Politics:
Women of India are highly active today in this area. Sarojini Naidu, Vijaylakshami Pandit, Sucheta Kriplani were the torch bearers for the women of India. Mrs. Vijay Lakshami Pandit was the first Indian woman to hold a post in the cabinet thus paving the way for other women.
The most important name in the category of women politicians of recent times is Mrs. Indira Gandhi. She was the one who made world stop and notice the talent and potential of Indian women. She was the first woman Prime Minister of Independent India.
Today her daughter-in law Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is following her footsteps and leading the Indian National Congress. Other women who have made their name in politics of India are Shiela Dixit, Uma Bharti, Jayalalitha, Vasundhra Raje and Mamata Banerjee.
Sports:
Indian women have achieved great laurels for the nation in every sport. Whether it is cricket or hockey, India has national women team for every game. Indian women cricket team has won Asia Cup of 2004 and 2005 and made their own country proud.
Some women sports icons of India are:
1. P.T. Usha (Athletics)
2. Kunjarani Devi (Weight lifting)
3. Diana Edulji (Cricket)
4. Sania Mirza (Tennis)
5. Karnam Malleshwari (Weight lifting)
Art and Entertainment:
This arena is full of Indian women. We have many names to boast of like M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle as famous singers. Madhu Bala, Rekha, Aishwarya Rai as Bollywood queens. Today an Indian woman is a painter, an actor, a singer and a beauty queen.
Literature:
In the past, women of India used to write, but their work did not get the recognition. Today they are getting their dues. Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Shobhaa De, Jhumpa Lahiri are famous names in Indian literature. Not just in India now these women are recognized all over the world.
Arundhati Roy has been awarded with the Booker Prize of 1997 for her work “God of Small Things”. Kiran Desai has been given Booker Prize of 2006 and Jhumpa Lahiri got recognition in the form of Pulitzer prize.
Corporate Divas:
Kiran Majumdar Shaw is the undisputed corporate queen of India. She is the richest Indian woman. She is the MD of Biocon India. She is the wealthiest entrepreneur of India. Kiran wanted to become a doctor but could not get admission in medical colleges but even then she did not lose courage and went on to become India’s first woman ‘Brew Master’ and subsequently corporate queen.
Other names in this list include Vidya Mohan Chhabaria, Chairperson of Jumbo Group, Naina Lal Kidwai, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of HSBC Securities and Capital Market, Sullaijja Firodia Motwani and Mallika Srinivasan.
Social Saints:
The Indian saint of today’s times Mother Teresa, is the name which every Indian is familiar with. She was the person who used to consider the smile of her countrymen as her wealth. She worked for those whom even their own families have deserted.
She did not care whether she is in the company of a person suffering from communicable disease or whether it is day or night. Whenever or wherever one needed her she was present. She opened various homes for these people, most famous of which is “Nirmal Hriday”. It is open to everyone irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
Another important name working for the cause of people includes Aruna Roy who worked for the save RTI Campaign and Medha Patekar who is associated with Narmada Bachao Andolan.
Universal Queens:
Indian women have not just made their mark on earth but they have engraved their name in the whole universe by flying to space. Kalpana Chawla, who was the member of Colombia Space Shuttle, which exploded on its way back, was the first Indian woman astronaut who visited space station. And now following on her footsteps, another woman of Indian origin Sunita Williams has become the second one to be the member of International Space Station crew.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Awards for Women:
There are number of Indian women who have surmounted their difficulties and problems. Government of India and other organisations have installed awards in recognition of such women who are known as Women Achievers of India.
Government of India, at the instance of Shrimati Sumitra Mahajan, Minister of State of Women and Child Development, has decided to recognize and honour the services of such women who have made outstanding contributions in the life of the nation. This will encourage them further to carry on their work, and to motivate and inspire hundreds of such voluntary women workers throughout the country.
Five national awards, to be known as Shree Shakti Puraskars, were instituted in 1999, in the name of five illustrious daughters of India – Kannagi, Mata Jijabai, Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and Rani Gaindiliu. Each award would be presented annually and shall carry a cash prize of rupees one lakh and a citation in scroll. The awards would be given every year for women who make outstanding contributions to the nation.
1. Adarsha Mata Puraskar (Since 1976):
When the head of the family, who had occupied the highest position like the Diwan or the Chief Justice in the then Indian Princely states, passed away prematurely, the traditionally trained housewife rose to the occasion and shouldered the onerous responsibility of bringing up her children in a novel way and thus fulfill the unfinished desire of her husband by imparting vocational guidance and support for career development.
This she did by starting a home industry and gradually handed the responsibility to her teenage sons who were still students. This is the story of Matoshri Maisaheb Parkhe who was a woman of surprising foresight and conviction of her times. This story has inspired many women entrepreneurs. “Adarsha” means ideal and “mata” means mother in Marathi.
This Puraskar was instituted with a feeling of indebtedness and to express gratitude towards such women with great conviction and for who those strive hard under adverse conditions and shoulder the responsibility of the family and to make their children happy and successful in life and ultimately make them good and responsible citizens of the society. It aims to recognize their enormous sacrifice, conviction and determination.
The felicitation includes certificate of honour, a memento and a cash prize. The life sketch of the awardees’ the mother (awardee) is presented to the audience and willing family members also speak at the occasion. It is a short and brief function, an effort targeted towards encouraging, recognising and felicitating couple with such good deeds in society.
2. Sahitya Academy Award:
Suzanna Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya to a Keralite Syrian Christian mother who was the women’s rights activist named Mary Roy, and a Bengali Hindu father, a tea planter by profession. She spent her childhood in Ayamenem in Kerala, and went to school in Corpus Christi, Kottayam, followed by The Lawrence School, Lovedale in the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.
She then studied architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, where she met her first husband, architect Gerard DaCunha. Roy met her second husband, filmmaker Pradip Krishen, in 1984, and became involved in film-making under his influence. She played a village girl in the award-winning movie Massey Sahib. Roy is a cousin of the prominent media personality Prannoy Roy and lives in New Delhi.
Arundhati Roy was awarded the 1997 Booker Prize for her fiction The God of Small Things’. The award carried a prize of US$1 million and a citation that noted – ‘The book keeps all the promises that it makes.’
In 2002, she won the Lannan Foundation’s Cultural Freedom Award for her work “about civil societies that are adversely affected by the world’s most powerful governments and corporations” and “to celebrate her life and her ongoing work in the struggle for freedom, justice and cultural diversity.”
Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May 2004 for her work in social campaigns and her advocacy of non-violence. In January 2006 she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for her collection of essays on contemporary issues, The Algebra of Infinite Justice, but she declined to accept it.
3. Woman of Multi Awards:
Dr. Kiran Bedi was the first female recruit to join the Indian Police Service, in 1972. Born in Amritsar, Punjab, in 1949, she has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the Government College for Women, a Master’s degree in Political Science from Punjab University, a Law degree from University of Delhi, and a Doctorate in Social Sciences from the Indian Institute of Science, Delhi. She is also a former all-India and all-Asian tennis champion, having won the Asian Ladies Title at the age of 22.
Kiran Bedi has had great influence on the Indian Police Service, especially in the areas of narcotics, traffic and VIP Security. She is most famous for prison reforms that she instituted during her term as Inspector General of Prisons at the Tihar Jails in Delhi.
These included – detoxification programs, improved nutrition and sanitation, literacy and language classes taught by prisoners, yoga, prayer, meditation, legal advocacy by prisoners who were lawyers, tree-planting inside the prison and acting upon prisoner complaints. Kiran Bedi has also established two voluntary organizations, Navjyoti, and India Vision Foundation, which aim to improve the lifestyle of poor people and drug addicts.
Today Indian women have excelled in each and every field from social work to visiting space station. There is no arena, which remained unconquered by Indian women. Whether it is politics, sports, entertainment, literature or technology, they have carved a niche for themselves and received immense applauses.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Career Training for Women:
There should be increased access for women to vocational, technical and professional education and to the existing and emergent technologies. The choice of disciplines offered to women at all levels in all types of technical education should be in keeping with the objective of bringing about women’s equality. The identification of some skills and occupation as “suitable” or “relevant” to women should no longer dictate the choice of subjects. The selection of subject should be based on the aptitude of the individual and the employment potential. Adequate counselling services should be made available to all the students.
The most serious omission in conceptualizing career choice is the consideration of the effects of sex role socialisation on the decision making process. Career choices and career decisions are influenced by the decisions about marriage, parenthood, female-male responsibilities in home making etc.
Social norms and expected sex roles also have an impact on career decision. Women are really not free to explore their interest and make choices with a more conscious perspective. Girls’ capabilities are usually under estimated by the parents, teachers and the society. Indian girls have not been trained adequately by the educational institutions to be able to battle on their own and hence they give way to pressure and thus we find a vast number of able women ending up in low status, low paid jobs.
Again, in a conservative society like India, aiming high in the external world of success and power by women is not relished. Usually, girls are not taken seriously as careerists as career is considered to be of secondary importance. Marriage is the principal determinant of a women’s social position and it is more important to get married to men with high paid jobs.
The traditional myth such as—girls do not need to work, the husband’s duty is to support them, women’s work is in the house, and those who work outside neglect their homes and children; women may work until they marry; married women and mothers are not reliable workers; women are poor at qualitative analysis and unable to make tough decisions etc.—continue to influence women’s career and act as barrier to women’s advancement into senior positions.
If girls’ careers are to be taken seriously the significance of subjects like Science and Mathematics should be explained to them in the middle school itself. Guidance should be given to them at the school stage itself for developing self-confidence, assurance and strength, They have got to learn to be assertive, firm and dynamic. Teachers should give extra encouragement to girls both to believe in their own ability and sense of self-worth. Education should help in training of skills such as overcoming fear of failure, coping with stress, developing resistance to criticism and willingness to take risks.
Curricula and textbooks should be redesigned to include values and process commensurate with the new status of women.
Values identified are:
1. Home management, a joint responsibility of all members
2. respect for the roles performed inside and outside the home
3. equal participation in the development of the nation
4. equal commitment for work at home and outside by both the sexes
5. decision making process at all levels to be shared by both the sexes
6. women not to be projected as sex symbols or prosperity symbols
7. no dependence syndrome but women to be self-reliant, self-propelled and self-directed
8. no degrading of women in matrimony such as bride price, dowry, sati etc.
9. development of vocational skills and competencies for economic independence.
Empowerment of rural women should be the priority area of non-formal, adult and continuing education programmes. Stress on need based functional education and skill development in the practical utility areas would attract enrolment of girls in non-formal education. People in mass media, folk media, functionaries of voluntary agencies, performing artists and creative workers should be sensitized to promote the identified values of empowerment of women.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Need for Women Empowerment:
It is true that human community classified (on the basis of sex) into two groups – men and women. The aims and objectives, desires and aspirations, duties and responsibilities, dress style and behavioural patterns, roles and statuses of men and women are different.
Study of the history of human society mainly in patriarchal society reveals that patriarchal civilisation did not create the women, but the concept of ‘Women’ is completely created by patriarchal civilisation. Women are being identified, not only as independent individuals but also as mothers, daughters, wives or as family members. Majority of the patriarchal society thought men has hurt or mind but women only have a body.
According to Aristotle – ‘Women is deformed man’. Also according to ST. Thomas Aquinus – ‘Women are the cause of sin’. Both have said in the same tune that God has created woman only for the production of life’. John Ruskin said that ‘Women are the Nurse of Men’.
As we all know that India is a male dominated country where males are dominated in every area and females are forced to be responsible for only family care and live in the home including other many restrictions. Almost 50% of the population in India is covered by the female only so the full development of the country depends on the half population (women) who are not empowered and still restricted by many social taboos.
In such condition, we cannot say that our country would be developed in the future without empowering its half population, that is, women. If we want to make our country a developed country, first of all it is very necessary to empower women by the efforts of men, government, laws and women too. The need of women empowerment arose because of the gender discrimination and male domination in the Indian society since ancient time.
Women are being suppressed by their family members and society for many reasons. They have been targeted for many types of violence and discriminatory practices by the male members in the family and society in India and other countries as well. Wrong and old practices for the women in the society from ancient time have taken the form of well-developed customs and traditions.
There is a tradition of worshipping many female goddesses in India including giving honour to the women forms in the society like mother, sister, daughter, wife and other female relatives or friends. But, it does not mean that only respecting or honouring women can fulfill the need of the development in the country. It needs the empowerment of women of the country in every walk of life.
India is a famous country proving the common proverb like ‘unity is diversity’, where people of many religious beliefs are in the Indian society. Women have been given a special place in every religion which is working as a big curtain covering the eyes of people and help in the continuation of many ill practices (including physical and mental) against women as a norm since ages.
In the ancient Indian society, there was a custom of sati pratha, nagar vadhu system, dowry system, sexual violence, domestic violence, female infanticide, parda pratha, wife burning, sexual harassment at work place, child marriage, child labour, devadashi pratha, etc. including other discriminatory practices. All such type of ill practices is because of male superiority complex and patriarchal system of the society.
Socio-political rights (right to work, right to education, right to decide for themselves, etc.) for the women were completely restricted by the male members of family. Some of the ill practices against women have been eliminated by the open minded and great Indian people who raise their voices for the discriminatory practices against women. Through the continuous efforts of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, British rulers were forced to eliminate the ill practice of Sati pratha.
Later, other famous social reformers of India (Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Swami Vivekananda, etc.) also had raised their voices and worked hard for the upliftment of women in Indian society. In India, the Widow Remarriage Act, 1856 was initiated by the continuous efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in order to improve the conditions of widows in the country. In the recent years, various constitutional and legal rights have been implemented by the government of India in order to eliminate ill practices and gender discrimination against women.
However, in order to solve such a big issue, the continuous effort of everyone including women is required. Modern society is being more aware about the women rights which results in the increasing number of several self-help groups, NGOs, etc. working in this direction. Women are being more open minded and breaking the societal barriers in order to achieve their rights in all dimensions even after crimes are going side by side.
Some of the acts passed by the Parliament are Equal Remuneration Act-1976, Dowry Prohibition Act-1961, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act-1956, Medical termination of Pregnancy Act-1971, Maternity Benefit Act-1961, Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act-1987. Prohibition of Child Marriage Act-2006, Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act-1994, Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention and Protection) Act-2013, etc. in order to empower women with legal rights.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Confronting Issues of Women Empowerment:
There are several confronting issues of women empowerment in India.
These are as follows:
1. Heavy workload on the women.
2. Emphasizing on Patriarchal role model.
3. Negative and sensational coverage of media.
4. Attitudinal barriers of society towards women.
5. Illiteracy and isolation of women from each other’s.
6. Less number of women’s organization for providing support services.
7. Lack of feminist leadership in framing schemes, acts, policies and legislations for women and girls.
8. Traditional views which limit women’s participation in market-employment, cultural, political, and administrative issues.
9. Incompetent laws and amendments as the fundamental problems lie in the attitude of the society which is highly biased against women.
10. Failure to develop the qualities of inferiority, subservience and domesticity among the girl child especially in rural, tribal and poor families for her education and development.
11. The lower enrolment of girls in schools and playing the role of second mother by shouldering the responsibilities of household work such as looking after the siblings are major confronting issues of women empowerment in India.
Speech on Women Empowerment # Agencies and Factors Facilitating Empowerment of Women:
1. U.N. and Empowerment of Women:
Equality of rights for women is a basic principle of the U.N. The U.N. set as a basic goal, “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women.” One of the purposes of the U.N. is to achieve international co-operation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedom for all people without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.
Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and wide spread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The charter of the United Nations was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Over the years the Organization has helped to create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide. While progress has been achieved, much work remains to be done.
2. Role of N.G.O.s:
The importance of N.G.O.s in catering to the needs of the disadvantaged sections in society is increasing day by day. A new culture of governance is emerging where developmental activities are channelised through N.G.O.S with a view to effective implementation of the programme as well as minimising the corruption. Nowadays, N.G.O.s is invited by the government to participate in the annual budget and the five year plan consultations.
There are hundreds of N.G.O.s functioning in the developing and underdeveloped countries with different goals. Majority of them work at the grass-root level for poverty eradication and their main target is poor women and children in the underdeveloped rural pockets. Many foreign based N.G.O.s have funds, plans and policies for empowering women.
They conduct surveys, study classes, form women groups to provide education, employment and empowerment for poor women. They identify the local problems and channelise funds from government and outside agencies in the right direction towards solving the identified problems.
Some N.G.O.s are co-opted or instrumentalised to implement government policies and programmes. Government agencies and donor organisations delegate responsibility to N.G.O.s in order to implement the scheme more effectively at low costs. For example, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) offers credit to women through N.G.O.s.
In the first two and a half years of its existence, an amount of Rs.6.4 million was lent to 1,47,000 women members through 136 N.G.O.s. The rate of repayment was found to be very encouraging i.e., 96% compared to 46% for other public credit systems.
3. Government and Empowerment:
The Govt. of India has taken numerous measures and is making honest endeavours to hoist the status of women and establish gender equality. The constitutional obligations as well as different plans, programmes and policies have laid emphasis on women empowerment.
During the post-independent era, women have been recognised as a separate target group and the government has directed its efforts towards mainstreaming of women into the national developmental process. This period has witnessed far-reaching changes in almost all spheres—political, economic and social. In terms of constitutional, legal and administrative measures, many commendable initiatives have been taken.
Prominent among them are the Constitutional provisions for gender equality and justice, enactment of new laws and amendment of existing laws to protect and promote the interests of women, setting up of women-specific administrative and economic structures, such as Women and Child Development Department at the Union and State Government levels, formation of National Commission for women in several states, State Women Development Corporations, orienting plan strategy to include women specific and women related programmes, launching of special schemes like Rashtriya Mahila Kosh and Mahila Samridhi Yojana, Indira Mahila Yojana, etc.
India had made certain commitments at the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing in 1995.
These were:
(1) Formulation of national policy on women;
(2) Increased investment of six per cent of GDP on education by 2000 AD;
(3) Universalisation of mother and child care programme through the Integrated Child Development Services Schemes (ICDS); and
(4) Setting up a commission for women’s right.
As a follow up to this commitment, a National Policy for Empowerment of Women had been drafted. The proposed National Policy will continuously guide and inform action and policy in every sector, by incorporating a gender perspective into all plans, policies, programmes, budgetary allocations, appraisals, monitoring and evaluation exercises.
The year 2001 was marked as the Year of the Women, and specific budget allocation had been made for their development. The process of increasing women’s representation at decision-making levels is proceeding with a fair amount of commitment, but much more yet remains to be done.
While terms like ’empowerment’ may be of recent coinage, issues of women, their status and role in society have all been of concern to the state, both in recent as well as historical times. The study on the status of women which culminated in the landmark report Towards Equality; (India, 1974); legislative provisions to protect the rights of women; laws on dowry, rape, domestic violence; setting up of protection cells; reservations in Panchayat bodies; reservations in the allocation of funds for women in development projects etc., are aimed at empowerment of women.
The Eighth Five Year Plan aimed at enabling women to function as equal partners and participants in development by extending the services to women both qualitatively and quantitatively. The Ninth Five Year Plan aimed at empowering women through formulation of National Commission for Women (NCW).
Formulation of the National Policy for Empowerment of women and setting up a National Resource Centre for Women are other steps taken by the Department of women and child development. The Union Government had declared the year 2001 as Women’s Empowerment Year. Women’s empowerment policy unveiled plans about a multi-faceted approach to removing various imbalances in the socio-economic environment which works against women.
Contrary to these steps, a Parliamentary Committee report depicts that budget estimates for various schemes meant for women welfare has been continuously on the decline and the actual expenditure still lower. Notwithstanding numerous welfare measures, the status of women has not been adequately hoisted and the women empowerment status varies from region to region, state to state and even between rural and urban areas. Moreover, it also varies from one community to another.
4. Education and Empowerment:
Education is an important factor leading to empowerment of women. But education in itself will not provide empowerment. It is the first step to empowerment by opening a person to a new world of information and awareness of present state of affairs. Empowerment will occur only if education is used creatively by active participation in the economy and society.
Thus education is a means and not an end in itself. Though literacy and education can become a vehicle for empowerment, it cannot be considered a necessary pre-condition for empowerment. On the contrary, lack of literacy and education blocks the way to empowerment before a woman, to a great extent.
5. Migration and Empowerment:
Migration may empower women in two ways; one is when the woman herself is employed and the second where husband or son is employed. In the first case, the high earnings of a migrated woman put her in a comparatively better position than anyone back in her village.
In the second case, the management of funds sent by a migrated husband or son may also empower her since she is solely in charge of the property and the household affairs. Though she may have to face problems like loneliness, anxiety and increased responsibility, her autonomy increases as she takes important decisions for the family.
6. Factors Facilitating and Constraining Empowerment:
Empowerment does not take place in a vacuum. Women’s state of powerlessness is a result of a combination and interaction of environmental factors, according to Lazo.
Certain factors that can foster or hinder empowerment are listed below:
Facilitating Factors:
i. Women’s organisations
ii. Availability of support systems for women
iii. Availability of women specific data and other relevant information
iv. Availability of funds
v. Feminist leadership
vi. Networking
vii. Favourable media coverage
viii. Favourable policy climate.
Constraining Factors:
i. Heavy work load of women
ii. Isolation of women from each other
iii. Illiteracy
iv. Traditional views that limit women’s participation
v. Lack of funds
vi. Internal srife/militarization/wars.
vii. Disagreements/conflicts among women’s groups
viii. Structural adjustment policies
ix. Discriminatory policy environment
x. Negative sensational coverage of media.
Whatever be the route to empowerment, empowerment within the person is the ‘core’ of the whole empowerment process. This may occur through organizational empowerment and may lead to empowerment in close relationships such as the family and society.
7. Benefits of Women Empowerment:
The UNDP administrator James Gustav Speth states- “investing in women’s capabilities and empowering them to exercise their choices is not only valuable in itself, but also the surest way to contribute to the economic growth and overall development”. Increasing the income in the hands of poor women through the expansion of employment opportunities is also associated with reduced child mortality, improved child health and nutrition.
Surveys indicate that where the labour market activity and income of adult women are greater than that of adult men, the survival rate of girls relative to boys is higher. Many countries are experiencing deficiency of skilled labour.
If women are properly educated and professionally oriented, they can provide to the human capital of the country by economic participation. The Kerala model development, with indices at par with developed economies, has become the subject of study worldwide, in this context.
Conclusion:
Higher literacy and education better care of health for herself and her children higher age at marriage acceptance of a small family norm greater work participation in modernised sector self-reliance, self-respect and dignity among women better consciousness of their rights no dependence on males higher standard of living etc. How do we operationalize all these?
What should be the role of Universities and Colleges in empowerment?
What is our social commitment?
Let us empower our own students, first, by removing sex bias in our curriculum and by designing courses incorporating women’s dimensions emphasising on the multiple role of women developing the ability to think creatively about situations the hurdles to face, possibilities of change, the coping mechanism etc. overcoming social taboos and traditional beliefs encouraging late marriages sensitizing them to laws related to property, marriage, divorce, minimum wages, maternity leave benefit etc. encouraging them to take careers seriously encouraging to believe in their own ability and a sense self-worth helping them to develop interest in application of science making them aware of possibilities of self-employment educating parents on the importance of making women economically self-sufficient.
Let us, through our extension activities, get our students to take up action programmes to raise the consciousness of rural women and empower them.
Development tasks connected with health care, environmental safety, promotion of population, education activities, family welfare, citizenship roles and responsibilities, legal rights, drudgery reduction, combating atrocities and violences committed to women, etc. could be taken up in our community service, social service and adult education activities.