‘Women Empowerment’ denotes a situation when women become free of the all the kinds of dependency and deprivations whether social or economic. It is related to overall development of women right from having an economically independent and self reliant status to an active participant in socio-political developments. ‘Women empowerment’ involves various facets of development in the form of social, educational, occupational, political, religious freedom.
The idea of Women’s Empowerment has gained global importance over the last few decades. This has emerged as an agenda of utmost importance. This issue is on the priority lists of most of government plans and programs nowadays. The main objective of these plans and programmes is to uplift the socio-economic status of women.
But in reality, it has been observed that most of the policies and programs addressed primarily the issue of enhancement of economic status of women while the other issues prevailing in the society like health, education, gender inequality etc. have been ignored. So, when we talk about the empowerment, it is related to overall development of women rather than partial emphasis on one or the other area of concern.
Empowerment comes when women become self sufficient and self reliant in all the spheres of life. They are in control of their lives and circumstances that have effect on their lives. Women empowerment is a difficult task in Indian society which is mainly patriarchal. The male dominated Indian
Women’s Liberation For women to achieve equality in society means the removal of sexism in all areas and more specifically in the legal system, and in all social aspects. There must be a change in the way people view and treat women and their bodies in media, arts, religion and education. This change occurred, through the women’s liberation of the 1960s. Women were able to achieve work right justice such as equal pay for the work they performed. Another step taken was the right a woman had towards her own body in respects to health and productivity.
Feminism is the advocacy of women 's rights on the basis of wanting to establish equal opportunities for both men and women. Feminists want to change the idea that men invent and that women use, they want to challenge the association connecting technology, machines, masculinity and work and they seek to dispute the idea of women 's technological incompetence. It can be clearly seen from the past and even in today 's world that technologies are associated with masculinity and it is a common perception that women are seen as technologically incompetent. "Technologies have a masculine image, not only because they are dominated by men but because they incorporate symbols, metaphors and values that have masculine connotations. Women 's reluctance
The Woman’s Suffrage Movement is known for having improved the quality of education for women, but this would not have been possible without the advantages they acquired during the Civil War. During the Civil War women needed to take jobs that were previously held only by men because of the level of education they required. Thus, women were required to have a better education in order to function well in these jobs while the men were at war. Since the jobs of men would undoubtedly be left for women in their absence, they had no other choice but teaching women these professions through a proper education. In addition to the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution was also part of the success for the Woman’s Suffrage Movement because women could operate machinery as easily as men, which meant more jobs were available to them.
Thus, men have it easier to sustain a job to provide for their families. The position of jobs for women show another instance of women facing unfair rights. Not only have women faced obstacles in order to work for a high-paying job, but society views women as “casual workers.” Because of this, “governments do not invest in infrastructure and health care systems that benefit women” (Aita). The fact that governments will refuse to pay health care for women clearly shows the unfairness towards them.
Advances are Being Made The gender divide has been around since man and woman walked the earth. Women have always had to fight to be equal with men. There were many movements such as Women’s suffrage that took many years to even be heard. In 1918 Representative Rankin opens debate on a suffrage amendment in the House.
The issue of women’s rights and how different societies and cultures deal with it had been on the table for many centuries. In the United States of America during the 1800s, women began to move toward and demand getting equal rights as men, they decided to speak up and fight for their stolen rights. In the 1960s, continued working toward their goal, women broadened their activities through the women’s rights movement which aimed to help them in gaining their right to receive education, occupy the same jobs that were once titled only for men, and get an access to leadership positions. The women’s rights movement has a great impact on women today, although it started a long time ago, but it did not stop and women are reaping their fruit today,
WOW- the women’s empowerment was an important part of American history. With the leadership of Evangeline Booth, the Salvation Army’s mission impacted people’s lives. Because of her leadership, the Salvation Army helped people with housing, first aid, etc. This was significant because we see women having a major impact in our lives today, which could be politically, religiously, or socially. This empowerment must be given credit to the women who rose in the early 20th century.
The Progressive Era of the early 1900s was a period of economic growth in the United States. Millions flocked to the cities like New York in pursuit of wealth, freedom, and a chance at making a better life for themselves and their families. As a prime focus during the Progressive Era, women challenged social and political barriers, which led to their empowerment and a new female political agenda. Women began to become more prominent in the workplace and by 1920, nearly 25 percent of employed women had office jobs or worked as a telephone operator (Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History Volume 2, 700).
Throughout history women have struggled to be recognized as equals. Women had been denied their rights and were considered slave to men. This discrimination, over the years, has been the cause of many uprisings. Now many have amended their beliefs and women have earned their well deserved respect but there are still those of conservative thoughts and practices. Women, to this day, face unequal job opportunities, dowry, and harassment etc.
CHAPTER ONE 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY The concept of women empowerment seems to have been used in the 1980s by third world feminists ‘to address the issue of gender differences that exist in the control and distribution of resources’ (Datta & Kornberg, 2002). There is however lack of consensus on its major characteristics. According to Datta and Kornberg (2002), women empowerment refers to ‘strategies that women use to increase their control of resources and generate decision making capacity’. Other authors like Batliwala (1994) however have a wider definition.
Empowered men and women are in a better position for contributing towards productivity of the entire family, they also support in improving prospects specifically for the future generation. On the other hand, gender equality is fundamentally related to sus¬tainable development and globally accepted as a necessity for the promotion of human rights Furthermore, gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of
Empowerment requires the full interest of individuals in the formulation, implementation, and assessment of decisions regarding the working and the prosperity of society. Far too long women have endured discrimination throughout the world. Obstacles to women’s equality with men in all backgrounds did not vanish even there are many constitutional and legal provisions were made for women to made them strong and equal. Women stayed neglected in the standard of the predominant procedure of development; just minor gains were accomplished.
Gender equity faces obstacles like the lack of education for both boys and girls, and the challenges of deviating from societal stereotypes and norms. Nevertheless, if actors from the private and public sector come together, public policy can be created to strengthen women’s lives and rights. Why Gender Equality is Important A Social Justice Issue Women cannot escape poverty, be adroit, nor become autonomous, if they do not have a good-paying job. This is difficult to attain without higher education, in a society who dismisses their employment applications and that teaches women they are submissive and physically, cognitively, and psychologically inferior to men.
More than seventy percent of poor in the world are women, while the number of females living in poverty has significantly and disproportionately increased as compared with men. Women also have unequal access to major economic resources like credit, capital, land and labor. Restricted opportunities for career advancement and employment are available for women. These limitations restrict the capabilities of women to improve their monetary and economic scenario. (Zinn, 2005) Women are not represented appropriately at all levels of governments’ decision making in community, but specifically at national and regional levels.
Chapter I On Woman For a long time, since the beginning of the first wave movement of Feminism in the 19th century, the main goal has always been to liberate women in order to be equal to men. Though political rights have been achieved by the late 19th century which is the highlight of the first wave movement and economic independence has been granted to women as a result of the second wave movement, still women has not yet achieved the full liberation as the same men. This condition of women makes way to third wave movement that aims for social equality thus it seems that even until today, women are still left behind, to the point that we now question if “liberation” is attainable for women.