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Mysore Gazette dtd 10th March 1921.

 

Women Empowerment : Challenges and Solutions

G.C. Varadarajegowda

Asst. Proff. of Economics, Govt. First Grade College, Bharathi Nagara, Maddur Tq

Abstract

This paper examines the challenges that women entrepreneurs in India. Gender equity and women Empowerment are closely related with economic development. Our efforts should be directed towards the all around developments of each every section of women, not confining the benefit to a particular section of women in society, by giving them their due share. It is a must to protect their chastity, modesty and dignity and ensure their dignified position in society without removing social stigma, enduring progress and development could not be achieved for these, the governmental and non-governmental organization including media should come forward and play an active role in creating awareness in society. The task is not too difficult to achieve. The honesty and sincerity on the part of those involved is a must if the lots of women change, definitely it will have a positive impact on Economy hence the women’s empowerment is the need of the hour.

Introduction

Women entrepreneur is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal needs and become economically independent. Women contribute significantly to the running of family business in the form of unpaid effort and skills. The value of this effort is under estimated both by the families that take it for granted and in academic studies. Women sector occupies nearly 48% of Indian population.

Women Empowerment is basically the creation of an environment where women can make independent decisions on their personal development as well as shine as equals in society. Women want to be treated as equals so much so that if a woman rises to the top of her field it should be a commonplace occurrence that draws nothing more than a raised eyebrow at the gender. This can only happen if there is a channelized route for the empowerment of women.

Challenges

There are several challenges that are currently plaguing the issues of women’s rights in India. A few of these challenges are presented below,

Women in India constitute around half of the country’s population. Hence, they are regarded as the “better half of the society”. In the official proclamation, they are at par with men. But, in real life, the truth prevails otherwise. Our society is still male-dominated and women are not treated as equal partners both inside and outside four walls of the house.

In fact, they are treated as weak and dependent on men. As such, the Indian women enjoy a disadvantageous status in the society. Let us give some fact about it. The low literacy rate (40%), low work participation rate (28%) and low urban population share (10%) of women as compared to 60%, 52% and 18% respectively of their male counterparts well confirm their disadvantageous position in the Indian society.

Our age-old socio-cultural traditions and taboos arresting the women within four walls of their houses also make their conditions more disadvantageous. These factors together serve as non-conducive conditions for the emergence and development of women entrepreneurship in the country.

Given these unfavourable conditions, the development of women entrepreneurship is expectedly low in the country. This is well indicated by a dismally low level of women (5.2%) in total self-employed persons in the country. Further, women entrepreneurs in India accounted for 9.01% of the total 1.70 million entrepreneurs in the country.

There is a big gap between men and women literacy rates. According 2011 census while 82.14% of adult men are educated, only 65.46% of adult women are known to literate in India. In addition to that normal of culture that state that the men of the family is the be-all and end –all of family decisions is slowly spoiling the society of the country.

Income and wealth are not distributed equally among men and women in India. About a third of the county’s population lines on less than 1.25 USD per day. Among them women are earning very less Income.

The health and safety concerns of women are paramount for the wellbeing of a country, and is an important factor in gauging the empowerment of women in a country. However there are alarming concerns where maternal healthcare is concerned.

Empowerment of women

We should empower women in economic, socio and other diminations. They are as follows

Poverty Eradication:

Since women comprise the majority of the population below the poverty line and are very often in situations of extreme poverty, give the harsh realities of intra-household and social discrimination, macro economic policies and poverty eradication programmes will specifically address the needs and problems of such women. There will be implementation of programmes which are already women oriented with special targets for women. Steps will be taken for mobilization of poor women and convergence of services, by offering them a range of economic and social options, along with necessary support measures to enhance their capabilities.

Micro Finance:

In order to enhance women’s access to credit for consumption and production, the establishment of new, and strengthening of existing micro-credit mechanisms and micro-finance institution will be undertaken so that the outreach of credit is enhanced.

Involving in policy framing:

Women’s perspectives will be included in designing and implementing macro-economic and social policies by institutionalizing their participation in such process. Their contribution to socio-economic development as producers and workers will be recognized in the formal and informal sectors (including home based workers) and appropriate policies relating to employment and to her working conditions will be drawn up.

Agricultural sector:

In view of the critical role of women in the agriculture and allied sectors, as producers, concentrated efforts will be made to ensure that benefits of training, extension and various programmes will reach them in proportion to their numbers. The programmes for training women in soil conservation, social forestry, dairy development and other occupations allied to agriculture like horticulture, livestock including small animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries etc. will be expanded to benefit women workers in the agriculture sector.

Industrial Sector:

The important role played by women in electronics, information technology and food processing and agro industry and textiles has been crucial to the development of these sectors. They would be given comprehensive support in terms of labor legislation, social security and other support services to participate in various industrial sectors.

Equality in Education:

Equal access to education for women and girls will be ensured. Special measures will be taken to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate illiteracy, create a gender-sensitive educational system, increase enrolment and retention rates of girls and improve the quality of education to facilitate life-long learning as well as development of occupation/vocation/technical skills by women. Reducing the gender gap in secondary and higher education would be a focus area.

Improvement in Health Sector:

A holistic approach to women’s health which includes both nutrition and health services will be adopted and special attention will be given to the needs of women and the girl at all stages of the life cycle. The reduction of infant mortality and maternal mortality, which are sensitive indicators of human development, is a priority concern. The policy reiterates the national demographic goals for Infant Mortality rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) set out in the National Population Policy 2000.

Nutrition:

Intra-household discrimination in nutritional matters vis-à-vis girls and women will be sought to be ended through appropriate strategies. Widespread use of nutrition education would be made to address the issues of intra-household imbalances in nutrition and the special needs of pregnant and lactating women.

Rehabilitation to Victims:

All forms of violence against women, physical and mental should be stopped. Institutions and mechanisms/schemes for assistance will be created and strengthened for prevention of such violence, including sexual harassment at work place and customs like dowry; for the rehabilitation of the victims of violence and for taking effective action against the perpetrators of such violence.

Rights of the Girl Child:

All forms of discrimination against the girl child and violation of her rights shall be eliminated by undertaking strong measures both preventive and punitive within and outside the family. These would relate specifically to strict enforcement of laws against prenatal sex selection and the practices of female foeticide, female infanticide, child marriage, child abuse and child prostitution etc. Removal of discrimination in the treatment of the girl child within the family and outside and projection of a positive image of the girl child will be actively fostered.

Use of Media:

Media will be used to portray images consistent with human dignity of girls and women. The policy will specifically strive to remove demeaning, degrading and negative conventional stereotypical images of women and violence against women. Private sector partners and media networks will be involved at all levels to ensure equal access for women particularly in the area of information and communication technologies.

Institutional Mechanisms:

National and State Resource centres on women will be established with mandates for collection and dissemination of information, undertaking research work, conducting surveys, implementing training and awareness generation programmes, etc. These Centers will link up with Women’s Studies Centers and other research and academic institutions through suitable information networking systems.

Women’s Component Plan:

The strategy of women’s Component Plan adopted in the Ninth Plan of ensuring that not less than 30% of benefits/funds flow to women from all Ministries and Departments will be implemented effectively so that needs and interests of women and girls are addressed by all concerned sectors.

Legislation:

Strict enforcement of all relevant legal provisions and speedy redressal of grievances will be ensured, with a special focus on violence and gender related atrocities. Measures to prevent and punish sexual harassment at the place of work, protection for women workers in the organized/ unorganized sector and strict enforcement of relevant laws such as Equal Remuneration Act and Minimum wages act will be undertaken. Crimes against women, their incidence, prevention investigation detection and prosecution will be regularly reviewed at all Crime Review for a and conferences at the Central, State and District levels. Women’s Cells in Police Stations, Encourage women Police stations Family Courts, Mahila Courts, Counselling Centres, Legal Aid Centers and Nyaya Panchayats will be streangthened and expanded to eliminate violence and atrocities against women. Widespread dissemination of information on all aspects of legal rights, human rights and other entitlements of women, through specially designed legal literacy programmes and rights information programmes will be done.

Reservation for Women:

Reservation for women at each level of legislative decision making, starting with the Lok Sabha, down to state and local legislatures. If the bill is passed, one-third of the total available seats would be reserved for women in national, state, or local governments. In continuation of the existing provisions already mandating reservations for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, one-third of such SC and ST candidates must be women.

Conclusion

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are human rights that lie at the heart of development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Dispite the progress that has been made, six out of ten of poorest people are still women and girls, less percent of the India. Parliamentarians are women, two thirds of all children shut outside the school gates are girls and Women are still systematically subjected to violence in closed doors at home. Women empowerment connotes “Economic Empowerment” which implies a better quality of material life through sustainable livelihood owned and managed by women, “Social Empowerment” which means a more equitable social status for women in society, “Legal Empowernment” That suggests the provision of an effective legal structure which is supportive of women’s empowerment and “Political Empowerment” means a political system favouring the participation in, and control by women of the political decision making process and governance.

References

Sethuraman.K.R. lans down and K.Sulivan(2006) women’s Empowerment and domestic violence, Food and Nutrition bulletein 27(2): 128-143.

Kushwana, Women welfare, Some New Dimensions. New Delhi-2003

Devasia, Leelamma, empowering women for sustainable Development, New Delhi-1994.

2011 census Report.

National Policy for the Empowerment of women(2001) India.

Heise.L.L.(1998) ‘Violence Against Women’ A neglected public health issue in less developed countries, Social Science Medicine 39:1165-79

 

GROWTH AND PERFORMANCE OF SELF HELP GROUPS IN INDIA

Dr.B.S. Chandrashekar

Asst. Professor of Co-operation, University of Mysore, Maharaja’s College, Mysore-560005.