Will Women Empowerment lead to Social Development?

It is hard to be a woman: you must think like a man, act like a lady, look like a young girl and work like a horse.

One might go on and on about the changing times in which we live and yet it is but hard to ignore such blatant inequalities to which women are subjected to. In a land where women are worshipped as goddesses, a whopping 92 of them are raped every day. Every year the newspapers invariably report “Girls outshine boys in board exams” and yet this is the nation where several girls drop out of schools citing pressure to get married. The country that gave the world the Kamasutra, still engages in honour killings of her daughters when they marry outside of their caste.  Surely, the status quo presents a grim yet true picture!

The issue of women empowerment has indeed hogged the spotlights for some time now.  Women’s rights activists across the country heaved a collective sigh of relief when the Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s reservation bill on 9 Mar 2010. This historic bill proposed to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33 per cent of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women. But sadly enough, this bill is still pending in the lower house of our parliament. All said and done, why did it take about sixty years for a country to think about women who form nearly fifty percent of its population? 

When one traces the history of women’s empowerment activism, it began with scores of women demanding the right to vote. Today most women can brag of that right, but are the stakeholders of the country really held responsible for the “one person” behind the “one vote”? How freely can an Indian woman make decisions on her own? If she does make, are her decisions truly respected as coming from a thinking, feeling individual? Are we really training our daughters to stand on par with men as regards education or are we just pushing them to become good wives and mothers alone? These are pertinent questions, worth our attention.

A woman can be called empowered if she is able to live with a sense of self-respect and dignity; with a complete sense of control over her life, has equal rights to participate in social, religious and public affairs, gets equal employment opportunities and gets a safe working environment. Only when these ideals are reached, can we truly call ourselves an independent country. For what is independence when half of our population is living within several interconnected restraints? 

Women empowerment can definitely lead to social development. The famous African proverb goes:  If you educate a man, you educate an individual. Educate a woman and you educate a nation. The benefits of education cannot be underscored. A well- educated woman can make more informed choices. Ensuring a just and safe system of employment for women gives a fillip to the national economy.  Financially well-equipped women can provide better for their families and thereby can contribute to the overall human development indices of her family members.

That the overall socio-economic conditions of women have improved since independence cannot be denied. Women have entered career paths which were earlier deemed fit only for men folk. Women of today are increasingly becoming independent due to a more relaxed system of education and better access to employment. But these were not achieved overnight. There are still several challenges before a modern Indian woman. She has to break free of all such bondages and may be even break some age-old customs before proving her mettle in the world. Also, women are still chained by the pains of domestic life which restrict the full blooming of her potential. This requires that a woman is doubly healthy as compared to a man, her age.

Yet another hurdle for a woman these days is in the form of another woman! Paradoxical as it may sound, the original feminist phrase “sisterhood is powerful” is no longer valid today. This is because we find that successful women are increasingly targeted and victimized by their own fellow women in society. Surely our early feminists would turn in their grave, had they envisaged the scenario today! So for all the demands that women hurl at the patriarchal society, it is fit that they also keep in mind the additional responsibility of nurturing each other in a society. Always remember that success is not reached alone, wisdom and wealth are sweeter shared!