WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Mrs. Sahbanthul Missiriya, M.A., M.Sc (N), M.A. Child care & Edu., Ph.D
Associate Professor,
Community Health Nursing Department,
Saveetha College of Nursing,
Saveetha University, Chennai -77
Jawaharlal Nehru

“You can tell the

condition of the
NATION by looking
at the status of
WOMEN.”
 INTRODUCTION
A clear vision is needed to remove the obstacles to the
path of women's emancipation both from the
government and women themselves.

Inthe past, women were treated as mere house-

makers.

They were expected to be bound to the house, while

men went out and worked. This is still in a few parts of
the country one of the major reason because of which
certain evils took birth in our society child marriage,
female infanticide, women trafficking.
 DEFINITION
 Empowerment is increasing the spiritual,
political, social or economic strength of
individuals and communities and often
involves developing confidence in one’s
own capacities.
 WOMEN EMPOWERMENT is the ability
of women to exercise full control over
one’s actions.
 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

India's Population: 1.07 billion

 Sex Ratio of Population: 930 women per 1000

men
 Literacy rate : Males : 75.96 %
Females : 54.28 %
 Often the lame excuse is women are the ‘weaker sex’!

 But biological evidence proves, due to the presence

of two X hormones women are more resistant to
diseases compared to men.

 Life expectancy is a proof of this. (In our country life

expectancy of women is 65 whereas for men it’s only
60 years).
 OBSTACLES & STRATEGIES TO
OVERCOME
 Built a constant rapport sharing the
notable developments at the organization
 Systematic reinforcement and
perpetuation of traditional, male-
dominated
 Attitudes by most of the subsystems of
society : education, law, judiciary, media
 Working at curative & preventive levels
with varied target groups
 LEVELS OF WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT
 Welfare

 Access

 Conscientization

 Mobilization

 Control
 WELFARE
 Welfare means an improvement in socio-
economic status, such as improved nutritional
status, shelter or income.
 Here it is the zero level of empowerment,
where women are the passive recipients of
benefits that are 'given' from on high.
 ACCESS
 Access to resources and services stands for
the first level of empowerment, since women
improve their own status, relative to men, by their
own work and organization arising from
increased access to resources and services.
 CONSCIENTIZATION

 Conscientizationis defined as the process, by

which women collectively urge to act to remove
one or more of the discriminatory practices that
impede their access to resources.

 Here, women form groups to understand the

underlying causes of their problems and to
identify strategies for action for gender equity.
 MOBILIZATION
 Mobilisation is the action level of empowerment
by forging links with the larger women's
movement, to learn from the successes of
women's similar strategic action elsewhere and to
connect with the wider struggle.
 CONTROL

 Control is the level of empowerment when

women have taken action so that there is
gender equality in decisions making over
access to resources, so that women achieve
direct control over their access to resources.
 STEPS TAKEN BY
GOVERNMENT
 The government has passed many laws so as
to empower the women. These rules have
empowered them socially, economically, legally
and politically.
 Not only the government but various non-
governmental organizations have done a lot so
as to improve the status of woman in our
society.
EDUCATION

 Mahatma Gandhi:- “If you educate a man you

educate an individual, but if you educate a
woman you educate an entire family.”
 Our predominant patriarchal system doesn’t
provide enough chances for women to have
higher education even if they wish.
 Girls should be motivated to take up higher
education. Universal education for all below 14
years should be strictly implemented.
EVIL PRACTICES
 Child marriages have also been stopped.
 Dowry system still remains the major reason
for all the discrimination and injustice shown to
women. Dowry has always been an important
part of Hindu marriages.
 Not only among Hindus, its evil tentacles are
now spreading to other religions also.
 Although dowry was legally prohibited in
1961(Dowry Prohibition Act), it continues to be
highly institutionalized.
 The Jogini system in Andhra Pradesh is
another social evil that requires to be
eliminated.

 In this system, women are forced to leave their

houses and follow the temple concubine
system.

 Then there are also other problems like

domestic violence to be eliminated. .
 “Bride Burning”, the burning of women whose
dowries were not considered sufficient by their
husband or in-laws. 
 Most of these incidents are reported as
accidental burns in the kitchen or are disguised
as suicide.
 It is evident that there exist

deep-rooted prejudices against

women in India.
 It is to be eradicated completely.
OCCUPATION

 Women should be allowed to work and should be

provided enough safety and support to work.
 Legislatures such as Equal Remuneration Act,
Factories Act: Constitutional safeguards such as
maternity relief, and other provisions should be strictly
followed.
 Poverty eradication policies need to be implemented.
Macro economic policies would help in this drive.
Through economic empowerment women’s
emancipation could be realized.
 
POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Increased the participation of women in the political system

 In Panchayat Raj System where women have been given

representation as a sign of political empowerment

 There are many elected women representatives at the village

council level.

 However their power is restricted, as the men

wield all authority. Their decisions are often
over-ruled by the government machinery.
TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT

Mahalir Thittam:
 Mahalir Thittam is a socio-economic empowerment
programme for women implemented by Tamil Nadu
Corporation for Development of Women Ltd.
 Mahalir Thittam is based on Self Help Group (SHG)
approach and is implemented in partnership with Non
Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community
based organizations.
 The SHG approach was started in a small way in
Dharmapuri district in the year 1989.
FOCUS AREAS:
1. Social and Economic Development
2. Capacity Building
3. Income Generating Activities
4. Micro-Finance
5. Micro-Enterprises
6. Entrepreneur Development
7. Vocational Training Programme
8. Skill Development Programme
9. News Letter:–Mutram
10. E-Governance Activities
•Empowerment would become more relevant when
women are actually treated as equal to men.

• Men are the only one who can earn a living for the
family, has to be removed.

•Further, women should be better educated , better

informed – only then can take rational decisions.

• Meanwhile, a woman needs to be physically healthy in

order to work equally. This is sadly lacking in a majority
of women especially in the rural areas.

• They have unequal access to basic health resources and

lack adequate counseling.
 
• There is no doubt that the status of women has
improved a lot.

•Thus,a clear vision is needed to remove the obstacles

to the path of women's emancipation both from the
government and women themselves.

•Efforts
should be directed towards all round development
of each and every section of Indian women by giving
them their due share.

•But despite all these measures there should be a strong

determination among every man that every woman in this country
should be honored.

•Only then empowerment in its true meaning will be realized.

 CONCLUSION
 Allthis shows that the process of gender
equality and women's empowerment still
has a long way to go and may even have
become more difficult in the recent years.
 Swami Vivekananda
had said
“That country and that
nation which doesn’t
respect women will
never become great now
and nor will ever in
future” and in pursuit of
making India a great
nation, let us work
towards giving women
their much deserved
status.