WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT FEMALE LITERACY LEVEL IN BELLANDUR AREA, BANGALORE

“Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills & self confidence, necessary to participate fully in the development process.” -ICPD program of action. Education is important for everyone, but it is essentially significant for the females. This is true that education is not only an entry point to other opportunities, but also the educational achievements of women can have ripple effects within the family and across generations and society at large. Investing in girl’s education is one of the most effective ways significantly improve the society and providing empowerment to women. Girls after receiving education are likely to get married later and the education would help them in having smaller and healthier families. Educated women can organize the importance of health care and know how to seek it for themselves and their children. Education helps girls and women to know their rights and to gain confidence to claim them. However women’s literacy rates are significantly lower than that of men in most developing countries and this is a very serious point of concern. About two thirds of the illiterate adults in the world are females. Higher level of women’s education are strongly associated with lower infant mortality. Higher levels of education creates economic opportunities for their children. Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra of Supreme Court of India said that the basic mantra for women empowerment is education, which leads to economic development of a woman and the development of her personality. What is required in India today is the change of mind set and attitude towards women and it has to start from the family. The respect for a woman should begin from the family and discrimination should be eradicated from every family. The irony is that at one end women are empowered, but at the same time they face the problem of rape, sexual harassment, dowry deaths, gender bias, female feticide death, domestic violence and unemployment. And these problems are akin to both rich and poor females.