A STUDY ON VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

From an evolutionary and biological point of view, man was supposed to provide and fend for the family and woman nurture and raise the family, the latter being an equally, if not more, important aspect of life. Today, in a man’s word success is measured in terms of a man’s achievement. A man is praised for his career, a woman never for raising good citizens. It truly remains a man’s world. To quote from the Vedas “ Yatra Naaryasthu poojyanthe Ramanthe tathra devataha” Which means where women are worshipped, Gods dwell there. Where they are not worshipped, all actions are fruitless. Gender inequality has adverse impact on development goals as it reduces economic growth. It hampers the overall well being, because blocking women from participation in social, economic, intellectual and cultural activities can adversely affect the whole society. The important aspect of social lives now-a-days is mostly confined to the gender issues in various socio-economic-health and cultural classification of people in India Academic and scientific institutions in India carry essentially masculine ethos and exhibit vertical as well as hierarchical segregation in terms of gender. Women’s participation has been limited to and confined to junior positions. Only a few women could make it to senior decision-making positions. In India, other states look at Kerala’s record of firsts with envy. Dr Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate, has hailed it as a model. When you try to visualize Kerala from outside the State, this is what invariably comes to mind : a rich green landscape, breath taking beauty, high literacy, highest longivity, lowest infant mortality rate, best healthcare, best sex rates, gender equity. (But this is not the complete and entirely true picture of God’s own country) Just as there are problems in Kerala to be addressed, there are lessons to be learnt from Kerala, and that includes basic education and the importance of this education as a prime mover in Kerala’s achievements. For a society that has long accorded a significant role for women, it is not surprising that Kerala ought to lead the rest of Indian States in furthering the position of women. Many scholars have noted this remarkable characteristic of Kerala’s socio-cultural make-up. For instance, as far back as 1991, in a response in the New York Review of Books, Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen pointed out the importance of Kerala’s public policy of promoting mass education in the past. The education scenario in Kerala is far advanced than other states of India. `The Kerala Model of Development’ owes its attributed success to the achievements in the area of education and health. The state has pursued a liberal higher education policy from 1956 through mid eighties in terms of quantitative expansion and access to higher education. Today it boosts other states in terms of high literacy ratio of 90% as against 65% in the national level. The Govt of Kerala is committed to bring about basic change in the status of woman, through education. Kerala with its right culture of respecting womanhood had given due value to her rights and needs boosting her self esteem. We could see her transform into the forefront of the society . Yet she is not aloof from the job of rearing children and household chore. Still she maintains an inimitable status of her own, apart from the counterparts and women of other states. We pride ourselves on being the State with the highest literacy rate among women. The Kerala evidence suggests that literate men have literate sons, but literate women have literate families. This has resulted in increased health status of women in Kerala