Women's Awareness On Their Legal Right

Basically, the women's struggle in India is for space as opposed to their struggle for power worldwide. India has its strength in capacity. For us 'shakti' is not power - but the capacity to do things. Indian society is sustained by 'stree shakti' - there is a divine power in women that empowers them without comprising on family or individual situations. Women today have marched from slavery to freedom but their majority, especially in the rural areas still lives within the confinement of their homes. The talk of woman's rights and liberation to them is meaningless. As required of them by the customs and traditions they perform their duties to look after their home and family. They accept their fate as if it is decreed by God. They continue to toil even if they suffer the ill-treatment by the opposite sex. Compared to the women of other countries, the Indian women have a better sense of responsibility and a more secured future. However modern they might have become bearing a materialistic outlook, they have a better image than the women of the west. The Indian woman will always be a symbol of patience and sacrifice. Gone are the days when women sat at home, managing the house and looking after the children. Today women have been given bigger role to play in the society. They are entrusted with more responsibility than their male counterparts-With the advent of industrialization and WOMENS AWARENESS ON THEIR LEGAL RIGHTS Page 1 technological development, the lifestyles of human beings started to change. The needs of human beings started to multiply. Apart from basic amenities, man aspired for sophisticated life. This shift to modern living started to reflect in the lifestyles of human being. In this process, women slowly started to move outside home. Women pursued education in equal terms with males and with this women literacy rate improved tremendously. Subsequently, women slowly started to participate in all walks of life. Women started to think independently and participated equally in the outside world along with their male counterparts. . Slowly and steadily discriminating women on the basis of gender diminished, as women won applauds in all the fields of life including politics, sports and even in defence services. The concern for equity and justice in gender relations has given birth to a new strategy, which stresses on the empowerment of women. The concept of empowerment emerged in the early eighties of the last century because of a shift in development thinking. This shift in development thinking emphasizes that we need to work towards the economic, social and political empowerment of women especially those of the marginalized sections. Empowerment helps women to participate actively in all decision-making and exercise political power and help in framing policies that operate in the name of public interest. According to Swami Vivekandanda:-“We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind increased and intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet”. “O Lord Why has you not given woman the right to conquer her destiny. Why does she have to wait head bowed, By the roadside, Waiting with tired patience, Hoping for a miracle in the morrow?” Jawaharlal Nehru-You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women. "The professor is equivalent of ten teachers, the father is equal to hundred professors, the mother exceeds a thousand fathers in honour." - Status of mother in Hindu scripture. "A happy marriage is a harbour in the tempest of life, an unhappy marriage is a tempest in the harbour of life"