An Explorative Study on Various Components of Women’s Empowerment

A woman has the right to happiness, the right to know, the right to make choices that affect her life and the right to have her opinion respected regarding her own body and her place in the family and in society. A woman has a right to respect within her family, the community and society. An empowered woman is free from enslavement, free from mental, physical or moral abuse from her family, social group or nation and she enjoys the right to develop herself to her full potential, spiritually, intellectually, artistically, socially and politically according to her choice. It is necessary to confront old patriarchal social attitudes that consider a woman to be less important than a man. She has been deprived of basic human, social and political rights for many centuries. Society can no longer justify these attitudes and their practices and behaviors. Our civilization has suffered and become damaged as a result of this lack of understanding. Women in general have been weakened emotionally and intellectually by the relentless challenges of a patriarchal, misogynistic and materialistic culture. Women in general, have been corrupted by materialism, vanity, loss of self respect, dependence and subservience. Women have to heal their spiritual and psychological wounds, cultivate their intellectual and professional abilities and take power from the Divine through meditation, spiritual study and practices. The Value Education and Spirituality seeks to establish that empowered women are essential to bring balance and harmony into the world. Women need to claim their rightful position of equality and complementarily with men in order to restore equilibrium in society. Social development is obstructed by archaic patriarchal social attitudes. People who hold them need to recognize the legally defined rights of women in Indian society. The attainment of women’s rights is an effort for human rights. An empowered woman is proud of her and feels good about the fact that she is a woman. The prevailing cultural attitude which many women absorb is to feel ashamed and socialized to believe that she is not physically, emotionally, or intellectually capable of doing many things that men can do. While it is true that certain biological functions are performed only by women’ in other human activities gender is not an issue. A woman need not feel sorry that she is a woman or try to be like a man. In our society, if someone wishes to compliment a woman they often use a male reference point. Such negative compliments need to be challenged. A woman is as important as a man. From ancient times to the present, women’s labor and efforts, often unnoticed and always uncalculated, have contributed substantially to the well-being of society. A woman is called the first guru of a child. A child is nurtured physically, emotionally and spiritually by the mother. Therefore the mother is the key to the quality of the next generation. If the mother is aware of her value, if she is valued and respected by the family and society, if she enjoys her rights and privileges as a mother, wife and daughter, then these elements are transmitted to both her daughters and her sons. If the wife is aware of being an equal partner with equal rights to the wealth and status of her husband, she can contribute her wisdom, her aesthetic sense, her love and her spiritual beauty to the marriage and enhance the quality of life of the extended family. If the girl child is received at birth the happiness and love that is the fundamental right of a newborn, she is a light and a source of a joy and contentment in her parent’s home. If she enjoys the level of education that tones her intellect to its optimum potential, she can shine in all the social roles she plays. If a widow enjoys the undiminished prestige, love and support of her family and community, she can retain a sense of dignity to the end of her days and serve through the wisdom of her experience. A working woman develops independence, assertiveness and self assurance which are generally rare in non-working women. She holds herself in higher regard than equality gifted non-working women. It also affects the power structure in the family. When the wife works, she presumably increases her ability to sanction or control because of the financial contribution she makes to the family. Hence the male prerogative of decision making in the family is gradually giving way to increased participation of women. Despite of the increased economic independence and assertiveness in family decision making each working woman has to carry on extra burden of home making along with the professional career. As the prime responsibility of running the household lies with the wives, the pressure of dual role leaves the working wives physically and mentally exhausted. Role conflict is likely to occur when there is a clash between two full roles with corresponding aspirations. A working woman is guided by two conflicting ambitions of excelling as a perfect wife/mother and successful professional woman. Is she satisfied with the two and if so how much is the satisfaction derived. Present investigation was conducted to gain an insight into the satisfaction of women employed in higher education with regard to their work and home environment, their level of satisfaction and effect of socio-personal traits on it. A centuries old belief is that women are biologically weak and therefore cannot take up certain responsibilities. Although the constitution of India gave equal rights to men and women, specifically prohibiting any gender based discrimination and stating that certain special privileges must be given to women, equal rights have never been achieved in practice. Gender biases operate in every social institution from the family to the court system, the education system, local and state government agencies etc. they exist at every layer of society and in almost everywhere.