Women Empowerment

The strength of the chain is the strength of its weakest link. In a society, women are the weakest links, so that they may be strengthened for strengthening the society as a whole and that is possible only by empowering them. Nehru said, “ Women should be uplifted for the upliftment of the nation, for if a woman is uplifted ,society and nation is uplifted” Women empowerment is critical to the process of the ..there is no chancedevelopment of the society. According to Swami Vivekananda, for the welfare of the world unless the condition of the women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing” Women are an integral part of every economy. All round development and harmonious development of a nation would be possible when women are considered as equal partners in progress with men. Empowerment of women is essential to harness women labour in the main stream of economic development. Empowerment of women is a holistic concept. It is multi-dimensional in its approach and covers economic,political,social,cultural and family aspects. The „Shakti‟ or „Devi‟ There was a time when women were held in high esteem. They were worshipped as shaktis or Devis. Every different aspect of women is being worshipped by devotees even now. Her motherly form is being worshipped as, Amba‟, her prosperous form is worshipped as „Lakshmi‟, her knowledgeable form is worshipped as „Saraswati‟ and her powerful form is represented as „Durga‟ or „Kali‟ Some Facts Does our society really do justice to the well being of its mothers, sisters and wives? Let us look at some statistics. 1) Of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the globe, 70 percent are women. 2) Women work two-thirds of the world‟s working hours, according to the United Nations. At the same time women earn only 10 percent of the world‟s income. 3) Women own less than 1 percent of the world‟s property. 4) Women make up two-thirds of the estimated 876 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write. 5) Girls make up 60 percent of the 77 million children not attending primary school. Violence against women is on the rise according to statistics. The modern woman face a myriad of problems starting from gender disparities, sexual exploitation, lack of proper education, denial of rights etc. These problems are weakening the self esteem and dignity of women and the very roots of society are being affected. Yatra Naryastu Poojyante Ramante Tatra Devta‟ „Where women are being worshipped, deities live there.‟ So who will be the inhabitants of a society where women are being treated like a doormat? In many societies around the world, women never belong wholly to themselves; they are the property of others throughout their lives. Their physical well-being – health, security and bodily integrity – is often beyond their own control. Where women have no control over money, they cannot choose to get health care for themselves or their children. Where having a large number of children confers status on both men and women – indeed, where childbearing may be the only marker of value available to women – frequent pregnancy and labor can be deadly. World Health Organization data indicates that in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, for example, a woman‟s lifetime chance of dying in childbirth is one in seven; in the United States it is one in 3,418, and in Norway and Switzerland, one in 7,300. In any given year, 15 percent of all pregnant women will face a life threatening complication, and more than 500,000 – 99 percent of them in the developing world – will die. Some 130 million girls and women, mostly in sub Saharan Africa, have been subjected to genital cutting at the behest of their parents, and 2 million more face the blade every year, according to the United Nations Population Fund. Around the globe, home and community are not safe havens for a billion girls and women: At least one in three females on earth has been physically or sexually abused, often repeatedly and often by a relative or acquaintance. By the World Bank‟s estimate, violence rivals cancer as a cause of morbidity and mortality for women of childbearing age. Even within marriage, women may not be able to negotiate when and what type of sex to have, nor to protest their husbands‟ multiple