WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

By: SHRIYA OJHA

The women are the correspondence of love and devotion. She is considered to be the purest form of goddess “Amba”. No one can imagine the amount of strength that the women possess. She is the preserver and savior of the world. It has different forms a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother and the same.  Women are the better half of man and called “Adi Shakti”. In early centuries women were considered futile. They were treated as useless creatures. But the women are also considered to be the form of Annapurna, Janamdatri, Ardhangini and Aparajita. Despite of all these forms she is considered to be asthenic or weak.

Women empowerment is the process of empowering women. This has major five criteria social, mental, political, educational and psychological empowerment. This program helps women to sense their self-worth, their ability to determine their own choice and their capability to influence social changes. This program has emerged as one of the most effective global movement in recent years. This movement tends to split into three waves:  the first, suffrage was a key feature in it, the second included sexual revolution and the third wave was associated with feminism. But despite a great deal of progress, women and girls continue to face discrimination and violence in every part of the world.

Some programs that have focused on the objective of women empowerment and have assured it are as follows:

• BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO: This program was launched on 22^nd January 2015, with an objective to provide education to girls and work for their welfare.
• WOMEN HELPLINE SCHEME: This program was launched on 1^st April 2015, with a motive to provide 24 hours emergency response to women affected by violence.
• SWADHAR SCHEME: This scheme was launched in 2002, with a motive to provide holistic and integrated services to women in difficult circumstances.

Now, let’s us focus on list of such women who created the history of first in the world. Junko Tabei was the first women to climb Mt. Everest in the world, Bula Choudhary was the first swimmer to cross seven seas in the world, Dr. Habiba Savabi was the first governor in Afganistan and many more. But despite so much awareness women face so much discrimination. She is considered inferior in the society. Even the girls are not safe in the womb of the mother, they also face such an unpleasant act of female feticide. There are many more henious acts against women like domestic violence, sexual harassment, demand of dowry, denied to give their rights, molestation and rape.

Healthy, educated and empowered women are the agents of change in the society. When the women are empowered she then gains courage to speak for their community. And women are the only one who can feed these values to the future generation. It’s rightly said that “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”This quote illustrates the importance of women in today’s society and the crucial role they play in inspiring the next generation. Education is an integral part of every individual’s life but when girls are empowered and educated, countries become stronger and prosperous.