Kumari Deepa RaniAssistant Professor,University Department of Economics,Magadh University, Bodhgaya,

World Bank says:

“Empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes.”

Definition• “Empowerment is the process of

increasing the authori ty and responsibility of individuals or groups to make choices and to t ransform those choices into desired actions and outcomes”.

Women's empowerment has fivecomponents:

• Women's sense of self-worth;• Their r ight to have and to

determine choices;• Their r ight to have access to

opportunities and resources;• Their r ight to have the power to

control their own lives, both within and outside the home;

• And their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and

internationally.

Women Empowerment• Women Empowerment refers to

increasing the spiritual, political, social, educational, gender, or economic strength of individuals and communities of women.

Women in India

o Total population - 1210 .2 mill ion (2011)

{Almost equal to t he combined populat ion of U.S.A.,Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japanput together}

o Women population - 586 .5 mill ion (48.5%)

o Sex ratio: 9 4 3 / 1 0 0 0 men

o Child Sex ratio: 9 1 9 / 1 0 0 0

2 2 - 0 7 -2 0 1 47

Shocking Facts• According to 2 0 1 3 , UNDP report on

t fuman Development Indicators, all South Asian Countries, except Afghanistan, were ranked better for women than India

• I t predicts: an Indian girl child aged 1 - 5 yrs is 75% more likely to die than the boy child

• A woman is raped once in every 2 0 m i n and 10% of all crimes are reported to be of

• Women form 48% of India’s population

• Only 29% of the national workforce

• Only 26% of women have access to formal credit

•NEW DELHI: Being equal to their male counterparts is still a far cry for Indian women. Not only are they marginal as public figures, an average Indian woman can hardly call the shots at home or outside.

•In 2 0 1 2 , women occupied only eight out of 7 4 ministerial positions in the Union council of ministers. There were only two women judges out of 2 6 judges in the Supreme Court, and there were only 5 4 women judges out of 6 3 4 judges in various high courts.

• About 66% of the female population in rural area is unutilized. This is mainly due to existing social customs.

• In agriculture & animal care the women contribute 90% of the total work force. Women constitute almost half of the population, perform nearly 2 / 3 rd of its work hours, receive 1 / 1 0 th of the world’s income & own less than 1 / 1 0 0 th of the world property.

• Among the world’s 9 0 0 million illiterate people, women out number men two to one. 70% of people living in poverty are women

Educational status of womenLiteracy rate

Resource & Development

2 2 - 0 7 -Department of edu2c0a1t4ion, Ministry of t fuman

1 2

Census data 2 0 0 1 , 2 0 1 1, RGI, GOI

Gender Disparity in Literacy

Age Sex Literacy rate (%)

Gender Disparity

15-49 MaleFemale

7855

29%

20-24 MaleFemale

8464

23%

15-19 MaleFemale

8974

17%

NFtfS 3,India 2 0 0 5 -2 0 0 6

Gender Disparity in MediaExposure

Not only are fewer women than men literate but fewer are also regularly exposed to media

• Percentage of men and women age 1 5 - 1 9 regularly exposed to print media, TV, radio, or cinema• Men

• Women

• Gender Disparity

88%

7 1 %

19%

Employment: Another Area ofGender Disparity

43

29

8779

Employed Employed for cash

Women Men

• Am ong the population age 1 5 -4 9• Men are 2 times as likely to be

employed

• Men are 2.7 times as likely to be employed for cash

• Among the employed, 64% ofwomen vs. 91% of men earn cash

• Female share of populationemployed for cash in non -agricultural occupations is 22%

Percent

NFtfS 3,India 2 0 0 5 -2 0 0 6

Economic independence of women

Work participation of

women– 25.63%

Urban: rural rat io of work

participation of women-

11.88: 30 .79

Women working inunorganized sectors – 80%

Women economically active

at 1 5 years (2009 ) – 33%

2 2 - 0 7 -2 0 1 4

1 6

The majority of employed womenare engaged in agricultural work

Type of worker

Occupational Distribution (%)

Women Men

Professional 7 7

Sales 4 14

Service 7 5

Production 22 37

Agricultural 59 33

Other 2 4NFtfS 3,India 2 0 0 5 -

Do married women have access toany other financial resources?

68

45

15

5

Percentage of womenPart icipate win hdoe:cision o n h o w husband 's earn ings are used

Have m o n e y which they can dec ide h o w to use

Have a b a n k or sav ings account that they themse lve use

Have taken loan f rom microcred i t p r o g r a m

Do marr ied women participate inother household decision making?

Decisions

Make decision alone or jointly with husband

Own health care 62Making major household purchases 53Making purchases for daily household needs 60Visits to her family or relatives 61All four 37None of above 21

Women at decision making level

• Participation of

in elect ions

over the

women

increa

sed

years• Proport ion of women

turnout for voting –

58.2%Source: Election Commission of India

2 2 - 0 7 -2 0 1 42 0

58.2

48.0

Women at decision makinglevel

• Proport ion of women in

national parl iament

dipped t i l l year 2 0 0 7

• “Women Reservation

Bill” is still pending in

the parl iament2 2 - 0 7 -2 0 1 4

2 1

Pro

port

ion

of w

omen

in n

atio

nal

parl

iam

ent

WHY NEED OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT?

• The main problems that were faced by women inpast days(and still today up to some extent):

• Gender discrimination

• Woman education

• Female infanticide

• Dowry

• Marriage in same caste and child marriage(stillexisting)

• Atrocities on Women: Raped, kicked, killed,subdued & humiliated almost daily.

NEED FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMNENT:

WOMEN ARE DEPRIVED OF:

• Decision Making Power

• Freedom of Movement

• Access to Education

• Access to Employment

• Exposure to Media

• Domestic Violence

Holistic approach to Empowerment

Health& Nut.

Education

Water & San.

Skills

Technology Credit

PoliticalParticipation

Marketing

Asset base

WAYS TO EMPOWER WOMEN:in women's and social

• Changes mobil i ty in teraction;• Changes in women's labor patterns;

• Changes in women's access to and control over resources; and

• Changes control

in women's over decision-

WAYS TO EMPOWER WOMEN:

• Providing education

• Self employment and Self help groups

• Providing m in im um needs like nu tr i t ion, healt h, sanitation, housing

• O ther th an this, society should change the mental i ty towards the word “women”.

• Encouraging women to develop in t heir f ieldsthey are good at and make a career.

Non-governmental organizations are playing a significant role in the empowerment of disadvantages women.Just a few years after Independence, the Government set up the Central Social Welfare Board, an apex body of the voluntary sector that aids more than 10,000 NGOs across the country, helping women stand on their own through such programme as socio-economic programme, vocational training and other similar programmes.

Free Powerpoint Templates

ROLE OF GOVERNM ENTThe Department of Women and Child Development has been

implementing special programmes for the holistic development and empowerment of women with major focus to improve their socio-economic status. There has been policy shifts from time to time based on the shifts in emphasis.

to bring greater focus on the programmes for women.

A programme of Support to Training-cum-Employment for Women (STEP) was launched in 1987 to strengthen and improve the skills for employment opportunities for women below the poverty line, in traditional sectors of agriculture, small animal husbandry etc where women are employed on a large scale..

Swayamsidha launched in March 2001 and the Swa-Shakti

Empowerment Project), launched in October 1998.

Women EmpowermentProgrammes

• Swayamsidha

• Swa-Shakti Project

• Support to Training and employment programme for Women (STEP)

• Swalamban

• Creches/ Day care Centers for the Children of working and Ailing Mothers

• tfostels for working women

• Swadhar

• Rashtriya Mahila kosh (RMK)

Swayamsidha: ( Indira Mahila yojna)

• I t is an integrated project for the development and empowerment of women through Self tfelp Groups (StfGs) w i th emphasis on covering service, developing access to micro-enterprises.

• About 1 0 lakh women have taken membership.

Swam-Shakti Project:• Earlier known as the Rural Women’s Development

and Empowerment Project, was sanctioned in October 1 9 9 8 as centrally sponsored scheme to be implemented in the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, t faryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal and U t ta r Pradesh.

Swayamsidha:

Programmes contd…Support to Training and employment

Programme for Women (STEP):

• The program seeks to provide updated skills and

new knowledge to poor asset less women in eight

t radit ional sectors of employment, agriculture,

animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries, handlooms,

handcrafts, Khadi and Village industry and

sericulture.

Swadhar:This scheme was launched in 2 0 0 1 - 2 0 0 2 as a

central sector scheme for providing holistic and integrated services to women in diff icult circumstances.

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001)

The goal - of this Policy is to bring about the advancemen t , developmen t and empowerment of women.

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK):

• Also known as the National Credit Fund for Women was set up as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1 8 6 0 on March 30 , 1993 .

• Credit support or micro-f inance to poor women to start income generating activities such as in - Dairy , Agriculture ,Shop- keeping ,Vending and tfandicrafts.

In 2 0 0 3 - 0 4 , an amount of Rs.25 crore was sanctioned through RMK benefiting about

MDG GOAL 3• Promote Gender Equali ty and

Empower Women.

TARGET1. Eliminate gender dispar i ty in

pr imary and secondary education, preferably by 2 0 0 5 , and in all levels of education, no later than 2 0 1 5

• UNIFEM is the women’s fund at the United Nations.

I t provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programs and strategies to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality

Four strategic areas

• UNIFEM has identified four strategic areas tha t are of critical concern for the achievement of gender equality and women's empowerment :• Reducing feminized poverty

• Ending violence against women

• Reversing the spread of tfIV /A IDS among womenand girls

• Achieving gender equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war

• GRBI is a collaborative effort between the -

United Nations Development Fund forWomen (UNIFEM), The Commonwealth Secretariat and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), To-

• Support government and civil society in analyzing national and/or local budgets f rom a gender perspective and applying this analysis to the formulation of gender responsive budgets.

• 2 0 1 4 Theme: Inspiring Change

• Each year around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8.

• Thousands of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

CONCLUSION• Women represent half the world’s population, and

gender inequality exists in every nation on the

planet.

• Until women are given the same opportunities that

men are, entire societies will be destined to

perform below their true potentials .

• The greatest need of the hour is change of social

attitude to women.

Positive Stories…

The Lijjat Papadstory

• Seven il l iterate and poor women borrowed Rs 8 0 to start a papad business in 1 9 5 9

• Its turnover f rom Rs 6 , 1 9 6 in the f irst year went upto Rs 3 0 0 crore in the next four decades

• 4 2 , 0 0 0 women on its revolutionary march

• Jaywantiben Popat, one of the women involved w i th this phenomenal spirit, was honoured at the ET Awards for her outstanding achievements

Mann Deshi MahilaSahakari Bank

• Chetna’s foundation established in 1 9 9 4 a co-operative bank tha t is completely operated by women and serves women customers.

• The bank was established w i th help of a group of i l l iterate women and has now grown into a $562 ,000 f i rm by the end of 2011 .

• In collaboration w i th tfSBC, Mann Deshi Bank established the Udyogini Business

SEWA (Self-Employed Women'sAssociation)

• Started as a trade union, registered in 1 9 7 2 , founded by Ela Bhat,

• Organisation of self-employed women workers who earn a living through their own labour or small businesses.

• SEWA's membership, which is a nominal Rs. 5 a year, includes women f rom a cross-section of society — f rom vegetable and f ru i t hawkers to

and manualhome- basedlabourers.

• Year1 9 7 3

weavers, potters

Number of Members3 2 0

EMPOWERMENTINDICATORS

I - Legal EmpowermentEnforcement of legislation related to the protection

of human rights.

Number of cases related to wom en ’ s rights heard in localcourts, and their results.

Number of cases r elated to th e legal rights of d ivorced andwidowed women heard in local courts,and the results.

Increase/decrease in violence against women.

t he number of localw ho are women /m en is

Rate at which justices/prosecutors/lawyers increasing/decreasing.

I I - Political Empowerment

% of seats held by women in local councils/decision- making bodies.

% of women in decision-making positions in local government.

% of women in the local civil service.

% of women/men registered as voters/ % of eligible women/men who vote.

% of women in senior/junior decision making positions wi th in unions.

% of union members who are women/men.

III-Economic Empowerment Changes in employmen t/u nemploym ent rates of

women and men.

Salary/wage differentials between women and men.

Average household expend i ture of female/m ale headed households on education/health.

Abili ty to make small or large purchases independently.

decisions (e.g.

IV-Social Empowerment Contro l of women over fert i l i ty

number of children)

Mobilit y of women w i thin and outside their