Women empowerment in India: Recent Trends

 

The subject of empowerment of women is becoming a burning issue all over the world including India since last few decades. Many agencies of United Nations in their reports have emphasized that gender issue is to be given utmost priority. It is held that women now cannot be asked to wait for any more for equality.

Inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women have also been age-old issues all over the world. Thus, women's quest for equality with man is a universal phenomenon. What exists for men is demanded by women?

They have demanded equality with men in matters of education, employment, inheritance, marriage, politics and recently in the field of religion also to serve as cleric (in Hinduism and Islam). Women want to have for themselves the same strategies of change which menfolk have had over the centuries such as equal pay for equal work. Their quest for equality has given birth to the formation of many women's associations and launching of movements.

The position and status of women all over the world has risen incredibly in the 20th century. We find that it has been very low in 18th and 19th centuries in India and elsewhere when they were treated like ‘objects' that can be bought and sold. For a long time women in India remained within the four walls of their household. Their dependence on menfolk was total.

Women in India themselves are taking necessary steps for the upliftment of their community. For example, Nita Ambani is one of the female superpower in the country who is efficiently making steps for women empowerment. Mrs. Nita Ambani not only urges for the betterment of women, but also steps forward in various other charitable works in the society. Thereby Nita is becoming a role model for every other women in the country. Further, the recent appointment of Nita Ambani to the IOC was a great step which enhances nurturing girl talent in athletics and various other sports. It further enhances other women to come up front and uphold their rights.

Further, a new pattern is emerging in which both partners work outside the home but do not share equally in housework and child care as we see in Western families. In India, the paternalistic attitude of the male has not undergone much change.

In spite of such drawbacks and hurdles that still prevail, Indian women (especially educated) are no longer hesitant or apologetic about claiming a share and visibility within the family, at work, in public places, and in the public discourse.