Women

Empowement
Shashank Gupta
Intern, Urjagram

Table of Contents
1

Background ......................................................................................................

Key Statistics .....................................................................................................

Government Initiatives ......................................................................................

Rural Development...............................................................................................

Initiatives by private sector companies and NGOs...............................................

Recommendations and Suggestions....................................................................

Urjagrams Programme ...................................................................................

Background
Women, isnt the second gender but the other gender. They are
equal to men and in some fields have excelled more than men
have.
However, many consider them to be an inferior gender to men.
They arent allowed equal rights, denied education, denied
opportunities to work and in some places, girl child is killed
even before she is born. Practice like Sati is another example of
suppression of women.
Early marriage of young girls and then these girls having
children is unhealthy for these girls as their bodies arent
completely developed for bearing babies and this results in
malnourished mother and child.
In work places, men and women doing the same job, women
are underpaid, not treated as equals. Many times they are even
denied jobs in the formal sector and have to find job in the
informal sector where there is further more exploitation.
Women working as housewives arent considered as working
women and their work is not recognised.

In the last few Decades, there is an improvement in the

condition of women. More people are becoming aware that the
society they live in can only progress if their women are
empowered. Many notable women like Indira Gandhi, Kalpana
Chawla, PV Sindhu, Indira Nooyi have made are country proud.
In the recently concluded Rio Olympics, the 2 medals India won
were both won by women. In studies, almost every year we see

the CBSE Class 12 all india topper is a girl and in other

examinations like UPSC, CA, MBA women have excelled.
Politically also, the women are reaching great heights, Pratibha
Devi Singh Patil was a successful President of India, in the
United States of America, the democratic candidate Hillary
Clinton is also an example of strong and empowered women.

Key Statistics
Womens empowerment is a crucial step in achieving gender
equality and thus is essential for equitable development.
However, in most countries in Asia and the Pacific women earn
less than men; have limited access to bank loans, land and
property other than land; face discrimination with respect to
education and healthcare; and are under-represented in policy
and decision-making.
There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in
India: effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011
were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women.
Women still make less than men, a gap that amounts to
10 to 20 paise less for every rupee a man earns. Over a
lifetime, that can really add up.
Overall Womens employment is more insecure, temporary
and part time

Disparities in Sex Ratio of various Indian States

Government Initiatives
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is administering following
schemes for gender equality/socio-economic development/empowerment of
women:

i. Swadhar and Short Stay Homes to provide relief and rehabilitation to destitute
women and women in distress.
ii. Working Women Hostels for ensuring safe accommodation for working women
away from their place of residence.
iii. Support to Training and Employment Program for Women (STEP) to ensure
sustainable employment and income generation for marginalised and asset-less
rural and urban poor women across the country.
iv. Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) to provide micro-finance services to bring about
the socio-economic upliftment of poor women.
v. National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) to strengthen the
overall processes that promote all-round Development of Women.
vi. Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers
(including single mother) to provide day care facilities for running a crche of 25
children in the age group 0-6 years from families having monthly income of less
than Rs 12,000.
vii. One Stop Centre to provide integrated support and assistance to women
affected by violence.
viii. Scheme for Universalisation of Women Helpline intended to provide 24 hours
immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence.
ix. Sabla Scheme for holistic development of adolescent girls in the age group of
11-18 years.
x. In order to strengthen the process of gender budgeting the Ministry of Women
and Child Development has been undertaking various capacity building
measures for the officials of the State Governments by organising training
programs/workshops regularly.
In order to improve employability a separate Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship has been created.
Equal Remuneration Act, 1973 provides for payment of equal remuneration to
men and women workers for the same work of similar nature without any
discrimination. In order to ensure social security to the workers including women
in the unorganised sector, the Government has enacted the Unorganised
Workers Social Security Act 2008.
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 regulates employment of women in certain
establishments for a certain period (12 weeks) before and after childbirth and
provides for maternity and other benefits.
Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) Scheme is being implemented as
Conditional Maternity Benefit for pregnant and lactating women to improve
health and nutrition status to better enabling environment by providing cash
incentives to pregnant and nursing mothers to partly compensate wage loss both
prior to and after delivery.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013 has been enacted, which covers all women, irrespective of
their age or employment status and protect them against sexual harassment at
all workplaces both in public and private sector, whether organised or
unorganised.

Rural Development
Rural women in India are less literate than rural men. There is a negative
attitude of the family towards educating the girl child. Moreover, lack of
separate toilets for girls in schools, lack of security while travelling from
home to school, lack of female teachers in schools, elder 3 sisters
responsibility to look after the younger siblings when both the parents
have to work to meet both ends, are some of the reasons behind the high
drop-out rate of girls from schools. Primary education is free, but parents
are not interested to send them to school. Right to Education has been
passed by the Parliament, but it is still far when the right will be a reality.
Mid day meal scheme has been formulated in order to attract the small
children to school. However, this scheme received set- backs when many
school children died after consuming food from the school kitchen.
Majority of rural Indian women do not have the right to choose their
partner. It is always decided by the family elders and the marriage is
arranged with an endogamous group, where caste plays a very important
role. If the girl wishes to marry someone from other caste or tribe, the
traditional leaders of the villages oppose.
Women and girls in far flung villages are very rarely in the spotlight. From
15 17 October, UN Women commemorates three key United Nations
observances related to womens role in developmentInternational Day
of Rural Women (15 October), World Food Day (16 October)
and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October).
Women in the rural areas have started initiatives of empowering
themselves by opening self help groups for mutual lending of money
amongst themselves and moreover forming cooperatives for mutual
benefits. Many have organised themselves into small scale industries
performing services like tailoring, making handicrafts etc.
In the rural schools quotas for girl child has led to girls going to school,
however there are high dropout rates. Provision of Mid day meals,
subsidised uniforms for girls and free cycles in states like Bihar have made
a huge difference in the rural girls education. Provision of washrooms for
women in rural schools is another step towards women being encouraged
to go to schools.

More and more policies for rural development of women are being
formulated so as to achieve equality in both urban as well as rural areas in
respect of gender.

Companies and NGOs

Corporate social responsibility has gone through many phases
in India. The ability to make a significant difference in the
society and improve the overall quality of life has clearly been
proven by some of the corporates.
Colgate runs a program called Maria Sharan to help women in
difficult circumstances in Pune.
Dabur runs initiatives to help women organise themselves into
Self Help Groups.
Unilever runs a Shakti Initiative for women empowerment, it is
a micro enterprise that helps rural women sell Unilever
Products door to door.
P&G initiative Shiksha has helped more than 300000 children to
have access to schools.
Parivartan initiative of P&G helps women in adolescent age to
embrace adulthood positively and enable them to adopt
feminine hygiene practices to stay healthy.
For safety for women, many cab companies like Meru have
started Pink cabs which are cheaper than usual cabs and driven
by women drivers available only for women riders.
Odd-Even policy of driving cars in New Delhi experienced
exemption to Women Drivers.

Recommendations and
Suggestions
Traditional and modern media should be utilized for awareness
building among the workers. The awareness building methods
should be carved so that it is well understood by the wage
workers. Most of them are illiterate or have studied up to
primary schools only. So, the awareness messages should be in
the form of short films, animation slides, posters, etc.
More benefits should be given to corporate for running
initiatives as it would encourage them to have more programs
for betterment of women.

No one should be bias against a girl child and it is the

responsibility of each and evry citizen to ensure happy
environment for all and ensure no discrimination.

Urjagram Initiatives
Urjagram supports womens livelihoods by helping them organize into
trade committees and SHGs creating direct market linkages, and
connecting them to diverse development programs. Urjagram organizes
working women into self-help groups (SHGs) so they can pool their
financial resources.We also connects women to cooperatives and Banks
for greater access to financial services.We build womens fiscal
capacities through financial literacy trainings, exposure visits, and
workshops. We also aim to help other organisations to organise women
development programs and run campaigns for raising awareness on
gender equality. We believe together we can create a society with equal
opportunities for all and no discrimination.