Women Empowerment - The need of the hour

Sixty five percent of our population is under 35yrs .

The striking thing is the youthfulness of the population. The number of adolescents comprise about 22 percent of population, unfortunately, the special needs of adolescent are rarely addressed by the educational, health and family welfare programs in India.

I believe if we want to bring a change in our society, invest in adolescent girl.

The opportunities available to them, will impact an entire generation of men and women.

Women and girls do not enjoy equal access to resources, opportunities or political power in most regions of the world.

If poverty is to become history, then discrimination and gender inequality has to be tackled. There is gender imbalance in areas of education, training and professional work.

We know that education is among the most important drivers of human development helping a person to become more dependable worker and a better citizen. The need of the time is to recognize the vital importance of education as a main aspect of human security and a means to empower women.

When I compare my experiences with those of my grandmother and mother, it is evident that education of girl child has contributed largely to the choices we make. Education has given us a voice, an ability to exercise full control over our actions, thus a tool to empower ourselves and advance further than our grandmother's did.

Empowerment process has already begun yet change is actively slow, so slow that we have to set quotas for women, given the appalling gender imbalance of the crucial net mark event. I believe key to all locks that keep this cycle going from AIDS to poverty to inequality lies in access to education, training and opportunity.

Empowering women through entrepreurship teaching them to FISH rather then just feeding them-is the main key to economic growth

Increased income controlled by women gives the self-confidence, which helps us to obtain a voice. The need of the hour is to bring uneducated and unemployed women into financial mainstream, helping them become savers for their families and expanding their decision making.

As we know, when we empower a woman, we empower a family; major influence is on the children, thus the society.

So empowerment of women will give new workforce for society.

Our mission should be to develop the potential of this NEW WORKFORCE.

This revolution cannot be imposed from outside but can be encouraged through support for leadership figures that are emerging in every type of society. This encouragement must be our mission. The government needs resources to bring the Public welfare friendly projects directly accessible to the needy.

Government and non govt. organizations can be powerful partners in bringing a transformative push for improvement to women.

For Example:

1. Many women self-help groups in rural India have motivated thousands of uneducated women to work in community to achieve financial independence. Micro-enterprise development related to livestock management activities like dairy farming, poultry farming, livestock feed production and production of vermi compost using the animal waste can be an important area in which women can utilize both their technical skills and raw materials from the farms and livestock to earn substantial income.

2. Krishi Vigyan Kendras(KVK) do provide training to women farmers in agriculture and allied agricultural activities like cultivation of organic vegetables , flower, oil seeds and seed production which are some of the areas besides mushroom growing and bee keeping, dehydration of fruits and vegetables, canning or bottling of pickles, chutneys, jams, squashes and other ready to eat products. Training and awareness of the technology through expo visits, village meetings, field visits to women farmer do help.

3. ITIs and NGOs hold programs related to household based operations like knitting, stitching, weaving, embroidery, bakery, food preparation and preservation.

Now, what is the need of the hour is providing knowledge regarding accessibility to loans available from various funding agencies, procedure regarding certification, awareness on government welfare programs, motivation, technical skill and support from family, government and other organizations. Support and assistance required by unemployed women can be achieved through discussions with groups of women and interaction with officials of concerned departments, village panchayats and NGOs.

There is weak communication between the women bodies and associations whose role is confined on suggesting recommendations for the concerned departments.

Based on my experiences while working with girls in different projects, I would like to suggest some steps that can be taken by voluntary organizations and other research institutions, who are working for the empowerment of women.

My emphasis is that the natural talent be shaped in such a manner so that they do not hunt for jobs rather create jobs for them selves.

Some recommendations

• Technical and Vocational Education In a developing country like ours, we are suffering from shortage of human resource in technical and vocational areas. Technical and vocational education pages an easy way for employment of such trained manpower towards raising the household income and in turn encouraging the economic growth of the family and in turn the country as a whole.

NGOs with the help of village panchayats/municipal committees can become powerful and responsible partners in implementation of certain Center sponsored skill promoting welfare schemes reach the target audience.

The same has practically been implemented under SEWA Society in my district Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, which has seen certain encouraging results

• Promoting Leadership Qualities among Youth Educated adolescent girls from their native areas should be encouraged to motivate girl children to complete their basic elementary education and mobilize their collective potential to solve their issues. To promote and encourage this among the youth, the local panchayats/or religious committees should be involved in recommending the names of such people to the district administration for honoring them with appreciation letters in doing so.

• Information on sexual health care.

Adolescence is shrouded in myths and misconception about sexual health and sexuality. Adolescent friendly health services education can be delivered in Anganwadi health centers in the rural areas or at high school level with the help of lady doctors or Asha workers..

• Supplementary Education NGOs along with help of village panchayats can help girls from uneducated, poor families by supporting supplementary education classes for girls studying high school to enhance their performances and bringing them at par with the town or city folks.

• Educating School Drop-Outs Most of the girls between the age group of 10-17 years in the rural areas are forced by their families to be helping hands in seasonal agricultural working and other household responsibilities This creates a discontinuation of their education and breaks the interest of the child which has been the one of the main factors for major drop outs at the 8th class level. Under Sarb Shiksha Abhiyan, a programme could be developed where these drop outs could be helped through some bridge courses to equip them to appear either privately or through open schools so as to encourage them to complete their elementary education.

• Equality in Decision Making Bodies Women must make up at least 1/3 rd of all decision-making bodies, committees and groups. The effects would be evolutionary. District Town planning Board committee of my District Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar has only me as the lone female on board of 15 members.

• Protective Homes for women There is an urgent need for setting up of a Nari Niketans at district level. Not only would these be rescue homes for these destitutes but could also double up as short stay homes for vocational training and act as production centers to enable women in such institutions to rehabilitate themselves. Corporates could be encouraged involvement in this project by enabling their budget spends under corporate social responsibility to be tax free. These centers would act as their human resource development centers