INTRODUCTION

“Empowerment of women not just a goal in itself ,but key to all global development goals.’’

Women empowerment refers to:-

-increasing the spiritual , political, social, economic strength of women. -developing confidence in their capacities. -having decision making power of their own. -ability to consider a range of options from yes/no, either/or.

Empowerment is now increasingly seen as a process by which the one's without power gain greater control over their lives. This means control over material assets, intellectual resources and ideology. It involves power to, power with and power within. Some define empowerment as a process of awareness and conscientization, of capacity building leading to greater participation, effective decision-making power and control leading to transformative action. This involves ability to get what one wants and to influence others on our concerns. With reference to women the power relation that has to be involved includes their lives at multiple levels, family, community, market and the state. Importantly it involves at the psychological level women's ability to assert themselves and this is constructed by the 'gender roles' assigned to her specially in a cultural which resists change like India. The questions surrounding women's empowerment the condition and position of women have now become critical to the human rights based approaches to development.

The Cairo conference in 1994 organized by UN on Population and Development called attention to women's empowerment as a central focus and UNDP developed the Gender Empowerment measure (GEM) which focuses on the three variables that reflect women's participation in society – political power or decision-making, education and health. 1995 UNDP report was devoted to women's empowerment and it declared that if human development is not engendered it is endangered a declaration which almost

become a lei motif for further development measuring and policy planning. Equality, sustainability and empowerment were emphasized and the stress was, that women's emancipation does not depend on national income but is an engaged political process.

Women are as capable as men of exercising will, controlling desires and taking decisions but males enjoy support of social institutions and women are excluded as the 'other'. Women are often not treated as "ends in themselves" persons with dignity who deserve respect from laws and institutions instead they are treated instrumentally as reproducers, caregivers, sexual receivers, agents of family's general prosperity. Human development report since 1999 demonstrate that practically no country in the world treats its women as well as men according to the measures of life expectancy wealth and education. Developing countries present especially urgent problems where caste and class result in acute failure of human capabilities of women.

Empowering women means control over their bodies and becoming economically independent, controlling resources like land and property and reduction of burden of work. A society or programme which aims at women's empowerment needs to create and strengthen sisterhood and to promote overall nurturing, caring and gentleness. PACS emphasis on emphasis on women SHG's as a collective is one such efforts. Beijing conference 1995 had identified certain quantitative and qualitative indicators of women empowerment.

Beijing conference 1995 indicators of women empowerment, qualitative & quantitative:-

Qualitative:

1. increase in self-esteem, individual and collective confidence;

2. increase in articulation, knowledge and awareness on health, nutrition reproductive rights, law and literacy;

3. increase an decrease in personal leisure time and time for child care;

4. increase on decrease of work loads in new programmes;

5. change in roles and responsibility in family & community;

6. visible increase on decrease in violence on women and girls;

7. responses to, changes in social customs like child marriage, dowry, discrimination against widows;

8. visible changes in women's participation level attending meeting, participating and demanding participation;

9. increase in bargaining and negotiating power at home, in community;

10. increase access to and ability to gather information;

11. formation of women collectives;

12. positive changes in social attitudes;

13. awareness and recognition of women's economic contribution within and outside the household;

14. women's decision-making over her work and income.

Quantitative indicators:-

A. Demographic trends:-

• maternal mortality rate

• fertility rate

• sex ratio

• life expectancy at birth

• average age of marriage

B. Number of women participating in different development programmes

C. Greater access and control over community resources/governments schemes- crèche, credit cooperative, non formal education.

D. Visible change in physical health status and nutritional level

E. Change in literacy and & enrollment levels

F. Participation levels of women in political process Monitorable targets for the Tenth Plan and beyond had certain key issues related to gender.

• All children in school by 2003; all children to complete five years of schooling by 2007.

• Reduction of gender gaps in literacy and wage rates by at least 50% by 2007.

• Reduction of IMR to 45 per 1000 live births by 2007 and 28 by 2012.

• Reduction of maternal mortality ratio (MMR) to 2 per 1000 live births by 2007 onto to by 2012.

Values Of Empowered Women:

1. Self defining-

-Create her own definition of herself rather than accepting others

definition.-View herself as a complete human person.

-Develop her own standard and values.

2. personal knowledge-

-Explore and trust own emotions/desires experiences.

-Recognize positive/negative characterstics.

-Set goals and work towards them.

-know self through own creative work.

Types of empowerment:-

SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT

Education :-Women's education is extremely important intrinsically as it is their human right and required for the flourishing of many of their capacities.It is, however, noticed that most programmes for education of girls and women in India have reinforced Gender roles specially motherhood in curriculum as well as impact evaluation.The huge study of nearly 94% of India's population done by Drez and others looks at female literacy and its negative and statistically significant impact on child mortality.The questions of power are interlinked and we understand that what is necessary is both objective power in terms of economic resources, laws, institutional roles and norms held by others as well as subjective power in terms of self efficacy and entitlements. Empowerment of women is closely related to formal and informal sources of education. Late 19th century & 20th century reformers advocated women's education as a principal strategy to answer the 'women's question'. Many innovative efforts are accelerated after the NPE. In UP a renewal process of correcting gender stereotyping was initiated in 1998 looking at textbooks and training besides

1.Social Empowerment

2.Economic Empowerment

3.Political Empowerment

infrastructure and community mobilization. There is marked improvement in girls enrollment and steady decline in dropout rates.

Empowering Women through Education"Education is one of the most important means of empowering

women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to

participate fully in the development process."

—ICPD Programme of Action, paragraph 4.2

Education is important for everyone, but it is especially significant

for girls and women. This is true not only because education is an

entry point to other opportunities, but also because the educational

achievements of women can have ripple effects within the family

and across generations. Investing in girls' education is one of the

most effective ways to reduce poverty. Investments in secondary

school education for girls yields especially high dividends.

Girls who have been educated are likely to marry later and to have

smaller and healthier families. Educated women can recognize the

importance of health care and know how to seek it for themselves

and their children. Education helps girls and women to know their

rights and to gain confidence to claim them. However, women’s

literacy rates are significantly lower than men’s in most developing

countries.

Education has far-reaching effects

The education of parents is linked to their children's educational

attainment, and the mother's education is usually more influential

than the father's. An educated mother's greater influence in

household negotiations may allow her to secure more resources for

her children.

Educated mothers are more likely to be in the labour force, allowing

them to pay some of the costs of schooling, and may be more aware

of returns to schooling. And educated mothers, averaging fewer

children, can concentrate more attention on each child.

Besides having fewer children, mothers with schooling are less

likely to have mistimed or unintended births. This has implications

for schooling, because poor parents often must choose which of their

children to educate.

Closing the gender gap in education is a development priority. The

1994 Cairo Consensus recognized education, especially for women,

as a force for social and economic development. Universal

completion of primary education was set as a 20-year goal, as was

wider access to secondary and higher education among girls and

women. Closing the gender gap in education by 2015 is also one of

the benchmarks for the Millennium Development Goals.

Economic

Empowerment

Women’s Work and Economic

Empowerment

In nearly every country, women work longer hours than men, but are

usually paid less and are more likely to live in poverty. In

subsistence economies, women spend much of the day performing

tasks to maintain the household, such as carrying water and

collecting fuel wood. In many countries women are also responsible

for agricultural production and selling. Often they take on paid work

or entrepreneurial enterprises as well.

Unpaid domestic work – from food preparation to caregiving –

directly affects the health and overall well being and quality of life

of children and other household members. The need for women’s

unpaid labour often increases with economic shocks, such as those

associated with the AIDS pandemic or economic restructuring. Yet

women's voices and lived experiences – whether as workers (paid

and unpaid), citizens, or consumers – are still largely missing from

debates on finance and development. Poor women do more unpaid

work, work longer hours and may accept degrading working

conditions during times of crisis, just to ensure that their families

survive.

Intergenerational gender gaps

The differences in the work patterns of men and women, and the

'invisibility' of work that is not included in national accounts, lead to

lower entitlements to women than to men. Women’s lower access to

resources and the lack of attention to gender in macroeconomic

policy adds to the inequity, which, in turn, perpetuates gender gaps.

For example, when girls reach adolescence they are typically

expected to spend more time in household activities, while boys

spend more time on farming or wage work. By the time girls and

boys become adults, females generally work longer hours than

males, have less experience in the labour force, earn less income and

have less leisure, recreation or rest time.

This has implications for investments in the next generation. If

parents view daughters as less likely to take paid work or earn

market wages, they may be less inclined to invest in their education,

women's fastest route out of poverty.

Political EmpowermentThroughout much of the world, women’s equality is undermined by

historical imbalances in decision-making power and access to

resources, rights, and entitlements for women. Either by law or by

custom, women in many countries still lack rights to:

Own land and to inherit property

Obtain access to credit

Attend and stay in school

Earn income and move up in their work, free

from job discrimination

Moreover, women are still widely under-represented in decision-

making at all levels, in the household and in the public sphere.

Addressing these inequities through laws and public policy is a way

of formalizing the goal of gender equality. Legal changes, which

most countries have now implemented, are often a necessary step to

institute gender equality, but not necessarily sufficient to create

lasting changes. Addressing the gaps between what the law

proscribes and what actually occurs often requires broad, integrated

campaigns.

Women's political participation has been considered a major

measure of women's Empowerment. To measure women's

empowerment now GEM takes 3 indicators, women's participation

in economic, political and professional activities. Within political

power what is measured is mainly women in parliament, judiciary or

in local bodies. Women's empowerment or disempowerment has to

be seen in all areas physical, socio cultural religious, political legal

and economic.It is also now often pointed out that women's

empowerment must be seen as a process where in we must consider

women's awareness consciousness, choices with live alternatives,

resources at their disposal, voice, agency and participation. These

are all related to enhancement of women's capabilities and decisions

they take individually or collectively for themselves. Several

programmes in India like Mahila Samakhya have accepted the

process nature of women's empowerment. The understandings of

empowerment in PACS has also been similar but planning of

activity, time and budgets to ensure the empowering processes need

greater scrutiny. Women's education, livelihood and personal

exercise of agency have to be systematically promoted .

Organisations such as Mahila Samakhya working to conscientise

and organise women in groups and sanghas are able to address the

issue of women and their participation in a two fold manner. On the

one hand they organise intensive training programmes for women

PRI representatives to make them effective functionaries and on the

other hand together own programmes with their members within

there collectives serve to build a culture of questioning, critical

thinking, collective decision-making and mobilisation on public

issues. A mobilised community of women is thus able to raise issues

of significance to the local community within the meetings, demand

accountably from representatives and administrative officials

regarding financial and procedural matters and intervene with

creative suggestions.

Indian Women In Modern

Times

GENDER EQUALITY

Empowering Women

Despite many international agreements affirming their human rights,

women are still much more likely than men to be poor and illiterate.

They usually have less access than men to medical care, property

ownership, credit, training and employment. They are far less likely

than men to be politically active and far more likely to be victims of

domestic violence.

The ability of women to control their own fertility is absolutely

fundamental to women’s empowerment and equality. When a

woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. When

she is healthy, she can be more productive. And when her

reproductive rights—including the right to decide the number,

timing and spacing of her children, and to make decisions regarding

reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence—are

promoted and protected, she has freedom to participate more fully

and equally in society.

Understanding gender equality and women's

empowerment

Gender equality implies a society in which women and men enjoy

the same opportunities, outcomes, rights and obligations in all

spheres of life. Equality between men and women exists when both

sexes are able to share equally in the distribution of power and

influence; have equal opportunities for financial independence

through work or through setting up businesses; enjoy equal access to

education and the opportunity to develop personal ambitions. A

critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of

women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power

imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own

lives. Women's empowerment is vital to sustainable development

and the realization of human rights for all.

Where women’s status is low, family size tends to be large, which

makes it more difficult for families to thrive. Population and

development and reproductive health programmes are more

effective when they address the educational opportunities, status and

empowerment of women. When women are empowered, whole

families benefit, and these benefits often have ripple effects to future

generations.

The roles that men and women play in society are not biologically

determined -- they are socially determined, changing and

changeable. Although they may be justified as being required by

culture or religion, these roles vary widely by locality and change

over time. UNFPA has found that applying culturally sensitive

approaches can be key to advancing women’s rights while

respecting different forms of social organization.

Addressing women’s issues also requires recognizing that women

are a diverse group, in the roles they play as well as in

characteristics such as age, social status, urban or rural orientation

and educational attainment. Although women may have many

interests in common, the fabric of their lives and the choices

available to them may vary widely. UNFPA seeks to identify groups

of women who are most marginalized and vulnerable (women

refugees, for example, or those who are heads of households or

living in extreme poverty), so that interventions address their

specific needs and concerns. This task is related to the critical need

for sex-disaggregated data, and UNFPA helps countries build

capacity in this area.

Key issues and linkages

1.Reproductive health: Women, for both

physiological and social reasons, are more vulnerable than men to

reproductive health problems. Reproductive health problems,

including maternal mortality and morbidity, represent a major – but

preventable -- cause of death and disability for women in developing

countries. Failure to provide information, services and conditions to

help women protect their reproduction health therefore constitutes

gender-based discrimination and a violation of women’s rights to

health and life.

2.Stewardship of natural resources: Women in

developing nations are usually in charge of securing water, food and

fuel and of overseeing family health and diet. Therefore, they tend to

put into immediate practice whatever they learn about nutrition and

preserving the environment and natural resources.

3.Economic empowerment: More women than

men live in poverty. Economic disparities persist partly because

much of the unpaid work within families and communities falls on

the shoulders of women and because they face discrimination in the

economic sphere.

4.Educational empowerment: About two thirds of

the illiterate adults in the world are female. Higher levels of

women's education are strongly associated with both lower infant

mortality and lower fertility, as well as with higher levels of

education and economic opportunity for their children.

5.Political empowerment: Social and legal

institutions still do not guarantee women equality in basic legal and

human rights, in access to or control of land or other resources, in

employment and earning, and social and political participation.

Laws against domestic violence are often not enforced on behalf of

women.

Empowerment throughout the life cycle:

Reproductive health is a lifetime concern for both women and men,

from infancy to old age. UNFPA supports programming tailored to

the different challenges they face at different times in life.

Experience has shown that addressing gender equality and women’s

empowerment requires strategic interventions at all levels of

programming and policy-making.

LITERACY RATE:-

YEAR FEMALE MALE

1971 22% 46%

1991 39% 64%

2003 48% 70%

GENDER GAPS:-

In education half of the students are

women.

About 1% of the total women population

has college education.

Barriers To Female Education:-

Inedequate school facilities.

Gender bias.

Preference to boys.

¼ of india’s population is below powerty line(BPL).

Barriers To Female Employment:-

CULTURAL RESTRICTIONS:-

-Caste system

-purdha system

Lack of employment opportunities:-

Contribution Of Various Societies

And NGO’S

# UNFPA(UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND)

# SOCIETY FOR CHILD AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

# WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME(WFP)

# SMILE FOUNDATION- -SWABHIMAN AND PARIVARTANA

UNFPA………united nations population fund:-

About UNFPA- Our Mission:-

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Society for Child and Women Empowerment:-

A NGO group which was formed and started functioning from 11 Feb. 2011 with an area of operation in seven states of India viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Orissa, Madya Pradesh, Maharashtra and some parts of Rajasthan. Society of Child & Women Empowerment is a non - government development organization working on issues affecting the Women and Children, with a special focus on rural children. It is because ‘Every child deserves a chance’ that the organization exists and works towards making that possible.

S.C.W.E. aims to establish Women's and Child organizations, which help in empowering them to work collectively with more self-confidence for their own development. S.C.W.E. believes in equality , which can be achieved by empowering women and Children through organization. It facilitate the process by enabling people to be productive and self- reliant.This society Firmly believe and is trying hard with their community-based efforts to improve basic health of women and children, educational rights, increase access to fundamental rights .Right to life includes right to life with human dignity.

What this society do?• Child and Women Empowerment • Vocational Training • Children Education • Health Awareness Programmes • Promote and Establish Health Centres and   Educational Institutes

 This society is Dedicated towards Child and Women Empowerment throughout India.

World food programme:-

Smile foundation:- (swabhiman and parivartana)

Swabhiman, an initiative of Smile Foundation, aims to bring pride and dignity for our girl. Swabhiman, meaning self-respect, is a programme designed to enable women to realize their full potential in every sphere, be it home, office or community. This programme helps in enhancing the skills and information relevant to make them realize their self-esteem. Again, Swabhiman is not anti-men, but it encourages women to defend themselves and escape from violence and advocates men to be a part of bringing due dignity for our girl child.

India is a land of paradox

A land having the distinction of boasting the world's largest number of professionally qualified women is yet to ensure a life with dignity for the majority of its womenfolk!

India’s male to female ratio is an alarming 1000:933. Women form half of the country’s population, yet only about half of them are literate. Close to 1.5 lakh women become victims of various crimes annually, as per reported cases. Further, an estimated 5 crore

women face mental and physical cruelty. Although, the legal marriageable age for a girl in India is 18 years, our girl child doesn’t have a say when she is going to be a woman!

Ironically enough, India has the distinction of having the world's largest number of professionally qualified women! India prides in having more women as doctors, surgeons, scientists and professors than the United States has. India is also proud of the Kalpana Chawalas, Indra Nooyis, P T Ushas, Sania Mirzas, Aishwarya Rais, Kiran Majumdar Shaws, Kiran Bedis, to name a few.

As a matter of fact gender-based discrimination and societal behavior leading to physical and psychological harassments, emotional violence bordering on cruelty is never scant in woman’s basket of woes. Social evils begin at the womb with female feticides, infanticides, sexual harassments, rape and dowry related tortures putting an end to her misery only at the tomb!

In order to make the women realize their inner strength and importance in the society, Swabhiman has taken a pledge to illuminate their lives with Pride and Dignity!

Swabhiman, an initiative of Smile Foundation, aims to bring pride and dignity for our girl. Swabhiman, meaning self-respect, is a programme designed to enable women to realize their full potential in every sphere, be it home, office or community. This programme helps in enhancing the skills and information relevant to make them realize their self-esteem. Again, Swabhiman is not anti-men, but it encourages women to defend themselves and escape from violence and advocates men to be a part of bringing due dignity for our girl child.

1st Milestone [Achievements]

Swabhiman started getting an overwhelming response from the participants, communities, institutions and organizations alike within a short time of its launch in Delhi & NCR. During first year of its launch Swabhiman has reached out to around 4000 beneficiaries through 50 communities and organizations

Women of Substance on Swabhiman

Swabhiman, in course of its short yet eventful journey, has received real value addition as well as accolades from women of substance! These women have set their own roads in life, and thus set examples for others to excel, have been associated with Swabhiman during various activities and programmes. Comments, suggestions and observations from a few of them are as mentioned below:

"There is a night-and-day difference women having training like this and those not having this. In crisis, they are the best people to come out as winners.” -- Dr. Kiran Bedi, IPS

“Never accept being ‘allowed’ by others to do something. One must be aware of one’s right and freedom.” -- Ms. Feroz Gujral, Model

PARIVARTAN(BY SMILE FOUNDATION) Health and hygiene of women and adolescent girls

No. of Beneficiaries: 400000

Women in India have always faced the discrimination in many spheres of their lives, health being one of the prominent one. Smile Foundation in support with Proctor & Gamble has initiated a programme that aims at ensuring improved health seeking behavior for women with a focus on reproductive health and menstrual hygiene through training and other information, education and

communication (IEC) tools. At present the programme is implemented in 4 districts of Rajasthan. The programme is being implemented in collaboration with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

Women empowerment important for a powerful nation: Patil

Pratibha Devisingh Patil is the 12th and current President of the Republic of India and first woman to hold the office.[1]The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia.[2][3] From equal status with men in ancient times[4] through the low points of the medieval period,[5] to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. In modern India, women have adorned high offices in India including that of the President, Prime minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition, etc. The current President of India is a woman.

Sep,22, President Pratibha Patil said women empowerment is very important for developing India into a powerful nation.“Women empowerment is very important for the development of the nation. If women become powerful, the nation will also become powerful along with them,” Patil said while addressing the platinum jubilee celebration of the All India Marwari Federation here. She said just like a car cannot move without wheels, a nation cannot also progress without its two wheels — men and women.Talking about the business sector, the president said it plays an important role in the prosperity of the country, but it is even more important to maintain ethics in business.“…In an era where newer technological innovation is the need of the hour, it is even more important to maintain ethics at workplace,” she said. Patil said the characteristic of “unity in diversity” in India has made it unique in the world. “In our country we have people of various religions, castes, languages. This uniqueness sets India apart from all other countries,” she said.

Four Ways To Empower Women:-

Women make up slightly more than 50 percent of the world's population, but

account for over 60 percent of the world's hungry.

Women hold the key to a future free from hunger and poverty. By supporting

women’s education, training them as business leaders, equipping them to

become better farmers and aiding those displaced by conflict, the Women’s

Empowerment Fund is giving WFP and its supporters a new way to help them

do that.

As mothers, farmers, teachers and entrepreneurs, a great deal hinges on their

success. Evidence shows that with equal access to education, training and

means, women can raise the living standards of their families and inject new life

into the local economy.

Empowering women

  “People often ask me, what can be done to defeat

hunger? If you had all the resources in the world to end hunger, what would you

do? My answer is simple: empower women, because women are the secret

weapon to fight hunger.”

Josette Sheeran

WFP Executive Director

WFP is working around the world to make sure women succeed—and now you

can too. Through the Women’s Empowerment Fund, anyone can choose one of

four ways to help women lift themselves out of poverty—and their families and

communities along with them.

1. Help them become business leaders

Evidence shows that women in Africa re-invest about 90 percent of their

income back into their households compared to between 30 and 40 percent for

men. Giving women the knowledge and skills they need to run successful farms

and businesses is an efficient way to strengthen poor families.

⇒ Find out how women salt producers from Senegal are raising profits while

they stamp out iodine deficiency

2. Help them grown more and better food

Women produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food in most developing

countries, despite having less access to land and credit than men do. Providing

them with the tools and training they need to raise quality and yields is one of

the best ways to increase food production in countries prone to hunger.

⇒ Find out how an HIV-positive woman from Kenya beat back the virus while

raising her farm yields.

3. Help them rebuild after conflicts

Women are particularly vulnerable in times of conflict, even as their role as

providers becomes more important than ever. Easing their return home by

giving them the tools and training they need to rebuild can kick-start the

recovery process for an entire community.

⇒ Find out how food assistance makes recovery possible

for victims of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

4. Help them and their daughters get an education

Two thirds or the approximately 75 million children denied

an education around the world are girls. Yet studies show

that educated women have healthier children, who are more

likely to live longer and attend schools themselves.

Educating women is thus an important first step towards beating poverty and

hunger.

Approaches that Empower:-To empower women we must:-

Educate women. Give them the information they need about their bodies and sex. Information is power and women have the right to receive it.

Give women the skills they need to use a condom. Make them condom literate. Provide skills training on communication about sex and foster interpartner communication.

Improve women’s access to economic resources. Ensure that they have property and inheritance rights, have access to credit, receive equal pay for equal work, have the financial, marketing and business skills necessary to help their businesses grow, have access to the agricultural extension services to ensure the highest yield from their land, have access to formal sector employment, and are protected in the informal sector from exploitation and abuse.

Ensure that women have access to health services and that they have HIV and STI prevention technologies that they can control, such as the female condom and microbicides. And support the development of an AIDS vaccine that is safe, effective, and accessible to women and young girls.

Increase social support for women who are struggling to change existing gender norms by giving them opportunities to meet in groups, visibly in communities; by strengthening local women’s organizations and providing them with adequate resources; and by promoting sexual and family responsibility among boys and men.

Move the topic of violence against women from the private sphere to the public sphere. This is not a personal issue it is a gross violation of women’s rights and is has significant negative implications for the health of communities and for economic development.

And, to give women a voice, provide them with the opportunity to create a group identity separate from that of the family because for many women the family is often the social institution that enforces strict adherence to traditional gender norms; and promote women’s decision-making at the household, community, and national level by promoting women’s leadership and participation.

ConclusionLet me conclude by urging all of us to ensure that the term empowerment of women becomes more than just a linguistic icon whose meaning is inversely proportional to its use! Empowering women and guaranteeing them their economic and social rights is not an option. In the AIDS epidemic it prevents deaths. It ensures that one of the greatest barriers to the health of populations and to economic development is eliminated – gender inequity. Empowering women is not a zero-sum game. Power is not a finite concept. More power to women does not translate into less power for men. Empowering women, strengthening their agency as actors and decision-makers in their own lives, and

guaranteeing their rights increases the power of women, as well that of households, communities, and entire economies.

Concluding the topic ,I would like to say that , our so called “SOCIETY” and “FAMILY” are formed by the combination of both man and women, so they should get equal consideration, after all both are HUMAN BEINGS then WHY SO MUCH OF DIFFERENCE??????????

webliography:-

http://socyberty.com/society/women-empowerment-2/#ixzz1LMGbnrA6