Women Empowerment

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
When I was told the Presentation had to be on ‘Women Empowerment’, my first thought was “Shit”. I apologize for the language, but, since the topic has been so often spoken about, mentioned in debates, and discussed over feminist classes, that my interest began to shudder.
It implies that it doesn’t excite me much, speaking about women upliftment, empowerment, feminism and the like. However, the decision to talk on this topic also emerged from within me. Should I wonder ‘why’?
Maybe yes, maybe no. The biggest and all encompassing term ‘Feminism’ has been subjected to much discussion. Having studied in a feminist institution myself, I can’t help, but, make myself aware of the facts. So, what is feminism, the buzz word?
[Invites answers]
To simplify, Feminism is EQUAL RIGHTS IN EVERY SPHERE OF LIFE. This doesn’t really pertain to just women. Just actions for both sexes is the main aim of feminism. That women have been the victimized section, apart from certain exceptions, can’t be denied. But, this same harping, and misuse of extra concern by women is sensibly noted by men. Sex not being an agenda of feminism, RIGHTS are more like it. Individual rights. Human rights.
Feminists—that is, persons practicing feminism—can be persons of either sex.
Women today shine alike their male counterpart is a cliché. That 21st century girl has dreams as lofty as skies, can’t be skipped. So what is the catch?
1. Of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the globe, 70 percent are women. For these women, poverty doesn’t just mean scarcity and want. It means rights denied, opportunities curtailed and voices silenced.
1. Women are paid way less than their male counterparts, for same and equal work.
2. Throughout world, women hold only 7% of the property.
3. Certain cultures in third world states consider women as cattle – to be kept, fed, and used to profit building.
4. Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, according to the United Nations Millennium Campaign to halve world poverty by the year 2015. The overwhelming majority of the labor that sustains life – growing food, cooking, raising children, caring for the elderly, maintaining a house, hauling water – is done by women, and universally this work is accorded low status and no pay. The ceaseless cycle of labor rarely shows up in economic analyses of a society’s production and value.
5. Women earn only 10 percent of the world’s income.

In India, an NGO project working
with adolescent girls noted that
“they are often seen only as temporary
people who will cease to be – at least for
the father – once they have disappeared
inside a marriage.”

MEASURES:
Instead of just holding presentations and awareness camps, for populations that don’t need it; let the pitfalls of female foeticide reach nooks and corners of rural India.
Provide women with safe environment.
Reservations are just a baby step, empowering women needs psychological upliftment, a vision for themselves, and some perks like safe zones.
Ending all sorts of discrimination, oppression, and encouraging education should be the key ideas.
Conveying to the hard core patriarchical society that baby’s sex is not in the hands of mother.

Psychology of Women
Women and politics
Eve teasing
Datin issues
Safety ~