Women empowerment
Women empowerment can be defined in very simple words that it is making women powerful so that they can take their own decisions. Its make them able to get their real rights in the society.
Why Need of Women Empowerment in India?
As we all know that India is a male dominated country where men are dominated in every area and females are forced to be responsible for only family care and live in the home including other many restrictions. In India almost 50% women who are not empowered and still restricted by many social taboos. In such condition, we cannot say that the future of our country is safe because half of the females are not empowered. If we want to a major change & make our country a developed country then first of all it is very required to empower women by the efforts of men, goverment, socity & women too.
The need of women empowerment arose because of the gender discrimination in the Indian society.They have been targeted for many types of violence and discriminatory practices.There is a tradition of worshipping many female goddesses in India including giving honour to the women forms in the society like mother, sister, daughter, wife and other female relatives or friends. But, it doesn't mean that only respecting or honouring women can fulfil the need of development in the country. It needs the empowerment of the rest half population of the country in every moments of life.
India is a famous country proving the common proverb like ‘unity is diversity’, where people of many religious beliefs are in the Indian society. Women have been given a special place in every religion which is working as a big curtain covering the eyes of people and help in the continuation of many ill practices (including physical and mental) against women as a norm since ages. In the ancient Indian society, there was a custom of sati pratha, nagar vadhu system, dowry system, sexual violence, domestic violence, female infanticide, parda pratha, wife burning. All such type of ill practices is because of male superiority complex and patriarchal system of the society.
Social-political rights for the women were completely restricted by the male members of family. Some of the ill practices against women have been eliminated by the open minded and great Indian people who raise their voices for the discriminatory practices against women.
In the recent years, various constitutional and legal rights have been implemented by the government of India in order to eliminate ill practices and gender discrimination against women. However, in order to solve such a big issue, the continuous effort of everyone including women is required. Modern society is being more aware about the women rights which results in the increasing number of several self-help groups, NGOs, etc working in this direction. Women are being more open minded and breaking the societal barriers in order to achieve their rights in all dimensions even after crimes are going side by side.
Some of the acts passed by the Parliament are Equal Remuneration Act-1976, Dowry Prohibition Act-1961, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act-1956, Medical termination of Pregnancy Act-1971, Maternity Benefit Act-1961, Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act-1987, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act-2006, Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act-1994, Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Pl::ace (Prevention, Protection and) Act-2013, etc in order to empower women with legal rights.
In order to provide safety to women and reduce crime against women in India, government has passed another act Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015 (especially after Nirbhaya case when an accused juvenile was released). This act is the replacement earlier Indian juvenile delinquency law of 2000 (Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000) in order to reduce the juvenile age from 18 to 16 years in cases of heinous offenses.
Conclusion
In order to really bring women empowerment in the Indian society, it needs to understand and eliminate the main cause of the ill practices against women which are patriarchal and male dominated system of the society. It needs to be open-minded and change the old mind set against women together with the constitutional and other legal provisions.
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