Gender inequality is a long-term problem in our society and female are discriminated in many ways in the social context of India, although legally women have equal right. Thus, there is a great need to sensitize the society on gender issues so that there would be no discrimination on the basis of gender. Women empowerment through gender sensitization is one of the key criteria to unlock the potential of women.
Women Empowerment has been the primary focus for both government and most NGO’s. Voluntary action promoted by NGOs engaged in development play a significant role towards rural development which is dependent upon the active participation of the volunteers through Non-Government Organizations (NGO).
- Educating the Rural Women
- Supplementation of Government Efforts
- Efforts Organizing the Rural Women
- Building various Model and Experiment
- Ensure Women’s Participation in their empowerment
- Mobilizing the optimum Resources
- Promoting Rural Leadership
- Representing the Rural Women
- Promoting Technology in Rural areas
- Providing effective & efficient Training to Rural Women.
- Monitoring and Evaluation.
- Impact assessment.
- A self-help group is a village based financial intermediary committee usually composed of 10-20 local woman. The members make small regular saving contributions for a few months until there is enough capital in the group for lending. Funds may then be lent back to the members or other villagers. These SHGs are then further ‘linked’ to banks for delivery of micro credit. It lays emphasis on capacity building, planning of activity clusters, infrastructure build up, technology, credit and marketing.
- The basic objective is to inculcate the habit of saving and using banking facilities among the members. The saving habit thus strengthens the bargaining capacity of the women and they are in a better position to acquire loans for productive purposes. The women gain from collective wisdom in managing their finances and distributing the benefits among themselves.
- The SHG play a major role in sensitising more women to form SHGs and in making they realise its importance in their empowerment. This helps the women collective decision making and also to enhance the confidence and capabilities of the women.
- These groups go a long way in motivating women to take up social responsibilities particularly related to women development. SHGs are considered as one of the most significant tools to adopt participatory approach for the economic empowerment of women.
- Lastly, the most important change that the SHG culture has brought in the country is to change the gender dynamics of power within a family and ultimately the society at large. They now have greater say in the family matters and also are seen as stakeholders and partners in taking the community forward. The financial independence has eventually paved the way for societal upliftment of women and their voices.
- The UN began celebrating the International Day in 1975, which was designated International Women’s Year. Over the decades it has morphed from recognizing the achievements of women to becoming a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation, in the political and economic arenas.
- Achieving a gender-equal world requires social innovations that work for both women and men and leave no one behind, according to the overarching UN strategy. E-learning platforms that take classrooms to women and girls; affordable and quality childcare centres; and technology shaped by women, are a few examples of the innovation needed to meet the 2030 deadline set out in the Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- The 20-year review of the Beijing Platform and Declaration for Action (BPfA) carried out in 2015 highlighted slow and uneven progress across UN Member States in removing barriers to women’s economic progress.
- The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) includes a number of Articles related to women’s economic empowerment. To date, 189 countries have ratified or acceded to CEDAW, which is legally binding in those countries.
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development entails 17 Sustainable Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets which apply to all countries. There are targets on women’s economic empowerment across the 17 Goals.
- A range of International Labour Organization Conventions and Recommendations relevant to women’s economic empowerment have been adopted, but ratification and implementation across EU Member States, and globally, remains inconsistent.
- Other UN-led initiatives include the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Women’s Empowerment Principles.
- Government should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate inequalities between men and women as soon as possible by:
- Establishing mechanisms for women’s equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process and public life in each community and society and enabling women to articulate their concerns and needs;
- Promoting the fulfilment of women’s potential through education, skill development and employment, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health among women;
- Eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health;
- Adopting appropriate measures to improve women’s ability to earn income beyond traditional occupations, achieve economic self-reliance, and ensure women’s equal access to the labour market and social security systems;
- Eliminating violence against women;
- Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against women, such as those based on proof of contraceptive use or pregnancy status;
- Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation in the workforce.
