Woman and Girls Empowerment is the Crux of Overall Progress of Every Nation

 “ To awaken the people, it is the women who must be awakened once she is on the moves, the family moves, the village moves, the nation moves” --- -- Jawaharlal Nehru

Women contribute about half of the total population of the world, but still, they suffer  disadvantage as related to men in various terms like education, the participation rate in various sectors, wages, etc, Social, economic, and political empowerment is the need of the day, as it is one only surest way of making women empowerment. Empowerment of girls & women is vital not only on the ground of social justice but also because it accelerates social transformation. Despite being a large population of women in a nation, If their participation is not in the development of the country, then this population will not get proper opportunities. No development can be imagined without the participation of this huge manpower.

A strong patriarchal society with deep-rooted socio-cultural values continues to affect the progress of women’s empowerment in the nation. It is a fact that women are built differently than men by nature yet this difference cannot be translated to mean inferiority, From the ancient time women are supposed to be not capable of various things with primitive mindsets.

In a similar context, Gloria Steinem said “Women are always saying, We can do anything that men can do; But men should saying, We can do anything that women can do”.

The need of the hour is an egalitarian society, Where there should be no place for gender superiority. Empowerment of women is a necessity for a very development of a society Since it enhances both the quality and the quantity of human resources available for national development. As Isabelle Allende said, “I can promise you that women working together- linked, Informed, and educated- can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet”. Women empowerment ensures the sustainable development of the nation/region. Economic empowerment of women increases women’s agency, access to formal government programs, mobility outside the home, economic independence, and purchasing power.

“There is no tool more effective than the empowerment of women for the development of a country”.

As someone has correctly said, “You educate a man, you educate a man, you educate a woman, you educate a generation”. By educating a woman you educate the whole family. Given that a woman has the responsibilities of the whole family herself, an educated woman is better capable of taking care of her children and more so be an active agent in the social and economic development of the country. No society has ever liberated itself economically, politically, or socially without a sound base of educated women. Studies have indicated that there is a strong correlation between female education and several development indicators such as increased economic productivity, improvement in health, delayed age at marriage, lower fertility, increased political participation, and effective investment in the next generation.

In Indian culture, many empowered women like Goddess Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, etc. are worshiped. Even God’s names are taken with Goddess’s name like Sita-Ram, Radha-Krishna. Lord Shiva is known as Ardhnaarishwar. That signifies the value of women and girls in Indian society.

In Indian history women like Jhansi ki Rani (Lakshmibai), Razia sultan, Mother Teresa, Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, etc. have shown the world what women can do.

In French Revolution, women gained quite several rights in the first years of the revolution. New Zealand provided the right to vote for women in 1893( 1st in the world). Similarly, many other territories also enfranchised women before 1893. Indian constitution also provides several rights to empower women.

As Mahatma Gandhi Said “Mahilayen, puruson se behtar sainik sabit ho sakti hain bas unko mauka dene ki jarurat hai”. Today women are doing well in every sector like defence, Policy-making, leadership, Research, Astronomy, etc. in the whole world.

Women’s empowerment has five components: Women’s sense of self-worth; their right to have and to determine choice; their right to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home; and their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally

Men often humiliate each other by questioning personal enmity jealousy and reputation, due to which their positivity becomes zero. But there are very less such cases with women. Generally, women remain away from corruption as a result they can contribute more to development work. Whenever women are active, they commit to social cohesion within their communities in local conflict resolution initiatives, in welcoming internally displaced people and survivors of gender-based violence, in educating children, and in raising awareness of non-violence and peace.

Recently Head of UN Women told that investing in women’s economic empowerment yields enormous dividends for peace and prosperity, stressing that countries, where women are economically marginalized and shut out of the workforce are much more likely to go to war. “ We know societies with more gender equality tend to be more resistant to violence and conflict” yet too often women remain excluded from decision-making.

However, women are also criticized by saying that women become dependent on male members, have a low potential of working, etc.

Thus we can say that women’s & girls’ empowerment is the crux of the overall progress of every nation.

“Women power is an integral part of a nation’s power, without which no nation can be strong without being empowered and included.”