Status of Women
In this article, you will know about the current status of Women in India and their workforce participation. The some of relevant indicators of status of individual members in the society are political participation, state of the health, access to property, levels of the education, representation in decision making bodies etc. Especially women, have the equal access to the factors that which constitute these indicators of the status.
What does Constitution say about Women Empowerment?
1. In the Indian constitution, the Principle of gender equality is enshrined.
2. The Constitution not only guarantees the equality to women, but also it provides the State with power to take the measures of positive discrimination for women in order to mitigate the cumulative socio-economic and the political disadvantages.
3. It is a fundamental duty on every citizen to renounce the practices derogatory to dignity of women.
The Areas where Women have done Exceptionally well in India
From many of the years, women have suffered with injustice and prejudice of the society. But today, with changing times, they have made name for themselves. They have broken shackles of the gender stereotype and stood to achieve their dreams and goals.
For instance:
1.Social Activist
Sindhutai Sapkal ( Padma Shri 2021) – She Raising the Orphaned Children
2. Environmentalist
Tulasi Gowda ( Padma Shri 2021) – Encyclopaedia of Forest
3. Defence
Avani Chaturvedi – The First Indian Woman to fly a solo fighter aircraft (MiG-21 Bison)
4. Sports
PV Sindhu – The First Indian Woman to claim two Olympic medals (Bronze – Tokyo 2020) and (Silver – Rio 2016).
Mary Kom – She is the First woman from the country to win medal in boxing at olympics
Indian Women’s Cricket Team – Finalist, Common wealth games 2022
5. Space Technology
Tessy Thomas – Missile Woman of India (Agni-v missile project)
6. International Organisations
Gita Gopinath – The First Woman Chief Economist at IMF (International Monetary Fund).
7. Education
Shakuntala Devi – Guinness World Record for Fastest Human Computation.
Shanan Dhaka – AIR 1 National Defence Academy Entrance Examination (1st Women’s Batch of NDA)
Top 3 All India Ranks were achieved by female candidates in UPSC Civil Services Examination 2021.
1.Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme
2. Ujjawala Yojna
3. Swadhar Greh
4. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
5. Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme
6. One Stop Centre
What should be the way Forward?
Better Education Opportunities
- Giving education to a women means giving the education to their whole family. The education plays an important role in building the self-confidence among women.
- Education enables people to change she/her status in society and builds the confidence to make decisions in a better way.
- The Education Policy needs to be more inclusive to ensure the girls right to education and their right to be free from the discrimination within the educational institutions.
- Also, the education policy should target the young men and boys to positively change their attitudes towards the girls and women.
Skilling and Micro Financing
- Skilling and Micro Financing can get women financially stable and therefore she is no longer dependent upon the others in society.
- For financial empowerment, training the women in non-traditional skills with market demand, and creating the more public and private sector jobs for women is important.
Women’s Safety
- A multi-sectoral strategy should raise the awareness among women about current government initiatives and mechanisms that should be devised to ensure safety of the Women throughout country.
- Panic Button, Nirbhaya Police Squad are some good Steps in direction of Women’s Safety.
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 was enacted to ensure the safe working spaces for women and to build an enabling environment that respects the women’s right of equality in status and opportunity.