Essay-When women are the advisor, the Lords of creation don't take the advice till they have

persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do; then they act upon it and if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it; if fails, they generously give herself the whole".- Louisa May Alcott India today is at the cusp of a paradigm change in its growth and its position in the world. We (both men and women) must act decisively to capture this opportunity. We need to think big and scale up rapidly in each and every area, be it education, infrastructure, industry, financial services or equality of both genders. For around two centuries, social reformers and missionaries in India have endeavored to bring women out of confines in which centuries of traditions had kept them. According to the 2001 Census, the percentage of female literacy in the country is 54% up from 9% 1951. But we should not forget that history in a witness to the women who have in the past demonstrated unique leadership capabilities. Razia Sultana, Rani of Jhansi, Sarojini Naidu and Indira Gandhi are motivation examples of women empowerment. Earlier, most women were able to demonstrate the leadership qualities only on their home fronts, as in Indian society man has always acted as the master of the scene and the decision regarding the issue of empowering women has always been taken by him. God has gifted women with compassion, tender-heartedness, caring nature, concern for others. These are very positive signs which imply that women can be leaders. Though some women have shown their mettle yet a large number of them have to sharpen their leadership qualities in various ways. In order to help women to be in limelight, they need to be empowered. Therefore, empowerment of women is the prerequisite to transform a developing country into a developed country. I would like to peep into the past when the stature of women as destroyed. They were treated as chattel in the early Roman society. In France, they were termed as half-soul creatures responsible for the destruction of society. The Chinese considered them as devil's soul. Japanese men preferred to live unmarried lives. Before the advent of Islam, Arabs buried their daughters alive considering them as a sign of disgrace. In this way, they deprived women of their due place. Most men view themselves as being the superior life-form in society. They justify this belief by saying that they are stronger and more capable; thus, making them more qualified for the more important roles in society. they place themselves on pedestals and force women to believe in their own inferiority to men and their incapability to excel educationally, politically, economically and domestically. But the truth is that women have advanced in all those areas. In Shakespeare's works, many female characters are portrayed as being manipulated, if not controlled outright by the men in their lives as fathers, uncles, suitors, husbands. Therefore, Shakespeare's works appear to send mixed singles regarding the notion of female empowerment. empowerment has multiple, interrelated and interdependent dimensions economic, social, cultural and political. It can be understood in relation to resources, perceptions. relationship and power. But what does women empowerment mean? Women empowerment generally has five components : firstly, women's sense of self worth; secondly, their right to have the power of control their own lives, both within and outside home; and lastly, their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a just social and economic order nationally, internationally and universally. Educational attainment and economic participation are they key constituents in ensuring the empowerment of women. Educational attainment is essential for empowering women in all spheres of society, for without education of comparable quality and content given to boys and men, updated with existing knowledge and relevant to current needs, women will be able to have access to wellpaid formal sector jobs and advance with men. The economic empowerment of women is a vital element of strong economic growth in any country. Empowering women enhances their ability to influence changes and to create a better society. Other than educational and economic empowerment, changes in women's mobility and social interaction and changes in intrahousehold decision-making are necessary. Slight improvement in women's involvement in household decision-making in maleheaded household, on such issues as credit, the disposal of household assets, children's education and family healthcare can work wonders. Traditionally, gender based divisions persisted in intra-household decision-making. Women basically decide on food preparation and men make the financial decision. Women are one of the greatest assets in our society. They equal to men in all aspects. Women are more perfectionist in the power to create, nurture and transform.' Today, women are emerging as leaders in growing range of fields. be it aeronautics, medicine, space, engineering, law, politics, education, business...you just name the profession and they are there, all that needed in today's world in their empowerment. In India, the empowerment process has already begun. We are now witnessing a steady improvement in the enrollment of women in schools, colleges and even in profession institutes. Their health is better as compared to earlier decades. In this decade, women are entering into the job market in increasing numbers. They are showing their skills even in non-traditional sectors like police, defence, administration, media and research fields. Twenty-six laws have been enacted so far to protect women from various crimes. The recent law on the 'protection of women against domestic violence' satisfies the long pending demand of the women activities. In the political field, the reservation for women is a significant step forward towards their political empowerment. When thirty-three percent reservation for women in Parliament becomes a reality, women's voice will be heard in the highest forum of democracy. The day, women of India will reach zenith in their empowerment. But a lot of work has to be done as there is a category of women (who consider themselves highly educated) that proudly accepts that they don't have digital literacy even though they own a computer, they cannot even operate bank accounts or make travel arrangements for family or handle hospital admissions even during emergencies. Even for a simple task like social visits or shopping generally they need the company of their husbands. Women in India feel proud to display that they are well protected and pampered by their husbands without realizing that they are making themselves helpless. Such women's economic literacy is so low that they cannot play any role in family's decision regarding family's budget, savings and investments. To such women, the national budget discussion is for men only and soap operas are for them. Such women suffer a lot if something untoward happens to their husbands. This type of extreme dependency is not good for the development of women. Women should remember that they are also rational, intelligent and thinking human beings. Dependent women are not empowered women. If modern women think that they are empowered, it's a myth for them. Empowerment means to inspire women with he courage to break free from the chains of limiting beliefs, patterns and societal or religious conditions that have traditionally kept women suppressed and unable to realize their true beauty and power. Some qualities to be acquired by women to become truly empowered are awareness about risk prevailing at home, in work place, in traveling and staying outside home. They should have political, legal, economic and health awareness. They should have

knowledge about support groups and positive attitudes towards life. They should get goals for future and strive to achieve them with courage. The best gift parents today can give to their daughters is education. If women choose to be ignorant then all the efforts taken by the Government and women activists will go in vain. Even in twenty-fifth century, they will remain backward and will be paying a heavy price for their dependence, So, it is a wake-up call for women to awake from their deep slumber and understand the true meaning of their empowerment. In the end I would like to conclude with the following words, "Women as the motherhood of the nation should be strong, aware and alert". Four ways to empower woman 1. Help them become business leaders Evidence shows that women in Africa re-invest about 90 percent of their income back into their households compared to between 30 and 40 percent for men. Giving women the knowledge and skills they need to run successful farms and businesses is an efficient way to strengthen poor families. 2. Help them grown more and better food Women produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food in most developing countries, despite having less access to land and credit than men do. Providing them with the tools and training they need to raise quality and yields is one of the best ways to increase food production in countries prone to hunger. 3. Help them rebuild after conflicts Women are particularly vulnerable in times of conflict, even as their role as providers becomes more important than ever. Easing their return home by giving them the tools and training they need to rebuild can kick-start the recovery process for an entire community. 4. Help them and their daughters get an education Two thirds or the approximately 75 million children denied an education around the world are girls. Yet studies show that educated women have healthier children, who are more likely to live longer and attend schools themselves. Educating women is thus an important first step towards beating poverty and hunger. Ways to India: Women's empowerment THEME: Social and economic factors can contribute to women's empowerment. The completion evaluation of the IFAD-supported Tamil Nadu Women's Development Project in India took place in late 1999. The project had aimed to bring about the social and economic betterment of women. The core mechanism was the women's selfhelp groups, which were set up with both financial (saving and lending) and community action objectives. At the time of the evaluation, a total of 5 207 of these groups had been formed, almost double the established target The evaluation noted that, at least in the latter phases, the project acted not as just "a credit-cum-subsidy project, but as a genuine process of empowerment." The evaluation concluded that such empowerment lay in the interaction between the social and economic aspects of the project. Four of the main processes that could lead to women's empowerment, as defined by the IFAD evaluation, were: changes in women's mobility and social interaction; changes in women's labour patterns; changes in women's access to and control over resources; and changes in women's control over decision-making. Changes in women's mobility and interaction. The evaluation found that women had become more mobile and begun to have new interactions with a range of officials. There was even a growing willingness on the part of group members to approach the Panchayats and Collectors with petitions or grievances. In all, the evaluation found that: 50% of women group members had visited new places and travelled longer distances; and 94% had experienced new interactions with staff of institutions such as banks, district and block development organizations, NGOs and the project itself. The study observes that this type of change was most likely to occur among women group members when: the women involved were heads of households or were older; the women involved had participated in training; their group members had accessed a bank loan; their group had undertaken community action initiatives; or their group had been organized into a federation and encouraged to participate in special events (such as Women's Day, Rural Women's Day) Changes in women's labour patterns. The evaluation did not find any major changes in gender division of labour. However, there were indications of such changes beginning. For instance, the group meetings themselves forced some of the husbands to look after children and feed themselves while their wives attended the meetings. The evaluation found that the extent to which men helped in reproductive tasks was related to the health of the woman (men helped more if women were sick), the type of household (men helped more in a nuclear household), and the gender and age of the children (men helped less if girl children were present to help). There was comparatively greater change reported in non-domestic productive tasks. Not all the changes in such labour patterns can be viewed as beneficial to women. Fully 30% of women who had taken bank loans reported a marked change in gender roles, and 70% reported a small change. (Greater change was reported by women heads of households, which implies that changes in the division of labour were not always involved, but that the women themselves adopted new productive roles.) However, the income-generating activities of the majority of women in male-headed households (for which loans had been taken) continued to be managed by men (presumably, the women's husbands). The workload of 94% of the women who had taken loans increased compared with their previous workload (many had been wage labourers).

Therefore, the changes in women's labour patterns were mixed, and not as positive as along other dimensions. There was little indication that women's control over their labour had undergone a marked change, and the evaluation noted that many women may simply have gone from undertaking paid work outside the home to becoming unpaid family labourers (in male-managed enterprises). At least self-employment allows women the possibility to have better working conditions, save on travel time, and be able to more effectively combine reproductive and productive roles. Changes in access to and control over resources. The evaluation also looked into women group members' access to non-loanrelated resources and benefits, and particularly to common resources. It seems that a number of the groups undertook activities that would give their communities better infrastructure or services, for instance in water supply, child-care facilities, health care services and improved roads. In this sense, they played a key role in promoting changes in collective access to resources. Changes in intra-household decision-making. The evaluation concluded that there seemed to be a slight improvement in women's involvement in household decision-making in male-headed households, on such issues as credit, the disposal of household assets, children's education, and family health care. However, the traditional gender-based divisions persist in intrahousehold decision-making. Women basically decide on food preparation, and men make the financial decisions. But group members had become more aware of their property and political rights (which was part of group training). As in the case of mobility and social interaction, the evaluation again found greater improvements among women heads of households, older women, and more educated women. In traditional societies, even more than elsewhere, women's empowerment does not occur easily or overnight. In the India case described, there was evidence of such change beginning, to which the project had apparently contributed. It was most noticeable among certain types of women. Perhaps one of the most important emerging lessons is that women's groups themselves, in their social aspects, play a role in such empowerment. This argues for placing emphasis on sustaining groups beyond the life of the project, which indeed was done in this instance. The project evaluation also recommended that communication support (films, radio broadcasts and so on, with sensitization and training content) be used to speed up the empowerment process. India ranked at 115 on women empowerment scale: Survey Melbourne: India has been ranked at a poor 115 by a global survey which looked into the level of economical empowerment of women in 128 countries. The list was topped by Australia and followed by three Scandinavian countries -- Norway, Sweden and Finland. At the bottom of the list were Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan and Chad. The research done by an international consulting and management firm Booz & Company ranked India at 115 and noted that with the second-largest population in the world, India generates 14 per cent of the global talent pool, among which are the 5.5 million women entering India's workforce each year, all overwhelmingly driven to succeed. Yet India's women--whether in Mumbai's conference rooms or Kerala's backwaters--must navigate a familiar but daunting set of obstacles and challenges in their search for economic empowerment and professional success," it said. It added that although the knowledge economy has created enormous opportunities in India, too many women are still prevented from reaching their full potential by a combination of cultural restrictions, gender discrimination, and lack of resources. "The country has anti-discrimination legislation in place designed to protect women, yet implementation has a long way to go. Each year, approximately 1,000 'honour killings' are perpetrated against Indian women. "Along with female feticide and infanticide, acid attacks, rape, and sexual harassment, honour killings are both the symptoms of and catalysts for women's disempowerment. "Forty-five percent of women believe that they're treated unfairly at work because of their gender; many others struggle to rejoin the workforce after giving birth. More than 50 percent of women report safety concerns related to commuting," the scathing report said. It underlined that if India is to sustain its rate of growth, it will have to break down these sizable barriers to women's empowerment - both in the private-sector workforce and in the entrepreneurial landscape. Across the globe, the survey found up to one billion women will enter the world's workforce over the next decade. The report named 'Third Billion index' has observed that while the burgeoning populations of India and China have been given much attention by the media, less has been paid to the one billion women who will soon enter the world's workforce. The report is based on the country's performance in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary education, equal pay for equal work, non-discrimination policies, access to childcare, property ownership rights and ability to access credit. It also looks at whether wages are equal, the number of women in work compared with men, and whether there is equality in the number of female managers, senior business leaders and politicians. Political empowerment of women in India poor: UNDP NEW DELHI, Sep 22, 2012, DHNSStrongly pleads for reservation in ParliamentIt will take more than 50 years for countries like India to achieve gender balance in politics if the womens participation in Parliaments remains at the current pace, according to the United Nations report. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report released this week offers six-point action plan that includes a whole range of structural changes in the electoral politics to bridge the gender gap. It strongly pleads quota for women in Parliament. The action plan recommended by the report includes constitutional reforms, changes in the pattern of electoral campaign and its financing, provision of reservation ofseats, change in party selection rules, capacity building on policy and programs and gender sensitive rules in elected bodies. The UNDP report, Gender Equality in Elected Office in Asia-Pacific: Six Actions to Expand Womens Empowerment, says that globally, women hold slightly less than 20 per cent of seats in Parliament. In Asia-Pacific, just over 18 per cent of all members of national Parliaments are women.

The leading countries in the region for womens membership in Parliament are New Zealand and Nepal, where women are one-third of all members of Parliament. Women are more than one-quarter of parliamentarians in Afghanistan, Australia, Laos, Timor-Leste and Vietnam, says the report. LS ranks 105th India is far below these countries with 11 per cent women in the Lower House. Despite frequent attempts to introduce a similar policy of reserved seats for the Lower House (Lok Sabha) of the national Parliament , these initiatives have repeatedly failed. With 60 women members of Parliament out of 545 (11 per cent), nationally, Indias Lower House ranks only 105th worldwide, says the report.Among the Asia-Pacific countries with the highest proportions of women in Parliament in 2010, most had constitutional, legal or party quotas. By contrast, among the 20 Asia-Pacific countries lagging behind in growth, none had implemented quotas, says the report. Gender balance Due to the implementation of reserved seats, women do better in sub-national than national elections in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the report pointed out. With 37 per cent of members at rural and district bodies, India has achieved a better gender balance at sub-national level. However, the report has lauded the consequences for including women in India in local bodies. It underlines its role in altering policy priorities. Hence, studies have reported the significance of gender for policy outcomes; in particular, village councils headed by women invested more in public infrastructure concerning provision of clean water, while village councils headed by men invested more in job provisions, says the report. Womens empowerment in India is heavily dependent on many different variables that include geographical location (urban/rural), educational status, social status (caste and class), and age. Policies on womens empowerment exist at the national, state, and local (Panchayat) levels in many sectors, including health, education, economic opportunities, gender-based violence, and political participation. However, there are significant gaps between policy advancements and actual practice at the community level. One key factor for the gap in implementation of laws and policies1. to address discrimination, economic disadvantages, and violence against women at the community level is the largely patriarchal structure that governs the community and households in much of India. As such, women and girls have restricted mobility, access to education, access to health facilities, and lower decision-making power, and experience higher rates of violence. Political participation is also hindered at the Panchayat (local governing bodies) level and at the state and national levels, despite existing reservations for women.2.The impact of the patriarchal structure can be seen in rural and urban India, although womens empowerment in rural India is much less visible than in urban areas. This is of particular concern, since much of India is rural despite the high rate of urbanization and expansion of cities. Rural women, as opposed to women in urban settings, face inequality at much higher rates, and in all spheres of life. Urban women and, in particular, urban educated women enjoy relatively higher access to economic opportunities, health and education, and experience less domestic violence. Women (both urban and rural) who have some level of education have higher decisionmaking power in the household and the community. Furthermore, the level of womens education also has a direct implication on maternal mortality rates, and nutrition and health indicators among children.