Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Strategies for Enhancing Rural Women’s Empowerment


Empowerment of Women


The world would not be complete without the contribution of women. Women have an important role in social, economic and cultural development of the nation. Very magnificently, women have carried the position of the mother, wife, sister, etc. Today's urban women are more confident. The women in urban areas have more opportunities and advantage, then the women residing in the rural sectors. The rural women are unable to get the proper nutrition, better education, employment, and other basic needs.

Many women do not get the proper nutrition, especially during the pregnancy and lactation period. The lack of food and nutrition not only affects an individual, but also affects the society. Women empowerment is necessary so that the women can understand the importance of proper intake of food and proper hygiene. We need to empower women with the knowledge of prenatal care, breastfeeding, and vaccination of the newborn baby so that the women and infants will stay healthy.

Education is a weapon to eradicate the social evil from the society. Educating women mean not only to provide the schooling facility for the women, but to teach them for their knowledge and enhance their personality. Through education, we can reduce the poverty and improve the livelihood of the women. According to the survey done in the year 2001, the female literacy rate is 46.4% and 69% of male. About 82.14% of the adult men are literate in India while only 65.46% of adult women count under the educated list. Through education, women get the confidence and courage to fight against the discrimination such as gender inequality, female feticide, dowry demand, early marriages and many other offenses that women are facing every day. The Uttar Pradesh police started women helpline service known as Women Power Line for the protection of distress women. The members of the WPL spread awareness among the women to fight for their rights and not to tolerate any violence or harassment. The Women Power Line educate the rural women and provide the safety tips like always keep the main door closed, construct the window grills embedded in the cement work, take care of valuable items such as mobile phones, purses, etc. The members of the WPL also advise the rural women to make proper sanitation near the house because most of the women faced offense while going to the toilet away from the house. Good sanitation is necessary for maintaining the personal, as well as environmental hygiene and health.

Educated women can earn and help in reducing the poverty rate. It also helps in boosting the economic growth of the country. An educated woman wants her daughter to be educated and employed. Empowering women in terms of financial education, information and technology are compulsory in the present modern world. Women and girls have less interest in the financial issues because of the lack of the financial knowledge. We need to provide the financial education to women and girls so that they can effectively manage their families and take confidently financial decisions. We need to encourage women for using the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools in the proper way. The information and technology provide many opportunities to the women for their development. The telecommunication technology is widely developed in most of the rural areas; still many rural women do not know how to use the mobile phones. The members of WPL educate the rural women for using the mobile phones so that the women and teen girls can contact the police at the time of emergency.

The rural women can establish small scale business to become self-dependent and self-reliance. Establishment of the micro enterprise by the women is an effective tool for the economic and social development of the society. Women can start a business like bakery, laundry service, agarbati, jewelry, and papad making. Women face tremendous hurdles when they start their enterprise and sometimes the women became the victim of violence. According to the research, women become the victim of domestic violence because they earn more than their husband. The harassed women can immediately seek help from WPL service. WPL encourage those women who fight for their rights and provide full protection to them. One can dial 1090 number from any part of the Uttar Pradesh to avail the efficient service of women empowerment. The Women Power Line creates awareness for the women empowerment and provides protection to the women and girls at the time of emergency.


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