Women

Empowerment

A girl was born in a small tribal village in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa in 1958. Born in a poor family
she struggled with the basic survival needs of food clothing and shelter . She fought with her situation,
completed her graduation, and started working as a clerk at a public office. To educate her daughter
she even became a teacher. The situation got tougher for her she lost both her sons, and her husband
in merely a span of 9 years. But she remained strong like a rock, the situation was tough and so was
she. She followed her passion, followed her heart, entered into politics, worked her way into the heart
and mind of the people of our country, and became a Minister and subsequently the governor of
Jharkhand.

Her journey did not stop here, her patience, hard work, her strength created a historic moment when
she was elected as the first tribal women to be the President of the most diverse democracy of the
world, India. She is a truly empowered woman, her journey teaches us an important lesson, the
power that a “Nari” holds in her heart is boundless. If provided with the adequate opportunities and
the environment to nurture, she can create history!!!

The word Empowerment stands for the power to control our life situation, take an informed decision
for our social and emotional well-being If this holds true for the women of our country, if they are
provided with the opportunities at par with men, so that they are in a position to become what they
want, independent enough to choose their course of life, we can say that they are truly “Empowered”.

Taking a sneak peek at the history, during the Rig Vedic period the condition of women was at its peak,
we had sages like Lop mudra, and Apala. They performed Vedic rituals, took part in Sabha and Simitis,
in turn they were an integral part of the society. As the time passed by the condition of Women
deteriorated. In the later Vedic era, they were not allowed to participate in the social gatherings, child
marriage became common and it became difficult for them to receive the same quality of education
as before.

Their situation kept declining, they were trapped in the social evils of sati, child marriage and
polygamy. It was until the 19th century, when social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Rai, Ishwar
Chandra Vidhya Sagar came into picture who fought for the upliftment of women, abolition of sati,
widow remarriage etc. With the efforts of Rajaram Mohanrai that Sati was abolished in 1829. It was
with the efforts of B M Malabari, that the age of consent act was passed which prevented the young
girls below 12 years from getting married. The spirit was kept alive by our freedom fighters like
Mahatma Gandhi who gave a call to the women of our country to realize their potential, and come
out of their houses during civil Disobedience Movement, and contribute their share towards the
dream of “Independent India”. As a result we have a history of impactful women like Sarojani Naidu,
Usha Mehta, Madam Bhikhaji Cama, Kadambari Ganguly (The first female graduate), and many more
.

According to Malala Yousafzai, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held behind.” This
highlights the need of women empowerment in the present world, since they form 49 % of the world’s
population, it is the need of the hour to provide them the same platform to grow, so that they can
make this world is a better place to live in.
In the 21st Century, the times are changing, the world is becoming a global village, people are coming
out of their narrow mindset and we are witnessing the same “Nari “who was deprived of her basic
rights making their way in this patriarchal society.

Establishing their mark in “ Digital India” , the theme of the international women’s day , 2023 was
: DigiALL : Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality , revolves around the digital awareness
and digital adoption .With the advancement in technology the “Nari Shakti” of twenty first century is
bringing down the Digital divide .There are many who are working towards achieving this goal like
Reshma Saujani , the civil servant and the founder of “Girls who code” , as she is working towards
improving the engagement of women in the field of computer science , innovation and Information
Technology . The women entrepreneurs like Vineeta Singh, (the founder of Sugar cosmetics), Ghazal
Alakh (founder of mamaearth), Namita Thapar etc., are making their mark in their field of building an
empire from scratch. They are a source of inspiration to may young Indians.

The words of the Mahatma Gandhi, “To call women a weaker sex is a libel and it is man’s injustice to
women”, holds true when we saw the excitement and overwhelming response received from the
country men during the finals of the first commonwealth for the Indian women’s cricket team at
Birmingham, England. Although they lost by a margin of few runs, one thing became very evident, a
team of women playing cricket, was never seen with the same enthusiasm and hope as it is seen today.
This transformation came with the BCCI’s decision to take over the Indian women’s cricket team. The
dynamics changed, the quality of resources available to them changed, in turn they got the desired
confidence to give their best results, leading to the emergence of champions like Mithali Raj who won
the highest sports honor in India, Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna Award in 2021.

This also highlights the importance of government in taking the first step towards the larger
objective of empowerment. The role of the government is unprecedented. The recent steps taken by
the government to improve the status of women in the society like “ Beti Bacho Beti Padhai “ ,for
education, “ One Stop Centre Scheme” for victims of sexual harassment and acid attacks , “ Mahila E
Haat “ for women entrepreneurs etc. States like Bihar are also not behind the recent step by the
Government of Bihar to provide 35% reservation in all state government jobs, 50 % reservation in local
bodies, providing monetary benefits to the girl students who passed 10TH, 12TH, graduation levels etc.
are some of the extraordinary steps towards achieving the goal of women empowerment.

Gone are the days where the proverb “Behind every successful man there is a woman “, holded true,
when women used to look after the household chores, take care of the children at home while men
used to go to work and make a difference in the world. .Now the times are different, “ Behind every
successful women there can be a man “ as well . Many leaders like like Sudha Murty and Arundhati
Bhattacharya have mentioned the role of their partner in their success.

Given the circumstances, the potential to reach the top of the ladder lies with “Every Murmu “born
even in the most difficult areas of the country, facing the most adverse situations, if the society is by
her side, if the government is by her side, if the environment is conductive and her potential is given
the right platform.!!