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There is a Chinese proverb “Women hold up half the sky”, which was coined by Mao Zedong after Chinese revolution, advocating for equal rights and status for men and women. Mao understood that without the support and participation of women, which constitute around fifty percent of the total population, growth and development cannot be achieved.

Ever since the dawn of human evolution, our society has been a male dominant society. It has always been partial towards males, be it for power and position or for respect and status. Until recent times, females were not even granted basic rights. In United States women got there voting right only after 1920.

What is women empowerment?

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Women empowerment refers to granting of social, political and economic powers to women. It refers to the process of making women mentally, physically and socially strong. It is the tool that takes women out of the quagmire of social deprivation and hardship, an instrument that aims at eliminating distinction between different genders. Women empowerment is to empowerment of women to take their own decisions without someone else introspecting or interfering. Women empowerment aims at making women self-reliant and self-sufficient.

Sometimes in a broader context, women empowerment can also be referred to as a tool for empowerment of people, which aims at bringing equality in terms of education, access to resources and other opportunities, irrespective of their gender.

What is the need for Women Empowerment?

It is considered by our society that females are only meant for household tasks and taking care of family members should be their primary duty. In most of the cultures and religions, women are given utmost respect and are even worshiped in some, but still they are ill treated in the real world. In some areas, female children are not even fed properly and most of them suffer for malnutrition.

Therefore to end these atrocities it is necessary to empower females. Women empowerment is a tool which will empower them to fight against injustice and enable women to stand for their rights and status. Women empowerment is a tool that will help them become self-reliant, making them independent for their needs. Women empowerment is a tool that will enable them to live life with dignity and purpose, greater security and better access to and control over resources. Women empowerment aims at increasing the female literacy rate and providing equal opportunities, when compared with males. It also aims to end practices such as female foeticide and female infanticide, female genital mutilation and other such female centric malpractices across the globe.

Roadblocks in Women Empowerment

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The biggest roadblock in empowerment of women is the age old thinking and patriarchal society, which is very hard to break. This has also affected the ideology of females to an extent, that some women themselves does not want to be empowered. They find it difficult to move into an independent and empowered life because women have been living like this for so long that they have somewhat accepted it as their fate. To break the bonds of this age old thinking is very difficult task and requires both time and effort. Moreover males are also hesitant to give away their superficial superiority so easily.

The other upsetting issue being the negative sexual attention faced by women which is rather an embarrassment to the society as a whole. There are several social abusing activities which women face almost daily in the society, few of them being bullying, harassment, eve teasing etc. These issues not only affect the confidence and morale of females, but sometimes also makes them introvert thus affecting their ability to express themselves, they reduce their participation in society and sometimes even suffer from chronic depression due to it. This also creates a sense of distrust and fear in female minds making them hesitant.

How to Empower Women

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Empowering a women is not a simple task which can be achieved by just passing a few laws and regulations. Women empowerment is about a change in the society itself, a change in the ideology of the people, a change in the way people behave and think, which is not an easy task considering the existing patriarchy in the society.

Many times women are aware that they are not properly treated, they are deprived of basic necessities and resources, they are not given proper respect and status, they have to live without any ambition and killing their dreams but due to male dominance in the society, they are unable to stand for themselves, because they do not have access to proper resources to sustain without any support from the male members of the society.

Women empowerment will empower the women to take a stand for themselves and fight against male chauvinism. Providing proper education is the best method to empower women. Education opens our minds and changes the way we think, so providing proper education will not only open new spheres for women but will also allow them to access different resources which will enable them to sustain independently. Education will also encourage women to pursue their dreams and ambitions. Moreover education will also help to boost their morale.

It is said “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, we need to implement the same. In order to bring a change to our society, we have to begin with ourselves. It is not right morally as well as socially to deprive half of the population with basic necessities or to treat them inferior. We need to work on ourselves and change our thinking and put an end to this patriarchy. We should reform our society and bring equal opportunities for men and women. A safe environment has to be created for the growth of women and help them become independent. We as a society should also encourage women to learn technical and industrial skills, which will provide them with better employment opportunities and eventually improve their standard of living.

Internet and social media can also be used as a tool for women empowerment. Nowadays the reach of internet and social media is widespread, which can be used to start various campaigns and create awareness among the masses.