Gender Disparity and Women Empowerment

Dogra S, Kalhan M

Throughout history and in many societies including India, gender inequality was part and parcel of an accepted male-dominated culture. Atrocities and discrimination are the two major problems, which the Indian women face in the present day society. The traditional mentalities of India assume that the place of women is mainly concentrated to the household activities like kitchen work and upbringing of the children and are considered inferior to the men in different spheres of knowledge. The 'Sati Pratha', Pardah System', 'Child Marriage', 'Dowry System', etc. have been some form of atrocities and discriminatory attitudes against the women..
The Government of India had ushered in the new millennium by declaring the year 2001 as Women's Empowerment Year, to focus on "Our vision in the new century of a nation where women are equal partners with men". Women's Empowerment Year was announced with much fanfare. But where are the results? Except for organising seminars and making speeches, what has the government done?
Pre-natal sex determination tests were prohibited by a law passed in 1994. What kind of empowerment do women enjoy, if modern technology merely provides more alternatives for 'doing away with the female', before or after conception?
If development progress is best measured by how well the freedoms of people have been enhanced, then gender disaggregated statistics show how very far we have to go.
· Of the world’s one billion poorest people, three-fifths are women and girls.
· Of the 960 million adults in the world who cannot read, two-thirds are women.
· Seventy percent of the 130 million children who are out of school are girls.
· With notable exceptions, such as Rwanda and the Nordic countries, women are conspicuously absent from parliaments, making up, on average, only 16 percent of parliamentarians worldwide.
· Women everywhere typically earn less than men, both because they are concentrated in low-paying jobs and because they earn less for the same work.
· Although women spend about 70 percent of their unpaid time caring for family members, that contribution to the global economy remains invisible.
· Up to half of all adult women have experienced violence at the hands of their intimate partners.
· Systematic sexual violence against women has characterized almost all recent armed conflicts and is used as a tool of terror and ‘ethnic cleansing’.
· In sub-Saharan Africa, 57 percent of those living with HIV are women, and young women aged 15-24 are at least three times more likely to be infected than men of the same age.
· Each year, half a million women die and 18 million more suffer chronic disability from preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

Women have long been under-represented at all levels of governance – as voters, candidates, party leaders, and elected officials. Campaigns and party platforms that fail to address women’s concerns often fail to motivate women as voters, and illiteracy, twice as common among women than men, has impeded
women’s participation in the political process. Cultural norms and strictures can also make it difficult to register women to vote. Women still hold only 16 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide. Gains in the number of women in office have rarely been achieved without pressure and support from women’s organizations, advocacy, lobbying, training of women candidates, alliance-building, external financial assistance and, increasingly, the use of quotas.
Evolution has been a slow and steady process. So is the case with the emancipation of women. Changes do not take place overnight and there has been a sea change from the days of our grannies to the present and the empowerment of financial independence has definitely given her the option to lead a respectful life.
So, in the present times only the priorities have changed. Emotional and a social security, which was given utmost importance, has been taken over by economic security. Economic independence by itself is not the solution and emotional security alone means mortgaging ones independence and succumbing to the breadwinner's whims. Emotional security precedes financial security and as long as their importance is judiciously placed, life can be bed of roses. After all who would not like to have a home where there is mutual respect and love.
It is clear that the world has a long way to go to achieve equality and that this work will require concentrated efforts on many fronts. The work of the United Nations and many other agencies in advancing gender equality has converged in three closely interconnected areas: strengthening women’s economic capacity, with a focus on new technologies and the new trade agenda; promoting women’s leadership and political participation: eliminating violence against women and supporting the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
The emancipation of women is not a simple matter. It requires the attitudinal change of the husband, other family members and society as a whole to the women. The community consciousness and bureaucratic efforts are integral parts of the implementation of the programmes. The first and foremost priority should be given to education of women, which is the grass-root problem. The struggle of gender justice will be slow, strenuous and protracted, as the change cannot be bought about easily. It has to be fought at emotional, cognitive and action levels. The struggle has to be carried on within the class, race, religion, everywhere in which man-woman relationships figure and matter.

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In case of any queries please feel free to contact Dr Shailender Dogra and Dr Meenakshi Kalhan