How Do We Secure Women’s Economic Empowerment Today?

Even though we continue to see further progress with gender equality and women’s rights, we still have a rather long way to go.

Women empowerment broadly means giving women equal opportunities and also accepting them into decision making process. Since the old times, the postulate has been fixed in the minds that women are caretakers and men are decision makers.

Women by nature, prioritise other’s needs more than their own. A woman takes care of the whole family, makes sure that her home is in order, cooks nutritious food for all family members, leaving her own choices behind.

Hillary Clinton said, “When we liberate the economic potential of women , we elevate the economic performance of communities , nations and the world.”

Status of women economic empowerment in India in day-to-day life

Many women are restricted to earning same as men because of marriage , pregnancy or other family responsibilities. Whenever there is a family problem, a man never leaves his job to be a caretaker.

If a woman is working and the home is neglected for a day because of too much pressure at the workplace, she is made to listen – humko nahi chahiye tumhari kamayi

Family hardly recognises the unpaid work a woman is doing all day. She is never on a holiday. Rather she has to over work on holidays. A woman has to take permission before spending. Many women do not invest in themselves.

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The rural or labour class women face violence at home even after earning and handing over all the money to their husbands. In India, a woman after marriage is expected  not to show any right on her parent’s property. The laws may say anything, but this is the social demand that parent’s property or money, all belongs just to the son of the family. The daughter has been married that’s all. Many women never seem to be aware of their rights.

Economic empowerment through education

Good education is a very important part of women empowerment. But many women who are well educated, don’t work. They just get married as if good education was just for finding a high profile matrimonial. The groom’s end also is more worried about the dowry she would bring rather than her qualifications .

The conventional norm of good education of girl for the sole purpose of marriage has to be broken. Parents should invest in their daughter’s dreams first.

Share unpaid work

Keeping the home clean , cooking , laundry , be a caretaker for the family , looking after children’s studies, a woman does a lot of work which is taken for granted. All this work done with love, goes  unpaid .

The man should share the load of the unpaid work every woman does. If she can cook after a tiresome day at work, why can’t a man do the dishes after his office ?

Access to property inheritance

Strengthening women’s access to property inheritance and land rights should be on the top of the list to economically  empower women. This addresses gender inequality too.

And women themselves should also be firm about showing their rights on their parent’s property or other assets. No need to get carried along with the emotional pressure of the family. They should also not burden themselves with the societal pressure, or the Log kya kahenge mentality.

Involve a woman in decision making

From small decisions like what to eat at a restaurant to big decisions like where to invest, a woman should be made an equal decision maker as a man. She has more managerial skills if given an opportunity .

Women make sure that their family is happy and healthy, their home is neat and clean, and their children are studying well, among other things. Women can do all this even when they are working full time on a job.

What does it show?

It shows that they are multitasking , have high management skills and are never short of energy!Every woman should recognize  these traits within herself. This will help girls of the next generation to recognise and develop their potential.

Employment

Employment can help create empowerment for women. When we discuss women’s empowerment, we should keep in mind the different barriers that women face. A woman avoids going to a job most of the time because of motherhood concerns. If the mother is lactating or her child is not well, this affects a  woman’s  duty at her workplace.

In India, there’s a provision of child care leave up to one year for a woman till her child attains 18 years of age. Ideally, this is a great relief for women but practically, the various departments just don’t sanction such leaves .

One of my friends at the workplace had to go through a great order due to this problem. Her child was under lactation but she couldn’t get any kind of leave. She forcefully came for duty and thus, couldn’t concentrate on her work.

Such an employment would not be empowering a woman in any case. A woman needs a workplace environment which is safe, takes care of her motherly concerns, and if needed, offers flexible timings.

Training for entrepreneurship

The centre or the state governments should conduct some special trainings for women to emerge as entrepreneurs. They are born with managerial skills  and multi tasking skills. They just need a push to emerge as a new being who are much more than just the care takers of the family. If this entrepreneurship happens, there will not only be economically empowerment, but also gain self-confidence and morale to excel further.

Family and society support

Many women want to work, go outside homes and earn, set up their own business, support their family. But they fear opening their hearts out for the fear of negative  comments from family or even violence.

If a woman is a single parent, society gives strange looks. A divorcee is presumed to be always at fault. Society makes her life complicated to live.    The constant push of re-marriage may shake her up. Due to lack of support from society, her self worth remains at risk. The society demands a compulsory inclusion of a man in her life.

Having a man doesn’t guarantee a woman empowerment. The family and society should respect her and her decisions. She’s born with the DNA of caring for others but people should also help empower her.

I know many women who work, earn and have given their ATM cards to their men. They say it’s love but I don’t understand this logic one bit. Are we empowering ourselves for men?

Understand self-worth

A woman should understand her self-worth, find ways to inspire herself – physically, emotionally and financially. My dear friend! Nobody would serve you a platter.

Be confident, work on your health, love yourself, earn, save for yourself , invest in yourself and always have your ‘Me Time.’

Find your own ways of  economic empowerment! Set yourself free!

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