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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal (International Journal) ISSN-2456-1037

Vol. 05,Special Issue 03, (IC-WESD-2020) March 2020, Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

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WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

1Reena Patil,

Gyanodaya Mahavidyalaya, MIG Colony, Indore

2Laxman Shinde,

School of Education, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore

―If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman‖.

Margaret Thatcher 1. INTRODUCTION

The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of their political, social, economic and health status is a highly important end in itself. In addition, it is essential for the achievement of sustainable development. The full participation and partnership of both women and men is required in productive and reproductive life, including shared responsibilities for the care and nurturing of children and maintenance of the household.

The main objective of this study provides a strategy for women’s empowerment for rural development. Empowerment can enable women to participate, as equal citizens, in the economic, political and social sustainable development of the rural communities.

The perceptions, interests, needs and priorities of both women and men must be taken into consideration not only as a matter of social justice but because they are necessary to enrich development processes‖ (OSAGI 2001). Since the 1990’s women have been identified as key agents of sustainable community development and women’s equality and empowerment are seen as central to a more holistic approach towards establishing new patterns and processes of development that are sustainable. The World Bank has suggested that empowerment of women should be a key aspect of all social development programs.

The term 'empowerment' is a contested concept which connotes different meanings depending on different perspectives of looking at it.

The empowerment of women means for them to have the necessary ability to undertake a number of tasks either individually or in groups, so that they have further access to and control of society resources. Empowerment is recognized as an essential strategy to strengthen the well-being of individuals, families and communities, government and non government agencies. In other word empowerment is an abiding process which takes place with specific intent so enabling them to have further control over society’s resources. Numerous studies of empowerment have been published. This literature suggests that rural researchers need to adopt a more critical approach to the concept and to be more explicit about the processes they claim have facilitated empowerment.

This requires the development of useful models of empowerment and effective methods for evaluating and critically assessing claims for empowerment. Women, who make up half of the world’s population, have benefited more than men from the progress in economic and social development in the last three decades. Nevertheless they continue to be overrepresented among the world’s most vulnerable groups, as access to resources and power remains highly skewed towards men. Gender equality is a goal in its own right but also a key factor for sustainable economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability.

By providing the same opportunities to women and men, including in decision- making in all kinds of activities, a sustainable path of development can be achieved to ensure that women’s and men’s interests are both taken into account in the allocation of resources. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) made important provisions for the recognition of women’s contributions and their full participation in sustainable development. Principle 20 of the Rio Declaration and Chapter 24 entitled ―Global Action for Women towards Sustainable and Equitable Development‖ of Agenda 212 make commitments to strengthening the position of women.

2. NEED OF WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

Women’s empowerment means women gaining more power and control over their own lives.

This entails the idea of women’s continued disadvantage compared to men which is apparent in different economic, socio-cultural and political spheres. Therefore, women’s empowerment can also be seen as an important process in reaching gender equality, which is understood to mean that the "rights, responsibilities and opportunities of individuals will

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not depend on whether they are born male or female". According to the UN Population Fund, an empowered woman has a sense of self-worth. She can determine her own choices, and has access to opportunities and resources providing her with an array of options she can pursue.

She has control over her own life, both within and outside the home and she has the ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, both nationally and internationally. Gender role expectations are institutionalized through legislative, educational, political and economic systems. Women need to be

"empowered" in order to narrow the "gender gap" and to create an equal playing field between women and men before gender equality can be reached and maintained. Gender equality is a right.

Fulfilling this right is the best chance we have in meeting some of the most pressing challenges of our time—from economic crisis and lack of health care, to climate change, violence against women and escalating conflicts. Women are not only more affected by these problems, but also possess ideas and leadership to solve them. The gender discrimination still holding too many women back, holds our world back too.

3. RURAL WOMEN AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:

A model of rural women’s empowerment Drawing on Friedman’s framework and the meanings and indicators of empowerment identified in the analysis, Figure 1 presents the model of rural women’s empowerment that was developed This illustrates the interrelationships between the four forms of empowerment that were identified, and summarizes the key features of each form of empowerment. Although these four forms of empowerment are discussed separately in this paper, there are clearly many interrelationships and overlaps between them (Lennie, 2002).

The types of women’ empowerment The major types of empowerment can be summarized into four groups Community empowerment: Access to new and useful knowledge and awareness, Developing new skills, abilities, confidence and competence, obtaining the friendship and support of other women, participating in various activities with other women. We live in a world where female deities are revered, and the ordinary woman is subjugated, harried, ill-treated, raped, and abducted every single day. To control the rising violence in women-related cases, the government has implemented certain rights, which every Indian should know.

From a feminist bird’s eye view, here are these laws which every citizen should obey:-

 Discrimination in payment has been abolished.

 Females have a right to decorum and gravity.

 Workplace harassment has to be dealt with the aid of legal recourse.

 Domestic violence has been criminalized.

 Anonymity is granted to women subjected to sexual violence.

 Women cannot be arrested in the night.

 Female rape victims and also,

 Sufferers of domestic abuse have the right to avail free legal aid.

4. WHAT IS EMPOWERMENT?

Empowerment can be defined as a ―multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power (that is, the capacity to implement) in people, for use in their own lives, their communities, and in their society, by acting on issues that they define as important‖. The discussion about women’s empowerment in this paper is held against the backdrop of women’s continued disadvantage compared to men. This disadvantage is apparent in the different spheres of economic, socio-cultural and political life in all societies in the UNECE region.

Empowerment in this context means women gaining more power and control over their own lives.

As such, it can be conceptualized as an important process in reaching gender equality. Gender equality is understood to mean that the ―rights, responsibilities and opportunities of individuals will not depend on whether they are born male or female‖. What is expected of a man or a woman, a girl or a boy, differs depending on the socio-cultural context in which they live. Gender roles are learnt by each person through socialization

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processes. In other words: what he or she learns from others through the social interactions they have with their families, peers and society at large. This means that gender roles and gender role expectations are not fixed and can change over time in the same way that they differ across different societies.

5. MANAGERIAL EMPOWERMENT

New knowledge and awareness about new benefits of technology for rural development through rural tourism development or development of agriculture cooperatives. Political empowerment: Influencing other government policies and decisions that affect on rural communities, changing town-based people’s beliefs, networking with people in government and industry and other women to discuss issues affecting rural women and rural communities. Psychological empowerment: An increase in self-confidence and self-esteem, Greater motivation, inspiration, enthusiasm and interest to develop new skills and knowledge, to keep pushing for better services for rural people, feelings of belonging related to participation in the online groups in particular.

6. EDUCATION AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. More than 40 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserted that "everyone has the right to education". In 1990, Governments meeting at the World Conference on Education in Thailand, committed themselves to the goal of universal access to basic education.

But despite notable efforts by countries around the globe that have appreciably expanded access to basic education, there are approximately 960 million illiterate adults in the world, of whom two thirds are women. More than one third of the world's adults, most of them women, have no access to printed knowledge, to new skills or to technologies that would improve the quality of their lives and help them shape and adapt to social and economic change. There are 130 million children who are not enrolled in primary school and 70 per cent of them are girls.

7. PROVISIONS

Women can lodge virtual complaints by email or posts. There is no need to be physically present at the police station to lodge a complaint. On receipt of the accusations, the SHO should send the cop to record her statement. Indecent conduct towards a woman calls for punishment. A woman stalker is a criminal and is subjected to punishment as per the books of law. Stalking in any form is an offence and needs to be dealt with an iron hand.

Women have the right to file an FIR at any police station. It is a landmark judgment which has been passed by the Supreme Court to save the victim’s time and enable the arrest of an offender immediately. Although the Indian constitution grants certain constitutional and legal privileges to women pertaining to equality and fundamental rights, some special provisions were also introduced to strengthen the process of providing equal status to women.

These special initiatives include:-

1. Setting up a National Commission for Women: This is a statutory body that seeks to monitor and study matters related to constitutional and legal safeguards provided to women; review existing legislations; and suggest amendments. There is a need for the government to come up with special provisions for women in legal as well as social aspects.

2. A reservation of seats for women in local self-government by ensuring one-third of total seats for women in both urban and rural areas.

3. The National Plan of Action for the Girl Child to ensure the survival, protection and development of girls.

4. The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, in which the goal is to bring about the advancement and development of women empowerment all over India.

REFERENCES

1. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.

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2. Sustainable development as defined in the World Commission on Environment and Development’s report

―Our Common Future‖ (1987).

3. UNDP (2005), Human Development Report, p. 61.

4. OSAGI (2001), factsheet on ―Important Concepts underlying Gender Mainstreaming‖, http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/womenempowerment/o verview.html.

5. "Empowering women for sustainable development", Economic Commission for Europe, March2011.

6. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2013/493019/IPOLFEMM_ET(2013)4930 19_EN.pdf

7. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/556927(2016)556927_EN.pdf

8. UN Economic Commission for Europe: "Empowering women for sustainable development", Sixty-fourth session, Geneva, 29–31 March 2011.

9. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/commission/2011.