Women’s Empowerment: A Step towards Gender Equality in the 21st Century

Before the 18th-century women were widely considered as intellectually inferior, irrational, physically weak, suited only to the role of wife and mother. All these problems lead women to start demanding their equal rights which leads us towards the 1st wave of feminism. The wave towards women empowerment started after the “Seneca Fall Convention” which took place in 1848.

But here comes the major thing. What does women empowerment means and how does it benefits women’s and ease their lives?

Women’s empowerment is not only challenging and combating the social order; mindset that creates patriarchal hierarchies of power, but also redistribution of power between genders equally.

Even after going through lots of major constitutional reforms, women in developing countries is still looked like an inferior human being which is only suited for household work. In such countries, men are still considered as a sole breadwinner, while women consider only for a domestic role.

Women Empowerment is a Necessity for Social Justice:

It is the necessity of today’s world to empower women and give them rights equal to men, this is a needed thing to bring social justice in society and to maintain peace among the different elements of social structures. Women empowerment brings women with equal rights as well as responsibilities towards the social structure and hence makes it enable them to obtain a precisely defined objective.

The power of being heard in society and inside the household not only increases the morale of the women but also can have some major-specific benefits towards the upbringing and growth of the nation. Therefore, it is the utmost role of the mother in shaping the behavior of her children positively, which can ultimately transform the behavior of societal norms in favor of gender equality.

We observe that mainly women from developing countries face major issues with their health only because of their lack of knowledge. These issues ultimately turn into some major deadly diseases. Therefore, women should be empowered to gain education in terms of protecting their health and their family’s health. Women’s empowerment can lead to overall social development by reducing the loss of productive elements in society.

Women’s Empowerment in the Economic Sector:

Giving rights to women in decision-making eventually distributes the power equally which can lead to the growth of the nation. The economic sector of any nation can never run properly if it will solely depend on one gender, the integration of women in economic activities is not only a need for women themselves but also a need of any country to boost their economy.

Why is it so? The answer is simple, I can explain it to you with a simple example,

“The economy is like riding a bicycle; it needs the distribution of loads/power on both sides (gender), to make it run smooth.”

This is what women empowerment does. It distributes the power as well as responsibilities on both genders equally, so as not to burden any specific gender.

As we see that in many developing countries women’s labor force is not being properly utilized. In such countries, there is a drastic need for women’s empowerment. Increasing women’s autonomy towards economic decisions will not only give the foundation for gender equality but also will be fruitful for the country’s economic sector.

According to the report submitted by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2008, because of lack of the economic opportunities women account for 70% of the world’s poor. This is all because of the unequal and unjust behavior towards the women. Women’s empowerment in the economic sector is a crucial factor for women to gain their voices in the politics of their country.

Maintaining Gender Equality in Political Sector:

The political sector in any country should be aligned in favor of gender equality and women empowerment. Providing a fair amount of recognition in the political sector will not only empower women but also flourish the politics as well as the economy of the country towards prosperity. It is because political infrastructure and economic development cannot rely solely on the shoulders of the men. It needs women to play their role too.

But here comes another major question! What does women’s empowerment mean in politics?

The answer is straight forward and simple, providing women with fair representation not only in government institutions but also giving them a fair share in law-making, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting organs.

Women’s Education is a Major Tool in Women Empowerment:

Education is the basic which belongs to all the members of society. It is the center of our development, social progress, and freedom. Unfortunately, women in developing countries face deprivation of education.

There is a saying which can be written as,

“If you educate a man you educate a man. But if you educate a woman than you educate a whole family”

In simple ways, it can be explained that it is the role of the mother to properly educate her children. If the mother is well-educated then there is a very high chance that her children will turn out to be positive elements for the good being of the structure of society.

But the lack of education among women in developing countries is the major hindrance towards women empowerment. The major reason for the lack of education among women in developing countries has many roots. People there are unable to fulfill their necessities of life, so spending money on the education of women is very unusual to them. Developing countries mostly consists of a patriarchal society. The family gives more importance to their male child and there are more opportunities for them if compared with a female child. Not only this, a major hindrance towards women empowerment is the “status-quo” which is developed and maintained due to rigid cultural patterns that hinder women to get the proper education.

Another factor that is seldom talk about is the forceful marriage of the women at her early age, which makes her unable to get proper education and ultimately leads her to become financially dependent on other members of society.

Feminism in Favor of Women’s Empowerment:

Throughout most of western history, women were only considered to play a domestic role due to male obsessed society. Such trends, therefore, lead the women to protest in favor of women empowerment. The first wave of feminism aims for the equal legal and political rights of women. Even after the 1st wave of feminism, women were allowed only in limited sectors; women were allowed to study in college but only in limited subjects. The still present inadequacy leads towards the 2nd wave of feminism which focused on women empowerment not only in terms of legal and political rights but also to bring empowerment in terms of economic and educational equality. Due to such movements, people in the world started to recognize the need for women empowerment.