Debating A Burning Issue

The subject of empowerment of women has become a burning issue all over the world including India since last few decades. Many agencies of United Nations in their reports have emphasised that gender issue is to be given utmost priority. It is held that women now cannot be asked to wait for any more for equality. Inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women have also been age-old issues all over the world. Thus, women’s quest for equality with man is a universal phenomenon. What exists for men is demanded by women?

They have demanded equality with men in matters of education, employment, inheritance, marriage, and politics. Women want to have for themselves the same strategies of change which men have had over the centuries such as equal pay for equal work. Their quest for equality has given birth to the formation of many women’s associations and launching of movements.

The position and status of women all over the world has risen incredibly in the 20th century. Historians have time and again proved that the status of women had been very low in 18th and 19th centuries in India and elsewhere when they were treated like ‘objects’ that can be bought and sold. A long struggle going back over a century has brought women the property rights, voting rights, and equality in civil rights before the law in matters of marriage and employment all over the world.

To what extent legislative measures have been able to raise the status of women in India? Are women now feel empowered in the sense that they are being equally treated by men in all spheres of life and are able to express one’s true feminine urges and energies? These are the important questions to be investigated with regard to women’s empowerment in India.

It is in this context, the book Exploring the Engagement and Empowerment of Women: Multidisciplinary perspectives is a timely outcome. The book deals with multidisciplinary perspectives and describes where they meet and overlap, and where they diverge. The articles in this book try to strike a balance between theoretical and empirical papers on one hand and papers with more personal reflections on the other. Along with presenting different dimensions encompassing political, economic, legal, social and psychological dimensions, this book emphasises the transformative power of girls’ education and why it has taken centre- stage in struggle for women empowerment.

In a nutshell, this book encapsulates all the dimensions related to the empowerment of women and gives a clearly defined message that we need to treat our women with dignity and honour and our words and conduct must inspire confidence in them.

By Nilabh Krishna