Overview of Women Empowerment in India

Empowerment of women is a socio-political ideal, encompassing notions of dignity and equality, envisioned in relation to the wider framework of women's rights. It is a process of gaining control over self, over resources and over existing societal perceptions and attitudes and would be achieved only when an improvement in the ‘condition’ of women is accompanied by an advancement in their ’position’ by enlarging the economic, social and political freedoms and choices available to them. Women’s empowerment especially refers to the collective action by the deprived and oppressed women to overcome the obstacles of structural inequality, which previously caused their disadvantaged position. It is a continuous, multidimensional mechanism through which women can understand their ability and overcome obstacles. On the empowerment of women, emphasis is sometimes placed on women's decision-making roles, their economic self-reliance, their legal rights to equal treatment, their right to inheritance and protection from all forms of discrimination. The idea of empowerment is therefore conceived as an aid to help women contribute equally with men and significantly reduce the gender gap. Empowerment would enable women to perform certain social roles, which they could not perform without it.