ch. sd st. theresa's college for women - PrimaxIJCMR

CH. S.D. ST. THERESA’S COLLEGE FOR WOMEN(Affiliated to Adikavi Nannaya University, Rajahmundry)

Department of Management Studies,Social Sciences & Women Studies,

West Godavari District, Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, India.

In Association with

• Research Papers • Articles • Case studies

International MultidisciplinaryResearch Conference

on Women in 21st Century :Challenges and Opportunities

PRIMAX FOUNDATION(Registered Under the Karnataka Society Reg. Act 1960)

Reg. No. JNR-S211-2015-16, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

ISSN: 2348 - 4969Kaav International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Science

Page II February 2018Vol V Special Issue -1

Managing Editor:Prof. T. Rajeswari., M.Sc.,M.A(Eng).,M.B.A.,M.A.(Soc).,

Co-ordinator:Dr. V. SelvarajHead & Associate Professor,Nehru Memorial College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli.

Dr. S. SaiganeshProfessor of Marketing,Dayananda Sagar Business School, Bangalore.

Dr. K. V. RamanathanProfessor of Finance & Marketing,Primax Foundation, Bangalore

Publisher:Primax Foundation(Registered Under the Karnataka Society Reg. Act 1960)Reg. No. JNR-S211-2015-16, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Issue:Vol.V, Issue No. 1 February 2018

COPYRIGHT:1. All rights reserved. And Copyright 2013, Primax Foundation2. Reproduction of any part of this Journal in the whole or in part without written permission from the

publisher is prohibited3. All rights reserved ISSN: 2348 - 4969

Contact:Prof. T. Rajeswari., M.Sc.,M.A(Eng.).,M.B.A.,M.A(Soc).,

Founder and Managing Editor,Primax FoundationNo.B 10 , First Main Road, Devarajurs Layout, Viswa Vidyalaya (PO,) Nagadevanahalli,Bengaluru – 56, Karnataka. India. Ph: +91- 8971725451Email: [email protected], [email protected]

International Multidisciplinary Research Conference on Women in 21st Century:Challenges and Opportunities

Page IIICh.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.

(NARA CHANDRA BABU NAIDU)

MESSAGE

I am pleased to know that Ch. S.D. St Theresa's College for Women is organizing a two-day International Conference on the topic Women in 21st Century: Challenges andOpportunities on 9th and 10th February.

I am also happy to see that the themes of this conference are aimed at some very crucialaspects such as Woman Empowerment, Woman Entrepreneurship and Violence againstWomen.

Ch. S.D. St. Theresa's College for Women has contributed immensely over the years forempowerment of women and their education and I'm sure this International Conferencewill be another milestone in their journey.

I am sure that this conference is going to serve as a great platform for exchange of ideasand thoughts between the attendees and will also encourage a number of women to worktowards the progress of society.

I wish the organizers and people attending this event a great success and hope that manysuch conferences are organized in the years to come which will not just benefit the peopleattending but also the whole society.

NARA CHANDRABABU NAIDU AMARAVATI

CHIEF MINISTERANDHRA PRADESH


Page IV February 2018Vol V Special Issue -1

MESSAGE

JUSTICE A. RAMALINGESWARA RAO

I am glad to learn that 65 years old St. Theresa College for Women, Eluru is holding an InternationalMulti Disciplinary Research Conference on "Women in 24th Century; Challenges and Opportunities".

It is in the fitness of things that a reputed educational institution in the coastal Districts of AndhraPradesh should hold such conference on an important issue engaging the attention of all right thinkingpeople. On the one hand there are plenty of opportunities thrown to women in various fields and onthe other hand, the challenges being faced by them are also numerous.

The Fundamental Rights in our Constitution guarantee equality before law and equal protection ofthe laws within the territory of India (Article 14| and prohibit discrimination on the ground of sexamong other things (Article 15). In the matter of public employment also equality of opportunity isguaranteed under Article 16 of the Constitution. The Fundamental Duties in Article 51A direct thepromotion of harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of Indiatranscending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; and to renounce practicesderogatory to the dignity of women. Yet we are witnessing several crimes, discrimination, atrocitiesagainst women in all spheres of life.

It is surprising that there are people even today who quote Manu who said "in her childhood (a girl)shall be under the will of her father; in (her) youth, of (her) husband; her husband being dead, of hersons; a woman should never enjoy her free will". We are under a democratic republic, but ourcultural ethos are rooted in the past. The mind set has not changed with the changing times. Thenumber of laws passed by the Parliament have not come to the rescue of women to have an equalshare and status in the society. No day passes without a report on the atrocities on women. In thiscontext, the Conference assumes significance and I hope fruitful discussions would take place forthe benefit of fair gender and to the society.


Page VCh.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.

MESSAGE

International Seminar " Women in 21st Centuray,,

The world is moving towards a closer compact with regards to gender justice. The topicchosen for the international Seminar on " Women in 21st Century, Challenges andOpportunities" sounds a special purpose. The collective role that men and women play inachieving a world where justice and peace prevails, is being recognised and accepted inevery society and every nation. It is a fact that no bird can fly on one wing. The contributionmade by each individual in nation building is valuable since each is differently gifted. Tocombat the deep rooted misconceptions and to tide over obstacles of traditionalism,conservatism and dominance requires indomitable courage and poses one of the biggestchallenges for women in the 21st Century, in order to make their presence accepted.Women's search for human rights, their role in restoring peace and justice has beenshining bright in different fields and in situations. The growing number of women assumingleadership, the increasing number of women's organisations taking lead in the Nationaland international front are evidences of their strength and competence in facing challengesand readiness to grab opportunities to prove their might.

At this juncture, I wish to Congratulate the Dept. of Management Studies, St. Theresa'sCollege. Eluru, for this initiative taken under the able leadership of Prof. Utama Durga toorganise an international Seminar on a relevant topic. This venture itself is a challenge. Ioffer my sincere prayers and good wishes for the success and fruitfulness of the Seminar.Let this event pave the way for encouraging budding women leaders who can think positively,plan realistically and act courageously. Let us hope for a morrow where every womanfinds opportunity to realise her dream and march forward fearlessly.

Sr. Theresa CherianProvincial SuperiorSouth India


Page VI February 2018Vol V Special Issue -1

MESSAGE

It made me happy to learn about the International Multidisciplinary Research Conferencethat is being organised by the Departments of Management Studies, Social Sciences andWomen Studies, of Ch. S. D. St. Theresa's College for Women, Eluru. The Theme of theConference " Women in 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities" is very apt andrelevant for our current times when women with great courage and conviction are strivingto find an opportunity in every obstacle and a possibility in every problem, so as to overcomeall challenges and to make a mark in society..

I am more than certain and very confident that this endeavour will be a very rewarding andenriching experience for both the organisers and the participants. I congratulate the PrincipalSr. Dr. Mercy P and all the members of the staff who have very optimistically taken up thechallenge to conduct this International Conference. May God Almighty, the Source andAuthor of all Wisdom and Knowledge bless and crown with success, this importantmilestone in the annals of this prestigious Institute of Learning.

I extend my sincere gratitude and best wishes to all those persons of good will who havegenerously co-operated to make this initiative a memory that will long be cherished.

With best regards

Mother Ernestine FernandesSuperior and Correspondent.


Page VIICh.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.

Principal Message

Salutations to all the women the vital half of the humanity!! Women's value will not be intrying to imitate men or becoming more like men but in honouring their womanhood andfeminity and offering to the world their uniquely inherent qualities.

Historical women from the past centuries achieved many goals, changed the world inmany ways and paved way for future women. Modern women of the 21st century haveabundant goals and opportunities and they use their special ability to adopt and evolveconstantly. They are placed in a position of advantage finding their individual and collectivevoice.

Today's new born infant girls will soon be looking to us for guidance on what their hopes,dreams and responsibilities will be in this new world. Let us ensure that this new centurywill bring an era of equality, peace and justice and that every girl child will be empowered torealize their potential.

Dr. Sr. P. MercyPrincipal


Page VIII February 2018Vol V Special Issue -1

MESSAGE

Dr. (Smt.) Poonam Malakondaiah, IAS,Principal Secretary to Government,Health, Medical and Family Welfare Dept.,Government of Andhra Pradesh

It gives me immense pleasure to know that Ch. S. D. St. Theresa's College for women isconducting Two day International Conference on the topic "WOMEN IN 21ST CENTURY:CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES".

Empowerment of women is not just a goal in itself, but key to all global development goals.The empowerment of women occurs in reality, when women achieve increased controland participation in decision making that leads to their better access to resources, andtherefore, improved socio-economic status. The woman's dignity is most vulnerable incaste and communal wars. Women became the soft targets and are made to face physicaland psychological violence.

Today's women have taken several steps towards successful entrepreneurship, but thereis still a lot to be done. Such conferences and workshops are essential and will be veryuseful in plugging the loopholes in the smooth sail towards success for womenentrepreneurs. My best wishes to all concerned for the success of the conference.


Page IXCh.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.

MESSAGE

Secretary

Swami Vivekananda, one of the greatest sons of India, quoted that, '"There is no chancefor the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved, it is notpossible for a bird to fly on only one wing".

The women in the 21st century are faced with myriad challenges, while she has betteropportunities and mobility compared to previous century. Unlike the earlier generationswhere the problems women faced were lack of opportunities and restriction of their role asa home maker; the women of today have to compete with the opposite sex in education,employment etc. without having the necessary family support. They double up as a "Super-woman", having to look at both the family & kitchen front and also as bread-winner. Thoughher independence gives her the opportunities to rise to the sky, family moorings pull herdown and balancing this becomes a tight rope affair; which may include sacrifices downthe aisle.

I congratulate the Ch.S.D.St. Theresa's college for women, for conducting two-dayInternational conference on topic "WOMEN IN 21ST CENTURY: CHALLENGES ANDOPPORTUNITIES". I hope it will bring out the opportunities and challenges women todayface and would serve as an eye opener to the students of the college. My best wishes toorganisers and participants for the fruitful discussions and outcomes of the conference.


Page X February 2018Vol V Special Issue -1

President Desk

Prof. T.Rajeswari., M.Sc.,M.A(Eng.).,M.B.A.,M.A(Soc)

President- Primax Foundation.Phone: 08971725451Email: [email protected]

Greetings to one and all…….

Primax Foundation is providing a healthy academic environment necessary for character building, creative selfexpression and personality development of students. In the back drop of globalization students should be innovative,creative and entrepreneurial to face the challenges in competitive market.

Primax Foundation is an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India. Asone of the non-profitable organizations in the country, Primax focuses on high-quality, low-cost, and replicableinterventions to address gaps in the education system. Primax Established in 2015, Registered under theKarnataka Societies Reg. Act 1960, Bengaluru, Karnataka and exempted u/s 12(A) & 80G under I.T. Act 1961.Primax Foundation is established with towering ideals of imparting quality and non-profitable services to thesociety through Journals, Seminars, Workshops, Educational Training & Skill Development, Study Circles,Counseling & Rehabilitation, Initiating Research Activities etc., for total personality development in the society.Primax Foundation is an upcoming Training and Development Center at Bangalore offering a variety of needbased training programs, through on and off campus modes. The primary aim is to ensure employability for thestudents and molding them to suitably fit into all aspects of corporate requirements. In addition, its intention is toupgrade the quality of research work among the faculty members involved in Science & Humanities, Commerce,Management Education and the allied fields to ensure that all the research work undertaken, is gainfully employedby the industry, society and corporate world. Its operational objective is to disseminate, strengthen and enhanceknowledge, across all sections of the society.

Through this, space I wish to reiterate ‘let us strive for successes to explore new horizons and keep up ourhead high’.“The future is not something we wait; it is something we should create. The pure taste of success can only be feltwith a spoon of failure”.I hope the present Conference will bring awareness and enlighten of Women Life.I wish all the best to the organizers.With Regards

“The secret of life is not enjoyment, but education through experience”.And Experience is the only source of knowledge.

- Swami Vivekananda

Prof. T. RajeswariPresident- Primax FoundationBangalore, Karnataka.Website : www.primaxfoundation.com

www.primaxijcmr.com


Page XICh.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.

From the Editor's Desk

Dr. A. Uttama Durga DeviConvener, International Conference

Greetings to one and all…….

It gives me true happiness to bring out the proceedings of the International conference on"WOMEN IN 21STCENTURY: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES". The objective ofthis conference is to bring women's issues to the centre-stage and discuss aspectspertaining to empowerment of women, women and violence and women entrepreneurship.India is considered to be a developing country since the last two decades. Poverty andunemployment have existed for over a long period of time and have not been eradicatedcompletely. Unless such hurdles are addressed, it is very tough to achieve success of anykind. The position of women in Indian society is an index of civilization and as they inparticular are still considered to be the marginalized sections, progress at the local, nationaland international level is a possibility only if they are accorded the status they deserve.

Women as an independent target group account for 495.74 million and represent 48.3percent of the country as per 2001 census. There is no country that can achieve its potentialwithout adequately investing in and developing women and allies. However, the scenariothat is existing in society appears to relegate women to a secondary status. According toa National family and health survey in 2005, total lifetime prevalence of domestic violenceis 33.5% and 8.5% for sexual violence among women aged 15-49.The instance of violencehas been reported to be lowest among Buddhist and Jain women, and highest amongMuslims in India.

This International seminar has hopefully addressed various issues relating to women throughpapers presented by faculty, students and responsible citizens of the country.

I hope the discussions put forward will help to reinstate the lost status of women in oursociety and world- only then will this our endeavor be meaningful. A warm thanks toparticipants from different universities of India for participating in this crucial debate and forproviding an opportunity to make this conference a reality.

With Regards


Page XII February 2018Vol V Special Issue -1

ContentsTitle of the Articles

Empowerment of Women- through Education - Dr. B. Siva Kumari

Women Human Rights Violation in Indian Modern Society- Dr. K. V. R. Srinivas

Women Empowerment and Women Leadership -T. Jagadish

Importance of Women Education - Dr. Erulla Abbulu

Changing Scenario of Women in the 21st Century - V. Venkataramana

Empowering Women through Literature- Dr. Pankaj Kumar & Pavan Kumar Bonda

Impact of “Beti Bachao –Beti Padhao” Programme on the Families of ScheduleCastes and Schedule Tribes - K. Rama Rao

Debasing Women – Ins and Outs - Dr. B. V. L. A. Manga

Status of Women in Indian Politics - Dr. Kishore Babu Karri

Women Empowerment in India - S. Sita Rama Murty

Issue and Challenges of Muslim Women’s Rights in India and Shariat Courts- Naseer Ahmed S & Dr. C. D. Venkatesh

Work-Life Balance among Women Employees in Public Sector Banks -ACase Study of Syndicate Bank - Manjunath S. Mokashi

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act: Evolving Law- Dr. K. Sudha

Education Status of Tribal Women - Malluri Srinivasa Rao & D.Manovikas

Women Social Action India – A Review - Dr. B. S. Santha Kumari

Impact of Micro-Finance on Socio-Economic Status of Self-Help GroupMembers with Reference to West Godavari District, A.P.

- Dr. R. Sreenivasa Rao, Dr. V. V. Ratanji Rao Chowdary & R. Satya Sravya

Self-Help Groups: A Way to Promote the Rural Women Entrepreneurship- Dr. K. Nageswara Rao

Diversity and Inclusivity of Corporate Boards- Dr. J. Chandra Prasad, Dr. K. Bhanu Prakash & Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao

Women Empowerment through Self Help Groups - Dr. T. M. A. Niveditha

Gender Disparity – A Challenge to Indian Sustainable Economic Development- Dr. Madhu Shalini Kusuma

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Page XIIICh.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.

Indian Rural Women in the Economic Development –A Historical Perspective- G. Sagar

Correlation between Women Entrepreneurs and Gender Equality- P. Sowjanya Samuel

Role of Trade in Women Empowerment in Rural Areas of West GodavariDistrict (A case study of six successful women entrepreneurs in Duggiralaand Ammapalem Villages of West Godavari District.) - Dr. C. Satyadevi

Violence against Working Women at Home and Work Place -Some Legaland Preventive Steps - P. Bharathi Devi

Women Empowerment - K. Durga Pavani

Financial Inclusion for Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship in India- B. Surya Prakasa Rao & R. Venkateswarulu

Financial Inclusion for Women Empowerment through Education- V. Ramesh Krishna

Women Education – A Key to Empowerment - Dr. P. Swarupa Rani

Women Laws and Rights - Dr. T. Niloufer Usha Rani

Empowering Women Through Education- T. Ramakrishnudu & K. Ramakrishna

A Bird’s Eye View on Women Empowerment with Special Reference to India- K. Chandrasekhara Rao

Muslim Women and Education in Incredible India; Social Issues andChallenges: A Case Study of Hyderabad-Karnataka Region

- Dr. Omprakash H. M

Women In 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities- Girisha Pushadapu

Empowerment of Tribal Women through MGNREG Programme inPanchayath Raj Institutions: A Study on Anantapuramu District of AndhraPradesh - B. Ravi Naik

Micro Finance a tool for Decision Making and Women Empowerment- A CaseStudy of Krishna and East Godavari Districts in Andhra Pradesh

- Dr. Bommadevara Baby Rani

The Status of Indian Women: Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow- Dr. P. Ratna Mary

Changing Scenario of Women in the 21st Century- D. Meri Suguna & Dr. M. S. C. Sophia

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Empowerment and Coping Strategies in Women: A Study on “Osteoporosis”in Different Age Groups of People in Eluru - Dr. K. S. V. K. S. Madhavi Rani,

Dr. R. Indira, N. Lakshmi Prasanna & G. Suneetha

Women in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities- Kabitha Rani. Bethala

Issues and Challenges of Women Entrepreneurs in Rural Areas- Jaikar kommukuri

Muslim Women in 21st century: Women in Social Action - Firdous Jahan

Women Empowerment in Andhra Pradesh – A Review (with reference toWomen Empowerment- Issues and Promotional Schemes)

- Chinnamanaidu. Jammu & Prof. G. V. Chalam

Empowering Women - Powering the Nation- T. Tirupati Naidu & Karubhukta Venkata Laxmi

A Study on Challenges and Opportunities of Women Employees in IndianBanking Sector - Dr. P. Subbarao & G. Swapna Sabari

Violation of Women Rights in India - Dr. Katreddi Satyanarayana

A Study on Voilence against Women in India: Origin, Present Status andSolutions - Krishna Prasada Rao

Legal Perspectives of Domestic Violence - Dr. K. Prasanna

Women Entrepreneurship – Women Entrepreneur in Present ERA: AnEmpirical Study - N. Veknata Krishnaiah

Woman in Indian Democratic Scenario - Dr.Trinadh mente

Empowerment of Women through Panchayati Raj Institutions in India- M. Galaiah

Work Life Balance: Working Professional Life and Working House Wife- Dr. Pankajakshi R

Saga of Perseverance in Selected Novels of Sudha Murty- G. Radha Madhavi

Social Status of Women - Indian Historical Perspectives- Yadagiri Kambhampati

Atrocities against Women - Ankit Sharma

Women Education, Empowerment and International Development- V. Charankumar & Dr. Bathula. Rajababu

Impact of Gender Parity and its Influence on Nutrition of Women- Dr. P. Jyothi Kumari

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Page XVCh.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.


Women Entrepreneurs Affecting Factors in Rural India- B. M. Philomenamma & Dr. G. Sudhakar

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Vision towards the Empowerment of Indian Women- M. Rambabu

The Role of Women Entrepreneurship in Economic Development- B. Peera Kumar

Motivational Factors for Promoting Women Entrepreneurship-Evidence fromEmpirical Studies - Siva Krishna Golla

Financial Inclusion and Women Empowerment in India – A Review- Dr. V. Sujatha & Dr. K. Venu Madhava Rao

Women in Education - Dr. A. Vijay Gopal

Impact of SHG on Socio- Economic Status of Dalit Women in Chejarla Villageof Narasaraopeta Mandal in Guntur District - P. Raja Ramesh

Gender Inequality, Equality through Uniform Civil Code- P. Jayapal Reddy & Dr. D. Chandra Mouli Reddy

Women in Corporate Sector - Tanusha V. L. Kurapati & Sai Varshini .T

Social Exclusion of Girl Children for Education ISA Barrier for WomenEmpowerment in Advanced Career - J. Pavani & Dr. Sr. Lovely Jacob

Role of Self Help Groups in Women Entrepreneurship - A Study onMadanapalle Town, Chitoor District, A.P - Ch. Subbaya Naidu

Making Women as best Entrepreneurs- (A Case Study of Madanapalle Town,Chitoor District, A.P) - Dr. D. Mallikarjuna Rao

Women in Corporate World-A Study on Banking Industry MadanapalleTown,Chitoor District, A.P

- Dr. K. Rajesh Kumar, Dr. K. Mallikarjuna & Dr. M. Obulapathi

Indian Laws and Constitutional Rights related to Women- Dr. Jaheeda Begum & Sanda Sridevi

Women Enterpreneurship in Present ERA - T. Gangaraju & K. V. Bhavani

Women Employment in Informal Sector in India - M. Kutumbarao

Empowering Women, Developing Society - Priti Arya

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Page 1Ch.S.D.St.Theresa's College for Women, Eluru and Primax Foundation, Bangalore.

EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN- THROUGH EDUCATION

1. Department of Botany, Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada, AP.

Abstract

“Where do women and Girls stand today?” It has been widely accepted that there is a latent demand for educationamong the poor, especially women and girls.

Education is a powerful tool that can help improve the lives of people around the world. It is therefore clear that byallowing more women and girls to be educated would be a benefit to society as a whole. Women constitute almost halfof the population in the world. But the hegemonic masculine ideology made them suffer a lot as they were deniedequal opportunities in different parts of the world. The rise of feminist ideas has, however, led to the tremendousimprovement of women's condition throughout the world in recent times. Access to education has been one of themost pressing demands of theses women's rights movements. As previously stated, there is evidence that proves theadvantages of empowering women through education. Education is a basic human right, and thus girls and boys allaround the world should be entitled to this opportunity - consequently enforcing the ideology of gender equality. If a girlis educated statistics suggest that they will marry later and so on. It can therefore be concluded that by empoweringwomen through education is a great advantage both to women and to society as a whole.

Key words: Women education, health, equal opportunities and government policies

Dr. B. Siva Kumari1

Introduction: An Empowerment woman irrespective ofreligion, creed, religion and gender is a constitutionallaw, a basic right of the human beings and a force fornational development. “Empowerment means gainingexecute a power”. Women empowerment is a globalissue and it was raised at the NAROIBI in 1985,International Women Conference. Women empowermentis the process of providing rights, powers, opportunitiesand responsibilities to women so that they are able todevelop their potential, think.

Empowerment of women is essentially the process ofexhilarate of social, financial and political status ofwomen and it involves the building up of a society whereinwomen can live without the fear oppression, exploitationand discrimination that go with being a woman in atraditionally male-dominated society.

Although women constitute half of the population andan active role in social change, yet they are still beingoppressed and suffered from fewer rights and lower socialstatus. The extensive discrimination and exploitationupon women evoke the need of empowerment of womenand education can be used as an effective instrumentfor achieving it.

Purpose: The purpose of the study of womenempowerment is1. To know the need of education in women empowerment.2. To study the present scenario of women

empowerment in India.

3. To learn the constitutional priorities and Governmentefforts for women empowerment.

4. To study the problems of women empowerment.5. To identify the importance of education for achieving

women empowerment.

Constraining factors: Heavy work load of women;isolation of women from each other; illiteracy; traditionalviews that limit women’s participation; no funds; internalstrife/militarization/wars; disagreements/conflicts amongwomen’s groups; un-structural adjustment policies;discriminatory policy environment; negative andsensational coverage of media

Indicators of Empowerment: Understanding thatempowerment is a complex issue with varyinginterpretations in different societal, national and culturalcontexts. At the level of the individual woman and herhousehold participation in crucial decision-makingprocesses; extent of sharing of domestic work by men;extent to which a woman takes control of her reproductivefunctions and decides on family size; extent to which awoman is able to decide where the income she has earned will be cancelled to; feeling and expression of prideand value in her work; self-confidence and self-esteem;and ability to prevent violence.

Strategies for the Empowerment: Empowermentthrough education is ideally seen as a continuous holisticprocess with cognitive, psychological, economic andpolitical dimensions in order to achieve emancipation.


Page 2 February 2018Vol V Special Issue -1

Given the complexity of political, societal andinternational interrelations, one has to systematicallythink about the strategies and concrete proposals forfuture action if one hopes to achieve such a goal. A setof strategies on education, research/documentation,campaigns, networking, influencing policies, training andmedia.

a. Education: The formal and non-formal educationsystems would need to be considered. It would beimportant to analyze the gender content and toascertain the manner in which it is addressed/notaddressed in the educational system. On the basisof the analysis, curriculum changes would need tobe brought about. Likewise it would be important toreorient the teachers on gender issues so that overallgender sensitization in the educational system couldbe brought about• Reorienting and reeducating policy makers;• securing equal access for boys and girls in

education;• holding workshops/seminars for teachers;• revising teaching materials;• producing materials in local languages;• implementing special programmes for women in

the field of Adult Education;• incorporating issues such as tradition, race,

ethnicity, gender sensitization, urban and ruralcontexts in the programmes;

• raising awareness on the necessity for health careb. Research/Documentation: The importance of doing

participatory and action research was underscored.It was considered important to organize workshopsto train grassroots women to conduct participatoryresearch where they could develop skills to criticallyanalyze their existing conditions. This will facilitatetheir organizing for collective action. Whileparticipatory research was considered to beimportant, it was recognized that traditionalquantitative research was also necessary. Theguiding principle, however, was to share the resultswith the women in a language and manner that wasunderstandable to them. Research as a strategywould therefore entail:• Disseminating information;• Producing and disseminating information leaflets

regarding women’s rights;• Referring to women in all national and UN

statistics;• Collecting oral history of women;• Documenting and analyzing successful and failed

programmes of the women’s movements;

c. Campaigns: If one is to have an effect in society, itis important to undertake campaign and lobbyactivities that will put the issue of gender in the mindsof the legislators, policy-makers and the larger public.

This will therefore• pushing for a dialogue between stake holders;• raising gender issues within the national policy arena;• pressuring to upgrade women’s bureaus (which are

a result of the UN Decade for Women) into ministriesof women’s affairs;

• lobbying for sex-equity and affirmative actionlegislation;

• lobbying for “counter structural adjustment policies;”organizing pressure groups (like “Greenpeace”); •using consumer power for boycotts; securing accessto information;

• demanding child care centers; and • producing videosand CDs etc.

d. Networking: Through networking, it would bepossible to share experiences and learn from oneanother. In this manner, understanding and solidarityamong women’s organization (governmental/non-governmental) and multilateral agencies could beforged. This would therefore entail networking at thenational, regional and international levels. Moreover,at the international level, South-South linkages wereconsidered to be particularly important.• organizing at least one meeting a year of gender

sensitive organizations;• setting up a north-south dialogue and

collaboration;• setting up a south-south cooperation and

exchange;• linking women’s movements all over the world;• establishing alternative credit schemes that offer

women access to funds.e. Training: In our societies, there is a gender division

of labor which dictates the kind of training oneacquires. If one talks about women’s empowerment,it is important that women have access to the differenttraining opportunities previously denied them.

This therefore means:• preparing for jobs that are usually not open to them;• providing income-generating projects that are market-

oriented (not welfare-oriented projects)• training capable female leaders at all levels.f. Media: Considering the attitudinal barriers in

traditional societies and the role which the massmedia play in reinforcing them, the following strategieswere advanced:



• organizing mass media campaigns to raiseawareness;

• creating a social climate friendly to women’s issues;• resisting the tendency to send women back to the

kitchen;Finally external climatic favorable conditions are alsorequired in which education would result in creating equalopportunities in higher education in the job market, equalwages for equal work, and last but not the least, createleadership qualities that make for their equal participationin the national parliament. It is the quantitative aspect ofeducation, leading to this transformation given equalopportunities in schooling to empowered women in theparliament is the most daunting of all. Education doeshave this potential to achieve this.

References1. Education of woman An Indian History edited by

Anuradha Malshe, published by The ICFAI UniversityPress

2. Dr. Gyan Singh Gautam, G.Ravi Kumar, A Study OnRecent Innovations In Teacher Education; EnglishStudies International Research Journal : Volume 3Issue 2 (2015) Issn 2347-3479, Pg 219-223

3. Women and the Widening Horizons in Education4. 4. M.Kalyan Kumar, Diasporic Elements In Jhumpa

Lahiri’s Interpreter Of Maladies; English StudiesInternational Research Journal : Volume 3 Issue 2(2015) Issn 2347-3479, Pg 216-218

5. United Nations Population Fund. A New Role for Men:Partners in Women’s Empowerment. New York, NY:UNFPA, 1995.

6. United Nations Population Fund. Hopes andRealities: Closing the gap between women’saspirations and their reproductive experiences. NewYork, NY: UNFPA, 1995. 292

7. United Nations, Division for the Advancement ofWomen, Department of Policy oordination andSustainable Development, Report of the ExpertGroup Meeting on Measures to Eradicate Violenceagainst Women. MAV/1993/1, New York, 1993.

8. United Nations. Strategies for Confronting DomesticViolence: A Resource Manual. New York, NY: UnitedNations, 1994.

9. United Nations. Women: Looking Beyond 2000. NewYork, NY: United Nations, 1995. 71) UP Government,Uttar Pradesh Government, http://upgov.nic.in/,(2010-07-05)

10. Verbeek, Marno, 2008, A Guide to ModernEconometrics, 3rd Edition, Chichester: John Wileyand Sons Ltd.

11. Vlassoff Carol, From Rags to Riches: The Impact ofRural Development on Women’s Status in IndianVillage, World Development, Published by ElsevierScience Ltd, vol.22, no.5, 1994, pp.707-19.

12. Wheeler, Kathryn A. “How Schools Can StopShortchanging Girls (and Boys): Gender-EquityStrategies”. Wellesley, MA: Center for Research onWomen 1993.

13. Wolf-Wasserman, M. and Hutchinson, L. TeachingHuman Dignity: Social Change Lessons for EveryTeacher. Minneapolis: Education ExplorationResource Center, 1996.

14. Women in the Qur’an: Qur’anic Interpretation byWomen Meeting July 8-13, 1990, Karachi.ShirkatGah: Pakistan, 1990.

15. Woolcock, Michael, “Learning from Failures inMicrofinance: What Unsuccessful Cases Tell 78)World Bank, Engendering Development: ThroughGender Equality in Rights, Resources, and

16. World Bank, The World Bank and Gender Equality:At a glance, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTGENDER/0



WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN INDIAN MODERN SOCIETY

1. Post Doctoral Fellow (UGC),Dept.of.Political Science & Public Administration, Acharya Nagarjuna University, NagarjunaNagar, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

Abstract

In the Indian modern country is fast emerging as a global power but for half of its population, the women across thecountry, struggle to live life with dignity continues. Women, irrespective of their class, caste and educational status, arenot safe In the modern society women have been the victims of exploitations since long time in different fields in theirlife both physically, socially, mentally and economically. There are several causes of sexual as well as moral abusewhich are very often highlighted by the media in Indian modern society, and a lot of those also remain unexplored.Although, such violence against women, sexual harassment, exploitation to women is not of recent origin, its trace isfound in the history of ancient India. Women are facing problems in every sphere of life whether employment, accessto health care or property rights. India is fast developing but women's in India continue to be discriminated. Thedeclining sex ratio in India amply portrays the discrimination shown towards women at the stage of birth. They arevictims of crime directed specifically at them, rape, kidnapping and abduction, dowry-related crimes, molestation,sexual harassment, eve-teasing, etc. It is realized that the long run supremacy of male over female in all respect in thepatriarchal society in India is highly responsible for arresting the empowerment of women. women are being traffickedfor sex, harassment at workplaces and tortured in family and society. The paper has attempted to find out the Indianperspectives women exploitation in modern society.Recent news of Gang Rape in New Delhi 23 Year Old Woman wasraped by 6 people in a Moving Bus in New Delhi in December, 2012. The girl was hospitalized for several days andwas also taken to Singapore for advanced Treatment. UN Women in India stresses the urgent need to promote andprotect the safety of women and girls in India. Every girl and woman should be able to live safely and free of violence.These crimes need to end sexual harassment and violence cannot be tolerated. We urge that political will musttranslate into concrete action and stronger implementation of already existing laws and regulations. For the improvementof women's issues U.N. declaration of 1975 as women's year and the period of 1975-1985 as women's decade due tothe international recognition of the problems faced by women's all over the world. In spite of constitutional and legalsafeguards, the women in India continue to suffer, due to lack of awareness of their rights, illiteracy and oppressivepractices and customs. This article attempts to understand the stages and different forms of women exploitation inpresent society. To suggest Create healthy environment for women and girls everywhere by supporting efforts to endviolence against them through the education and make strong laws to punish victim immediately.

Keywords: Women exploitation, sexual harassment, crime against women, Delhi Gang rape,Indian culture, patriarchy.

Dr. K. V. R. Srinivas1

Introduction:Indian woman bearing the torch of cultured livingthrough self-sacrifice, physical and mental endurance,and compassion is waxing eloquence for retrogressivedrudgery. It lends rationale for under-nutrition of girls,unequal health care, inequitable access to resources,and denial of property rights all reserved for women borninto a tradition that hails women’s capacity forforbearance. In the 21st century India is fast emergingas a global power but for half of its population, the womenacross the country, struggle to live life with dignitycontinues. Women are facing problems in every sphereof life whether employment, access to health care orproperty rights. The attention required is still not beingpaid to the issues that concern this section of population.on the other hand. India is fast developing but women’sin India continue to be discriminated. The declining sexratio in India amply portrays the discrimination shown

towards women at the stage of birth. Women may behave stardom in any stream but are getting harassmentevery day by their surroundings. They are victims ofcrime directed specifically at them, rape, kidnapping andabduction, dowry-relatedcrimes, molestation, sexualharassment, eve-teasing, etc. The crimes against womenin India are growing at a rampant speed. Women,irrespective of their class, caste and educational status,are not safe. The lack of any serious effort to rectify theweaknesses in dealing with the crimes against womenfurther In the ancient period, there was more dominanceof Gods than Goddesses in almost all respect and inthe literatures of Hindu religion like Puranas, a fewGoddesses are found as powerful like Shakti (one of theHindu Goddesses, it has different forms like Durga, Kalietc.). In case of society of the material world at thattime, same picture of supremacy of male was found.Devdasi, Widow Burning, Polygamy were the initialaspects of women exploitation. Religion, thus through



the making of , Devdasi in temple, exploited women andsatisfied the desire of temple authorities. Apparently, itseems that women are being empowered so that theycan enable themselves to acquire education, adoptculture and represent as they like in society but it is nottrue at all if sensed with reality. Let us analyze in briefabout male female work participation over two decadesfrom 1981 to 2001, where it is clearly noticed that therate of female work participation is much lower ascompared to men. Another real fact is that, still a newborn baby girl is considered as “burden in much caseand consequently they are treated with ignorance fromchildhood. Therefore, they cannot build their capacityand are often suppressed by man folk in the society insubsequent time without any protest due to their inbuiltfear of socio-economic isolation. Some of them withouttolerating the exerted force by the men folk choose, darkway of living like prostitution. A significant proportion ofthem who are not associated with the prostitution arecompelled to face harassment and teasing at differenttimes at different place in the form of Rape, Kidnapping,Dowry, Sexual harassment, trafficking etc (Dr. KhokanKumar Bag, Piyal Basu Roy,March 2012).

Problem of Unemployment, Poverty, EconomicInequality, Gender discrimination, Lack of ProperEducation etc. which are the part and parcel of society,prevail mostly in women. In addition, society has beenexperiencing that money controls everything. Althoughgender discrimination has been banned by theconstitution and women have been guaranteed politicalequality with men, yet there is a difference betweenconstitutional rights and rights enjoyed in reality bywomen (Bhuyan and Panigrahy, 2006). The Governmentof India had ushered in the new millennium by declaringthe year 2001 as ‘Women’s Empowerment Year’ to focuson a vision ‘where women are equal partners like men’.Government policy has been to promote women’sparticipation in political, social and economic life of thenation and identical access to health care, qualityeducation, career and vocational guidance, employment,equal remuneration, occupational health and safety,social security and public office etc. The objective hasbeen also to s strengthen legal system aimed atelimination of all forms of discrimination against womenand changing the societal attitudes and communitypractices by active participation and involvement of bothmen and women. Consequently, single or in a group ofpeople has been using women and women also totorture, harassing and exploiting the women in differentforms in present society. Moreover, in women daily lifelack of the women respect and lack of the financialempowerment and patriarchal system is responsible forexploitation of women in present society.

The Objective Of The Paper As Fallows1. To examine the stages of women exploitation.2. To understand the different forms of women

exploitation in present society.3. To know the Indian penal and special local laws of

crimes against women4. To provide some suggestion to overcome of these

issues.

Meaning Exploitation: An act that exploits or victimizessomeone (treats them unfairly)”capitalistic exploitationof the working class”; “paying Blacks less and chargingthem more is a form of victimization”.

Meaning of Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassmentis a form of sex discrimination. Sexual harassment is“unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexualnature that is severe or pervasive and affects workingconditions or creates a hostile work environment.”

Exploitation of Women in IndiaIncidences like sexual abuse by near relatives, co-habitation with near or dear friends and subsequentdecline of marriages and issues relating to illegalpregnancy etc. are the real fact, the information of whichremains mostly in darkness. In addition, girl studentsmolested by teachers or repeated sexual abuse byantisocial activists are also an unfortunate reality.Women exploitation in the form of physical and mentaltorture on wives by husband is also common, mostlywhere women are simply a house wife and not associatedwith any employment. As a result, they are compelledto keep their head down in a speechless mannertolerating the cruelty of their husband helplessly. Thisultimately makes them mentally disordered for whichthey often take the shelter of suicide or other means ofmalpractices that result very disgrace social, moral,ethical, and after all economic support to them (Dr.Khokan Kumar Bag, Piyal Basu Roy, March 2012).

With the passage of time, days and society, there are alot of movements relating to this exploitation of womenbut still men are forward in status as compared to womenand Indian society is male dominated where female arebeing exploited spatially. According to Purana , therewas violence against women in ancient India, but therewas strong punishment for that offence irrespective ofcaste (Das, 1990).

Stages of Women Exploitation and PresentIndian PerspectivesIn the grip of growing consumerism, violence againstwomen has been rapidly increasing and a legitimatehuman right issue in connection to their socio-economic stability has got impetus. Trafficking of women



is strongly associated with economic disparity asprevailing in the country which brings massivedevelopment of women into prostitution (Barry, 1995).Therefore, several researches, systematic investigationsare being performed to find out the spatio-temporal variation in this regard to ensure women adignified life. International research network on violenceagainst women (IRNVAW) has been studying worldwidepattern of such violence to share experiences andformulate strategy implication in this context. Contraryto popular belief, child prostitutes are not primarilychildren lower socio-economic circumstances but alsofrom families from higher income group (Flowers, 1994).

Pre-birth stage of women: If a cyclic concept ofwomen exploitation is assumed for convenience ofresearch, one can identify the stages at which they arebeing victimized. For example, at the stage pre-birth, despite illegal, sex selective abortion has beentaking place, because in many developing countries likeIndia, it is still thought that baby girl would be a burdenof a family in future and in rural areas, the same isconsidered along with the concept that they would notbe economically and socially productive as they havenot physically strong like men. Hence, despite employingenough labour force for economic development, womenare not paid properly and thus they are economicallydeprived section of Indian society (Tripathi and Tiwari,1999).

Infancy stage of women: At the infancy stage, she islooked after with ignorance particularly in case ofeducation, health care and nutrition. Consequently fromthe initial stages of development, they remain weak andisolated. This is because of the same reason as statedearlier. Thus, there is a tendency in rural India in particularto over-emphasize on baby boy considering their futureprobability of application.

Childhood stage of women: At the time of childhood,due to constant ignorance, women are victimized in theform of child abuse and trafficking for lucrative businessspread all over the world both for labour and sex.Therefore, it cannot be denied that the child labour actof 1986 does not bring remarkable positive impact asthe majority of child labour in rural India is female(Tripathy, 2003).

The adolescence stage of women: At the stage ofadolescence, pitiable form of violence or exploitation isnoticed in the form of prostitution, trafficking, earlymarriage, crime committed against women etc. This isa stage when they become matured, can understandthe social and economic bondage and being realizedthis tyranny, they are either compelled to chooseprostitution or unintentionally abused for sex. In addition,being considered as burden, they have to face early

marriage very often as decided by their family.Sometimes, this results psychologically disorder amongthem. Moreover, the young women or teenagers arevictimized to satisfy a few gangsters by providing sexand beauty.

Reproductive stage of women: At reproductive age,they have to face domestic violence, if get married.Moreover, at this time, they are sexually, psychologicaland physically tortured by intimate partner or non-partner also. Consequently, homicide is very commonas read out in common newspapers in all parts of thecountry. At the time of elderly, she becomes helplessdue to absence of workability or sexual beauty.Consequently, they are again ignored and exploited.Thus, the history of women life is a garland of stigma ormisery. There is no stage at which she gets honour dueto their traditional oppressed life lead without protest.Although, this is not true in case of females who aresocio- economically established but interestingly someof them intentionally insist men folk of society to dooffensive works to live more and more economicallycomfortable by advertising themselves in naked way indifferent media. Despite the high level commitment toachieve MDGs, the millennium project report of 2005states that “gender equality remains an unfulfilled goal”.The report recognizes the need to include specificintervention to address gender inequality (Johnson H,

Ollus N & Nevala S, 2008). Therefore, it is a fact that,each and every part of the country of India is beingendangered by gender bias significantly which needsimmediate careful handling for the sake of human right,otherwise, it is clear that this wound will be acute andthe resultant effects as experienced everywhere fromrural to urban will damage the synthesis betweenelements of society (Dr. Khokan Kumar Bag, PiyalBasu Roy,March 2012 .

Different Forms of Women Exploitation in PresentSocietyExploitation of women are various forms and differentnatures. It include crimes involving sexual exploitationfor economic gains like prostitution & trafficking, adultery,abduction, rape, wrongful confinement, and murder etcon the one hand and crimes related to women’s propertylike dishonest misappropriation, criminal breach of trust,domestic violence, dowry extortion and outraging themodesty of women etc on the other. These crimes arenot only injurious and immoral for the women but for thesociety as a whole.

Domestic Violence: In Indian family the man is themaster and women is the inferior and subordinate partnerand societal pressure force women to maintain thisstatus quo. Wife beating is the most prevalent form of



violence against women in the Indian society and it isviewed as a general problem of domestic discord.

Female Infanticide and Feticide: This is playing asignificant role in lop sided sex ratio in India. Poor familiesin certain regions of the country sometimes resort tokilling baby girls at birth, to avoid an unwanted burdenon family resources. Sex selective abortion has alsobeen common in the country. It’s dangerous to abortthe foetus after 18 weeks of pregnancy and quiet harmfulfor mother too at such a late stage.

Dowry : The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 marks thefirst attempt by the Government of India to recognizedowry as a social evil and to curb its practice. The actwas modified with the Dowry Prohibition Amendment Actof 1984, which has again been modified with DowryProhibition Bill 1986. Women’s organization have playedkey role in this process of change. The 1961 Act definedowry and makes the practice of dowry- giving and taking,a punishable offence. Dowry is one of those social evilsthat no educated woman will own up with pride; stillmany are adhering to it. Practices of dowry tend tosubordinate women in the society.

Recent news of Gang Rape in New Delhi: 23 YearOld Woman was raped by 6 people in a Moving Bus inNew Delhi in December, 2012. The girl was hospitalizedfor several days and was also taken to Singapore foradvanced Treatment.

Delhi gang rape victim regains consciousness, next48 hours critical: The 23-year-old victim of the brutalgang rape has reportedly regained consciousness atDelhi’s Safdarjung hospital where she is being treatedfor her injuries. NDTV reported that the girl iscommunicating with doctors and nurses by writingbecause she is still not in a position to talk. Despite theencouraging signs however, she is still in criticalcondition, and doctors say that the next 48 hours willbe critical (FP Staff Dec 18, 2012, firstpost.com).

UN Women condemns gang rape of Delhistudent: UN Women expresses indignation andcondemns the ghastly gangrape of the 23-year-old Delhistudent, who is critically injured and battling for her lifein a New Delhi hospital. This attack is an attack againstall women in India. Violence against women is not awomen’s issue but a human rights issue. UN

Women joins the Government and people of India inrecognizing that we need to take tougher action togetherto change the present reality and culture of impunity.UN Women in India stresses the urgent need to promoteand protect the safety of women and girls in India. Everygirl and woman should be able to live safely and free ofviolence. These crimes need to end sexual harassmentand violence cannot be tolerated. We urge that political

will must translate into concrete action and strongerimplementation of already existing laws and regulations.(Anne F Stenhammer, December 20 2012, New Delhi)

Rape victim and accused relationship in India: Rapein India has been described by Radha Kumar as one ofIndia’s most common crimes against women. Officialsources show that rape cases in India has doubledbetween 1990 and 2008(Wikipedia). Rape is the fastestgrowing crime in India compared to murder, robbery andkidnapping. According to the report of National CrimeRecords Bureau (NCRB), every 60 minutes, two womenare raped in this country. According to the Delhi policereport A total of 703 cases of rape were reported in theyear 2012. The biggest number of such crimes wasreported from neighbours. One-quarter of the victims wereminors, 27.9 percent of culprits were known to victimsand 28.38 percent were friends and 8.35 from relatives.These figures are underestimations as many incidentsgo unreported due to fear of stigma and non awarenessof rights. There are also the countless cases of eveteasing, indecent gazes, pinching, brushes andcomments that infringe upon the rights of women,especially in overcrowded spaces and public transportbuses and trains. There is a need for a drastic changein attitudes and mindsets towards such incidents. Poorinvestigations, harsh cross examination of victims,senseless adjournment of cases and faulty assessmentof evidence and furnishing of evidence by victims inpresence of culprits are areas that need reforms.

Table - 1 : Rape victim and accused relationship -2012

1 Neighbours 207 29.32%

2 Friends 200 28.32%

3 Relatives 59 08.35%

4 Employers/co-workers 17 02.41%

5 Other Known persons 197 27.90%

6 Unknown/stranger 26 03.68%

Total 706 99.98%

Sl.No

No. of rapevictimAccused relationship Percentage

of rape victim

Source: Delhi Police (The Hindu news Staff Reporter NEWDELHI, January 19, 2013

The above table shows Maximum number of rape victimwas committed by the known persons such asNeighbours, friends, relatives ,employed/co-workers andknown persons. Only 3.68% cases were committed bythe unknown persons. This table shows women are notsafe even their family, neighbours, relatives and knownpersons in present society.



Some Indian Penal Code And Special Local LawsOf Crimes Against WomenPolice records show high incidence of crimes againstwomen in India. The National Crime Records Bureaureported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes againstwomen would be higher than the population growth rateby 2010. Earlier, many cases were not registered withthe police due to the social stigma attached to rape andmolestation cases. Official statistics show that therehas been a dramatic increase in the number of reportedcrimes against women. Although Women may be victimsof any of the general crimes such as ‘Murder’, ‘Robbery’,‘Cheating’, etc, only the crimes which are directedspecifically against Women are characterized as‘Crimes Against Women’. Various new legislations havebeen brought and amendments have been made inexisting laws with a view to handle these crimeseffectively. These are broadly classified under twocategories.

1) The Crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)i) Rape (Sec. 376 IPC)

ii) Kidnapping & Abduction for specified purposes(Sec. 363 - 373 IPC)

iii) Homicide for Dowry, Dowry Deaths or theirattempts (Sec. 302/304-B IPC)

iv) Torture - both mental and physical (Sec. 498-A IPC)

v) Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC) (vi) SexualHarassment (Sec. 509 IPC)

vii) Importation of girls (upto 21 years of age)(Sec. 366-B IPC)

2) The Crimes under the Special & Local Laws(SLL)Although all laws are not gender specific, theprovisions of law affecting women significantly havebeen reviewed periodically and amendments carriedout to keep pace with the emerging requirements.The gender specific laws for which crime statisticsare recorded throughout the country are -

i) Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956

ii) Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

iii) Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition)Act, 1986

iv) Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987

Reported Incidents of crime (Incidence 2,03,804): Atotal of 2,03,804 incidents of crime against women (bothunder IPC and SLL) were reported in the contry during2009 as compared to 1,95,856 during 2008 recording anincrease of 4.1% during 2009. These crimes havecontinuously increased during 2005 - 2009 with 1,55,553in 2005, 1,64,765 cases in 2006, 1,85,312 cases in2007, 1,95,856 cases in 2008 and 2,03,804 cases in2009. Andhra Pradesh, accounting for nearly 7.1% ofthe country’s population, has accounted for 12.5% oftotal crimes against women in the country by reporting25,569 cases. West Bengal with 7.6% share of country’spopulation has accounted for nearly11.4% of total crimeagainst womenby reporting 23,307 cases in 2009.

Crime Rate : The crime against women has increasedby 4.1% over 2008 and by 31.0% over 2005. The IPCcomponent of crimes against women has accounted for95.6% of total crimes and the rest 4.4% were SLL crimesagainst women.(Crime rate 17.4) The rate of crime hasincreased marginally from 17.0 during the year 2008 to17.4 during 2009. Tripura reported the highest rate ofcrime against women at 42.5 during 2009.

Trend Analysis: The proportion of IPC crimes committedagainst women towards total IPC crimes has increasedcontinually during last 5 years from 7.9% in 2005 to9.2% during 2009. The crime head-wise details ofreported crimes during 2005 to 2009 along withpercentage variation are

Methodology: This article based on secondarydata. Crime Head-wise Incidents of Crime AgainstWomen reports identifies number of women exploitationwhich was held during the 2005 to 2009. The value ofthis reports consist of the women exploitation in differentcauses such as rape, kidnap, dowry death, torture,molestation, sexual harassment, Sati PreventionAct,1987, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, IndecentRepresentation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, DowryProhibition Act, 1961. The Crime Head-wise Incidentsof Crime Against Women during 2005 - 2009 is shown inchart I. Temporal Growth of crimes committed againstwomen reports identifies number of women exploitationwhich was held during the 2003 to 2009. The value ofthese reports consist of the women exploitation indifferent causes such as rape, kidnap, torture,molestation, sexual harassment.



Table - 1 : Chart I -Crime Head-wise Incidents of Crime Against Women during 2005 - 2009 andPercentage variation in 2009 over 2008

1. Rape (Sec. 376 IPC) 18,359 19,348 20,737 21,467 21,397 -0.3

2. Kidnapping & Abduction 15,750 17,414 20,416 22,939 25,741 12.2

(Sec. 363 to 373 IPC)

3. Dowry Death (Sec. 302 / 304 6,787 7,618 8,093 8,172 8,383 2.6IPC)

4. Torture (Sec. 498-A IPC) 58,319 63,128 75,930 81,344 89,546 10.1

5. Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC) 34,175 36,617 38,734 40,413 38,711 -4.2

6. Sexual Harassment 9,984 9,966 10,950 12,214 11,009 -9.9(Sec. 509 IPC)

7. Importation of Girls (Sec. 366- 149 67 61 67 48 -28.3B IPC)

8. Sati Prevention Act,1987 1 0 0 1 0 -100.0

9. Immoral Traffic (Prevention) 5,908 4,541 3,568 2,659 2,474 -6.9Act, 1956

10. Indecent Representation of 2,917 1,562 1,200 1,025 845 -17.6Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986

11. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 3,204 4,504 5,623 5,555 5,650 1.7

Sl.No

2005

year

2006 2007 2008 2009Crime Head

Percentage variationin 2009 over 2008

Crime head-wise analysis (IPC) Rape (Sec. 376 IPC) (Incidence 21,397 Rate 1.8): An increasing trend incases of rape has been observed during 2005 - 2008. However, incidence of rape has marginally declined during2009 as compared to 2008. These cases reported an increase of 5.4% in 2006 over 2005, an increase of 7.2% in2007 over 2006, an increase of 3.5% in 2008 over 2007 and a decline of 0.3% in 2009 over 2008. Madhya Pradeshhas reported the highest number of Rape cases (2,998) accounting for 14.0% of total such cases reported in thecountry. However, Mizoram has reported the highest crime rate 8.3 as compared to National average of 1.8. Rapecases have been further categorised as Incest Rape and other Rape cases.Incest Rape (Incidence 404) :Incest rape cases have increased by 30.7% from 309 cases in 2008 to 404 casesin 2009 as compared to 0.3% decrease in overall Rape cases. Chhattisgarh (107) has accounted for the highest(26.5%) of the total such cases reported in the country.Rape Victims: There were 21,413 victims of Rape out of 21,397 reported Rape cases in the country. 11.5% (2,470)of the total victims of Rape were girls under 15 years of age, while 15.6% (2,912) were teenaged girls (15-18 years).59.8% (12,812) were women in the age-group 18-30 years. 3,124 victims (14.6%) were in the age-group of 30-50 years while 0.4% (95) were over 50 years of age. Offenders were known to the victims in as many as 20,311(94.9%) cases. Parents / close family members were involved in 2.0% (404 out of 20,311) of these cases, neighbourswere involved in 35.1% cases (7,129 out of 20,311) and relatives were involved in 7.3% (1,481 out of 20,311) cases.Kidnapping & Abduction (Sec. 363-373 IPC) (Incidence 25,741 Rate 2.2): These cases have reported an increaseof 12.2% as compared to previous year (22,939). Uttar Pradesh (5,078) has accounted for 19.7% of the total casesat the National level. Delhi UT has reported the highest rate at 9.3 as compared to the National average of 2.2.Dowry Deaths (Sec. 302, 304B IPC) (Incidence 8,383 Rate 0.7): These cases have increased by 2.6%over theprevious year (8,172). 26.6% of the total such cases reported in the country were reported from Uttar Pradesh(2,232) Bihar (1,295) (15.4%). The highest rate of crime (1.4) was reported from Bihar as compared to the Nationalaverage of 0.7.Torture (Cruelty by Husband & Relatives) (Sec. 498-A IPC)(Incidence 89,546 Rate 7.7): ‘Torture’ cases in thecountry have increased by 10.1% over the previous year (81,344). 18.0% of these were reported from West Bengal(16,112). The highest rate of 22.8 was reported from Tripura as compared to the National rate at 7.7.



Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC) (Incidence 38,711 Rate3.3): Incidents of Molestation in the country havedecreased by 4.2% over the previous year (40,413).Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest incidence(6,307) amounting to 16.3% of total such cases. Tripurahas reported the highest rate (10.8) as compared to theNational average of 3.3.

Sexual Harassment (Sec. 509 IPC) (Incidence 11,009Rate 0.9) The number of such cases has decreased by9.9% over the previous year (12,214). Andhra Pradeshhas reported 32.0% of cases (3,520) followed by UttarPradesh 22.9% (2,524). Andhra Pradesh has reportedthe highest crime rate 4.2 as compared to the Nationalaverage of 0.9.

Importation of Girls (Sec. 366-B IPC) (Incidence48): A decrease of 28.3% has been observed in suchcases as 48 cases were reported during the year 2009 ascompared to 67 cases in the previous year (2008). Bihar(31) has reported the highest number of such cases accountingfor 64.6% of total such cases at the National level.

Crime-head wise analysis 2.1 as compared to theNational (Special Laws) average of 0.2.

Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act Sati Prevention Act(Incidence 2,474 Rate 0.2) (Incidence Nil):No casewas registered under this Act in 2009 as against onecase reported from Chhattisgarh in 2008. Cases underthis Act have registered a decline of 6.9% during theyear as compared to the previous year (2,659). 28.9%(716) cases were reported from Tamil Nadu whereasDaman & Diu reported the highest crime rate of women.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act(Incidence 845 Rate 0.1) A decline of 17.6% wasnoticed in cases under this Act as compared to previousyear (1,025). Andhra Pradesh with 704 cases hasaccounted for 83.3% of total such cases at the Nationallevel which has also reported the highest crime rate of0.8 as compared to the National average rate of 0.1.

Dowry Prohibition Act (Incidence 5,650 Rate 0.5) thecases under this Act have increased by 1.7% ascompared to the previous year (5,555). 24.1% caseswere reported from Andhra Pradesh (1,362) followed byBihar (1,252) accounting for 22.2% of total cases at theNational level. The highest crime rate was reported fromOrissa at 2.3 as compared to 0.5 at the National level.

Crime against Women in Cities (All-India 2,03,804Cities 23,983): 35 cities having population over 10 lakhhave been identified as Mega cities as per populationcensus 2001. A total of 23,983 cases of crimes againstwomen were reported from these 35 cities as comparedto 24,756 cases in the year 2008 reporting a decreaseof 3.1%. The rate of crime in cities at 22.2 was

comparatively higher as compared to the National rateof 17.4. Among 35 cities, Delhi (3,701) has accountedfor 15.4% of total crimes followed by Hyderabad (1,896)(7.9%). The crime rate was significantly higher inVijayawada, Lucknow and Vishakhapatnam at 92.6, 55.5and 54.6 respectively as compared to average of megacities at 22.2. Delhi city has accounted for 23.8% ofRape cases, 38.9% of Kidnapping & Abduction cases,15.2% of Dowry Deaths and 14.1% of Molestation casesamong 35 cities. Hyderabad has reported 11.9% of casesof Cruelty by Husband and Relatives. Lucknow hasreported 14.5% of cases of Eve-teasing. All the 4 casesunder Importation of Girls were reported from Kolkatacity. It is worthwhile to mention that Bengaluru, Chennai,Mumbai and Jaipur have booked more cases underSpecial & Local Laws among the mega cities. 17.3%(134 out of 774) of cases under Immoral Traffic(Prevention) Act and 83.3% (567 out of 681) of DowryProhibition Act cases were registered in Bengaluru cityalone. Similarly, 15.9% (123 out of 774) and 14.6% (113out of 774) cases under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Actwere registered in Chennai and Mumbai respectively.All the 44 cases under Indecent Representation ofWomen (Prohibition) Act cases were registered in Jaipurcity.

V CONCLUSIONThough the status of women in India, both historicallyand socially, has been one of the respect and reverence,but the hard truth is that even today, they are strugglingfor their own identity, shouting for diffusion of their voicesand fighting for their own esteem. Every day, they crossamong the fears and fraught for individuality. Despite theconstitutional guarantee of equality of sexes, rampantdiscrimination and exploitation of women in Indiacontinues. The incidence of dowry deaths, woman sexualharassment, molestation and ill-treatment of women areon increase. It is high time now that women should geta respectable and dignified position in the Indian society.Awareness in the women as well as society should becreated and their equal rights should be effectivelyimplemented. Crimes against women should be madepunishable and a In the era of globalization and withrevolution in means of communication and informationtechnology, the media role has become more crucial forwomen empowerment in Indian modern society. Inmodern society changes have been taking place ineverywhere in almost every field but to protect honour ofwomen. International Women Day is celebrated, anumber of women organizations have been working forwomen freedom and empowerment. But all of those areexternal in nature as mentality is the product of societyand culture. In the same family, a boy gets more libertythan a girl. Moreover, there is lack of security of girls inIndian society.



In Indian modern society it is very much essential to allwomen get educated to solve all women issues in anysociety and in any circumstance, in order to live withhonour, Education will only give them strength andsocietal status. This will increase the women smoothliving in modern society. Every woman has a fundamentalright to be safe Protesting injustice, if a woman is ableto protest herself with the right and education, then thatprotest her life becomes miserable. It should beremembered that the socio economic empowermentmust be ensured by the nation to minimize the exploitationwhich can help to improve the status of women. Therecent gang rape has created a fear among women, whichI think is a very unfortunate and serious thing. The courtshould consider this fact and a speedy trial resultinginto the harshest punishment possible for those animalswho are committed the heinous crime, will if not removethat fear, will at least ensure that a person will thinkbefore committing such a crime. The fear should be inthe mind of the offenders not the innocent people andhope our judiciary will understand the gravity of thesituation and will ensure that the correct judgmentswithout taking much time is made. Finally the offendermay set free, and the victim may treat as offender ImarvelousIndia. May god punish the Guilty, that’s my prayer.

Suggestion1. Lack of well-planned educational, economic and

social programmes from grass root level is highlyresponsible for such acute and pitiable scenario ofthe women in the country. In this context it shouldbe mentioned that women being vulnerable by thissort of negligence are compelled to divert themselvesto choose dark route of survival in the form of abusedor sexually exploited product of consumption. In mostcases, they cannot get justice despite their voicesfor survival to get rid of violence.

2. We need communities and individuals to be a part ofthis change in mindsets, attitudes and beliefs. Wecall on the Government of Delhi and India to doeverything in their power to take up radical reforms,ensure justice and reach out with robust public servicesto make women’s lives more safe and secure.

3. Create healthy environment for women and girlseverywhere by supporting efforts to end violenceagainst them, bringing them to the center of peacebuilding, advancing their political participation andleadership and increasing their economicempowerment.

4. Create awareness everywhere about women to endexploitation against women and girl through theeducation and strong social, moral, and cultural valuesand make strong laws to punish victim immediatelyin Present Indian society.

References1. Barry, K., (1995). The prostitution of sexuality New

York: NY University Press.2. Bhuyan, D., Panigrahy. R. L. (2006). Women

Empowerment. New Delhi: Discovery PublishingHouse.

3. Chande, M. B. (1997). The Police in India New Delhi:Atlantic Publishers and Distributors.

4. Chandra, R. (Ed.). (2004). Status of Women in Indiain Social Development in India. New Delhi: IshaBooks.

5. Das, S. (1990). Crime and punishment in AncientIndia New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.

6. Gordon, L.P. (2002) Violence against Women NY.Nara Science Publishers.

7. Flowers R. B. (1994). The Victimization andExploitation of Women and Children- A Study ofPhysical Mental and Sexual Maltreatment in UnitedStates. USA: Mc Fasland & Company.

8. Johnson H, Ollus N & Nevala S (2008) Violenceagainst women: An international perspective NY:Springer.

9. Mukhejee, D. (2005). Women and Urban Crime.New Delhi: Kalpaz Publication.

10. Rao, M.K. (2005) Empowerment of Women in IndiaNew Delhi: Discovery Publishing House.

11. Renzetti C.M. & Bergen R.K eds. (2005) Violenceagainst Women UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher.

12. Tripathi, R.S. & Tiwari, R.P. (1999) Perspectiveon Indian Women New Delhi: APH PublishingCorporation.

13. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/cant-do-w i t h o u t - c r i t i c a l - a n a l y s i s - o f - t h e - a s t /article4326386.ece

14. Dr. Khokan Kumar Bag, Piyal Basu Roy,(March2012) Changing Face of Women Exploitationin International Journal of Social Science TomorrowVol. 1 No. 1 ISSN: 2277-6168 March|2012

15. FP Staff Dec 18, 2012 http://www.firstpost.com/india/delhi-gangrape-victim-regains-consciousness-next-48-hours- critical-561535.html

16. Anne F Stenhammer,( December 202012) Regional Programme Director, UN WomenSouth Asia

17. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/world/asia/murder-charges-filed-against-5-men-in-india-gang-rape.html?_r=0

18. Staff Reporter January 19, 2013http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/womens-safety-will-be-given-top- priority/article4322668.ece



WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND WOMEN LEADERSHIP

1. Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada.

Abstract

The subject of empowerment of women has becoming a burning issue all over the world including India since last fewdecades. Many agencies of United Nations in their reports have emphasized that gender issue is to be given utmostpriority. It is held that women now cannot be asked to wait for any more for equality. They have demanded equality withmen in matters of education, employment, inheritance, marriage, the position and status of women all over the worldhas risen incredibly in the 20th century. We find that it has been very low in 18th and 19th centuries in India andelsewhere when they were treated like ‘objects’ that can be bought and sold. For a long time women in India remainedwithin the four walls of their household.

T. Jagadish1

IntroductionA long struggle going back over a century has broughtwomen the property rights, voting rights, an equality incivil rights before the law in matters of marriage andemployment (in India women had not to struggle for votingrights as we find in other countries).Two Acts have alsobeen enacted to emancipate women in India. These are:Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005and the Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act, 2006.The Domestic Violence Act recognizes that abuse bephysical as well as mental.

Anything that makes a woman feel inferior and takesaway her self-respect is abuse. Compulsory Registrationof Marriage Act can be beneficial in preventing the abuseof insti-tution of marriage and hindering social justiceespecially in relation to women.

Women are playing bigger and bigger role in economicfield: as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, managersand investors. According to a report of The Economist,‘Women and the World Economy’, in 1950, only one-third of American women of working age had a paid job.

We can now see women in almost every field:architecture, lawyers, financial services, engineering,medical and IT jobs. They have also entered serviceoccupations such as a nurse, a beautician, a salesworker, a waitress, etc.

While much research has been published comparingthe leadership styles of women and men, this studyspecifically focused on the personality qualities in awoman and man and motivational factors which are atthe core of the underlying gender differences.

This study included a valid and reliable personalityassessment, the Caliper Profile, as well as ademographic analysis and in-depth interviews with 59

female leaders from some of the top companies in theUnited Kingdom and the United States, including:Accenture, Bank of America, Deloitte & Touché,Deutsche Bank, The Economist Group, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Ernst & Young, IBM, International Paper, Johnson& Johnson, Kohler, Lloyds.

These women came from 19 different business sectors;the highest representation was Finance (26%), followedby 7% each in Computer, Education & Consulting, HealthProducts & Services and Real Estate. Age breakouts ofthe female leaders included: 30-39 years (24%), 40-49years (49%) and 50+ years (27%). The majority (69%)of the women was married, 5% lived with a domesticpartner and 26% were single. Forty-one percent haddependent children living with them in the home.

For comparison purposes, the female leaders in thisstudy were matched to a representative sample of maleleaders drawn from Caliper’s database, representingsimilar job titles.

In today’s large organization, as women climb up thecorporate ladder they vanish. While the statistics varyslightly around the world, this is an extremely consistentpattern.

At the lowest levels, more than half of the employees inorganizations are female. As you move to eachsuccessively higher level in the organization, the numberof women steadily shrinks. At the CEO level, worldwide,there are only 3% to 4% who are women.

The majority of people we talk with make the assumptionthat women will excel at nurturing competencies suchas developing others, inspiring and motivating others,relationship building, collaboration and teamwork. Thechart above demonstrates that these competencies aremore positive for women. But those competencies with



the largest positive differences are taking initiative,displaying integrity and honesty, and driving for results.These are not nurturing competencies

These competencies highlight that women were seenas more effective in getting things done, being rolemodels and delivering results. These skills describeleaders who take on difficult challenges, ensure thatpeople act with integrity, and who simply achievechallenging results.

Finally, as women move up the ladder in an organization,the higher they move the more positively they areperceived.

The degree that senior executives and boards of directorsare putting men into senior positions, fearing that womenwill not perform well at higher levels, we hope that thisinformation adds to the assurance that they need notworry about that.

References• World Bank. Engendering Development—

Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources,and Voice. A Policy Research Report. OxfordUniversity Press, New York; 2001.

• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW).Annual Report 2004–2005. MOHFW, NewDelhi; 2005.

• Roy, T.K., Niranjan, S. Indicators of women’sempowerment in India. Asia-Pacific PopulJ. September 2004; 19:23–38.

• Nancy, Riley. Gender, power and populationChange & Verbar. Popul Bull. May 1997;52.

• National Family Health Survey Subject Reports,Number 3. ; March 1997.

• International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)and Macro International. National Family HealthSurvey (NFHS-3), 2005–06: India. Vol. I. ; 2007.

• Kantor, P. Women’s empowerment throughhome-based work: evidence from India. DevChange. 2003;34:425–445.

• Irene, Casique. What difference does it make?Women‘s autonomy and power and use ofcontraception in Mexico. in: Paper Presented atthe XXIV IUSSP General Population Conference,Salvador, Bahia. ; August 2001.

• Dyson, T., Moore, M. Kinship structure, femaleautonomy, and demographic behavior inIndia. Popul Dev Rev. 1983; 9:35–60.

• Mott, F.L., Mott, S. Household fertility decisionsin West Africa: a comparison of male and femalesurvey results. Stud Fam Plan. 1985; 16:88–99.



IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN EDUCATION

1. Assistant Professor, Benaiah Christian College of Education, Burugupudi, Rajamahendravaram, Andhra Pradesh,India.

Abstract

Women education is very important for the country to fully develop. It is like an effective medicine to cure a patientcompletely and provide health back. Women education is a big opportunity for India to be developed socially andeconomically. Educated women are the weapon who yield positive impact on the Indian society through theircontribution at home and professional fields. They are the reason of improved economy in the country as well associety. An educated woman has capability to handle her home and professional life. They can effectively contributein controlling the population of India as they would like to marry at a later age in comparison to the uneducatedwoman.In India women are working together with men in every field. This is happening because of the womeneducation. It is important for the developing the India from the developing India to developed India. Women are thestrength of the nation. In each and every field you can see the women working in high post. Now, women are not onlymeant for the caring the house, She crosses her limit and achieves her goals. Education is the one of the basic needfor the men as well as the women because of it one should aware of the current situation and handles the problems.Here we are providing an essay on the women education which will benefit the students as well as kids.

Dr. Erulla Abbulu1

IntroductionWomen education refers to every form of education thataims at improving the knowledge, and skill of womenand girls. It includes general education at schools andcolleges, vocational and technical education,professional education, health education, etc. Womeneducation encompasses both literary and non-literaryeducation.Educated women are capable of bringing socio-economic changes. The constitution of almost alldemocratic countries, including India, guarantees equalrights to both men and women.

Education plays a critical role in the development of anation whether it is social or economic growth. A nationcan be educated in the real sense of the term, when itsentire population is educated. Over the years, India’sliteracy rate has improved manifold from 12% in 1947 to74.4% in 2011. Even though, the literacy rate is stillbelow the average of 84% around the world. As per 2011census report, out of 77,84,54,120 individuals who areconsidered literate in India, 44,42,03,762 of them aremale and 33,42,50,358 are female. If you look at thepercentage of educated people, there is a huge gapbetween male (82.14%, in 2011) and female (65.46%, in2011) literacy rates in India. Low women literacy ratehas a huge negative impact on the overall growth anddevelopment of the society – where women are majorlyresponsible for child care and development. As perresearch results, it is proved that children who are takencare by educated mom are well-nourished and have all-rounded development.

Education for women is the single most effective way toimprove lives and health of a family and a society atlarge. A woman with education is a powerful person, shehas the power to educate the children in her family, guidethem in taking decisions, contribute economically andoffer valuable inputs for improvement on home and socialfront. Women constitute almost half of a country’spopulation, when 50% of the population is deniededucation – a nation remains underdeveloped.Empowered women contribute to the development of thesociety, community and nation in numerous ways.Education is the most important power that shape thelives of mankind. It empowers with the ability to think,reason, take appropriate decisions and protect oneselffrom oppression & abuse. However, in most of thedeveloping world around the globe including India, womenare often denied of education opportunities. Even though,women constitute 48% of the total population in India –the women literacy rate in urban area is 79.11% asagainst 88.76% males, and the figures are even lower inthe rural scenario where 57.93% women are literate asagainst 77.15% literate

males. In 2014, India GDP growth ranges between 4.6%– 5.3% (1st – 3rd Quarter) and this growth percentagecan be drastically improved if women are educated andstarts contributing equally economically.

There are numerous benefits of women education. Hereare few of them:• Women who are educated are able to take charge of

their future.



• They earn and contribute to their family incomeWomen who are educated help reduce child andmaternal mortality Educated women are betterequipped to take care of their children.

• They are less likely to be taken advantage of andlowers exposure to domestic abuse.

• Have great confidence and takes right decisions.• Contributes in a positive way to the society and the

nation.• When women are included in key decision-making

positions, they take holistic decisions for thedevelopment of the society Including women in politicstend to have different growth dimensions.

Importance of Women education:Educating girls and women is so important for the worldas a whole. When we consider the entire humanpopulation, the percentage of educated women is atmuch lower level than men.The importance of women education are brieflysummarized below:1. Economic development and prosperity:

Education will empower women to come forward andcontribute towards the development and prosperityof the country.

2. Economic empowerment: So long as womenremain backward and economically dependent onmen, the helpless condition of them cannot bechanged. Economic empowerment and independencewill only come through proper education andemployment of women.

3. Improved life: Education helps a woman to live agood life. Her identity as an individual would neverget lost. She can read and learn about her rights.Her rights would not get trodden down. The life orcondition of women would improve a lot, if we take abroad outlook in the field of female education.

4. Improved health: Educated girls and women areaware of the importance of health and hygiene.Through health education, they are empowered tolead a healthy life-style. Educated mothers can takebetter care of both herself and her baby.

5. Dignity and honor: Educated women are now lookedupon with dignity and honor. They become a sourceof inspiration for millions of young girls who makethem their role-models.

6. Justice: Educated women are more informed of theirrights for justice. It would eventually lead to declinein instances of violence and injustice against womensuch as dowry, forced-prostitution, child-marriage,female foeticide, etc.

7. Choice to choose a profession of her choice:Educated women can prove be highly successful inthe fields of life. A girl-child should get equalopportunity for education, so that, she can plan tobecome a successful doctors, engineers, nurses, air-hostesses, cook, or choose a profession of herchoice.

8. Alleviate poverty: Women education is a pre-requisite to alleviate poverty. Women need to takeequal burden of the massive task of eliminatingpoverty. This would demand massive contribution fromeducated women. There cannot be much social andeconomic changes unless girls and women are giventheir rights for education.

Until the middle of nineteenth century, girls and womenwere educated only for traditional household works. Now,the society is witnessing changes in the role-status ofwomen. There is greater emphasis on education girlsand women in the same way as we educate boys andmen. The modern-day parents want to fulfill the aspirationof their children without gender parity.

The educated women should insist on exercising theircivil, social, political and economic rights. This will helpimprove the overall condition of women in the society.We can hope for better days while all women of ourcountry will be enlightened and educated.

Conclusion:‘Educating a boy is educating a person…Educating agirl is educating a nation’, this statement is 100% true.Many surveys and studies worldwide have demonstratedthat educating women is the single most profitableinvestment in terms of well-being of children health,community welfare and building long-term success ofdeveloping countries. Education opens a whole newworld of opportunities for a girl, it gives her the confidenceto tackle different problems of life, become economicallyindependent, make better choices, resolve family orcommunity issues satisfactorily, stand for her rights andguide her children. Over the years, the literacy rate amongIndian women has increased and as per an article inone of India’s leading newspapers – women enrollmentfor higher studies have increased from 10% (duringIndependence) to 41.5% in 2011. Indian government haslaunched a number of programmes to encourage primary,secondary and higher education for women. However,the progress is albeit slow but moving steadily. Thejourney to become a successful nation begins withUniversal Education for Women. India can reach its truepotential as a nation only when its women populationare equipped with the power of education.

Women education is very important for the country tofully develop. It is like an effective medicine to cure a



patient completely and provide health back. Womeneducation is a big opportunity for India to be developedsocially and economically. Educated women are theweapon who yield positive impact on the Indian societythrough their contribution at home and professional fields.They are the reason of improved economy in the countryas well as society. An educated woman has capabilityto handle her home and professional life. They caneffectively contribute in controlling the population of Indiaas they would like to marry at a later age in comparisonto the uneducated woman.

References1. Suguna M. (2011). Education and Women

Empowerment in India. International journal ofMultidisciplinary Research: VOL. 1. Issue 8.

2. h t t p : / /www.abh inav jou rna l . com/ images /Arts_&_Education/Nov12/1.pdf

3. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10603/8562/9/09_chapter%204.pdf

4. Ibid. N1.5. Ibid. N3.6. Shindu J. (2012). Women’s Empowerment through

Education. Abhinav journal: Vol. 1. Issue- 11. p. 3.7. K. Mahalinga. (2014). Women’s Empowerment

through Panchayat Raj Institutions. Indian Journalof Research: Vol. 3. Issue 3.

8. Chibber B. (2010). Women and the Indian PoliticalProcess. Mainstream Weekly Journal: Vol. XLVIII.Issue 18.

9. Bhat T. (2014) Women Education in India Need ofthe Ever. Human Rights International researchjournal: Vol. 1 p.3.

10. Ibid. N3. 11. Ibid. N1.12. www.un.org/milleniumgoals/gender.shtml13. http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-

and-womens-empowerment



CHANGING SCENARIO OF WOMEN IN THE 21ST CENTURY

1. HOD, Economics, Sir C. R. Reddy (A) College, Eluru.

Abstract

A nation cannot imagine its progress and prosperity without women. Despite progress, the very fact that women, alongwith being achievers, also are expected to fulfill their roles as wives or mothers, prioritizing home against anythingelse. Women from past centuries have changed the world in many different ways and have also paved the way forfuture women. During historical times, women achieved many different goals but still remained unequal and inferiorto men. Woman could not vote, hold normal jobs, or even have a place in politics. They mainly managed the homefront, including the children and other responsibilities. Women were not in charge of many things and could not speakfreely like they can today. Historical women catered to men and their every need while ignoring their own needs forfreedom and opportunity. But today the image of woman has undergone drastic changes. Women are now steppingout of their historical role of mother and housewife to obtain a higher quality of living. The modern woman has a muchdifferent lifestyle with many different choices. Modern women also look, dress, and act much differently than historicalwomen. Women have also evolved over the centuries and are continuing to adapt to the new environment. Themodern women of the 21st century are focusing on themselves and their own lives more than historical women everhad. Goals and opportunities are more abundant for women and the modern woman is taking advantage of them ina positive and healthy way. Women of the 21st century are so amazing because of all of the things they can offer tothemselves, to other people, and to the world. Modern women are much more intelligent, stronger, self sufficient, andimportant than ever before in history.

V. Venkataramana1

IntroductionA nation cannot imagine its progress and prosperitywithout women. Despite progress, the very fact thatwomen, along with being achievers, also are expectedto fulfill their roles as wives or mothers, prioritizing homeagainst anything else. Women from past centuries havechanged the world in many different ways and have alsopaved the way for future women. During historical times,women achieved many different goals but still remainedunequal and inferior to men. Woman could not vote, holdnormal jobs, or even have a place in politics. They mainlymanaged the home front, including the children and otherresponsibilities. Women were not in charge of manythings and could not speak freely like they can today.Historical women catered to men and their every needwhile ignoring their own needs for freedom andopportunity. But today the image of woman hasundergone drastic changes. Women are now steppingout of their historical role of mother and housewife toobtain a higher quality of living. The modern woman hasa much different lifestyle with many different choices.Modern women also look, dress, and act much differentlythan historical women. Women have also evolved overthe centuries and are continuing to adapt to the newenvironment. The modern women of the 21st centuryare focusing on themselves and their own lives morethan historical women ever had. Goals and opportunitiesare more abundant for women and the modern woman

is taking advantage of them in a positive and healthyway. Women of the 21st century are so amazingbecause of all of the things they can offer to themselves,to other people, and to the world. Modern women aremuch more intelligent, stronger, self sufficient, andimportant than ever before in history.

Women are an integral part of human society. But for awoman, there couldn’t have been any man. She is themother of mankind. Despite holding such an importantand unquestionable position, the role of women has beendefined by men over millennia. Indian Vedas tell us thatwomen held an important place in ancient culture. Noritual was ever complete without the presence of a womanby her man’s side. All gods are worshipped alongsidetheir heavenly consorts. There is no dichotomy there.The strongest of male chauvinist reverentially bows hishead to Goddess Lakshmi, or Durga. It is not considereda sign of weakness to bow to female deities.

Women at home and society in general, is a differentcup of tea. They are treated as second class citizens.When man took on the role of a bread winner, and womantook the natural role of a nurturer, these roles suitedtheir intended role by the Creator. Man was physicallystrong, while the woman was inherently strong. Over aperiod of time the man started believing that his rolewas superior to that of the woman as without him therewould be no food at the table. Woman’s role was taken



for granted. The physically feeble woman was led tobelieve this lie for centuries.

Socrates said that the only reason he put up with hiswife, Xanthippe, was that she bore him sons. He said itwas like putting up with the noise of geese becausethey produce eggs and chicks. What an analogy fromthe most revered philosopher of all ages! Closer homeManu said in 200 B.C.: “by a young girl, by a youngwoman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be doneindependently, even in her own house”. “In childhood afemale must be subject to her father, in youth to herhusband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a womanmust never be independent.”It is only when things wentway beyond the level of tolerance that the women raisedtheir voices.

The first such voice was heard loud and clear in theearly 19th century, when the term ‘women suffragists’became a household word in the west. Women acrossEurope and United States rose as an entity demandingsuffrage, or the right to vote. It is to the credit of thesecourageous women that today women’s right to vote isa ‘given’ in most of the free world, though there are stillsome countries, mainly in the Middle East that still denywomen their universal right to vote. The suffragists hadtwo points of views. One view was that women’s naturalplace was at home and the voting rights will enable themto help formulate laws that affect life at home. The otherview was that men and women should be equal in everyway and there was no such thing as a ‘natural’ role for awoman.

The ‘suffrage’ movement can be seen as the first waveof the ‘feminist’ movement that caught widespreadimagination in 1960s -1980s. This second wave dealtwith the inequalities of laws, as well as perceived culturalinequalities. Although the term ‘feminist’ was coined in1880, its usage as a movement gained ground in 1960sonwards. ‘Feminists’ were those men and women whowrote, spoke and acted on behalf of women and theirrights to social, economical, and political equality. Famouswriter Rebecca West defined feminism the best with hernow famous comments, “I myself have never been ableto find out precisely what feminism is: I only know thatpeople call me a feminist whenever I express sentimentsthat differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.”

In this phase, women tried to equate themselves withmen by proving that they were as good as men, if notbetter. Women’s Rights Movement gained mass supportin the latter half of the twentieth century when theessential problems like discrimination, inequality andlimited opportunities continued to confront women in allspheres of life. The phrase ‘Women’s Liberation’appeared in print media in 1966. Late sixties also markeda period in human history when more and more women

joined institutes of higher education. From then on,women have not looked back. Today at the dawn of the21st century the women across the world are placed at aposition of advantage. They are literally on the move.They are paying heed to their inner voice. They are nolonger interested in hollow jargon and jingoism. Theyare finding their individual and collective voice. They arealigned with their conscience, moving ahead withpurposeful strides.

The twenty first century is the century of change. In thisNew Age, love and compassion has started to rule theroost, and the woman with her natural attributes ofcompassion will sow the seeds of global transformation.These changes have already begun, and soon they willgain an unprecedented momentum. The time is ripe forwomen of all races, castes, class, and nationalities tocome together to be the harbinger of this change. MotherEarth is crying for attention, soon like the mythological‘Shakti’ it will show its true might and annihilate all theevil forces along the way. Only women can be empatheticto the ‘Mother’s plight in her hour of need.

Indian scriptures have always spoken about‘Ardhnareeshwar’, the Masculine- Feminine deity. Thetime has come to invoke that Masculine-feminine balancein all of us. Events on Earth demand the emergence ofthe feminine essence of Love all around. In the 21st

century women do not need to look at the historicalinjustices done to her. It’s time to put all that behind herand look forward to her empowered role in this ‘Aquarianage’. Women today need not look anywhere for a perfectrole model. They need to look within and listen to theirintuition, to take the right action at the right time. Allthey need right now is to set the right intention, and alltheir intentions will bear fruits sooner than later. Such isthe power of the New Age.

But the question is how can we change the traditionsthat have been entrenched in our systems through ages?All we can say is that no matter how entrenched thetraditions appear, if they do not resonate with our presentreality, they are no longer true for us. This entire universeis ever-changing, why do you and I need to be stuck inage old systems that no longer serve any purpose? Theentire creation is constantly in motion; even our so calledtraditions are loosening their stranglehold. Let’s try togive them a push, and they will give way. Have youseen a grown up elephant tied to a tiny stake with anordinary rope? Have you ever wondered why doesn’t themighty beast just give a powerful tug and break free?The problem is that since childhood the elephant hasbeen conditioned to believe that he is not capable ofbreaking free. As a baby, when he was tied to the stakefor the first time he did try to break free but could notsucceed, eventually he gave up trying, thinking that he



can’t; and now when he has grown up to be the mostpowerful of animals on this Planet, he ‘believes’ that hecan’t do it. Beliefs are ‘that’ powerful. Women need tobreak free of their limiting beliefs. By taking one step,one turn you will affect the lives of women you don’teven know. Get ready to write the history. Will you?Women now account for a larger portion of changes,like government and politics.

Women of the 21st century are so amazing because ofall of the things they can offer to themselves, to otherpeople, and to the world. Modern women are much moreintelligent, stronger, self sufficient, and important thanever before in history. Women now account for a largerportion of changes, like government and politics. Awoman’s opinions and thoughts are more important andconsidered by others during this century because sheis more educated and better informed about the changingworld. Women in the modern era are also enterprisingbecause of their special ability to evolve and adaptperfectly with the changes that are happening aroundthem constantly. A woman of the 21st century enduresmany more changes and challenges than historicalwomen of past centuries, including technological andmedical advances. These changes encourage womenof the 21st century to be more flexible and versatile,along with increasing their endurance and stress levels.The women of the 21st century are overcoming moredemands and difficult responsibilities than ever before.The 21st century woman is so amazing for many reasons,but the point is that she is amazing!1. Women Can Vote.

Today the women in the 21st century have theprivilege to vote. This is a right that all women canhave and actively utilize during each election. Womencould not vote until 1892. Now it is the 19thamendment in the constitution of the United States.Having this right was difficult to obtain and tookwomen much time to acquire in America. Now it’ssocially unacceptable for any one, man or woman,not to vote. Times have changed drastically on thistopic as women are getting more involved on the topicof politics and government.

2. Women Have a Place in Politics and Government.In the 21st century, women can hold an officialposition within the political and governmental world.During historical times, only men were allowed torun for president and have an opinion in thegovernment. Now, women are more involved andtaking an active role in world operations. Many womenhave been elected to office within politics and thegovernment to further change the world. Modernwomen are continuing to evolve in ways that historicalwomen would be proud of.

3. Women Have Career Choices.Many women during past centuries never had theopportunity to choose what she would like to do for acareer. Women were automatically homemakers andstayed at home with the children. During the postmodern times, women are able to actually have acareer and choose what they would like to do for aliving. Women are even able to hold jobs that onlymen could have. Women during this century areentering into career branches that have never beendone by women before, such as being on the frontlines in the military or construction workers. Thecareer choices that women have during this time aremultiple, just as they always have been for men.

4. Women are Equal.Women are seen as equals during this century.Women are not considered inferior or beneath menanymore because the times have changed. ‘Womencan do any thing a man can do’ is the mentality thatmost people have during this day in age. Many of therestrictions that were placed on women during pastcenturies are being lifted, which gives women aremore equal opportunity within the world. There is evenan equal opportunity law that states the employerscan not discriminate based on sex.

5. Women are Independent.Today women are independent when compared tohistorical times because they can do what they wantto do. Modern women enjoy having theirindependence, even after marriage and havingchildren, to feel like they still know who they are.The independence that 21st century women have isone that only women from past centuries could dreamabout. Women in the 21st century are independentin terms of doing things for themselves, like workingand or furthering their education. A woman’sindependence is very important to her these days.

6. Women are Happier.Pictures of historical women demonstrate that theyweren’t as happy as the women in the 21st centuryare. In the 21st century, women are happier becauseof the many different things they may have going forthem and or goals that they may be accomplishingon their own. Being a woman in the 21st century isjoyful because of all of the choices that a womancan make, with no boundaries and growing benefits.

7. Being a Woman is Easy.During the 21st century, technology has increaseddramatically which makes being a woman during thiscentury much easier and much more productive.Women have access to more knowledge andinformation through the use of computers, the



Internet, and smart-phones. Their awareness aboutthe world and many other things around them isincreasing and making their life easier. Education,shopping, and working can all be found online toincrease the time a woman has to herself toaccomplish other things.

8. Women Have Many Medical Benefits.Historical women did not have the medical benefitsthat modern women have. Past histories did not haveepidurals or pain medication when they gave birth,and this is something that modern 21st centurywomen can enjoy. Also medical advancements withthe removal of cancer and the treatments of certaindiseases can encourage modern women to live longerthan women in past histories.

ConclusionThe changing scenario of women in the modern times isreaching its pinnacle of success and women havebecome empowered maximum that they are able to movethrough the world with a sense of confidence and grace.Her spirit is tempered by wisdom today. The roles ofwomen are still developing and changing, depending onneed, circumstance and personal choice. To quote theinspiring words of Swami Vivekananda: “It is impossibleto think about the welfare of the world unless the conditionof women is improved. It is impossible for a bird to flyon only one wing.” — Swami Vivekananda.

References• Reynolds, A. (1999). Women in the Legislatures and

Executives of the World. World Politics, 51(4), 547-573.

• Yoder, J. D., & Kahn, A. S. (1992). Toward a feministunderstanding of women and power. Psychology ofWomen Quarterly, 16(4), 381-388.

• Winter, D. G., & Barenbaum, N. B. (1985).Responsibility and the power motive in women andmen. Journal of Personality, 53(2), 335-355.

• Gutierrez, L. M. (1990). Working with women of color:An empowerment perspective. Social work, 35(2).

• Pleck, J. H. (1977). The work-family role system.Social Problems.

• Paxton, P., & Hughes, M. M. (2007). Women,politics, and power: A global perspective. Pine ForgePress.

• Krishna, Raj (1986). Women’s Studies in India: SomePerspectives. Prakashan, Bombay.

• Sakuntala, Narasimhan (1999). Empowering Women:an Alternative Strategy from Rural India. Sagepublications. Newdelhi.

• Forbes, Geraldine(2010). Women in Modern India.Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. Newdelhi.



EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH LITERATURE

1. Professor of English, Assistant Prof of English, Hindu College, Machilipatnam, Krishna Dt.AP.2. Assistant Prof of English, SRKR Engneering, Bhimavaram, AP.

Abstract

Women's empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion in all disciplines. It points to the approachesregarding other trivialized genders in a particular political or social context. Women's empowerment refers to theability for women to enjoy their right to control and benefit from resources, assets, income and their own time bywriting, performing arts, etc, as well as the ability to manage risk and improve their economic status and well being.Literature has witnessed the roles of women evolving through ages, but until recent times, most of the publishedwriters were men and the portrayal of women in literature was without doubt biased. A lot of it has to be blamed on thefact that in the ancient world, literacy was strictly limited, and the majority of those who could write were male. However,the contribution of women to oral folklore cannot be taken for granted – in folk songs, stories, poetry and literature ingeneral. Women were portrayed in literature through eras. One of the significant literary movements termed asFeminism has occupied an important role in empowering women. Feminist literary criticism strongly takes side ofwomen. Its purpose is not to make another parallel system, but to present the individual existence of women. Itstresses on the equality of the sexes and fights against the discrimination against women. It reveals the ideology ofpatriarchal society in works of art and searches the representation of women in literary texts. Feminist’s see literary textas a battleground where actual power relations between men and women are played out. Feminism is an ideologywhich seeks to understand the world as well as to change it for the empowerment of women.Women's empowermenthas become a significant topic of discussion in all disciplines. It points to the approaches regarding other trivializedgenders in a particular political or social context. Women's empowerment refers to the ability for women to enjoy theirright to control and benefit from resources, assets, income and their own time by writing, performing arts, etc, as wellas the ability to manage risk and improve their economic status and well being. Literature has witnessed the roles ofwomen evolving through ages, but until recent times, most of the published writers were men and the portrayal ofwomen in literature was without doubt biased. A lot of it has to be blamed on the fact that in the ancient world, literacywas strictly limited, and the majority of those who could write were male. However, the contribution of women to oralfolklore cannot be taken for granted – in folk songs, stories, poetry and literature in general. Women were portrayedin literature through eras.One of the significant literary movements termed as Feminism has occupied an importantrole in empowering women. Feminist literary criticism strongly takes side of women. Its purpose is not to make anotherparallel system, but to present the individual existence of women. It stresses on the equality of the sexes and fightsagainst the discrimination against women. It reveals the ideology of patriarchal society in works of art and searchesthe representation of women in literary texts. Feminist’s see literary text as a battleground where actual power relationsbetween men and women are played out. Feminism is an ideology which seeks to understand the world as well as tochange it for the empowerment of women.

Dr. Pankaj Kumar1

Introduction:Women’s empowerment has become a significant topicof discussion in development and economics. It can alsopoint to the approaches regarding other trivialized gendersin a particular political or social context. Women’seconomic empowerment refers to the ability for womento enjoy their right to control and benefit from resources,assets, income and their own time, as well as the abilityto manage risk and improve their economic status andwell being. While often interchangeably used, the morecomprehensive concept of gender empowerment refersto people of any gender, stressing the distinction betweenbiological and gender as a role. It thereby also refers toother marginalized genders in a particular political orsocial context.

Improving education for women helps raise their levelsof health and nutrition and reduces fertility rates.Education increases “people’s self- confidence andenables them to find better jobs, engage in public debateand make demands on government for health care, socialsecurity and other entitlements”. In particular, educationempowers women to make choices that improve theirown and their children’s health and chances of survival.Education helps to prevent and contain disease, and isan essential element of efforts to reduce malnutrition.

Further, education empowers women to make choicesthat improve their welfare, including marrying later andhaving fewer children. Crucially, education also increaseswomen’s awareness of their human rights theirconfidence and their actual ability to assert those

Pavan Kumar Bonda2



rights.Despite significant improvements in recentdecades, education is not universally available andgender inequalities persist. A major concern in manycountries is not only limited numbers of girls going toschool, but also limited educational pathways for thosethat step into the classroom. This includes, morespecifically, how to address the lower participation andlearning achievement of girls in science, technology,engineering and mathematics (STEM) education

Role of Literature in Women EmpowermentDifferent authors, particularly female authors, useliterature as a tool or a space to speak about theempowerment and disempowerment of women.Empowerment is seen as a multi-dimensional socialprocess that helps people to gain control over their lives.It fosters power in people for use in their own lives,communities and nations by acting on issues they defineas important. Conversely, disempowerment is deprivingof power of influence, when individuals or groups arediscriminated against by others.

The literature on poverty has largely concentrated onthe rural women. The form in which women’s povertymanifests itself depends on the cultural patterns ofsociety. Many women are worse affected by their culturalcircumstances, because of traditional householdresponsibilities and inequality in land ownership andrights. The disempowerment of women is likely to be amajor cause of poverty and other societal ills faced bymany women. A high illiteracy rate, lack of decision-making power over their fertility and early marriage ofgirls limit their chances of coming out of poverty.

Equally, the lack of assets due to gender discriminationand inheritance customs in many societies limit women’saccess and control over resources, especially land.Women’s dependence on their partners often result intheir assets being taken away when they becomewidows. Moreover, the practice and preference of a sonas heir still holds back rural women in their fight againstpoverty.

In some instances women are seen as objects of theopposite gender. They are often victims of sexual violence– beaten up, kicked out of the house, and subjected todeath threats by their partners. Violence appears to beused to resolve a crisis of male identity, at times causedby poverty or an inability to control women. Poverty thushas a doubly negative impact on women, as within manyhouseholds it tends to breed and exacerbate violenceagainst women and children. Women’s freedomcontinues to be restricted and subjected to high rates ofdomestic violence.

There was often also much suspicion about the moralconsequences that could arise from the treatment of

certain subject matters as well as the publicity andfinancial benefits involved in female writing. AlexanderPope applies moral double standards when heexpresses special outrage at “those shamelessscribblers” who not only write “libellous Memoirs andNovels” but are also “for the most part of That sex, whichought least to be capable to such malice or impudence”— that is, women. The image of the immoral femaleauthor who capitalizes on stories of (sexual) scandal –and thus earns an independent living which gives her adangerous potential for licentious behavior – was thelegacy of early 18th century writings like Delarivière (orMary de la Rivière) Manley’s highly popular satires ofsexual and political corruption (The Secret History ofQueen Zarah, 1705, The New Atlantis, 1709) or ElizaHaywood’s explorations of power games betweengenders in works like Fantomina (1725).

As a reaction to such images of ‘immodestly’ publicwomen writers, later female authors wishing at leastformally to conform to ideals of private domesticfemininity often opted for publishing anonymously andlargely refrained from to the public exposure involved indrama. The late 18th century novelist Frances Burney(1752-1840) was expressly banned by her father fromhaving her plays produced on stage, although she hadspent months working on her first one. The father advisedinstead that ‘In the Novel way, there is no danger’, whichwas all the more true that Burney — like Jane Austen,Ann Radcliffe and many other female writers — publishedseveral novels anonymously.

Female writers continued to experience restrictions insubject matter as to what aspects of life they weresupposed to portray or even be aware of. Many critics ofAnne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) andEmily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), unaided bythe gender-ambiguous pen names of Acton and EllisBell under which the novels were published, wereunwilling to suppose that such scenes of brutal violenceas depicted in these novels could have been even familiarto ‘lady’ writers. A few years later, Elizabeth Gaskell’snovel Ruth (1853), dealing with the social neglect andinjustice involved in the tragic story of an unmarriedmother, was banned as dangerous by her husband fromher own house and symbolically burned by some of hermale acquaintances.

In addition to limitations of schooling and sociallyacceptable experience, women authors often also hadto labour under economic and legal disadvantages.To start with, as Virginia Woolf was to write later, “awoman must have money and a room of her own if sheis to write fiction”. A comparison of the output of 18th and19th century female novelists with those of their malecontemporaries suggests that many women writers (like



Elizabeth Gaskell) found it difficult to reconcile thedemands of serious writing with their ‘normal’ householdduties, to the detriment of the former. Although as yetunmarried, Frances Burney wrote her first novel Evelina(1778) in stolen hours, and delayed revealing thepublication of her book to her father until critical andpopular success were already certain. (This successthen helped her to become a semi-professional writerwho received considerable sums of money bysubscription and for the copy rights of her threesubsequent novels.) As an added difficulty, marriedwomen writers in the late 18th and early 19th century (likeAnn Radcliffe, 1764-1823) could not enter into legalcontracts or have property of the husband.

ConclusionMost of what female authors portray in literature reflectstheir own lives and backgrounds. In the social setting,literature, especially the short story genre that manyfemale authors use to portray others, creates awarenessin order to see things differently. Some fictional shortstories are about real situations, whereas others are toofictional to be regarded as real representation. It isevident that women make up one quarter of the worldpopulation, yet they frequently appear at the bottom ofevery economic, social and political scale. When womenare poor, their rights are not protected. They faceobstacles that may be difficult to overcome. To endextreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition, empowering

women is the only weapon. Entire nations, businesses,communities and groups can benefit from theimplementation of programs and policies that adopt thenotion of women empowerment.[3] Empowerment is oneof the main procedural concerns when addressing humanrights and development. The Human Development andCapabilities Approach, the Millennium DevelopmentGoals, and other credible approaches/goals point toempowerment and participation as a necessary step ifa country is to overcome the obstacles associated withpoverty and development.

References:1. Nussbaum, Martha C. (2000). “Introduction”. Women

and Human Development: The Capabilities toApproach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UniversityPress.. ISBN 9781139459358

2. CVeigh, T. (June 6, 2013). “Online Feminist activistsof the digital age”. Taipei Times.

3. Malhotra, Anju, et al.Innovation for Women’sEmpowerment and Gender Equality InternationalCenter for Research on Women (ICRW) (2009) NorthWashington, D.C.

4. Gender and sustainable development: maximizingthe role of women A Report to the United NationsCommission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD)2008

5. Encyclopedia; role of Literature in EmpoweringWomen.



IMPACT OF “BETI BACHAO – BETI PADHAO” PROGRAMME ON THEFAMILIES OF SCHEDULE CASTES AND SCHEDULE TRIBES

1. Research scholar, Department of Sociology & Social Work, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

Kongala. Rama. Rao1

Introduction :According to the traditional social organization of India,Hindu society was dividing into five categories and mostof the scheduled castes were designated as Panchamas,those of the fifth order .They were ranked below the fourvarnas of the Bramhin,the Kshatriaya ,the vishya andthe shudra. In British officials, sometime in the nineteenthcentury, the term, “depressed classes” was used for theuntouchable castles as well as for the tribes. In 1919separate representation on a number of bodies was givento the depressed classes, which included untouchablesalong with a number of aboriginal tribes. It was not until1932 that the tem was officially definite to mean onlythe untouchables and it was around this time that theterm “Scheduled castes” came into vogue to denote thiscategory of India has constituted to accord a separatestatus to this category for constitutional protection anddevelopmental allocations, now the scheduled castesand scheduled tribes are separate. Ministry of socialjustice is working for the welfare of the scheduled castes.For the welfare scheduled tribes a special ministry

The constitution of India emphasizes the importance ofimproving the well-being of children .Article 39 deals withthe directive principles of state policy, which stipulatesthat the state shall, in a particular ,direct its policy to

ensure :that health and strength of workers, men andwomen, and the tender age of children are not abused,and that citizens are not forced by economic necessityto enter into avocations unsuited to their age or strength;that children are given opportunities and facilities todevelop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedomand dignity and that childhood and youth are protectedagainst exploitation and against moral and materielabandonment2,for implementation across the Indiadifferent mechanism working for the welfare of the childrenmay be the girl or boy. Girls are also preferred in specificsectors to undertake piece rate, home based,contractual work as in the case of beedi making, agarbattimaking, bangle making and so on, or in the case oftasks involving sorting, packing, labelling, etc1, all theabove works are little bit strengthen the parents financialstatus for their continuation of daily activities for food,clothes and some other issue

The census 2011 indicates the declining situation in theChild Sex Ratio (CSR), calculated as a number of girlsfor every 1000 boys between age group of 0-6 years,with an all time low of 918 in 2011 from 976 in 1961.afterthis indication Government of India has introduced theprogramme “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” for the improvethe Child Sex Ratio (CSR).

AbstractWe don’t have the right to kill the girl child.Narendra Damodar Das Modi.Prime Minister of India

As for the Oxford dictionary marginalized means treat a person, group, or concept as insignificant peripheral. Indiansociety has consisted of thousands of endogamous clans and groups called jatis since ancient times. The bramhinicalscriptures and texts tried to bring this diversity under a comprehensible scheme which hypothesized four idealisedMeta groups called by Varna. The first mention of the formal Varna Indian caste system is in the famous Purush Suktaof the Rigveda, although it is the only mention in the entire body of the Vedas and has been decried as much as later,non –Vedic insertion by numerous Ideologists like Max Muller ambedkar and some other1, different ideas are therein this issue. Across the India Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are facing different social and economicproblems. Mainly poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, lack of health facilities, Lack of shelter, child marriages, domesticviolence, Trafficking and dowry problem. The girl child of today is the women of tomorrow. Without women no futureand no further generations.social reformers are fight for the different women related problems like sati, dowry, womenseducation and empowerment of women.



Child Sex ratio from 1901 to 2011

Source: Census 2011

Differences between rural and urban girl childThe status of the rural girl child is definitely lower thanwhen compared to the urban girl child. The urban girlchild might be helping her mother at home, her brothermight be getting more care and attention, but the factstill remains that she is sent to school, given better foodand health care than the one in rural areas. It is a factthat the urban girl child who belongs to the lower incomegroup also faces neglect and is overburdened like hercounterpart in rural areas. A village girl child does almosteverything at home –cooking, cleaning, and fetchingwood, water and sibling care. She works in the field tooand is involved in activities like sowing, transplanting,weeding and scaring of birds to save the crops1, anddifferent works attached by the parents. In the urbanarea care of the employs children, as child labour in thehostels, small scale industries and some other works.

Situation of girl child in India.In India more than the 50percent of girls not enrol in theschool, those that do are likely to drop out by the age of12, out of the 12 million girls born in India, 1 million donot see the first birthday, 3 million do not see their fifteenbirthday and a million of them are unable to survive eventheir first birth day. One third of these deaths take placeat birth. Every sixth girl child’s death is due to genderdiscrimination, one out of every 10 women reported somekind of child sexual abuse during childhood. One out of4 girls sexually abused before the age of 4.femalemortality exceeds male mortality in 224 out of 402districts in India. Females are victimized far more thanmales during childhood.53% of girls in the age group of5 to 9 years are illiterates. Sex ratio in the 0-6 six years

age group has fallen to an all time low of 914 girls to1000 boys. Two out of five girls are malnourished andevery second adolescent girls is anaemic .six out of theten girls are child brides and four out of ten have theirfirst child before they are 18 years old1,in this contextgovernment of India has introduced the “Beti BachaoBeti Padhao “Scheme across the India.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. (BBBO)Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme was launchedon 22nd January 2015 at panipat in Haryana. It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and ChildWelfare, Ministry of health & family welfare and HumanResource Development. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao mainobjectives of the Prevention of gender biased sex selectiveelimination, Ensuring Survival & Protection of the girlchild, Ensuring education and participation of the girlchild.” Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” programme impact isvery high in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribesfamilies, and its strong support to families. In the firstPhase, 100 districts with low Child Sex Ratio (CSR)were selected for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)scheme implementation for creating awareness andadvocacy about the issue .The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao(BBBP) scheme was extended to 61 districts.

Impact of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) schemeon scheduled castes and scheduled tribesThe girl child is key to achieving a more equitable statusand role for women of the future. Improvements theircondition and greater investment in their developmentwill doubtless lead to a better and more promising future.Low sex ratio is the cause of many social problems.Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are facingdifferent socio-economic problems; they are unable tosend their girl child to school because of poverty andignorance on importance of girl Childs education. In urbanareas as better than the rural areas to attitudes of thegirl child education and survival.Beti Bachao Beti Padhao(BBBP) scheme is most helpful scheme to the scheduledcastes and scheduled tribes people to save their girlchild and educate them also.

Conclusion:One of the major social problem in India is Low sexratio, may be reasons are different like, son preference,dowry problems, mythological issues, so on. Some lowsex ration indicators are alarming in scheduled castesand scheduled tribe’s population also. Scheduled castespopulation main source of income is agriculture dailywage labourers. Their income is very low at the sametime most of the tribes are livening in forests; their totallife, income and everything is depended on the forest. Inthis connection they have limited sources to take careof their children education, especially girl child. The

1901 972

1911 964

1921 955

1931 950

1941 945

1951 946

1961 941

1971 930

1981 934

1991 945

2001 927

2011 914

Year Childsex ratio



government of India has launched a scheme is launchedon 22nd January 2015 at panipat in Haryana.

References:1. Kalpana Roy (2000) Women and child development.

Commonwealth Publications.New Delhi-110002.2. Dr.Gajanafar Alam(2014),Sociology of Marginalized

communities. Lobus Press. New Delhi.ISBN 978-93-82484-13-4

3. Siddartha Sarkar (2005), Poverty and Girl ChildLabour: A study in brick kilns.Seriels Publications.New Delhi.

4. V.B.Jugale (2005), Poverty, Globalization and HumanDevelopment. Serials Publication.

5. Promilla Kapur (2001), Empowering the IndianWomen, Publication Division. New Delhi.

6. Dr.Purva Jaggi (2016), Girl Child: Think of a worldwithout them! July 2016.Social Welfare. CentralSocial Welfare Board Publication New Delhi.

7. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers2. cfm?abstract_ id=2287514

8. TK OOmmen (1984), Scheduled castes andscheduled tribes: A social Report, Vikas PublishinhHouse Pvt Limited. New Delhi.

9. J.K Jha (2002), Status of girl child India. Arup & Sons.New Delhi 110002.

10. Dr.S.N.Tripathy & Sri Premananda Pradhan(2003)Discovery Publishing house. New Delhi.



DEBASING WOMEN – INS AND OUTS

1. Retd., Reader Department of Political Science, Matharajah's (Autonomous) College, Vizianagaram.

AbstractWomen play a significant role in educating the family and promoting the country with sustainable development peace,prosperity and stability because a family depends on the prosperity of women who builds up a healthy familyenvironment. The neglect of girls and women has given rise to human distress with growing industrialization,modernization and a total departure of our ancient value system of our country our social and domestic life hasundergone drastic changes with prosperity and scientific development many evils in the society have crept in. One ofthe social evils is the “Violence Against Women (VAW)”. The World Health Organization (WHO) in its research on VAW,categorized it as occurring five stages of the life cycle: 1. Pre birth, 2. Infancy, 3. Girlhood, 4. Adolescence andadulthood and 5. Elderly.The paper throws a light on the Fact Sheet on VAW globally, nationally and regionally. Fromthe Fact Sheet, it is obvious there is a sharp rise in crimes against women and concludes that the crime rate is doubledover the past ten years. That paper makes an attempt to enumerate several provisions inserted in Indian Penal Codeand few protective and curative measures adopted by the Government. The dream of creating violence freehomogeneous Indian society may remain just as a dream unless the educated mass come together and find out waysand mean of restricting the society on the model accepted by the Indian Constitution.

Dr. B.V.L.A. Manga1

IntroductionWomen play a significant role in educating the familyand promoting the country with sustainable developmentpeace, prosperity and stability because a family dependson the prosperity of women who builds up a healthyfamily environment. The neglect of girls and women hasgiven rise to human distress with growing industrialization,modernization and a total departure of our ancient valuesystem of our country our social and domestic life hasundergone drastic changes with prosperity and scientificdevelopment many evils in the society have crept in.One of the social evils is the “Violence Against Women(VAW)”. The World Health Organization (WHO) in itsresearch on VAW, categorized it as occurring five stagesof the life cycle: 1. Pre birth, 2. Infancy, 3. Girlhood, 4.Adolescence and adulthood and 5. Elderly.

Though Indian constitution guaranteed equality, freedomand opportunity and protection to women, yet they enjoyan unequal status because of loopholes in the judicialsystem. This added with literacy ignorance, poverty andlack of awareness of rights contribute to deplorablestatus of women. The various types of violence againstwomen prevalent in the modern Indian society is themost in-human custom of dowry, the beastial act of rape,harassment and exploitation of women, wife battering,molestations, eve teasing, kidnapping and abduction andvery many such uncivilized and uncouth practices.

While women in India constitute half of the populationand considered to play a distinctly important role in oursociety, it is ironical that cases of violence against women

are increasing day by day. VAW refers emotional, sexual,physical and verbal abuse against an intimate partner,or other family members. Physical abuse, throwingobjects, making derogatory comments, destroyingprosperity, threatening with a weapon, rape and incestare few examples of violence, which can happen aloneor in combination. It is a chronic problem and its patterndevelops overtime. It is a widespread problem that affectsall people from all religions, geographic, ethic, economic,educational and social backgrounds. Now crimes againstwomen have increased in such rate that women haveincreased in such rate that women neither feel safe intheir own home nor secure outside living with fear intheir mind. Generally, people do not register the crimescommitted against women due to social stigma. It wouldsound strange but true that many women think that it is“right for their men to restore to some degree of violencewhich has tacit approval of family elders. Generallywomen do not report this type of harassment for variousreasons. It is this attitude of women that places them invulnerable position for sexual harassment at work place”.According to this Supreme Court Definition of Sexualharassment at work place is:• Physical contact.• A demand for sexual favours.• Sexually coloured remarks.• Showing / Pornography.• Any other physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of

sexual nature.



United Nations defines it “Any act of gender based violencethat results in or likely to results in physical, sexual orPsychological harm to women, including threats coercionor arbitrary deprivation of liberty in public or private life.Usually there is a cycle of violence and abuse, sexualabuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and economic abuse.

Some facts and figures : Ending violence against womenaccording to UN women.• It is estimated that 35 percent of women worldwide

have experienced either physical and or sexualintimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point of their lives.

• Women who have been physically or sexually abusedby their partners are more than twice as likely tohave an abortion, almost twice as likely to experiencedepression and in some regions, 1.5 times morelikely to achieve HIV, as compared to women whohave not experienced partner violence.

• Although little data is available – and great variationin low psychological violence is measured acrosscountries and cultures – existing evidence shows highprevalence rates. Forty three percent of women inthe 28 European Union Member States haveexperienced some form of psychological violence byan intimate partner in their lifetime.

• It is estimated that of all women who were the victimsof homicide globally in 2012, almost half were killedby intimate partners or family members, comparedto less than six percent of men killed the same year.

• Worldwide, almost 750 million women and girls alivetoday were married before their 18th birthday. Childmarriage often results in early pregnancy and socialisolation, interrupts schooling, limit the girls opportunitiesand increase her risk of experiencing domestic violence.

• Around 120 million girls worldwide (slightly more thanone in ten) have experienced forced sexual acts atsome point in their lives.

• At least 200 million women and girls alive today haveundergone female genital mutilation in the 30countries with representative data on prevalence.

• About 71 percent of women and girls together globallyare trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

According to National Crime Reporting Bureau (NCRB)data, 2016 incidents of rape against women have risenfar more sharply as compared to a rise in other crimesagainst women. The latest NCRB data for the year 2016shows that while overall crimes against women haverisen by just 3 percent, incidents of rape have gone upby 12 percent while 2015 saw the registration of 34,651cases of rape, this increased to 38,947 in 2016.Conversely, overall crimes against women rose from3,29,243 to 3,38,954 in 2016. The majority of cases

categorized as crimes against women were reportedunder ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (32.6 percent),followed by ‘Assault on women with intent to outrageher modesty’ (25 percent), ‘Kidnapping and abductionof women’ (19 percent) and ‘Rape’ (11.5 percent).

Crimes against women have more than doubled over thepast ten years, according to the latest data released byNCRB. 26 crimes against women are reported everyhour or one compliant every two minutes, reveals anIndia spend analysis on the last decade’s data. Crueltyby husbands and relatives is the major crimes committedagainst women across the country are 10 every hour.Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty isthe second most crime against women over the lastdecade. Kidnapping and abduction of women is the thirdmost reported crime followed by rape and dowry death.As many as 66 percent of women reported experiencingsexual harassment. Andhra Pradesh (A.P) leads incrimes against women. Again in A.P Guntur, Krishnaand West Godavari stands in first three ranks.Throughout the State 9606 crimes recorded againstwomen and 40 percent of the share is taken by thesethree districts. Only in these three districts for everyOne Lakh women, 19.45 percent crimes were takingplace. The percentage of crimes against women Gunturis 30.7 percent. The lowest crimes recorded 9.1 percentis in Srikakulam district. Maximum number of cybercrimes against women recorded is 60.16 percent tookplace in Krishna and Visakhapatnam districts. Atrocitiesagainst SC, ST women occurred at optimum level inVisakhapatnam, East Godvari districts, and Gunturdistrict occupying the first three ranks.

To prevent VAW, several provisions inserted in Indian PenalCode as well as Criminal Procedure code. They are as1) If you have been sexually harassed, ask for the FIR

statement to be recorded in a language you understand.If for some reason that is not possible, ask for atranslator and make sure that every detail is recorded.FIR recorded by the women police officer itself.

2) Abusing woman with sexually coloured or provocativeremarks on social media is crime under IPC section509, with a fine and a jail of three years. No more“Friendship” / “Hi Love’s” on face book!

3) Making unwanted physical contact against awoman’s will is a crime under IPC section 354(A)and the man can face up to three years jail.

4) Under the same section, it is illegal to showpornography to a woman against her will, and no moresick snap chats, perverts.

5) Watching, capturing or sharing images of womanengaging in a private act without her consent isvoyeurism and is punishable under IPC section354(C). The man can face jail from 1 to 3 years, if it



is his first offence and from 3 to 7 years if it is arepeated offence.

6) Singing lewd songs directed at women in publicspaces is considered sexual harassment under IPCsection 294 and the offenders could be jailed up to 3months that’s got to discourage all roadside Romeos.

In the UN Convention on Elimination of all forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) adopted GeneralRecommendation No.19, which notes that “GenderBased Violence” which impairs or nullifies the enjoymentby women of human right and fundamental freedomsunder general international law is discrimination.From the foregoing discussion it is evident that VAW ison rampant increase in India. Though many laws weremade to protect women from violence, the data showsthe number of victims is increasing. Women should beeducated with the knowledge of laws and access tojudicial system which can strengthen the position ofwomen and to enable them to seek remedies and reliefsunder the law. Apart from this, we need something elsewhich the legislation cannot provide the mindset to understandthe fears, compulsions, and pressures on women victims.The legal concept and test of a “reasonable man” shouldgive right of gender to that of a “reasonable woman” as well.To help create a safe environment for the fairer sex inpublic places, streets, public transport, shopping malls,market areas and educational institutions, the city policehave adopted people-friendly mode of policing to weavea safety network that can effectively address some ofthe perennial issues. Following constitution of MahilaMitra teams and Mahila Rakshaks as their arms, thedepartment has now launched CLAPP (Community LedAction Programme by Police) in collaboration with theInternational foundation for Crime Prevention and VictimCare in Partnership with the city based NGO Vasavya MahilaMandali (VMM) to set CLAPP on the roll, a four daytraining session has been scheduled at the VMM forMahila Mitras, Mahila Rakshaks and other Coordinators.Gender sensitization and awareness generationprogramming on VAW should become a part of schooland college curriculum for the women in difficultcircumstances facing, physical, emotional and economicabuse, the Government of India has created One Stopcenters and Swadhar Grah across the country whichwould provides integrated support and assistance to thedistress women. The Ministry of Finance, Governmentof India established a “Nirbhagya Fund” in 2013 with aninitial corpus of rupees ten crore. This is in intended toprovide women safety pertaining to the strategic areasof prevention, protection and rehabilitation. Women Helpline – 181 established for 24 hours emergency and Non-Emergency response for women. The Department ofTelecommunications noticed the “Panic Button andGlobal Positioning System in Mobile Handsets Rules

2016” issued under section 10 of the Indian WirelessTelegraph Act 1933. Grama Panchayats across the countryintroduced Mahila Police Volunteer to act as a linkbetween rural women and the police with a view to balancepreventive and curative aspects. The sexual harassmentof women at workplace Act 2013 came in to effect onDecember 2013. Women Power line 1090 wasintroduced in the State of UP in November 2012. Ujjawalaa Comprehensive Scheme for prevention of traffickingand rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims oftrafficking and commercial sexual exploitation introduced.All of the above schemes and initiatives are aimed atempowering women and have been innovative steps intheir own ways. The responsibility of creating violencefree society is collective. Therefore, the approach toaddresses VAW needs to come in a holistic, multi-pronged way, designed by putting various arms of thegovernance mechanism in to a structural whole so as toaddress these associated concerns that inhibit womenfrom speaking up. The dream of creating violence freehomogeneous Indian society may remain just as a dreamunless the educated mass come together and find outways and mean of restricting the society on the modelaccepted by the Indian Constitution.

Select Bibliography:1) Carlson, B.E (1991). Outcome of physical abuse

and observation of marital violence among adolescentin placement, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Newburg Park, California, Sage.

2) Abelson, Red (2001), Men, Increasingly are the onesclaiming Sexual Harassment, New York Times, June2010.

3) Cock burn, C. 1983. Brothers: Male dominance andtechnological change, London: Pluto Press.

4) Crouch, Margaret (2001) Thinking about SexualHarassment: A Guide for the perplexed, New Yorkand Oxford: Oxford University Press.

5) Sakuntala Narasimhan “Support and Sisterhood atIndian’s First One stop Crisis Centre”, Social Welfare,February 2016, Vol.62, No.11, pp16-17.

6) Sujatha Varma, P “Engaging Community toSafeguard Women”. The Hindu, dated 18.1.2018, P.2.

7) Ram Doss, S “Victims of Sexual Harassment at workplace” Social Welfare, December 2010, Vol.57, No.9,P 5 to 11.

8) United Nations ECOSOC, Report of the SpecialRapporteur on violence against women, E/CN.4/1996/53.

9) World Health Organization (1996) ‘Violence AgainstWomen’. WHO consultation, Geneva, WHO.

10) Dobash, R.E and Dobash R.P. (1979) ‘ViolenceAgainst Wives’, The Free Press, New York.



STATUS OF WOMEN IN INDIAN POLITICS

1. Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dept of Economics, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.

Abstract

In India nearly 50 per cent of women in the total population, the secondary status given to women in Indian society hasplaced her in a disadvantageous position in various fields in terms ofsocial, political, economic empowerment ofwomen and in the field of business, art, medicine, engineering, law and culture, women are given opportunity to provetheir skills. But they have failed to gain ground in the field of politics. A Political empowerment necessitates equalparticipation of women in political process and in decision making bodies. The low representation of women inparliament and state assemblies has been the major concern of various women organizations. This paper is basedon secondary data it is observed the last fifteen lokhsabha and Rajyasabha election in India. It’s clearly observed thatthenumber of women contesting elections is very low compared to men. It increased from 2.3 in 1952 to 6.5 per centin the year 1999 and 10.8 per cent in 2009, compared to the population, the percentage of women contestants is verylow. Even today, more than 93per cent of the total contestants are men. But interestingly the percentage of womenwinning elections has always been higher than men.These trends indicate that women’s representation in politicsrequires special consideration. Today, even best women parliamentarians feel sidelined and powerless within theirparties except a few. Male party leaders have shown little willingness to include women in party decision makingbodies or help to create a conducive atmosphere for women’s participation in their own organizations. Thereforespecial measures are required. Otherwise our democracy will remain seriously flawed if it fails to give adequate spacefor women. Political parties and other organizations should encourage women’s participation in politics and in theexercise of political responsibilities. The strategy should be to encourage a still greater number of women in decision– making power. Finally this paper suggested that no serious efforts have been made by political parties to give morerepresentation for women. Representation of women in legislatures, thereby entering into power position is inevitablefor political empowerment and equality of women. Given our political situation, it has become clear that it is difficult forwomen to enter into legislature without reservation. Therefore demand for 33 per cent reservation in national and statelegislature has become a major demand of various women’s organizations.

Dr. Kishore Babu Karri1

Introduction: Demographically, according to the 2011census, total population of the country was 121.02 cores.Out of this 49.5per cent were females. According to 1901census, the sex ratio of females (per 1000 males) was979 and according to the 2011 census, it has declinedto 940. This declining trend is because of the apathytowards the girl child. In fact in 1991 the sex ratio haddecreased to 927 and thereafter there was a slight im-provement in 2001. According to 2001 census, out ofevery 1000 females, 542 females were literates (655.46per cent)this shows that 34.54per cent females werestill illiterates in India. In comparison with the male lit-eracy rate, the female literacy rate has always beenlower. The total work participation rate of women in 2011is 25.68 per cent and it includes in itself 13.45per centof rural women and 11.55per cent of urban women.71.8per cent of the women employed were in primarysector, 21.7per cent in tertiary sector and the remainingin the manufacturing sector. Considered to be a burdento the family. The secondary status given to women inIndian society has placed her in a disadvantageous po-

sition in various fields. Therefore, social, political, eco-nomic empowerment of women has become the mainagenda of governmental and non-governmental organi-zations in recent years. Political empowerment neces-sitates equal participation of women in political processand in decision making bodies. The situation in India issame as in many other countries of the world wherewomen are underrepresented. A better understanding ofthis position needs a historical analysis of status ofwomen in India.These statistics show that literacy rateand work participation rate of women are increasing dayby day but at a very slow pace. Female literacy ratehas never been equal to male literacy rate. Female in-fanticide is increasing at an alarming rate because thegirl child is considered to be a burden to the family. Thesecondary status given to women in Indian society hasplaced her in a disadvantageous position in various fields.

Therefore, social, political, economic empowerment ofwomen has become the main agenda of governmentaland non-governmental organizations in recent years.Political empowerment necessitates equal participation



of women in political process and in decision makingbodies. The situation in India is same as in many othercountries of the world where women areunderrepresented. A better understanding of this positionneeds a historical analysis of status of women in India.

The main objective of this paper is to clearly explore thepolitical representation of women in the country duringthe last 60 years and 15thloksabha and Rajysabha elections

MethodologyThis paper based on secondary data, such data collectedfrom the CSDS New Delhi, and internet also such dataincluding sex ratio of women, participation of women ingeneral elections during the last fifteen elections in India.Simple percentages were used for the paper

Results and Discussions:In this paper straightly explain and observe the womencontest in general election in India during the last 60years and fifteen loksabha and Rajyasabha. And alsostate that the constitutional safe guards of women i.e.provided by the constitution like social, economical andpolitical aspects in India

Constitutional Safe guard of women in IndiaOn attaining Independence in the year 1947, Indiabecame a republic. The Constitution of India adopted aparliamentary form of government. The governmentfunctions at different levels. At the apex level, there isthe national government and governments at states andunion territories. At the centre, the parliament consistsof two houses i.e. the Upper House called theRajyaSabha or the council of states and the Lower Housecalled the LokhSabha (House of People). At the statelevel, the upper house is called the Legislative Counciland the Lower House is called the Legislative Assembly.Each state has its own local self governments knownas Panchayati Raj Institutions both at urban and ruralareas Rural Panchayati Raj Institution has three tierstructures consisting of the ZillaPanchayath at the districtlevel, TalukPanchayat at the taluk level, and GramPanchayat at the village level. The Constitution not onlygrants equality of treatment to women but also callsupon the state to adopt measures favoring womenneutralizing the socio- economic, educational andpolitical disadvantages that they face. The following arethe various provisions in the constitution which ensuresequality between men and women.

Article 14 guarantees equality before law and equalprotection of law with in the territory of India. This Article

stands for absence of any discrimination by law or intheir administration.

Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion,race, caste, sex, place of birth. It is a guarantee againstevery form of discrimination. According to article 15(3),nothing shall prevent the state from making specialprovisions for the benefit women and children.

Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity for allcitizens in matter relating to employment or appointmentto any office under state. Secondly no citizen shall, ongrounds of religion, race, cast, sex, decent, place ofbirth residence or any of them, be eligible for, ordiscriminated against in respect of any employment oroffice under the state.

Article 51-A clause (e) says that it shall be the duty ofevery citizen of India- to promote harmony and sprit ofcommon brotherhood amongst all the people of India,transcending religious, linguistic and religious or sectionaldiversities, to renounces practice derogatory to thedignity of women.

The 73rdConstitutional Amendment has added thefollowing articles to the Constitution providing reservationfor women in Panchayati Raj Institutions.

Article 243-(D) (2) states not less than 1/3 of the seatsreserved under clause (1) shall be reserved for womenbelonging to S. C or as the case may be S.T.

Article 243-(D) (3)-extends political reservation to womennot less than 1/3 of the total number of seats to be filledby direct election in every panchayat shall be reservedfor women and such seats shall be allotted by rotationto different constituencies in a panchayat.

Article 243-(D) (4) extends reservation to elected officesas well. The office of the chairpersons in the panchayatsor any other level shall be reserved S.C and the S.Tsand women in such a manner as legislature of a statemay, by law provide.

The legal Constitutional framework in India would appeara combination of Communitarian perspective on one handand that of liberal democracy on the other hand. In spiteof such provisions in the Constitution, the decadesfollowing independence witnessed a decline in thewomen’s participation in politics. These rights appearedillusionary as there was a shift from the aims of theConstitution. The lack of space for participation inpolitical bodies has resulted in their presence in meagernumbers in this decision making bodies.



Post independent women continued to play a significant role in less conventional activities such as environmentalmovements, anti-alcohol agitations, peace movements and even revolutionary activities which equally effect powerrelationships as they have the capacity to influence the state. Yet politics proved to be a very inhospitable terrain forwomen and continues to be the male domain where entry to women is severely restricted. Representation of womenin parliament and state assemblies remain at a very low level. Their representation is 10.8 per cent in parliament. Nodoubt a few seats have been given to women but it has not been in proportion to women’s strength in population.Table-1 presents the participation of women in the two houses of parliament.

Table - 1 : Year wise Membership of Women in the Lokhsabha and RajyaSabha

1952 499 22 4.41 7.56 7.59 7.31

1957 500 27 5.40 237 18 7.59

1962 503 34 6.76 238 18 7.56

1967 523 31 5.93 240 20 8.33

1971 521 22 4.22 243 17 7.00

1977 544 19 3.49 244 25 10.25

1980 544 28 5.15 244 24 9.84

1984 544 44 8.09 244 28 11.48

1989 517 27 5.22 245 24 9.8

1991 544 39 7.17 245 38 15.51

1996 543 39 7.18 223 19 8.52

1998 543 43 7.92 245 15 6.12

1999 543 49 9.02 245 19 7.76

2004 543 45 8.28 245 28 11.4

2009 543 58 10.68 245 22 8.98

2014 543 66 12.15 239 28 11.71

Average 530 35 6.59 240 21.09 9.00

Seats

Members in RajyaSabha

Per cent of

Members in LoksabhaYear

Women Seats Per cent ofWomen

Source: CSDS data unit, New Delhi

The Table 2 shows number of women contesting elections is very low compared to men. It increased from 2.3 percent in 1952 to 6.5 per cent in the year 1999, compared to the population; the percentage of women contestants isvery low. Even today, more than 93 per cent of the total contestants are men. But interestingly the percentage ofwomen winning elections has always been higher than men. This can be seen from the Table 2. The percentage ofmales who won elections in 1952 is 26.05 per cent whereas women were 51.16 per cent. In the year 1999, 12.3 percent men won the elections out of the total male contestants and 17.3 per cent women won out of the total femalecontestants. In the 14thLokSabha elections 12.6 per cent female contestants won the elections. The author statedthe participation of women in loksabha during the last decade it is decreasing trend. Political parties deny tickets towomen candidates presuming that they are not capable of winning elections. Theseresults show that the percentagewomen wining elections is more than the percentage men winning



1952 1874 1843 DNA DNA 43 DNA 51.16

1957 1518 1473 467 31.7 45 27 60

1962 1985 1915 459 24 70 35 50

1967 2369 2302 490 21.3 67 30 44.8

1971 2784 2698 499 18.5 86 21 24.4

1977 2439 2369 523 22.1 70 19 27.1

1980 4620 4478 514 11.5 142 28 19.7

1984 5570 5406 500 9.2 164 42 25.6

1989 6160 5962 502 8.5 198 27 13.6

1991 8699 8374 492 5.9 325 39 12

1996 13353 13353 504 3.8 599 39 6.7

1998 4570 4476 500 11.2 274 48 15.7

1999 4649 3976 494 12.3 278 49 17.3

2004 5435 5080 498 9.8 355 45 12.6

2009 8070 7514 484 6.44 556 58 10.43

2014 8251 7578 482 6.36 668 61 10.95

Average 69765 6926 13.94 3235 502 15.52

Total Numberof contestant

Female

Contestant

MaleYear

Elected percentwinningz Contestant Elected per

centwinningz

Table - 2 : Men and Women as Contestants during Various Elections in India

Source: September 14, 1999, Times of India, New DelhiDNA-Gender-wise data for 1952 not Availabl*Percent to the male and female contestants

Many factors are responsible for this state of affairs. History of freedom movement shows that a large number ofwomen participated in freedom movement. But after that it went on decreasing. The ideology of the Nehru-Gandhiera has totally disappeared. Gender roles have become major obstacles in women’s political empowerment. Traditionaldivision of labour, illiteracy, economic barriers, the type of electoral system, lack of sufficient training etc have beenkeeping women away from politics. Apart from this, elections have become a very costly affair. Women are not ableto generate large amount of money required to fight elections. Centralization of powers and corruptions has becomemajor obstacles for women to participate in politics.

Vibuthi Patel observes that, among the majority of Women’s Rights Groups, politics is equated with politicking,dirty maneuvering and manipulation and therefore power and politics remain an anthem to them. Political partiesare reluctant to field women candidates. The gender biases of political parties are the major hurdles for womengaining decision making power. Women find it difficult to establish strong foothold in politics without party base.Women backed by family and husband are recognized by the parties. Veteran women politicians are sidelined. Noserious efforts are made to mobilize women as a political group.

ConclusionIn India nearly 50 per cent of women in the total population, the secondary status given to women in Indian societyhas placed her in a disadvantageous position in various fields in terms ofsocial, political, economic empowermentof women and in the field of business, art, medicine, engineering, law and culture, women are given opportunity toprove their skills. But they have failed to gain ground in the field of politics. A Political empowerment necessitatesequal participation of women in political process and in decision making bodies. The low representation of womenin parliament and state assemblies has been the major concern of various women organizations. This paper isbased on secondary data it is observed the last fifteen loksabha and Rajyasabha election in India. It’s clearly



observed that thenumber of women contesting electionsis very low compared to men. It increased from 2.3 percent in 1952 to 6.5 per cent in the year 1999 and 10.8per cent in 2009, compared to the population, thepercentage of women contestants is very low. Even today,more than 93 per cent of the total contestants are men.But interestingly the percentage of women winningelections has always been higher than men.These trendsindicate that women’s representation in politics requiresspecial consideration. Today, even best womenparliamentarians feel sidelined and powerless within theirparties except a few. Male party leaders have shownlittle willingness to include women in party decisionmaking bodies or help to create a conducive atmospherefor women’s participation in their own organizations.Therefore special measures are required. Otherwise ourdemocracy will remain seriously flawed if it fails to giveadequate space for women. Political parties and otherorganizations should encourage women’s participationin politics and in the exercise of political responsibilities.The strategy should be to encourage a still greaternumber of women in decision – making power. Finallythis paper suggested that no serious efforts have beenmade by political parties to give more representation forwomen. Representation of women in legislatures, therebyentering into power position is inevitable for political

empowerment and equality of women. Given our politicalsituation, it has become clear that it is difficult for womento enter into legislature without reservation. Thereforedemand for 33 per cent reservation in national and statelegislature has become a major demand of variouswomen’s organizations.

Reference:1. Siwal B.R, “Political Empowerment of Women”,

Women’s Link, April-June, 2001, pp. 23.2. MazumdarVina, “Women in the Political Process”,

inMaithreyiKrishnaraj (ed), Women Studies in India.Some Perspectives, Popular Prakashana, New Delhi,1986, pp.97.

3. Pylee M. V., An Introduction to the Constitution ofIndia, Vikas Publishing House Private Ltd, NewDelhi, 2007, pp. 103,104,143, 144

4. Vibuthi Patel, “Getting a Foot Hold in Politics,Women in Po litical Decision Making Process”,Social action , Vol. 65,No.1, Jan-March, 2005, pp.40.

5. NarayanaJayaprakash, ShethDhirubai, YadavYogendra, KeshwarMadhu, “Enhancing Women’sRepresentation in Legislatures. An Alternative to theGovernment Bill for Women’s Reservation”, Manushi,No.116, 2000, pp. 7.



WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA

1. Retd Lecturer in Economics, Munisib Street, Payakaraopeta, Visakhapatnam District.

AbstractWomen make 50 percent of population of our country and it cannot be wholly progressive without women participation,socially, economically and politically. Women in India, during the early Vedic period, enjoyed equal status with men inall aspects of life. The status of women began to decline in approximately 500 B.C.The position of women furtherdeclined during the medieval period when child marriages, sati and other evil practices became a part of social life.During the British rule, many reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Ray, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and etc., fought for thebetterment of women. During the freedom movement, almost all the leaders of freedom struggle were of the view thatwomen should be given equal status in free India. The conditions of women improved after independence witheducation, constitutional provisions, legal rights, government policies and programmes. However, sexual harassmentsand atrocities on women have been taking place in our society. We need to progress further in achieving equality andjustice to women in the country as enshrined in our constitution.

Introduction:A bird cannot be expected to fly with a single wing. Thissaying can be legitimately applied to the imbalancedconditions of our country due to gender bias. Womenmake 50 percent of population of our country. Unlesswomen are given their due role, the country cannot bewholly progressive. Whatever progress, we achievedtechnologically and economically is inadequate unlessand until women are given their due role.

Meaning of women Empowerment:Women Empowerment in simple words can beunderstood as giving power to women to decide for theirown lives or inculcating such abilities in them, so thatthey could be able to find their rightful role in the society.According to the United Nations, women empowermenthas mainly five components.1) Generating women’s sense of self worth.2) Women’s right to have and to determine their choices3) Women’s right to have access to equal opportunities

and all kind of resources.4) Women’s right to have the power to regulate and

control their own lives, within and outside the home.5) Women’s ability to contribute to create a more just

social and economic order.

Thus women empowerment is nothing but the recognitionof women’s basic human rights and creating anenvironment where they are treated as equals to men.The concept of women empowerment focuses on givingstrength and skills to women to rise above from theirmiserable situation. It also stresses on the need toeducate men regarding women issues and inculcating a

sense of respect and responsibility towards women asequals.

Need for women empowerment.Need for empowerment of women arose due to centuriesof domination and discrimination done by men overwomen, women is suppressed a lot. They are targetedto various types of violence and discriminatory practicesdone by men all over the world and India is no different.

Swami Vivekananda traced the downfall of India to thecontinued neglect of women and the masses. Illtreatment of women and grinding of the poor throughcaste restrictions and poverty are the two great evilseating into the vitals of our nation.

According to Swami Vivekananda, there is no hope ofrise for that family or country where there is no educationof women, where they live in sadness. For this reasonthey have to be raised first.

India is a complex country. India society consists ofpeople belonging to almost all kinds of religious beliefs.In every religion women are given a special role and everyreligion teaches us to treat women with respect anddignity. We have through centuries developed varioustypes of customs, traditions and practices. Thesecustoms and traditions, good as well as bad, havebecome a part of our society’s collective consciousness.

Women hood in India has always been placed in anexalted position. God is worshipped as Mother. We alsogive great importance to our mothers, daughters, sisters,wives and other female relatives or friends. But, at thesame time, Indians are also famous for treating theirwomen badly both inside and outside their homes

S. Sita Rama Murty1



Our society has so developed that various types of illpractices, both physical and mental, against women havebecome a norm since ages. For instance, the practiceof child marriages, sati, dowry, parada, sexualharassment at work places, domestic violence and othertypes of discriminatory practices, all such acts consistof physical and mental element of harassment. Thereasons for such a behavior against women are manybut the most important one are the male superioritycomplex and patriarchal system of society.

Women Employment in India:Women in India, during the early Vedic period enjoyedequal status with men in all aspects of life. Works byancient Indian grammarians such as Patanjali andKatyana suggest that women married at a mature ageand probably free to select their own husbands in practiceof swayamvar or live in relationship called Gandarvamarriage. Scriptures such as Rig-Veda and Upanishadsmention women sages and seers notably Gargi andMaitreyi. Women were allowed to undergo initiation andstudy Vedas. In medieval times, this was dismissed onthe ground that this was only in case of previous age. Inapproximately 500 B.C. the status of women, began todecline. Although reform movements, such as Jainismallowed women to be admitted to religious orders, byand large, women in India faced confinement andrestrictions. The practice of child marriage is believed tohave started around the 6th century B.C.Several Dharmasastras mention the restricted role ofwomen such as Manusmiriti-Her father guards her in her childhood, her husbandguards her in her youth and her sons guards her in herold age.

The position of women in society deteriorated during themedieval period, when child marriages, sati, and ban ofremarriage by widows became a part of social life insome communities in India. The Muslim conquest inIndian subcontinent brought purdah system to Indiansociety. Among the Rajaputs of Rajasthan, the Jauharwas practiced. In some parts of India, some devadeseswere sexually exploited. Polygamy was practiced amongHindu Kshtriya rulers for some political reasons. In manyMuslim families women were restricted to zenena areasof the house.

During the British rule, many reformers such as RajaRam Mohan Ray, Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar foughtfor the betterment of women. Raja Ram Mohan Rai’sefforts led to the abolition of Sati under the GovernorGeneral William Cavandish Bentinck in 1829. IswarChandra Vidya Sagar’s crusade for improvement in thesituation of widows led to the widow remarriage Act of1856.

During freedom movement, almost all the leaders of thefreedom struggle were of the view that women should begiven equal status in free India and all types ofdiscriminatory practices must stop. After Independence,the conditions of women were improved due to education,constitutional provisions, legal rights, government policyand programs, women in India now participate in areassuch as education, sports, politics, culture, servicessector, science and technology.

Women EducationWomen education plays a vital role for multi dimensionalprogress of the country. It will help in the attainment ofuniversal education. Female education gainedmomentum in the post independence period. But thegulf between male and female education is high evennow. Female education is useful to the society in manyways.1) Educated women protect their health, they beget

healthy children, in turn, there will be healthypopulation in the country.

2) They provide healthy and nutritious food to their family.3) They practice family planning, so the growth of the

population will decline.4) They lead planned life and impart the same to their

children, the future citizens of the country.5) Infant mortality and Maternal mortality rates will

decline.6) They participate in economic activities, family income

and also national income will increase.7) Women education leads to rapid social change.

Constitutional rights of womenThe constitutional rights are those which are provided invarious provisions of the constitution.The preamble, the fundamental rights, the directiveprinciples of state policy and other constitutionalprovisions provide several general and specific safeguards to secure women’s human rights.

PreambleThe preamble of the constitution of India assures justice,social, economic and political, equality of status and ofopportunity and dignity of all the individuals.

Fundamental RightsThe policy of women empowerment is well entrenchedin the fundamental rights in our constitution. These rightsand justifiable in the court of law. The governments areobliged to fallow them.1) Article 14 ensures to women the right to equality.2) Article 15(1) specifically prohibits discrimination on

the basis of sex.



3) Article 15 (3) empowers the state to take affirmativeaction in favour of women.

4) Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity for allcitizens in matters relating to empowerment orappointment to any office.

Directive Principles of the State Policy.Directive principle of the state policy also containsimportant provisions regarding women empowerment andit is duty of the government to apply these principleswhile making laws or formulating policy. Although theseare not justifiable in the courts but they are essential forthe governance.1) Article 39 (a) provides the state to direct its policy

towards securing for men and women equally theright to an adequate means of livelihood.

2) Article 39 (b) mandates equal pay for equal work forboth men and women.

3) Article 42 provides the state to make provisions forsecuring just and human conditions of work andmaternity relief.

Fundamental DutiesFundamental duties are enshrined in part IV-A of theconstitution and are positive duties for the people of Indiato follow. It also contains a duty related to women rights.Article 51 (A) expects from the citizens of the countryto promote harmony and the spirit of commonbrotherhood amongst the people of India and to renouncepractices derogatory to the dignity of women.

Other constitutional provisionsThrough 73rd and 74th constitutional Amendments of1993, a very important policy right has been given to awoman which is a land mark in the direction of womenempowerment in India. With this amendment womenare given 33.33 percent reservation in seats of differentlevels of election in local government –panchayat, black,zilla parishad and municipality.

Legal Right of womenThe legal rights are those which are provided in the variouslaws (Acts) of the Parliament and the State Legislatureand safe guards for women. Some of them are1) The Immoral Traffic (prevention) Act 1956.2) The Dowry Prohibition Act.1961.3) The Maternity Benefit Act 1961.4) The Medical Termination Act 1971.5) The equal Remuneration Act 1976.6) The Commission of Sathi (prevention) Act 1987.7) The Pre-conception and pre Natal and diagnostic

techniques (Regulation and prevention of miss use)Act 1994.

8) The prohibition of child marriage act 2006.9) The sexual harassment of women at work place

(preventive procedures) Act 2013.

ConclusionIt can be said that the condition of women in Indiaimproved after independence with the help of womeneducation and women rights. However, we need toprogress further in achieving equality and justice towomen as enshrined in our constitution. The laws mustbe properly implemented and severe punishments mustbe given. Efforts are needed from the governments,NGOS’ and the citizens of the country. We must educateand sensitize not only the female members about theirrights but also the male members about the issue ofwomen and try to inculcate a feeling of togetherness,equality and justice towards women.

References:1. Feminism, Theory, Criticism, Analysis: Sushila Singh2. Indian constitution: Bright Carriers Institute, Naisark,

New Delhi.3. Education: Swami Vivekananda4. www.google.com5. www.wikipidia.com



ISSUE AND CHALLENGES OF MUSLIM WOMEN’SRIGHTS IN INDIA AND SHARIAT COURTS

1. Research Scholar Bangalore University, Bangalore.2. Research Guide, Bangalore University, Bangalore.

Abstract

In Islam, divorce is considered as an exception to the status of marriage. The Prophet Mohammad (peace be uponhim) declared that among the things which have been permitted by law, divorce is the worst.1 Divorce being an evil,it must be avoided as far as possible. But sometimes this evil becomes a necessity. When it is impossible for theparties to carry on their union with mutual love and affection, it is better to allow them to be separated instead ofcompelling them to live together in an atmosphere of hatred and sufferings. With the consideration of Islam whichemphasizes on the protection of family life and avoidance of divorce taken based on caprice and whim and nervousness,the consideration of procedure of divorce can have an effective role in its prevention. Accordingly, as opposed toIndian Muslim-Sunnis law, in Iranian Muslim- Shi’a laws, there are some formalities for divorce such as refer to thecourt, determination of arbitrations, etc which are taken into account.

Key Words: Issues of divorced women, broken relationship, scientific advice.

Naseer Ahmed S1

IntroductionIndia’s 65 million Muslim women, often called a minoritywithin a minority their double handicap of gender andfaith, are challenging medieval religious laws that haveoppressed them for centuries. In recent years, Muslimwomen have fought fundamentalist interpretations ofIslamic law (Sharia), which have long allowed men inIndia to divorce their wives for trivial matters and denythem financial support, asking the courts to take intoconsideration basic human rights. This is very muchevident from the reaction of Muslim women against therelease of model nikahnama and the clauses mentionedin this regarding marital issues. The recent release ofmodel Nikahnama by the All India Muslim Personal LawBoard (AIMPLB) and its campaign over establishing andstrengthening Shariat Courts/Darul Qazas in order todispense quick justice to women according to the Quranhas created confusion and debate within and outsidethe community. In presidential address of AIMPLB Bhopalconvention in 2005, the president of AIMPLB, SyedMuhammad Rabe Hasani Nadvi, made the statementonce again claiming that Darul Qazas were a necessitybecause there was little hope for getting decisions basedon the Shariah from judges in state court’. He furtherinsisted upon the need for Darul Qazas throughout thecountry and opposed Muslims taking their disputes tonon-Muslim judges, a practice that he argues is ‘not inkeeping with the mentality and the spirit of the Shariahof Islam’. He stated that setting up separate Darul Qazasis a means to ensure that ‘the Shariah is applied bythose most knowledgeable of it’ (Sikand 2005).

Dr. C. D. Venkatesh2

This move has made the matrimonial issues andproblems faced by women, more complicated and stirreda debate about the legality and sanctity of these courtsunder Indian legal system. For instance, the last sectionof the model Nikahnama on Iqrarnama says: ‘… agarkhuda-nakhwasta kisi wajah se hamare dermian koyeenazaa paida ho jaye to darul kaza….sharyeee panchayat,mustanad alimdeen hamare dermian salis hoga aur wojob bhi faisla karega ham dono uske pabandrahenge’(God forbidden for some reasons if somemisunderstading is created between us, in that caseDarul Qaza, Sharyee Panchayat, Ulema would take thedecision and whatever judgment he gives would be bindingon us). This clause apparently closes the option forwomen to approach the secular courts.

In the light of the above debates and discussions aboutgiving rights to Muslim women and dispensing of quickjustice according to Islamic provision, and the argumentin favour or against the establishment and strengtheningof Shariat Courts by AIMPLB, the main issue is how farthe AIMPLB’s insistence on Shariat Courts is justifiedin a secular democratic state. Further, why do they wantto deprive women of their citizenship rights? Why theyare not taking initiative to make divorce laws in accordancewith the Quran, despite women’s organization continuousdemand for making personal law gender-just? This paperdeals with the some of these issues.

Statement of the ProblemThe All India Muslim Personal Law Board justify its standfor Shariat Courts by emphasising that all family disputes



need to resolved among themselves, through ShariahCourts manned by traditionalist ‘ulama, rather than theState Courts, which the ‘ulama look upon withconsiderable suspicion and distaste even though thelatter apply Muslim Personal Law in such matters, asbeing an ‘Islamic duty’. In order to protect Islamic identityin India, they insist that the state must arm ShariahCourts set up by ulema organizations with legal authorityextending to all Muslim Indians in matters related tocivil disputes in which both parties are Muslims. Thedecrees issued by these courts in such disputes, it issuggested, should be recognized by the state as finaland binding (Sikand 2005).

Further, they argue that non-Muslim judges are notcapable of judging such disputes in accordance withShariah. They also claimed that state courts mightdeliberately seek to ‘misinterpret’ the Shariah, which theysee as part of an alleged ‘conspiracy’ to destroy Muslimidentity and 4 absorb Muslims into the ‘nationalmainstream’. At the same time it is also claimed thatShariah Courts might be a cheaper and fastermechanism for dispensing justice. However, thesearguments seem to strengthen the authority and powersof the Ulema, who possess a very conservative viewtowards women’s rights. Their advocacy of Shariah courtsprobably has a gender bias behind it, as they realizethat state courts might interpret the Shariah, in the formof Muslim Personal Law, in a manner that departs fromtraditional fiqh, and thereby grant, more rights to womenthan the ‘Ulema are prepared to concede.

To my mind these ongoing debates either in favor oragainst these courts to a large extent, diverts the mainissue of women’s rights in matrimonial matters. Whileon the one hand, as stated earlier, the Muslim Personallaw board declared its intention to set up these courtsseemingly in order to dispense quick justice to womenaccording to the Quran, on the other hand, theconservative element from the majority community sawthis as an opportunity to raise the issue for a uniformcivil code (UCC). The political leaders, for their part, takethis opportunity to appease Muslims and safeguard theirvote bank. Surprisingly, none of them seems reallyconcerned about the genuine problems of Muslimwomen, which the latter have been facing in mattersrelated to marriage and divorce, and the patheticcondition of the victims of instant triple divorce who areleft with no support. For instance, the MPLB, despiteknowing too well that current triple talaq does not followtrue Islamic guidance, is opposing the reform of a systemthat is oppressive when it comes to women. They nevertried to transform the pronouncement of triple divorce inaccordance with to which that is stated in the Quran,which is a long due demand of Muslim women’sorganizations (in 2001, the AIMPLB organized a two-

day meeting with women’s organizations, in which therewas a demand from all women’s organizations to changethe triple talaq system according to the Quran. However,no action was taken. The model nikhanama does notsay a word about banning triple talaq, which reflects thegender insensitivity of the members of MPLB), but startedadvocating for establishing and strengthening ShariatCourts in its model Nikahnama, which was released in2005.

Main ObjectivesThe main thrust of this paper is: Why should women goto these courts to settle matrimonial disputes while thereare provisions for them in secular courts? Do womenface less harassment and get quick justice accordingto Islamic law by approaching these courts? Who arethe women who approach these courts? Should the modeof justice not it be left to the women to decide? Whowould guarantee the efficacy of Darul Qazas, the qualityof the presiding judges, the efficiency of the proceedings?Can the Board be allowed to take away the right of IndianMuslim women to knock on the doors of Indian courts?Does the Board have the authority to restrict Indianwomen’s access to the courts for justice? The paper isbased on the experiences of 20 women who went tothese courts for Khula, fask-e-nikah, and the settlementof maintenance, mehr, and the articles given at the timeof marriage.

The study was conducted in the towns of Darbhanga,Madhubani, Sakri and Jale of the DarbhangaCommissionaire of Bihar. The information was collectedthrough in-depth case studies of each woman by theresearcher 6 herself. During the survey for a major projectentitled ‘Intergenerational mobility of Muslim women inIndia’ under the Indian Council of Social ScienceResearch, New Delhi, the divorced women were identified.From that sample, the women who initiated divorce werechosen for case studies. The cases were from the centralShariat Court at Phulwari Sharif, Patna and the districtShariat Court, Muzafferpur.

Shariat courts (Darul Qaza) and the All India MuslimPersonal Law Board (AIMPLB) : Shariat court/DarulQaza is an Arabic term, which means the house of Qazior an Islamic scholar, who is authorized to give his viewswhich, however, are not binding on the person going tothis house. It is wrong to describe a Darul Qaza as anIslamic court. Shariat Courts are arbitration councilswhich have no real or claimed judicial powers or authoritywhatsoever. Hence, these councils cannot be termedas a ‘parallel system’ by any stretch of the imagination,unlike what is (mis)understood by many within andoutside the community. Their verdicts are nothing morethan recommendations and advice. It is entirely up tothe two parties to accept the verdict or reject it. In case



of rejection, the so-called ‘Shariat Courts’ are powerless,and the Muslim community at large enjoys no authorityto coerce the rejecting party or enforce the verdict(Zafarul-Islam Khan 2005).

It is to be mentioned here that only the AIMPLB andImarat-e Shar’iyah Bihar and Orissa have a few dozenof such ‘Shariah Courts’ in some cities and towns. Thesystem has been functional in Bihar since 1917 (whichI am going to elaborate further), where Shariat Courtshave decided 18,000 cases. The decisions have alsobeen upheld by law courts. The fact is, of the 22 shariahcourts established by the AIMPLB in the country from1973 onwards, only 6,433 cases have been disposed ofand a negligible 461 cases are still under trial. Further,only 31,775 cases have been decided so far in the 26Shariah Courts functioning under the Deobandi Imarat-eShariah in Bihar, which has been in existence, as statedearlier, since 1917. These figures are enough to showthat not many Muslims are enthusiastic about the ShariahCourts, otherwise the number of cases handled wouldhave been significantly higher, considering the fact thatIndian Muslims number a staggering 150 million (Sikand2005). A similar initiative is that of the Imarat-i Shariahof northeast India, which has 88 Darul Qazas under itssupervision. For its part, the AIMPLB has a number ofsimilar Shariah Courts affiliated to it, including one inTamil Nadu, two in Delhi, three in Madhya Pradesh, fourin Andhra Pradesh, five each in Uttar Pradesh andKarnataka, and eleven in Maharashtra. A Shariat Courthas been functioning in Bhopal since the time of nawabirule. It is the only Shariat Court in India which gets agovernment grant of Rs 60 lakh per annum. In Bhatkal,in coastal Karnataka, a Shariat court has beendispensing justice since the 18th century, and has dealtwith about 18,000 cases so far (The Hindu 2006). Other‘Darul Qazas’ are local and autonomous bodiesestablished by people in various towns and villages. Inany case, these so-called ‘courts’ deal only with personallaw issues like marriage, divorce and inheritance, whereboth parties are Muslim.

The Board’s assistant general secretary, Abdul RahimQureishi, said that ‘Darool Khazas’ were formed todecide cases according to the Muslim Shariat law. Thesecourts are not a parallel system of justice; rather, theyform a system of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) thatis prevalent the world over. He further said that DarulQazas do not infringe on the law of the land as theywere provided for under Articles 25 and 26 of the IndianConstitution. It was on this account that the ShariatApplication Act of 1937 was enacted. They are far frominterfering with the judicial system of the land. DarulQazas come in handy in reducing the burden on courtsby disposing of matters related to family disputes,marriage, and inheritance of Muslims (Pradhan 2005).

Muslim personal Law and Women’s rights: Debatesfor Reform : In Muslim Personal Law is a hotly debatedissue in India today. Many traditional ‘Ulemas are averseto any change in the law as it exists. They see it asdivinely revealed, as an integral part of the Shari‘ah.Hence, they consider changes in the law as tantamountto interfering with the Shari‘ah. On the other hand, someMuslim modernists have been consistently critiquingaspects of the Muslim Personal Law as it exists in Indiatoday, particularly those that are seen as militatingagainst gender justice. They argue that they do notactually represent the spirit of the Shari‘ah, but, rather,is a deviation from it. However, there has hardly beenany dialogue between the two as to how to go about thereform. Muhammad Mujib, a noted Islamic scholar andhistorian, had described the Shariah as a humanapproach to the divine will. It is quite an apt descriptionof the evolution of the Shariah laws. And, besides newcreative interpretations, there is tremendous scope forwhat is called borrowing from another school if one’sown school is creating a problem. This practice wasfollowed in Turkey during the Ottoman period in as earlyas the nineteenth century. This method was also followedwhile drafting the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act1939. When Muslim women found it problematic to waitfor 90 years if their husbands were missing as stated inthe dictates of the Hanafi School, the Ulema, in order toovercome this difficulty, borrowed a rule from the MalikiSchool, which allows the woman to wait only for a periodof four years.

There is a strong argument amongst the orthodox groupsin India against abolishing the practice of triple talaq inone sitting, which they 10 think is based on the Shariator the Divine Law. While on the one hand the orthodoxy’sstrongest argument against abolishing this practice hasalways been that it is based on the Shariat, liberals pushfor a more contemporary understanding of the genesisof these Divine Laws. The original message in the Quranwas in its intent and design both radical and humanitarian.The corpus of rules articulated centuries after the deathof Prophet Mohammad by the Muslim establishment inthe light of the dominant patriarchal ethos of the emergingsociety were incorporated as the Shariat. Liberals pointout that the rules characterized by the Ulemas as Sharia,despite being entirely the creation of a human agency,became vested with the sanctity of being either revealedor divine. In addition, in India, the Anglo-Mohammedanlaw evolved by colonial courts in their effort to apply thelaws of the Quran (in cases where the parties wereMuslim) also began to be construed as part of theShariat. These laws, the handiwork of those who werenot even nominally Muslim, were justified through thelegal fiction that the courts were not interpreting theShariat, but merely applying it (Wadhwa 2004).



Empirical Findings : First, I would like to discuss someof the facts about Shariat Courts (darul Qazas), theiraims and objectives, functioning, and so on, and second,discuss the experience of divorced women whoapproached these courts, the problems they faced, andthe justice that was meted out to them. An interviewwith the naib Qazi of Imart-e Sharia Phulwari sahrif, Bihar(which covers the regions of Bihar, Orissa and WestBengal) and Darul Qaza, Muzafferpur (Muzafferpur,Stamarhi and Vaisahali districts) was also taken tohighlight the courts’ claim that they provide justice towomen, and the existing reality. The women went tothese courts for fask (filed a petition for divorce by ‘faskh’or by the action of a Shari’a [Islamic law] court), khulaand maintenance.

Imarate-Sharia was established in 1921 with theseobjectives:1. Ensure applications of Islamic laws, as far as

possible, particularly laws relating to m a r r i a g e ,divorce, inheritance, Khula, etc., in their originalIslamic form.

2. Establish the Islamic system of life on the lines laiddown by the prophet so that Muslims may livewithin the framework of Islamic laws.

3. Safeguard and look after Muslim interests and rights.4. Unite all Muslims strictly on the basis of the Kalima,

even if they adhered to different schools of law.

Here we are concerned mainly with the first two objectivesof the court, which to my mind are directly related to therights of women under Islam and the existing reality onthe one hand, and regulating the lives of Muslims withinthe framework of Islamic laws in a secular democraticstate on the other. We would like to elaborate more onthis. For instance, take the first objective of the ShariatCourt, where it says ‘ensure application of original Islamiclaws ……’. In a democratic secular state, only thepersonal laws of different communities are applied, notthe Islamic laws. As far as Muslims are concerned, theyare governed by the Muslim Personal Law Shariat Act1937, which is not the original Islamic law as far asmatrimony and inheritance are concerned. For instance,the pronouncement and validity of triple talaq at one gois certainly not the Islamic/quranic way of pronouncingdivorce, but is considered so in practice. Anotherexample is the 1937 Act related to inheritance, in whichit excluded a critical form of property - agricultural landand women’s entitlement to it - which is certainly notwhat the Quran says about inheritance (Chapter 2, Ai-Baqarah and Chapter 4, An-Nissaa; a total of 14 verses),but is the interpretation of various schools of jurisprudencethat relate to inheritance in the Quran, and not from theQuran itself.

This is evident from the fact that Indian Muslims fromsouthern states extended the 1937 Act to includeagricultural land by deleting the phrase ‘save questionsrelating to agricultural land’. For instance, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh did so in 1949, and Keralafollowed in 1963. However, in many other states likeDelhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, UttarPradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, highly discriminatorytenurial laws and customs, which are at considerablevariance with the Shariat, continue. These virtuallyexclude women from rights in agricultural land. Morespecifically, in UP, which has one-sixth of India’spopulation, Muslim women’s land rights are still subjectto the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act1950. Section 171 of the Act, which defines successionto a man’s land, gives primacy to male linealdescendants in the male line of descent. Only in theirabsence can a widow qualify. Daughters come lower inthe hierarchy. These tenurial laws in Delhi, Punjab,Haryana, HP and J&K are contrary to the rights promisedto Muslim women by Islamic law.

Hence, our argument is that Shariat courts, as theyclaim, cannot ensure the application of Islamic laws inIndia mainly for two reasons: first, the Shariat ApplicationAct is not totally in accordance with the Quran, as isevident from the changes other states have carried outin the laws on inheritance, and second, in a democraticstate Islamic law cannot be applied. Now we would likemention the Darul Qazas (here onwards DQ). There are33 branches of DQs all over Bihar, West Bengal andOrissa, of which 28 operate in Bihar, except for the mainShariat court at Phulwari sharif. There are 24 objectivesof DQs, but here I am restricting myself to those thatare directly related to women. The reason for highlightingits objective is to see how far they are met in the eventof a woman approaching it. And if these are not met,what are the reasons for it? The objectives are: Settlingclaims for separation on the grounds of non-payment ofmaintenance and other violations of women’s rights.1. Settling claims for separation on the grounds of non-

compliance of the order of DQ for the maintenance ofthe wife.

2. Settling claims for Khula.3. Settling claims for Haqq-e-hazanat (the right of the

mother to rear her children).4. Settling claims for mehr, alimony and maintenance.5. Settling claims for the return of articles given in jahez

(dowry).6. Settling disputes relating to the protection of the

interests of minors.7. Confirmation of the validity of a Nikah and certificates

of marriage.8. Authorizations of Nikah.



Looking at the data obtained from the central Shariat(Imarat-e-sharia) court, Patna, with regard to the casesit had dealt with from 1993-2000, we find that the casesof khula were much less than those of fask, that is,there were 33 cases of khula and 1,004 cases of fask.Out of 1,004 cases only 94 women filed a case for non-payment of maintenance, mehr, and return of jahez/dowry. The data for how many women received their claimwas not available with the court (IMS, Patna 2000). Theqazi stated that the women who went for khula did notclaim any maintenance and mehr because they did notwant to live with their husbands, and compromised onthe conditions of their husbands. Data obtained fromDarul Qaza, madarsa Islamia Jamiauloom, Muzafferpur,Bihar ( which covers three districts) for the year 2004and 2005 also reveals that the cases of khula are lessthan those of Fask. The total number of khula was four,while those for Fask was 40. When asked about thereasons for a decrease in khula and an increase in fask,the Qazi said that women are becoming aware of theirrights and are not ready to forgo or compromise theirrights on mehr and maintenance. He also pointed outthat if women are not receive their rights despite theseveral notices issued to the husbands by the ShariatCourt, they come to the court to ask for the papers tofile a case for maintenance in the civil court. Thus,awareness about their rights at both the shariat and civillevels could be one of the reasons for an increase in thecases.

Socio-Economic Background of WomenOut of the 20 women who were either divorced or soughtkhula and fask, 11 were from Ashraf families and ninefrom non-Ashraf families. Three women were illiterate,nine had completed secondary education, and sevenwere graduates and later completed either teacher’straining or Masters with the help of their parents andtook to teaching, and one was a postgraduate. Almostall the women were from a lower economic class, andtheir fathers either had petty businesses or were ingovernment service. Four of these women sought khulafrom the district shariat court, on the terms andconditions laid down by their husbands. Since they didnot want to live with them, they accepted the terms. Iwould like to reproduce a copy of a judgment of DQ toshow how the process of khula is institutionalized, andhow the qazi never tried to put pressure on the husbandto follow the true path of Islamic teaching and give womentheir due, particularly the mehr, which is her right. Whenwe asked the Qazi why he had never asked the womenwhy she was condoning her mehr or why he did not paythe mehr at the time of the nikah, he said it was not hisresponsibility because the khula is initiated by womenwith mutual consent. Dated 9 safar, 20 Hijri, the complaintWaheeeda Khatoon D?/O md. Shoab has condoned her

mehr, maintenance for iddaat and all her claims ofmatrimonial rights. And defendant Md. Arzoo S/O md.Akhater Hussain has no responsibility against her wife.Now the complaint is no longer wife of the defendant.After completing her iddat she is free to remarry and thedefendant owes no responsibility of her Mehr andmaintenance for iddat period.

The condition laid by the husband includes: the wife wouldnot demand her mehr and maintenance either for herselfor for her children, even if the children are minor, and thenon-refund of her jahez. The reasons stated by womenfor seeking khula were: husband’s suspicious attitude,less dowry, mother-in-law’s intolerant behavior,unnecessary restrictions imposed on them, and so on.These women were married for five to 10 years. Some ofthem had two to three minor children, and theresponsibility was not borne by the husband at the timeof khula.

As far as the custody and maintenance of children wereconcerned, in 18 cases, the husband neither claimedthe child nor provided any maintenance for bringing upthe minor. The sole responsibility for the women and thechildren lay with the women’s parents, some of whomwere retired or had petty businesses. Interestingly, noneof these women remarried, while all the men did so aftertheir divorce with handsome dowries. Six of the divorcedwomen were working and looking after their children,while the rest of them were dependent on their parents.Hence, we strongly feel that it is high time that theAIMPLB, instead of focusing on DQ, pay attention toreformulating the nikahnama to make it more gender-just, and incorporate the suggestions given by women’sorganizations, which have been working on the issue ofdivorce and 22 maintenance of Muslim women and thepractical difficulties they have been facing in the societywith regard to their survival and status.

Experiences of women and the claim of AIMPLBfor Darul QazaIn this section I will elaborate on the claim of the AIMPLBfor establishing and strengthening Darul Qazas forproviding quick justice to women as per the Islamicprovision. I would also like to mention the variousobjectives of darul qazas functioning in various parts ofBihar, particularly Muzafferpur and Patna, where womenwent for justice.The women who filed the cases of fask had variousreasons for doing so, as stated earlier. While talking towomen who sought faske-nikah about their experiencein these courts, they stated that they were under theimpression that when it came to seeking divorce andsettling maintenance/ mehr and other matrimonial rights,the proceedings would be less time-consuming, lessexpensive, and, above all, the judgment would be more



in line with quranic prescriptions. However, theirexpectations were wrong. Salma (name changed)explained that it was very difficult to face the Qazi, notbecause she was wrong and did not have any proof forseeking fask, but because of the way the maulana spoketo her. He was very harsh, and biased against her.Further, the way they asked questions and pressurizeonly the women to adjust was one-sided. Despite Salmatelling him that her husband ill-treats her and does notgive her any money or fulfill her day-to-day requirements,he kept on insisting, ‘Wo Tumhara Shauher hai uskikhidmat kerna, uska hokum manna thumara furz hai(he is your husband, to serve him and obey him is yourduty)’. Her father and relatives also supported herallegations, but it was of no use. While the Qazi setnew dates so that Salma could change her mind, he didnot say a word to her husband about his furz (duty). In90 per cent of the cases, the women said that they couldnot express themselves or explain their problems to theQazi as they had no female member who wouldunderstand their problems.

Women, particularly those whose children were minors,added that on every hearing they had to take two malewitnesses who were present at the time of their marriagealong with their father or brother, which they found verydifficult. First, it was difficult for the persons concernedto take out the time and second, it was equally difficultto convince the persons to do so. As the act of seekingdivorce on the part of women in our society is generallyperceived as playing with the honor of the family, nobodywants to get involved.

The experiences of women and relevant issuesaround itThus, the experiences of the women tell a separate story,which to my mind does not accord with the AIMPLB’sclaims for their campaign of establishing andstrengthening Shariat Courts. I would like to againhighlight some of the objectives of these Shariat Courtsin the light of these experiences. The very first objective,that is, settling claims for separation on the grounds ofnon-payment of maintenance and other violations ofwomen’s rights, was not fulfilled in these cases. Thewomen, despite filing several petitions to the shariatcourts for settling their matrimonial rights after fask orkhula, did not receive any of their rights, and had toapproach the civil courts, which resulted in harassmentfor the women and her family. As far as Haqqe-hazanator the right of the mother to rear her children isconcerned, in the majority of cases the men did notclaim the custody of children, particularly in case ofminors. The women who were not earning enough torear their children did file petitions in this court to settlethe matter of maintenance for their children, but when

the matter was not settled by the court, they finally theyhad to seek justice in the civil courts. As far as the returnof articles given at the time of marriage, and the settlingof mehr and maintenance are concerned, the court wasunable to settle these rights, violation of which is un-Islamic as well as against human rights.

The women’s groups are challenging the Board for itslack of courage to take strong decisions. They hold thatif the Board recognizes the practice of triple talak in onesitting to be a reprehensible innovation, how can thesame practice then be considered part of the Shariat?How can the Shariat include or sanctify reprehensibleinnovations? Many women from different Muslimorganizations feel that maulanas or Imams of variousSunni schools of jurisprudence were products of theirtimes, but now times have changed. It is the time we,the women of the community, reflect on the Qur’an andProphetic traditions, and develop new ways ofunderstanding our laws. They stated that it is time theBoard and the Ulema wake up to the needs of thecommunity and start discussing important issues likethe empowerment of the community, how to improve thesocio-economic status of Muslim women, and their plightduring and after riots, rather than focusing on theestablishment of shariat courts.

ConclusionIt is, of course, not easy to challenge traditional sourcesof Islamic jurisprudence. It would require not only greatIslamic scholarship, but also sustained effort in thatdirection in a conducive atmosphere free of communaltension. We have to re-codify the Shari’ah laws pertainingto women on the basis of the liberal, moderninterpretation of the Qur’an, and some ahadith that arein conformity with the Qura’nic spirit. Such an approach,it is hoped, will be an instrument in the struggle forwomen’s rights for practicing Muslim women. Thisrequires a great deal of research among the authenticIslamic sources, which will require great Islamicscholarship on the part of Muslim women activists inIndia. This process has started, and needs to bestrengthened and supported. Initially they may have toface opposition from the conservative ‘Ulama, but thereis no other way they can demand change. Second, themost important task before all of us is to de-politicize allMuslim issues, which are detrimental to nationalintegration. Muslims should not be seen only as a votebank. There has to be a sincere effort on the part of thecommunity and the state to improve the overall conditionof Indian Muslims. And if the overall conditions of Muslimsimprove, and they are well-represented in all socialsectors, the conservative element would not get a chanceto campaign for strengthening and maintaining acommunal identity. For this, an aggressive but meaningful



campaign as part of a larger project aiming at creating acritical class within the Muslim society has to be evolvedby Muslim intellectuals through a scientific and moderninterpretation of Islamic scriptures.

References:1. Ahmad Barkat, Ahmad. 1986.; ‘The Millat and the

Reformer’. Hinduatan Hindustan Times, (New Delhi)2. Bilimoria, Puroshottam. ‘Muslim Personal Law in

India: Colonial Legacy and Current Debates.’, http://www.law.emory.edu/IFL/cases/ India.htm. Accessed18th April, 2006).

3. Chowdhary, Fatima., 2005. ‘The other Side of IndianMuslim Identity’, Free India, 14 March, 2005.

4. Daniel W. Brown, Daniel W. (1996). Rethinkingtraditions in modern Islamic thought. CambridgeUniversity Press.

5. Doi, Abdur Rahman I. 1984. Shariah: The IslamicLaw.: London: Ta-Ha Publishers, London.

6. Engineer, Asghar AliA.A. (ed.). (1987). The ShahBano Controversy. Hyderabad: Orient Longman.

7. Engineer, AsgharAli A.A. 2005. ‘Model Nikahnama -A Hope Or A Disappointment’?’ Secular Perspective,May 16-31 May, 2005.

8. Fariddi, F.R., 1972. ‘Islamic personal law in India:Scope and mMethodology of Reform’, IN in TahirMahmood (ed.), Islamic lLaw in midrn Modern India,pp. 123-27. Bombay:; N.M. Tripaty, 1972.pp123-27.

9. Fazlur Rahman, Fazlur. 1980. ‘Survey ofmModernization of Muslim fFamily lLaw’.,International jJournal of Middle East Studies, 11 (4):,Jul 1980,451-65.

10. Furqan Ahmad, Furqan. 1984. ‘Indian Judicial rRulingof 1983 on Muslim law.’, Muslim India, 2 (24):,Dec1984, 562.

11. Fyzee, A.A.A 1971. Reform of Muslim Personal Lawin India. Bombay: Nachiketa, 1971.

12. Hallaq, Wael B. Hallaq (2001). Authority, Continuityand Change in Islamic Law. Cambridge UniversityPress.

13. Mahmood Tahir, Mahmood. 1975., Family law andsocial change. Bombay:; N.M. Tripathy. Mahmood.,1995. ‘“India’,” in Statutes of Personal Law in Islamiccountries, 2nd ed., New Delhi, 1995.

14. Noorani, A.G. 1985. ‘Judgment in Shah Bano’scase’., Indian Express (New Delhi) Muslim India, 3(35): ,Nov 1985,515-516.

15. Omid Safi, Omid. (2003). Progressive Muslims: OnJustice, Gender, and Pluralism. OneworldPublications.

16. Saumya, Uma., 2005. ‘Muslim Women’s rRights tomMaintenance in India’, Law & Rights, Issue No.175, 30 January, 2005.

17. Shams, Peerzada. 1972. Muslim personal law anduniform civil code. Delhi:, Markazi Maktaba-e-Islamia. 1972.

18. Tariq Ramadan, Tariq. (2005). Western Muslims andthe Future of Islam. Oxford University Press, USA.

19. Zafarul-Islam Khan, Zafarul-Islam. 2005. ‘Petitionagainst “Shariat courts” is misguided’, The MilliGazzette, Tuesday 19, August 2005.

20. Naseer Ahmed S, Research Scholar, Center forWomen’s Studies, Bangalore University,[email protected], mobil 9945673113.

21. Dr.C.D.Venkatesh, Assistant Professor, Center forWomen’s Studies, Bangalore University,[email protected], mobil-9880466322



WORK-LIFE BALANCE AMONG WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN PUBLICSECTOR BANKS -A CASE STUDY OF SYNDICATE BANK

1. Research Scholar Post Graduate, Department of Studies and Research in Social work, Mangalore University, Karnataka.

AbstractIn terms of Indian context, the issue over work-life balance is step by step becoming a common talk mainly for womenemployees. Work life balance is a state of equality in which the demand of both professional and personal life is equal.Each position having different set of demands and when such role demands overlap, more than one issues are faced.In reality life and work over-lap and interact. In creation the work life policies employer should think that the commitmentof employees can make the difference between those companies which compete at the market and those whichcannot. A balanced life for women is one where they spread their energy and effort of key areas of importance. Thisresearch study targets in accordance with figure out the working environment of public sector banks for womenemployees and what is the perception of women about the initiative and policies of banks and effects of thoseinitiatives on their lives. The research is performed among working women of banks with special reference to Syndicatebank of Mangalore city. We suggest that Work-Life Balance is not a problem to be solved. It is an ongoing difficulty toremain managed.

Keywords: Work life; working women; Job satisfaction; Social relationship; Family

IntroductionToday work-life balance has become an increasinglypervasive concern for employers as well as employees.Demographic changes as seen in the increasing numberof women in the workplace and dual career families havegenerated an increasingly diverse workforce and a greaterneed of employees to balance their work and non-worklives (Bharat, 2003). In response to these employershave innovative practices that allow employees to findgreater work-life balance (Friedman, Christensen, &DeGroot, 1998). Increasing attrition rates and increasingdemand for work-life balance have forced organisationsto look beyond run of the mill HR interventions. As aresult, initiatives such as flexible working hours,alternative work arrangements, leave policies and benefitsin lieu of family care responsibilities and employeeassistance programmes have become a significant partof most of the company benefit programmes andcompensation packages. Such policies, practices andbenefit programmes are generally referred as family-friendly policies‘ (FFPs) or work-life benefits andpractices‘ (WLBPs) in literature (Kopelman et al., 2006;Kossek & Ozeki, 1998). The significance andimplications of such HR interventions are many.Research findings suggest that WLBPs not only helpemployees better manage their work and family roles,but also affect employee attitude and behaviors such asorganisational commitment (Grover & Crooker, 1995),job satisfaction (Kossek & Ozeki, 1998) and intention

to quit (Lobel & Kossek, 1996). Provision of WLBPsalso contributes to organisational performance andeffectiveness (Sands & Harper, 2007).

However, employers‘ concern for employees‘ family livesis not a recent phenomenon. Employers have beenproviding various welfare measures such as good workingconditions, health, safety, and security provisions toemployees since industrialization. These welfarepractices became norms of most factories and organisationseither as a result of employers‘ pragmatic concern foremployees and their families or unions‘ conscious bargainfor employee welfare. In true sense, World War II broughta considerable interest in employee work-family issuesworldwide because of the increase of women employeesin defense industries which led the federal governmentto provide facilities such as child care facilities. Post warera saw the increase of government mandated provisionsbeing offered to employees such as health and lifeinsurance, social security like pension plans, anddisability protection in forms of worker‘s compensationfor accidents, and diseases institutionalizing the notionthat employers had at least some obligations to providesecurity to employees families (Glass & Estes,1997).In due course of time employers family friendliness hasgone beyond providing mere welfare provisions.

Syndicate Bank -A Public Sectore BankThe public banks are those banks which are directlyunder the control of State/Central Government. Syndicate

Manjunath S Mokashi1



Bank was established in 1925 in Udupi, the abode ofLord Krishna in coastal Karnataka.

Research MethedologyThe study is a descriptive study. The study wasconducted among women employees of Syndicate bankHead office Manipal Karnataka and other selectedbranches of Udupi and Mangalore city. Sample of 100women employees selected using convenient sampling

Objective of the Study• To study the working environment of Syndicate bank• To study the perception about the work life balance

amongst the working women in Syndicate Bank• To study the effects of work life balance amongst the

working women in Syndicate Bank.• To study the initiative taken by the organization for

effective work life balance.

Data Analyses and InterpretationTable - 1 : How is the working Environment in

your organization.

1 Participative 30 30

2 Autonomy 21 21

3 Capricious 25 25

4 Red Tapism 24 24

Total 100 100

S. NO. OPINION NO. PERCENT (%)

When asked to the women employees workingenvironment in Syndicate Bank, then majority of 30 %said participative and 21 %, 25 %, 24 % said autonomy,capricious and red tapism consequently.

Table - 2 : Work allotted to you is according toyour qualification and skills.

1 Strongly agree 21 21

2 Agree 23 23

3 Disagree 30 30

4 Strongly disagree 26 26

Total 100 100


When it is asked to the respondents that Work allottedto you is according to your qualification, 21 % and 273%were strongly agree and agree respectively and said Andas a group of 30% and 26 % were disagree and stronglydisagree correspondingly.

Table - 3 : Employees are satisfied with the topManagement in your organization?


2 Agree 40 40

3 Disagree 30 30


Total 100 100


When it is asked to employees of Syndicate Bank thatyou are satisfied with the top Management, then majorityof 21 % and 40 % were strongly agree and agreerespectively while only 30 % and 09% were disagreeand strongly disagree respectively.

Table - 4 : Are you satisfied with the workinghours of the organization?

1 Highly Satisfied 10 10

2 Satisfied 30 30

3 Dissatisfied 38 38

4 Highly Dissatisfied 22 22

Total 100 100


When it is asked to respondents that are you satisfiedwith the working hours, 10 % and 30 % highly satisfiedand satisfied respectively and 38 % and 22 % weredissatisfied and highly dissatisfied correspondingly.

Table - 5 : After working hours you get enoughtime for your family?

1 Never 12 12

2 Sometimes 20 20

3 Often 39 39

4 Always 29 29

Total 100 100


On asking to the women employees that you get enoughtime for your family after the job, then 12 % and 20 %said never and sometimes respectively and as a groupof 39 % and 29 % said often and always in that order.



Table - 6 : Do you feel that you are able tobalance your work life?


2 Agree 32 32

3 Disagree 22 22


Total 100 100


When it is asked to the respondents that are able tobalance your work life, then mass of 22 % and 32 %were strongly agree and agree respectively and only 22% and 24 were disagree and strongly disagree on thisfact.

Table - 7 : How often do you think or worry aboutwork (when you are not actually at work or

traveling to work)?

1 Never think about work 17 17

2 Sometimes 35 35

3 Often 30 30

4 Always 18 18

Total 100 100


On asking to the employees that do you get worry aboutwork after the working hours then only 17 % said thatthey never think about work and as a group of 35 %think sometimes and 30 % and 18 % of respondentsthink often and always respectively.

Table - 8 : Your organization takes initiative tomanage work life of its employees?

1 Never 18 18

2 Sometimes 31 31

3 Often 40 40

4 Always 11 11

Total 100 100


On asking to the women employee that Yourorganization takes initiative to manage work your lifethen 18 % and 31 % said never and sometimescorrespondingly and as a group of 40% were said thatSyndicate often takes initiative to manage work life andonly 11 % respondents said always.

Table - 9 : If yes what are the initiatives that yourorganization has taken for managing work life?

1 Flexible work Timings 35 35

2 Leaves to manage work life 42 42

3 Job Share Option 06 06

4 All of the above 17 17

Total 100 100

S.NO. OPINION NO. PERCENT

(%)

When it is asked to the respondents of Syndicate Bankthat what are the initiatives that your organization hastaken, then 35% said flexible work timing and mass of42 % said it is leaves to manage work life and only 6 %said it is job sharing option and 17 % were agree that allmentioned initiatives has been given to them.

Table - 10 : Employees have more pressure ofwork in the organization or it is evenly

distributed?

1 Have Pressure 33 33

2 Evenly distributed 35 35

3 Depends on the situation 30 30

4 All of the above 02 02

Total 100 100


On asking to the employees that you have more pressureof work or it is evenly distributed then only 33% saidthat they have pressure of work and as a group of 35%said that it is evenly distributed and 30% respondentssaid that it depends on the situation and only 2% saidall given conditions are present.

Table - 11 : Policy for work Life Managementhelps to increase productivity of the

organization?


2 Agree 43 43

3 Disagree 17 17


Total 100 100


When it is asked to the employees that work Life Managementpolicies help to increase productivity, then mass of 29% and 43 % were strongly agree and agree respectivelyand saidthat it improves productivity and only 17 % and11 % were disagree and strongly disagree accordingly.



Table - 12 : Employees are able to balance theirwork life due to work life management policy of

the organization?


2 Agree 41 41

3 Disagree 11 11


Total 100 100


On asking to the respondents that bank’s policies helpin balancing work life , then 37 and 41 % of them werestrongly agree and agree in that order and only 11 %were disagree and 11 % were strongly disagree with thestatement.

Table - 13 : Organization is able to retain itsemployees due to efficient work life

management policy?


2 Agree 25 25

3 Disagree 23 23


Total 100 100


On asking to the employees that bank’s policies arehelping in employee’s loyalty then crowd of 38 % werestrongly agree and agree in that order and said that itcreates loyalty among women employees and 25 %respondents were disagree and only 14 % were stronglydisagree about it.

Table - 14 : Rate the Flexible Working Hoursprovided by the organization due to current Work

Life Management Policy?

1 Excellent 25 25

2 Good 30 30

3 Average 31 31

4 Poor 14 14

Total 100 100


On asking for providing rating to the flexible working hoursdue to current policies, 25% and 30 % of them ratedexcellent and good in that order and 31 % rated averageand 14 % rated poor.


2 Agree 20 20

3 Disagree 55 55


Total 100 100


Table - 15 : Organization provides crèche facilityfor children of the employees?

When it was asked to the employees that Organizationprovides crèche facility for children, only 10 % werestrongly agree and 20 % were agree While as a group of55% and 25 % were disagree and strongly disagreerespectively.

Table - 16 : Your organization provides maternityand paternity leave to the employees?


2 Agree 50 50

3 Disagree 10 10


Total 100 100


When it was asked to the employees that Yourorganization provides maternity and paternity leave, then30% were strongly agree and 50 % were agree Whileonly 10 % and 10 % were disagree and strongly disagreerespectively.

Table - 17 : How do you rate the leave policy ofthe organization?

1 Highly Satisfied 15 15

2 Satisfied 38 38

3 Dissatisfied 35 35

4 Highly Dissatisfied 12 12

Total 100 100


When asked to rate the leave policy of Syndicate bank,Then 15% and 38 % were highly satisfied and satisfiedrespectively and 35 % and 12 % were dissatisfied andhighly dissatisfied correspondingly.



Table - 18 : Your organization organizes Holidaycamps and picnics to manage work life and

personal life?


2 Agree 32 32

3 Disagree 27 27


Total 100 100


When it was asked to the employees that Syndicatebank organizes Holiday camps and picnics to managework life and personal life, then only 15% were stronglyagree and 32 % were agree While the majority of 27 %and 26 % were disagree and strongly disagreerespectively.

Table - 19 : Do you think that if employees havegood work-life balance then organization will be

more effective and successful?


2 Agree 41 41

3 Disagree 08 08


Total 100 100


When it is asked to the employees that if you have goodwork-life balance then organization will be more effectiveand successful, then 50 % were strongly agree and 41% were agree with this statement and merely 8 % and 1% respondents were disagree and strongly disagreesimultaneously.

Table - 20 : I feel comfortable in discussingchanges to my working arrangements with my

manager?


2 Agree 25 25

3 Disagree 38 38


Total 100 100


When it was asked to the employees that are youcomfortable in discussing changes to your workingarrangements with your manager, then 20 % werestrongly agree and 25 % were agree While only 38 %

and 17 % were disagree and strongly disagreerespectively.

Table - 21 : I can make choices about my currentworking arrangements?


2 Agree 32 32

3 Disagree 20 20


Total 100 100


When it was asked to the employees that can you makechoices about your current working arrangements, massof 25 % and 32 % were strongly agree and agreerespectively and only 20 and 23 % were disagree andstrongly disagree respectively by this statement.

Table - 22 : Employees with family commitmentshave equal career opportunities at the

workplace?


2 Agree 35 35

3 Disagree 10 10


Total 100 100


On asking to the respondents employees with familycommitments have equal career opportunities inSyndicate bank , then 40 % and 35 % of them werestrongly agree and agree in that order and only 10 %were disagree and 15 % were strongly disagree with thestatement.

Table - 23 : Request to change working patternsare positively received by the manager?


2 Agree 30 30

3 Disagree 32 32


Total 100 100


On asking to the respondents that your request to changeworking patterns are positively received by the manager,25% and 30 % of them were strongly agree and agree inthat order and 32 % were disagree and 13 % werestrongly disagree with the statement.



Table - 24 : Management is committed in helpingemployees to achieve a good work-life balance?


2 Agree 35 35

3 Disagree 29 29


Total 100 100


When it was asked to the employees that Managementof Syndicate is committed in helping employees toachieve a good work-life balance, then 15 % were stronglyagree and 35 % were agree While 29 % and 21 % weredisagree and strongly disagree respectively.

ConclusionFrom the above discussion, it is reasonable to concludethat modern organizations, especially public sectorbanks, should address the Work Life Balance relatedissues among their staff, specifically women and take aholistic approach to design and implement policies tosupport the staff to manage their work life balance whichwould add to the performance of these staff members.

Reference1. Mani V. Work Life Balance and Women

Professionals. Global Journal of Management andBusiness Research Interdisciplinary 2013; 13(5):2013.

2. Shiva G. A study on Work Family Balance andChallenges faced by working women. IOSR Journalof Business and Management 2013; 14(5): 1-4.

3. Gayathri N, Karthikeyan P. A Review on Green HumanResource Managemetn with Exclusive Allusion toGreen Work Life Balance. International ResearchJournal of Business and Management 2013; 5: 40-45.

4. Padma S, Sudhir Reddy M. Impact of Child careresponsibility on Work Life Balance (WLB) of SchoolTeachers. International Journal of Advanced Researchin Business Management and Administration 2013;1(1).

5. Gayathri N, Karthikeyan P. Work life blance in India–A social responsibility or sa competitive tool.International Research Journal of Business andManagement 2013; 1: 103109.

6. Singh S. Work Life Balance: A Literature Review.Global Journal of Commerce & ManagementPerspective 2013; 2(3): 84-91.

7. Vijayalakshmi, Navneetha. Work Life Balance ofWomen Faculty working in Educational Institutions:issues and problems. International Journal ofResearch in Commerce, Economics andManagement 2013; 3(4): 73-75

8. Santhana Lakshmi K, Sujatha Gopinath S. WorkLife Balance of Women Employees with referenceto Teaching faculties. International Monthly RefereedJournal of Research in Management and Technology2013; II.

9. Yadav RK, Dabhade N. Work Life Balance amongstthe working women in Public Sector Banks–a casestudy of State Bank of India. International letters ofSocial & Humanistic Sciences 2013; 7: 1-22.

10. Sheel S, Khosla Sindhwani B et al. Quality of Worklife, employee performance and career growthopportunities. Zenith International Journal ofMultidisciplinary Research 2012; 2(2): 13-21.

11. Ramdoss K. Job demand, Family SupportiveOrganizational Culture and Positive Spillover fromwork-to-family among employees in the informationtechnology enabled services in India. InternationalJournal of Business and Social Science 2012; 3(22):33-41.



THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN FROM DOMESTICVIOLENCE ACT: EVOLVING LAW

1. Assistant Professor, Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Nyayaprastha, Sabbavaram, Visakhapatnam

Abstract The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 came into existence eleven and a half years ago. Therewere a few penal provisions like Sections 498A and 304B of IPC in place since the 1980s which address this issue.Criminalizing domestic violence serves a limited purpose. It helps in punishing the offender but it does not provideany kind of help to the survivors of domestic violence. Everything cannot be looked through the prism of criminology.The victim has to be compensated. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter referredas DV Act) is meant to meet this requirement by providing multiple remedies through a single window clearancesystem. A few judicial interpretation of the terms ‘shared household’, ‘respondents’ and ‘relationship in the nature ofmarriage’ tend to restrict the scope of the implementation of this law. This paper is an attempt to discuss the evolutionof the DV Act since its inception.

IntroductionThe Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act,2005 (hereinafter referred as DV Act) is well into itstwelfth year. It came into effect on 26th October 2006.The journey is interesting. Much effort went into makingof the law. What has to be seen is whether it has beenas effective as it was supposed to be. There were manyexpectations when this Act came into force. There wasa dire need for civil remedies as Section 498A, IPC ispenal provision. The objective of the Act was to providesuitable remedies to women. Different forms of violenceask for different kinds of remedies. And more thananything else this Act was unequivocally supposed toshield women from domestic violence. Did the journeyof these twelve years meet these objectives is somethingto be reviewed. If only laws could prohibit violence inabsolute terms the world would be a better place.Patriarchy manifests in many forms of violence. As longas violence and patriarchy are there in society womenwill be subject to it. And as long as there is violenceagainst women at home such legislations will alwaysremain relevant and will have a utilitarian value. Home,sweet home is one of the sites of violence. This articleis an attempt to discuss the circumstances in whichthis Act came into existence, the salient features of thisenactment and its implementation for the past elevenand half years.

Violence against Women: Violation of Human RightsThe first UN women’s conference was held in MexicoCity in 1975. This conference designated 1975-85 asthe UN decade for women. This was a period when thefirst generation of feminists evolved in India. It coincided

with the rise of the women’s movement against theMathura rape case which led to the amendments in therape laws. People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)brought out a report on domestic violence titled ‘Insidethe Family’ in the eighties.1 This was the first attemptat considering domestic violence as a human rightsconcern in India. Dowry deaths used to be a daily featurein the 80s. The National Crime Records Bureau’s dataprove that things have not changed much.2As civilsociety woke up to the cause of domestic violenceagainst women, Sections 498A and 304B of IPC werepassed by the Parliament. In fact the internationalcommunity also started recognising violence againstwomen as a human rights issue.

Several efforts of international women’s rights movementled to drafting of various international instruments likethe Vienna Accord, the Beijing Declaration and theConvention on the Elimination of Violence against women(CEDAW). In the year 1993 the UN adopted theDeclaration on the Elimination of Violence againstWomen. Art 1 of the Declaration defines violence againstwomen as “gender-based violence that results in, or islikely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harmor suffering to women, including threats of such acts,coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whetheroccurring in public or in private life”.1 Thisacknowledgment of violence against women has giveninternational focus to domestic violence as anunacceptable human rights violation.2 It is perhaps themost universal, yet of the most invisible forms of violenceagainst women.3

Dr. K. Sudha1



Making of the DV ActWomen’s groups and women lawyers gained a lot ofexperience in the course of navigating through domesticlaws like the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, Sections 498Aand 304B. They realised that there was a glass ceilingto these laws which came in the way of providing justiceto victims of domestic violence. Section 498A could besought only as a last resort and it does not meet therequirements of the women. It only penalises the offenderbut does not provide any relief to the women. Senioradvocates like Indira Jaisingexplored the option of filinginjunction suits in regular civil courts seeking residenceorders or protection orders. The Family Court Act alsodoes not serve the purpose as it has limited jurisdiction.This led to the idea of having a separate law whichexclusively deals with domestic violence. LawyersCollective painstakingly started codifying the law whichwas finally passed by the Parliament with a fewmodifications as the Protection of Women from DomesticViolence Act, 2005. The Lawyers Collective drew strengthfrom its own court room experience, the Canadian lawand international law in bringing out the law. There cannotbe a better legislation in terms of drafting in recent timesas the DV Act. Thus in the light of these internationalobligations and to meet out the demands of the women’smovement within the country the DV enacted by theParliament.Twelve years went by, still the DV Act is nota very well-known act. There are several myths revolvingaround it. People hardly are aware of its objectives,intent and benefits. Basic information about the law isalso not being discussed within the legal fraternity also.So discussing the salient features would be a usefulexercise.

Efficacy of the lawSeveral questions were raised when this Act waspassed. One of them is that there are several lawsincluding Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, Section 498A4 ,Section 304B5 and other provisions of IPC which tacklethe problem of domestic violence. Why do we need anew enactment? One simple reason is that those lawswere inadequate to counter violence which happens ona daily basis. Prior to 2005 there was neither a clearlegal definition of domestic violence nor anycomprehensive law in India that specifically addressedit.6 Under the criminal laws the perpetrators can beprosecuted and punished but the aggrieved women canneither be provided shelter nor any kind of monetaryreliefs. There were no explicit laws enabling courts toissue orders or injunctions restraining domestic violenceor to give monetary relief when aggrieved womenapproached the court complaining of domestic violence.7Issues of maintenance, custody of children and maritalproperty are treated only as ancillary reliefs under the

matrimonial laws. Aggrieved women had to approachseveral courts to seek these reliefs. There were no lawswhich protect the right to residence of aggrieved women.Even the laws which deal with domestic violence onlyspeak of the violence against wives. They are silentabout women in other domestic relationship such asmothers, daughters, sisters, women in live-inrelationships and others facing domestic violence.8

Why cannot men use this law?Another frequently asked question is why it should begender specific. Are men not equally vulnerable todomestic violence? No one can deny the fact thatpatriarchy exists and that it manifests in every nook andcorner of our lives. In its Preamble the UN Declarationrecognises violence against women as a manifestationof historically unequal power relations between men andwomen.9 It is this ‘socially imposed’ inequality thatextends to and is reflected within the home, and makeswomen particularly vulnerable to violence.10 Studies haveconcluded that there is a complex linkage betweenmasculinity and domestic violence, and that violence isused as an expression of power and control.11 Sincelegal, moral and social codes are determined byhegemonic claims of patriarchy, an exploration into thenotion of justice and fairness to women can be embarkedupon only after piercing the veil of ‘neutrality’, ‘impartiality’and ‘formal equality’ within law.12 In Dennison Paulrajand Ors v Union of India, rep. by Secretary, Ministry ofLaw and Justice&Ors13the Apex Court upheld theconstitutional validity of Sections 12, 18, 19 and 23 ofthe Act. The Court observed that “giving certainpreferential treatment to the wife and treating them as aspecial category cannot be termed as violative of eitherArticle 14 or Article 16 of the Constitution of India”. TheCourt referred to Article 15(3) which allows the State totake affirmative action in favour of women and children.

Reverse discriminationThere is a constant buzz about the misuse of Section498A of IPC and that it is leading to reversediscrimination. The Supreme Court in Rajesh Kumarand others v State of UP and another14 placed certainrestrictions on the power of the investigating officer toarrest the accused under Section 498A. A couple ofmonths later the Apex Court decided to revisit the RajeshKumar judgment as they “can’t write law. We can onlyinterpret law.”15The storm which gathers around Section498A leaves its impression on the DV Act also. It raisescertain doubts on the use of this Act. Their concern isthat the women are using this provision to make monetarydemands and also to settle scores with their in-laws.Flavia Agnes, reputed women’s rights lawyer, states that“while it is true that a significant number of cases filedunder this section are subsequently withdrawn, the



complexities of women’s lives, particularly within a violentmarriage, have to be comprehended beyond the contextof popular ethics. The conviction of the husband maynot be the best solution to her problems”.16 The variousalternatives that she has to choose from, each one is initself a compromise, may make it impossible for her tofollow up the criminal case. Since Section 498A doesnot protect a woman’s right to the matrimonial home, oroffer her shelter during the proceedings, she may haveno choice but to work out reconciliation. At this pointshe would be forced to withdraw the complaint as thehusband would make it a precondition for anynegotiations. If she has decided to opt for a divorce andthe husband is willing for a settlement and a mutualconsent divorce, again withdrawing the complaint wouldbe a precondition for such settlement.17 These factorsclearly explain that the issue of misuse of Section 498Ais a misconception. Even if we assume that it is misusedwhich law isn’t misused? But unfortunately it is mostlylaws which seek affirmative actions which face suchaccusations. We are at a curve where the Apex Courtwill soon decide whether to arrest or not to arrest theaccused under Section 498A and whether it amounts tomaking of law or interpreting it.18

Salient features of the lawIt is very important to stir clear from the controversyrevolving around Section 498A when we discuss the DVAct. The objective of the DV Act only to shield womenfrom domestic violence. It does not criminalise or penalisethe wrong doer. It is important to go through the salientfeatures to appreciate its significance.

What is Domestic Violence?The definition of domestic violence under the Act19

encompasses many forms of violence. It includesphysical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional and verbalabuse and economic abuse. These forms of violenceare defined in such a way that different nuanced versionsof life experiences can be brought on to the legal format.Sexual abuse in matrimony has been acknowledged asa form of violence by law and relief is given for the firsttime. According to Section 375 of IPC sexual intercourseby a man with his own wife with her consent or withouther consent is not rape provided she is not under fifteenyears of age. Aggrieved women, their legal counsels andactivists were grappling with an almost non-existent lawon economic abuse of women within the family. This isone of the most welcome features of the Act. But studiesreveal that most stakeholders recognise physical,emotional and verbal abuse as forms of violence. Theydo not recognise sexual abuse as a form of violence.20 Itwill take some time for society to accept this legal norm.

According to the Act an ‘aggrieved person’ is any womanwho is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with therespondent and who alleges to have been subjected toany act of domestic violence by the respondent and‘domestic relationship’ means a relationship betweentwo persons who live or have, at any point of time, livedtogether in a shared household, when they are relatedby consanguinity, marriage, or through a relationship inthe nature of marriage, adoption or are family membersliving together as a joint family.21 It includes wife, ex-wife22, widow, women in a live-in-relationship, mothers,daughters, sisters, joint family members and male andfemale children. A study conducted by the LawyersCollective in collaboration with ICRW reveals that marriedwomen are primary users of the Act followed by widows.The applications by daughters were limited. Mothershave used the law in a number of instances.23

Live in RelationshipWomen in ‘relationship in the nature of marriage’havebeen given legal recognition by this Act. Rights andobligations flow out of this relationship according to thisAct. But a two judge bench consisting of JusticesMarkandey Katju and TS Thakur in D. Veluswamy v D.Patchaiammal24unfortunately tried to place certainrestrictions while interpreting it. They held

“In our opinion not all live in relationships will amount toa relationship in the nature of marriage to get the benefitof the Act of 2005… If a man has a ‘keep’ whom hemaintains financially and uses mainly for sexual purposeand/ or as a servant it would not, in our opinion, be arelationship in the nature of marriage. No doubt the viewwe are taking would exclude many women who have hada live in relationship from the benefit of the 2005 Act,but then it is not for this Court to legislate or amend thelaw. Parliament has used the expression ‘relationship inthe nature of marriage’ and not ‘live in relationship’. TheCourt in the garb of interpretation cannot change thelanguage of the statute.”

Society does not support women who are caught up ininformal relationships. The delegitimisation of theserelationships by the Court further pushes them into anabyss of deprivation, humiliation and indignity. Thedamage caused by the Veluswamycase was mitigatedto a certain extent by a subsequent decision renderedby the same court inIndraSarma v VKV Sarma25. TheCourt in this case held that “duration of the relationship;nature and extent of common residence; whether or notsexual relationship exits; the financial arrangementbetween the couple; property matters; mutualcommitment to a shared life; children; performance ofhousehold chores; their public and social life of the coupleare to be considered while deciding whether the coupleare in a live in relationship”26.



Respondents: Male or Female?In Hiral P Harsora and others v Kusum NarottamdasHarsora and others the Supreme Court recently struckdown the word ‘adult male’ before the word ‘person’ inSection 2 (q) of the DV Act as unconstitutional.27 NowSection 2(q) of the DV Act defines ‘respondent’ as “anyperson who is, or has been, in a domestic relationshipwith the aggrieved person and against whom theaggrieved person has sought any relief under this Act.Provided that an aggrieved wife or female living inrelationship in the nature of a marriage may also file acomplaint against a relative of the husband or the malepartner.”

Residence OrderThe Act seeks to address the non-recognition of awoman’s right to residence in the ‘shared household’.While the right to reside is not a new concept in Indianlaw, previously, this right has never been clearly defined.However, it is vital to understand that the right to residegranted to the aggrieved woman does not confer on herthe right to ownership over the property. It is merely aprocedural safeguard against dispossession.28 Mostjudgments of courts have broadly interpreted the term‘shared household’ and elaborated on the right of theaggrieved woman to residence in the same. An exceptionto this trend is a Supreme Court judgment in S R Batra& Another v Taruna Batra29 where the court severelylimited the right to residence by saying that the rightexists only in property held by the husband, and not themother-in-law of the aggrieved woman. This ruling wascontrary to the plain meaning of the definition of ‘sharedhousehold’ under Section 2 (s). Batra has beendistinguished by the Madras High Court and Delhi HighCourts in P. Babu Venkatesh v. Rani30 and EveneetSingh v Prashanth Chaudhri & Ors31 respectively andthe negative impact of the restrictive interpretation inthe Batra ruling has been rightly whittled down. Anaggrieved woman can also claim her right to residencein tenanted premises as long as it is a sharedhousehold.32

Kinds of ReliefsThe Act provides for a range of remedies. The courtscan issue protection orders against the respondent tostop him from aiding or committing violence within oroutside the home; communicating with the woman;taking away her assets; and intimidating her family andthose assisting her against the violence.

It can grant a residence order to stop the woman frombeing dispossessed from the shared household and tostop or prevent any act that denies her right to peacefuloccupation in the household. This has already beendiscussed at length.

Monetary reliefs and compensation orders can be passedby the court entitling her to maintenance, payment foractual financial loss caused by domestic violence- suchas loss of earning, medical expenses and damage toproperty. The aggrieved person can also claim damagesfor injuries, including mental torture and distress.The court can grant her temporary custody of children.This is the only substantive law which restricts thevisitation rights of the respondent if the Magistrate is ofthe opinion that any visit of the respondent may be harmfulto the interests of the child or children.The court can grant from time to time interim orders toprevent further violence and provide immediate reliefs tothe affected woman, including right to residence.If the court determines that the respondent is committingor has committed or is likely to commit domestic violencean ex parte order may be passed.These remedies are simple to understand and interpretand also easy to apply.

Need not run from pillar to postThis Act puts into place a single window clearance systemfor women facing domestic violence. Previously a womanhad to seek different reliefs from different courts andthis was both time consuming as well as dangerousgiven the threat to life encountered in most cases ofdomestic violence.33

Administrative AgenciesThe Court of Judicial Magistrate of the first class or theMetropolitan Magistrate has the jurisdiction to decidecases under this Act. The Act also attempts to providewomen facing domestic violence easier access to court.It imposes an obligation on state governments to put inplace support structures to help women by introducingnew authorities under the Act such as the ProtectionOfficer (PO) as the key implementing agency of thislaw. There has been a gradual increase in theappointment of independent POs on a full time basisover the past few years.34According to report of theLawyers Collective and ICRW, the POs would not beeffective without adequate infrastructure and budget suchas allowance for transport, mobile phone, private officespace, and official letterheads and so on.35 The Act isambiguous about who is to serve notice to therespondent. This is causing a lot of difficulties to POsand women litigants. There is a clear need to addressthis issue and to provide requisite personnel/ assistanceto POs or in the alternative, designate the police/ courtprocess servers to undertake this responsibility. Despitecivil nature of the Act, the police are also expected toplay a very important role under the Act. It also putsinto place Service Providers registered under the Act,notified Shelter homes and medical facilities and



counsellors to conduct counselling on the direction ofthe court and welfare experts to assist the court.36TheAct also imposes a duty on such agencies to inform thewoman facing domestic violence of her rights uponreceipt of complaint. A Protection Officer can bepenalised under the Act for failure or refusal to dischargeshis duties as directed by the Magistrate in the protectionorder without any sufficient cause.The law could be put to good use. But there are severalhiccups in implementing the law. Though the Act speaksof the enforcement agency State governments arereluctant to make the said agency an effective one.Officers belonging to the women and child welfare

department or the social welfare department areentrusted this job as an additional assignment. It is notconstituted as an autonomous agency. The agencylacks infrastructure, protective homes, support staff andtrained counsellors.37They are not allotting sufficientbudget for the implementation of the Act. Budget wasnot allocated for the implementation of the Act underthe Twelfth Five Year plan.38 These adversecircumstances do dampen the spirits of women inaccessing justice under this Act. This is happeningbecause of lack of political will. If this problem isaddressed things will slowly fall in place in getting thislaw implemented on sound lines.



EDUCATION STATUS OF TRIBAL WOMEN

1. Research Scholar Department of Political Science & Public Administration, Achary Nagarjuna University, NagarjunaNagar, Guntur Andhra Pradesh.

2. Research Scholar Department of Political Science & Public Administration, Achary Nagarjuna University, NagarjunaNagar, Guntur . Andhra Pradesh.

Abstract

"Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidencenecessary to participate fully in the development process." It leads to higher productivity, efficiency and better socio-economic development. Participatory democracy and economic independence are the central elements ofempowerment. Empowering the marginalized Tribal women through education will contribute a lot to nationaldevelopment. Stepping into empowerment is a far distant dream for the Tribal women. The educational status of Tribalwomen is very low compared to their male counterparts. Education of women is conceived as one of the most powerfulweapons in the development of a nation. Empowerment of tribal women is challenging issue in the present scenario.Without empowerment of tribal women, meaningful inclusive growth of the country is not possible. Empowerment oftribal women can be measured through the power they have over economic resources to earn income and their percapita income, access to education, access and availability of professional opportunities and participation in economicdecision making and their access to political opportunities. Education is a mean to secure empowerment among themarginalized tribal women. 35 Tribal communities are residing in Andhra Pradesh with different socio-economicbackground. Finally, the paper concludes by arguing for an educational policy to adequately respond to essentialeducation in Andhra Pradesh

Malluri Srinivasa Rao1

ObjectivesThe main objectives of this paper are –1. Women Education and Empowerment2. Educational Status of Tribal’s in India3. Opportunities associated the education of the tribal

women

Women Education and Empowerment :-The opening up of the economy by the forces ofliberalization has resulted in a world order where „survivalof fittest has become the norm of the day, even for themarginalized. In the post liberalization economy wheresurvival is more significant than existence, this partenquires whether the education given to women in AndhraPradesh has empowered women in all spheres of societyso as to survive in the market oriented new world order.The impact of the forces of liberalization had diversepatterns in various sectors and regions of the Indianeconomy. Education is central to the process ofempowerment, since consciousness raising essentiallya process of education. Education, in the context ofempowerment is a weapon of great potency, as it providesexposure and access to new ideas and way of thinking,and triggered a demand for change. In the absence ofeducation that is relevant to existing knowledge and realneeds, women are unable to get access to formal sectorjobs, make career advancement, participate in decisionmaking at all levels, and be represented in government

D. Manovikas2

and gain political influence. Data around the world showsthat increased educational attainment is associated withthe empowerment of women (UN, 2004). Educatedwomen become more affective at improving their ownwell-being and their family s welfare. They are betterequipped to extract the most benefit from availableservices and existing opportunities, and to generatealternative opportunities, roles and support structures.These empowering effects of women’s education aremanifested in a variety of ways, including increasedincome earning potential, ability to bargain for resourceswithin the household, decision making autonomy, controlover their own sexuality, and participation in public life(Jose and Thampy 2006). The 2011 census reveals thatthe total tribal population of Andhra Pradesh is 59,18,073. Traditionally the Chenchus in the Nallamalaisare food gatherers and hunters. The Lambadas aretraditionally the cattle breeders. While a majority of tribalgroups inhabiting the Scheduled Areas are agriculturists,the Khonds, Konda Reddis and Savaras are largelyshifting cultivators. The Yeruulas pursue a variety ofoccupations ranging from basket making to sooth saying,while the Yanadis living in the countryside are engagedin fishing, snake catching, crop watching etc. The tribesof Andhra Pradesh can be classified into different groupson the basis of their geoethnic milieu. The scenario inthe tribal areas has been fast changing in the wake ofculture contact on unprecedented scale with thedevelopment of communications and transport in the tribal



areas. While the process of acculturation is paving wayof socio-cultural integration of tribal s with larger groupsof the society, there is also a danger of obliterating therich cultural heritage and institutions of positive value.The dynamics of acculturation may result in groupmaladjustment and disorganization. The rich culturalheritage of various tribal groups may soon become athing of the past. Since the process of acculturationcannot be halted it is considered imperative to studyand record various facets of socio-cultural life of all thetribal groups of the state.

Educational Status of Tribal’s in India :-India advocates inclusive growth, but owing to lack ofeducation and skill development, the marginalisedsections are not becoming part of the inclusive growth.To ensure inclusive growth, the Constitution hasempowered the backward classes with reservations ineducation and jobs. For this purpose, the Constitutionof India has earmarked certain special provisions toenable the SCs and STs to access education. Thesespecial provisions were adopted through the amendmentto the Constitution in 1951, and a special clause wasadded to article 15(4). This clause empowers the stateto make special provisions for the educationaldevelopment of the SCs and STs (Sahoo 2009). Thesespecial provisions too have failed to bring impressiveimpact on their literacy level as many tribals have theirown peculiar and vernacular language different from thecommon language spoken in the state where they reside.It’s found that as many as 22 per cent of tribal habitationshave less than 100 population, and more than 40 percent have between 100 to less than 300 people, whileothers have less than 500 people (Panda 2011; Sujatha2008). Their literacy rate did not go beyond 8.5 per centin 1961. In the same period, the female literacy ratewas much more depressing than that of male literacy,just 3.2 per cent. Recognizing their deprivation andmarginalization in Indian society, the Government of Indiahas started an innovative scheme for the promotion ofeducation among Scheduled Tribes, i.e., theestablishment of Ashram schools. The Ashram schoolconcept started in the Third Plan in all scheduled areasacross India. It aims to promote education to themarginalised in a customized way. In addition to Ashramschools, there was construction of hostels for boardingand lodging to tribal students in the schedule areas.These special measures were introduced to achievetargeted results in elementary education among thetribals. In spite of this, the literacy rate has not crossedbeyond 11.39 percent in 1971 because of the complexnature of issues like absenteeism, stagnation, drop-out,and seasonal migration by the tribal children. In themeantime, the Dhebar Commission of 1960 identifiedcertain specified reasons for the educational

backwardness of tribals. They were vaguegeneralisations like inappropriate and unattractiveteaching methods adopted by the teachers, etc. It alsotouched other problems like poor economic conditionand subsistence economy. In such a situation, childrenare seen as economic assets to supplement the familyincome by working with the parents and with others(Hasnain 2004). In a situation of dire necessitates oflife, education becomes a matter of luxury for the tribalfamily (Pradhan 2011). All these factors have contributedto work out a broader policy for tribal education. In thisbackground, the Dhebar Commission maderecommendations to provide the mid-day meal, clothing,free book, reading and writing materials, etc. to all thetribal children in backward areas. The commission furtherrecognizing the topographical factors recommended theopening of schools in localities where there were at least30 school-going children, though there should be aschool within one mile. The commission then suggestedadjustment of timing, vacations, and holidays of schoolsto suit the tribal social and cultural life. It even proposedto create an atmosphere of tribal culture in the schools.

Opportunities associated the education of the tribalwomen :-There is a saying that “if you educate a boy, you onlyeducate an individual; if you educate a girl you areeducating the whole family . Education impartsknowledge, and knowledge of self identity and humanenvironment will infuse a sense of confidence, courageand ability among the weaker sections of the society toknow and overcome their problems associated withexploitation and deprivation, and avail socio-economicand political opportunities extended to them (Pradhan2011). On November 28, 2001 the Government enactedthe 93rd Amendment of the constitution making the Rightto Education a Fundamental Right. There are number ofstudies exposed the educational development of tribalwomen by quantitative indicators in the form of enrolment,literacy rate and educational facilities. Though thegovernments have taken several steps in the developmentof tribal education projects and schemes much need tobe exercised. The social welfare programmes have beenineffective due to deficiency in the administrative scheme,lack of sore trained management, lack of generalpreparedness for large investments, lack of accountingsystems, procedural delays and insufficient of propermonitoring and evaluation.

The constitutional directive to allow for free and mandatoryeducation for all children up to the age of fourteen yearshas not yet been fulfilled. Experts from the educationalfield acknowledge that this lack of success is mainlydue to the slow progress of education among girls, SCand STs. It is observed that the literacy among the tribal



women has falling behind all other section. The loweducational condition of the tribal women is excogitatedin their lower literacy rate, lower enrolment rate and higherdropouts in the school. When women want to deal withissues like wages, savings, accessing governmentschemes, skills up gradation, interacting with socio-political structures the literacy have to be propelled. Thedropout rate for tribals at the secondary level is as highas 87 percent and for the girls it is almost ninety percent.

There are various factors responsible for the slowadvance of the educational development of tribal women.The factors like poverty(Poorness), unbiased attitude ofthe parents, irrational and bias, problem of suitableteacher, language and communication, inadequateinfrastructure facilities in education institution, high lossand stagnation. First and foremost indicator is pooreconomic status is a great deterrent to successfuleducation of the tribal children especially for femalechildren. In tribal communities, the role of women issubstantial and crucial and women are more importantthan in other social groups, because they work harderand the family economy and management depends onthem (Awais, Alam and Asif 2009). The tribal communitythink that if the child is taken away from his normaleconomic work to attend school, the family deprives ofthe little income, which she brings. As a consequence,the parents have to feed the child out of their earningand resulted economic marginalisation of the household.In these circumstances, education, the basic necessityof life, is a matter of luxury for the tribal family. A hugesection of tribal parents avoid sending their children toschool to grab the costless educational opportunitiesoffered to them. However tribal and non-tribal teachersfeel hard to convert the tribal parents to send theiryoungsters to school. The tribal community feels thatthere is no need for the girls to go to school and wastetheir time. Psychological and social factors like illiteracyof the parents and their indifference to education, lackof encouragement by the community, motivation and“insecurity” of future for being educated. Other factorslike low social interaction between students andteachers, and between teachers and parents, suspicionover the sincerity of the non-tribal teachers and in manycases shortage of tribal teachers also discourage parentsto send their children to school.

Irrational and bias acts a damaging role in contributingeducation in the tribal areas. The tribals thinks afterbecoming educated and earning jobs, their children mayalienate from them and cut off their links with their families

and villages. Some tribal groups trust that their almightyshall be furious if they send their children to schools runby outsiders. The non tribal teachers in many casestreat themselves „civilized and tribals as „uncivilizedand „savage (Pradhan 2011). The relationship betweenteachers and children is poor. In a tribal group, a positivethinking teacher, has a special power in the village settingfor which tribals are afraid of him. Most of the teachersunwilling to stay near the school or in the village, whereas teachers stay in nearby towns. Most of the tribalarea schools do not have sufficient teachers and theschools are depending on stop-gap arrangementteachers.

Deficiency of communication becomes a problembetween student and teachers. It is found that tribalstudents are often ridiculed, humiliated and reprimandedfor speaking in their own language, and are punished forfailing to talk in their standard language or continuouslylapsing back in the mother tongue (Nambissan 1994:2752). The basic infrastructure facilities in the tribalschool building are very poor which results the childrenstay away from the school. Some of the hostelconstructions are very slow, poor with substandard qualityof materials. In reality, most of the primary schools inthe tribal areas are single teacher-managed whosepresence in the school is more of exception than a rule(Hasnain 2004). A data revealed at the Primary level,the dropout rate among STs in 2003-04 was 48.9 percentand 70.1 percent at the Upper Primary level (Pradhan2011). School timing i.e. clash of class hour with theworking hour particularly, during the harvesting period,formal education, poverty, lack of academic atmosphere,unwillingness of the teachers to convince the parentsand parental apathy towards education and lack of propermedical aid, balanced diet and suitable self-employmentopportunities are the major factors for which there iswastage and stagnation.

References1. Census of India Vol.I, Monograph Series Part V B

(IV) Registrar General, New Delhi: Ministry of HomeAffairs, 1961.

2. Census of India (1991) Series 2, Part-IX (IV),Hyderabad: A.P. Special Tables for ScheduledCastes & Scheduled Tribes, 1996.

3. Dash. L.N, Education and Inclusive Development inIndia, New Delhi: Regal Publication, 2010.

4. Kumar. A, Tribal Development in India, New Delhi:Sarup & Sons, 2002.



WOMEN SOCIAL ACTION INDIA – A REVIEW

1. HOD of History, D.N.R.College(A), Bhimavaram.

Abstract Women’s Role in Society: This article mainly focus on The modern women are inclined towards the social issues, andtrying hard to improve the social status of women at large.Increased awareness and education has inspired women tocome out of the four walls of the home. Many woman actively supported and participated in the nationalist movementand secured eminent positions and offices in administration and public life in free India. Traditionally Indian womenexist because of the family and for the family.Just like their man counterpart, women are also fond of attending socialfunctions and value her social life quite a lot. Previously, men-folk used to discourage women from leaving theirhouseholds for attending social functions. Now the spread of education, especially that of women, and with that thechanging social attitudes of educated women have changed the order.

Key words : Women, Changing , education, social attitude.

IntroductionWomen’s Role in Society: The modern women areinclined towards the social issues, and trying hard toimprove the social status of women at large.Increased awareness and education has inspired womento come out of the four walls of the home. Many womanactively supported and participated in the nationalistmovement and secured eminent positions and offices inadministration and public life in free India. TraditionallyIndian women exist because of the family and for thefamily.Just like their man counterpart, women are also fond ofattending social functions and value her social life quitea lot. Previously, men-folk used to discourage womenfrom leaving their households for attending socialfunctions. Now the spread of education, especially thatof women, and with that the changing social attitudes ofeducated women have changed the order.The modern woman has started caring for her health,figure, cultural needs and interests, academic pursuits,social intercourse, religious activities recreational needs,etc.

Woman as a wife: Woman as a wife enjoyed ideally astatus almost equally to that of her husband andperformed both social as well as biological functions.Even today, the Indian girls are still brought up on modelsportraying selflessness, self-denial, and sacrifice.The desire for mutual affection and love is beginning toappear in their conception of their relationship with theirhusbands.The husband-wife relationship has become moreequalitarian in character and much more companionable.

More freedom of choice in marriage is thus anaccompaniment to the change in form of the family.

Women’s role in politics: Education of women hasnot only helped them to become aware of the politicalproblems, but they are gradually becoming activeparticipants in the political life. Some are enrollingthemselves as members of political parties, attendingparty meetings, conventions, and carrying out politicalprograms. Some women are attaining influential politicalstature of their own and have become instrumental inshaping the public opinion for the betterment of women’sconditions in society.

Participation of Women in Socio-economicactivities: The woman in modern times is entering intocertain new fields that were unknown to the woman’ssphere of role-sets. These are the woman’s participationin economic, political, and social life.The modern woman keenly desires to enter into a workcareer because of the pressing economic needs of thefamily. In middle class families, much emphasis is givento the maintenance of high standard of living. To fulfillthe economic needs of the family and to achieve higherstandard of living the woman participates in economicactivities.

Marriage: Most women, even the educated, regardmarriage as a matter of parental choice. Many younggirls of the middle and upper classes are educated witha view to marriage rather than to careers. Again, manygirls enter into careers apparently not because they wantthem, but because there is nothing else to be done untiltheir parents find them husbands.

Dr. B. S. Santha Kumari1



Women equality is not universal: Women’s equalityin terms of education, employment, and power is stillan individual rather than a universal achievement. Themajority of our women are still content to accept aninferior status. This is by and large due to the fact that,although legally women have equal rights with men, thereare not enough jobs for women and working women arenot adequately protected from exploitation.

Unaware of their legal status: Women are generallynot aware of the provisions related to the improvementof their own position. Even if they know about some ofthe provisions related to their rights of succession,marriage, or family, they do not desire to invoke them.Traditional dominance of the authority of the male parents,husband, and other elder members of the family oftenrestricts the enjoyment of their legal rights by the women.The materialization of these problems still dependslargely upon the attitudinal changes in society.

Rural women: Gandhiji’s vision that women must playan equal and important role in national development.However, the movement for raising the socio-economicstatus of women had involved generally the middle-classeducated women in major urban centers while the greatmass of rural women are yet to enjoy the rights andprivileges as enshrined in the Constitution.

Role of Women Welfare Organizations: Among thenational level, the important organizations are YoungWomen Christian Association, All India Women’sConference, National Council of Women, Inner Wheel(Women’s section of the Rotary International). In manycities, local organizations exist such as Mahila Mandal,Mahila Samiti, and Recreation Clubs, etc.

Conclusion: Educated women are just on the thresholdof transition from tradition to modernity. The womenthemselves desire that their status and position in societyshould rise higher. Though a proper climate for such achange is still wanting, yet there have been manystructural and statutory innovations for the improvementof their position. The traditional status and role sets ofwomen are breaking up and new role-sets based onachievement, independence and equality are graduallycoming up.

ConclusionThe position and status of today’s Women in Indiais considered high in modern Indian Society. The population of women is almost half of the total populationof India. A country or a community cannot be consideredcivilized where women are not honoured.

Indian laws have been made without discriminationagainst women. As a result Indian women enjoy highposition in our society. Women today occupy high rankingposts like. I.A.S, I.F.S. Indian Women are also in ourDefense Services.

The modern Indian women participate in various sportsand games like football, hockey, cricket, table tennis,lawn tennis and also in athletics. The ContemporaryIndian women serve as M.P., M.L.A, governors andministers. Women of recent times like Mother Teresa,Indira Gandhi, Vijaylakshmi Pandit, M.S. Subhalakshmi,Lata Mangeskar and now the president of India PrativaPatil have achieved international fame. Women have alsoachieved high fame in the areas of literature, music andacting. More and more women are joining the field ofscience and technology. In fact there is no sphere ofactivity in which women are unsuitable or incompetent.

Lets now have a look at the darker side. Though theIndian law does not discriminate between men andwomen, the status of women of our country today ispractically far below the status of men. Wife burning forfailure to pay dowry as demanded also continuesunabated all over India. It is a matter of great shock thatsuch cases are increasing in every year. In our countrybride is burnt or murdered for non-payment of dowry.The literacy rate of women is also lower than that ofmale persons almost all over India.

References1. Dhameja S K (2002), Women Entrepreneurs :

Opportunities, performance, problems, Deeppublications (p) Ltd, New Delhi, p 11

2. Rajendran N (2003), “Problems and prospects ofwomen Entrepreneurs” SEDME, Vol. 30 no.4 Dec.

3. Rao Padala Shanmukha (2007) “EntrepreneurshipDevelopment among Women : A case study of selfhelp Groups in Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh”The Icfai Journal of Entrepreneurship DevelopmentVol.1V No. 1



IMPACT OF MICRO-FINANCEON SOCIO-ECONOMICSTATUS OF SELF-HELP GROUPS MEMBERS WITHREFERENCE TO WEST GODAVARI DISTRICT, A.P.

1. Professor, Dept. of Management Studies, MBA Program, Sir C.R.Reddy College, Eluru-534 007, A.P., India.2. Associate Professor, Department of Accounting and Finance, College of Business and Economics, Wollo University,

Dessie, Ethiopia, East Africa.3. Student, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Gudlavalluru College of Engineering, Gudlavalluru

Abstract Human development and thereby economic development is measured through employment opportunities in acountry. There must also be a balance in the employment opportunities in all the sectors of an economy to minimizethe regional imbalances and for an overall development of a country. In a country like India where agriculture is amajor source of employment, the growth of employment level in agriculture is usually very low and sometimes itrecords a zero growth. Empirical evidence on employment in rural India is amply documented that there is highincidence of unemployment and underemployment among the economically weaker sections viz., landless labour,marginal and small farmers. Hence, there is a need for a shift towards entrepreneurial development to increase theemployment opportunities. Globalization of Indian economy in 1991 opened up the entry to multinational companiesto participate in Indian economic and business activities with a hope they would be major source of employment.While there is a satisfactory improvement in GDP after globalization, employment opportunities have not increasedas envisaged. On the contrary, the gap between rural employment and urban employment, employment for skilledand unskilled people, and unemployment for educated and uneducated people has widened. Women, the mostimportant component of Indian economy are ignored mainly in rural areas. Hence, there must be appropriate andadequate efforts to equip the women with necessary skills, education, and financial support and develop theirentrepreneurial abilities. This issue has been addressed well through the intervention of SHGs.

Keywords: underemployment, Globalization, weaker sections, Self-help Groups.

R. Satya Sravya3

IntroductionIndia is basically agricultural based country1. Therefore,major source of employment, especially in rural area isagriculture. Level of employment is one of the indicatorsof economic development and it has to be increased inall the sectors for an overall development of the country.But, the growth of employment level in agriculture is verylow and in some areas it records a zero growth whencompared to industrial and service sectors. Empiricalevidence on employment in rural India is amplydocumented and it is a fact that there is lack ofopportunities of employment in these areas. Further, itis pointed out that there is a slow growth of employmentin agriculture, growing unemployment of rural labour andgradual shift to non-agricultural employment. Thesestudies have also brought out the fact that there is highincidence of unemployment and underemploymentamong the economically weaker sections viz., landlesslabour, marginal and small farmers.

The changes in the economic policies of the Countryfacilitated the Multinational Corporations (MNCs) toparticipate in India economic activities2. This does notguarantee formal employment but on the contrary has

only resulted in more unemployment of labour both inrural and urban areas, particularly, women. Hence, it isnecessary that women in general and rural women inparticular, should equip themselves through formaleducation, in order to participate in non-agriculturalactivities by giving up their dependency in agriculture.Financial support like credit is also required to supportthese women to improve their employment status. Thishas been addressed well through the intervention of SHGsthrough the MFIs.

Hence, there is a need to ensure the role of SHGs inproviding employment opportunities to their membersand also to their family members.

Need for the Study:Government of India has been constantly emphasizingon women development and women empowerment sinceindependence1. All the state governments and officials,concerned with women welfare and development are alsoputting their best efforts towards this goal. Theresearchers, sociologists and policy makers areconducting surveys of different nature on womenempowerment from time to time and assessing the

Dr. R. Sreenivasa Rao1 Dr. V. V. Ratanji Rao Chowdary2



achievements of governments on uplifting women statusin Indian society. There is a marked progress in the statusof women in India over a period of time. However, Indianwomen have remained as one of the nation’s greatestuntapped resources. Hence, the Government of Indiawants to adopt ‘Empowerment Approach’ by giving moreelevation to women in all sectors of life. It is realizedthat the neglect of women’s power has been one of theroot causes of backwardness of the country. Hence,there is a significant shift in the developmental programsapproaches that entails women to acquire control overthemselves, their resources and take their owndecisions. However, for effective implementation of thisapproach, the prerequisite is the realization by the womenthemselves, of their economic role and potential, andsubsequently their economic self-reliance. In otherwords, women first of all empower themselves. Therefore,efforts should be initiated to infuse confidence in them.Training programs to enhance the skills to have accessto credit, educational inputs and improvement in thebargaining capacities, marketing skills etc., have to beconducted. Many NGOs, government agencies andeducational institutions have significantly contributedtowards women empowerment by facilitating directparticipation of women in income generation activitiesand decision-making capacity. There is a concerted efforttowards elevating the status of women from being merewage earners or helpers in the man’s business, tobecome controllers of the economic activity. Today, thestate Andhra Pradesh has accepted women’s empowermentas one of the important tasks for economic development.

It is against this background, the present study ofEmpowerment of Women through Micro Finance - Roleof Micro Enterprises is taken up with a view to suggeststeps to improve the status of women and their conditions.

Objectives of the StudyKeeping in view of above facts, the following are theobjectives of the study:• To examine the changing trends in the status of

women in India and assess the present role of womenand their empowerment.

• To study the social and economic status of samplehouseholds of SHGs in West Godavari district.

• To give appropriate suggestions, if any, to strengthenthe practices of SHGs and micro enterprises, andsuitable measures to the policy makers for meaningfulwomen empowerment.

Methodology adopted for the studyScope, Period and Area of the Study:West Godavari District of State of Andhra Pradesh inIndia is chosen for the present study. This District is

one of the richest districts of the State and named as‘rice bowl’ of Andhra Pradesh. Peculiarly, and at the sametime, some parts of the district also exhibit the povertyof the state. Thus, the district is the mix of, to someextent, poverty and richness. Study of Empowerment ofWomen in a district like West Godavari will reveal thereal progress and development of women. The scope ofthe present study is limited to eight Mandals within thepurview of all the four revenue divisions of the district.SHGs are providing major part of finance to microenterprises and other agricultural and non- agriculturalactivities in the rural area. Hence, the study considersthe opinions of women who have joined as members intheir respective SHGs and also run micro enterprises.The survey was carried out during November 2015 toMarch of the year 2016.

Sampling Design:There are four revenue divisions and 46 Mandals in WestGodavari district. All the four revenue in the district aretaken for study in the first stage of sampling. In thesecond stage, two Mandals are selected from eachrevenue division. Altogether, eight Mandals are selectedout of 46 Mandals. All these eight Mandals reflect differentsocial and economic characteristic features of WestGodavari District. All the selected eight Mandals aredivided into two groups: Group I and Group II. Group Iconsists of Kovvur, Aakiveedu, Palacole and Eluru,Polavaram, Jangareddygudem, Tanuku andTadepalligudem are included in Group II. Thecharacteristic features of each selected Mandal in eachgroup are different from the others. Grouping is also doneon the basis of demographic and topographic features,number of SHGs, number of micro enterprises etc. Thereare 10,276 SHGs with 1,13,036 household members puttogether in all the eight Mandals selected for study. Outof these households, 264 members in the selected areahave chosen. The sample design is presented in thefollowing Table.

Source of Data:Data is collected from both primary and secondarysources. Primary data is collected by personalinteractions, observations and also with the help of aquestionnaire from all the sample household membersof the selected SHGs in the study area.The data is alsocollected from text books, magazines, different web sitesand reputed journals.

HypothesisH0 : Significant difference in income between the

households belonging two GroupsH1 : There is no significant difference in income

between the households belonging two Groups



Table - 1 : Sampling Design

Name of Revenue Division

Eluru 16 20,756 66

Jangareddy Gudem 06 6,274 66

Narasa- puram 12 13,813 66

Kovvur 12 14,993 66

Total 46 55,836 264

No. of SHGsin each Revenue Division

No. of responders ineach Mandal

No. of Mandals in eachdivision

Employment pattern of the SHG members before joining SHGs:The pattern of employment of SHG members in the selected Mandals, in ‘before’ period, is presented in Table 2 andit indicates that among the two Groups, the members in the Group-II have relatively high on an average number ofdays of employments per year. The major share of the employment in Group II Mandalsis from cultivation 254 daysfollowed by other sources, agricultural labour and non-agricultural labour. The share of employment in agriculture ishigher followed by cultivation, non-agricultural labour and other sources in the pattern of employment of the SHGmembers in Group I Mandals. Activity wise number days of employment of the SHG members indicate that morenumber of days is reported in cultivation activities in Group-II Mandals which is located away from urban center.Similarly the proportion number days of employment in other sources are relatively higher in Group-II Mandals. It isso because some of the members are undertaking vegetable business in the nearby urban areas. The number ofdays of employment in non-agricultural labour is relatively higher in Group-I Mandals than in Group-II Mandalsbecause of its nearness to the urban center and employment in construction activity.

Table - 2 : Mandal - wise Distribution of Average Number of Working days per year ‘before period’

Name of the Mandals

Kovvur 258.04 242.72 51.28 148.04

Akiveedu 79.82 212.44 86.32 40.58

Palacole 236.8 253.44 147.48 90.52

Eluru 230.17 220.97 298.79 118.21

Group I Mandals (Average) 201.20 232.39 145.97 99.33

Polavaram 296.88 111.16 86.24 151.76

Jengareddy Gudem 210.82 186.64 37.40 113.46

Tanuku 210.88 140.76 0 201.76

Tadepalligudem 298.24 112.75 30.28 100.25

Group II Mandals (Average) 254.05 137.82 38.48 141.81

Agriculture Labour Non-Agriculture LabourCultivation Other Sources

Source: Field Survey

Employment Pattern of Members ‘after’ Joining SHGs: The employment pattern of SHG members in thecurrent period, that is after five years of formation of SHG Groups is presented in Table-3. It can be observed fromthe table that a major portion of employment on an averagein ‘after period’ is from ‘other sources’ followed bycultivation, non-agricultural labour and agricultural labour in Group-I Mandals. Same is the picture at Mandal levelalso. In case of Group-II Mandals, the number of days of employment after joining SHGs is relatively more fromcultivationfollowed by other sources,agricultural labour and non-agricultural labour. Same is the position with slightvariations in all the Group-II Mandals. Thus one can see the impact of the urban center on the employment patternof the family members of SHG Groups. The share of employment is relatively high in case of other sources and non-agricultural labour in Group-I Mandals which are located near the urban center, whereas the proportion of employmentin cultivation, agricultural labour activities put together is higher in Group-II Mandals which are located away fromthe urban center. Thus, one can see the impact of urbanization on the employment pattern of the SHG membersand their family members.



Table - 3 : Mandal - wise Distribution of Average Number of Working days per year ‘after period’

Name of the Mandals

Kovvur 294.48 167.82 128.04 202.92

Akiveedu 61.80 61.2 149.76 190.68

Palacole 163.64 95.68 163.68 120.48

Eluru 179.26 120.28 199.28 250.27

Group I Mandals(Average) 174.80 111.24 160.19 191.09

Polavaram 231.28 104.12 117.76 160.20

Jengareddy Gudem 258.08 134.36 135.28 123.64

Tanuku 298.03 135.92 20.48 212.08

Tadepalligudem 278.48 108.42 70.00 110.24

Group II Mandals (Average) 266.46 120.70 85.88 151.54

Agriculture Labour Non-Agriculture LabourCultivation Other Sources


Employment, before joining the SHG and five years after joining the SHG is compared in measuring the impact ofSHG on employment of SHG members and their family members. Data regarding these aspects are presented inTable 4 and 5.

Impact on the Employment of SHG Members:The SHG members are employed in different activities like cultivation, agricultural labour, non-agricultural labourand other sources, like petty trading, wage employment etc. The impact of employment pattern of the members ismeasured with help of the changes in the proportion of number of days in different activities of the person in the totaldays of employment in a year and after joining the SHG’s.

The comparative statement of working days before and after joining the SHGs is presented in Table-3. A shift inemployment pattern can be observed from the Table in two periods of time. Before joining the SHGs, major employmentin all the Mandals was mainly cultivation and agriculture labour. As the SHGs provide micro finance for smallentrepreneurial activities, many members have started petty business and could create employment for themselvesand for others also. Thus, after joining SHGs, the major employment sources are ‘other source’. However, stillagricultural is a considerable sources of employment in the district.

Table - 4 : Mandal - wise Distribution of Average Number of Working days Before and After Periods

Name of the Mandals

Kovvur 258.04 294.48 242.72 202.92 51.28 128.04 148.04 167.82

Akiveedu 79.82 61.80 212.44 190.68 86.32 149.76 40.58 61.2

Palacole 236.8 163.64 253.44 120.48 147.48 163.68 90.52 95.68

Eluru 230.17 179.26 220.97 250.27 298.79 199.28 118.21 120.28

Group I Mandals (Average) 201.21 174.80 232.39 191.19 145.97 160.19 99.14 111.25

Polavaram 296.88 231.28 111.16 104.12 86.24 117.76 151.76 160.20

Jengareddy Gudem 210.82 258.08 186.64 134.36 37.40 135.28 113.46 123.64

Tanuku 210.88 298.03 140.76 135.92 0 20.48 201.76 212.08

Tadepalligudem 298.24 278.48 112.75 108.42 30.28 70.00 100.25 110.24

Group II Mandals (Average) 254.21 266.46 137.82 120.70 38.48 85.88 141.80 151.54

Agriculture Labour Non-AgricultureLabourCultivation Other Sources

Before After Before After Before After Before After




The change in the employment pattern of the family members depends to some extent upon the loans taken by theSHG members to invest in both agricultural and non-agricultural activities by the family members. Another factor forchange in the employment from agricultural to Non-Agricultural activities is the availability and better wage rate inthe non-agricultural sector. Table 5 indicates that there is an incremental change in number of days of employment.The change in the number of days is relatively more in non-agricultural labour activities in both the Mandals, and itis relatively low in Group-1 Mandals due to a raise in construction activities in the District as a whole and in thevicinity in particular. Similar changes in the number of days of employment in the other sources of the familymembers are observed due to an increase the number of auto-rickshaws and petty businesses started by the familymembers in both the regions. This shift from agricultural to non-agricultural sectors has occurred mainly due to theloan facilities provided by the SHG s to their members. Some of the SHG members have availed loan facilitiesthrough SHG and given it to the family members as margin money to purchase auto-rickshaws or to start pettybusiness. Thus on one side the SHG members and on other side their family members are benefited by the loansbeing provided by the SHGs in the study area.

Having presented the employment pattern of the SHG members and their family members the focus of analysis is nowshifted to the examination of the levels of income and determinants of the household income of the SHG members.

Table - 5 : Mandal - Wise Distribution of Average Number of Working days of Family members of theSHGs HouseholdsBefore and After Periods


Section – II: IncomeThe income of the household generally indicates the economic status of the household. Being small and marginalfarmers and agricultural labour, the income of the SHG member households depend mostly on agriculture, agriculturallabour, and non-agricultural labour and other sources like petty business, auto-rickshaw, wage employment etc.Further being located nearer to urban center, possibility of earning income from non-agricultural activity may riseover a period. An attempt is made in this Section to examine the source wise income of the SHG member households,before and after periods in the selected Mandals.Income from agriculture is calculated by taking into account their value of the agricultural produce, produced duringthe year. Income from both agricultural and non-agricultural labour is calculated by taking into account the numberof days employed in the activity and the wage rate of the activity during the year. Income from the petty business,auto-rickshaws and salaries are calculated per month and multiplied with number of months they perform theactivity in a year. Thus, the total income of the household is the combination of income from agriculture, agriculturallabour, non-agricultural labour and other sources.

Total income of the household in a yearPer capita Income = -----------------------------------------------------------------

Total number of persons in the family

Name of the Mandals

Kovvur 227.96 184.68 241.16 225.64 75.76 167.12 181.04 210.12

Akiveedu 84.4 58.36 204.44 95.56 125.08 225.6 124.36 256.4

Palcole 290.96 243.40 79.96 64.76 235.24 263.68 179.27 244.75

Eluru 201.26 252.26 198.75 98.25 198.28 120.89 150.23 298.42

Group I Mandals (Average) 201.15 184.68 181.08 121.05 158.59 194.32 158.73 252.42

Polavaram 253.36 214.4 145.82 131.88 65.64 114.44 216.52 270.37

Jengareddy Gudem 210.44 266.04 212.32 180.68 66.52 171.85 202.72 266.76

Tanuku 278.92 244.76 155.24 129.52 55.00 85.6 233.84 277.6

Tadepalligudem 210.22 298.76 299.68 268.48 69.27 76.00 200.00 256.28

Group II Mandals (Average) 238.24 255.99 203.27 177.64 64.11 111.97 213.27 267.75

Agriculture Labour Non-AgricultureLabourCultivation Other Sources

Before After Before After Before After Before After



Income from Various Sources:The average household income of the SHG members from different sources and their proportion in their total incomeof the current period (i.e. after) is presented in Table 6. The Table indicates that among the two Groups, the averagehousehold income of the Group-I Mandal is relatively higher than the Group-II Mandals. Among the Mandals, thehousehold income is relatively higher in Palacole and Kovvuru of Group-I. The proportion of income from differentsources indicates that the income from the non-agricultural labour is higher than that from agricultural sources (thatis from agriculture and agricultural labour).

Table - 6 : Mandal - wise Distribution of Average Income of the SHGs Households After Period (inrupees)

Name of the Mandals

Kovvur 12394 14476 8213 7548 33736

Akiveedu 3726 11150 10859 4844 25488

Palacole 14696 2618 17934 10188 47714

Eluru 15796 1327 11231 9213 56471

Group I Mandals (Average) 11653 7392.75 12059.25 7948.25 40852.25

Polavaram 14724 8524 10677 11382 20666

Jengareddy Gudem 18010 7426 9729 3582 16812

Tanuku 20012 12176 6288 7136 23118

Tadepalligudem 13597 13474 7298 6717 13471

Group II Mandals (Average) 16585.75 10400 8498 7204.25 18516.75

AgriculturalLabour

Non-AgricultureLabourAgriculture Other

SourcesPetty

Business


The proportion of income from agriculture is lower in Group-I Mandals when compared to agriculture income inGroup-II Mandals. Thus, income from non-agricultural, sources dominated in the total average household income ofthe SHG members. The proportion is very high in Group-I Mandals, which are located nearer to urban center andrelatively less in Group-II Mandals. Income from other sources is higher in both the Groups and it is much higher inGroup I Mandals and same is the picture at division level and Group level.

Hypothesis Tested:The selected Mandals are divided into two Groups, basing on the proximity to urban center. Group I Mandalsincluded Kovvuru, Akiveedu, Palacole and Eluru which are relatively with better proximity to urban center. Group-IIMandals, Polavaram, Jangareddygudem, Tanuku and Tadepalligudem, which are relatively with less proximity tourban center.It is hypothesized that there is a significant difference in income between the households belonging these twoGroups. The hypothesis is tested with the help of student “t-test” (large sample) for the household income level inthe later period.

X1 – X2T =

S.E.

S.E.21 σ2σ2

+n1 n2

The calculate “t” -value 1.493 is significant level, i.e. the hypothesis is found to be true.

Findings of Changes in the Income Pattern:• Changes in the average income pattern of the SHG households are measured by comparing the income of the

households in the current period and 5 years before (which is generally the starting period of SHG).



• The proportion of combined income from agricultureand agriculture labour is almost similar in both theperiods in the Urban Mandals. Similarly at the Mandallevel also in Urban.

• While the proportion of the combined income fromagriculture and agriculture labour has declinedconsiderably in Rural Mandals put together and sameit is true at Mandal level also.

• Among the proportions of income from the non-agricultural sources that from other sources is higherin both the periods in Urban Mandals. But, it is notso high in the Rural Mandals and almost nearer tothe income from agriculture.

• A decline in the proportion of income from agricultureand an increase in income from non-agricultural labourcan be seen in both the Urban and Rural Mandalswith an exception of Polavaram in Rural Mandals.

• But, income from non-agricultural and agriculturallabour is higher in that division. At the absolute levela better rate of increase can be seen in the incomelevel from all the sources in the later period. Same isthe picture at the division level and Group level in thevarious sources of per capita income of SHGhouseholds.

• In Group-I (Urban) Mandals have more labour workingdays than Group-II (rural) Mandals except othersources before joining into SHGs.

• Surprisingly, after joining into SHGs number ofworking days increased in Group-II (rural) Mandalsalso.

• Disguised and seasonal unemployment ispredominant in the rural economy in India. This isbecause most of the rural workers are in agricultureand allied activities.

• The employment and unemployment of the mainworkers in the households, before and after joiningthe SHG is studied. After joining SHG, the numberof days worked has increased. Percentage of daysunemployed was declined during the period understudy.

PolicyRecommendations:Entrepreneurshipd evelopment among women may belooked at from two angles. One is to create theenvironment needed for healthy and soundentrepreneurship and the other is to have more and morerational motivational campaigns (McClell and,1961).Theemergenceofentre preneursina society depends toagreatextent on the economic, social, religious, culturaland psychological factors prevailing in the society.Therefore, the reisanurgent need tonurture and createanenablingentre preneurialclimate.

There is a need for designing appropriate strategies forbringing more and more women into the entre preneurialarena and providing them with organizational support. Therecommendations in this regardderived from the analysisof primary data are given under the following:• Provide good transport facilities with cheaper cost to

rural villages.• Discuss various types of discrimination and

constraints like psychological, socio-cultural, andeconomic and others that might hamper theirentrepreneurial aspirations and suggest measuresto overcome them.

• Provide access to formal and non-formal course/training in skills, management of money andenterprise.

• Explore new avenues for self-enterprise, upgrade theirknowledge, skills and provide them with suitabletechnical guidance, financial and marketing supportand infrastructural facilities.

• Give greater priority to development and provision ofinfrastructure in rural areas such as access to water,fuel, housing, primary health care and child carecenters. Better facilities help them to change in lifestyle and subsequently in their attitudes towards theirfamily, society and the Nation.

• District Industries centers (DICs) and District MahilaPranganas have to be geared up to organize massiveawareness programs for women in exploring thepossibility of starting micro-enterprises. Women haveto be given not only initial capital but also help inmarketing their products.

• Policy makers need to recognize the potential of microfinancial services to support investment and growthin key economic sectors and hence to contributesignificantly to national economic growth.

• The State government should give necessaryinstructions to the developmental agencies to co-operate with the financial institutions in conductingrecovery drives.

• Establishment of marketing information center atdistrict level for enhancing the opportunity of marketingoutside of locality.

• Training programs should be prioritized and annualspecific program oriented. Different training programsshould be conducted for different nature of micro-enterprises and for different management functions.

• To organize refresher programs to groups to reinforcethe basic tenets and create better awareness and tostrengthen group dynamics.

• Suggested to organize activity oriented trainingprograms based on the groups choice to initiate thegroups into income generating levels.



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SELF-HELP GROUPS: A WAY TO PROMOTETHE RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

1. Lecturer in Commerce, SRVBSJBMR College, Peddapuram.

Abstract

Among the total Population of 6 Billion of the world 70 % world’s population are poor women, so it is necessary toprovide Adequate Financial Assistance to improve their lively hood in Rural Areas. Though India is vast Populatedcountry where maximum women are residing in rural areas and income levels also not satisfied. So banking servicesare required for poverty elevation and optimize their contirbut9in to the growth of reasonable as well as the nationaleconomy. SHGs have emerged as the most vital instrument in the process of participatory development and womenempowerment. The rural women are the marginalized group in the society because of socio economic constraints.They remain backward and lower position of social hierarchy ladder. They can lift themselves from the morass ofpoverty and stagnation through micro finance and formation of SHGs. The present study analyzed the primary datacollected from 150 beneficiaries of Srikakulam District of AP to understand the benefits of SHGs on 2 dimensions i.e.,Analysis of demographic information, Analysis of Women empowerment where the age, Family system and Numberof dependants in the family etc. and reasons of joining SHGs purpose of Loan, Payment of Loan, Income, Savings,expenditure and power in the important decision making are analyzed in women Empowerment.

Dr. K. Nageswara Rao1

IntroductionDefinition of Entrepreneur: The term „entrepreneur” hasbeen derived from the French word „entrepreneur” meansto undertake. The term entrepreneur may be defined as“an entrepreneur is a person who combines capital andlabour for production”.

The planned economic system has been introduced inIndia since April 1, 1951 with the Five Years Plans, whichhas completed its tenth Five Year Plan. The 11th FiveYear Plan has begun from April 1, 2007. N o doubt therewas development in various sectors of the Indian economyduring these plan periods. The production fromagriculture has increased from 105 million tons in theyear 1949-50 to approximately 600 million tons in theyear 2007-08 through green, yellow, white and bluerevolutions. There has been 7-8% annual growth in theindustrial sector. Further, service sector has beencontributing to the growth of Indian economy significantly.

The main reason for considerable percentage ofpopulation below the poverty line and India still remaininga developing country with lot of problems is due to thehuman resources not being used at the optimum level.The first prime minister of independent India, PanditJawaharlal Nehru, has rightly said that, “the women ofIndia should play a vital role in building strong nation”.Further, tile Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi hassaid, “the development of every village is nothing but thedevelopment of nation”. It is well-known fact that thegrowth of women in turn develops her family, village and

the nation in general. Since women constitute 48.46%of total population in India as per Census 2011, it is veryessential to employ this resource optimally in the interestof the nation in general and her family in particular. Inthe past ,women were not ready to undertake any work,job and business due to shyness, fear and maledominance in the society. However, of late, India womenhave come out of the four walls of the kitchen and showedtheir willingness to take up entrepreneurial activities.Women of today want more economic freedom. Further,many women have proved that they are more efficientthan men in contributing to the growth of the economy.Just as we need two hands for the smooth function ofour work, similarly, both men and women should involvein productive activities to build a strong nation. To mitigatethe problem of unemployment and underemployment,the role of women should not only be confined to generateemployment, but also to provide employment to others.They have to undertake entrepreneurial activities tocreate additional wealth for the nation and to solve theproblem of unemployment and poverty. Entrepreneurshipdevelopment among women, particularly among ruralwomen, will strengthen the rural and national economy.

Self-help Groups (SHGs) SHG is a small group of ruralpoor, who have voluntarily come forward to form a groupfor improvement of the social and economic status ofthe members. It can be formal (registered) or informal.Members of SHG agree to save regularly and contributeto a common fund. The members agree to use this



common fund and such other funds (like grants and loansfrom banks), which they may receive as a group, to givesmall loans to needy members as per the decision ofthe group. The concept underlines the principle of Thrift,Credit and Self-help.

Need of the SHGsThe rural poor are incapacitated due to various reasons,because most of them are socially backward, illiterate,with low motivation and poor economic base. Individually,a poor man is not only weak in socio-economic term butalso lacks access to the knowledge and informationwhich are the most important components of today’sdevelopment process. However, in a group, they areempowered to overcome many of these shortcomings.Hence, the role of SHGs is highly essential which inspecific terms covers the following as under:a. To mobilize the resources of individual members for

their collective economic development.b. To uplift the living conditions of the poor.c. To create a habit of saving.d. Utilization of local resources.e. To mobilize individual skills for group’s interest.f. To create awareness about rights.g. To assist the members financially at the time of need.h. Entrepreneurship development.i. To identify problems, analyzing and finding solutions

in the group.j. To act as a media for socio-economic development

of the village.k. To develop linkage with institutions of NG0s.l. To help in recovery of loans.m. To gain mutual understanding, develop trust and self-

confidence.n. To build-up team work.o. To develop leadership qualities.p. To use as an effective delivery channel for rural credit.

Objectives of the study• To analyse women empower through SHGs.• To analyse the economic gains of the women derived

by SHGs.• To analyse the entrepreneurship abilities of women

in rural areas derived by SHGs

Review of literatureThere are numerous studies made both by Indians andforeigners to examine the empowerment of women andtheir related issues. Some of the important studies inthis regard are as follows.

Pattanaik (2003) in her study reveals that SHGs arecontinuously strive for a better future for tribal women asparticipants, decision makers and beneficiaries in thedomestic, economic, social and cultural spheres of life.But due to certain constraints like gender inequality,exploitation, women torture for which various SHGs arenot organized properly and effectively.

Manimekalai (2005) in his article commented that to runthe income generating activities successfully the SHGsmust get the help of NG0s. The bank officials shouldcouncil and guide the women in selecting andimplementing profitable income generating activities. Heremarked that the formation of SHGs have boosted theself-image and confidence of rural women.

Sahu and Tripathy (2005) in their edition book views that70 percent world’s poor are women. Access to poor tobanking services is important not only for povertyalleviation but also for optimizing their contribution tothe growth of regional as well as the national economy.Self-help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as the most vitalinstrument in the process of participatory developmentand women empowerment. The rural women are themarginalized group in the society because of socio-economic constraints. They remain backs rd and lowerpositions of social hierarchy ladder. They can liftthemselves from the morass of poverty and stagnationthrough microfinance and formation of Self-Help Groups.

Nayak (2007) made an attempt to analyze theempowerment of poor through SHG and microfinance inthe Kalahandi district of Odisha. The questionnaires wereprepared and presented to 997 members of sample 80SHGs. The study found that 89,194 families of Kalahandidistrict benefited from SHGs and bank linkageprogramme and suggested strengthening of cooperativesectors.

Murugan and Begum (2008) made an attempt to examinethe predominant barriers to women entrepreneurs. Thestudy was based on the primary data collected from thesample 100 entrepreneurs of Chennai City. The studyreveals that social and cultural barriers are prominentformidable block for the development of womenentrepreneurs. The study conclude that entrepreneurswith ability to plan and run a business to deliver qualityproducts.

Kamaraja (2009) made an attempt to evaluate theperformance of SHGs in Tamil Nadu. The studyhighlighted the progress of SHGs in India and in TamilNadu. It revealed that there has been a steady progressin the number of SHGs and amount of loan sanctioned.The studies conclude that a timely and regular check ofmicrocredit through SHGs will contribute to a healthyprogress and to the overall development of rural women.



Analysis of Women EmpowermentAnalysis of women empowerment through SHGs in thisstudy is based on two dimensions: Analysis ofdemographic information and analysis of womenempowerment. The age, family system and number ofdependents in the family, etc.., are analyzed indemographic information. The reason of joining SHGs,Purpose of loan, repayment of loan, income, savings,expenditure and powers in important decisions areanalyzed in women empowerment.Classification has been made on the basis of age groupof the beneficiaries in the following table.

Table - 1 : Age-wise Classification ofBeneficiaries

Less than 20 10 06.67

20-30 49 32.67

30-40 51 34.00

40-50 26 17.33

Above 50 14 9.33

Total 150 100

Age Number ofBeneficiaries %

Source: Compiled by author.

It is evident from the Table 1 that the 34% of samplerespondent are between 30-40 years of age and 06.67%of sample respondent are less than 20 years. Theyconstitute the highest and the lowest respectively in totalsample respondents. This shows that maximum adultwomen in the age group of 30-40 prefer to join SHGs inthe study area and this is more in number as comparedto younger and older age groups.In the following table, classification has been made onthe basis of family system.

Table - 2 : Family System-wise Classification ofBeneficiaries

Individual 82 54.67

Joint 68 45.33

Total 150 100

Family system Number ofBeneficiaries %


Table 2 shows that 54.67% of the women respondentshave individual family system where as 45.33% havejoint family system. This trend shows that joint familysystem has been losing its importance even in ruralareas due to changing socio cultural system. The joint

family system is the system that protects everyone inthe family irrespective of their age and income. However,due to change in family system the future of elderly peopleseems uncertain.

In the following table, classification has been made onthe basis of number of dependents in the family.

Table - 3 : Number of Dependents of Beneficiaries

1-2 58 38.66

3-4 45 30.00

5-6 31 20.67

Above 6 16 10.67

Total 150 100

Number ofDependants

Number ofBeneficiaries %


This table reveals that out of the total women respondents3 8.66% Of the respondents have 1-2 dependents, 30%have 3-4 dependents, 20.67% have 5-6 dependents andonly 10.67% of sample respondents have above 6dependents. This signifies that the Indian rural peopleare also moving towards 1 or 2 kid’s norm.

In the following table, classification has been made torecord the reasons for which the respondents have joinedthe SHGs.

Table - 4 : Reason for Joining SHGs

Getting Loan 67 44.67

Promoting Savings 49 32.66

Social Status 21 14.00

Others 13 08.67

Total 150 100

Reasons Number ofBeneficiaries %


It is evident from the table 4 that 44.67% women havejoined SHGs for getting loan, 33.66% to promote savings,14% for social status and the rest for miscellaneousreasons. This signifies that majority of respondents havejoined SHGs to avail loan facility as compared to otherreasons.

In table 5, classification has been made to show thereasons for which the women respondents wish to availloan.



Table - 5 : Purpose of Loan of Beneficiaries


It is observed from the table 5 that 18%of sample respondents have taken loan for personal use, 20.67% foragriculture development, 34.67% for business reasons, 16% for medical purpose and 10.66% for house improvements.This indicates that loan has been primarily taken by respondents for productive purposes like business and agriculture.In the table6, classification has been made to show the repayment response of the women respondents who haveavailed loan through SHGs.

Table - 6 : Repayment of Loan by Beneficiaries


This table reveals that 72% of sample respondents have repaid the loan on time, 8% in advance, while20% haverepaid the loan at a later date. This signifies that women respondents are very prompt in repayment of loan theyborrowed through SHGs.In the table 7 the monthly income of the women respondents before and after joining SHGs has been classified.

Table - 7 : Monthly Income of Beneficiaries

Personal 27 18

Agriculture 31 20.67

Business 52 34.67

Medical 24 16

House Improvement 16 10.66

Total 150 100

Purpose of Loan Number of Beneficiaries %

In Advance 12 08.00

In Time 108 72.00

Late 30 20.00

Total 150 100

Repayment Schedule Number of Beneficiaries %

Less than 1000 34 22.67 14 09.33

1000-2000 30 20.00 20 13.33

2000-3000 26 17.33 22 14.67

3000-4000 21 14.00 27 18.00

4000-5000 23 15.33 35 23.33

Above 5000 16 10.67 32 21.34

Total 150 100 150 100

Income Level Number of Beneficiaries

%Before Joining SHGs After Joining SHGs%


It is evident from the above table that income level of sample respondents have increased after joining SHGs. Similarly, the monthly expenditure of the women respondents before and after joining SHGs have been classified inthe table8.



Table - 8 : Monthly Expenditure of Beneficiaries

Less than 1000 39 26.00 29 19.33

1000-2000 50 33.33 39 26.00

2000-3000 35 23.33 45 30.00

3000-4000 19 12.67 26 17.33

4000-5000 7 04.67 11 07.33

Total 150 100 150 100

Expenditure Number of Beneficiaries



Table 8 shows that the monthly expenditure of the sample respondents has gone up after joining SHGs. The numberof sample respondents (89) whose average monthly expenditure is up to 2,000 before joining SHGs has declined to68 and the number of respondents (61) whose monthly expenditure is 2,001 and above have increased to 82 afterjoining the SHGs.In table 9, classification has been made to show the monthly savings pattern of the women respondents in theSHGs.

Table - 9 : Monthly Saving Pattern of Beneficiaries

Less than 100 59 39.33 36 24.00

100-150 39 26 37 24.6 7

150-200 24 16.00 33 22.00

200-250 18 12.00 29 19.33

Above 250 10 06.67 15 10.00

Total 150 100.00 150 100.00

Savings Level Number of Beneficiaries


Source: Compiled by author

It is observed from the table 9 that savings of sample respondents have gone up after they become members ofSHGs as compared to their earlier savings.In the table l0, classification has been made to show the opinion of women SHG members regarding increase in thepower of decision making in their respective families and outside.

Table - 10 : Opinion of Beneficiaries regarding increase in the power of Decision Making

Purchase and Sale of Fixed Assets 62 41.33 88 58.67 150 100

Purchase and Sale of Current Assets 81 54.00 69 46.00 150 100

Purchase and Sale of Domestic Assets 85 56.67 65 43.33 150 100

Purchase and Sale of Ornaments 91 60.67 59 39.33 150 100

Purchase of Home Appliances 97 64.67 53 35.33 150 100

Purchase of Clothes 110 73.33 40 26.67 150 100

Construction and Improvement of Housing Facilities 68 45.33 82 54.67 150 100

Type of DecisionsOpinion of Beneficiaries

%Yes No% %Total



Raising of Loan 63 42.00 87 58.00 150 100

Repayment of Loan 58 38.67 92 61.33 150 100

Savings and Their Investments 62 41.33 88 58.67 150 100

Education and Children 72 48.00 78 52.00 150 100

Participation in Social Activities 92 61.33 58 38.67 150 100


REFERENCES:1. Pattanaik, S (2003) “Smarinika, 2003”, Empowerment through SHGs.2. Malhotra, M (2004), Empowerment of Women, Isha Books, Delhi.3. Manimekalai, K (2004),”Economic Empowerment Of Women Through SHGs” Third concept, February.4. Sahu and Tripathy (2005), Self-Help Groups and Women Empowerment, Anmol publications Pvt Ltd., New

Delhi. 5. Vasanthakumari, P (2008),”Women empowerment through micro enterprise Development”, Southern

Economist,Vol. 47, No.15, pp.31-34. 6. Gudaganavar, R and Sannasi, S (2008), “Women Entrepreneurship: The Road Ahead”, Southern Economist,

Vol.46, No.18, pp.36-38.



DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY OF CORPORATE BOARDS

1. Director, SD College of Information Technology, Tanuku.2. Associate Professor & Senior Consultant, VESTAL Institutions, Eluru, AP.3. Head Marketing, Deepak Nex Gen Foods & Feeds Pvt., Ltd., Hanuman Junction, AP.

AbstractHaving Women on Corporate Boards is a diversity measure justified on the basis of both social equity and businessconsideration. Global experience indicates that progress in the implementation of gender diversity is typically tardyunless mandated by law.European Countries in general and Scandinavian Countries in particular have progressedsignificantly in this field, with Norway heading the world with 35.5% representation of Women on their Boards. Effectivefrom01st April, 2015, Listed Companies in India were required to have at least One Woman Director on their Boards,close to 88% of the Companies reportedly have complied. In response to the recent SEBI mandate, a large numberof Listed Companies in India seem to have appointed Women Directors, not surprisingly, most Indian Listed Companieshave only One Woman Director, although studies have shown that Companies with three or more Women Directorshave outperformed those that have had less. Aside from absence of critical mass of Women Directors, a number ofother issues have emerged, viz., independence of Women Directors appointed, paucity ofpotential independentWoman Directors and Women Directors’ own perception.Capacity Building, Supportive Boards and Legislative Actionare essential for successfulprogress in this field. From a Human Capital perspective, Women constitute 48% of thepopulation of India and their participation in higher education has been increasing. Their presence in Senior LeadershipTeams and in Boards of Companies, however, has not been significant enough. This paper is an attempt to explain theextent of participation of Women on Indian Boards, with a focus on cross-country experiences and finally, thecompetencies needed to be effective on a Board. The paper also provides some recommendations to improve theparticipation of Women on Boards.

Key Words: Diversity, Inclusivity, Glass Cliff

Dr. J. Chandra Prasad1

The Prologue‘YatraNaryastuPujyante, RamanteTatraDevata’is themythological saying which connotes that the God resideswhere the Women arerespected and worshipped.Womenare not the better-half rather they are the besthalf,constituting half of the population.This warrants afair and due share to the Women in all dimensions.TheCorporate Organisations are not an exception.With socialand cultural shifts in society, there has been anincreasing trend to promote greater diversity withinorganisations. Nearly 1 Billion Women who are set toenter the workforce in the next decade are viewed asdrivers of economic growth, as the ‘Third Billion’ nextonly to India and China (Booz & Co., 2012). Yet, theinclusion of Women in the highest echelons of businessand management has not been promising. As severalauthors (Fairfax, 2006, et al., ) have noted, while therehas been progress in the last four decades in theparticipation of Women in employment in organisations,the increase at the levels of senior management hasnot been significant, given the large number of Womenwho are entering the workforce and acquiring highereducation.

In the last two decades, several countries haveintroduced quotas for increased participation of women

on the Boards Of Companies. Of particular significanceis the European Union (EU) quota, according to whichat least 40% of the Non-Executive Directors of Publicly-Traded European Companies should comprise Womenby 2020, State-Owned Companies are expected toachieve this goal by 2018 (Ibarra, 2012). However, recentempirical evidence from the Scandinavian Countriesindicates that while quotas have been effective inincreasing the participation of Women Directors onBoards, the new Women Directors inducted to variousboards had significantly less CEO experience and wereyounger than the existing Men Directors (Ahern andDittmar, 2012).

From a Human Capital perspective, Women constitute48% of the population of India and their participation inhigher education has been increasing. Their presencein Senior Leadership Teams and in Boards of Companies,however, has not been significant enough.

This paper is an attempt to explain the extent ofparticipation of Women on IndianBoards, with a focuson cross-country experiences and finally, thecompetencies needed to be effective on a Board. Thepaper also provides some recommendations to improvethe participation of Women on Boards.

Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao3Dr. K. Bhanu Prakash2



In a Pioneering Book ‘Leadership by Proxy’ by Poonam Barua, 2016, it is stated that lay an archival milestonefor creating a ‘Brave New Mindset’ in Corporate India and Businesses Worldwide that will genuinely embrace‘Balanced Leadership’ as a true goal of Corporate Enterprise, validate and verify equal opportunity with meritocracy,respect inclusive growth for Women who form 50% of the world population, and best practices in the workplace thatwill reject homogenous All-Male Corporate Leadership as a fundamental economic function to bring optimum rewardsof diversity to business growth and societal progress.

In India, the Companies Act (Revised) approved in August 2013, for the first time, made it mandatory for all ListedCompanies and Other Large Public Limited Firms’ to appoint at least One Woman Director to their Boards. Moreover,the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also amended its disclosure requirements to include a similarprovision. It requires the Boards Of Directors of all Listed Companies to have an optimum combination of Executiveand Non-Executive Directors at least 50 per cent and Non-Executive with at least One Woman Director. This hasled to an increase in the pace at which women are being appointed to Boards. Women still go largely under-represented on Corporate Boards and hold just 12.4 per cent of Board Seats in India, slightly lower than the globalaverage of 15 per cent, says a Deloitte Report.The percentage of Women in ‘Top Leadership Roles’is even loweras they constituted 3.2 per cent of Board Chairs in India in 2016, while the global average stood at 4 per cent. Basedon a Deloitte Analysis covering 132 companies, the number of Women on Boards in India increased by 4 .7 percent to 12.7 per cent over the past two years.

Cross Country Canvas of DiversityIndia is not the first country to do so,many others like Norway, France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium have alreadyimplemented such steps by introducing legislation or quota which makes it mandatory to appoint Women Directorsin a Company’s Board.

As evident from Table-1, in majority of the Countries, including India, gender diversity on Corporate Boards is mademandatory. Except in India and the UAE, where the threshold limit for Women on Corporate Boards is fixed at leastOne Woman Director, in the rest of the Stated Countries threshold limit fixed for the Women on Corporate Boardsranged between 30 to 40 per cent. Despite the attractive thresholds set the reality is otherwise as could be observedfrom Table-2.

Table - 1: Regulatory Thresholds for Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards

Country

Belgium Mandatory 33% 2011 2017

Denmark Comply or Explain 40% 2013 –

France Mandatory 40% 2010 2016

Germany Mandatory 30% 2015 2016

Italy Mandatory 33% 2011 2015

Malaysia Mandatory 30% 2011 2016

Netherlands Comply or Explain 30% 2013 2016

Norway Mandatory 40% 2003 2008

Spain Comply or Explain 40% 2007 2015

UAE Mandatory 1 Woman Director (at least) 2012 –

India Mandatory 1 Woman Director (at least) 2013 2015

Threshold Introduced in Due DateRequirement Type

Source: Catalyst Legislative Board Diversity: Women on Boards



Table - 2 : Average Proportion Of Women Directors Per Country

Country

India 13

Switzerland 16

Spain 19

USA 21

Germany 23

United Kingdom 23

Netherlands 24

Italy 25

Denmark 27

Belgium 27

Finland 32

France 34

Sweden 35

Norwary 39

Proportion (in percentage)

Source: www.globalwomen.org

As evident from Table-2,Norway is at the forefront with 39 per cent followed by Sweden, France 34 per cent, Finland32 per cent, Belgium and Denmark 27 per cent, Italy 25 per cent and Netherlands 24 per cent. India stands with theleast 13 per cent. The European Markets have taken the lead in promoting gender diversity, with most of themhaving adopted regulatory quotas for female representation. Norway was one of the first countries to set a benchmarkin 2003, the Norwegian Government passed a law that required companies to have at least 40% of Board Membersto be Women. The law came into effect in 2006 and it stipulated that, after an initial grace period of two years, afailure to achieve the 40% quota would invite regulatory action. The approach was subsequently adopted by OtherCountries including France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Denmark. The laws in these countries have resulted in asurge of Women Director Appointments since the last decade. For example, as per the Corporate Women DirectorsInternational (CWDI) Report, 2015,Female Representation in Italy went up from 1.9% in 2004 to 25.8% in 2014.In France, the number increased from 7.2% in 2004 to 30.2% in 2014. It indicates that Companies have respondedto the regulatory sanctions.

Table - 3 : Global Comparison of Key Metrics

Proportion of Women on Boards 13 25 21

Women as proportion of Independent Directors 16 34 -

Boards without Women Directors 3 5 1

Boards with Two or More Women Directors 21 80 76

Boards with Three or More Women Directors 5 49 25

Average No. of Women Per Board 1.2 2.8 2.3

Proportion of Women on Committees

Audit Committee 12 29 22

Remuneration Committee 13 26 20

NIFTY - 500 India STOXX - 600 EuropeWomen in Corporate Boards

S & P - 500 U.S.A.

( in percentage)

Source: Gender Diversity on European Boards, Spencer Stuart Study, Women Participation on Key Committees



The data from Table-3,suggests that India still lags on some key metrics. Only 21% of NIFTY-500 Boards haveTwo or More Women as compared to 80% in some other markets. On an average, India has 1.2 Women Directorson Boards, which is significantly less than its European and US Peers. Even on Committee Memberships, WomenDirectors are under-represented in India. India Inc.has made a good start in adopting gender diversity. Although, it isone of the first developing countries to push for female representation, it still has some way to go to catch up withdeveloped markets, where the average proportion of Women Directors generally ranges between 20%- 40%.

Table - 4 : Proportion of Women DirectorsDuring 2010-2016 (NSE Listed Companies)

Country

Proportion (in percentage) 4.5 4.5 4.6 4.9 5.4 12.5 13.7

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Source: Prime Data Base, 2016.

Table-4 shows that in the year 2010 the proportion of Women Directors on Corporate Boards of NSE ListedCompanies was only 4.5 per cent which stood at 4.9 by the year 2013, increased to 12.5 per cent in 2015 and stoodat 13.7 per cent in the year 2016. Thus, number has nearly tripled over the past six years from 4.5 percent in 2010to 13.7 percent in 2016. This has helped India close the global gap average, which stands at a 14.7 percent.(CSGender 3000 Report). Industry Bodies are speaking in unison that at 13%, Women are still under-represented instewardship roles despite constituting a significant portion of the talent pool in corporate India. This is much lowerthan Countries like Norway (39%), France (34%), UK (23%) and USA (21%). Only 26 Boards in the Nifty-500 hadthree or more Women Directorsas on 31stMarch, 2017. Fifteen Companies had no female representation on Boardsas compared with only six companies in the S&P-500 as on 31st March, 2017. Following the example of WesternCountries which have a ‘30% Club’, India has come up with its own ‘20% Club’, an aspirational target of achieving20% gender diversity on Corporate Boards by 2020. Very few companies in India have looked at Women Directorsin the true spirit of diversity as only 1.6% of the Companies had 30% or more Women on Boards, according toPrime Database.

SUGGESTIONS(i) Commitment from Market Participants

Market Participants viz., Companies, Industry Bodies, Investors and Regulators must together commit themselvesto the goal of gender diversity. Companies, on their part, need to pick up the baton and take this initiativeforward. It requires a shift in the corporate mindset. To reap the full benefits of diversity, companies have toembrace the legislative intent and put in place systems and processes which will end discriminatory practices.Theultimate test of the impact of the forced gender diversity is if companies begin to experience the difference,resulting in a stronger buy-in of the idea.

(ii) Must Raise the Bar for Higher TargetBy pushing for gender diversity, the regulators have taken the first step. But, mandating only one WomanDirector may not help achieve the final objective of ensuring gender parity at the leadership levels in CorporateIndia.Companies must raise the bar, and must target to have 20% of their Boards comprising Women by 2020and further we need to reach our own Club of 30%.

(iii) Tokenism Does Not WorkOne Woman on Board is tokenism when Women on the Corporate Boards are proved valuable.For a proportionalrepresentationWomen should form 50% of the workforce. Unless one is convinced that this is really beneficialfor a Board, Administrative Measures and Legislative Measures are just a tick in the box and don’t serve thepurpose.Women are believed to bring in a diverse perspective in addition to discipline to a Board with a bettersensitivity to customer issues.Companies don’t need to wait for a ‘Superstar Women’ to induct them on Boards.

(iv) Drive from Intention to Impact WarrantedCompanies cannot expect progress by simply putting down policies on paper. According to the BCG Surveyon Gender Diversity in Indian Companies,Women’s representation in Indian firms stands at around 27 percent of the country’s total workforce, while globally,this figure is 38 per cent. Moreover, Women account for just17 per cent of Senior Management Positions in India, compared to 26 per cent in emerging Asia-Pacific countries.Deplorably,in the BSE-500 Companies, only 3 per cent of the CEOs’ are Women.



Moreover, gender diversity initiatives have helpedmore Women Employees in MNCs’ operating in India(33 per cent) than their counterparts employed byIndian companies (27 per cent). One of the keyreasons behind the gender diversity programmebeing ineffective is poor implementation. True to say,nearly 50 per cent of interventions are ineffective notbecause they are poorly designed, but because theyare poorly executed.The companies need to focuson practical challenges faced on the ground to makethe interventions truly impactful.The Indian CorporateSector has to drive itself from ‘Intention to Impact’.For bridging the Diversity Gap in the Workplace andalso the Corporate Boards the leading organisationsin India have to understand the current status ofgender diversity and obstacles in the way ofimproving gender balance. The issue of quotasthrough political mandates versus voluntary self-regulation by firms is one that requires furtherinvestigation in countries such as India, whereWomenParticipation on Boards is very low comparedto the rest of the World.

(v) Disclosure NormsGiven the legal context in India, there are severalsound laws but weakin implementation. A quota maynot serve the purpose of increasing the trueparticipation of women. A 10-year time frame toimplement gender diversity in organisations withdisclosures in the annual report of the number ofWomen Executives and Director-Level Appointmentscould result in the deepening of Women Participationon the Board.

(vi) Structured InterventionsMore structured interventions from organisationssuch as Catalyst and Other Women’s NetworkOrganisations and Executive Search Firms couldhasten the pace of potential assessment. BusinessSchools can provide platforms for the education ofWomen Directors. The mandate to have at least OneWoman Director on the Board of a certain class ofCompanies and the Recent Amendments to theCompanies Bill provides an opportunity to enhancethe supply of Women Directors.

(v) The Start-up Engine Be GearedIndian Start-ups should address the issue of genderdiversity at workplace, hiring more Women acrossvarious roles to boost productivity. I do endorse theview because the Start-ups are growing at about 10per cent and India has a very high chance to lead.The booming Start-up eco-system in theCountry,undoubtedly, has the potential to positionIndia as the ‘World’s Start-up Engine’.India has donean amazing job as a country with some of the Top

Women Leaders in Government and Business. But,as we go further down in the employment, we needto address the gender diversity in Start-ups. Itrequires commitment as a country to change.

(vi) SensitisationTo Widen the Spectrum ofInclusionIssues like Women-in-Leadership and a leakypipeline are a global phenomenon and detrimentalto GDP growth.To arrest the leaky bucket, theCompanies should run regular sensitisation andawareness workshops that address gender spectruminclusion with both Men and Women.

(vii) Identification of Women DirectorsThere is every need to facilitate a more effectiveprocess of identification of Women Directors. Thereis no shortage of Competent Women Professionalsin India across a variety of spheres. However, severalof these Women are not in the business sector.Competent Women Professionals who are presentin other spheres (such as development, media, law,politics, art, culture, and sports) and do not haveaccess to commercial organisations, it is likely thatCorporations are focused on a narrow talent pool,thereby fostering the perception that there is ascarcity of Women Professionals.

(viii) Building A Pool of Effective DirectorsThere is a need for an ‘Effective Director Assessmentand Building Process’. Mid-Career Women with highpotential should be identified at the firm-level, andadequate exposure and grooming need to be providedfor such ‘Identified Directors’. There is a need fortraining and development of Women Directors. Thisprocess is likely to result in building a ‘Pool ofEffective Directors’who can serve as the desiredpipeline for organisations. Existing ExecutiveDirectors can be groomed during their tenure to beIndependent Directors innon-competing industries.This can be done as part of their personaldevelopment process tied to the HR Strategy of theFirm.

CONCLUSION - THERE IS A LONG DISTANCE TOTREADWomen still constituted a very small part of the boardmake-up. No doubt, there is a clear paucity of potentialIndependent Woman Directors. In India, the sameWomen are also found to be sitting on various Boards.At the present pace, it may take a century for Boards toachieve a high level of gender diversity. One third ofPublicly Listed Indian Companies did not have a FemaleBoard Member, despite a quota fixation requiring at leastone.While Organisations are working on diversity andinclusion, and Women in the Boardroom and as Leaders,



the number still remains small. Few factors preventingCompanies from appointing more Women are inadequatestatutory quotas for fostering gender diversity, lack ofadequate number of qualifiedWomen to hold boardpositions, traditional stereo-types and lack of WomenFriendly Policies.

References1. Ajay Tyagi, Chairman, A Study on Corporate India:

Women on Boards, Securities and Exchange Boardof India (SEBI), 25th May, 2017.

2. Bacon, J. & Brown, J.K. (1975). CorporateDirectorship Practices: Role, Selection and LegalStatus of the Board. New York: Conference Board.

3. Banerji, A., Mahtani, S., Sealy, R. &Vinnicombe, S.(2010). Standard Chartered Bank: Women onCorporate Boards in India, Community Business andCranfield School of Management Report.

4. Barsade, S., Ward, A., Turner, J. &Sonnenfeld, J.(2000). To Your Heart’s Content: A Model of AffectiveDiversity in Top Management Teams. AdministrativeScience Quarterly, Vol.45, p.p. 802-836.

5. Bernard M. Bass et al., (1994)., Shatter the GlassCeiling: Women may make Better Managers, HumanResource Management, Vol.133, Issue.4, Winter.

6. Booz & Co. (2012)., Empowering the Third Billion:Women and the World of Work in 2012, Booz &Company Publications, USA.

7. Claire McCarty Kilian, Dawn Hukai, C. ElizabethMcCarty (2005)., Building Diversity in the Pipelineto Corporate Leadership, Journal of ManagementDevelopment, Vol. 24, Issue.2. http//economictimes.

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9. Michelle K. Ryan and S. Alexander Haslam (2007).,The Glass Cliff: Exploring the Dynamics Surroundingthe Appointment of Women to Precarious LeadershipPositions, Academy of Management Review, Apr,Vol.32, No.2, p.p.549-572.

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WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS

1. Lecturer in Botany,Dr. V. S. Krishna Govt Degree College (A) Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Abstract

Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to build stronger economies,achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women.The SHGs comprise very poor people who do not have access to formal financial institutions. Microfinance is powerfulweapon to remove the poverty in our country like India. Micro finance initiatives like the SHG-Bank linkage programme,MFI Bank Linkage model etc., in India has been increasingly promoted for their positive impact on womenempowerment. SHGs have their genesis from the Gramin Bank of Bangladesh which was founded in 1975 by theeconomist Prof. Mohammad Yunus of Chittagong University. SHGs were established exclusively for the benefit ofpoor. In India, SHGs first emerged within the Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA) in 1985.SHGs consists not less than five persons and a maximum of twenty with similar economic outlook and social status.The women are not empowered due to lack of Knowledge, Finance, Power and Opportunity. Self-help groups fulfill thefour criteria cited – there by making them financially stable and also granting them a sense of empowerment. Thesocial development on the other hand is based upon the active participation of women in developmental activities.Women’s’ empowerment cannot be ignored while devising various policies for rural and socio-economic development.Providing micro-credit to rural women through an organized step will make them enterprising women.

Key words: Women empowerment, self help groups, origin, microcredit, functioning

Dr. T. M. A. Niveditha1

IntroductionEmpowerment is a multi-dimensional process, whichshould enable the individuals to realize their identity andpowers in all spheres of life. It consists of greater accessto knowledge and resources, greater autonomy inmaking decisions or free from the shackles imposed onthem by custom, belief and practices in the society.Empowering women to participate fully in economic lifeacross all sectors is essential to build strongereconomies, achieve internationally agreed goals fordevelopment and sustainability, and improve the qualityof life for women. Microfinance is powerful weapon toremove the poverty in our country like India. Micro financeinitiatives like the SHG-Bank linkage programme, MFIBank Linkage model etc., in India has been increasinglypromoted for their positive impact on womenempowerment.

The SHGs comprise very poor people who do not haveaccess to formal financial institutions. They act as theforum for the members to provide space and support toeach other. It also enables the members to learn tocooperate and work in a group environment. The SHGsprovide savings mechanism, which suits the needs ofthe members. It also provides a cost effective deliverymechanism for small credit to its members.

SHG is a voluntary association of the poor with a commongoal of social and economic Chitagubbi et al

empowerment’ (Ganesh Murthy et al 2002).SHGs areforum for the collective voice of the poor against commonoppression and exploitation to understand individual andcommon problems and improving their skills andcapacities to manage resources (Dwarakanath2002).SHGs can play a role in creating awareness ofhealth issues through necessary group meetings withwomen, by holding specific capacity-building trainingson health issues and facilitating exposure to importantup-to-date medical information. The members need tobe au fait with medical issues and health promotion,this, equally indicating the responsibility of the SHG tofulfill its role for both women and the community. Thissaid, a substantial influence on women’s health andempowerment can only be achieved when these activitiesare taken up with a view to improving the public provisionof health care facilities and accessibility, particularly inlight of the RSBY initiative. It can be said that SHGshave indeed emerged as a health care option for womenand their families who join these groups but still furtherawareness, and much greater detailed research isrequired among the existing SHGs in these geographicalareas to ensure the move away from the uni-dimensionalmarket oriented view of employment generation andsocial actualization (Chakravarty, 2012). Themembership of SHGs made the members aware of thegender equality and led to the economic, social andpolitical independence of members. It also improved the



position of the respondents in the patriarchal familysystem through gaining knowledge of legal system andenabled the members to involve in family decisionmaking. Moreover, the members also developed theleadership qualities through the sense of devotion to work,duty consciousness and self confidence etc. (Geethaet al. 2011). M. Bhavani Sankara Rao (2011) hashighlighted that health of women members of SHG havecertainly taken a turn to better. It clearly shows thatheath of women members discuss among themselvesabout health related problems of other members andtheir children and make them aware of variousGovernment provisions specially meant for them.

Members make small regular savings contributions overa few months until there is enough capital in the groupto begin lending. Funds may then be lent back to themembers or to others in the village for any purpose. InIndia, many SHGs are ‘linked’ to banks for the deliveryof micro-credit. Micro-credit in common parlance refersto small loans that help the poor women to meet theirimmediate credit needs.

Evolution of Self Help GroupsSHGs have their genesis from the Gramin Bank ofBangladesh which was founded in 1975 by the economistProf. Mohammad Yunus of Chittagong University. SHGswere established exclusively for the benefit of poor. Withina little span of time, SHGs became the vehicle for ruralcredit delivery system in many parts of the world. In1997, at the World Micro Credit Summit, held atWashington, the developed and developing countriesagreed to tackle the menace of rural poverty by usingthe tool of micro-credit. As many as 53 developingcountries including India have set up SHGs to tacklerural poverty.In India, SHGs first emerged within the MysoreResettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA) in1985.Here is a quick timeline of the journey of SHGs in India:1. 1987: The National Bank for Agriculture And Rural

Development (NABARD) provided MYRADA with agrant of ¹ 1 million to enable it to invest resources inidentifying affinity groups, building their capacitiesand matching their savings after a period of 3-6months.

2. 1990: RBI accepted the SHG strategy as analternative credit model.

3. 1992: NABARD issued guidelines to provide theframework for a strategy that would allow banks tolend directly to SHGs.

4. 1992: SHG-Bank Linkage Programme was launched.5. The Tamil Nadu Women’s Empowerment Project, an

IFAD-supported project implemented through the

Tamil Nadu Women’s Development Corporation, wasthe first project in the country, around 1990, toincorporate the SHG concept into a state-sponsoredprogramme. Since then, SHGs have been associatedwith women.

The women are not empowered due to lack ofKnowledge, Finance, Power and Opportunity. Self-helpgroups fulfill the four criteria cited – there by makingthem financially stable and also granting them a senseof empowerment.

ObjectivesSHGs strive to achieve the following:• To save money on regular basis.• To mutually agree to contribute a common fund in

order to meet their emergency needs.• Takes decisions collectively.• To solve conflicts through mutual discussion.• To provide collateral free loan at the market driven

rates based on the terms and conditions decided bythe group.

Working of SHGSHGs are working in democratic manner. The majorprogramme involving financial intermediation by SHGsis the SHG-bank Linkage Programme. This Programmewas launched by National Bank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD)in 1992, the apex bank for ruraldevelopment in India. Commercial banks, Regional RuralBanks (RRBs),Small Industries Development Bank ofIndia (SIDBI),Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), Housing andUrban Development Corporation(HUDCO), HousingDevelopment Finance Corporation (H

DFC) and Friends of Women’sWorld Banking(FWWB),Donors and banks, including Robobank,playedan importantrole in providing refinance facilitiesand loansto microfinance institutions (MFIs) for on-lending to SHGsand federations of SHGs.SHGs are necessarytoovercome exploitation, create confidence foreconomicself-reliance in poor, particularly women whoare mostly invisible in social structure.SHGsbecome thebasis forchange and build a relationship of mutual trustbetween thepromotingorganisationand the rural poorthrough constant contact and genuine efforts.Creditdelivery through thrift and credit groups (SHGs)emergesas an alternative to theexisting system of creditdisbursement by the banks. SHGs have been found tohelp their member’s sound habit of saving and banking.

Features of SHGs• SHGs consists not less than five persons and a

maximum of twenty with similar economic outlookand social status.



• SHGs promotes objectives like economicempowerment. It helps in raising resources fordevelopment and freedom from exploitation.

• The nature of SHGs is mostly informal (unregistered).• Periodical meetings of members are conducted to

address their socio-economic problems and fixedsavings from the members are collected at suchmeetings.

• Sources of funds for the SHGs accrue from member’ssavings, entrance fee, interest from loans, and incomefrom investments and so on. Funds accrued may beused for extending loans, carrying out social servicesetc.

• The savings of members are deposited in a bank withthe name of group.

• The money lying in the bank is used for extendingloan facilities to members of SHGs for 98 purposesat an interest rate decided by the group.

• Democratic, flexible and responsive in operations.

Significant impacts of SHGs on empowerment ofwomenThe members of SHGs exhibit the following outputs:• Improvements in literacy and numerical skills;• Increase in awareness of basic legal rights;• Awareness of development activities of government;• Increase in self-confidence and enhanced social

status;• Economic empowerment and freedom from

exploitation of money lenders, landlords etc.• Enhanced decision making powers in the household

affairs.• Keenness to educate girl child;• Active participation in other organizations and political

bodies like Panchayats.• Improved political consciousness and improved

awareness about electoral process, societal analysisand gender issues.

The Empowerment of Women has become one of themost important concerns of 21st century not only at

national level but also at the international level.Government initiatives alone would not be sufficient toachieve this goal. Society must take initiative to createa climate in which there is no gender discrimination andwomen have full opportunities of self decision makingand participating in social, political and economic life ofthe country with a sense of equality.

In most of the developing countries today, more andmore emphasis is laid on the need for women’s activeparticipation in the main stream of development process.It is also widely recognized that apart from managinghousehold, bearing children, rural women bring incomewith productive activities ranging from traditional work inthe field of working in factories or running small and pettybusiness. They have also proven that they can be betterentrepreneurs and development managers in any kindof human development activities. Economic progress inany country whether developed or under developed couldbe achieved through social development. The socialdevelopment on the other hand is based upon the activeparticipation of women in developmental activities.Women’s’ empowerment cannot be ignored whiledevising various policies for rural and socio-economicdevelopment. Providing micro-credit to rural womenthrough an organized step will make them enterprisingwomen.

References1. Chakravarty, S and Jha, A. N (2012). The role of

Self Help Groups. 2 (1):116-128.2. Ganesh Murthy, V. S, Radhakrishnan, M. K,

Bhuvaneswari. S and Ganeshn. A (2002). “A studyon thrift and Credit Utilisation pattern of Self HelpGroup (SHG) in Lakshmi Vilas Bank Suriyam palyamBranch, Irode”. Indian Journal of Marketing 34 (1):12-24.

3. Dwarakanath, H. D (2002). Rural Credit and womenSelf-Help Groups. Kurukshetra. 51(1) : 10

4. Geeta Chitagubbi, Rajeshwari Shivalli and Sdevendrappa (2011). A study on the usefulness ofSelf Help Group membership to women forempowerment Journal of Farm Sciences 1(1):112-119.



GENDER DISPARITY – A CHALLENGE TO INDIANSUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Hod, Dept. of Commerce, B G B S Women’s College, Narsapur-W.G.Dt., A.P.

Abstract

Empowering women and promoting gender equality is crucial to accelerate sustainable development. As thedevelopment agenda notes women’s empowerment and gender equality have a catalytic effect on the achievement ofhuman development, good governance and the promotion of gender equality for the empowerment of women iscentral to the mandate of UNDP and intrinsic to its development approach. This effort includes advocating for women’sand girls’ equal rights, combatting discriminatory practices and challenging the roles and stereotypes that affectinequalities and exclusion. Gender equality promotes women’s and men’s equal involvement as beneficiaries of localdevelopment, employment creation, frontline service delivery and reintegration programmes in every economywhich includes a particular focus on increasing women’s access to safe productive livelihoods and increase in theproportion of benefits accruing to women through employment in economic recovery. Sustainable economicdevelopment is broadly defined as development which meets the requirements of the present without compromisingthe ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development should be a key principle of allpolicies and actions, which are broadly designed to create a society which is based on freedom, democracy andrespect for fundamental rights, fostering equality of opportunity and solidarity within and between generations. Thesustainable development should be based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitivesocial market economy, aiming at full employment, a high level of education and social progress, and a high level ofprotection and improvement of the quality of the environment and the continuous improvement of the quality of life onearth of both current and future generations. India aims to transition on the path of sustainable development, thecurrent policy focus on the economy which provides a historic opportunity by policymakers regarding women switchesfrom a disadvantaged group to powerful decision-makers with insights to drive strategies for a better future.

Key Words: Gender equality, Human development, Combatting discrimination,Public decision-making, Access tofinance, Market economy.

Dr. Madhu Shalini Kusuma1

IntroductionEmpowering women and promoting gender equality iscrucial to accelerate sustainable development. As thedevelopment agenda notes women’s empowerment andgender equality have a catalytic effect on theachievement of human development, good governance,sustained peace, and harmonious dynamics betweenthe political environment and human populations. Thepromotion of gender equality and the empowerment ofwomen is central to the mandate of UNDP and intrinsicto its development approach. This effort includesadvocating for women’s and girls’ equal rights,combatting discriminatory practices and challenging theroles and stereotypes that affect inequalities andexclusion. Gender equality strategy, 2014- 2017 ispresented at a pivotal time in the sphere of global policydevelopment and the world works towards achievingthe Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) efforts arestill underway to devise a new set of sustainabledevelopment goals to establish global sustainabledevelopment before and beyond MDGs Economic Forum

highlighted that a nation’s competitiveness in the longterm depends significantly on whether women areeducated and enabled to access the same rights,responsibilities and opportunities as men. Genderequality promotes women’s and men’s equal involvementas beneficiaries of local development, employmentcreation, frontline service delivery and reintegrationprogrammes in every economy which includes aparticular focus on increasing women’s access to safeproductive livelihoods and increase in the proportion ofbenefits accruing to women through employment ineconomic recovery .

Sustainable economic development is broadly definedas development which meets the requirements of thepresent without compromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs. Sustainabledevelopment should be a key principle of all policiesand actions, which are broadly designed to create asociety which is based on freedom, democracy andrespect for fundamental rights, fostering equality ofopportunity and solidarity within and between



generations. The sustainable development should bebased on balanced economic growth and price stability,a highly competitive social market economy, aiming atfull employment, a high level of education and socialprogress, and a high level of protection and improvementof the quality of the environment and the continuousimprovement of the quality of life on earth of both currentand future generations. It is about safeguarding theeconomic capacity to support life in all its diversity. It isbased on the principles of democracy and the rule oflaw and respect for fundamental rights including freedomand equal opportunities for all with solidarity within andbetween generations to promote a dynamic economywith a high level of employment and education, of healthprotection, of social and territorial cohesion and ofeconomic protection in a peaceful and secure world,respecting cultural diversity viewed in a broad spectrum,women have played a vital role in the global economicmovement.

Indian Women and PovertyWomen in India are very emotionally attached to theirhome and families they are supposed to attend to allthe domestic work, to look after the children and otherfamily members. They are overburdened with familyresponsibilities like taking care of husband, children andin laws which takes away a lot of their time and energy.According to broad estimates, more than one in fivepeople around the world live in conditions of extremepoverty on little more than $1 per day the number ofpoor people has been rising since the 2000s. Studiesindicate that the gaps between rich and poor arewidening, and that the majority of the world’s poor arewomen. Since the 1990s, the number of rural womenliving below the poverty line has increased by 50 percent, in comparison with 30 per cent for men. Womenaccrue less income than men over their lifetime for avariety of reasons. They get paid less for the same workand are more likely to work less in order to reconciletheir careers with child or elder care. These gaps inwomen’s employment history reduce the amount ofsocial security women have and it also decreases thelikelihood of receiving credit or loans. All these factsincrease women’s vulnerability to poverty, especially inold age.

Challenges Vs SustainabilityChallenges faced by Women starts with balancebetween family and career opportunities, Socio-culturalbarriers. The traditions and customs prevailing in Indiansocieties sometimes stand as an obstacle for womenstopping them from growing and prospering. Castes andreligions dominated society and hinder them. In ruralareas, they face even greater social barriers they arealways seen with an eye of suspicion, Male dominated

society even though our constitution speaks of equalitybetween genders, male superiority is still the order ofthe day. Women are not treated equal to men theirentry into various fields requires the approval of the headof the family who is mostly a male member all thesehamper the growth of women Illiteracy or low level ofEducation in Indian women are lagging far behind evenafter more than 70 years of independence many womenare still illiterate. Those who are educated are inherentnature of lack of self-confidence which is essentialmotivating factor for any women to be successful.Mobility Constraints has become a problem due totraditional values and limited driving skills moving aloneisstill looked upon with suspicious eyes. Sometimes,inexperienced women feel uncomfortable in dealing withmen who show extra interest in them other than workrelated aspects. Role of women in sustainableeconomic development is inevitable the urgent need isto create a favourable atmosphere to increase self-employment for women can lead to economicdevelopment of the country. Choudhary and Rayalwar(2011) intend to highlight some issues with reference tothe strategic challenges and opportunities from a genderfocus to analyse the prospects of rural small and mediumentrepreneurship for women. Women have to overcomeobstacles specifically in the areas of health,environment, policy making, leadership, marketing thatgive them access to the same opportunities as men.Indian women with increased educational opportunitiesneed to get more organized into small groups throughsustained efforts presents an enormous opportunity forfinancial institutions and other business providers thatsupport women-owned businesses and researchindicates that women tend to be loyal customers andcautious investors, in addition to having better loan-payback rates.

ConclusionGovernments must introduce policies, programmes andquota systems which correct this imbalance. Promotinggender equality and women’s empowerment, and toenhance administrative capabilities with the aim ofstrengthening women’s leadership in politics and otherpublic fields for the development of legal systemsensuring gender equality, democratization and theestablishment of national development plans, as wellas for other initiatives to facilitate planning, implementing,monitoring and evaluating policies, measures andprograms conducted at national machineries for thepurpose of promoting gender equality and women’sempowerment. Supporting the building of women’snegotiation capacities and the gender sensitization forpromotion of women’s economic empowerment isindispensable for enabling women to save themselves



and their families from poverty, live a life with dignity andplay a leading role in the society. Advancement ofwomen’s leadership will significantly contribute to thedevelopment of society and economy. However, manywomen still have only limited access to educationalopportunities, proper information and productiveresources such as land, property and financial services,and are often forced to work at low wages under unstableemployment conditions or in informal sectors. As Indiaaims to transition on the path of sustainabledevelopment, the current policy focus on the economywhich provides a historic opportunity by policymakersregarding women switches from a disadvantaged groupto powerful decision-makers with insights to drivestrategies for a better future. The key priorities to makea truly transformative agenda for women should interalia include enhancing their role in private and publicdecision-making, enhancing access to finance, trainingand capacity building on technology and capturing genderdisparities for better policy intervention

References• Bhardwaj, G.N., Parashar, S., Pandey, B. & Sahu,

P. (2012), Women Entrepreneurship in India:Opportunities and Challenges, Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp.1-9. www.chimc.in/Volume2.1/Volume2Issue1/Gurendra Nath Bhardwaj.pdfý

• Behara, S.R. & Niranjan, K. (2012), Rural WomenEntrepreneurship in India, IJCEM InternationalJournal of Computational Engineering &Management, Vol. 15 Issue 6, pp. 6-15 ISSN(Online): 2230-7893. www.ijcem.org/ papers112012/ijcem_ 112012_02.pdfý

• Choudhary, K.N. & Rayalwar, A.P. (2011),Opportunities and Challenges for Rural womenEntrepreneurship in India, Variorum Multi-Disciplinary e-Research Journal, Vol.-01, Issue-III,

pp. 1- 4. ghrws.in/ charity/Variorum/ Variorum%20Vol.01%20 Issue% 20III% 20Januray% 202011/KChaudhari.pdf

• Goyal, M. & Parkash, J. (2011), WomenEntrepreneurship in India- Problems and Prospects,International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research,Vol.1 Issue 5, pp. 195- 207.http://www.zenithresearch.org.in/images/stories/pdf/2011/Sepaper.pd

• Jamali, D. (2009), Constraints and opportunitiesfacing women entrepreneurs in developing countries,Gender in Management: An International Journal,Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 232-251. www. emeraldinsight.com/1754-2413.htm

• http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227163 http://www.indiatvnews.com/business/india/breaking-news-successful-femaleentrepreneurs-india-3242.html?page=7

• h t t p : / / w w w. d c m s m e . g o v . i n / s c h e m e s /treadwomen.htm

• http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/data-stat.htm http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/publications/pmryprof/pmryproûle.html http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/reports/CGTMSE%20AR%202012-13.pdf

• International Journal of Social Science andInterdisciplinary Research ISSN 2277 3630IJSSIR,vol. 2, no. 4, April, 2013.

• BBR Women Entrepreneurship, (2013).• Saidapur et al., 2012.• www.indiatogether.org/women/business/renuka

vishwanathan apur et al., 2012.• Mangai et al., 1992.• Jayammal, G, Problems of Women Eentrepreneurs

in Coimbatore, Retrieved September 12, 2012.



INDIAN RURAL WOMEN IN THE ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT –A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

1. HOD, Dept. Of History, B G B S Women’s College, Narsapur, W.G.Dt., A.P.

Abstract

Empowerment of rural women is crucial for the development of rural India, women's component is introduced in theprogrammes for poverty alleviation to ensure flow of adequate funds to this section. The Constitutional Amendment(73rd), Act 1992 provides for reservation of selective posts for women. In the present globalized era, there has beena radical progress in the field of economy. In this progress women’s participation is of greater importance womenentrepreneurship have gained potential from the nationwide programs and Self Help Groups. In fact these SGHs aremaking women as economically independent if not a sound one. They are emancipating their voice in all the spheresincluding the field of economy. Equal pay for equal work is one of the cornerstones of the gender equality movementworld over. But Labour Bureau data show there has been little progress in terms of parity of salaries for men andwomen for equivalent work in India. Even more alarming is the fact that even though wage disparities have alwaysexisted in rural parts of the country, in some spheres of activity, the divide has widened. Indian rural women entrepreneursbecome part and parcel of the development of the nation. As rural women is one of the major human resourcesopened to all natural resources. They even assist men in all walks of life along with agriculture. Henceforth theirparticipation in the area of business and industries can lower the concept of brain and drain within the nation by findingemployment in their own rural area.

Key words:Rural Women Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Wage Disparities, Problems of Rural WomenEntrepreneurs.

IntroductionIndia is a country which attained independence in 1947,but the rural-urban divide and the rich-poor divide arestill plaguing India. 68.84 per cent of the Indianpopulation lives in villages. here are 6, 40,867 villagesin India. According to 2011 census, the populations ofrural women who are literate are 58.8 per cent. A womanfaces numerous problems to reach her familial needsa women entrepreneur becomes economically self-sufficient after facing challenges. By identifying herselfa successful entrepreneur, she shines in the two facesof her life i.e. society and family. According to the “2007Revision of World Urbanisation Prospects” by the UnitedNations, India would continue to have the largest ruralpopulation in the world until 2050. (Hindustan Times,28.2.2008) There are several issues which are creatingdifficulties in the lives of Indians, like rising crimes againstwomen, increasing poverty, corruption, nepotism, lackof transparency in the official functioning, bureaucratichassles, criminalization of politics, criminal-politician-bureaucratic entente etc. However, the common Indiancitizen is striving to get two ends meet. In fact theseSGHs are making women as economically independentif not a sound. They are emancipating their voice in allthe spheres including the field of economy.

Life Of Indian WomenIndia is a country of contradictions. On the one hand,women are worshipped as deities, without whoseblessings, work cannot be initiated. On the other hand,crimes against women and girls are increasing day byday in India. It is sad that in many cases, the perpetratorsare known to the victims. The perpetrators could beamong relatives, neighbors, friends etc. This increasingmistrust can create havoc in the Indian societal pattern.The patriarchal norms are so entrenched in the Indiansociety that it is very difficult to pull oneself out of thisconundrum. When girls are born in most Indian families,they are not welcome, at times, even by their mothers.They lament that a son could have been a real asset forthe family. Upbringing of girls is an expensive affair,where there is only loss as the girl gets married off andwill serve the grooms’ family throughout her life. In India,the life of a woman changes a lot after marriage. Sheleaves her parents’ house after marriage and starts livingwith the groom’s family. Since childhood, she issocialized into thinking that she has to take up the foodhabits, dress, rituals etc. of the new family. So, happilyor grudgingly, she evolves her identity according to thedemands of the groom’s family and the groom. A heftysum of money is spent on her dowry. At times, thedemand from the groom’s family continues even after

G. Sagar1



marriage. When the bride’s family fails to satisfy theirdemands, the bride is tortured. Domestic violence is highin Indian homes. There is dowry deaths’ occurring everynow and then. It has been pointed out that it is alwaysthe bride who is dying and not the women in the groom’sside when they are working in the kitchen. Many youngbrides die in the kitchen due to stove-burst, where thegroom’s sides mask it as an accident. Dowry-deaths ofIndian girls had gone up so much that Section 498Awas brought in which makes the groom and his familyresponsible for unnatural death of the bride within 7 yearsof marriage. It also has other provisions to protect Indianwomen after marriage. However, like all other laws, thislaw has also been misused by a miniscule of thepopulation in order to take revenge on the groom. Someinnocent grooms had to face wrong detainment. However,the misuse cannot be a standard to judge the efficacyof the law. If that is the standard utilized, then none ofthe laws can be implemented. Violation of the law cannotprevent the law from protecting the real victims of society.Right to equal inheritance to women of Hindu, Sikh,Buddhist and Jain religions, who form the majority inthe country have been provided by the Indian State. But,still today, there are very few women who demand theproperty as they feel that it sour their relation with theirbrothers. In many cases, brothers are forcing them torelinquish their property right. Women lack the supportsystem needed to contest in the courts.

Rural women in India are less literate than rural men.There is a negative attitude of the family towardseducating the girl child. Moreover, lack of separate toiletsfor girls in schools, lack of security while travelling fromhome to school, lack of female teachers in schools, eldersister’s responsibility to look after the younger siblingswhen both the parents have to work to meet both ends,are some of the reasons behind the high drop-out rate ofgirls from schools. Primary education is free, but parentsare not interested to send them to school. Right toEducation has been passed by the Parliament, but it isstill far when the right will be a reality. Mid Day Mealscheme has been formulated in order to attract the smallchildren to school. However, this scheme received set-backs when many school children died after consumingfood from the school kitchen. Majority of rural Indianwomen do not have the right to choose their partner. Itis always decided by the family elders and the marriageis arranged with an endogamous group, where casteplays a very important role. If the girl wishes to marrysomeone from other caste or tribe, the traditional leadersof the villages oppose. In states like Haryana, there areKhap Panchayats, or traditional village elders who providepunishments to both the adult girls and boys of the samevillage and caste, who falls in love and marries. Accordingto the Khap leaders, marrying someone within the village

or caste is equal to marrying a sibling. They act askangaroo courts and punish them even by awardingdeaths. In many cases, the brutality of such crimes isnot even opposed by the parents. Such is the power ofthese Khap Panchayats that the elected Members fromthese constituencies do not oppose them for fear of losingthe vote bank in the area.

Economic DevelopmentMajority of rural women suffer not only from economicpoverty but also from ‘information poverty’. The trendindicating that the timing of implementation was notlinked to the initial prevalence of women-ownedmanufacturing establishments which considers theshares of unorganized manufacturing establishmentsthat are women owned. women’s economic developmentdetermined by the Socio-cultural barriers the traditionsand customs prevailing in Indian societies sometimesstand as an obstacle before women which stop themfrom growing and prospering. Castes and religionsdominate our society and hinder women entrepreneurs.In rural areas, they face even greater social barriers.They are always seen with an eye of suspicion. Ruralwomen are vital and productive workers in India’s nationaleconomy. There is statistical bias in under estimatingthe role of rural women in development. Women workfor longer hours than men and contribute substantiallyto family income, they are not perceived as productiveworkers. (Pankajam and Lalitha, 2005) They are silentworkers who are struggling to complete her householdduties from dawn to dusk. But, still, in the family, manya times, she is criticized for not being sincere in her job.If the family members had to pay for the whole householdwork and the free labour she provides in the smallagricultural land of the rural families, then her real worthcould have been realized. She does this day-in and day-out with compromising the family interest, but in veryfew families, she gets the respect which she shouldget. Equal pay for equal work is one of the cornerstonesof the gender equality movement the world over. ButLabour Bureau data show there has been little progressin terms of parity of salaries for men and women forequivalent work in India. Even more alarming is the factthat even though wage disparities have always existedin rural parts of the country, in some spheres of activity,the divide has widened. So while men were paid 70 percent higher wages than women for ploughing work atthe end of 2004-05, the difference rose to 80.4 per centin end March 2012 and stood at 93.6 per cent at thestart of 2013-14. While men were paid 75 per cent morethan women for well-digging work in March 2005, thedifference stood at 80 per cent in the current financialyear. The data indicate that daily wage disparities haveby and large remained constant since 1999, though they



did rise in the early 2000s. As of 2013, the discriminationin wages paid to women tends to be higher in physicallyintensive activities (such as ploughing and well-digging),but lower in the case of work such as sowing andharvesting. Outside the agricultural sphere, it appearsthat gender stereotypes won out once again, if oneconsiders unskilled non-agricultural work. (Jayaram,2003) In rural India, very few women have ownershipover land or productive assets. This proves to be a roadblock in institutional credit. Majority of the agriculturallabourers are women. They mainly assigned manuallabour. Men perform operations involving machinery.(Kurukshetra, 2003) Agriculture which is the mainstayof the rural Indian economy is sustained for the mostpart by the female workforce. They are the invisible lifeline of the agrarian rural community life. Rural womenfrom childhood days have to bear the burden of takingcare of younger siblings, cooking, engaging in domesticchores, looking after the fodder of the domestic animalsin their parents’ house. They are married off at a veryearly age. Indian women are condemned to a life ofserfdom, anonymity, facelessness. At the root is the‘gender insensitive’ society. (Singh, 2004) According toUNICEF, child marriage is a violation of child rights. Childbrides are often forced to drop out of schools, are subjectto the risks of early pregnancy and are more likely tobe exposed to violence and isolation. Approximately,twenty-three million girls in India face this reality. Amongthem, majority of them are from the rural areas. (UNICEF,2012) National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) aGovernment of India organization has stated that in 2009-10 and 2011-12, women’s employment has taken analarming dip in rural areas in the past two years.

ConclusionRural Indian women are stepping out of their private spaceand making a contribution in building nation economicstructure like their iniatiave for infrastructure in the village,empowering themselves. The Government of India hasprovided an opportunity to rural women to live with dignityand honor and equal footing with the rural man. Earlier,the contribution of the rural women was invisible to thepeople with patriarchal mindsets today economicdevelopment trying to empower the invisible lifeline ofrural community making their lives successful and

meaningful, Indian rural women have also put in 100percent initiative effort for successful economic growthwhich can become a role model for all developingcountries.

References1. Anitha D.Pharm, Dr. R.Sritharan, Problems Being

Faced By Women Entrepreneurs in Rural Areas,The International Journal Of Engineering AndScience (Ijes) Volume2, Issue 3, Pages 52-55, 2013.

2. Sujata Kumari, Vandana Kaushik and Neeta Lodha,Problems Faced by Rural Women Entrepreneurs ofRajasthan, Stud Home Comm Sci, 4(2): 115-119(2010).

3. Sreenivas Rao Behara, K.Niranjan, Rural WomenEntrepreneurship in India, IJCEM InternationalJournal of Computational Engineering &Management, Vol. 15 Issue 6, November 2012.

4. All-India Report on Evaluation of NREGA: A Surveyof Twenty Districts Prepared with Financial Supportand Research Inputs from Programme EvaluationOrganization (PEO), Planning Commission ByInstitute of Applied Manpower Research, Delhi ,2009, iv

5. www.nrega.nic.in, Accessed 28.8.136. Kurukshetra, 51(3), March 2003, 37. Merin S. Thadathil and Vineeth Mohandas, Impact

of MGNREGS on Labour Supply .8. Vijay kumbhar, Some Critical Issues of Women

Entrepreneurship in Rural India, european academicresearch, vol. I, issue 2/ May 2013.

9. Jyoti Bahl, Status of women entrepreneurship in ruralIndia, Asian Journal of Multidimensional ResearchVol.1 Issue 2, July 2012.

10. Kishor N. Choudhary, Dr. Arvind P.Rayalwar,Opportunities and Challenges for Rural womenEntrepreneurship in India, Variorum Multi-Disciplinary e-Research Journal Vol.- 01, Issue-III,February 2011.

11. Sathiabama. K, Rural Women Empowerment andEntrepreneurship Development, eSS Student papersSathiabama/Women Empowerment April 2010.



CORRELATION BETWEEN WOMENENTREPRENEURS AND GENDER EQUALITY

1. Research Scholar, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.

AbstractWomen remain the most deprived and long-neglected segment of the society, despite the Constitutional guaranteesfor equal rights and privileges for men and women. . SHGs formed by women in different places have proved that theycould indeed bring about a change in the mindset of the very conservative and tradition-bound illiterate women inrural areas. The concept of group formation is the best strategy to enlighten women and provide necessary mentalcourage for self-employment. This paper makes a strong case for SHGs as a new development paradigm for bringingabout gender equity among rural women in India by creating self-employment opportunities through microcredit. Thestudy is based on the premise that poor women can internalize production possibilities in groups only. They arebetter-equipped to overcome the negative social pressure and gender biases operating against them through groupidentity and activity. However, the relationship of credit access to self-employment is not automatic but depends onvarious factors.In reality the Microfinance experiment faces many hurdles which have to be overcome if poverty has tobe referred back to the museum.

P. Sowjanya Samuel1

Introduction“The extent to which society gives equal protectionto its women is a measure of its progress”

– Swami Vivekananda..

Women thy name is creation. The inseparable care andattention for a period of nine months and nine days haveenabled women to nurture life within them, so as tomaintain the spontaneity of the human civilization.“When women move forward, the family moves, the villagemoves and the nation moves”. These words of PanditJawaharlal Nehru is the central theme in the socio-economic paradigm of the country as it is an acceptedfact that only when women are in the mainstream ofprogress can any economic and social development bemeaningful (Saha and Banerjee,2001).

The women is under increasing scrutiny even at the dawnof the 21st century. Women constitute half the world’spopulation still majority of the women do not have equalaccess to land, credit, technology, education,employment and political power. In every society, womenplay critical roles in the family and outside. In nut shell,women have a profound and pervasive effect on the healthand happiness of their families, communities and localecosystem. Therefore, inequalities that are detrimentalto them be it to their physical and mental health, income-earning ability, education and a decision making power,to name just a few, are detrimental as well to society atlarge and to the environment (Gupta, 2000).

Voicing the silence of millions on International Women’sDay, India’s former First Lady Usha Narayanan rued that

uneven development had left the majority of women inrural areas untouched, unsung and neglected. Declaringthat women were not in need of crutches or hand-outs,she stated that instead they need to be empowered totake their rightful place in society (Prabhakar, 2004).

ObjectivesThe present study is an attempt to –1. To explain the present status of women

entrepreneurs.2. To study the various development schemes for rural

women entrepreneurs.3. To make suitable suggestions for promoting women

entrepreneurs.

MethodologyThe methodology is designed with an intention to makea critical appraisal of the present day womenentrepreneurs & identify the opportunities & challenges.The study is based on Secondary Sources of India.

Microfinance and Self-Help GroupsA Self-Help Group (SHG) is a group that consists ofabout 10 to 20 persons of a homogenous class whocome together with a view to address common problems.They collect voluntary savings on a regular basis anduse the pooled resources to make small interest bearing-loans to their members. Collective wisdom of the groupand peer pressure are valuable collateral substitutes.



A rural women’s SHG enables members to become self-dependent and self-reliant and provides a forum formembers to exchange ideas. It fosters a spirit of self-help and co-operation among members in members andgives them strength and confidence to solve their socio-economic problems problems. Women’s participationin income-generating activities is believed to increasetheir status and decision-making power. The Groupmeeting also serves as a venue for other interventionssuch as adult literacy programmes. Micro-creditschemes are thought to be potent agents of socialchange in impoverished settings where women aredisadvantaged by their lack of access to resources.Entrepreneurship is challenging and requires capacityto take proper decisions and responsibilities. Enteringinto entrepreneurship independently could bring thedesired change in attitude among the rural women, makethem conscious of the oppression and induce them totake initiative and seize opportunities. Co-operativeentrepreneurship through Self-Help Groups can fostersocio-economic development and promote employment.

Entrepreneurship – A Conceptual studyWho are Entrepreneurs? And what is Entrepreneurship?Well many people define it in many waysn based ontheir perspective. But in short and simple term we cansay that „Entrepreneurs are both risk taker and wealthcreator”. And entrepreneurship is a process undertakenby entrepreneurs to augment his business interest,involving innovation and creativity that will go towardsestablishing an enterprise. Entrepreneurs throughcreation of wealth, is a major means for development.Hence entrepreneurship development has been one ofthe priorities in countries world over. Well the concept ofentrepreneurship was first established in the early1700?s.The term „entrepreneurship? comes from theFrench verb “entrepredre” and the German word“unternehmen”, both means to “undertake”. Bygrave andHofer in 1891 defined the entrepreneurial process as„involving all the functions, activities and actionsassociated with perceiving of opportunities and creationsof organizations to pursue them? Joseph Schumpeterintroduced the modern definition of „entrepreneurship?in 1934.According to Schumpeter, “the carrying out ofnew combinations we call „enterprises?, and the“individuals whose function it is to c array them out wecall „entrepreneurs?. Schumpeter tied entrepreneurshipto the creation of five basic “new combinations” namely:introduction of new product, introduction of new methodof production, opening of a new market, the conquest ofa new source of supply and carrying out of a neworganization of industry.

Basic Types of Entrepreneurship:Apparently, it can be said that the starting point ofentrepreneurship would define its type. The two types ofentrepreneurship may be classified as:1. Opportunity-based entrepreneurship - an

entrepreneur perceives a business opportunity andchooses to pursue this as an active career choice.

2. Necessity- based entrepreneurship – an entrepreneuris left with no other viable option to earn a living. It isnot the choice but compulsion, which makes him/her, chooses entrepreneurship as a career.

“Women Entrepreneurs” –OpportunitiesThe growth of the economies of many countries is dueto the increasing participation of women inentrepreneurial activities. It is because of guidance andcounseling extended to the women in SHGs to unearthen their hidden entrepreneurial capabilities byproviding skills, knowledge, adoptability and sensitizingthem towards socio-economic status in the society. Awoman who can accept challenges, adventures and anurge to become economically independent can transformin to an ‘Entrepreneur’. A woman entrepreneur cancontribute positive values to the family, community andthe society. Globally women are indulging from teachingto technical areas. In India by breaking the glass ceilingwomen entrepreneurs are developing and intruding intothe male dominated arena as garment manufactures,farm owners, business women with many commodities,establishing firms like, tiffin centers, milk centers, pettyshops etc.

Advantages of women Micro EntrepreneurshipSustainable development of women especially ruralwomen is not so easy but it is a challenge. Microentrepreneurship is an answer to this challenge. Like aTelugu Proverb “Chukka Chukka

Sammudramainattu” (water drops will collect as sea)micro entrepreneur is like a water drop will added to thenations economy to solve the nation’s unemploymentand other advantages like.• Develop individual economic independence.• Enhance the personal and social capabilities like• Create awareness• Develop social net working• Enhance the self confidence• Improve the standard of living• Urge to achieve• Dare to participate in political affairs• Economic empowerment• Able to participate in decision making activities.



• Solve the problems of rural women and the village.• Enhance the leadership qualities.

Sustainable Development of women through micro entrepreneurship fetch many benefits like women’s empowerment,socio-economic status, equality, property rights, development of self esteem, prestige, over all market facilities,community development etc.

Constraints of Women EntrepreneursDue to gender discrimination girls are socialized differently controlled by social norms, morals, beliefs, practiceswithout any rights and decision making powers. Because of these reasons women entrepreneurs are facing manyconstraints like lack of confidence, dual roles, rigid and male dominated market conditions etc.

Table - 1 : Constraints of Women Entrepreneurs Reasons and solutions

S.No

I. Lack of Confidence

2. Over burden nessdue to dual roles

3. Rigid and maledominated marketconditions

4. Lack shoving

5. Lack of propertraining

6. Lack of access tofinancial support

7. Lack of exposure,information abouttrainingprogrammes

8. Lack of access toresources

Constraints Reasons Solution

Due to differential socialization socialnorms, morals in the family women lackconfidence, support, decision makingpowers needed for the growth of anentrepreneur.

With the dual roles as, wife and motherwomen unable to manage the enterpriseeffectively because of lack of time,concentration and over burdenedpersonal obligations.

Women, entrepreneurs have to depend,on their family male members due to rigidmale dominated market conditions, lackof awareness, experience, and lobbingcapacities.

Generally Indian women socialized withfeminine qualities, withdrawal mentality,son preference, and restricted movement.

Indian families and society provide trainingto a girl to make her as a good wife ratherthan to uplift her as an entrepreneur she isnot allowed to develop net work with otherbusiness men, which is considered as asin and bad culture.

Because of societal mind women are notaccess to finances like (1) share in theproperty (2) Government or private loans,schemes incentives, etc.

Due to illiteracy, restricted movement, lackof networking, and awareness

Withdrawal nature, societal zeo pardise,hesitant nature of women keeping Themaway from all resources

Social workers can develop thewomen entrepreneurs within theirreach by extending the necessaryinputs.

The family members like in-laws,husband and others can share theirresponsibilities to make them free toassociate with an enterprise

The family members, NGO’s GOS byproviding information about availablemarket opportunities, conditions andservices.

The most important shoving is selfmotivation, family support positiveGovernment Policies, timely financesand a suitable environment toestablish their enterprises.

Equal opportunities, training, skilldevelopment freedom to net work withother businessmen.

Equal share in the parental property,access to private, Government loans,support and complete informationfrom other family members is all walksof their life.

Literacy is the main source ofinformation about all schemes andinstitutions which will provide training,financial assistance and about theenterprise and market facilities.

Build the capacities to identify theirpriorit ies and shed down thehesitations to find a way to grab allkinds of resources.



90% of the entrepreneurs are from rural areas have veryless access to bigger credits. Hence majority of themdepend on their own groups financial support which ismostly micro finance only.

Sustainable development of SHG Rural WomenEntrepreneurshipThe role of micro-credit is to, improve the socio economicstatus of women in households and communities. Themicro entrepreneurship is strengthening the womensustainable development and remove the genderinequalities. Self Help Group’s saving are extended asmicro credit to its members to promote the micro andsmall scale enterprises to alleviate poverty and to providesustainable economic development of the community.Women constitute 90 per cent of total marginal workersof the country Rural women are playing a direct andindirect role both in farm operations and domestic chores.Besides they are capable to manage the livestockactivities with their savings and are able to increase theincome levels of their families, and community. Now adays rural women are achieving sustainable developmentby associating with the technical know how and are ableto cope up with the changing scenario of the productionfield. By acquiring new skills they are able to settingtheir own enterprises for their sustainable developmentand also they are able to develop other women of theirvillages.

Majority of the SHG women of rural areas and urbanareas are managing micro enterprises with livestock anddomesticated activities because they can be managedwith micro finances. Very few are associated withagriculture and its allied activities. It is evident that microentrepreneurs will have continuous income and cancontribute to their sustainable development.

Recent trends in Micro EntrepreneursTo sustain and develop the entrepreneurial activities andIndian economy it is high time that the women have todeviate from the traditional enterprises and handle thenon traditional enterprises like (1) Mobile Selling Shops,(2) Managing Super Markets, (3) Tele Communications,(4) Computer Centres, (5) Food Processing units, (6)Dairy Farms, (7) Milk Preservation Centres, (8) PreparingMilk Products, engaging with (9) sericulture, (10) AcquaCulture (11) Agro Culture (12) Health Centre (13)Floriculture etc.

For which women require only managerial skills and otherTechnical services which can be borrowed from theTechnical experts. Slowly women can develop theTechnical Skills to develop their enterprise and for theirown sustainable development. Apart from this womenmicro entrepreneurs have to utilize all the resourcesneeded for the sustainable development of their

enterprises like all kinds of training facilities, take helpfrom electronic and print media to give wide publicity totheir products and organizing trade fairs, exhibition cumsale, selling units in the busy market areas, networkingthrough friends, relatives, known people, officials to catchmore customers. Besides women micro entrepreneursshould free from all forms of gender discrimination andatrocities. That is possible only when mind set of theirfamily members especially male members is positivetowards the women micro entrepreneurs’ deeds.

Entrepreneurial PolicyPolicy to support the development of small, microenterprises is an important part of the democraticgovernments’ strategy to create better life. As per thepolicy micro enterprises are engage with one or 5employees usually the owner and her family. It is aninformal, l icense free, business with turnoverRs.3,00,000/- per year. Trust, SHG women and microfinances are funding the micro enterprises. The majoradvantage of the sector has its employment potential atlow capital cost. The micro, small and mediumenterprises development (MSMED) Act 2006 seeks tofacilitate the development of these enterprises and alsoenhance the competitiveness. Micro, small and mediumindustries policy 2008 also design for the same and tosustain the MSME sector. The policy extends theprovisions to entrepreneurs like 15 per cent capitalsubsidy on the value of the plant and machinery, 20 percent low tension power tariff till 36 months, 100 percentsubsidy on the net value of value added tax. Womenentrepreneurs are eligible to get the required loan fromthe banks for 2 per cent less interest than the maleentrepreneurs.

Correlation Between women Entrepreneurs andGender EqualityThe degree at which entrepreneurship affects theeconomy depends on numerous factors, including thequality, gender composition, and type of entrepreneurialactivity. Gender equality and female entrepreneurshipare key factors in economic development. In order tostudy the relationship between gender equality and therate of female entrepreneurship,

The share of women’s contribution to the economic andsocial development depends on the promotion of genderequality and gender blind support from the institutions.Although women constitute about fifty percent of theworld population, compared to men, they have lessopportunity to control their lives and make decisions(Revenga and Sudhir 2012). Various studies show thatentrepreneurs contribute to economic development, jobcreation, and different aspects of well-being throughcreative destruction. According to Schumpeter, the



entrepreneurial process is a major factor in economicdevelopment and the entrepreneur is the key to economicgrowth.

GEM Women’s Report, 2011 shows that over time, thegender gap between entrepreneurs increased in somecountries and decreased in others. Overall, as theeconomies move to a higher level of development, therate of entrepreneurial activity decreases, regardless ofgender. So, in more developed economies that both menand women have different options for employment,individuals seems to be more interested in having securedjobs rather than starting their own businesses. However,in general, the entrepreneurial gap between women andmen decreases with economic. Apparently, it may beassumed that gender equality may lead to more femaleentrepreneurship. As a result one may conclude that inthe economies where women are more likely to haveequal opportunities with men, the prevalence of womenentrepreneurial activity is higher compared to theeconomies where women experience greater rate ofgender inequality.

ConclusionsIt is evident that micro entrepreneurship is contributingnot only to the sustainable development of womenentrepreneurs but also to the sustainable developmentof the country’s economy. It will enhance the status ofSHG women and also the type of entrepreneurship. Thesuccess of women will contribute to the success ofentrepreneurship in that local area market and added tothe over all nations economic development. The problemsof women at the domestic front can be solved with thehelp family members who can share the women’sresponsibilities. Where as obstacles faced by the womenentrepreneurs with regard to their enterprise can overcome by extending equal opportunities on par with menentrepreneurs with regard to finances, market facilities,marketing skills, access to all kinds of information.Besides, they may be provided equal share, equal accessto resources, and net working. By enhancing the abilitiesof rural SHG women as micro entrepreneurs they cancontribute and involve in the nation’s entrepreneurialactivities. Rural women of India are intelligent, handworking, competent, rich with indigenous knowledge,potential and skilled persons. But the only requirementthey needed is timely information, resources, finances,

permissions, training with regard to technical know how,family support especially male members, Government’sloan facility with proper interest and subsidy. Besides,the net working of all the women micro entrepreneurs ofthe local area can be of a greater help to form the MACS,trusts, associations to have recognition, to extend mutualcooperation, support, knowledge to enhance themotivation, capabilities, confidence, work culture andincome to erect them with individual sustainabledevelopment and contribute to the families’community’sand Nation’s sustainable development.

References• David, K., 1992 “Human Behaviour at work” Tata

McGraw Hill Publishing Company, Ltd., New Delhi.• Gupta, D., 2000 “Rural Banking for Woman” Social

Welfare, Vol.45, No.12. Karbanda, S. 1992 “Organingof working women for social change”, Social Welfare,Vol.38, No.8.

• Mehta, S and Sethi, N.1997 “Targeting women forDevelopment”, “ Social Welfare, Vol.34,

• Mishra I, 1996 “Small steps to a brighten future”,social welfare, vol.xlv, No.12.

• Saha, S. and Banerjee, T.2001 ‘Women partners inDevelopment”, Employment News, Vol.XXV, No.49.

• Manimekalai, N. (1999): ‘Nature and Characteristicsof Women Entrepreneurs in India’, inSoundarapandian, M.(ed.) Women Entrepreneurship Issues andStrategies, Kanishka Publishers and Distributors,New Delhi.

• Narasaiah, Lakshmi, M. (2004): Gender, Inequityand Poverty, Discovery Publishing House, New Delhi.

• Prabhakar, Vani (2004):Women in Rural India, FirstEdition Dominant Publishers and Distributors, NewDelhi.

• Revenga and Sudhir 2012• OECD Council Report, 2012)• Nedelcheva, 2012• Sarfaraz & Faghih, 2011)• Minniti and Arenius 2003• Georgeta, 2012• Bertaux and Crable 2007



ROLE OF TRADE IN WOMEN EMPOWERMENTIN RURAL AREAS OF WEST GODAVARI DISTRICT

(A case study of six successful women entrepreneurs in Duggirala andAmmapalem Villages of West Godavari District.)

1. Reader and HOD Commerce, St. Theresa’s College for Women, Eluru.

AbstractWomen in general and rural women in particular are economically dependent group of the society. Rural women areless educated and are from economically poor sections. They are primarily employed in agriculture sector as dailywage earners. Agriculture and allied activities in rural areas provide seasonal employment. Income is unstable andlow. Therefore the better alternative is small trade. Rural women are slowly shifting to small trade especially thosepeople nearer to semi urban areas.

Thus they are not liberated. They are not free to do many things. Slowly the mind set of people is changing. Thepotentialities in women are slowly diverted from kitchen to trade sector. This is a significant step in the process ofwomen empowerment of rural and less educated women. All respondents selected for study are successfulentrepreneurs. They are able to prove that they too can do something special in trade. They are able to mangeworkers and face challenges of market.

Key terms: Entrepreneurs,Factors of production,Market forces,Per-capita Income,Empowerment,Technical skills

Dr. C. Satyadevi1

IntroductionIndia is a fast developing agricultural economy. RuralIndians depend completely on agriculture and alliedactivities for their livelihood. But agriculture reachedoptimum state in providing employment to four factorsof production. The alternative to rural sector is to developtrade and small industries.

Rural women primarily employed in agriculture sectoras daily wage earners. Agriculture and allied activitiesin rural areas provide seasonal employment. Income isunstable and low. Therefore the better alternative is smalltrade. Rural women are slowly shifting to small tradeespecially those people nearer to semi urban areas.

Women constitute the half of the population andcontribute half of the wealth to the nation, but womenget no opportunity to prove her talents and to achievewonders. This is the state of women in the world. Per-capita income can be improved when women alsobecome part of income generation.

Specific features of women in rural areas• Poverty• Illiteracy• Ignorance• Man dominated society• Dependence on agriculture

• Less opportunities• No technical skills• Social evils

Very peculiar feature of Indian economy and alsoIndian society are –In a family of more than 5 members only one person isthe income earner and all others depend on him. Role ofwomen in income earning is almost nil. Irrespective ofher education and technical talents, she remains as ahouse wife.Even today 90% of women are confined to house andothers are engaged in seasonal agricultural work.Women in rural areas are only for house work and manis the earning member of the family. There is no paymentfor her assistance in agriculture or allied activities.Example if animal rearing is a secondary activity, womantakes care of its work along with household work butincome goes to the husband. Therefore women may notget involved completely in income generation.

Influence of changing socio economic conditions:From past two to three decades there was a drasticchange in the socio-economic conditions in rural areasof India. This change brought a change in the attitude ofthe people.



• Women are willing to take any occupation to supportfamilies.

• Less opportunities in agriculture and allied activitiesmotivated women to shift to trade.

• Health and education are given priority.• People are going for comforts and naturally need more

income.

All these changes resulted into a need for more money.Now family members are looking towards the alternativesources of income. The immediate solution is the house-wife. Thus rural women are given opportunities andencouragement but at an insignificant level.

Women in general and rural women in particular areeconomically dependent group of the society. Thus theyare not liberated. They are not free to do many things.Freedom depends on economic conditions. A personwho is economically independent can a free person.Reason for all problems of women is economicdependence. If they become economically independentthey can be empowered and can be liberated from allsocial clutches.

Rural women are neither educated nor trained in jobskills. They can either go for agriculture work or the smallbusiness, which do not require special skills or morecapital. Thus the rural women took a long step to theretail trade in unorganized small sector. The potentialitiesin women are slowly diverted from kitchen to trade sector.This is a significant step in the process of womenempowerment of rural and less educated women.

Small Trade sector:Small trade sector is the retail trade sector usually dealswith basic needs and perishable goods. This is moreunorganized small units of retail trade. This sector fillsthe gaps in the market.

Objectives of the study:• To make a study of the status of women

entrepreneurs• To analyze factors influencing the performance of

women traders• To make a study of the problems and achievements

of women traders.• To recommend some practical suggestions.

MethodologyFor the study data and information is collected from bothprimary and secondary sources.Primary data is collected from the respondents throughdirect personal interviewSecondary data is collected from books and journals.

SampleTo conduct the study 6 successful women entrepreneurswere selected from Duggirala and Ammapalem of WestGodavari District and through questions and discussionsinformation was collected.With regard to the business, it was collected fromcustomers and observation.

Sample includes;One women entrepreneur from each category of thefollowing were selected.• Cool Drinks and soda supplier• Tailors• Vegetable & Fruit Vendor• Fast food and sweets supplier to retailers• RO water plant• Dairy

Limitations of the study• There is no recorded evidence• Everything is oral presentation• Respondents are not aware of the terms such as

empowerment, trade etc• They were unable to give information on financial

support, purchases and income.• They were reluctant to talk about profits.

Profile of the respondentsTable - 1 : Age and education

All respondents are between the age group on 28 to 45yearsOnly two passed 10th

All can read and writeAll the respondents were agriculture labourers beforestarting business

Table - 2 : Nature of business

1 20 – 30 1 10 passed

2 30- 40 4 Can read and write

3 40 -50 1 10th passed

S.No Age in years Total Education

1 Mrs.G.Kanaka Durga Soda and cool drinks

2 Mrs.B.Satyavahi Milk dairy

3 Mrs.P.Subbalakshmi Sweets & snacks

4 Mrs. Rajyalakshmi Vegetables and fruits seller

5 Mrs.P Swarupa Rani Tailor

6 Mrs.Karuna Water plant RO

S.No Name of the respondent Business



Milk DairyMrs. B. Satyavathi is running a mini dairy in Duggirlafrom 8 years. She started with one buffalo and now sheis managing 6 animals with 5 small ones. She sellsaround 24 litres per day. She employed on person tohelp her.

Problems;• No institutional finance• Depend only on her earnings and borrowed from local

money lenders• Less price is paid in local milk collection centres. It

is around Rs 48 to 52 per liter milk. But in the marketit is Rs 60 for one liter milk.

• Animal feed is expensive in the markets. What issupplied by milk collection centres is not good quality.

Soda and cool drinksMrs. Kanaka Durga started Soda bottle filling businessfour years back. She inherited this from her father. Shemaintains one second hand moped and supplies sodabottles to all the shops. In the beginning all in the village(Ammapalem) discouraged her saying it is man’sbusiness. Now all are appreciating her. She also startedsale of cool-drinks.

Problems:• No financial support• No vehicle to market the products except old moped

Water PlantMrs. Karuna continued the business when her husbandgot a job in Eluru and left the business. She is able tomake the plant a profitable unit. When she took over thecharge it was in losses and all discouraged her. Butwith her marketing skills she is able to make it a profitablebusiness.

Problems;She expressed that actually she don’t have a specificproblem. There is demand for mineral water in the villageand she is unable to meet the demand. If some cheapfinancial assistance is given she like to expand the unit.She employed two boys and a woman to help her.

TailorMrs. Swarupa Rani started tailoring 6 years back withone machine and now she extended with four suingmachines and four helpers. She is specialised in blousesmaking and also dresses.

Problems• If financial support is given she wish to start better

and advanced machines for making dresses.

• If marketing facilities are improved she would like tostart readymade dresses.

• Difficult to get skilled staff.

Vegetable vendorMrs. Rajyalakshmi wife of a small farmer of one acrewhose income was not stable.She bought a second hand moped and started collectingvegetables from small farmers and supplying to retailers.She started business three years back. She also sellsa few seasonally available fruits.

Problems• Not able to get better price• If financial facility is given she like to buy a small

auto riksha and make a mobile vegetable shop sothat she can directly supply to the customers.

Sweets and snacksMrs. Subbalakshmi prepares some sweets and eatablesat home and supply to the local shops.She is supplying from past 9 years as she was unableto go for farm work due to her knee problem.

Reasons to shift to business are• Seasonal employment in agriculture and allied

activities.• Interest in business• More income• Encouragement from husband• Opportunity to start business

Findings of the study• The striking change in the study is that the women

in small trade empowered financially after shiftingfrom agriculture as daily wage earners to small trade.Average income increased from Rs40,000 to morethan Rs.1,50,000 per annum for the selected sampleof women traders.

• All the respondents said that they do business onlyto support the family financially.

• All the respondents were agricultural labour andshifted to trade to improve income.

• All members expressed that they have support fromthe other family members and specially from husband/children.

• Four members expressed that if they are givenadditional financial help they can improve businessand two members said there is no need of theadditional finance.

• All the members are the members of DWCRAmembers and are happy with the group support.



• Five members agreed that training in basic businessmanagement, accounting and entrepreneurial skillsmay help them and others have no idea about allthese.

• Some respondents strongly expressed that financeand marketing are the major problems.

• All agreed that risk factor is unavoidable and it variedwith the type of business.

After the analysis of the study the following problemswere identified.• Size of the business is very small therefore the

activities and expenses are not economical.• Capital investment is a major problem because the

respondents are not willing to expand the businessand are afraid of the risk in business.

• Frequently they face criticism from others.• Dealing with men customers is always a problem

though majority of the respondents have more womencustomers.

• They are not aware of marketing and sales promotiontechniques.

• All the respondents agreed that balancing both homeand business is a major problem.

• All expressed that they never had any training butonly 40% agreed to take some training course ifoffered by the Government.

Suggestions• A report on the National Commission on Self

Employed women and Women in Informal Sector,popularly known as “ Shrama Shakti Report”emphasized that women possessing skills,education and sense of enterprise should beencouraged to set up self employment programmes..Identification of deserving women can be undertakenby the DIC at the district level and DWCRA groups.

• There are variety of misconceptions, apprehensionsand doubts about the women entrepreneurs. Theycan be removed by exposing the achievements andsuccess stories of women entrepreneurs.

• The base of several women entrepreneurs are homes.It should be changed. Just like men, they shouldalso opt for commercial centers for their business,even if it is small.

• All women in informal, small trade sector should begiven training in skills of management and accounting.

• The 1991 Industrial Policy provided for womenentrepreneur training through EntrepreneurDevelopment Programme at national and state level.But none of the women know about it. There shouldbe publicity about all these.

• All should treat women entrepreneurs as economicagents and should give equal status with men.

• If women are motivated and supported by familymembers many more women will enter into the tradesector.

ConclusionThe study reveals that the role of women can be goodtraders like men if proper guidance and support are given.Women who were successful in trade are empoweredboth economically and socially. They are able to supportthe family and because their contribution their childrenare getting good education. If they are given support fromthe Government on one side and the family from theother side they can prove their talent and stand at parwith men.

ReferenceBooks• DF Kuratko and TV Rao - Entrepreneurship a South

Indian Perspective published by CENGAGE• Gaurav Datt & Ashwani Mahajan – Indian Economy

published by S.Chand &Co 2011• Khanka.SS – Entrepreneurship Development

published by S.Chand & Co• Rajiv Roy- Entrepreneurship published by Himalayan

Publishing House• Robert D Hisrich, Michael P Peters and Dean A

Shepherd – Entrepreneurship• Vasant Desai – Fundamentals of entrepreneurship

and small business managementpublished byHimalaya Publishing House

Journals• Southern Economist, March 2016 and October 2015• Yojana March 2014• A.P Government website• West Godavari District Handbook• Deccan Chronical News paper 6th April 2016



VIOLENCE AGAINST WORKING WOMEN AT HOME AND WORK PLACE-SOME LEGAL AND PREVENTIVE STEPS

1. Lecturer in Economics, J.K.C.College, Guntur, AP.

Abstract

Despite of the progress made by women in education and in various fields and changes brought in ideas of women’srights, respect for women is on the decline and crime against women are on the increase. In all regions of the world,women and girls are subjected to violence because of their gender. Despite the fact that differential social, culturaland political contexts give rise to different forms of violence, its predominance and its models are remarkably constantand cross national and social, economic bounders as well as cultural identities.The meaning of term violence isstriking someone physically and causing injuring. It may involve verbal abuse or physical stress without the actualhitting which cause injury to the mind and harm the reputation. Rape, murder, abduction, kidnapping, sexual abuse,wife battering, maltreatment at home or offices are the cases of domestic violence against women, eve-teasing,forcing wife or daughter-in law for the female infanticide, forcing widow to commit sati etc., All the violence againstwomen are affecting the large section of the society. The Paper is forced more on Violence against women at homeand work place. Women at Home, Although working women help in bringing financial stability to family, theirprofessional life often subjects them to increased domestic violence. According to a study, 80% higher chance ofbeing abused by their husbands than women who remained unemployed. It is also found that women whosehusbands had difficulty finding or keeping a job were more than twice as likely to experience domestic violence duringthat period. A variety of factors at the individual, relationship, community and society increase the incidence ofviolence against women at home, They include.. Substances (including alcohol), limited economic opportunities,disparities between men and women in economic, education and employment, disobeying husbands’ words, lessdowry, in-laws domination, conflicts and tensions within the family, women’s insecure access to and control overproperty and land rights, male control over decision-making and assets, attitude and practices of husband towardswomen as subordinate to man, limited legislative and policy frame work for preventing and responding to violence,lack of punishment for perpetrators of violence, low levels of awareness among services provides, law enforcementand judicial actors. Violence against women at Work Place is more of Sexual Harassment. It is a wide spread problemwhether it be a developed or developing nation. It appears both in organized and unorganized sectors of the everynation. Violence includes physical contact, a demand or request for sexual favor, making sexually colored remarks,showing pornography, other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.70% of women areafraid to report their problem of sexual harassment from superiors or colleagues because of fear of further repercussionaccording to a survey conducted by the Indian Bar Association in 2017. It has also been observed that there are lotsof sexual harassment incidents taking place in work place but the victims fear to report the same fear of loss of job, fearof guilt in the society that they have to face, fear of being thrown out of job, or being devoted, will jeopardize their.Some women have lack of knowledge about the prevailing law. Not only the single women, less qualified workers, thewhite-color women are also the major victims of violence.Violence against women affects personal and professionallife and health of women in a large extent. Along with the physical and emotional sufferings, the economic costs ofviolence are considerable and can amount to loss of money due to medical and health care services of loss ofproductivity because of increased absenteeism. It affects job performance and leads to lateness, decreased jobretention and career advancement. Sometimes it also leads to severe depression, panic attacks, attempting tosuicides. Increased rate of crime against women is an area of concern for the law makers at it points out an emergentneed to study in depth the root of the problems and remedy. There are a number of legislation and numerous penalprovisions to punish the offenders of violence against women. However, it becomes important to ensure that genderdoes not remain only on paper. The legal and preventive steps are being discussed in the paper.

P. Bharathi Devi1

IntroductionViolence is an act of aggression, is an act of exploitationseen everywhere in the world. Women obviously are themost affected with the violent social structure, they arethe major victims and objects of this violence,aggression, discrimination and exploitation. From the

origin of social life in the country various countries cameand gone, time has changed people’s mind and environmenta lot, however, violence against women is not seem tochange a little bit. Time is the real witness of all the sufferings(like sex discrimination, exploitation, oppression, degradation,humiliation, etc.,) bear by the helpless women.



In all regions of the world, women and girls are subjectedto violence because of their gender. Despite the factthat differential social, cultural and political forms ofviolence, its predominance and its models are remarkableconstant, and cross national and social economicbounders as well as cultural identities. Violence againstwomen in India is going side by side to the technologicalimportant in modern in the world in the world in thecountry. Violence to the women is of various types andcan happen at any place like home, public place or office.It is the big issue related to the women which cannot beignored as it is hindering at most one half growth of thecountry. Women in the Indian society have always beenconsidered as the things of enjoyment from the ancienttime. They have been victims of the humiliation,exploitation and torture by the men from the time of socialorganization and family life.

Forms of Violence against women: Violence againstwomen may be any type and anywhere. Its differentforms are Abetting a women’s suicide, Cruelty byhusband or his relatives, Attempt to commit rape, Dowryprobation, Sexual harassment, Molestation, Kidnappingand abduction of women, Rape, Indecent representationof women, Dowry death, Domestic violence, Immoraltrafficking etc.,

Violence against women in the country is getting morefrequent and alarmingly with huge sound. It is deeplyrooted in the Indian society even after increasingeducation level of the people. Violence against womenhappens because of inefficient legal justice system,weak rules of law and male dominated social and politicalstructures. It is creating pressure and heavyresponsibility over the shoulders of social workers.However, there is urgent need for women to beempowered and responsible to themselves in order tounderstand all the rights and take benefits.

Objective of the Study:1. The main objective of the paper is to study the

problems of violence against women at Home and atwork place.

2. To study the risk factors and negative impacts ofviolence against women on health, family, andprofession.

3. To study the legal protection acts to protect thewomen from violence

4. To study other protective steps to protect women fromviolence.

Domestic Violence against working womenViolence against women, especially spousal violence isa common phenomenon in India which is significantlyincreasing over the years. In the name of socialization,

male dominated orthodox Indian society raises girls toendure male aggression without protest. Indian socialnorms within this conservative environment discouragewomen’s employment; consequently, employed womenare subjected to more abuse compared to theunemployed counterparts. According to the research itis found that violence against women begins at home inthe early age both in rural and urban areas by the familymembers, relatives, neighbours and friends. The NationalCrime Records saying that, women in India are very muchunsafe in their martial home.

The current statistics based on the National FamilyHealth Survey data the nature and context of spousalviolence against married employed women across jobcategories. It reveals that the majority of employedwomen are skilled or unskilled manual workers, andmost of them are subjected to spouse violence.Furthermore higher categories jobs do not protect womenfrom spousal violence. Women’s empowerment, highereducation, and or, occupation compared to their partner,and partner alcoholism further induce cruelty onemployed women. However, standard of living and ahusband having a comparatively better job are found toreduce spouse violence.

WHO has defined domestic violence as range ofsexually, psychological and physically coercive actsused against adult and adolescent women by thecurrent or former male partner. From the WHO multicountry study on women’s health and domestic violencereported life time prevalence of physical or sexual partnerviolence or both varied from 15% to 71% with the majoritybetween 29% and 62%. Other problems such as attitudeof the society members, prejudice and non-recognitionwhich the working women encountered with regard totheir social status and role in the economic life adverselyaffect the utilization of their talents and work abilities.

Violence affects the health of women. A wide range ofphysical, mental and reproductive health problems canresult from Violence. It affects the life span from sexselective abortion of female fetuses to forced suicideand abuse and is evident to some degree, in every societyin the world.

Although working women help in bringing financialstability to family, their professional life often subjectsthem to increased domestic violence in India, accordingto a study. The research conducted by RTI International,a North Carolina head quarted research institute, inassociation with Indian Institute of Management inBangalore and other U.S. Institutions, found that, 80%of higher change of being abused by then husbands thanwomen who remained unemployed. It is also found thatwomen whose husbands had difficulty finding or keeping



a job were more than twice as likely to experiencedomestic violence during that period.

According to Suneeta Krishnan, an epidemiologist inRITs Women’s Global Health Improvement, the Womensubjected to the study were ‘highlights the complexchallenges of women empowerment’. She said ‘whileincreasing women’s access to meaningful and fairemployment, we must recognize the potential socialrepercussions of these efforts’. Ms. Krishna said keysocial expectations of men once married is that theywork and earn for their family, and failure to meet thisexpectations can lead to social disapproval. Socialdisapproval, a sense of inadequacy and frustration andrelated stress and associated with living in poverty mayincrease the likelihood of men perpetrating domesticviolence. Findings also showed that women in ‘love’marriages were almost twice more likely to experiencedomestic violence than those in more traditional arrangedmarriages, highlighting the adverse impact of floutingsocial norms.

Factors responsible to Violence against women atHome: A variety of factors at the individual, relationship,community and society increase the incidence of violenceagainst women at home, They include.. Substances(including alcohol), limited economic opportunities,disparities between men and women in economic,education and employment, disobeying husbands’ words,less dowry, in-laws domination, conflicts and tensionswithin the family, women’s insecure access to and controlover property and land rights, male control over decision-making and assets, attitude and practices of husbandtowards women as subordinate to man, limited legislativeand policy frame work for preventing and responding toviolence, lack of punishment for perpetrators of violence,low levels of awareness among services provides, lawenforcement and judicial actors.

Violence against women at work place:Violence against women especially Sexual Harassmentat work place is a widespread problem in the workwhether it be a developed nation or developing nation.We rarely pass through a week without a reminder ofthe various types an incidence which should be termedas ‘social problem.’

The United Nations Office of the Higher Commissionairefor Human Rights Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against women (CEDAW) defines it as‘Violence that is directed against a woman because sheis a woman or that affects women disproportionately’ inits General Recommendations 19. The definition ofsexual harassment in simple words ‘is any unwanted orinappropriate sexual attention, it includes touching, looks,comments or gestures’.

Working women have been facing violation both a homeand work place. A work place is defined by SexualHarassment at work place (Prevention, Prohibition andRedressal act) 2013, as any place visited by theemployees arising out of or during the course ofemployment, including transport ion provided by theemployer for undertaking such a journey. As per thisdefinition, a work place covers both the organized andunorganized sectors, any field of the society.

Working women in any field are afraid to speak outagainst abuses hey face out of fear of losing their jobs,being stigmatized, or being socially ostracized both atwork and home. Women face not only aggressive verbalabuse and discrimination from her male colleagues, butalso sexually assaulted by their colleagues, bosses.Production and work pressures also lead to the superiorstreating workers badly, women who are less qualified,single mothers and outsourced workers are at greaterrisk of gender-base violence. But educated white colorwomen workers are also victims of abuse and sexualharassment.

Many women face fear to come forward to complaintagainst them because they do not have testimonies ofabuse and harassments and it may create furtherproblems. Women are afraid to lose their source ofincome and are increasingly reluctant to denounce actof violence at their workplace. His further perpetuatesintolerable situations of violence at work. Some womenhave lack of knowledge, Fear of retaliation, lack ofevidence, Did not’ know helpline numbers, Didn’t expertpolice at act, family matters, Didn’t want to get stuck inpolice/court matters, scared to go to police stations arealso some of the reasons for hesitating to filing the report.

Specific forms of violence at work place: It includes• Sexual coercion• Gender- Based work place discrimination,

stigmatization, and social exclusion• Sexual harassment and intimidation• Sexual exploitation and abuse• Trafficking for forced labour and sex work within and

across borders.

Some of the examples sexual harassment at workplace:• Making sexually suggestive remarks or innuendos• Serious repeated offensive remarks, such as teasing

relating to a person’s body appearance• Offensive comments or jokes• Displaying sexist picture, posters, mms, sms,

whatsapp or e-mails• Intimidation, threats blackmails round sexual favor



• Inappropriate question, suggestions or remains bout a person’s sex life• Threats, intimidation or retaliation against an employee who speaks up about unwelcome behaviors with sexual

over notes• Unwelcome social invitations and sexual advance• Physical contact such as touching or pinching• Caressing, kissing or fondling, someone against her will• Invasion of personal space, persistently asking someone out, despite being turned down• Stalking an individual, abuse of authority or power to threaten a person’s job• Falsely accessing and undermining a person behind closed doors for sexual fanon• Controlling persons’ reputation by rumor- mongering about her private life.

If the women do not satisfy men’s sexual desires they have to face many problems at work place. Some of thecritical situations and problems they face include..• Criticizing, insulting, blaming in public• Exclusion from group activities/ assignment• Statements damaging a persons’ reputation or career• Removing areas of responsibilities, unjustifiably• Inappropriate giving too little or too much work• Constantly over ruling authority without just cause• Unjustifiably monitoring everything that is done• Blaming an individual constantly without just cause• Insulting or humiliation, repeated attempts to exclude or isolate person.• Systematically interfering with normal work condition• Humiliating a person in front of colleagues, arbitrary taking disciplinary action against employee• Controlling the person by withholding financial resources.

Negative Effects of Violence against working women: Working women badly affects professionally and personallywith violence.

Along with the physical and emotional suffering, the economic costs of violence against women are considerableand can amount to loss of money due to medical and health care services or loss of productivity because ofincreased absenteeism. It affects job performance and leads to lateness, decreased jobs retention and career

PROFESSIONAL EFFECTS PERSONAL AND HEALTH EFFECTS

Decreases work performance

Increased absenteeism, loss of pay

Loss of promotional opportunities

Retaliation from the respondent or colleagues/friendsof the respondents

Subject to gossips and scrutiny at work

Being objectified

Becoming publicly sexualized

Harming to relocate

Being ostracized, defamation

Job and career consequences, weakened support atwork

Depression, some cases leads to suicides and death

Anxiety, panic attacks

Traumatic stress

Sleeplessness, shame, guilt, self blame

Difficulty in concentration , Headache, fatigue, loss ofmotivation

Personal difficulties with family

Eating disorder, feeling betrayed/violated

Feeling angry, towards the respondent

Loss of confidence and self- esteem, over all loss oftrust in people

Problem with intimates and loneliness



UNITE leads the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign from 25th to 10th December,with the themes “Leave no one-behind; end violenceagainst women and girls” to world free from violence foall women around the world, including refugees,migrants, minorities, indigenous people and popularaffected by conflict and natural disaster, amongst other.The UNITE to End Violence against women campaigninvited to have “Orange the World” using the coloursdesignated by the UNITE campaign to symbolic a brighterfuture without violence.

Indian Legal and government protective Acts: Ifthe following laws are properly, enforced, women in Indiamay be able to hope for safe, more peaceful home withinthe future.1. The Indian Penal Code Amendment in 1983; A

special section, numbered 498A, that officially madedomestic violence a criminal offense made added tothe Indian Penal Code in 1983. This section of thelaw specifically covers cruelty towards married womenby their husbands or their husbands’ families. Theacts of cruelty include – physical abuse, mentaltorture through threat, denying the women food,locking her in or out of the house as punishment anddemising perverse sexual acts against the women’swill.

2. The 2005 Protection of Women from DomesticViolence Act – created in 2005.

3. The 2013 Criminal Law Amendment, the aim ofthe amendment was to provide harsher and swifterpunishment for those criminals who committed abuseagainst women. The offenses include- acid attacks,stalking, and voyeurism, publicly and forciblydisrobing a woman.

4. The Family Violence Prevention and ServicesAct (FVPSA) help victims of domestic violence andtheir children by providing shelter and resources.Under the FVPSA, the administration for Childrenand Families, part of the U.S. Department of Healthand Human Services funds national, State, andCommunity programs, such as state domesticviolence coalitions and the Domestic ViolenceResource Network.

5. Crime Against Women Cells: This is an initiativeof the Indian government better help female victimsof domestic abuse. In every districts’ police. A crimeagainst women cell was put in place the womensufferers may approach these help desks for directassistance from the police stations.

6. Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme forchildren of working mothers (2006); for uplift ofwomen. It will provide day-care facilities, improvednutrition, immunization facilities, sleeping facilities,

advancement. Victims of gender discrimination losemotivation and morale necessary to perform their jobeffectively (ILO; 2007)

According to USAID (2006), women who experienceviolence or abuse were significantly more likely to reportbeing in ‘fair or poor health, and are almost twice aslikely to be experiencing depression. This leads to poorperformance at a work place. Also women who havebeen victims of violence are less likely to accessprevention and injury related to health care than non-abused women. They may also be at risk containingHIV/AIDS because of the aforementioned.

Legal Framework for Combating Violence andWomen at Work and Home:Violence against women is one of the most widespread,persistent and divesting human rights violations in ourworld today. It is a major obstacle to the fulfillment ofwomen’s and girls’, human right and to the achievementof the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Itoccurs worldwide, cutting across all generations,nationalities, communities and spheres of our societies,irrespective of age, ethnicity, disability or otherbackground.

“Violence in the world of work is a human rights issue;An appropriate approach towards eliminating violenceat work implies targeting the root causes ofdiscriminatory practices. States have legal obligationto prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence againstwomen, whether those acts are perpetrated by the Stateor by Private actors. – Secretary-General,International Organisation of Employers.

The convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW) constitutes theframe work for advancing and protecting women’s humanright under international law. India became a state partyin 1993. Each state party is required to eliminatediscrimination against women and take practical andeffective steps towards the realization of substantiveequality for women (Article 2). All forms of gender-basedviolence constitute discrimination against women under(EDAW)

Spotlight Initiative is a new initiative that European Union(EU) and the United Nations (UN) are embarking on anew, global multi-years initiative focused on eliminatingall forms of violence against women and girls.

The UNITE to end violence against women initiativelaunched in 2008 by the UN Secretary –General. Byresolution 54/134 of 17th December 1999, the UN GeneralAssembly designated 25th November as theInternational Day for the Elimination of Violenceagainst Women to have awareness about the problem.



and set the stage for better physical, mental andsocial growth of children f working women.

7. Women Help lines: (April 2015); is an initiative foruplift of women who are in need of immediate emergingresponse facing violence. It provides 24 hours tollfree telephonic assistance to any women or girl facingviolence in the public and private sphere of life.

Preventive Steps to protect working women fromviolence; Legislation should prioritize prevention ofviolence against women and should include provisionsas• All employers or persons in charge of work place

whether public/private sector should take appropriatesteps to prevent sexual harassment without prejudiceto the generality of this obligation by following thesteps.

• Express prohibition of sexual harassment as definedabove at the work place should be notice publishedand circulated in appropriate ways.

• The rulers of government and public sector bodiesrelating to conduct and discipline should include rulesprohibiting sexual harassment and provide forappropriate penalties in such rules against theoffender.

• As regards private employment, steps should betaken to include the aforesaid prohibition in thestanding orders under industrial employment act,1946.

• Appropriate work conditions should be provided inrespect of work, leisure health and hygiene, to furtherensure that there is no hostile environment towardswomen at work place a no employee woman shouldhave reasonable grounds to believe that she isdisadvantaged in convention with her employment.

• Awareness – raising activities regarding women’shuman rights, gender equality and the right of womento be free from violence

• Use of educational curricula to modify discretionarysocial and pattern of behavior as well as derogatorygender stereotypes, sensitization of media regardingviolence.

• Provision for efficient and timely prevision of financialassistance to survivors in order to meet their needs.

• Police department should respond quickly

ConclusionIn personal survey, many women shared about theirdomestic violence from husband, or relatives of husbandbut no one was opened their mouths about their violenceat workplace. Just because of fear of job loss, do nothave testimonies, dishonor at workplace, home and thesociety etc., Unless and until the mind sets of men athome and outside changed the violence continuedwithout an end even though many law are implementing.

References:• Spousal violence against working women in India –

Chiti Sharma Biswas• Violence against working women – The Hindu , De.

17, 2016• A study of Domesti Violence in working women –

Hina Kausar, Shruti.P.• CEDAW (2002) – Consideration of reports, submitted

by States parties under article 18 of CEDAW• Equality at Work – ILO – declaration• USAID – Human Development Report.• Handbook on Sexual Harassment of women t work

place• www.lawfar• Report of WHO



WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

1. Assistant Professor, Andhra Loyola College, AP.

Abstract

The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. With a decline intheir status from the ancient to medieval times, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, their history hasbeen eventful. In modern India, women have held high offices including that of the President, Prime Minister, Speakerof the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers and Governors.Women's rights under theConstitution of India mainly includes equality, dignity, and freedom from discrimination; further, India has variousstatutes governing the rights of women. As of 2011, the President of India, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and theLeader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the parliament) were women. However, women in Indiacontinue to face numerous problems such as crime, gender inequality.

K. Durga Pavani1

Meaning of Women EmpowermentWomen empowerment means emancipation of womenfrom the vicious grips of social, economical, political,caste and gender-based discrimination. It means grantingwomen the freedom to make life choices. Womenempowerment does not mean ‘deifying women’ rather itmeans replacing patriarchy with parity. In this regard,there are various facets of women empowerment, suchas given hereunder:—

Human Rights or Individual Rights: A woman is abeing with senses, imagination and thoughts; she shouldbe able to express them freely. Individual empowermentmeans to have the self-confidence to articulate and assertthe power to negotiate and decide.

Social Women Empowerment A critical aspect ofsocial empowerment of women is the promotion of genderequality. Gender equality implies a society in whichwomen and men enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes,rights and obligations in all spheres of life.

Educational Women Empowerment It meansempowering women with the knowledge, skills, and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in thedevelopment process. It means making women awareof their rights and developing a confidence to claim them.

Economic and occupational empowerment It impliesa better quality of material life through sustainablelivelihoods owned and managed by women. It meansreducing their financial dependence on their malecounterparts by making them a significant part of thehuman resource.

Legal Women Empowerment It suggests the provisionof an effective legal structure which is supportive ofwomen empowerment. It means addressing the gaps

between what the law prescribes and what actuallyoccurs.

Political Women Empowerment It means theexistence of a political system favoring the participationin and control by the women of the political decision-making process and in governance.

The position of Women in India: The position enjoyedby women in the Rig- Vedic period deteriorated in thelater Vedic civilization. Women were denied the right toeducation and widow remarriage. They were denied theright to inheritance and ownership of property. Manysocial evils like child marriage and dowry systemsurfaced and started to engulf women. During Guptaperiod, the status of women immensely deteriorated.Dowry became an institution and Sati Pratha becameprominent.

During the British Raj, many social reformers such asRaja Rammohun Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, andJyotirao Phule started agitations for the empowermentof women. Their efforts led to the abolition of Sati andformulation of the Widow Remarriage Act. Later,stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Nehru advocatedwomen rights. As a result of their concentrated efforts,the status of women in social, economic and politicallife began to elevate in the Indian society.

Current Scenario on Women Empowerment -.Based on the ideas championed by our founding fathersfor women empowerment, many social, economic andpolitical provisions were incorporated in the IndianConstitution. Women in India now participate in areassuch as education, sports, politics, media, art andculture, service sector and science and technology. Butdue to the deep- rooted patriarchal mentality in the Indian



society, women are still victimized, humiliated, torturedand exploited. Even after almost seven decades ofIndependence, women are stil l subjected todiscrimination in the social, economic and educationalfield.

Major landmark steps taken for womenempowerment.-Provisions made under the Constitution of India suchas: Right to equality under Article 14 of the IndianConstitution guarantees to all Indian women equalitybefore law; Equal pay for equal work under Article 39(d),guards the economic rights of women by guaranteeingequal pay for equal work; and Maternity Relief underArticle 42, allows provisions to be made by the state forsecuring just and humane condition of work andmaternity relief for women.

Acts like the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, prohibits therequest, payment or acceptance of a dowry. Asking orgiving dowry can be punished by imprisonment as wellas fine; Protection of Women from Domestic ViolenceAct, 2005, provides for a more effective protection of therights of women who are victims of domestic violence. Abreach of this Act is punishable with both fine andimprisonment; Sexual Harassment of Women at WorkPlace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013,helps to create a conducive environment at the workplacefor women where they are not subjected to any sort ofsexual harassment.

Panchayati Raj Institutions As per the 73rd and 74thConstitutional Amendment Act, all the local electedbodies reserve one-third of their seats for women. Sucha provision was made to increase the effectiveparticipation of women in politics.

Women’s Reservation Bill: It is a pending Bill in Indiawhich proposes to reserve 33% of all seats in the LokSabha and in all State Legislative Assemblies for women.If passed, this Bill will give a significant boost to theposition of women in politics.

Various Government Policies and Schemes-.The Government of India is running various welfareschemes and policies, both at State and Central levelsfor the empowerment of woman. Some of the majorprograms and measures include Swadhar (1995),Swayam Siddha (2001), Support to Training andEmployment Programme for Women (STEP-2003), SablaScheme (2010), National Mission for Empowerment ofWomen (2010) etc. All such policies and programs focuson social, economic and educational empowerment ofwomen across various age groups.

Thus, there has been no dearth of social, economic,political, legal and Constitutional efforts made for the

empowerment of women both prior to and post-Independence. However, women in India continue to faceatrocities such as rape, dowry killings, acid attacks,human trafficking, etc. According to a global pollconducted by Reuters, India is the “fourth mostdangerous country in the world for women”.

Women Empowerment — ChallengesPerspective: The most widespread and dehumanizingdiscriminations against women are on the basis of thebiassed perspective. The discrimination against the girlchild begins from the birth itself. Boys are preferred overgirls; hence, female infanticide is a common practice inIndia. The ordeal that an Indian girl faces at birth is onlythe beginning of a lifelong struggle to be seen and heard.

Patriarchate Bottlenecks The traditional Indian societyis a patriarchal society ruled by the diktats of self-proclaimed caste lords who are the guardians of archaicand unjust traditions. They put the burden of traditions,culture, and honor on the shoulders of women and marktheir growth. The incidences of “honor killing” reveal thedistorted social fiber in the male-dominated society.

Economic Backwardness: Women constitute only 29%of the workforce but forms majority of the destitute inthe country. There has been a failure in transforming theavailable women base into human resource. This, in turn,has hampered not only the economic development ofwomen but also of the country’ as a whole.

Implementation Gaps Through all these years, theattention is only on developing and devising newschemes, policies and programmes and have paid lessattention to the proper monitoring system andimplementation short-sightedness, for e.g. despite thepresence of The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technologies Actand various health programmes like Janani SurakshaYojana and National Rural Health Mission (NHRM), ourcountry has a skewed sex ratio and a high maternalmortality . rate (MMR).

Loopholes in the legal structure Although there area number of laws to protect women against all sorts ofviolence yet there has been the significant increase inthe episodes of rapes, extortions, acid, attacks etc. Thisis due to delay in legal procedures and the presence ofseveral loopholes in the functioning of a judicial system.

Lack of Political Will: The still- pending Women’sReservation Bill underscores the lack of political will toempower women politically. The male dominance prevailsin the politics of India and women are forced to remainmute spectators.

Way ahead starts with bridging the deep-rooted biasesthrough sustained reconditioning. It is only possible bypromoting the idea of gender equality and uprooting social



ideology of male child preferability. This concept ofequality should be first developed in each and everyhousehold and from there, it should be taken to thesociety. This can be achieved by running sustainedawareness programs with the help of Nukkad Natak ordramas, radio, television, Internet, etc. across thecountry.

Replacing ‘Patriarchy’ with Parity: A strongpatriarchate society with deep- rooted socio-culturalvalues continues to affect women’s empowerment. Theneed of the hour is an egalitarian society, where there isno place for superiority. The Government should identifyand eliminate such forces that work to keep alive thetradition of male dominance over its female counterpartby issuing inhumane and unlawful diktats.

Education is the most important and indispensable toolfor women empowerment. It makes women aware of theirrights and responsibilities. Educational achievements ofa woman can have ripple effects for the family and acrossgenerations. Most of the girls drop out of schools due tothe unavailability of separate toilets for them. The recentlylaunched ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ focusing on improvingsanitation facilities in schools and every rural householdby 2019, can prove to be very significant in bringing downthe rate of girls dropping out of school.

Political Will: Women should have access to resources,rights, and entitlements. They should be given decision-making powers and due position in governance. Thus,the Women Reservation Bill should be passed as soonas possible to increase the effective participation ofwomen in the politics of India.

Bridging implementation gaps: Government orcommunity-based bodies must be set up to monitor theprograms devised for the welfare of the society. Dueimportance should be given for their properimplementation and their monitoring and evaluationthrough social audits.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Efforts should be madeto restructure the legal process to deliver fair and in-time justice to the victims of heinous crimes like rapes,acid attacks, sexual harassment, trafficking anddomestic violence. The idea of fast-track courts, devisedto impart speedy justice to the victims of rapes and othercrimes against women, is a good initiative taken by thejudiciary and the Government of India.

Conclusion: Empowering women socially,economically, educationally politically and legally is goingto be a Herculean task. It is not going to be easy tochange the culture of disregard for women which are sodeep-rooted in Indian society. But it does not mean thatit is implausible. Only revolutions bring changes in aday, but reforms take their time. This one, in particular,

will take its time as well. The idea of womenempowerment might sound hard by the yard, but by theinch, it is just a cinch. All we need is a concentratedeffort focused in the right direction that would rest onlywith the liberation of women from all forms of evil.

Characteristics of women empowerment.The following are the characteristics of womenempowerment.• Women empowerment is giving power to women. It

is making women better off. It enables a greaterdegree of self-confidence and sense of independenceamong women.

• Women empowerment is a process of acquiringpower for women in order to understand their rightsand to perform her responsibilities towards oneselfand others in a most effective way. It gives the capacityor power to resist discrimination imposed by the maledominated society.

• Women empowerment enables women to organizethemselves increase their self-reliance and it providesgreater autonomy.

• Women empowerment means women’s control overmaterial assets intellectual resources and ideology .it challenges traditional power equations and relations.

• Women empowerment abolishes all gender basediscrimination in all institutions and structures ofsociety. it ensures participation of women in policyand decision-making the process at domestic andpublic levels.

• Women empowerment means exposing theoppressive powers of existing gender social relations.

• Women empowerment makes women more powerfulto face the challenges of life, to overcome to thedisabilities , handicaps, and inequalities . it enableswomen to realize their full identity and powers in allspheres of life.

• Empowerment also means equal status to women .it provides greater access to knowledge andresources greater autonomy in decision makinggreater ability to plan their and freedom from theshackles imposed on them by custom belief andpractice.

• Women empowerment occurs within sociology,psychological , political cultural, familial and economicspheres and at various levels such as individual,group and community.

• Women empowerment is an ongoing dynamicprocess which enhances women’s abilities to changethe structure and ideologies that keep themsubordinate. Women empowerment is a process ofcreating awareness and capacity building.



In the process of empowerment women should considertheir strengths and weakness opportunities and threatsand move forward to unfold their own potential to achievetheir goals through self-development . in our countryempowering women through enterprise development hasbecome an integral part of our development efforts dueto three important advantage entrepreneurs , economicgrowth an social stability .

The promotional schemes available in the country in orderto develop women entrepreneurship are as follows.• Mahila Nidhi.• Mahila vikas Nidhi• Priyadarshini yojana .• Trade-related entrepreneurship assistance and

development ( TREAD).• Special programs conducted by the SIDO ( small

industries development organization)• CWEI ( the consortium of women entrepreneurs of

India.• WIT ( women India trust).• SWEA ( self-employed women association) .• SHG’s ( self-help group)• FTWE ( federation of women entrepreneurs)• Income generating schemes by Department of

women and child development.• KVIC ( khadi villages industries commission)• DIC ( District industrial centers )• Women cell• Women industries fund schemes.

These schemes can financially help the women but shehas to take her own decision! Step out motivate eachother and let the stars work for you! And of course, ourgovernment who is coming up with various schemes tomake women socially and economically strong.

This is all about women empowerment a topic whichreally needs to be known to all the people out there. It isnot about just handful but for the 586.47 million whichis nearly 48,5% of women in the country.

I m sure working for such a huge crowds developmentwill make our country reach new heights of development.

Examples of Women Empowerment:• Indra Nooyi

India-born she attended IIM Calcutta and the YaleSO Management. Nooyi rightfully claimed the world’sattention when she became CEO of the world’ssecond largest corporation, PepsiCo.Forbes has named her 4th on the 2008 and 2009most powerful women in business. She has beennamed one of America’s Best Leaders.Nooyi has 2 daughters and has been ranked and the3rd most powerful Mom in the world.

• Indira GandhiShe served as the third prime Minister of India. Shegained notoriety as she continued to serve for 3consecutive terms, and then went on to serve anunprecedented fourth term. She was the only PrimeMinister to declare a state of emergency to “rule bydecree”.To the end she was has also been the only primeminister to have been placed in prison for herdecisions. Her arrest gained her great sympathy andpopularity of many people.Her life was cut short by her very own bodyguards inretaliation for ordering the army to enter the mostfamous Golden Temple to remove insurgents insidethe temple.



FINANCIAL INCLUSION FOR WOMENEMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

1. Lecturer in English, S.R.V.B.S.J.B.M.R.College, Peddapuram.2. Lecturer in Commerce, Ideal College of Arts and Science, Kakinada.

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is essential to initiate the process of economic development for developing countries. Every countrytries to achieve economic development for prosperity and better life to their people. So, contribution of both men andwomen is essential in economic activities for any nation. But in India, women are facing many problems in carrying outeconomic activities or undertaking any entrepreneurial work. Sometimes women have to face various socio-economicand other problems as entrepreneurs as they are not treated on par with men due to social and cultural conditions inthe society. In recent years, it is observed that there has been increasing trend in women enterprises in India. Today,more and more women are undertaking various economic activities. They are playing very important role in socio-economic development of all countries. Because of their participation, global economy has been changed. It isestimated that approximately one third of the business organizations are owned by women in India and all over theworld. The study aims at understanding the development of women entrepreneurship in India and their success andchallenges. In view of the above conditions of women in India there is a strong need to analyze the financial inclusionfor women and it needs a comprehensive programme to sustain women empowerment. The emergence of womenentrepreneurs and their contribution to the national economy is quite visible in India. Throughout the developingcountries, innovative lending programmes have emerged that specialized in giving small capital loans to low incomeentrepreneurs.

B. Surya Prakasa Rao1

IntroductionMen devoted less time to voluntary care work, leavingthem free to opt for work in the public sphere, includingpolitics and trade unions - or to pursue more leisureactivities. This resulted in a much higher total work loadon women than on men throughout their lives.

Again this unequal work load between women and menhad a direct effect on the distribution of economic resourcesby gender. Women were disadvantaged in terms of labourmarket access, career opportunities and occupationaland earning status. Women are more readily preparedto work in informal jobs and ended up being dependenton the family after a life time of informal work.

Empowerment is measured by the degree of economicindependence at household level decision making within the group. For the first time in the history of Indianplanning there is an attempt to move beyondempowerment and recognize women as a great forcewhich can influence Socio-Economic growth and change.The Eleventh plan recognized that women are not ahomogenous category. Their situations and requirementsdiffer based on their locations within various castes,communities, religious, geographic and zones. Thereforethe broad vision of the Eleventh plan included severalinter-related components: rapid growth that reducespoverty and creates employment opportunities, access

to essential services in health and education especiallyfor the poor, equality of opportunity empowerment ofwomen through financial inclusion.

The emergence of women entrepreneurs:The emergence of women entrepreneurs and theircontribution to the national economy is quite visible inIndia. Since the 1970’s, many women’s organizationsworld wide have included credit and savings, both as away of increasing women’s incomes. The 1980’s sawthe emergence of poverty - targeted micro-financeinstitutions like Gramena Bank.Throughout the developing countries, innovative lendingprogrammes have emerged that specializes in givingsmall capital loans to low-income entrepreneurs.

Women’s Contribution to Economic DevelopmentWomen in India have been engaged in economic activitiesover centuries of history primarily through employment.Due to low productivity and inadequate incomes in theagricultural sector women in small farm families havemoved from unpaid family labour to other occupations inparticular, small scale enterprises through SHG movement.

The absence of property rights and the concomitantdifficulty in accessing credit may be responsible for thelow proportion of women entrepreneurs in India. Theyface widespread discrimination and exploitation.

R. Venkateswarulu2



Need for a comprehensive programme to increaseFinancial Inclusion for women:It is important to note that initiatives cannot be takenand implemented by the government alone. Thepromotion of women entrepreneurial activities andfinancial inclusion has to be elevated to a policy debate.There should be a serious commitment by banks andfinancial institutions and their business developmentsections should be proactive and ensure that creditdelivery to women engaged in relevant sectors is givenpriority.

In addition to the major infrastructure developmentprojects, many village level enterprises and projects arecoming up within a short period of time. Crop agriculture,the dairy industry, fishing industry and livestock are threekey areas which can make a significant contribution togrowth. Women’s participation in each of these activitiesis estimated to be high and there are clear opportunitiesfor women, seeking banking and financial services.

It is time to prepare a comprehensive plan and that shouldhave new entry points to accommodate women’s financialrequirements.

Women Empowerment practices.Women constitute one-half of the world’s population anda visible majority of the poor. Women either solely orlargely support an increasing number of families. Projectsaiming to improve the living conditions of the poor cannotbe effective unless women participate in their formulationand implementation as contributors as well asbeneficiaries.

The following important conclusions are drawn* To empower women is to increase their control over

the decisions that effect their lives both within andoutside the household.

* Women should be encouraged to bring their visionand leadership, knowledge and skills views andaspirations into the development agenda from thegrass roots to international level.

* Women should be assisted in conflict situations andtheir participation in peace processes supported

* Emphasis should be given to advocacy of genderresponsive legislation and constitutional revisions toincrease women’s opportunities to influence thedirection of society and to remove obstacles towomen’s access to power.

Problems of Women Entrepreneurs in India1. The greatest deterrent to women entrepreneurs is

that they are women. A kind of patriarchal-maledominant social order is the building block to themin their way towards business success. Male

members think it a big risk financing the venturesrun by women.

2. The financial institutions are skeptical about theentrepreneurial abilities of women. The bankersconsider women loonies as higher risk than menloonies. The bankers put unrealistic andunreasonable securities to get loan to womenentrepreneurs. According to a report by UnitedNations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO), “despite evidence that women’s loanrepayment rates are higher than men’s, women stillface more difficulties in obtaining credit”, often dueto discriminatory attitudes of banks and informallending groups (UNIDO, 1995b).

3. The women entrepreneurs are suffering frominadequate financial resources and working capital.

4. Women’s family obligations also bar them frombecoming successful entrepreneurs in both developedand developing nations. “Having primary responsibilityfor children, home and older dependent familymembers, few women can devote all their time andenergies to their business”. The financial institutionsdiscourage women entrepreneurs on the behalf thatthey can at any time leave their business and becomehousewives again. The result is that they are forcedto rely on their own savings, and loan from relativesand family friends.

5. Indian women give more emphasis to family ties andrelationship. Married women have to make a finebalance between business and home. Moreover, thebusiness success is depends up on the familymembers extended to women in the businessprocess and management. The interest of familymembers is a determinant factor in the realization ofwomen folk business aspirations.

6. Another argument is that women entrepreneurs havelow level management skills. They have to dependon offices staffs and intermediaries, to get thingsdone, especially, the marketing and sale side ofbusiness. Here there is more probability for businessfallacies like the intermediaries take major part ofthe surplus or profit.

7. The male-female competition is another factor, whichdevelop hurdles to women entrepreneurs in thebusiness management process. Despite the fact thatwomen entrepreneurs are good in keeping theirservices prompt and delivery in time, due to lack oforganizational skills compared to male entrepreneurswomen have to constraints from competition. Theconfidence to travel across day and night and evendifferent regions and level freedom of expression andfreedom of mobility of the women entrepreneurs.



8. Less Confidence: Women entrepreneurs are notconfident about their strength and competence. Theirfamily members don’t stand by their entrepreneurialgrowth. In recent years, though the situation ischanging, yet the women have to face further changefor increased entrepreneurial growth.

Help extended to Women Entrepreneurs in India1. Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank

and Japan gives support, including financialassistance, for initiatives to improve skills of low-income women entrepreneurs in India. A grant of $3million from the government of Japan-financed JapanFund for poverty reduction, administered by ADB, willbe used to help women entrepreneurs in India.

2. Further assistance would be given to Small IndustriesDevelopment Bank of India and its partnermicrofinance institutions to review and revives theirgender policies and practices.

3. Additional funds of $ 1,08,000 from the Governmentof India and $ 1,06,700 from beneficiary communitieswill be provided for a total grant cost of $3.214 million,it noted.

Table - 1 : Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs

Suggestions :* Ensure equal access to illiterate poor women to get

the benefits from PMRY Programme.* Bank transaction must be user friendly and must

reach the doorsteps of rural women.* Production cum training centres should be opened

at community level according to the marketconditions.

* Individual awareness programmes on health andnutritional issues should be organized to improvethe health status of members as well as family.

* Promote quality education and vocational trainingfor girls and women.

* Provide business services, training and access tomarkets, information and technology particularly tolow income women community.

References:1. Brush, C.G.(1997), “Women-owned Businesses:

Obstacles and Opportunities”, Journal ofDevelopmental Entrepreneurship.

2. Buttner, E.H (1993), “Female Entrepreneurs: HowFar have they come? Business Horizons.

3. Kanitkar, A (1994), “Entrepreneurs and MicroEnterprises in Rural India”, Economic and PoliticalWeekly, Vol.29, No.9.

4. Government of India (2008): Economic Survey 2007-08, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

5. GoI (2008): Planning Commission Government ofIndia, 2008 Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012), Vol-III, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

6. GoI (2008): Planning Commission Government ofIndia, 2008 Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012), Vol-I, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

7. Lalitha, N. and B.S. Nagarajan, (2002): Self-helpGroups in Rural Development, New Delhi, DominantPublishers and Distributors.

Bank of India Priyadarshini Yogana

Central Bank of India Cent kalyani

Oriental Bank and Commerce Oriental Mahila Vikas Yojana

Central Bank CAN mahila

Dena Bank Dena Shakti

State Bank of Mysore Sthree Shakthi

Punjab National Bank Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme

State Bank of India Sthree Shakthi Package

Punjab and sind Bank Udyogini Scheme

SIDBI Mahila Udyam Nidhi

Tamilnadu Marchantile Bank Mahalir

Bank Schemes

Source: CLSA Asian-Pacific Markets.



FINANCIAL INCLUSION FOR WOMENEMPOWERMENT THROUGH EDUCATION

1. Lecturer in Commerce, Govt. Degree College,Ramachandrapuram - E.G.District

Abstract

In the present paper the author explains the financial inclusion for women empowerment through education foreconomic development and growth. Development of women is essential for overall development of any country. InIndia we are having various legislations and provisions in our Constitution of India for having equal rights to women,but our laws are concentrating on social upliftment of women and we can say that we are successful in achieving thesocial equality for women in our society, but we need to remember that unless we are developing a person financiallythere is no scope for all round development of that person. So here we need to develop women not only socially butalso financially. We can say that there is a need to inclusion of women financially. This paper explains the meaning offinancial inclusion of women in India and the present situation of women in India and the legal framework available forprotecting the rights of women and the ideal legal framework which we need to have for achieving financial inclusionof women for economic development and growth.

V. Ramesh Krishna1

IntroductionDevelopment of women education helps in developmentof family at micro level and development of country atmacro level. For development of any person financialgrowth is very essential, but unfortunately in case ofwomen in India, they are not included in the developmentof India and the financial assistance that is provided towomen is very negligible in India. Women in India arehaving equal rights with men according to Constitutionof India and even according to various legislations inIndia. We can say that the government of India has takenvarious measures to uplift the position of women in India.We can even say that our country is successful insocially uplifting the women in our society. At presentwe can say that women are equal with men and theyare having various mechanisms to protect their rights inour society. We are successful in social upliftment ofwomen but we failed in financial upliftment of women inour society. This is nothing financial inclusion of womenfor economic development and growth. Unless a personis financially developed, it is not possible for him toachieve overall development in society. In this paper theauthor explains what is the meaning of financial inclusionof women in development and the legal frameworkavailable for us for protecting the rights of women,measures taken by the government for upliftment ofwomen in our country and finally explains about the ideallegal framework ought to be for financial inclusion ofwomen for economic development and growth.

Objectives• To study about financial inclusion of women though

education in India• To study the legal framework available for inclusive

financial growth of women in India.• To suggest the ideal legal framework for inclusion of

women in financial sector.

MethodologyThe researcher adopted descriptive and doctrinalmethodology in the present study.

Sources of dataThe data is collected from various secondary sourceslike government websites, articles published etc.

Financial Inclusion in IndiaFinancial inclusion was first introduced in India by Y.Venugopal reddy former RBI governor. Financial inclusionmeans provision of financial service at affordable cost tolower income sections people, if financial services arenot available at affordable cost to lower income.sectionit is called as financial exclusion. As per world bankreport almost 2 billion people are using banking andfinancial service, even 50% of the poorest families is nothaving banking facilities.

World bank president called for Universal financialAccess ( UFA ) even after 60 years of independence50% of Indian population are not included into financialservices i.e existing financial service are not at affordablecost in India. Financial inclusion is required to improve



habit of thrift, due to be short of habit of thrift people useto spend their entire earnings as result they are fallinginto vicious circle of poverty. If underprivileged sectionpeople deprived from organized financial services thenthis situation forces them to depend on other noninstitutional financial sources. As we know that 70% ofthe agriculture finance is provided by non institutionalfinancial source money lenders.

As per indifference curve analysis in Economicstransferring money directly into the accounts of lowerincome group is less burden than giving subsidiesdirectly, for example if subsidy is given on rice peoplewill purchase entire quantity which is provided on subsidyif money is directly transferred into the accounts peoplethey will try to save money and they use it judicially.

Financial inclusion is important tool for rapid economicdevelopment but it requires a strong political will andclose observation of RBI. Recent central governmentprogram Pradhan Mantry Jandhan Youjana is bestexample of financial inclusion of under privileged sectionpeople because this program 51% percent of the bankaccounts in the public sector banks accounts wereopened by this low income group people to get the benefitof Pradhan Mantry Jandhan Youjana

After introduction of Pradhan Mantry Jandhan Youjana47% of women in India are having the basic bankaccount. As we know that 49% of Indian population isfemale population financial inclusion of women is drivingforce of Indian economic development. Along with thatIndia adopted Inclusive growth strategy in its. planningand economic development process. Now the aim ofIndia is achieving Inclusive growth along with financialinclusion of women and under privileged section of peopleAccording to Indian constitution women and underprivileged section of society are having right to havefinancial inclusion. Now we will discuss about the legalprovisions available for protection of women rights in India.

Legal ProvisionsThe Constitution of India grants equality to women. Thestate can take measures for eliminating discriminationagainst women. The Constitution states everyone isequal before the law and everyone can have equalprotection of law and it prohibits the discrimination againstany citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sexor place of birth and guaranteeequality of opportunity to all citizens in matters relatingto employment.6. Some of the privileges available to everywomen under the Constitution of India as follows.

Constitutional Privileges• Equality before law for women (Article 14)

• The State not to discriminate against any citizen ongrounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place ofbirth or any of them (Article 15 (i))

• The State to make any special provision in favour ofwomen and children (Article 15 (3))

• Equality of opportunity for all citizens in mattersrelating to employment or appointment to any officeunder the State (Article 16)

• The State to direct its policy towards securing formen and women equally the right to an adequatemeans of livelihood (Article 39(a)); and equal pay forequal work for both men and women (Article 39(d))

• The State to promote with special care the educationaland economic interests of the weaker sections ofthe people and to protect them from social injusticeand all forms of exploitation (Article 46)

• Not less than one-third (including the number of seatsreserved for women belonging to the ScheduledCastes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total numberof seats to be filled by direct election in everyPanchayat to be reserved for women and such seatsto be allotted by rotation to different constituenciesin a Panchayat (Article 243 D(3))

• Not less than one- third of the total number of officesof Chairpersons in the Panchayats at each level tobe reserved for women (Article 243 D (4))

• Not less than one-third (including the number of seatsreserved for women belonging to the ScheduledCastes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total numberof seats to be filled by direct election in everyMunicipality to be reserved for women and such seatsto be allotted by rotation to different constituenciesin a Municipality (Article 243 T (3))

Based on the above provisions in the Constitution of India;the government has taken various measures for upliftmentof women in the society.

National Commission for Women: In January 1992,the Government set-up this statutory body with a specificmandate to study and monitor all matters relating to theconstitutional and legal safeguards provided for women,review the existing legislation to suggest amendmentswherever necessary, etc.

National Policy for the Empowerment of Women,2001: The Department of Women & Child Developmentin the Ministry of Human Resource Development hasprepared a “National Policy for the Empowermentof Women” in the year 2001. The goal of this policy isto bring about the advancement, development andempowerment of women.

The Ministry Of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprisesannounced a scheme for encouraging the



entrepreneurship in women i.e, Scheme on TradeRelated Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development(TREAD) for Women. Under this scheme GovernmentGrant up to 30% of the total project cost as appraisedby lending institutions which would finance the remaining70% as loan assistance to applicant women, who haveno easy access to credit from banks due tocumbersome procedures and the inability of poor &usually illiterate/semi-literate women to provide adequatesecurity demanded by banks in the form of collaterals.7

Though we are having various provisions in the law andvarious schemes are developed based these laws forencouraging women entrepreneur in our country but wedon’t have proper mechanism for implementing the lawand policies and schemes for encouraging women asan entrepreneur in our society. So we need to have alegal framework for achieving financial inclusion of womenfor economic development and growth.

Suggestions• A Separate law has to be passed especially

concentrating financial inclusion of women.• A separate authority has to be established to

implement the law for financial inclusion.

• The authority has to encourage the advocacy financialinclusion of women in India and the advocacy of theauthority has to be a part of the legislation, like inthe case of Competition Act, 2002.

References• haps ://wwIAT.giz.de/enidownloadsigiz20 5 -en-analy

si s-1 oan-products-effi cienc y-women-entrepreneurs-india.pdf

• https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Content/PDFs/4PCHBB060810.pdf

• h t t p : / / w w w . o h c h r . o r g / D o c u m e n t s /ProfessionalInterest/cedaw.pdf

• http://dcmsme.gov.in/MSMED2006.pdf• http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/ESCAP-

SSWA-Development-Paper_1304_1.pdf• h t t p : / / m o s p i . n i c . i n / m . o s p i _ n e w / u p l o a d /

man_and_women/Constitutional%20&°/020Legal%20Rights.pdf.



WOMEN EDUCATION – A KEY TO EMPOWERMENT

1. Reader, Dept. of Telugu, Andhra Chritian College,Guntur.

Dr. P. Swarupa Rani1

Introduction:Women education refers to every form of education thataims at improving the knowledge, and skill of womenand girls. It includes general education at schools andcolleges, vocational and technical education,professional education, health education, etc. Womeneducation encompasses both literary and non-literaryeducation.

All living creatures in nature have sex variance. Amongall animals and birds both male and female are the sameexcept in the process of reproduction. At all other timesthey behave with equality in all respects. Butunfortunately, man exploits the in-equality of women andbrands women as the weaker sex and as inferior beings.Hence it is our responsibility to see that women alsoshould use their skills and abilities to develop the societyalong with men for which we should give importance towomen education Educated women are capable ofbringing socio-economic changes. The constitution ofalmost all democratic countries, including India,guarantees equal rights to both men and women.

Our mythology and epics have put women on a highpedestal of love, affection and respect. Women occupiedimportant places in cultural, economic, political andsocial fields. Manu has rightly remarked that God

resides at the places where women are honouredand respected where proper provision of educationis made for them and where they are givenfreedom equal to those of men in the society.During early Vedic period the education of women hasmade a great progress. But in the present era women,who form half the population, are lagging behind in allfields. This backwardness is very prominent in the fieldof education. The literacy rate in India is registered as74.04 in 2011, and the male literacy rate being 82.14,the female literacy rate is 64.46 as per 2011 census.Today’s girls form tomorrow’s women power.

The constitution of the country made it obligatory for thestate to provide basic education for all up to the age of14 within a period of ten years. It was soon realizedthat the task was not an easy one particularly with theincreased population in which the increase was overtaking the expansion of education system. While literacyrate and school enrollments increased consistently, thenumber of illiterates also continued to rise. Statisticsalso show that there are as many girls out side theschools as there are inside in the age group of 6-14.This reinforces the well recognized fact that progress inEducational For All (EFA) goals demand special focuson education of girls. The Indian girl child is

Abstract

Status of woman is a product of the general societal attitudes towards women at large. Young Women face higherrisks of malnutrition, disease, disability, retardation of growth and development. They have no access of control overresources. Their work is invisible and hence undervalued. All their disabilities are powerfully reinforced through ourculture, media, education and socialization process A large number of girls, especially in rural areas, do not evenattend school and among those who attend school the drop-out rate is very high. This is because the girls are engagedin domestic and child care activities when parents are at work. Nearly 80% of the girls drop out from classes I to V. Outof the 100 girls that enroll in class 1, only 42 reach class V. Among Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes, many ofthose who live below poverty line out of 100 girls only 19 reach class V. Global figures also neglect the historicalexclusion of girls and women from education, reflected in the statistic that two thirds of the world’s 758 million illiterateadults are women. Women education in India is not only a matter of attendance but social acceptance. It begins notin the class room but in the family and not when a girl is five or six but from the moment of her birth. Educationalopportunities available for the Indian girl child are culturally determined and the educational needs are rooted in thechanging socio-economic structures of the society. By educating women, economy of the country increases. It hasbeen seen from the last few decades that involvement of educated women in various activities helps the country tomove towards economic and social development. Female education also contribute towards health and well-being ofthe family. By getting education, women also contribute to the national income of the country.



disadvantaged right from her birth. According to 2011census the sex ratio is 914.

As country of paradoxes India has emerged as a globalplayer in the information and communications technologyrevolution, yet it is home to millions of illiterates and outof school children. In recent years the country began tounlock its tremendous potential to achieve economicprogress and to liberate the people from the misery ofpoverty.

However, persistent effort to reach the goal of educationfor all seem to have begin to pay results in recent years.The increase in literacy showed a significant jump andconsequently for the first time there was a decrease inthe absolute number of illiterates in the country. Femaleliteracy showed a faster increase though we still have along way to go in fully bridging the male female gap.Participation of children in the schools also showed apositive trend with school dropout rate among girlsshowing a significant decrease nevertheless the fieldreality amply demonstrates that the task is not yetcomplete. Recent assessment shows that the countryhas achieved universal enrolment as indicated by thegross enrollment ratios. However examined against agespecific and gender specific population there is still aglobal gap in the enrolment ratio and gender disparitydoes not seem to be reduced. Statistics also show thatthere are as many girls outside the school as there areinside in the age group of 6-14. This reinforces the wellrecognized fact that progress in EFA goals demandsspecial focus on education of girls. Here again educationfor girls need a special attention. Added to this,enrolment is not only due to physical distance but alsooften due to social and cultural barriers.

Being physically weak, women were perceived as beingless capable and require the protection and guidance ofmen. Even in current times the same attitude prevailedamong parents, teachers and also the administrators.Socio-economic changes have made educationnecessary, not just for the purposes of providing incomeearning opportunities, but also for the potential tocontribute to the improvement in the standards of livingof the individuals, families and communities.

The Status of women in IndiaThe Indian woman is disadvantaged right from her birth.According to 2011 census the sex ratio is 914. TheUnited Nations Children’s Fund, estimated that upto 50million girls and women are ‘missing’ from India’spopulation because of termination of the female fetus orhigh mortality of the girl child due to lack of proper care.

Source = the Census Reports,

published by office of the Registrar General, India 2A,Mansingh.Status of woman is a product of the general societalattitudes towards women at large. Young Women facehigher risks of malnutrition, disease, disability,retardation of growth and development. They have noaccess of control over resources. Their work is invisibleand hence undervalued. All their disabilities are powerfullyreinforced through our culture, media, education andsocialization process. A popular Telugu saying fromAndhra Pradesh is, “Bringing up a daughter is likewatering a plant in another’s courtyard”. Another states,“If you tell lies you will get a female child”. Another states,“It is better to be born as a tree in a jungle than to beborn a woman”. “It is easier to perform an AsvamedhaYaga (Horse sacrifice which the kings would perform inthe past) than to perform a daughter’s wedding.” As aresult of the cultural milieu the women’s self image aswell as society’s image of her is negative. She has novalue as an individual who contributes to the nation’sdevelopment.

The status of girls in India:A large number of girls, especially in rural areas, do noteven attend school and among those who attend schoolthe drop-out rate is very high. This is because the girlsare engaged in domestic and child care activities whenparents are at work. Nearly 80% of the girls drop outfrom classes I to V. Out of the 100 girls that enroll inclass 1, only 42 reach class V. Among Schedule Castesand Schedule Tribes, many of those who live belowpoverty line out of 100 girls only 19 reach class V.

It was estimated that 130 million of children within theage group of 6-11 remain un-enrolled in schools which

Male Female Sex Ratio (1901 – 2011)Table-1

Year Female / 1000 Males1901 9721911 9641921 9551931 9501941 9451951 9461961 9411971 9301981 9331991 9452001 9272011 914



account for 60 percent of all un enrolled girl childrenfrom the same group. Several factors seems to beimportant during the education of girls. Girls are doublyeffected by the absence of effective early child hoodeducation programmes as they are invariably burdenedwith the responsibility of taking care of younger siblings.Distance norms for opening middle schools work againstthe interest of girls as often they are not allowed to goout of the village for schooling further. Provision of basicinfrastructure and women teachers in schools couldconsiderably influence the situation through various EFAprojects as indicated by recent efforts.

The rights of women :The women in India is totally deprived of their right toeducation, employment, and health care. The attitudetowards them is negative and indifferent. They areneglected to the care and treated inhumanly they arevoice less, suppressed and invisible in decision making..There is not much change in her socio-economic andcultural environments. A comprehensive and wholesomeunderstanding of the problems centered around womeneducation has to include the socio cultural ethos in itsframework and it is imperative to know the operation ofvarious historical, political, cultural and economic factors.Women came to be considered as inferior for freedomand independence and to be kept under the authority ofmale at all stages of their life. Women is constantlymonitored, watched suppressed and restricted. She wasmade dependent on man and kept always in a marginaluse and insecure position. Women’s self expressiontook the form of cooking, serving, child rearing, lookingafter animals and the other daily chores. Boys and girlsare given differential treatment. However the traditionalsex role, socialization of women in Indian society, thepersistence of sex based stereotypes , prejudices andthe sex type of occupation have been the crucial variableswhich restricted participation in education andemployment. . Institutions of learning also reinforce thepatriarchal ideology through its various binary and dividingpractices.

Article 45 of the directive principle of the state policydeclares that- “The State shall endeavour to provide, withina period of ten years from the commencement of thisConstitution, for free and compulsory education for allchildren until they complete the age of fourteen years”.

Implementation of the national policy of education (1988)and the goals for education for all (1990) broughtsignificant changes in expanding the number of primaryschools in increasing enrolment figures and literacyrates. But few girls are enrolled in primary schools andmore girls are dropped out than boys . The schooldropout rates are significantly high in the case ofscheduled caste and scheduled tribes. The literacy rates

show number of children enrolled and dropout in Indiaand A.P especially in low literacy areas.

Thus the status of women education in India is in aserious crisis and in highly deplorable condition. She isone of the most exploited being in the stratified Indiansociety. Women education in India is not only a matterof attendance but social acceptance. It begins not inthe class room but in the family and not when a girl isfive or six but from the moment of her birth. Educationalopportunities available for the Indian girl child are culturallydetermined and the educational needs are rooted in thechanging socio-economic structures of the society.

The present scenario of education of women :Today more girls than ever go to school. However, despiteprogress, women and girls continue to face multiplebarriers based on gender and its intersections with otherfactors, such as age, ethnicity, poverty, and disability,in the equal enjoyment of the right to quality education.This includes barriers, at all levels, to access qualityeducation and within education systems, institutions,and classrooms, such as, amongst others:Harmful gender stereotypes and wrongful genderstereotypingChild marriage and early and unintended pregnancyGender-based violence against women and girlsLack of inclusive and quality learning environments andinadequate and unsafe education infrastructure, includingsanitationPovertyThe international community has recognised the equalright to quality education of everyone and committed toachieving gender equality in all fields, includingeducation, through their acceptance of internationalhuman rights law. This means that states have legalobligations to remove all discriminatory barriers, whetherthey exist in law or in everyday life, and to undertakepositive measures to bring about equality, including inaccess of, within, and through education.

Global figures also neglect the historical exclusion ofgirls and women from education, reflected in the statisticthat two thirds of the world’s 758 million illiterate adultsare women.Despite gains in rates of girls’ enrolment in primaryschool there are disparities in completion rates. In sub-Saharan Africa, gender parity exists among the richest20% who have completed primary education but amongthe poorest 20%, 83 girls completed primary educationfor every 100 boys, dropping to 73 for lower secondaryand 40 for upper secondary (UNESCO, 2016).

A number of factors contribute to girls from poor familiesnot being able to attend school, the biggest of which is



the lack of free education, particularly in the formativeyears. This may be because governments do not havelegal and policy frameworks in place to make freeeducation a reality or they do but it is not effectivelyimplemented, or it may not be adequately resourced, orthere may be corruption which draws resources awayfrom their intended use.

Lack of free education results in an added financialburden on families, which may come in the form of schoolfees (or other direct fees) or indirect fees such as forschool uniforms, exam fees, security, schooltransportation, etc. Such fees are a direct barrier toschool attendance for many girls, either because familiescannot afford these costs or the costs may force familiesto select which of their children to send to school. Insuch instances, it is usually boys who are favouredbecause of the low social and economic value placedon the education of girls.

Conclusion:By educating women, economy of the countryincreases. It has been seen from the last few decadesthat involvement of educated women in various activitieshelp the country to move towards economic and socialdevelopment.Female education also contribute towards health andwell-being of the family.By getting education, women also contribute to thenational income of the country.They can afford to offer quality nutrition to their children.Educated women are considered active in politics aswell.They know their rights and are able to defend themselvesbetter.Educated women are just on the threshold of transitionfrom tradition to modernity. The women themselves desirethat their status and position in society should rise higher.Though a proper climate for such a change is still wanting,yet there have been many structural and statutoryinnovations for the improvement of their position. Thetraditional status and role sets of women are breakingup and new role-sets based on achievement,independence and equality are gradually coming up. Themodern Indian women participate in various sports andgames like football, hockey, cricket, table tennis, lawntennis and also in athletics. The Contemporary Indianwomen serve as M.P., M.L.A, governors and ministers.Women of recent times like Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi,Vijaylakshmi Pandit, M.S. Subhalakshmi, LataMangeskar and the former president of India PrativaPatil have achieved international fame. Women have also

achieved high fame in the areas of literature, music andacting. More and more women are joining the field ofscience and technology. In fact there is no sphere ofactivity in which women are unsuitable orincompetent.

Lets now have a look at the darker side. Though theIndian law does not discriminate between men andwomen, the status of women of our country today ispractically far below the status of men. Wife burning forfailure to pay dowry as demanded also continuesunabated all over India. It is a matter of great shock thatsuch cases are increasing in every year. In our countrybride is burnt or murdered for non-payment of dowry.

Thus the empowerment of women focus on three variablesthat reflect women participation in society – politicalpower or decision making, education and health. Amongall the variables education is most important withoutwhich women cannot go forward in any other skill. Byeducating women, economy of the country increases. Ithas been seen from the last few decades that involvementof educated women in various activities help the countryto move towards economic and social empowerment.

REFERENCES• Aggarwal, J. C. (1996). Theory and principles of

education: Philosophical and sociological basis ofeducation, New Delhi: Vilas Publishing House

• Education Commission (1964-66). The KothariEducation Commission Report”, Ministry ofEducation, Govt. of India, New Delhi, India

• Josphine, A. (2007). Parental Attitude towardsFormal Education of Girl-Child Dropouts, FormalEducation and Psychosocial Well-Being ofKaramojong Girl-Child Dropouts. Journal of Educationand Social Sciences Research Abstracts - JESSRA,Issue 2, 2008.

• Kothari, D.S., (1964-66). Education CommissionGovernment of India.

• Ugbede, O. E. (1997). Enhancing women educationthrough technology. A paper presented at the 19th

National Convention of Nigeria Association forEducation Media and Technology, University ofIbadan, June, 1997

• Agbakwuru, C. (2002). The role of primary educationin the promotion of national integration and cohesion.Knowledge Review 1(2), 15-23.

• Federal Ministry of Information. FederalGovernment of Nigeira and United National Children’sFund (1997-2001).



WOMEN LAWS & RIGHTS

1. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Commerce, A. C. College, Guntur.

T. Niloufer Usha Rani1

Abstract“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created male and female. Adam said, this is now boneof my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

- Genesis 1:27& 2:23

All human beings are entitled to enjoy certain minimum rights. But, the reality is different. Every human being is avictim of one or the other types of human right violation. Human rights violation is widely prevalent in the modern world.Certain human rights violations have great economic impact, while some others have very small economic impact butvery serious psychological impact. Women are subject to different socioeconomic and cultural conditions than menand face special obstacles to their enjoyment of the same rights as men on an equal footing. Consequently, specialmeasures are necessary to neutralize the difficulties that create inequalities at women's expense in all walks of life.Women sought political, economic, and social equality through suffrage, the demand for equal pay, and maternitybenefits. Around the world women have engaged with the political discourses of their locality and sought a voice inlocal and global issues that impact them and their children. Not all these struggles have been helped by Westernideas; as women in former colonies have sought equality, the legacy of colonialism has shaped their struggle andintercessions from Western feminists have not always been welcome.

Introduction“A Right is not what someone gives you; it’s whatno one can take from you.” –Ramsey Clarke

The status of women in India has been subject tomany great changes over the past few millennia.With adecline in their status from the ancient to medievaltimes, to the promotion of equal rights by manyreformers, their history has been eventful. Women’s rightsunder the constituent India — mainly includes equality,dignity, and freedom from discrimination; further, Indiahas various statutes governing the rights ofwomen.”Women Rights” – that promote a position oflegal and social equality of women with men.

In the past, human rights had been conceptualized in away that did not take account of women’s lives and thefact that women routinely faced violence, discriminationand oppression. Consequently, women’s experienceswere until relatively recently not adequately addressedby the human rights framework. The work of activists,human rights mechanisms and States has been criticalin ensuring that the human rights framework has grownand adjusted to encapsulate the gender-specificdimensions of human rights violations to better protectwomen. Effectively ensuring women’s human rightsrequires a comprehensive understanding of theunderlying societal structures and power relations thatdefine and influence women’s ability to enjoy their humanrights. These power structures have an impact on allaspects of life, from law and politics, to economic andsocial policy, family and community life.

Attaining equality between women - men and eliminatingall forms of discrimination against women arefundamental human rights and United Nations values.Women around the world nevertheless regularly sufferviolations of their human rights throughout their lives,and realizing women’s human rights has not always beena priority. Achieving equality between women and menrequires a comprehensive understanding of the ways inwhich women experience discrimination and are deniedequality to develop appropriate strategies to eliminatesuch discrimination.

Non-discrimination and equality between women andmen are central principles of human rights law. Both theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights andthe International Covenant on Economic, Social andCultural Rights prohibit discrimination based on sex andguarantee women and men equality in the enjoyment ofthe rights covered by the Covenants. Article 26 of theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights alsoprovides for equality before the law and equal protectionof the law.

The definition of discrimination in the Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Discrimination against



Women encompasses a variety of possiblediscriminatory actions (any distinction, exclusion orrestriction) having either the express purpose or theactual effect of discriminating against women. TheConvention goes further than other human rights treatiesin also describing in detail the State obligations andactions to be taken to achieve gender equality inpractice. It not only requires equality between womenand men, but also prohibits practices that canperpetuate women’s inequality.

Substantive gender equality and formal gender equality,as well as de facto discrimination and de jurediscrimination, are central concepts in the Convention’sequality framework. Discrimination and inequality canoccur in different ways. Discrimination can occur throughde jure or direct discriminatory provisions, such as whena law or policy restricts, prefers or distinguishes betweencertain groups, for instance, prohibiting women fromdriving, owning land or inheriting property. Ensuring formalequality requires eliminating all instances of de jurediscrimination. While much progress has been made toeliminate discriminatory laws, many persist andreforming them should be a matter of the utmost priorityfor States to comply with their human rights obligations.

Since women constitute half the world’s population andare entitled to all human rights on an equal basis withmen, this publication does not aim to cover every humanrights issue which touches women’s lives. The focushere is on: public and political life, sexual andreproductive health and rights, the right to an adequatestandard of living, violence against women, migration,conflict and crisis, and access to justice. Across all ofthese, education and the family context are particularlypertinent and are addressed throughout.

Women’s rights are the rights and entitlements claimedfor women and girls worldwide, and formed the basis forthe women’s rights movement in the nineteenth century.In some countries, these rights are institutionalized orsupported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereasin others they are ignored and suppressed.

The United Nations has a long history of addressingwomen’s human rights and much progress has beenmade in securing women’s rights across the world inrecent decades. However, important gaps remain, andwomen’s realities are constantly changing, with newmanifestations of discrimination against them regularlyemerging. Some groups of women face additional formsof discrimination based on their age, ethnicity, nationality,religion, health status, marital status, education,disability and socioeconomic status, among othergrounds. These intersecting forms of discrimination must

be considered when developing measures and responsesto combat discrimination against women.

In 2000, the international community agreed to eighttime-bound development goals to be achieved by 2015,including a goal on gender equality and the empowermentof women, as well as one on the reduction of maternalmortality. Integrating human rights and gender equalitythroughout the Millennium Development Goals and inthe post-2015 development agenda are key to achievingmeaningful progress.The Human Rights Council also hasthe power to call special sessions to address humanrights violations and emergencies. These specialsessions have, in some cases, presented opportunitiesfor examining violations of women’s rights.

The legal rights of women refer to the social andhuman rights of women. Crimes against women occurevery minute in India. Women are not safe, whether it isin their houses, public places or at the workplace. Giventhe number of crimes that are committed against women,it is pertinent that women are aware about the laws thatare in place to protect them. As a parent, wife, daughter,employee and a woman these are rights set in place toprotect you and it is important that you are aware aboutthese.

Here are 10 laws that women should know:

1. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006:Thisact defines child marriage as a marriage where thegroom or the bride are underage, that is, the bride isunder 18 years of age or the boy is younger than 21years.

2. Special Marriage Act, 1954:The objectives of thisact are to provide – a special form of marriage incertain cases, provide for registration of certainmarriages and, to provide for divorce. In a countrylike India and with the diverse religions and cast,when people from different faiths and caste choseto get married they do it under the Special MarriageAct.

3. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961:According to this act,taking or giving of dowry at the time of the marriageto the bride or the bridegroom and their family is tobe penalized. Dowry system, giving and taking ofdowry, is a norm in India. Dowry is often asked ofthe bride and her family by the groom and his family.The system has taken strong roots because womenafter marriage move in with their spouse and in-laws.

4. Indian Divorce Act, 1969:The Indian Divorce Actallows the dissolution of marriage, mutual consent,nullity of marriage, judicial separation and restitutionof conjugal rights. Family Courts are established tofile, hear, and dispose of such cases.



5. Maternity Benefit Act,1861:It states that a womanemployee who has worked in an organization for aperiod of at least 80 days during the 12 monthspreceding the date of her expected delivery is entitledto receive maternity benefits, which includesmaternity leave, nursing breaks, medical allowance,etc.

6. Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,1971:Theaim of the Act is to reduce the occurrence of illegalabortion and consequent maternal mortality andmorbidity. It clearly states the conditions under whicha pregnancy can be ended or aborted and specifiesthe persons qualified to conduct the same.

7. Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,2013:Sexual harassment at workplace also includes– the use of language with sexual overtones, invasionof private space with a male colleague hovering tooclose for comfort, subtle touches and innuendoes.

8. Indecent Representation of Women(Prevention)Act,1986:This Act prohibits indecent representationof women through advertisement or in publications,writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner.

9. National Commission for Women:The NCWrepresents the rights of women in India and providesa voice for their issues and concerns. The NationalCommission for Women Act aims to improve thestatus of women and worked for their economicempowerment.

10. Equal Remuneration Act, 1976:This Act preventsdiscrimination in terms of remuneration. It providesfor payment of equal recompense to men and womenworkers.

Indian Law:For most of history, Indians used their Hindu legal codeas a basis for their rights and customs. The mostorthodox form of the ”Dharmasatras” was the ”ManuSmriti” which was used prevalently during the colonialperiod. Manu Smriti protected women’s property rightsas well as rights to inheritance.But it is also insistedthat women are placed under a male guardianship at alltimes such as father from birth, husband in marriageand sons as a widow. Judgement and interpretation ofthe code was executed by local councils calledthe ”Panchayats” which composed of mostly malevillage elders, but women were not always excluded.

The colonial takeover by the British during the 17th and18th century had more negative than positive effects onwomen’s rights in the Indian subcontinent. Although theymanaged to outlaw widow burning, female infanticide andimprove age of consent, scholars agree that overall

women’s legal rights and freedoms were restricted duringthis period. The British abolished local custom laws infavor of separate religious codes for Hindus and Muslimswhich had harsher treatment of women. These religiouscodes lead to women having poorer rights when it cameto landholding, inheritance, divorce, marriage andmaintenance.

“If you don’t speak up for yourself no one will.Speak up, make your voice matter. Never one toshy away from standing up for issues that matter.”

– Tanvi DubeyIncreased representation of women within the police andthe judicial system as well as mainstreaming genderwithin the judiciary can also improve their responsivenessto gender issues and make it easier for women to seekassistance or report their cases.

References:• Gordon, Ann D. (1997). ”Declaration of Sentiments

and Resolutions”. Selected Papers of Elizabeth CadyStanton and Susan B. Anthony. Retrieved 2November 2007.

• Janet H. Johnson. ”Women’s Legal Rights in AncientEgypt”. Digital collections. University of ChicagoLibrary. Retrieved 3 November 2007.

• Schaps, D.M. (1998). “What Was Free about a FreeAthenian Woman?”. Transactions of the AmericanPhilological Society (1974–). 128: 178. doi:10.2307/284411. JSTOR 284411.

• The limit was set at the value of a medimnos of barley,which was not enough to feed a family for a week.

• Pomeroy, Sarah (1994). Goddesses, Whores, Wives,and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. London:Pimlico. p. 73.

• Dover, K.J. (1973). “Classical Greek Attitudes toSexual Behavior”. Arethusa. 6 (1): 61.

• Winkler, John J. (1990). The Constraints of Desire:The Anthropology of Sex and Gender in AncientGreece. New York: Routledge. p. 5.



EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH EDUCATION

1. Lecturer in Commerce, Sri Ramakrishna Degree (A) College, Nandyal, A.P.2. Lecturer in Commerce, Sri Ramakrishna Degree (A) College, Nandyal, A.P.

T.Ramakrishnudu1 K.Ramakrishna2

AbstractThere was a time when people thought that it was not necessary to educate girls. Now we have begun to realize thatgirls’ education is essential. The modern age is the age of awakening of girls. They are trying to compete with men inall spheres of life. There are many people who oppose girls’ education. They say that the proper sphere of girls is thehome. So, they argue that the money spent on girl’s education is wasted. This view is wrong, because girl’s educationcan bring about a silent revolution in the society.

Introduction“If you educate a man you educate an individual, however,if you educate a woman you educate a whole family”.Women education in India plays a very important role inthe overall development of the country. It not only helpsin the development of half of the human resources, butin improving the quality of life at home and outside.

Women education has a major preoccupation of boththe government and civil society as educated womencan play a very important role in the development of thecountry. Education is milestone of women empowermentbecause it enables them to respond to the challenges,to confront their traditional role and change their life, sothat we can’t neglect the importance of education inreference to women empowerment.

Women education refers to every form of education thataims at improving the knowledge, and skill of womenand girls. It includes general education at schools andcolleges, vocational and technical education,professional education, health education. Womeneducation encompassesboth literary and non-literaryeducation.Primary education is now a fundamentalright. When a woman (or a girl) is ensured of her rights,the society at large is ensured of its sustainability.

There are always a number of elements in the societywhich are deprived of their basic rights in every society,state and nation, but these elements lack in theawareness of their rights. If we enlist such elementsfrom the society, then women would top this list. In fact,women are the most important factor of every society.Even though everybody is aware of this fact, but nobodyis ready to accept this fact.

Thinkers have given a number of definitions of educationbut out of these definitions, the most important definitionis that which was put forth by M. Phule. According to M.Phule, “Education is that which demonstrates thedifference between what is good and what is evil”.

Factors holding Women from going to SchoolThe reasons are many. Too often families favor boys wheninvesting in education. Poverty compound factors suchas child marriage, early pregnancy, child labor, housework, cost and distance keep girls out of school. Inaddition, some schools do not meet the needs ofadolescent girls in terms of safety, available water andsanitary facilities, quality of education or relevance ofthe curriculum to girls’ lives. Gender-based violence alsorobs girls of education.

Gender discrimination still persists in India and lot moreneeds to be done in the field of women’s education inIndia. The gap in the male-female literacy rate is just asimple indicator for that. Women were considered onlyhouse wife and better to be live in the house.

Poverty is another factor that holds girls from going toschool. Investing in women are much smaller in areasfacing high levels of poverty. Also, in some cases theeducation women receive is of much lower quality thanwhat men receive, lowering its effectiveness.

In Afghanistan, women and girls strive to get aneducation. Attacks by insurgents who oppose women’seducation lead to regular closures of girls’ schools.

Women empowerment through educationWomen empowerment is the pivotal part in any society,state or country. It is a woman who plays a dominantrole in the basic life of a child. Women are an importantsection of our society. Education as means ofempowerment of women can bring about a positiveattitudinal change. It is therefore, crucial for thesocioeconomic and political progress of India.Education significantly makes difference in the lives ofwomen. So, we can’t neglect the importance of educationin reference to women empowerment. To see thedevelopment in women education India is supposed toupcoming super power of the world in recent years. The



increasing change in women education, theempowerment of women has been recognized as thecentral issue in determining the status of women forbecoming super power we have mostly to concentrateupon the women’s education.

Importance of Women EducationEducation means modification of behavior in every aspect,such as mentality, outlook, attitude etc. Educatedwomen not only tend to promote education of their girlchildren, but also can provide better guidance to all theirchildren. Moreover, educated women can also help inthe reduction of infant mortality rate and growth of thepopulation.

Indeed, when women are educated and empowered, thebenefits are enormous. Studies have shown thatwomen’s literacy leads to increased life expectancy,reduced child mortality, and ultimately healthier andeducated children.

Lack of education limits prospects, decreases familyincome, reduces health, puts women and girls at risk oftrafficking and exploitation, and limits the economicadvancement of entire countries.

Few Women leading the way for Girls education• Malala Yousafzai, by daring to go to school as a

young teen, Malala defied Pakistani extremists andtheir violent attacks and became a global icon for theimportance of educating girls. Because of Malala’sheroic and eloquent statements for girls’ education,she was awarded at age 17 the Nobel Prize for Peacein 2014. “I don’t want to be thought of as the ‘girl whowas shot by the Taliban’ but the ‘girl who fought foreducation’,” she said.

• Mrs. Obama has frequently championed the value ofeducating girls worldwide and, in 2015, unveiled “LetGirls Learn,” a new U.S. initiative to supportcommunity-focused girls’ education across the globe

• In 2014, Mrs. Clinton launched in 2014the Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition andResources for Girls Education (or Girls CHARGE)alongside Julia Gillard, Board Chair of the GlobalPartnership for Education.

• Through her philanthropy and advocacy at the GraçaMachel Trust, Ms. Machel has been a lifelongchampion of girls’ education and children’s rights,and raised awareness about the scourge of early childmarriage, female genital mutilation and otherpractices that keep girls from reaching their fullpotential.

• As the founder of the Campaign for FemaleEducation, or Camfed, Ms. Cotton received

the 2014 World Innovation Summit forEducation (WISE) prize in Doha in recognition of hercareer in giving learning opportunities to girls andwomen in sub-Saharan Africa.

Influential female educators in the world• Savitribai Phule was India’s first female teacher. In

a country where women are still not seen at par withmen, Savitribai’s role as a teacher at a village schoolin Pune just a year after the Independence isremarkable. It is said that when Savitribai would goto the school, people used to throw cow dung, stonesand rotten vegetables and eggs at her. Still, fightingagainst all odds, her husband and she went on toopen five more such schools

• Maria Montessori was the woman who started thenursery school culture. he propagated the idea thatchildren should be able to shape their future in theirown ways.

• Emma williard belonged to a farmer’s family. Hailingfrom such a humble background and that too back in1787, Emma did not have the resources to make ahuge difference in the world of education. But, shedid. At only 20, she became a teacher and also thehead of a girl’s academy in Vermont

• Mary Mcleod Bethune’s name is synonymous tostruggle and achievement. Both of her parents wereslaves before she was born, hence, they had nomoney to let little Mary go to school. However, Marybagged a scholarship and studied to become ateacher herself.

• Helen Keller has been considered as one of themost inspiring personalities in the world, ever. Beingborn with visual and auditory inability, Helen Kellerstudied under her personal mentor Anne Sullivan andlearned about the world through knowledge - unseen,unadulterated. and many more…

Facts and Figures• According to global statistics, just 39 percent of rural

girls attend secondary school. This is far fewer thanrural boys (45 percent), urban girls (59 percent) andurban boys (60 percent).

• In Pakistan a half-kilometer increase in the distanceto school will decrease girls’ enrolment by 20 percent.In Egypt, Indonesia and several African countries,building local schools in rural communities increasedgirls’ enrollment.

• In Cambodia, 48 percent of rural women are illiteratecompared to 14 percent of rural men.

• The proportion of women who completed five yearsof primary schooling in India and were literate was



48%, much less than 92% in Nepal, 74% in Pakistanand 54% in Bangladesh.

• The female literacy rates in India went up by one to15% after completing two years of schooling.Corresponding numbers for Pakistan and Nepal werethree to 31% and 11 to 47% respectively.

• Around the world, female literacy rates are improving.However, it is not clear if that is because ofimprovement in school quality.

• India was ranked 38th among the 51 developingcountries for female literacy rates when countries areranked by earliest grade at which at least of thewomen are literate.

Policies for betterment of women educationGetting girls to finish primary education and providingthem with fair opportunities to complete secondaryschool is a priority in UNICEF’s Gender Action Plan.

They help countries build stronger education systemsthat deliver quality education to boys and girls. Thisincludes removing gender stereotypes from learningmaterials, teaching teachers about gender, helpingschools and governments use learning assessment data,and providing communities with key data so they canhold education systems accountable. Making sure thatnational education plans and policies consider genderis key to ensuring that girls and boys enter and succeedat school.

Because a third of girls who are out of school live incountries affected by conflict, UNICEF works withgovernment partners to address gender inequities ineducation in humanitarian settings.

India has been taking active steps towards women’sstatus and education. The 86th Constitutional

Amendment Act, 2001, has been a path breaking steptowards the growth of education, especially for females.According to this act, elementary education is afundamental right for children between the ages of 6 and14. The government has undertaken to provide thiseducation free of cost and make it compulsory for thosein that age group. This undertaking is more widely knownas Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA).

ConclusionWomen play an imperative role in making a nationprogressive and guide it towards development. They areessential possessions of a lively humanity required fornational improvement, so if we have to see a bright futureof women in our country, giving education to them mustbe a pre-occupation

The education of women is the most powerful tool tochange the position of society. Education also brings areduction in inequalities and functions as a means ofimproving their status within the family. To encouragethe education of women at all levels and for dilution ofgender bias in providing knowledge and education,established schools, colleges and universities evenexclusively for women in the state. The educationdevelops the idea of participation in government,panchayats, public matters etc. for elimination of genderdiscrimination.

References:• digitalcommons.unl.edu/jwel/• Acker, Sandra et al. eds. World Yearbook of

Education 1984: Women and Education (1984)• http://www.worlded.org/WEIInternet/international/

expertise/display.cfm?tid=1004&id=756• http://www.unesco.org



A BIRD’S EYE VIEW ON WOMEN EMPOWERMENTWITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO INDIA

1. Research Scholar, Dept. of HRM, ANU.AP.

K.Chandrasekhara Rao1

Abstract

The term ‘Empowerment’ is any process that provides greater autonomy through the sharing of relevant informationand the provision of control over factors affecting job performance. From 2002 onwards, a broader outlook has beensprouted and as per which, ‘Women Empowerment’ means to different people and how it is linked with development.It can be said that women empowerment plays a vital role to bail out the economy. It can also reckon the key area ofinequality between women and men, and strategies for achieving women empowerment. The world economic profileof women displays women represent 50% of the world population, makes up 30% of the official labour force, perform60% of all working hours, receives 10% of the world income and even less than 1% of the world property. Women havea unique position in the society; real development cannot takes place if it bye-pass women, who have not onlyrepresent 50% of the world’s population but also kernels around which societal revolution takes place. The majorstrategies of women empowerment include-education empowerment, economic empowerment and legalempowerment of women. Though the government has been initiating quite a good number of plans and strategies tobail out the women empowerment on par with men, still they have been encountering certain challenges. Against thisbackdrop, an exertion has been initiated to focus a bird’s eye view on the introduction, review of women empowerment,challenges for women empowerment and suggestions to robust women empowerment followed by a logical conclusion.Keywords: Women Empowerment (WE), Strategies for WE, Economic Empowerment, Education Empowerment, LegalEmpowerment.

“There is no chance for welfare of the World unless the condition of the women isimproved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing” – Swamy Vivekananda

Introduction:We are the threshold of the 21st century which is thecentury for change. The planet earth is ready for ‘theshift of ages’. In this new era, love and compassion willrule the roost, and the woman with her natural attributesof compassion will sow the seeds of globaltransformation. In this 21st century, women need not lookbackward the historical injustice done to them, but is aright time to look forward their empowered role in this‘acquarian age’. Thus, beyond any scepticism that 21st

century is ‘the century of the feminine’. The presentWorld’s population is about 7.1 billion, which is growingat the rate of 97 million people per year will be touched8.5 billion by the year 2025. Raison d’etre, it is sine quanon to improve the women’s status and it should startwith the economic empowerment. Therefore exertionsare being made by the government in the society tochange the scenario of discrimination and maledomination to empower the women in all spears. In fact,empowerment of women is a tool for bringing about theorganizational competencies. Further, neglecting thewomen is the root cause of failure of our Five Year Plansin India. Therefore radical steps are being taken in theensuing FYPs. WE through education is a pre-requisiteto gender equality. Therefore, women need to gain

access to training technology credit information andmarket. Women need to play an effective role in decisionmaking and developmental programs. Therefore, quite agood number of laws have been enacted for equalopportunity to all sans any gender discrimination. Indianwomen are in no way inferior to men in every walk of lifeand they feel proud to themselves to SHG’s educationas well as legal empowerments. Therefore suitablestrategies are being initiated to create new avenues ofemployment for women so as to attain better status andrecognition in the society.

Status of Women Empowerment in IndiaIndia ranks 118/177 in gender equity. Such a low rank isdue to Indian women’s lower so status. The social statusis indicated by the data related to literacy and health.The literacy rate for Indian women is 54.5%. The Indianstatus is indicated by sex ratio which is 927: 1000 (2001census data). It means, for every 1000 Indian men, 73women are missing from this world due foeticide, statusis infanticide, child mortality, maternal mortality, suicidesand dowry deaths. The economic status is revealed bythe employment position. Only 26% of the women areemployed and majority of them are employed in theunorganized sector. Only 2% of the women are in the



top jobs. Regarding the political status, every politicalparty allots very few seats to women candidates duringelections. Regarding the legal status, the governmentcan claim that there are 26 women oriented laws. Butmost of the women have no awareness about theexistence, the provisions and the recourse to the laws.Women, hesitate to go to the courts due the expense,long time involved and very low conviction rate and alsodue to lack of parental or society’s support. Hence, theviolence against women is growing in India unabated.

Status of Women Empowerment in India in respectof StartupsDuring 2017, Global Entrepreneur Summit (GES) washeld at Hyderabad, where in the NASSCOM released areport and according to which, against 5200 startupcompanies, the women established only 11% acrossthe country due to lack of encouragement and investment.Albeit, it is heartening to note that gradually, they havebeen increasing every year. The following table divulgesthe facts and figures.

Table-1

Source: NASSCOM Report, 2017 & Eenadu dated 11-12-2017Page No.5

Status of Women Empowerment across the Globe:The following table indicates the rank and score of Indiaacross the Globe in respect of World Women’s IndustrialIndex, which divulges not upto the mark and needs tobe improved to tap it’s share in the International Market

Table-2

Rank Country Score

1 USA 82.9

2 Australia 74.8

3 UK 70.6

4 Denmark 69.7

5 Netherlands 69.3

6 France 68.3

7 Island 68.0

8 Sweden 66.7

9 Finland 66.4

Stratus of Female share in the work force acrossthe GlobeThere is a humungous hiatus between India and the restof the World in respect of Women Board Members inthe listed companies. In India, it is only 7% and whereas in Norway it is 40%. In addition to that, women’seducation and awareness levels are raising, but themembers of women in the work place is steadily falling.That this is happening at a time of fast economic growthsuggests that it has much to do with the social anddomestic realities that women face. Beyond anyscepticism, we are growing richer, but patriarchy andarchaic norms still hold sway over thinking. All thesefacts and figures can be viewed in the following table(Table-3)

Problems and Challenges of WomenEmpowerment:1. Studies conducted by Department of Women and

Child Development divulged that there is a need forreframing policies for access to employment andquality of employment. Benefits of the growing globaleconomy have been unevenly distributed leading towide economic disparities, the feminization of poverty,increased gender inequality through oftendeteriorating working conditions and unsafe workingenvironment especially in the informal economy andrural areas.

2. Women face high risk of malnutrition and hencefocused attention would have been given to meet

10 Norway 66.3

11 Ireland 64.3

12 Swiss 63.7

13 Belgium 63.6

14 Germany 63.6

15 Chili 63.5

16 Singapore 59.8

34 Israel 47.6

44 Japan 40.0

48 China 38.3

56 Russia 35.6

60 Brazil 31.1

70 India 25.3

73 Iran 20.6

75 Bangladesh 17.9

77 Pakistan 15.2

Source: Eenadu Dated 28-11-2017, Page No.4Year % of Males in % of Females in

Startups Startups

2015 91.00 9.00

2016 90.00 10.00

2017 89.00 11.00



the nutritional needs of women at all stages of theirlife cycle.

3. Men is supreme in the outward activities. Home lifeis entirely the sphere of women and therefore indomestic affairs, in the upbringing and education ofchildren and women ought to have more knowledge.Unless courses of instruction are based on adiscriminating appreciation of these basic principles,the fullest life of man and woman and cannot bedeveloped (Harijan Dated 27-02-1937).

4. There is a lack of gender disaggregated data for mostdimensions and levels.

5. All analysts agree that empowerment is contextspecific. Hence reconciling context specific indicatorwith a universal measure remains an issue.

6. Measuring process is elusive. Most quantitativemeasures are unable to capture this except aschanges over time of proxy variables such aseducation or employment.

7. Most of the women are reluctant to travel for businesstrips and hence they are not at all considered for bigbusiness proposals which can prove their caliber.

8. Women leaders work under great pressure and it isdifficult for them to maintain balance between familyand business.

9. Family responsibilities and Indian society have beenthe key deterrent.

10. Women after marriage and maternity leave feel thestring of rejection when is assumed that they are nolonger serious contenders for leadership.

Suggestions for Women Empowerment:1. It is a dire need for creating eco systems that will

respect, retain and nurture women in the work place.2. A sustained mentoring program for creating women

business should be incorporated of the universitylevel itself.

3. A Mentoring program at the work place should existto encourage women to ask for promotions and forhikes.

4. Men and women are having equal status in runninga family, hence a broad thinking for allowing womento work and become good leaders in needed earliest.

5. Women should be given adequate opportunity andsecurity of work place so as to prove their inherenttalent with safety of life and respect.

6. Gender Bender equation should be incorporated inthe business or corporate world.

7. Participative environment must exist in corporatecompanies to do equal justice with employeesspecially women.

8. Family should encourage and boost education forgirl child as it is their right to get education to becomegood leaders of the world.

9. Facilities must be provided to women employees towork better and prove themselves.

10. One way to deploy the empowerment of women isthrough the land rights. Land rights offer a key wayto economically empower the women, giving themthe confidence to tackle the gender inequalities.

Conclusion:Before going to conclude, it is an apt to mention herethe results of a study conducted by Bina Agarwal torobust the women empowerment. In this empirical study,women were bestowed a place in a form of conservationgroup. Not only did they drive up the efficiency of thegroup, but the women gain incredible self esteem whileothers, including men, viewed them with more respect.Participation which can be seen and gained in a varietyof ways, has been argues to be the most beneficial formof gender empowerment. Political participation be if theability to vote and voice options, are the ability to run foroffice with a basic choice of being elected, plays a criticalrole in the empowerment of people. Albeit, participationis not limited to the realm of politics. It can includeparticipation in the household, in schools, and the abilityto make choices for oneself. It can be said that theselatter participations need to be achieved before one canmove on to broaden political participation. For a generalidea on how an empowered women can impact a

S. Top countries with % S. Lowest countries with %No Female share of work place No Female share of work place

1 Zimbabwe 52.8 1 India 25.9

2 Malawi 52.2 2 Kosovo 23.8

3 The Ganbia 50.8 3 Egypt 23.6

4 Liberia 50.6 4 Pakistan 23.9

5 Tanzania 50.5 5 Palestine 20.6

Source: Pew Research Centre and Deccan Chronicle, Dated 11-06-2017 Page 7.



situation monetarily, a study found that of Fortune 500companies, “Those with more women board directorshad significantly higher financial returns, including 53%higher returns on equity, 24% higher returns on salesand 67% higher returns on invested capital (OECD,2008)”. Thus, this study displays the impact that womencan have on the overall economic benefits of a company.If implemented on a global scale, the inclusion of womenin the formal work force like a Fortune 500 companies,can increase the economic output of a nation. Myriadimpediments to women empowerment and equityembedded into the cultures of certain nations andsocieties. Many women feel these pressures, whileothers have become accustomed to being treated inferiorto men. Even if men, legislators, NGOs, etc. are awareof the benefits of the women empowerment andparticipation can have, many are scared of disruptingthe status quo and continue to let societal norms get in

the way of the development. The Empowerment of womenhas become one of the most important Concerns of 21stcentury not only at the national level but also at theinternational level. Efforts by the Govt. are on to ensureGender equality but Government initiatives alone wouldnot be sufficient to achieve this goal. Society must alsotake initiative steps to create an hale and hearty climatein which there is no gender discrimination and womenhave full opportunities of self decision-making andparticipating in the Social, Political and Economic life ofthe Country with a sense of equality. Beyond anyskepticism that real development and prosperity of thecountry depends upon the empowerment of women.Before epilogue, it is an apt to quote here the buzz words:

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at thestatus of its women”

– Jawaharlal Nehru

REFERENCES:A. Newspapers:

B. Books:1. “Empowerment of Women in India: New Strategies” (2014); Regal Publications, New Delhi.2. “Women in History”, National Resource Centre for Women. Retrieved 24th Dec 2006.3. “HDR; Sustainability and Equity”, UNDP, 2011, Page 139.

S.No Name of the Newspaper Date Page No

1 The Hindu 26-10-2016 4

2 The Hindu 04-05-2016 17

3 The Hindu 09-03-2016 6

4 The Hindu 29-11-2016 14

5 The Hindu 16-09-2015 17

6 The Hindu 01-05-2017 15

7 The Hindu 21-03-2016 16

8 The Hindu 26-08-2015 18

9 The Hindu, Contd. 07-09-2015 1, 12

10 The Hindu 28-12-2015 1

11 The Hindu 26-07-2015 3

12 Deccan Chronicle 22-01-2018 5

13 Deccan Chronicle 11-06-2018 7

14 Eenadu 28-11-2017 4

15 Eenadu 11-12-2017 5

16 Eenadu 12-02-2017 4

17 Eenadu 11-03-2015 9

18 Andhra Jyothi 08-03-2016 4



MUSLIM WOMEN AND EDUCATION IN INCREDIBLE INDIA;SOCIAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES: A CASE STUDY

OF HYDERABAD-KARNATAKA REGION

1. Principal,SMRS B.Ed and M.Ed College, ReshmiVidhyaBhavan,Sarswatipur, Gulbarga.

Dr.Omprakash H. M1

Abstract

India is today one of the most powerful developing nations. This newly industrializing state enjoys a prominent statusas the largest democratic nation-state in the world.In spite of her impressive developments, however, India continuesto confront human rights problems with respect to minorities.Muslims in India are the largest minority so far as theminorities of this country are concerned and the majority of this largest minority community is awfully to the rear inrespect of education and economy where more or less all other minorities are more affluent. Moreover Muslimsdisappointingly have not been capable to find their due share in the entire welfare effort made by the Govt. in thecountry since independence for economically weaker sections of the society. The Muslim women tend to suffer notonly the gender problem, but also the impoverished minority status of the Muslim community. Muslim women are atdouble disadvantage with low educational status and community pressure. Their lives, movements in public placesare under constant scrutiny and control. Education is the oxygen of the human beings in the contemporary technology-driven world of knowledge and economy. Low level of literacy and education impede national growth and lead toviolation of human rights as well as the rights of religious community. At the same time, higher literacy rates bringsocial change, cultural advancement and economic development.The present study examines the reciprocalrelationship between literacy and socio-economic determinants as consequences of the low level of socio-economicdevelopment of the Muslim Community in Karnataka and an attempt to analyze the empowerment of Muslim womenin the three selected areas of Gulbarga district. The study concludes with the suggestions to enhance Muslims literacy,which is an ultimate solution to reduce existing group disparities in socio-economic development in Karnataka.

Key Words: Muslim Women, Education in Incredible India, Social Issues and Challenges and Karnataka State.

Introduction:Social change in Muslim community and particularly ofMuslim women has not received much scholarly attentionfrom the sociologists or other social scientists. Muslimwomen in India are still vulnerable and itis a fact thattheir emancipation could be a crucial step towards thedevelopment of their community. The present status ofMuslim women reflects the dominance of traditional andconservative attitudes in their community. But withincreasing literacy among the Muslim women, theiroutlook, thinking and perception have been under gradualchanges and at the same time it has aided changes inthe overall Muslim community in India.

According to 2011 census of India, the Muslim populationconstitutes of 12.72% of Karnataka’s total populationi.e. 61,130,704. Hinduism is majority religion in the statewith 77.54%. These two communities (Hindus andMuslims) share more than 89% of the total population.

Description Population Percentage

Hindu 39,853,656 77.54 %

Muslim 77,78,782 12.72 %Other Religion 972,294 1.03 %

Christian 1618,658 3.10 %

Buddhist 1289,828 0.70 %

Not Available 222,867 0.25 %

Sikh 162,533 0.10 %

Jain 161,041 0.80 %

Source: Census of India - 2011

Hinduism is majority religion in State of Karnataka with77.54 %. Muslim is third most popular religion in Stateof Karnataka with 12.72%, after other group of castes.In Karnatakastate, Christianity is followed by 0.72 %,

Table:1



Jainism by 0.07 %, Sikhism by 0.07 % and Buddhism by 0.07 %. Around 1.03 % stated ‘Other Religion’;approximately 0.25 % stated ‘No Particular Religion’.In comparison to the other religions or groups residing in Karnataka, the Muslims have been lagging behind themainstream communities in terms of socio-economic condition, livelihood pattern, educational status and culturallife.

Table 2: Muslim Population in Karnataka - 2011

Since independence in 1947, the socio-economiccondition of the Muslims in India has not changednotably. From time to time, Govt. of India had appointedvarious committees to find out the causes of educationaland economic backwardness of the Muslim community.Among them, one is the RanganathMisra Commission(2007) that came out with the statement that Muslimsare socially, economically, educationally, politically andculturally underprivileged and are far behind themainstream of Indian society. The other SacharCommittee (2006) in its detailed report stated, povertyis the main cause of poor education among the Muslimsin India. In 1993, Government of India also acknowledgedthem as the “National Educationally Backward Minority”.

However, it is admitted that “Empowerment of women”is the key route for the development of any society.Unfortunately, only a few studies or research have beendone on the dismal condition of Muslim women in India.In the book “Educating Muslim Girls: A Campaign ofFive Indian Cities” is an empirical work based on thefirst hand information of ZoyaHasan and RituMenon(2005) that critically analyzed the status of education ofMuslim women in India. In the book “Rural MuslimWomen: Role and Status” by Sekh Rahim Mandal(2005) analyses the socio-economic and culturalcondition of the Muslim women and their problems insome district of Karnataka. Suman K. Kundu andAnanyaChakraborty (2012), in their article “AnEmpirical Analysis of Women Empowerment withinMuslim Community in some District of India” haveexamined the issues related to Women Empowermentwithin Muslim Community. Md. IntekhabHossain (2013)in the article “Socio-Economic and Educational Statusof Muslim Women: a Comparative Outlook” describedthe miserable condition of the Muslim women in India.

AREAS OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES:The primary data has been collected from three villagesnamely ‘Bidar, ‘Gulbarga’ and ‘Raichur’under Hyderabad-

Karnataka Region. The sampled Districts are mostlydominated by Muslim community.

OBJECTIVES:This study mainly seeks:• To understand the level of education among the

Muslim women in these areas.• To explore the status of employment amongst Muslim

women and• To examine their working pattern as well as socio-

economic condition followed by a few observationsand remarks.

EDUCATIONAL SITUATION OF MUSLIM WOMEN INHYDERABAD-KARNATAKA:After six decades of independence, the majority ofMuslim women belongs to the economicallyimpoverished and politically marginalized sections inIndian society and is in the most disadvantaged conditionwith the least literacy rate. The Gopal SinghCommitteeinstituted by the Government of India in 1983,declared that Muslims are a ‘backward’ community inIndia.

One of the most crucial instruments of empowerment ofwomen is education. The policy calls for special measuresto be undertaken to universalize education, eradicateilliteracy, create a gender-sensitive education systemand develop vocational and technical skills among thewomen. It would also enable the women particularly theMuslim women to take up employment and becomefinancially empowered. In general, Indian women arerelatively undereducated. Families are far less likely toeducate girls than boys, and far more likely to pull themout of school due to social norms, fear of violence andexpect them to help housekeepers at home. India hasthe largest population of non-school going working girlsin the world (UNESCO). Within this picture of overall

Total Males Females (%) males (%) females

Karnataka 77,78,782 5461092 2317433 12.17 07.23

Rural 7216269 487823 163597 12.37 08.10

Urban 559998 852506 568932 12.54 09.19

Source: Census of India-2011



West Bengal Literacy Rate

Male Female

State 64.13 49.27

Urban 72.04 59.33

Rural 52.92 37.78

poor statistics, it is a predictable certainty that the corresponding figures for Muslim women are still lower than anyother community and the situation of Karnataka is not an exception.

Educational backwardness is a key factor responsible for the social, cultural, economic, and political backwardnessof the Muslim community in Karnataka. It is well known that the literacy and educational levels of Muslims inKarnataka are far below the National average.

Literacy rate in Karnataka is 75.50% and significantly higher than the national average of 74%. But among theMuslim community literacy rate reached to only 54.8%, which is much lower than the national average figure.

Table 3: Literacy Rate 2001 and 2011 by District

As already mentioned, women education among Muslims in the state is much lower than men. The educationalstatus of Muslims in Karnataka, like other parts of the country is also depressing.

Table-4: District wise Literacy Rate of Muslim in Hyderabad-Karnataka Region

Sl. No. District Literacy rate in 2001 Literacy rate in 2011 Change

1 Bellary 57.40 67.85 10.45

2 Bidar 60.94 71.01 10.07

3 Gulbarga 50,00 65.65 15.65

4 Yadagiri 39.90 52.36 12.46

5 Raichur 48.80 60.46 11.66

6 Koppal 54.10 67.28 13.18

7 Hyderabad-Karnataka Region 51.85 60.13 8.28

8 State 66.60 75.60 9.00

Table-4 shows the Muslim female literacy rate (27.30%) in Karnataka. Also, Muslim female literacy rate is much lessthan the Muslim male literacy rate of 45.033%.

Table - 5 : Rate of Literacy among the Muslim Males and Females in Karnataka

Sl. No. District Names Muslim

Total Male Female

1 Bellary 67.85 48.40 28.60

2 Bidar 71.01 50.20 27.30

3 Gulbarga 65.65 45.50 35.90

4 Yadagiri 52.36 38.10 19.80

5 Raichur 60.46 40.30 25.70

6 Koppal 67.28 47.70 26.50

Source: Govt. of India, Census Report, 2011



Table-5 shows that the average literacy rate of Muslim women in the State is 49.275where as in urban areas it is59.33% and in the rural areas it is 37.78%. Thus it seems there is significant rural urban gap in the literacy rate.Rahaman and Bhuimali (2011: 84 and 91) mentioned “among various reasons, the major reasons for educationalbackwardness among the Muslims are poor economic condition, limited number of government and governmentaided schools in Muslim areas and lack of job opportunities of the educated people in the community. PerhapsMuslim women are lagging behind in education because of socio- cultural pattern of the families and the society, thehostile attitude towards girls’ education and lack of infrastructural facilities for education in Muslim concentratedareas. Muslims have limited access to the far off schools. Thus the need of the hour is to provide job orientededucation and also to set up sufficient number of technical schools for male and female separately in the Muslimconcentrated areas.”

Table-6: Muslim Literacy Rate in Comparison to Other Religious Communities in Karnataka

Hindu Muslim Christian Sikhs Buddhist Jains Total

Male 81.12 64.13 77.20 91.37 89.09 96.46 77.08

Female 63.09 49.27 62.30 81.98 66.22 88.87 59.61

Total 72.44 57.18 69.72 87.19 74.73 92.81 68.64

Note: Total population includes “Others? and 'Religion not stated'.Source: Govt. of India, Census Report, 2011

Table-6 above reveals the inter-religious disparities inliteracy level of Karnataka. Literacy condition of theMuslims is worse than that of all other religiouscommunities of the state; they recorded lowest literacyrate among the religious groups as only 57.18 percentof them are literate. Literacy level of Karnataka Muslimsare not only less than the state’s and national averageliteracy level but also national Muslim average literacylevel, where only 64.13 per cent of males and 49.27 percent of females are literate, or they are the most illiteratereligious community in the state of Karnataka. Thehighest literacy level is found among Jain 92.81 per cent,while Sikh accounted for 87.73 per cent and Buddhistand Christian with 74.73 per cent and 69.72 per cent ofliteracy level respectively occupy third and fourth positionamong the six religious group of the state.

CONCLUSION:The impoverished status of a large number of Muslimwomen in Karnataka underlines the urgency for furtherinquiry in this area and also the need for activeintervention by state agencies to implement policies toredress this imbalance and ensure Muslim women’s fulland equal participation as Indian citizens. So that wecan revise many rules for people’s needs and now timehas come that we shall have to think what steps shouldbe taken to improve their status. Some of these stepsare as follows:(a) Polygamy should be abolished.(b) Education of girls can be made compulsory and they

may be permitted to work outside.

(c) Adoption of equal rule of property distribution for allsections of Muslim.

An educated woman means an educated family andhealthy children. Education is needed to secure a job; aworking girl means a solvent family and ultimatelyeducated and solvent State. To clean superstition isdifficult but many things can be changed througheducation. We have to do this in order to empower theMuslim women in Karnataka.

At lasts an impressive report 2010-11 made by NationalUniversity of Education Planning and Administrative(NUEPA) under Ministry of Human ResourcesDevelopment on Karnataka Muslim education stated thatin the years of 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10,respectively 28.13%, 28.28% and 32.30% of every 100primary school children in Karnataka were Muslims,while 25.25% of the State’s population is Muslim.

In Kannada daily paper called VIJAYAVANI of14.02.2016, Sunday’s article Banuvarada Focus Storywas published, in that Kashmir Mahileralli ParivarthanaParva (Revolutionary Change in Kashmir Women-Specially Muslim Women) written that women are moreaware about education. So, they are coming out fromtheir village and staying in cities and giving education totheir children’s. In the male dominated society womendigesting everything silently in Kashmir, but now theyare coming out and fighting for Educational Rights andEquality.



SUGGESTIONS:Over the last two decades, the position of Muslim womenin the society has come to the notice of theacademicians, policy makers and developmentauthorities of India. It has been considered that theMuslim women are the most deprived segment of thecountry’s population. Muslim women play a crucial rolein well-being and very survival of the Muslim families.But unfortunately for various reasons the gender disparityis very much conspicuous in Muslim society. Themarginalized status of Muslim women is not welldocumented. Therefore, information on Muslim women,particularly on their social position, problems andprospects is very much needed for the sake of theirempowerment, which is one of the priority areas of ournational development.

For the overall socio-economic development, womenparticularly Muslim women should be allowed to pursuetheir own path in respect of education and employmentand should be allowed to participate, particularly indecision making.

OBSERVATIONS:1. Muslim women should be given a required level of

skill, education and training not only for theiremployment, but as necessary requirement for theirindependence, freedom and to become a fullydeveloped social and cultural being.

2. Women should be paid equal wages for equal work.3. Skill education should be given to Muslim women in

rural areas of Karnataka.4. Muslim women should be allowed to participate in

political, social and economic activities at all level.5. There is a need for adopting an alternative approach

to women’s education particularly for Muslim womenin the lower socio-economic strata in rural areas.

6. Education is one of the main factors for empowermentand upliftment of Muslim women in the society. Wehave observed it from our empirical study in the urban

where education level of Muslim women is high; theMuslim women are getting a better social status,employment scope and others social related facilitiesthan other sections as is evident. So educationfacilities should be given to the Muslim communityand women in particular on the priority basis andGovt. and other agencies should come forward toprovide these opportunities to the Muslim women inKarnataka.

REFERENCES:1. RanganathMisra Commission (2007) at http://

www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/sites/upload_files/moma/files/pdfs/volume-1.pdf

2. Sachar Committee (2006) at http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/sites/upload_files/moma/files/pdfs/sachar_comm.pdf

3. ZoyaHasan and RituMenon (2005). Educating MuslimGirls: A Comparison of Five Indian Cities. WomenUnlimited.

4. Md. IntekhabHossain (2013). “Socio-Economic andEducational Status of Muslim Women: a ComparativeOutlook” IOSR Journal of Humanities and SocialScience (JHSS), WWW.iosrjournals.org

5. Hajira Kumar: (1995). The status of Muslim womenin India, Aakar Books, Delhi. page-19.

6. Sekh Rahim Mandal (2005). Rural Muslim Women:role and Status” Northern Book Centre, 4221/1,Daryaganj, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110002.

7. M.T. Rahaman, and A. Bhuimali (2011), IndianMuslims and their Economy, Abhijit Publications,New Delhi.

8. A. Shariff, (2003) National Sample SurveyOrganization (NSSO), 43RD ROUND, 1987-88,quoted in Sebastian Vempeny, Minorities inContemporary India (New Delhi: Kanishka,)

9. UNESCOhttp://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/assessing_ national_ achievement_level_Edu.pdf



WOMEN IN 21ST CENTURY: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

1. M.Com. K.B.M. College, Vijayawada.

Girisha Pushadapu1

Abstract This paper attempts to analyze the status of Women Empowerment in India and highlights the Issues and Challengesof Women Empowerment. Today the empowerment of women has become one of the most important concerns of 21stcentury. But practically women empowerment is still an illusion of reality. We observe in our day to day life how womenbecome victimized by various social evils. Women Empowerment is the vital instrument to expand women’s ability tohave resources and to make strategic life choices. Empowerment of women is essentially the process of upliftment ofeconomic, social and political status of women, the traditionally underprivileged ones, in the society. It is the processof guarding them against all forms of violence. The study is based on purely from secondary sources. The studyreveals that women of India are relatively disempowered and they enjoy somewhat lower status than that of men inspite of many efforts undertaken by Government. It is found that acceptance of unequal gender norms by women arestill prevailing in the society. The study concludes by an observation that access to Education, Employment andChange in Social Structure are only the enabling factors to Women Empowerment.Key Words: Women Empowerment, Education, Health, Socio-Economic Status, Crimes against women, Policyimplications

Introductionwomen:- “The Origin Of Child Is A Mother, A Women.She Shows A Man What Sharing ,Caring, And Loving IsAll About....That Is The Essence Of A Women.”

Women empowerment refers to increasing thespiritual, political, social, educational, gender oreconomic strength of individuals and communities ofwomen. Women’s empowerment in India is heavilydependent on many different variables that includegeographical location (urban / rural) educational statussocial status (caste and class) and age. Policies onWomen’s empowerment exist at the national, state andlocal (Panchayat) levels in many sectors, includinghealth, education, economic opportunities, genderbased violence and political participation. However thereare significant gap between policy advancements andactual practice at the community level. Empowermentof women is essentially the process of upliftment ofeconomic, social and political status of women, thetraditionally underprivileged ones, in the society. It isthe process of guarding them against all forms of violence.Women empowerment involves the building up of asociety, a political environment, wherein women canbreathe without the fear of oppression, exploitation,apprehension, discrimination and the general feeling ofpersecution which goes with being a woman in atraditionally male dominated structure. Women constitutealmost 50% of the world’s population but India has showndisproportionate sex ratio whereby female’s populationhas been comparatively lower than males. As far as theirsocial status is concerned, they are not treated as equal

to men in all the places. In the Western societies, thewomen have got equal right and status with men in allwalks of life. But gender disabilities and discriminationsare found in India even today. The paradoxical situationhas such that she was sometimes concerned asGoddess and at other times merely as slave.

Objectives of the Study1. To know the need of Women Empowerment.2. To assess the Awareness of Women Empowerment

in India.3. To analyze the Factors influencing the Economic

Empowerment of Women.4. To study the Government Schemes For Women

Empowerment.5. To identify the Hindrances in the Path of Women

Empowerment.6. To offer useful Suggestions in the light of Findings.

Research MethodologyThis paper is basically descriptive and analytical in nature.In this paper an attempt has been taken to analyze theempowerment of in India. The data used in it is purelyfrom secondary sources according to the need of thisstudy.

Why Women Empowerment Is Necessary?• To stop violence against women• To stop gender discrimination• To get equal opportunity for education• To get equal employment opportunity without any

gender bias



• To get safe and comfortable working environment• To make their own choices and decisions• Freely live their life with a sense of self worth, respect,

dignity.• To get equal status in in the society• To get equal rights to participate in social ,religious

and public activities.• To get complete control of their life both within and

outside of their home and workplace.

Hindrances of Women Empowerment:The main Problems that were faced by women in pastdays and still today up to some extent:

THE FIRST SCHOOL IN INDIA FOR WOMENSavitribhi jyothiphule along with her husband mahatmajyothi phule starter the first women’s school at punein1848. Savitri realized that in addition to working oneducation it was necessary to work on other social fronts,to buildup the self esteem and confidence of women

The literacy rate of women is much lower compared tomen. In the Indian society which is patriarchal, girls havefewer privileges and lower status than boys. Very fewgirls are admitted to schools and among them many areschool drop outs. Many girls cannot attend school dueto conservative cultural attitude. Gender inequalityreinforces itself in education as it is factually proved thatthe rate of literacy for women is 65.46% against 82.14%of men according to 2011 Census. The Census reportalso shows that the rate of literacy of Indian women iseven lower than the national average literacy rate that is74.04%.

Studies show too that the rate of unemployment in caseof young females belonging to the age group of 15-24 is11.5% whereas for young males of the same age groupit is 9.8%.In India a survey was conducted which showed resultssupporting this fact that the rate of infant mortality isrelated inversely to female rate of literacy and level ofeducation. The survey as well suggested correlationbetween economic growth and education.

Crimes against womenThe semantic meaning of “crime against women” is director indirect physical or mental cruelty to women. Crimesdirected specifically against women and in which onlywomen are victims are characterized as “crimes againstwomen”.

The present status of women’s education in India Jawaharlal Nehru once said “Educate a man and youeducate one person. Educate a woman and youeducate the whole family”.

Table-1

Gender discrimination

Female Infanticide

Family Responsibility

Low ability to bear Risk

Absence of ambitionfor the achievement

Dowry

Child marriage (stillexisting)

Lack of Education

Financial Constraints

Low Mobility

Low need for achievement

Social status

Marriage in same casteand

Atrocities on Women(Raped, Kicked, Killed,Subdued, humiliatedalmost daily.)

Source: National Crime Records Bureau

337.922

300.000

250.000

200.000

155.553

2005 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 2014

Fig.1 : Crimes against women, 2005-2014



Cruelty by husbands and relatives under section 498 Aof Indian Penal Code is the major crime committedagainst women across the country, with 909,713 casesreported over the last 10 years, or 10 every hour.

Note: Cruelty by Husband and Relatives (Section 498 AIPC); Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage HerModesty (Section 354 IPC); Kidnapping & Abduction ofWomen (Section 363,364,364A, 366 IPC); Rape (Section376 IPC); Insult to the Modesty of Women (Section 509IPC); Dowry Deaths (Section 304 B IPC).

Andhra Pradesh leads in crimes against womenAndhra Pradesh has reported the most crimes againstwomen (263,839) over the past 10 years.The state ranks first in crimes reported for insult tomodesty of women (35,733), second in cruelty byhusband and relatives (117,458), assault on women withintent to outrage her modesty (51,376) and fourth amongdowry-related deaths (5,364).

Implementation of women empowerment• The year 2001 was declared as the national policy

for women empowerment of women in our country.• It was said that “our vision in the new century of nation

where women are equal partners with men.”

Women empowerment schemes in India11 Important women empowerment schemes in India1) Beti padhao,beti bachao scheme(on 22/1/2015)2) One stop centre scheme3) Women help line scheme(on 1/4/2015)4) Working women’s hostel5) Support to training and employment program me

(step).6) Swadhar gresh scheme(on 2001)7) Rajiv gandhi national creche scheme(on 2012)8) Indira gandhi matriva sahyog yojana(igmsy)(on 10/

2010)9) Mahila e hatt10) Mahila police volunteers11) National mission for empowerment of women

(nmew)(on 15/7/2011).

ChallengesThere are several constraints that check the process ofwomen empowerment in India. Social norms and familystructure in developing countries like India, manifestsand perpetuate the subordinate status of women. Oneof the norms is the continuing preference for a son overthe birth of a girl child which in present in almost allsocieties and communities. The society is more biased

in favor of male child in respect of education, nutritionand other opportunities. The root cause of this type ofattitude lies in the belief that male child inherits the clanin India with an exception of Meghalaya. Women ofteninternalize the traditional concept of their role as naturalthus inflicting an injustice upon them. Poverty is thereality of life for the vast majority women in India. It isthe another factor that poses challenge in realizingwomen’s empowerment. There are several challengesthat are plaguing the issues of women’s right in India.Targeting these issues will directly benefit theempowerment of women in IndiaEducation: While the country has grown from leaps andbounds since independence where education isconcerned. the gap between women and men is severe.While 82.14% of adult men are educated, only 65.46%of adult women are known to be literate in India. Thegender bias is in higher education, specializedprofessional trainings which hit women very hard inemployment and attaining top leadership in any field.

Poverty: Poverty is considered the greatest threat topeace in the world, and eradication of poverty should bea national goal as important as the eradication ofilliteracy. Due to this, women are exploited as domestichelps.

Health and Safety: The health and safety concerns ofwomen are paramount for the wellbeing of a country andis an important factor in gauging the empowerment ofwomen in a country. However there are alarming concernswhere maternal healthcare is concerned. A Study onIssues and Challenges of Women Empowerment in India

Professional Inequality: This inequality is practicedin employment sand promotions. Women face countlesshandicaps in male customized and dominated environsin Government Offices and Private enterprises

Morality and Inequality: Due to gender bias in healthand nutrition there is unusually high mortality rate inwomen reducing their population further especially inAsia, Africa and china.

Household Inequality: Household relations showgender bias in infinitesimally small but significantmanners all across the globe, more so, in India e.g.sharing burden of housework, childcare and menial worksby so called division of work.

ways to Empowerment of womenEconomic empowerment of women

Poverty eradicationBy offering them a range of ecomnomic and socialoptions along with necessary support measures toenhance their capabilities



Micro creditStenghthening of exxisting micro credit mechanisms andmicro finance institutions will be undertaken so that theoutreach of credit is enhanced.

Women and economyTheir contribution to socio -economic development asproducers and workers will be recognized in the formaland informal sectors(including home based workers)andappopriate policies relating to employment and to herworking conditions should be drawn up.

GlobalizationBenefits of the growing global economy have beenunevenly distributed leading to wider economicdisparties,the feminization of poverty,increased genderinequality through often deterorating working conditionsand unsafe working environment.

Women and agricultureConcentrated efforts should be made to ensure thatbenesits of training,extension and various programmeswill reach them in proportion to their numbers.

Women and industryComprehencive support in terms of labourlegislation,social security and other support services toparticipate in various industrial sectors.

Support servicesChild care facilities,including creches at work places andeducational institutuions,homes for the aged and thedisabled.

Social empowerment of women• Education for women: Equal access to education

as men and boys• Heath care for women• Participation of women in development of science

and technology• Nutrition for women• Drinking water and sanitation• Housing and shelter• Environment

Political environment• Recogmnizing that education and training• to acknowledge and accept the glaring gender based

bias• empowering women by increasing awareness

regarding the rights of an employee.• work on the communication skills of women

• encouraging and supporting women entreprenuers todevelop marketable models of enterprise.

an initiative by indian government6s model for women empowermentshiksha = educationswasthya = healthswavlamban = self reliancesamajik nyay = justicesamedana = sensitivitysamta = equality

Constitutional Provisions For Empowering WomenIn India• IPC Sec304(b)-murder of women in connection with

demand of dowry• IPC Sec312 to 318-miscarriage.• IPC Sec366-adeals-procuration of minor girls for

sexual purpose.• IPC Sec 376-punishment for rape.• IPC Sec 498a-women to cruelty by her husband for

relatives.• Sec 509-punishment for uttering words and gesture

or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.• The dowry prohibition act 1961• The factories act 1948• The employees state insurance act ,1948• The medical termination of pregnancy act,1971• The equal remuneration act 1976• The child marriage restraint act 1976• The indecent representation of women

(prohibition)act,1986• The commission of sati (prevention)act,1987• The national commission for women act 1992• The prenatal diagnostic technique act,1994• The protection of women from domestic violence

act,2005• Women reservation bill or the constitution (108 the

amendment)bill.• The sexual harassment of women at workplace

(prevention,prohibition and redressal)act,2013

CONCLUSIONThus, the attainment in the field of income / employmentand in educational front, the scenario of womenempowerment seems to be comparatively poor. The needof the hour is to identify those loopholes or limitationswhich are observing the realization of empowerment of



women and this initiative must be started from the womenfolk itself as well as more importantly policy initiativetaken by the state and society. Let us take the oaththat we want an egalitarian society where everybodywhether men or women get the equal opportunity toexpress and uplift one’s well being and well being of thesociety as whole. Women’s empowerment is not aNorthern concept women all over the world, includingcountries in South, have been challenging and changinggender inequalities since the beginning of the history.These A Study on Issues and Challenges of WomenEmpowerment in India struggles have also beensupported by many men who have been outraged atinjustice against women. Women represent half theworld’s population and gender inequality exists in everynation on the planet. Until women are given the sameopportunities that men are, entire societies will bedestined to perform below their true potentials. Thegreatest need of the hour is change of social attitude towomen. “When women move forward the familymoves, the village moves and the nation moves”.It is essential as their thought and their value systemslead the development of a good family, good society andultimately a good nation. The best way of empowermentis perhaps through inducting women in the mainstreamof development. Women empowerment will be real andeffective only when they are endowed income andproperty so that they may stand on their feet and build

up their identity in the society. The Empowerment ofWomen has become one of the most important concernsof 21st century not only at national level but also at theinternational level. Government initiatives alone wouldnot be sufficient to achieve this goal. Society must takeinitiative to create a climate in which there is no genderdiscrimination and women have full opportunities of selfdecision making and participating in social, political andeconomic life of the country with a sense of equality

That country and that nation which doesn’t respectwomen will never become great now will ever in future”.in pursuit of making India a great nation ,let us worktowards giving women their much deserved . A lot isstill to be done miles to go............Today women is the toot of nation.

References• Dr. Dasarati Bhuyan “ Empowerment of Indian

Women: A challenge of 21st Century” Orissa Review,2006.

• Vinze, Medha Dubashi (1987) “WomenEmpowerment of Indian : A Socio Economic study ofDelhi” Mittal Publications, Delhi

• Baruah B. (2013) Role of Electronic Media inEmpowering Rural.

• Goswami, L. (2013). Education for WomenEmpowerment. ABHIBYAKTI: Annual Journal, 1, 17-18.



EMPOWERMENT OF TRIBAL WOMEN THROUGH MGNREGPROGRAMME IN PANCHAYATH RAJ INSTITUTIONS: A STUDY ON

ANANTAPURAMU DISTRICT OF ANDHRAPRADESH

1. Research Scholar, Dept of Political Science & Public Administration , Sri Krishna Devaraya University, Ananthapuram.AP.

B. Ravi Naik1

Abstract

India is a country of unity and diversity where different language, religion, caste, communities, cultures, traditions andcustoms exist. Inspite of India has celebrated 71st independence still living in poverty. After independence the Indiangovernment under took several initiatives for eradication of poverty which are Drought Prone Area DevelopmentProgramme (DPAP), Food for Work Programme, Minimum Need Programme, Tribal Area Development Programme,TRYSEM, Swarna Jayanthi Swarajgar Yojana, High Yield Variety Programme, MGNREGS etc…National RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme is a milestone in the history of India, which is the biggest employment providingscheme for unorganized sector in the country. It was launched on 2nd February 2006 at Bandlapalli village inAnanthapuram District of Andhra Pradesh. Tribal is one of the communities in India, who are the last ladder of thedevelopment as we have provision of poverty eradication since 1947 to Present. But still Tribes in India are living inpoverty. The research paper mainly focuses on the impacts of MGNREG programme on the Tribal people and how theempowered through in Ananthapuram District of Andhra Pradesh.Keywords: Schedule Tribes, Development, MGNREGS, Poverty, Empowerment.

IntroductionInclusive and sustainable development is essential forthe development of any country. Hence, theEmpowerment of Tribal is inevitable for the developmentof our country. Tribal are very backward compared toother classes. Inspite of we have stepped in 71st

Independence, still Tribal’s living in poverty in our country.For the empowerment of Tribal people Government hasintroduced many initiatives, but the conditions areremained same with small changes. In this regardintroduction MGNREGA programme is a great forwardstep.

The main aim of MGNREGA is to provide 100 daysemployment for unskilled household workers. Thisprogramme has brought major change in the standardof the lives of Tribal people. Inspite of the programme isbeing criticized by the Economist as ‘Dole’ it has madeits effect in transforming Tribal people. This programmehas enabled tribal to earn additional sources of incometo create a robust financial security. And also it enablesthe tribal to get a decent wage based on their demandto get a job.

Objectivity1) To assess the social and economical impacts on

the Tribal people through this programme.2) To assess the impacts of this programme on the

Tribal empowerment in the study area.3) To recommend suitable measures for the effective

execution of this programme.

Research methodology2In this research both Empirical and analytical methodshave adopted. This study is based on primary andsecondary sources, where as primary source based onsurvey and questioner and secondary data source fromvarious Books, Journals and Government websites.Participatory observation method and focused groupdiscussion has adopted in the field to study the impactsof MGNREGA in the Amadaguru block of Anantapuramudistrict.

MGNREGA ACTThis act was introduced for the first time in my studyarea (at Bandlapalli in Anantapuram district) on 2nd

October 2006 in phased manner and after that it wasextended to all over the country. Present it is beingimplemented in all the districts of Andhra Pradesh. It isa successful and popular programme, which wasrenamed on 2nd October 2009.Now it is known asMahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment guaranteeAct. This programme however, is a milestone foreradicating of poverty. And an initiative towards Tribalpeople employment in Andhra Pradesh.

Salient features of MGNREGAThis act provides 100 days wage employment forunskilled rural household.1) It gives Legal guarantee i.e. Right to employment for

all Rural householders who willing to do work.2) This Act stops migration from Rural to urban.



3) Payment is through bank account.4) 33% of work days are reserved for rural women and

importance should be given to SC, ST categories.5) Equal payment for both men and women.6) Protection of Environment.7) Other one feature is Transparent and Accountable

through Social Audit, R.T.I and connecting to GeoTag.8) If Government fails to provide employment to those

who have interest in doing work has to paycompensation. In this study an effort has made toanalyze the following problems.

Profile of the study area of Anantapuramu districtThe present study was conducted at Thummala GramPanchayats in Amadaguru block of Anantapuramu district(Andhra Pradesh State).

Anantapuramu district is located in Rayalasemma regionof Andhra Pradesh. Its population is 4, 08, 148 of which28.09% is urban as per 2011 Census. It is the largestdistrict in Andhraprades and 7th largest district in India.Anantapuramu headquarter is Anantapuramu, area is19,130 km. It has 5 Revenue Divisions and 63 Mandals.Literacy rate is 64.28%. There are 6 rivers flowing acrossthe District which are: Thandakalleru, Penna,Swarnamuki, Chitravati, and Vedavati. It receives averagerain fall of 381 mm.

The District people depend mainly on Agriculture. Dueto receiving lowest rain fall (in India after Jaisalmir(Rajastan), MGNREGA Programme has become themain source of income. This praogramme is beingimplemented well in all the Districts of Andhra Pradesh.Amadaguru is a Mandal in Anantapuramu District ofAndhra Pradesh. Total population is 29520 of which male14704, female 14816 as per 2011 Census. In theAmadaguru Mandal where ST population is only 4%.Itstotal literacy rate is 64% of which Tribal literacy rate isonly 47%.

In Amadaguru Mandal people mainly depended onAgriculture. It is a drought prone area where MGNREGAprogramme has become main source of income. Hence,people are actively participating in it. Totally in Amadagurublock 90 % of Tribal household have Job cards where aspending job cards are 21.62. Job card holders havesuccessfully completed their work in the 2017-18 financialyears, Persons eligible for unemployment allowancesare 8844 in the same financial year.

Profile of the study area of Thummala GramPanchayatThummala is a major Gram Panchayats in Amadagurublock with population of 5771, of which 9% is ScheduledTribes. Totally there are 1487 households; literacy rate

is 58% of which 69% of male 46% female. In thisPanchayats people mainly depended on agriculture fortheir livelihood. It is a drought prone area; people getemployment only in rainy days, rest of the days no work.People particularly Tribal people migrate to other neighborcountries or states for their livelihood.

MGNREGA has become a big opportunity for ThummalaGram Panchayats especially for Tribal people. There areonly 80 Tribal households in it. MGNREGA programmeis being implemented well in this Gram Panchayats.Therefore, Tribal people actively participating in it. In thisPanchayats 183 tribal job card holders have exhaustedtheir work and wage paid 54.2 lacks for 2016-17 financialyears. There are 240 tribal have job cards where aspending job cards are 27.

Impacts of MGNREGA on social-economical statusof TribalTribal people should be aware to get the benefits of thisprogramme. To test the understanding level of Tribalpeople regarding the programme this study asked somequestions to them, which are discussed below.

To find out the impacts of MGNREGA programme onthe conditions of the Tribal people in Amadaguru Mandalthe study has chosen 50 respondents. Out of 50respondents 6 are above 55 years, 23 are in between40-55 of age, 15 respondents were in between 30-39years and 8 members are in between 18-29 years ofage. All the 50 respondents are ST with job card holdersand all belonging to Billow Poverty Line (BPL) category.Out of 50 respondents 20 were illiterate. Most of theilliterate candidates did not have job cards due toabsence; they all migrated to nearby states. The studyreveals that all those persons are poor and landless.

The study found that, 70% respondents said that theprogramme benefited them in improving standard of life,contributed for decreasing social distance and reducingin stopping migration. The study reveals that women’sare getting self sufficient but 6% of despondence saidthat they don’t had independence on their wagepurchasing, only head of the family would decide andalcoholic father or brother or elder of the family wouldtake hard work money away.

Awareness of the beneficiaries regardingMGNREGAThis study asked some questions to 40 samplerespondents in Thummala Gram Panchayats regardingthe programme. They are1) From where do they get job cards?2) How many days do they get employment for a year?3) How much wage do they get for a day?



Out of the 40 sample despondence 20 wear unable toanswer to above questions.

Creation of assets under MGNAREGAThis programme created assets, reduced the distancebetween Rural and Urban, providing infrastructurefacilities. While studying at the research area, it wasfound that this programme some extant satisfactory withconstruction of rural roads, water sheds, check dams,compost, drainage system and plantation for conservingEcology.

Positive aspects of MGNREGA1) Equal payment for both Men and Women.2) Women participating in Panchayats offices gradually

increasing, earlier they had no scope to do so.3) It empowers in making purchasing power.4) This programme creates a society of Social Justice.5) It reduces unemployment and stops migration from

Rural to urban.6) It enables standard of life

ProblemsThis study found that1) There is no regular payment in this programme.2) Difficult to get job cards.3) Sexual harassment at work places.4) Beneficiaries are very poor in participating Social

Audit because they are not aware of their presencein it.

5) Records of Thummala gram Panchayats notmaintained properly.

6) Low wages and delay in payments.7) Not connecting to geo tag for transparency.8) Government not taking steps to propagate this

programme.

SuggestionsAfter this study it suggests that• Number of total days should be increased at least to

200 day.• Government should propagate this programme

among the people at wide range.• Wages should be increased at least to RS 200 per

day.• This programme should be linked up with allied

programmes.• Provide vehicle service to workers if work is provided

far from their home.• Transfer money through Bank directly to their Bank

Accounts but not Post Office.

ConclusionThe MGNREGA programme has enabled the tribalcommunity, to empower themselves regarding accessbetter standard of life. Majority of Tribal people especiallywomen using their income for leading their family. TheTribal’s asserted that the programme made them enabledin managing with their problems in their family. It hasmade Anantapuaram District Tribal people to takeindependent decision making capacity. Thus theMGNREGA programme enabled the treble people of thisDistrict to have an economic transformation through theirparticipating in MGNREGA programme.

The study found that the Tribal people in AnantapuramuDistrict have been benefitted from MGNREGA programmein so many ways. It has a great impact on their socialand economical life, as their income increased. However,there is still long way to achieve the aim and objectivesof MGNREGA programme and make ensure thelivelihood security of the Tribal households.

References1. www.mgnrega.ap.gov.in2. International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

and Macro International (2007) National Family HealthSurvey (NFHS-3), 2005–06, India: Key FindingsMumbai: IIPS.

3. Pelletier DL (1994) the relationship between childanthropometry and mortality in developing countries:Implications for policy, programs and future research.Journal of Nutrition 124: 2047S–81S.

4. Vesel L, Bahl R, Martines J, Penny M, Bhandari N,et al. (2010) Use of new World Health Organizationchild growth standards to assess how infantmalnutrition relates to breastfeeding and mortality.Bull World Health Organ 88: 39–48.CharmarbagwalaR, Ranger M, Waddington H, White H (2004) thedeterminants of child health and nutrition: a meta-analysis: World Bank.

5. Frongillo EA, de Onis M, Hanson KMP (1997)Socioeconomic and demographic factors areassociated with worldwide patterns of stunting andwasting of children. The Journal of Nutrition 127:2302–9.

6. Nair M, Webster P, Ariana P (2011) Impact of non-health policies on population health throughthe social determinants pathway. Bull World HealthOrgan 89: 778

7. The National Rural employloyment Guarantee Act,(5 September 2005, 2005).

8. www.mgnrega.gov.in9. anatapuramu.ap.gov.in



MICRO FINANCE A TOOL FOR DECISION MAKING AND WOMENEMPOWERMENT- A CASE STUDY OF KRISHNA AND EAST GODAVARI

DISTRICTS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

1. HOD, Department of Economics, Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada.

Dr. Bommadevara Baby Rani1

AbstractMicro finance has become a magic bullet to enhance and promote women status in rural areas. It has the power toelevate women from depressed state to a prosperous state.It is argued that microfinance can attain socio economicempowerment and decision-making power among rural poor women. This paper makes an attempt to evaluate therole of microfinance as a tool to decision making and empowerment of women. A cross- sectional research on 288women in six villages of Krishna and East Godavari districts of State of Andhra Pradesh, India through aquestionnaire was conducted. The result showed that Micro finance has resulted in improving access to creditsources and asset building and improved the role of women in decision making.Keywords: Microfinance, women empowerment, decision making, suggestions

IntroductionWomen are the vital elements of the society. Today, theyare not merely wives and others, but also the leadersof our society and machineries of civilization. Womenrepresent half of the world’s human resource. PanditJawaharlal Nehru rightly said, “When women movesforward the family moves, the village moves and thenation moves”. The position and status of women inany society is an index of the socio- economic andcultural achievements of that society. The socio economicstatus of women in the country has been characterizedby low female literacy, distressing health, nutritionaldeficiencies and declining share to the total population.The development of the society majorly depends on thewomen status in the society.

In India women have been considered as the inferiormember of the family in pre independence period andinsignificant importance had been given to womendevelopment and welfare. The levels of poverty arehigh and because of this problem microfinanceprogrammed has occupied a significant role in the povertyreduction and empowerment of women. Microfinanceprogram is an important institutional device forproviding small credit to the rural people in order toalleviate poverty.

Majority of the poor people need productive credit.They want secure saving facilities and consumptionloans just as much as productive credit. The poorface many obstacles in gaining access to formalfinancial service institutions. In this regard Micro-finance institutions (MFIs) provide chance for the poorpeople in rural areas to have access to Micro-creditmainly through SHGs. SHGs are now recognized as

crucial instruments for rural credit delivery and povertyalleviation. Microfinance plays an important role inthe fight against many aspects of poverty and toattain women empowerment for overall developmentof the country. Poor women borrow from MFIs and thenutilize that money for different income generationactivities and try to become economically stable.

Objectives of the StudyWith this backdrop, the main objectives of this study isto find out the impact of microfinance on decisionmaking and women empowerment in selected regionsof Andhra Pradesh.• To study the impact of Microfinance Institutions on

women decision making in East Godavari district andKrishna district.

• To find out the improvement in the socio-economicstatus of women due to access to microfinance

• To offer suggestion for betterment of women’sempowerment through microfinance.

MethodologyThis study was relied on two types of data; primary dataand secondary data. The primary data is collectedthrough a well structured questionnaire by face toface interview. The questionnaires were pre-tested inorder to correct some difficult questions. The samplesize was defined by using non-probability samplingmethod. Purposive sampling method was used to selectthe research location and the stratified multistagesampling method was used to select household headsusing credit. The sample consists of 100 percent femaleclients of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs).For the



proposed study, East Godavari and Krisha districts areselected from coastal Andhra region. This district isselected based on highest MFI penetration rate andlarge number of women clients. In these selected districtsix villages are selected on Random basis. A sample of24 respondents was selected randomly from each villagefor interview. The study uses primary data analysis of144 women respondents using micro finance schemesin each district.

Literature ReviewGurumoorthy (2000)33 opined that womenempowerment is very crucial in development process.By empowering women the socio economic developmentcan be attained. Micro finance plays an important rolein enhancing entrepreneurial abilities among women.Credit requirements of women are fulfilled through microfinance and this improves the socio economic status ofwomen and decision making. Sahu Lopamudra, SinghSuresh K (2012)50 opined that microfinance and SHGsare essential factors in women’s empowerment whichare facilitated and supported by NGOs. They observedthat NGOs train the clients in farm and off farm activitieswhich contributes to their income generation.Microfinance also plays very prominent role inempowering women by enhancing their earning ability,boosting their self-confidence and promoting regularsavings. This enabled the clients to better decisionmaking in family, easy credit accessibility, economicsecurity, increased mobility and improved political andlegal knowledge.

Penetration of Microfinance in Andhra PradeshThe intensity of penetration of micro finance in the Stateof AP is the highest at the all India level. For good reason,Andhra Pradesh has often been labeled the “Mecca ofMicro-finance” in India. The MFI actually brings greatprofessionalism, innovation and technology to itsenterprise. It also ventures to provide loans that banksdo not.

Andhra Pradesh is one of the leading states in terms ofSHG and MFI growth, with the largest MFIs based inthe state. Several of India’s largest MFIs including SKS,Spandana, BASIX, and Share are based in AndhraPradesh and began operations in the state; and the stateis home to India’s largest state-led micro-finance initiative– the Velugu program.

Micro Finance: A tool for Women’s EmpowermentThe World Bank defines empowerment as “the processof increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to

make choices and to transform those choices intodesired actions and outcomes. SEN(1999)Empowerment is an expansion in individual‘s agencyi.e. expansion in one‘s ability to act and bring aboutchange, whose achievement can be judged in terms ofher own values and objectives. Empowerment hence canbe defined as a multidimensional process that enableswomen to realize their identity and power in all spheresof life. Empowerment provides greater access toresources, more autonomy in decision making, greaterability to plan lives and more control on thecircumstances that influence lives. Stated succinctlyempowerment is defined as ̄ increasing poor people‘sfreedom of choice and action to shape their own lives.(Narayan 2005)

Among the various measures targeted towards women’sempowerment, the provision of micro finance or smallcredit assumes crucial importance. The formation of SelfHelp Group and Micro Financing will enhance their socio-economic position in the society. Microfinance serviceslead to women empowerment by positively influencingwomen’s decision making power at household level andtheir overall socioeconomic status. The experiences ofseveral SHGs reveal that rural poor are efficient managersof credit and finance. Availability of timely and adequatecredit is essential for them to undertake any economicactivity rather than credit subsidy. Various studies showthat there is a positive correlation between creditavailability, decision making and women’sempowerment.

Impact of MF on Decision making of the respondentThe socio economic status of women can be measuredby tracing out women’s decision making in family,community, income, expenditure etc. Borrowings fromMFIs enhance the decision-making capacity of womenmembers. The study revealed that the participation ofwomen in the decision-making process has increasedsignificantly after accessing loans from MFIs which isreflected from the percentage distribution of membersreporting on the decision-making process in all the twoselected sample districts. The joint decision making bywomen members together, with their spouse alsoimproved significantly for all aspects investigated understudy. Social conditions of women in terms of self-confidence improved a lot, as reflected in their decision-making abilities and interaction with outsiders. Microfinance programme has improved their role in childbearing decisions, spouse selection, marriage of girls/boys, education of children, purchases, interaction withoutsiders and in community decision-making.



Table-1 : Distribution of Respondents based on their decision making and empowerment

Decision Making No % No % No %

Improved 80 55.56 63 43.75 143 49.65

Stayed Same 60 41.67 79 54.86 139 48.26

House Hold Worsened 4 2.78 2 1.39 6 2.08

Worsened very much 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Total 144 100 144 100 288 100.00

Improved 20 13.89 24 16.67 44 15.28

Stayed Same 86 59.72 92 63.89 178 61.81

Community Worsened 38 26.39 28 19.44 66 22.92

Worsened very much 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Total 144 100 144 100 288 100.00

Improved 84 58.33 94 65.28 178

Stayed Same 26 18.06 22 15.28 48 16.67

Family Planning Worsened 19 13.19 21 14.58 40 13.89

Worsened very much 15 10.42 7 4.86 22 7.64

Total 144 100 144 100 288 100.00

Improved 40 27.78 52 36.11 92 31.94

Stayed Same 62 43.06 58 40.28 120 41.67

Women Groups Worsened 30 20.83 12 16.67 42 14.58


Total 144 100 144 100 288 100.00

Improved 56 38.89 57 39.58 113 39.24

Stayed Same 50 34.72 43 29.86 93 32.29

Wage/Salary Worsened 26 18.06 36 25.00 62 21.53


Total 144 100 144 100 288 100.00

Improved 45 31.25 54 37.50 99 34.38

Stayed Same 58 40.28 38 26.39 96 33.33

Family Expenditure Worsened 33 22.92 40 27.78 73 25.35


Total 144 100 144 100 288 100.00

KrishnaDisctrict

East GodavariDistrict

Overall Total

Source: field Survey

Women Decision-making in Household FinancialAs it a known fact that most of the rural women are involves in house hold management and men are bread earnersand major decision makers. It is very surprising to see that in Krishna and East Godavari districts nearly fiftypercent of women’s participation in household decision making improved relating to financial decisions like budget



allocation, when to get a loan, amount and source ofloan, buying and selling of household durables etc afteravailing micro and they feel more empowered within theirfamily.

Women Decision-making in communityWomen’s decision making after microfinance in thecommunity in which she lives in is disappointing. Datashow that only 15.28% of the respondents decisionmaking improved. This reveal that women had noappreciable role in community decision making due toher rigidity nature, lack of exposure etc.

Women Decision-making in Family PlanningWomen grew empowered after availing micro financeloans and made them think about small family normsand its benefits. They strongly involved themselves inaccepting and propagating family planning program asa member of SHG. About 61.81 percent of therespondents were involved in decision making regardingfamily planning, This is due to the surroundings of thehouse , community, nature of family the respondent liveetc. Decision making of women in family planning aspectin East Godavari District improved more than Krishnadistrict.

Women Decision-making in women groupsThe empowerment of women is made easy in a SHGwhere they do collective effort to enhance their livingstandards through the loans micro finance institutionsprovide. It enables to enhance their social behavior. Fromfield survey it is revealed that 31.94 percent ofrespondents decision making improved. About 14.58percent of respondents decision making worsened andsurprisingly 7.64 percent of respondents decision makingworsened very much in women groups. This is due tovaries caste, religion, difference in educational statusetc.

Women Decision-making related to her incomeMFIs paved the ways to downtrodden women to generateher own income and attain economic and social wellbeing. About 39.24 percent of the respondents areinvolved in decision making on income related mattersafter procuring micro finance loans as she has becomeone of the earning member in the family and economicallystrong.

Women Decision-making related to FamilyexpenditureIncome generation and expenditure related matters ismostly looked after by the head of the family and a mererole is given to women in decision making related toincome and expenditure matters. However the overallsample study revealed that 34.38 percent of the

respondents involvement in decision making regardingfamily expenditure improved.

Suggestion for betterment of womenempowerment through microfinanceFollowing suggestions can be put forth which enablesefficient operation of the Microfinance institutions toassure enhancement of rural poor in decision makingand empowerment.

• The interest rates charged by MFIs on the borrowingsshould be low on par with the banks. Clients are tobe provided with accurate information about the rateof interest and other service charges charged byMFIs in lending process.?

• MFIs should provide more installments facility to itsclients in case of genuine cases like ill health,hospitalization, sack season etc. MFI agents shouldnot use foul language and abuse women in loanrecovery process.?

• As most of rural poor are illiterate and ignorant andthey do not have complete knowledge about microfinance and its impact on their socio economicstatus. Hence a wide campaign is very essential tomake this programme more effective.?

• The government and other welfare motiveorganisations should work together to develop theStrategies to combat the lack of empowerment amongthe rural women and also focus on the root cause ofwomen’s powerlessness.

• Collaborating with other organizations for providingbusiness training, monitoring the use of loan andencouraging more productive use of loan by variousways such as differential rate of interest, incentives,etc, are some of the few measures suggested topromote empowerment and skill training amongst theclients.

• Women entrepreneur associations should be formedso that women clients can exchange their ideas andstrengthen their business.?

• Effective initiative should be taken to eradicateall types of internal and external violence againstfemale.

Conclusion:Micro Finance is an important tool for empowerment andinvolvement of women in decision making. Micro-financeloans facilitate women to contribute to the householdeconomy, increasing their socio economic status. Theincome generating activities undertaken by women byusing micro finance improved their income levels andassets thereby giving them financial stability. There isalso ‘increased participation in household decision



making’, ‘increased savings’, ‘meeting family expenses’,‘family planning’, ‘confidence’ etc. At the end it maybe concluded that microcredit is positively linkedwith the up lift of socio-economic empowerment ofworking women at Krishna and East Godavari districtsin Andhra Pradesh.

References• Benjamin F.Lyngdoh and Ambika P.Patil(2013),

“Micro Finance and Women Empowerment”,Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai.

• Chavan, Pallavi and Ramakumar, R(2002), “Microcredit and Rural Poverty: An Analysis ofEmpirical Evidences”, Economic and PoliticalWeekly, Vol.37, No.10, Pp.955-965.

• D.Ajit, RajeevC.B ( 2 0 0 9 ) . ” M i c r o -Finance and Social Capital: A Study O fEvidence from South India”, Development andChange,Vol. 36, Issue 1, Pages 1–210.

• Gurumoorthy, T. R. (2000), “Self-Help GroupsEmpower Rural Women”,Kurukshetra, February,Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 31-37.

• Lekshmi R., Kulshreshta and Archana Gupta (2002),“A study of microfinance in India -Deliverysystem and impact analysis with specialemphasis to women upliftment”, Sajosps, Vol 3,No. 1, December 2002, p. 105.

• Microfinance Institutions in Andhra Pradesh,India-2009", International Journal of Social Inquiry,Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 67-84.

• Nathalie Holvoet (2005), “The Impact ofMicrofinance on Decision-Making Agency:Evidence from South India”, Development andChange,Vol. 36, Issue 1, Pages 1–210.

• Sahu Lopamudra, Singh Suresh K(2012) , “AQualitative Study on Role of Self Help Group inWomen Empowerment in Rural Pondicherry,India”, National Journal of Community Medicine, Vol.3, Issue 3, July – Sept 2012, Pp 473-479.

• Sangeeta Arora and Meenu (2012), “MicrofinanceIntervention and Customer Perceptions: a studyof Rural Poor in Punjab”, Decision, April, IndianInstitute of Management, Calcutta, Vol. 39, No.1, Pp.62-76.



THE STATUS OF INDIAN WOMEN:YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

1. Head, Department of Social Sciences,Ch. S. D. St. Theresa’s College for Women, Eluru,AP.

Dr. P. Ratna Mary1

Abstract

The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. The status of Indianwomen has radically changed since independence. Both the structural and cultural changes provided equality ofopportunities to women in education, employment and political participation. With the help of these changes, exploitationof women, to a great extent was reduced. More freedom and better orientation were provided to the women’s organisationto pursue their interest. The centuries of slavery were over. Today women want equality, education and recognition.The advancement of women is the most significant fact of modern India. Gandhiji once said “woman is the noblest ofGod’s creation, supreme in her own sphere of activity”. These words are blossoming now. The global evidence revealsthat women have been performing exceedingly well in different spheres of activities like academics, politics,administration, social work and so on.The improvement in the status of Indian women especially after independencecan be analysed in the light of the major changes that have taken place in areas such as legislation, education andemployment, political participation and awareness of their rights on the part of women. The objective of this paper isto analyse the Status of Indian Women: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.Keywords: Status of women, traditional, modern, education, employment, political, economic, rights, equality andempowerment.

“It is impossible to think about the welfare of the worldunless the condition of women is improved. It isimpossible for a bird to fly on only one wing”.

- Swami Vivenkananda

If we gaze into the history of mankind from the verybeginning, one can find that men have always utilizedthe services of women. Men needed the help of womenfrom the primitive ages, when they hunted animals. Theyneed their help even to this day.

Woman’s situation today is in the state of alteration.There is a change from traditional to modern. But the‘modern’ has approached without completely rooting outthe ‘traditional’. The traditions still linger. Thus the modernwoman is a mixed bag of what is traditional plus thenewly emerged ‘modern’.

Obviously, she has not decided yet which values sheshould accept and which she ought to throw away. Sheis puzzled to accept all that is modern, at the sametime very much puzzled to discard everything that istraditional. This transitional period has its own effectson women who are trying to combine the roles of homeand work. Those who are orthodox may find the conflictof roles still highly intense.

The tide began to turn decisively in the mid-nineteenthcentury when such practices as polygamy, child-marriage, enforced widowhood and Sati were vigorouslyattacked by social reformers. The 20th century saw thebirth of a strong women’s movement, which became a

spearhead in the struggle against irrational orthodoxyand discrimination.

The increased opportunities of education andemployment have brought about changes in her positionat home and in the society. One finds that more andmore women are educated, gaining economicindependence and holding official positions and ranksat all levels. The traditional image of Indian woman is nodoubt changing. Dube makes similar observations. Onecannot expect this change to enter into practical lifeovernight. Traditional attitudes and prejudices stillpersist. This is but natural, for, social opinion takes itsown time to change.

But at least in theory the status of inferiority is no longerthere. Today, the situation is quite different. The Indianconstitution guarantees equal status and rights to bothmen and women. Woman today is no more the slave ofher man. She too goes out to take up gainful employmentand earn money. Today her role is not limited only tohousehold duties and rearing the children.

This freedom granted to women is greatly responsiblefor late marriages and independent choice. The girls aretaking courage of postponing or refusing to be marriedand go in for higher education. Economic independenceand ‘Individual Freedom’ are the strong factors in thischange.

The participation of women in economic and socialactivities has been steadily increasing in all countries.



Since Independence, women working as teachers,doctors, nurses etc., are quite common. The phenomenalprogress in education made them capable of working inimportant fields like engineering, administration, law,judiciary, journalism, politics etc. Women also hold highmanagerial posts, there are women directors of manycommercial firms, there are women legislators ministersand deputy ministers also.

The working woman today stands at the crossroads ofsocial evolution at a junction of old and the new. And asthe vanguard of the new generation new generation ofemancipated womanhood, she stands to hardships, asthe pioneers in any field must always pay a heavy price.The role of women in this field of social action is nowincreasing as against her subservient position in the past.

Social Status Of Women:It is true that woman today has a status far differentfrom the past. She has entered the field of work out ofthe house, and is taking active part in it. In spite of that,we cannot neglect the universal fact, that, she cannotbe absolutely free from her duties as wife, mother andhome-maker. She has to realise that nature has so madeher that she alone can bring into being a happy home,the basic unit on which society is built.

A woman’s position at home and outside home now isso closely interlinked and intermeshed that it is verydifficult to separate the two.

Change of Women Roles in Family:Right from the beginning, job is considered to be a life-role as far as men are concerned. This is not so withwomen. Their interests are supposed to centre aroundhome. At home, they have their definite and decided‘roles’ to play. This is true for both the married andunmarried women. For a married woman, the ‘wife’ and‘mother’ roles are important and for an unmarried womanthe ‘daughter’s and ‘sister’ roles assume moreimportance. The wife’s role consists of meeting herhusband’s needs, taking sufficient interest in his work,providing him company and fulfilling his expectations.

When the women play the mother’s role, to look-afterthe children their health, education, character-buildingare her major concern. Beside these, a house-wife hascertain obligations as a ‘woman’ of the house. She isthe one who is expected to perform such obligationstowards the elder members of the house, guests,attending marriages etc.

Now-a-days, in addition to these roles a new role hasemerged, i.e., an occupational role, this consists of anumber of activities. It is obvious that some role conflictis sure to persist. The reason is she has to divide theavailable time between these two roles.

Change in Structure of the Family:The peculiarity of the Indo-Aryan culture has been itsjoint family system. There are certain advantages anddisadvantages of it. But now the joint family is changingand giving place to unit or nuclear family or at least to amodified joint family.

The disintegration of joint family has given rise to manyproblems. The nuclear family is very small. It cannotprovide a satisfactory social life. When this is so,woman’s life is more affected than men. But as theeconomic burden has to be shouldered by husbandsonly, in times of need, the wife has to add to familyincome, especially among middle class families. Theunmarried daughters have to help parents.

About the number of children, women today have muchless than they used to have in former days. In the bygonedays, she used to have more number of children. Nowthe number, especially among the middle – classfamilies, has come down to two to three children.

In India, the age at marriage has considerably changed.The girl takes her education and the period of gap betweencompletion of education and marriage is usually filledby employment for a majority. Most of them take up ajob to support their family. Some may take upemployment for dowry, still others for utilizing for theireducation, some because an earning woman may beaccepted by the other party concerned in marriage, anda few for pocket-money, too.

Change in Family Ideology:In Indian Society, men enjoyed a superior status andposition in marriage and family. With the spread ofeducation among women and equality of statusguaranteed by constitution to them, there is a tendencyin the opposite direction. It is yet to be ascertained asto whether educated women make better wives andmothers than otherwise. However, one thing is clear;education of women has facilitated them to take-up ajob.

Previously, man was dominant in family decision-making, and he was the bread earner of a family. Thisideology is passing through a gradual change. Boththese changes are interrelated and interdependent. Asmore and more women started taking up employment,the ideology that gave men the superior position as the‘sole provider’ of family income started changinggradually.

Economic Status of Women:Indian woman as an economically productive humansource has now come to stay. However, it is still farfrom the situation, where, they have effective place in



the production. While the working women of industriallydeveloped countries like USA., & UK., constitute almost1/3 of their respective female population; in India, only13 percent of female population constitutes as workingwomen, i.e, only a few millions in absolute numbers.Women both married and unmarried are entering in thefield of employment in large numbers. Apart from thetraditional fields of nursing and teaching, other fields havealso experienced an increase in the employment ofwomen irrespective of their marital status.

Economic Independence:The basic and most fundamental flaw in women is theirineffectiveness in demanding a monetary remunerationfor work done at home. Without their monetaryremuneration, her legal status is reduced to a dependent.She is not a contributor to the gross national productand by law she is living under the protection and provisionof her husband.

Most women are still unaware of the subtle brain washingand deprivation to their own sex. When husbands becomemember of clubs, it does not occur to her thatmembership should be on both names. When the nameplate is put on the door she will not realize that her nameshould be added. When a couple prospers as a husbandand wife team, she will not care to point out that property;car, etc. should be on joint names. When a marriagebreaks, the convenient remark of the husband is ‘getout of my house’.

Among weaker sections of society of underdevelopedcountries like India the monetary repercussions aremanifold and male domination almost complete.

Change in Income:Industrialization affected the economy in such a waythat all men and women had to come out for service.Men have moved from the Small Scale works and farmsto offices. Similarly, but rather gradually, women alsohave entered into the ‘white-collar’ jobs. First to come inthis field among women were the unmarried. Then themarried women increasingly started taking up out ofhome jobs. Women more or less, everywhere, includingIndia, is benefited and freed from inferiority complex.

Today, there is not single job, which a woman cannotperform. The more advanced education of many womenhas further increased their usefulness to employers.“Cultural change, therefore, has allowed mothers’increased free time, has added incentive andsimultaneously has provided extensive employmentopportunities”.

One of the main reasons for women to work may be thatthey belong to nuclear families. Some people are of the

opinion that the purpose of female education transcendspreparation for future employment. The primary concernof girls’ education is not with the money she will earn,but with the life she will lead.

Educational Status of Women:A highly educated woman is more likely to get a white-collar job than a less educated woman. The chances ofan educated woman securing well paid job are alsobrighter. From a social point of view, it is usually assumed,if not always accepted, that one of the primary aims inencouraging women to go in for higher education is toequip them for obtaining a job so that they can be self-sufficient. Not only women joining in even greater numberin the universities, but they are also generally showingbetter results in their examination than male students.

There is a positive co-relation between the level ofeducation and economic status. Higher the level ofeducation, higher is the economic status. The strugglefor the uplift of women took place mainly in three fields:i) legislation, ii) education, iii) politics.

Women in Religious and Cultural Events:In this respect, Buddhism was most important for it hadthe greatest impact on women’s status. Buddha’scompassion and respect for mankind raise the positionof women. Buddhism tried to retrieve and restore theposition of women in society; they were admitted to theBhikshunisongha, which opened avenues for their socio-cultural attainment. As Buddhism believed in the individualindependence and right to ultimate liberation, womenbecame truly unshackled.

The other big religious reform movement was Jainism,closely following Buddhism. It offered women the bestopportunities for intellectual and aesthetic cultivation.

Changes in Life Styles:When women are employed and have only limited timeat their disposal for household work they may adhere toa fairly rigid programme, one which shortcuts many ofthe household chores previously performed by theirmothers. Modifications in the ritual behaviour appear mostdirectly related to women’s employment. It is thewomen’s attitudes towards the rituals, which permit thechanges.

Highlights of Women:Yesterday:Women from past centuries have changed the world inmany different ways and have also paved the way forfuture women. During historical times, many womenachieved many different goals but still remained unequaland inferior to men. The historical woman could not vote,



hold normal jobs, or even have a place in politics.Historical women mainly managed the home front,including the children and all of the homemakingresponsibilities. Women were not in charge of manycatered to men and their every need while ignoring theirown needs for freedom and opportunity. Many importanthistorical women changed the way women are viewedtoday, including giving women rights and opportunitiesthey never had before. Historical women will never beforgotten for the positive changes they have made forwomanhood. Such historical women include Susan B.Anthony for granting women the right to vote, JackieJoyner-Kersee for introducing women into the Olympics,and Helen Keller for educating the world about womenwith disabilities.

There have been many prominent women who havedistinguished themselves in political, literacy and artisticfields in our country. Samyogita the daughter ofJaychandra of Kanauj, Rani Padmini of Mewar, Tera Baiof the Solanki tribe, Rani Durgawati of Katanga (in MP),Mira Bai, Rani Gangadevi of Vijaynagar, RaniUmayamma of Travancore, etc., are some names thatcome to mind readily. There have been many others overthe centuries, who have risen above their social turmoiland restrictions, and have shown brightly with theirprowers in their chosen field. More recently, SarojinNaidu, an ardent, versatile and dynamic genius was alsoa poet, a dreamer, idealist and a politician. The Indianfreedom movement has generated many othernoteworthy women crusaders.

Today:Women today are much different than historical women.The modern woman is consumed with many obligations,duties, and responsibilities on a daily basis. Womenare now stepping out of their historical role of motherand housewife to obtain a higher quality of living. Themodern woman has a much different lifestyle with manydifferent choices. Modern women also look, dress, andact much differently than historical women. Just like othercreatures in the world, women have also evolved overthe centuries and are continuing to adapt to the newenvironment. Although many women in foreign continueto keep their traditional roles, women in America arebreaking the old boundaries and are changing with thetimes.

The modern women of the 21st century are focusing onthemselves and their own lives more than historicalwomen ever have. Goals and opportunities are moreabundant for women and the modern woman is takingadvantage of them in a positive and healthy way. Womenof the 21st century are so amazing because of all of thethings they can offer to themselves, to other people and

to the world. They are overcoming more demanding anddifficult responsibility than ever before. The 21st centurywoman is so amazing for many reasons.Toaday Women can vote and decide the fate of a Govt,they have a place in politics and government ,they havecareer choices.

Great examples of women empowerment :Chandra Kochhar – ICICI Bank Managing Director &CEO. Shikha Sharma – Axis Bank Managing Director &CEO. Arundhati Bhattacharya – SBI Chief ManagingDirector. Naina Lal Kidwai- CA & Business Executive.Kalpana Morparia – Many leading companies ChiefExecutive officer ,to name some we have IndiraGandhi,Sonia Gandhi, JayaLalitha,, Prathibha Patil,,Mamatha Benerji ,Saina Nehwal, sindhu Mary com,kalpana Chawla, etc have proved women to be greatachievers in every field in the present era. They haveheld high offices including that of president, primeminister ,speaker of the lok sabha, ministers, chiefministers and governors.

Tomorrow,women should be seen equal in all respects with men.There is no field where women are unsuitable orincompetent. Women will replace men in all fields.

References:• Raj Kumar Pruthi, Rameshwari Devi and Romila

Pruthi, “Status & Position of Women in Ancient,Medieval & Modern India, Mangal Deep Publications,Jaipur, ISBN: 81-7594-078-6, 2001.

• Uma Shankar Jha, Arati Mehta & Latika Menon,“Status of Indian Women: Crisis and Conflicts inGender Issues”, Volume 3, Kanisha Publishers,Distributions, New Delhi, 1998.

• Anid Bhuimali and Bipul Malakar, “Women,Globalisation and Development”, Serials Publications,2008.

• B.S. Benni, “Urban Women SustainableDevelopment”, Current Publications, 2013.

• Shanta Kohli Chandra & M Lakshmiswaramma,“Working Women and Infant Care”.

• S.N. Chowdary, Employment of Women with specialreference to Embroidery Work.

• Digumarti Bhaskara Rao and Digumarti PushpalathaRao, Women, Education and Empowerment.

• Eveline Hust, Women’s Political Representation andEmpowerment in India.

• Status of Women in India Wikipedia.



• Why being a woman of the 21st century is so amazing, November 23, 2016.• Tanima Banerjee, Here’s How The Status of Women Has Changed In India, March 11, 2012.• Dr. Md. Faizanuddin, Women Empowerment and Micro Credit.• Talwar Sabanna, Women Education, Employment and Gender-Discrimination.• Anjali Gandhi, Women’s Work Health and Empowerment.• Ushvinder Kaur Anand, Working Women and Retirement.• Prof. Meenakshi Malhothra, Empowerment of Women.



CHANGING SCENARIO OF WOMEN IN THE 21ST CENTURY

1. Lecturer, Dept of English, Sir C R Reddy PG College, Eluru,AP.2. Head, Dept of English, Sir C R Reddy PG College, Eluru.AP.

D. Meri Suguna1 Dr. M.S.C.Sophia2

AbstractGender differences have created gender inequalities, both for male and especially for female. Fakih (1999:12)defines gender inequality as “a system and structure in which either male or female becomes a victim of the system”.Gender is one of social problems which are not only discussed on television, newspaper or others mass media butwhich also can be found in novels. Gender inequality and discrimination against women, influenced by the historicaland structural power imbalances between women and men across all communities in the world. Inequalities betweenmen and women cut across public and private spheres of life and across social, economic, cultural and political rights;and are manifested in restrictions and limitations on women’s freedoms, choices and opportunities. These inequalitiescan increase women’s and girls risks of abuse, violent relationships and exploitation. Violence against women andgirls so not only a consequence of gender inequality, but reinforces women’s low status in society and the multipledisparities between women and men.

IntroductionIn the contemporary scenario there are many men orwomen writers who, through their writings, have beensuccessful in projecting the existing social genderinequality with regards to the new fangled styles,technique and trends in women’s novels and poetry.Traditionally, the work off Indian women writers has beenundervalued due to patriarchal assumptions about thesuperior worth of male experience. One factorcontribution to this prejudice is the fact about theenclosed domestic space and women’s perceptions oftheir experience within it. The majority of these writers’novels depict the psychological suffering of the frustratedhousewife, this subject matter often being consideredsuperficial compared to the depiction of the repressedand oppressed lives of women of the lower classes thatwe find in regional authors writing in Hindi, Bengali,Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu and other nativelanguages. Prior to the rise of the novel, many Indianwomen composed poetry and short stories. Women werethe chief upholders of a rich oral tradition of story tellingand fables once literacy began to filter through societythose stories were transformed into poetry and drama.Many Indian women novelists have explored femalesubjectivity in order to establish an identity that is notimposed by a patriarchal society. A number of Indianwomen novelists made their debut in the 1990s,producing novels which revealed the true state of Indiansociety and its treatment of women.

Anita Desai, in her psychological novel ‘Fasting Feasting’presented the image of a suffering woman preoccupiedwith her inner world, her sulking frustration and the storm

within the existential predicament of a woman in a maledominated society. Through such characters, she makesa plea for a better way of life for women. Her novels haveIndians as central characters, she alternated betweenfemale centered and male centered narrative. In Desai’snovels, women do not necessarily inflict violence directly,but very often become willing agencies of violence bysubmitting to male oppression and ignoring their ownfeminine needs as well as those of the younger womenin their families. These women, shadowy figure inthemselves have suppressed their own individuality.Indian woman has carried the burden of the family. Shehas slaved for her husband, for her children and for herfamily.

Indian women take pride in suffering and live with theidea of subjugation entrusted to them for years ininculcation about the necessity to accept and abide bythe rules assigned to them by patriarchy that runs throughtheir blood. In a male dominated society woman issupposed to be an ideal wife, a mother and an excellenthome maker with multiple riles in the family. As a wifeand a mother, service, sacrifice, submissiveness andtolerance are her required attributes. Mildsubmissiveness, domesticated, unprotesting, and selfsacrificing woman was an essential adornment of thepatriarchal social set up all over the world. Throughouther novels and short stories, Desai focuses on thepersonal struggles of anglicized, middle class womenin contemporary India as they attempt to overcome thesocietal limitations imposed by a tradition boundpatriarchal culture. Her novels move around womencharacters although she is preoccupied with the theme



of incompatible marital couplets. Most of Desai’s worksengage the complexities of modern Indian culture farfrom feminine perspective while highlighting the femaleIndian predicament of maintaining a self identity as anindividual. The novel Fasting Feasting relates with thedisastrous attempts of an Indian daughter to leave herparents home and achieve independence withoutmarriage. Her parents barely notice their daughter’saspirations as they lavish all of their attention on theironly son. Anita Desai highlights on different types ofwomen liberation through the character of Mira - Masi; adistant relative developed the habit of travelling all overthe country alone, visiting one place of pilgrimage afterother. Through the portrayal of Mira-Masi character, AnitaDesai divulges the practicability of the confluence of thesocial and the spiritual.

Shashi Deshpande occupies an important place amongthe contemporary women novelists who boldly expressesthe problems of women and their quest for identity.Deshpande’s creative talent and accomplishment haveestablished her credential as a worthy successor andcontemporary to the writers. Her protagonists aremodern, educated young women crushed under theweight of male dominated and tradition bound society.Deshpande’s novels reveal the man made patriarchaltraditions and uneasiness of the modern Indian womanin being part of them. Shashi Deshpande uses this pointof view of present social reality as it is experienced bywomen. To present the world of mothers, daughters andwives are also to present indirectly the fathers, sonsand husband the relation between men and women andbetween women themselves. The word which isassociated with what we consider to be the concept ofan ideal woman is self denial, sacrifice, patience,devotion and silent suffering. The Dark Holds No Terror(1980) Shashi Deshpande’s first published novel presentsSaritha’s quest for identity and her assertion for equalityto her brother and later to her husband. It is the story ofSaru who feels like a trapped animal, trapped by herneed to succeed at any cost. She needs to findsomebody who would care for her. Saru is lonely becauseshe has not received any love all through her life. In thisnovel the novelist brings out powerfully the psychologicalproblem of woman and discusses it artistically withoutcrossing the barriers of art. The novel also transcendsfeminine constraints and raises issues which the humanbeings in general encounter in their life. The novelistaim is to show one should take refuge in the self. Itmeans that woman should assert and ascertain shemakes Sarita’s consciousness to be touched by herexperience as a doctor. Sarita realizes that one has tobe sufficient within oneself because there is no otherrefuge elsewhere, puts an end to her problems. She

realizes that we come into this world alone and go outof alone.

Anita Nair is one of the India’s living woman authorswho have carved a distinctive niche for herself. Hercharacters are drawn from different walks of life and arerealistic. Nair has emphasized that her charactersinteract and cause tensions allowing the narrative tounravel at a brisk pace. Her work ‘Ladies Coupe’ is thestory of a woman’s search for strength and independence.Themes of loneliness, deprivation and suppression runthrough this novel. Male domination in the novel makesthe readers aware of the hardships faced by single andmarried women in South Asian Culture. A single womanis a rare entity in this culture and society would like toquestion why and how she continued to be single. Beingalone is something alien and not accepted in this society.It is also equally ironic that married women are oftensubject to domination by their husbands and to breakfree from this domination by their husbands and to breakfree from these dominations is an arduous and oftenimpossible job. Domination by family members andloneliness has become an essential ingredient of thelife of South Asian women.

Ladies coupe is a novel about women in South Asia.But it talks about universal factors in the man womanrelationships. It explores the themes of alienation,loneliness and lost opportunities. It delves intosubjugation and dominance within the portals ofmarriage. Men and women are complementary to eachother. But, even in this modern era, women areconsidered not as equal to men but as the weaker class.They undergo suppression in a male dominated society.These women are unvoiced creatures of the society.Anita Nair’s portrayal of women in her novel Ladies Coupe(2001) brings out this fact clearly. Any relationship is abeautiful bond that connects people to share pleasureand pain, joy and sorrow and success and failure. Astrong and healthy relationship assures a person thathe/she is not left alone on this earth. Everyone issurrounded by such relationships as marital, parental,siblings and friends. Trust, commitment, adjustment,sacrifice and all the above love are prime pillars of ahealthy relationship. Marriage cuts off a woman fromthe mainstream of life and pulls back her from achievingher goals. Most marriages are successful only whenthe women show major attention to the household affairs.For men it’s different.

In most families, the man is the boss of the house; wifea counselor or a minister who assists or helps; but notthe dictator. Beyond the threshold of her house, womanfinds life less promised and confusing due to her socialand cultural insecurities. Whenever women step out oftheir confinements, they have to fight to wipe out the



negative image of women already dwelling in the mindsof men and women. In certain aspects women are treatedas angels and goddesses. In some other aspects womenare expected to be slaves, who are ready to work for aman and his benefits and comfort. Marginalization andcentralization are common in a woman’s life. Venerationand isolation both do not help her to mingle with therealities of life. “An Indian woman has been eithervenerated as a goddess or rejected as a siren. Themodern Indian woman has to compete against thesetwo extreme images; she is striving to lead the life of anormal human being with normal desires”

These three great Indian women novelists handled variousthemes regarding women’s life and status in male-dominated society. For example gender equality, heralienation, anxiety, insecurity, fear her marital familiarand social relation, sufferings and exploitation, strugglefor new identity, psychological disturbance in her mind,mother-daughter relationship, disharmony betweenhusband and wife’s relationship etc. Through thesethemes these women novelists have tried to projectvarious images of women. For example the image oftraditional, modern and new, liberated, immigrant, middleclass, sensitive, sterile, emotional and self-sacrificingwoman

Women’s writing in the 20th century moved towards amedium of modernism in which Womanist and feministstatements were combined with political messages overthe years and throughout the political stability whichaffected Indian society at large, along with a myriad ofother influences which have affected culture, languageand social patterns Women’s Literature in India hasevolved to show common experiences, a sense ofsisterhood and a range of female experiences thatquestion the recurring face of patriarchy. Women shouldnot be ashamed of any stigma attached to them for e.g.widowhood, divorcee status, spinster status etc. Theyshould realize their true potential and strength and thisrequires the capacity to manage differences and thewillingness to respect them. Women should engage ina full fledged battle for survival and improve relationshipsrather than submitting to harassment and suppressingthe rights of an individual. Since each person is different

from one another and each has his own idea of self-esteem and self-respect, a willingness to face newchallenges and come up with innovative ideas to tackleissues has to spring from within.

Women writers of Indian Writing in English are good inanalyzing complex issues like complexities of humanrelationships, man-woman relationship, woman’s psycheand her potential. Writers such as Anita Desai,Nayantara Shagal, Arundhati Roy, Manju Kapur andShoba De show how the modern Indian women attemptto free themselves sexually, economically anddomestically from the male dominated society. Male andfemale characters in their novels fight against theirinterpersonal problems without caring for any success;often they end up having some kind of peace. Thenovelists, like the readers, know that there is no logicalanalysis of emotion. However, it is interesting to notehow certain types of men and certain types of womenget along very well. The novelists often focus upon thelack of emotional fulfillment in man-woman relationship.

References• Nair, Anita. 2001, “Ladies Coupe”, Penguin Books,

New Delhi. Manohar, D.Murali 1994,• “Indian Fiction women’s Fiction: A Study of Marriage,

Career and Divorce”, Atlantic Publishers andDistributors Pvt. Ltd., Delhi.

• Mukherjee, Meenakshi, 1994, “Women CreativeWriters in Indian English Literature Between Spacesof Silence: Women Creative Writers”, New Delhi.

• Rose, M. Stalle, 2004, “From Periphery to the Center:Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupe”

• B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths, H. Tiffin, The Empire WritesBack. New York: Routledge, 1989. Print.

• Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes:Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” Laura

• Chrisman, and Patrick Williams, eds. ColonialDiscourse and Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. NewYork:

• Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993. Print.• Nair, Anita, Ladies Coupe. New Delhi: Penguin Books

India, 2001. Print



EMPOWERMENT AND COPING STRATEGIES IN WOMEN:A STUDY ON “OSTEOPOROSIS” IN DIFFERENT

AGE GROUPS OF PEOPLE IN ELURU

1. Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Ch.S.D.St.Theresa’s Autonomous College, Eluru.2. Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Ch.S.D.St.Theresa’s Autonomous College, Eluru3. Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Ch.S.D.St.Theresa’s Autonomous College, Eluru.4. Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Ch.S.D.St.Theresa’s Autonomous College, Eluru.

Dr. K.S.V.K.S Madhavi Rani1 Dr. R. Indira2 N.Lakshmi Prasanna3 G. Suneetha4

AbstractMenopause is described as a period of psychological difficulties that changes the lifestyle of women in multiple ways.Menopausal women require more information about their physical and psychosocial needs. Empowerment during themenopause can contribute to improving the perception of this stage and the importance of self-care. The Nationalosteoporosis Foundation says that one in two women and one in eight men over 50 will have an osteoporosis relatedfracture in their life time. This study can help to understand, recognize about the causes, symptoms, treatment andprevention of Osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to review the empowerment and coping strategies in menopausewomen.

IntroductionOsteoporosis is often called the Silent disease, becausebone loss occurs without symptoms. People often don’tknow that they have the disease until a bone breaks,frequently in a minor fall that wouldn’t normally cause afracture. Many people confuse osteoporosis with arthritisand believe they can wait for symptoms such as swellingand joint pain to occur before seeing a doctor. It shouldbe stressed that the mechanisms that cause arthritisare entirely different from those in osteoporosis whichusually becomes quite advanced before its symptomsappear. The National osteoporosis Foundation says thatone in two women and one in eight men over 50 willhave an osteoporosis related fracture in their life time.Thirty-three percent of women over 65 will experience afracture of the spine and as many as 20% of hip fracture.This is a major health problem for older adults, whocomprise an increasingly greater proportion of the generalpopulation. Over 10 million adults in the United Statesare estimated to have osteoporosis and an additional43 million to have low bone mass [6]. Osteoporosisposes a serious worldwide health economics issue,though secular and temporal trends differ considerablyby region [2].

Literature“Osteoporosis” meaning “porous bones”, is a diseasethat causes structural deterioration of the bone tissuewith no detectable symptoms. It is related to the lossof bone mass that occurs as a part of the naturalprocess of aging. It results in conditions where there isexcess bone loss without adequate replacement. It

becomes apparent in a dramatic fashion, causingfractures even after a normal activity such as bending ortwisting or falling from the standing position. The brokenbones, affect the daily life causing disability to do thedaily tasks. Women of all ages and men over age 50suffer from this disease. Millions of women and menare already at risk for osteoporosis. This is a major healthproblem for older adults, which comprise an increasinglygreater proportion of the general population [7].

Pathophysiology of bone loss and fractures:Low bone mass is a major feature of Osteoporosis. Aninverse relationship exists between “Bone mass Density”(B.M.D) and susceptibility to fracture. B.M.D is theprimary indicator of fracture risk in patients. The over allarchitecture of bone is divided in to cancellous bone (alsocalled as trabecular bone) and cortical bone. The corticalbone forms a compact shell around the more delicatecancellous bone. It is formed by an inter connectivelattice work of trabecular.n general, the appendicularskeleton is composed of cortical bone and the axialskeleton is composed of both cancellous bone andcortical bone. The surface area of cancellous bone ismore than that of cortical bone, and is metabolicallyactive. So the cancellous bone is severely effected.During the accelerated period of bone loss, immediatelyafter menopause,cancellous bone loss increases threefold, while rates of cortical bone loss are slower.Thevertebrae are rich in cancellous bone. So vertebralfractures are common in the early post menopausalyears, while hip fractures occur in later years. Bonestrength is related to bone mass density (BMD) andother factors such as remodelling frequency (Bone turn



over), bone size and area, bone micro architecture anddegree of bone mineralization.

After linear growth stops, bone is in a constant state ofremodelling with repeated cycles of bone resorptionfollowed by deposition of new bone. In normal conditionsbone resorption followed by bone formation is sequentialwithout over loss of bone. This bone turn over isnecessary for general bone health as it repairs microfractures and remodels the bone architecture. Bone hasremodelling units. They combine the sequential actionof osteoclasts which resorb bone, leaving a cavity orlacuna and the subsequent action of osteoblastssynthesise new bone. When there are aberrations inbone remodeling, thinning of trabeculae occurs and theybecome disrupted. It is also described as loss ofconnectivity. It weakens the structural integrity of thebone. Bone is a major reservoir of calcium. In variousphysiological and pathological conditions, bone massmay be sacrificed to satisfy intracellular and extracellularcalcium needs. Because of all these reasons, bonesbecome weak, fragile and porous leading toosteoporosis.

Types of osteoporosis:Osteoporosis can be classified in various ways, basedon diagnostic categories, etiology. Osteoporosis canbe classified as primary osteoporosis and secondaryosteoporosis. Primary osteoporosis includes age,gender, race, figure type, life style, diet and lack ofsunlight. Secondary osteoporosis includes geneticdisorders, hypogonadal states, endocrine disorders,hematological disorders, nutritional deficiencies, drugs.

Factors that cause osteoporosis:• Osteoporosis is related to the loss of bone mass

that occurs as part of the natural process of aging.• It results when there is excess bone loss without

adequate replacement.• It is far more prevalent in women after menopause

due to the loss of the hormone estrogen.• It is common in persons.

- Having small thin body.- Having a family history of osteoporosis.- Being over 65 years old.- Not getting enough exercise.- Long term use of some medecines like

glucocorticoids, antiseizure medecines, thyroidhormone replacements etc.

Consequences of osteoporosis:Though osteoporosis is often called as a silent disease,there are some symptoms like.

• Increased risk of fractures with minor trauma.• Pain in the bones and muscles.• Breaks in the hip, wrist, spine.• Sloping shoulders.• Back pain• Compressed vertebrae.• Protruding abdomen• Hunched posture.• Person becomes stooped with a bent back called

Called dowager’s hump (kyphosis)

Diagnosis:The diagnosis of osteoporosis is usually made by thedoctor using a combination of a complete medical historyand physical examination. In order to properly diagnoseosteoporosis the bone density must be measured. Thiscan be done using a test measuring the density of thebones in the areas most likely affected by the diseasesuch as spine, hip and wrists.

There are tests that can get to find out the bone density.This is related to how strong or fragile the bones are.One test is called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DX A). A D X A scan takes x-rays of the bones.

Treatment:Treatment for osteoporosis includes eating a diet rich incalcium and vitamin D, getting regular exercise, andtaking medication to reduce bone loss and increasethickness. In man Alendronate and triparatide havebeen approved to treat osteoporosis in men. Calcitoninmay work in men, treatment with testosterone increasesbone density. In women, the non hormonal bisphoshonatedrugs, alendronate and rise dronate prevent and treatpost menopausal osteoporosis. Raloxifene is approvedfor preventing and treating osteoporosis. A class of drugscalled estrogen agonists antagonists; commonly referredto as selective estrogen receptor modulators SERMSare approved for the prevention and treatment ofpostmenopausal osteoporosis. They help to slow therate of bone loss.

Calcitonin : Calcitonin is a naturally occurring hormonethat Can help slow the rate of bone loss.

Menopausal Hormone Therapy (M H T) :- These drugswhich are used to prevent bone loss.

Parathyroid Hormone or Triparatide:- Triparatide isan injectable from of human parathyroid hormone. Ithelps the body build up new bone faster the broken oldbone.



Prevention:-Building strong bones during childhood and teen yearsis one of the best ways to keep from getting osteoporosislater. As the person gets older, the bones don’t makenew bone fast enough to keep up with the bone loss.And after menopause, bone loss happens more quickly.But there are steps that can be taken to natural boneloss with aging and to prevent the bones from becomingweak and brittle.

1. Get enough calcium each day:Bones contain a lot of calcium. It is important to getenough calcium in the diet. The person, can getcalcium through foods and calcium pills. For agegroup 9-18, the requirement of calcium is 1300mg./day, for 19-50, requirement is 1000 mg./day, and for51- and above age group the requirement is 1200mg./day.

2. Get enough vitamin ‘D’ each day:It is also important to get enough vitamin - D, whichhelps the body absorb calcium from the food taken.Vitamin “D” is produced in the skin when it is exposedto sunlight. The person needs 10 to 15 minutes ofsunlight to the hands, arms and face, two to threetimes a weak to make enough vitamin D. Theamount of time depends on how sensitive the skin isto light. It also depends on the use of sunscreen, theskin colour, and the amount of pollution in the air.The person can also get vitamin D through foods orby taking vitamin pills. The daily Vitamin Drequirement for age group 19-50 is 200IU per day, for51-70 age group, the requirement is 400 IU per day,

3. Eat a healthy diet:Other nutrients (like vitamin K, vitamin C, magnesium,and Zinc, as well as protein) help build strong bonestoo. Fish, green leafy vegetables, oranges, and milkcontain many of the nutrients.

4. Exercise:Exercise is very important for slowing the progressionof osteoporosis.

5. Don’t smoke:Smoking raises the chances of getting osteoporosis.It harms the bones and lowers the amount of estrogenin the body.

6. Drink alcohol moderately:Alcohol makes it harder for the body to use thecalcium taken in.

7. Make your home safe:Reduces the chances of falling by making the homesafer. Use a rubber bath mat in the shower or tub.Keep the floors free from clutter. Make sure thathave grab bars in the both or shower.

8. Lactose intolerance:If the person is lactose intolerant, it can be hard toget enough calcium. Lactose is the sugar that isfound in dairy products like milk. Lactose intolerancemeans the body has a hard time digesting foods thatcontain lactose. The symptoms like gas, bloating,stomach cramps, diarrhea and nausea. Lactoseintolerance can start at any age but often starts inolder age. Lactose- reduced and lactose-free productsare sold in food stores.

MethodologyA survey was conducted to collect the requiredinformation from patients suffering from osteoporosis.The data was collected from one orthopedic hospitalsfor a period of one month in Eluru. The data was collectedfrom 50 patients of different age groups by questionnairemethod and the results are tabulated

Results & Discussion

Table-1 : Percentage of the samples

Graph-1

S.No Sex Percentage of the samples

1 Female 90%

2 Male 10%

0

20

40

60

80

100

Females Males

% o

f the

sam

ple



Graph-2

Sl.No Age - group Percentage effected

1 40 -45 4%

2 46 -50 28%

3 51 -55 30%

4 56 -60 20%

5 61 -65 12%

6 66 - 70 6%

Table-2 : Percentage of different age groups suffering

Sl.No Family history Percentage

1 With family history 20%

2 With out family history 80%

Table-3 : Percentage of the subjects with or without family history

Graph-3

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

Agegroup

40-45 46-59 51-55 56-60 61-65 66-70

Sl.No 1 2 3 4 5 6

% o

f age

gro

up

0102030405060708090

% o

f the

sub

ject

s w

ith o

rw

ith o

ut fa

mily

his

tory

With family history With out family history



Sl.No Symptoms % of the subject suffering

1 Knee pain 48

2 Hunch back 14

3 Backache 12

4 Bone fracture 10

5 Often falling down 10

6 Joint pains 6

Table-4 : Symptoms of Osteoporosis.

Graph-4

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Sl.NO 1 2 3 4 5 6

% o

f the

sub

jcet

suf

ferin

g

Jointpains

Oftenfallingdoiwn

Bonefracture

BackacheHunchback

Knee painSymptoms

DISCUSSION• From the survey, it is observed that out of 50 subjects,

males are 10% and females are 90% . So thefemales are more prone to this disease.

• Among 40 – 45 age group, 4 % are effected,46 – 50 age group, 28% are effected, 51 – 55age group, 30% are effected, 56 – 60 age group,20 % are effected, 61 - 65 age group, 12% areeffected, 66 – 70 age group, 6% are affected.These results reveal that the incidence ofosteoporosis peaks in the age group of 51-55 followedby the age group 46-50 and it was proved in earlierstudies. This condition is related to menopausalstage of women.

• 20% of the subjects are with family history and 80%are without family history. So to some extentosteoporosis may be hereditary.

• 48% of the subjects are suffering from Knee pain,14% are suffering from Hunch back, 12% aresuffering from Backache, 10% are suffering fromBone fracture, 10% are falling down frequently,

6% are suffering from severe joint pains. The mainconstraints to optimal treatment for osteoporosis,according to the physicians who participated in thecurrent study, are lack of consistent compliance onthe part of patients and lack of knowledge. Recentlypublished studies have shown suboptimal adherenceto osteoporosis treatment in a number of countries[4,5].

ConclusionBecause it is hard to replace bone that is lost, preventionis the key. Beginning a life long commitment to exerciseand nutritious, food in young age reduces the risk ofdeveloping this condition later in life. Act now to buildstrong bones to last a lifetime.

“Best Bones Forever” is a national education effort toencourage girls aged 9-14 to eat more foods with calciumand vitamin D and get more physical activity. There isalso a website for the parents, which gives them thetools and information they need to help their daughtersbuild strong bones, during the critical window period ofbone growth that is between 9-18 years to make them



empowered. Recent publications have attributeddeficiencies in osteoporosis management to inadequatecommunication and cooperation among the physiciansinvolved: general practitioners, orthopedic surgeons,endocrinologists and rheumatologists [1,3].Empowerment of menopausal women will guarantee theirhealth during the last third of their life. The results of thepresent study can pave the way for future research aboutwomen’s health promotion and empowerment.

REFERENCES• Akesson K, Marsh D, Mitchell PJ, McLellan AR,

Stenmark J, Pierroz DD, et al. IOF Fracture WorkingGroup Capture the Fracture: a Best PracticeFramework and global campaign to break the fragilityfracture cycle. Osteoporos Int 2014; 24:2135–52. [PMC free article] [PubMed]

• Cooper C, Cole ZA, Holroyd CR, Earl SC, HarveyNC, Dennison EM, et al. IOF CSA Working Groupon Fracture Epidemiology Secular trends in theincidence of hip and other osteoporoticfractures. Osteoporos Int 2011; 22:1277–1288.doi: 10.1007/s00198-011-1601-6 [PMC freearticle] [PubMed]

• Drew S, Judge A, May C, Farmer A, Cooper C, JavaidMK, et al. REFReSH study group. Implementationof secondary fracture prevention services after hip

fracture: a qualitative study using extendedNormalization Process Theory. ImplementSci 2015; 10:57 doi: 10.1186/s13012-015-0243-z[PMC free article] [PubMed]

• Kim SC, Kim MS, Sanfélix-Gimeno G, Song HJ, LiuJ, Hurtado I, et al. Use of Osteoporosis Medicationsafter Hospitalization for Hip Fracture: A Cross-nationalStudy. Am J Med 2015; 128:519–526. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.01.014 [PMC free article] [PubMed]

• Modi A, Sajjan S, Gandhi S. Challenges inimplementing and maintaining osteoporosistherapy. Int J Womens Health 2014; 6:759–69.doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S53489 [PMC freearticle] [PubMed]

• Wright NC, Looker AC, Saag KG, Curtis JR, DelzellES, Randall S, et al. The recent prevalence ofosteoporosis and low bone mass in the United Statesbased on bone mineral density at the femoral neckor lumbar spine. J Bone Miner Res 2014; 29:2520–6. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.2269 [PMC freearticle] [PubMed]

• Yacov Fogelman,#1,2,* Inbal Goldshtein,#3,4 ElenaSegal,2,5 and Sofia Ish-Shalom6, anagingOsteoporosis: A Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes andPractices among Primary Care Physicians in Israel, 2016; 11(8): e0160661.



WOMEN IN THE 21ST CENTURY: CHALLENGESAND OPPORTUNITIES

1. Lecturer in Computer Science, Sri Y.N. College, Narspaur, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh.

Kabitha Rani. Bethala1

Abstract

“I Measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” - Dr. B R Ambedkar.

Gender equality has been plagued with controversies and discrimination for centuries and even though we havemoved on, there is still a long way to go before we could say that Equality is achieved in this modern world. Womenhave proved they are no less in every arena of the world stage and have excelled in many ways in comparison to men.Their contributions to Science and technology is second to none. Women Rulers from centuries have demonstratedtheir strengths and abilities and in many ways exceeded expectations with immense charisma and no different tomen. The key roles that they have played on the world stage to make us who we are is unprecedented.If this is how we profile the women from era to era, then why are we still pursuing this hot topic of gender equality? Whyare women treated any different to men when it comes to privileges, responsibilities, and authority? Why isn’t awoman’s voice heard in this modern society? In this article I wish to bring the ideology of equality and opportunity forwomen in our fast-developing world. I wish to draw our attention to the educational needs that we face for young girlsand the opportunities that are available for women to excel. I would like to highlight the contributions of women at highprofessions and decision making that effects the current regimes, world markets and technological advancements.

IntroductionWomen and Education:Women have excelled and proved well beyond capablein every field that the current world had adopted. We livein an era where gender equality is starting to beaddressed and equal opportunities to women and menare now a mandatory legislation in most of the developingand developed nations across the globe. In this fast-paced world where Science and technology plays a vitalrole, we cannot take chances to overlook any contributionto well being be it coming from a man or a woman. Greatthinking, inventions and discoveries start with greateducation. This sheds clear light on the fact that it isimperative that every child no matter what gender theyare must be educated to their highest so that they canaccess their peak potential. To my dismay, a latestreport generated by UNESCO suggested that nearly twothirds of the 774 million illiterate population of the worldare females.

There is a growing concern that gender equality is themajor contributor to females being deprived of sufficienteducation. There are still 31 million girls (UNESCO 2013cognitive report) at primary school age who doesn’t goto school and 34 million girls (UNESCO 2013 cognitivereport) at secondary school who are deprived ofeducation.

I strongly believe that our country is still gripped in theclutches of traditions that were misinterpreted for variousreasons for instance in the name of religious beliefs andeconomic affordability, that the parents will not allowthe female siblings to progress in their education. Theirnotion that a Girl is destined to be married and sentaway which does not require a qualification is slowlyreplaced with mutual understanding and realisation ofthe importance of education in the modern society.However, this is noticeably not prevalent in rural areasand in the families where the parents are not fullyeducated or are aware of the need for literacy in the realworld.

We as a nation have the immediate responsibility toaddress this by first understanding the importance ofeducating women and the grave dangers encountered ifotherwise.

Education in females empower them with planning thechild birth and do it when its right and affordable. Thisprevents premature pregnancies and child births.

Female education will give them better awareness ofnutrition and hygiene for their children which will yet againprevent child deaths caused due to lack of nutrition andhygiene. Females forced into marriages at young agewill be totally eradicated if the current generation isequipped with this knowledge of social awareness. Thegovernments of many nations have already been in the



forefront with these issues with outreach programmesand to encourage young girls to go to school. Educationin women literally laid foundation to the advancementsof today’s modern world. Marie curie was the first femaleto have been awarded the Nobel Prize for her contributionto the chemistry world with her discovery of Uranium incollaboration with her husband and polonium by herself.Even she was denied from education to start with, Marie’senthusiasm inspired to pursue education secretly andpersist to become one of the most renowned figures inmodern history.

In the beginning of the 19th century this mind set hadchanged and led to free education for women. Thischange had discovered Ada lovelace who was nevercredited for her unmatched contribution to the computerindustry until after her death. She was the first personto have written the first ever computer programme whileworking alongside with Charles Babbage.

This also led to the formation of collaborative programmecalled STEM (Science Technology Engineering andMaths) which is adopted in schools to encourage youngand budding Scientists and entrepreneurs.

As the years passed by more women had theopportunity to be educated at higher levels and theircontributions literally shaped the human life of today.Rosalind Franklin was the first person to use thetechnique of X Ray crystallography to discover the shapeof the human DNA which led to further establishment ofthe Double Helix structure by Watson and Crick. Butsomehow, we only credit the later.

Literature is shaped by some of the greatest femalewriters of all time. Jane Austin’s Pride and prejudice isstill taught as part of educating literacy in school in themodern-day world. JK Rowling’s contributions to theliteracy world had led to the most charismatic novelcreations of all time. Some of the other most impactingIndian female literacy writers of all time are ArundhathiRoy, Jhumpa lahiri, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, ShashiDeshpandey whose work had changed our thinkingforever.

With this kind of impact on the world it is no surprisethat we MUST take the matter of female education everso seriously and encourage many more great minds ofyoung females across the globe. This surely calls forthe end of an era for disadvantaged girls and women. Itshould be mandatory that the females are prioritised ineducating them to their highest possible levels. Currently,it has become a necessity for both the parents to workand that shows that the importance of why women shouldbe allowed to move up the ladder in their career pathwaysand for this they must equipped with relevantqualifications and experience. This is possible with

opportunities in education and careers available equallyto the females along with males. The Government,Charities and Private enterprises could provide fundedprogrammes to educate the families of some of the mostrural areas in the country to bring awareness of Genderequality and the need for education. Women must alsobe able to explore and have opportunities to be part of asuccessful team and hold high ranking careers.

A recent survey done by the Oxford university Englandshows that in schools the percentage of female studentsopting for Maths, Science and technology compared tothe male students is as low as 35%. Schools anduniversities must open every type of subject availablewith gender equality. Females should continue in growingnumbers to explore careers that have stereotypicallyopted by men. Nowadays it is no surprise when youhear of a female Pilot, a female commander in thedefence services, a female engineer, a female Doctor, afemale architect, and other key careers. Parents arenow open to the frame of mind that allows them to givethese opportunities to their female children just as theydo with their male children.

UNESCO is the global charity that amalgamates all thenations under one banner and one motive of educationfor women. The recent projects proposed under theMuscat agreement such as the Sustainable developmentGoals(SDGs) as an open working group for the futurewelfare of women in the society and Global educationfor all (EFA) projecting the enhancement of educationopportunities for the illiterate population specificallyfocussing on the female education.

Women in decision making:Throughout our history we are revolutionised by thefemale rulers with their relentless prowess, subtlety, andtenacity of efficient leadership in the likes of the following.Rani Lakshmi Bai (1828-1858) who created history byfighting against the oppression of the British rule withthe first war of independence and induced the idea of ademocratic republic in the minds of our great nation.

Catherine (II) the great (1729-1796) of Russia hadrevolutionised the nation of Russia following the footstepsof Peter the great.

Maria Theresa of Austria (1717-1780) ruled the largestpart of the European continent for 40 years and saw thewomen’s education reformed, and in the establishmentof the royal society of Science.

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) of the United Kingdom ruledthe kingdom that spread over six continents for over 63years. She is such a prominent figure that her life timeis described as the Victorian Era when she abolishedSlavery and established equal rights and right to vote.



Theodora (500-548) of the Byzantine Empire is hailedone of the saints of the Orthodox church for her greatcontribution o the roman empire. She had establishedwomen’s rights, passed anti-trafficking laws. She wasalso renowned for her great control of foreign affairs andlegislation in the empire.

Borte Ujin (1161-1230) became the ruler of the Mongolempire which is the largest contiguous empire to eventoday’s standards. She also played a key role in stateaffairs and was responsible for the establishment of theYuan dynasty.

Joan of Arc (1412- 1431) Was the French heroine whofought the British in the battle of Orleans and had attainedthe mythic status.

Its little wonder then that we have high profile femalefigures in today’s world running the nations and alter thecourse of history for good and the new world order.

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) is the only female primeminister who is remembered for her radical decision-making prowess and in the transformation of the republicof India.

Margret thatcher (1925-2013) dubbed as the Iron ladywas the prime minister of the United Kingdom for 11years and remained as the longest serving prime ministerin British History.

In our modern world we have Angela Merkel(2005-present) as the chancellor of Germany, Prime ministerSheikh Haseena wajed (2007- Present) of Bangladesh,Prime minister Erna Solberg (2013 to present) of Norway,Helle Thorning-Shmidt (2011- present) of Denmark, and17 other nations of the world are currently run by thefemale leaders.

The decisions made by these prominent female figureseffected the economies and their represented nationsand are world leaders in pioneering and innovation.Germany is still regarded as the economic superpowerof the European continent. Denmark’s economy is oneof the most effluent economies with great childcare andlowest unemployment rates. And the list goes on. Theseleaders have also contributed to the women’s rights withno partiality.

Modern fashion industry is worth over $1.2 Trillion acrossthe globe. This also created just under a million jobsand is studded with household female brand namescreated such as DKNY, Coco Chanel, Vera Wang,Alexander McQueen, Viviane Westwood etc.

The global entertainment industry is successful becauseof the legendary actresses. There are all time greatfemale singers and performers that ruled theentertainment industry.

Women in the finance sector have literally run the worldmoney matters. Chanda Koccher who is the CEO ofICICI bank, Christine Laggard the head of InternationalMonitory Fund, Arundathi Bhattacharya who chairs theState Bank of India, Janet Yellen who is yet again thehead of USA federal reserve are just a few names thatwould barely scratch the surface.

Women are exalted to high status because of their socialwork and reformation across the world stage. Namessuch as Sister Alphonsa born in Kerala, MotherEuphrasia from Kerala again, Meera bai, Mother Teressa,Florence Nightingale, St Joan of Arc, St Catherine ofSienna are remembered for their contribution to thewelfare of other disadvantaged population of the worldand famous patriarchs of Humanitarian efforts acrossthe globe. They have taken humanitarian service as theirlife goal and lived I dedication for the other peoplesupporting and helping them with social physical, mentaland economic reforms. Women like Anne Frank in thebook “The diary of a young girl” had changed the worldwhen the world learnt about the atrocities committed bythe Nazis against the Jews in the concentration campsduring the holocaust. These women remained in historyas saints because of their selfless work to human kind.

There is no sector in the working world where womenhave not excelled. This calls for the radical improvementof the opportunities available for women and females toexplore and excel. These are only a few mentions of themountain of contributions made by women to the humankind. Their valuable and valiant efforts were never wastedin vain but laid the foundation of the modern world. Wealso can never forget the Nobel peace Prize winner MalalaYousafzai for her invaluable contribution to women’swelfare.

Finally:Despite the contributions made by females to our heritageand the modern world there are still huge concerns toaddress especially with regards to equality andopportunities. There are frequent occurrences ofincidences where women are discriminated from men.Women are discriminated at work places where menare prioritised for certain jobs over women by falselyprofiling them as incapable. There are cases wherewomen suffered severe oppression, sexual harassmentand bullying at work place and at homes. I believe thatit’s the thinking that should change before these gremlinsof our modern society are addressed. Women deservesmoral respect and reverence that should be equallyexercised and demonstrated in the society. We are allone and we are all capable of anything we put our mindsto. And that’s when the right opportunities are exploredand catered for a better tomorrow. There should be strict



legislations as to equality at work place and value of awoman in the public and place and society. Gone arethe days when women suffered silently, and their voiceswere never heard. It is the responsibility of every womenof current and the future generation to speak out andconfront the current climate of gender inequality, andequal opportunities. Now is the day when we rise as aphoenix and shine as stars that brighten the future pathof a very intelligent generation.Women are not an afterthought. We are not part of theplan, We ARE the plan. We are the engine that run themodern society and the mere biological existence ofhumanity is made possible because of females. Thecurrent and the future must be impartially educated andprepared for the important challenges that thistechnically advanced world had to throw at them.

References:• http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002456/

245656E.pdf• http://aplus.com/a/women-in-science-greatest-

female-scientists?no_monetization=true• http://www.right-to-education.org/issue-page/

marginalised-groups/girls-women• https://www.ranker.com/list/best-female-authors/

ranker-books• http://j jmccullough.com/charts_rest_female-

leaders.php• https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2016/

06/06/17-most-powerful-women-in-finance-banking-and-venture-capital/#5a572d37371d



ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF WOMENENTREPRENEURS IN RURAL AREA

1. Junior Research Fellow, Department of Social Work, Acharya Nagarjuna University,AP.

Jaikar kommukuri1

Abstract

India is a male dominated society and women are assumed to be economically as well as socially dependent on malemembers. Women entrepreneurs faced lots of problems like lack of education, social barriers, legal formalities, highcost of production, male dominated society, limited managerial ability, lack of self confidence etc. Various factors likePull and Push factors influencing women entrepreneurs. Successful leading business women in India. Governmenttakes various steps for the upliftment of women entrepreneurs in 7th five year plan, 8th five year plan and in 9th fiveyear plan. Women have the potential the potential and determination to setup, uphold and supervise their ownenterprise in a very systematic manner, appropriate support and encouragement from the society, family, governmentcan make these women entrepreneur a part of mainstream of national economy and they can contribute to theeconomy progress of India. Data has been collected from number of articles, books, periodicals and websites.

“When a women moves forward, the family moves, the village moves and the nation moves” -Jawaharlal Nehru

Introduction:Word entrepreneurship broadly stands for selfemployment .it’s mainly involves identification ofopportunities with the economic system .it involvesassumption of risk and responsibility in designing theexsiccating a business strategy of starting a newbusiness venture. Entrepreneurs are skilled organizersof in various activities such as identifying the needs forvarious products or services, originating or generatingideas on how to provide the desire products or services,evaluation of well though our ideas and present a businessenterprise opportunity, and finally a plan of action totranslate idea in to a commercially viable proportion.Entrepreneurship has been attraction more and moreattention of policy makers, academicians and businesspractitioners since early nineties. The main reason behindthis is that the creation of new enterprises has a greatpotential to contribute to a balanced and acceleratedeconomic growth and certain of employmentopportunities.

Women entrepreneurship in India is still as nascentstage. Women are often heavily discriminated againstin many countries including India. In some situationsthis may actually encourage women start then ownventures because they may not secure employment. inother situations , certain crafts may not be sociallyacceptable for women. There is a great struggle forequality in many countries which is usually test identifiedas the equal opportunity for the job skill a position andsame pay. education and awareness programmes haveencouraged women entrepreneurs. Women have a set

up establishment to manufacture solar cookers inGujarat, small foundries in Maharashtra and TVcapacitors in Orissa. These are not –traditional industrialunits. Women also engage themselves in the traditionalsector s of embroidery , lace, toys, doll making , matweaving and production of fancy-cum-utility articles.some women employ technicians and managerialpersonnel , since they don’t have requisite technical andprofessional know –how, government organizations helpin preparing projects reports and setting finance training.

Of late , a few organizations have set up especially inthe NGP sector provide the support and assistance towomen entrepreneurs and bring about attitudinal changein them.these include organizations such as Indiancouncil of women entrepreneurs, association of womenentrepreneurs of Karnataka , and self employed womenassociation. Organized efforts have provide the muchneeded attitudinal and skill tainting.

Classification of women entrepreneurs in India:The proposed classification of recognizes four types ofentrepreneurs:1. Young achiever entrepreneurs2. Block factor entrepreneurs3. Family-driven entrepreneurs4. Financial need entrepreneurs

Development of women entrepreneurs in India:The women workforce constitutes only the twenty–eightpercent of the female population. Out of the total number



of self employed persons women account for only fivepercent .the majority of the self –employed women areengaged in the unorganized sector like handicrafts,handloom, cottage industries and agriculture. Theseventh five-year plan has covered the integration ofwomen economic development. The eighth five-year plangave due importance to the development of the smallsector. The number of small scale units was expectedto increase from one half million to two and half millionduring 1992 and 1997. It is estimated among the smallscale entrepreneurs, nearly nine percent would bewomen. If this trend is maintained women’s participationis likely to increase to twenty percent of the total smallsector units.

The new industrial policy has stressed the importanceof entrepreneurship among women. The policy hasstrategy for the holistic development of women. This willhelp to develop their personally and to improve theireconomic and social conditions. This policy hasredefined “women units” in which they had a majorityshare holding arid management control.The new industrial policy has also stressed the need forconducting special entrepreneurship developmentprogrammes for women wit view to developentrepreneurship among women.

Problems of women entrepreneurs:In the man dominated society, the greatest deterrent towomen entrepreneurs is that they are women .theproblems faced specially by the by the womenentrepreneurs are fallows.

1. Lack of encouragement from financialinstitutions:Financial institutes are sometimes doubtful of womenentrepreneurs entrepreneurial abilities .the bankersconsider women loaners are higher risk than menloaners.

2. Lack of financial resources:Women entrepreneurs suffer from inadequatefinancial resources both long term and workingcapital. Due to negative attitude of financialinstitutions and male members, about thecapabilities of women, they are forced to rely ontheir own savings and loaners from family friends.This leads to failure of enterprise due to in sufficientfinancial resources.

3. Low mobility:Women entrepreneurs generally face the problemto travel from one place to another for businesspurposes.

4. Family commitments:In india regarded as commitment or responsibility ofthe women to look after the children and othermembers of the family. It is difficult for the womenentrepreneurs to strike a balance between businessand home .therefore, the success depends on thesupport given by the family.

5. Social attitudes:In a man dominated society, despite constitutionalequality women don’t get equal treatment .there iswidespread discrimination against women. Thisattitude prevents women entrepreneurs frombecoming successful and independententrepreneurs.

6. Lack of education:In India literacy among women is very low. Due tothis women are unaware of the latest technologicaldevelopment, basic accounting, and marketingtrends; this may lead to failure of business.

7. Personal problems:Many entrepreneurs lack the necessary initiative,suffer inferiority complex and are easily disheartenedby failure.

8. Low need for achievement:Many studies have shown that women havepreconceived notions about their role in life and thisinhibits achievement. Women may not set goals forthemselves. It is partly due to their several roleconflicts.

9. Lack of raw materials:The majority of the women are engaged in theunorganized sector like handicrafts, handloom,cottage-based industries .for these sector there isinadequate availability of raw materials.

10. Stiff competition:Women entrepreneurs in the unorganized sector faceintense competition from organized sector and maleentrepreneurs in terms of quality and price of theproduct.

11. Marketing problem:Access to market is more difficult than access tofinance. Access to market poses a very big challengeto entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs withadequate experience continue to face the problemof marketing their products.

12. High cost of production:The profitability. Development and expansiondependents on the cost of production. High cost of



production due to problem of material, labourinfrastructure, human resource, etc.hinders theefficiency, development and expansion of anenterprise. Women entrepreneurs also face thesame problem.

Promotion of women entrepreneur:Following steps to be taken to promote women

entrepreneurs in India.a. An environment should be prepared to enable their

participation.b. Women should be motivated to come out of their

traditional occupation for accepting ,ore challengingand economic activities.

c. Funding agencies to be sympathetic towards womenentrepreneurs.

d. Bank and other finance institutions must provide mustcredit to women entrepreneurs on both priority basisand concessional terms.

e. Simplify the procedure of licensing and governmentregulations to strat new business enterprise for womenentrepreneurs.

f. Motivate new women entrepreneurs in to the new fieldthrough audio-visual media.

g. The promotional and regulatory agencies should alsobe motivated to be considerate , understanding andhelpful towards women entrepreneurs.

h. The state government should formulate programmeto assist women entrepreneurs by providing themwith the initial stage of setting up on enterprise.

Conclusion:India is a male dominated society and women areassumed to be economically as well as sociallydependent on male members. Women entrepreneursfaced lots of problems like lack of education, socialbarriers, legal formalities, high cost of production, maledominated society, limited managerial ability, lack of selfconfidence etc. Various factors like Pull and Push factorsinfluencing women entrepreneurs. Successful leadingbusiness women in India. Government takes varioussteps for the upliftment of women entrepreneurs in 7th

five year plan, 8th five year plan and in 9th five year plan.Women have the potential the potential and determinationto setup, uphold and supervise their own enterprise in avery systematic manner, appropriate support andencouragement from the society, family, government canmake these women entrepreneur a part of mainstreamof national economy and they can contribute to theeconomy progress of India.

REFERENCES• Bowen, Donald D. & Hirsch Robert D. (1986), The

Female Entrepreneur: A career DevelopmentPerspective, Academy of Management Review, Vol.11 no. 2, Page No. 393-407.

• Cohoon, J. McGrath, Wadhwa, Vivek & Mitchell Lesa,(2010), The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur- AreSuccessful Women Entrepreneurs Different FromMen? Kauffman, The foundation of entrepreneurship.

• Women Entrepreneurship Development in India, www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/F C1073/fc1073.html

• Hackler, Darrene; Harpel, Ellen and Mayer, Heike,(2008), “Human Capital and Women s BusinessOwnership”, Arlington, Office of Advocacy U.S. SmallBusiness Administration, August 2006, VA 22201[74], No. 323.

• Singh, Surinder Pal, (2008), An Insight Into TheEmergence Of Women-owned Businesses as anEconomic Force in India, presented at SpecialConference of the Strategic Management Society,December 12-14, 2008, Indian School of Business,Hyderabad.

• Tambunan, Tulus, (2009), Women entrepreneurshipin Asian developing countries: Their developmentand main constraints, Journal of Development andAgricultural Economics Vol. 1(2), Page No. 027-040.the glass ceiling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

• http://www.chimc.in/Volume2.1/Volume2Issue1/GurendraNathBhardwaj.pdf

• A Reflection of the India women in EntrepreneurialWorld

• www.iimahd.ernet.in/publications/data/2005-08-07indirap.pdf



MUSLIM WOMEN IN 21st CENTURY: WOMEN IN SOCIAL ACTION

1. Research Scholar, Department of P.G Studies and Research in Education, Gulbarga University, Kalaburagi

Firdous Jahan1

“O people Be conscious of your Lord, who has created you out of one living entity, and out of it created itsmate, and out of the two spread abroad a multitude of men and women. And remain conscious of God, inwhose name you demand (your rights) from one another, and these ties of kinship. Verily, God is everwatchful over you.”(4:1).

AbstractWomen are as essential as men for the continuation of human life and development of society. Any discriminationbased on gender is a grave offense. Islam considers it a sin against the Creator and Lawgiver who made men andwomen equal participants in the human species. Islam does not consider women a mere shadow or an extension ofa man, always following him. She has her full individual freedom and responsibility to the belief in the message of Godand in practicing its obligations.The family is the first and essential area in which women’s rights have to be secured.Marriage and parenthood are among the basic objectives of the Islamic legal system (maqasid al-shari’a). Juristsconsider marriage and formation of a family closer to the essence of religion which is “worshipping God” (Ibada), thanto a human worldly dealing (muamala).Islam secures the right of women from the moment the baby girl is born. Sheshould be received with happiness and pleasure, in contrast with the Arab tribal and combatant society that used todetermine individuals’ place in the society on the basic of their ability to fight.India is today one of the most powerfuldeveloping nations. Thisnewly industrializing state enjoys a prominent status as the largest democraticnation-state inthe world.In spite of her impressive developments, however, Indiacontinues to confront human rights problems withrespect to minorities.The present paper is an endeavor to examine and emphasize the issues of psycho-socialcircumstances of Indian Muslim women in sociological perspective with special indication to their socio-economic,employment, educational attainment, rights and privileges, hindrances and restrictions, role and status as well as theirmultifarious problems from socio-religious stance at empirical context. Emphasis is also given to recognize theirsocial position in textual and contextual spheres i.e., Islam and Muslim society.

Keywords: Muslim Women, 21st Century, Social Action.

Introduction:Muslims in India are the largest minority so far as theminorities of this country are concerned and the majorityof this largest minority community is awfully to the rearin respect of education and economy where more orless all other minorities are more affluent. MoreoverMuslims disappointingly have not been capable to findtheir due share in the entire welfare effort made by theGovt. in the country since independence for economicallyweaker sections of the society.

To find out the causes of such backwardness of Muslims,various Governments, time to time, appointedcommittees among which the latest one is the SacharCommittee which has conspicuously exposed that theMuslims of India are the most educationally andeconomically backward minority within whom merely fourper cent population is educated (Ahmad, 2012, 09). Theaccessible rough, statistical, and micro level studies onMuslim women restate that the mass of the Muslimwomen, at the present time, are most deprived,

economically impoverished, and politically marginalizedsections of the Indian society. Further the studiesdisclose that Muslim women, like other women, are nothomogeneous rather they are differentiated along thefault-lines of community, class, caste and region.

Women in IslamThe rights and responsibilities of a woman are, however,equal to those of the men but they are not necessarilyalike with them. To think that woman is less significantthan man just because of her roles, status, and rightswhich are not identically the same as man is unjustifiedrather Islam gives the women equal rights, acknowledgesand recognizes her independent personality literally andwomen status in Islam is something novel and somethingdistinct and something unique. Although Islam confessesthe equality of men and women, yet inequalities betweenthem are very ample in many areas in practice.

Once more owing to various historical and socio-culturalreasons, their conditions are also something differentfrom the ideal norms (Mondal, 1994, 167-168). Kazi



(1999, 31) states, “In a context where the Shari’ a isused to justify women’s subordination, it is necessaryfor Muslim women in India to enter the discourse onthe Shari’a with reference to personal law, andchallenge their historic marginalization fromreligious knowledge.”Islam, with respect to the statusof women in the society, has not only given women therights and privileges but also has a very clear notion andthe attitude of the Quran and the Hadishbear witness tothe fact that women is, at least, as vital to the life andsociety as man himself, and is not inferior to him at all(Mondal, 2005, 18). Mondal, (2005, 34-35) points out,“The Quran repeatedly expresses the need for treatingmen and women with equality. The contribution of womenis acknowledged in the history of Islam. It is now arguedthat women’s place in the religion of Islam has beensuppressed by the conservative and fundamentalistforces. Women’s passivity, seclusion, and marginalposition that noticed in Muslim society have little to dowith Islamic ideology, but are, on the contrary patriarchalideological construct that can be considered alien toIslam and the effect of exploitation of power by theauthoritative and reactionary forces in the Muslim society.The Muslim women have been given some rights andprivileges in the Quran and Hadith. But the question ishow far these are effective in practices of the MuslimSociety? Therefore, to understand their real position weare in need of knowing the dialectics between Islamicideology and the situation of Muslim women as well asthe relation between them.”

Rights of Muslim Women:Muslim women lives in abject poverty and miseryand allshe wants is a dignified way of life. She wants education,livelihood and dignity.She does not want charity nor doesshe want doles from the state.It is a tragedy that nobodywants to talk about the concerns of Muslimwomen.Especially the Muslim religious bodies do not want toeven hear about it. Muslimwomen are taking leadershipnot only to change her-self but to change theentirecommunity and society.Muslim women havebecome conscious ofherself as a citizen of this country.And she finds no contradiction between being aMuslimand being an Indian citizen. She wants to assert heridentity as Indian Muslim women.

Today Muslim women are asking the reasons behindthe sheer poverty of the community. She is seekingaccountability from the state and from thecommunity.Poverty of the Muslim community is a result of a longprocess of neglect and the process of marginalizationand deprivation needs to be analyzed.The communitymust generate the demand for change and reforms.

Some very specific suggestions:• It is very frustrating to see that people who are in

power do not carry out theirresponsibilities.• It is not very easy when one is working for change

from within the system.• The struggle of Muslim women is a struggle for

development and thestrategies should be worked outaccordingly.

• Muslim women must link the issue of oral divorcewith the issues ofdevelopment.

• They must also work to increase their credibility sothat they areacknowledged by the state structures.

• The NGOs must help the beneficiaries with all thepaperwork.

• The political participation of Muslim women mustincrease.

• Muslim women must initiate dialogue with secularparliamentarians.

• The issue of oral divorce should be put before theNational Commission forMinorities. The NCW canalso be involved.

• It is better to talk about problems first rather than thesolution which iscodification of Muslim law.

• The Commissions must also be empowered beyondtheir powers ofrecommendation

• Site best practices of other states as far asscholarship schemes are concerned.

• We must talk about the economic inclusion ofMuslim women.

Islam, Muslim and Women:Although without considering the religion endorsed statusof the women, it is not a simple task to clarify as well ascomprehend the position of women in every religionincluding women in Islam. So far Islam and Muslimsociety are concerned the position of women issomewhat unique and also controversial as the privilegesand priorities sanctioned for women in the holy bookslike the holy Quran and the Hadith are exceptionallysignificant and high on the other hand it is currentlysquabbled that this remarkable and respectful socialposition of women in Islam has been concealed by thefundamentalist and conservative forces. Owing to which,seclusion, marginality, tradition boundness, passivity,low aspiration, lack of self reliant and so on which haveretarded their normal progress and social change arevastly observed among the women in Muslim society.By evaluating the overall, it can be concluded that thesituation of Muslim women is not satisfactory especiallyregarding their socio-economic status, educationalattainment, political participation, role in decision-making



etc. Their status, unequal to men, in the society is verymuch conspicuous in terms of gender based division oflabour. In decision-making process the Muslim womenin the society have nothing or minimal say whilecounterpart men have the key role in decision-makingpower both inside and outside the household besidestheir domination in public and community affairs.

The Arabic word “awliya” that is used in the Quran toshow the mutual rights and obligations of women in thesociety, underlines both the ‘responsibility’ and the‘authority’ that men and women should equally share asinseparable members of the society in which allindividuals and groups whatever the differences amongthem may be, have collective responsibility toward thesociety as a whole. Enjoining the doing of what is rightand forbidding the doing of what is wrong “al-amrbilma’rufwal-naby’anal’munkar” cover all the socialand political activitieswhich are acknowledged now ashuman rights, and should be secured for both men andwomen equally in the society. During the rule of CaliphUmar ibn al-Khattab (634-644), a Muslim womanexpressed publicly her opposition to the Caliph’ssuggestion of restricting the amount that a woman canask for as a dowry, and the Caliph had to withdraw hissuggestions.

The Holy Qur’an’s Emphasis Of Equality :

Since the creation of first man and woman, they wereequal in their responsibilities. According to the Quran,Eve was as responsible as Adam in relation to the divineobligations, and had equal responsibility and free will asAdam in following Satan’s temptation, as it has beenpreviously mentioned. The Quran strongly emphasizesthis equal responsibility of men and women:

“Verily, for all men and women who have submittedthemselves unto God, and all believing men andbelieving women, and all truly devout men andtruly devout women, and all men and women whoare true to their word,…..for (all of) them has Godreadied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward.And whenever God and His Apostle have decideda matter, it is not for a believing man or a believingwoman to claim freedom of choice in this matter.”(33:35, 36).

The creator of men and women is not be biased in Hisreward to any of them for the fulfillment of one’sresponsibility:

“So their Lord responded to them: I shall neverwaste the work of any worker among you, be itman or woman: each of you is equal to the other inorigin and status.”(3:195).

Muslim Women and Society:The Muslim Backwardness is well recorded which issubstantiated by common place observation as well asGovernment statistics and reports. The facets ofbackwardness are diverse in nature in the sphere ofcommon information at present. There is consent onremedial measures too and it is now well recognizedthat education is the core and long term way out to dealwith diverse facet of backwardness in detail (Talib, 2012,103). There is no uncertainty that they are educationallybackward and have low work participation rate so far thesituation of Muslim women is concerned. However, thisreality cannot be understood in a limited way and forwhich there is need taking on a broader socio-economic,political and programmatic attitude along with the existingheterogeneity in terms of class, region, sect, and genderand by adopting such outlook it would be possible toset up the actual reason behind Muslim women’s meagereducational level particularly in higher and job orientededucation and also to establish required interferencesregarding both at the community level and at the policyor programmatic phase (Hussain, 2010, 53). In SacharCommittee Report (2006, 85), headed by JusticeRajinderSachar, pointed out that: “There is also acommon belief that Muslim parents feel thateducation is not important for girls and that it mayinstill a wrong set of values. Even if girls are enrolled,they are withdrawn at an early age to marry themoff. This leads to a higher drop-out rate amongMuslim girls. Our interactions indicate that theproblem may lie in non-availability of schools withineasy reach for girls at lower levels of education,absence of girl’s hostels, absence of female teachersand availability of scholarships as they move up theeducation ladder.” While the enrolment rates have risensignificantly at the primary level but many students whoregister drop out and consequently very scanty of themmanage to get beyond the primary stage. Inequality anddifferences between communities is one additional criticalaspect of this broader incident of disparity in India. It iswell known that the Muslims literacy and educationallevels is beneath the national average whereas thecensus reports of India remain silent on Muslimseducational status. Moreover, gender inequality is onekey feature of educational disparity in the sphere ofeducation (Hasan and Menon, 2004, 47).

Islam secures women’s rights in education and work.The Prophet responded positively and instantly to womanasking him to appoint a certain time to teach the Islamregularly. Some women reported the Prophet’s traditions(rawiyatal’hadith). The historian IbnSa’d (d.835) compiledthe biographies of more than 700 women who reportedthe Prophet’s traditions. The male colleagues of these



female scholars accepted and respected them as al-Dhahabi (d. 1347) pointed out in his distinguished workon hadith reporting.

Muslim women also made their contributions in variousfields, such as: literature, arts and artistic crafts (e.g.fashion, decorated textiles and rugs, cuisine, perfumes,hair-dress, etc.), and Sufism (e.g. famous poet Al-Khansa in early Islam, famous SufiRabi’a d. 801). Asearly as the time of the Prophet, they accompanied menin the battlefield, where they treated the wounded, andparticipated sometimes in fighting the enemy when thisbecame necessary. In Muslim Spain “Andalus”, severalwomen were famous as physicians in variousspecializations, including optometry and surgery.

Conclusion:The distressing picture of men-woman relations incontemporary Muslim societies, which contradicts theteaching of Islam, is a concrete fact that cannot bedenied. However, another positive fact that exists sideby side, is that an awareness of the essential andconstructive role of women in the society to fulfill theirIslamic responsibilities, is increasingly appreciatedamong Muslim men and women. The divine guidance inthe Quran and Sunna, and many positives in ourintellectual and practical heritage, have increasinglyinspired and generated new works that advocate therights of Muslim women in the name of God and Hismessage.

Day after day, Muslim are becoming more and moreaware of the due distinction between the permanentteachings of the divine sources of Islam and theaccumulated human ideas and practices that wereinfluenced by the cultural and social circumstances inthe Muslim societies, in the past and the present.Conceptual and behavioral progress is apparent now in

Muslim societies, which seems more keen to observethe divine teachings and abandon the human deviatedcustoms in man-woman relations in the family and thesociety. Women’s education and work in different fieldshave developed their personality, self-confidence andinitiatives. An awareness of their Islamic rights andresponsibilities has inspired many of them to becommitted to the Islamic message of justice, peace and

prosperity. These concrete developments have provideda support for the Muslim woman, stronger than anyphilosophical or legal argument. On the other hand,Muslim men have realized the social change and havebecome more inclined to deal with it. Muslims cannotreactivate their societies, secure a positive role in thecontemporary world and get their message heard by allpeople, while a half of their population is suppressed orneglected. How can Muslims call universally for a divinejustice, while they are missing or ignoring it amongthemselves, their homes and their communities?

Progress can be obviously noticed… and hopefully itwill continue and accelerate, benefiting Muslims in thefirst place, and then representing the message of Islamto the whole world appealingly.

As I mentioned in my Title Women in Social Action,above said some examples are directly or indirectlyapproaches the intention of author, even thoughoverallconcern in the name of religion irrespective of any,women exploiting in many cases.

References:• Azim S. 1997. Muslim Women: Emerging Identity,

Rawat Publications, Jaipur.• GOI, 2006. Social, Economic and Educational Status

of the Muslim Community of India, A Report, PrimeMinister’s High Level Committee, CabinetSecretariat, Government of India (Chairperson-Justice RajindarSacher), New Delhi.

• Waheed (ed), Minority Education in India: Issuers ofAccess, Equity and Inclusion, Serials Publications,New Delhi.

• Kazi S. 1999. Muslim Women in India, A Report,Minority Rights Group International, London, UK.

• Rahaman M.T. &Bhuimali A. 2011. Indian Muslimsand their Economy, Abhijit Publications, Delhi.

• Hasnain (ed), Aspects of Islam and MuslimSocieties, Serials Publications, New Delhi.

• http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5663003.cms

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8554895.stm• Vijayavani. Daily News paper, 14.02.2016, Sunday,

Page no-11, Kalburgi, Karnataka.



WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN ANDHRAPRADESH – A REVIEW(With reference to Women Empowerment- Issues and Promotional Schemes)

1. Research Scholar, Dept. Commerce &Business Administration Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.AP.2. Dept. Commerce &Business Administration Acharya Nagarjuna University,Guntur,AP.

Chinnamanaidu. Jammu1 Prof. G.V. Chalam2

Abstract

“We cannot all succeed if half of this are held back.”- Malala Yousafzai. Women population constitutes around 50percent of the world population. Many women around the world are unemployed. The world economy suffers a lot dueto the unequal opportunity for women at work place. Empowerment is a process that gives a person freedom indecision making Swami Vivekananda, one of the greatest sons of India, quoted that, “There is no chance for thewelfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved, it is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing”.Therefore, the inclusion of “Women Empowerment’ as one of the prime goals in the Eight Millennium DevelopmentGoals underscores the relevance of this fact. Thus, in order to achieve the status of a developed country, India needsto transform its colossal women force into an effective human resource and this is possible only through theempowerment of women. “There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.”-KofiAnnan. This paper discusses the implementation on empowerment of women as well as the challenges and changesthat we must have to deal with during the process. The paper emphasized the Importance of women Empowermentwith implementation of Schemes in Andhra Pradesh.

IntroductionAbout 66% of the female population in rural area isunutilized. This is mainly due to existing social customs.In agriculture and animal care the women contribute 90%of the total workforce. Women constitute almost half ofthe population, perform nearly 2/3 of its work hours,receive 1/10th of the world’s income and own less than1/100th the world property. Among the world’s 900 millionilliterate people, women outnumber men two to one. 70%of people living in poverty are women. Lower gender ratioi.e. 933, the existing studies show that the women arerelatively less healthy than men though belong to sameclass. They constitute less than 1/7th of theadministrators and mangers in developing countries. Only10 percent seats in World Parliament and 6 percent inNational Cabinet are held by women. According to theUN, one out of every three women experiences violence.

Hindrances of Women Empowerment: The main Problems that were faced by women in pastdays and still today up to some extent• Gender Discrimination & Lack of Education• Female infanticide & Financial Constraints• Low Mobility & Family Responsibility• Low need for achievement & Low ability to bear risk• Absence of ambition for the achievement & Atrocities

on women• Dowry Marriages & Child Marriages

Need for Women Empowerment• Women are deprived of decision making power• Freedom of movement access to employment and

education• Explore to media domestic violence

Women empowerment is a prerequisite for creating agood nation. If women empowered her competenciestowards decision – making will need to promote womenempowerment among the rural women. Empowermentincludes higher literacy level and education for women,better health care for women and children equalownership of productive resources , their rights andresponsibilities , improved standards of living andacquiring empowerment include , economicempowerment social empowerment and gender justicethat is to eliminate all types of discrimination againstwomen and the girl child. In the words of Nehru whosaid “when women move forward the family moves , thevillages moves, and the nation move” employment giveseconomic status to women , economic status gives wayto social status and thereby empowerment”

MethodologyThe study is based on the secondary data sources. Thenecessary information about the women EmpowermentSchemes in Andhra Pradesh and its various componentsare collected from various books, journals, internet sourceof related topics.



Current Scenario of Women Empowerment &Constitutional safe guardsBased on the ideas championed by our founding fathersfor women empowerment, many social, economic andpolitical provisions were incorporated in the IndianConstitution. Women in India now participate in areassuch as education, sports, politics, media, art andculture, service sector and science and technology. Butdue to the deep- rooted patriarchal mentality in the Indiansociety, women are still victimized, humiliated, torturedand exploited. Even after almost seven decades ofIndependence, women are stil l subjected todiscrimination in the social, economic and educationalfield.

Acts like the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, prohibits therequest, payment or acceptance of a dowry. Asking orgiving dowry can be punished by imprisonment as wellas fine; Protection of Women from Domestic ViolenceAct, 2005, provides for a more effective protection of therights of women who are victims of domestic violence. Abreach of this Act is punishable with both fine andimprisonment; Sexual Harassment of Women at WorkPlace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013,helps to create a conducive environment at the workplacefor women where they are not subjected to any sort ofsexual harassment.

Panchayat Raj Institutions As per the 73rd and 74thConstitutional Amendment Act, all the local electedbodies reserve one-third of their seats for women. Sucha provision was made to increase the effectiveparticipation of women in politics.

Women’s Reservation Bill: It is a pending Bill in Indiawhich proposes to reserve 33 percent of all seats in theLok Sabha and in all State Legislative Assemblies forwomen. If passed, this Bill will give a significant boostto the position of women in politics.

Various Government Policies and Schemes:The Government of India is running various welfareschemes and policies, both at State and Central levelsfor the empowerment of woman. Some of the majorprograms and measures include Swadhar (1995),Swayam Siddha (2001), Support to Training andEmployment Programme for Women (STEP-2003), SablaScheme (2010), National Mission for Empowerment ofWomen (2010) etc. All such policies and programs focuson social, economic and educational empowerment ofwomen across various age groups.

Thus, there has been no dearth of social, economic,political, legal and Constitutional efforts made for theempowerment of women both prior to and post-Independence. However, women in India continue to face

atrocities such as rape, dowry killings, acid attacks,human trafficking, etc. According to a global pollconducted by Reuters, India is the “fourth mostdangerous country in the world for women”.

Importance Women Empowerment1. Under-employed and unemployed: Women

population constitutes around 50 percent of the worldpopulation. A large number of women around the worldare unemployed. The world economy suffers a lotbecause of the unequal opportunity for women atworkplaces.

2. Equally competent and intelligent: Women areequally competent. Nowadays, women areeven ahead of men in many socio-economic andcultural activities.

3. Talented: Women are as talented as men.Previously, women were not allowedhigher education like men and hence their talentswere wasted. But now a day, they are also allowedto go for higher studies and it encourages women toshow their talents which will not only benefit herindividually but to the whole world at large.

4. Overall development of society: The mainadvantage of Women Empowerment is that there willbe an overall development of the society. The moneythat women earn does not only help them and or theirfamily, but it also help develop the society.

5. Economic Benefits: Women Empowerment alsoleads to more economic benefits not to the individualsbut to the society as well. Unlike earlier days whenthey stayed at home only and do only kitchen stuffs,nowadays, they roam outside and also earn moneylike the male members of the society. Womenempowerment helps women to stand on their ownlegs, become independent and also to earn for theirfamily which grows country’s economy.

6. Reduction in domestic violence: In the words ofJawaharlal Nehru “Women Empowerment leads todecrease in domestic violence. Uneducated womenare at higher risk for domestic violence than aneducated woman”.

7. Reduction in corruption: Women empowermenthelps women to get educated and know their rightsand duties and hence can prevent corruption.

8. Reduce Poverty: Recently, the money earned bythe male member of the family is not sufficient tomeet the demands of the family due to increase needsof members. The added earnings of women help thefamily to come out of poverty trap. For instance, Indiaintroduces Jandan Accounts for lower income groupswithout bank account. It can evaluate 16.34 crore



accounts opened by women out of 30.97 crore totalJandan accounts. It reveals promote saving habits ofwomen especially below poverty line.

9. National Development: Women participatingimprove the national development; they are makingthe nation proud by their outstanding performancesalmost every sphere including medical science,social service, engineering, etc.

There are many barriers of female employment in thecourse of the country’s economic development andmodernization like illiteracy, poverty, decline of householdindustries, competition from factories, and technologicalchanges are the major barriers for women employment.They are eradicated Government implement the followingschemes:

The promotional schemes available in the country in orderto develop women entrepreneurship are as follows.

Girl Child Protection SchemeThis scheme launched on 8th March 1997 provides thefinancial assistance/incentive (also scholarship) to both,the “single girl child” and the “two girl children” who arebelonging to below poverty line. The prime goal of thisscheme is to protect the rights of the girl child throughdirect investment from the State Government of AndhraPradesh.

Objectives• Aim to prevent gender discrimination by empowering

and protecting rights of the girl child through directinvestment from the government.

• Enhance the status of the girl child and promoteadoption of small family norm by ensuring holisticdevelopment of the girl child for a bright future entailingimproved sex ratio besides preventing femaleinfanticide.

• To reduce the school dropout rate among girls.• To encourage girls to get married after the age of 18

(which is the statutory limit).• To encourage parents with two girl children to adopt

the family planning norm.• To provide social and financial empowerment to the

girl child.

EligibilityThe following criteria should be fulfilled to avail thebenefits under this scheme:• The beneficiary girl child should be less than 3 years

of age at the time of enrollment into the scheme.• The annual income of the family should not exceed

Rs 11,000/- per annum*.

• The parents of the beneficiary should not possessmore than 2 acres of wet land or 5 acres of dry landand to that effect a Certificate issued from theTahsildar should be produced.

• The initial deposit depends on the age of the girl childat the time of the enrollment in the scheme.

• The amount deposited would be as follows:1. At 0 – 1 years Rs 3,550.002. At 1 – 2 years Rs 3,975.003. At 2 – 3 years Rs 4,550.00

This amount would be deposited in a nationalized bankand interest on the above deposits is given to thebeneficiary at various stages, to enable her to continueher studies. The final payment helps her to settle in lifeof the women.

Criteria of Beneficiaries1. Girl children belonging to families of the weaker

section.2. Reservation available for girl children belonging to

Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs),Backward Castes (BCs), Minorities and different able15percent for SCs, 6 percent for STs, 25 percent forBCs, 10 percent for minorities and 3 percent forPhysically different able girl children. The prescribedreservation for the above categories should beobserved at the divisional level at the time of sanction.

3. On the other provision for including other categories/sections once the reserved seats have been filledup, applications are received from orphans, childrenof Basavis, Jogins, Devadasis, Mathammas andvictims of atrocities, natural calamities and widowsfor sanction.

4. Only after exhausting the application received fromorphans, children of Basavis, Jogins, Devadasis,Mathammas and victims of atrocities, naturalcalamities and widows shall be considered forsanction.

Benefits A girl child gets the following financial benefits/incentives -1. Rs 500/- on her birthday, after one year of enrollment

into the Scheme.2. Rs 500/- on her enrollment into the school.3. Rs 500/- on passing 5th grade to continue studying

further and not to drop out from school.4. Rs 1,000/- per annum from 8th class onwards for 3

years. This will encourage her to pursue studies athigh school.

5. Rs 1,000/- per annum for 5 years after passing 10th

Standard to help the girl child to continue her collegestudies.



Assistance/ Insurance Amount (Rs.)

On Death or Total Permanent 75,000Disability due to accident

On Natural death of insured 30,000

On Parcial permanent 37,500Disability due to accident

6. Receive a lump sum amount of Rs 20,000/- aftercompletion of 20 years for settling in life. To get thisincentive, the girl child should remain unmarried upto 18 years.

New Girl Child Protection Scheme 2005This scheme amended on 8th March 2005 provides thefinancial assistance/incentive (also scholarship) to both,the “single girl child” and the “two girl children” who arebelonging to below poverty line. The prime goal of thisscheme is to protect the rights of the girl child throughdirect investment from the State Government of AndhraPradesh.

ObjectivesThis scheme aims to achieve the following goals:• To protect the rights of the girl child through direct

investment from the State Government.• To promote the enrollment and retention of the girl

child in school and to ensure her education at leastup to intermediate level.

• To encourage girls to get married only after the ageof 18 years.

• To encourage parents to adopt family planning normwith two girl children.

• To protect the rights of the girl child.• To empower the girl child socially and financially.• To eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices

against girls.• To strengthen the role of the family by improving the

status of the girl child.• To cover a special dispensation to Orphans/

Distributes and differently abled girls.

EligibilityTo avail the benefits under this scheme, the followingcriteria should be fulfilled:• The families belonging to below poverty line (BPL)

having single girl child of 0-3 years of age or two girlchildren of whom the age of the second girl child isnot more than 3 years as on 01.04.2005 are eligible.

• The girl should be fully immunized.• The incentive is provided only when she marries after

18 years of age,• She has to study higher secondary i.e.12th standard

or equivalent to receive the final payment.• Even if the girl fails in the 12th standard, or equivalent

exam, she will be given incentive for final paymentafter completion of 20 years.

• The income limit of the family of the Girl child shouldsatisfy the following criteria: 1.For rural areas, the

income limit of the family of the Girl Child from Rs.20,000/- to Rs.40, 000/- per annum.2. For urban areas,the income limit of the family of the Girl Child fromRs.24, 000/- to Rs.48, 000/- per annum.

BenefitsThe benefits under this scheme are summarized asbelow:• In case of a single girl child, she will be given Rs.

1.00 lakh after completion of 20 years of age.• In case of two girl children, both of them will be given

Rs.30, 000/- each, after completion of 20 years age.• The maturity amount of Rs.1,00,000/- or Rs. 30,000/

- is given to those girls who fulfill the condition ofbeing educated up to 12th class and marrying onlyafter completion of 18 years.

• The scholarship from 9th Standard to 12th Standard(including ITI course) is given for both, the “single girlchild” and the “two girl children” of Rs.1, 200/- perannum during the period of their study.

• Also insurance is given to the beneficiaries. Thenominee of the insured parent-member whilst he/sheis the Insured Member under Janasree Bima Yojana,is entitled to be paid.

Table-1 : Statement showing the details of assistanceand amount disbursement

Source: Govt. of AP website

How to ApplyContact to Anganwadi worker/Child Development ProjectOfficer concerned or Department of WomenDevelopment & Child Welfare, Government of AndhraPradesh and Life Insurance Corporation as the financialinstitution are implementing this scheme, Contact to anyone of these ones. Further details Visit to AP OnlinePortal of Andhra Pradesh and apply Online.

Bangaru TalliThis scheme is state sponsored scheme by theGovernment of Andhra Pradesh. This scheme is for theGirl Child who born after 1st May, 2013 till she becomes21 years old. It provides incentives for the girls to achievecertain milestones. It can recognize by constitution.



ObjectivesThe prime goal of this scheme is to provide incentives for achieving certain milestones for Girl Child. Also, it aims toachieve the following goals:• To enhance the social status of the girl child.• Delaying the age of marriage.• To ensure registration of birth and immunization.• To ensure the enrollment for better nutrition and improving the educational standards among girl students.

EligibilityTo avail the benefits under this scheme, the following criteria should be fulfilled:1. All girl children who born on or after 1st May, 2013 and economically backward households limited to the first

two children in the household.2. Cash will be transferred on fulfilling the conditions of institutional deliveries, birth registration, complete

immunization, enrollment in Anganwadis and studying up to graduation.

Table-2 : Statement showing the benefits of the scheme credited to the beneficiaries under the scheme

Source: Bangarutalli website

It provides an additional payment of Rs. 50,000/- whenthe girl child is attaining18 years i.e. 12th Standard orRs. one lakh is given to the girl child who has completedher graduation course.

How to ApplyVisit to Bangaru Talli Website of Government of AndhraPradesh and apply online. OrCall to Toll Free Numbers: 155321 or 1800 200 4455 orat village level, Contact to village council or a province inthe federal system. At urban areas, the city of federal orfederal park or to avail the benefits of the schemesContact to Department of Women, Children, Disabledand Senior Citizens.MAARPUIt is an initiative to improve the health and nutritionalStatus of children. The Govt. of Andhra Pradesh isproviding various services related to Health & Nutritionto Mother & Child in the rural and urban areas with a

special focus on poor by involving various departmentslike Medical & Health, ICDS, IKP, PR, RWS, MEPMAetc, as part of the ‘Maarpu’ programme, it was decidedto ensure cent per cent institutional deliveries andimmunization of children below five years of age, registerand tracking of all pregnant women and every child,ensure 100 per cent ante-natal, neo-natal, post-natalcare, reduce anemia among mothers and children withnutritional support etc.

ObjectivesThis scheme aims to achieve the following goals:1. Gives importance of hospital deliveries.2. To provide nutritious diet to children.3. To reduce mother and child mortality rates.

EligibilityTo avail the benefits under this scheme, the followingcriteria should be fulfilled:

Sl. No Age of the Beneficiary Trigger Outflow (in Rs)

1 At Birth Birth certificate 2,500/Year

2 1st& 2nd Birth Day Immunization 1,000/Year

3 3rd to 5th Birth Day Anganwadi 1,500/Year

4 6th to 10th Birth Day 1st to 5th Class 2,000/Year

5 11th to 13th Birth Day 6th to 8th Class 2,500/Year

6 14th to 15th Birth Day 9th& 10th Class 3,000/Year

7 16th& 17th Birth Day 11th& 12th Class 3,500/Year

8 18th to 21st Birth Day Graduation 1 to 4th Year 4,000/ Year

Total 55,500



1. It focuses on 20 key interventions to reduce MMR,IMR & Malnutrition

2. Convergence in Service Delivery at habitation levelConvergent Behavioral Change Communication (BCC)Monitoring of 20 key interventions Participation ofSHGs & Village Organizations’ (VOs)

3. Use of Maternal and Child Protection (MCP) cardSynchronization.

Pregnant and Lactating women are Beneficiaries underthis scheme, Good nutrition is provided to children andalso Health related facilities are provided.• Though there is a improvement in the Health &

Nutrition status of women & Children, the decline ofMMR & IMR and malnutrition is not up to the expectedlevel.

• There is need to improve significantly, to achieve MMR& IMR reduction as a part of the millenniumdevelopment goals (MDG).

Eight Components of “Maarpu”1. Focused monitoring of 20 key interventions to reduce

IMR, MMR & Malnutrition2. Convergence in service delivery at habitation level3. Convergent Behavioral change communication (BCC)4. Monitoring of the 20 Key Interventions5. Participation of SHG & Village Organizations (Vos)6. Use of Maternal and Child Protection (MCP) card.7. Synchronization8. Administrative structure for convergence

Andhra Pradesh Government Education SchemesAndhra Pradesh Education Department is running variouseducational schemes, programmes, grants, bursaries,financial awards, loans scholarships, fellowships ofSchool Education & Literacy, Elementary Education,Secondary Education, Higher Education, AdultEducation, Tribal Education, Technical and MedicalEducation and Vocational Studies, skill development etc.The special assistance is given to the students belongingto Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe(ST), OtherBackward Classes(OBC) and Socially, EducationallyBackward Classes(SEBC), Minority Category and belowpoverty line(BPL), Rural areas, Disabled/ PhysicallyHandicapped (PH) students.

Also, this offers benefits to all those students ofundergraduate (UG) and post graduation (PG), Ph.D.students studying in class 09th standard, 10th standard,11th standard, 12th standard, college and universityStudents, general category students, researchers, topScience students.

The benefits are in terms of below mentioned:1. Interest Subsidy (CSIS) on Education Loan2. Scholarship/Cash/Incentive/Awards3. Various vocational and technical training4. Educational assistance and facilities5. And others much more etc.

This is introduced in order to achieve following goals:1. To encourage students towards Education2. To Skill up-gradation3. To improve educational and economic status

The various ministries such as Ministry of Tribal Affairs,Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry ofMinority Affairs, Ministry of Labour & Employment,Ministry of Home Affairs and Department ofEmpowerment of Persons with Disabilities are beinginvolved in assisting and helping.

Education Schemes of Andhra Pradesh:National Programme for Education of Girls at ElementaryLevel (NPEGEL)

There exists a significant gender gap in enrolment atthe elementary level, which is more acute for schedulecaste and scheduled tribe girls, for whom the gendergap is almost 30 percent at the primary level and 26percent at upper primary stage. The reduction of thisgender gap has now plateaued, and further reductionwould require a concerted focus on the hard to reachgroups. Therefore, it is necessary to include certaininterventions addressing the specific needs of girlchildren.

Accordingly, this scheme, NPEGEL is initiated foreducation of under privileged/ disadvantaged girls fromclass 1st to 8th standard as a separate and distinctgender component plan of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).The gender component is necessary to achieveElementary Objective

The objectives of National Programme for Education ofGirls at Elementary Level are:• To develop and promote facilities to provide access

and to facilitate retention of girls and to ensure greaterparticipation of women and girls in the field ofeducation

• To ensure greater participation of women and girls inthe field of education.

• To improve quality of education.• To stress upon the relevance and quality of girls’

education for their empowerment.• To provide basic amenities for promotion of girl child

education such as separate toilets, safe drinking



water, proper teaching learning material andappropriate sitting arrangements etc.,

EligibilityEducationally Backward Blocks means a block wherethe level of rural female literacy is less than the Nationalaverage and the gender gap is above the national average.Whenever, Blocks of districts which have at least 5percent Schedule Caste/ Schedule Tribal population andSchedule Caste/ Schedule Tribal female literacy ratebelow 10 percent shall also be taken up under thisprogramme.

Apply for contact to any of the followings:1. Contact to The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan State

Implementation Society at State level Or2. Contact to a Gender Coordinator at the State level,

Or3. Contact to Mahila Samakhya Society, Or4. Contact to State Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Society, Or5. Contact to Gender Unit of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

society.

Bangaru Thalli for Girls subsidy and incentive,Andhra PradeshBangaru Thalli which is a welfare scheme forencouragement of girl’s education launched byGovernment of Andhra Pradesh. The scheme supportsthe family of a girl from her birth till completion of hergraduation. All the Below Poverty Line white card holderscan avail the benefits under this scheme. The ultimategoal of this scheme is to enhance social status of thegirl child.

ObjectivesThe objectives of this scheme are summarized as below:• To enhance social status of the girl child.• To show unflinching support to the girl child• Incentivize all-round growth of the girl children• Improve the social status of the Girls/women• To reset the feeling that girl child is a burden• Help fight the social evils faced by women• Prevent Gender discrimination by empowering &

protecting the right of the Girl children & Restoredemographic balance.

• Achieve Millennium Development Goals• Channelize capabilities of women for nation building• Assure continuity of the scheme• Define responsibilities of all functionaries

EligibilityPrimary eligible for girl child belongs to economicallybackward community born on or after 1st May 2013Possessing White ration card issued by Government ofAndhra Pradesh.

BenefitsThe benefits of this scheme are as follows:The state government will give Rs 1,000 every month toevery pregnant woman the moment she conceives tillshe delivers a baby. If she gives birth to - a baby girlborn Rs 2,5001. Rs 1,500 every year through Anganwaadis till the girl

turns 5 years.2. At the time of admission to school, Rs 1,0003. Rs 2,000 will be given every year for her studies from

the first to the fifth standard4. Rs 2,500 from sixth to eighth standard5. Rs 3,000 for ninth and tenth standard6. Rs 3,500 each year for Intermediate7. Rs 3,000 a year during her graduation.

In addition to any subsidy and incentive already provided.After 21 years:1. If Higher secondary education completed /studies

discontinued a pay out of Rs.50,0002. If under graduation completed, a payout of Rs.1 lakh.

How to ApplyContact to any of the followings to avail the benefits underthis scheme:1. State Council under the Chairmanship of Chief

Minister.2. Ministers and Secretaries of all relevant Departments.3. Women & Child Welfare Department is the Nodal

Authority4. State level implementing Authorities: Contact to

Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty Rural areas(SERP)

5. Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas(MEPMA)– Urban areas for more information, call toRD Call Centre Toll Free Numbers :155321 or 1800200 4455

Health Insurance for the poorOver 21,000 households have been covered with healthinsurance on a pilot basis. The community managedrisk fund aims to provide quick financial support to meetfamilies’ health expenditure, including duringemergencies. 1.2 million Women self help groupmembers have purchased life insurance over.



Sukhibhava and Janani Suraksha YojanaThese incentive schemes should be implemented in acombined manner (Rs.1,000/- cash incentive forInstitutional Delivery) from 1st November 2005. Underthe Janani Suraksha Yojana and Sukhibhava schemesput together, a total cash incentive amount of Rs.1,000/- (i.e. Rs.700/- from Janani Suraksha Yojana and Rs.300/- from Sukhibhava) will be paid to rural below povertyline pregnant women who fulfill the revised and combinedeligibility guidelines under the two schemes. This cashincentive should be paid only to those rural, below povertyline women who undergo delivery in a Governmenthealthcare institution i.e., Teaching Hospitals, DistrictHead quarter hospitals, area hospitals, community healthcenters, 30 bedded and other Government hospitals, andprimary health care centers.

Mother Child Express (102)It is one of the health scheme provides free transport forpregnant and her child from home to Hospital and viseversa call toll free number 102 whenever necessary. Itcan more effectively utilize rural and interior areas foreradication of MMR and IMR for save the lives of motherand child.

Newly Schemes:HelplineOn the occasion of International Women’s Day, AndhraPradesh government announced a number of schemesaimed at their empowerment, including opening anexclusive toll-free helpline ‘181’ for women in distressbesides non-combat training for girls would be madecompulsory while ‘Kanya Sakthi’ teams would be setup in all junior and degree colleges in the state,installation of CCTV surveillance cameras in coachesto strengthen security on public places.

ABHAYAMA mobile application ‘Abhayam’ would be launched soonand a police officer of Inspector General Rank would beappointed exclusively for women’s security, Naidu said.“We will expand and strengthen SHE teams to preventeve-teasing and harassment of women. My governmentwill aim at ending discrimination and violence againstwomen and girls and ensure equal participation andopportunities in all spheres of life. I strongly believe thatthere is no greater investment in our strong future as westrive towards building a Smart Andhra Pradesh, “theChief Minister said.

Master Health CardsThe other schemes introduced for free master healthcheck-up for women in the 35+ age group through a

‘Master Health Card’ with special focus on earlydiagnosis and treatment of non-communicable diseases,breast and cervical cancer and lifestyle diseases.

Birth Waiting Homes:The ultimate objective of Birth waiting homes reducedmaternal morality rate and infant mortality rate forenhancing medical services to pregnant women at thetime of delivery. For under NRRM the Pregnant Motherwas paying Rs. lOO/- per day and Assistant Rs.75/- perday and to and fro charges Rs.200/- while waiting fordelivery in 5-6 days

Marriage registrationThe Chief Minister also said legislation would be broughtin for compulsory registration of girls’ and workingwomen’s hostels, compulsory establishment of standingcommittees for women welfare and protection in all localbodies.

Free tele- ultrasonographyIt services in 223 health facilities for screening of pregnantwomen, mother and child hospitals with 100 beds eachto be made operational within 60 days.

ConclusionWomen empowerment is empowering the women to taketheir own decisions for their personal dependent. PradhanMantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram,Gender Champions,National Health Policy 2015 also addresses women’seducation and health needs in terms of meeting thespecific needs of reproductive and child health. IndiaNewborn Action Plan (INAP) which targets to achieveSingle Digit Neonatal Mortality Rate and Still Birth Rateby 2030. It mentions the need to increase the targets ofmale sterilization and contraception utilization.

Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 which has beenenacted to make the punishment more stringent foroffences like rape and has broadened the definition ofsexual assault and harassment. For ensuring women’ssafety pertaining to the strategic areas of prevention,protection and rehabilitation, Government hasestablished a Nirbhaya Fund under which, the keyprogrammatic interventions have been made and so far,15 proposals amounting to around Rs. 2000 crore havebeen recommended under the Nirbhaya Fund.Empowering women is to make them independent in allaspects from mind, thought, rights, decisions, etc byleaving all the social and family restrictions. It is to bringequality in the society for both male and female in allareas. Women need fresh and more capableenvironment so that they can take their own rightdecisions in every area whether for themselves, family,society or country. The government and other private



institutions are supporting women in the leadershippositions in public and private sector. Representingwomen in public sector is only the matter of justicehowever it needs to bring forward all the perspectives tomake of women empowerment effective.

Women and men both have unique and differentexperiences, so both are important to bring influenceinto the decision-making process. Equalizing the rightsof women and men in the society improves work qualityand thus economic progress of the nation. In order toreally bring women empowerment in the Indian society,it needs to understand and eliminate the main cause ofthe ill practices against women which are patriarchaland male dominated system of the society. The strategyto empower women is an ongoing effort and has beenproposed in the new National Policy for Women. Thus,in our state introduce so many schemes for womenempowerment but do not give result desired waybecause lack of awareness and participation of womenin rural areas and not support male dominated rigidpersons, they should mould to it needs to be open-mindedand change the old mind set against women togetherwith the constitutional and other legal provisions. Finally,Government, other charitable organizations and publicparticipate in optimistic way enrich womenempowerment expected way.

References:• Duflo E. (2011) Women’s Empowerment and

Economic Development, National Bureau ofEconomic Research, Cambridge.

• India: Women’s Empowerment - IFAD / OE, 2000.The Republic of India; TamiluNadu Women’sDevelopment Project : Completion Evaluation, Report340 – IN Rome, April.

• Goswami, L. (2013). Education for WomenEmpowerment. ABHIBYAKTI: Annual Journal, 1, 17-18.

• Baruah, B. (2013). Role of Electronic Media inEmpowering Rural Women Education of N.E. India.ABHIBYAKTI: Annual Journal.

• Kadam, R. N. (2012). Empowerment of Women inIndia- An Attempt to Fill the Gender Gap. InternationalJournal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2(6),11-13.

• Nagaraja, B. (2013). Empowerment of Women inIndia: A Critical Analysis. Journal of Humanities andSocial Science (IOSR-JHSS), 9(2), 45-52 [WWWpage].

• URL http: www.Iosrjournals.Org/empowerment.html.• Deshpande, S., and Sethi, S., (2010). Role and

Position of Women Empowerment in Indian Society.International Referred Research Journal, 1(17),10-12.

• Kishor, S. and Gupta, K. (2009), Gender Equalityand Women s Empowerment in India, NATIONALFAMILY HEALTH SURVEY (NFHS-3) INDIA, 2005-06, International Institute for Population Sciences,Deonar, Mumbai.

• Suguna, M., (2011). Education and WomenEmpowerment in India. ZENITH: International Journalof Multidisciplinary Research, 1(8), 19-21.

• Dr. Dasarati Bhuyan “ Empowerment of IndianWomen: A challenge of 21st Century” Orissa Review,2006

• Vinze, Medha Dubashi (1987) “WomenEmpowerment of Indian : A Socio Economic study ofDelhi” Mittal Publications, Delhi..

• Dhruba Hazarika “Women Empowerment in India : aBrief Discussion” International Journal of EducationalPlanning & Administration. Volume 1, Number 3 (2011)

• Pankaj Kumar Baro1 & Rahul Sarania “Employmentand Educational Status: Challenges of WomenEmpowerment in India” , A Peer-Reviewed IndexedInternational Journal of Humanities & Social Science.

• http://www.slideshare.net/puneetsharma5688/women-empowermentpuneet-sharma

• Dr. Rashmi Rani Agnihotri H.R and Dr. Malipatil, K.S.A STUDY ON WOMEN EMPOWERMENTSCHEMES IN INDIA, International Journal ofDevelopment Research Vol. 07, Issue, 08, pp.14301-14308, August, 2017

• Cheston S and Kuhn L. 2002. “Empowering Womenthrough Microfinance”, Draft, OpportunityInternational

• Pillai J.K 1995. “Women and empowerment” GyanPublishers House, New Delhi.

• Hoshemi, S.M. 1996. “Rural credit programmes andwomen’s empowerment in Bangladesh” WorldDevelopment 42 (34), 635-653.

• Kamla Bhasin, Women’s Empowerment in the IndianContext, Yojana, Volume-60, September, 2016.

• Leena Nair... Empowerment of Women: GovernmentPerspective, Yojana, September, 2016, Volume-60.



EMPOWERING WOMEN - POWERING THE NATION

1. Lecturer in Economics, Maharajas’ College, Vizianagram,AP.2. Research Scholar, Dr V.S.K Degree and PG College, Vizianagram,AP.

T.Tirupati Naidu1 Karubhukta Venkata Laxmi2

Abstract “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of women”- Pt Jawaharlal Nehru.

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in our Constitution which guarantees equality to women, and empowersthe state to adopt measures to improve the status by removing the cumulative socio-economic, educationallydisadvantaged sections. In this respect, there is no other tool or short cuts for development i.e. education. Somesurveys revealed that education has empowered women to a greater extent and if women are educated, empowermenthas happened the fastest. Irrespective of the family system, education, men continued to dominate women in all walksof life.Empowerment is a multidimensional process. Empowering women socially, economically and politically ispossible through creation of educational and employment opportunities and making aware of their rights and dutiesand access to resources. Now-a-days, most of the political parties using the buzz words like ‘empowerment’ ‘inclusive’to catch the women voters. Women are unable to find even their Constitutional rights due to lack of education. Womenare the primary source of human resource, especially in the primary sector. They take part in almost all the majoragricultural and allied activities, starting from the preparation for production to marketing. It is inevitable withoutwomen labour, our agriculture and construction activities are not possible, which constitutes the largest un-organizedsectors. Women in India form about ninety percent of the informal and unorganized sector. Women participation andcontribution towards the growth of the GDP is quite high compared to men. The main objective of the paper is to relatethe level of education and empowerment of women.

Key words: Empowerment, Inclusive, GDP

Introduction: Power is the capacity or ability to take actions, decisionsindependently without fear or favor. It is the capacity tocontrol or influence others. It means autonomy, freedommaking your own choices having a voice. Womenempowerment basically requires changing patriarchalthinking and structure, giving control over all types ofresources and decision making. Empowerment is amultidimensional process. Empowering women socially,economically and politically is possible through creationof educational and employment opportunities and makingaware of their rights and duties and access to resources.The principle of gender equality is enshrined in ourConstitution which guarantees equality to women, andempowers the state to adopt measures to improve thestatus by removing the cumulative socio-economic,educationally disadvantaged sections. The mainobjective of the paper is to relate the level of educationand empowerment of women with relation to politicaland management aspects.

Empowerment: Now-a-days, most of the political parties using the buzzwords like ‘empowerment’ ‘inclusive’ to catch the womenvoters. Women are unable to find even theirConstitutional rights due to lack of education. SwamiVivekananda felt that ‘‘there is no chance for the welfare

of the world, unless the condition of women is improved.It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing’’ Empowerment of women is not a one way process; it isa multidimensional and integrative in nature. It has to bedone at all levels from the grass-root level. Though ourConstitution of India has guaranteed the right of ‘equality’to all its citizens irrespective of their sex, caste, creedand religion, Indian women has an important place inour Constitution to empower through special provisions.The problem is lack of awareness to women about theirrights. Women empowerment in its true sensesuccessful only when men too understands andrecognize and feel that it will be good for families andnation, otherwise nothing can be achieved as men andwomen constitute almost equal in number.

In this respect, there is no other tool or short cut fordevelopment except education. Some surveys revealedthat education has empowered women to a greater extentand if women are educated, empowerment has happenedthe fastest. Irrespective of the family system and thelevel of education, men continued to dominate womenin all walks of life.

Women as Human Resource:Women are the primary source of human resource,especially in the primary sector. They take part in almostall the major agricultural and allied activities, starting



from the preparation for production to marketing. It isinevitable without women labour, our agriculture andconstruction activities are not possible, whichconstitutes the largest un-organized sectors. Womenin India form about ninety percent of the informal andunorganized sectors. Women participation andcontribution towards the growth of the GDP is quite highcompared to men.

Women in India form about ninety of the informal andunorganized sector. Their work participation rate is higherin rural area, and constitute one third of labour force.But, about ninety percent of rural and ten percent ofurban women workers are unskilled.

Stating about the importance of education to womencompared to men and its impact on the nation as awhole, father of our nation M K Gandhi stated that“Educate one man, you educate one person, but educatea woman and you educate a whole civilization”.

In spite of wide disparity in the literacy rate in India (asper the census of 2011, 80.9% for men and 64.6% forwomen) the quality aspect is different. As manyeconomists is of the opinion that poverty is the root causefor many problems in India, but education will break thevicious circles especially through women education andemployment.

At the time of attaining freedom, our literacy was about12%. In the present census2011, it went to 73%, butthe women literacy growth continued to be low comparedto men.

The kind of parenting-Universally accepted principle is, the mother is the firstteacher of a child, hence the role of mother in parentingis unique in women empowerment. Parenting is thefoundation for all round success, especially when it isa”girl child”. Majority of the Indian parents’ attitudetowards the girl child is different, compared to boy child.This should change first at the parenting and mind setof parents, which also depends on the level of educationan interdependent variable.

The recent change taking place in parenting are in largepart of the highly literate parts of the nation, due tosignificant cultural shift in parental perspective- .i.e. anincreased acceptance of giving education to girls insteadof dowry to girls, that allows for the possibility of womenworking outside the home, contributing economically tothe family and even pursuing a career to her as well toher and to her family. In any patriarchal society replacedby female headed society, men are dominating overwomen in all walks of life. It is not an exemption even inthe educated and employed women.

The Kind of Education:“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use tochange the world”- Nelson Mandela

For over all development, education is the only tool asmany social scientists and management gurus felt.Amartya Sen points out that the social movement Indianwomen had been – until recently- primarily focused onachieving better treatment of women and their well-being:

“In the course of the evolution of women’s movement,women are not passive recipients of welfare –enhancinghelp brought about by society, but are active promotersand facilitators of social transformations. Suchtransformations influence the lives and well-being ofwomen, bit also those of men and children-boys as wellas girls. This is a momentous enrichment of the reachof women’s movement.”

Historically, “the girl” in the Indian family often did nothave formal educational opportunities. Slowly, the literarylevel of girl children is increasing gradually; women havebegun to attend the higher levels in education and joiningin universities. Today women are also showing muchinterest in the professional education compared to formaland admissions in business schools has grownsignificantly in recent years. About ethics and humanvalues, education to women will promote value basedand ethical and moral way of living. The public as wellas the private (now dominating) has to look into the newworld of values and ethics of learning to learn and livetogether. The new education policy should look into thiswhile drafting it. Role of education in enhancingempowerment can only be realized only with equalopportunities in employment.

The Kind of Employment:In India almost 96% of women workers are in theunorganized /informal sectors especially the agricultureand its allied activities and construction, handloom,handicrafts, village and cottage industry. To shift themfrom the traditional to modern, we need moremanagement, women entrepreneurs. But, unfortunatelythe percentage of women in management is about 3 to6 , with about 2% of Indian women managers in Indiancorporations.

With more Indian women in the workforce, a number ofLaws are there, protecting them from exploitation cameinto force, such as the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976,addreses that equality at the work place. Yet the long –held traditional and social views of women , despitelegislation, change is very slow. As Indians we know,we have poor structure in the implementation of the mostof the law that protect women rights.



Lack of access to gainful employment is an importantissue, though they perform a lot of household work.Research done by Prof Amartya Sen and Prof Jean DrezeSuggested the female participation in gainful employmentis a material factor in combating the problem. In Indiawe have lot of women self help groups (SHGs), butmajority of them increased women’s work load withoutenhancing their income level.

The kind of Management and entrepreneurship:In one word we can say, management is required tomanage 5 Ms. they are Men, Money Material, Machineand Market. But , the writers felt that WOMEN carries adifferent meaning in management, i.e. Wealthmanagement, Organizational management, Moneymanagement, Entrepreneurship, and Novelty puttogether will become women to take challenge.Entrepreneurship is “the capacity for innovation,investment, and expansion in new markets, productsand techniques”; thus entrepreneurs are persons whotake risks and invest sources to make something new,design a new way of making something that alreadyexists. or create new markets.

‘Entrepreneurship is a key driver of our economy’.Management education will enable entrepreneurs todevelop the insight needed to discover the innate qualitiesof the management in women, where they were bornand how they manage their family at the micro level.They start a small enterprise even at the household levelwith the unknown techniques of management as a housewife in managing men, money, material and machinery.The Self Help Groups (SHGs) are the best experimentsto teach and learn a lot about the risks in business bythe women groups, to become a successful entrepreneurwhich helps them as a platform.

Education is an important factor in determining theentrepreneurial orientation. Formal education is positivelycorrelated with entrepreneurship. Education and trainingcan have definite role in enhancing entrepreneurship inthe contest of developing nation like India by enlargingthe poll of entrepreneurs.

The kind of Political participation:Politics plays an important role in the decision making,because all the economic decisions are taken by thepoliticians rather than academicians in our largestdemocratic setup. Achieving greater equity in Indiansociety depends crucially on political action and thepractice of democracy as viewed by our Nobel laureateA K Sen. The process of empowerment is a politicalprocess, as it aims at changing existing powerrelationships between men and women. Political

reservations for women prima-face appears justice, butthe power enjoyed by their male. according to UN 22%of all national parliamentarians were women as ofJanuary 2015.

The kind of law:‘Equity’ in the eyes of law; equity in all respects,irrespective of sex, religion, region, colour ,community,creed which comes under the Fundamental Rights ;Directive Principles of our Constitution. About half of ourpopulation is women. Registered women voters in Indiahave increased from 45% in 1951 to 47.6% in2014elections, a marginal change because of low levelof women education. Increasing women’s direct politicalparticipation and representation is less compared tosome of the developing countries. In this respect weneed electoral and parliamentary reforms.

The Women Reservation Bill of the Constitution 108th

Amendment Bill proposes 33% reservation for womenin the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies is yet to getapproval, which was first introduced in1996.The politicalparties , irrespective of their affiliation should invariablycome forward to utilize the strengths of Indian womenas political leaders and increase their number both atthe upper and lower Houses at the Central and the Statelevels.

There are merits and strengths of Indian womencompared to western as leaders. In fact our presentdefense is in the hands of woman.

The Strengths of Indian women as Leaders:These features are unique to Indian women becausemany reasons what our history and culture says. Thecourse of the Indian independence, to the modern Indiain the present century tells the talents and strengths ofIndian women. In the freedom struggle, in the event ofmen’s arrest women’s associations took on the task ofcarrying on civil disobedience.*Behaving in a gender-neutral manner.*Sensitivity in relationships (Compassionate,Empathetic, Understanding)*Willingness to share information (Interactive Leadershipstyle)*Collaborative work style, solicit input from others, withrespect for ideas.*Crisis Management skills.*Strong sense of dedication, loyalty and commitment.*Ability to perceive and understand situations.*Ability to multitask.*Ability to network with colleagues.



Suggestions:Taking into the empirical evidences and the data, it issuggested that the present government should takeimmediate action on Women Bill at any cost. Thegovernment should see that all women empowermentagencies at all levels should be headed by women, takingmuch care with track records rather than keeping /fillingit as an institutions for political rehabilitation or politicalgains.

Conclusion:India as the fast growing economy in the 21st centuryshould not leave half of the economic strength. Withhigher demand for talent at the global level, a key sourceof talent is nothing but educated women is required fornational development. We, with brief study came toconclusion that good governance is possible through

women participation. It is not a blind belief that womenare relatively less corrupt and more efficient and standin stubborn in all fields which directly help in achievinggood governance and there by growth and development,which is the need of the day.

Reference:1) Jeen Dreze and Amartyasen, (2002) - India

development and participation- Oxford UniversityPress, New Delhi

2) Subhash C. Kashyap, (2001) – Our Constitution- Anintroduction to India Constitution and Constitution law-National Book Trust, New Delhi .

3) Sudarshan Iyengar: Inclusive democracy A GandhianProspective, Yojana, Aug 2013, pg no 53

4) Vimala Ramachandran –Women and girls education:Issues in India, Yojana, January 2016, p33-36.



A STUDY ON CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OFWOMEN EMPLOYEES IN INDIAN BANKING SECTOR

1. Professor, Department of Management studies,Ramachandra College of Engineering, Eluru,AP.2. Research Scholar (KL University), Assistant Professor,Department of Management studies, Ramachandra College of

Engineering ,Eluru.AP.

Dr. P. Subbarao1 G.Swapna Sabari2

AbstractThe pattern of Indian women's employment has changed markedly since the 1970s. Technology has indeed playeda significant role in this change. Increasing women literacy, growing economic pressure, and desire to gain economicand social independence are pushing womenfolk to take up gainful career in banks. The phenomenal growth ofbanks has created massive employment opportunities for the educated women of our nation. The women job-seekers find jobs in banks more attractive and more suitable to their nature. In this paper an attempt has been madeto identify the general situations, challenges and opportunities of women employees in the Indian Banking Industry,which is the blood of the Indian economy.

Keywords: Women, banking sector, empowerment, Opportunities

IntroductionIn Vedic times women occupied the highest place insociety. They were given all opportunities to developthemselves, socially, intellectually and morally. Theywere given thorough education. Similarly there is apositive change in the present society, which is focusingon women empowerment. The progress of any countryis intimately linked to its ability to develop and use itshuman resource effectively. This is particularly true in adeveloping country like India. Women, as a significantpart of this human resource pool, play a vital role in theeconomic, social and political development of India.Nationalization of the Indian Banking Sector in 1969served as the first major step to reduce genderdiscrimination against women in banking sector thatprovided opportunity for women empowerment. Thepattern of Indian women’s employment has changedsignificantly since the 1970’s. Many major Indian banksare hiring highly qualified young women to theiradministrative levels and they are showing remarkablegrowth over the years. The story of economicdevelopment is associated with a country’s labor force.The experience of developed countries suggest that roleof female have become an important part of economicdevelopment. A plethora of popular books on womenmanagers have flooded the academic market. However,it was not until 1970’s that a few corporations andlegislatures started addressing the issues of womenmanagers seriously. Since then, a gender revolutionhas been sweeping the corporate organizational structureand women have joined the workforce in unprecedentednumbers.

Women represent more than 40 percent of the world’slabor force and half the world’s population Governments,enterprises and organizations have over years committedthemselves to policies and programs to advance women.Women take up 31 percent of the official labor force indeveloping countries and 46.7 percent worldwide. Also,women from rural areas produce more than 55 percentof all food grown in developing countries. History showsthat women have also proved to be successful mangersand owners of businesses. In 1996, women held 35.1percent of professional posts in the United NationsSecretariat including 17.9 percent in the seniormanagement. A survey of top women executives alsorevealed that many women feel that the “glass ceiling”is not simply a barrier for an individual, based on theperson’s inability to handle a higher level job. Rather,the “glass ceiling” applies to “women as a group”; whoare kept from advancing higher because they are women.Karin Klenke and others report that the nature ofdiscrimination against women has changed from “avert”to more “subtle.”

Objectives of the study1. To identify the opportunities of women in the Indian

Banking Sector2. To identify the challenges of women in the Indian

banking sector.3. To suggest the opportunities to overcome the

problems.



Opportunities of women in the Indian BankingsectorPerceptions of male and female managers regardingencouragement/advancement of women in corporateIndia differ on the basis of promotions/advancements.More men (91%) than women (72%) agree that thepromotions are based on merit and not on gender. Inother areas both male and female managers agreed.For example, we found that about 60% men and womenmanagers perceive that their organizations encouragewomen to assume leadership roles, about 62% men andwomen managers agree that there are few barriers forwomen to advance in the organization. However, onlyabout one third of the male or female managers perceivethat their organizations are trying to increase the numberof women executives in senior management positions.The chart presented on the next page shows percentageof male and female managers who agree/strongly agreewith each statement regarding encouragement to womento advance in the organization.

Equity in Work & RewardEven though, both male and female managers perceivethat employees are hired based on their qualifications,merit, and accomplishments, but gender becomes animportant consideration during salary appraisals,promotions or advancement decisions. More womenbelieve that they must work harder than men, are paidless than men for the same qualification, are forced toprove their competence all the time, and to succeed inthe corporate world, must develop management stylewhich is comfortable to men. Even at senior level, herstatus as women does not become irrelevant; shecontinues to be perceived as “women” who needs to“prove” her worth while men are assumed competent tillproven otherwise. Fewer women (71% vs. 81% perceivethat competence, not gender is an issue in organizations.We noticed an interesting difference between male andfemale managers on performance expectations. Moremen (48%) than women (38%) believe that to besuccessful, women managers need to consistentlyexceed performance expectations more often than men.We were expecting these percentages to be reversed.The way these percentages came out in our studysuggest that men expect more from women while womenare underestimating these expectations – which maynot be good for their careers.

Organizational Perception of Importance of GenderIssuesThe perceptual gap between male and female managerson key gender issues. While 93% women feel that theyare as committed to their jobs as men, only 78% menfeel so. In fact, about 20% men perceive that women

are less capable than men in contributing to achievingorganizational goals. Only about 38% women (and 65%men) indicated that their organizations help womenmanagers ‘fit’ in the male culture. Few organizationsrealize that addressing gender issues are important tothem. While more men than women appear to think thatcompetence not gender is an issue, only 52% of thewomen feel that their organizations are committed tousing the talents of women and only about 20% seethat business community is ready to accept women inkey managerial positions. In fact, we found that 22%women perceive that men do not even consider them asprofessional colleagues, half feel that they must sacrificetheir femininity to succeed in the business world andshould act more like men, and 74% consider them asless desirable employees due to the possibility ofbecoming pregnant. There appears to be a lack ofsensitivity to gender issues and appreciation for women’scapabilities and talents in corporations.

MethodologyThe present study is based on secondary data and thedata were collected from journals, books, news papers,RBI annual reports and other websites.

Spotlight on Women in Indian BanksThe number of talented women with a finance backgroundjoining into the banking sector is increasing every year.Women constitute a little over 11% of the workforce inthe banking industry (Khandelwal, 1988).The Indiangovernment appointed a committee in the year 2009, tolook at human resource issues of public sector banksunder the chairmanship of former Chairman andManaging Director of Bank of Baroda and AnilKhandelwal. The Khandelwal Committee made some far-reaching recommendations, some of which wereaccepted by banks and the government. According tothe committee’s report published in 2010, at that timewomen accounted for only 17 per cent of employees instate-run banks, of which only 2.7 per cent of womenwere in executive positions.

“Women started joining banks only in the late 70s andmostly at clerical levels. With career progression reachingan apex, the industry is likely to have more women atthe top in the years to come. And when they do come,they are not just considered women, but as leaders androle models,” says Subhalakshmi Panse, chairperson-cum-managing director (CMD) of Allahabad Bank, whotook over the reins in 2012.Not only in the higher levelsthat we can see had the involvement of women but alsoin the clerical levels also women are more attracted.Secured family life, attractive salary, favorable workingconditions and the stability in work are some of thereasons that make this sector more preferable to women.



According to a study by Standard Chartered Bank aboutwomen on corporate boards in India, the financial sectorperforms best in terms of gender diversity, nine of theeleven banks listed on BSE-100 have a woman on theirboard and two of these banks have a female CEO. Infact, through the recent recession, Reserve Bank of Indiahad two women deputy governors on board, Usha Thoratand Shyamala Gopinath.

According to the 2013 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500Women Executive Officers and Top Earners, womenrepresented 17.6 percent of executives and 17.9 percentof the board of directors in the finance and insurancesector.In 2012, Women represented 23% of all seniorofficers in Financial Post 500 companies, and in 201311.4 percent of chief financial Officers of Fortune 500.The banking Sector in India which was male dominatedtill 1980’s, in last three decades the gender equalitybecame(CEO, ICIand MD, Axis Bank), Chandrakochar(CEO ICICI Bank) and Naina Lal Kidwai(CEO,HSBC), Arundathi Bhattacharya,(CMD SBI),Shikha Sharma(CEO and MD, Axis Bank), UshaAnanthasubramanian (CEO, MDPunjab National Bank),are contributing a lot to the bank’s growth.

Challenges of Women Employees in Indian BankingSectorThe banking and insurance sectors today offer moreprospects of jobs for women - both qualitatively andquantitatively. However there are some common problemsfaced by women managers, officers and clerical groupsin banking and insurance sector, in the course of theircareers. These include the burden of the dual role, sexualharassment in the workplace, the refusal of men toaccept women as colleagues or seniors, and the lack ofsolidarity among women. A lot of women play both primarybreadwinner and primary care taker role which create atension most men do not experience when juggling workand personal responsibilities.

According to a study by Kamala Srinivasan (1991) 50per cent of women complained that extra work is alwaysshunted to women. They also complained about sexualharassment from colleagues, managers, or customers.Women also felt dissatisfied that they were not sent outfor training. Some obstacles arise from women’s specificdifficulties in demanding promotion - because promotionsare linked with transfers; or they have difficulties inworking late; or because women shy away fromresponsibility, having a low opinion of their own abilitiesand a negative attitude to accepting recognition (Mankidy,1986). Some women employees feel that theseconstraints are intensified by being forced to adopt thebehaviour of the ‘successful manager or officer’ whichhas been established by men. They argue that women

could find their own strategies which would achieve thesame result (Mankidy, 1988). Women frequently suffersubtle forms of discrimination that tend to get worse asthey progress up the career ladder. Their lack of visibilityis a disadvantage that manifests itself when jobassignments and selections for training programs aremade and they tend to be excluded (Goverman, 1992).Indian women managers’ expresses interest to beincluded in informal networks on the job (Bhatnagar,1988)

The biggest challenge lies in changing the stereotypes,assumptions and biases about what is required forleadership and success that permit the culture offinancial institutions. The senior management of financialfirms have always been almost exclusively men and theyremain the strongly dominant group. This means thatwhat is in fact a gender-based bias may be perceivedby most senior managers to be no more thancommonsense meritocracy. These assumptions relateto both day-to-day working practices and also thequalities required for leadership. Certain behaviors areperceived differently when exhibited by men and women.For example, an assertive man might be perceived asbeing a strong leader whereas a similarly assertivewoman might be perceived to be “strident” or “bossy”(adjectives rarely applied to men). And as pointed outearlier, the character traits traditionally associated withleadership in financial firms have been typicallymasculine. The discrimination experienced by womenworking in banks is mainly in terms of the lack ofinfrastructural facilities, the transfer policy, andassumptions that women would not be interested intraining or in promotions

Suggestions to overcome the challenges facingwomen Employees in Indian banking sectorThe first step in addressing the unconscious biases andassumptions is to get people recognize and understandthese in their own thoughts and behaviour. Managementmay require some training to help them do this. Somefirms are taking measures to improve awareness ofgender issues, using workshops and reverse mentoring,

The second, and perhaps the most important step ineliminating biases is ensuring that these assumptionsabout what it takes to be an effective leader do notinfluence hiring decisions, promotions, the allocation ofcareer opportunities and performance evaluations. Tobring this out, senior management should change theirrecruitment and promotion criteria and set targets forattracting and developing a diverse set of leaders.Employers who want to help women advance to the topmust do more to make allowances for life outside ofwork. They must make sure that even ambitious and



talented employees do not feel that they will have towork hours incompatible with a family life. Women inbanking who require flexible working conditions need tofeel emotionally empowered to take full advantage ofthem. The Women’s Wing of the AICOBOO has beentaking up these issues systematically. One outcome oftheir work has been the charter of demands theysubmitted to their union confederation.

1. Infrastructural facilities such as creches and day carecentres.

2. Provision of hostels for working women,accommodation for divorced, separated and widowedwomen with children.

3. Special leave with a lien on service, for up to say fiveyears, to meet certain contingencies specific towomen, extending this facility to men also wheneverrequired.

4 Provision for a woman with a child less than threeyears old to work for fewer hours and receiveproportionate pay.

5. Family pension and voluntary retirement for men andwomen after twenty years of service.

6. Provision for flexi-hours and part-time employmentin suitable cases.

7. Although maternity leave (12 weeks in all) is regardedas fairly satisfactory, additional provisions requiredare medical benefits, hospitalization, leave for thepurpose of child care, paternity leave for at least tendays, and further leave for those who have to lookafter an infant in special circumstances.

The Ministry of Labour is expected to amend theMaternity Benefit Act, 1961, which presently entitleswomen to 12 weeks of maternity benefit wherebyemployers are liable to pay full wages for the period ofleave.

The specific demands put forward by the Women’s Winginclude a uniform transfer policy in all banks for womenofficers, and a cell to deal with women’s issues in everybank’s personnel department. They are currently tryingto formulate demands relating to training programmesand time off for women to do union work. Similarly theAll India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) initiateda women’s wing of the union to take up issues speciallyaffecting women. The Reserve Bank of India has aWomen’s Forum for the same purpose. The unions inthe LIC have begun to organize women-only meetingsand workshops. The Insurance Employees Associationdecided in 1991 to organize women employees moreeffectively, as the number of women employees wasincreasing day by day, with over 75 per cent of the newrecruits being women.

The association has demanded crèches facilities, specialleave and better working conditions for women, and theremoval of hidden discrimination. Each PSB has to comeout with a HRD plans for development of women and SC/ ST employees. A special HRD effort has to be put inplace for developing these groups in key skills of banking.Training strategy to focus on staff working in rural areasand women employees and priority to be accorded forregular in-house training to rural staff. Many of the Banksdo not have transfer policy which gives consideration tothe special problems which female officers/employeesface vis-a-vis their male counterparts. Government ofIndia, Ministry of Finance and Department of FinancialServices has issued guidelines to all Public SectorBanks including IDBI & SBI Associates, so that transfersof female officers and employees can be considered withcompassion and their hardship can be mitigated to theextent possible. National Institute of Bank management(NIBM) is also organising workshops for female clericalstaff, officers and managers. One way of improvingprospects for women could be to restructure the work,for example with flexible working hours, part time jobassignments, split location positions performed partlyat home job and job sharing (Mankidey 1988). Banksshould be encouraged to have a formal mentorshipprogram in which new employees are assigned mentorswho are responsible for helping the new recruit to fit inthe central core of the organization. Finally, if financialfirms are to make progress on increasing diversity, theycannot treat I as a side-line activity. Increasing diversitymust be a priority for the most senior management inthe firm and not merely for HR.

ConclusionIncreasing women literacy, growing economic pressure,and burning desire to gain economic and socialindependence are pushing womenfolk to take up gainfulcareer. The phenomenal growth of banks has createdmassive employment opportunities for the educatedwomen of our nation. Feminine traits no doubt help themperform better than male colleagues in certain aspect ofdelivery of banking service Researches have shown thathaving women on boards provides genuine value additionto decision-making. We have a distance to go, especiallyin the larger society. Gender is an important issue incorporate India. While there are some similarities, thatthere are significant differences in the perceptions ofmale and female managers in several key areas. Ourstudy found that:1. 79% women and 90% men believe that in their

organizations, employment is based on merit andnot on gender. However, 74% women and 80% menperceive that pregnancy makes women less desirableemployees than men.



2. 72% women and 91% men believe that promotionand advancement is based on merit and not genders.More than 40% men and women believe that thereare significant barriers to women’s advancement intheir organizations and organizations do notencourage women enough to assume leadershippositions. In fact, only about a third perceive thatorganizations are seeking ways to increase thenumbers of women at senior management positions.In our survey, 60% companies had less than 5% oftheir senior and middle managers as females. Amongour respondents, 82% of men indicated that theywere at senior level as compared to 33% women.

3. There appears to be some inequity in pay in corporateIndia. While 77% women agreed that they are paidequal to men for the same qualification, 89% menthought that women are paid equal to men. Genderand not competence, is an issue in the minds of30% women and 20% men. Even at senior levelpositions, female managers continue to be perceivedas “women” first. Women need to work harder thanmen and need to prove their competence more oftenthan men. Men perceive women as less committedto their jobs and less capable of contributing toorganizational goals. Almost half the women think

that their organizations are committed to utilizing theirtalents and only about 38% think that organizationshelp women fit into “male” culture. In fact, to succeed,57% women think that they need to sacrifice someof their femininity and 36% indicate that they need toact more like men. We found that job satisfactionamong women managers was significantly lower thanmen.

References1. Bhatnagar, D. (1988). “HRD for women employees in

banks”. In A. K. Khandelwal, (ed.) Human ResourcesDevelopment in Banks. Oxford and IBH PublishingCompany, New Delhi.

2. Goverman, J. (1992). “Women in science should lookwithin”. Los Angeles Times, November 11

3. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10 603/25502/7/07_chapter%201.pdf

4. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india/what-makes-women-successful-in-Indisn-Banking-industry/articleshow/6584040.cms

5. http://www.empowerwomen.org/en/circles/make-financial-markets-work-for women/women—employment-in-the-finance-sector # sthash.vAlTyLXd.dpuf



VIOLATION OF WOMEN RIGHTS IN INDIA

Dr. Katreddi Satyanarayana1

Abstract

Indian society is a male dominated society where men are always assumed to be superior to society. The women inIndia very often face discrimination, injustice and dishonour. Though women in India have been given more rights ascompared to men, even then the condition of women in India is miserable. Women in India are deprived of theirfundamental right to dignity also; leave alone the question of gender equality. The present paper explores the questioncentral to women rights in India that is fundamentally patriarchal in nature. Women in India face a lot of socialinequalities like gender specific abortion, mistreatment by their spouses, eve teasing. Most women aren’t aware ofwomen rights in India and other times their legal rights are not protected as they should be. Discrimination againstwomen is thus determined not only to women themselves but also to the next generation. Women play multilateralrole in the society i.e., as a daughter, wife, mother and care taker of her family, and also as a breadwinner who providesthe services to the society. In spite of the fact that the women’s contribution to the country’s development is equal to thatof male counterpart, they experience a number of limitations that restrain them from comprehending their potential forexpansion.The objectives of the paper are to study about the women rights in India and to examine the constitutionaland legal rights to protect women human rights and finally to find out the areas where women rights are violated.

The paper attempts to identify the few challenges faced by the women in India like the dowry, domestic violence,female foeticide, sexual harassment at workplace, sale and trafficking of girls, seduction, child marriages etc. Thepresent study based on the secondary data collected from various books, journals and websites.

1. Reader & Head, Dept. of Social Work &Controller of ExaminationsK.G.R.L. College, Bhimavaram.

Introduction:Indian society is a male dominated society where menare always assumed to be superior to society. The womenin India very often have face to face discrimination,injustice and dishonour. Though women in India havebeen given more rights as compared to men, even thenthe condition of women in India is miserable. Women inIndia are deprived of their fundamental right to dignityalso; leave alone the question o gender equality. Thepresent paper explores the question central to women’sright in India that is fundamentally patriarchal in nature.The article attempts to identify the few challenges facedby the women in India like the dowry, female foeticide,denial of inheritance rights, sale and trafficking of girlsetc.Women in India face lot of social inequalities rangingfrom gender specific abortion, mistreatment by theirspouses, to eve teasing. Most women aren’t aware ofwomen rights in India and other times their legal rightsare not protected as they should be. Discriminationagainst women is thus determined not only to womenthemselves but also to the next generation. Thisdistinction was based on gender. Since the women as acommune had waged struggle for recognition of theirrights as a human being. Women exclude multilateralrole in society. i.e., as a daughter, wife, mother and caretaker of her family, and also as a breadwinner whoprovides the services to the society. In spite of the factthat the women’s contribution to the country’s

development is equal to that of male counterpart. Stillthey experience a number of limitations that restrainthem from comprehending their potential for expansion.The women rights in India can be classified in to twocategories. Those are constitutional or legal rights. Theconstitutional rights are those which are provided in thevarious provisions of the constitution. The legal rightsare those which are provided in the various laws (acts)of the parliament and their state legislatures.

Objectives of the study:1. To study about the women rights in India2. To examine the constitutional and legal rights to

protect women’s human rights.3. To find out the areas where women rights are violated.

Methodology:The present study based on the secondary data collectedfrom various books, journals and websites. The authoracknowledged the gratitude among authors of differarticles which have been referred.

Women Rights in India:Women rights are the rights and entitlements claimedfor women and girls of many societies worldwide. In someplaces, these rights are institutionalised or supportedby law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in othersthey may be ignored or suppressed. They differ frombroader notions of human rights through claims of an



inherent historical and traditional bias against the exerciseof girls, in favour of men and boys. Issues commonlyassociated with notions of women rights included, thoughare not limited to, the right: to bodily integrity andautonomy; to vote; to hold public office; to work; to birthcontrol; to have an abortion; to be free from seduction;to fair wages of equal pay; to own property; to education;to serve in the military or be conscripted; to enter intolegal contracts; and have marital or parental rights.

Women rights violation in India: In India it is said that, women are enjoying rights equalto men. But in reality, the women in India have beensuffering from the beginning . Not only in early timesbut even today also, women had to face discrimination,injustice and dishonour. The following are the areas ofviolations of women rights.

Dowry:The dowry system is main social evil which draggingwomen back from 100 of years as his evil has a verylong history especially in India. Various dowry baseddomestic violence cases has been reported by media.There are ample legal provisions in India to provide reliefto women in case of dowry based domestic violencecases. Civil law of India has prohibited the payment ofdowry in the year 1961.Further Indian Penal Code, 1860has introduced sections 304 B and 498 A, which allowswomen to fie complaint and seek restoration of her rightsfrom serious harassment by the husbands family.Dowry is one of the strong and biggest reasons ofincreasing domestic violence. Every year thousands ofdowry deaths along with mental trauma cases reportedand registered in India. In case of inadequate dowry,incidents like burning, suicides, physical and mentaltorture of women is very common by husband and hisfamily. Keeping in view the increasing cases of dowrydeaths another legislative provision called “Protection ofwomen from Domestic Violence Act, 2005”, wasintroduced in order to reduce domestic violence casesand protect women rights.

Domestic Violence:Domestic violence has become a very serious problemfor women. In general the term domestic violence meansmental, physical, emotional and economic harassmentof women by family members. For the purpose ofdomestic violence family includes spouse, his mother,father, brother, sister, hi relatives and sometimes evenfriends. We call ourselves educated people talk too muchabout morality, ethics and civilisation and expect othersto be good to create a dream world but forget that withoutgiving due respect to the women, a nation’s growth isimpossible. Now in India domestic violence is recognised

as a criminal offence under section 498 A of Indian PenalCode.1860. Domestic violence means cruelty byhusband towards women. Cruelty can be done byphysically, mentally, economically or emotionally. An actcalled Domestic Violence Act, 2005 was introduced tohandle the cases of Domestic Violence in India.

Female foeticide:Female foeticide means identifying and killing of femalefoetus before they take birth. This is most brutal way ofkilling women. The custom of female foeticide is practicedby the society form ancient times and it is really shamefulto note that even today, when we considers ourselveseducated and civilised, this custom is practiced in a bigmanner. Government has taken so many steps to spreadawareness among people about the consequences ofthis crime. Many awareness programmes are conductedby the Government to spread the awareness about thephysical, mental and social effect of this practice.Punishment of 3 years imprisonment and Rs. 10,000/-fine has been prescribed by pre conception and pre nataldiagnostic techniques (Prohibition of Sex selection) act,1994, for the offence of Female foeticides.

Sexual harassment at workplace:Eve teasing is a euphemism used for sexual harassmentor molestation of women by men. Many activists blamethe rising incidents of sexual harassment against womenon the influence of ‘western Culture’. In 1987 act waspassed to prohibit indecent representation of womenthrough advertisements or in publications, writings, andpaintings or in any manner. The year 1997 is a landmarkjudgement by the Supreme Court of India took a strongstand against sexual harassment of women in work place.And than on words the sexual harassment of women atworkplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act2013 came into force on December, 2013, to preventharassment of women at workplace.

Trafficking and Prostitution:Trafficking means import and export of humans for sexbusiness. It is indeed very sad to learn that in India,where women are recognised as Goddess and prayedby all Indian’s as Devi Shakti, they are also treated as asource of earning by unethical means. Prostitution isone of the biggest problems in this world which isdamaging the women in any ways. In general, the termprostitution means offer of sexual services for earningmoney. Prostitution is a problem which exists acrossthe world. There are quite a few laws in India in order toprevent the crime of prostitution like Suppression ofImmoral Traffic in Women and Girl Act 195 and ImmoralTraffic (Prevention) Act 1956.



Acid Throwing:In India, acid attacks on woman who dared to refuse aman’s proposal of marriage or asked for a divorce are aform of revenge. Acid is cheap easily available and thequickest way to destroy a woman’s life.

Seduction:Seduction is another very serious crime against womenand this crime is increasing day like anything. Reportingof seduction and abduction cases has become verycommon in point and electronic media which is indeeda very sad affair for all of us. Increasing seduction casesare enough to prove that our moral values are still verylow and we still to learn how to respect the dignity ofwomen at large. The word ‘Seduction’ means sexualintercourse or sexual penetration, by another personwithout the consent of the other person or victim.Provisions relating to seduction or given in section 375and 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Child Marriage:In India although they exist a law barring the marriagesof children at the early age, but it is still being practicedin different parts of India. Child Marriages act 2006prohibits child marriage and declares 18 years and 21years as the marriageable age for girls and boys.According to the National Population Policy, over 50 %of the girls marry below the age of 18. Child marriagetakes away from a girl child the innocence of herformative years of life necessary for the physical,emotional and psychological development.

Protection of Women’s Rights by the Constitutionof India:The Indian Constitution confers special rights uponwomen. The constitution framers made some efforts tolift the women of our society. The state is directed toprovide for maternity relief to female workers under article42 of the Constitution, where as article 51- A declares itas a fundamental duty of every Indian citizen to respectthe dignity of women. Indian Parliament has passed theprotection of Human Rights Act, 1993 for the properimplementation of Article 51-A. Indian Parliament overthe years have taken significant steps through legislationto achieve goals of empowering women in India. The

significant among them are The Equal Remuneration Act,the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act and the DowryProhibition Act etc. Apart Acts provided from these, the73rd and 74th Constitution (Amendment) Acts providedfor 33 % reservation for women in both panchayat andnagarapalika as well as for the positions of chairpersonsof these bodies.

Apart from this National Commission for women hadestablished in 1990 to look into the women’s problem.National commission for women have engaged them todeal with the cases relating to the violation of womenrights.

Conclusion:Indian women has come a long way and prove that sheis capable of doing anything and equal partner in thegrowth and prosperity of the nation. Women are one ofthe pillars of the society and it would be very difficult toimagine society without the presence of women. Now itis high time for all of us to understand the power ofwomen. Even our judiciary and legislature has alsoaccepted the fact that women are one of the mostimportant elements of society and their exploitation wouldnot be accepted at any cost. There is a saying that“behind every successful man there is a woman”. Thissaying is enough to prove that man and women both arenecessary element of society. Women plays differentrole in her life which is not an easy task. During her lifetime she acts as a daughter, wife and mother at differentstages of life. So we must give them due care and respectand understand their efforts towards welfare of the societyat large. The constitutional, judiciary and legislative rightsof women against the crimes will protect the women inIndia.

References:• Crime in India (2006) : National Crime Record Bureau,

Government of India, New Delhi.• Sarpotdar Anagha(2014) : Sexual harassment of

women: Reflections on the Private sector, Economicand political weekly.

• www.isca.in• www.mospi.nic.in• www.ssijmar.in



A STUDY ON VOILENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA:ORIGIN, PRESENT STATUS AND SOLUTIONS

Krishna Prasada Rao1

AbstractIndia is a traditional male-dominated country where women have to face various violence in the society from theancient time to this 21st century. As the world is leading in the technological improvement, advancement of materialprosperity, etc; the rate of unnatural sex and violence with women is also on the way. As several as 2.24 million crimesagainst women were reportable over the past decade: twenty six crimes against women are reported each hour, or onecomplaint on each two minutes, registering. The Government of India’s approach got great momentum towards thegrowing violence against women when the Nirbhaya incident occurred at New Delhi and it named as rape capital ofIndia. Today growing violence against women is the major challenge not only to the Government but also to society.Thepresent study is descriptive in nature based on secondary sources of data. This paper studies the origins of violence,briefly described from ancient India to present period with the supportive work of Geert Hofstedes’ ‘power distance’.This paper analyses present status of violence with the help of NCRB report and studies the Government initiatives likeSHE-box, Ujjawala Swdhar, etc…and gives practical suggestions towards zero tolerance of violence against women.Ina nut-shell, From the Woman’s Marches within the United States to the world wide “#Me Too” campaign, the problemof women’s rights has well and really perforates society’s consciousness. However this could not disguise the actualfact that women’s rights on a global scale – and specifically women’s safety in India – is continuous to be considerablyin its infancy.

Key Words: Initiatives, Male-domination, Origins, violence, Women.

“The law will do its job and do it strictly but as a society every parent also has a responsibility to teachtheir sons the difference between right and wrong,”

-Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

1. Research scholar, Department of Political Science and Public Administration,Sri Krishna Devaraya University,Anantapuram, Andhrapradesh.

Introduction:Prime Minister Narendra Modi aforesaid that “India hadbeen shamed by a spate of rapes and attacks againstwomen, and called on parents in this deeply misogynisticcountry to treat their sons and daughters equally in hisfirst speech (August, 15th , 2014) marking the country’sindependence from colonial rule. “Today when we hearnews reports of rapes, our heads hang in shame,” Modisaid, addressing a growing anger against the nation’spersistent violence against women [1].A fatal gang rapeon board a moving bus within the Indian capital inDecember 2012 furious a country long hardened to sexualviolence against women. Amid uncountable publicprotests new and harder legislation was enacted doublingjail terms for rapists to twenty years and criminalizingparaphilia, stalking and therefore the trafficking of women.India could be a ancient male-dominated countrywherever women have to be compelled to face variedviolence within the society from the ancient time.Because the world is leading within the technologicalimprovement, advancement of fabric prosperity, etc; thespeed of unnatural sex and violence with women isadditionally on the manner. Rapes and brutal murders

are therefore having common now-a-days. Differentviolence is like harassment, assault, and chain-snatching, etc are concerned within the daily routinewithin in the trendy Indian society. Violence againstwomen has full-grown to a great extent within the freeIndia. Dowry deaths, murder, bride burning, etc are givingrise to different violence within the society. Concurrentincrease in violence against women is preventive thesocial, economical, political, and cultural progress inthe country.

Concept Of Voilence:Violence is outlined by the World Health Organizationas “the intentional use of physical force or power,threatened or actual, against oneself, another person,or against a group or community, which either results inor has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death,psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation,”though the cluster acknowledges that the inclusion of“the use of power” in its definition expands on thetraditional understanding of the word [2]. This definitioninvolves deliberation with the committing of the act itself,no matter the result it produces. However, generally,



something that’s excited in an injurious or damagingmanner could also be delineating as violent even thoughnot meant to be violence (by an individual and against aperson). Violence will be divided into 3 broad categories:

1. Independent Violence:Independent violence is divided into self-destructivebehavior and autoerotism. The former includes self-destructive thoughts, tried suicides –conjointly knownas Para suicide or deliberate self-injury in somecountries – and completed suicides. Self-abuse, indistinction, includes acts like self-mutilation.

2. Social Violence:Social violence is split into two subcategories: Familyand intimate partner violence – that’s, violence mostlybetween family members and intimate partners,usually, although not solely happening within thehome. Community violence – violence between peoplewho are unrelated, and who might or might notapprehend one another, usually happening outsidethe house. The previous group includes varieties ofviolence like child abuse, intimate partner violenceand abuse of the older. The latter includes youthviolence, random acts of violence, rape or sexualabuse by strangers, and violence in institutionalsettings like colleges, workplaces, prisons andnursing homes. Once social violence happens infamilies, its psychological consequences will havean effect on parents, children, and their relationshipin the short- and long-terms [3].

3. Collective Violence:Collective violence is divided into structural violenceand economic violence. In contrast to the opposite 2broad categories; the subcategories of collectiveviolence recommend attainable motives for violencecommitted by larger groups of people or by states.This violence that’s committed to advance a particularsocial agenda includes, for instance, crimes of hate,spreading rumors, committed by organized groups,terrorist acts and mob violence. Political violenceconsist war and connected violent conflicts, stateviolence and similar activities administered by largergroups. Economic violence includes attacks by largergroups actuated by economic gain – like attacksadministered with the aim of disrupting economicactivity, denying access to essential services, ormaking economic division and fragmentation. Clearly,acts committed by larger groups will have multiplemotives [4].

Violent Acts will be [5]:• physical• sexual

• psychological• emotional“This initial categorization differentiates between violencean individual inflicts upon himself or herself, violenceinflicted by another individual or by a tiny low group ofpeople, and violence inflicted by larger groups like states,organized political groups, militia groups and terroristorganizations. These three broad classes are eachdivided further to replicate additional specific forms ofviolence. Violence is primarily classified as eitherinstrumental or reactive / hostile”.

Objectives of the Study:1. To explain the concept of violence and its types.2. To explain the origins of violence against women in

India.3. To analyze the current status and situations of

violence against women in India.4. To study the government initiatives and to make some

suggestions for check the violence against womenin India.

Methodology of the Study:The present study is descriptive in nature. The presentpaper is primarily based on secondary sources of data.The information and data for the research has beencollected from government publications, publishedarticles, journals, newspapers, reports, books, andofficial websites of Government of India.

Origins of Violence against Women In India:The emergence of a patriarchal hierarchy can be tracedthroughout the foundations of India’s history, from thePre Vedic Period to India post-Independence. In doingso, the deeply ingrained quality of subjugation becomesapparent. The beginning of civilization saw no legitimategender hierarchy, nor violence against women. Insidethe sacred text writings of Vedic Period (1500-800 BCE),however, society became more and more structured.Despite girls being honored as sacred inside the Hinduculture, point of period conjointly saw the institution ofthe establishment of wedding. This developed therequirement of girls to stay within the home, and to birtha son. Following the Vedic Period, from around 500 BCEto 1850 CE, this dichotomous role for women was furthercemented. Women came to be regarded as both an objectof control and one of worship. Required to serve as botha submissive wife and a beacon of chastity, women soonbecame defined by the standards set by their husbandsand families. This inexplicable role pushed upon womenis connected back to Dumont’s theory of hierarchy andtherefore the opposition of purity versus pollution.Moreover, women conjointly saw the separation of the



two. On one hand they were revered as goddesses,whereas on the opposite, their presence and participationwas impressible in spiritual practices. The Post-VedicPeriod conjointly saw the arrival of sati: a Hinduobservance ritual within which a widow commits suicideby manner of lighting herself ablaze. The immolationhistorically served as proof of the widow’s devotion toher deceased husband. Kid’s marriage began shortlywhen, throughout the Muslim Period [6]. Subsequently,within the British Period (1858-1947), the influence ofVictorian values took hold. A clear example can be seenin the changing perspective on sex. Though Indiadeveloped Kama Sutra, a literature on sex, and hasancient texts that speak of sex freely, foreign presencesaw to the stigmatization of sexual liberalism. Sincethis time, Indian culture has been marked byconservatism, and proceeds to consider sex a taboo.Indirectly, this perception offers cause for violence againstwomen [7]. Also during this time, women strongly becameconsidered representatives of Indian culture andspirituality, and consequently were often kept at homein order to protect and preserve these entities from foreigninfluence. I interpret this purposeful protection becausethe emergence of Indian nationalism. As Britishcolonizers tried to say their control over the population,they wanted to reform Indian traditionalism, beingpowerfully vital of women’s lack of autonomy and rolewithin the family. In response, India gained a muchgendered model of nationalism so as to shield what theybelieved to be an important a part of their cultural identity[8]. This distinct tension between colonial forces andhistorical norms in effect created a new kind of patriarchy,different from that experienced before and during colonialtimes. The post-colonial patriarchy still present todayexemplifies the theme of tension between thoseattempting to address the hierarchal status quo throughreforming the roles of women, and those who call uponcultural and historical tradition in order to resist change.Towards the end of British rule, women increasingly foundtheir marginalization and inequality to be unacceptable,and so began to fight for position in mainstream society.Upon India’s independence in 1947, many womenparticipated in a large push-back against the Livenpatriarchy, viewing the emancipation as an opportunityto pursue progress. By bringing cultural analysis beyondmerely declaring a lack of gender equity, we are able tofurther understand India’s own tolerance of inequality.The work of Geert Hofstede, the founder of comparativeintercultural research, allows us to do just that. Hofstedehas established a parameter called “power distance”,outlined as “the extent to that the less powerful membersof establishments and organizations inside a countryexpect and settle for that power is distributed unequally”[9]. The dimension is notable because it attempts to

explain Indian culture and inequality not through a third-party perspective, but through the attitude and opinionsof existing members. India received the high score of 77on power dimension, which illustrates an acceptance,or perhaps dependency on hierarchy. The dimensionalanalysis reveals that the country’s societal structure istop-down and that those who are lesser in the hierarchy,such as women, are expectant of their unequal rights.India also scores highly on Hofstede dimensionalanalysis of masculinity, signifying a highly patriarchalcultural. This score highlights a lack of equality betweensexes, as seen through their role in society. Hofstedework in cultural analysis in relation to India begins aconversation on the ways in which the nation’s cultureand society serve to propagate violence against women.

Present Status of Violence against Women in India:The linguistics that means of “crime against women” isdirect or indirect physical or mental cruelty to women.Crimes directed specifically against women and duringwhich solely women are victims are characterized as“crimes against women”. As many as 22.4 lakh crimesagainst women were reportable over the past decade:Twenty-six crimes against women are according in everyhour, or one grievance in every 2minute in a day, in anexceedingly day reveals associate IndiaSpend.com [10]

(a data-driven and public –interest journalism a non-profitorganization) analysis supported the last decade’s data.The NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) report oncrime in 2016, released on November 20, has reiteratedsure popular beliefs whereas negating others. For thefirst time in 2016, the NCRB has discharged not simplystate-wise information, however conjointly specific dataknowledge on metropolitan cities in India. (Graph 1)

On crimes against women as an entire, metropolitanDelhi graded 1st in terms of the rate of crime againstwomen. A complete of 15,310 cases was reported withinthe union territory of Delhi in 2016, down from 17,222 in2015. “Uttar Pradesh reported 14.5% that is 49,262 outof 3,38,954 cases of total cases of crimes against girlsfollowed by West Bengal 9.6% that is 32,513 casesthroughout 2016.The Delhi UT reported the very highestrate of crime (160.4) compared to the national averagerate of 55.2,” the National Crime Report Bureau reportsays. “Most of the cases underneath crimes againstladies were reported underneath as ‘Cruelty by herRelatives or Her Husband (32.6%), then followed by‘Assault on ladies with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’(25.0%),then ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’(19.0%) and ‘Rape’ (11.5%)” were recorded[11].

Delhi the National Capital recorded the very highest casesof crimes against ladies in 2016 among metropolitancities, with a criminal offence rate of 182.1 crimes per



Graph: 1: Top 10 states in terms of the number of crimes against women in India.

one hundred thousand populations, in step with the most recent information released by the National Crime RecordsBureau. Crimes against ladies have solely marginally minimized between 2014 and 2016, dropping by 0.14%.Lucknow, with 159.8 crimes, and Jaipur at 144.1 crimes against each one hundred and thousand individuals, camesecond and third on the list. The national average of crimes against ladies in cities was 77.2.

Graph-2: Cases of Gang rape

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000

Delhi,ut

Telangana

Andhrapradesh

Odisha

Assam

Madhyapradesh

Rajasthan

Maharashrta

West bengal

Uttarpradesh

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Delhi Mumbai Jaipur Nagpur Benagalure

Source: National Crime Report Bureau, 2016.

Source: NCRB Report, 2016. Note: 81.9% of total cases reported in 19 cities.



Graph-3: Cases of Rape

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Delhi Mumbai Jaipur Nagpur Benagalure

Source: NCRB Report, 2016. Note: 75.2% of total cases reported in 19 cities.

From the data of table 2 and 3 shows that Cases of Gang rapes and cases of rapes in Delhi got first place with 79%,1996 respectively, Mumbai 14% gang rapes and rape cases were 712, Jaipur 13% of gang rapes and 354 rapecases, Nagpur 9% gang rapes and 330 rape cases and in Bangalore 7% and rape cases 312 registered.81.9% oftotal gang rape cases reported in 19 cities only, as well as, 75.2% of rape cases reported in 19 cities only.

Incidents of rape against women have risen far more sharply as compared to a rise in other crimes against women.The newest NCRB information for the year 2016 shows that whereas overall crimes against ladies have up by closeto 3%, rape incidents have gone up by 12%.

While 2015 saw the registration of 34,651 rape crime cases, this redoubled to 38,947 in 2016. Conversely, overallcrimes against ladies rose from 3,29,243 in 2015 to 3,38,954 in 2016.

The majority of cases categorized as crimes against women were reported under ‘Cruelty by husband or hisrelatives’ (32.6%), followed by ‘Assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty’ (25%), ‘Kidnapping andabduction of women’ (19%) and ‘Rape’ (11.5%) these things have shown the following tables…

Table-1: Top crimes against women in India city wise

Source: NCRB Report, 2016.

*Rank is based on Rate of Crime. **Number of incidents per one lakh population.***Includes crimes such as Assaulton women, Sexual harassment, Assault or Use of criminal Force, to women with intent to disrobe, Voyeurism, andstalking.

1 Delhi 13803 182.1 1996 3746 3645

2 Lucknow 1260 159.8 102 412 895

3 Jaipur 2428 144.1 330 301 1008

4 Patna 1031 133.8 354 102 405

5 Nagpur 814 113.0 171 411 248

Rank* Cities Number ofcrimes

Rate of crime** Rape SexualAssault***

Cruelty byHusband and

his Family



Table-2: Top crimes against women in India state wise

1 DelhiUT# 15310 160.4 2155 4165 3645

2 Assam 19169 131.3 1779 3378 895

3 Odisha 17837 84.5 1983 8252 1008

4 Telangana 15374 83.7 1278 3767 405

5 Rajasthan 27422 78.3 3656 4839 248

Rank* Cities Number ofcrimes

Rate of crime** Rape SexualAssault***

Cruelty byHusband and

his Family

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TO ENVISION THEVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN:SHE-BOX (Sexual Harassment Electronic-Box)[12]:Government launched a web platform that allows womenstaff to file complaints associated with molestation andharassment at the workplace. It seeks to make sureeffective implementation of the molestation of ladies atWorkplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act,2013 [SHW ACT].It will cater effective and speedierremedy to women facing sexual harassment atworkplace as WCD as well as complainant can monitorthe progress of inquiry.

Vishaka Guideline: Supreme Court in Vishaka andothers Vs. State of Rajasthan case laid down guidelinesfor the prevention and Redressal of the complaints bywomen who were sexually harassed at workplace

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013[SHW ACT]: it was enacted to implement the VishakaGuidelines and to ensure a safe workplace for woman.

Justice Verma committee: It recommendedEmployment Tribunal comprising two retired judges, twosociologists and a social activist to obviate the need forICC which was not functioning as it was intended (notconsidered by the government).

Mahila police volunteer: Haryana became the primarystate to adopt the Mahila Police Volunteer Initiative bylaunching this theme in Karnal and Mahendragarhdistricts. The state has inducted the primary batch ofone thousand Mahila Police volunteers. MPV Initiativemay be a joint initiative between Union Ministry of HomeAffairs and Ministry of Women & Child Development.This initiative undertaken by the Ministry of Women &

Child Development is to make a secure and sanctionatingsurroundings for women. The first job of those womenvolunteers is to stay a watch on situations whereverwomen within the village are troubled or their rights andentitlements are denied or their development isprevented. One Mahila Police Volunteer per GramPanchayat is to be appointed underneath thisscheme.MPV is going to be chosen through an orderedout procedure from among the scepter, responsible andaccountable, socially aware women who can facilitatepolice stretch in cases of gender considerations.

Ujjwala Scheme[13]; Ujjwala is a comprehensive schemethat was launched in 2007 for prevention of traffickingand rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims oftrafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.

SWADHAR (A Scheme for Women in DifficultCircumstances)[14];It aims at the protection of women,especially in a difficult circumstance like widows,destitute and deserted women, women ex-prisoners,victims of sexual abuse and crimes, including thosetrafficked and rescued from brothels, migrant or refugeewomen who have been rendered homeless due to naturalcalamities.

National Women Policy 2016[15]:Enabling safety and security of ladies – with initiativeslike One Stop Centres, Girls Helpline, Mahila PoliceVolunteers, making immediate response mechanismthrough panic buttons in mobiles etc. Efforts to developa compatible and comprehensive database on violenceagainst women, strict monitoring of the response of (law)enforcement agencies to violence against women, thetime-bound trial of heinous crimes against women,strengthening naari adalats and family courts, etc. The

Source: NCRB Report, 2016.

*Rank is based on Rate of Crime. **Number of incidents per one lakh population. ***Includes crimes such asAssault on women, Sexual harassment, Assault or Use of criminal Force, to women with intent to disrobe, Voyeurism,and stalking. #DelhiUT is different from Delhi city in terms area and population.



policy talks about engaging men and boys throughadvocacy, awareness generation programmes andcommunity programmes to instill respect for women inmen from a young age.

Suggestions to Check the Voilence:Prohibition and control on use of alcohol: Thereshould be prohibition of alcohol use in mass gatheringsin institutions, public places like trains and buses. Thenumber of alcohol outlets should be decreased. The agefor purchasing alcohol may be raised to 30 years. Specialchecks on festive occasions are recommended with thehelp of breath analyzers. Involuntary treatment ofpersons with alcohol dependence should be carried out.

Strict control on media: Sexual material should becensored. Good themes, which condemn violence andglorify rehabilitation of the victim, should be projected.Ban on pornography should be strictly implemented. Thesites may be blocked.

Marriage institution: Marriage of boys and girls shouldpreferably be in early 20s, as soon as feasible, so thatsexual needs could be satisfied in a socially appropriatemanner. Strong marital bond would act as a deterrent.The “Shiv-Parvati” model should be promoted for Hindus.

Enforcement of law: Efficient and accountable lawenforcement machinery at all levels (administration,government, police and judiciary) is needed

Judicial mind set need change: This is the need ofthe day. Indira Jaising, Additional Solicitor General ofIndia, aptly stated “It’s time for India’s courts to gazeinward and throw out deeply embedded patriarchalnotions that stop judgments from being fair to women.Sexism within the system has to go before it does moredamage in the country.” A High Court judge in Orissa inhis judgment once famously held “It was not possiblefor a man, acting alone, to rape a woman in good health.”

Changes needed in existing legislations:The Hindu Marriage Act (1955): Mental illness maybe removed from conditions of Hindu marriage. Notinforming about past illness of mental illness should notbe a ground for nullity of marriage.

PWDVA, 2005 and DPA, 1961: Assessment for mentalillness may be incorporated in the code civil procedureso that the mental illness is identified in the victim(woman) and/or perpetrator (male relative) and promptlytreated. This way violence can be prevented.

Need of the new legislations: New legislation isneeded to provide for granting “Interim Relief” (A big sumof money that is paid by the perpetrator) to a victim ofsevere sexual assault. The money may be utilized for

rehabilitation of the victim. Rehabilitation of the victimsof brutal sexual assaults should be the State’sresponsibility. The legislation should provide for enhancedpunishment for violence perpetrated against women withmental illness.

Proper application of laws in the setting of mentalillness: This is often very difficult, nevertheless veryimportant. Judiciary handling such cases shoulddesirably have both legal (LLB) as well as medical (MDPsychiatry/DPM) qualifications.

Code of conduct: Code of conduct at work place, schooland home, with respect to interaction with persons ofopposite sex should be outlined and implemented.

Sensitizing the gender: Gender sensitization byparents and teachers is needed regarding the sensitivitiesand boundaries of man-woman relationships.

Employment and education: Improvement in qualityof education and employment opportunities for youth.

Talent and recreation: Recreational avenues andopportunities for talent development in young people.

Religious and moral values: Parents and teachersshould strive to infuse good moral and religious valuesin children and serve as role models.

Sincerity and commitment: Last, but not the least, Ifwe are sincere we will get the results. Let us all say“No” to violence against women.

Conclusion:In different pockets of India, SHE continues to beshunned… either killed before birth; weighed against themoolah she brings as dowry or burnt in its absence;molested or raped, often to avenge rivalries or even, asbizarre as might be, the family’s honor. “We are in the21st century and yet there is still no dignity for womenas they have to go out in the open to defecate and theyhave to wait for darkness to fall. Can you imagine thenumber of problems they have to face because of this?[16]”as rightly questioned PM Narendra Modi. From theWoman’s Marches within the United States to theworldwide “#Me Too” campaign, the problem of women’srights as well and really perforates society’sconsciousness. However, this could not disguise theactual fact that women’s rights on a global scale – andspecifically women’s safety in India – is continuous tobe considered in its infancy. Thousands of women andgirls each year are victims of gender violence in India.To check this menace India needs more moments like#Me Too, more legislation with strict implementations,and badly needed rapid and radical change in people’smindset, then we can see safe and secure of all ourmothers, sisters and daughters throughout from Kashmir



to Kanyakumari. I can conclude this paper with Sanskritquote “Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata,yatraitaastu na pujyante sarvaastatrafalaah kriyaah”.(Where Women are honored, divinity blossoms there,and where ever women are dishonored, all action nomatter how noble it may be, remains unfruitful.)

References:• https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/indian-

pm-urges-an-end-to-violence-against-women-poverty-in-first-independence-day-speech/article20073141/(accessed on 24/01/2018)

• Krug., ”World report on violence and health”, WorldHealth Organization, 2002.

• Schechter DS, Willheim E, McCaw J, Turner JB,Myers MM, Zeanah CH (2011). “The relationship ofviolent fathers, post traumatically stressed mothers,and symptomatic children in a preschool-age inner-city pediatrics clinic sample”. Journal ofInterpersonal Violence. 26 (18): 36993 7 1 9 . d o i : 1 0 . 11 7 7 / 0 8 8 6 2 6 0 5 11 4 0 3 7 4 7 .PMID 22170456.

• Allen, Josephine A. V. (2001). “Poverty as a Form ofViolence”. Journal of Human Behavior in the SocialEnvironment . 4 (2–3): 45–59. doi:10.1300/J137v04n02_03.

• http://curry.virginia.edu/uploads/resourceLibrary/Violence_Coding_Guide_for_Instrumental_and_Hostile-Reactive_Incidents_10-5-13.pdf

• Bhardwaj, Urmila. “Domestic Violence AgainstWomen; Causes and Cure”. Legal Services India. 16Sep. 2014. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/domestic-

violence-against-women-causes-and-cure-1709-1.html (accessed on 24/01/2018)

• Sharma, Radha R., Rupali Pardasani, and ShardaNandram. “The Problem of Rape in India: a Multi-dimensional Analysis”. International Journal ofManaging Projects in Business 7.3 (2014): 362-379.

• Chatterjee, Partha. The Nation and its Fragments:Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton:Princeton UP, 1993. Print.

• “What about India.” The Hofstede Centre. ItimInternational. http://www.easybib.com/cite/clipboard/id/1428074798_551eb12e67f216.42703865/style/mla7 (accessed on 24/01/2018)

• https://scroll.in/bulletins/103/what-hospitals-can-do-to-drive-entrepreneurship-and-enhance-patient-experience (accessed on 24/01/2018).Indiaspend.com, A data-driven and public–interestjournalism a non-profit organization) analysis basedon the last decade’s data.

• https://thewire.in/201113/ncrb-crimes-against-dalits-women/ (accessed on 24/01/2018)

• http://visionias.in/beta/sites/all/themes/momentum/files/current_affairs/July-2017-ca-english.pdf(accessed on 24/01/2018)

• https://archive.india.gov.in/spotlight/spotlight_archive.php?id=42 ((accessed on24/01/2018)

• http://pib.nic.in/newsite/Print Release. aspx?relid=123683 (accessed on 24/01/2018)

• Draft policy for women 2016, http://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/draft %20 national %20 policy %20 for%20 women %20 2016_0.pdf (accessed on 24/01/2018)



LEGAL PERSPECTIVES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Dr. K. Prasanna1

1. Academic Associate, Dept. of Sociology, Dr. BRAOU, Hyderabad.

IntroductionDomestic violence in India is endemic. Around 70% ofwomen in India are victims of domestic violence, accordingto Renuka Chowdhury junior minister for women and childdevelopment. National Crime Records Bureau revealsthat a crime against a woman is committed every threeminutes, a woman is raped every 29 minutes, a dowrydeath occurs every 77 minutes, and one case of crueltycommitted by either the husband or relative of thehusband occurs every nine minutes. This all occursdespite the fact that women in India are legally protectedfrom domestic abuse under the Protection of Womenfrom Domestic Violence Act.

BackgroundDomestic violence as it is sometimes called is aworldwide problem. Cultural and household stress factorscontribute to the prevalence of domestic violence, and ithas been argued that these factors need to be thoroughlyaddressed through such channels as theinstitutionalization of routine screening for warning signsof domestic violence by health professionals, legislationand support and empowerment stemming from women’sgroups. In 2010, a movie based on Domestic Violencetitled Bell Bajao was released with the support of theMinistry of Women and Child Development which wonan award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Abstract

Women are often in great danger in the place where they should be the safest i.e. within their families. For many ahome is that place where they have to face a regime of terror and violence in the hands of somebody close to themsomebody they should be able to trust. It is that place that imperils lives and breeds some of the most drastic andheinous forms of violence perpetrated against women and girls. Those victimized suffer physically and psychologically.With different processes of socialization that men and women undergo, men take up stereotyped gender roles ofdomination and control, whereas women take up that of submission, dependence and respect for the authority. Inaddition, their human rights are denied and also have to bear the brunt of pernicious practices like child-marriage,sati, prostitution, forced marriages, wife-beating, stalking, bride-burning, passing lewd comments, black-mailing,sex-determination, sexual abuse of the girl child and medical neglect are wide spread both in rural and urban areas.The safety of women, who constitute of almost half of the country’s population, still remains a far cry. They do not feelsafe while coming out of their houses, walking on roads, travelling in public transport, undergoing medical treatmentin hospitals, studying in educational institutions and also living within the four walls of their houses. In this maledominated society, women are exploited both at home, work place and outside. They are always treated as secondclass citizens

Key Words: Domestic violence, Patriarchy, Legislation, Discrimination etc.

Objectives• To study the forms of Domestic Violence.• To examine the effect of Domestic violence.• To explore the Domestic violence Act, 2005.• To find out the [* File contains invalid data | In-line.JPG

*]Specific provisions of law deals with domesticviolence.

MethodologyThe methodology of the present research work is basedon doctrinal study. The relevant data has secondarysources. For the present study the researcherSecondary source has collected through publishedbooks, journals, periodicals, reports and along with thisunpublished research works. The author tried to presentthe Forms of domestic violence and their effects ofdomestic violence Act, 2005 against women in India andspecific provisions of law deals with domestic violence.Finally the author tried to present the conclusions aredrawn in the context of above discussions.

Forms of Domestic violencePhysical violence: Physical injury is the most visibleform of domestic violence. The scope of physicaldomestic violence includes slapping, pushing, kicking,biting, hitting, throwing objects, strangling, beating,threatening with any form of weapon, or using a weapon.Worldwide, the percentage of women who suffer seriousinjuries as a result of physical domestic violence tends



to range from 19% - 55%. Physical injuries as a resultof domestic violence against women are more obviousthan psychological ones, and can be more easilydiscerned by health professionals as well as courts oflaw in the context of legal prosecution.

Emotional abuse: Emotional abuse has been gainingmore and more recognition in recent years as anincredibly common form of domestic violence within theprivate home throughout developing nations such asIndia. Psychological abuse can erode a woman’s senseof self-worth and can be incredibly harmful to overallmental and physical wellbeing. Emotional/psychologicalabuse can include harassment; threats; verbal abusesuch as name-calling, degradation and blaming; stalking;and isolation. Women who experience domestic violenceoverwhelmingly tends to have greater overall emotionaldistress, as well as disturbingly high occurrences ofsuicidal thoughts and attempts. According to a studyby the National Centre for Biotechnology Information,suicide attempts in India are correlated with physicaland psychological intimate partner violence. Of the Indianwomen who participated in the study, 7.5% reportedattempting suicide. This correlation is supported by thehigh rates of domestic violence in India, although therates differ greatly by region, individual socio-economicstatus and other factors.

Sexual assault: Sexual assault is another commonform of domestic violence in India. Sexual violence caninclude a range of forceful and non-forceful acts includingunwanted kissing, touching, or fondling; sexual/reproductive coercion; rape; and marital rape. This abusewas most common among men who also had extramaritalaffairs, and among those who had STD symptoms.Abusive sexual behaviors were also found to becorrelated with an elevated rate of unplannedpregnancies. In 2013, a court in Mumbai ruled thatdepriving a woman of sex is a form of cruelty.

Regional differences: Domestic violence in India isprevalent in all cases, socio-economic classes, andreligious groups. However, there are very clear regionaldifferences that must be addressed when analyzingdomestic violence rates and prevalence in India if policymeasures are to be effective. In general, as inferredthrough various indicators, women in northern Indianstates tend to have relatively less autonomy, limitedinheritance/property rights, less individual economicopportunity, and higher rates of domestic abuse. On theother hand, women in southern Indian states tend tobenefit from relatively less prevalence of disparity in theseareas; making gender disparities in these regionaldifferences unmistakably clear.

Distribution of prevalenceIn a 2000 multi-site household survey conducted in India,it was found that while overall approximately 50% ofwomen surveyed had experienced some form of domesticviolence throughout their married life, the rates variedsignificantly by specific location as well as overall region.In rural areas and urban slums, that rate wasapproximately 55%, whereas in urban non-slum areasthe rate was less than 40%. Domestic violence is knownto happen in upper-class families as well as NRI families.According to a study made by Michael Koenig aboutthe determinants of domestic violence in India publishedby the American Journal of Public Health in 2006, highersocioeconomic status tends to be protective againstphysical but not sexual violence.

Patriarchal social structureThere are three main aspects of the patriarchal householdstructure in India that affect women’s agency: marriage,active discrimination by means of abuse and diminishedwomen’s agency through limited economic opportunitythrough stifled opportunity for independence. In all thesedimensions, there is a clear relationship between strongpatriarchal familial and limited capabilities and agencyfor women, which are strongly correlated with causalfactors for domestic violence such as gender disparitiesin nutritional deprivation and a lack of women’s role inreproductive decisions.

Dowry systemDomestic violence often happens in India as a result ofdowry demands. Dowry payments are anothermanifestation of the patriarchal structure in India. Thereare strong links between domestic violence and dowry,a cultural practice deeply rooted in many Indiancommunities, which is the money, goods, or propertythe woman/woman’s family brings to a marriage to nowbecome under the ownership of the husband. Thispractice continues even today in India although bannedby law since 1961, and in recent years dowry amountshave risen dramatically. In a Srinivasan 2005 studypublished in World Development, results from a surveypointed to a negative correlation between dowry amountand inter-spousal violence, indicating the potentialdangers of a wife falling short on dowry payments orexpectations. These dangers include not only commonphysical and emotional abuse such as hitting andcontinual degradation, but in some cases dowry deathand bride burning as a result of the husband’sdissatisfaction with the dowry payment. In fact, 8391dowry deaths reported in 2010, a steep rise from 6995such reported cases in 1997.



Hesitancy to report cases of domestic violenceThere is widespread hesitancy amongst most Indianwomen who experience domestic violence to report orprosecute against such crimes. A major reason for thisreluctance is the patriarchal structure that is theframework for the vast majority of households in Indiaand the misconception that it is almost always thewoman’s fault for provoking domestic abuse that suchabuse occurs. The results of this hesitancy to reportcases is clear in that reported data overwhelmingly tendsto underestimate actual prevalence occurrences ofdomestic violence.

Effects of Domestic violenceWomen suffer many types of physical and emotionalabuse as a result of illegal actions taken within the privatehome, and those who have experienced some form ofdomestic violence tend to have greater long-term mentaldisorders and drug dependencies than those who donot. In India, reducing domestic violence is imperativenot only from an ethical and human rights perspectivebut also because of obvious instrumental and immediatehealth benefits that would be gained from such reduction.

HealthSerious health problems often result from physical,emotional, and sexual forms of domestic violence.Physical health outcomes include: Injury, UnwantedPregnancy, Gynecological problems, STDs includingHIV, Miscarriage, Pelvic inflammatory disease, chronicpelvic pain, Headaches, Permanent disabilities, Asthma,Irritable bowel syndrome, Self-injurious behaviors. Mentalhealth effects can include depression, fear, anxiety, lowself-esteem, sexual dysfunction, eating disorders,obsessive-compulsive disorder, or post traumatic stressdisorder. Fatal effects can include suicide, homicide,maternal mortality, or HIV/AIDS.

Social and economic costs have been identified as directresults of these public-health consequences, and it isargued that these justify state action to act in the interestof the public to reconcile these costs as Well as anillegal act under Indian law. It is therefore widelyconsidered a threat to women’s agency through anylens, and there is a growing recognition in many Indianregions that the nation can reach a higher potentialthrough obtaining greater social and economic capitalthan by reducing women’s participation in society.Greater gender equality through greater women’s agencycannot be achieved if basic health needs are not beingmet and if cultural biases that allow for domestic violencein India persist.

Domestic Violence Act of 2005The year 2005 witnessed the emergence of a newlegislation that boldly stepped into the private familialdomain. The Act widened the horizons of conceptdomestic violence to encompass all forms of abuse thatremained dormant throughout the history like, physical,emotional, verbal, and economic abuse, sharedhousehold concept, relationships in the nature ofmarriage etc. The remedies were also made exhaustiveby the Act.

The Domestic Violence Act of 2005 provides victims ofabuse with a means for practical remedy throughprosecution. Domestic violence is currently defined inIndia by the Protection of Women from DomesticViolence Act of 2005. According to Section 3 of the Act,“any act, omission or commission or conduct of therespondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it- (a) harms or injures or endangers the health, safety,life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, ofthe aggrieved person or tends to do so and includescausing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal andemotional abuse and economic abuse; or (b) harasses,harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person witha view to coerce her or any other person related to herto meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or otherproperty or valuable security; or (c) has the effect ofthreatening the aggrieved person or any person relatedto her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause(b); or (d) otherwise injures or causes harm, whetherphysical or mental, to the aggrieved person.” TheDomestic Violence Act of 2005 has been reportedly usedagainst men in some cases, though the vast majority ofcases involve abuse of a woman.

Prosecution shortcomingsAccording to 2000 study by the National Law School ofIndia University, it was observed that there were anextremely low number of convictions in a large sampleof domestic violence cases in various Indian courts. Thestudy cites the need for more systematic and thoroughrecord keeping throughout all levels of the Indian courtsystem, as well as the imperative need for more clarityin current legislation that provides a very unclear definitionof what domestic violence even is. This allows for culturalbiases, social (patriarchal) institutional structures andgender disparities to cloud the nature of many of thesecases, and is a major reason why the vast majority ofhusbands charged with any form of domestic abuse tendto be acquitted.

New sexual violence legislationOn 19 March 2013, the Indian Parliament passed a newlaw with the goal of more effectively protecting women



from sexual violence in India. It came in the form of theCriminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which furtheramends the Indian Penal Code, the Code of CriminalProcedure of 1973, the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, andthe Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,2012. The law makes stalking, voyeurism, acid attacksand forcibly disrobing a woman explicit crime for thefirst time, provides capital punishment for rapes leadingto death, and raises to 20 years from 10 the minimumsentence for gang rape and rapes committed by a policeofficer. The new law doesn’t address marital rape, rapecommitted by the armed forces or rape against men.Reformist lawmakers have argued that the higher age ofconsent could result in abuses and wrongful arrests instatutory rape cases.

Results of Women Protection CellsDomestic Violence Act does not have the authority toend the marital relation. The power of social pressure isnot enough to pressurize couples to work out theirdifferences and special woman cells have beenestablished to exercise a similar influence. Panchayatsand social pressure was previous means to solve pettyissues, as seen in Lok Adalats, Para-legal services.Women Protection Cells receive their functioning powerfrom the police and act accordingly after receiving anapplication and both parties are summoned. This is oftenseen as an indicator that the marriage cannot beretrieved. These cells have a low rate of being able toretrieve marriages submitted for mediation.

Specific provisions of law deal with domesticviolence.In 1983, domestic violence was recognized as a specificcriminal offence by the introduction of section 498-A intothe Indian Penal Code. This section deals with crueltyby a husband or his family towards a married woman.Four types of cruelty are dealt with by this law:• conduct that is likely to drive a woman to suicide,• conduct which is likely to cause grave injury to the

life, limb or health of the woman,• harassment with the purpose of forcing the woman

or her relatives to give some property, or• Harassment because the woman or her relatives is

unable to yield to demands for more money or doesnot give some property.

The punishment is imprisonment for up to three yearsand a fine. The complaint against cruelty need not belodged by the person herself. Any relative may also makethe complaint on her behalf.

Forms of “cruelty” recognized by the Courts• Persistent denial of food,

• Insisting on perverse sexual conduct,• Constantly locking a woman out of the house,• Denying the woman access to children, thereby

causing mental torture,• Physical violence,• Taunting, demoralizing and putting down the woman

with the intention of causing mental torture,• Confining the woman at home and not allowing her

normal social intercourse,• Abusing children in their mother’s presence with the

intention of causing her mental torture,• Denying the paternity of the children with the intention

of inflicting mental pain upon the mother, and• Threatening divorce unless dowry is given.

Matrimonial home and rightsThe matrimonial home is the household a woman shareswith her husband; whether it is rented, officially provided,or owned by the husband or his relatives. A woman hasthe right to remain in the matrimonial home along withher husband as long as she is married, though there isno definite law regarding this right. If a woman is beingpressurized to leave the matrimonial home, she can askthe Court for an injunction or “restraining order” protectingher from being thrown out.

An ‘Injunction’ and it apply to domestic violencecasesAn injunction is a court order directing a person to do ornot to do something. A woman has a lot of flexibilityregarding what she can request the Court to order. Forinstance, if she is being stalked by somebody she canobtain injunctions against the person coming near herhome or place of work, or even telephoning her.

ConclusionWomen’s subordinate position in the home makes theirexperience different from men. The image of the familyas a protective retreat has been created largely throughmale eyes, disregarding women’s oppression and theextensive discrimination against them which is inherentto the patriarchal structure and the functioning of thefamily. The significance of family for women is also morevital than that of men, because while a man is allowedan independent existence, woman’s identity and survivalis not socially conceivable without family. Human rightsviolations from foeticide, incest to women, battering andmurder are committed within the safe confines of thehome, making woman highly vulnerable in families. Theyremain largely invisible, being considered as familymatter. The emphasis is always on preservation of thefamily at all cost even if it compromises women’s safetyand security.



To overcome socio-economic and cultural hurdles, it isdesirable to adopt a human rights approach to women’sproblems. Nevertheless, the passing of the new act onceagain reveals our dependency on the administrative andlegal machinery to prevent gender crimes within theprevailing patriarchal social structure. Hence, thereremains serious concern about possibility of the newlaw to make qualitative changes in the life of womenwithin family.

References• “India tackles domestic violence”. BBC News. 2006-

10-27.• “Campaign against domestic violence in India wins

Cannes trophy”. Indian Express. 2010-06-29.• Sameervel, Rebecca (November 6, 2013). “Depriving

wife of sex is cruelty, Mumbai court rules”. The TimesOf India (Mumbai)..

• Innocenti Research Centre. Domestic Violenceagainst Women and Girls. UNICEF, 2000. 18 Mar.2013.

• Yadav, Sanjay (14 March 2011). “Case against NRIhusband for dowry, domestic abuse”. Times of India(Gurgaon).

• India. Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Republicof India. , Protection of Women from DomesticViolence Act, 2005. Act. No. 43 OF 2005.

• Elizabeth, V. Patterns and Trends of DomesticViolence in India, An Examination of Court Records.National Law School of India University, 2000. 18 Mar.2013.

• Magnier, Mark. “Critics Say India Rape Law OpensWay to More Abuse.” Los Angeles Times. LosAngeles Times, 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.

• Suman Rai (2011), Law Relative to Protection ofWomen from Domestic Violence, Orient PublishingCompany, New Delhi.



WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP – WOMEN ENTREPRENEURIN PRESENT ERA: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

N. Veknata Krishnaiah1

1. Lecturer in Commerce,Dept. of Commerce, Silver Jubilee Govt. College (A), Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.

AbstractWomen are known for their best desirable qualities like their ability to manage details, dedication to the work theytake up and tolerance and kindness towards people, which are the qualities relevant to entrepreneurship. A womanentrepreneur visionary is a grown-up who claims and runs an enterprise, particularly a business one, regularly atindividual financial risk. The entrepreneurial world in India mainly belongs to men for a long time. This trend haschanged recently. There is a notion, which is very popularized and emphasized, that women can become anentrepreneur and lend a contribution to the country’s economic growth. Indian experts as administrators and policymakers have to come out with innovative and probable plans to promote entrepreneur skills among women.Microfinance programs like the Self Help Bank Linkage Program in India has been logically advancing for theirpositive financial effect and the conviction that they empower women. Indian women have already proved that theycan take up any job, which has been meant for men for centuries. They have shown to the world that they are notsecond to men in proficiency for doing work and have efficiency in the management of enterprise effectively undernormal, difficult and challenging circumstances. They proved it to be a misconception that women are unfit to be anentrepreneur executive’s experts and managers. Indeed, Indian women are basically excellent managers who, as awife or a mother, manage the things related to households by making and executing such as planning and exertingbudgets and showing the results of their plans in-day-today life. This paper describes the developing entrepreneurialskills among women will be a good approach for women empowerment and this would elevate social status of womenin the present era.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Women Entrepreneur, Microfinance, Empower Women

Introduction:Women traditionally have an occupational status, whichhas been ever in close association with the home andfamily. Since some economically rely on their husbandor father their status in the society is secondary to thatof the men. Whether it is industrially advanced or lessadvanced country, the women are treated withinequalities due to micro cultural and economicdiscrimination practiced in the society. Industrialization,commercialization and modernizations transform thetraditional ways of production into modern capitalisticentrepreneurs by energetically and actively functioningin the fast developing countries. Women form the mostimportant segment of the society irrespective of anycountry or race. It is very important to give due status towomen. It is necessary for women to attain economicself-reliance for themselves to raise their position andstatus in the home and society. Women can gain self-reliance and self-respect by becoming an entrepreneurand by getting an opportunity to make higher incomethrough entrepreneurial work. It also gives women anopportunity to improve their personality and offer theirshare to the general welfare or purpose of the societyby their good participation. The status of women in thelarge division of Indian society cannot be raised withoutcreating openings of independent employment for

women. The job for women certainly leads to extra incometo the family.

The entrepreneurial world in India mainly belongs to menfor a long time. This trend has changed recently. Thereis a notion, which is very popularized and emphasized,that women can become an entrepreneur and lend acontribution to the country’s economic growth. Indianexperts as administrators and policy makers have tocome out with innovative and probable plans to promoteentrepreneur skills among women. Indian women havealready proved that they can take up any job, which hasbeen meant for men for centuries. They have shown tothe world that they are not second to men in proficiencyfor doing work and have efficiency in the management ofenterprise effectively under normal, difficult andchallenging circumstances. Indian women are travellingthrough centuries carrying the testimony for having donefrom ordinary works such as rocking the cradle to riskyworks such fighting in the battle field as warriors, rulingthe country and the like.

Women are known for their best desirable qualities liketheir ability to manage details, dedication to the workthey take up and tolerance and kindness towards people,which are the qualities relevant to entrepreneurship. Theyproved it to be a misconception that women are unfit tobe an entrepreneur executive’s experts and managers.



Indeed, Indian women are basically excellent managerswho, as a wife or a mother, manage the things related tohouseholds by making and executing such as planningand exerting budgets and showing the results of theirplans in-day-today life.

Women until recent time have been considered unfit tothe roles other than of housewives, nurses, primary schoolteachers, sales girls, telephone operators, stenographersand the receptionists and unfit for playing any higherroles. The past false image of women is fast losing itsshape and the real image of them with its new changingshape is getting emerged. A host of women entering thelabour force in the present time is observed. Working forwomen has been seen as a secondary business to theirmain work of running a family, maintain household choresand looking after children and other senior familymembers. But, the social attitude to women as well asto their education has tremendously changed in themodern world because of the development of diverse anddiversity of occupation. It has made women take part inthe economic activities of the society and earn theirlivelihood.

Women Empowerment Characteristics:• Women empowerment is a process of acquiring

power for women in order to understand her rightsand to perform her responsibilities towards oneselfand others in a most effective way.

• Women empowerment is giving power to women; itis making women better off.

• Women empowerment enables a greater degree ofself-confidence and sense of independence amongwomen.

• Women empowerment gives the capacity or powerto resist discrimination imposed by the maledominated society.

• Women empowerment enables women to organizethemselves to increase their self-reliance.

• Empowerment of women makes them more powerfulto face the challenges of life, to overcome thedisabilities, handicaps and inequalities.

• Empowerment of women enables women to realizetheir full identity and power in all spheres of life.

• Empowerment also means equal status to women.• Women empowerment occurs within sociological,

psychological, political, cultural, familiar andeconomic spheres and various levels such asindividual, group and community.

Women Entrepreneurs:The Government of India has defined womenentrepreneurs based on women participation in equity

and employment of a business enterprise. Accordingly,a woman entrepreneur is defined as “an enterprise ownedand controlled by women having a minimum financialinterest of 51 per cent of the capital and giving at least51 per cent of the employment generated in theenterprise to women.”

The term women entrepreneur in the study refers to awoman or a group of women, who initiate, organize andoperate a business enterprise. In the case of a familypartnership business, the key person has been treatedas the woman entrepreneur. In the case of a non-familypartnership business or a limited concern, the mainpartner in terms of investment has been considered thewomen entrepreneur.

According to the Indian context, an entrepreneur is morean adapter and imitator than a true innovator. The taskof entrepreneurs has been full of challenges, but stillwomen have proved to be independent entrepreneurs. Ina recent study, economist Catherine Swift has shownthat women face a need of a tougher security than men.Women entrepreneurs have been making an impact onall areas of the economy in many countries. The retailtrades, restaurants, hotels, education, cleaning,insurance and manufacturing are the areas chosen bythem.

Women entrepreneurs start their business for thefollowing reasons:• They require new challenges and opportunities for

self-fulfilment.• They need to prove their mettle in innovative and

competitive jobs.• They expect the change to maintain the balance

between their personal and business lives. DunaLavoie, Professor of entrepreneurship, Montrealobserves that it men entrepreneurs have two or threeemployees; they have nine employees or more forthe same task. Often, a small business is fit forwomen’s life style. Expanding the business maycause a loss of control or disruption in the amount oftime she has to spend in other facets of her life.

• She may also think of overseeing and controlling everyaspect of her business and may feel she will loseopportunity of growing to the level of her success.

Women Entrepreneurship:Women entrepreneurs require a special treatmentagainst this backdrop. Since they have to fight againstheavy odds and belong to the largest disadvantagedgroup in the country. Industrialization, urbanization anddemocratization have made the women move towardsemancipation and seek profitable employment in various



fields. In socio-economic reality, entrepreneurship hasbeen defined differently. The government and otheragencies ascribe greater importance to womenentrepreneurs as a part of policy. Women form 50 percent of the population of the world and account for twothird of total working hours. About ten percent of theincome of the world is received by women and less thanone per cent of the asset of the world owned by them.Indian women are heavily restricted by tradition and theyhave to play the traditional role of housewife or motherin the home and compete with her men folks in the fieldof business and industry. They find it increasingly difficultto adjust themselves with these dual roles.

Women entrepreneurs can be seen wherever in the start-up ecosystem of India. Women too are seen leavingtheir prominent occupations and also some venturingout of the four dividers of their homes and joining thepool of Entrepreneurship in India. The central point tokick off the entrepreneurial journey is capital and differentbanks offer specific loans for women entrepreneurs thathave somewhat unique and more adaptable arrangementof terms and conditions relating to insurance security,financing costs, and so on.

Benefits of Women Entrepreneurship:

Table-1

Source: Geetha Sulur and Barani Gunatharam

List Of Various Schemes And Loans Only ForWomen:• Annapurna Scheme:

This scheme is offered by the State Bank of Mysorefor those women entrepreneurs who are setting upfood catering industry in order to sell packed meals,snacks, etc. The amount granted as a loan underthis scheme can be used to fulfil the working capitalneeds of the business like buying utensils and otherkitchen tools and equipment.

• Stree Shakti Package for Women Entrepreneurs:This scheme is offered by the greater part of the SBIbranches to women who have 50% share in theownership firm or business and have partaken in thestate offices run Entrepreneurship DevelopmentPrograms (EDP).

• Bharatiya Mahila Bank Business Loan:This loan is an emotionally supportive network formaturing women entrepreneurs hoping to begin newpursuits in the fields of the retail sector, loan againstproperty, MICRO loans, and SME loans.

• Dena Shakti Scheme:This scheme is given by Dena bank to those womenentrepreneurs in the fields of agriculture,manufacturing, micro-credit, retail stores, or smallenterprises; that need money related help.

• Udyogini Scheme:This scheme is offered by Punjab and Sind Bank inorder to give women entrepreneurs engaged withAgriculture, retail and small business enterprises toget loans for business at flexible terms andconcessional interest rates.

• Cent Kalyani Scheme:This scheme is offered by the Central Bank of Indiawith the point of supporting women in beginninganother wander or growing or changing a currentventure. This loan can be profited by women who areassociated with town and cottage industries, micro,small and medium enterprises, self-employed women,agriculture and allied activities, retail trade, andgovernment-sponsored programmes.

• Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme:This scheme is launched by Punjab National Bankand goes for supporting the women entrepreneursengaged with the small scale industries by grantingthem soft loans that can be reimbursed over a timeof 10 years.

• Mudra Yojana Scheme For Women:This scheme has been launched by the Govt. of Indiafor singular women needing to begin small new

Benefits of EmpowermentEntrepreneurship

Rise in economic • Increased incomestatus • Increased consumption

• Control over spending• Confidence in sustaining trend

Self worth • Finds greater ability to lead• To work in groups• To resolve conflict• Freedom to make business life

and own decision in life• Gets recognition in work

Self confidence • To be proactive• To face critics• To take risks (calculated risk)• To influence others

Social Status • Positive image• More gender equality• Sociability - net wokring• Involvement in community

works• Involvement in political activities• Encouraging other women to

entrepreneurship



enterprises and businesses like beauty parlors,tailoring units, tuition centres, etc. and a gatheringof women needing to begin a wander together. Theloan doesn’t require any insurance security and canbe profited according to 3 schemes:i. Shishu: Loan amount is restricted to ¹ 50,000 and

can be profited by those organizations that arein their underlying stages.

ii. Kishor: Loan amount extends amongst ¹ 50,000and ¹ 5 lakhs and can be benefited by theindividuals who have a settled venture.

iii. Tarun: Loan amount is ¹ 10 lakhs and can beprofited by thoseorganizations that are settled yet requireadditionally subsidizes with the end goal ofextension

• Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana Scheme:

This scheme is given by Oriental Bank of Commerce tothose women who hold a 51% share capital separatelyor mutually in an exclusive concern. No guaranteesecurity is required for loans of ¹ 10 lakhs up to ¹ 25lakhs if there should be an occurrence of small-scaleenterprises and the time of reimbursement is 7 years. Aconcession on the interest rate of up to 2% is given.

Women have equal opportunities and rights as men. Insuch a situation, it is essential to develop suitabletechnology, which will enable the woman to play herrole as an effective entrepreneur without disturbing herpriorities. The difficult circumstances in which a womenentrepreneur has to operate in our society must berecognized. Some of the problems faced by women arenot the same as an ordinary entrepreneur would face.

Conclusion:Indian women are heavily restricted by tradition and theyhave to play the traditional role of housewife or motherin the home and compete with her men folks in the fieldof business and industry. They find it increasingly difficult

to adjust themselves with these dual roles. Women haveequal opportunities and rights as men. In such a situation,it is essential to develop suitable technology, which willenable the woman to play her role as an effectiveentrepreneur without disturbing her priorities. Womenemerging as entrepreneurs in India can be viewed asthe rightful growth of respectable socio-economic growthof women. But, a society restricted by suppressive socio-economic factors cannot produce all alone the morerequired women entrepreneurs. Industrialization,urbanization and democratization have made the womenmove towards emancipation and seek profitableemployment in various fields. The difficult circumstancesin which a women entrepreneur has to operate in oursociety must be recognized. Some of the problems facedby women are not the same as an ordinary entrepreneurwould face. Thus, it is necessary to take into accountsuch factors which only women entrepreneurs have toface.

References:1. C.B.Gupta and N.P. Srinivasan, Entrepreneurial

Development, Sultan Chand and Sons, New Delhi,2002, p.127.

2. C,Swarajayalakshmi. Development of WomenEntrepreneurship in India, Discovery PublishingHouse, New Delhi, 1998, p.23.

3. M.D, Vinze, Women Entrepreneurs in India, MittalPublication, Delhi. 1987,

4. Sharma Arpita, “Women Empowerment : Milestoneand challenges”, Kurukshetra, Vol. 59, No. 11,September 2011, p. 11-12.

5. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/30255/4/chapter3.pdf

6. Ashok K. Pokhriyal,, Rekha Rani,, Jaya Uniyal (2014),“Role of Micro-Finance in The Empowerment of TheWomen”, Journal of Business and Finance, Vol 2No.1, pp. 21-31.



WOMAN IN INDIAN DEMOCRATIC SCENARIO

Dr.Trinadh mente1

1. Vice principal KGRL College Degree,AP.

Abstract

Woman’s political participations is a key component of Indian politics. To-day the issue of woman’s political participationis on the front page of the news papers in India. There was at time when most of the faces of the woman in news paperswere the face of the victims. But we are now seeing woman who are emerging as builders of democracy: Woman whoare registering to vote and who are making their vote count. Women are coming to the forefront of Indian democracyand some of them are working in that direction to participate in politics as well as in elections.

Introduction:Woman’s political participations is a key component ofIndian politics. To-day the issue of woman’s politicalparticipation is on the front page of the news papers inIndia. There was at time when most of the faces of thewoman in news papers were the face of the victims. Butwe are now seeing woman who are emerging as buildersof democracy: Woman who are registering to vote andwho are making their vote count. Women are coming tothe forefront of Indian democracy and some of them areworking in that direction. Participation of woman inpolitics will help woman to put their issues on the publicagenda, influence policy, allowing them to create theirown public agenda and facilitating their participation inthe political process.

The status of women:History will remember the year 1993 as the year whenthe women of India were given priceless gift in the shapeof the 73th Amendment to the constitution under which33% of seats in all tiers of Panchayat institutions werereserved for women. It gave new lease of life toinstitutions of local governments viz. Panchayat Rajinstitutions with 33% reservation for women. Proportionalrepresentation for schedule caste and schedule tribe,regular elections and jurisdiction over 29 subject ofgovernance. In once stoke women were brought into themain stream of governance not only as ordinary membersbut also as chairpersons and deputy chairpersons. Thusthe 73rd constitutional amendment act 1992 marked awatershed event in the history of local self governmentin India . This figure has now risen to 50% a figure thatis symbolic of the acknowledgement by centre and statethat women have proved their mettle in local governments.It is now time that the nation must give women their duerepresentations in parliament and legislative assembliesalso.

How women enter into politicsThe women of India have been torchbearers of itsdemocratic advancement since the time that Bapuji gavethem a clarion call to leave their courtyards and emergeas equal partners in the progress of the nation. Womenfought shoulder to shoulder with men in the freedommovement and they have shouldered more than theirfare share of hard work in the task of nation building .Women has exercise the franchise with clarity andhonesty in every election General, State or Panchayats.They turnout in large numbers to participate in the festivalof democracy singing songs, dressed in the colourfulfinery and in a mode of joyous expectations.

Across the country today there are estimated to be morethan one million women in all three ties of PRI. Bringingthese women into politics was an act of positivediscriminations. There is evidence to suggest thatwomen would not have entered these elected bodies inlarge numbers if these facilities were not given to them.

Analysis of emerging patterns of women leadership inPanchayats has reveal that elected womenrepresentatives mostly belong to 25 to 50 age group.Almost all of them are married. While a substantialnumbers were literate and partially literate in addition towell educated women. Member form lower strata of thesociety were also actively participating. Initially womenparticipated due to mandatory reservations and most ofthem often as proxies for their male family members.But soon after this initial reluctance gave way to a greatermaturity in outlook , and enthusiasm increasing politicalconsciousness and increasing perception of their roleand responsibilities. Participation has helped women tochange their perception of themselves as they gain asense of empowerment by asserting control overresources, officials and most of all by challenging man.Women has became articulate, conscious of them,power and despite low literacy level have been found tobe successful in tackling the political and bureaucraticsystems.



Several studies have also provided evidences of thequalitative change brought by the presence of electedwomen representatives in the governs of state. Issuesthat seriously impact rural lives such as water, alcoholabuse, educations, child care, health and domesticviolence are getting prioritized with greater frequencyand forcefulness. In these and other ways the issuesthat women have chosen differ from conventional politicalplatforms which are usually caste, ethnic, or religious.Even in situations where women act as proxies the lowerrelations between men and women are changing due tothe opportunity provided by the women to the malemembers for entering into the public sphere. In spite oftheir overwhelm presence, women continued to battle anumber of challenges. These range from inadequateeducations, burden of reproductive and productive roles,lack of self confidence to cultural, religious and genderbiases.

For a constituency that has been given so little by thestate in terms of opportunities for personal and collectiveadvancement, this feeling of exceptions always meetswith the disillusionment. The women’s reservations billswas drafted in September 1996 and passed by RajyaSabha finally on 9th March 2010 after being referred tocommittee and being subjected to never ending debateson minor contentions issues. The bill is expected to facea stormy reception in the Lok Sabha. Incidentally Indiathe largest democracy lags much behind other countriesincluding its neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan, whenit comes to the participation of the fair sex in politics.According to the comparative data by the interparliamentary Union, India ranks 99th among 187countries with only 10.08 percent of womanrepresentation in the Lok Sabha and9 percent in theRajya Sabha currently. India has only 59 womanrepresentatives out of 545 members in the Lok Sabhawhile there are 21 female members in the 233 membersRajya Sabha.

The Swedish parliament is the most gender balancedone in Europe. Of the 349 members as many as 16446.4 percent are woman. In France only 18.09 percentof elected representatives are woman. Germany faresbetter with 32.8 percent woman’s in parliament. Italyhas only 21.3 percent female elected representativesand Spain has as many as 36.6 percent womanparliamentarians. The Afghan parliament has 27.3 percentof female elected representatives i.e., better then India,Pakistan with 22.2 percent woman in its parliament facebetter then United States. According to the Pakistanconstitution, 20 percent of the seat in both the upperhouse and the lower House of the parliament should bereserved for woman. However woman politicians have

demanding 33 percent reservation in the legislaturebodies.

United state ranks 74th place in the IPU list. Since itsestablishment in 1789, there have been only 38 womanin the senate which has a 100 seats. Today only 17 ofthe 1000 US senators are woman, 13 are Democratsand four are republics. U.S. lags behind Afghanistan,Pakistan Israel, and Iraq.

In 1917 J. Ramkin the first woman was elected to theHouse of representatives . From 1789 to to-day 229women have been elected to the House. Currently, thereare 75 elected representatives in the House comprising17.2 percent of the total legislatures.

United Kingdom ranks with 62nd place in the IPU list.Britain with 19.5 percent woman representation in itslegislature bodies is not betters then the Pakistan andAfghanistan. Woman in Britain has first struggled to getthe right to vote and then to contest elections. Accordingto parliamentary records, it took over 50 years ofcampaign and debates before woman were allowed tovote in British elections. According to IPC list there areno woman in parliaments of the gulf countries like Oman,Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Just as the issues that affect women have gained priorityin the panchayat governance at the state and the centrallevel will acquire a gendered prospective only whenwomen received adequate representations. It is anmockery of democracy when 50% of the population doesnot have a voice that can be heard in the corridor ofpowers. Our pride at the progress of India in the leagueof Nations takes a severe battering when we realize thatmeaningful democracy requires that every constituencyis heard and represented. Fifteen years in not a longtime in the History of the World but it is a long machthat the women of India have under taken and willemerged victorious. It is a march that began at thePanchayats and will culminate in parliament.

Woman in government which brought manybenefits:• Woman representatives initiate, formulate and

implement policies and programmes which benefitswoman.

• Woman representatives bring in a feminineperspective to the process of planning , policyformulation and execution of developmentprogrammes such as health, nutrition, children’swelfare , family care, drinking water etc.

• Election of more woman’s plays a major role toempower woman by strengthening their innatecapacities through acquiring knowledge power andexperiences. Increase in number helps woman



becoming an effective presser group through theinstrument of collective bargaining.

• Larger participation provides woman an exposure tooutside world. Their participation has improved theirstatus in society as well at home. It provides aplatform for woman to gain experience, overcome theirfear and build in confidence, break the shackles ofpatriarchy and orthodoxy.

The mere introduction of reservation will not yield thedesired result. Any substantial improvement requireschange in attitude an shift from traditional approacheson the part of those who are at the helm of affaires.Reservation policy is an enabling tool but it is not end initself. Even where woman hold different officers, manytimes they failed to get the support both from the politicalexecutives and the administration. Serious efforts arerequired both on social and political fronts to removethem from fringes and main stream them even after adecade and half of legislative intervention. The need ofthe hour is the convergence of institutional, political andcultural circumstance of development in order to achieveactual participation and ensure good governance.

For effective participation of woman representatives ingovernance, the legislation should be implemented bothin letter and spirit. Though political parties have had tosupport woman candidates because of the reservationspolicy but they have not shown much interest in theirreal grooming. The political parties should make seriousand sincere efforts beyond mere lip service to ensurethat they encourage greater participation of women inpolitics. Although the record of political parties at stateand national level is dismal but a real beginning can bemade from the local governments upwards. Similarlybureaucratic apathy and insensitivity act as barrier forwoman’s entry and effective participation. Woman inpolitics should be actively promoted and groomed forpublic service so that they come out on their own andnot as a mere pros and proxies for their male relatives.Political parties will have to work hard towards ensuringa safe and level playing field for woman members toeffectively deliver on their mandates.

Conclusion:Personally I am not in favour of 33% of reservation ofseats for woman in national and state legislativeassemblies. This will not improve the status of the womanof India. It a misnomer. Thought I am not a politicalscientist it is definitely against the spirit of the Indianconstitutions as article 15th gives equal status to menand woman in India. In the same way I will be happy if Isee many women members in the corridor of theparliament and state legislative assemblies. It is possiblewithout reservation of seat for woman. If political partiesof India at National and State level give more ticket towoman candidate for contesting elections. If 1/3rd womanmember will given a chance to contest in the electionby every political parties in national and state levels theproblem of woman participation in parliament and statelegislative assemblies will be fulfilled I enforced toconclude in these line because Indian constitutionprovides reservation to SC and ST communities but after69 years of independence, the reservation system failto avail yield desired results.

Reference:• Bhora,O.P.Woman in decentralized democracy.

Journal of Rural Development Vol.16• Jain, Devaki, Woman; New Vision of Leadership. A

Presentation at Flobal Form, Dublin 1992.• Mohanty bidyut, Woman and political Empowerment,

New Delhi, 2002• Pradhan, K.C., Woman and Social Change, New

Delhi, 2010.Rural woman : From darkness to light. New Delhi,2011.

• Panda, Snehalata, Emerging pattern pf leadershipamong rural woman in odisha Indian journal of publicadministration Vol.42.No.3-4.

• Rameswari, Pandya, (Ed) Woman in India, New Delhi,2007.

• Reheman, Zainab, Empowerment of rural Indianwoman, Delhi, 2010.



EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN THROUGHPANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA

Dr. M. Galaiah1

1. Guest Faculty, Department of Political Science & Public Administration, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, AndhraPradesh.

Introduction:Empowerment has become a fashionable and buzz word.It essentially means decentralisation of authority andpower. It aims at getting participation of deprived sectionsof people in decision-making process. Empowerment isthe process by which the disempowered or powerlesspeople can change their circumstances and begin tohave control over their lives. It results in a change in thebalance of power, in the living conditions and in therelationships (Promilla Kapur, 2001).

According to World Bank (2008) empowerment isincreasing the capacity of individual or groups to makechoices and to transform those choices in to desiredactions and outcomes. Women empowerment could bedefined as that gives them control of power and resourcesand change women’s lives over time through their activeparticipation.

The process of empowerment is taking place at so manylevels that it is quite difficult to gauge the actual natureand extent of empowerment in improving status of women.Certainly the process is entangled in the struggles ofcivil society against the state, and under the weight ofhistorical practice and ongoing debates over theappropriate role of ideologies (Sheetal Sharma, 2006:14).A woman’s empowerment begins with consciousness—perceptions about herself and her rights, her capabilitiesand her potentials, awareness of how gender and socio-cultural and political forces affect her. Politicalempowerment, economic development and socialupliftment of women are necessary and desirable to fight

Abstract

Women constitute more or less than half of the population of any country. But their involvement in politics is insignificantcompared to men. Many physical, psychological and social factors hold women back from active political involvement.Political status of women implies a degree of equality and freedom enjoyed by women in sharing of power andimportance given by the society to the role of women in the political system. Political system and decision makingprocess in seen clearly in the changes incorporated in the Panchayati Raj Institution. The 73rd ConstitutionalAmendment in 1992 gave them not less than one-third reservations in the PRIs at all the levels. This has beenenhanced to 50 percent in some of the states. Affirmative action to ensure women’s political representation is animportant step in democratizing and engendering local governance. However, it does not guarantee effectiveparticipation or ensure that issues of concern to community and women will automatically be addressed by localgovernance structures. This paper analyses the empowerment of women in India and to assess the how far impact of73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in empowering women in India. It also analyses the reasons for women’s lowlevel of participation and make suggestions for their effective participation of women towards the process of democraticdecentralization.

myriad forms of patriarchal domination, anddiscrimination at every stage. In fact, women’sempowerment is central to the achievement of the triplegoals of equality, development and social justice. Andfor that political participation is needed. In a democraticsystem, women participation may be viewed at twolevels: (i) awareness and assertion of women politicalrights; and (ii) acquisition and exercise of power (AnilDutta Mishra, 2014:400-401).

Women Participation in India:Women constitute more or less than half of thepopulation of any country. But their involvement in politicsis insignificant compared to men. Many physical,psychological and social factors hold women back fromactive political involvement. This is true as far as thestate and national level politics is concerned. Ademocratic country cannot progress if energies of itshalf population are concerned in the kitchen only. Afterattaining independence Indian constitution ensuredgender equality through various provisions andregulations. It was presumed that these rights wouldautomatically get translated into political developmentof the women in the country. The issue of women’sparticipation in politics cannot be viewed in isolation fromthe general position of women in a society but despitetheir vast strength, women occupy a marginalized positionin the political system (Rashmi Arun, 1996).

Political participation of women in India has beenneglected even since independence. Though our countryhas adopted democratic system of government and the



women constitute 48.9 per cent of population of thecountry, but their political participation is very low. Dueto various constraints they could not occupy thepositions of power and assume leadership roles.Women’s participation has been increasing rapidly butit is not satisfactory. They are also denying opportunitiesto participate in the administration, even in the makingof decisions that affect their life and welfare (VikasNandal, 2013:47-48).

Constitutional Provisions and Policies for Women:In our Constitution there is guarantee of equality anddignity of the individual and it claimed the fundamentalrights of women to political and legal equality andguaranteed non-discrimination in employment and officeunder the states. It had provided many channels for thedevelopment and progress of the women. The preamblesof the Constitution, the chapters of Fundamental Rights,Directive Principles of the State Policies etc., are thespecific objectives of this purpose (Vikas Nandal,2013:47-48).

The Fundamental Rights as guaranteed by theConstitution (Part III, Articles 12-35) tries to removeinequalities which Indian women had suffered a lot. Inthis regard, Article 14 promises equality before the lawand equal protection by the laws. Article 15 prohibitsdiscrimination on grounds of religion, race caste, sex orplace of birth and also provides that the state may makespecial provisions for women and children. Article 16guarantees equality of opportunity in public employment.Article 23 prohibits traffic in human beings as well asforced labor.

Despite all such constitutional provisions, there is nosatisfactory development in their social status. Becausethey are not yet behaving as active citizens and nowthey are living in a very parochial traditional culture. Inorder to study the political behavior of women, an attempthas been made to study their electoral behavior whichis the only indices of the political behavior of women asa whole (Artatrana Gochhayat, 2013:40).

The Panchayati Raj System was initiated toinstitutionalize the participation of rural people from allsections in local governance. The architects ofpanchayati raj envisaged that not only men but also ruralwomen should participate in their development. TheBalwantrai Mehta study team was conscious about therepresentation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs). It therefore recommended that co-option andnomination of women in Gram Panchayats (GPs) andPanchayati Samitis (P.S.). Accordingly, different Statesattempt to provide representation to rural women. Somestates (like Maharashtra) chose nomination whereas

some (like AndhraPradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana)adopted co-option. On the other hand some States (likeAndhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar) gave up therepresentation to women in PRIs (Mishra, 1997).

Despite these efforts, because of our male dominatedrural society, presence of women in PRIs remainednegligible as shown by various studies in different areasD’ Lima, 1983 (Maharahstra), Manikyamba 1990 (AndhraPradesh), Bhargava and Raphael, 1994 (Karnataka),Singh, 1993 (Gujarat). Women could not play a significantrole in PRIs. Provisions of nomination/ co-option ofwomen into PRIs became a patronage of socio-politicallydominated rural elites, instead of leading them tomeaningful participation.

The Constitution of India is based on the principles ofequality. It prohibits discrimination on the basis ofreligion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. It envisagespolitical equality for men and women but no concretestep was taken by the government before 1993. Withthe introduction of reservation or quota system in thePanchayat Raj institutions a great beginning has beenmade in the direction of legislative empowerment ofwomen and it is hoped that along with women’sempowerment through collective voicing and participationin the development stream, it should go a long way inthe real empowerment of women (Shiva Kumar Lal,www.isical.ac.in/~wemp/Papers/Paper Shiva LalRevised.doc, retrieved on 22-09-2014).

Scenario After 73rd Amendment:It is the Constitutional 73rd.Amendment Act, whichseems to have provided some real basis for bringingwomen into the power structure at the base i.e. thePanchayat level. While reserving one-third seats for theScheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes in the Panchayatarea, one-third of such seats shall be specifically reservedfor women belonging to SC/ST sections, provide the Actas per Article 243D(2) Article 243D(3) provides that notless than one-third (including the women’s SC/ST seats)of the total number of seats to be filled by direct electionin every Panchayat shall be reserved for women andsuch seats may be allotted by rotation to differentconstituencies in a Panchayat. Further, the Act providesfor reservation of SC/ST and women, in the offices ofChairpersons of the Panchayats at the village or anyother level. The intentions of the Act are thus clear. Powerhas to devolve to the people at the grassroots, andspecific provisions have been made for those sectionswhich have suffered through centuries of starkexploitation by being kept out of power and deprivingthem of education, property and power i.e. theScheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women. TheAct enables thousands of SC/ST women candidates to



take power in their own hands and use it for the bettermentof their condition (Harsukhjit Kaur, 2006:96).

In India, affirmative action for women and disadvantagedgroups has been enshrined into the constitution. TheConstitution (73rd Amendment Act), enacted in 1992,calls for the reservation of a minimum of one-third ofseats for women (both as members and as chairpersons)within all of India’s locally elected governance bodiescommonly referred to as Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs). More recently in 2009, the Government of Indiaapproved a 50 per cent reservation for women in PRIs;and many states, including Rajasthan and Odisha, havepassed similar legislation. The same amendment alsocalls for PRIs to “prepare and implement plans foreconomic development and social justice” (InternationalCenter for Research on Women, 2012:1-2).

Women in India are much better represented in thePanchayati Raj Institutions as compared to theParliament. As per the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, in2008 the Gram Panchayats had 37.8% women members,the Intermediate Panchayats 37% women members andthe District Panchayats 35.3% women members. Thetotal representation of women in all three tiers of thePanchayat amounted to 36.87%. This seems to be aresult of Article 243D of the Indian Constitution,mandating at least 1/3rd of the seats in all tiers of thePanchayat. A further Amendment to the Article wasproposed in 2009, increasing the reservation to 50%,but was not passed. Some states such as Bihar have50% reservation for women in the Panchayati Raj as perthe State Legislation, but not all the states in India haveadopted similar legislations (Apoorva Rathod, 2014:2).

On the positive side it has been noticed that due toreservation of seats many women were elected to localbodies. Reservations has created a space for women’sneed within the structural framework of politics andlegitimized women’s issue. They have been given theopportunity to share powers with men. Reservation hasalso recognized the identity of women and their presencein the public life.

On the negative side it has been found that the electedrepresentatives are treated ‘as puppets’ in thePanchayati Raj Institutions. Most of them remain silentspectators to the proceedings of the panchayat meetingsand rarely participate in the discussions. They hardlyvoice their own opinion regarding identifying beneficiaries,assigning contracts, locating developmental projects, etc.Simply sitting and listening to proceedings of the meetinghave been their form of participation. Active participationin the form of involving in the decision making process,budget preparation, planning etc, was found to be rarein case of women representatives. Due to male

dominance elected women members are functioningmore or less as dummies – the husband of womenSarpanches are actively participating in the panchayatmatters instead of allowing their wives to take part inthe decision making process. Financial matters are nottackled by the women representatives and for this theydepend upon their husbands or sons or any other malerelatives. Most of the elected women Sarpanches areregarded as a mere ‘Rubber Stamp’ and all the functionsof the Panchayat are being performed by their husbandsof local elites. Attendance of elected women Sarpanchesare regarded as mere ‘Rubber Stamps’ and all thefunctions of the Panchayat are being performed by theirhusband of local elites. Attendance of elected womenrepresentatives in Gram Panchayat Meeting is found verylow. Majority of them did not attend the meeting regularly.In spite of reservation of seats for women, the meetingsof the Gram Panchayat are overwhelmingly a maledominant event (Dasarathi Bhuyan, 2008:36).

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment in 1992 gave themnot less than one-third reservations in the PRIs at allthe levels. This has been enhanced to 50 percent insome of the states. However, some studies on the impactof this Amendment have pointed out that this hasenhanced their representation but has not providedgenuine empowerment to them. A field study ofUttarakhand has reported that it would be moreappropriate to say that it was in reality “EmpoweringMen through Women.”

The reservation of seats for women has actuallyempowered the male members of their families. Anempirical study of Himachal Pradesh has found thatwomen representatives have failed to acquire anindependent identify as decision makers (Ranbir Singh,2013:1).

Initially, women were hesitant to enter the political arena,political parties took advantage of this situation andproxy rule prevailed. A new class of sarpanch pati alsoemerged where the husband of the women sarpanchmanaged the affairs of the panchayat, while women actedonly as a rubber stamp (Mathew George 2003). Someof the women representatives feel that male membershelp them in the functioning of the Panchayati Raj bodiesbecause they are totally ignorant of their role andilliteracy becomes an obstacle in their functioning(Palanithurai 2002).

A number of micro-studies have documented the profileand experience of the emancipated rural women andperceptions about their new role. The studies havereflected variety of experience and participation of womenin different groups. It is seen that women have to usethe new political space in the Panchayats in the face of



unspoken opposition or at least reservation. A study inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh notedthat the reservation for women immediately led to fourmyths about their entry and likely performance; (a) theirpassivity and disinterest in political institutions; (b) onlythe well-to-do, upper strata women come throughreservation, (c)

Women’s political connectivity – only kins of powerfulpoliticians enter Panchayats to keep the seats for themand finally, (d) Women are only proxy – ‘namesake’members and they do not participate in Panchayats.Nirmala Buch in her study has exploded these mythswithout discounting existence and behaviour of somewomen who would fit into this patriarchy orientedframework. The participation of women in Panchayatshas had an impact on their sense of self. The data ontheir perceptions, recognition, respect, enhanced status,confidence levels, enhanced levels of mobility andexposure, their increased political perceptions andcommunity’s perceptions and evaluation of theirperformance are seen as markers of empowering processfor women (Roy Jaytilak Guha,1997).

Susheela Kaushik’s study on Panchayati Raj Institutionin Haryana revealed that most of the women memberswere illiterates, poor and mostly engaged in domesticresponsibilities. Due to these disabilities these electedwomen have not been performing their role effectively. Inorder to perform their duties they had to depend onmembers of their families (Mahi Pal, 2004).

The studies in different states reflect that women wereused as proxies. The proxies suffer from certaincharacteristics.1. They display a lower level of political awareness2. They show their primary loyalty to their family3. Their role as an elected representative is merely an

extension of their role as housewife4. They serve paternal interests of the family (Mini

Thakur, 2010:23-24).

Reasons for Women’s Low Level of Participation:The Internal factors which is affecting the process ofwomen & empowerment and participation are identifiedas : lack of awareness, experience, knowledge, skills,leadership quality, low level of education, lack of exposureetc. It is noticed that women representatives are notaware of their functions, duties and responsibilities. Lackof education or low level of education has become amajor obstacle in the path of playing active role in thefunctioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions. The electedmembers are unable to understand the basic of workingof Panchayati Raj Institutions. As a result they providean ineffective leadership.

The external factors which affect the process ofparticipation and empowerment of women are: influenceof family, caste, social outlook, patriarchy etc. Thedominated Indian Society does not perceive women ascapable or worthy of leadership. The Indian males stillperceive that they are alone capable of occupyingpositions and holding power (Dasarathi Bhuyan,2008:36). Men representatives also do not help theirwomen counterparts in understanding their role and inplaying an active part because men feel that women donot have an understanding of development work to beundertaken by panchayats. Another major problem isthat due to pressure of household activities, livestockcare and farm work, rural women are not able to giveenough time to panchayat activities (Tyagi L.K. and B.PSinha, 2004:140).

Conclusion:Since independence India is emerging as a leadingdeveloping nation in the world. After independence ourcountry has attained growth and development in almostall the spheres, but if we look at the gender equality itprovides a very unsatisfactory picture. Women are facingproblems in every sphere of life whether employment,education, access to health care or property rights. Nodoubt the government of India has initiated a number ofpolicy measures to eradicate gender inequality, but stillit has to go a long mile. Women empowerment in Indiais still a distant dream. There still exists a wide gapbetween the goals enunciated in the constitution,legislation, policies, plans and programms on the onehand and the ground reality on the other hand. Genderbased discrimination exists in the society which restrictsthe role of the women. Women are considered inferiorto men.

The study revealed that after the passing of 73rd

Amendment Act revealed that with the provision of 33per cent reservation clause, the number of women inPanchayathi Raj bodies has significantly increased. Butthe dominance of men persists because of patriarchalculture, traditional outlook and low percentage of literacyamong women. There are many women who have notonly remained powerless but have become dummies forother powerful forces. The proportion of such leaders isalarming high. The opportunity created by the policymakers to bring about gender equity in governance hasnot been completely translated into reality.

Elections have played a significant role in IndianDemocracy. During the elections time, political partiesstated that they gave priority to women participation.No political party wants to participation of women ascandidate in election. Though they honour women butvery few are in favour of women’s active participation in



election as candidate. This is the fact that womenReservation Bill is still pending in parliament. No partyis willing to give 33 per cent reservation to women inelection, but does not want to be exposed. During theelections, when women voters are taken seriously forvote purpose women’s participation in political processis a must for today’s political atmosphere.

Suggestions:1. Most of the women representatives are totally

ignorant of their role and illiteracy becomes anobstacle in their functioning. Hence, there is need totrain these women Panchayati Raj functionariesabout their rights and duties and their role inPanchayati Raj institutions.

2. Another important effort required for realempowerment of rural women is to bring about anattitudinal change in both men and women. The feelingthat women are meant for household activities andrearing children needs to be transformed into a feelingof equal partnership of women and men. To inculcatethis they should be imparted education for bringingabout social and political awareness among both.

3. There should be increased emphasis on ensuring theparticipation of women in the meetings of Panchayatsat all the levels. This is needed to promote andenhance their leadership qualities and self-confidence.

4. Incentives play a vital role in ensuring the participationof elected representatives in decision-making. It hasbeen noticed that there are certain very active andenlightened women leaders at all the levels ofPanchayats, who have been successfullyimplementing the developmental schemes and haveensured overall development of their constituencies.

5. The media both print as well as electronic can playan important role in creating awareness in the ruralsociety. It can act as an agent of political socializationfor inculcating the values of gender equality andgender justice

References:• Anil Dutta Mishra, (2014), Women Empowerment:

Issues and Challenges, Indian Journal of PublicAdministration, Vol. LX, No. 3, July-September, pp.400-404.

• Apoorva Rathod (2014) Women’s PoliticalParticipation and Representation in India, DelhiPolicy Group Issue Brief, April 2014,ht tp: / /www.delh ipol icygroup.com/uploads/publication_file/1066_Women_in_Politics_final.pdf,retrieved on 24-01-2018.

• Artatrana Gochhayat, (2013), Political Participationof Women in Gram Panchayat Elections in Odisha:A Case Study of Hindol Block in Dhenkanal District,International Journal of Humanities and SocialScience Invention, Vol.2, No.2, February, p.40.

• Bhargava, B.S. and Jos C. Raphael, (1994), “Workingof Gram Sabhas in Karnataka; A Study of Micro Level,Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.145-157.

• Dasarathi Bhuyan, (2008) “Women’s: EmpowermentGrassroots, Participation in Panchayati Raj”, Yojana,Vol. 52, October, p.36.

• D’ Lima Hazel (1983), Women in Local Government– A Study of Maharashtra, Concept PublishingCompany, New Delhi.

• Harsukhjit Kaur (2006), “Women, Grass-RootsDemocracy and Constitutional Measures”, PunjabUniversity Research Journal (Arts), Vol. XXXIII, No.1, April, p.96.

• International Center for Research on Women, (2012),Opportunities and Challenges of Women’s PoliticalParticipation in India A Synthesis of ResearchFindings from Select Districts in India, pp.1-2,http://www.icrw.org/files/publications/India %20governance %20 report %20 synthesis %20 2013.pdf,retrieved on 15-01-2018.

• Mathew George (2003), Panchayati Raj Institutionsand Human Rights in India”, Economic and PoliticalWeekly, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 02, January 11.

• Mahi Pal (2004), Empowerment of Women throughPanchayats – An Assessment and Talks Ahead,Women’s Link, April – June- 2004.

• Manikyamba, P (1990), “Women Presiding Officersat the Tertiary Political Levels : Patterns ofIntroduction and Challenges in Performance, Journalof Rural Development, Vol. 9, No. 6.

• Minni Thakur, (2010), “Introduction”, WomenEmpowerment Through Panchayati Raj Institutions,Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, pp. 23-24.

• Mishra, Sweta (1997), “Women and 73rd

Constitutional Amendment Act : A Critical Appraisal,Social Action, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp.16-30.

• Palanithurai, G. (2002), Dynamics of New PanchayatiRaj System in India, Vol. 1, Concept Publishing, NewDelhi.

• Promilla Kapur (2001), “Empowering the IndianWomen”, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,Government of India, New Delhi.



• Purohit, B.R. Chaturvedi, Arun, Lodha, Sanjay (2002),“State of Panchayats in Rajasthan”, Palanithurai, G.(ed), Dynamics of New Panchayati Raj System inIndia. Vol. II, Concept Publishing, New Delhi.

• Ranbir Singh, (2013), “Empowerment of women inPRIs: Issue and Challenges”, Panchayati Raj Update,Vol. XX, No.2, February, p.1.

• Rashmi Arun, (1996), “Role of Women in PanchayatiRaj”, The Administrator, Vol.12. p. 45.

• Ross Karen, (2002), Women, politics and change,Oxford University Press, New Delhi, p. 190.

• Roy Jaytilak Guha, (1997), “DecentralizationDevelopment and the Role of Women: The WestBengal Experience”, Indian Institute of PublicAdministration, New Delhi.

• Sheetal Sharma, (2006), “Empowerment of Womenand Property Rights Key to Rural Development”,Kurukshetra, Vol.54, No.8, June 2006, p.14.

• Shiva Kumar Lal, A Study of Issues and Challengesin Empowerment of Women Through TheirParticipation in the Panchayat Raj Institution: A CaseStudy of Allahabad District of Uttar Pradesh,www.isical.ac.in/~wemp/Papers/Paper ShivaLalRevised.doc, retrieved on 22-09-2014.

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WORK LIFE BALANCE: WORKING PROFESSIONALLIFE AND WORKING HOUSE WIFE

1. Associate Professor, Dept. of MBA, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Centre for Post Graduate Studies - CPGS,VIAT, Chikkaballapur District.

Abstract

Work is central to an individual‘s lives. For an Individual especially for women, Work is a source of income generationto meet the basic and material needs of the family, to earn recognition and respect in the society. According toBusiness Dictionary Work Life Balance (WLB) means “A comfortable state of equilibrium achieved between anemployee's primary priorities of their employment position and their private lifestyle”.This conceptual paper discussesthe factors affecting the working women both at the personal and professional life. The author through a conceptualmodel tried to draw the linkages between the factors affecting the women and the consequences of the same whichhas lead to Work Life Conflict (WLC) and Work Life Imbalances (WLI). The paper highlights the suggestive measureto be taken care by the women in order to have balanced personal and professional Life through the model, whereunderstanding of 3E’s (Educate –Enrich-Empower) can help women to achieve 3L’s (Live Lively Longer). The paperalso tries to highlight the suggestive measures need to be taken by the organizations to maintain healthy workingatmosphere for women in order to face the challenges of the highly competitive environment with a focussed career.This in turn can support women to have peaceful family and personal life with productive professional life.

Key Words: Work Life Balance (WLB), Personal Life, Professional Life, 3E’s, 3L’s, WLC

IntroductionIndia is one of the youngest countries in the world, witha significant segment of its 1.2 billion population in theage group of 20-35. By 2020, it is estimated that theaverage age in the country will be 29. The informationcollected through the secondary sources reveals thatmore than 50% of India’s current population is below the

Dr. Pankajakshi R1

Total Male Population in India

Total No of Females in India

Sex Ratio

Age structure

0 to 25 years

Current Population of India in 2017 1,349,552,768 (1.34 billion) As of April 07, 2017

696,909,049 (69.6 crore)

652,643,718 (65.2 crore)

945 females per 1,000 males

50% of India's current population

Currently, there are about 51 births in India in a minute.

Source: http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/india-current-population.html

age of 25 and over 65% below the age of 35. About 72.2%of the population lives in some 638,000 villages and therest 27.8% in about 5,480 towns and urban areas. It isalso stated that the India’s Population will reach 1.36billion by the end of year 2017, Population of India in2016 is 1.34 billion, India’s Population in 2015 wasestimated to be 12,928 million. India will take over Chinawhich is a most populous country in the world by 2025.

Table-1: Details about India’s Population

Women form an integral part of the Indian workforce. Women constitute to the half of the Indian population and onethird of the work force, irrespective of men and women work together but still there are gender differences. Accordingto the information provided by the office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India, As per Census 2011,in India, the total number of female workers is 149.8 million and rural female workers are 121.8; Urban femaleworkers are 28.0 million. Out of total 149.8 million female workers, females working as cultivators are 35.9 millionand agricultural labourers are 61.5 million. Of the remaining female workers, 8.5 million are in household Industryand 43.7 million are classified as other workers.



Employment of Women in different sectorsWork is central to an individual‘s lives. For an Individualespecially for women, Work is a source of incomegeneration to meet the basic and material needs of thefamily, to earn recognition and respect in the society. Inthe recent trends, women balancing both the personaland professional life are a growing concern for both theemployers and as a employee. According to BusinessDictionary Work Life Balance means “A comfortable stateof equilibrium achieved between an employee’s primarypriorities of their employment position and their privatelifestyle”. Most psychologists would agree that thedemands of an employee’s career should not overwhelmthe individual’s ability to enjoy a satisfying personal lifeoutside of the business environment.

As per Census 2011, the Women Work Participationrate is observed to be 25.51 percent, where as in 2001 itwas 25.63 percent. The Women Work Participation ratehas reduced to some extent in 2011, where there is animprovement in 1991 i.e. 22.27 percent as compared to19.67 percent in 1981. The Women Work Participationrate in rural areas is 30.02 per cent as compared to15.44 per cent in the urban areas.

The review of available literature of government statisticsreveals that the women’s labor participation rate fell from29.4 percent in 2004-2005 to 22.5 percent in 2011-2012.In rural areas women’s participation is 32 percent whereas men is 83 percent, and subsequently in urban areaswomen participation is 21 percent and men is 81 percent.According to the ILO, in 2011-12, while 62.8 percent ofwomen were employed in the agriculture sector, only 20percent were employed in industry and 17 percent inthe services sectors. According to Employment andTraining department, Bangalore the total employment ofwomen in organized sector as on 31st March 2012 was7,64,669 of which 2,90,983 were in public and 4,73,686were in private sector for the Total population of23,47,177.

Based on information available through review of literaturehave revealed that the women employment in IT sectoris seen an increase, as the women feel that it aprestigious while-collar job, higher salary, internationalopportunities and mobility, no gender discrimination asmen and women are treated equally. The work profile inIT sector ist more focussed on the Knowledge centricand individual skill possessed. The Indian IT-BPO industryis seen 2.23 million professionals employed directly withthe employment percentage of female employees havesteadily increased from 35% in 2006 to 36% in 2008 atthe junior level (NASSCOM-Mencher, 2009).

As far the organised sector is concerned, in March, 2011women workers constituted 20.5 percent of total

employment in organised sector in the country which ishigher by 0.1 percent as compared to the preceding year. As per the last Employment Review by DirectorateGeneral of Employment & Training (DGE&T), on 31st

March 2011, about 59.54 lakh women workers wereemployed in the organised sector (Public and PrivateSector). Of this, nearly 32.14 lakh women wereemployed in community, social and personal servicesector.

Irrespective of there has been increase in the femaleliteracy rates and enrolment of education, Womenparticipation in workforce is seen on lower side comparedto other countries such as Saharan Africa and the MiddleEast.. According to the McKinsey report it is said thatby bridging the gender gap in the labor force, India standsto gain as much as 2.9 trillion of additional annual GDPin 2050. Educating and involvement of women inworkforce is the best way to address the societalproblems such as gender discrimination, harassmentand violence against women.

According to English Dictionary Work Life Balancemeans “the amount of time one spend doing the jobcompared with the amount of time one spend withfamily and doing things that an individual enjoys”. Work-life balance is the balanced arrangement and usage ofone’s time between the personal and professional lifewithout any negative consequences on one’s health,family and without affecting the productivity orprofessional achievements in an organization. In otherwords it can be said that the Work Life Balance of womenis the ‘right’ combination of one’s involvement andparticipation in paid work (career or professional life),and other aspects of their lives (personal and family life).The balancing of the personal and professional life,irrespective of the changing priorities.

Objective of the Study:Women Work Life Balance basically discusses aboutthe women who tries to balance their time both at thepersonal and professional level. The woman prioritizesand gives importance within and outside family, cateringto the needs and demands of the work place effectively.It is seen that Life is a Balance; One’s gain at professionallevel is equal to what one has lost at the personal lifeand vice versa. It all depends on how well a womantries to handle the situations and manage the thingsgiving equal importance to both personal and professionallife. In olden days most of the women, especially in therural side were restricted to be within the four walls andtake care of the family, but as the days are changingwith the technological upgradation, change in theperspective and the mindset of the individuals has madewomen to be a productive home maker as well as working



professional. This has created a challenge for women tomanage things at family as a daughter, wife, mother, soon and as an employee, employer in an organization.

This conceptual paper discusses the factors affectingthe working women both at the personal and professionallife. The authors through a conceptual model tried todraw the linkages between the factors affecting thewomen and the consequences of the same which haslead to Work Life Conflict and Work Life Imbalances.

The paper highlights the suggestive measure to be takencare by the women in order to have balanced personaland professional Life through the model, whereunderstanding of 3E’s(Educate –Enrich-Empower) canhelp women to achieve 3L’s (Live Lively Longer). Thepaper also tries to highlight the suggestive measuresneed to be taken in organization to maintain the healthyworking atmosphere for women in order to face thechallenges of the highly competitive environment andalso to maintain balance in work environment with afocussed career and to lead a peaceful family andpersonal life.

Literature Review:Extensive Secondary literature survey was carried outto understand the concept of Work Life Balance of womenand to extract the relevant information. SecondarySources of information was collect through Books,articles, research papers published in Journal & E-Journals, Websites etc. A few selected review of literaturehas been presented below:

Satish Puranam (2016), the author in the article hasexplored the various bodies of study conducted in therecent past and compiled relevant suggestions toorganizations to deliver a positive WLB for women.

Richa Agarwal et.al (2015), the authors in their articlehave highlighted the factors affecting work-life balanceof women employees, impact of demographic variableson work-life balance and organizational policiesaddressing work-life balance of women employees.

Lalita Kumari (2015), The author aims to study and findout the perception of various factors for married womenemployee’s which has lead to Family Work Conflict(FWC).

Anju Sigroha (2014), The author in the paper haveexamined the differences in employees perception aboutthe impact of work life balance facilities on employees,overall performance among three sectors of Indiancorporate sector (Manufacturing, service, IT sector). Thestudy is descriptive in nature and found that there issignificant difference in the employee’s perception aboutthe impact of work life balance facilities on overallperformance of employees.

Vijaya Mani (2013), the author has made an attempt togain insight in to the role of a sample population ofwomen employed in different occupations, in balancingwork and life in Tamil Nadu, India. The author hascollected data, studied and analyzed the same in orderto explore and portray the sensitivity of women and theirperceptions of the society as well as to highlight thevalues, attitudes and beliefs of women in the formal workorganizations and primary family system.

G. Delina and Dr. R. Prabhakara Raya (2013), Theauthors in their paper has an attempt to explore the toughchallenges faced by working women in maintaining abalance between their personal and professional life. Theauthors have examined the various factors affecting thework-life balance of married working women. The toolused for the study is the manual on work–life balance ofThe Industrial Society (now the Work Foundation) byDaniels and McCarraher. Data were subjected todescriptive statistics and it was found that the problemsfaced by the working women of Pondicherry in terms ofwork-life balance are quite high.

Khushboo Mitta, Sethi and Upasna Joshi (2013), theauthors in their study have tried to see how aptly womenjuggle all their roles and the repercussions on theirhealth, productivity, family commitments, etc. Theauthors have also made an attempt to know about thevarious factors contributing to maintain a healthy worklife balance studied by various researchers.

Rincy V. Mathew and N. Panchanatham (2011), theauthor’s objective was to develop and validate anappropriate tool to illustrate the work-life balance (WLB)issues faced by women entrepreneurs of South India,also to understand the important factors influencing theWLB of the women entrepreneurs. In the study theauthors have revealed that role overload, dependent careissues, quality of health, problems in time managementand lack of proper social support are the major factorsinfluencing the WLB of women entrepreneurs in India.

The Times of India article, March 2014 has shared inthe article “Women have no say in marriage” in theempowerment index:• 59% women (over 25) with any say in marriage.• 48% women (over 25) were married before age 18• 17.8 is the mean age at marriage• 18% women (over 25) knew their husbands before

marriage• 39% give expensive items in dowry.• 55% women with name on bank account• 91% women have cash in hand• 76% women have a say in purchasing goods



• 19% women with name on house documents.• 81% need permission to visit health centre• 60% women practice head/face covering.• 70% deliveries take place in hospital• Declining sex ratio from 927 in 2001 to 919 (2011) for

every 1000 boys.

One of the major challenges faced by the women fromengaging in India’s labor market is societal concerns. Itis seen that there is an increase in the wiliness of parentto invest in educating women in both rural and urbanIndia, but still accepting women as a workingprofessionally is hard to digest by the society culturally.Some of the empirical studies information reveals thatthe women are proved to be better managers, betterdecision makers and better problem-solvers than menThe women face tough challenge in this sophisticatedsociety with many constraints which has been listedand discussed below:

Issues and Challenges faced by Women in PersonalLife (Working House Wife):• Gender bias, Male dominant society (especially in

rural areas)• Deprived of education• Limited exposure and awareness about individual’s

rights and responsibilities.• Lack of support and encouragement from family and

society• Lack of self confidence especially in the rural women.• Cultural and Societal Constraints• Harassment and exploitation in family• Domestic Violence against Women.

Issues and Challenges faced by Women inProfessional Life:(Women Profession Life)• Lack of encouragement and responsibilities• Gender bias, Importance given to Male• Unsupportive colleagues• Pressure from superiors• Inadequate information on working style• Limited access to information and understanding

technology.• Insufficient training and Professional skill• Society and Cultural constraints• Harassment and exploitation in work place.

A Conceptual Model – Factors influencing Work LifeBalance (WLB)Women constitute to the half of the Indian populationand one third of the work force. Women are consideredto be the strength of the family and the nation. As perthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Women hasequal right in power sharing and participation in thehousehold decision making and also in the country’spolitical level. Women being the prominent gender playa multi skilled role for development of family, and for thebetterment of the society.

Women at Personal life basically focuses about takingcare of the family members such as parents, spouse,children, health status of the family members, spendingand socializing during their leisure time with the family,friends and relatives. Women are more likely toexperience the stress from various sources as they playa mutli role as a mother and wife where they are boundto carry the responsibilities of both children andhousehold responsibilities than men at personal life.Women as Professionals or career oriented in theirprofessional life aim to grow and earn respect, higherposition or key positions, with good salary package inthe organization and as well as in the society.

A conceptual framework has been designed to illustratethe factors affecting the Work-Life Balance among theworking women which is being presented below. (Fig.1)

The above model is self explanatory where workingprofessionals face many challenges and there are manyfactors which influences the women at their personaland professional life. The Interpersonal conflict at workamong colleagues, unsupportive supervisor withunhealthy working environment often lead to Work LifeConflicts (WLC). If the challenges faced by the womenare not well managed and balanced leads to stress, asa result of this an individual faces Work Life Imbalances(WLI). In order to have Work Life Balance, women needto prioritize the importance and to dedicate her timebased on the need and demands both at the professionallevel and personal life. Women can be effective inovercoming stereotype threat when they maintain astrong sense of humour. This means maintaining apositive attitude even in unhealthy, imbalancedsituations; being willing to laugh at themselves and takeup the challenges with enthusiasm. (Fig.2)

The 3E’s play a vital role in Work Life Balance in womenwhere the Education is the one of the tool which canEnrich and upgrade ones knowledge this can in turnhelp the women to be Empowered with an opportunityto face the challenges of the competitive environment



Fig.1 : A Conceptual Model –Factors influencing Work Life Balance (WLB)

Consequences due to Stress Outcome: WLC/WLIFactors influencing WLB

Professional LifeWork environmentJob profile/securityWork DeadlinesCoping with the TechnologyPressure from superiorsUnsupportive Colleagues

Professional LifeDisturbancesJob dissatisfactionPerformance downfallAbsenteeism Rate increase

WORK LIFECONFLICT (WLC)WORK LIFE IMBALANCE(WLI)Disturbances both atPersonal & Professional Life

Health Problems:Cardiac Problems, Diabetic, Thyroid, Blood Pressure etc.

Depression:Suicidal attempt, Accidents etc.

Personal Life DisturbancesMarital life: DivorceHealth problems,Impact on spouse, childrenand Relatives

Personal LifeIndividual charactersMarital LifeFamily DemandsSocietal concerns

Enrich Live

EducateEmpower Lively Longer

3E’s WLB 3L’s

Fig.2 : The Essentials of 3E’s and 3 L’s in Work Life Balance (WLB)

Work life balance (WLB)

3 L’s3 E’s

Source: Author

skilfully and at the same time this gives rises in strength for the women to manage and balance the work andpersonal life which in turn give rise to 3L’s to Live their life Lively and Longer and Vice Versa.

Working women are facing the challenge with multiple responsibilities handled professionally where one need toattend to targets, meeting schedules, business trips along with managing the routine responsibilities at home. Thechanging trends are increasing anxiety among working women where they need to strike a balance in managing thefamily and work. Many working professionals are torn between the incompatible commitments both at the personaland professional life.



Suggestive measures for women to maintain WorkLife Balance (WLB)• Prioritising the importance of work and the need of

individual in family, both at personal and official-worklife.

• Involvement of women in decision making, to havegender equality both at personal and professional life.

• Women should take initiatives to get educated,enrich their knowledge and empower oneself in orderto occupy the higher position in the organization, toget respect and involvement not only at family levelbut also in addressing the societal issues.

• Women should take care of themselves related totheir health, overcome infant mortality rate and developNutritional status in order to lead a healthy lifestyleand also to perform better.

• Women should upgrade their technical andmanagerial skills, empowering technologically to meetthe challenges of the highly competitive world andalso to take key decisions both at personal andprofessional life.

• Women should try to overcome the economicdependency, where one can either be self employedand provide employment for others this not onlyempowers economically but also socially.

• Women need to take care of their economical andsocial security in order to overcome the exploitationof oneself at work place and also at family level.

• Women should take up initiative, self motivated andmotivate others also to take up challenging task toenhance leadership quality.

Suggestive Measures to be taken by theOrganizations for Women to maintain Work LifeBalance:• Providing of required infrastructure, basic amenities

with healthy working environment such as cleandrinking water, proper ventilation, canteen, restrooms, crèches facility for the needy with nominalcharges.

• Organization should follow the Labour laws such asMinimum Wages Act, Factories Act, Employee StateInsurance (ESI) Act, Provident Fund (PF), andMaternity Benefit Act.

• Encourage women workers to go for higher studies,take up higher responsibilities and position, basedon merit without any gender discrimination; this canbring in the competitive spirit.

• Avoiding long working hours of women, if requiredwith a provision of flexible working hours such as

work from home facility especially in the IT sectorwhere one can manage the work effective irrespectiveof their absence from office.

• Presence of Women Grievance Cell (WGC) toaddress the problem and challenges faced by women,providing of transportation facility for the needy.

• Recognize and rewarding the women for theirachievements through incentives and facilitating withother fringe benefits

• Conduction of training for the women workers relatedto safety and security measures.

• Regular medical check-ups, conduction of yoga,meditation classes, recreation programmes forwomen to overcome the stress faced by women bothat Personal and Professional Life

• Arrangement for counselling for the needy dependingon the situation to manage the work life imbalance.

• Organizations need to take up initiatives and organizeawareness programmes about the rights of thewomen workers, to have information, betterunderstanding and handling of situations at the workplace.

ConclusionWomen constitute to the half of the Indian populationand one third of the work force. Women are consideredto be the strength of the family and the nation. As perthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Women hasequal right in power sharing and participation in thehousehold decision making and also in the country’spolitical level.

For a women, personal and professional life is like a twosides of a coin, where striking a balance between thetwo is tedious and critical. Women in order to excel inprofessional life have to prioritize the importance, createpositive impact in the organization where the employersees the individual’s attitude, loyalty and commitmenttowards work which is directly linked with the onesproductivity and achievements in an organization.

Women being the prominent gender play a multi skilledrole for development of family, and for the betterment ofthe society. Women should take initiatives to geteducated, enrich their knowledge and empower oneselfin order to occupy the higher position in the organization,to get respect and involvement only at family level butalso in addressing the societal issues. The balancingof women both at career and as home maker not onlymakes the family to lead better life, beneficial to theorganization but also contributes for the socio-economicdevelopment of the country.



References:• Anju Sigroha (2014), “Impact of work life balance on

working women: a comparative analysis” TheBusiness & Management Review, Volume 5 Number3 November 2014, pp: 22-30, International Trade &Academic Research Conference (ITARC), 3-4thNovember 2014 UK.

• Annual Report, 2012-2013, Department of Womenand Child Development – DWCD, Government ofKarnataka.

• G. Delina and Dr. R. Prabhakara Raya (2013), “Astudy on Work-Life Balance in Working Women”IRACST – International Journal of Commerce,Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 2319–2828,Vol. 2, No.5, October 201, pp:274-282.

• Khushboo Mitta, Sethi and Upasna Joshi (2013), “CanWomen Manage it All-Work, Family and Life: ERA ofbeing a Superwoman? A Review of Literature”, GlobalJournal of Management and Business Studies, ISSN2248-9878, Volume 3, Number 10 (2013), pp: 1187-1196, © Research India Publications.

• Lalita Kumari (2015), “Family Work Conflict amongMarried Women Employees in Ludhiana:An EmpiricalStudy”, Pacific Business Review International,Volume 8, Issue 4, October 2015, Pg: 31-39.

• Mandakini Devasher Surie (2016), Where Are India’sWorking Women? , March 9, 2016. http://asiafoundation.org/2016/03/09/where-are-indias-working-women/

• Pankajakshi R (2012), “Technological Change andThe Role of Women”, World Women Wellness, Dept.of Management Studies, Dr. MGR Educational andResearch Institute, Chennai, First Edition 2012, ISBN:978-81-910827-6-0, pg: 236-239.

• Richa Agarwal et.al (2015). “GENDER AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE”, in the 2nd International Conferenceon Science, Technology and Management, Universityof Delhi (DU), Conference Centre, New Delhi, 27September 2015.

• Rincy V. Mathew and N. Panchanatham (2011), “AnExploratory Study On The Work-Life Balance OfWomen Entrepreneurs In South India”Asian Academyof Management Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2, 77–105, July2011 © Asian Academy of Management and PenerbitUniversiti Sains Malaysia, 2011.

• Satish Puranam (2016), “Work Life Balance inContext of Indian Women”, The International Journalof Business & Management (ISSN 2321–8916), Vol.4, Issue 8, August, 2016, pp: 92-96.www.theijbm.com.

• Shailaja M.L. and Pankajakshi R (2014), “5E’s tocapitalize on Women Empowerment” in theInternational Conference on Enhanced Changes inCorporate Environment organized by MohamedSathak College of Arts and Science, Sholinganallur,Chennai on 29th September 2014.

• S. Sulaja (2004), “Social Development and Womenin Status –An Analysis of South Indian States”,TheJournal of Family Welfare, Vol. 50, No.2, December2004, pp: 55-57.

• Vijaya Mani (2013), “Work Life Balance and WomenProfessionals”, Global Journal of Management andBusiness Research Interdisciplinary, Volume 13 Issue5 Version 1.0 Year 2013, Global Journals Inc. (USA),Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853.http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/work-life-balance.html



SAGA OF PERSEVERANCE IN SELECTED NOVELS OF SUDHA MURTY

1. Research Scholar, Dept. of English,Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam.

G. Radha Madhavi1

AbstractSudha Murty, a prolific writer in Kannada and English, a visionary technocrat, a philanthropist and Chairperson ofInfosys, pens down the psyche of Indian women, changing alongwith the times, in pursuit of sustaining their identity as‘Woman’ in the patriarchal Indian society. Sudha Murty’s novels revolve around the prime concern for women andissues pertaining to sustaining their identity as ‘Women of 21st Century’. This paper, presents the saga of ‘Anupama’ in‘Mahashweta’ and ‘Shrimati’ in ‘Gently Falls the Bakula’ , intricately woven by Sudha Murty, focusing on the social,economic and psychological subjugation faced by them and the plightful ordeals which they underwent in the processof their 'Quest for Self' as ‘Woman’, in this male dominated society. Sudha Murty’s female protagonists emerge outsuccessful in accomplishing their dreams and intellectual aspirations, thus exemplifying themselves as ‘Women ofForte’ in 21st Century. Their ‘Saga of Perseverance’ exhibited in confronting the challenges and unparalled enigmashown in creating opportunities to elevate their stature as ‘Women of 21st Century’ is highly commendable.Key words: Subjugation, Challenges, Aspirations, Opportunities, Introspect, Patriarchal society, Saga, Perseverance,Feminism, Women of 21st Century

IntroductionWomen writers, especially novelists, have carved a nichein Indian Writing in English. Their works are distinct andact as dynamic witness to the various socio-cultural,political, economical and psychological conflicts facedby the Indian women of different social strata. Theyemphasized and synthesized the varied traditional andmodern reactions of Indian women, under variouscircumstances and finally succeeded in portraying theirfemale protagonists as ‘Women of Forte’ in 21st Centuryin their phenomenal works.

Sudha Murty, a versatile writer, a multifacetedtechnocrat, in her novels, sketches out the tribulationsfaced by women in the conventional patriarchal IndianSociety. Sudha Murty, herself, an embodiment of ‘Womanof 21st Century’, firmly believes that education andfinancial independence are the tools which empowerwomen to face various tribulations and nurture theirconfidence to emerge out successful. This is clearlyevident in Sudha Murty’s ‘Mahashweta’, wherein, thefemale protagonist, Anupama, exhibits immenseperseverance and unparalleled forte in empoweringherself and sustaining her identity as ‘Woman of 21st

Century’.

Anupama, the protagonist, in Sudha Murty’s‘Mahashweta’, is a talented and cheerful woman who isof down-to-earth nature. She is well versed in Sanskrit.Dr. Anand, sees Anupama for the first time when sheenacts the role of ‘Mahashweta’. He falls in love with

her and marries her against the wishes of his family.Anupama faces unconcealed animosity in her newhousehold and becomes a subservient daughter-in-law.When Anupama is afflicted with Leukoderma, the realnature of her husband Dr. Anand is revealed.He isresentful, uncaring and abandons her. The insensitivenature of her husband and family breaks down the spiritof Anupama and she contemplates suicide. She praysto the Goddess,

“Give me the courage to live, no matter what happens”.(Murty,79)

With the help of her friend Sumitra, Anupama rebuildsher life and career against all odds, with great maturityof thought and action. Anupama moves to Bombay(Mumbai) and works as a Sanskrit lecturer in a college.She faces sexual harassment from Hari, Sumitra’shusband and she shifts to another accommodation. Shemeets with an accident while crossing the road and Dr.Vasant, who is an ardent lover of Arts and Literature,attends her case. Dr. Vasant notices the white patches,a sign of Leukoderma, on Anupama’s hand and thinksfor a moment,

“What a blemish on this beautiful portrait!” (Murty,97)

Anupama has a leg injury and recovers with the help ofDr. Vasant. She write many letters to her husband. Dr.Anand but in vain. She doesn’t receive any reply. WhenSatya, a close friend of Dr. Vasant, becomes depressedbecause he was betrayed by his lover, Anupama saysabout her husband,



“He had loved ‘Mahashweta’ as a heroine. But when inreal life I developed this white patch and became a realMahashweta, the white one, he couldn’t handle it. ThisMahashweta was not acceptable to him” (Murty,116)

Dr. Anand goes to Bombay, to attend a conference. Dr.Prakash Apte, Anand’s friend comes across him nearthe beach and suggests that they should watch aSanskrit play being staged at Tata Theatre.

Dr. Anand, reluctantly agrees to his friend’s proposalbecause watching a Sanskrit play reminds him ofAnupama, their love, marriage and separation. When hehears the voice of the compere, he recollects the voiceof Anupama and realizes that though he deserted herfor no fault of hers, yet she is an integral part of his life.

Anupama directs the Sanskrit play, “SwapnaVasavadutta”, written by Bhasa. The play is enacted withoutstanding performance by the students and Anupamaand her team receive a standing ovation, lots of acclaimsand accolades. Dr. Anand recognizes Anupama and takesher address from the manager of the theatre and pays asudden visit to her.Anupama is shocked by seeing herhusband and remains speechless. A clear transition isseen in her personality. Anupama, who was once asubservient daughter-in-law and submissive house wife,has now transformed as a woman of immense forte.

“Her eyes sparkled with confidence, there was not a traceof self-pity in her demeanour. Anupama seemed to havegrown in stature” (Murty,146)

Despite, many requests by Dr Anand for reconciliation,she rejects all his pleas, she sternly questions him,

“Did you speak when you first got to know about mycondition? Was it my fault that I got this white patch? Isit my fault that I am a poor man’s daughter?” (Murty,146)

“You never treated me as a human being. I was only abeautiful object that you wished to possess andflaunt…“Suppose you had got Leukoderma, do you thinkI would have left you for some other man”? (Murty,147)

“How can you possibly expect a burnt seed to grow intoa tree? … I am no longer the naive Anupama, whoseworld revolved around you. I know what my goals areand where I am heading and I don’t need anyone’s helpto reach my destination. God has been very kind to me”.(Murty,148)

Dr. Anand watches as Anupama walks away from hislife, forever. Dr. Vasant proposes to Anupama but shepolitely declines his proposal and says that they can begood friends.

Anupama, signifies herself as ‘Mahashweta’, the whiteone. ‘White’ symbolizes purity and peace. Anupamabuilds a remarkable identity of her own – an identity of

purity in thoughts and behaviour. Anupama, who wassocially excluded and ruthlessly abandoned by herhusband and family, emerges out successful in hercareer, commands respect and the promise of anenduring friendship and rekindles the spark in her life,thus justifying her ‘Saga of Perseverance’ and emergesout as a ‘Woman of 21st Century’.

‘Shrimati’, the protagonist in ‘Gently Falls the Bakula’,a well-educated and intelligent woman, marries herneighbour and childhood friend – Shrikant Deshpande.Shrimati is plain-looking yet charming woman andShrikant is amiable and handsome man. They both excelin their academics. The “Bakula Tree” stands as awitness to their relationship of love. However, aftermarriage ‘Shrimati’ confines herself to the happiness ofShrikant. She abandons all her academic aspirationsand indulges herself in household chores. On the contrary,Shrikant joins an IT company and rapidly climbs thecorporate ladder. He enjoys a lucrative pay, he worksrelentlessly and reaches the pinnacle in his career. Heneglects Shrimati’s personal aspirations. Shrimati,silently fulfills her duties as a Corporate leader’s wife.She follows her husband as his uncomplaining shadow.

Shrimati has an inclination towards Indian History. Priorto her marriage, Professor Rao introduces her to Prof.Mike Collins. Prof. Collins is highly impressed by theextensive notes prepared by Shrimati on Buddhism. Prof.Collins requests Shrimati to guide him on his tour.Shrimati accompanies him and Prof. Collins wonders atthe potential of Shrimati, her sharp intellect and knowledgeof Indian History. He feels that Shrimati can be an excellentResearch Scholar, and suggests the same to her.However, she puts aside the thought of pursuing Ph.D.

Prof. Collins thinks,‘It was her decision and her life. Perhaps what she wasdoing was normal in India’. (51)

Shrimati and Shrikant are childless. When Shrimatiproposes to adopt a child, Shrikant refuses the idea.This deeply hurts Shrimati and the thought that she willbe deprived from the bliss of motherhood pricks herconstantly.Shrimati, receives a letter from Prof. Collinsstating that he will be on a visit to India and seeks herguidance during his tour. Shrimati is elated by seeingProf. Collins letter and agrees to join him on his tour.One day, when Prof. Collins questions her about hersilence,

Shrimati replies, ‘My loneliness. Sometimes it is very depressing’Prof. Collins says,One should have the basic happiness within oneself.That happiness comes from confidence and confidence



comes from the kind of work one does whole-heartedly’.(Murty,113)

Shrikant becomes the Managing Director of his company.In due course of time, he ignores Shrimati’s presenceand she feels distressed. Shrimati is filled with sorrowand bewilderment. She realizes the naked truth thatShrikant didn’t pay any heed towards her emotions andaspirations. She introspects her life and realizes that itis a fiasco.

‘She had to live like his shadow all the time. She wouldn’thave any identity of her own. Her life would be that of aplanet which shines with reflected light, rather than thatof a star which radiates its own light.’ (Murty,150)

She also remembers how Shrikant sneered at her,

‘The whole world says that you are more intelligent thanme. You think over it and whatever you feel is right, goahead and do it’. (Murty,150)

She thinks,

‘She always disliked being dependent on anyone. Livinglike this was worse than death to her’(Murty,151)

Shrimati says to Shrikant,‘I cannot live in this kind of an atmosphere with theseartificial values. I require to breathe fresh air. I do notwant to live as your shadow. I want to find my ownhappiness. Shri, if I had not been sensitive and bright,I wouldn’t have had to suffer such loneliness. I couldhave enjoyed your wealth. When I was thinking aboutmy life so far, what my goal has been, I have realisedwhat I want’. (Murty,161)

She questions her husband about her importance in hislife and she is aghasted when she receives a cold reply.She firmly decides to pursue Ph.D. in History in theU.S. and with the help of Prof. Collins, she gets ascholarship to pursue her Ph.D. She reveals her decisionto Shrikant who is shocked, and pleads her to reconsiderher decision. However, Shrimati firmly decides to openthe doors of her aspirations and achieve her goals.

‘Shri, I loved history and I loved you. In fact, once upona time I loved you more than history. But when you lostyour finer sentiments, chasing your success in the worldof business, I was left with nothing other than history.

For me, the glamour of money, house, car is immaterial…If you were in my shoes, what would you have done?The same thing that I am doing.’ (Murty,161)

‘I am also clear about my goal and I want to achieveit’.( Murty,162)

‘Shri, I cannot get a better friend than you’.

Before bidding good-bye to Shrikanth, Shrimati mentionsthat he is always welcome to meet her whenever hevisits the US. She kisses him gently on his forehead,gives him a warm hug & walks out with her bag withoutturning back. Shrikant feels that she was taking his spiritaway with her. Thus the ‘Bakula’, which had immensesignificance in their relationship, falls down gently. The‘Saga of Perseverance’ exhibited by ‘Shrimati’ insurpassing the subjugation and empowering herself toaccomplish her dreams is highly commendable.

At the outset, ‘Anupama’ in ‘Mahashweta’ and ‘Shrimati’in ‘Gently Falls the Bakula’, manifest unparalleled enigmain realizing their dreams. Sudha Murty emphasizes on‘Women Empowerment’ through her protagonists.

In all her novels, Sudha Murty, connotes the significanceof the famous Sanskrit saying,

“Yatra Naryasthu Pujyanthe , Ramanthe Tatra Devatha.”which means ‘Where women are respected, Gods dwellthere’.

Sudha Murty’s pen, in true sense, proves mightier bycurbing the social stigma and taboos deeply rooted inthe Indian society, as is evident, as in the case ofMalathi, whose marriage was cancelled as she wasafflicted with leukoderma. The groom confessed that hefinally changed his opinion about leukoderma and marriedMalathi after reading Sudha Murty’s ‘Mahaswetha’.

True to the belief that ‘A drop of ink makes millions think’,Sudha Murty’s novels stand as testimonials to the impactof literature on the society.

Works Cited:Murty, Sudha. Mahashweta. New Delhi: Penguin Books,2007.Murty, Sudha. Gently Falls the Bakula. New Delhi:Penguin Books, 2008.



SOCIAL STATUS OF WOMEN - INDIAN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

1. Research Scholar, Comm. & Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Yadagiri Kambhampati1

AbstractPatriarchy and traditional patterns of life have relegated women to a position of insignificance. Women suffer thisdiscrimination in silence. They are subjected to exploitation both in the house and in the society. They are the victimsof violence like female foeticide, infanticide, child marriage, dowry, purdah, sati slavery. The birth of a daughter isconsidered as bad luck. A growing girl child is considered as a burden for the family. A female child at the tender ageis subjected to sexual exploitation. The married woman is subjected to myriad forms of violence of varying proportions.Despite the enactment of a plethora of laws, the status of women has not improved. The home has become the leastsafe place for women, whereas it has become the safest place for men to commit violence against women. It isunfortunate that even after 71 years of Independence, the position of women has not changed. Even though theConstitution of India affords equality of status and opportunity to all its citizens, Indian womanhood is still tied up by therusted chains of religious customs and traditions. According to the statistics in 2001 Census the female sex ratio is933:1000. This reflects society’s preference for a male child and an Indication of the low status accorded to women.Domestic Violence is a serious and important matter but is not given any importance. Women are individuals whohave their own identity. A clear legislation is to curb the domestic violence in the need of the hour.Key Words: Society, Social Status, Marginalized, Inequalities etc.

IntroductionThe development history of the evolution of society'sscrutiny of primitive society, Men and Women also thewealth of food in search they are working equally. Sothat's the difference, however, was in distress. Nuts,tubers, fruits piled make the women involved, Hunting,the men involved in the acquisition of honey. The womanwas on the responsibility to protect children. So, womanis not responsible for the hunt. Due to the robust natureof the boundaries of the women did not even let theexternal things. But the distress is not going to be thedifference.

The evolution of society in their respective communities,culture, traditions, values, adjustments, will also appearin ceremonial affairs. Still gods are found in the world ofagriculture. For example: Yellamma, Maisamma,Uppalamma etc. Even in today's society women of thevillage gods.

But today woman are most marginalized sections ofIndian Society various social and economic indicatorsprovide the evidence of inequalities and vulnerabilities ofwomen in all sectors economic, social, demographic,health, nutrition, etc. The rising incidence of crime andviolence against women are indicators of a decline inthe respect of women in society.

Objectives• To study the historical background of status of women

in India.

• To know the historical practices in India.

• To explore the guarantees provided by theConstitution of India to all women in India.

• To find out the conclusions and suggestions for abovediscussion.

MethodologyThe methodology of the present research work is basedon doctrinal study. The relevant data has secondarysources. For the present study the researcherSecondary source has collected through publishedbooks, journals, periodicals, reports and along with thisunpublished research works.

Historical background- status of women in India:The status of a woman in the society is normallydetermined by societal practices and customs. In thislight the author has discussed the phenomenon of thestatus of women in the phases of history.

Vedic Period:In the Vedic period women participated in all the fieldslike men and took active part in every sphere of humanlife. During that period woman enjoyed a fair amount offreedom and equality with men. Women studied inGurukul and enjoyed equality in learning The Vedas.

Women in Post-Vedic Period: In the Post-Vedicperiod, from 1500 BC to 500 AD, the status of womansuffered a setback when various restrictions were put



on woman’s rights and privileges by Manu. The role ofwomen got restricted to the four walls of their home.During 500 BC to 500 AD which can be approximated tothe period of early Smiritis, the epics of The Ramayanaand The Mahabharata and the early The Puranas, theUpanaya rights for girls were completely abandoned. Themale law-givers bound freedom of women in deed andspeech, society became polygamous, polyandrydisappeared except in some rare cases like polyandrypracticed by Draupadi the Mahabharata. During thePuranic and Epic period, there was reduction of the ageof marriage of girls, deprivation of women in various areas.

Women in Medieval Period:The medieval period saw the women being oppressed inthe feudal social order and patriarchal families. Womenlost the right of education and they could worship onlythrough priest. The system of dowry had taken a positiveroot of great magnitude from about 13th and 14th CenturyAD, with an alarming position in Rajasthan.

Women in Mughal and British Period: The Mughalperiod and the subsequent advent of the British periodwere marked for general practice of killing baby girls,condemnation of widow, polygamy and system ofDevadasis in different parts of India. Injustice on womenfolk was echoed by Dada Bhai Naroiji, Swami DayanandSaraswati, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Lokmanya Tilak,Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi. Widow re-marriagewas advocated by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his BrahmoSamaj. His work was further developed by persons likeRanade and Karve in Maharashtra. The 19th Centurybrought a new era and crucial role was played by someoutstanding women like Annie Besant, sister Nivedita,Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kripalani, Durgabai Deshmukh,Kasturba Gandhi, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, and many more.Christian Missionaries in Bombay started the first schoolfor girls in 1824.

Women in Islamic Society: The Holy Quran makes itclear that woman has rights similar to those of man butyet man is a degree above woman. The Holy prophetgave a definite status to the woman in the society, as awife, as a mother, as a daughter and as a sister. Hemade a ceiling to the number of wives one could haveand specific conditions were laid down for contracting aplural marriage.

Women in Christianity: Her status and role wereconferred by Yahweh himself, to be companion and wifeto man and mother of all the living things of the world.Her role increased her status in the society. Polygamywas a legal fact. A man could have any number of wivesand a harem. Later, the Talmud fixed the number of fourwives for an ordinary man and eighteen for the King.These were abuses which later were made legal.

Women in Sikhism: The Sikh doctrine broughtrevolutionary change in the status of woman and theyfully participated in ‘Sangat’ and ‘Pangat’ establishedby Guru Nanak. The practice of Sati has beencondemned. The purdah, veiling of woman’s face, waseradicated. The practice of female infanticide isforbidden.

Women in Jainism: Atma has no division of male orfemale. Woman in particular has a unique position asJana Matha, the woman who gives birth to Thirthankara,the Jain deity. She has the highest position as the Motherof Nature. History is full of names of Jain women whodid a lot for their society and religion. It is stated inMahapurana that woman has the same rights as man,to get educated, take up jobs and so on. VrishabhaDeva, the first Thirthankara, is said to have impartedknowledge of language and mathematics to hisdaughters first and only then to his sons. He taught theJain alphabets to his daughter Brahmi, thus the famousBrahmilipi is named after her.

Women in Buddhism: The establishment of the Orderof Buddhist nuns gave women an opportunity for spiritualpractice and enfoldment. Women’s role as mothercommanded veneration, but society generally expectedher to give birth to a son, so that he could perform ritualsfor the salvation of his ancestors. This fear alwaysremained with the women. If all goes well, the wife iscalled the ‘Comrade supreme’. Number of devotedcouples is mentioned in the Palicanon. The most ordealpair preferred by Buddha was Nakula-Pita and Nakula-Mata. There are examples of women scholars inBuddhism like Sangamithra who with their scholarshipand wisdom reigned.

Medieval Period:Rudramma Devi succeeded her father to the Kakatiyathrone at the age of 14, assuming the title Rani (Queen)and the name Rudradeva. Though, she assumed fullsovereignty in 1262-63 AD, she was not the crownedqueen until 1269, which was when her father died. Hernomination and accession to the throne was not entirelyaccepted; indeed, some people had turned againstGanapatideva even during his lifetime because of hisdecision to appoint a woman as his heiress. On heraccession some nobles who were unwilling to submit toa woman’s authority, took up arms against her.

However, no other evidence is available to prove theexistence of her step-brothers. Even if it is believed thatsome intransigent nobles and close relations rebelledagainst her authority, the Kayastha Chief Jannigedevaand his younger brothers, Tripurari and Ambadeva,Recherla Prasaditya and Reddy Chiefs such as GonaGannaya were firmly loyal to the queen, esposed her



cause and helped her to defeat the rebels. The importantpeople in her life were Shivadesikulu, a minister whoserved the dynasty and Annamambikadevi, who was thewife of Gona Gannaa Reddy.

In spite of these conditions, some women excelled inthe fields of politics, literature, education and religion.Razia Sultana became the only woman monarch to haveever ruled Delhi. The Gond queen Durgavati had ruledfor fifteen years, before she lost her life in a battle withMughal emperor Akbar’s general Asaf Khan in 1564.Chand Bibi defended Ahamednagar against the mightyMughal forces of Akbar in 1590s. Jahangir’s wife NurJehan effectively wielded imperial power and wasrecognized as the real force behind the Mughal throne.The Mughal princesses Jahanara and Zebunnissa werewell-known poets and also influenced the rulingadministration Shivaji’s mother; Jijabai was deputed asqueen regent, because of her ability as a warrior and anadministrator. In many South Indian women administeredvillages, towns, divisions and heralded social andreligious institutions.

The Indian woman’s position in the society furtherdeteriorated during the medieval period when Sati, Childmarriages and a ban on Widow Re-marriages becamepart of social life in India. The Muslim conquest in theIndian subcontinent brought the purdah practice in theIndian society. Among the Rajputs of Rajasthan, theJauhar was practiced. In some parts of India, theDevadasis or the temple women were sexually exploited.Polygamy was widely practiced especially among HinduKshatriya rulers. In many Muslim families, Women wererestricted to Zenana areas.

The Bhakti movement tried to restore women’s statusand questioned some of the forms of oppression.Mirabai, a female saint-poet, was one of the mostimportant Bhakti movement figures. Some other femalesaint-poets from this period include Akka Mahadevi, RamiJanabai and Lal Dev. Bhakti sects within Hinduism suchas the Mahanubhav, Varkari and many others wereprinciple movements within the Hindu fold to openlyadvocate social justice and equality between men andwomen.

Historical Practices:

Traditions such as Sati, Jauhar and Devadasi have beenlargely defunct in modern India. However, some casesof these practices are still found in remote parts of India.

Sati: Sati is an old, largely defunct custom, in whichthe widow was immolated alive on her husband’s funeralpyre. Although, the Act was supposed to be a voluntaryon the widow’s part, it is believed to have been forced onthe widow. It was abolished by the British in 1829. There

have been around forty reported cases of Sati sinceindependence. In 1987, the Roop Kanwar case ofRajasthan led to the Commission of Sati (Prevention)Act.

Jauhar: Jauhar refers to the practice of the voluntaryimmolation of all the wives and daughters of defeatedwarriors, in order to avoid capture and consequentmolestation by the enemy.

Purdah: Purdah is the practice of requiring women tocover their bodies so as to cover their skin and concealtheir form. It imposes restrictions on the mobility ofwomen, it curtails their right to interact freely and it is asymbol of the subordination of women. It does not reflectthe religious teachings of either Hinduism or Islam,contrary to common belief although misconception hasoccurred due to the ignorance and prejudices of religiousleaders of both faiths.

Devadasis: Devadasi was a religious practice in someparts of southern India, in which women are ‘married’ toa deity or temple. The ritual was well established by the10th century A.D. In the later period, the illegitimate sexualexploitation of the Devadasi’s became a norm in someparts of India.

British Peroid: European scholars observed in the 19thcentury that Hindu women were ‘naturally chaste’ and‘more virtuous’ than other women. During the British Raj,many reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, IshwaraChandra Vidyasagar, Jyotirao Phule etc. fought for theupliftment of women. While this list might suggest thatthere was no positive British contribution during the era,that was not entirely so, since missionaries’ wives likeMartha Mault nee Mead and her daughter Eliza Caldwellnee Maultar rightly remembered for pioneering theeducation and training of girls in south India a practicethat initially met with local resistance, as it flew in theface of tradition. Raja Rammohan Roy’s efforts led tothe abolition of the Sati practice under Governor-GeneralWilliam Cavendish-Bentinck in 1829. Ishwara ChandraVidyasagar’s crusade for the improvement in conditionof widows led to the Widow Remarriage Act, 1856. Manywomen reformers such as Pandit Ramabai also helpedthe cause of women upliftment.

In 1917, the first women’s delegation met the Secretaryof State to demand women’s political rights, supportedby the Indian National Congress. The All India Women’sEducation Conference was held at Pune in 1927. In 1929,the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, stipulatingfourteen as the minimum age of marriage for a girl throughthe efforts of Mahomed Ali Jinnah. Though, MahatmaGandhi himself married at the age of thirteen, he laterurged people to boycott child marriages and called uponyoung men to marry the child widows.



Women played an important part in India’s independencestruggle. Some of the famous freedom fighters includeBhikaji Cama, Dr. Annie Besant, Pritilata Waddedar,Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Arum AsafAli, Sucheta Kriplani and Kasturba Gandhi. Other notablenames include Muthulakshmi Reddy, DurgabaiDeshmukh etc. The Rani of Jhansi Regiment of SubhashChandra Bose’s Indian National Army consisted entirelyof women including Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. SarojiniNaidu is a distinguished poet and a freedom fighter; shewas the first Indian woman to become the president ofIndian National Congress and Governor of Uthar Pradesh.

Independent India:Women in Indian now participate in all activities suchas education, politics, media, art and culture, servicesectors, science and technology, etc. Smt. IndiraGandhi, who served as Prime Minister of India for anaggregate period of fifteen years is the world’s longestserving woman Prime Minister.

The Constitution of India guarantees to all the womenin India, equality before law (Article, 14), no discriminationby the State (Article, 15(1), equality of opportunity(Article, 16) and equal pay for equal work (Article, 39(d).In addition, it allows special provisions to be made bythe state in favour of women and children Article 15(3)renounces practices derogatory to the dignity of womenby the state for securing just and humane conditionswork and for maternity relief (Article 42).

The feminist activism in India picked up momentumduring later 1970s. One of the first national level issuesthat brought the women’s groups together was theMathura rape case. The acquittal of policemen accusedof raping a young girl of Mathura in a police station, ledto a wide-scale protests in 1979-1980. The protests werewidely covered in the national media and forced theGovernment to amend the Evidence Act, the CriminalProduce Code and the Indian Penal Code and introducethe category of custodial rape. Female activists unitedover issues such as female infanticide, gender bias,women health and female literacy.

Since, alcoholism is often associated with violenceagainst women in India; many women groups launchedanti-liquor campaigns in Andhra Pradesh, HimachalPradesh, Haryana, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and otherStates. Many Indian Muslim women questioned thefundamental leaders’ interpretation of women rights underthe Sharit law and criticized the triple Talaq system.

In 1990s, grants from foreign donor agencies enabledthe formation of new women-oriented NGOs. Self-HelpGroups and NGOs such as Self Employed Women’sAssociation (SEWA) have played a major role in women’s

rights in India. Many women emerged as leaders of localmovements. For example, Medha Patkar initiated theNarmada Bachao Andolan.

The Government of India declared 2001 as the Year ofWomen’s Empowerment (Swashakti). The NationalPolicy of Empowerment of Women has set certain clear-cut goals and objectives. The policy aims at upliftment,development and empowerment in socio-economic andpolitico-cultural aspects, by creating in them awarenesson various issues in relation to their empowerment.

The specific objective of National Policy is particularlyrural folk working on empowerment of women in India.The National policy for empowerment of women envisagedintroduction of a gender perspective in the budgetingprocess as an operational strategy. A few laws andlegislations are enforced strictly for effective and properimplementation of this policy.

Conclusion:Bearing the women of India have been exposed to greaterinsecurity, poverty, illiteracy, unhealthy living conditions,backwardness, corruption, criminalization and matedominance in most of the field. They have been affectedby lack of opportunities and facilities owing to innatediscriminations prevalent in the society. It is unfortunatethat in spite of the existence of so many laws majorityof women are being deprived of their rights and benefitsand their security are Jeopardy and the offences againstwomen in various fields are on the rise.

SuggestionsAwareness campaigns, seminars, debates should beconducted and the knowledge regarding their legal rightsand nature of problem faced them, need to invitesuggestions for the effective implementations to empowerthe status of women. The central government, stategovernment and the NGO’s through the radio and TVprogrammes should educate the people about theimportance of status of women. The violation of rights ofwomen cannot be eliminated from society unless societyrefuses it. The hegemony of men should be changedwithout changing the patriarchal culture; it is not possibleto change the social status of women in India. Girlsshould be given an opportunity to stand their own.

References:• Suman Rai (2011), Law Relative to Protection of

Women from Domestic Violence, Orient PublishingCompany, New Delhi.

• Gokilavan, S., and S.G. Jelestin (2008), Marriage,Dowry Practice and Divorce, Regal Publication, NewDelhi, p.252.



• K. Murali Manohar (ED) et al., (1984) Women’sStatus and Development in India, (Ed) etal., Societyfor Women’s Studies and Development, Warangal.

• Veena Mazumdar, (1979), Symbols of Power Studieson the Political Status of women in India, (Ed.),Bombay, Allied Publications, 1979.

• Myneni S.R., Sociology (Indian Society), AllahabadLaw Agency, 16/2, Mathura Road, Plot No.93.

• Flavia Agnes, (2005), ‘How to implement the DomesticViolence Act”, The Asianage, 19th Sept.

• Alok Kumar Kashyap, (2007), Women and SocialIssues problems and Challenges, Mohit Publications,New Delhi- 110 002.

• Goel, Aruna, (2004). Violence and ProtectiveMeasures for Women Development andEmpowerment. New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publishers,New Delhi.



ATROCITIES AGAINST WOMEN

1. Student, St. Joseph’s Degree and PG College, Hyderabad.

Ankit Sharma1

AbstractFrom a time unknown, there have always been crime against women. Especially in India, women have been victimsof violence from many centuries in almost all the societies, regions, cultures and religious communities. Malechauvinism is wide spread and this has lead to unbelievable atrocities against this gender. Unfortunately, the quote“all the gods together could not stop Kauravas from harassing Draupadi” almost seems like a reality and this makesthe state of the women a very saddening one. Though the constitution states equal rights for all genders, women donot seem to enjoy all the rights to freedom. If researched and analyzed there cannot be even a single state, city, colonyfound in where the women are not ill treated.The study will focus light on how harassment happens to women of lowerincome group. Primary data will be collected from working women like labourers, maids, Janitors, etc and nonworking women. The study will try to find out the reasons behind the brutality performed by men and the steps that canbe taken to put a period on this issue.

IntroductionThe United Nations defines violence against women as"any act of gender-based violence that results in, or islikely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm orsuffering to women, including threats of such acts,coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whetheroccurring in public or in private life."

Violence against women is not a new phenomenon, noris its consequences to women’s physical, mental andreproductive health. What is new is the growingrecognition that acts of violence against women are notisolated events but rather form a pattern of behaviourthat violates the rights of women and girls, limits theirparticipation in society, and damages their health andwell-being. When studied systematically, as was donewith this report, it becomes clear that violence againstwomen is a global public health problem that affectsapproximately one third of women globally.

The term “violence against women” encompasses manyforms of violence, including violence by an intimate partner(intimate partner violence) and rape/sexual assault andother forms of sexual violence perpetrated by someoneother than a partner (non-partner sexual violence), aswell as female genital mutilation, honour killings and thetrafficking of women.

Fast facts:• Up to 7 in 10 women around the world experience

physical and/or sexual violence at some point in theirlifetime

• 603 million women live in countries where domesticviolence is not yet considered a crime.

• As many as 1 in 4 women experience physical orsexual violence during pregnancy.

• Over 60 million girls worldwide are child brides,married before the age of 18.

Crime against women in India:From the origin of social life in the country variouscenturies came and gone, time has changed people’smind and environment a lot, however violence againstwomen does not seems to change a little bit. Time isthe real eyewitness of all the sufferings (like sexdiscrimination, exploitation, oppression, aggression,degradation, humiliation, etc) bear by the helplesswomen. Women are so helpless in the Indian societywhere many female goddesses are worshiped. In theVedas, women are glorified as mother means one whocan create and nourish a life. On the other hand, theyhave found themselves suppressed and subjugated bythe men in the patriarchal society.

India is having 68.7% of the population below the povertyrate amongst which 31.6% are women. These womenhave a lower income as they work in sectors likemanufacturing, constructions, house chores etc. Mostof them being uneducated and poor face the day to dayproblems for food, children’s school fees, employment,hygiene needs etc but beyond this they also go throughvarious atrocities by people around them.

Violence against women can be domestic as well as public,Physical, emotional or mental. Women have fear of violencein their mind which causes the lack of participation in variousareas of life. Fear of violence in the women mind has beenso deep which cannot be out easily even after completeremoval of violence against women in the society.



Crimerecods :

Table-1 : States With The Worst Rates, Numbers Of Incidents

* Surprisingly low rate suggest widespread non- registration of rape cases

State Incidents Per1 lakh female population

Delhi 2,199 23.7

Chhattisgarh 1,560 12.2

Madhya Pradesh 4,391 11.9

Odisha 2,251 10.8

Rajasthan 3,644 10.5

Maharashtra 4,144 7.3

Uttar Pradesh* 3,025 3.0

Table - 2 : Overall Crime Against WomenDelhi tops rate chart, UP has biggest national share

State Cases Per 1 lakh female population %age contribution to all - India total

1 Delhi 17.104 184.3 52

2 Assam 23.,258 148.2 7.1

3 Telangana 15,135 83.1 4.6

4 Odisha 17,144 81.9 5.2

5 Rajasthan 28,165 81.5 8.6

6 Haryana 9,446 75.7 2.9

7 West Bengal 33,218 73.4 10.1

8 Tripura* 1,267 68.2 0.4

9 Madhya pradesh 24,135 65.5 7.4

10 Chandigarh* 463 64.8 0.1* Fewer cases, but small populations raise the rate

About the studyIn this research, the focus is to light upon harassment happening to women of lower income group. The study islimited to crimes happening in India. This study has used both primary and secondary sources of data. For thepurpose of analysis past crime records, report data has been collected and analyzed.

A group of 10 women from different backgrounds of work like labourers, janitors, maids, etc and non working womenwere asked a set of questions and the reasons behind the brutality performed on them were known. The study alsoincludes the steps that can be taken to put an end to the issue.

Findings of the study:• 8 out of 10 women agreed that they have faced brutality by people around them

• Women faced physical torture the most by their husband and in laws and reasons included dowry and dominatingmentality equally

• It was found that victims of sexual harassment called their colleagues and employers the reason behind



• Women were mistreated after their husbands gotdrunk. Also, it was noted that these women werebeaten up for money and had their families insultedfor not being able to fulfil the dowry demands

• Many women told that they faced humiliation whiletravelling to the work place and they often had theirsafety in danger

• Only 1 woman approached a higher authority but wasdisappointed. In fact she was ridiculed in return.

• Most of the women are abused on a daily basis butthey would not raise their voice out of the fear of beingjudged by the society

• It was also found that these women were hesitant toanswer the survey questions and feared that theirinformation would be revealed.

Recommendations:• All sexual offenders must be monitored by law

enforcers once they have served their sentence.• Sessions on self esteem development can help

women raise voice against any kind of violence onthem.

• Change regressive mindsets: Women are not to beobjectified.Equality: Treat your kids equally, don't tell yourdaughter what she shouldn't do.Educate: A girl by giving her formal education and aboy by telling him to respect the other gender.Freedom: Give a girl freedom to live her life and teachher to be independent.

• Stop stereotyping• Do not sit and stay calm when things around you are

going wrong.• Strict rules which ensures safety of women at work

place and a redressal forum for the victims to beheard.

• Awareness about how alcohol affects physical aswell as mental peace of the environment around.

• Building centres for those who have been victims sothat they can find a new life and overcome their past.

Conclusion:The analysis of various records and responses has givenus the reasons for the ill treatment of women and thekind of problems they face but, knowing these wouldnot be enough. To bring an end to these, right stepshave to be taken and implemented strictly. Noteverything can be done by the government; the changeshould be started from every single individual whetherthey are facing the problem or not.

The analysis also revealed that despite their is law andorder women in India are so cooped up with thestereotypical mindset that they don’t see any point inbringing any kind of change. Even if they do, they arediscouraged.

The women feel so scared about speaking of any sexualharassment being done to them, that they don’t sharethese even with their family members. They have a fearthat they would be looked down by the family membersand the society.

The state of women would only change when along withtheir minds, the perspective of the society towards themchange. Women need to realize their potential and standagainst any crime irrespective of the consequences.

References:• UNITE: http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/

situation.shtml “Facts of Human rights violation”

• NCRB: http://ncrb.gov.in “Crime Records of differentstates”

• World economic forum: https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2018“Poverty rate, lower income group”

• BVIMR New Delhi: http://www.bvimr.com “Womenwork participation”

• Jaago re: https://www.jaagore.com “recommendationto build centres for victims”



WOMEN EDUCATION, EMPOWERMENT AND INTERNATIONALDEVELOPMENT

1. Research Scholar, AcharyaNagarjuna University, Guntur –AP.2. Principal, BSNM. College of Education, Kothavalasa, Vizianagaram District.

V. Charankumar1 Dr. Bathula. Rajababu2

AbstractWomen education refers to every form of education that aims at improving the knowledge, and skill of women andgirls. It includes general education at schools and colleges, vocational and technical education, professional education,health education, etc. Women education encompasses both literary and non-literary education. Educated women arecapable of bringing socio-economic changes. The constitution of almost all democratic countries, including India,guarantees equal rights to both men and women Primary education is now a fundamental right. When a woman (or agirl) is ensured of her rights, the society at large is ensured of its sustainability. Realizing the importance of womeneducation, the government and many non-government organizations took a lot of projects to spread women education.Literacy programs are being taken in favor of women. Ancient Women and Education are some bright exceptions inthis dismal picture. The role of women in Ancient Indian Literature is immense. Ancient India had many learnedladies. There were two types of scholarly women the Brahmavadinis, or the women who never married and culturedthe Vedas throughout their lives; and the Sadyodvahas who studied the Vedas till they married. Panini mentioned offemale students’ studying Vedas. Katyana called female teachers Upadhyaya or Upadhyayi. Ashoka got his daughter,Sanghamitra, inducted into preaching Buddhism. From the Jain texts, we learn about the Kousambi princess, Jayanti,who remained a spinster to study religion and philosophy. Often, Buddhist nuns composed hymns. Women did writeSanskrit plays and verses, excelled in music, painting and other fine arts.

Importance Of Women Education

Educating girls and women is so important for the worldas a whole. When we consider the entire humanpopulation, the percentage of educated women is atmuch lower level than men. The importance of womeneducation are briefly summarized below

Economic development and prosperity: Educationwill empower women to come forward and contributetowards the development and prosperity of the country.

Economic empowerment: So long as women remainbackward and economically dependent on men, thehelpless condition of them cannot be changed. Economicempowerment and independence will only come throughproper education and employment of women.

Improved life: Education helps a woman to live a goodlife. Her identity as an individual would never get lost.She can read and learn about her rights. Her rights wouldnot get trodden down. The life or condition of womenwould improve a lot, if we take a broad outlook in thefield of female education.

Improved health: Educated girls and women are awareof the importance of health and hygiene. Through healtheducation, they are empowered to lead a healthy life-style. Educated mothers can take better care of bothherself and her baby.

Dignity and honor: Educated women are now lookedupon with dignity and honor. They become a source ofinspiration for millions of young girls who make themtheir role-models.

Justice: Educated women are more informed of theirrights for justice. It would eventually lead to decline ininstances of violence and injustice against women suchas dowry, forced-prostitution, child-marriage, femalefoeticide, etc.

Choice to choose a profession of her choice:Educated women can prove be highly successful in thefields of life. A girl-child should get equal opportunity foreducation, so that, she can plan to become a successfuldoctors, engineers, nurses, air-hostesses, cook, orchoose a profession of her choice.

Alleviate poverty: Women education is a pre-requisiteto alleviate poverty. Women need to take equal burdenof the massive task of eliminating poverty. This woulddemand massive contribution from educated women.There cannot be much social and economic changesunless girls and women are given their rights foreducation.

Education and women's empowermentEducation systems vary in administration, curriculumand personnel, but all have an influence on the studentsthat they serve. As women have gained rights, formal



education has become a symbol of progress and a steptoward gender equity. In order for true gender equity toexist, a holistic approach needs to be taken. Thediscussion of girl power and women’s education assolutions for eliminating violence against women andeconomic dependence on men can sometimes takedominance and result in the suppression ofunderstanding how context, history and other factorsaffect women (Khoja-Moolji, 2015). For example, whenpast secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, referenced thetragedies of Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan and the girlskidnapping in Chibok, Nigeria as comparable, using girls’education as the focus, history and context were ignored.What led to the shooting of Malala was reduced to beingsolely about her educating herself as a girl. United Statesinterference, poverty, and government corruption andinstability were not addressed. Education systems andschools play a central role in determining girls’ interestin various subjects, including STEM subjects, which cancontribute to women's empowerment by providing equalopportunities to access and benefit from quality STEMeducation.

Women's Empowerment And InternationalDevelopmentMicro- and macro level factors that get attention byinternational development agencies (IDA) vary. Forexample, reaching a quota of representatives in politicalpositions (macro level) but ignoring how home lifepressures (micro level) do not actually leave women ata position of free self-expression (Stromquist, 2015).IDA’s tend to focus on numbers and on informationprovided by the national governments. This ignores thepossibility that national governments are not the mostreliable or trust worthy. Programs put on by FAWE(Forum for African American Educationalists) calledTuseme clubs in Africa, which are Non Formal Educationprograms, are explored as they have proven successfuland effective but do not get enough support from thegovernment to be replicated. Tuseme means “let’s speakout” in Swahili and in action the programs tailor to eachparticipating school, focusing on communication and lifeskills, keeping the community in mind. The program isset up as an extracurricular activity that focuses onissues through tools like school newspapers, dance andtheater. In this example, education and empowermentare tackled on outside the classroom.

Ancient Vedic Age -1000 BCThe history of female education in India has its roots inancient Vedic age.

During the Vedic age, more than 3,000 years ago, womenwere assigned a high place in society. They shared anequal standing with their men folk and enjoyed a kind of

liberty that actually had societal sanctions. The ancientHindu philosophical concept of 'shakti', the feminineprinciple of energy, was also a product of this age. Thistook the form of worship of the female idols or goddesses.In India even today people worship Goddess "Saraswati"as the Goddess of education. Vedic literature praisesthe birth of a scholarly daughter in these words: "A girlalso should be brought up and educated with great effortand care." (Mahanirvana Tantra); and "All forms ofknowledge are aspects of Thee; and all womenthroughout the world are Thy forms." (Devi Mahatmya).Women, who so desired, could undergo the sacredthread ceremony or 'Upanayana' (a sacrament to pursueVedic studies), which is only meant for males even tothis day. The mention of female scholars and sages ofthe Vedic age like Vac, Ambhrni, Romasa, Gargi, Khonain the Vedic lore corroborates this view. These highlyintelligent and greatly learned women, who chose thepath of Vedic studies, were called 'brahmavadinis', andwomen who opted out of education for married life werecalled 'sadyovadhus'. Co-education seems to haveexisted in this period and both the sexes got equalattention from the teacher. Moreover, ladies from theKshatriya caste received martial arts courses and armstraining. The Vedas have volumes to say about thesewomen, who both complemented and supplemented theirmale partners.

Independent IndiaAfter India attained independence in 1947, the UniversityEducation Commission was created to recommendsuggestions to improve the quality of education. However,their report spoke against female education, referring toit as: "Women's present education is entirely irrelevantto the life they have to lead. It is not only a waste butoften a definite disability.However, the fact that the femaleliteracy rate was at 8.9% post-Independence could notbe ignored. Thus, in 1958, a national committee onwomen's education was appointed by the government,and most of its recommendations were accepted. Thecrux of its recommendations were to bring femaleeducation on the same footing as offered for boys. Soonafterwards, committees were created that talked aboutequality between men and women in the field ofeducation. For example, one committee on differentiationof curriculum for boys and girls (1959) recommendedequality and a common curricula at various stages oftheir learning. Further efforts were made to expand theeducation system, and the Education Commission wasset up in 1964, which largely talked about femaleeducation, which recommended a national policy to bedeveloped by the government. This occurred in 1968,providing increased emphasis on female education.



Current PoliciesBefore and after Independence, India has been takingactive steps towards women's status and education. The86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001, has been apath breaking step towards the growth of education,especially for females. According to this act, elementaryeducation is a fundamental right for children betweenthe ages of 6 and 14. The government has undertakento provide this education free of cost and make itcompulsory for those in that age group. This undertakingis more widely known as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA).Since then, the SSA has come up with manyschemes for inclusive as well as exclusive growth ofIndian education as a whole, including schemes to helpfoster the growth of female education

The major schemes are the following:••••• Mahila Samakhya Programme: This programme

was launched in 1988 as a result of the NewEducation Policy (1968). It was created for theempowerment of women from rural areas especiallysocially and economically marginalized groups. Whenthe SSA was formed, it initially set up a committeeto look into this programme, how it was working andrecommend new changes that could be made.

••••• Kasturba Gandhi Balika VidyalayaScheme(KGBV): This scheme was launched in July,2004, to provide education to girls at primary level. Itis primarily for the underprivileged and rural areaswhere literacy level for females is very low. Theschools that were set up have 100% reservation: 75%for backward class and 25% for BPL (below Povertyline) females.

••••• National Programme for Education of Girls atElementary Level (NPEGEL): This programme waslaunched in July, 2003. It was an incentive to reachout to the girls who the SSA was not able to reachthrough other schemes. The SSA called out to the"hardest to reach girls". This scheme has covered24 states in India. Under the NPEGEL, "modelschools" have been set up to provide betteropportunities to girls.

One notable success came in 2013, when the first twogirls ever scored in the top 10 ranks of the entranceexam to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). SibbalaLeena Madhuri ranked eighth, and Aditi Laddha rankedsixth. In addition, the status and literacy rates betweenWest Bengal and Mizoram were found to be profound; astudy compared the two states as they took on

politically different approaches to helping empowerwomen (Ghosh, Chakravarti, & Mansi, 2015). In WestBengal, literacy rates were found to be low even afterfulfilling the 73rd amendment from 1992. The amendmentestablished affirmative action by allotting 33% of seatsat panchayats, or local self-governments, to women.Mizoram chose not to partake in the 73rd Amendmentbut has seen greater literacy rates, it is second highestin the country, and also has a better sex ratio. It wasthus found that affirmative actions steps alone were notenough. Women also need to be given the opportunityto develop through formal education to be empowered toserve and profit from holding these public leadershiproles.

Conclusion:Until the middle of nineteenth century, girls and womenwere educated only for traditional household works. Now,the society is witnessing changes in the role-status ofwomen. There is greater emphasis on education girlsand women in the same way as we educate boys andmen. The modern-day parents want to fulfill the aspirationof their children without gender parity. The educatedwomen should insist on exercising their civil, social,political and economic rights. This will help improve theoverall condition of women in the society. We can hopefor better days while all women of our country will beenlightened and educated.

References :• Cracking the code: girls' and women's education in

science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM). Paris: UNESCO. 2017. ISBN9789231002335.

• Ghosh, Ratna (2015). "Women's Empowerment andEducation: Panchayats and Women's Self-HelpGroups in India".Policy futures in education. 13 (3).

• Khoja-Moolji, Shenila (2015). "Suturing Together Girlsand Education: An Investigation Into the Social(Re)Production of Girls' Education as a HegemonicIdeology". Diaspora, Indigenous, and MinorityEducation. 9 (2).

• Stromquist, Nelly P. (2015). "Women's Empowermentand Education: linking knowledge to transformativeaction".European Journal of Education. 50 (3).

• S. P. Agrawal; J. C. Aggarwal (1992). Women'sEducation in India: 1986-1987. Concept PublishingCompany. p. 31.



IMPACT OF GENDER PARITY AND ITS INFLUENCEON NUTRITION OF WOMEN

1. Department of Nutrition, CH.S.D.ST. Theresa’s College for women, Eluru.

Dr. P. Jyothi Kumari1

AbstractTo address the social inequality and food security in the country, there is a need to increase over food availability anddiversify the diet, particularly with respect to animal foods, vegetables and pulses. It’s not the matter of ancient dayswhere existed the disparity between man and women but same is seen in modern social structure. Having fewexceptions, women have no power to take decisions either inside or outside home. Due to this women are g Developingcountries are confronted with the undernourished mothers who are more likely to give birth to low- birth – weight (LBW)babies. If these babies survive they become stunted children and small adults with impaired physical and mentalcapacities. Because of gender norms, women often also have limited access to and control over resources and maytherefore be excluded from household decision-making of male participation: Men’s low involvement in infant andchildcare further has a negative impact on children’s nutrition quantities and quality of food, but also of nutritioninsecurity. Because of their triple burden of productive, reproductive, and social roles, women also tend to have lesstime to attend to their own needs, leisure related or otherwise. Gender Inequality Is Bad for All Inequities in access toand control of assets have severe consequences for women’s ability to provide food, care, and health and sanitationservices to themselves, their husbands, and their children, especially their female children. Let’s hope and wish thatour participative democracy, in time to come, and with the efforts of both women and men, would be able to foundsolutions to the problem of gender inequality and allow us all towards our cherished dream of a truly modern societyin both thought and action.

IntroductionWe proud Indians of 21st century rejoice in celebrationswhen a boy is born, and if it is a girl, no celebrations isthe norm. Love for a male child is so much so that fromthe time immemorial we are killing our daughters at birthor before birth, and fortunately, she is not killed we findvarious ways to discriminate against her throughout herlife. Though our religious beliefs make women a goddessbut we fail to recognize her as a human being first; weworship goddesses but we exploit girls. We are a societyof people with double-standards as far as our attitudetowards women is concerned; our thoughts andpreaching are different than our actions. Let’s try tounderstand the concept of gender inequality and searchfor some solutions. As per ancient Hindu law giver MANU:“Women are supposed to be in the custody of their fatherwhen they are children, they must be under the custodyof their husband when married and under the custody ofher son in old age or as widows. In no circumstancesshe should be allowed to assert herself independently”.It’s not the matter of ancient days still we see the samein modern social structure. Having few exceptions,women have no power to take decisions either inside oroutside home.

‘Gender’ is a socio-cultural term referring socially definedroles and behaviors assigned to ‘males’ and ‘females’ ina given society; whereas, the term ‘sex’ is a biological

and physiological phenomenon which defines man andwoman. Gender is a function of power relationshipbetween men and women where men are consideredsuperior to women.

Gender Inequality, in simple words, may be defined asdiscrimination against women, based on their sex.Women are traditionally considered by the society asweaker sex. She has been given a subordinate positionto men. She is exploited, degraded, violated anddiscriminated both in our homes and in outside world.This peculiar type of discrimination against women isprevalent everywhere in the world and more so in Indiansociety. In Muslims also the situation is same and theretoo sanction for discrimination or subordination is providedby religious texts and traditions. Similarly in otherreligious beliefs also women are being discriminatedagainst in one way or other. Extreme poverty and lackof education are also some of the reasons for women’slow status in society. Poverty and lack of educationderives countless women to work in low paying domesticservice, organized prostitution or as migrant laborers.Women are not only getting unequal pay for equal ormore work but also they are being offered only low skilljobs for which lower wages are paid. This has become amajor form of inequality on the basis of gender. Educatinggirl child is still seen as a bad investment because sheget married and leave her paternal home one day. Thus,



without having good education women are found lackingin present day’s demanding job skills; Not only ineducation, in case of family food habits, it is the malechild who gets all the nutritious and choicest foods whilethe girl child gets whatever is left behind after the malemembers have taken their meals or the food which islow in both quality and nutrition. And this becomes amajor health issue in her later years. One of the mainreasons for the high incidences of difficult births andanemia in women is the poor quality of food which a girlalways gets either in her paternal home or in her in-laws. So the inequality or discrimination against womenis at various levels in the society, either in home or outsidehome.

Gender status in India: Gender inequalities, and itssocial causes, impact India's sex ratio, women's healthover their lifetimes, their educational attainment, andeconomic conditions. Gender inequality in India is amultifaceted issue. Some argue that some genderequality measures, place men at a disadvantage. InIndia, Although the constitution has granted men andwomen equal rights, gender disparity still remains.Discriminatory attitudes towards men and women haveexisted for generations and affect the lives of both. Theworld's largest human resources association withmembers in 140 countries, in a 2009 report wrote thatfemale labour participation is lower than men, but hasbeen rapidly increasing since the 1990s. Out of India's397 million workers in 2001, 124 million were women,states Lockwood. Over 50% of Indian labour is employedin agriculture. A majority of rural men work as cultivators,while a majority of women work in livestock maintenance,egg and milk production. Rao states that about 78percent of rural women are engaged in agriculture,compared to 63 percent of men. About 37% of womenare cultivators, but they are more active in the irrigation,weeding, winnowing, transplanting, and harvesting stagesof agriculture. About 70 percent of farm work wasperformed by women in India in 2004. Women's labourparticipation rate is about 47% in India's tea plantations,46% in cotton cultivation, 45% growing oil seeds and39% in horticulture. There is wage inequality betweenmen and women in India. The largest wage gap was inmanual ploughing operations in 2009, where men werepaid 103 per day, while women were paid 55, awage gap ratio of 1.87.

India is on target to meet Million Development Goal ofgender parity in education by 2015. UNICEF's measureof attendance rate and Gender Equality in EducationIndex (GEEI) capture the quality of education. Despitesome gains, India needs to triple its rate of improvementto reach GEEI score of 95% by 2015 under the MillionDevelopment Goals. In rural India girls continue to beless educated than the boys. According to a 1998 report

by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier tofemale education in India are inadequate school facilities,shortage of female teachers and gender bias incurriculum. Literacy Though it is gradually rising, thefemale literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacyrate. According to Census of India 2011, literacy rate offemales is 65.46% compared to males which is 82.14%.Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in theschools, and many of them drop out. According to theNational Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the statesof Kerala and Mizoram have approached universalfemale literacy rates. According to majority of thescholars, the major factor behind the improved socialand economic status of women in Kerala is literacy. From2006-2010, the percent of females who completed atleast a secondary education was almost half that of men,26,6% compared to 50.4%. In the current generation ofyouth, the gap seems to be closing at the primary leveland increasing in the secondary level. In rural Punjab,the gap between girls and boys in school enrollmentincreases dramatically with age as demonstrated inNational Family Health Survey-3 where girls age 15-17in Punjab are 10% more likely than boys to drop out ofschool.[39] Although this gap has been reducedsignificantly, problems still remain in the quality ofeducation for girls where boys in the same family will besent to higher quality private schools and girls sent tothe government school in the village. A key factor drivinggender inequality is the preference for sons, as they aredeemed more useful than girls. Boys are given theexclusive rights to inherit the family name and propertiesand they are viewed as additional status for their family.In a survey-based study of 1990s data, scholars foundthat son are believed to have a higher economic utilityas they can provide additional labour in agriculture.Another factor is that of religious practices, which canonly be performed by males for their parents' afterlife.

Some studies in south India have found that genderdisadvantages, such as negative attitudes towardswomen's empowerment are risk factors for suicidalbehavior and common mental disorders like anxiety anddepression. While women express a strong preferencefor one son, the evidence of discrimination against girlsafter they are born is mixed. A study of 1990s surveydata by scholars found less evidence of systematicdiscrimination in feeding practices between young boysand girls. In impoverished families, these scholars foundthat daughters face discrimination in the medicaltreatment of illnesses and in the administration ofvaccinations against serious childhood diseases.Immunisation rates for 2 year olds was 41.7% for girlsand 45.3% for boys according to the 2005 National FamilyHealth Survey-3, indicating a slight disadvantage for girls.Malnutrition rates in India are nearly equal in boys and



girls. During adolescence, girls’ During pregnancy,anemia increases the risk of complications and is alsoa main cause of maternal death. ESAR has one of thehighest maternal mortality ratios in the world with some80,000 women dying every year from causes related topregnancy and childbirth . Risk of anemia and irondeficiency increases due to quick growth andmenstruation, often further enhanced by malaria andparasitic infections. Iron deficiency and anemia slowgrowth and increase fatigue, leading to lower performancein school. Gender inequality is an important underlyingcause of women’s under-nutrition and is further increasedby poverty and lack of access to resources. In manycultural settings, boys and men traditionally eat first,and girls and women eat the leftovers. When food isshort, this can mean females have very little, or nothingto eat. Because of gender norms, women often also havelimited access to and control over resources and maytherefore be excluded from household decision-makingof male participation: Men’s low involvement in infantand childcare further has a negative impact on children’snutrition.

A similar study which was conducted in Zambiaj hasrevealed that Through the Feed the Future ZambiaMawa Project, Catholic Relief Services and partnersare supporting communities tackling food insecurity andmalnutrition by promoting essential health and nutritionpractices, such as optimal breastfeeding andcomplementary feeding practices, to women and menin rural households. Since participating in Mawa, bothwomen and men have been feeding their children morediverse and nutritious food using better feeding practices,and they feel empowered by seeing their children growingup healthy. Including men in nutrition activities anddiscussions has helped them recognize the importanceof providing nutritious food to their families and increasingtheir participation in household chores related to childcare and feeding. As a result, women were able to findthe time to rest or participate in other Mawa activities.During focus group discussions, fear of women’sempowerment leading to men’s disempowerment,women’s laziness and perhaps divorce were observedamong a few participants including both men and women.The project found that couples responded more positivelyto messages linking gender equality to better householddevelopment outcomes, such as improved child health,increased agricultural production and increased income,compared with messaging focusing solely on women'sempowerment.

The health of a child is inextricably linked to the healthand nutritional status of the mother. An under-nourishedwoman will give birth to a baby with low birth weight,causing the cycle of under-nutrition and poor health tocontinue. Poor nutrition in girls and women is not only

the result of inadequate quantity. Risk of anemia andiron deficiency increases due to quick growth andmenstruation, often further enhanced by malaria andparasitic infections. Iron deficiency and anemia slowgrowth and increase fatigue, leading to lower performancein school. Gender inequality is an important underlyingcause of women’s under-nutrition and is furtheraggravated by poverty and lack of access to resources.In many cultural settings in the region, boys and mentraditionally eat first, and girls and women eat theleftovers. When food is short, this can mean femaleshave very little, or nothing at all, to eat.

Because of gender norms, women often also have limitedaccess to and control over resources and may thereforebe excluded from household decision-making of maleparticipation: Men’s low involvement in infant andchildcare further has a negative impact on children’snutrition quantities and quality of food, but also of nutritioninsecurity, which can have many causes: limited accessto quality healthcare services; deficits in environmentalhealth; lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene; andunsafe food preparation practices.

If a woman’s nutritional status is poor at conception andif she does not gain sufficient weight during pregnancy,she will most likely give birth to a low birth weight baby.Her child may never catch up in terms of growth and, asan adult, will run an increased risk of chronic illnesssuch as heart disease and diabetes.

Low levels of exclusive breastfeeding further contributeto morbidity and mortality among children. In ESAR only40 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed duringthe first six months, despite the fact that breast milk isthe best form of nutrition for infants and significantlyreduces the risk of diarrhoea, acute respiratory infectionand other child killers. A woman may fail to breastfeedexclusively due to inadequate support from her partneror family.

Gender and nutrition are inextricable parts of the viciouscycle of poverty. Gender inequality can be a cause ofhunger and malnutrition. Not surprisingly, higher levelsof gender inequality are associated with higher levels ofunder nutrition, both acute and chronic undernutrition.In order to improve children’s nutritional status, women’snutrition needs to be addressed at all stages of the lifecycle. Nutrition and the life cycle Physiological factorsaugment nutritional vulnerability among adolescent girlsand women. Selected nutritional requirements (e.g. iron)are higher among women of child-bearing age than amongtheir male counterparts in order to sustain/compensatebiological processes including menstruation, pregnancyand lactation. For example, gender disparities areobserved with respect to iron deficiency and irondeficiency anaemia due regular blood loss during menses



in girls post-menarche and premenopausal women. Bothpregnancy and lactation considerably augment nutritionalneeds in terms of dietary quantity (e.g. daily caloricneeds increase) and quality (micronutrient intake,particularly folate/folic acid, iron and iodine).

Results from a recent, seminal study on maternalnutrition have indicated that maternal nutrition during earlystages of pregnancy contribute more to pregnancyoutcomes than later stages of pregnancy, identifying clearimplications for nutrition policy and programming . Whileexclusive breastfeeding is promoted for the first sixmonths of life and continued breastfeeding promoted upto the first two years of life, breastfeeding places anextra time and physical burden on women. In many cases,women do not receive support and/or time compensationto help them breastfeed their children, which maycontribute to continued low levels of breastfeeding. Socialnorms frequently exacerbate the situation with men (andsometimes male children) receiving preferential accessto meat and other nutritious foods. This situation is furthercompounded if the mother is overburdened with tasks,poorly educated, in poor health, as her ability to provideproper infant and young child feeding is compromised.Linkages have been observed between excessivephysical activity during pregnancy and poor birthoutcomes, namely increased risk of: preterm-deliveries,small-for gestational age and low birth weight. Otherlandmark studies have shown that suboptimal maternalnutrition and poor infant and young child nutrition, startingin pregnancy through the first two years of life, can leadto largely irreversible effects on growth and development,both physical and cognitive .

Further evidence suggests that mothers experiencedifficulty meeting the increased energy (calories) requiredof lactation when facing high physical demands (e.g.manual labour in fields). For these reasons, targetingwomen in nutrition programmes and activities iswarranted. Local food culture and gender Food taboos,preferences and consumption patterns have an impacton the nutritional status and frequently have a genderdimension. These factors should be addressed if theyhinder healthy dietary practices (e.g. the tendency ofwomen to eat smaller portions than other householdmembers in some countries11). Likewise, there is oftena gender dimension to the roles and responsibilities offood collection, preservation, preparation and distribution.Women play a key role in household food preservation/processing (e.g. solar-drying, soaking, fermentation,etc.), appealing to local tastes and preferences, whichcan also help smooth consumption during lean seasonsand support nutrition gains (e.g. sustained consumptionof micronutrient-rich fruits and vegetables). Their role infood preparation goes well beyond knowledge of recipes

and cooking techniques; it also encompasses accessto water, fuel/wood and cooking utensils.

Furthermore, women tend to be knowledgeable aboutfood that was grown locally and consumed in the past,even if this knowledge is not always appreciated. Thesefood items are often healthy and affordable since theyare produced locally. Women who possess thisknowledge should be encouraged to share it with others,passing it down to younger generations, in support ofsustainable diets. Nutrition programmes should fostersuch information exchange, where feasible. Income-generating activities and spending income on nutrition.While enhancing agricultural production is one lever usedto address malnutrition, it does not automaticallyimprove nutrition. Agriculture also provides a source ofincome to 70-80% of the people in developing countries,who suffer from hunger. Improving nutrition empowerspeople and helps them generate income given linkagesbetween nutrition, cognitive development, educationalattainment and productivity. Some income-generatingactivities are targeted to women, recognising that womentend to spend a larger portion of additional income andother resources on household nutrition, health andeducation.

ConclusionGender and nutrition have multiple dimensions and arehighly context-specific. Ideally, the pathway towardsimproved food and nutrition security - for all - should bea gender-equitable process. In recent years,considerable progress has been made with regard toprioritizing gender and nutrition in policies, programmesand projects though these efforts have largely treatedgender and nutrition as two distinct topics. Greaterattention is needed for operationalising opportunities tocombine the two. The above recommendations are apreliminary attempt to bridge these two areas in supportof gender-sensitive nutrition policies, programming andprojects as a means to increasing nutritional impact.Nutrition can offer opportunities to address otherwisesensitive issues regarding gender roles. Mainstreaminggender in nutrition within the field of agriculture is a criticalaspect of strengthening gender and nutrition linkages inrecognition of their substantial contribution to agricultureproduction and their central role in household foodcollection, preservation/processing and preparation.

The inclusion of gender-sensitive approaches in primaryhealth care, water and sanitation, social protection andeducation are equally weigh, and may be achievedthrough multiple entry points. Furthermore,mainstreaming gender in nutrition offers opportunitiesto integrate agriculture and health approaches. This willrequire increased collaboration and coordination between



and within organizations working in the field of genderand nutrition so as to apply a holistic approach.

Facilitating household logistics such as makingchildcare services available at household and/orcommunity levels is critical, with increased accountabilityalso needed between household members to achieve amore balanced distribution of reproductive tasks amongmen and women. Practical measures to work towardsgreater equality include livelihood support for women andgirls, reducing women’s workloads, ensuring protectionfrom gender-based violence and equitable access toresources and services, and, more broadly, transforminggender relations. Specific measures are often requiredto increase the limited opportunities women and girlsmay have in up scaling their livelihoods. Gender andgenerational analysis – the study of the different roles,needs, and priorities of women and men of different agesand socio-economic groups – is therefore needed in eachspecific context. In the case of conflicts, analysis isrequired of how gender relations shape the ways in whichwomen and girls engage in, are seek to resolve conflict.In situations where rigid gender roles and highly unequalrelations exist between men and women in terms ofdecision-making and their access to resources,knowledge and information, targeting women forproductive activities requires specific strategies.

This can provide a way out of the vicious circle of poverty.Poor female nutrition early in life reduces learningpotential, increases reproductive and maternal healthrisks, and lowers productivity. This situation contributesto women’s diminished ability to gain access to otherassets later in life and undermines attempts to eliminategender inequalities. In essence, women with poor nutritionare caught in a vicious circle of poverty and under nutrition.Women typically have limited access to land, education,information, credit, technology, and decision making forums.

When involved in formal employment, they typicallycommand lower remuneration rates than their malecolleagues, even when they hold the same skills.Because of their triple burden of productive, reproductive,and social roles, women also tend to have less time toattend to their own needs, leisure related or otherwise.Gender Inequality Is Bad for All Inequities in access toand control of assets have severe consequences forwomen’s ability to provide food, care, and health andsanitation services to themselves, their husbands, andtheir children, especially their female children. Womenwith less influence or power within the household andcommunity will be unable to guarantee fair fooddistribution within the household. These women will alsohave less ability to visit health clinics when their infantsand children are sick and to spend time interacting withtheir infants and other children. Any reduction in gender

asymmetries benefits the entire family. Equal accessto and control over assets raises agricultural output,increases investment in child education, improves visitsto health facilities for infants, raises household foodsecurity, and accelerates child growth and development.

Women’s contribution to food production, foodpreparation, and child care are critical underpinnings forthe social and economic development of communities,yet efforts in this direction are hampered by malnutrition.Furthermore, malnutrition in women contributessignificantly to growing rates of maternal deaths and isdirectly related to negative nutritional status and growthretardation in children. Maternal malnutrition has beenlinked to low birth weight, which in turn results in highinfant morbidity and Nutrition and mortality rates, addingto health care costs and undermining the humanresource potential for an economy. It is also now clearthat foetal malnutrition harms health status in later life,and in fact predisposes one to increased incidence ofnon communicable diseases. In addition, malnutritionin mothers affect the quality of care giving they can offertheir children by reducing the meaningful mother-childinteraction that is necessary for proper growth.

The list of legislations as well as types of discriminationsor inequalities may go on but the real change will onlycome when the mentality of men will change; when themale species of human beings would start treatingwomen as equal and not subordinate or weaker to them.In fact not only men but women also need to changetheir mindset as through cultural conditioning they havealso become part of the same exploitative system ofpatriarchy and are playing a supportive role in furtheringmen’s agenda of dominating women.

Therefore, what is needed is the movement for Women’sempowerment where women can become economicallyindependent and self-reliant; where they can fight theirown fears and go out in the world fearless; where theycan snatch their rights from the clutches of men andthey don’t have to ask for them; where women have goodeducation, good career, ownership of property and aboveall where they have freedom of choice and also thefreedom to make their own decisions without thebondages of age old saying of Manu.

Let’s hope and wish that our participative democracy, intimes to come, and with the efforts of both women andmen, would be able to found solutions to the problem ofgender inequality and would take us all towards ourcherished dream of a truly modern society in both thoughtand action. In many countries in the world including India,girls face a lot of issues. From female infanticide togender inequality to sexual abuse, there is no dearth ofissues. To erase these menaces, there is need ofawareness on the importance of girl child and for the



same, every year on January 24 in India people celebrateNational Girl Child day. The main aim of the day to bringto light the menaces faced by girls in our country andalso to create awareness about the rights that every girlhas in India. The day marks the significance of thedaughters of India and on this day people promote theimportance of girl education, health and also to promotehow people should discourage sex selection. “Wecommend the 104 companies included in the 2018 GEIfor their efforts to create work environments that supportgender equality across a diverse range of industries,"said Peter T Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg andfounding chairman of the US 30% Club (the members ofwhich aim to have women accounting for a third of theirboards). "Their leadership sets an important examplethat will help all organisations innovate and navigate thegrowing demand for diverse and inclusive workplaces."

References• Global Gender Gap Report• A Nutrition Foundation for Development• Nutrition Foundation for Gender Brief• Rao, E. Krishna (2006), "Role of Women in

Agriculture: A Micro Level Study." Journal of GlobalEconomy, Vol 2

• “Global Gender Gap Report 2013”. World EconomicForum. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014.Retrieved 31 March 2014.

• National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3): 2005-2006Government of India (2005)www.indiacelebrating.com/.../gender-inequality-in-indiaagrilinks.org www.genderindex.org/country/indiThe Global Gender Gap Report 2012(www.indiacelebrating.com/.../gender-inequality-in-india).



WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS AFFECTING FACTORS IN RURAL INDIA

1. Research Scholar, Dept of Economics, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, Andhra Pradesh.2. Principal, Dr. K.R.R.M. Degree College, Duggirala, AP.

B. M. Philomenamma1 Dr. G. Sudhakar2

AbstractEntrepreneurship is the core of economic development.The motto of this paper is to study how women in rural areasare facing challenges in entrepreneurship. In this regard, the paper gives information about the affecting variablesand their impact on orientation and satisfaction. The proposed model and hypotheses were tested by using the datacollected from boutiques, beauty parlors, carpet making units, and general stores in West Godavari district of AndhraPradesh (India).The paths were created for evaluating the cause and effect of relationship between different factorsviz., social, psychological, financial, push, pull factors, problems, and entrepreneurial orientation and satisfaction.The key finding of the paper is that all factors affect orientation highly as compared to satisfaction. The implications ofresearch findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed and the suggestions have also been provided.Key Words: Women, Satisfaction, Rural India, Psychological Factors

IntroductionEntrepreneur is important factor of entrepreneurship andpresent women are successful in entrepreneurshipbecause they have desirable qualities for theentrepreneurship development.Entrepreneurship refers toset a new business to take advantage from newopportunities. It is a suitable profession for women thanregular employment. Increased participation of womenin the labor force creates challenges for them to balancework and family obligations. The situation becomes morecomplicated in patriarchal societies such as India dueto women's stereotypical domestic roles, religiousprescriptions as well as cultural norms and values. Thisstudy aims to explore different influencing factors onwomen's work and family roles in the unique Indian socio-economic and cultural environment. Women are showingmore interest towards the Entrepreneurship in presentyears than past. Women are having immensedevelopment in their mind. With increasing dependencyon services sectors, there are more opportunities forwomen. During last twenty years, increasing number ofIndian women have entered into the field ofentrepreneurship and also they change the face ofbusiness. Women have been taking interest in recentyear in self business. In the process ofEntrepreneurship, women have to face various problemsand these problems get doubled because of her dualrole as earner and homemakers. In India most of thehomemakers want to start their own business but thereis so many problems faced by them. They feel frustratedin dual role. Govt. started several programmed for thetraining of women entrepreneurship. Training programcreate the interest among women and helpful to increasethe skills and also to build the social attitude, high

confidence. Based on the interpretive phenomenologicalapproach (IPA), this study explores different influencingfactors on women's work and family roles in the uniqueIndian socio-economic and cultural environment. Themethodology helped to analyze data about challengesfaced by women entrepreneurs to achieve work-lifebalance as well as to have an insight about some of thetechniques and effective strategies they use to balancework and family obligation.

Literature Review:The importance of female entrepreneurs:In 2010, 104 million women in 59 economies whichrepresent more than 52% of the world's population and84% of world GDP embarked on new venture creationand development. These self-employed women comprisebetween 1.5% and 45.4% of the adult female populationin their respective economies. Frequently, businessesowned by women are privately owned and depend largelyon the owner and her skills or competencies.Entrepreneurial competencies have been identified as aspecific group of competencies relevant to the exerciseof successful entrepreneurship. Such entrepreneurshipis often associated with the survival and development ofsmall and new businesses. Interest in entrepreneurialcompetence derives from the supposed link betweencompetencies and the birth, survival and growth of aventure. There is evidence to suggest that understandingof the competencies in small businesses will supportthe development of competence, and, will, in turn, haveconsequences for successful business growth, in oneof the few studies to examine a range of entrepreneurialcompetencies in women, found evidence of the linkbetween an entrepreneur's skills and venture



performance and growth.Most of the previous studieson the entrepreneurial competencies of female businessowners have focussed on specific aspects of theircompetencies or skills, and specifically considerwomen's competencies relative to those of their malecounterparts. For example, there is evidence that womenbusiness owners tend to feel that social adroitness andinterpersonal skills are their strongest personal assets.On the other hand, there is a considerable body ofresearch that suggests that women may be weaker infinancial skills than men More specifically, womenfrequently rate themselves as less competent in financialskills than do men In a review of the literature note thatthere is a solid base of empirical research demonstratingthat for the most part male and female business ownersdo differ in some fundamental ways with respect to their:

• Social and human capital;• Motivations;• Goals and success criteria;• Growth orientations;• Strategic choices; and• Use of financial capital.

Women business owners may be disadvantaged in theiraccess to various entrepreneurial capitals, given theirpersonal backgrounds and employment experiences andthe socio-economic and cultural context in which theirbusinesses operate. Accordingly, there are grounds forfurther exploration of the unique competencies exercisedby female entrepreneurs. Indeed, recent reviews of theliterature have acknowledged that many gaps exist inthe knowledge regarding female entrepreneurs and theirbusinesses. Relevant to this study, there is a distinctgap in the understanding of competencies in femaleentrepreneurial businesses.

TABLE- 1: WOMEN ECONOMIC PROFILE

ANALYSIS:Most of the women entrepreneurs 56% belong to theage group of 36 and above followed by the age group of26-35 (29%) and 18-25 (24%) in that order. Hirsch andbrush (1986) described the typical women entrepreneurto be about 35 years of age when she start her business.It appears in this age due to the economic pressure.Demand and more leisure time as their children aregrowing. 47%of women interviewed belong to the lowincome level that is Rs 1500 -3500. And only 20% womenare above Rs 7000. The data shows that economic needsare the essential factor for the women to enter into theentrepreneurship. On the other hand women with smallfamilies enter into this type of entrepreneurship.Educational status does not influence women in seekingthis type of entrepreneurship. Majority in this was 44%which are belong to only SSC passed women. Only 9%women were illiterate which very low % in total is. 23%were only intermediate and 27% were only graduate.The data shows that only 3% women were post graduate,it means that higher education does not affect the interestof women in this field. The data shows that marriedwomen have more interest in the womenentrepreneurship. Highest 71% women are involved inthe business because they need more financial supportthan unmarried and others. Only 9% women interviewedthat they are unmarried. Widow women also want tostart their own business. But only 15% womeninterviewed that they are widow. This shows that marriedwomen take more risk in starting new business. No. ofchildren also affect the women entrepreneurship. In thecollection of data only 8% women interviewed that theyhave no children. 26% women interviewed that they haveonly one child. Most of the women interviewed that theyhave two children that is 44%women.Only 22% womeninterviewed that they have more than two children. Thisdata shows that the single women have no interest inthe entrepreneurship. The maximum interest by thosewomen who are married and have child.

WidowDivorceNumber of childrenNone12 < 2

IncomeRs.1500-3500Rs. 3500-7000<7000

133

12264422

473820

133

12264022

473820

Age in years Number of women (n) Percentage (100%)18 - 2526 - 35< 35EducationIlliteratesSSCIntermediatesDegreePost graduateMarital statusUnmarriedMarried

242956

9442327

3

774

242956

9442327

3

774



TABLE NO. 2: TIME SPENT FOR THEIR BUSINESS

No. of hours Number of Women(n) 100(%)

2-4 hrs

5-7 hrs

8-9 hrs

<9 hrs

18

57

29

5

18

57

29

5

Women entrepreneurship also affects the no. of hoursdevoted in the business.In the study of data we find thatonly 57% women are working for 5-7 hrs.18% womenhave only 2-4 hrs for their business. They have theirhouse work and burden of the family work. They haveless support from their family. May be they lives in aseparate family. Only 29% women gave 8-9 hrs to theirbusiness and they have huge family support andhusband support. In the study we find that there areonly 5% women who are totally devoted to theirbusiness. For the women it is impossible to give morehours to the business in the serrate family andunsupported family. Apart from these aspects othersproblems like finance, marketing, health, family andlocation were some more areas where the women facedproblems in the new ventures. They also need a trainingof managerial and technical skills.

FINDINGS: These results show that among other motivational peopleto start their own businesses, achieving work-life balanceis one of the most significant ones. Their own businessesgive more flexibility, control and freedom to juggle withtheir family and social responsibilities.Four main clustersof competencies were identified: personal andrelationship, business and management, entrepreneurial,and human relations competencies. Whilst previousresearch on the competencies of entrepreneurs hasidentified the two clusters of business and management,and entrepreneurial competencies, the competencies inthe other two clusters have received less attention andhave not been identified as clusters. Arguably,competencies in these clusters are valued more highlyby female entrepreneurs than by their male counterparts.Lack of sufficient time, gender bias, social and culturalnorms as well as family responsibilities are the mostsignificant challenges women face to achieve balancein a patriarchal society. Strategic planning, organizingand delegating are the most effective strategies womenuse to cope with competing roles of work and family.

SUGGESTIONSThere is some suggestion for promotion of the womenentrepreneurship to keep in mind the present study.1. Need of Pre –entrepreneurial training to the women

entrepreneur.

2. Some women need the support from the financialinstitution.

3. The product must fit the need through bottom upapproach.

4. Public speaking scheme also provided by the govt.to the women entrepreneurs

5. Some women need some technical training.6. Make a social culture relation.

CONCLUSIONWomen entrepreneurs are facing many problems in allaspects of financial, marketing, health, family, and problems.Some guidelines should be given by the Governmentand the financial institution to the women entrepreneurat time to time. What women need for enterprises littletraining, some financial support and motivation at alllevels-home, the society and the Government. Its hopethat suggestion forwarded in the article will help theentrepreneurs in particular to look this problems anddevelop better schemes by the government.

REFERENCES• Research on women entrepreneurs: challenges to (and

from) the broader entrepreneurship literature?JE Jennings,CG Brush - Academy of Management Annals, 2013

• Attributes, environment factors and womenentrepreneurial activity: A literature review I Ekpe, NMat, RC Razak - Asian Social Science, 2011

• Levie, J. and Hart, M. (2012), “Global EntrepreneurshipReport United Kingdom 2011”, Monitoring Report,Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Aston.

• Hart, M. and Levie, J. (2010), “GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor: United Kingdom 2010Monitoring Report”, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor,Aston, Jennings, J.E. and Cash, M.P. (2006).

• “Women's entrepreneurship in Canada: progress,puzzles and priorities”, in Brush, C.G., Carter, N.M.,Gatewood, E.J., Greene, P.G. and Hart, M.M. (Eds),Growth-oriented Women Entrepreneurs and theirBusinesses, Edward Elgar, Northampton, MA, pp.53-87.

• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants(2010), “Accelerating recovery: promoting the SMEsector's role in rebuilding prosperity in the UK.

• Man, T.W.Y. and Lau, T. (2005), “The context ofentrepreneurship in Hong Kong: an investigationthrough the patterns of entrepreneurial competenciesin contrasting industrial environments”, Journal ofSmall Business and Enterprise Development, Vol.12 No. 4, pp. 464-81.

• Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003),Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd ed.,Prentice Hall, London.



DR. B. R. AMBEDKAR’S VISION TOWARDS THE EMPOWERMENT OFINDIAN WOMEN

1. Asst. prof. Department of Economics, Sri Aravinda Shatajayanti Govt. Degree College, Narayanapuram, West GodavariDist, AP.

M.Rambabu1

Abstract

In ancient India, women enjoyed a very high position but gradually their position degenerated into merely objects ofpleasure meant to serve certain purpose. They lost their individual identity and even their basic human right. In thename of sanskaras, the Hindu women are tied to bandages of superstitions, which they carry till their death. That is whyDr. Ambedkar, the father and architect of Indian Constitution, was of the firm opinion that until and unless, we defy theHindu Dharma – Shastras, nothing much can be changed. The operations of caste both at the systematic level and atthe functioning of patriarchy, the growing caste divide in feminist political discovers makes Ambedkar’s view onwomen’s oppression, social democracy, caste and Hindu social order and philosophy, significant to modern Indianfeminist thinking. He believes that Buddha treated women with respect and love and never tried to degrade them likeManuscripts did; He taught women Buddha Dharma and religious philosophy. Ambedkar cites women like vishakha,Amrapali, Gautami Rani Mallike, Queen of Prasenajjth who approached Buddha, as evidences of Buddha’s treatmentof women as equals. Hence, for Indian women’s movement Ambedkar provides a powerful source of inspiration toformulate a feminist political agenda which simultaneously addresses the issues of caste, class and gender in thecontemporary sociopolitical setup.Ambedkar created awareness among poor, illiterate women and inspired them tofight against the unjust and social practices like child marriages and devdasi system. Dr. Ambedkar tried an adequateinclusion of women’s right in the political vocabulary and constitution of India. He also insisted and evoked all theparliamentary members to help to pass the bill in parliament. Present paper deeply discussed aboutDr.B.R.Ambedkar’s vision, views on the empowerment of Indian women in present scenario.Key words: Women Empowerment, Hindu code bill, perfect equality, Social justice, Hindu Social order, Womenproblems, Indian Constitution.

IntroductionDr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was a saviour of thesuppressed classes, a noted jurist, the chief architectof Indian constitution a profound scholar, a daring leader,overall a multifaceted personality an intellectualrevolutionary, a ray of hope for the downtrodden andunderprivileged section of Indian society but also workedtirelessly throughout his life to challenge the legitimacyof orthodox Hindu social order that upheld iniquitousgender relations in an institutionalized manner.Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar was observed in several roles asa noted scholar,teacher, lawyer, parliamentarian,administrator, journalist publicist, negotiator agitationsleader and devote (MoonVasant-1991). Dr. BabasahebAmbedkar acquired deep knowledge in every field ofhuman activity to become a founder of his ownindependent ideology. He was trained as a socialscientist, social progress and social stability dependedon equity. According to Dr. Babasaheb no caste, noinequality and no superiority all are equal that is whatstood for. Literature survey reveals that from ancient timewomen in our land were not given proper treatment. Hersocietal positioning was never at par with men. She wasnot given even the basic rights. They were even equated

to animals and put to the lowest rug of humanity. Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar fought for tooth and nail forwoman's economics liberation and for securing woman'ssocial rights, He stressed the need to safeguard thedignity and to respect the modesty of the women folk.He studied extensively the Hindu Shastras and Smritisto find out the root cause of degraded status of womenin India. He started his movements in 1920 raised hisvoice against the Hindu social order and social systemthrough renowned journal Mook Nayak in (1920) andBahishkrit Bharat in 1927. The content of all issues usedto be on gender equality, women education and exposedthe problems related to women and other depressedclass. He strongly advocates for family planningmeasures for women in Bombay Legislative Assembly.And equal opportunity and equal share with their malecounterpart in Indian Society.

Objectives of the study:1. To study about Dr,\.B.R.Ambedkar’s views and vision

towards the empowerment of Indian women.

2. To identify the relevance of his modern democraticideas in present and social scenario of India.



Methodology: The secondary sources of data wereused for this study. These are collected from from Internet,published papers, books, proceedings and speeches ofDr.B.R.Ambedkar in various meetings in parliament,various conferences and meetings in pre and postindependent India.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's approach to women'sempowerment was entirely different from other socialreformers like Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Rajaram MohanRoy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Mahatma Gandhiwho tried to reform the Hindu Society of certain outdatedcustoms and practices without questioning thehierarchical social order. He believed that society shouldbe based on reason and not on atrocious tradition ofcaste system therefore, in order to reconstruct HinduSociety along modern democratic ideas of liberty,equality and fraternity and his mission was to challengethe ideological foundations of graded system of castehierarchy that denied equality, freedom and human dignityto women in Hindu Society. He suggested in “TheAnnihilation of Caste System”, that Hindu mind shouldbe purged from the thralldom of the shastras.Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar's perception on Women's problememphasized on women's right to education right toproperty, involvement in the political process, genderequality which resembled with the global feministdemand. He started his movement in 1920 and believedin the strength of women and their role in the process ofSocial reform and progress of the society which can beachieved by accelerating male educations persuadedside by side with female education. To strengthen hismovement he started his owned newspaper Mook Nayakin 1920 and Bahishkrit Bharat 1927 to upgrade the socialstatus and to motivate women to participate in socialreform movements against social evils and demandedfor their socio-economic rights. In the same year in March1927, Dr. Babasaheb launched Mahad Satyagrahas inthis historic march thousands of Men/Women wereaccompanied to assert their rights to take water fromChawdar tank at Mahad. The movement was to liberatesociety from out worn traditions and evil customsimposed ruthlessly and upheld religiously by a vastsociety up to its weaker and helpless constituent andto restore human rights and dignity to them.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar made a bonfire of Manusmritiin presence of more than fifty women in the conferenceof depressed classes held at Mahad on 25th December1927. At the end of the conference he addressed aboutthree thousand women in a meeting which was first ofits kind in modern India and urged them to dress welland live a clean life, do not feed spouse and sons if theyare drunk, send your children to schools. Education isnecessary for females as it is for males The women'sassociation was established in January 1928 and

Ramabai,Dr. Babasaheb wife as its president. Along withthe depressed classes conference in Nagpur in 1930women also had their separate conference.

In the Kalaram temple entry satyagrahas at Nasik in1930, five hundred women participated and many of themwere arrested along with men and ill treated in jails. Theencouragement of Babasaheb to empower women tospeak boldly was seen when Radhabai Vadaleaddressed a press conference in 1931. She said “It isbeen to die a hundred times than live a life full ofhumiliation. We will sacrifice our lives but we will winour rights. The credit for this self-respect and firmdeterminations of women goes to Dr. Babasaheb.

Dr Babasaheb believed in the strength of women andtheir roles in the process of social reforms. The historicMahad satyagrahas witnessed participation of threehundred women along with their male counterparts.Addressing another meeting of about 3000 women, Dr.Babasaheb said, I measure the progress of communityby the degree of progress which women had achieved.Let every girl who marries stand by her husband, claimto be her husband's friend and equal and refuse to behis slave. I am sure if you follow this advice you willbring honor and glory to yourselves. The credit forinculcation self-respect and firm determination in womengoes to Dr. Babasaheb.

He strongly advocated for family planning measures forwomen in Bombay Legislative Assembly. In 1942 beinga labor minister of executive council of Governor Generalintroduced a maternity benefit bills and provided severalprovisions in the constitution for projecting the welfareand civil rights of the women. The presence of 25,000women in All Indian Dalit Mahila Conference on 20thJuly 1942 pleased Dr. Babasaheb with their awaking andactivities. Gaining inspiration from Dr. Babasaheb manywomen wrote on various topics like planning Buddhistphilosophy plays, and autobiographies also participatedin satyagrahas. Tulsabai Bansode started a newspaperthis was the awareness created among poor, illiteratewomen and inspired them to fight against the unjustsocial practices like child marriages and devdasisystem.Dr. Babasaheb spent his life into for thebetterment of women even involved in bad practices andprofessionals like prostitutions.

The Preamble of Indian constitution guaranteessocial and economic justice to Women and thatare because of Ambedkar contribution. In thepreamble it is mentioned:

i. Social, economic and political justice,ii. Freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith and

worship,iii. Equality of status and opportunity and



iv. Fraternity assuring dignity of the individual andnational unity to all the citizens of India without anydiscrimination of caste, creed or sex. In IndianConstitution, there are few articles exist that helpthe women of Indian Society to improve their positionand to compete with their male counterparts. Forexample

Article14 – All are equal in the eyes of law and equallyprotected by the law. It means equal rights andopportunities in political, economic and social spheres.Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex.Article 15(3) enables positive discrimination in favor ofwomen.Article 16 mentions there shall be equality of opportunityfor all citizens in matters relating to employment orappointment to any office without any discrimination onthe basis of religion, caste, creed and sex.Article 24 prohibits the employment of children belowthe age of 14 years in factories, mines or in any otherhazardous employment.Article 39 and 39(d) state Equal means of livelihood andequal pay for equal Work. As per article 41 the stateshall guarantee within its economic limits to all thecitizens, the right to work, to education and publicassistance in certain cases.Article 42 the state makes provision for Humanconditions of work and maternity relief.Under article 44, the state provides a uniform Civil Codeto all the citizens throughout the territory of India.Article 46 – The state to promote with special care, theeducational and economic interests of weaker sectionof people and to protect them from social injustice andall forms of exploitation. Article 47 – The state to raisethe level of nutrition and standard of living of its peopleand the improvement of public health and so on.Article 51 (A) (C) – Fundamental duties to renouncepractices, derogatory to the dignity of women.

Article 243D (3), 243T (3) & 243R (4) provides forallocation of seats in the Panchayati Raj System.Ambedkar not only ascertain constitutional guaranteesto women but also introduced and got passed four Actswhich strengthened the position of women in the society.These were incorporated in the Hindu Code Bill. Theseare:

i. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. ii.The HinduSuccession Act, 1956.iii) The Hindu Minority andGuardianship Act, 1956. iv).The Adoption andMaintenance Act, 1956. If we look at the provisionsof those Acts, we can easily make out that Ambedkarwas a great thinker of women rights and

emancipation. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 wasamended in 1976 made the following provisions forwomen:1. The legitimization of illegitimate children (Sec.16).2. Punishment-bigamy (Sec.26).3. Custody of children (Sec. 26).4. Marriageable age of females rose to 18 years.5. Provision for alimony (Sec. 25). The Act abolishes

the difference between a maiden and a widow.

Ambedkars defence for women as the law minister offree India appeared in the form of Hindu Code Bill inparliament on 11thApril 1947. He, by codifying HinduLaw in respect of marriage, divorce and succession,rationalized and restored the dignity to women. Prior tothe Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and Hindu MarriageAct, 1955, the Hindu Law was un-codified in a largemeasure, though Hindu Women's Right to Property Act,1937 was the subject of legislative intervention. TheSharda Act is also worth mentioning. It has set the sealof authority upon that piece of social reforms, which theheads of orthodoxy were, imposing and impending. InHindu Code Bill, the principles of codification covered:i. Right to property,ii. Order of succession to property,iii. Maintenance, marriage, divorce, adoption, minority

and guardianship. The Bill was a part of socialengineering. It was really a first step towards therecognition and empowerment of women in India.Under these revolutionary measures, a woman willhave property in her own right and be able to disposeof her property. A debate on this bill continued formore than four years and still remains inconclusive.In the words of Dr. Ambedkar, “It was killed and diedunset and unsung”. Here once again, the orthodoxyprevailed upon the reforms. He felt that thegovernment led by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was noteager to clear the Hindu Code Bill. He, therefore,tendered his resignation but continued to participatein the Parliamentary debates on the request of thePrime Minister. Later, the original Bill split into fourdifferent Bills with slight changes. Those were passedas The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; The HinduSuccession Act, 1956; The Hindu Minority andGuardianship Act, 1956; and The Hindu Adoption andMaintenance Act, 1956.

Conclusion:Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was a path-maker of all thewomen irrespective of religion, caste, creed, gender andbrought a new trend for uprising the women through histhoughts and beliefs. Along with women all the peopleof India should be proud for the tremendous and



everlasting steps for the empowerment of women inIndian society carried by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Healso talked about the Muslim women about wearing veil,their religious traditions and marriages and fought againstall kinds of discrimination against women throughout hiswhole life. But still discrimination against women in Indiansociety is overlooked. So it is a duty of every Indian tofulfill the dreams of Ambedkar for a better life world ofwomen. It may also be mentioned here that theterm,”Social Justice” will not be exercised properly ifthe people of India should not be able to change theirattitudes specially towards women, SCs, STs and otherweaker section of the society. In the era of globalizationmany Multi National Companies (MNC) are searchingfor merit for the smooth running of the functions of theircompanies. In that context, to prevail social justice inthe society, the companies should work within theconstitutional framework and the concerned stategovernment or central government should make rules,regulation for the engagement and involvement of peoplefrom different categories so as to ensure social justice.So that society would be based on equality and equalopportunity and the dreams of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkarwould be fulfilled. Keeping in mind the importance ofAmbedkar's views towards Indian society, the then primeminister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, “Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar was a symbol of revolt against alloppressive features of Hindu society”. In present scenariothe Indian women have progressed a lot in various partsof their life although they are still suffering from varioussocial evils like dowry, eve teasing, rape etc. It is a factthat in the glorious development of Indian society, theIndian women have march forward to the developmentalprocess and somewhere treated equally with their malecounterparts but it is yet to be realized by the people ofIndia that women should have given the equal rights andopportunity with men so as to establish a shining Indiawhere women can live freely and equally irrespective ofreligion, caste, creed, gender etc. I would like to concludehere by quoting Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's slogan on Unity,Education and Agitation. “Unity is meaningless withoutthe accompaniment of women. Education is fruit-lesswithout educated women, and Agitation is incompletewithout the strength of women”

References:• Barnwal, Bijay K (201) Dr.Ambedkar’s Quest for

Gender Equality its Relevance in ContemporaryFeminist Discourse?, Online InternationalInterdisciplinary Research Journal, {Bi-Monthly},Volume-IV, Issue-II,

• Moon Vasant (1991)Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar’sWritings and Speeches”, Govt. of Maharashtra, Vol16, Bombay Dept of Education .p 47

• M Sampath Kumar (2015) Social Ideology of Dr.B RAmbedkar- A Study. Historical Research Letters,Vol 17.pp 43-46

• S Mohammad Azaad (2013) Dr.Ambedkar and GenderEquality. Proceedings of Third InternationalSymposium (SEUSL) pp 117-121

• Satyajit Das (2015) Ambedkar and Women rights:An Analysis. International Journal of Interdisciplinaryand Multidisciplinary Studies.(IRJIMS) Vol I, IssueIpp191-195.

• Sanjeev Kumar (2015) Women Empowerment in Indiaand Dr.B R Ambedkar. International Journal inCommerce, IT and Social Sciences. (IJCISS). Vol 2,issue 05 pp71-77.

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• Kavita Kait (2013) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Role inWomen Empowerment: Legal Articles 2013. (WomenIssue).

• Bharati, T (1992) Ambedkar and Uplift of Women?,published in an edited book “Ambedkar and SocialJustice-Volume II”, pp 264 (1992)

• Singariya M.R (2014) Dr B R Ambedkar and WomenEmpowerment in India?, Quest Journals Journal ofResearch in Humanities and Social Science, Volume2~ Issue 1, pp 1-4.

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• Godbole Mahendra Tukaram (2015) An Overview ofBharatratna Dr. Babasaheb Bhimrao RamjiAmbedkar’s Writings and Revolutionary SocialChange in Modern India. International Journal of SocialScience and Humanities Research. Vol. 3, Issue 2,pp: 586-590

• Ambedkar, B.R (1987) Women and CounterRevolution” Riddles of Hindu Women” in Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol.3, Department of Education, Govt. of Maharashtra.

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THE ROLE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT

1. Scholar, Dept. of Economics, V.S. University, SPSR Nellore, AP.

B. Peera Kumar1

AbstractThe role of women entrepreneurs has changed over the years in the world. Participation and their importance havebeen commendable in the country’s economic growth and development. India has also supported many womenentrepreneurs by providing loans and advances, helping them to establish their business, making them self sufficientby providing vocational skills, and creating many jobs for other women in the respective areas. These opportunitiesare need based in India, and many factors are driving these forces. This paper unfolds the significance of womenentrepreneurship and also focuses the role of women entrepreneurs in the Indian economy and also their contributionsto the economic development. Various broader objectives like growth with equity can be achieved by enabling thedevelopment of women entrepreneurship.Key words: Women Entrepreneurship, Role in Indian economy, Economic Development, Reasons for womenbecoming entrepreneurs, Challenges faced by women entrepreneurship.

IntroductionThe women of modern India has explicated in making aseparate identity for herself. She now plays a very crucialrole in the society. Whether it is in career developmentor in the development of women empowerment, thewoman is emerging as leader with potential. Indianwomen rank top in the list of numbers of professionallyqualified women. Women play different roles in society.She is in the fields of politics, sports, literature, banks,entrepreneurs, Ngoc’s etc. The entry of women intobusiness in India is traced out as an extension of theirkitchen activities mainly 3 P’s Pickle, Powder and Pappad. But with the spread of education and passage oftime women started shifting from 3 P’s to 3 E’s i.e.Energy, Electronics and Engineering. Skill, Knowledgeand adaptability in business are the main reasons forwomen to emerge into business ventures. Womenentrepreneurship is both about women’s position in thesociety and about the role of entrepreneurship in thesame society. Women entrepreneurs face manyobstacles, specifically in marketing their productincluding family responsibilities that have to be overcomein order to give them access to the same opportunitiesas men.

Concept of Women Entrepreneurs Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the womenor a group of women who initiate, organize and operatea business enterprise. The Government of India hasdefined women entrepreneurs as an enterprise ownedand controlled by women having a minimum financial

interest of 51 per cent of the capital and giving at least51 per cent of the employment generated in theenterprise to women. Women entrepreneurs engaged inbusiness due to push and pull factors which encouragewomen to have an independent occupation and standson their own legs. A sense towards independent decision-making on their life and career is the motivational factorbehind this urge. Saddled with household chores anddomestic responsibilit ies women want to getindependence. Under the influence of these factors thewomen entrepreneurs choose a profession as achallenge and as an urge to do something new. Such asituation is described as pull factors. While in pushfactors women engaged in business activities due to familycompulsion and the responsibility is thrust upon them.

Objectives Of The Study:1. To study the role of women entrepreneurs in the

economic development of India.2. To study the challenges faced by the women

entrepreneurs.3. To study the factors responsible for the success of

the Women Empowerment.

Materials And Methods:This is a theoretical research paper, where secondaryinformation produced by different authors and researchershas been used. For obtaining necessary information,various books, journals as well as websites have beenexplored by the researcher which has been mentionedin the reference section.



Reasons For Women Becoming Entrepreneurs:The glass ceilings are shattered and women are found indulged in every line of business. Skill, knowledge andadaptability in business are the main reasons for women to emerge into business ventures. The following flow chartshows the reasons for women becoming entrepreneurs

Contributions Of Women Entrepreneurs:The role of women in the economic development of the nation cannot be neglected. In fact they have to be encouragedand motivated to take active part in any business activity. Women occupy a larger share of the informal economyand also in the micro and small enterprise sector in India. The acceleration of economic growth requires an increasedsupply of women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs play the role of change makers both in the family and alsoin the society and inspire other members of the society to take up such activities. Women entrepreneurs are assetsof the nation as they are engaged in certain productive activity and also the create job opportunities for others. Thisleads to poverty reduction and minimizing the problem of unemployment.

1. GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT: Entrepreneurial activities give rise to employment opportunities. The womenentrepreneurs become the job creators and not job seekers. Naturally the economic growth will be acceleratedby generating employment.

2. IMPROVEMENT IN PER CAPITA INCOME: The exploitation of the opportunities to convert the idle resourceslike land, labour and capital in to national income and wealth in the form of goods and services is the outcome

Flow chart : 1

innovativethinking

Self indentityand social status

Educationand qualification

New challengesand

opportu nities forsel’ fulfillment

Employmentgeneration

Freedom to takeown decision andbe independent

Governmentpolicies

and procedures

Family occupationNeed for

additional income

Bright future ofthier wards

Success storiesof friends

and relatives

Role modelto others

Support offamily members

ReasonsWomenBecome

Entrepreneurs



Fig. 3

Challenges Faced By Women Entrepreneurship:Women have to face various problems in both the caseswhile entering into any entrepreneurial activity and also

of increasing entrepreneurial activities. The per capitaincome and the net national product will be increasedresultantly.

3. CAPITAL FORMATION: An economy grows rapidlyif the idle savings are invested in some productiveactivities. The idle funds mobilized and invested inthe industry and thus optimum utilization of nationalresources is done. This phenomenon of capitalformation accelerates the economic growth.

4. BALANCED REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Theregional development of the nation is balanced asthe women mostly start their business activities inthe rural and underdeveloped regions. Governmentalso encourages the entrepreneurs to startbusinesses in these areas through different schemesand subsidies.

5. IMPROVEMENT IN STANDARD OF LIVING: Variousproducts are produced by the women in their smallscale businesses, which are offered to the people atreasonable rates. New products are introduced andthe scarcity of essential commodities is removed.This facilitates the improvement in standard of living.

6. INNOVATIONS: Innovation is the key ofentrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurs aretransforming families and society, besides makingcontributions to business development. Women aremore likely to reinvest their profits in education, theirfamily and their community.

Despite of all these contributions, today we find thatrate of women entrepreneurs is very low. Governmentand non government agencies also have recognized theircontributions and have paid increasing attention towardsthe empowerment of women entrepreneurs. Although thewomen are entering into the field of enterprise at lowerspeed, we see various women successfully running theirbusinesses both in domestic markets and alsointernational markets.

Economic Development:

Fig. 1

Women have been regarded as the nuclei of nation andbuilder and molder of its destiny. It is fact that, whenthere is development of women, family develops, thesociety develops and the country develops. They are

Fig. 2

the catalyst of development and with them we prosper,but without them we are poor. Time went out when Indianwomen are confined to four walls of their homes withtheir immense strength and potential. Now they are theimportant part of economic development. Womenperform an important role in building the real backboneof a nation’s economy. National development will besluggish, if the economic engine operates only at halfpower. There is considerable entrepreneurial talentamong women. Many women‘s domestic skills such aspeople and time management and household budgetingare directly transferable in the business context. Womenhave the ability to balance different tasks and prioritiesand tend to find satisfaction and success in and frombuilding relationships with customers and employees,in having control of their own destiny, and in doingsomething that they consider worthwhile. The processof economic development would be incomplete andlopsided, unless women are fully involved in it. Thehighest national priority must be for the unleashing ofwoman power which is the single most important sourceof societal energy. Emancipation of women is anessential prerequisite for economic development andsocial progress of the nations.



these days when women work in space researchcentres. Ours is a patriarchal society which pampersthe male ego and whims. In this scenario, a womantaking up entrepreneurial activity is a distant dream.The other challenges faced by women are those whichare common to both men and women entrepreneurs.Shortage of finance, marketing problem, shortage ofraw material, stiff competition, high cost ofproduction, limited managerial ability, lack ofentrepreneurial training, etc are the various challengesfaced by women entrepreneurs.

Suggestions - Overcome The Challenges:There is no doubt; women have to come forward to startup the enterprise. But she needs a little support in theinitial stages of setting up the business.

1. EDUCATION AND AWARENESS: The negative socialattitude of the society can be changed by conductingdifferent awareness programs and educate the womenand also the society regarding the fruits of womenindulging in the entrepreneurial activities. Womenalso should be made aware of the importance ofeducation, different vocational courses, so that theycan make up their mind for starting enterprise.

2. PLANNING: Women should never enter into anybusiness without proper planning. They have to createappropriate strategies. A blue print of the activities tobe undertaken should be prepared which will specifythe product, service, the target customers, the modeof financing and the way the business will beundertaken on daily basis. This will give a proper ideato the woman entrepreneur of her responsibilities andher commitments.

3. TRAINING FACILITIES: Women lack different skillslike the managerial skills, communication skills,language problems, etc. Various training programscan be developed so that the women take fulladvantage and confidently engage themselves intoany business activity.

4. FINANCE CELLS: Finance cells should be openedso that the women entrepreneurs will get finance andalso appropriate guidance regarding the financialschemes available to them.

5. TEAM BUILDING: The woman entrepreneur has toforget the fact that she is the only person who will dothe particular task perfectly. She should have a team,the members of which have different skills andstrengths and the women should be able to coordinatewith the team and thus bring out all the strengthsand skills in the members for the success of thebusiness.

while they are continuing with their business. No doubteven men entrepreneurs also have to face challengesbut being a woman’ or the womanhood has createdcertain challenges which the women have to faceexclusively.

1. CONFLICTS BETWEEN DOMESTIC ANDENTREPRENEURIAL COMMITMENTS: A womanprimarily has to look after the domestic work. Herfamily obligations are obstacles for her most of thetimes for conducting her entrepreneurial activities.Her responsibilities towards her children and the oldmembers and family as whole, results in very littletime left for her to engage herself in any businessactivity.

2. GENDER GAPS IN EDUCATION: In many familiesin India girls/women are avoided to go to schoolsand colleges due to various reasons. The familymembers stop their education at different levels beforegraduation, thus the question of higher educationdoesn‘t come into picture. There is a lack ofcombination of education, vocational courses andother courses necessary for taking up anyentrepreneurial activity.

3. NOT BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY: Women who takeup any business are not taken seriously. The peoplearound her feel that it is her hobby or any side projectto her family duties. Women‘s opinions and adviceare not always viewed as expert compared to a man‘sopinion.

4. FEAR OF TAKING RISKS: Women are consideredas being more afraid of taking risks and movingforward. Women are more comfortable in their safezone. They are afraid of moving out of their comfortzones. This fear may be fear of failure, fear of success,fear of being their own.

5. WANTING TO PLEASE EVERYONE: Women, rightfrom their childhood, are taught to be nice witheveryone. They are taught to say Yes ‘always andplease everyone and due to this woman are taken forgranted many a times. They feel difficult to say no toanyone who may be at the cost of their needs,business or otherwise.

6. WANTING TO BE PERFECT IN ALL TASKS:Women want to be always perfect in all the tasksmay it be in their personal life or their professionallife. They feel that they’ are the best ones who canperform any task in front of her perfectly. This makesthem poor in delegation of authority which may bean obstacle for their success in their business.

7. PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY: Women do not get equaltreatment in this male dominated society even in



6. AVOIDING TO GET TOO CLOSE WITH THEEMPLOYEES: Women, naturally, are family oriented.They are attached to anybody as if he/she is thatwoman‘s family member. She gets too close to heremployees which will make her difficult many a timesto maintain professional relationship with them. Thusthe women should be able to be professional andpractical always and be informal at some times.

Conclusion:According to the above information we can say that thereis direct relationship between the economic growth,poverty reduction and women entrepreneurship. It hasbeen correctly stated by our first Prime Minister PanditJawaharlal Nehru, that when women move forward, thefamily moves, the village moves and the nation moves.The above discussion reveals that though womenentrepreneurs are gaining recognition recently, still thereis a long way they have to go. The transition fromhomemaker to women entrepreneur is not so easy andin the same way it is also difficult for a woman to succeedand sustain in her business. She has to learn from herexperiences, adapt herself and overcome the challengesin her field. She has to creatively utilize her strengths toovercome the threats and grab all the opportunities to

minimize her weaknesses. This will be certainly being amantra for her to develop and grow her businesssuccessfully.

Reference:• h t t p s : / / s c m s p u n e . a c . i n / c h a p t e r / p d f /

Chapter%2010.pdf• h t t p : / /www. i j s tm .com/ images / sho r t_pd f /

1459447053_1204B.pdf• h t t p : / / w w w . g n l u . a c . i n / b c /

B I _ W e e k l y % 2 0 C o l u m n % 2 0 -%205_Shrut_Brahmbhatt.pdf

• h t t ps : / / w w w. r i p u b l i c a t i o n . c o m / g j f m - s p l /gjfmv6n5_14.pdf

• ht tps : / /www.msm.n l / the- ro le -o f -womens-entrepreneurship-in-society-and-economic-development/

• http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol13-issue1/B01310712.pdf

• ata.conferenceworld.in/BHIMA/P1099-1107.pdf• https://insightssikhiri.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/

w o m e n - e m p o w e r m e n t - t h r o u g h - w o m e n -entrepreneurship-economic-growth/

• http://ijar.org.in/stuff/issues/v2-i2(8)/v2-i2(8)-a007.pdf



MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS FOR PROMOTING WOMENENTREPRENEURSHIP-EVIDENCE FROM EMPIRICAL STUDIES

1. Scholar, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad. AP.

Siva Krishna Golla1

Abstract

Women entrepreneurship has been recognised as an important source of economic growth across the nations.Women entrepreneurs play extremely significant role of the global expedition for economic development in India.However, they still represent a minority of all entrepreneurs. Looking into the reason of the minority representation, thisstudy aims at determining the factors affecting the motivation of Women to become Entrepreneurs. Motivation is theset of forces that initiate behavior and determine its form, direction, intensity and duration. Women are motivated intobusiness by different factors. This paper is wholly based on the secondary data obtained from thefindings of fiveempirical studies carried out in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, and North Western India and from variouspublications of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).The article covers two parts: (i) analysis oftwo main aspects of women entrepreneurship based on the findings of five empirical studies carried out in AndhraPradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, and North Western India. (ii) Few observations regarding Schemes with Focus onWoman Entrepreneurs. The aspects covered are: (i) socio-demographic attributes of women entrepreneurs; (ii) factorsinfluencing the motivation of women to become entrepreneurs; the proposition is accelerating the pace of womenentrepreneurship is essential for broad-basing entrepreneurship in various sectors of the economy. For facilitatingthis, it is important to understand the prerequisites and guidelines for developing entrepreneurial qualities among thefemales. The evidence from empirical studies presented in the paper can serve as the basis for formulating strategiesfor the future, and supporting entrepreneurship among females in a sustained manner.Key words: Woman Entrepreneurs,Entrepreneurship, Economy, Schemes and strategies

IntroductionWomen entrepreneurs, as persons who have shownenterprise, having an eye for opportunity, willingness totake risk, a commercial acumen, and through theirenterprising skills and innovativeness generateemployment for others, and create wealth, have set anew trend in the country in the efforts directed atentrepreneurship development in varied walks of life, inparticular in industry, service and business in the smalland medium enterprise (SME) sector. It was the IndustrialPolicy Resolution of 1978, which recognised womenentrepreneurs as a special group, needing assistanceand support, as a sequel to the Declaration ofInternational Decade for Women between 1976 and 1985,and the International Conference on WomenEntrepreneurs held at New Delhi in 1984.

The year 2000 was declared as the Year of Empowermentof Women in India, and National Policy for Empowermentof Women was formally announced in the country in2001. The definition of women entrepreneur-promotedenterprise announced in 1978 was modified in the Smalland Tiny Enterprises Policy of 1991. A womenentrepreneur-promoted enterprise is defined as a micro,small or medium (MSM) manufacturing or serviceenterprise, managed by one or more women

entrepreneurs in proprietary concerns or other forms oforganisation, and in which she / they individually or jointlyhave a share capital of not less than 51 per cent aspartners / shareholders / directors of a private limitedcompany / members of a cooperative society.Percentage of women employed in the enterprisestipulated earlier, has since been dropped. Thecomponents of this definition can be extended to othersectors as well where women’s participation issignificant. In about two decades time, womenentrepreneurs not only entered business in a small waybut ventured into starting and managing large enterpriseson professional lines, and have been able to sustain andsurvive in the competitive environment. Among thenumerous areas of operation that women have enteredthrough self-employment, mention may be made ofeducation and training, information technology sector,health services, real estate development, tourism,services sector, housekeeping, travel services,organising conventions and trade fairs, and consultancyservices.

Women in business in the entrepreneurial role have beeninadequately researched in the country, though a numberof studies have been conducted in recent years on afew aspects. Some of the aspects on which studies have



been conducted so far relate factors influencing themotivation of women to become entrepreneurs andexperiences of work-home role conflict.

Evidence From Empirical Studies1.1 Socio–demographic Attributes of Women

Entrepreneurs

The attributes presented are with reference to start–upand development of income generating enterprises inindustry, service and business from three empiricalstudies – studies from Rayalaseema region andVisakhapatnam city of Andhra Pradesh, and NorthWestern India.i. S. Shahina Begum (2006) in her study on Women

Entrepreneurship in Rayalaseema region of AndhraPradesh, referred to as Rayalaseema Study,presented the fact-file of Women Entrepreneurs inindustry, service and business in Rayalaseema regionbased on the coverage of 80 entrepreneurs, as middleaged, married, middle income group, educated, manywith prior business background, through own familybusiness or husband being in business, or in ownbusiness on their own. Many made efforts to acquireexperience or at least exposure to the product line /activity they would like to pursue, before promotingthe venture. Ambition while starting the enterprisewas to be self-employed followed by, to provideemployment to others.

ii. D. Lalitha Rani (1996) in her study of 100 womenentrepreneurs in manufacturing, trading, and servicein Visakhapatnam city of Andhra Pradesh, referredto as Visakhapatnam Study,analysed the socio-economic background of women entrepreneurs. Therespondents were either from families which werealready in business or having highly educatedhusbands or fathers. Women preferred to startenterprises based on their educational background.Service sector enterprises had entrepreneurs withhigher level of education, and trading withcomparatively lower education level. In manufacturing,nearly half of them had technical education. Majorityof entrepreneurs in the service sector were employedprior to starting the enterprise. The socio-economicprofile of women entrepreneurs in Visakhapatnam islargely Telugu speaking, forward community, Hinduin 30-39 years age group at the time of starting theenterprise, coming from a nuclear, middle class family,and well educated husbands settled in business.Many of the respondents migrated to Visakhapatnamowing to husband’s or father’s business or job.

iii. S.K. Dhameja (2004) in the study of 175 womenentrepreneurs from seven districts of Punjab, Haryana,and Chandigarh, referred to as North Western India

Study, examined the opportunities, performance, andproblems of women- promoted enterprises. Analysisof the socio-demographic profile of womenentrepreneurs covers the following aspects. Maximumnumber of respondents started their units in the agegroup 25-40 years, i.e., after completing theireducation, getting married; and in some cases alsoafter acquiring a few years of work experience.Majority of them (81.1%) had good educationalbackground of graduation and above. 45.7% hadexperience in manufacturing / trading / service or acombination of these ranging from six months to morethan five years, prior to the launch of their enterprises.A significant percentage of the respondents (35.4%)had undergone training of a duration ranging from lessthan three months to more than two years beforestarting their ventures. 42.3% of them were earningquite well before venturing into their own businesses.Majority of them (84%) were married at the time ofstarting the enterprise, and 78.9% had urbanbackground. Their families belonged to business /professional background, strengthening the belief thatbusiness family background does facilitate one’s entryinto the entrepreneurial world.

To sum up, conclusion from the three studies on socio-demographic aspects can be stated as follows: serviceenterprises can be taken up in 20-25 years age group,businesses at 25-35 years age group, and industry at30-45 years age group. The occupation and backgroundof the husband and father provide the basis in manycases to select the entrepreneurial activity. Apart fromeducation and training, experience goes a long way inenabling a woman to become a successful entrepreneur.They should have a clear understanding of how theyintend to realise their goal of transforming their dreaminto a reality. They need to aim high, and expand theirmarkets beyond the traditional boundaries. Networkingthrough women associations, and also mixedassociations will enable them to proceed faster, andwork vigorously to pursue their goal. Constraints andproblems faced by women entrepreneurs need to beovercome through creation of a more conduciveentrepreneur-friendly support system, including banks.

1.2 What motivates Women Entrepreneurs? –Factors influencing theirMotivation

Factors motivating women entrepreneurs to start anenterprise can vary depending on the nature of activity –industry, service and business. Common considerationswhich can motivate persons to start a new venture areconsidered to pinpoint the factors relevant for variousgroups of women entrepreneurs. Similarly, discouragingfactors in starting and managing the enterprise, andlocational aspects influencing the choice of location arealso considered. These are attempted from five regional



studies – two from Andhra Pradesh, and one each fromHaryana, Maharashtra, and North Western India.i. The Rayalaseema Study (2006) brought out the

following factors as motivational aspects in order ofimportance for starting an enterprise: in respect ofindustry - to be self-employed is the dominantmotivation, followed by, to achieve higher income,and to utilise professional expertise; for service -providing employment to others, followed by, prestigestatus, and profit motive; for business – to achievehigher income, followed by, to be self-employed, andprofit motive.

Discouraging factors in starting and managing theenterprise in the descending order of importance are:for industry – discouragement from the family,competition, and labour problem; for service –inadequacy of credit, discouragement from the family,and difficulty in getting technical know-how; forbusiness – inadequacy of credit, labour problem, anddiscouragement from the family. Discouragementfrom the family is, thus, one significant factor standingin the way of accelerating female entrepreneurship.

Locational factors influencing the setting up of theenterprise in the descending order of importance areas follows: for industry – power supply, industrialenvironment, and credit facilities; for service – rawmaterial availability, skilled manpower, and creditfacilities; for business – market facilities, raw materialavailability, and skilled manpower.

ii. The Visakhapatnam Study (1996) examined themotivational and facilitating factors, and work–homerole conflict. The study revealed that the majoraspirations of women entrepreneurs before settingup the enterprise were to pursue an activityindependently, followed by utilising their skills, talentsand professional expertise. After setting up theenterprise, their aspiration was to run it successfully;followed by expansion of the enterprise in case ofmanufacturing and service sectors; and to set upanother enterprise in the trading sector.

Women were motivated towards entrepreneurialactivity by their education, occupational andeconomic status of husband / father. At the sametime, entrepreneurial activity of women wasconditioned by factors such as choice of location ofthe enterprise, and line of activity. Size and type ofactivity were limited by internal factors such as skills,occupation and economic status of the entrepreneurand her husband / father rather than opportunitiesavailable in the environment.

On work-home role conflict, the experiences wereas follows: Women entrepreneurs defined their

priorities according to the time available, and dutiesthey plan to perform, by giving due recognition todomestic and enterprise responsibilities. Tradingsector’s profitability was affected to a greater extentdue to the role conflict of women entrepreneurs thanthe other two sectors. The entrepreneurs expressedthat the role conflict existed; and they had managedto overcome it with the cooperation of other membersof the family. The entrepreneurs did not aspire toimprove the business and profitability to very highlevels, as they gave priority to devoting time for thefamily, including children’s education, and werecontent with a certain desirable level of growth of theenterprise.

iii. The North Western India Study (2004)analysedmotivational and facilitating factors. The studyrevealed that push and pull factors operated in relationto the entry of respondents in business. A largenumber of younger women had high level ofmotivation not only by the desire to becomeeconomically independent, and do somethingcreative, but also to achieve job satisfaction byaccomplishing some challenging tasks, and tocompete with others. As a contrast, the elder agegroups of women of 40 years and above weremotivated mainly by pecuniary considerations. Therespondents exhibited entrepreneurial performanceby way of generating more employment, influencinggrowth and diversification, modernisation,improvements and innovations in their enterprises.They also exhibited entrepreneurial mobility. Socio-personal problems faced by maximum number ofrespondents were: resistance from the husband /family at the time of starting the enterprise, dualduties, indifferent attitude of society, and non-cooperation from family members, male dominance,and limited liberty given to women.

iv. Anil Kumar (2005) in his study of 120 womenentrepreneurs engaged in small manufacturingenterprises in six districts of Haryana, referred toas Haryana Study, has attempted to determine thefactors which compel women to enter businessventures. The entrepreneurs were asked to rank thethree options proposed, namely: (a) to achieve thegoal through a successful career, (b) to make fruitfuluse of free time, and (c) compulsion of familycircumstances. The study reveals that women havestarted participating in economic activities not dueto family compulsions but mainly to achieve a goalin life by making a successful career, andsecondarily to make fruitful use of free time. Itindicates high growth in the economy, and positivedevelopment in the society.



Women entrepreneurs, who have given firstpreference to achieve the goal, are of a higher levelof income as compared to other respondents. Thisshows that these two features are positivelycorrelated. Next in importance in ranking is to makeuse of free time by starting a small enterprise. Only15 per cent of women respondents gave the first rankto family compulsion to start their business, and 47per cent assigned the third rank. Family compulsionis found to be more in the case of respondents withlow level of education.

v. Sujata Mukherjee (2006), in her study of 125 womenentrepreneurs in service, trading, and manufacturingsectors in Greater Mumbai and Pune districts ofMaharashtra, referred to as Western MaharashtraStudy, examined the factors influencing motivationof women entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs selectedwere of low income strata. The study revealed thatthe respondents were motivated to entrepreneurshipprimarily to satisfy their socio-economic needs.Satisfying psychological needs of becomingeconomically independent, increasing self-confidence, and ability to take risks were consideredthe motivating factors for venturing intoentrepreneurship. A large majority of them (91%) weremotivated to support the family earnings, and by asense of responsibility and obligation towards thefamily. To gain recognition in the family and societyalso emerged as a motivating factor (77%). The needto establish them in the society is, thus, consideredan important factor in this study, compared to a fewother studies where monetary attraction was consideredthe main factor for venturing into entrepreneurship. Asizeable percentage of entrepreneurs (58) also citedthe desire to keep busy, to pursue specific interests,and to be independent, self-confident, and dosomething new (48%), as motivating factors.

The study reveals that the decision to start a businesscannot be solely explained by the entrepreneurialpsychological factors alone. It is likely to be based on acombination of personal, environmental, and socialfactors, together with triggering events. Further, educationeither up to class (xii) or above, or vocational trainingplayed an important role in sustaining motivation. Familyand business management techniques also contributedtowards sustaining motivation among entrepreneurs. Thestudy advocates a holistic multi-pronged and multi-agency strategy to sustain and motivate womenentrepreneurs.

1.3 What Enterprises can be promoted by Womenin Industry, Service and Business?

Examples of women-promoted enterprises from a fewregions based on empirical studies can offer possible

business alternatives in the micro and small enterprisesector in industry, service and business. Evidence fromthree studies is presented in this section – two fromAndhra Pradesh, and one from North Western India.

i. TheRayalaseemaStudy (2006) covered four districtsof the less developed Rayalaseema region (AndhraPradesh) with 80 enterprises in industry, service andbusiness – 50 from industry, 13 from service, and 17from business.a. Products of manufacturing enterprises can be

categorised as agro, forest and leather-based,mineral-based, engineering and metal-based, andchemical and plastic industries. Products include:processing of paddy, coriander, coffee and dal,vermicelli, milk products, sawing of timber andwooden furniture, footwear, granite cutting andpolishing, fly ash bricks, cement concreteproducts, pulverising of minerals, iron grills,assembling of television sets, ceramic products,plastic pipes, rubber plates, plastic cups, andcarry bags.

b. Service enterprises cover personal and industrialservices. These include: desk top publishing(DTP), Xerox, video cassettes, electrical drycleaners, compact disc (CD) shop, beauty parlour,sofa repair works, minibus transport operators,embroidery, flour mill, and welding works.

c. Business enterprises cover household goods andindustrial goods. These include: readymadegarments, clothes, provisions, rice, fancy items,sarees, medicines, utensils, bakery items,hardware items, photo frames, and woodenfurniture.

ii. The Visakhapatnam Study (1996) covered theindustrially well-developed district headquarters ofVisakhapatnam city (Andhra Pradesh) with 100enterprises - 30 in manufacturing, 36 in trading, and34 in service. Products in each of the categories areas follows:a. Manufacturing: fabrication, assembling of

television sets, automobile parts, polyfilms,defence packaging, readymade garments, foodproducts, bakeries, fancy items, and agro–relateditems – aromatic oils and essences, paints,flower cultivation, and flour mill.

b. Trading: retail or wholesale dealer, travel bags,ice cream distribution, tailoring materials,photographic materials, departmental store,hardware and electrical items, ladies accessories,fancy and general stores, and florist.

c. Service: nursing home, pathological laboratory,beauty parlour, school, training institute, computer



institute, desk top publishing (DTP), book binding,plants and nursery, and architect and interiordesigner.

iii. The North Western India Study (2004) coveredseven highly industrialised districts from Punjab,Haryana and Chandigarh. In all, 175 enterprises ofdiversified nature were covered. Women entrepreneursin the sample were engaged in diverse activities, someof which involved relatively complex technologiesdemanding considerable managerial capabilities.Traditional women with low level of education andskill, and limited access to finance opted for lowinvestment ‘soft’ enterprises such as garments,handicrafts, and miscellaneous products. Withincreased level of education and availability of credit,a number of entrepreneurs opted for entrepreneurialcareers in engineering, plastics, electronics, leather-related activities, beauty therapy, scientificinstruments, music and entertainment, educationand training, publishing and printing, packaging, etc.

Typical features of women entrepreneurs from anindustrially advanced region like the sample covered inthis study can be gauged from the pattern of developmentof enterprises over a period. A few of them diversifiedtheir businesses, and added new product lines. Ninerespondents were found to have exported their products.The export items were in.a. Handicrafts,b. Bicycle rubber parts,c. Silk garments and other embroidered garments, and

upholstery,d. Home interiors (curtains, etc.),e. Readymade garments (including jeans),f. Bed-spread and quilts, andg. Knitted fabric and hosiery. Modernisation and

innovation were also noticed in a few enterprises.Quality consciousness amongst the sampleenterprises was of a high order. This speaks of thehigh level of performance. Six respondents madequality improvement in their products and productionprocess with a view to make the product moreattractive to the customer, cutting down cost ofproduction, improving profitability, and therebyincreasing productivity of enterprises. Ninerespondents stated that their products were ofinternational standards.

Choice of a product/Service: The choice of a productby a woman entrepreneur is related to the educationaland socio-economic background of the person, trainingreceived in the area of special interest, experiencegained, and support made available from the family andfriends, apart from the location, and potential for

development in the location finalised for setting up theenterprise. In addition, the level of industrialisation andservices available in the region play a decisive role inthe selection of the product.

Few Observations Regarding Schemes With FocusOn Woman Entrepreneurs

A few of the schemes with focus on woman entrepreneursare referred to here. Various Ministries of Government ofIndia, and State governments, apart from specialisedinstitutions, including banks have formulated specialschemes for the benefit of woman entrepreneurs. Theorganisations include Union Department of Science andTechnology (DST), Central Social Welfare Board(CSWB), Small Industries Development Bank of India(SIDBI), National Bank for Agriculture and Ruraldevelopment (NABARD), and individual banks includingState Bank of India (SBI) and Central Bank of India CBI).

1. Under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro andsmall Enterprises (CGTMSE) of SIDBI, guaranteecover of 80% is given for micro and small enterprisesowned/operated by woman entrepreneurs, SC/Stentrepreneurs, compared to 75% in case of others.

2. For providing venture capital fund for women and otherweaker sections, there are special provisions.

3. For infrastructure development in a cluster of microand small enterprises, GoI grant is 60% of the costof the project, i.e, a maximum of Rs.10 croreexcluding the cost of land (80% in case of NorthEastern and other Hill States, and industrial estates/areas with more than 50% (a) micro, (b) women-owned, and (c) SC/ST enterprises). For existingclusters, up gradation proposals will be based onactual requirement.The state government providessuitable land for the projects. GoI provides grant-in-aid.The remaining amount may be obtained as loanfrom Small Industries Development Bank of India. Thestate government will also be able to meet additionalfunds required for the project, in excess of Rs.10crore or any escalation in cost.

4. Under the Ministry of MSME, assistance to womanentrepreneurs is provided under various schemes,apart from support for training through variousinstitutions all over the country. Some of the schemesare: TREAD, Mahila coir Yojana, PMEGP, STEP,Marketing support for woman entrepreneurs,MahilaUdyamnidhi and MahilaVikasNidhiof SIDBI.

ConclusionIncreasingly, female entrepreneurs are being consideredas an important catalyst for economic development. Notonly do they contribute to employment, wealth creation,and economic growth through their increasing numbers,



and diversity of activities, but they also make acontribution to the diversity of entrepreneurship in theeconomic process. Among the reasons for women tomanage organised enterprises are their skills, knowledgeand expertise, their talents and abilities in business,and a compelling desire to achieve a goal by doingsomething positive and constructive utilising theirexpertise. The Government has acted as a major catalystin the democratic framework, organising efforts andplanning new initiatives in close consultation withentrepreneurs from various regions, through associationsfunctioning at different levels. the direction needs to bepursued more vigorously at the district and state levelsto bring about socio-economic transformation throughfemale entrepreneurship in a number of fields, which havenot yet been exploited by women. Efforts should bemade to develop women entrepreneurship more evenlyin different regions, including rural and semi-urban areas.

Review of the findings of five empirical studies coveringAndhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, and NorthWestern India brings out very relevant conclusions forpromoting women entrepreneurship at an acceleratedpace in the country, by highlighting the prerequisites,and steps that need to be taken to groom youngeraspiring women as entrepreneurs. In terms of motivation,it is well established that to be self-employed, andestablish oneself in the family and society, and achievethe goal set by her is the primary motive, particularlyamong middle income and better educated women.supplementing the family income, and working forimproving the monetary earnings is particularly relevantfor low income families, and for elder aged persons.Discouraging factors need to be overcome with thecooperation of the family members and institutionalsupport. In the selection of the product line / serviceactivity, multiple factors play a role; here again, it isrelevant to make sure that the background of the personin terms of education, experience, aptitude, and interestsshould get greater weightage. Some of the dominantcharacteristics required for the success of an enterprise,as brought out by these studies are: self-confidence,drive and energy, taking initiative and seeking personalresponsibility, positive outlook, and long term involvementin a sustained manner.

Research on women entrepreneurship needs to be morebroad-based, as indicated in the early part of the article.Multi-pronged and holistic approach needs to be evolvedfor accelerating the pace of women entrepreneurship inthe areas where females have already entered; and inmany other areas where potential exists, to enable themto become successful entrepreneurs.

Reference• Anil Kumar (2005), “Women Entrepreneurs: Their

profile and factors compelling business choice”,GITAM Journal of Management, 3(2), July –December: 138-144. - A study in six districts ofHaryana, referred to as Haryana Study.

• Dhameja, S.K. (2004), Women entrepreneurs –opportunities, performance and problems, New Delhi:Deep and Deep publishers. – A study in sevenindustrially advanced districts of Punjab, Haryanaand Chandigarh, referred to as North Western IndiaStudy.

• Ghosh, Piyali and ReenaCheruvalath (2006),“progress of Female Entrepreneurs in low incomecountries – A theoretical enquiry in India”, TheIcfaiJournal of Entrepreneurship Development, 3(3),September: 8-18.

• India. Ministry of Skill Development andEntrepreneurship (MSDE) (2015), National Policy forSkill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, NewDelhi.

• India. Ministry of Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs) (2012), Report of the workinggroup on MSMEs growth for the 12th Five Year Plan(2012-17) –Report of the sub-group on SkillDevelopment and Training (Chairman of the workinggroup: R.K. Mathur), New Delhi. www.msme.gov.in

• Lalitha Rani, D. (1996), Women Entrepreneurs – astudy of Visakhapatnam City, New Delhi: A.P.H.Publishing Corporation. - A study in an industriallyadvanced district in Andhra Pradesh, referred to asVisakhapatnam Study.

• MadhuriModekurti (2007), “The Normative Context forWomen’s Participation in Entrepreneurship: A Multi-country Study – Research Summary”, The IcfaiJournal of Entrepreneurship Development, 4(1),March: 93-95.

• Shahina Begum, S. (2006), Women entrepreneurshipin Rayalaseema Districts of Andhra Pradesh,unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Sri VenkateswaraUniversity, Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh). – A study infour industrially less developed districts ofRayalaseema region, referred to as RayalaseemaStudy.

• Sujata Mukherjee (2006), “what motivates womenentrepreneurs – Factors influencing their motivation”,The Icfai Journal of Entrepreneurship Development,3(4), December: 7-20. - A study in Greater Mumbaiand Pune districts, referred to as WesternMaharashtra Study.



FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT ININDIA – A REVIEW

1. Associate Professor, Dept.of Economics, The Hindu College, Machilipatnam, AP.2. Associate Professor, Dept.of Economics, ANR College, Gudivada, AP.

Dr.V.Sujatha1 Dr.K.Venu Madhava Rao2

“An Enlightened Woman is a Source of Infinite Energy”-- Swami Vivekananda

Abstract

Women empowerment is well-known and an old concept around the globe. In world around 50 percent of populationis women and true for India also. Still gender inequalities and gender wise discrimination prevails in some parts ofworld as well as in India. This situation hinders the economic growth and society’s development. To pave the way ofwomen empowerment, Govt. of India has introduced women-centric schemes and few reputed institutes providetraining for entrepreneurship development programs to encourage women to become entrepreneurs. These women-centric schemes and training programs act as support systems for women empowerment and entrepreneurship iseffective tool for women empowerment. When the focus is on the achievement of sustainable development, theremust be an attempt to include maximum number of participation from all the sections of the society. But the lack ofawareness and financial literacy among the rural population of the country especially women is hindering the growthof the economy. Financial inclusion helps in the empowerment of the underprivileged, poor and women of the societywith the mission of making them self-sufficient and well informed to take better financial decisions. Even after 70 yearsof independence, a large section of Indian population still remains unbanked. This dissatisfaction has led generationof financial instability and depression among the lower income group. In this background the paper has made amodest attempt to bring about the role of financial inclusion in making the women empowered in the Indian society.The paper also presents brief view of women empowerment scenario in India and evolving scenario of differentsupport systems including the role of entrepreneurship development programmes.Key Words: Financial Literacy, Financial Instability, Underprivileged sections, Women-centric schemes, Womenempowerment, Women Entrepreneurship, Sustainable development,

IntroductionFinancial inclusion is the expanding outreach of bankingor financial services at an affordable cost to a vast sectionof disadvantaged groups of society. It may provide thema financial cushion for their sustenance as well as socialempowerment. In India where women constitute 46percent of total population majority of them are deniedto opportunities and rights due to their financialdependence. Financial inclusion is much needed forwomen as it helps in increasing amount of regular savingsalong with enabling women to pay for micro insuranceand obtain credit. It also helps in increasing income fromemployment and micro enterprise, usage of mainstreambanking services that offer appropriate designed productsand service. In other words financial inclusion makewomen informed about their role and right in economicdevelopment to improve access to markets and otherinformation for overall empowerment. By helping womento meet their practical needs, micro finance may helpwomen to gain respect and achieve more in their sociallydefined roles along with wellbeing.

Financial services include Bank Accounts, SavingsProducts, Remittances & Payment services, Insurance,

Entrepreneurial and Micro credit. The Government of Indiaand the RBI have been making concerted efforts topromote financial inclusion as one of the importantnational objectives of the country. Some of the majorefforts made in the last five decades include -nationalization of banks, building up of robust branchnetwork of scheduled commercial banks, co-operativesand regional rural banks, introduction of mandated prioritysector lending targets, lead bank scheme, formation ofself-help groups etc. Permitting BCs/BFs to be appointedby banks to provide door step delivery of banking services,zero balance BSBD accounts are also included inFinancial Inclusion. The fundamental objective of all theseinitiatives is to reach the large sections of the financiallyexcluded Indian population. By empowering individualsand families to cultivate economic opportunities, financialinclusion can be a powerful agent for strong and inclusivegrowth.

Women Empowerment and Financial Inclusion:Women’s security, decision-making power, and mobilityare three indicators for women’s empowerment. In India,and more so for rural and less educated women, thesethree indicators are significantly low.



Importance of Women`s Financial Inclusion:Women Empowerment itself elaborates that SocialRights, Political Rights, Economic stability, judicialstrength and all other rights should be also equal towomen. There should be no discrimination between menand woman. Women should know their fundamental andsocial rights which they get once they born.• There should be respect and dignity towards women.• Total independence of their own life and lifestyle inside

the home and also outside at their work.• They should make their decision, by their own choice.• They should have a high social respect in society.• They have equal rights in society and other judicial

works.• They should not be discriminated while providing any

type of education.• They should select their own economic and financial

choices by their own.• There should not be any discrimination between

woman and man while giving jobs and employment.\• They should have safe and secured Working location

with proper privacy.

Financial inclusion of women is essential prerequisitefor poverty alleviation, upholding human rights and forsustainable development. When women controldecisions regarding credit and savings they will optimizetheir own and household`s welfare leading to financialsustainability and empowerment. Financial inclusionenables women for economic decision making,enhancing purchasing capacity, control over loans andcontrol over income and savings, borrow for investmentand insure against risk. According to P.K.B Nayar –Empowerment is an aid to help women to achieveequality with men or at least to reduce gender gapconsiderably. Women empowerment gives power towomen. It enhances self-confidence and helps to beindependent in life. It is the process of acquiring powerfor women in order to understand their rights.

Financial Literacy as a tool for WomenEmpowerment:Financial literacy is an important tool to help thecustomers to accept and use the products to which theyincreasingly have access. It helps to develop skills tocompare and select the best products for their needsand empower them to exercise their rights andresponsibilities. It enables women to act “SmartFinancially” by providing them knowledge and skills tounderstand financial planning, savings, basics of banking,understanding need of household budgeting, cash flowmanagement, asset allocation to meet financial goal etc.Women’s inclusion in banking has a huge impact on

empowerment. Studies suggest that when a woman hasownership of an account and access to money, it isused in to benefit the family’s health or education of herchildren. Women are also found to be more regular inloan repayment than men. When the Pradhan MantriJan Dhan Yojana was set up, it was aimed at broadeningfinancial inclusion and was not gender-specific. Butpositive fallout of it seems to have been the eagernessof women to access banking.

Education and Women Empowerment:Very powerful way of ensuring greater gender equality isthrough the financial route. But poor education levelshave kept women away from availing themselves of notjust banking but other financial services to which theyare entitled. When we talk of Skill India and vocationaleducation, it is rarely in the context of women. Thegovernment could easily push for a scheme to providewomen job-related skills at the rural level. Women inrural areas have few opportunities beyond farming. If thiswas changed and they were to be trained in basichealthcare and education, not only would their literacylevels improve, it would have a domino effect on the wholesocio-economic situation in rural areas.

The government has very big interest on Make in Indiaprogramme, but the focus has been on heavy industriesand inviting foreign companies to set up shops in Indiaand generate employment here. But entrepreneurshipshould be encouraged much more at the rural level andthe panchayat system should be made to work forwomen. Giving women sewing machines is a favoritewith our political parties. As though women cannotconduct any business besides stitching clothes forpeople in the locality. Even in farming, much moreinvestment must be made in women to enable them tounderstand and execute the business of farming.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Programme(PMJDY):It is the biggest financial inclusion initiative in India. Ayear after the scheme was implemented across India;its success has highlighted the enormous role thatfinancial inclusion programmes can play in the growthof the economy. At present, more than 17.5 crore bankaccounts have been opened under the initiative and peoplehave deposited more than Rs 22,000 crore in them. Plus,zero-balance accounts under PMJDY have declined from76 per cent to 45.74 per cent since its inception. PMJDYis enabling citizens at the grassroots to perform financialtransactions and keep their hard-earned money safe.Inclusive growth is the sine qua non of India’s economicdevelopment. Unless all sections of society enjoy thefruits of economic expansion, growth itself shall be short-lived. If financial inclusion is being implemented with



success across states, it is because there is strongpolitical will to carry out bold structural reforms andsuccessfully make technology work towards this end.

Women Empowerment Scenario in India:Women and girls make up a little over half the world’spopulation, but their contribution to measured economicactivity, growth, and well-being is far below its potential,resulting in significant socio-economic consequences.Globally, only half of women participate in the labor force,compared to three quarters of men. In developingcountries, up to 95 percent of women’s employment isinformal; in jobs that are unprotected by labor laws, orwhich do not benefit from social protection. Women andgirls are also the face of poverty, the latest “ Progress ofthe World’s Women 2015-2016” by UN Women findsthat women are more likely than men to live in the pooresthouseholds in 41 out of 75 countries.

Financial services are a core enabler for consumptionsmoothing, risk mitigation, self-employment, SMEgrowth, asset accumulation and wealth creation. Lackof access to financial services reduces women’s abilityto climb out of poverty; increases their risk of falling intopoverty; contributes to women’s marginalization to theinformal sector; and reduces their ability to fully engagein measurable and productive economic activities.

Forty-two percent of women and girls worldwide –approximately 1.1 billion– remain outside the formalfinancial system, according to the Global Findexdatabase. Despite recent progress in financial inclusionrates in general, the gender gap has not narrowed: Whileaccount penetration increased by 13 percentage pointsamong men and women between 2011 and 2014, thegender gap remains a steady 7 percentage points. Amongadults living in the poorest 40 percent of households indeveloping economies, the gender gap is 11 percentagepoints. The gap varies significant by region and is highestin South Asia.

While women represent a larger share of the self-employed in developing countries and thus are in greaterneed of access to formal financial services, they areless likely to secure bank credit according to researchby the World Bank. IFC research shows that becauseof poor credit history or lack of collateral, women aremore likely to be denied formal credit than men and oftenpay higher interest rates.

Financial inclusion of women and girls can create genderequality by empowering them and giving them greatercontrol over their financial lives. Savings accounts canprovide women and girls with a safe and formal platformto save their earnings for future investments in businessoperations and build a credit history. Digital paymentshelp women take control of their own finances and

strengthen their control over household budgets. This,in turn, often results in higher spending on necessitiessuch as health and education. CGAP prioritizes women’sfinancial inclusion throughout its work. More recently,CGAP is exploring how to further increase itsengagement on the topic.

For the first time, the majority of Indian women havebeen financially included. Fresh data show that theproportion of Indian women with individual accounts informal financial institutions (primarily banks) reached 61percent in 2015, a sharp increase from 48 percent in2014, lagging men by only eight percentage points. Aclose look at these numbers reveals opportunities andchallenges to build on this quiet, and important, victory.

The Intermediary India Financial Inclusion Insights (FII),an annual, nationally representative survey, confirms thatboth individuals and households show growth in bankregistration, largely driven by the government’s PradhanMantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and its emphasis onindividual accounts (rather than household). By capturingdemand-side data from individual citizens, the FII surveyfound that overall individual bank account ownership inIndia increased from 52 percent in mid-2014 to 63 percentin mid-2015. While the survey shows growth in financialinclusion for all adults, the gains were the highest inrural areas and for individuals below the poverty line,and, most of all, women. These encouraging numberssuggest financial inclusion is widening to reach the mostvulnerable adults in India. Additionally the gender gaphas decreased, as Indian men experienced an increaseof nine percentage points, from 60 percent to 69 percentin the same period. These data mirror other recentstudies such as Anjini Kochar’s finding that businesscorrespondents (BCs) have increased the savings of bothlandowning and landless households in India; with thesavings of the landless increasing more than those oflandowning households. She explains this difference interms of the fact that access to a BC increased thewage income and hours of work of landless households,particularly those of women, a likely consequence ofthe tie-up between the financial system and theMGNREGA.

Studies on Women Ownership of Accounts:Evidence from multiple studies and the conclusions areclear that women and their families benefit greatly fromindividual account ownership. Esther Duflo’s study ofSouth African pensions reveals that when the pensionrecipient is a woman in the household, it translates intostrong health effects for girls in the family. PascalineDupas, in her work in Kenya, shows that access to fairlysimple savings tools has a significant impact on health-related investments of families. Silvia Prina, in arandomised experiment in Nepal, offered flexible savings



accounts to female-headed households with no opening,deposit or withdrawal fees. After one year, the study foundthat 80 percent of those offered the account opened oneand used it actively. After one year, household assetshad increased by 16 percent. All these studies stronglysuggest that the gender of the account-holder mattersand drives differential outcomes for the family. As auniversally targeted programme, women’s empowermentand economic inclusion were not direct objectives of thePMJDY. But the programme design of targeting individualaccounts, and the disproportionate impact this focushas on women’s empowerment and economic inclusion,may prove to be one of the PMJDY’s most lasting andtransformative features.

This remarkable achievement for women should now beextended to the remaining 39 percent of them. This willrequire commitment to implementation, quality of service,and a willingness to look beyond one-size-fits-allsolutions in addressing the diversity of women’s financialneeds. For women, some of the features valued most informal accounts are trust, privacy, and security from theftand harassment. When providers do not treat theircustomers in a fair manner particularly low-incomecustomers and women trust in financial services iseroded. Experience has shown that efforts such as the“no-frill accounts” were abandoned by clients whenpayments were not received in time, and customers lostconfidence in their financial providers. In the FII data,PMJDY holders reported experiencing issues withtransactions and account terms. Specifically, they weremore likely to complain about banks deducting feeswithout informing them, and a decrease in availableaccount funds due to mishandling or fraudulent activities.A commitment to customer protection in implementation,and thinking through women’s needs at all stages, areone way to ensure sustainable growth and outreach.

In addition, while technology and digital finance offer apromising solution to some of the traditional physicaland other access barriers to extending financial inclusionto all of India’s women, women face a stark “digitaldivide”. To date only 44 percent of women compared to75 percent of men own an individual mobile phone, andthe simple difference between owning a phone and beingable to “borrow one” plays a significant role in women’stechnological skills development and privacy in financialtransactions. Ensuring that first-time users learn thatbanking is an experience of convenience and trust, andrecognizing the diversity of needs of Indian women inaccessing financial services are the only ways tocontinue the remarkable trajectory of financial inclusionfor women. We must build on this success to extendthe gains to other important financial services such asinsurance and credit. In this same FII survey, only 15percent of women reported having a financial plan for

unexpected events. Inability to deal with these eventscan be devastating for women and their families.

The 2015 Brookings Financial and Digital InclusionProject report ranked India ninth among 21 countries infinancial and digital inclusion efforts. This was based onfour dimensions of financial inclusion: countrycommitment, mobile capacity, regulatory environment,and adoption of traditional and digital financial services.The silver lining is that the government is committed toinclusive growth where financial inclusion plays a crucialrole in helping provide numerous benefits through thestrengthening of the banking system, better access tofinancial resources and transparent governance.

Efforts of the Government for the Empowerment ofWomen:Despite efforts from the government of India to provideassistance in food, education, and pension plans, thesecommunities, especially women, remain without as theycannot access the bank accounts that unlock thesebenefits. With access to financial services (bankaccounts, loans, etc.) women’s bargaining power insociety increases as they are equipped with the toolsthat help them earn and maintain a living. Additionally,studies overwhelmingly show women are more likely tosave, allocate, and invest money in order to be protectedagainst unexpected expenses, and in their children’seducation; giving an opportunity for a better livelihood tothe next generation.

SHGs and Women Empowerment:Government of India through the State Governments isdeveloping SHGs consisting of women members whoare interested in taking up entrepreneurship individuallyor jointly as a group. The aim of the SHGs is mainly topool out the technical as well as managerial skillsavailable within the women (who are less privileged) toset up enterprises ultimately to enhance their incomelevels and improve their standard of living. Facilitatingaccess to microfinance through SHG-supported banklinkages is one of the most critical aspects of financialinclusion program and this enables the poor to makecapital formation through their own savings within theSHGs and access credit, pledging their collateral beforethe bank. SHGs play a pivotal role to improve the socio-economic condition of women folk and providing microfinance in times of need and also encouraging microentrepreneurs.

Role of Financial Institutions in attaining WomenEmpowerment:Financial Institutions supports women empowermentthrough financial assistance in entrepreneurship activity.State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National



Bank are very large public sector banks and these banksprovide support to the entrepreneurs through differentschemes. Mudra Bank specially caters the needs ofEntrepreneurs. IDBI has got large experience inDevelopment Banking. Another two banks Dena bankand Oriental Bank of Commerce have also introducedschemes for entrepreneurs. Few selected schemes areState Bank of India grants financial assistance totechnically qualified, trained and experiencedentrepreneurs for setting up new viable industrial projects.

Bank of Baroda offers one loan scheme for womenentrepreneurs, the Akshaya Mahila Athik Sahay Yojna(AMASY), designed to help women reach their businessdreams without having to worry about finances. This loancan be availed by women who are engaged in or wish toestablish a business in retail trade, cottage industriesand/or allied agricultural activities. Different schemesoffered by Punjab National bank for Womenentrepreneurs are PNB Mahila Samridhi Yojana, PNBMahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme, PNB Schemefor financingcrèches, PNB Mahila Sashaktikaran Abhiyan, PNBKalyani Card Scheme. Micro Units Development andRefinance Agency Bank (MUDRA Bank) is a financialinstitution setup by the Government of India fordevelopment of micro units and refinance of MFIs toencourage entrepreneurship in India & provide the fundingto the non-corporate small business sector. Bank helpsto cater financing needs of micro and smallentrepreneurs.

Loans available under different schemes:SHISHU loan (financial support up-to Rs. 50,000) isdesigned for startups and the KISHOR loan (financialsupport Rs. 50,000-Rs.5, 00000) is designed forbusinesses that have already started & require financialhelp for establishing themselves. The TARUN loan(Rs.5,00,000-Rs.10,00,000) is designed for businessunits which are already established but require financialhelp for expansion of the business.

Dena Bank offers an exclusive scheme to aid femaleentrepreneurs, providing them sufficient financial help tobuild an enterprise. Loans can be availed as per RBIdirections, with the amount varying according to thesector in which a woman wishes to establish a venture.This loan can be used for agriculture, MSMEs, education,housing and retail trade. Borrowers are also eligible fora special interest rate which is 0.25percent lower thanprevailing rates.

Oriental Bank of Commerce has two schemes designedfor self-employed women and those who are keen onsetting up a beauty parlour /saloon. Scheme for Beautyparlours /boutiques aims to promote entrepreneurial spiritamong women, and offers loans up to Rs 10 lakh to set

up a saloon, boutique, tailoring centre or beauty parlor.The loan amount can be used to meet any expenditureassociated with setting up such a center and for dailyexpenses.

Scheme for self-employed women can be utilized topurchase fixed assets to enhance or start a business.The maximum loan amount is limited to Rs 5 lakh, witha repayment period ranging between 5 and 7 years.

IDBI launched the “Stand up India’ Scheme on a panIndia basis on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversaryof Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on 14th of April 2016. Duringthe launch, prominent SC/ST and women entrepreneurswere invited at all regional locations of the Bank on panIndia basis to familiarize them with the scheme. Eligiblebeneficiaries were issued loan sanction letters as perthe scheme guidelines.

Role of Training Institutes in WomenEntrepreneurship:Training Institutes like NIESBUD (National Institute forEntrepreneurship and Small Business Development),Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) and theEntrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII)play important role for the Entrepreneurship developmentprogrammes. Among them role of NIESBUD is veryimportant in this aspect. National Institute forEntrepreneurship and small Business Development(NIESBUD), an autonomous institute under Ministry ofSkill Development and Entrepreneurship conductstraining programs throughout the year. Till March 2016Institute has conducted total of 36,752 different trainingprograms covering 9, 37,438 participants which include206 International programs with 3,993 participants frommore than 135 countries. Also Institute facilitates andsupports Central / State / Other Agencies in OrganizingEntrepreneurship Developing Programs, very significantin present scenario.

Global Entrepreneurship Summit:The 8th ‘Global Entrepreneurship Summit’ in Hyderabadwas started on 28th November 2017. The summit themewas 'Women First, Prosperity for All'. The sessionson 'Women can do it!' and 'Innovations in WorkforceDevelopment and Skills Training', focused on the maintheme. Industry leaders from all walks of life discussedways to boost women participation in the workforce, andadvocated for better access to skills and trainingprogrammes, education, and career opportunities. NitiAayog hosted the Global Entrepreneurship Summit inHyderabad in association with the United Statesgovernment. As many as 1,500 entrepreneurs from 170countries attended the three-day summit; many IndianAmericans are also participated. US President DonaldTrump's daughter Ivanka Trump, headed the US



delegation. In line with the theme, women make up about52.5 per cent of the entrepreneurs, investors andecosystem supporters attending the event. Ivanka saidwomen in the workforce provided a strong economic andfiscal benefit. "It is a proven study that 90 cents of adollar spent by what a woman earns goes back tofamilies and communities, which eventually gives backto society," she said, adding that women entrepreneursprovide incomes for their families, employment for theircommunities, and products and services that bring newvalue to the world around them. "Having diversity is betterbusiness. It's therefore a fiscal responsibility ofbusinesses to their shareholders to balance the gendergap in the labour force."

Steps taken by the Andhra Pradesh Government toEncourage Women Entrepreneurs:International Conference of Women Entrepreneurs(2018):The “International Conference of Women Entrepreneurs”on innovation, incubation and industrialization wasinaugurated on 17th January 2018 at Visakhapatnam.Chief Minister of Andhra Praesh, Chandrababu Naidusaid that an “International Women Entrepreneurs' Tradeand Technology Hub” is going to come up inVisakhapatnam to develop and promote businessopportunities among women entrepreneurs of SAARCregion. Several organizations like World TradeOrganisation (WTO), some of the women organizationsand ministries are going to come and work with the twoorganizations - Association of Lady Entrepreneurs ofIndia (ALEAP) and South Asian Women DevelopmentForum (SAWDF). An investors' meet will be held in thenext month at Visakhapatnam involving the APgovernment, Government of India and Confederation ofIndian Industries. Industrialists and entrepreneurs from50 countries are expected to participate in this meet.He also said that women are doing better than men invarious sectors, including IT. Women productivity is morethan men. Hence AP Government decided to distributeall assets in the name of women be it house or land.This would lead to inclusive growth rate so that moreand more women can do economic activity.

To encourage the women entrepreneurs, the APgovernment offers 25 per cent subsidy on primary capitalinvestment up to a maximum limit of `30 lakh and a 15per cent rebate on machinery expenditure. Thegovernment has invested Rs 30, 47,801 crore so far bysigning 1,900 MOUs and generated around 30 lakh jobopportunities. In the last two years, Naidu said, around24,000 Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)have been set up in the State with an outlay of Rs 11,000crore and the units have created 2.5 lakh job opportunitiesthus far. Referring to the new industrial policy, the Chief

Minister said the government has evolved a system for‘ease of doing business’ to sanction all the necessarypermissions to the investors and entrepreneurs in just21 days.

The AP government has sanctioned eight industrial hubsexclusively for women entrepreneurs across the Statewhich will be grounded by the Association of LadyEntrepreneurs of AP (ALEAP), India. The stategovernment is extending all the needed support for thesmooth implementation of the project. The Chief Ministerannounced that 19 lakh SHGs formed by women wouldbe converted into “Self-Business Groups” soon.

Recommendations:To protect and to promote the interest of the women orto empower the women through SHGs and financialinclusion in the developing country like India theappropriate authority should follow the guide lines givenbelow:• Educate and aware the women to form more and

more SHGs especially for rural areas.• To popularize SHG-Bank Linkage program, more

awareness should be created for cooperativeformation.

• More information regarding banking services and theirbenefits should be publicized.

• Women entrepreneurship programs should bearranged and mobilize them to attend and utilize theinformation.

• Encouraging competition among financial providersby giving more bank licenses.

• Infrastructures should be developed to minimize costof transaction in remote areas.

Conclusion: India for a long time recognized the social and economicimperatives for broader financial inclusion and has madean enormous contribution to economic development byfinding innovative ways to empower the poor, women andother disadvantaged group. Starting with thenationalization of banks, priority sector lendingrequirements for banks, lead bank scheme,establishment of regional rural banks (RRBs), servicearea approach, self-help group-bank linkage programme,etc., multiple steps have been taken by the ReserveBank of India (RBI) over the years to increase access tothe weaker segments of society. Financial inclusion isa great step to women empowerment in India. To achievethis, the government should provide a less perspectiveenvironment in which banks are free to pursue theinnovations necessary to reach low income consumersespecially women still make a profit. Financial serviceproviders should learn more about the consumers and



new business models to reach them. Financial inclusionis the road that India needs to travel toward becoming aglobal player. Financial access to all sections of peoplewill attract global market players to our country and thatwill result in increasing employment and businessopportunities. Inclusive growth will act as a source ofwomen empowerment and allow them to participatemore effectively in the economic and social process.

To conclude it is true that women participation inentrepreneurship activity is increasing due toindustrialization and globalization. Women populationconstitute around half of total population but surveysshow women constitute only 13.76 percent of totalentrepreneurs i.e., 8.05 million out of 58.5 millionentrepreneurs. In India situation is much worse. Hencemajor portions of women not getting flavor ofentrepreneurship activity. To make the womenempowered, entrepreneurship is an effective tool and tomake “women” success, different support systemsincluding the role of government and role of trainingproviders, in this aspect is noteworthy. These supportsystems will encourage and motivate women to beempowered through entrepreneurship activity andenhance the status of women in society. Empoweringwomen to participate fully in economic life across allsectors is essential to build stronger economies. As wehave pointed out in this paper India has begun to takeseveral initiatives in this regard and so let’s hope for thebright future of the Women Entrepreneurs.

References:• Financial inclusion and women empowerment,

October 26, 2015, 6:51 AM IST Economic Times inET Commentary | Economy, India | ET, By Naina LalKidwai.

• Financial Inclusion: Indian Women have somethingto Bank on, 3rd October 2015, By Bindu Ananth andAmy Jensen Mowl, IFMR Finance Foundation.

• Empowering Women through Financial Inclusion,August 5, 2015, The World Bank, IBRD-IDA.

• Chakraborty K.C. Financial Inclusion in India: Journeyso far and way forward, RBI Bulletin, 2013.

• Paramasivan C, Ganeshkumar V. Overview ofFinancial Inclusion in India, International Journal ofManagement and Development Studies. 2013.

• Dhruba Hazarika: Women Empowerment in India: ABrief Discussion, International Journal of EducationalPlanning & Administration. ISSN 2249-3093 Volume1, Number 3 (2011), pp. 199-202.

• Women's Empowerment In India: An AnalyticalOverview Prepared By Reecha Upadhyay.

Paper presented by Dr.V,Sujatha and Dr.K.Venu MadhavaRao, at the International Multi Research Conference(IMRC 2018) on “Women in 21st Century – Challengesand Opportunities” on 9th& 10th February 2018 organizedby the department of Management Studies, SocialSciences and Women Studies of Ch.S.D.St.Theresa’sCollege for Women.



WOMEN IN EDUCATION

1. Vice-Principal, HOD of Commerce, Nalanda Degree & PG College, Adilabad, (TS).

Dr. A. Vijay Gopal1

Abstract “YATRA NARYANTU PUJYATE RAMANTE TATRA DEVATA”. According to a Sanskrit shloka it has been mentionedthat where a woman is praised or respected there God Lives. That much of importance has been given to a woman.Because a lady in a family acts as a mother, wife, sister, Sister in Law and also several other positions. Role of a womanin a family is always remarkable. For success of every person definitely behind there is a woman.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF AN EDUCATION:Education is the initiation into the life of spirit training of human soul in the pursuit of truth and the practice of virtues.Educating a woman means educating the family and the nation. Women are significantly under-represented indecision-making at all levels. While the economic benefits of educating girls are similar to those of educating boys,recent findings suggest the social benefits are greater.

WOMEN IN EDUCATION:There are several professions in which a woman can give her services. Among all women in Education is going to beproved so effective. As per a proverb if a doctor commits mistake a person will suffer, if an engineer commitsmistake few persons will suffer where as if a Teacher commits a mistake a generation will suffer. That is whyTeaching profession is more responsible and sensitive than all other professions.

CONCLUSION: Thus we can say a woman in education can gives a lot of impact in education system and she cancreate and can invent several systems which can be suitable for the present generation. At the last but not the leastevery one can say impact of a woman in education is remarkable.

REFERENCES:1. Majority of the contents are by own and self draft.2. An Article from Internet Wikipedia under the title Female Education.3. An Article from internet named- Why to educate woman-Advantages

Introduction“YATRA NARYANTU PUJYATE RAMANTE TATRADEVATA”. According to a Sanskrit shloka it has beenmentioned that where a woman is praised or respectedthere God Lives. That much of importance has been givento a woman. Because a lady in a family acts as a mother,wife, sister, Sister in Law and also several other positions.Role of a woman in a family is always remarkable. Forsuccess of every person definitely behind there is awoman.

That is why an education for a woman is always essentialfor the development of the family because if a man iseducated he is alone educated but if a woman is educatedentire family is educated.

The history of female education in India has its roots inancient Vedic age. During the Vedic age, more than 3,000years ago, women were assigned a high place in society.They shared an equal standing with their men folk andenjoyed a kind of liberty that actually had societalsanctions. The ancient Hindu philosophical concept of

'shakti', the feminine principle of energy, was also aproduct of this age. This took the form of worship of thefemale idols or goddesses. In India even today peopleworship Goddess "Saraswati" as the Goddess ofeducation. Vedic literature praises the birth of a scholarlydaughter in these words: "A girl also should be broughtup and educated with great effort and care." (MahanirvanaTantra); and "All forms of knowledge are aspects of Thee;and all women throughout the world are Thy forms."(Devi Mahatmya).

Sex based discrimination is prevalent in India. Thus wemight have seen or heard that many parents especiallyin lower strata of society send their male child to schoolbut not the girl child. This is one problem where parentsdo not send their daughters to school. Secondly, it isalso common to see that parents especially in urbanareas often send their male child to better schools. Evenif girls are enrolled, their dropout rate is very high. Wemust understand the consequences of not educating



our girl child. When a woman is not educated then it notonly affects her but the entire family as well as the nation.

What Is The Meaning Of An Education:Education in the present scenario is considered asacquired from school as well as from the books but asper the opinions of many it never be only from the schooland also from books, but it can be either from schooland also from their surrounding or from their communityor from their region or from their society or from theirculture or from elsewhere. BECAUSE EDUCATION ISTHE INITIATION INTO THE LIFE OF SPIRIT TRAININGOF HUMAN SOUL IN THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH ANDTHE PRACTICE OF VIRTUES. To survive in the societyan education from books are not only enough but certainother common factors can also be required. What isbest for one to survive in the society is considered as aneducation. Educating a woman means educating thefamily and the nation. Women are significantly under-represented in decision-making at all levels.

While the economic benefits of educating girls are similarto those of educating boys, recent findings suggest thesocial benefits are greater.

Classification Of An Education:An education is classified in to1. Ability to earn2. Ability to protect Health3. Ability to have Legal Awareness4. Ability to promote Self Respect5. Ability to impart bright future to children.6. Ability to help and support their family7. Ability to know to have legal Protection8. Ability to encourage others.9. Ability to Save.

Women have the potential to change their own economicstatus and that of their communities and countries inwhich they live yet usually women’s economiccontributions are unrecognized, their work undervaluedand their promise undernourished.

Empowerment means moving from enforcedpowerlessness to a position of power. Education is anessential means of empowering women with theknowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to fullyparticipate in the development process.

Women must be educated for a healthy and a happylife. An educated woman can be a better human being,successful mother and a responsible citizen. Educatingwomen will definitely increase the living standard bothat and outside home. An educated woman will force her

kids to study further and wish them to live a better lifethan hers.

Educating women results in promoting self-respect andalso helps in raising the status of women. An educatedwoman will be aware of her rights. She can fight againstsocial evils such as domestic violence, dowry demand,low wages etc.

Is It Essential For A Woman To Get An EducationOnly From School:Certainly not because a lady named Subhashini Mistri,aged 70 years Residence of Bengal who receivedPadmashree Award recently, who has construct ahospital for the poor people of their villagers is a normalHouse servant she has not studied anything from theschool but learned so much from the society and itssorroundings.Similarly a lady named Laxmi Kutti, residingin a Tribal backward area from Thiruvananthapuram whohas received Padmashree Award recently treating severalpatients with nature plants has not learnt anything fromschools. Thus it indicates that education needs not to beacquired only from schools but also it can be from anywhere.

Learning from School is completely different from learningfrom surrounding. In olden days there were joint families.Children used to learn so many things from theirgrandparents including manners. But on the name ofdevelopment or modernization nuclear families arecoming in to an existence. Children are not getting anopportunity to learn from their parents as well as fromGrandparents. That is why it is becoming necessary tolearn from school education. A Child is learning everythingfrom the boundaries of school premises.

Essentiality To Learn Education From School/Colleges:To meet or understand the present technology or systemit is becoming necessary to learn from school educationonly. So many oppertunities are providing by thegovernments. Several legislative acts have been formedto make the children to learn compulsory. It would be agreat opportunity for the girl child to learn from the schooleducation because several reservations, facilities havebeen provided. Certain communities refuse to allow theirgirl child to study with other boys .For such all thereasons only separate girl/women schools / collegesare established. Because Education to a woman or girlis very essential for the development of the nation.

Problems of gender inequality or killing girl fetus or childmarriages can be stopped if percentage of womeneducation increases. It has been proved that a way ofwork or decision making or quality of work or lessabsenteeism to the work of a woman is always so betterthan a man.



In the present era a woman is coming forward to work inall the sectors including defense, operating heavymachines etc., this made all possible only through aschool education. She can better understand what wayshe can protect, survive or others to survive only throughan education.

The generation to generation feeling, sentiments,customs is changing time to time .Every community indifferent nations encouraging the girl to join schooleducation like Malala in Pakistan. People startedunderstanding the evils of restrictions. Too much is toobad that is why realizing that if they restrict, much negativeresponse they may receive .that is why every governmentincluding developed , developing and undeveloped nationstaking tremendous steps for increasing the womeneducation.

Women In Education:There are several professions in which a woman cangive her services. Among all women in Education is goingto be proved so effective. As per a proverb if a doctorcommits mistake a person will suffer, if an engineercommits mistake few persons will suffer where asif a Teacher commits a mistake a generation willsuffer. That is why Teaching profession is moreresponsible and sensitive than all other professions.

Every other professional person is going to be createdby a teacher only. As per the direction and motivation ofa teacher only the interest of the students and their goalsare decided. So Teaching profession is going to be moreresponsible as well as respectable profession in thesociety.

Generally a woman can have more patients than a man.Sometimes a man can have bad habits like smokingand drinking. Such habits may influence the studentsto follow. Whereas woman teacher never have suchhabits, hence she can directly instruct or warn the youthstudents not to divert towards unethical or bad habits.

At a primary level a student expects a parental responsefrom the teacher which he can’t get it from a male teacherbut the same thing can be expected from a lady teacher.We can feel every woman as our Mother but we can’tfeel every person as a father.

That is why in the present education scenario majorityschools and colleges are giving priority to womanteachers rather male teachers. The salary expectation,Absenteeism, idle time during the work time is more asin the case of male teachers but it can be less in thecase of female.

Improving girls' educational levels has been demonstratedto have clear impacts on the health and economic futureof young women, which in turn improves the prospectsof their entire community. The infant mortality rate ofbabies whose mothers have received primary educationis half that of children whose mothers are illiterate.

In the poorest countries of the world, 50% of girls do notattend secondary school. Yet, research shows that everyextra year of school for girls increases their lifetimeincome by 15%. Improving female education, and thusthe earning potential of women, improves the standardof living for their own children, as women invest more oftheir income in their families than men do. Yet, manybarriers to education for girls remain. In some Africancountries, such as Burkina Faso, girls are unlikely toattend school for such basic reasons as a lack of privatelatrine facilities for girls.

Higher attendance rates of high schools and universityeducation among women, particularly in developingcountries, have helped them make inroads toprofessional careers with better-paying salaries andwages. Education increases a woman's (and her partnerand the family's) level of health and health awareness.

Education systems vary in administration, curriculumand personnel, but all have an influence on the studentsthat they serve. As women have gained rights, formaleducation has become a symbol of progress and a steptoward gender equity. In order for true gender equity toexist, a holistic approach needs to be taken. Thediscussion of girl power and women’s education assolutions for eliminating violence against women andeconomic dependence on men can sometimes takedominance and result in the suppression ofunderstanding how context, history and other factorsaffect women.

Conclusion:Thus we can say a woman in education can gives a lotof impact in education system and she can create andcan invent several systems which can be suitable forthe present generation. At the last but not the least everyone can say impact of a woman in education isremarkable.

References:1. Majority of the contents are by own and self draft.2. An Article from Internet Wikipedia under the title

Female Education.3. An Article from internet named- Why to educate

woman-Advantages



IMPACT OF SHG ON SOCIO- ECONOMIC STATUS OFDALIT WOMEN IN CHEJARLA VILLAGE OF

NARASARAOPETA MANDAL IN GUNTUR DISTRICT

1. Research Scholar, Dept of Economics, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.

AbstractTill some years ago, many dalit women were ill treated and educationally backward inspite of the facilities for freeeducation. The reasons for the high rate of illiteracy among dalit women are many. The main reasons are resistancefrom the family to send girls to schools; fear of insecurity in villages; lack of physical facilities like accommodation,school, transport and medical facilities; the girls were forced to take care of the siblings when the parents are away atwork; girls were forced to do domestic works which prevented them from attending schools; working to earn for thefamily prevent the girls from attending schools; working with parents to earn their livelihood in beedi factories or otherunorganized sector made them illiterate; because of the sick and unemployed parents, girls were forced to work;many were forced to get married at young age, which stop schooling; social restriction is that the girls should stopeducation after marriage; in some areas there are complaints from dalit women teachers of misbehaviors, blackmailand exploitation by the male staff of other high caste people; distance of schools from home and fear of alienation ofgirls from their environment as a result of education are some of the other factors for low literacy level among dalit girls.Even if the education improved the marriage prospects of the girls, the minus point is the increase in dowry. Thereforemany parents wish to withdraw the girls from schools.

P.Raja Ramesh1

IntroductionThere are about 250 million Dalits in India. There ismeager improvement in the socio-economic conditionof dalits in the past 50 years. Every fourth Indian is adalit. They are generally scattered in villages and theyare not a monogamous group. About 75 per cent ofdalits live below poverty line. Economic backwardnessof dalits is mostly due to injustice done to them by thehigh castes and also due to exploitation. From the timeimmemorial they worked like slaves, sold ascommodities resulting in their social discrimination,economic deprivation and educational backwardness.

Till some years ago, many dalit women were ill treatedand educationally backward inspite of the facilities forfree education. The reasons for the high rate of illiteracyamong dalit women are many. The main reasons areresistance from the family to send girls to schools; fearof insecurity in villages; lack of physical facilities likeaccommodation, school, transport and medical facilities;the girls were forced to take care of the siblings whenthe parents are away at work; girls were forced to dodomestic works which prevented them from attendingschools; working to earn for the family prevent the girlsfrom attending schools; working with parents to earntheir livelihood in beedi factories or other unorganizedsector made them illiterate; because of the sick and

unemployed parents, girls were forced to work; manywere forced to get married at young age, which stopschooling; social restriction is that the girls should stopeducation after marriage; in some areas there arecomplaints from dalit women teachers of misbehaviors,blackmail and exploitation by the male staff of other highcaste people; distance of schools from home and fearof alienation of girls from their environment as a result ofeducation are some of the other factors for low literacylevel among dalit girls. Even if the education improvedthe marriage prospects of the girls, the minus point isthe increase in dowry. Therefore many parents wish towithdraw the girls from schools.

Dalits women belonging to the creamy layer of thesociety are better with good education and socially andeconomically they are well off like other high castes. They are fully aware of the welfare schemes provided bythe Government and their percentage is very low whencompared with the total dalit population. In rural areas,the first generation girls from Dalits need the attentionof Government and other organization. Mostly theteachers of the locality provide information to them aboutthe welfare schemes. In many Dalit associationexecutive position are occupied by male memberswhereas very poor representation is given for women. The women are not properly informed about the



Government schemes and there is an urgent need toget a feedback about the welfare schemes where lot ofmoney is spent for the development of Dalits. The fundsare not utilized properly for their upliftment.

The occupation of many dalit women can be divided inthe following heads-Agriculture labourer, MarginalCultivators, Fisherwomen, Traditional artisans, LeatherWorkers, Weavers, Scavengers and sweepers, Midwiferyand Beedi factories and unorganised sectors. Thecontribution of dalit women to the economic developmentof our country is significant especially in the agriculturalsector. They are exploited by the higher caste landlords. They are paid very marginal salary for the hard work inthe field for the whole day. In leather industries thetanning process is considered to be an unclean job whichis done only by socially backward class. Traditionalartistes get very more benefit because the middlemanexploits them. The condition of scavenger and sweepersis very deplorable and they the most vulnerable sectorsamong dalits. The working condition is very poor andthe remuneration is also very low.

Because of the girls remain uneducated, they got marriedvery early. Marriage in the high reproductive stage withhigh fertility rate, children care more. Because of theunlimited family, the burden fell on the young girls whichaffected their health. They were not able to assist infamily matters to their husbands. But now the situationis different. The girls manage to plan their family, educatethe children, assist the husbands in family matters andoffice going and professional girls improve the economicconditions. On the whole the family becomes sociallydeveloped because of the education of the girls.

ObjectiveIn the light of above circumstances, The main objectiveof the paper is to analyse the Impact of SHGs on SocioEconomics status of the Dalit women in the study area.

MethodologyTthe paper is based on both primary sources of data.The primary data is collected with the help of a pre-tested questionnaire. Chejarla village of Guntur districtis selected for the present study. 120 sample dalitwomen are selected for the study. Simple purposiverandom sampling technique is adopted for the study.The primary data collected is tabulated with help ofComputer. Simple statistical tools such as percentagesare used. Substantial part of the thesis is based ontabular analysis.

Data analysisThis paper presents the primary data analysis, whichincludes socio-economic conditions of the sample

respondents and the issues related to empowerment ofwomen through Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

Change in Economic ConditionsDistribution of the respondents by whether there is anychange in economic conditions is presented in Table-1.It is evident from the table that 75.8 per cent of therespondents stated there is an increase in economicconditions after joining the SHGs. Further, it is observedthat about 24 per cent of the respondents stated thatthere is no increase in economic conditions after joiningthe SHGs. Therefore, it may be concluded that aboutthree fourths of the respondents stated that there is anincrease in economic conditions after joining the SHGs.

Table - 1 : Distribution of the Respondents bywhether there is Any Increase in Economic

ConditionsWhether there is anyincrease in economic

conditions

Yes

No

Total

Number

91

29

120

Percentage

75.8

24.2

100.00Source: Computed from the Primary Data.

It is found from the study that the women have gotcourage after joining the SHGs since the groupconstitutes with 10 to 15 members. One of the SHGsmembers takes the amount saved by these membersand the amount released by the government in one monthand another member in another month. Priority for aneedy member is given to receive the amount in a month.Rather, some of the SHGs in the study are doing somebusiness commonly and sharing the profits equally.Further, it is found from the study that after joining theSHGs, taking debts from other sources is alsodecreased. Further, it is found that since the groupconstitutes with literates and illiterates, illiteratemembers more or less are learned from the literatemembers. With the loan amount, they are doing businesson their own. Training imparted by the government isalso very much helped these SHGs members to producetheir products. Some of the members’ income is raisedafter joining the SHGs as the work relating to mid daymeals scheme in the schools is entrusted to themembers of the SHGs. Thus, the majority of themembers of the SHGs, economic conditions have beenchanged after joining the SHGs.

Change in income generation after joining the SHGsOpinions of the respondents on change in incomegeneration after joining the SHGs is presented in Table-



2. It is evident from the table that 60.8 per cent of therespondents felt there is a substantial change in incomegeneration after joining the SHGs. It is further observedthat 21.7 per cent of the respondents felt that there is aconsiderable change in the income generation afterjoining the SHGs. 17.5 per cent of the respondentsopined that there is a moderate change in incomegeneration after joining the SHGs.

Table - 2 : Distribution of the Respondents byChange in Income Generation after Joining SHGs

To what extent, there is achange in income

generation after joiningSHGs

Substantial

Considerable

Moderate

Total

Number

73

26

21

120

Percentage

60.8

21.7

17.5


Is the income generation through SHGs ispermanent or notRespondents were asked whether they are gettingincome regularly through the SHGs. Distribution of therespondents by whether they are getting incomeregularly through SHGs is presented in Table – 3. It isobserved from the table that only 52 per cent of therespondents felt that they are getting income regularlyfrom the SHGs, while 48 per cent of the respondentsreported that they are not getting income regularly fromthe SHGs.

Table - 3 : Distribution of the Respondents bywhether they are Getting Income Regularly from

SHGs

Yes/No

Yes

No

Total

Number

62

58

120

Percentage

52.00

48.00


Increase in expenditure after joining SHGsDistribution of the respondents by items on whichexpenditure is increasing after joining SHGs is presentedin Table – 4. It is observed that 50 per cent of therespondents felt that they spent more on family needsafter joining SHGs. Further, it is observed that 20 percent of the respondents reported that they had increasedexpenditure on education. A few of the respondents feltthat they had increased their expenditure on health,nutritional foods, etc.

Table - 4 : Distribution of the Respondents byItems on Which Expenditure is Increased

Item

Education

Health

Nutritional food

Family needs

Others

Total

Number

24

12

17

60

7

120

Percentage

20.00

10.00

14.00

50.00

6.00


Increase in savings level after joining SHGsRespondents were asked whether there is any increasein monthly savings level after joining SHGs. Centpercentage of the respondents reported that there is anincrease in savings after joining SHGs, but the amountof savings varies from one respondent to another.Distribution of the respondents by increase in amountof savings is given in Table – 5.

Table - 5 : Distribution of the Respondents byIncrease in Amount of Savings after Joining

SHGsAmount Rs.

30-40

40-50

50-75

75-100

Total

Number

7

14

43

55

120

Percentage

6.00

12.00

36.00

46.00


It is inferred from the table that significant percentage ofthe respondents reported that the increase in savingslevel after joining SHGs is ranging from Rs.75/- to Rs.100/- (46 per cent). At the next level, majority reported thatthere is an increase from Rs.50/- to Rs.75/- (36 per cent).A few of the respondents reported that there is an increasein monthly savings level after joining SHGs ranging fromRs.30/- to Rs.50/-.

Increase in man days after joining the SHGsDistribution of the respondents by increase in man daysafter joining the SHGs is presented in Table-6. It isinferred from the table that largest percentage of therespondents stated that there is an increase in man daysafter joining the SHGs. Only two respondents of thepresent study stated that there is no increase in mandays after joining the SHGs. It is observed from thetable that for 55 per cent of the respondents, increase inman days after joining the SHGs is below 25 days, while



for 43.3 per cent of the respondents, increase in mandays is above 25. Therefore, it may be concluded thatthere is a considerable increase in man days after joiningthe SHGs.

Table - 6 : Distribution of the Respondents byIncrease in Man Days after Joining SHGs

Number of days

0

Below 25

Above 25

Total

Number

2

66

52

120

Percentage

1.7

55.0

43.3


Improvement in awareness levelThe study made an attempt to know the impact of theSHGs in terms of improvement in the awareness levelon various things among sample Dalit women.Distribution of the respondents by whether there is anyimp7rove-ment in the awareness level about variousthings after joining SHGs is presented in Table –

Table - 7 : Distribution of the Respondents byWhether there is any Improvement in the

Awareness Level after Joining SHGsImproved/ Not improved

Improved

Not improved

Total

Number

96

24

120

Percentage

80.00

20.00


It is revealed from the above table that huge percentageof the sample respondents reported that their awarenesson various things has been improved after joining SHGs(80 per cent). As against this, 20 per cent of therespondents reported that there is no improvement intheir awareness levels after joining SHGs.

Increase in knowledge after joining SHGsRespondents were asked on which they had increasedtheir knowledge after joining SHGs. Distribution of therespondents by on which they had increased theirknowledge after joining SHGs is given in Table – 8. It isfound from the table that majority of the respondents feltthat they know the benefits of education after joiningSHGs (48 per cent). At the next level, majority reportedlegal rights (20 per cent), followed by 18 per cent,awareness on elections and 14 per cent, sanitation andhealth.

Table - 8 : Distribution of the Respondents by onwhich they had increased their Knowledge after

Joining SHGs

On which knowledge isincreased

Legal rights

Benefits of education

Understanding on election

Sanitation and Health

Total

Number

24

58

22

17

120

Percentage

20.00

48.00

18.00

14.00


Relations with the society after joining the SHGsDistribution of the respondents by whether relations withthe society have improved after the respondents havejoined the SHGs is presented in Table-9. It is revealedfrom the table that 93.3 per cent of the respondents statedthat relations with the society in the village have improvedafter they have joined the SHGs. As against this, 6.7per cent of the respondents stated that relations withthe society in the village have not improved after theyhave joined the SHGs. Therefore, it may be concludedthat largest percentage of the respondents stated thatrelations with the society in the village have improvedafter they have joined the SHGs.

SuggestionsIn view of the above findings of the study, the followingsuggestions are offered for better functioning of the Self-Help Groups.It may be suggested that the governmentshould initiate concrete steps to impart training to eachand every member of the SHG as it is found from thestudy that some of the members of the SHGs were notundergone any training.1. It may be suggested that the people should be

motivated and educated towards the utilization offacilities provided, through SHGs. If needed that therules and regulations are to be relaxed and shouldbe in reach of the dalit women.

2. It is understood that after joining SHGs, the incomeof the sample respondents has got enhanced in thisregard, it can be suggested that dalit women shouldbe motivated and enhanced in this regard, it can besuggested that people below poverty line should bemotivated and encouraged to improve their livingstandards through SHGs and other such groups.

3. It may be suggested that dalit women should beeducated and motivated against sex discrimination.Besides, these should be motivated towards healthprogrammes and child care programmers.



4. It may be suggested that the policy makes shouldtake initiate measures to support and encouragesocial service centers, under N.G.O.s besidesproviding financial assistance for the socio – economicupliftment of the dalit women.

5. The dalit women need to be politically influential toallow their demands to influence resource allocationand the action of public institutions. They should beaware enough so that the resources allocated to themare not diverted to others. The dalit women must havelocal level organisations to act as watchdogs and toprotect their interest. They have to make real effortsto be aware of different programmes meant for themand to organise themselves to make their presencefelt in existing socio-political set up.

6. The provision of adequate marketing services atdifferent levels and on a regular basis would go along way in improving the performance of the units.Hence, necessary marketing facilities for the sale ofthe products made by SHG members be provided.

7. The officials should suggest appropriate remedialmeasures to ensure smooth and unhinderedfunctioning of the units. The officials should also listento the grievances of members and offer solutions tothe extent possible; such a helpful gesture wouldhelp increase the self-confidence of the members andcontribute positively to the efficient functioning of thegroups.

References• Abdul Raheem A., and Yasmeen Sultana, H. (2007),

“Empowerment of Women through Self-Help Groups”,Kissan World, March, 2007, Vol. 34, No.3, pp. 48-52.

• Ariz Ahmed M., (1999), “Women Empowerment:Self-Help Groups”, Kurukshetra, April, Vol.47, No.7,pp.19-20.

• Ashish Thakare (2005), “Need for Empowerment ofWomen", Social Welfare, August.

• Batliwala (1994), “Empowerment Benefits of Co-operations”, Kurukshetra, November.

• Chandra Kumar, K., (2005), “Strategies forEmpowerment of Women in India: A Review”, inKoteswara Rao, M (eds.), ‘Empowerment of Womenin India’, Discovery Publishing House, New Delhi,pp.407-415.

• Chandramani M. (2005), “Self-Help Groups forEmpowerment of rural Women”, R.K. Samanta, ISBN& 81-89110-02, pp.131-149.

• Dasgupta and Rajaram (2001), “Grameena Bank:Performance and Sustainability”, Discussion PaperNo.306, The World Bank, Washington D.C.

• Devasia, Leelamma (2001), “Rural WomenEmpowerment: A Grass Root Level Experiment”,Social Welfare, July, Vol.48, No.4.



GENDER INEQUALITY, EQUALITY THROUGH UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

1. Research Scholar, Dept. of Political Science & Public Administration, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, AP.2 . Asst.Professor, Dept. of Political Science & Public Administration, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, AP .

Abstract

"Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty,promoting sustainable development and building good governance."

— Kofi Annan (Former UNO Secretary General)

Gender Equality and Women and their role and status in the society has always been a hot simmering issue, InternationalWomen’s Day is a good occasion to reflect on the status of women in India. The best measure of a civilised nation iswhether its women are treated with respect, dignity and equality. Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment orperceptions of individuals wholly or partly due to their gender. We know that the women always occupied a lowerposition when compare to that of men in the patriarchal society since ancient times in India. In most of the personalmatters like matrimony or succession, adoption or even issues related to inheritance, the women were not give equalpriority with men in Indian society during those days. Secularism as a value has been accepted by one and all butwhen it is translated into the personal laws of its subjects disagreement arises on the idea of secularism. Hindus,Muslims, Christians, and Parsees have different personal laws and these personal laws have given place todiscrimination in the matters pertaining to adoption, marriage, guardianship, succession, divorce of Indian Women.The implemented ofUniform Civil Code in India to the women will give to them equal rights in the matter of marriage,divorce, property etc. The main objective of this article is to analyze the status of women in Vedic period, Medievalperiod and Legal & Constitutional Safeguards of women in the modern period and also it explains the position of thewomen in labour force, contribution of women to GDP, and utilization of various Central Government Schemes forWomen welfare by the women of the country.

Keywords: Gender Equality, International Women’s Day, Patriarchal Society, Personal Laws, Vedic Period, GrossDomestic Product (GDP), Uniform Civil Code.

IntroductionMeaning of Gender Equality and UCCGender equality is achieved when women and men enjoythe same rights and opportunities across all sectors ofsociety, including economic participation and decision-making, and when the different behaviours, aspirationsand needs of women and men are equally valued andfavoured

The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) provides universal lawsand civil rules for all the citizens irrespective of theirreligion, caste etc. It supervenes upon the personal laws,it treats equally all caste, tribe and religion and it dealswithadoption, marriage, divorce, property acquisition andproperty administration. Article 44 of the DirectivePrinciple of State Policy of Indian Constitutionclearly laysdown that State shall exert to guarantee for the citizensthe uniform civil code throughout the territory of Indiabecause it helps to avoid violence against women andalso discrimination in matters of marriage, divorce,

inheritance. It is with this intention that the Governmentaims to modify the personal laws or implement theUniform Civil Code.

Research Methodology:Research methodology is analytical and descriptive. Thestudy is based on the secondary data. The secondaryis collected from Books, Magazines, News papers,Research Articles, Research Journals, and E-journals,etc.

In the ancient Indian society women were treated withgreat respect and were worshiped as goddesses. Inearly Vedic age, Woman enjoyed good status andrespect in the society. Worship of goddesses depictsthe respect that the woman had in thatsociety.Womanhad overall freedom regarding suggesting their partners(swayamvara), to live as spinsters, Widows couldremarry, Women were Educated, No child marriages ,No sati, Dowry only existed symbolically, not as a socialevil. The women could take part in religious activities

P. Jayapal Reddy1 Dr.D.Chandra Mouli Reddy2



like husband and wife performing Yagna together. Womenwere considered equal to men. The concept of“Ardhangani”i.e. equal half, was prevalent, Women werevery educated and just like man, went throughbrahmachary” discipline including “upanayana” ritual,Woman contributed largely to Vedic literature as isapparent from the famous Woman scholars like Ghosha,Visvavara, Maîtri, Gargi, and the like, The great Indianepics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, also depictwoman playing an important role in society.However in the mediaeval period in India, the status ofwomen got degraded to a great extent. In this period,women are treated as objects of lust and as slaves inthe society. Their main role was only to perform dutieslike bring up children, caring for every family memberand taking care of other house hold activities in thesociety. Earlier to this, women were facing a lot ofproblems because of male dominated, patriarchal socialsystem, practice of old traditional believes etc. In themodern era though the status of women in India hasbeen improving, they continue to face problems ofHimalayan proportions.All this gave rise to new evilssuch as- Sati, Plight of Widows, Child Marriage,Devadasi, Other Socio- economic problemsSocial issues like gender inequality continue to hinderthe social and economic growth of women who constitutehalf of the population. Though the Constitution has givenequal opportunity in employment to women throughArticle 16, the patriarchal mindset of society is makingwomen confine to households and is making them workas labourers and is confining them within the four wallsof the house. When compared to the Northern States,the Southern states are somewhat better with regard togender equality and freedom. Through policy making,legislature is providing equal opportunities to women asseen in the case of 33% or 50% reservation in localbodies that is panchayats and municipalities andschemes for their education, skill development andcapital support through various schemes paving the wayfor making them to contribute their might to societaldevelopment.

Some Legal Safeguards of Womenbefore and AfterIndependence:Various protective Legislations have also been passedby the British Government and Parliament to eliminateexploitation of women and to give them equal status insociety.• Infanticide: Lord Bentinck also tried to suppress it

by legislating Female Infanticide Prevention Act,1870 that declared infanticide illegal.

• Sati: Abolition of Sati by Lord William Bentinck in1829. Pioneering efforts in this direction were madeby Raja Ram Mohan Roy

• Widow Remarriage: Vidyasagar made efforts inpassing the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act, 1856.

• The Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 was enacted toabolish and make punishable the inhuman customof Sati.

• The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 to eliminate thepractice of dowry.

• The Special Marriage Act, 1954 to give rightful statusto married couples who marry inter-caste or inter-religion

• Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, 1956: Itprohibited selling and buying of women, devadasisand slavery.

Fig. 1

• Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

Some Constitutional Provisions for Women inIndian:1. Article 14 of the Indian Constitution provides that the

State shall not deny to any person equality beforethe law or the equal protection of the laws within theterritory of India. This provision confers rights to allcitizens (men & women).

2. Article 15 of the Indian Constitution provides that theState shall not discriminate against any citizen ongrounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

3. Article 15(3) states that the State is permitted to makeany special provisions for women and children.

4. Article 23 prohibits traffic in human being and forcedlabour and any contravention of this provision shallbe an offence punishable in accordance with law andto punish the offenders under this Act, the Parliamenthas made Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act 1956.

5. Article 39(d) which deals with the Directive Principlesof State Policy provides for equal pay for equal workfor both men and women.

6. Article 42 which is part of the Directive Principles ofState Policy makes provision for just and humanconditions of work and maternity relief.



India’s Rank on Global Gender Gap Index

The index measures gender gap as progress towardsparity between men and women in four indicators

i. Educational attainment,ii. Health and survival,iii. Economic opportunity andiv. Political empowerment. Countries are ranked based

on scores on scale ranging from 0 (lowest i.e.imparity) to 1 (highest i.e. parity). It is released everyyear by WEF since 2006.

Table - 1

Year

2014

2015

2016

2017

Rank

127

125

87

108

India’s Rank on Global Gender Gap Index

Source: https://currentaffairs.gktoday.in

India was ranked low at 108th position out of 144 countriesin Global Gender Gap Index 2017 released as part of WorldEconomic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2017.India slipped by 21 places compared to 87th rank lastyear(2016).it was 125th rank in 2015, in2014 India’sranking is 127 out of 152 countries in the List.

Table - 2 : Women Workers in India

Year

FemaleUnemploymentRate

Female LabourForce ParticipationRate

2011-12

6.90%

25.40%

2012-13

7.20%

22.60%

2014-15

7.70%

25.80%

India's missing Women Workers

2015-16

8.70%

23.70%

Fig. 2

Only 23.7 percent of eligible Indian women are part of theworkforce compared to that of men which is 75 percent. Inurban areas, this number drops further to only 16 percent.For men, the comparable number is 69 percent. Even forthose women who are part of the workforce, theunemployment rate is high. 8.7 percent compared to 4percent for men. The result - India ranks abysmally low interms of economic participation of women. The GlobalGender Report 2015 by the World Economic Forum rankedIndia at 139 out of 145 countries. Syria, Pakistan, SaudiArabia and Yemen are among the few that rank below India.The fifth annual Employment-Unemployment Surveypublished in September 2016 acknowledged the problem,noting that encouraging more women to join the workforceis critical to the nation’s ability to benefit from the so-calleddemographic dividend.

Women will account for a substantial proportion of theworking age population and therefore participation of womenin the labour force is of utmost importance to realize thefull benefits of demographic dividend. Increasing the labourforce participation rate (LFPR) for women is vital to achievinghigh growth of employment and overall economic growth.The Government is keen to address the issue of low femaleLFPR and WPR (Worker Population Ratio) and haslaunched various legislation-based schemes and otherprogrammes/schemes where the emphasis is on femaleparticipation.

The Governmnet has launched certain schemes for womenlike Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) 1993, Rajiv GandhiScheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (Sabla) in2010, Support to Training & Employment Program forWomen (STEP) Launched in 1986-87, Gandhi MatritvaSahyog Yojana (IGMSY) 2010, Conditional MaternityBenefit (CMB) scheme, National Mission for Empowermentof Women (NMEW) 2010, National Credit Fund for women(rural), Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) 2009,Ujjawala, in 2007, SWADHAR etc,. These schemes arestrengthening women in the matter of education, skilldevelopment, vocational courses, financial support towomen; mobilize the co-operative groups, financial supportto pregnant women’s and rehabilitation of women in differentcircumstances.

UCC for Gender EqualityGender equality is one of the objectives of the Constitutionof India which envisages equal rights of women with man.Gender equality is considered as basic human right untilwomen are allowed to live with dignity in the society.1 TheConstitution of India enumerates various provisions toensure gender equality in Part III as well as in Part IV. PartIV provides for Directives Principles of State Policy andthese directives are fundamental in the governance of thecountry and it shall be the duty of the State to apply theseprinciples in making laws.



Source:: BMMA Conducted Survey and it published inwww.Thetimeofindia.com

The recent progressive decisions of the ShaniShingnapur and Trimbakeshwar temple trust to allowentry of women in the wake of a series of protestconstitute a welcome development in what has been along march towards gender equality.

Providing land property rights to women in 29 states ofIndia, Mizoram occupied first place, Tamilnadu has takensecond position and Utter Pradesh got last position (29thposition). Southern states are better than Northern stateswith regard to providing the land property rights to women.In Southern states Tamilnadu occupied the firstposition;Telangana holds the second position and AndhraPradesh got 3rd position. If we critical look atconstitutional debate, legislative enactment and judicialdecisions very clearly we can appreciate the lack ofseriousness in ensuring justice to women. Although 84%of married women in the country are participating inhousehold decisions, collectively speaking, there areconsiderable statewide disparities which imply thatwomen in our country don’t have an equal voice across.There is lack of seriousness to our leaders in womenrights. Still even today some social evils existing in thesociety.

The State so far made laws to implement various DirectivePrinciples. Some of the Directive Principles which aimedat gender equality such as Art.39 and 42 have beenimplemented by enacting legislation but the state however,even after 66 years of the commencement of theConstitution of India have not taken any step to implementthe Directive Principles of State Policy provided under Art.44of the Constitution of India. Art.44 provides for the UniformCivil Code throughout the territory of India. Uniform CivilCode is a proposal to replace the personal laws whichgovern the different religious communities in India with acommon set of rules governing marriage, divorce,inheritance, adoption and maintenance. A personal law inIndia is based on religion, tradition, scripture and culture.Personal laws contain some provisions which are unjustto women e.g. a Muslim husband can marry four wives, hecan divorce his wife unilaterally by the word ‘Talaq ’ thrice,her right to receive adequate maintenance from the husbandafter divorce is not recognized. Many provisions of Muslimpersonal law are discriminatory towards women and arebased on patriarchal ideology. Personal laws relating toHindus was also discriminatory, however, with thecodification of Hindu Personal law many reforms have takenplace in order to provide equal right to Hindu women. But itcannot be said that the Hindu Personal law has completelybeen reformed because in different parts of India somecustomary law prevails. This customary law is based oncaste, belief and tradition and plays a vital role in regulatingfamily affairs which are derogatory towards right of women.The state should make an endeavor to reform personallaws of the communities in India in order to ensure genderReform of the personal law should be made in conformityof various Fundamental Rights of the Constitution whichseeks to promote gender equality and social justice.

When it comes to the real sense of equality the SupremeCourt of India in certain cases has opined a need for thelegislation for a Common Civil Code or Uniform Civil Code.It said in Shah Bano case in 1985, in Saral Mudgal case in1995 and in Vallamattam case in 2003, in AhmadabadWomen’s Action Group (AWAG) vs. Union of India.Noorjehan Safia, Niazand Zakia Soman, Co –founders ofthe Bharatiya Muslims Mahila Andolan (BMMA) in a letterto Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2015,observed “From the Shah Bano case in 1985 till date, Muslimwomen have never been heard in matters concerning theirlives thanks to the political leaders in our country, in thematters of reforms Muslim personal law. BMMA conductedsurvey and it has taken primary sample of 4710 Muslimwomen across 10 states. Overwhelming 92.1% womenwant a total ban on oral/ unilateral divorce and 91.7% areopposed to polygamy. 83.3% women said that codificationof Muslim family law will help Muslim women get justice.This data explained below table and pie chart (Table - 3)

Table - 3

Issues

1. Total ban on oral/unilateral divorce

2. Opposed to Polygamy

3. Codification of Muslimfamily law

Women VotingPercentages

92.10%

91.70%

83.30%

Fig. 3

2. Opposed toPolygamy, 91.7

0%

3. Codificationof Muslim

familylaw, 83.30%

1. Total ban onoral/unilateral

divorce, 92.10%



ConclusionInternational Women’s Day is a good occasion to reflecton the status of women in India. The best measure of acivilised nation is whether its women are treated withrespect, dignity and equality. We seem to fall short ofthat target. Even though they make up nearly half thepopulation, women here have endured discrimination forcenturies.The most effective tool is perhaps women’spolitical empowerment. So what is required is asustained, comprehensive drive to end inequality. A firststep would be to improve the access for girls to educationto reduce the in-built disadvantages that they have frombirth onwards. A second step would be to addressmarket and institutional failures that lock women intolow-return, highly vulnerable forms of employment andof self-employment. The government started differentprogrammes for against the women discrimination,empowerment of women and women welfare. But thegovernment didn’t focus on the effective implementationof the programmes in the ground levels, so thegovernment must create the awareness among the ruralpeople

The term ‘social justice’ includes gender justice. Theidea of gender justice prohibits discrimination on theground of sex, be it social, political and economic. Theanti discriminatory provisions are applicable to theactions of the state. To prohibit discrimination on theground of religion, race, caste, sex etc17 the state hasmade uniform laws for all matters other than a uniformlaw relating to marriage, adoption, inheritance etc. TheState has, however, made many changes in the Hindulaw of those practices which were manifestly unjust e.g.prohibition of Sati practices, permission to widow’sremarriage, prohibition of child marriage, Women’s rightto inheritance, prohibition of practice of polygamy etc.There is link between Gender Justice and Uniform CivilCode, so the government must implement the UniformCivil Code or Codified the Personal of different religious,then also women get equal rights in the matter ofmarriage, divorce, property rights, adoption, etc.

Reference• Gender Disparity in India: Unheard Whimpers –

by Siuli Sarkar

• Gender and Politics in India: Themes in Politics– byMenon Niyedita

• Gender Justice – 2014 by Dr. Sunanda Goenka

• Gender Equality in the Welfare State? Hardcover –Import, 30 Apr 2012 by Gillian Pascall.

• Das Bhaswati, KhawasVimal, Gender Issues inDevelopment Concerns for the 21st century, RawatPublication ,2009, New Delhi.

• NawalNitu,Sharma R.K., Domestic Violence againstWomen Legal Protection, Legislative, and JudicialAspects, Regal Publication, New Delhi, 2013.

• Anand,A.S., Justice for Women Concerns andExpressions, Universal Law Publishing Co.

• www.lawjournals.org

• SivakumarMarimuthu,Gender Discrimination andWomen s Development in India, MPRA Paper10901,2008.

• D.D.Basu- Introduction of the Indian Constitution.

• Jayaplan, N. (1998). Constitutional History of India.Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.

• Banerjee Arpita, Status of Women and GenderDiscrimination in India: A State wise Research Vol.3,Issue, 12, December, 2013.

• M.V.Pylee. ((2004) Constitutional Government inIndia. S. Chand & Co., Bombay.

• https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/uniform-civil-code-gender-justice/

• w w w . m s s v . c o . i n / J o u r n a l / v o l 1 n o 2 /MSSVJHSS010207.pdf

• www.indianexpress.com, Columns Nov 17, 2016 - Arguments in favour of a uniform civil code oftenproject Hindu law as just, in spite of the evidence ofits anti-women practices

• www.insightsonindia.com/.../4-uniform-civil-code-needed-gender-justice.

• Shabana Azmi; women, Stand up for you rights, TheTimes of Indian, July, 2005

• United Nations. 2002. Johannesburg Summit 2002.Ethiopia-country Profile. Available from: http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/wssd/ethiopia.pdf(Accessed 4 December, 2012).

• United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP).2003. Human Development Report 2003. New York:Oxford University Press. United Nations Children sFund (UNICEF).2006.

• The State of The World’s Children 2007: Women andChildren-The Double Dividend of Gender Equality. NewYork: United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF).

• Debate on Uniform Civil Code the Hindu July 14th2016



WOMEN IN CORPORATE SECTOR

1. BA LLB (HONS) 2nd Semester, Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Sabbavaram, Visakhapatnam, AP.2. BA LLB (HONS) 2nd Semester, Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Sabbavaram, Visakhapatnam, AP.

Abstract

India is the 7th largest country and the 3rd largest country by population in the world. Women in India, although the sexratio is less but women are a step ahead in every walk of life. Around 36% of women work in the corporate sector.Corporate sector is one of the leading sectors in India and the salaries they receive are also constant and there arechances for increment also.Those days were long gone when women were suppressed in hands of men. Now a day’swomen are leading in every field. There are many examples like Chitra Ramkrishna (MD and CEO national stockexchange), Aarthi Subramanian (executive director TCS), Arundhati Bhattachrya (chairman SBI). The researcherswill give some real life examples describing some of the incidents. There are some restrictions like women shouldonly be confined to kitchens and take care of the family, to be precise working of women is against the norms andvalues of the society. And also even if they break these boundaries and start working, there are many other hindrancesthat they face in either the work place or at their homes. In the work places it includes sexual harassment, and alsogender discrimination and income disparities which in turn affect their lives. The researchers will cover variousaspects about women working in corporate sector. This research will cover the gender inequality that women face inthis sector and also the main problems like sexual harassment and income disparities. It will also cover certainlegislations which help in reducing such exploitation and also some remedies that would reduce these hindranceswhich can help in women empowerment in the end.

Tanusha V L Kurapati1 Sai Varshini T2

IntroductionDrastic changes in the position of women:From the evolution of life in India women were given mostimportant place in the society. According to most of theHindu literature women were even considered asgoddesses e.g., Saraswati Devi, whom we worship as agoddess of study and Lakshmi Devi goddess of wealth.The planet earth on which we live in is personified asmother earth, which is a female gender.With the change in time people started becoming selfishand the women position was suppressed. Womenconfined to houses, they were either forced to followtheir father or husband, although people worshippedgoddesses, but they never cared for the self respect ofwomen. Even though some rulers of their respective timestried to bring a change in the position of women theydidn’t succeed in changing the minds of the people.During the British colonialism in India freedom fighterslike Mahatma Gandhi, Bala Gangadhar Tilak had triedto educate people about gender equality.

When our country got our independence, the participationof women nationalists was highly acknowledged. WhenIndian constitution was formulated it had granted equalrights to women, considering them legal citizens of thecountry and as equal to men in terms of freedom andopportunity. Though a number of constitutionalamendments were made for women social, economic

and political benefits yet they were never effective tobring a radical change in the situation. Women had onlythe role of a ‘good wife’ to play and if a woman venturedout to work, she was seen as a bad woman againstsocietal norms.

Women in India slowly started realizing their potential.She has started questioning the rules laid down for herby the society. As a result she has started breaking thebarriers and earned a respectable position in the world.Today Indian women have excelled in each and everyfield. Today the modern women is so deft and selfsufficient that she can be easily called a super women,juggling many fronts single handedly.

Women are now fiercely ambitious and are proving theirmetal not only on the home front but also their respectivepositions. The Indian women has to make her waythrough all socialized prejudices against her, and theman yet have to allow and accept the women to be equalparticipants in the countries way forward.

Corporate Sector:In economics, the business sector or the corporatesector sometimes popularly called business is the partof the economy made up by companies, it is a subset ofthe domestic economy excluding the economic activitiesof the general government, of private households, and ofnonprofit organizations serving individuals. 28% of theIndian GDP is from the corporate sector.



Many surveys among the top corporate sectorcompanies around India have proved that women arepresent in high numbers in the companies. Women arestrong, smart, technically competent emotionally valiantin comparison to their male counter parts. As such theyare rightly called as the new age corporate women. Butdespite achieving such huge laurels, women still facemany obstacles in their work place.

Gender bias and sexual harassment are biggest issuethey face and there are some other issues which arebig hurdles for women to grow in the corporate sector.

Let us discuss the most pre dominant challenges thatwomen face in their day to day life.

Sexual Harassment:One of the most heart shameful and heart wrenchingchallenge that a women faces in working environment isthe kinds of sexual abuse she is exposed to. Accordingto the sexual harassment Section 2(n) of the sexualharassment of women (Prevention Prohibition andRedressal) Act 2013 states sexual harassment includesany one or more of the following unwelcome acts orbehavior (whether directly or by implication) namely:• Physical contact and advances; or• A demand or request for sexual favors; or• Making sexually colored remarks; or• Showing pornography; or• Any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal

conduct of sexual nature.

This definition of sexual harassment has to be read alongwith section 3 of the 2013 act, which states that nowomen shall be subjected to sexual harassment at anywork place. There cannot be implied or explicit promise/threat, preferential/ detrimental or hostile workenvironment for women; is humiliating treatment that islikely to affect women’s health or safety.

Sexual harassment at work place can occur in two ways:quid pro quo and hostile environment Quid pro quo refersto this for that which means if you oblige for this I willgive you that and vice versa. Hostile environment refersto sexual conduct that unreasonably interferes with anindividual’s job performance or creates an intimidating,hostile or offensive work environment.

One of the most significant aspects of this act is thatthe employers were made liable for the breach of law byits employees. Before the enactment of this there wasno vicarious liability on sexual harassment cases.

The recent upheavals of sexual harassment of womenat work places in India are highly disturbing. It is bafflingto know that there has been a sharp rise in the sexualharassment of women at work places. According to

NCRB statistics case of sexual harassment of womenwithin work places have more than doubled between 2014to 2015. More over to make matters worse 70% of workingwomen do not report workplace harassment in India.

The sheer failure in properly implementing the sexualharassment of women at work place law, 2013 is one ofthe reasons why the collective voices of women havehad come together. These are women who have sufferedvarious forms of harassment by bosses, colleagues,professors etc. This violent discourse is because of thepatriarchal and male centric nature that has beenprevalent in the society since ages.

A rising India, a shinning India but also a perverted India.A country that boasts the culture of worshipping womenas goddesses but ranks one of the highest in terms ofgender-based violence against women in domestic, publicand professional workplaces in the world. This is shouldbe curbed by bringing more stringency in the alreadyenacted laws.

Gender DiscriminationGirls and women constitute almost half of the populationin India. But they are not given equal opportunities andaccess to all the resources. Almost every Indian wouldagree that of all the women they know, most are a victimof discrimination in their life. Not only during employmentbut also the type of work they are entrusted with differfrom the work given to their male counter parts and alsocoupled with the conditions of work and also theopportunities they get to advance. Women are overlookedfor certain jobs on the account of their gender to beingoffered inequitable wages and development paths.

The most live example is Ms. Sudha Murthy, the presentchairman of Infosys and a philanthropist and a writer. Inthe starting of her career when she was studying in IISCBangalore, she wanted to go abroad for her higher studiesbut one day she came across a advertisement of TATAengineering and locomotive company (TELCO) which isstating an employment opportunity only for men in theautomotive manufacturing called the field work. She wasinfuriated by the advertisement and wanted to prove herworth, as she also scored the same marks as her malecounter parts did. So, she wrote a post card to the thencompany’s chairman Ratanji Tata complaining about thegender discrimination or the gender bias at the TELCO.As a result she was granted a special interview and hiredimmediately. And became the first female engineer hiredat India’s largest automotive manufacturing company.

There is also a dearth of women who are in key positionsand senior positions in India. In some cases, even thoughthey are women who occupy as board members andalso the organizational policies that are governed bygender equality but still women have to work hard a long



way to achieve success and they face discrimination atsome or the other point of time. One of the biggestreasons why women occupy the lower positions isbecause of the lack of support from their family aftermarriage, both professionally and personally.

This gender discrimination in return leads to incomedisparities in the earning of men and women.

Income DisparitiesMen in IT services earn Rs 360.9 per hour, while womenearn only Rs 239.6 per hour.

Amid a raging debate over gender pay gap globally, anew report shows the figure for India stands as high as27 per cent, where men earned a median gross hourlysalary of Rs. 288.68, while women earned Rs, 207.85per hour. As per the latest Monster Salary Index by onlinecareer and recruitment solutions provider Monster India,in the IT services sector, the median gross hourly salarywas the highest at Rs. 337.3.

But the IT services sector has a huge gender pay gap of34 per cent. Men in IT services earn Rs 360.9 per hour,while women earn only Rs 239.6 per hour. A sector-wiseanalysis shows the gender pay gap was highest inmanufacturing sector (34.9 per cent) and lowest in theBFSI and Transport, logistics, communication, equallystanding at 17.7 per cent.

According to the report, some of the reasons behindgender pay gap could be the preference for maleemployees over female employees, preference forpromotion of male employees to supervisory positionsand career breaks of women due to parenthood dutiesand other socio-cultural factors. Worldwide, lack of payparity has taken centre stage, with strong views beingshared by sportspersons, political and business leadersalike. Men often get higher salary offers than womenvying for the same title in the same organization, MonsterIndia Managing Director Sanjay Modi said. “Needless tosay, the situation is far from desired in India, especiallywhen the country is gearing towards inclusivedevelopment,” Mr. Modi said adding that the task at handwas the pace at which this pay gap could be bridged.There was a strong need to create equal opportunitiesfor all, particularly women, who were key contributors inthe job market, he added.1

Maternity LeaveA section of corporate India is consciously choosinggender-sensitive policies such as flexible hours andcrèche services for working mothers. But, there are alsocompanies where women still have to face discriminationand harassment when they announce that they arepregnant.

In 2011 Kolkata resident was compelled to leave her jobas a sub editor with a national newspaper after she gotpregnant. First she was in poor health and her bossreduced her work hours. But after three months she wascalled for a meeting with her seniors and she was askedto leave her job stating that how can she work in thiscondition. She asked for time stating that she neededthe income to support her family.

In 2011, Kolkata resident was compelled to leave herjob as a subeditor with a national newspaper after shegot pregnant. Seth’s health was poor in her first trimester,and her bosses initially reduced her work hours. Thesenegotiations continued for a week and so, and also theywanted her invite her husband for a chat. And finally whenher husband met them they had asked him how youcould even allow your pregnant wife to work. At the endkeeping in mind her deteriorating health she took anindefinite leave, but refused to resign. She was paid forthree months of maternity leave but the mental traumashe went through could not be excused and she decidednever to return back to the company.

Most companies do not provide crèches or flexible hours,forcing women to choose between work and the home.There has been amendment to the maternity benefit act2016; the leave has been raised from 12 weeks to 26weeks. And prenatal leave is also extended from six toeight weeks. But we oppose this because either intaking care of the mother or raising a child both the wifeand husband have the same and equal duty, So evenpaternal leave should be granted such that there wouldbe no discrimination between men and women here.

And also the funds which are being given by thegovernment for providing maternity benefit are misusedby the companies. These all should curb. And it shouldbe seen that there strict implementation of maternitybenefit act.

ConclusionIt is impossible to think about the welfare of the worldunless the condition of women is improved it isimpossible for bird to fly on one wing.

- Swami Vivekananda

There are also many other problems which women facein the corporate sector. The researcher has focused onthe above issues. Although these all these problemscreate havoc in the lives of the women working thecorporate sector. But in India there are a bunch ofcourageous women who stand on par with the malecounter parts like Chitra Ramkrishna, MD & CEO,National Stock Exchange; Aarthi Subramanian,Executive Director, TCS; Alice G. Vaidyan, CMD, GICRe; Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of



India; Ekta Kapoor, Joint Managing Director, BalajiTelefilms; Nita Ambani, Chairperson, RelianceFoundation and Director, Reliance Industries; SuneetaReddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group andmany other women. Women in India should takeinspiration from many of the women who have excelledin their jobs and are now in the top positions. And womenin India are also not that weak to sit back in the houseseeing the obstacles that appear. And also the mindsetof the people should change they should allow girls tocome out and work.

References• h t t p : / / w w w. b u s i n e s s t o d a y. i n / p o w e r f u l -

businesswomen/2016/• https://qz.com/385866/pregnancy-remains-a-curse-

for-working-women-in-corporate-india/

• https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/11/sexual-harassment-of-women-in-india/

• https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/03/heres-how-the-status-of-women-has-changed-in-india-since-1950-till-date/

• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/work/All-you-need-to-know-about-increased-maternity-leave/articleshow/50622146.cms

• www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol17-issue1/Version-3/D017132527.pdf

• http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/India-suffers-from-huge-gender-pay-gap-says-report/article14324693.ece

• http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/India-suffers-from-huge-gender-pay-gap-says-report/article14324693.ece



SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF GIRL CHILDREN FOR EDUCATION ISABARRIER FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN ADVANCED CAREER

1. Department of Social Work, Maris Stella College ,Vijayawada,AP.2. HOD, Department of Social Work,Maris Stella College,Vijayawada,AP.

Abstract

In India government has expressed a strong commitment towards education for girls however, the progress in girlseducation in India is far from satisfactory as mentioned in the human development report. In India the discriminationis that the girls and women are not able to enjoy their right to education. There are several reasons for the low levelsof literacy among girls in India. Education is not only to read and to write but it is also to question and search foranswers. It is also to challenge the exploitative norms of society and be able to say and do what they feel right to do.Engaging girls in domestic work is another barrier to the progress of girls’ education. There are social exclusion in allthe sectors such as in the family, school, society and the nation at large. Inclusion of girl children in the educationalfield can bring lots of change in their lives and they can be agents of social change. This paper is to highlight theimportance of girl child education.

Key words: Social Exclusion, Education, Policies for education, Barriers for women empowerment

J. Pavani1 Dr. Sr. Lovely Jacob2

IntroductionAcross the globe, girls are systematically excluded fromparticipation in social, economic, and political life. Theabsence of girls in these arenas has implications notonly for the young women themselves but also for societyas a whole, exacerbating poverty and perpetuatingdisparities in health, education, and economicachievement. Adolescent girls encounter barriers toentering and staying in school, finding work, makingfriends, learning life skills, accessing health services,and participating in civic life.

While there is a considerable debate about the precisemeaning of the some of the most useful definitions havesought to emphasize that social exclusion is concernedwith the ‘inability to participate effectively in economic,social, and cultural life and, in some characteristics,alienation and distance from mainstream society. Article29: “States Parties agree that the education of the childshall be directed to the development of child’spersonality, talents, and mental and physical abilitiesto their fullest potential.

Social Exclusion and EducationEducation is one of the most important factors affectingthe development of children. It has great intrinsicsignificance as access to education is an important right.At the same time, establishing the empirical linkagesmay be very important to generate societal consensusaround policies combating social exclusion, particularlyif it can be shown that social exclusion hurts everyone

and not just those suffering from it. The complete relianceon this approach is quite tricky as it may get boggeddown in empirical issues rather than focus on importantpolicy-questions.In addition, getting educated is animportant participatory process for children and equalaccess for all to this process allows participation in,and respect by society. In fact in the 18th and 19thcenturies viewed the inclusionary nature of the educationprocess, and the fostering of citizenship througheducation as more important skills one may acquirethrough education.

Problems faced by girl child for educationThe sheer business of survival drains her of all energy.Education is hardly a priority in her every day battle forsurvival. Women are caught in a vicious circle wherethey are unable to educate their daughtersgenderdiscriminate the person as masculine and feminineideology. Social factors like early marriage or parentalapathy to girls denies them from education. Someparents also stated that since they have to pay heavydowry to attract educated bridegrooms, they have towithdraw their girls from education to save money forthe dowry.Conversely, education can be a source ofexclusion for children and thus carry with it the intrinsicproblems this involves. This is particularly the case if,for some children, it fails to meet the standard called forin the Convention of the Rights of Children of‘development of the child’s personality, talents, andmental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.’ It



can also be exclusionary if the process of educationfails to promote equal participation and access.

Girls in School EducationIn India the participation of girls at all stages of educationhas been increasing steadily through the years. In 1950-1951 girls’ participation has increased many folds inprimary, middle secondary, higher secondary stages andhigher education levels.In the higher education sector,the University Grant Commission (UGC) has beenimplementing various schemes for promoting women’seducation in universities and colleges. Some of theseare scheme of grants for women universities foe technicalcourses. There are scheme for construction of women,hostels setting up women study centers in 72universities.Higher levels of education among girls willlikely to have higher dowry expenses as they wantcomparably educated husband.

Male-Female literacy Gap in EducationWomen not only make up one half of this potential talentbase they also contribute to bringing in some differentperspective that are so important in a complex,Interdependent and fast moving world. Over the past fewdecades among various others causes, poverty is theprime reasons for lack of education and especially for agirl child is perceived as waste of money and resources.

Dynamics of Current Scenario of Women’sEducationThe Indian Government has expressed a strongcommitment towards education for all however, theprogress in women’s education in India is far fromsatisfactory as mentioned in the human developmentreport of South Asia . One of the discrimination that girlsand women are facing in India is the facts that they arenot able to enjoy the right to education more than half ofthe adult illiterates (63%) are women and nearly 2/5 girlsenrolled in primary schools are dropout before grade.There are several reasons for the low levels of literacyamong girls in India, not the least of which is the highlevel of poverty over one third population is estimated tobe living below the poverty line although. Schoolattendance is free the cost of books and transportationto school can be too much for poor families.

Engaging girls in domestic job is another major barrierto the progress of women educationengagement toworking f0or their own household is more common for agirl child studies reveal that in the Indian context girlchildren begin to work in the household from a very earlyage girl children are mainly engaged in domestic household activities such as cooking cleaning fetching waterand fuel wood looking after old and sick family member

and more importantly taking care of younger siblingswhich ultimately use to keep them away from schooleducation.Additional research is needed across theglobe to learn more about which girls are excluded, toexamine the effects of isolation on their lives, and todevelop context-specific approaches to meet girls’ needs.Researchers should also explore the negative effects ofsocial exclusion on poverty reduction and achievementof the Millennium Development Goals, as well as otherhuman development measures. In the end, girls’ rightsare human rights. Socially isolated girls are a group thatwe cannot afford to leave behind.

Significance of Girls’ Education• An extra year of education for girls can reduce infant

mortality by 5-10 percent with the link especiallystrong in low income countries.

• Analysis finds that doubling the proportion of womenwith a secondary education would reduce averagefertility rates from 5.3 to 3.9 per women.

• Providing girls with one extra year of education beyondthe average boosts eventual wages by 10-20%

• Studies shows finds that more productive farming dueto increased female education accounts for 43% ofthe decline in malnutrition achieved b/w 1970 and1995.

• A recent cross – country study finds that women’seducation generally has more impact than men’seducation on children’s schooling.

• Educated women are three times as likely toparticipate in political meeting as illiterate women.

• Education girls have better opportunities to earnhigher wages participate in community life anddecision making and are better informed about healthrisks that may be relevant to both themselves andtheir families.

Social Work InterventionMethod of case work could be great help in addressingthe socio-economic problems faced by the girls.Awareness creation could be a great tool in impartingthe benefits of education. Special classes and eveningclasses can bring change in their attitudes towardsstudy. Discussions with parents, communities andschools will be of a great motivation force for the girlchildren to study. Sponsorships and other financialsupport also will encourage the girls to take to take theirstudy. Social workers can encourage girls to overcomethe cultural and traditional barriers. Communityinvolvement and group interventions also can be used toadvance the girls education.



ConclusionEducation is significant for girls for bringing all rounddevelopment beginning from employment opportunitiesto respectful position in the society in them. Theinvolvement and support of family in the process of agirl’s education will encourage and act as a boon for thegirls. The problem of low self-esteem is endemic to manygirls in all societies especially where women’s positionis legallyand economically as a permanent juvenileanddependent. As a girl or women abandons thestereotypes, she also abandons what she knows best,the sense of self with which she and many generationsbefore her were raised. The success of developmentefforts depends upon making women full partners. It isin schools that the journey out of poverty and towardsemployment and decision making begins. It is the

responsibility of each person to strive forward inunderstanding the situation of the girl children andeducate them for the realization of their full potentialsand in turn their contribution towards society.

References• BhaskaraRao, Digumali. 2000. A.P.H. publishing

corporation, NewDelhi.• Gupta, Mukta. 2003. Women and educational

development, institutes of environment developmentstudies, New Delhi

• Sunita Gupta and MuktaMittal . 1995, Anmolpublications

• VijayaeswarRao, G. 2004, women andsociety,Himalaya publishing house



ROLE OF SELF HELP GROUPS IN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIPA STUDY ON MADANAPALLE TOWN, CHITOOR DISTRICT, A.P

1. Lecturer,Besant theosophical college, Madanapalle,AP.

AbstractToday, more women are breaking free from the traditional, gender-specific roles and venturing into the businessworld. Not only are they holding high corporate positions but they are also successful women entrepreneurs. Thesteady rise in female entrepreneurs can be due to many different reasons, most of which share the same rational astheir male counterparts – passion for their ideas, the desire to become their own boss, and the need to addressphilanthropic causes. Keeping the above background, it is very clear that the SHG entrepreneurship for women groupis essential and it is to be developed. So some measures should be introduced to reduce their household burden.This requires a drastically change in the mind set of the men towards women in general and working women inparticular. Hence, it becomes necessary for the society and Government to find remedies for the problems of womenSHG entrepreneurship.Awareness, interest and involvement ultimately lead to participate, which is an indicator ofparticipatory political culture on which democracy flourishes and becomes more strengthened. Participation manifestsitself in the actual involvement of an individual, directly or indirectly, in the formulation and implementation of a varietyof programmes launched by the Government. Participation in this sense makes programme successful. The presentstudy is an attempt at answering questions raised in the beginning. The findings show that irrespective of severalwelfare programmes for the empowerment of rural women unchanged. It was also observed that the levels of awareness,involvement, interest and participation on the part of the rural people are significantly low as a result of which theycannot derive the benefits to the desired extent, from such welfare programmes.

Need for the studyTo know about the socio economic status of the rural women, the investigator wants to study the implementation ofrural development programmes for women through aspects like Awareness, Interest, Participation, involvement andsatisfaction among the beneficiaries of the study area.

Specific Objectives of the study are• To know about the socio economic status of rural women.• To explore the levels of awareness, interest, participation and involvement of the women in the welfare programmes

of the study area.• To examine the status of socio economic change of women.• To recommend with few suggestions to strengthen the status of women in rural areas.• To identify the problems/bottlenecks in implementation of the women welfare programmes.

Research Methodology• The primary sources of data collection for the study include fieldwork, relevant documents, reports and guidelines

issued by the Government of India and Government of Andhra Pradesh.• In addition to the collected information through the above methods, substantial information was also collected

through informal discussions with officials beneficiaries of the district rural development agency in the Chitoordistrict.

Key Words: Self Help Groups, Entrepreneurship, Socio economic, Women empowerment,

Ch. Subbaya Naidu1

IntroductionToday, more women are breaking free from the traditional,gender-specific roles and venturing into the businessworld. Not only are they holding high corporate positionsbut they are also successful women entrepreneurs. Thesteady rise in female entrepreneurs can be due to many

different reasons, most of which share the same rationalas their male counterparts – passion for their ideas, thedesire to become their own boss, and the need toaddress philanthropic causes. Keeping the abovebackground, it is very clear that the SHGentrepreneurship for women group is essential and it is



beneficiaries of the district rural development agencyin the Chitoor district.

Profile of the districtMadanapalle was founded by Sri Ahobila Naidu in 1618AD. Sir Thomas Munro was first collector of Cuddapah.He built a small thatched house at the present Collector’sbungalow and visited Madanapalle every summer. In1850, Madanapalle was developed as subdivision andF.B.Manoly was the first Sub Collector. The townexperienced several natural calamities like floods,famines and epidemics.Rabindranath Tagore translated"Jana Gana Mana" from Bengali to English and also setit to music in Madanapalle. The National Anthem waswritten by Rabindranath Tagore as early as in 1911 andwas sung at the annual session of the Indian NationalCongress at Calcutta on December 27 that year. But itwas actually done in Besant Theosophical College,Madanapalle, where Tagore stayed for few days inFebruary 1919 that the now familiar tune was set.

Madanapalle occupied an Educational and Cultural centrefrom early 1915, when Dr. Anne Besant started BesantTheosophical College, famously known as B.T.Integrated Campus. B.T. College was initially part ofNational University to which Dr. Rabindranatha Tagorewas Vice Chancellor.

The primary and secondary school education is impartedby government, aided and private schools, under theSchool Education Department of the state. The mediumof instruction followed by different schools are English,Telugu.

Madanapalle has famous standing educationalinstitutions like Besant Theosophical College, RishiValley School, a boarding school, founded by thephilosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Zilla Parishad HighSchool, which was founded in 1924.It also has fourengineering colleges - Madanapalle Institute ofTechnology and Science, Sir Vishveshwaraiah Instituteof Science & Technology, Aditya College of Engineering.

The most important assets of a nation are the citizensthemselves. If the citizens are healthy, patriotic, honest,and sincere, the nation will progress at a much fasterpace. For this reason, it is very essential to have moraleducation in schools and colleges. To provide moraleducation to students, there can be many ways – tellingstories, preaching, group discussions, Yoga, andMeditation.This is how humans determine their actionsbased on their cognitive abilities to interpret a socialsituation. Issues of reasoning, problem solving skills,self-control and adaptability are components in exhibitingkey components of the moral process.

to be developed. So some measures should beintroduced to reduce their household burden. Thisrequires a drastically change in the mind set of the mentowards women in general and working women inparticular. Hence, it becomes necessary for the societyand Government to find remedies for the problems ofwomen SHG entrepreneurship.

Awareness, interest and involvement ultimately lead toparticipate, which is an indicator of participatory politicalculture on which democracy flourishes and becomesmore strengthened. Participation manifests itself in theactual involvement of an individual, directly or indirectly,in the formulation and implementation of a variety ofprogrammes launched by the Government. Participationin this sense makes programme successful. The presentstudy is an attempt at answering questions raised inthe beginning. The findings show that irrespective ofseveral welfare programmes for the empowerment of ruralwomen unchanged. It was also observed that the levelsof awareness, involvement, interest and participation onthe part of the rural people are significantly low as aresult of which they cannot derive the benefits to thedesired extent, from such welfare programmes.

Need for the studyTo know about the socio economic status of the ruralwomen, the investigator wants to study theimplementation of rural development programmes forwomen through aspects like Awareness, Interest,Participation, involvement and satisfaction among thebeneficiaries of the study area.

Specific Objectives of the study are• To know about the socio economic status of rural

women.• To explore the levels of awareness, interest,

participation and involvement of the women in thewelfare programmes of the study area.

• To examine the status of socio economic change ofwomen.

• To recommend with few suggestions to strengthenthe status of women in rural areas.

• To identify the problems/bottlenecks inimplementation of the women welfare programmes.

Research Methodology• The primary sources of data collection for the study

include fieldwork, relevant documents, reports andguidelines issued by the Government of India andGovernment of Andhra Pradesh.

• In addition to the collected information through theabove methods, substantial information was alsocollected through informal discussions with officials



Findings of the study:-1. Most of the respondents felt that there is more

change in their socio economic condition afterthemselves selected through among the targetbeneficiaries.

2. An overwhelming majority of the respondents in thesample did not have adequate education tounderstand towards the welfare programmes.

3. Majority of the respondents have medium awarenessabout rules, regulations and procedures of the DRDAProgrammes.

4. Majority of the respondents have active involvementin the SHG programmes.

5. An overwhelming majority of the respondents in thesample faced difficulty of getting the loan amountsanctioned by the DRDA.

6. Most of the respondents felt that support given byDRDA for welfare schemes was not adequateenough.

Suggestions:-Measures to improve the performance by the DistrictRural Development Agency in the implementation ofvarious programmes/schemes in the rural areas.1. The study also finds a major impediment in the

context of caste conflicts and caste prejudices.2. Study points out that the people had little knowledge

about the rural development programmes becauseof their illiteracy, this hampered implementation.Literacy rate among the beneficiaries should beimproved in order to create awareness about theprogrammes and ultimately make them to raise theirvoice when their needs are not fully satisfied.

3. Politicians and other pressure groups should be keptaway in the implementation of the programmesand encourage the people’s participation in decisionmaking process in the rural development programmes.

4. Involvement of NGOs is necessary in the actionprocess.

5. For the beneficiaries of IKP scheme the trainingshould be arranged with the help of experts availablein the nearby universities/Departments. Theseprogrammes are to be conducted periodically notonly to the beneficiaries but also to the prospect.

6. Operational issues relating to specific schemes alsoemerged during the study. These include small, one–two staff bank branches in remote areas definitelyaffect response time from banks. Similarly, SHGbased record keeping seems to be a need tounderstand clear picture of repayment. There is aneed for a mutually agreeable repayment recordingsystem by DRDA and bank. Use of IT and community

based record keeping system starting from SHGmay be an option.

7. Awareness generation as an activity is proposed bythe guidelines to fulfill the objectives of reaching thepoor by DRDA. Initial awareness generation activitiesneed to be supplemented through promotion oftransparent operational systems as well asparticipatory planning process and these will leadto building confidence in DRDA target grouphouseholds. However, focus has remained onawareness generation right in the introduction stageof the scheme. It is also observed that IEC is majorlydependent on inter-personal media. The programmestaff does not feel the importance of IEC activities inreaching the target group households.

8. There is a need of promotion of better communicationtools and media including audio visual and massmedia. IEC actions also need to go beyond schemeinformation and orientation. The field study identifiesa definite need for developing common and sharedunderstanding role of IEC in community basedfunctioning through trainings.

ConclusionAs a result, rural development policies and approachesthat may have worked before may not be as effectiveany more. It is necessary for the government to take afresh look at rural development and to identify persistentand emerging issues to revise where necessary conceptualframeworks and to reform institution to make these moreresponsive to the specific needs of the poor. However,there is an urgent need to share the wealth of successfulinnovative initiates in rural development that target thevarious dimension of poverty under different condition.

References• Shri Ram Maheswari. Rural Development in India, A

Public Policy Approach: New Delhi, 2001.• Vasant Desai., Rural Development, Issues and

Problems: Himalaya publishing House: Bombay,2001.

• Raja Rajeswari.,A., Implementation of JawaharRozgar Yojana in Visakhapatnam, A Case Study ofChinagadili mandal, Andhra University:Visakhapatnam, 1994.

• Esminger, Rural Development, What is it? Itscontribution to National Building”, East WestCentre’s Conference, London, 1974.

• Mishra.S., New Horizons in Rural DevelopmentAdministration, Mittal Publications, New Delhi, 1989.

• Katar Singh, Rural development- PanchayatirajInstitutions;Principles, Policies and Management ,Sage publication, New Delhi -2009.



MAKING WOMEN AS BEST ENTREPRENEURS-(A Case Study of Madanapalle Town, Chitoor District, A.P)

1. Asst. Prof of English, Sir C R Reddy College of Engineering, Eluru.

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt has been made to examine the efficacy of women entrepreneurship particularly thosewho are residing in rural areas by taking certain key concepts like the respondent awareness, interest, involvementand participation in the process of implementation of various programmes.

The present study is an attempt at answering questions raised in the beginning. The findings show that irrespective ofseveral welfare programmes for the empowerment of rural women unchanged. It was also observed that the levels ofawareness, involvement, interest and participation on the part of the rural people are significantly low as a result ofwhich they cannot derive the benefits to the desired extent, from such welfare programmes. Awareness, interest andinvolvement ultimately lead to participate, which is an indicator of participatory political culture on which democracyflourishes and becomes more strengthened. Participation manifests itself in the actual involvement of an individual,directly or indirectly, in the formulation and implementation of a variety of programmes launched by the Government.Participation in this sense makes programme successful.

Need for the studyTo enquire about the levels of awareness, participation and involvement for the improvement in their socio economiclife. The investigator wants to study the implementation of welfare programmes for women through aspects likeAwareness, Interest, Participation, involvement and satisfaction among the beneficiaries of the study area.

Specific Objectives of the study are• To examine the efforts made by government in empowering the rural women.• To explore the levels of awareness, interest, participation and involvement of the women in the welfare programmes

of the study area.• To examine the status of socio economic change of women.• To recommend with few suggestions to strengthen the status of women in rural areas.• To identify the problems/bottlenecks in implementation of the women welfare programmes.


issued by the Government of India and Government of Andhra Pradesh.• In addition to the collected information through the above methods, substantial information was also collected

through informal discussions with officials beneficiaries of the Madanapalle town.

Key Words: Entrepreneurship,Socio economic, Women empowerment, and dedication

Dr. D. Mallikarjuna Rao1

In the present study, an attempt has been made toexamine the efficacy of women entrepreneurshipparticularly those who are residing in rural areas by takingcertain key concepts like the respondent awareness,interest, involvement and participation in the process ofimplementation of various programmes.

The present study is an attempt at answering questionsraised in the beginning. The findings show thatirrespective of several welfare programmes for theempowerment of rural women unchanged. It was alsoobserved that the levels of awareness, involvement,

interest and participation on the part of the rural peopleare significantly low as a result of which they cannot derivethe benefits to the desired extent, from such welfareprogrammes. Awareness, interest and involvementultimately lead to participate, which is an indicator ofparticipatory political culture on which democracy flourishesand becomes more strengthened. Participation manifestsitself in the actual involvement of an individual, directlyor indirectly, in the formulation and implementation of avariety of programmes launched by the Government.Participation in this sense makes programme successful.



Need for the studyTo enquire about the levels of awareness, participationand involvement for the improvement in their socioeconomic life. The investigator wants to study theimplementation of welfare programmes for womenthrough aspects like Awareness, Interest, Participation,involvement and satisfaction among the beneficiaries ofthe study area.Specific Objectives of the study areTo examine the efforts made by government inempowering the rural women.To explore the levels of awareness, interest, participationand involvement of the women in the welfare programmesof the study area.To examine the status of socio economic change ofwomen.To recommend with few suggestions to strengthen thestatus of women in rural areas.To identify the problems/bottlenecks in implementationof the women welfare programmes.

Research MethodologyThe primary sources of data collection for the studyinclude fieldwork, relevant documents, reports andguidelines issued by the Government of India andGovernment of Andhra Pradesh.In addition to the collected information through the abovemethods, substantial information was also collectedthrough informal discussions with officials beneficiariesof the Madanapalle town.

Profile of the districtMadanapalle was founded by Sri Ahobila Naidu in1618 AD. Sir Thomas Munro was first collectorof Cuddapah. He built a small thatched house at thepresent Collector’s bungalow and visited Madanapalleevery summer. In 1850, Madanapalle was developed assubdivision and F.B.Manoly was the first Sub Collector.The town experienced several natural calamities likefloods, famines and epidemics.RabindranathTagore translated “Jana Gana Mana” from Bengali toEnglish and also set it to music in Madanapalle. The National Anthem was written by RabindranathTagore as early as in 1911 and was sung at the annualsession of the Indian National Congress at Calcutta onDecember 27 that year. But it was actually done inBesant Theosophical College, Madanapalle, whereTagore stayed for few days in February 1919 that thenow familiar tune was set.

Madanapalle occupied an Educational and Culturalcentre from early 1915, when Dr. Anne Besant startedBesant Theosophical College, famously known as B.T.

Integrated Campus. B.T. College was initially part ofNational University to which Dr. Rabindranatha Tagorewas Vice Chancellor.The primary and secondary school education is impartedby government, aided and private schools, underthe School Education Department of the state. Themedium of instruction followed by different schools areEnglish, Telugu.Madanapalle has famous standing educationalinstitutions like Besant Theosophical College, RishiValley School, a boarding school, founded by thephilosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Zilla Parishad HighSchool, which was founded in 1924.It also has fourengineering colleges - Madanapalle Institute ofTechnology and Science, Sir Vishveshwaraiah Instituteof Science & Technology, Aditya College of Engineering.The most important assets of a nation are the citizensthemselves. If the citizens are healthy, patriotic, honest,and sincere, the nation will progress at a much fasterpace. For this reason, it is very essential to have moraleducation in schools and colleges. To provide moraleducation to students, there can be many ways – tellingstories, preaching, group discussions, Yoga, andMeditation.This is how humans determine their actionsbased on their cognitive abilities to interpret a socialsituation. Issues of reasoning, problem solving skills,self-control and adaptability are components in exhibitingkey components of the moral process.District Rural Development Agency is the main instrumentof government for effectively managing and overseeingthe implementation of rural development programmes atdistrict level. It is a specialized and professional agencyto manage the anti-poverty programmes of the Ministryof Rural Development. “District Rural DevelopmentAgency Administration Scheme” was introduced from1st April, 1999 under which the salary and administrativeexpenses (limited to 30% of the salary costs) of DistrictRural Development Agency establishments are fundedby the Central and State Governments in the ratio of75:25. The object of the scheme is to strengthen andprofessionalize the District Rural Development Agencyto enable them to effectively manage the anti-povertywith other agencies like line departments, PanchayatiRaj Institutions, financial institutions, NGOs as well astechnical institutions with a view to gather support andresources required for poverty reduction measures.The activities of DWCRA and Velugu were integratedunder a programme called Indira Kranti Patham. Thebasic objective of this integration is to implement variousprogrammes for strengthening of self-help Groups withsimilar implementation strategy. The new scheme IndiraKranti Patham had been designed by clubbing WomenEmpowerment with Poverty Alleviation.



Indira Kranti Patham (IKP) is a statewide povertyreduction project to enable the rural poor to improve theirlivelihoods and quality of life through their ownorganizations. It aims to cover all the rural poorhouseholds in the state with a special focus on the 30lakh poorest of the poor households. It is implementedby Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Deptof Rural Development, Govt of AP. SERP is anautonomous society registered under the Societies Act,and implements the project through District RuralDevelopment Agencies (DRDAs) at the District level. TheChief Minister of Andhra Pradesh is the Chairperson ofthe Society. IKP builds on more than a decade long,statewide rural women’s self-help movement. The focusis on deepening the process, providing an institutionalstructure and developing a framework for sustaining itfor comprehensive poverty eradication. It is the singlelargest poverty reduction project in South Asia.Women entrepreneurship helps in the reduction of ruralpoverty and also contributes in the economicdevelopment. Women must be empowered with businessapproach by enhancing their knowledge, skills andfacilitating overall development of the society. Therefore,the promotion of small businesses has been recognizedas an important strategy for the empowernment of ruralwomen. The concept of Self Help Groups in this scenariois proving to be a helpful way for the womenempowerment. SHG is an organization of rural poor,particularly of women that deliver micro credit toundertake the entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurshipdevelopment and income generating activities are a viablesolution for empowering women. It generates incomeand also provides suitable working hours according tothe needs of families. Economic independence andincome generation is the need of the hour. Thus toexamine the empowerment of women throughentrepreneurial activities of self help groups, thisparticular research was directed with the specificobjective to investigate the empowerment. Total of 963women were become as entrepreneurs in theMadanapalle town encouraged and supported by theDistrict administration.

Table- 1: showing list of entrepreneurs benefitedin the Madanapalle Town

Findings of the study:-1) Most of the rural women in the town benefited by

SHG for entrepreneurship.2) Beneficiaries have adequate education to understand

towards the entrepreneurship programmes given bythe organization.

3) Respondents expressed satisfaction towards thesanctioning of loan by the government.

4) It was noticed that there is more change in theirsocio economic change in the rural women.

5) Majority of the women expressed that there is moresupport,cooperation and team work in the SHGs ofthe Madanapalle town.

Suggestions:-1. Study points out that the people had little knowledge

about the SHG programmes , because of lessawareness towards the programme, governmentshould made more publicity and propaganda aboutthe programme rigorously in the rural areas.

2. There should be regular monitoring and evaluationof the training process and involvement of thebeneficiaries for getting more skills and knowledgea per their requirement.

3. District administration should encourage the ruralwomen to utilize the loans for uplifting them as bestentrepreneurs.

4. There should be need for improving the facilities andinfrastructure to make the programme moresuccess.

5. As the Government priorities are changing from timeto time and the poverty alleviation programmes aredesigned for a particular period. It is evident thatpoverty cannot be elevated overnight whatever bethe kind of programmes. Hence there is an enoughscope and opportunities to be provided to the ruralpoor to come out of the poverty.

Conclusion it is necessary for the government to take a fresh lookat rural development and to identify persistent andemerging issues to revise where necessary conceptualframeworks and to reform institution to make these moreresponsive to the specific needs of the rural youth.However, there is an urgent need to share the wealth ofsuccessful innovative initiates in rural development thattarget the various dimension of unemployment in ruralareas under different condition.

1 2014-15 155

2 2015-16 280

3 2016-17 289

4 2017-18 239

Total 963

S.No Year Loans for SHGs



IntroductionWomen as compared to men have always been delicate and therefore they have to face many problems when theycome out of the house to work with men. Women in developed economy do not face the problems which are facedby the Indian women. Indian women are confronted with many such problems. Indians believe in the philosophy that“Women should never be left independent, she should be under the control of her father in childhood, under thecontrol of her husband after marriage and under the control of her son in old age”.

WOMEN IN CORPORATE WORLD-A STUDY ON BANKING INDUSTRYMADANAPALLE TOWN, CHITOOR DISTRICT, A.P

1. Associate Professor, Department of Politics & Public Administration Besant theosophical college, Madanapalle2. Principal, Besant theosophical college, Madanapalle,AP.3. Associate Professor, Department of Politics & Public Administration Besant theosophical college, Madanapalle

Abstract

Women as compared to men have always been delicate and therefore they have to face many problems when theycome out of the house to work with men. Women in developed economy do not face the problems which are faced bythe Indian women. Indian women are confronted with many such problems. Indians believe in the philosophy that“Women should never be left independent, she should be under the control of her father in childhood, under thecontrol of her husband after marriage and under the control of her son in old age”.In the present study, an attempt hasbeen made to examine the efficacy of women welfare programmes particularly those who are residing in rural areasby taking certain key concepts like the respondent awareness, interest, involvement and participation in the processof implementation of various programmes. . Despite many achievements, women get trifled by many difficulties.Some being common for both male and female and some are the curse only to the women. There are many psycho-social factors which hinder the path of women empowerment and her stepping towards entrepreneurship. Womenhave always been criticized by the male dominant society for their out of home activities.The present study is anattempt at answering questions raised in the beginning. The findings show that irrespective of several welfareprogrammes for the empowerment of rural women unchanged. It was also observed that the levels of awareness,involvement, interest and participation on the part of the rural people are significantly low as a result of which theycannot derive the benefits to the desired extent, from such welfare programmes. Awareness, interest and involvementultimately lead to participate, which is an indicator of participatory political culture on which democracy flourishes andbecomes more strengthened. Participation manifests itself in the actual involvement of an individual, directly orindirectly, in the formulation and implementation of a variety of programmes launched by the Government. Participationin this sense makes programme successful.

Need for the studyTo analyse about the levels of satisfaction towards the working in the corporate sector especially in the bankmanagement, the investigator wants to study the levels of motivation and team work in the working area and variousaspects like working conditions, motivation and satisfaction among the beneficiaries of the study area.

Specific Objectives of the study are• To evaluate the level of motivation of the women employees in the study area.• To analyse the level of team work and cooperation.• To examine the satisfaction levels in the working place .• To recommend with few suggestions to strengthen the status of women in rural areas.• To identify the problems/bottlenecks in implementation of the women welfare programmes.


issued by the Government of India.• In addition to the collected information through the above methods, substantial information was also collected

through informal discussions with official’s of the different banks in the Madanapalle Town.

Key Words: Motivation, team work, cooperation and dedication.

Dr. K. Rajesh Kumar1 Dr. K. Mallikarjuna2 Dr. M. Obulapathi3



• In addition to the collected information through theabove methods, substantial information was alsocollected through informal discussions with official’sof the different banks in the Madanapalle Town.

Profile of the districtMadanapalle was founded by Sri Ahobila Naidu in 1618AD. Sir Thomas Munro was first collector of Cuddapah.He built a small thatched house at the present Collector’sbungalow and visited Madanapalle every summer. In1850, Madanapalle was developed as subdivision andF.B.Manoly was the first Sub Collector. The townexperienced several natural calamities like floods,famines and epidemics.Rabindranath Tagore translated"Jana Gana Mana" from Bengali to English and also setit to music in Madanapalle. The National Anthem waswritten by Rabindranath Tagore as early as in 1911 andwas sung at the annual session of the Indian NationalCongress at Calcutta on December 27 that year. But itwas actually done in Besant Theosophical College,Madanapalle, where Tagore stayed for few days inFebruary 1919 that the now familiar tune was set.

Madanapalle occupied an Educational and Cultural centrefrom early 1915, when Dr. Anne Besant started BesantTheosophical College, famously known as B.T.Integrated Campus. B.T. College was initially part ofNational University to which Dr. Rabindranatha Tagorewas Vice Chancellor.

The primary and secondary school education is impartedby government, aided and private schools, under theSchool Education Department of the state. The mediumof instruction followed by different schools are English,Telugu.

Madanapalle has famous standing educationalinstitutions like Besant Theosophical College, RishiValley School, a boarding school, founded by thephilosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Zilla Parishad HighSchool, which was founded in 1924.It also has fourengineering colleges - Madanapalle Institute ofTechnology and Science, Sir Vishveshwaraiah Instituteof Science & Technology, Aditya College of Engineering.

The most important assets of a nation are the citizensthemselves. If the citizens are healthy, patriotic, honest,and sincere, the nation will progress at a much fasterpace. For this reason, it is very essential to have moraleducation in schools and colleges. To provide moraleducation to students, there can be many ways – tellingstories, preaching, group discussions, Yoga, andMeditation.This is how humans determine their actionsbased on their cognitive abilities to interpret a socialsituation. Issues of reasoning, problem solving skills,self-control and adaptability are components in exhibitingkey components of the moral process.

In the present study, an attempt has been made toexamine the efficacy of women welfare programmesparticularly those who are residing in rural areas by takingcertain key concepts like the respondent awareness,interest, involvement and participation in the process ofimplementation of various programmes. . Despite manyachievements, women get trifled by many difficulties.Some being common for both male and female and someare the curse only to the women. There are many psycho-social factors which hinder the path of womenempowerment and her stepping towards entrepreneurship.Women have always been criticized by the maledominant society for their out of home activities.

The present study is an attempt at answering questionsraised in the beginning. The findings show thatirrespective of several welfare programmes for theempowerment of rural women unchanged. It was alsoobserved that the levels of awareness, involvement,interest and participation on the part of the rural peopleare significantly low as a result of which they cannotderive the benefits to the desired extent, from suchwelfare programmes. Awareness, interest andinvolvement ultimately lead to participate, which is anindicator of participatory political culture on whichdemocracy flourishes and becomes more strengthened.Participation manifests itself in the actual involvementof an individual, directly or indirectly, in the formulationand implementation of a variety of programmes launchedby the Government. Participation in this sense makesprogramme successful.

Need for the studyTo analyse about the levels of satisfaction towards theworking in the corporate sector especially in the bankmanagement, the investigator wants to study the levelsof motivation and team work in the working area andvarious aspects like working conditions, motivation andsatisfaction among the beneficiaries of the study area.

Specific Objectives of the study are• To evaluate the level of motivation of the women

employees in the study area.• To analyse the level of team work and cooperation.• To examine the satisfaction levels in the working

place .• To recommend with few suggestions to strengthen

the status of working women in banking sector.• To identify the problems/bottlenecks faced by the

women in the working area.

Research Methodology• The primary sources of data collection for the study

include fieldwork, relevant documents, reports andguidelines issued by the Government of India.



30 women respondents were surveyed from differentprivate banks and interviewed through informaldiscussions and made analysis according the responsegiven by the women employees as per theircommunication and schedule. Keywords like Motivation,team work, cooperation and dedication are usedaccording to the research analysis.

Findings of the study:-1. It was found that majority of the women employed

belongs to different places in the state.2. An overwhelming majority of the women employees

noticed positively, that there is a tremendous changein their socio economic condition.

3. The study reveals that there is great awareness,interest, participation and dedication towards theteamwork in the bank.

4. It was found that there was dissatisfaction in theworking conditions and working timings.

5. It was noticed that working hours are very crucial atthe business hours.

Suggestions:-1. Banks should implement interval periods and rest

period for the employees for their effectiveperformance in the production.

2. Banks should provide regular medical checkups forthe women employees at regular periods.

3. Rest room should provide for women employees totake rest at unhealthy period.

4. There should be need for improving the facilities likefood canteen and rest rooms for the women staff.

5. Training should be provided for employees to improvethe efficiency in the work.

6. Regular monitoring of safety and better workingconditions should be provided by the management.

ConclusionHowever, despite the struggle for equal pay in India,industries has made progress in helping to encourageequal pay across gender. It is necessary for thegovernment to take a fresh look at women developmentand to identify persistent and emerging issues to revisewhere necessary conceptual frameworks and to reforminstitution to make these more responsive to the specificneeds of the rural youth. However, there is an urgentneed to share the wealth of successful innovative initiatesin rural development that target the various dimension ofbetter working under different condition.

References• Report of Micro, Small and Medium enterprise,

Government of India, Development institute,Visakhapatnam.

• Module for Capacity Building, Centre for ResourceManagement, AMR- A.P .Academy of RuralDevelopment, Hyderabad.

• India: Rural Development Report, National Instituteof Rural Development: Hyderabad, 1999.

• Shri Ram Maheswari. Rural Development in India, APublic Policy Approach: New Delhi, 2001.

• Vasant Desai., Rural Development, Issues andProblems: Himalaya publishing House: Bombay,2001.

• Samuel Dayakar.A., Rural Development in India; Acase study of Visakhapatnam District, withreference to training of Rural Youth for selfemployment (TRYSEM) :Visakhapatnam,2002.

• World Bank; Rural Development Sector Policy Paper,World Bank publishing: Washington.D.C, 1975.

Bibliography• Academy of Management Studies Impact assessment

study of rural development programmes in districtBarely of Uttar Pradesh.-Luck now: AMS, 2003.

• Academy of Management Studies Impactassessment study of rural developmentprogrammes in district Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh. -Luck now: Academy of Management Studies, 2003.

• Agnihotri V.K.Socio economic profile of rural India.-New Delhi: Concept publishing company, 2002.

• Agrawal, Arun. Social nature: resources,representations, and rule in India Arun New Delhi:Oxford University Press, 2014

• Agrawal. K.C. shaping India of our dreams. - NewDelhi: Crusade-India, 2003.

• Council for Economic and Social Research Impactassessment study of rural development programmesin Sundergarh district. -- New Delhi: Council forEconomic and Social Research, 2003.

• India. Ministry of Rural Development, Report of theexport group on prevention of alienation of tribal landand its restoration.-New Delhi: Ministry Of Ruraldevelopment, 2004.

• Institute of Rural Management AnandImpactassessment study of rural development programmesin Surendranagar district of Gujarat.- Gujarat: IRMA,2004.

• Venkata Ravi, R. Empowering rural India :experiments and experiences / New Delhi: KanishkaPublishers, Distributors, 2006.



INDIAN LAWS AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS RELATED TO WOMEN

1. Assistant Professor in Political Science, GDC, Falaknuma, O.U. Hyderabad.2. Lecturer in Commerce, GDC, Falaknuma, O.U. Hyderabad.

Abstract

Crimes against women occur every minute in India. Women are not safe, whether it is in their houses, public placesor at the workplace. Your safety in your hands sounds like a clichéd adage to repeat. Given the number of crimes thatare committed against women, it is pertinent that women are aware about the laws that are in place to protect them.Thestatus of modern Indian Women is a kind of inconsistency. There are some dazzling examples of particularizedsuccess of different women at different levels, but at the same time violence, discrimination, torture, and exploitationetc. make the life of others unhappy. Women are no longer a child bearer and care taker of home only but come outof home to fight for their own identity. They are human being like their fellow men and enjoy same rights and duties withmen. They have achieved a lot, but they have yet to achieve so many things. 70 years of our Independence havepassed but still we are discussing that women of India is a subject of exploitation by a patriarchal society. Indianwomen are directly or indirectly compelled to sacrifice her own needs feelings or interest constantly for the needs,feelings and interests of some other; be it children, husband family or community. We talk about the tall words ofrespect for women like women empowerment, reservation of seats for women in legislature, participation of women inpolicy making of the nation etc., but despite their day-night tireless endeavor, till they have failed to secure a saferplace for themselves even at home. The need of the hour is the reassessment of the existing provisions of law,constitutional rights and to explore the real cause why the position of women remain unaffected despite the continuousendeavor by almost all the authorities.

Keywords: Women, Indian Laws, Constitutional Rights, Empowerment, Acts.

Dr. Jaheeda Begum1 Sanda Sridevi2

“Freedom cannot be achieved unless the womenemancipated from all forms of oppression”

NELSON MANDELA

IntroductionCrimes against women occur every minute in India.Women are not safe, whether it is in their houses, publicplaces or at the workplace. Your safety in your handssounds like a clichéd adage to repeat. Given the numberof crimes that are committed against women, it ispertinent that women are aware about the laws that arein place to protect them.

Presently Indian women are facing toughest time as faras their routine personal and life is concerned. Mentaland physical torture of women has become quite commonand their safety is at stake. One of the problems behindthis situation is lack of knowledge of legal andconstitutional rights of a woman. Most unfortunate partof this is even women are not fully aware about theirrights. Through this article I am going to share few legaland constitutional rights of a woman. Women's LegalIssues are a unique body of law with a distinct history.Although there has never been a better time in historyto be a woman in this country, women still face a number

of issues that men simply do not have to contend with.Remember knowledge is power. As a parent, wife,daughter, employee and a woman these are rights setin place to protect you and it is important that you areaware about these.

The rights available to woman in India can be classifiedinto two categories, namely as constitutional rights andlegal rights. The constitutional rights are those whichare provided in the various provisions of the constitution.The legal rights, on the other hand, are those which areprovided in the various laws (acts) of the Parliament andthe State Legislatures.

Parliamentary Provisions To Ensure Dignity OfWomen:After Independence there was need to introduce somestatutory laws to ensure safety and protection of women.Keeping in view this requirement, just like constitutionalprovisions, various parliamentary steps have also beentaken by the law of India in order to ensure dignified lifeto the Indian Women. Parliamentary steps means andincludes the enactment of various laws and statutoryacts to protect the interest of women and to stop thecrime against women. These acts have proved reallyuseful towards progress and safety of women in society.



Personally I feel that equal rights should be awarded towomen which have already been enjoyed by men in oursociety as women forms a major part of Indian populationand for social and economic welfare on global platformwomen welfare is very much needed. In order to ensureadherence to constitutional provisions for women welfare,there was a need to enact specific laws by the stateand central Government. Although a women can be victimof any crime in society and in fact all crimes cannot beclassified as a crime against women except few crimeswhich affects a women largely. However major steps havebeen taken by the legislation which has proved asweapons for women and helped them to stand in maledominating country.

Some Legislative Acts For Women At One PlaceThe Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006

According to the International Research Centre forWomen, almost 47 percent of girls are married beforethe age of 18. Currently, India ranks 13 in the world whenit comes to child marriages. The Prohibition of ChildMarriage Act was made effective in 2007. This act defineschild marriage as a marriage where the groom or the brideare underage, that is, the bride is under 18 years of ageor the boy is younger than 21 years. Parents trying tomarry underage girls are subject to action under this law.

Special Marriage Act, 1954The objectives of this act are to provide – a special formof marriage in certain cases, provide for registration ofcertain marriages and, to provide for divorce. In a countrylike India and with the diverse religions and cast, whenpeople from different faiths and caste chose to getmarried they do it under the Special Marriage Act.

Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961According to this act, taking or giving of dowry at thetime of the marriage to the bride or the bridegroom andtheir family is to be penalised. Dowry system, givingand taking of dowry, is a norm in India. Dowry is oftenasked of the bride and her family by the groom and hisfamily. The system has taken strong roots becausewomen after marriage move in with their spouse and in-laws. Also, over the centuries, the lack for economicindependence of women and the taboo towards divorcehas resulted in bride burning. When demands for dowryeven after marriage are not met by the girl’s families,many women are tortured, beaten and even burnt.

Indian Divorce Act, 1969The Indian Divorce Act allows the dissolution of marriage,mutual consent, nullity of marriage, judicial separationand restitution of conjugal rights. Family Courts areestablished to file, hear, and dispose of such cases.

Maternity Benefit Act, 1861This act regulates the employment of women andmaternity benefits mandated by law. It states that awoman employee who has worked in an organisation fora period of at least 80 days during the 12 monthspreceding the date of her expected delivery is entitled toreceive maternity benefits, which includes maternityleave, nursing breaks, medical allowance, etc.

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,1971The Act came into effect into 1972, was amended in1975 and 2002. The aim of the Act is to reduce theoccurrence of illegal abortion and consequent maternalmortality and morbidity.It clearly states the conditionsunder which a pregnancy can be ended or aborted andspecifies the persons qualified to conduct the same.

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace(Prevention and Redressal) Act, 2013To ensure women’s safety at workplace, this Act seeksto protect them from sexual harassment at their placeof work. Sexual harassment at workplace also includes– the use of language with sexual overtones, invasion ofprivate space with a male colleague hovering too closefor comfort, subtle touches and innuendoes.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention)Act,1986This Act prohibits indecent representation of womenthrough advertisement or in publications, writings,paintings, figures or in any other manner.

National Commission for Women Act, 1990

The National Commission for Women (NCW) is astatutory body of the Government of India, establishedin January 1992. Lalitha Kumaramangalam wasappointed its Chairperson in 2014. The NCW representsthe rights of women in India and provides a voice fortheir issues and concerns. The National Commissionfor Women Act aims to improve the status of womenand worked for their economic empowerment.

Equal Remuneration Act, 1976This Act prevents discrimination in terms of remuneration.It provides for payment of equal recompense to men andwomen workers.It is necessary to know these and otherlaws in place to protect the interests of women. Only ifyou are aware of your rights can you fight against anyinjustice meted out to you at home, at the workplace, orin the society.

The above acts are not conclusive but inclusive. Theseacts have given ample provisions to ensure the protectionof women rights like minimum wages, protection fromdomestic violence, right of equal remuneration, prevention



from immoral trafficking, prevention from indecentrepresentation of women etc. So there is no doubt thatour judiciary and legislature has taken various effectivesteps to ensure the dignity of women

Constitutional Rights To Women:The Constitution of India prohibits discriminationbased on sex but it equally directs and empowers thegovernment to undertake special measures for women.Though the position of women has improved in the lastfour decades, but still they are struggling to maintaintheir dignity and freedom. Presently Indian women arefacing the toughest time mentally and physically, mainlydue to unawareness and lack of knowledge of legal andconstitutional rights of a woman. The Constitutionprovides many protection rights for women such asProtective discrimination in favour of women, Right tofreedom of women, Right of women against exploitation,Rights of women under directives and politicalrepresentations of women. All these rights are explainedbelow.

♦♦♦♦♦ Protective Discrimination And Women

The Preamble to the Constitution resolved to secureall its citizens, including equality of status andopportunity while Articles 14 to 18 and 39 provide forRight to equality and non- discrimination among menand women. Article 14 ensures that the state shall notdeny to any person equality before law. It prohibits classlegislation but permits reasonable classification. This isa very important provision which provides equal legalprotection to women against any women based crime.Article 15 (1) prohibits discrimination against any citizenbased on religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth whileArticle 15 (3) permits ‘protective discrimination’ in favourof women according to which state can make specialprovision for women and the scope of this article is wideenough to cover the entire range of state activity includingemployment. Article 16 of constitution of India ensuresequal employment opportunity to every citizen of India.

♦♦♦♦♦ Right To Freedom Of Women

Articles 19 to 22 of The Constitution of India provide adetailed scheme of Right to Freedom. Article 19 (1)guarantees 6 freedoms (speech and expression,assembly, association or unions, movements, residence,profession and occupation) for citizens with reasonablerestrictions and Article 21 provides for Right to life andpersonal liberty of each and every person in India whichincludes Right to live with human dignity, right tolivelihood, right to work, right to privacy, right againstsexual harassment etc. The Indian Parliament alsoenacted The Indecent Representation of Women(Prohibition) Act, 1986 which prohibits indecent

representation of women through advertisements, books,writings, paintings, figures films or any other manner.The Supreme Court also emphasized the need to providea life of dignity to the sex workers in our country bygiving them some technical skills through which theycan earn their livelihood instead of by selling their bodies.

♦♦♦♦♦ Rights Of Women Against ExploitationRight against exploitation is recognized under Article23 and 24 of the Constitution of India. Article 23prohibits “traffic in human beings and beggar and othersimilar forms of labour”. The expression “traffic in humanbeings is evidently a very wide expression including theprohibition of traffic in women for immoral or otherpurposes. Also the Suppression of Immoral Trafficin Women and Girls Act, 1956 has been enacted withthe object of inhibiting or abolishing the immoraltrafficking of women and girls. Articles 21 & 23 alsoimpose the duty on state to identify, release andrehabilitate freed bonded labourers. In Gaurav Jain vs.Union of India, the Supreme Court held that the childrenof the prostitutes have the right to equality of opportunity,dignity, care, protection and rehabilitation so as to bepart of mainstream social life.

♦♦♦♦♦ Rights Of Women Under Directives

Directive principles of State policy under Articles 36to 51 of the Constitution of India are fundamental in thegovernance of the country and it shall be the duty of thestate to apply these principles in making laws. Underthis various rights of women have been implementedthrough legislations. The Directive under Article 39(a)provides that the citizens, men and women equally havethe right to an adequate means of livelihood and Article39(d) ensures that there is equal pay for equal workfor both men and women. The Parliament has enactedthe Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and to implementArticle 39 (d). Article 42 of the Constitution providesthat the state shall make provision for securing just andhumane conditions for work and maternity relief and forthis purpose the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 wasenacted.

♦♦♦♦♦ Political Representations Of WomenArticle 40 of the Constitution which lay down that thestate shall take steps to organize village panchayatsand endow them with such powers and authority as maybe necessary to enable them to function as units of selfgovernment. To realize the Directive the 73rdand 74thConstitutional Amendments had sought to ensure acertain proportion of women as chair persons ofpanchayats. According to Article 243- D (3) and 243-T(3), not less than one third of the total number of seatsto be filled by Directive election in every Panchayat/



Municipality shall be reserved for women (including SCsAND STs). This opportunity of being a part of local levelarbitration process has improved the social conditionsof women in village areas.

ConclusionTo conclude I would like to say that Indian women hascome a long way and prove that she is capable of doinganything and equal partner in the growth and prosperityof the nation. Women are one of the pillars of the societyand it would be very difficult to imagine society withoutthe presence of women. Now it is high time for all of usto understand the power of women. Even our judiciaryand legislature has also accepted the fact that womenare one of the most important elements of society andtheir exploitation would not be accepted at any cost.There is one saying that behind every successful manthere is a woman. This saying is enough to prove thatman and women both are necessary element of society.Women plays different role in her life which is not aneasy task. During her life she acts as daughter, wife,sister and mother at different stages of life. So we mustgive them due care and respect and understand theirefforts towards welfare of the society at large. Throughthis article I tried my best to cover all the constitutional,judiciary and legislative rights of women against thecrimes which they are facing from quite some time now.I hope this article will help us to understand that rightsof women are very necessary and Indian law is strongenough to protect her from any kind of harassment andtorture.

References• Parashar A. Women and family law reform in India.

Uniform Civil Code and gender equality. New Delhi,India, Sage Publications, 1992, 348.

• Agnes, Flavia. Law and Gender Inequality: ThePolitics of Women’s Rights in India. New Delhi, India:Oxford University Press, 1999.

• All India Democratic Women’s Association. Gender-Just Laws. Delhi, India: self-published, 2000.

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• Dhanda, Amita, Archana Parashar. EngenderingLaw: Essays in Honors of Lotika Sarkar.Lucknow, India: Eastern Book Company, 1999.

• Women’s Empowerment in India: AnAnalytical Overview; The Asia Foundation.

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• The Constitutional Law of India: Dr. JNPandey Universal’s Criminal Manual, 2011.



WOMEN ENTERPRENEURSHIP IN PRESENT ERA

1. Associate professor, Department of management studies, Ramachandra College, Eluru.2. Research Scholar, Department of management studies, Ramachandra College, Eluru.

AbstractIn present era, the transformation of social fabric of the Indian society, in terms of increased educational status ofwomen and varied aspirations for better living, necessitated a change in the life style of every woman. Womanconstitutes the family, which leads to society and Nation. Social and economic development of women is necessary foroverall economic development of any society or a country. Entrepreneurship is the state of mind which many womenhave in her but has not been capitalized in India in way in which it should be.Due to change in environment, nowpeople are more comfortable to accept leading role of women in our society, though there are some exceptions. Shehas competed with man and successfully stood up with him in every walk of life and business. These women leadersare assertive, persuasive and willing to take risks. They managed to survive and succeed in this cut throat competitionwith their hard work, diligence and perseverance. Developing and developed nations have realized that developingwomen entrepreneurship is indispensable to flourish, as economically dominant nations in the modern high-techworld. Therefore, creation of platforms and networks for entrepreneurial culture are prominent issues globally. Thispaper of Women entrepreneurship has been motivated by gender inequality problems. In Indian environment menare always considered as economic supporter for his family as well as for the nation and women are considered as acare taker of the family rather than an economic support.

Key words: Entrepreneur, Women Entrepreneur, International Implication

IntroductionThe word “Entrepreneur” is derived from the Frenchlanguage “Entreprender” means “to undertake”. Around1700 A.D the term was used for architects and contractorof public works. The Frenchman who organized and ledmilitary operations expeditions were referred to as“Entrepreneurs”

Entrepreneurship is the process of designing,launching, and running a new business which is ofteninitially a small business. The people who create thesebusinesses are called entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurshiphas been described as the "capacity and willingness todevelop, organize and manage a business venture alongwith any of its risks in order to make a profit."

Ojectives of the Study• To study the past and present women entrepreneur

in India• To analyze the data of women entrepreneurship

industrial level• To study and suggested update entrepreneurship

and their activities

Definitions of Entrepreneur

“A person who sets up a business or business taking anfinancial risk in the hope of profit”. _ Oxford Dictionary

T. Gangaraju1 K.V. Bhavani2

“An individual who bears the risk of operating a businessin the face of uncertainty about the future condition” _International Encyclopedia.

Women entrepreneur it may be defined as a women orgroup of women who initiate, organize and run a businessenterprise. Government of India has defined womenentrepreneurs as owning and controlling an enterprisewith a women having a minimum financial interest of51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of theemployment generated in the enterprise to women

Definitions Of Women Entrepreneur1. “Women who innovate initiate or adopt business

actively are called women entrepreneurs”

2. “Women entrepreneurship is based on womenparticipation in equity and employment of a businessenterprise” _ Ruhani j. alice

HistoryBefore the 20th century, female operated smallbusinesses as a way of supplementing their income. Inmany cases, they were trying to avoid poverty or werereplacing the income from the loss of a spouse. At thattime, the ventures that these women undertook werenot thought of as entrepreneurial. Many of them had tofocus on their domestic responsibilities. The termentrepreneur is used to describe individuals who have



ideas for products and/or services that they turn into aworking business. In earlier times, this term was reservedfor men.

During the mid 18th century, it was popular for womento own certain businesses like brothels, alehouses,taverns, and retail shops. Most of these businesses werenot perceived with good reputations; because, it wasconsidered shameful for women to be in these positions.Society frowned upon women involved in suchbusinesses; because, they detracted from the women'ssupposed gentle and frail nature. During the 18th and19th centuries, more women came out from under theoppression of society's limits, and began to emerge intothe public eye. Despite the disapproval of society, womensuch as Rebecca Lukens flourished. In 1825, Lukenstook her family business of Iron works, and turned it intoa profit-generating steel business.

In the 1900s, due to a more progressive way of thinking,and the rise of feminism, female entrepreneurs began tobe a widely accepted term. Although these femaleentrepreneurs serviced mostly female consumers, theywere making great strides. Women gained the right tovote in 1920, and two years later, Clara and LillianWestropp started the institution of Women's Savings &Loan as a way of teaching women how to be smart withtheir money. As society progressed, femaleentrepreneurs became more influential. With the boomof the textile industry and the development of the railroadand telegraph system, women such as Madame C. J.Walker took advantage of the changing times. Walkerwas able to market her hair care products in a successfulway, becoming the first African American femalemillionaire. Carrie Crawford Smith was the owner of anemployment agency opened in 1918, and like MadameC. J. Walker, sought to provide help to many women bygiving them opportunities to work.

Home-based businesses helped to solve a good part ofthe problem for those women who worried about beingmothers. Lillian Vernon, while pregnant with her first child,started her own business dealing with catalogs byinvesting money from wedding gifts and started fillingorders right at her kitchen table. Mary Crowley foundedHome Decorating and Interiors as a way of helpingwomen to work from home by throwing parties to sellthe products right in the comfort of their own home. Inan effort to avoid criticism and lost business from thosewho did not support women in business, Bette Nesmith,who developed the product "Mistake Out," a liquid thatpainted over mistakes in typing, would sign her ordersB. Smith so no one would know she was a female.

From the 1960s to the late 1970s, another change cameabout when divorce rates rose and many women wereforced back into the role of being the sole provider. This

pushed them back into the working world, where theywere not well received. When the recession hit, many ofthese women were the first to be without work. Onceagain, the entrepreneurial endeavors of women came tothe rescue as an effort of asserting themselves, and aidingother women in being a part of the workforce. Mary KayAsh and Ruth Fertel of Ruth's Chris Steak House werepart of that movement.

The 1980s and 1990s were a time of reaping the benefitsfrom the hard work of women who worked tirelessly fortheir rightful place in the workforce as employees andentrepreneurs. Martha Stewart and Vera Bradley wereamong the twenty-first percent women who ownedbusinesses. The public was also becoming morereceptive and encouraging to these female entrepreneurs,acknowledging the valuable contribution they weremaking to the economy. The National Association ofWomen Business Owners helped to push Congress topass the Women's Business Ownership Act in 1988,which would end discrimination in lending and also strikedown laws that required married women to acquire theirhusband's signature for all loans. In addition, the Actalso gave women-owned businesses a chance tocompete for government contracts.

As the 1990s came in, the availability of computers andthe increasing popularity of the internet gave a muchneeded boost to women in business. This technologyallowed them to be more prevalent in the business worldand showcase their skills to their competitors. Even withthe increased popularity of women in business, theavailability of technology and the support from differentorganizations, female entrepreneurs today are stillstruggling. The economic downturn of 2008 did not serveto help them in their quest. However, with the continualattention given to female entrepreneurs and theeducational programs afforded to women who seek tostart out with their own business ventures, there is muchinformation and help available. Since 2000, there hasbeen an increase in small and big ventures by women,including one of their biggest obstacles financing.

Entrepreneurship during pre independence andpost independencePre-independence of women Entrepreneur

In the pre-independence era of India the elaborated caste-based diversion of workers consisted of farmers andartisans. These artisan industries flourished over theperiod because the Royal Patronage was available tosupport them. On the whole, perfection in art and appealto the eye of the individual were the distinguishingqualities inherent in the Indian craftsmanship that broughtmany everlasting laurels of name and fame to theillustrious India in the past. To highlights, Lucknow



popularized for chintzes, Ahmedabad for dupttas anddhotis, Nagpur for silk-bordered cloths, Kashmir forshawls, and Banaras for metal wares. Thus, from thetime immemorial till the earlier years of the eighteenthcentury, India enjoyed the prestigious status of the queenof the international trade with the help of its handicrafts.The advent of East India Company implemented thesystem of exporting raw materials which were availablein India and importing the finished goods. Particularly,the Parses recognized good connection with theCompany and they were much unbiased by theCompany’s business operations. The Companyestablished its first ship-building industry in Surat wherefrom 1673 onwards the Parsis built vessels for theCompany. The most important was shipwright Lowjeeand Nushirvan, who migrated to Mumbai around 1935.He belongs to a Wadia family which gave beginning tomany leading ship-builders of Mumbai. On the basis ofthese facts, it can be stated that the East India Companymade some contribution towards entrepreneurial growthin India. But, whether the company did it deliberately forthe growth of entrepreneurship in India or it was just aconcurrence that people came in contact with theCompany and entered the manufacturing entrepreneurship.The actual emergence of manufacturing entrepreneurshipcan be noticed in the second half of the eighteenth century.

In the first wave of manufacturing entrepreneurship,except Parsis, all others hailed from non-commercialcommunities. Namely, Jains and Vaishyas ofAhmedabad and Baroda, lagged behind in entrepreneurialinitiative throughout the nineteenth century can beexplained by two major factors. Firstly, the Improvementof business climate in the countryside during this periodresulted in an increase in the quantum of trade whichassured quick returns on investments. This proved thecommercial activity more lucrative during the period.Secondly, it can also be attributed to their conservativeattitude to change from commercial entrepreneurship toindustrial entrepreneurship. The second wave ofentrepreneurial growth in India began after the First WorldWar. For various reasons, the Indian Government agreedto ‘discriminating’ protection to certain industries, evenrequiring that companies receiving its benefits shouldbe registered in India with rupee capital and have aproportion of their directors as Indian. The advantagesof these measures were mostly enjoyed by the Indians.The European failed to harness the protectionist policiesto their interests. These measures helped in establishingand extending the manufacturing factories in India duringthe second half of the nineteenth century.

Post-independence of women EntrepreneurMost of the researchers in their research studies madestatement that Indians have always been entrepreneurial

in nature; it’s just only recently that this word is beingused so often. Speaks about the challengesentrepreneur have faced and the way to go ahead. Theresearchers noted the distinct phases in the history ofentrepreneurship in India after the country'sindependence. Long years of domination had left severescars on the Indian psychological evident in theentrepreneurial culture that was growing in thegovernmental set up. Around two hundred years of foreignburden had wiped out independent mindset among thework force with no decision making ability whatsoever.In this background the thought leaders had to struggleto bring about an entrepreneurial attitude. Despite thearrival of independence, the early decade of 1950-60smarked a slow progress from an agrarian economy toan industrialized market. Industry was dominated bytextile power looms in and around Bombay, Ahmadabad,Calcutta and Madras. The decade of 1960s saw the rapidexpansion in large scale government sponsored heavyindustry being set up across the country. Underminingthe role that an individual enterprise can play in acountry's economic growth, the government went aheadbuilding state owned enterprises dependent oncentralized planning. Based on the successfulexperience of the former Soviet Union, Indian policymakers concluded that, particularly for a poor country,centralized planning was essential for the efficientallocation of an economy's resources. Numerous smallscale industries (SSI) sprouted as ancillary units to caterto these large industries. In the 1970s, there was anintensive campaign to promote entrepreneurship amongthe Indian business community. This was the first effortto promote entrepreneurship in a concentrated manner.In 1970, to increase foreign exchange earnings,Government of India designated exports as a prioritysector for active government help and established, amongother things, a duty drawback system, program ofassistance for market development, and hundred percentexport oriented units to help producers export. Finally,from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, Indialiberalized imports such that those not subject tolicensing as a proportion to total imports grew from fiveper cent in 1980-1981 to about 30% in 1987-1988. Theeconomic crisis of the early 1990s resulted in economicreforms and a deliberate move towards globalization andliberalization of the Indian Economy. This shift broughtin huge change in a SME unit's contribution to productionand exports reflecting that the small scale industrieshave undergone substantial technical change in theirproduction process. With the youth facing the hardshipof finding the right job in the public sector, humanresource availability increased for the private sector. Theyouth who were increasingly disenchanted with thestagnation in government jobs, eagerly sought private



sector jobs which assured them independence, growthand even stability in their career.

Soon by the early 2000, it was common to see youngprofessionals preferring to become entrepreneurs andthe least preferred career path was a stable governmentsector job. With the dawn of the new service orientedeconomy, young professionals will increasingly work inthe private sector and later choose to start a businessof their own. With technology helping a SME in allpossible ways, increasingly we will find professionalsventuring into new business opportunities utilizing easilyaccessible financial help

DemographicsStudies have shown that successful femaleentrepreneurs start their businesses as a second or thirdprofession. Because of their previous careers, femaleentrepreneurs enter the business world later on in life,around 40–60 years old According to the GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor report, “women are nearly one-third more likely to start businesses out of necessitythan men.” Because women are overtaking their malepeers in the level of education obtained, having highereducation degrees is one of the significantcharacteristics that many successful femaleentrepreneurs have in common. The average self-employment rate for women under 25 years old in OECDcountries is 7.2%.

The number of self-employed women has steadilyincreased over the past three decades, putting them atan approximate thirty-three percent increase. Manyfemale-owned businesses continue to be home-basedoperations. These types of businesses usually havelimited revenue with about eighty percent of them makingless than $50,000 in 2002. This group made up for aboutsix percent of total women-owned businesses. Childrenof these female entrepreneurs are expected to boostthat number as they contribute to the growing amountof female entrepreneurs. Most women-ownedbusinesses are in wholesale, retail trade, andmanufacturing. Female entrepreneurs have also made aname for themselves in professional, scientific, andtechnical services, as well as in healthcare and socialassistance. In the majority of OECD countries, femaleentrepreneurs are more likely to work in the servicesindustry than their male counterparts.

In 1972, women-owned businesses accounted for 4.6percent of all U.S. businesses—that was about 1.5million self-employed women. That number increasedto 2.1 million in 1979 and 3.5 million in 1984. In 1997,there were about 5.4 million women-owned businessesand in 2007, that number increased to 7.8 million. Theparticipation of females in entrepreneurial activities does

of course vary in different levels around the world. Forexample, in Pakistan, female entrepreneurs account foronly 1% of this gender's population, while in Zambia 40%of women are engaged in this activity. The highest numberof females involved in entrepreneurial activities can beseen in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 27% of the femalepopulation. Latin America/Caribbean economies showcomparatively high percentages as well (15%). The lowernumbers are seen in the MENA/Mid-Asia region withentrepreneurial activities registering at 4%. DevelopedEurope and Asia, as well as Israel, also show low ratesof 5%.

International ImplicationsA recent international study found that women from lowto middle income countries (such as Russia and thePhilippines) are more likely to enter early stageentrepreneurship when compared to those of higherincome countries (such as Belgium, Sweden, andAustralia). A significant factor that may play a role inthis disparity can be attributed to the fact that womenfrom low income countries often seek an additionalmeans of income to support themselves and theirfamilies. Overall, 40 to 50 percent of all small businessesare owned by women in developing countries.Alternatively, this may also be due to the fact that, inwestern business practices, it is not seen as beneficialto exhibit perceived feminine traits. While easternbusinesses tend to follow methods based around mutualrespect and understanding, western business'expectations are for business leaders to be moreruthless, headstrong, and less sensitive or respectful.

"In the grab for power, women use whatever meansavailable to them, whereas a man would take a club tohis opponents head, a woman is more likely use otherless forceful and more subversive measures. Let's justown it, we have different weapons in our arsenal." Femaleentrepreneurs make up for approximately 1/3 of allentrepreneurs globally. According to one study, in 2012there was an approximate 126 million women that wereeither starting or already running new businesses invarious economies all over the world. As far as thosewho were already established, there was an approximate98 million. Not only are these women running or startingtheir own businesses but they are also employing others,so that they are participating in the growth of theirrespective economies.

A study in India entitled "Barriers of WomenEntrepreneurs: A Study in Bangalore Urban District", hasconcluded that despite all these constraints, successfulfemale entrepreneurs do exist. Female entrepreneurshave evidently more to ‘acquire’ than their malecounterparts. But, the socio-cultural environment inwhich women are born and raised hinders them. Social



customs, caste restrictions, culture restraints, and normsleave women lagging behind men.

Present challengesEven though female entrepreneurship and the formationof female-owned business networks are steadily rising,there are a number of challenges and obstacles thatfemale entrepreneurs face. One major challenge thatmany female entrepreneurs face is the effect that thetraditional gender-roles society may still have on women.Entrepreneurship is still considered as a male-dominatedfield, and it may be difficult to surpass these conventionalviews. Other than dealing with the dominant stereotype,female entrepreneurs are facing several obstacles relatedto their businesses.

Obstacles Specific To Starting New FirmsExternal finance and sex discrimination.In general, women have lower personal financial assetsthan men. This means that for a given opportunity andequally capable individual, women must secure additionalresources compared to men in order to exploit theopportunity; because, they control less capital. Thequestion of whether women have a harder time gettingfinance than men for the same business opportunity hasdeveloped into its own sub-field. One possible issue inrising outside capital is that 96% of senior venturecapitalists are men and may not be as understanding offemale-centric businesses. However, the situation seemsto be improving. A study by Babson College showedthat in 1999, fewer than 5% of venture capital investmentswent to companies with a woman on the executive team.In 2011, it was 9% and in 2013 it had jumped to 18%.

A specific solution for solving women's difficulties forobtaining financing has been micro-financing.Microfinance is a financial institution that has becomeexceptionally popular, especially in developingeconomies. Female entrepreneurs have also beenespecially successful in getting funded through crowdfunding platforms like Kick starter.

Obstacles To Managing A Small FirmStudies on female entrepreneurs show that women haveto cope with stereotypical attitudes towards them on adaily basis. Business relations from customers tosuppliers and banks constantly remind the entrepreneurthat she is different, sometimes in a positive way suchas by praising her for being a successful entrepreneureven though she is a woman. The workload associatedwith being a small business manager is also not easilycombined with taking care of children and a family.Female entrepreneurship has been recognized as animportant source of economic growth.

A woman's entrepreneurship can make a particularlystrong contribution to the economic well-being of thefamily and communities, poverty reduction and women'sempowerment, thus contributing to the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs). Female entrepreneurs inthe four southern states and Maharashtra account forover 50% of all women-led small-scale industrial unitsin India

Obstacles To Growing FirmA specific problem of female entrepreneurs seems to betheir inability to achieve growth, especially sales growth.Another issue is finance and, as stated previously, theentrepreneurial process is somewhat dependent on initialconditions. Basically, firms with more resources at start-up have a higher probability to grow than firms with fewerresources. Resources include the following: societalposition, human resources, and financial resources. Thisinitial endowment in the firm is of great importance forfirm survival and especially for firm growth.

A study by the Kauffman Foundation of 570 high-techfirms started in 2004 showed that women-owned firmswere more likely to be organized as sole proprietorships,both during their startup year and in the years to follow.Female entrepreneurs were also much more likely tostart their firms out of their homes and were less likelyto have employees. This fact may serve as an indicationthat women either anticipated having smaller firms orwere operating under resource constraints that did notallow them to launch firms requiring more assets,employees, or financial resources. This study also foundthat women only raised 70% of the amount that menraised to start their firms, which ultimately impacted theirability to introduce new products and services or expandtheir business in terms of employees or geographiclocations.

Other problems that are facing female entrepreneurs arehow they are handling their decision-making models andstressful situations. Women compared with men aremore susceptible to be influenced by their feelings thanmen when they have to make decisions. Also womenhave more likelihood of stress than men in difficultsituations, without this mean that women are "weak sex".

EncouragementIn 1993, "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" waspopularized to support career exploration for girls, andlater expanded to Take Our Daughters and Sons to WorkDay. Hillary Clinton stated that "Investing in who men isnot only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing todo." Research shows that there are many support groupsfor women in business, for female entrepreneurs, andfor women looking for business advice. Women indifferent areas are willing to show the support that in



some cases, they never had. They offer encouragement,advice, and support to moms who seek to provide fortheir families through their own visions for business. HerCorner, is a group located in Washington, D.C. Thisgroup seeks to bring women business owners togetherto collaborate with each other for the betterment of theirbusinesses. There are government backed programsavailable to female entrepreneurs and information canbe found on their website at SBA Online and their Facebook group SBA government. Female-only taxicompanies in India, the UAE, and Brazil support workingwomen. One example of successful femaleentrepreneurship in rural villages of Bangladesh is theInfo lady Social Entrepreneurship Programme (ISEP).Norway celebrates Female Entrepreneur of the Year.

Reasons for launching firmsMany studies show that women start their ownbusinesses for a variety of reasons. These reasonsinclude the following: having an idea for a business plan,having passion for solving a specifically related careerproblem, wanting to be more in control of their careers,maintaining a more balanced life, having a flexible workschedule, and taking a personal vision and turning itinto a lucrative business. Along with the intense desireto see their vision carried out, these women also have agreat ability to multi-task and never feared the risksinvolved in being self-employed. Women are still facingmany issues in the workforce, and being their own bosscertainly is more appealing to some of the everydayissues they face outside of entrepreneurship. Genderroles are still very much a part of their lives, but for somefemale entrepreneurs, they feel more in control whenworking for themselves.

FeminismA feminist entrepreneur is an individual who appliesfeminist values and approaches throughentrepreneurship, with the goal of improving the qualityof life and wellbeing of girls and women. Many are doingso by creating ‘for women, by women’ enterprises.’Feminist entrepreneurs are motivated to entercommercial markets by desire to create wealth and socialchange, based on the ethics of cooperation, equality,and mutual respect.

Qualities of Women Entrepreneurs1. Accept challenges2. Ambitious3. Hard work4. Patience5. Motivator6. Adventurous7. Conscious

8. Educated9. Intelligent

Remedies To Solve The Problems1. Finance cells2. Marketing cooperative3. Supply of raw materials4. Education and awareness5. training facility

Growth Of Women Entrepreneur• As per (cs) only 1,85,900 women entrepreneur (in

handloom, agriculture and agro based)• 1995-96 only 2,95,680 women entrepreneur• During the 8th five year plan appreciable increase• In another 5 year plan the no. of women entrepreneur

increase up to 5,00,000• They are engaged in marketing, communication, IT

sector, banking sector etc,

Types Of Women Enterpreneurs1. AFFLUENT ENTERPRENEURS: These are

daughters, daughter- in – law and wives of richbusiness families who have financial and otherresource backing to take any business risks. Manyof them start enterprise in interior decoration, beautyparlor, restaurants, book publishing, magazines, filmdistribution and the like. The family support in manyways help them to take care of their responsibilitieswith lesser efforts and strains. More over theirsustenance is not entirely dependent upon their newenterprise.

2. PULL FACTOR: In this category the town and citybased women take up some assignments orenterprise as a take challenge. They take it up asan adventure to do something new and beeconomically independent. Generally they take upsmall and medium type industries where risk factorsare too small. This category consists of educatedwomen with or without work experience. They arelikely to the financial assistance from banks andother sources. Women start electronic industries,service centers, restaurants, schools, beautyparlours, food catering centers, event management,film production and grocery shop etc;.

3. PUSH FACTORS: This category of women takesup some business activity to overcome financialdifficulties. The family situation forces them todevelop existing family business or start somethingnew to improve the economic lot of the family. Thiscategory is small and normally widows and singlewomen are in the category.



4. RURAL ENTREPRENEURS: Women in rural sectortry to start something suiting to their resources andknowledge. In this category we find dairy products,pickles, fruit juices, papads and jaggery making.They would like to work in areas where minimumusage of telephone, transport and monetarytransaction involved. They ensure that their enterpriseis of minimum risk and need least organization skill.

5. SELF EMPLOYED ENTREPRENEURS: There arewomen from poor and very poor category of societyand rely on their own efforts for sustenance. Majorityof them are from villages and towns. The examplesare vegetables and fruit vendors, brooms making,wax candle making, providing tea-coffee to offices,ironing of clothes, knitting work, tailoring firm etc.These are tiny and small enterprises which findconvenient to manage

Role Of Women EntrepreneursSimilarly to men entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurshave to perform all the functions involved in setting upan enterprise such as idea generation and scanning,determination of objectives, project preparation, productanalysis, determination of forms of businessorganization, combination of factors of production, etc;

Fedrick harbinson has listed out the following fivefunctions of a women entrepreneur1. Exploration of the prospects of starting a new

business enterprise.2. Undertaking of risks and the handling of economic

uncertainties involved in business3. Introduction of innovations or imitation of innovations.4. Coordination, administration and control.5. Supervision and leadership.

The major entrepreneurial functions can be broadlyclassified under three categories:

1. RISK TAKING: Women entrepreneurs assume risksassociated with the new venture. Such risks can befinancial, psychological and social. There is noguarantee of success. They take calculated risks.They seek information.

2. INNOVATION: Women entrepreneurs convertinventions into innovations. They innovate to meetchanging demands in the market. They establishresearch and development facilities to aid innovation.They initiate new innovations.

3. MANAGEMENT: Women entrepreneurs get directlyinvolved in the management of the new venture. Theyput in hard work and efforts. They plan, coordinateand control. They provide leadership to motivate and

direct employees. They have persistence even inadverse circumstance. They manage time effectively.They are employee driven.

Imporatance Of Women EntreprenursHere are the six advantages that female entrepreneurshave:

1. Multi-Task Oriented: Women are known for jugglingmany tasks at the same time and still producingexcellent results. Women can talk on the phone,open and read her email and schedule what elseshe needs to finish for the rest of the day all at thesame time. Men have more trouble with thismultitasking thing; therefore sometimes they missmany opportunities.

2. Connecting More Easily With People: Womenlove to have a support group at work and at theirpersonal lives. As a result women entrepreneur findsit easier to ask for help in our business. Actually,they focus a lot on activities that can find theappropriate resources to help us out. Men incontrast, sometimes wait too long before asking forhelp and this can often costs them business.

3. High Patience Level: Women inherently seem tohave more patience. In today’s businessenvironment, patience is key. This is an extremelyimportant attribute for entrepreneurs to have. Toooften visionary entrepreneurs are tried to start theirbusiness and after a few months gave up. Theybecame impatient with the process. Women knownaturally that one must wait in order to receive positiveoutcomes.

4. Branding and Marketing Themselves: Womenare natural marketers. They are so passionate andenthusiastic about what they choose to do that theyjust do not stop talking about it. They don’t forget toemphasis the benefits of their services to theirpotential customers. They understand how toaccentuate the positive.

5. Intuitive: women in general can size up anotherperson much faster than her male counterpart. Intoday’s ultra-fast paced business environment, oneneeds the ability to quickly identify the allies andthe enemies.

6. Create and use Their Network: Women are realpros at using their contacts. They also tend to createnew contracts and friendships that get the companywhere it wants to go. This feature of women’spersonality certainly plays a vital role in the businesssuccess.



WOMEN EMPLOYMENT IN INFORMAL SECTOR IN INDIA

1. Lecturer in Economics,The Hindu College,Machilipatnam,AP.

AbstractWomen Employment in informal sector comprises one half to three-quarters of non-agricultural employment indeveloping countries. Informal employment is comprised of both self-employment in informal enterprises (i.e. smalland/or unregistered) and wage employment in informal jobs i.e., without secure contracts, worker benefits, or socialprotection. Informal activities are typically characterized by ease of entry, reliance on indigenous resources, familyownership of enterprises, small scale of operations of labour intensive and adaptive technology, skills acquiredoutside formal schooling system, and unregulated and competitive markets. It is strongly recommended that mereframing of policies and Acts may not serve the purpose. Work has to be done at the grass root level with properfeedback system in place to ensure that policies of equal treatment for equal work are actually giving results. We mustremember that by ignoring these women workers we are ignoring important contributors to national income of thecountry. National Commission on Enterprises in Unorganized Sector is established by the Government of India toframe rules and regulations to safeguard the interests of workers. The outcome is yet to be seen.

M.Kutumbarao1

IntroductionWomen Employment in informal sector comprises onehalf to three-quarters of non-agricultural employment indeveloping countries. Informal employment is comprisedof both self-employment in informal enterprises (i.e. smalland/or unregistered) and wage employment in informaljobs i.e., without secure contracts, worker benefits, orsocial protection. The concept of informal sector wasfirst introduced by Hart with the distinction between wageand self employment as the essential difference betweenthe formal and informal sectors. Later, ILO broadenedthe scope of the informal sector. Informal activities aretypically characterized by ease of entry, reliance onindigenous resources, family ownership of enterprises,small scale of operations of labour intensive and adaptivetechnology, skills acquired outside formal schoolingsystem, and unregulated and competitive markets.

The Resolution concerning Statistics of Employment inthe Informal Sector, adopted by the Fifteenth InternationalConference of Labour Statisticians in 1993, defined theinformal sector as follows: The informal sector is regardedas a group of household enterprises or unincorporatedenterprises owned by households that includes:

• Informal own-account enterprises, which may employcontributing family workers and employees on anoccasional basis; and

• Enterprises of informal employers, which employ oneor more employees on a continuous basis.

The informal sector is a multi-situation syndrome. It ischaracterized by non uniformity in the nature,characteristics and conditions of jobs. The informal sector

consists of regular workers and casual labour, selfemployed and those working for others, illiterate to semi-educated, in all age groups (including below and abovethe normal working age bracket)1.

This combination of differentiated and distinct charactersis more pronounced when we talk of informal sector inthe urban areas; of a country like India. Given thedisadvantaged position of women in the labor market inmost parts of the developing world, the result of long-standing societal norms which discourage the social andeconomic integration and advancement of women, themajority of female workers are engaged in the informalsector. This is especially true for sub-Saharan Africa andSouth Asia. It is also evident that female workers relymore on the informal sector than men. The shares offemale non-agricultural employment in the informal sectorare generally (and often substantially) higher than thosefor male workers. But women's participation in terms oftheir share of informal sector employment is more mixed.Recent evidence shows extremely low shares anestimate by the World Bank shows that 90% of thewomen working in the informal sector are not includedin the official statistics and their work is undocumentedand considered as disguised wage work, unskilled, lowpaying and do not provide benefits to the workers.

In India, almost 94% of total women workers are engagedin informal sector, of which about 20% work in the urbancentres. Majority of women workers in informal sectorcome from those sections of the society which needincome at any cost. Nearly 50 per cent of these womenworkers are sole supporters of their families. Another



startling fact is that out of all women workers a mere7.5% are availing the membership of authentic registeredtrade unions. Yet another fact to cause concern is thatwomen have to work, unpaid, even outside home, forsome 5-8 hours to help their other family members. Thisfact has to be considered alongside the fact that anaverage woman has to work at home for some 7- 8 hoursdoing household chores including upbringing thechildren. Most of the women workers lack propertraining2.

They have very few options to avail as far as gainful jobsare concerned. The quiet contributors to the effortlessmovement of the social carriage, the women workersengaged in informal sector are poor, perhaps poorestamongst poor, uneducated and weak.

Globally, a direct employment transfer - a job guaranteeprogramme - is an “employer of last resort” fiscal policy,which envisions the government bearing a guarantee toprovide paid work opportunities of predictable durationat a predetermined wage for public works. Though manysuch job guarantee initiatives have been introduced overthe years across the world, the popular and largest inscale are the US New Deal programmes ex-post to 1929Great Depression, the Jefes programme in Argentina andthe Expanded Public Works Programme in South Africa,other than the Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in India. Theseprogrammes are targeted at labour-intensive work in thefield of environmental interventions and also in providingpublic benefits in asset-creating public works.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of Indiawas enacted by the Indian Parliament on September 5,2005. This Act guarantees 100 days of employment peryear for individual households willing to do manualunskilled labor at the statutory minimum wage. It waslater renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on 2ndFebruary, 20063.

The MGNREGA scheme is fully funded by the Uniongovernment of India in the form of a directed specificpurpose transfer to the states. It is a demand drivenscheme. As specified in the Act, for the purpose offunding and the implementation of MGNREGA, theCentre’s obligation would be to make payments of wagesfor unskilled manual workers under the scheme, uptothree-fourths of the material costs of the schemeincluding wages to skilled and semi-skilled workers anda certain percentage of the total cost of the schemesdetermined by the Centre. The state government shallhave to make payments of the cost of unemploymentallowance. Apart from the mandatory provision ofresources required for the implementation of theMGNREGA, its success in enhancing the “livelihood

security” of rural households would critically depend onthe effective implementation of the scheme. The presentblogpost analyses the impact of direct fiscal transfersfor employment in creation of job with a particular focuson gender differential impacts of employment guaranteeprogrammes across states in India.

Integrating gender in direct employment transferdesignFirst, at the policy formulation stage itself, the Act wasgender focused. The Act mandates that one-third of thejob guarantee programme’s beneficiaries should bewomen. Two, it envisages a distance criteria that thework has to be within the stipulated 5 kms from theresidence of the job seeker, with preference to womenand the aged. Three, it prescribes equal wages for menand women in public works programmes. Four, itenvisages a “labour entitlement” of 100 days to themembers of the household (not confined to one personin the ‘household’). This gives more scope for women toparticipate in the programme. Five, a gender-awarefinancial inclusion practice was emphasized in itsoperational guidelines, which recommended the localgovernment to facilitate opening individual bank accountsfor men and women instead of joint bank accounts forthe wage payments. Six, it prescribed provisioning ofcare economy infrastructure at the worksites such aschild care to enhance the work force participation ofwomen. Has this gender aware direct employmenttransfer policy design translated into better female labourforce participation across States in India?4.

Gender differential effects of employment transfersacross StatesMGNREGA is based on the principle of self-selection,and it is a step towards legal enforcement of the right towork, as an aspect of the fundamental right to live withdignity. This programme aims to redress the seasonal,cyclical and structural unemployment in the country byproviding the low-skilled poor a work entitlement therebyensuring that when all else fails, the government actsas “employer of last resort”. If we consider state-wisedata on women’s participation rate provided in theMGNREGA portal for the year 2016, the female labourparticipation rate in job guarantee programme was morethan 60 per cent only in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa andRajasthan. In many States, the female labourparticipation rate could not even cross the minimumthreshold of 33 per cent as mandated in the Act.

Moreover, there is no one to one correspondence betweenwomen’s participation in MGNREGA and the persondays of employment per household data in theMGNREGA portal for the same year. The percentage ofhouseholds completing 100 days of employment is less



than 20 per cent in all the states except Tripura where itis around 50 per cent. Further, the states which hadhigher person days per household had also higherpercentage of households completing 100 days ofemployment. These data only revealed that the schemeis working below its potential.

What are the reasons for such a low turnout of womenfor work under MGNREGA in most states? We haveobtained unit record data from The National SampleSurvey 68th round on “Employment and Unemploymentfor the period of July 2011-June 2012 – the latestemployment data available - to get useful insights tothis question. The data shows that at all-India level 71%of males are registered with MGNREGA job card and itis only 50% for females. The lower registration of womenfor MGNREGA job card indicates that significant shareof women is excluded from the non-farm employment(since MGNREGA provides non-farm employment in ruralareas) in the first step itself. The data also reveals thatthe female registration is as low as below 30 per cent inStates including Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Odisha, Bihar,Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir5.

It should also be noted that holding MGNREGA job cardper se does not guarantee work under the scheme. Theindividual might be having the card but might not seekfor work under the scheme. Further, the individual mighthave sought the work under the scheme, but could nothave got the work. The data reveals that only 51 percentof those who have registered in MGNREGA have actuallyreceived the job guaranteed under the MGNREGA asper the 68th rounds of National Sample Survey. Thestate specific differentials showed that Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, J&K and Bihar had shown dismalperformance in terms of female employment inMGNREGA.

The percentage of MGNREGA job card holders who have‘sought work, but did not get’ is an indication of exclusionafter registration in the scheme. Such exclusion mightbe due to the flaws in implementation, not in the designof the scheme. At all India level, while 17 per cent ofwomen registered under MGNREGA job card sought butdid not get work, the same for males was 20 per cent. Itimplies that exclusion of females is relatively less atthis stage as compared to their male counterpart. Forfemales, Maharashtra performed the worst on this frontfollowed by Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat and Punjab. Onthe other hand, the states such as Goa, Manipur, Kerala,Meghalaya and Nagaland performed well on this front.

Ironically, at all India level, 33 per cent of women whohave the job card, have not sought for work’ whereas itis 29 per cent for males. The State-wise analysis showedthat the women ‘with job card who did not seek work’

were strikingly high in Madhya Pradesh (68 per cent),J&K (55 per cent), Odisha (40 per cent) and Gujarat (38per cent).

The recent NSSO (68th round) round on “employmentsand unemployment” has also incorporated codes on careeconomy activities and asked questions related towillingness to go for regular employment underMGNREGA by women. The analysis revealed thewillingness of women to work in spite of their currentdomestic duties and this percentage is the highest forthe category ‘women who sought but did not get work’(43.5 per cent) followed by the women who have worked(42.4 per cent). This finding only implies the significanceof care economy infrastructure to ease their work burdenand strengthen women’s participation in the wageeconomy6.

This inference gets further strengthened when the NSSOrounds further explored about the “nature of workacceptable to women” – whether regular or causal. Theestimates revealed that relatively large proportion ofwomen who have worked demand regular ‘part time’ work(67.6 per cent) compared to regular ‘full time’ (26.7 percent). As the prominent reason for preference for ‘parttime’ regular work was their “time poverty” due to careeconomy activities, it has public policy implications interms of providing social care infrastructure investment.To explore the full potential of women’s labour forceparticipation and to bring them to market economy as‘regular’ rather than ‘casual’ workers, we need publicinfrastructure investment in the care economy. Thiswould in turn strengthen the intra-household bargainingpower of women which would have direct impact oneducation and health entitlements of her children.

ConclusionThe women workers do not have a choice to work, or notto work, due to dire need of income. The limitedopportunities available to women are mostly low paid,low status jobs in the informal sector; jobs which do nothave any possibilities of betterment, advancement ofefficiency or training, to enable them to enter better jobsat a later stage. In the overall state of unemploymentand lack of opportunities, women hold a secondary placeto men in the race of employment.

It is strongly recommended that mere framing of policiesand Acts may not serve the purpose. Work has to bedone at the grass root level with proper feedback systemin place to ensure that policies of equal treatment forequal work are actually giving results. We mustremember that by ignoring these women workers weare ignoring important contributors to national incomeof the country. National Commission on Enterprises inUnorganized Sector is established by the Government



of India to frame rules and regulations to safeguard theinterests of workers. The outcome is yet to be seen.

MGNREGA has proved to be a very effective programmeto provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for mostvulnerable people of rural population and creating durableassets in rural India. Since the programme is one of thelargest public programmes in the world for providing jobsecurity at a very large scale, Government of Indiaallocates huge resources for efficient implementation ofthe programme. In addition to this, the success of theprogramme also depends upon the efficient machineryto utilise the fund at the optimal level and efficientlyimplement at the ground level.

The gender differentials of MGNREGA are varied acrossStates. However, the National Sample Survey estimatesrevealed that the female labour force participation rates(LFPR) of MGNREGA is 697 per 1000 women, which ismore than double of LFPR of non-MGNREGA cardholders. The estimates also revealed thatUnemployment Rates among the non-MGNREGA cardholders is ten times higher than that of MGNREGA cardholders.

References:• Blunch Niels-Hugo, Canagarajah Sudharshan and

Raju Dhushyanth, “The Informal Sector Revisited: ASynthesis Across Space and Time”, SocialProtection Unit, Human Development Network, TheWorld Bank,2001.

• Women And Men In The Informal Economy: AStatistical Picture, Employment Sector, InternationalLabour Organization, Geneva, 2002

• Dwivedi, Rishi Muni, 2005. “Poverty and DevelopmentProgrammes in India,1947 to 2007.” New CenturyPublications (New Delhi)

• Esteves, Tashina, K. V. Rao, Bhaskar Sinha, S. S.Roy, Bhaskar Rao, Shashidhar Kumar Jha, AjayBhan Singh et. al, 2013 "Agricultural and LivelihoodVulnerability Reduction through the MGNREGA."Economic & Political Weekly 48(52):95.

• 2013, “MGNREGS Report to the People” MoRD.• Manual for MIS for MGNREGS” MoRD.



EMPOWERING WOMEN, DEVELOPING SOCIETY

1. Lecturer in Department of Commerce,Keshav Memorial Institute of Commerce & Sciences,Osmania University,Government of Telangana, Hyderabad,AP.

Abstract

Education is a key part of strategies to improve individuals’ well-being and societies’ economic and social development.In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA),* access to education has improved dramatically over the past fewdecades, and there have been a number of encouraging trends in girls’ and women’s education . Primary schoolenrollment is high or universal in most MENA countries, and gender gaps in secondary school enrollment havealready disappeared in several countries. Women in MENA countries are also more likely to enroll in universities thanthey were in the past.

Keywords: Empowerment, women, Development goals , Female Education Rural, self help groups, primary education

Priti Arya1

IntroductionMany people especially girls are still excluded fromeducation, and many more are enrolled in school butlearning too little to prepare them for job markets. Insome countries, access to the secondary and highereducation that helps create a skilled and knowledgeablelabor force continues to be limited; even where accessis not a problem, the quality of the education provided isoften low. The most worrying aspect of the crisis ineducation is education’s inability to provide therequirements for the development of women.

An overview of education’s benefits to women, families,economies, and societies and highlights the ongoingconcerns about education in countries. It also looks ateducation’s links with fertility and employment, twoimportant elements in women’s empowerment.

Education: A Social RightEducation’s importance has been emphasized by anumber of international conventions, including on ofHuman Rights and the Programme of Action of the 1994International Conference on Population and Development.

The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijingin 1995, recognized that women’s literacy is key toempowering women’s participation in decision makingin society and to improving families’ well-being.3 Inaddition, the United Nations has articulated the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs), which include goals forimproved education, gender equality, and women’sempowerment. The MDGs emphasize education’sessential role in building democratic societies andcreating a foundation for sustained economic growth.

Education contributes directly to the growth of nationalincome by improving the productive capacities of thelabor force. A recent study of 19 developing countries,

including Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, concluded that acountry’s long-. term economic growth increases by 3.7percent for every year the adult population’s

Education’s Effects on Reproductive Choices andEmploymentEducation helps women take advantage of opportunitiesthat could benefit them and their families, preparingwomen for the labor force and helping them understandtheir legal and reproductive rights.

FertilityEducation is the single most important determinant ofboth age at marriage and age at first birth in countries,since women in the region tend to give birth soon aftermarriage. Among married Egyptian women ages 25 to29, for instance, those with no education had married atage 18, on average, and had their first child by age 20;those with a secondary or higher education married atan average age of 23 and had their first child by age25.12 Turkey’s 1998 DHS showed that 22 percent of girls15 to 19 years old who had no education or who had notcompleted primary school were already mothers orpregnant, compared with only 2 percent of girls who hadcompleted secondary or higher education.Educated women generally want smaller families andmake better use of reproductive health and family planning

EmploymentAs women’s educational attainment in countries hasincreased, more women have moved into the job market.But women’s participation in the labor force is still low:Only 20 percent of women ages 15 and olderThe highest levels of native female labor force participationin countries are found in Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey,and Yemen, where women constitute more than 25percent of the labor force. But those rates are lower than



rates found outside the region. In France, for example,women make up 45 percent of the labor force; inIndonesia, which is home to the world’s largest Muslimpopulation, women make up 38 percent of the labor force.The lowest rates of labor force participation are seenamong women native to the countries of the Gulf CooperationCouncil, a group of six conservative monarchies; reportednational rates are inflated by the large number of foreignfemale laborers in those countries.Women who live in countries with a large agriculturalsector, such as Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Yemen, tend towork mainly in that sector, although some countrieshave been more successful in getting women intononagricultural occupations.

IlliteracyIlliteracy rates are often higher than those o countrieswith comparableor lower per capita incomes (see Figure 4). There areover 75 million illiterate adults in the region, more thanhalf of whom live in Egypt, Iraq, and Morocco. Around13 million young adults are illiterate; fully one-third ofthem live in Egypt, which has both a high illiteracy rateand a large population. As in other parts of the world,illiteracy rates in the region are higher among rural thanamong urban populationsAlthough all governments require that all children receiveat least five years of schooling and all provide freeeducation at least through high school, the rapid growthof school-age populations in the region is posing achallenge for many governments. Between 1986 and1996, for example, the number of Iranians between ages5 and 19 grew by 20 percent, or nearly 4 million, strainingthe capacity of the country’s schools. In Egypt, despitethe government’s success in reducing the adult illiteracyrate from 60 percent in 1980 to 50 percent in 1995, theincrease in the population’s size meant that the numberof illiterate Egyptians grew from 16 million to 19 million.A similar trend has been visible in Morocco.

Gender GapsWomen in countries are twice as likely to be illiterateas men are and make up two-thirds of the region’silliterate adults. The gender gaps in education varygreatly across countries in the region but are generallywider in countries where overall literacy and schoolenrollment are lower.Gender gaps in literacy and school enrollment generallypersist regardless of rural or urban location. Gender gapsin school enrollment are especially wide in Egypt, Iraq,Turkey, and Yemen. Closing gender gaps in educationwould benefit countries’ economies. One study estimatedthat the region’s average annual growth in per capita grossnational product would have been nearly a full percentagepoint higher between 1960 and 1992 if gender gap ineducation had shrunk as quickly as East Asia’s did.

Quality of EducationIt is not enough to make education more widely available;the quality of the education also needs to be improved.Arguing that the poor quality of education in countrieshas led to a significant mismatch between the labormarket’s needs and graduates’ skills. The report alsowarns that education systems may split into two tiers,with high-quality private education available only to thewealthy minority and low-quality public education thesole option for most citizens. Such a trend would turn educationinto a “means of perpetuating social stratification andpoverty” rather than a means of increasing social equality.

ConclusionEfforts to improve female education in countries needto go beyond rhetoric and should involve policies andprograms with measurable results. Governments canstart by making the national developmentEffort to ensure that education is more accessible tolow-income families and rural populations, with specialattention to the quality of the education provided andthe need for girls to complete school.To ensure that education is more accessible to low-income families and rural populations, with specialattention to the quality of the education provided andthe need for girls to complete school.Richer countries both inside and outside the region areencouraged to help resource-poor countries improve theireducational systems and collect data on their progress.Improving access to and the quality of education is themost rewarding investment a country can make.Investing in female education will accelerate the region’seconomic and social development by enhancing humancapital, slowing population growth, and alleviating poverty.

References• The Economics of Women and Work in the Middle

East and North Africa, (Amsterdam, Netherlands:• Health Survey (DHS) 2000 (Calverton, MD: Ministry

of Health and Population• National Population Council, and ORC Macro• Demographic and Health Survey 1998 Final Report• United Nations, The World’s Women 2000: Trends

and Statistics• Institute for Women’s Studies in the World,• “Female Labor Force in Lebanon,• UNESCO, UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1999• May Rihani and Cynthia Prather, Strategies for

Female• World Bank, Engendering Development: Through

Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001): 90-91.

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