Women Empowerment: The Word Misinterpreted
One of the most misconstrued,
misapprehended and misunderstood word is ‘WOMEN EMPOWERMENT’. It simply refers
to an attempt to make women economically, socially and politically self
reliant. It talks about the need of action to support women in
self-actualizing their inner strength and vigour to empower herself.
According to the World
Bank:
Empowerment is more of a process which empowers women to
become an agent of change. It makes her competent enough to make choices of her
own and then further transforming those choices in desired actions. It is
basically the change from “can do” factor going from “I can’t” to I can”.
There are still so many
delusions and misconceptions around the world. The biggest of all is when we
feel that power is something external, something that can be acquired or
something that will be bestowed upon us. In my opinion, it is a fallacy of
trivial minds to depend on others to attain power. Power lies within every
individual and the only need is to become conscious of that power. This reminds
me of Socrates philosophy which still shines today: “Know thyself”. Even
Aristotle said “knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” In rural
areas women are still comparatively unaware of their inner strengths and still
they blame men for their condition. My question is- Why do we expect other to
empower us? Why don’t we have faith in ourselves? For how long are we going to
see ourselves with self pity?
We live in 21st
century and the world is undoubtedly evolving. We could now see confidence in
women’s eyes and they are brave enough to speak for their rights openly. These
are the women who are self aware and know their worth. So, there is no point in
questioning others because the only hurdle that comes in the way of women’s
emancipation or liberation is women herself. In my opinion, if a woman is
suffering in the hands of a man, the only reason behind that is- lack of faith
in her inner strength. Barack Obama once said: “Change will not come if we wait
for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting
for. We are the change that we seek.” Feminist movements have done allot to
make the world a better place for women where her voice can be heard. There is
no legroom for blame games now and it’s high time now that women should be
brave enough to take responsibility and speak for her. This reminds me of Nobel
Prize winner, Sir William Gerald Golding’s saying: “I think women are foolish
to pretend that are equal to men, they are far superior and always have been.”
“Outside” affects the
“inside” and the society in which we live has certain set ideologies which we
replicate and which further constructs our emotional and social selves. Seeing
the world from men’s viewpoint, it is evident that they are not very much
comfortable with the concept of “Empowered women”. There is no doubt there are
good men out there who appreciate women for being strong and professionally
successful but there is subtext attached to this liberation too- that it should
not be done at the cost of her domestic responsibilities. Even in 21st
century, it is hard for men to absorb the notion of an “empowered women” who
gives first preference to her profession. She is expected to maintain a
Work-Life balance and guilt over household chores is harming working women’s
health. The woman who neglects her domestic responsibilities over her
professional assignments is titled as ‘unfeminine’, fallen women or immoral. It
is certainly true that we expect our young generations to be more open minded
and acquire egalitarian outlook and we could see the positive change when it
comes to gender roles but not in terms of domestic labour.
Ironically, by being
‘empowered’ has a completely different connotation for women. She is very much
responsive about her familial errands and doesn’t intend to disregard her
familial responsibilities as a daughter or as a wife. By being ‘empowered’ she
only desires to have equal right to education, equal right to be opinionated
and equal right to live a life of dignity.
It’s Women’s History
Month, a wonderful time to become conscious and support today’s empowered young
women who are doing more than making his-story and are constructing her-story. It
is fight for “self actualisation” which is the process whereby every individual
comprehends her inherent potential which further helps her to achieve the
highest level of herself. In nutshell, I personally feel the only secret to
women’s empowerment is women. She needs to think outside the box and give way
to more robust global sisterhood, one in which no women are relegated to passivity and silence.
Dr. Ranbir Kaur
9th March, 2020
