Women Empowerment: The Word Misinterpreted

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 21^st 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 21^st 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