Women’s Empowerment
Women’s Empowerment is Radio One Raleigh’s largest and most anticipated event. Year after year, thousands of African American women (and men) come to Women’s Empowerment for an entire day of education, entertainment and empowerment.
Women's empowerment is not a Northern concept. Women all over the world, including countries in the South, have been challenging and changing gender inequalities since the beginnings of history. These struggles have also been supported by many men who have been outraged at injustices against women and the consequences for society. It would be yet another instance of imperialism to say all these women and men did not have minds of their own!
The word empowerment, although it gained widespread usage in the context of the US Civil Rights and Women's Movements is an extension of earlier concepts of equality, justice and freedom which were expressed in many anti-imperialist and political struggles. These are also enshrined in international agreements and also underlie the precepts of many religious traditions, including Islam. International Women's Rights Agreements.
Why Women Empowerment is needed?
Of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the globe, 70 percent are women. For these
Women, poverty doesn’t just mean scarcity and want. It means rights denied, opportunities curtailed and voices silenced. Consider the following:
• Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, according to the United Nations Millennium Campaign to halve world poverty by the year 2015. The overwhelming majority of the labor that sustains life – growing food, cooking, raising children, caring for the elderly, maintaining a house, hauling water – is done by women, and universally this work is accorded low status and no pay. The ceaseless cycle of labor rarely shows up in economic analyses of a society’s production and value.
• Women earn only 10 percent of the world’s income. Where women work for money, they may be limited to a set of jobs deemed suitable for women – invariably low-pay, low-status positions.
• Women own less than 1 percent of the world’s property. Where laws or customs prevent women from owning land or other productive assets, from getting loans or credit, or from having the right to inheritance or to own their home, they have no assets to leverage for economic stability and cannot invest in their own or their children’s futures.
• Women make up two-thirds of the estimated 876 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write; and girls make up60 percent of the 77 million children not attending primary school. Education is among the most important drivers of human development: women who are educated have fewer children than those who are denied schooling (some studies correlate each additional year of education with a 10 percent drop in fertility). They delay their first pregnancies, have healthier children (each additional year of schooling a woman has is associated with a 5 to 10 percent decline in child deaths, according to the United Nations Population.
History of Women-empowerment
Created in 1994, in honor of Women’s History Month, Women’s Empowerment was designed to enhance the lives of African American women by addressing issues that specifically impact their “health, hearts and pocketbooks.” Throughout the day, this expo-styled event offers seminars, workshops, demonstrations, sampling, and shopping.
The program begins with a motivational speech by a nationally recognized speaker. Past speakers have included Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon General; Susan L. Taylor, former editor in chief of Essence; Rolanda Watts, N.C. native and former talk show; Phylicia Rashad, former co-star of The Cosby Show; Iyanla Vanzant, noted women’s author; Debbie Allen; actress and choreographer, Queen Latifah, actress & recording artist; and awarding winner actress, Angela Basset. Susan L. Taylor, of Essence Communications, appeared twice; in 1997 and again in 2002. The keynote speaker for 2004, the 10th Anniversary, was Vivica A. Fox. In celebration of that banner year, Blair Underwood was added to the program to bring forth the male perspective of today’s empowered woman. In 2005 our keynote speaker was television host Star Jones Reynolds with international model Iman as the featured speaker. North Carolina’s own American Idol, Fantasia Barrino was among the many musical artists who have performed at Women’s Empowerment Expo. In 2006 Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts was the keynote speaker and in 2007 Grammy Award-Winner Natalie Cole delivered a moving keynote address! In 2008 actress, singer, and all around diva Patti LaBelle graced the W.E. stage with words of encouragement and an awesome vocal performance that attendees will not soon forget.
Issues for women-empowerment
There is some gender issue hold that women's advancement involves the process of empowerment:
v To achieve increased control over public decision making.
v Continual subordination in society and government.
v Women are the passive recipients of benefits that are 'given' from on high.
v Women can identify strategies for action for gender equity.
v Remove one or more of the discriminatory practices that impede their access to resources.
v Achieve direct control over their access to resources.
v For improving their own status, relative to men.
v For participation in legal & political sector.
v Gain self respect in society.
v Implementing the ideas, values, & etc. side by side to meal.
v Getting all the professional support in job sector.
v Medical facilities.
v Education facilities.
v Get all legal human right.
Level of empowerment
There are five levels of the women's empowerment framework, namely- welfare, access, conscientisation, mobilisation and control.
Ø Welfare means an improvement in socio-economic status, such as improved nutritional status, shelter or income, which is the zero level of empowerment, where women are the passive recipients of benefits that are 'given' from on high.
Ø Access to resources and services stands for the first level of empowerment, since women improve their own status, relative to men, by their own work and organisation arising from increased access to resources and services.
Ø Conscientisation is defined as the process, by which women collectively urge to act to remove one or more of the discriminatory practices that impede their access to resources. Here, women form groups to understand the underlying causes of their problems and to identify strategies for action for gender equity.
Ø Mobilisation is the action level of empowerment by forging links with the larger women's movement, to learn from the successes of women's similar strategic action elsewhere and to connect with the wider struggle.
Ø Control is the level of empowerment when women have taken action so that there is gender equality in decisions making over access to resources, so that women achieve direct control over their access to resources.
One needs to understand that these five levels of women’s empowerment are not really a linear progression but helical and circular along with being interconnected. The empowerment occurs when women achieve increased control and participation in decision making that leads to their better access to resources, and therefore, improved socio-economic status.
Women’s Empowerment A Guide to Action
With the view of empowerment is unique: It also incorporates human relationships, which, research and experience indicate, are key factors in the construction and entrenchment of poverty, and must be judiciously altered if poverty is to be overcome. Our understanding of empowerment reminds us that change – in this case, improvement in the physical, economic, political or social well-being of women – will not be sustained unless:
Individuals change: Poor women become actors for change, able to analyze their own lives, make their own decisions and take their own actions. Women (and men) gain ability to act by building awareness, skills, knowledge, confidence and experience.
Relations change: Women and men form new relations with other social actors, form coalitions and develop mutual support in order to negotiate, be agents of change, alter structures and so realize rights, dignity and livelihood security.
Improve gender equity within the household and participants make changes to:
Individuals A village savings and loan project improves women’s financial status; corollary training builds their savvy to earn more from income-generating activities. Women’s stature and say-so in household decision-making increases with income. Structures Marriage and inheritance customs still accord husbands ultimate ownership of his wife’s assets. But impact is limited/unsustainable without changes to: Relations Men, other women and customary leaders have not been drawn into dialogue about current structures; do not support change.
Eradicate female genital cutting and participants make changes to:
Structures CARE trains women’s groups to advocate for a national law banning female genital cutting; the women successfully sway the government and a law is enacted. Structures Marriage norms and women’s social roles are unchanged: Most women have no livelihood options or social status outside marriage. Individuals Non-group members’ awareness was not raised to support change. But impact is limited/unsustainable without changes to: Relations Religious leaders and women who earn a living performing cutting on girls were not consulted and do not support change; most men will not contemplate marriage to an uncircumcised woman.
Elements are Crucial to Women’s Empowerment
According to our respondents in India, Ecuador, Bangladesh and Yemen, an empowered woman has:
▪ Notions of self-worth and dignity (individual).
▪ Bodily integrity; freedom from coercive forces over a woman’s very body (individual and structure).
▪ Control and influence over household and public resources (structure and relations).
▪ Experience with or appreciation of the value of collective effort and solidarity among women (relations).
Empowerment Work Carries Risks
Perhaps the most common consequences result from fear that empowerment is a zero-sum game; that for one person to gain, another must lose. In addition to the earlier India microfinance example, we have seen:
▪ Cases where emergency response prioritized women and children, whose needs were greatest, but left the women at greater risk of attack from men who would steal food and other aid items.
▪ Instances around the world in which women suffered abuse from husbands who feared that their participation in a project of any stripe would alter the status quo.
▪ A few cases in Niger where a woman’s growing financial status via participation in a savings group actually puts her at risk of seclusion within the home: Some families see this as a symbol of wealth. Gilding the Cage: Most people live within social structures so deeply normalized that they are seen as the natural way of things. An individual who benefits from some change in status or wealth may use that change not to alter
structures, but to gain power within the very system that restricts her. For example:
▪ A woman in India may use increased income to purchase fetal screening and, per cultural preferences for sons over daughters, abort a female fetus.
▪ Discussions about female genital cutting may persuade a family not to drop the practice, but to perpetrate somewhat less severe forms on their daughters.
▪ In Bangladesh, a woman whose social status grows from improved financial security may use her new position to abuse the one socially-sanctioned power relation available to her: control over her daughter-in-law.
NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN:
The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women.
Within the framework of a democratic polity, our laws, development policies, Plans and programmes have aimed at women’s advancement in different spheres. From the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78) onwards has been a marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from welfare to development. In recent years, the empowerment of women has been recognized as the central issue in determining the status of women. The National Commission for Women was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women. The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Constitution of India have provided for reservation of seats in the local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation for their participation in decision making at the local levels.
India has also ratified various international conventions and human rights instruments committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1993.
The Mexico Plan of Action (1975), the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (1985), the Beijing Declaration as well as the Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome Document adopted by the UNGA Session on Gender Equality and Development & Peace for the 21st century, titled "Further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action" have been unreservedly endorsed by India for appropriate follow up.
The Policy also takes note of the commitments of the Ninth Five Year Plan and the other Sectoral Policies relating to empowerment of Women.
The women’s movement and a wide-spread network of non-Government Organisations which have strong grass-roots presence and deep insight into women’s concerns have contributed in inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of women.
However, there still exists a wide gap between the goals enunciated in the Constitution, legislation, policies, plans, programmes, and related mechanisms on the one hand and the situational reality of the status of women in India, on the other. This has been analyzed extensively in the Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, "Towards Equality", 1974 and highlighted in the National Perspective Plan for Women, 1988-2000, the Shramshakti Report, 1988 and the Platform for Action, Five Years After- An assessment"
Gender disparity manifests itself in various forms, the most obvious being the trend of continuously declining female ratio in the population in the last few decades. Social stereotyping and violence at the domestic and societal levels are some of the other manifestations. Discrimination against girl children, adolescent girls and women persists in parts of the country.
The underlying causes of gender inequality are related to social and economic structure, which is based on informal and formal norms, and practices.
Consequently, the access of women particularly those belonging to weaker sections including Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/ Other backward Classes and minorities, majority of whom are in the rural areas and in the informal, unorganized sector – to education, health and productive resources, among others, is inadequate. Therefore, they remain largely marginalized, poor and socially excluded.
Goal and Objectives
The goal of this Policy is to bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of women. The Policy will be widely disseminated so as to encourage active participation of all stakeholders for achieving its goals. Specifically, the objectives of this Policy include
(i) Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for full development of women to enable them to realize their full potential
(ii) The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by women on equal basis with men in all spheres – political, economic, social, cultural and civil
(iii) Equal access to participation and decision making of women in social, political and economic life of the nation
(iv) Equal access to women to health care, quality education at all levels, career and vocational guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety, social security and public office etc.
(v) Strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of discrimination against women
(vi) Changing societal attitudes and community practices by active participation and involvement of both men and women.
(vii) Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process.
(viii) Elimination of discrimination and all forms of violence against women and the girl child; and
(ix) Building and strengthening partnerships with civil society, particularly women’s organizations.
Policy Prescriptions
Judicial Legal Systems
Legal-judicial system will be made more responsive and gender sensitive to women’s needs, especially in cases of domestic violence and personal assault. New laws will be enacted and existing laws reviewed to ensure that justice is quick and the punishment meted out to the culprits is commensurate with the severity of the offence.
At the initiative of and with the full participation of all stakeholders including community and religious leaders, the Policy would aim to encourage changes in personal laws such as those related to marriage, divorce, maintenance and guardianship so as to eliminate discrimination against women.
The evolution of property rights in a patriarchal system has contributed to the subordinate status of women. The Policy would aim to encourage changes in laws relating to ownership of property and inheritance by evolving consensus in order to make them gender just.
Decision Making
Women’s equality in power sharing and active participation in decision making, including decision making in political process at all levels will be ensured for the achievement of the goals of empowerment. All measures will be taken to guarantee women equal access to and full participation in decision making bodies at every level, including the legislative, executive, judicial, corporate, statutory bodies, as also the advisory Commissions, Committees, Boards, Trusts etc. Affirmative action such as reservations/quotas, including in higher legislative bodies, will be considered whenever necessary on a time bound basis. Women–friendly personnel policies will also be drawn up to encourage women to participate effectively in the developmental process.
Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in the Development Process
Policies, programmes and systems will be established to ensure mainstreaming of women’s perspectives in all developmental processes, as catalysts, participants and recipients. Wherever there are gaps in policies and programmes, women specific interventions would be undertaken to bridge these. Coordinating and monitoring mechanisms will also be devised to assess from time to time the progress of such mainstreaming mechanisms. Women’s issues and concerns as a result will specially be addressed and reflected in all concerned laws, sectoral policies, plans and programmes of action.
Economic Empowerment of women
Poverty Eradication
Since women comprise the majority of the population below the poverty line and are very often in situations of extreme poverty, given the harsh realities of intra-household and social discrimination, macro economic policies and poverty eradication programmes will specifically address the needs and problems of such women. There will be improved implementation of programmes which are already women oriented with special targets for women. Steps will be taken for mobilization of poor women and convergence of services, by offering them a range of economic and social options, along with necessary support measures to enhance their capabilities
Micro Credit
In order to enhance women’s access to credit for consumption and production, the establishment of new, and strengthening of existing micro-credit mechanisms and micro-finance institution will be undertaken so that the outreach of credit is enhanced. Other supportive measures would be taken to ensure adequate flow of credit through extant financial institutions and banks, so that all women below poverty line have easy access to credit.
Women and Economy
Women’s perspectives will be included in designing and implementing macro-economic and social policies by institutionalizing their participation in such processes. Their contribution to socio-economic development as producers and workers will be recognized in the formal and informal sectors (including home based workers) and appropriate policies relating to employment and to her working conditions will be drawn up. Such measures could include:
Reinterpretation and redefinition of conventional concepts of work wherever necessary e.g. in the Census records, to reflect women’s contribution as producers and workers.
Preparation of satellite and national accounts.
Development of appropriate methodologies for undertaking (i) and (ii) above.
Globalization
Globalization has presented new challenges for the realization of the goal of women’s equality, the gender impact of which has not been systematically evaluated fully. However, from the micro-level studies that were commissioned by the Department of Women & Child Development, it is evident that there is a need for re-framing policies for access to employment and quality of employment. Benefits of the growing global economy have been unevenly distributed leading to wider economic disparities, the feminization of poverty, increased gender inequality through often deteriorating working conditions and unsafe working environment especially in the informal economy and rural areas. Strategies will be designed to enhance the capacity of women and empower them to meet the negative social and economic impacts, which may flow from the globalization process.
Women and Agriculture
In view of the critical role of women in the agriculture and allied sectors, as producers, concentrated efforts will be made to ensure that benefits of training, extension and various programmes will reach them in proportion to their numbers. The programmes for training women in soil conservation, social forestry, dairy development and other occupations allied to agriculture like horticulture, livestock including small animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries etc. will be expanded to benefit women workers in the agriculture sector.
Women and Industry
The important role played by women in electronics, information technology and food processing and agro industry and textiles has been crucial to the development of these sectors. They would be given comprehensive support in terms of labour legislation, social security and other support services to participate in various industrial sectors.
Women at present cannot work in night shift in factories even if they wish to. Suitable measures will be taken to enable women to work on the night shift in factories. This will be accompanied with support services for security, transportation etc.
Support Services
The provision of support services for women, like child care facilities, including crèches at work places and educational institutions, homes for the aged and the disabled will be expanded and improved to create an enabling environment and to ensure their full cooperation in social, political and economic life. Women-friendly personnel policies will also be drawn up to encourage women to participate effectively in the developmental process.
Social Empowerment of Women
Education
Equal access to education for women and girls will be ensured. Special measures will be taken to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate illiteracy, create a gender-sensitive educational system, increase enrolment and retention rates of girls and improve the quality of education to facilitate life-long learning as well as development of occupation/vocation/technical skills by women. Reducing the gender gap in secondary and higher education would be a focus area. Sectoral time targets in existing policies will be achieved, with a special focus on girls and women, particularly those belonging to weaker sections including the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes/Minorities. Gender sensitive curricula would be developed at all levels of educational system in order to address sex stereotyping as one of the causes of gender discrimination.
Health
A holistic approach to women’s health which includes both nutrition and health services will be adopted and special attention will be given to the needs of women and the girl at all stages of the life cycle. The reduction of infant mortality and maternal mortality, which are sensitive indicators of human development, is a priority concern. This policy reiterates the national demographic goals for Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) set out in the National Population Policy 2000. Women should have access to comprehensive, affordable and quality health care. Measures will be adopted that take into account the reproductive rights of women to enable them to exercise informed choices, their vulnerability to sexual and health problems together with endemic, infectious and communicable diseases such as malaria, TB, and water borne diseases as well as hypertension and cardio-pulmonary diseases. The social, developmental and health consequences of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases will be tackled from a gender perspective.
To effectively meet problems of infant and maternal mortality, and early marriage the availability of good and accurate data at micro level on deaths, birth and marriages is required. Strict implementation of registration of births and deaths would be ensured and registration of marriages would be made compulsory.
In accordance with the commitment of the National Population Policy (2000) to population stabilization, this Policy recognizes the critical need of men and women to have access to safe, effective and affordable methods of family planning of their choice and the need to suitably address the issues of early marriages and spacing of children. Interventions such as spread of education, compulsory registration of marriage and special programmes like BSY should impact on delaying the age of marriage so that by 2010 child marriages are eliminated.
Women’s traditional knowledge about health care and nutrition will be recognized through proper documentation and its use will be encouraged. The use of Indian and alternative systems of medicine will be enhanced within the framework of overall health infrastructure available for women.
Nutrition
In view of the high risk of malnutrition and disease that women face at all the three critical stages viz., infancy and childhood, adolescent and reproductive phase, focussed attention would be paid to meeting the nutritional needs of women at all stages of the life cycle. This is also important in view of the critical link between the health of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women with the health of infant and young children. Special efforts will be made to tackle the problem of macro and micro nutrient deficiencies especially amongst pregnant and lactating women as it leads to various diseases and disabilities.
Intra-household discrimination in nutritional matters vis-à-vis girls and women will be sought to be ended through appropriate strategies. Widespread use of nutrition education would be made to address the issues of intra-household imbalances in nutrition and the special needs of pregnant and lactating women. Women’s participation will also be ensured in the planning, superintendence and delivery of the system.
Drinking Water and Sanitation
Special attention will be given to the needs of women in the provision of safe drinking water, sewage disposal, toilet facilities and sanitation within accessible reach of households, especially in rural areas and urban slums. Women’s participation will be ensured in the planning, delivery and maintenance of such services.
Housing and Shelter
Women’s perspectives will be included in housing policies, planning of housing colonies and provision of shelter both in rural and urban areas. Special attention will be given for providing adequate and safe housing and accommodation for women including single women, heads of households, working women, students, apprentices and trainees.
Environment
Women will be involved and their perspectives reflected in the policies and programmes for environment, conservation and restoration. Considering the impact of environmental factors on their livelihoods, women’s participation will be ensured in the conservation of the environment and control of environmental degradation. The vast majority of rural women still depend on the locally available non-commercial sources of energy such as animal dung, crop waste and fuel wood. In order to ensure the efficient use of these energy resources in an environmental friendly manner, the Policy will aim at promoting the programmes of non-conventional energy resources. Women will be involved in spreading the use of solar energy, biogas, smokeless chulahs and other rural application so as to have a visible impact of these measures in influencing eco system and in changing the life styles of rural women.
Science and Technology
Programmes will be strengthened to bring about a greater involvement of women in science and technology. These will include measures to motivate girls to take up science and technology for higher education and also ensure that development projects with scientific and technical inputs involve women fully. Efforts to develop a scientific temper and awareness will also be stepped up. Special measures would be taken for their training in areas where they have special skills like communication and information technology. Efforts to develop appropriate technologies suited to women’s needs as well as to reduce their drudgery will be given a special focus too.
Women in Difficult Circumstances
In recognition of the diversity of women’s situations and in acknowledgement of the needs of specially disadvantaged groups, measures and programmes will be undertaken to provide them with special assistance. These groups include women in extreme poverty, destitute women, women in conflict situations, women affected by natural calamities, women in less developed regions, the disabled widows, elderly women, single women in difficult circumstances, women heading households, those displaced from employment, migrants, women who are victims of marital violence, deserted women and prostitutes etc.
Violence against women
All forms of violence against women, physical and mental, whether at domestic or societal levels, including those arising from customs, traditions or accepted practices shall be dealt with effectively with a view to eliminate its incidence. Institutions and mechanisms/schemes for assistance will be created and strengthened for prevention of such violence , including sexual harassment at work place and customs like dowry; for the rehabilitation of the victims of violence and for taking effective action against the perpetrators of such violence. A special emphasis will also be laid on programmes and measures to deal with trafficking in women and girls.
Rights of the Girl Child
All forms of discrimination against the girl child and violation of her rights shall be eliminated by undertaking strong measures both preventive and punitive within and outside the family. These would relate specifically to strict enforcement of laws against prenatal sex selection and the practices of female foeticide, female infanticide, child marriage, child abuse and child prostitution etc. Removal of discrimination in the treatment of the girl child within the family and outside and projection of a positive image of the girl child will be actively fostered. There will be special emphasis on the needs of the girl child and earmarking of substantial investments in the areas relating to food and nutrition, health and education, and in vocational education. In implementing programmes for eliminating child labour, there will be a special focus on girl children.
Mass Media
Media will be used to portray images consistent with human dignity of girls and women. The Policy will specifically strive to remove demeaning, degrading and negative conventional stereotypical images of women and violence against women. Private sector partners and media networks will be involved at all levels to ensure equal access for women particularly in the area of information and communication technologies. The media would be encouraged to develop codes of conduct, professional guidelines and other self regulatory mechanisms to remove gender stereotypes and promote balanced portrayals of women and men.
Operational Strategies
Action Plans
All Central and State Ministries will draw up time bound Action Plans for translating the Policy into a set of concrete actions, through a participatory process of consultation with Centre/State Departments of Women and Child Development and National /State Commissions for Women. The Plans will specifically including the following: -
i) Measurable goals to be achieved by 2010.
ii) Identification and commitment of resources.
iii) Responsibilities for implementation of action points.
iv) Structures and mechanisms to ensure efficient monitoring, review and gender impact assessment of action points and policies.
v) Introduction of a gender perspective in the budgeting process.
In order to support better planning and programme formulation and adequate allocation of resources, Gender Development Indices (GDI) will be developed by networking with specialized agencies. These could be analyzed and studied in depth. Gender auditing and development of evaluation mechanisms will also be undertaken along side.
Collection of gender disaggregated data by all primary data collecting agencies of the Central and State Governments as well as Research and Academic Institutions in the Public and Private Sectors will be undertaken. Data and information gaps in vital areas reflecting the status of women will be sought to be filled in by these immediately. All Ministries/Corporations/Banks and financial institutions etc will be advised to collect, collate, disseminate and maintain/publish data related to programmes and benefits on a gender disaggregated basis. This will help in meaningful planning and evaluation of policies.
Institutional Mechanisms
Institutional mechanisms, to promote the advancement of women, which exist at the Central and State levels, will be strengthened. These will be through interventions as may be appropriate and will relate to, among others, provision of adequate resources, training and advocacy skills to effectively influence macro-policies, legislation, programmes etc. to achieve the empowerment of women.
National and State Councils will be formed to oversee the operationalisation of the Policy on a regular basis. The National Council will be headed by the Prime Minister and the State Councils by the Chief Ministers and be broad in composition having representatives from the concerned Departments/Ministries, National and State Commissions for Women, Social Welfare Boards, representatives of Non-Government Organizations, Women’s Organisations, Corporate Sector, Trade Unions, financing institutions, academics, experts and social activists etc. These bodies will review the progress made in implementing the Policy twice a year. The National Development Council will also be informed of the progress of the programme undertaken under the policy from time to time for advice and comments.
National and State Resource Centres on women will be established with mandates for collection and dissemination of information, undertaking research work, conducting surveys, implementing training and awareness generation programmes, etc. These Centers will link up with Women’s Studies Centres and other research and academic institutions through suitable information networking systems.
utionalize themselves into registered societies and to federate at the Panchyat/Municipal level. These societies will bring about synergistic implementation of all the social and economic development programmes by drawing resources made available through Government and Non-Government channels, including banks and financial institutions and by establishing a close Interface with the Panchayats/ Municipalities.
Resource Management
Availability of adequate financial, human and market resources to implement the Policy will be managed by concerned Departments, financial credit institutions and banks, private sector, civil society and other connected institutions. This process will include:
(a) Assessment of benefits flowing to women and resource allocation to the programmes relating to them through an exercise of gender budgeting. Appropriate changes in policies will be made to optimize benefits to women under these schemes;
(b) Adequate resource allocation to develop and promote the policy outlined earlier based on (a) above by concerned Departments.
(c) Developing synergy between personnel of Health, Rural Development, Education and Women & Child Development Department at field level and other village level functionaries’
(d) Meeting credit needs by banks and financial credit institutions through suitable policy initiatives and development of new institutions in coordination with the Department of Women & Child Development.
The strategy of Women’s Component Plan adopted in the Ninth Plan of ensuring that not less than 30% of benefits/funds flow to women from all Ministries and Departments will be implemented effectively so that the needs and interests of women and girls are addressed by all concerned sectors. The Department of Women and Child Development being the nodal Ministry will monitor and review the progress of the implementation of the Component Plan from time to time, in terms of both quality and quantity in collaboration with the Planning Commission.
Efforts will be made to channelize private sector investments too, to support programmes and projects for advancement of women
Legislation
The existing legislative structure will be reviewed and additional legislative measures taken by identified departments to implement the Policy. This will also involve a review of all existing laws including personal, customary and tribal laws, subordinate legislation, related rules as well as executive and administrative regulations to eliminate all gender discriminatory references. The process will be planned over a time period 2000-2003. The specific measures required would be evolved through a consultation process involving civil society, National Commission for Women and Department of Women and Child Development. In appropriate cases the consultation process would be widened to include other stakeholders too.
Effective implementation of legislation would be promoted by involving civil society and community. Appropriate changes in legislation will be undertaken, if necessary.
In addition, following other specific measures will be taken to implement the legislation effectively.
(a) Strict enforcement of all relevant legal provisions and speedy redressal of grievances will be ensured, with a special focus on violence and gender related atrocities.
(b) Measures to prevent and punish sexual harassment at the place of work, protection for women workers in the organized/ unorganized sector and strict enforcement of relevant laws such as Equal Remuneration Act and Minimum Wages Act will be undertaken,
(c) Crimes against women, their incidence, prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution will be regularly reviewed at all Crime Review fora and Conferences at the Central, State and District levels. Recognised, local, voluntary organizations will be authorized to lodge Complaints and facilitate registration, investigations and legal proceedings related to violence and atrocities against girls and women.
(d) Women’s Cells in Police Stations, Encourage Women Police Stations Family Courts, Mahila Courts, Counselling Centers, Legal Aid Centers and Nyaya Panchayats will be strengthened and expanded to eliminate violence and atrocities against women.
(e) Widespread dissemination of information on all aspects of legal rights, human rights and other entitlements of women, through specially designed legal literacy programmes and rights information programmes will be done.
Gender Sensitization
Training of personnel of executive, legislative and judicial wings of the State, with a special focus on policy and programme framers, implementation and development agencies, law enforcement machinery and the judiciary, as well as non-governmental organizations will be undertaken. Other measures will include:
(a) Promoting societal awareness to gender issues and women’s human rights.
(b) Review of curriculum and educational materials to include gender education and human rights issues
(c) Removal of all references derogatory to the dignity of women from all public documents and legal instruments.
(d) Use of different forms of mass media to communicate social messages relating to women’s equality and empowerment.
Panchayati Raj Institutions
The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Indian Constitution have served as a breakthrough towards ensuring equal access and increased participation in political power structure for women. The PRIs will play a central role in the process of enhancing women’s participation in public life. The PRIs and the local self Governments will be actively involved in the implementation and execution of the National Policy for Women at the grassroots level.
Partnership with the voluntary sector organizations
The involvement of voluntary organizations, associations, federations, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, women’s organizations, as well as institutions dealing with education, training and research will be ensured in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of all policies and programmes affecting women. Towards this end, they will be provided with appropriate support related to resources and capacity building and facilitated to participate actively in the process of the empowerment of women.
International Cooperation
The Policy will aim at implementation of international obligations/commitments in all sectors on empowerment of women such as the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+5) and other such instruments. International, regional and sub-regional cooperation towards the empowerment of women will continue to be encouraged through sharing of experiences, exchange of ideas and technology, networking with institutions and organizations and through bilateral and multi-lateral partnerships.
Global Women’s Empowerment: Measuring Gender Gap
This study1 is a first attempt by the World Economic Forum to assess the current size of the gender gap by measuring the extent to which women in 58 countries have achieved equality with men in five critical areas: economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and well-being. Countries that do not capitalize on the full
Potential of one half of their societies are misallocating their human resources and undermining their competitive potential. Consolidating publicly available data from international organizations, national statistics and unique survey data from the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey, the study assesses the status accorded to women in a broad range of
Countries. Even in light of heightened international awareness of gender issues, it is a disturbing reality that no country has yet managed to eliminate the gender gap. Those that have succeeded best in narrowing the gap are the Nordic countries, with Sweden standing out as the
Most advanced in the world.
The Status of Women: Current Reality
The past three decades have witnessed a steadily increasing awareness of the need to empower women through measures to increase social, economic and political equity, and broader access to fundamental human rights, improvements in nutrition, basic health and education. Along with awareness of the subordinate status of women has come the concept of gender as an overarching socio-cultural variable, seen in relation to other factors, such as race, class, age and ethnicity. Gender is not synonymous with women, nor is it a zero-sum game implying loss for men; rather, it refers to both women and men, and to their status, relative to each other. Gender equality refers to that stage of human social development at which “the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of individuals will not be determined by the fact of being born male or female,”2 in other words, a stage when both men and women realize their full potential. In recognition of the importance of establishing gender equality around the world, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) was established as a separate fund within the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 1984. At that time, the General Assembly instructed it to “ensure women’s involvement with mainstream activities.”3 The Platform of Action resulting from the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women expanded this concept, calling it “gender mainstreaming”—i.e. the application of gender perspectives to all legal and social norms and standards, to all policy development, research, planning, advocacy, development, implementation and monitoring—as a mandate for all member states.4 In this way, the gender factor is no longer to be only a supplement to development but central to the practice of development. As a result of the Beijing conference— and the many years of work leading up to it—more than 100 countries announced new initiatives to improve the status of women. In 2000, the follow-up Beijing +5 conference further strengthened the application of the mainstreaming concept, and used it to highlight the need for more progress in reaching equality worldwide.
Criteria for Measurement
Five important dimensions of female empowerment and opportunity have been chosen for examination, based mainly on the findings of UNIFEM, concerning global patterns of inequality between men and women:
Economic participation of women—their presence in the workforce in quantitative terms—is
important not only for lowering the disproportionate levels of poverty among women, but also as an important step toward raising household income and encouraging economic development in countries as a whole. Amartya Sen makes a compelling case for the notion that societies need to see women less as passive recipients of help, and more as dynamic promoters of social transformation, a view strongly buttressed by a body of evidence suggesting that the education,
employment and ownership rights of women have a powerful influence on their ability to control their environment and contribute to economic development.12 Economic participation concerns not only the actual numbers of women participating in the labour force, but also their remuneration on an equal basis. Worldwide, outside of the agricultural sector, in both developed and developing countries, women are still averaging slightly less than 78% of the wages given to men for the same work, a gap which refuses to close in even the most developed countries.13 While globalization has generated opportunities for local producers and entrepreneurs to reach international markets, it has at times intensified existing inequalities and insecurities for many poor women, who already represent two-thirds of the world’s poorest people.14 Since the gains of globalization are often concentrated in the hands of those with higher education—those who own resources and have access to capital—poor women are usually the least able to seize the longer-term opportunities offered. Instead, as demonstrated in East Asia in the 1990s, it is all too often the case that women are only able to secure employment during rapid expansions, employment that is usually transitory and insecure, and performed under harsh conditions.15 Globalization has dramatically changed the conditions under which the struggle for gender equality must be carried out, especially in developing countries. One of the important tools of gender mainstreaming, aimed principally at poverty reduction, has been the concept of “gender budgeting,” i.e. focusing attention in the process of budget formulation within a given country in order to assess whether a particular fiscal measure will increase or decrease gender equality, or leave it unchanged.16 Gender budget initiatives (GBIs) not only identify targeted expenditures, or allocate more money to women, but also aim to “break down and identify the differentiated impact and incidence of general public revenue and expenditure on women and men…[and] significantly contribute to overall objectives like equity, equality, efficiency, transparency, the realization of social, economic and cultural rights, and good governance,”17 thus offering a practical way of evaluating government action (or inaction). Close monitoring and analysis of gender effects has become a mechanism for holding policy-makers increasingly accountable for the impact of policies on the lives of both women and men, so that the large percentage of women who participate economically in the informal sector, and who in some parts of the world provide upwards of 70% of agricultural labour, and produce over 90% of the food—yet are nowhere represented in budget deliberations—can be taken into account in the economic adjustment measures which might directly affect their welfare. The present study attempts to capture the gap between men and women in terms of economic participation by comparing unemployment levels, the levels of economic activity and remuneration for equal work.
Economic opportunity concerns the quality of women’s economic involvement, beyond their mere presence as workers. This is a particularly serious problem in developed countries, where women may gain employment with relative ease, but where their employment is either concentrated in poorly paid or unskilled job “ghettos,” characterized by the absence of mobility and opportunity. This is most commonly the result of negative or obstructive attitudes, and of legal and social systems which use maternity laws and benefits to penalize women economically for childbirth and child care responsibilities, and discourage—or actively prevent— men from sharing family responsibilities. The ghettoization of female labor is a phenomenon which crosses all cultural boundaries, and professions, affecting women in virtually all countries. Internationally, women are most often concentrated in “feminized “professions, such as nursing and teaching, office work, care of the elderly and disabled—termed “horizontal occupational segregation”—where they tend to remain in lower job categories than men. Typically, because these functions are carried out by women, they are the lowest paid, in addition to offering limited or no opportunity for advancement. The term “feminization of poverty” is often used to illustrate the fact that the majority of the 1.5 billion people living on US$1 a day or less are women and that the gap between women and men caught in the cycle of poverty has not lessened, but may well have widened in the past decade.18 At the other end of the spectrum, advancement within professions, such as law, medicine and engineering, in which women are increasingly well represented in developed countries, is of great concern. One survey of graduates carried out by Yale Law Women points to the growing numbers of women attorneys (25-35%), only a small number of whom are partners in firms (5-15%), and to the importance of what they call “family-friendly” and “female-friendly” practices in the profession.19 United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) figures indicate that the vast majority of the world’s countries offer paid maternity leave, often with a guaranteed wage of 50-100% of salary. Interestingly, the United States offers women 12 weeks, but with no pay whatsoever, putting it in league with Lesotho, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.20 Although, as of 2000, women are wage-employed in roughly equal numbers with men worldwide, the number of women represented in managerial positions is much smaller. Women have made slow and uneven progress in obtaining a share of managerial positions, which, according to 2002 statistics of the ILO, ranged between 20-40% in 48 out of 63 countries.21 In addition, women who are in managerial positions often need to make a painful choice between a successful career and family. A study in the United States has found 49% of high-achieving women to be childless, as compared with only 19% of their male colleagues.22 In this study, we use data on the duration of maternity leave, the percentage of wages paid during the covered period and the number of women in managerial positions to capture the variation between the economic opportunities available to women in different countries. In addition, we have included a unique dataset on qualitative elements such as the availability of government-provided childcare, the impact of maternity laws on the hiring of women, and wage inequalities between men and women for private sector employment. These data, obtained from the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey, are particularly useful in quantifying “ground-level” realities. Very often there are discrepancies between the de jure environment and the de facto situation. By quantifying the perceptions of business leaders in the 58 countries these anomalies can be identified.
Political empowerment refers to the equitable representation of women in decision-making structures, both formal and informal, and their voice in the formulation of policies affecting their societies. The Inter-Parliamentary Union reports a world average of only 15.6% in combined houses of parliament. The statistics by region offer few surprises, ranging from 6.8% in the Arab States to 18.6% in the Americas, and 39.7% in the Nordic states. While women are poorly represented in the lower levels of government, they are rarer still in the upper echelons of decision-making. The absence of women from structures of governance inevitably means that national, regional and local priorities—i.e. how resources are allocated—are typically defined without meaningful input from women, whose life experience gives them a different awareness of the community’s needs, concerns and interests from that of men. For example, a study in three widely differing countries (Bolivia, Cameroon and Malaysia) showed that, were women to have a greater say in spending priorities, they would be far more likely to spend family and community resources for improving health, education, community infrastructure and the eradication of poverty, as opposed to the military, alcohol or gambling.24 Indeed, the demand for changed priorities is heard from virtually all women’s organizations, from the most advanced and politically savvy in developed countries, to fledgling women’s NGOs in the developing world. However, in order for spending and development priorities to change, there must be at least a critical mass of women represented, who are learning the rules, using the rules and changing the rules of the decision-making “game,” and thus having an impact on discourse and decisions at all levels, from the family, to the nation, to the international community. Here, we have measured the dimension of political empowerment by using data on the number of female ministers, seats in parliament held by women, women holding senior, legislative and managerial positions and the number of years a female has been head of state (president or prime minister) in each of the 58 countries.
Educational attainment is, without doubt, the most fundamental prerequisite for empowering women in all spheres of society, for without education of comparable quality and content to that given to boys and men, and relevant to existing knowledge and real needs, women are unable to access well-paid, formal sector jobs, advance within them, participate in, and be represented in government and gain political influence. Moreover, the risk increases for society as a whole that the next generation of children will be similarly ill-prepared. If, as a broad body of empirical work has shown, education and literacy reduce mortality rates of children— including the bias toward female child mortality—and help reduce fertility rates,25 the importance of literacy for women is all the greater, considering that women still constitute two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.26 Although the ECOSOC statistics show that girls actually outnumber boys in tertiary level education in a very few countries—most notably in some of the Middle East and former Soviet bloc countries—an obvious gender gap in education tends to appear early in most countries, and, on average, grows more severe with each year of education. In addition, the number of women represented among tertiary level educators is lower than among primary level educators.27 However, if the content of the educational curriculum and the attitudes of teachers
serve merely to reinforce prevalent stereotypes and injustices, then the mere fact of literacy and education does not, in and of itself, close the gender gap; schooling as a catalyst for change engender relations will be more effective only if appropriate attention is also given to curriculum content and the retraining of those who deliver it. Information and communication technologies, which have become a potent driving force of the development process, represent yet another dimension in which acknowledge gap has emerged between women and men: a gender-based digital divide. A study by the USAID has found that countless women in the developing world are further removed from the information age because of their lower levels of education and deeply ingrained negative attitudes towards other forms of achievement.28 “Without access to information technology, an understanding of its significance and the ability to use it for social and economic gain, women in the developing world will be further marginalized from the mainstream of their communities, their countries and the world.”29 In the present study, gender disparities in educational attainment are captured using data on literacy rates, enrolment rates for primary, secondary and tertiary education and average years of schooling across the population. In this way, we are able to illustrate not only the current levels of women’s empowerment through education, but also the potential of future generations of women in a particular nation.
Health and well-being is a concept related to the substantial differences between women and men in their access to sufficient nutrition, healthcare and reproductive facilities, and to issues of fundamental safety and integrity of person. According to the World Health Organization, 585,000 women die every year, over 1,600 every day, from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.30 The Planned Parenthood Federation of America quotes estimates that of the annual 46 million abortions worldwide, some 20 million are performed unsafely, resulting in the deaths of 80,000 women from complications, accounting for at least 13% of global maternal mortality, and causing a wide range of long-term health problems.31 Women’s particular vulnerability to violence is perhaps the most obvious aspect of reduced physical security and integrity of person, but one which is perhaps the least amenable to accurate statistics. Even Sweden, long recognized as a leader in the area of gender equality was recently called to task by Amnesty International, which stated that “the prevalence of gender-biased violence shatters many people’s image of Sweden as being the most gender equal country in the world”. A recent front-page article in the
International Herald Tribune also noted that the implementation of violence-related laws in Sweden was marred by “spotty prosecutions, vague statistics, old-fashioned judges and unresponsive governments”.32 The complexity of the social and cultural issues, combined with the stigma and fear of disclosure lead to a situation where only a small proportion of the crimes of sexual assault, child abuse, wife battering and gun related violence are ever reported33, making accurate data extremely difficult to obtain. Indeed, it is difficult to measure the true extent of violence against women as most incidences of domestic violence and sexual assault go unreported.34 It is typical for women themselves to be blamed for “provoking” the violence
perpetrated against them by men—often those closest to them. The victims of such violence are then frequently stigmatized and isolated in society, even forced into marriage with their violators, with little or no control over their own persons. Each year an estimated two million girls, usually aged 4 to 8, are forcibly subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM),35 which
routinely leads to death, chronic infection and bleeding, nerve tumours, obstructed childbirth, painful scarring, etc. Although most prevalent in Africa and the Middle East, the practice of some form of FGM has been reported among immigrant communities in parts of Asia and the Pacific, North and South America and Europe.36 While we lack reliable data on violence against women, we have incorporated several other variables related to the dimension of health and well-being. Since women are often the majority of the victims of poverty, we have included data from the Executive Opinion Survey on the effectiveness of governments’ efforts to reduce poverty and inequality. In addition, we include the adolescent fertility rate as an indicator of health risks among women aged 15 to 19 years, and as an indicator of the lack of other choices available to young women. Finally, we include reproductive health data, such as the percentage of births attended by skilled health staff, and maternal and infant mortality ratios. Since these variables are particularly affected by the level of poverty in a given nation, i.e. poor health facilities in general as opposed to poor reproductive health facilities, we have adjusted these data by the number of physicians available per 1,000 people, as an indicator of the quality of the country’s health system in general. In this way, we do not penalize developing countries in particular, but all those nations that provide poor reproductive health facilities to women, given the existing health infrastructure.
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