Women Empowerment: Challenges & Prospects

Human beings are the most advanced life form on this planet that sits atop the pyramid of all sentient beings. Being sentient, puts the onus of moral duty on us to be just, altruistic and compassionate to fellow beings and lesser life forms, taking a lead in ensuring peace and order to sustain the balance on Earth.

While present day Homo sapiens are considered more civilized than their barbaric ancestors, it is disquieting to note that, the blessing of a civilized brain did not automatically render the virtues of liberty and equality to be bestowed on all fellow humans across the globe since the first rational human being descended some 40,000 years ago. Whether be it the exploitation of black versus white, poor versus rich or women versus men, human history is replete with innumerous examples of savagery, cruelty and suppression of weak, that defies the very attribute of being sentient. The best example of which being gender inequality and suppression of women even to this day of twenty-first century, so much so that it has become a buzzword both at  global and national forums.

Women empowerment refers to the conducive environment that provides the basic rights and a level playing field to women to excel in all spheres of life – social, political, economic. This also includes extension of specialized treatment by all stake-holders of the society, viz., government agencies, private institutions and NGOs in the areas of health, education, legal, etc. where there has been traditional neglect with respect to women. The crux being the ability to make free and fair decisions by women without being coerced by undue unfavorable circumstances allowing them to perform at par with men.

If one delves into the root cause of why women are treated as inferior sex even today at many parts of the world including India, it directly points out to the informal division of labour that has been the norm in our societies since eons. The quintessential role of men has been to take care of livelihood and protect the family while for women it has been about taking care of children, household chores and other activities within the boundaries of four walls. There have been exceptions though but these are few and far between. India and world as a whole were more tolerant of women a few thousand years ago, than it is today. If one talks about the glyphs of Egypt, Mesopotamia or Indus Valley civilizations, it depicts the various freedom that the women enjoyed – many of which went missing during the subsequent medieval and dark ages of our civilization. Even in India, women during Rig Vedic Period enjoyed greater freedom in all forms including the right to remain spinster and spend entire lives with parents, study and contribute to the hymns of Vedas which vastly diminished during the later Vedic periods. Thus, it is the traditional mindset of thousand years that needs to be broken free to empower women and bring them at par with men in all aspects. In a country like India where people are deeply religious and traditional in nature, it is a greater challenge to percolate the values and ideals of women empowerment, who constitute 49% of Indian population.

Firstly, men are the biggest stakeholders in Women Empowerment. Without their participation, it is bound to fail since it is the men who mostly formulated the rules of engagement with women in the societies. In one of her UN speeches on Women Empowerment, Hillary Clinton noticed that less than 30% of the audience were males. This is a big concern since awareness creation and gender sensitization needs to start with men. This was taken up so seriously that at the recent UNGA, Iceland and Suriname announced that they will be conducting men-only conference on gender sensitization campaign to secure greater cooperation and understanding from men. A welcome move indeed.

It must be mentioned here that some of the greatest reformists of modern India were men, whose contribution has immensely helped to transform the lives of Indian women. The crusade of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vidyasagar, Jyotiba Phule against the evils of child marriage & sati and promotion of education of girls, widow remarriage are extremely commendable in a period where going against the norm could mean potential isolation from the society at large. They had the courage, will and determination to set the wrongs of Brahmanical tradition right which in turn gradually changed the conditions of women in India to a large extent. Still there is a long way to go.

Secondly, right to equality has to be implemented in earnest where women have equal rights just like men. A little over hundred years ago, New Zealand became the first country to allow universal adult suffrage that included women, ahead of other western countries. The first European country to do so was Finland followed by other Nordic countries. Today if one takes stock of the situation, Nordic countries are far ahead in terms of social well-being and rights granted to women along with other HDI factors. In every sphere of the society, women there today occupy important positions and have demonstrated their capabilities directly contributing to the growth of these nations. An example to put it in perspective – Major General Kristin Lund of Norway became the first female force commander of UN Peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus.

Major General Kristin Lund with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

The scenario in India is vastly different despite our constitution having provisions to ensure gender equality. The apex democratic institution of India – the Indian Parliament is yet to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill that reserves 33% [and not 50%] of the seats for women at both central and state legislatures. Due to prejudice, aborting female fetuses was a very common recurrence in India, which exists even to this day despite enacting Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act. The incidences have tapered down, but has not stopped completely. This has resulted in a skewed sex ratio in India where there are 940 females for every 1000 males – an alarming trend that has other ramifications like purchasing brides especially in north Indian states; a complete devastating infringement on women’s right and a direct challenge to women empowerment.

While India is ahead of many nations for right to equality at workplace, for example, providing mandatory maternity leaves to all female employees for a period of 84 days by law, it is not universally implemented, especially for those women working in informal sectors. Additionally, latest NSSO survey reveals that 2 out of 3 Indian women in their prime working years are engaged in unpaid housework. There is also an informal discrimination of wages and promotion even in formal sectors as well.

In most of these cases, the biggest roadblock seems to be education and poverty eradication – the third reason why women needs to be empowered in these areas that are critical for their upliftment in the society. Government and NGOs have taken definitive steps to battle the same. But it is happening in pockets. Social sector schemes like MNREGA have given definite employment to a big percentage of rural women, who otherwise would have had to look for jobs at a lower wage. Various women centric self-help groups and micro-finance institutions have sprung up to help women earn their own livelihood, making them less dependent on others. Swayamsidha Programme run by Ministry of Women and Child Development is one such example. Similarly, there are various state run schemes that focus solely on women, especially those working in informal sectors. But unfortunately, many of these schemes are mired in corruption which needs to be checked while the real beneficiaries are left high and dry.

It is encouraging to note that the introduction of Mid-Day meal scheme has not only reduced the school dropouts especially among girls, their participation is also increasing. Many of the state governments have further encouraged girl child to enroll in schools by providing special assistance programmes like gifting bicycles, books, etc. – such social welfare schemes need to be stepped up further. If Malala Yousufai, the youngest recipient of Nobel Peace Prize can fight for her right to education in Taliban infested North-West Pakistan, India, which enjoys democracy and freedom can definitely achieve goal of 100% education of girl child through proper implementation of RTE Act.

Fourthly, women’s health and sanitation is a big concern. Though India has been able to reduce MMR to 178 deaths per lakh live births, a key Millennium Development Goal, but it still falls below the target of 100 per lakh live births. Women have been empowered by government to be able to go for institutionalized deliveries as envisaged in Janani Suraksha scheme and take care of her livelihood during her pregnancy and post-pregnancy through Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana Scheme where government compensates wage loss for expecting mothers. Similarly, government’s latest movement of building clean India through construction of toilets in rural areas and important public places, preventing open defecation is a welcome move for sanitation needs of women and general population as a whole.

Shakti Devi being felicitated by UN officials

Last but not the least, an important area of focus should be women’s safety and legal assistance. While India has to cause to be proud of Shakti Devi of J&K police, serving in UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan who has been awarded UN International Female Police Peacekeeper Award, 2014 for her efforts towards helping victims of sexual and gender-based violence in Afghanistan, India as a nation has been put under scanner due to poor performance related to women’s safety. The Nirbhaya incident of Dec 16, Badaun Rape in UP, recurrent rapes and sexual violence against females not even sparing infants & toddlers are turning our society back in time. In a recent judgment, the honorable Supreme Court mentioned that the women are not even safe in matrimonial homes where there are instances of dowry deaths, physical violence, etc. Despite passing the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013, on the recommendations Justice Verma committee, things have changed little. Those clamoring for capital punishment for these crimes against women have seen a spike of such incidents in the recent past. The only remedy lies in changing the mindset of the society, especially males, imbibing in them the values of respecting women, in addition to enactment of stringent laws, putting in place an expeditious judicial and sensitive police system.

Even when it came to succession of properties, only recently, wives and daughters of the deceased have been given the legal right to claim property which otherwise was the dominion of male members of the family only.

If one takes a holistic view of the entire situation currently, India is ranked 132 out of 187 in Gender Inequality Index according to 2013 report of GHDR, even below Pakistan. This is a definitive cause for worry, but does not essentially mean that our efforts so far went in vain. There are imperceptible changes that have taken place, but in order to bring in a visible dynamic change, there needs to be cohesiveness in the plans and schemes that are being executed by the government. Our honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has often emphasized on India’s Demographic Dividend as an edge over other countries. If we have to utilize it effectively, women empowerment has to be the most serious challenge that new government must face since women form 49% of our population. Keeping women empowerment out of development ambit will essentially be a stumbling block in India’s development despite launching radical and new schemes of financial inclusion, poverty elimination, National Rural Health Mission, Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Make in India, etc.

A lot has been done so far and still a lot remains to be done to reach a stage where an Indian woman can proudly proclaim to the world that she is truly empowered and free from the clutches of family, society, poverty, inequality and illiteracy. To conclude the prospect of women empowerment presently, the following lines from Robert Frost’s poem aptly sums it up in my opinion:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

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Child Labour is India's Shame

“One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood.”

—     Agatha  Christie

Childhood, as Agatha Christie the famous writer says, should be enjoyed. It is supposed to be the most carefree phase of life when the child gets to explore the world with all its eccentricities and quirks and question each aspect of it. It is the most important development phase in the life of a human being when values and morals develop through knowledge and education being imparted. Guidance of elders at this stage defines the place in the society the child is going to occupy in future. Childhood is akin to platform of life, often waiting to board the right train in the quest for a human being’s ultimate goal in this material world – even though the child is too young to comprehend the importance of the same.

But, what happens, when the child boards the wrong train or inadvertently gets to the wrong platform – say bonded labour at a very tender age of six, even before he understands what this is all about? What is the root-cause that drove the child to earn his livelihood when he should be in school learning the basics? Who is responsible? What repercussions does it have on the child and on the society as a whole? What steps should be taken to address the same? These questions should intrigue us as moral responsible citizens who are often witness to such instances in our daily life but have come to accept it as a norm. We need to understand that it not only derails the entire future of the child, but also has a disastrous effect on the mental well-being of the child which steers much of his adult life. Such grownup adults often have a distorted outlook about life and may pose a threat to the very society that pushed them in the wrong path.

Child labour is a serious blot on our society and our tolerance towards it shows our cold-heartedness in tackling this serious issue. Each underprivileged child, if empowered to learn and study during the crucial formative stages of life can advance our nation to the next level – we very well could have a high probability of the next Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sachin Tendulkar, Chetan Bhagat, Mary Kom, Kiran Bedi, future Prime Minister, President, Chief of Army or Chief Justice of India rising up from among them. It should give one much pleasure to ponder on the fact that so much talent could be harnessed by diverting the right resources and environment to the needy.

Though there has been conscientious effort by both government and private organizations [NGOs] to address the issue of child labour, it has borne little fruit. Every other day, we get to read in the newspapers about children being rescued from factories, industrial units, hotels and urban homes. This, despite the fact that Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 has been passed, which clearly articulates that any child below 14 years of age cannot be employed in hazardous or menial occupation enforcing Article 24 of Constitution related to fundamental right against exploitation. The amendment to the act in 2006, also prohibits children to be employed as domestic workers and servants in households. Still, we do come across numerous instances wherein children are toiling day and night for a decent livelihood whilst they should be playing around with their peers.

We first need to understand the magnitude of the problem. UNICEF estimates that India has 12.5 million child labourers according to 2001 census, the highest number of child labourers in the world. This number is a huge increase from 11.3 million as per 1991 census and is a worrying trend. One aspect is clear – there has been little curtail on child labour, indirectly pointing to the fact that the measures taken to curb including penalties are not deterrent enough to stem the tide. An article published in the Hindu dated 21st July, 2014 mentions 4,300 child labourers being rescued from Delhi alone since 2009 – most of them employed in barred places like factories and hotels. If this number is compounded with the number of metropolitan cities, mega-cities and tier-1 cities taken into account, the count would increase exponentially, ignoring the count of unreported cases.

 Copyright: The Hindu

The issue needs to be looked at from a 360 degree view rather than a piece-meal approach. One needs to understand what forces the child to work at such a tender age, often at places far away from their families and the most basic reason would be the meagre pecuniary condition of the family – the divide between the rich and the poor has increased drastically since the advent of globalization, where the government pegs the BPL limit at measly Rs. 32 for rural and Rs. 47 for urban spend for an individual. For the poor, getting two square meals a day becomes a daily hurdle to be crossed which ultimately drives the child to fend for himself. Desperation also plays an important role, taken advantage of by the hawks aka agents of human trafficking on whose behest the child is often sold at few thousand rupees by needy parents; such is the real value placed on the child.

The child if lucky enough lands up with a good employer, but more often than not has to work under unbearable circumstances for long hours and no holidays. For girls, the situation is even worse where they are at the mercy of their employers and are targets of sexual predators; molestation and at times rapes are recurring events of their life. Many of the unfortunate girls, directly land up in the flesh trade, which has the most serious consequences on their mental well-being. Human Trafficking is one of the worst crimes that can be imagined and the perpetrators should be punished strictly according to Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 enforcing Article 23 of Constitution related to Fundamental right to Prohibition of Traffic in Human Beings and Forced Labour.

The prevalent solution in most of the cases where children are rescued is repatriation to their native place for rehabilitation. It is to be noted here that most of the rescued children are from poor families of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh; all belonging to the bottom quartile in the list of states as per Indian Human Development Index while Kerala leads the pack with highest HDI. The Labour Department sends Rs. 25,000 to District Magistrates annually for the welfare of each rescued child, but there are no effective tracing and tracking mechanism. More, importantly, the money is often not enough to sustain the basic requirements of each child. The family situation of the child remains same as before and the family still has to struggle to make both ends meet. It does not solve the real problem.

The government has to develop a multi-pronged solution to address the root-cause. Much has been done, but it must be fool-proof solution. First and foremost being poverty alleviation. MNREGA is one such initiative that touches the bottom of the pyramid directly. But it is mired with corruption that needs to be tackled strongly. More such initiatives need to be taken to improve financial condition of the poor. Secondly, ensuring that all children attain primary education which is their fundamental right as per article 21a of the Constitution. Various incentives like Mid-day meal schemes has been a huge success in most of the states. It has not only resulted in the decline of school drop-outs in primary classes, but has also provided a cost-effective means for the under-privileged child to continue his education, who otherwise may have been forced to take up a job. An additional aspect is rewarding family of girl child. For example, in Punjab, girl students have been gifted bicycles to travel comparatively larger distances to reach school along with free education. It also needs to be mentioned that though RTE has been passed, it needs to be implemented in earnest at all levels. Thirdly, with the passage of Food Security Act of 2013, it is expected that the poor is supposed to derive most of the benefits of subsidized food items through targeted Public Distribution System [PDS]. This should provide some respite to the poor so that they are not forced to send their wards to work. Fourthly, the judiciary and police needs to work hand-in-hand to curb this menace. All cases, pending before the National Commission and State Commissions for Protection of Child rights and Children’s courts should be fast tracked. Lastly, all Labour Inspectors should be held accountable for any child labourers being employed under his area of jurisdiction. Any lackadaisical approach should be done away with stringent punitive measures in place.

But one cannot put the onus on the government alone. Given the vast size of our country, huge population and the economic imbalance, the responsibility to address the issue of child labour lies equally with the citizens of our country. We, as responsible human beings, have to be conscious of the impact of child labour and the negative impact on our society and cannot afford to turn a blind eye. All instances of child labour should be promptly reported to the concerned authorities. To achieve this, we need to alleviate ourselves to cherish the ideals that the founding fathers of our nation envisaged, by developing a strong sense of moral character within ourselves and ensuring that the children from underprivileged families also lead a happy and joyous childhood.

For the growth of any nation, youngsters play a very crucial role. Nation rides on the well-being of these youngsters who are ultimately responsible for leading the nations in the world-stage. It is upto us, what kind of future, we as responsible citizens imagine for our successive generations – one, that is compassionate and upholds the freedom for all, foregoing the rooster coop mentality and pulling up the deprived ones by the more fortunate citizens as Gandhi-ji envisioned, or remain self-centered and concerned with the well-being of self, taking full advantage of the deprived sections of our society, to the extent of forcing a child to forego his childhood. In case of latter, future of our society will be pretty bleak indeed unless we strive towards eradicating the blot – the child labour in all its forms.

As Franklin D Roosevelt said, “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

Link To The Hindu's Article

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