REPORTS / MEMIOGRAPH

Empowerment of Women and Sustainable Development, Anupama Singh

The study concentrates on the issues of women, which have been dealt with either by the voluntary agencies or governmental agencies or simultaneously by both or have not been dealt so far. It is seen that traditional gender gaps have been re-endorsed in the new development paradigms where unequal access to resources or outcome of resources has been established. It is an effort at covering these vast and interconnected issues. Women empowerment can be defined as a condition in which women hold or are in the process of obtaining educational, legal and political rights that are equivalent or nearly equal to those of male citizens. Empowerment extends beyond the acts or attitude of government, for it should also include women's increased knowledge of the history of women in their own country/ region, and social and psychological effects of patriarchy. The empowerment of women has been recognized as a vital element in national development by the national as well as international community. This is equally true in building a society based on equality and equanimity where wide disparities exists within a county amongst its people, through various cross- sections of the society. So it is equally important that developments that shape the tomorrows society should and must pursue the goals of gender equality and women's advancement, as well as social, political and economic justice, and sustainable human development. The focus of this study is not only women empowerment but also how this issue is encountered in the lives of rural women. Rural women combat oppression at generally two levels i.e. by their class and gender. They experience marginalization not only in terms of resources but also have no or minimal access to information and services. They are invisible in the government surveys of rural areas, and if reported, they are represented as mere receivers rather than having any active role in development. There is almost no recognition of their contribution to agriculture and household services, but rarely receive measurable economic gains from government programs. Empowering of rural women must be pursued vigorously not only for the reason that they are active players in all agricultural activities but also for the fact they are extremely marginalized which gravely contradicts with their right as a human being. Its important that they participate in all spheres of decision- making which have long or short term influence on their lives.

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