An Analysis of Different Approaches to Women Empowerment: A Case Study of India

Women empowerment in India is the most effective tool for development these days; women across the world are actively working as a leader and surpassing others in all the spheres of life. As the entire world is clasping its breath and praying every single day for an incredible escape from the COVID-19 Pandemic, it is the women governors and nations steered by these amazing figures who are taking over the responsibility and marching ahead in the battle alone wherever required. Women empowerment in India is dependent up to a great extent on numerous different variables that encompass geographical setting (urban/rural), social status (caste and class), educational status, and age factor. Actions on women empowerment exist at the state, local (panchayat), and national levels. However, women encounter differentiation in most sectors like education, economic opportunities, health and medical assistance, and political participation, which demonstrates that there are substantial gaps between strategy advancements and real exercise at the community level. This paper is descriptive in nature and analyzes the different approaches to women empowerment in India using various indicators based on data from secondary sources.


Introduction
Women's empowerment can be defined as promoting women's sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others.In Western countries, female empowerment is often associated with specific phases of the women's rights movement in history.This movement tends to be split into three waves, the first beginning in the 19th and early 20th century where suffrage was a key feature.The second wave of the 1960s included the sexual revolution and the role of women in society.Third wave feminism is often seen as beginning in the 1990s.Women's empowerment and promoting women's rights have emerged as a part of a major global movement and are continuing to break new ground in recent years.Days like International Women's Empowerment Day are also gaining momentum.Women in India are emerging in all sectors, including politics, business, medicine, sports and agriculture.The Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India, came into existence as a separate Ministry with effect from 30th January, 2006, earlier since 1985 it was a Department under the Ministry of Human Resources Development.The Ministry was constituted with the prime intention of addressing gaps in State action for women and  3 explore that women of India are relatively disempowered and they enjoy somewhat lower status than that of men.In spite of so many efforts undertaken by the government and NGOs the picture at present is not satisfactory.Mere access to Education and employment can only help in the process of empowerment.These are the tools or the enabling factors through which the process gets speeded up.However, achievement towards this goal depends more on attitude.Unless the attitude towards the acceptance of unequal gender roles by the society and even the women themselves changed, women can not grab the opportunity provided to them through constitutional provision, law etc.Till then we can not say that women are empowered in India in its real sense.
Chaudhary, Amatul R. and Chani, Muhammad Irfan and Pervaiz, Zahid(2012) 4 point out that the goal of women's empowerment can be achieved by making them conscious about their rights through the provision of education, by making them economically empowered through labour force participation and by focusing on integrated development through enhancing women's overall development.Many complex issues i.e. family, class, caste, religion, political, cultural and ethical have to be resolved for a holistic strategy of empowerment.However we can focus on more vivid paths to empowerment by bridging the gender gaps in educational and employment opportunities in Pakistan. 5Conclude that India has enacted many constitutional and legislative provisions for empowerment of women.Many development schemes especially for women have also been launched for improving their fortune.Such measures have started giving positive outcomes relating to women's problems.But the position of women in our country still leaves much to be desired.Top priority should be given in our developmental plans for improving female literacy and creating skills and capability among women for enabling them to stand on their own feet.Unless the process of development is properly engendered, it shall remain endangered.One concurrent example of gender discrimination is the glass-ceiling effect.The term "glass ceiling" is used to describe an invisible barrier where women are deprived of opportunities at all levels of employment and are discriminated against only because they are women.No doubt women have the potential to achieve an equal footing with men.But, it is the social practices and male attitudes that are making an effective and invisible barrier preventing women from rising above a certain point.Empowerment of women could only be achieved if their economic and social status is improved.This could be possible only by adopting definite social and economic policies with a view of total development of women and to make them realize that they have the potential to be strong human beings.The first and foremost priority should be given to the education of women, which is the grass root problem.

Research Methodology
The main aim of this study is to analyse the different approaches of women empowerment in India.And compare the Indian status of women empowerment with global.This study is descriptive in nature and uses only secondary data.Secondary Sources-The secondary is data which many scholars use in their research.In simple terms, it has already been collected and documented by some investigators for its persistence and not for the current research challenge.It is accessible from various sources such as government publications, books, journal articles, websites and reports.These are concentrating on exploring the existing articles.

History of Women Empowerment in the World
1691 Mexico Sor Juana Inés de la cruz -following criticism for studying secular texts, celebrated writer and nun Sor Juana Ines de la cruz of Mexico memorably defended women's rights to education in 1691 by proclaiming " one can perfectly well philosophize while cooking supper."A national icon, today she appears on Mexican currency.1860 Russia Anna Filosofova -Ahead of her time, prominent women's rights activist and Russian philanthropist Anna Filosofova believed it was better to educate and train the poor rather than provide cash benefits.In 1860, she Co-founded a society to provide support to the poor, including not only affordable housing but also decent work for women.
1893 New Zealand Kate Sheppard -New Zealand's most celebrated suffragist, Kate Sheppard along with fellow campaigners presented a " monster " petition to parliament demanding women's suffrage with nearly 32,000 signatures -an instrumental move that led to New Zealand becoming the first self-governing country to grant national voting rights to women in 1893.Women's representation is still lagging in politics.In 2015, only 22% of all national parliamentarians were female, a slow increase from 11.3% in 1995.
1911 Japan Raicho Hiratsuka -A pioneering Japanese editor, writer and political activist Raicho Hiratsuka co-founded her country's first all women run literary journal Seito in 1911 through which she challenged women's traditional roles at home.In the magazine's inaugural issue, she emboldens women to "reveal the genius hidden within us!" 1951 Egypt Doria Shafik -Doria Shafik catalyzed a women's rights movement in Egypt when in 1951 she, alongside 1500 women, stormed parliament demanding full political rights, pay equality and reforms to personal status laws.These efforts, along with countless others to come, helped pave the way to women's right to vote in 1956.
1960 Guatemala Rigoberta Menchu -The first indigenous person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Rigoberta Menchu campaigned for social justice, ethno-cultural reconciliation and indigenous people's rights during and after Guatemala's civil war (1960-1966).In 2006, she Cofounded the Nobel women's initiatives to magnify women's work on peace, justice and equality.1973 USA Billie Jean King -A pioneering American tennis champion and social change activist, Billie Jean King famously threatened to boycott the U.S open in 1973 unless women were given equal prize money-a demand that was met, making the U.S open the first major tournament of its kind to offer pay equality.Even with her efforts, the gender wage gap still exists for women in all walks of life.Globally, women earn 24% less than men.
1990 India Vandana Shiva -A staunch environmentalist, Vandana Shiva formed Navdanya in India during the early 1990s to conserve unique strains of seed crops and to educate farmers on eco diversity.Under Navdanya, she also created a programme on biodiversity, food and water, which empowers women in protecting the livelihoods of their communities.
1992 Botswana Unity Dow -As a plaintiff, Unity Dow won a historic case in 1992 enabling women married to non citizens the right to confer nationality to their children.Later, as Botswana's first female High Court Judge, she gained international acclaim on a case that allowed Botswana's San people to return to their ancestral homelands.
2016 Zimbabwe Loveness Mudzuru & Ruvimbo Tsopodzi -Taking their government to court on child marriage, former child brides Loveness Mudzuru & Ruvimbo Tsopodzi made history in 2016 when Zimbabwe's constitutional court ruled in their favour stating that nobody in the country may enter into marriage, including customary law union, before the age of 18. 6 2016 Hillary Clinton: becomes the first woman to receive a presidential nomination from a major political party.
2017 Saudi Arabia: In 2017, the Saudi Arabian government lifted the ban on female drivers; it took effect in June 2018.
2017 India rules sex with minors illegal: Another sign of the modernization of India was a Supreme Court ruling in October 2017 that deemed rape of a female under the age of 18 (even if the minor is a child bride) illegal.Further, being charged with this crime can result in a ten-year prison sentence.This ruling helps discourage the tradition of child brides and speaks to the country's attempt to create more equal marriages (age-wise, at the very least).
2018 Iceland: Requires fair pay for women Some countries talk a good game about equal pay for women, but Iceland made it the law of the land.In 2018, Iceland became the first country in the world to make it illegal-resulting in a fine-to pay men and women in the same job differently.One major difference between this law, and the Equal Pay Act in the United States is that the burden is no longer on the employee to make this claim-the onus is on the companies to prove that they are paying men and women equally as a matter of general review.Thus, women are not required to become detectives themselves (and risk their reputations and work relationships) to find out if they are being paid the same as their male colleagues.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA
In ancient Indian culture, women were treated as equal to men, and there was no discrimination on the bases of gender, instead of that women were honored by society, and society at the time considered women as Janani which means mother, even in Hindu scripts women are considered as Devi.They used to enjoy their full basic rights where they were free to receive education.They were trained in the art of warfare by choice.The Rig Veda finds mention of a warrior queen Vishpala, who is trained in the art of warfare.She loses a leg in battle ; an iron leg revives her spirit and she resumes her battlefield exploits.A true example of women empowerment.The character of Vishpala is further explored by Saiswaroopa Iyer in her book Avishi, which was recently released in 2021.Women Empowerment in the field of education during the 7th to 8th century is corroborated by Yajnavalkya's welcoming of the participation of women in Vedic studies.In the medieval and letter period, Rani Rudrama Devi of Warangal, defied the male counterparts of her times.Chennamma, the queen of Keladi, fought like Goddess Shakti in the battlefield; she ruled for 25 years.Velu Nachiyar, the queen of Sivagangai, presently part of Tamil Nadu, happens to be the first queen in the history of India to wage a successful war against the British.Velu Nachiyar was trained in martial arts, use of war weapons, archery and horse riding.She was an expert in silambam (fighting using sticks).Laxmibai, the queen of Jhansi, added a regiment of women.An excellent horse rider, she herself drilled and trained them.When she became a queen, the kingdom had an army of around 5,000 men.They are archetypes of women empowerment.The status of women saw a gradual decline with Islamic invasion and later the British.Such was the effect of their rule that women's rights and freedom were curtailed.They started getting exploited.Practices like child marriage and Jauhar (this was a Rajput custom, where the Rajput women sacrificed their lives for their husbands when they were about to lose a battle) saw a raise only to protect their honor from Invaders. 9The history of women's empowerment in the ancient age is quite confusing because on one side it encouraged women to choose their life partner on their own and on the other side, they were forced to perform Sati as per social norms.Women in India are emerging in all sectors, including politics, business, medicine, sports and agriculture.History was made when two female scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation led the country's second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 from its inception to completion in 2019.Female leadership for a huge space mission challenged the meta narrative that rocket science is a profession reserved for men.The Supreme Court suspended the government's position on women serving as army commanders in 2020.Women were first inducted into the armed forces in 1992 and have served in a multitude of positions, including fighter pilots, doctors, nurses, engineers, signallers, etc.

Special laws
Various legal provisions in India, ensure the protection and safety of women and their rights.Some of them are: • The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 This Act was established to ensure that men and women both get equal pay and wages for the work done and that there is no discrimination on grounds of sex, in the matters of employment.

Conclusion
To conclude, Like the world, women in India have also developed in all fields.There has been a steady transformation in the status of women in comparison to earlier periods.Women of today take part completely in areas such as politics, status, military sectors, economic, service, sports, entertainment, and technology sectors.It might be observed that India has enacted many constitutional and legislative provisions for empowerment of women.Many development schemes especially for women have also been launched for improving their fortune.Such measures have started giving positive outcomes relating to women's problems.But the position of women in our country still leaves much to be desired.No doubt women have the potential to achieve an equal footing with men.But it is the social practices and male attitudes that are making an effective and invisible barrier preventing women from rising above a certain point.Empowerment of women could only be achieved if their economic and social status has improved.This could be possible only by adopting definite social and economic policies with a view of total • Email: editor@ijfmr.comIJFMR23069954 Volume 5, Issue 6, November-December 2023 2 children for promoting inter-Ministerial and inter-sectoral convergence to create gender equitable and child-centred legislation, policies and programmes. 1 Indian government launched various schemes for women empowerment 2 :-1.Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme 2. Archive -One Stop Centre Scheme 3. Archive -Women Helpline Scheme 4. UJJAWALA : A Comprehensive Scheme for Prevention of trafficking and Rescue, Rehabilitation and Re-integration of Victims of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation 5. Working Women Hostel 6. Ministry approves new projects under Ujjawala Scheme and continues existing projects 7. SWADHAR Greh (A Scheme for Women in Difficult Circumstances) 8. NARI SHAKTI PURASKAR 9. Awardees of Stree Shakti Puruskar, 2014 & Awardees of Nari Shakti Puruskar 10.Women Helpline Scheme 11.Mahila Shakti Kendras (MSK) 12. NIRBHAYA 13.Mahila police Volunteers Review of Literature Nayak Purusottam and Mahanta Bidisha(2009)

7 2021
Bangladesh Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum March 30, 2021.The report focuses on measuring gaps between men and women in accessing resources and opportunities.Bangladesh secured the 65th position in the overall tally of the report.All other south Asian countries have ranks beyond 100.Bangladesh's success in reducing its gender gap.2021: Kamala Harris is sworn in as the first woman and first woman of color vice president of the United States.The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, Harris served as California's first Black female attorney general and won election to the U.S. Senate in 2016.2023 U.S: Indian-origin Manpreet Monica Singh becomes the first female Sikh judge in the U.S, She was sworn in as a judge of the Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4 in Texas.2018: In February, 24 year old Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi of the Indian Air Force became the first Indian female fighter pilot to fly solo.She flew a MiG-21 Bison, a jet aircraft with the highest recorded landing and take-off speed in the world.2019: On 2 December 2019, sub-lieutenant Shivangi became the first woman pilot in the Indian Navy.2020: Karuna Nundy, a supreme court lawyer, was appointed to a UK panel of experts to build frameworks that protect media freedom across the world.2021: A twenty-seven-year-old girl from Manipur scripted history by winning the silver medal in the Women's 49 kg Weightlifting event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.Mirabai Chanu lifted a total of 202 kilograms. 8 Article 343 (d) and 343 (T) Reservation of not less than one third of total seats for women in direct election to local bodies, viz; Panchayats and Municipalities.Legal Framework for the Protection of Women in India In India, the laws related to women are classified into two categories, which are: 1.The Indian Penal Code: Under the Indian Penal Code 1860, the following crimes against women are identified: • Rape (Section 376); • Sexual harassment (Section 509); • Torture (Section 498A); • Dowry, dowry deaths (Section 302, Section 304B); • Molestation (Section 354).

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The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 was established, to stop the practice of paying or accepting dowry as a consideration for marriage.• The Special Marriage Act, 1954 The Special Marriage Act came into force in 1954.This Act was established to provide a special form of marriage, irrespective of the faith or religion they believe in.• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 This Act was enacted to prohibit the practice of illegal abortions.This Act mentions the provisions by which a pregnancy can be terminated or aborted.• The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 This Act was enacted to ensure that women are protected in their place of work.In the case of Vishaka v State of Rajasthan (1997), the Court laid down certain principles known as 'The Vishaka Guidelines'.These principles were later converted into The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.