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Edunity
Volume 2 Number 5, May 2023
p- ISSN 2963-3648 | e-ISSN 2964-8653
Doi:
https://edunity.publikasikupublisher.com/index.php/Edunity/index
ROLE OF EDUCATION IN THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
IN INDIA
Harun Al Rasid Mondal
Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University, Kolkata, India
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Education is not only the main pillar of nation-building, but through education, a nation moves
towards progress. In a country, with different races of people, both men and women became
uplifted towards development when illuminated by education. By the united force of men and
women, especially women, a country leads its way to the path of success. Women’s
empowerment is a necessity for this success. Again, education is the most powerful instrument
of empowerment as it generates consciousness that leads to empowerment. Hence, to pave the
way for women’s emancipation and empowerment, education plays a pivotal and inevitable
role. According to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru –"If you teach a male, you educate an individual If
you educate a lady, you educate an entire family.” Women who are educated and empowered
succeed in society, business, and family life. So, Women empowerment refers to increasing
women's social, economic, and educational power. It refers to an environment where there is no
gender bias and equal rights in the community, society, and workplaces. Today, according to the
GOI report, the male literacy rate is currently at 84%, while the female literacy rate is less than
70%. Again, the most recent labor force surveys conducted by the NSSO (National Sample
Survey Office) published the female worker population ratio (%) on a status basis in the country
during 2013-14 and 2015-16 are 29.6% and 25.8% respectively. Education helps women become
aware of their rights, dignity, and opportunities. It gives them the chance to make a more
meaningful decision in terms of political engagement and decision-making choices about life.
Thus, education can benefit from building self-confidence, self-efficiency, and decision-making
power and increasing gender parity in an organization or institution.
Keywords: Women’s Empowerment; Economic Empowerment; Education; Gender parity
Introduction
According to Prof. A P J Abdul Kalam (TOI), – “Responsible citizens, particularly
women, are especially important for the nation because their perception, way of life, and
value system will lead to the development of a good family, a good society, and,
ultimately, a good nation.” So, we must always remember that women are powerful,
strong, and significant contributors to all societies (Grayson & Hodges, 2017). She carries
the future generation of society, molds the personalities of the children, and acts as a
great workforce for the family as well as the nation (Risman, 2018). Women are an
important human resource in a nation. All over the world, woman's amenities and
positions still lag men (Moitra, 2017). The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW),
New York, 2020, states, “Identify challenges, set global standards and norms and
formulate policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide.”
(Mondal, n.d.-a) Education is the biggest weapon in this women’s empowerment.
Improvement in knowledge, self-assurance, and awareness of gender equity are
indicators of the empowerment process. These components get developed through
education. When educated women are aware of their rights, they are not afraid to face
any problem. Then the woman can achieve success in all areas of her life. Education
plays an important role in making a woman a productive citizen. Hence, I believe,
Vol. 2, No. 5, 2023
[Role of Education in the Empowerment of Women in India]
Harun Al Rasid Mondal
denying women and girls equality and fairness not only hurts them but also hinders the
progress of rest of the society.
Research Method
This study focuses on the role of Education in Women’s Empowerment in India. The
following review has been made.
(Sundaram et al., 2014) through the paper ‘Women Empowerment: Role of Education’ –
understood that such strength comes from the process of empowerment and
empowerment will come from Education. The main objective of this paper was to create
awareness among women about different empowerment and identify the impact of
education on women’s overall empowerment.
(Shetty & Hans, 2015) discussed their paper ‘Role of Education Women Empowerment
and Development: Issue and Impact’ – women empowerment enables women to have
access to and make a productive contribution to their economic autonomy, political
involvement, and social development. and discussed how to overcome challenges to
women’s empowerment through education.
(Engida, 2021) studied the ‘The Three-Dimensional Role of Education for Women
Empowerment’. The study's main objectives were to know that education is one of the
most effective ways of encouraging women to engage fully in the growth process with
awareness, skills, and self-confidence.
In the article, ‘The Role of Education in The Empowerment of Women In A District Of
West Bengal, India: Reflection On A Survey Of Women’ highlighted that educated and
economically empowered women said that the dowry system was a superstition in
society.
Conducted a study on the ‘Impact Model of Women’s Empowerment the objectives of
the research are to know whether women’s empowerment is a significant factor in
alleviating world poverty and maintaining human rights. This concept is accompanied
by, freedom, self-determination, and power, which are necessary for women all over the
world.
Result And Discussion
Women in India are still far behind in the educational field. As a result that they could
not become aware of their rights, dignity, and opportunities (Williams, 2023).
Empowerment has not been possible because they are not aware of their rights, dignity,
and opportunities. Education plays a vital role in unleashing this awareness among
women for empowerment. So, this present study focuses on the role of education in the
empowerment of women in India.
One of the unique parts of the study is to study the role of education in the awareness of
rights, dignity, and opportunities for women. Educated women are the real source of
happiness for the family. Education is one of the milestones for women’s empowerment
because it enables them to respond to challenges, confront their traditional roles, and
change their lifestyles (Eger et al., 2018)
Objectives:
The following objectives have been framed to get a better understanding of the role of
education in the empowerment of women in India: (Mondal, n.d.-b)
1. To study the present status of women’s empowerment through education.
2. To study the literacy rate and employment rate of women in India.
3. To ascertain the impact of education on the socioeconomic empowerment of Indian
women.
[Role of Education in the Empowerment of Women in India]
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Women’s Empowerment Through Education:
Women’s empowerment is the most important part of a nation for development and
progress. Because empowerment means power and women’s empowerment means that
women have power, which will make them able to participate in the process of decision-
making (Tandon, 2016). Education attainment and economic participation are the
constituents in ensuring the empowerment of women. Women’s education is extremely
important since it is a human right and is required for the flourishing of many capacities
(Wahyudi, 2022). Women empowerment generally has five components: 1) women’s
sense of self-worth. 2) their rights to have the power to control their own lives.3) their
rights to have the power to control their own home.4) their rights to have the power of
control outside of home.5) their ability to influence the direction of social change to
create a just social and economic order nationality, internationality, and universally.
Each of the above elements plays a vital role in women’s empowerment. And through
education, women can achieve the above five elements (Ewerling et al., 2017).
Education acts as an important element in the development of women’s empowerment
in any country. So. Women’s education is very important for the country to develop
fully. Education also helps girls and women to know their rights and to gain the
confidence to claim them. Moreover, educated women can help also in the reduction of
the infant mortality rate and the growth of the population (Shetty & Hans, 2019).
Education is the most powerful weapon of women’s empowerment because it is capable
of them to decision-making power, facing their traditional roles, and diversity in their
life. GOI developed policies, plans, and programs for women’s empowerment in India.
The 73
rd
and 74
th
Amendments (1993) to India's constitution have provided for women's
reservation seats in the local bodies of panchayats and municipalities. The idea of
women’s empowerment was enforced at the international women’s Conference at
Nairobi in 1985.
The empowerment of women is vital for the socioeconomic development of society, the
government focuses on bringing women into the mainstream of national development.
Through education, women can make their own decision. It is possible to emancipate
thought among women through education (Muhammad et al., 2021). It is possible to
develop libertarian thinking among women through education. So, educated women
will also be liberated women. All barriers (like social, political, religious, linguistic, and
geographical) are broken down through education. Through education they can make
their choice, in everything-whether, it is a lifestyle, career, life partner, sexuality, food,
etc.
It can be concluded from the above discussion that the importance of education in
women’s empowerment is immense. Women empowerment and education are two
sides of the same coin.
Indian Women’s Status Basis on The Literacy Rate and Employment Rate:
Women empowerment and women’s education are closely related to each other. And
both are interdependent. In a non-discriminatory society, there can be no discrimination
between men and women. Both can enjoy wealth and benefit from society. The most
important issue in the world today is the equal rights of men and women. Women
education is the most powerful factor for gender equality in the nation (Kabeer, 1999).
The economic, social, political, and cultural development of women in a society is never
possible without proper education. As mentioned in the National Education Policy of
1992, “The National Educational system will play a positive interventionalist role
empowerment of women. It will foster the development of new values through
redesigning curricula, and textbooks.
Vol. 2, No. 5, 2023
[Role of Education in the Empowerment of Women in India]
Harun Al Rasid Mondal
The importance of women’s empowerment in the sustainable development of education
is very important. That education is the real education for a woman, the education that
has the power to educate every family member of her family. It is only possible for an
educated woman to educate other members of the family to give a society with moral
values. If women can be empowered by ensuring good education, they can actively
contribute to building society and sustainable development of education. Educated
women can freely express their opinions and make quick decisions by determining what
is good or bad for society. So, women’s literacy is very important for women’s
empowerment in the nation.
The Indian constitution provides free and compulsory education for every child up to
14 years. But currently, the literacy rate of women is slower to men. Educational levels
increasing for women, but still, there is a gap between male and female literacy rates
which follows in the table. According to the Indian census:
Table 1: The Literacy Rate In India 1951-2011(Census Of India)
Census year
Total (%)
Male (%)
Female (%)
1951
18.33
27.16
8.86
1961
28.30
40.40
15.35
1971
34.45
45.96
21.97
1981
43.57
56.38
29.76
1991
52.21
64.13
39.29
2001
64.83
75.26
53.67
2011
74.04
82.14
65.46
The Press Information Bureau, GOI shows that –
Table 2: Female Employment Rate
Name of state / all India
YEAR (%)
2012-13
2013-14
2015-16
WEST BENGAL
20.6
17.2
20.5
ALL INDIA
25.0
29.6
25.8
This gap in employment is mainly due to the rate of literacy as well as education that
empowers a person to be productive and useful.
Conclusion
To conclude the present scenario, women are deprived of opportunities in various
aspects like nutrition, education, employment, etc. Overall, this study confirms that
women are inferior to men in India. So women's education is very important for
women's empowerment. Because education can give women fair rights, dignity, and
opportunities. There is an effective relationship between education and women’s
empowerment. Another important aspect in this regard is that, in these societies, the
issue of women’s empowerment has been facing certain serious challenges, which are
the outcome some certain evil norms and attitudes such as child worker, child marriage,
illiteracy, the partial attitude of the parents, female feticides, etc. and in such a situation
women empowerment urgent necessity. So to eliminate all these problems in women's
empowerment Indian government has adopted various schemes. They are – 1) Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP-2015). 2) Mahila Sakti Kendra (MSK – 2017). 3) Pradhan
Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY- 2017). We can hope for better days while all
women our country enlightened and educated.
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