Paper Presentation on Women Empowerment and Self Help Groups by Mrs. Rebecca Thomas Lecturer in Commerce Nes Ratnam College, Bhandup(W). Women Empowerment and Self Help Groups Introduction Women

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

However, the contributions of women to the economy have gone unrecognized and unvalued. Also, there is unequal opportunities between men and women in the workforce, which means that women do not receive an opportunity at demonstrating their ability to lift themselves from poverty and similar issues, and their options to improve their lives are limited or nonexistent. However, I feel that what men do not realize when oppressing women is that women make up half of the world's population. This ultimately means that women also make up half the workforce. A nation that limits women and discriminates against them cannot reach it's full potential or productiveness. On the other hand, if a country's government, businesses, and overall, the communities invest in women, developing countries are less likely to be striken by poverty. Women are educated to wisely manage the money that they earn, which results in less poverty because they will know how to save and spend her money properly. To add on, economic empowered women raise healthier and better educated children, which results in children that will continue to manage money wisely, with their mother's guidance, and ultimately this would lead to a decrease in poverty. Economic empowerment means not only reducing

The first assumption argues that “western” feminist discourses emphasize that all women are bound together by a shared oppression and are powerless (53-54). Mohanty systemically explores this theory through an in depth analysis of five categories in which women of the third world are traditionally presented as homogenous victims by “western” feminist. The first two categories, women as victims of male violence and women as universal dependents, arguably offer the most straightforward deconstruction of the gendered body of knowledge that is power. Women, especially women of the third world, are all seen as victims of male violence and control (54). All women are defined as powerless, and all men are defined as powerful (55). Similarly, all women are defined as powerless dependents in the second category. Mohanty argues, “this is because descriptive gender differences are transformed into the divisions between men and women” (55). This division possesses a privileged position as the explanation for the oppression of women (56). Therefore, women are seen as a powerless group no matter what the historical or cultural situation because they are deemed so prior to any analysis (56).

All in all, there is more being done to aid women in their struggles they have are still facing today. With this aid by organization such as the “United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women", there are many benefits that comes with this promotion; however, it is not an excuse to make false

Women rights movement’s dates back to the nineteenth century as the female gender was seeking to have a place in the society where they have their rights and entitlement fairly given to them. It was instigated by the fact that the male population by making them feel as less beings in the society. This is because they were not entitled to having their views brought out. However, in the 1970’s efforts to secure equal rights for women by eradicating gender discrimination put by institution, laws and various behavioural pattern meet serious activism (Barrett. 2014). The reforms enjoyed currently concerning women empowerment is as a result of all the atrocities that they went through at this time. It is, therefore, evident to say that the challenges faced by women in the 1970’s rights movement gave birth to new opportunities such as coming up with severe laws on gender discrimination, pushed for the Title IX law and defining rape as a crime.

This book is a crucial dose of reality for those of us that are spoiled by the comforts we have grown used too. Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn explain in the book “Half the Sky” why empowering women in the developing world is ethically right and extremely vital.It is a gripping story of how customs and culture have historically oppressed women. The strength of the human rights movement and of actual change across all cultures is going to be asteadfast task of courageous women who give themselves permission to say no to so many years of unthinkable tyrannical cultural customs and fight for a new way of life. Many of us close our eyes

Women empowerment means to identify all kinds of oppression based on gender roles and to face it. This process has two dimensions: individual and collective. At the individual level, access to information about gender role and its social source lead women to seek for their autonomy and freedom. When they realize that the female social being is a social construction, nor a changeless reality, they can better indentify

Over the course of history, gender inequalities have been a prevalent issue amongst countries around the world. The notion, women are inferior to men has shaped their treatment in all aspects of life. Women were subjected to a patriarchal role in society, the men worked and women took care of domestics to some degree greater or lesser depending the country they resided in. In the late 19th and early 20th century women started rising up against male dominated societies in feminist movements. These movements were campaigns and reform plans to combat issues of equal pay, sexual violence, and denial of suffrage, reproductive rights, equal job opportunities and property rights. Thus observing women in Great Britain and Saudi Arabia today one can see how the role women play in society has dramatically changed from 1800s till now.

As a young teenage girl, I heard the voice in my head telling me it was time to step up and help make a difference. As a teen, I discovered that women all over the world were being delegated to that of second class citizens. In many countries, men are the leaders of societies where women are often seen only as care providers and in many countries, inconsequential.

In 2006, the Organization for economic cooperation and development database conducted a survey on the economic and political power of women in 162 countries, and it was concluded that the greater the power of women, the greater the country's economic success. Out of the 162 countries, 100 countries have started forcing women into power in an effort to improve there countries fortunes and government. This shows how women are greatly impacting the society,making the right choices and government

Even though we live in a modern world with many technological advancements, women oppression is still a plague around the world that seems to never stop or end in many different societies a woman is only accepted or considered good not when she speaks up or contribute to something that is against this but when she accepts this oppression and stay quit. In Woman at point zero, Nawal Al Saadawi has expressed her concern about women's oppression. In her piece of work, there were many attempts to raise awareness to this issue by giving an example of a woman’s life that was ruined by it. This issue should bring women together since they share the same problem and help each other and empower themselves in order to fight against this discrimination

Since before time, women have always had less power compared to men. Men have always been the ones who have had the power to make decisions, the power to incorporate new ideas, and have a powerful role within society. Unfortunately, in some countries, women are not valued enough nor respected. There have been many cases within some cultures that women live a life of misery because they don’t have freedom. However, in some countries women have gained the right to have the same power and freedom of a male. Many of these freedoms have to do with having a political role within society or having a role that empowers them. One of these roles is to be in the front line during

In the 1990’s foreign donor agencies enabled the formation of new women-oriented NGO’s. Self help groups such as Self Employed Women’s Empowerment (SEWA) have played a major role in the advancement of women’s rights in India. Many women such as Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan have emerged as the leaders of local

This article addresses four main points. First, at the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, the significance of women’s contribution was emphasized by the World Bank. However, according to the authors, the perception of women as goods was strengthened by the World Bank because of its emphasis on economic outcomes and its consequent failure to pay attention to the meaning of women’s empowerment and gender equality. Second, the World Bank, UN agencies and other institutions were observed to value only young women and girls, thus completely ignoring men’s role . Third, despite the existence of programs encouraging women empowerment such as microfinance and conditional cash transfers, women are forced to work for their livelihood coupled with the burden of housework. The authors also cast doubt on the notion that investing in young women and girls leads to the promotion of women’s empowerment and gender equality, or actually improves the economy as they are often unconsciously regarded as cheaper labor . Therefore, they underscored that while smart economics might

The oppression of women is based on false assumption and preconceived notions by the male domination world, has been obvious and responsible for paving the way for serious gender issues to emerge. Due to the narrow realms of activity in society, deprived from essential human rights, restricted educations scope, open to unhealthy physical and mental abuse, this society has not given women the opportunity to rise to their full potential. The impact of gender discrimination has not only affected the future of the women today but it has resulted in the slow progress of human mind in general.