Issues and Concerns of Women Empowerment
Abstract
Empowerment as a process allows one to gain knowledge, skill-sets and attitude needed to cope with the changing world and the circumstances in which one lives. The concept of empowerment dates back to the 1960s, particularly in the realm of Afro-American movement. Concept of empowerment was adopted after the Beijing Conference and reflected women's empowerment as a key strategy for development. This paper presents how empowerment is instrumentally important for achieving positive development outcomes and well-being of life, emphasising the 'doing' and 'being' what one values and have reason to value. It discusses that empowering women has been the central agenda for both government and civil society driven sectoral interventions. empowerment of women leads to individual consciousness raising, collective consciousness development and mobilisation. One of the key factors of women empowerment is Education of Women. Education has emerged as a powerful tool of social transformation and is one of the most critical factors responsible for the development of a human person and in particular women.
Education is the prominent factor that can incredibly improve the status of women in any society by ensuring their overall participation in the decision-making process and access to power that are fundamental for achievement of equality, development, peace, economic self reliance, legal rights and protection against all forms of discrimination.
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