Essay on Women Power

Women’s right are human rights and should be treated as such. As a matter of fact, at international level a lot has been done. Recently, the war crimes tribunal at Hague, Netherlands, in a landmark judgement in a case involving three Bosnian Serb commanders declared rape to be a crime against humanity. The fact that women’s rights need to be safeguarded in every country in the world cannot be overemphasises. In a historic decision the Rajasthan government is changing the service rules to punish the employees who are found guilty of torturing their wives. As reported in a national daily, the punishment including suspension and stoppage increments.

It becomes the duty of the state to remove inequalities in the personal laws of various religions. Recently it has been made compulsory to include the mother’s name along with that of the father in the various forms that are required to be filled for an Indian child while seeking admission in school or otherwise, a small step forward in terms of Hindu marriage Act, 1955 was enacted. The term in this case includes Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and their denominations. According to the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which governs civil marriage, for a boy and girl to get married, they must have completed 21 and 18 years of age respectively. Bigamy is prohibited under this Act and each party has to give consent along with three witnesses. Progressive laws such as these go on to protect the rights of women and strengthen them.

The report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women released by the government recently mentions the steps taken by it to contain the negative impact of the restructuring of the economy that India has embarked upon. It also enumerates the steps that have been taken to protect women. The Government of India made special efforts to increase its support for social sectors and has started a number of schemes aimed at the poor, particularly poor women and women in the informal sector. Keeping in line with the government’s policy on equal opportunity, there are 65 women in the senior positions in the Indian Foreign Services around the world. For the first time after independence the highest post in the Foreign Service is occupied by a female secretary, Chokila Iyer. It is no doubt commendable that despite various hurdles and mind-sets, the government has managed to ensure equal carrier opportunities for women in order to empower them.

But these are only the efforts by the government and this is the only thing regarding women power. It is a matter of shame that women have to put in any effort to strengthen themselves except for the off- repeated statements of “Women Liberalisation”. It is one thing to issue statements by a couple of well- off or elites of the society, but altogether different when working at the grassroots level to strengthen them. Women themselves make vulnerable by either enduring or overlooking the male tortures, not necessarily physically, but even mentally. They cannot even fight for their own right which is a matter of concern. But for the few NGOs, nothing concrete has been done to empower women. India is still lives in villages and that is where one needs to concentrate to remove the pathetic conditions of women, who are not only treated with contempt, but also despised. In urban India, wife-beating has become common with martial violence on increase. It needs the collective and concentrated effort of both the government and the public to make Indian women self- independent. Then only the real women empowerment of women begins.