Before discussing about “Women Empowerment”, we all should know the actual meaning of it. Everybody out there is discussing about empowering women, some are in favour of it while some are like ‘Okay’ as if they really don’t care, while others, “the educated people” out there are like ‘ kitni shashakti shaali mahila kyun na ho jae , rahengi toh mahila hi aakhir’ ( ie, they don’t want to judge women by their skill, their talent, their hard work, passion, love, affection ,dedication and many more qualities which they themselves lack. Rather judge them on their physical strength, how much “taakat” they have etc.).  Well for those people; get your mind out of the gutter as soon as possible because you never know when these ladies are going to give you “patakhni” in that field too, but being precise, they are already giving it. Well I must not only blame the masculine section of the society, rather even the women are somewhere responsible for their situation, for not fighting for their rights, for being happy with what little they have or get or content or accepting their life as it is, killing their dreams, their passion for the sake of those who hardly care about them as individuals.

The question here is what is “Women Empowerment” actually?  And the expected answer for this question can be the upliftment of women in society. It can be the emancipation of women in all fields but is it actually so??? On a practical basis, getting upraised by 35% or 45% in the society is not the actual upliftment or empowerment of women but working on building up a society in a country which is male dominated, where all the whole sole authorities are given to the male members to be the “only decision maker”, and amongst all this, to allow women to be an equal participant and consultant in decision making, is “Women Empowerment”.

Women are equally responsible for not fighting for their rights. Any right, any freedom, any rule that is being made is not just to be there in the Constitution or to display the democratic life we are so-called living. Rather a right is something that is being provided to “us” and no one can take it from us. We need to believe in our dreams, in our goals, in our aspirations and become more confident especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.

We say “Change is the law of nature ” but we never accept the change. Why so?? Why we are making our human behavior this much more confused and complicated? If a woman is empowered in the family, not only her but her children, her family members & on a collective basis whole society will be empowered. As a result, the whole nation will be empowered. We need never to forget that the development of any country depends upon both its men and women.

 It is even said, “Behind the success of every man, there is a woman”. That woman can be his mother, his sister, his wife or a friend. But when the appreciation is given to a man on achieving success in his life, nobody remembers to appreciate the efforts done by the person who dedicated her whole life, who sacrificed all her dreams and her comforts just to make him the best.

It is evident from the past as well as present that women are nowhere less than men. Women like   Sarojini Naidu, Mother Teresa, Rani Laxmi Bai, Malala etc. are the perfect examples of it.

Dear scintillating and feisty ladies, why are you killing your ambitions? Come out; meet the inspiring & aspiring women out there. You are not born to be housebound, you are not born to kill the rising dreams but you are born to live, to be cared, to be loved, to grow & to get what you actually deserve.

 If the effort to change is not made by women, we cannot expect change to happen. Until and unless a woman does not fight for her rights, doesn’t stand up and speak up, “Women empowerment” is just a word only. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has said it rightly,” All birds find shelter during the rain but eagle avoids the rain by flying above the clouds. Problems are common; it is the attitude that makes a difference”. If you cannot respect yourself, cannot believe in your capabilities, nobody is ever going to see that beautiful, lively, & enchanting creature that you are.

Remember the 3-R’s (reborn, recreate, respect) in your life –

Reborn: Let that aspiring woman be reborn, one who is passionate about her career, about her goals, about herself.

Recreate: Instead of only sacrificing and living for everyone else in the family do try to also find your dreams, give them structure and recreate a personality that you can be proud of. Live your life like you want to, without any imposed restrictions.

Respect:  You need to respect yourself and other women too. You need to treat each other as allies. If you can’t support and respect each other, it sends a wrong message to the world. You don’t need to compare yourself to others in order to be considered as “GOOD”.

Bring the change ladies…

Let the world see “the real you”.

Let’s not be empowered only in books, newspapers etc. but be empowered literally.

Let’s not fight by creating violence but just be silent and realize your true value.

Let’s turn a male dominated society to be a “Equality” based society.

-Pragati Tripathi, CS-IIIrd year Section B