Women Empowerment in Government: Need to Tackle Seriously
| Date | 01 July 2014 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120140303 |
| Author | S.K. Kataria |
| Published date | 01 July 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN GOVERNMENT:
NEED TO TACKLE SERIOUSLY
S.K. KATARIA
Women,
across the globe, and since the ages, have been facing
various kinds
of
discrimination by male-dominating society.
The expansion
of
educational facilities and enactment
of
modern constitutions have forced administrative states to
control the socio-economic
and
politico-administrative
bottlenecks
of
women
safety
and
empowerment. It was
'vishakha guidelines'
of
1997
of
the Supreme Court
of
India
which led to safety measures for working women and these
guidelines have ultimately been converted into a new historic
law, "The
Sexual
Harassment
of
Women
at
Workplace
(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013" which
makes so many mandatory provisions for each government,
private organisations and
for
every person who hires services
ofa
woman.
When
we
speak we are afraid our words will not be heard
or
welcomed.
But when we are silent,
we
are still afraid.
So
it is better to speak. "
--Audre
Lorde
EMPOWERMENT, IN a very broad sense, refers to increasing social,
political, economical, educational, gender and spiritual strengths
of
individuals or communities. When it comes to women, it directly involves
the traditional mindset
of
men towards 'the half-world.' Despite the
constitutional safeguards, rapid expansion
of
educational facilities and
higher degree
of
self-awareness among modem women, the fact is that,
women across the globe is not treated properly in a dignified manner by
the dominating gender. Women constitute roughly half
of
the population
of
the world and thus potentially half
of
its work force. However, women
in government in the modem era are underprivileged in most of the countries
worldwide, in contrast
to
men. As
of
October 2013, the global average
of
women in national assembly was 21.5 per cent
:ind
nearly 20 countries
were having either head
of
state or head
of
the government. It is very
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