Women Empowerment in Hill States : A Case Study of Himachal Pradesh
| Date | 01 July 2014 |
| Author | Gopal Krishan Sanghaik |
| Published date | 01 July 2014 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120140312 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN
HILL
STATES : A
CASE STUDY
OF
HIMACHAL PRADESH
GOPAL
KRISHAN
SANGHAIK
Women empowennent is the prerequisite
of
any progressive
society and no nation can claim development by denying the
basic rights and opportunities to their majority population.
Owing to customary male dominance
and
lack
of
equal
opportunities
in
political, social and economic spheres
of
life,
the women have been exploited since long and have lag behind
their counterparts. Although, increase
in
enrolment
of
girls in
education institutions have helped to raise literacy rate but
declining child sex ratio and increasing crime rate against
women
is
a serious concern.
Women
are facing similar problem
in all parts
of
country but hill states women have different
challenges due to antiquated customs, social taboos and tough
terrain
and
geographical conditions. The Himachal Pradesh
State
Government
has
launched
various
schemes
and
programmes
for
upliftment
of
women but impact
of
these
initiatives is not visible.
An
attempt has been made
to
study
the status
of
women and initiative taken
for
their empowerment
in this hilly state.
"Woman is the real architect
of
society".
-Harriet
Beecher Stowe
THE INCIDENTS
of
crime against women have become a common
phenomenon in our country. The present status
of
women in general is still
much lower than that
of
their male counterparts because
of
customary male
dominance in the society, inherent shyness
of
women and
lack
of
opportunities for education and training. 1 Gender discrimination is the least
of
worries in spite
of
facts that brutal gang rapes in recent past shocked
whole nation. Although women empowerment had been most favourite
1A.K. Roy and S.K. Tiwari, ''Economic Empowerment
of
Farm Women through Vermi-
Technology-A Case Study
of
Tribal Areas," (ed.) Ajit Kumar Sinha, "New Dimensions
of
Women Empowerment'', Deep & Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, p. 26, 2008.
To continue reading
Request your trial