Women Empowerment in Rural Bihar
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120140327 |
| Author | Asha Rani |
| Date | 01 July 2014 |
| Published date | 01 July 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN RURAL BIHAR
ASHA RANI
The status
of
women in Bihar is particularly low because
of
a
lethal combination
of
feudal, caste
and
patriarchal oppression.
There
are
various
programmes
and
schemes
that
are
operational with differential outreach and impact
on
the lives
of
women. Amidst the continued presence
of
patriarchal norms
and
structures, gender stereotypes are less resilient to change.
There is an urgent need to upgrade the livelihood opportunities
for
women workers in Bihar. Given the current situation
of
the
labour market, various
avenues
to increase income
and
empowerment opportunities
for
women need to be explored
and
strengthened.
EMPOWERMENT IS a multi-dimensional process which should enable
the individuals or a group
of
individuals to realise their full identity,
as
well as, powers in all knowledge and resources, greater autonomy in
decision-making to enable them to have greater ability to plan their lives
to have greater control over the circumstances, which influence their lives
and free them from the shackles imposed on them by traditional customs,
beliefs and practices.
Empowerment is a self-generating and multi-dimensional process,
where involving activity for advancement
of
women in different fields
of
life such as economic, political and social empowerment can be considered
a change
in
the context
of
woman's and man's life that enables her/him
increased capacity to lead a human life, characterised by external quality
related to health, education, awareness, status and security. Empowerment
means individual acquiring the power to think, act freely, exercise choice,
voice and decide autonomy and fulfillment
of
their potentials.
In
other
words, empowerment means to create free and fair circumstances where
the individual has the rights to determine his/her own future lifestyle. The
process
of
empowerment
of
women in Bihar has recently been paid attention
by passing the Bihar Panchayati Raj Act, 1993, whereby 50 per cent
of
the
total number seats reserved for SCs, STs and OBCs has been reserved for
women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRis).
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