Empowering women for the future
Women play an integral role in our society. Without their involvement, no task has its meaning. While we understand their position and importance, we rarely acknowledge it by giving them the due respect they deserve. Empowering women and achieving gender equality has been highlighted through debates, mandates as well as government policies. However, the ground reality is very different. When it comes to practising equality in terms of treatment, education, occupation, or monetary benefits, women often find themselves in a familiar situation and are given secondary treatment.
While there has been positive growth in changing the mindset of men and establishing the fact that women need to be treated as equals, there’s still a long way to go. To fight against this discrimination, I believe that women need to understand the necessity of these four pillars in life — Education, Intelligence, Hard Work, and Open-mindedness. These values are essential in giving a sense of identity, confidence, consistency, determination and being self-reliant.
A woman is God’s gift to this world. One who has strength, capacity and the power within to create, nurture, transform and instil moral values in future leaders. They are the core foundation to not just their families, but the society as a whole. Activist and former First Lady of The United States of America, Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A woman is like a tea bag, you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water!” Taking inspiration from these words, women should have the desire, inner strength, leadership qualities and a positive attitude to thrive in any situation, as proven by many women in the past.
Empowering women in the economy, closing the gender gap and treating women as equals is essential in achieving the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Providing education and equal opportunities for girls is necessary. If we ignore or continue to persist with the same approach, a greater world population will be left un-skilled and uneducated. It is a tried and tested formula, once you empower a girl child with skills and formal education, it directly leads to an increase in professional power or brain gain for a given society.
Women can be empowered through inclusion. Starting from the grassroots level, they need to be engaged in financial decisions, health education, agricultural sector and the rest of the industries so that they can evolve and attain success at the national level. Their involvement will raise the standard of living of all citizens. Empowerment of women ensures that they have control over decision making, thus, enabling them to participate actively in social, political and economic growth.
