The term – Women Empowerment – has been referred to in many areas of empowering women including education, employment, decision making, health, safety, etc. It is fundamental to the economic and social progress of the local community, state, nation, and planet.
The need for Women Empowerment: –
It is a painful fact that every country of the world, be it developing or developed, has a history that speaks volumes about the ill-treatment of women. Women are subjected to various kinds of physical and mental tortures, in their own family and also in society.
Though, the situation has improved considerably from the past, more so in the developed countries. But the countries like India and some in the African continent still lag behind, despite the improvements.
Women in some societies are treated as a commodity in many rural areas. They are expected only to do household chores, cook food, clean utensils, and clothes, etc. Educating a woman or a girl child is considered taboo and a waste of time and money.
They are also not allowed to socialize or do a job or business as per their will. Everything that they do must be approved by the men in the family. A situation like this is absolutely unacceptable and poses a major hindrance to the development of a nation.
In some societies, women are still discriminated against on their gender. They are not given the same right as men. Women are still paid less, expected to clean, etc. Women are still strict by their culture and family.
Importance of Women Empowerment
Empowering women is to give women the right. Women can have equal rights to participate in education, society, economy, and politics. Empowerment helps to reduce domestic violence and women are not abused by any factors such as sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse.
Areas to focus
Education is the most important factor in empowering women. If you educate a man, you educate an individual, however, if you educate a woman you educate a whole family. A woman who is educated is able to secure a job for herself and meet her family’s everyday requirements. She becomes financially independent and makes her own decisions. Education brings prosperity not only to the woman and her family but also to the nation.
There are various ways in how one can empower women. The individuals and government must both come together to make it happen. Education for girls must be made compulsory so that women can become literate to make a life for themselves.
Women must be given equal opportunities in every field, irrespective of gender. Moreover, they must also be given equal pay. We can empower women by abolishing child marriage. We teach women to raise their voices against any abuse.
Women empowerment in India
Women during the Vedic period enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of life. Women were educated in the Vedic period. Rigvedic verses suggest that women were married at a mature age and were probably free to select their own husband in a practice called Swayamvara or live-in-relationship called Gandharva marriage. In the Vedic age, women remain unmarried for higher studies. Women’s education has been highly appreciated in Atharva Veda. Manu emphasized that it was the duty of parents to give their daughters integral education. However, there was a gradual decline in female education during the later Vedic age. This may be considered an old story by many, but the very thought of such women empowerment excites me.
Salesforce and Women Empowerment: –
Salesforce is a global web-based application and cloud computing company best known for its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product. They specialize in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to help users handle all of their business needs.
Salesforce is a fantastic company for women and families. Equality is a core value of salesforce. Recently, the first CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff found out his female employees were paid less than men. His response is a priceless leadership lesson. The pay gap between men and women at Salesforce was immediately rectified. He raised the salaries of women across the country. Marc Benioff is very cautious about eliminating gender bias by implementing clear policies and guidelines against gender pay gaps and making sure salaries are regularly reviewed for gender impartially. Salesforce nicely empowers and engages women in the workplace.
In a little town in Southern India, we at Sweet Potato Tec are training women in Salesforce to achieve their dreams. They are empowered and fearless in challenging people with great questions. I, as a mentor to SPT, consider this as the greatest success of my role. I hope SPT continues to do a greater role in Women’s empowerment.
