Empowered rural women will be drivers of India’s future

‘Empower Rural Women’— this was the theme declared by the United Nations for International Women’s Day. The improved access to education, healthcare facilities, free markets, career opportunities, and sustained cultural amalgamation has had a catalytic effect on promoting gender equality

. While the results have been encouraging, not everybody is participating in or reaping the benefits of this growth, especially women. In India, the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, 2001, presents strategies for economic and social empowerment of women while talking about a legal system that is supportive and provides justice to women. However, the need for a protective and fair ecosystem that nurtures women is still lacking.

An interesting challenge that has risen over the past decade illustrates the complexity that many women face in building sustainable careers in corporate India. This is a multiple cultural-personality dilemma: meeting varied perceived needs of the family and employer. Employers expect their employees to be opinionated, fair, and decisive; while at many Indian households, that same ‘best employee of the month’ mother/sister/wife, is expected to ‘fulfill’ her role even if it means giving into family pressures while being fully aware that she is a victim of stereotype.

One implication, as an educator, is that this means our educational institutions need to lay equal emphasis on nurturing soft-skills that will help children learn how to create trust; build relationships; get buy-in; collaborate and manage varied expectations while working toward a common goal. This is an area that is seriously neglected and when the market place is looking for leaders and innovators, we will still be in serious deficit.

We’re still heavily focused on churning our engineers and MBAs like an automotive plant, and that isn’t going to help build leaders.
All successful men and women have one thing in common - the ability to bring domain knowledge to the table with the ability to create and nurture relationships. In order for all women to be empowered, we need to focus on both.

 Another factor that currently hinders empowerment of women is the general level of respect for women in society. According to the Home Ministry’s National Crime Records Bureau (2008), in India, every 26 minutes a woman is molested, every 34 minutes a rape takes place, and every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped. These statistics are just horrifying. We must teach the youth and children of India to respect women. This is undoubtedly the need of the hour. It is only when she feels safe and respected that the rural Indian woman will emerge to the forefront and seek empowerment.

 While the framework for empowerment of women exists in India today, it is these intangible elements that will create the fabric of a protective and fair eco-system needed to foster the true empowerment of women.

— Ms. Shweta Sastri
Executive director, Canadian International School, Bangalore