A Study of Measures Taken For Women Empowerment in Thane District

Abstract

Empowerment literally means enable or authorize . When we talk of empowerment of women, it entails political, social, economic and cultural aspects. Translating this into practical lives means conditions wherein women can live life without any fear of discrimination, alarm and have access and control of resources and opportunities in all these areas of life. An idealistic approach is to make laws that promote gender equality, setup institutions to implement these laws and most important, spread awareness and education about them so that the just and fair conditions are created for all. Empowerment of women would necessarily mean redefining the notions of feminist and masculinity as well as changing man-woman relationship. This is something more and more women are now talking about. Contrary to the rumours which are spread, feminists are not against men. They are against patriarchy as a system, against aggressive masculinity. They want men who are gentle and caring. The new models of good men for women are not muscular, aggressive and supermen but men like Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, Gurn Nanak, Buddha. They want husbands who can not only act as fathers but also as mothers. In order to fight against the socially constructed gender biases, women have to swim against the stream that requires more strength. Such a strength comes from the process of empowerment. The discrimination of women from womb to tomb is well known. Women empowerment cannot be possible unless women come up with help to self-empower themselves. Therefore, it was necessary to study the efforts taken by Government, NGOs and private sector for women empowerment in study area. This study tried to answer some questions regarding empowerment of women they are what is women empowerment? What are mechanisms for women empowerment? what are the efforts taken by the Government, NGO s and private sector for women empowerment? What are the perceptions of women towards efforts taken by Government, NGOs and private sector for their empowerment? newline2. Significan