Women empowerment in India; is it a myth?

It is said that if a girl is educated, she becomes empowered or if she starts earning her own money she is empowered. But does that really happen in our society? Women empowerment is highly debated topic and it is difficult to find one single definition of women empowerment. The term is highly relative. A woman who earns good money but is a slave at home will not be categorized as empowered in true terms. Again, women who earn very little but are respected at home can be termed a empowered women. The term varies from place to place, from religion to religion and from country to country. The objectives of the study are to assess women empowerment in true terms in society, to find out how decision making of woman affects society, to find out how violence is taken as an instrument for women who are empowered in true terms and to offer useful suggestions in the light of this finding. This paper is mainly descriptive and analytical in nature. We obtained data from various sources like NFHS and Crime Records Bureau regarding violence against women. Primary survey was done among 200 married women. Random sampling was used for the study. On one hand a woman is being educated or made financially independent so that she can take her own decisions, but on other hand when she takes important decisions like marriage or not accepting dowry or deny harassment, she is either killed or acid is being thrown on her. So women empowerment should not only confine to empowerment of woman, it also needs empowerment of the society, to be very specific empowerment of man so that he can accept her decision readily. To achieve women empowerment in its true terms a holistic approach is needed.