National development through women empowerment

Women, world over, have been victims of gender discrimination and gross injustice and have always been at the receiving end, in all spheres of life. Discrimination against women was the result of a hidden economic structure which had essentially been defined in relation to the way in which surplus labor was extracted from the producing classes. Although, things have changed over a period of time, women are yet to find a space and position as far as policy making and decisions are concerned. Through this paper we try to explore why empowerment of women is crucial for the growth of a country like India and the need to involve women in major policy decisions relating to the development of a nation. The paper further highlights the interrelatedness between women and nature and how the intrinsic knowledge that women possess can be utilized for managing climate change and bringing about sustainable development. We also try to identify the numerous ways by which women could contribute to the social, political and economic growth of a nation, because of the uniqueness of their gender.