Women Empowerment: A Challenge of the 21^st Century

Since olden times, women have been treated as second rate citizens of all across the globe. The situation is almost the same everywhere, irrespective of the status of the country, i.e., developed country or the developing country. Despite of the elevated position that she enjoyed, and is still enjoying in the form of being worshipped as goddesses Durga, Kali, Lakshami, Saraswati, etc., the need for women's empowerment arises from the subordinate position they have been accorded for a long time. The empowerment has been felt as a tool to bring about changes in their socio-economic condition. Therefore, our efforts should be directed towards the all-round development of each and every section of Indian women, not confining the benefit to a particular section of women in society, by giving them their due share. Without removing social stigma, enduring progress and development could not be achieved. For this, the governmental and non-governmental organizations including media should come forward and play an active role in creating awareness in society. The present paper discusses the different types of challenges before us as a developing country in the 21^st century to achieve the goal of complete women empowerment and some practical suggestions and strategies to achieve this target.