Women empowerment in India -A way ahead in 21^st century

The life of women in India is not so far easy. If we listen to the news or read news paper we would have gone through numerous incidents and accidents with women in India. Our culture is strongly based on gender based discrimination where women are always considered as secondary importance. Previously in our culture women were treated as equals, the concept of “India” itself evolved quite recently, relative to the sum of its past histories. But the TRUTH is that in the modern India, the woman has always been a second grade citizen, no matter what its esteemed leaders have said or done. Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities. Women empowerment in India is a challenging task as we need to acknowledge the fact that gender based discrimination is a deep rooted social malice practiced in India in many forms since thousands of years. Formulating laws, legislations and policies are not enough as it is seen that most of the times these laws and policies just remain on paper. The ground situation on the other hand just remains the same and in many instances worsens further. Addressing the malice of gender discrimination and women empowerment in India is long drawn battle against powerful structural forces of the society which are against women's growth and development. This paper will highlights on issues of women in Indian context.