Gracy Anand
Since ancient times women have not been denied legal, social, and educational rights in India but certainly in practice they have been more preoccupied and confined to domestic affairs and that is where their social subordination began.
Despite such subjugation, women have survived important roles such as bold householders, strong mothers, queens, administrators, warriors, elected representatives and leaders. Therefore, despite oppression and denial, India has, time and again, truly experienced the shakti of this female creative force.
India is considered as one of the world greatest democracies and world’s fastest growing economy ;an achievement only made possible through ensuring education for all and gender equality.
Promoting women education and ensuring female literacy have been the major factors behind India’s success. The statistics reveal an unprecedented growth in development and women education in the past few decades- India is progressing fast towards her never seen before socio economic development as more and more Indian women are becoming part of its economy; through, their education and empowerment.
It’s well said that any society that denies and discourages women from boldly participating in the learning process is only encouraging biased patterns that are deeply rooted in promoting the influential masculine identity.
“When a girl is educated, she is empowered. She can make her own decisions, raise the standard of living for her family and children, create more job opportunities, and reform society as a whole. As a result, a shift in attitudes toward girl child education in India is urgently needed. Every girl child deserves to be treated with love and respect. If all girls complete their education and participate in the workforce, India could add a whopping $770 billion to the country’s GDP by 2025!”
Childs Right and You (CRY).
Things we lag and need to improve –
- Gender Discrimination
While we progress fast to become world’s super power one day; gender inequality is the reality that screams in our society even today. Even the educated and working urban women are not aloof from the experiences of gender bias, not to mention the women in rural areas.
- Crime against women
Women of India are much more susceptible to violence and threat than the men. Many crimes against women are still prevalent in Indian society, like- dowry, domestic violence, flesh trade, sexual harassment etc. such crimes only restrict the women folk to step out of their houses and enter schools or even offices, for that matter.
- Lack of Security
Women working even in the safest cities of the country, lack the courage to transit alone during late night hours. Such incidents are also responsible for high female school dropout rate. It is the responsibility of the government and the society as well to ensure a girl’s safe transit to school, ensuring her education.
An educated woman is like a magic wand which brings prosperity, health and pride. We just have to unleash her potential and see the magic happen. Factors restricting the growth of women education in India are mainly societal, and we need to recognize them and eliminate them, if we want to achieve the goals of socio-economic development.
