Kumar, N. Prasanna

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (AJMS)

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies  Available online at www.ajms.co.in 
Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2014    
ISSN: 2321-8819 
 
 75 
Rural Women Empowerment in India 
N.Prasanna Kumar 
Assistant Professor 
Dept of Internationals Business Studies 
Acharya Nagarjuna University Guntur-AP-522510 
Abstract: A Rural woman is the nucleus of the family, particularly, in rural India.  She not only 
collects water, fuelwood, fodder and food but also plays a significant role in preserving the 
culture, grooming the children and shaping their destiny.  Therefore, our Founder, Late Dr. 
Manibhai Desai always emphasized that although women represent only 50% of the total 
population, they contribute 75% to the development of our society while men contribute only 
25%.  Unfortunately, in spite of their laudable and vulnerable roles, which cannot be substituted 
by machine or men, women have been neglected since generations.  This is happening inspite of a 
rural woman being recognized by our ancient saints and culture as not merely a mother but as a  
superior scholarly Institution.  It is said in Manu Samhita (Chapter II, Para 145) Upadhyaayan-
dasacarya acarryanam satam pita; Sahasram tu pitrnmata gauraveratiricyate. “A Guru who 
teaches Veda is 10 times superior to an ordinary teacher and the father is 100 times more than a 
teacher, but the Mother is 1000 times more superior than the father”. 
Key Words:  rural, women, empowerment, social, education, poverty. 
INTRODUCTION 
Empowerment of women that will have lasting 
impacts must involve consciousness raising before 
the social construction of gender, which 
subordinates women in the family, class, caste, 
religion, or society, can be changed. The economic 
empowerment approach has relied on improving 
women's control over economic resources and 
strengthening women's economic security. The 
results also suggest that policies to rise women's 
age at marriage, enhance their educations and open 
greater employment opportunities will also help to 
empower them, at least in some respects. (Adick 
(1995)  Our goal is to cause policy, institutional 
and individual change that will improve the lives of 
women and girls everywhere. 
India has also ratified various international 
conventions and human rights instruments 
committing to secure equal rights of women. The 
Constitution not only grants equality to women, but 
also empowers the State to adopt measures of 
positive discrimination in favor of women. 
Women's empowerment is an important agenda in 
the development efforts. There has been significant 
shift in approach of the district administration 
towards the development of women, especially the 
poor & the illiterate. When you train a woman, you 
help the entire family, the village and the nation. 
The current paper focuses on women's 
empowerment in the domestic sphere—that is, their 
freedom from control by other family members and 
ability to effect desired outcomes within the house 
hold. 
 
EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN 
Empowerment is a multi-faceted, multi-
dimensional and multi-layered concept. Women's 
empowerment is a process in which women gain 
greater share of control over resources - material, 
human and intellectual like knowledge, 
information, ideas and financial resources like 
money - and access to money and control over 
decision-making in the home, community, society 
and nation, and to gain `power'. According to the 
Country  Report of Government of India, 
"Empowerment means moving from a position of 
enforced powerlessness to one of 
power".The process by which people, organisations 
or groups who are powerless a) become aware of 
the power dynamics at work in their life context, b) 
develop the skills and capacity for gaining some 
reasonable control over their lives and c) exercise 
this control without infringing on the rights of 
others and d) support the empowerment of others in 
the community 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 
Education to women is the most powerful 
instrument of changing their position the society. 
Education also brings about reduction in 
inequalities and also acts as a means to improve 
their status within the family. In order to encourage 
education of women at all levels and to dilute 
gender bias in the provision and acquaintance of 
education, schools, colleges and even universities 
were established exclusively for women in the 
State. To bring more girl children, especially from 
marginalized BPL families, into the main stream of 
education, Government has been providing a 
The Concept of Supervenience and the Mind-Body Problem 
 
 
 
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(1) January, 2014 76 
package of concessions in the form of free supply 
of books, uniform, boarding and lodging, clothing 
for hostilities, mid-day meals, scholarships, free 
by-cycles and so on. (Awasthi, O. N. (1993) As a 
result women's literacy rate has grown over the 
three decades and the growth of female literacy has 
in fact been higher than that of male literacy rate. 
Health and well-being 
Health and well-being is a concept related to 
the substantial differences between women and 
men in their access to sufficient nutrition, 
healthcare and reproductive facilities, and to issues 
of fundamental safety and integrity of person. 
According to the World Health Organization, 
585,000 women die every year, over 1,600 every 
day, from causes related to pregnancy and 
childbirth. The complexity of the social and 
cultural issues, combined with the stigma and fear 
of disclosure lead to a situation where only a small 
proportion of the crimes of sexual assault, child 
abuse, wife battering and gun related violence are 
ever reported, making accurate data extremely 
difficult to obtain. 
MAJOR HANDICAPS IN OVERALL 
DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN AND 
SUGGESTIONS TO OVERCOME 
1. Limited access to resources (Land): 
Access to assets is the single most urgent need for 
the upliftment of women in general and farm 
women in particular. Though the Indian legislation 
permits equal right of man & women in property 
yet the condition in actual sense is not so. Rural 
women still do not have ownership on land and the 
pattas are allotted in the name of their husband. 
(Gopalan, S., 1992)  Due to this the cannot take 
independent decision on various agricultural 
aspects. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to 
promote women access to resources.For promoting 
women's access to land, the measures can be- 
 distribution of land to the landless women 
should also be included in the existing 
Govt., 
 Policies on distribution of joint pattas to 
husband & wife and 
 Short term operational ownership of land 
female farmers while giving land on 
leasing may be arranged. 
2. Limited access to input & credit: 
 
Though women make substantial contributors to 
agriculture development, their access to the most 
crucial input credit is limited. Since they are not 
land owners, the credit flow generally goes in the 
name of male members (i.e. owners). For 
promoting women's access to farm input & credit, 
following  may be taken: 
 Credit flow to rural women could be 
channeled through credit & thrift societies. 
 Voluntary agencies in each district may be 
identified which could help in developing 
women organizations. 
 Credit organizations should simplify the 
procedures & modalities to suit the 
educational level of rural women & also 
organize credit camps in village 
exclusively for women. 
 Farm women should also be recipient of 
credit for which possession of assets may 
not be insisted upon. 
 Existing loaning policies of NABARD 
need orientation towards women credit 
eligibility by granting them the status of a 
producer. 
3.Inadequatetechnicalcompetency: 
 
Though women are involved in almost all 
agricultural operations, yet, they have inadequate 
technical competency due to their limited exposure 
to outside world. This has compelled them to 
follow the age old practices which in turn result in 
poor work efficiency and drudgery. Training is an 
important component of HRD which enhances 
knowledge, skill and attitude. (Hernader , 1993) 
For building technical competency among farm 
women, specialized need based and skill oriented 
training should be organized preferably at village 
level. Some of the priority areas in which women 
need training are: 
 Conservation and management of natural 
resources 
 IPM and INM 
 Renewable energy sources 
 Seed production technology 
 Use of fertilizer 
 Post-harvest management 
For effective training programmes, following 
points should be considered. 
i) Extension agencies should pursue the family 
approach to training 
ii) Training should be organized at appropriate time 
specially the pre- seasonal training. 
iii) There should be proper followed-up of the 
programmes and there should be synchronization in 
time between knowledge and skill transfer and the 
supply credit and other inputs needed to apply the 
knowledge. 
The Concept of Supervenience and the Mind-Body Problem 
 
 
 
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(1) January, 2014 77 
iv)  During training, the training institute should 
identify the active participants and intensive 
training should be imparted to them so that they 
can be used as a Opara-extension workers for 
disseminationoftechnicalinformation. 
 
4. Poor participation in decision making : 
Generally, decision regarding the activities 
requiring technical competency and money related 
matters were taken by male members. Since 
knowledge and economic independence are the 
parameters of women empowerment enhancing the 
technical knowledge, skills and building 
greaterinvolvementinvariousfarmactivities. 
 
5. Poor existing Research and Extension System 
No or Poor gender consideration: 
Though several technological breakthrough have 
been observed in the recent past the technologies 
by the researchers are not tailored to the specific 
needs of the farm women. With the result, most of 
the agricultural operations are performed manually 
and in an unskilled manner which results into 
greater drudgery on the part of farm women. In 
order to cater to the technological needs of the farm 
women, there is need to re-orient the entire 
research system for which following measures may 
be taken. In order to make scientific information in 
agriculture and skill areas more useful, it should be 
tested and refined keeping in view the different 
farming situations in socio-cultural milieu. (Mishra 
.S.P., 1996) It would lead to women specific 
technologies. Some of the tasks and operations 
which women are specifically involved and which 
are drudgery prone include transplanting, weeding, 
harvesting, threshing, winnowing etc. Therefore, 
these require special attention of the farm scientist 
for evolving relevant technologies or modifying the 
existing ones.  The design, development and testing 
of agricultural implements and machinery should 
be undertaken with the active participation of rural 
women. In this regard with local artisans will be 
helpful. In essence machinery should be a blessing 
rather than become a curse. While evolving 
agricultural technologies; indigenous practices used 
by women should be paid due attention for 
blending with the frontier ones for greater 
adoption. 
6. Limited exposure to mass media : 
 
The transfer of technology approach which mainly 
includes mass media are also not paying due 
attention towards dissemination of adequate and 
timely agricultural information to the farm women. 
WOMEN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES 
Against the background of the patriarchal system of 
society, the women need special attention to ensure 
their development and participation in the decision 
making process at home, in the community and 
governance. With the objective of bringing about 
economic and social development of women and 
improving their status in the community the 
programme for Women Development was being 
implemented by CSR in and around Tiruchendur of 
Tuticorin district and Thovalai blocks of 
Kanyakumari District. 
The various activities planned and carried out 
are: 
 Formation and Training of Self Help 
Groups 
 Group Development 
 Capacity Building 
 Income Generation Activities 
 Credit and Savings Mobilisation 
 Establishment of linkages 
These activities had made impressive impacts in 
empowering women and improving their economic 
and social status in their families and communities. 
The thrust of the programme is organising women 
and federating them at different level to enhance 
their social status. Due to the entrepreneur 
development skills promoted, the women took up 
various income generating activities as individuals 
and as a group such as mat weaving, dairy farms, 
palm crystal candy making, flour rice, fancy shops, 
petty shops, soap manufacturing, textile business 
and paper cup. So far 58 groups are involved in 
income generating activities and 3173 individuals 
have taken up income generating programmes. 
(Donald F. Kuratko, Richard M. Hodgetts., 1997) 
The federation of women SHGs called 'Sangamam' 
was formed by the members themselves based on 
their own experience and the exposure they 
received. It decided to start a supermarket and a 
building was constructed. As a share of Rs.10,000 
was collected from each SHGs by the federation. 
All the SHG members buy the provisionary items 
from their own Sangamam store and steps are taken 
to distribute the items at their door steps through 
vans. The federation has assumed maximum 
responsibilities and there is ample scope that soon 
it will become fully self sustaining entity. 
Tejaswini Rural Women's Empowerment 
Programme 
Tejaswini means radiance or one who gives light, 
and reflects the objective of the project in moving 
women to a higher level through their collective 
efforts and mutual assistance. (Bhatia Anju (2000) 
This would up-scale and further develops the 
concepts tested in the Maharashtra Rural Credit 
Programme, which IFAD supported from 1994 to 
2002. 
The Concept of Supervenience and the Mind-Body Problem 
 
 
 
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(1) January, 2014 78 
Programme Target Group 
The programme will use lessons drawn from 
previous IFAD implementation experience, which 
suggests targeting in terms of poverty should be 
flexible and responsive to local conditions. In 
Maharashtra the programme would support existing 
groups and groups that will be formed by other 
programmes (in particular TSP, SCP). In Madhya 
Pradesh (MP) it is planned that at least 10% of 
groups being formed of women from the poorest 
households defined in terms of relying on casual 
labour and without any agricultural 
land.Programme Area. In supporting the 
overalldevelopment of MAVIM, the programme 
will cover all 33 rural districts of Maharashtra, and 
about 10,000 villages out of the total of 43,000. 
However the activities to be funded by the 
programme will tend to concentrate on the 16 tribal 
districts and other backward areas. The programme 
would be implemented in six districts of MP. 
(Lalita .N,  2005) These include the three districts 
in the tribal-dominated south-east of the state 
(Balaghat, Dindori, Mandla) and three other 
districts (Panna, Chhattarpur and Tikangarh) in the 
north-east of the state. Although these districts are 
not as poor, gender indicators show women are 
worse off. 
CONCLUSION 
Though they make half of the world population, 
women have remained as an oppressed group from 
the beginning of the history. Though some societies 
regard women as superior in the family and 
community, most of societies of the world have 
been treating women as second class citizens. 
Because of religious and cultural values and 
physical structure, women are forced to remain as 
dominated group around the globe, especially in 
the least developed nations. There is a solid 
evidence of discrimination of women worldwide. 
Even in the most developed nations which boast 
the best human rights situation in their country, 
women's participation in almost fields has been 
minimized because of male dominance. In many 
countries, women are kept as 'prisoners' as they are 
not allowed to participate many social and political 
activities. (Meenu Agrawal, Shobana Nelasco, 
2009)  In a stratified society like ours, access and 
empowerment of different section of the societies 
are becoming serious concerns and to address it 
planners, managers, social scientist all over the 
world have started deliberating and devising way 
out like anything. In this direction genders issues 
are dominating over other vulnerable issues like 
poverty, class conflicts, communities, ethnic issues 
etc. In ensuring an egalitarian development gender 
equity still remains as a pertinent question as it has 
been for the thousands of years of human 
civilization. Gender issues beyond its 
epistemological certainly imbibe other components 
like production relation, access to education, 
geographical distribution, occupational 
imperatives, marital system and even physical & 
physiological weaknesses. (Ram Naresh Thakur 
(2009) 
The present deliberation will go contextual with the 
realm of women's empowerment in sustainable 
agriculture development. The sustainability of 
agriculture development has become a prerogative 
to the women's participation moving across the 
caste. (Shobana Nelasco &  Junofy Antorozarina, 
2009)  Our need is to ascertain and assure the areas 
where women are still far from enjoying the 
minimum privileges and question of empowerment 
has been thrown to a very complex, integrated 
situation the access to resources, institution, 
decision making process and information etc. are 
the pertinent question in making the women 
empowered, confident, and accorded to the main 
stream social processes. 
 
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Rural Women Empowerment in India

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Rural Women Empowerment in India

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