Impact of Education on Women Empowerment in India

Education, Employment and Women Empowerment

Abstract

Women's empowerment is the process in which women expand and recreate what it is that they can be, do, and accomplish in a circumstance that they previously were denied. And, that is possible only when we educate a woman that does not only mean a school’s conventional learning but also refers to every form of education that aims at improving the knowledge, and to develop the vocational skills. Women’s education and their empowerment is still a very hot topic of discussion in India that needs to be addressed for the development of the country.  According to the statistics released by the latest census of 2011, India’s female literacy rate is 65.46%, significantly lower than the world average of 79.7% as well as approximately 15% lower than the literacy rate of men in India. China, India’s neighbour and the other global human resource powerhouse, precedes with 82.7% female literacy rate. Though The Right to Education (RtE) Act, introduced in 2009 making elementary education free and compulsory in the country, has been a shot in the arm for many, still the statistics do not sound good at all. Indeed, India has seen a rapid growth and the development of Women for Education in past years after implementing some women-friendly campaigns such as "Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao" so well but the Indian development model has yet to completely incorporate the important role played by women for propelling the socio-economic growth. Rather the culture of many Indian families of spending much more money on the marriages of the girls more than their education especially in higher and specialized education is pulling our country back-foot. Here, a big question also arises that how many Indian women are encouraged and aware about the government plans also for fostering Vocational and Technical education for girls as well as for providing them with the employability in different areas.