यत्रनार्यस्तुपूज्यन्तेरमन्तेतत्रदेवताः
(God resides there, where women are respected)
The 9th Mega Vibrant Vadodara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Expo, 2014 sighted an auditorium full of women from various backgrounds of society on the “Make in India: Women Empowerment Through Skill Development” seminar. The chief speakers were Anar Patel (Co-founder of ManavSadhna), Sonal Mishra (IAS, Gujarat – 1997) and Tejal Amin (Chairperson, Navrachana Education Society) who addressed different issues regarding women empowerment of women in India and their growth. There are many motivators like these dignitaries in the society who think for the society’s up-liftment keeping a major vision for women empowerment. What makes a society think differently for women is a major concern these days for making India a better place to live. Rural women’s upgradation which gathers attention as far as development of the country is concerned, encompasses many talents that are put together to make something fruitful out of it. Encouragement, motivation, inspiration etc. is all we need today for the women to grow.
While M/s Anar Patel was touching certain important issues regarding women and sharing her life experiences, she talked about a woman who gave her back a heart-taking answer. A woman, mother of three was sexually abused everyday by her husband and nobody supported her, as the abuse was done by her own husband. First thing which can be highlighted here would be marriage doesn’t give you any kind of permission to have a forceful physical relation with wife. Further on, when M/s Anar Patel gave her a solution for her problem, she said that she don’t want any solution; She just want people to listen to her. Now here is a big issue that women face every time and that is their voices remain unheard. Why can’t we stop men, husband, brother etc. from doing such inhuman practices of sexually abusing their wives, sisters? Very rightly said by her that India needs spiritual capital to overcome the problem and issues of women and which when taken into consideration women empowerment can have a healthy flow.
M/s Sonal Mishra pointed out few key aspects of women empowerment through robust education system. She believes that talent should be in place and it should be mixed up with the demands emerging in the industrial realms in India. As a result more and more women entrepreneurs would develop in the developing nation. She further also explained that schools should start giving entrepreneurial trainings to the students to make them ready for future competencies. Young entrepreneurs can be motivated and should be encouraged by society to perform their responsibilities by giving back to the society. The issues that should not be tolerated are lack of motivation from family and society, social, economic and psychological dependency on men, destruction of inner voice etc.
M/s Tejal Jani focused more on the educational aspect of women for their empowerment. She believes that a society can grow only when, women are educated. More and more educational institutes should be set up in our country along with the programs encouraging women to participate in a good cause of sensitizing and educating themselves and women like them.
Following are the excerpts from the seminar which are quoted:
“I believe crafts and handicrafts should be encouraged as rural women can create employment for themselves out of it. Introspection should be done by all and that can lead them to the three steps for women empowerment; ‘Who am I?’, ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘How can I give back to the society?’ If we don’t use time judiciously with these three questions, then women empowerment can certainly be demolished. I also think gender equality is very important in society.”
– Anar Patel
“I think there are these six dimensions in which women empowerment revolve. 1. Education. 2. Political Participation. 3. Self-confidence. 4. Economic empowerment. 5. Health and Nutrition. 6. Asset base”.
– Sonal Mishra
“I believe that there should be proper education system for women and girls for making them independent and live their lives as per their own terms and conditions. There should be skilled workforce which would be the motivating educational model for girls and women. We need to marry education and skills to build future competencies for growth and development of society.”
– Tejal Amin
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