Women, Employment and Empowerment

Empowerment of women through gainful employment is a constituent – as well as instrument – of development in any country. No country can be deemed developed if half of its population is severely disadvantaged in terms of basic needs, livelihood options, access to knowledge, and political voice. A natural corollary of ensuring gender equality is the elimination of gender discrimination. Strong national machineries for the advancement of women and promotion of gender equality require political commitment at the highest level. Reforms to meet the challenges of the changing world are essential to ensure women’s equal access to institutions and organizations. Effective and coordinated plans and programmes for the full implementation of women-oriented policies require a clear research-based knowledge of ground realities of the socio-economic status of women, particularly rural women. The realization of the goals of women empowerment needs to be supported by the allocation of necessary human and financial resources for specific and targeted activities to ensure gender equality at the local, regional, national, and international levels as well as by enhanced and increased international cooperation. The present work is an attempt to unravel the intricate relationship between women’s work and their empowerment. It adopts a holistic approach to explore interface between the nature of work performed by women and indicators of their empowerment.