Government’s Initiative Schemes and Programmes for Women's Empowerment : A Critical Analysis of Bihar

Abstract

Empowerment is an active multi-dimensional process enabling women to realize their identity and power in all spheres of life. Women's empowerment could be considered as a process in which women gain a greater share of control over resources, material, human, and intellectual resources like knowledge, information, ideas, and financial resources like money and control over decision-making, community, society, and the nation, and to gain power. Empowerment can be broadly categorized into (a) Educational, (b) Economic, (c) Psychological, (d) Social, and (e) Political empowerment, where women are used as a strategy to achieve the above dimensions. In most regions of the world, women receive less formal education than men, and at the same time, women's own knowledge, abilities, and coping mechanisms often go unrecognized. The lack of women's empowerment in Bihar is due to a lack of women’s education, gender stereotypes, patriarchal norms and structure, patriarchal oppression, caste system, fewer employment opportunities, dowry system, child marriage, lack of skill development in women, and lack of awareness about women’s reservation in society. Here, in this paper attempt has been made to see the role of education in attaining empowerment in general and for women in particular. Key Words: - Empowerment, Multi-dimensional, Gender Stereotype, Patriarchal Norm, and Structure.