WOMEN EMPOWERMENT In the past, a person’s position was determined by might. Because men were more active in earning, fighting, running a business and so on, they commanded superior position in the society. Many of the world’s cultures were patriarchal. They were necessarily founded on the ground of gender discrimination. So woman played a passive and subservient role in family and society. Absence of woman’s participation in the public affair continued for centuries. They are denied voting rights, paternal property rights until 20th century or even later. Now both perspectives and standards are becoming fairer. Muscle power alone cannot determine a person’s position in our time, the age of justice and inclusion. The fact that woman are not less capable than their male partners, at least in emotional and intellectual aspects, has been universally recognized. Women are no longer going to accept their interior and submissive role either. Women empowerment is a step towards the final goal of gender equality. Reservation cannot be a golden measure for raising woman’s status we must rather work for making them capable in real sense. So women education must get priority. The educated women will be capable to compete with men so that they need no more mercy. It is equally important to rescue woman from male dominated cultures which maintain that women can never be equal to men. Role of enlightened individuals, political parties and media is vital in advocating the topic of gender equality. Children should be introduced non sexist culture from their early age. To sum up the campaign against gender discrimination needs to continue for several years to come up from this. The world is also aware that development is not efficient and sustainable without woman’s prediction. A family treating woman as passive and subservient members is not likely to prosper in the modern time woman must have autonomy over their destiny. They must be enabled to take decision free from their destiny They must be enabled to take decision free from coercion and intimidation. They must get equal treatment in workplace preference to son must end to control the existing high birth rates. Gender equality is thus one of the major concerns of our time. Democracies demand more active and effective role of women. They have policies to end gender discrimination at all levels. There are campaigns for empowerment of women. As a result in recent past some remarkable changes have taken place, at least in the legal political levels. Some women have enjoyed better treatment and participation of public affairs. Women’s empowerment has became a significant topic of discussion in development and economies. It can also point to approaches regarding other trivialized genders in particular political and social context. Women’s economic empowerment refers to the edibility of women of enjoying their rights to control and benefit from resources assets, income and their own time, as well as ability to manage risk and improve their economic status and well being. While often interchangeably used, the more comprehensive concept of gender empowerment refers to people of any gender, stressing the distinction between biological sex and gender as a role. It thereby also refers to other marginalized benders in particular political or social context. Women empowerment is one of the main procedural concerns when addressing human rights and development. So there should also be gender equality. Methods which help to empower women Often, women in developing nations and underdeveloped are legally restricted from their land on the sole basis of gender having a right to their land gives women a sort of bargaining power that they wouldn’t normally have in turn they gain a ability to assert themselves I various aspects of their life both in and outside of the home. Another way to provide women empowerment is to allocate responsibilities to them that which normally belongs to them. When women have economic empowerment it is a way of others to see them as equal members of society. Through this they achieve more self respect and confidence by their contributions to their communities. Simply including women as a part of community can have sweeping positive effects. In a study conducted by Bina Agarwal, Women were given a place in forest conservation group. These are the few methods to empower women: 1. Provide the ticket to education 2. Support girls and women in crisis 3. Mentor a girl close to home 4. Invest in a small business owner 5. Use your voice to end preventable deaths of mothers and children 6. Help a new mom 7. Tell the women in your life that you care 8. Support independent and mobility. 9. Teach women to read and write 10. Increase savings and income 11. Teach job skills and seed business 12. Build self esteem and confidence 13. Boost decision making power 14. Create public leaders 15. Impact health Importance of women in societies Entire nations businesses, communities and groups can benefit from implementation of programmes and policies that adopt the nation of women empowerment. Empowerment is one of the main procedural concerns when addressing human rights and development. The Human development and capabilities approach, the millennium development goals and other credible approaches/ goals point to the empowerment and participation as a necessary step if a county is to overcome the obstacles associated with poverty and development. Many of the barriers to women’s empowerment and equity lie ingrained in cultural norms. Many women feel these pressures while other has become accustomed to being treated inferior to men. Women who were the most dormant segment of Indian population have now become active participants in walks of life. Till now they were only unit of family organizations. Now women are becoming not only significant unit of the society but also influencing the course of social change in society. Women are important elements of our society. The modern society has started recognizing the individual identity of women. She is believed to have her aspiration abilities and qualities as a man does have an it is also agreed that she should have the opportunities to develop her faculties and to express them according to her own choice. Women can help the society in various ways: They can engage in social activities and work for the betterment of society. Young educated girls can get engage in a profession of her choice. We need more doctors, engineers, software developers and social workers. The world cannot grow at good pace unless women come forward and take initiative for the development works. They can contribute enormously in the field of healthcare. Women education will also improve the level of sanitation and hygiene. The role of education Improving education for women helps raise their levels of health and nutrition and reduces fertility rates. Education increases peoples self confidence and enables them to find better jobs, engage in public debate and make demands on government for health care, social security and other entitlements. In particular education empowers women to make choices that improve their own and their children’s health and chance of survival. Education helps o prevent and contain disease and is an essential element of efforts to reduce malnutrition. Further education empowers women to make choices that improve their standard of living and welfare, including about their relationships and marriages, birth control and having children, choices which were inaccessible to women in past generation. Crucially education increases women’s awareness of their human rights and their confidence and actual ability. Research shows that the increasing access to the internet can also result in increased exploitation of women. Releasing personal information on websites has put some women’s personal safety at risk. In 2010 working at halt online agues stated that 73% of women were victimized through such sites. Types of victimization include cyber, stalking, harassment, online pornography and harming. Sexual harassment is particular is a large barrier for women in the workplace. This appears in almost industries but is most notable in the following: business, trade banking, and finance sales and marketing hospitality civil service and education lecturing and teaching. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) sexual harassment is a clear form of gender discrimination based on sex a manifestation of unequal power relations between men and women. Reducing child mortality “Child mortality, also known as under 5 mortality or child death, refers to the death of children under the age of 5 or between the ages of 1 month to 4 years depending on the definition”. Many deaths in developing countries unreported since many poor families cannot afford to register their babies in government registry. The same causes and preventative measures to apply to infant mortality also apply to understanding child mortality. The leading causes of death of children under 5 include 1. Pneumonia 2. Preterm birth 3. Diarrhea 4. Malaria 5. Malnutrition Pneumonia, Diarrhea and Malaria together are the causes of 3 out of every 10 child death before the age of 5 and nearly half of under 5 deaths globally are attributable to under nutrition. Methods to reduce child mortality The methods to reduce child mortality: 1. Appropriate home care and timely treatment of complications for new born. 2. Integrates management of childhood illness for all children under 5 year old 3. Expanded programme on immunization 4. Infant and young child feeding These child health strategies are complimented by interventions for maternal health in particular, skilled care during pregnancy and child birth. The purpose of UNICEF programme is to reduce mortality rate in children under the age of 5, Through vaccination programmes, nutrition programmes and other health care. This still have a lot of work to do. But we already see the situation improving , with child mortality that has actually dropped during the last decade from 213 per thousand children and year to 158, says Amadou Alassane Cisse, a medical doctor who is incharge of UNICEF’s child survival programme in eastern DRC covering 163 health zones. Malnutrition among children is a major problem in the DR.Congo and nutrition with distribution of peanut butter and milk to small children. Is an important part of health programme. The country is green and fertile but although many people actually have access to food, its often not well balanced or nutritious. Manioc Porridge, which forms the staple diet for many does not contain enough proteins, fats or vitamins. When children are malnourished diarrheal diseases, respiratory diseases or epidemics- like measles and polio can pose a mortal danger. Vaccination is another part of UNICEFs programme, but it has to be carried out regularly and reach all children. Importance of child in society Importance of early childhood developments the emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become. That is why understanding the need to invest in very young children is so important, as to maximize their future well being. Babies began to learn about the world around them from very early age- including during the parental prenatal and postnatal period. Children’s early experiences – the bonds they form with their parents and first learning experiences – deeply effect their future physical, cognitive, emotional and social development. Optimising the early years of children’s lives is the best investment we can make as a society in ensuring their future success. Children are important to the community because they are our future. Children are the ones who are very vital for deciding how the world is gonna be after some years. So if one can do some good in the life of children then there can be change, atleast a slight change in the world to come and if most of them think on same lines then we can hope of a better future ahead. Role of education The main component which decides how the person is going to be in the future or the present is the amount of education he or she as within them. Education has to be aimed at the overall development of the child. Rural areas have been major victim of lack of educational facilities that’s were most of the children are deprived even basic education. And coming to urban life its totally insane. Children are means of cheap labour who rarely speak against their masters. There were many drives which are aimed at child labour but if the child itself is willing to work or parents are not ready to take their child back, then nothing can be effective or nothing will work. The only way do it is to change the education of such children. Conclusion: Women have been empowered through women’s art in many ways as we have explained in much analysis. Although at the same time they have had to struggle a lot to gain this power and get their voice heard. The artists Cindy Sherman, Frida Kahlo and Barbara Krugar have used paintings, Photos and texts and their slogan very cleverly to portray their message. Although in some ways it projects and highlights even more the anxieties they faced in politics and public sphere. Women empowerment has 5 components: Women’s self sense worth their right to have and determine choices their right to have access to opportunities and resources their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social economic order nationally and also internationally. Women empowerment refers to increasing and improving the social, economic, political, and legal strength of the women to ensure equal right to women and to make them confident enough to claim their rights such as: 1. Freely live their life with a sense of self-worth respect and dignity 2. Have complete control of their life, both within and outside of their home and workplace. Child mortality is an issue we deal with globally. As time as progress, death rates of children under the age of 5 have dropped significantly but have not completely come to an end. Totally we can overcome this problem. With proper medication, good nutrition, sanitary living environments, we can reduce child mortality rate further. There are countless ways we can help. To start off, send in donations and contribute to your local food bank! Lets make a change and save some lives Experience: I visited shanthi kiran women self help group and gave a talk about women empowerment and reducing child mortality. The topic included was how to empower woman and the role of education to woman in society, Also included the topic how to reduce child mortality and the role of education to child in society. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------