As, the woman’s day approaches, The world will celebrate the power of woman, her remarkable achievements, while in India, we would be patting our back on the incredible journey of a woman. But, wait!! Are we really empowered? Are we going ahead with the pace that actually matters? Or are we just camouflaging the truth for a ‘feel good ‘factor.
It’s high time, we all get a reality check done! Only then can the term “Woman Empowerment” will really make some sense!
Recently, Forbes announced their “28th annual billionaires” list. The world went gaga on the no. of women who have made their marks on the list. But, before we could have experienced an euphoria, we read ahead and found out, a record number of 42 women broke into the list for the first time, although only 32 female billionaires (1.9% of the total) built their own fortune, rather than inheriting it from a parent or husband.
If we further breakdown, and count the no. of Indian Woman who have built their own empire , the figure would be really substandard. In the top 10 Indians who have been listed, only one is a Female, So you can see, where we have drawn our logics from.
Yes, it is important to rejoice and acknowledge the achievements of the woman, But at the same time, we can smell the danger, of living in a perpetual denial.
Eye-opener: According to the Centre for Social Research (CSR) “A few studies that have been conducted on the issue of women's representation in management jobs reveals that women are lagging far behind men in managerial jobs.
Globally, women comprise around 10 percent of senior management positions in Fortune 500 companies. In India, their presence is known to range between a high of 5.8 percent to a low of roughly 3 percent of all administrative positions. That is 2 women per 100 economically active men take administrative and managerial positions in India.
Recently the Confederation of Indian Industry released a study; India is lagging far behind world’s average in female representation in management. Indeed, it is hard to imagine that women constituting 48 percent of population, 48 percent of the marginal and 17 percent of the main workers, they take only 2-3 percent administrative and managerial positions. This discrepancy clearly sheds light on the solid “glass ceiling” that Indian women face in their professional career.
This is not all, a recent G-20 survey ranked India as the worst place to be a woman. Female feticide, domestic violence, sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence constitute the reality of most girls’ and women who live in India.
So, before we label ourselves as the country which is heading towards the woman empowerment, we need to take few steps back and rethink on these grounds!
The picture painted by these data and research shows a gruesome view of our country. But, as they say, there is always another side. The side, we are holding on to. The side we rely upon.
There is immense untapped potential in the women of our country, waiting for the world to uncover. We need to work on the grass root level, only then can change really happen. We need to extend the power of choice in the hands of a woman and educate them to choose wisely.
For we know, right from our mythologies to the realities of today, if a woman wants it, she gets it! She has everything that commands”Power”..!!
No comments:
Post a Comment