Description

Empowerment is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept. Empowerment of women is a process in which women acquire greater share of control over resources ? material, human, intellectual and financial and control over the decision making system in the family, community, society, nation to gain ?power?.
Women are instrumental in shaping the society and play a major role in raising the economic resources for the family, though their contribution is always underemphasized and education has been of central significance to the development in this field. It is recognized as one of the critical elements of the national development and is vital importance for the nation, as it is a powerful tool to build knowledge-based society of the 21st century. But, there are wide disparities in the GER of education in urban and rural areas, gendered and community-wise and so on.
In order to provide the women the same platform where the men are standing, the Governments are adopting many measures and formulating different types of plans and programmes. The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the state to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. The government has framed legislation and special schemes which empower the women with the aim of giving a better say in decision making. Despite several efforts to raise the social status of women for more than a century, India still ranks very low among the 177 nations on gender equity according to the Human Development Index.
Woman has become a target of social, political and economic exploitation. ?Invisible hand?, ?Should women count??, ?Second sex? etc. all these peculiar phrases are often visible even after almost seven decades of India?s independence. This edited volume is trying to answer the questions which frequently rise in the field of educational status of women in India and need of their empowerment. The contributors from various disciplines have approached the topic in different ways.