Women and Youth empowerment

 “Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself”

Before talking about the women and youth empowerment, firstly we have to understand, what is the meaning of empowerment.

Empowerment: what is it?

Empowerment is a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power in people for use in their own lives, their communities and in their society, by acting on issues they define as important.

Moreover, empowerment is a process that challenges our assumptions about the way things are and can be. It challenges our basic assumptions about power, helping, achieving, and succeeding.

To demystify the concept of empowerment, we need to understand the concept broadly, in order to be clear about how and why we narrow our focus of empowerment for specific programs and projects.

At the core of the concept of empowerment is the idea of power. The possibility of empowerment depends on three things. Firstly, empowerment requires that power can change, if it is inherent in positions or people, then empowerment is not possible, nor conceivable in any meaningful way.

Secondly, the concept of empowerment depends upon the idea that power can expand. Power if often related to our ability to make others do what we want, regardless of their own interests. Moreover, we often treat power as a commodity in a way, which unchangeable. And that’s blunder we think, by recognising that power exists in isolation and inherent to individuals. Contrary, empowerment as a process of change then becomes meaningful concept.

Thirdly, empowerment depends upon the ability to say no, when we don’t our behaviour or attitude considers as vulnerable or seems as we are trying to pleased someone, which has inherent negative notation for own respect.

Youth empowerment:

The Youth represent the most dynamic and vibrant segment of the population. India is one of the youngest nations in the World, with about 65 per cent of the population being under 35 years of age. While most of these developed countries face the risk of an ageing workforce, India is expected to have a very favourable demographic profile.

It is estimated that by the year 2020, the population of India would have a median age of 28 years only as against 38 years for United States, 42 years for China and 48 years for Japan. This ‘demographic dividend’ offers a great opportunity. However, in order to capture this demographic dividend, it is essential that the economy has the ability to support the increase in the labour force and the youth have the appropriate education, skills, health awareness and other enablers to productively contribute to the economy.

This demands the commitment of the entire nation to all-round development of the youth of India, so that they can realize their full potential and contribute productively to nation-building process. This can be done by empowering youth. 

The United Nations Human Settlements Program (UNCHS-Habitat) defines youth empowerment as “the circumstances and factors which enhance the development of citizenship and productiveness among young people as they move into adulthood. The word 'empowerment' means giving power.

The need for empowering youth arises due to the following reasons:-

• To enable youth to acquire such knowledge, skills and techniques which will help them in their personal and social growth as well as foster in them sensitivity towards problems in the society.

• To promote national integration and international understanding by developing youth leadership and providing a forum for youth from diverse background.

• To promote regional co-operation and exchange between people of various countries.

• To foster initiatives for unfolding the potential of youth through a constant process of self evaluation and self -exploration.

• To promote research in youth work.

In Substance with the India:

The National Youth Policy, 2014, seeks to define the vision of the government of India, for the youth of the country and identify the keys areas in which action is required to achieve their full potential and through them enable India to find its rightful place in the community of nations in the area of, education, employment and skill development, entrepreneurship, health and healthy lifestyle, sports, promotion of social values, community engagement, participation in politics and governance, youth engagement, inclusion and social justice.

National Youth Policy, 2014

The government has launched the National Youth Policy (NYP 2014) to cater the needs of youth in India. It is a comprehensive policy document that states the vision of the Government of India (GOI) for the youth of the country and also how this vision is sought to be realised by the government.

NYP-2014 caters to needs of the youth in the age-group of 15-29 years, which constitutes 27.5 per cent of population. The target groups identified are-

(i) Student Youth

(ii) Migrant Youth

(iii) Rural Youth

(iv) Tribal Youth

(v) Youth At Risk

(vi) Youth in violent conflicts

(vii) out of school/dropouts

(viii) groups with social /moral stigma

(ix) Youth in Institutional Care.

Young women, Youth belonging to socially and economically disadvantaged communities /groups, and differently abled youth form the three priority groups among the target age group.

NYP 2014 identifies the vision and the five key objectives for youth development that are further sub-divided into 11 priority areas. It further suggests policy imperatives that should be implemented in each of these identified priority areas. The concerns of target groups and the priority groups therein, shall be addressed through a subsequent action plan based on policy interventions.

NYP 2014 seeks to achieve a productive workforce through education, skill development for better employability and entrepreneurship training; a healthy generation with sports as a way of life; a sense of community service and strong social values; high levels of participation in governance; and social inclusiveness by creating equitable opportunities for all. The thrust areas are promotion of National values, social harmony, national unity, and empowering youth through employable skills, education, health, sports and recreation, gender justice, participation in community service, environment and local governance.

The NYP 2014 will be implemented in four steps –

• GOI will formulate an action plan within 6 months for the implementation of the policy across all the concerned ministries and department;

• The MYAS also constituted a Youth Council consisting of exceptional youth from across the country to oversee the implementation of the policy;

• A set of short-term and long-term indicators for measuring the success of the policy; and

• The youth are encouraged to engage their elected representatives and the government if there is any shortcomings in the implementation of youth oriented schemes as outlined in the NYP. Youth Development Index will include the indices viz. Youth Health Index, Youth Education Index, Youth Work Index, Youth Amenities Index, and Youth Participation Index.

Women empowerment:

"To awaken the people, it is the women who must be awakened. Once she is on the move, the family moves, the village moves, the nation moves"

India as a nation is revered in a feminine form i.e. 'the Bharat Mata', the first citizen of our country presently is a woman, many important government posts are occupied by women and educated women are pouring into the professional workforce with profound implications for national and multinational corporations.

However, ironically, these are accompanied by news about dowry killings, female infanticide, domestic violence against women, sexual harassment, rape, illegal trafficking and prostitution and myriad others of the same ilk. Gender discrimination prevails in almost all areas, be it social, cultural, economic or educational. An effective remedy for these evils needs to be sought in order to ensure the Right to Equality guaranteed by the Constitution of India, to the fairer sex. Gender equality facilitates the empowerment of women. Since education begins at home, the upliftment of women would be accompanied by the development of the family, the society and in turn, would lead towards a holistic development of the nation.

During their youth, females face the problem of early marriage and childbirth. They are not cared for properly during pregnancy leading to many cases of maternal mortality.

A National Commission for Women (NCW) has been set up. Other measures by the government include provision of reservation in representation and education, allocation for the welfare of women in the five year plans, provision of subsidized loan facilities and so on. The year 2001 has been declared as the 'women empowerment year' by the Government of India and 24th January as the National Girl Child Day.

Mass campaigns need to be organized especially in the villages in favour of survival of the female child and provision of human rights for her, including education and health. It is essential to dispel the ghosts of the past and place women on an equal footing with men in order to pave the way for their empowerment, social, economic and educational. Empowering women and thus rebuilding the society would take the nation on a path of greater development, "Countries and Nations which do not respect women have never become great nor will ever be in future".

With women projected to compromise a majority of the world’s urban dwellers and head increasing numbers of households, gender equality in employment, housing, health and education is vital to ensure the prosperity of the cities of the future, women empowerment is more crucial than ever.

The feminization of the global labour force tends to be associated with urbanisation, with the related concentration of women in export-manufacturing, the service sector and Information, Communication and Technology (ICT). Adding that women, especially the urban poor, are disadvantaged in terms of equal access to employment, housing, health and education, asset ownership, experiences of urban violence, and ability to exercise their rights.

Positive Discrimination in favour of women and youth, has been an important integration and development tool for political leadership and enable them better participation in decision making.