Page 207 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification Sukanya Das, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 10: Women's Empowerment

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
10.1 Status of Women : Continuity and Change
10.2 Women and Employment
10.3 Women’s Empowerment
10.4 Summary
10.5 Key-Words
10.6 Review Questions
10.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Describe the Status of Woman : Continuity and Change.
• Discuss the Women and Employment.
• Explain the Women’s Empowerment.

Introduction

Empowerment of women, also called gender empowerment, has become a significant topic of
discussion in regards to development and economics. Entire nations, businesses, communities,
and groups can benefit from the implementation of programs and policies that adopt the notion 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 empowerment and
participation as a necessary step if a country is to overcome the obstacles associated with poverty
and development.
Gender empowerment can be measured through the Gender Empowerment Measure, or the GEM.
The GEM shows women’s participation in a given nation, both politically and economically. Gem
is calculated by tracking “the share of seats in parliament held by women; of female legislators,
senior officials and managers; and of female profession and technical workers; and the gender
disparity in earned income, reflecting economic independence.” It then ranks countries given this
information. Other measures that take into account the importance of female participation and
equality include: the Gender Parity Index and the Gender-related Development Index (GDI).
One way to deploy the empowerment of women is through land rights. Land rights offer a key
way to economically empower women, giving them the confidence they need to tackle gender
inequalities. Often, women in developing nations 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 the ability to assert themselves in 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 normally belong to men. When women have economic
empowerment, it is a way for others to see them as equal members of society. Through this, they

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