Resumo de Women Empowerment

WOMEN?S EMPOWERMENT

India is a country of contradictions. At the heart of the contradiction stand Indian women: for it is true to say that they are among the most oppressed in the world, and it is equally true to say that they are among the most liberated, the most articulate and perhaps even the most free.

Casual visitor to any Indian city ? for example Mumbai ? will see hundreds of women, young and old, working in all kinds of professions: doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, scientists... and yet newspapers in India are full of stories of violent incidents against women, of rape, sexual harassment, sometimes even murder. But to have a woman in the highest office of the State and to simultaneously have extreme violence against women are merely the two ends of the scale. As always, a more complex reality lies in between.
At the time, salt-making was a monopoly and earned considerable revenues for the British. Gandhi began his campaign by going on a march ? the salt march ? through many villages, leading finally to the sea, where he and others broke the law by making salt. No woman had been included by Gandhi in his chosen number of marchers. But nationalist women protested, and they forced him to allow them to participate The first to join was Sarojini Naidu, who went on to become the first Indian woman President of the Indian National Congress in 1925. Her presence was a signal for hundreds of other women to join, and eventually the salt protest was made successful by the many women who not only made salt, but also sat openly in marketplaces selling, and indeed, buying it. Sarojini Naidu's spirit lives on in thousands of Indian women today. Thus, the need for women empowerment.
The women empowerment in India today is a rich and vibrant movement, which has spread to various parts of the country. It is often said that there is no one single cohesive movement in the country, but a number of fragmented campaigns. Activists see this as one of the strengths of the movement which takes different forms in different parts. Although scattered and fragmented, it is a strong and plural movement.
Common forms of violence perpetrated against Indian women include:
o Female foeticide (selective abortion based on the foetus? gender);
o Domestic violence;
o Dowry death;
o Mental and physical torture;
o Sexual trafficking; and
o Public humiliation.
The need of the hour is to step out of our confines and take some action against these crimes which are being committed every hour in almost every town of our country.
It is important to recognise that for a country of India's magnitude, change in the issues involving the women empowerment will not come easy. For every step the movement takes forward, there will be a possible backlash, a possible regression. As activists never tire of repeating: out of the deepest repression is born the greatest resistance.

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