Women Empowerment- Indian Context -

-A Case Study-

What is Empowerment

• According to Oxford Dictionary • Give (someone) the authority or

power to do something: members are empowered to audit the accounts of limited companies

• According to Wikipedia • Empowerment refers to

increasing the spiritual, political, social, educational, gender, or economic strength of individuals and communities.

Paper Cutting

Woman empowerment in Pre – independence era(1921-47)

• Under the leadership of Gandhi ji , women participated in social movement against dowry and child marriages

“If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's

superior”.

Q u o t e s

Nehruji at eve of independence

“You can tell condition of nation by looking at the status of its women” Q u o t e s

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar

“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved” Q u o t e s

What is Women Empowerment?Women's empowerment has five components:

oSense of self-worthoRight to have and to determine choices oRight to have access to opportunities and resourcesoRight to have the power to control their own lives, both within and

outside the home oAbility to influence the direction of social change to create a more

just social and economic order, nationally and internationally

Guidelines on women's empowerment, united nations population information network (POPIN) un population division, department of economic and social affairs 1995

“The origin of a child is a mother, a woman. ….she shows a man what sharing, caring, and loving is all about. That is the essence of a woman."

Sushmita Sen, Miss Universe 1994

The real worth of a woman

Current status of women empowerment in India

Women in the population

oTotal population - 1210.2 million (2011){Almost equal to the combined population of U.S.A., Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together}

oWomen population - 586.5 million (48.5%)

oSex ratio (0 – 6 years) – 914 (women/1000 men)

{Lowest since independence}

Educational status of women

Census data 2001,2011, RGI, GOI Department of education, Ministry of Human Resource & Development 2006-07

Economic independence of women

oWork participation of

women(2001) – 25.63%

oUrban: rural ratio of work

participation of women -

11.88: 30.79

oWomen working in

unorganized sectors – 80%

oWomen economically active at

15 years (2009) – 33%

Women who proved themselves

Mallika Srinivasan

oEconomic Times Businesswoman of the year 2006.

oDirector of the Rs 2500 crore Amalgamations Group Tafe.

o In 1986, she joined the family business as the General Manager of Tafe.

oWhen she took over the turnover of the Company was Rs 85 cr.

oAt present, the Company is earning a business over Rs 1,200 cr.

oOn 26th January, 2014, on the eve of the 65th Republic Day she has been awarded ‘Padmashri’ the coveted award of the Indian Government.

A c h i e v e r

Premalatha Pandiarajan the women behind 'Mafoi' Pandia Rajan

• K Pandia Rajan started it in 1992 with a capital of just Rs 60,000.

• Today it is the largest HR services provider and staffing company in India, with a turnover of Rs 435 crore (Rs 4.35 billion).

• Ma Foi has so far helped generate career opportunities for more than 169,000 people in 35 countries.

• Pandia Rajan was born in Vilampatti village in Sivakasi district. His father who was a worker at a match factory died when Pandia Rajan was just three months old. He was brought up by his grandparents in a joint family of about 40 to 50 people .

A c h i e v e r

Ms. Chanda D. Kochhar, Managing Director and

Chief Executive Officer - ICICI • Mrs. Kochhar joined Jaihind College for a

Bachelors Degree in Arts and after graduating in 1982

• Completed her MBA and Cost Accountancy. 

• She did her Masters in Management Studies (Finance) from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and topped her batch and received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies.

• In Cost Accountancy, she received the J. N. Bose Gold Medal for highest marks in that year.

A c h i e v e r

Awards & Recognitions

• Under the leadership of Ms. Kochhar ICICI Bank had won The Asian Banker - “Best Retail Bank in India“award for five consecutive years

• Ranked 20th in the Forbe's list of Most Powerful Women in the World, 2009.

• Ranked 25th in the Fortune’s List of Most Powerful Women in Business, 2008.

• Featured in the list of 25 most powerful women leaders in Business Today, 2008.

• Selected as ‘Rising Star Award’ for Global Awards 2006 by Retail Banker International.

• Awarded Business Woman of the Year 2005 by The Economic Times of India.

• Selected as Retail Banker of the Year 2004

A c h i e v e r

The Lijjat Papad story

• Are you aware of the story of seven illiterate and poor women who borrowed Rs 80 to start a papad business?

• Its turnover from Rs 6,196 in the first year went upto Rs 300 crore in the next four decades

• 40,000 women on its revolutionary march. • The story which reads almost like a fairy-tale

chronicles the growth of an exclusive women's organisation

• Jaywantiben Popat, one of the women involved with this phenomenal spirit, was honoured last year at the ET Awards for her outstanding achievements

• The Lijjat Papad story is an inspirational one,

A c h i e v e r s

Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank• Chetna’s foundation established in 1994 a co-

operative bank that is completely operated by women and serves women customers.

• The bank was established with help of a group of illiterate women and has now grown into a $562,000 firm by the end of 2011.

• In collaboration with HSBC, Mann Deshi Bank established the Udyogini Business School in 2007.

• There are thousands of girls who drop out of school in Maharashtra every year, and Mann Deshi Udyogini aims at providing vocational training and financial training to these young women to enable them to become entrepreneurs,”

A c h i e v e r

SEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association)

• Started as a trade union, registered in 1972, founded by Ela Bhat, it is an organisation of self-employed women workers who earn a living through their own labour or small businesses.

• SEWA sought a two-pronged strategy of full-employment and self-reliance.

• SEWA's membership, which is a nominal Rs. 5 a year, includes women from a cross-section of society — from vegetable and fruit hawkers to home-based weavers, potters and manual labourers.

• It is SEWA's belief that once women achieve employment and economic independence, they will improve the quality of not only their lives but also that of their families.

• Ela Bhatt has been awarded the Padmashri, the Padmabhushan as well as the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

A c h i e v e r

Year Number of Members

1973 320

2002 6,89,551

The real Shakthi of Sakthi Masala

• The success story of an Young Couple – committed for Quality and Social Responsibility

• Grown up from a small Flour mill to a Market Leader

• Employing the highest number of Physically challenged people

• Rs.3000/- to Rs.600 Crores in Three decades

A c h i e v e r

Sudha Murthy

• Sudha Murthy began her professional career as a computer scientist and engineer.

• She is the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and a member of public health care initiatives of the Gates Foundation.

• Sudha completed a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from the B.V.B. College of Engineering & Technology, standing first in her class and receiving a gold medal from the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

• She completed an M.E. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science, standing first and receiving a gold medal

• After graduation, Sudha became the first female engineer hired at India's largest auto manufacturer TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company or TELCO.

A c h i e v e r

Sudha Murthy

• Sudha had written a postcard to the company's Chairman complaining of the "men only" gender bias at TELCO.

• As a result, she was granted a special interview and hired immediately.

• A prolific writer in English and Kannada, she has written nine novels, four technical books, three travelogues, one collection of short stories, three collections of non-fiction pieces and two books for children.

• Her books have been translated into all the major Indian languages and have sold over three lakh copies around the country. She was the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature and the Padma Shri in 2006.

Chinna Pillai• Chinnapillai comes from a small village called

Pulliseri near Madurai

• She is one of the five recipients of the Streeshakti award

• Though most of her compatriots would not recognize her, she has, over the last many years, been quietly organizing poor and illiterate agricultural laborers of Tamil Nadu.

• Chinnapillai, had taken the trouble to wear her best sari and her only pair of rubber Hawaii slippers – worn out as they were -- in honor of the occasion.

• This was why she had, for the first time, travelled so far from home. It was the first time she was to see Atal Bihari Vajpayee face-to-face.

• Which could be why she was overwhelmed when she saw him on the dais. She bent down to touch his feet.

• What happened next came as a complete shock to her.

• The prime minister of India, moved by her simplicity, touched her feet instead.

A c h i e v e r

Economic Empowerment …is it possible?

“Its always seems impossible until its done”

Nelson Mandela( Social Activist and 1st President of South Africa)

Knowing is not enough,

we must apply;

Willing is not enough,

we must do.”….

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (1749 – 1832)

German Writer (Poetry, Drama, Prose, Philosophy & Sciences)

Pictorial artist, Biologist, Theoretical Physicist, Polymath

Any Questions?

I will be glad to answer

Thank You