Pramadaya India Foundation being an NGO working towards women empowerment in India, we have meticulously designed comprehensive, integrated and sustainable workshops and programmes to groom the marginalised and rural women and uplift their socio-economic status. 

In 2022, the total women population in India stood at 685 million with an annual growth rate of 1.75%. 

Women empowerment has been one of the most cardinal tools for development of our country nowadays. Women across India have proved themselves actively as a leader, literally overcoming others in all the fields. Women Empowerment in India highly relies on various aspects including the demographic distribution, socio-economic status, educational status, family background, exposure to societal norms and taboos, to name a few.  Various government initiatives have been launched at regional, state and national levels to bring about the empowerment of every woman, whether residing in rural or urban dwellings. In Spite of this, women still face discrimination and partiality in various sectors like education, employment, sports, economic offers, health and medical facilities, politics, social media and in general the society. This substantially indicates the void between the planning and advancements on the community levels. 

Ever since its establishment, Pramadaya India Foundation has put in efforts to uplift the individuals at community level by catering to their various needs and challenges. We’ve been particularly active in rural, backward and underdeveloped areas where the resources are not easily available. We’ve covered health, agriculture, education, humanitarian, community services and animal welfare. Our particular area of interest has also been women empowerment where we have organised different skill development programmes for the rural and backward women. This has helped them to not only earn a livelihood but also earn a respectful status in the society.

 THE NEED OF THE HOUR 

Planning and application of a solid framework, permanent policies, emanating awareness amongst the masses and educating the youth regarding the challenges and concerns can accomplish our desired goals and emancipate the plight of Indian women in the community. However, women empowerment in India, till now, has been limited to only providing equal rights to women. It is not only about this. Providing a sense of acceptability, respectfulness and integrity in the workforce has to be administered as well. Pramadaya India Foundation has been working in this direction.

What all factors affect Women Empowerment in India?

Gender Bias 

The first and foremost challenge that the women of India face is gender based discrimination i.e. patriarchal preachers believing that they cannot do certain things just because they are “women”. As shameful as it sounds, this kind of discrimination has existed in almost all the realms. Although in recent years, this has markedly decreased but there are still many areas where it exists. Indian women must indulge in decision making at local, regional and national level. They must be offered merit based recognition so that they can shape their future as they desire. 

Education 

Education has always been a reference to measure growth and advancement in society. It is one of the most powerful tools for women empowerment in India. According to data, the Indian female literacy rate stood at 70.3% in the year 2017-18. Over time this rate has substantially increased. However, does this indicate that there has been widespread women empowerment in India? The answer is clearly a no. The reason behind this is that even though a woman is educated, she is not allowed to take up professional work or leave her home for the same. The expectations of society have captivated the professional freedom of women in India. Moreover, there are many housewives who hold a professional degree in various fields but are unemployed owing to family pressure and liabilities. 

Over the past few years, Pramadaya has observed this trend and has carefully worked on this path. Pramadaya India has organised various skill development programmes which have been free of cost. Not only this, we have given stipends to the women participating in our development programmes. We have also signed contracts with these women and promised them to offer 1 year of complete employment in the area of their skill development. This has been done to ensure that rural women, even though educated, do not forget or wane their skills over a period of time. We have also encouraged them to take up work in different fields and boosted them morally. 

Motivating and educating women

Our primary aim has been to provide elementary education to women belonging to different backward areas of the society. For this, our NGO has organised free education programmes for young girls of rural areas. Our approach has been to provide free education by inducting in them the importance of it and enlightening them about the future prospects.

By educating young girls and even adult women, we can provide them with a defence to withstand different challenges of the society and to counteract the orthodox and rudimentary thinking of the society. It also allows them to postpone early marriage thereby constricting the volume of their families. 

Social Media to bring about the change 

In an era of technology, social media has reached almost every household. While it can be destructive sometimes, most of the time we can put it to good use as well. Social media can be a good platform to raise concerns and spread awareness about the challenges faced by our Indian women. Further, information and knowledge can be imparted regarding the society’s myths, importance of girl child education and day to day problems. It can also be used to propagate various government run schemes, programmes and projects organised by NGOs to help women find a right direction. 

Pramadaya’s Initiative: Opportunity and vocational training in arts and crafts 

During the times of COVID-19,  Pramadaya India Foundation started various initiatives to provide skill development training to rural women, women living in marginalised areas and even housewives. Since the masks were the need of the hour during that time, our NGO provided sewing machines to rural women across Orissa and Bihar. They were given training to manufacture COVID-19 masks. And to make them even more attractive, the women hand painted them with Madhubani art, the folk art of Bihar. 

We also offered work from home initiatives to housewives during pandemic. This was to ensure that single mothers, unmarried girls and those having no major financial support didn’t suffer during the pandemic 

Must Read: Pramadaya India Foundation’s Adolescence Programme 

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Priority should be plopped on enrolment along with retention of the girl child in basic formal schooling and non-formal education via incentive methods like a supply of textbooks free of cost, midday meals, school bags, science kits, uniform, scholarship, residential and hostel facilities as well as the expulsion of gender discrimination in the curriculum. Education will go an extended way in making women familiar with their legal and personal rights and make them battle for their privileges, which will direct to protecting their rights mentioned in the Constitution. 

Women Empowerment Programmes and Acts 

Numerous women development programmes must be implemented at regional and national levels, especially in rural parts of India, along with vocational training to provide the right knowledge to the women.This will help women to become self-reliant, self-employed and even take up entrepreneurship . It will also enhance their capabilities and allow them to make sound decisions. 

Another grave concern is female foeticide. According to data presented by the United Nations, India accounts for about 45.8 million missing females around the world. There has been a great contribution of female foeticide to these numbers. The Regulation and Prevention of Misuse Act 1994 and PNT ACT (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques)  must be enforced at all levels. Other acts related to sexual harassment, dowry, domestic violence, divorce, adoption of child, marriage and succession should also be rightly enforced to serve the goal of women empowerment. 

Making the women more aware 

Another major factor which hinders women empowerment is that the women themselves are not aware of their position in the society and their potential. Most of the women in India are unaware that they actually face oppression, domestic violence and harassment, considering it to be a part of society. Every woman has to be educated and made aware about her capabilities and bring a shift in their social status. They need to understand that they can be the breadwinner of their families and can bring about a massive change in their socio-economic status by grabbing education and employment. 

Maternal Health Education 

Knowledge regarding pregnancy, menstruation, child-care and birth is extremely poor in India. This has substantially increased the child mortality rate. Another elementary aspect of women empowerment is empowering to-be mothers and improving maternal education.

Pramadaya India has planned to offer free education to expecting females  and offer them with child care support. This will improve their knowledge and drastically increase the life expectancy of their child. We also aim to uplift nursing mothers by educating them and making them realise the importance of girl education. 

Why do we need women empowerment?

We don’t need women empowerment just to boost the economy of our country or increase employment. Women empowerment will necessitate the elimination of a rather rudimentary and retrogressive thinking and induce a new way of life in the society. It will improve social health, bolster financial security and improve the personality of each and every woman. Women empowerment is much needed for achieving personal development, personal goals, ambitions and having a desired way of life. It is also to eradicate a non-evolutionary social framework that has been rooting since times unknown. 

Pramadaya doing its bit

 Being a NGO for uplifting women in India, Pramadaya India Foundation has till now organised several programmes, workshops and campaigns in different parts of the country emphasising over education, rights and employment of women. Our vision is to educate, develop and potentiate each and every girl, especially in the rural and backward areas of the society. This will help them to find the right career and way of life, when they grow into an adult. 

Ever since our inception, we’ve been curating different strategies to improve girl child education in India. For this we’ve also promoted various fund-raisers on our website. We’ve also catered to the basic needs of rural women such as hygienic food, clean drinking water, sanitary napkins and clothing. We have been aiming to heighten the level of resources rural women receive and our efforts are to continue doing so until we reach every corner of our country. 

If you feel the need of improving girl education and empowering our women, then you can donate to one of our fund-raisers for this cause.