Empowerment of Women In Society

This literature review evaluates the need for women empowerment in society and provides future recommendations for gaps in empowerment. It discusses the problems associated with a lack of empowerment for women, analyzes the current situation, and offers recommendations for the future.

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Introduction
Women’s empowerment is a process in which women have rights in social, political and
economic atmosphere. Today, in some regions of world women are still denied their rights in
society. Why? There are several reasons, for example, zero involvement in decision making,
and lack of education and employment opportunities. Women are still suffering in such
regions of society where they are dependent on husband and children. The goal of this
literature review is to evaluate and analyse the need for women empowerment in society. In
addition, the review will also provide future recommendations for gaps in the empowerment
of women.
Evaluation
To make women independent and empowered, it is essential to understand the problems
associated with the topic. According to United Nations Population Fund, the government
should make policy and program actions that will involve women in public life, offer access
to economic resources and participation in education programs (“Issue 7: Women
Empowerment”, 2019). In this section, we evaluate the problems associated with a lack of
empowerment for women in society.
Problems Associated with Women’s Empowerment
Women empowerment is an important factor for any developing country. There are several
issues and challenges which are still faced in several regions of society. Several research
studies evaluate problems for developing countries. The first challenge for women in such
regions is depriving of any benefits. The policies associated with the government do not
reach women at all. Microfinance is one of the benefits in which are provided with a loan due
to being responsible. However, author Kumar (2013, p. 71) in his research concluded that

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women did not get loan instalments due to domestic dissension and violence from husbands.
Additionally, they do not have any legal rights for land, property management, and business
management as suggested by author Duflo (2012, p. 3). Demography is another global
challenge that also decreases women's empowerment. According to the world economic
forum (2013, p. 5) early childbearing keeps young women away from pursuing education and
later employment. Also, gender gaps are another issue that denies women to contribute as
entrepreneurs. Besides, poverty is another issue that makes women dependent. Authors
Francis and Roll (2015, p.1) suggest poverty trauma is equally responsible and brings another
concern such as isolation, victimization, stigma, and discrimination. In addition, some of the
challenges in the rural region of India are still prominent. The crime against women such as
sexual harassment, acid throwing, girl-child abortion and honour killings make women
empowerment impossible as per research was done by author Pratibha, L. (2019, p. 139).
Henceforth, the empowerment of women in society has several challenges. Due to such
reasons, women in some regions of the society are still struggling. Thus, the evaluation
concludes that it is necessary to understand the problem associated with women’s
empowerment.
Analysis
The above research evidence concludes some of the issues and constraints to achieve
women's empowerment in the society. In this section, analysis for women's empowerment
among several regions is discussed. The literature study will offer work done in
empowerment and gender equality among society. On the other hand, the comparative
analysis demonstrates the situation of women in several developing countries.
Literature Study
Women’s empowerment in society is important and has been proposed since the very
beginning. Several studies have shown that people have tried to uplift women across the

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world. Author Narang (2012, p. 10) in his study analyse about Self Help Group (SHG) helps
the women in decision making process. These groups are helpful for uplifting women’s
confidence in rural parts of India. Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Contexts (WEMC) has
performed group activity at Sindh, Pakistan. The women participants got space to share their
feelings through such groups as per research done by Authors Aziz et al (2011, p. 317). The
research also reveals that to uproot the empowerment in poor countries several camps are
initiated. ‘Boot Camps’ for young girls in the country like Kenya provide activities to assess
their problems (Passano et al, 2017, p. 93). With such camps organized by the government
will help young girls to build their confidence. Additionally, women empowerment is also
done in education sector in developing countries. Authors Basak & Deb (2015, p. 186) state
that women are seeking higher education after increasing women colleges from 867 to 3432
in India. Besides, microcredit facility among women provides them multiple advantages.
Research done by author Kabeer (2005, p. 18) shows that women with credit facility now
have power in decision making, zero domestic violence and confidence boost. The literature
also shows women in political association are getting equality and respect. Rwanda, a state in
east Africa included women’s presence in the legislature assembly shown in research study
by Burnet (2011, p.3). In addition, political empowerment of women in society also increase
their status and gain respect in community (“Five Challenges, One Solution: Women,” 2019).
Henceforth, literature study demonstrates that how women’s empowerment is taken into
consideration by government, non-profit organizations as well as other sectors. Empowering
women is highly beneficial for society, economic developments and global health. The
women from rural areas require strong policies to achieve power over old prejudices.
Comparative Analysis of Women Empowerment in Other Region
The comparative analysis shows how empowerment was effective in other regions. Research
performed on Grameen Bank in Bangladesh has empowered women due to better loan

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program functions (Hashemi et al, 1996, p. 635). Therefore, loan program conditions were
helpful for increasing women power in this country. Similarly, country such as Nigeria still
has male dominance over women. Author Asiyanbola (2005, p. 16) propose solution of
gender education so that man can get aware of women’s contribution. If man are educated
enough they will take women seriously in decision making process for home and children.
Authors Acharya et al (2010, p. 15) in their study on Nepal has found socio-demographic
factors responsible for women’s empowerment. The people must let women take decisions in
household activities. This could improve their confidence level and will make them equally
important in household activities. Thus, women empowerment in other regions must be
addressed. The developing regions still need policies and standards to assist problems related
to women’s place in society.
Future Recommendations
On closing note, the literature review offer detailed analysis on the topic: ‘Empowerment of
Women in society.’ The constraints associated with women’s empowerment were legal
rights, poverty, demography, as well as lack of education in developing countries.
Additionally, the literature study revealed several options to uproot women across the world.
While, comparative analysis showed situations across several regions. There are two future
recommendation for proposed topic. Firstly, it is important to understand what government
policies are undertaking right now. Secondly, women’s empowerment in society is only
fruitful it dealt on global scale. The research show include both the recommendations for
future scope.

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References
Acharya, D. R., Bell, J. S., Simkhada, P., Van Teijlingen, E. R., & Regmi, P. R. (2010).
Women's autonomy in household decision-making: a demographic study in
Nepal. Reproductive health, 7(1), 15.
Asiyanbola, A. (2005). Patriarchy, male dominance, the role and women empowerment in
Nigeria. In Poster presentado en la XXV International Population Conference Tours,
Francia.
Aziz, A., Shams, M., & Khan, K. S. (2011). Participatory action research as the approach for
women’s empowerment. Action Research, 9(3), 303-323.
Basak, S. & Deb, P (2015). An Appraisal of Women’s Empowerment In Indian Higher
Education. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 5(2), 184–186.
Burnet, J. E. (2011). Women have found respect: Gender quotas, symbolic representation,
and female empowerment in Rwanda. Politics & Gender, 7(3), 303-334.
Duflo, E. (2012). Women empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic
literature, 50(4), 1051-79.
Five Challenges, One Solution: Women. (2019). Retrieved 30 August 2019, from
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_WomensEmpowerment_FiveChallangesO
neSolution_Compendium_2013.pdf
Francis East, J., & Roll, S. J. (2015). Women, poverty, and trauma: An empowerment
practice approach. Social Work, 60(4), 279-286.

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Hashemi, S. M., Schuler, S. R., & Riley, A. P. (1996). Rural credit programs and women's
empowerment in Bangladesh. World development, 24(4), 635-653.
Issue 7: Women Empowerment. (2019). Retrieved 30 August 2019, from
https://www.unfpa.org/resources/issue-7-women-empowerment
Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women's empowerment: A critical analysis of the
third millennium development goal 1. Gender & Development, 13(1), 13-24.
Kumar, L. (2013). Illusion of women empowerment in microfinance: a case study. Economic
and Political Weekly, 70-76.
Narang, U. (2012). Self-help group: An effective approach to women empowerment in
India. International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research, 1(8), 8-16.
Passano, P., Dworkin, S. and Gandhi, M. (2017). Women's empowerment and global health.
1st ed. Oakland, California: University of California Press, pp.1-352.
Pratibha, L. (2019). A Study on Issues and Challenges of Women Empowerment in
India. Global Journal for Research Analysis, 6(9), 138-140.