Women Empowerment

Nations that invest in women's employment, health and education are just more likely to have better outcome. Their children will be healthier and better educated. This is not just the right thing to do for us to hold up those women, support them, encourage their involvement; this is a strategic imperative. - Hillary Clinton

Women across the world have fewer opportunities and suffer from exponentially more rights violations simply because they are female. In some countries, women are the legal property of their husbands, are unable to receive inheritance, cannot borrow money, and do not have rights. It is common for women to not receive an education, be allowed to make decisions on how to care for their children, or decide when and how to be touched.

Conditions for Indian women are no better. Women have always been marginalized and delegated to the status of subjugated class in the Indian society. Due to lack of specific implementation of plans, local communities especially women have remained outside the scope and benefits of government schemes and programmes. With these restrictions, women must depend entirely on their husbands for survival. Without a husband, women have little to support them. The resulting statistics of this highly abusive cycle are staggering. Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours and produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only 10 percent of the world’s income and own less than one percent of the world’s property.

Reincarnation Association believes that women have not actively participated in their emancipation due to their lack of economic independence and illiteracy. Hence, there is a need to address the issue by raising the status of women. The key lies in women empowerment is through economic self-sufficiency and higher awareness levels on social, political and legal issues through vocational training. Since, women have diverse roles such as reproductive, productive and community management. Hence, they have to be organized and strengthened at the grass root level to end their subordination.

Reincarnation Association has made an attempt to make rural women self-sufficient through various skill training programmes. Fighting gender discrimination is extremely challenging due to embedded cultural traditions that benefit patriarchal systems. These include: vocational skills and micro-enterprise basics orientation; micro-finance opportunities;  community workshops on rights, reproductive health, gender sensitivity, leadership development among the women, life skills, functional literacy, empowerment through  legal and psychological counseling and much more.

Reincarnation Association has the background of organizing programs which brought confidence level in the women’s and drawing them to take on leadership roles in their communities. Women are the foundation of any community and if she is empowered, a family, and eventually an entire community are also empowered. In this course we have formed many women self-help groups (SHGs). These women are encouraged to start saving habit, inter-loaning, opening bank accounts, and linking with various loan schemes.

We have supported 22 widows and 03 destitute women of our area for doing income generation program. Our main intention is that women also participate in income sharing of the family. More over these women also visit banks, conduct monthly meetings, put signatures, conduct training, and offer an idol towards the society.

Major Women Empowerment Activities

Legal assistance to domestic violence victims

Awareness camps on women rights.

Promotion of self-help groups

Skill building trainings on micro enterprises

Life skills training to adolescent girls

Support to single women and aged women

Project Shaktipunj – Prevent and Reduce Violence against Women

The United Nations defines domestic violence as, “any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to Women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life” (The World Health Organization, 2015).

India’s Millennium Development Goals focus on fulfilling the rights of all women and children so they may survive, thrive, develop, participate and are protected as citizens of India. Ultimately, it is imperative to reduce social inequalities based on gender, caste, ethnicity or religion to achieve these goals.

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