Seeking egalitarianism and empowerment of women through education and mentation

“We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational and so disciplined they can be free.”

-Kavita Nandini Ramdas

For any society to meet its purpose of being egalitarian and a developing one, roles of girls and women need to be integrally considered, their rights fittingly prioritized and their contributions must be duly recognized. With their consideration at the helm, no dream is unrealizable, no reality unattainable and no change insurmountable.’

For a moment, if you see the world as a fragmented piece just divided by boundaries, you are going to realize that though it is one, but it is represented by different people which make up for a habitable society. Languages and traditions may vary across countries and cultures, but despite differences, the thread of humanity remains the same. It doesn’t budge even across geographical peripheries.

Any society wanting a balanced growth should keep this thread tightly intact; for it is in inclusivity that growth lies. If such societies are well bred and the social fabric carefully woven, the community develops and exhibits signs of cordiality, cohesion and strength, which is where the formula for a balanced and inclusive growth lies.

Underrepresentation of women

Females around the world have been greatly underrepresented; and the trials and challenges they undergo on a routine basis are daunting. Over the years, across the globe, there have been vehement outcries of people representing different strata of the society demanding the projection and realization of women’s rights, privileges and contributions. But though there has been a loud cry from different sections and corners of the world, yet women, more or less, fail to get their due. They have often been underrepresented, under different circumstances and life situations. There is no denying the fact that females have as much role to play, if not any more, in the development and framing of a balanced and civilized society, as males. Only if you carefully observe and realize the journey of a girl child right from it getting conceived from her mother’s womb to reaching its terminal days of life, you are going to find that the pains, hardships, stereotyping and gender biases they face almost every day are pretty difficult, highly undeserving and seriously daunting. Reports of biasness or rising episodes of crime against women are unbecoming of a society that wishes to be egalitarian.

Transformation in thought and subsequent action towards the upliftment and welfare of the female counterparts is perhaps the much needed change, standing in between the two.

For any society to be seen as beautifully integrated and for it to realize its vision of inclusivity and growth, the role of women occupies center stage, and more so in a country like India where their population is quite high. Instead of treating them as a deterrent of growth and development, I believe they can be rightly viewed and involved as great catalysts of innovation and change, thereby spurring growth and development.

Right from the likes of Angela Merkel, Marie Curie, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Nooyi to Gita Gopinath, the world knows them all and their intellect and leadership speaks volumes.

In no respect, females and their capabilities are any less than males’. Instead, more often than not, a deeper reflection into it, will make one realize that they are ofttimes way ahead of their male counterparts. So, what prevents them from getting their social dues and moral rights acknowledged? Or does one ever wonder what prevents a society from becoming what it aspires to be- egalitarian and equally empowered? Despite having the resources and capabilities to make it happen, can you actually get it by disallowing or overlooking the support and role of females, whose population amounts to a whopping 49.6 percent, as per the last world population report published by UN? I believe, not. Though they have been playing inhibitory and suppressed roles in their routine course of life, yet they have made sublime contributions to the growth and development of any society, that has ever flourished. And the time is more than ripe that they get due credit for their continuous and unwavering discharge of duties, despite all the social trials, ever since.

Had arranging discussions and debates about gender equality or women’s rights and their empowerment on televisions, or voicing opinions about them on social media been the remedy, societies would have indefatigably and invincibly topped the list. But alas! It is not the case. Hypocrisy and pretense under the garb of discussions and debates doesn’t help. Compassion and empathy above everything else certainly do. The sooner the realisation sinks in that males and females are both as important members of society as the two wheels of a motorbike, the better it is. It remains to be understood and accepted that if one wheel fails, the other, no matter how herculean, can’t make it too far. I imply, a society without genuine care, compassion and regard for women, can be anything, but an inclusively developed society.

Can education show us a way out?

Respect and regard through education for the opposite sex or towards the fellow beings on empathetic and compassionate grounds, can be a big leap towards becoming an inclusive society. Women’s underrepresentation is a social stigma that we all need to battle out together. The authorities in charge, must get seriously and rather immediately on board, ‘not just to discuss’ the challenges hindering girl education or women empowerment but to ‘vehemently push’ for the favorably right policies to be adopted. This can help create a society free from gender-based violence and practices.

Women entrepreneurship can be yet another area of concern and consideration for a nation to develop. Societies, by and large, find in its women great possibilities, just waiting to be provided the platform for their entrepreneurial potential to be unleashed. Real skill enhancement on ground level can be a way out. Plausive entrepreneurial policies, promising developmental programmes and smooth procedures can help promote their interest and make bold moves in becoming entrepreneurs of tomorrow thereby leading to a society worthy of realizing its dreams. Intrapreneurial practices can also be promoted among them.

Another element which prohibits and mars natural development of any society is the male chauvinistic attitude. Men, neither by action nor by thought, can be taken as superior to women. Yet again, to this hapless thought, quality education and social enlightenment can help seek refuge. I reiterate, in no way, women or their rights can be ignored, leave aside their subdual. If you do it as a developing society, do it at your own peril, for that would be an imbalanced development characterized by inequality and neglect.

Education has the power to solve plenty of social evils and seeking empowerment of women through it shouldn’t be considered any form of exception. Studies have found that if every girl completed 12 years of education, child marriage would drop by 64% and health complications from early pregnancy, like premature births and child deaths, would drop by a whopping 59% and 49%, respectively. Not just this, but educating women also boosts countries’ economies, lowers the risk of war and extremism, and has been termed as the best investment against climate change by the Brookings Institution.

Women’s representation in higher educational institutions is again not up to the mark. Their access to higher education is deeply limited even though having them educated can prepare them much holistically to partake in social and civic deliberations in a much better manner.

The differences in the thought process and the lack in synergy among people in general, and between genders in specific, should also concern societies seeking equality for women. Syncing across genders reduces the friction in thoughts and helps bridge the existing divide. The ever-widening split, can only be bridged by putting your understanding to rational and objective use and imparting ‘quality education’ to one and all, by side lining the rote learning and educating methods. Through this, sufficient challenges of a society can be successfully overcome.

Final words-

‘Change’, in the form of rigorous enlightenment of the people about gender importance can help us see our female counterparts becoming increasingly empowered. Besides this, promoting and channelizing the women’s rights and contributions towards a bigger national or international cause, ensuring messing with women’s rights and physical space to be a no-trivial-affair, and enabling and encouraging them to take the lead and be agents of potential transformation can bangingly pronounce the realization of a dream coming true through the change of inclusivity and empowerment, that is long overdue and binding upon us, humans.

Till then the question lingers- Can we realize our society’s dream of being egalitarian and inclusive through education, mentation and compassion and make allowance for a more women-centric and matriarchal pattern of society?

It's quite gettable, unless we forget that for any society to meet its purpose of being egalitarian and a developing one, roles of girls and women need to be integrally considered, their rights fittingly prioritized and their contributions must be duly recognized. With their consideration at the helm, no dream is unrealizable, no reality unattainable and no change insurmountable.’

'In unity lies the force, in division lies the fall. Either you realize your society’s dreams through equality and inclusivity, or you do not realize it at all.'