8 ways to empower women

Women Empowerment and Gender Justice

The majority of women still work in informal jobs, under poor working conditions and without earning a living wage. Women's empowerment ensures that women and girls have control over their lives and are able to participate actively in social, political and economic domains

Women’s empowerment has five components: women’s sense of self-worth; their right to have and to determine choices,their right to have access to opportunities and resources,their right to have power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home, and their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally.

1.Provide the ticket to education: clean water

Did you know girls in poor communities often miss school because of a lack of clean water in their villages? Instead of attending class, millions of girls and women around the world spend 200 million hours each day fetching water that is often dirty and dangerous to their health. Walk the average 6 kilometers they walk for water on Saturday, May 16, 2020, to help provide clean water and open the door to education for a young girl.

2.Education: Literacy Rate Goes up

While at one time, girls were just supposed to do household work and not go to school, the times have changed tremendously and now women and men work hand in hand in all kinds of jobs and have an equal right to a proper education. The world literacy rate of adult females (ages 15 and above) has gone up from 77.7% in 2005 to 82.6% in 2016 according to World Bank Data. In India too, the female literacy rate has seen a drastic increase from 50.82% in 2006 to 62.98% in 2015. 

3.Support girls and women in crisis.

Millions of girls are subjected to abuse, child labor, trafficking, child marriage, and other offenses. Your gift will go where it’s needed most, protecting girls and women by equipping skilled, local staff to offer training, education, counseling, medical care, small business loans, and other programs that reach women and girls as well as boys — helping to end cycles of gender-based violence.

4.Female Representation in Different Professions

As opposed to earlier times when women's participation in professions was limited to a few fields like medicine and teaching, today, women are a part of almost all industries. Though not the optimal number of females are seen on the panels but they are being given a chance nonetheless. In October 2018, Gita Gopinath was appointed as the first woman IMF Chief Economist. Apart from this, women can now be seen at top positions in several fields like Mary Barra (CEO of General Motors), Janet Yellen (Chair of Federal Reserve of US), Indra Nooyi (CEO of PepsiCo), Hillary Clinton (Presidential Candidate of US) and many more.

5.Empowering Women: Need is More

Women empowerment is a sensitive issue which has opinionated views from everyone. it has a lot of support globally, but also quite many hindrances. The past year has seen quite a lot of commotion on this front with women coming out and demanding their rights and seeking justice for the wrong done to them.

6. Invest in a small business owner.

Through World Vision microloans, you can connect with hardworking female entrepreneurs who are waiting to realize their dream of building or expanding a successful business. A small loan is all they need. Even better, when the loan is paid off, your donated funds are recycled again and again to help more people and make a bigger impact.

7. Help a new mom.

The first weeks of a newborn’s life are the most critical. You can help save young lives around the world by giving a new mother the essential things like a bassinet, cloth diapers, blankets, a container for clean water, and soap. Your gift also provides life-saving infant care training. Know a new mom near you who might be feeling overwhelmed? Mothers of Preschoolers connects moms of young children all over the world to a community of women in their own neighborhoods who meet together to embrace the journey of motherhood.

8. Tell the women in your life that you care.

Empowering women starts right in our families, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Write a note of thanks to that teacher who encouraged you years ago, pick up coffee for that new mom in your office who’s struggling to balance it all, or tell your own sister, daughter, or mother how much you appreciate them.

Countries should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate inequalities between men and women as soon as possible by:

(a) Establishing mechanisms for women's equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process and public life in each community and society and enabling women to articulate their concerns and needs;

(b) Promoting the fulfillment of women's potential through education, skill development, and employment, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill-health among women;

(c) Eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health;

(d) Adopting appropriate measures to improve women's ability to earn income beyond traditional occupations, achieve economic self-reliance, and ensure women's equal access to the labour market and social security systems;

(e) Eliminating violence against women;

(f) Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against women, such as those based on proof of contraceptive use or pregnancy status;

(g) Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation in the workforce.