'Women Empowerment' is condescending!

Women Empowerment. Here’s a term that you’re probably seeing or hearing a lot, every year in February to the International Women’s Day on March 8! It’s trotted out with pride by everyone from government to companies, fathers of daughters to professors at universities, sociology papers to school essays. It’s advertised as the panacea for women.

But is it really what women need? The term empowerment implies a favour bestowed on women when it is actually every woman’s right. Empowerment means the magnanimous giving of authority to someone who, in the nature of things, does not have it, cannot have it, and is probably not equipped to have it. Like all favours bestowed, it depends on the whims of the bestower whether to give it or to withhold it. 

It’s condescending. The term 'empowerment' for women is inherently disempowering. It denies that women have any inherent power that merely needs expression. It subtly keeps them down, awaiting empowerment with meek submission and begging bowls in hand.

What do women really need, then, if not empowerment?

I founded Be.artsy, a social awareness enterprise to prevent sexual harassment, sensitise people on gender inequalities, make India financially literate, guide organisations on promoting inclusion before hiring a diverse workforce, and collaborate with NGOs in keeping roads safe. From the experience of Be.artsy for the past 11 years and my own personal experiences of almost two decades, I found ‘empowerment’ inadequate. 

Having interacted with over 1,25,000 people directly during Be.artsy’s awareness programs, I know that it is not power that holds women back. It is a lack of knowledge and access to knowledge.

I invite all of you to consider another term: equipping. “Equipping means preparing someone,”. Perhaps, to express her natural power, one woman needs specialised knowledge. Maybe, another one needs to be equipped with responses or techniques to counter the barriers placed in her path by social or family expectations. A woman in a male-dominated field may need mentors or role models. A woman being oppressed by harassment or bullying may need the awareness of where and how to prevent or prohibit it, and how to get redressal. Basically, women need to be equipped to know and recognise their options, the alternatives that can be explored. They only need the knowledge of the true wideness of the world as it is, beyond the walls they are in. Power, they have from birth.

You can see it in babies and small children, all of whom have the utter conviction that they have power and potential. It’s only the socialisation that we receive that denies us our talents. It is only when we are taught submission, powerlessness, and silence that we lose our latent power, and unfortunately, this happens more to girls as they grow into adults.

Women just need to be equipped with the right knowledge to overcome personal and professional barriers. This awareness is vital, yet the concept of awareness itself has always been trivialised, even though it is the foundation on which change is built.

For women to take initiative in a natural way, to really be effective, let’s start by looking at the term ‘women empowerment' for what it really is. A subtle form of gender bias, a sop thrown to the powerless by those who jealously hoard their power. A bias that has conditioned innumerable women to passively wait for scraps of authority to be tossed their way. Whether it is the authority to speak up against harassment, pursue a career, marry if and whom they choose, or even dress the way they want.”

During the course of Be.artsy’s programs in 16 states and 58 cities and towns, I have found that, all over India, people are ignorant of their rights and options. Women, in particular, are ignorant of the laws that protect them from sexual harassment at the workplace and fearful of taking bold steps and running their own lives with financial independence.

Women, and men too, need to understand the power of speaking up and not tolerating wrongs. Back in 2015 when I launched Be.artsy's campaign, ‘IT’S NOT OK’, on the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace, it has found tremendous resonance. People, particularly women, realise that they already have the power. It’s just a question of exercising it, once they become aware. I am so happy, that I have been able to be part of their journey and have been able to ‘equip’ them in a real and immediately applicable way through numerous awareness programs and now with India's first financial literacy course for women "Be Your Own Lakshmi". I am really grateful to Be.artsy’s clients for helping us make a real impact for true change. I look forward to an India where every woman is equipped in the ways they must.”