Gender Equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a harmonious and sustainable world. Half of the world’s population is placed outside the realm of opportunity to partner in building thriving societies and robust economies with the exclusion of women. Humanity is benefitted when women are provided equal access to education, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision making processes. Goal 5 of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women in the public and private spheres and to undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources and access to ownership of property. Therefore, when we talk about women empowerment and invest in it, we make gains on the alleviation of poverty and fuel sustainable economic growth.

As per the statistics, in India only 65.46% of the women are literate as compared to 82.14% of men; out of 48.5% of women population only 27.4% women are in the workforce; enrolment of girls in primary education is 100% but 74.6% women are not enrolled in higher education; child sex ratio is 919 for 1000 boys. This indicates that although India has achieved gender parity at the primary education level and is on track to achieve parity at all education levels, as of June 2019, the proportion of seats in the Lok Sabha held by women had only reached 11% but 46% in the Panchayati Raj Institutions. India is also confronting the challenge of violence against women. As an example, a baseline study revealed that in New Delhi, 92% of women had experienced some form of sexual violence in public spaces during their lifetime. In 2016, close to a third of total crimes reported against women in India was cruelty or physical violence by her husband or his relative. The Government of India has identified ending violence against women as a key national priority, which resonates with the Sustainable Development targets of the United Nations on gender equality. The prime minister’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative aims at equal opportunity and education for girls in India. In addition, specific interventions on female employment, programmes on the empowerment of adolescent girls, the Sukanya Samridhi Yojana on girl child prosperity and the Janani Suraksha Yojana for mothers advance India’s commitment to gender equality, and the targets of Goal 4 of ‘Quality Education’.

One of the main agendas of Bodhi Foundation is to educate women on the use of information and communications technology, financial management, self-confidence building, etc to encourage the empowerment of women and to promote the concept of shared responsibilities within the household and the family appropriate. We also endeavour to work towards Gender Equality through Policy Advocacy focussed on reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources.

Gender equality is a fundamental and sacrosanct human right and women empowerment is an absolute must to increase economic growth, promote social development and enhance business performance. Women empowerment leads to reaping the double dividend of benefit to both women and children, and is significant to the health and social development of families, communities and nations