Women's Education In India-Women Empowerment-Higher Education


Role of Higher Education in women empowerment

 Introduction

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Higher Education enables Women to fix themselves up in the society into which they have found themselves. It equips individuals with the ability that will enable them to explore the world, manipulate it for their survival and establish themselves. Potentials deposited in individuals are exposed through Higher education so that individuals can acquire training and knowledge in a profession and higher education enables women to cultivate confidence, good habits and develop the right attitude to work and life as good citizens.
Higher Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills, and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. Higher educational provide opportunities to women to fulfill their needs. These needs comprise both essential learnings tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem-solving) and the basic learning content such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in the development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decision making and to continue learning.
During the last seven decades since independence, there has been phenomenal development of the education system in India resulting in the creation of one of the largest education systems of the world. After independence, higher education sector attracted greater attention of the native government then elementary and secondary education sector. university education commission (1948), the first commission in education set up by the government of free India, laid special emphasis on the education of women and recommendations that in view of the similar field of activity for men and women and some specific requirement of women maximum facilities should be given for education in home economics and home management. Higher education was recognized as a powerful instrument of socioeconomic advancement of the society in general and a vehicle for upward social mobility for deprived and marginalized sections in particular.
India has the third-largest higher education system in the world. The deprived sections of the society, especially women, have had limited access to higher education. In India, there are gender-based educational disparities among various social sections with special reference to caste and religious affiliations. The government of India has been making concerted efforts since independence for bridging the socioeconomic gap between the male and female populations in society though there has been a considerable relative improvement. Education, especially higher education, has been recognized as a great equalizer and a powerful tool of upward social mobility capable of being used for reducing socioeconomic disparities and building an inclusive society.
Women education:
“If you educate a man you educate an individual, however, if you educate a woman you educate a whole family. Women empowered means mother India empowered”. P.T. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
India is poised to emerge as one of the most developed nations by 2020, more literate, knowledgeable and economically at the forefront. No doubt, women will play a vital role in contributing to the country's development. Women's power is crucial to the economic growth of any country. In India, this is yet to meet the requirements despite
Reforms, little has been achieved in the area of women empowerment, but for this to happen, this sector must experience a chain of reform. Though India could well become one of the largest economics in the world, it is being hindered due to a lack of women’s participation.
History of women education in India
Although in the Vedic period women had access to education in India, they had gradually lost this right. However, in the British period, there was a revival of interest in women's education in India. During this period, various socio-religious movements led by eminent persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar emphasized women's education in India. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Periyar, and Baba Saheb Ambedkar were leaders of the lower castes in India who took various initiatives to make education available to the women of India. However, women's education got a fillip after the country got independence in 1947 and the government has taken various measures to provide education to all Indian women. As a result, women's literacy rate has grown over the six decades and the growth of female literacy has in fact been higher than that of the male literacy rate.
Higher education in India:
The government initiative for the planned development of higher education in the country and Establishment of University Grants Commission has transformed the elitist system of education. Favoring the rich and higher class to a more democratic and mass-based system. Around 40 percent of enrolment now comers from lower socio-economic strata, and women comprising of approximately 35 percent of the total enrolments.
Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy. Higher education improves an individual's quality of life. Studies show that, compared to high school graduates, college graduates have longer life spans, better access to health care, better dietary and health practices, greater economic stability and security, more prestigious employment and greater job satisfaction, less dependency on government assistance, greater knowledge of government, greater community service and leadership, more volunteer work, more self-confidence, and less criminal activity and incarceration. In addition, college graduates supposedly have greater use of seatbelts, more continuing education, greater Internet access, greater attendance at live performances, greater participation in leisure and artistic activities, more book purchases, and higher voting rates. As an aside, I have to admit that I was amazed at some of these items--not that I found them, but that someone actually researched this stuff and thought some of the items were enviable. Higher education, theoretically, will also enable individuals to expand their knowledge and skills, express their thoughts clearly in speech and in writing, grasp abstract concepts and theories, and increase their understanding of the world and their community.
The Role of Higher Education in the Empowerment of Women:
To be involved in the dialogue about education systems around the world today is to understand and articulate the key role played by higher education. Through higher education flow of the ideology, values, and culture of a nation, state, and its people. Misinformation and constricted learning behaviors that women internalize can also be filtered through higher education.
Women education in India plays a very important role in the overall development of the country. It not only helps in the development of half of the human resources but in improving the quality of life at home and outside. Educated women not only tend to promote the education of their girl children but also can provide better guidance to all their children. Moreover, educated women can also help in the reduction of infant mortality rate and the growth of the population.
Importance of women higher education in India
"Higher Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills, and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process."
·        Higher Education is important for everyone, but it is especially significant for girls and women. This is true not only because Higher education is an entry point to other opportunities, but also because the Higher educational achievements of women can have ripple effects within the family and across generations. Investing in girls' education is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty.
·        Girls who have been Higher education are likely to marry later and to have smaller and healthier families. Educated women can recognize the importance of health care and know-how to seek it for themselves and their children.
·        Women’s literacy rates are significantly lower than men’s in most developing countries. Higher Education helps girls and women to know their rights and to gain the confidence to claim them and achieve a better position in society.
·        The Higher education of parents is linked to their children's educational attainment, and the mother's education is usually more influential than the father's. An educated mother's greater influence in household negotiations may allow her to secure more resources for her children.
·        India is a developing country and facing a problem of high population, family planning is a very important concept, educated mothers, averaging fewer children, can concentrate more attention on each child.
Conclusion: higher education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills, and self-confidence necessary. Participate fully in the development process. “Empowerment means moving from a weak position to execute a power.” Higher Education of women is the most powerful tool to change the women's position in society and very much helpful for making the right decision and becoming a stronger part of the economy. Higher Education also brings a reduction in inequalities and functions as a means of improving their status within the family. For reducing gender biases, encouraging women to make society and to become the strongest part of the economy.

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