Empowerment is the establishment of self-control over the material, physical, human and intellectual resources of human beings, with which the question of competence is involved. Therefore, women’s empowerment refers to a condition in which a woman can be promoted to an independent and dignified position in every aspect of her life. Empowerment can be defined in different ways empowerment means that people (women) outside the decision-making process accept it and allow it. Empowerment is a process that creates power in an individual’s own life, society and community. People are empowered where they can take advantage of certain limitations of their education, profession and way of life and by overcoming those limitations they get the opportunities available to them.
Women
A woman is an adult female human being, as contrasted to men, an adult male, and a girl, a female child. The term woman (irregular plural: women) is used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions, or both (Wikimedia, 2005:1).
Women constitute about half of the total population of the country. Apart from household activities, they are contributing substantially to the national economy. Bangladesh is one of the fast-developing countries to establish a Ministry of Women’s Affairs in 1978, three years after the First World Conference on Women in Mexico. The government has already prepared a National Policy for Advancement of Women and made some noteworthy progress in implementing the National Action Plan, prepared in response to the Beijing Platform for Action.
How to cite this article: Islam M. ASM (2020). Women Empowerment: A Case Study on Elected Women of Local Government in Lalmonirhat District of Bangladesh. Int. J. Soc. Sci., 9(03): 199-204.
Source of Support: None; Conflict of Interest: None
Women’s Empowerment
“Gender equality” and “women’s empowerment” were the two broadest issues in development. The term refers to the improvement of women conditions in every sphere of life (Hossain, 2015). However, This indicates the overall development of the backward class of society at almost the same level and in the same situation (Khan and Ara, 2006). Enabling women to organize themselves to increase their self-reliance, ensure their right to self-determination to charge resources and help them to take up these challenges and break their subordinate position in society (Keller and Mbwewe, 1991) According to Caroline Moser “Women’s ability to increase their selfreliance and inner strength. It is control over important substances and non-material resources the acquisition has been identified as a right to determine life choices and influence change through acquisition”. Sen and Grown said, “Women’s empowerment is the transformation of structures of subordination, including changes in the law, civil codes, property, inheritance rights, control over women’s bodies and labour and the social legal institutions that endorse male’s control.” The meaning of women empowerment varies by the social and cultural context and with a life cycle (Oppong, 1983; Greenhalgh 1985) and, therefore, there is no consensus regarding empowerment. Recognizing this, we conceptualize women’s empowerment by looking at eight aspects of progress: Self-reliance, decision-making ability, small family norms, health care for herself and children, conscious of their rights, gender equity, participation and involvement in the job performance and education.
Women Empowerment and Self-reliance
Many government and non-government organizations are helping women through self-help initiatives and development. Self-reliance is defined in three ways; Knowing that people can solve a problem for themselves and make sure they have the ability and skill to do something about it and free them from external obstacles (Carter, 2012).
According to Ojameruaye (2004), self-reliant development is defined as that type of development, which relies on their own human and material resources or a do-it-yourself approach.
Women Empowerment and Decision-making Ability
Women’s empowerment refers to the empowerment of women in social, economic and political spheres. Empowerment of women is essential for achieving sustainable development. It is a prerequisite for gender equality and development. Quoting from a UNFPA report, “the state of World Population 1992”, the News Letter of Bernard Van Leer Foundation says, that there can be no sustainable development without the advancement of women because women contribute the most to the development of children. Empowerment should start from our own home. The position of women in the family determines the autonomy of women. To verify whether he can make decisions on the use of family resources and the purchase of jewellery, the availability of funds, travel to relatives’ homes, or access to healthcare. A study by Hoque and Itohara (2009) reported that microcredit is making some contribution to the economic activities of rural women and family formation in family decision making. He further said that the microcredit program in Bangladesh is increasing gender awareness among women. This study was first considered by considering three important dimensions of women’s empowerment that identify five principles where empowerment is achieved: welfare, access equality, awareness-raising, participation and control.
Women Empowerment and Health Care
Smith et al. (2003) state that improving women’s health status can effectively enhance their performance in their socioeconomic responsibilities, including increasing agricultural production by creating more efficient and skilled labourers.
Women Empowerment and Rights
The CEDAW Convention is instrumental in shaping the legal and policy framework and advancing the international agenda on women’s human rights. It has been an inspiration for women in all parts of the world and has been responsible for significant change at the country level, as well as in the international sphere. The Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees equal rights (Article 27, 28/1, 28/2,28/3 and 65/3) to enshrined provisions for the equal dignity of all women. (Khan and Ara, 2006).
Women Empowerment and Gender Equality
Gender equality refers to the equal right of a person to acquire wealth, opportunities and protection in all spheres of life, to participate in economic activities and to make decisions, regardless of their gender. This does not mean, however, that men and women should be treated the same or in the same way.
Women Empowerment and Education
Education is the key to women empowerment. There is no alternative to women’s education for the welfare and progress of the nation. Through education, women are getting more opportunities in the workplace so that they can lead a better life and achieve their goal.
Women Empowerment and Job Involvement
Women empowerment makes a woman interested in various challenging professions. If women were properly empowered so long as all the work was considered suitable for men, they can do that effortlessly.
Women Empowerment and Small Family Norms
Various studies have shown that women’s empowerment is related to reproductive outcomes, including contraceptive use, and birth rates. Some researchers have suggested that empowerment is a key way through which education affects fertility.
Local government
Local government is an organized social entity with a feeling of oneness. By definition, local government means an intra-sovereign governmental unit within the sovereign state dealing mainly with local affairs, administered by local authorities and subordinate to the state government (Jahan, 1997:92). In political terms, it relates to the management of a particular local territory, it forms the political subdivision of a nation, state or another large political unit. In other words, the local government is an integral part of the political system to govern a country. It then presents a legal concept as a corporate involved in jurisprudence (Muttalib and Khan, 1983:2).
According to the article 59(1) of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, “Local Government in every administrative unit of the Republic shall be entrusted to bodies, composed of persons elected in accordance with law (GOB,1993:43).