Women Empowerment Through Education in India after Independence: A Review

Abstract

Women’s issues gained importance as a middle class with immense power and restrictions emerged. A new woman who aspired to the dignity of equality and freedom of spirit arose thanks to the power of education and employment. The evaluation of women’s lives’ quality is the most crucial. Women’s status and society’s level of development may both be clearly seen by looking at factors including women’s participation in decision-making institutions, employment rates, and family and societal roles. Modern India faces fresh obstacles to the growth of women. Concerns include the girl child’s survival, women’s health, their role in caste and communal conflicts, women in the media, and the rise in violence against women. Access to status and power are both denied when people are denied access to education. Although the right to an education is upheld in India, the rigid caste, class, and gender systems have a significant impact on this right. Boys have easier access to school than girls, higher caste has easier access than scheduled caste and scheduled tribe, and upper and middle class has easier access than the destitute. The dropout rate follows a similar pattern. One of the ironies of women’s education has been the depressing perception of women in higher education, despite the fact that literacy and primary education affect the majority of women. Only 5% of all girls enrolled in basic education eventually move on to higher education. The percentage of women overall and enrolled rose from 10.9% in 1950–51 to 52% in 1996–97. Nearly 52% of girls in the 16 to 14 age range do not attend school. For states like Uttar Pradesh (68.36), Bihar (70.90), Rajasthan (72.17), and Madhya Pradesh (57.46), the situation is exceedingly bleak. Kerala (7.63), Tamil Nadu (27.4), Maharashtra (32.93), Gujarat (41.08), and Karnataka (42.71), however, have substantially better situations. There are certain new problems in Indian society related to gender issues, Vidya, which are unsettling the minds of the intellectual elite. Concerns include the rising costs of communalism and community violence, which have gotten worse over the past few decades.