life skills for women’s empowerment.ppt

7/27/2019 Life Skills for womens empowerment.ppt

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Life Skills for Womens

EmpowermentDr ChandraVenkatasubramanianM.Sc.,M.Phil.,PhD.,RD

Reader , Department of

Home ScienceQueen Marys College,

Chennai 600 004


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Chennai 600 004

What are Life Skills

Skills that enable us to succeed in theenvironment in which we live. They are--

Behavioral (communicating effectively

with peers and adults) Cognitive (making effective decisions)

Interpersonal (being assertive) or

intrapersonal (setting goals) It is an essential part of a womans overall

development.


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Lifeskills

are the ability for adaptive and positivebehaviour that enables a woman to deal withthe demands and challenges of everyday life.

These skills include Decision-making, problem solving,

communication and interpersonal skills

Self-awareness, empathy, coping with emotionsand stress and are essential to the mentaldevelopmentin a womans life.


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A womans holisticdevelopment

lies in her ability to cope with real life

situations

to be able to take conscious, confident

decisions about her life which will enableher to successfully integrate into themainstream.


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Women Entrepreneurship inSmall Scale Industries

The position of women and their status in societyis an index of its civilization.

Women are equal partners in development.

Women are the means of survival of their families, but

are unrecognized and undervalued. In the interest of long-term development it is

necessary to facilitate theirempowerment.

In many developing countries women have less access

to education, jobs, income and power than men. Even after five and half decades of planned development

Indian women have not achieved expected success inthe mainstream oflife.


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Entrepreneurship is the key to economic

development of a country. Small ScaleIndustries (SSI) play a key role in theindustrialization of the country.

The Ninth Five-Year Plan (1985-90)emphasized the need for gender equalityand empowerment.


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significant proportion ofwomen in ourregion live below the poverty line and

have not benefited from the process ofglobalization, resulting in "feminization ofpoverty".

The performance of our region on genderrelated issues clearly has been mixed. InIndia, women play an important role inagriculture operations undertaking 60

percent of farm work and contribute in abig way to food production and economicgrowth.


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Women have also increased theirparticipation in high-end vocations wherewomen were regarded as objects of

charity, to a "development" orientedphase and currently to the plank of"empowerment" that seeks to promote

gender equality.

bj i f


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Objective of WomensEmpowerment

Improving women's participation in highereducation, technical education and vocationalcourses.

Empowering women for development as well asfor prosperity.

Women if educated and given a chance, haveproved that they excel in their professions and

careers. Educated and enlightened women can look

after families better and make nationsprogressive.


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A major milestone in women'sempowerment in India has been the

Self-Help Group .

Over 2.2 million Self Help Groups havebeen set up at the grass root level

throughout the country, which translatesinto more than 33 million households.

Extending collateral free loans to these

SHGs gives them continued support andencouragement.


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The need of the hour is therefore the

speedy implementation of legislative andpolicy measures for empowerment ofwomen. There is often lack of awarenessabout schemes

We need "gender advocates" whosemission is to bring about effectiveimplementation of the policies and

programmes for women'sempowerment.


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Women must also be motivated to fightdiscrimination. They should work in a determined

manner for their own empowerment

One important step in this direction is impartingphysical education - like Judo and Karate as self-

defense for women to make them physicallystrong and develop self confidence to face thechallenges oflife.

Self-defense is the best form of defense


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In India a large number ofwomen arejoining the police force.

Those who needed protection earlier

are now giving protection to others. This is a big change! It makes a difference

as women have equal opportunity togrow?


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en you ra n a woman, youhelp the entire family,

community and nation."Therole of women in thedevelopment of a society is of

utmost importance. In fact, it isthe only criterion that

determines whether a societyis strong and harmonious or

not. Women are the backbone

of any society


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. Learning how to live with

technology is one of the mostpressing global challenges today.

We must empower women to

overcome cultural barriers whichmay prevent them from gaining

access to the required skills,technologies, resources and

markets.


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Status of Women in Society

Women constitute half of humanity and definitely

the better half.

Absence of gender equality is depriving humanityof substantial strength from 50 percent of its female

entity.

This has been the case almost from the beginning

of civilized society.


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Life Skill Development


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Life Skill Developmentby Planning, organizing,

recording and teamworkA method of doing work that has been

preplanned

Being methodical Recording useful information, usually focused Categorize information and apply the skill of

record keeping

Communicating effectively, identifying a commontask, dividing the task and acceptingresponsibility for job done

Working together to complete the task andsharing accomplishment.


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Women have been given vocational training intailoring and computer skills.

also training is given to women in lifeskills to

face unforseen disasters.

To sensitize society against alarming trends ofviolence against women particularly the domestic

women

W t


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Women empowerment processin India- a need for new

direction women were silent when basic rights like

education, employment , voting and propertyrights were denied to them.

They were silent even when they were treatedas beasts of burden and as reproductivemachines.

They continued to be silent when all sorts ofcrimes were committed against them and theywere humiliated as sex symbols.


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Why were they silent in spite of alltypes of humiliation?

It is because of their total dependency on men.In India, they were dependent on fathersduring younger days, on husbands aftermarriage and on sons during old age. Theireconomic dependency was mainly responsiblefor their sufferings and the Indian society hasalways taught that silence and patience arewomen virtues. Women were so dependant on

men due to their lower socio economic, legaland political status and the end result wasextreme gender inequality.


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Status of Indian womenPolitical status of women

India ranks 118/177 in gender equality.Such a low ranking is due to thesubmissive attitude of the Indian women

The social status is indicated by the datarelated to literacy and health.

there are only 44/545 members in the

parliament, in the cabinet, women'srepresentation is almost nil.


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Governments role inempowering women

The Indian laws, development policies, Plansand programmes have aimed at womensadvancement in different spheres. From the

Fifth Five Year Plan to the ninth five year planthere has been a marked shift in the approachto womens issues from welfare todevelopment. In recent years, the

empowerment ofwomen has beenrecognized as the central issue in determiningthe status ofwomen.

Th N ti l C i i f


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The National Commission forWomen - an Act of Parliament in

1990 set up to safeguard the rightsand legal entitlements ofwomen.Gender disparity manifests itself in

various forms, the most obviousbeing the trend of declining femaleratio in the population in the last

few decades due to femaleinfanticide.


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Empowerment process of theIndian women

In India the empowerment process hasalready begun. We are now witnessing asteady improvement in the enrollment of

women in schools and colleges and evenin the professional arena. Thereproductive health status and general

health status are better, when comparedto their health status in the earlierdecades.


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They are entering the non traditional

sectors like the police, defense,administration, media and researchfields. In the

highest forum of democracy and greaternumber ofwomen will participate in thlaw making process.


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26 laws to protect women fromvarious crimes are set up

protection ofwomen againstdomestic violence is foremost.

In the political field, the reservationfor women in local administration ispolitical empowerment.

When 33% reservation for womenin parliament becomes a reality,Womens voice will be heard.


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For society women sacrifice a lot and bearmental,physical and emotional stress. . Even if awoman lives in an abusive domestic

environment, she hesitates to come out ofmarriage in spite of her economic independence.This is due to strong addiction to culture andtradition. Such patience is exercised not only for

the sake of society and children, but also due tolack of confidence to live as a single woman andface the challenges oflife.


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Suicide and Para suicide casesamong women have increased

in recent years.

carrier women have no freedomover their income


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What sort of economicindependence is this?

Even in the corporate sector women executivesare not always consulted when importantdecisions are taken , for promotions womenexecutives are not the first choice.

Even in the Indian parliament and Central andstate ministries less representation is given towomen.

Though women are capable of multi tasking,

challenging responsibilities are not entrusted tothem. It is the reflection of traditional mindset against

women in India.


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There is also a category ofwomen,(whoare highly educated) who proudlyannounce that they dont have digital

literacy (though they own a computer),they can not operate bank accounts ormake travel arrangements for the familyor handle hospital admission even during

emergencies They never even try to testwhether they can cope with theseresponsibilities.

This type of extreme


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This type of extremedependency is not good for the

development of women. Women should remember that they are also

rational, intelligent and thinking human beings.Dependent women are not empowered

women. Ifwomen think just because they arehighly educated and employed. they areempowered, it is a myth.

There is also another side to theempowerment process ofwomen. Some

sections ofwomen have wrong notions aboutempowerment. They think they can breakfamily relationship for flimsy reasons.


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If empowerment means

The ability to plan ones own life, The ability to use the available resources

for their betterment, The ability to achieve the goals in life, The ability to face the challenges of life, The ability to participate in decision

making process and The ability to stand on their own legs.The seemingly empowered women will not

be resorting to the extreme decision ofending their lives.


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Things to be done in additional tothe tools ofempowerment

awareness about risks prevailing at home, in work placesand while traveling and staying outside home.

They should have political , legal , economic and healthawareness.

They should have knowledge about support groups.

They should have the positive attitude towards life. Under anyadverse circumstance they should not loose courage andconfidence and try to end their life.

They should set goals for their future and strive to achieve themwith courage and conviction.

They should have a strong will power to succeed in life. In short,the inner strength ofwomen has to be built.

Men should also be involved in the womenempowermentprocess.

Towards these goals the woman activists should continue to function.


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Women as catalysts for Indiastransformation

History salutes them, the present is inspired by themand the future awaits them. Women have redefinedentrepreneurial benchmarks. But can Indian women withtheir vision, courage, ambition and energy, transform

India. Indian women have proved their worth in differentwalks of life. There is a need to change the mindset aswomen should put collaborative effort to get intomainstream, bring transformation for inclusive andsustainable growth of India. India needs to set up a

conducive structure that can empower women andindustry and to encourage active participation at thework place.


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Women are transformingWorkplaces

Indian women have been able tostereotype, and have achieved enough isinspirational both within and outside.

Is it that the Indian women loose theirfeminity when they take up a job or is itthat

they transform the work place when they

get into it. Indian women have beensteadily working on making a differencebecause of their capabilities and hardwork and God willing they will achieve it.


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A poem for WomensEmpowerment

If all trees were one tree, what a great tree itwould be

If all rivers were one river, what a great river itwould be

If all women in the world spoke in one voice,what a great voice it would be and how well itwould be heard

It would be the voice of victory and we would haveachieved the empowerment of Women.


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Thank you

life skills for women’s empowerment.ppt

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