Women’s Education and Empowerment in Rural India


Book Description

This is a book about understanding women’s empowerment and pathways as well as roadblocks to women’s economic empowerment in rural India, as understood through an evaluation-based research of a state-funded social sector programme located in the education department – Mahila Samakhya (MS) – in Bihar, one of the socially and educationally most underdeveloped Indian states. The book presents findings of the three-year research that adopted a mixed-methods approach and evaluated the impact of MS on various facets of empowerment of women coming from the most marginalized communities. The study, therefore, tries to go beyond evaluating the MS programme and uses the research findings and insights to raise certain critical issues pertaining to social policy planning and implementation, especially in the context of women’s education and empowerment. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka




Sustainability of a Government Targeted Credit Program


Book Description

World Bank Technical Paper No. 304. Reviews the status and availability in developing countries of photovoltaic (PV) technology and looks at the prospects for using this technology in light of current energy use and costs of other energy sources. The report provides the necessary background information and highlights the questions raised and the calculations that must be made whenever PV applications are being considered in the developing world




Handbook of Research on New Dimensions of Gender Mainstreaming and Women Empowerment


Book Description

Globally, women are facing social, economic, and cultural barriers impeding their autonomy and agency. Accelerated women empowerment programs often fail to attain their targets as envisaged by the policymakers due to a variety of reasons, with the most prominent being the deep-rooted cultural norms ingrained within society. In the era of globalization, empowerment of women demands new approaches and strategies that encourage the mainstreaming of gender equality as a societal norm. The Handbook of Research on New Dimensions of Gender Mainstreaming and Women Empowerment is a critical scholarly publication that examines global gender issues and new strategies for the promotion of women empowerment and gender mainstreaming in various spheres of women’s lives, including education and ICT, economic participation, health and sexuality, mental health, aging, law and judiciary, leadership, and decision making. It provides a comprehensive coverage of all major gender issues with novel ideas on gender mainstreaming being contributed by men and women authors from multidisciplinary backgrounds. Gender perspective and intersectional approach in the discourses make this handbook a unique contribution to the scholarship of social sciences and humanities. The book provides new theoretical inputs and practical directions to academicians, sociologists, social workers, psychologists, managers, lawyers, policy makers, and government officials in their efforts at gender mainstreaming. With a wide range of conceptual richness, this handbook is an excellent reference guide to students and researchers in programs pertaining to gender/women's studies, cultural studies, economics, sociology, social work, medicine, law, and management.




The Atypical Tale of a Typical Indian Woman


Book Description

The Atypical Tale of a Typical Indian Woman is a book for empowering women. This book strives to make women look at themselves differently!It urges women to recognize their inner strengths and appreciate themselves for what they are doing. This book draws attention to the fact that women empowerment is more of an inside job than outside one. The author emphasizes on the fact that women's empowerment begins at home. It begins with the family celebrating the birth of a daughter and cherishing her.The tale of an Indian woman becomes Atypical because of the challenges an Indian woamn faces in her life. The author believes that the life of an Indian woman is challenging because she faces judgement, abuse, bullying, criticizm, She is questioned for every step she takes. The Indian society has created a never-ending list of expectations from an Indian woman. At every stage in life she has a different set of norms that she has to subscribe to.Most Indian women try hard to live by whatever is expected of them. In the process they forget to take care of their needs and their goals. And, then they begin to doubt their worth. The author lays stress on the aspects of self-care and self-empowerment for women. If a women wants to spend a life of respect and dignity, she must respect herself! The author has suggested some simple tips that are easy to implement for women to empower themselves. She insists that it is only when a woman is empowerd that she can lead a fulfilled life and take care of others around her.




Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)


Book Description

In this paper, the authors describe the adaptation and validation of a project-level WEAI (or pro-WEAI) that agricultural development projects can use to identify key areas of women’s (and men’s) disempowerment, design appropriate strategies to address identified deficiencies, and monitor project outcomes related to women’s empowerment. The 12 pro-WEAI indicators are mapped to three domains: intrinsic agency (power within), instrumental agency (power to), and collective agency (power with). A gender parity index compares the empowerment scores of men and women in the same household. The authors describe the development of pro-WEAI, including: (1) pro-WEAI’s distinctiveness from other versions of the WEAI; (2) the process of piloting pro-WEAI in 13 agricultural development projects during the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, phase 2 (GAAP2); (3) analysis of quantitative data from the GAAP2 projects, including intrahousehold patterns of empowerment; and (4) a summary of the findings from the qualitative work exploring concepts of women’s empowerment in the project sites. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from pro-WEAI and possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics.







Reaching for the Sky: Empowering Girls Through Education


Book Description

Transforming the Lives of Impoverished Girls in Patriarchal Societies Since 2003 a privately funded high school in India has provided desperately needed education for girls from impoverished families in Lucknow, the capital and largest city in Uttar Pradesh. Urvashi Sahni, the founder of Prerna Girls School, has written a compelling narrative of how this modest school in northeast India has changed the lives of more than 5,000 girls and their families. Most important, it is through the perspectives of the girls themselves, rather than through a remote academic viewpoint, that Prerna’s success unfolds. The book focuses on the importance of education in bringing about gender equality in a patriarchal society. It shows how girls learn to be equal and autonomous persons in school as part of their official curriculum and how they use this learning to transform their lives and those of their families. The book’s central argument is that education can be truly transformative if it addresses the everyday reality of girls’ lives and responds to their special needs and challenges with respect and care. The example of just one relatively small school in one corner of India, the message and the stories it tells will inspire anyone concerned about the necessity of girls’ education, especially in developing countries. The lives of the girls at Prerna Girls School are largely representative of those of millions living in poor regions in countries where patriarchal structures and norms prevail.




Voice and Agency


Book Description

"The 2012 report recognized that expanding women's agency - their ability to make decisions and take advantage of opportunities is key to improving their lives as well as the world. This report represents a major advance in global knowledge on this critical front. The vast data and thousands of surveys distilled in this report cast important light on the nature of constraints women and girls continue to face globally. This report identifies promising opportunities and entry points for lasting transformation, such as interventions that reach across sectors and include life-skills training, sexual and reproductive health education, conditional cash transfers, and mentoring. It finds that addressing what the World Health Organization has identified as an epidemic of violence against women means sharply scaling up engagement with men and boys. The report also underlines the vital role information and communication technologies can play in amplifying women's voices, expanding their economic and learning opportunities, and broadening their views and aspirations. The World Bank Group's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity demand no less than the full and equal participation of women and men, girls and boys, around the world." -- Publisher's description.




Drawing from the City


Book Description

Folk singer and self-taught artist draws her incredible journey from rural poverty to a life in art.




Empowering Indian Women


Book Description

I do not stand for women’s liberation as a solution to all the ills affecting women but, definitely, women should be accorded a fully human status and their feelings, thoughts, and attitudes should be reciprocated with human sympathy and dignity. Women empowerment is not all about ambitious women with vanity attached to them but women born and brought up with the right mental frame and attitude to carry on their life with prestige and a good. Nowhere would | have reached and achieved even the slightest success without such good people in my life as family members. Whatever little | have achieved today is their making.