Reviews the position of women in society, with particular reference to their educational achievements and employment opportunities. Focuses on the potential of microcredit programmes and how women entrepreneurs affect the global economy. Assess where rural women stand in the development process today.

The Major Discussion Of Empowerment Process Pertains Mainly To The Profile Of Women Workforce, Status Of Female-Headed Households, Policies And Programmes Related To Women, Empowerment To Women Through Literacy And Women In Panchayat. Hence, Women Empower

To address the goal 5 (Gender Equality) of Sustainable Development, it is deemed vital that we first understand the gender inequalities and the contribution of the second gender, i.e. women. We need to bring women into the mainstream to bring both genders at par. Since most of our population lives in villages, we need to have an in-depth knowledge of rural women's role in the development and understand the means and ways to empower them holistically, be it in terms of education, social, technological, political, legal etc. Today's environment calls for a need for women in rural areas to go in for bringing the various drudgery-reducing technologies into practice as well as empower themselves economically through Self Help Groups (SHGs). Rural women must understand the coping strategies associated with climate change which is again a challenge, and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to be more informed and empowered citizens for the welfare of their families, communities, societies and the nation at large. To attain the national goal of doubling the farmers' income by 2022, rural women's economic contribution must be increased through entrepreneurship. To make this dream come true, rural women need to be educated, malnutrition in rural areas; especially among women, needs to be removed, they will have to be technologically empowered, and rural women need to break the shackles of traditional hiccups and be aware of the latest information related to government programmes and schemes along with legal literacy concerning them to be able to understand the various provisions made available by the government for them and to enable them to enforce the same. This book encapsulated all the required dimensions of rural women empowerment: education, health & nutrition, technological empowerment, political empowerment instruments like the Panchayati Raj system, economic empowerment through entrepreneurship, etc. It covers the health challenges of women labourers, hill women, drudgery issues of brick layering women, women and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and constriants to women's empowerment. A few case studies and success stories of women entrepreneurs find their place in this book. The book also provides solutions to the issues of rural women, such as knowledge about those government schemes and programmes that empower women and provides women strength with the golden rays of constitutional mandates to make them sabla from abla. In a nutshell, this book provides conceptual clarity regarding the concept of women empowerment, the different dimensions of empowerment, issues and strategies to cope with the same in one place.

Contributed articles on socio-economic status of rural women in India.

Contributed articles on economic status of Indian rural women presented in a seminar held in October 2004 moderated by G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad and Working Women's Forum, Tamilnadu, India.

The significant roles played and huge contributions made by women in agriculture and rural development throughout the developing nations have been well recognized and documented by various international development agencies, national government, development administrators, academicians and social science researchers alike, in the recent past. The book is expected to be of great help to the students, scholars, policy makers, development administrators and technology transfer personnel in the fields of agricultural and rural development throughout the globe.

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