Education: Tool For Empowering Women

Women have been given an inferior social status. Conservative social customs like sati, child marriage, dowry, social boycott of widows have made women’s life miserable. Thus, women experience several accumulated disadvantages. They face not only gender discrimination of various degrees but also suffer the most from sexual harassment, atrocities and crimes. All these factors, coupled with the low female literacy rate, make the role of education very challenging. At present, there is an increasing awareness of the need to empower women in order to raise their status. It is strongly believed that providing education to women who have been denied opportunities in this area until now would bring about the desired changes. Intense efforts are being made to enhance the enrolment of women at all levels of education. In this paper the author has discussed why education is important for empowering women. The author also discusses the teenaged Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai who was shot by Taliban gunmen in her native Pakistan for daring to attend school. Malala Yousafzai has given strong message to the world that all girls have right to attend school and realize their dreams. Key words: women’s education, women’s empowerment