Empowerment of women should be a continuing process

We pray to Durga for bravery. We implore Lakshmi for wealth. We offer our pooja for Saraswathi for wisdom. All these are forms of women who accompany us in various roles like mother, sister, wife, daughter etc.

Is it not our responsibility to recognise their work and respect their efforts? Yes, it is our duty. So, we are celebrating International Women's Day every year on March 8th. in addition to this, we are providing more opportunities for women in every field.

As per HRD minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank's article, "An educated woman is the key to prosperous India", (The Hans India, 1.3.2020) "Be it in degrees or number of gold medallists, our daughters constitute 60 per cent of the list.

In many cases this figure might go up to 70-75 per cent "In his view, this is a huge positive sign. He also said that "Swami Vivekananda says, 'the country that does not respect its women will never prosper'".

In the early times, after Independence, the literacy rate of women was only 9 per cent but, it increased to 65 per cent in 2011. This itself is a huge turn around factor and proof for empowerment of Indian women.

The theme of this international women's day is "I am gender equality: Realising women's rights." One of the most important Rights of women is "education". We must encourage them to be educated.

As the Minister said:" Mother is the first guru for any child. That's why women's education is important in this country. In order to make our society cultured and traditional, it is not just useful, but also mandatory to educate women."

He also mentioned an important quote of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "Give me 100 ideal mothers, I will give you an ideal nation." This underscores the importance of mother's education in our society. Because, an educated mother builds an educated family which builds an educated society which leads to the development of nation.

Another right which is mandatorily deserved for women is respect. In this aspect, worship doesn't mean to offer pooja and prayers but to allow women to gain their basic respect.

Nowadays, women are not receiving proper respect from the society in which they are living.

This is the reason why, a country which was once upon a time a guide for the rest of the world is today struggling to reclaim its lost pride and glory. To regain all these, our government is endeavouring a lot and allowing women to enter in all fields in which they are interested.

Our women are representing us on the international sports arena, in bureaucracy, politics, international organisations and much more. Recently, the first female fighter pilot has appointed in Indian air force and our government also allowed women to participate in combat roles of army.

Not only in defence, women also playing a major role in science and technology. Mangalyaan, Chandrayaan-II has talented women behind them.

So, it is our responsibility to recognise interest of women in every field. We must help and encourage them to achieve their goals. Hence, we all should agree that "an educated woman is key to prosperous India."

(The authors are students of G Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Sciences, Hyderabad)