Role of Education and Internet in Women Empowerment

Women empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion all over the Globe and has become one of the most important concerns of 21st Century. Empowerment of women is essentially the process of upliftment of economic, social and political status of women, the traditionally underprivileged ones, in the society. It involves the building up of a society where in women can breathe without the fear of oppression, exploitation, apprehension, discrimination and the general feeling of persecution which goes with being a woman in a traditionally male dominated structure. Women empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities of women. Women Empowerment in simple terms mean helping women to achieve equality with men and to reduce gender discrimination. Education acts as a powerful tool in empowering women and enables them to respond to the challenges, to confront their traditional role and change their life. The government of India has implemented various Programmes, Policies and Schemes for women empowerment from time to time to make them at par with men but still large women folk in our country is Illiterate and the proof lies in census 2011, which reads that women literacy rate in India is 65.46% while as the literacy rate of men is 82.14%. The present paper critically examines how education and various educational Programmes can be used for women empowerment and the role that internet is playing in empowering the women in India with a special reference to Kashmir (the conflicted zone).