Empower Women to empower the Nation Of the 1.

3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the globe, 70 percent are women. For these women, poverty doesnt just mean scarcity and want. It means rights denied, opportunities curtailed and voices silenced The overwhelming majority of the labor that sustains life growing food, cooking, raising children, caring for the elderly, maintaining a house, hauling water is done by women, and universally this work is accorded low status and no pay. Women make up two-thirds of the estimated 876 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write; and girls make up 60 percent of the 77 million children not attending primary school. Education is among the most important drivers of human development: women who are educated have fewer children than those who are denied schooling (some studies correlate each additional year of education with a 10 percent drop in fertility). They delay their first pregnancies, have healthier children We need to bring a change for betterment of life Improvement in the physical, economic, political or social well-being of women will not be sustained unless: 1) Individuals change: Poor women become actors for change, able to analyze their own lives, make their own decisions and take their own actions. Women (and men) gain ability to act by building awareness, skills,knowledge, confidence and experience. 2) Structures change: Women and men, individually and collectively, challenge the routines, conventions, laws, family forms, kinship structures and taken-forgranted behaviors that shape their lives the accepted forms of power and how these are perpetuated. 3) Relations change: Women and men form new relations with other social actors, form coalitions and develop mutual support in order to negotiate, be agents of change, alter structures and so realize rights, dignity and livelihood security. Women face many social challenges today whether it be making soaps and incence, in order to secure an income for her family to raising children amidst the harsh economic crisis. A woman is dynamic in the many roles she plays. In the village of Warwarhere in Maharashtra 400 women stood up and raised their voices to ban alcohol and drugs. How to bring about change A savings and loan project improves womens financial status, corollary training builds their savvy to earn more from income-generating activities. Womens stature and say-so in household decision-making increases with income

Participatory institution building through self-help groups has been found to be one of the most effective tools for the empowerment of women in developing countries. As on 31st March 2012, there were around 63 lakh all-women self-help groups in India that had combined bank savings of more than Rs. 5,100 crore. The distinguished guests today will explain how the Govt Dept / Banks are working as catalysts for bringing this change in our country to unearth the potentialities hidden in women in our country