EMPOWERING WOMEN AND ACHIEVING GENDER PARITY

Abstract : Gender equality and women's empowerment have been major global concerns over the last decade. The empowerment of women—in areas such as information and communication technology (ICT), education, employment, political representation, and health and personality traits—is crucial to achieving gender equality. Change in society is gender equality and women's empowerment are cornerstones of sustainable development, and sustainable development cannot flourish without them. Thus, it is argued that achieving gender parity is not just a matter of basic human decency but also a necessary condition of and a measure of long-term progress towards a better world. It is also true that gender inequality is pervasive in all societies and that progress towards sustainability would be impossible until significant action is taken to address this problem. The need of establishing gender equality in order to build a more equitable and sustainable society and to empower women to better provide for their families and communities is also emphasised. However, the country's progress would be hampered if efforts to promote gender equality are not sustained. Stevens (2010) makes an intriguing point by emphasising that "high economic costs are growing and contributing to social disparities and environmental degradation throughout the globe. Most crucially, gender-based discrimination and inequities remain pervasive in India, despite the government's best efforts to the contrary. As a consequence, the gender gap persists and women's lack of empowerment slows the country's progress. Even while there has been progress in many areas, it is unclear whether or not this can be maintained. Therefore, this research highlights the importance of women's empowerment and achieving gender equality for a nation's long-term prosperity.摘要：近十年来，性别平等与妇女赋权一直是全球关注的重大议题。妇女赋权——涵盖信息与通信技术（ICT）、教育、就业、政治代表权以及健康与人格特质等领域——对实现性别平等至关重要。社会变革中的性别平等与妇女赋权是可持续发展的基石，若无此二者，可持续发展便无法蓬勃推进。因此，学界普遍认为，实现性别均等不仅是基本的人类道义之举，更是迈向更美好世界的长期进步的必要条件与衡量标准。诚然，性别不平等在所有社会中均普遍存在，若不采取有力行动解决这一问题，可持续发展的进程便无从谈起。研究同时强调，为构建更加公平公正且可持续的社会，赋权妇女使其更好地为家庭与社区谋福祉，亟需确立性别平等的地位。然而，若促进性别平等的努力无法持续，国家的发展进程将受到阻碍。史蒂文斯（Stevens，2010）提出了一个发人深省的观点：“高昂的经济成本与日俱增，正加剧全球范围内的社会差距与环境退化。”最为关键的是，尽管印度政府已尽最大努力扭转局面，但基于性别的歧视与不平等现象在印度仍普遍存在。由此，性别差距持续存在，妇女赋权不足拖累了国家的发展进程。尽管诸多领域已取得进展，但这种进展能否得以维持仍未可知。因此，本研究着重阐明了妇女赋权与实现性别平等对国家长期繁荣的重要意义。