Essay: Women's Economic Empowerment - Key To Faster Growth And Development.

Topic: Towards A Better Understanding of Mobilization of women Economic Empowerment in The 21st Century in Australia.

You are required to demonstrate your understanding of the relevant body of works to a real-life business research. We expect you to read and reflect on at least twenty recent refereed journal articles on your topic supported by any other evidence or information that can help refine the problem of your research, formulate conceptual framework and the methods of data collection and analysis.

Issues Faced by Women in Society

Focusing on women’s economic empowerment can lead a nation towards faster growth and development. Having a dedicated approach towards women empowerment will help in reducing economic growth constraints like gender equality, eradication of poverty, as well as an inclusive growth (Duflo, 2012). Women form an integral and important part of the society and contribute their share in the economy by undertaking business work, entrepreneurship, acting as an employee, working in farms, and by doing simple home chores. Despite of this fact it has been seen that the women section of the society face a lot of issues and troubles like discrimination and exploitation, poor health conditions, gender discriminations, low wages in offices, less opportunities as compared to male counterparts, as well as poverty in the society. Because of this discrimination many constraints arise in front of economic and social development of the society. Also it has been seen that in order to give their time towards household work many women’s are not able to take the advantage of economic opportunities available in front of them. Hence, this issue has attracted a lot of attention of the experts of different fields in the last decade. Many important steps have been taken towards the women empowerment in the society at national as well as international level. As a result a significant positive impact has been seen in the women empowerment rate in the economy (Drevenstedt, Crimmins, Vasunilashorn, & Finch, 2008).

Women empowerment in simple terms can be understood as the process of providing them with power in order to take stand in the society and lead a successful and happy life (Porter, 2013). This research revolves around women economic empowerment and what role is played by different institutions and stakeholders in the mobilization of women economic empowerment. This research aims to find out about the method used by these institutions in order to mobilize women and what benefits has been achieved by women in the Australian society. Many research has been conducted that aims to evaluate the positive change towards women empowerment but many less research has revealed about the methods and manner adopted because of which this positive change has become possible.  

The main objective of this research is to gain knowledge related to the mobilization of women economic empowerment. In the last decade a lot of change has been experienced in the position of women socially as well as economically. The main focus of this research is to analyze the factors that have helped towards the mobilization of women and what are some hindrances in this path. The research will help to gain a detailed knowledge about the role of different institutions that has worked towards the mobilization of women. Following are the research questions with the help of which the objectives of this research will be fulfilled.

• R1: To find out about the institutions that works towards women empowerment
• R2: To find out about the changes in women’s status experienced in the last decade  
• R3: To find out about Australia’s efforts towards women economic empowerment in the country
• R4: To find out the possible challenges in front of women economic empowerment

Role of Women in the Economy

This article will major focus on the role played by the institutions in successful mobilization of women economic empowerment.   By analyzing the previous studies of this research it has been found out that not many articles have discussed about the methods used by the different institutions in empowering women in the society. In the research by Sarah (2005), it has been found that the article aims to focus on the conceptual framework of the women’s empowerment and discusses about the measurement of women empowerment. But, the article has failed to discuss about the methods used by different institutions in order to empower women (Mosedale, 2005). This research has focused on reducing these gaps in the literature. The research questions identified in the proposal will be answered on the basis of secondary data collection method and analysis will be conducted on the basis of these secondary data collections. This research will help the experts of different fields like economics, philosophy as well as psychology in order to find out the ways in which a country can move towards achieving gender equality by empowering their women. This research can also be used by government organizations and different stakeholders and institutions in order to know about the ways and steps that can be taken by them in order to improve the women’s condition. This research will also help the policy makers to develop plans and policies accordingly so that their efforts are not wasted and they can achieve success in their very first attempt.

Efforts taken by institutions towards achieving women empowerment

Many different organizations have taken efforts towards the development of women in the society. One of such efforts is taken by United Nations Millennium Declaration which was signed in the year 2000with an aim to combat different social problems in the society. These problems were targeted in the form of different goals by United Nations. The third goal of these goals was directed towards achieving gender equality and empowering women. Improving maternal health goal was also directed towards women empowerment as ensuring good health is an integral part of women empowerment (UNDP, 2018). UNESCO also plays a major contribution towards fostering women empowerment by developing leadership skills among them as well as by promoting girl education in the society. The institution believes in working from the very root and hence, has taken efforts towards educating the girl child and also encourages women to participate in leadership development sessions so that they can move towards entrepreneurship in future (Vaughan, 2010). UNESCO has given a major emphasis towards achieving gender equality in the society especially in the political and economic area. The organization aims towards achieving success in this field by encouraging governments to make additions in their development plans and include plans that are directed towards bringing change in women’s role and position in the society. Another method that is encouraged by UNESCO is by collecting authentic, reliable and accurate data by government and independent institutions related to women’s rights and other specific data (Huis, Hansen, Otten, & Lensink, 2017). Other than this there are many regional and national level organizations that work towards the empowerment of women by developing plans and policies depending upon their economic and political conditions. In Australia the Department of Foreign Affairs has developed “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy” which clearly states that the government of the country has included gender equality in their foreign diplomacy as well as in the economic policies of the country. On the basis of this strategy it has been found that the country aims to raise the voices of their women by developing leadership skills in them and by proving them with the ability to take decisions. The strategy also aims towards the promotion of women economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls in the country. The country has also included gender equality in the internal corporate as well as human resource plans and policies. The country has also declared women empowerment as one of the six priority areas for achieving investment directed towards the aid of women of the country. The country has adopted a two track approach dedicated towards women empowerment. The first track is related to the funds collected towards undertaking specific gender equality and women empowerment activities. This is the area where gender equality in the country is slow and needs immediate attention and action. The second track is related to the government’s target that is at least 80 per cent of the investments must address the issues related to gender inequality (Rimmer & Sawer, 2016). Australian government has taken efforts towards many different areas that are directly or indirectly related to women and their poor conditions. These areas include poverty, health, education, economy, violence, institutional mechanisms, media, environment, human rights, etc. Government is taking all the possible efforts to improve the decision making power of women, making attempts towards increasing girl child admission in schools, providing necessary training and education that is required for their professional development that will help them to grow and prosper at their workplace as well as in the economy, etc. (Crawford & Pini, 2010). Because of these efforts by different governmental and international organization it has been seen that a remarkable change has been seen in the position of women in the society and a measurable improvement has been seen in the women economic empowerment

Institutions and Stakeholders in Mobilizing Women's Economic Empowerment

Endalcachew (2016) has argued that there are many different stakeholders that work towards the improvement of women in the society. One of the major stakeholders of this is the political party of a country. The government of a country has the ability to frame plans and policies that can help achieve the goals of women empowerment. A combined effort of the government and different institutions towards eradicating the issues that act as a hindrance towards the ultimate goal of women empowerment can work wonders in this field (Bayeh, 2016). Civil society is an important stakeholder in achieving gender equality and empowering women in the society. Civil societies can facilitate women empowerment in the society with the help of governance structure and labor forces and other volunteers dedicated towards bringing equality in the society. Civil societies in close collaboration with government and other independent institutes provides funding facilities to vulnerable women that helps them to take a stand in the society and earn their daily bread by providing them job opportunities (Chaney, 2016). Many Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) also play a very important role in women empowerment. NGO’s take efforts towards raising the poor standards of women in the society by helping them and providing them strength to fight the social evils of the society. NGO’s help women to gain economic strength by providing them capabilities to earn and feed themselves and live a healthy and happy life (Lopes, Ferreira, & Ferreira, 2008). Academic institutions also play an important role in promoting women empowerment. Academic institutions have the ability to change the behavior as well as thinking of people and can persuade the thinking of people.  Academia plays an important role in building tomorrow’s political, social, economic and cultural leaders (Yousuf & Wani, 2016). Hence, developing a sense of gender equality from the very beginning can help to a great extent to fight the social evils like gender inequality from the society. Students should be given case studies, and other projects with the help of which they can come across these issues related to women in the society and how they can play an important role in eradicating this in a successful manner from the society. Hence, it is said that academic institutions play a very important role in promoting women empowerment (Sundaram, Dr.M.Sekar, & A.Subburaj, 2014). Apart from this many international institutions and organizations play an important role in promoting women’s growth and development in the society like. When all these stakeholders come together

United Nations and UNESCO's contribution towards women empowerment

Naila (2000) has stated that women’s empowerment is a process in which the women who have been denied with the ability to make their own choices are provided with such ability. This ability to choose includes three major dimensions and they are resources both material and human; agency and achievements that are related to achieving well being in the society. It has been said that in order to measure the achievements in women empowerment these three dimensions play a very vital role (Kabeer, 2002). Gender related Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) are one of the best measures that are adopted in order to measure the success and achievements towards women empowerment. Women Empowerment Matrix has been suggested by exerts in order to link different factors like socio cultural, economic, political, religious as well as legal spheres when it comes to measurement of success of women empowerment in the society. These indexes will help in calculating accurate data so that the policy and decision makers can take further actions depending upon the actual results on the basis of the estimated results. Hence, a national as well as global measurement can be achieved with the help of these indexes and accordingly the organizations and governments can take further amendments in their current strategic plans and polices (Charmes & Wieringa, 2010).

The major reasons that act as a challenge in front of women empowerment includes the dominance of patriarchal society that is male dominant societies that acts as a building block in front of the growth and development of women socially, culturally as well as politically (Choudhary, 2016). Male chauvinism is another important hindrance in achieving women empowerment or gender equality. Also if the women anyhow reach in the competition at political or commercial levels it has been seen that they face a tough competition from their male counterparts and also are looked upon with disgrace and unfaithfulness that they cannot perform better than their male counterparts. Because of these reasons it has been seen that women lose their self confidence and it negatively impacts the fight against gender inequality. The will power of women are challenged by such negative aspects of the society and it has been seen that many women who start their fight against such social evils either lose or leave their fight in between and accept that they cannot win (Datta & Gailey, 2017). Lack of education also plays a hindrance in the successful achievement of women empowerment. Also family backgrounds play an important role in this fight. It is very important that the women come from a background that supports gender equality or else this creates a problem in future as well. This is so because the women will be looked down by the male members of such family and also the women from starting will lose hope towards achieving gender equality (GOYAL & PARKASH, 2011). Though, it is believed that when it comes to broad measurement of women empowerment it is seen that development has not yet achieved in all the desired sectors. It has been said by experts that that the progress is very slow and hence, many organizations fail to achieve the final result directed towards achieving gender equality. The major reason stated behind this is that the phase has come were mere awareness generation will not work and action needs to be undertaken towards women empowerment and combating gender inequality from the society. It is very important that men and women both come together in order to fight this social evil (Ghosh, Chakravarti, & Mansi, 2015).

Australian government's initiatives towards women economic empowerment

Hypothesis 1

H0: Institutions and organizations have no role in women empowerment

H1: Institutions and organizations have positive role in women empowerment

Hypothesis 2

H0: Different stakeholders have no role in women empowerment and gender quality

H1: Different stakeholders play a major role in women empowerment and gender equality

Methodology is the process that is used to collect information as well as data in order to fulfill the objectives of the research (Müller-Staub, 2012). There are two ways of collecting data first is the primary data collection method and the second is secondary data collection method. Primary data collection method includes first hand information collected through interviews and surveys. Secondary data collection is used when the work of previous authors are analyzed and reviewed that are related to the current research topic in order to fulfill the objectives of the research. Data collected through primary method is reflected in the data analysis section of the research. Whereas, the data collected through secondary method is reflected under the heading of literature review. In this research primary and secondary data collection method has been selected in order to fulfill the objectives and goals of this research (Abdulai & Owusu-Ansah, 2014).

There are two ways to undertake a research on is quantitative that is reflected with the help of survey analysis and the other one is qualitative that is reflected through interview analysis or by undertaking review of peer researches (Wisdom, Cavaleri, Onwuegbuzie, & Green, 2012). This research has selected both quantitative and qualitative research method in order to collect data for the fulfillment of its objectives. Data collection is one of the most important parts of the research work. It is very important to collect the right method of data collection. In order to undertake this research the first thing that needs to be considered is to find articles and research work that has centrally focused on women empowerment and gender equality. Then on the basis of this research work conclusions need to be drawn by reviewing these articles. After reviewing these articles it is important to gather the negative as well as positive conclusions drawn by the experts that will help in better understanding of this topic.

Population

The target populations for this study are the leading organizations of Australia.

Sampling

Random sampling is selected in this research for selecting the participants for the survey. 5 organizations have been selected for undertaking survey analysis in order to collect primary data.

Variables and Analysis

This research is based on quantitative and qualitative research analysis. In order to undertake quantitative research analysis the survey analysis of the participants has been collected and with the help of regression analysis the results for survey analysis will be analyzed. In the qualitative research analysis data will be collected by making use of internet facility and collecting research works that are directed towards women empowerment. By analyzing this research work the major outcomes of the research will be separated in order to represent it in the current research work and to find out the gap in the research that can be fulfilled in this current research.

Chapter one: Research Proposal as outlined in this assignment

Chapter two: Literature Review; Journals and books will be referred and summarized in this chapter  

Chapter Three: Methodology will be discussed in this chapter, Appropriate methodology will be chosen by studying pros and cons of different methods

Chapter Four: Data Collection will be done Findings will be defined as per results of data analysis  

Chapter Five: Conclusion will be made along with recommendations and limitations of study.

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