REVISITING HER-STORIES: WOMEN, EMPOWERMENT AND INDIAN CULTURE

Women studies in recent times have been instrumental in accentuating gender issues perceptible in our society- a society that unabashedly revels in androcentrism. Significantly, to counter the adverse impact(s) of “sexual politics” (Millet) ensuing from the binary opposition of biological sexes, it is imperative for women to reclaim their usurp status by traversing the itinerary from the margin towards the centre. In accordance with this pressing need of regenerative womanhood we have sought, in this investigation, to trace the trajectory of Women Empowerment in the Indian context. To particularize we have attempted to document how the gradual strategic “othering” of the “second sex” (a derogatory phrase insinuating her marginalisation in an overtly patriarchal societal set-up) has indeed necessitated her transition from powerlessness to empowerment-an odyssey which can and will herald the dawn of a better future for womanhood.