EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN - A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The present paper throws a light on empowerment of women. Womens empowerment is obviously essential for raising their socio-economic status in the society. Recently, womens empowerment has acquired an important place in government policy, non- government advocacy and academic research. There has been a paradigm shift in development and governance. Democratic decentralization, partnership with NGOs, empowering community based organizations, participatory development, sustainable growth and equity etc., have proved to be instrumental in people participation in development and governance as well as their empowerment.