EDUCARE
We have made tremendous progress in the field of science and technology but we are yet to achieve gender equality in many perspectives. Though we talk about women empowerment often, we see how women become victims of violence and other incidents. When it comes to rights, we see more men ahead of women. The world is changing and it's time that we also change and contribute towards equity and equality.
We should know that in 1984, Australia introduced the world’s first Women’s Budget Statement, paving the way for many others to follow suit. There is an alarming lack of financing with a staggering USD 360 billion annual deficit in spending on gender-equality measures. Just 5% of government aid is focused on tackling violence against women and girls, and less than 0.2% is directed to its prevention.
We are talking about gender equality or gender mainstreaming and also achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) .Achieving gender equality and women’s well-being in all aspects of life is more crucial than ever if we want to create prosperous economies and a healthy planet. However, we are facing a key challenge: the alarming $360 billion annual deficit in gender-equality measures by 2030.
One of the global events organized around the world on 8 March is the International Women’s Day (IWD). The fact that Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th is strongly linked to the women’s movements during the Russian Revolution (1917). IWD is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. We should know that New Zealand was the first self-governing nation to allow women to vote. In the first known campaign of its kind, the Egyptian Society of Physicians went against tradition by declaring the negative effects of female genital mutilation in 1920. This year's theme for IWD is ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’.
When we talk about bringing change then we can also think of careers related to this field. We should know that women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppression; and the relationships between power and gender as they intersect with other identities and social locations such as race, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, and disability.
Popular concepts that are related to the field of women's studies include feminist theory, standpoint theory, multiculturalism, transnational feminism, social justice, affect studies, agency, bio-politics, materialism, and embodiment. Research practices and methodologies associated with women's studies include ethnography, focus groups, surveys, community-based research, discourse analysis, and reading practices associated with critical theory, post-structuralism, etc. Women and gender studies give us an insight into the history, philosophy and the regulation of humans from a gendered perspective.
There are bachelor and master level courses related to women's studies and many leading universities and colleges offer the course in India and abroad. There are government agencies and development agencies that recruit aspirants having academic qualifications related to women studies. Apart from academic qualifications, employability skills are needed to be placed in leading institutes as there are challenges for the entry level professionals. There are short term courses like diploma and certificate courses related to women studies. Online courses are offered by leading universities from around the world.
(Ranjan K Baruah is the Advisor of Skill Employment and Entrepreneurship Department of Bodoland Territorial Region, Kokrajhar and can be reached at 8473943734 or bkranjan@gmail.com)
