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Gender equality is recognized as a fundamental human right and a catalyst for sustainable development. To effectively navigate the journey towards gender parity, adopting the balanced scorecard approach is crucial. This article explores the concept of "Scorecarding Gender Equality" as a strategic tool for measuring progress, setting objectives, ensuring alignment, fostering accountability, and facilitating adaptation in the pursuit of sustainable development. The balanced scorecard offers a comprehensive pathway to achieve economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability, and peace and stability while promoting gender equality. Embracing this approach holds the potential to create a more equitable and sustainable world for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of women‐centric agricultural self‐help groups (SHGs) on intra‐household decision‐making in agriculture. Using data collected from an intra‐household survey of 815 households, we analyze the effect of women's membership in different types of SHGs on 14 decisions related to farms and households. Specifically, we investigate the discord in decision‐making, which is the difference in the perceived decision‐making roles of spouses within a household. Our results show that women's participation in SHGs has increased their role in decision‐making by 8–13%. However, the effects vary according to the type of intervention and the decision. We found fewer discords in intra‐household decision‐making in seed SHGs than in micro‐finance SHGs. In conclusion, our study suggests that women's engagement in agriculture‐based SHG interventions can encourage joint decision‐making, but the magnitude of this effect depends on the type of SHG. Development agencies can use this information to design interventions targeted at empowering women through the improvement of the agricultural value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of cultural relativism versus universalism is widely discussed when considering women's rights. This article discusses the applicability of cultural relativism to selected issues related to women's rights in Muslim personal law in the context of Saudi Arabia. It analyses the Islamic inheritance law and the women's right to receive mahr (dower) and challenges the idea of the incompatibility of Islam with human rights. The main argument of this article is that the concept of universality is limited and, therefore, a more holistic approach to universal human rights, such as cultural relativism, shall be applied when discussing the issue of human rights and women's rights in Islam. The discussion in this article starts by considering the universal character of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in relation to religions and Islam. Using Saudi Arabia as an example where Islamic law is applicable, a case is made that basing women's rights on Islamic laws, even though they may be discriminatory from a Western point of view, does not always lead to discrimination but indeed serve as a means to achieve equality. Based on the discussions on the universality of human rights in the context of Saudi Arabia's social and legal architecture, the article concludes that reconsidering the formal universality of human rights is essential to reconcile it with women's rights in Islamic law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objectives of this paper are three-fold. First, to identify the barriers to financial independence of female vegetable producers in the Gambia. Second, to assess the potential use of Islamic financing modes as enablers that can capacitate women in the Gambia's horticultural sector. Finally, it proposes an inclusive financing mode to empower women in the country's horticultural sector. To achieve these three objectives, different methodological approaches were used, drawing on various data collection techniques, including primary and secondary data collection methods. The results from the study indicate that lack of irrigation and storage facilities, access to markets and farming inputs (seeds, fertilisers) are the main challenges women encounter in their gardening activities. The study further found that the benefits of accessing and using microfinance services are impeded by these challenges, thereby preventing women vegetable producers from upscaling their horticultural activities. However, it is established in the paper that microfinance has great potential for promoting the financial independence of women in the Gambia, particularly women who engage in the horticultural sector. Based on these findings, the paper recommends using Parallel Salam Contract to tackle the problems of irrigation, storage facilities and market access. Murabahah/Musawamah contracts are also suggested to tackle the issue of the lack of farming inputs used by women in the horticultural sector. We further recommend that Islamic financial institutions educate the public about their business activities and for the regulators, including the Central Bank of the Gambia, to establish a Central Shari'ah Board to ensure the unification of fatwahs in the emerging Islamic finance sector in the Gambia, thereby ensuring transparency in the activities of the financial institutions participating in this sector and thus encourage more investors to partake in this burgeoning part of the Gambian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how the women's economic prospects are affected by vocational training, with main focus on employment, entrepreneurship and income. The study examines 120 respondents' viewpoints of how vocational training affects these vital dimensions of women's economic empowerment. The majority of respondents strongly agreed, according to findings, that vocational training has beneficial impact on income. Likewise, vocational training has a positive effect on women's entrepreneurship, according to respondents, highlighting its significance in advancing gender equality and economic independence. Some participants agree that the vocational training improves the women's career opportunities. The results offered significant information in reaching conclusion. This study highlights the need for specialized vocational training programs that take into account the varied needs and experiences of women, with consequences for both researchers and policymakers. This study advances existing conversation on women's economic empowerment and function of vocational training in creating inclusive communities by tackling these issues and exploring the new research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ʻEmployability and Empowermentʼ have played a critical role in shaping society and inspiring people to push limits and achieve new heights. Many actions have been performed to advance female equality and empower women. The Mudra scheme, one of the popular measures for reducing poverty, has the ability to improve women's status in the current male-dominated culture. Thus, the main aim of the study is to analyse the influence of the PMMY scheme on employability and Women empowerment. The respondents of the current study, which is grounded on ʻprimary dataʼ, are Indian women entrepreneurs in the state of Haryana. The study collected required information using a self-administered interview schedule using a ʻcross-sectional study designʼ using a ʻstratified random sampling technique (disproportionate)ʼ between June 2022 and October 2022, the primary data were gathered from 570 respondents. The study uses Ordered Logistic Regression, Wilcoxon Sign Test and Effect Size test for the analysis. The findings show that credit amount has a big impact on employability. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test results from the study show that there has been a considerable increase in the respondents' fiscal, societal, and psychosomatic empowerment when compared to the Before-Mudra loan phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women empowerment means a woman has enough power to decide her good or bad, and with this, a woman has her own decision in her all matters. According to some estimates, the population of women is nearly half or in some way or other more than the population of men in this world. In this way, the empowerment of women has always been a topic of great importance in social research. Women empowerment has some benefits in the globalized world and then these benefits and advantages are also transcended to the societal level. The research is a qualitative analysis with the incorporation of a little factual knowledge related to the under-discussed theme. It has been observed that whenever women are empowered in any part of this globalized world they contribute to the development, whether it is social development or economic development. Depending upon the availability of chances they were given, they always prove themselves as productive as a male member of any society.

Abstract Empowering women and the promotion of children’s health are key components of the Sustainable Development Goals targeted for achievement by 2030. The survival of young children, which depends on their nutrition, is influenced by an interaction of factors at the household level. This study aims to investigate the association between women’s empowerment and undernutrition among children under age 5 using The Gambia Demographic Health Survey (GDHS) 2019–20. Children’s undernutrition was measured with two indicators: stunting and underweight. The women’s empowerment indicators were educational status, employment, decision making, age at first sex and age at first birth, and acceptance of wife beating. StataSE software Version 17 was used for data analysis. Analyses were cluster-adjusted, sample-weighted, with confounding/moderating variables. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations were computed for all variables. Bivariate and multivariate analysis of the outcomes and women’s empowerment were conducted. The prevalence of stunting and underweight among the children under age 5 was 17% and 12%, respectively. The results of the multiple logistic regression show that women with no education had 51% (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.11–2.07; p = 0.009), and 52% (OR = 1.52; 95% CI = 1.06–2.14; p = 0.022) greater odds of having children under age 5 who were stunted or underweight compared to those women with primary and higher level of education, respectively. Mothers with a body mass index classified as thin were associated with an increased odds of having stunted (OR = 1.44; 95% CI 1.01–2.05; p = 0.033) and underweight (OR = 1.69; 95% CI = 1.58–3.52; P

Self-employment plays a prominent role in the improvement of the condition of unemployment. Those members who are engaged in self-employment are in a much better situation compared to wage-earning women members. The findings are based on 2 surveys conducted in 2005 and 2009 with the same members of Self Help Groups (SHGs), and the data collected from North Twenty-Four Parganas in the Southern region of West Bengal state of India. This study also analyzed economic and social demographic factors affecting the probability of both factors related to employment and empowerment.

Background: Women’s empowerment is a critical driver for economic growth and social prosperity. Broadly, the term refers to an improvement in women’s political, social, educational, economic, and health status. Decision making is an integral component of women’s empowerment. Objective: This secondary data analysis from NFHS 5 aims to measure the level of women decision-making capability and its determinants among women aged 15-49 years in India. Methodology: We have analyzed the latest available data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) gathered from the Demographic Health Survey program after obtaining permission. Descriptive statistics were applied to determine the decision making among women. Logistic regression was applied to compute adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for determining the associated factors of women decision-making capability and p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The total women respondents in the NFHS 5 dataset were 721145, of which data regarding women decision making was available for 77729 (10.7%). Total 68942(88.7%) women were involved in decision-making. Decision-making capacity was found to be significantly associated with age, education level, working status. Women aged more than 30 years were found to have more involvement in decision making as compared to those aged less than 30 years (AOR=1.76; CI=1.684-1.842; p< 0.05). Decision making was significantly associated with education (AOR=0.847; CI=0.807-0.889; p< 0.05). Working women were involved more in decision making as compared to non-working (AOR=1.494; CI=1.414-1.578; p< 0.05). Conclusion: This study sheds light on the relationship between women decision-making capacity and its association with sociodemographic variables. Several factors were found to be significantly associated with women decision making capability.

Mobile phones have emerged as the predominant technology in developing countries, especially within agricultural enterprises. This research investigates the influence of mobile phone utilization on the empowerment of female entrepreneurs in rural farming communities. Data were gathered from 150 female agricultural entrepreneurs in the rural regions of Bangladesh. The empowerment of these women was assessed across five dimensions: economic, social, technological, psychological, and political. The findings indicate that the composite empowerment index was notably higher at 61.92% post-mobile phone adoption, in contrast to 37.47% prior to its use. This underscores the positive impact of mobile phone utilization on the empowerment of rural female farmers. The research highlighted significant enhancements in all five empowerment dimensions, with these augmentations being statistically meaningful. The most pronounced improvement was observed in economic empowerment, while political empowerment witnessed the least growth. Furthermore, the shifts were profoundly correlated with the other three dimensions: social, technological, and psychological. The evidence establishes a link between mobile phone adoption by rural female farmers and their subsequent empowerment, with empowerment metrics showing a steady rise from the low-usage to the high-usage categories. Consequently, the correlation is positive. The results advocate that mobile phone utilization assists rural female farmers in augmenting their empowerment. It is thus recommended that policymakers and developmental organizations prioritize mobile technology as a tool to empower rural women in Bangladesh. This can be realized by enhancing accessibility, confronting socio-cultural barriers, and fostering digital literacy.

This study is propelled by the observation that although Basotho accordion music artists have contributed much to the Basotho’s lives through their music, it seems little has been done to focus on individual artists to unpack each and every artist’s music. Our conviction is that artists are individuals who have their own style, diction, themes and prowess. Therefore, this study intends to focus on Puseletso Seema’s selected songs to find out how the Basotho receive and utilise them and how her music impacts on their lives. This study is framed within Africana womanism and indigenous knowledge system to highlight the framework’s attributes through Puseletso Seema’s accordion music. It is a qualitative study and uses secondary data. It analyses four purposely selected songs that merit the notion of interest in this study to reveal specific features of Africana womanism. The study’s findings reveal that Puseletso Seema manages to encourage, motivate and show strategies that can be used to empower Basotho women through her songs. The songs further help to preserve Basotho culture and empower Basotho women to navigate through patriarchal culture and social structures. Contribution: This article confirms that Basotho accordion musicians contribute positively to the Basotho’s lives. Therefore, it is imperative that each artist’s music be recognised as expressions of individual creativity by unpacking it to find out how it contributes to the promotion of a desired society considering that music is one of the important factors that influence the society’s life. The high unemployment rate among the Basotho justifies the need to find more strategies that can be used to encourage citizens to empower themselves.

Agricultural technologies are often promoted as a medium for women’s economic empowerment, which can transform unequal gender relations in rural agrarian societies. This paper investigates three solar irrigation pump (SIP) schemes implemented by state and non-state actors and examines their impacts on women and marginal farmers. We utilize a theory of change framework intended to evaluate the effectiveness of livelihood interventions and guide the design of gender transformative interventions. Our analysis relies on 63 qualitative interviews, 9 key informant interviews and 4 telephonic interviews with social mobilisers from the Saptari District in Nepal. The findings shed light on the unequal social and gender relations that have skewed the adoption and benefits of SIP technology. Gender and social inequalities persist, with limited adoption and benefit of SIP among women and smallholders. Women’s involvement in strategic decisions related to SIP adoptions, installations and usages is limited. This study underscores the importance of strategic interventions that foster meaningful women’s empowerment and ensure equitable distribution and benefits from SIP technology. Assessing the effectiveness of SIPs in empowering women, it is crucial to consider whether the resulting access, ownership, or decision-making opportunities challenge, reinforce, or reproduce unequal gender and social relations.

This article aims to explore the concept of gender transformative tourism, which is defined as a form of tourism that challenges and transforms gender norms and relations in favour of gender equality and social justice. The article examines how the new trends in the hospitality industry, such as digitalisation, personalisation, sustainability and social responsibility, can contribute to the development of gender transformative tourism. The article adopts a conceptual and interdisciplinary approach, drawing on literature from tourism studies, gender studies and hospitality management. The article proposes a framework for analysing the potential and challenges of gender transformative tourism in the hospitality industry, based on four dimensions: awareness, empowerment, participation and impact. This paper provides a systematic analysis of the publications about gender transformative tourism, using bibliometric and content analysis methods. According to author’s deductions, it is shown that the gender transformative turism enhances multiple benefits like: fostering cross-cultural understanding, enhancing self-esteem confidence for women, and helping them to realize their full potential and aspirations, helping them to appreciate the diversity and complexity of gender identities and expressions, reducing reduces gender-based violence and discrimination It contributes to social justice and sustainable development, by addressing the root causes of gender inequality and empowering marginalized groups and others. In coclusions, the author formulates some recomendations in ordor to support gender transformative tourism, such as: raising awareness and educating ourselves and others about the importance and benefits of gender transformative tourism; choosing travel providers and destinations that are committed to gender equality and empowerment, and that respect the rights and dignity of all people; engaging in respectful and meaningful interactions with local communities and cultures, and being open to learn from their perspectives and experiences and others.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of attitudinal acceptance of violence (AAV) over observed violence (OV), including the impact of five factors on OV. The study aims to identify the impact of acceptance of violence and explore its consequences, if any. The independent variables (IV) in the study are self-esteem (SE), women empowerment (WE), locus of control (LoC), financial income (FI), number of people in the family (FS), and financial stress (FinST). The dependent variable (DV) is observed violence (OV). We are seeing the moderating effect of AAV over OV as well as the impact of IVs over the moderator AAV. Research design: The participants of the study are married women in the age bracket of 18–60 years. The sample size of the study is 205. The data was obtained primarily through an adopted, pre-tested, structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive, correlation, and multiple regression. FinST and SE resulted in statistically significant impacts on OV, whereas there was no moderating impact of AAV among all the factors. Findings: The acceptance of violence by an individual woman differs vastly depending on personal perception, childhood experiences, education level, occupational type, the status of a dependency, and level of self-esteem. Women with high self-esteem are less likely to face violence; similarly, higher financial stress in the family increases the chances of observing violence. Practical Implications: The significance of this study is highlighted by the realization of the need for modification in the attitudinal acceptance of violence through changing Pakistan's educational policy. This study will help raise the bar for women and create awareness that violence should not be accepted.

The study examines the effect of rural women's participation in social media entrepreneurship on sustainable development in Bangladesh. The study collects 376 responses from the entrepreneurs of online clothing shops employing the simple random sampling technique. The data analysis was conducted using the PLS-SEM technique using Smart PLS 3.3v software. Developing the quantitative research design, the authors test the conceptual model by employing the deductive approach. The study finds a positive effect of women's participation in social media entrepreneurship on sustainable development within online clothing shops in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is capable of creating employment opportunities for rural women through ICT project offerings. Consistently this study also proves social media entrepreneurship increases women's contribution to their family income. Furthermore, this study finds that rural women's family income contribution positively affects sustainable development in Bangladesh. The study can help to achieve SDG 5: Gender Equality and Vision 2041 of Bangladesh at the earliest. Thus, the government, policymakers, and academics can use the study findings as a policy dialogue.

The multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method often entails a number of steps, such as identifying the decision problem, defining the criteria, calculating the weighting of the criteria, assessing the alternatives against the criteria, and finally choosing the best alternative based on the overall evaluation. In this paper, the essential factor for sports, politics, journalism or media, and technological empowerment of women in India are found by MCDM techniques, which may also be utilized to examine the key factors influencing women’s empowerment. The uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) MCDM methodologies are taken to discover the optimal criteria for empowerment. The decision-making for finding the factors is done by taking multi experts’ opinions. First, determined the best criteria among the six criterion’s, such as Family Support (C1), Financial Support (C2), Cultural and Religious Barrier (C3), Child Marriage (C4), Nutrition (C5), and Shame and concealment (C6). The weights are calculated by the AHP method. According to the importance of the criteria, select a significant alternative for empowering women in many fields. Also take six possibilities into consideration, which are Empowerment in Sports (A1), Empowerment in Politics (A2), Empowerment in Administrative Service (A3), Empowerment of Journalism or Media (A4), Empowerment for Social Work (A5)and Empowerment of Technological (A6)and they are ranked by TOPSIS method. To verify the validity and robustness of our result, sensitivity analysis is performed by removing some criteria to make sure the procedure is reliable and a comparative study using a fuzzy environment.

Background: Malaria in pregnancy remains a major public health problem in endemic areas of the sub-Saharan African (SSA) region. However, there is limited understanding of the association between women's empowerment and the uptake of sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy (IPTp-SP) in Kenya. This study examines the association between women's empowerment indicators (decision-making power, control of assets, education, and employment status) and the uptake of three or more doses of IPTp-SP in the Lake endemic region of Kenya. Methods: The analysis utilized a dataset from a cross-sectional baseline survey of 3129 women aged 15–49 years in Kisumu and Migori Counties who had a live birth within the last 2 years preceding the study. Data were collected between June to August 2021. A descriptive analysis was conducted to show the distribution of respondents by key background characteristics, and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression to examine statistically significant associations between women's empowerment measures and the uptake of 3+ doses of IPTp-SP. Results: Among the 3129 women surveyed, 1978 (65.7%) received 3+ doses of IPTp-SP during their most recent pregnancy. Controlling for individual characteristics and the number of ANC visits, the odds of taking 3+ doses of IPTp-SP increased among women who had high decision-making autonomy (AOR = 2.33; CI = 1.81–3.01; P < 0.001); and tertiary level of educational attainment (AOR = 1.51; CI = 1.10–2.06). However, the association between control of assets and uptake of IPTp-SP was positive but not statistically significant. Conclusion: Women's decision-making autonomy and educational attainment were positively associated with the uptake of IPTp-SP. As a result, maternal health interventions should focus on less empowered women, specifically those with less decision-making autonomy and no/low formal education, as they are less likely to achieve optimal uptake of IPTp-SP during pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic literature review aims to collect and uncover the various types of tools and materials available—digital and traditional—for tackling gender equality in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Considering the various facets of gender-equality, this review provides an overview of different tools and materials used in the wider academic and industrial community for supporting or empowering women to enrol or remain active in STEM fields. Published manuscripts between 2001 and 2021 were searched electronically with an eye to retrieve the relevant published literature on the topic. Traditional and digital gender-sensitive tools and materials were identified, classified and described together with their benefits and drawbacks. This review demonstrates the variety of gender-sensitive materials and tools employed in higher education institutions to empower women to enrol and remain active in the field of STEM. Industrial and instructional design recommendations were drawn from the review as well as implications for professionals and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender equality and women empowerment have been on the top of the agenda globally. Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls has been mentioned by the United Nations in its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-5) as a target. Various efforts and initiatives have been taken at global, regional and local level to eliminate gender inequality. Women in India have been stereotyped and discriminated since ancient times due to the patriarchal mindset. Social evils such as sati, purdah system, female foeticide, female infanticide, dowry, domestic violence have been faced by women. Various constitutional and legal provisions have been framed to eliminate such evils. In contemporary times, women have become sensitised about their rights and have come a long way in terms of women empowerment. Various schemes have been launched by central and state governments for emancipation of women. However, the patriarchal mindset still exists and gender biasness is still experienced by women both in public and private space. The paper attempts to analyse the level of women empowerment in different states of India. The study is based on the secondary data collected from various government sources. An analysis of the reasons responsible for the trends has also been done. It has been found in the study that female literacy has a positive bearing on the health and decision-making of females. Also, government support in the from of infrastructure and schemes act as a catalyst in women empowerment. Women-centric organisations and Self Help organisations have promoted economic empowerment and decision-making of females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women in rural communities remain the most vulnerable population in accessing agricultural productive resources with dire implications for food security, malnutrition, and poverty. Effective agricultural and food-related policies should be based on a better understanding of the complex inter-relationship of how socioeconomic, demographic, gender, women empowerment, and geographical location indicators simultaneously affect access to agricultural productive resources and food security. The study quantified the level of inequality in access to agricultural productive resources and explored the mechanism through which socioeconomic status mediates the effect of geographic location on food security. This is a community-based cross-sectional study using a multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling design to generate a representative sample of the target population who live in coastal and non-coastal communities. The Gini inequality index, generalized structural equation models, multivariable modified Poisson and Negative binomial regression models were used. The inequality in access to agricultural productive resources was marginally higher among women than in men, higher in the coastal areas than in the non-coastal areas, and higher among women with low empowerment in agricultural production decision-making. The empowerment of women in agricultural decision-making was found to increase with age, as older women were more empowered to make decisions in agriculture. Approximately 17% [95% CI 15.6–18.6] of the population were food-secured (coastal = 13.9%, non-coastal communities = 20.7%). Socioeconomic status mediates the effect of living in coastal versus non-coastal rural communities on food security. To improve food security, the government should prioritize interventions geared toward improving women's access to productive agricultural resources. These interventions must consider gender-specific constraints, poverty alleviation schemes, legal framework, sociocultural factors, and decision-making power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the progress made by the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in terms of gender equality and social and, above all, educational emancipation, today there are still disparities in terms of the participation of women in the labour market. This paper proposes a descriptive and qualitative analysis of the situation of women in two MENA countries, which are Algeria and Morocco, and of the socioeconomic factors that hinder their autonomy in the field of work. As a result, the role of the family and the social environment on women is emphasised so that they could be active members of society and consequently become an additional labour force trained for the growth of the region, is emphasised, but it is condemned for the achievement of this triple challenge: education, professional integration, and economic empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is a significant concern for practitioners, researchers, and activists. Literature on this area has shown that gender inequality is one of the biggest hurdles in the process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Business leaders, policymakers, politicians, practitioners, and researchers from all fields should understand the significance of gender equality, without which it is impossible to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The UN gives a call to countries and individuals to make some effort to achieve gender equality. It directly refers to the target of SDG5 and indirectly the other dimensions, including poverty, girl-child education, economy, child death ratios, forced marriage, violence against women, etc. Gender equality is an axiological appraisal to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. For that, this paper tries to determine the necessity of gender equality in achieving Sustainable Development Goals. It mainly focuses on two objectives first one is the necessity of gender equality, and the second one is the role of business organizations in achieving gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nation's all over development and growth can be attained when women is treated equivalent to men in the progress of an economy. Rural poverty is the main drawback for women empowerment in rural area. Empowering women by providing financial assistance, awareness about self-employment and independence in making decision can alleviate rural poverty. For attaining women empowerment in rural areas Government and NGO's have taken initiation by forming Self-help groups since, from last four decades. The paper discusses about the schemes available in Government under the SHG's for promoting women empowerment. Secondary source was used in the study to know the performance of SHG's in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In rural India, poverty and unemployment constitute a vicious cycle. Unemployment is caused by poverty, while poverty is caused by unemployment. The vast bulk of poverty reduction programmes consists of community development activities, which include self help group (SHG) operations. These groups do a tremendous lot for rural communities, including improving the quality of life and generating employment through microcredit. Economic empowerment (financial stability) and social empowerment (social standing and self-confidence) are required to empower the poor. Empowerment will result from expanding mental and non-mental spaces that enable action and voice to enhance life quality. Planners and policymakers demand strategic planning for rural women's social and economic empowerment in the country's states, as most women joined SHGs for economic empowerment and family welfare. Reviewing articles, theses, and books yielded the findings of this study. India's best lesson is to employ SHGs for anti-poverty and women's empowerment which social workers can serve considerably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancements in technology, along with increased internet and smartphone availability, have resulted in a substantial global increase in social media usage. Social media functions as a communication network. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of social media has increased. Women can now engage in conversations, debates, and discussions on a wide range of topics on different social media platforms. This study seeks to understand women's empowerment through social media. This study examines the impact of social media on women's lives and its potential to empower them. The researcher employed a quantitative research approach. The study involves empirical research conducted via an online survey. This study collected primary data from 100 women living in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Google Forms included a Likert scale with closed-ended questions. The data has been analysed using SPSS in the study. The study concludes that social media empowers women through chances for empowerment, awareness-raising, and connecting with others. It promotes women to exchange experiences, accomplishments, and resources and enhances audience engagement through the use of hashtags. As internet usage rises, women are becoming more informed about their rights and gaining access to novel opportunities. Social media disrupts social gender conventions and advocates for a fair and just world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy microfinance is a promising asset for ensuring access to finance and electricity for the poor and women living in rural areas. Targeting vulnerable categories, renewable energy microfinance tools aim to promote sustainability and resilience policies to foster sustainable energy and ecological transitions. This research note explores the role of energy microfinance policies in facilitating virtuous loops for empowering the vulnerable, enhancing entrepreneurship, fighting poverty, and promoting social inclusion and environmental protection - as prescribed by the sustainable development mandate. Examining the microfinance-renewable energy-vulnerable nexus, the paper proposes a conceptual contribution and fungible development policy recommendations, sketching the main drivers of this linkage. To this end, a critical review of existing publications and successful world experiences is proposed. The analysis finds out a relevant potential for energy microfinance, whereby renewable energy expansion can be a strong player in shaping fresh microfinance strategies and prospects, providing ecological, social, economic and governance benefits and new research, policy, and practical agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women are underrepresented and denied equal opportunities in the scientific community as a result of a rigid research culture and a lack of genuine academic support. Higher Education should go beyond the superficial treatment of women empowerment. This article reflects on the heightened gender-based inequality during pandemic and calls for the academic community to take social action and contribute to women empowerment. It also advocates re-creating and revolutionizing the educational system to promote women's rights and success stories in pedagogical instruction, as well as forming alliances with more men as one of the potential solutions to strengthen women's empowerment. Higher Education should create and encourage inclusive research cultures, implement mentorship programs, integrate gender equity in institutional metrics, and amplify policy spaces for women beyond COVID-19. Academia should therefore adopt a feminist praxis as an integral part of its structure to enact social change, because women empowerment is beyond mediocrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) is a governmentsponsored savings plan launched by the Government of India to promote financial inclusion and empower the girl child. This present study provides a comprehensive analysis of SSY, exploring its objectives, benefits, impact, challenges and prospects. By examining the scheme's implementation and effectiveness, this study evaluates its contribution to enhancing the socioeconomic condition of girls in India and fostering their education and overall development. To evaluate the effectiveness of SSY, a mixed-methods approach was applied that combined qualitative and quantitative research. This Scheme's intention is admirably good and would undoubtedly give the female child and their parents and guardians, a great deal of financial freedom. The strategy also provides the banks with a significant amount of capital. It is seen as a good programme because the government, which has a long-term outlook, started with a beneficial tagline which is "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines Shan Food ads through content and semiotic analysis in order to establish how far these ads are performing an immediate social purpose in Pakistani contexts. As one of the leading food brands in Pakistan, Shan Foods and their products are used not only in big cities but also in rural areas. It is one of those brands which seem to intersect the rigid class divide with their diverse socio-economic background. Being widely used in the urban and rural regions, the wide use and availability of Shan Foods products is further determined by its digital reach. We think it appropriate to blend the social and digital aspects of Shan Food ads by viewing them from what is termed as femvertising by Ramsha Zaidi which underscore the complex interlink between these advertisement and their explicit representation of gender and feminist consciousness in Pakistani culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is differentiated by decision-making ability, competition, economic gains, autonomy, and socioeconomic settings that provide a foundation for an individual to strive and run a venture in a highly competitive environment. In the present context, this study examines the relationship between empowerment and the psychological well-being of women entrepreneurs. This study attempted to analyze the various aspects of psychological well-being responsible for women's entrepreneurship. Exploratory design and regression analysis were used for the study. The study found that only purpose in life, personal growth and positive societal relations are significant psychological factors that influence women empowerment amongst women entrepreneurs in India. The results confirm a significant relationship between empowerment and the psychological well-being of women entrepreneurs in India. This research is apt in the present time as entrepreneurial ventures are considered to be the most critical factors that would help both urban and rural populations through the creation of jobs, rescue them from unemployment and poverty, and thereby have an impact on the development of skills, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research about Community-Based Rural Tourism (CBRT) shows that participation of local stakeholders is a key factor in the pursuit of sustainability and supports the idea of using collaborative methods like Participatory Action Research (PAR) with local initiatives to address management and planning issues. This paper describes a case study in which tourism sustainability indicators (SIs) for a CBRT initiative were constructed through PAR with a group of women in rural Mexico. It reconstructs the steps and the process through which the indicators were established and implemented, and proposes a critical analysis of the assessment and its impacts on the group. The findings show that, provided that the SIs are adapted to the rural context, the co-construction of tourism SIs has led to assess the tourism activity using criteria adapted to the women's needs and vision. The PAR process encouraged collective action, horizontal dialogue and made more visible the inter-relations and power relations between the stakeholders, demonstrating the potential for collaboration and empowerment in a transdisciplinary perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature suggests that empowering women is associated with children's improved outcomes. However, little is known about its effects on children's later‐life crime and incarceration. We argue that women empowerment through suffrage law changes during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the US generated incentives for women to invest in their children's human capital. The accumulated human capital then has the potential to reduce future incarceration of children. We use full‐count censuses 1920–1930, implement a difference‐in‐difference framework, and empirically show that childhood exposure to suffrage laws is associated with considerable reductions in incarceration. The effects appear to be primarily driven by decreases in male and Black incarceration. The balancing tests rule out the concern that the effects are driven by demographic compositional changes or endogenous changes in other state‐level characteristics. Furthermore, an event‐study analysis rejects the concern that the effects are driven by preexisting trends in incarceration among exposed cohorts. The findings of this research note offer informative implications for overlooked externalities of women empowerment in a historical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Migration and women empowerment is one of the most important issue prevailed in third world countries where women plays a subordinated roles in patriarchal societies. International Migration have played a significant role to enhance the social, economic, cultural, and political independency, and ultimately paved the ways towards the sustainable development. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the women empowerment associated with International Migration, and sustainable development. A sample size of five hundred (N=500) International Migrants from District Mirpur Azad Jammu & Kashmir by using structured questionnaire. The selection of sample was made by using stratified random sampling technique and analyzed by using SPSS-26 version. The results shows that International Migration has a strong association with the women empowerment such as there empowerment in demographic, social, economic, cultural, and political values of women and the has played a valuable contribution in the sustainable development in the country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to achieving gender equality and overcoming gender discrimination in the Republic of South Africa. The analysis of the scientific literature on this issue attests to the variety of problems that negatively affect gender equality in society. The urgency of solving this scientific problem lies in the fact that to improve the situation; it is necessary to accumulate financial and intellectual resources to expand the rights and opportunities of women. For the needs of this study, the methods of conceptual analysis were chosen, which involve a careful study of rational relationships between terms, concepts, variables, definitions, constructions, hypotheses, theories and statements, as well as categorization of their consequences and assumptions. The collection of information for the office study lasted 3 months. The Republic of South Africa was chosen as the case of the study because, starting in 1994, a democratic regime was established in the country, which helped to overcome the problems of racial inequality and discrimination. The normative basis for ensuring gender equality is determined by the second chapter of the International Bill of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The issue of protecting gender inequality in the workplace is also regulated. The study empirically confirms and theoretically proves that despite the legislative regulation of the problem of gender equality and the strengthening of the international community to this issue, women still cannot take on strategic roles and leadership in management decision-making due to gender disparity in both political and administrative positions. To ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men, which are defined at the legislative level, it is necessary that the top management of companies is aware of the gender equality programs that can be implemented in their respective divisions and that gender awareness is integrated into the organizational culture and processes monitoring. The work emphasizes the need to change the paradigm from a gender-biased to a gender-oriented society. The study results can be helpful for policy makers to implement a gender mainstreaming strategy to promote gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's empowerment is a worldwide issue addressed by the government in every country. It has been the main agenda point discussed in all government plans. In India, we aim to achieve women's empowerment and gender equity, one of the sustainable development goals to be achieved by 2030. Women's empowerment is achieved by creating a conducive social environment that facilitates individual or collective decision-making for social transformation. This can be achieved by looking at women's empowerment from a psychological perspective. This study aims to find the impact of institutional culture on the psychological empowerment of women faculty in higher education institutions. It also aims to find suitable institutional culture types to enhance women's psychological empowerment in institutions. This study was developed based on self-determination theory proposed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan in 1985. Descriptive research was conducted, and quantitative analysis was carried out with IBM SPSS and AMOS version 23. A sample of 385 women faculty working in higher education institutions in India was contacted to collect primary data. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model, and it was found to be acceptable. Statistical analysis of the data reveals that there exists a strong positive relationship between dimensions of institutional culture and psychological empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]