International Journal of Advanced Educational Research

International Journal of Advanced Educational Research

ISSN: 2455-6157
Impact Factor: RJIF 5.12
www.educationjournal.org
Volume 3; Issue 1; January 2018; Page No. 42-45

Women empowerment through five year plans in India

Dr. Amrinder Kaur
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Dasmesh Girls College, Chak Alla Baksh, Mukerian, Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India

Abstract
Women empowerment as a concept and philosophical basis of social policy is of recent origin. But the meaning, theme and the
struggle it includes is of ancient origin. The concept of women’s empowerment in the modern context can be traced to the latter
half of the 1970s when it was increasingly discussed and promoted by Third World feminists and women’s organizations.
Women’s empowerment forms a theoretical framework that emphasizes the subordination of women. The significance in the role
of women in development had been recognized by the Government of India right from the First Five Year Plan (1951-1956).
Women’s inclusion in inclusive growth is only then possible when inclusive democracy turned to be reality not the myth. In the
Five Year Plan women were considered as the subject of welfare and as the weaker section of the society. In this paper attempts
were made to examine and highlight the status of empowerment of women through Five Year Plans in India.

Keywords: women empowerment, social policy

Introduction voluntary bodies, still majority of women are deprived of their

Empowerment is a word widely used but seldom defined. The minimum rights [3].
term is being reduced to a jargon through overuse and lack of
clarity. Empowerment literally means making someone Research methodology
powerful, facilitating the weak to attain strength, to increase The study is based on secondary sources of data. The
one’s self-esteem, to help someone to be assertive/self- secondary sources like books, journals, magazines and articles
confident, to enable someone to confront injustice and have been examined for this study.
oppression and to support someone for his/her rights [1].
Empowerment is the process by which oppressed persons gain Women empowerment and five year plans
some control over their own lives and involves in the matters, From 1947 to 2017 the Indian economy was premised on the
which affect them directly. It includes social, economic, concept of planning this was carried through the Five Year
psychological and political aspects [2]. Plans, developed, executed, and monitored by the Planning
Women’s empowerment has become a buzzword for Commission (1951-2014) and the National Institution for
academicians, activists, practitioners and politicians, and is Transforming India (NITI) Aayog (2015-2017). With the
very often heard in workshops, seminars and conferences at Prime Minister as the ex-officio Chairman, the commission
regional, national and international levels. Everybody talking has a nominated Deputy Chairman, who holds the rank of
of the new millennium and related issues consider women’s Cabinet Minister. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is the last Deputy
empowerment issue as the most crucial one. It is believed that Chairman of the Commission (resigned on 26th May 2014).
if women were given power to get them enlightened, the The Eleventh Five Year Plan completed its term in March
whole universe would become a much better place to live in. 2012 and the Twelfth Plan is currently underway [4].
The future of women depends upon their struggle for their It is since the mid 1980s that this term became popular in the
rights. field of development, especially in reference to women. In
For centuries women in India are suffering due to India, it is the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85), which can be
discrimination, exploitation and exposed to various kinds of taken as a landmark for the cause of women. It is here that the
harassment at various levels. Women constitute nearly half of concept of ‘women and development’ was introduced for the
the total population of the country and therefore the first time. It was realised that no more piecemeal strategies but
development of the country is not possible without the an integrated approach would deliver the desired goods. The
development of this vast segment. Today the development of realistic and regenerative developmental efforts in the
women has been a major concern for our planners and policy direction of progress, in terms of economic independence for
makers. After independence our planners have envisaged women and educational advancement of them are what would
various constitutional provisions to protect the interest of answer the basic questions raised for empowering women [5].
women and undertaken various socio-economic development In the Five Year Plans major importance has been given to
measures for their upliftment. In addition, various voluntary women. Various programmes and schemes made for women
organizations are also being working hard for emancipation of empowerment in various successive Five Year Plans are as
women. Despite all these efforts by the Government as well as follows:

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First Five-Year Plan was to provide minimum public health facilities integrated
Women’s development began mainly as welfare oriented with family planning and nutrition for vulnerable groups,
programme in the First Five-Year Plan (1951-56). To children, pregnant and lactating mothers [9].
spearhead welfare measure, the Central Social Welfare Board This plan coincided with the International Women’s Decade
(CSWB) was established in 1953, which symbolized the and the submission of the Report of the Committee on the
welfare approach to women’s problems. This Board was also Status of Women in India (CSWI), “Towards Equality”. The
reflective of the community development approach, which overall task of the CSWI was to undertake a comprehensive
envisaged for the first time, the need for organizing women examination of all the questions relating to the rights and
into Mahila Mandals or Women’s Clubs. Community status of women in the context of changing social and
development workers, worked closely with the rural elite. economic conditions in the country and problems relating to
Rural women came within the purview of the Community the advancement of women. The report stressed that the
Development Programmes [6]. dynamics of social change and development had adversely
affected a large section of women and had created new
Second Five-Year Plan imbalances and disparities such as:
The Second Five-Year Plan (1956-61) was closely linked with i) The declining sex ratio;
the overall approach of intensive agricultural development. ii) Lower expectancy of life;
The welfare approach to women’s issues persisted. The plan iii) Higher infant and maternal mortality;
organized women into Mahila Mandals to act as focal points iv) Declining work participation; and
at the grassroots levels for development of women. It v) Illiteracy [10].
recognized the need for the organization of women as
workers. It perceived the social prejudices/ disabilities they Sixth Five-Year Plan
suffered. The Plan stated that women should be protected The Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-85), marked a landmark in
against injurious work, should receive maternity benefits and the history of women’s development by including a separate
crèches for children. It also suggested speedy implementation chapter and adopting a multi-disciplinary approach with the
of the principle of equal pay for equal work and provision for three pronged thrust on health, education and employment.
training to enable women to compete for higher jobs [7]. This Plan reviewed the status and situation of women in
general and came to the conclusion that inspite of legal and
Third Five-Year Plan constitutional guarantees; women had lagged behind men in
The Third Five-Year Plan (1961-66) pinpointed female all sectors. It stressed that the main strategy for women’s
education as a major welfare strategy. In social welfare, the development was three-fold education, employment and
largest share was provided for expanding rural welfare health. For the first time, it clearly spelt out that economic
services and condensed course of education. The health independence would accelerate improvement in the status of
programme concentrated mainly on the provision of services women and suggested the setting up of cells at the district
for maternal and child welfare, health education, nutrition and level for increasing women’s participation through self-
family planning. employment. It also wanted the government to review the
adequacy of the implementing machinery of various special
Fourth Five-Year Plan legislations passed for the protection of women’s right. It
The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1969-74) gave emphasis on referred, as usual, to the need for increasing enrollment of the
women’s education. The basic policy of this Plan was to girls at the elementary level, thus encouraging the promotion
promote women’s welfare within the family as the base of of education for women in backward areas [11].
operation. High priority was accorded to immunization of pre-
school children and supplementary feeding for children, Seventh Five-Year Plan
expectant and nursing mothers. During this period, Central The Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985-90) operationalized the
Social Welfare Board adopted the following programmes for concern for equity and empowerment articulated by the
welfare of women. International Decade for Women. During this Plan efforts
1. Considered courses of education for adult women; were made to provide welfare measures to all sections of
2. Socio-economic programmes [8]. society especially the underprivileged section-the women. A
significant step in this direction was to identify/promote the
Fifth Five-Year Plan ‘beneficiaries-oriented programmes’ for women in different
The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974-79), saw a shift in the developmental sectors, which extend direct benefits to
approach for women’s development from ‘welfare’ to women. Women Mahila Mandals were established. Many Art
‘development’ to cope up with several problems of the family and Craft centres were opened for women in order to enhance
and the role of women. their employment opportunities. Support to Training-cum-
The new approach aimed at an integration of welfare with Employment for Women (STEP) was launched in 1987 to
development services. This plan emphasized the need to train strengthen the skills among women with a view to promote
women in need of income and protection. It also employment opportunities for women. Employment and
recommended a programme of functional literacy to equip income generating training-cum-production centres for
women with skills and knowledge to reform the functions of women were started to train women in order to make them
housewife under the health programmes, the primary objective independent [12].

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Eighth Five-Year Plan “An important divide which compels immediate attention
The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992-97), which was launched in relates to gender. Special, focused efforts made to purge
1992, marked a shift from development to empowerment in society of this malaise by creating an enabling environment
approach to women development schemes. It promised to for women to become economically, politically and socially
“ensure that the benefits of development from different sectors empowered”. However, past Plans have expressed similar
do not bypass women” and women must be enabled to concern with respect to the gender divide. The strategy for
function as equal partners and participants in the development women is confined to three areas- violence against women,
process [13]. economic empowerment and women’s health. A major
challenge before the 11th Plan was to enable the creation of an
Ninth Five-Year Plan environment for women that is safe and free from violence.
The Ninth Five-Year Plan came into effect from April 1, Regular campaigns of issues such as female foeticide, physical
1997. In the approach paper, the focus is on, among the other abuse, trafficking, gender discrimination and domestic
things, empowerment of women and people’s participation in violence may be organized. Finally, the 11th Plan recognised
planning and implementation of strategies. An important that a nation cannot be healthy unless its women are healthy.
objective in the approach paper is the empowerment of It strived to reduce the incidence of anemia and malnutrition
women. In planning process, empowerment at the outset, among the adolescent girls to break the cycle of ill-health and
means choices for women and opportunities to avail of these infant mortality [15].
choices. The supportive environment should be provided to In a unique move, the government has constituted a committee
women at all stages by the home, school, religion, government of “feminist” economists to ensure gender sensitive allocation
and work place. There is also a strong demand for vocational of public resources in the 11th Five Year Plan. Apart from
training for women. To enable women to participate outside identifying significant trends for women in economy and
the home, childcare services, hostels and affordable housing suggesting policy measures to integrate them into the growth
are essential. The Ninth Five-Year Plan is an attempt to bring agenda, the group looked at assessment standards being used
in women’s issues within the policy making sphere [14]. to evaluate progress- both sector-wise and in micro-economic
segments and offer suggestions which helped device more
Tenth Five-Year Plan sensitive indicators to reflect gender issues [16].
The Tenth Plan (2002-2007) has set certain monitorable
targets for women. These are: The Swyamsidha programme, a Twelfth Five Year Plan
recast version of the Indira Mahila Yojna, organizes women It is widely believed that men enjoy all the power and
into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for income generation position; women were treated as second rate and lower human
activities. It also facilitates access to services such as literacy, spheres. Twelfth Five Year Plan entitled as ‘Faster,
health, non-formal education, water-supply etc. One of the Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth’. This plan had
basic principles of governance laid down in the United decided at the growth rate 8.2%. The Planning Commission is
Progressive Alliance Government’s National Common pushing for special dispensation for single woman,
Minimum Programme (NCMP) is to empower women particularly those who are single by choice. Women
politically, educationally, economically and legally. The participation in favour related work, both in agriculture and
Women’s Component Plan (WCP) involved efforts to ensure animal husbandry. In framing policies/schemes for the
that not less than 30 percent of funds/benefits were earmarked Twelfth Five Year Plan, the special needs of women must be
for women under the various schemes of the women-related taken due care of. The focus of the Twelfth Five Year Plan is
ministries/departments. Women are under-represented in the on the health, education, urbanization and governance.
process of the formulation and implementation of the Plan
itself. WCP seems an afterthought, simply added on to pre- Conclusion
existing development programmes and projects. The actual In nutshell, it can be compiled that the various welfare
experiences of women in empowering themselves need to be programmes adopted by government are meant to emancipate
first understood and those experiences used as a benchmark. the women from social evils and cruelty. A special focus on
To make women’s grassroots political participation a living the welfare of women was laid through Five Year Plans in
reality, they should be enabled to monitor and audit the India. Various programmes and policies have been made by
various programmes and schemes at the level of Panchayat the government for the development as well as empowerment
through a local committee. Given patriarchal domination and of women. But still there are many areas of concern that
women’s consequent lack of an independent voice in decision- governments need to pay attention towards uplift of women.
making, the elected women representatives to PRIs may be
restrained in independently exercising their rights and References
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the participation of women in the process of formulation and Empowerment, Regency Publications, New Delhi, 2005,
implementation of development planning so that gender equity 55.
issues are accounted for plans have a positive impact on 2. Urmila Jain. Op. cit.
women. 3. Sandhya Rani Das. Empowerment of Women: A Holistic
Approach, Third Concept, 2002, 49.
Eleventh Five-Year Plan 4. http:// planningcommission.nic.in/
The Approach Paper to the Eleventh Plan (2007-2012) reads: 5. Ashok Kumar Jha. (ed.), Women in Panchayati Raj

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Institutions, Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,

2004, 61.
6. Anita Arya. op. cit., 267.
7. Ibid.
8. Nanda GL. Plans and Prospects of Social Welfare in India
(1951-61), Planning Commission, Publication Division,
Delhi, 1963, 32.
9. Wide MK. Gender Issue in Development, Yojna. 1992,
37:12.
10. Towards Equality, Report of the Committee on Status of
Women in India, Government of India, 1975.
11. Mira Seth. Women and Development: the Indian
Experience, Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,
2001, 61-62.
12. Seventh Five Year Plan, Planning Commission,
Publications Division, New Delhi, 1985, 322-324.
13. Anita Arya. Op. cit. 187-188.
14. Anita Anand. Engendering the Plan, The Hindu, 1997, 4.
15. http:// planningcommission.nic.in/
16. Indira Rajaraman, Women in the Eleventh Plan, Yojna,
2007, 27-29.

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