Role of Higher Education in empowering rural women for sustainable development in India

Abstract

India has been a country of villages and the Indian women are being treated as goddess but their present situation is very poor in all the ways. They are suffering with problems since their birth. Tradition and customs are also against to women. Many NGOs and government are trying to uplift their lives but these efforts are not sufficient. Education is key barrier in their growth and empowerment. Still the fact remains that our country is the home to the largest number of illiterate population in the world. About one-third of India's population is currently functionally illiterate and about 50% of the entire adult female population cannot read or write. The rate of illiteracy is particularly high in rural areas, especially among women. Women's education is critical to the largely development of any country. In India, though much emphasis is being laid on the gender equality in terms of education, yet discrimination in access to education does exist. There is a rural and urban divide in access to education for women. In this paper all these problem are being discussed and a suitable suggestions is being made to overcome the problem.