WHAT IS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT ?

The growing access of the web in the late 20th century, has allowed women to empower themselves by using various tools on the Internet. With the introduction of the World Wide Web, women have begun to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to start online activism. Through online activism, women are able to empower themselves by organizing campaigns and voicing their opinions for equality rights without feeling oppressed by members of society. For example, on May 29, 2013, an online campaign started by 100 female advocates forced the leading social networking website, Facebook, to take down various pages that spread hatred about women.

In recent years, blogging has also become a powerful tool for the educational empowerment of women. According to a study done by the University of California, Los Angeles, medical patients who read and write about their disease are often in a much happier mood and more knowledgeable than those who do not. By reading others' experiences, patients can better educate themselves and apply strategies that their fellow bloggers suggest.

With the easy accessibility and affordability of e-learning (electronic learning), women can now study from the comfort of their home anywhere, anytime. By empowering themselves educationally through new technologies like e-learning, women are also learning new skills that will come in handy in today's advancing globalized world.

Most women across the globe rely on the informal work sector for an income. If women were empowered to do more and be more, the possibility for economic growth becomes apparent. Empowering women in developing countries is essential to reduce global poverty since women represent most of the world’s poor population. Eliminating a significant part of a nation’s work force on the sole basis of gender can have detrimental effects on the economy of that nation. In addition, female participation in counsels, groups, and businesses is seen to increase efficiency. For a general idea on how an empowered women can impact a situation monetarily, a study found that of Fortune 500 companies, “those with more women board directors had significantly higher financial returns, including 53 percent higher returns on equity, 24 percent higher returns on sales and 67 percent higher returns on invested capital (OECD, 2008).” This study shows the impact women can have on the overall economic benefits of a company. If implemented on a global scale, the inclusion of women in the formal workforce (like a Fortune 500 company) can increase the economic output of a nation. Therefore, women can also help businesses grow and economies prosper if they have, and if they are able to use, the right knowledge and skills in their employment.

Many of the barriers to women's empowerment and equity lie ingrained in cultural norms. Many women feel these pressures, while others have become accustomed to being treated inferior to men. Even if men, legislators, NGOs, etc. are aware of the benefits women's empowerment and participation can have, many are scared of disrupting the status quo and continue to let societal norms get in the way of development.

Research shows that the increasing access to the internet can also result in an increased exploitation of women. Releasing personal information on websites has put some women's personal safety at risk. In 2010, Working to Halt Online Abuse stated that 73% of women were victimized through such sites. Types of victimization include cyber stalking, harassment, online pornography, and flaming.

Recent studies also show that women face more barriers in the workplace than do men. Gender-related barriers involve sexual harassment, unfair hiring practices, career progression, and unequal pay where women are paid less than men are for performing the same job. Such barriers make it difficult for women to advance in their workplace or receive fair compensation for the work they provide.

World TeamTennis

World TeamTennis is a coed professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States which was founded in 1973.Originally played on a no-line court, each match consists of five sets. Each set features a different configuration (men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles). Prior to each match, coaches decide the order in which the sets will be played. Each player on a team usually plays in at least one of the five sets. Scoring is no-advantage; there is no requirement to win a game by two scores; at deuce (40-40), whoever scores the next point wins the game. The first team to reach five games wins each set. A nine-point tiebreaker is played, if a set reaches four-all. One point is awarded for each game won. If necessary, Overtime and a Supertie breaker are played to determine the winner of the match.The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a break from their tour schedules to partake in World Team Tennis.

Leander Paes

Leander Adrian Paes (born 17 June 1973) is an Indian professional tennis player who typically plays in doubles events on the ATP Tour and Davis Cup. Having won eight doubles and seven mixed doubles Grand Slam titles and finishing as runner up in numerous other Grand Slam finals, he is considered to be one of the greatest and most respected contemporary doubles and mixed doubles players in the world. He is the oldest man to have won a grand slam title. He is among the most successful professional Indian tennis players and is also the former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. He is the recipient of India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, in 1996–1997; the Arjuna Award in 1990; and the Padma Shri award in 2001 for his outstanding contribution to tennis in India. Paes completed the career grand slam in men's doubles after winning the Australian Open in 2012. He is the sports ambassador of the Indian state of Haryana.

Apart from his fifteen Grand Slam victories in doubles and mixed doubles events, he is famous for his several memorable Davis Cup performances playing for India and also for winning a bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He also achieved the rare men's doubles/mixed doubles double at the 1999 Wimbledon tournament. His consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2012 make him the first Indian and first & only tennis player to compete at six Olympic Games (shooters Karni Singh and Randhir Singh and luger Shiva Keshavan earlier competed in five Olympics Games). After winning the mixed doubles Wimbledon title in 2010, Paes became only the second man (after Rod Laver) to win Wimbledon titles in three different decades.In 2010, he joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation co-founded by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone to support talented athletes from India in winning Olympic medals. Apart from the ATP circuit, he also plays in World TeamTennisfor the Washington Kastles, being on the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 championship teams. The 2011 and 2012 Kastles are the only team to complete an undefeated season at 16–0 and the Kastles did it in back to back years. They are the only professional sports team in history to complete back-to-back undefeated seasons and went on to win 34 matches in a row. This set the record for the most consecutive game/match wins by a major pro sports team. He was named Male MVP for 2009 and 2011 for all of World Team Tennis.

Indulekha - Malayalam novel written by O. Chandu Menon

Indulekha is a Malayalam novel written by O. Chandu Menon. Published in 1889, it was the first major novel in Malayalam language. It was a landmark in the history of Malayalam literature and initiated novel as a new flourishing genre. The novel is about a beautiful, well educated lady of a Nair tharavadu.

The title Indulekha, refers to the main character in this novel, a beautiful, well educated Nair lady of 18 years.

The novel was written at a time when there was an emerging class of upper caste men (mostly Nairs) who received a Western style education, and were achieving prominent positions in British India. The period was a clash of cultures, as the educated Indians were torn between Western ideals and traditional practices. The Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala, had traditionally had marital relations with Nair women, known as Sambandham, since only the oldest Nambudiri youth was allowed to marry a Brahmin girl. The younger sons were encouraged to have Sambandham with Nair women, in order to maintain male primogeniture, since the children born from such relations belonged to their mother's family. The matriarchy practiced by the Nairs was also coming under attack during this period. Many of the Nambudiri men, though learned in Vedas and Sanskrit, had little knowledge of English and Western sciences. The novel highlights the lack of willingness of the Nambudiris to adapt to the change of times, as well as the struggle by Nair women to break out of the age-old principle of Sambandham, which had little relevance during the late 19th century.

Chandu Menon has written that he initially meant Indulekha as a translation of Benjamin Disraeli's Henrietta Temple (1836), but, having struggled with the subtleties of an alien culture, he abandoned the project in favour of writing one on his own, depicting a similar story.

Indulekha is a graceful Nair girl with good intelligence, artistic talent. She is a young and educated, knowledgeable woman with education in English and sanskrit, who is in love with another young man, Madhavan, the hero of the novel, who was also presented in ideal colours, a member of newly educated class of nayar class graduated from University of Madras.He dressed in western clothes,but,at the same time,he kept along turf of hair,according to the nayar custom. The story details how the matrilineal society of those times, encourages Namboothiris to start a relationship with Indulekha. Indulekha promptly snubs the old Nambudiri man, but Madhavan in haste runs away from the household, to Bengal. There he makes a lot of good friends. In the end, he arrives back and is united with Indulekha. They then leave to Madras, present day Chennai.The story emphasizes inter caste marriage.

The old Namboothiri represents the decadence of feudalism and its polygamous practices. Indulekha, the novel's educated heroine, dramatises the resistance of a progressive Nair woman. She refuses to succumb to the oppression of the Namboothiri and marries Madhavan, who stands up to the social evils of the period..

n 2014 April, literary critics Dr. P. K. Rajasekharan and Dr. P. Venugopalan, published a well accepted research finding in Mathrubhumi Weekly, according to which the available version of the novel is a revised and edited version of the original one. The original novel which made a strong advocacy for women's empowerment was mercilessly edited and those who published the book in later years chopped off many such portions. The last chapter (chapter 20) was the most edited one. The critics found the original version of the novel from the British Library in London after several years of search.