Basic Features and Strategies of Women’s Empowerment of a Developing Urban Area – A Case Study of Memari Municipality, Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India

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Basic Features and Strategies of Women’s Empowerment of a
Developing Urban Area – A Case Study of Memari Municipality,
Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India
Suchana Banerjee1, Ayan Kumar Maity2
1State Aided College Teacher, Sarat Centenary College, Dhanialkali, Hooghly, West Bengal, India
2Head Master, Narua Siksha Niketan (H.S), Narua, Chandannagar, Hooghly, West Bengal, India
ABSTRACT
Women’s Empowerment is a holisticandsustainablegoal fordevelopmentofa
society. They are the resources of family, society, communityandnation.They
are the greatest asset of an economy. Urbanization processesarenotproperly
guided their roles in this society. Transformation of gender roles in urban
contexts will require wider communityinvolvementaswell asadministration.
They are disadvantaged in income poverty, asset poverty, time and power.
This paper is properly focused on features of empowerment of women in this
society, their educational status, employment opportunities, social and
economic status, as well as future strategies.
KEYWORDS: Empowerment, Employment, Equality, Correlation, Census,
Education, Workers
How to cite this paper: Suchana Banerjee
| Ayan Kumar Maity "Basic Features and
Strategies of Women’s Empowermentofa
Developing Urban Area – A Case Study of
Memari Municipality, Purba Bardhaman,
West Bengal, India"
Published in
International Journal
of Trend in Scientific
Research and
Development(ijtsrd),
ISSN: 2456-6470,
Volume-5 | Issue-1,
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I. INTRODUCTION:
In a particular situation, offering power or authority to
powerless is called empowerment. According to Kebber
(2001), Empowerment is “the expansion in people’s ability
to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability
was previously denied to them. She explained that it is the
process through which people’s awareness, confidence,
ability to solve problems, gaining access to resource and
public facilities are increased. The World Bank defines
empowerment as “the process of increasing the capacity of
individuals or groups to make choice and transform those
choices into desired actions and outcomes. Central to this
process is actions which both build individual and collective
assets and improve the efficiency and fairness of the
organization and individual context which govern the use of
these assets”.
Generally, empowering of women is called women’s
empowerment. Women’s empowerment is the process
whereby women become able to organize themselves to
increase their self reliance,toasserttheirindependent rights
to make choices and control resources which will assist in
challenging and eliminating theirownsubordination.(Keller
and Mbwewe, 1991 cited in Rowlands, 1995).The
empowerment and autonomy of women and the
improvement of their political, social, economic and health
status is highly important end in itself. In addition, it is
essential for the achievement of sustainable development
[United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Power
of Attorney (POA), Communications Audio Interface for
Remote Operations (CAIRO), 1994]. . In UNDP Human
Development Report, 1995, women’s empowerment is the
expansion of choices for women and an increase in the
women’s ability to exercise choices. Women must be
considered as the agent of development ratherthantarget of
development agencies (R. India and Deepak Kumar Behra,
1999). According to Swami Vivekananda, “….there is no
chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of
the women is improved. It is not possible for the bird to fly
on one wing”(Yojana, August, 2001).Empowerment of
women develops them as more aware individuals, who are
politically active, economically productive and independent
and are able to make intelligent decision in matters that
affect them and their nations. (Lillikutty, 2003).
II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:
According to working paper of World Bank, Alsop, et al
(2005), empowerment is the enhancingoftheindividual’sor
group’s capacity to make choices and transform those
choices into desire actions and outcomes. In Millennium
IJTSRD38263

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
Development Goals(MIDGs) Summit,2010, gender
equality and women’s empowerment are considered as the
major development goals in their own rights (MDG 3and 5).
In Indian constitution, some laws are laid down which are
related to gender- equality and women’s empowerment.
The equality is guaranteed to all without regard to sex,
race, colour or nationality (Article 14).
According to Article 15 (3), ‘Women’sphysical structure
and performance and maternal functions place her at a
disadvantage at the struggle for subsistence and her
physical wellbeing becomes an objectives.’
No citizen can be discriminated for any employment
under the state on ground of religion, race, caste or sex.
(Article 15/3).
73rd Amendment Act, 1992, Article 243Dstatedthat1/3
rd seats in Municipal Corporation shall be reserved for
women.
Figure: 1- Factors of Women’s Empowerment
Source: Compiled by Authors
There are two types of measurement of women
Empowerment.1. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), 2.
Gender Related Development Index (GDI).
#Gender EmpowermentMeasure(GEM):GEMistheindex
to measure gender equality. It was designed to measure
“weather women and men are able to actively participation
in economic and political life and take part in decision-
making”(UNDP,1995, P.73)(Klasen,257).Threeindicatorsof
GEM are proportion of seats held by women in national
parliaments, percentage of women in economic decision
making positions and female share in income.
#Gender Related Development Index(GDI): GDI is a
“distribution sensitive measure that accounts forthehuman
development impact of existing gender gaps in the three
components of HDI”(KLASEN 243). GDI cannot be used
without Human Development Index score. It measures
gender gaps in life expectancy, education and income with
the help of Human Development Index.
Source: Alsop, et al. (2005)
Figure: 2- Dynamics of Women’s Empowerment
Mainly two forms of women empowerment are identified.
Those are -
1. Political Empowerment, 2. Economic Empowerment.
1. POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT:
It is related position anddecisionmakingpowerof womenin
political issues. Political empowerment enhances creating
policies which supports gender equality. In first post-
independence Lok Sabha in India, there was only 4.4%
women participation. Reservationofwomenwasrecognized
as 33.3% at the Panchayat level in 1988. This percentage of
reservation for women at all levels of Indian politics was
passed by Rajya Sabha as The Women’s Bill in April 2010.
According to that Bill, 181 out of 543 seats at the parliament
level and 1370 out of the 4109 seats at the State Assembly
level would be reserved for women.
2. ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT:
Women’s engagement in income generating activities
through employment is not only to enhance their economic
status but also it gives positive impact in decision making
power and social status. Economic employment of women
also helps to reduce poverty of their family. Economically
self-dependent women play major role in gender equality.
According to The Global Gap Report by the World Economic
Forum in 2009, the position of India is 114 out of 134
countries for inequality between men and women in the
economy. Self-help groups (SHGs) also help women to get
economically independent.
Women’s empowerment can be discussed in relation to
economic, political and social empowerment. Women
Employment is a basic tool of economic empowerment
which is also related to education. Besides, women’s
education is the indicator of gender equality. Women’s
education and women’s employment are closely dependent
to each other and they use to influence women’s
empowerment. On the basis of location, there is a vast
difference of women’s employment in rural and urban area.
In urban area, women’s engagement in different economic
sectors can express status of women’s economic
empowerment in that area.

According to census 2011, there are 51.54% male and
48.46% female in India. Sex ratio increased from 933:1000
in 2001 to 940:1000 in 2011.The ratio of child(less than six
years) is 927:1000 in 2011. Female literacy rate 65.46% in
2011 comparing to male literacy rate of 82.14%.
The study of West Bengal shows, the sex ratio has increased
from 934:1000 in 2001 to 947:1000 in 2011. Child sex ratio
has reduced from 960 to 950 during 2001-2011. Literacy
rate for male is 82.67% and for female is 71.34% in census
2011.
III. STUDY AREA
Memari Municipality is located in Purba Bardhamandistrict,
state of West Bengal in India. In 1992, Memari Gram
Panchayat area with the Panchayat area of Bagila and
Amadpur was formedMemariNotifiedArea Authority.Itwas
recognized as Municipality in 1995. As an urban area, first
census conducted in 2001 and after that in 2011.Monteswar
Block is in Northen part and JamalpurintheSouthern part of
this Municipality. The co-ordinate point of Memary
Municipality 23.1547˚ North and 88.1034˚ East. Kalna and
Saktigarh blocks are situated in the Eastern and Western
part of Memari Municipality respectively. This Municipality
is comparatively a new urban area which is divided into
Sixteen Wards.
Photos: Memari Municipality office,
Source: captured by Authors
Figure: 3 Location of Study Area
Memari Municipality is under Lower Damodar Plain area
with Alluvial soil. Average temperature of this municipality
is 25-30 degree Celsius and average rainfall is 1100 to 4500
millimeter/ year.
In census data 2011, total no of population in Memari
Municipality is 41451 of which 20957(51%) are males and
20494(49%) are females. Population density of this
municipality is 2800/square km. Total area is 14.68 square
km. Population below 6 years is 3809. Sex ratio is 978/1000
male population.
IV. OBJECTIVES
1. To find out status of women’s economic empowerment
of the study area.
2. To identify relationship between women education and
women’s employment of Memari Municipality.
3. To bring out the position of women engagement in
different types of economic sector in the study area.
4. To comprehend how women’s economicempowerment
influences the social status of women in Memari
Municipality.
V. METHODOLOGY:
Based on secondary data using census as well as primary
survey through field investigation, GIS mapping method,
cartographic techniques are normally used to complete this
paper.
VI. VΙRESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
Observing in study as well as information of secondary
sources and also structural view point the following results
and discussion are mention below
Figure: 4-Percentage of Total Male and Female
Workers

In Memari Municipality, percentage of male working
population is higher than working female population in
different wards. Highest working male population is shown
in Ward No. 8 (84.40%) and also lowest working female
population (15.60%) within the same Ward. Highest
percentage of female workers (37.34%) and also lowest
percentage of male workers (62.66%)noticedin WardNo.5.
Figure: 5 Female Workers and Non Workers
Form figure 5, we can be said that, distribution of female
workers and non-workers of different Wards in Memari
Municipality are varies in every Ward, difference between
female workers and non- workers is very high and female
non-workers are always more than female workers.
According to census 2011, highest number of female
workers (379) live in Ward No. 1and also most of non-
workers are seen in this Ward. Lowest female workers are
observed in Ward No. 6 (97 persons) andlowestfemale non-
workers live in Ward No. 5(634).
TABLE 1- TOTAL FEMALE WORKERS AND
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FEMALE WORKERS
Ward
No.
Female
Population
Total
Female
Workers
Percentage of
Total Female
Workers
1 2145 379 17.66899767
2 1343 247 18.39166046
3 1302 272 20.89093702
4 1198 189 15.77629382
5 901 267 29.63374029
6 821 96 11.69305725
7 1477 215 14.55653351
8 1199 138 11.50959133
9 1074 281 26.16387337
10 1620 270 16.66666667
11 1242 151 12.15780998
12 1177 119 10.1104503
13 1220 190 15.57377049
14 1195 263 22.0083682
15 1522 285 18.72536137
16 1054 294 27.89373814
TOTAL 20494 3656 17.83936762
Source: Census 2011
In Memari Municipality, total numberoffemalepopulationis
20494 where only 3056 female persons engaged in working
space (17.84%). Highest percentage of total female workers
is 29.63 which is seen in Ward No. 5 and lowest percentage
can notice in Ward No. 12 (10.11%). Among all 16 wards,
most percentage of female workers varies from 10 to 20. It
means most of female persons are not economically self
depend. They also are not conscious about self
empowerment.
Figure: 6 -Choropleth Map of Percentage of Total
Female Workers. Source: Census, 2011
On the basis of percentage of total female workers,
Choropleth Map shows 5 classes in Memari Municipality.
Value of all 5 classes - 10 to 14% (Lowest), 14 to 18%, 18 to
22%, 22 to 26 %, 26 to 30% (Highest) of total female
workers. In lowest class there is only one Ward (No.
12).Under 14-18%, 18-22%, 22-26% classes, the total
number of Wards are three, seven and two, respectively.
Three Wards are in highest class (26-30%).
Mainly agriculture-based land use pattern is dominated the
landscape. Nucleated type of settlement was developed.
Commercial spaces are significant in this area. Larger
amount of water bodies, scattered vegetation. Larger
number of vacant land are important land use features.
From table 2, through Rank Correlation, we can find out the
relationship between percentage of literate female
population and percentage of total female workers in
Memari Municipality. Here value of R=-0.297058824
between female literacy rate and percentage of total female
workers, that means Low Negative Correlation. We know,
education is the key factor for employment. In Memari
Municipality, the percentage of female literacy rate in
different wards is moderate to high. But the percentage of
female workers becomes low to very low. We can be noticed
that percentage of female literacy rate shown highest in
Ward No.11 which is more than 84 but the percentage of
female workers is only 10.11 (lowest). Besides, in Ward No.
5, highest percentage of female workers (29.63%) takes
place but percentage of female literacy rate is 66.04. So, in
this Municipality area, education does not influence on
women’s economic employment.

Figure: 7- Land Use Map
Figure: 8 Adjacent Gram Panchayats of Memari
Municipality
Source: Memari Municipality Office (Figure 7 and 8)
TABLE 2- RANK CORRELATION BETWEEN FEMALE
LITERACY (%) AND PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FEMALE
WORKERS
Generally, main workers are engaged in working sectors for
more than 6 months in a year. On the other hand, marginal
workers are engaged in working sectors for less than 6
months in every year. According to census 2011, most of the
working female population is engaged as main workers and
only 24% of female workers are working for less than 6
months in a year (Figure 9). So, job security of female
workers is much better in Memari Municipality.
Ward
No
% of Literate
Female
Population
% of Total
Female
Workers
R1 R2
d(R1-
R2)
d2
1 70.86347086 17.66899766 8 8 0 0
2 78.48101266 18.39166046 13 10 3 9
3 64.97695853 20.89093702 3 12 -9 81
4 80.88480801 15.77629382 15 6 9 81
5 66.03774585 29.63374029 5 16 -11 121
6 62.72838002 11.69305725 2 2 0 0
7 79.95937712 14.55653351 14 4 10 100
8 73.9292365 26.16387337 11 14 -3 9
9 77.7777778 16.66666667 12 7 5 25
10 66.02254428 12.15780998 4 3 1 1
11 84.28207307 10.1104503 16 1 15 225
12 66.47540984 15.57377049 6 5 1 1
13 72.05020921 22.0083682 9 13 -4 16
14 67.21419185 18.72536137 7 11 -4 16
15 60.72106262 27.89373814 1 15 -14 196
16 72.75300088 17.83936762 10 9 1 1
Total 882
In Memari Municipality, women are involved as main
workers in primary, secondary and tertiary economic
activity. We notice that since it is a newlyformedurbanarea,
very small percentage of female persons (0.83) are engaged
in cultivation of land and 18.24% working females work as
agricultural labourers. Some household industries like
stitching over clothes, making of rakhies, small bedding
industries, beedi industries etc. are organized in this
Municipality. 8.24% women workers are engaged in those
industries. Most of the female workers (72.68%) are
involved in other sectors like cooking in other’s houses,
working in cold storage, working as maid-servants, nursing
in health centres, working in I.C.D.S. centres, teaching in
private schools etc which are most significant professionsof
women like other sectors in Memari Municipality (figure-
10).
Figure: 9 Main and Marginal Female

Figure: 10 Different Types of Main Female Workers
(%). Workers (%)
Figure: 11 Different Types of Marginal Female
Workers.
Figure: 12 Percentage of decision making power,
Among the marginal female workers, 3.13% are engaged in
seasonal cultivation and 14.51% work as agricultural
labourers. Most of the marginal female workers (76.08%)
are involved in other sectors. Only 6.27% female workers
work in household industries (figure-10).
From above diagram (12), we can know about social status
of women inMemariMunicipality.Decision-makingpowerin
a family is the vital factor of women’s empowerment and
also social status of women. Through Primary Survey, it has
observed that in 77% of total families, male personplaysthe
role of supreme authority to take decisions in every
situation. Generally, women have no right to that. Both male
and female jointly take decisions in only 20% families. Most
of those families, women are involved in other than primary
and secondary activities. Females play major role for
decision-making in only 3% families, where male persons
are inactive in economic activities.
VII. FINDINGS
1. From field survey, it is observed that most of the female
persons are involved in domestic works and some girls
are attached with education. It is as reason of low level
of women’s economic employment in Memari
Municipality.
2. Social norms also affect the scope of women’s
employment. Head of the family is not aware about the
concept of women’s economic employment.
3. According to primary field survey, it is noted that some
women cannot get opportunities of employmentasthey
want, due to lack of proper skill.
4. As it is an urban area, most of women workers are
involved in secondary and tertiary activities.
5. From primary survey, it can be said that the negative
relationship between the percentage of female literacy
rate and the percentage of total female workers is
because of early marriage of most of the women after a
certain education. Sometimes, marriage takes place by
force of their family members without free consent of
the girl.
6. As main female workers are higher than marginal
female workers, economic status of working female
families is comparatively good.
7. In the situation of decision-making, male persons take a
role in this Municipality. Accordingly, social status of
women is not there in a favourable position.
VIII. CONCLUSION
On the above discussion, it can be stated that since Memari
Municipality is very emerging urban landscape, most of the
women are far from the knowledge of actual importance of
their economic empowerment. Based on observation, it is
stated that standard of living of women in this Municipality
is not satisfactory. A negative relation between female
literacy and women’s economic empowerment reflects the
lack of family members, poor decision making process, old
social norms, insensibility of familyguardiansare barriersof
women status and empowerment. In this situation, State
Government and Local Administration can play a major role
and policy to develop women’s empowerment. Emerging
SHGs have grater potentiality to develop their position in
society through proper guidance and counseling.
IX. REFERENCE
[1] Ambarao, Uplaonkar (12 March, 2005):
Empowerment of Women, Mainstream, xi-iii, No. 12,
p.30.
[2] Census of India 2011, West Bengal (August, 2015):
District Census Handbook- Barddhaman, Village and
Town Wise PrimaryCensusAbstract(PCA),Series-20,
Part xii-B, Section-1 Primary Census Abstract (PCA),
pp 646-651.
[3] Chatterji, Shoma (1993): The Indian Women in
Perspective- Essays on Gender Issues. Published by

Ajanta, Delhi, (Fourteen, Fifteen, Nineteen, Twenty,
Twenty-One chapters), P139 -206.
[4] Devi, Ashapurna (1995): Indian Women- Myth and
Reality, Indian Women Myth and Reality(Ed)
JasodgaraBagchi, Sangam Books, Delhi, p 19.
[5] De, Utpal Kumar and Ghosh, Bholanath: Status and
Empowerment of Women Vis-à-vis Development,
pp.1-16 (New Delhi, Mohit Publication).
[6] Misra, JugalKishore: Empowerment of Women in
India. The Indian Journal of Political Science.
Published by Indian Political Science Association
Stable. 2006; 67(4):867-878.
[7] Official Website of Memari Municipality:
memarimunicipality.org.
[8] Sarkar, Raju (January 2017): Recent Status of
Education, Employment and Empowerment of
Women in West Bengal. International Journal of
Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 7, Issue
1, (ISSN 2050-3153)
[9] Sarkar, Tanika: Hindu Conjugality and Nationalismin
Late Nineteenth Century Bengal, in JasodharaBagchi
(Ed) Indian Women-MythandReality,SangamBooks,
Delhi, pp 102-103.
[10] Upadgyay, Richa: Women’s Economic Opportunities
in India, Asia Foundation. Access date 08-03-2018.

Basic Features and Strategies of Women’s Empowerment of a Developing Urban Area – A Case Study of Memari Municipality, Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India

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