Women Empowerment through Skills Development & Vocational Education

Tauffiqu Ahamad Institute, Research Fellow; Ambalika Sinha Associate professor & Head Department; Rajesh Kumar Shastri, Assistant professor

Tauffiqu Ahamad Institute, Research Fellow Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad
Ambalika Sinha Associate professor & Head Department Humanities and Social Sciences MNNIT Allahabad
Rajesh Kumar Shastri, Assistant professor Department of Humanities and Social Sciences MNNIT Allahabad

Keywords: Women empowerment, Skills development, Vocational Education, Sustainable rural development, Livelihoods, Employability

Abstract

Women participation and empowerment are fundamental women's rights to enabling women to have control
over their lives and put forth influence in society. Women often face discrimination and gender inequalities,
with some women experiencing multiple discrimination and exclusion because of factors such as
background or caste. This paper is dealth skills development through vocational training along with various
measures such as Pradahan Mantri Kausal Vikas Yojna, National Skills Development Corporation,
National Skills Development Mission.
Ministry of Labor and Employment has taken a number of initiatives in the field of skill development and
employment. For instance, training of trainers, Vocational Training for girls is being conducted by
Advanced Training Institutes and Regional Vocational Training Institutes run by the Ministry. Vocational
Education and training are essential mechanism of any strategy to improve farm and nonfarm productivity
that improves rural incomes. Skill is the bridge between job and workforce. Women often have different
training needs than men, since they are more likely to work as contributing family workers, subsistence
farmers, home-based micro entrepreneurs, or low-paid seasonal laborers, in addition to handling their
domestic work and care responsibilities. Skills development is a key to improving household productivity,
employability and income-earning opportunities for women and also for enhancing sustainable rural
development and livelihoods.