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Introduction: The Visibility-Empowerment Paradox

In India today, women appear more present than ever before, piloting aircraft, leading businesses, debating in parliaments, and dominating academic rankings. From Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman helming the Finance Ministry to tribal women leading self-help groups, visibility has expanded across sectors. Yet, a troubling question lingers beneath this surface progress: does this visibility translate into actual power?

The gap between being seen and being heard, between occupying space and shaping outcomes, reveals a deeper malaise, one where representation lacks control, presence lacks autonomy, and achievements remain framed within patriarchal limits. As Dr. Ambedkar aptly noted, “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” Mere presence is not enough. Power is the true measure of progress.

From Vedic Voice to Historical Silence

The Indian civilizational journey reflects a profound shift in the nature of women’s power. The Vedic age showcased women like Gargi and Maitreyi engaging in intellectual discourses, even participating in assemblies. Property rights, education, and spiritual agency were not entirely denied to them.

However, the later interpretation of scriptures and texts like the Manusmriti institutionalized a rigid patriarchal order. By the medieval period, purdah, child marriage, and sati had further reduced women to the margins, both physically and ideologically. Even reformist efforts in the colonial era, Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s campaign against sati or Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s push for widow remarriage, while essential, often positioned women as subjects of upliftment, not agents of change.

Thus, Indian history is not just a record of women’s suppression, but of a subtle inversion, from visible power in early society to invisible subordination in the name of culture, family, and morality.

Politics: Reserved Seats, Restricted Voices

India has seen women in high political office from former Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi to President Droupadi Murmu, yet their rise often appears more symbolic than systemic. At the grassroots level, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments mandated 33% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions, a revolutionary step towards decentralised empowerment. Today, over a million elected women representatives hold office in rural India.

But the presence doesn’t seem to equate with power. The phenomenon of the “Sarpanch Pati Raj”, where male relatives control decisions, exposes how patriarchy mould itself into new forms. At the national level, women’s representation in Parliament hovers ~15%, and crucial portfolios like Defence or Home are still largely male preserves. The delay in implementing the 33% Women’s Reservation Bill reflects institutional inertia against true empowerment.

Until women shape not just the electorate but the elected, their political presence risks becoming performative rather than transformative.

Economic Spaces: Workers Without Ownership

Women now participate across the economy, from gig platforms to boardrooms but power over resources, capital, and decisions often eludes them. Rural women form the backbone of agriculture, contributing over 60% of labour, yet own less than 15% of land. Urban professional spaces fare little better; corporate boards remain male-dominated, and the gender pay gap persists even in high-skilled sectors.

While entrepreneurial success stories like Falguni Nayar or Kiran Mazumdar Shaw are celebrated, they remain exceptions rather than the norm. The growing number of women-led startups is encouraging, yet access to venture capital and market networks remains unequal.

Even in successful Self Help Groups (SHGs), financial autonomy often hits a wall at the household level, where husbands or in-laws make final spending decisions. This inevitably results in visible participation and invisible decision-making power.

Education: Enlightened, Yet Shackled

The surge in girls’ enrollment in schools and higher education is a landmark achievement. In states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, girls outnumber boys in university degrees. Campaigns like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao have made education a core part of the national agenda.

However, the dropout rate for girls spikes after secondary school, due to early marriage, household responsibilities, or safety concerns. Even educated women frequently withdraw from the workforce or are channelled into stereotyped roles. Academic brilliance often does not lead to administrative or intellectual leadership.

Moreover, the school and college curriculum often do bot give enough importance to women’s perspectives or women’s voices. As scholar Uma Chakravarti notes, true education must not just equip but emancipate. Otherwise, the system merely grooms educated women to conform, not question.

Law and Policy: Rights Without Reach

India has robust laws to protect and empower women, the Domestic Violence Act (2005), Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act (2017), and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (2013). However, rights on paper often lack teeth on the ground. Low conviction rates, social stigma, and lengthy judicial processes dilute their effectiveness.

For instance, in rape cases, victims often face hostility from police and courts. In domestic violence cases, social pressure leads to compromise rather than justice. The protection mechanisms are often slow, under-resourced, and male-dominated.

As Justice Leila Seth once said, “The law can open the door, but society must allow the woman to walk through it.” Real power lies not just in enacting laws, but in shifting the cultural ethos that resists them.

Culture and the Myth of Respect

Societies often present stark contradictions. While women are celebrated in symbols and traditions, they continue to face restrictions and unequal treatment in everyday life. The image of the ‘Bharatiya Nari’, self-sacrificing, dutiful, and silent continues to dominate family, media, and popular imagination. Films that glorify motherhood and obedience often reinforce passive roles, even when they show women in lead roles.

Social rituals still link a woman’s value to her marital status and reproductive role. The expectation to ‘adjust’, not ‘aspire’, pervades even among educated families. Patriarchal values get repackaged as tradition, making dissent appear as deviance.

As Swami Vivekananda argued, “There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved.” But reverence without rights, visibility without voice, remains a hollow ideal.

Technology and the Digital Divide

The digital age promised a levelling of opportunity. Women influencers, entrepreneurs, coders, and activists have emerged as powerful online voices. Initiatives like Digital India aim to close the access gap. Yet, as per NFHS-5 data, only ~33% of Indian women use the internet compared to 55% men, lower still in rural India.

Moreover, online visibility exposes women to harassment, trolling, and threats, creating psychological and physical risks. Activists like Licypriya Kangujam face gendered trolling, reflecting the resistance to vocal female presence. Algorithmic bias, lack of digital education, and limited tech participation reinforce the invisibilisation of women in the very medium meant to empower.

Internalised Patriarchy and Psychological Invisibility

Power is not merely external, it is also psychological. Many women, despite achievements, suffer from imposter syndrome, fear of visibility, and self-silencing. Conditioned to seek approval and avoid conflict, assertiveness is often mistaken for arrogance in women.

Indian philosophy acknowledges internal liberation. The Bhagavad Gita advises: “Uddhared atmanatmanam”. One must elevate oneself by the self. Inner transformation, reclaiming self-worth, unlearning gendered behaviour is thus critical to building real power.

Until the chains within are broken, the chains outside will persist.

Intersectionality: Margins Within Margins

The invisibilisation of women, however, is not uniform. Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim, disabled, and LGBTQ+ women face multiple layers of exclusion. The Hathras case (2020) exposed how caste and gender intersect to deny basic dignity. In politics, most elected women are from dominant castes. In economics, access to SHGs or government benefits often excludes the most vulnerable.

Adivasi women, despite their leadership in forest movements, are rarely part of national discourse. Muslim women struggle against communal bias and patriarchy simultaneously. Without acknowledging these layered identities, any empowerment agenda remains partial.

The World Stage: A Universal Problem

Globally, women remain underrepresented in power structures. Even countries with gender quotas struggle to ensure real influence. In Iceland, considered the most gender-equal nation, women still face unequal funding in entrepreneurship. In the U.S., women lead only about 10% of Fortune 500 companies and India ranks 127th in the 2023 Global Gender Gap Report. 

SDG 5 (gender equality) remains unfulfilled not just in developing countries but in the global power corridors. This shows that presence is a necessary step, but not the final one.

Bridging the Gap: What True Empowerment Demands

Bridging the gap between women’s visibility and their actual empowerment requires a comprehensive and sustained approach. Legal and political reforms are essential. This includes implementing the long-pending 33% reservation for women in legislatures, making laws more gender-sensitive, and ensuring swift justice through strengthened fast-track courts. 

Economic inclusion must go beyond participation to ownership and control. This means encouraging asset ownership among women, ensuring equal pay, improving financial literacy, and creating robust support systems for women-led businesses and enterprises.

Education and skill development remain crucial levers for change. Focus must be placed on promoting STEM education, enhancing digital literacy, and offering leadership training for young girls and women to enable them to thrive in a fast-changing world. At the same time, cultural narratives, especially those portrayed through media and education, must shift to actively challenge traditional gender roles and highlight a broader spectrum of female experiences and role models.

Finally, any approach to empowerment must be rooted in intersectionality. Policies should prioritise those at the margins—Dalit women, tribal communities, women with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups. It must be ensured inclusivity is built into the design, not added as an afterthought. Only then can visibility translate into genuine, widespread power.

Counterpoint: Is Visibility the First Step?

Some believe that visibility is itself a powerful force. It challenges norms, breaks taboos, and inspires countless others by making change feel possible. The presence of women in fields like civil services, science, and sports exemplified by leaders like Tessy Thomas, Indra Nooyi, and P.V. Sindhu, serves as a beacon of progress and aspiration.

However, these individual successes, while significant, can become symbolic if they aren’t accompanied by deeper systemic changes. Without the redistribution of power, property, and privilege, representation alone risks being romanticised. True empowerment demands more than visibility. It calls for real, structural shifts that expand women’s agency and influence across all levels of society.

Conclusion: From Seen to Heard, From Present to Powerful

The world today stands at a unique crossroads. Women’s visibility is undeniable, yet fragile. The structure of power remains largely male- dominated, shaped by deep cultural codes, institutional inertia, and silent resistance. But visibility is not meaningless. It is the first crack in the wall. To convert this into a gateway of transformation, the world must make space not just for women’s bodies in public life, but for their minds in decision-making, and their voices in reshaping futures.

Real empowerment means that women are not merely visible in headlines, but are invisible forces behind policies, economies, families, and narratives. Not just seen, but heeded. Not just present, but powerful.

As the Rigveda wisely said:
“यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवता:”
“Where women are respected, there the gods dwell.”
It is time we moved beyond respect as ritual and embraced power as right.

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