Indeed, our region still has the highest concentration of poor women in the world. Women in themselves constitute the best of human resources. In our attempt to mobilise resources for women development, we have to mobilise this rich resource before doing anything else. No wonder, that Mahatma Gandhi used to say that, all our movements stop half way, because, women are not participants in them. He had said that, women constituted the hidden treasure, and its discovery would cause great joy and celebration and release such heroic power which would dazzle the world.
Modern studies affirm that goals of development are best served by investing in women.
We in India, have provided equality and equal opportunities to women and substantial social and economic rights, such as right to inheritance and right to property opening up their access to productive resources. Women facing disadvantages arising out of our economic reforms and structural adjustment have been protected through special measures as found in our safety net schemes for them. Micro-credit movement covering poor women has spread practically to all the States of our country, either as part of a Govt. Self Help Groups, constituting poor women, have been considered as principal mechanisms for providing them micro-credit and other empowerment programmes, which eventually will not only reduce income poverty but educational deprivation, lack of health facilities, malnutrition and host of other issues affecting women. Thousands of women s co-operatives have provided valuable opportunities for economic empowerment to our rural women.