WOMEN EMPOWERMENT: ROLE OF NEW MEDIA

Empowerment of women has emerged as an important issue in recent time. As per the latest Census in the year 2011, the total female sex ratio in India is 940 per 1000 males. The population of India is more than 1.21 billion and out of this, women constitute nearly 50% of the total population, Women empowerment in India is a much debated topic. The empowerment of women is being regarded these days as a very important aspect for the development of the country. Empowering women aims to inspire them and persuade them to come out from different adverse conditions, be it societal or religious, that have traditionally kept them suppressed and unable to see their true strength, power and beauty. We are living in the modern era, even though; today in the rural areas women are suffering from various problems in different fields of life. New Media plays an important and vital role in women’s empowerment and its development. Media can create an awakening inspiration to achieve their potential as a prime source of change in the society we live in. With the growing dominance of the Internet, blog, chat, Social sites etc, the use of New Media has already begun and consequently, communication is rapidly changing and becoming mobile, interactive, personalized and multi-channel. The Internet has served as a vehicle or as a channel to convey information in a useful and easy to understand manner. This extraordinary revolution is affecting the basic structure of societies, and is raising discussions and debates that are profoundly related to women: the rapid transformation of the boundaries between the public and the private spaces, the relationship between the new media and women’s empowerment. New Media is considered as an important source in helping the women empowered. It is helping as the important source and access to speak out against the oppression and marginalization of women at the grass root level. The media is considered as the most potent and influential mean in this regard as it has the capacity of persuading and molding opinion. The relationship of the media and the women is important because whatever image women have in our country is influenced by media... It is thus vital, to utilize the media for the improving the status of women in India and divulging their role in national development. Basically, this paper deals with empowerment of women through the New Media (Internet). Empowerment of women led to the development of the family, community, society, state and nation. This paper will specially highlight the positive perception and use of New Media as a development tool to empower the women