Empowering Women: Why Does It Matter?

By Mahjoobah Faizi

A society cannot reach its full potential when half of its population is unable to use their voices and abilities. Women play a vital role in families and societies; however, a considerable number of them face barriers that limit their opportunities, choices, and participation. Empowering women refers to providing women with opportunities, confidence, resources, and freedom to participate in decisions that affect their lives. This is a very crucial issue because it gives them more voice and control over their lives, provides more opportunities for the next generation, and helps to create a more equal society. For this reason, paying attention to empowering women is not only about supporting women, but it is about creating a future with more opportunities for everyone.

Empowering women helps them to find their voices and have more control over their lives. One important point is that empowerment gives women the opportunity to make decisions on important issues in their lives, such as education, work, and the future. Secondly, it helps them to be more confident in expressing their thoughts and enables them to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. Thirdly, access to education, skills, and economic opportunities can help women to become more independent and less dependent on others. For example, UN Women emphasizes the importance of women’s participation in decisions and their opinions in the decisions that affect their lives (UN Women, n.d.) This shows that empowering women does not simply mean giving them opportunities, but it gives them the ability to express their thoughts and play a role in their life’s decisions. When women have the chance to make decisions about their lives, they feel more valued and responsible.

Empowering women provides more possibilities for future generations. First of all, empowered women can encourage children, especially girls, to value education and learning more. Next, women can turn into positive role models for young generations. Girls can have a more vivid and broad vision of their future by seeing women who study, learn skills, work, and try to reach their goals. Lastly, empowering women helps to break the cycle of limiting opportunities, because when a generation has access to more opportunities, it will provide better conditions for the next generation. The World Bank report highlights the Importance of investing in girls’ education, including the benefits that can extend to families and future generations (World Bank, 2018). Therefore, empowering a woman not only changes her own life, but opens a door to the other children who come after her. As a result, the change that starts with a woman can gradually affect the next generation’s views and opportunities.

Empowering women helps in creating a more equal society. First, empowerment allows women to take part in education, work, and social life. Next, society can benefit from women’s abilities, skills, and ideas because women also represent a significant part of human potential. In addition, creating equal opportunities can decrease the barriers that women face because of their gender. The World Bank’s Business and the Law 2024 examines how laws can affect women’s ability to participate in economic activities. This important matter shows that women’s opportunities are not an individual issue, but laws, economic opportunities, and social structures play a noticeable role in their participation. When women have more chances to participate, society can benefit from more skills and ideas. In such a society, women will feel more confident and show more commitment.

Empowering women is not only about their individual lives. When women become more empowered, they have more control over their lives; they can give the future generation more opportunities and have more equal participation in society. As a result, empowering women not only helps them to improve their lives, but also can affect families, future generations, and society. When women are allowed to use their voices, abilities, and skills, the future possibilities and opportunities become greater for everyone.

Image Credit: Adobe Stock

Author’s Bio: I am Mahjoobah Faizi from Herat, Afghanistan. I am interested in storytelling. I believe stories have the potential to connect us to the lives, emotions, and experiences that we have never experienced. For me, stories are a way to explore human beings and the complexities of their lives. Sometimes a story can express something that is very difficult to put into simple words. I see stories as worlds where even impossible things can become possible. I like discovering these unfamiliar worlds and creating something readable and unforgettable from them.