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Synopsis Women are often treated as inferior and are socialised to put themselves last, thus undermining their self-esteem. Economic and political empowerment of women does not refer only to some improvements in their position within the parameters of hierarchical structures. Empowerment is not only an external process, but a process that has to bring about these intrinsic changes, in women but in men also. When women get organised and raise their consciousness about their disempowerment, and use their critical understanding to organise themselves and struggle for greater access to resources there are very few problems from the men. The problems come when the women challenge practices within the home and men’s control over them. With an example from South Asia, women always say that "the men do all the work that is why they need to have all the prestige". There needs much to be done in bringing the status of woman at par, and in uprooting the stereotyped biases, prejudices and attitudes of society. There is a need of consciousness raising both in men and women, and the discrimination bias can be shattered only if we bring a change in our social customs which make the birth of a female child unwelcome, since, she is considered a financial and social burden.