Introduction: 

If we educate a boy, we educate one “person” but if we educate a girl, we educate a family”, (by implication a state/nation). Woman is the builder of the Nation’s destiny. A country is said to be potential and prosperous only when its basic unit - ‘woman’ is safe and secure. Woman is treated as an object in the male-dominated society. This research proposal is an attempt to move a step ahead towards the understanding of the status of higher-educated women in Odisha in general and a case study in Bhubaneswar in particular.

“Change is the unchangeable law of nature”… where women's development is the basic ingredient of any social change in the Society. Women development and social change are part & parcel of social life. This research Proposal is an attempt to showcase women's development {development of higher educated women} as a process of social change as gender studies by strengthening the higher status of women in Odisha. This research proposal is divided into 5 sections respectively. Each of these sections highlights an important area of different status of higher educated women in Odisha, which is related to the concept of challenges associated with them. In addition, every section helps in developing overall understanding the importance of higher status of women in Odisha i:e their Journey in Indian Society, it tries to inculcate, a perspective of appreciating the importance of higher status of women in both domestic and professional life, career possibilities, marriage, family status for their secured future as being a “Better tomorrow”.

Objectives of the Study:

• To study the different aspects of higher educated women status in Odisha.
• To find out the cause of the risks associated with their lower status.
• To understand different challenges against them.
• To study different measures for reducing the impoverishment risks of higher educated women in Odisha .
• To highlight higher profession, career prospects, and economic empowerment as another source of measures for their upliftment.

Overview of Literature:

Risks of women: 

Though, The eleventh five-year Plan{2007-2012} in India envisioned inclusive growth and advocated ending the exclusion and discrimination. Still each year, millions of women are continuously facing risks associated with their financial and non-financial security.So safety/security of the woman is the main focus area of latest development policy. Their protection, Saving, and Investment are immediate concern. There are two major risks faced by women, one is life risk: loss of life {Death, Disease, Disability} and other is financial risk: Job loss {Financial Instability, Debt, Poor Savings} Illness. There are a number of reasons why a woman in India is associated with various risks are very different to many other Countries. The women in India are facing some of the most difficult sustainability challenges due to lack of job availability according to their higher education and experience & their hazardous work environment in domestic/professional life. To secure their continued ‘social position’, protected life, to operate with full protection, the women may respond to these challenges by strengthening higher professions in different services through financial protection in terms of their safety and security. Women should understand their sustainability concerns by knowing their level of awareness and capabilities. Every society must be able to measure and assess the level of risks and challenges against the upward development associated with women. Many developed Societies have already started responding to some of the financial protection measures, providing service opportunities, and higher educated status but still many more are yet to be achieved. This research is an attempt to highlight the impoverish risks and challenges of higher-educated women in the society by strengthening their career opportunities and providing them best possible opportunities for their future security.

Conceptual Framework:

A country is said to be potential and prosperous only when its basic unit- “women "are safe and secured, focus will be on both the gender’s equal upliftment (male and female) in the Society. In the light of this, the current research proposal is an attempt to move a step ahead towards understanding the importance of their roles what women plays in the society, in return what they get in the society, in one word i.e. what is the “Status of higher educated women in the society”. India has been working towards empowering her women ever since independence and especially since the 1990s. The government and non-government sectors have both been pushing ahead with programmes aimed at imparting education, giving them better health care, and providing them with means of livelihood and opportunities to participate in the decision-making process in domestic and social life. Special attention is being paid to improving the lot of their protection giving them the better chances of survival and opportunities for living a meaningful life. While protection is important but the real challenge is to ensure that highly educated women are getting the right opportunities/professions as per their experience and qualifications. Whether they are involved in the decision-making process at home and professional in the society through financial stability is the biggest question of the day.

Research Questions:

• How financially secure and safe the higher-educated women are in Odisha?
• Have they got the right career opportunities for their financial security?
• Have they taken sufficient protection measures for their lifetime security?
• Whether they hold right status in their domestic/ professional life?
• Are they taken adequate measures to meet all the financial requirements of their sustainability?

Do they need to think about the right career path for their sustainable development? Whether the right career opportunities as per their talent and capabilities will reduce the impoverishing risks associated with women in Odisha?

“Status of higher educated women in Odisha”, What does it all mean and how much time is it required to uplift their higher status in Odisha?

These are the valuable questions “?” of the day.

Here, this research will showcase various aspects of Financial Security as higher possible career opportunities may help them for their bright and beautiful future.

Hypotheses:

1. There may be a right career opportunity available to protect higher educated women's status in Odisha.
2. There may be a single cause of the low status of higher educated women in Odisha.
3. There may be different challenges against the status of higher-educated women in the Society.
4. Higher career opportunities, right marriage partner may be the ideal measures to reduce the challenges against higher-educated women in Odisha.

Scope of the Study:

In this country, in the early years of the” status” means, the trend was to enhance the status of only young male lives. The logic was that the young female of the species was home-bound, anyway, wasn't exposed to any risk/challenges other than giving birth to a child, Women are treated as an “object” for the childbirth process and consequently didn't need any sort of higher education or higher status in the society. Males held higher status in the domestic as well as professional fields because they were treated as the source of income in the family, so they were pursuing higher education leads to higher profession but this concept has changed with the passage of time. All that has changed with young women rivaling men at the workplace and frequently doing a better job than them, so the scope of the study will cover the Status of women both in domestic and professional life. The woman is now treated as “Gender”, not an “Object” as only status is for “Sex”.So the scope of the study is very high like the higher status of women in the society.

Statement of the Problem:

This research is an attempt to highlight the causes and characteristics of higher-educated women's problems in India in general and Odisha in particular. The nature of risks and challenges faced by higher educated women, how it affect their status in the society and makes recommendations to address the crisis at various levels. While the problems faced by women in India are ubiquitous across the country as well as the globe, this research will help to highlight major causes and consequences of the poor status of higher educated women in Odisha, the way out for their secured future as a rehabilitation and reconstruction measures. It also helps to find out the contribution of better career opportunities as a measure for reducing the impoverishing risks /challenges of higher-educated women in Odisha. It is hoped that this research work will draw attention to the plight of one of our society’s most important constituencies “Women” and urge the government/Policy makers/Corporations to take urgent action to protect the interest of higher educated Women’s status in Odisha.

Methodology:

Region of Research:

The geographical location for the study is Bhubaneswar Region of Odisha State in India. Since Bhubaneswar is the state Capital of Odisha, the per capita income of people in this city is likely to be higher as compared to other cities of Odisha. Hence, it is quite likely that a higher number of people in this city are higher educated especially women who are facing challenges due to their low status in society.

Collection of Data:

Data will be collected through both secondary as well as primary sources through field surveys and interviews of selected higher-educated women population. Primary data will be collected through a structured interview schedule, whereas secondary data will be collected through records, government reports, books, journals, newspapers, etc.focus will be on case study method,

Plan of the Study:

Present research will be divided into 8 chapters, including 

1. Contextual. Backdrop,
2. Functional Overview, 
3. Review of Literature 
4. Research Methodology, 
5. Challenges, 
6. Operational Scrutiny, 
7. Findings. 
8. Summary and Conclusions.

Outcomes and Proposed Output from this study:

Higher status of higher educated women is not just a ‘status’ for own security, but woman is also required an ideal environment to grow and excel. If a highly educated woman has higher status on her own, she can really think and dream big about her child to give him the best education. Higher career opportunity is very useful and much required for everyone especially for woman to secure their future and their child's future. It is important to know what to do after doing higher education, especially for women because by spending their entire lifetime sacrificing their prime time, and personal happiness of her life, they earn higher education and a higher degree but it should be an ideal path for every woman to get engaged in right career after completing of her higher education but the sad part in Odisha/ India is despite of her higher education and talent, a woman has been neglected in the male-dominated society due to her low status by not having right career opportunities as per talent and experience. Nowadays it is very important for highly educated women should get engaged in the right job or career path in the right time, only to protect their families and to ensure their future growth. This is mandatory to get their job done in the right time after completing their higher education. Financial security through the right career helps women in planning for her own life and securing their family and future as No matter in which country they live in, higher career opportunities really serves a great objective for every woman in her life. Gone are the days when everybody was not aware of with the higher status of higher educated women and its benefits. It is very easy to secure higher educated women status and their family with providing them the best career opportunities in Odisha that helps them to protect long last.

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References: 

• Wisniewski, M. (2001), "Using SERVQUAL to Assess Customer Satisfaction with Public Sector Services" Managing Service Quality, Vol.II, No. 6, pp. 380-388.
• World Insurance Report, (2008) Capgemini and the European Financial Management &
• Marketing Association (EFMA)
• Woodruffe, H. (1995), Services Marketing, 1st Edition, Pitman Publishing, London.
• www.irdindia.org
• Odisha review.org