Empowered, Yet Not Safe- Facts, fear, and the cost of calling it empowerment.
Despite decades of conversation around women’s empowerment in India, safety remains uncertain for millions of women. With over four lakh crimes against women reported annually, fear continues to shape everyday life—at home, on the streets, and online. This opinion blog explores the contradiction between empowerment and safety through verified data, recent crime trends, domestic and digital violence, and the justice gap survivors face. It questions a society that teaches women caution instead of teaching accountability, and systems that respond after harm instead of preventing it. Until women can exist without fear, empowerment remains incomplete. Women should not need courage to exist.