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Introduction
The principle of gender
equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental
Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not
only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of
positive discrimination in favour of women.
Within the framework of a
democratic polity, our laws, development policies, Plans and programmes have
aimed at women’s advancement in different spheres. From the Fifth Five Year Plan
(1974-78) onwards has been a marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from
welfare to development. In recent years, the empowerment of women has been
recognized as the central issue in determining the status of women. The National
Commission for Women was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the
rights and legal entitlements of women. The 73rd and 74th
Amendments (1993) to the Constitution of India have provided for reservation of
seats in the local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a
strong foundation for their participation in decision making at the local
levels.
1.3 India has also
ratified various international conventions and human rights instruments
committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification
of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) in 1993.
1.4 The Mexico Plan of
Action (1975), the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (1985), the Beijing
Declaration as well as the Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome Document
adopted by the UNGA Session on Gender Equality and Development & Peace for
the 21st century, titled "Further actions and initiatives to
implement the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action"
have been unreservedly endorsed by India for appropriate follow
up.
1.5 The Policy also takes
note of the commitments of the Ninth Five Year Plan and the other Sectoral
Policies relating to empowerment of Women.
1.6 The women’s movement
and a wide-spread network of non-Government Organisations which have strong
grass-roots presence and deep insight into women’s concerns have contributed in
inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of women.
1.7 However, there still
exists a wide gap between the goals enunciated in the Constitution, legislation,
policies, plans, programmes, and related mechanisms on the one hand and the
situational reality of the status of women in India, on the other. This has been
analyzed extensively in the Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in
India, "Towards Equality", 1974 and highlighted in the National Perspective Plan
for Women, 1988-2000, the Shramshakti Report, 1988 and the Platform for Action,
Five Years After- An assessment"
1.8 Gender disparity
manifests itself in various forms, the most obvious being the trend of
continuously declining female ratio in the population in the last few decades.
Social stereotyping and violence at the domestic and societal levels are some of
the other manifestations. Discrimination against girl children, adolescent girls
and women persists in parts of the country.
1.9 The underlying
causes of gender inequality are related to social and economic structure, which
is based on informal and formal norms, and practices.
1.10 Consequently, the
access of women particularly those belonging to weaker sections including
Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/ Other backward Classes and minorities,
majority of whom are in the rural areas and in the informal, unorganized sector
– to education, health and productive resources, among others, is inadequate.
Therefore, they remain largely marginalized, poor and socially
excluded.
Goal and
Objectives
1.11 The goal of this
Policy is to bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of
women. The Policy will be widely disseminated so as to encourage active
participation of all stakeholders for achieving its goals. Specifically, the
objectives of this Policy include
Policy
Prescriptions
Judicial Legal
Systems
Legal-judicial system
will be made more responsive and gender sensitive to women’s needs, especially
in cases of domestic violence and personal assault. New laws will be enacted and
existing laws reviewed to ensure that justice is quick and the punishment meted
out to the culprits is commensurate with the severity of the offence.
2.2 At the initiative of
and with the full participation of all stakeholders including community and
religious leaders, the Policy would aim to encourage changes in personal laws
such as those related to marriage, divorce, maintenance and guardianship so as
to eliminate discrimination against women.
2.3 The evolution of
property rights in a patriarchal system has contributed to the subordinate
status of women. The Policy would aim to encourage changes in laws relating to
ownership of property and inheritance by evolving consensus in order to make
them gender just.
Decision
Making
3.1 Women’s equality in
power sharing and active participation in decision making, including decision
making in political process at all levels will be ensured for the achievement of
the goals of empowerment. All measures will be taken to guarantee women equal
access to and full participation in decision making bodies at
every level, including the legislative, executive, judicial, corporate,
statutory bodies, as also the advisory Commissions, Committees, Boards, Trusts
etc. Affirmative action such as reservations/quotas, including in higher
legislative bodies, will be considered whenever necessary on a time bound basis.
Women–friendly personnel policies will also be drawn up to encourage women to
participate effectively in the developmental
process.
Mainstreaming a
Gender Perspective in the Development Process
4.1 Policies,
programmes and systems will be established to ensure mainstreaming of women’s
perspectives in all developmental processes, as catalysts, participants and
recipients. Wherever there are gaps in policies and programmes, women
specific interventions would be undertaken to bridge these.
Coordinating and monitoring mechanisms will also be devised to assess from time
to time the progress of such mainstreaming mechanisms. Women’s issues and
concerns as a result will specially be addressed and reflected in all concerned
laws, sectoral policies, plans and programmes of action.
Poverty
Eradication
5.1 Since women comprise
the majority of the population below the poverty line and are very often in
situations of extreme poverty, given the harsh realities of intra-household and
social discrimination, macro economic policies and poverty eradication
programmes will specifically address the needs and problems of such women. There
will be improved implementation of programmes which are already women oriented
with special targets for women. Steps will be taken for mobilization of poor
women and convergence of services, by offering them a range of economic and
social options, along with necessary support measures to enhance their
capabilities
Micro
Credit
5.2 In order to
enhance women’s access to credit for consumption and production, the
establishment of new, and strengthening of existing micro-credit mechanisms and
micro-finance institution will be undertaken so that the outreach of credit is
enhanced. Other supportive measures would be taken to ensure adequate flow of
credit through extant financial institutions and banks, so that all women below
poverty line have easy access to credit.
Women and
Economy
5.3 Women’s perspectives
will be included in designing and implementing macro-economic and social
policies by institutionalizing their participation in such processes. Their
contribution to socio-economic development as producers and workers will be
recognized in the formal and informal sectors (including home based workers) and
appropriate policies relating to employment and to her working conditions will
be drawn up. Such measures could include:
Globalization
Globalization has
presented new challenges for the realization of the goal of women’s equality,
the gender impact of which has not been systematically evaluated fully. However,
from the micro-level studies that were commissioned by the Department of Women
& Child Development, it is evident that there is a need for re-framing
policies for access to employment and quality of employment. Benefits of the
growing global economy have been unevenly distributed leading to wider economic
disparities, the feminization of poverty, increased gender inequality through
often deteriorating working conditions and unsafe working environment especially
in the informal economy and rural areas. Strategies will be
designed to enhance the capacity of women and empower them to meet
the negative social and economic impacts, which may flow from the globalization
process.
Women and
Agriculture
5.5 In view of the
critical role of women in the agriculture and allied sectors, as producers,
concentrated efforts will be made to ensure that benefits of training, extension
and various programmes will reach them in proportion to their numbers. The
programmes for training women in soil conservation, social
forestry, dairy development and other occupations allied to agriculture like
horticulture, livestock including small animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries
etc. will be expanded to benefit women workers in the agriculture
sector.
Women and
Industry
5.6 The important role
played by women in electronics, information technology and food processing and
agro industry and textiles has been crucial to the development of these sectors.
They would be given comprehensive support in terms of labour legislation, social
security and other support services to participate in various industrial
sectors.
5.7 Women at present
cannot work in night shift in factories even if they wish to. Suitable measures
will be taken to enable women to work on the night shift in factories. This will
be accompanied with support services for security, transportation
etc.
Support
Services
5.8 The provision of
support services for women, like child care facilities, including crèches at
work places and educational institutions, homes for the aged and the disabled
will be expanded and improved to create an enabling environment and to ensure
their full cooperation in social, political and economic life. Women-friendly
personnel policies will also be drawn up to encourage women to participate
effectively in the developmental process.
Social
Empowerment of Women
Education
6.1 Equal access to
education for women and girls will be ensured. Special measures will be taken to
eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate illiteracy, create a
gender-sensitive educational system, increase enrolment and retention rates of
girls and improve the quality of education to facilitate life-long learning as
well as development of occupation/vocation/technical skills by women.
Reducing the gender gap in secondary and higher education would
be a focus area. Sectoral time targets in existing policies will be
achieved, with a special focus on girls and women, particularly those belonging
to weaker sections including the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other
Backward Classes/Minorities. Gender sensitive curricula would be
developed at all levels of educational system in order to address sex
stereotyping as one of the causes of gender discrimination.
Health
6.2 A holistic approach
to women’s health which includes both nutrition and health services will be
adopted and special attention will be given to the needs of women and the girl
at all stages of the life cycle. The reduction of infant mortality and maternal
mortality, which are sensitive indicators of human development, is a priority
concern. This policy reiterates the national demographic goals for
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) set out in the
National Population Policy 2000. Women should have
access to comprehensive, affordable and quality health care.
Measures will be adopted that take into account the reproductive rights
of women to enable them to exercise informed choices, their vulnerability to
sexual and health problems together with endemic, infectious and communicable
diseases such as malaria, TB, and water borne diseases as well as hypertension
and cardio-pulmonary diseases. The social, developmental and health consequences
of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases will be tackled from a
gender perspective.
6.3 To effectively meet
problems of infant and maternal mortality, and early marriage the availability
of good and accurate data at micro level on deaths, birth and marriages
is required. Strict implementation of registration of births and deaths would be
ensured and registration of marriages would be made compulsory.
6.4 In accordance with
the commitment of the National Population Policy (2000) to population
stabilization, this Policy recognizes the critical need of men and women to have
access to safe, effective and affordable methods of family planning of their
choice and the need to suitably address the issues of early marriages and
spacing of children. Interventions such as spread of education,
compulsory registration of marriage and special programmes like BSY should
impact on delaying the age of marriage so that by 2010 child marriages are
eliminated.
6.5 Women’s traditional
knowledge about health care and nutrition will be recognized through proper
documentation and its use will be encouraged. The use of Indian and alternative
systems of medicine will be enhanced within the framework of overall health
infrastructure available for women.
Nutrition
6.6 In view of the high
risk of malnutrition and disease that women face at all the three critical
stages viz., infancy and childhood, adolescent and reproductive phase, focussed
attention would be paid to meeting the nutritional needs of women at all stages
of the life cycle. This is also important in view of the critical link between
the health of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women with the health of
infant and young children. Special efforts will be made to tackle the problem of
macro and micro nutrient deficiencies especially amongst pregnant and lactating
women as it leads to various diseases and disabilities.
6.7 Intra-household
discrimination in nutritional matters vis-à-vis girls and women will be sought
to be ended through appropriate strategies. Widespread use of nutrition
education would be made to address the issues of intra-household imbalances in
nutrition and the special needs of pregnant and lactating women. Women’s
participation will also be ensured in the planning, superintendence and delivery
of the system.
Drinking Water
and Sanitation
6.8 Special attention
will be given to the needs of women in the provision of safe drinking water,
sewage disposal, toilet facilities and sanitation within accessible reach of
households, especially in rural areas and urban slums. Women’s
participation will be ensured in the planning, delivery and maintenance of such
services.
Housing and
Shelter
6.9 Women’s perspectives
will be included in housing policies, planning of housing colonies and provision
of shelter both in rural and urban areas. Special attention will be given for
providing adequate and safe housing and accommodation for women including single
women, heads of households, working women, students, apprentices and
trainees.
Environment
6.10 Women will be
involved and their perspectives reflected in the policies and programmes for
environment, conservation and restoration. Considering the impact of
environmental factors on their livelihoods, women’s participation will be
ensured in the conservation of the environment and control of environmental
degradation. The vast majority of rural women still depend on the locally
available non-commercial sources of energy such as animal dung, crop waste and
fuel wood. In order to ensure the efficient use of these energy
resources in an environmental friendly manner, the Policy will aim at promoting
the programmes of non-conventional energy resources. Women will be involved in
spreading the use of solar energy, biogas, smokeless chulahs and other
rural application so as to have a visible impact of these measures in
influencing eco system and in changing the life styles of rural
women.
Science and
Technology
6.11 Programmes
will be strengthened to bring about a greater involvement of women in science
and technology. These will include measures to motivate girls to take up science
and technology for higher education and also ensure that development projects
with scientific and technical inputs involve women fully. Efforts to develop a
scientific temper and awareness will also be stepped up. Special measures would
be taken for their training in areas where they have special skills like
communication and information technology. Efforts to develop appropriate
technologies suited to women’s needs as well as to reduce their drudgery will be
given a special focus too.
Women in
Difficult Circumstances
6.12 In recognition of
the diversity of women’s situations and in acknowledgement of the needs of
specially disadvantaged groups, measures and programmes will be undertaken to
provide them with special assistance. These groups include women in extreme
poverty, destitute women, women in conflict situations, women affected by
natural calamities, women in less developed regions, the disabled widows,
elderly women, single women in difficult circumstances, women heading
households, those displaced from employment, migrants, women who are victims of
marital violence, deserted women and prostitutes etc.
Violence
against women
7.1 All forms of violence
against women, physical and mental, whether at domestic or societal levels,
including those arising from customs, traditions or accepted practices shall be
dealt with effectively with a view to eliminate its incidence. Institutions and
mechanisms/schemes for assistance will be created and strengthened for
prevention of such violence , including sexual harassment at work place and
customs like dowry; for the rehabilitation of the victims of violence and for
taking effective action against the perpetrators of such violence. A special
emphasis will also be laid on programmes and measures to deal with trafficking
in women and girls.
Rights of the
Girl Child
8.1 All forms of
discrimination against the girl child and violation of her rights shall be
eliminated by undertaking strong measures both preventive and punitive within
and outside the family. These would relate specifically to strict enforcement of
laws against prenatal sex selection and the practices of female
foeticide, female infanticide, child marriage, child abuse and child
prostitution etc. Removal of discrimination in the treatment of the girl child
within the family and outside and projection of a positive image of the girl
child will be actively fostered. There will be special emphasis on the needs of
the girl child and earmarking of substantial investments in the areas relating
to food and nutrition, health and education, and in vocational education. In
implementing programmes for eliminating child labour, there will be a special
focus on girl children.
Mass
Media
9.1 Media will be used to
portray images consistent with human dignity of girls and women. The Policy will
specifically strive to remove demeaning, degrading and negative
conventional stereotypical images of women and violence against women. Private
sector partners and media networks will be involved at all levels to
ensure equal access for women particularly in the area of information and
communication technologies. The media would be encouraged to develop codes of
conduct, professional guidelines and other self regulatory mechanisms to remove
gender stereotypes and promote balanced portrayals of women and men.
Operational
Strategies
Action
Plans
10.1 All Central and
State Ministries will draw up time bound Action Plans for translating the Policy
into a set of concrete actions, through a participatory process of
consultation with Centre/State Departments of Women and Child Development
and National /State Commissions for Women. The Plans will specifically including
the following: -
10.2 In order to support
better planning and programme formulation and adequate allocation of resources,
Gender Development Indices (GDI) will be developed by networking with
specialized agencies. These could be analyzed and studied in depth. Gender
auditing and development of evaluation mechanisms will also be undertaken along
side.
10.3 Collection of gender
disaggregated data by all primary data collecting agencies of the Central and
State Governments as well as Research and Academic Institutions in the Public
and Private Sectors will be undertaken. Data and information gaps in vital areas
reflecting the status of women will be sought to be filled in by these
immediately. All Ministries/Corporations/Banks and financial institutions etc
will be advised to collect, collate, disseminate and maintain/publish data
related to programmes and benefits on a gender disaggregated basis. This will
help in meaningful planning and evaluation of policies.
Institutional
Mechanisms
11.1 Institutional
mechanisms, to promote the advancement of women, which exist at the Central and
State levels, will be strengthened. These will be through interventions as may
be appropriate and will relate to, among others, provision of adequate
resources, training and advocacy skills to effectively influence macro-policies,
legislation, programmes etc. to achieve the empowerment of women.
11.2 National and State
Councils will be formed to oversee the operationalisation of the Policy
on a regular basis. The National Council will be headed by the Prime Minister
and the State Councils by the Chief Ministers and be broad in composition having
representatives from the concerned Departments/Ministries, National and State
Commissions for Women, Social Welfare Boards, representatives of Non-Government
Organizations, Women’s Organisations, Corporate Sector, Trade Unions,
financing institutions, academics, experts and social activists
etc. These bodies will review the progress made in implementing the
Policy twice a year. The National Development Council will also be
informed of the progress of the programme undertaken under the policy from
time to time for advice and comments.
11.3 National and State
Resource Centres on women will be established with mandates for collection and
dissemination of information, undertaking research work, conducting surveys,
implementing training and awareness generation programmes, etc. These
Centers will link up with Women’s Studies Centres and other research and
academic institutions through suitable information networking
systems.
11.4 While
institutions at the district level will be strengthened, at the
grass-roots, women will be helped by Government through its programmes to
organize and strengthen into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) at the
Anganwadi/Village/Town level. The women’s groups will be helped to
institutionalize themselves into registered societies and to federate at the
Panchyat/Municipal level. These societies will bring about synergistic
implementation of all the social and economic development programmes by drawing
resources made available through Government and Non-Government channels,
including banks and financial institutions and by establishing a close Interface
with the Panchayats/ Municipalities.
Resource
Management
12.1 Availability of
adequate financial, human and market resources to implement the Policy will be
managed by concerned Departments, financial credit institutions and banks,
private sector, civil society and other connected institutions. This process
will include:
12.2 The strategy of
Women’s Component Plan adopted in the Ninth Plan of ensuring that not less than
30% of benefits/funds flow to women from all Ministries and Departments
will be implemented effectively so that the needs and interests of women and
girls are addressed by all concerned sectors. The Department of Women and
Child Development being the nodal Ministry will monitor and review the progress
of the implementation of the Component Plan from time to time, in terms of both
quality and quantity in collaboration with the Planning Commission.
12.3 Efforts will be made
to channelize private sector investments too, to support programmes and projects
for advancement of women
Legislation
13.1 The existing
legislative structure will be reviewed and additional legislative measures taken
by identified departments to implement the Policy. This will also involve a
review of all existing laws including personal, customary and tribal laws,
subordinate legislation, related rules as well as executive and administrative
regulations to eliminate all gender discriminatory references. The process will
be planned over a time period 2000-2003. The specific measures required would be
evolved through a consultation process involving civil society, National
Commission for Women and Department of Women and Child Development. In
appropriate cases the consultation process would be widened to include other
stakeholders too.
13.2 Effective
implementation of legislation would be promoted by involving civil society and
community. Appropriate changes in legislation will be undertaken, if
necessary.
13.3 In addition,
following other specific measures will be taken to implement the legislation
effectively.
Gender
Sensitization
14.1 Training of
personnel of executive, legislative and judicial wings of the State, with a
special focus on policy and programme framers, implementation and development
agencies, law enforcement machinery and the judiciary, as well as
non-governmental organizations will be undertaken. Other measures will
include:
Panchayati Raj
Institutions
15.1 The
73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Indian
Constitution have served as a breakthrough towards ensuring equal access and
increased participation in political power structure for women. The PRIs will
play a central role in the process of enhancing women’s participation in public
life. The PRIs and the local self Governments will be actively involved in the
implementation and execution of the National Policy for Women at the grassroots
level.
Partnership with
the voluntary sector organizations
16.1 The involvement of
voluntary organizations, associations, federations, trade unions,
non-governmental organizations, women’s organizations, as well as institutions
dealing with education, training and research will be ensured in the
formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of all policies and
programmes affecting women. Towards this end, they will be provided with
appropriate support related to resources and capacity building and facilitated
to participate actively in the process of the empowerment of women.
International
Cooperation
17.1 The Policy will aim
at implementation of international obligations/commitments in all sectors on
empowerment of women such as the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+5) and other such
instruments. International, regional and sub-regional cooperation towards the
empowerment of women will continue to be encouraged through sharing of
experiences, exchange of ideas and technology, networking with institutions and
organizations and through bilateral and multi-lateral
partnerships.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012
NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
