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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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Showing posts with label women empowerment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women empowerment. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA – MILESTONES & CHALLENGES
Empowerment is now increasingly seen as a process by which the one's without power gain
greater control over their lives. This means control over material assets, intellectual
resources and ideology. It involves power to, power with and power within. Some define
empowerment as a process of awareness and conscientization, of capacity building leading
to greater participation, effective decision-making power and control leading to
transformative action. This involves ability to get what one wants and to influence others on
our concerns. With reference to women the power relation that has to be involved includes
their lives at multiple levels, family, community, market and the state. Importantly it involvesat the psychological level women's ability to assert themselves and this is
constructed by the'gender roles' assigned to her specially in a cultural which resists change like India.
constructed by the'gender roles' assigned to her specially in a cultural which resists change like India.
The questions surrounding women's empowerment the condition and position of women
have now become critical to the human rights based approaches to development. The Cairo
conference in 1994 organized by UN on Population and Development called attention to
women's empowerment as a central focus and UNDP developed the Gender Empowerment
measure (GEM) which focuses on the three variables that reflect women's participation in
society – political power or decision-making, education and health. 1995 UNDP report was
devoted to women's empowerment and it declared that if human development is not
engendered it is endangered a declaration which almost become a lei motif for further
development measuring and policy planning. Equality, sustainability and empowerment wereemphasized and the stress was, that women's emancipation does not depend on nationalincome but is an engaged political process.
Drawing from Amartya Sen's work on 'Human capabilities' — an idea drawn from Aristotle a
new matrix was created to measure human development. The emphasis was that we need
to enhance human well being flourishing and not focus on growth of national income as a
goal.
People's choices have to be enlarged and they must have economic opportunities to make
use of these capabilities. States and countries would consider developments in terms of
whether its people lead a long healthy painless life or no are educated and knowledgeable
and enjoy decent standards of living.
The intuitive idea behind the capability is twofold according to Martha Nussbaum (2003) first,that there are certain functions that are particularly central to human life. Second, that thereis something do these in a truly human way, not a mere animal way. The list of capabilitiesthat she draws is cross-cultural as necessary element of truly human functioning. Theyinclude:
1. Life-being able to live to the end of human life of normal length: not dying prematurely, or
before one's life is so reduced as to be not worth living.
2. Bodily health – being able to have good health including reproductive health, to be
adequately nourished, to have adequate shelter.
3. Bodily integrity – Being able to move freely from place to place, to be secure against
violent assault, including sexual assault and domestic violence; having opportunities for
sex satisfaction and for choice in matters of reproduction.
4. Senses, imagination and thought – Being able to use the sense, to imagine, think and
reason in a truly human way including but not limited to literacy. Being able to use one's
mind and imagination protected by freedom of expression.
5. Emotions – being able to have attachments, to love, to grieve to experience longing
gratitude and justified anger. Not having one's emotional development blighted by fear
and anxiety.
6. Practical Reason – Being able to form a conception of the good and to engage in critical
reflection about planning of one's life's protected by liberty of conscience.
7. Affiliation – Being able to live with and toward others to have social interactions, to have
the capability of both justice and friendship. This would entail freedom of assembly and
free speech. Having social bases for self-respect and non-humiliation, being protected
against discrimination on the basis of race, sex sexual orientation religion caste or
region.
8. Other species – Being able to concern with nature.
9. Play – being able to laugh, play and enjoy.
10. Control over one's environment.
a) Political. Being able to participate effectively in political choices that govern one's life,
having the right to political participation, protection of free speech and association.
b) Material. Being able to hold property to seek employment on equal bases and having
freedom from unwarranted search and seizure. In work, being able to work as a
human being, exercising practical reason and entering into meaningful relationships
of mutual recognition with the workers.
These capabilities cover the so called "first generation rights" (political & civil liberties) as
well as the "second generation rights" (economic and social rights0. It has been emphasized
that women all over the world have been short shifted and have not found support for their
central human functions. Women are capable of these functions given sufficient, nutrition,
education and other support. Women are most often not treated as subjects. Women are as
capable as men of exercising will, controlling desires and taking decisions but males enjoy
support of social institutions and women are excluded as the 'other'. Women are often not
treated as "ends in themselves" persons with dignity who deserve respect from laws and
institutions instead they are treated instrumentally as reproducers, caregivers, sexual
receivers, agents of family's general prosperity.
Human development report since 1999 demonstrate that practically no country in the world
treats its women as well as men according to the measures of life expectancy wealth and
education. Developing countries present especially urgent problems where caste and class
result in acute failure of human capabilities of women. Women in this part of south East Asialack essential support for fully functioning human lives. Within the country there are many issues to be addressed closely.
GDI: Inter State Comparison
The virtues of a measure such as the GDI, which can project the status of women by
encapsulating achievements in three basis dimensions, soon become clear to policy makers.
It spurred efforts to rank States in India by calculating their GDI (Shiv Kumar 1966, Seeta
Prabhu, Sarkar and Radha 1996; Aasha Kapur Mehta 1996; Hirway and Mahadevia 1996).
A comparison of the HDI and GDI reveal that in Punjab, Haryana, Bihar. West Bengal and
Rajasthan development has been inequitous and women did not get equal share in the
development. For Uttar Pradesh which has the lowest HDI rank as well as the lowest GDI
rank, the challenge is to see how men and women can more from being equal partners in
slow development to partners in dynamic growth.
Empowerment of women is a commitment for PACS and some others strategic programmes,
while developing strategies for empowering women some programmes are sensitive to
recognizing women's contribution and their knowledge as the first step. The appreciate that
women require principally social support to fight their sense of inadequacy and fears to
enhance their self-respect and dignity. Empowering women means control over their bodies
and becoming economically independent, controlling resources like land and property and
reduction of burden of work. A society or programme which aims at women's empowerment
needs to create and strengthen sisterhood and to promote overall nurturing, caring and
gentleness. PACS emphasis on emphasis on women SHG's as a collective is one such
efforts. Being conference 1995 had identified certain quantitative and qualitative indicators ofwomen empowerment.
Beijing conference 1995 indicators of women empowerment, qualitative & quantitative
Qualitative:
1. increase in self-esteem, individual and collective confidence;
2. increase in articulation, knowledge and awareness on health, nutrition reproductive
rights, law and literacy;
3. increase an decrease in personal leisure time and time for child care;
4. increase on decrease of work loads in new programmes;
5. change in roles and responsibility in family & community;
6. visible increase on decrease in violence on women and girls;
7. responses to, changes in social customs like child marriage, dowry, discrimination
against widows;
8. visible changes in women's participation level attending meeting, participating and
demanding participation;
9. increase in bargaining and negotiating power at home, in community and the collective;
10. increase access to and ability to gather information;
11. formation of women collectives;
12. positive changes in social attitudes;
13. awareness and recognition of women's economic contribution within and outside the
household;
14. women's decision-making over her work and income.
Education:
Women's education is extremely important intrinsically as it is their human right and required
for the flourishing of many of their capacities.
It is, however, noticed that most programmes for education of girls and women in India have
reinforced Gender roles specially motherhood in curriculum as well as impact evaluation.
The huge study of nearly 94% of India's population done by Drez and others looks at female
literacy and its negative and statistically significant impact on child mortality.
The questions of power are interlinked and we understand that what is necessary is both
objective power in terms of economic resources, laws, institutional roles and norms held by
others as well as subjective power in terms of self efficacy and entitlements. Empowerment
of women is closely related to formal and informal sources of education. Late 19th century & 20
th century reformers advocated women's education as a principal strategy to answer the
'women's question'. Many innovative efforts are accelerated after the NPE. In UP a renewal
process of correcting gender stereotyping was initiated in 1998 looking at textbooks and
training besides infrastructure and community mobilization. There is marked improvement ingirls enrollment and steady decline in drop out rates.
Despite statistically positive trends closer studies show that privileged spaces in classrooms
are occupied by boys. Girls are rarely addressed by their names. Girls sit in last rows in
classes of mathematics and rarely muster courage enough to come close to the board where
the teacher sits (usually a male in most remote areas? Private school initiative for gender
concerns is rare Madarsas have large number of girls but like convents and Arya Kanya
Pathshala's gender transformation is not their agenda. Moral science text books still have
preponderance of men. Women as agents of social reform are not mentioned. CSO efforts
have very often shown greater enhancement of girls self-esteem but in many cases there is
poor cognitive development generally attributed to low paid, low qualified but highly
motivated instructor. Kanya Vidya Dhan, free uniforms, mid-day meal, school attached
crèche, mothers meetings have all had positive results.
In various surveys conducted by ISST it has been apparent that parental apathy or
opposition to girl child education is fast reading even in traditional male dominated states of
north Indian. Given the right infrastructure-schools located in neighbourhoods, preferably
with female teachers parents would allow girls to study "as long as they would like to". It may
however be noticed as evidenced by researchers, the same families who are willing to see
girls in college react violently if the girl decides to choose her partner in marriage or
challenge other norms of feminine behavior.
Health:
2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS –3) conducted through 18 research
organizations between 2005 December and August 2006 provides us with several important
data based insights not provided by earlier surveys. There has been a steady increase in
institutional delivery percentages from NFHS – 1 to 3 from 26 to 41 the increase in rural from17 to 31 is more promising than urban from 58 to 69. Overall fertility rate has declined from 3.4 to 2.7. The states of Punjab and Maharashtra have reached the replacement level of
fertility, i.e. around 2 children per woman. Women in Chatisgarh and Orrissa are expected to have an average of about 2.5 children at current fertility rates. The urban areas in five states studied by NFHS, Chattisgarh, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Orissa and Punjab have reached below replacement level fertility. There is a difference between the fertility of women with no education and those with 10 or more years of schooling. Trends in antenatal care have
remained more or less constant in NFHS – 1 and 2 between rural and urban women but
have increased from 65 to 77% total. The five state study shows regional imbalances in post
natal care from only 23 per cent in Chhatisgarh to 54-59 per cent in Maharashtra, Punjab
and Gujrat.
More than 40% ever married women and about one third men in orissa and Gujrat are thin
for their height, undernutrition is much lower in Punjab (12-14%) obesity is the major
problem in Punjab 38% women are overweight. Overweight or obese women percfedntage
hjas incrfeased in the last 7 years from 16 to 20 per cent in Gujrat from 12 to 17 per cent in
Maharashtra and from 4 to 7 per cent in Orissa. The extent of overweight is greater in
women than men. Overall 14.8% women are obese. Except in Punjab in the other states
more than 50 per cent of the children of women without any education are underwseight.
The percentage of anaemia ranges from 38% in Punjab to 63% in Orissa. Anaemia
prevalence is alarming among pregnant women 57.9 which is more than last recorded
49.7%. 33% of women still have BMI below normal, which has declined from 36.2. IMR has
gone down but gender differences persist. This is true also of under 5 mortality. Life
expectancy of women however stands a level higher than that of men. From 1961 to 2001
both in total population as well as in the population of 0-6 there has been a decline in sex
ratio from 943 to 935 and 976 to 927 respectively. There is a fear that overall reduction of
state resources in the welfare sector and specially less than 1% investment in health is going
to exacerbate the existing gender bias in society.
Political Participation:
Women's political participation has been considered a major measure of women's
empowerment. Globally, through histories of the world we have records of very few regents,
sovereigns, and active agents in nobility who were women. Champions of liberalism like
John Stuart Mill had advocated women's participation in governance by the struggle for
women suffrage in the self avowed liberal west very well illustrates the entrenched nature of
Patriarchical resistance to women's empowerment. In the last century more women heads of
state could be counted in Asia as compared to Europe and the struggle for women suffrage
in India was physically less violent but this is not reflective of greater acceptance of women
in decision-making in public spaces.
To measure women's empowerment now GEM takes 3 indicators, women's participation in
economic, political and professional activities. Within political power what is measured is
mainly women in parliament, judiciary or in local bodies. Women's empowerment or
disempowerment has to be seen in all areas physical, socio cultural religious, political legal
and economic.
It is also now often pointed out that women's empowerment must be seen as a process
where in we must consider women's awareness consciousness, choices with live
alternatives, resources at their disposal, voice, agency and participation. These are all
related to enhancement of women's capabilities and decisions they take individually or
collectively for themselves.
Several programmes in India like Mahila Samakhya have accepted the process nature of
women's empowerment. The understandings of empowerment in PACS has also been
similar but planning of activity, time and budgets to ensure the empowering processes need
greater scrutiny. Women's education, livelihood and personal exercise of agency have to be
systematically promoted .
The 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution have impacted nearly 600 million Indianpeople in 500,000 villages. Interestingly the percentage of women at various levels of
political activity have risen from 4-5% to 25-40%. Both nationally as well as at the state and
local levels women in elected bodies have been very few and even those who have been
elected when observed from closer quarters present a complex picture. The money and
muscle associated with the electoral process inhibits a large number of women from joining
politics. Restriction on mobility, lack of control over resources and low literacy rates are well
known obstacles but recent panchayat elections have evidenced a phenomenally large
number of elected leaders much beyond reserved 33% seats. Areas where PACS, Mahila
Samakhya or other CSO initiatives are working women are more articulate and vigilant and
have used opportunity to improve ICPS centres, primary schools sanitation and have also
publicly dealt with issues of misbehavour with girls, violence and alcoholism as well as
sensitive issues of widowed women dressing in coloured clothes. Women are increasingly
demanding not only basis but also land literacy and fuller longer trainings instead of being
short changed through orientations.
It is obvious that a more active Gram Sabha which is sensitive to women's specific issues is
a much desired goal as a woman sarpanch or BDC member in a gender hostile panchayat
may not be able to accomplish and sustain much for the benefit of women or the village
community at large. More women in grass root organizations; better law and order will
ensure better engagement of women in decision-making.
More than one million women have now entered political life in India and 43% of the seats
are occupied by them district, province and national level. Women's participation is
understood in terms of voter turn out, number of women contestants apart from the number
of those who succeeded in winning.
In an interesting study sponsored by State Planning Commission in U.P. 2006 about 45%
women both rural and urban reported being influenced by men of the family (father/husband)
in decision-making in the exercise of their ballot. 9 per cent reported external influence while46 per cent exercise independent choice.
However, the battle to make the PRI's affective instruments of local rural governance is a
battle, a struggle of the grass roots, population (women and men) against administrative
apathy and listlessness, against ignorance and low awareness. For women these odds are
accompanied and intermeshed with deep rooted patriarchal practices that determine and
sanction norms of speech and behaviour both within and outside the home.
Thus while Pre election trainings of voluntary organisations and CSVOs serve to build
awareness about the duties, responsibilities of PR's and about voting practices, the
presence and working of women's voluntary organisations at the grass roots have served to
sharpen women's understanding about the operation of patriarchy in personal lives and workplaces and the methods and practices to overcome and combat them individually and
collectively.
Organisations such as Mahila Samakhya working to conscientise and organise women in
groups and sanghas are able to address the issue of women and their participation in a two
fold manner. On the one hand they organise intensive training programmes for women PRI
representatives to make them effective functionaries and on the other hand tghere own
programmes with their members within there collectives serve to build a culture of
questioning, critical thinking, collective decision-making and mobilisation on public issues.
A mobilised community of women is thus able to raise issues of significance to the local
community within the meetings, demand accountably from representatives and
administrative officials regarding financial and procedural matters and intervene with creative suggestions.
It is thus that the dominance of patriarchy money power, party politics muscle power are
steadily undercut and eroded and women's concerns are gradually pushed to the forefront of
local politics.
Drawing from intensive discussions at the level of sanghas and mahasanghas and the
experiences culled called from functionaries and from trainings, Mahila Samakhya has
drawn out learnings to strengthen women's participation in the Panchayats. A memorandum
incorporating these has been presented to the Panchayat Raj Department. It states —
It is imperative to inscribe the budget for the village on the Panchayat Bhawan.
Thefore should be rules and strategies to train and activate women members who have
been elected to the post of Pradhans or members.
There should be strict rules for ensuring the participation of 2/3 voters in the open
meeting.
the signatures of the people in the executive register of the open meeting should be
ensured.
It should be compulsory for the Pradhan/Secretary to sit in the panchayat Bhawan.
•
The development plan should be widely disseminated so that it can reach the general
public.
•
The dates and time of the panchayat meetings in the state of U.P. should be decided in
advance.
•
The venue of the meeting should be either the Panchayat Bhawan ofr a public place, to
enable all gram sabha members to present their problems.
Thus it is apparent that women see effective and efficient functioning of panchayats closely
linked to the issue of active women's participation. (Mahila Samakhya U.P. Annual Report
20045-05.
Entry into public space, utilisation of authority in practice, trainings by government and nongovernment
agencies are all part of a process of gradual growth of knowledge, self-esteem
and empowerment, which gives women the agency to function effectively in the political
process.
Even proxy and dummy candidates may experience this process of empowerment women
who stand and win from general seats are more likely to have a higher commitment towards,
and an understanding of the political process.
Having a high participation of women at the local self government level can create an
environment which is enabling for other women, receptive to the idea of gender based
initiatives and can serve to monitor and implement community and gender based
programmes of the government related to education, nutrition and health.
It offers a potential opportunity which can be utilised at an optimum level by appropriate
trainings both capacity binding and information enhancing – by government departments and
the NGO Sector.
Decision-Making:
In terms of decision-making NFHS II had reported in the rural areas women take 71%
decisions regarding "what items to cook" 26% decisions regarding obtaining health care fro
herself 10% in purchasing jewellery or other major household items. 12% decisions were
taken by women with reference to staying with their parents or siblings and 37% about how
to spend money, which they had earned. In the urban areas these figures were 71%, 35%,
13%, 18% and 57% respectively. Women between ages 15 to 19 nearly 24% are not
involved in any kind of decision-making only. 14% do not ask permission to go to the market.
In rural sector 10% are involved with any decision-making and 74% need permission for
going to the market. In urban sector however only 7% are not involved with any decisionmaking
and 53% need permission for going to the market. Survey reports that of the 52%
illiterate women 74% of urban resident and 55% of rural resident have access to money.
Small studies on elected Panchayat leaders show episodic increase of their decision-making
in personal, social and political spaces. Studies of the NFHS scale are necessary to retrieve
such data specially in PACs programme areas. This could be done with reference to internal
lending of SHG's as well as leveraging through other agencies in terms of both economic
status enhancement and their decision- making. Interestingly some studies reflect that
women's working outside home in paid job does not always translate into appreciably
greater autonomy within the household for most women. In a sample study at Sonepat and
Noida 66% need to consult somebody and take permission before changing jobs 27.6%
women in Noida and 35.3% in Sonepat said they are allowed to buy nothing at all.
Working outside home women do believe that they have more experience (91.6%), enlarged
social networks (48.3%) and stronger personality (32.2%) and an increased self esteem
985.3%) besides their decision-making power (62.2%). The researchers however observe
that objective state of affairs do not bear this out and women's decision-making is
concentrated to making small purchases. In buying and selling assets they have no say.
Methodologically here there is a dilemma about privileging of perspective – that of the
responmdent or that of the urban middle class educated researcher. This is particularly
pertinent as the sense of being empowered is also importantly about "feeling empowered".
Self Help Groups:
PACS programme has largely utilized SHG's as an empowsering instrument. More than 80%
of these are exclusively for women. The fifth national synthesis report (Draft) reports that
official perception has changed as SHG's are firmly raising voices and SHG's are being used
to achieve RTI awareness:
Women members are elected as PRI representatives.
SHG/PRIs are regularly organising Gram Sabha as a forum for public appraisal.
Anecdotal accounts suggest that women are economically empowered those suffering
domestic violence are given legal reference and awareness to prevent child marriage
promote girls education and prevent dowry marriage and alcoholism.
Self-help groups have emerges as an important strategy for empowering women and
alleviating poverty. SHG's are based on idea of dialogic small groups, which shall function at
developing collective consciousness. Linked with micro credit these groups are able to
access credit and subsidy to meet crisis needs as well as developmental needs reducing
their dependence on money lenders. There is fair amount of evidence to suggest that PACS
SHG's have successfully ensured people's entitlements including women.
Statistically PAC's initiatives in realizing entitlements show that – In Balika Samriddhi Yojana
189 females have been benefitted rfealizing 2572400 Rs. in Employment Guarantee
Scheme 55397 women have been provided, 1271 girls enrolled and 9524 women provided
Indira Awas Yojna. Kanya Vidya Dhan has been availed by 131 girls while Mahila Samridhi
Yojana has benefitted 7 women. Maternity benefits have reached 2943 women and NFE
educated 862 women. Old age pension went to 7774 women while no woman benefitted
from the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna. Sam Vikas Yojna benefitted 975 women compared to
467 men Bridge courses benefitted 740 girls. Widow pension was ensured to 2948 women
and 217 women get yellow cards.
The realization of entitlements has been primarily through RTI, NREGS and the women
further train communities. in Jharkhand a large number of women were trained in social
audit. In total number of beneficiaries of entitlement 13342 women in Bihar 156217 in
Jharkhand 19906 women in Maharashtra 18762 in M.P. and Chhattisgarh and 55114 in U.P.
were reached. Men have however benefitted more except in Bihar.
Violence:
The questions regarding crimes against women are most entrenched, as most of them are
committed within the family NCRB records that the highest percdentage of crime against
women is torture (37.7%) followed by Moleslation (22.4%), Rape (11.8%), Kidnapping
(8.8%) and immoral traffic (3.7%). 4.6 Dowry Death and 6.5% eve teasing were recorded.
the further details report that in victims of rape 532 were below 10 and 1090 below 14. 3189
within ages of 30-50. No age is safe for women. In U.P. nearly 32% crimes against women
were committed within the family by husbands and relatives. This figure when compounded
with 12% dowry deaths makes 45% of crimes domestically located. Incidents of honour
killings and battery through not large are often threats to women's functioning and their
emotional development is severely blighted. In caste ridden society women's caste
membership increase her vulnerability. Small efforts to train police by UN agencies and state
initiatives are encouraging but very small in scale. They require follow-ups and support
monitoring.
Women and Work
Women's work is statistically less visible non monetized and relegated to subsistence
production and domestic side this accounts for 60% of unpaid family work and 98% of
domestic work. The non paid work includes domestic chares like cooking, cleaning, child
care aand care for the elderly and the handicapped-traditonally understood as women's
work. Subsistence activities like pitches gardening post harvest processing, feeding farm
hands, live stock maintenance, gathering of fuel, forest produce, unpaid family labour in
family farm or enterprise are done by women who are reported to be non working
housewives Census estimates 51.93% men & 25% women workers while NSS estimates
52.7 male and 25.68 female workers. Most men are in stable employment. Micro studies
report many challenges – 20 out of 104 women reported in a survey as non working were
actually winnowwwing, thrashing or paraboling (WB). S. Mukhopadhyaya in her study
reports 4 times more work participation in her study. Female work participation rate in U.P. is reported as 11% with a Gender gap of 52% equal to. West Bengal but less than Punjab.
56% women are in community service 17% in Manufacturing & 8.6 rural women in
agriculture. Only 4% women as against 10% men are in the formal sector. If women's work
is rendered visible specially unpaid household work there will be many dramatic results.
Studies show that working women but 664 hours & others put 872 hours on child care,
womens' share of work in 55% women's unpaid work is 51% while men's is 33%. R.
Malathy's extrapolation estimates 23,773 core as the value of wowmen's household reserve
rendered by women in the urban sector alone. From 17% women's contribution will increase
to 33% of agricultural earning will include unpaid household work. Restriction on women's
mobility, complete child care responsibility ideology of female seclusion, vulnerability to
abuse, low access to information and mass media, low literacy, assumption that women's
supplementary and confinement to largely manual untrained tasks leads to women's poor
access to income.
Women and Reforms:
It is often argued that economic reforms have had a differential gender impact but there are
further complexities. The reforms have meant more openness in trade regime and
progressive decontrol of domestic production sector. There seems a steady withdrawal of
state presence from the production sector arguing that this would promote greater efficiency
and accountability. There has however been much protest that this will leave labour more
vulnerable as profit motive alone drives the market. Market argue that since women are
crowded towards the bottom end of labour market they will be more adversely impacted. The
55th round of National Sample Survey organization (1999-2000) generally reflects that over
the years specially in urban areas gender differences in the structure of industrial and
occupational distributions and distribution of labour status categories seems to have
lessened. There is higher demand of female labour in some sectors which can be linked to a
thrust towards export orientation and deregulation in the domestic production sector.
According to Swapna Mukhopadhyaya changes in structure of job opportunities have not
translated into overall reduction in the degree of market segmentation along gender lines.
There is marginal decrease in employment of men and marginal increase for women in
urban India. Educated women in the labour market who are unemployed are for more than
their male counterparts 62.7% unemployed women in rural areas as compared to 56.9%
men. It seems IT enabled sectors in recent years may have benefitted educated women.
There is not enough reliable data but persistently low wages of women to the tune of 50% to
80% compare to men suggest systematic wage discrimination. Wage earnings in casual
female workers in 1999-2000 were 64.70% of corresponding male earnings in rural India areven lower at 60.57% in urban India. 2005 HDR reports that women spend 457 minutes at
work as compared to 391 minutes per day for men.
Ownership of Land:
A recent legislation of the Central Government, the Hindu succession Amendment Act 2005
has also moved towards women's equality in property rights. It makes Hindu women's
inheritance rights in agricultural land legally equal to those of men. All daughters including
married daughters age Co-parceners in joint family properly daughters now have the right to
claim partition and to become 'Karta'. All daughters, married or unmarried can reside, seek
partition of the parental dwelling place.
This law of the centre well have the power to displace any conflicting laws of the state which
are unequal to women. this is a far reaching message to assure women control over
property.
According to a recent study made by Bina Agarwal in Kerala, women's risk of physical
violence from husbands is dramatically less of they own hand or a house. The incidence of
violence is 49 per cent among women without property, but 18 per cent among land owning
women and 7 per cent of they own both land and house.
Recent initiative of the state of U.P. (ordinance of 23 Feb. 2006) regarding the reduction of
stamp duty on the purchase of land from 7 per cent 6 per cent has worked in the direction of
more land being bought in the name of women in the family. This transfer of asset in favour
of women though initially used by male members of the family to save family money will
gradually contribute to build women's agency. 2,97715 transactions have been done in the
name of women in 68 districts of Uttar Pradesh between April 2006 and August 2006. The
women move out of their homes to sign the papers in Tehsils and in many cases it is their
first exposure to an office. This initiative developed with women's trainings on legal, land and
human rights literacy will go a long way.
However, this effectiveness is greatly linked with the willingness of the state administration to
devolve effective administrative and financial power to the local self-governing units, and the
responsiveness and sensitivity of the lower echelons of the administrative machinery to the
aspiration and needs of the local population. Alcohol has not favoured women and increase
in indirect taxes has also impacted them poorly. The thrust of budgets also seems to push
people to private providers.
Government schemes could be seen as Relief policies like widow pension schemes. Genderreinforcing assistance
women to demand and enjoy full human rights.
State Initiatives:
Development writers are so often used to repeating that focus of women development in
India has shifted from 'welfare' in the 50's to development in the 70's and now to
empowerment. This is hardly borne out in the programmes on the ground. There are largely
schemes for relief like old age and widowhood schemes and major schemes related to
Gender reinforcing assistance related to reproduction National Institute of Public Finance
and Policy undertook the first gender budget exercise and categorized expenditure in 3
categories.
National Institute of Public Finance & Policy Gender Analysis of the Budget
NIPFP undertook the first gender budget exercise and categorized expenditure in 3
categories.
1. Specifically targetted expenditure on women.
2. Pro women allocation – composite expenditure in the women component (at least 30%).
3. Mainstream expenditure with gender differential impact.
It was understood that public expenditure can be clustered in terms of 4 categories:
a) Protective and welfare services accounting for 67%
b) Social service-education, water housing health 26%
c) Economic resources-self employment training fuel supply management 4%
d) Regulatory services – awareness generation NCW 3%
Allocation for women directed scheme is pitiful. Only ten ministries/Departments have
specially targetted schemes for women in India. The share of women specific programmes in
departments like education, agriculture, tribal affairs and social justice is also only around
one percent. No proper administrative mechanism for execution and monitoring of
expenditure. Heads still under ruberic of benefits for mother and child. Shelter homes and
counselling centres are still low on priority. NIPF observed that reduction in cost of foreign
liquour has not positively impacted them.
It is, however, necessary that even though schemes are relief oriented the process of
accessing them has often been an individual and collected struggle which has sometimes
led to empowerment and at others disheartening. PACS strategy of collective pressure to
access public resources for women has largely been empowering though anecdotal.
There are several critical issues to ensure a just an equitable state with reference to gender.
Some issues are not addressable due to procedural limitations of data collection which
makes specific recommendations difficult. There is need to develop a workable gender audit
system for govt. & CSO programmes which would look at targets, training recruitments
promotion, infrastructure and decision making opportunities. The verbal change from women
welfare to women rights needs to be converted into reality. This has some direct fall outs.
Pitiful allotment for Vriddha and Vidva Pension and minimum wages will have to be
reconsidered in terms of living wages, recent work and human right to opportunities for
highest form of physical and mental health.
Greatest inequity exits in family but poverty alleviation schemes address only the family. Just
as one poverty calculation takes per capita consumption it should also address per capita
income enhancement not family.
Gender budgets need participation of other departments besides the existing ones. Gender
auditing of all organizations is necessary.
As is evidenced in many studies level of awareness of government schemes is very low so
more effective publicity is necessary. A more effective MIS system for monitoring women
welfare, women empowerment programmes is to be developed which is simple, transparent
and involves both government and non government functionaries. Gender resource centres
with autonomy need to be established in all states and in case of larger states there must be
more than one such centre involving academic & activities.
Practically no schemes exist to encourage women in non stero typical occupations. Training
of women in leadership market research and entrepreneurship with follow ups must be
institutionalized. At the national as well as state levels we need a full fledged mechanism to
ensure gender sensitive policy, implementation through a participatory apex body. Clearer
definition of work, Joint Pattas for women & men will ensure better control of women over
resources as well as their acknowledgement in National income. Country's inclusive agenda
requires a consistent engendering at all levels.
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