There is a need to change the mindset as women should put collaborative effort to get into mainstream of society and bring transformation for inclusive and sustainable growth of India, said Renuka Choudhury, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Women and Child Development at a conference on Women as Catalyst for Indias Transformationhere on Wednesday.
New Delhi, Dec.19 : There is a need to change the mindset as women should put collaborative effort to get into mainstream of society and bring transformation for inclusive and sustainable growth of India, said Renuka Choudhury, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Women and Child Development at a conference on 'Women as Catalyst for India's Transformation'here on Wednesday.
Women should continue to compete for gender equality through combined and integrated effort to bring the transformation of Indian society and contribute to the development process, she said.
Talking on the changing state of women in rural India, the Minister said India needs to set up a conducive structure that can recognise women's contribution to a collective society. She said that microfinance has been a silent revolution to empower women and Industry should guide women at different level to encourage active participation at the workplace.
Acknowledging the effort of CII, Choudhury urged CII to set up workshops through its members, to support and organise training programs for the capacity building of Indian women at different levels. Domestic violence is an issue that should be addressed through corporate training programs, she mentioned. She said that Industry should be bold and sincere enough to provide training on non-traditional skills.
The Minister expressed the willingness of government to be a partner of CII for projects like Indira Awas Yojana, Ujwala and other government initiatives for women at the district level. She suggested that companies should provide hostels for women at the vicinity of their office or manufacturing units to which government will also extend its financial support.
Citing micro-finance as a silent revolution, Choudhury said that women in rural India are much more empowered and independent to take decisions and women at the grass-root level have stood up against alcoholism and domestic violence.
This has become possible because of greater economic liberation of women through entrepreneurship, supported by government funding, she said. The urban women should take responsibility of collectively bringing the change as they are educated and have access to the instruments of change, said the minister.
Sati, dowry, equal inheritance, equal job opportunities, child marriage and widow remarriage are some of the main challenges for development of women in the Indian society, said Ms. Choudhury. Female foeticide is a serious national crisis which the government is battling, she mentioned.
To bring equality at every level, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has introduced 'Gender budgeting' for all ministries to allocate 30 percent of budget towards development of basic amenities to support women, she said. Though the issue of women reservation has been prolonged at the centre, Ms. Choudhury said that there are regions where women reservation has been actively considered up to 42 percent at the Panchayati Raj level.
Releasing the book, Enabling Environment: A manual for effective and engendered work places', the minister said Indian women have never been to the height where they are now and have to ensure that women should 'make probability a possibility'.
'Enabling Environment: A manual for effective and engendered work places' has been jointly drafted by Saarthak, UNIFEM and CII to address the gender gap at three levels. First, helping managers recognise that the vulnerabilities faced by women whether they are rich or poor are similar. econd, by helping recognise that to address the gender gap in an organisation, one would need to know and challenge the way one thinks. hird, the manual describes for the manager that being a gender sensitive organisation does not mean doing some special things for women.
Chandni Joshi, Regional Program Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women said that partnership between different organisations can be extraordinarily successful in addressing the gender issues. Achieving gender equality requires systematic change through partnership, she said.
On the manual, Joshi said that eliminating violence and discrimination at the workplace is the key objective of the manual. This manual focuses on creating an opportunity and a mechanism to attain gender equality and equity, she said. The manual will be useful to corporate to enable an environment of providing equal opportunity to women at the workplace, she added.
Manju Bharat Ram, Chairperson, Shriram School, said that the transformation of women is happening in India and though the task ahead is imperative, it is definitely achievable.
Women have been pivots at their house and have extended the household success to the workplace. India is poised for growth but there is a long way to go as far 'Bharat' is considered, she said. Indian women have to be empowered if the real rural 'Bharat' has to be developed, said Bharat Ram. The women of India can bring transformation through collaboration, she added.
On the major shifts that have enabled women to be a catalyst for change, Ms. Jagi Panda, Chairperson, CII National Committee on Women Empowerment and Director, Ortel Communications Ltd., said that technology and globalisation have made it easy for women to create a balance and contribute to the growth of India.
Mentioning that SEWA has been the first organisation to define individual activities of women as job, she said that more organisations are now following the footsteps. Companies have begun to understand the importance of gender equality and women are getting their due importance at the workplace, said Panda.
Recognising the importance of gender equality, CII has set up a National Committee on Women Empowerment in the late 90's, informed Panda.
CII through the CII Woman Exemplar Award, promotes women empowerment at the grassroots level by recognising those women, who have against all odds, contributed in the fields of Primary Education and Literacy; Health; and, Micro-Finance.
In 2005, CII National Committee on Women Empowerment commissioned a study on gender equality at the workplace, "Understanding the levels of women empowerment in the workplace", she added.
ANI