Recommendations of High Level Committee(HLC) on Status of Women discussed at a one day workshop
Report of HLC must generate a working road map to empower women: Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
A one day workshop was held to discuss recommendations of the High Level Committee(HLC) on Status of Women, 2015 in New Delhi today. The workshop was attended by representatives of 22 Ministries of Government of India, 10 State Governments and 22 Civil Society Organizations as well as Media. The meeting was called to work out actionable points to empower women on the basis of the report of High Level Committee. Report of HLC must generate a working road map to empower women: Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Speaking at the workshop, the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the HLC on Status of Women has submitted the voluminous report in four parts. It is important to take the essence of the report and convert it into a working module, the Minister explained. She requested the participants to define short term, medium term and long term goals to generate a working roadmap from the discussions. It is important to identify the practical ideas which can be implemented for women at the ground level, for example , ideas in women defense, skill development etc. which will help to make a difference to everyday life of women, she said.
The Chairperson of High Level Committee, Prof. Pam Rajput gave a presentation on the recommendations of the Committee. She highlighted the areas requiring action including legal aspects, new national policy on empowerment of women, financial inclusion, skill development, action under Swachh Bharat Mission, governance, media, inter ministerial coordination, good practices and institutional changes among others.
The Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Shri V. Somasundaran said that to empower women, action is required on three fronts, ie, deployment of more funds for women and children welfare, developing matrix of measurable indices on women's health, education, welfare etc. and a revised policy on women.
The workshop discussed the recommendations under four groups including Women and Economy; Women and Social Empowerment; Women, Media and Information Technology; Women and Law and lastly, Institutional Mechanism and Governance. The five groups gave their actionable points at the end of the workshop. The participants gave several important suggestions like maternity benefits for working adoptive and surrogate mothers, rape and crises centres at each block, covering anganwadi and asha workers under labour legislation, prohibit use of misogynist language against women especially in all public bodies, 100% toilets for girls in schools, menstrual hygiene management programme, separate media policy for women, 50% reservation for women in all political parties among others.
