India: Need To Empower Women For An Equitable Society - Dikshit

NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI): Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has underlined the need to empower women by imparting skills to them for building an “equitable society” where everyone’s voice is heard.

She highlighted the importance of women getting equal access to opportunities and better representation in governance across the globe.

“A woman wants equality, she wants to be able to access whatever her brother, or father has been able to access. But to give her a sense of equality and capability, they need to have an access to education and health,” Dikshit said addressing an international conference on ‘Gender Equity and Exclusion in South Asia: Emerging Challenges at the Jamia Millia Islamia University here.

Admitting that Delhi has an “awful system of imbalanced gender,” Dikshit said the state government launched ‘Ladli Scheme’ and established Gender Resource Centres, where various vocational works are imparted to women to give them a sense of confidence and belief that they too can stand on their own feet and that they do not need to depend on others.

“These were small initiatives and the government needs to take bigger ones…but the love, affection and understanding that a woman can give should not be lost in the process,” she said.

She also sought to know how policies can be made when “45 per cent of the world’s population doesn’t have any say in matters of governance.” Dikshit said there was an urgent need to give women a sense of “great security” and the “freedom from fear of violence” whether it was at home or outside. -NNN-PTI