National Policy for Empowerment of Women: 2016

Ministry of Women and Child Development presents the policy for most powerful yet neglected section of our society. “National Policy for Empowerment of Women”.

Vision

• To bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of women.
• To encourage active participation of all stakeholders for achieving its goals.
• Specifically, the objectives of this Policy include
• Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for full development of women to enable them to realize their full potential.
• The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by women on equal basis with men in all spheres – political, economic, social, cultural and civil.
• Equal access to participation and decision making of women in social, political and economic life of the nation.
• Equal access to women to health care, quality education at all levels, career and vocational guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety, social security and public office etc.
• Strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
• Changing societal attitudes and community practices by active participation and involvement of both men and women.
• Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process.
• Elimination of discrimination and all forms of violence against women and the girl child.
• Building and strengthening partnerships with civil society, particularly women’s organizations.

Policy Highlights

• 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.
• Decision Making- 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.
• Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in the Development Process– Policies, programmes and systems will be established to ensure mainstreaming of women’s perspectives in all developmental processes, as catalysts, participants and recipients.
• Economic Empowerment of women.
• Poverty Eradication
• Micro Credit– 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.
• Women and Economy– Women’s perspectives will be included in designing and implementing macroeconomic and social policies by institutionalizing their participation in such processes.
• 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.
• Women and Agriculture
• Women and Industry
• Support Services– 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.
• Social Empowerment of Women
• Education-  Equal access to education for women and girls will be ensured.
• Health- 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.
• Nutrition– 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.
• Drinking Water and Sanitation-  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.
• Housing and Shelter– Women’s perspectives will be included in housing policies, planning of housing colonies and provision of shelter both in rural and urban areas.
• Environment–  Women will be involved and their perspectives reflected in the policies and programmes for environment, conservation and restoration.
• Science and Technology – Programmes will be strengthened to bring about a greater involvement of women in science and technology.
• Women in Difficult Circumstances
• Mass Media– Media will be used to portray images consistent with human dignity of girls and women.
• Rights of the Girl Child– 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.
• Gender Sensitization

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