In any conflict, it is the woman who struggles to realise her rights to equality and dignity. Women in India face myriad cultural challenges that impede their social advancement, said Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday.
Participating in the inaugural function of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre, Jayalalithaa said that women throughout the world faced systematic gender-based discrimination and were denied the right to life and security of person, recourse to legal rights, health care, education, employment, inheritance and freedom of movement.
“This is an area quite close to my heart. I have, during my previous tenures as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, introduced a number of novel schemes for women and female children which have won accolades in our country and abroad. The flagship schemes of my government are - the Girl Child Protection Scheme; the 4-gram gold coin for the Thirumangalyam and `50,000 rupees grant for the marriage of impoverished women; Widow Remarriage Assistance Scheme; Orphan Girls’ Marriage Assistance Scheme; Inter-caste Marriage Assistance Scheme; financial assistance to young destitute girls for pursuing higher education; cradle baby scheme for girl children to prevent infanticide - this list is not exhaustive,” she said.
All the initiatives mooted by her government had been formulated keeping in mind the disadvantaged and weaker sections of society, Jayalalithaa said.
“I have strongly condemned all kinds of crimes perpetrated against women and sought to improve their livelihood opportunities, so that they are empowered financially and socially, in order to stand up against any injustice meted out to them,” she said.
Another critical aspect of this work was to strengthen the leadership opportunities of marginalised women, by equipping them with a voice to articulate the problems that affected their lives, craft solutions that would help solve the problems and contribute to practical, legal and policy changes that would advance women’s rights. This was also aimed at achieving a broader and more meaningful social justice, she said.
As a prologue to the above mandate, the women self-help groups, formed with the assistance of her government, had emerged as an indomitable force and it had transformed the status of women and liberated them from discriminatory codes and cultural stigma.
This was only the beginning. The best was yet to come, she said.