CHENNAI: Envisaging sharing power in society, economy and politics with women by improving their status and bringing out their hidden and hitherto undiscovered talents, besides creating a safe, healthy and ideal environment for women to live with self-respect, the State government unveiled the Tamil Nadu Policy for Women – 2024, on Wednesday.
Unveiling the policy, Chief Minister MK Stalin quoted Periyar’s remark that if they are given good education and taught a profession, women can live on their own and would not be enslaved by any, and said, “Our Dravidian model government is walking on that path to ensure the social and economic emancipation of women.”
The policy will remain in force for 10 years or until the next new policy is formulated, said an official release, adding that a provision has been made to review it after five years.
“To eliminate gender discrimination, create a safe environment and improve the status of women, the State government has planned various welfare programmes and has been systematically implementing them to make Tamil Nadu a premier state,” the release said.
Some of the key features of the policy include establishing a gender-sensitive education system and reducing dropout rate of girl children, improving the health and nutritional status of adolescent girls and women, increasing women’s participation in employment, ensuring safe and conducive workplaces for women workers in all organised and unorganised sectors, supporting women-run small businesses and new business ventures, bridging the digital gender gap by promoting digital literacy for women to gain access to higher paying jobs, reducing the skills gap among women by providing training and skill development in the industry sector, improving access to corporate credit facilities and facilitating greater availability of bank loans to women in need, and encouraging women to participate in the political arena.
The Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment will monitor the implementation of the policy by setting up an ‘implementation and monitoring unit’ at its Directorate. A high-level committee, chaired by the chief secretary and would have other departments concerned, would meet once in six months to review the implementation of the policy and recommend interim amendments, while a district-level monitoring committee headed by the Collectors would monitor the implementation every two months and address challenges if any.
Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Minister P Geetha Jeevan, Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena, Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Secretary Jayashree Muralidharan, and Social Welfare Commissioner V Amudavalli were present on the occasion.