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New
Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) Women's empowerment in India
found a new platform in WomenPowerConnect (WPC) - a
national organisation launched here Tuesday to raise
women's issues at the highest decision-making levels
in the country.
With its agenda
to monitor and influence policy in parliament and legislative
assemblies, WPC was conceived with the sole aim of sensitising
politicians and policymakers about women's rights and
expediting action on long pending bills and women-related
legislations.
The two-day founding
convention, which began Friday, saw close to 300 activists
from across the country and several eminent personalities
expressing solidarity with the cause of women's rights.
Congratulating the
people behind the organisation, Delhi Chief Minister
Sheila Dikshit reminded the audience that women play
the role of stabilising a society plagued by violence-breeding
ideas and notions.
Dikshit said: "A
woman's understanding of the human mind is far better
than that of a man. This helps her judge and handle
situations better. Women thus play a stabilising role
in society."
Demanding a voice
for women in all arenas of decision-making, she said:
"The woman's traditional strength in handling the
household comes handy in society, which is nothing but
a large joint family."
Dikshit congratulated
WPC for forming another front in the battle for equal
rights. She questioned the injustice done to women,
as they own less than one percent of the world's assets.
WPC has framed a
strategic action plan that envisages forward movement
on the proposed women's reservation bill providing 33
percent reservation in parliament and state legislatures,
adequate budgetary allocation and immediate steps to
curtail domestic violence against women.
The organisation's
agenda assumes importance in the backdrop of increasing
crimes against women in India. The National Human Rights
Commission recorded 74,000 complaints of trafficking
in women till 2004.
"Almost every
six hours, somewhere a young married woman is being
burnt alive or beaten to death or pushed to suicide,"
according to the National Commission for Women (NCW).
Despite being citizens
of the world's largest democracy, Indian women form
just 8.8 percent of the parliament, compared to 48.8
percent in Rwanda.
Empowerment of women
was stated as a specific objective of the ninth five-year
plan (1997-2002). In fact, 2001 was declared Year of
Women's Empowerment. Yet, according to WPC, no noticeable
impact on women's life has been visible.
Hoping the country's
decision makers would expedite reservations for women
in parliament, WPC president Ranjana Kumari said: "There
is a strong need to mount an organised campaign to raise
women's issues in parliament and legislatures."
Several eminent
women achievers from various walks of life, including
NCW chairperson Girija Vyas and India's first woman
police officer Kiran Bedi, attended the inaugural function.
Speaking about the
importance of changing mindsets and not just depending
on laws, Bedi said: "We have a bulging youth population.
What we need to do is nurture in them values and ideas
that view women with due dignity.
"At least future
generations should not carry the burden of the past's
regressive social systems and institutions."
She said the image
of the Indian woman abroad was no more that of a victim
but that of a leader.
"Yet
we fall short of our own aspirations. We need to create
and implement effective tools to empower women,"
said the Magsaysay Award winning Bedi, who has just
completed a two-year term as a UN civilian police adviser.
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