Venkaiah Naidu stresses importance of women in politics, decision-making

Former Vice President on M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday stressed the importance of women in politics and decision-making. He said that women should have equal representation and access to political positions in local governments, parliaments, and assemblies. He also underlined the value of equal inheritance shares for financial empowerment.

Naidu was speaking at the three-day workshop organised by the National Commission for Women from February 4-6 on gender responsive governance for elected women representatives (MLAs) from seven southern and north-eastern states under 'She Is a Changemaker' project, a pan-India capacity building programme of the Commission for improving leadership skills of women representatives at all levels.

M. Venkaiah Naidu, former Vice President graced the valedictory ceremony as Chief Guest. Chairperson, National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma, Muddada Ravi Chandra, IAS, Principal Secretary to Government, Women, Children, Differently abled and Senior Citizens Welfare Department and Disha Pannu, Deputy Director Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) also graced the occasion, informed the government through a release.

Naidu asserted that it is crucial because, in order to fully empower women, we must also offer them access to financial resources. He emphasised that it is important to not undervalue the value of diversity and gender balance in leadership.

"This pan-India capacity building programme of the National Commission for Women serves to help women leaders achieve their milestones and scale higher success. More and more women leaders can provide a different set of skills and imaginative perspective. Women leaders bring cultural and structural difference to the table which drives effective solutions," he said.

While delivering her welcome address, Chairperson, NCW, Rekha Sharma welcomed the Chief Guest and noted that his willingness to speak at the occasion demonstrated his dedication to empowering women. She said that he has consistently been a fierce supporter of more women being elected to the Parliament.

"You mentioned that without women's empowerment, nobody can grow. In your address to the Rajya Sabha, you stated that women should be consulted in formulation of policies. Inspired by your thoughts, NCW is carrying out this Capacity Building programme for empowering women MLAs. Women MLAs from southern and eastern states have joined for today's workshop. Additionally, we are training women from gram panchayats and municipalities who serve as grassroots representatives," she said.

The three-day workshop was organised in Vishakhapatnam in collaboration with National Gender and Child centre, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). During the workshop, the women MLAs will be trained on gender-responsive governance in different sessions such as 'Effective Leadership', 'Inclusive Governance', 'Gender Sensitive and Inclusive Communication', 'Strengthening Legislative Traditions' and 'Digital Literacy & Social Media Training', 'Practical Challenges faced by Women in Politics', etc. The workshop was being attended by 33 participants from the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam.

The primary objective of the workshop is to sensitize and assist the Elected Women Representatives to build on their identified strengths and increase the levels of self- awareness in a manner that would help them in managing different and challenging paths ahead, in line with the overall 'She is a Change maker' programme. Under 'She Is A Changemaker' project, the Commission has organised capacity building programme for women representatives in association with region-wise training institutes with an aim to improve their decision making, communication skills, effective management, etc.