The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Consider women's hardship before framing policies'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Consider women's hardship before framing policies'

By Our Staff Reporter

DINDIGUL, SEPT. 14. Members of the All-India Democratic Women's Association insist that the Central and State Governments consider the hardship faced by women before taking policy decisions. Most of the Centre's policies had an adverse impact on women. This was highlighted at a State-level conference held here yesterday.

The State Government should immediately withdraw ban on recruitment.

R. Vasanthi Devi, Tamil Nadu Women Commission chairperson, pointed out that globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation had wiped out a majority of jobs done by women. ``The present growth in our country is jobless growth.'' The worst affected were families headed by women.

A recent survey by the commission found that Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai and Dharmapuri had the highest number of families headed by women. Tamil Nadu stood fourth in the country with the highest number of women-led families. Abject poverty was one of the major reasons for foeticide.

Mechanisation

While mechanisation of construction activities wiped out jobs meant for women, failure of agriculture also affected them. Besides failure of monsoon, man-made factors destroyed almost all water resources.

The governments led by various parties did not take efforts to rehabilitate and maintain water resources in Tamil Nadu. The Government's investment in agriculture was reduced drastically.

Ms. Vasanthi Devi said 63 out of 67 women inmates in the Nilakottai prison had taken to illicit distillation, as there was no other alternative for their survival. She met them during a public hearing recently.

The Dindigul MLA, K. Balabarathi, spoke.

The conference condemned ``police'' atrocities on women. It wanted the Government to generate more jobs for women and provide them protection at workplaces.

The Government should purchase one per cent of its total requirements from self-help groups to boost rural economy.

Extension of the food-for-work scheme to all areas, a ban on use of machines for the scheme, equal wages to women workers, promulgation of comprehensive legislation that would assure survival of farm workers, fixation of minimum wages for workers in the unorganised sector, creation of child care centres near workplaces and ESI cover to women in the unorganised sector were the other demands.

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