Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

“Come forward to form legal self-help groups”

— Photo: G. Moorthy.

SOLIDARITY: Women taking out a rally as part of the Women’s Day celebrations in Madurai on Saturday.

MADURAI: Women should form legal self-help groups to learn their rights and laws so that they would not allow others to trample on their rights, said Mohini Giri, former Chairperson of National Commission for Women.

She was addressing a gathering of women at the Women’s Day celebration here on Saturday.

Women should know their rights to face the challenges in a patriarchal society, she said and urged the gathering to form 10,000 legal SHGs in a year.

Stating that she did not belong to any political party, Ms. Mohini Giri said that parties were cheating women in the issue of 33 per cent reservation in legislature.

“For the past 10 years, the bill has been hanging fire,” she said and added that women should break all barriers to achieve success.

Thanking the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, for his initiative to form a welfare board for transgenders and according a powerful status to the State Commission for Women, Ms. Mohini Giri said the welfare board should be well structured and should not be a namesake entity.

The Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare, A. Tamilarasi, said that education alone could make women more empowered and enable them to make a mark on all fields on a par with men or even better. “Mothers should treat both girl and boy children equally so that the discrimination between male and female would not exist.”

Earlier, a rally was taken out by women from Anna Bus Stand to Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association Hall.

Manohari Doss, Project Director, Women Development Resource Centre, flagged off the rally.

In a model parliament organised to mark the celebration, participants discussed special allocation of funds for women development, 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament, one per cent reservation for transgender in education and employment and strict implementation of laws for women.

Women Development Resource Centre, in collaboration with Dalit Women Development Federation, Dalit Panchayat Representatives’ Federation and Dalit Adivasi Women Federation, organised the ‘Dalit-Adivasi suppressed unorganised women workers’ rights, justice and equality rally, conference and women model parliament’ to mark the Women’s Day.

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