COVER HINDI - Ministry of Women and Child Development

Important National macro-economic
policies to be engendered
6.35 Policies of the Government form the genesis for
programs and schemes providing the direction and
describing the components of inputs that go into them.
They determine the quantum of flow of the funds to
different schemes, its components and also spatial spread
of the programme. It is very essential that all policies be
thoroughly examined from a gender perspective. A few
examples of engendering policies are given below:
6.36 The fiscal and monetary policies will need to be
analyzed from a gender perspective as both have tremendous
potential to have malefic or benign influence on the lives of
women. Indirect taxation impinges heavily on women as
the tax incidence, by and large, affects important items of
sustenance which are generally highly price inelastic; subsidy
needs a re-look to ensure that their withdrawal do not
adversely impinge on women. The gender affirmative role
of direct taxation could be further enhanced through various
incentives like reduction in stamp duties and lowering of
income tax slabs for women etc.
6.37 Monetary policy has to ensure easy access of women
to financial instruments and attractive saving options. In
this context the spread of private micro credit lending
instruments needs to be carefully regulated to ensure that
women and SHGs are not exploited through high interest
rates.
6.38 Agricultural policies are of prime importance in
gender budgeting exercises as there is a growing
feminization of agriculture in recent years with migration
of men moving to urban areas in search of work. Enhancing
women’s’ rights to land, providing infrastructure support
to women farmers and advancing legal support on existing
laws are some of the policy interventions needed.
6.39 Policies for the Non farm sector and information
are important. As women tend to undertake non-farm
activities, requirements of women in this sector needs to
be identified and appropriate support facilities in terms of
access to raw materials, micro credit, skill development,
training, market linkages etc. have to be ensured.
6.40 Poverty alleviation programs should essentially
focus on women as they are economically more
disadvantaged than men and chronically poor. These
alleviation programs should be geared and designed to meet
women’s needs with strengthening of SHGs, easy access
to cheap credit, equal wages for equal work and a judicious
mix of cash and non cash in the wages etc. With the advent
of mega poverty alleviation schemes like the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, more and more
women are coming forward to work. It is important that
the work place should be made safe from harassment and
woman friendly with adequate provision of sanitation,
drinking water and crèche facilities.
6.41 The existing public distribution system has failed
to deliver the required food grains to the vulnerable groups
on time in the requisite quality and quantity. The persisting
problems of underweight, malnutrition, anemia are
primary causes for early mortality, morbidity, high rates
of MMR etc. There is urgent need to review and streamline
the policy and strategy of PDS to ensure easy and timely
distribution of food grains to women.
6.42 Public policy with respect to migration is another
area for consideration. There are large numbers of social
and economic consequences, which these women face such
as exploitation in work place, wages differentials, low paid
work, violence and abuse .
6.43 There is an urgent need for low cost and gender
friendly insurance systems that cater to the specific life
cycle needs of women.. More importantly, it is absolutely
necessary to put in place a well designed Health Insurance
scheme as also pension policy for older women and
widows.
6.44 Environmental concerns through providing
alternative sources of fuel for women especially in rural
areas should be encouraged . Disaster management policy
should become gender sensitive as experiences have shown
that women are most affected by disasters whether
manmade or natural.
6.45 Media policy needs to be gender proactive. There is
a need to encourage media to project positive images and
balanced portrayal of women and girls to enable attitudinal
changes. The media policy should also help in generating
awareness on gender issues and concerns so that the
process of societal reorientation towards creating a gender
just society gets widely disseminated.
6.46 Research and Development should also be geared
with a view to identify technological needs of women and
develop and adapt technology especially to reduce the
112 Annual Report 2006-07