Gender equality still a distant dream

TIRUPATI: Though the Constitutional rights and legislative measures have helped women make remarkable contributions in many fields, a large number of women are yet to emerge from their limiting circumstances to achieve their full potential, said President Pratibha Patil addressing a seminar on ‘Women’s Empowerment’, here on Wednesday. The seminar was organised by Rashtriya Seva Samithi, a Tirupati-based NGO, to mark its 30 years.Unless the government, civil society, local communities and women themselves work in coordination, complete empowerment of women is not possible. Much work needs to be done before we meet the expectation of Acharya Vinoba Bhave who wanted women’s status to be on par with men, the President said. Gender equality is not an agenda of women versus men, but a state where both the genders work on an equal platform. “It is shameful that even now social evils like female infanticide, child marriage, dowry and crime against women still exist,” she said and called for a mass movement to increase the female literacy rate.The President recalled her long association with Nirmala Deshpande, a Gandhian, closely associated with RASS and lauded her commitment to social cause.Earlier, governor ESL Narasimhan in his speech in Telugu, opined that NGOs have a pivotal role in providing opportunity for women.Chief minister N Kirankumar Reddy said Andhra Pradesh tops in the self employment of women through SHGs. The state has planned to provide `9000 crore loans for members of women groups this year he said adding that the ‘Pavala Vaddi Scheme’ proved as a catalyst for improving  loan recovery to 98 percent, the highest in the country.