Union Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath signed the Fifth India Brazil South Africa (IBSA) Women’s Forum Resolution on Thursday. The joint resolution between the three countries will look at recognising the key role of governments with the support of civil society in ensuring and accelerating efforts towards achieving gender equality and empowerment of women.
Speaking at the signing event, the Minister said: “The resolution signed at the end of the three-day meet shows our commitment to work for women’s empowerment and for fighting gender-based discrimination and violence against women in all forms.’’
Stating that ending violence against women must be the goal for a more equitable society, the Minister said: “The ‘Stop Rape Campaign’ of South Africa is particularly appreciable for its intrinsic value in gender sensitising school children. Also, the social programmes, such as Bolsa Familia of Brazil, have popularised the model for effective delivery of financial benefits to poor families.’’
“The Indian Government too has recently passed the legislation to prevent women from sexual harassment at workplace, which indicates the seriousness of these issues where women feel insecure at their workplaces. This legislation will go a long way to ensuring the full participation of women in the economy and nation building exercises which are so important,’’ she added. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister from South Arica Lulu Xingwana stated that the platform of the IBSA is for enhanced efforts for continuously engendering the policies and programmes of the three countries and for mainstreaming the marginalised sections.
