The government is launching a lot of new initiatives to provide social support to working women, Minister for Social Justice M.K. Muneer has said.
At a panel discussion organised by The Hindu , ‘From Victim to Victor: How soon, how far?”, on the occasion of International Women’s Day here on Friday, he said that through the scheme ‘Nirbhaya,’ the government was in the process of strengthening ‘jagratha samithis’ at the ward-level to create gender-sensitivity and to tackle gender violence at the local level.
The government was setting up speed-track courts in all districts to give speedy justice to women who are victims of violence. A lot many initiatives had been launched but it would take at least a year before these initiatives yielded results, Dr. Muneer said.
It was not the government’s intention to make the ‘victim status’ of women permanent by opening shelter homes. “‘Nirbhaya’ is much more than that. The government’s ultimate aim is to create a society where women will not require shelter homes. But to tackle the issue of violence now, shelter homes are needed,” he said.
