Empowerment of women holds the key in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure gender equality, said Shura Darapuri, Head of Department, History, Babasahed Bhimrao Ambedkar University.
Giving the keynote address at a national conference on ‘Women in the changing world of work: Planet 50-50 by promoting UN SDGs, the global agenda 2030’, held to mark the International Women’s Day at the A.C. College here on Wednesday, Dr. Darapuri said gender equality could be achieved through new laws, strengthening the existing ones, creating programmes to eradicate violence against women and encouraging women participation in decision-making.
The conference held by the Dhanya Educational and Environmental Society, Guntur, and the Yes We Can Organisation (Youth Welfare Society), Visakhapatnam, in collaboration with the UN Information Centre for India, Bhutan, saw more than 100 students, scholars and teachers presenting their papers.
The theme is included in the UN Sustainable Development Goal No 5 to ensure gender equality and to ensure it by 2030.
Equal rights
Dr. Darapuri also highlighted the issues like discrimination, equal rights at work place and right to property.
Stephen Anurag Prathipati, conference director and founder of Yes We Can Organisation, said the world of work was changing with significant implications for women. While globalisation, technological and digital revolution had brought them opportunities, lack of job security, unstable livelihood, and incomes had come in the way of their economic development.
“Measures to ensure women’s empowerment should include bridging gender pay gap, recognising women’s unpaid care and domestic work and addressing gender gap in leadership,” Mr. Stephen said.
Vijaya Vardhan Manchala, founder president of DEEDS, said the conference had deliberated on changing world of work and significant implications for women and opportunities reaped out of globalisation, technological and digital revolutions.
