“The She Taxi and other projects for the empowerment of women are not supposed to go on for ever. They are just temporary stepping stones to bring women to the main stream. True empowerment is when the She Taxi drivers start driving other vehicles and women hire any taxi at any time,” Minister for Social Justice and Panchayats M.K. Muneer said here on Sunday.
Inaugurating the valedictory function of ‘Aparajitha,’ a three-day women empowerment workshop organised by the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board here, he said that financial independence was very important for women empowerment and that a financially independent woman wielded a certain amount of power in her family.
“Women themselves should enable their empowerment. As of now, women control only 1 per cent of the world’s wealth. With the advent of Kudumbasree, the women in Kerala are able to control around 50 per cent of the wealth in the State,” he said.
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He said that there was a need for strong laws against acid attacks in India, as in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“The propagation that women are weak will not help women empowerment. Women should come up declaring that they do not need a man’s protection and that they will deal with all atrocities themselves.
Dragging sexual assault cases into public forums will only humiliate women again and again,” the Minister said, and added that all panchayats in the State have been directed to conduct martial arts training for women in order to help them defend themselves.
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Earlier in the presidential address, Expert Member of the Board C.K. Subair said that reservation was only a temporary arrangement.
Member Secretary of the Board A. Shiyali and Camp Director N.P. Hafiz Mohammed were present. Around 50 women from across the State took part in the camp.