Tamil Nadu Cabinet, at its meeting on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, approved the State’s New Policy for Women, the draft of which was released in December 2021.
Addressing media after the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Social Welfare and Women Empowerment P. Geetha Jeevan said the policy will be released soon by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. She said the policy aimed at holistic development of women, by focussing on empowering them through education, economic independence and power sharing.
A State-level committee headed by Chief Secretaries and district-level committees headed by Collectors will be constituted to monitor the implementation of the policy and to address any issues of discrimination. The Social Welfare and Women Empowerment department will also monitor the implementation.
Stating that the full details of the policy would be available to all once it is released by the Chief Minister, she said changes were incorporated in the draft policy based on the feedback received from the civil society and discussions with other departments. She pointed out the State has formulated a new policy 23 years after the national-level policy was released in 2001.
When asked about the delay in the formation of gender budgeting cells in all departments as announced by the government last year, the Minister said the process was under way. The Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment had written to other departments and was already collecting information on the number of women beneficiaries in the schemes implemented by different departments.
Ms. Jeevan said the State government was implementing many women empowerment schemes like Vidiyal payanam,Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai, and construction of working women’s hostel in many districts.
