Ministry of Women & Child Development and Ministry of Labour & Employment jointly hosted the event titled - “सक्षम नारी सशक्त भारत - Women in the Workforce for Viksit Bharat” today at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The event was chaired by the Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, and the Union Minister for Labour & Employment and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav in the presence of Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai, Minister of State, Ministry of Women & Child Development and AYUSH.

The event aimed to chart a path for women-led development by adopting a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach. It successfully brought together two key Ministries. This collaborative effort sought to envision and promote a coordinated strategy that integrates the strengths and initiatives of both Ministries, fostering an environment conducive to women's empowerment and development ensuring the progression towards a Viksit Bharat. The event was graced with the presence of senior officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Ministry of Education and representatives from the network of Industry organisations- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), ASSOCHAM, PHDCII, SCOPE, and UN organisations -UNICEF, UNWomen and ILO. The event drew an extensive virtual audience, with over 2.5 lakh participants from both the industry and various States/Union Territories tuning in via webcast.

The event witnessed the Ministry of Labour & Employment releasing an advisory to employers, promoting gender equality and women's workforce participation to strengthen women empowerment. Additionally, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, along with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, issued advisories for women workforce participation and safety in the building, construction, and highways sectors. The event also served as a platform for the launch of employer rating survey within the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation. These advisories will indeed act as a guiding force for employers to create a supportive environment that facilitates women's participation in the economy.

Responding to long standing demands, the National Minimum Standards and Protocol for Crèches (Operation and Management) was released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It aims to provide guidance to individual/ service agencies/ corporations/ companies/ universities/ hospitals/ care service providers/ government organizations /non-governmental organizations etc., mandated under various acts and rules of the Government of India to set up Creches. These Standards and Protocol focus strongly on standardizing and institutionalizing the Care economy, contributing significantly to the vision of ‘Women-led Development’.

Smt. Zubin Irani, Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs, highlighted several key features of the guidelines and appreciated the initiative of the Ministry of Labour & Employment in taking a step to ensure that women construction workers are paid online directly in their accounts eliminating exploitation. She stated that “We are proudly a part of Digital Democracy under the leadership of our Hon’ble Prime Minister and today more than 24 crore women across the country have bank accounts.” She further emphasised the importance of the advisory that has been released today which mandates that migrant women workers be given facilities. She backed this by quoting that under the POSHAN scheme every Anganwadi has been digitally empowered and through Poshan Tracker more than 10 crore beneficiaries are attached to it, with special provision to provide services to migrant women built into it, and that over 1.10 lac migrant women have availed facility of the scheme without a disruption. She elaborated that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today, the advisory on Building and Other Construction Workers mandates 26 weeks of maternity leave. The release of the advisory is a landmark step as it enables monitoring and implementation by the officers and Ministries to compute and assess the impact across the country.

The Ministry of Women & Child Development along with the Ministry of Labour & Employment has jointly proposed to the Ministry of Education that the Central Universities can get support to build hostels for working women within the universities who are pursuing higher studies and working, and 7 universities have submitted their proposals. She further stated the potential in many emerging industries to employ a diverse set of women along all levels and area of expertise. She also commended the Employer Rating Survey that has been recently launched, which will provide a robust understanding of working conditions based on the feedback from women.

Shri. Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister for Labour & Employment and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, in his keynote address emphasised on the need for providing equal and dignified opportunities for women in the economy. He focussed on the various legislations of the Ministry to enhance the living standard of workers in particular women in the Brick making, beedi making and sugarcane industries in addition to those engaged in building and other construction works. He emphasized on the fact that participation of women in the workforce has increased to 37% in 2022. The graph for women participation is now seeing an upward trend and he urged that it is the responsibility of all to enable women participation in the workforce. He emphasized that the enrolment rate of women in higher education programs is currently 32%. Women's participation is higher in sectors such as agriculture and fishing.

Shri. Bhupendra Yadav said "The Prime Minister's vision of a comprehensive whole of government approach and convergence should serve as the guiding principle for all of us to strive towards enhancing Nari Shakti. The current imperative is the adoption of gender-inclusive and gender-sensitive practices, with both men and women sharing care responsibilities."

Speaking on the occasion Ms. Arti Ahuja, Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment shed light on the purpose of the gathering to make a commitment to make our workplaces gender inclusive and free from gender bias. She further quoted several government initiatives in the past ten years to increase women participation in the workforce. For instance, the Maternity Benefit Act, which as amended in 2017, provides for increased paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, pre-natal leave from 6 weeks to 8 weeks, nursing breaks and compulsory crèche facilities. She also mentioned ESI has paid around 418 crore rupees for maternity benefits in 2023. She concluded by welcoming the audience and asking them to join hands in this noble initiative.  

Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development Shri Indevar Pandey highlighted the Ministry’s mandate of ensuring an ecosystem which enables more participation of women in the workforce. In this context he explained how the Mission Shakti scheme of the Ministry focuses on supporting women on a life continuum basis and aims to facilitate and create an enabling environment for women participating in the workforce. He focused on several sub-schemes such as PMMVY, Plana, Sakhi Niwas (Working Women Hostel), and Hub for Empowerment of Women that directly contribute towards increasing women participation. He further elaborated on the Palna scheme that aims to address the gap in the care economy and increase the availability of Anganwadi-cum-crèche in every area so that women can freely participate in the workforce. This was followed by a short film on Palna that captures the essence of the scheme and some features of the guidelines.

Mr. S.K Pathak, Secretary General, FICCI administered the industry pledge on behalf of all industry organisations present, with over 1000 employers joining him. He emphasised that there is a need to create awareness and make it a mass movement towards achieving Viksit Bharat. The industry pledge aimed at enhancing the economic participation of women through the implementation of policies and advisories, prioritizing the creation of safe workplaces for women. It also emphasized measures to help women balance their work and caregiving responsibilities. As a concrete commitment, the pledge set a target to increase women's workforce participation by 10 percent within the next three years.

The event served as a significant platform for industry leaders such as Hindustan Unilever, Aditya Birla Capital, Pernod Ricard, Randstad, Saint Gobain, and Tata Chemicals to showcase their good practices in fostering gender-inclusive workspaces. These companies demonstrated a notable dedication to gender equality and employer support, emphasizing their commitment to creating an inclusive workplace environment. During the event, key insights were shared, highlighting comprehensive support services from pre-maternity to post-maternity phases. Noteworthy initiatives included the implementation of extended maternity leave policies, customized flexible work hours for new mothers, the establishment of on-site creche facilities, and the incorporation of therapy services into insurance coverage. Collectively, these initiatives underscore the organizations' commitment to building a supportive and equitable workplace for all employees.

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SS/AKS