What women want: Tatas give clue to political parties

In their election manifestos, political parties often talk about the empowerment and welfare of women, half of the electorate. For most women, decisions on whom to vote for are influenced by male members of their families. To bring about a change in this, Tata Global Beverages and the Tata Group on Friday released a 10-point manifesto, based on responses from 1.4 million eligible women voters across 507 constituencies, most from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar.

The manifesto, Power of 49, is an extension of the Tata Group’s Jaago Re campaign, of 2007. The Power of 49 campaign, started in August 2013, aims at creating a more informed female electorate. The manifesto focuses on issues such as safety, fights against domestic violence and dowry, providing health care, sanitation and education facilities and increasing the representation of women in Parliament. The manifesto showed women wanted compulsory gender sensitisation programmes for boys in schools and a rise in the number of women police personnel.