Women should occupy leadership positions: Sitharaman

Women can improve their status in society only when they occupy leadership positions in all walks of life, Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman said Friday.

At the inaugural session of a two-day seminar on "Safety of women, violence and solutions" organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) here, Sitharaman called upon women to become educated and qualified to don the mantle of leaders in corporate and public service sectors.

She said women professionals, by accepting leadership roles, can do a lot for protection of rights of the fair sex.

Sitharaman, who also holds the corporate affairs portfolio, said women were reluctant to occupy leadership positions.

She pointed out that several posts of independent directors on the boards of corporates were vacant as qualified women were not available for these positions.

She said that though the Companies Act envisaged that listed companies should have at least one woman director, the rule faces many hurdles.

Sitharaman said women should rise above the glass ceiling to create public consciousness about atrocities on them.

The minister said laws, including the Nirbahaya Act, were not enough to check crimes against women, and added that she believed society should show the conviction to curb atrocities on girls and women.

Sitharaman said changes should come from within families and the perspective of the society towards the girl child should change.

Stressing the need for spurning the western model of feminism, she said feminism should not be women-centric.

Sitharaman said men should not be excluded from the process of protection of women and instilling a sense of security in them.

The minister said when some wayward youth harasses girls in public places, society as a whole should respond.

She did not agree with the notion that provocative dresses of women lead to their sexual abuse.

"If that is true, why would women aged more than 60 and wearing traditional dresses be raped," she wondered.

The BJP leader said when shirts and pants, which are not of Indian origin, are accepted as public dress for men in India, why should anyone raise objections to the attire of girls and women.