Reservation part of solution, changes at grassroot to address gender inequality: Irani

Providing reservation in Parliament to increase women's representation is only a part of the solution to address gender inequality and changes are required at the grassroot level, Union Minister Smriti Irani said on Thursday.

She shared the views during a panel discussion at the India Economic Summit here.

"You will find that wherever you have more positions of power, more positions of money, the participation of women lowers and that is not an Indian or a subcontinental phenomena, it is a phenomena that has been seen across the world.

"Reservation is a part of the solution, not the solution in totality, why because change is not supposed to happen only in Parliament, change is to be recognised even at the grassroot (level)," the minister for women and child development said.

She observed that real change has to emanate from the grassroot, adding, those are the women who will bring a systemic and wider aspect of change.

The minister highlighted that for policies to fructify for a women-led India, it is to be ensured that they are quantified and studied in terms of impact.

Asked about how she deals with negative comments on social media platforms, Irani said: "One has to be extremely selfish to know that comment does not define you and you don't seek help just because a hurtful comment has come because you don't dignify the person behind that comment".