Gender

The Central government will launch on Thursday a dedicated portal to support policymakers and stakeholders with data, resources and tools to strengthen gender budgeting practices. According to an official statement, the Ministry of Women and Child Development will hold wider consultations, bringing together key stakeholders from across the country to reinforce the government's commitment to gender-responsive governance. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi will kickstart the consultations and also launch the Gender Budgeting Knowledge Hub, which will be a dedicated portal providing data, resources and tools to strengthen gender budgeting practices. The day-long event will see participation from 45 Central ministries and departments, 20 states, representatives from international organisations such as UN Women and the Asian Development Bank, as well as leading national institutions. The consultation aims to foster dialogue and promote innovative approaches to

The USCIS also detailed how it will consider sex as listed on birth certificates when processing immigration benefits

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at curtailing gender transitions for people under age 19. It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures, Trump said in a statement. It's the latest push by Trump to reverse policies set by the Biden administration to protect transgender people and their care. On Monday, Trump directed the Pentagon to conduct a review that is likely to lead to them being barred from military service. The order directs that federally-run insurance programmes, including TRICARE for military families and Medicaid, exclude coverage for such care, and calls on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.

A new study by US-based researchers finds widespread social change and that preference for a girl child continues even after discontinuation of the schemed

Russia's upper house of parliament on Wednesday endorsed a bill banning adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where gender transitioning is legal. The Federation Council also approved bills that outlaw the spread of material that encourages people not to have children. The bills, which have previously been approved by the lower house, will now go to President Vladimir Putin for signing into law. They follow a series of laws that have suppressed sexual minorities and bolstered longstanding conventional values. The lower house speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, who was among the new bill's authors, has noted that "it is extremely important to eliminate possible dangers in the form of gender reassignment that adopted children may face in these countries." The adoption ban would apply to at least 15 countries, most of them in Europe but including Australia, Argentina and Canada. Adoption of Russian children by US citizens was banned in 2012. Other bills approved by lawmakers

India Tuesday said it has achieved gender parity across all levels of education and is now prioritising increasing women's workforce participation in non-conventional sectors and bridging gender pay gaps and the digital divide. Delivering the country statement at the UN Ministerial Conference on women empowerment here, Preetam B Yashwant, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, said India has worked on gender-responsive solutions to reduce "time poverty" of women such as clean cooking fuels, tap water connections and construction of toilets. "Aligned to regional trends demonstrating reduced inequalities in education, today, I am happy to share that India has achieved gender parity across all levels of education. We have one of the highest proportions of women in STEM disciplines globally," he said. Yashwant said that India has adopted a multi-pronged approach to address the issues of women on a life-cycle continuum basis for their educational, social, economic and

Gender rights at Olympics emerge as the next frontier where sports and politics are set to collide

The order approved by the government states that henceforth, Hyderabad-based officer M Anusuya, will be identified as M Anukathir Surya in all official records

The essays in this collection interrogate what it means to be "Indian" and how these identities often involve a level of paradoxical disconnect between formal mandates and actual practices

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday called for the need to make special efforts to eliminate discrimination over caste and gender in society. The RSS chief was speaking at an intellectuals' meet in Vadodara on the second day of his two-day Gujarat visit. On Saturday, he had attended a similar programme in Bharuch in south Gujarat, stated a release from RSS. In his address to intellectuals, Bhagwat said Sajjan shakti' (noble power) should be organised and made active for social changes through harmony, family education, adherence to rituals, environmental protection, awakening of indigenous values and education in civic duty. Special efforts should be made to eliminate caste and gender differences in society, and special experiments should be done to create a network of Sajjan shakti, the release said, quoting him. During the meet, people working in fields like health, environment, art, literature, and social change expressed their thoughts and opinions about

The show was organised to make the stakeholders, especially the people holding important positions in society, aware of the problems and issues faced by the LGBTQ community

UNICEF India representative Cynthia McCaffrey has said the country is being looked upon as a leader in child and gender-responsive budgeting, especially in South Asia. She hailed India and Madhya Pradesh for making great progress in making plans and budgets child-responsive. "Child responsive budgeting is a strategy to integrate national and state development plans and budgets with child rights commitments. India today is looked upon as a leader in child and gender-responsive budgeting, especially in South Asia, McCaffrey said. She was addressing the inaugural conference on evidence-based social and economic development here organized by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis (AIGGPA), Government of Madhya Pradesh, in partnership with UN agencies on Tuesday, an official said. "On behalf of UNICEF, I would like to commend the Madhya Pradesh government under the leadership of Chief Minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) and AIGGPA for convening this important

The upper house of Russia's parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill outlawing gender-affirming procedures, sending the measure to President Vladimir Putin to be signed into law. The move extends the Kremlin's drive to protect what it views as the country's traditional values. The bill, which already was approved in the lower house, bans any medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person, as well as changing one's gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies. It also annuls marriages in which one person has changed gender and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. Lawmakers portray the measure as protecting Russia from the Western anti-family ideology, with some describing gender transitioning as pure satanism. Russia's crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on traditional family values, supported by the

Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday questioned the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index assessment which ranked India at 135th place in terms of gender parity. Irani said the Index failed to take into account the political empowerment and financial inclusion of women at the grassroots level. The Union minister interacted via video link with the audience during a seminar organised at the Rashtriya Raksha University at Lavad in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat. She was asked questions related to the empowerment of women and gender equality. "It is time to challenge what the Global Gender Gap Index has done in the way India has challenged the Global Hunger Index. This measurement has been done through the western standards," Irani said. She said when it comes to marks of political empowerment, the Index does not take into account women who serve across panchayats and municipalities as district panchayat presidents, sarpanchs, mayors and ...

Gender wealth equity varies the most in the Asia-Pacific regions and the least in North America, finds the WTW Global Gender Wealth Equity report

Payroll data released by the National Statistical Office shows only 18.67 per cent of the persons that rejoined and re-subscribed employees' provident fund (EPF) are female

A global trans history stands as testimony to the gender nonconformity of our past

The country performed better on education and health parameters. Political representation has been a mixed bag

The State Department expects to be able to offer the option to nonbinary, intersex and gender-nonconforming people early next year, an official said

Women are better at governing because they are more patient and more compassionate, writes TCA Srinivasa Raghavan.