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Women Leaders
President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said that the active participation of women was necessary for the country to leverage its demographic dividend and achieve the vision of a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047. Murmu, speaking at the centenary celebrations of St Teresa's College here, also said that a society led by women leaders is likely to be more humane while also being more efficient. She pointed out that the Gender Budget allocation has increased by four and a half times over the last decade and that women-led MSMEs have nearly doubled in number between 2011 and 2024. "One of the key pillars for achieving the vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047 is reaching 70 per cent women workforce participation. Women from different socio-economic segments have been driving India's progress," the President said. She further stated that Kerala has the most favourable gender ratio in the country and that it "can be emulated by other states." The president noted that women from Kerala hav
Japan's parliament is set to elect ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country's first female prime minister on Tuesday, one day after her struggling party struck a coalition deal with a new partner that would pull her governing bloc further to the right. Takaichi will replace Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party's disastrous election loss in July. Ishiba, who lasted only one year in office, resigned with his Cabinet earlier Tuesday, paving the way for his successor. The LDP's off-the-cuff alliance with the Osaka-based rightwing Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai, ensures her premiership in a vote later in the day because the opposition is not united. Takaichi's untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and they need to court other opposition groups to pass any legislation -- a risk that could make her government unstable and short-lived. Political stability i
Despite progress in gender-focused policies, India's climate response remains fragmented, and its national climate policy still lacks a consolidated, gender-responsive climate finance strategy that could more comprehensively support women as climate leaders, according to a new report. The report by research and public policy consulting firm Chase India, supported by Global Counsel, underscores this gap, calling for coordinated, gender-responsive climate finance frameworks to position women as central agents of climate resilience rather than passive beneficiaries. The report was presented on Thursday during the COP29 climate summit here in Azerbaijan's capital. Programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, which has provided over 103 million rural women with access to clean cooking fuel, and the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, which has mobilised millions of women in sustainable livelihoods, demonstrate India's commitment to gender-responsive policies. However, these ...
India and the United Arab Emirates have demonstrated that women-led development can deliver more effective results for overall socio-economic development, President Droupadi Murmu said on Monday. Her assertion came during a meeting she had with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who had called on the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. She also praised the UAE leadership for ensuring the welfare, particularly the special care taken during the difficult times of the Covid pandemic, of more than 35 lakh Indian citizens in the West Asian country. Murmu was also happy to note the high rate of participation and contribution of women in all aspects of Emirati society, a statement issued by the President's office said. She said, "Both our countries have demonstrated that women-led development can deliver more effective results for overall socio-economic development". The President expressed satisfaction that during the Crown Prince's visit,
Only nine of 46 associations under India's largest and oldest professional medical association, the IMA, are currently led by women, suggesting a "negligible" representation in its leadership, according to a study. Further, of the 92 individuals who have served as the presidents since the Indian Medical Association's (IMA's) inception in 1928, only one was a woman, said a team of researchers, including those from The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi. They looked at the current and past leaderships of the professional medical associations, including the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA) and those of all broad medical and surgical specialties. Unequal gender representation persists even in the medical associations closely involved in women's health such as obstetrics and gynaecology, pediatrics and neonatology, highlighting a male dominance, the authors said in the study published in the journal PLoS Global Public Health. "For instance, the National Neonatology For