Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that the State’s proposed Women’s Policy 2015 should be a model for the country. Chouhan chaired a meeting on the proposed policy here on Thursday. Women and Child Development Minister Maya Singh and Chief Secretary Anthony de Sa also attended the meeting. The policy will be released at the Mahila Panchayat on May 19.
The Chief Minister said that issues pertaining to eradication of gender bias, women’s education, employment, partnership in power, security and health should be included in the proposed policy. Ways for women’s skill development and increasing their employment opportunities in private and government sector should be contemplated. The policy should contain women’s social, economic, political and educational empowerment. Necessary system should be evolved to monitor implementation of the policy. Holding of special health camps for women should be considered.
The meeting was informed that gender ratio and maternal mortality rate has improved considerably in the state. There were 912 women on every 1000 males in 1991, which rose to 930 females per 1000 males in 2011. Similarly, maternal mortality rate has come down from 310 to 277 per one lakh. Number of child marriages has also come down from 53.7 per cent which cam down to 33.1 per cent in year 2011.