BackGovt launches initiative to select 100 women achievers
The move is aimed at acknowledging the difference the selected 100 women have made in communities across India
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New Delhi: After the online success of the #SelfieWithDaughter campaign started by a Haryana village, the government on Tuesday launched an initiative to select 100 women achievers in the country.
The drill is the same again—log on to a specific Facebook page, put up a photo or video showing the woman who you think have changed lives in your community and you are all set.
The #100Women Initiative is a collaboration of ministry of women and child development with Facebook, aimed at acknowledging the difference the selected 100 women have made in communities across India. All that needs to be done is submit a nomination on the ministry of women and child development Facebook page between 15 July and 30 September 2015, fill the nomination form, and submit a photo or video showing the nominee in action in their community.
Such social media initiatives, however, seem to be fast replacing real public spending by the government on women’s empowerment. It spent only a third of the ₹ 90 crore budget allotted to the child-sex ratio programme in 2014-15. This year, it slashed the ministry of women and child development budget by 45%.
Feminist Kamla Bhasin said even though these contests send out a message that this government is for gender equality, much more needs to be done. “The kind of cultural revolution we need is still missing. And I don’t think we should expect that from the government alone. The citizens too need to take on these things," she said.
The need to have such initiatives stems from the statistics that point to increasing violence against women in India represented in terms of skewed sex ratios, unabated violent crimes against women and girls, dowry deaths and sex-selective abortions.
Recently, Haryana held a contest to raise consciousness about girl children: click a selfie with your daughter and win a prize. The competition organised by village leaders in Bibipur, Haryana attracted nearly 800 entries from across the country. Winners were declared on 10 July and received a trophy, a certificate and prize of ₹ 2,100.
Activists acknowledge that social media campaigns have a potential to create awareness, but say it’s high time government does something concrete on ground.
“These are all superficial things. Every effort is on the surface. These things wouldn’t help in the long run. The government is doing this out of desperation. There is a need to deal with the core area, which is implementation of law," said Delhi-based social activist Ranjana Kumari.
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