"Leadership Development of Minority Women" - A scheme to Empower the Leadership skills in the women of India

Introduction

The status of women in the country, particularly those from the disadvantaged sections of the society, is unfavorable. A girl child suffers from discrimination even before birth and also after birth in the allocation of household resources such as food, education, access to health care and at puberty, coerced into early marriage. Most women in the rural areas suffer from double burden of carrying out less visible work like cooking, fetching water, sending children to school, agriculture labour, feeding cattle, milking cows etc., while the men folk perform visible activities like selling milk and grains produced by the household. Women in the minority communities fare badly too. They are not just a minority, but the 'marginalised majority' and are sidelined in decision making in the family, and usually cut off from a full involvement in the workings of the society and from an equal share in the society’s rewards.

Empowerment of women per se is not only essential for equity, but it constitutes a critical element in the fight for poverty reduction, economic growth and civil society strengthening. Women and children are always the worst sufferers in a poverty stricken family and need support. Empowering women, especially mothers, is even more important as it is in the hearth of homes that she nourishes, nurture and moulds the character of her offspring.

A recent report of the High Level Committee on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India (popularly known as the Sachar report) had highlighted the fact that India’s largest minority group, the Muslim numbering 13.83 crore, have been left out of the development trajectory and within this group Muslim women are doubly disadvantaged. With this in mind, the Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) formulated a scheme of “Leadership development for life, livelihood and civic empowerment of minority women” in 2007-08 for ensuring that the benefits of growth reach the deprived women among the minority communities. The scheme has now been transferred to the Ministry of Minority Affairs in 2009-10. The Ministry of Minority Affairs has suitably recast the scheme and renamed it as “Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women”.

Targeted Audience

The minority communities served by the Ministry of Minority Affairs are Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis), which have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Eligible women of these minority communities would be the target group. However, to further strengthen the mosaic of plurality in the society and bring about solidarity and unity in their own efforts to improve their lot, the scheme would permit a mix of women from non-minority communities not exceeding 25% of a project proposal. Efforts should be made by the organisation for having a representative mix of women from SC/ST/OBCs, women with disabilities and other communities under 25% group. Efforts should be made to persuade Elected Women Representatives (EWRs), from any community, under the panchayati raj institutions to be included as a trainee.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SCHEME

The objective of the scheme for leadership development of minority women, including their neighbours from other communities living in the village/locality, is to empower and instill confidence in women, by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with Government systems, banks, and intermediaries at all levels. The life of majority of women in the traditional settings is of daily drudgery and their hardship is further compounded by non-availability of infrastructure and services relating to civic/basic amenities and socio-economic conditions. Unless women stand up and fight for their rights, mitigation of their hardship may take time. The scheme is envisaged to reach out to women through non-governmental organizations/organizations/institutions who will be provided with financial support for conducting leadership development trainings so that women are empowered and emboldened to move out of the confines of home and community and assume leadership roles and assert their rights, collectively or individually, in accessing services, facilities, skills, and opportunities besides claiming their due share of development benefits for improving their lives and living conditions.

Leadership, in the context of this scheme means, empowerment of women from the minority communities and emboldening them to move out of the confines of their home and community and assume leadership roles and assert their rights, collectively or individually, in accessing services, facilities, skills, and opportunities besides claiming their due share of development benefits of the government for improving their lives and living conditions.