Role of women in nation building

HYDERABAD: To discuss the problems faced by women and make their role more prominent and engage them to a greater extent in activities on national interest, the Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO) organised an interactive session on the role of women in nation building with Andhra Pradesh speaker Nadendla Manohar and Chandana Chakrabarti, director Sukruti, who also runs the Sambhavana trust.The YFLO group is the exclusive women wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) which aims at women empowerment at various levels across different strata of society in India. Discussing about the problems faced by women in India, Chandana Chakrabarti, said, “The very fact that India has a patriarchal society brings about distinction in almost every facet of life. There is still a low literacy level amongst women, which should have been achieved by now and alongside there is domestic violence, which is actively prevalent in many cities.” Adding to this she mentions four points of possible solutions for improving these conditions further. She says, “Educating women from the basic and rural level, providing them equal societal and economic status, their active involvement in politics and measures to be taken to reduce violence against them will definitely lead to a more happy society and will provide more and better opportunities.”Agreeing on a few of Chandana Chakrabarti’s views, the Andhra Pradesh speaker Nandendla Manohar said that active participation of women is very much essential in the development of the nation. He said, “Nation building is never complete without women involvement. It is very important that more women join the mainstream politics and be a much more active part of the decision making body.” When asked why there were no fixed qualification requirements for a person to become a politician, Manohar says, “I don’t think that qualifications should be the priority for a person to become a politician. If they are passionate and want to apply their principles in helping change the society, he or she is a leader,” and he further adds, “There have been so many people, though illiterate, have contributed immensely in changing the society. They were keen observants and they believed in a change. Like the organic coffee growers of Araku valley. They have set an example to the world. We are the only ones in the continent doing this.” The speaker also mentioned that the women reservation bill will definitely act as a catalyst in inviting more women representation.