National Women's policy will be in place by July-end: NCW

Coimbatore: The National Women's Policy, with a special chapter on single women heading families, is likely to be in place by the third week of July, National Commission for Women Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said here on Tuesday.

The draft policy, which will get ready by the end of this month, would be submitted to the government and the final policy is expected to be ready by the second or third week of next month, she told reporters here.

The policy would cover all subjects pertaining to women and specifically problems being faced by single women heading the families, without support of male members, she said.

Stating that single women had so far been defined as widows or divorced, she said the policy would include those who were deserted or whose husbands were missing for long, and who were heading the families.

Lalitha Kumaramangalam, here to attend a two-day national workshop on 'challenges faced by families headed by single women', said women and children in female-headed families were often the victims of poverty, crime and violence.

Similarly, the commission was working out on a Pan-India creche policy to provide quality creches to look after the kids of working mothers, as the attrition rate of such women was increasing in India, Lalitha said.

As several top companies were concerned over 'drop outs' of able hands, the government could extend a helping hand by providing quality creches under the public-private partnership mode, she said.

Asked about incidents of crime against women, Lalitha said though there was no statistics available on it, reporting on such crimes has increased compared to early days, as women and girls were coming forward to lodge complaints.

Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan topped the list of states with larger rates of crimes against women, particularly domestic, followed by Bihar, she said.

To another query on the status of 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures, Lalitha hoped that once the BJP got majority in Rajya Sabha, all the pending bills, including this, would be passed.National Women's policy will be in place by July-end: NCW