WUNRN
Via Jagori - http://jagori.org/
INDIA - NATIONAL WOMANIFESTO 2014 - CALL FOR SIGN-ON'S
This 6-point
plan could bring real change to women and girls across India. Let’s get the PM
candidates and parties a flood of messages.
The National Election Womanifesto
A freedom movement for women has caught fire. Citizens across the country are
demanding an end to the generations-deep violence and suppression faced by
hundreds of millions of Indian women and girls. Voters are calling on elected
officials to commit the resources and political will for change now. This
Indian Womanifesto is a 6-point plan critical to the freedom and safety,
equality and flourishing of India's women and girls. All candidates for the
2014 Lok Sabha should commit to:
1. Educate for Equality: We will implement comprehensive, well-funded
and long-term public education programmes to end the culture of gender-based
discrimination and violence. These will include: SMS, radio and TV public
service campaigns, accessible lesson plans for schools, modules for training
teachers and to train professionals such as doctors and lawyers. To this end we
will reach men, women, boys and girls in both urban and rural areas.
2. Make laws count: We will ensure each government agency produces a
detailed action-plan to implement laws to end violence against women, and we
will fund it. We will work with state governments to provide comprehensive
services to women who are victims of violent crimes, helping them to fund and
set up one-stop, 24-hour crisis centres and safe shelters in each police
district, and to give swift financial compensation. We will create and fund a
comprehensive scheme to prevent sexual abuse of children, including safe
childcare for children in villages and urban jhuggis, and awareness campaigns
among children and parents. We will work with state governments to establish
responsive and fair fast track courts for crimes of violence against women and
raise the number of judges to at least 40 per 1,000,000 population. We will
also ensure increased access to accountable legal aid, ensure that money
damages are rapidly paid by the State in cases of sexual violence, and create
robust witness protection programmes.
3. Put women in power: We will support the Women's Reservation Bill in
the Lok Sabha, and ensure that women will be represented in all councils,
committees and task forces related to policy and practice across the board. We
will support the adoption of a Code of Conduct to disqualify electoral
candidates who have committed offences of gender-related violence and end
misogynist comments and behaviour in the Lok Sabha. We will strengthen the
autonomous functioning of the National and State Commissions for Women, with
experienced professionals being selected through a transparent process.
4. Police for the people: We will establish and enforce a comprehensive
response protocol for crimes against women, and publicise it. We will work with
state governments to change service rules and ensure police and prosecutorial
recruitment, promotion and penalties are made on attitudes and performances
based on gender. We commit to implementing police reforms and to ensure that
police personnel who breach the new procedures are investigated and disciplined
accordingly. We will also establish rape crisis response teams, with rural and
urban pilot projects. There will be zero tolerance of moral policing by
State/non-State actors.
5. Swift, certain justice: We will support amendments to laws that
perpetuate violence and discrimination against women and sexual minorities, and
those that directly/indirectly sanction discrimination against women on the
basis of religion, caste, sexuality, age, economic status or disability. We
will stringently implement the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics
Technique Act. We will support the amendment of existing laws, to remove the
marital rape exemption, repeal Section 377 IPC and make sure that the rape of
any person is criminal. We will change the law so that consenting couples aged
16 and 17 do not fall foul of rape laws. We will remove the impunity to
perpetrators of custodial rape under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and
will appoint special commissioners in conflict areas to monitor and prosecute
sexual offences. We will enact the Prevention of Atrocities (Amendment) Bill to
stop crimes against dalit and adivasi women and commit to a strong law against
communal violence that holds state and non-state actors accountable. We will
take strong action against racial discrimination and violence against women
from the North-East. We will push to enact a special law to combat honour
crimes. We will take steps to bring speedy justice in long-pending cases of
communal and caste massacres, as well as custodial rapes.
6. Economic flourishing: We will ensure secure, dignified, remunerative
employment for women. Action plans will be created to secure equal pay for
equal work in all sectors; provide creches and other critical support to MNREGA
workers; rights, dignity and minimum wage women workers in the organised and
unorganised sectors. We will grant government employee status to ASHA and
anganwadi workers in 'voluntary' schemes where women work with informal
honorariums. We will push to amend the law to address the range of unfair
discrimination at work, including in the unorganised sector and we commit to
implementing the Central Government mandate under the sexual harassment law. We
will bring universal, non-contributory old age pensions for women. We will
create action plans to accelerate quality education for girls. We will devise a
scheme to ensure that women achieve equal property rights in natal families and
fair shares through marriage. Public toilets shall be set up, especially in the
poorest areas, and all women will have access to regular, safe public
transport. We will ensure development justice for women and respect community
rights to resources. Action plans will include infrastructure, personnel,
training, monitoring and evaluation, supported by central finances.
Initial signatories
Kamla Bhasin, Adviser, Sangat South Asia
Karuna Nundy, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Suneeta Dhar, Jagori
Akhila Sivadas
Devaki Jain, Economist and Padma Bhushan Awardee
Stree Mukti Sangathana, Mumbai
Urvashi Butalia, Zubaan and Padma Shri Awardee
Juhi Jain
Ritu Menon, Women Unlimited and Padma Shri Awardee
Indian Women Theologians Forum
Kavita Krishnan, General Secretary, AIPWA
All India Progressive Women’s Association
Indian Christian Women's Movement
Shweta Goswami, Food for Life, Vrindavan Society
Kavita Srivastava, Peoples’ Union of Civil Liberties
Sheba George, SAHR WARU: Women's Action and Resource Unit
Swarna Rajagopalan, Prajnya
Ayesha Kidwai, Professor, JNU
Prabhleen Tuteja, Jagori
Janaki Nair , Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Kiran Shaheen
Anita Ghai, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Jesus and Mary
College
Ayesha Kidwai
Aatreyee Sen, Foundation for Integrated Research and Development
Amba Salelkar, Inclusive Planet Center for Disability Law and Policy
Lalita Ramdas
Asmita
Kavita Panjabi, Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University
Sheba Chhachhi, Artist
Astrid Lobo Gajiwala
Ramlath Kavil
Supriya Madangarli