Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Tuesday said that the Party remains committed towards bridging the gender gap and ensuring participation of women in the decision making process.
In a joint statement on the observance of National Girl Child day, State Women’s wing president Shameema Firdous, State Secretary Sakina Itoo, Provincial President Kashmir Er. Sabiya Qadri, Social Media In-Charge Sarah Hayat Shah and Additional Spokesperson Ifra Jan said that NC’s historical Naya Kashmir frame work has radically altered the position of women in Jammu and Kashmir from being a marginal and voiceless entity, frustrated by inequalities to a resonant, productive and active part of region’s human pool.
“The policies ensued by our party from time to time have succeeded in dismantling impediments halting girls from achieving their due position in the society. Under the guiding principles of our radical and progressive ideology, we were able to pull our mothers and sisters from the dark confines of their homes on to the stages of decision making,” they said adding, “Women’s emancipation has never been a mere slogan for us, it is a salient feature of our larger progressive policy framework, aimed at transforming our society for better. Bridging the gender gap will continue to be a cornerstone of our policy framework.”
The women functionaries further said that besides ensuing various welfare schemes for girl child, the party also made path breaking strides in the shape of reserving 50% seats for girls in medical colleges. “In addition to it the successive NC governments also doled out various financial incentive schemes to promote the birth of girl child in the weaker sections of the society. Today our sisters are coming out of colleges, excelling in their highly specialized areas of health, education, IT, engineering, administrative, arts, crafts & various other specialties. It was mainly due to the radical and progressive policies ensued by NC particularly Begum Akbar Jehan, who laid the foundation of girl child education, when it was taboo and unheard of in other parts of the subcontinent,” they added.
Reiterating the party’s commitment towards bridging the gender gap, the women functionaries said that the idea of inclusive development is incomplete without the active participation of women in politics. “Having more educated women in politics will attune party policies to the needs of women. It’s only NC that boasts a vision of utilizing women’s agencies in community building and development,” they said.
The functionaries held that the incumbent regime has only been doing mere lip service on empowering women, but in reality, the actions of the incumbent government give slip to their unconcerned attitude. “The recent disengagement of nearly 900 ICDS women workers is a case in point where a huge chunk of working women was deprived of their livelihoods with a single stroke of pen. The institutional support given to JK women through various departments and legislations has been done away with. Rising unemployment in JK is also having a cascading effect on our promising women,” they added.

KR Desk