Give women a fair chance for quantum jump in Indian economy:UN

New Delhi, July 7 (PTI) Women can make a huge
difference to India's growth rate which can jump by 4.2 per
cent if the fair sex are given equal opportunity in core
sectors of the country's economy, a senior UN official said on
Thursday.
"India's growth rate can make a quantum jump of 4.2
per cent if women in the country get equal opportunity in the
core sectors of the economy," Lakshmi Puri, Assistant
Secretary-General of UN Women -- the newly created body tasked
with ensuring welfare of women -- said here.
Speaking after releasing the UN body's first global
report on women, Puri said the women constitutes half the
population in India and they may make huge contribution in
taking India's growth rate to greater heights.
"We arrived at the figure (of 4.2 per cent) following
studies by our South Asia," she said when asked about how the
UN agency arrived at the figure.
India's economy grew by 8.5 per cent in 2010-11 and it
is projected to slide marginally in this fiscal due to global
economic uncertainties.
In the report, the world body complimented India
for its "vibrant democracy and progress made to ensure gender
equality but deplored minuscule percentage of representation
of the fair sex in judiciary.
"India significantly lags behind the rest of the
world, with women making up just three per cent of judges.
Women judges are under-represented in most of the courts in
the country," the report -- Progress of the World's Women --
said.
The report, quoting a survey this year by industry
chamber ASSOCHAM, said 70 per cent of women in India are not
aware of their rights as laid out in the Constitution.
It said close to 63 per cent of women in India,
between the ages of 15 and 49, lack autonomy in their house
which "defined as having no say in any of the vital everyday
decisions like own health care, large household purchases,
purchases for daily needs and visits to family or relatives."

The report, however, complimented India's Panchayati
Raj institutions saying over a million women are actively
participating in matters of local governance, policy
formulation and decision making in these bodies.
"Almost 94 per cent of elected women representatives
reported being able to freely raise issues in Gram Sabha as
did 97 per cent of elected men representatives," the report
said, noting that several states have already reserved 50 per
cent seats for women in local bodies.
In this context, Puri hoped that India's Parliament
will pass the Women Reservation Bill, providing for 33 per
cent reservation for the fair sex in Parliament and state
assemblies.
"I hope the Women's Reservation Bill will cross all
the hurdles soon. It is a landmark bill which will help
women's empowerment to a great extent," said Puri.
Talking about global scenario, she said although
equality between women and men is guaranteed in the
constitutions of 139 countries and territories, inadequate
laws and implementation gaps make these guarantees hollow
promises, having little impact on the day-to-day lives of
women.
The report said employing women on the front line of
justice service delivery can help to increase women's access
to justice.
"Data show that there is a positive correlation
between the presence of women police officers and reporting of
sexual assault In post-conflict Liberia, the deployment of
an all-women Indian police brigade has led to increased
reporting (of cases by women)," the report said.
It also sought putting gender equality at the heart of
the Millennium Development Goals. "The MDGs are interdependent
and each one depends on making progress on women's rights."
UN Women is the United Nations organisation dedicated
to gender equality and the empowerment of women.