Women empowerment policies:

National Policy for Women, 2016, will replace the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, 2001. Apart from the safety issues, the draft also seeks to address the emerging challenges confronting Indian women.

Salient features of the National policy for women empowerment:

• To create a society with women working as equal partners in all spheres of life. 
• To develop a framework to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women.
• To make cyberspace a safe place for women and to address “redistribution of gender roles, for reducing unpaid care work, review of personal and customary laws in accordance with the Constitutional provisions and many more.” 
• It also seeks to review the criminalization of marital rape keeping women’s rights in mind.
• Health and education of women have been kept a priority in the proposed draft.
• The draft has proposed to “improve access to pre-primary education, enrolment, and retention of adolescent girls.” 
• To carry out skill development and provide equal employment opportunities.
• To provide suitable benefits related to maternity and child care services .
• The draft plans to increase women’s participation in the political, administration, civil services and corporate boardrooms arena.
• To address all forms of violence against women.
• To improve child sex ratio (CSR).
• To prevent trafficking at source, transit and destination areas for effective monitoring of the networks.
• To enable safety and security of women with the help of “One Stop Centres, Women Helpline, Mahila Police Volunteers, Reservation of women in the police force, Panic buttons in mobiles, Surveillance mechanisms in public places.” 
• To create eco-systems to encourage entrepreneurship amongst women. This has been proposed to be done through podiums like Mahila E-Haat etc. 
• Aiding women in workplace through “Flexi timings, increased maternity leave, provision of child care/creches at the workplace, life cycle health care facilities.”