To resolve women's issues at workplace, mentality change needed: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 24: Kerala is at the forefront in gender justice according to Niti Aayog, but women still face problems at the workplace that can be resolved only through change in mentality, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday.

Vijayan said in the State Assembly that the government and various voluntary organisations have been working to lead women to the path of empowerment. He said the State has ensured 50 per cent seats for women in local self-government bodies and it was a model for the country to emulate.

The Chief Minister was responding to a submission by LDF MLA K K Shailaja that gender justice and equality has to be ensured for women and transgenders by the government by taking everyone into confidence.

In his reply, he said the State was also ahead of the national average in all the indices of low maternal mortality rate, high sex ratio and high life expectancy of women. Besides that, there is an increase in enrolment of girls in schools, under-graduate courses and postgraduate courses in the field of education, Vijayan said.

There is an increase in female representation in vocational courses like nursing and also lab technician courses, he said. The labour force participation rate of women in the State s 25.4 per cent which is higher than the national average of 23.3 per cent, he further said. Self-help groups like Kudumbasree are led by women and this model has also attracted international attention, he added.

Vijayan further said the government had also introduced a gender budget in 2017-18 and Kerala was the first State in the country to announce a transgender policy. However, despite these high indices, women still face problems in the workplace and a male-dominated mentality still exists in society which the government is aware of, he said. Such problems can be addressed only through a change in mentality, he added.