Making Spaces Gender-Friendly! Kerala To Study Issues Faced By Women Through Project Penadayalangal

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The Logical Indian Crew

Making Spaces Gender-Friendly! Kerala To Study Issues Faced By Women Through Project 'Penadayalangal'

Envisioning development schemes for women in the coming years, the district-level bodies in Thiruvananthapuram launched a project that would conduct a status study of women to understand issues faced by them on a grassroots level.

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Taking the list of states in India, Kerala is one among them that would stand out for empowering and ensuring a near-equal space for women. The state has been at the forefront of initiating and implementing multiple progressive schemes for women in Kerala. Adding to this list of schemes, the Women and Child Development department, under the umbrella of the district panchayat, is set to conduct a new project that aims to understand issues faced by women from the grassroots level. The program will be held across the capital city in collaboration with the local self-government bodies and will move toward making spaces more gender-friendly after studying their concerns.

Studying Data To Bring A Reform

The project, titled 'Penadayalangal,' will be a status study to understand better the status, problems and requirements of women at the local self-government level. Aside from helping the officials make the local bodies gender-friendly, this move would also open a forum for women to voice their concerns and find appropriate solutions. The study, focusing on women's social, financial, emotional, physical, and health status, will then be utilised to help formulate novel projects for their larger benefit at the district level.

According to a report by The Hindu, the study will be conducted among women aged 18-60. The survey samples would be collected across 73 gram panchayats, four municipalities, and the capital city's Corporation. Trained data enumerators have been deployed for this role, and they will be conducting the required field-level study. After the data collection, it would be collated and submitted as a report that will help draw up development activities in the coming years.

Ambitious Projects Envisioned Under The Study

The project was inaugurated on December 19, in the presence of the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies G.R. Anil, district panchayat president D. Sureshkumar, District Collector Geromic George, and many other prominent faces in the city corporation. The District Women and Child Development Officer Sabeena Beegam was quoted saying that only a numbered few projects, such as the appointment of school counsellors, formation of 'jagratha samithis' (vigilant committees) and gender awareness programmes had been conducted on a district level for women development. She believes that a study on the prevailing conditions and status of women at the local level would help implement a novel programme.

After the successful completion of the study, adequate programmes will be put in place to address problems faced by the women in the district. Some of these programmes charted so far include awareness sessions to prevent something untoward from happening, strengthening redressal mechanisms in the form of jagratha samithis, setting up gender help desks and providing resources to empower women. They would also be accordingly trained to gain employment and generate a source of income to support themselves. Among these, the formation of women's cultural groups, art competitions, and get-togethers was also suggested in the pipeline.

Also Read: In A Historic First, Kerala Assembly To Have All-Women Speaker Panel

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