JOIN USA special gram sabha organised at the Government Bheemraj Senior Secondary School’s ground had a unique agenda for women empowerment and an extraordinary guest from a distant country to extend support gender equality and participation of women in the grassroot democracy.
The U N Women executive director Michelle Bachelet, who was in Rajasthan to launch the first-ever knowledge hub for elected women representatives in rural areas of South Asia, arrived in Barrod — a small village situated along the Delhi-Jaipur national highway — on Saturday to interact with the rural women.
She motivated them to strive for their rights. A pleasant surprise was in store for Bachelet, who was President of Chile from 2006 to 2010.
Not only the village sarpanch is a woman, but the zila pramukh of Alwar district is a woman too.
She appreciated the presence of two elected women representatives and observed that this was a result of constant struggle of women to get a rightful place in the public life.
Sarpanch Rama Bharadwaj and zila pramukh Safia Khan apprised Bachelet of the gram sabha’s agenda.
Discussion on the girl child policy and announcement of a scheme to pay Rs 1,100 as fixed deposit on the birth of the first girl and Rs 2,100 on the birth of second girl to a family through the Kanya Badhawa Sanstha established by the village panchayat were part of the gram sabha meeting.
Bachelet said men and women may have different views, but they should be complementary to each other to ensure development of society without gender-based discrimination.
She also said women elected representatives had a better leadership potential and better grasp of issues, on the basis of which they could organise women and achieve great results.
The elected women representatives highlighted pro-women measures the panchayat took up. They said their efforts had strengthened their position in the rural society.
Recalling the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi, Bachelet said women could become agents of change, peace and power in the society.
When she asked women in the audience if their men supported their participation in the gram sabha, the women replied in the affirmative.