One Stop Centres have helped over 2 lakh women who faced violence: Irani

She said 2,40,000 women have got help through the OSCs in the past three years

Over 600 One Stop Centres established across the country in the last three years have helped more than 2 lakh women who have been victims of violence, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said on Wednesday.

One Stop Centres (OSCs) are intended to support women affected by violence in private and public spaces, within family, community and at workplace.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Irani said 623 OSCs have been established in the last three years and one of the facilities provided to women at district and grassroots levels is that they can approach a counsellor.

"If they feel they cannot approach their organisation, they can get legal, medical help at these centres," the minister said.

In a panel discussion on "#SheLeads in Alpha Century: The New Narratives of Transformations and Change", Irani said the number of women going into technology institutions is actually very less, and far less when it comes to coding, far less when it comes to owning patents in innovations and far lesser when it comes to commercialisation of innovation.

"I think when you look at the scientific community from gender-based perspective, it seems it is easy to get entry level positions. But when it comes to promotions at the evaluation desk, it is there that a lot of these minimal yet life changing biases that seep in," she said.

"I also feel that wherever you have to increase commercial capacities in venture you will find women get limited in those administrative positions," she added.

The Union minister said women need to ask if they are getting an opportunity to lead and not just be satisfied with entry level positions.

On empowerment of women, Irani said the perception of how women are looked upon as a vote bank has changed.

"There is a tectonic shift across the world. Now women ask (say) if your policy matches up to us you can count on my vote and I think that is one of the biggest changes in politics across the world," she said.

The minister noted that for too long women have shared their success while a man very proudly says that he has succeeded because he is talented.

"It is always women who say I have succeeded because I have other champions. So there is a segment of women who succeed because they are talented and they are not in need of a champion and they have succeeded," Irani said.