WCD ministry working on platform to promote women leadership

The women and child development (WCD) ministry is working on a mentorship platform to promote women’s leadership across various levels. A portal will be launched which will be hosted on the Women’s Empowerment Platform of NITI Aayog, WCD secretary Indevar Pandey said during the second meeting of G20 Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation (G20 EMPOWER) held at Thiruvananthapuram on April 5 and 6.

The programme will have mentoring of global players and capacity-building with structured knowledge-exchange among women mentees and mentors of G20 nations. “It will also serve as an aggregator of existing subject-specific mentorship portals targeting areas such as STEM, business leadership, and entrepreneurship,” the ministry said in a release. The programme, the ministry said, will aid women entrepreneurs across small, medium and large enterprises as well as grassroot leaders.

The portal, which will impart digital, technical and financial knowledge and upskilling across various geographies, will be available in over 120 international and Indian languages. “It will help guide, provide content, and match women with internships and jobs. The framework of the platform was presented and discussed in the course of the deliberations,” the ministry said.

Apart from the portal, other G20 Empower recommendations include seeking commitment from the private sector to invest in the promotion of school-to-work transition for adolescent girls and career-development opportunities beyond traditional fields through scholarships, corporate fellowships in STEM, apprenticeships in non-conventional vocational areas, as well as apprenticeships for STEM graduates in the R&D sector. In addition to that, the recognition of women’s participation and representation in decision-making processes at all levels to localise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was also recommended.

The second meeting saw participation of 18 participants from eight G20 countries including Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, Italy and France, as well as nine participants from six invitee countries including Bangladesh, Oman, Spain, UEA, Netherlands and Nigeria. Apart from that, nine participants from six international organisations such as UN Women, World Bank, IMF, UNICEF, World Trade Organisation and ILO also took part.