Women and Social Security and Protection in India

Women’s Social Security and Protection in India – A Report. Social security for women in India, despite the existence of multiple Government sponsored schemes, is an issue that has not yet been tackled efficiently as these schemes still fail to reach the most marginalised women in society. Due to a series of systemic failures, women’s lives and work are adversely impacted in both the productive and reproductive domains. There is, thus, an urgent need to efficiently implement social security schemes for women in order to counter their vulnerability in our society.

What are the social security needs of women in India? What are the gaps in the social security discourse for women in India? How can these gaps be bridged? How can the social security system in India recognise and honour women’s rights to social security in their individual capacities as rights-holders apart from their position in a household, their age or marital status? How can the women have platforms to share their concerns and influence policy-making? How can social security concerns promote livelihood security for women and help them move up the value chain of production and marketing? How can social security systems in India redistribute the burden of caring for the family, children and the elderly that is exclusively shouldered by women?

These were some of the very important questions explored at Conference on Women’s Social Security and Protection in India on 6–7 May 2013, New Delhi organised by The Programme for Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR), in collaboration with UN-Women, Heinrich Böll Foundation India, ILO and UNSW. This report captures the discussions and deliberations that took place among over 170 delegates from over 16 states as they participated together to identify and unpack various perspectives on the issue of social security for women in India. These participants were a diverse group from the Government, trade unions, women’s organisations and UN agencies on a common platform.

To access an electronic copy of the report, please click on the link below:................

The perspective of Nalini Nayak were brought into the conference via this video, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF-vD5_vWes