UN Women and the Bihar Legislative Assembly join hands to promote gender

Press Release

Patna - UN Women and the Bihar Legislative Assembly joined hands by organizing a gender workshop that was attended by members of the Assembly, especially from the Women and Child Development Committee, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Committee.

“The workshop highlighted the critical role that legislators can play in monitoring the implementation of schemes being implemented by the Central and State government to address gender inequality.  It also underscored ways in which gender issues could be prioritized within the debates and discussions that take place in the Assembly,” said Dr Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, Representative, UN Women’s Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

“Bihar was the first State to mandate 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats and urban local bodies. The Home Department passed a proposal to grant 35 per cent reservation for women in recruitment of constables and sub-inspectors in reserved and as well as unreserved categories.  Further, the government has provided 50 per cent reservation to women in the cooperative bodies, including the Primary Agriculture Credit and Cooperative Society,” said Shri. Uday Narain Choudhary, Speaker, Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Bihar still faces serious concerns such as declining child sex ratio and high rates of violence against women and maternal mortality. “The initiatives taken by the Government of Bihar will go a long way in ensuring that the most marginalized women receive the services they require. We see this workshop as an important step in taking the gender agenda forward in the State of Bihar.   And to do this, State Legislators undoubtedly play an important role in meeting the challenge of women’s empowerment,” added Dr Tavares.

UN Women works to promote gender equality in India. In Bihar, UN Women has programmes to prevent trafficking of women and girls, and strengthen budgeting to address women’s needs.

Media inquiries:

Office of Speaker, Bihar Vidhan Sabha, Shri Subodh Kr. Jaiswal, PS to Speaker, Shri B.K Singh Prabha, Officer on Special Duty, +91 612 – 2217856
Sabrina Sidhu, Communications and Information Officer, UN Women India [ Click to reveal ]/ 9818717522 or 9560452556