31st CONFERENCE OF SZIEF AT KOZHIKODE

Recognise role of women: AIDWA leader

Staff Reporter

Insurance Employees Federation meet

Kozhikode: Chandra Athreya, vice-president, All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), Tamil Nadu, has said that commercialisation and de-politicisation will undermine efforts aimed at women's empowerment in the country.

Speaking at a women's session in connection with the 31st general conference of the South Zone Insurance Employees' Federation (SZIEF) here on Monday, Prof. Athreya lamented that a social system that did not recognise women as human beings still existed in the country.

Nearly 77 per cent of the illiterates in the country were women.

Only one per cent of women were entitled to land rights, though 55 per cent of those working in the agricultural sector were women.

She accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of backtracking from getting the Women's Reservation Bill, which ensured the participation of women in politics and public activities, enacted. Trade unions should intensify their campaigns to pass the Bill.

SZIEF president M. Kunhikrishnan presided over the session.

K. Swaminathan, general secretary, presented a report. Thirty-one delegates from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry took part in the deliberations.

M. Girija, SZIEF joint secretary; Yusuf Tarigami, CPI(M) MLA from Jammu and Kashmir; K. Venugopal, general secretary, All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA); Amanulla Khan, president, AIIEA; and M.N. Sundaram, former president, AIIEA' spoke.

Nearly 400 delegates and observers are attending the four-day conference that will conclude on Tuesday.