For peace in world, create peace for women at home: Mehbooba

Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti today said the objective of observing the International Women’s Day was to change the way society treated women and ensure a world where the only limit on them would be their talent and not their gender.
In a statement issued today, she said the responsibility for providing a conducive and protective atmosphere to the girl child rested first with the family and then society at large.
“We together need to put in concerted efforts to achieve the desired objective of securing the future of the girl child,” she said, adding that they needed to focus on empowering women by providing them better education, healthcare and parity. Terming women as harbingers of peace, Mehbooba said if peace had to brought in the world, a peaceful atmosphere should first be created at home for the women.
She also laid stress on the economic empowerment of women so that they could earn their livelihood and become financially empowered.
Mehbooba said women suffered heavily from the consequences of conflicts. “In our state, women have undergone enormous tragedies because of the conflict,” she said, adding that while mothers had to bid farewell to coffins of their young sons, the younger ones have to bid farewell to the coffins of their brothers and husbands.
Mehbooba said the PDP-BJP coalition government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had introduced some path-breaking women welfare schemes, including Laadli Beti, Aasra and Marriage Assistance, in the state to address the concerns of the girl child from birth to adulthood. “As we celebrate International Women’s Day this year, let us also bear in mind that the struggle is far from over. Women’s empowerment should never be reduced to individual success stories. It should be about the collective well-being,” Mehbooba said.