New Delhi, Oct 3: A gender sensitive parliament can address social problems more insightfully, President Pranab Mukherjee said Wednesday.
"A gender sensitive parliament will have a greater success in achieving gender equality and prioritizing subjects important to women," the president said while inaugurating the the 7th Meeting of the Women Speakers of Parliament on a gender sensitive parliament.
"A gender sensitive parliament can address more insightfully the social problems that women face that are a blot on society such as violence against women, female foeticide, trafficking of women and minor girls, their abuse and exploitation and the lack of medical and nutritional care of rural women to name a few," he said.
Women, Mukherjee said, at present constitute 11 percent of the 15th Lok Sabha. "This is a vast improvement from only five percent in the first Lok Sabha. Although the percentage of Indian women parliamentarians has increased over the years, it is still lower in comparison to countries like Sweden, Argentina, the UK and the US.
"I am sure that it is a matter of time before the number will be increased significantly," Mukherjee said.
