Rajasthan State Policy for Women, 2018 :

The Government of Rajasthan recognizes the importance of equality and empowerment of women in overall development of the society. Engaging women as successful and rightful participant in development is not only important for the empowerment of girls and women but also the overall socio- economic development of the society. Rajasthan has for long been acknowledged to be one of the states’ where women’s low status is a cause of concern and successive State Governments have sought women’s advancement in different spheres through legislation, development policies, plans and programmes. Cognizant of the need to ensure gender equality and equity, the Government of Rajasthan formulated and promulgated the 2018 State Policy for Women.

Vision :  Envision a society , where all women, girls, men and boys are treated with equal dignity and respect, have equal oppurtunities in the area of social, health and economic development, has access to political participation and decision making and free from all forms of gender based violence.

 Objectives  :The objectives of the State policy for women are - 

• To create a conducive and enabling environment for holistic development of women and girls through inclusive approach and positive economic and social policies. 
• To ensure equal access quality health care, education and employment and avail entrepreneur opportunities.
•   To enable women to participate equally in all platforms of Governance and strengthen their decision making power. 
• To address and prevent harmful practices that hinder the survival , progress and prosperity of girls and women. 
• To strengthen the legal systems to reduce all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls.
•   Engage with boys and Men on issues of Gender equality and mobilise their opinion and action to facilitate the creation of a gender equitable society.
•   To mobilise Communities and Civil Society to create a supportive environment towards protection and development of girls and women of the State.
•  To ensure inter departmental coordination for effective implementation of the policy.
•  To ensure that gender disaggregated indicators are captured and decisions are made to ensure that the programmes delivered achieve the objective of gender equality.

Priority areas and policy directions :

I. Birth, Survival, Health and Nutrition :

a. Declining Child Sex Ratio :

• Strong Implementation of the PCPNDT ( Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques ) Act to stop sex selection in the State. 
• Build capacities of health service providers and other frontline workers of health and women and child development department on provision of gender sensitive health services. 
• Engage with communities and families on enhancing the value of girl child in the society by celebrating the birth of girl child and ensuring their survival and holistic development

b. Health Care and Well being :

• Address the maternal and newborn mortality in the state and provide emphasis on those geographically areas that are challenged by terrains , lack of basic infrastructure and services. 
• Promote Rights based Client friendly health services at the health facility and community level  Enable women to exercise informed choices in exercising their reproductive rights through safe, affordable, effective and accessible methods of contraception / family planning methods. 
• Provide women with access to quality and safe abortion services, including  the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions.
• Focused attention to be given to the women affected by both communicable and non communicable diseases.
•   Health system data to be strengthened to provide gender disaggregated data in terms of the utilisation and outcome of the services

c. Food and Nutrition:

• Widespread nutritional education including inputs related to food processing be disseminated to address the issues of intra-household imbalances in nutrition and balanced diet.
• Schemes and programmes promoting kitchen gardens be implemented. 
• Promote Community Management of Acute Malnutrition to address the gender disparities related to the nutritional needs of girl children .
• .Implementation of maternity benefits under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.

II Education and Training :

• Special measures to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate illiteracy and create a gender sensitive educational system. 
• Stregthen exsisting Early childhood care and Education in the Integrated Child·
• Development and establish links with primary schools  Concerted effort to increase enrollment and retention rates of girls in schools· and strict implementation of Right to Education Act (2010).
•   Reduction of gender gap in secondary and higher education by addressing· dropouts and also linking the girls with various schemes to pursue higher education. 
• Provide free education up to graduation for girls who are under the BPL category.
•  Stregthen Kasturba gandhi vidhyalaya and promote life skills programme in the KGBVs.
•   Revamp Open School system in the State by including special schemes for out of school adolescent girls to continue their education.
•  Provide scholarships for girls to access technical and skill based education· after higher secondary/senior secondary.

III Livelihood/ Economic Empowerment :

• Revision of Rajasthan tenancy act and the land laws in order to guarantee equitable rights for  Special laws and guidelines for Domestic Workers, 90 % of whom are women are· also one of the most vulnerable workers in the informal sector, be registered and be provided with housing and other facilities, along with the employer be regulated for the implementation of the Minimum wages law.
•   Expand Micro credit facilities to both urban and rural poor women.
•   Measures to make all benefits of training accessible to women in agriculture and allied sectors. 
• Special protection to be ensured for working women in night shifts including safe· transportation and mobility services.

IV Political Empowerment :

• Develop mechanism to sensitise the candidates running for elected representative posts on Gender and Gender related issues by the State Election Commission. 
• Gender sensitisation of the elected representatives, Chairpersons and Members of various State commissions and other statutory boards. 
• Regular sensitization programmes to be organised to panchayati raj and rural· development functionaries. 
• Regular Jan Samwvad to be State Women Commission to organised in the districts on issues related to girls and women and address these issues in partnership with District Administration.
•   Designate some of the gram sabhas as Mahila sabhas at the gram panchayat level for discussions on issues related to girls and women.
•   Ensure membership of women PRI members in all the societies and committees· that are being constituted under different programmes of the Government.

V. Safety, Security and Protection :

• Counseling services be provided in all the educational Institutions, hospitals, police stations and any other institutions in need of such services. 
• Establish One stop crisis centers in all the district hospitals of the state to provide· counselling , services and referral to the victims affected with gender based violence.
• Special measures and guidelines to be issued to address the menace of kangroo courts run by the village, jati and khap panchayats including unconstitutional diktats relating to honour crimes and honour killings. 
• Efforts be directed towards developing scientific temper to curb irrational anti -· gender practices based on blind faith ( eg. the notions of dayan). 
• Innovative use of technology/media to educate society towards changing the mindset. 
• Women’s participation is ensured in the planning, delivery and maintenance of such services.

VI Girls and Women with Special needs :

• Give high priority to the overall development (care, protection and education) of young orphans and abandoned girls. 
• Stregthen exsiting programmes under formal and informal schooling for· encouraging girls and women with special needs.
•  Mobilise out of school adolescent girls at the village level and provide platform for them to strengthen their social , health and financial assets.
• Establish linkages for out of school adolescent girls with various skill related opportunities and inform education. 
• Design/ strengthen the existing programmes for the girls and women who are rehabilitated under the shelter homes and short stay homes. 
• Focus on promoting adolescent girls collective to address issues of girls and· women with special needs.
•   Support homes where girls with special needs are rehabilitated to address their sexual and reproductive health issues.

VII Climate Change, Disaster and Calamities :

• Health like all other basic rights is governed by a range of economic, social and political factors. For vulnerable communities, especially marginalized women, the intersection of gender inequality with climate risks results in exacerbation of vulnerabilities; having consequence on the access, availability, affordability, quality etc. with respect to their right to health.
• Policies and Programmes will be designed for addressing the needs of women affected by climate change and natural disasters. 
• Integrate Gender specific interventions in the Disaster Prevention and Management Plans.
• Critical Departments to have separate desk for integrating the Plans related to prevention and management of the Disaster with specific focus on the needs of girls and women. 
• Promte Women’s collectives by the government and other agencies to combat climate change.

                                       Rajasthan State Policy for Women needs a robust institutional mechanism to plan, implement, monitor and review and to achieve the envisaged impact under the policy. As the components of the Policy cuts across various sectors and many of the action points requires Policy decisions , the institutional mechanism needs to reflect the seriousness and the intent to make the policy objectives a reality.