Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that his government would carry out a gender audit in all businesses to guarantee that women are paid equally to their male counterparts, a move aimed at courting women ahead of the pivotal Lok Sabha elections.
The chief minister had said that earlier women's education was the top priority during a Face-to-Face program for women in Kochi. However, this is the time to increase the number of jobs available to women in the workforce. Along with assisting the government in creating a plan for pay parity with men, the planned gender audit will assist in identifying the opportunities for women in various workplaces, he stated.
He demanded more gender-neutral positions across a range of industries. He declared, "Women need to have more options in the workforce." According to Pinarayi, Kerala has led the way in enacting laws that support women. Menstruation leave was made mandatory for students at all state universities by the state's higher education agency.
The National Survey on Higher Education indicates that Kerala has the most proportion of women employed in higher education.
The chief minister emphasized that the introduction of gender budgeting for women in local government bodies in Kerala in 1997 was a significant milestone. Pinarayi emphasized the expanding contribution of women to the startup industry. He remarked, "Financial freedom is important for women to gain social progress." Of the recently created firms in Kerala, 40% of the entrepreneurs are women, and of the Rs 8000 crore invested in the startup industry, Rs 1500 crore comes from women entrepreneurs.
The chief minister praised the contribution of women to the great success of the state's Green Army and Sanitation Mission. In light of efforts to communalize faith, he urged women to assume a more prominent position in society. Women may also be in charge of the "social waste" of communalism, he claimed, which taints society as a whole.
It should be possible to distinguish between communalism and faith, according to Pinarayi. Issues pertaining to faith and belief are being portrayed as militant communalism symbols that have hidden agendas. He said that women must play a significant role in educating the next generation about the dubious and cunning attempts being made by certain groups to communalize faith.
