2017 National Women’s Parliament held in Andhra Pradesh

In a first of its kind initiative, National Women’s Parliament was organized by the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in association with MAEER’s MIT School of Governance at Pavithra Sangamam in Amravati, Andhra Pradesh with an aim to empower women.

• The three day conclave that began on February 10, 2017 was based on the theme: ‘Empowering Women — Strengthening Democracy’.
• The conclave was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conference in the presence of AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
• The vision of the conclave is to provide a platform to enable and encourage social, political and economic empowerment of women in all strata of the society.
• The NWP is set to come out with the Amaravati Declaration on women empowerment at the end of the three-day deliberations on February 12, 2017

About National Women’s Parliament

The National Women’s Parliament saw over 10,000 higher secondary girls connecting with 401 women legislators, 91 women Members of Parliament and 300 social and corporate women leaders of India and overseas.

• Through this interaction the conference aimed to make young girls realize their potential and enable them to take leadership roles in all sectors of life. Besides, it also aimed to sensitize the society about issues like malnutrition among women and children, sexual harassment, and sanitation among others.
• The NWP focused to generate new ideas, concepts, theories and ideologies for women empowerment.
• The conclave also had seven plenary sessions with discussions on subjects like Socio-political challenges in women empowerment, women’s status and decision making power, building own identity and vision for the future.
• As a part of the NWP, an ‘International Woman Icon of the World’ award and 12 best young achievers awards for women in different fields were presented. Awards were also given to Best Student Speakers and each participants were awarded with the Certificates of Participation.
• Women from diverse backgrounds like politics, arts and culture, sports, education, industry, media, cinema, judiciary and social sector participated in the NWP to share their knowledge and research in the area of women’s social, economic and political empowerment.
• Further, the interaction among women from all backgrounds and girl students helped to sensitize the society on issues like malnutrition, social security, sexual harassment, sanitation, oppression and other gender-based problems.
• Some of the eminent personalities present in the National Women parliament included Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and P Ashok Gajapati Raju, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Shirin Chaudhury, Gandhian Ela Bhatt, actress Manisha Koirala among other.

Expected Outcome of the National Women’s Parliament

Generation of new ideas, concepts, theories and ideologies pertaining to women empowerment.

• Help in strengthening the sense of social responsibility among women of India.
• Documentation of the views of experts and experienced speakers on women empowerment which can be used for policy making process.
• The network between eminent women and girls students will enable them to take leadership roles in all sectors in future