This Is What Women Expect From 2022 Union Budget, From Women’s Health Related Policies To More Employment Opportunities
As women we expect the government to uplift us with new policies in all sectors of life including education and finance. The Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget of the year 2022-23 in the Parliament of India on February 1, Tuesday. And we’re all waiting to find out what it has in store for the women of the nation. More so since the 2020 budget witnessed a decrease of 26% in terms of the allocation for schemes for women. And in the year 2021, the allocation came further down to Rs 15,33,260 million from Rs 20,72,610 million in 2020. Keeping in mind that the Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind stressed the importance of women’s participation in the country’s development and also said that women empowerment is a priority for the Indian government.
Having said that, it’s important to understand that as per the Global Gender Gap Report of the year 2021 by World Economic Forum, India ranks 28 ranks lower than it was in 2020. India ranked 150 out of 156 countries in 2021 and in 2020, it ranked 112. Considering the impact the pandemic has had on the economic status of women, the 2022-23 Union Budget plays an important role in uplifting them. So, here are some expectations women have from this year’s budget.
1. We’re hoping that the 2022 Union Budget will focus more on women’s education. While India has a decent overall literacy rate, the female literacy rate stands at 70.30% as compared to the male literacy rate which is at 84.70%. And it is essential to bridge this gap in order to bring equality and reduce the gender gap.
2. Women’s health is also another section that we expect the budget to focus on. The government should undertake measures to educate women about menstrual hygiene, pregnancy, menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), post-partum depression, mental health and other such women’s health issues.
3. More opportunities for women-led businesses will aid in uplifting women. The pandemic has forced women to put their careers in the backseat due to a lack of support from family and child-care facilities. But at the same time, the pandemic has pushed women to build businesses and provide support to the businesswomen of the country and providing them more funding in the 2022 Unio Budget can improve the situation of women in the nation.
4. Incentives to aid the recovery of the women-led MSMEs. More than 11% businesses were forced to shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic induced lockdown imposed in 2020. Moreover, the MSME sector has fewer women-led businesses due to a lack of access to finances and other facilities. Providing access to funds, child-care facilities, safe and secure public spaces, interest-free loans and other such things will allow women to contribute more to this sector.
5. Another thing the 2022 Union Budget needs to focus on is promoting women-led start-ups that focus on solving women’s problems and filling the gaps in terms of what women want and need.
Also Read: Union Budget 2022: President Ram Nath Kovind Talks About Reforms For Women, Female Cadets, And Triple Talaq Ban
6. The 2022 Union Budget needs to be more women-centric and bridge the gap by providing more funds to new schemes and committees that focus on women’s development. This includes providing tax benefits to women to encourage them to save more. This will, in turn, encourage people across the country to encourage the women of the household to engage in work.
7. Apart from providing businesswomen with opportunities, the 2022 Union Budget also needs to provide support to the female workforce of the country. Giving women more employment opportunities would be a great start. This can be done by increasing the recruitment of women in government wings and by evaluating and scrutinising the private sector and making employment opportunities for women more accessible.
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