“It is sad and unfortunate that women are blamed for rape,” Minister for Women and Child Welfare Shashikala Jolle said in Belagavi on Tuesday.
“We keep reading news reports about rapes and molestation of women everyday. But then, most of these reports blame the victims for the crimes committed against them. We are a nation that worships women as goddesses. We should teach boys about the virtues of gender equality and the need to treat women as equal partners in society,’’ she said.
She was speaking at the Stree Shakti Mela, a rally of self-help group members organised by the government at the Gandhi Bhavan.
“Women are still fighting for equal rights. The huge gap between opportunities available and status of men and women can be understood by studying issues such as female infanticide,” she said.
She said that the State government’s Bhagya Lakshmi scheme had helped families with girl children to a large extent.
“Those eligible families left out of the Bhagya Lakshmi scheme would be included in a one-time settlement offer,” she said.
She urged officers to properly implement Prime Minister’s Matru Vandana and Chief Minister’s Matru Shree schemes.
She said that the government would introduce schemes to empower SHGs in the coming months. She said that the government would issue smart phones to anganwadi workers to help them collect data on the various schemes and submit it to the government.
