Eleventh Five Year Plan

6Towards Women’s Agency and Child RightsINTRODUCTION6.1 Women are significant contributors to the growingeconomy and children are assets of the future. Almost50% of our population today comprises womenwhile 42% is under the age of 18. For growth to betruly inclusive, we have to ensure their protection, wellbeing,development, empowerment and participation.6.2 India has committed to meeting the MDGs andis a signatory to many international conventions,including Convention for Elimination of all forms ofDiscrimination against Women and the Conventionon the Rights of the Child. Yet, at the start of the EleventhFive Year Plan, women and children continue tobe victims of violence, neglect, and injustice. The EleventhPlan will address these problems by looking atgender as a cross-cutting theme. It will recognizewomen’s agency and the need for women’s empowerment.At the same time it will ensure the survival, protection,and all-round development of children of allages, communities and economic groups.APPROACH TO THE ELEVENTHFIVE YEAR PLAN6.3 The vision of the Eleventh Five Year Plan is to endthe multifaceted exclusions and discriminations facedby women and children; to ensure that every womanand child in the country is able to develop her fullpotential and share the benefits of economic growthand prosperity. Success will depend on our ability toadopt a participatory approach that empowers womenand children and makes them partners in their owndevelopment. The roadmap for this has already beenlaid in the National Policy on Women 2001 and theNational Plan of Action for Children 2005.6.4 The Eleventh Plan recognizes that women andchildren are not homogenous categories; they belongto diverse castes, classes, communities, economicgroups, and are located within a range of geographicand development zones. Consequently, some groupsare more vulnerable than others. Mapping and addressingthe specific deprivations that arise from thesemultiple locations is essential for the success of plannedinterventions. Thus apart from the general programmeinterventions, special targeted interventions cateringto the differential needs of these groups will be undertakenduring the Eleventh Plan.6.5 The gender perspectives incorporated in theplan are the outcome of extensive consultations withdifferent stakeholders, including a Group of FeministEconomists. In the Eleventh Plan, for the first time,women are recognized not just as equal citizens but asagents of economic and social growth. The approachto gender equity is based on the recognition that interventionsin favour of women must be multi-prongedand they must: (i) provide women with basic entitlements,(ii) address the reality of globalization andits impact on women by prioritizing economic empowerment,(iii) ensure an environment free from allforms of violence against women (VAW)—physical,