Andhra Pradesh to host first National Women's Parliament

New Delhi/ Amaravati: Aiming to empower women, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly is set to host the country's first National Women's Parliament in Amaravati where it will connect over 10,000 higher secondary girls with eminent women personalities.

The three-day event will see girl students connecting with 401 women legislators, 91 women Members of Parliament and 300 social and corporate women leaders of India and overseas.

"We have decided to host the first apolitical National Women's Parliament in Amaravati. The objective is to facilitate and enhance the network between eminent women personalities from diverse walks of life and more than 10,000 girl students who will participate from across the nation," Butta Renuka, MP from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, said at a press conference here today.

NWP will host sessions on 'Socio-political challenges in women empowerment' and 'Women's status and decision making power'. It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over live video conference, in the presence of AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

"It is to make young girls realise their potential, and to enable them to take leadership roles in all sectors of life and also to sensitise the society about issues like malnutrition among women and children, sexual harassment, and sanitation among others," Renuka said.

Mamtaz Sanghamita and Rama Devi Sheohar, MPs from West Bengal and Bihar respectively, said that women continue to lag behind despite working round the clock, and that without political or legislative empowerment, complete empowerment would not happen.

"We are lagging behind. In panchayats in West Bengal Mamta Banerjee had introduced 50 per cent reservation for women, which was followed by many other states. But the irony is that never has the 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament has been debated in the two and a half years since I became an MP," Sanghamita said.

K Geetha, MP from Araku in Andhra Pradesh said that the NWP was a first of its kind event and expressed her solidarity to the cause of women empowerment.

"Women play key role in nation building. This is a one of its kind event. Today we are here to express our solidarity towards the great cause of women empowerment," Geetha said.

Former actress and MP from West Bengal Moonmoon Sen said that addressing issues of women empowerment was important because every child, irrespective of the gender, gets their early training from their mothers.

"I always believe that the knowledge that every Indian man or woman has today comes from their mothers and their homes.

"I am very happy that we will be addressing issues and working towards the development of women. The questions that we discuss here are questions that concern every state in India," she said.