Women's fund wants more from corporates

South Asia Women’s fund release study, call upon corporates to take up women-centric social initiatives.

To create awareness about protecting women’s rights under the corporate social responsibility, South Asia Women’s Fund (SAWF) — a regional women’s fund — released a five-nation study in Delhi on Monday.

The study called Rights, Shares and Claims: Realising Women’s Rights in South Asia, carried out in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was released by Syeda Hameed, member of the Planning Commission of India.

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As part of the launch, SAWF also reached out to the corporate sector to encourage more corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives targeted at women. A brief regional CSR review was also released.

“We are part of a growing women’s movement in South Asia, and are promoting the cause of women’s rights in the region. It’s crucial to have various partnerships to impact women positively in the region,” said Tulika Srivastava, executive director, SAWF.

The SAWF members stressed on the need for including women’s rights prominently under the CSR programmes.

“We urge the corporate world to support women’s rights by creating resources,” said Priya Paul, chairperson, SAWF. As of now, corporations have a limited focus on women’s rights or on issues related to women.

“Corporate Responsibility Survey of 2011, which was conducted by a consulting firm, showed that India is far behind the world in CSR. Only 16 per cent of its top 100 listed companies have a CSR strategy in place,” said Puja Roy, programme officer, SAWF.

Declining sex ratio, women’s health, apart from reproductive health, violence against women and education are some of the issues that need to be looked at.