Nirmala Sitharaman’s appointment as the Finance Minister goes to show the PM and the party’s faith in her despite a questionable stint as india’s defense minister. Reportedly india’s budget for 2019 is on its way: and one only hopes that every effort that the BJP has put in to feed massive money churning businesses up until now is also invested in women, with as much priority if not more.
Furthermore it is a serious concern that the 2018 budget chose to allocate far less funding support for the Support to Training and Employment Programme for women, more popularly known as STEP and it wasn’t even a small cut. Try a whopping Rs 40 crore in the 2017 budget to a measly Rs 5 crore in the 2018 budget. It is as plain as day that Nirmala Sitharaman’s priority must centre toward allocating more funds to improve the number of women who enter the workforce.
Moreover another major area for concern is the difficulties women face in returning to work after sabbaticals. Re-skilling is vital for the workforce, regardless of the level in the workplace that a woman seeks to return to. Perhaps only by funding programs that encourage and engage in reskilling, up-skilling and reintegration of women into the workforce can there be an appropriate premium attached to the stability of their careers in the future.
