President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday said the mindset that bringing up children and managing home are the responsibility of women only has to change while noting that in spite of their increased participation they fail to make the cut above a certain level owing to family responsibilities.
Inaugurating a national convention on 'Women as Foundation of Value-based Society' and launching an all India awareness campaign 'Empowering the Family' at the Om Shanti Retreat Centre of Brahmakumaris at Gurugram, she said women have played a very important role in shaping values ??and ethics in Indian society.
Lauding the Brahmakumaris organisation for reviving Indian values ??by keeping women at the centre, Murmu said this is the world's largest spiritual institution run by women and more than 46,000 sisters of this organisation are carrying forward the tradition of spirituality and Indian culture in about 140 countries. She said when women get equal opportunities, they perform on par with men and sometimes better than them in every field.
"She noted that women's participation is increasing in many fields. However, many of them are not able to reach the top position. It has been observed that in the middle level management of the private sector, there has been a decrease in women participation above a certain level," a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan said. The president attributed family responsibilities as the main reason for the phenomenon behind women not able to participate above a certain level in the private sector.
"Generally working women have to shoulder the responsibility of home too along with the office. We need to change the mindset that bringing up children and managing home are the responsibility of women only," she said. Murmu said women should get more support from the family so that they can reach the highest position in their career without any hindrance. She said that families would be empowered only by the empowerment of women and empowered families would make an empowered society and empowered nation.
Murmu also cautioned against rat race for money, power, fame and prestige and underlined that there is no harm in being financially strong, but living only for money is not proper. "Economic progress and material prosperity can give us materialistic happiness, but not eternal peace. Spiritual life opens doors to divine bliss," she said. The president urged mothers to inspire children to become good human beings instead of making them only career conscious since childhood.
She said a mother never discriminates between her children and is the first teacher in the family who not only introduces the child to the family-members and environment, but also inculcates the prevailing values in the child. "Therefore, mothers need to educate their children with right values," she said.
"With the efforts of a mother, a family can become an ideal family. If every family becomes an ideal family then the nature of the society would automatically change. Our society could become a value-based society," the president said.
