The Tenth Plan (2002-07)

A Working Group on Empowerment of women was constituted to prepare a base paper, to provide guidelines for future programmes for women's empowerment. This paper has made the following recommendations:

♤ Women must be helped to equip themselves to face the challenges being thrown up by globalization.

♤ Even through a number of development policies and programmes have been formulated to empower women, not all women could make use of these programmes because of the prevailing social discrimination against them. So investments on health, education and capacity building must be stepped up in future.

♤ During the last 10 years there has been a decline in expenditure on health, education and welfare. Since this affects women's development seriously, efforts must be made to increase investments on those sectors, which actually help women's development.

The concept of Gender Budgeting was also incorporated during this Plan. Alongside NREGA scheme specially targeting women was also started.