United Nations, March 5 – A UN official working on women's empowerment has highlighted India's program, which has provided banking services to over 290 million women, as a global model for "transforming the lives of women and girls."
Sandra Hendriks, the director of policy for UN Women, the world organization's arm for women's empowerment, said on Wednesday (local time), "The Indian government's example of enabling digital identification for its entire population of women and girls, particularly those who constitute one-fifth of the entire population of women and girls in the world, is indeed a model."
"The easing of requirements for women and girls across India to have a digital bank account is also a model," she said at a press conference here ahead of next week's 70th annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women.
"Digital financial inclusion is an absolutely imperative and transformative pathway for women and girls," she said.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), now in its 12th year, has provided banking services to women, who now hold 56 per cent of the accounts opened under the program.
This was made possible by Aadhaar, the universal biometric-based digital identification system.
Hendriks said, "PMJDY is a model because it demonstrates the transformative power and potential of legislative change for women and girls. When laws support women and girls to thrive – for example, by enabling them to open bank accounts or start their own businesses – that's when real change happens."
A report from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the status of women, released before the women's commission meeting, focused on access to justice for all women and girls.
It said, "Globally, women have 64 per cent of the legal rights of men, as discriminatory legal frameworks continue to prevail in many countries."
"Progress is possible," it said. "But achieving it requires a focus on access to substantive and participatory justice outcomes for women and girls, centered on the fundamental human rights to non-discrimination and equality, and an understanding of systemic exclusion and power asymmetries."
