International Women’s Day celebrations were organized by VIT on its campus this year. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
VIT founder and chancellor G. Viswanathan said steps should be taken to implement the law that provides 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies.
Addressing the International Women’s Day 2026 celebrations organized by VIT at its campus here, Mr. Viswanathan said that though women constitute about 48 per cent of the world’s population, they still do not have equal status, especially in the political arena. “Out of 193 countries, only 22 countries have female prime ministers and 19 female presidents. In India, women make up 14 percent of Lok Sabha members and 10 percent in state assemblies,” he said.
The chancellor said that inequality between women is not only limited to political representation, but also in other areas such as education and health. For example, nationally, more than 80 percent of men are literate compared to 62 percent of women. In Kerala, female literacy is 95 per cent, while Bihar has been able to achieve only about 50 per cent female literacy, he said.
Mr. Viswanathan emphasized the need to extend the Tamil Nadu government’s ongoing Pudhumai Penn scheme, which provides ₹1,000 per month to girls in government schools for higher education, to private school students. It will help increase the workforce among women in the country. “VIT, through its Universal Higher Education Trust, has provided scholarships to more than 11,000 students to pursue higher education, 67 percent of whom are girls. These initiatives help prevent early school leaving and child marriage, especially among girls,” he said.
The chancellor said India should improve on gender equality as it ranks 131st compared to its neighbor Bangladesh which secures 24th position in the Gender Equality Index. Countries like Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are in the top twenty.
Prathima Venugopal, Senior Director (Technology Strategy), Walmart Global Tech India, Divya Amarnath, Vice President, Red Bus, VIT V-Ps Sankar Viswanathan and Sekar Viswanathan were present on the occasion.
Published – 10 March 2026 23:51 IST
