India, US to put women’s issues in strategic dialogue

India and the US have agreed that issues related to women’s empowerment should be integrated into all aspects of the India-US Strategic Dialogue.

The agreement was reached at the third meeting of the India-US Women’s Empowerment Dialogue (WED) held Monday in New York, according to US State Department.

The Dialogue was co-chaired by Neela Gangadharan, Secretary of India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development, and Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues in the State Department.

They attended the 56th session of the UN Commission on Status of Women in New York.

The two discussed issues related to women’s social and economic empowerment, political participation of women, early childhood education, skill development of women and girls and strengthening of institutional linkages and exchanges, the State department said.

“They reviewed the progress that institutions in the US and India have already achieved and discussed new ideas to take the dialogue forward,” it said.

“The two co-chairs agreed that issues related to women’s empowerment should be integrated into all aspects of the India-US Strategic Dialogue,” it added.