Have to hit hard at subtle discrimination against women: VP Dhankhar

New Delhi, Sep 16: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said there is a need to hit hard at subtle discrimination against women and urged the “male society” to change its mindset before it is too late.

He also condemned the rape-murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata and said people must condemn remarks that the incident was of “symptomatic malaise”.

Addressing the News 18 She Shakti Conclave 2024 here, the vice president said after the women’s reservation law comes into force, more women will be part of decision-making and governance.

There will be less disturbance and disruptions (in Parliament and state legislatures), he said.

People who term women as the weaker sex are wrong, he asserted and said women empowerment will be boosted by women themselves.

Dhankhar was of the view that education cuts into inequality. “Gender discrimination has vanished but has assumed certain forms. Overt discrimination can be fought but not subtle discrimination. We have to hit it hard,” he asserted.

“Male society”, the vice president said, has to change the mindset before it is too late.

Referring to the Kolkata case, he said “we must be firmly dismissive and contemptuous of insane thoughts of the kind that belittle barbarity of rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata while in hospital on duty.

“Someone calls it a symptomatic malaise. What a shame. Our hearts should bleed,” he said in an apparent reference to purported Supreme Court Bar Association resolution in which senior lawyer Kapil Sibal reportedly described the rape-murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata as a “symptomatic malaise”.