Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has said that sustainability of initiatives and programmes for empowerment of women is the biggest challenge. At the India Launch of the UN report on Women’s Economic Empowerment in New Delhi today she said that momentum is built up and then it quietly drops.

The minister said that programmes like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’, Stand up Start up ‘ and Mudra have all contributed towards bringing about a difference and contributing towards economic empowerment. Smt. Sitharaman said Ujjwala Yojna has helped in improving the health of women by providing smoke free chullahs.

She said with Jan Dhan Yojna and Direct Benefit transfer government is looking at financial inclusion for economic growth. The Minister also underlined the need for non economic initiatives like the women safety and legal issues which have to be concurrently taken for empowerment.

Sustainability of women's empowerment initiatives requires integrated economic programmes and concurrent safety and legal measures to secure lasting impact. Sustainability of initiatives for women's empowerment is the principal challenge, requiring conversion of short term momentum into durable programmatic outcomes through sustained funding, institutional support and monitoring. Economic programmes - including entrepreneurship supports, cleaner energy access and financial inclusion - advance women's economic empowerment but must be complemented by concurrent non economic measures such as safety and legal protections to secure holistic and lasting benefits.