Pranab Mukherjee to open first gender varsity in Kerala

Located in a 24-acre campus, the 'Gender Park' will bring together state and academia on a common platform on gender issues.

India's first gender equality convergence centre is set to become functional in Kerala's Calicut from Saturday.
President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee will dedicate the centre called 'Gender Park' to the nation in the presence of Governor Justice P Sathasivam and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Dr Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, Representative, UN Women for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, will also attend the event.
An innovative initiative with the aim of creating a unifying platform for engaging with gender, the centre seeks to create an enviraonment to share global knowledge and experiences in reducing gender inequalities. Physically located in a 24-acre campus, the park will bring together, state, academia and civil society in a common platform on gender issues, said P.T.M. Sunish, chief executive officer of Gender Park. "Given the proactivity of the government of Kerala in launching effective models of development, it now seeks to be the pioneer in India with regards to gender policy, research and inclusion through Gender Park," said Sunish
A dedicated Gender Institute focusing on research, learning, and capacity development will be a central component of the Gender Park in supporting the efforts of the state and federal government in ensuring an inclusive society. The institute will cover issues pertaining to all three genders as per the 2015 gender and transgender policies of the state government.   The objective of the institute is to link knowledge creation to policy making through a multidisciplinary research and learning process, eventually expected to transition into the first Gender University in India.
Sunish said that the outcome of the research will be backed by the social development model of the southern state that can be replicated across states for it to eventually become a sustainable and holistic development model for India and the world.  The center aims to create a space for research and academia on gender development and equality to create theory and data that can be used to inform government policy and practice. It will work towards collating national and international knowledge, efforts and activities to ensure that there will be research and learning.
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