Delegates at the two-day seminar organised at Magadh Mahila College in Patna on Friday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, March 11: Intellectuals today advocated 50 per cent reservation in all fields the only way to empower women.

“A society cannot think of all-round development till women are unsafe. It is not a new development. In the Vedic period, she was treated as a commodity to satisfy the desires of men. The devdasis of temples are the best example of women being exploited in a male-dominated society,” said retired judge Rajendra Prasad, also a member of Bihar Human Rights Commission.

Prasad was speaking at the University Grants Commission-sponsored two-day national seminar on “Need of social security for women in the present scenario in India” organised by Magadh Mahila College sociology department in collaboration with BN College.

“Women can be empowered if there is 50 per cent reservation for them everywhere. If women are empowered, evils like female foeticide, dowry, domestic violence and other problems can be solved,” Prasad said.

“There are many laws supporting the cause of women. Had they been implemented properly, the cases of exploitation of women would have surely come down. If we have not been able to achieve 50 per cent reservation for women in Parliament, what else can be expected?” Prasad said.

Patna University vice-chancellor Sudipto Adhikari, another speaker at the seminar, said: “The amount of social dimension in our country is alarming. Kerala, the state with the highest literacy in the country, also tops the list of violence against women. The Union home ministry has provided these figures. What is happening in Jammu and Kashmir is appalling. The civic society is still silent. Perhaps they are waiting for more catastrophes to happen.”

N. Vijya Lakshmi, secretary, the department of social welfare, spoke about the various state and national-level schemes for women.