The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) here on Thursday to establish a gender resource centre.

The MoU was signed by UNFPA country (India) director Andrea M. Wojnar and CNLU vice-chancellor Faizan Mustafa. UNFPA chief of programmes and technical support Deepa Prasad was also present on the occasion.

Both institutions were in talks for some time on the modalities of the new centre that would undertake evidence-based research in the areas of gender law and policy. It will bring together advocates, academicians, researchers and civil society activists working on the issues.

The UNFPA has promised to contribute ₹50 lakh in the beginning to start the centre.

“There is a problem of deep-rooted gender inequalities and huge gaps in the implementation of various government schemes and policies aimed at achieving the constitutional goal of gender justice. We hope that the new centre will bridge the gap by conducting meaningful research and make efforts to change the ground situation through advocacy and awareness,” Wojnar said on the occasion.

On the other hand, Mustafa pointed out the deep-rooted patriarchy in religious traditions and expressed anguish over the rising incidents of rape in the country.

“Unfortunately, the subject of gender and law is no longer emphasised in the law schools and the faculty, as well as, students are more interested in laws related to artificial intelligence, cyberspace, intellectual property rights and taxation,” Mustafa said.

Speaking further, the CNLU vice-chancellor added: “Mere normative changes in law like the uniform civil code will not improve the situation on the ground unless the patriarchal mindset that treats women as unequal and subordinates is not changed. We hope that the gender resource centre will play an active role in issues related to girl children and women.”