New Delhi [India], June 25 (ANI): The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors have approved a new program to support the state of Tamil Nadu in India in improving access to quality jobs for 1.6 million women and increasing female labour force participation in the state, according to an official statement.

The Board of Executive Directors approved the new program on Monday (June 23) while highlighting how women participate 32 per cent less than men in the work force.

'Tamil Nadu is undergoing rapid urbanisation with more jobs emerging in industries like electronics and automobiles. The State has amongst the highest rate of female labour force participation in the country and has set the standards for safety of working women in India. However, women participation remains 32 percentage points lower than the male participation rate,' the statement read.

Also, women are largely employed in the agriculture sector, and in low-paying informal jobs, according to the World Bank.

'To achieve Tamil Nadu's ambitious goal of becoming a trillion-dollar economy by 2030, the state government aims to further increase female labour force participation by scaling up efforts to ease constraints to women employment and boost women's readiness for, and incentive to join the labour force,' the official statement read.

Under the USD 150 million Tamil Nadu Women Employment and Safety (WESAFE) Program, more than 6,00,000 women will receive skills training and career support, and 18,000 women entrepreneurs will receive incubation support to set up their businesses.

'The World Bank support to the Tamil Nadu government has helped set up many safe hostels for women in the state. This Operation will expand these enabling services to include creche facilities and elderly care as well as enhance options for safe transport and hotline call-centers for reporting cases of harassment and abuse against women,' the statement added.

'By skilling up, providing more access to finance and increasing the availability of enabling services such as crches, safe hostels and transportation, this Operation will help women meet their aspirations of participating in the workforce and contributing to Tamil Nadu's one trillion-dollar economy goal,' said Auguste Tano Kouame, the World Bank's Country Director for India.

The Program will strengthen State capacity, technical partnerships, and institutional structures for women's employment, including by supporting the development of a common results framework, the rollout of Tamil Nadu Women's Policy, state level polices and a regulatory framework to facilitate investments to expand female laboor force participation in non-farm sectors and women entrepreneurship.

'Furthermore, the Program will support collaboration with industry associations, institutes of eminence and private organisations to strengthen access to and quality of housing and mobility options for women workers, female students, and women entrepreneurs, 'said Muderis Abdulahi Mohammed and Pradyumna Bhattacharjee, the Task Team Leaders for the Program.

The Program will thus contribute to private/public collaboration for women employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. Under the Program, a state-level platform, supported by private capital, will help women gain access to finance and raise awareness of financial products such as loan guarantee fund and micro grants for entrepreneurs.

The statement mentioned that the USD 150 million Program loan from the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity of 25 years with a grace period of 5 years. (ANI)