International
Women's Day has been observed in
the early 1900's, a time of great
expansion and turbulence in the
industrialised world that saw booming
population growth and the rise of
radical ideologies.
In 1908 great
unrest and critical debate occurred
amongst women. Women's oppression
and inequality was spurring women
to become more vocal and active in
campaigning for change.15,000 women
marched through New York city demanding
shorter hours, better pay and voting
rights. Since its birth in the socialist
movement, International Women's Day
has grown to become a global day of
recognition and celebration across
developed and developing countries
alike.
Women's organisations
and Governments around the world have
also observed IWD annually on 8March
by holding large-scale events that
honour women's advancement and while
diligently reminding of the continued
vigilance and action required to ensure
that women's equality is gained and
maintained in all aspects of life.
Objectives
The women’s
day was celebrated with the objective
of mainstreaming the gender concerns
in all the issues that PRIA works
on. Therefore themes for the year
were Girl child education, NREGA and
RTI. A special focus was also given
to the women and violence.
Events
The events were
celebrated in 22 locations nationally
in 12 states ( Rajasthan, Himanchal
Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh,
Kerala, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Bihar,
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand,
Uttar Pradesh).Over all it attracted
participation of 6621 people, out
of which almost 6000 were women. The
events comprised of discussions, speeches,
group discussions, panel discussions,
open sessions, question and answer
rounds on the various issues of NREGA,
RTI, Girl Child Education, domestic
violence. The events had the presence
of various government officials like
BDO’s, Divisional Commissioner,
Project Director ICDS, SDO, DRDA officials,
Block Education Officer etc, Elected
representatives of both urban and
rural areas from all tiers Zila, Block
and GP, academicians, NGOs, journalists,
judge, lawyers, citizen’s leaders,
women’s group and community
women. These various stakeholders
discussed on common platform and reflected
on the status and role of women in
development issues. In an event organised
by HARC in Naugaon, parallel 5 groups
discussed over role of women in Panchayats,
economic empowerment, resource management,
development of Uttrakhand. In Sehore
panel discussions on citizens monitoring
and participation, health and indigenous
knowledge and government schemes on
health of women took place. Jamtara
had panel discussion on Women’s
and VEC role in promoting girl child
education and women’s role in
NREGA, while in Janjgir, study on
girl child education was shared. In
an another program in Ajaygarh(MP),
release of book ‘Gender and
Governance’ was done by a network
named Wada Na Todo Abhiyan. In Chalakkudy
district (Kerala) a state level seminar
was conducted on theme ‘Women
and Right to Information Act’.
Issues of domestic violence, female
foeticide and sexual harassment were
also raised in Jodhpur, Sitapur, Mirzapur,
Dharamshala, Mahendragarh, Muzaffarpur,
and in five locations of Kerala state.
The programs
were also enriched by various cultural
activities like songs, dances, plays
etc. In Dharamshala the event had
display of posters, rangoli made by
women, songs and dances. Similarly
in Mahendragarh also WERs enjoyed
themselves through various games and
slogan shouting. Plays on various
themes were staged in Jodhpur, Mahendargarh,
Janjagir, Ajaygarh, Mujjafarpur and
Sitapur. All the events were also
widely covered by media.
Achievements
These events
brought many learning to the participants
and the organisers. Women elected
representatives, other participants
through various resource persons became
aware of RTI, NREGA, Domestic Violence
Act etc. This also provided a forum
to discuss issues of Girl child education
with a wider audience. An event like
these provides a different learning
and awareness generation, which a
regular orientation would not. The
context of ‘Womens day’
gives solidarity to women, reinforcing
the commitment for women’s empowerment.
Presence of various stakeholders also
strengthens the linkages and provides
visibility to PRIA and its partners
as active agents of empowering women.
