INDIA NEWS
March 16-31, 2021 - Vol 1, Issue 18
PM urged to provide gender sensitive infrastructure
How Bollywood celebs are leading the women's empowerment drive New Delhi, March 7 #IAmGenerationEquality is the theme of the International Womens Day 2020. In the new decade, we are looking at women being their fierce powerful selves and reclaiming all that is rightfully theirs. The past decade came as a much-needed revelation of how women were perceived and what needed to change. Bollywood celebs have played a pivotal role in inspiring the change by voicing their opinion and supporting women related causes: Here is a look at some causes that these thoughtful celebs have voiced through the years: Bhumi Pednekar
New Delhi, March 6: Azad Foundation, a non-profit organization, working since 2008 to provide livelihoods with dignity for resource-poor women in urban areas across India; having trained 2000+ women of whom 1,000+ are working as commercial chauffeurs on roads of Delhi, Jaipur and Kolkata appealed on the occasion of ‘Womens Day to the Honourable Prime Minister & Minister of Women and Child Development, to create gender sensitive infrastructure to enable increased work participation of women. The declining women's labour force participation (From 37% in 2006- 18% in 2019), gender pay gap (23%), high rates of informal work (93%) with lack of social security are seen as impediments to the goal of gender equality and empowerment of women in India. World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report (2020) ranks India at a low of 149 out of 153 countries on economic participation and opportunity but it also estimates that raising women's participation in the labour force can increase India's GDP by 27%. Azad Foundation believes that infrastructure and norms play a crucial role in impeding women's entry and sustenance in the workforce today. According to Ms. Meenu Vadera, Founder and Executive Director, Azad Foundation "We appeal to the Hon'ble Prime Minister and Minister of Women and Child Development for their attention and positive action towards creating gender sensitive infrastructure. We have learnt through our experience on the ground, the critical role of gender sensitive infrastructure in reducing the burden of unpaid care work, enabling access to public spaces all of which increase participation of women in the workforce. To facilitate the same, we appeal for the following interventions" Infrastructure and Quality Public Services that reduce the burden
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of care work 1. Full time creches for children - Allocation of Full Time quality creches for children upto 12 years near homes and workplaces. This will ensure that all working mothers can leave their children in a safe environment. 2. More affordable and safe working women hostels - Needed especially for women from under privileged communities. Increasingly young talented women are looking for employment opportunities that require travelling long distances. Women migrants need safe and affordable working women hostels that can also encourage many more families to let the young women take on careers and be independent. 3. Safe and accessible women's shelter homes -Every third woman, since the age of 15, has faced domestic violence of various forms in the country (National Family Health Survey 4).For women to be able to work, quick, efficient and reliable support is required to address violence they face in their homes. An important support in this is to have safe and accessible women's shelter homes
Through her years in the industry, Bhumi has taken on unconventional roles in movies such as "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha", "Saand Ki Aankh", "Pati Patni aur Who", etc. Issues concerning women are close to her heart and she always makes sure to voice it out. She has used her influence to help support and raise awareness about them. She has used social media as a tool to voice her opinions and support on pollution, climate change, domestic violence. Her latest initiative is to support Whisper's #KeepGirlsInSchool campaign. This campaign talks about how even today 1 in 5 girl's drops out of school due to no menstrual hygiene education and sanitary
solution. Taapsee Pannu Taapsee has established herself as a leading lady who walks the talk. She takes on films that address pressing issues that women deal with. With "Pink", "Mission Mangal","Naam Shabana", and now "Thappad" she has empowered women and lent largely to those causes one role at a time. While promoting her movie "Naam Shabana" she featured in a new video for a popular YouTube channel in which she said that, "Every woman should learn to protect herself, and the only thing a woman needs to apologise for, to herself and not the world, is for not hitting back up until now". Radhika Apte Radhika Apte is extremely dynamic and is inarguably a one-woman army. With amazing Bollywood blockbusters to being the name that is synonymous to Netflix. Alongside this, she has been a strong spokesperson towards women issues. She voiced her support towards the recently announced Weinstein verdict in an interview with Gulf news tabloid by saying that, "It's the right way of moving forwarde A lot of injustice has been done to women and men who go through sexual harassment at work and it's high time we speak about it". Swara Bhaskar
The letter of appeal has been submitted to, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Housing and urban Development.
Richa Chadha Richa is one person you should follow on social media for her strong and defined opinions. Her self-confident is infections and she repeatedly reminds us that we are as empowered as men are even in a seemingly maledominated society. She has also brought to the fore the fact that women are treated unfairly by the media and questioned the media as to why male actors are not asked if they make jingoistic films. She also expressed her disgust toward the incident that took place in Bhuj, Gujarat hence asserting herself as someone who stands in support of women.
Rani Mukerji: Power with women to change how she's represented really fantastic self-reliant women on screen and live their inspiring stories closely. Like me, many actresses over generations have tried to change the conversation about how women are portrayed on screen," she said. Rani feels blessed that through her films she was given an opportunity to change the conversation of female representation in India. Rani's last two films were "Hichki" and "Mardaani 2". She says she wants to continue finding unconventional scripts as these while representing women on screen.
Increasing access in public paces
2. Safe Public Transport- A comprehensive public transport policy that ensures safety for all by promoting more women in public transport as drivers, conductors etc
causes she chooses to stand for. Her fierceness encourages many women to be courageous. On many occasions, she has supported women's rights and issues. One such occasion was a video that she featured in for International Women's Day where she addressed women's sexuality. She said, "People are squeamish about female sexuality. We are embarrassed about female sexuality and the female body, and if someone talks about it in a normal way, the reaction is eoh my God'. The ehawww' feeling (of being astonished) is a big one in the lives of women; it's silly and wrong. It is reflective of the kind of society we live in".
Swara is unapologetic in the
4. Ensure basic public provisions like piped water at household level- to reduce the time taken by women to fill water for the household. 1. Safe, hygienic and functional washrooms that are accessible from the road- at petrol pumps ,local shopping areas and bus stops
WOMEN’S DAY SPECIAL
Mumbai, March 8 (IANS) Actress Rani Mukerji says the power lies with women to change the perception about how they are represented in every aspect of filmmaking. On the occasion of Womens Day on Monday, Rani added that if women celebrated each others success, they would be heard all the more.
aspect of film-making. We have to support each other, root for each other and empower each other, so that the road is smoother for others who want to make a name for themselves in the male-driven industry. We have to celebrate each other and our successes collectively to ensure that we are all heard all the more," Rani said.
"In my journey in the Hindi film industry, I have realised that the power is with the women to change the perception about how women are represented in every
She considers herself fortunate to have got the opportunity to bring fantastic characters to life.
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"As an artiste, I have been fortunate enough to play some
"I have throughout my career made conscious decisions to portray strong women characters on screen who led by example for society. I have chosen to play women characters who can command respect, because of their uninhibited life choices," she said. "I will be inclined to pick projects that have a powerful story to tell through the eyes of a bold, upright woman who doesn't fear voicing her opinions and is confident about being herself," she summed up.
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