BHUBANESWAR: To mark the day and theme of the year ‘#BalanceForBetter’, women and girls came together from different slums of Bhubaneswar to participate in multiple events. The events were held at Saheed Nagar, Kalyan Mandap and Khandagir here Friday.
International Women’s Day invites us not only to celebrate the achievements of women till date but reminds us that gender equality remains a significant challenge, one that is hindering potential competitiveness, growth and prosperity of women across nations.
Sambhavi, an initiative of Humara Bachpan Trust (HBT) organised a series of events to reflect on the importance of gender equality, to celebrate the successes of women, and to acknowledge the work that is still left to be done on the occasion of International Women’s day.
Role models who have laid avid examples of fighting discrimination, attempted to forge equality and achieved their aspirations were facilitated. They spoke about their experiences and encouraged others to take up this challenge of fighting discrimination, while supporting each other as women.
There was a panel discussion on the topic ‘Ending Violence against Women’, and it helped widened the mental horizons of one and many. Youth groups prepared ‘selfie-cards’ with their opinions and powerful messages of women empowerment.
Street plays were also conducted on the theme of gender violence, gender parity, and the psychological importance of gender balance, with a motive to break stereotypes and the orthodox views of gender in society. The events ended with a cultural programme and women left feeling much more encouraged and motivated to make a change.
