The youth fest in the city marked the beginning of ‘16 Days of Activism in Odisha to End Violence against Women and Girls’
BHUBANESWAR: A youth fest was organised on the occasion of International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women by Oxfam India in association with BJB Autonomous College and Utkal University here Monday.
The event also marked the beginning of 16 Days of Activism in Odisha to End Violence against Women and Girls.
The youth festival was based on the Oxfam India’s campaign ‘Bano Nayi Soch’, which aims to change regressive gender norms giving rise to violence against women and girls. The youth festival was based on the central theme of ‘Pyaar Mein Vaar Nahi’ and ‘Marzi Bina Shaadi Nahi’ (Love is always violence free; No marriage without consent.)
The festival was initiated by forming a human chain by participants and organisers to show their support for choice of marriage.
Suprava Patnaik, principal, BJB Autonomous College, addressed the audience in the inaugural session, followed by Akshaya Kumar Biswal, regional manager, Oxfam India and actress Geetika Vidya Oholyan. The speakers raised several issues of gender based violence including forced marriages and ended by encouraging the youth to raise their voices against violence.
A youth panel discussion on the aforementioned topics followed the inaugural session. Students from Utkal University and BJB College participated in the discussion. They spoke on several issues related to early and forced marriages and gender based violence.
Students also conducted cultural performances to raise issues of gender based violence. These included skits, poetry and poster making. They targeted issues of forced marriages, girls’ education, and domestic violence.
Oxfam India’s ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’ is a global campaign that begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25th) and ends on Human Rights Day (December 10th). The ‘16 days’ are a reminder that violence against women is a violation of human rights.
On the occasion Geetika Vidya, the lead actress of award winning movie ‘Soni’ which showcased the rage of policewomen against the sexual violence in the capital of the country while at same time being saddled with the responsibility to enforce and uphold the law, said, “A man should nurture the feminine aspect of himself and a woman should nourish the masculine side of herself.”
Akshaya Kumar Biswal, Regional Manager, Oxfam India said Regionally in all of our focus states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, where the campaign is functional currently, evidence from the ground suggests that the trend of early and forced marriage is quite high. Hence, this was taken up for this year’s campaign.”
Key Statistics
- One out of three women worldwide experience violence
- 3 % urban and 34.1% rural women have reported facing spousal violence in India
- Total crimes committed against women was reported as 3,39,457 (2014), 3,29,243 (2015), 3,38,924 (2016)
- According to the 2015-16 NFHS-4 report, 52% of women and 42% of men agreed with one or more of the specified 7 reasons for wife beating.
