Include men in discourse on women’s rights for gender equality, says Nayak

Raipur: A man behind a successful woman is equally significant as having a woman behind every successful man, says Dr Kiranmayee Nayak, Chairperson of Chhattisgarh Women’s Commission. She was speaking at the two-day national consultation on ‘Gender Inclusion and Women Empowerment’, jointly organized by UNICEF and Chhattisgarh Police, to mark the International Women’s Day in Raipur today. 

Dr Nayak said the active role of men in women’s rights discourse is key to building an enabling and gender-inclusive society. She added saying it is equally important that men stand firm behind every successful woman as women stand behind every successful man. 

UNICEF Chhattisgarh Cheif Job Zachariah said that breaking socially constructed gender roles for women like cooking, should change for bringing gender equality in true sense. “ We need to create social norms in family and community to promote the rights of women. We must ensure the education of girls at least up to 18 years, create safe spaces for women and ensure women get regular income” he said. 

Speaking on the occasion,Additional DGP, Chhattisgarh Himanshu Gupta, said we should all strive to build women-friendly and women sensitive workplaces, homes, businesses, communities towards making safe for women and girls. 

The consultation was held under the ‘Abhivyakti’ initiative by the CID, the government of Chhattisgarh in collaboration with UNICEF launched in 2021. The objective of the initiative is to raise awareness and sensitise the public, especially children, on women and girl safety. The initiative has reached 300000 people so far.

In the last year, Abhivyakti has expanded its reach in phases, including launching of Abhivyakti app, 10 videos on Child Protection & Child Safety, Certificate Course on Child Protection and Gender Based Violence, a helpline for citizens, Sensitization at schools, colleges, public spaces, Pink Gasht.

Himani Khanna, DIG, CID presented the achievements of the Abhivyakti initiative. 

The national consultation will hold deliberations on varied topics by experts from across the country. The topics include COVID19 impact on adolescents and women, legal procedures to deal with gender-based violence, building safe spaces for women and children, cybercrime, the LGBTQA+ perspective and the role of media in addressing violence against women. 

The experts include Pradeep Gupta, IPS, Additional Director General, Chhattisgarh, Van Chi Pham, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, RK Vij, Retired IPS officer, Arushi Athwal, Counsel to Secure Justice, and Vineet Kumar, President, Cyber Peace Foundation and others.