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International
Women's Day |
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“A
woman is the full circle. Within
her is the power to create, nurture
and transform. A woman knows that
nothing can come to fruition without
light. Let us call upon woman’s
voice and woman’s heart to
guide us in this age of planetary
transformation.”
Diane Mariechild |
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| International
Women’s Day is celebrated in many
countries around the world. It is a day
when women are recognized for their achievements
without regard to divisions, whether national,
ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic
or political. It is an occasion for looking
back on past struggles and accomplishments,
and more importantly, for looking ahead
to the untapped potential and opportunities
that await future generations of women.
International Women’s Day first
emerged from the activities of labor movements
and the turn of the twentieth century
in North America and Europe. The first
National Women’s Day was observed
in the United States on 28 February 1909,
when the Socialist Party of America designated
this day in honor of the 1908 garment
workers’ strike, where the women
protested against the working conditions,
followed by the Socialist International
meeting in Copenhagen in 1910 that established
the international character of the observance
in a bid to the movement for women’s
rights and to build support for achieving
universal suffrage for women.
Since the early years, International Women’s
Day has assumed a new global dimension
for women in developed and developing
countries alike. International Women’s
Day is a time to reflect on progress made,
to call for change and to celebrate acts
of courage and determination by ordinary
women who have played an extraordinary
role in the history of their countries
and communities
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On
this Event - of International Women’s
Day: The Commemoration of Womanhood, the
UNITES ‘Decisions For Life’
Team in Delhi resolved to celebrate the
relevance oozing from the observance.
With the whole month of March being celebrated
as the International Women’s Month,
the team thought of reaching out to as
many women, through as many avenues as
possible.
While espousing a joint tie up with the
International Trade Worker’s Federation
(ITF) and Northern Railway Men’s
Union, UNITES Delhi organized, participated,
and visited around three women-oriented
programs and tried to promulgate the kind
of relevance the Project holds in face
of the current trends and dispositions.
A brief introduction to all the
Co-Organizers:
ITF: The International
Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is
an international trade union federation
of transport workers' unions. It is one
of several Global Federation Unions allied
with the International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC). The ITF represents the interests
of transport workers' unions in bodies
which take decisions affecting jobs, employment
conditions or safety in the transport
industry. The ITF has been active in both
organizing as well as participating in
causes illustrating issues concerning
women welfare and HIV/AIDS.
AIRF/NRMU: The All India
Railway Men’s Federation /National
Railways Men’s Union consists of
the railway men’s unions working
on the different railways. Over the years
since it’s genesis in the year 1924,
it has worked towards opposing many inequalities
meted out to the railway employees.
HRLN: The Human Rights
Law Network (HRLN) is a collective of
lawyers and social activists dedicated
to the use of the legal system to advance
human rights, struggle against violations,
and ensure access to justice for all.
A non-profit, non-governmental organisation,
HRLN provides pro bono legal services
to those with little or no access to the
justice system. It participates in the
struggle for rights through its various
activities including public interest litigation,
advocacy, legal awareness programmes,
and investigations into violations, publishing
'know your rights' materials, and participating
in campaigns, while participating in social
movements, human rights organizations.
As aforementioned, the whole month being
celebrated as the International Women’s
Month and the UNITES DFL – Delhi
Team extended its celebration of the observance
to three separate Events, spanning over
a period of one week. The team participated
in two events on the March 8 and the third
one was planned and organized on the March
12.
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Event:
International Women’s Day
Day: March8, 2010
Venue: AIRF; Baroda House, new Delhi -
110055
Timing: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Participants: 97
The program organized by at AIRF had on
its panel esteemed railway dignitaries
and ITF representative Ms. Nishi Kapahi.
The focus of the event was to encourage
women to be more aware of rights due to
them. The panelists threw light on the
status of women in India and internationally.
The UNITES Team also took advantage of
this platform to introduce its objectives
to a large and receptive audience. The
team was also given the opportunity to
extend invitations to our Forum on Sexual
Harassment on 12th March 2010.
To promulgate the Project, an information
stall was put up to disseminate information
about women and work related issues. In
addition, the participants were given
out information on the Project, its essence,
vision, and mission, and the promotional
material developed for UNITES and its
Project DFL was also distributed.
The team also attended the women empowerment
module held by the NRMU at Baroda House.
These modules were conducted by Ms. Jaya
Aggarwal, Head Coordinator, Women’s
Committee, Ms. Tajinder Kaur and their
team for their staff. The sessions aimed
at educating women employees of their
rights and the laws favoring them.
The women were
helped to identify and label the difficulties
they face in everyday life. The week long
sessions were kept interactive so that
the participants could freely express
their grievances.
Experiences:
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- This being
the Team’s first experience
at a big event added a lot of
insight on how an event is organized
and handled
- The Team
was able to achieve an in-depth
insight into the objectives
of the program
- It was
a great opportunity to interact
with the masses and gather popular
opinion on the issue in question
– Women Empowerment!
- Men and
women, both participated in
the event
- The distinguished
speakers shed light on several
vital aspects of women equality
and empowerment, which was an
educational experience
- Many vital
issues faced by women were highlighted
and heard at such a huge gathering
- The
large congregation gave us the
opportunity to promote DFL and
UNITES at a higher level
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While keeping
our main agenda and the experiences cultivated
by the first two events in mind, the idea
was to acquaint and guide women through
some persistent and all pervasive issues
and concerns that would in due course
help them realize their true worth and
consequent rights – the eventual
objective of the Project. After discussions
and mutual contemplations, the theme for
such an endeavor was decided upon as Sexual
Harassment at Workplace.
Sexual Harassment at Work place has been
a pervasive and long-standing problem
that has been adversely affecting women
in their places of work. Although the
work place occupies a prominent place
in the life of adult citizens, women continue
to be discriminated against in the workplace.
Women employed in both the organized and
unorganized sectors are adversely impacted
by the harassment. Thus it becomes of
crucial importance to spread awareness
amongst women about their rights as an
employee and about ways to judge as well
as deal with instances of Sexual Harassment
at Workplace.
Event: International
Women’s Day
Date: March 12, 2010
Venue: NRMU Headquarters, 12th Chelmsford
Road, Connaught Place, New Delhi - 110055
Timing: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Participants: 137
In an idyllic
collaboration with all the co-organizers,
a Forum on Sexual Harassment at Workplace
was organized and executed on the event
of the concluding ceremony of the NRMU’s
Women’s Trade Union Committee
on their week long celebration of Women’s
Day.
The
proposed Agenda for the Program was
as the follows:
Invites were sent to all UNITES members.
Activists and all women in the list
were personally called and invited.
As stated,
the concluding ceremony to the Trade
Union Education Program for Women commenced
around 11:00 A.M. This section of the
colloquium was largely dedicated to
what the dignitaries at the dais had
to share with the gathering, and the
results that the week long educative
forum organized by the NRMU had engendered
for the employees in an approximation.
With so many dignitaries at the dais,
the concluding ceremony stretched a
little longer than planned and so the
program extended to a longer duration
thereafter.
The second session, as planned, was
dedicated to the discussion on Sexual
Harassment, with a legal tinge. A lawyer
for seven years, Ms Monica Joshi, the
proprietor for the session works with
the Human Law Rights Network, and specializes
in cases related to Women’s Rights
and Child Justice. A detailed insight
was provided by Ms. Monica about Sexual
Harassment, while focusing on the following
aspects primarily:
What is Sexual Harassment: an answer
to what was quite a revelation –
anything that is not approved by an
employee or is thought to be resulting
from an inappropriate intention comes
under the bracket of being ‘sexually
harassed’. This was demonstrated
with quite a few practical examples
and case studies. The session was particularly
interactive, for techniques like role
play were liberally utilized. This particular
aspect was perceptibly told and found
to be related to various social mores
and restrictions with regard to the
gender role and perception.
This was followed
by a detailed discussion first on the
role of an individual and second, on
the employer or the workplace as a whole
in combating Sexual Harassment at Workplace.
This included the composition and the
distinguished responsibility of the
committee on Sexual Harassment: on what
comes under the purview of the committee
and what falls outside it. The guidelines
laid down by the Vishaka Judgment and
its implications were briefly discussed.
With this, the lunch break was announced
and commenced.
The second session on the Forum was
dedicated to the discussion of a few
relevant case studies that created ripples
through the Indian Judiciary System.
With this, the Forum was left open to
the discussion on the same to the participants.
A lot many concerns emerged and persevered
through the discussion, some of which
got addressed, and the others left to
personal discretion. Women basically
reflected upon the practical aspects
of dealing with an issue as pervasive
and restrained as Sexual Harassment.
Some participants even shared experiences
where efforts employed to deal with
such instances were trampled and done
away with! Few participants even disagreed
with what the Speaker had to proffer
on the legal aspects regarding dealing
with Sexual Harassment. Participants
even contemplated over the misuse of
a committee like that on Sexual Harassment
at workplaces by female employees. In
short, numerous concerns arose and were
duly addressed by the Speaker and fellow
participants.
The participants were handed out an
Information Booklet developed especially
for the forum that included information
about the Project, the co-organizers,
on what is Sexual Harassment, the Vishaka
Guidelines, guidelines for assemble
a Sexual Harassment Committee at Workplace,
a Helpline Index constituting few important
helpline numbers, and a mention of a
few case studies on Sexual Harassment.
Besides this, the Project concept notes,
UNITES Pamphlets and contacts were distributed
individually to all the participants
for future reference. The participants
were also felicitated with DFL bookmarks
and some stationery.
This was followed by a short session
on conclusion and felicitation of the
Speakers and other dignitaries present
on the dais.
Experiences:
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- The
event was first of its kind,
so definitely taught a lot many
things to remember and carry
forward.
- Despite
preparations being done well
in advance, invites distributed,
and both online as well as offline
promotion fostered, there wasn’t
an equal or even at least a
symmetrical representation from
all the eight occupational groups
under the purview of the Project.
- The
program was organized on a weekday,
the employees couldn’t
confirm their participation,
and the turnout was hence lower
than what was expected.
- Although
the participant-turnout was
large, around 137, but as aforementioned,
the representation was lopsided,
with mostly employees from the
transport sector participating
in the Event.
- The
large numbers went a bit unmanageable
in the middle, and towards the
end. A better mix of people
would be beneficial in the future.
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The speaker, Ms. Monica Joshi,
was very experienced in her
field and her knowledge on Sexual
Harassment was vast.
- Meeting
the same group twice in the
week was a good idea as it led
to a certain amount of familiarity.
This familiarity and follow
up led to better trust in the
project as well. The women present
were more interested in learning
about DFL and UNITES.
- The
Information booklet was a good
idea. Apart from educative materials,
it also highlighted the project
and its objectives, and the
Contact details of the Unites
Team.
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