Govt. Degree College Sidhra Sidhra

Seminar On The Topic, â€˜Equal Opportunities For Men And Women

2023-02-17

“If you want to get your future right, if you want to be future ready, make sure that women are the centre of the discourse and that women are at the centre of your decisions’ says WCD Minister Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani on first day of G20 EMPOWER Inception Meeting in Agra. In consonance with this statement made by WCD Minister Women’ and as an attempt to translate these ideas into tangible outcomes, Department of Sociology in collaboration with Department of English, GDC Sidhra organized a Seminar on the topic, ‘Equal Opportunities for Men and Women’, under the aegis of IQAC, G20 and banner of Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav. The resource persons for the event were Prof. Shonima Malhotra, HOD Sociology and Prof. Rudrika Khajuria, HOD English. In her lecture, Prof. Shonima Malhotra deliberated that Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. When given the opportunity, women are capable of accomplishing anything. Though there has been progress in this field over the last decades, but the world is still completely not on track to achieve gender equality. She emphasised upon the need to remove all barriers to women led development and ecosystem for women to thrive, transcend and transform their lives and create a practical world of equality and equity where every woman lives with dignity. She further sensitized the students to share the responsibilities to advance the goals of development of women and girls in all spheres of life and to provide them the opportunities to realize their rising ambitions, goals and expectations. Prof. Rudrika Khajuria, in her lecture emphasized on the need to understand the term ‘Feminism’ and its history. She deliberated how although feminism has existed for so long, the fight for gender equality is still continuing in the present times. Despite some people believing that feminism has no place in today’s society, the sad truth is that women globally are still relegated to the periphery. Elaborating on the different waves of feminism, she highlighted the need to address the root cause of gender inequality, i.e. Patriarchy and to confront the conventional mind-set of men being the superior sex. In the end, the lectures were followed by an interactive session with the students wherein they expressed their views on the topic. The programme was organized under the patronship of worthy Principal of the college Dr. B.B. Anand. The programme was conducted successfully with the joint efforts of Prof. Shonima Malhotra, Coordinator G20 Committee with the active support and coordination of Prof. Rudrika Khajuria, member of the Committee.