A conversation themed ‘Men for Women’ was organized today by the Meghalaya State Commission for Women celebrating International Women’s Day 2021, which fell on March 8.
The programme was held at U Soso Tham Auditorium here and was supported by the National Commission for Women, New Delhi.
Speaking at the inaugural session Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills Isawanda Laloo reiterated that the fight for women’s rights spans centuries and it is due to the way paved by women in the past that women today can enjoy liberties like the right to vote, education and work.
She urged the youth to take on the mantle to address gender inequality and bring about social justice. The United Nations, in recognition of the immense role played by women in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, has celebrated this year’s International Women Day with the theme ‘Envisioning an Equal Future – the Role of Women in a Covid-19 world’, she informed.
Despite numerous advances, this is still a patriarchal world and although women have shattered the glass ceiling by excelling in fields that were once considered a male domain, there is a need to encourage and empower the girl child right from the home, religious institutions, community and society at large, Laloo added.
Drawing focus to the problems of the high Maternal Mortality Rate and teenage pregnancies in the state, she stressed on the need for women to talk about difficulties during childbirth and childrearing and the participation of men in the discourse is crucial.
During the day-long programme, different topics relating to men supporting the cause of breaking gender stereotypes; women’s participation in governance; and factors leading to rising cases of crime against women were deliberated upon by the resource persons, who included Toki Blah, Dr Fabian Lyngdoh, Superintedent of Police Vivek Syiem and Donboklang Majaw.
The panelists stressed that it is only through education that the gender stereotype can be broken down even as Blah stated that this is an age of intellectual warfare with the age of muscle power gone.
Syiem said that women’s empowerment is not a competition between a man and woman but a complementary effort to help one another.
Stating that the women can be empowered through education and by empowering them to stand on their own feet and not to bar them from doing whatever men can do, he said, “We have women commandos in our department and women experts in using gadgets like operating drones and, even in the sniper training, it was observed that women have more patience and excel further in this job than men.”
Echoing similar views Dr Lyngdoh said that both men and women need to be educated to break the gender stereotypes.
“There are some men who express a superiority complex on the outside because they have an inferiority complex deep inside them,” he added.
