Chandigarh, March 2, 2024: Today, amidst the drizzle of morning rain, Mayor Mr. Kuldeep Kumar, flagged-off a ‘SDG5 Inspire Inclusion Women Rights March’, from Open Hand Monument, Capitol Complex, in which around 200 female volunteers of Yuvsatta, students of GGDSD College and Dev Samaj College of Education, marched till Sukhna Lake. Prominent amongst those who were present on the occasion included Mr. Pramod Sharma, founder, Yuvsatta, Mr. Sandeep Mittal and Jitender Dahiya, Deputy Directors with Chandigarh State AIDS Control Society and Ms. Vitika, Incharge of ‘FSW Rise’-a community-based organization at Manimajra, Chandigarh.

The participants were carrying banners and placards of ‘Women Rights Are Human Rights, No More Violence Against Women, Women Rise, Hear Me Roar, Smash the patriarchy, The future is female!, My body is my business, I’m a woman, watch me lead!, I’m strong, I’m a woman, Women deserve better etc.

Giving information about the initiative, Mr. Pramod Sharma said that they at Yuvsatta are celebrating a weeklong ‘Inspire Inclusion Week’, which started today with the march for women rights and will end on March 7, 2024 with a ‘Ms. Chandigarh Beauty Contest for Women/Girls from Slum settlements and rural areas of the city’. In between they’ll be launching a ‘Girls Parliament at Dev Samaj College of Education, a free medical clinic for female sex-workers, complimentary film shows for Girls Parliaments Members, in various Schools of the city, poster making and art contests.

Prof. Jyoti Kataria of GGDSD College added that today the under-representation of women in leadership roles does not stem from a lack of competence but from deeply entrenched stereotypes around gender roles. Gendered slogans like “think leader, think male” reveal the prevalent unconscious bias in most workplaces.

Vitika the ‘FSW Rise’ President shared that under international treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, governments have a legal obligation to protect women from violence, to promote the human rights of all women and to ensure their economic, legal, social and political empowerment.

The march ended with a pledge to do more work for women rights