After 2 online sessions with the ITI institutes in Kanpur and Calcutta. We had the opportunity to conduct a live session with engineering students of Vishvakarma Institute of Technology in Pune. Travelling from the scorching heat in Delhi to a surprisingly pleasant Pune (a western disturbance lowered the temperatures) was a respite.

Before the workshop, I had the opportunity to interact with department heads and the faculty of the institute over some delicious vada pav. It was indeed very heartening to know that all AICTE approved engineering colleges need to have 33% girls. The curriculum now includes human values, ethics and philosophy since, 2017.

The session itself was helped organised by ‘The Diva Club’ from the institute and was attended by over 300 students that sat through the hour-long session in rapt attention. Post the session groups of boys and girls engaged personally with me discussing experiences and the collective way forward. It was heartening to see some share their individual stories promising that they WILL stand up for what’s RIGHT. Not turning a blind eye in case they see a miscreant causing trouble.

Through the session, we also shared tips from IPS officer Chhaya Sharma on what to do in case of an unfortunate incident of sexual violence. The overall content covers aspects of, What constitutes violence against women?; Violence a woman may face throughout her life; Why we need to talk about this?; and What can we, do?

I was accompanied to Pune by a bright young girl from JOSH Talks who is a master’s student herself and is interning with the organisation. Vanshika, made sure the session went on without a glitch and we look forward to visiting more colleges across the length and breadth of the country soon. Rest assured, will keep you posted!

Btw- SABERA (Social and Business enterprise Responsible Awards) registrations are open and have received a super response from MNCs and homegrown entities big and small – to help us recognise the GOOD you do! Register here>>

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The shoot was creatively ideated and executed collectively by photographer Kuldpeed Rohilla along with stylist Jhanvi Bansal. While all the women wore white, all the frames were individually designed to visually express each of their journeys and highlight their personalities.

“It has been an honour for me and since this is the first-ever creative to go out of India, I am particularly thrilled about it”, says Kuldeep Rohilla, the lead photographer of this campaign.

Suparnaa, the founder of the Simply Suparnaa © Media Network, a UN Women awardee, is a media professional who gave up a senior executive role to start an alternative platform promoting GOOD content beyond sensationalism. A Shakti initiate, she has trained in the ancient wisdom of Sankhya Shastra by her Guru Shree Umeshwar Shrivastav.  She has also been conducting pro bono Menstrual hygiene sessions in marginalized as well as corporate sectors and institutions as part of the nonprofit trust Woman Endangered for the past 8 years.

The other women featured in the campaign include Sheetal, who has faced all odds to start doing medical clowning for ailing kids and patients in hospitals to make them feel mentally better in pain.

Suviena, is an A-league B-school graduate and has quit a full-time high paying career to do something that she finds fulfilling i.e., teaching

Rudrani, who has started the first transgender modelling agency in India.

Yash, who is a drag artist and started the first transgender salon in Delhi.

Zareen, one of the few ASI and government-licensed women tourist guides in India

Urmi,  a journalist and a researcher turned author of the acclaimed book – “After I Was Raped”, and winner of UN Laadli Award

 Silpa,  an IP Lawyer and a theatre actor, is in a long-distance marriage for the last 3 years just to give back to the theatre community of India

Bruna is a young tattoo artist who has led a life of a man for 25 years but identifies as a woman now. She strongly believes in the concept of Shiva and Shakti being one and hence believes that though the body is of a man, a woman also resides within her.

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Ever since the pandemic, WE adopted the workshop in an online mode through presentation and videos. This was the first session that was conducted in person post the pandemic. The session was attended by the mothers of the children studying in Voice of Slum (VOS).

VOS provides a bridge between introducing children of the slums to a formal system of education. They accept children of all age groups and after a couple of years of orientation help them get admitted to mainstream schools or vocational courses. The session was clubbed with the parent-teacher meeting.

The 2-hour interactive session encouraged the mothers to share their doubts and experiences creating an open and safe space for an exchange of knowledge. The topics covered included physiology, the periodic cycle, the common ailments, some yog asanas and home remedies along with information on sustainable menstrual solutions and feminine hygiene. An important aspect of the session is to understand facts beyond mere superstition.

Premium quality Medical grade silicone cups were also distributed to take care of the women’s feminine hygiene for the next 8 to 10 years. The proper usage and care were also demonstrated on a silicone female reproductive organ replica.

To support our initiative contribute here.

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The Network consciously works towards creating a positive narrative away from sensationalism. सबेरा SABERA, is a one-of-its-kind annual social impact award and summit which highlights SDG & ESG aligned work across the country. Amidst others, the network stands for causes enabling gender sensitivity as promoted by Woman Endangered. An initiative to affect behavioural change and enhance gender equity. With a keen spiritual bent, I am training in Shaktism under my Spiritual Mentor, Shree Umeshwar Shrivastav, and have also formally studied the Sankhya Shastra under his tutelage. I strongly believe that leadership and spirituality are interconnected and have the potential to bring a larger change in society.

From engaging with girls from economically weaker sections, daughters of sex workers, rag pickers, launderers or gardeners to employing women who have had to take a career break. From documenting steps in the unfortunate incident of Rape as explained by the Super Cop Chhaya Sharma who busted Nirbhaya’s perpetrators to conducting menstrual hygiene sessions in slums and offices. And of course, acknowledging Gender equitable campaigns and companies across the country. I remain grateful for your support and belief in my work. I have had help from different corners of the industry and as I receive this acknowledgement – I thank you from the bottom of my heart for it wouldn’t have been possible without your direct support or the warmth of your blessings.

Yours Sincerely,

Suparnaa Chadda

The post Simply Suparnaa © Awarded by UN Women appeared first on Woman Endangered.

With all-women panels, the event organised by eShe boasts of a stellar list of historians, economists, academicians, authors, activists, artists, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, lawyers, educationists, and media personalities from 13 countries. The virtual Summit aims to bring together eminent women from around South Asia and the diaspora to discuss solutions for peace, social justice, gender equality and a unified South Asia.

Prominent speakers include renowned Indian educationist and peacebuilder Dr Meenakshi Gopinath, pioneering Pakistani feminist lawyer Hina Jilani, Bangladeshi environmentalist Khushi Kabir, and former commissioner of Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission Ambika Satkunanathan.

The Summit is timed to coincide with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the UN’s International Day of Non-Violence. It will be broadcast live over social media and will be preceded by a talk by three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr Scilla Elworthy, who is also one of the advisors for the peace initiative.

The initiative is supported by WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace, an initiative of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility), which advocates a humane, democratic and gender-sensitive discourse on peace and security. Collaborators include journalist-filmmaker Beena Sarwar, who founded South Asia Peace Action Network (Sapan) earlier this year, and who will also be speaking at the event.

The 12 panels take up key issues of the time, from the impact of religious extremism on women’s rights, to the urgent need for digital literacy for girls in South Asia. Drawing lessons from the region’s history, scholars such as Rita Manchanda from Delhi, Ravinder Kaur from Copenhagen and Salima Hashmi from Lahore will also discuss how not to repeat the crimes and injustices of the past.

Leslee Udwin, the award-winning British filmmaker of documentary India’s Daughter based on the 2012 Nirbhaya case; Fawzia Naqvi, Pakistani economic policy advisor and former vice president, Soros Economic Development Fund; and prominent academic Dr Radha Kumar, conflict-resolution consultant to the Indian government, will also share their views and experiences.

Representation of women in media and pop culture will also be taken up on a panel that includes actor-author Saloni Chopra. Indian actor and casting director Dolly Thakore and Canadian-Pakistani social activist Samra Zafar will share their experiences at a panel on single motherhood in South Asia, which is timely in the context of a West Bengal actor-politician being trolled for having had a child out of wedlock last month.

Other panels like ‘Voice and Vulnerability: Women Activists in Times of Conflict’ and ‘The Burden of Tradition: Gender Equality and Social Justice in South Asia’ shall be discussed keeping in mind the current situations prevailing in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Participants include Veena Sikri, former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh and convener of the South Asia Women Network; and philanthropist and peace activist Sarita Kumari Sodha, who hails from a Rajput family in Sindh, Pakistan, and is married into the Ghanerao royal family in Rajasthan, India.

Enabling humanistic leaders is also being covered in a session that includes speakers such as actor-producer Vani Tripathi Tikoo, whose outreach programmes focus on encouraging participation of women and youth in politics.

Serving as a platform for women’s leadership for over four years, eShe had earlier organised its Indo-Pak Peace Summit Led by Women in January 2021, which had included talks and discussions by Academy Award-winning filmmakers, renowned authors, humanitarians and feminist activists from India and Pakistan, including Mehreen Jabbar, Sabiha Sumar, Alankrita Shrivastava, Avni Sethi, Sheela Reddy and Moni Mohsin.

eShe has since expanded its scope to include all of South Asia, where traditional social injustices along with continuous political conflict have perpetuated oppression and inequality for large sections of the population.

“Conflict, war and militarisation come at an unimaginable cost – to life, resources, freedom, social justice and the basic principles of humanity. It is women who suffer the consequences of war, violence and extremism the most, and it is time women stepped up to build peace in South Asia using the power of feminine wisdom, the spirit of solidarity, and a vision tinted with empathy,” says Aekta Kapoor, founder of eShe and the nonprofit initiative South Asia Union, which aims to bring together peacebuilders and particularly women from the region to work towards a political and economic South Asian Union, on the lines of the European Union, by 2030.

She adds that South Asia Union Summit Led by Women will now be an annual event to facilitate people-to-people contact across borders, create a safe space for dialogue, and enable courageous conversations on social and political change.

Suparnaa Chadda, Founder trustee, Woman Endangered, is also amidst the speakers across South Asia. A well-known face in the Indian media and also the founder of the annual SABERA Awards that reward individuals and organisations creating social impact and working towards the UN’s SDGs.

She is moderating the session Open for Business: Peace, Economic Growth and Regional Prosperity on October 2nd at 5 pm IST/ 11:30 am GMT

The entire event schedule and list of speakers can be found at: https://bit.ly/3kfG78x

You can Follow eShe @esheworld on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or LinkedIn for the live broadcast.

You may also like to read Leadership and Responsible Business

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The session was organized on 6th March 2019 with the support of Bal Aarogya in a community center, offering a safe, ventilated, and well-lit hall for the interaction amidst women. The session used the medium of placards with bright contextual images supported with font in Hindi describing the essence of periods. 30 medical-grade silicone cups were also distributed to take care of her feminine hygiene need for the next few years sustainably. A model of the reproductive system is also used through these sessions to introduce physiology as well as explain the usage of the menstrual cup. The last leg of the session was dedicated to watching a specially created video on yog asanas and simple home remedies to address common ailments experienced through the period.

The session is designed to cater to the specific target audience. The 120-minute module is divided into 3 parts such that it covers most aspects of feminine hygiene. Over the years, however, the feedback from the beneficiaries has become the most important part of the workshop. Almost 60 minutes are now dedicated to exchanging notes and addressing questions so that was also the case in Trilokpuri.

If you are working with communities that can benefit from these sessions do connect us and we would be happy to conduct a session albeit virtually now given the pandemic. You can write to us at womanendangered@gmail or suparnaa@simplysuparnaa.com and lets get talking about PERIODS !

The post Period Talks before Lockdown appeared first on Woman Endangered.

The post-COVID 19 world has been one of retaining and redesigning the world as we knew it. Digital and virtual have become the keywords with work from home taking precedence like never before. So has also been with the case for the #LetsTalkPeriod menstrual hygiene workshop that took its first step towards going virtual.

It also was an opportunity to upgrade our skills and I personally utilized the opportunity to take a Harvard X course of 8 weeks Titled ‘Hinduism through its scriptures’. While the subject was of interest to me given my enthusiasm for the ancient wisdom of the subcontinent, it also exposed me to the techniques of pedagogy from the best in the world of education!

While designing the digital session on #LetsTalkPeriod I drew from the style of teaching online that Harvard engages in as well as dug deeper into the ancient wisdom and menstruation. The result was a digital session with 3 main parts. Namely

Menstruation & Ancient Wisdom: Drawing from references from the past

Myths vs Fact: Delineating physiological Facts, cycle, and addressing negative associations or mindsets.

Sustainable Solutions: Creating awareness about the solutions commonly available and sustainability

The session addressing SDG 3, 10 & 11 was conducted for 30 teachers of SSMI a Government and MCD aided school. It was highly interactive given the originally planned session for 2 hours overshot and we spent over 4 hours through the session. I had also given an assignment of creating an artwork that weaves the 7 notes of music with the essentials on menstruation for easier understanding and absorption of the concepts shared. The winner got a medical-grade silicone menstrual cup as a prize for the same.

Here are some of the reviews from the session attendees.

It should be held regularly ‘It’s important to make both genders aware of the science behind menstruation. It is equally important for boys, to help remove all taboos or preconceived notions about periods. They should understand that its a part of a woman’s life and absolutely normal. ‘

Very informative ‘There is a lot of misconception about the menstrual cycle, but after this session, all are removed. Before this, I had too many ifs and buts but now, I am very much clear. Such an informative and Wonderful session it was.’

Platform to speak openly ‘It’s an awesome session. Thank you ma’am for giving a platform where we can speak about menstrual issues openly and unhesitantly. Your effort will change many more generations. As a teacher, we must talk about this issue and change the mindsets of people.’

Everybody bleeds so #LetsTalkPeriod

The post #LetsTalkPeriod Virtually appeared first on Woman Endangered.