एक वैश्विक ब्रांड सुपर्णा चड्डा को स्वीकार करता है और उसकी सराहनीय कहानी दर्ज करता है ।वोल्वो ने सुपर्णा की कहानी को महाबलेश्वर के पहाड़ी शहर में दर्ज किया, वहाँ उन्होंने अपने लक्जरी ब्रांड वोल्वो XC90 को दुनिया की सबसे सुरक्षित कार के रूप में जाना!ऑटोकार इंडिया ने यूट्यूब पर अपने 10 लाख ग्राहकों के लिए महिला दिवस पर कहानी प्रकाशित की। सुपर्णा प्लेटफॉर्म वुमनएन्डरंग की संस्थापक भी हैं। वह इसे एक सुरक्षित दुनिया बनाने के महत्व के बारे में बोलती है और हमारे बच्चों के आनंद के लिए सुंदरता से भरी दुनिया को पीछे छोड़ने में सक्षम होने के लिए।

The post Global brand Volvo : Woman of Substance ग्लोबल ब्रांड वोल्वो: सराहनीय महिला appeared first on Woman Endangered.

‘Hi Ma’am, this is Arpit bhalla from the Gender Equality cell of Hansraj College. I want to invite you as a speaker to the Femme festival on 6th February. I know of the good stuff you do around menstrual hygiene in slums and it would be great if you can take a session through the Femme festival in college too’

‘नमस्ते’

‘हाय मैम, मैं हंसराज कॉलेज की जेंडर इक्वलिटी सेल से अर्पित भल्ला हूं। मैं आपको 6 फरवरी को फेमे उत्सव में एक वक्ता के रूप में आमंत्रित करना चाहता हूं। मुझे पता है कि आप मलिन बस्तियों में मासिक धर्म स्वच्छता पर अच्छा काम करते हैं और यह बहुत अच्छा होगा यदि आप कॉलेज में फेमे उत्सव के माध्यम से सत्र ले सकते हैं। ‘

‘I would be very happy to!’

‘मुझे बहुत खुशी होगी!’

‘Thank you so much Ma’am!’

An enthusiastic voice over the phone of a student, a few weeks back, was all it took for me to say yes to be a part of this unique initiative recently held in North Campus. Being the mother of a college going student myself, I had first hand appreciation of the effort kids made through their cultural fests. Full of energy and passion and a strong will to affect change, I personally condone all such efforts.

‘धन्यवाद मैडम!’

कुछ हफ़्ते पहले एक छात्र के फोन पर एक उत्साही आवाज, ने मुझसे नॉर्थ कैंपस में आयोजित इस अनूठी पहल का हिस्सा बनने का अनुरोध किया। खुद कॉलेज जाने वाली छात्रा की माँ होने के नाते, मैं बच्चों को उनके सांस्कृतिक मेलों के माध्यम से किए गए प्रयासों की सराहना करती हूँ। मैं व्यक्तिगत रूप से ऐसे सभी प्रयासों को प्रोत्साहित करता हूं जो परिवर्तन को प्रभावित करने के लिए एक मजबूत इच्छाशक्ति के साथ ऊर्जा और जुनून से भरे हुए हैं।

And here was something so close to my heart.

Come 6th February , I was much enthused to be a part of the festival and am sharing here some highlights of the afternoon. They speak for themselves and in bits quite literally leave the observer speechless. I promise it will be well worth your time.

और यहाँ कुछ मेरे दिल के इतने करीब था।

6 फरवरी , मैं उत्सव का हिस्सा बनने के लिए बहुत उत्साहित थी । दोपहर की कुछ झलकियां यहां साझा कर रहा हूं। वे खुद के लिए बोलती हैं और सचमुच पर्यवेक्षक को अवाक छोड़ देते हैं। मैं वादाकरती हूँ कि यह आपके समय के लायक होगा।

The Festival of me – LET’S TALK FEMME

The  festival started with Asmita theatre gathering their audience and leaving them spell bound with their 80th performance of street play ‘Pehchaan’.

त्योहार मैं का  – LET’S TALK FEMME

इस त्यौहार की शुरुआत अस्मिता थियेटर ने अपने दर्शकों को इकट्ठा करके की और अपने 80 वें नुक्कड़ नाटक ‘पीछन’ के प्रदर्शन से उन्हें मंत्रमुग्ध कर दिया।

#LetsTalkperiod, is the session that WE took  on menstrual hygiene. The session aims to address taboos and misinformation that may lead to health hazards. This is an ongoing dialogue to affect a change in mindsets. The session helped 2 NGO’s, present at the festival, to change their strategy of distributing sanitary napkins and considering healthier/sustainable options of cups or cloth pads.

#LetsTalkperiod, वह सत्र है जिसे हमने मासिक धर्म स्वच्छता पर लिया था। सत्र का उद्देश्य वर्जनाओं और गलत सूचनाओं को संबोधित करना है जिससे स्वास्थ्य को खतरा हो सकता है। यह मानसिकता में बदलाव को प्रभावित करने के लिए चल रही बातचीत है। इस सत्र ने सेनेटरी नैपकिन को वितरित करने और कप / क्लॉथ पैड के स्वस्थ / टिकाऊ विकल्पों पर विचार करने की अपनी रणनीति को बदलने के लिए, समारोह में उपस्थित 2 एनजीओ की मदद की।

Vipasha Malhotra entertained the audience with the very witty and lyrical rendition of her song ‘Feminism must Die’

विपाशा मल्होत्रा ने अपने गीत ‘फेमिनिज़म मस्ट दाई ’के बहुत ही कर्णप्रिय और गेय प्रस्तुति के साथ दर्शकों का मनोरंजन किया।

There were many more sessions that included Grace Banu , the first transgender in technology in India, Meghna Mehra a feisty representative of DU & India’s first transqueen Nitasha Biswas amidst others. Nitasha is representing our country at the Miss International Queen 2018 in Pattaya on 9th March. Don’t forget to like her video and show your solidarity!

कई और सत्र थे जिनमें भारत में प्रौद्योगिकी के पहले ट्रांसजेंडर ग्रेस बानो, डीयू की ऊर्जावान प्रतिनिधि मेघना मेहरा और भारत की पहली ट्रांसक्वीन नताशा विश्वास भी शामिल थीं। नताशा 9 मार्च को पटाया में मिस इंटरनेशनल क्वीन 2018 में हमारे देश का प्रतिनिधित्व कर रही हैं। उसके वीडियो को लाइक करना और अपनी एकजुटता दिखाना न भूलें!

Till we meet again- be good!

हम फिर से मिलेंगे!

The post Feminism Should Die! नारीवाद मरना जाना चाहिए! appeared first on Woman Endangered.

The Role of Media in reinforcing mind sets through subtle images, texts & communication may not be cause of alarm if you live in a bubble. The bombardment of information is relentless as is the undercurrent of its socio-cultural-economic-political influences of its place of origin.

In India particularly, I am quite perturbed with the quality of media that gets consumed. Personally I stopped watching Television many moons back and now the subscription to newspapers have also stopped.  With content like ‘Sasural Simran ka’ raking in the moolah-  the channels definitely don’t have a problem showing its umpteenth season. Its us and our voyeuristic viewing pleasure they cater to. Creative media agencies are no different. Not very long ago (before the privatization of channels) ad campaigns posed a progressive challenge to the regressive movie content. Today the suave Marketing grads of large FMCG companies are only too willing to conform to stereotypes. Have you seen any ‘mother’ in an ad wearing a sleeveless blouse or have her hair open?

In such a scenario acknowledging meaningful content that offers a refreshingly alternate perspective is the need of the hour.

In such a backdrop, the beginning of this financial year saw me introduce a gender equitable category in most of the awards I curate. To recognize marketing strategies that are taking the onus of challenging status quo. Even if it is just as a one off brand campaign- its heartening to see fresh beginnings. While organisations becoming gender equitable is still a distant dream, a tangible proof of commitment towards targeting debilitating mindsets are a welcome change.

Sanjay Behl, CEO, The Raymonds Ltd. Jury chair #Pitchtop50 complementing the introduction of gender equitable category

Here , I share some of the award entries for gender equitable brand campaigns of 2016-17. For now the brands are being evaluated based on their campaigns or marketing strategies. Moving on, ideally their own corporate strategies regards gender equity will also be considered. The very first in the list here (without a chronological ranking) is a corporate that boasts of being gender equitable in its company policies with equal participation of genders in their workforce (essentially the 2 sexes-complete inclusion with transgenders into consideration will hopefully follow suit).

Apollo Hospitals : ‘Happy & Healthy Mom’
The campaign kick started with a three day art exhibition with works of Artist Kant Risa on the theme Mother & Child, on display at Apollo Hospitals. The guests and visitors at the launch were presented with greeting cards with the imprints of the paintings to pen affectionate messages for their mothers

Ariel : #Sharetheload
Portrays a man’s vision of gender equity. Through a voice-over the father in the film expresses how proud he is of his daughter. At the same time he is apologetic for not stopping her from playing home-maker as a child to remind her that she should not be the only one handling the domestic chores. He apologizes on behalf of him and the father of her husband too for always normalizing this scenario for her.
‘Why is laundry only a mother’s job?’  Dads #ShareTheLoad.

Bajaj Electrical Ltd. : Celebrating Mothers Day
#RightfullyHers was a campaign launched to respect moms and on mother’s day got users to
demonstrate their love for their mothers – by changing their middle name to their mother’s name on social networking platforms. It would be nice if more folks would do the same on other days as well though.

Biba: #Change is beautiful
The campaign was released on social media which cuts through the old school traditions of Indian arranged marriages and touched the issue of gender equity.

The campaign does remind one of the previous year’s multiple ad films under Anouk’s (Available on Myntra)  #Boldisbeautiful campaign

DB Corp Ltd, : ‘Zidd Karo Duniya Badlo’
For many young girls, going to school continues to be a far fetched dream due to lack of resources, as well as lack of support from their families. Woven around this insight the digital film aims to champion the cause of girl child education. The film is a part of the Group’s ongoing ad campaign centred on the ‘Zidd Karo Duniya Badlo’ theme.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance : #ILOVEME
ICICI Lombard wanted to widen their reach through a  survey which catered specifically to the female segment of our society, drawing their attention towards the prevalent health issues. Primary focus was to explore and create a digital marketing ecosystem that helps in replenishing the brand’s database by creating awareness about Health Insurance and affiliated services.

Saffola Life: #Protectherheart
Mumbai couples were urged to walk together on World Heart Dayalong with Shilpa Shetty Kundra & Raj Kundra. Held at the fitness enthusiast’s favourite, Carter Road, the walk set the tone for a new movement as the couples then pledged to walk together daily for 30 minutes as a simple yet valuable step to #ProtectHerHeart.  Saffolalife also devised a Heart Fitness Test, an online assessment tool that used simple fitness attributes as inputs to indicate heart risk as output.

Star Plus: Nayi Soch
‘Gurdeep Singh & Daughters – The film features Aamir Khan playing the
role of a sweet shop owner (Gurdeep Singh). The film promotes the thought, ‘Kaamyabi na ladka dekhti hai na ladki. Kaamyabi sirf soch dekhti hai.’
(Success does not distinguish between girls and boys. It’s the thinking that matters.)

Promos of the campaign also had cricket stars wear their mothers’ names on their jersey. Dhoni, Kohli and Rahane explained why their jerseys have Devki, Saroj and Sujata respectively, written on them with pride.
The campaign on radio had  RJs engage with fathers who have gone against societal pressure and motivated their daughters to achieve success in their area of interest.

Titan Raga: #Mombychoice
Questioning the established definitions, the film explores evolving codes of motherhood. It is about living your life fully, without being judged and knowing that being a mother is not a sacrifice, but a choice.

#Breakthe bias
Clearly points the point that the world sees a woman’s success through a different lens. The film ends with the watch brand Titan Raga gesturing the rising success of women regardless of these odds and also nudges the viewers to change their mindsets.

Tanishq : #Bestatwork
The campaign released on social media, aimed to give a voice to the silent scuffle of working
women against opinionated mindsets. The 3 minute film articulates three, common judgement calls through rhyming verses, “Look at that dress, I wonder why she dresses like a slut”, “Why do you need to work after marriage beta, he earns well enough for both of you?”, “We all know how SHE got promotion.”

Whisper India: #Ownthose5days
While I personally have a bone to pick with the brand name that promotes whispering about a natural process of woman’s body, but here is their attempt to speak out loud against the myths.
The myth being addressed is that of menstruating girls/women needing rest since they cannot perform to their full potential. Real life women achievers share stories of themselves having been up and lively through their periods.

Hope you enjoyed reading/watching through these gender equitable brand campaigns. What is amiss though is an inclusive approach to the entire LGBT community. A great example of this is a recent campaign by Vicks which am sure will win many accolades through the coming year.

Do share more if you’ve seen some good stuff , because good stuff is what needs to be seen!

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