International Women’S Day

Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science and Hindustan Fempower celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022with a remarkable packed audience of university students and staff. Dr. R.W. Alexander Jesudasan, Pro Vice Chancellor, enthusiastically opened the session addressing the audience with the objectives of celebrating Women’s Day.

Dr. Sherine Joy, Head Languages and Fempower Centre welcomed the Chief Guest,Ms. Bader Sayeed, Former Additional Advocate General, Madras High Court, Tamil Nadu; theGuests of Honour, Ms. Shobana Mahadevan, Indian Author, Former Project Manager, Ford Company; and Ms. Shaan Katari, Advocate India – Barrister at Law (Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn UK) and the audience. Dr. Sherine emphasised the objectives of Hindustan Fempower and also highlighted the theme of the day# “Break the Bias”.

Ms. Bader Sayeed shared her valuable ideas about gender bias and also gave suggestions to overcome it. She shared her own experiences about being an MLA and how she was subjugated to gender bias in her career. She also indicated that men tend to control women in all aspects stating an example about a counsellor who was lady and controlled by her husband. She even talked about the Hijab issue and specified that how it causes a hinderance to prove one’s identity. Finally, she insisted that girls must be strong enough to face the hardship in their life to prove themselves.

The programme was further enhanced by Ms. Shobana Mahadevan, by stating how we have to handle the bias and also what to do to avoid bias against women. The first step is to communicate clearly so that the others will understand what you require. The next is to have good mentors, who will know what you want and they will guide you to get it. In this scenario you will have someone to certify you. The last is increasing the network. She even insisted that meeting new people and developing the network will increase one’s visibility. She concluded by saying about Halo effect. People always generalize by judging watching you in being good in one thing. They come to a conclusion that you are good in everything. Finally, she advised the students, especially girls, to try atleast once before accepting the defeat.

Ms. Shaan Katari, in her speech briefed about the ICC (The Committee for Prevention of Sexual Harassment on Women and Internal Complaints Committee) for Women. She insisted that it examines all grievances from women especially from staff and students regarding sexual harassment. She further advised the women to approach any of the ICC members if they are subjected to any sexual harassment and she assured that the entire process will be kept confidential.

As a part of this celebration, many competitions were conducted all through the day and winners were selected. Prizes were distributed for the winners during the Women’s Day celebration. Debate and Digi Poster Competition was held for the students and Rangoli competition for HITS women faculty members.

Prize Winners:

1. Debate:

• Title: Does Gender Bias Still Exist in this Digital Era?
• For: Abhiram Ajith Kumar – II Yr. BBA Aviation
• Against: Rakesh K – III Yr. B.Tech. ECE
• Team: Akshaya Balu – I Yr. B.A. Economics&Gnanesh – I Yr. B.A. Economics.

2. Digi Poster Competition:

• Title: Break the Bias
• Winners: Aparajeetha – II Yr.Aerospace & Akarsh Unnikrishnan – II Yr. BBA Aviation./li>

3. Rangoli

• Theme:Break the Bias
• I Prize – School of Law
• II Prize Science and Humanities

The programme ended with the Vote of Thanks by Ms. Nisha Nujumudeen, AP, SLAAS, and the Coordinator of the event.