Sachin Tendulkar to recite Marathi poem promoting women's rights

 

New Delhi: Celebrated Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is all set to lend his aura to the cause of women's rights by reciting a Marathi poem for director-actor Farhan Akhtar's Men against Rape and Discrimination (MARD) campaign.
"Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has taken a stand to bat for a noble cause — discrimination against women. He has collaborated with director-actor Farhan Akhtar to recite a special poem in Marathi for MARD to create awareness among men to respect women and promote gender equality," MARD said in a statement.
"Given Sachin's heroic stature in the nation, his involvement in the campaign will inspire many more to join the noble cause."
The poem has been penned by veteran lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar. Originally penned in Hindi, the lyrics have been translated in different languages like Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi and Marathi. The Telugu version has been recited by Tollywood star Mahesh Babu.
Tendulkar will be reciting the Marathi version of the poem which has been translated by Jitendra Joshi and will be out soon.

For Women, Saudi Arabia's New Metro May Mean Greater Mobility

Public transportation has been found to reduce traffic congestion, cut pollution, fight obesity, and boost economic productivity by millions, even billions of dollars. In Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia plans to build a $22 billion subway system, it may also unleash social change. In particular, it will allow women to travel without male escorts.

Without the right to drive, Saudi women are largely house-bound and highly dependent on male escorts. Violating the religious decree against driving is punishable by arrest; two years ago, a Saudi court sentenced a female activist to 10 lashes after she posted a YouTube (GOOG) video of herself behind the wheel.
Scheduled for completion in 2019, the Riyadh metro may provide far greater independence. Women and children will have their own compartments, separate from men, allowing them to travel the city safely and without escorts and controls, according to Spiegel International. The metro system will include six lines—both above and below ground—that extend 109 miles and fan out across the city.
In addition to the Riyadh metro, Saudi Arabia also has subway projects underway in Mecca and Jeddah. Meanwhile, Riyadh’s Princess Nora bin Abdulraham University, an all women’s school, will soon get its own rail line, which will reportedly be operated by an all-female staff.
All this is further evidence that the desert kingdom’s women’s rights movement is slowly gaining ground. The kingdom last year allowed a female athlete to participate in the Olympics for the first time and in 2011 said women will be granted the right to vote in 2015. Recently, 30 women were appointed to Saudi Arabia’s highest consultative body, the Shura Council, which drafts laws and advises the king.
Still, the country’s religious police may still find ways to curtail female mobility. Earlier this year, Saudi women were granted the right to ride bicycles—”but only in circles,” as the Guardian put it. When taking to two wheels, they must wear head-to-toe coverings and be accompanied by a male relative. They’re also required to stay in parks and recreational areas and to cycle only for the sake of entertainment. Not transportation.

Strong women were pillars behind civil rights movement

 

A lesser-known fact of the March on Washington is that there were two lines of civil rights leaders marching on separate streets on Aug. 28, 1963: one for male civil rights leaders and one for their female counterparts.
Civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height walked down Independence Avenue, while the men proceeded down Pennsylvania with the press.
"Two separate parades were held," said Clayola Brown, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, who attended the march as a teenager.
The March on Washington was a sign of unity and hope, but women were all but written out of the history surrounding that day. Many African-American women took charge of the movement at the grass-roots level, while some worked alongside Martin Luther King, A. Philip Randolph and other civil rights icons.
There was Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women and a key organizer of the march, and Ella Baker, who founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Evelyn Lowery was involved in campaigns with her husband, the Rev. Joseph Lowery. Daisy Bates, a mentor to the nine students who in 1957 integrated Little Rock High School in Arkansas, was active alongside her husband, L.C. Bates, throughout the civil rights movement.
In Tallahassee, the Stephens sisters gained a reputation as leading student activists. Patricia and Priscilla Stephens mobilized students at Florida A&M University to do sit-ins at Woolworth's. They were once jailed for 49 days.
Despite their contributions leading up to the march, none of them was invited to speak at length.
"We need to tell the story of the power of women in our movement," said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
Although male and female activists alike campaigned for civil rights, women typically didn't receive credit for their contributions. Women often took background roles, such as preparing food and training young activists, but they also strategized the campaigns.
Campbell and others are working to preserve their mentors' stories and imparting them to the next generation.
The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation holds a roundtable to discuss women's advancement and train black women in civic engagement. On Aug. 22, the roundtable will recognize the women behind the march and look at the role of women today in an event with the National Action Network, the National Council of Negro Women, Planned Parenthood and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
"It's about building inclusion and opportunity in this country for not just (those of) us who are here, but those coming up," Campbell said.
Before the March on Washington, the leading men of the movement invited celebrities and activists like Height to stand with them before the Lincoln Memorial. Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson were scheduled to sing, but there were no female speakers.
"That's when we really got ticked off," Brown said. "We could sing, but we couldn't speak."
Brown recalled that Randolph eventually allowed for Myrlie Evers, widow of assassinated NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, to address the crowd, but she couldn't make it. Instead, Daisy Bates had the microphone handed to her so she could briefly recognize female activists.

women empowerment

   

Unsafe public transport

 

Yesterday I was coming back to home from my college by bus . There was no seat at all. I had to travel the whole standing throughout my whole journey that was for almost 2 hours. Instead of  letting me sit the men over there didn't even let me stand properly. I was standing in between the two sitting rows. They even didn't let me put my hand for the support. they put hands there where i had put my hands. They stretched their legs and extended their second leg to touch me. Even the conductor didn't spear me. he crossed the line again and again. All men were sitting there and Instead of helping me with this exploitation they were just watching the drama and making fun of me. In the last I got a seat  and that man too stretched his legs. I didn't saw even a single man of right character. I am just not able to forget the bitter experience. Don't why In india girls are punished only for being girl. Just don't know how to keep myself safe in the public transports.I guess i must dress like a boy and keep a big wooden stick with me all the time. Really fed up.

Women empowerment- still a concept

Women empowerment is still a flowery concept in many parts in our country.

Today is my mother's birthday and I want to share something very serious what she always wanted from core of her heart

She used to talk about 'Female's education' in 90's when it was thought to be a waste of time and money for many families.
She opened a school(high school) -which was never approved by state goverment and after her deathit got closed- and provided basic infrastructure for the girls to get good education and at least pass their board exams with good marks.
Initially She fulfilled her responsibility diligently but after sometime it got really difficult for her to continue with that- when number of students increased ,and requirement of more teachers and other stuffs arose-  but she never gave up and kept providing the minimum essential amenities till her last breath.
After her death(7 years ago) the school got closed and a national party convention center is present there now.

We talk about 'women empowerment' but how can it be possible without proper education
Female literacy rate in India is still around 60%(just around 50% in big states like Bihar,UP,Rajasthan ) .
If we solely depend upon Goverment policies and their implimentation I think the condition would never improve,It will not improve till each one of us starts focusing on our locality and ensuring that evey child there should get proper education .

No population stabilisation without women’s empowerment: FOGSI

New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) has said the empowerment and emancipation of women was necessary for population stabilisation.

“We have tied up with government agencies and NGOs in states with poor human development indices to tackle the issue (of population stabilisation) both at the macro and micro levels,” Hema Divakar, president of FOGSI said at a seminar on population stabilisation here Thursday.

Divakar said: “We believe population stabilisation is possible… through empowerment and education. For instance, building and technology enhancement of stakeholders will help reduce the population growth over the next two decades”.

“At FOGSI, we have several result-oriented programmes aimed at arresting the growth of the population. Our programmes are a functional level,” she said.

“For several of our programmes aimed at the masses, we used multiple platforms and the results are overwhelming. We are happy that FOGSI is already aligned with the government’s views on this,” she said.

She also said that FOGSI, in association with the Public Health Foundation of India, has launched courses on contraception.