International Women’s Day (IWD) Celebration at Kadam Badhate Chalo Locations

This Women’s Day, Let’s #BeBoldForChange
On the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8), PRIA is tying up with partners in locations across India to celebrate, through a variety of activities, the importance of women and girls in every sphere of life.

In Najafgarh, Siliguri, Chitrakoot and Jhansi, issues of violence against women and safe holi will take centre stage in discussions, street plays and youth rallies. Siliguri will also see sports activities, a mothers’ meeting at which findings of a Participatory Safety Audit will be shared and a discussion on the importance of IWD during the morning assembly at Deshbandhu Vidyapeeth Girls’ High School, while a puppet show will be held in Chitrakoot.

In Jaipur, apart from an IWD celebration with an all-women’s group, KBC youth from Baba Ram Dev Basti will speak on the #AisaKyun campaign, which is intended to raise questions about everyday realities and situations that are taken for granted or considered uncomfortable, awkward or taboo. The #AisaKyun campaign will also be discussed in Varanasi with local shops, vendors and auto-drivers.

PRIA will also participate in district-level events in Raipur and Hyderabad, the former involving women sanitation workers and the latter an opportunity to talk about safe workplaces for women. Meanwhile, there are other kinds of cultural activities planned as well. Kalimpong will be the venue for an evening of poetry, dance, folk songs and storytelling in celebration of the brave women of the hills and a theatre and photography workshop will be held in Panipat.     

These events will bring a range of stakeholders together, including KBC youth, women’s groups, schools, partner organisations, and communities to raise significant issues and generate awareness about them, while also highlighting the role and the potential of women in society. More than a hundred years since IWD was first celebrated, conditions for women around the world have changed considerably but staggering range of issues persist at home, in school, at the workplace and in society, issues that must be faced with resolute courage and determination on a daily basis. It is thus a day on which to acknowledge the struggles and the need for continued efforts to make the world a safer, freer and more gender-equal place.