Awareness &Support Key to Foster Gender-Based Equitable Society
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: 23rd Jan- “The advancement of a woman’s sense of self-worth, decisive power, and access to opportunities and resources largely depends on how much she is aware of and making it happen at every level. Gender and women empowerment should go hand in hand, and women must receive handholding support to rise,” said Ms. Sarita Barpanda, a women Rights activist and Senior Director of Human Rights Law Network, while delivering a 4-days training to the ‘URMI’- a group of grassroots women changemakers in Odisha.
The training, which was jointly organized by Atmashakti Trust, Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha, and Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, Odisha, witnessed the need for collaborative efforts among stakeholders to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in our society, a mandate adopted by the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
The four-day training was attended by over 30 URMI leaders across the state who honed skills in Human Rights, various women-specific government schemes, their functional mechanism, laws and policies for women, use of social media, and other pertinent issues that can address gender-based violence and discrimination in Odisha.
“The Odisha government has brought several schemes to uplift women and ensure their socio-economic and political empowerment, but the recent NCRB data revealed a 23% rise in crimes against women in Odisha. So, it is high time that we team up our efforts to build a just and equitable society, and it cannot happen without the participation of women themselves,”said Henarani Nayak, who leads the URMI initiative in the state.
