By Bhavya George, Climate Change
This year’s Women’s Day theme ““For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality, Empowerment.” Called for action to unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and an inclusive future where no one is left behind. The year 2025 is important as it also marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This progressive document is a blueprint for women’s and girls’ rights worldwide.
At Keystone Foundation, Women’ Day event was planned in two days. The first day March 7 th focused to deliberate on women’s rights with only women staff of Keystone Foundation, Last Forest Enterprises and Aadhimalai. Second Day March 8 th was for all staff and it included Guest Talks on women issues by eminent women writers Kavitha Muralidharan and Jeeva. As Malathi from Last Forest Enterprise shares, the days were thoughtful, entertaining and provided safe space to be oneself. “Women Day’s event on 7.03.2025 and 8.03.2025
was amazing. The discussions made me feel we have lot of rights and freedom. We should be brave and handle the problems strongly. The discussions and talks also highlighted the struggle women face for equality and the progress they have made”
First day started at 11:30 AM with a short icebreaker and opened the discussion on Women’s rights. This was through a short presentation on Carework data from the world linked with women’s rights. The session was facilitated by Snehlata Nath and Bhavya George. This was followed by an activity to write down responsibilities and rights individually in a sheet of paper which each one resonates with. Some of the participants shared which
column has more listing- whether rights or responsibilities. For most it was responsibilities and for few it was rights.
This activity enabled as start point to look internally and reflect on rights and responsibilities of women at household and society. The discussion continued with world café activity on women’s rights with five groups. Land rights, Financial rights, Women’s mobility, Reproductive rights, and Digital literacy were the rights that each group focused on. Shiny Rehel, Vinitha M, Reshma R, Vidya S and Sneha U facilitated the world cafe session
anchoring each topic. Posters showcasing data at country level on each topic was used to initiate conversation along with prompt questions like, do you think this is an important right? If yes why, if no why not? What are the barriers in exercising these rights? How can we tackle our challenges in accessing these rights? What is the change that is wanted? What institutional and societal changes need to be made for women to be empowered? This was an interactive session and brought in different perspectives and stories from their experience. Land Rights: It is an important right to women as it secures one’s life and livelihood and helps in reducing dependency. Many women are not aware of this right and there is discrimination. Financial Rights: There is no equal wage in most of the cases. There is no freedom to spend one’s own earnings. There is need to learn financial matters and better the knowledge on savings. Women’s Mobility: Mobility helps in accessing
education, employment for women. It also helps in leisure activities. But there are many restrictions faced in travelling and there is fear of violence. Reproductive Rights: There is need for sex education at School and University level. That helps in changing the future generation’s thought and practice on reproductive rights. Self-care is very important including mental health. This right is important as it helps women in deciding about the
pregnancy and child birth. Digital Literacy: Technology is important for women as more of the work is shifting to tech based. But access has been a challenge as there is fear in using new technology. The points that were discussed in in the world café also paved way to think about change. Change in three levels, “Myself” “Family” and “Society”. The discussion point was, where should the transformation begin? We had different viewpoints and responses.
March 8 th Women’s Day celebration started at 10 AM. We had participants. Sneha and Bhavya anchored the program . The day focused on two guest talks. Jeeva and Kavitha Murulidharan. Jeeva’s talk highlighted her journey as a women writer with themes on women’s rights. She brought up points about women’s representation and her rights from historical perspective to
present day. Kavitha’s talk was more focused on her work as a journalist. She highlighted
the struggle for women in media.
Jeeva’s talk highlighted her journey as a women writer with themes on women’s rights. She
brought up points about women’s representation and her rights from historical perspective to
present day. Kavitha’s talk was more focused on her work as a journalist. She highlighted
the struggle for women in media.
As Amsaveni, Subject Co-ordinator, Accounts Keystone Foundation conveys her opinion “The women’s day meeting was very useful. It was a time for us to think about ourselves. I understood that women have the same rights as men. We have the right to property, the right to education, the right to work in any job we choose, and the right to express our opinions. I got a clear idea of how to face the future as a woman “, Two days delved deep
into thoughts, discussions, viewpoints on transforming the women’s rights agenda in terms of legal protection, access to services, change in social norms, stereotypes, and ideas stuck in the past.
