Women urged to report discrimination

Nagpur: Various issues concerning women were discussed at an international seminar on ‘Protecting women’s rights: Models from India and Germany’, organized jointly by Matru Sewa Sangh Institute of Social Work (MSSISW), Mure Memorial Hospital and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany, on Tuesday. The seminar was held at Mure Memorial Hospital on the eve of Women’s Day.
The seminar discussed sexual abuse, women trafficking, domestic violence, forced marriage and genital mutilation which affect women and children.
In addition, issues like traditional values, roles and behavioural patterns that often lead to women being specifically disadvantaged as regards their economic, cultural and social rights such as access to food, education or health care were also discussed.
Speaking on the occasion, Vilas Shende, convener and director of Mure Memorial Hospital, said the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) prohibits gender discrimination in all areas of life. Both, India and Germany, among other nations, are signatories to this convention. The seminar focused on the models available in India and Germany aimed at protecting women’s rights and ensuring gender equality.
Shilpa Agrawal, MD, Akash Furniture Group, said, “Women are subjected to discrimination since long. However, it is an irony that women, who play an important role in society, do not disclose the kind of harassment they are facing on most of the occasions. Such incidents should be reported to the authorities concerned.”
In her address, social worker Lata Deshmukh said, “We are aware that women are being neglected by our society since long. Though laws are made to protect them, the implementation is not easy.”
“The honour of rapist should be lost and not of the victim,” said Manoj Kumar, director, Mahatma Gandhi Antar-rashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha.
Various German models were presented by professor Alexandra Caspari and Indian models by the faculties. Students of Frankfurt University and MSSISW were present.
(Reporting by Uday Naidu)