New Delhi, Feb 25: The first edition of Women Writers Festival brought together discussions on some significant issues around women under one roof here.
The two-day festival that began on Friday is a result of a collaboration between SheThePeople.TV and the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women and is sponsored by Colors TV.
The second day opened with panel of men titled “A Manel of Feminists: Why they must join the fight” with Prithvi Shergill, Raheel Khursheed, Sattvik Mishra and Tanmoy Goswami. The discussion highlighted gender imbalances and stereotypes that need to be fixed to throw up new possibilities for both men and women.
Shifting the focus to safety, mobility and a city’s micro-culture, the next session was titled “Woman and the City,” moderated by Nishita Jha. Speakers Shweta Punj, Christina Fernandez (RJ Chris), Shubhra Gupta, Meenu Vadera and Mala Bhargava shared their views on how cities can be converted into better places for women to live, work and play.
The next session titled “Too cute for money?: Whip your personal finances into shape” moderated by Shreyasi Singh debunked the stereotypes that women don’t have a head to earn money. Speakers Monika Halan and Faye D’Souza talked about why there is a need for women to be financial savvy for their own dignity and independence.
“The politics of sexual harassment: Fighting stigmas, stereotypes and status quo” was moderated by Shaili Chopra. A panel of journalists, lawyers and corporate policy makers- Nirupama Subramanian, Nikita Saxena, Malvika Rajkotia and Aparna Jain - shared their views on this explosive issue.
This was followed by an extremely critical session on “Motherhood: The ultimate battleground” where prominent authors Bee Rowlatt, Sonya Dutta Choudhary, Yashodhara Lal and Natasha Badhwar and Nirupama Subramanian discussed how balancing motherhood makes it difficult to navigate the workplace.
The Women Writers’ Festival 2017 came to a close with a mesmerizing performance “Bas Tu Hii: The Feminine in the Mystic” by musician and writer Vidya Shah.
